(XL) Was the Ending a Hallucination? - Indoctrination Theory Mark IV!

[ZerebusPrime]

Famous Quote: “I was born in London.”

Srsly? It's like they're still trolling us with IT memes. Now with 50% more salt in wounds.

Ha, no.

Famous Quote: “I believed in a new beginning. Still do. I have to. We're in it.”

But as he said..

Origin: Born: London, England, Earth. Split residence: Citadel, Earth

Look at Liam in totality again:
https://www.masseffect.com/news/liam-kosta

Crisis response specialist.  ME3 ended in a crisis for BioWare.  Liam is new staff.
NOW consider his quote about new beginnings and his listing as being an idealist. It's self deprecation.

[Rifneno]

[11:38:49] @ Byne : "Unlike Liam and Cora, your other squad mates, like Vetra, Peebee, and Drack, have traveled to Andromeda long before your arrival." wait, what


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[ZerebusPrime]

Yes, something is supposed to cause the human ship to lag behind the rest. Given the distance and total trip time, showing up 10+ years late should not be shocking.

[DoomsdayDevice]

lol, damn you Maximus

had me going!

[Rifneno]

Yes, something is supposed to cause the human ship to lag behind the rest.  Given the distance and total trip time, showing up 10+ years late should not be shocking.

Oh, that's all it is?  That line gave the impression they'd already been to Andromeda before this pathfinder bullshit somehow.

Which is completely retarded, and thus fits in perfectly with the story.  Hence why I didn't question it.  We're at the point where I'm willing to accept "they were already to Andromeda and came back because fuck you" on a single random poorly worded sentence.

[crash23]

The gist I've gotten is that there is something like, just for example, the Nexus arriving first and having some humans on it, so we have a pseudo-Milky Way situation of already walking into some existing interspecies dynamic (smaller scale and fresher though). The Nexus would have Krogan, but also the top leadership of the Andromeda Initiative, and many Humans and Asari; enter Peebee and Drack and a bunch of other already residing characters, 'long' just being in Human perception, so probably just years(?) tops.

'Long' may or may not be because of some given logistics of travel between galaxies. Perhaps get the Nexus in first, try to situate something sustainable with it (Note: this probably failed to an extent; 'Nexus Uprising'), and use that basis as a start to hook the Arks to it, power it up further, and complete the work on everything and spread more colonies forth like a swarm. Whether the audience agrees with the logic of all this, in-universe it may be explained to be the best way to most quickly establish a strong, unified, civilized presence, one more likely to be able to find a way to establish a quick transportation back to the Milky Way (say, the process taking years to decades instead of decades to centuries). Course this seems sabotaged or set for disaster, but that's where the Ryder heroism comes in.

[crash23]

Yes, something is supposed to cause the human ship to lag behind the rest.  Given the distance and total trip time, showing up 10+ years late should not be shocking.

We'll have to see whether all the Arks are 'late' or whether just Hyperion messes up and comes last to everything, maybe even put in some time dilation issues.

In any case, Ryder won't be in the set of people first putting their 'feet on' the Andromeda galaxy, but they will, as Pathfinder, by the first contact point with new aliens throughout the Helius cluster, and diplomat-soldier in contact with already known aliens. Emphasis is still on discovery and exploration, but Bioware still made sure to provide the 'home to protect' (albeit to lesser emphasis to the trilogy) that many players may require in order to feel invested, IMO.

[Rifneno]

How the fuck do you even overclock an omni-blade?  An omnitool flash fabricates a diamond-strength blade.  What, exactly, is there to overclock?  What does overclocking DO?

I hate this game and everything about it.

[ZerebusPrime]

Obviously he simply sped up the... um... refresh rate of the... .........honestly I never understood how omnitools worked past ME1.  The moment Shepard started using one as a real physical object completely threw me for a loop.

[Maximus]

lol, damn you Maximus

lol, you're welcome, DD! D:
Couldn't resist myself. That character is a joke, IMHO. xD

Obviously he simply sped up the... um... refresh rate of the... .........honestly I never understood how omnitools worked past ME1. The moment Shepard started using one as a real physical object completely threw me for a loop.

Ask and ye shall receive!

Although melee-combat applications for the omni-tool are almost as old as the device itself, the feature was largely unused prior to the Reaper invasion. The need to take on multiple husks in close quarters forced the Alliance to develop ways to enhance the tool's offensive capability.

The most common melee design is the "omni-blade," a disposable silicon-carbide weapon flash-forged by the tool's mini-fabricator. The transparent, nearly diamond-hard blade is created and suspended in a mass effect field safely away from the user's skin. Warning lights illuminate the field so the searing-hot blade only burns what it is intended to: the opponent.

More technically adept soldiers frequently modify their omni-tools to maximize stopping power through electrical, kinetic, or thermal energy. Some troops integrate their weapon with their kinetic barriers, transforming the omni-tool into a wrist-mounted bludgeon; others fabricate flammable gases, held in place by a mass effect field and ignited upon impact. All prove deadly surprises for opponents who expect a disarmed Alliance warrior.

So apparently all blade configurations are hot AF thus burn the target. Lightsaber much? Never seen such effect in-game. There's engineer's melee that releases fire on impact but this particular configuration ain't 'blade'. Still unsure what Kostanderson did to 'overcompensate' his own blades but I'd guess it's about increasing the size or temperature to be more hardcore in melee combat.

Edit: I seem to be on TOP of things!

[Rifneno]

This game is the avatar of Poe's Law.  I didn't even question "I was born in London" as a signature quote.  I just rolled my eyes and went on.  ME:A is so terrible that parody and mockery can't be distinguished from legitimate information.

Dude.

[windsurfing]

Not sure if you guys noticed but that 4th installment of the team intro video shows some sort of local planetary system with a black hole in the center represented in scientifically agreed form, a sphere rather than a 2D hole in space/time fabric.

Any time dilatation scenarios, if any, will be explained away as some unfortunate groups getting inside the cusp of the blackhole's effect.

As for Cora Harper, definitely 100% related to TIM, aka Jack Harper, those who've read the comics will have figured this out instantly. Eve Coré is just another easy giveaway about the connection.

[dorktainian]

Not sure if you guys noticed but that 4th installment of the team intro video shows some sort of local planetary system with a black hole in the center represented in scientifically agreed form, a sphere rather than a 2D hole in space/time fabric.

Any time dilatation scenarios, if any, will be explained away as some unfortunate groups getting inside the cusp of the blackhole's effect.

As for Cora Harper, definitely 100% related to TIM, aka Jack Harper, those who've read the comics will have figured this out instantly. Eve Coré is just another easy giveaway about the connection.

gosh, I've been harping on about this for yonks. Firstly you have travelling faster than light and then you have potential gravitational anomalies. Both of which add to relativity. Also how did they get scan results back from andromeda? The original scan would have had to have been sent sooooooooo long before the mission.

Yes it's deffo the return of space magic.

[ZerebusPrime]

........I imagine they mapped the Helius Cluster with a telescope. From the Milky Way. That makes their maps dated by, oh, millions of years or something like that. That in turn apparently leads to flying way too close to black holes that were not mapped the first time.

[crash23]

From a Youtube comment:

"I think what is even scarier that this video doesn't mention is the fact that Cerberus was experimenting with Reaper tech. It's entirely possible that the Andromeda Initiative could accidentally re-create a Reaper and start a massive conflict in the Andromeda galaxy, and even worse, allow the Reapers to advance further than they have been able to their entire time in the Milky Way, adding that new "power" and new technology as well as new species to harvest, species that have been able to grow and evolve both biologically and technologically without the interference of the Reaper threat. Adding all this stuff to a new Reaper would be.. very concerning."

[dorktainian]

From a Youtube comment:

"I think what is even scarier that this video doesn't mention is the fact that Cerberus was experimenting with Reaper tech. It's entirely possible that the Andromeda Initiative could accidentally re-create a Reaper and start a massive conflict in the Andromeda galaxy, and even worse, allow the Reapers to advance further than they have been able to their entire time in the Milky Way, adding that new "power" and new technology as well as new species to harvest, species that have been able to grow and evolve both biologically and technologically without the interference of the Reaper threat. Adding all this stuff to a new Reaper would be.. very concerning."

the guy on the commentary didn't even know that swirly blue thing was a black hole did he?

Good apart from that tho.

[Raistlin Majere]

If the Reapers wanted to go to Andromeda they could and probably would.

I would honestly be suprised if they havent.

[ZerebusPrime]

It's not "are there Reapers in Andromeda?"

It's "Is Cerberus bringing Reaper Tech that they can't properly control with them to Andromeda?" In the time frame of the Ark departure, Cerberus is in full mad scientist mode.

[jojon2se]

Must say I am more: "Is anybody going to Andromeda at all, or is this all taking place in the Matrix?" :7

[ZerebusPrime]

Must say I am more: "Is anybody going to Andromeda at all, or is this all taking place in the Matrix?" :7

Well, I don't know about you but this will all be taking place within my Xbox One.

Badadapadada!

[DoomsdayDevice]

Must say I am more: "Is anybody going to Andromeda at all, or is this all taking place in the Matrix?" :7

My sentiments exactly.

[DoomsdayDevice]

*snip*

From a Youtube comment:

"I think what is even scarier that this video doesn't mention is the fact that Cerberus was experimenting with Reaper tech. It's entirely possible that the Andromeda Initiative could accidentally re-create a Reaper and start a massive conflict in the Andromeda galaxy, and even worse, allow the Reapers to advance further than they have been able to their entire time in the Milky Way, adding that new "power" and new technology as well as new species to harvest, species that have been able to grow and evolve both biologically and technologically without the interference of the Reaper threat. Adding all this stuff to a new Reaper would be.. very concerning."

At this point, the game looks so bad, that this idea sounds "too good to be true".  

I liked that video though. I agree there's probably some shady Cerberus-y stuff going on. That AI implant thing is also ringing all kinds of alarm bells.

And yeah, that just has to be a black hole.

[Rifneno]

I didn't listen to the whole video.  But I clicked to hear him say "whatever this swirly blue shit is".

It's an accretion disk.  It's a shitload of debris that's orbiting an extremely massive body.  Typically a black hole, but the largest stars may get them.  You'll recall that we encountered one in ME2.  That was a supermassive black hole, the object which the entire Milky Way galaxy orbits.  The Milky Way's SMBH has an estimated diameter of 17 light hours.  For reference sake, we're 3 light minutes from our sun.  This translates to an estimated diameter in miles of about 11,390,000,000.  That's kind of useless info because it's so hilariously far beyond what our meager brains can truly comprehend.  More numbers we can't comprehend: this SMBH has 4,100,000 times the mass of Sol, which in turn has 332,946 times the mass of Earth.  Meaning that black hole has 1,365,078,600,000 times the mass of Earth.  Fun.  Finally something fatter than Chris Priestly.

Anyway.  Most black holes aren't nearly that big, but it's the only one we've encountered in Mass Effect so far.  This black hole is extremely unlikely to be Andromeda's central supermassive one.  But a normal black hole is definitely large enough to have its own accretion disk, and accretion disks are rarely the result of Reapers not cleaning up their room like the one we saw.

Finally, that's a poor visual representation of a black hole IMO.  The hawking radiation would be utterly blinding.  Which is why I can forgive its unrealistic representation.  It'd be difficult to distinguish between black holes and bright stars save for their gravity-to-physical-dimensions-ratio.  My only complaint about its representation there is that it looks more like an element zero core than it does an astronomical body.  If they hadn't designed eezo cores to look like they do, I'd have no complaints with the visual representation there.

Also, I don't expect any time lapse to be the result of a black hole's time dilation.  While it's true gravity can fuck with the speed of timeflow in an area and black holes are superawesome at fucking with it to the point of real scientific theory sounding like it's too unrealistic for Star Wars, this is generally only known by people with at least a real interest in the field.  We're past all that scientific realism.  We're in space magic territory now.  I'm sad to say it, but that idea sounds TOO REAL for Mass Effect today.

:(

[Master Blaster]

Yes, something is supposed to cause the human ship to lag behind the rest.  Given the distance and total trip time, showing up 10+ years late should not be shocking.

Which I call bullshit for the sake of plot and money currency system in the galaxy.....Rather see a system of trade base center than credits since oh no others had time to colonize a already populated galaxy that looks like they are STILL not as advance as the milky way despite the fact as far as we know there are NO signs of Reapers ever going to that galaxy/ had a VERY VERY VERY .....(1B very's later) long time to be super advance that no matter what the milky way had on them it would be shit.

Unless Bioware pulls a Krogan on us about "technology changed us" and each race had all out war then....whatever bioware.

[ZerebusPrime]

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