So I heard some Bioware fans cite this argument over the years, and there are some who still do, and it was when I remembered what I knew about real life guns, and science did I really start to poke major holes in the story. Something really felt off about the science the moment I heard the codex explain it in Mass Effect 1. Yet I seen fans act like its science, and somehow makes it justified.
For instance, a "bullet proof" armor is nothing more than a sale's pitch. Modern armor can't stop bullets even from a Kar 98, a rifle from 1935. There are sniper rifles now that can through through pretty much everything you put in front of it. Even concrete.
So for Mass Effect fans to claim "those rifles are obsolete" a gun from Mass Effect would puncture any material. meaning a SMG from Mass Effect would be able to shoot through walls and reduce enemies to bloody piles of gibs. Hell, an SMG shot in a space station would have enough force to puncture the hull and destabilize everything. Even mechs would be reduced to nothing by a pistol. Yet ME guns don't puncture walls and mechs are common security forces. Armor, something even modern guns laugh at, is suddenly a thing in Mass Effect. So unless mass Effect has found materials made of enchanted adamantium, Mass Effect's guns seem weaker than real life weapons we have now. No kinetic shield would be possible in a real 100% realistic scenario, hell even armor would be impossible. Making mechs expensive and useless as security.
Especially when they use "little boys" and "fat men" to describe the power of a ship's weapons. Bombs that are long since obsolete for the last 40 years with the Tsar Bomba.
The FTL travel is also space magic. By the time the Quarians left their worlds using FTL travel and travel towards Earth for example, they would arrive long after humans went extinct. Time dilation.
The reapers would theoretically have the same problem. Even with relays they would arrive long after all the species died out. So reapers can't wait in the "void" for millions of years. By the time they get to the void, its already past the time for harvesting. If they got there before the harvesting, they would have to immediately leave to make it back to even have a chance of harvesting.
So I am left wondering:
What makes Bioware special? Why does Bioware seem to attract such as a die hard fanbase? Including the ones from Bioware forums that try to build Mass Effect sex dolls out off clothes, and tape. I seen stories with 1/10th the plot holes Mass Effect has, and get 1,000x the hate Mass Effect did (until ME3). There are gamers who know physics, gamers who know how real life guns work, etc.
So how did Bioware get away with it for 5 years before anyone actually noticed the plot holes? Why would any fan takes it so seriously they apply Mass Effect science to the real world? Is it their fans, or just Bioware's appeal? Or did I miss the mocking of Mass Effect's space magic in 2007?