Phil725 wrote...
I see ME2 as standalone because no matter what happened in ME1, how you play ME2 doesn't change. You still die, then recruit 4 people, go to Horizon, etc. The surrounding environment is all that changes. You expect two different games, one where you go off to broker peace between the geth/quarians, and one where you choose a side to help in war based on what happened before? Bioware just doesn't have that option. They need to keep the game at least manageable.
What it really boils down to is what was meant by ME3 being standalone. It's nebulous.
The geth/quarian conflict needs resolved in ME3, pidgeonholing you into one solution is hardly being standalone. Maybe the actions you describe help facilitate or hinder you in ME3, but I can't see them crossing off the option completely. The actions have to show up in one form or another, but I don't see messing up the reclamation effort as where they pop up. The geth still don't need the planet at all, and the quarians still just need to know the geth are open to diplomacy.
We'll end up seeing in ME3. They did express their wishes to "go all out" and make an entangled mass of branching plots. If nothing else, that makes me more hopeful that my choices in ME1 and ME2 will matter.
The Geth took long enough to contact organics as it is. If they first and only time they even bothered talking to them ends in failure, do you really think they are going to try again, given how long it took them in the first place? No. Legion was one of a kind. If he's destroyed or given to Cerberus (an organization which is far from the best representation of organics)...The Geth aren't really about second chances. They are logical.
One question I have, would the geth know whether or not Legion got killed by husks on the reaper or sent to Cerberus? That could be important, and I'm not sure what the answer is.
That is a good point. Although they could reasonably assume that if Legion did not send any data back to the Geth for a long time, that Legion was either destroyed or otherwise in danger. Legion is able to send data back to the Geth from the Normandy, that's for certain.
Assuming they know the fate, why would it be enough to stop them? Its not like its a ridiculous amount of resources to make a single geth. The only reason they didn't do it sooner was because of their isolationism, with that gone, the door is open to communication. From communication comes results.
Second chances or not, logically, getting a race to stop trying
to erradicate you is a good move, if you need to rebuild a geth to do
that, its hardly a problem.
Geth are logical. If their first endeavor ends in failure, I really doubt they are going to bother again. It would be seen as a waste of resources, a waste of time.
@bolded: Heh. The Geth didn' seem to have that mantra for the past 300 years.
I go back to the multiple endings thing. Surely its easy to see how a peaceful ending is possible given that you didn't screw up. Are they going to make it impossible anyway because of the people who did screw up? I know people really want their decisions to matter, but it seems much more likely to me that if both options are available in ME3, then actions in ME3 can lead to both results.
This is one thing that is for certain: a happy ending will be possible with any Shepard. Meaning, the Reapers won't eat everyone invariably even if your Shepard made all of the "wrong" decisions in ME1 and ME2. I don't think retaking Rannoch has to be part of a "happy ending." Simply winning against the Reapers is basically happy enough.