Mass Effect

thumb|Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file.Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will.Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold. Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. The game takes place in the year 2183, with the player assuming the role of an elite human soldier named Commander Shepard, set out to explore a vast universe on his or her ship, the SSV Normandy. thumb|I should go. "Many decisions lie ahead... none of them easy." Commander Shepard It's not the severity of punishment that deters criminals — it's the certainty. I should go. Dialogue [A massive, powerful Krogan Battlemaster, Urdnot Wrex, has been called to Citadel Security; he towers over the human C-Sec officer speaking to him as Commander Shepard and his/her companions look on] C-Sec Officer: Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar. Stay away from him. Urdnot Wrex: You should warn Fist. I will kill him. C-Sec Officer: You want me to arrest you? Urdnot Wrex: I want you to try. C-Sec Officer: Go on! Get out of here. [Urdnot Wrex goes to leave, noticing Shepard] Urdnot Wrex: Do I know you, human? Commander Shepard: My name's Shepard. I'm going after Fist. I thought you might want to tag along. Urdnot Wrex: Shepard? Commander Shepard? I've heard a lot about you. We're both warriors, Shepard, so I'm going to give you fair warning; I'm going to kill Fist. Garrus Vakarian: Fist knows you're coming. It'll be easier if we work together. Urdnot Wrex: My people have a saying: "Seek the enemy, of your enemy, and you will find a friend." Commander Shepard: I think we're gonna get along just fine, Wrex. Urdnot Wrex: Let's go. I'd hate to keep Fist waiting. [Commander Shepard finds a retired Turian commander, General Septimus, drunk in a bar in the Wards on The Citadel] Urdnott Wrex: So this is the famous turian general? How did your kind ever defeat us? General Septimus: I may be drunk, krogan, but you're ugly. And tomorrow I'll be sober. [Note: General Septimus' retort echoes a story about Winston Churchill being confronted for being drunk at a dinner party] Ambassador Donnel Udina: You know Saren's hiding somewhere in the Traverse- send your fleet in! Salarian Councilor: A fleet cannot track down one man. Ambassador Udina: It could defend our citizens in the Traverse- stop the Geth from attacking any more of our colonies! Turian Councilor: Or we could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems! We won't be drawn into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies. Commander Shepard: I can take Saren down. Asari Councilor: The Commander's right. There is a solution that doesn't require fleets or armies. Turian Councilor: No- it's too soon! Humanity isn't ready for the kind of responsibility that comes with joining the Spectres. Commander Shepard: The Council doesn't have to send a fleet into the Terminus Systems, and the Ambassador gets his human Spectre. Everybody's happy. [The Council pauses, glancing at each other; finally, the Turian Councilor nods] Asari Councilor: Commander Shepard - step forward. Asari Councilor: It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel. Salarian Councilor: Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file. Asari Councilor: Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will. Turian Councilor: Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold. Asari Councilor: You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species. [Deep inside Saren's base on Virmire, Commander Shepard's team finds a massive hologram of an unknown entity] Garrus Vakarian: That... is not good. Sovereign: You are not Saren. Garrus: What is that? Some kind of VI interface? Sovereign: Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. Commander Shepard: I don't think that's an AI. Sovereign: There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign. Commander Shepard: Sovereign isn't some Reaper ship Saren found. It's an actual Reaper. Sovereign: Reaper- a label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they chose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are. Garrus: The Reapers vanished over fifty thousand years ago. You couldn't have been there; it's impossible. Sovereign: Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation. An accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal; the pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. Commander Shepard: There is an entire galaxy of races united and ready to face you! Sovereign: Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken. Kaidan Alenko: Cycle? What cycle? Sovereign: The cycle has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, advance, evolve, and at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create The Citadel. They did not forge the Mass Relays. They merely found them. The legacy of my kind. Shepard: Why would you construct the Mass Relays and then leave them for someone else to find? Sovereign: Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays. Our technology. By using them, your civilization develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it. Shepard: What do you want from us? Slaves? Resources? Sovereign: My kind transcends your very understanding. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weakness. You cannot even grasp the nature of our existence. Shepard: Where did you come from? Who built you? Sovereign: We have no beginning. We have no end. Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure. Shepard: You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine, and machines can be broken. Sovereign: Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over. Cast Mark Meer – Male Commander Shepard (voice) Jennifer Hale – Female Commander Shepard (voice) Keith David – Captain David Anderson (voice) Raphael Sbarge – Kaidan Alenko (voice) Kimberly Brooks – Ashley Williams (voice) Brandon Keener – Garrus Vakarian (voice) Steven Barr – Urdnot Wrex (voice) Liz Sroka – Tali'Zorah nar Rayya (voice) Ali Hillis – Liara T'soni (voice) Jillian Murray – Liara T'soni (body and face) Lance Henriksen – Admiral Steven Hackett (voice) Seth Green – Jeff 'Joker' Moreau (voice) Fred Tatasciore – Saren Arterius (voice) Marina Sirtis – Matriarch Benezia (voice) External links Mass Effect Official Website Mass Effect Experience Website Mass Effect reviews at Metacritic Mass Effect at Gamepro Mass Effect at IGN Youtube - Commander Shepard is such a jerk Category:Mass Effect Category:2007 video games Category:PlayStation 3 video games Category:Xbox 360 video games Category:Video games about artificial intelligence