If I made that game...

[Walpknut]

Many of us have waited months for a game, followed news, read on it, got hyped up and the like. Maybe it was a Sequel to a series dear to our hearts, maybe it was a genre we like that isn't as exposed to the public. Maybe is adapting material we love...

And then it comes out, a lot of things can happen, either we love it, or more often than not we end up disappointed, or maybe we liked it, but we also tought it could have been more, so much more. We discuss this ideas when hanging out with friends. or think them up in the toilet and probably never do anything with them.

So this is like the Future Fallout discussion threads and the like, but with other games. No Fallout ideas here please, there are like 5 sub Forums on that here. You can be as verbose or as brief as you want.


Me First: Mass Effect 3

While I seriously think Mass Effect as a series is pretty overrated I still find the games entertaining, and they often have very interesting Sci Fi Ideas in the sea of Space Opera tropes.

The reapers were very ominous in the first 2 ME games. Almost Great old One like in their perception of our existence.
Different Groups and organizations were introduced in ME2 that exposed the rotten underbelly of the galactic community and showed that burocrasy can get in the way of progress and the interests of the population. Enters Cerberus, a rather large paramilitary organization that works for the interest of Humanity often times clashing with the interests of the other species but that ultimately have good intentions.

Then Mass Effect 3 happened.

Many people despise the Catalyst explanation of what motivates the Reapers, I don't but I agree that it's very clumsily injected in the las minutes of the game with no foreshadowing or anything. Cerberus just turn completely evil and the Reapers seem to be more, let's say, wary of the people they are conquering, instead of Following on the "No War, just Harvest" thing.

So, How would Mass Effect 3 be If I had done it?

First off, remove all the Reaper ground troops, the Reapers shouldn't need them, they are hundred of kilometers tall, They have disintegration rays and the accumulated knowledge of all the cycles before them. Make the war against them more hopeless, the only type of Husk would be sleeper agents and troops fro the invaded planet. Make them look massive, make them look unstoppable, make them uncomprehensible.

Cerberus as the main baddie, I would completely cut that off. That just makes everything in ME2 seem like a huge non sequitur.

The plot. It would go like this:

It would start out just like the normal game, Shepard arrested for either blowing up the Batarian Relay preventing the Reapers from coming earlier, but dooming the colony or for working with a criminal organization.
Then The reapers invade earth in full force and Shepard is forced to leave the planet to look for allies.
Then it's when it get interesting.
Shepard prepares to plead for the Council's help, but it turns to deaf ears, The alliance has no choices, until the yare contacted by Cerberus. TIM calmly explains them that Cerberus has been working without rest on countermeasures to stop the Reapers, and save earth. having learned from the whole Collector Operation Cerberus realizes that wether they like it or not they are gonna need the help from alien species. So a very turbulent truce is formed between the Alliance, The galactic Council and Cerberus.

Here is were the whole of the choices, consequences and interactions would change.

TIM, Anderson and Hackett, all in different zones of the conflict would have different ideas for who you should ally with, since the Reaper invasion Started the Galactic Community would be in complete Chaos, the Turians, Asari and Salarians all busy with the defenses of their own planets, the Batarians demoralized and reduced to basically space Pirates, all of the Merc gangs in Omega in the middle of their own wars while seeking to profit from the resulting Chaos. Helping certain species and groups would affect others in different ways, and there would be more variety on the Party Members through the game. Instead of making Jacob and Miranda jus suddenly abandon the group they were so loyal before, they would be affected by Who you decide to side with more often. maybe a return of the Loyalty missions in some way.

But of course this doesn't mean that Cerberus would just be good guys, the truce between the 3 groups would reveal different flaws and dark secrets and sides of everyone involved ,war is hell, but Harvest is worse. Cerberus would have developed resources on top of very questionable things, like the Thorian, a form of Huskification, and just downright nasty things like sabotage and extortion to get the support of certain groups, while working with Anderson would reveal incompetence in certain zones of negotiation, very militaristic and narrow minded approach to solutions and working with the council would sometimes result in burcocrasy getting i the way of actual support with certain groups.

Of course the important thing, drop hints o the origin of the Reapers through the game, but keeping it all pretty vague at the same time, not have the Catalyst just explain it flat, but make his allusions to the goal of the Reapers a lot more ambiguous.

Making the support of the other groups not just turn into numerical points but actually have an impact. Maybe obtaining the support of a certain group before going into another mission would have different effects on the success or failure of it.
The last mission would need a complete retool, instead of being a corridor shooting section were only Shepard and his companions fighting, I would make something more akin to the second to last mission in the Citadel DLC, have all the other party members, groups and the like showing up and shaping the path you take, causing different events to trigger and actually being part of the mission. Ranging from radio communications and supply drops, to having outright armed back up, etc. They could also cause chaos and negative effects, maybe two groups couldn't get over their grudges and start sabotaging the operation by acting reckless.

SO that's my take on it. I want to hear yours.

 

[Ilosar]

This thread was made for me

About Cerberus, I think you're mistaken about them. They never had ''good intentions''. They're a human suprematist (read; borderline racist) organisation that uses morally dubious means to attain human-centered goals; it's been their shtick since ME1. Remember Akuze, or Thorian Creeper experiments, or the assassination of that one Alliance admiral. Cerberus is called a terrorist organisation because it's not far from the truth of what they are. I also think it would be cheap for Cerberus of all factions to hold the key to galactic salvation; they posses arbitrarily advanced technology, but they're not better than the Salarians, Asari or the Alliance. Mass Effect is human-centric enough as it IMO. But it's true, I would definitely not have made them enemies, make them grudging allies instead. If they wanted humanoids, indoctrinated Alliance/Alien soldiers would have fit the bill quite nicely and added some variety. Also delete Kai Leng from the game, that douchebag was so stupid.

About the Reapers, they do need footsoldiers since their aim is not only to kill, but also to harvest. They need to destroy enemy ground forces and subdue resistance at a ground level in order to process the civilians efficiently. They also need boots to protect their own interiors in case of boarding actions (which were used against them to good effect in ME3, albeit off-screen sadly, what a glorious mission this would have been). But I agree that their origins should definitely have been undisclsed, or mysterious; myself, I would have made so their purpose was lost even to them. The Cycle served a purpose very, very long ago, but as time passed, they forgot it. Or someone deleted it in hope of stopping them. And now they harvest and kill because that's all they know. Put a bit of a tragic spin on it, but also make it certain to point out they do it out of their own volition. They're not bound by programming or anything. They're not victims.

About the Catalyst, I only have three words; Fuck. That. Noise. Delete this POS from the game and bury it in the cesspit of ideas that should never, ever have emerged from the (probably drunken) mind that spawned it.

I'd make the game somewhat similar to what we have (gather forces to use the Crucible), with changes here and there; a better introduction (preferably with the promised trial), make the Crucible plans discovered in the Collector Base at the end of ME2 (to make the game important; as it is it barely impacts ME3's plot). This leaves space for a bigger Palaven arc and said mission inside a Reaper. Add more moral ambiguity in the Genophage sub-plot, making the Salarian sound less like a massive bitch and making clear Wrex is basically using the situation to his advantage. No Cerberus coup, make it a Reaper attack instead because I've always found it baffling that they simply ignored the Citadel when it was a primaty objective in ME1. Not much to change to the Rannoch arc, maybe make the Geth a bit less sympathetic and remind everyone that they did kill billions of Quarians a few centuries ago. Scrap the Horizon mission and put a bigger, more involved Thessia arc.

Then, introduce the choices in-game at this point; the player chooses to either 1) destroy 2) dominate or 3) weaken the Reapers using the Crucible; you still need to fire it at the Citadel to use the Relay network in order to spread the signal around the galaxy. Option 1 goes like in the game, except the Reapers detonate their Mass Effect cores on destruction, causing untold amounts of damage around their current position Anderson advocates this option. Option 2 puts the Reapers under the control of whomever has the Crucible; TIM favors this option. Option 3 makes so the Reapers are beatable by the assembled Fleets, but only at a great cost and after long, grueling battles; but it makes sure their Eezo cores do not detonate, sparing many civilians on the core worlds. EDI favors this option as the most efficient, logical one. At this point, the player chooses, but the Crucible doesn't fire yet, and things happen depending on the choices;

If you went Control, rogue agents led by Anderson steals vital parts of the Crucible. He finds Control utterly abhorent and an abuse of power of the highest order; you need to fight to him, and either persuade him (very difficult, requires you to say the right thing) or kill him to get the Crucible back.

If you went Destroy, TIM loses his marbles over what he finds a total waste, steals the Crucible, and you get to do the Chronos Station mission and kill the bastard; TIM cannot be persuaded, he's not your friend and doesn't trust you at all.

If you go Weaken, the Turian Primarch steals Crucible parts because he wants the War to end here and now, not in 10-20 years. You need to get it back, and he's persuadable only if you threatren the life of all his men. Not so bad, eh? Well Garrus is with him, and HE's not persuadable unless romanced/completely befriended beforehand. Don't feel too bad pulling that trigger.

In the meantime, the Reapers launch a full scale assault on the Citadel, capture it, and bring it to Earth for safekeeping, but not before Council sabotage ensures they cannot shut down the Relay netwrk from it. Final mission proceeds to our planet, but with a much grander final battle, with many combatants duking it out on each side depending on your choices. Rachnis assaulting Reaper forces, Krogan charging on dinosaur-back with great battle cries and Turian snipers covering their backs, Geth forces raining death, Volus bomber kicking asses, this has endless potential for awesome cutscenes. Then Shepard gets to the Control Room, no beam run, and makes his choice (can be different from the one that was agreed beforehand! Albeit expect violent reactions if you betray someone...) and the game ends. If Destroy is chosen, Shepard dies in the blast unless the Destiny Ascencion was destroyed, because then Alliance ships make a successful suicide run to pick him up. If Weaken is chosen and the Destiny Ascencion was saved in ME1, it picks up Shepard; if not, Harbinger manages to kill Shepard before being destroyed. If Control was chosen, Shepard survives no matter what; as a bonus, if the Collector Base was preserved, TIM can strike a bargain with Shepard to take control of the Crucible alone; Shepard can accept or refuse, refusing will result in an angry but compliant TIM.

The goal of my endings was to 1) stay true to the series 2) Make ME1 and 2 count and 3) add player choices and actual consequences.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Here is an old post, I made on the subject, sorry for the length

* * * *

My concept for Mass Effect 3

A couple of notes before I begin with my description on how I would write Mass Effect 3.

Personally I would have liked to have changed some things in Mass Effect 2's story which I feel would have made it better and would have made it easier to make a Mass Effect 3 concept but to avoid any confusion about such rewrites or retcons I will treat ME1 and ME2's storylines of both the main games and the expansions as complete canon.

I posted some of these ideas before on another forum and already then I realize that some of my thoughts on cosmology are not correct as people smarter than me in that department have already come up with scientific theories how for example Dark Energy really works.
The treatment of Dark Energy in my story is based on an idea of the original ME writers before he went on to work on Star Wars The Old Republic and it should be considered a plot device for the sake of convenience but not based on any scientific accuracy.

Sometimes I won't go into deep details about what happens during the various main and side quests on various planets or space stations.
Its not that nothing happened between the main plot descriptions but I just never have thought that far, focusing more on the Reaper plot.

My idea is that all the companions from ME1 and ME2 are available in case they survived the suicide mission, they can be recruited and are not just there for a cameo role but they can 'die' during certain missions.

I have not taken the time yet how I would put the Prothean into all of this.


The time around which Mass Effect 3 starts is about six months after Mass Effect 2, around the same time that spanned between the official games.

After the events of “Arrival” Commander Shepard has turned himself in to the Alliance to face trial for his actions in the Batarian system where he was sent by Hackett to free a captured Alliance operative.

The Batarians as expected were infuriated with the destruction of the system and the deaths of thousands of Batarian systems.
Their demand that Shepard was turned over to them to face trail on the Batarian homeworld was denied but as a sign of goodwill a Batarian representative is allowed to be at Shepard's trial to make a case for his people.

Shepard is currently held at the Alliance capital located at the Arcturus system, the main gateway system that leads to the Solar System and he will face his trial here.
But days before the story starts there has been a increase of transmissions of strange events taking place throughout the galaxy, reports on sightings of mysterious alien dreadnoughts moving through Alliance as well as Terminus systems come in by the hour and the Citadel Council has a hard time trying to assure their citizens that they are investigating this matter.


As the story opens Shepard is inside his quarters that also serves as his cell putting on his dress uniform, a call is heard at the door and when it opens Anderson now promoted to admiral moves inside, having come escort Shepard to the court room.

Specifically for this case Anderson has come from the citadel station (in case the player choose him to be mankind's representative the Citadel Council) in order to assist in Shepard's defense.
Anderson knows that Shepard would not just destroy a relay and kill thousands of beings if his claims of an imminent Reaper invasion wasn't true.

During this walk to the court the player also runs into Kaiden or Ashley (depending on who survived on Virmire) and a conversation takes place.

Once Shepard enters the court he is greeted by the sight of several dozens of people who have come to watch, also there is Shepard's lawyer, the representative of the court and of course the Batarian representative who Shepard faces for a few seconds.
He doesn't know if he can read hatred in its eyes.

As the court takes place cut scenes start to run that take happen on the bridge of the space station.
The communication officers get complaints from various people on the station that all contact with the citadel station is down, even the military channels are suddenly silent.

People on the bridge try everything in their power to find out what has happened and restore contact but as this happens the people in charge of monitoring traffic inside the system report sudden activity, their instruments are detecting dozens of incoming ships the size of dreadnoughts.

The fleet is immediately put on alert and orders are being given to arm all defenses but much to the surprise of the command staff several ships and posts on the station refuse to give response.
Instead several explosions happen as key systems of the space station are taken out by explosives.

There are also suddenly reports of attacks onboard the station, a number of Alliance troops as well as civilians has suddenly opened fire on everyone else without any clear indication why.


Back in the court the defense of Shepard is in progress when the explosions suddenly shake the room.
There is panic in the court but this is only the beginning as the dreadnoughs, now revealed to be the Reapers, have arrived and start attacking the station and the ships of the defense flee they do not control.

The impact of Reaper attacks on the station put it in chaos as secondary explosions start tearing the inside of the station apart.

Shepard witnesses how the ceiling of the court room collapses and only barely manages to get into cover, many other people are not so fortunate and are either crushed by plating from the ceiling or support beams that came loose.

When the initial chaos is over Shepard comes out of cover and finds Anderson not far from him, Anderson is bruised at his leg and Shepard helps him back on his feet.

Shepard tries to get Anderson to safety when they suddenly run into the Batarian representative now armed with a gun aimed in their direction.
Both Shepard and Anderson think the Batarian is going to shoot them, a last attempt for getting revenge for what Shepard did.

Much to their surprise the Batarian tells them that its good that both men are alive as he had been concerned that they had been killed when the ceiling collapsed.
He takes two guns he has been carrying with him and gives them to Shepard and Anderson, the Baterian tells them that he took them from two guards who were killed by rubble falling from the ceiling.

The Batarian suggests that they all three get off the station as quick as possible, he suspects that whoever attacked the station will come back to finish it off, and he also theorizes that some people onboard the station might be working for the Reapers, having been indoctrinated and then inserted here.

Shepard wants to know why the Batarian representative wants to help Shepard and Anderson to escape but the Batarian replies that there is no time for that.


A sequence follows in which the trio must overcome damaged sections of the station as well as fight indoctrinated people.

Once at the docking bay they board a ship and take off immediately before the Reapers completely destroy the station.
Together with the other surviving ships Shepard, Anderson and the Batarian retreat to the Sol System.

During this journey Shepard/The player can ask the Batarian why he is helping them.
The Batarian responds that with the arrival of the Reapers there the petty differences and bickering between species must be set aside if they are to survive.
The Batarian has come to recruit Shepard for a mission to save both the humans and Batarian people and perhaps all sentient life in the galaxy.

An old friend of Shepard helped the Batarian to take the place of the official representative and it was the Batarian's goal on Arcturus station to get Shepard either acquitted or free him from captivity if Shepard was sentenced to jail.
The Batarian suggests that once they have finished whatever they need to do in the solar system that Shepard should come with the Batarian to see 'his old friend' again who can give Shepard much more information.

In the solar system Shepard's ship docks with the flagship of the fleet and the all three meet admiral Hackett in person who tells them what the situation is.

Apparently the Reapers have captured the Citadel and most people there have either been killed or are trapped on the station.
As a result all of Citadel space is in chaos and there is no central authority to organize the countless species against the Reapers.

A new chain of command needs to be set up and the various Citadel species as well as anyone else needs to be brought together if they can ever hope to to try to fight the Reapers.

The Alliance has also instructed all its Prothean experts to go through the Martian archives to find anything that can be used against the Reapers in battle.

Admiral Hackett reinstates Shepard into the Alliance and gives him command of the refitted and modified Normandy 2, his orders are to get to the various Citadel members and get their cooperation for a counter assault against the Reapers who are now using the Citadel as their base of operations.

At this point either Kaiden or Ashley also join.

Before the Normandy leaves the Solar System EDI receives a call from the Martian outpost that was established over the Prothean Archives in the solar system.

Shepard/the player heads there and once on the surface Shepard runs into Miranda, Jacob and several Cerberus commandos.

Miranda and Jacob greet Shepard and tell him that the Illusive Man instructed them to contact Shepard again.
Like the Alliance the Illusive Man is also aware of the Reaper invasion and he wants Shepard to rejoin Cerberus in order to fight the Reapers and protect humanity.

At first Shepard declines but the Illusive Man in return for Shepard's assistance will offer him access to the resources of Cerberus and will assist Shepard in any strategy he can make against the Reapers.

Further more Shepard will need Cerberus help here on Mars, like Arcturus station the Martian outpost has been taken over by indoctrinated humans who seek to get access to the Prothean Archives.


After having formed a new team from the now available companions the player/Shepard enters the Martian outpost and takes on the indoctrinated soldiers and scientists inside the outpost while trying to reach the archives.

Once the archives have been secured all information is transferred to the Normandy so that EDI can decipher them but Cerberus also takes a copy to decode and analyze them at the same time for any information that can be of use against the Reapers.

With this mission over the player can finally leave the solar system and start the main campaign.

This is where my idea for the resource gather game comes up.
During the game the player can do missions for the Alliance, Cerberus, and the various alien government which result in the player getting resources that can be managed on a combat map.

Missions for the Alliance usually consist of rescue, defense and attack missions during which resources such as ships, personnel (soldiers, engineers etc) and resources can be gained.

Cerberus mission usually consist of retrieval of information, securing resources like laboratories or scientists, and infiltrating locations controlled by the Reapers.
They also supply some ships and personnel but more importantly they supply the player with new technologies and weapons that can be used during missions.

Last are the alien government missions that consist of rescue, defense, attack, saving important artifacts and so one.
They also supply ships, personnel and resources that are unique compared to those of the Alliance and Cerberus.

In general I would prefer that the missions the player does for these three parties also reflects the resources the player gets.
For example the Volus sole dreadnought has been taken over by indoctrinated and or husks and the player responds on the distress signal.
Once the player has saved the ship this becomes available on the combat map.

In another mission the player must assist the Volus bomber fleet in taking out locations overrun by the indoctrinated, using the targeting laser the player destroys these places and at the end of the mission the bomber fleet becomes available on the map.


In the galaxy map the player can deploy these resources to strength influence in sectors which can result in new weaponry and technologies for the player to use.

In one sector for example local forces are entrenched, by sending in cargo ships secured earlier these forces can hold out longer, or by sending them a warship or warfleet they can get greater control of the sector.

Personnel such as spies or commandos can be send into Reaper controlled territory and supply the player with additional resources and knowledge that can be used for the development of unique hardware.

Its not just a readiness meter you are filling but a completely little mini game inside the game.

(the units would be indestructible so the player would not loose them if they are weakened, but if their health bar is depleted they are out of action for a while)


With the Citadel gone most refugees now flee to Omega that since Mass Effect 2 has been taken over by Cerberus (check the Mass Effect comics).
They took it over in order to secure the Omega 4 relay that leads to the Collectors' territory where Cerberus has established Avernus station to research the Collectors' base or the ruins of it (depending on the player's actions in ME2).

Omega is more in chaos than ever and except for crucial parts of the station that Cerberus controls such as life support, power and other such system they pretty much ignore a lot of the inhabitants problems.

The player can of course perform quests here and perhaps also runs into companions again but the station really becomes important once the player is permitted to travel to Avernus station.


As the Batarian suggests the player should first visit Shepard and the Batarian's mutual friend which brings Shepard to the Shadowbroker's lair.
The old friend is revealed to be Liara T'Soni who has been watching the events of the galaxy since the Citadel was taken over by the Reapers.

She supplies Shepard/the player with the initial information of which species' homeworld's they should visit and what the situation there is.
Of course she also joins the player's party again.


Its between this and the next story element that the player would do missions for the Turians, Salarians, Krogans etc until a moment is reached when the story continues.

At some point the Illusive Man informs Shepard that the scientists at Avernus station have made some interesting discoveries in the Prothean files Shepard retrieved from the Martian Prothean archives.

Shepard is now allowed to go to the station which is revealed to be a research station located close to the black hole where the Collectors' base used to be and where Cerberus studies the Collectors, the Protheans, and the Reapers.

Since the revelation that the Protheans actually build forth on other more ancient civilizations that existed before them before the Reapers harvested them the scientists have been looking into what the Protheans had on these cultures.

The Prothean files mention a gas giant in which large structures have been located that float at crushing depths that existed long before the Protheans became space travel capable.
Citadel races later discovered this gas giant and have tried to make contact with what they perceive to be a jupiter brain, a giant computer, but it never responded.

Apparently the Protheans were working on a way of getting to the jupter brain in order to find out if it contained any information on fighting the Reapers when the Reapers attacked and drove them out of the system.


Apparently some kind of mechanism exists that allows a ship the size of a shuttle to travel to the jupiter brain without being crushed by the incredible depths where it floats but in order to access it the player needs to do a couple more missions to get resources and information.

Its during this that the player receives the information that the solar system and Earth has fallen to the Reapers and that the Alliance is trying to evacuate the solar system.


Once the player has done this and any other kind of missions the player goes to the gas giant and takes a shuttle to descent into the gas giant's atmosphere with a team.

At the depths they discover an incredible advanced structure which architecture is very different from that of any species Shepard has encountered before.

After traveling through it for a while the player finally makes contact with the consciousness that controls this facility.

It reveals itself to be the last remnant of a civilization that existed long before the Protheans were even around and that it has witnessed several Reaper cycles since its creation.

Its creators like the Protheans were also threatened with being harvested by the Reapers but in an attempt to keep something of their civilization alive they created the jupiter brain and downloaded all their knowledge, history, and digital copies of their minds into it.

The Reapers actually found out that the jupiter brain was created but ignored.
Instead the jupiter mind monitored how the Reapers just destroyed the aliens' advanced infrastructure throughout the galaxy and then retreated again.

Ever since then the jupiter brain has been studying the Reapers and while it has not completely determined their origins and purpose it has learned a few things about them.

-The Reapers only target advanced space faring civilizations that use mass effect for faster than light travel and have infrastructures on an interstellar scale.
After a civilization is completely harvested almost all of their existence such as cities, space stations and so on is cleansed from the galaxy, most likely to prevent emerging species from discovering these and get an advance in development.

-Around the time the Reapers arrive there is a spike in Dark Matter energy and when the Reapers leave this spike is also over.

The jupiter brain has also discovered that the Reapers seem to communicate with each other through a type of cyberspace gestalt and while it has never truly been able to access this communication channel it learned that the Reapers make references to a place or a thing called the 'Source'.

Apparently this source is where all the Reapers come from.
The jupiter brain theorizes that it may have been a physical place or thing once but that it now only exists in the Reapers' cyberspace.
This 'Source' might be the means to stopping them.

Unfortunately the jupiter brain does not know how to access the source, only a Reaper would know and getting that information from one would be impossible.

Its at this point that the Batarian mentions that he knows where a Reaper can be found which Shepard can access to get the information about the Source; the Leviathan of Dis which happens to be on the Batarian homeworld.


At this point the player gets to learn more about the Batarian.
The Batarian reveals to Shepard that he used to be the head of the Batarian government's intelligence department and that he oversaw the retrieval of the Leviathan when it was discovered.

However the Batarian also reveals that he was behind the Skylian Blitz, having organized the operation that took place in the Skylian Verge.

Shepard can confront him on that but the Batarian will also bring up that Shepard destroyed a Batarian system with thousands of people.
The Batarian was simply doing what he thought was the best for his people just as Shepard did what he thought was the best for humanity.

When the Reapers invaded the Batarian realized that it was time to set aside these grudges as there is far more at stake than simple political issues.

Unfortunate for the Batarian he was ousted out power by other people within the government and the intelligence department who planned a take over for a long time.
Among these traitors was the Batarian's own son.
Soon after the Reapers invaded and took control of the Batarian homeworld.

Having no one else to turn to the Batarian decided to get Shepard's help to save his people.
Shepard asks if he means that he wants to save his government but the Batarian responds that he does not care about their fates anymore, his loyalty was always to the common people and he wants to save as many as possible.


With information from the Batarian the Normandy sets course to the Batarian homeworld which at that point is overrun by Reapers, indoctrinated Batarians and Batarian husks.

Fortunate the inactive Reaper has not been discovered yet and the Batarian leads Shepard to the massive hangar where its located through the headquarters of the Batarian intelligence department.

During this Shepard and the Batarian also come across the Batarian's son who is now indoctrinated and half transformed into a husk.

When the Batarian sees him he shoots him through the head.
Shepard asks the Batarian if he can life with the knowledge that he killed his own son but the Batarian responds he has three more children who turned out much better that his oldest son.

Once in the hangar Shepard is greeted by the sight of a Reaper covered by cranes, catwalks and other equipment that is used to study and dismantle it, but no sight of scientists or engineers.

As the team goes into the Reaper they find out that the personnel that worked near the Reaper has been indoctrinated and now seeks to stop Shepard and his team from making progress.

The Batarian managed to avoid being indoctrinated by exposing himself as little as possible to the Reaper in the past.

In the Reaper's head Shepard finally finds the 'brain' that contains all the information Shepard needs to get access to the source, but when this information is downloaded it results in the Reaper starting to wake up.
As if it is aware of the beings inside it who steal its memories.

The Batarian suggests that they get out as soon as possible and that he has a last surprise for the Reaper that will ensure it won't trouble them.

More action scenes follow during which the awakening Reaper starts to tear apart the hangar.
Once the team is onboard the shuttle and heading into space the Batarian shows his last ace as he presses a detonator, at the same time hundreds of nuclear bombs placed throughout the Reaper detonate, tearing it apart from the inside.

The Batarian never liked the idea of a sleeping giant waking up and tearing apart their world so he had the nuclear explosives placed throughout it for just such a possibility.


The information Shepard got from the Reaper tells how once can access the Reapers' cyberspace and get to the Source but to do so one requires a special access point or make one of their own.

The Illusive Man contacts Shepard again to thank him for all the good work he has done for Cerberus but that he will take things over now.
The scientists at his base have been working on such a cyberspace access point for some time and now the Illusive Man can finally can use it to access the Source and take control of the Reapers for the benefit of mankind.

Shepard tries to convince the Illusive Man that that would be foolish but the Illusive Man refuses to listen.

Not all of Cerberus forces agree with the Illusive Man's plan to harness the Reapers' power and the player can perform missions in which he can now recruit them on his side or convince them to join the Alliance in the fight against the Reapers.


When the player goes to Avernus station the administrator of the complex tells Shepard that he agrees with his opinion that the Reapers can not be controlled or harnessed and that there is no point of working with the Illusive Man anymore.

Together with the other people on Avernus station he has been working on a plan to preserve some members of each species by converting the research bays into cryogenic hibernation stations.
Avernus station would become a type of shelter were the survivors can wait out the current Reaper cycle and then try to rebuild.

To prevent the Reapers from accessing the Galactic Core the people of Avernus station would move the Mass Relay at their side into the event horizon of the black hole once all preparations are completed.


The administrator of Avernus station gives Shepard the information he needs to get to the Illusive Man's headquarters and then starts setting his own plan into motion.

Basically the next section would be like what happens in the released Mass Effect 3 but the Cerberus forces on TIM's station would be divided into two camps, one that is indoctrinated and under TIM's control and a still free group that seeks to get out alive.

At the end of this part of the game the player would confront the Illusive Man in his laboratory.
Unfortunate for the Illusive Man his plan to control the Reapers did not work out and instead they have taken him over, using him to control the station.

Now that Shepard is here they turn him into a unique type of indoctrinated warrior and pit them against the player.

Once this fight has been completed the Illusive Man regains his free will for just a moment, apologizing to Shepard that he thought he could control them and that he really was just out for the interests of humanity.
He also tells Shepard that there is another way to access the Source, at the very place where Reapers are created; the Citadel.

Now having gathered as much allies and aid as possible the player must make the preparations for the attack on the Citadel.
But as Citadel arms are closed another way to get inside is needed.

Liara reminds Shepard of the conduit back on Ilos and that they could use that to get inside and then open the Citadel arms for the rest of the fleet.

However the Terminus systems are now swarming with Reapers and indoctrinated forces and it will be difficult for just one ship to get in.

Admiral Hackett decides to split the fleet into two groups, a main larger group led by Hackett that will attack the Citadel and a small fleet led by Anderson that will escort the Normandy to Ilos.

Once in the system where Ilos is located the fleet runs into heavy Reaper resistance, far to much for the fleet to handle.
Shepard urges that they all retreat and plan a new strategy but Anderson overrules him, telling Shepard that this is the only chance they have to get him on Ilos.
Everyone in this fleet knows that Shepard's team is the only chance they have to get the Citadel to open and to find the Source of the Reapers, and they are willing to sacrifice to get him through.

The fleet is basically massacred as the Normandy goes for the surface of Ilos and even on the ground the player will need to go through several fights before they finally reach the conduit again.


The Citadel has been drastically changed since it was captured by the Reapers, even the conduit is now on a completely different place, having been dumped on one of the station's arms.

As Shepard and his team move through the various wards they see Reaper machines at work, converting various species into new Reapers that are already partly finished.
Species like humans, Asari, Turians and Salarians are turned into Sovereign type Reapers while races like Krogans, Batarians, and Volus are turned into smaller spider Reapers.

Shepard needs to get the arms of the Citadel open before these Reapers are ready to be deployed the group needs to go through various sections of the station before they finally are at the controls.

Outside the battle between the fleet and the Reapers is already in progress but its not going well as new Reapers return from other parts of the galaxy to reinforce their brethren at the Citadel.
The only way to cut off these reinforcements is to shut down the Mass Relays which the Citadel's controls are capable off.

After the player has finally reached the controls and opened up the arms and shut down all the local mass relays the fleet finally has a chance and it starts to destroy all the Reapers that are still under construction.

Harbinger by now realizes who is responsible for this sudden development and heads to the Citadel to confront Shepard.

Back at the Citadel controls Shepard is taken to a different secret section of the station, something no one other than the Reapers has ever seen before and it is here where the player finally is able to access the Source, the great network that unites the Reapers.

Shepard is not the only being here as Harbinger also enters the Source to face Shepard, questioning why he dares to enter this most private of places.

That Harbinger not immediately kills Shepard makes him realize that he may have a chance here and he takes on Harbinger's challenge. He demands to know why the Reapers keep destroying galactic civilizations every time a new one arises and harvests their people to turn them into new Reapers.

Harbinger gives the usual response that the Reapers purpose is beyond Shepard's understand but Shepard tells Harbinger that that is not good enough anymore.
The fact that he is here at the Source should tell Harbinger and the other Reapers that the species of the galaxy have developed beyond the Reapers' expectations.

Realizing that Shepard is right Harbinger tells Shepard to interact with the Source, it will give him the answers he seeks on what the Reapers try to accomplish, or better what they try to prevent.

While most of the Source is beyond Shepard's understanding there are other parts he does grasp and it starts to visualize before him.

The Source shows Shepard that long ago one of the first civilizations in the galaxy grew some large that it almost encompassed all of it, becoming so advanced that at some point only their imagination was the limit.

But as their understanding grew so did their awareness of the workings of the universe and at some point they made a terrible discovery

They were already aware of Dark Energy and how it was speeding up the expansion of the universe, sometimes even tearing larger galaxies apart, but now they discovered that Dark Energy was increasing at a rate faster than what the scientists and scholars had determined before.

Something was increasing Dark Energy in the galaxy and it was not just influencing the expansion of the universe anymore, it started to work at the sub atomic level, actually tearing matter apart.
Stars and planets that were suppose to have life estimated in the millions of years suddenly started to die much sooner due to the extra Dark Energy.

The creators discovered that cause of extra Dark Energy was star faring civilizations such as their own that were causing the increase, the extra Dark Energy was a direct side product of faster than light travel and the advanced technologies they were using.

The creators tried to find out how to fix the problem but determined that they simply were not smart enough, they could not think on a intergalactic scale

So instead they sought to create intelligences far greater then themselves, the Reapers whose purpose is to find a solution to the damage advanced civilizations do to the universe and repair it in order to preserve existence

However the creators could not stop the rise from other civilizations after them who on their turn could create technology that could damage reality, so the Reapers sought to guide galactic civilizations along paths of progress that do the least damage to the universe until they reach a critical point that the Reapers need to intervene

The Reapers think that 'harvesting' species in order to uplift them to their level is better than the alternative; total extermination
It also increases the Reapers' processing capabilities to find a solution to fix the damage to the universe.

At this point the player can bring up to Harbinger that this process has been going on for millions of years, how much does Harbinger still remember of his creators and their memories when they were still persons.

The player can also bring up that the Reapers don't really preserve anything from the species they convert into new Reapers, they copy perhaps hard data but anything else like hopes, feelings, dreams and such are gone. Harbinger refutes this, claiming that species live on through Reapers and that they are spared the slow process of uplifting themselves

The player asks if the Harbinger thinks that the Reapers are the logical conclusion to organic life's evolution, it says it does but the player can bring up situations that completely contradict it.

The player mentions to Harbinger than it and the other Reapers are remarkable machines, but nothing more. They aren't the evolution of other species, they are the memories of harvested species that keep going on

And not even true memories at that as each Reaper mind is basically a copy of the original, just forged from the minds of other species.

Shepard brings up that the original creators sought to preserve the universe in order so that future species could come into being long after the creators were gone or had moved on. The Reapers still seek to preserve the universe but they no longer seem to remember the reason why they do so

Perhaps it requires a different kind of highly evolved intelligence to find a solution to the problem the creators wanted to solve, the Reapers have been at it for millions of years and clearly they are not capable of it

Harbinger of course will contradict it and say the Reapers simply need more time, but Shepard responds that all the Reapers do is eliminate other chances for the creators' problem to be solved by destroying civilizations. Its time that the Reapers accept that they are a dead end.

Its at this point that the player can choose to destroy the Source, and by doing so he destroys the minds of all the Reapers.
Without those to operate their bodies the physical Reapers start to fall apart.

 

[Walpknut]

Dutch Ghost's Idea is very similar to mine, altho you went into a lot more detail than I did.

Maybe I am just stubborn, but I don't like the idea of everything reverting back to normal after the Reaper war, I think that what happens at the end should be rather drastic, altho I don't think the Last Minute Reality Warping Machine was a good writtign decision in the least.

Also, remember that the thread is about any non fallout game, so feel free to post any other treatments.

 

[AskWazzup]

You could publish this thread as a novel.

 

[Akratus]

Fuck all of you people. I thought I was done with fucking Mass Effect. Mass Effect 3 is irredeemable shit, Mass Effect 2's only good aspect is it's cheap repetitive combat.

Mass Effect 2 already fucked the series up. Firstly, you were in the exact same position at the end as you were in the beginning. Secondly, the villains were completely shit, not a single interesting thing about them. This means also that the reapers were ruined. In ME1 the reapers didn't even fucking care about shepard. He was just another ant, and they had more important things to do than talk to him. Then in mass effect 2 Harbinger actually taunts shepard. And he posesses minions to fight him personally so the villain just got dumped into a bin. Then, the main cast is full of completely unnecessary characters, none of them have anything to do with the main plot, except mordin is used as a plot device. And lastly we come to the plot which was mind boglingly bad. You DO NOT EVER WRITE A STORY THAT PROCEEDS AS SUCH:

Protagonist dies, resurrected because science. Not specific science, just science. They science'd him. > completely unrelated space adventures with the daddy issues team, zero development in over arching story > turns out a reaper was made of human milkshakes, and it looks like a terminator and is perfect endboss size, so turn up the orchestral soundtrack and fire up those heartstrings.

Cerberus puts logos everywhere!! AAARGH!!! AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON KAI LENG FUCK!

Fuck this series. I'm sorry, I have to get that shit out of the way first every single time we talk about Mass Effect. Only now can I calmly read all of your ideas.

If I was to change the Mass Effect trilogy into anything coherent I would do it by changing all 3 games, and I would do it like this:

If the reapers are the overarching nemesis that need defeating, and they are supposed to be menacing in a way that people can not even comprehend, it does not work well to have the protagonist shut down the shields of one by killing another villain at the end of the first game, for the reaper to die.

So here's how we change the ME1 ending: Shepard kills Saren who is pimped up on Reaper tech. He orders a tech savvy squad mate to move up to the terminal and see if he/she can can do anything to disrupt Sovereign's attempt at opening the gateway for the reaper invasion. Since it would be quite silly to be able to turn off the shields of this massive sentient starship from a puny terminal, that idea is off the table. So instead, the squadmate tells shepard that all he can do is send petabytes of gibberish every millisecond to the Reaper, whilst opening the Citadel doors. Shepard acknowledges and tells the fleets he has a chance to possibly give them a shot at the reaper. They stand by, and they open the citadel arms. The reaper is the most advanced cyberorganic lifeform in the universe, and is quickly able to sense that he has lost the connection. He activates his shields and weaponry and moves in for the kill. However, his shields can not stop multiple fleets simultaneously. He sustains some damage and concludes that since he is unable to achieve his goal without a minion inside, he quickly retreats to the relay, and vanishes.

Thus begins the mass effect 2. The search for Sovereign. (And this is the awesome part, he's hiding in the galactic core where the reapers have a secret base full of perfect robotic enemies for shepard to shoot)

Mass Effect thusly turns into: Searching for Sovereign, preparing for the reapers (by fucking stocking every god damn planet full of artillery) And THAT is the reason ME3 opens with a hearing about Shepard's erattic behaviour. (giving resources and guns and ships to the battarians, as well as every other race, would raise some eyebrows. Imagine Udina's reaction)

Then, if shepard does win at the end. But the galaxy is in fucking ruins. A perfectly bittersweet ending. No retarded dialogue, no starchild, no mess of an overarching and individual game plots.

This is actually the idea I had for a fan fiction ish rewrite of the second and third games, but obviously my first attempt was complete shite, and I've got a great start now that I haven't touched in weeks.

 

[Tagaziel]

Mass Effect 2 already fucked the series up. Firstly, you were in the exact same position at the end as you were in the beginning. Secondly, the villains were completely shit, not a single interesting thing about them. This means also that the reapers were ruined. In ME1 the reapers didn't even fucking care about shepard. He was just another ant, and they had more important things to do than talk to him. Then in mass effect 2 Harbinger actually taunts shepard. And he posesses minions to fight him personally so the villain just got dumped into a bin. Then, the main cast is full of completely unnecessary characters, none of them have anything to do with the main plot, except mordin is used as a plot device. And lastly we come to the plot which was mind boglingly bad. You DO NOT EVER WRITE A STORY THAT PROCEEDS AS SUCH:

I liked Mass Effect 2. Its story was a logical follow up, and the emphasis Harbinger puts on killing Shepard is also logical. If you have an ant that kills humans, you do your best to find the killer ant and stop it before it kills more humans.

Scale that up and you have the Reaper conundrum. Shepard proved himself capable of standing up to the Reapers and killing their emissary (with the help of a fleet, but that's technical). So, Harbinger focuses on trying to kill Shepard, because that's a logical thing to do.

 

[Akratus]

Mass Effect 2 already fucked the series up. Firstly, you were in the exact same position at the end as you were in the beginning. Secondly, the villains were completely shit, not a single interesting thing about them. This means also that the reapers were ruined. In ME1 the reapers didn't even fucking care about shepard. He was just another ant, and they had more important things to do than talk to him. Then in mass effect 2 Harbinger actually taunts shepard. And he posesses minions to fight him personally so the villain just got dumped into a bin. Then, the main cast is full of completely unnecessary characters, none of them have anything to do with the main plot, except mordin is used as a plot device. And lastly we come to the plot which was mind boglingly bad. You DO NOT EVER WRITE A STORY THAT PROCEEDS AS SUCH:

I liked Mass Effect 2. Its story was a logical follow up, and the emphasis Harbinger puts on killing Shepard is also logical. If you have an ant that kills humans, you do your best to find the killer ant and stop it before it kills more humans.

Scale that up and you have the Reaper conundrum. Shepard proved himself capable of standing up to the Reapers and killing their emissary (with the help of a fleet, but that's technical). So, Harbinger focuses on trying to kill Shepard, because that's a logical thing to do.

Yes he should be focussing on it, but personally taunting him is crossing the line into cheesyness for me. He should be sending out special forces to deal with him, not just have his minions fight him and then take control of some of them occasionally just to say: "You're totally feeling this dude!" Or even better, blow his ship up again. First time worked, maybe the second time they won't have a deus ex machina handy.

No I do not feel that ME2 was a logical follow up to the first, but you didn't give any reasons, so I guess I don't need to refute you. Still, I'd like to hear how you feel that switching over to a terrorist organization in the middle of a story (only to switch back by the 3rd when the writers realize their mistake), being science'd back to life, accomplishing nothing but the defeat of a new generic villain, wasting time with random space adventures (at least most of the game should have been related to the main plot in my opnion), having that terrorist organization post their logo everywhere, having a geth replacing villain force, an antagonist we never see, too many squad mates and an ending reveal that actually makes the story stupider is logical.

 

[Crni Vuk]

I think it would have been awesome if the ending in ME turned out to be the indoctrination of Shepard where, depending on the choices you made at the end, you either fight trough the indoctrination, and get to the real end fight with a completely different ending, or you ... just die, a horrorible death.

Think about it, it would have been probably the "best and worst" marketing stragety at the same time, trolling your community with a "shitty" and "uninspired" ending with star brat explaining it all to you

and then Bioware "patched" the REAL ending in the game like planed.

It would have been somewhat interesting, because it would have meant a REAL twist. Something people eventually didnt saw coming.

Thats more or less what I would have done.

And yeah, while the idea and explantion behind the reepers is not THAAAAT bad, its also not really interesting. Bioware is trying way to hard here. Its simply not something they can do. This isnt planescape afterall.

I believe, that you do not have to explain that much in the end. Take Alien and Aliens. Do they ever explained what those creatures really are? Or if they even are capable of real inteligence? Sometimes things lose a lot of what makes them awesome when you explain to much.

 

[Surf Solar]

All this thread did to me was reinstall ME1 and 3. I... kinda liked both of these games.

 

[Ilosar]

All this thread did to me was reinstall ME1 and 3. I... kinda liked both of these games.

They're certainly the best of the series. ME1 for the story/music and general sci-fi atmosphere, ME3 for the gameplay and characters. ME3's gameplay I find to be really good, enough that I played the multiplayer for a long time.

ME2 has rough, dumbed down gameplay, and as others have said the story is very meh and has no place in the overarching plot. Hell, the Arrival DLC is the only one that actually addresses the fact that, indeed, the Reapers are coming and running around in the Terminus killing random mercs might not be the best of ideas.

 

[Atomic Postman]

I would do my own version of your post with Halo:Reach, but after my Halo thread, I'm not so sure...

 

[Walpknut]

Go ahead. Any non Fallout game is allowed.

 

[Akratus]

Well this thread is not about the games themselves but how you would do them, interesting enough for me no matter what game is the subject matter.

 

[Walpknut]

Ok, lt's not let this Thread die, next game: Bioshock, have a go.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Hello all,

This is more for a game that still needs to come out; Wolfenstein: The New Order.

Now I need to make a few things clear, I liked Return to Castle Wolfenstein as well as Wolfenstein 2009 despite some of its limitations and game design made for consoles.
I really liked how the game carried this Indiana Jones 'vibe' and I would like to continue with that in a new Wolfenstein game.

What I don't like about the New Order is this alternate timeline nonsense, it seems to me like an excuse to have loads of Nazis, not to mention their robots everywhere in a 'Metropolis' like setting.
It screams 'time travel' to me, either the player goes back in the end to undo this Crapsack world, or the games will now continue in an almost perpetual Nazi controlled world which I think would be a bad direction for the franchise


Rather I would prefer to continue with the real history fact that Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945 by the Allies (yes, in particular the Soviet Union, I have read the facts).
But like in real history a lot of the Nazis fled to other countries and continents, in particular South America.

Here I would like to continue with the almost Indiana Jones like atmosphere.
While the world is busy rebuilding from World War Two the remaining Nazis (including Death's Head?) are making preparations for the rebirth of the Third Reich.

Now here I hope people can forgive me for using parts of an Indiana Jones game that was never made: Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix (this is not meant as plagiarism, rather as a tribute as I still want this game to be made).
The Nazis in hiding want to search the world for artefacts of various mythology and folklore to help rebuild their armed forces and give them an edge to finally wipe out the war weary Allies.

Items like for example Thor's hammer, the sword of Alexander and so on.
But in particular the Nazis want to find the Philosopher Stone, they want to use its power for transmutation to create as much gold and uranium they need to make their own atomic bombs and finance new industry, but they also want to use its properties to resurrect the dead by resurrecting Hitler (they stole his remains from the Soviet Union).

The player once again assumes the role of William "B.J." Blazkowicz who must now travel across the world to investigate the activities of Nazi agents and their allies while recovering these artefacts and use them to fight the remains of the Third Reich.

Of course next to regular human opponents the player must also face creations from the Nazi scientists' laboratories as well as super natural and mythological creatures the Nazis have recovered or set free.

In the end the player would have to confront the Nazis at their secret headquarters in South America and even face a resurrected Hitler who has been turned into his imagined 'Aryan Superman' ideal through the power of the Philosopher Stone.

Unlike Wolfenstein 2009 there would not be a hub level the player has to go through every time between levels, but there would be a central location where the player goes through briefings and picks up new weapons and gear that have been made possible through design schematics the player can pick up during the game.

My wish would be that there would be as much variety in levels as possible, from Post World War 2 Germany to the Ural Mountains, Norway, the Mediterranean, South America and so on.

Gameplay would be old school again, the player can carry all weapons and can increase their strength and loadout through schematics.
Health would also be old style but the player can carry spare med kits.

Next to these the player can also use the mention mythical artefacts for offensive and defensive abilities.
For example the Hammer of Thor acts like the Tesla gun, sending out bolts of lightning, the sword of Alexander can cut through anything etc.