Mass Effect 3: Leviathans; One More Thing

***SPOILERS***

My last blog – which drew much attention and comment – inspired by watching a cutscene which revealed the Reapers creators, something in addition occurred to me while attempting to write down my immediate reaction to it. Choosing not to include it then because, again writing down first notions, it didn’t qualify. I’ve since given it a bit of thought and its this;

How did the Reapers defeat Leviathans?

I watched the scene a few more times only to confirm and realize, in what seems to have become typical Bioware as they attempt tell a story, that no valid answer was given to the directly put question. Heady and brooding words were used in important/imposing tones, but nothing of any actual value or meaning was said. Nothing which supported the evidence of the Leviathans’ continued existence or confirmed the fact that their creations had indeed gone on to commit countless acts of galactic genocide for untold millions of years. If what was overall suggested were true, then Leviathans would still in charge.

By this I mean that unless the one talking to Sheppard was only boasting, then not only is Leviathan mind control stronger than the Reaper equivalent, it also works on Reapers. That Indoctrination is next to nothing compared to what Cthulhu-spawn wannabes once used to rule the galaxy, which survivors then continued to use to hide from their mecha-clones for untold ages. Yes, it was said that the Reapers used lesser species to “gather knowledge” for a surprise attack – maybe? – but unless this involved the release of something throughout their empire which either neutralized their abilities or killed them outright, any initial or follow-up force would be looking at a counterattack from Leviathans as well among its own ranks. As shown in cutscene their mind control certainly works on husks at very long ranges.

And while perhaps “born” as machine-only entities immune to mental-influence – maybe having gooey organic cores just to have gooey organic cores – if Reapers cannot be mind controlled then again by cutscene Leviathans still have effective countermeasures against them . Weapons which could either have been shared with present “lesser species,” or deployed within any of the fifty thousand long intervals Reapers napped. Unless evolved into cowards in the millions of years they’ve hidden only to become damn stupid to reveal themselves to some guy who’s going to offhandedly mention them to their enemies, its hard not to imagine some enterprising Leviathan dominating a promising inhabited world at some point. Transform it into the basis of an anti-Reaper army give or take a few millennia. With many more thousands of years to build it into an effective force well before the Reapers could get out of bed while having the option of hitting the “snooze” button; compromising Reapers monitoring forces.

Now, while most of this is largely pointless rambling – okay, its all pointless rambling – I hope it at least shows that more thought could have been put into the Mass Effect series than was. That while the series shouldn’t be looked at negatively for just being a game, it should be for its story. It should strongly be looked at negatively for the many flaws mistakes and literal lazy plot gaps and jumps within its story. It certainly shouldn’t be held up as example of what a modern role playing game should be, but is if only for the fact it sold well. Gamers making a game like this a success, in light of complaints against it, is telling the game industry that it can get away with making more games just like this.

So to sum up: You! Yeah you – STOP IT!