Mass Effect 3 Squad

[Steampunk Viking]

Interesting question, I'm interested in seeing how Bioware get around this since potentially all squad members could die in Mass Effect 2. Regardless, Bioware always stick old companions into sequels and I don't see why Mass Effect 3 would be any different. Given there were two returning companions in the second game, I reckon the same will be true of the third. For my guess as to who they would be, see below...

Spoiler

Liara and either Kaiden or Ashley. Purely because they're old companions who are garaunteed to survive through to the third game, plus it's alluded that forming a relationship in Mass Effect 2 may affect your old love interest in 3. It would be interesting if it created tension in the squad...

Personally I think the third game will be more focused on gathering all the races together in an epic battle against the Reapers as opposed to focusing on the squad members themselves, so I'd put money down on one of each race being viable squad members, so two Humans (the usual), an Asari, a Quarian, a Salarian, a Turian, a Krogan, a Drell etc. The reason I think this'll be the case is because...

Spoiler

It makes sense. The whole series so far has done this subtley, but you're given the option to form subtle allies with the other races. Wrex surviving may give you a better chance at allying with the Krogan, the Rachni promise to help "clear the darkness when the time comes" if you save the Queen, you can reform the Geth to becoming good, Liara has a lot of power and respect within the Asari community, helping the Migrant Fleet when in need with Tali's quest and, on a smaller scale, helping Thane to connect with his son may give you some sway on either the Drell community or Thane's son himself. Maybe he's a potential squad mate. Hmmm, that'd be interesting...

Characters I highly doubt will be squad members are Thane, Zaeed (he's downloadable, it just seems like an odd choice) and Wrex (because of the spoiler tag above).

 

[DustyDrB]

3. Doctor Liara T'Soni - Liara will be back on the team I'm pretty sure. She was my favorite character in ME1 so at least I hope she will be. My bet is she'll figure out the Illusive Man is the Shadow Broker and hook up with you to find him

Is the Illusive Man the Shadow Broker? What are you're sources on this? Is it just your'e speculation.

My understanding is that the Shadow Broker is just in the information business. He

Spoiler

asks for the Cerberus data disk in Mass Effect if you did that side mission that ended in Admiral Kahoku's death

. The Shadow Broker also seems to recruit a lot of aliens (Wrex, Barla Von, the Turian who tried to kill Tali, Liara), where the Illusive Man just wants human to be the dominant galactic race. I can see the Shadow Broker turning out to be the anti-Illusive Man, but not an alter-ego for the Illusive Man himself.

 

[Zeraki]

I honestly don't know how they're going to pull it off, since every one of your squad members can potentially die in Mass Effect 2. I really just want Tali, Garrus, Mordin and Legion back in my party. If they can crowbar Wrex back into the squad that would be great, but I have a feeling he will still be on Tuchanka by the time Mass Effect 3 rolls around. It would also be neat to see Liara come back to the group, although she'll probably hate me on account that my Shepard left her for Tali.

 

[AngryPuppy]

3. Doctor Liara T'Soni - Liara will be back on the team I'm pretty sure. She was my favorite character in ME1 so at least I hope she will be. My bet is she'll figure out the Illusive Man is the Shadow Broker and hook up with you to find him

Is the Illusive Man the Shadow Broker? What are you're sources on this? Is it just your'e speculation.

Oh no I would have put a spoiler if it was fact. Was just a guess on my part.

My understanding is that the Shadow Broker is just in the information business. He

Spoiler

asks for the Cerberus data disk in Mass Effect if you did that side mission that ended in Admiral Kahoku's death

. The Shadow Broker also seems to recruit a lot of aliens (Wrex, Barla Von, the Turian who tried to kill Tali, Liara), where the Illusive Man just wants human to be the dominant galactic race. I can see the Shadow Broker turning out to be the anti-Illusive Man, but not an alter-ego for the Illusive Man himself.

You make a valid point, but really whats the best way to keep on top of politics so your race can get the upper hand when needed?

Anyways getting off topic, very sorry.

 

[Jark212]

I'd be happy with Tali, Ashley (Love triangle), and Legion...

 

[Cosmic Naginata]

I'm happy with the squad as it is now, I kept them alive so they would still be by my side in Mass Effect 3. Would like EDI to be more fleshed out now that she's unshackled and a hanar like Blasto on the Normandy would be fun.

 

[I_B_Ready]

I don't believe that the Shadow Broker and the Illusive Man can be the same person. if the Mass Effect comics are to be taken as canon (since a Mass Effect writer is the author I believe we can) then Liara prevents the Shadow Broker from selling Shepards body to the Collectors. instead giving Shephard to Cerebus for project Lazurus. if The Shadow Broker and Illusive Man were the same person, he'd be creating a conflict of interests for himself.

 

[G1eet]

7. Mordin Solus - He cracked me up and his back story was one of the best IMO. I really hope he returns in ME3. Not much to say that hasn't been said already.

8. Thane Krios - This guy, to me, was one of the best characters in either game. I don't care if his flashbacks were overly dramatic, they were awesome. I hope he's in the next game and not dead.

Quoted for truth. I used these two during the last mission 1) because they kick Collector ass (have you used Shredder Ammo?) and 2) they had so much of an impact on me. Both of their loyalty missions seemed the most fleshed out to me, or at least I sympathized with them more than any of my other squadmates. Mordin, with his star pupil gone astray, and Thane, with his rogue son, made much more impact on me than the others' missions put together (yes, Tali, I'm looking at you... no, not your face... but your head at least). Admittedly, Grunt's was probably the most fun to watch.

Take that, Gatatog Uvenk, you giant wuss.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

And it will also destroy the Normandy. Again.

Knowing Bioware and the laws of predictability, this is almost entirely unlikely to happen. It's too obvious, and too repetitive, so the Normandy SR2 shall live I bet. I will wager a large amount of money I don't have to back myself here.

OT: I want my old old squad members to stay, as well as Mordin, and the crew members of the Normandy SR2 of course. I can survive without the others.

 

[Colonel Alzheimer's]

Based on the last thing you see in Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 will be an all out war. Therefore, I bet some characters will have disappear from your squad but return with a shit load of soldiers to help you out at the end (ex: Wrex with the Krogan, Legion with the Geth, maybe Tali with the whole flotilla, etc.)

 

[RatRace123]

I'm not sure about who I'd pick... I'll just list all the party members and why (if at all) I think they'd return.

Spoiler

Ashley-Romance option, the ME1 romance character is kept alive, so I'm guessing who ever you romanced in ME1 will return to your squad in ME2
Kaiden-Same as above
Liara-ME1 romance character
Wrex- as awesome as he is, he could still potentially be dead, and if he's not, his job on his homeworld is too important for him to leave.
Garrus-Potential ME2 romance, and hell, he's been a party member in 2 games so why not have him be in ME3 as well regardless of whether you romanced him or not.
Tali- Same as Garrus.
Miranda-Potential ME2 romance, will create friction with ME1 romance.
Jacob-Same as Miranda
Mordin-He's just awesome, so he should definitely return.
Grunt- I guess either Grunt or Mordin could be the returning character based on awesomeness alone.
Jack-Same as Jacob and Miranda
Thane-I'm actually thinking he'd be dead or dying by the time ME3 was set.
Samara- No real reason she would return, no reason she wouldn't either though.
Zaeed- Not much of a reason he'd return as a party member
Legion- given everything he's learned and found, he probably has to return to the Geth.

So, given my reasons I guess I'd have 5 returning characters:
Your ME1 romance (or your surviving human party member if you had none)
Garrus
Tali
Your ME2 romance (or you can choose from whichever potential romance option is still alive if you had no romance or romanced Tali or Garrus)
Mordin or Grunt

 

[wrecker77]

I absolutely love everey mass effect squad member by now (Except Ashley. WHY DO YOU LIKE her SHE IS A RACIST! Not to mention if you talk to her about the millitary she is revealed to be some kind of intergalactic redneck.) So I would be overjoyed to see any squad member return. Sadly, I dont think we will see alot of returning faces.

Ashley/ Kaiden - Well obviously one is dead, and in my game, ashley is pissed at shepard for joining cerberus, which is strange because she hates alians because she is A RACIST (I really hate her.) I'm not sure if kaiden acts the same.

Liara - She is determined to kill the shadow broker so I predict a verry long sidequest, but not squad member.

Wrex - Too buesy leading urdnot or being dead.

Garrus - Is obviously the most loved charecter, so I wouldnt be suprised if he returns. Mabye he fixes his face? I would hope so I really dont understand why he doesnt patch himself up.

Tali - Is obviously the SECOND most loved charecter. Bonus points for being love intrest. Plus my charecter is engineer so I geuss their engineer buddies.

Miranda - Not especially liked but she is a love intrest so....

Jacob - Suprisingly loved. Not sure where his charecter development will go. We know evereything about him. Anything added will feel shoehorned.

Mordin - C'mon. How can you not love this guy? Not to mention he has been doing huge stuff for his entire life, he can go anywhere as a charecter. Can you say, Long lost son?

Wrex - A tank class is neccicerry for everey RPG and he is the most likely candidate. Not to mention he loves to blow stuff up so their is the motivation.

Jack - Well... she is a love intrest... And she has a "colorful" past so I'm sure some sidequest will show up.

Thane - Really REALLY do not want him to die. But he probubly wont. We dont know how long he has, and his sidequest could be the search of the cure for his disease. If not, their is always his son. I love drel, I wish my entire crew were drell. Or mabye ELCORE!

Samara - Probubly feels obligated to help shepard. I dunno probubly not returning

leigon - liked, but probubly not returning considering how alot of people sold him and hopefully feel bad.

I wouldnt mind mabye 2 new faces at the most.

 

[Kryzantine]

Well, ME2 does show a person getting revived. It wouldn't be out of the question if some Terminus folk used illegal genetics research to bring people back from death or near death if they died on the Collector ship. Considering that Tali is basically a paragon of her people, and the quarians have less qualms about illegal research than other races, it's entirely likely she makes an appearance in ME3 regardless of if she lives or dies. I see Legion, Garrus, Samara/Morinth and the human you chose to keep alive in ME1 joining your squad in ME3. Wrex should appear again, but he will definitely not be a squad member. Thane is an interesting instance; with tissue modification, it may be entirely possible that his death would be delayed a few years, and he would make a reappearance in ME3; but even still, it seems unlikely he'd join your party again.

The plot mechanic I see in ME3 is this: Shepard and the Illusive Man realize they need the manpower the other races provide to defeat the Reapers. They need unity; and who better to provide unity than the squad members Shepard has had before? Wrex is already in place uniting the krogan, Liara has an information network that could lead to some powerful people (for example, Spectres), and Tali is essentially a hero among her people. The majority of the game would be focused on settling the individual paradigms introduced thus far; Liara vs the Shadow Broker, Wrex vs Aria (yes, this must make an appearance, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that the two have a past), Miranda vs Subject Zero, Quarians vs Geth, Plessy vs Ferguson, etc.

Given this format, the natural leaders you've encountered before must be gone, and Shepard will instead maintain a small group of people whose only allegiance is to him. People like Garrus and Grunt. All this is just IMO, my theory if you will.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Don't care as long as Garrus is one of them.

 

[XMark]

I've been wondering how they would handle the many possible character deaths in ME3.

It occurs to me, that Mass Effect 2 was all about building up your team, and introducing all the characters and their motivation. So I would assume that there would be few if any new squad mates in Mass Effect 3, and the game would be all about using whatever team remains from ME2 in the adventure.

Thane might be dead or incapacitated by his disease by the time of ME3, so maybe it doesn't matter to ME3 whether he survived or not.
Also, Samara had only agreed to pledge her services to Shepard for the Collector mission and Morinth doesn't really have a reason to stick around with you, if it's obvious you're not going to fall for her trap.

Maybe Liara will be back on board for ME3... in fact I'd say that's pretty likely. Maybe one of the first missions will be helping Liara take down the Shadow Broker and she joins afterwards (and becomes a possible romantic pursuit again)

Captain Anderson keeps on saying that he's too old to be hopping around the galaxy, but the dude can punch out Udina or headbutt a Turian security guard so I think he may have some fight left in him to join the team.

And of course, we shouldn't leave out the most heroic character who may be the secret weapon against the Reapers... CONRAD VERNER!

 

[Flamezdudes]

Amazingly, search bar approved.

How do you think the team in Mass Effect 3 will be chosen? Whole new band of misfits? Some returning characters but mostly new? All returning characters? What would you like to see happen?

I personally would like there to be a limit on the number you can take (10 seems on the excessive side of reasonable), and you can select from anyone still alive from your previous squads, but there are caveats, like Kaiden or Williams not working with you if you pick Lawson or Taylor from Cerberus (unless your influence is hih enough). You could tailor your squad to your specific needs, or to your preferences for characters, or any way you wanted.

I just don't want to have another bunch of faces brought in for the third game. They should be using it to build to a dramatic conclusion, not spend the whole game telling backstories.

(As a side note, if you like my suggestions, who would your ten be, selected from your old squads?)

Spoiler

I'm pretty sure there will be another disaster right at the beginning of ME3 that wipes the old crew, allows for Shephard to be re-classed, and adds new characters. And it will also destroy the Normandy. Again.

That said, I'm fairly certain at least Garrus and Tali will carry over, as well as maybe Miranda/Jacob.

I agree with you though. Hopefully we'll keep the ME2 squad through ME3, as unlikely as that seems.

My crew based on previous members would be:

1) Legion
2) Tali
3) Garrus
4) Jacob
5) Wrex
6) Grunt
7) Mordin (only because of the song he sings)

It's not 10, but I don't particularly like any of the other characters, to be blunt. If I had to make it 10, I'd just build another 3 Legions, as he is by far my favorite character.

I doubt the Normandy will be destroyed again, the question was asked on Bioware Social and a Dev said no, that we will keep the Normandy.

 

[kampori]

Well, The crew in ME2 are a bunch of miscreants, murderers, terrorists, convicts and the like.. I'm sure most of them will either run away/be let loose, or locked up or killed off in the cutscene pre to ME3. It wouldn't do to have the likes of Jack set loose again.

Some ideas of who will make a return:

Depending on your choices in ME2, and your allegiance with Cerberus-
Either Miranda OR Jacob.
Legion
Garrus
Tali
Ashley or Kaidan
Chackwas, obviously!
Maybe Mordin, just cus everyone LOVES him and he hasn't got much else going for him (left STG, Omega. He's now with us full time).

I guess Grunt will return to Urdnot,
Jack escapes or gets gunned down (I hope. I hate her)
Zaeed.. he was only hired for the Collector job, he'll bugger off.

My dream team always consists of- Garrus & Mordin. Not only for their hilarity/bad-ass ness, but they're also kick ass in combat. Legion as well.. he's just pure gold class. A great addition to the team <3

As for newcomers.. no idea. As I said, I reckon those stated above will stay with you, especially people from ME1- Garrus, Tali, Ashley/Kaidan. Bioware wouldn't create such deep emotional characters for us to love through 2 games, just to not have 'em in ME3. They'll definitely make it through. As for the ME2 crew.. not sure. Tentative.
As someone else said, they're probably do another sort of catastrophe which knocks off most you're crew. Maybe not as intense as ME2 though.
Oh yeah- Thane. He'll probs be with us, unless his disease kills him first. Samara/Morinth, not sure, don't care. If you chose Samara, I guess she'll stay with you til the end, because of her bond. As for Morinth, well.. no idea.

But saying that.. from the ending scene of ME2... it looks like ME3 might take off literally just where ME2 finished. Hmm

 

[Cpu46]

Give Joker power armor and let him be a squadmate! Or if mordin survives let him fix jokers disease. I would love to hear Jokers opinion on things out in the field and EDI can fly the Normandy while Joker livens up the battlefield with one liners.

 

[TheAntmanCometh]

I know he was only downloadable content but Zaeed was awesome

 

[cuzant]

All the romamnce options should return, so Ash/Kaidan Miranda, Jacob, Tali, Garrus, Liara and possibly Thane ( I assume it'll be set right after the ending so should be around, either way Thanes probably my favourite character out of the series, he should stay on awesomeness alone) just for all the love triangle/catfights.

I'd quite like it if the loyalty quests came in here, and all the loyal squad members would at least want to stay.

If that wasn't an option, MORDIN!! he's hillarious, and i can't headshot somebody in any game anymore without thinking "direct organ trauma!"

I quite like Samara as well, and she does have an oath to Shepard.

One of the Krogan as well, I have no real preference, I guess Grunt would be your only choice in some cases. Makes sense for Legion to stay I think, not sure what else he would do.

After that, one or two new characters maybe, or some people we have met before but havent joined the team, a Hanar would be amusing to say the least.