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Contents

  • Extras
    • Collectors Edition
      • Mass Effect Inception
      • Q&A: The Art Direction of Mass Effect
      • Q&A: The Writing of Mass Effect
      • What Makes BioWare Tick?
      • Cinematic Design
      • Cinematic Storytelling in Mass Effect
      • Digital Characters
      • Level Design in Mass Effect 3
      • Creature Design
      • The Future of Interactive Storytelling
      • Theme of Survival
      • Gameplay
  • Essentials
    • Introduction
      • Single Player Campaign
      • Intro to Mass Effect
      • Galaxy at War Introduction
    • Special Tactics and Reconnaissance
      • Character Creation
      • Character Development
      • Preparing for and Getting to the Fight
      • The Enemy
    • Armaments and Armour
      • Weapons
      • Weapon Mods
      • Armor
      • Combat and Movement
      • Attacking
      • Powers
    • The Squad
      • Importing Saves
      • Commander Shepard
      • Adept
      • Engineer
      • Infiltrator
      • Sentinel
      • Soldier
      • Vanguard
      • Ashley Williams
      • Edi
      • Garrus Vakarian
      • James Vega
      • Kaidan Alenko (Sentinel)
      • Liara T’Soni
      • Tali’Zorah
      • Familiar Faces
  • Walkthrough
    • Prologue
      • Prologue: Earth
      • Fear the Reapers
      • Prologue - Priority: Mars
      • First Chance for Hope
      • Prologue – Priority: Citadel
      • To the Citadel
      • A Favor for a Favor
      • Dream Sequence 1
    • Act 1
      • Act 1- Priority: Palaven
      • Rescue the Turian Primarch
      • Act 1- Priority: Sur’kesk
      • Host the Summit
      • Free the Krogan Females
      • Act 1: Tuchanka – Turian Platoon
      • Extract Turian Survivors
      • Act 1- Attican Traverse: Krogan Team
      • Investigate Missing Scouts
      • Act 1- Priority: Tuchanka
      • Cure the Genophage
      • Dream Sequence 2
    • Act 2
      • Act 2- Priority: The Citadel
      • Visit the Citadel
      • Act 2 – Priority: Persus Veil
      • Speak With Quarians
      • Disable the Dreadnought
      • Act 2 – Rannoch: Geth Fighter Squadrons
      • Geth Comm Hub
      • Act 2 – Rannoch: Admiral Koris
      • Save the Admiral
      • Act 2 – Priority: Rannoch
      • Reaper Base
      • Act 2 – Priority: Thessia
      • Priority: The Citadel
      • Priority: Thessia
      • Act 2 – Priority: Horizon
      • Investigate Sanctuary
    • Act 3
      • Act 3 – Priority: Cerberus Headquarters
      • Assault the Illusive Man’s Base
      • Act 3 – Priority: Earth
      • Order Fleets to Earth
      • No Man’s-Land
      • Decisions Decisions
      • Heart Vs. Brain (Spoiler Alert!)
    • N7 Missions
      • Introduction
      • N7: Cerberus Lab
      • N7: Cerberus Attack
      • N7: Cerberus Abductions
      • N7: Cerberus Fighter Base
      • N7: Fuel Reactor
      • N7: Communication Hub
    • Side Missions
      • Introduction
      • Grissom Academy: Investigation
      • Tuchanka: Bomb
      • Lessuss: Ardat-Yakshi Monastery
      • Arrae: Ex-Cerberus Scientists
      • Hub Missions
    • Achievements
      • Achievements/Trophies
  • Multiplayer
    • Galaxy at War
      • Introduction
      • Joining and Fighting the Good Fight
      • Before Deployment
      • In the Field
      • Level Strategy
    • The Races
      • Humans
      • Asari
      • Drell
      • Krogan
      • Quarians
      • Salarians
      • Turians
    • The Enemy
      • Cerberus
      • The Reapers
      • The Geth
    • The Battlefields
      • Location: Ghost
      • Location: White
      • Location: Dagger
      • Location: Giant
      • Location: Glacier
      • Location: Reactor

Mass Effect 3 Guide › Walkthrough › Prologue

To the Citadel

Immediately after your escape from the Mars research facility, you’re contacted by Admiral Hackett. The information you managed to obtain yielded impressive results.

Most notably, the information revealed plans for a Prothean device that seems to be capable of massive amounts of damage.

However, with little else to go on, your initial mission remains: reach the Citadel and speak with the Council to enlist the help of the other Citadel Space planets.

You have nowhere else to go at the moment, and there is the matter of your third squad member’s current critical condition after his or her encounter with the Cerberus synthetic.

NOTE

You have no choice but to go to the Citadel immediately following “Priority: Mars.” The ending cutscene finishes with you arriving at the Citadel ready to meet with the Council. You don’t have to go directly to the Council, of course, but to progress the game and story, you must speak with them regarding the Reaper invasion of Earth.

Upon landing at the Citadel, you’re greeted by a familiar friend.Captain Bailey of C-Sec has been recently promoted to commander and is happy to see you back on the Citadel. Commander Bailey suggests you stop by the Huerta Memorial Hospital to check on the condition of your injured comrade.

TIP

If you agree to go to the hospital when Commander Bailey suggests it, you’ll accrue Paragon points.

However, if you choose to get straight to business and instead go to meet with Councilor Udina, then you’ll forgo any Paragon points, even if you change your mind and go to the hospital first. What matters is what you tell Commander Bailey at this point.

If you’d like to keep the critical path moving, jump to the “A Favor for a Favor” (next guide section) header and continue from there. If you’d like to explore the Citadel first, continue reading.

HUERTA MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

RECRUIT A DOCTOR

Upon arriving at the hospital, you run into two doctors: Dr. Michel and Dr. Chakwas. Regardless of who you speak with first, your conversation is directed to Dr. Chakwas. Here you have a critical decision to make. You can either recruit Dr. Chakwas for the Normandy or, despite her pleading, ask her to stay at the Citadel and aid in the efforts.

If you choose to recruit her, she’ll go to the Normandy and you’ll gain a few points of Reputation and the aid of an old trusted friend on the Normandy.

However, if you choose to recruit Dr. Michel, you’ll gain Reputation points for asking Dr. Chakwas to remain behind (you must do this first before recruiting Dr. Michel); you’ll also trigger a Paragon/Renegade decision and gain a few bonus Reputation points for recruiting Dr. Michel to join you.

Better yet, by asking Dr. Chakwas to remain behind, you’ll acquire a new war asset for your Galaxy at War rating.

VISIT YOUR INJURED SQUAD MEMBER

Once you’ve recruited a doctor, visit your squad member’s room to give him or her some words of encouragement. Neither Ashley nor Kaidan will respond, as their injuries are pretty severe, but you’ll get a dialogue choice that can result in positive Reputation point gains.

Give your fallen member a pep talk (or a commander’s cold, hard speech), then exit the room. Now that you’ve visited your squad member and recruited a doctor, you can return to the Citadel Embassies.

ITEM REQUISITION

On the way out of the hospital, stop by the Sirta Supplies kiosk and purchase the Medi-Gel Capacity upgrade for 3,000 credits.

It’s still early in your adventure, and you’ll need to carry plenty of Medi-Gel (especially in higher difficulty settings) to keep your squadmates alive.

If you’d like to pick up the TM88-Peruvian Whiskey , you might as well do that too. After all, it’s only 1,000 credits.

TIP

If the injured squad member is Ashley, there will be a range of gifts available, from candy to books of poetry. However, you may only purchase a single gift.

After purchasing one, the other choices are no longer available. The correct gift for her is the Collected Alfred Tennyson.

PREVIOUSLY IN MASS EFFECT

Ashley’s correct gift is a reference to her relationship dialogs in Mass Effect 1 .

NOTE

The Peruvian Whiskey is only available if Kaidan is the injured squad member. In this case, this will count as the correct gift for Kaidan.

He will not take the gift from you at this time and should you choose to wait, it will still be available for purchase if you come back to see him again.

At some point you will be able to have a conversation and give a gift to your injured squadmate. A correct gift for either Ashley or Kaidan will earn you points in the relationship. An incorrect gift for Ashley will gain you no benefit.

CITADEL EMBASSY

QUEST PICKUP—SHRIKE ABYSSAL: PROTHEAN OBELISK

At any point during your visit to the Citadel, walk up to the trio (turian, human, and volus) in the far left corner of the Embassies.

You’ll overhear the volus diplomat speaking about a Prothean Obelisk and you’ll pick up a new mission in the Shrike Abyssal.

For information on how to complete this quest, go to the “Hub Mission” chapter and search for the “Shrike Abyssal: Prothean Obelisk” mission (See Hub Missions Section).

VISIT COMMANDER BAILEY

Prior to speaking with the Council, stop by Commander Bailey’s office to speak with him for a bit. When you arrive, you interrupt a conversation between him and Alliance News Network reporter Khalisah al-Jilani.

Bailey doesn’t have the brightest outlook on things, but this conversation can serve two purposes:

(1) You can gain Paragon/Renegade points, depending on how sternly you steer the conversation, and (2) you’ll possibility trigger a conversation with Khalisah later.

SPEAK TO KHALISAH AL-JILANI

After speaking with Commander Bailey for the first time, exit his office and approach the elevator. There, next to Avina, the Citadel VI (virtual intelligence), you’ll find Khalisah. She’s eager for an interview, so stop and speak with her.

Early into the conversation, you’ll be given the chance to trigger a Renegade interrupt (two, actually, if you take the first). However, if you ignore this choice, you can later take a Paragon decision. If you do, you’ll acquire Khalisah as a war asset as well.

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