Mass Effect 3 Trailer Confirms Earth is Screwed

[Misterian]

Reapers heading for Earth?

Shepard really does need to gather as many allies as he can.

But then, he's sort of the Chuck Norris of Space Marines, it would be pretty funny if the Reapers start running off the moment he arrives, So far, he's encountered 3 Reapers (Sovereign, the Derelict Reaper, and the Human-Reaper.) that died either directly or indirectly by his hand.

 

[Traun]

I find it funny, cuz' it's the biggest plothole ever.

So the Reaper armada needs weeks just to take out a few million civilians? They have to use their "limbs" to attack (you know, not weapons of mass destruction as was implied)? Those guys are a pushover, send a few photon torpedoes at them. Maybe let them have a few lessons from the Ur-Quan or more worthy space aliens.

Wonder if land mines are effective against them.

 

[MadMechanic]

I find playing "London Calling" over the trailer adds a little something to it.

After seeing the teaser trailer, and now this, I'm slightly sad that it wasn't for a new/different game - ME3 was hardly a secret what with the "we're making a trilogy!" Bio said, several times...

But, I've got to say, this short trailer looks interesting. If only for starting to bring up questions of the ME universe 'history' - how the military works, different (unified) nations and so on.

But...3 legged (tentacle...things) space-ships walking over London, whilst killing the population?
Better hope Shep has a cold when he/she visits London then...

The trailer looks great. However, the game is another matter - I'm looking forwards to this.

 

[FinalGamer]

I honestly don't know how to feel about the announcement. I am happy, confused, cheerful, dissapointed and excited. I will make myself clear right now.

When I saw the trailer, the first one, I already expected a Mass Effect spin-off based on the first contact war. That could have been good enough for me, as I want to know more about that event that had the humans and the turians at each others throats. I kept this up until this morning when I saw that, in fact, it is Mass Effect 3.

Before jumping into the conclusions I get from this trailer, I would like to mention how I feel about this. I am really happy that we will get the conclusion to this epic sci-fi story next year instead of having to wait three years for it. This might be a double-edged sword, as I don't know how BioWare will imply gameplay improvements with just months before they release the game, so just for the possibility of them cutting corners my excitement is reduced and so I will preserve my hype until I see gameplay footage of it. And now, to the conclusions I get from the trailer.

I am pretty sure that, for those who couldn't have their Shepard to survive the end of the second game they will be given the option to play as the guy with the sniper rifle in the trailer. That would be awesome. For those who managed to keep Shepard alive, the sniper rifle guy may be a new squad member.

Since it's Earth that is under attack, what might be preventing Shepard from grabbing the Normandy and going to the closest Mass Relay? Maybe the Mass Relays will get disconnected or jammed, forcing Shepard to travel the Galaxy for a long time before reaching Earth and so elongating the gameplay time.

Now, we got stablished that Shepard's going to Earth. What if your Shepard was a Colonist, a Spacer or an Earth-born? Will that affect the character? Will Shep be amused for seeing Earth for the first time or will he/she just complain about how nothing changed? Also, it will be nice to see more developement of the love interest in the third part.

TL;DR - I am keeping myself calmed about ME 3, not hyping it nor making any preconceptions at least until I see gameplay footage of it. They just need to bring back the planet exploration mechanic with the new Firewalker and that will make the game better than the second.

Pretty much this. Also somewhat concerned on the release date as Holiday 2011 which makes me say two things.

1. I fucking hate the term "holiday" as a release date, that's an incredibly vague term pretending to be specific, which is even worse. Just say 2011 or Late 2011, don't be a cocktease.

2. If it's summer holiday that's a worryingly small amount of time to work on things. If it's winter holiday that's not too bad.
So now I just hope they can do all they want before then and so we get a good awesome game.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

I bet Jeff Goldblum uploads a computer virus to the Reapers.

This has been my exact thought on how the series would end since the first game. I can't think of any other way this is going to go down besides a healthy dose of deus ex machina. It might be a really well-written and logical one, but still. We'll see.

Only a year between ME2 and ME3? Ehh....

January 2010 --> Holiday 2011 =/= 1 year. More like 22 months.

... I might be the happiest person alive.

And I'm calling it right now, that soldier will take over the Kaidan/Jacob role.

He's already more interesting than either of them, so I'd be fine with that. But yes, happiest person alive fits my attitude as well.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I just got chills!

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

****MASS EFFECT 1 & 2 SPOILERS****

I'm amused how the Reapers' logic goes from "destroy all life in the galaxy with one, fell swoop" to "aww, screw it, let's just do the 'invade earth' thing."

Especially considering their "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em phase" in the middle.

It just seems like they're getting incrementally less competant.

****END SPOILERS****

That said, next year's Christmas can't come quickly enough...

The reapers don't attack every planet at once, they disable communications and relays and attack one system at a time.

Vigil said so; "system by system, world by world the reapers systematically obliterated the protheans"

"Systematically" means one by one, like going down a list. Not all at the same time.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Only a year between ME2 and ME3? Ehh....

January 2010 --> Holiday 2011 =/= 1 year. More like 22 months.

Ah, I figured as much.

 

[Warachia]

Just because their first plan didn't work doesn't change the fact that the Citadel is still a priority target. The role it plays in the overall scheme of things is the same, thus it should have the same importance in the Reaper's plan. I just don't see the tactical benefit to taking out Earth and giving each species time to prepare and team up in the process as opposed to separating them all from each other by seizing the citadel.

Eh, I know I'm being unfair to the game by judging it on the trailer alone. But because one of the main aspects of Bioware game's is the story, I immediately start thinking about that. Even when very little has actually been revealed yet.

Not saying the game will suck mind you. Just examining what little I know about the story from the trailer.

To be fair, I get worried about any game that is going to be released by a comapany I like too. Here is a quick though, the Reapers probably DID take down the citadel first, there is nothing saying they didn't, as well as there is nothing saying that the reapers are only attacking humans/attacking humans first, maybe humans were the first to fall.

Edit: screwed up on quoting, should be fixed now.

 

[DevilWolf47]

Okay, so it seems like the general plot of Mass Effect 3 will be that the Reapers recognize humanity as a threat, having destroyed the Collectors and Sovereign, so they attack Earth and it's up to Shepard to save humanities collective sorry ass. Seems to me that this might actually be a good move though. Make the game significantly more difficult if you didn't free the Rachni queen, destroyed the heretic Geth, let Aria get killed, let the council die and make sure that aliens would never act to return the favor, and kill Wrex and keep him from uniting the Krogan.
...
...hold on, by default in Mass Effect 2 the council is dead, Wrex is dead and the Rachni are still extinct... so BioWare is keeping with tradition and will probably totally fuck over people who didn't have save files from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

Only a year between ME2 and ME3? Ehh....

January 2010 --> Holiday 2011 =/= 1 year. More like 22 months.

Ah, I figured as much.

Yeah I got the impression from that "ehh..." that the idea of only one year in between releases would be cause for concern, as if they couldn't really do all that much in that span (especially since ME2 came out 25 months after the first one). I can only assume that after two games they have a good idea of which mechanics work and which don't, and now it's just a matter of slapping it together.

Have faith friend, have faith.

 

[Irridium]

I'm unfortunately very doubtful after seeing this trailer. Why? After the T-800 Reaper last time around, now it turns out they're giant mechs?! That's utterly ridiculous! And apparently the big scary Reaper army that will "darken the sky of every world" takes months to just wipe out earth...what?

I'm still looking forward to the game, but that looks stupid.

You *DO* realize that the Reapers have had their plans messed up. Unlike previous occasions people knew that they were coming, The Illusive Man has been prepping things, and even if you destroyed the base at the end of Mass Effect 2, the good guys were scavenging tech from the Remnants of Sovreign, leading the the development of some of that tech you got to install on The Normandy in the last game.

At this point it wouldn't make sense if everything went according to plan and things were quite as one sided as they were before. The Reapers are still a major threat, and of course could win, but one wouldn't expect even their main fleets to be quite so unopposed at this point.

It's also noteworthy that while Earth being destroyed is an iconic vision to us, it's sort of irrelevent to the Mass Effect universe. This is one of those futures where Earth is already supposed to be a wreck, and humanity has spread out to all kinds of colonies and such. I believe they make a point in the stuff based around the "Earthborn" backround that earth is a dystopian hellhole full of criminal gangs and such, like the earth from Andromeda or whatever. It's probably defended, but I'd be surprised if much was actually centralized there unless they are going to retcon a lot of stuff. In the overall scheme of things losing Earth might be a bit of a morale hit, but in the big pictures them taking months to bring down Earth kind of implies epic warfare, because Earth is probably a relatively minor blow all told.

The biggest problem with the trailer though is why the guy would still have a British accent. Earth is supposed to be unified, and we have one language (English) and going by most of the NPCs it seems like everyone is supposed to have a USA accent. It's kind of odd that you'd see this, though I'd imagine Bioware might be wanting to make things a bit more multi-national seeming in the 11th hour (love political correctness). I suppose it's minor but it kind of irks me. Not so much because of some flag-waving American uber-pride, (though I suppose there is that) but simply because I feel political correctness is a cancer that needs to be opposed and it makes me wonder if we're going to see tons more people suddenly walking around with accents just for the sake of them being there now.

I'll also be honest in saying that the whole "Red Herring" thing might be in connection to the trailers, with them being irrelevent to the game. Maybe earth isn't destroyed, and this doesn't have much to do with the actual gameplay. Perhaps it's a vision of an alternate future like in "Stormwatch" or something where we're supposed to think it's real, but instead it's The Illusive Man showing Shepard possible futures through a dimensional portal or something, explaining how he can predict so many things.

Some minor things I'd like to clear up:

-If ME1 and 2 are anything to go by, nobody actually believes in the Reapers except Shepard, Anderson, and Cerberus. While Cerberus may be able to help humanity prepare(by telling the higher-ups and them getting things ready), the other races still think your insane. And they probably won't listen to a terrorist organization.

-Earth is not a wreck. You just grew up on the slums because you had no parents. In the planetary description for both games, it says Earth is entering a "new golden age". All the first-world nation's citizens are enjoying long lives, easy living, and plentiful food. 3rd world nations on the other hand are probably more dystopian though.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Earth

Earth has its fair share of slums and crappy areas, but its not the state of the entire planet.

-Earth is not totally united. In the Codex it mentions that Earth is still divided between nation-states. They formed the Alliance to present a unified government to deal with the Citadel and whatnot. In ME2 there was a planet that had colonies from the United North American States, the People's Republic of China, and the European Union. While they're united under the Alliance, they're still they're own nations. I believe it was the planet that was under thread of rocket launch, where you had to choose to save either the capital city, or the planets mining operation.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

Ehh, I don't think I am gonna fall for this one again Bioware.

Was rather disappointed by ME1, tricked by the totally awesome trailer of Mass Effect 2, and now this.

If they figure a way to just revamp the Combat entirely, or take it out completely I'll be in. But it is way to much muscling through to get to the story.

Definitely rent, but Buy?

I don't think so.

I thought the combat was great thanks, and quite necessary because I don't want the whole game to be just a story, it needs to be 60% GAME as well.

Because it is a role playing game

I think films would be more in your tastes than games? Seeing as you only want the story?

Go wait for the mass effect film instead, I'm gonna wait for my game to get finished.

 

[Josh123914]

Hopefully this means a mission where you either
1. Recruit an Irish guy
2. Rescue Irish survivors
3. A mission set in IRELAND.

Wait!! Why would we want to recruit anything Irish to fight the reapers?

They can't even afford the weapons, let alone the armour -Ah snap-

Plus, we are neutral

actually, setting it in Ireland would be pretty cool, and since it's next to the UK(maybe it'll act as a temporary safepoint) AND that Bioware has an Ireland branch in Galway it wouldn't be as random as other countries

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

Easy as that.

 

[TehIrishSoap]

Hopefully this means a mission where you either
1. Recruit an Irish guy
2. Rescue Irish survivors
3. A mission set in IRELAND.

Wait!! Why would we want to recruit anything Irish to fight the reapers?

They can't even afford the weapons, let alone the armour -Ah snap-

Plus, we are neutral

actually, setting it in Ireland would be pretty cool, and since it's next to the UK(maybe it'll act as a temporary safepoint) AND that Bioware has an Ireland branch in Galway it wouldn't be as random as other countries

OMFG, I LIVE IN GALWAY!!!!!!!! HOW EPIC WOULD THAT BE!

 

[Thespian]

I'm unfortunately very doubtful after seeing this trailer. Why? After the T-800 Reaper last time around, now it turns out they're giant mechs?! That's utterly ridiculous! And apparently the big scary Reaper army that will "darken the sky of every world" takes months to just wipe out earth...what?

I'm still looking forward to the game, but that looks stupid.

They were always huge, living ships. We've known that since they were first introduced.

And we have no evidence that it will take months to wipe out Earth. It might be quicker.
Moreover, they could be simultaneously attacking other planets.
Also, the Reapers have been thwarted at almost every turn, losing their Geth heritics, losing their Collector army, being prevented from destroying any more human colonies, lost the birth of the new addition to their race, and most of all lost their chance to take the citadel, their biggest advantage.
Finally, aside from the Citadel, Palaven, Thessia and Sur'kesh, Earth is probably the most heavily militarized planet in the Galaxy. It's bound to put up resistance.

And even with all of those factors in place, they still took Earth to it's knees within a week. I think we can agree that Reapers are pretty dominant.

 

[teutonicman]

What did the sniper in the tower shoot again?

Looks like a collector. Or maybe another indoctrinated victim?

OT: Is it me or does mr pommy there looks slightly like jason statham?

I was thinking a husk. It looked too lanky to be a collector, though the image wasn't exactly crystal clear.

 

[Irridium]

I thought the Reapers were supposed to be efficient machines that can conquer a planet in a matter of days (or hours), how is Shepherd running around the galaxy for days/months/whatever going to save the Earth in time again?

As Vigil stated in the original game, the Reapers spent hundreds of years on wiping out the Protheans, and that was under the ideal circumstances where they were able to start by taking control over the Citadel.

Now the Reapers are instead striking at what is probably the most well-protected human planet in the galaxy, with the overall infrastructure of the Systems Alliance still working to send in reinforcements. Needless to say, the harvesting process might be slowed down a bit.

A galaxy is a very LARGE place, it would take centuries to steamroll and eradicate all intelligent life even if the enemy in question was highly efficient. The planet Earth however is a very small one, with a tendency to group it's intelligent lifeforms in large population centers. The Reapers should still have the potential to harvest them (that is still a really dumb plot twist) in a matter of days, not weeks, not months, days. Like you said, they've been doing this for a hell of a long time, no matter how much of their plan has been interrupted it shouldn't slow this part of the process down that much.

What I'm saying is that if you have to leave to come back with an enemy that's been set up the way the Reapers have been, it's already too late. Time to fall back to colonies outside the solar system, make your stand there, count your losses and call it good.

It may be that like in Dragon Age, they'll start on the outer colonies and work their way inward. Supposedly giving you the months you need to gather and mobilize your armies and whatever. It's still moronic, not to mention cliche. But no worse than what I was expecting them to do. As someone else noted, the Reapers get less effective and less machine-like with each installment. Their motivations in the second game made little sense in reference to the first. For me, it doesn't make Shepherd look awesome, it makes them (and the writers) look incredibly incompetent.

I was sick to death of Dragon Age by the time I finished it. I don't need to play it in shooter format IN SPACE! So, I probably won't.

Well, I guess this is the effect of drawing away the main writer(s) to help on other projects. Probably The Old Republic. Not much left for other large games.

 

[aaronmcc]

****MASS EFFECT 1 & 2 SPOILERS****

I'm amused how the Reapers' logic goes from "destroy all life in the galaxy with one, fell swoop" to "aww, screw it, let's just do the 'invade earth' thing."

Especially considering their "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em phase" in the middle.

It just seems like they're getting incrementally less competant.

****END SPOILERS****

That said, next year's Christmas can't come quickly enough...

Actually it's explained that the Reapers destroy each galaxy by turning off the mass effect portals. They then wipe out a solar system. Rinse and repeat until they enough juice/slaves/tech to go hibernate again. They are simply eliminating their greatest threat first but obviously that's a big mistake because all it's going to do is piss Shepherd off.