Flood(Halo) vs Reapers(Mass Effect)

[AngelicChaos]

I want to know what people think about these two major threats from different universes. The flood from Halo and the Reapers of Mass Effect are similar in many ways-

• Ancient beings that predate much of known history
• Holds galactic knowledge powerful enough to destroy civilizations
• Have caused mass extinction(s) across the galaxy
• Use their enemies to increase their own forces
• Led by a powerful mastermind (flood: gravemind, reapers: catalyst)
• Has telepathic abilities

Those are just a few things. I'm no expert, but I consider myself somewhat informed. I love learning about the lore of games.
Some questions to think about.

• If the flood and reapers were to fight each other, who would win?
• Which would be worse to face off against?
• Which is scarier?

There are no wrong answers. If you want, give reasoning or facts. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[PlanetAlexander]

Oooh, this is interesting! It'd be hard to say who'd win between the two without knowing a whole lot about the biology of both species. At first I started thinking the Flood might win, as unlike the Reapers, the Flood will latch onto and take over life, but then
A. Are the Reapers even "alive" for the Flood to take over?
B. The Reapers also have those swarms of bugs that paralyze creatures.

The Reapers have firepower and are sentient, but I also believe the Flood has a better ability to infect life. Another thing they have in common is that they are not driven by emotion; rather by either pure reason, or a primal urge to dominate.

 

[AngelicChaos]

Oooh, this is interesting! It'd be hard to say who'd win between the two without knowing a whole lot about the biology of both species. At first I started thinking the Flood might win, as unlike the Reapers, the Flood will latch onto and take over life, but then
A. Are the Reapers even "alive" for the Flood to take over?
B. The Reapers also have those swarms of bugs that paralyze creatures.

The Reapers have firepower and are sentient, but I also believe the Flood has a better ability to infect life. Another thing they have in common is that they are not driven by emotion; rather by either pure reason, or a primal urge to dominate.

The reapers are made using organic material but I personally don't see them as "alive" because of their synthetics that would be nearly impossible to infect. It could be argued that the flood's logic plaque could be used against them. Although, to my understanding that is used against AI that have less knowledge than the gravemind, so maybe the reapers (I see them as equal in intelligence about their respective universes) could counter it. That is my personal opinion.
I honestly forgot about the swarms. Just proves that there is so much to consider. I appreciate your input.

 

[S225]

Ohh my two favorite games going head to head!

There's a lot of room for discussion between who would best the other. A single human combat form vs. a husk for example could go either way. If the flood form has a weapon it's likely going to beat the husk head on. Both enemies are rather frail too as you can de limb both in game with only a few well placed shots. The advantage for reaper ground troops would be that the Reapers are always at a point of hivemind intelligence while the flood can range from mindless animals to hyper intelligent depending on if there's a gravemind lying around.

We see the flood can "infect" ships like the CCS cruiser at the end of The storm and High Charity. Are they interfacing with the ship directly or simply having a host control it? I'm not sure.

In the instance of ship combat I think the flood could have a significant advantage depending on what they bring to the party. Ships in Mass Effect have kinetic barriers which repell kinetic impacts, not energy or plasma based weapons. Two Halcyon cruisers vs. A Reaper? Unless the halcyons get some good MAC shots in fast the Reaper will out maneuver them and burn through their hulls. A CCS cruiser vs 2-3 reapers? A CCS has enough shields and plasma weapons to come out on top I'd say. The Reapers are still more maneuverable being able to pretty much cancel their mass but Covie ships have guns pointing in every direction and their shields can handle both energy and kinetic weapons.

I like this thread!

 

[MrBlueDot]

I'm not sure about any of those questions. But one thing to factor in for the flood is whether or not they have absorbed other species before the fight. The Flood is one thing, The Flood with Covenant battle cruisers, and legions of combat forms under it's control is another much more dangerous thing.

And the Reapers, would they know about the Rings or find out about them? Could the Reapers survive a galactic wipe from the Rings? Reapers are pretty intense, and would potentially have defenses, or at least an understanding of galaxy affecting weapons from their own experience building them. I could see at least a few surviving.

 

[booyaalex]

Chiming in pretty late here, but compared to the Reapers, the flood seems manageable in terms of us fighting them. Gigantic robotic squids that have proven their capabilities of wiping out sentient species scare me more than hungry mushrooms with legs.

In a fight between them? Reapers again. Since they're mostly synthetic, I don't think the Flood would be able to infect them. It would be kind of neat to see each of their "zombie forms" fight each other though.

Scariest? Definitely a tie, but I will say I had a few nightmares after playing the Flood levels for the first time years ago

 

[CMcSchwifty]

I want to know what people think about these two major threats from different universes. The flood from Halo and the Reapers of Mass Effect are similar in many ways-

• Ancient beings that predate much of known history
• Holds galactic knowledge powerful enough to destroy civilizations
• Have caused mass extinction(s) across the galaxy
• Use their enemies to increase their own forces
• Led by a powerful mastermind (flood: gravemind, reapers: catalyst)
• Has telepathic abilities

Those are just a few things. I'm no expert, but I consider myself somewhat informed. I love learning about the lore of games.
Some questions to think about.

• If the flood and reapers were to fight each other, who would win?
• Which would be worse to face off against?
• Which is scarier?

There are no wrong answers. If you want, give reasoning or facts. Feel free to ask any questions.

I’ve recently started going through the Mass Effect games again and I’d have to say the Reapers would definitely win vs the Flood based on how they wipe out civilizations over and over again. Also I don’t believe they have the nervous system for the Flood to infect them.

As for us facing off against them, Reapers seem like defeat would be inevitable. We could only hold them off for so long until they win.
With the Flood it would be just as hard but with time I think we could hold of against them, BUT they would be the scariest to face off against. Can’t imagine the pain of being a host to the parasite and seeing it all happen before your eyes as it controls your every move and uses your thoughts against you and your friends.

 

[HelljumperDoc]

Love this is a thread good points for both sides of the coin.

 

[Kahn 319]

so ive played andromeda, mass effect one and im working on 2 now i don't know a ton yet about the reapers but i am excited to see how they compare to the flood, i hadn't really thought about it but now i will be looking for similarities.