2122 réponses à ce sujet

[dreamgazer]

Yeah, this is a good point. As someone said before, it would be pretty hilarious if the next game revealed that we'd only dealt with a tiny fraction of the Reapers' multi-galaxy fleet and the rest of them were on their way to finish the job.

Unless the Crucible took care of all the Reapers in the Milky Way, thus freeing the universe from their clutches while keeping Andromeda's state of growth in check. No Reapers around, an explanation why the galaxy hasn't evolved to crazy degrees, and the potential for relay travel throughout Andromeda.

I'm not advocating a continuation of the Reaper story, by the way, but they're going to have to address the Reapers' travel capabilities and the can-'o-worms of intergalactic travel in general somehow.

[dreamgazer]

Now I'm sure you aren't.

Why, because Vigil didn't make the Reapers its hentai waifus?

Zero. Evidence.

[AlanC9]

I feel like you are incapable to make sense. It is stated numerous times that the Reapers are hibernated in Dark Space.

Again, never by anyone with any actual knowledge.

[Pasquale1234]

It's more accurate to say that the Codex is always what the galaxy knows. Sometimes the galaxy is right about stuff. Sometimes it's wrong about stuff.

I'd append that to say 'what the galaxy knows or believes'. Like the Citadel and Mass Relays having been built by the Protheans.

Also, the Codex is not all-inclusive. It never mentions, for example, the technology used in the Lazarus Project. It doesn't say that organs can be cloned or that there are any laws around that, but Garrus gives us the Dr. Saleon/Heart quest in ME1.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

I don't get why the fact the Reapers have been to other galaxies means that they'll show up and/or make ME3's story moot. Just because they can and have been to other galaxies doesn't mean they'll be there when we get there. The exception is the one who remains as the vanguard for that galaxy, but that's one Reaper and it can be in one of its sleep cycles that last for centuries so not even be seen or heard from. 

 

There are pros to them having done so, and no cons. 

[Iakus]

Assuming they exist, their reason for doing so would be... what exactly? Because they somehow believe that a bunch of organics in another galaxy pose a threat to them?
 

... unless they don't.

I don't recall any known presence of intergalactic species in the MEU thus far. That doesn't mean that no other species has intergalactic travel capabilities, just that we've not been shown any evidence of contact.

The reason would be to protect organic life.  Their mandate is to preserve life at all cost.  Their bizarre logic on what that means is what created the cycles:  with their absolutist proof that conflict between organic and synthetic life is inevitable and will mean the extermination of all organic life.

 

Therefore, if synthetic life lives in another galaxy, and that distance is traversible, then it is inevitable (by their logic)that such life would eventually wipe out organic life in Andromeda, and then come here.  Thus the Reapers would need to extend there harvests to other galaxies to prevent that from happening. 

 

Whether or not such life exists there, it would be the Reaper's duty to go there and make sure.

[dreamgazer]

Dude, the Andromeda Reaper watchdog is totally going to become a squadmate in ME:Next after the Crucible fires and takes care of every single other Reaper but him ... or her!

[Iakus]

Again, never by anyone with any actual knowledge.

While it's true Vigil has no direct knowledge of what the Reapers' do between cycles, we're pretty much expected to take its speculation as gospel.  Just as we take EDI's speculation on Reaper reproduction as veritas in ME2, and the Catalyst's insane troll logic as perfectly rational in ME3.

 

Bioware could change it at any time.  But that probably wouldn't be seen as..."artistic"

[Iakus]

Dude, the Andromeda Reaper watchdog is totally going to become a squadmate in ME:Next after the Crucible fires and takes care of every single other Reaper but him ... or her!

Murmur as squad member!

 

Semiconfirmed rumor 

[dreamgazer]

While it's true Vigil has no direct knowledge of what the Reapers' do between cycles, we're pretty much expected to take its speculation as gospel.  Just as we take EDI's speculation on Reaper reproduction as veritas in ME2, and the Catalyst's insane troll logic as perfectly rational in ME3.

At least EDI's speculation about the Space Terminator and the Catalyst's programming are observable in some way, either in person or from the horse's mouth.

Vigil's just pissing in the dark (space).

[ElitePinecone]

Unless the Crucible took care of all the Reapers in the Milky Way, thus freeing the universe from their clutches while keeping Andromeda's state of growth in check. No Reapers around, an explanation why the galaxy hasn't evolved to crazy degrees, and the potential for relay travel throughout Andromeda.

 

This is an interesting idea, but I think it's more likely that they'll just stop talking about the Reapers entirely and remove them as a feature of the story in the next game. Nothing we've been told so far suggests that the Reapers have explored other galaxies, and I just can't see that being a huge reveal in the next game. 

 

I think that also, if they want to emphasise being in a wild frontier and totally cut off from civilisation, the more barriers to travel and communication with the Milky Way the better. If it were too easy to transfer people and materials between the galaxies, the story becomes much lower-stakes and there's no huge "risk" of having to decide the fate of the human colonists, or whatever the leaked survey talked about.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

This is an interesting idea, but I think it's more likely that they'll just stop talking about the Reapers entirely and remove them as a feature of the story in the next game. Nothing we've been told so far suggests that the Reapers have explored other galaxies, and I just can't see that being a huge reveal in the next game. 

 

I think that also, if they want to emphasise being in a wild frontier and totally cut off from civilisation, the more barriers to travel and communication with the Milky Way the better. If it were too easy to transfer people and materials between the galaxies, the story becomes much lower-stakes and there's no huge "risk" of having to decide the fate of the human colonists, or whatever the leaked survey talked about.

I think it'll be more there will be references on planets about extinction level events that sound errily similar to the ones in the Milky Way that referred to Reaper harvests. That way those who are new aren't confused, while those who do know see the connection. The only obvious thing would be the Mass Relays(the Mass Relays are one of if not the icon of the franchise along with N7 so should be there), but that can be explained in a Codex entry or maybe a conversation. 

 

As for being cut off, simple. The Relay gets damaged. Maybe in the introduction the Reapers try attacking the ark and even the Relay to stop the ark from using it but it slips through before the Relay becomes inoperable. A scene like that would connect to the past games as well as set the mood and show the stakes.

[ElitePinecone]

I don't get why the fact the Reapers have been to other galaxies means that they'll show up and/or make ME3's story moot. Just because they can and have been to other galaxies doesn't mean they'll be there when we get there. The exception is the one who remains as the vanguard for that galaxy, but that's one Reaper and it can be in one of its sleep cycles that last for centuries so not even be seen or heard from. 

 

There are pros to them having done so, and no cons. 

 

Your theory makes ME3 even more horrifically bleak and meaningless than what Bioware managed to do with the base game and Leviathan. 

 

Not only is the entirety of human history a tiny footnote in a billion-year-old mistake made by a race of sentient cuttlefish who built a malfunctioning computer; the products of this mistake have inflicted untold suffering on trillions of lives for hundreds of millions of years on not just our galaxy but every nearby galaxy, and conceivably on vast swaths of the universe if they had the time and reach to get that far. That is insanely, nightmarishly terrible. 

 

I am *a lot* more comforted by the fact that the Reapers seem to be confined to the Milky Way, as far as we know, and it makes ME3 far more triumphant if that story is about us ending the Reaper threat permanently. 

 

Turning the Reapers from a galactic threat to something that's in every galaxy would be one of the worst possible things that they could do to the franchise, and it would elevate them to a position that they frankly don't deserve to be in. 

[Han Shot First]

The Reapers should be dead and gone or otherwise dealt with permanently by ME: Next. Wherever the game is set, it should have new villains. 

[dreamgazer]

I am *a lot* more comforted by the fact that the Reapers seem to be confined to the Milky Way, as far as we know, and it makes ME3 far more triumphant if that story is about us ending the Reaper threat permanently.

Personally, I find the idea that Shepard and Co. saved not only the galaxy, but the entire universe to be pretty groovy.

[Pasquale1234]

The reason would be to protect organic life.  Their mandate is to preserve life at all cost.  Their bizarre logic on what that means is what created the cycles:  with their absolutist proof that conflict between organic and synthetic life is inevitable and will mean the extermination of all organic life.

That's a different question / issue.

The question I posed is that, if highly evolved synthetic life capable of intergalactic travel exists in other galaxies, why would they travel to other galaxies to exterminate organics?

The conflicts we've seen thus far have some motivation behind them.
 

Therefore, if synthetic life lives in another galaxy, and that distance is traversible, then it is inevitable (by their logic)that such life would eventually wipe out organic life in Andromeda, and then come here.

You have evidence that anything about the reapers' mandate is intergalactic in scope? I'd like to see it. (that isn't snark, btw)

[ElitePinecone]

The only obvious thing would be the Mass Relays(the Mass Relays are one of if not the icon of the franchise along with N7 so should be there), but that can be explained in a Codex entry or maybe a conversation. 

 

I don't think the next game will have relays; the leak seemed to indicate the whole thing will take place in a star cluster that can be navigated easily at normal FTL speeds. 

 

(As in, the decision to set the game in the Helius cluster was deliberate, because there won't be relays capable of taking us great distances across Andromeda.)

[ZoliCs]

The Reapers should be dead and gone or otherwise dealt with permanently by ME: Next. Wherever the game is set, it should have new villains. 

 

Sowers?

[Hanako Ikezawa]

Your theory makes ME3 even more horrifically bleak and meaningless than what Bioware managed to do with the base game and Leviathan. 

 

Not only is the entirety of human history a tiny footnote in a billion-year-old mistake made by a race of sentient cuttlefish who built a malfunctioning computer; the products of this mistake have inflicted untold suffering on trillions of lives for hundreds of millions of years on not just our galaxy but every nearby galaxy, and conceivably on vast swaths of the universe if they had the time and reach to get that far. That is insanely, nightmarishly terrible. 

 

I am *a lot* more comforted by the fact that the Reapers seem to be confined to the Milky Way, as far as we know, and it makes ME3 far more triumphant if that story is about us ending the Reaper threat permanently. 

 

Turning the Reapers from a galactic threat to something that's in every galaxy would be one of the worst possible things that they could do to the franchise, and it would elevate them to a position that they frankly don't deserve to be in. 

Anything related to the Reapers should be bleak. That is kind of the point of them being nigh-unstoppable monsters.

Not nearly every galaxy: Just the galaxies in the local galactic group. Going from galactic group to galactic group is an even bigger hurdle than going from galaxy to galaxy.

 

It makes ME3 seem more triumphant if we stop a race that has been terrorizing the local galactic group more than a single galaxy. 

 

Again, the fact Reapers went to other galaxies does not mean they are still there. Bioware just has to have them all in the Milky Way reaping in ME3 and poof, Reaper threat gone one way or the other. 

 

 

I don't think the next game will have relays; the leak seemed to indicate the whole thing will take place in a star cluster that can be navigated easily at normal FTL speeds. 

 

(As in, the decision to set the game in the Helius cluster was deliberate, because there won't be relays capable of taking us great distances across Andromeda.)

Removing the Mass Relays from Mass Effect would be like removing Dragons from Dragon Age. Both are the icon and namesake of the franchise. 

[dreamgazer]

This is an interesting idea, but I think it's more likely that they'll just stop talking about the Reapers entirely and remove them as a feature of the story in the next game. Nothing we've been told so far suggests that the Reapers have explored other galaxies, and I just can't see that being a huge reveal in the next game.

Mandates don't have boundaries unless they're explicitly stated, though, and they never were. The Reapers are about imposing order on the chaos of organic evolution, and their existence is beyond our comprehension. That sounds much more like cosmic travelers than a bunch of cuttlefish floating in darkspace for tens of thousands of years.
 

I think that also, if they want to emphasise being in a wild frontier and totally cut off from civilisation, the more barriers to travel and communication with the Milky Way the better. If it were too easy to transfer people and materials between the galaxies, the story becomes much lower-stakes and there's no huge "risk" of having to decide the fate of the human colonists, or whatever the leaked survey talked about.

Time spent will become a huge factor in travel, if that's the case.

Perhaps, but having the relays around with retain a very crucial visual cue of the series, and it would also make Casey's comment in the teaser video about traveling to planets "across the galaxy" make a lot more sense.

[ElitePinecone]

Removing the Mass Relays from Mass Effect would be like removing Dragons from Dragon Age. Both are the icon and namesake of the franchise. 

 

The namesake of Mass Effect is the "mass effect".

 

Mass relays are just one technology that depends on that physical property of the universe, there's still biotics, shields, FTL travel, weapons, vehicles, starships, etc.

 

I don't think it's ideal to take away mass relays from the setting, but the game is recognisable without them. The mass relays are a form of transportation and nothing else - they're not required for a game that takes place in a relatively smaller part of space. 

[Hanako Ikezawa]

The namesake of Mass Effect is the "mass effect".

 

Mass relays are just one technology that depends on that physical property of the universe, there's still biotics, shields, FTL travel, weapons, vehicles, starships, etc.

 

I don't think it's ideal to take away mass relays from the setting, but the game is recognisable without them. The mass relays are a form of transportation and nothing else - they're not required for a game that takes place in a relatively smaller part of space. 

And the Mass Relays are the personification of that technology. Dragon Age can still be recognizable without dragons, but it doesn't mean they should get rid of dragons. 

 

That relatively smaller part of space will have to be hundreds or thousands of light years across to house "100s of solar systems and 100s of planets" that can be explored and/or colonized. Conventional FTL wouldn't be efficient since travelling it can take weeks, but that distance is the perfect length for Mass Relays. 

[ElitePinecone]

Mandates don't have boundaries unless they're explicitly stated, though, and they never were. The Reapers are about imposing order on the chaos of organic evolution, and their existence is beyond our comprehension. That sounds much more like cosmic travelers than a bunch of cuttlefish floating in darkspace for tens of thousands of years.

 

I just have to repeat that nothing we've been told so far indicates that the Reapers have been to other galaxies. I don't think future games are going to change that, because I don't think future games are going to talk about the Reapers much at all. 

 

This discussion is pointless without more information. 

 

If ME:N takes place in Andromeda and there are no Reapers there, and there were never any Reapers there, people can go on all day about how it doesn't make sense given their mandate - but in the meantime, I suspect BW will be focusing on whatever this new story is.

[Heimdall]

Mandates don't have boundaries unless they're explicitly stated, though, and they never were. The Reapers are about imposing order on the chaos of organic evolution, and their existence is beyond our comprehension. That sounds much more like cosmic travelers than a bunch of cuttlefish floating in darkspace for tens of thousands of years.

But are they about doing that everywhere or was the Catalyst designed only to solve the problem for the space controlled by its creators?

 

It seems rather presumptuous to assume it was ordered to solve the problem everywhere for all time, and frankly doing so elevates the Reapers to a level they don't deserve.  The Intelligence was created to solve a problem for its masters, not for the whole universe.

[Pasquale1234]

I think it'll be more there will be references on planets about extinction level events that sound errily similar to the ones in the Milky Way that referred to Reaper harvests.

I'd like to see them use other extinction events to explore themes around over-reliance on technology.

I'm no historian, but have seen suggestions that the Irish potato famine was largely due to the ubiquitous use of a particular strain of potato susceptible to a plague / infestation - and that if they had continued to plant other potato varieties more resistant to that threat, it would not have been so devastating.

Eve (aka Urdnot Bakara) mentions that over-reliance on technology had some seriously negative impacts on Krogan culture, and Mordin also talks about the pitfalls of giving them technology that they were not yet socially able to handle.

MEU could be a great setting to explore those themes.