Not curing the Genophage: The reason you're a heartless monster.

The Prothean Reaper War lasted centuries, so at the time Shepard is making the decision to cure or not cure the genophage, he/she cannot be certain that the Reaper War will only last a few months.  Also at the time Shepard is making that decision, he/she doesn't really know what the Crucible does and doesn't know if they'll ever find the Catalyst in order to complete it.  The situation is dire, yes... but at that time there is no choice but to fight the Reapers for as long as possible using conventional means (i.e. troops).

The Krogan do have a century of living and developing "cooperation skills" within the galactic framework while under the genophage.  Quite conceivably, natural "mental" evolution may have taken place over that century... meaning that the Krogan could be far more "refined" than they were when first uplifted.  At any rate, working with the Krogan is working with the "devil you already know" as opposed to working with the Yahg (who are the "devil you don't.")  All my point is - the decision to cure the genophage can be made "logically" - i.e. "pragmatically" just as much as the decision to not cure it can.

I don't know how deeply the writers thought about it... but I do believe that part of their "philosophy" for writing a story that could be played as either a paragon or a renegade was to put in little opposing details so that the player would just selectively use the details that "fit" the allignment they decided to take on such issues... and ignore the details that didn't fit.  Problem with that writing philosophy is that people get hung up on those opposing details as creating plot holes (i.e. going against the story line they want to take).  The alternative, as I see it, is to write RPGs that have clearly "right" ways to play them and clearly "wrong" ways to play them... basically not enabling the player to play either good or evil... but only the one that the developer has written the story line to fit.  However, people would probably complain about that as well.

Agree, they don't want it to be a war that lasts a long time if they can avoid it... but they don't really know yet whether or not the Crucible will save them either.  What would they do if the Crucible fails... just stop fighting altogether... throw up their hands and surrender... or continue fighting?... as Saren said "even if they know they cannot win."

Sure, we can do that.. but it's very much like the Borg say. "Resistance is futile" But the Crucible is heralded in the story right away as some last ditch effort. It's not like there's any illusion that you have much else. That's all I'm trying to say. And Javik is good to talk about this. "The krogan are overconfident."

Yes, there can be a huge number of Rachni soldiers born if the Queen is saved as well (and his/her only purpose in saving her in ME3 is as a valuable war asset).  Again, to a point, they represent a "devil one knows."  Not presented in the game, but I can't see why not possible - The galaxy could also use Okeer's technology to make any number of fully grown Krogan and trained Krogan mercenaries in as little as seven days - not as perfect as Grunt perhaps, but Okeer does assert that the problems with commanding those Krogan was because Jedore lacked in ability, not because those Krogan were unusable.  For me, the choice of uplifting yahg and varren would fall well down on the list of preferred shock troops... just too many unknowns - including the amount of time that would be needed to get them to a point where they could be used.

The choice presented in the game, however, is about choosing the immediate support of either the Salarians or the Krogan by virtue of not curing or curing the genophage.  It is the Salarians who are putting this dilemma on the table by stating, point blank, that they will not support the war effort if the genophage is cured. and the Krogan are stating they will not support the war effort if the genophage is not cured.  So, to gain access to the future Yahg army, you are forfeiting those trained Krogan mercenaries. 

Alternatively, Shepard can, underhandedly, go for both.  That, in one case his/her decpetion can succeed and in the other it doesn't, does not (IMO) make the actual decision to try to go for both suddenly more or less "justifiable."  Even if Wrex is dead, the Krogan people are diverse and Shepard knows that they can have good leaders (Eve) and bad (Weryloc Guld) and several other Krogan he/she has met that can be reasoned with and who like other "peaceful" pursuits (e.g. Charr and his poetry).  Shepard can also logically believe that the Salarians will eventually be "forced" into supporting the war effort even if the genophage is cured.  Much like he/she tells Leviathan, like it or not, the Reapers know about them and they are a part the war regardless; and even in curing the genophage, Shepard doesn't do anything that would prevent the Salarians from continuing to work on uplifting the yahg, does he/she?

There are also indications that the "compassionate" thing to do regarding the yahg and varren is to not uplift them... so that the Reapers will just ignore them this cycle and allow them to live into the next... similar to how the Protheans stopped the uplift of humans, asari, and turians in the previous cycle.

Ultimately, the player can "logically" - ignoring both compassion and fear, make any decision on this offered in the game... with whatever consequences the game provides (which really aren't that many either way).  It's that way with any of these decisions.  Details are provided that support one side and the other and that "hint" that either, or or both directions can be taken... and that create plot holes at the same time.

Agreed. I cured the genophage every time because this is a videogame with no real consequences and it felt like the positive choice reflecting my intuitively (and wishful) generally optimistic view of the world. Plus Wrex is my buddy, and we´ll sort it out together afterwards like we always do. So much for the story.

But if this was real life, the Salarians got this one right given the data available at the point of decision. The scenario we are presented with is the short-term "Deus Ex Machina" Crucible or extinction, regardless of how many extra million Krogan might enter the fight at a later stage.

If the majority of Krogan had the perspective of Wrex and Eve, it might inspire enough confidence to go ahead with the cure, but everything we have seen up to this point strongly indicates that they are a a tiny minority. If we take their reproductive speed as stated in the game as a fact (though I doubt it would be sustainable IRL for them to even have the chance of evolving long enough to use technology in the first place), Krogan Wars 2.0 would seem inevitable.

Sure, that is more or less also what I chose to believe when playing the game . I liked Mordin as a character even more than I already did before due to his reflections and his conflict with the consequences of what he had done. In reality though, I would most likely not take that chance given the data available, although I would very much still intuitively want to. One of my rationalizations for this would likely be that due to his personal involvement and the burden that comes with it, Mordin himself may not be the most rational of advisors anymore.

That kind of choice we were faced with was a big part of what made the series so much fun for me, but having to make choices with such consequences in real life is most likely the exact opposite of fun.          

Krogan Ego. Nothing wrong with that

Well Krogans are needed for Crucible. Alliance lacks the resources needed to build it alone.  They need the Turian Hierarchy's assistance and the price was get the Krogan support.

When did it say they lay a thousand eggs?

And?

Well seemed like you were trying to make a point but stopped halfway to it.

And yet that is a game play mechanic not a story point which is the point of this thread. Which is why I replied as I did. It is the equivalent of some people talking about a movie then someone just randomly running in and saying that if you look at the sun it hurts your eyes.