I'm a Mass Effect superfan. Before I even owned an Xbox 360, I had been following this game. I dreamed of the day my poor college-attending ass would be able to play it. I thought about buying the game to play on my buddy's 360. Yes, I wanted my hands on it this bad. The only other game I thought about doing this for was Metal Gear Solid 3, alas I still have yet to play that one. Mass Effect, on the other hand, was one of the first games I purchased when I came into a large sum of money after finishing college. Putting over 7 playthroughs and 200+ hours into Mass Effect, you could say I was somewhat excited for the sequel. You could also say I was squealing like a schoolgirl weeks before its release in January of 2010. I digress.
 
A post over on the Giant Bomb Mass Effect 3 forum  gave me the idea for this blog. The premise was which characters I wanted to see return in Mass Effect 3. I gave a response, but I wanted to go a little more in depth with my answers. One, because I love talking Mass Effect with anyone and everyone, and two, I like to ramble on about stuff I love. Drinking makes this evident. If you listen to my Podcast, you will soon find out we drink and ramble about games. Most of the time when we listen back to it, we find ourselves yelling at our iPhones, PCs or iPods to "shut the fuck up, you drunk!". True story. Anywho, as I sip my glass of Canadian Club Reserve, I present to you The Hero's Return - A Mass Effect (3) blog. (Yes, that's a Pink Floyd reference. I like to reference awesome when I blog. :D )
 
**NOTICE:** The following will contain spoilers for PS3 owners. If you have yet to play it, you might want to steer clear.
 
With the release of Mass Effect 3 technically under a year away, if you believe that it will make it out by December which I'm pretty confident it won't, we have to imagine what will be the main plot. Ok, maybe we don't have the imagine. The Reapers are coming and Shepard is the only person who can stop them. I saw another post in the forums about what Giant Bomb user DriveupLife had a theory on. His theory is about uniting the factions, which you can find here. I'll be getting into why I like this theory and how I see it going down in a bit.
 
One thing I want from Mass Effect 3 is the possibility of space combat. A little something more advanced from the Kotor mini game Bioware did. Maybe a little more Halo: Reach-ish. Full control of the Normandy in a combat situation OR taking control of a one-maned fighter from a Capital Ship or from a Space Station or Installation. 
 
The Normandy is docked at a station on the edge of The Terminus and it comes under Reaper attack, maybe Rogue Geth, maybe pirate attack. Shepard learns of the station's fighter compliment. He orders the Normandy to battlestations and detach from dock. He and his two current companions along with the station's fighter pilots launch their craft to defend the station. To cover if his companions can pilot the fighters or not, let's say they either stay behind to help with the relief effort on board the station or he orders them back to the Normandy before she detaches. Why is there one extra fighter for Shepard? One of the pilots dies in an explosion before they launch for drama or the station has extra fighters in case of technical issues for practicality. Either way, both are probable instances for the story to move from there. Maybe Shepard gets hit near the end of combat and he gets captured before the Normandy can rescue him? Then we get a little action with Shepard on his own, stuck on an unknown ship trying to send an SOS to his companions informing them of his location. 
 
See, I told you I like to ramble. With that part of a potential Mass Effect fantasy out of the way, I'll move on to the support cast. Who I want to return as Shepard's team. This doesn't include the ship's crew, for example, Kelly Chambers or Joker. Also this is where I'll add my two cents about the factions being united. Keep in mind as I write this, my first Shepard was male soldier who chose Ashley then Miranda as his bed companions. So if I go on about things you didn't experience, note this was my first experience.
 
Garrus Vakarian aka Archangel

Thane Krios 

I like Thane, I really do. I'm not sure how much of a Military the Drell have, unless he has some friends who are also assassins, but I wasn't sure what he could bring to the table. The main reason Thane is on this list, is because he's kinda awesome. Besides that, I want to see where is story leads. Can we find a cure for his illness? Will he die before Earth's final hour? Either way, I want Thane back for Mass Effect 3. If he's to die, I want it to be an honorable one.
 
 Zaeed Massani 

I surprised myself with this one. I don't really like Zaeed. Never did. The fact he was the former leader of the Blue Suns mercenaries makes me think he might be a big asset in the fight to come. If he could regain command of the Blue Suns, he might be able to unite the merc groups under one flag. This would be a huge help for Shepard and with Zaeed's loyalty, it might stay like that. I fear that if he were to gain that much power, he might not know how to handle it for the good of the galaxy. When the fight is over, it might have not been the best idea to give him that much power.
 
HONORABLE MENTION:

Samara

Look, we already have an Asari, sorry doll face. The reason she gets an honorable mention is because Samara probably has a lot more pull with the Asari government than Liara has, but other than that, I'm not sure she would be a huge help other than on a personal level, fighting by Shepard's side. Unless she can recruit the Justicars, but I think that would just fall under the Asari Military. They can definitely bring her back to be the Asari liaison, since Liara kind of has her hands full with previously mention tasks. I think Samara is a super badass, so I'd love to have her for another round in the third outing.
 
 There you have it! The character I want to return and my thoughts on the Uniting the Factions theory. Let me know what you think! Post you're own theories or tell me I'm crazy! Come one, come all!
 
-Your friendly neighborhood SharpShotApollo