Considering this is the first game to have anything to do with Earth, its hardly fair to accuse the series of being Earth-centric. Quite the opposite. Besides, it's been made pretty clear that there's a lot more at stake in this game than just Earth, Earth is just where it started. Indeed, I fully expect there to be a way to complete the game where the Reapers loose but Earth is left a lifeless rock.
It's not so much that Mass Effect has been Earth-centric. It hasn't, really; in fact, one of the more refreshing aspects of the first game was how unimportant Earth really was, especially compared to other sci-fi settings (like Star Trek) where Earth is the center of everything. But Mass Effect started drifting back towards familiar territory starting with the second game and its "humans are more important to the Reapers and the most genetically diverse species in the galaxy" stuff, finally culminating in Shepard's trial being held on Earth rather than a more logical location such as Arcturus Station or, even better, the Citadel. If the only reason for Shepard being tried on Earth is because they needed an excuse to have him there when the Reapers attacked, they could have come up with a better one that works within the setting.
Since the Batarians withdrew from Citadel space, I think the events of Arrival are strictly between the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony, so Arcturus Station would be the most logical place to hold a trial. I'm sure the other council races will chime in with condemnation, but by their own rules it's none of their business. Spoiler: ME3 beta footage We'll still have to wait and see of course as if the beta footage is any indication, the trial has already happened before the invasion, so it's possible it did take place on Arcturus Station. All we see is that Shepard has already been grounded and stripped of rank for some time prior. As for the human/reaper thing...well at some point the stakes for a hero have to become personal, and what's more personal than your entire species being liquefied? Even so, it's not like the reapers plan to make baby human reapers and then skedaddle back into dark space; they're going to wipe out all of the other space faring species and fix the damn keepers so they don't have to walk back next time too. So like I said, I can really see a "victorious" ending where Earth is still lost.
To be fair, it seems like the whole point of the "reclaim Earth" thing is to give the galactic war effort a bit more focus than just "save as many people as possible." It makes it easier to build a story arc since you've got a concrete goal (save Earth) on top of the abstract goal (defeat the Reapers) since they're able to guide you through a coherent set of steps to save Earth and then defeat the Reapers.
I didn't mind the Cerberus colours so much as I hated working for Cerberus. But theres just something about the White, Black & Blue just really works for me. Seems very suiting for my Paragon.
I feel the same way. The colors themselves were fine (black, gold, and white is an excellent color scheme), I just didn't like working for Cerberus, either. To be honest, I kinda wish Shepard could have been acting independently in ME3, not representing any one particular faction, but that ship sailed with the end of Arrival.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; my sole survivor femShep would *never* work for Cerberus and I hated how they railroaded you in ME2 without ever giving you the opportunity to object. I'm convinced she's been indoctrinated by Reaper elevator music or something.
I'd say the same for all but one of my Sheps. One of them wouldn't have even got to Freedom's Progress as they'd have stolen the shuttle and made a run for the closest alliance base before it got that far. The Shep I just finished last night could conceivably work with Cerberus though. Didn't do any of the Cerberus related missions in ME1, was pro terra-firma and got rid of almost all of the alien team members in 2 without losing a single human. (Losing Tali was probably the most difficult). It wasn't a particularly pleasant playthrough, but I'm curious as to how that one will play through in 3.
As it happens I did just pre-order the CE the other day. I had been holding out to see if Amazon UK (where I have some credit) would stock it or if there would be a digital deluxe edition on Steam or something, but it looks like that's for naught. Over here it looks like Game & Gamestation have an exclusive deal. No idea which, if any of the pre order deals will apply over here but I can't say I'm too bothered. I mean I hardly ever used any of the special armours or weapons from ME2.
Yeah, I'm sure if given the choice Jade Shepard would have told Cerberus they could kiss her frozen corpse's arse rather than have her work for them. What they did to Admiral Kohoku was one thing, but the thing with Akuze and Tombes was personal. Anyway, a new episode of Bioware Pulse is up. Nothing spectacular, though it's nice to know they're continuing to refine the dialogue to avoid those odd occasions where it felt incongruous the the situation. Also couldn't help but notice the name Sederis in the dialogue. A quick search on the wiki turns up the name Jona Sederis, the Asari that founded the Eclipse merc company. Could be interesting, given that the dialogue implies she's as mad as a box of frogs.