Five Ex-Bioware Devs Talk About Mass Effect 3's Ending

Like I've said before, ME works best if you have very high or very low standards for this sort of thing. If you have low standards then you don't notice all the silliness. And if you have high standards, you always knew that ME was a dopey science-fantasy mess, and like it anyway.

What if Thane was able to live? I say this because of Kirrahe. On Sur'Kesh, Kirrahe will say he's been assigned to security detail for the councilor, if Thane is not in ME3. He won't say that if Thane is in ME3. Why is that? How different would events have been if Kirrahe was there as well as Thane? I get that if one or the other isn't in the game, they die, or if both are not, the councilor dies, but why not have the option where all 3 live?

I've read posts form people saying the collectors were building the reaper to replace Sovereign. I don't agree. When seeing the proto reaper, look how much of it is completed? Only that much in about 2 years. The reaper invasion happens in about 6 months. No need to replace Sovereign. My theory is the collectors were starting the harvest because the reapers failed to show up. With Shepard destroying the base, the reapers have to resort to plan b, the Citadel. The other thing is the IFF. Why would the derelict reaper have an IFF? It's only used to get through the omega 4 relay. Is it needed to use the Citadel relay as well? 

I agree that if Kirrahe is alive, there should have been an optimal outcome where Kai Leng is simply forced to flee, since at that point he would be overwhelmed. Much of the rest of that mission could play out the same, just without a Thane-kabob. 

There isn’t any particularly good reason to build another reaper at that time. If anything, doing so would cause unnecessary exposure to their plans. It was already bad enough that Sovereign decided to Leroy Jenkins itself at the Citadel with a contingent of geth only to get itself destroyed, made unnecessary retroactively. The reapers were just fortunate that the Council’s dumber than a sack of oranges. The reapers didn’t fail to show up; they were well on their way. If we were to assume that the reaper fleet was coaxed into action by Sovereign’s failure, that would be a shade over 2 years before they arrive through the Alpha Relay, which is established as of Arrival. A couple of years isn’t really a long time to wait for backup. 

What about Rachni? Its implied that Reapers tried to use them to get access to Citadel. Since that plan failed there are two possibilites: either Reapers were tolazy to do a 3 year trip to nearest Mass Relay for 2000 years or they have been traveling to Milky Way all this time. Given what we know about their FTL capabilities they started their trek from waaay further than Andromeda galaxy.

Third possibility; they're still planning to pull off their Citadel-first surprise attack strategy. Since the Reapers weren't compromised by the Rachni War, and the Citadel powers are voluntarily limiting their military power, there's no downside to waiting .

Kirrahe was thee all along, just cloaked. he didnt have to intervene since Thane did it instead.

You're assuming that Mac & Casey's ridiculous self insert DMPC would lose a fight just because they added yet another previously competent enemy to the mix. He already 4v1's Shepard and 3 of the most badass other people in the galaxy in a totally ridiculous display. The rules of the setting don't apply to him.

Later on, he struts right into a 3v1 on Thessia. This faceless, character-less weeb goon they introduced in act two is for some reason not afraid of your three-person squad of famous and infamous combatants, because he knows he is the writer, and the writer has given himself a "cool" costume and multiple layers of plot armor.

After you easily beat his ass in a totally pointless and superflous gameplay sequence that may as well have been a cutscene, he takes out your squad by...... throwing one of them and gently knocking the other one over (so i guess they're incapacited now even tho they've been through far worse), he cranks off a one liner and you fall through the floor.

Kai is only a couple of steps away from where you randomly fell through the floor, but he’s not the least bit worried, still strutting confidently and spewing one-liners. The crumbling floor doesn’t apply to him. He’s not worried about falling in because he’s the writer and he made that abyss just for you. You can cling to the ledge just long enough to see his dramatic exit and listen to his one-liners. You don’t get any dialogue, because the writer doesn’t want to hear your voice while he’s busy jerking off in your face. You dumb loser.

After the mission you get the honor of "controlling" Shepard as he petulantly cries about how the writer beat his ass to literally everyone. Even if you played a pro-human Shepard up to this point and have no reason to give much of a shit about Thessia, you still get shook into doing so. To top it all off, the writer self-insert sends you a smarmy XBox live email message about how he beat your ass and how much you suck.

The brat gets most of the hate, but I'd listen to hours of its pithy monologues if it meant I never had to suffer through a Kai Leng cutscene again.

That is a very meta reason, though. Which doesn't hold up as an in-universe explanation. If Kirrahe shows up, if Thane is dead, where is he when Thane is alive? Kirrahe has no reason, if he is there to protect the Dalatrass or the Councilor, I forget which one it is in that scene, not to show up, just because Thane is on the Citadel. He would have no forward knowledge that Thane would be there, or that he would try to save her. Even in the event of hiring him for her protection, how would Kirrahe know about the coup, to set up Thane for her protection and why would he hire a half dead Drell for the job? Why would he also abandon his post at her side and not stay with her, in addition to purchasing the protection services of Thane. I am in favour of keeping in-universe consistency, instead of making a "cool" scene. I don't like being intentionally emotionally manipulated, especially when the writer is being this transparent about it.

I assume, Saren, equipped with Sovereign's knowledge, the Geth and the Mass Relays would be able to power up a Mass Relay fairly easily. Especially a primitive one. Is a 20 minute head start enough? I can buy it. Kirrahe appearing and disappearing on circumstance? Seems highly illogical and improbable. Not impossible, but definitely questionable behaviour, if not intentional. It depends on what degree one can believe the excuse. Or if the payoff for the excuse is worth it. If the payoff is death, it's kinda hard to justify.

I would assume Saren came prepared. There is a difference in that, compared to two variables, unrelated to each other, while both in effect, having a specific, off screen reason happening, that makes no sense. If Kirrahe is alive, he should be there, in either case. I assume, for him being there in one case, he has been tasked to do so. There is no reason to be un-tasked from it and be substituted by a dying Drell. I have no reason to assume it.