CaitSeith said:
Yes, continue; because that doesn't counter the rest of what I said:
You learn exactly what Sovereign is before you even leave Eden Prime. It's Giger-inspired aesthetics invoke biomechanism from the very start, you fight converted biomechanoids the whole way through, Geth aesthetics subtly link Reapers and Geth in the player's mind, then at the very end the Prothean beacon message subtextually confirms it by displaying quick-cut (almost subliminal) images and videos of biomechanics. Biomechanism being a literal synthesis of organic and synthetic.
Then you go to the Citadel. Scan keepers, biomechanoids. Rogue gambling AI, get the first hint of organic/synthetic conflict in the trilogy which acts as a basic subtextual roadmap and foreshadowing for both the main conflict of ME1 and the entire trilogy. Meet Tali, learn about Geth, but not everything in her story adds up and it becomes clear Geth are a
subversion of "rogue genocidal AI" trope; this is actually important, because it's the strongest
reinforcement of the organic/synthetic conflict themes in the entire trilogy because it paints organics as an
aggressor. Geth exception is reinforced on Feros, when Shepard sees Geth worshiping iconography evocative of Sovereign and the Reapers.
In the meantime, transhumanism, augmentation both cybernetic and genetic, its implications on the "human" state, and through subtext what defines humanity, are explored through dialogue with Kaidan, Ashley, and Joker. How Kaidan is a biotic, how being biotic isn't natural to humans but rather an engineered trait requiring cybernetic and VI augmentation and
years of experimentation and training to harness, the human cost and ethics of developing human biotics, and the impact this has on the victims (the biotics themselves). How Ashley is what would pass for a cultural conservative, how she is genetically engineered being the recipient of gene therapy to cure congenital conditions and as a member of the Alliance military, and whether and how deeply genetic engineering conflicts with her beliefs and the ramifications for humanity at large. How Joker is disabled and the limitations of human medical technology, but despite this his genetic and cybernetic palliative care allows him a high quality of life and military service despite a condition that in the past would have proven terminal at an early age.
That's not limited to main characters; these are conversations that can be had with minor characters, and as part of (marked and unmarked) side quests through the entire game. The main characters are simply the case example. All of which intended to frame to the player the ME universe is already exploring the limitations of the organic state through means ethical and unethical, up to and including cybernetic and VI enhancement, pushing the character to question in the back of their minds what defines being organic.
In the middle of all this you run into the Luna rogue AI mission, but more on EDI later. Yes, that's EDI. And, no, that actually cannot be handwaved as retcon, being that mission's completion is one of the
many flags carried through the trilogy in save conversion, and completion/non-completion of that mission actually changes dialog later in the trilogy. It just happens to be the case, since that was the class specialization mission, almost everyone completes it and therefore never notices.
Anyhow, you get to Virmire. Dialog between Rana and Saren lay pretty much the entire thing out. Reapers are biomechanoid and they convert organics to biomechanoids to suit their purposes, but their activities are limited to culling sufficiently-advanced organic species. On Ilos, you learn Keepers (who you, the player, already knows to be biomechanoid) are Reaper slaves. Having fought husks the entire game, the player is drawn to the conclusion biomechanism is equivalent to Reapers. Except, here's where the game (hell, entire trilogy) pulls its smartest trick: you're introduced to Indoctrination and Vigil, after constantly hearing Shepard repeat "Reapers are machines to be destroyed" the whole game.
Indoctrination introduces the notion nothing associated with the Reapers is to be trusted. Vigil tells the player understanding the Reapers is irrelevant. Shepard constantly reiterates how Reapers are only machines. Meanwhile, what the player is
shown is in complete disharmony with what they're
told; they're
shown what's actually going on, but
told to ignore it. It's all very Lovecraftian, since the game doesn't actually play on fear of the unknown to cultivate horror; the game plays on
the player's experienced cognitive dissonance to cultivate horror. Simply put, the Reapers aren't scary because they're "eldritch horrors"; the Reapers are scary because they
aren't.
You see, the people who wrote the game actually read and understood Lovecraft, unlike nine out of ten people who played it and claim to have. The essence of Lovecraftian horror isn't actually "The Unknown" or "Eldritch Horror", that's just what people who don't understand Lovecraft think it is; the essence of Lovecraftian horror is
cognitive dissonance, and Mass Effect plays this to the hilt perfectly, toying with popular sci-fi tropes to construct a metatextual facade that builds Lovecraftian horror by
inverting the equation. I could write for days about how genius ME1 is on this basis alone.
So, ME2. You're right, there's not much to say there. Except that Shepard's literally brought back from the dead as a cyborg monstrosity, pals around with a literal test tube baby, a buddy cop duo of a Quarian and Geth who basically reveal everything you were told (but not shown) about the Geth in the first game was propaganda, Joker again, and an AI with Sooper Dooper Double Seekrit Totally Not Reaper Augmentation that allows them to...
think like an organic? Meanwhile you're fighting even more biomechanoids and eventually see how far Reapers' ability to biomechanize organics go, because at the end of the game
you fight a giant husk.
Meanwhile, Miranda continues the line of transhumanist musings started by Ashley in ME1, Jack continues Kaidan's musings, and Joker continues being Joker. The wild card here is EDI, because dialog with her focuses on relations between organics and synthetics, organics' purpose for existing and synthetics' purpose vis-a-vis organics, and the inevitability of conflict.
But you're right, nope, nothing to see there.
