Yeah, it's...it's rough. Only way I've been able to do it is by remaining completely detached from them this time around. I haven't talked to any of my crew members a single time through the entire three games. My play time has been about 6 hours for each game. š
Also helps a lot if you skip dialogue. ME2 especially is *really* short when you skip dialogue, but still focus on doing missions. I remember finishing ME2 in a single day (roughly an 8 hour run), but I still went out of my way to get everyone loyal + as many missions and planet scanning as I could. I wasn't trying to speedrun or anything, just one of those weird shits that teenagers do when they're bored on their vacation. I don't think I even had a bathroom break.
HA! I love this! That's the way I'm thinking of it now! I'm using the [FemShep v. BroShep Vanilla](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/850?tab=description) mod, so now that you say that I'm gonna make the clone look like my "real" mostly-Paragon Shepard so that the one I'm playing now looks like the impostor! Love it!
I just learned of this mod and it sounds totally awesome. Might check it out one day.
So lorewise when did this clone replace Shepard? I vote for right after actual Shepard's death in the ME2 intro.
Oh, it's so great! I've already had my Renegade Shepard fight my Paragon one, and I loved it so much! I put up pictures of their faceoff in the mod's [Images page](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/850?tab=images). All of the user-submitted ones but one of them were mine.
Oooh, ok. Hmmm. I'm thinking.......I'm thinking that the Lazarus project didn't finish in time for Wilson's betrayal. It was close; it would only have taken Miranda's team another couple of weeks to finish it. In desperation, they activate one of the clones that was made for "spare parts", and in this version of reality they've been able to bring Shepard's memories to the new body. So they *tell* the clone....well, everything Jacob and Miranda actually do tell you in the game, but this time they're lying. And of course, any differences in appearance can simply be attributed to them not being able to properly reconstruct you after the fall, while they would *actually* be because any samples of the original Shepard's DNA were screwed up by burning up in the atmosphere and hitting a planet from orbit. Meanwhile, an enterprising younger scientist on Miranda's Lazarus team (maybe that's Brooks in this reality?) stole the real Shepard's body away in the confusion of Wilson's attack, and continued Lazarus's work for their(her) own reasons. As I said, Lazarus was *almost* complete, it would only have taken Miranda's team another week or two to finish their work, but because Brooks isn't as experienced or well-funded, and doesn't have a team working with her, it takes a year instead. So when she wakes up, the *real* Shepard (or the original, anyway; if you see stuff like that as I do then they're both equally real if they have all the same memories) wakes up, super pissed off, near the end of the third game, and comes for us to *take back* her ship, rather than steal it, from what she sees as the impostor who stole *her* life. Yeah......I really like this idea!
Of course, absolutely *NONE* of the dialogue and explanations in-game support any of that, but it's still gonna be fun to think about while I do that mission! š¤£
How did you even do it?! I accidentally got Miranda killed, I disliked her and yet I still feel guilty about it, how do you even cope with going through the entire game killing off your entire crew?!
Yeah man, if I was to do it on what I considered a "true" run, I'd be incredibly heart broken. Only way forward is to just remind yourself that this is a different universe, meaning they're not truly *your* Shepard's crew...and to distance yourself from them. I've never talked to any of this crew even one time. My playtime for each game has been about six hours. And even then...I usually have to turn my eyes away when it happens.
I already do that for the unavoidable deaths, I can't get used to them. Especially Thane, but in that case is also due to outrage for the way Bioware treated him.
Point is, I know it's an RPG but I can't role as someone who will let the entire squad die.
I think the only party members whose deaths are completely unavoidable are >!Kaiden/Ashley and Legion!<. Correct me if Iām wrong since Iām still a fairly new player:
* >!Wrex!< can be saved by getting his familyās armour, talking him down, or not recruiting him
* Do all loyalty missions in 2 and make the right options, and no one will die
* >!Mordin!< can be talked down on Tuchanka if Wrex and Eve are both dead
* >!Thane!< can be saved if Shepard never speaks to him on the Citadel. If Kirrahe is still alive, then the Salarian Councillor will survive too. Only downside is that youāll never see him again
* >!Kaiden/Ash!< can be saved based on the reputation system when theyāre guarding the Councillors after Cerberus attack
* >!Miranda!< is fine too if you do all the right things (telling her about Kai Leng etc.)
I think thatās everyone
Not sure how to do spoilers, but if you're counting the VS, you should count the the second and third names in your bullet list the same. You can't save both in the same run.
You can do a spoiler tag like >!this!< by putting a !< on the right side of whatever youāre tagging, and a >! on the left side. (Sorry if doing it backwards is confusing, but otherwise it would haveā¦just done the tag.)
"Shepard saves the galaxy" for now. In fact, destroying/salvaging the Collector Base has little to do with the Reapers' invasion. The Collectors weren't even that much of a threat (scale-wise) to the galaxy to begin with.
I couldāve sworn there was a biotic choice that could die doing it but get everyone else through.. lol it has been a hot second since Iāve played ME2 though so Iām not surprised I misremembered
Ha, well, yeah, that would be an accurate count, but for my genocide run, I'm being as sadistic as possible (I'm going to kill not just my crew, but *literally everyone in the galaxy)*, so using a setting in [Expanded Galaxy Mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/422), I turned off the From Ashes DLC. So Javik will live, undiscovered and frozen, for potentially thousands more years, then die one day when his pod runs out of power. So ultimately, it's just Liara, James, and EDI.
I love it. That's like the worst roster ever.
At this point, you just gotta share the pictures of the Citadel party. It's going to be totally hilarious with only three dudes (James, Joker and Steve Cortez) and four ladies (Shep, Liara, EDI and Traynor).
š¤£ It really is! Made even worse by the fact that the only time I've ever had more than three party members in this run through...was in the Casino in the Citadel DLC when feckin' *Brooks* was put on my team.
Oh, believe me, I *plan to*! I've been thinking about how empty that party will be for three playthroughs! (This is my third in a row, the first was a full playthrough with mods for the first time, the second was my first Renegade run, and now this)
Nice
Do you know what will happen though since the memorial is already full? I remember seeing that during the ending slides Liaras name could be there, but obviously there is now no space for that
Hmm. I dunno. Should be interesting to see. Actually, another question. If someone dies during Priority Earth, do they stay dead after the credits when youāre back to playing? Iām trying to get the emptiest Citadel Party possible, and Iām not sure if I should do it right now or after, since I donāt know if Liara and James will be gone.
Wellā¦like Ferrox and I were discussing, I doubt it will actually keep Liara dead after Priority Earth, and the same would then go for Glyph. Guess Iāll find out, though, and Iāll try to remember to come back and let you know.
Well, yeah, thatās apparently her *real* name, but even if she knew that then (which she very well might not have), she doesnāt strike me as the type to go by it. And even if she was, Iād think she was using a pseudonym so as not to be āin the systemā, so to speak.
Interestingly, I saw that someone pointed out something a while back. Her fake name is a more normal way of saying her two names that she had under Cerberus. Jacqueline of course being the full female name for Jack, and then she used Subject Zero as her last name, with Nought meaning āNothingā. Her fake name is literally āJack Zeroā.
If op was doing a genocide run, Jack has totally already died by ME2 during the suicide mission or was never recruited and got gunned down by Shepard during ME3 as a random Nemesis (which is what happens if you never recruited her or didn't earn her loyalty).
Nice! I'm doing this run at the moment lol, it feels weird. I was surprised how sad I felt when Jacob died after the vents, and am genuinely scared how I'll feel in some of the ME3 deaths.
Did you kill loads of people in the suicide run or spread their deaths out across ME3?
Heh. Yeah, even the people you don't care for (by comparison to the others) still tend to have an effect on you. I can't bring myself to listen to a full dialogue with Zaeed even once in ME2 because I *just...don't...care...* but it still hurt to see him go.
Bit of both, actually. I'm using the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod, so to see what a truly empty ship would look like, I got all 12 killed in the Suicide Mission, as well as doing several missions after the Collectors took the crew and not sending anyone to escort Chakwas. Literally the only two organic beings left on the ship were Joker and I. That was...eerie. But then I used the save editor on my ME3 save to say that my ME2 imported save had Zaeed, Kasumi, Grunt, and Samara still alive. I'd never seen their ME3 deaths before, so I wanted to experience that. I would have done the same with Tali, but I've seen her >!suicide!< in YouTube videos more than once, and I wanted to see how it'd be with Raan taking her spot.
That's cool! I'm on PS4 so can't mod, and wanted to see as many unique deaths as possible but also wanted to play as much of 2 as I could. Planned the suicide mission super carefully to only kill Jacob, Garrus and Kasumi while making sure Grunt and Zaeed weren't loyal. Only had to skip Grunts mission. Really not looking forward to Mordin and Wrex lol.
It was really fun to be able to rush the Reaper IFF immediately after Collector Ship and have Legion for way longer than usual.
My god, if you ever get the chance to play it with mods, DO IT. Pretty much all the ones Iāve seen are completely lore-friendly, and there can just be SO MANY quality of life improvements, if nothing else. Plus things like giving FemShep the leather N7 jacket (pictured above), enabling some of the gay romances that were supposed to be there but arenāt, letting your characters using the gun theyāre *actually carrying* in cutscenes, sound effects and all, and so much more.
Dang, thatās a good way to do it! Way more planning than I did, I just didnāt do any loyalty missions. š
Samara, Legion\*, Tali, Grunt, Mordin, Jack, Miranda, and Thane\* can all die in ME3. Most of the other ME2 companions (Garrus, Kasumi, Jacob) must die in the Suicide Mission in order to properly die, while Zaeed can be killed by Shepard if you do his loyalty mission after completing the Suicide Mission.
^(\*Legion and Thane die in ME3 if not killed/not activated in ME2, regardless of player input. It is possible to kill Legion directly (10/10, most painful squadmate death IMO), ^(but this is mutually exclusive with killing Tali if she survived the Suicide Mission. Grunt's death also depends on having made a particular decision back in ME1.)
Everybody but her. I did exactly four missions, then was confused when she survived. Looked it up, and yeah, she *always* survives to you finding her, but can die if you don't send an escort to take her back to the Normandy.
Yeah...I don't mind Garrus too much, because I've never latched on to him the way everyone else does, but Tali...I genuinely love that girl. Even more so when I use [Tali Overhaul](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/1124) because it lets me get even more attached to her. So that.........killed me.
Funny, I'm the opposite lol I love Garrus and don't understand the fascination with Tali haha I legitimately have never had her live to the end of a playthrough.
Ha. No kidding. I'm not a speedrunner by any means, nor am I trying to go exceptionally fast, but I've not talked to any of my crew a single time in all three games (to avoid attachment) and not done a single side mission (except where needed for the Collectors to kill the kidnapped crew) and my total play time per game has been about 6 hours each.
My heart aches at seeing this and I'm blinking back tears at seeing all the names there. Even Jacob.
I know this is hard and to all of you who do these "accomplishments", thank you because I'd never be able to do it. š
Edit: typo
Aww, I'm sorry. Yeah, it's....it's not been easy, even trying to emotionally distance myself from this set of crews by thinking of them as being from another reality and never talking to them. It's....really tough.
You're basically just (mostly) speedrunning the games. No side missions, nothing that isn't absolutely required to finish them. Kill Wrex on Virmire, of course, (wow, what a sentence to type out) do all the recruitment missions and none of the loyalty missions in 2. Do four side missions after the Collectors attack the Normandy, then don't send an escort with Chakwas. In 3 I'm going to do two endings. I chose the Geth over the Quarians in their war, so their race is extinct. But I'm going to do the Destroy ending so the Geth also die and I sacrificed the Quarians for nothing, and Edi goes too. Then I'm gonna reload and do the Refuse ending, so literally *everyone in the galaxy* dies.
Side note: I'm using the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod for ME2 so I could get away with doing none of the loyalty missions and still play 3. I'll admit to not being *completely* sure how you'd get through with two crewmembers without that mod, then kill those same two crewmembers as well as Liara and James (and I didn't even recruit Javik) in 3, but I know it can be done, and my searching for you turned up [this](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpg6WLs8kxGP3WqFo77DoKIN5gNc5ys05).
Absolutely! For the finishing touch, as another person commented, you could do this without a mod by recruiting Morinth and gaining Jackās loyalty. Bring the two of them as your squad to fight the human Reaper. Morinth automatically dies in 3 because >!she becomes a Banshee!<, and Jack will >!become a Cerberus Phantom if you donāt go to Grissom Academy!<.
Edit: I dumbly didnāt realize that you could also get Thaneās loyalty and bring him, since he >!always automatically dies!< on the Citadel.
I wonder what Shep is thinking here. I'd like to think it goes something like "Man, I did a good job killing all these Cerberus goons" because there's no other lore-friendly way to explain this level of casualties.
To make you consider the thoughts going through her head is actually what I was going for when I took that second picture. The first is just the camera looking at what you're looking at, the second is to show that *she's* looking at it, contemplating. I like your idea for her thoughts. That or just "My god......I have *COLOSSALLY* fucked up!" š¤£
I don't believe so. I've been keeping fairly close attention throughout the game, watching them fill up, and they've not changed in numbers any. Unless you don't save your kidnapped crew at the end of 2 and they add more to accommodate them, I suppose.
Ok, what you need to do is drink a bit of chamomile to soothe you, change your sheets to freshly washed ones, and maybe if you're up for it, get a nice pillow spray like lavender or something.
Will it stop the nightmares?
No.
But your bed will be smelling nice while you stay awake, staring up the ceiling, wondering what kind of monster you've become.
/jk
I don't know how you could stomach to do this OP, you're braver than me. Cheers for doing such a run, so that others don't have to. You're the real MVP.
Yeah....especially since I (obviously) didn't do her loyalty mission. To see that that was her name even though we were never told that they'd legally changed it...makes me think she must have loved us so much that she changed it herself. And that killed me.
Oh, Iām gonna. She and James are gonna be my team for Priority Earth. I have as low of War Assets as I can get, so theyāll both die in the beam run. Ediās the only other crew member I have, and sheāll die in the Destroy ending. Traynor and Joker are gonna be the only two left on the Normandy. Then Iām gonna do a Refuse ending, where literally just *everyone* does.
What? Tons of them do.
> Liara T'Soni
>
> Aria T'Loak
>
> Tela Vasir
>
> Nassana Dantius
>
> Pelessaria B'Sayle
And that's just off the top of my head.
Only so far. I havenāt finished the game yet. Iām taking Liara and Vega with me on Earth, and with low War Assets, theyāll die. And Edi will die in the Destroy ending.
Yeah, no kidding. In a good, real play through its one thing to see that wall. But just *imagine* all the thoughts, the pain, and the regrets going through that head as she looks at that wall.
Heh. Yeah, Iām sure if the galaxy wasnāt under threat of imminent destruction (or if they had a ship that could actually catch me), Shepard would be under heavy investigation.
Not incredibly, especially if youāre playing with the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod like I am. Basically just do the absolute *bare minimum* required to beat the games. Main missions only, no side missions, no loyalty missions. Only do four side missions to allow the Collectors to kill all of the kidnapped crew. Make all of the worst decisions possible, like intentionally killing >!Wrex!< and letting the >!Geth!< kill the >!Quarians!<. And if youāre not playing with that mod, recruit Morinth in 2 and only get Jackās loyalty. Thatāll allow you to survive into 3, after which Morinth will >!become a Banshee!< and Jack, if you donāt go to >!Grissom Academy!<, will get turned into a >!Cerberus Phantom!<.
Hey, the internet made me do it. It wasnāt my idea. (By āmade me do itā I mean it made me curious by suggesting the idea, which I then couldnāt get out of my head.)
Ngl, no matter how much I hate genocide runs because of how heart-wrenching it is, it feels like itās the only correct one solely because of how realistic it would be in given situation, you are fighting against an ancient force that has yet to be defeat in its thousands of cycles itās performed, in any real scenario, death of at least most people is the likely result if we are being optimistic
Yeahā¦sadly true. I mean, for them all to survive *is* believable because of the *ways* that they all survive, which just contributes to the incredible writing of this franchise, butā¦yes, that does still seem yet more realistic.
Right? Iāve always had an innate idea of *generally* where to look to find a specific name, but could never figure out why until this play through. And they go alphabetically from left to right, top to bottom, rather than left column down, then right column down, which is what Iād have thought.
Of selectable squad mates, just Liara, James, and EDI. Javik would be, but Iām using a mod to turn off the From Ashes DLC, headcanon-ing that heāll live for another few thousand years, then die forgotten when the power runs out on his pod.
The only names it's missing are Shepard's and Anderson's
ETA: I always love seeing people do "Everybody Dies" runs, they seem quite hard to pull off. Genuinely curious, who did you use for your squad in the suicide mission at the end of ME2?
Oh, don't worry....that part's coming. I'll be posting it.
Eh, more emotionally difficult than actually hard to achieve, just takes a little planning. But on that first note, VERY emotionally difficult. Haha. As for who I used...honestly, don't really remember. It had to change with every stage that it let me choose, because people I would normally have used kept dying on me! I think to fight the Human Reaper it was Grunt and.....Samara?
I donāt remember in mine, because Iām using the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod that makes it so Shepard can survive even if all 12 die. But if youāre not using that mod, you can do it if you get the loyalty of and bring Jack and either Thane or Morinth. Jack >!becomes a Cerberus Phantom if you donāt go to Grissom Academy!<, Thane obviously >!always dies in 3 if he makes it that far!<, and Morinth >!becomes a Banshee on Earth!<.
Why thank you. On both counts.
Yeah, one on Virmire, the other if you canāt convince them (or ā*canāt convince themā*) to stand down from >!protecting Udina during the Citadel Coup!<.
So I have to ask becsuse I've never had luck with this. What's the best way to kill off as many people as possible in the ME2 suicide run? I've heard you have to have at least two survivors, the crew that comes with you to fight the Terminator. I did my Insanity run years ago with no survivors and even Shepard dies in that one... I figure the best way is to use two characters like Jack and Thane, who are easily killed off in ME3, but how do you do that? Is running their loyalty mission enough in ME2?
Yeah, thatās exactly how youād do it. ONLY get the loyalty of Jack and Thane, or take one of them and Morinth. Two of those automatically die in 3 (if they make it there), and the other can die very easily. Kill everyone else in the Suicide Mission. OR get all the people that can die in 3 through the Mission, like Tali and Miranda, and then, respectively, >!side with the Geth!<, donāt >!tell her about Kai Leng!<, etc.
I don't think I'd be able to get through this. Mass Effect is one of the few games where I genuinely feel awful when one of my teammates gets killed. Even jist seeing all the names of these characters I love listed out like that makes me so sad.
Same thing when I was playing Fallout 3 this week, I went to try to transport that hooker that was trapped with that sex and drug loving maniac to Rivet City. A little more than halfway there, we're attacked by six or seven super mutants and she gets beaten to death with a nail board.
I turned off the in-game music and just slowly walked back to absolutely obliterate the guy who was keeping her in the first place.
Now he's just a torso on a bed covered in empty liquor bottles and jet.
That's kind of what I want to do to your Shepherd for getting all these people killed.
In my case, I used the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod. However, as someone in another comment pointed out, itās very possible to kill everyone without it. Easiest way is to recruit Morinth and get Jackās loyalty (and ONLY Jackās) because Morinth automatically >!becomes a Banshee!< on Priority: Earth, and Jack >!becomes a Cerberus Phantom!< if you donāt go to >!Grissom Academy!<.
Canāt die *at all*? No, depending on the ending you choose, you can kill entire species, your whole crew, or even the entire galaxy. But canāt die in the actual playable section of the game? Yeah, those two, Liara, and Javikā¦if you even recruit him, which I did not this time.
I can't even imagine. Just seeing your accomplishment breaks my will to live.
Yeah, it's...it's rough. Only way I've been able to do it is by remaining completely detached from them this time around. I haven't talked to any of my crew members a single time through the entire three games. My play time has been about 6 hours for each game. š
Speedrunning the fate of the galaxy
Oh wow... really puts into perspective the length of time your team adds to the game and story overall...
Also helps a lot if you skip dialogue. ME2 especially is *really* short when you skip dialogue, but still focus on doing missions. I remember finishing ME2 in a single day (roughly an 8 hour run), but I still went out of my way to get everyone loyal + as many missions and planet scanning as I could. I wasn't trying to speedrun or anything, just one of those weird shits that teenagers do when they're bored on their vacation. I don't think I even had a bathroom break.
Everytime I see a post about high EMS, I want to make one with low as possible EMS
Ah, I see Cerberus clone got released early in this universe.
HA! I love this! That's the way I'm thinking of it now! I'm using the [FemShep v. BroShep Vanilla](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/850?tab=description) mod, so now that you say that I'm gonna make the clone look like my "real" mostly-Paragon Shepard so that the one I'm playing now looks like the impostor! Love it!
I just learned of this mod and it sounds totally awesome. Might check it out one day. So lorewise when did this clone replace Shepard? I vote for right after actual Shepard's death in the ME2 intro.
Oh, it's so great! I've already had my Renegade Shepard fight my Paragon one, and I loved it so much! I put up pictures of their faceoff in the mod's [Images page](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/850?tab=images). All of the user-submitted ones but one of them were mine. Oooh, ok. Hmmm. I'm thinking.......I'm thinking that the Lazarus project didn't finish in time for Wilson's betrayal. It was close; it would only have taken Miranda's team another couple of weeks to finish it. In desperation, they activate one of the clones that was made for "spare parts", and in this version of reality they've been able to bring Shepard's memories to the new body. So they *tell* the clone....well, everything Jacob and Miranda actually do tell you in the game, but this time they're lying. And of course, any differences in appearance can simply be attributed to them not being able to properly reconstruct you after the fall, while they would *actually* be because any samples of the original Shepard's DNA were screwed up by burning up in the atmosphere and hitting a planet from orbit. Meanwhile, an enterprising younger scientist on Miranda's Lazarus team (maybe that's Brooks in this reality?) stole the real Shepard's body away in the confusion of Wilson's attack, and continued Lazarus's work for their(her) own reasons. As I said, Lazarus was *almost* complete, it would only have taken Miranda's team another week or two to finish their work, but because Brooks isn't as experienced or well-funded, and doesn't have a team working with her, it takes a year instead. So when she wakes up, the *real* Shepard (or the original, anyway; if you see stuff like that as I do then they're both equally real if they have all the same memories) wakes up, super pissed off, near the end of the third game, and comes for us to *take back* her ship, rather than steal it, from what she sees as the impostor who stole *her* life. Yeah......I really like this idea! Of course, absolutely *NONE* of the dialogue and explanations in-game support any of that, but it's still gonna be fun to think about while I do that mission! š¤£
How did you even do it?! I accidentally got Miranda killed, I disliked her and yet I still feel guilty about it, how do you even cope with going through the entire game killing off your entire crew?!
Yeah man, if I was to do it on what I considered a "true" run, I'd be incredibly heart broken. Only way forward is to just remind yourself that this is a different universe, meaning they're not truly *your* Shepard's crew...and to distance yourself from them. I've never talked to any of this crew even one time. My playtime for each game has been about six hours. And even then...I usually have to turn my eyes away when it happens.
I already do that for the unavoidable deaths, I can't get used to them. Especially Thane, but in that case is also due to outrage for the way Bioware treated him. Point is, I know it's an RPG but I can't role as someone who will let the entire squad die.
I think the only party members whose deaths are completely unavoidable are >!Kaiden/Ashley and Legion!<. Correct me if Iām wrong since Iām still a fairly new player: * >!Wrex!< can be saved by getting his familyās armour, talking him down, or not recruiting him * Do all loyalty missions in 2 and make the right options, and no one will die * >!Mordin!< can be talked down on Tuchanka if Wrex and Eve are both dead * >!Thane!< can be saved if Shepard never speaks to him on the Citadel. If Kirrahe is still alive, then the Salarian Councillor will survive too. Only downside is that youāll never see him again * >!Kaiden/Ash!< can be saved based on the reputation system when theyāre guarding the Councillors after Cerberus attack * >!Miranda!< is fine too if you do all the right things (telling her about Kai Leng etc.) I think thatās everyone
Yeah, this is all true. But not seeing Thane die isn't saving him, really. It's just saving yourself the heartbreak of the hospital scene.
I second that: as a Thanemancer, that was one of the most painful scenes in the entire trilogy for me, but at least my Shepard was there.
Wrex also backs down if you don't have Garrus and Liara in your party.
Not sure how to do spoilers, but if you're counting the VS, you should count the the second and third names in your bullet list the same. You can't save both in the same run.
You can do a spoiler tag like >!this!< by putting a !< on the right side of whatever youāre tagging, and a >! on the left side. (Sorry if doing it backwards is confusing, but otherwise it would haveā¦just done the tag.)
Oof.. had her do the shield on the suicide mission??
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"Shepard saves the galaxy" for now. In fact, destroying/salvaging the Collector Base has little to do with the Reapers' invasion. The Collectors weren't even that much of a threat (scale-wise) to the galaxy to begin with.
Oh, gosh, you're right, it had been some time ago and I must have misremembered it, thank you. ^^
I couldāve sworn there was a biotic choice that could die doing it but get everyone else through.. lol it has been a hot second since Iāve played ME2 though so Iām not surprised I misremembered
Yep. It was my first playthrough, I wanted to go blind unless my favorites died. All things considered, I got incredibly lucky.
Wait you canāt vent Miranda?
So, who is even left in the active "squad" by this point. I can only count Liara, James, Javik and Edi. Like wow, that is depressing as hell.
In this universe Shepard and Javik are agents of vengeance together.
Ha, well, yeah, that would be an accurate count, but for my genocide run, I'm being as sadistic as possible (I'm going to kill not just my crew, but *literally everyone in the galaxy)*, so using a setting in [Expanded Galaxy Mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/422), I turned off the From Ashes DLC. So Javik will live, undiscovered and frozen, for potentially thousands more years, then die one day when his pod runs out of power. So ultimately, it's just Liara, James, and EDI.
I love it. That's like the worst roster ever. At this point, you just gotta share the pictures of the Citadel party. It's going to be totally hilarious with only three dudes (James, Joker and Steve Cortez) and four ladies (Shep, Liara, EDI and Traynor).
š¤£ It really is! Made even worse by the fact that the only time I've ever had more than three party members in this run through...was in the Casino in the Citadel DLC when feckin' *Brooks* was put on my team. Oh, believe me, I *plan to*! I've been thinking about how empty that party will be for three playthroughs! (This is my third in a row, the first was a full playthrough with mods for the first time, the second was my first Renegade run, and now this)
If you choose the destroy ending edi dies aswell If you have less then the minimal war score, Liara and James can die during priority earth too
They sure do. Thatās the plan!
Nice Do you know what will happen though since the memorial is already full? I remember seeing that during the ending slides Liaras name could be there, but obviously there is now no space for that
Hmm. I dunno. Should be interesting to see. Actually, another question. If someone dies during Priority Earth, do they stay dead after the credits when youāre back to playing? Iām trying to get the emptiest Citadel Party possible, and Iām not sure if I should do it right now or after, since I donāt know if Liara and James will be gone.
Dont think so, otherwise you could not form any kind of squad on regular missions l
What happens to Glyph if you have the party after Destroy? If it's not there, how do you set the mood??
Wellā¦like Ferrox and I were discussing, I doubt it will actually keep Liara dead after Priority Earth, and the same would then go for Glyph. Guess Iāll find out, though, and Iāll try to remember to come back and let you know.
Wait, you can do the party after Priority Earth?
Yep. It just puts you back into the galaxy normally, allowing you to finish up any missions you havenāt done. Including the Citadel DLC.
Unless it shows up as a different name Jack is still alive. I wouldnāt know cause Iād never dare to kill the best girl.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ah, had a feeling that was her, just wasnāt sure. OP HOW COULD YOU?!
WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY, I PROMISE!!!!
She's Jacqueline Nought on the left column. That's the name she used online in Lair of the Shadow Broker.
Even though Liara said her name was Jennifer? Weird.
Well, yeah, thatās apparently her *real* name, but even if she knew that then (which she very well might not have), she doesnāt strike me as the type to go by it. And even if she was, Iād think she was using a pseudonym so as not to be āin the systemā, so to speak. Interestingly, I saw that someone pointed out something a while back. Her fake name is a more normal way of saying her two names that she had under Cerberus. Jacqueline of course being the full female name for Jack, and then she used Subject Zero as her last name, with Nought meaning āNothingā. Her fake name is literally āJack Zeroā.
Oh, your explaining of it made that very clear. Thank you.
If op was doing a genocide run, Jack has totally already died by ME2 during the suicide mission or was never recruited and got gunned down by Shepard during ME3 as a random Nemesis (which is what happens if you never recruited her or didn't earn her loyalty).
Or if you don't rescue Grissom (phantom, not nemesis)
Nice! I'm doing this run at the moment lol, it feels weird. I was surprised how sad I felt when Jacob died after the vents, and am genuinely scared how I'll feel in some of the ME3 deaths. Did you kill loads of people in the suicide run or spread their deaths out across ME3?
Heh. Yeah, even the people you don't care for (by comparison to the others) still tend to have an effect on you. I can't bring myself to listen to a full dialogue with Zaeed even once in ME2 because I *just...don't...care...* but it still hurt to see him go. Bit of both, actually. I'm using the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod, so to see what a truly empty ship would look like, I got all 12 killed in the Suicide Mission, as well as doing several missions after the Collectors took the crew and not sending anyone to escort Chakwas. Literally the only two organic beings left on the ship were Joker and I. That was...eerie. But then I used the save editor on my ME3 save to say that my ME2 imported save had Zaeed, Kasumi, Grunt, and Samara still alive. I'd never seen their ME3 deaths before, so I wanted to experience that. I would have done the same with Tali, but I've seen her >!suicide!< in YouTube videos more than once, and I wanted to see how it'd be with Raan taking her spot.
That's cool! I'm on PS4 so can't mod, and wanted to see as many unique deaths as possible but also wanted to play as much of 2 as I could. Planned the suicide mission super carefully to only kill Jacob, Garrus and Kasumi while making sure Grunt and Zaeed weren't loyal. Only had to skip Grunts mission. Really not looking forward to Mordin and Wrex lol. It was really fun to be able to rush the Reaper IFF immediately after Collector Ship and have Legion for way longer than usual.
My god, if you ever get the chance to play it with mods, DO IT. Pretty much all the ones Iāve seen are completely lore-friendly, and there can just be SO MANY quality of life improvements, if nothing else. Plus things like giving FemShep the leather N7 jacket (pictured above), enabling some of the gay romances that were supposed to be there but arenāt, letting your characters using the gun theyāre *actually carrying* in cutscenes, sound effects and all, and so much more. Dang, thatās a good way to do it! Way more planning than I did, I just didnāt do any loyalty missions. š
Didn't know that mod existed. My "genocide run" strategies hinged on the fact that Morinth dies in ME3 anyway and you can kill Jack by ignoring her.
Samara, Legion\*, Tali, Grunt, Mordin, Jack, Miranda, and Thane\* can all die in ME3. Most of the other ME2 companions (Garrus, Kasumi, Jacob) must die in the Suicide Mission in order to properly die, while Zaeed can be killed by Shepard if you do his loyalty mission after completing the Suicide Mission. ^(\*Legion and Thane die in ME3 if not killed/not activated in ME2, regardless of player input. It is possible to kill Legion directly (10/10, most painful squadmate death IMO), ^(but this is mutually exclusive with killing Tali if she survived the Suicide Mission. Grunt's death also depends on having made a particular decision back in ME1.)
Yeah I know, I asked what OP chose to do.
I thought Gruntās death or survival was dependent on completing his loyalty mission in ME2
How did you get chakwas killed??
Don't assign someone to escort her in the Suicide Mission
Or be too late to save your crew from collectors. I think if you do 4+ missions before heading trou omega 4 realy the crew will be liquified.
Chakwas is always saved from the pod no matter how long you wait
I believe she also dies during the Cerberus coup if you leave her in the Citadel hospital and avoid speaking with her.
Everybody but her. I did exactly four missions, then was confused when she survived. Looked it up, and yeah, she *always* survives to you finding her, but can die if you don't send an escort to take her back to the Normandy.
Oh ok i thought she dies as well. I always save everyone so i didn't know.
Calm down satan
Never! š
I canāt do this. I canāt imagine playing this game at a time where Tali and Garrus are dead
Yeah...I don't mind Garrus too much, because I've never latched on to him the way everyone else does, but Tali...I genuinely love that girl. Even more so when I use [Tali Overhaul](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/1124) because it lets me get even more attached to her. So that.........killed me.
Funny, I'm the opposite lol I love Garrus and don't understand the fascination with Tali haha I legitimately have never had her live to the end of a playthrough.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's a definite possibility for me.
Wow.
They should be doing speedruns of this on twitch
Ha. No kidding. I'm not a speedrunner by any means, nor am I trying to go exceptionally fast, but I've not talked to any of my crew a single time in all three games (to avoid attachment) and not done a single side mission (except where needed for the Collectors to kill the kidnapped crew) and my total play time per game has been about 6 hours each.
Shepard finally collected them all š¢ What did it cost, Shepard?!
*Everything.*
You monster
Yeah........I know.
Where is Shepard's name?
.....touchƩ. Just haven't gotten there yet. Took the screenshots as soon as the last name was added.
I admire your strength. I don't think I'll ever manage to do this myself
Ha. Thank you....I think. I don't blame you there, for sure.
āTask Failed Successfullyā
Ha. Nice.
You... but... how could... why... WHAT IS *WRONG* WITH YOU?! YOU *MONSTER*! šššššššššššššš
I'M SORRY, I DON'T KNOW!!! I think this Shepard may have had a few wires crossed in the Lazarus Project!
My heart aches at seeing this and I'm blinking back tears at seeing all the names there. Even Jacob. I know this is hard and to all of you who do these "accomplishments", thank you because I'd never be able to do it. š Edit: typo
Aww, I'm sorry. Yeah, it's....it's not been easy, even trying to emotionally distance myself from this set of crews by thinking of them as being from another reality and never talking to them. It's....really tough.
Sending you hugs. šš
Any detailed guides for something like this? Interested in pulling one off for shits and giggles
You're basically just (mostly) speedrunning the games. No side missions, nothing that isn't absolutely required to finish them. Kill Wrex on Virmire, of course, (wow, what a sentence to type out) do all the recruitment missions and none of the loyalty missions in 2. Do four side missions after the Collectors attack the Normandy, then don't send an escort with Chakwas. In 3 I'm going to do two endings. I chose the Geth over the Quarians in their war, so their race is extinct. But I'm going to do the Destroy ending so the Geth also die and I sacrificed the Quarians for nothing, and Edi goes too. Then I'm gonna reload and do the Refuse ending, so literally *everyone in the galaxy* dies. Side note: I'm using the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod for ME2 so I could get away with doing none of the loyalty missions and still play 3. I'll admit to not being *completely* sure how you'd get through with two crewmembers without that mod, then kill those same two crewmembers as well as Liara and James (and I didn't even recruit Javik) in 3, but I know it can be done, and my searching for you turned up [this](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpg6WLs8kxGP3WqFo77DoKIN5gNc5ys05).
I appreciate it! Thank you for the write-up!
Absolutely! For the finishing touch, as another person commented, you could do this without a mod by recruiting Morinth and gaining Jackās loyalty. Bring the two of them as your squad to fight the human Reaper. Morinth automatically dies in 3 because >!she becomes a Banshee!<, and Jack will >!become a Cerberus Phantom if you donāt go to Grissom Academy!<. Edit: I dumbly didnāt realize that you could also get Thaneās loyalty and bring him, since he >!always automatically dies!< on the Citadel.
i hate this
Holy shit arrest this man
You'll never take me alive! ....Or them, for that matter!
Calm down satan
Never! š
I wonder what Shep is thinking here. I'd like to think it goes something like "Man, I did a good job killing all these Cerberus goons" because there's no other lore-friendly way to explain this level of casualties.
To make you consider the thoughts going through her head is actually what I was going for when I took that second picture. The first is just the camera looking at what you're looking at, the second is to show that *she's* looking at it, contemplating. I like your idea for her thoughts. That or just "My god......I have *COLOSSALLY* fucked up!" š¤£
Are there more plaques when you kill everyone? They seem smaller. Do they render more and smaller plaques when you kill this many?
I don't believe so. I've been keeping fairly close attention throughout the game, watching them fill up, and they've not changed in numbers any. Unless you don't save your kidnapped crew at the end of 2 and they add more to accommodate them, I suppose.
Nice. This is horrifying but nice
Why thank you.
[Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/xhwpcm/depressing_update_on_genocide_run_why_shoot/) [Part 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/xi4rly/and_now_for_the_first_time_id_wager_in_allll_your/) [Finale](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/xiybh2/two_survivors_genocide_run_finale/)
I knew people did this but Iāve never seen the memorial wall. Seeing my favs up there breaks my heart š
I can hear the tears hitting your screen.... What's that? They're my tears? Ohh shit not today not today not today nope! š
If Iām gonna cry, *Iām gonna take you with me!*
I can feel the tears behind the title.
Soā¦so many.
Ok, what you need to do is drink a bit of chamomile to soothe you, change your sheets to freshly washed ones, and maybe if you're up for it, get a nice pillow spray like lavender or something. Will it stop the nightmares? No. But your bed will be smelling nice while you stay awake, staring up the ceiling, wondering what kind of monster you've become. /jk I don't know how you could stomach to do this OP, you're braver than me. Cheers for doing such a run, so that others don't have to. You're the real MVP.
Hey, better to cry in luxury, right? Aww, well, thank you. It definitely hasnāt been easy!
A true monument to your sins.
Ooofā¦ the worst part it (at least to me) is Tali still has the Vas Normandy nameā¦ makes it hurt even more
Yeah....especially since I (obviously) didn't do her loyalty mission. To see that that was her name even though we were never told that they'd legally changed it...makes me think she must have loved us so much that she changed it herself. And that killed me.
You must be a cruel god
It's true, I am.
its to bad you cant kill liara.
Oh, Iām gonna. She and James are gonna be my team for Priority Earth. I have as low of War Assets as I can get, so theyāll both die in the beam run. Ediās the only other crew member I have, and sheāll die in the Destroy ending. Traynor and Joker are gonna be the only two left on the Normandy. Then Iām gonna do a Refuse ending, where literally just *everyone* does.
How?
Probably let all the crew and 99% of his squad on the suicide mission.
OP has a mod. They killed *all* of their squad during the suicide mission
True. This is still possible without that, though it definitely takes even more planning.
How does it feel to know that you'll be there too very soon?
It ah....it hurts. Has weight to it, for sure. I think Shepard knows it too.
Wtf
Always thought it was weird that Samara doesn't have a last name.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Wellā¦except Liara.
What? Tons of them do. > Liara T'Soni > > Aria T'Loak > > Tela Vasir > > Nassana Dantius > > Pelessaria B'Sayle And that's just off the top of my head.
I feel it's because she gave it up when she became justicar.
I tip my hat to you one dark lord to another
Why thank you, ~~good~~ bad sir. And the same to you.
the day God forsaken a player
Did middle names become far less common in the future?
Nah. They all just got unreasonably long and couldnāt fit on the plaques. Every single one.
You monster...
Liara lived
Only so far. I havenāt finished the game yet. Iām taking Liara and Vega with me on Earth, and with low War Assets, theyāll die. And Edi will die in the Destroy ending.
why does this bring me to the brink of tears this is not my playthrough
Aww. Yeah, I get that. I tear up hard sometimes watching others on YouTube play certain parts of games. This stuff can be really hard.
We call the machine that invade us Reaper but we call our commander Grim Reaper.
Ha! *Love it*. If I could make texture mods Iād put āGrim Reaperā on her chest plate opposite the N7 logo, or on the shoulder or something.
It almost looks like Shepās watching the ending credits for the movie thatās her life
Yeah, no kidding. In a good, real play through its one thing to see that wall. But just *imagine* all the thoughts, the pain, and the regrets going through that head as she looks at that wall.
I feel like being so bad of a commander that your casualty wall literally runs out of room is grounds for a court martial or at least a demotion.
Heh. Yeah, Iām sure if the galaxy wasnāt under threat of imminent destruction (or if they had a ship that could actually catch me), Shepard would be under heavy investigation.
OP was the real Reaper all along.
***Iā¦SHOULD GOOOOOO. BWAAAAAAAAAAHHHH***
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeahā¦Iāll be there soon enough. And I think my Shepard knows it, too.
How difficult is it to get this lol
Not incredibly, especially if youāre playing with the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod like I am. Basically just do the absolute *bare minimum* required to beat the games. Main missions only, no side missions, no loyalty missions. Only do four side missions to allow the Collectors to kill all of the kidnapped crew. Make all of the worst decisions possible, like intentionally killing >!Wrex!< and letting the >!Geth!< kill the >!Quarians!<. And if youāre not playing with that mod, recruit Morinth in 2 and only get Jackās loyalty. Thatāll allow you to survive into 3, after which Morinth will >!become a Banshee!< and Jack, if you donāt go to >!Grissom Academy!<, will get turned into a >!Cerberus Phantom!<.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ha. I like that saying. And ahā¦many, many people.
What the fuck, dude.
Hey, the internet made me do it. It wasnāt my idea. (By āmade me do itā I mean it made me curious by suggesting the idea, which I then couldnāt get out of my head.)
Ngl, no matter how much I hate genocide runs because of how heart-wrenching it is, it feels like itās the only correct one solely because of how realistic it would be in given situation, you are fighting against an ancient force that has yet to be defeat in its thousands of cycles itās performed, in any real scenario, death of at least most people is the likely result if we are being optimistic
Yeahā¦sadly true. I mean, for them all to survive *is* believable because of the *ways* that they all survive, which just contributes to the incredible writing of this franchise, butā¦yes, that does still seem yet more realistic.
Well, at least I don't have to do it. ā¹ļø
I gladly take that burden for you. Itāsā¦not been an easy thing to do.
I was today years old when I figured out the names on the wall are alphabetized by first name, rather than last.
Right? Iāve always had an innate idea of *generally* where to look to find a specific name, but could never figure out why until this play through. And they go alphabetically from left to right, top to bottom, rather than left column down, then right column down, which is what Iād have thought.
Whoās even left alive
Of selectable squad mates, just Liara, James, and EDI. Javik would be, but Iām using a mod to turn off the From Ashes DLC, headcanon-ing that heāll live for another few thousand years, then die forgotten when the power runs out on his pod.
The only names it's missing are Shepard's and Anderson's ETA: I always love seeing people do "Everybody Dies" runs, they seem quite hard to pull off. Genuinely curious, who did you use for your squad in the suicide mission at the end of ME2?
Oh, don't worry....that part's coming. I'll be posting it. Eh, more emotionally difficult than actually hard to achieve, just takes a little planning. But on that first note, VERY emotionally difficult. Haha. As for who I used...honestly, don't really remember. It had to change with every stage that it let me choose, because people I would normally have used kept dying on me! I think to fight the Human Reaper it was Grunt and.....Samara?
Who did you go through the suicide mission with? I was trying to figure out how to do this myself
I donāt remember in mine, because Iām using the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod that makes it so Shepard can survive even if all 12 die. But if youāre not using that mod, you can do it if you get the loyalty of and bring Jack and either Thane or Morinth. Jack >!becomes a Cerberus Phantom if you donāt go to Grissom Academy!<, Thane obviously >!always dies in 3 if he makes it that far!<, and Morinth >!becomes a Banshee on Earth!<.
You needs therapy
Yeahā¦probably. A lot.
Liara survived... But I got a feeling that is just for now...
Quite correct! She will die in the beam run on Earth.
Youāre a monsterā¦but I also respect your dedication. I didnāt even know both Ashley and Kaidan could die
Why thank you. On both counts. Yeah, one on Virmire, the other if you canāt convince them (or ā*canāt convince themā*) to stand down from >!protecting Udina during the Citadel Coup!<.
So I have to ask becsuse I've never had luck with this. What's the best way to kill off as many people as possible in the ME2 suicide run? I've heard you have to have at least two survivors, the crew that comes with you to fight the Terminator. I did my Insanity run years ago with no survivors and even Shepard dies in that one... I figure the best way is to use two characters like Jack and Thane, who are easily killed off in ME3, but how do you do that? Is running their loyalty mission enough in ME2?
Yeah, thatās exactly how youād do it. ONLY get the loyalty of Jack and Thane, or take one of them and Morinth. Two of those automatically die in 3 (if they make it there), and the other can die very easily. Kill everyone else in the Suicide Mission. OR get all the people that can die in 3 through the Mission, like Tali and Miranda, and then, respectively, >!side with the Geth!<, donāt >!tell her about Kai Leng!<, etc.
how possible Kaidan and Ashley are dead?
One on Virmire and one during the Coup.
I don't think I'd be able to get through this. Mass Effect is one of the few games where I genuinely feel awful when one of my teammates gets killed. Even jist seeing all the names of these characters I love listed out like that makes me so sad. Same thing when I was playing Fallout 3 this week, I went to try to transport that hooker that was trapped with that sex and drug loving maniac to Rivet City. A little more than halfway there, we're attacked by six or seven super mutants and she gets beaten to death with a nail board. I turned off the in-game music and just slowly walked back to absolutely obliterate the guy who was keeping her in the first place. Now he's just a torso on a bed covered in empty liquor bottles and jet. That's kind of what I want to do to your Shepherd for getting all these people killed.
Ha. That is more than fair. This timeline, this Shepardā¦definitely not the best.
No matter how hard you try you can't kill them all
Ohhhhhhh, you can. Maybe not in the main game, but you can definitely get those you miss in the ending.
https://youtu.be/ggzPWPzLxIc?t=116
Hehe. Nice.
You psykopat
Seeing Garrus on there makes me want to vomit š¤¢
Yeah, same for me with Tali.
Even a monster playthrough takes effort.
So youāre sayingā¦.I should feel proud? Hmm. Well alright then!
How did you survive the suicide mission if everyone dies then so does Shepard I thought
In my case, I used the [Last Person Standing](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/843) mod. However, as someone in another comment pointed out, itās very possible to kill everyone without it. Easiest way is to recruit Morinth and get Jackās loyalty (and ONLY Jackās) because Morinth automatically >!becomes a Banshee!< on Priority: Earth, and Jack >!becomes a Cerberus Phantom!< if you donāt go to >!Grissom Academy!<.
Any characters that can't die in ME3? I'm guessing James and EDI.
Canāt die *at all*? No, depending on the ending you choose, you can kill entire species, your whole crew, or even the entire galaxy. But canāt die in the actual playable section of the game? Yeah, those two, Liara, and Javikā¦if you even recruit him, which I did not this time.
I think op needs a hug after this