OH GOD BIOWARE WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

I don't think the Naruto reference works in relation to this situation. First of all, the kids were fighting another Ninja. A human being who, while admittedly far more powerful, was within their scale and comprehension. Meanwhile Kakashi was a known factor who had been proven to be more powerful than the kids and as I recall more powerful than the guy that had managed to trap him. (It's actually sort of funny, he "won" against a stronger opponent by tricking him and then the kids had to do the same to him).

Reapers are, or were, in the narrative of Mass Effect beyond the player. The entirety of the series was about stopping the reapers from getting an opportunity to arrive, not besting them in open combat. Having a Reaper directly antagonizing the player cheapens their position in the story as a threat even before the Thresher Maw shows up. If a Reaper can't kill Shepard when he's running around right in front of it, what's the issue? Just throw Shepard at all of them and he can dodge until the fleet can eventually bombard the thing into submission.

It seems from the trailer that Shepard is attempting to activate an object for some reason. We never hear what it's meant to do specifically, but since the galaxy at large and the population of that planet don't believe the giant thresher maw exists, I doubt the tower is intended to bring the Threshaw Maw in to attack the Reaper on purpose. So it just sort of comes out of nowhere and attacks this giant effing machine for no reason. It can't get food from a reaper, it isn't under attack from the reaper, it probably hasn't been lured to the reaper. It just attacks it because it's convenient for the story.

But, at that, why does it have to be a Reaper? The Geth have built large machines like that in the past, why couldn't it just be a bigger one? Why couldn't it be the Reaper equivalent of those weapons? But from what I've heard from the trailer, it's not. It's a bona-fide Reaper. With no distinction from other reapers being made.

I was excited for ME3 because in ME2 we get so many hints about how the Galaxy is being prepared for war against them. The Normandy is fitted out with better shields, Reaper class weapons and defenses. All sorts of shit that got jacked offa Sovereign. Why couldn't all that be put into turning the Galaxies fleet into a legitimate Reaper ass kicking machine so that all the shit we did in ME1&2 has a point?

I think the best way for it to end would be that after spending the starting points of the game uniting and preparing the Galaxy for war, it turns out that all the things Shepard has done adds up to us having a fighting chance in open battle. With all the upgraded weaponry, and the fact that the center of government wasn't wiped out at the start of the war this time, the races of the Council are in a better position than anyone else before.

The climax could be when the Reapers decide they need a plot device weapon to destroy everything, and Shepard is the only one that can lead the team to take it out.

[Osterbaum]

[...]I doubt the tower is intended to bring the Threshaw Maw in to attack the Reaper on purpose

No I think that's propably exactly it.

With all the upgraded weaponry, and the fact that the center of government wasn't wiped out at the start of the war this time, the races of the Council are in a better position than anyone else before.

Also we've had a bit more time for additional technological development since supposedly Sovereign spent some time looking for the reason why, and then for the prothean beacons and eventually the conduit. So there was some time between when Sovereign iniatally tried to get the Keepers to activate the Citadel and actually getting to the point of trying it itself, which is the plot and eventually climax of ME1.

[Marc v4.0]

I highly doubt that the Reapers are actually as far beyond the rest of the Galaxy in technology as they claim, because they were clearly able to reverse engineer what Reaper technology they could recover off of Sovie. With the Collector Base, Indoctrination and the process for turning organic material into the Techo-slurry used to replicate these things could have been cracked, potentially.

They only SEEM far beyond the scope of understanding and defeat because they are an unknown, with motivations 'we can't possibly comprehend'. Which is a bullshit line that the Reapers are feeding us. Of course they say They are Beyond Us and we should Surrender, it makes it easier for them to win and it is entirely a logical tactic for them to exploit the fear of the unknown.

[Osterbaum]

I always got the image that the reapers were supposed to be superior to us in terms of technology and numbers (ship numbers) both. The trailer shows a Reaper fighting on the ground, but I always figured they were just ships; that they lived in space and just had so much firepower that they could bombard a planet to oblivion and just release indoctrinated slaves and husks to do all the rest.

Actually the whole indoctrination thing seemed a lot bigger in ME1, since supposedly the Reapers indoctrinated millions or even billions of Protheans to do the 'ground work' and then just let them starve to death afterwards. ME2 didn't have anything new to say about indoctrination, but surely it should become a major plot point in ME3. It's not just about military superiority, who has the better and bigger guns. The reapers are supposed to have technologies we hadn't even conceived of yet, like indoctrination and turning organics into husks.

[Aerozord]

Originally Posted by Marc v4.0

I highly doubt that the Reapers are actually as far beyond the rest of the Galaxy in technology as they claim, because they were clearly able to reverse engineer what Reaper technology they could recover off of Sovie. With the Collector Base, Indoctrination and the process for turning organic material into the Techo-slurry used to replicate these things could have been cracked, potentially.

They only SEEM far beyond the scope of understanding and defeat because they are an unknown, with motivations 'we can't possibly comprehend'. Which is a bullshit line that the Reapers are feeding us. Of course they say They are Beyond Us and we should Surrender, it makes it easier for them to win and it is entirely a logical tactic for them to exploit the fear of the unknown.

I think thats a retcon, admittedly not a bad retcon as it does make sense. Still the Reapers should be that far beyond us. Despite all our studies we still cant replicate mass relays for example. Your technology has to be very close to make reverse engineering possible. If you took my computer back in time 100 years they'd have no way to replicate it.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Aerozord

Still the Reapers should be that far beyond us. Despite all our studies we still cant replicate mass relays for example.

Canon is that no one ever really tried. No one even bothered figuring out the keepers or how the Citadel works and they've been living there for ages.

Reverse engineering has worked on a lot of reaper tech they've tried to reverse engineer.

Edit: I mean, the mass effect drives in ships, and the guns, and the kinetic barriers? All reverse engineered Reaper Tech, that they THOUGHT was Prothean tech.

[Marc v4.0]

It is almost as if the Reapers made sure that the Mass Relays were made widespread enough that no one would ever need to make their own, potentially discovering the below-detection signals and footprints that would lead a race to discovering the dark secret of the Galaxy in the process and exposing them to disadvantage.

>_>


Pretty much: They want people to think they are unstoppable so no one tries too hard to stop them. Plain and simple. It isn't a retcon, Sovie said they were unstoppable, and then Shepard and half the fucking firepower in the Galaxy STOPPED HIM. In the first game.

So many retcons~

[Aerozord]

Though in the second game we found out other societies did try to stop them. Prothean's did manage to create their own mass relays after all. Then there was that weapon that killed a reaper that they think was able to shoot from other star systems. Even forgetting the amount of energy that would take the computing power needed would be insane. There was also no evidence that this weapon wasn't completely of their own making since the Reapers would discourage it because their main tactic was to isolate you in a star system.

In a way its kind of a slap to the face of humanity even if reverse engineering is our saving grace. We cant do crap, unless we steal technological advances from others

[Arhra]

Wait guys, I've figured it out.

They are having a Reaper get wiped out by a Thresher Maw so the Reapers can emphasise with what happened to Shepard when his entire squad was wiped out by Thresher Maws (assuming you took the right background).

Thus paving the way for the Reaper romance option!!!

[BitVyper]

Reaper romance would be great, but it really would have had to be Sovereign.