Mass Effect 2 Gameplay

[PeZook]

The funny thing about ME1's plot is that relays can be activated with access to just one end: it was the reason for the First Contact War, that's how the damn plot device Conduit worked, yet the Citadel relay is somehow different from all the others, and can't be activated by simply turning on the one where Reapers snooze.

+2 consistency!

[Darksider]

You know, i'd really laugh my ass off If in Mass Effect 3 the reapers just come pouring through the Citadel relay and start kicking everyone's asses, and basically go "you know those last two plots you foiled? Yeah, we were just fucking with you. We could come through and kill all of you any time we want, we just like giving you hope, 'cause we're assholes. Also Sovergin was just a dick who we sent to die 'cause he owed us money."

It won't happen, but it'd be damn funny. I'm trying to think up a non-Deus ex machina way for the Citadel races to defeat the Reapers in ME3, but it's just not coming to me. Nothing they've achieved in the past two games would give them the ability to withstand the giant Reaper fleet seen in the end of ME2, so they're probably going to go with some sort of plot device like an exploit in the reaper's machine code or a convenient prothean artifact or giant bomb or something. There's no way in hell the combined Citadel fleet could defeat the reapers in open battle.

[Darkdrium]

I hear you. I just know they're going to pull a central intelligence/source of power/self-destruct for the whole damn race so Sheppard can be the big damn hero without having to watch powerless from the bridge of a starship.

[PeZook]

I hear you. I just know they're going to pull a central intelligence/source of power/self-destruct for the whole damn race so Sheppard can be the big damn hero without having to watch powerless from the bridge of a starship.

Also, it will involve killing a Reaper with an assault rifle. Somehow.

[Havok]

You know, i'd really laugh my ass off If in Mass Effect 3 the reapers just come pouring through the Citadel relay and start kicking everyone's asses, and basically go "you know those last two plots you foiled? Yeah, we were just fucking with you. We could come through and kill all of you any time we want, we just like giving you hope, 'cause we're assholes. Also Sovergin was just a dick who we sent to die 'cause he owed us money."

It won't happen, but it'd be damn funny. I'm trying to think up a non-Deus ex machina way for the Citadel races to defeat the Reapers in ME3, but it's just not coming to me. Nothing they've achieved in the past two games would give them the ability to withstand the giant Reaper fleet seen in the end of ME2, so they're probably going to go with some sort of plot device like an exploit in the reaper's machine code or a convenient prothean artifact or giant bomb or something. There's no way in hell the combined Citadel fleet could defeat the reapers in open battle.

Sure they could, especially now that they have Reaper technology to fight back with (The new cannon on the Normandy). And it's not like the Reapers are invincible. In all the backstory/codex and now ME2 there is evidence that Reapers can be killed fairly easily with the right tech.

What makes them such a force to be reckoned with is how they get into the galaxy and then the fact that they can isolate all the races and planets while still moving freely through the Mass Relays. That and their coming, for the most part, is a complete secret. They all jump through the Citadel, immediately wiping out the combined government of any prominent races that have made it to this point and then spread out to each system almost simultaneously and with complete surprise.

Now, they are entering the galaxy from a single distant point, and there is at least a little warning of them coming. They key is still the Mass Relays. The Reapers would presumably still have control of them once they reached one, but now Shepard/Cerberus has a working IFF that may or may not prove to be the key to allowing the races to continue to use the Mass Relays once the Reapers reach populated space and the relay system. And the Protheans were able to lock the Reapers out of the Citadel, which may be the central control hub of the relay system.

Keep in mind that The Council may now also have access to Legion and the Geth history of their interaction with Nazara by the time the next game rolls around. Plus Shepard is still alive to keep things going and you have the data and evidence of the Collector base (even if you destroyed it) to present to the Council. You are also on the verge of a cure for the genophage to repopulate the Krogan as a massive work/fighting force as well as re-population by uncorrupted Rachni to fight against the Reapers. And the aforementioned Geth, which may also represent billions of potential allies. (The Geth could serve as 'crew' for ship size mobile platforms)

So basically all the Council and races need at this point is some tech research/advancement and a shitload of mobilization and just the belief that the Reapers are real and coming.

So you don't really need a dues ex to fight and defeat the Reapers*.

Personally, I just think you need more than 3 games to set that up. Maybe 4, or even 5.

*I'm not saying they aren't going to use one, just that you don't need it. I've already speculated on what that may use... Spoiler

The quickly destabilizing sun of Halestorm, where you recruit Tali, is probably a new route being created by the Reapers as an alternative to the Citadel to let the Reapers jump into the galaxy en masse. As the Reapers all jump into the system, Shepard will fire the ULTIMATE WEAPONTM that will cause the star to go nova wiping out almost all of the Reapers, leaving some to establish a strong hold of a small section of the galaxy and provide the races with a polarizing enemy that will keep them united.

[Stark]

The Shivans are way more competent than the Reapers and they can't even tell a human is flung one of their ships until they look in the window.

obviously Bioware wouldn't need half a dozen games for their Final Fantasy plot if they could write to save their ass. More plot, less nerd stroking please!

[Vympel]

Actually they'll probably use the reference found in ME1 for planet Klencory:-

Klencory is famously claimed by the eccentric volus billionaire Kumun Shol. He claims that a vision of a higher being told him to seek on Klencory the "lost crypts of beings of light." These entities were supposedly created at the dawn of time to protect organic life from synthetic "machine devils."

So it might involve a relative 'quick fix' from these 'beings of light'.

[Stark]

Lol Twilight of the Arnor!

It'll be sad if they took the quasi-theme of myth vs fact and raped it.

[Mr. Tickle]

To pull the thread back to an earlier point, which I apologise for it bothers anyone, I just what to give my opinion on the game.

It's been a couple weeks now since I finished it, only the 1 play through.

I'll be honest, I was disappointed. I did enjoy it overall but perhaps I'd set my expectations too high for what I was going to get out it but still I can't escape the fact I just felt that as a game, it didn't really.. erm.. "connect" to me, if that makes sense?.

Really for me I felt like I was only playing through a series of set pieces, very tightly scripted and controlled by the game. I know people moaned and complained about the Mako sections form the previous game, and the 3 or so set extra enivornments for the side missions but I felt like those bits gave a much more open feel to the game. In ME2 we had to deal with a lame "fuel" system and looking very slowly spinning planets looking at graphs, most of the time was spent in a few locations which spanned about the distance of an average shopping mall.

The combat itself was underwelming for me, spoiled quite a bit by the "some enemies are going to appear here soon" flag of usable cover appearing around the corner. Even then the ammo system used only resulted in the first few acts of having to make sure you scrape the ground to make sure you picked up enough and then later on once you upgrade enough you just forgot about it.

But overall, this may be a case of the difficult part of a trilogy (I think that this is the case for ME) for it to set up the last part, but overall the storyline was very lacking with only one or two really major events taking place even which were very minor in scope. Without having to use the spoiler tag even the ending sequences were poor, nothing really major happens throughout the game.

[Havok]

Actually they'll probably use the reference found in ME1 for planet Klencory:-

Klencory is famously claimed by the eccentric volus billionaire Kumun Shol. He claims that a vision of a higher being told him to seek on Klencory the "lost crypts of beings of light." These entities were supposedly created at the dawn of time to protect organic life from synthetic "machine devils."

So it might involve a relative 'quick fix' from these 'beings of light'.

I doubt this. It is just an interesting planet entry from the first game.
The reason I am latching onto my little pet theory is because they go a little too far overboard with the foreshadowing, and it is part of the major quest of the game.

Besides, it obviously didn't work.

[Havok]

To pull the thread back to an earlier point, which I apologise for it bothers anyone, I just what to give my opinion on the game.

It's been a couple weeks now since I finished it, only the 1 play through.

I'll be honest, I was disappointed. I did enjoy it overall but perhaps I'd set my expectations too high for what I was going to get out it but still I can't escape the fact I just felt that as a game, it didn't really.. erm.. "connect" to me, if that makes sense?.

Really for me I felt like I was only playing through a series of set pieces, very tightly scripted and controlled by the game. I know people moaned and complained about the Mako sections form the previous game, and the 3 or so set extra enivornments for the side missions but I felt like those bits gave a much more open feel to the game. In ME2 we had to deal with a lame "fuel" system and looking very slowly spinning planets looking at graphs, most of the time was spent in a few locations which spanned about the distance of an average shopping mall.

The combat itself was underwelming for me, spoiled quite a bit by the "some enemies are going to appear here soon" flag of usable cover appearing around the corner. Even then the ammo system used only resulted in the first few acts of having to make sure you scrape the ground to make sure you picked up enough and then later on once you upgrade enough you just forgot about it.

But overall, this may be a case of the difficult part of a trilogy (I think that this is the case for ME) for it to set up the last part, but overall the storyline was very lacking with only one or two really major events taking place even which were very minor in scope. Without having to use the spoiler tag even the ending sequences were poor, nothing really major happens throughout the game.

I think this is what Starkles is constantly griping about when he says stop making the game for masturbatory fan boys. You are confusing the scope of the game. It isn't the story of the galaxy vs The Reapers, which is the scope you (and I) want, but the story of how Shepard (the player) saves the galaxy and that scope is very small.

If you look at the game there are VERY major things that happen, they just happen to Shepard and not the galaxy as a whole.

[Mr. Tickle]

I think this is what Starkles is constantly griping about when he says stop making the game for masturbatory fan boys. You are confusing the scope of the game. It isn't the story of the galaxy vs The Reapers, which is the scope you (and I) want, but the story of how Shepard (the player) saves the galaxy and that scope is very small.

If you look at the game there are VERY major things that happen, they just happen to Shepard and not the galaxy as a whole.

Hmmmm. I can see where you are coming from. But perhaps we could spilt the game into 2 parts. The storyline aspect and the gameplay aspect.

Storyline wise I can agree with you to a point, but where's the context? In ME1 Shephard was made a member of the galactic council (via Spectre) and that engaged me as a player into that narrative. *I* via Shepard was now in that storyline. This only occured via random events at the start, which the discovery of that transmitter on the first planet triggered, very nice storyline and useful storyline device.
ME2 on the other hard forced the hand of the story from the start and throughout. Non of the events that happened throughout were controlled by me. I was told to gather a team, I was told to get their trust, I was told to investigate this planet, etc etc, nothing was by my choice.

Gameplay wise, I'll use an example. In ME1 by biggest "wow" moment was walking up the side of the citadel while the huge arm of the reaper kept going up and down. Gears of War 2 did this very well, throughout I felt I was the "hero" of the story, but having the war effort going on throughout the story gave me a sense of context, and this was mostly only done through background effects shown through cut scenes. As I said before, the majority of the game was either conversations with characters or set peice combat situations none of which got me excited. In ME2 I can't remember any good "wow" moments (for me) in which the design team showed off the size of the universe which my character lived in.

[Vympel]

The combat itself was underwelming for me, spoiled quite a bit by the "some enemies are going to appear here soon" flag of usable cover appearing around the corner. Even then the ammo system used only resulted in the first few acts of having to make sure you scrape the ground to make sure you picked up enough and then later on once you upgrade enough you just forgot about it.

To me this is a rose-coloured glasses criticism. Yes, combat is telegraphed a mile off with rooms full of usable cover (sometimes for no discernible reason ...) but this was done in ME1 all the time. It was worse in ME1 actually given that all the environments were the same.

As for size and scope, most of the locations - Illium, the Citadel especially felt plenty big to me.

[Havok]

I think this is what Starkles is constantly griping about when he says stop making the game for masturbatory fan boys. You are confusing the scope of the game. It isn't the story of the galaxy vs The Reapers, which is the scope you (and I) want, but the story of how Shepard (the player) saves the galaxy and that scope is very small.

If you look at the game there are VERY major things that happen, they just happen to Shepard and not the galaxy as a whole.

Hmmmm. I can see where you are coming from. But perhaps we could spilt the game into 2 parts. The storyline aspect and the gameplay aspect.

Storyline wise I can agree with you to a point, but where's the context? In ME1 Shephard was made a member of the galactic council (via Spectre) and that engaged me as a player into that narrative. *I* via Shepard was now in that storyline. This only occured via random events at the start, which the discovery of that transmitter on the first planet triggered, very nice storyline and useful storyline device.
ME2 on the other hard forced the hand of the story from the start and throughout. Non of the events that happened throughout were controlled by me. I was told to gather a team, I was told to get their trust, I was told to investigate this planet, etc etc, nothing was by my choice.

Gameplay wise, I'll use an example. In ME1 by biggest "wow" moment was walking up the side of the citadel while the huge arm of the reaper kept going up and down. Gears of War 2 did this very well, throughout I felt I was the "hero" of the story, but having the war effort going on throughout the story gave me a sense of context, and this was mostly only done through background effects shown through cut scenes. As I said before, the majority of the game was either conversations with characters or set peice combat situations none of which got me excited. In ME2 I can't remember any good "wow" moments (for me) in which the design team showed off the size of the universe which my character lived in.

Oh, you are saying the literal physical scope of the game felt small. Yeah I sorta felt that way too.

[Mr. Tickle]

To me this is a rose-coloured glasses criticism. Yes, combat is telegraphed a mile off with rooms full of usable cover (sometimes for no discernible reason ...) but this was done in ME1 all the time. It was worse in ME1 actually given that all the environments were the same.

As for size and scope, most of the locations - Illium, the Citadel especially felt plenty big to me.

I'm not sure what you mean by rose-coloured criticism, from the wording it I presume it's when expectations are set too high etc, which to be honest I can plead guilty.

Even so I feel that some poor decisions were made for this game. I'll have to say I felt the opposite in terms of the cover for this game as opposed to the last. Perhaps it's due to the fact the majority of combat part is spent in cover due to the ammo system. I haven't played ME1 for awhile but I do remember spending some time waiting around pillars for my gun to cooldown but it I never felt it as game breaking ammo system in ME2. There's a very good reason why cross genre games, like trying to make ME2 like GoW, fail, cos you can't have the best of both worlds without failing on the fundamentals.


Edit: Added missing words "for awhile"

[Havok]

The combat itself was underwelming for me, spoiled quite a bit by the "some enemies are going to appear here soon" flag of usable cover appearing around the corner. Even then the ammo system used only resulted in the first few acts of having to make sure you scrape the ground to make sure you picked up enough and then later on once you upgrade enough you just forgot about it.

To me this is a rose-coloured glasses criticism. Yes, combat is telegraphed a mile off with rooms full of usable cover (sometimes for no discernible reason ...) but this was done in ME1 all the time. It was worse in ME1 actually given that all the environments were the same.

As for size and scope, most of the locations - Illium, the Citadel especially felt plenty big to me.

Yeah, this is a pretty lame complaint, as just the capacity to draw your weapon indicates combat may be coming. Hell, just the nature of certain missions do that. If you really want to be an ass... the whole third person shooter genre kinda gives it away.

[Havok]

To me this is a rose-coloured glasses criticism. Yes, combat is telegraphed a mile off with rooms full of usable cover (sometimes for no discernible reason ...) but this was done in ME1 all the time. It was worse in ME1 actually given that all the environments were the same.

As for size and scope, most of the locations - Illium, the Citadel especially felt plenty big to me.

I'm not sure what you mean by rose-coloured criticism, from the wording it I presume it's when expectations are set too high etc, which to be honest I can plead guilty.

Even so I feel that some poor decisions were made for this game. I'll have to say I felt the opposite in terms of the cover for this game as opposed to the last. Perhaps it's due to the fact the majority of combat part is spent in cover due to the ammo system. I haven't played ME1 for awhile but I do remember spending some time waiting around pillars for my gun to cooldown but it I never felt it as game breaking ammo system in ME2. There's a very good reason why cross genre games, like trying to make ME2 like GoW, fail, cos you can't have the best of both worlds without failing on the fundamentals.


Edit: Added missing words "for awhile"

I disagree here.
I love the combat in ME. 1 & 2. The problem in ME1 was that it got WAY too easy and repetitive because of that and the lousy side quest building designs, or lack thereof. The problem with ME2 is that they destroyed a cool and unique system that didn't require me to spend time looking for ammo clips and replaced it with the stale old clip system. Granted they did make the combat even more fun IMO by doing this, as running out of ammo thermal clips brought a real sense of "OH SHIT!", but they could have achieved this by saying 'hey, stronger shields discovered' or just depowering the weapons and upgrades themselves. Instead they, just caved to whinny fan boys instead of trying to actual adjust, what was, a really cool system.

That said, aside from the concept, the combat is one of the best parts of ME.

[Coaan]

So, they appear to have announced the next set of DLC coming for Cerberus network users in late March.

The Hammerhead assault vehicle is coming to the Cerberus Network in late March!

Free to all Cerberus Network members, the Firewalker pack includes 5 all new missions featuring the Hammerhead. Hovering over the battlefield at up to 120 kilometeres per hour, the Hammerhead also boasts a guided missile system ensuring accuracy even during aggressive maneuvering.

Additionally we will be revealing a new heavy weapon available to all Cerberus Network members very soon. Stay tuned for more info on this new addition to the Mass Effect 2 arsenal, coming this month!

While I'm on the fence about being stuck with more awkward driving sections, we also get a return to running badguys over.

Whatever your opinion on the state of the game/gameplay, Bioware do appear to be committed to releasing DLC in a speedy manner.

As for Mass Effect 3, I would actually like to see a spaceship section of the game where you actually pilot the Normandy into battle rather than just taking the writer's word that Joker is hot enough shit to out-fly thirty-seven year old crazy universe sodomizing machines that are intent on wrecking your shit. It'd add a fair amount of battle-porn and I think it'd help relieve the whole problem that killing fucking Reapers with Assault rifles brings.

Did I also mention Epic battle porn?

[adam_grif]

You know, i'd really laugh my ass off If in Mass Effect 3 the reapers just come pouring through the Citadel relay and start kicking everyone's asses, and basically go "you know those last two plots you foiled? Yeah, we were just fucking with you. We could come through and kill all of you any time we want, we just like giving you hope, 'cause we're assholes. Also Sovergin was just a dick who we sent to die 'cause he owed us money."

It won't happen, but it'd be damn funny.

I wish.

I'm trying to think up a non-Deus ex machina way for the Citadel races to defeat the Reapers in ME3, but it's just not coming to me. Nothing they've achieved in the past two games would give them the ability to withstand the giant Reaper fleet seen in the end of ME2, so they're probably going to go with some sort of plot device like an exploit in the reaper's machine code or a convenient prothean artifact or giant bomb or something. There's no way in hell the combined Citadel fleet could defeat the reapers in open battle.

Maybe not the combined fleet as of ME1, but post 2 the Turian Hierarchy ought to be cranking out Thanix cannons for its ships. The Thanix that the Normandy uses is fighter-mountable according to the codex, and has cruiser level firepower. Assuming a full fighter wing on some kind of Carrier, this would give them orders of magnitude more firepower. If they scale it up to cruiser or dreadnought size, it may very well be able to penetrate the barriers on a Reaper.

It still won't be enough to fight them off alone since their fleet only has ~35 dreadnoughts, but it's a considerable improvement over the steamrolling they got in ME1.

The ME series seems to have been building towards an overarching Dragon Age style plot, where you've been going around and recruiting factions to help you, albeit more subtly. In ME1 you had the Rachni and potentially Krogan (if Wrex survives), and in ME2 you can get the Quarians and Geth on side. The Rachni have already become space faring as of ME2, and apparently the queen has genetic memories for how to build various warships. The Krogan under Wrex are a reasonable facimile of united, and presumably if you let Mordin keep the data in ME2 the Genophage will be cured in time for 3. The Geth are reportedly far larger than ever though, behind the Perseus Veil (and it was only a minority that were the "heretic geth"). They are further strengthened by rewriting the Heretics, should you opt for that. The Quarians are making steps towards peace with the Geth, and got some help from Shepard in ME1 via Tali's loyalty mission. Cerberus is small, but with collector tech (if you kept the base for them) they can presumably get a load of money selling some of it off on the open market, expand and use the military tech advantage gained to strengthen the Systems Alliance specifically. The Collector particle beams appear to ignore shields if Cutscenes are anything to go by, which would neutralize the biggest advantage that an individual reaper has over the conventional Citadel forces (inability for them to damage the reaper, even with huge numerical advantage).

So really, the situation is less dire than you might think assuming you made the "right" choices at various intervals.

As for Mass Effect 3, I would actually like to see a spaceship section of the game where you actually pilot the Normandy into battle rather than just taking the writer's word that Joker is hot enough shit to out-fly thirty-seven year old crazy universe sodomizing machines that are intent on wrecking your shit.

You're off by about 36.999 million years. This is also a low-end estimate, since we have no indication that the dead 37 million year old reaper was in the first cycle.

[Coaan]

You're off by about 36.999 million years. This is also a low-end estimate, since we have no indication that the dead 37 million year old reaper was in the first cycle.

That would be called a typo. You understand the concept of no edit button after a few minutes, yes?

It also doesn't matter if they're 37 million years old or 5.9 billion years old. The point was putting across just how much older and superior their tech is compared to the Council races et al. ME2 goes a way to bridging the gap but it doesn't change my original point that space combat would be far more enjoyable as epic player controlled fights rather than cinematics showing us that cranky old machines can't fight to save themselves in the face of good ol' human plucky courage.

[adam_grif]

That would be called a typo. You understand the concept of no edit button after a few minutes, yes?

Yes, and I assume that you are, likewise, familiar with the concepts of both corrections and people being assholes on SD.net.

but it doesn't change my original point that space combat would be far more enjoyable as epic player controlled fights rather than cinematics showing us that cranky old machines can't fight to save themselves in the face of good ol' human plucky courage.

I wasn't disagreeing, I was just pointing out your error.

[Havok]

You know, i'd really laugh my ass off If in Mass Effect 3 the reapers just come pouring through the Citadel relay and start kicking everyone's asses, and basically go "you know those last two plots you foiled? Yeah, we were just fucking with you. We could come through and kill all of you any time we want, we just like giving you hope, 'cause we're assholes. Also Sovergin was just a dick who we sent to die 'cause he owed us money."

It won't happen, but it'd be damn funny.

I wish.

I'm trying to think up a non-Deus ex machina way for the Citadel races to defeat the Reapers in ME3, but it's just not coming to me. Nothing they've achieved in the past two games would give them the ability to withstand the giant Reaper fleet seen in the end of ME2, so they're probably going to go with some sort of plot device like an exploit in the reaper's machine code or a convenient prothean artifact or giant bomb or something. There's no way in hell the combined Citadel fleet could defeat the reapers in open battle.

Maybe not the combined fleet as of ME1, but post 2 the Turian Hierarchy ought to be cranking out Thanix cannons for its ships. The Thanix that the Normandy uses is fighter-mountable according to the codex, and has cruiser level firepower. Assuming a full fighter wing on some kind of Carrier, this would give them orders of magnitude more firepower. If they scale it up to cruiser or dreadnought size, it may very well be able to penetrate the barriers on a Reaper.

It still won't be enough to fight them off alone since their fleet only has ~35 dreadnoughts, but it's a considerable improvement over the steamrolling they got in ME1.

The ME series seems to have been building towards an overarching Dragon Age style plot, where you've been going around and recruiting factions to help you, albeit more subtly. In ME1 you had the Rachni and potentially Krogan (if Wrex survives), and in ME2 you can get the Quarians and Geth on side. The Rachni have already become space faring as of ME2, and apparently the queen has genetic memories for how to build various warships. The Krogan under Wrex are a reasonable facimile of united, and presumably if you let Mordin keep the data in ME2 the Genophage will be cured in time for 3. The Geth are reportedly far larger than ever though, behind the Perseus Veil (and it was only a minority that were the "heretic geth"). They are further strengthened by rewriting the Heretics, should you opt for that. The Quarians are making steps towards peace with the Geth, and got some help from Shepard in ME1 via Tali's loyalty mission. Cerberus is small, but with collector tech (if you kept the base for them) they can presumably get a load of money selling some of it off on the open market, expand and use the military tech advantage gained to strengthen the Systems Alliance specifically. The Collector particle beams appear to ignore shields if Cutscenes are anything to go by, which would neutralize the biggest advantage that an individual reaper has over the conventional Citadel forces (inability for them to damage the reaper, even with huge numerical advantage).

So really, the situation is less dire than you might think assuming you made the "right" choices at various intervals.

Hmmm... so pretty much exactly what I already said.

[PeZook]

Wait, so the Rachni queen really is somehow different from every other Queen ever and she was telling the truth when she promised to be nice and not to start another galactic-scale war of genocide?

I figured she was just saying whatever she thought Shepard would want to hear in order to get out of that cage...

Also, I could've recruited that Geth sniper?

[Starglider]

Wait, so the Rachni queen really is somehow different from every other Queen ever and she was telling the truth when she promised to be nice and not to start another galactic-scale war of genocide?

I figured she was just saying whatever she thought Shepard would want to hear in order to get out of that cage...

As I recall, she said that some evil force (i.e. Sovereign) mind-controlled the Rachni into going to war the first time. Something about 'sour notes from space that resonated with us' etc. Sure, from Sheppard's point of view she could've just made that up, but knowing the backstory it's pretty clear that the Reapers were responsible for the Rachni behavior.

[Darksider]

Maybe not the combined fleet as of ME1, but post 2 the Turian Hierarchy ought to be cranking out Thanix cannons for its ships. The Thanix that the Normandy uses is fighter-mountable according to the codex, and has cruiser level firepower. Assuming a full fighter wing on some kind of Carrier, this would give them orders of magnitude more firepower. If they scale it up to cruiser or dreadnought size, it may very well be able to penetrate the barriers on a Reaper.

It still won't be enough to fight them off alone since their fleet only has ~35 dreadnoughts, but it's a considerable improvement over the steamrolling they got in ME1.

The ME series seems to have been building towards an overarching Dragon Age style plot, where you've been going around and recruiting factions to help you, albeit more subtly. In ME1 you had the Rachni and potentially Krogan (if Wrex survives), and in ME2 you can get the Quarians and Geth on side. The Rachni have already become space faring as of ME2, and apparently the queen has genetic memories for how to build various warships. The Krogan under Wrex are a reasonable facimile of united, and presumably if you let Mordin keep the data in ME2 the Genophage will be cured in time for 3. The Geth are reportedly far larger than ever though, behind the Perseus Veil (and it was only a minority that were the "heretic geth"). They are further strengthened by rewriting the Heretics, should you opt for that. The Quarians are making steps towards peace with the Geth, and got some help from Shepard in ME1 via Tali's loyalty mission. Cerberus is small, but with collector tech (if you kept the base for them) they can presumably get a load of money selling some of it off on the open market, expand and use the military tech advantage gained to strengthen the Systems Alliance specifically. The Collector particle beams appear to ignore shields if Cutscenes are anything to go by, which would neutralize the biggest advantage that an individual reaper has over the conventional Citadel forces (inability for them to damage the reaper, even with huge numerical advantage).

So really, the situation is less dire than you might think assuming you made the "right" choices at various intervals.

You know, this would make a good "variant" for ME3. If you made the right choices and recruited and unified the galaxy, made steps towards peace with the Rachni, Krogan, and Geth, the War against the reapers goes surprisingly well for the galaxy. If you didn't, the war is on the verge of being lost, and your mission is far more desperate.