26 réponses à ce sujet

[Jorji Costava]

Just what the title says. I want to mention some plot elements that were introduced in earlier games and dropped later; what, if anything, do you think should have been done with these story elements. Or do you think they were better off falling by the wayside?

Tech on collector base: Here's an obvious one. What should have been done with the Collector base? More specifically, what sort of technology should have been on it? I think it would have been neat to have had a rough idea of what was at stake in ME2 at the time we made the decision, as I think it would have been a bit tougher to make the decision to destroy it. I didn't find that being told the base is important because it has, you know, technology, in general, was the most narratively compelling way to communicate the stakes of the decision to the player.

Companies: In ME1, the various companies (Exogeni, Binary Helix) are made out to be major players in the game world, and a lot of the main plot and side missions (Feros, Noveria) heavily involve them. In later installments we hardly hear about them. This makes some sense, as in ME2 where you're spending most of your time in the Terminus. In ME3 you're dealing with an all-out war of extinction, so it also makes some sense that there's little room for underhanded corporate machinations. Still, it seems like there might be some interesting story and lore possibilities lurking in the background here.

Haestrom: A pretty obvious one: Where should this have gone? This doesn't have to be  a referendum on the whole "dark energy theory" (didn't like that one very much myself); I'm more interested in what directions you yourself would take the Haestrom subplot.

Harbinger: Been discussed to death already, but he is a fairly obvious dropped plot thread, so he's gotta be counted as fair game here.

Any other plot threads you think got dropped but that could have been turned into something interesting? How would you have developed them?

[David7204]

The companies are not a 'dropped plot.' Yes, they're 'major players.' So what? The fact that big companies exist does not mean they need to have plots surrounding them.

Modifié par David7204, 18 novembre 2013 - 01:26 .

[Jorji Costava]

David7204 wrote...

The companies are not a 'dropped plot.' Yes, they're 'major players.' So what? The fact that big companies exist does not mean they need to have plots surrounding them.

Fair enough. Strictly speaking, this is right. The company plot lines in ME1 were resolved within that game. Still, they seemed like a major player, lore-wise, and that suggests that whether or not the precise terminology "dropped plot element" is exactly correct, there may have been some untapped story potential lurking in there. I'm not interested in seeing this thread get derailed over a trivial semantic point.

[David7204]

Well, the same could be said of pretty much anything in any story. There's always' untapped potential.'

[favoritehookeronthecitadel]

David7204 wrote...

Well, the same could be said of pretty much anything in any story. There's always' untapped potential.'

Someone taking a **** and filming it has untapped potential. Several big-name organizations in a fictional sci-si futuristic universe might be more tasteful, however. I think what osborn's trying to ask is, which parts of the 1 and 2 could've been explored more in 3, or in general. 

I would've liked to have seen more Emily Wong. She was interesting and likeable, and cute and hot. Your choice to help her in ME 1 could've carried 2 seperate, interesting plotlines without giving the writers too much of a headache. I still feel like they taunted us with the little email she sends you that implies she'll be important next game. Would've preferred her much more over Allers. The only thing I liked about Allers was her legs and shorts.

Modifié par favoritehookeronthecitadel, 18 novembre 2013 - 02:06 .

[Jorji Costava]

favoritehookeronthecitadel wrote...

David7204 wrote...

Well, the same could be said of pretty much anything in any story. There's always' untapped potential.'

Someone taking a **** and filming it has untapped potential. Several big-name organizations in a fictional sci-si futuristic universe might be more tasteful, however. I think what osborn's trying to ask is, which parts of the 1 and 2 could've been explored more in 3, or in general. 

I would've liked to have seen more Emily Wong. She was interesting and likeable, and cute and hot. Your choice to help her in ME 1 could've carried 2 seperate, interesting plotlines without giving the writers too much of a headache. I still feel like they taunted us with the little email she sends you that implies she'll be important next game. Would've preferred her much more over Allers. The only thing I liked about Allers was her legs and shorts.

This pretty much captures my intent with the thread. I'm certainly not trying to indict the game for not going the routes I suggest; I just thought this would be a good opportunity to elicit some ideas and conversation-starters.

Emily Wong isn't a bad idea; at any rate, more sidequests involving the media, Shepard's relationship to them and their impact on your mission could have been interesting. For instance, perhaps cultivating relationships with media personalities could allow you to call in certain favors at a later time. Diana Allers was a gesture in this direction, but the reception to her inclusion was mixed, to put it mildly.

[Lyrandori]

Shepard's Pre-Service history in ME3 plays a minor role (in ME2 as well), perhaps understandably so in ME3's case, however (galaxy-wide war going on sort of decreases any would-be interests about Shepard's personal life issues). I would still have liked it, however, if for example my "main" Ruthless/Colonist Shepard (Paragade in my role-play) would have had the opportunity to actually visit Mindoir before possibly dying in the war.

It wouldn't need to be a complete city/HUB that would have taken BioWare a year to craft and polish... but maybe just a very short side quest, a passing by of Shepard maybe to where his/her family's farm "once stood", having some emotional moment there, maybe bring the love interest and have some short dialog, looking at the homeworld's sunset (of Colonist Shepard) and calling the Normandy for the next mission. You know, something humble but significant enough to justify one such quest, I just think there's potential there.

There's one quest I believe linked for each of the three Shepard's Psychological profiles in the first Mass Effect (Sole Survivor, War Hero, Ruthless), but in Mass Effect 2 and 3 there's no such quests at all. The only references we have to our Shepard's Pre-Service history and Psychological profile in ME2 (and 3) are short and rare dialog instances from a handful of characters, or sometimes can be heard from speakers (the various news) across the Citadel or Omega (in ME2 at least).

Since BioWare took the time, built assets and payed voice actors for such scenes to actually create at least three quests for our psychological profile in ME1, but didn't do so at all in the following two games, then in my opinion that part of Mass Effect was dropped. It had a lot of potential for more story telling regarding our Shepard(s), because when you think about it there's no official detailed lore / canon (barely, only related to those Psychological profile quests and the mere description of the profile themselves when we create our Shepard) about the life of our Shepard(s) before the Sole Survivor/War Hero/Ruthless events in his/her/their life.

Modifié par Lyrandori, 18 novembre 2013 - 04:12 .

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

alleyd wrote...

 One thread that I felt had potential was relating to Nazara's wreckage. Suddenly you have physical material and could "learn" much about the reapers that would lose some of the Mythology of ME1. I liken any of the theorising of Reaper capabilities in ME1 as being like ancient humans finding dinosaur bones and then creating Dragon, Thunderbird type myths.  The Reapers are mythologised because they are unknown at the end of ME1, that sitution changes, you now have a corpse/wreckage and records of Reaper behaviour.

This thread is even more enigmatic when Shep is informed that less than half the wreckage is accounuted for, so now you have smuggling and looting elements added into the mix, possible indoctrination as well. One thing that always happens in a situation with advanced weapons platform or technologies is an arms race, the need for control and understanding is a powerful motivator

Reverse engineering of Reaper Tech, the Turians reverse engineer the Thannix weapon system from Reaper Tech and place it into a "mass production" weapon system that is equipping a new class of ships in their fleet and in humans. This system's blueprints were also stolen by Cerberus and placed into the construction of the Normandy.  

Then you have EDI, an AI developed from reverse engineered Reaper Technology in under 3 years and installed into a ship. Engineered by a tiny human "terrorist" organisation that have nothing like the technological, financial and political power of larger entities/corporations, even within human society, let alone a galactic one. EDI is a poweful AI, able to resist the hacking attempts of the 2nd largest Reaper influenced and controlled entity, the Collector Base, and then to overcome the system protocols of said base's interior functions and the core power systems.

So in less than 3 years, the Reapers weapons and centrallised nervous system/brain are re-engineered and placed into practical operation, calls into question any statement that the Reapers are billions of years more advanced than the cycle.

It certainly does, doesn't it?

It is like once the Protheans unlocked the secrets of Mass Relay technology, the reapers weren't that much more advanced. Hence Mordin's discussion about obstacles and tech advancement. 

We were driven by obstacles to advance our tech. Need to move load so invent wheel etc. Reapers had no need to advance any further, so why try new things? They had sufficient technology to perform their task with optimal efficiency.

What about organics? No. Each species is different and has different needs. The diversity will push each down similar but different tech designs. No one size fits all. 

[JonathonPR]

alleyd wrote...

 One thread that I felt had potential was relating to Nazara's wreckage. Suddenly you have physical material and could "learn" much about the reapers that would lose some of the Mythology of ME1. I liken any of the theorising of Reaper capabilities in ME1 as being like ancient humans finding dinosaur bones and then creating Dragon, Thunderbird type myths.  The Reapers are mythologised because they are unknown at the end of ME1, that sitution changes, you now have a corpse/wreckage and records of Reaper behaviour.

This thread is even more enigmatic when Shep is informed that less than half the wreckage is accounuted for, so now you have smuggling and looting elements added into the mix, possible indoctrination as well. One thing that always happens in a situation with advanced weapons platform or technologies is an arms race, the need for control and understanding is a powerful motivator

Reverse engineering of Reaper Tech, the Turians reverse engineer the Thannix weapon system from Reaper Tech and place it into a "mass production" weapon system that is equipping a new class of ships in their fleet and in humans. This system's blueprints were also stolen by Cerberus and placed into the construction of the Normandy.  

Then you have EDI, an AI developed from reverse engineered Reaper Technology in under 3 years and installed into a ship. Engineered by a tiny human "terrorist" organisation that have nothing like the technological, financial and political power of larger entities/corporations, even within human society, let alone a galactic one. EDI is a poweful AI, able to resist the hacking attempts of the 2nd largest Reaper influenced and controlled entity, the Collector Base, and then to overcome the system protocols of said base's interior functions and the core power systems.

So in less than 3 years, the Reapers weapons and centrallised nervous system/brain are re-engineered and placed into practical operation, calls into question any statement that the Reapers are billions of years more advanced than the cycle.

It would have been interesting to have Soveirgn or parts of him/it come back. Lesser fragments but still aware of what they are and the desire to return to that state. A human brain is not that big and it can hold a personality and intalect. Imagine is a scientist does not realise what they have and is partialy indoctrinated but also inspired by the muse like presence of the fragment. Convinced to smuggle out more pieces and distributed amoung governments and mega corperations. Multiple projects being coordinated without the respecive parties knowing how much they are being manipulated. Engineerd disasters to distract anyone who might notice. Build some giant device that can open a portal to darkspace and let the rest of the Reapers through.

Idea for new Mass Effect. Post ME3 play as a fragment of a Reaper that was able to reconstitute itself and build a huminoid body. The Cruicable was a trap designed by an entinty who was in conflict with the Reapers. The Leviathans lied to cooberate its story to prolong their own existance. The Reapers actions had actualy prevented the being from entering our galaxy/universe. Shepard and the cycle were given options to mask its true intent. Ezo when in use emits a form of strange matter that is atracted by objects of great mass and builds up. they have their own anomalous effect on space and normal matter. Reapers were dependent on Ezo for their own technology and existance but could regulate themselves out in dark space so that the strange matter would ecay before it could build up in a star. The Reapers dont have anything aginst lesser races other than the danger they pose to themselves and the Reapers. By killing off the races they create a hard break in strange matter generation so it can decay back to harmless levels. Ezo could be an artificial material that was discovered along with the entity trying to enter. 

[Redbelle]

alleyd wrote...

 One thread that I felt had potential was relating to Nazara's wreckage. Suddenly you have physical material and could "learn" much about the reapers that would lose some of the Mythology of ME1. I liken any of the theorising of Reaper capabilities in ME1 as being like ancient humans finding dinosaur bones and then creating Dragon, Thunderbird type myths.  The Reapers are mythologised because they are unknown at the end of ME1, that sitution changes, you now have a corpse/wreckage and records of Reaper behaviour.

This thread is even more enigmatic when Shep is informed that less than half the wreckage is accounuted for, so now you have smuggling and looting elements added into the mix, possible indoctrination as well. One thing that always happens in a situation with advanced weapons platform or technologies is an arms race, the need for control and understanding is a powerful motivator

Reverse engineering of Reaper Tech, the Turians reverse engineer the Thannix weapon system from Reaper Tech and place it into a "mass production" weapon system that is equipping a new class of ships in their fleet and in humans. This system's blueprints were also stolen by Cerberus and placed into the construction of the Normandy.  

Then you have EDI, an AI developed from reverse engineered Reaper Technology in under 3 years and installed into a ship. Engineered by a tiny human "terrorist" organisation that have nothing like the technological, financial and political power of larger entities/corporations, even within human society, let alone a galactic one. EDI is a poweful AI, able to resist the hacking attempts of the 2nd largest Reaper influenced and controlled entity, the Collector Base, and then to overcome the system protocols of said base's interior functions and the core power systems.

So in less than 3 years, the Reapers weapons and centrallised nervous system/brain are re-engineered and placed into practical operation, calls into question any statement that the Reapers are billions of years more advanced than the cycle.

A quest for ME2 that may have helped.....

Shep discover's that the Keepers are taking Sov's wreackage that is still on the citadel, to keep it from the other species

[ElSuperGecko]

Where to start?!

- the function of the Keepers and their role on the Citadel
- the Haestrom dark matter/energy story
- Gianna Parsini/corporate espionage (this girl could have had a DLC all to herself..)
- Shiala, the origins of the Thorian (Proto-Reaper?) and the Zhu's Hope colonists
- The Asari Consort, the mysterious trinket and the Prothean(stroke Leviathan) orbs
- the Klendagon Rift superweapon
- Harbinger and the Reaper's direct interest in Shepard
- the Batarian Hedgemony's seizure of the Leviathan of Dis and subsequent research (as opposed to the hunt for the Leviathan themselves in the DLC)

[Andrew Lucas]

For me Harbinger should have a bigger role in ME3, he shod be the most baddas villain in the MEU.

[Podge 90]

Fishstick wrote...

sH0tgUn jUliA wrote...

alleyd wrote...

 One thread that I felt had potential was relating to Nazara's wreckage. Suddenly you have physical material and could "learn" much about the reapers that would lose some of the Mythology of ME1. I liken any of the theorising of Reaper capabilities in ME1 as being like ancient humans finding dinosaur bones and then creating Dragon, Thunderbird type myths.  The Reapers are mythologised because they are unknown at the end of ME1, that sitution changes, you now have a corpse/wreckage and records of Reaper behaviour.

This thread is even more enigmatic when Shep is informed that less than half the wreckage is accounuted for, so now you have smuggling and looting elements added into the mix, possible indoctrination as well. One thing that always happens in a situation with advanced weapons platform or technologies is an arms race, the need for control and understanding is a powerful motivator

Reverse engineering of Reaper Tech, the Turians reverse engineer the Thannix weapon system from Reaper Tech and place it into a "mass production" weapon system that is equipping a new class of ships in their fleet and in humans. This system's blueprints were also stolen by Cerberus and placed into the construction of the Normandy.  

Then you have EDI, an AI developed from reverse engineered Reaper Technology in under 3 years and installed into a ship. Engineered by a tiny human "terrorist" organisation that have nothing like the technological, financial and political power of larger entities/corporations, even within human society, let alone a galactic one. EDI is a poweful AI, able to resist the hacking attempts of the 2nd largest Reaper influenced and controlled entity, the Collector Base, and then to overcome the system protocols of said base's interior functions and the core power systems.

So in less than 3 years, the Reapers weapons and centrallised nervous system/brain are re-engineered and placed into practical operation, calls into question any statement that the Reapers are billions of years more advanced than the cycle.

It certainly does, doesn't it?

It is like once the Protheans unlocked the secrets of Mass Relay technology, the reapers weren't that much more advanced. Hence Mordin's discussion about obstacles and tech advancement. 

We were driven by obstacles to advance our tech. Need to move load so invent wheel etc. Reapers had no need to advance any further, so why try new things? They had sufficient technology to perform their task with optimal efficiency.

What about organics? No. Each species is different and has different needs. The diversity will push each down similar but different tech designs. No one size fits all. 

The reapers, over the course of trilogy, went from a "god-like force that moved" to a "bad flying joke".

"I control them"

[grey_wind]

Does indoctrination count?

They could have done a lot more with it rather than simply using it as a cheap excuse as to why Cerberus went batsh!t insane in ME3.

[eyezonlyii]

Lyrandori wrote...

Shepard's Pre-Service history in ME3 plays a minor role (in ME2 as well), perhaps understandably so in ME3's case, however (galaxy-wide war going on sort of decreases any would-be interests about Shepard's personal life issues). I would still have liked it, however, if for example my "main" Ruthless/Colonist Shepard (Paragade in my role-play) would have had the opportunity to actually visit Mindoir before possibly dying in the war.

It wouldn't need to be a complete city/HUB that would have taken BioWare a year to craft and polish... but maybe just a very short side quest, a passing by of Shepard maybe to where his/her family's farm "once stood", having some emotional moment there, maybe bring the love interest and have some short dialog, looking at the homeworld's sunset (of Colonist Shepard) and calling the Normandy for the next mission. You know, something humble but significant enough to justify one such quest, I just think there's potential there.

There's one quest I believe linked for each of the three Shepard's Psychological profiles in the first Mass Effect (Sole Survivor, War Hero, Ruthless), but in Mass Effect 2 and 3 there's no such quests at all. The only references we have to our Shepard's Pre-Service history and Psychological profile in ME2 (and 3) are short and rare dialog instances from a handful of characters, or sometimes can be heard from speakers (the various news) across the Citadel or Omega (in ME2 at least).

Since BioWare took the time, built assets and payed voice actors for such scenes to actually create at least three quests for our psychological profile in ME1, but didn't do so at all in the following two games, then in my opinion that part of Mass Effect was dropped. It had a lot of potential for more story telling regarding our Shepard(s), because when you think about it there's no official detailed lore / canon (barely, only related to those Psychological profile quests and the mere description of the profile themselves when we create our Shepard) about the life of our Shepard(s) before the Sole Survivor/War Hero/Ruthless events in his/her/their life.

I definitely feel the same way. The fact that my Spacer Shep never saw his mother, and talked to her 3 times in 3 years is just awful. My mother (who was in the military) would have hunted me down herself! ...That would make an interesting game...but anyway, I would have liked a small sequence for the psych profiles too. Maybe a small sideques for Cerberus data on Akuze (we're never even told where it is), attend a ceremony on Elysium, or fend off a random Batarian military attack as a response to Torfan...

[dgcatanisiri]

Feros and the thorian are the biggest dangling plot thread for me. Not only was there Shiala 'I've turned green and my biotics are a little fritzy, and I'm telling you all of this in ME2 like it's significant, and now I'm only sending you an e-mail in ME3!' mess, but the thorian managed to break her free of indoctrination. This is A BIG DEAL when fighting the Reapers. Either attempts to weaponize it and wipe out the Reapers ground forces or just making sure that they can remove the threat indoctrination poses, but there should have been SOMETHING.

Then there's the whole 'machine cultist' thing. Given that it's heavily implied to have been Reaper tech, I'd have liked to have seen it as a subplot, a group of people who see the Reapers as gods and worthy of offering themselves up to. We saw them in ME1 and ME2, but the whole thing never even gets name-checked in 3.

[eyezonlyii]

dgcatanisiri wrote...

Feros and the thorian are the biggest dangling plot thread for me. Not only was there Shiala 'I've turned green and my biotics are a little fritzy, and I'm telling you all of this in ME2 like it's significant, and now I'm only sending you an e-mail in ME3!' mess, but the thorian managed to break her free of indoctrination. This is A BIG DEAL when fighting the Reapers. Either attempts to weaponize it and wipe out the Reapers ground forces or just making sure that they can remove the threat indoctrination poses, but there should have been SOMETHING.

Then there's the whole 'machine cultist' thing. Given that it's heavily implied to have been Reaper tech, I'd have liked to have seen it as a subplot, a group of people who see the Reapers as gods and worthy of offering themselves up to. We saw them in ME1 and ME2, but the whole thing never even gets name-checked in 3.

I think there is a problem here though. In total we have five species and one technology that can directly interface wih someone's mind and some cases alter their normal state, and yet, no one has bothered to come up wih a way to block any of these effects? You can't tell me the Salarians do not have some data dating back to the Rachni wars and trying to disrupt the link to the queen...

[dgcatanisiri]

eyezonlyii wrote...

dgcatanisiri wrote...

Feros and the thorian are the biggest dangling plot thread for me. Not only was there Shiala 'I've turned green and my biotics are a little fritzy, and I'm telling you all of this in ME2 like it's significant, and now I'm only sending you an e-mail in ME3!' mess, but the thorian managed to break her free of indoctrination. This is A BIG DEAL when fighting the Reapers. Either attempts to weaponize it and wipe out the Reapers ground forces or just making sure that they can remove the threat indoctrination poses, but there should have been SOMETHING.

Then there's the whole 'machine cultist' thing. Given that it's heavily implied to have been Reaper tech, I'd have liked to have seen it as a subplot, a group of people who see the Reapers as gods and worthy of offering themselves up to. We saw them in ME1 and ME2, but the whole thing never even gets name-checked in 3.

I think there is a problem here though. In total we have five species and one technology that can directly interface wih someone's mind and some cases alter their normal state, and yet, no one has bothered to come up wih a way to block any of these effects? You can't tell me the Salarians do not have some data dating back to the Rachni wars and trying to disrupt the link to the queen...

That makes for an important detail to bring up, though, and why this should have been addressed. Even buried in the salarian archives somewhere, don't they have SOMETHING that they can use and adapt to the Reapers greatest weapon of infiltration?

[Jorji Costava]

A lot of really neat ideas here; I'll only be able to address a few with this post, because my attention span isn't too good:

@alleyd:

Great catch with the wreckage of Sovereign; that's something that really should have had some more impact on ME2 at least. One quick solution would be to replace the derelict reaper (another story element that was all-too-abruptly introduced and then dismissed) mission with a mission in which you raid a research station where the wreckage of Sovereign is being researched. You acquire the IFF from what's left of Sovereign itself.

@grey_wind:

Indoctrination definitely counts. I suppose you could say it's more a misused plot element than a dropped one, but I'm in agreement with you there. Having indoctrination affect only people who were already morally questionable figures (Saren, TIM) was a little convenient and a missed opportunity. I've suggested before that we could have spent a decent amount of time in ME3 fighting indoctrinated forces; it would be a non-resource-intensive way to increase enemy variety while adding some moral complexity to the war. Killing mindless cannibals and faceless Cerberus mooks is a relatively consequence-free act, morally speaking; having to fight ordinary folks who are being brainwashed would up the ante a bit.

I'll probably come back with some more stuff later.

[CronoDragoon]

osbornep wrote...

Indoctrination definitely counts.

I don't know if this is what GW meant, but I would have really liked to see that Indoctrination scenario for Shepard at the end of ME3 that BW had to cut out. It sounded like a neat idea, and I especially liked some of the fan takes on the matter (having dialogue wheels post-indoctrination where you pick something but your Shepard says something completely different. Would have been a very tense sequence).

[Jorji Costava]

CronoDragoon wrote...

osbornep wrote...

Indoctrination definitely counts.

I don't know if this is what GW meant, but I would have really liked to see that Indoctrination scenario for Shepard at the end of ME3 that BW had to cut out. It sounded like a neat idea, and I especially liked some of the fan takes on the matter (having dialogue wheels post-indoctrination where you pick something but your Shepard says something completely different. Would have been a very tense sequence).

That does sound like a really good idea. The only concern is that assuming you don't make Shepard's indoctrination an inevitability, you'd need a way to explain why Shepard is able to escape or resist indoctrination, preferably one that doesn't rely too heavily on the idea that Shepard is Special and the Only One Who Can Do It. Still, I think it could work.

Alternatively, you could have had a squadmate get indoctrinated; for instance, don't complete X's loyalty mission in ME2, then (instead of dying) X shows up in ME3 but is secretly indoctrinated. Heck, ME2 is all about trust, loyalty, etc. If ever indoctrination should have played a bigger role, it was in that game.

[CronoDragoon]

osbornep wrote...

Alternatively, you could have had a squadmate get indoctrinated; for instance, don't complete X's loyalty mission in ME2, then (instead of dying) X shows up in ME3 but is secretly indoctrinated. Heck, ME2 is all about trust, loyalty, etc. If ever indoctrination should have played a bigger role, it was in that game.

I know we are speaking speculatively, but I'm curious: does ME3 track ME2 loyalty directly, or only the consequences that may result from loyal/not loyal?

Modifié par CronoDragoon, 19 novembre 2013 - 05:01 .

[Jorji Costava]

CronoDragoon wrote...

I know we are speaking speculatively, but I'm curious: does ME3 track ME2 loyalty directly, or only the consequences that may result from loyal/not loyal?

My understanding is that ME3 tracks loyalty directly. For instance, if Zaeed survived ME2 but wasn't loyal, then he dies in ME3 (Ah yes, the "disloyal=dead" mechanic; another one of my pet peeves, but that's a debate for another day).

[Han Shot First]

ElSuperGecko wrote...

- the Batarian Hedgemony's seizure of the Leviathan of Dis and subsequent research (as opposed to the hunt for the Leviathan themselves in the DLC)

That one actually wasn't dropped. If Balak survives into ME3 he can tell Shepard that the Leviathan of Dis turned out to be a partially destroyed Reaper, and that the Bataraian scientists and military personnel who were exposed to it over the years became indoctrinated. When the Reapers invaded those sleeper agents activated and helped betray the Hegemony from within, leading to its relatively quick collapse compared to other factions.

I'm not sure whether or not his replacement has the same dialogue.