Mass Effect Legendary Edition (General Discussion)

Lol. They make Ogryns and Super Mutants look like rocket scientists! 😆

In real life, the Reaper armada would have just charged the Citadel, wiped out the fleet defending it, take the station, and shut off the Mass Relay Array like the do in their trap. The galaxy would be cut off from each other, and the harvest happens normally.

But in the words of Pitch Meeting, they don't "so the movie game can happen"

You know, there's times when a villain makes a mistake, because pressure, confidence etc. but the Reapers had a clear plan: take the Citadel and instead, acted like a PUG of Overwatch players, where everyone does whatever they want and completely disregard the objective. It's one thing to fuck up a critical moment, it's a different thing to undermine your villains. Which is why I keep saying that ME3 destroyed the Reapers and you just can't come back from that.

I'm not going to argue. Which is why ME2 was the best ME.

They weren't even there!

Sovereign did that, the moment he addressed Shepard.


Nobody but TIM had any idea.


Arrival is a stupid DLC, but that's not on the game. It was a very bad, late decision, to connect ME2 to ME3.

Sovereign gave his monologue, but he was very clearly not really interested in talking. He never did "I know this hurts you" levels of stupidity. 

And that one person mustered up a force that stopped them, and brought more attention that the Reapers are real. 

It's a part of the game, so it's on the game. 

I love Ryan George.

Tbh it saves them time by not rushing to the Citadel. If Shepard didn't have plot armor, the largest fleet the galaxy ever assembled gets wiped out on the Sol sytem by the Reapers making the rest of the harvest faster. Letting the Citadel becoming the last refuge of the Galaxy also benefits the Reapers. More refugees assembled in one place.  I mean I'm assuming that this was somewhat the Reaper plan in the first place because the Relay Network continues to function even after the Reapers gain control of the Citadel with the help of the Illusive Man.  

Also, if the Citadel arms close, the Reapers would be unable to take control of the station as seen in the first Mass Effect.  

Far more idiotic IMO, is Sovereign revealing itself in 2183 just to gain a head start of three years. If Sovereign never showed up, the Reapers reach the Bahak system, kill the Batarians and take the galaxy by surprise.   

Keep in mind, only a dozen Reapers managed to defeat three Earth fleets AND destroyed Arcturus station. The Reaper fleet consists of tens of thousands of Sovereign-class Reapers alone! Likely many times that in destroyers and such.

I think the game is far too vague to really determine a ballpark figure, but I think even tens of thousands is too generous. We don't really know how many reapers result from each cycle, but at some point, the reapers' numbers are limited by the age of the galaxy itself. The galaxy is 13.5 billion years old, but life anywhere would not have developed for a good long while following its accretion. The time it would have taken for the Leviathan to rise to power, and subsequently develop the AI that ultimately turns on them, THEN having that AI establish a network across the galaxy requires time that would hugely limit just how many reapers there could even exist at this point.

In any case, even a few thousand could hold the galaxy at bay. Lower populated systems could easily be controlled by less than 10, like we see in the Krogan DMZ or the Perseus Veil, with the bulk focusing on the heavy hitters, which are isolated primarily in Citadel space and the Terminus.

www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-modder-reluctantly-returns-missing-butts-to-legendary-edition/
Modders coming to save the day as always.

There was a question asking how many reapers have been destroyed. The response from Hudson/Weekes saying a few destroyers are destroyed each cycle and every few cycles, one capital ship is destroyed. I will use few to represent 3. I don't have the link since it was shortly after ME3 released, and a lot of the stuff from the old forum has been deleted. For those who don't believe that can use the 20,000 number.

Using the 20,000 number, about 13,334 capitals ships showed up at the start of this cycle along with 60,000 destroyers. I've been using the number five for however long for how many are built in between cycles. 

I believe the numbers are much lower. Lets say the 50,000 year started after the derelict reaper was disabled, that would have about 740 capital ships plus however many before that.

What if instead of 50,000 it was 500,000 or 5 millions years? That would give 2000 or 200 capital ships. That's still more than enough to drop kick the crap out of this cycle.

How many would have liked a conventional victory? For me it would depend on how Bioware would have that happen. I would guess a victory like that would take a very long time. Possibly happens after Shepard dies of old age or killed in action. That can't happen since the Commander has to be the one to defeat the reapers. 

What if Leviathan was part of the main game? It's completed right at the beginning of ME3. It tells Shepard to stop the harvest, he/she must destroy the Citadel since it houses the intelligence controlling the reapers.  Once the space station is destroyed, the reapers are released from being controlled. They head back to darkspace. This could setup for future games to find out if they become a threat later on. ME3 would happen nearly the same as it currently happens except the Citadel will be evacuating throughout the game while Shepard is making alliances with the other species.

Another way, is to have Shepard travel to darkspsce in ME2 leaving the collectors as a very long side mission. In darkspace, there is a giant space station used by the reapers. In the central chamber is a Leviathan hologram that explains what happened in their time. In the end Shepard downloads plans for a device that could destroy the reapers. Or it's learned that by destroying Harbinger, the reapers will stop the harvest. Leviathan explains in detail why destroying Harbinger would end the cycle. It would/could setup as boss fight with Harbinger at the end of ME3. Of course some stuff has to be changed in ME1 for Shepard to travel to darkspace.

It's hard to say what number the reapers need for this cycle to win conventionally. I've said 50 capital ships plus destroyers and others can easily defeat this cycle only if they go system to system. If they spread themselves out like in ME3, then yes, a good chance conventional victory can happen.