Mass Effect 3

[Skywalker]

Reverend wrote:

---

Personally, I'm still confused by how Ash who was a non-com in ME1 & 2 is now suddenly a LtCmdr. What was the time span supposed to be between ME2 & 3? Six months? A year at the outside? That's a hell of a promotion. Actually, now that I think about it, doesn't Kaiden (for those who didn't nuke him of course) now outrank Shepard? I wonder how that will be addressed.

Regarding Ash, I've heard that...

According to the ME3 Codex (people have found the files for it), Ash was promoted to Lieutenant Commander following the Battle of the Citadel. If true, this is obviously a massive retcon, as Ash was an Operations Chief (one rank above Gunnery Chief) in ME2.

And yeah, according to the Alliance rank system, Kaidan does officially outrank Shepard in ME3. But Shepard is probably still CO of the Normandy, so at least while they're both on the ship, Kaidan would probably follow Shepard's lead.

[ATimson]

Reverend wrote:

---

Actually, now that I think about it, doesn't Kaiden (for those who didn't nuke him of course) now outrank Shepard? I wonder how that will be addressed.

Umm. He'll be higher in the Alliance hierarchy, but a Spectre Shepherd (assuming he wasn't stripped of that by the Council after the events of "Arrival") would still win.

[Skywalker]

Shepard may or may not have had his/her Spectre status restored in ME2, depending on your choices, so I don't think that will play much of a role.

Also, you're assuming the VS isn't a Spectre now. Which is certainly a possibility.

[ATimson]

Skywalker wrote:

---

Also, you're assuming the VS isn't a Spectre now. Which is certainly a possibility.

I don't see why. If they were going to become one before ME2, sure, but I have a hard time seeing cause for them gaining that status between 2 & 3 (especially since they're implied to have spent their time on Earth)...

[PsychoPere]

Reverend wrote:

---

Pretty sure it got up to 1.3 on PC. No idea why it would be any different for consoles.

Probably the certification process, which can be particularly cumbersome in relation to Microsoft and Xbox 360.

[Herkimer Jitty]

Another win for XBL.

[clint g]

ATimson wrote:

---

Umm. He'll be higher in the Alliance hierarchy, but a Spectre Shepherd (assuming he wasn't stripped of that by the Council after the events of "Arrival") would still win.

The whole rank thing seems to be a case of Codex writers not knowing what story writers are doing and vice versa. At least as far as ME1 was concerned, it seemed pretty simple. You had your Marines with Marine ranks (Ashley and Kaiden) and you had Sheppard with his Naval Rank (Lt Commander). Both existed parallel with each other and the way the story went this seemed to be the case. After all, you had Ashley William's grandfather General Williams handling a Marine garrison at Shanxi. At the same time, you have Admirals commanding fleets (Admiral Hackett). The Codex writers on the other hand seemed to have been doing their own thing since (the internets tell me at least) that there is some BSG-esque combined rank system for the Alliance.

I find this retarded so I'm going to choose to ignore it
As such, in my mind Kaiden eventual got up to Major (feasible since he was a Lieutenant in ME1 and only 2 ranks away from Major) and is of equal rank to Sheppard.

It also makes sense in regards to Captain Anderson since the next step up from him would be Admiral and that's what he becomes.

Screw the Codex, it's just fucking shit up

[Herkimer Jitty]

clint g wrote:

---

The whole rank thing seems to be a case of Codex writers not knowing what story writers are doing and vice versa. At least as far as ME1 was concerned, it seemed pretty simple. You had your Marines with Marine ranks (Ashley and Kaiden) and you had Sheppard with his Naval Rank (Lt Commander). Both existed parallel with each other and the way the story went this seemed to be the case. After all, you had Ashley William's grandfather General Williams handling a Marine garrison at Shanxi. At the same time, you have Admirals commanding fleets (Admiral Hackett). The Codex writers on the other hand seemed to have been doing their own thing since (the internets tell me at least) that there is some BSG-esque combined rank system for the Alliance.

I find this retarded so I'm going to choose to ignore it
As such, in my mind Kaiden eventual got up to Major (feasible since he was a Lieutenant in ME1 and only 2 ranks away from Major) and is of equal rank to Sheppard.

It also makes sense in regards to Captain Anderson since the next step up from him would be Admiral and that's what he becomes.

Screw the Codex, it's just fucking shit up

Nonono, screw the Codex and the writers. They're just messing it up for the gameplay team and the cutscene team.

[Jono]

Got a surprise today when a friend gave me one of the Dark Horse SR2 replica as a gift. It just makes me want the game more...

[Skywalker]

Did you put it in your quarters with the rest of your model ships?

[LeadHead]

Jono wrote:

---

Got a surprise today when a friend give me one of the Dark Horse SR2 replica as a gift. It just makes me want the game more...

Lucky!

[Reverend]

clint g wrote:

---

The whole rank thing seems to be a case of Codex writers not knowing what story writers are doing and vice versa. At least as far as ME1 was concerned, it seemed pretty simple. You had your Marines with Marine ranks (Ashley and Kaiden) and you had Sheppard with his Naval Rank (Lt Commander). Both existed parallel with each other and the way the story went this seemed to be the case. After all, you had Ashley William's grandfather General Williams handling a Marine garrison at Shanxi. At the same time, you have Admirals commanding fleets (Admiral Hackett). The Codex writers on the other hand seemed to have been doing their own thing since (the internets tell me at least) that there is some BSG-esque combined rank system for the Alliance.

I find this retarded so I'm going to choose to ignore it
As such, in my mind Kaiden eventual got up to Major (feasible since he was a Lieutenant in ME1 and only 2 ranks away from Major) and is of equal rank to Sheppard.

It also makes sense in regards to Captain Anderson since the next step up from him would be Admiral and that's what he becomes.

Screw the Codex, it's just fucking shit up

No, I'm pretty sure that in-game the rank system was by and large, consistent with the codex's system. For one thing, Shepard refers to herself several times as a Marine, not a naval officer (hence all the running around on planets shooting things.) In essence it pretty much resembles B5's EF rank system (but let's not start *that* discussion again. )

To date the only real anomalies are the sudden dramatic promotion of a senior NCO to a LtCmdr and the fact that Shepard is always addressed as "Commander", whether she's a Lieutenant Commander or a Staff Commander. Still, even that is consistent as, for example, Kaiden is only referred to as "Lieutenant", not 2nd Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant or Staff Lieutenant. So just going by the dialogue, he could be either one (though officially he was a Staff Lieutenant.)

[PsychoPere]

Reverend wrote:

---

To date the only real anomalies are the sudden dramatic promotion of a senior NCO to a LtCmdr [...]

Perhaps the Alliance brass felt that such a promotion was warranted after the Council granted Ashley Spectre status.

[DarkHorizon]

UK players - Game will not be stocking ME3. Presumably, this includes the Collectors' Edition. EA is listing places you can order it from.

Rather annoyed, since that's where I had my CE pre-order.

[John Clark]

DarkHorizon wrote:

---

UK players - Game will not be stocking ME3. Presumably, this includes the Collectors' Edition. EA is listing places you can order it from.

Rather annoyed, since that's where I had my CE pre-order.

Got the email from Gamestation myself earlier

However, Amazon are selling the PC CE version cheaper than Gamestation were so that helps a little.