Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is out now. The remastered bundle includes the three main games, lots of former DLC, and new quality of life features including alternate leveling for the first installment and a dynamic photo mode. This can be used to highlight great moments of a player’s favorite characters.
The second game, Mass Effect 2, same some of the most intense choices of the series. There are many potential specialists to recruit, all of whom have a unique story and motive. One of the most compelling is the Geth Legion. But to gain his loyalty may require planning ahead or risk jeopardizing other characters.
Preparing Legion’s Loyalty Mission in Mass Effect 2
Recovering Legion from the Reaper IFF starts an invisible timer towards the end of the game’s plot, the Suicide Mission. Players will only have a small window of 1-3 quests before the Collectors ambush the Normandy and kidnap the crew. This can leave a predicament for when exactly to do Legion’s loyalty mission, with a few options:
- Trigger A House Divided Right away: use what little time left to have a loyal Legion help save the crew
- Conduct the Suicide Mission with a disloyal Legion: take Legion on the final mission, then complete A House Divided if he survives
- Leave Legion deactivated: rescue the crew now without risk of losing Legion, and turn the Geth on later
This will all come down to how much players have prepared the other specialists, the Normandy, and care about the crew. Callous players can even let Cerberus members like Kenneth Donnelly, Gabby Daniels, Kelly Chambers, and Karin Chakwas die in the pursuit of a better Legion or other priorities. On the other hand, a disloyal Legion can survive the final assault as long as he isn’t assigned to a vital role like hacking expert, fire team leader, or escort.
Most importantly, do not place a non-loyal Legion in Shepard’s squad for the final battle; leave him to hold the line with strong defenders like Zaeed, Grunt, and Garrus. If Kasumi was not recruited, players will need to have purchased Multicore Shielding from Tali for 15,000 Palladium, or else Legion will perish on the way to the Collector Base.
A House Divided in Mass Effect 2
After activating Legion, talk to him and learn about the Geth virus and Geth Heretics, granting the quest A House Divided. When he first mentions these rogue Geth depends on what else Shepard has already accomplished. If there are absolutely no other major missions left, Legion will explain the situation right away. If there is any recruitment or loyalty missions in the galaxy, at least one more will need to be cleared first. In the case of the latter, Kelly (if alive) will inform Shepard that Legion is ready to chat.
Once ready, players will need to head to the Phoenix Massing cluster, Sea of Storms system, and finally Heretic Station. Choose a third squad member that compliments well with Shepard and Legion, the latter who is both an engineer and sniper. However, for a bit more banter, Tali as a Quarian will have an extra dialogue on the mission. Mordin and Jack also have some scientific and moral insight into the situation. Heretic Station has low gravity which gives bonuses to biotic powers.
Legion has flooded the station with junk code, and enemy Geth will not activate until someone crosses the green lights on the ground (including the two teammates). Use this as a means to get into a good position before most encounters start. Geth Hunters, Geth Troopers, and Geth Drones make up the bulk of the enemies but are susceptible to Overload or Hacking. The station has a lot of spare credits to find, along with raw materials, and a Geth Shield Boost upgrade Legion can use.
Geth Virus Computer
Eventually, the party will reach their primary objective: the main terminal where the virus is being completed. Legion will warn Shepard that once the console is activated, all remaining Geth will swarm the area. When ready, tell Legion to start the process. The Geth will arrive in four waves, consisting of a large amount of Geth Troopers, Geth Hunters, and Geth Rocket Troopers. Legion will also hack into the various Drones to help support the team. For the most part, hunkering down by the barrier near the terminal is a safe position. Despite the increased numbers, the strategy will mostly be the same of mostly using Overload, Hacking, and other attacks with bonuses against synthetic enemies.
After all of the Geth are destroyed, Legion will present two options of what to do with the virus: the Paragon choice is to rewrite them, the Renegade one to outright destroy them. This doesn’t have much impact during Mass Effect 2, but for players that will enter Mass Effect 3 destruction is a much better option.
Destroying the Geth here will make negotiations of peace between Geth and Quarians easier in the next game. The same peace can also be brokered if players both rewrite the Geth and prevent Tali’s exile via dialogue alone during her own loyalty mission. Those players that previously had Tali removed from the flotilla (or prevented the exile with evidence over speech checks) will absolutely want to pick the destroy path. Note that if Legion later dies on the Suicide Mission, peace is impossible as his replacement Geth VI doesn’t understand humanity; but, Tali’s replacement Shala’Ran is willing to accept the real Legion.
Escape and Aftermath
Regardless of the decision, Heretic Station will detonate in three minutes and lead to a game over at that point. Players do not need to kill every enemy, simply rush back to the airlock in time. Stick to killing only necessary enemies that obstruct the way, or have squad members deal the brunt of damage while Shepard runs to the exit.
While Legion’s personal mission is concluded, there is one more scene that merges two storylines. When both Legion and Tali’s loyalty missions are completed, the two will confront one another in the AI core. A high Paragon or Renegade check is needed to defuse the situation and make them both stand down. Alternately, Shepard can outright agree with either Legion or Tali, but will lose the loyalty of the other.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One