Mass Effect 3 Key Choices

[Lucretia]

Oneof the hallmarks of the Mass Effect Trilogy is its ability to let you make choices for Shepard during conversations, story moments and gameplay, with effects ranging for very minor to far-reaching across the galaxy. This page documents the most notable choices and consequences in the first game, including any effects in Mass Effect 2 and 3.

On this page, we only list the choices that have Major and Moderate effects in Mass Effect 1 and/or its sequels, and have been split into these two sections and arranged roughly chronologically. Choices that have only minor effects, such as giving a single email in a sequel, are not listed.

It goes without saying that there are HEAVY spoilers on this page, not just for Mass Effect 1, but 2 and 3 as well. This page will list the context of the choice and your options, then detail the consequences of each within a Spoiler Box. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

It's entirely possible to complete the "Citadel: Expose Saren" Mission without meeting Garrus Vakarian at the Med Clinic (however this requires meeting and recruiting Urdnot Wrex). If that's the case, he'll be waiting for you outside the central C-Sec elevator after you've exposed Saren and been made a Spectre. From here you can decide if you want to recruit him:

It's entirely possible to complete the "Citadel: Expose Saren" Mission without meeting Urdnot Wrex at C-Sec (however this requires meeting and recruiting Garrus Vakarian). If that's the case, he'll be waiting for you outside the central C-Sec elevator after you've exposed Saren and been made a Spectre. From here you can decide if you want to recruit him:

One of your early Missions is to search for Liara T'Soni in the Artemis Tau cluster. Her reaction to you can differ greatly depending on whether you complete more than one Mission World before going after her.

During this important Mission, you'll have the opportunity to complete side-quests, use Charm / Intimidate to convince Fai Dan, and use special gas grenades to help ensure the survival of the colony. The fate of the colony is then decided by a survival check based on whether you did these actions.

Early into the Mission on Virmire, you'll learn that Saren has found a cure for the Genophage in this lab, and Wrex is furious that it'll be destroyed. You'll have to confront him at the beach to find a resolution.

To convince Wrex to stand down, you'll need to have 8 Charm points or have completed the "Wrex: Family Armor" Assignment in order to open up the requisite options to save him. Otherwise, you can shoot him yourself, order Ashley to shoot him if you told her to "Stay Alert" earlier, or can't find a resolution that will result in Ashley killing him herself.

Towards the end of Virmire, you'll be forced to choose to rescue either Kaidan or Ashley, who will be at the bomb site and the AA tower (who is where depends on who you assigned to Kirrahe's team before the assault).

At the end of the Virmire Mission, you'll get into an extended conversation with Saren over his alliance with Sovereign. Towards the end you'll have an Investigate option on the left side: this marks when the important final choice with Saren will appear.

In your last conversation with Saren, you'll have the option to convince him to resist the Reaper implants. This requires a full 12 points into either your Charm or Intimidate stat, but if you picked the Charm / Intimidate option back on Virmire, you'll only need 9 points. If you can't, you'll have to pick "This is pointless".

After you complete each Mission World and finish debriefing with your squad, you'll have the chance to report back to the Council. During each one will be a point where one of them challenges Shepard's decisions, and you can choose to disconnect from the call.

This Assignment is acquired in one of three ways, and will send you to planet Sharjila in the Macedon system of Artemis Tau and kill an Asari mercenary, then confront her sister Nassana on the Citadel. Things will change based on if this confrontation happens or not.

After completing the UNC: Geth Incursions Side-Quest in the Armstrong Cluster, you have the option, if you remember, to talk to Tali in Engineering. Here you can offer to let Tali copy the geth data to fulfill her pilgrimage, or decline / ignore her entirely. If you access the Galaxy Map before talking to Tali, you'll miss your chance.

Believe it or not, but completing these three tasks actually does something! The tasks are getting an Elkoss Combine License from the Expat in the Wards or Opold on Noveria, completing the Feros: Data Recovery Assignment for Gavin Hossle on Feros, and finding at least 10 of the 15 Asari Writings.

During your first visit to the Citadel after finishing a main Mission world, you can find a couple on the Presidium arguing about whether to use gene therapy to avoid a heart disease. Completing the Assignment will determine meeting them later.

"Citadel: The Fan" is a long-term Assignment that can be started on your first visit to the Citadel. It has three stages; progress to the next one by talking to Conrad Verner in the Upper Markets and then completing a Mission World (Therum, Feros, Noveria or Virmire). In the third interaction, you can use either the Charm / Intimidate options to one effect, and the three normal options on the right for another.

This small Mission is acquired early into the "Virmire: Assault" Mission, and you'll get four tasks that will assist Kirrahe's team: Disrupt Communications, Destroy the Satellite Uplink, Destroy Flyers, and Disable Alarms.

None of the choices have an effect on teammates available in ME2. In fact, most of the ME1 choice outcomes feel like: "Remember when you made that choice? Here's how it's going now". Those outcomes probably will come to bear in ME3.

No, your choices do not change the first two games much. Mainly: if you make a choice that causes someone to die in ME1, then in ME2 you'll either not talk to them or some replacement character will be found for their dialog (with perhaps slightly different options).

Encompassing three blockbuster video games, four published novels, ten comics titles, an animated film, and even a theme park ride, Mass Effect is arguably one of the biggest and most influential roleplaying franchises of all time.

The third-person action RPG transports players to a world filled with aliens, sleek starships, and memorable characters. Each game is filled with hundreds of choices, and these choices ensure that every player has a unique experience. With the next video game installment in the series, Mass Effect: Andromeda, on track for a March 2017 release, it seems that the power of individual choice will remain a hallmark of the series, and continue to ensure its place in gaming history.

My own journey with the Mass Effect games spanned five years of my life. It was a journey shaped by the choices I made within the game, and one that was unique to me. Game by game, the nuanced decisions I had to make made Mass Effect one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've ever had.

Perhaps the biggest and most well known choice in the first game occurs about two-thirds of the way through the story, when the player is given the hardest choice of all: who to sacrifice. This was one decision that had no third option; one member of the team had to die to cover the rest while a bomb went off, and it would be permanent.

For my part, I remember agonizing over this choice for quite a while. I had never encountered a decision like this in a game before. Even now, almost a decade later, this choice remains one of the standout moments of the series and one that epitomizes the personal appeal of the game for me: lasting choices with consequences far beyond what might be first apparent.

After this opening, in a scene reminiscent of The Fifth Element, the Commander is rebuilt by the human black ops organization Cerberus and its mysterious leader, The Illusive Man. This allowed players to change the look or class of their Shepard while still keeping the sense of continuity from the previous game.

Fans were promised that Mass Effect 3 would be the culmination of two games worth of choices; the galaxy would live or die based on previous and new decisions, even as the story upped the scale and stakes. ME:3 features the villainous robotic Reapers invading the Milky Way en masse as they cull the galaxy of life.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition has been out for a year, but the game might be more relevant than ever, especially after BioWare announced an upcoming fourth entry in the now-iconic series. Players' fascination with Commander Shepard's story continues, and Legendary Edition is the perfect reminder of how amazing the trilogy is.

The games are full of choices that leave the story in the players' hands. However, while some become meaningless in the long run, others are more important than others, and a precious few are crucial to determining the fate of the galaxy and its many species.

One of the first major choices players can make in any Mass Effect game is to play as either a Paragon or a Renegade. Paragons are usually understanding, aiming for true galactic cooperation, and choosing to see the best in their allies. Renegades are more focused on results, adopting a humanity-first approach and achieving things via intimidation.

Both choices can lead to different outcomes at various points in the trilogy; for instance, a Paragon Shepard will appeal to Saren's good side in the first Mass Effect and successfully convince the Illusive Man that he's indoctrinated in the third game. Renegade Shepard might result in a funnier game, but playing Paragon will reap the most long-term rewards.

The choice at Virmire was one of the earliest points where fans understood Mass Effect's uniqueness. By that point in the game, players had formed a connection to Kaidan and Ashley, so leaving one behind to die was jarring. Kaidan was more suitable for a Paragon Shepard, while Ashley might've been more appealing for a Renegade. However, the choice was still difficult and carried significant consequences for Shepard's crew.

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