No-Garrus playthrough, anyone?

[Feeling]

I just completed the Citadel investigation bit without his help, and it appears that taking him with me is entirely optional. Did anyone actually play like this? Does this influence his behaviour in the sequels?

[KRON]

You are not required to recruit both Garrus and Tali. And you can hold off recruiting Liara until after Virmire. If you play that way, there would be no option to kill Wrex even if you don't have enough charm/intimidate and didn't retrieve his family armor.

[Feeling]

Originally posted by KRON:

You are not required to recruit both Garrus and Tali. And you can hold off recruiting Liara until after Virmire. If you play that way, there would be no option to kill Wrex even if you don't have enough charm/intimidate and didn't retrieve his family armor.

How do I reject Tali? My Shepard said she wasn't cut for the mission right after she presented the evidence, but then Udina said she should come along anyway.

[KRON]

Originally posted by Feeling:

Originally posted by KRON:

You are not required to recruit both Garrus and Tali. And you can hold off recruiting Liara until after Virmire. If you play that way, there would be no option to kill Wrex even if you don't have enough charm/intimidate and didn't retrieve his family armor.

How do I reject Tali? My Shepard said she wasn't cut for the mission right after she presented the evidence, but then Udina said she should come along anyway.

Oh, I might have heard wrong then, since I never actually tried rejecting Tali.

[Veotax]

Garrus and Wrex are optional, but you have to recruit at least one of them. Once you recruit one you can decide if you want to get the other. They're the only characters that can be skipped in the game.

I don't think it effects their dialogue too much in the sequels. I think your first encounters with Wrex and Garrus in ME2 are a bit more distant and not like greeting old friends, they probably don't bring up any dialogue talking about how they were on your team in ME1.

I can't imagine it effects much in ME3, maybe some dialogue changes to not mention ME1? Garrus is required in ME2 so he probably has dialogue acting like an old friend.

[Feeling]

Originally posted by Veotax:

Garrus and Wrex are optional, but you have to recruit at least one of them. Once you recruit one you can decide if you want to get the other. They're the only characters that can be skipped in the game.

I don't think it effects their dialogue too much in the sequels. I think your first encounters with Wrex and Garrus in ME2 are a bit more distant and not like greeting old friends, they probably don't bring up any dialogue talking about how they were on your team in ME1.

I can't imagine it effects much in ME3, maybe some dialogue changes to not mention ME1? Garrus is required in ME2 so he probably has dialogue acting like an old friend.

This makes me wonder if not recruiting Wrex means that he leads clan Urdnot in ME2 or quietly dies offscreen to avoid recording too much alternate dialogue... I guess i'll post here once i know.

[Valden21]

Originally posted by Feeling:

Originally posted by Veotax:

Garrus and Wrex are optional, but you have to recruit at least one of them. Once you recruit one you can decide if you want to get the other. They're the only characters that can be skipped in the game.

I don't think it effects their dialogue too much in the sequels. I think your first encounters with Wrex and Garrus in ME2 are a bit more distant and not like greeting old friends, they probably don't bring up any dialogue talking about how they were on your team in ME1.

I can't imagine it effects much in ME3, maybe some dialogue changes to not mention ME1? Garrus is required in ME2 so he probably has dialogue acting like an old friend.

This makes me wonder if not recruiting Wrex means that he leads clan Urdnot in ME2 or quietly dies offscreen to avoid recording too much alternate dialogue... I guess i'll post here once i know.

First time I played ME 2, back on XBox 360, I didn't have a end-game save from the first game. Clan Urdnot was led by a Krogan named Urdnot Wreave. Wrex doesn't show up at all, and the only mention of him is of him becoming legendary for successfully solo-ing a Thresher Maw while on foot.

[Feeling]

Originally posted by Valden21:

First time I played ME 2, back on XBox 360, I didn't have a end-game save from the first game. Clan Urdnot was led by a Krogan named Urdnot Wreave. Wrex doesn't show up at all, and the only mention of him is of him becoming legendary for successfully solo-ing a Thresher Maw while on foot.

I know, same happens if you kill Wrex on Virmire. However this doesn't necessarily mean that Wrex will not lead the clan unless recruited.

[IrationalFear]

OK, spoilers by game will follow.

A reminder on ME1:

You must recruit Garrus and/or Wrex. Both is fine. One is fine. But you can't reject both in the same playthrough. Tali is automatically recruited. Liara must be recruited but can be delayed till after Virmire if you so choose (which will lock out all dialogue with her after her mission is completed). If Wrex is not recruited, he simply fades into obscurity and dies off-screen; Wreav takes over in ME2. If Garrus not recruited, he still appears in ME2 in the same capacity, with differences listed below.


As for a no-Garrus play-through:
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ME1
-Skipping Garrus requires recruiting Wrex
-Skipping Garrus alters some dialogue from Ash and Presley
-Some of the post-story-mission full crew meetings have different dialogue and may have odd conflicts due to swapped speakers from a full crew roster (i.e. Tali gets more dialogue and may catch Ash's ire, or Shepard's if you so choose, where normally there is none towards her).
-IF BOTH Garrus is skipped AND Liara's recruitment is delayed until after Virmire, THEN Wrex cannot be killed on Virmire no matter what (the game won't let you, as it mandates 2 squadmates at all times except the prologue). This allows you to keep Wrex alive while both skipping his family armor side mission and having no paragon/renegade investment.
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ME2
-Garrus is recruited as normal (and is mandatory)
-During his recruitment mission, Shepard expresses incredulity at seeing, of all people, that random cop from two years ago (Garrus is surprised as well but still subtle and exhausted).
-Garrus DOES NOT hand Shepard his sniper rifle to take a look at oncoming LOKI mecs, disabling the renegade interrupt to shoot one.
-Garrus' dialogue regarding Cerberus is altered a bit on his recruitment-epilogue dialogue scene.
-Tali will remember if Garrus was not recruited, disabling the side conversation about elevators on the Citadel.
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Modded or save-editor used on ME2
*If using mods or a save editor to have Tali on Garrus' recruitment mission, she has different a different line if Garrus wasn't recruited.
*ME2 Recalibrated removes the mandatory status for all individual recruitment except Mordin. As such, it is possible to skip Garrus in ME2 as well. I don't know what effect this would have on export to ME3; most cases would be the same as if Garrus died in ME2 (which is to say, the scene or dialogue ignores Garrus' existence), but Tali's last Normandy dialogue is always with Garrus and I don't know what the game would do in this scenario. Note that Tali will reflect on a Garrus that died in ME2 even if Tali was recruited after the Suicide mission and Garrus wasn't recruited in ME1; i.e. Tali never saw Garrus in her life in such a scenario that can be done in a normal play-through
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I've not had a play-through of ME3 that skipped Garrus in ME1, though I have played with him dying in ME2.
ME3 without Garrus
-Palaven is more depressing, as are war-progress codex entries.
-The squadmate swap with Liara going back to check on the ship/EDI is different.
-There is overall less ambient dialogue on the Normandy (Garrus interacts with more crew than any other recruit).
-Obviously Shepard loses the conversations with Garrus, but mind that--unlike, say, an unromanced Virmire survivor--these conversations are character reflection for Shepard and about as in-depth as EDI's character development, especially on subsequent play-throughs with different major decisions.
-Tali will remember a missing/dead Garrus.
-Without Garrus as the eventual hookup when neither Tali nor Garrus is romanced, Tali's regular dialogue with an unromanced Shepard is slightly different, and can seem to have different implications on Citadel DLC, Priority: Rannoch, and Priority: Earth. A player interested in Shepard's relationship with Tali can get a bit of unique lines and implications by doing an unromanced run while Garrus is dead (1st romance conversation with Tali in ME2 can still be had and you can still say "I feel the same about you.").
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All that said, DON'T SKIP GARRUS. You're shooting yourself in the foot by skipping this character, and even the few things to be gained by skipping him/dying (some dialogue with Tali is the extent of it) are generally not worth it. Some skipped/dead characters have decent substitutes or worthwhile ambiance changes in their absence. Not Garrus. There is no Shepard without Vakarian