jijeebo wrote...
Geomon19 wrote...
I love how people just throw away things to fit their arguments. "Well I didn't play Arrival or any side missions."
Well if we're just going to make s**t up then I'm just going to assume that even though I played Arrival and did all the side missions and danced to Thriller with the human Reaper, I'm still not indoctrinated because TIM stuck an anti indoctrination rod into my penis rendering me completely safe and sexy. So there.
For IT to be valid it would have to apply to ALL Shepards, including those who just ran through all three games, or started at ME3.
This thread counts up all the contact that you cannot avoid to see if it would be realistic. It only dismisses contact that isn't compulsory because the IT would have to do the same.
Nobody is just making s**t up, although your imagination is impressive. 
Let us approach this as the developers would, shall we? I'll use both logic and existing game design/lore to demonstrate my points.
#1. The length of the Mass Effect series, as canon, extends through all of the extended lore and DLC. Regardless of what any given player chooses, certain events and characters still exist/progress a given way. For example, The Illusive Man and Kai Leng exist primarily in the extended lore, however both become characters in the games and both MUST die in order for Shepard's story to progress. Likewise, there will always be a Geth/Quarian War, a Genophage cure, (although not always utilized), a Rachni Queen, etc. The specifics may vary, but the core elements remain largely intact.
#2. Substitution, not exclusion, is Bioware's keystone method of progressing the lore in Mass Effect 3. There are over a dozen different characters that can die as a result of Shepard's actions/inactions and in the event that one is missing, another is there to take its place. All corresponding events will still occur as well, (i.e., Kirrahe will distract Kai on the Citadel if Thane dies in ME2, Alliance Special Forces will distroy the Alpha Relay for you, etc.). Therefore, if a critical event resulting in Shepard's indoctrination were to occur in DLC, the core of the lore, (the state of indoctrination), would not change simply because a given player didn't play "Arrival"; the specifics would be substituted in order to satisfy the base narrative.
#3. It is a misunderstanding that extensive exposure to a Reaper/Reaper Tech is required for indoctrination. Much like contracting a virus, all that is required is brief, albeit unfortunate, contact. As is revealed in the books, comics and certain parts of ME2/ME3, the Reapers use nanites to manipulate biologicals. These tiny robots can implant, indoctrinate and process biological entities, as well as respond dynamically to remote Reaper orders and act as communication devices between Reapers and minions.
#4. The single defining encounter with Reaper tech, for Shepard, was at Object Rho. As demonstrated with The Illusive Man, a lone powerful burst of energy can begin indoctrination, presumably through nanite implantation. The implants slowly built up by the nanites would then act as the source of indoctrination, (presumably through controlled EMF, Infrasound and Ultrasound exposure). At first, these implants are unnoticable, but may eventually become visible depending on physiology and progression, (TIM's did not immediately appear after Shanxi; Shepard's are only revealed during Control and Synth endings as his flesh is ripped away; Saren's had become distinctly visible). If Object Rho is the "full" canon behind Shepard's indoctrination, the means and significance would parallel the stories of TIM and Saren- both started as powerful, important and honorable men, then were subject to Reaper device outbursts, for a brief time tried to stop the Reapers/other indoctrinated people before finally becoming antagonists.
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