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Related: Is there a "Canonical" Commander Shepard?

I've recently discovered that there is a lot of Mass Effect material outside the Trilogy of games. I'm curious as to how these stories relate to events that are affected by decisions the player is allowed to make in the Trilogy? If one wishes to play out a Trilogy story that is consistent with the other published works, are they still free to make whatever choices they wish? Or, are there certain decision points where the player might violate the continuity that is outside the video games?

If there are choices that must be made to stay true to out-of-game continuity, what are they?

(NOTE: I'm aware there are some ways in which some games could end in Commander Shepard's death. These would be obvious exclusions to this query.)

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Iszi
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  • The only 'canonical' points in the plot are events that will happen no matter what actions you take, so the simple answer to this is 'whichever decisions you want'. Make your own canon. – GnomeSlice Jan 15 '13 at 21:52
  • Re-wrote question to remove any reference to the word "canon", except that which is included in the related question. Whether we want to call it "canon" or not, it's indisputably possible that player-made decisions could conflict with elements included in non-videogame Mass Effect narratives. I want to know whether or not such conflicts may exist, and how to avoid them in gameplay. Sure, it's possible the books/comics/movies completely side-step addressing anything the player may have done. But Shepard does make some choices with pretty far-reaching impacts, so it would be very difficult. – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 17:25
  • Asking how to make every choice in one game conform to a specific model is asking too much. You are asking about an entire series. –  Jan 16 '13 at 18:15
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    @OrigamiRobot That's the first argument against this question (and not an entirely unreasonable one) I've heard that isn't centered around the debate over whether or not there is any "canon". Thanks. – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 18:18

1 Answers1

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Bioware has long stated that there is no canon in Mass Effect - this was mentioned in many interviews after the original game was released. One such quote by Casey Hudson says:

"We have a rule in our franchise that there is no canon."

However, based on the information available in the games through default choices made if you start a new character in Mass Effect 2 or 3, we can assume the following as the default story:

Mass Effect 1

Ashley or Kaidan isn't included in this list, see Mass Effect 2 for why.

  • You recruit Garrus and Wrex
  • Wrex is killed on Virmire
  • The Asari Shiala is killed by the Thorian on Feros
  • The colony on Feros is not saved
  • The Rachni Queen is killed
  • The Council is killed, with the ship the Destiny Ascension, during the attack on the Citadel
  • Udina is appointed Counsellor

Mass Effect 2

Interestingly, during character creation in Mass Effect 2 you get the choice as to whether Ashley died or Kaidan, all in all this event is not that important to the story as it is more about squad build up.

  • Tali is exiled from the Migrant Fleet
  • Grunt, Legion, and Samara are never recruited
  • Samara is killed by Morinth trying to escape from Ilium
  • Suicide Mission Survivors: Mordin, Jacob, Garrus, Tali, Miranda, Joker and Dr Chakwas
  • Suicide Mission Deaths: Jack, Thane, and the rest of the SR-1 crew
  • The Collector Base is destroyed

The DLC is not considered completed by Shepard, but the events still occurred. This means that the Batarian System is destroyed, and Liara is the Shadow Broker.

Mass Effect 3

This section is largely open to debate and subjective opinion, however since there are a lower amount of choices to make in the third game, and many of the key choices leading up to the final choices in this game have already been made (ie: Wrex being dead already, Jack being dead already, etc) you will not be encountering these characters in the final game.

  • Shepard runs around the galaxy for a bit
  • Quarians survive
  • Geth don't (Legion is already dead remember)
  • Genophage is not cured and thus Mordin survives
  • The RED ending, with Shepard surviving (for future Mass Effect releases, obviously)
kalina
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  • I started ME3 from the default save and I was able to get Mordin to cure the Genophage and favor the Geth not Quarians – Ben Brocka Jan 15 '13 at 21:34
  • Why? Because I played through twice (three times almost) and most major choices are binary :P – Ben Brocka Jan 15 '13 at 21:45
  • It's all amounts imagination I would guess, I wouldn't want a blood thirsty Krogan running around with a rapidly reproducing army that's for sure! – kalina Jan 15 '13 at 22:11
  • Interesting information to have (and good answer in general) but I was more looking for what options would be necessary to stay in line with published books, comics, etc. Some of those occur after some of the games have happened, so I'm sure some critical characters would have to have survived, species been helped (or hurt) in one way or another, etc. Or do the other publications generally follow the "default story" from the games? – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 01:33
  • Another example of something that might be seen as "canonical" (depending on how it is handled in the books) is Shepard's choice for Human Councilor. For example, it seems Anderson was involved in some business in Retribution that drove him to leave the post of Councilor, if he was appointed as such, to return to the military. I'd expect some mention of Anderson's current career status at the time may have been made in the book. This could conflict with player decisions in ME 1 or 2. – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 01:42
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    Well this is just it - "There is no canon" - according to the executive producer of Mass Effect, Casey Hudson. With that in mind, nobody can give you a list of canonical choices to make, because there is no such thing as canon in terms of the Mass Effect story. – kalina Jan 16 '13 at 09:37
  • Whether they want to call it "canon" or not, there is a continuity beyond the games. (Hence my use of quotes - while the creators may say there is no "canon", there is a continuity which one would otherwise call "canon".) The question here is whether or not in-game decisions can be made that conflict with non-game storylines. I was hoping to find someone who's read all (or most) of the other material, who could give an answer from experience. – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 16:34
  • I've edited the question title to be a bit more clear. I really don't care whether you want to call it "canon" or not. I just want to know points where in-game choices may conflict with official non-game narratives. – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 16:45
  • I do not believe there is any post-ME3 media out there, so I think the canonical choices of the earlier games based on creating a blank Shepard are your best bet. (So, this answer is it.) – Shinrai Jan 16 '13 at 16:50
  • @Iszi We had a fun shouting match about canon in chat yesterday. Apparently, words of Executive Producer trumps everything written in the universe and condoned by Bioware. – Frank Jan 16 '13 at 16:54
  • @fbueckert That's just coming back to the point I apparently can't seem to get across, here: *I. DON'T. CARE. WHAT. THE. EXECUTIVE. PRODUCER. SAYS. ABOUT. CANON.* There either are decisions that the player can make which will conflict with other in-universe stories, or there are not. I want to know which it is, preferably from someone who's actually read some or all of those stories. While there's maybe nothing post-ME3, there are things post-ME1 and post-ME2. And ME2 had some really big player-affected things potentially happening. (e.g.: Possible near-TPKs) – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 17:16
  • The fact that the player, depending on how the books/comics/movies where written, could possibly make decisions that conflict with the other in-universe stories is undeniable regardless of whether or not we care to call these things (or anything in the Mass Effect universe) "canon". But nobody here seems to want to account for that, or perhaps nobody's had enough exposure to non-videogame Mass Effect stories to appropriately answer. Maybe this is better suited for [scifi.se]? – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 17:18
  • @Iszi I'd highly recommend you read the relevant section of chat. For what it's worth, I agree with you. – Frank Jan 16 '13 at 17:19
  • @fbueckert Could you bookmark & link it? – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 17:20
  • @Iszi It starts roughly around here – Frank Jan 16 '13 at 17:22
  • I find it key and very important to point out that none of the Mass Effect books were written by Bioware - the people who wrote the Mass Effect story - therefore could never really be considered canon anyway. Nearly all the books have the word "inspired by" in their synopsis as well, I'm not sure how I can make this any clearer... – kalina Jan 16 '13 at 17:23
  • @kalina I'm not sure how I can make this any clearer, regarding that point: *I DON'T CARE.* – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 17:31
  • well you best care, you're asking for something that doesn't exist – kalina Jan 16 '13 at 17:32
  • I'm not sure how I am. As I said, player-made choices are either reflected in certain ways outside the games or they are not - which is it? One would have to have read a fair amount of the other material to properly answer this - have you? If not, why are you bothering to argue a point you're not sufficiently educated to discuss? Prime example: Player chooses to appoint Anderson or Udina as Human Councilor in ME 1 or 2. One of those characters is featured in a later publication. What's his job at the time, in that story, or is the issue entirely side-stepped? – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 17:44
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    Iszi - "one would have to have read a fair amount of the other material to properly answer this" - have you? I find this incredibly condescending. The fact is, the related material (books, comics) have never really commented on choices from the games, in fact in most cases they've avoided it completely, opting to cover the backstory instead. For example, Evolution covers the First Contact War, Revelation covers the lead up to Mass Effect 1, Incursion introduces the collectors before Mass Effect 2, Redemption covers finding Shepards' body... – kalina Jan 16 '13 at 18:07
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    Deception completely contradicts parts of the Mass Effect story you can't even choose a result from, and has been called out by Bioware as such and Invasion covers the invasion of the Omega station. Oh and yes I did read the books, being a Mass Effect fan from the start, and no - I don't treat them as anything other than some light backstory that is loosely related to the Mass Effect universe. – kalina Jan 16 '13 at 18:13
  • @kalina I'm sorry if it sounded condescending, but your arguments against this question so far have totally been to avoid the subject of the question. You've not once cited anything from any of the subject content to say whether or not they include elements affected by player decisions, instead trying to escape the issue "because the Executive Producer says this is a non-issue", leading me to believe you may not have read any of it. A more well-reasoned argument (and a proper answer) could have been "I've read X, Y and Z, and none of these stories would be affected by Shepard's decisions." – Iszi Jan 16 '13 at 18:25
  • My final comment on this subject is the original question before you edited it today (many hours after I answered) asked for canon - which was not providable. I'm sorry you couldn't get over this fact initially, had you not asked for canon in the first place it would have been a non-issue. As stated in my previous couple of comments, assuming you've read them, the books are based around individual events in the story rather than the story arc as a whole. – kalina Jan 16 '13 at 18:31
  • I'll just chime in and agree here with kalina's earlier comment that the related material doesn't really comment on choices from the games, but instead does its own thing. I haven't read it all, but I'm hard pressed to think of an example from what I have where the decisions made in any game would be connected in any changeable matter to it. Basically, even taking your question at face value, I can't actually think of a single situation where you, the player, could violate this continuity - it's not really closely connected enough. – Shinrai Jan 21 '13 at 18:44