How did the reapers never fail a cycle
By fail i mean how did the reapers never miss anything when cleaning up. First off I know there isnt much info so some cycles could have had survivors that then got wiped out in the following cycle...
Forum Discussion
Not sure about the "more intelligent species than before".
Listening to Jaavik I understood Protheans actually were composed of several species (wich by being either beaten in submission or agreeing joined the Prothean Empire and thus became Protheans). The difference between the prothean cycle and the Shepard cycle is more along the line of how different species worked together. By all being Protheans and following a single ideology the Protheans became vulnerable once their tactics or whatever were analysed. On the other hand we have the current cycle wich is more about cooperating species working together to be stronger. Each species keeps their individuallity, their strength and weaknesses, alone they would have been quite easy to destroy. But together they somehow compliment each others strength and weakness and thus are able to stand a bigger chance.
That being said... We don't know for how many cycles Reapers have harvested... There were at the very least four cycles (Keepers, Prothean/Collectors, Leviathans and the one you play) but for what we know there has been much more cycles than that. So it would be somehow "logical" that you'd find two cycles where the political situation was the same as the one we encounter during the events of the game and a big number of advanced species. Maybe in some of those cycles there were more species thant in the one we know.
What makes the difference is based on so many different parameters. It's at the same time Shepard receiving the warning, to some point Shepard who is able to unite every species to the fight and assured the loyalty of quite a lot of key people. It also is the fact that Shepard and everyone got the tech from the previous cycles destined to end the Reapers once and for all.
And yeah, you can argue that for what we know only one species got "elevated" as the Reapers minions (Keepers and Collectors). But ME2 kinda makes a point about the Reapers choosing the species they want to keep and simply erasing every other. And even if you think about what Sovereign says it does not imply a small number of intelligent species.
@Elena_Chase i suppose there's an argument for that. I must admit, if that's the case. Maybe I need to do a narrative run of the ME3 story and spend more time with Jaavik. I didn't have need of his skillset on Insanity.
From what I gleaned from him, I got that most of the species he saw were now fully evolved he didn't much care for as they were "primative" in his cycle, which is probably why the collectors left species like the Humans alone. Although, I did get the point that they all failed to work together in the Prothean cycle. Maybe I should have read more between the lines (as I should be able to being a massive RPG fan).
I'd have loved to see an Collector Elcor lol.
From what I gleaned from him, I got that most of the species he saw were now fully evolved he didn't much care for as they were "primative" in his cycle, which is probably why the collectors left species like the Humans alone. Although, I did get the point that they all failed to work together in the Prothean cycle. Maybe I should have read more between the lines (as I should be able to being a massive RPG fan).
I'd have loved to see an Collector Elcor lol.
- @SolCreed My point is not that the actual species were not primitives at the time of the harvest of Protheans. And there is a point to be made about Protheans uplifting at the very least the asaris and monitoring humans (it's not a stretch to think they would have given a nudge here and there in the evolution of every species that are now "dominant" in the cycle).
Yeah Jaavik does not have a lot of respect for everyone in this cycle, he kinda mocks asaris when Liara says she will write a paper on him by being "surprised" asaris learned to write and refers to Salarians as "lizard people" if memory serves right.
There is no argument to be made about protheans leaving the species who are not in the stage of evolution they want (they harvest space faring species mostly).
Honestly I lost count of how many playthrough I made so there is at least as much of subtext reading in my understanding as there is "proof" in the games. If you haven't and do a new playthrough I'd advise to take Jaavik with Liara on Thessia, you get to understand a little more about how the protheans thought and how they uplifted asaris and kinda why
I... actually never thought about Volus or Elcor in a collector version... That would be cool to see x)- @Elena_Chase I'd imagine a Volus Collector would be similar to Sandal in Dragon Age Origins.
A Harbinger Volus would be an amusing miniboss.
