Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC Complete List of Encounters
Ok, I’m on my 3rd playthrough of the Citadel DLC and I think I finally experienced all of the encounters available. Since I couldn’t find a complete list anywhere else, I’ll post mine here. Keep in mind that I play as Femshep so encounters may differ for Male Shepards out there.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Kaidan (must have survived Virmire)
Trigger: Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: If you romanced him, he’ll come over and cook for you. Not sure otherwise.
Ashley (must have survived Virmire)
Trigger: Message
Location: Meet at bar
Scene: I hear you throw back a couple drinks with her, but I always kill her off so I’ve never seen it myself.
Liara
Trigger: Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: Liara plays the piano for you. You can play the song on the piano using Glyph after she’s done.
Garrus
Trigger: Message
Location: Meet at bar (dancefloor area)
Scene: You get to play wingman for Garrus and help him score with a Turian chick.
Tali
Trigger: Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: You watch a chick flick with Tali on the couch.
James
Trigger: Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: James comes over and shows you his new N7 tattoo. Then he sticks around to use your punching bag downstairs. You can use the pull up bar next to him to try to beat his record of 182 pullups – takes about 20 minutes and you get NO reward for it.
Cortez
Trigger: Message
Location: Meet by Rapid Transit shuttle
Scene: Cortez takes you for a joy ride in a shuttle around the Citadel.
Joker
Trigger: None
Location: Meet by bar (if the prompt does not appear, try returning to the Normandy and coming back)
Scene: Joker tries to convince the bartender to give him free drinks. A flashback ensues that is HILARIOUSLY AWESOME. Do not miss this one!
Javik
Trigger: Message
Location: Meet outside the casino on the Silversun strip
Scene: This could possibly be the best cut scene in the whole DLC. Go with Javik to a Blasto movie filming and watch what happens. Also, as a sidenote, if you don’t romance anyone as Femshep, your default will be to have a one night stand with Javik during the Citadel: Party mission. Ew?
Samantha Traynor
Trigger: Message x 2
Location: Meet at the Arcade on the stairs/Invite to apartment
Scene: Traynor gets into an epic space chess battle with an Asari. Afterward, you’ll get another message and the option to invite Traynor to the apartment where she gratuitously strips into her skivvies and jumps in the hot tub.
Jack
Trigger: Play one match at Armax Arena/Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: After you play a match with Jack, you’ll get a message and you can invite her to the apartment. She’ll bring her new pet varren, too.
Miranda
Trigger: Message x 2
Location: Invite to Apartment/Meet at Casino
Scene: The first scene, Miranda will come over and talk. Afterward, you can meet her at the Casino where you’ll both be in black tie and talk about being “space divas” (not sure what the dialogue is like for Male Shep …)
Samara
Trigger: Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: Stare out the window and people watch together.
Kolyat/Thane
Trigger: Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: You will host a memorial service for Thane. Afterward, Kolyat will give you Thane’s video messages (3 messages if you didn’t romance him, 4 if you did) which you can watch upstairs in the apartment on the TV screen. Also, if you romanced Thane and no one else afterward, his ghost will come to you after the Citadel: Party mission is over just before you board the Normandy.
EDI
Trigger: Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: EDI is buying gifts for everyone and needs your help.
Cortez/James
Trigger: Message
Location: Invite to Apartment
Scene: Cortez and James come over to watch biotiball on your big screen and bet on who wins.
Grunt
Trigger: Message
Location: Talk to C-Sec officer on the strip
Scene: Grunt needs help in the aftermath of his wild “birthday” party … hilarious flashback scenes, don’t miss this one!
Jacob
Trigger: Message
Location: Meet outside the Arcade
Scene: Play a robots-punching-each-other arcade game against Jacob.
Zaeed
Trigger: None
Location: Meet at the Arcade upstairs by the claw machine
Scene: The claw machine is getting the best of Zaeed. He really wants a furry volus plushie.
Kasumi
Trigger: None
Location: Find a suspicious object at the Casino at the end of the Quasar bar
Scene: Kasumi and her friends are about to rob the Casino.
Wrex
Trigger: None
Location: Meet at the bar (same spot as Joker – if you don’t get the prompt, try returning to the Normandy and coming back)
Scene: Wrex is a little too popular with the ladies … quite funny, make sure you see this one.
Mordin
Trigger: After Citadel: Party
Location: Datapad on the ground right next to your bed
Scene: It’s not really a scene but the datapad contains messages from Mordin that he recorded before dying (thanks to Valhalen for letting me know!).
I have to say, I feel like the Citadel DLC is the “true” ending to the Mass Effect series. It’s the very definition of fanservice – corny, campy, and filled with inside jokes and easter eggs galore. But if you’re a fan of the ME universe like I am, it definitely gives you the satisfied feeling at the end that the ME3 ending failed to deliver. Definitely download it if you haven’t already – I promise it’s worth the money!
Did I miss anything? Let me know what your experiences have been with the Citadel DLC in the comments!
It is most definitely the greatest experience playing Mass Effect I have ever had.
Although, I must say about the Vega working out challenge; there is a reward to it, depending on your character; beating him at pull ups in the LBD FemShep can have is priceless.
He didn’t say much after I beat him. Someone told me you get a melee damage boost after doing it but I don’t know if that’s true … Haha, I love that you did it with the dress on!
Kaidan’s cooking scene is the same regardless you romanced him or not.
Oh yeah, also, after the big party, in the next morning you’ll find a Datapad on the ground right next to your bed, which contains messages from Mordin that he recorded before dying. So you could say that’s the Mordin “encounter” of the DLC. They’re extremely funny, yet sad.
Ah I forgot about that! Thanks! I’ll add it to the post.
I feel like that would be awkward giving how much touching there was going on in my “romanced” version of the cooking scene … ;)
I mean he cooks on both scenes, lol.
Regarding the Javik thing, “Prothean no like you!”
Traynor’s space chess scene is different if you romanced her – that, and her encounter scene during the retake of the Normandy earlier in that same DLC is also substantially different if you’re romancing her.
Totally agree, not including the combat part, the Citadel DLC was awesome!
may I ask, in what stage of the game did you throw the party (start shore leave message) that you got miranda to come over? I did the mission right after priority: citadel II and didnt get tali (although encounter), miranda. neither did I get most of the other encounters on the silversun strip – probably my own fault for not paying attention.
I would recommend doing the Citadel DLC after you’ve finished every other mission, just before you start the endgame by assaulting the illusive man’s base. Otherwise, you won’t get all the encounters :(
yes that makes sense. after finishing the game thats where I end up… so it must be the final. I was just afraid that I might loose the shore leave mission if I wait to long bcs thats what happened with the aria omega dlc… well thank you for answering ;)
hi I have a problem. the ryysi restaurant remains closed after my adventures, and I cant meet joker or wrex :-( what is going on? I have done all missions, and the next one is assault the cerberus base. should I have left one mission to give time for the restaurant to be repaired???
You meet Joker and Wrex at the bar in the casino where you buy the Party Supplies, not at the Sushi restaurant.
Additional info as I’m playing Male Shep:
Ashley: If not romanced, same drinking contest in the bar and then they beat up a couple thugs.
Garrus: I believe if Female Shep is romancing him they dance a tango at the bar instead of Shep setting him up with a girl. I’ve seen clips on YouTube.
Tali: Nothing different (unless in a romance, I imagine) but a non-romanced Male Shep looks hilariously uncomfortable while watching that chick flick with her.
Cortez: I think you need to be romancing him as a Male Shep to get him to appear with the shuttle as I haven’t seen this.
Traynor: Since she’s gay, the most Male Shep gets to enjoy is seeing her in her skivvies in the hot tub, during which she digs through some hot tub-related items left by Anderson’s girlfriend Kalee including a “personal massager” that she likes (if you have to ask, you’re too young). Female Shep in a romance with Samantha gets to share the hot tub with her, I believe.
Jack: I don’t know about Female Shep, but Male Shep gets into some serious slapstick action with that varren.
Miranda: Male Shep in a romance can make out with Miranda during the first meeting, and they’ll cuddle during the second and agree to, for once, just be “a guy and his best girl” out on the town. Very romantic, actually.
Samara: Very rare variant on this one: if Male Shep attempted (and failed) to romance Samara back in ME2 and the save is imported, choosing the right dialogue options will result in the two actually sharing a kiss.
Cortez/James coming to watch the game: Maybe I didn’t have the right combination of options, but this didn’t happen with my Male Shep playthrough.
I’m romancing Miranda with my Male Shep but I assume the other potential romances – Jack, Cortez, Liara, Tali, etc – offer similar “extras” during the apartment scenes.
And because I never imported a save with ME1 info in it, nor did I have the right DLCs loaded when I did ME2 or ME3, I never got Wrex, Javik or Zaeed in my version of Citadel.
To add to what I posted earlier, I found out the Cortez and Cortez/James encounters are only triggered you first meet Cortez for drinks at Purgatory. There’s a glitch in the PS3 version that puts Cortez in the wrong part of the Purgatory on the map (it says Lower Bar but he’s at the bar by the dance floor) so I missed him initially. The Joker encounter wasn’t triggered by an e-mail – I just happened to find a trigger point when exploring the casino (sort of like how Kasumi’s casino encounter only happens if you chance upon her trigger). I never noticed the Joker trigger until after I completed all the Arena challenges but that may not have anything to do with it.
Thanks for all the info! I’ll add it to the main post when I get a chance later this week :)
You don’t have to romance Cortez for the joy ride scene. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any of the flashback scenes, chick flicks or the piano scene. I imported ME 2 (Tali was dead) & it’s just before assaulting Illusive Man’s lair. Liara’s my girlfriend so I slept with her is the only consolation ;)
Do you still remember in which order you’ve invited/met the characters? I think there’s a system behind it to get them all.
I’m kind of disappointed that you can only meets some characters one time. Wish they did that you’re LI always had one meet-up/Date and one invite over part. Would be cool if you could go out on an date with you’re LI. Other then that it’s the best DLC i ever played just because of the darn jokes that is so funny, seriously being trapped in an vault with Wrex and Tali and talking with Wrex about “I should go” and having Tali kind of freaking out about Shepard not worrying is kind of priceless.
I don’t know if I’m just being a noob or what, but how do you invite people to your apartment?
From your Personal Terminal in the apartment
I think they meant as the email “Hey, have me over” Not the party invites – I’m having the same issues during the Citadel DLC.
I started it probably sooner then I should have, so I didn’t have a lot of people at the party (I’ll be replaying it later to try for more) But I only had 1 encounter. I tried running around the Strip, going back and forth to the Apartment, played almost all the games at the Arena… Nadda.
Any chance someone can post an exact (or as close to exact as it gets) walkthrough for the encounters, or even a map of ‘where triggers can be’?
You do both at the terminal. There are three options: send invites, read messages and invite people to the apartment.
If you romance Garrus you get awkward “Let’s pretend this is our first meeting” date and a tango dance with him that awws Shep. :D
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If you romance Garrus you get to dance with him. That scene is great. And if you romance Tali she actually sings karaoke. Great stuff.
Great list! Exactly what I was looking for. I just wish I had found it before launching the Cerberus base attack. Thankfully I only missed the Wrex and Kasumi encounters. And now I have more incentive to replay this great DLC on another save file.
Though not an encounter per se, I highly recommend interacting with the waterfall wall in the casino. Too funny!
Btw you need to have beaten the mission Priority: Sanctuary to get Miranda and Jacks missions in Silversun Strip
I just did this with jack romanced and she gave Shepard a tattoo in case she needs to identify his body
The Garrus romance scene is priceless, I recommend using all of the paragon/renegade prompts for the scene.
As for any specific order, I didn’t see one, but I did have to go back to the Normandy and re-dock at the Citadel a few times to get everyone’s encounters to go through. Best to do it all before throwing the party, and do the DLC right before you assault TIM’s base. Thanks for the awesome guide! Helped me get a few of the encounters I’d missed in other playthroughs!
Is it just me or did James not seem like the guy to act like he does and once he actually start to get serious only ends up having a one night stand with unromanced femshep (this happens if you flirt with him throughout the game and at the party in the citadel dlc as well and take him to the formal party thing at the casino) because the whole one night stand thing was kinda a downer considering Bioware said he was finally going to be fully romance able thanks to this dlc. But still I love the Dlc I just wish that there was more to the James romance that just a one night stand.
Thank you! I used the guide for the legendary edition ;)