Ok; my pitch about how to avoid the corner Bioware wrote itself into. I believe I can add an idea or two, at least in the high concept (not very talented with the nitty-gritty character interactions).
My main point would be to double down on the "cosmic terror" potential of the franchise, something that worked beautifully on ME1, but was gradually abandoned. Also, I'd love to keep the
dark energy plot line alive, a concept that I consider very interesting, much more so than the "AI singularity" idea that they went with in the end.
I am also very preoccupied with being able to
fight the reapers, but without diminishing their status as invincible cosmic terrors. That part is
very trick, as should be obvious, but I got an idea or two, and I'd love to receive feedback on them.
So, here goes nothing:
From the get-go:
NO touching mass effect one. That one was pretty much a flawless setup. No need to change it at all, story-wise.
In mass effect two,
I'd rather that Shepard survived the collector ship in the opening. Killing her just to bring her back in 15 minutes, without doing anything to achieve it, cheapens the concept of "death" in that universe, IMHO. Just do the scene the same way, but she goes into a coma and the alliance, unable to help, leaves her to vegetate in an hospital. Cerberus kidnaps her and uses project
sleeping beauty to bring her back. The gameplay dynamic of resetting her powers, and the character development of questioning her own sense of self, and her allies questioning her loyalties after being tampered with by cerberus, could both stay pretty much the same.
the first real change I'd make is in the end of ME2; inside the Omega4 relay, you'd find
more than the collector's base; you'd find that they were building
a second citadel; or rather, another giant "super mass relay", that allows travel from dark space in mass numbers. It is what the collector drones have mostly been doing since the end of their cycle, building a contingency plan
by the reapers,
for the reapers. But
such project is still centuries away from completion, this being the reason why Sovereign had to try to use the original citadel in his own plan, on ME1.
Incomplete, but not useless. It already allows travel from dark space, but
not en masse, and
not instantaneous. Perhaps a couple of reapers came through in the years between the stories of the 2 games, and are taking steps to allow their reinforcements to come in faster.
So, in my version, Shepard succeeds the "suicide mission" to rescue her crew, and destroys the collectors base, preventing further kidnaps of human colonies; but there is no "human reaper" (silly, IMHO), and the normandy SR2 is attacked by a reaper right after that,
barely escaping the omega 4 relay. While escaping, Shepard uses the same tactic that saved the galaxy in the "Arrival" DLC; She sets up a bomb, or sabotage,
whatever but manages to destroy the Omega4 relay device in the center of the galaxy, preventing the reapers from coming through in numbers to citadel space.
Now, as far as Shepard knows, the reapers are already coming into the milk way galaxy, building their strengh in the galactic core; but they have no immediate means to move from galaxy-center into the Citadel space or the Terminus systems. But would you bet the fate of the entire civilization that there aren't other unknown relays they can use, or other travel protocols that they can activate on regular relays, to allow them to complete that travel?
With these changes, I accomplished 2 important things: 1) prepared a plausible, lore compatible way for the reapers to come from the dark space to the milky way, something sorely missing in the actual trilogy; and 2), I set up a scenario in which the reaper forces can't pass through in overwhelming numbers, by including two choke points that are not a matter of how powerful they are (the incomplete "super mass relay", and the backdoor paths from the center of the galaxy into Citadel space), thus allowing for a more realistic struggle from the galactic regular forces against such a far technologically superior foe.
The reapers would have to build their strength in small increments, becoming insurmountable only as the 3rd game approaches climax; this would allow the writers to increase the level of threat as appropriate to their narrative needs, as the amount of output from the new "super mass relay" in the center of the galaxy might increase as the reapers themselves begin to accelerate it's conclusion.
As this allows for the idea that reaper deployment is contingent to backdoor paths of the mass relay network that link to the center of the galaxy, maybe a couple of planets can be hit very hard right away - you have to establish very clearly the level of threat, and a loss of a very important planet, say, the Volus homeworld; perhaps even the salarian one, would do fine for that - while others have more time to prepare and fight back. Any reasonable writer can come up with lots of drama this way. But in my version,
reapers are unbeatable existential threats. They send collectors and drones and mutated creatures to attack dozens of planets simultaneously, but if a reaper shows up itself, unless you are one of the council races or the Geth, with massive dreadnought strength at your immediate disposal to force it away,
your planet is pretty much screwed.
I'll come back later to how will we fight the reapers without deposing them from their status as an existential horrors.
Now it's the third game. Shepard is still being ignored by the authorities, and shunned as she destroyed a Batarian colony, but she
knows the mounting reaper forces on the center of the galaxy will eventually find their way to council space. And that is pretty much what happens, but in the periphery. First third of the game is Shepard fighting in the frontier hot-zones, as horrors and more horrors shows up everywhere to destroy civilization, and the monsters are steadily gaining ground. It becames ever more clear that this is a loosing battle, as they realize that more and more reapers will show, their numbers eventually blackening the skies; and that their ground troops are endless. There is no resisting their power, only delaying (trying to delay) them, at alarmingly increasing costs every time.
(BTW, in my version, Krogan troops are valuable commandos and elite forces, but
not "the most important army that changes the course of the conventional battle". The strongest troops are, by far, the Turians, as lore always established. Never made sense to me that after millennia and a half of weakening strength, right after
loosing the Krogan rebellions, they are still such big players. We can still cure the genophage, but because of new tech acquired from the reapers (say, studying reaper troops cellular duplication, for example, not because it was politically useful. So no convenient alliance between Palaven and Tuchanka.)
So, Liara (or maybe Javek, I have a whole other thing with finding prothean(s) alive) realize that what they really need is
knowledge; a way to approach things differently, or - it will take decades, but - they will be conquered entirely and harvested. Her plan is to
breech the depths of the Citadel; you know, inaccessible areas that no one ever went to, because, she gambles, there might be tech or info they never seen before, in the places only the keepers ever accessed. By blowing up obstacles, by breeching walls, by
whatever means, they do find deeper levels and chambers, but it's no cakewalk; ancient defenses kick in, and monstrous versions of the keepers try to impede you; See, the protheans managed to disable the keeper's response to the secret Citadel activation signal, but the keepers
had many other functions that the protheans didn't even know existed, and those were never changed - one of them, being the gatekeepers to the secrets of the inner citadel!
And it is in the
previously inaccessible depths of the citadel that new knowledge is gained (not in a convenient "find it in the Mars Archives" in the perfect time), and this is when the tides begin to turn. We find out, finally,
what the reapers actually want; and it is this, starting with the leviathans:
The leviathans were, pretty much, the first species to achieve technological and galactic supremacy in the distant past. And in doing so, they pressed on their advancements uncontested, and eventually unlocked sources of power and tech that are
godlike; far beyond comprehension of the current galaxy races. They, thus, achieved utter immortality, but that achievement came with a terrible price; indulging in their newfound power inevitably triggered the spread of
dark energy (here is where that plot would come in), and that meant
the obliteration of the entire universe. Even eternal beings cannot exist, they realize,
if eternity itself ceases to be.
So, they devised a plan to keep the usage of these resources limited and exclusive to themselves: Every time a new cycle reaches a technological threshold, it is harvested and converted into reaper form
before they can tap into dark energy. Thus, they became able to exist forever, frozen as a representation of all the traits of the harvested species, deemed desirable, and most worthy, by the leviathans. Their new reaper form is eternal, indeed
sovereign, but
not godlike. In this manner, the leviathans preserve the knowledge of the dark energy only to themselves, cutting away any other species
before they can find out how to turn godlike as well.
So, they are NOT overtly malevolent, and they actually do intend to "preserve" the harvested species in a mockery of compassion, but there is underlying arrogance in their actions. All harvested species are only superficially represented by their respective reaper shell, the entirety of their depth, by the very necessity of this plan, not encapsulated. They loose individuality and initiative; they become shadows of themselves, and their potential to grow and evolve is stolen from them, replaced by complacent acceptance of their newfound form; they are "frozen" in the level of development in which they were harvested, unable, forever, to create more.
So, sovereign was, truly, immortal, and "free of weaknesses, a nation in an on itself" as the personification of an entire species... but also,
deluded; a being subservient to a greater will, like a nation that sees itself as the greatest of the secular powers, but ultimately answers to the will of distant gods, and with it's strength overwhelming only in the depth of existence that is allotted to him. Becoming a reaper would be, than, a detestable form of
everlasting slavery for the entire harvested species.
To rub salt in the wound, as the leviathans deem, quite correctly, that the power of the reapers is more than enough, they distance themselves from the cycles of extinction; they let their vassal nations carry their will, condemning every advanced civilization to the very same fate as harvested vassals, preserving them in a state of eternal ignorance of their ultimate potential. So the first"gods" of the universe will remain unique in that role for eternity, and the spread of dark energy will forever be contained, and never overcome the danger threshold they found. The ultimate maintenance of
status quo.
IMHO, this is more original, and lives up to the cosmic horror dimension, and potential, of the story, much more than the tale that we actually received; Also, it makes the actions of the characters
much more consistent, as their goals begin to make more coherent sense. There was the problem of explaining "why they use horrific wars" to do this, if they are not evil
per se; and my answer to that is: arrogance; they simply do think that what they do to the harvested species is warranted, for their own good (preventing the spread of the dark energy that would kill them all in the distant future), even if they are too "shortsighted" in clinging to their existence instead of embracing eternity; and ultimately, that in reaper form, they simply would not care on how their harvesting was accomplished, thus not needing it to be done with silk gloves on. It's also pragmatic, as no species ever considered this a good deal, and always fought back, so they might as well fight to win and impose their will, never bothering themselves with asking permission, for they "know better".
As Sovereign said in ME1, "we are your salvation through destruction".
So, as reapers are already utterly invincible, and you find out there is an even greater, even more terrifying, force behind them. All is lost, right? Well, in a conventional war, yes, very much so. So it's time to think outside the box.
Liara realizes that the reason why the citadel lasts eternally is because it was built using a leviathan design; it's core is powered by the tech that triggers dark energy, and they come up with the crucible (again, this also could be a prothean idea that they copy, if we keep the plot point of finding Javik alive), and they realize that the "super mass relay" in the center of the galaxy must also use that tech if it also was as ridiculously super powered as the citadel itself.
Applying modifications they learned during the war, and with the treasure trove of information recovered in the citadel core, that devise a plan to threaten the very Gods; the last third of the game, and the climax of the story, would be them finding the backdoor paths to the center of the galaxy, taking control of the "super mass relay" (the reapers, already deployed and not knowing that they breached the citadel center, something that never happened in thousands of cycles, and thus learned how to tap into - even if crudely - the most powerful source of energy in the universe, much above the reapers themselves - never realized that this installation had become a highly valuable strategic objective).
Ultimately, Shepard achieve their goal, and take control of the "super mass relay". Doing that allows the Normandy crew to threat throwing it in the Sagittarius A Star - the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. That would cause destruction in a ridiculous level - say, 1/3 of the whole universe - and more importantly, spread such quantity of dark energy as to prevent eternity itself from happening; causing the universe to end in, like, a trillion years, instead of several trillions.
While those timeframes are utterly philosophical to us,
they would feel very concrete to the leviathans, and the "gods" would realize that they were on the way to a pyrrhic victory; so costly that it would actually be a great defeat. Without options, knowing that their goal to avoid the spread of dark energy would be foiled, as that action would release, instantly, levels of dark energy that those primitive species would otherwise take millions of years to generate, if they did it at all; they have to concede. So, they decide to
command the retreat the reaper forces (through conventional space - the supermassive relay is being held hostage dangerously close to the black hole, and the Citadel was never taken). This would be a cathartic moment, as Harbinger would finally realize his subservient role in the grander scheme of things, shattering his illusions of superiority, and giving us an enemy "face" to defeat. So, he retreats in utter shame, obeying his masters, after having lead the
first failed harvest in
millions of years.
This would feel like a major victory for the galactic specie's eyes. The prospect of an immediate, horrific death by harvest, being avoided entirely, and traded for the philosophical idea that you may one day develop into a godlike species, at the price of perhaps accelerating the end of the universe, but in a cosmic timeframe. So, an unconventional victory, the only kind possible, and with a very unconventional price that had to be payed for it. I can imagine Shepard and Thane debating the pros and cons, or how the religious Ashley would take all that.
And imagine the state this would leave the story in; the galaxy survives, but with the looming threat of the reapers (hidden in the galaxy), and worse, the leviathans, scheming their comeback to force the harvest anew; or perhaps even to outright
destroy those who dared defy their edicts, abandoning their pretense of kindness. But, OTOH, the council species would end with access to treasure troves of tech and knowledge, in the Citadel center and in the commandeered "super mass relay", bringing the promise of one day becoming powerful enough to defeat the reapers conventionally. The story of the trilogy would end without closing the scenario to new stories on the same universe, as these possibilities could certainly be explored.
And though the large scenario would have a fixed ending point (the retreat of the reapers under the threat of the crucible cataclysm), I don't see this as a problem. I mean, nobody thinks Dragon Age Origins had no choice because you don't have the option to allow the blight to consume Thedas. Also, player choice could still manifest in large scale (which races survive the war and which didn't; any major character dead or planet destroyed? did you cure the genophage or not?, save the geth or not?, etc...) without locking the broader narrative, allowing for soft storytelling shifts, for different tales in the same universe.
Anyway, that is my pitch to how the ME story could have gone very differently.
I'm curious to know if there is some major contradiction I'm overlooking? Or if you guys think I actually didn't do any justice to the "cosmic horror" aspect of the original game that I like so much. Any ideas for proposed improvements on my scenarios?
Thanks in advance for any input, if anyone survives the wall of text above.
Regards
.