"Mass Effect" 9 for 10 [3] Trivia Quiz

Answer: Spectres

"Spectre" was an acronym for "Special Tactics and Reconnaissance". Spectre operatives served the Citadel Council directly, above their own species. They were charged with protecting the Council and the stability of the government. There was explicitly little oversight, and operatives were mostly free to do whatever they deemed necessary to protect the galaxy as a whole.

The asari were not usually thought of as militaristic, but their elite commandos were well-known throughout the galaxy. The Grey Wardens and the Templars were two factions from Bioware's other video game series, "Dragon Age".

Answer: Omni-tools

Omni-tools were multi-purpose personal electronic devices. They could be used for the mundane, such as recording and playing audio files, or providing a light source. They could also be used by savvy criminals wanting to hack computer and security systems.

Most players in "Mass Effect" were familiar with the omni-tool as the main booster of tech abilities. Better omni-tools could be swapped out for better tech performance, such as cooldowns.

Bio-amps were for biotic abilities what omni-tools were for tech abilities. Medi-gel was a substance used in first aid kits to quickly heal or stabilize wounds. The sonic screwdriver was a device from the "Doctor Who" television series.

Answer: Virmire

Virmire was a tropical planet on the edge of the Attican Traverse, just on the border with the lawless Terminus Systems. While Virmire was a paradise, and perfect for a wide range of species to colonize, its proximity to the dangerous parts of space meant no government even bothered to try.

Saren had a secret lab on the planet that was researching a cure for the genophage. The genophage was the biological weapon that reduced krogan birth rates to "manageable levels". Saren was planning to breed an army of krogan for the advancing Reapers. Shepard's krogan squad member, Wrex, was not happy about the thought of destroying the cure for his people. Wrex and Shepard had a tense stand-off about the situation. Shepard could either convince Wrex to work with the team, or shoot the krogan.

Answer: ExoGeni

ExoGeni was a human company that sponsored and supported the human colony on Feros. The mega corporation was not as benevolent as it might seem, though. ExoGeni discovered a large creature on Feros: the Thorian. The Thorian would emit spores that other beings would inhale. The Thorian would then start conditioning the subjects to respond to its will. If a subject did not do as the Thorian wished, or had active negative thoughts about serving the Thorian, they suffered severe migraines. The longer the exposure to the spores, the more control the Thorian had. Otherwise, the subjects were allowed to continue their life as normal. A few fought the Thorian's control. Most did not.

ExoGeni explicitly set up Zhu's Hope above the Thorian so the colonists would unwittingly become thralls. ExoGeni then observed the effects. During the experiment, Saren went to the Thorian for the Cipher. After receiving the Cipher, he attacked the Thorian with his geth army. The Thorian became defensive. With ExoGeni hiding their unethical research, and the colonists trying to hide the Thorian, Shepard had a hard time getting answers from anyone on Feros.

Answer: Rachni

"Mass Effect" was set in 2183 CE, but 2000 years earlier, the galaxy was already at war, before humans even knew that they were not alone. The insect-like rachni were terrorizing Council space, and were winning on all fronts. They could survive harsh conditions, and had a telepathic hive mind ability to coordinate their attacks.

The salarians discovered the krogan, another hearty species that reproduced very fast. The krogan had not yet developed space travel, but the salarians uplifted them to fight the rachni. The krogan fought viciously, and were able to chase the rachni into their dens on their toxic worlds.

After the rachni were declared extinct, the krogan used their naturally quick breeding cycle and aggression to rapidly expand their territory. This paved the way for the krogan rebellions and the introduction of the genophage.

Answer: Electronics

Electronics was a very useful talent. It was used to hack into secure containers, so a squad member with a high Electronics score was always good to have around. The more points spent in Electronics would also improve the amount of damage repaired when repairing the Mako.

The squad member with Electronics got a passive shield boost, making them more difficult to damage (especially nice for the non-combat oriented classes). Finally, Electronics unlocked the Overload ability, which could be used to weaken or destroy the shields of enemies in the field.

Answer: Infiltrator

In "Mass Effect", the three specialist classes were masters of their skill areas, and had access to the strongest abilities in the game. They had to rely on squad members, though, to make up for the skill areas they lacked. The hybrid classes, on the other hand, were much more versatile, and able to tackle a wider range of situations. None were extremely strong in any one skill area, and they lacked the strongest abilities in the game.

In the sequel, "Mass Effect 2", each class was given at least one ability unique to it, differentiating the classes even further. In "Mass Effect 2", the Infiltrator, for example, was the only class that could turn invisible with the Tactical Cloak power.

Answer: Geth

Organics were naturally afraid of the idea of creating true artificial intelligences (AIs). There were too many unknowns to properly see all the potential repercussions that creating one might have. Out of fear, the Citadel Council forbade the creation of artificial intelligences and synthetic species.

The quarians were a very advanced society that relied heavily on technology. They created a simple virtual intelligence (VI), which was legal. To make the VIs more efficient, the quarians programmed them to share computing resources when in close proximity. Unforeseen, when enough of these VIs were close to each other, enough computing processes were freed up for more complex tasks, and the geth, true artificial intelligences, started to emerge. When the quarians realised what they had created, they tried to destroy the geth. The geth fought for self preservation, and concluded that the quarians and geth could not peacefully coexist. The quarians were driven off their homeworld, and forced to live in the Migrant Fleet. No one knew what the geth did after the war, because they never sought out communication with the rest of the galaxy.

The war was 300 years before the events of "Mass Effect". The geth saw the Reapers as gods; the pinnacle of synthetic life. They began following the Reapers, and their agent, Saren. No species knew what the geth were capable of, and were caught completely off guard by the sudden return of the geth.

Answer: N7

In "N7", the N was the Special Forces designation, and the 7 was the highest rank a soldier could achieve. Shepard was a graduate of the N7 program, indicating that the Commander was one of the most competent soldiers in the Human Alliance, and the galaxy. The N7 could be seen on different armour pieces in all the "Mass Effect" games.

Bioware now celebrates N7 Day on November 7th, where they indulge in everything "Mass Effect". Lots of "Mass Effect" merchandise features the stylized N7 logo.

M35 was the model number of the Mako, the land vehicle Shepard used to explore worlds. X57 was the designation of an asteroid that was being mined near Terra Nova. Batarian raiders hijacked the asteroid, and directed it at the planet. In the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC for "Mass Effect", Shepard had to prevent the asteroid from smashing into the human colony. D24 was the name of the docking bay that the Normandy used in "Mass Effect 3".

Answer: Sovereign

Sovereign was Saren's ship, and seen very early in "Mass Effect". Nobody knew what it was, though. When Shepard heard that Saren wanted to bring back the Reapers - an ancient species that destroyed all galactic life every 50 000 years - everyone assumed that Sovereign was some ancient Reaper ship he had found. It was not until Virmire that the more horrifying truth became apparent: Sovereign WAS a Reaper. A 2km long synthetic being that could travel between stars and lie dormant for thousands of years.

Shepard learned that Saren was just a puppet, and that one Reaper was already in the galaxy. Seeing what Sovereign, a single Reaper, was capable of was terrifying. The idea of it opening the gates for thousands more to pour through into the galaxy was beyond imagination. Shepard had to work harder than ever to stop the Reapers' plans to begin the next galactic extinction cycle.