As such, I began writing up this - a complete rewrite of ME2 that (hopefully) makes more sense and would provide the 2nd and 3rd parts of the series with a more cohesive and sensible plot, particulalry for ME2 to make it relevant to the over-arching story. I also had in mind a better way to use war assets in ME3, and I've begun that by having you start collecting them in ME2, though you don't get to use any yet. Obviously I'll be following this up with a rewrite of ME3 - expect that to have more ripped from the original ME3 as far as plot goes than this rewrite of ME2, where I basically scrapped everything. That said, I've tried to keep many of the characters and places we were introduced to in here, I just fit them into the story in a different way.
Before you read it, you sould know I'm looking for feedback. I know it doesn't really matter - it's just a piece of fan fiction - but I'd like to know if I really improved anything.
Also, this isn't written like an actual story or anything with dialogue, it's basically just a plot and mission summary.
Fair warning: long
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ME2 would begin a few months after ME1 with Shepard assisting the Alliance in kicking the Indoctrinated Geth out of the Attican Traverse (and for god’s sake let’s have Shepard be promoted to Captain - he deserves it after all the **** he does). The Council still don't buy the Reaper story, despite the fact that Mordin (who is conducting his independant research on the Citadel instead of Omega in this rewrite) says otherwise, but they do authorize Shepard to operate in the Terminus Systems to eliminate the hostile Geth (which they forbid the Alliance to go after to prevent war with the Batarians - they make this quite clear to Udina).
Shepard goes to Mordin's lab on the Citadel, where Mordin agrees to join Shepard in finding a way to combat the Reapers, whom Mordin has had in interest in ever since he got his hands on pieces of Sovereign. At the same time, Anderson and Hackett begin to receive word of human colonies in the Terminus Systems disappearing, the first Collector attacks (though no one knows about them yet), and tell Shepard he should investigate, but to keep a lid on it; humanity, after all, is not supposed to be settling the Terminus Systems, so the Council should not find out.
Travelling to Freedom’s Progress to investigate the disappearance, Shepard runs into Cerberus, who have occupied the deserted colony, as well as Tali and some Quarians, who have come looking for Veetor (however, unlike in ME2, the Collectors are interested in all organics, not just humans, so Veetor is gone). After some initial firefights and run-ins with the colony’s automated defences, which Cerberus have hijacked, Shepard and company reach the comm center where the drones are controlled. There they find Miranda, who explains why Cerberus is there and that they are not responsible for the disappearances, but are in fact looking for the culprits.. Miranda informs TIM of Shepard’s mission, and TIM invites Shepard to a meeting. TIM informs Shepard of Cerberus’ commitment to finding the responsible party for the disappearances, and requests Shepard’s co-operation. Here, you can either refuse (Cerberus becomes an enemy; you continue to receive Alliance finding and side missions), accept (you actively help Cerberus; TIM gives you the SR2 Stalingrad, and the VS takes the Normandy back to the Alliance (the VS’s loyalty is lost) - only the other squadmates come along; you receive a lot of funding from Cerberus, as well as several Cerberus-only side-missions, and most of your Alliance funding, except for some small amounts Anderson and Hackett give you, is cut off), or accept hesitantly (TIM gives you the Stalingrad, and Shepard convinces much of the crew, including Chakwas and Adams, to come with him, promising that Shepard is not working for Cerberus, only with them. Only the VS and some of the Marines refuse to come along, and they return the Normandy to the Alliance (you lose the VS’s loyalty); you get some limited Cerberus finding, but are not entrusted with any side-missions; you continue to get Alliance funding, but you are no longer trusted enough to be given Alliance side-missions; this leaves you with no faction-specific side missions, but you do get more money than if you side with one or the other ). Note: from this point on, until I describe how Shepard gets the Stalingrad otherwise, if I refer to the Stalingrad, this means I am also referring to the Normandy if you did not accept TIM’s help. Tali, of course, joins you again regardless.
Shepard is then contacted by Thane (who in this rewrite takes the place of Feron from LOTSB) who gives him the next Collector target (Horizon). Shepard (not even knowing who Thane is and being quite confused) inquires as to how he knows this for sure, and Thane replies that he got this information directly from the Shadow Broker. Shepard calls up Liara to confirm Thane’s story, and she does - he gave her the same information. Armed with advanced warning, Shepard makes a dash for Horizon. He doesn’t get there in time to save most of the colonists, but he does engage the Collectors for the first time, causing them to rush off without collecting all the colonists. A few (very few) are left behind with seekers still attached to them, keeping them paralyzed. The seekers are killed, the few remaining colonists rescued, and the the seekers and bodies of the Collectors killed are sent to Mordin. Shepard notices that Mordin is beginning to collect information about purported Reaper sightings throughout history, as well as trying to figure out what killed the Leviathan of Dis (this later leads to the hunt for Leviathan).
Hackett/TIM inform Shepard of a large increase in Collector activity, with Collectors now occupying planets rather than raiding them. The Council tells Shepard that the Collectors have begun to attack Asari colonies bordering or in the Terminus Systems, and that Turian and Salarian colonies have been struck intermittently. The Collectors appear to have escalated the conflict. Shepard relays information on colony attacks from Thane to Hackett and the Council, so that colonies can be defended.
Mordin determines the nature of the seekers and immediately begins working on a countermeasure. He also notes at this point that the Collectors are converted Protheans, prompting Shepard to contact Liara to get her expertise. Liara is on Illium as an information broker, funding various Prothean research projects, such as on Eden Prime, Kajhe, and Feros. She reviews the information, but they are so far gone from being Prothean there is little relevant information she can give. More concerning for her, however, is that Thane has disappeared. Shepard is of course, inquisitive as to Liara’s relation to the Shadow Broker, to which Liara replies that she has no relation, but that Thane was one of the Shadow Broker’s agents, who not only collected information but carried out assassinations when necessary; he offered his information because he felt that it could save lives and could not cope with the guilt of withholding it and watching people die because no one paid for the information (the first step in his whole redemption quest thing). Liara tells Shepard that Thane was last seen on Omega. Shepard thinks it may be the Collectors, in which case Thane is certainly doomed, but Liara suspects the Shadow Broker, who isn’t keen on losing money where there is money to be made.
On Omega, Shepard finds Aria T’Lok, who confirms that a Drell did indeed pass through, and that according to her guards he was picked up by a Krogan and a Human, both bounty hunters, and handed over to a group of black-clad agents who promptly dragged him off. The Human left with them, but the Krogan is apparently still on Omega. After some exploration, Shepard finds said Krogan, and it turns out to be none other than Urdnot Wrex, who went back to being a bounty hunter for the Shadow Broker. Once Shepard explains the situation, it takes Wrex not 2 seconds to realize what a terrible mistake he has made, and decides to join Shepard’s team once again to right his wrongs.
Based on the evidence, Liara and Shepard are now both convinced (correctly) that the Shadow Broker kidnapped Thane, not the Collectors. Liara vows to find Thane and the Shadow Broker, and begins work with her contacts to do so (later on, you will rescue Thane in a slightly modified version of LOTSB, except it is now part of the main plot).
In the meantime, the hunt for Leviathan begins. Its possible existence has consumed more of Mordin’s attention than studying the Collectors, and he finally gets a break: though the Leviathan of Dis disappeared, Mordin has the location of a second victim, orbiting a brown dwarf. How he finds out about it depends: if you affiliate with Cerberus, TIM will inform you of its discovery by his own science team. He had already sent his own scientists there to examine it, but contact was lost completely. You of course inform Mordin, and go from there. If you are opposed to Cerberus, STG finds it by tracking the Cerberus ship that docked with it, and inform Mordin. Like TIM’s men, they board the Reaper but lose contact. In either case, you set out for the derilect Reaper and board it. If STG discovered it, you find the STG commandos dead along with Husks - if not, you won’t have an indication that everyone was converted until the husks begin to attack you. In any case, your goal is to clear the Reaper of the husks and collect any and all data you can, before destroying the AI core to kill the Reaper completely. Doing this involves climbing around inside and outside the Reaper, and it is here where the discovery is made that Reapers are cyborgs, the outer shell encasing a semi-organic interior. You also, as in ME2, find Legion here, trying to find Reaper data structures so the can destroy the Heretic Geth’s virus. He is not knocked out ( I never understood this part in ME2 - you can’t render a synthetic lifeform unconscious, not by physically hitting it at least), but instead joins Shepard when they meet. After the mission, Shepard interrogates Legion, finds out what it is doing, and Legion decides it is beneficial to assist Shepard, so it joins the crew.
If Cerberus is an enemy, then at one point the SR-2 will dock at the disabled Reaper. Joker will high-tail the Normandy to avoid being destroyed, and Miranda will board the Reaper with Cerberus commandos. When Shepard destroys the AI core, the Reaper begins to fall into the brown dwarf - however, they can’t leave because the SR2 is still there, and Miranda knows Shepard has nowhere to run to, so she doesn’t leave either. Joker, of course, doesn’t completely chicken out - he comes back in and does a few runs at the SR2 with the Normandy’s new Thanix cannon. The shields prevent too much damage but the Stalingrad is vulnerable as long as it stays docked - so Miranda decides to give up the fight and reboards the Stalingrad, pulling the damaged SR2 out of the fight with rapid acceleration (the SR2s engines are so much faster that, much to Joker’s disappointment, he cannot pursue and finish off the Cerberus ship). Shepard and crew reboard, the Reaper burns up in the brown dwarf, and the data is given to Mordin to further his study.
Mordin, of course, finds that the weapon that killed the Reaper is what created the Great Rift on Klendagon; ie, the projectile ripped right through the Reaper and continued on through space, happening to graze the planet as it flew by. With some ballistics calculations, he determines the weapon is likely located in the Styx Theta cluster. Mordin hopes (but, lacking evidence, cannot actually theorize) the Leviathan must be the weapon’s creator, so he sends STG scouts to find it - they do so, on the icy planet Grosalgen in the Acheron cluster. Salarian and Human researchers quickly descend upon the site, and Mordin hopes to have data available soon.
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Lair of the Shadow Broker:
LOTSB is now part of the main plotline, as it now has significance to it. It is virtually the same as the original LOTSB, with two major differences:
1. Obviously, Thane replaces Feron. Once freed, Thane becomes a squadmate.
2. Tela Vasir is replaced with Zaeed Massani, the man who helped Wrex kidnap Thane in the first place. He and Wrex will recognize each other, and if Shepard uses the right persuasion dialogue, he can convince Zaeed to join him rather than fight him (Wrex must come with Shepard to do this, otherwise he will still fight you even if you try to persuade him) - this will make Zaeed a permanent squadmate. If you do fight Zaeed, he is a Soldier class, so he will shoot at you with various ammo types, blow you back with concussive shots, and use his extreme reflexes to dart around quickly and shoot extremely accurately. Zaeed has decent shields but mostly very heavy armour and a lot of health. Abilities can disorient him but cannot stun, knock-down or immobilize him. Once defeated, you can then choose to leave him to the authorities (meaning you will see him in ME3) or execute him.
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With everyone gearing up to defend against the Collectors, the time seems right to strike. Liara, using her resources as the Shadow Broker, has managed to track Collector Ships and locate their bases of operation - most seem to be planets close to the Galactic core, hitherto undiscovered and uncharted due to the inherent danger in entering the Galactic core and the apparent lack of Mass Relays that transport you there. However, it seems there are in fact relays that do so, but only Collector vessels seem to be able to tell the relays where to send them, likely because they use Reaper tech. As it would take far too long to travel to the Collector bases at FTL speeds, Shepard decides they must figure out how to configure the relays themselves - which requires Reaper tech, which can only be found on Collector vessels. Collector vessels have been stopped before, but usually they end up destroyed and their tech unusable; Shepard decides he must capture one intact.
Liara gives him the heads up on one, and Shepard, with help from a few other ships Cerberus/Alliance ships (to ensure victory) ambushes it. Once the Collector Ship is disabled, Shepard boards it, kills all the Collectors and takes control of it. He can use the ship to pass through the relay - however, he has no idea what he’ll find on the other side, and if he scouts it out and gets caught, there’s no telling if the Collectors may shut off their relays so no one can touch them. Instead, Shepard brings the ship back to either the Alliance or Cerberus (again, depending on who you’re with), and they copy the technology that allows the Collectors to connect to their own relays in the galactic core. Hackett/TIM plan to outfit many ships with it, and pass it on to allies so they can strike as well. This will take time, of course.
Contact is, at this point , lost with the researchers at the Klendagon Weapon, so Shepard is sent to investigate. Arriving on Grosalgen, Shepard finds the massive weapon, as well as the ancient ruins surrounding it, presumably built by the race who built the weapon. He finds the researchers alive and well, but acting very strangely. After finding Alex Garneau, the project director, they are spoken to through him by the entity controlling the research team - finding it similar, he thinks the voice is that of Harbinger. It is not, the entity says, but it does know who Harbinger is. It then gives Shepard the whole “don’t breach the darkness” spiel and locks down the site. Shepard hacks his way through to the storage area and finds the source of the control - an indoctrinating orb, like those in the Leviathan DLC. Just being close to it begins giving Shepard and his team visions and headaches, so they leave the room. Shepard considers simply shooting the orb to pieces to free everyone, but Mordin, thinking of the bigger picture, insists it be intact so it can be studied - tracing its signal may allow Leviathan to be located. He enlists Legion’s help to set up a containment field around the orb, and transports it to the Stalingrad so he can take it to the lab. If you work with TIM, you send Mordin’s eventual data to Cerberus (and obviously, do not if you’re with the Alliance). If you’re not officially with Cerberus, you can choose whether to give TIM any data.
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Gaining The SR2 while siding with the Alliance
TIM, with his secret obsession over the Reapers’ indoctrination ability, dispatches the SR2 to Grosalgen to retrieve the orb. Obviously, Shepard already has it, so the SR2 persues the Normandy. Joker almost makes it to the Mass Relay but the ship’s engines suddenly cut out and the ship drifts, allowing the SR2 to close. Miranda and several commandos board via the cargo bay and large fight ensues, resulting in Shepard and his crew counter-boarding the Stalingrad and capturing or killing the crew (Donnelly, Daniels and Gardner are among those who surrender) - Miranda dies in a boss fight. However, there is still the issue of EDI - Legion hacks into it, and indicates to Shepard the AI shackles that Cerberus keeps it in. Shepard can either tell Legion to destroy EDI, or he can remove the AI shackles and attempt to reason with it . You can only choose to unshackle EDI if Legion is loyal, otherwise he will not trust that EDI could be reasoned with. If your persuasion is successful, EDI will realize you intend it no harm and co-operate. Otherwise, you have to smash its Blue Box.
The VS, in the meantime, having been left in command of the Normandy while Shepard boarded, hauls Jacob before Shepard in handcuffs - he sabotaged the engines so that Cerberus could board the ship, his pro-Cerberus leanings finally causing him to defect. He killed Engineer Adams before Tali wounded him with her shotgun. Jacob has no qualms admitting it, denouncing the Alliance and Shepard. At this point, several things could happen:
The VS wants to summarily execute him on the spot. Shepard can either: a) let the VS execute Jacob;
execute Jacob himself; c) send Jacob off to be tried. No one’s loyalty is lost or affected by your decision here, it is simply a moral choice for the player. Note: if Jacob is sent to trial, he will be sentenced to execution anyway for treason. A Paragon Shepard can persuade Hackett to commute the sentence to life in prison.All in all, Shepard ends up in control of the Stalingrad, where Chakwas, Joker and your squadmates transfer. Shepard, with Hackett’s consent, gives the VS command of the Normandy and promotes them to Commander. The VS is no longer a squadmate now.
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Mordin performs the QEC-tracking technique like that used in the actual DLC, though the person possessed is simply one of Mordin’s Lab assistants. Of course, you track this signal back to the ocean planet, like in the DLC. Since Leviathan is at the bottom, there is no choice but to use a submarine. Unlike in the DLC, which has boring, tacked-on fighting, there is no fighting here, just exploration. When you do manage to find Leviathan, he enthralls everyone and they converse with him in a Purgatory-esque mindscape where he can conjure up images from his own mind and memories to give visuals to his words. Getting past the initial “You have breached the darkness why are you following me” thing, Shepard and crew get answers out of him, since the Leviathan is clearly not a Reaper, though he looks very much like one.
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Leviathan’s Exposition:
The Leviathan is organic, a 300m-odd high cuttlefish-like aquatic creature that can control the minds of less intelligent life in proximity to it. It is the only known survivor (or, at least, the only one The Leviathan itself knows of) of an entire species of such creatures that once controlled the Andromeda Galaxy. They (we shall refer to them all as Leviathans though really that is a title for this particular individual) formed a truly Galaxy-wide society, using the thrall species to perform tasks too mundane or impractical for the Leviathans to do themselves. They are what Kardashev would have called a Type III civilization - able to use the energy of an entire Galaxy to their will, quite easily too.
The Leviathans became a bit too comfy in their home Galaxy. Like any organic species, curiosity and the pursuit of more power and new things drove them to pioneer intergalactic travel. The Milky Way was a major stepping stone, however, to draw an analogy to humans, the Milky Way to them is like Mars to us: it is really hard to get there and we are unlikely to ever go farther. Organics have limits to how far they can travel, simply due to the requirements for life. As a result, the Leviathans seemed to be stuck in Andromeda, just as we are stuck here on Earth. Unlike us, however, a lot of the Leviathans were not content to simply sit at home.
Some of them became convinced that only through a true synthesis of organic life and synthetic tech could the weaknesses of organics be ironed out. They turned themselves into massive cyborgs, augmenting every cell in their bodies with nanotech and robotic implants, encasing themselves in a huge armoured shell and, most importantly, melding their minds with AIs. They felt enlightened, and knew (and it was true) that they were a superior form of life to straight organics. They were what we call Reapers. Though what they did to themselves was grotesque, the personal power and intelligence each held enticed many others to join in. Those that were unsure were forcibly converted (at which point their AI components would make them reach the same conclusion as everyone else - that becoming Reapers was a good thing, and a necessary step in evolving their civilization). Those that opposed were destroyed, except for the Leviathan now speaking with Shepard, who managed to hide out in the Milky Way like a cave man, still preferring such an existence to becoming a Reaper and losing himself .
While in the Milky Way the Leviathan has at various times used thralls, controlled through the orbs Shepard has found. In truth, the orbs were simply QEC communicators, since QEC was how the Leviathans communicated normally - the orbs are, by Leviathan’s standards, ludicrously obsolete. He used these thralls to provide him with food and to occasionally transport him (rather cumbersomely) around in case the Reapers, who began showing up every 50000 years, discovered his hiding spot. The Leviathans had used extensive gene therapy in the past to extend their lives to ridiculous timespans (now, as Reapers, they are entirely immortal), and as such the Leviathan is still alive after all this time, though he is quite old and he does not predict he will be alive for much longer (relatively speaking). As he is no longer as physically capable as he once was, he simply sits at the bottom of the ocean, using thralls occasionally to see what is going on, but no longer attempting to fight against the Reapers or escape anywhere. He is, frankly, old and tired.
On the subject of the Klendagon Weapon, the Leviathan admits it designed it back in his youth when he was a bit more reckless and tried to find ways to fight the Reapers, in what limited ways he could. He remarks that the design is incredibly simple and outdated by his species’ standards, but that it was all he could accomplish with what meagre resources and tech he could scrounge up in what would be the middle of nowhere to him. Shepard tries to persuade him to assist them against the Reapers, but the old invertebrate has no faith left in the capabilities of organics against the Reapers after his last serious attempt to stop the Reapers, using the Protheans, failed despite his attempt to use them to construct a large energy weapon that would kill Reapers in the Milky Way using the Mass Relay network (the Crucible device from the real ME3). The design used advanced Leviathan Mass Effect tech such as that used to build the relays, and as such was difficult for the Protheans to construct as they did not understand the technology (the Leviathan could have directly commanded them to do exactly as he needed, but mind control on such a scale would have been easily detectable and the Reapers would have found him) and they were unable to make enough progress building it before the Reapers found the weapon and annihilated it. Shepard asks for the design and the Leviathan tells him that he already has most of it - the Klendagon Weapon is essentially the same weapon, a prototype, just using its own energy to fire rather than that of the relay network. This wasn’t practical however, as the weapon’s energy usage was so high. The weapon the Protheans were attempting to build used the entire network, but the complexities of manipulating such technology took up so much time that the weapon could not be completed before the Reapers destroyed it. The Leviathan does not know what happened to the Prothean Blueprints for the weapon (which would be needed to understand it’s Mass Effect technology), and is pessimistic: he does not believe they will succeed, and repeats that he thinks Shepard is too hopeful and ignorant of the facts of history and reality. With that, everyone is released from his control, and he retreats back into the depths.
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If you’re with Cerberus, TIM enthusiastically begins reverse engineering the Klendagon Weapon, though he cautions it may take some time to complete. If you’re with the Alliance, Hackett says he’ll try to procure funding for the project but can’t promise anything, seeing as how few believe the Reapers are real. If you’re with neither, you can choose who you give the designs to.
With preparations for destroying the Collectors complete, TIM/Hackett will invite Shepard to join the attack, which he does. Shepard joins a fleet that travels through a relay to a planet near the core, covered in the ruins of Prothean megatropoli and swarming with Collector ships. A massive fleet battle ensues, and it is now that the upgrades you’ve given the SR2 will matter. Lack of armour or firepower could result in the deaths of one or more side characters (Adams, Gabby, Ken, Pressley, etc), but, unlike in the real ME2, no squadmates. On the ground, you get several military-style objectives, assisting Alliance Marines/Cerberus Troops in eliminating Collector resistance. The action culminates in a boss battle with the Collector General (controlled by Harbinger of course), and a chat afterward with Harbinger.
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Harbinger’s Exposition:
After the always-customary “You are doomed” speech, Shepard flat out asks Harbinger what the Reapers’ intentions are. Harbinger’s answer is actually rather simple: to feed. The Milky Way is like a giant farm, full of life that the Reapers can use to feed their organic innards, which have grown enormously beyond their original size from when they were purely organic, and that require huge amounts of food to sustain. The Citadel and Mass Relay network are simply tools for speeding up the growth of new life so it can be harvested in greater numbers. The Collectors are a softening-up force, to do some damage so as to decrease the amount of work the Reapers themselves have to do, though this time their minions have failed completely, which has not been the case previously. Harbinger warns Shepard that, quite literally, resistance is futile: he and everyone else are simply a crop to be harvested, they have no chance, and Harby finds their attempts to stop the Reapers amusing.
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The Collector General, and by extension the Collectors, seemed to be controlled by Harbinger through a strange artifact emitting some sort of energy, almost like a far more advanced version of Leviathan’s orbs (he did say the orbs were outdated tech) . As with Leviathan’s orbs, Mordin is intrigued and insists on studying it, having it hauled back from the demolished Collector planet to Sur’Kesh, where STG examines it. Mordin and his team determine it is indeed an advanced version of Leviathan’s orbs, though it is the only one anyone has yet found. They codename the thing Object Rho.
They keep the Object in a containment shield, but must bring the shield down to examine its functionality. After some time, repeated exposure to Object Rho indoctrinates the STG team, even as Mordin manages to track its Quantum Entanglement signal. Mordin, though strong willed, is affected by it as well, and soon all the personnel working on Object Rho become indoctrinated. Mordin is the only one who manages to resist, but the indoctrinated take down the containment shield completely and he begins to lose his mind as well. Shepard rushes to Sur’Kesh and saves Mordin from the indoctrinated STG, and Object Rho is demolished.
Mordin, who is barely coherent and erratic (moreso than he normally is, at least), is forced to be treated psychologically (he is not a teammate from this point on in the game). However, the data he recovered is even more important: he has been tracing the signal from Object Rho over the course of several weeks, and has found that its source has been coming closer. Finding the exact location is difficult but the source (likely Harbinger) has been getting steadily closer to the Milky Way, indicating the Reapers are in fact much closer to invading the Galaxy than anyone previously thought. More troubling even than this is that they are approaching the area of the Alpha Relay. Shepard doesn’t know what that means, but TIM/Hackett will inform him when asked about its nature (it can access any other Mass Relay), also pointing out that knowledge of it is top secret among the Citadel Races, so as to prevent the Batarians, who control the space the relay is in, from finding out what it can do and exploiting it for war purposes. If you work for Cerberus, TIM will propose destroying the relay with an asteroid to delay the Reaper invasion to give him time to finish the Crucible and appropriate funds and a team for the job. If you are Alliance, the same conclusion is reached in a high-security-clearance meeting, authorizing the project as a black op ( Again, if you are not affiliated you can choose who to join up with for the project). This leads into a kind of fetch quest where Shepard will go about collecting some special components needed for the Project. This is also the period of time when the player may complete any outstanding sidequests and do any more exploring they need to, because once the final mission is activated, it’s a point of no return.
The mission had remained secret from the Batarians up to this point, but at the last minute, just as the project was ready to be launched, the Batarians tracked one of the ships supplying the Project to the asteroid and captured the base. The Alliance could not respond without triggering an all-out War, and Cerberus has no interest in open conflict, so it’s up to Shepard to initiate the Project. So begins the final mission.
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Final Mission:
Shepard does “All hands on deck”: all squadmates assist on this mission. If you are Alliance you can even have the VS bring the SR1 to assist you - the Normandy will drop off a unit of Marines to assist on the ground, and you may designate targets for it to attack periodically. Note that unlike in the real ME2, no squadmates can actually die in this mission - that comes in ME3.
In the first phase, you slip past patrolling Batarian ships to the asteroid, though you cannot land near the main facility because of anti-air turrets. However you can, if quick and stealthy enough, find and rescue the Project personnel from Batarian captivity. Regardless, your first order of business is the central control room where you can regain access to the Project launch controls. While fighting your way there, however, across the open rock towards the command center, a Reaper destroyer - a scout from the main Reaper armada - arrives on the asteroid after blowing up the Batarian ships in orbit. As you fight your way across the Asteroid, you have to stall the Reaper in various ways to keep it from getting within range of the larger booster rockets that will propel the asteroid into the Relay. Each distraction will deal a certain amount of damage to the Reaper and keep it occupied for a period of time - these distractions can be anything from activating automated anti-air defence turrets to calling in strafing runs from the the Stalingrad (and the Normandy as well if you’re Alliance, keeping it occupied for longer and damaging it more) to shooting it with the M920 Cain, particularly if you can hit its weak points. If you rescued the Project personnel, they can distract it using M44 Hammerheads (if Cerberus) or Makos(if Alliance). The Makos will do more damage but last for a shorter period of time than the Hammerheads. All you need do is keep it away from the facility so it cannot stop the Project. The Batarians will put up some more resistance but Shepard can frequently use Paragon or Renegade persuasion to get them to run away from the Reaper.
If you and your support can manage to hit the Reaper’s weakspots enough times, you can either cripple it permanently (shooting off a leg), allowing you to start the Project without interference; or, if you manage to somehow hit the main gun (it’s biggest weak point) enough times, kill it. Accomplishing the latter nets you enough XP to max out your Shepard to level 60 no matter what, as well as get an in-game medal and a system achievement, and verbal recognition from NPCs at some points about you actually killing a Reaper yourself.
Either way, once you start the Project, Joker picks you and your squad up, though any Project personnel or assisting ground troops will all be killed. He uses the Alpha Relay to get away, and shortly thereafter the asteroid slams into and destroys the Alpha Relay, delaying the Reaper invasion.
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Loyalty:
Loyalty will be lost/gained in ME2 but also in ME3. Loyalty does not matter in ME2 - I don’t want squadmates dying here and having to replace them with uninteresting side characters in ME3, so the determination of whether squadmates die will be determined by each character’s loyalty at the end of ME3. The loyalty missions in ME2 were quite well done so I don’t feel the need to get rid of or replace them. There are just two changes made, and one addition:
Liara: [/b]Automatically loyal[/b]
Garrus: Automatically loyal
VS: loyal if with the Alliance; disloyal if with Cerberus or with both
Wrex: In Wrex’s new loyalty mission, you go back with him to Tuchanka to depose his brother Wreav and have Wrex take his place as Chief of Urdnot.
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Squad:
In case I wasn’t clear enough, here’s the list:
Garrus Vakarian (Available from the start)
Virmire Survivor (Available from the start; Alliance Only)
Jacob Taylor (Available from the start; betrays you if Alliance)
Miranda Lawson (Available after Freedom’s Progress if Cerberus/Neutral)
Tali’Zorah (Available after Freedom’s Progress)
Mordin Solus (Available after first Citadel visit)
Legion (Available after finding derilect Reaper)
Thane Krios (Available after LOTSB)
Urdnot Wrex (Available after Omega; Leaves your crew after becoming Chief of Urdnot)
Zaeed Massani (Available after Illium, if persuaded to join)
Liara T’Soni (Available after starting LOTSB)
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War Assets:
You can start collecting War Assets and Resources for the war in ME3 beforehand in ME2 through sidequests - not everyone you help will believe you about the Reapers but you can still boost their military effectiveness. Alliance-only sidequests will typically give your more Alliance troops for the War in ME3, while Cerberus sidequests give you some additional Cerberus troops, but mostly give you valuable tech you wouldn’t get otherwise (like the M920 Cain).
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Modifié par Legion of 1337, 03 juin 2013 - 01:10 .
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