Mass Effect 3 (Seriously, Use Spoilers People!)

[maybeagnostic]

ME2 has a slow down (bullet time?) when you zoom in with a sniper. How does ME3 handle this in multiplayer?

Ghostbear, why do you think the Collector ship is a cruiser? Judging by what Shepard and other people say in ME2* it seems to be bigger than human dreadnoughts and even Sovereign.

* "That thing is huge!", "Look at the size of it!" and other things that sound weird out of context.

[An Enraged Platypus]

ME2 has a slow down (bullet time?) when you zoom in with a sniper. How does ME3 handle this in multiplayer?

Ghostbear, why do you think the Collector ship is a cruiser? Judging by what Shepard and other people say in ME2* it seems to be bigger than human dreadnoughts and even Sovereign.

* "That thing is huge!", "Look at the size of it!" and other things that sound weird out of context.

In the opening sequence on the Normady SR-1, the crew identify it as a cruiser.

[Yakk]

ME2 has a slow down (bullet time?) when you zoom in with a sniper. How does ME3 handle this in multiplayer?

It doesn't have slowdown or pause options.

[maybeagnostic]

ME2 has a slow down (bullet time?) when you zoom in with a sniper. How does ME3 handle this in multiplayer?

Ghostbear, why do you think the Collector ship is a cruiser? Judging by what Shepard and other people say in ME2* it seems to be bigger than human dreadnoughts and even Sovereign.

* "That thing is huge!", "Look at the size of it!" and other things that sound weird out of context.

In the opening sequence on the Normady SR-1, the crew identify it as a cruiser.

I just assumed they called it a cruiser because you don't encounter lonely dreadnoughts patrolling random planets. I replayed the mission where you board the 'disabled' Collector ship yesterday and it has a conversation about how the Collectors can easily fit every human in the Traverse on that ship and they're probably going after Earth. The Traverse has multiple human colonies with more than a million inhabitants. That hardly sounds like a cruiser.

[Ghostbear]

Ghostbear, why do you think the Collector ship is a cruiser? Judging by what Shepard and other people say in ME2* it seems to be bigger than human dreadnoughts and even Sovereign.

Beyond what was already said (they identify it as a cruiser), the game never goes back and revises that statement ("I thought this was a cruiser, but now that we have more data...") size is also not the sole determinant of ship class- the game's codex identifies Purgatory as a cruiser-weight vessel, yet it is likely far larger than any dreadnoughts we have seen as well. The game calls it a cruiser- that's enough for me to say it is one.

[Yakk]

More accurately, the writers of the game don't give a crap if they misnamed a naval vessel size class. They'll ignore it, rewrite it, retcon it, or whatever else -- I strongly suspect that that level of detail is not something that they are worried about.

[Ghostbear]

More accurately, the writers of the game don't give a crap if they misnamed a naval vessel size class. They'll ignore it, rewrite it, retcon it, or whatever else -- I strongly suspect that that level of detail is not something that they are worried about.

This too, which gets back at what started this side discussion: they'll piss on the lore if they have to in order to pull of what they want to with the story. They already did at the start of ME2 with the new heatsink-gun stuff, and they did it during the battle around the Citadel- ships were constantly being one shotted, even though the codex described space battles as more endurance matches than anything else. Not to mention that the fighting for it took place at far too close of a range in most cases to make sense.

To some extent, that's the kind of thing you do want- if the writers feel too constrained by prior lore decisions, there's nothing wrong with retconning them to make the story they want to tell work. It is bad when it's overdone however, and carries a risk of annoying their biggest fans.

[An Enraged Platypus]

So, all those rumours about a Prothean squadmate for day one DLC?

http://uk.xboxlive.ign.com/articles/121/1219156p1.html

Confirmed.

[Ghostbear]

That's so ridiculous. I don't think there's any way they can fit that into the story that won't make me think it's stupid. What happened to the whole "extinct for the past 50,000 years" thing?

[Xeio]

Clearly he was in one of those stasis pods, or something...

[ArgonV]

So that's only for the digital deluxe edition? I've pre-ordered the game, so I guess that doesn't come for me then. Too bad.

I can't decide with whom I want to start Mass Effect 3. My male Shepard, romanced no one in ME, but started something with Tali in ME2, or my female Shepard, romanced Liara in ME, but no one in ME2.

[Belial]

Just because the geth haven't pushed back in doesn't mean they'd be ignored. They kicked the shit out of what was likely the most powerful fleet in sentient space. That's going to be a big embarassement for the various militaries, and they'd be doing their part to rectify that mistake and ensure it doesn't happen again.

Given the character of the council (Obstruction in Cloaca hypothesized to be Cranium) I honestly wouldn't put it past them to consider that solved.

While I agree about the krogan and the vorcha, I'm going to say you're wrong about the batarians: they have at least possessed cruisers in the past, possess a dreadnought of their own, and if they were unable to field a fleet of some noteworthy capacity, then they would be unable to effectively harass humans with any effectiveness.

Oh hey, you're right, I was wrong about the batarians. At the same time, a military centered around a single dreadnought is nothing to get terribly worried about. I imagine the council fleets are pretty comfortable with the idea that they could put the Batarians down hard with their current tech.

Beyond that, there is definite arms race heating up between the humans and the turians-

This is the most credible reason I can think of for the weapon to proliferate among Turian ships, but it's also the best reason for it not to extend beyond them. If they're trying to stay militarily superior to another council species, they aren't going to want to share their technology freely among the council. The Normandy is a bit of aberration in that regard, because it seems like Garrus basically fucked the Hierarchy over to get the designs.

Where are we told it produces a massive amount of heat, at least relative to the traditional cannons? Not saying that it isn't true, but I certainly don't remember that, and the only indication of it I've found at all is that it's essentially a particle gun, firing molten metal- that wouldn't necessarily cause it to produce more heat than an accelerator gun.

It basically has to. Mass accelerators basically work off of magnets and mass effect fields. Both of those things are essentially electrical processes so they generate a pretty fair amount of heat, but it's all residual. A byproduct. The thanix cannon works by firing a stream of mass-accelerated molten metal hot enough to melt ships' hulls. That means somewhere in the process there has to be a component that can heat metal that hot, which means you have to dissipate the heat from that process somehow. Heat enough to melt another ship's hull.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more the weapon is completely ridiculous on its face.

Even so, a dreadnought would be able to absorb far more heat before running out of capacity to fire any longer, and has far more space available to dissipate that heat with.

Yeah, but if they were trying to get coverage over their entire hull such that they could reliably shoot down incoming frigates, they'd need tons of them. The normandy has more heat-dissipation for its size than just about any other military ship (thus why its stealth system is possible). Any other ship is going to have more problems making this go.

size is also not the sole determinant of ship class

That's kindof the point though. If the collector ship is dreadnought sized (even if it isn't technically a dreadnought, no axial gun) and it is entirely shoot-down-able (totally a word) then a dreadnought basically is too?

That's so ridiculous. I don't think there's any way they can fit that into the story that won't make me think it's stupid.

Agreed. A lot. I have a lot of faith in the ME writers, but I really don't see how they're going to pull this one off.

Huh, unless they go with another Grunt. Not so much an actual "I was around 50k years ago" Prothean so much as an "I sure was grown in a lab" Prothean.

Not sure why the shit anyone would do that, though.

ANYWAY. So multiplayer. It is addictive as crap. The only thing that stemmed my rampant "Must boosterpack ALL THE THINGS" urges was the discovery that none of it carries over to the full release. Once that release takes place, I'm doomed.

[ArgonV]

Meh, I still wait every time to 20.000 credits and buy the Veteran packs. And I don't care it doesn't carry over to the release, I also made some mistakes with some of my characters (I assumed you could upgrade ALL your skills for example), so a reset is nice in some regards. I will miss my Phalanx VI and Avenger III though.

[Ghostbear]

Given the character of the council (Obstruction in Cloaca hypothesized to be Cranium) I honestly wouldn't put it past them to consider that solved.

I wouldn't disagree, but it seems to me that the various species also have a lot of independence beyond council related business. Council business goes pretty far, but if the Turians were pissed that they lost three dreadnoughts (number pulled out of my ass, I have no idea what they lost) during the battle, then I could easily imagine their top military minds getting together to make sure they never suffer a defeat like that to the geth ever again. I don't remember much mention in ME2 of it, but I think events in ME1 also showed that the Alliance, at least, considers the geth a viable threat, even before the battle.

This is the most credible reason I can think of for the weapon to proliferate among Turian ships, but it's also the best reason for it not to extend beyond them. If they're trying to stay militarily superior to another council species, they aren't going to want to share their technology freely among the council. The Normandy is a bit of aberration in that regard, because it seems like Garrus basically fucked the Hierarchy over to get the designs.

That's true, but I think the various inter-council relationships might cause it to spread inadvertently anyway- you have the Normandy spreading that tech to the alliance for one, due to Mr. Calibrations. Then you have salarians with the best information teams in the galaxy (incidentally, how the fuck does that work? I think I'd notice someone of a different species trying to involve themselves with sensitive businesses/technology/whatever), so I can imagine them being able to steal the tech from the others. After that, the asari seem to have the best relationship with the turians, I could imagine the two of them sharing with each other due to that.

It basically has to. Mass accelerators basically work off of magnets and mass effect fields. Both of those things are essentially electrical processes so they generate a pretty fair amount of heat, but it's all residual. A byproduct. The thanix cannon works by firing a stream of mass-accelerated molten metal hot enough to melt ships' hulls. That means somewhere in the process there has to be a component that can heat metal that hot, which means you have to dissipate the heat from that process somehow. Heat enough to melt another ship's hull.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more the weapon is completely ridiculous on its face.

Fair enough, and yeah, it does seem to be a pretty ridiculous weapon.

Yeah, but if they were trying to get coverage over their entire hull such that they could reliably shoot down incoming frigates, they'd need tons of them. The normandy has more heat-dissipation for its size than just about any other military ship (thus why its stealth system is possible). Any other ship is going to have more problems making this go.

Right, but the dreadnought won't need to be firing those guns constantly. It sounds to me like weapons are generally pretty accurate once you've trained them on a target in the ME universe (at least for space combat), and thanix guns should definitely be small enough to fit on a turret as well. The dreadnought shouldn't need to fire more than a token number of blasts to score a direct hit and take out the frigate.

That's kindof the point though. If the collector ship is dreadnought sized (even if it isn't technically a dreadnought, no axial gun) and it is entirely shoot-down-able (totally a word) then a dreadnought basically is too?

That's why I think size isn't really what matters here- how well armored was it compared to a dreadnought? How much of it was dedicated to combat purposes and how much to other functions? It seemed (and looked) to me that the collector ship was basically a cruiser's combat capability welded on top of a giant freighter. There's a lot of storage space on that ship, which isn't really contributing anything to it's fighting capacity. A lot of its power plant was almost certainly dedicated to those pods, which when combined with the sheer size of the ship (and thus area that needed to be covered by shields), might have left very little room for a kinetic barrier that was any more impressive than what you'd expect on a cruiser. The armor could very easily have been lesser as well, due to it's need to be able to land on a planet's surface and desire to maintain some maneuverability in space- any excess mass dedicated to it could have prevented the ship from fulfilling its required functions. Then you add in the weapon better fitting a cruiser as well...

It's not cut and dry, I'll readily admit that, but I think that there's a good bit of room to take the game calling it a cruiser and say "Yeah, that makes sense".

Agreed. A lot. I have a lot of faith in the ME writers, but I really don't see how they're going to pull this one off.

Huh, unless they go with another Grunt. Not so much an actual "I was around 50k years ago" Prothean so much as an "I sure was grown in a lab" Prothean.

I dunno that'd they be able to "grow" a prothean, I think they lack any proper genetic data for them that isn't based off the collectors, and that'd presumably be fucked up from indoctrination. My guess is it'll be some kind of stasis pod / last surviving enclave of them that did get missed by the reapers (e.g. maybe some of the people that took the Ilos relay to the citadel survived, found a dinky little ship and decided to hide in some remote corner of the galaxy, and only now came out of hiding and this whole idea is stupid and ridiculous but I can't think of anything better).

[Belial]

Basically I think what we've established is that there's enough wiggle room and unanswered questions for it to go either way, at the will of the story, without really violating the lore.

incidentally, how the fuck does that work? I think I'd notice someone of a different species trying to involve themselves with sensitive businesses/technology/whatever

Well, I mean, in the case of business, most of the corporations seem to be multi-species anyway. In the case of governments...I have not the foggiest fucking clue, but I can only assume they took lessons from the Bothans in Star Wars. Why did the empire keep letting Bothans hang around their tech? No one knows!

(Actually, if I had to make something up, I'd say the STG don't so much infiltrate governments under cover, so much as they sneak in under cover of darkness and steal their files, or pay off and manage "assets" of the proper species who are already working there)

I dunno that'd they be able to "grow" a prothean, I think they lack any proper genetic data for them that isn't based off the collectors, and that'd presumably be fucked up from indoctrination. My guess is it'll be some kind of stasis pod / last surviving enclave of them that did get missed by the reapers (e.g. maybe some of the people that took the Ilos relay to the citadel survived, found a dinky little ship and decided to hide in some remote corner of the galaxy, and only now came out of hiding and this whole idea is stupid and ridiculous but I can't think of anything better).

You'd think the stasis pods on Ilos would be chock full of semi-preserved prothean bodies. That said, I looked into it and apparently he is supposed to have been in Stasis. I'm betting your explanation. Could even have been in stasis somewhere on the Citadel, since large parts of it are inaccessible to anyone but the Keepers.

That said, I agree, this is pretty dumb at first glance, and I am a bit baffled as to what it adds to the story. I will wait and see, though.

[omgryebread]

I dunno that'd they be able to "grow" a prothean, I think they lack any proper genetic data for them that isn't based off the collectors, and that'd presumably be fucked up from indoctrination. My guess is it'll be some kind of stasis pod / last surviving enclave of them that did get missed by the reapers (e.g. maybe some of the people that took the Ilos relay to the citadel survived, found a dinky little ship and decided to hide in some remote corner of the galaxy, and only now came out of hiding and this whole idea is stupid and ridiculous but I can't think of anything better).

You'd think the stasis pods on Ilos would be chock full of semi-preserved prothean bodies. That said, I looked into it and apparently he is supposed to have been in Stasis. I'm betting your explanation. Could even have been in stasis somewhere on the Citadel, since large parts of it are inaccessible to anyone but the Keepers.

That said, I agree, this is pretty dumb at first glance, and I am a bit baffled as to what it adds to the story. I will wait and see, though.

Bioware makes me a little nervous here. Kasumi and Zaeed felt like half-squadmates, so I worry this is "man prothean squadmate will sell awesome without work!" On the other hand, Shale in Dragon Age both fit with the party and meshed with the existing story very well (without the DLC being essential.) Sebastian in DA2 was also pretty decent as a DLC companion.

[Will]

Can I just mention in passing that I loved Shale? Because fuck, that guy (chick?) was awesome.

Anyway, while I heartily agree with the bringing protheans back being bullshit, I am really curious to see what they looked like before being twisted into the collectors. Unless there's already a depiction I wasn't aware of.

[Belial]

This is from the Art of Mass Effect, and matches what was on the banner for the new DLC. It conflicts pretty heavily with what's in the flashbacks and statues from the first game, which looks more like this:





But I'm assuming it's another case of "We redesigned the race to look cooler, and now they always looked like this" a la the Qunari in DA.

Also, yes, Shale was the character that was never not in my party in DA:O. Of the characters I hope return in 3, she tops the list. Well, her and Morrigan, because I would like a detailed, itemized report RE: What the Fucking Deal Is.

[An Enraged Platypus]

This is a call to arms: I'm looking for some PC players to down a Gold level map with. I've as yet only got to wave 8, at which point it's Happy Hour for Phantoms and at least four Atlas units are clamouring to exchange greetings and missiles. Best bet is probably to knock out a few silver maps, get health packs/medigel/rockets and attatch the best armour/ammo/weapon improvements.

[maybeagnostic]

I dunno that'd they be able to "grow" a prothean, I think they lack any proper genetic data for them that isn't based off the collectors, and that'd presumably be fucked up from indoctrination. My guess is it'll be some kind of stasis pod / last surviving enclave of them that did get missed by the reapers (e.g. maybe some of the people that took the Ilos relay to the citadel survived, found a dinky little ship and decided to hide in some remote corner of the galaxy, and only now came out of hiding and this whole idea is stupid and ridiculous but I can't think of anything better).

You'd think the stasis pods on Ilos would be chock full of semi-preserved prothean bodies. That said, I looked into it and apparently he is supposed to have been in Stasis. I'm betting your explanation. Could even have been in stasis somewhere on the Citadel, since large parts of it are inaccessible to anyone but the Keepers.

That said, I agree, this is pretty dumb at first glance, and I am a bit baffled as to what it adds to the story. I will wait and see, though.

That actually makes a lot of sense to me story-wise. The reapers are about to show up, take over the relay network and start destroying planets one at a time as we know they did to the protheans. The story requires some way for the Council races to counter reaper control of the relays and at this point the protheans are the only ones who have shown sufficient understanding of the technology. Having the prothean scientists on the Citadel be in stasis until the next time the reapers arrive makes more sense than someone recreating the centuries of research performed on Illium in a year. Originally I thought the reapers would need decades/centuries to get back to the Milky Way which would've given the Council enough time to figure out relays but that's obviously no longer an option. What really doesn't make sense to me is how they can come back so fast. If it only takes three years to travel from far outside the Galaxy to the Citadel then what use are the relays?

[Belial]

If it only takes three years to travel from far outside the Galaxy to the Citadel then what use are the relays?

The Citadel relay (the one that actually *is* the citadel, not just the one people use to get to the citadel, or the one in the garden) used to allow them to appear in the middle of galactic civilization and decapitate it before anyone knew what was going on. The citadel relay, however, is locked in the "off" position. So now they have to come in the normal way, and let everyone see them coming and rally a defense. The difference between "instant" and "a few years" is of pretty key strategic importance.

Also, somewhere it was implied that sovereign had actually been trying to trigger the invasion for a couple centuries, and just couldn't make it happen. It's possible the reaper fleet has been in motion...for a while.

[Xeio]

This is from the Art of Mass Effect, and matches what was on the banner for the new DLC. It conflicts pretty heavily with what's in the flashbacks and statues from the first game, which looks more like this:
But I'm assuming it's another case of "We redesigned the race to look cooler, and now they always looked like this" a la the Qunari in DA.

Maybe it's not a prothean, maybe it's a collector? Which are technically mutated/genetically engineered protheans? Or has it already been confirmed it's supposed to be a "real" prothean?

[An Enraged Platypus]

This is from the Art of Mass Effect, and matches what was on the banner for the new DLC. It conflicts pretty heavily with what's in the flashbacks and statues from the first game, which looks more like this:
But I'm assuming it's another case of "We redesigned the race to look cooler, and now they always looked like this" a la the Qunari in DA.

Maybe it's not a prothean, maybe it's a collector? Which are technically mutated/genetically engineered protheans? Or has it already been confirmed it's supposed to be a "real" prothean?

It really is a legit Prothean. My money's on the Collector/Prothean reveal having been made up on-the-fly, followed by a left hand/right hand mixup about what a Prothean looks like.

I don't find a Prothean too disturbing to lore; given that they had the technology to create stasis pods, understood the relays, and can control the keepers, it's not too farfetched that they hid away some pods on the Citadel and had the keepers guard them.

[maybeagnostic]

If it only takes three years to travel from far outside the Galaxy to the Citadel then what use are the relays?

The Citadel relay (the one that actually *is* the citadel, not just the one people use to get to the citadel, or the one in the garden) used to allow them to appear in the middle of galactic civilization and decapitate it before anyone knew what was going on. The citadel relay, however, is locked in the "off" position. So now they have to come in the normal way, and let everyone see them coming and rally a defense. The difference between "instant" and "a few years" is of pretty key strategic importance.

Oh, it definitely is in war, that's why I think it's critical for the Council races to prevent the reapers from 'shutting off' the relay network. The Citadel lets them do it to all relays at once but as the Omega 4 relay shows they can do it to individual relays as well. I was more thinking along the lines of what the relay network is designed to do in the first place. Supposedly it ensures sentient species spread out in predictable ways but if ships can cross the galaxy in a few years then no planet is really out of reach. Pretty much anywhere will be within a month or so of a relay at most and that's definitely not too far to colonize.

Of course that completely ignores facts like how the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across so anyone crossing it in 3 years would come from 100,000 years in the future but lets not involve too much science in our space opera

Also, somewhere it was implied that sovereign had actually been trying to trigger the invasion for a couple centuries, and just couldn't make it happen. It's possible the reaper fleet has been in motion...for a while.

But the reaper fleet would have had to wait by their middle-of-nowhere relay so they can get to the citadel as soon as Sovereign activates it. I guess they could have just been dragging it along with them.

[mosc]

I thought all FTL travel was through gates and the gates had limited ranges. The Citadel was a special gate that could bring in stuff from much further away. Now with it closed, they still have to use gates, they just have to go through more of them. 3 years worth of gates? That's my understanding of what happened. It may have to do with the number of reapers too. Lots of stuff to bring through...

Or maybe the relays are not all up to snuff. Some may need repair. The ones in the galaxy proper are regularly used but the reapers seem to expect to come back via the citadel. Having to take the long way around maybe had 3 years worth of fixes along the way?

[Belial]

I thought all FTL travel was through gates and the gates had limited ranges.

Nope. FTL drives are mounted on ships, they're just not amazing. With a ship-mounted drive, you can raise the local speed of light by 2 or 3, maybe 5 times, and then push yourself along at a pretty good clip, but if you want to get across the galaxy any time soon you need an eezo core the size of a small island.

Luckily, there are all these eezo cores the size of small islands...

But the reaper fleet would have had to wait by their middle-of-nowhere relay so they can get to the citadel as soon as Sovereign activates it. I guess they could have just been dragging it along with them.

Yeah, that's what I'd do: if sovereign misses its check in, grab the relay and fly a straight line toward the citadel, so that if Sovereign checks in late you still have it lined up along the same corridor and can just jump in. At some point, check in with the collectors to see what the shit is going on.

Also, bear in mind that we have no idea how far outside the galaxy they were. They could easily have placed themselves just far enough to be in inter galactic space and largely undetectable, but made sure they were a reasonably short hop from the edge of the Relay system.

Also also, given that the lore has commented on the reapers having massive eezo cores for their hull size (thus why they're able to land rather nimbly on planets despite being dreadnought-sized), their unassisted FTL speeds probably clock significantly higher than anything organics can currently manage.

[ArgonV]

What really doesn't make sense to me is how they can come back so fast. If it only takes three years to travel from far outside the Galaxy to the Citadel then what use are the relays?

Like Sovereign said, the gates are there to make sure advanced species find them, use them and shape their societies around them. Same with the Citadel. They make the Citadel the source of their government and other important things, the Reapers come, shut it down and use all data there to eliminate all species.
The relays are there to be shut down as well, since the species have all been using the relays, there's virtually no incentive for them to develop their own FTL capability, allowing the Reapers easy, eh, reaping.
This time they're screwed though, since the Protheans disabled the main relay shut-off.

And I'm still guessing the way to disable the Reapers will be destroying their eezo cores or something similar.

[Yakk]

This is from the Art of Mass Effect, and matches what was on the banner for the new DLC. It conflicts pretty heavily with what's in the flashbacks and statues from the first game, which looks more like this:
But I'm assuming it's another case of "We redesigned the race to look cooler, and now they always looked like this" a la the Qunari in DA.

Maybe it's not a prothean, maybe it's a collector? Which are technically mutated/genetically engineered protheans? Or has it already been confirmed it's supposed to be a "real" prothean?

It really is a legit Prothean. My money's on the Collector/Prothean reveal having been made up on-the-fly, followed by a left hand/right hand mixup about what a Prothean looks like.

Or there are two Prothean sexes. Or they have more in-race diversity than we are used to. Or...

[Belial]

Mostly, I'm wondering how they have something as game-changing as a Prothean Survivor in the story, but make them so that they just lift right back out of the story for anyone who doesn't have the DLC.

[Enokh]

Maybe he's in the story regardless, but the mission to make him join you is in the DLC?

[ArgonV]

Well, anyone who hasn't played/read about the Arrival DLC will probably be wondering why Shepard was awaiting trial on Earth...

[Belial]

Right, but that happened essentially between games. I'm thinking having a prothean around should be changing some major shit during the game. But it can't have too massive an effect (lollerskates) and still be optional, can it?

[Will]

I don't see how the survival of a single, random Prothean is necessarily a game-changer. Just because the Protheans as a race managed to learn enough about the Mass Relays to fuck up the Reapers' plans doesn't mean that any given Prothean has all the requisite knowledge to do so.

[Yakk]

Well, the the DLC option might be "do you get him as a companion or not", not "does he exist or not".

[maybeagnostic]

Mostly, I'm wondering how they have something as game-changing as a Prothean Survivor in the story, but make them so that they just lift right back out of the story for anyone who doesn't have the DLC.

Well, a prothean survivor would probably have a major effect on the story anyway but the DLC will let you recruit it for your party. Otherwise it, um, will just sit around at the citadel and hint that it would join your team just as soon as you pay EA $10? That actually sounds pretty horrible.

[ArgonV]

Off-topic thing I noticed whilst replaying ME: Listen to this at 1:10 (segment 3), then this.

What the..?!

[Belial]

I don't see how the survival of a single, random Prothean is necessarily a game-changer. Just because the Protheans as a race managed to learn enough about the Mass Relays to fuck up the Reapers' plans doesn't mean that any given Prothean has all the requisite knowledge to do so.

That...is a fair point, I suppose.

[pseudoidiot]

Well, anyone who hasn't played/read about the Arrival DLC will probably be wondering why Shepard was awaiting trial on Earth...

Apparently I should play or read about this DLC.

[ArgonV]

Well, anyone who hasn't played/read about the Arrival DLC will probably be wondering why Shepard was awaiting trial on Earth...

Apparently I should play or read about this DLC.

Short version

Spoiler:

Shepard blew up a mass relay to slow down the Reapers, killing some 300,000 Batarians

[An Enraged Platypus]

Thinking more about it, this Prothean DLC is worrying. Either the character has little impact on the plot/lore, which is a ridiculous waste of opportunity, or you are forcing people to pay £20 more on the box/£10 post hoc for something essential to the story, which was made at the same time as the rest of the material but held back just to grab more money from the consumer. It would be like publishing 'The Final Problem' for £10 with no mention of Moriarty at all unless you buy the £12.50 version. If the Prothean does make a huge contribution regardless of whether you have the DLC but only joins you for the £10, then you have bought a loyalty mission or whatever for double the £5 they used to run for, and you are still paying for something they could have easily put into the finished project at no extra effort. The reduction to absurdity of all of this is that they sell you the entire story in chunks of £5 a level, or release a 4 hour game with all the cutscenes extended to actual content at £5 a time.