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You mean how cagey Pressley is, I think you mean? Engineer Adams thinks Tali is totally rad and wishes he had more of her. I'm not even sure Joker gives any opinions on the aliens, and he's the only other crew-member you talk to.

Ford Prefect wrote:You mean how cagey Pressley is, I think you mean? Engineer Adams thinks Tali is totally rad and wishes he had more of her. I'm not even sure Joker gives any opinions on the aliens, and he's the only other crew-member you talk to.

I think that's the guy, but yeah. It's not like the rest of the Normandy crew was exactly accepting of aliens. I think I vaguely remember Joker expressing his distrust of Specters, but I can't remember anything specific.

Distrust of Spectres seems entirely logical when they have carte blanche to throw you out an airlock with no consequences.

Particularly when it turns out they're direct tools of Council hegemony.

Council Hegemony...now there was an interesting story backdrop that would have been so much better than what we got.

Just who ARE these Terminus System guys the council keeps talking about? How did they get their most recent military expenditures by the taxpayers of the galaxy again?

The galaxy isn't united. The Terminus Systems aren't part of the council, and sending council ships into them is a sure fire way to get your ass blown off. The reverse is true of them entering citadel space. I get the impression that they aren't as powerful as the council races, but it's stated in game that the council doesn't want to get involved in a war with them because it would be protracted and bloody.

Most of the Normandy crew are furniture so who cares what they think.
Pressley and Ashley have personal reasons for their distrust anyway, Pressley fought against the Turians or his father did.. I forget. Ashley's family name was dragged through the mud because of the Turians.
Like was said, Joker doesn't like Spectres. Plus he's an asshole. Chakwas and Adams never said a word against them, Jenkins was a Spectre fanboy and the quartermaster guy seems like he trades with aliens all the time, to the point you can buy him a Geth Armories licence.. which raises all sorts of questions in itself..

adam_grif wrote:The galaxy isn't united. The Terminus Systems aren't part of the council, and sending council ships into them is a sure fire way to get your ass blown off. The reverse is true of them entering citadel space. I get the impression that they aren't as powerful as the council races, but it's stated in game that the council doesn't want to get involved in a war with them because it would be protracted and bloody.

You missed my point. I know what the Terminus Systems are. Did you ever think that the only people who ever told you about the TS were the council? Did you meet one soul on any planet in Ass Effect who had ever met anyone from the Terminus Systems? The only information we ever had on them was from the council. For all we knew they were bullshitting about the threat they posed to justify obscene military spending and use of the Spectres to keep dissenters silent! For once, a sci fi universe written on social and political issu...

Oh wait, that's not it. Bioware wrote this, so the Terminus Systems get mentioned and then we never see them again. Instead its more alien invaders of doom and shit and the only fucking time the Council ever becomes relevant to the story ever-a-fucking-gain is when the player gets the most hilarious "decision" sequence of the game.

Raiders from the Terminus systems frequently hit settlements on the rim. That includes Human settlements.

This is a very long bow you're drawing.

Doesn't Mass Effect 2 take place in the Terminus Systems?

Parts of it at least.
Spoiler

Gramzamber wrote:Ashley's family name was dragged through the mud because of the Turians.

Though perhaps ironically the actual reason that the Williams' name gets dragged through the mud is human jingoism.

GuppyShark wrote:
This is a very long bow you're drawing.

You mean longer than the "aliun nvaders of doooooom" bow that Bioware snapped in two? This is actually something that me and Stark thought of a long time ago.

Come on, the best part of the whole 'don't settle there the TERMIES WILL GET YOU' thing is that the colony WAS destroyed; by a Spectre. Of course the Council claims Saren was out of control and exceeded his orders, but they would say that.

CaptHawkeye wrote:

adam_grif wrote:The galaxy isn't united. The Terminus Systems aren't part of the council, and sending council ships into them is a sure fire way to get your ass blown off. The reverse is true of them entering citadel space. I get the impression that they aren't as powerful as the council races, but it's stated in game that the council doesn't want to get involved in a war with them because it would be protracted and bloody.

You missed my point. I know what the Terminus Systems are. Did you ever think that the only people who ever told you about the TS were the council? Did you meet one soul on any planet in Ass Effect who had ever met anyone from the Terminus Systems? The only information we ever had on them was from the council. For all we knew they were bullshitting about the threat they posed to justify obscene military spending and use of the Spectres to keep dissenters silent! For once, a sci fi universe written on social and political issu...

Oh wait, that's not it. Bioware wrote this, so the Terminus Systems get mentioned and then we never see them again. Instead its more alien invaders of doom and shit and the only fucking time the Council ever becomes relevant to the story ever-a-fucking-gain is when the player gets the most hilarious "decision" sequence of the game.

We have a whole bunch of EU mentions of the Terminus systems, and the Batarians live in them, along with some Salarian outcasts. Apparently some of the novels discuss them more in detail, but I haven't read them (nor do I care to).

Looking it up now, apparently Virmire and Ilos were located in them.

Stark wrote:Come on, the best part of the whole 'don't settle there the TERMIES WILL GET YOU' thing is that the colony WAS destroyed; by a Spectre. Of course the Council claims Saren was out of control and exceeded his orders, but they would say that.

Unfortunately your, admittedly much more interesting idea, requires all the aliens to get much bigger dickheads than they already are. Which is to say bigger dickheads than the humans of Mass Effect. I cannot support this idea; pretty much all of my amusement comes from how desperately the Systems Alliance wants to be the 'in' crowd and Udina getting angry because he's such a petulant little chimp.

Stark wrote:Come on, the best part of the whole 'don't settle there the TERMIES WILL GET YOU' thing is that the colony WAS destroyed; by a Spectre. Of course the Council claims Saren was out of control and exceeded his orders, but they would say that.

This silliness also reminds me of the "THIS EVIDENCE IS IRREFUTABLE" 180 that the Turian council member does when you show him a voice recording. The first time I saw that scene I was expecting them to laugh at me and tell me to find something more solid to go on, but no.

Apparently forgeries are also a human innovation.

Ford Prefect wrote:Unfortunately your, admittedly much more interesting idea, requires all the aliens to get much bigger dickheads than they already are. Which is to say bigger dickheads than the humans of Mass Effect. I cannot support this idea; pretty much all of my amusement comes from how desperately the Systems Alliance wants to be the 'in' crowd and Udina getting angry because he's such a petulant little chimp.

Everyone in the 'minor races' talk about the Council races as being elitist, exclusionist, colony-controlling expansion limiting cunts already; that's why the humans want to be a Council race. I find the idea that they use their OBVIOUSLY EVIL BY DEFINITION Spectres (who amusingly Bioware seem to think are a good troubleshooting idea) to keep the lesser races in line by scaring up boogiemen. Using the Geth as a disposable wetwork team and various 'interstellar threats' is just hilarious.

'Don't settle there humans, expansion is bad ok, you might threaten us one day'
'We'll be fine thanks'
'LOL your colony got wasted who knew? Now get in line and do what we say'
'omg hax'

[spoiler="Ending, Mass Effect 1]Oh man. How hilarious is it that your pick between the guy who helped you and the guy who screwed you bypasses the entire democratic process and appoints your former CO ruler of the human species for life.

Ahh, the Council. What a bunch of autocratic cunts.[/spoiler]

Actually the Council has aided human expansion.
The entire reason the Batarians rejected their Citadel membership is because the Council was allowing humans to settle colonies in Batarian space and when they complained they were basically told to fuck off.
The fact that the humans went and claimed worlds like New Eden on the border with the Terminus systems was entirely their decision, the Council took a "we don't care" approach.

I don't see these as unreasonable actions... well unless you're a Batarian. But then they suck.

GuppyShark wrote:[spoiler="Ending, Mass Effect 1]Oh man. How hilarious is it that your pick between the guy who helped you and the guy who screwed you bypasses the entire democratic process and appoints your former CO ruler of the human species for life.

Ahh, the Council. What a bunch of autocratic cunts.[/spoiler]

First of all the Council representative for a given race is not the leader. At least I don't think so.
Secondly if you let the Council blow up you pick the LEADER OF ALL CITADEL SPACE by exactly the same process with exactly the same two candidates. The Council has nothing to do with it.

Well obviously when given a choice of such magnitude you're going to decide immediately between the two guys right in front of you.

What's really funny is that the primary difference between Anderson and Udina is that one is chill most of the time and the other has a space ship stuffed up his rear end. They're both petulant children when pushed.

It's not like anything major will change based on who you put in charge. You'll just get some slightly different dialogue, guaranteed. You'll play the exact same game either way in 2/3.

Mass Effect: Galaxy (iPhone game, decent fun) and Mass Effect 2 take place mostly in the Terminus Systems, AFAIK. I don't get the complaining that they're NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN in the original game, as if they're somehow obligated to be mentioned.

They're not obligated to be mentioned; the story could have just been interesting and political and not crap space robots.