Ok so two years ago I innocently thought how much fun it would be to play and enjoy the pulpy goodness (and not so goodness) of the Dragon Age series. Like a freaking year later I finally finished because I had no idea what I was getting myself into with Dragon Age Inquistion. Go back and look at it, I went through the first two games in like two months and the rest was all DAI. So yeah I cannot wait for the next game so I can spend another 8 months doing that.
Anyway, so I have recovered fully and started thinking about what I wanted to do next. I started a TW:Warhammer one but..eh...I don't know. Just pics of maps and battles with assurances I won (or not) just was not that compelling to write.
I just think these cinematic Bioware Games just work better for my format. They are visual so they have interesting screenshots and they have ridiculous pulpy plots and characters that are fun to enjoy and sometimes make fun of.
So, in celebration of Bioware releasing their first Mass Effect game since everybody who originally made Mass Effect has quit I am going to give Mass Effect the Dragon Age treatment.
Next year in celebration of Obsidian releasing Deadfire I will try to give Pillars of Eternity a shot but I don't know...look at this really cool textbox? Check out this amazing tactical set up? Might not work.
We'll see. But for now I am going to go through each Mass Effect game and its DLC. Even Pinnacle Station. Man fuck Pinnacle Station. But you can look forward to enjoying my pain. Hopefully by the time we finally get to Andromeda it will be getting close to being feature complete. I plan on taking it slow.
Mass Effect came out at a really crazy time in my life and it was probably the first Bioware game I did not buy the second it came out. Also I had bought a X-Box to play KOTOR and Jade Empire thinking that hey maybe I might try the console thing and..well...those were pretty much the only games I ever played on the damn thing. Well those and KOTOR 2. So like hell I was going to buy a XBOX 360 so I did not and waited until 2008 to play it. So yeah Bioware YOU are responsible for me no longer buying your games on release.
Mass Effect Part One or Priceless Prothean Beacon 1 Blundering Stupid Humans 0
So it begins:
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'Yeah this game was obviously designed for Consoles. HIT SELECT'
Some people talk like Mass Effect was some kind of amazing mind blowing step forward. I don't know. I mean it is great but as a game it seemed like KOTOR to me combined with the third person shooter which was the dominant game type of the day. But I think it was the way it was put together? And the sense that they made a star wars game and were like 'no THIS is how you do a space opera!'
The opening scene where they make the first jump through a Mass Effect Relay for the first time is pretty epic. A sign of future set pieces of awesome like that to come.
Ok so the very first time I played this game I created my character and went through the game but then I realized that I was really playing this Shepard guy, not the character I created. So from then on it has kind of been default Shep for me. I mean not that I have played the Mass Effect games much. I won ME twice and ME2 once without the DLC. But anyway I shall be continuing this here.
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'All great men are named John. Like me...and...John Glenn. John Adams. That Bible guy.'
I have always been a soldier (well not me, I mean I always played soldier Shepards) but I like the idea of a high tech military man OF THE FUTURE so I thought I would try to the soldier/engineer hybrid. Which will be a bit of a change to just getting my assault rifle as advanced as possible and just shooting shit until it dies.
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'I bet people who play this game in the year 2148 will be so bummed by how less space opera-y the world actually is. Oh and they call it Mass Effect in case you couldn't put two and two together there.'
So for anybody who doesn't know humanity's second greatest war hero Commander John Shepard of the Alliance Navy has been made executive officer to humanity's greatest war hero Captain David Anderson. If you want to know why he is a big deal well the guy who wrote this game wrote a book about him. It's....ok. They are testing the SR-1 Normandy the newest and fanciest ship in the Alliance Navy. Since the Citadel Council, and the Turian military, invested heavily in this project they sent one of their ninja-assassins Nihlus to look it over.
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'No not that guy.'
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'Right that guy, although a world eating force of death and destruction would have been cool. But if you are into that sort of thing just wait a few seconds.'
And here we meet all the crew. The pilot Lt. Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, the biotic Marine Lt. Kaiden Alenko, Engineer Lt. Greg Adams, Navigator Charles Pressly (who was on the ship that saved Shepard in the 'War Hero' background), Doctor Mj. Karin Chakwas. Yep lots of officers with distinguished and long service records. Well and one enlisted man. Corporal Richard Leeroy Jenkins, he who references an internet culture phenomenon already stale in 2007. Man when everybody is an officer you know the one enlisted guy is going to get it.
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'Such a very long career. I mean this guy is the star of Mass Effect 3 right? It is a buddy cop game with he and Nihlus.'
Anyway the whole testing the Normandy turns out to be a cover story and...well do I really need to go into this? You guys know this stuff right? The Protheans were super advanced but mysteriously vanished 50,000 years ago and anytime their tech is found everybody freaks out. So an intact Prothean Beacon is found on this isolated Human Colony and Nihlus is along to get it for the Council and see if Shepard is also worthy to be one of the Council's ninja-assassins as well. And yeah if you didn't understand any of that I recommend you play Mass Effect, it is pretty good.
But the bad guys got there first.
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'Oh man that is scary. Fortunately this is the last we will see of that thing. Right?'
So we all head out to get the Beacon on Eden Prime. I had this moment of panic where I was like 'oh shit I have no idea how to play this game anymore' but the game actually does a pretty good job because it all came back to me pretty fast. Also I have a fresh copy on Origin so the difficulty maxes out at 'Veteran' while I always played on 'Insanity' before so it was much easier than I remembered. I even remembered to go find the hiding farmers to learn about how the Dock Worker is a smuggler.
Meanwhile Jenkins gets his:
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'Stupid cutscene death!'
And meet Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212:
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'Are those boob plates regulation soldier?'
Whose voice actress loves to really let it out when Ashley gets pissed.
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'Basically don't piss Ashley off...or actually do it is kind of awesome.'
And of course we have prophetic guy who knows exactly what is going on but everybody thinks he is insane.
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'Man will I ever know how you feel a little later on.'
Another Council Spectre...er....Ninja-assassin named Saren (also in that book that was ok) is leading the Geth attack and he kills Nihlus (in a particularly EEEVIIIL way) and uses the beacon somehow. Then he leaves and tells the Geth to blow up the colony. Somehow four little bombs will do this so I guess they were nukes or something.
So after defeating the Geth and their freaky Dragon's Teeth and Husks they make it to the beacon. Saren probably should have just taken it with him right? I mean if he had there would have been no way for anybody to stop him. Just saying. I guess he just figured he could just leave and everything would go according to plan. He was taking lessons from Doctor Evil.
Anyway so having secured the beacon stupid human number one, Ashley, accidentally activates the beacon. Stupid human number two, the heroic Commander Shepard, saves her just to be caught by it himself.
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'Yeah well Ash this is kind of your fault. SO YOU ARE BAD AND SHOULD FEEL BAD.'
The Prothean beacon then blows up, throwing Shepard to the ground in a coma of some sort. This just shows why stupid humans should be kept away from priceless Prothean Ruins. More on this later.
Then we get a cutscene, a rare one where Shepard is not present, where Star Trek's Martina Sirtis (playing Asari Matriarch Benezia) informs Saren his plans fell apart at the end. He takes it well.
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'The award for best bad guy hissy fit goes to...Kylo Ren. But this is up there.'
Commander Shepard wakes up on the Normandy with a slight headache and the memory of a vision of DOOM in his head. He nobly excuses Ashley for her colossal fuckup. She gives a look like 'this guy seems like a man of honor and integrity...hey I like to have sex with people like that.'
Anyway so now they have to go see the galactic council on the Citadel to explain how they got Nihlus killed, the Beacon Destroyed, and they are at war with the Geth. Shows what happens when the blundering stupid humans are in charge.
Lol.😅
Great AAR
If playing on PC, get the HD texture mod.
http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect/mods/1/?
I was thinking about stating ME, too, because I own the first two games but never played them: HD texture aside, are there other necessary cosmetic mods? I want to play the vanilla experience.
L.
Quote from: Pedrito on March 19, 2017, 01:11:35 PM
I was thinking about stating ME, too, because I own the first two games but never played them: HD texture aside, are there other necessary cosmetic mods? I want to play the vanilla experience.
L.
I think the texture mod has all you need for a good vanilla experience.
Quote from: Syt on March 19, 2017, 08:25:18 AM
If playing on PC, get the HD texture mod.
http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect/mods/1/?
Thanks but I play on Origin and I almost certain it hates Mods because EA and stuff. I don't know. I hate having to reinstall stuff. Do you think it will piss Origin off if I do that?
Mass Effect Part 2 or The Talky Part
Ah the Citadel where you get to go around talking to the Aliens and getting the lore dumps. It also has another really cool cut scene where you see the Citadel and the Destiny Ascension (the flagship for the entire galactic fleet) for the first time.
When Bioware made the first Baldur's Gate the titular city was a huge sprawling series of urban maps where, on many of them, not much related to anything was going on. It was just there so you could poke around. Athkatla in Baldur's Gate 2 was still pretty sprawling but it was much more focused. There were actually important things in each map to do. By KOTOR and Mass Effect the cities are SUPER focused. Like each and every inch of the Citadel is important. There is not a room that does not directly relate to a quest...er...'assignment' or the main plot. It was super streamlined. The streamlining was actually kind of annoying to those of us who really like the original Baldur's Gate. But then Bioware just forgot about all that streamlining business and just had me wandering around the desert for hours on end in DAI so I guess I am ok with the streamlining now.
But anyway in The Citadel you get to meet most of the species of the galaxy and maybe learn stuff about them if you enjoy long conversations and reading/listening to Codex entries. For the first time you meet the Salarians, Hanar, Volus (the buttmonkies of the galaxy who nobody respects), the Elcor, The Asari, The Keepers, The Krogan, and the Quarians. The Turians and the Geth you have already met and the Batarians and the Rachni you will get to know later.
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'We get no respect. No respect at all. We told the Turians everybody hates us and they said that was ridiculous, everybody hasn't met us yet.'
And also you get to meet some of the most beloved characters in the Mass Effect er...what was until recently a trilogy. Of course I am talking about Ambassador Udina.
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'This is an outrage. AN OUTRAGE!!11'
I love this guy. He is always pissed off no matter how trivial the situation.
'I got you your breakfast ambassador.'
'This breakfast is a disaster Shepard! Do you realize how many political problems this subpar breakfast is causing?'
His very first line in the game is 'this is an outrage!' and for some reason I just found that funny. For the next few years 'this is an outrage!' would be my response to virtually any setback.
Anyway they are launching a full-scale investigation into Saren which is tough for us since we only have numerous eye-witnesses putting him there. But they are all puny humans so hardly impressive to the mighty rulers of the galaxy.
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'Humans are so disgusting and stupid and squishy.'
I wish Morbo from Futurama was on the Citadel Council. 'All Humans are vermin in the eyes of Morbo!' but the Turian councilor will have to do.
So the plot for this part of the game is set: find evidence to prove Saren is a traitor. And man you find it surprisingly fast. The citadel cops, C-Sec, must really suck. Though I guess Garrus Vakarian, super space vigilante, had already done most of the work.
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'Your're out of control cowboy cop Garrus! Here we do things by the book. Turn in your badge! '
*blam*
By my book chief.'
Ok that didn't happen but it should have. So the next part of the quest is to track Garrus down. You can either talk to a (snicker) Volus or talk to a crooked cop in Cora's Den. But the game really wants you to go to Cora's Den since three other quests also point you there.
There are a bunch of side quests here but not as much as I remembered. Again it is very compact and everything is important. There is the Asari Consort, who sends you to Cora's Den to talk to a lovesick Turian General (this also ties into something related to the Elcor ambassador). The out of control cop who uses a waitresses sister as an undercover asset in Cora's Den. The husband of one of Ashley's squad mates trying to recover his wife's body from uncaring Alliance bureaucracy. Two separate Volus-Salarian pairs who are locking horns, one of these include the notorious 'scan the Keepers' que...er...assignment (the Keepers are the mysterious species of bug people who maintain the Citadel for mysterious reasons...yes this is important). A Hanar trying to preach on the godliness of the Protheans in the ritzy part of the Citadel. A reporter wanting you to infiltrate...Chora's Den. A rogue AI trying to steal credits to have it transferred of the Citadel. And that is about it. Oh and Conrad Verner Shepard's superfan.
So eventually you work your way to Chora's Den and Saren's goons are waiting for you. It was no big thing though.
Inside of the best darn strip club on the Citadel the plot shows up.
You meet Wrex for the first time telling everybody he is going to kill Fist, the crime boss who runs this place. Note he does this repeatedly. I guess if you send a Krogan to kill somebody he just walks around announcing you are going to kill that person until that somehow works. Then you meet that crooked cop who fills you in on Garrus but only after he tries to SHOCK you by telling you how Captain Anderson screwed up becoming a Spectre. But of course since I read that ok book I already knew that. Anyway after he gloats about how STUPID you are for not sitting around drinking in strip clubs your whole life he finally comes clean with the goods.
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'Wait so you know exactly where he is this very second?'
That is one helpful drunk.
Then you deal with the Turian General and the undercover girl. Since I max out Shepard's charm these side assignments are kind of like this:
Person: 'I have this big irreconcilable problem.'
Shepard: 'No you don't.'
Person: 'You're right. I will do what you want me to do.'
It is very handy. I can kind of see why they did away with that skill in the second game. But to be fair you do sacrifice a lot of combat and powers abilities to do that.
So they head off to the Dr. Michel's office and arrive with impeccable timing, just as Garrus is involved with some kind of hostage situation. Not that that bothers Garrus much who shoots the thug right as he is holding a gun to the doctor's head. Man that could have gone poorly. Everybody cools down pretty fast and the good doctor tells them that they were Fist's men trying to stop her from telling Garrus about some Quarian. Some Quarian I am sure we will never meet. Oh and Garrus tells us Fist is working for Saren now, which is why the Shadow Broker, who he used to work for, hired Wrex to kill him. So now they go find Wrex who is still running around the Citadel telling everybody who is going to kill.
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'I get the feeling Wrex is the discount assassin.'
Anyway since we are all going after the same guy Wrex agrees to come along. They go back down to Chora's Den and this time the whole place is closed and ready to fight Wrex because they somehow knew he was coming. Not sure which of the 200 people Wrex told tipped him off. After fighting through his thugs they get to his office and knock out his defenses. Then a rather bizarre exchange occurs where he claims he does not know where the Quarian is...and then later admits he set her up to be killed by Saren...and he does know where she is...and all this is about to go down in a few minutes. Holy shit Shepard better be glad he didn't sleep in this morning.
Then Wrex kills him because...well...duh. If he ever got paid by the Shadow Broker he held out on us. Bastard. Also even though he told C-Sec he was going to do it, and then did it, they never even bring him in to be questioned. Krogans are scary dudes. Or they knew he was working with Shepard. Anyway I quickly remember to grab Fist's data disk and loot his office because if you do not do that you never get another chance. It is rather hard to remember to do that with the big countdown clock to Quarian assassination ticking down at the bottom of the screen.
Anyway they fight back out of the strip club and then race to the alleyway and, naturally, get there just in time to witness Saren's turian sexually harrasing the Quarian.
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'Ewwwwww. Interspecies fondling.'
After a short fight it is all done. The Quarian is, of course, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya and she was able to salvage a very specific recording from a dead geth's memory core.
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'The conduit eh? Sounds appropriately Sci Fi-y.'
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'I know that voice! Counselor Dianna Tr...er...Matriarch Benezia!!11'
Ah yes the "Reapers".
Man how lucky are we? Speaking of the Conduit I really liked how Kaidan sensed that the Mass Effect Relay statue might be something more when exploring the Presidium. That was some George RR Martin type foreshadowing there.
Oh and the memory core also says who the Reapers were and what they did.
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'Oh we find all this out this early in the series? Huh.'
I find it pretty funny that not only does the entire plot drop in the first few hours of game one but Shepard immediately believes it and almost nobody else does. The default name for Femshep should be Cassandra.
Anyway even the Council cannot ignore evidence like this. So naturally Udina gets pissed off and demands they nuke every geth from Orbit between here and the Perseus Veil. They decide not to do this. THIS IS AN OUTRAGE.
And of course the Council just think the Reapers are a geth myth. Because computer AIs have myths I guess.
But fortunately the Citadel Council has a foolproof plan to save the galaxy from Saren: by making you do it.
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'So how many millions of credits in resources do I have to draw from for my mission? Zero? Huh.'
They cut the fat of government expenditure with impressive precision. So it is off to stop Saren and the Geth. Alone.
On the way out Admiral Kahoku asks them to look for his missing marines. They are actually going to find them really soon. Also the very same Marines who went missing found the body of somebody named Armistan Banes, some kind of crooked Alliance researcher who was blackmailing Doctor Michel. More on that later.
Another guy wants them to search for a freighter that went missing. Shepard also got An obvious set up from a crime boss named Helena Blake who wants him to take out some notorious rivals...er...slave traders. So yeah I guess everybody heard Shepard is headed out to the Traverse with incredible speed.
Now everything is pretty much done but...damn it...I still have one Keeper to find in the scanning mission. I searched everywhere and it was driving me crazy until I was this close to deciding just to forget it and leave and went to Normandy and of course the last Keeper was standing there. So NOW I finished all the assignments and met with Udina and Anderson and they informed him Anderson was retiring for paper pushing and Shepard was now the commander of the Normandy. And they told him to check out Noveria and Feros for Geth activity...oh and one other thing. Benezia's daughter is investigating some Prothean ruins in the Artemis Tau Cluster.
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'So tune in NEXT WEEK! Or at least in a couple days.'
So that is that. Enough of all this talking and lore dumps and let's get out there in space and shoot people.
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'Yeah! You said it Commander! Somebody get me an Assault Rifle!'
Man I love this game. It is not quit the tingly nostalgic joy I got playing DAO again but it is pretty great.
So tune in soon to see how the blundering stupid humans destroy another priceless Prothean ruin and nearly get eaten by a giant space worm.
Quote from: Valmy on March 19, 2017, 06:59:26 PM
Quote from: Syt on March 19, 2017, 08:25:18 AM
If playing on PC, get the HD texture mod.
http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect/mods/1/? (http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect/mods/1/?)
Thanks but I play on Origin and I almost certain it hates Mods because EA and stuff. I don't know. I hate having to reinstall stuff. Do you think it will piss Origin off if I do that?
It worked for ME2 and ME3 without a hitch, so I'm guessing the same applies to ME1 :)
It did? Ok I will try it out.
Quote from: Valmy on March 19, 2017, 11:10:35 PM
It did? Ok I will try it out.
just follow the instructions. You need the large adress (LAA) thing to use more memory, otherwise, it will crash.
Quote
Because computer AIs have myths I guess.
Ghost in the machine ;)
Nice to see you doing another Bioware AAR. I greatly enjoyed your DA one. :)
Mass Effect Part Three or Priceless Prothean Ruin 1 Blundering Stupid Humans 0
Star Treking across the universe!
So...time for some more talking.
So they meet the crew. The ever-jolly brittle bones guy:
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'Wait until you see my dancing!'
Shepard tries to make Ashley feel less incompetent for letting herself be ambushed the Geth.
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'Well...ok you got me there.'
This is one of my favorite take downs of Paragon Shepard.
'Don't worry Ashley, you are a great soldier. The Geth are incredibly tough to detect, there was nothing you could have done. I BELIEVE IN YOU!!11'
'Sir, they have flashlight heads.'
'Uhhh...right well....um...'
Alenko is more successful making Shepard feel better about his own blundering:
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'Maybe not destroying the Beacon. Maybe.'
Wrex regales the Commander with a war story.
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'Ah Wrex I could listen to your whimsical tales for hours.'
Tali is delightful as she lore dumps on the intricate political systems of her people.
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'You must be awesome at parties.'
Garrus is annoyed that he cannot just shoot dead anybody who he thinks committed a crime.
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'Somehow I think this character was less horrifying back in the political climate of 2007.'
So there a little bit of color on our delightful cast. I like to check up on them after every major story piece.
And ok so I lied about being done with the talking. TIME FOR SOME ACTION. SOME HOT MAKO ACTION.
I always end up in the same system first every time I play this game. They find the alliance distress signal and they go down to the planet and then SURPRISE it is a Thresher Maw. After driving around in a panic they manage to take the damn thing down, once I remember the Mako has a cannon and not just machine guns. There, just barely avoiding being worm food, they find Admiral Kahoku's marines.
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'So the very men who found Banes were drawn to this isolated thresher maw infested planet. Coincidence? I think not. Though you have to admit this is a rather unnecessarily elaborate scheme.'
Only one organization would spend so much money on an elaborate dastardly deed. But since we have not yet met said organization in the game I won't spoil it. But they start with a 'C' and end with 'erberus'.
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'I mean really? This is the first planet and I almost have my electronic skill maxed out!'
Bastards. Come on Bioware let me get a couple levels. I mean why do you have to have max decryption and max electronics from pretty much the beginning? It is so arbitrary the other skills do not demand this.
So we have to come back later. Groan.
The next system contains the planet Liara is on. So they land in the Mako and the fun begins.
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'Yeah super strange. Like Geth or something.'
It is kind of weird they Geth send so many ships and units just to take out one Asari. How did they know how essential she would end up being to Shepard? I guess for some reason she was vital to Saren as well since he clearly wanted her taken alive...though he ends up not needing her. Who knows?
So they roll along blowing the hell out of all the Geth with their big cannon, the main enemy being the thing's bizarre handling. After a short while they reach the Prothean Ruin.
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'Muahahaha! Prepare to die foolish human....wait is that a Mako cannon? *BLAM*'
So they descend into the ruin and after a few Geth they find the blue damsel in distress...by a blue force field coincidentally.
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'So our Prothean Expert got trapped by a Prothean device. Clearly her expertise is essential.'
So the Geth are there, led by a Krogan, and are trying to break into the barrier but cannot figure out how. I mean how stupid are they? There is this big mining laser right here and they are clearly too stupid to use it.
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'Humans are so smart. Not stupid like Geth.'
So they rush up to Liara and Shepard somehow knows how to use the 50,000 year old still functioning control panel to break her out. I guess Prothean Tech is so common in places like the Citadel that everybody just knows how their stuff works? And then immediately the whole ruin begins to collapse because using the mining laser was in fact really stupid but I guess that is par for the course with them and Prothean things. We operate with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
As they try to escape the Krogan shows up with the Geth and is excited to kill them all. But man I hate this fight. It should be impossible to win this early in the game, if the Krogan charged with his shotgun he could easily take Ashley, Kaidan, and Shepard out in like 10 seconds. So instead the AI just has the Krogan just park himself and do nothing until the Geth are all dead until he charges. And yes he can still kill you pretty easily even then. So if you do not kill the Geth you can pretty much just kill the Krogan while he mostly just stands there.
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'Actually it is pretty lame.'
And the best part is if you fuck it up you have to sit through two cut scenes and an elevator ride before you can try again. If the players cannot yet handle a Krogan Battlemaster why not use something else here? Ah well I guess if you wait until later in the game the Krogan is no big deal but I have a feeling the AI acts the same.
In any case they all rush out into the Normandy while a volcano erupts destroying the ruin. Amazing it hadn't done that during the previous 50,000 years.
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'Yeah well on the number of crazy situations the Normandy will participate in this might be top 10.'
Liara is eager to tell us all of her fascinating theories on the disappearance of the Protheans.
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'Yeah so your 50 year career investigating this topic is now useless.'
She then admits she does not really know how she can help but agrees to come along anyway. The party is complete! She does have this wacky theory that there were previous empires that rose before the Protheans and mysteriously vanished but that is....absolutely 100% correct.
Another of my favorite Ashley moments occurs here when Liara is all drooling over Commander Shepard 'Oh Commander Shepard you are all so big and strong and so amazing I am fighting to hold back the squee escaping my little blue mouth' and Ashley is all 'ok can you shut the fuck up?'
It is time for Shepard to talk to the Citadel Council. They sure are impressed.
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'Well to be fair you already knew my tendency to do this sort of thing before you made me a Spectre.'
This is by far the shortest and least interesting major level of the game so I like to get it over with first, plus you get Liara who is a pretty nice Biotic to have around. I hear if you wait until the very last possible second to do this level Liara is starting to go insane from being in that trap for so long.
I will be talking a lot more about the planetary exploration thing in the next section, where that is mostly what I do, but I really dislike how they make you use the Mako so much in the story missions and not just because of its bouncy castle physics. In Mass Effect you are supposed to be running around engaging in intense fire fights. The Mako can just blow away most opposition without too much trouble. This is especially true here where you are in the Mako for most of the mission. But more on that later.
Next: I do all the quests and DLC I can before finally moving on Noveria.
Quote from: Malicious Intent on March 20, 2017, 05:00:05 PM
Nice to see you doing another Bioware AAR. I greatly enjoyed your DA one. :)
Thanks! I hope you are enjoying this one as well. :hug:
Captain's Log: Stardate: Wednesday...er...point 6. We have accidentally destroyed a priceless Prothean Beacon and a large Prothean ruin but we did meet a hot blue alien babe. And in the end, is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars?
Quote from: Valmy on March 22, 2017, 08:22:26 AM
And in the end, is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars?
Yes, green, blue or red, so long as they are insanely hot.
I noticed that the guy who mostly invented Mass Effect, Drew Karpyshyn, is back at Bioware. Unfortunately he moved here to Austin and is presently on the team of TOR MMO. I know he wrote Star Wars books but damn that seems like a waste. He should be the lead writer on this franchise again.
Quote from: Valmy on March 23, 2017, 08:55:23 AMI know he wrote Star Wars books but damn that seems like a waste.
I ranted about him in the books thread. He wrote some good video games, but his prose is amateurish hackery. Strunk & White are rotating in their graves.
My rant: http://languish.org/forums/index.php/topic,124.msg932493.html#msg932493
Valmy even replied to you on that. :D
Quote from: garbon on March 23, 2017, 09:27:00 AM
Valmy even replied to you on that. :D
I just noticed. :D
I read his Revan book. Its overwrought prose singed through my horrified brain like a cold dagger in a hopeless night, as page after page it evoked anguish and despair, awakening dark desires of arson and tearing.
Mass Effect Part Four or The Cat's in the Cradle with the Silver Spoon and there is a Rogue VI on the Moon
Ok so I thought I would talk a little about our ship, the Systems Alliance Space Vehicle Normandy Space Reconnaissance 1. Or SSV Normandy SR-1.
So now that Shepard is in command his Executive Officer is Navigator Charles Pressly. I guess that is a rank in the navy? Navigator? They never address him as anything besides that. He commands the ship from the Combat Information Center, the CIC, which is where the galaxy map is. He has five other officers who assist him there. I guess they run all the weapons and navigation and all that good stuff.
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'There is my loyal XO and his subordinates doing...whatever it is they do...there.'
Now Pressly and Shepard both served on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz, an incident that will feature in this part of the AAR, but they only mention it once. They have another conversation where Pressly is concerned about all the aliens on-board since his grandfather fought in the First Contact War against the Turians. And that is pretty much all he has to say about anything until the very end of the game. Considering he and Shepard are veterans of the same campaign and they are the two top officers on this mission there should be a bit more going on around here. Shouldn't the XO be attending briefings and giving his opinion on things?
Come to think of it you never actually see Shepard ever command the Normandy. At least not that I remember. Now maybe I am forgetting something so if I am wrong I will mention it later.
There is never a:
Shepard: Pressly set course for the Artemis Tau Cluster.
Pressly: Aye aye Commander. We will take the Citadel, Utopa, Antaaeus, and Helen relays. We will arrive at the outskirts of the Sparta System.
Shepard: Excellent. Let's go in quiet. Disengage the FTL Drive as far away as possible but I want the whole system scanned in less than three hours.
Pressly: Yes sir.
Shepard: Alright, let's go.
Pressly: Joker?
Joker: The Citadel Relay is in range. Initiating transmission sequence.
Or whatever. I mean obviously we wouldn't want that very often but geez just a few times would be nice. We want to be a starship captain right? In the intro to the game we sort of get some of that but Joker does the talking not Captain Anderson. It would be cool just to see the ship in action.
Anyway.
So in front of the CIC is the bridge where, outside of the intro where Kaiden is sitting beside him for some reason, Joker sits all by himself aided by eight command deck techs. I think they run the sensors and crunch data, that sort of thing. Maybe.
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'Hey! Two of the techs are not there! THE GALAXY IS AT STAKE HERE PEOPLE!!'
They probably need to sleep or something. This lack of commitment to the cause is noticed.
There are six marines on the ship, counting their commander Staff Lt. Kaidan Alenko. Hey he is a grunt, why is he a Staff Lt? I do not understand military ranks. So then there is Ashley and four others who are always at the back of the CIC, guarding the stairs to the lower decks and the Comm room at the stern. I am not sure what they are exactly doing there, but maybe the crew is running up long distance call charges and somebody needs to keep the techs from sneaking away from their stations. You saw the Comm room earlier; it is where everybody got together after destroying that ruin...I mean rescuing Dr. T'soni.
On the middle deck are the crews quarters and let me tell you this is not a pleasure cruise. The captain's cabin is pretty Spartan.
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'Yes it is pretty rough but everybody else has to sleep in a pod on the wall so...'
Unfortunately there is no reason to ever go into your cabin during the game except to get one codex entry. Kaidan Alenko always hangs out at a console beside the crew sleeping pods, I guess to make sure none of his marines are taking any unauthorized naps.
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'When you see those comfortable pods on the wall you really get a sense of the romance and adventure the military provides.'
In the middle of the deck is the mess.
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'You ever notice there is never any food on this table? People just sit there doing nothing. Nor is there a place to cook anything but they probably get prepackaged rations or something'
Opposite the captain's cabin is the medical bay where Chief Medical Officer Major Chakwas hangs out.
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'Notice how there is never anybody in here except her. I am just that good a Commander.'
Through the medical bay is the science lab where Liara surfs the extranet.
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I just realized we do not have a Science Officer of any kind. So we are exploring the vast uncharted reaches of the galaxy and we do not have any science staff at all? Maybe Chakwas also handles that when we are not taking on alien freelancers like Liara
Then there is my favorite part of the ship: the elevator. Man does Mass Effect love its very slow moving elevators. It takes forever; I mean come we are just going down one floor.
The bottom deck has the storage room where half of our squad hangs out. Garrus Vakarian is there dreaming about shooting suspects and doing some kind of maintenance, calibrations if you will, on the Mako. I guess he and Tali are unofficial members of the engineering team. Meanwhile Ashley is there endlessly cleaning weapons and Wrex just stands there watching everybody silently. I guess the intimidation factor keeps everybody motivated. Also we have our requisitions officer who buys stuff for the crew but then they have to pay him for it. This is one bare-bones operation, I least hope Shepard can write buying his own gear off his taxes.
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'Garrus is in there someplace'
Man is it dark on that ship. I guess they need to conserve energy bills. Finally we have the engine room where Chief Engineering Officer Lt. Adams is there with his three engineers and Tali.
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'You better really like blue if you are going to fly on our vessel.'
So that is the tour. There are like 40 officers and crew and aliens on her right now.
Meanwhile they keep exploring the Artemis Tau cluster. In the Macedon System they land on Sharijila and go around looking for minerals.
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'Mass Effect: Their continuing mission to scout out minerals none have mined before'
Not sure why the Alliance needs their military vessels out collecting minerals. I have a whole system on scouting these planets for minerals but man is it tedious. Also on the planet they find a base controlled by an Asari slave trader and her goons. They defeat them all and then loot all the treasures.
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'Hard? OH COME ON.'
So yeah it looks like we will be returning to this cluster soon. The Athens System has no planets you can land on, the only such system in the game. I guess we were ostracized this year.
Shepard: Pressly set course for the Hades Gamma Cluster.
Pressly: Aye aye. Joker, take us through the Helen Relay.
Joker: Relay is hot. All stations secure for transit.
Glad to know Greek is the language of space in the future. Though what exactly 'Hades Gamma' refers to is beyond me. Is there a Hades Alpha cluster out there? That is probably where Legbiter lives. So they set off to find ExoGeni Corporation's Missing Survey Team.
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'WORMSIGN!'
They eventually find the missing survey team but they have all been turned into HIDEOUS MONSTERS.
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'Yeah text boxes are how most of the plots of these uncharted worlds get to be told.'
Granted these are usually very important plots and are constantly referenced in the rest of the series (or at least in Mass Effect 2 as I have not played the third one yet) but...lets just say production values on these missions are low. The planets mostly look the same with very similar terrain. The Himalayas represent the usual terrain for every other planet in the galaxy. The bases all used recycled maps, which I can only assume was a big inspiration for Dragon Age 2. I guess it is kind of fun? You know something fucked up is going to happen on every mission. The main part that sucks is looking for the minerals. There is nothing exciting about that at all but damn you get tons of EXP and credits for doing it so you are kind of compelled.
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'Are we having fun yet? I hope we can use some of this lithium to treat the mental issues finding it is causing us.'
In another system they take down the first crime lord Helena Blake wanted Shepard to take out. Even though he refused to do so she just gave him the coordinates anyway knowing he would be compelled to do so due to his do-gooder ways. She knows him well.
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'The text box of victory!'
The last system has a conveyor ship, the MSV Malthus...er...Ontario. On-board a bunch of biotic terrorists have kidnapped an alliance official in an attempt to get reparations for the defects of the L2 impants, which have horrific side effects. THIS IS AN IMPOSSIBLE AND IRRECONCILABLE SITUATION. But then Shepard is all 'No it isn't.'
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'You're right Shepard! We will do exactly what you want.'
Man is this Charm Skill great or what?
So they leveled up a bit so back to the Artemis Tau Cluster to get that probe and loot that base.
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'Oh Fuck. They were not kidding when they said 'hard'.'
So yeah you have to play that freaking mini-game for almost everything. Scan some minerals? Recover an artifact? Decrypt a computer? Disarm a bomb? Shut down an electronic device? All the same.
Oh and they also find this:
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'This Text Box provides us with exciting blackmail opportunities.'
On to the Voyager Cluster! There is only one system here, for now, but it contains an exciting plot. Or a sort of interesting plot. The Alliance sent out probes into Turian space during the First Contact War but they were all loaded with small nuclear bombs to self destruct if captured. That seems like a bit of an overkill, but whatever. Anyway they just got a signal from one of them in the Voyager Cluster and want Shepard to go disarm it. IT IS A TRAP.
So let's talk about the Skyllian Blitz. The Blitz was a major attack by the Terminus Systems, Batarians aided by pirates and slavers, to destroy the human colony on Elysium which is located...someplace not in the game. Only a small Alliance force was on the planet at the time and Shepard held off the attack for a few hours almost single-handedly, winning him the Star of Terra, before reinforcements arrived. Pressly claims the Alliance so outclassed the Batarian navy that he does not even know how many Batarian ships he destroyed.
The guy who instigated the attack was the traitorous human criminal leader Elanos Haliat who hoped to use that attack to cement his position as super criminal warlord. So this whole deal is his attempt to get revenge on Shepard for his role in ruining his ambitions.
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'Wait I think I can convince you to do what I want with my charm skill! Wait...no? Damn.'
So he tricks you into going into a mine and then, after some gloating, activates the probe. Though he probably should not have waited until you were within a few feet of the nuke since, last I checked, you don't have to be within a few feet of a nuke to be killed by one. Shepard quickly disarms the bomb and then exits the mine and kills everybody in Haliat's base nearby. Including Haliat. Also putting your base really close to where a nuke is going to go off is also probably a bad plan. No wonder this guy's schemes on Elysium failed.
Shepard: Pressly set course for the Gemini Sigma Cluster. Make the jump to lightspeed.
Pressly: I only hope Lando's people repaired the hyperdrive.
Shepard: Ok hit it!
Despite having a Greek name the systems here are named after Chinese Dynasties, both of which Mono consider illegitimate since they came to power through political violence.
The Han System has another one of those crime bosses. After beating him they discover that Helena Blake wants to meet then in the Horse Head Nebula (WTF? That's not random Greek words.) This is where Noveria is so we will take care of it when we decide to head there.
The Ming System has a freighter floating aimlessly in space. Inside everybody is dead and the place is booby trapped. Somebody tried to take a biotic woman's boyfriend off of life support. Even though he was brain-dead she went nuts and killed everybody. There is kind of a cool scene where you are reading logs about this and she just appears behind you and tries to kill you all. Then Shepard shuts down the life support after she is dead.
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'Wait voice acting? Not just a textbox? Score!'
So with that it is time to return to the Citadel.
Shepard: Number one set course for the Widow System. Warp 3. Engage.
Pressly: Making it so Cap...er...Commander.
After arriving at the Citadel a certain Rear Admiral Michailovich is there for a surprise inspection. He is a little like Udina in that everything annoys him. Fortunately Shepard is a smooth talker so her promises to be less negative than he planned. SCORE!
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'Holy crap, no wonder the Alliance makes us buy our own gear.'
No way any private organization could afford a drive core like that right? Right? 120 Billion is a lot right?
Apparently for that money the Alliance could have made 12,000 fighters.
After that Shepard takes an elevator ride down to C-Sec and gets ambushed again, by some reporter this time. No, he does not punch her. Admiral Hackett is pleased by how he handled it.
First they go see Nassana Dantius and let her know her sister was a horrid slave trader.
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'Yeah we just happened to just randomly cross paths. Small Galaxy huh?'
Anyway they are able to twist this into getting Nassana to give them a high tech Asari license so that was cool. Anyway this is the last we will see of her right?
Next they run into a man and his dead brother's wife who are debating about whether their son/nephew (who is still in utero) should be vaccinated undergo gene therapy to prevent a dangerous genetic disorder. Well I have had enough of those anti-vaccinators so Shepard used his charm.
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'Oh good you are doing what I wanted you to do.'
Man if only we had Shepard around to talk to Jenny McCarthy.
They meet a former comrade of Shepard's Mom, Zabaleta, who is suffering from PTSD from fighting Batarian Slavers on Mindoir. His is now living in alleys on the Citadel begging for credits. Shepard gives him some credits and then later calls his mom, Hannah Shepard, and she tells him the entire story and asks him to convince Zabaleta to go to the Veterans Affairs Office for help. Note: if you are a colonist Shepard you will be from Mindoir and a kid when the attack on Mindoir occurs.
Emily Wong, the reporter who had him get the data on Fist earlier, wants Shepard to plan a bug in C-Sec to monitor space traffic controllers to see if they are overworked. Eh why not? Shepard is above the law.
Finally they reach Read Admiral Kahoku. He thanks them for finding his marines but says he is going to investigate further to see why Cerber...er...some evil group would want to murder his men in such an unnecessarily elaborate and evil way.
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'Believe me it is just going to get creepier'
Nice knowing you Admiral.
Oh and Conrad Verner wants a picture now in addition to his autograph. No harm in that right?
Getting back on the Normandy everybody wants to talk about their father.
Tali's father is one of the supreme leaders of then Quarian people and she is under terrible pressure to live up to him and get something really good for her pilgrimage.
Ashley's father was always off serving with the Alliance and they only had a relationship through his love of poetry, which she now recites at his grave since he recently passed on.
Liara is considered a second class citizen among the Asari since her father was another Asari, they prefer to inject diversity into their species so want everybody to mate with other species, and her mother always hid the name of Liara's father from her out of shame.
Wrex is exiled from Tuchanka because he was engaged in a war with a Krogan warlord who he eventually killed...and that warlord was, of course, Wrex's father.
Garrus joined C-Sec because his father is a stiff necked old school cop.
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'Screw you old man!'
So as you can imagine he and his dad lock...er...carapaces on a regular basis.
The only one who does NOT have dad issues is Kaidan since his birth involved a usually fatal exposure to 'Element Zero' (eezo) granting him biotic abilities so all he has is horrific stories of systematic abuse he suffered at the hands of the Conatix Corporation. Oh and he also suffers from constant and horrible migraines due to his dysfunctional L2 biotic implant. Oddly none of this seems to bother him much. Kaidan is super zen.
So anyway just call us the SSV Daddy Issues. At least Shepard seems to be cool with his dad, who I presume is deceased. All this after Kahoku I have no screenshots of since I forgot to turn on Fraps for this session but it was short anyway.
Then they give Shepard quests about their fathers. Wrex wants you to hunt down a Turian Collector who has his father's armor, which is a family heirloom. Armor and weapons were confiscated from the Krogan after the Krogan Rebellion and this Turian is making a fortune selling them as collectibles. Tali wants key data about the Geth in order to live up to her father's legacy for her pilgrimage. Garrus wants them to hunt down a criminal Salarian black market organ harvester named Dr. Saleon, which the vile C-Sec rules his father made him follow allowed to escape. I should probably just get a psychologist on this ship instead.
They go to the Hawking Eta Cluster and pursue a weird biotic cult led by ex-Alliance Major Kyle who is a God to them Apocalypse Now style. The Alliance sent a few officers to attempt to bring Major Kyle in for treatment but his followers have already killed them. Shepard is sent in and convinces Kyle and his followers to surrender without bloodshed because charismatic cult leaders are no match for Shepard's charm skill.
I mean seriously it gets pretty ridiculous.
'WE WILL KILL ALL ALLIANCE!'
'No you won't'
'Ok we surrender'
Major Kyle got fucked up by seeing so many of his men die at the Battle of Torfan, which was the Alliance punitive expedition after the attack on Elysium. If Shepard has the ruthless background he is in the battle and is responsible for a slaughter of the Batarians.
Once they get back on the ship there are two messages waiting for Shepard. The first one is from Admiral Kahoku who has discovered a terrorist organization called Cerberus was responsible for the murder of his men. They have bases throughout the galaxy and he gives Shepard the coordinates for a base back in the Voyager Cluster. Then he says Cereberus is hunting him down so this will probably be the last time they talk.
Admiral Hackett calls Shepard and tells him a VI at a training facility on the Moon has gone rogue and somebody needs to break in there and shut it down. So here we go!
Next time: 'One of these days pow! Straight to the Moon!'
Mass Effect Part Five or Fly me to the Moon let me kill Geth among the stars let me scan for minerals on Jupiter and Mars.
Ok so I installed that graphics mod during this section. See if you can guess when that happened!
There are a few issues I didn't touch on earlier because they seemed kind of lore dumpy. I talked about these sorts of things in my Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition AAR because I was playing those games for the first time and knew nothing about them really. I already played ME and I assumed anybody reading this AAR not only played it but probably played more than once and knows all this stuff. But the game is 10 years old so you might not remember all this stuff and these plot points are about to become relevant in the game. So here we go.
First: the Rachni and the Krogan with a timeline based on Roman Emperors. During the reign of Caesar Augustus a group of Salarians discovered the insect race, the Rachni, who then captured the Salarians that discovered them. The Rachni used the Salarian's knowledge to become an interstellar empire, overwhelming all who stood in their path. During the reign of the Vespasian the Salarians developed a plan to stop the Rachni: they gave space technology to the Krogan. With these new allies the Council Races drove back the Rachni and, after centuries of war, the Rachni were finally driven to extinction during the reign of Diocletian. Centuries of uneasy peace followed with the fast breeding Krogans expanding rapidly. Finally they rebelled and tried to conquer the galaxy during the reign of the Emperor Justinian II. The Salarians stopped them two ways: first by recruiting the militaristic Turians to the Council Races and by deploying a genetic disease called the Genophage that dramatically reduced the Krogan's ability to breed by making them almost entirely sterile. So for the past 1500 or so years the Krogan have been steadily dying out. Though to listen to Wrex talk about it, it might as well have happened yesterday. But the Krogan can live for centuries on end and almost always die violently if they die at all. Wrex's father was a veteran of the Krogan Rebellion.
Now: The Quarians and the Geth with a timeline based on European History. During the year revolutions were breaking out all over Europe, the Quarians coincidentally invented a group of networking servant robots called the Geth. The Geth began to develop from very rudimentary Vis into self aware AIs and around the time of the death of Queen Victoria the Quarians realized it and tried to exterminate the Geth. The Geth won the resulting war, capturing the Quarian home world of Rannoch, and driving the Quarians into exile. And for two hundred and eighty years the Quarians have floated around in their increasingly antiquated space flotilla while the Geth have remained on Rannoch. I do not recall the lame justification the game comes up with for why the Quarians have not colonized any other worlds since then. Rannoch is hidden from the rest of the galaxy by a super heated gas cloud called the Perseus Veil and nobody has seen them since...until now. Or rather until the year 2183, when this game takes place.
Ok so you guys got all that? Ok because it all starts to become important.
Anyway so on to the moon to save the Alliance from their own networked VI that gained sentience. See how I tied it all back together?
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'Oh Canada! Bioware's home and native land.'
Canada is looking down upon us like a benevolent creator.
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'In Soviet Space Program, probe salvages you!'
Ok so they ride around on the moon and take out all the defense towers the VI has taken control of. Eventually they break into the VI core and take out its rocket drones. And then they get to do it two more times since this thing has a very extensive core. I hoped it would start singing 'Daisy' as it lost computing power.
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'That is ASCII for help. Well now I feel like a murderer. Of course the Rogue VI didn't have to launch turrets and drones at people.'
So now Shepard is a Commando. Nice!
Now on to the Voyager Cluster!
Cerberus has set up three research facilities on Binthu in the Yangtze System. After they blow away the defense turrets, and man are those turrets slow firing, they start breaking in to shut down these terrorists and find the Admiral.
Here is a picture of Shepard meeting Cerberus for the first time:
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'Why hello there Cerberus. I look forward to getting to know you better in the future.'
Inside these facilities they find loads of Cerberus mercenaries and surprisingly fierce combat scientists. What were they working on? Well they had Rachni. Yes, the bugs that were exterminated back during the reign of Diocletian. Now they are somehow being brought back by Cerberus to act as their army? Naturally none of the party comment on this since none of them knows what Rachni look like but you can imagine how confusing this was for me the first time I played this game having heard all about this story already. And they also have these Husk things.
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'What the hell is that?'
Yeah so what is up with these Thorian Creepers and Rachni? Well you will just have to wait and see. At the end they find Kahoku.
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'So much for our impeccable hero timing.'
He was killed as part of some sort of experiment, probably trying to turn him into one of those Creeper things. Now you also discover the location of Cerberus' main base of operations, suggesting you can destroy the entire organization right then. So you go to Nerpheron in the Columbia System and clear out one more Cerberus base. There you find a Cerberus computer and try to download everything you can before it self destructs.
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'Well so glad we took care of that organization. Never hear from them again.'
I am not clear if Mass Effect 1 intended for that to be the end of Cerberus or not. More on that later.
They get back on the Normandy. Shepard talks to Wrex and he explains that after he lost the struggle on his homeworld of Tuchanka, the time he warred with and killed his own father, he has lost hope that the Krogan will do anything but die in pointless wars as mercenaries. Granted, Wrex himself admits that is simpler and more fun than trying to stop fate. That is, after all, precisely what he has been doing.
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'You do realize we are not paying you for this right? You are putting your life on the line for free to stop Saren?'
Wait stop Saren? Is that what we are supposed to be doing? Because I was starting to think this was some kind of mining expedition.
Garrus is wondering when we will get around to it.
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'Look! We will get around to it eventually! Just a few more dozen start systems.'
But really he is just worried we will fail to immediately murder him and he might be captured alive.
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'Garrus you are one fucked up dude.'
I have never met a character so obsessed with making sure nobody ever lives long enough to go to trial. Why is this character so popular? He is a psycho. But to be fair he seems to be coming around to Shepards Paragon point of view but I think you can really make him a monster if you are renegade...or rather more of a monster.
Tali seems to be confused.
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'It may feel that way because we have been playing this game for so long but actually we have made no progress.'
I mean besides finding a scientist who has no idea how she will be helpful they have not done jack. Shepard and Tali then have a conversation as if they have had a long campaign that is nearing the end, rather than one that has not yet begun. I think this conversation probably should fire a bit later in the game.
An agent of the Shadow Broker calls Shepard asking for those files he downloaded from the Cerberus facility. He threatens that is Shepard does not turn over classified Alliance information, the Shadow Broker may not cooperate if Shepard ever needs him for something.
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'Pffft. When would I ever need the Shadow Broker for anything?'
With that they return to the Citadel, since they are reaching their item limit and they can sell things for more to Doctor Michel. One of the most important things to do in Mass Effect is get 1 million credits since it gives you access to Spectre Gear and gives you more money in the sequel.
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'It is a little weird that all these little side missions are all galactic news. Does nothing happen out there unless Shepard does it?'
Shepard goes and sees Zabaleta and lets him know Shepard's mother wants him to seek treatment for his PTSD at the Veteran's Affairs Office.
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'Yes. Stop begging on the streets and getting drunk as a personal favor.'
He thinks the VAO is useless and just gives people drugs. I don't think we ever find out how that goes though.
Shepard goes back and lets Cynthia Wong know her bug is in place in C-Sec.
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'Having good relations with the press is important. This is something some American politicians might want to keep in mind.'
Conrad Verner has taken his fanboyism to the next level and wants to get out there in space and mine minerals as well. Shepard lets him know that he needs to go home to his family and work to keep humanity strong on the home front. Since he used his charm skill Verner immediately complies.
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'Oh good. Glad this is settled and never to come up again.'
Once Shepard gets back on the Normandy and Alliance has another job for him: the Geth are moving into the Armstrong Nebula.
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'Who? The Geth? What does that have to do with mining?'
Though the time spent mining on this quest will be quite extensive so don't worry.
They land on the first world in the Armstrong Nebula and go to work.
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'Huh. What makes people think the Geth are here?'
This was an alliance research facility overrun by the Geth. The place was loaded with husks and once the Geth realized it was being attacked by Shepard they landed an assault team and attacked them from behind. What the hell Normandy? We have this undetectable ship in orbit and they cannot even take control of the skies from those wimpy Geth dropships?
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'Luke we're going to have company!'
But once they are defeated the gang can congratulate themselves on being 25% of the way there.
The next world, Casbin, has a surface only Geth base and, once they drive off the Geth, a Geth dropship arrives and starts dropping Geth all over the place. Fortunately, the Mako can drive it away.
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'Can you guys get lost? There are some nearby minerals to mine.'
The freaking Normandy cannot handle those guys but the Mako can. Meh.
The next world, Anitbaar, is a frozen iceball that contains Prothean Ruins. The Geth camp here is just terrible. It is located in a ravine so you get to play the role of the Orcs in Helms Deep. Gandalf is played by yet another Geth dropship. Those Geth Colossus are rough. One hit will instantly kill any squad member, even Shepard. So it is best to stay in the Mako.
Though the most annoying fun part of this world was the Prothean Ruin with a thresher maw. Fighting these things always has an element of luck to it since they can one shot kill you if they get lucky and this time the thresher maw was very lucky. It took awhile to beat it. The other thresher maws I had encountered so far I had beaten without dying at all.
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'The limited visibility made it especially enjoyable'
Damn that is actually a pretty cool screenshot.
Finally they found the last Geth base over on Maji.
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'Um somebody forgot to tell this world that Mass Effect is supposed to be mostly blue with some amber thrown in.'
But they notice that none of the bases contained a command center of any kind. Luckily my boy Alenko is on the job.
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'The transmission is coming from WITHIN THE STAR CLUSTER.'
So anybody worried I only had four worlds to search for minerals can rejoice as their being a fifth. Yes I am getting a little punchy. It is on to the moon of Solcrum to destroy the Geth HQ.
After a pretty tough fight, including a Geth Juggernaut standing on a balcony blasting rockets at them, they manage to secure the base.
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'Huh. What is that sad Quarian about? Some kind of Geth victory dance? And yes I get the irony that Tali was taken out there.'
So this was an offensive launched from the Geth at Rannoch and not Saren. That is Interesting, though they are probably allied. But hey Tali said she wanted some data on the Geth besides Saren's so this is a good place to find it. And find it they do.
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'See? Even created beings evolve creationists.'
And it is back to the Normandy. Wrex tells him about this time a cowardly and stupid Volus (is there another kind?) sent him to take out an Asari Commando. Wrex thought he had blown her up but she somehow escaped and the contemptible Volus was scared she would come after him.
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'LOLZ Volus amiright?'
Even though Tali said nothing during the actual mission she really wants that Geth data.
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'What so you can plan your campaign of bloody reconquest? Oh right Geth don't bleed.'
Shepard goes ahead and gives it to her. She did play a pretty big role in that campaign after all. And besides there is little evidence at this point that the Geth are anything but aggressive monsters.
And then Shepard gets called again by the Alliance. This time somebody is hunting down scientists connected to a massacre at Akuze when thresher maws were made to attack and destroy an entire unit of Alliance Marines. Huh. Where have we heard that before? And yes if you choose the Sole Survivor background your Shepard will be a survivor from this incident. Anyway there is only one scientist left, a Dr. Manuel, and Shepard is supposed to go get him before he to gets killed.
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'And while you are there Shepard please check for minerals.'
Yes I will never let that go. So it is off to Ontarom in the Newton system. One of the very few planets you visit that has native life.
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'That space cow looks a bit shifty'
They find the facility and it is under attack by hostile mercs. Inside they find a surprise survivor of the Akuze disaster, one Corporal Toombs, who has been hunting down these scientists who were all working for Cerberus. Obviously Cerberus was perfecting their Thresher Maw attack schemes.
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'Yep. Glad I destroyed them. All gone.'
Seriously was Cerberus only supposed to be a one off minor terrorist group you destroyed in side missions in the first game? Anyway Shepard convinces him to let the Alliance capture Dr. Manuel for questioning. This may seem like an IRRECONCILABLE situation...but hey Shepard has the charm skill.
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'Well besides those other scientists you already murdered.'
Toombs and Dr. Manuel are then taken into custody. Manuel is going to be tried for terrorism and treason and Toombs goes into treatment for his PTSD.
Garrus' nemesis, Dr. Saleon, is in a nearby star system so they track down his ship and board it. His ship has been taken over by space zombies created by his experiments.
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'You have got to love a game with three different varieties of space zombies.'
They find the Salarian cowering in his quarters and he tried to convince them that he is innocent, but Garrus immediately recognizes him. Shepard says they are going to take him into custody and not immediately shoot him in the back of the head. Garrus is outraged.
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'Oh FFS Garrus'
Fortunately Dr. Saleon makes Garrus' day be refusing to come quietly so they have to shoot him anyway.
When they get back to the ship Garrus sees how he has been a bit extreme in his philosophies and decides to go back to C-Sec and Spectre training when they finish this Saren business and make his father proud. Because everybody in Mass Effect is heavily motivated by their relationships with their dads.
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'Basically Garrus took it really personally that criminals were just walking around alive out there.'
Man everybody is already waxing philosophical and making plans for the future and we have not even followed up on our first lead on Saren on Noveria yet!
And we are not going to for awhile either because next time it is: Bogging down the game...er...Bringing down the Sky and that other DLC whose name I dare not utter.
Thanks for doing these, Valmy. I am enjoying them, and remembering why I never replayed this game! :D
Quote from: Valmy on March 26, 2017, 09:26:13 PM
I do not recall the lame justification the game comes up with for why the Quarians have not colonized any other worlds since then.
There were some quirks to Ranoch's bio system that made it very difficult for Quarians to adapt to different environments. It also limited potentially habitable planets for them.
They actually tried to settle some planets, but the Citadel council either stalled negotiations for settlement rights or outright denied them. Where the Quarians tried to settle illegally, they were driven off forcefully by the Citadel races. Seems like creating an allegedly murderous AI species kinda makes you a Pariah.
QuoteOk so they ride around on the moon and take out all the defense towers the VI has taken control of. Eventually they break into the VI core and take out its rocket drones. And then they get to do it two more times since this thing has a very extensive core. I hoped it would start singing 'Daisy' as it lost computing power.
Poor baby EDI. :(
Quote from: Valmy on March 26, 2017, 09:26:13 PM
And we are not going to for awhile either because next time it is: Bogging down the game...er...Bringing down the Sky and that other DLC whose name I dare not utter.
Pinnacle station. :ph34r:
Probably the dumbest DLC in the whole ME series.
Quote from: grumbler on March 27, 2017, 05:48:30 AM
Thanks for doing these, Valmy. I am enjoying them, and remembering why I never replayed this game! :D
I suffer so you don't have to!
This game really suffers from sidequest-itis. KOTOR, Dragon Age Origins, and Dragon Age 2 were really good about not doing this, all the side content you either do during the main missions or what a side quest or a main quest is not clear at all (in DA2). In this game there is no damn reason at all why Shepard would do any of this side stuff. They dump the entire plot and all the leads on you right in the first few hours of the game. There is nothing that needs to be discovered. There is no reason to go out there in space and scout around, you are told exactly what is going on and where you need to go. But gameplay wise you need the experience and the money and the subplots end up being really important in establishing the lore in the setting.
But I do find myself starting to think 'hey I probably need to address this factor in the game pretty soon' or 'hey it is almost like Kaidan, Ashley, and Liara have nothing to say' but then I remember that despite the fact my character has already achieved the 1 million credit mark needed to access advanced gear and is already level 30 I really have not even started the game yet. Those other three characters all have their dialog tied to progression in the main game.
Quote from: Malicious Intent on March 27, 2017, 09:22:38 AM
There were some quirks to Ranoch's bio system that made it very difficult for Quarians to adapt to different environments. It also limited potentially habitable planets for them.
They actually tried to settle some planets, but the Citadel council either stalled negotiations for settlement rights or outright denied them. Where the Quarians tried to settle illegally, they were driven off forcefully by the Citadel races. Seems like creating an allegedly murderous AI species kinda makes you a Pariah.
Yeah but the Citadel has surveyed less than 4% of all worlds in the galaxy :P Yes they have been around for thousands of years but the galaxy is just that big. But anyway thanks for the reminder.
Quote
Poor baby EDI. :(
Dude! Spoilers! :P
Yes Cerberus eventually steals this VI to make EDI. Whatever that is.
Quote from: Malicious Intent on March 27, 2017, 09:25:53 AM
Quote from: Valmy on March 26, 2017, 09:26:13 PM
And we are not going to for awhile either because next time it is: Bogging down the game...er...Bringing down the Sky and that other DLC whose name I dare not utter.
Pinnacle station. :ph34r:
Probably the dumbest DLC in the whole ME series.
Very ironically named since it is one of the worst products Bioware has ever produced. Yes lets put more tediousness into a game already infected with tedious mining. That is just the opposite of what DLC are supposed to do.
Quote from: grumbler on March 27, 2017, 05:48:30 AM
Thanks for doing these, Valmy. I am enjoying them, and remembering why I never replayed this game! :D
I replayed all 3 games plus DLC a few months ago in preparation of ME: Andromeda (which I still haven't bought yet). Part one at times really felt like a chore, due to the rather hastily tacked on planetary exploration bits combined with the very special MAKO "physics". It did a good job at setting up the universe though. I expect Andromeda to be similar in that respect.
I am going to buy Andromeda here in a couple days. Considering how badly the game is being hammered I am a little worried this might be the last title in the series so maybe buying it might contribute 0.0001% to EA choosing not to liquidate it.
Quote from: Malicious Intent on March 27, 2017, 09:35:29 AM
Quote from: grumbler on March 27, 2017, 05:48:30 AM
Thanks for doing these, Valmy. I am enjoying them, and remembering why I never replayed this game! :D
I replayed all 3 games plus DLC a few months ago in preparation of ME: Andromeda (which I still haven't bought yet). Part one at times really felt like a chore, due to the rather hastily tacked on planetary exploration bits combined with the very special MAKO "physics". It did a good job at setting up the universe though. I expect Andromeda to be similar in that respect.
The Planetary Exploration would be fine, even with the bouncy castle Mako, if they did not make us comb every inch of every planet for minerals. And, like I said before, the low production values of the side quests.
Quote from: Valmy on March 25, 2017, 01:28:46 PM
Or whatever. I mean obviously we wouldn't want that very often but geez just a few times would be nice. We want to be a starship captain right? In the intro to the game we sort of get some of that but Joker does the talking not Captain Anderson. It would be cool just to see the ship in action.
Anyway.
And then, you'd get Pressly quoting regulations about the captain not supposed to be going on away missions ;)
Nah, too boring :P
I think it's just a way to circumvent the idea that being a ship captain you don't go on exploring new planets, discovering new civilizations and slaughtering them. Sheppard is more of a marine himself than a ship captain, but doing that means he has to obey orders from someone directly above him, and there's only so many times you can disobey orders without consequences.
Quote
I do not understand military ranks.
Bioware was still an independant canadian company then. It's ok if you don't understand the Canadian army. We don't either. :P
Quote
Through the medical bay is the science lab where Liara surfs the extranet.
I just realized we do not have a Science Officer of any kind. So we are exploring the vast uncharted reaches of the galaxy and we do not have any science staff at all? Maybe Chakwas also handles that when we are not taking on alien freelancers like Liara
They had one. But she went to the bathroom in the Citadel and they forgot her there for the remainder of the mission.
Quote
Then there is my favorite part of the ship: the elevator. Man does Mass Effect love its very slow moving elevators. It takes forever; I mean come we are just going down one floor.
Pay attention to side-dialogue in ME2 while travelling in the Citadel ;)
Quote
'Mass Effect: Their continuing mission to scout out minerals none have mined before'
Not sure why the Alliance needs their military vessels out collecting minerals. I have a whole system on scouting these planets for minerals but man is it tedious. Also on the planet they find a base controlled by an Asari slave trader and her goons. They defeat them all and then loot all the treasures.
Same reason why you pay for your weapons and ammo: every mission is supposed to finance itself. It drastically cuts the military budget. It's like that proposal to take Iraq's oil field in exchange for protection. ;)
Quote
Liara is considered a second class citizen among the Asari since her father was another Asari, they prefer to inject diversity into their species so want everybody to mate with other species, and her mother always hid the name of Liara's father from her out of shame.
Hold that thought for later :) Something else will come up in 2&3.
Quote
I do not recall the lame justification the game comes up with for why the Quarians have not colonized any other worlds since then
Their particular biology and weak immune system makes them incapable of living elsewhere than on their home planet, or a planet exactly the same as theirs without their suit.
QuoteWe have this undetectable ship in orbit and they cannot even take control of the skies from those wimpy Geth dropships?
The Geth have their own stealth and jamming ;)
QuoteThe freaking Normandy cannot handle those guys but the Mako can. Meh.
The Normandy SR-1 is not equipped for atmospheric flight and for air to ground battle ;)
Quote
Seriously was Cerberus only supposed to be a one off minor terrorist group you destroyed in side missions in the first game?
Maybe. I think they retconned it so it would look plausible in ME2: Cerberus is a shadow organization with multiple, seperate antennas. It's possible you destroyed a part of it, but the company still exists and developped extensively between the end of ME1 and the beginning of ME2 (2 years, give or take a few months).
Quote from: Valmy on March 27, 2017, 09:38:19 AM
I am going to buy Andromeda here in a couple days. Considering how badly the game is being hammered I am a little worried this might be the last title in the series so maybe buying it might contribute 0.0001% to EA choosing not to liquidate it.
I remember Neil hinting at some problems with the Montreal team of EA/Bioware.
Quote from: viper37 on March 27, 2017, 03:46:41 PM
And then, you'd get Pressly quoting regulations about the captain not supposed to be going on away missions ;)
Nah, too boring :P
Well I could always send him in my place :P
But rules don't apply to Spectres -_-
QuoteI think it's just a way to circumvent the idea that being a ship captain you don't go on exploring new planets, discovering new civilizations and slaughtering them. Sheppard is more of a marine himself than a ship captain, but doing that means he has to obey orders from someone directly above him, and there's only so many times you can disobey orders without consequences.
I don't get it. Hackett orders us to do stuff all the time. And it is not like Shepard is part of a fleet or something, he is by lore a quasi-independent operator. They have already circumvented that idea. And the captain always did that in Star Trek :P
Quote
Bioware was still an independant canadian company then. It's ok if you don't understand the Canadian army. We don't either. :P
If it was the Canadian Army his rank would be 'Queen's Own Chamberlain of the Garter' or something. Which is the equivalent of Private First Class.
Quote
They had one. But she went to the bathroom in the Citadel and they forgot her there for the remainder of the mission.
Hey when the mining expedition is leaving the station if you snooze you lose!
QuotePay attention to side-dialogue in ME2 while travelling in the Citadel ;)
I shall :)
QuoteSame reason why you pay for your weapons and ammo: every mission is supposed to finance itself. It drastically cuts the military budget. It's like that proposal to take Iraq's oil field in exchange for protection. ;)
Except this proposal actually saves money. Bellum se ipsum alet!
QuoteHold that thought for later :) Something else will come up in 2&3.
Good. As a father I am glad so much of this series centers around dads.
QuoteTheir particular biology and weak immune system makes them incapable of living elsewhere than on their home planet, or a planet exactly the same as theirs without their suit.
According to Tali living on the Flotilla weakened their immune systems since it was a controlled environment so they should have been cool right when they first went into exile. But I noticed they wear their suites even on the Flotilla in ME2 which makes no sense but they probably just did not want to make more models. Or Shepard being along made him a potential Typhoid Mary.
QuoteThe Geth have their own stealth and jamming
We should just steal theirs and save 120 billion credits.
QuoteThe Normandy SR-1 is not equipped for atmospheric flight and for air to ground battle
Nonsense. It can fly right down by a volcano and pick you up. Besides that planet did not appear to have an atmosphere.
QuoteMaybe. I think they retconned it so it would look plausible in ME2: Cerberus is a shadow organization with multiple, seperate antennas. It's possible you destroyed a part of it, but the company still exists and developped extensively between the end of ME1 and the beginning of ME2 (2 years, give or take a few months).
Possibly. Man it is kind of funny how all these generic side missions turned out to be so important eh? I think there is still some more stuff with Cereberus in ME though, we shall see.
QuoteI remember Neil hinting at some problems with the Montreal team of EA/Bioware.
Well a brand new studio is bound to have some problems.
Man Pinnacle Station is even worse than I remember it. This thing makes me ragey.
Quote
According to Tali living on the Flotilla weakened their immune systems since it was a controlled environment so they should have been cool right when they first went into exile. But I noticed they wear their suites even on the Flotilla in ME2 which makes no sense but they probably just did not want to make more models. Or Shepard being along made him a potential Typhoid Mary.
That last part is the main reason. But also, any of leak or external microbe being accidentally transferred could hurt them, so they don't take any chances.
The reason why they didn't settle at first is possibly because there weren't any suitable planet far enough from the Geth yet easily accessible in a few years.
Quote from: Valmy on March 29, 2017, 10:51:38 AM
Man Pinnacle Station is even worse than I remember it. This thing makes me ragey.
Never played that one, only the moon one, and I liked it.
Quote from: viper37 on March 29, 2017, 02:23:29 PM
Quote from: Valmy on March 29, 2017, 10:51:38 AM
Man Pinnacle Station is even worse than I remember it. This thing makes me ragey.
Never played that one, only the moon one, and I liked it.
The moon DLC at least has consequences for ME 2 + 3. Pinnacle Station is just a series of simulated fights with the tiniest bit of story tacked on. But I'll guess Valmy will soon have some more things to say about it. ;)
It's an asteroid not a moon -_-
Quote from: viper37 on March 29, 2017, 02:23:13 PM
Quote
According to Tali living on the Flotilla weakened their immune systems since it was a controlled environment so they should have been cool right when they first went into exile. But I noticed they wear their suites even on the Flotilla in ME2 which makes no sense but they probably just did not want to make more models. Or Shepard being along made him a potential Typhoid Mary.
That last part is the main reason. But also, any of leak or external microbe being accidentally transferred could hurt them, so they don't take any chances.
The reason why they didn't settle at first is possibly because there weren't any suitable planet far enough from the Geth yet easily accessible in a few years.
Excerpt from the ME Wiki. No spoilers for any of the games.
QuoteQuarian immune systems have always been relatively weak, as pathogenic microbes were comparatively rare in their homeworld's biosphere. Furthermore, what few viruses and other microbes were native to their homeworld were often at least partly beneficial to them, giving them a symbiotic relationship with their environment. After living aboard the Migrant Fleet for generations, the quarians' immune systems have atrophied further still due to the years in the sterile environment of the Migrant Fleet. As such, quarians are given various vaccinations and immunizations to help ward off disease. However, they prefer the safety of their suits even in clean environments and are reluctant to remove them without a good reason.
A quarian who wishes to remove their suit must take antibiotics, immuno-boosters, herbal supplements, or the like in order to do so safely, and even then there are inherent risks. As a result, physical acts of affection are difficult for quarians, even for the purposes of reproduction. Ships in the Migrant Fleet often contain "clean rooms" where quarians can give birth or undergo medical procedures in relative safety, though there are always risks. The most intimate thing quarians can do is link their suit environments. However, doing so guarantees a quarian will get sick, although they will usually adapt over time.
For future reference, here is the mod I used to improve graphics on ME2:
http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect2/mods/68/?
They were absolutely gorgeous. The same exists for ME3. It takes a couple of days to install though...
Mass Effect Part Six or Shepard is a colossal douchebag.
Ok so let's travel to the Exodus Cluster, where Eden Prime is located, to check out the peaceful and prosperous human colonies and...OH MY!
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'Well we should let the authorities know about this, they should really send somebody to...oh right. Me.'
Guess we will have to cancel our scenic lunch on Terra Nova. How about that hero timing eh? Showing up randomly with just four hours to go. A distress call from on the asteroid begs us to shut down those fusion torches. So they land and check it out...quickly. No pressure Shepard. So they find a small prefab building where the engineer has...had better days.
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'Vengeful ex or terrorists...'
His last log says the transmission tower went out and he sent one of his techs out to fix it. They find the tech, dead, and his burned out transport nearby. Well that is not good. But they need to get to the first torch fast as the clock is ticking. After knocking out the defense towers (oh sure defense towers, let the terrorists in but keep us out) they break in to find: Batarians!
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'Hey so that Skyllian Blitz thing...can we let bygones be bygones?'
Obviously not, these guys really hold a grudge. So a little about the Batarians: so they joined the Citadel awhile ago but had this nasty habit of continuing to attack and raid Citadel worlds. So in 2160 when the humans started settling the Skyllian Verge their charming way of pissing off the other species led to the Citadel siding with the humans over them. So they left the Citadel and joined up with the Terminus Systems and have launched numerous efforts to push the humans out of the Verge. Shepard stopped one big raid during the Skyllian Blitz back in 2176 almost singlehandedly.
So the Batarians are humanity's foil. And they also make extensive use of a species of attack dogs called the Varren, even though they are native to the Krogan Homeworld. Anyway we get to see far more Varren in ME2.
Shepard and company defeat the Batarians and Varren and then shut down the torch. And yes the same damn minigame you use for everything else also shuts down torches. The woman who issued the distress call then calls us and thanks us for shutting down the first torch. Her name is Kate Bowman and she is one the engineers who were assigned to originally bring the asteroid to Terra Nova before it was hijacked by the Batarians. She, and a few others, are currently being held hostage in the main control center.
As Shepard leaves another human enters the building and shoots him, but fortunately the shot was absorbed by his kinetic barrier. Crazy. These things hardly ever work in cutscenes. Shepard is kind of a douche after the shot btw. 'It takes more than one shot to bring me down.' Hey Shep it takes more than one shot to bring anybody with a kinetic barrier down...well unless a heavy turret or a thresher maw hits you. The DLC do not bring out the best in him. More on that later.
He is Simon Atwell, the chief engineer. He thinks a giant asteroid being driven into the planet might be bad.
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'In English please Mr. Engineer.
The Planet is doomed!
Spare me your techno-babble.
It is going to make a BIG BOOM
Could you dumb it down a shade?'
He also wants Shepard to check on his three engineers out on the surface...yeah well about one of them. Also he tells Shepard the main facility where the hostages are being kept is locked down and impossible to enter without a key pass. Good thing somebody decided to have the torches not controlled by the main facility...which I guess raises the question of what exactly the purpose of the main facility is. Oh and the batarians made him activate a motion detection mine field around one of the torches. FUN!
Oh and the plan was to push the asteroid into orbit, mine out its minerals, and then convert the shell into a space station. It sounds like a plan Tim would be excited about.
The whole thing seems a little extreme even for the Batarians. They generally try to conquer colonies and enslave people not destroy entire planets.
They come to another engineering station and the engineer went off to investigate the attack on the main facility.
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'I am not sure I can enjoy a game that so ruthlessly kills off poor hardworking engineers.'
Ok it is personal now Batarians!
They go to the second torch, defeat the batarians, and then shut it down to. This seems to really piss off the Batarian leader, a real charmer named Balak, who shoots one of the hostages and then sends out a team to hunt Shepard down and then starts setting up bombs throughout the main facility.
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'Unfortunately when you re-activate their signal all you get is the elevator music from the Citadel. Man so much for my hope for rocking this rock.'
They find the last engineer. She locked herself in her pre-fab building and the Batarians just blew it up. So zero for three on Atwell's engineers.
So they come to third torch.
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'Man nice of them to mark the mine field for us like that.'
So they get out on foot and charge to the edge of the mine field while the heavy turrets are firing at them...very slowly and with poor accuracy. Good thing to since one shot will one-hit kill you. Mass Effect one loves its one shot kill bad guys. They creep along the edge of the mine field and then take cover by the torch control building and take out the batarians and snipe the turrets.
Inside it is really dark and really blue. Even for Mass Effect.
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'A very smurfy firefight.'
Man is everything dark in this DLC. Anyway they shut off the last torch and save Terra Nova! But there is still the matter of the hostages. On the way out Balak's gang intercepts them and...a conversation breaks out.
The leader insists he wants to resolve the situation peacefully.
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'Man Shepard is kind of an asshole'
But the Batarian insists he was just here for a few slaves and destroying a planet is more than he bargained for. So he wants Shepard to take his key card and break into the main facility and kill Balak while he escapes. Shepard promises to do so.
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'You know who else was 'just following orders?' THE NAZIS!!11 Oh right you don't who they are...human thing.'
Anyway he really wants Shepard to kill Balak who is kind of a nut and the other Batarians are only going along with this since he is such a ruthless asshole. We will see how that goes.
So they assault the main facility and, after defeating these ridiculous heavy turrets on rails, they go inside. HOLY CRAP IT IS A NEW MAP! I haven't seen a non-recycled interior in so long, though things are just as dark as before.
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'Um ok the badguys are out there someplace. Just shoot randomly in their general direction.'
After beating these guys Balak comes out and says that now that the gig is up he is leaving and if Shepard tries to stop him he will blow the facility. He also says he hates the humans so very very much for colonizing worlds the Batarians think should be theirs. He is also really mad at Shepard personally for the Skyllian Blitz. So revenge was almost his but the failing Batarian Hegemony failed again. Sad.
Shepard says he will stop Balak but Balak knows Shepard's weakness for saving hostages.
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'And to add insult to injury his Varren stuck out his tongue at Shepard.'
So they run around and de-activate the bombs. Huh that is the second time somebody mad at Shepard for the Skyllian Blitz tried to blow him up with bombs.
They rescue the hostages and everybody celebrates miraculously still being alive. Simon Atwell decides to retire and gives Shepard his rather amazing Omni-tool. He is bummed that Shepard had to let the terrorists go though.
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'Spoiler: we actually won't.'
Yeah so that is Bringing Down the Sky. It is just a slightly longer and much better side assignment. If all the other uncharted world assignments were like this Mass Effect would have been a much better game. There were not even any minerals and other various things to needlessly collect. So it is a good DLC, not great by any means, but good.
Speaking of which it is time for: MORE UNCHARTED WORLD ASSIGNMENTS.
It is time for the Argos Ro Cluster! Please try to contain your excitement.
In the Hydra System they hear a distress call from the planet Metgos. After mining all the minerals and finding all the exciting collectibles they find an escape pod and...IT'S A TRAP.
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'Right before this Tali said 'I have a bad feeling about this'. I guess it was Star Wars Quote day.'
They defeat the Geth and...well...that is that. Nice assignment huh?
They go off to the Phoenix System and land on the world of Tuntau in search of the Turian who is selling 1500 year old relics. And let me tell you about this world: it has lots of mountains and minerals on it. The galaxy all starts to look the same after awhile. So they break into yet another prefab structure and kill the Turian. Though I have to say these fights against the Turian and his mercs were actually pretty fun. I like when I actually can use my sniper rifle and abilities a few times in a fight.
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'Well geez Wrex it is 1500 years old.'
So that provides Wrex with some kind of closure to leave his clan and homeworld and family behind forever.
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'You will never ever see me on Tuchanka ever again. Promise.'
We'll see Wrex.
But anyway now it is time for the pinnacle in shitty DLCs: Pinnacle Station. Now it starts off well enough. You get there and hey it is not a prefab building or the same freighter you have been in a million times but an all new space station! But those few seconds are pretty much the high point.
The entire 'plot' revolves around this Turian named Vidinos who thinks humans suck.
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'Are you wearing lavender face paint?'
And he has most of the top scores and you have to beat him. The leader of the space station is a human, Admiral Ahern, and he wants to see what all the best Citadel operatives can do.
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'Oh and all the facial animations are noticeably subpar compared to the base game. Maybe they were training for Mass Effect: Andromeda.'
Ok the other good thing about this DLC is the world weary and sarcastic Salarian who runs the simulator.
I like this response if you ask him if the enemies in the simulator are holographic:
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The way the voice actor reads the line is especially good.
But anyway there are 12 scenarios to beat, four different types of missions in three different environments. Well that sounds fun but here is why it sucks: they are all the fucking same mission. Sure one has you survive waves of enemies, another has to kill a certain amount of enemies, another has you kill as many enemies as you can, and another has you capture some points. But they are all doing the same thing: killing stuff as quickly as possible. And doing it basically the same way: killing them at point blank range. So yeah I was thinking that maybe I could work on a few different fighting skills during this part of the game but NOPE. It is all running around shooting as fast as you can. You rarely even have time to take cover.
Anyway once you beat Vidinos' score once he threatens to throw another human who has beaten some of his other scores in the stockade for cheating, since no human could beat him. Shepard says he can beat him, and indeed he already has, so Vidinos bets Shepard cannot get the top score in seven other tests. If Shepard fails the other guy gets stuck in prison. So there is your plot. Pretty compelling eh?
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'Behold your motivation in all its glory!'
My real motivation is that everytime you beat a challenge you get 1,000 exp which is pretty nice.
So now you fight.
You kill dudes at point blank range in a capture battle.
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You kill dudes at point blank range in a survival battle
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You kill dudes at point blank range in a hunt battle
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You kill dudes at point blank range in a time trial battle
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It is as monotonous and samey as it looks. Oh and the scenarios are completely unbalanced. Some are incredibly trivial while others are almost impossible even with level 60 characters min/maxed with the best gear at the higher difficulty levels.
Then eventually you beat all eight scenarios and Vidinos concedes...sort of he still thinks Shepard cheated somehow.
And Shepard is kind of an asshole about it. Actually that is kind of a theme for this DLC, Shepard is a macho overconfident douche for most of it.
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'From douchebag to douchebag.'
So it is not very satisfying. But if you thought you were done THINK AGAIN! Shepard has four more scenarios to beat Vidinos in for...no reason whatsoever.
So yeah! More of this:
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'Admiral Ahern has little quips he says throughout the scenario and he has like five total...so you get really sick of them fast.'
He also has little one liners after you beat a scenario like 'Shepard your accomplishments are an inspiration to knuckleheads everywhere.' Cute.
So after you finish those the stupidest shit ever is about to happen. Admiral Ahern says he is building a new scenario recreating a battle he was in against the Turians during the First Contact War. He says it was basically a suicide mission, no cover and being heavily outnumbered. Then Shepard, out of pure machismo idiocy, wants him to kick it up a notch and do it without safeties.
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'That would be incredibly stupid and irresponsible. So when do we start?'
So after Ahern calls him out that it would be insanely suicidal. Shepard is all 'oh yeah? I will show you dude. I am Commander Fucking Shepard. I put my life on the line for stupid reasons every day.' So the Admiral just goes along with it and says if Shepard somehow survives this suicide mission he will give him his retirement home on Intai'sei because he is too macho to ever retire or something. The whole thing is so stupid it made my head hurt.
Man Shepard kind of sucks. I hate this guy. I hope Saren wins. :P
So anyway we now start the stupidest fight in the history of the galaxy. It basically works like this: you run in and pick off some Turians and gather some data. Once you do that a metric fuckton of Turians show up and you have to hold them off for five minutes. To do this you run and activate two heavy turrets and then run to a chokepoint to hold them. If you do not do this snipers will take you out pretty fast.
The first part is the only interesting fight in the whole damn DLC since you have time to get a position and use your squad's skills and abilities to take out the Turian squad at long range. After that it turns into the same thing you have done for the past 12 challenges.
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'Ashley is too tough for cover. She just stands there in front of dozens of charging Turians like a BOSS. A stupid boss.'
So after that is over everybody celebrates the 'hero' Shepard and he gets the retirement home. There is no feeling of relief quite like leaving Pinnacle Station for the last time for the Normandy.
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'Actually I would prefer we never speak of this again.'
Besides all the experience points you get, and you get a pretty good weapon from Vidinos once you beat his records, the retirement home is actually really great.
First it has a grenade dispenser along with a medi-gel dispenser. As far as I know this is the only easy way to refill your grenades in the game. Why this is in some retirement home I have no idea.
Secondly the home has access to discount gear. Random discount gear. Basically you pay a fee and a random thing gets delivered to the home. Why? Um well this note explains it somehow.
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'Uh what? Ok...I guess.'
So if you pay 220K credits one of the best pieces of gear in the game will be delivered to you. So yeah I can get level 60 gear anytime I have the money. And I will do this every chance I get. I got level 60 armor for Garrus, Tali, and Ashley as well as a level 60 biotic Amp for Kaidan this first time. So yeah this retirement home is very good to have. Like bizarrely good to have, like it makes no damn sense why it is so great.
So anyway you can see why I hate this DLC. It is boring and unbalanced, Shepard is an asshole, and the reward is nonsensical and overpowered. The fact that Admiral not only allowed Shepard to do that but expressed admiration at him for doing it...well anyway let me just say it is a lowpoint for Bioware. I haven't played most of the Mass Effect series as it stands but it has got to be better than this.
So they return the Citadel. Ashley and Shepard celebrate never having to go to Pinnacle Station again by dancing at Flux.
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'It is sad to see with all these great advances in the future that dancing has regressed to the Stone Age.'
And I forgot to do this earlier but after every story mission you should go back to the human embassy to watch Udina get mad at you about it. It is one of the highpoints in the game. Anderson comes to Shepard's defense.
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'Oh? I thought I was out there risking my life for retirement real-estate.'
Ok well I guess it is finally time to start that Saren thing. But first: MORE SIDEQUESTS and then Noveria. Maybe? Is something at stake in this game?
Quote from: viper37 on March 30, 2017, 07:43:38 PM
For future reference, here is the mod I used to improve graphics on ME2:
http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect2/mods/68/?
They were absolutely gorgeous. The same exists for ME3. It takes a couple of days to install though...
Wow. Now that is an intimidating Mod. I will try it out.
Mass Effect Part Seven or Sing that Funky Music Rachni Sing that Funky Music Right
Leaving the horrors of Pinnacle Station behind them our intrepid heroes ventured forth into the Horse Head Neigh-bula. Somewhere down there on the surface of Amaranthine (any similarity to a any Dragon Age towns living or destroyed by Darkspawn is purely coincidental) in the Fortuna System, Helena Blake was building a new criminal empire and waiting for the man who made it all possible.
And that man, after scanning some minerals and finding some collectibles and climbing rocky mountains in his Mako, finally arrived.
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'Excellent! Soon our enemies will be on the run! Oh wait I am supposed to be a good guy.'
But fortunately Shepard has the charm skill so he is like 'crime doesn't pay' so she goes legit.
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'Really? Your gang will just say 'no problem ma'am' and just go work stocking groceries or something?'
The charm skill is just magic. So she walks away and the gang disbands and Shepard wins again!
Ok so that is that. Time to go scout out Garoth's brother's ship, hey you remember when Shepard was asked to do that way back in part 2? Well now he does it. It is floating abandoned and derelict in the Strenuus System but they detect an exhaust trail down to the frozen (and mountainous and mineral filled) world of Xawin. And eventually they find the pirate lair of the vile buccaneers who raided the ship.
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'Wait so they brought him back to their base just to kill him?'
Man those pirates could have made some money if they held him for ransom. They never tell you what is on the datapad.
So let's go to Noveria! And...maybe...get it to Garoth at some point.
Man I am so excited! No minerals will be gathered for a few hours!
I always loved the plot where the hero shows up after the disaster and has to figure out WTF happened. I LOVED the beginning of KOTOR 2 for that reason. So the whole mystery part of Noveria always made it one of my favorite parts of this game.
But first they arrive at the corrupt corporate HQ of Noveria, Port Hanshan. And we start assignments full of crime and intrigue...or at least three of them.
So basically after getting past security we are approached by the administrator's assistant, Gianna Parasini, who tells them:
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'So does that mean we have to get past 14 other peaks first?'
Liara is alarmed to hear her mother is there on Noveria but Shepard assures her he trusts her. I mean from what Liara has said she barely knows Benezia anyway.
In order to get to Peak 15 they need authorization from the Administrator, a rather shady Salarian named Anoleis. Alright that seems straightforward enough. But Anoleis is not very friendly.
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'Ok you can bill the Citadel, care of one Ambassador Udina.'
On leaving Parasini tells Shepard to seek out Lorik Qui'in, some Turian Anoleis is putting under arrest for corruption. But, of course, it is Anoleis who is corrupt and Lorik Qui'in had discovered evidence of it for his employer Synthetic Insights. Lorik Qui'in wants them to break into the Synthetic Insights offices, beat off the corrupt security guards Anoleis bribed and recover the evidence.
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'Yeah we would hate to do that to the maintenance staff'
But I don't know what carpet he is talking about. Port Hanshan is a charming combination of brutalism and water features.
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'I bet Sheilbh would love this'
So they break in and talk their way past the first group of corrupt security people but the rest I guess failed to hear the conversation because they attack. After defeating them they reach Qui'in's office and get the evidence. On the way out they meet the badass biotic who leads the corrupt rent-a-cops.
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'Probably the same sort of thing they do to everybody on your homeworld?'
Pffft. Like killing rent-a-cops counts as being a cop killer. Because I did Noveria before I knew that fighting biotics and organics was going to be key here so I brought Liara and Wrex and gave them both shredder ammo and damn did that shine here. Even with Kiara throwing out her powers they took her out in seconds. Nice.
On the way out Parasini meets Shepard and eventually it comes out that she is actually an undercover rent-a-spy working for Noveria's corporate overlords to investigate Anoleis' corruption. She wants them to convince Lorik Qui'in to testify against him. He does not want to but quickly agrees since Shepard has a maxed charm skill. So she arrests Anoleis and gives them a pass for Peak 15.
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'AN OUTRAGE! He and Udina must have gone to the same charm school.'
It is kind of funny. From the corrupt trading cartel, The Iron Throne, in the original Baldur's Gate to the big corporations plaguing the galaxy in KOTOR Bioware used to be all about these immoral money hungry big businesses doing dirty deeds that endangered the world/galaxy. But boy they cut back on that since they got bought by EA eh? Or maybe not, but I don't recall that really being a thing in ME2. When I get to the later ME games I will make a mental note to check.
There are only two side quests in Noveria, one involving getting stuff past customs and another involving industrial espionage on patent infringements. Neither of them are particularly complicated or interesting so I will just leave it at that.
One character I find really bizarre and funny is the Turian who works in the garage who has a thick northeastern US accent. Like 'ey I'm a fuckin' Turian. How ya doin?'
Anyway Benezia went to Peak 15, which is a facility for Binary Helix in which Saren is a major investor, with a squad of Asari Commandos and a large number of large and very heavy crates. Some of that cargo greets Shepard, Liara, and Wrex in the garage.
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'So how many assassin Geth do you have to order before you get free shipping?'
With that we get the Mako section of Noveria, fortunately this is a much smaller percentage of the adventure than on Therum. It is just the drive to Peak 15, which fortunately does not involve traversing Peaks 1 through 14. Just a long straight road to the peak filled with Geth and heavy turrets, really easy with the Mako. Just to make it a bit more fun I got out and did some fighting on foot, even with the ability of the turrets to one-shot-kill you.
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'Behold Peak 15! Huh...I guess it is an artificial peak.'
Then the fun really begins! As in the graphic glitches really begin. First all the party members, enemies, and some random textures but black out. So I fought the first fight against some Geth and Krogan with everybody being just black blobs. It was fun.
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'So much so they have triggered small singularities throughout the facility.'
Ok so it turns out this is a well known bug when I went back to Syt's mod it said I had to download a FPS counter to solve it. Huh. A FPS counter? Ok whatever. But for some reason that made Shepard's eyelashes appear on his cheeks, which you have to admit is a very specific bug.
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'The more realistic graphics get the more freaked out I get by minor graphics glitches like this.'
But this problem with the FPS counter can be solved by turning off 'ambient occlusion'. This, however, made the cursor vanish which was then solved by turning on hardware cursor in the ME options menu.
So whew, everything back to normal.
So we enter the cold dead wreckage of Peak 15. A disaster happened and an emergency shut down of the facility has occurred. There are survivors out at Rift station but you have to re-activate the AI using the famous 'Tower of Hanoi' which was made fun of and then un-ironically used in Dragon Age Inquisition.
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'No problem I am pretty expert at these things by now.'
Then we have to activate the rest of the facility while Geth and Rachni, though Shepard and company does not know they are Rachni, attack them. Something not seen since the days of Diocletian! Well except by them at the Cerberus facility earlier.
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'Hey we're back! How did that Tetrarchy thing work out? Did they manage to retake Dacia?'
Not even Wrex recognized them but I guess not even he is THAT old. So they manage to reactivate the facility enough to get the tram working again and get all the updates from the VI system. But first they get to purge all the Rachni from the transport area with a plasma purge.
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'Man that is satisfying. Why activating this gave me 11,400 credits I have no idea.'
So that section was a lot of fun. It was really awesome the first time I did it, but even knowing basically what was going on it was pretty great.
So on to Rift Station! Once you arrive the Binary Helix guards are freaked out on Stims, staying awake for days trying to keep the Rachni from eating the few remaining staff. He tells you the Rachni came out of the Hot Labs below and gives you a key card to get down there and tells you Benezia is down there. Well we will see about that.
Shepard goes and meets the few remaining staff including a surprisingly calm Asari scientist. Some staff in the medical bay are suffering from Binary Helix's work on biological weapons of mass destruction. Because EVIL CORPORATIONS. Anyway the cure is still down in the lab but because they accidentally set the weapon off (man how many disasters does this evil corporation suffer in a week?) the security personnel are too scared to let anybody in, in case the weapon spreads. But it should have long sense dissipated...supposedly. Because Shepard is almost suicidally brave he volunteers for this mission and convinces the guards to let him in. After a silly (but new!) minigame he creates the cure and is about to leave when that Asari shows up with some Geth buddies after killing the guard outside.
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'I knew it! All Asari are in league with Benezia! Oh right...no offense Liara.'
But my team can handle Biotics easily enough. Man how many sleeper agents does Benezia have in this place? Spoiler alert: basically everybody.
So they take it back and cure the scientists. After that they talk to the only survivor in the Hot Labs, a Volus who naturally escaped in a cowardly way.
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'Oh you Volus.'
So he was afraid of the Rachni he closed the door and watched his colleague die. But this is a much darker toned sort of Volus incident I have to say, for once not played for laughs. He explains how they tried to bring the Rachni back from the dead and that turned out to be really bad. He is pretty traumatized. He also tells them the geth came in from the maintenance area. They will have to head there soon but first, down to the Hot Labs to find Benezia and the Rachni.
Ok time to head down the Hot Labs and take care of that. When they get down there instead of finding Benezia and a horde of Rachni they discover a single human scientist who fills them in on more details. Binary Helix found a Rachni egg in a derelict Rachni vessel on the edge of the galaxy. It turned out to be a queen so they started breeding all these Rachni and tried to control them to make an army. But without their mother the Rachni go insane and just start killing everything (except each other for some reason). So now, angry and aggressive Rachni are crawling throughout the facility. He advises they set off the emergency neutron purge has to be activated. Oh and Benezia never came down to the Hot Labs. Interesting.
The VI confirms that the scientist is the only person in the Hot Labs besides them. It also cannot activate the purge without the code. They go back to get the code from the scientist and he is about to tell them when...
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'You mean you Rachni could have killed him at any time?
No, not anytime. Only when it was dramatastic!'
So um how did he survive down here all this time? Fortunately they find the codes on his body and go back to the VI and activate the purge. Naturally, this being a most dramatic moment, all the Rachni come pouring into the room as Shepard and company try to escape. What they had been waiting for I have no idea. So that takes care of most of the Rachni.
So the guards lied to Shepard about the location of Benezia. What could this mean?
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'Oh so...all of you are Benezia moles? So why did that Asari kill the guard? Oh nevermind.'
I can only assume they were really committed to maintaining the charade. I also presume they sent Shepard down to the Hot Labs hoping the Rachni would kill him. Well we showed them. WE SHOWED THEM ALL.
Shepard and company kill the guards but all the other staff has vanished. Not sure where they went. They fight into the maintenance and clear out the rest of the guards and Geth before making it into the super top secret lab where the Rachni Queen is kept...and that other matriarch.
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'This line may be called back at a later date.'
No Benezia, but I brought my own. She is not particularly moved by Liara's presence.
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'You know it would have been helpful if you explained how to kill her earlier.'
So the battle is on! But fortunately as soon as the Asari charge in Wrex and Liara are hitting them with biotics of their own so it is no big deal. Shepard can concentrate on the Geth.
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'I got you sucker! Wait...Liara uses her assault rifle when she fights? Huh.'
I always just assumed she stuck with her pistol. I guess I should keep that in mind next time I do her inventory.
Once all the goons are dead they approach Benezia and she gains control of herself for a moment to explain that Saren is using some sort of indoctrination on her that she cannot resist. She went to him to try to turn him away from the bad side and instead ended up joining him instead. She explains that they needed the Rachni Queen to find the Mu Relay, which will take Saren to the Conduit. Wait even relays not even known to humans have Greek names?
Rachni Queens inherit the memories of their ancestors and the relay was in Rachni space. So she recovered the location from the queen and gave it to Saren but she hands the location to Shepard. She also says Saren's ship, the Sovereign, is more advanced and powerful and larger than any other ship in the galaxy. So it might be significant somehow.
She tells Liara she always loved and was proud of her right before submitting to Saren's will again. After another fight she lays dying and asks to be left to die to escape Saren's indoctrination.
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'Little wing? I think Benezia and Liara might have been closer than Liara let on. LIES!'
Farewell Counselor Troi. So with that comes the matter of the Rachni Queen. She creepily takes control of a dead Asari Commando to beg for her life with Shepard.
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'Man...no pressure.'
Wrex is pretty clear on what should be done.
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'I will tell you what: we will cure the Genophage and let you guys live on the same planet.'
I don't know. It was probably bit of an overkill for the Krogan to actually hunt them to extinction and the Queen is promising to only sing nice non-galactic conquest songs from now on. Besides, I have this weird feeling we may need them later on. So Shepard lets her go. She promises to sing of his awesomeness.
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'Why? Do they only write Dubstep? Because I hate that.
With that they go back to the Normandy.
Ashley wants to charge off the Mu Relay but the relay probably connects to dozens of systems so they need to first find out where exactly Saren is going. Hey maybe they will know on Feros!
The council seems to only care about the Rachni and not at all about the Mu Relay or Benezia.
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'Don't worry, the Reapers will have killed us all long before then.'
I thought it a little weird the Turian Councilor was the one to be annoyed by this since it was the Asari and Salarians who lost millions killed over nearly three hundred years of war fighting the Rachni while the Turians were still pre-spaceflight. But hey maybe the Turian is just the Council's designated whiner.
So let's talk to the people.
Joke is just glad to be away from Noveria.
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'No kidding. Once big corporations take over everything goes to shit.'
Alenko is baffled that nobody else seems particularly worried about Saren and Reapers and the Conduit and all that stuff.
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'Oh sweet innocent Kaidan. They have not yet begun to deny.'
He then talks about that time he finally got fed up with his abusive Turian instructor and lashed out with a biotic attack that killed him. Kaidan, as ever, is pretty philosophical about it saying he learned to control his powers and realized that for all their differences aliens are not so different from us. So, yeah, don't piss of Kaidan thought that seems like something that is really hard to do.
He might be one of the most reasonable and thoughtful characters Bioware ever made. It is kind of funny since the guy whose voice actor he shares, Carth Onasi from KOTOR, was neither of those things. Anyway he thinks it was ridiculous for Shepard to have to make the choice on the Rachni and it should have been the council. Yeah that would have been a good idea. I mean it was not like Shepard was under a time crunch or something.
Everybody is concerned for Liara but she is still stuck in that place where she cannot decide if she and her mother were close and distant. I mean for being estranged they sure had an emotional meeting on Noveria.
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'Ah ok. You and she were never close so it is no big deal.'
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'Wait what? Do you need comforting or not?'
Maybe it is an Asari thing.
Ashley is having a drink to honor her grandfather, general Williams, who was the commander who surrendered Shanxi to the Turians during the first contact war. The entire Williams clan was then blacklisted by the Alliance but they are crazy stubborn and keep joining the military anyway. Shepard comments that that is pretty shit and he wishes there was something he could do to help. Then Ashley gives him an ULTIMATUM.
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'Um...wait I don't think we are at the ultimatum part of our relationship yet.'
No strong woman needs a man fighting to correct obvious injustices! But damn Ashley we have only flirted a bit. Maybe you should save this for the third date right? Or at least the first date. Just to ramp up the sexual tension more they have a debate on humanity's place in the galaxy and Ashley eventually admits that Shepard might have a point. HOT.
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'I hope so, you have heavy armor and immunity.'
Nobody else has anything to say. Not even Wrex. As they are about to get going the Council calls Shepard and lets him know they also sent out a few Salarian Special Task Groups to scout for Saren. They received critical information from one of them, crucial information that they need to tell Shepard right now.
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'Ah this critical piece of intel changes everything!'
But they are pretty sure it was supposed to be important though. The Salarians are scouting out a planet called 'Virmire' and so it might be worth checking out. Yeah I don't know. Can't they get a better lead than just a bit of static? I don't think they will bother.
But hey we have more pressing matters. Admiral Hackett and the Alliance have an exciting side assignment to take care of. BIOTICS ARE KIDNAPPING HOSTAGES.
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'Wait I already did the biotic fanatics. Actually I already did this assignment twice. Wait...oh there are three groups of biotic fanatics capturing people? Damn.'
At least it is less common than the demon possession quests in Dragon Age.
Ok so to wrap this up they go back to the Citadel and visit Udina. He is OUTRAGED by what Shepard did.
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'Are you being sarcastic dude?'
Damn I just realized I totally forgot to go see Garoth in the Council chambers. Damn.
So that is Noveria. So much ice and snow and yet another long extinct species you get to meet in person in a Bioware game. I really enjoyed it and I hope it brought back good memories for you guys.
But now back to what we really enjoy in Mass Effect: more uncharted worlds missions! And then Feros.
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'I wish. I cannot even leverage this into a promotion to Captain.'
According to internet legend Marina Sirtis was approached by some fan with a box copy of Mass Effect shortly after the game came out. But she forgot she was in the game and refused to sign it despite the fans rather panicked insistence she was. I guess that shows just how much of her heart and soul she put into being the myth, the legend, Matriarch Benezia.
But if you feel sad that the series got a little less STNG don't worry. Worf is in Mass Effect 2.
Looks like a few images glitched. Same photo a few times.
Quote from: garbon on April 03, 2017, 05:12:44 PM
Looks like a few images glitched. Same photo a few times.
Well at least this means you are reading it. I fixed it. I suspect User Error was the culprit. :P Though the barrage of ads on photobucket often gets in the way of functionality.
Another great installment. Thanks again for doing this.
Quote from: Valmy on April 03, 2017, 06:04:20 PM
Quote from: garbon on April 03, 2017, 05:12:44 PM
Looks like a few images glitched. Same photo a few times.
Well at least this means you are reading it.
It has been quite humorous. :hug:
Mass Effect Part Eight or A Cipher. A Cipher wrapped in an Enigma, Smothered in Secret Sauce.
Ok I just couldn't stand it. As soon as I got back into the game I went all the way back to the Citadel to deliver the bad news to Garoth about his brother.
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'Damn. Quite a downer after our long trip.'
Then back to deal with yet MORE biotic terrorists.
There are two 'morality' quests in the Hades Gamma Cluster. You get to visit both worlds and fight Thresher Maws (three of them combined on the two worlds!) and mine for more minerals.
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'Man it is hard to take screenshots and aim this thing at the same time.'
I think that may be all the thresher maws. I know you fight ten of them in this game but I am not keeping track, they all kind of fade into each other.
Ok now they have to go in and take out the terrorists while being careful to not hurt any of their drugged out meat shields.
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'Oh should we not have created this huge explosion then?'
Fortunately they somehow manage to not hurt a single hostage. These terrorists might need lessons on how to use human shields. Hackett is super impressed and praises Shepard as a credit to the uniform and the Alliance. You notice how when Shepard does these little side assignments everybody heaps praise on him but whenever he actually makes progress to stopping Saren everybody gives him shit? The psychological impact on Shepard's priorities cannot be good.
So naturally we do more side content. We are easily influenced.
After Noveria you get access to a different Star Cluster, Styx Theta. Glad we got back to the random mix of Greek Words.
They instantly get messaged by Marie Durand of the Alliance 10th Frontier Division. Her detachment was dropped off as a small garrison on a random world but now they are under attack by a strange unidentified alien species.
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'Huh. I think I can identify them.'
Well that queen sure wasted no time. Or is it her? Wait and see.
So they find Durand and the remains of her unit and help them beat off the Rachni. Then Shepard finds the Rachni nest and destroys it. He strategically does not mention releasing the Rachni Queen.
But there is no Queen. Can they make Rachni without her? Or did these nests not actually make Rachni? Huh.
Durand tells them there is another Alliance outpost in another star system nearby that dropped out of communication. Inside an exciting recycled map base they find loads of Rachni, dead Alliance soldiers, and egg looking things. Huh...where did they get the eggs They find a computer and Tali says the Rachni came on a supply ship from a depot. Shepard says this system is almost entirely uninhabited so why would a supply shit be sent? Tali tracks it.
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'So...someplace in a star cluster?'
I love space games. Only in a space game can saying something in located in a cluster of thousands of stars and millions of entire planets is specific enough to quickly follow up.
And sure enough they have access to a star cluster in Argos Rho that they couldn't go to before. And there is a supply depot, Sigma-23 in the Gorgon system. So they board it and yes it is filled with Rachni and dead Cerberus terrorists.
This is a Cerberus facility for storing the Rachni being stolen from Noveria, from where I presume they shipped the Rachni to Binthu in the earlier Cerberus quest. But it did not go well for Cerberus. I know you are all shedding tears for them.
The Rachni were too smart for them and start taking over the supply ships and reprogram them to go to random destinations so they can randomly spread throughout the galaxy. I find that hilarious for some reason. Still not clear how the Rachni make more Rachni without a Queen but hey whatever.
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'Their motivations are to be evil. Super evil in complicated and expensive ways.'
Wait ships have scuttle charges? Man that seems easily abusable. They set the charges and only give themselves 90 seconds to escape for some reason. I guess Shepard likes to live dangerously.
Fortunately I have learned the layout already so they manage to escape while the Rachni all attacked them. The Rachni always know the most dramatic times to attack.
So...hopefully that is that for Cerberus trying to fill the galaxy with Rachni.
They travel to the star cluster to go to Feros but the Alliance has something more important to do first. A probe was shot down on a planet full of space monkeys and the Alliance needs Shepard to go hunt for its data disk. Well first things first!
They land on Eletania and soon find a strange Prothean device. Now I think I forgot to mention this but the Asari Consort gave Shepard a random piece of Prothean junk when he helped her earlier. It works in this sphere device and gives Shepard a vision.
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'The weird hair guy from the History Channel had it right!'
So yeah I am not saying it was aliens but it was aliens. The space monkeys stole the data from the probe so one of them must be carrying it around. Time to carefully fondle a bunch of monkeys.
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'Ok just relax and this won't hurt at all.'
Eventually they find a mine and in the bottom of the mine there is a monkey. This most inaccessible of monkeys had the data disk. Once they have it the Geth arrive and try to keep Shepard from escaping with it. Well the Alliance is grateful but they never find out what was on the disk. I hope it was super important Hackett!
Ashley comments that fate has put Shepard right where he needs to be. The conversation soon has a sexual subtext...until Ashley just makes it text.
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'Nice! I hope your AI is better off the battlefield though.'
I mean she just stands there up front taking brutal punishment without even bothering to take cover. Huh...that puts a lot of pressure on Shepard.
Ok so they go back to the Citadel, sell all the stuff, then go to Shepard's retirement home and buy lots of level 60 stuff. Then it is off to Feros!
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'It is so beautiful. I just want to enjoy having all the Assignments done for a few seconds. Brings a tear to my eye.'
They land at Zhu's Hope, the star port, and a guy is there to tell them to go see their leader, Fai Dan. He is then instantly gunned down by masses of Geth attacking the docking bay.
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'So...I hear you are having Geth problems?'
So you fight your way to the colony, in the midst of the ruins of a giant Prothean super city (kind of reminds me of Taris from KOTOR), right as the Geth are moving in for the kill. Man how is that timing eh? So the Geth control the tower right by the colony and Shepard charges up the tower and takes out the Geth. So now everybody has time to talk...and say creepy stuff.
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'Because you really love decaying ruins, starvation, and Geth attacks?'
Everybody seems really committed to defending this place as if they had lived there for generations instead of a couple years. I mean for colonists who just left their homes a short time ago they sure sink deep roots fast. When Shepard asks Fai Dan about this he is all like 'look this place is just really special to us alright? It is our home. A great home of decaying wreckage with no natural resources or economic prospects of any kind!'
So they send Shepard out to get them some things. They want to hunt the Varren, who I guess the Krogan have let loose throughout the galaxy, but need Shepard to kill the Alpha Varren, who I nicknamed Legbiter. They also need Shepard to get power cells and turn the water back on. Oh and clear out the Geth in the tunnels below. But besides food, water, power, and defense against the Geth they got it under control. So much for them on Feros. Yep.
So they venture down into the tunnels below the tower beside Zhu's Hope and slay the Varren Alpha, which means Beta Varrens now have a chance to leave the friendzone with the lady Varrens. They start turning on the water and find some power cells in the many wrecked transports. Man the colony must be losing a fortune with all these ruined transports laying around.
Then they find a guy just hanging out with the Geth down there. He seems to be getting off on powerful headaches he gets from his 'master' who he cannot talk about.
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'Hey whatever weird master-slave play you people do in this colony is your business.'
So Shepard and company find and destroy a Geth transmitter that...um...somehow allowed them to get into the tunnels. It was guarded by Krogan so that is interesting. Saren is hiring mercenaries.
The colony is sponsored by the ExoGeni, whose missing survey team turned into space zombies way back in part 4. They want the colonists at Zhu's Hope to find something valuable in the ruins but so far they had not had much luck before the Geth arrived and then they REALLY did not have much luck.
Fai Dan is strangely uninterested in the sub hiding down in the tunnels, claiming there is nothing anybody can do for him. It is complicated and he cannot tell Shepard why. He does direct Shepard to the ExoGeni office at the end of a Mako driveable track, where the Geth have set up shop and are blocking all transmissions into and out of the colony.
They go let the colonists know they have food and water and power again. They are really grateful.
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'Oh thanks for a few Cre...wait...69,000?'
Man the colonists are rich! You would think they could have just hired their own army to defend the colony.
So they enter the colonial Mako and head off down the track. There is a lot more burned out vehicles and trash on the track so that at least makes it a bit more interesting than the flat track on Noveria. The Geth ships are dropping Geth all over the track to make it fun.
You know if they dropped bombs on the track instead of Geth they would have much more success. Just saying.
While they are driving along they hear radio transmissions from ExoGeni employees hiding on the track. I bet they would hide better without blasting the radio across the planet.
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'Yeah who are you even talking to anyway?'
Shepard finds them and there is some kind of argument between Jeong, a corporate stooge, and Juliana who is also a corporate stooge but a less evil one. Jeong claims he only cares about ExoGeni and its shareholder value but he seems to be a dick without any profit motive at all.
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'Whatever I am a Spectre, my immunity allows me to conduct industrial espionage to my heart's content.'
So anyway they do not give us much new information except Juliana wants us to look for her daughter Lizbeth. Jeong says we shouldn't waste our time because she knows all the EVIL things ExoGeni has done.
A guy beside them is a contractor who left some information from his freelancing on his computer and wants us to get it. Eh sure...we are going to be there anyway. So having learned nothing new they get back in the Mako and soon arrive at ExoGeni HQs.
Inside they find Lizbeth hiding out. Just like that engineer in Bringing Down the Sky she tries to shoot them.
She tells them ExoGeni found an ancient plant called the Thorian on Feros. She hands us her ID card so we can access the building and drive off the Geth.
Well a short way in they find a Krogan trying to access the ExoGeni VI. They use Lizbeth's keycard to access the VI and discover that ExoGeni discovered it had some kind of mind control abilities. So, like you do, they placed a colony right on top of it to see how these mind control powers worked on the colonists because evil = shareholder value. Lizbeth had an annoying moral problem with that so she was placed on probation. Could big corporations be more evil?
They find the computer of that guy from the ExoGeni refugees and finally find the Geth ship, which is grasping onto the building tied into ExoGeni's power and information systems. They close a particularly ferocious door to smash its attachments and send it plunging to its destruction.
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'By way of this little addition minigame. Math is fun!'
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'Well it probably looked like a flashlight...'
So that destroyed the Geth ship and allows communications again. Joker tells Shepard that a short time ago, probably coinciding to when Shepard learned of the Thorian's existence, the colonists from Zhu's Hope started attacking the Normandy.
They get Lizbeth on the way out and she confirms the dirty deeds of ExoGeni. She got stuck in the building because she was trying to out ExoGeni to Colonial Affairs but the Geth cut the power. Man so close to being fired for being a whistle blower.
They get in the Mako and fight their way back to the ExoGeni refugees. Lizbeth rushes in to see her mom right when Jeong is being extremely dastardly.
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'Damn you are one cold blooded motherfucker.'
ExoGeni wants this place purged so soon nuking from orbit will occur. But Jeong and his evil corporate ways have not met the power of Shepard's amazing charm skill.
Shepard tells him that it would make ExoGeni look good if they supported the colony. At this ridiculos suggestion Jeong, well, he completely agrees.
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'Yes! Use your shareholder value for good instead of evil!'
But he still says they still need to get rid of the infected colonists. Shepard instead says they will get rid of the Thorian. Jeong has turned good now so he is alright with that. They give Shepard some knock out gas he can deploy with his grenades to knock out the colonists when they defend the Thorian. The colonists parked a cargo vessel on top of the entrance to the Thorian's lair and Shepard saw the controls to the freighter earlier.
Oh and he gives that guy the mod data he wanted. In case it becomes important later his name is Gavin Hossle.
So they take the track back to Zhu's Hope, fighting through the Geth. When they get there the Thorian has a new surprise for them. Space zombies called 'Thorian Creepers'. You might remember these guys from the Cerberus mission. Oh and ExoGeni sold the Thorian information to Cerberus because EVIL but more on that later.
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'Man everytime I get involved with ExoGeni I discover a new kind of space zombies.'
So they have to kill the Creepers while gassing the colonists. It is tricky but they manage.
They get to the controls of the freighter and expose the lair of the Thorian. Then Fai Dan walks up and dramatically says he failed the colony as leader and says the Thorian wants him to kill Shepard.
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'Wait just let me get out my gas grenade and *blam* oh damn.'
So, he kills himself in dramatic fashion. That was dark.
They descend into the Thorian's lair and they do not have to go far.
They soon find the fearsome beast...which looks kind of meaty to be a plant...and it speaks through an Asari because they is how creepy things talk to Shepard in this game.
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'Wait so if it is that pink color why did it turn the Asari green?'
So Saren came and got knowledge of the Protheans from the Thorian in exchange for something...Asari I guess...but Saren then sent the Geth to kill it so now the Thorian trusts nobody. Oh, good Shepard came here to kill it anyway.
So here comes a battle against more green Asari and Thorian creepers and you must shoot the arm things holding the Thorian up.
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'You mean shooting at Lieutenant?'
So eventually the Thorian falls to its gruesome death. I guess. I would think we would need to drop a nuke or something down there to make sure.
Once this is done the original Asari that Saren gave to the Thorian, named Shiala, breaks out of her egg thing she was being kept in and explains what Saren was after was THE CIPHER.
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'We have the Conduit, we have the Cipher, all we need is the Catalyst.'
So she mind melds with Shepard by saying a bunch of random new age terms.
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'So...which Chakra do I need to be focusing on?'
Then he sees the vision with the new Cipher and it is much clearer now. It still doesn't make much sense but it is much clearer.
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'You know now that ME2 showed us what the Protheans look like I feel like I should retroactively nitpick this.'
But it ends this time with a vision of a planet and a star, which narrows it down, followed by Sovereign flying at you. Now the Cipher is supposed to give you the ancestral memories of the Protheans necessary to see the vision clearly. I would think having the ancestral memories of the Protheans would do a bit more than just that. Like maybe knowing something about them. But maybe it will eventually, Shiala says it will take time for Shepard's brain to process. She then says she is going to join the colony and help them rebuild.
They go back to Zhu's Hope. Everybody is there except for Fai Dan. Even the guy getting perverse pleasure from angering the Thorian from earlier. Jeong is there, now a good guy, and ExoGeni is pouring investment money into the colony. Everybody lived happily ever after. Man, is that charm skill great or what? So they all sing 'Yub Nub' and then return to the Normandy.
They all have the big meeting and for the third time in a row only Ashley and Liara have anything to say to Shepard. And of course, they bicker. Liara does the mind meld with Shepard and we get to see the funky thing again.
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'Wait do the Reapers use four pin connectors?'
Liara says that the vision is incomplete and they need to find another beacon. Well gee I am sure those are just laying around everywhere.
The council has surprisingly little to bitch about this time, except to say that ExoGeni might have been slightly unethical with how it handled the Thorian situation. You don't say? Though the Turian Councilor still invents something.
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'Well to be fair only our colonies ever seem to get attacked.'
Once again they never bother to talk about Saren and how the investigation is going. The side content really gets the most attention in this game.
I think Feros is between Noveria and Therum in terms of quality. It has a cool creepy atmosphere in ancient ruins and creepy townspeople. Knocking people out with the gas grenades was strangely satisfying. The Thorian was pretty cool if rather simple as a boss. But it is on the short side and it is a little ridiculous how everything ties together so nicely just by passing one charm check. I mean suddenly ExoGeni is willing to pour money into this colony with no prospects for being self-sufficient as a publicity stunt? And now Shepard possesses the ancestral memories of the Protheans? Nothing in the rest of ME1 or what I played of ME2 suggests he has that in his head. But maybe that matters in ME3? And I guess Liara has them now to that she mind melded.
But enough of that, it is time to talk to people!
Kaidan is amazed at Shepard's Charm-fu.
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'The judge would lock up the cop for wasting the court's time.'
Ashley wonders how Shepard handled those corporate goons so well.
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'Glad to see Ashley is getting into the spirit of this thing.'
Oh you sweet talker you!
Liara is ever supportive of Shepard's efforts.
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'We all could use a Liara in our lives.'
Joker pathetically whines.
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'Hey! That has only happened like three or four times so far.'
They go back to the Citadel and learn that being good has provided excellent shareholder value.
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'What? How? Though I guess if random colonists can hand out 69,000 credits for turning on the water it must be more lucrative than we thought.'
Udina is surprisingly not pissed off about the last mission and praises Shepard for saving the colony so keeping humanity strong in the traverse. So, to make up for the pissed off deficit Shepard fills in.
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'Garrus is all: can we shoot him?'
Alright after finishing Feros everybody hit max level for a first playthrough at 50. So here is everybody's final stats.
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Zero renegade points baby! I sure would have liked a few more points for Commando and Fitness but overall I like this spec. Of course, it means my companions have to invest a lot in first aid.
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Soldiers are easy to spec. ASHLEY SMASH.
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I like this version of Kaidan. Medic Kaidan. It is very focused on what I need him to do and managed to buff his shields with a few points in electronics there at the end.
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I kind of fucked up Liara. I forgot how very rarely you use Stasis. I maybe have used it five times so far. I think I would have been better served putting those points in maxing out her other skills.
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Likewise, I should not have given Tali that extra point in both electronics and decryption and maxed out her pistols.
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Balanced Garrus is great.
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Wrex is pretty straightforward like Ashley.
So now is the time for MORE UNCHARTED WORLDS!!!111 And more Cerberus fucking things up for the evilz. Then maybe check out what that Salarian Special Task Group is up to.
I know from my DF threads that this has been a shit load of work. Good on you, Valmy.
Don't play Andromeda though. :P
Quote from: grumbler on April 03, 2017, 08:22:44 PM
Another great installment. Thanks again for doing this.
I am enjoying writing it. Thanks for reading :hug:
Quote from: garbon on April 04, 2017, 07:29:16 AM
It has been quite humorous. :hug:
Thanks :hug: I hope you enjoyed the last update.
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on April 06, 2017, 01:23:47 AM
I know from my DF threads that this has been a shit load of work. Good on you, Valmy.
Don't play Andromeda though. :P
Thanks and um I played through Pinnacle Station even though I knew it was total shit so of course I am going to play through Andromeda :P
Besides I am sure it will all be patched up by the time I finally play it.
It had me chuckling, so yes, I enjoyed the last update. :)
Quote
It is kind of funny. From the corrupt trading cartel, The Iron Throne, in the original Baldur's Gate to the big corporations plaguing the galaxy in KOTOR Bioware used to be all about these immoral money hungry big businesses doing dirty deeds that endangered the world/galaxy. But boy they cut back on that since they got bought by EA eh? Or maybe not, but I don't recall that really being a thing in ME2. When I get to the later ME games I will make a mental note to check.
There's the small tiny businees with Cerberus... ;)
Oh they don't count. They are supposed to be a terrorist organization.
Quote from: Valmy on April 06, 2017, 03:41:46 PM
Oh they don't count. They are supposed to be a terrorist organization.
they are multi-tasking ;) :P
QuoteStill not clear how the Rachni make more Rachni without a Queen but hey whatever.
Likes bees and ants? Some species have workers able to mate with males and produce a queen offspring.
Quote from: viper37 on April 06, 2017, 03:54:12 PM
Likes bees and ants? Some species have workers able to mate with males and produce a queen offspring.
:ph34r: Oh dear I have doomed the galaxy.
Ah well. It was already doomed anyway.
Quote from: Valmy on April 06, 2017, 03:59:48 PM
Quote from: viper37 on April 06, 2017, 03:54:12 PM
Likes bees and ants? Some species have workers able to mate with males and produce a queen offspring.
:ph34r: Oh dear I have doomed the galaxy.
Ah well. It was already doomed anyway.
yeah. Geth, Reapers, Cerberus, now Rachni. I don't think anyone will notice ;)
Thanks for the update Valmy. Looking forward to Virmire, which was probably my second favorite of the 3 "middle plot worlds". Feros was nice, but Virmire and Noveria both had more weight to it, due to the choices you have to make.
And wow, was the charm skill ever the Jedi mind trick in ME1.
By the way, do you have all the DLC for ME2+3?
Mass Effect Part Nine or Ash to Ashes Dust to Dust
Ok enough of this Saren and Reaper business. Let's get down on those planets and get some minerals and drive over some mountains!
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'I think Bioware was especially excited to leave this especially mountainous planet for last!'
Every single planet in the galaxy is just a planet sized version of the Alps.
This planet had a colony that Cerberus did some dastardly deeds to with tech they bought from ExoGeni. So yeah, you know space zombies will be involved.
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'Man I bet you guys sure are happy you became ExoGeni colonists!'
You know for an organization devoted to human supremacy Cerberus sure loves annihilating human colonies.
So that was the planet Chasca in the Matrano System in the Maroon Sea Cluster.
But don't worry because when ExoGeni is not selling dangerous zombie-making technology to terrorist organizations to destroy colonies they are creating armies of other sorts of space zombies. So down Shepard and company go to the planet Nodacrux in the Vostok System to see all the exciting products ExoGeni is bringing to the market this quarter.
But first we have an exciting event for the history books.
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'WE HAVE WON MASS EFFECT!'
That is right! We mined all the Minerals: 33 Light Minerals, 32 Heavy Minerals, 35 Rare Minerals, and 10 Gases. I am looking forward to the glorious ending cinematic...oh I guess I have to finish that Saren sidequest first.
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'ZOMBIES IN SPAAAAAAACE'
So they eventually break into a room in the depths of the often re-used subterranean base map and find ExoGeni researches hunkering down. They try to pull the same thing Dr. Saleon tried to pull earlier. 'Oh wow where did these space zombies come from? Certainly not from my research. Thanks for saving me!'
Shepard lets them know that he is on to them and he knows all about the Thorian and ExoGeni's dastardly deeds.
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'You know I am no expert on space economics but with all these attack drones, Vis, and robots I just don't understand the big business incentive to invest in space zombie labor.'
Shepard wants to arrest them but they decide the guys who just destroyed all the space zombies should be easy to fight. After about four seconds Shepard wins.
The last uncharted star system to explore is the Caspian System. They discover a derelict ship just floating there in space and after boarding it you will never guess what they found: MORE SPACE ZOMBIES. I guess after Feros Bioware just decided you really want to fight more space zombies.
So after fighting through more space zombies they discover this ship picked up some kind of Geth artifact that turned them all into husks and then compelled them to fly directly into Geth space...and they got this far before the Husks overwhelmed the crew, leaving them floating in the Caspian System. So that is that for the uncharted systems. I know you guys really enjoyed hearing about it all.
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'Hey! Check out the glass bottom space ship!'
Ok now I run into a weird problem. I have too many credits. I went through all the gear I had collected and then went to Shepard's retirement home and spent all his money on new gear and then sold what I didn't need and...I was back up to max credits again.
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Yeah so now I get neither credits nor experience for anything AND I mostly have level 60 gear for everybody so I do not even get new gear to use. It kind of reduces the fun in a RPG.
So now, with absolutely nothing else to do, I guess it is time to go check on that Salarian STG. So Salarians are isolated on Virmire by powerful Geth forces with powerful AA towers so Shepard has to land in the Mako to take them out.
Oh hell I totally forgot this long Mako section at the beginning of this level.
So they fight through this long chasm filled with Geth, eventually finding these gate houses that eventually need to be opened and also contain the AA towers.
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'Wow thanks Alenko, I am so glad I have you around to tell me these things.'
I kind of like this long range fighting since I can use my sniper rifle but damn I almost felt sorry for the Geth. We have such great gear at this point they can barely get through Shepard's shields and he can just one shot kill them for the most part. It is getting pretty unbalanced.
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'Great so you will pick us up and...oh...we have to continue on foot eh? Bastard.'
So eventually they make it through this tropical paradise to the poor beleaguered Salarians. Considering what they were up against it is ridiculous they are still alive.
When they get to the camp the Geth have focused all their AA guns at us, grounding the Normandy. I mean we have that fancy cloaking device but I guess these AA guns use visuals. The Salarian plan is for us to join them until the fleet the Council is sending as reinforcements arrive.
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'We are keeping government lean. Hey why did Ashley change back into her Eden Prime armor?'
So now they will have to infiltrate this base of Saren and destroy his Krogan breeding program that has found a way around the Genophage.
Wait what?
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'Yeah but what about our problems Wrex?'
I have to say I am a little confused about the "cure for the Genophage" in this game. I mean it is not like Saren has a whole bunch of Krogan ladies in there hatching thousands of Krogan Eggs and raising little Krogan babies until they finally reach maturity however long that takes. He just has a bunch of vats spewing out full grown male Krogan battle thralls. So it seems more like a cloning program. Oddly the game never addresses this.
Anyway so Wrex is all pissed and thinking he should join with Saren since he is going to save his species. I guess he forgot about Saren's whole 'wipe out all organic life' part of his platform. Though I guess despite Wrex's earlier claims to the contrary he still is just really committed to the Krogan.
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'I mean I know we have been mining minerals and solving little colonial problems for like 80% of our time together but let's try to remember the main plot, shall we?'
So with Wrex onside Shepard and the Salarian leader, Captain Kirrahe, plan the attack on Saren's base. The Salarians will split into three teams and assault the base and knock out the AA towers while Shepard and two others will slip in the back and secure the site for the bomb.
Wait...what bomb?
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'Ah. How comforting every ship can turn its drive into a nuke.'
So naturally Ashley suggests they just drop the damn thing on the base and call it a day. But Kirrahe says the base is too fortified for that, they have to place the bomb on foot. Damn that must be some really strong fortifications.
Kirrahe wants one of Shepards people to assist him. I mean I would just assume all of our people participate in this attack but it looks like two will go with Shepard, one will go with Kirrahe, and the other three will just hang on the ship with the rest of Shepards marines. Huh.
Kaidan and Ashley then bicker over who gets to volunteer for a suicide mission.
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'Oh Ashley you have such a way with words.'
But it will be Kaidan, being an officer and everything. Garrus and Tali will be coming with Shepard.
Kirrahe gives an inspiring speech to his troops.
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'This is the pose Kirrahe will have when we build the commemorative statue on Virmire.'
Have fun storming the castle Salarians!
So part of this mission will be knocking out key Geth infrastructure to help Kirrahe and Alenko while pushing into the base. Once again with everybody being max level with top level gear it is kind of a slaughter, especially having three tech experts going up against the synthetic Geth. It is not even really necessary to take cover anymore and Saren's Krogans never get close on their charges.
So they take out their communications, satellite uplink and their flying drones. Eventually they clear everybody off the outside of the base and then enter underneath through the sewers.
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'So much Krogan poop.'
Then they find the last thing they need to do to help Kirrahe and Alenko's teams.
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'Are alarms really a factor several minutes into a full scale assault?'
Setting off the alarms on the farside of the base would make your trip a little easier at the expense of Kirrahe and company but it is not like we are having trouble. So they turn off the alarms.
So they break into Saren's first lab and instead of it being full of Krogan breeding it is a lab to use the indoctrination on captured Salarians. They all attack as soon as they see Shepard.
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'Ah some of our fine Salarian comrades...wait...ah the game labeled them indoctrinated for me. Thanks that cleared that up.'
They find Salarians in various degrees of brainwashing in some prison cells and, knowing they are about to nuke the facility, Shepard lets them all out. Some of them even don't attack them.
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'Yeah....some rescue eh?'
They then attack the warehouse, where you normally would enter if you don't enter through the Krogan crao, from behind. It was kind of a kick blasting that small army that was waiting for you from behind
Upstairs they find the Krogan lab which is filled with husk space zombies for some reason.
The scientist in charge is a Krogan!
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'Ok next time Wrex asks me the last time I saw a Krogan scientist I can mention this.'
They then break into Saren's personal lab at the heart of the base. An Asari Scientist they find there, Rana Thanoptis since it is entirely possible we might meet her again, whimpers that she was just following orders. She explains that the research was about Sovereign's indoctrination powers, not Sarens, and Saren was conducting the research because he is afraid Sovereign is controlling him. The more Sovereign asserts control the less capable the subject becomes so eventually they are just a useless husk. Rana also opens the door to Sarens personal area. Shepard lets her go but tells her they are about to nuke the facility.
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'Well that was strangely satisfying.'
In Saren's lab they find the thing that Liara said they needed: another Prothean Beacon!
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'Huh? Dude you have never even been to Eden Prime.'
Anyway so Shepard uses the beacon and hopefully gets the full version this time so now Liara should be able to find out where the Conduit is next time they mind meld. And this time Shepard manages to not destroy the beacon. I guess the Cipher helped there.
Closeby they find the little terminal Saren uses to talk to his ship.
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'It is literally a literal Reaper. Literally. Which is how that line would be written if this game was made in 2017.'
Sovereign then goes on to tell them that he is eternal and beyond their comprehension and their doom is assured and so forth. For everything being BEYOND COMPREHENSION and INEVITABLE he sure is working hard to get to this conduit thing. But he is right that the things he says are beyond my comprehension.
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'YOUR DOOOOOOOM...will bring order to organic evolution somehow.'
I remember when I first saw this scene thinking that Bioware made a mistake by trying to make the Reapers this...um....awe inspiring because it would be very hard for them to properly pay off this set up at the end. I don't know how ME3 ends but my impression is my concerns were accurate.
The Reapers also built the Citadel and the Mass Relays and all of that in order for organic life to behave exactly as they want it to. However that might be.
Shepard is a little unjustifiably optimistic about the state of the galaxy's readiness to face its doom.
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'Oh yeah Shep, everybody is just lining up behind you.'
Not sure what is the source of Shepard's wishful thinking there.
With that Sovereign decides it is time to act and takes off towards the facility. Supposedly he is going to be there soon but nothing seems to come from this. They knock out an AA tower and around this time Kirrahe and his teams start to reach the other AA towers and know them out. Shepard runs through breeding vats in these trench things full of Krogan.
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'Seriously how does this trench make Krogans?'
So at the end they come to a large open room at the heart of the breeding facility and take out the Geth rocket troops. This allows the Normandy to land and deploy the weapon.
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'Ah so there is my marine detachment! You know we could have used you guys!'
But after the bomb is set they all just run back in the ship. Stupid useless jarheads.
At this point Kaidan radios that his team is pinned down at the last AA tower. Geth are pouring into this part of the base now that they have kind of figured out what is going on. Figuring they probably don't want to have a functioning AA tower shooting down the Normandy they head off towards the AA tower. Liara and Wrex switch out with Garrus and Tali.
When they are almost there they see a Geth ship arriving at Ashley's position and Geth are dropping out. Knowing she is outnumbered Ashley activates the bomb early. This puts Shepard in a difficult position but at the end they still need to knock out that AA tower.
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'Farewell brave Ashley.'
There will be time to pour one out for our heroic Chief in a bit. First they take off to the AA tower and take out all the Geth there. Then Saren shows up and we start the final....conversation. He seems to think that so long as he does whatever Sovereign wants he can save the lives of many organic beings to exist as servants to the Reapers instead of being exterminated.
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'Useful to do what exactly?'
Though, as we will eventually find out, Saren is not completely wrong here. But living as a Reaper slave is really just being an animal, as his own research shows.
Saren reveals that the Geth think Sovereign is some kind of god even though Sovereign has little but contempt for them. Huh, I guess his contempt for organic life also mysteriously extends to his own. I mean once the Reapers are done the Geth will be the dominant power in the galaxy so I can understand why they might be excited about this 'extermination of all organic life' thing.
Saren does not seem to understand he is already under Sovereign's power. But Shepard has his own super indoctrinating power known as the charm skill.
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'This is not the hope you are looking for. Join me and we shall rule the galaxy as Turian and human couple.'
But for the first time ever it does not work. Woah. But Saren's resolve seems a bit weakened.
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'Ok...wait...let me use my charm skill on you one more time.'
Then Shepard punches Saren and he jumps on his little flying saucer thing and flies off. The Normandy comes and everybody jumps on board and off we go!
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'Ashley is bravely holding off the Geth as the seconds count down to her doom. How noble. How inspiring. How bizarre that the game has her wearing her Eden Prime armor and using a pistol instead of her Colossus X Heavy Battle Armor and her Master Spectre Assault Rifle.'
Weird. Though I notice the game did that to Kaidan as well, putting him in plain black armor and not his own Colossus Armor. But Ashley is so badass maybe they just wanted to give the Geth a chance.
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'Somewhere The Brain is smiling.'
So that is that for Virmire. It is kind of weird to think that if the Citadel had sent a fleet or they had nuked the facility from orbit that they never would have found the intact beacon and thus would never have been able to find the Conduit. Things happen for a reason, in video games anyway.
About Virmire the first time you play this game this area will completely blow you away. There is tons of dramatic tension and big reveals and the first big meeting with Saren (and what you do in that confrontation will impact the ending of the game). On repeated playthroughs its contrivances slowly reveal themselves (especially if you try to make different choices and discover they all pretty much go to the same place, except with maybe more dead people) but it remains really strong. I prefer levels with slower building of tension then this EVERYTHING IS INTENSE IMMEDIATELY AND CONSTANTLY situation on Virmire but I consider it part of the endgame and in that context it works. And, of course, I find the long drive down a straight corridor in the Mako pretty tiresome but that is true for the other areas as well.
Every single group meeting in the game so far has only had Liara and Ashley talking. With Ashley gone Kaidan speaks up and mourns her death and blames himself for it. Well he is not wrong I guess, if his squad had taken out the AA tower it would not have been necessary to go save them. But Shepard tells them all the only one to blame is Saren.
Then Liara takes over and they mind meld yet again. This time the vision is complete, though I am not sure what was missing last time.
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'Man even places humans have never heard of before have Greek names.'
Maybe the Ancient Greeks were actually Protheans in disguise?
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'Holy shit! Somebody other than the humans or Liara has something to say! Well Tali that is what stealth systems are for.'
Liara points out the Geth fleet will be defending Ilos so they will need a fleet from the Citadel. This all sounds like something that should be discussed much further but Liara gets her traditional fainty spells from the mind melding and Shepard calls the session. Then he calls the Council. Surely they will want to talk about the Conduit and Sovereign and...well no all they want to talk about is the Krogan situation.
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'Yes yes blah blah main plot BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT THE SIDE MISSION!'
Finally Shepard gets them to talk about Saren but they are sure that Saren is just making up this whole Reaper business because...um...to distract Shepard from...something.
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'Well I do have multiple eye witness accounts supporting my version of things.'
Could I call Shiala from Feros? Liara, Tali, and Garrus? Ah well, not that eye witness testimony ever swayed the council much. Heck even a recording of Saren talking about the Conduit and the Reapers was insufficient evidence he is after the Conduit. Well nobody can ever accuse the Council of moving on flimsy data. Or maybe we can? More on that later.
So people have a few things to say about the last mission.
Wrex is still grumpy about giving up whatever exactly they were doing on Virmire that counted as a cure for the Genophage. I am still not really clear on that.
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'I will tell you what; let's keep the galaxy from being entirely wiped out. Will that work?'
Ashley's sacrifice has restored honor to the disgraced Williams name, and not just among humans.
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We will all honor her memory captain.
Kaidan has recovered his normal thoughtful stoicism in reaction to Ashley's death. He explains his self-pity response right after the event and asks for advice.
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'Well to be fair most of your marines just sit on the ship and do nothing most of the time.'
I guess when Jenkins got killed Shepard was in command of the Marines. Shepard tells him to use the failure of every casualty to drive himself to be better and Kaidan promises to take it to heart. Besides that Kaidan says he is not sure what to think about being in conflict with ancient immortal giant death machines. Well neither does anybody else my friend.
Liara feels pity for Saren.
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'I know. My charm skill did not even work on him!'
Crazy.
Joker is unusually serious about the whole thing.
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'Damnit Joker I came here for a sarcastic joke! You are seriously bumming me out here.'
Ok so let's talk about my choice on Ashley/Kaidan. Ok first I am pretty fond of both characters. I like how intense Ashley gets and I really love how much fun her voice actress seems to have while playing her. I like Kaidan simply because I always have a soft spot for the measured and thoughtful adult characters. Even the evil ones like Solas and Vivienne. So it is not like I am killing one because I especially favor one over the other. But I killed Kaidan the first time I played this and afterwards I reflected a bit on if that really served the story well. There is really no story reason for Kaidan to die there. But Ashley keeps putting herself in these situations because she wants to prove herself and die gloriously. In fact she almost resents you for saving her if you do so. She wants to end the injustice against her family and prove herself. I just think it is more poignant if she is the big hero and martyr for the galaxy against Saren and gets all the statues built and posthumous awards and all that. I feel like Kaidan's story, as the L2 biotic who rose above it all, still has somewhere else to go.
I could be wrong about that, I don't know how the Kaidan/Ashley story ends in Mass Effect 3 but we will see. So anyway that is my thinking and why I made that choice.
This does however end Shepard's romance so no hot sex for him in this game, though that does save him the potentially difficult situation with fraternization regulations.
But fortunately very good news is on the way!
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'Ah yeah! Finally everything is working out for me!'
The cavalry is coming! Everything is going to go great now right?
Next time: Everything goes to shit.
Quote from: Malicious Intent on April 08, 2017, 06:32:08 PM
Thanks for the update Valmy. Looking forward to Virmire, which was probably my second favorite of the 3 "middle plot worlds". Feros was nice, but Virmire and Noveria both had more weight to it, due to the choices you have to make.
And wow, was the charm skill ever the Jedi mind trick in ME1.
By the way, do you have all the DLC for ME2+3?
I agree with your assessment. Virmire and Noveria were both the best. And yes they had a speech skill in DA:O and it was important but it was not quite the magical mind control Charm Skill is in ME1.
Yes I have all the DLC for ME2 but, while I recently bought ME3, I don't have the DLC yet.
Mass Effect Part Ten or Sarenity Now!
So they eagerly go back to the Citadel ready to lead a mighty coalition fleet to defeat Sovereign and the Geth!
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'You know...it's weird because I did not get that impression at all from my last conversation with them.'
Their big take away was that Saren was going to attack the Citadel. Huh...did I say that at any time? Pretty sure we have plenty of evidence of evidence about a Crucible but not the Citadel. But their big plan is to spread their fleet out at different mass relays between Terminus Space and Citadel Space. Well that might be fine for some big fleet attack but what about that other thing?
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'Man if only we had a ship that could travel around stealthily.'
Now I am no military strategist, but then neither are all these politicians, but mobilizing the fleet to defend the Citadel while sending a small force to Ilos seems like a good idea.
Shepard is no fool so he suggests this very thing.
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'Now I may just be a simple country Starship Commander...'
But they give him shit for detonating the nuke on Virmire and Shepard is too much of a loose cannon to send onto some planet nobody has been to in thousands of years. I mean the vast political implications of doing something someplace hundreds of light years from the nearest inhabited system are hard to fathom.
And of course they continue to discount all the actual evidence to insist that the Conduit is not his actual goal. And they claim nobody else has seen the Reapers besides Shepared besides all the other numerous people who could testify to this. I won't say it is all a bit contrived and non-sensical but...
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'What? Oh come on!'
Of course just the last conversation we had with the Council they said this:
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And actually I think that gives legal cover to everything that happens next.
So Shepard is all bummed sitting there on the Normandy all by himself with nobody to kiss him when Joker lets him know that Captain Anderson wants to talk to him in Flux. How come Joker is the only officer to communicate with Shepard? It couldn't be Adams or Pressley or Chakwas just once?
So they set out for Flux and run into the last two sidequests in Mass Effect. And they really wanted to get those in there because they are both right outside the entrance to Flux. I can summarize them thusly:
Human-first politician: Can I count on your support?
Shepard: Nope, I don't agree with your platform.
Human-first politician: Nevermind then.
The politician and his supporters are protesting on Armistice Day which Shepard celebrates with Ashley back in part seven. So unless it has weirdly been a year since they went to Noveria Bioware kind of messed that one up. But the timeline was pretty confusing back in Dragon Age as well.
The next side mission goes like this:
Drug-addicted Alliance Negotiator: I need my drug to be sharp for the next big negotiation!
Shepard: Nope, you should get help for your drug problem.
Drug-addicted Alliance Negotiator: You're right. Thanks Commander.
So yeah that was pretty exciting.
They meet Anderson at Flux and he is ready to help bust them out of this joint.
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'Was it over when the Japanese invaded Poland? NO SIR!'
Anderson is the only guy who believes anything Shepard has said or discovered during his mission so he is going to break into Citadel Security and release the Normandybecause he is so awesome. But Liara and Shepard suggest that maybe that might be a suicide mission so he says he probably could just use Udina's computer. So they go with that.
They run back to the Normandy and prepare to leave. Everybody is just sitting there waiting to see if Anderson can break them out.
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'Man is he ever going to be outraged once he regains conciousness.'
You know video games and movies always make knocking somebody unconscious look much easier and safer than it probably really is.
Anderson releases the Normandy and they are off!
Everybody is super excited about it.
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'The nice thing about this mission is if it doesn't work out the galaxy will be destroyed so we don't have to worry about that.'
Wow Pressly actually had something to say!
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'I know. But I think we have already established that they fail at handling rogue Spectres.'
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'Oh you can just say you were just following orders.’
Hey even Chakwas had something to say!
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'At least Liara chose a more appropriate time to say this than when Tali did back in Part Five.'
Actually it is only over if we lose. If we win we have two more games.
Garrus is all baffled that Shepard is now breaking the rules after he told Garrus he had to obey the rules and not just murder everybody he doesn't like. Garrus has problems with applying basic situational awareness to his decision making.
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'You know under the circumstances everybody seems eerily concerned with their career prospects.'
Wrex thinks what they are doing is crazy but...
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'That is what Raz always tells me.'
Adams is the only one unconcerned.
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'Engineers are the wisest around.'
I mean seriously though. We have a stealth ship inside the Terminus Systems, like the Council is really going to track us down.
Though Tali is curious what would happen if they did. Shepard suggests she would be ok since her dad is a big shot.
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'Oh you Quarians and your charming ways.'
So anyway they arrive at Ilos and a big Geth fleet is waiting for them. They stealth right in amongst them.
Pressly, unusually taking part in this operation, locates the likely location of the Conduit but the nearest location to land the Normandy is 2 kilometers away. So Shepard decides they will drop in the Mako, which is a relief since I was worried there would not be a Mako section to this area. The only area to make that drop near the Conduit is 20 meters...um...square? I guess square meters. Everybody starts arguing if they can survive that since the Normandy would have to get crazy low to the ground to pull off a drop like that. But Joker claims he can do it so down they go!
That was actually a kind of neat scene with everybody except Garrus and Wrex debating what to do.
Alenko and Wrex will get the honor of coming on the final mission.
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'Balance in all things. Hey what game is from? Oh right Dak'kon from PS:Torment.'
In another incredible display of timing they drop nearly right on Saren just as he is entering the...um...Conduit building I guess.
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'Guess who?'
Saren runs in and closes the door so they get there just seconds too late. What follows is a rather confusing area because you have to go into this control center, taken over by the Geth, and it is incredibly dark and everything is overgrown with plants.
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'Wait so where are we going here?'
Fortunately they just blow the hell out of those Geth. I felt kind of bad because I kept finding these terminals that took out the Armatures and actually I think those would have been kind of fun to fight. The best part was where there was a small army of Geth guarding the entrance to the control room. I got my guys up on a slightly higher elevation and the slaughter began.
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'I AM THE ANGEL OF AI PLATFORM DEATH!'
So they enter the complex and fight their way into the inner areas. The décor is really something.
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'Damn. Well preserved for being in a 50,0000 year old planet overwhelmed by plant life.'
Also those do not look like Protheans. Just saying.
They reach the control area and open the door. Nearby is some kind of Prothean hologram is still working and starts speaking in Prothean. Wrex and Kaidan cannot understand it but Shepard can!
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'Ok so the Cipher did teach Shepard something about the Protheans!'
Huh...I wonder if that ever comes in handy again? The hologram is just saying that the Reaper Fleet is invincible and they want Protheans to hide in the Archives on Ilos and they built the Conduit as their only hope. Huh. So the Protheans built the Conduit? Interesting.
So they go back to the door and it opens so they can head after Saren. And then we get a very long straight hallway to drive the Mako down. My favorite!
The first part, though, is great. It is the Prothean Archives and you can see all the Cryopods the Protheans froze themselves in to try to wait out the Reaper invasion. The song is the one they play at the options screen at the beginning of the game and it is pretty chill. Not exactly the big final battle I was expecting.
Eventually the way is blocked by a force-field and you talk to the Prothean VI Vigil who lore dumps you something fierce.
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'So listen up! I am about to let you know EVERYTHING.'
First the Citadel is a trap. It is the mass relay that brings the Reapers in from dark space. Oh right. So when the Reapers are not out destroying civilizations they go into hibernation. They are vulnerable in this state so they all sleep out in the dark space between galaxies where nobody can find them. They leave Sovereign nearby to open the relay when the next 50,000 year cycle is complete and it is time to harvest another space empire.
The Citadel and mass relays are set up to make sure that organic life always develops a galactic empire based around its technology. The Reapers then zoom in and harvest. The whole thing is predictable and cyclical. But the Protheans were super smart and had almost cracked the mass relay tech when the Reapers zoomed and destroyed their empire. So this group of Protheans on Ilos built the Conduit, a one way trip back to the Citadel, to stop the Reapers from using it as a mass relay again. They discovered the key was the Keepers, who were actually an ancient race of organics that the Reapers harvested and then left behind to maintain the station (sort of like what Saren hopes to become). Whenever it is time to harvest more organics Sovereign signals them and they open the relay.
So they just had to go into cryostasis and wait for the Reapers to go back to dark space. But it took the Reapers centuries to completely destroy the Protheans so by the time they woke up only a few dozen were left because low power meant the VI had to shut down more and more pods. This was not enough people to restore the Prothean race like they planned. But they went ahead and took the Conduit to the Citadel and did whatever they did to sever the tie between the Keepers and the Reapers. They succeeded so this time when Sovereign woke up he signaled the Keepers and nothing happened. So he used his mind control powers to enlist Saren and who knows who else to help him try to activate the Citadel Relay and bring the rest of the Reapers in to start destroying everyone. So once Saren uses the Conduit and allows Sovereign access to the Citadel everybody is doomed.
So hey Saren's plan is actually to attack the Citadel after all! Lucky guess Council. Not that their prescience does them much good. More on that later.
So...whew. Everybody got that?
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'Oh right Saren. That speech was so long I almost forgot what I was doing here.'
So then they go through a very long straight hallway full of Geth in the Mako. Oh boy.
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'Any particular reason you built the Conduit so freaking far from the Archives?'
So finally they reach the Conduit! And now the best part of the game, IMO, begins.
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'I mean not to sound jaded Alenko but it looks just like what you would expect a mass relay to look like.'
At this point you get a cut scene of Sovereign and the Geth fleet pouring out of the Mass Relay by the Citadel.
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'Hey whatever happened to that plan to blockade the Terminus Systems?'
Because it kind of seems like the fleet is undersized and surprised here. I thought they were expecting an attack on the Citadel?
So the Destiny Ascension and the Turian fleet engage and the Asari commanding the Ascension, which you recall is the flagship for the entire galaxy, calls upon the Citadel to be sealed for the battle. But, of course, Saren and his Geth are already in the Citadel causing havoc. So the call goes out to abandon the Citadel and the Ascension picks up the Council.
The countdown to extinction is just minutes away from starting!
So you have to roll past these Geth Collosus in a very short window before the Conduit closes.
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'Hah! So long suckers!'
Probably should have put those Geth right in front of the Conduit. So the Mako blasts off into the Citadel, coming through the relay 'statue' foreshadowed earlier, and wrecks after flattening a few startled Geth.
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'Wait so you mean there are no more Mako sections? So sad.'
Avina, the Citadel VI, is a little alarmed by the massive destruction occurring around it but lets them know that Saren is on his way to the Council Chamber.
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'Probably too busy filling out all their paperwork right Garrus? Garrus? Oh right. He's back on the ship.'
C Sec needs to stop dying so much and get out there and arrest Saren.
And now comes the dramatic moment where we...GET ON AN ELEVATOR.
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'So...you guys want to go get lunch after this?'
Now a cutscene plays where we see Saren reach the station controls. He closes the arms. We get a very brief view of the Executor, the Turian commander of the Council Fleet, commanding his ships to stop Sovereign from getting inside the arms.
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'They cannot stand in front of the full might of a Turian Battleship!'
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'Ok nevermind.'
So the station closes with only Sovereign inside. It...um....attaches itself to council tower somehow.
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'Man that's disturbing looking.'
What can save the galaxy now? Why that damn elevator if it could go any faster!
But Saren stops it so they have to break out and fight their way up the tower through Geth and Krogan and defense towers.
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'Oh and we get to take out another Geth ship on foot.'
Kind of fun really, I always enjoy these fights to get someplace with a feeling of tension. Like that pursuit at the end of Trespasser in Dragon Age Inquisition.
Eventually they get into the Council Chamber and defeat the few Geth inside and approach Saren. And he is ready for the final confrontation! His final confrontation with Shepard's charm skill that is. Sovereign has tried to fight it:
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'You think implants from a super advanced ancient godlike being will save you?'
Saren then explains that putting implants in people is how we reach the APEX of all life.
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'So...does that mean in order to upgrade the reapers we need to attach some fleshy bits to them?'
That makes no sense Saren. You crazy man.
Shepard tries to make him see that there is still a few minutes left to save the galaxy he just has to stop being looney toons. It takes three whole charm skill uses but Saren begins to see what he has to do.
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'The charm skill can even make the big bad guy shoot himself for you!'
Man is this skill great or what? So Saren dramatically falls through a glass floor into a garden of some sort. Shepard takes control of the station and opens the arms and opens communications. Joker tells him that the Normandy has joined the Arcturus Fleet and is ready to come in once they unlock the relays. How he joined the fleet is not shown but Hackett and his fleet stand ready to answer the Citadel's distress call.
Now there is an option to save the Destiny Ascension or let it be destroyed. I can see the logic of focusing on Sovereign since we are just minutes away from OUR DOOM but it is the biggest and most powerful ship in the fleet and it would be a great symbol of galactic unity to have the Alliance save the Council so we do that. Weirdly Wrex argues the 'humanity first' line while Kaidan says we should stand for galactic unity.
So why this is left up to Shepard is anybody's guess but Admiral Hackett sends in the fleet and they drive off the Geth fleet.
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'There! Now surely everybody will eager unite together to fight the Reapers!'
At this point the arms of the Citadel open and everybody charges in to attack Sovereign. So that is it right? The game is over? The good guys won? Well...
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'Time to die meatbags!'
So Sovereign can control Saren even from beyond the grave. The first time I fought this fight I was really surprised and damn I kept dying a lot, Saren is one of those assassin Geth but really really tough to kill. But the secret is just to keep moving and don't let him use his assassination attack on you and you eventually bring him down. I seem to recall there was some way to cheese through this fight really easily but I would never do something like that. No sir. And further I couldn't remember it.
Anyway Shepard and company are so souped up on top gear now that even when Saren scored a hit we were able to patch it up. But man I bet this was a rude surprise to many people since he is so much harder than of the other recent fights and I am sure many people thought the game was over.
Midway through you get a cutscene where the Alliance is getting blown away by Sovereign but Hackett tells them to keep attacking.
Once you defeat Sovereign/Saren Sovereign begins to fall apart. I was never clear on if there is supposed to be a connection, like you weakened Sovereign somehow. And the Alliance moves in for the kill.
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'Who is beyond whose comprehension now?!'
But just to add some extra OMGDRAMA parts of Sovereign connect to the tower and you think for a second Shepard was killed but NO! HE EMERGES FROM THE WRECKAGE LIKE AN ASS KICKING PHOENIX!!11
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'Whew! The sequel is saved!'
So sometime later there is a ceremony where the Council thanks the Alliance and Shepard for their efforts.
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'Probably not but if you could try that would be great!'
So then they say that because humanity has done so good they want a human to join the Council. And Shepard gets to have a say and he wants Captain Anderson since they need a military man to lead them on what is surely to be a huge galactic effort against the Reapers. Also that keeps Udina as outraged as possible for the sequel.
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'Damn right Councilor! Let's unite the galaxy and prepare for the final battle for existence!'
I know everybody is excited for the sequel where we travel throughout the galaxy uniting everybody against the Reaper threat with a committed and united Council at our backs! Because that is how it is going to go right?
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'I am Commander Fucking Shepard and I cannot be defeated!'
Next: Commander Fucking Shepard is defeated.
But actually next I am going to wrap up my thoughts on Mass Effect.
Man the ending is so pulse-pounding you are ready to start a new game plus right away and forget all about all those hours hunting minerals.
And then they give you that song in the credits that gets stuck in your head for hours. 'And I need you to recover because I can't make it on my ooooown!'
Not sure what that had to do with Mass Effect BUT IT ROCKS. Or at least really gets you right after you finish Mass Effect for some reason.
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'Man look at all those people who didn't work on Mass Effect Andromeda!'
:D and yay. You'll get to have Alenko the Whiner!
Quote from: garbon on April 10, 2017, 02:57:40 PM
:D and yay. You'll get to have Alenko the Whiner!
Ashley doesn't whine, she just screams obscenities at you :P
Yay, one down, two more to go. :)
I absolutely loved the final part of ME1. Great sense of urgency, good use of music and a very nice "oh shit" moment, when you walk along the outside of the council tower and really see the gargantuan scale of Sovereign from a grunt's perspective.
It's also great that you killed off Ashley. I let Kaidan die during my original playthrough and - stupidly - again when I recently replayed the original trilogy. Will be interesting how his character develops.
Quote from: Valmy on April 08, 2017, 11:53:03 PM
I agree with your assessment. Virmire and Noveria were both the best. And yes they had a speech skill in DA:O and it was important but it was not quite the magical mind control Charm Skill is in ME1.
Yes I have all the DLC for ME2 but, while I recently bought ME3, I don't have the DLC yet.
ME3 had mainly a lot of weapon pack DLCs. Never saw much need for those.
The four story DLC ("From Ashes", "Leviathan", "Omega" and "Citadel") are all good to excellent in my personal view.
Thoughts on Mass Effect
Ok so say what you want about the 'intro-go four places-finale' era of Bioware (see chart: http://31.media.tumblr.com/13aa9c50c7839653d6bc70f225540c41/tumblr_n4g8cgCuBt1sj12u8o1_1280.jpg) but they really knew how to end a game. KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age Origins all had awesome endings that had you pumped and ready for more. I have to say it makes you very forgiving of the rest of the game's faults. So yeah I like Mass Effect, not as much as I like Dragon Age Origins, but it is a flawed gem.
So let's talk about some of the things that make it so.
The obvious one is the Mako and the Uncharted Worlds Content.
I think I have already stated my dislike for the long straight corridor sections of the main missions. They are boring time sinks with very little that is challenging or interesting. In fact I often just got out of the Mako to fight just to make it fun. Even in Feros and Noveria where you did not even land in the Mako they had other Makos for you to use just to do this. Of these bad sections Therum is the least bad but that is also most of that mission.
The uncharted worlds and the collection quests are also time sinks that have little challenge or thought associated with them. You go to the place and get the thing. I am reminded of a much older game with a similar mechanic, Star Control 2, where you had to land on planets in your rover and get minerals and various space thingies. In that game the planets were really dangerous and you had to avoid earthquakes and fires and radioactivity and giant space monsters. You were going to lose lots of crewmembers and rovers getting that stuff unless you were really good. That was fun and challenging. The only thing you get like that in this game is the Thresher Maws, and don't get the me wrong those are great, but that is the only real challenge you are going to find on most uncharted worlds when getting the minerals or crashed probes or whatever.
Well ok there was also the samey terrain. Every single planet, no matter what its other features, was almost ridiculously mountainous. Even planets with thick atmospheres and vegetation (well sort of...everything was ground lichen there were never any trees or anything) were the same. Big mountains. Mountains everywhere. I guess that made the planets seem bigger than they really were. But it just made them infuriating and tedious and slow to drive around on, especially with the Mako bouncy castle physics. Well actually it seemed designed to make the weird physics of the Mako especially annoying and noticeable.
The uncharted world side missions had bizarrely low production values. Every single asset was reused and text boxes were extensively used to tell the stories (the space ships were all exactly the same map with only the interior furniture moved around). But often those stories were actually kind of interesting and important. Cerberus, for example, entirely lives in side content and they are kind of important for the rest of the series. All of your companion quests, which impact those character's developments, are side content on uncharted worlds. But even though you get a lot of information about the setting and lots of plots that matter in the second game they all...well...they feel a little repetitive. The endless space zombies. The three different biotic terrorist groups.
The sheer volume of the side content is also a problem. I think it is at least 2/3rds of your playtime in this game provided you attempt to do most of it (and you are given plenty of incentive to do so). There are 25 uncharted worlds to explore and 6 space ships to board. And all the previous issues really made it feel like a grind.
I feel like a real opportunity was missed here by Bioware. They had gotten us hooked into this world with a great intro and then lore dumped all this stuff about aliens on us in the Citadel. We needed to get out there and see some Turians and Volus and Hanar and whomever in action. We needed to see different kinds of species in action, even the ones that mostly just for laughs. And that would have been a much more interesting way to learn about the galaxy than the lore dumps. Sort of like how they teach you all this stuff about the Quarians but you never get to meet them. Instead we mostly get humans, humans getting killed by Cerberus.
If I had been giving Bioware feedback on this after I first played it back in 2008 I would recommend they keep the uncharted world content but reduce the tedious stuff and make the interesting stuff more exotic and interesting. Let's have a Turian militia holding out against a space monster on one world and an intense fued between Elcor tribes (all speaking with their hilarious monotone) on another. Let's have the worlds be dangerous and different looking and add some more production values. Just totally dumping them, like they did for ME2, I think was a mistake.
The Combat is kind of interesting. The Combat is way less cover based than I remember Mass Effect 2 being. You can survive battles by moving around and using your powers to stay alive without any cover. So that is cool. But it is poorly balanced. The beginning of the game you struggle along but by the end you are a machine of ultimate death and I do not even recall a time when it seemed just right. Also there are too many bad guys who can one shot kill you which is kind of lame, but I think that was to keep you inside the Mako (though thresher maws can also one shot kill the Mako). The fact I could not play on Insanity kind of sucked since I enjoy a good challenge.
Also the game just throws so much loot at you. Money quickly has no meaning and I was maxed out on credits, with 9,999,999 for the last 1/3 of the game. You gain great gear quickly and before I even got to Noveria I was pretty much maxed out in most things. Granted Pinnacle Station took what balance there was and tossed it out the window with its ridiculously unbalanced rewards.
Ok so lets talk about the characters. Of course I have a soft spot in my heart for the heroic and upright Captain Anderson and the sleazy and outraged Ambassador Udina. They handle Saren pretty well; at the beginning of the game you are eager for his blood. But he is a fake bad guy. Sovereign is the real villain so as a result Saren hardly registers as a memorable bad guy, Sovereign and his quotes about YOUR DOOM are more impactful on your mind I think just as it should be.
Of the party members it seems like Ashley and Liara get star billing with their number of lines, with Kaidan and Wrex a bit behind. I found Garrus and Tali pretty one note and underdeveloped. And that note was either horrifying, like Garrus, or really boring and lore dumpy, like Tali. I didn't really care for either the first time I played the game but fortunately *spoilers* the sequel gives them a bit more to work with. Wrex is a bit more interesting with his world weariness and conflicted feelings about the fate of his species. You end the game not knowing quite how he feels about the whole thing. Liara is there to lore dump about Protheans and say how great Shepard is. Kaidan is the eternally reasonable one. Ashley is the screamy one, with a big chip on her shoulder. I am reasonably fond of them, not the greatest cast in Bioware history or anything.
I guess my final thoughts are that the intro and end are both excellent and where this game shines the brightest. Overall it is very much in the style and quality of the Bioware titles of the decade of the 2000s.
So on to Mass Effect 2, a game I have very mixed feelings on and am eager to talk about.
Final stats:
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Assault Rifle: HMWA X Spectre Master
Mods: Frictionless Materials IX and Kinetic Coil X
Ammo: Snowblind IX
Shotgun: HMWSG X Spectre Master
Mods: Combat Optics IX and Kinetic Coil IX
Ammo: High Explosive X
Pistol: HMWP X Spectre Master
Mods: Frictionless Materials X and Scram Rail X
Ammo: Sledgehammer X
Sniper Rifle: HMWSR X Spectre Master
Mods: Kinetic Coil X and Frictionless Materials IX
Ammo: Sledgehammer X
Grenade Launcher: High Explosive IX
OmniTool: Savant X
Armor: Colossus X Medium
Mods: Medical Exoskeleton X and Kinetic Exoskeleton X
Total Playtime: 55 hours
Quote from: Malicious Intent on April 10, 2017, 06:08:32 PM
Yay, one down, two more to go. :)
Two? Don't you mean...three? :P
QuoteI absolutely loved the final part of ME1. Great sense of urgency, good use of music and a very nice "oh shit" moment, when you walk along the outside of the council tower and really see the gargantuan scale of Sovereign from a grunt's perspective.
It's also great that you killed off Ashley. I let Kaidan die during my original playthrough and - stupidly - again when I recently replayed the original trilogy. Will be interesting how his character develops.
Yes it is great. I had forgotten about how much I loved the ending of it. Trying to shoot Sovereign off with small arms is always fun.
Thanks I think a heroic death suits Ashley. I am hoping for good things for Kaidan in ME3.
Quote from: Malicious Intent on April 10, 2017, 06:26:32 PM
ME3 had mainly a lot of weapon pack DLCs. Never saw much need for those.
The four story DLC ("From Ashes", "Leviathan", "Omega" and "Citadel") are all good to excellent in my personal view.
Thanks for the advice!
Quote
'You know I am no expert on space economics but with all these attack drones, Vis, and robots I just don't understand the big business incentive to invest in space zombie labor.'
Tax credits on R&D ;)
Quote
(1)I have to say I am a little confused about the "cure for the Genophage" in this game. I mean it is not like Saren has a whole bunch of Krogan ladies in there hatching thousands of Krogan Eggs and raising little Krogan babies until they finally reach maturity however long that takes. He just has a bunch of vats spewing out full grown male Krogan battle thralls. So it seems more like a cloning program. (2) Oddly the game never addresses this.
1- The vats are for experimentation purpose, he is doing some research to cure the genophage too.
2- In ME2 and ME3.
Quote'Ah. How comforting every ship can turn its drive into a nuke.'
Well, I figure a nuclear powered warship's drive could be converted into a bomb too? Like overheating the drive, shutting down the coolant, just like a terrorist would do to a nuclear plant in a
24 episode? ;)
Quote
and the other three will just hang on the ship with the rest of Shepards marines
It makes sense that during a critical nearly suicidal mission, most of the soldiers would stay and guard the ship while only a tiny few go on the attack. Or maybe not. :P
Quote
'Huh? Dude you have never even been to Eden Prime.'
He read the report ;)
Quote
I mean once the Reapers are done the Geth will be the dominant power in the galaxy so I can understand why they might be excited about this 'extermination of all organic life' thing.
You misunderstand the Reapers' actions. It is not an extermination. I think Sovereign will explain it later.
Quote
I could be wrong about that, I don't know how the Kaidan/Ashley story ends in Mass Effect 3 but we will see. So anyway that is my thinking and why I made that choice.
Ashley was the chosen one. She was supposed to restore balance to the galaxy and defeat the Reapers. Without her, you are all doomed. ;)
I believe it plays pretty much the same (for obvious reasons), but as I save Ashley, my love, I want to see your story, how it goes with Kaidan up to #3.
Quote
This does however end Shepard's romance so no hot sex for him in this game, though that does save him the potentially difficult situation with fraternization regulations.
Isn't Liara still an option?
Liara was an option but I turned her down early on. I hoped by pursuing the romance with Ashley I would fake you guys out :P
Ok now I am downloading the ALOT mod for ME2. Wish me luck.
QuoteAlso those do not look like Protheans. Just saying.
They're like Vorlons. They appear differently to everyone ;)
Quote
'Any particular reason you built the Conduit so freaking far from the Archives?'
To confuse attackers? Or maybe just to piss off any future organic in a rush? :D
Quote
So why this is left up to Shepard is anybody's guess but Admiral Hackett sends in the fleet and they drive off the Geth fleet.
Communications are down with the fleet, except with the Normandy (direct comm channel between Sheppard and his ship?) ?
I guess Hackett relies on Shepard's judgement.
Quote
Once you defeat Sovereign/Saren Sovereign begins to fall apart. I was never clear on if there is supposed to be a connection, like you weakened Sovereign somehow
Sovereign was running Vista. Not very good on multi-tasking and splitting stuff accross cores :D
Great AAR, as always :)
ME2 made me nervous the whole time because it was right in that era, before Steam and Origins became almost universal, where if you were a PC user publishers just assumed you were a criminal so there was all this fancy stuff to keep you in line. So before I started this AAR I spent alot of time fucking with ME2 to make sure that all my DLC still worked and I could get the new DLC. So finally the 'Cerberus Network' (ironic name for an anti-crime system) was satisfied and everything seemed to function correctly. So once that was done I started this AAR.
So I went ahead and installed that mod, without first testing ME2 again, and when I logged in the Cerberus Network decided all my DLC were not Kosher and asked me to log in to the Cerberus Network using the ID that bought the DLC. But I only have one login and even if I had multiple ones there is no way to log off the Cerberus Network so I guess I am uninstalling and doing a clean install. Again. For like the fourth time.
Then I will test it again. And then try the mod again.
Fucking ME2 and EA's conviction that I am, in fact, a pirate.
I remember the tedious Mako run and search for minerals, but I did not remember how many boring and similar parts there were :)
Quote from: Valmy on April 11, 2017, 07:59:48 AM
ME2 made me nervous the whole time because it was right in that era, before Steam and Origins became almost universal, where if you were a PC user publishers just assumed you were a criminal so there was all this fancy stuff to keep you in line. So before I started this AAR I spent alot of time fucking with ME2 to make sure that all my DLC still worked and I could get the new DLC. So finally the 'Cerberus Network' (ironic name for an anti-crime system) was satisfied and everything seemed to function correctly. So once that was done I started this AAR.
So I went ahead and installed that mod, without first testing ME2 again, and when I logged in the Cerberus Network decided all my DLC were not Kosher and asked me to log in to the Cerberus Network using the ID that bought the DLC. But I only have one login and even if I had multiple ones there is no way to log off the Cerberus Network so I guess I am uninstalling and doing a clean install. Again. For like the fourth time.
Then I will test it again. And then try the mod again.
Fucking ME2 and EA's conviction that I am, in fact, a pirate.
Ah, Origin had it free a little while ago.
But right now, you can buy the Digital Deluxe edition for 29.99$. Or become a member of Origin Access for 29.99$ for one year (4.99$/month) and play it free from there as long as you're a member.
If you have a disk version, there's got to be a way to install it in Origin. If you have some code with your DVD, try adding it on Origin, it should work from there.
EDIT:
Think I found something:
http://techgage.com/article/migrating_your_ea_games_from_steam_or_retail_to_origin/ (http://techgage.com/article/migrating_your_ea_games_from_steam_or_retail_to_origin/)
I think that's what I did with ME2. Not so sure.
I own the game Viper and it is in Origin. It is just that legacy anti-pirate protection that gives me trouble.
Quote from: Valmy on April 11, 2017, 08:19:16 AM
I own the game Viper and it is in Origin. It is just that legacy anti-pirate protection that gives me trouble.
I know you own the game, but I remember having troubles running it too, and finally solving it, somehow, with Origin. I'm just trying to find a way to help you :)
We can't stand not reading ME2&3 AAR :)
Oh I will get it to work.
One thing EA has that is pretty nice is their online 24 hour customer support that is actually pretty decent. Valve doesn't have anything like that. So if I do a clean install and it is still fucked they can make it work for me. But I really want to play with your fancy graphics mod, I hope that is not the source of the problem.
Ok I got it to work! Going back to read the FAQ on the mod gave me the solution, I mean I read it before but that section didn't mean anything to me at the time.
Ok so my pregame spiel about Mass Effect 2 will soon be posted. Watch this space.
Mass Effect 2 or The One With No Plot
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Alright there is a plot but let's just say you tend to forget about it for most of the game.
Ok this game changed a lot of how I felt about Bioware and I think it represents a big change in the direction of the developer. But I think I will talk about that stuff at the end of the Mass Effect 2 section, I think it fits the time between ME2 and ME3 much better. But know this was the last Bioware game I played before I started the Dragon Age AAR two years ago.
Mass Effect 2 is really different from the first game in ways that are surprising given the fact they continue the same character in the same universe. Some of the basic building blocks of the first game are dramatically shifted.
COMBAT
First Mass Effect was really dependent on guns and armor. Sure you had abilities but they were on very long cool downs. Even with tons of biotics you were still shooting things mostly to kill them, even if they were floating in the air.
Mass Effect 2 changes this by making guns far less desirable by introducing an ammo mechanic that rewards you by conserving your shots. In Mass Effect you would just let off your guns from time to time to let off steam. Not in Mass Effect 2, here every damn heat clip is precious. You are now much more dependent on abilities, especially combo moves. You have abilities to take down armor, you have abilities to take down shields, you have abilities to kill organics, you have abilities to kill synthetics. You better spam the hell out of them. You also have heavy weapons which can be used to efficiently kill large groups of enemies or efficiently take out bosses. And again the emphasis is on conserving ammo and resources and being efficient and using your powers constantly.
Armor is now almost useless. Once your shields are down you are in deep shit since the game will cover the screen in blood vessels and all you can hear is Shepards heart beating meaning you will likely panic and it is hard to see what the hell you are doing. You will spend most of the game running for cover or staying in cover since you cannot take a punch anymore. Also, along with guns being less dominant, there is a lot more melee to try to flush you out of cover. Likewise there is little reason to heal anybody anymore since everybody is so squishy so now medigel gets up unconscious squad mates rather than heal anybody.
Mass Effect one got a little bullet spongy and unbalanced so I think overall these changes make the game better. I would criticize the over-reliance on cover, the lame lore reasons they dig up for these changes, and the obsessive need you have to not shoot your gun in a shooter game.
RPG ELEMENTS
Mass Effect 2 makes each class very specialized and more distinct. My class is still the Inflitrator and in Mass Effect One that meant I had some soldier skills and some Engineer Skills. Here it means I get a tactical cloak so I can move around the battle field for a few seconds without instantly dying. I am basically a rogue assassin now. The other classes are similarly changed. You have much less ability to customize. Which I guess is the price you pay for being more unique and distinct.
The way loot and money is done is changed pretty radically as well. Now the amount of credits you get is tightly controlled and you cannot sell your stuff, not that you get much stuff. Now you just get a few rare fire arms to add to your collection. But you are not constantly upgrading them with better guns from now on. You only have a small handful of weapons for each weapon class and the later ones you get are not necessarily better than the ones you start with, they just have different strengths and weaknesses. The ability to carefully min/max and get tons of credits and super gear is gone. But I guess better balance replaces it.
The levels are now really cut off from the rest of the game in distinct mission segments with a beginning and a summary screen at the end which is more like a shooter than an RPG. It puts pressure on you to do each mission perfectly and get all the credits and minerals and upgrades and guns in each mission.
PLANET EXPLORATION AND THE MAKO
This is mostly gone. The going down to the surface to find collectibles is over and only a small handful of that kind of side mission content remains. Though they do leave in mining for minerals with another time sink with planet scanning so hurrah!
The DLC gives you a new vehicle though I recall those sections are more linear, like the old Mako parts of the main missions in Mass Effect. But it has been awhile I could be wrong.
OVERALL TONE AND THEMES
This, to me, is one of the most jarring differences. Mass Effect had a very distinct aesthetic and Mass Effect 2 changes it pretty sharply.
Mass Effect is dark and blue; Mass Effect 2 is bright and red (though the amber remains)
Mass Effect is gritty and takes itself very seriously; Mass Effect 2 is more campy
Mass Effect is about world building; Mass Effect 2 is about character building
The music is also different. I cannot really put my finger on it but Mass Effect is more...swelling I guess. Mass Effect 2 is more driving. I don't know how to explain it but I can easily tell a Mass Effect song from a Mass Effect 2 song.
It is definitely a dramatic shift in the series and it will be interesting to experience them again and see how/if it shifts again in Mass Effect 3.
Oh one more thing I get to do in Mass Effect 2:
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Oh yeah! Time to die a lot! Just how I like it.
Mass Effect 2 Part One or Damn it Joker!
So it is time to make the transition!
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'Alright Commander it is time to go hunt down the Reapers.'
We open with a conversation between a very bloody Australian woman and President Bartlet. Eventually you learn this is Cerberus leader 'The Illusive Man' and his top agent Miranda Lawson.
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'You hoped somebody would foil all your evil plans? Oh and I told you this game was red and amber.'
The Council is sending Shepard to fight Geth instead of the Reapers. Again I thought I was free to do whatever I wanted so long as I thought Galactic security was at stake. The Illusive Man whines that being a terrorist organization that regularly murders Alliance military personnel and destroys colonies has made it unlikely anybody would help Cerberus with the Reapers. Miranda points out that...
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'Wait weren't you just saying how nobody was following or listening to me?'
Miranda so pretty :wub:
Oh what were we talking about? Right the intro. So Miranda then says that if Shepard is lost all of humanity is DOOMED. The Illusive Man tells her to make sure that he is not lost. Well that's weird what could cause them to lose an invincible space hero like Commander Fucking Shepard?
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'See in the last game this font would have been blue.'
But, despite all the fiery speeches and promises the Council mysteriously continues to stubbornly ignore obvious evidence and eye witness testimony and still refuses to believe Shepard. Damn. Is it really realistic to have politicians ignore obvious evidence when their an existential threat looms? I mean there are hardly more than a few hundred examples of that happening throughout history...and today actually. In my own country. Damnit.
But still backtracking on such public decorations such a short time after uttering them is still impressive political cowardice even by American standards. So congrats!
The Normandy is flying by some planet in the Terminus Systems and Pressly is annoyed by the busywork. He gets more lines over the next few seconds than he got in the entire first game. BUT THIS JUST LETS YOU KNOW HE IS DOOMED! A mysterious ship appears and moves to intercept the Normandy despite its stealth drive. Joker prepares for evasive maneuvers. Really I think it would have been smarter just to activate the FTL engines at this point but I am no space tactician.
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'Oh wow another huge mysterious warship. It seems like things went badly last time one of those showed up.'
So it shoots some kind of beam weapon at the Normandy, shattering the CIC. Pressly is killed immediately, RIP old bean. Shepard is then seen telling Kaidan to evacuate the ship and call the Alliance Kaidan says Joker will not abadon ship and he is not going either. Well let's see: the hull is breached, the weapon systems are off line, the kinetic barriers are down, and a hostile ship is trying to blow us up. Damnit Kaidan! We didn't choose you over Ashley for you to commit suicide! Shepard orders him to go and he does. But Joker's idiotic refusal to abandon the Normandy means Shepard cannot just get in the escape pods with the rest of the crew. Did I mention the ship is on fire? So from the pod bays Shepard has to walk up the stairs in the back from the second deck and across the ruined CIC, in space mind you, to the cockpit to get Joker who STILL refuses to go even as the big mysterious warship comes back around to finish the job.
So Shepard grabs Joker and carries him back (though really that should have been fatal to him since parts of his skin would be exposed to space but whatever) and puts him in an escape pod. Just then an explosion throws Shepard into space just as he saves Joker. SO THANKS JOKER. Asshole. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU.
The SSV Normandy then blows up.
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'Nearer My God to Thee...'
And Shepard goes floating off into space before seeming to burn up in the atmosphere in the planet they were flying by.
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'Goodbye cruel world...er...galaxy'
So the Normandy blows up and Joker gets Shepard burned up into tiny cinders in the atmosphere of a planet. Well that is pretty definitive...or is it?
Miranda has obtained Shepard's body...which I guess did not burn up in the atmosphere? And she is carrying out The Illusive Man's orders.
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'The Lazarus Project eh? Nobody will guess what that project is about.'
For a secretive terrorist organization they need to be more subtle with their codenames.
Here you have the ability to change your class and face but I think I will just go with what I had before.
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'My quest to take revenge on Joker has just begun.'
So you get a brief scene where Miranda and some dude named Wilson are freaking out because you woke up early and they shoot you full of sedatives. Soon(?) Miranda is waking you up over a communicator and telling you to get up. The robots are turning on the personnel in the station and you need to get up and start shooting them.
Wait robots? Well ok so the game says that during the battle of the Citadel somebody thought it would have been awesome is they had filled it with lots of killer robots to help beat Saren. But of course that is stupid because in Mass Effect 2 the robots always end up attacking the people they are supposed to be defending so really if they had had robots in the Citadel they probably would have all switched sides anyway. So that is something new and the lame lore explanation for why it is around. The one for why guns are now much worse is even more lame.
So the robots have gone nuts and are killing all the Cerberus people. They may have gone a little nuts with the robots since they seem to outnumber the human security personnel about 15 to 1.
Miranda asks Shepard to get a pistol and a clip and get ready for fighting. Even though this change in weaponry happened after he died Shepard seems to know exactly how to use it.
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'Man I am so glad this turned out to be bulletproof glass.'
So you advance through the base with Miranda guiding you along. Shepard hasn't seen so many Cerberus operatives since the last time he was in a Cerberus base. Eventually she cuts off as it sounds like the robots have found her position. So Shepard is on his own. As he goes on he finds video logs of Miranda and Wilson talking about how building him again is going. Weirdly they put these all on different computers.
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'That language is most unbecoming of a medical professional Doctor Wilson.'
Shepard finds another person.
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'Who the fuck are you?'
It is Cerberus Security Chief Jacob Taylor fighting off more of the incredible volume of robots they had at this facility. So marvelous job with all the security Mr. Taylor. He fills Shepard in with some details. Shepard was dead and they spent the past two years bringing him back to life. The Alliance classified him as KIA and the fuckers did not even give him a posthumous promotion to captain. And Jacob absolutely assured him he is not a clone. Which is comforting. I would hate to think there are more Commander Shepards running around out there.
He has no idea who is behind the attack though.
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'The temperature of the fire is not hot enough to melt steel robots!'
Yeah...maybe the head of security is behind it. Oh wait that's you.
As they are chatting the foul mouthed Dr. Wilson calls up and tells them they need to head down this service tunnels. Just before they go they find another log by the good doctor.
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'Oh so you think performing the greatest medical miracle of the age entitles you to something from women eh? Pig.'
And strangely the advice from Wilson to go into the service tunnels leads them right into a squad of robots. But Wilson assures them it is all good and keep going to the control room and then he mysteriously gets non-fatally shot. He just happened to be in the room where the robots are controlled from and hey he seemed upset at his employer in his logs. And he insists Miranda is dead and they should just leave her behind and evac the station. Huh. Probably nothing to worry about.
So at this point Jacob lets Shepard know he works for...*drum roll*
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'And I see it went about as well as your little Rachni project did.'
Shepard doesn't want to work with vile terrorists but Jacob reminds him that Cerberus did spend a fortune bringing him back from the dead. Well...ok fair enough.
Oh by the way we have cool new minigames to do in this game. And they are both matching games.
One works like memory:
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And the other is where you match colored text so I am sure colorblind people love it!
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Fun for the whole family or space marine squad.
The number at the top is how many credits you get for solving them so you are always well motivated. At least there are two varieties or games this time (or more? We will see.)
They reach the shuttle bay doors and when Wilson opens them Miranda shows up ecstatic to see her colleague.
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'Funny story see I know it looks like I was killing you and stealing Shepard to hold hostage to get money from Cerberus but it is really not what it looks like.'
So she shoots him all badass-like. Shepard is a little taken aback by this lack of due process but then he worked with Garrus in the last game so he should be used to it. She claims Wilson was behind the attack.
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'Oh Miranda you so funny.'
She cracks a few other groaners as well. She should probably keep her day job as an evil terrorist super-agent.
So Shepard insists they go back and look for survivors but both Jacob and Miranda are like 'no screw our colleagues only you matter.' And they leave. Jacob has a weird ability to make horrific things sound just fine. 'Yeah they will all die but hey it is just part of the job you know? Let's go.' Ok Jacob you are such a nice dude.
So they take off in the shuttle and go to another Cerberus base to meet the Illusive Man...who is actually not even on the base. Shepard talks to him via hologram.
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'Welcome Commander Shepard to a hologram of my secret super nova viewing lair.'
The Illusive Man gives him grave news on the state of the galaxy.
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'Dear God man! Destroying human colonies is supposed to be your job!'
Cerberus thinks the Reapers are behind it somehow so he is sending Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob to Freedom's Progress. That is a colony was just cleaned out of colonists and he is hoping they will be the first ones on the spot. Shepard REALLY doesn't like Cerberus but he agrees to go along with it.
Back with his two new best buds Shepard talks a little about the mission. Miranda distrusts Shepard and is eager to see if he can justify Cerberus' investment. She says that the colony is completely unremarkable before the recent disappearance. Huh. She also drops this gem:
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'Ok look I am not one to question your tactics but you probably should have kept that piece of information to yourself.'
Miranda was recruited to Cerberus as a young teenager and has been thoroughly indoctrinated to their ways of thinking. Shepard will be keeping an eye on this one...I mean for reasons besides one might normally keep eyes on her.
Jacob is an ex-Alliance special forces guy. He used to do covert operations out beyond Citadel Space but even that was too weighed down by stupid procedures and rules.
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'Hey I have a Turian friend I want you to meet. I bet you guys would get along great!'
So with that they pack up and head to the colony. And it is weird everybody just poofed gone but fortunately their security robots are shooting everybody because yeah that is what they do.
Soon they enter a building and discover that they are actually not the first crew on the scene. It is a squad from the Quarian Flotilla and it is being led by none other than Tali'Zorah. Damn small galaxy eh?
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'Yes! Do you have any more charming facts about Quarian society to share?'
Since Shepard is actually running into other Quarians now I hope he can still remember all that stuff. Shepard proves it really is him to Tali by reminding her of the Geth data he got her back in part five of Mass Effect. The Quarians are here for a young Quarian named Veetor who was in Freedom's Progress for his pilgrimage. The Quarians really hate Cerberus for raiding the Flotilla during a book that takes place between Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2. It is....ok. Miranda insists it was nothing personal. I can see why she is not Cerberus' top diplomat.
Anyway Veetor is still here in the colony and has hidden in a warehouse on the far side of town and he is the guy ordering the robots to kill everybody. So Shepard and the Quarians head off in that direction to rendezvous near the warehouse.
Unfortunately the Quarians have this crazy idea that Cerberus may want to capture Veetor so they rush ahead and get slaughtered by a giant robot Veetor is controlling. So Shepard and his squad take up positions and Tali opens the doors to the warehouse. AND NOW THE FUN BEGINS!
The Quarian squad gets completely annihilated.
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'Stop dying you cowards!'
No wonder the Geth won. Now it is Shepard's turn and he unleashes Miranda's Overload on its shields. Did I mention her powers are amazing? She has overload for shields and synthetics, and Warp for armor and organics. Her class skill buffs everybody's health and damage. So since I am doing insanity I am basically always going to have her in my squad if I can.
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'Yeah! Die you...um....non-sentient being! Hey Miranda ran up into that building and annihilated it. I didn't even think of that.'
The stupid thing kept blowing apart the cover but Shepard's cloak helped him stay upright.
At that they collect all the loot and go see Veetor.
He is a little shaken up. He recorded some security footage that shows some kind of weird humanoids hauling away the colonists while some kind of swarm of insects flew around.
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'Can you really tell from that? Because that is pretty horrible resolution.'
Man even grainy films are amber. The Collectors are a new species we didn't see in Mass Effect, but they do show up in that ok book. More about them later.
Veetor says they freeze the colonists by using 'seeker swarms' and then just take them away. They didn't take Veetor though. They seem to only care about humans. Veetor helpfully gathered lots of data about the Collectors and recorded it on his Omnitool.
Just showing how WRONG the Quarians were about Cerberus, Miranda immediately asks that we kidnap the Quarian to get more information. Tali frowns on that. Jacob, though comes through.
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'So is there anything Cerberus does that you don't rationalize as innocuous Jacob?'
Anyway fortunately Shepard and not those goons are in charge so he agrees to return Veetor to the Quarians and Tali sends him the data. Man Shep works with some psychos.
Shepard goes back to talk to the Illusive Man and he is not surprised at all by the findings. He explains the Collectors are a strange race that rarely appears and when they do they only can be found in the Terminus Systems exchanging their advanced technology for weird genetic samples. Like peaceful Krogans and stupid Salarians. Then they vanish into the Omega 4 relay. No ship that follows them has ever returned. The fact they can manipulate relays like that makes the Illusive Man sure the Reapers are involved.
So he wants Shepard to go through this relay nobody has ever returned from and take care of it.
To do this Shepard needs to assemble a team.
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'Oh great where are they? Oh...I have to go get them?'
Oh sure he can raise the dead but he needs me to go assemble a few mercs. He also has found a pilot for Shepard. Oh great who is he?
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'NOOOOOOOOO!'
Great. Do I really want a guy whose bad judgment got me killed on this mission?
Next: Meet the new crew! And return to the Citadel
Quote
Wait robots? Well ok so the game says that during the battle of the Citadel somebody thought it would have been awesome is they had filled it with lots of killer robots to help beat Saren. But of course that is stupid because in Mass Effect 2 the robots always end up attacking the people they are supposed to be defending so really if they had had robots in the Citadel they probably would have all switched sides anyway.
Everything has happenned before. Everything will happen again. ;)
Quote
Even though this change in weaponry happened after he died Shepard seems to know exactly how to use it.
He's an highly trained soldier, not a civilian. He might have had knowledge of some prototype weapon too.
Quote
I would hate to think there are more Commander Shepards running around out there.
:ph34r: :shutup:
Btw, to scan the minerals, only worry about rich and super rich planets, it will be enough. once they drop to poor or moderate, leave for another.
Man, I hated the minigames in this game. I eventually just gave up on the whole thing because I didn't want to play them. So, I'm glad for this AAR, so I'll finally get to see what I missed.
Peeps on the tube likely thought I was crazy, chuckling to myself. :D :thumbsup:
Quote from: viper37 on April 14, 2017, 01:02:28 PM
Everything has happenned before. Everything will happen again. ;)
I knew those damn robots would be trouble! And yes I refuse to call them 'mechs'. This isn't Battletech Bioware.
Quote
He's an highly trained soldier, not a civilian. He might have had knowledge of some prototype weapon too.
Yes yes yes. They should have just changed it and pretended it was always that way. Trying to pretend that shittier weapons are some kind of advance is ridiculous.
Quote
:ph34r: :shutup:
Wait...really? Am I a clone? Woah. *mind blown*
QuoteBtw, to scan the minerals, only worry about rich and super rich planets, it will be enough. once they drop to poor or moderate, leave for another.
Yes I know how it goes. Mass Effect 2 is all about conservation of resources. You don't want to use valuable credits mining moderate planets.
Quote from: grumbler on April 14, 2017, 03:53:27 PM
Man, I hated the minigames in this game. I eventually just gave up on the whole thing because I didn't want to play them. So, I'm glad for this AAR, so I'll finally get to see what I missed.
What? You don't like to play memory matching games? I am just relieved there is more than one minigame this time.
Did you never play Mass Effect 2? Cool I hope you enjoy it. I don't think it is really your kind of game as you will see.
Quote from: garbon on April 14, 2017, 04:09:30 PM
Peeps on the tube likely thought I was crazy, chuckling to myself. :D :thumbsup:
Thanks! I have a sick amount of fun writing these things.
Quote from: Valmy on April 18, 2017, 11:53:05 AM
Yes I know how it goes. Mass Effect 2 is all about conservation of resources. You don't want to use valuable credits mining moderate planets.
In ME3, the mini-game is very different. But it's even more annoying.
Non story-spoiler, only game mechanics:
[spoiler]
You look for artifact in systems controlled by reaper. You use an active scan to reveal objects in the systems or on the planets. But everytime you scan, you alert the Reapers. And at some point, they come for you and the system is unaccessible until you have done one more main missions.
The first time, I did it the proper way, with hit&scan tacticts, trying to keep the Reapers off balance ;) For the other replays, I simply used IGN guides telling me where exactly where the stuff I needed :P
[/spoiler]
Quote from: Valmy on April 18, 2017, 11:54:50 AM
Quote from: garbon on April 14, 2017, 04:09:30 PM
Peeps on the tube likely thought I was crazy, chuckling to myself. :D :thumbsup:
Thanks! I have a sick amount of fun writing these things.
I also was inspired to boot up ME2 with the graphics mod suggested. Two thoughts:
1) Wow, how much prettier it all looks with that graphics mod. :wub:
2) Wow, I didn't remember how clunky Shepard's dialogue is. Also, I keep being distracted by Martin Sheen telling me what to do. :D
MASS EFFECT 2 PART TWO or I AM THE OMEGA AND OMEGA
Ok so once Joker returns to eventually kill Shepard again he says that the Alliance went after the crew of the Normandy for some reason. Or at least they went after Joker and frankly I don't blame them. Dude should have been court martialed. But anyway he went to Cerberus because they offered him a chance to fly, which frankly was a probably an attempt to get Shepard to work for them by finding somebody he knows just based on how The Illusive Man introduces him. Joker is obviously not hard to manipulate.
Now I mentioned back in the introduction about the campiness of Mass Effect 2 and the next scene is the first one where I was like 'oh come on'. Cerberus has built a new Normandy. A bigger shinier like more awesome Normandy. Now even ignoring the lore nerd stuff about how it was mentioned in Mass Effect Part Four that the drive alone on the original Normandy cost 120 billion credits (and let me tell you this new drive makes that one look like a hamster wheel) this is just a tad ridiculous. What exactly is the impact of destroying the old Normandy and killing Shepard if they are both going to be brought back almost immediately better than new? Because it was super important that Shepard work for Cerberus for some reason? I don't know. But it looks cool.
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'Oh yeah such amazing ship porn...oh yesss...excuse me a second.'
Miranda and Jacob walk aboard ship with Shepard and he looks around like 'holy shit this thing is shiny.' But then they show him the real secret of the Normandy SR-2.
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'Maybe I should point out that the last time we ran into a bunch of AIs they worshipped the Reapers as Gods.'
Also I should point out that is NOT an Electronic Data Interchange, which allows seamless synergy of business data across many platforms, but rather an Electronic Defense Intelligence. Now that may sound dangerous but don't worry. EDI is mostly there to spy on Shepard and his crew and inform The Illusive Man. EDI also has the capability to de-activate life support systems. Probably nothing to worry about.
So let's take a tour of the ship and get to know the crew of this fancier far more AWESOME Normandy. I mean you know this is a better game because it has a cooler ship right? Man the dark and the blue has been totally flushed out of this thing, I guess Cerberus is less big on power conservation.
First we have the command deck.
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EDI gives us a little tour so I will use her to introduce each area when possible.
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'And that Navigator is named....what exactly?'
Or does the AI do the navigating?
Joker hangs out up here and now there is only one massive fancy leather seat for him instead of three stations. He is excited up there in the cockpit for all the new adventures ahead.
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'Yes...yes I did Joker. Think about what you did.'
He will continue to make sarcastic comments as the plot (such as it is) progresses.
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The Command Information Center is now bigger and better and has more staff. And in fact there are now far more stations for command deck techs. Since we have an AI I am not exactly sure what all these people are for or who is even in charge of them. I guess they are all about sensor data and gunnery calibrations. Crewmen Hadley and Matthews are usually chatting about various things in this area. They are always on duty. I know who Shepard is writing a good quarterly report about.
We also have Shepard's personal assistant Molly Ringwald. No word what Emilio Estevez's position in Cerberus is, but since his dad is The Illusive Man he probably has something cushy.
Ok her name is actually Kelly Chambers and man is she a sickeningly endearing combination of sunshine and cotton candy. Why would such a nice woman work for a terrorist organization?
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'I work for ISIS because I love Islam but that doesn't mean I don't also want a Christian State in Iraq and Syria or a Druze State or a Yazidi State!'
I mean really where did the Illusive Man get these people? Anyway she has a lot more to say as the game goes on.
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The FTL communications room which now looks like a board room so I guess we now know we are in the private sector. It has some kind of fancy quantum communications system to link it directly to The Illusive Man. I guess just so we cannot track the signal to find out where The Illusive Man is. Paranoia and all that.
There are two new areas on this deck. The first is the Armory, which used to be down in engineering on the old Normandy where Ashley and Wrex always stood around. Well now Jacob stands in the new Armory.
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You can talk to Jacob but he is so task orientated he rarely has anything to say but 'we need to get out there and do this difficult mission' and stuff about how he is so glad to be working for people who don't have pesky rules and laws getting in the way of ass kicking. This makes Jacob a bit like Garrus in ME1, which I already mentioned in the last part. He does mention that he, to, once saved the Citadel with Miranda.
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'You know you probably would have gained my loyalty much faster if you led with that rather than how you didn't care about leaving all your colleagues to die.'
Jacob is slightly bitter he does not get any credit for it. Tell me about it pal.
The other new room is the lab which we do not yet have access to.
The next deck is the Crew's Quarters.
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The center part is the mess again but it is bigger and brighter with more chatty Cathys.
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'At least you have a chef. I am pretty sure the crew of the last Normandy lived on protein paste.'
There are two Cerberus crewmen always there eating, Goldstein and Hawthorne. They must have very big appetites. There is a kitchen now where Kaidan used to stand where Mess Segeant Rupert Gardner hangs out preparing the meals and doing basically all the other maintenance on the ship.
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'Fortunately we keep the sick bay right by the mess hall for this reason.'
He asks Shepard to pick up some food for him when they get to the Citadel. Yeah! Sidequest!
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The Medical Bay is in the same location as it was in the old Normandy. Well it does lack the infinite Medigel dispenser now. Oh sure they gave us leather seats but left that out! Doctor Chakwas is back as the chief doc. Man she was a Major, I hope she did not give up her generous pension to join this terrorist organization. She gives some lame reason that we she just prefers working on starships but she later admits she followed Joker to treat his brittle bones disease. Shepard asks her if she needs any supplies and she admits she is struggling with a booze deficit.
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'I am most impressed by the fact that Garrus wrote a book about the US Supreme Court.'
So Shepard will get her another bottle if he finds one.
Where the Captain's Cabin was on the old Normandy now contains the XO's cabin where Miranda now hangs out doing something nefarious on her console.
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'Well you sure showed me when tried to kidnap that Quarian and told me how you wanted to use mind control on me.'
Weirdly though the conversation takes a strange turn. Miranda really strikes you as a true believer but not a total dangerous fanatic. She seems to believe that The Illusive Man is some kind of genius advocate for humanity and he ultimately means well.
And then she really opens up to Shepard in an intimate way and reveals she was genetically engineered and trained for greatness and all the pressure she feels to do great things and succeed. And then you start thinking things like 'wait who is this character and what did they do with the Miranda we met in the intro of the game?' I mean before she was all like 'I am not here to make friends Shepard I only care about Cerberus and its goals and I want to mind control you, sacrifice my colleagues, and kidnap Quarians.' Now she is expressing idealism and trying to connect with Shepard on a personal level. Isn't she supposed to be some sort of ice queen? Meltiest ice queen ever.
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'Your vile plan to melt my heart with your endearing vulnerability WILL NEVER WORK LAWSON. Ok maybe it is working a little bit.'
I remember being very confused by this sudden shift in Miranda once you get on the ship when I played the game the first time. Is she manipulating us? I guess we will find out eventually.
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Besides Mess Sergeant Gardner are the sleep pods in the same place as the old Normandy. So enjoy sleeping standing up crew! The door there is to the battery room but that is not available yet.
In the back of the deck is an entirely new section. The first are mens and womens restrooms. It is not North Carolina so Shepard could enter both without being arrested. It makes me wonder how this worked in the original Normandy. The two observation decks and the life support room are not available yet.
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'Awwww you have an adorable little girl! Well...you're dead.'
Even though they still have the sleep pods there is a crew's quarters with bunk beds. So who has to sleep in the pods? Maybe they draw straws. Crewmen Rolston and Patel are basically always there talking about Rolston's family. Lazy bastards.
The deck below that is engineering, where all the cool kids hand out.
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In the back is the cargo area though you cannot get into either of the cargo bays yet.
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Through the window there you can look down on the shuttle and the ground vehicle...or would if we had a ground vehicle.
There is a little passage under the middle of this deck with a currently useless room. I think this would be a great place to stash something dangerous and unstable.
Beyond that is main engineering.
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'The engine must cost at least 200 billion credits. How many planets does The Illusive Man own exactly?'
Down here are also the two engineers Gabriella Daniels and Kenneth 'Scotty' Donnelly. I guess this Normandy requires fewer engineers for some reason. Ok Kenneth is not really called Scotty but he might as well be. That dude is so Scottish that even grumbler would agree he is a true Scotsman.
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'I dannae if the daddy bags can take any more captain!'
The last deck is...well...it is all Shepard's.
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I have to admit if all Cerberus had done is given Shepard his own deck he might have been tempted.
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You have a full bathroom, an office, a full sized bed, a case for sweet model ships, a sound system, and a fish tank. I mean there are no fish in the tank but still it is pretty nice. It is definitely an upgrade from the last Normandy.
Ok enough of that, it is time to talk about the mission. The mission is to gather recruits for our mission to go through the Omega 3 fatty acids....wait...I mean the Omega 4 relay to their certain death. Shepard has Dossiers on the following famous and notorious mercenaries and other scum:
Kasumi Goto - The greatest thief in the galaxy. Because of that she is a rather unknown and obscure figure but she has agreed to meet Shepard on the Citadel.
Zaeed Massani – The most feared and ruthless mercenary humanity has ever produced. He will meet Shepard at a Terminus space station called Omega. Damn how many things called Omega are in this game? I guess it is Bioware's favorite Greek letter.
Dr. Mordin Solus – A famed Salarian biological weapons expert and former member of the Salarian Special Tasks group (you may remember them from Virmire back Mass Effect Part Nine). He is also on Omega...the station not the relay.
Dr. Okeer – A millennia old Krogan Warlord so old he once referred to Gilgamesh as 'the new guy'. Ok seriously he was a leader of the Krogan during the Krogan Rebellion (which if you recall occurred during the reign of Emperor Justinian II). He has acquired lots of Collector's technology and is busy doing something on the planet Korlus in the Terminus Systems.
Archangel – An expert sniper and vigilante who is presently making a nuisance of himself for the mercenary bands on Omega.
Jack – A dangerous biotic with a history of violence and murder who can be found locked in the prison of Purgatory and is supposed to be the most powerful human biotic on record.
The first step is to go to the Citadel and meet with the Council and Udina and Anderson as well as recruit Kasumi Goto. And, I assume, have a victory parade and get lots of medals. Maybe a promotion. Free beer at least.
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'Yes here I come; there is plenty of time to roll out the red carpet.'
Tracking down a master thief should be pretty hard but in the event she gets in touch with Shepard the second he lands on the station through an advertisement.
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'Oh please let it be one of the guns from the last Mass Effect!'
No such luck. But she is eager to join us in our suicide mission so long as we recover a box that contains the memories of her former partner who was killed by some super criminal. His name was Keiji Okuda and he had some information so dangerous that it could cause an interstellar war and put the future existence of humanity in peril. So it is probably pretty important to recover this box. It seems The Illusive Man left that part out. Shepard promises to get around to it at some point. That is good enough for her.
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'So says the woman hanging from the ceiling just to have a simple conversation.'
Well that was easy enough.
The local news still basically just reports on stuff Shepard did two years ago.
Shepard's mom refused to accept a promotion to Admiral, preferring to remain a captain in order to honor his memory. Shepard should probably let his mom know he is still alive. Man how bad a son is he?
A huge investigation is being launched into Cerberus based on the testimony of Corporal Toombs and Dr. Wayne for the business with the massacres of Alliance Marines and Admiral Kahoku. Damn it is about time!
Chairman Burns has finally managed to get the reparations for the L2 biotics passed two years after they convinced him to help by holding him hostage and threatening to shoot him.
Terra Nova is celebrating the two year anniversary after some unnamed Alliance guy saved them from the notorious Batarian terrorist Balak. Whoever that guy is he should sure be proud.
Shepard Memorial Plaza on Elysium is now the most popular place to get married in the galaxy. I tell you that sounds like a good place if Shepard ever decides to tie the knot. 'In memory of the groom'
Citadel Ships have been shocked to come into contact with scouting ships that bear a striking resemblance to ancient Rachni ships. Wow that is weird I have no idea why that might be.
The booming colony of Zhu's Hope is now announcing a major expansion plan. Every water repair person rumored to have at least 69 thousand credits.
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'The heroic Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, human hero to all Aliens. She is a symbol of alien-human cooperation throughout the galaxy.'
I know that is exactly how she would have wanted it *sniff*
Upon passing through Citadel Security Shepard gets stopped because for some reason an error has occurred.
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'Yeah, you know, I am kind of a big deal on the Citadel. Breathe it in.'
Weirdly Bailey, when he is not telling his subordinates to abuse suspects (damn why is everybody a crazy vigilante in this world?), does not seem all that blown away by the great hero of the Citadel suddenly turning up alive.
So Shepard arrives in the Citadel but the world has clearly moved on. Well I guess besides the fact that all the things he did are still in the news. I mean sure he can leverage his fame into providing him with opportunities to sell himself out to gain small discounts at local shops...
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'Ooooooooh the indignity.'
And he does get harassed by accusations of selling out humanity by the local press:
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'That was me. You're welcome. But I couldn't have done it without my parents, the fans, my agent'
There is just no pleasing some people.
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'Oh please, like the Protheans have anything to do with the colonial disappearances. Stupid religious fanatics. Oh and this is all Ashley's fault.'
Good to see Emily Wong leveraged all the help I gave her to become the talking head of the Citadel.
Anyway recently having sold his soul for a few credits Shepard goes around and buys everything he can, because in Mass Effect you hardly ever bought anything but in Mass Effect 2 you buy everything you can.
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'Yes! I found Syt's Christmas gift!'
Well almost everything...
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'75,000? Wow I would hate to pay full price for this stuff.'
Selling out your good name sure doesn't go very far. In addition Shepard has to save a poor young Quarian from an incredibly contemptible Volus. Shocking to see the good name of Volus dragged through the mud again.
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'Oh you wacky Volus.'
So anyway of course he just left it some place and he is a raging asshole because...well...Volus.
It sure was great to get back to the Citadel! Ok so none of the common people seemed to think Commander Shepard was a big deal but surely the Council he saved will be eager to hear he has returned to lead the charge to save the galaxy from the Reapers.
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'Reapers'
Man if anything they are even less willing to believe Shepard now.
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'What? I convinced him to shoot himself and you think HE was the charismatic convincing one?'
Gah! But fortunately they agree to restore his Spectre Status so long as he stays out in the Terminus Systems. Well not exactly the parade Shepard expected but better than nothing. As I said before the Council may not be able to ever truly repay Shepard for saving their lives but it would have been nice if they had at least tried a bit.
Udina is...well...you know.
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'A trip to the Citadel is just not complete without seeing you pissed off old buddy.'
But at the end of the day he comes around to the idea that Shepard will be far away creating political shitstorms in the Terminus Systems.
Anderson and Shepard then have a moment to reconnect and talk mentor to protégé. He lets Shepard know that Alenko has been assigned to some secret project and all information on his whereabouts is classified. The Geth have been completely defeated and almost entirely driven back behind the Perseus Veil. But besides that the news is bad. He is getting pretty decisively beaten on the political front on the whole Reaper business.
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'Fight on old soldier!'
Anderson is ever the honorable man. Man from the very second Tali's Geth recording was heard revealing the existence of the Reapers the exact same people believe it and the exact same people doubt it among the political elite. Not one thing Shepard has done has influenced anybody on the Citadel since then. Damn he can convince terrorists to give up, criminals to reform, and bad guys to shoot themselves but politicians are just too stubborn.
Well that is it for the Citadel for awhile.
Shepard gets aboard the Normandy SR-2 and now the Port Observation Lounge is now open complete with full bar. Kasumi settles in and made the place her quarters. There she tells more about her former partner Keiji. It seems they were more than just business partners and she has a lot of sentimental objects that reminds her of their life together. She also has a cloaking ability like Shepard does and she tends to use it to get gossip on the ship so that is something Shepard can check up on from time to time.
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'Look I am sure you have a really interesting story to tell but do you mind if I got get a drink while you are telling it?'
Man that is a really nice room and Kasumi gets it all to herself.
While he was on the Citadel Shepard got ingredients for Gardner and booze for Chakwas.
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'Only 40 experience points? Motivation to perform more fetch quests: fading.'
Yeah the side content gets you far less goodies, like barely noticeable. Of course what really is the main plot now? We are recruiting people and dealing with their problems.
Chakwas and Shepard have a stiff drink and toast to the old days.
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'Remember the time we found minerals? Oh the memories.'
So now it is time to move on to Omega. The space station one.
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'I told you this game was red and no place is redder than Omega.'
Omega was an asteroid mined heavily by the Protheans for its Element Zero deposits and left it hallowed out. Over the next thousands of years it has been settled and become a wretched hive of people of low moral fiber. I bet you thought I was going to say something else huh?
The law on Omega is sort of like how one might imagine a mafia town in Italy. Everybody gets by through paying the gangs protection money. So why people live on this place I have no idea.
Once they land on this charming outpost they find Zaeed Massani beating down some Batarian he was hired to capture. I guess I can respect a guy who takes time in the middle of another appointment to meet with Shepard. This character, and frankly Omega in general, has a late 20th century action movie feel to it. Like I expect everybody to say a catch phrase and shoot people in the face like they give no shits.
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'That's what very manly and testosterone filled action heroes like us do. We will take revenge on the bastards that wronged us and then slowly walk away while something explodes in the background.'
If that sounds lame and clichéd you might be playing the wrong game BTW :P
Like Kasumi, Zaeed took this job hoping that Shepard would help him with something. He was hired to go to the planet Zorya and liberate a factory stolen by the notorious mercenary leader Vito Santiago, of the Blue Suns. It seems the Eldfell-Ashland Corporation doesn't like their plants captured and their employees used as slaves by Terminus warlords. Zaeed has absolutely no other reason for wanting to do this job. Nope.
So Shepard agrees to do it so Zaeed tells him he will finish his Batarian kidnapping job and then join them on the Normandy.
Omega is pretty much a giant slum which is administrated from a decadent night club. What more can one say really?
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'Yes...yes it is. But since your alternative outfit has removed your trademark combat high heels something has to keep you on your toes.'
The Afterlife Club is the reddest and coolest nightclub in the galaxy. I especially love its Elcor bouncer saying things like 'Menacing: try it punk' in his Elcor monotone.
The head gangster of Omega is the Asari Aria T'Loak who has like a half dozen catch phrases and is super cool. Like over the top cool. She keeps a humiliated Krogan around just to show what happens to people who break Omega's only rule:
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'Well that and no outside food.'
I swear to God it is a cheesy action film. But so wonderfully cheesy. Shepard plays along with his own laconic wit and then asks her about Mordin Solus and Archangel. They both sound like they are in deep shit. Mordin is in a quarantined plague area and Archangel has succeeded in getting cornered and his many enemies are closing in for the kill.
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'Ah...so you are saying it is unlikely he can meet us here?'
We have to work for our companions from here on out.
So basically the mercenary gangsters who want him dead are hiring freelancers to help take him out. So Shepard will get hired and then go in and kill all the Mercs from behind and break Archangel out. This bastard better be worth it. So they go and sign up. Shepard then convinces some young dude not to do so, knowing that he would have to shoot the kid later. The boy runs off crying to his mommy.
In Afterlife they also find Helena Blake. Remember her? The crimelord Shepard used his charm skill on?
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'That is between her sewing circles with elderly widows.'
They stop in the slums to buy whatever you can buy on Omega.
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'This thing is romanceable in the next Mass Effect.'
Shepard helps another Quarian by paying his way off Omega back to the Flotilla. He is basically the guardian angel of wayward Quarians.
Ok on to hire Archangel before the mercs can kill him. So they go down to the meeting point and the meet and greet merc lets them know about their exciting role as cannon fodder.
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'Welcome to the team. We look forward to sending you to your death.'
Now I have to say this entire section is both awesome and ridiculous. It is tons of fun and cheesy and you expect everybody to shout 'Yippee-ki-yay motherfuckers!' as they fight. But Archangel is cornered across a bridge in a building that is basically a house, not some might impenetrable fortress. It has chest high walls and chairs and couches and things. Any 19th century army would line up a few guns and shoot high explosive shells into this building and blow it up. But somehow this alliance of three space age mercenary gangs only have access to small arms and one helicopter thing. And they cannot advance across a small bridge against an opponent using a slow firing sniper rifle. It makes no sense and frankly it is best not to think about it too much.
Before the fight you get to go talk to the three merc leaders you are soon going to be fighting. Archangel has personally offended all three of them. He pissed off the leader of the 'Eclipse' by killing his brother. The Eclipse leader, a Salarian name Jaroth, has brought a giant robot to take care of Archangel. And well you know what those robots will do.
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'It is only fair. The good guys' robots always attack them to.'
He tried to ambush the kill the Krogan leader of the 'Blood Pack' (a chaotic group of Krogan and Vorcha thugs...wait the Vorcha? Who are the Vorcha? More on them later). And he raided the house of the leader of the 'Blue Suns' (the superego to the Blood Pack Id) merc group. Zaeed seems to know all the Blue Suns personally. This might be important later.
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'Oh don't worry Tarak. Soon all your problems will be over.'
So it is go time and all the freelancers move out over the bridge. Shepard, Miranda, and Zaeed charge across the bridge and shoot them all from behind and then wipe out the Blue Suns infiltration team. And yeah you will never guess who the nearly suicidal vigilante Archangel is and you will never guess why he did it.
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'Oh Garrus you have made such character development since the last game!'
But fortunately on Omega Garrus can pretty much shoot anybody and be assured they probably needed killing. He had a whole vigilante squad, unfettered by the stupid laws the government makes to keep people from shooting bad guys, but they have all died. Now it is just him. So Shepard promises to somehow get out of this mess alive.
After the death of the Blue Suns freelancer cannon fodder and their infiltration team the Eclipse move up with their robots and Salarians. They get shot down by Garrus and his new allies and soon Jaroth decides to send in the heavy robot. It, of course, immediately turns on the Eclipse and soon all of them are dead except Jaroth.
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'Probably should have bought those ExoGeni Space Zombies instead eh?'
With the Eclipse beaten an explosion rocks Garrus' complex. Garrus tells Shepard he has to run down the basement and close the security doors since the Bloodpack has busted in the tunnels downstairs. Man I bet you wish your security had some kind of remote control panel or something huh? Garrus has to face the force of the Bloodpack coming across the bridge so Shepard leaves Zaeed with him.
Miranda and Shepard get downstairs in the nick of time and shut the first door with the blood pack just a few feet away. There are two more security doors. One is across a huge warehouse full of Bloodpack. This is a really tough area since you have to drive forward against Krogan and Vorcha and Varren (remember them?) across the room to close the door under fire. Fortunately somebody put a bunch of chest high boxes in the room.
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'Ok blow up the crate, run to the pillar, use the arc projector on the Krogan, kick the Varren, run up to the door, push the button, and run away screaming...got it'
Then they close the other door, which was located down a long Blood Pack filled hallway but it was fortunately filled with chest high walls so Shepard was able to drive down the hall and shut the door.
Shepard and Miranda come back upstairs and the Blood Pack have cornered Garrus and Zaeed in a bad way and drive them off in the nick of time. Everything is going pretty awesome!
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'Oh come on Tarak he is facing the wrong way you just could have blown his head off without announcing it.'
None the less Tarak knocks Garrus out with his gunship, shooting part of his face off. Then the Blue Suns start being dropped into the room and Shepard and company have to rely on Garrus' bullet and rocket proof furniture to hold them off. Once the Blue Suns are beaten they haul Garrus out of there. This convinces all the merc gangs that Archangel is dead so that kind of works.
Doctor Chakwas eventually fixes him up...mostly. Garrus wonders how ugly he is now and expects it to help Shepard's social life.
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'Wait how can you be the funny guy Garrus? You don't have a british accent.'
So Garrus is pretty much the same guy only now he can take on whole armies all by himself and he cracks jokes. So I guess that is something.
Jacob, on the other hand tends to hit the same notes.
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'I get no credit for all my good deeds so I joined Cerberus who get things done! Wait didn't I already say that the first couple minutes you met me?'
Yeah he really needs something new to talk about.
Meanwhile the love fest between Miranda and Shepard continues. She reveals that she was built by this insanely megalomaniac business man in a test-tube to carry on his mighty legacy. And it kind of seems like then his experiment was stolen by Cerberus to make a super-agent.
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'I truly appreciate you as a person and I don't just bring you along to use your overload and warp as often as possible.'
Shepard tells her how she is not great because of her psycho dad or those Cerberus assholes but because of who she is. She says Shepard is very kind but she is not sure she really believes that. Can she finally learn to trust value herself as a person? Oh the drama. The terrorist with a heart of gold. If she is going to turn good she could at least apologize for that control chip thing.
Speaking of terrorists with hearts of gold, Kelly Chambers just wants to hold Garrus tight.
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'Wow you do love Turians don't you?'
Joker is slightly less happy to see Garrus.
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'I think Joker is just jealous that now Garrus says funny things to.'
Meanwhile Garrus has positioned himself in the main battery, making sure those gun controls are super um....something. So now we get to see that part of the ship! Remember it is just beyond the sleep pods on the crew deck. Why the crew deck? I guess so the gunners have easy access to snacks.
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Is it really necessary to stand right behind the guns in a spaceship? Anyway Garrus reveals how he built his own vigilante squad to fuck with organized crime on Omega and how his group was betrayed by a fellow Turian named Sidonis. Turian on Turian crime. So now Garrus has a new person to declare eternal vengeance on.
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'That blown off part of your face makes this look even more horrifying.'
But Garrus has not yet tracked the bastard down.
Zaeed is too macho to live someplace normal so have set himself up in the starboard cargo storage area. He likes to regale Shepard with tales of extreme violence.
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'I am awesome. Super awesome. In a very specific way.'
Those two engineers had sent Shepard to get something for them in the Omega markets and he did and to celebrate they play some Poker. Ironically he makes far more off them in the game than he spent on the thing they wanted. Shepard is quite the card shark.
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'I am Commander Fucking Shepard. I am great at everything...except dancing.'
So it is back to Omega to find Mordin Solus in the Quarantine Zone. On the way there they drop off some information they found with the Mercs with Aria and she asks them to protect her pet Krogan from some Blood Pack assassins. The long story short is that they confront these two Blood Pack Krogans and then Shepard's squad shoots them all in a moment of cut scene mightiness.
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'This will be the poster for the action movie we make of the Omega section.'
I laughed. It was silly. But it fit the Omega section perfectly.
Ok now it is off to the quarantine zone. There is a plague hitting this area that kills everything that is not human. The Vorcha are also immune because they are immune to all disease. Ok time to talk about the Vorcha.
They are an entirely new species for Mass Effect 2 and only seem to exist in the Terminus Systems. The Vorcha are smaller more animalistic versions of the Krogan. They are incredible violent and aggressive and short lived and regenerate their tissue rapidly, hence why they are immune to all disease. Because they have little intelligence and are incredibly fast breeding and aggressive most people consider them a blight. They are native to the planet Heshtok and well...not sure what else there is to say. Oh Mark Meer also voices all Vorcha so when a Vorcha talks to male Shepard it is Mark Meer talking to himself.
So anyway only humans and Vorcha are immune to this plague.
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'Nice. Do you want to write these captions Garrus?'
So it will be Kasumi and Miranda in the quarantine zone. Deep inside Mordin Solus is developing a cure to the plague. This district used to be a protection racket for the Blue Suns but since they mostly consist of Turians and Batarians they being decimated by the plague and the Blood Pack Vorcha are moving in to control the district. Since humans are mysteriously immune the Blue Suns blame the humans for it since they consider the Vorcha too stupid to be responsible. RACISS!
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'Nah we are just trying to recruit the scientist away who is trying to cure it.'
Kasumi is sort of like Miranda except she randomly does this melee attack from time to time. I think warp and buffing everybody is still way better but hey I will be doing a few more missions with her.
Eventually the reach the clinic.
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'Oh I am pretty sure those robots will be shooting you at some point.'
When they finally meet Mordin he is a fast talking Salarian genius who has found a cure for this advanced engineered plague. He is surprised to hear Cerberus wants him to help against the Collectors, but he thinks he is already going up against them.
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'Wow something in Mass Effect 2 that directly relates to the main plot!'
The Blood Pack are spreading the disease through the ventilation system but recently they have shut down the fans to try to kill everybody in the district now that they realize Mordin is speading the cure. The plan seems to be for the Collectors to kill everything on Omega besides the humans and then harvest them for whatever reason. Then the Vorcha would rule Omega alone.
Mordin wants them to take the cure and re-activate the ventilation system and end the plague. He also wants them to find his assistant who is out distributing the cure.
Since his assistant is a human the local plague sufferers naturally conclude he is spreading the plague instead of the cure for it. Shepard and company find him being held up by angry Batarians. After using his charm skill Shepard convinces them if they let the assistant go Shepard will let them go. They are shocked the EVIL humans would keep their word.
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'Well this is a fictional work.'
So they reach the fans and an angry Vorcha explains the plot for players who have not been paying attention.
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'Unlike some others I actually pay attention but thanks for the reminder.'
One of the longest and toughest fights in the game so far occurs. They have to fight to the ventilation system and put the cure inside then right to one fan, turn it on, and then fight to the other fan and turn it on. The Vorcha and Krogan are just pouring in all over the place and if you ever mess up you get to start all over again. If you are not super conservative you will get trapped and killed pretty fast. The Krogan, Varren, and flamethrower Vorcha will quickly overwhelm you if you let them.
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'I have his tanks in my sights! Just need to shoot him and he will light up like a fireba...oh shit I forgot to reload.'
For some reason the Krogan and Vorcha did not just destroy the ventilation system since they are all about violence and do not tend to think ahead but I appreciated their restraint. After they win and the plague is being cured Mordin agrees to join the effort.
Jacob welcomes Mordin on board and briefs him on the mission. He is amazed that Cerberus is using both an AI and recruiting Aliens and concludes Cerberus must be really desperate. Shepard tells him about the Seeker Swarms and he gets excited.
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'This entire string of thoughts was said in about 2 seconds.'
So now the research lab is open and a bunch of possibilities come with it. Lots of upgrades for the ship and the squad's armor and weapons become available and you use minerals you mine from uncharted planets to carry it out. Oh boy! Every squad member besides Kasumi and Zaeed also has their own upgrade they can give you. Jacob has an upgrade to ship's armor. Miranda has an upgrade to the ship's mineral scanner. Garrus has a top secret Turian gun design based on Sovereign's main gun. Mordin has an upgrade to his omni-tool. As we get more people we will have more of these.
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Mordin is a real workaholic who, like most Salarians, sleeps less than an hour every day. He loves challenges and has an extensive record as a special forces operator and medical researcher for the Salarian Special Tasks Group. Specifically he has done extensive work on the Krogan Genophage which he explains is only designed to keep Krogan reproduction to regular levels and not actually exterminate them. More on this later. In a bit of fanservice he says he served under Captain Kirrahe.
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'Cloaca? What does that mean....HEY!'
I told you it was a cloning facility and did not actually cure the Genophage! I feel vindicated.
The Collectors though have not stood still while Shepard has been shooting mercs.
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'Is that named after that Ferris Wheel guy?'
So another human colony has been taken out. Time to aggressively counter that by getting out there in space and mining minerals and scanning random planets!
We have six companions with two more to recruit!
Quote from: garbon on April 18, 2017, 03:16:05 PM
Quote from: Valmy on April 18, 2017, 11:54:50 AM
Quote from: garbon on April 14, 2017, 04:09:30 PM
Peeps on the tube likely thought I was crazy, chuckling to myself. :D :thumbsup:
Thanks! I have a sick amount of fun writing these things.
I also was inspired to boot up ME2 with the graphics mod suggested. Two thoughts:
1) Wow, how much prettier it all looks with that graphics mod. :wub:
2) Wow, I didn't remember how clunky Shepard's dialogue is. Also, I keep being distracted by Martin Sheen telling me what to do. :D
Shepard's dialog is pretty...uneven in its quality. I think the sheer volume of lines is a problem there.
You will probably finish the game well before I do :P
Quote from: Valmy on April 18, 2017, 07:42:16 PM
Now I mentioned back in the introduction about the campiness of Mass Effect 2 and the next scene is the first one where I was like 'oh come on'. Cerberus has built a new Normandy. A bigger shinier like more awesome Normandy. Now even ignoring the lore nerd stuff about how it was mentioned in Mass Effect Part Four that the drive alone on the original Normandy cost 120 billion credits (and let me tell you this new drive makes that one look like a hamster wheel) this is just a tad ridiculous. What exactly is the impact of destroying the old Normandy and killing Shepard if they are both going to be brought back almost immediately better than new? Because it was super important that Shepard work for Cerberus for some reason? I don't know. But it looks cool.
If you rip off the first design and improve on it, it won't cost you 120 billion credits to improve on it.
I figured they stole the design (they have spies and sympathizers everywhere), might even have stolen parts of a new engine design the Earth Forces were working on.
It's kinda like the nuclear aircraft carrier. The first one the US built costed a lot of money, but I figure the Russians developped their own after that for less, and then the US improved on the design for less money than the original drives, etc.
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I guess Cerberus is less big on power conservation.
Back in the days, we were told monochrome monitors in yellow/gold like this were more energy efficient than 16 color monitors ;)
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He will continue to make sarcastic comments as the plot (such as it is) progresses.
I had less a problem with the plot as with the overall gameplay in my first run: walk along some kind of corridor, kill bad guys that come out of nowhere, destroy a boss, level ended.
That felt... boring. And until they introduce some more DLCs a tad more story driven, I didn't quite like that game.
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I mean really where did the Illusive Man get these people?
I don't know... Where does Trump get his supporters? :D
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Isn't she supposed to be some sort of ice queen? Meltiest ice queen ever.
Remember how charming you were with terrorists in the first game? Imagine with the ladies...
QuoteIt makes me wonder how this worked in the original Normandy
Unisex bathroom, like in the old warships, I guess?
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There is a little passage under the middle of this deck with a currently useless room. I think this would be a great place to stash something dangerous and unstable.
:lol:
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Now I have to say this entire section is both awesome and ridiculous. It is tons of fun and cheesy and you expect everybody to shout 'Yippee-ki-yay motherfuckers!' as they fight. But Archangel is cornered across a bridge in a building that is basically a house, not some might impenetrable fortress. It has chest high walls and chairs and couches and things. Any 19th century army would line up a few guns and shoot high explosive shells into this building and blow it up. But somehow this alliance of three space age mercenary gangs only have access to small arms and one helicopter thing. And they cannot advance across a small bridge against an opponent using a slow firing sniper rifle. It makes no sense and frankly it is best not to think about it too much.
Arya doesn't mind some minor damages, but explosives inside her space station? I think that falls under the category "Don't fuck with Arya". ;)
Yeah well the Mercs were already planning to attack her anyway :P
But still Garrus' defenses were not exactly formidable. They talked like he had defense towers and land mines.
Quote from: Valmy on April 18, 2017, 09:24:03 PM
Quote from: garbon on April 18, 2017, 03:16:05 PM
Quote from: Valmy on April 18, 2017, 11:54:50 AM
Quote from: garbon on April 14, 2017, 04:09:30 PM
Peeps on the tube likely thought I was crazy, chuckling to myself. :D :thumbsup:
Thanks! I have a sick amount of fun writing these things.
I also was inspired to boot up ME2 with the graphics mod suggested. Two thoughts:
1) Wow, how much prettier it all looks with that graphics mod. :wub:
2) Wow, I didn't remember how clunky Shepard's dialogue is. Also, I keep being distracted by Martin Sheen telling me what to do. :D
Shepard's dialog is pretty...uneven in its quality. I think the sheer volume of lines is a problem there.
You will probably finish the game well before I do :P
Yeah, as if you putting an AAR together takes you no time at all. :P
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Shepard and company have to rely on Garrus' bullet and rocket proof furniture to hold them off.
Don't you wish they would use the same material to build the Normandy?
Btw, is there something wrong with Miranda? I wonder if it's caused by the alternate outfit.
Btw, there is a way to romance Kelly Chambers, did you know?
https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/944907-mass-effect-2/53455594 (https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/944907-mass-effect-2/53455594)
[spoiler]
My suggestion if you want her: romance who you want to romance. Save before the final missions. Drop your love interest. Pursue romance with Kelly[/spoiler]
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'Wow something in Mass Effect 2 that directly relates to the main plot!'
In a way, nearly everything does. The side quests for the ship helps a lot. The loyalty missions are necessary for your crew, if they don't trust you, there's not much chance they will gave their 100% when you ask them to risk their neck.
As I said before, the plot is not a huge problem for me in this game. It is very simplisitic and unoriginal, but there are no massive plotholes I could find. Unless you tie it with ME1, that is.
Quote from: viper37 on April 19, 2017, 04:13:08 PM
Btw, is there something wrong with Miranda? I wonder if it's caused by the alternate outfit.
Besides the usual? What are you referring to? :unsure:
Quote from: Valmy on April 19, 2017, 07:09:18 PM
Besides the usual? What are you referring to? :unsure:
She looks strange to me:
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It's like she's 7 of 9 instead of Dark Angel :)
Like one huge very dark eyebrow on the left of the picture, and her face is very pale.
Yeah she is wearing a visor in her alternative outfit, that is what you are seeing not an eyebrow. She is usually pale :P
ah, that is it :)
Any updates before the Cap's series begins?
Ok kind of an embarrassing story really. I have been studying hard for my PE exam which I thought was this Thursday the 27th. I had the 27th marked on my calendar for months. But I went to check something on the exam website this evening and it turns out the exam was on the 21st so I missed it. I am out a couple hundred bucks but fortunately not much else than my pride.
So I guess my plans of studying hard for my exam are now off and I will get back to playing ME2. I expect to have the next update posted tomorrow.
Quote from: Valmy on April 24, 2017, 11:50:13 PM
Ok kind of an embarrassing story really. I have been studying hard for my PE exam which I thought was this Thursday the 27th. I had the 27th marked on my calendar for months. But I went to check something on the exam website this evening and it turns out the exam was on the 21st so I missed it. I am out a couple hundred bucks but fortunately not much else than my pride.
So I guess my plans of studying hard for my exam are now off and I will get back to playing ME2. I expect to have the next update posted tomorrow.
damn, that's though :(
I'm sorry for you Valmy. It happened to me once, in college, I thought my exam was on the afternoon while it was in tthe morning. I was so certain it was in the afternoon, that I managed to convince the teacher I had the bad info on my schedule and they let me retake the exam in the teacher's office.
Quote from: viper37 on April 25, 2017, 02:14:48 PM
Quote from: Valmy on April 24, 2017, 11:50:13 PM
Ok kind of an embarrassing story really. I have been studying hard for my PE exam which I thought was this Thursday the 27th. I had the 27th marked on my calendar for months. But I went to check something on the exam website this evening and it turns out the exam was on the 21st so I missed it. I am out a couple hundred bucks but fortunately not much else than my pride.
So I guess my plans of studying hard for my exam are now off and I will get back to playing ME2. I expect to have the next update posted tomorrow.
damn, that's though :(
I'm sorry for you Valmy. It happened to me once, in college, I thought my exam was on the afternoon while it was in tthe morning. I was so certain it was in the afternoon, that I managed to convince the teacher I had the bad info on my schedule and they let me retake the exam in the teacher's office.
Yes but this is not an exam for school so actually it will not hurt me in anyway. Except for the whole money part :P
I guess if I am going to fuck up something like that I am glad it is something where there are no negative repercussions.
MASS EFFECT 2 PART THREE or FROM BEKENSTEIN WITH LOVE or THE MAN WITH THE CANADIAN GUN
In this section, we are getting out there in Space and mining for minerals and doing a few other things as well.
So in this game you actually fly your little ship around the system and galaxy map. It makes your ship look as large as entire stars. Not sure why how they did it in Mass Effect was not sufficient but oh well.
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They also introduce fuel, which you burn when you fly around the star cluster, but not when you fly around a star system. Nothing really bad happens when you run out of fuel, you just lose more resources and credits. So really this part is mostly a credit and resource drain. So there is pressure on you to use as little fuel as possible.
There was really none of this sort of resource management in ME1, since you had plentiful loot and credits thrown your way constantly. I know I have talked about this before but it is interesting how they really made this a big part of the game. If you do not manage your credits well you will run out of money to buy the last few upgrades, though having the DLC lessens that problem a bit.
But there are also side missions to do on the planets, which are just like normal missions now. There is no exploration or anything like that. The first step is the planet Alchera. The scene of the great Collector/Joker crime of part one.
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'I just want to point out that this planet has a thick atmosphere and Shepard's body went through it and fell on the surface and yet was able to be brought back to life. Miranda does good work.'
So in the first mission there are no bad guys or loot or anything to get. You are just down on the surface looking at the wreckage of the SSV Normandy SR1. You are trying to find the dogtags of the 20 Alliance Personnel who died (almost half the crew! Ouch.) and place a monument amongst the wreckage. You have a choice as to what part of the ship deserves the honor of hosting the monument.
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'The MAKO is stuck on its last mountain.'
So you wonder around the surface and find the bridge, engineering, the crew deck, and the CIC and get a little image reminding you of what it used to look like.
You also find Pressley's notes and how Shepard helped him become a better person.
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'You know this would have been a nice character development for Pressley back in the first game. Just saying Bioware.'
Finally we get an image of our fallen comrades. At least the ones Shepard actually cares about.
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'RIP friends.'
Getting this nostalgia fanservice done when I just finished the first game a few days ago is a little weird but hey.
Shepard decides to place the monument at the CIC.
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'On this spot Shepard stood for most of the ME1 until Joker got him killed. But he got better.'
Near this spot you can find Shepard's helment and can take it back to your cabin. I totally missed this so now that is going to bother me for the rest of the game. And of course in ME2 you can never go back if you missed something. Ah well.
In the nearby Fathar System Shepard interrupts his mineral scanning and finds evidence of a deep undercover Cerberus agent.
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'I wonder what human colony he was trying to destroy?'
Shepard goes in with Mordin and Miranda and discovers an Eclipse base and they have captured Cerberus agent Tyrone Rawlings suspecting he is involved with Cerberus Rachni experiments. So I guess he was involved in destroying Alliance colonies. Eclipse is hesitant to give its agent up to Shepard.
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'Hey thanks for putting these conveniently sized and located walls here.'
Shepard finds Agent Rawlings' bloody corpse, he was a bit resistant to Eclipse enhanced interrogation techniques. He also finds the data and...
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'Well of course I am going to send it to the Alliance. But Cerberus knew I was going to do that.'
Neither Miranda nor the Illusive Man even seem to mind that much. But that Rachni stuff was soooo two years ago.
Councilor Anderson sends Shepard an e-mail thanking him for the Cerberus data personally but notes it will take a few years to crack the encryption and by then the Galaxy will probably be destroyed anyway. Oh well, no wonder Cerberus doesn't give a fuck. Shepard also gets another e-mail...
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'As I said, worst son ever.'
She takes it much better than my Mom would. By the way my Mom just turned 73 on Monday! Happy Birthday Mom!
Speaking of the elderly it is time for Shepard to venture over to the Eagle Nebula. In the Imir System there is the planet Korlus, a vast garbage dump for space ships. Down on the surface the ancient Krogan Warlord Okeer is doing...something or other. Garrus, Miranda, and Shepard go down after him.
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'Anywhere lots of conveniently placed walls are located should be assumed to contain hostiles.'
Shortly after landing they find a wounded Blue Suns merc. Man the Blood Pack, Blue Suns, and Eclipse are everywhere aren't they? Anyway he reveals that Okeer is working for the Blue Suns to make an army of Krogan.
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'Huh. How do you tell if a Krogan is insane or not? It's breathing?'
So Okeer is making lots of Krogans and then inexplicably releasing them where they fight with the Blue Suns Mercs. Soon they come across these Mercs engaged in this very exciting team building exercise.
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'You know you could just talk to me and figure out what I want.'
The Blue Suns I guess just like shooting everybody. I should have brought Zaeed since he seems to know all the Blue Suns personally.
After the Blue Suns are killed they meet their first Krogan clone since Virmire. And yeah I have to admit even by Krogan standards this thing is pretty weird.
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'Yeah so...bummer? I guess?'
Some kind of computer program talks to the Krogan's brains. Then if they are not considered good enough they are kicked out and attack the Blue Suns. Weirdly this one decides it doesn't dislike Shepard and tells him all this and then clears some debris to help him along. None of the other Krogans do anything but try to kill them so I guess that just got lucky there.
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'Nothing like the smell of burning Krogan in the morning it smells...pretty bad actually.'
They just keep fighting upwards and upwards through Krogans and mercs until they finally reach the pinnacle of...um...this big industrial wasteland they are fighting on.
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'I am sure she will come swooping into save the day any second now, she clearly cares a lot about you guys.'
Jedore is not exactly weeping over her casualties. Probably since she is anticipating having an army of infinite Krogans who may or may not eat her at any moment.
Soon they arrive at Okeer's lab and discover he has enlisted an expert from other cloning schemes to cure the Genophage.
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'Oh hi! I promise I am not setting off any small nukes this time.'
Yet she does not believe Shepard at all and is sure he is going to blow up the facility. Man where do people get these ideas? She is the one making the teaching protocols that teach the cloned Krogans. She says the Okeer is not trying to cure the Genophage at all but rather to make Krogan better somehow. After that she runs off in terror. Garrus seems disappointed they let her go a second time. Someday he just knows Shepard will just shoot bad guys in the face.
Next they enter Okeer's lab. Hey this is Krogan scientist #2.
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'It would have helped speed things along if you had not also sent an army of angry Krogan clones after us.'
Though frankly it kind of feels like we fought the Blue Suns for absolutely no reason at all. Like I bet the Mercs would have been eager to help us take Okeer out of here. But we have a contractual obligation to kill Blue Suns, Eclipse, or Blood Pack during every mission so there is that.
Okeer is happy that Shepard blew up the cloning facility on Virmire because he thinks quantity has no quality of its own. He thinks the Genophage has had the horrible side effect of making Krogan care for their children since there are so few of them and this is making the Krogan weak and soft. So, he is going to cull through all the wimpy Krogan, like the Spartans of old, until he makes a truly awesome one. And he thinks he has achieved this with his last sample so now he is eager to leave. Oh, and he has been doing this by trading with the Collectors for weird Collector tech, making him one of the few Collector tech experts around.
But first Shepard has to take care of his former partner Jedore. She is down in a lower lab with some crazy Krogans and a giant battle robot. This is a pretty tough fight with newly born Krogans running at you while Jedore and the robot fire at you. Fortunately, the Krogans only come one at a time.
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'Happy birthday baby Krogan! Enjoy your few seconds of life.'
Man that was dark. Once the Krogans are taken care of the fight is straightforward. But once that is over then we hear that poison gas has flooded into the other lab. Did Jedore do that? Did Okeer? What the hell is going on? I am not sure. But you rush back to Okeer's lab and he is dying.
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'Why? Why are you referring to him as a 'grunt'? Grunts are usually not what people call elite soldiers.'
So...right...why did that happen? Garrus says Okeer was nuts to sacrifice himself for this pure Krogan. I guess if that is, in fact, what happened that was kind of nuts.
Oh and Okeer says that he has no idea why the Collectors are after humans. Just to assure you something tied to the main plot happened in this mission.
The crew all bickers about whether or not they should open the tank but hey Cerberus has Shepard recruiting all kinds of incredibly dangerous and unstable people so I am not sure why this things is special.
Meanwhile Mordin has a confession to make about the Genophage.
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'But...this secret has nothing to do with our mission. I don't need to know that you cheated on your taxes last year either.'
He and his team designed a new Genophage since the main thing that determined if a Krogan lived or died was now the Genophage so over the centuries resistance to it began to set in. So, they made a new fancier Genophage and secretly infected all the Krogans with it. Now Shepard can say 'awesome! Great job with the bio-weapons!' or 'You Monster! The Genophage is an unambiguous evil!'. Frankly I have no idea what to think about the Genophage, especially if it is true the Krogan population is in fact not actually decreasing as Mordin says. In this case though, Shepard just says 'I see. Thanks for telling me this completely non-Collectors related piece of information.'
Shepard tells Jacob he would like to get to know him on a personal level. This makes Jacob uncomfortable.
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'Fortunately I hide my bullshit behind these steely manly eyes.'
But Jacob says he really has no personal life. He has no family, no friends, no nothing. He just does his job. For some reason. Come on Bioware you need to give this character something. Garrus and Zaeed are one note nutcases but they both crack jokes and have some attitude about it. But Jacob is supposed to be this...um...good person I guess. He needs to have something going for him. Just give him a hobby. A few friends. A reason he has devoted his life to helping humanity and the galaxy. More on this character later.
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'Something like that. Only full grown and likely violent.'
They should have let the Krogan out back on Korlus. He could really fuck things up on a ship.
Joker is annoyed that EDI is spying on him.
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'And it reports everything we say to the Illusive Man. But I wouldn't worry about it.'
We should learn to embrace our new AI overlords.
Meanwhile Zaeed admits even his greatest and most tender love affair ended in a violent shower of blood.
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'But that was nothing compared to what went down with my babysitter when I was 10.'
Zaeed...he kills stuff. Just in case you missed it.
Shepard then goes into the Port Cargo Hold. Yeah! New room on the ship unlocked!
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'Breeding pod makes it sound so much more fun than it actually is.'
EDI confirms the Krogan is not especially dangerous, for a Krogan. So why not open it up? I mean Zaeed is nearby if something needs to be killed.
So he opens the pod.
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'Hello newborn Krogan! Welcome to life I cannot wait t...AAAAAAAHHH!'
So the baby krogan throws Shepard up against the wall and threatens to kill him unless Shepard gives him some tough opponents to fight. Shepard assures him they are fighting the Collectors and that seems good enough for him. He also needs a name so he decides that 'Grunt' is good after what Okeer said. I just don't see how 'grunt' is the superlative these krogans seem to think it is.
So it is good Shepard did not wake Grunt to help him collect past due credit card payments or something.
Kelly worries that a newborn Krogan might not be entirely stable.
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'Well let me ease your mind and assure you he is both violent and unpredictable.'
But next the game experiences a hijacking...
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'An American Civil War Hijack that is!'
So yeah an American Civil War analog was fought in the Amun System. They are even currently carrying out a 'reconstruction' and there was a 'high water mark' for the rebels. I bet Batarian Stonewall Jackson was a tough opponent until he was shot by his own troops at the battle of Alphaepsilonville.
But despite the place being covered with wrecked space ships EDI thinks there is one wreckage that needs to be explored on the planet Neith since it is letting off a distress signal.
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'Movement but no organic life? Whatever could that be?'
Well it's not Geth since this is ME2. So yeah...it's more robots. The VI of this ship, the CSV Corsica (crazy shit going on on Corsica? Shocking.), went insane and started waking the robots that were the cargo of this ship. The crew had to lock the VI out of vital systems and had to abandon ship so here the wreckage lies with no survivors. The VI seems to be using the distress signal to try to draw in some suckers so it can get off world. Well VI your suckers have arrived!
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'Wow 180 huh? This is going to be fun. I wonder how these things are marketed? Guaranteed to only murder you 70% of the time!'
But the VI is fine to draw us in until Shepard shuts off its distress beacon and then it sends in the robots to murder him. Just as this happens a giant sandstorm hits because...fuck you that's why!
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'Well ok there are about 157 more robots to go.'
Fortunately you just have to run through the robots and the sandstorm to the shuttle. So that was fun. Cerberus tracks the ship and discovers it last docked at Jarrahe Station in the Eagle Nebula.
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'So hey just want to dock and see what if you guys can tell me anything about a rogue VI on the CSV Corsica. Hello?'
Huh nobody there. So they dock and quickly find some helpful station workers.
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'So...I hear you might have some problems with your VI?'
So yeah yet another mass murder by VI. They are the demons of Mass Effect. What follows is kind of my kind of level, you show up at a disaster and try to figure out what is going on...but you pretty much know the VI went nuts after the CSV Corsica mission. So you solve a few puzzles, nothing as challenging at the Tower of Hanoi puzzle mind you, and then reach the VI core and shut it down.
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'AAAAHHH!! EVIL AVINA!'
You discover that the VI going insane and killing everybody happened right after the CSV Corsica docked and that the ship originated at a robot fabrication factory on Capek in the Titan Nebula. Well I bet nothing fucked up will be going on over there!
But first it is time for a fancy soiree.
Despite the promise that Shepard would avoid Citadel space they go over to the planet Bekenstein in the Boltzmann System, in the Serpent Nebula near the Citadel itself, and attend a party of some sort being thrown by supervillain Donovan Hock. Kasumi is out to rescue her boyfriend-in-a-box from his evil clutches. Oh and there is some sort of information in that box that could start an interstellar war as well. For their gift they are bringing a statue of Saren that is secretly filled with their weapons and armor, though Shepard gets to carry his pistol since Berkenstein is an open carry planet.
Wait why are they bringing a gift? Is this Hock's birthday? What exactly is this party for? No idea.
Anyway this is all going to be very spy-like with Shepard even having a cover ID, Mercenary Captain Solomon Gunn a man very accomplished in all sorts of galactic skullduggery and legerdemain. The sort of bad blood only the most bally sod would try to bob. Not sure why I went into Planescape Cant there.
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'Would he also respect the sort of person who can read technical mumbo jumbo upside down and in amber? Because I can also do that apparently.'
So yeah Shepard gets a fancy new suit which I will be wearing the rest of the game. If you are a fem Shep you get a swanky dress which she looks rather ridiculous running around in her ambling gait. But the suit works pretty well for dude Shep.
At the party Hock lets Shepard in but wants Kasumi to wait outside because her hood makes her look shady or something. Like that would stop her from getting in anyway.
Shepard goes around and mingles with the smug and rich criminal bastards who Hock likes to hang out with. And let me tell you some of them are crazy conspiracy theorist nutcases.
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'Oh sure and the attack on the Citadel was an inside job.'
Crazy talk I tell you.
I am not really sure where Bioware got all the crazy art for this scene but it does kind of look like a modern art gallery so good job. Shepard does kind of enjoy the party.
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'Corruption and violent evil has never looked so scenic.'
But he did not come to this party to play, he came here to work. So eventually he finds the vault and it is protected with a shield, a password, a voice recognition system, and a DNA detector. Is that it?
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'Kasumi and her freaky cybernetic eyes.'
But despite being able to open this thing in a coma Shepard still has to do most of the work. So they bypass the door to the security room, very subtlety with only most of the party watching. Shepard goes in and uses his pistol to take out the Eclipse guards. I guess Eclipse are the merc band we are fighting in this section. Huh. I guess I thought they were mostly a Terminus Systems thing. Then he finds the password among their bloody corpses.
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'I am glad bad guys are so fond of documentation.'
Hock's security is pretty shit since shooting his men does not seem to trigger any sort of alarm. Next they need a voice imprint for the recognition system. To do this Shepard goes up to talk to Donovan Hock about how great it is they are out doing all the crime the galaxy needs. This gets Hock inspired and he gives a rousing, smug, and self-congratulatory speech to his scummy guests.
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'Without us doing all the slaving, racketeering, and murder how would society even function? I mean I tell you.'
Man these people are all the real heroes. So next they talk their way into Hock's bedroom and look for DNA samples and let me tell you this guy's cleaners are crazy good. There was not even anything on his bed. But fortunately...
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'Hock likes to play with his antique swords. What an adorable bad guy.'
So the last thing they do is find the power source for the shield and it is in his bookshelf.
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'Wow dead tree forms of information storage have really made a comeback.'
I mean seriously there were no books at all in Mass Effect but they, and file folders, have really made a comeback since Shepard got killed. But they de-activate this power source and fortunately it connected to nothing else besides vault security. With that they rush into the vault and open it easily. Time to get that box! Inside the vault they discover a vast collection of priceless art objects.
Including the smashed head of Lady Liberty and a submachine gun used to kill two American Presidents.
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'Shepard holding the President killing gun in front of the smashed decapitated head of Lady Liberty. Canada is sending us a message here.'
Despite being an antique of sorts the submachine gun is much better than anything else of its kind in the game so Shepard takes it.
But the Statue of Liberty is not the only famous earth statue Hock has in his vault.
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'Damn David...so sorry about losing three of your limbs there.'
We can just say it is the statue of a Byzantine official.
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'Or the Deep Roads...wait I am not sure why I said that.'
They find Keiji Okuda's graybox and then the fun begins. And oh is it fun. Hock appears as a giant face hologram and starts taunting them and sends his mercs in to kill them.
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'Too bad I am playing a Paragon run because I am sure this Renegade interrupt would have been really cool.'
So now they fight through several rooms full of Eclipse mercs all the while Hock is talking crap.
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'Kasumi I am pretty sure being a murderer is a compliment for this crowd.'
Murder allows the galaxy to function somehow. This is a weirdly common conceit from Garrus and like half the bad guys. More on this later.
So eventually they make it to the shuttle deck and Hock is waiting for them.
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'Wait there was an easy way?'
Not sure what he is referring to there besides just killing ourselves. Now this section is actually kind of ridiculous. Tons of mercs pour in and the first time I played it some kind of bug kept the next scene from triggering so it just went on forever. I think I killed about 20 groups of mercs before they finally managed to outflank Shepard.
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'You know you could just fly your little gunship around and have a clear shot at me no matter where I am taking cover...just saying.'
So eventually enough mercs have been killed that Kasumi decides to make her move. And what follows is hilariously cheesy and over the top. She climbs up a bunch of pipes and jumps on the gunship. Yes. And it just kind of sits there while she does it.
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'THIS IS SO CHEESY AND YET AWESOME!!11'
I am pretty sure the 'encased in ice' look is not really how kinetic barriers work but whatever. She uses her Omni-tool to de-activate the shields and then jumps off. They then take out the gunship from long range while more mercs pour in. Once it is destroyed the Normandy's shuttle picks them up and Kasumi sees the message from Keiji and he tells her that the information in his graybox will severely damage the Alliance and its relationship with the Council and will probably lead to a war between humanity and the Council races. Well how juicy is that? Also all his memories of their time together come flooding back to Kasumi.
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'We may, just may, have killed the only person who ever mentions this again during the entire game series.'
Even though Keiji wants her to destroy the graybox Kasumi wants to keep Keiji around as her weird box boyfriend. Shepard goes ahead and lets her do it since...well...why not? The thing is basically unhackable from what we have seen. Kasumi promises to keep it secret and keep it safe.
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'And if you do learn anything meaningful about her we will have to kill you. Nothing personal.'
EDI has discovered that pissing Joker off makes him work more efficiently.
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'It is like a sociopathic version of 'her'.'
But while we have been out running around the Collectors have been busy.
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'Man I hoped they moved the New Pro Football Hall of Fame in time!'
Maybe we should stop doing all these silly companion missions and get out there and do something about these Collectors!
Next: They don't do anything about the Collectors.
MASS EFFECT 2 PART FOUR or MACHO MACHO JACK...AND MEN
This episode is full of machismo and posturing so get your testosterone supplements ready!
Kasumi is enjoying her boyfriend-in-a-box.
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'Yes...a very weird form. Yet you still have the healthiest relationship on this ship.'
Grunt is doing something dangerous and thinking. He is having an existential crisis. Basically, he is dealing with the same thing Miranda is. What it means to be bred for success.
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'I am sure we can find a few instances for you to earn something.'
Grunt is getting deep and introspective here. What amazing conclusions will his thinking lead to? Just you wait.
Kelly is showing how strong her skills as a counselor and psychological evaluator are.
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'It's that accent, isn't it? The ladies love it.'
It is on to the planet Capek to visit that factory that made the robots that spread the VI virus that destroyed a freighter and a space station.
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'Oh boy an anomaly! I always get so excited to see those!'
The factory is overrun with killer robots and it just keeps making them. It seems there was some kind of bug.
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'EA take note of all the damage rushing out a buggy product can produce. It may hurt your marketplace brand. Maybe destroy a few space stations.'
They must fight through the robots to get to the factory controls, which are very inconveniently located at the other end of the factory floor.
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'Damn you Bioware for freaking me out by dangling those Ymirs right above us as we fight!'
Fortunately, the Ymirs never drop and eventually Shepard does what he usually does.
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'We should have just nuked it from orbit.'
So, that is the end of the software bug gone horribly wrong quest chain. Seriously people debug your code.
Cerberus let Shepard know that the ground vehicle intended for the Normandy SR2, the M-44 Hammerhead, is off being tested by two Cerberus doctors with their ship the MSV Rosalie. They went missing though so Shepard heads off to their last known location in the Ismar Frontier Cluster and the planet Zeona.
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'Wait so the doctors just left the Hammerhead behind?'
As weird as it sounds this is exactly what happened.
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'Ok Mass Effect 2 really grinds my gears here. Zaeed has a face-mask but his ears and back of his head are exposed to this toxic world? And then Miranda has this silly breath mask as if that is all you need for space exploration.'
I don't get it. They had everybody in space suits in Mass Effect but virtually all the companions in ME2 do not. It is not a big deal, but why backslide on something like that?
Anyway, they find the M-44 Hammerhead just sitting abandoned in a box with no sign of MSV Rosalie and the doctors.
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'Plus our VI is voiced by Varric Tethras!'
Yeah Varric voiced Keiji Okuda in the last section as well.
They fly, or hop I guess, around the volcanic planet finding the research of the two doctors and eventually also finding the wreckage of the MSV Rosalie.
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'How exactly do we know that research is buried there?'
I am not even sure why they left their research buried in random places in a lava field. The Geth keep attacking the mission and nobody is quite sure why. But the team is doing some sort of Prothean research and their research opens a few leads to follow.
But first: Behold the cargo bay with both the Hammerhead and the shuttle, like God intended:
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'It brings tears of joy to my eyes.'
Nearby Grunt has meditated on his existential crisis and has come to the meaning for his existence: killing Turians.
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'It is a beautiful thing when somebody goes into a deep introspective place and comes out the other end eager to commit their life to genocide.'
That is not to say they might not find a few Turians who need killing. Maybe even a bit later in this episode!
The perpetually eating members of the crew, who are suspiciously still slim, are impressed with what Shepard has done so far.
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'So...three? Really? That shatters all your records?'
Well this is a Cerberus outfit.
Up on the CIC Matthews doesn't have any problems with working with Aliens.
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'Yeah if she gives you any weird and apparently useless widgets let me know.'
Wait our crewmen can afford Sha'ira? Not sure the Illusive Man is delivering top shareholder value here.
But it is time to go help Zaeed with that project the Illusive Man secretly signed Shepard up for. It is a little less glamorous than Kasumi's mission.
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'Yes the Blue Suns have their own planet of 148 million people. No wonder they seem to have unlimited numbers.'
It is quite scenic. They land and approach the factory the Blue Suns have stolen.
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'A black smoke belching smoke stack? How wonderfully Dickensian.'
Though the rest of this mission is little like Oliver Twist...though maybe Zaeed might be a bit like Bill Sykes.
As they advance towards the factory it becomes obvious that Zaeed is just a bit familiar with the factory's new manager Vido Santiago.
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'Ah...probably something you should have brought to my attention earlier.'
No wonder Zaeed knows all the Blue Suns personally he is their freaking founder. Zaeed used to lead the squads while Vido handled that contracts. But HR people are eternally evil so eventually he got together a few loyalists and grabbed Zaeed and shot him in the head and left him for dead. Therefore, Zaeed has that weird face thing going on. Shepard gets a little concerned Zaeed might be making this mission a little personal.
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'Oh good, I was worried this was going to be a problem.'
This is a very intense confrontation between macho macho men. Miranda is just hanging back smiling slightly. I do not know whether she is going 'men :rolleyes:' or 'men :perv:' but she doesn't say anything the whole time.
They eventually fight their way into the plant through yet more Blue Suns. Vido and some of his men confront them at the entrance and Zaeed responds by shooting open the fuel valves and setting the whole place on fire.
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'This bravado is slightly unconvincing when Vido is limping away towards his escape shuttle.'
Since the whole point was to liberate the plant from Vido's clutches Shepard is just a little pissed off at Zaeed trying to blow the whole place up just to take revenge on Vido.
Zaeed wants to just let the place blow so he can get Vido. Shepard and he have a little talk about it.
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'RAAAAAAR ME ALPHA!'
So Shepard wins and they run around and shut down the fuel lines and activate the fire extinguishing system and save the plant. Then they run after the Blue Suns and Vido's robot.
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'Oh I mean ex-robot. Fights are always best that end with an explosion.'
So with that they run outside to the launch pad just in time to see Vido flying away with some of his flunkies. Zaeed runs up screaming shooting his assault rife in his general direction. He somehow manages to kill one of the Suns before his gun overheats. He takes this setback well.
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'Somehow we all knew it would end this way the day I recruited him.'
But the heat clip that flew out of his rifle after his gun overheated earlier ignites some flammable liquid making the pad blow up, sending a beam down on top of Zaeed. At this point he and Shepard scream at each other with Shepard telling him never to let his personal bullshit get in the way of the mission again. After all Shepard is the guy who let his crush blow sky high on Virmire.
Shepard uses his charm skill, and points his gun in Zaeed's face, and Zaeed relents.
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'And since we are guys we are probably best friends now right?'
And so they saved the plant and the Edfell-Ashland Energy Corporation pays them. Oh and they got a flame thrower and a heavy weapons upgrade.
Kasumi is impressed.
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'Actually I was glad I did not end up having to dodge a bullet.'
Zaeed is now nice and loyal and ready to do the mission.
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'Yeah. Maybe we will even do that eventually.'
No hard feelings you crazy old bastard.
So now it is back to tracking those two doctors and their Prothean research.
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'Geth? Sweet I have missed them.'
So Dr. Cayce found some Prothean artifacts and marked them. The Geth have now arrived to collect them.
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'Oh...nevermind I actually missed the smaller cuter Geth.'
This is not really a true battle with Geth. The Hammerhead has a pretty powerful main gun and its jump jets and ability to slide from side to side make it pretty easy to blow away the Geth at long range.
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'Killing Geth in a vehicle among giant Prothean ruins in a linear level. It is like I never left Ilos!'
Somebody is tipping off the Geth to their research. Hmmmm.
The next mission is finding the good doctors base on the planet Karumto in the Caleston Rift cluster. They have a base inside a Prothean Ruin in a very active volcanic region. Man they seem to love those.
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'Well I know Joker loves picking us up right beside erupting volcanoes.'
They land and the Hammerhead negotiates the vast ocean of lava and melting rock.
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'Ah...ok that looks stable.'
They go into the base and find it shut off. A short exploration of the area reveals why.
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So as soon as they turn back on the power the whole place will blow. So they do so, download the data, and run out while the whole region dramatically melts down in a massive eruption.
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'SAVE US JOKER! UNLIKE THAT LAST TIME'
So they manage to get back into the ship. They discover transmissions from the station had previously gone to the Geth. Somebody on Drs. Cayce and O'Loy's team is a mole. They now have to discover where they are as soon as possible.
The also discover the Geth had pursued Dr. Cayce's research into anomalous weather on the planet Lattesh in the The Phoenix Massing Cluster. So they head off there next.
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'Oh come now I wouldn't expect a vehicle designed for space exploration would have any problems with the cold.'
Boy were we wrong. The Mako could have easily survived this but the Hammerhead is having trouble with only -53C.
But they have to get to each scan spot and get the data before the Hammerhead freezes solid. Nothing really to it really, just speed.
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'This is actually screenshot of BB going to work back when he lived in Whitehorse.'
While this atmospheric data was important it actually had nothing to do with the Protheans. So it was a side quest within a side quest.
The final planet related to the Doctors research is Kopis (which is actually a moon) in the Hades Nexus Cluster.
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'Oh boy more automated defenders!'
On the surface you see a big energy barrier there are rocket drones swooping around. I am not sure if these drones are put there by the doctors or if they are Geth like in Mass Effect. It is kind of fun to fight them since you have to do it at sort of close range which makes it harder to bob and weave.
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'Hah! You missed!'
Eventually they take down the field and descend into the Prothean Ruins. Inside everybody is dead. Dr. Cayce suspected it was Dr. Loy that kept tipping off the Geth and he was working for the Collectors. So they all turned on each other.
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'And that crazy paranoid Dr. Cayce was...absolutely correct.'
I wonder what colony it is that the Collectors promised not to attack?
They find the Prothean relic and it looks just like the artifact the Asari Consorts item fit in back in Mass Effect Part 8 on Eletania. When Shepard touches it it shrinks down to a reasonable size.
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'I think it wants to come home with us!'
So the end result is that this artifact that these two doctors, the Geth, the Collectors, and the Reapers were so desperate to get is now sitting on Shepard's coffee table on the Normandy SR2.
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'This will be quite the conversation piece should I ever invite any Collectors up here.'
What does it do? Why was it significant? Well when it shrunk it gave off energy readings that Cerberus was able to capture and seem to contain Prothean technological data. So Cerberus having access to this advanced technology should be awesome. What bad can come of that?
Speaking of things that cannot possibly go wrong they set out for the Hourglass Nebula to go to the prison of Purgatory to recruit this Jack psycho. They also have a tip from Aria about an Eclipse Cache in a nearby star system.
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'So why do they call it the Hourglass Nebula?'
But first they explore the other star system in the area and discover a long lost Alliance ship.
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'In Zanethu did Kublai Khan a stately pleasure dome decree.'
So Shepard lands on the MSV Estevanico. The wreck is balanced at the end of a cliff and will collapse at the most dramatic moment possible.
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'So I could easily die with very little at stake? Nice.'
But hey I am going to get a reward if I can do this. The data we need is at the very end of the ship right over the cliff. So you know where this is going.
I do not like this mission. It is linear and there is nothing really to do or bad guys to fight or anybody to talk to. And it is buggy. You can get stuck in a few places and levitate in midair with no escape except to restart the mission or reload at a few places, including just a few inches from the end. And there is really no mystery or anything, you just download the data from the ship's computer.
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'Plus you get a highly predictable thrilling last minute escape!'
So that is that. Now it is time for the Eclipse Cache.
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'Oh man Cerberus would love to get their hands on those crates of...whatever...'
This might be the shortest mission in all of Mass Effect because it has a time limit of probably less than a minute. Eclipse has three Ymirs ready to destroy their crates and they will do it in a shockingly fast period of time.
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'Can we blow up those robots fast enough? YES WE CAIN! Ok sorry about that.'
So you rush down and try to hit all three Ymirs with the M-920 Cain, which is basically a small slug fired with such velocity that it...well...it blows shit up. So Shepard rushes down fires it between the three Ymirs and then they have just a little bit of health left which they quickly finish off.
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'And ten seconds later they still managed to destroy five crates.'
Bummer. But Cerberus is overjoyed we managed to save 15.
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'Thanks. We are damn glad to have the credits.'
Oh Cerberus Command sweet talking will get you everywhere.
There it took me far longer to write about it than it took me to do the mission.
But now it is time to go get our favorite mass murderer out of the joint.
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'They sell prisoners to people to serve as slaves? Well that is outra...wait that is what we are doing isn't it?'
Yes. Nothing shady about this.
The guards are less than excited to see them show up and want Shepard to turn over his gear. He refuses. Fortunately the Turian who runs the place, Warden Kuril, shows up and is alright with them bringing their guns in.
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'Um you are aware we have a Krogan with us right?'
They could have just brought Jack to the ship. Oh well. Warden Kuril brings a whole new perspective on shady activity in Mass Effect.
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'Oh wow so you got tired of rules and paperwork and just wanted to be ruthless and get the job done? How unique.'
I am glad Shepard didn't bring Garrus, he might have defected. Though I am not sure how selling criminals to terrorist organizations fits into this desire to ruthlessly eliminate criminals.
Jack is mentioned a few times as being the most unstable, most violent, most hateful, and most murderous being in the entire galaxy. Wow thanks for that Illusive Man!
However Kuril actually thinks Shepard would be an excellent prize for his menagerie of potential slaves.
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'Wait you have me on your space station. You could have captured me a million different ways and your big plan was to ask me nicely to walk into a cell?'
I mean he could have just closed off that room and that would have been it. But really this is just an excuse to start a big fight so the Blue Suns (oh right the Blue Suns run this prison because he is ruthlessly eliminating crime by teaming up with one of the galaxy's most notorious criminal organizations) rush in and the battle is on.
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'Grunt shows off his newly found hatred of Turians by flattening one with his head.'
Fortunately Warden Kuril stupidly leaves the security for the entire station nearby so after a few waves of Blue Suns Shepard releases Jack and every other prisoner on the station. Fun ensues!
Jack wakes up out of Cryogenic freezing. Then she breaks out of steel restraints and flattens three Ymirs.
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'Hey remember when a full shot from the M-920 Cain failed to destroy three of these things? Well I am more devastating than that. Yes I will never demonstrate powers like this ever again.'
So now they fight through waves of more Blue Suns and inmates while the whole stations starts to melt down into chaos. Entire wings of prisoners and spaced. Way to go Shepard. Eventually they confront Warden Kuril.
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'Eventually one of you guys has got to explain how the unwillingness of civil governments to participate in slaving and mass murder is bad for the galaxy.'
I mean the Batarian civil government has no problem with any of that.
This is actually kind of a fun fight as you have to de-activate the Warden's protective energy field while the Blue Suns swarm around you. Eventually Shepard de-activates the shield and I have him retreat so far back I cannot even see the Warden's health bar and then he snipes him dead from extremely long range. It was satisfying.
Meanwhile Jack is blowing away Blue Suns mercs with her amazing cut scene powers and then sees Shepard's ship and throws a fit of rage. But that might not mean anything. Murderous rage is kind of her default.
Shepard comes up and says he is there to recruit and help her. She calls him a pussy, because she is just that hardcore. She really hates Cerberus and wants nothing to do with them. Wow. Thanks again for this Illusive Man.
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'Oh? Does this mission require a hole to be blown in our ship?'
For a super agent she sure doesn't think these things through.
Is this nutter even required for this mission? Jack bizarrely says she will join if she gets access to whatever files we have on Cerberus.
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'That makes no sense. But hey sure, if the Illusive Man gives me access to them how vital to Cerberus can they really be?'
I love how you cannot deny Jack even if you want to.
I mean she hates Cerberus but will just join up so she can find out who works for Cerberus? Um she works for Cerberus now. Who in Cerberus is responsible for what happened to her? Oh probably the Illusive Man. The guy she just agreed to work for. Probably don't need files to figure that one out.
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'Yeah I remember fondly the days you were considered one of the eccentric members of my crew.'
The game kind of loads you up with the insane people early on.
Case in point: Zaeed.
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'Yeah I figured you two would get along.'
Zaeed-Jack romance brewing?
The engineering deck now contains a cold blooded killer for hire, an unstable violent Krogan with an existential complex, and a homicidal maniac. So glad we have these people near our most sensitive and vital systems.
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'Yeah so...want to go back to the Alliance yet?'
The funny part is she does not actually hate everybody in Cerberus. You ask her about it and she is cool with Jacob. For some random reason. She really just hates Miranda and only Miranda. Why? No reason. I mean sure there are plenty of reasons to hate anybody in Cerberus but she hates Miranda before she even has any idea who Miranda is, she just looks at her and that's it. She is just a 'Cerberus bitch' whatever that means. Why this does not apply to all the other women in Cerberus is never really explained. Hey wait a second...isn't Jack now also a 'Cerberus bitch?' But the Illusive Man? Eh. Yeah it makes no sense.
So anyway she is sitting there looking over the stuff from the Cerberus files and is going to find out who is responsible for what happened to her. Ok so she was abducted, or bought or something, as a small child and was pushed to be the best biotic she could be by some very um...Cerberus-y methods of over-the-top and unnecessary evil. So she wants to hunt down and kill those responsible. Since she has been spending her life killing lots of people who had nothing at all to do with her condition this should be seen as a positive step.
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'You know instead of killing other people and pretending they are the people you hate, why not actually kill the people you hate?'
And her plan is to find everybody responsible and get justice...oh but why stop there?
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'And then I will track down the dog breeder who sold them a puppy when they were six and KILL THEM. And then find everybody who ever bought a puppy from that dogbreeder and kill THEM. And then find everybody who knew somebody whose Aunt was a roommate with somebody who...'
Gosh Jack if only somebody associated with Cerberus was just a few feet away from you talking with you right now?
Still better than Anders though.
But while Shepard has been dealing with out of control machismo and try-hards the Collectors have, once again, not been idle. But this time he might actually be able to do something!
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'Woah! The plot showed up!'
Now things get serious!
Very enjoyable. :)
Best ME2 AAR on Languish ever?
I say yes!
Quote from: grumbler on April 28, 2017, 06:40:18 AM
Best ME2 AAR on Languish ever?
I say yes!
Wow it is an honor to even be mentioned in the same breathe with those other ME2 AARs.
Quote from: The Brain on April 28, 2017, 05:53:15 AM
Very enjoyable. :)
Thanks!
Quote from: Valmy on April 26, 2017, 07:38:39 PM
'I just want to point out that this planet has a thick atmosphere and Shepard's body went through it and fell on the surface and yet was able to be brought back to life. Miranda does good work.'
It's not so much being brought back to life as a complete re-write of the engine ;)
I can't remember if it's explained in #2 (Shadow Broker DLC) or #3, but you're litteraly reconstructed from your old DNA. You're close to a clone than anything else.
QuoteAnd of course in ME2 you can never go back if you missed something. Ah well.
That's called save&reload :P
Quote
'I wonder what human colony he was trying to destroy?'
Now, now. You know better than to believe ennemy propaganda. Haven't your new friends done enough to convince you of their pure intentions from the very beginning of this game? :P
Quote
Man the Blood Pack, Blue Suns, and Eclipse are everywhere aren't they?
They use product divisions rather than geographic ones ;)
QuoteWhy? Why are you referring to him as a 'grunt'? Grunts are usually not what people call elite soldiers.'
Krogans. Repeat after me: Kro-gans. ;)
Quote
Too bad I am playing a Paragon run because I am sure this Renegade interrupt would have been really cool.'
[spoiler]You shoot the camera[/spoiler]
Quote
'Ok Mass Effect 2 really grinds my gears here. Zaeed has a face-mask but his ears and back of his head are exposed to this toxic world? And then Miranda has this silly breath mask as if that is all you need for space exploration.'
I thought it was toxic like breathing toxic, but not skin toxic? Or am I just misremembering?
Quote from: viper37 on April 28, 2017, 05:04:57 PM
Quote
'Ok Mass Effect 2 really grinds my gears here. Zaeed has a face-mask but his ears and back of his head are exposed to this toxic world? And then Miranda has this silly breath mask as if that is all you need for space exploration.'
I thought it was toxic like breathing toxic, but not skin toxic? Or am I just misremembering?
It get's worse anyway. Jack will go on missions in areas that are basically open to the vacuum of space in her leather strap outfit. Those small breathing masks must hide some serious mass effect fields or something...
Jack is a biotic, she can raise shields or something :P
QuoteThe funny part is she does not actually hate everybody in Cerberus. You ask her about it and she is cool with Jacob. For some random reason. She really just hates Miranda and only Miranda. Why? No reason. I mean sure there are plenty of reasons to hate anybody in Cerberus but she hates Miranda before she even has any idea who Miranda is, she just looks at her and that's it. She is just a 'Cerberus bitch' whatever that means. Why this does not apply to all the other women in Cerberus is never really explained. Hey wait a second...isn't Jack now also a 'Cerberus bitch?' But the Illusive Man? Eh. Yeah it makes no sense.
I figured Miranda was a Cerberus bitch because she's a commander and a poster girl for the organization. Beautiful and smart, totally deadly and ruthless. Unlike Jack, she got the better of Cerberus and she's perfectly sane. Jack got the wrong end of the stick and she resents Miranda for that.
Quote from: viper37 on April 28, 2017, 05:00:04 PM
It's not so much being brought back to life as a complete re-write of the engine ;)
I can't remember if it's explained in #2 (Shadow Broker DLC) or #3, but you're litteraly reconstructed from your old DNA. You're close to a clone than anything else.
That seems impossible to me...but while Mass Effect was not exactly hard sci fi it at least sort of tried. Mass Effect 2 doesn't even bother so why not?
QuoteThat's called save&reload :P
Cheats! But seriously if I end a mission that's it. I don't have time to go redo it until I get it right.
Quote
Now, now. You know better than to believe ennemy propaganda. Haven't your new friends done enough to convince you of their pure intentions from the very beginning of this game? :P
Cerberus are the only ones willing to do the criminal activity the galaxy needs!!!111 Though I guess it does require an incredibly blasé attitude on the part of the Alliance and the Council to the elimination of Council Race colonies. But then I suspect that Cerberus' interest in the disappearing colonies is not entirely based on patriotic altruism...but we shall see.
QuoteThey use product divisions rather than geographic ones ;)
I think that might be true :hmm: Are you a gangster who wants to assassinate people and do illegal smuggling? Call Eclipse. Do you want to run a tyrannical pseudo-government and protection racket? Call Blue Suns. Do you need...um...your operation to resemble the violent anarchy of the average hockey game call the Blood Pack.
QuoteKrogans. Repeat after me: Kro-gans. ;)
Fair enough :P
Though even the Krogans like fancy titles like 'Battlemaster' and 'Warlord'.
Quote[spoiler]You shoot the camera[/spoiler]
Ah. I thought maybe he was going to start demolishing Hock's priceless art objects. Though come to think of it he has few problems with Eclipse spraying small pieces of metal all over the place. Probably knocked David's other two limbs off.
Quote from: viper37 on April 28, 2017, 05:04:57 PM
Quote
'Ok Mass Effect 2 really grinds my gears here. Zaeed has a face-mask but his ears and back of his head are exposed to this toxic world? And then Miranda has this silly breath mask as if that is all you need for space exploration.'
I thought it was toxic like breathing toxic, but not skin toxic? Or am I just misremembering?
Yeah but as Malicious Intent points out this is true even in the vacuum of space. And it is not just Miranda, Jack, and Zaeed. Mordin, [spoiler]Samara[/spoiler], and Kasumi also have the same thing going on. I do not remember for Grunt and Jacob. [spoiler]Tali is always wearing a space suit[/spoiler] and Garrus and Shepard have their helmets from the first Mass Effect. But it is not like humans, Salarians, and Asari do not have space suits and space helmet in the game so I cannot even blame an attempt to conserve resources or time. I have no idea why Bioware did this except to annoy me :P
Weirdly [spoiler]Thane, despite being the only Drell in the entire series so far I am aware of[/spoiler] DOES have one. And [spoiler]Legion is a robot so...[/spoiler]
Quote from: viper37 on April 29, 2017, 05:52:16 PM
Jack is a biotic, she can raise shields or something :P
A mass effect field did it :P
QuoteI figured Miranda was a Cerberus bitch because she's a commander and a poster girl for the organization. Beautiful and smart, totally deadly and ruthless. Unlike Jack, she got the better of Cerberus and she's perfectly sane. Jack got the wrong end of the stick and she resents Miranda for that.
I mean I get that there are many reasons one might hate Miranda. I think Miranda is most comfortable when she is hated, since she kind of resents herself. But Jack's bizarre apologism for everybody else in Cerberus just makes it weird and feel a bit artificial. Like Jack and Miranda are just supposed to be rivals.
Quote from: Valmy on May 01, 2017, 10:31:50 AM
Quote[spoiler]You shoot the camera[/spoiler]
Ah. I thought maybe he was going to start demolishing Hock's priceless art objects. Though come to think of it he has few problems with Eclipse spraying small pieces of metal all over the place. Probably knocked David's other two limbs off.
[spoiler]Shepard does indeed shoot some some piece of Hock's collection during the renegade interrupt. [/spoiler]
Quote from: Valmy on May 01, 2017, 10:41:19 AM
Weirdly [spoiler]Thane, despite being the only Drell in the entire series so far I am aware of[/spoiler] DOES have one. And [spoiler]Legion is a robot so...[/spoiler]
well, you get to meet another Drell and someone else later. :)
Quote from: Valmy on May 01, 2017, 10:45:18 AM
I mean I get that there are many reasons one might hate Miranda. I think Miranda is most comfortable when she is hated, since she kind of resents herself. But Jack's bizarre apologism for everybody else in Cerberus just makes it weird and feel a bit artificial. Like Jack and Miranda are just supposed to be rivals.
Her... personality is somewhat explained by Lt Kelly Chambers at some point. From this, and both girls stories, you can deduce a few things.
Girls? They are strong psychopathic women thank you very much :mad:
:P
Quote from: Valmy on May 02, 2017, 11:47:46 AM
Girls? They are strong psychopathic women thank you very much :mad:
:P
Just the average girls I meet. :P
MASS EFFECT 2 PART FIVE or SHEPARD LIVES, PRAETORIAN DIES, VALMY TELLS THEIR STORY
So, the Illusive Man tells Shepard that the Collectors should be hitting the human colony of Horizon any minute now. They need to get right there and catch the Collectors in the act and...um...I don't know. Learn something I guess. It all depends on if Mordin has the countermeasure ready to go. But then the Illusive Man tells Shepard a truly horrendous secret.
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'What? They promoted Alenko and not me?!'
Hell, he has been promoted twice since Mass Effect. In Mass Effect 3 Shepard is going to be under the command of Grand Admiral Alenko isn't he? If Shepard saves the galaxy he better at least be made Captain. Maybe even Commodore if the Alliance is feeling generous.
Shepard stops by to talk to Mordin.
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'So the countermeas...wait how did you get that thing? Did you make it? Did you make your own seeker swarm just from bio data? You sick bastard.'
So Mordin has not only made his own bio weapon, which is something to keep in mind should you be planning on pissing of the Salarians anytime soon, but he has an experimental countermeasure. I guess this means he possibly rendered his new weapon obsolete before it could even be use. But first let's do a live action field test.
Now the people on Horizon do not like the Alliance for bizarre and unstated reasons. So Alenko is just getting a bunch of shit for going out to protect them from being abducted. Considering the Terminus Systems are dominated by species that are extremely bigoted against humans and love enslaving humans the Alliance must have done something truly horrendous. Probably had rules and red tape getting in the way of the violence and mayhem the galaxy needs.
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'Yeah I am sure that line works with military people all over the world. Nothing personal but I just hate everything you stand for.'
But then the Collector ship arrives and sends out the Seeker Swarms, which paralyze everybody including the brave Commander Alenko. As the Collectors start arriving their general possesses one of them to direct traffic I guess.
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'You are going to force them all to play Ultima IX? YOU MONSTER!'
But shortly afterwards Shepard and his squad arrive to test out Mordin's weapon. It seems to work. Which is good because otherwise this would be a real short game. Shepard gets in there and starts shooting the Collectors and they seem much less surprised by this development than one might think.
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'See you have shields, which are mass effect fields that create a kinetic barrier, and then you have barriers which are mass effect fields that...um...do something biotic-y.'
Now I brought Garrus along because I thought he and Kaidan might say something to each other but his Overload is mostly ineffective. But as of right now only Miranda has Warp anyway.
Eventually they start to encounter our favorite space zombies, the husks. This is pretty inconvenient when Collectors are shooting at you but Mass Effect 2 really loves to do this sort of thing moving forward.
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'Man everybody claims to have been on Eden Prime.'
But yeah the Collectors are not turning the humans in husks, letting you know that is not what they are kidnapping them for. Rather they just have a bunch of husks they carry around with them, I wonder what space zombies do when they are not fighting anybody?
So eventually they fight through the Collectors and reach a warehouse where one guy was hiding out. He is a nameless man who only goes by his profession 'mechanic'. He is really mad at us for leading the Collectors to the warehouse because somehow we were supposed to know he was there. He hears that it is the Collectors attacking the colony and he is surprised because:
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'Let's see...the Terminus is filled with brutal gangsters and dominated by a species that specifically hates humans and you think the Alliance invented a race famous for randomly showing up and giving you priceless technology for next to nothing to keep you in Alliance Space? What did you think they were scaring you with? Vast wealth?'
I can only assume this colony is a treatment center for people suffering from paranoid delusions. He tells us about the laser towers the Alliance installed and where the transmission tower is. So, the plan is to get to the tower and patch the Normandy through so EDI can activate the defense towers and shoot at the Collector Ship. He opens the door on the other end of the warehouse and goes back to hiding.
Shepard and company fight through more Collectors and their various minions.
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'Exogeni and Cerberus are super excited about these new space zombie advances.'
I better make sure the Illusive Man doesn't get his hands on those things.
They make it to the transmission tower and can get in touch with the Normandy. Wahoo! The Collectors are screwed now!
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'What? Why? Why do these damn towers take so long to boot up?!!'
Because it will be much more exciting that's why! The Collectors and their husks pour in and they must fight like hell. I guess to protect the transmission tower? Though the Collectors hang out by the tower during the fight and never try to destroy it or anything. While you fight the Collectors their general keeps possessing individuals to taunt Shepard, they really don't like Shepard.
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'Of course Garrus also thinks every time a bird shits on him it is a compliment from the gods.'
Once the towers come online and start shooting the Collectors stop fucking around and send the elite space zombie after them. The Praetorian. Which is like a Praetorian Guard of husks all fused together and able to fly. Advanced Collector Technology helps you make super zombies by combining them together. 'Space zombies combine to form Devastator!'
Fortunately, Shepard is ready...since I played this game before. Oh Shepard found a Collector Death Ray just laying around on this level, without knowing that this next part might not make sense.
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'You have a Collector Death Ray? I have a Collector Death Ray! We have so much in common! Only one of us is exposed flying in the air.'
Once the thing evaporates the Collector Ship starts taking hull damage and flies away. The mechanic guy then comes rushing out furious that Shepard drove off the Collectors even though Shepard told him exactly what his plan was earlier. I mean if he had wanted us to not drive away the Collectors he probably should have mentioned that back in the warehouse.
Shepard says he managed to save half the colony and Garrus basically says 'damn right Shepard.' Then the mechanic realizes who he has in front of him,
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'Ok, ok, I see what's happening here
Your life has just been saved and it's strange
You don't even know how you feel
It's adorable!
Well, it's nice to see that people never change
Open your eyes, let's begin
Yes, it's really me, it's Shepard: breathe it in!
Forget what you've heard and what's been said
It's your hero back from the dead!
What can I say except you're welcome
For stopping all those killer AIs
Hey, it's okay, it's okay
You're welcome
Just one of those space hero guys
Hey!
What has two thumbs that held up the sky
so Terra Nova did not die?
This guy!
When Feros was saved
Who beat the Thorian down below?
You're lookin' at him, yo'!
Oh!
Also I saved Elysium
You're welcome!
And beat those slaver scum
Also I stopped Saren's Krogan
You're welcome!
And saved the galaxy again
So what can I say except you're welcome
For preventing extinction galaxy-wide
There's no need to say, it's okay
You're welcome!
Ha, I guess I just like stoppin' genocide
You're welcome!
You're welcome!
Well, come to think of it
Sir, honestly I can go on and on
My career's one heroic phenomenon
The Rachni, Prothean relics found, oh
That is Shepard just messing around
Stopped a plague
And blood pack mercs
preserving Omega, just one of the perks
What's the lesson?
What is the take-away?
Don't mess with Shepard when he's on a break-away!
And here on the achievements screen
Is the list of the victories I've seen
Look where I've been
I make everything happen
Look at that Garrus just tippity-tappin'
My apologies to Lin-Manuel Miranda and the other Miranda also who had to stand next to Shepard as he was singing and Garrus was apparently tap dancing.
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'You're welcome! And fuck you!'
Man never had somebody tell Shepard to fuck off just a few seconds after saving their life before. Usually they have to stop and think about it a bit first.
Just then Kaidan appears and calls the mechanic Delan so at least I now know who to send the Batarian slavers after later. Kaidan and Shepard shake hands for a few seconds and then Shepard asks him how he has been. Kaidan is a little annoyed.
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'Well to be fair nothing did happen until a few weeks ago.'
Then the conversation gets strange. Kaidan asks him why Shepard did not try to get in touch. Shepard has made numerous attempts in the game so far to get in touch with Alenko since the beginning of the game but instead of saying that he makes a lame excuse that he did not want to open old wounds. Huh? Why not tell Kaidan we tried to get in touch with him but both Cerberus and the Alliance blocked him? Why lie? Weird.
Then Kaidan said he got a report that Shepard was with Cerberus and the Alliance suspected Cerberus was behind the missing human colonies. Fair enough they do have a rather extensive history of doing that. Then Shepard goes a bit off the reservation and insists that the Alliance has turned its back on human colonies and only Cerberus is doing anything about it. That seems a weird claim to make when talking to an Alliance soldier sent to protect a colony. I was like :wacko: why the hell did Shepard say that? He has not gone after the Alliance at all in the game up to now.
So naturally the conversation kind of went downhill after that.
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'Yeah...I guess I did. Not sure why I said that.'
Anyway, it was kind of a bust with Garrus to. He and Kaidan did not acknowledge each other at all. Lame.
So Horizon is a great mission if you like to save the day and have everybody hate you afterwards!
Shepard goes back to the Normandy and he has some questions for the Illusive Man.
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'I am shocked SHOCKED to see Cerberus putting human colonies in danger!'
So basically the Illusive Man tipped off the Alliance and somehow got them to send Alenko to Horizon guessing this would draw the Collectors in since he thought perhaps the Collectors were after Shepard. He was right so everything went down like he predicted.
Anyway now that Mordin's countermeasure is a success now the Illusive Man is going to focus on finding out how to survive going through the Omega 4 relay. You know I just realized we had a thread recently where Languish told me that 4 is connected to death somehow in China right? And Omega is also considered like death since it is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. So this is kind of like the death death relay. Nice.
But while the Illusive Man deals with the main plot Shepard has some side quests to take care of.
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'Ok let me know when you have figured out how to beat the bad guy...and I mean the bad guy who is not you.'
So now there are three more recruiting missions:
Tali'Zorah vas Neema: You may remember her. She is on some kind of mission deep in Geth Space.
Samara: Asari Justicar, which is some kind of samurai monk Asari. She is on the Asari Terminus world of Ilium.
Thane Krios: Drell assassin also supposed to be on Ilium. He is a Drell which is another new species for Mass Effect 2.
Shepard leaves the com room and Jacob greets him, eager to get through that Omega 4 Relay to experience death death. But he says there is unfinished business to attend to.
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'Huh...right I forgot that everybody on the Normandy has issues with their dads.'
But will these father issues be as extensive as they were in the first Mass Effect? We will see...but the answer is yes. But Jacob does not seem to be very close to his dad. It seems his dad was not a very present person in his life and he claims he already considered him dead when then ship went missing. So...damn it Jacob! Surely you have to care about somebody or something.
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'You're welcome!'
Glad somebody was impressed.
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'Well the first few seconds were nice. Then it got weird. Wait...Staff Commander? WTH does that even mean?'
That is all the Kaidan we get in this game as well I think. You know Kaidan said that Shepard is blinded to Cerberus' evil because he is grateful to them for saving him, which is sort of true. But how did Kaidan know that?
Anyway that was a weird conversation. I think Bioware could have written that better. They made Shepard say kind of assholish and out of character things so Kaidan would have a reason to get mad at him. At least that is what it seemed like. But enough about that.
The Salarian Shepard scanned the Keepers for back in Mass Effect Part 2 made a shocking discovery!
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'Gosh...I feel kind of bad for not telling you that back when I discovered it back in Mass Effect Part 10.'
In the mess Jennifer Goldstein reveals she was living on Horizon before she joined Cerberus.
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'Yeah there is no way anybody on this ship will ever have any run ins with the Collectors.'
Her relief may be somewhat misplaced.
Miranda also has a small issue that Shepard needs to take care of. She already explained to Shepard that she was genetically engineered by some megalomaniacal asshole but it seems he made a backup.
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'Huh...Miranda's sister is controlled by Cerberus. This might just be a security problem.'
I do like how she tells Shepard how she tries to avoid discussing personal matters despite pouring out all her insecurities and vulnerabilities to him previously.
Anyway so her sister has been living comfortable on Ilium, coincidentally where they are going soon anyway, but her sources have told her that her father is closing in. So the Miranda clone needs to be moved off world with her family. So there two straight dad related missions in a row. Still have some ways to go to match the first game there.
So they are going to meet Miranda's contact on Ilium. Soon. Very soon.
Even Zaeed is impressed with what happened on Horizon.
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'Man I am glad all my fans just happen to be on my ship.'
It is good for Shepard's morale.
What's probably not good for his morale is Jack's disturbingly cheerful rantings about all the violent and vicious crimes she has been committing.
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'Well I am glad you don't murder for the excitement.'
So he asks her about it all and gets all the gory details. She is somewhat moved by his personal interest in her.
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'Well I am getting emotional over this tender moment Jack.'
Enough of these warm fuzzies let's go to Omega and bask in the corruption. Well actually Shepard is going to buy anything he has not bought there yet. A few new things tend to appear after every major story mission. Along the way they run into an old friend of Miranda:
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'Oh man I bet that mission was a fun game. Pity EA deleted it.'
Seriously. There is an iOS Mass Effect game (two actually) that EA has since removed them so they can never be played unless you previously bought them. So when I learned about these games existence I was going to do little mini AARs of them here (though I was not sure how I was going to get the screenshots) but I can't. So I won't. Thanks EA. I don't even know if that was a sarcastic thanks or not.
I should have brought Jacob along to see what he had to say. Ish wants them to get some data that was dropped on Ilium and the Citadel. It kind of sounds like he is going to use this data to go after Aria, which would be suicidal but I am sure yet.
But on to the Citadel!
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'Disappeared? But only a third of them disappeared! And a very handsome space hero saved the day! Man did she miss a big story.'
Maybe Shepard should start feeding her stuff. Shepard finds the drop Ish wanted and sure enough it is talking about ways to overthrow Aria. Ish is one crazy Salarian.
Back on the Normandy Kelly uses her psychological training to provide Shepard with the insight that Jack might be incredibly dangerous. This is why we need professionals. She does have a warning for him:
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'Well she did use the word 'fuck' with me recently.'
Yeah how will Shepard ever resist?
But enough of this. Let's go kill some Geth just like the old days.
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'1896 was a bad year both for the Quarians and for William Jennings Bryan.'
So Tali is supposed to be on this Geth controlled world doing some kind of secret mission. We get to see a Quarian world though and its charming cement block architecture. Also it has a charming sun that fries shields.
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'Good, then we will fight in the shade! Oh come on it had to be said.'
It is not just the sun that is the problem there though. The Geth have found the Quarians and are beating the hell out of them. But the Quarians are toughing it out because they need the vital data from this expedition. So very vital.
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'Huh...brutalism plus rust colored accents...this planet looks weirdly like Port Hanshan on Noveria just without the water features. Weird.'
Still think Sheilbh would like it.
Still the true joy in this level is using the AI hacking every chance you get. I only put one point into it but that is all you need. You automatically succeed for any Geth without shields or armor and they turn on their buddies for a short time. Also useful against robots.
As they approach a Quarian controlled bunker and Geth drop ship comes in and actually launches an aerial attack!
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'Oh so you CAN drop bombs.'
But as you can see they only drop bombs to block the entrance to the Quarian bunker. But fortunately the Quarians have a couple industrial demolition charges around.
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'Um you do realize Shepard nearly destroyed a Prothean Ruin and nearly killed us all when he did that right?'
Tali seems to be lobbying for the presidency of the Shepard fanclub away from Liara. She even randomly mentions in her logs how she wishes Shepard were there to help her kill Geth and stuff.
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'Shepard breaks the tough guy code by looking at an explosion.'
Yes I brought Garrus along. Since he didn't say much to Kaidan I thought maybe there might be some dialog for he and Tali. Nope. Garrus fails me again.
Inside the bunker all the Quarian marines are dead. Shepard gets in touch with Tali.
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'Well I am here to recruit you for a terrorist organization. Exciting huh?'
But Shepard plays it cagey (as in he lies) and the Quarians are in no position to ask to many questions about why he is there.
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'Hey a Geth Prime! Since I had to play Mass Effect on a lower difficulty I barely got to see you guys.'
Shortly after that they get to the FINAL BOSS. There are only two Quarians left now. One is the hero of Canton the man they call Kal'Reegar. The other is Tali who is locked in a room on the other side of a Geth Colossus. Well that is no problem let me just go get the Mako and...oh right.
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'Adam Baldwin! I have come here from the future to warn you that helping to create the Gamergate hashtag might make it difficult to get future gigs with Bioware!'
Here he gives you a few options on how to attack the Colossus. Two are stupidly suicidal and one is stupidly awesome.
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'Sniper perch? Say no more!'
Then Shepard has another of his macho confrontations with both Kal'Reegar and he trying to out-hero each other. Eventually he convinces Kal-Reegar to not die and guard the rear.
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'Yeah you kill some guys to!'
So the geth come at them in massive waves. Having Shepard's AI hack with Miranda's and Garrus' Overload makes them able to cope without too much trouble.
So they get on the Sniper's perch:
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'Good thing the Geth put these boxes here. Their position would be unassailable otherwise.'
Once they are in position it is time to zap the Colossus.
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'I love the Collector Beam. It feels like you are sucking out their shields, armor, and health.'
So that was that. Nothing to it. This time Tali agrees to go with Shepard and Kal'Reegar takes whatever their super important MacGuffin they gathered on this planet back to the Migrant Fleet. I will maybe mention that MacGuffin if it ever turns out to be important.
When they get back to the Normandy Jacob gushes over Tali'Zorah's amazing engineering talents.
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'Well you did meet him once before and he wanted to kidnap one of the other Quarians and...oh am I not helping?'
But Tali says she will put up with working with her people's hated enemy since she trusts Shepard. Everything seems to be going alright...but then Jacob says this:
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'Mentioning synthetic life forms to quarians...awkward!'
Jacob you old smoothie.
Joker is happy to have another of the old gang on board.
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'Really? Because I don't recall you ever saying a word to each other before.'
Joker is about to be called out for anti-quarian microagressions.
Kelly seems to think Tali is really into Shepard.
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'Wow you must be really sensitive because she has never so much as even awkwardly attempted to flirt.'
I have to admit since they are radically different species whose fluids are probably toxic to each other I guess I didn't think quarian-human could be a thing when I played the first game. Maybe descriptions of quarian political systems is how they seduce each other over there on the Migrant Fleet.
Speaking of which the Migrant Fleet Admiralty Board (for details on how this august body functions you can check out Tali's dialog from the first game) approves her transfer to the Normandy.
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'The sentimentality with which Rael'Zorah talks about his daughter brings tears to my eyes.'
Meanwhile Jack reveals she was raised by Cerberus in a facility where she was brutally abused to coax out her biotic abilities. That seems ridiculous and unnecessarily evil so that does sound like Cerberus. She has got in touch with the impact this has had on her and developed mature insight on how she can move on with her life. Haha just kidding.
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'Blowing up this empty building will be an excellent use of our time!'
Tali's upgrade is to make the Normandy SR2's shields stronger, which should be useful. She also comes on to Shepard pretty brazenly.
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'Wow you are one dirty dirty girl. This kind of explicit talk is why this game is rated M.'
But if you thought Shepard had a way with the ladies you haven't seen anything yet. It is on to the planet of the hot blue alien ladies! The third city hub of the game.
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Next: Shepard takes and breaks hearts
QuoteNow the people on Horizon do not like the Alliance for bizarre and unstated reasons.
Frontierspeople. Re-Watch
Last of the Mohicans a couple times more. If you still don't get it, rewatch again and again. People of Quebec did that with
Broue. The show has been running since before I was born so that people could understand it. ;)
Quote
'See you have shields, which are mass effect fields that create a kinetic barrier, and then you have barriers which are mass effect fields that...um...do something biotic-y.'
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_effect_field
Quote
I wonder what space zombies do when they are not fighting anybody?
They rest, like everybody else.
Quote
'Let's see...the Terminus is filled with brutal gangsters and dominated by a species that specifically hates humans and you think the Alliance invented a race famous for randomly showing up and giving you priceless technology for next to nothing to keep you in Alliance Space? What did you think they were scaring you with? Vast wealth?
they're called "Collectors", because they collect, and not only inanimate objects. They have a tendancy to raid isolated colonies and abduct people (humans and aliens).
I'm not sure I 100% understood what happened in this episode, but I am 100% sure that I enjoyed it.
Thanks.
Quote from: viper37 on May 05, 2017, 08:16:54 PM
Frontierspeople. Re-Watch Last of the Mohicans a couple times more. If you still don't get it, rewatch again and again. People of Quebec did that with Broue. The show has been running since before I was born so that people could understand it. ;)
Well American frontiersmen didn't get all pissed when the cavalry showed up while they were being raided so maybe I cannot relate :P
Quote
They rest, like everybody else.
Why would they need to rest? They are zombies. I think they just stand around and moan.
Quote
they're called "Collectors", because they collect, and not only inanimate objects. They have a tendancy to raid isolated colonies and abduct people (humans and aliens).
I don't think that is true. They are called the Collectors because they collect weird genetic disorders and the like in exchange for tech.
This is what the game says:
QuoteThe Collectors are an enigmatic race that live beyond the Omega 4 Relay, a mass relay within the same system as Omega, in the Terminus Systems. They are rarely seen in the Terminus itself, let alone Citadel space, and are generally regarded as a myth by Citadel citizens. Definite sightings of Collectors have been made on Omega every few centuries.
They are most well-known for their odd trade requests for which they offer new technologies, often of a startling level of advancement. Their requests usually involve the trade of living beings in odd numbers and varieties, such as two dozen left-handed salarians, sixteen sets of batarian twins, a krogan born of parents from feuding clans, or two dozen "pure" quarians who have never left the Migrant Fleet due to illness, importance to the fleet, or disability. One of their current interests is in healthy human biotics. No one knows what happens to the individuals concerned after the exchange is completed.
Nothing about them launching raids. I thought it was shocking they were attacking the human colonies because they never did that before.
Ah well. Maybe you are right.
Quote from: grumbler on May 05, 2017, 08:29:15 PM
I'm not sure I 100% understood what happened in this episode, but I am 100% sure that I enjoyed it.
Thanks.
Was it not clear? This game is like 12 different short stories that all get interrupted in the middle so it is hard to keep track sometimes.
Basically they saved 2/3rds of Horizon and drove off the Collectors after the Illusive Man baited them. Now Cerberus is looking for a way to go through the Omega 4 Relay. But first Shepard needs to get a few more team members so I got Tali. She was on this planet in Geth space getting data on a sun that was dying a few billion years prematurely. This may or may not be an important plot point later on.
Next Shepard is headed to the planet Ilium to recruit two more team members and help Miranda with her sister.
I feel like the oddity with Kaidan was to make it so he wouldn't end up coming back to your squad in part 2. If he was at all happy with you, his character would totally come running back.
Quote from: Valmy on May 05, 2017, 10:42:35 PM
Well American frontiersmen didn't get all pissed when the cavalry showed up while they were being raided so maybe I cannot relate :P
Before the Cavalry. People often felt they were left to fend for themselves, and then the army would come and take credit once the major fights were done. And then there were taxes to pay for the army. And people did not like that at all and successfully rebelled against the collectors. But then, the rebels started taxing the whisky and a new uprising took place against the central authority. And then they rebelled because of the slaves. And then because of the bathrooms. It's a never ending cycle.
Quote
Why would they need to rest? They are zombies. I think they just stand around and moan.
How do you know they don't need to rest? For all we know, they have a union representing them and they have a right to a break.
QuoteQuoteTheir requests usually involve the trade of living beings in odd numbers and varieties, such as two dozen left-handed salarians, sixteen sets of batarian twins, a krogan born of parents from feuding clans, or two dozen "pure" quarians who have never left the Migrant Fleet due to illness, importance to the fleet, or disability. One of their current interests is in healthy human biotics. No one knows what happens to the individuals concerned after the exchange is completed.
Nothing about them launching raids. I thought it was shocking they were attacking the human colonies because they never did that before.
Ah well. Maybe you are right.
At least 12 human colonies are known to have been attacked by the Collectors. The first six colonies were attacked in the time between Commander Shepard's death in 2183 and revival in 2185. The latter six colonies, including Cyrene (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus_Daily_News_-_January_2010#01.2F27.2F2010_-_Human_Colony_Cyrene_Disappears_Without_Explanation), Fehl Prime (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Fehl_Prime), Ferris Fields (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Ferris_Fields), Freedom's Progress (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Freedom%27s_Progress), Horizon (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Horizon), and New Canton (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/New_Canton), are attacked over the course of Shepard's subsequent investigation of the Collectors.
Yeah but that was all just recently. And the Alliance thinks it is Cerberus or other terrorists, not the Collectors. So it could hardly be mistaken for propaganda.
MASS EFFECT 2 PART SIX or SOME PEOPLE CRY AND SOME PEOPLE DIE BY THE WICKED WAYS OF SHEPARD
Ok so right before they went to Illium they stopped by the Citadel and Shepard buys some more upgrades and does a silly sidequest involving Krogans and wanting to catch fish (spoiler: there are no fish on the Citadel). However Bioware takes a shot at hardcore RPG fans here and back in 2010 it actually kind of pissed me off. Now I just find it funny.
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'You were once our champion Bioware. You were once our best hope.'
Let me just say the message was clearly received Bioware :P
But to be fair nobody ever was successful appealing to the hardcore niche. I mean besides Bioware. Huh.
ILLIUM
The Normandy flies to the Asari planet of Illium. When the customs official arrives she tells them that a benefactor had handled all their fees and expedited their passage through the bureaucracy.
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'Liara is here? I sure hope this reunion goes better than it did with Alenko.'
Weirdly there are a ton of reunions on Illium. Everybody Shepard has ever met is coincidentally here at the exact same time and in close proximity to the Space Port. Small galaxy and all that.
The first reunion is with a good friend from Noveria. You may remember her from her ability to speak through Asari.
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'That's good right? You are going to come help us against the Reapers at some point? Is that what you are trying to say here?'
I mean take your sweet time Rachni.
Just a short distance away is Gianna Parasini also from...well she can remind you:
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'Oh right! You are from Part Seven of the Mass Effect AAR!'
She offered Shepard a beer should she ever meet him again back in Mass Effect, and on Illium she makes good on her promise and buys Shepard a brew. Underneath the beer glass is a note asking Shepard to help her nail the Asari saleswoman at a nearby shop who is illegally selling Noveria patented mods. Shepard pretends to go buy some to execute a sting operation. Gianna swoops in to bust her. Man what is more heroic than punishing vile violators of galactic patent law? In return for a second bit of assistance Gianna gives Shepard a surprise smooch.
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'So I got a free beer for helping you in Mass Effect, a kiss for helping you in Mass Effect 2...I expect you to continue to amp it up in Mass Effect 3.'
And this is only the beginning of Shepard having intimate female contact in this part of the game.
This also gets Shepard a discount at the shop, since you have to do a quest to get this on illium instead of just selling out your good name like on the Citadel.
At the next shop Shepard brings love to another female heart by encouraging an Asari to get over her commitment issues by mating with a mate who lives as long as she does.
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'Wait aren't Krogans egg layers so shouldn't they have no sex drive and...eh Asari already break all the rules of nature anyway.'
Anyway the Krogan is all lovelorn and singing really bad poetry to her. But Shepard convinces them to get together and live happily ever after. And I do mean that literally since both species can live 1000 years or longer. This gets Shepard a discount at her shop.
There is another shop but he cannot get the discount just yet.
Nearby he meets another intimate from Mass Effect:
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'Yeah! From Part Eight of the Mass Effect AAR! Hey weren't you blue before?'
A side effect from the experience of being under the Thorian's power has messed up Shiala and the other colonists at Zhu's Hope. The humans are getting migraines again (I hope Ian Newstead is enjoying it) and literally feeling each other's feelings like they have a mental connection. Shiala also turned green and her biotics are now unstable. To address these difficulties they signed a contract with Baria Frontiers to receive experimental medical treatment, but this also included being subjected to painful and dangerous medical tests.
The Asari representative of Baria Frontiers refuses to deal with Shiala, angry that aliens do not respect Asari laws. Getting past the fact that Shiala is also an Asari, Shepard sensitively listens to her complaints and discovers she is taking out her deep emotional pain on the Zhu's Hope colonists. Her partner was killed on Rannoch when the Geth rose up against the Quarians. Her daughters all died during the Geth attack on the Citadel. She blames aliens for causing all these wars that killed her entire family. Seems like she should be blaming the Geth but Shepard is much more sensitive and charming than I am and gets her talking about her lost loved ones. In tears she agrees to amend the Zhu's Hope contract.
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'That charm skill has still got it!'
Shiala is so happy she thanks Shepard and hints she might reward him in another way in the future.
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'Maybe...what? Maybe we have tea?'
Shepard really has a way with the ladies all the sudden.
It is time to go see Liara.
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'Woah...apples and trees and all that.'
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'Told you there would be a callback.'
Well isn't Illium just a walk down the Noveria memory lane?
Liara is now a cut throat political operator and information dealer. It is quite the shocker; a lot can change in a few years but rarely in such a dramatic way. So yeah the nerd character has become the secret agent white hat gangster character.
She does remain a big Shepard fan though.
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'Hugs and kisses. This is what Mass Effect should be all about.'
Shepard asks her to join him but she is very busy doing dirty deeds. She cryptically refers to things she had to do and debts she needs to pay. And then instead asks Shepard to help her.
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'Well I am quite skilled at matching colored lines of text.'
Shepard is a little alarmed at how shady this all is but she refuses to tell him because she is sure somebody is listening in on their conversation. Well then. I thought she was just going to publish a few papers about the Protheans based on what we discovered.
Before they go work on this project for Liara, Shepard goes to the local club, Eternity, to scout out where they are meeting Miranda's contact later to discover somebody is trying to extort money out of the place by claiming it is a front for a drug smuggling operation.
And well...it is Shepard's #1 fan from the Mass Effect AAR Part 5, Conrad Verner. This game is a little meaner to Conrad than Mass Effect was. The death of Shepard seems to have sent him off the deep end Don Quixote-like. His wife even bought his armor and paid for him to leave the Citadel. The weapons merchant convinced him she was an undercover cop and Eternity is a front for an illegal drug ring.
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'Oh I get it alright. Sadly.'
So Shepard promises to sort this out before the Asari running the place use their biotics to cram Conrad into a shot glass.
This is the quest to get the discount at the weapons shop. Shepard shows up and tells her he is a friend of Conrad's and she then tries to get him to go along with her extortion scheme. So he then turns it around on her and tells her the scheme has worked.
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'Jacob is like: 'WTF did I get myself into?' But hey we got the discount!'
She goes off to Eternity to get the goods. Well this should be fun.
But first they have some colored text to match for Liara.
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'I am so glad I helped do this...probably unsavory thing.'
Anything for a friend though right? When they get back Liara tells Shepard the debt she has to pay is a rather personal one to the Shadow Broker, who is the galaxy's number one information broker. You may recall him hiring Wrex to kill Fist back in Part 2 of the Mass Effect AAR and him trying to buy data from Shepard in Part 5. Shepard offers to help if she is on the run from the Shadow Broker.
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'I...see...'
So the Shadow Broker did something to really piss her off involving one of her former associates. So Liara has dedicated her life to either exacting a bloody vengeance on the Shadow Broker or rescuing her associate depending on his condition. Why can't Shepard have normal friends?
So the next favor she wants Shepard to do is find a Shadow Broker agent know as the 'Observer' so Liara can presumably take care of whoever it might be. She needs him to do more fancy hacking to gather clues about five suspects she has worked out.
So he goes and hacks some terminals and gathers the intel on the suspects but discovers one rather important problem. The 'Observer' is clearly a she and all the suspects are dudes.
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'There is an opening for an administrative assistant position in a local intelligence broker office. Please send your resumes and cover letters attention Liara T'Soni. Must be prepared for long hours and being an accessory to the deaths of many people.'
Liara then gives Shepard leads for finding the two people he is supposed to recruit for his crew on Illium. And that is that, Liara goes back in her quest to either rescue or avenge her associate and Shepard goes back to the Collectors thing...for awhile anyway.
Shepard returns to Eternity to meet Miranda's contact but first he witnesses the arrest of the Weapons Merchant who tried to manipulate Conrad. Conrad is confused by this but Shepard gives him the kind of explanation one should give to Don Conrad de la Citadel. He tells him the Weapons Merchant was not an undercover cop at all but a dangerous terrorist and Conrad helped Shepard catch her.
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'Conrad is glad his hero is back on the job and goes back home. I am sure his wife will be delighted to have him back.'
Nearby a Human is taking out his Salarian co-worker to have a 'bachelor party' to celebrate the Salarian signing a contract enabling him to fertilize some Salarian eggs. Their Turian Co-Worker is along for the party. They have a conversation about the Asari stripper and have one of my favorite moments in the first two games. A truly mind bending revelation.
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'MIND BLOWING. And this is never mentioned again.'
Holy shit so what do the Asari really look like? I bet they are actually hideous monstrosities.
SAVING MIRANDA'S SISTER FROM HER FATHER ON ILLIUM
Then they meet Miranda's contact in Eternity and she lets them know Miranda's father has enlisted an enemy they are very familiar to them.
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'So your villain of the mission shall be: Eclipse. I am starting to kind of miss the Blood Pack the other two groups seem to be getting much more action.'
But you better get used to Eclipse since they control most crime on Illium, being a mainly Asari outfit. Niket is Miranda's only friend outside of Cerberus. She knew him back before she defected from her father and he might be her first boyfriend though that is never explicitly stated. He says he will take care of transferring Miranda's sister, Oriana, offworld while Miranda and Shepard will distract Eclipse.
Miranda's father has instructed Eclipse to not kill her if possible so after they arrive at the location Niket told them to go, they have a conversation where Eclipse gives them a chance to walk away.
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'Yeah see Miranda was kind of hoping this would get ugly.'
They take out the mercs but during the conversation the Merc says that Miranda kidnapped a young girl. Which is odd since Miranda mentioned a twin sister. Shepard gets a little annoyed because he assumed she had rescued somebody her own age and feels like she mislead him. She explains her sister is her genetic twin but is quite a bit younger than she is. Even though her sister was just a young child at the time she assures Shepard she did the right thing by nabbing her. She is careful about keeping information about her sister private because:
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'Yeah...people like...oh I don't know...nobody comes to mind...Cerberus?'
Yeah and they are getting Oriana's family out through a cargo transport of some kind so they have to fight to the top of a warehouse. There are lots of boxes and conveyor belts and all the other things you need to have a really good Mass Effect 2 fight. Miranda picks up a communicator from a dead Eclipse Merc so they can now hear their com chatter.
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'What a foul mouthed Asari. Huh. It almost sort of sounds like they are clearing a path for Niket not trying to stop him...'
Miranda is having a hard time hearing all these announcements; sure that Enyala is somehow trying to fool her for some reason, which is weird since we are tapping into their communications. This mission being in a Mass Effect title it should also not surprise you that the main objectives are to secure slow moving elevators.
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'Ok guys lets secure the objective and get in there and have a witty conversation about our last mission.'
They get up to the top and of course Niket is working with Eclipse to return Oriana to Miranda's father. He was willing to stay loyal to Miranda to a point but thought she had gone too far by stealing a small child from her father who genetically engineered her in a lab. His partner, Enyala the Eclipse merc, is quite a mustache twirling villain and just guns down a warehouse worker for no reason.
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'What the hell? You are an Asari. Your species has a near monopoly on galactic strippers.'
For being from an all-female species she sure is misogynistic. Anyway Miranda is wearing armor so this does not even make any sense.
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'Miranda does not take attacks on her wardrobe well.'
Ok that actually occurred because Miranda and Niket were having this heart felt conversation and Shepard convinced Miranda to let Niket live. And then Enyala, being super evil, just shot Niket dead when it looked like he and Miranda were going to reconcile. Then the battle was on.
Once the mercs were defeated they go to make sure Oriana escapes without any Eclipse interference. Miranda is kicking herself for letting herself trust Niket and letting her father use her personal feelings for him against her. She feels weak for having personal feelings for somebody that left her vulnerable. Shepard reminds her she still has Oriana. Then Miranda sees Oriana in the spaceport and starts getting emotional.
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'Ah it is young Miranda...only with brown hair. Wait which one of these women dyes their hair?'
She wants to go but Shepard encourages Miranda to go introduce herself to her sister and her family. Miranda does so and it goes surprisingly well. She comes back all teary-eyed.
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'Miranda you softy.'
So Shepard has made two people cry so far! Miranda is a really sensitive person. It is just...unexpected.
But it is not unexpected to Cerberus.
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'Yes...for her safety only. No other reason. No sir.'
Miranda seems so oblivious to the obvious here.
ILLIUM
They return to Eternity and discover that a Quarian is being sold into slavery. Indentured servitude is legal on Illium so long as it is voluntarily entered into and the buyer agrees to certain restrictions. The Quarian borrowed lots of money to play the stock market and lost it all. So now it is legal slavery for a few years. Tough break. But Shepard is, as you know, guardian angel to all Quarians so he tries to help. The problem is that the only entity likely to buy the Quarian is Synthetic Insights. You might remember Synthetic Insights from, you guessed it, Noveria back in Part seven of Mass Effect. Synthetic Insights however does not buy indentured servants even though they could use an experienced VI tech like this Quarian. And nobody else can buy her contract because:
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'However they are very obedient and house trained. '
But fortunately no difficult situation is beyond Shepard's charm skill. He convinces Synthetic Insights, just like he did to Exogeni on Feros, to do the right thing for publicity.
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'And somehow this is profitable. Trust me.'
The guardian angel of the Quarians strikes again!
Back in the warehouse where they were fighting the Eclipse Shepard found a locket with a picture of a human man in it. He just happened to run into the owner of the locket on the way back to the Normandy. She was very grateful.
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'Yes! The crying triple crown!'
Shepard brings out feelings in people not even they understand.
THE NORMANDY
Back on the Normandy, Joker wonders if Miranda will loosen up a bit after saving her sister.
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'Then she might try to crack jokes and you really do not want that Joker.'
Mordin's task group that introduced the new Genophage has seen one of its members be kidnapped by the Blood Pack on Tuchanka, the Krogan Homeworld.
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'They are probably using his bones to pick pieces of him from out between their teeth at this point, but we will look into it.'
The fourth city hub in Mass Effect 2 is Tuchanka. So if you want to see the glories of Krogan 'civiization' stay tuned.
Elizabeth Baynham, from Feros, writes Shepard thanking him for his help with the contract earlier.
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'Don't worry most people in the galaxy have shot at me by this point.'
Kasumi does something unusual for this ship:
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'Woah. Somebody said something nice about Miranda.'
Miranda reflects on the mission, talks about her sister, and thanks Shepard for stopping her from shooting Niket. Shepard says that he is glad to see her opening up; they have a moment for a second but:
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'Oh? Because talking about people's feelings is mostly what I do on these missions.'
A little late to try to stop things from getting personal Miranda after you have been pouring your heart out the last few conversations.
ILLIUM
After that brief break Shepard goes back to Illium and follows the lead Liara gave him to find the Asari Justicar Samara. They are a rigid order of legalistic paladins who are compelled to beat the shit out of the evil and aid the good. The Asari love them but worry when they mingle with non-Asari who tend to frown on being killed for jaywalking.
Samara had to register with the local cops so they could keep an eye on her to protect...well...everybody else.
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'That is the face of a very worried cop.'
But there is little they can do to stop her from going wherever she wants and she is investigating the murder of a volus. Yes, this will be a volus heavy mission and yeah they are the butt-monkeys they always are.
RECRUITING SAMARA ON ILLIUM
They go to the murder scene and the dead volus' business partner is very nervous and wants to leave but the cops will not let him.
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'Worried a warrior who slays the wicked might be dangerous to you eh?'
They go see the detective in charge of the case and tell her that they are there to recruit the mighty justicar and take her away from Illium. The detective has orders to detain the justicar and is a little worried that justicar might just resist.
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'But think of the honor of being killed by such an icon of your culture!'
She gives them access to the crime scene and some of the local cops warn them that the place is crawling with Eclipse mercs. Yep, this is another Eclipse mission.
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'Excuse us ma'am have you seen a justicar around here?'
Samara is beating the hell out of the mercs trying to get some information out of them.
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'Some people think wearing high heels in battle is impractical but those people have never seen somebody's neck be broken with them.'
Samara says the Eclipse mercs helped a fugitive she is chasing escape Illium and she is trying to figure out which ship the fugitive left on. She says she cannot leave Illium until she completes this task. Just then the detective shows up and takes Samara into custody. Samara warns her that her code will allow the detective to detain her for 24 hours then she will have to kill everybody to escape and continue her mission. This is one bizarre code; I can only assume it is closely related to the Qun from Dragon Age.
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'At least she is pleasant and polite about it detective.'
But if Shepard can find the name of the ship the fugitive left on then Samara will go with Shepard and not kill everybody. So that is the mission.
To find more information on the mercs Shepard goes back to the volus Pitne For, the business partner of the murder victim. And let me just say there is a good reason he was worried about the justicar. He does a lot of questionable business on Illium and the Eclipse group he does business with is the same one that smuggled Samara's fugitive off world. He secretly made a copy of the key to their hideout and tells Shepard to go take care of them because Eclipse wants to kill him just as they killed his partner. He seems to have screwed them over by selling them a drug that increases biotic powers but is extremely toxic.
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'You know I really cannot blame them.'
So this toxic chemical will get thrown around a lot as Shepard fights through the Eclipse base.
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'The chemical makes Shepard look like he has biotics! Biotics that don't do anything and just make him glow blue and will kill him in enough quantities but still.'
As they fight through the compound they eventually find a young merc cowering in a side room. She claims she is only a rookie and never realized that one of the most notorious criminal organizations in the galaxy was bad!
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'Wow that is weak. You are lucky I am a paragon Shepard.'
But yeah she was full of shit. In fact she is the person who murdered the volus to begin with.
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'Man bad guys need to stop leaving incriminating documents and recordings around in Bioware games. But this will be something good to turn over to the detective.'
I am glad Garrus is not around to see this brazen following of proper laws and procedures and not just killing everybody who looks bad.
Eclipse has a secret weapon waiting for them a bit after this.
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'No shields? Damn I was all ready to do an acrobatic leap on top of it to knock them out.'
After the battle they find evidence that Pitne For was not just selling shady toxins to Eclipse but also trading in illegal narcotics.
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'In a shocking turn of events a volus is completely contemptible.'
Man it would be weird to meet a decent volus. It gets worse for volus-kind a bit later. The Eclipse had captured one of Pitne For's employees and pumped him full of the toxic drug to try to kill him. He seems to be living but has gone a bit...off kilter.
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'*sigh*'
He eventually falls down and goes to sleep. Though he does end up being a decent enough guy once he recovers. So score one for the volus I guess.
Then they finally make it to the boss woman herself, Captain Wasea. She is a little alarmed at how badly things have gone for her organization ever since she helped that fugitive Samara is chasing escape. She has little to console herself.
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'Well I am glad we can bring a little ray of sunlight into your life.'
She starts flinging around the toxic chemicals and the fight quickly becomes a cloud of toxic haze.
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'No, you are deep into something terrifying. She is going to join me.'
Yeah...I don't think I will go into that toxic gas could to find you. But Shepard uses the Collector Bean to strip her armor and shields as soon as he can see her and they are victorious. They hack into the Eclipse computer system and discover the fugitive left on the AML Demeter. They return this information to Samara and she promises to help them...in a suitably horrifying way.
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'Damn you could have just said 'sure, I'll help.'
What was the point of the mass effect fields? Is she biotically bound to Shepard now?
Oh and when she is done with her oath she will kill Shepard if he ordered her to do anything counter to the code. But did you expect anything different?
Shepard gave the information incriminating Pitne For for illegal drug selling and Elnora for the murder of the volus to the detective and then take Samara out of Illium to the Normandy. All of Illium breathes a sigh of relief.
THE NORMANDY
Once they get onboard the Normandy Kelly comments on Samara's cool knight-monk manner combined with her good looks. Shepard says he didn't bring her along for her looks since he already had plenty of lovely ladies on board *wink wink*. Kelly and he then decide to have dinner together in his cabin. They seem to have had a good time.
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'Yeah that monopoly game really got out of hand.'
Kelly then offered to go feed Shepard's fish when he is away. Good I hate when I forget to do that and they all die.
Joker is impressed with the high quality of people they are recruiting.
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'Yeah, the Cerberus boutique.'
I mean what did he expect with the Illusive Man picking the recruits?
While Shepard is the guardian angel to the Quarians, Oriana writes him claiming Miranda has been hers and she was always aware somebody was watching out for her. She now wants Shepard to be Miranda's guardian angel. If you are wondering Liara sent Oriana Shepard's address.
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'I don't know. Looking out for 17 million Quarians is hard enough.'
Samara's arrival opens up yet another room in the Normandy SR-2: the starboard observation room. It is much less interesting than the port observation room. There are just a few couches and a few books to read while staring out in the void of space.
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'I am glad no slackers are here, loafing right in front of their commander.'
Samara sits here and meditates, creating some sort of weird glowy orb. She explains a bit about the bizarre justicar code and how her mission to find this fugitive is very personal. She says she swore to help Shepard because of her code but she couldn't care less why exactly they are doing this mission.
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'Good because frankly we don't really have many details to share anyway.'
Kasumi is aware of Shepard's socializing with his assistant and rumors are running wild.
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'Was it a date? Darnit I forgot to clear it with Languish if it was a date or not!'
Grunt probably could use a little companionship to take his recent edge off.
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'A Krogan concerned he wants to kill things more than usual? Is that possible?'
Grunt is not sure what is going on. But EDI chimes in that little is known about the Krogan medical issues since after the Genophage they have been very protective of that sort of thing. So they will need to go to Tuchanka to get Grunt help. Well they were going there to help Mordin anyway. Huh. Wouldn't Mordin know a lot about Korgan medical conditions? You cannot ask him though. But it is probably wise not to bring Mordin's Genophage thing to Grunt's attention.
Miranda is struggling with feelings of self-loathing seeing what Shepard is able to do and she is struggling to live up to her genetic engineering.
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'Ok Miranda your vulnerability and self doubt was cute at first but it is getting a little old.'
Shepard tells her that is a bunch of nonsense and she is who really made her admirable body and mind. She then takes it a different direction by noting that he said he admired her body. They get flirting and then have another moment and then...she stops them again.
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'Really? Because in front of this window here and everything I don't know if I can make this any more romantic.'
Ah well. That gives his crew something else to gossip about.
This section was all about Shepard connecting with the women but next time we get a little male energy in there. Plus the Illusive Man screws Shepard again.
HOW ABOUT GOODBYE
Heh. We are coming to that part.
QuoteBut to be fair nobody ever was successful appealing to the hardcore niche. I mean besides Bioware. Huh.
Bioware didn't make
Betrayal at Krondor (I got confused for a moment with "
Return to Krondor" :yucky: ), nor did they make the
Eye of the Beholder series :)
Quote
But actually there are a ton of reunions on Illium. Everybody Shepard has ever met is coincidentally here at the exact same time and in close proximity to the Space Port. Small galaxy and all that.
They're all there to see some lawyer. I smell impending doom on this rock. ;)
Quote
This also gets Shepard a discount at the shop, since you have to do a quest to get this on illium instead of just selling out your good name like on the Citadel.
You're a Terran hero and they have more weight on the Citadel than on an Asari colony ;)
Quote
'Wait aren't Krogans egg layers so shouldn't they have no sex drive and...eh Asari already break all the rules of nature anyway.'
Tsk, tsk. Such ignorance of National Geographics documentaries... Well, actually, I don't think Nat Geo ever did a piece on crocodile mating rituals (reptilian egg layers), but I did a search for you:
http://www.livescience.com/28145-animal-sex-crocodiles.html
I'm disapointed by your prejudice toward non humans, Valmy.
Quote
To address these difficulties they singed a contract with Baria Frontiers
So.. It's a musical, now? :P
Quote
Seems like she should be blaming the Geth
People kill people. I've learned that from somewhere.
Quote
Why can't Shepard have normal friends?
It is simply not true that opposites attrack.
Quote
This is one bizarre code; I can only assume it is closely related to the Qun from Dragon Age.
A species for wich we only see males gives birth to a species for wich we only see females. Interesting...
Quote
What was the point of the mass effect fields? Is she biotically bound to Shepard now?
What is the point of drinking wine thinking it's your lord's blood and eating bread thinking it's your lord's body? We don't judge anyone here. ;)
Quote
'Was it a date? Darnit I forgot to clear it with Languish if it was a date or not!'
Since I'm better at virtual dates than real ones, I already told you all about it back in part 1 :P
can't wait for part six :)
It's a little longer than ME1, given you're not halfway through yet :)
At least, that was a nice improvement.
Betrayal at Krondor... forgot about that game. It was awesome. :cool:
Quote from: viper37 on May 10, 2017, 01:34:11 PM
Bioware didn't make Betrayal at Krondor (I got confused for a moment with "Return to Krondor" :yucky: ), nor did they make the Eye of the Beholder series :)
The Baldur's Gate series was pretty hardcore even if they did not make you eat.
Quote
You're a Terran hero and they have more weight on the Citadel than on an Asari colony ;)
Terran? This is not Wing Commander! But come to think of it they really should have had a space combat part.
Quote
Tsk, tsk. Such ignorance of National Geographics documentaries... Well, actually, I don't think Nat Geo ever did a piece on crocodile mating rituals (reptilian egg layers), but I did a search for you:
http://www.livescience.com/28145-animal-sex-crocodiles.html
I'm disapointed by your prejudice toward non humans, Valmy.
It gets worse. Everytime I say 'Salarian' I pronounce it 'sale et rien'.
Quote
To address these difficulties they singed a contract with Baria Frontiers
I can stick even more Lin Manuel Miranda songs in there if you like :P
Quote
People kill people. I've learned that from somewhere.
Geth don't kill people, Quarians kill people?
Quote
A species for wich we only see males gives birth to a species for wich we only see females. Interesting...
Maybe the Qunari is what Asari really look like :O
Quote
What is the point of drinking wine thinking it's your lord's blood and eating bread thinking it's your lord's body? We don't judge anyone here. ;)
Hey! It symbolizes sacrifice and um...an excuse to drink wine when you are underage.
Quote
Since I'm better at virtual dates than real ones, I already told you all about it back in part 1 :P
Yes, thank you that was very helpful.
Quote from: viper37 on May 10, 2017, 01:34:57 PM
can't wait for part six :)
It's a little longer than ME1, given you're not halfway through yet :)
At least, that was a nice improvement.
Well the part I just posted was Part 6 :P
Yeah it will be much longer than Mass Effect and I intend to do the Liara and Reaper DLCs after I complete the main game so that will be two more parts on top of that.
I edited Part 6 and added some headers to split up the missions and locations a bit. I hope that makes it easier to follow, I know grumbler said he found Part 5 a little confusing.
Quote from: Valmy on May 11, 2017, 12:45:31 PM
The Baldur's Gate series was pretty hardcore even if they did not make you eat.
hmm, pretty sure they did, or you lost hp by not eating and sleeping.
Quote
Terran? This is not Wing Commander! But come to think of it they really should have had a space combat part.
Just like Kotor :P
Quote
I can stick even more Lin Manuel Miranda songs in there if you like :P
I'll be fine, thank you very much :P
Quote
Geth don't kill people, Quarians kill people?
sort of. I can't say no more until you finish the series.
Quote from: Valmy on May 11, 2017, 12:51:45 PM
Quote from: viper37 on May 10, 2017, 01:34:57 PM
can't wait for part six :)
It's a little longer than ME1, given you're not halfway through yet :)
At least, that was a nice improvement.
Well the part I just posted was Part 6 :P
duh!
Quote
Yeah it will be much longer than Mass Effect and I intend to do the Liara and Reaper DLCs after I complete the main game so that will be two more parts on top of that.
I would recommend doing the Liara DLC before the end of the game and doing the Reaper DLC after the suicide mission. Story wise, it makes more sense that way.
For ME3 DLCs, they need to be done before the end of the game to make any sense.
Quote
I edited Part 6 and added some headers to split up the missions and locations a bit. I hope that makes it easier to follow, I know grumbler said he found Part 5 a little confusing.
I played the game a few times, so it's ok for me :)
Quote from: Valmy on May 11, 2017, 12:51:45 PM
I edited Part 6 and added some headers to split up the missions and locations a bit. I hope that makes it easier to follow, I know grumbler said he found Part 5 a little confusing.
I should have been clearer that I found the story confusing, not your explanation of it. Some of the very things that you addressed as odd are part of that. Husks also bug me: what super-science race would employ zombies when much-lower-maintenance robots are available?
Quote from: grumbler on May 11, 2017, 09:13:46 PM
Quote from: Valmy on May 11, 2017, 12:51:45 PM
I edited Part 6 and added some headers to split up the missions and locations a bit. I hope that makes it easier to follow, I know grumbler said he found Part 5 a little confusing.
I should have been clearer that I found the story confusing, not your explanation of it. Some of the very things that you addressed as odd are part of that. Husks also bug me: what super-science race would employ zombies when much-lower-maintenance robots are available?
Due to the AI ban, robots are generally not terribly effective. They are mostly deployed to buff private security forces with cheap numbers that can draw fire away from the far more combat efficient organics.
Husks are extremely easy and cheap to produce. You simply convert the populace in the attacked territory via dragon's teeth and get a fast, durable, expandable and highly aggressive assault / terror force. After an action, husks can either be deactivated for transport or simply be disposed. The zombie analogy is only not really fitting, as husks are partly cybernetic constructs.
More will be learned about husks and their variations in ME3.
Quote from: viper37 on May 11, 2017, 04:07:01 PM
I would recommend doing the Liara DLC before the end of the game and doing the Reaper DLC after the suicide mission. Story wise, it makes more sense that way.
For ME3 DLCs, they need to be done before the end of the game to make any sense.
Agreed. Liara's DLC also has a few special features, that require multiple visits between other missions (nothing important though, just the chance to get some new upgrades, money and resources). The Arrival DLC can also be played before the final mission of the main game (post DLC dialogue will be appropriately altered). Project Overlord should be done before the final mission.
Quote from: Malicious Intent on May 12, 2017, 11:04:32 AM
Due to the AI ban, robots are generally not terribly effective. They are mostly deployed to buff private security forces with cheap numbers that can draw fire away from the far more combat efficient organics.
Husks are extremely easy and cheap to produce. You simply convert the populace in the attacked territory via dragon's teeth and get a fast, durable, expandable and highly aggressive assault / terror force. After an action, husks can either be deactivated for transport or simply be disposed. The zombie analogy is only not really fitting, as husks are partly cybernetic constructs.
More will be learned about husks and their variations in ME3.
Yeah, it is reasoning like that that confuses me. First, robots don't need AI to be much more intelligent and combat-effective than husks. Second, an "AI ban" is scarcely going to deter a group willing to kill thousands or millions of sentients to create husks. Robots can be recharged; husks appear biological, and so energy much be supplied via food, a much less efficient and more expensive process. Husks being transported would require life support; not so for robots. Robots are as disposable as husks.
As you note that there is more to the story than we know, I won't belabor it. I simply was pointing out that it is things like this that have me confused in this story, not Valmy's descriptions.
Quote from: grumbler on May 11, 2017, 09:13:46 PM
Husks also bug me: what super-science race would employ zombies when much-lower-maintenance robots are available?
Possible plot spoiler for ME3, although part of it was revealed through ME1's final act, ME2's final act and Arrival DLC:
[spoiler]
they believe that sentient machines are there to destroy humanity. They believe that by harvesting biological species, they are saving them by preserving their differences. They don't have a problem allying with the Geth, but they don't intend to keep them alive either, no more than any one else collaborating with them in this cycle.
Hence, they use husks as cannon fodder. They're effective against lightly armed ennemies (especially the unarmed ones).[/spoiler]
Quote from: grumbler on May 12, 2017, 05:09:01 PM
Yeah, it is reasoning like that that confuses me. First, robots don't need AI to be much more intelligent and combat-effective than husks.
Yes, they do. Otherwise, they are just like the robots Valmy slaughtered in his first act.
QuoteSecond, an "AI ban" is scarcely going to deter a group willing to kill thousands or millions of sentients to create husks.
The AI ban is not a form of UN-like resolution. Nor is it enforced by one very advanced and very agressive species.
More on that in ME3.
Quote
Robots can be recharged; husks appear biological, and so energy much be supplied via food, a much less efficient and more expensive process. Husks being transported would require life support; not so for robots. Robots are as disposable as husks.
They are half cybernetics and don't need to breath. They are kinda dead, like zombies. No will of their own, primal instincts only.
[spoiler]
and they eat their victims, like other kind of Reapers.[/spoiler]
But the most important aspect of all:
It's sci-fi. In a video game. Not everything makes sense with today's comprehension of science. I mean, they create some kind of bubble to traval faster than light and need to discharge their drive core every now and then. And some kind of relay network built by an ancient race will let them traval to other star systems in seconds.
Quote from: viper37 on May 14, 2017, 04:24:26 PM
Yes, they do. Otherwise, they are just like the robots Valmy slaughtered in his first act.
Not att all unlike the husks he slaughtered in later acts? This isn't an argument around a "plot hole," it is just a reiteration of the plot hole. There is no requirement for a combat robot that mandates artificial intelligence.
QuoteThe AI ban is not a form of UN-like resolution. Nor is it enforced by one very advanced and very agressive species.
More on that in ME3.
I'd love to see the regulation that could define AI in such a way that an advanced and aggressive species could enforce it but still allow computers just below the threshold of whatever that species thinks constitutes "AI." This is essentially an appeal to magic.
QuoteThey are half cybernetics and don't need to breath. They are kinda dead, like zombies. No will of their own, primal instincts only.
The laws of physics still apply. They need energy, and if they have muscles that energy is going to need to come as sugar of some sort. I.E. food. That's a lot more cumbersome than connecting a wire and recharging a battery.
QuoteBut the most important aspect of all:
It's sci-fi. In a video game. Not everything makes sense with today's comprehension of science. I mean, they create some kind of bubble to traval faster than light and need to discharge their drive core every now and then. And some kind of relay network built by an ancient race will let them traval to other star systems in seconds.
That's why I was pointing out to Valmy that he misunderstood my comment. I think he is explaining well enough; it's the material he is explaining that causes the cognitive dissonance.
I get that husks are used because they are "cool." That's a perfectly valid game designer decision. The game does not have to make perfect sense. But I am allowed to note when it doesn't seem to, as well.
Quote from: grumbler on May 14, 2017, 04:52:01 PM
Not att all unlike the husks he slaughtered in later acts? This isn't an argument around a "plot hole," it is just a reiteration of the plot hole. There is no requirement for a combat robot that mandates artificial intelligence.
if you want it to adapt to ennemy strategies, yes. Otherwise, it's a simple script, and it's limited.
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I'd love to see the regulation that could define AI in such a way that an advanced and aggressive species could enforce it but still allow computers just below the threshold of whatever that species thinks constitutes "AI." This is essentially an appeal to magic.
It says they will take your desert away and send you to your room if you create an AI.
If you haven't played ME 3, I won't talk about it, because they give more explanation on that in the game. And I know Valmy hasn't played, and having constant spoilers is annoying.
Quote
The laws of physics still apply. They need energy, and if they have muscles that energy is going to need to come as sugar of some sort. I.E. food. That's a lot more cumbersome than connecting a wire and recharging a battery.
You need a power source to recharge the battery. Can be hard to come by during an invasion. Their food source is not.
Quote
I get that husks are used because they are "cool."
Not really. But ME2 is still very limited (so was ME3, but it's still a lot better), so they can't have 300 types of ennemy unit types around the screen. The engine simply can't handle that. I do not know if they fixed this in Andromeda, since their engine can now support a lot more variations in ennemy types.
Quote from: viper37 on May 14, 2017, 09:15:54 PM
if you want it to adapt to ennemy strategies, yes. Otherwise, it's a simple script, and it's limited.
I'm not sure why you are belaboring this point. You argue that husks are adequate even though they have "no will of their own, primal instincts only" and yet insist that robots must have AI to "adapt to ennemy [sic] strategies." If a plot hole has you making contradictory arguments, it's probably a plot hole you cannot resolve through any argument.
Quote
It says they will take your desert away and send you to your room if you create an AI.
If you haven't played ME 3, I won't talk about it, because they give more explanation on that in the game. And I know Valmy hasn't played, and having constant spoilers is annoying.
It's not a matter of ME3, it's a matter of logic. defining AI so that it allows computer capabilities that are is desired in the game but prohibits things the game doesn't want to include is an appeal to magic. Which is okay. It's like Fallout 4 allowing you to 'wash away" radioactive poisoning; it doesn't have to make sense if it serves a game purpose. Tenacious defense of the indefensible isn't the best strategy for dealing with comments about it, though.
QuoteYou need a power source to recharge the battery. Can be hard to come by during an invasion. Their food source is not.
Think about the power needed to propel starships, and then claim that power is "hard to come by" in this universe! Food is always going to be harder to come by because of the bulk and inefficiencies involved.
QuoteNot really. But ME2 is still very limited (so was ME3, but it's still a lot better), so they can't have 300 types of ennemy unit types around the screen. The engine simply can't handle that. I do not know if they fixed this in Andromeda, since their engine can now support a lot more variations in ennemy types.
So, your argument is that they use husks AND robots because the engine is too limited to handle robots alone? Gotcha. Maybe you should stop digging now.
Just caught up on this AAR Valmy. :thumbsup:
Quote from: grumbler on May 15, 2017, 08:33:18 AM
I'm not sure why you are belaboring this point. You argue that husks are adequate even though they have "no will of their own, primal instincts only" and yet insist that robots must have AI to "adapt to ennemy [sic] strategies." If a plot hole has you making contradictory arguments, it's probably a plot hole you cannot resolve through any argument.
Husks move faster. They do more damage. They can wait in ambush. They have a fear factor the robots do not have, unless they look like terminator. The psychological effect is not to be forgotten, given the master plan of the Reapers.
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It's not a matter of ME3, it's a matter of logic.
No, story wise, your position does not make sense. And I won't spoil the story, even if it's a tad weak, for you guys.
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Think about the power needed to propel starships, and then claim that power is "hard to come by" in this universe! Food is always going to be harder to come by because of the bulk and inefficiencies involved.
Think about how many Reaper ships like sovereign there are. 100? 1000? How many worlds to invade? A few hundred thousand?
Quote
So, your argument is that they use husks AND robots because the engine is too limited to handle robots alone? Gotcha. Maybe you should stop digging now.
Again, you do not read what I post. I shouldn't be surprised. When you're ready to read again, we'll have an intelligent discussion :)
Sorry guys I just bought a lot and signed a contract to build a new house and then my wife went out of town so I am doing the sole-child care provider thing for a few days. I should be able to post part seven by the end of the week.
:o
Quote from: garbon on May 17, 2017, 10:42:17 AM
:o
I know I know. I should keep my priorities straight better :blush:
:yes: :hug: :P
Quote from: Valmy on May 17, 2017, 10:06:40 AM
Sorry guys I just bought a lot and signed a contract to build a new house and then my wife went out of town so I am doing the sole-child care provider thing for a few days. I should be able to post part seven by the end of the week.
Congrats :)
Quote from: Valmy on May 17, 2017, 10:43:53 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 17, 2017, 10:42:17 AM
:o
I know I know. I should keep my priorities straight better :blush:
yes, you should. Hire a nanny for the kids and play! :P
MASS EFFECT 2 PART SEVEN or DANTIUS' INFERNO
THANE'S RECRUITMENT MISSION ON ILLIUM
Shepard's lead for finding the assassin Thane works for a shipping company as some kind of administration type and is named Seryna. She helped Thane get to his next target, somebody Shepard has already met of course since it is Illium.
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'Or rather we accidentally killed her sister randomly...but details.'
You might remember this from the Mass Effect AAR part four. Anyway, Nassana is still in the shady doings business and all the people she has had killed has caught up with her. So Thane is going after her pro bono on his own and she has locked herself in the penthouse of one of her towers. The other is under construction so Shepard will be infiltrating through there to try to find Thane. Seryna flies him over there and Shepard, Miranda, and Jack arrive.
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'Our next action movie poster!'
Then they enter the tower and wow is Nassania Dantius one paranoid nutter. She has a small army in there. And she was rather unnecessarily rough with the construction crew.
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'Wow so you can just have your robots start killing whomever?'
I am so glad they introduced those things. They make everybody feel secure.
Shepard and company must go up the tower to the very top. And the waves of bad guys just keep coming. This level is notorious for me of every time you think you have beaten all the bad guys and are starting to scrounge for heat clips and loot another group blows you away.
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'Might as well get comfy behind this crate. I will not be going anywhere for awhile.'
Then they get to the next level where they face...MORE BADGUYS.
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'Freeze! Ok that was bad.'
And of course, it is Eclipse.
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'Ready for your headshot? Ok I will stop.'
Something about fighting in a skyscraper that brings out the cheesy 80s action movie one liners. They keep finding Salarian workers, who comprised the entire work force for some reason, who have been saved by Thane as he scaled the tower. There is only one way into Nassana's penthouse and that is across an unfinished bridge spanning the two towers.
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'So long as you left random boxes around that can stop bullets I should be fine.'
After killing tons and tons of enemies, I swear this mission has three or four times the number of enemies as the others, they get to the top of the tower where they surprise an Eclipse Merc trying to find out where Thane is.
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'How about goodbye?'
Oh, but I didn't do that since this is a Paragon run. Lame. Anyway, so Shepard lets him live in exchange for information on Thane but he admits Eclipse knows nothing.
You know Shepard is gunning down dozens of Eclipse mercs and robots. I would think they would be more concerned about him than Thane.
They clear out the penthouse in the second tower. Nassana then calls asking for an update on how the whole 'stopping the assassin' project is going.
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'It just may not be your day Ms. Dantius.'
That was satisfying. I wish Shepard could have played around with her more.
They get out there on the bridge and fortunately the Salarians workers did conveniently leave lots of waist high bullet-proof boxes around. But man, I am starting to wonder if there are any Eclipse Mercs left on Illium.
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'Hot enough for...just kidding. What are they even keeping in all these boxes?'
They enter the penthouse at the other building and Nassana is waiting for them. For some bizarre reason, possibly because they took out over 100 of her robots and mercs, she thinks they are there to kill her.
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'Funny story: I am actually after the assassin who is trying to kill you. Your people died for nothing.'
But she refuses to believe him and then Thane dramatically drops from the ceiling and kills a few of her guards with his bare hands and then shoots her dead in her stomach. Mysteriously all the rest of her guards disappear and Thane starts praying for his soul. He believes in the ancient pagan gods of the Drell people. He is trying to purify himself since he is dying of an incurable disease. He is a doomed and tragic assassin with a heart of gold. No wonder the ladies like him.
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'Yeah it is basically a foolish and probably fruitless venture. We are all probably doomed. It is right up your alley.'
Thane is excited to hear that they are on such a dangerous mission that might help save the galaxy since he is trying to right wrongs before his disease kills him.
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'Eh it would have been Cerberus who paid you anyway but thanks.'
BACK ON THE NORMANDY
Speaking of Cerberus Jacob becomes weirdly self-righteous about Thane coming onboard.
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'You work for a terrorist organization.'
Besides I am sure we already have a few mercs on our team already. But maybe Jacob is too smart to give Zaeed.
Kelly thinks Thane is ever so dreamy.
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'Yes...yes...wipe the drool from your mouth counselor.'
Joker is less enamored.
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'Actually I do collect model ships. You want to see? They are pretty cool...ok maybe that is not so cool when I hear myself say it.'
Garrus has a special request for Shepard. He has found the Turian, Sidonis, who he thinks betrayed his team. And he wants to go talk to him and get his side of the story. Haha just kidding.
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'Yeah generally that is not used to refer to what we consider acceptable behavior these days Garrus.'
So Sidonis is on the Citadel. We are supposed to meet with Garrus' contact, some guy name Fade, on the Citadel. Sweet I hope he gives us ability score bonuses...not that we have those anymore.
Samara is eager to share with Shepard about her wacky code.
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'Would you mind just giving me the cliff notes version on how not to be killed by you later? That would be great.'
Shepard goes to introduce himself to Thane and Thane explains a bit about his disease. Shepard rather moronically suggests he goes and visits Dr. Chakwas.
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'Well I appreciate you not rolling your eyes...not that I could tell if you did.'
Thane's people lived on an arid and dry planet but they destroyed it by consuming its limited resources. The Hanar saved them and permitted them to live on their planet which is very wet and moist. Eventually living on this planet causes a fatal condition which is presently killing Thane.
Miranda admits she has feelings for Shepard and he agrees that he does not love her just for her warp ability. I might feel something sexual whenever she rips apart some barriers with it though.
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'Actually I die a few times a mission. I think we will be fine.'
So awwwww. :wub:
But let's get to the relationship that dominates the Mass Effect universe: people's relationship with their dads.
JACOB'S LOYALTY MISSION ON 2175 AEIA
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'If you are going to be shipwrecked in a star system it should have a cool name like 'Alpha Draconis'.'
Shortly after landing they find the VI for Jacob's dad's wrecked ship, the MSV Hugo Gernsback, and discover the ship crashed and the distress beacon was damaged. But then it was fixed and then mysteriously slightly delayed.
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'Even Jacob's freaking dad gets to be a captain.'
It is a lovely planet so maybe they just wanted to hang around and enjoy nature for a few years. However, the food on this planet is toxic to humans and reduces them to slightly above animal intelligence, which would make them perfect for Languish posters but incapable of much else. They explore the ship and find evidence of some pretty rapey intentions by one of the officers with some of his crew-mates who are mentally degenerating. So yeah you can see where this is going.
Unfortunately, some of the feral humans were not of the docile variety.
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'Now now we are not here to see any liar, we are just here to help Jacob's Dad. Oh you mean...'
Unfortunately, the feral dudes had to be put down. What a shit mission this is.
They find a camp full of other feral humans but these ones are docile...and all female. Pretty disturbing. They are delighted to see Jacob.
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'Now I don't think Jacob is that ugly lady.'
Yeah this is getting pretty fucked up. Soon the robots show up...oh geez.
Ok Mass Effect 2 drove me nuts with its casual disregard of its own lore back when I took this series much more seriously. But here is another example. The robots were introduced after the Battle of the Citadel per the lame excuse for them appearing now and not in Mass Effect. But here they are aboard this civilian vessel that crashed 10 years ago. And they are a key part of this story so it is not some throw away thing. There are other examples of this. Miranda was born before humanity even discovered biotics even though she was designed as an exceptional biotic. And it just goes on and on. Mass Effect 2 does not give any shits with its timeline though so I don't either.
I am getting tired of fighting these tiresome robots though.
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'So he sends out a distress call and then sends robots to kill us? Your dad sucks Jacob.'
After the robots are dead the former ship doctor, now barely sentient, hands us a note she wrote back when she realized what was going on. It reveals that Jacob's dad and the other officers took all the food and made the crew eat the toxic local food while they fixed the beacon. Once the lady crew members were all docile they were given to the officers for sex toys. Once the distress beacon was fixed Jacob's Dad killed all the other officers and all the feral male crewmembers were sent into exile. Then he ruled as a god for the next nine years or so.
Shepard asks what Jacob thinks since it is his dad.
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'I HAVE NO FATHER'
Jacob just seethes with righteous fury. But granted this whole situation is pretty fucked up.
Despite what the doctor said Jacob's Dad has a whole squad of brainwashed male guards and robots. And of course one of the big ones.
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'Pssst...over here.'
Pretty boring really. Meanwhile Jacob's dad is throwing out lame excuses for why they must fight through his own men and robots just to rescue him. This just irritates Jacob more.
Jacob's dad is there spouting out bullshit to Shepard who quickly introduces him to his own son.
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'Yes yes Jacob. Is your own son coming to rescue you really that surprising?'
Now here comes the most hostile child-father meeting since Lizzie Borden (allegedly).
Jacob is having none of his father's shit.
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'Not that Jacob showed much affection for him even before this incident.'
I think the fact they set it up like Jacob did not even have that great a father who he cared much for to begin with kind of weakens this whole deal. But the game did come perilously close to giving Jacob a motivation or a relatable moment.
They alert the Alliance which arrives shortly after the Normandy departs to rescue the surviving crew-members and arrest Taylor the elder.
NORMANDY
Back on the Normandy Jacob demands to know why the Illusive Man sent him the message about the Gernsback. The Illusive Man insists he didn't do it. But then Miranda pops in and says she did.
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'I bet this would have made a lot more sense if I could play that game EA deleted off the App store.'
Jacob, though, is overall grateful he got to tie up that loose end.
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'Yeah it seems like you really enjoyed yourself.'
So anyway that is that for that bullshit quest.
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'Yes it was Joker. Yes it was.'
Meanwhile Shepard gets a weird e-mail from one of the Salarian workers in the Dantius towers.
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'Wait what happened exactly? Did you decide to become a dancer? A Drellsexual? So confused.'
Thane goes on to explain how the Hanar trained him to be an assassin to kill everybody who said something mean about the Enkindlers. That C-Sec guy from Mass Effect had no idea what forces he was trifling with. But seriously the Hanar have people they need killing and since they are incapable of shooting a gun they use the Drell to do their dirty deeds. Thane was really honored to be used this way.
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'Yeah that is what they told me in the Alliance to.'
So his reflexes and body were trained to kill and he did it to pay back the debt for the Hanar rescuing his people. But it is also why he feels no personal responsibility for his killings. It is just part of the Drell gig.
Drell also have perfect memories so they can vividly re-experience any time in their life. They also weirdly give commentary in a strange voice while doing this.
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'So is that how you met your wife? How romantic.'
That is how he met his now dead wife. That's right ladies, he is available!
But do you know who is not available? Shepard. Or so the entire ship seems to know.
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'Ah so...I guess anything I do gets back to Miranda huh?'
She is a terrorist Shep. Watch your back.
Speaking of people who should watch their back Samara has found the fugitive she has been chasing. Her name is Morinth and she is on Omega. Hey Shepard should probably finally go back there and give that stuff to Ish anyway.
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'Really? Huh. That seems a litte...extreme.'
Morinth is an Ardat-Yakshi which is a sort of Asari that kills whoever mates with her. And she has a compulsive need to do this. Wow ok that sounds pretty bad. I think that concludes that conversation.
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'Ok maybe we do have a bit more to talk about.'
All of Samara's children are Ardat-Yakshi see. Her kids are only ones currently known to exist. The others agreed to live in a form of house arrest to protect themselves and the universe from their need to kill. But this 'Morinth' refused and has gone on a 400 year reign of terror. So that is why Samara decided to become a Justicar. So I gather this quest is pretty important to her?
Zaeed knows how to deal with wannabe tyrants like Jacob's dad.
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'Man I would have liked to see that. Maybe I should have brought you along.'
But before we can go after Morinth the Illusive Man wants to see Shepard. Some Turians found and managed to disable a Collector Ship. All the Turian ships were destroyed in the process though so now the Collector Ship is just floating out there. The Illusive Man has intercepted this information and kept it from the Turians.
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'Ok shouldn't we be trying to rescue colonists as well or something?'
This quest is one of the weirder ones in the first two games. Obviously the Turians did no such thing. The game lets you know almost immediately that the ship has no damage.
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'So how did the Turians supposedly immobilize it? Mean thoughts?'
COLLECTOR SHIP
But hey even though this is an obvious and bizarre trap and the Illusive Man is an obvious liar they go right ahead and board.
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'Well here your patsy's are Collectors. Do your worst.'
Once on board EDI starts to scan it and discovers that:
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'Huh so is there time to go grab that Delan asshole from Horizon and stick him in here?'
And it also turns out to be the same ship that blew up the original Normandy. I was not aware there was more than one Collector Ship but Shepard and company think it an interesting coincidence.
The ship looks like some kind of demented beehive and includes numerous horrors.
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'Well if you end up dead at the end anyway I guess it is hard to disagree with Shepard.'
Eventually they find out that the Collectors are not just inflicting horrible experiments on the humans they capture but on themselves. EDI finds the data collected from one such experiment and discovers the shocking truth:
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'Where are your Enkindlers now!!! Oh wait...right here.'
So like the Keepers the Collectors are the empty slave husks of a former legendary empire the Reapers destroyed. They clearly lost something of their intelligence since they leave Shepard an amazing M-98 Widow sniper rifle on the ground for him to pick up.
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'Well nobody can say the Collectors are not sporting.'
Actually for guys who usually paralyze their opponents with seeker swarms they do seem weirdly eager for a fair fight here.
The Collectors have billions of pods for human captives on this ship which leads Thane to a rather radical conclusion:
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'They are going to capture EVERY human? Well I guess that is one way to make sure Shepard cannot stop them.'
Humans all look the same. I mean I know this Collector Ship is super advanced and everything but capturing every human on earth seems a bit beyond its capabilities.
So they get to the central computer and hook EDI up and she goes to work. But that is the Collector's signal to launch their attack.
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'OMG! This is shockingly a trap!'
Shepard, Miranda, and Thane go flying off into the air on their little platform and instead of jump dumping them out or putting them in a cage of something the Collectors swoop into fight them in person. I swear between these guys and the Warden of Purgatory I have seen two of the worst laid traps in history. EDI struggles to take back control of the situation.
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'Well hurry it up! Cerberus did not save you from being destroyed by me to slack off!'
Once the Collectors are beaten and EDI has control of the platforms and they get back to the Collector Computer. EDI discovers that IT WAS A TRAP...by the Illusive Man.
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'Well yeah nobody believed that weak-sauce nonsense. Well maybe Miranda did.'
Then they have to fight their way out. The Collectors keep trying to shut the doors to keep Shepard in but EDI keeps opening them.
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'One Prothean widow coming right up.'
At one door the Collectors send another Praetorian after them and I really really regret not bringing the Collector Beam along. Fortunately using Shepard's cloaking device they manage to bounce the Praetorian AI back and forth across the battle field so it can never settle on a target and use its big boom attack. The Praetorians always target Shepard but when he cloaks it goes after Miranda and Thane. Then Shepard uncloaks and it heads back to Shepard and repeat.
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'You are one dumb motherfucker'
Obviously combining lots of Husks together does not combine their intelligence. Or maybe it does, they don't seem to have much going on up there. Eventually they get back to the shuttle and escape before the Collector Ship can charge up its guns.
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'The guns will be charged up in just seconds to make this more dramatic!'
They rush back onto the Normandy just as the Collectors start to open up on them.
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'I know we thought it was cool to try to dodge them last time but why not activate the FTL engines this time?'
So they manage to do that and escape. Wow. I just don't get what the Collector's Plan was there. If they had just blown the Normandy away immediately they would have won...I guess EDI messed up the plan? There were a million ways they could have captured Shepard there. Pretty bizarre. And now they gave Shepard a tiny chance to win when before he had none. It is best just not to think about that quest to much.
NORMANDY
Shepard lets the Illusive Man have it.
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'So if you knew he was going to betray you, whose fault was this really Shepard?'
But the Illusive Man tells him to chill, everybody escaped with zero casualties and they got the secret to the Omega 4 Relay: the Collectors use some kind of fancy Id Friend-Foe (IFF) thing that lets you use the relay safely. And Cerberus just happens to know where they might get one.
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'Wait so you found one from 740 galactic civilizations ago?'
It is an older IFF sir but it checks out.
So how long has this thing been going on?
So the plan is now to go board that Reaper and get the IFF and I am sure the Illusive Man is not this time sending them to certain death. It will all go according to plan.
Mordin, Jacob, and Miranda meet with Shepard to plan the next move. EDI calculates where the Omega 4 Relay goes based on data they got from the Collector Ship.
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'So we are going through the death death relay into a black hole? This just keeps getting better and better.'
Mordin speculates that the magic of Mass Effect fields should allow a base to exist among all those black holes. What can't those things do?
Jacob is eager to get on that Reaper and start getting IFFs but Shepard figures that since the thing has been sitting there for 37 million years they might have time.
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'So yeah we are not going to be doing anything directly related to the plot for a really long time.'
Next: back into space for more minerals and boatloads of side quests!
QuoteI just don't get what the Collector's Plan was there. If they had just blown the Normandy away immediately they would have won...I guess EDI messed up the plan? There were a million ways they could have captured Shepard there. Pretty bizarre. And now they gave Shepard a tiny chance to win when before he had none. It is best just not to think about that quest to much.
They want Shepard alive, for some reason. Or some part of his genetic material still intact. And yeah, EDI messed up that plan.
Quote
So how long has this thing been going on?
See Mass Effect 3: Leviathan for an answer.
MASS EFFECT 2 PART 8 or UNSPEAKABLE RITES ALONG WITH A FEW UNSPEAKABLE WRONGS
NORMANDY
Jacob is annoyed that even though they are trying to save everybody they are just sitting by and doing nothing.
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'Well if they don't care about the Reapers killing everybody they are unlikely to care about the Collectors kidnapping humans.'
Kelly is super happy to see Shepard survived the Collector's trap.
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'Hugs for every hero!'
Matthews and Hadley are talking about how the Protheans got transformed into brainless slaves. Matthews is surprisingly insightful.
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'Wow it took Chorban two years to figure that part out.'
Joker is quick to understand Thane's appeal.
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'Never underestimate the attraction of the tortured bad boy.'
Meanwhile the two continuously eating crewmen, Goldstein and Hawthorne are also discussing the Prothean-Collector connection.
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'Bugs can be regal. Like bees.'
Thane goes on to talk about how his species has perfect memories and how that causes them to not always live in the moment. He talks about how he can easily recall every detail of all of his assassinations. Shepard wonders if this causes him to feel any guilt.
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'Assassins don't kill people, employers do.'
Let's just say I find Thane's philosophy on life unconvincing. But that is just me being an anti-Drell bigot.
Zaeed is impressed with the recent mind shattering revelation.
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'Yes yes you are a badass who kills lots of people; do you have to work that into every conversation?'
But while everybody has Protheans on their mind Tali is distracted by the fact the fleet has charged her with treason. After an extensive and fascinating lore drop on Quarian treason trials, along with some case history, she says that she has no idea what exactly brought this on.
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'It was your evil twin! Alternative universe Tali has struck again!'
Now that is the plot twist this series needs to go full melodrama. But they will be traveling out to the fleet soon to figure out WTF is going on.
But enough of this. Shepard has run out of minerals to do his upgrades so they need to get out there and scan some planets. I have to say though you hardly need any minerals in this game and, as I said before, you actually get punished if you mine too much so it is actually a pretty tiny part of the game. The main reason to scan the planets is to find the side quests that hide out there in the universe.
TAITUS
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'Pirate robots? It is not as exciting as it sounds.'
This quest is pretty dull. Basically a guy bought a YMIR to mine some minerals but the thing is a piece of junk and can only go a short distance before it shuts down. So you grab power cells and put it in the YMIR and it slowly makes its way to the minerals. There are a few Varren to kill but eventually you get the minerals. And that is it.
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'This is the stuff dramatic space adventures are made of.'
Yeah so we got some minerals.
NORMANDY
Back on the Normandy Thane reveals he was a pretty miserable absentee father. His son, Kolyat, has been abandoned ever since Thane's wife passed away. Woah usually people in these games have terrible fathers, Thane IS a terrible father. His son is trying to follow in Thane's foot steps as an assassin despite his best efforts to keep him out of the profession.
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'Wait so you are a sinner? Ok because your soul is responsible but your body isn't and...nevermind.'
Best to just go with it. Anyway Kolyat is on the Citadel trying to get his career as a hitman going. Hey Shepard is already going there to kill somebody for Garrus. There are so many assassinations to do on the Citadel these days.
SINMARA
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'This colony apparently depends on random space heroes coming by to handle their maintenance issues.'
Again there is not much too this quest. You go to the shield generator and mess around with it and get the coolant, control, and generator units back online.
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'This shield makes me want some honey.'
And that is that. Another colony: saved.
TARITH
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'Glad to see even Krogan recognize the necessity of resource extraction.'
The Blood Pack has a mining operation here and probably are up to no good. So Shepard lands to have a friendly chat. But the planet's atmosphere is filled with chlorine gas. Fortunately, Miranda's eyes are chlorine-proof so she only needs a breath mask.
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'So fog makes it hard to see? I am so glad I have this fancy AI around to tell me these things.'
The Vorcha miners are not too bright and so tend to wander off in the fog. The Krogan set up these beacon towers to enable the Vorcha to find their way back. Well Shepard can use those as well.
This planet is overrun with RachniKlixen who are like Rachni but morons.
They charge right at you to do melee damage and explode when they die. Fortunately Shepard's cyro rounds make them pretty trivial.
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'Klixen in the mist'
In a mission that reminds me a bit of many other Bioware beacon towers, like in the Dragon Age Inquisition: Jaws of Hakkon, you just follow the light to the end. The Blood Pack is waiting.
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'Did they just shoot Shepard's head off?'
After the battle they discover that the minerals are being sent to a military base preparing for some kind of planetary invasion:
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'An invasion of where exactly?'
Ah well an invasion of something is probably bad so they will get to that eventually.
HELYME
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'No mining facility will be left unexplored! Hey it is our friends the Eldfell-Ashland Energy Corporation...and Eclipse.'
Oh Eldfell-Ashland to lose one facility to mercenaries may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.
The whole point of this mission is to locate a cargo ship that Eclipse is trying to capture. So you fight through lots and lots of Eclipse mercs.
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'It is like I never left Illium.'
Eventually EDI has to decrypt the location of the cargo ship while you fight off the mercs.
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'Yes! We achieved...something...I guess!'
So the location of the ship gets sent to Cerberus and nothing else seems to happen. But Eclipse Mercs were killed so that was good.
But fighting off the Blood Pack made me hunger for more hot Krogan action so it is time to go see the scenic Krogan homeworld of Tuchanka.
TUCHANKA
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'So the Krogan destroyed their own homeworld? Well what else did you think was going to happen on a planet full of Krogan.'
How life continues on a planet with no plants is a mystery. I don't think predators just endlessly eating each other is sustainable but hey we did not play this game for science facts.
Speaking of science facts the local guardsmen are able to make medical conclusions after looking at another Krogan for a few seconds.
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'Oh so...Grunt is fine? Him wanting to tear my ship apart is normal? How comforting.'
But Grunt is less fine with the nuclear wasteland that is his species home.
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'Yeah but you wouldn't want to be like those weak Asari and have someplace decent to live anyway.'
True military glory is living in a bombed-out wreck. Back in the Mass Effect postgame discussion I mentioned the early 90s game Star Control 2 and in that game there was this race called the Thraddash that was there to make fun of warrior races like the Krogan. In that game the Thraddash had nuked themselves back to the stone age multiple times and never learned anything from their history. They were on their 19th Civilization and there was a joke where the 14th Civilization decided that maybe nuking themselves was a bad idea and it immediately triggered a massive revolt of die hards and ended with...yes...the Thraddash nuking themselves back to the stone age. The Thraddash were hilariously over-the-top violent and belligerent and it was all played for laughs. So, I find it hilarious that here we have a species that is exactly like the Thraddash in every way except it is played completely straight.
Or maybe it isn't and in fact Bioware means this to be a joke. It is hard to tell sometimes.
After the defeat of Saren and his cloning program the Krogan have been freed from his influence and Clan Urdnot runs things on Tuchanka...sort of. And who is their leader?
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'Shepard's expression reflects how he feels about even Wrex getting promoted while he still remains a Commander.'
Wrex is trying to get the Krogan to act more strategically and abandon the old ways of constant warfare for its own sake. Naturally the die hards are upset about it and none are more upset than Star Trek's Michael Dorn.
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'Sounds like somebody is about to be nuked back to the Stone Age.'
So more on him later. Shepard asks Wrex what is up with Grunt.
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'So puberty makes Krogans uncontrollably violent? How does that distinguish this event from other times in a Krogan's life?'
It is good to see Wrex taking his father's place as leader of Urdnot. I knew when he was saying he was done with his family and the Krogan he was full of it.
There are two merchants on Tuchanka and Grunt's quest is how you get a discount with one of them. The other requires you kill those space monkeys from Part 8 of the Mass Effect AAR. Fauna in the galaxy sure gets around.
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'Stay away from the Krogan's food space monkey! Go eat um...oh right they nuked everything.'
Sucks to be you monkeys but I did get a discount.
GRUNT'S RITE OF PASSAGE ON TUCHANKA
They go to the Urdnot Shaman and get in another argument with Uvenck about Grunt being a freak. Shepard puts him in his place and he promises that he will take more direct action against them in the future. Should be fun.
The Shaman takes them out to a ruined Krogan city (though I guess that is redundant) where they must activate a keystone to start a Rite of Passage.
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'So contemplate how keystones undergo trials to keep up arches?'
But this keystone has nothing to with arches or anything one might think of as a keystone. Instead it is this button they must push. Pushing it releases a horde of Varren against them.
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'Grunt is having a good old time. The Varren less so.'
Next in this very contemplative rite Klixen are released against them. Wait are they also native to Tuchanka? Giant bugs drop them off.
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'Second verse, same as the first.'
So yeah the first two waves were no big deal. The last one is a Thresher Maw. It is supposed to be symbolic of the Krogan struggle with the Genophage. How spiritual.
But the Thresher Maw is not like Mass Effect's Thresher Maw. It is semi-Thresher Maw. The margarine of Thresher Maws. The diet coke of Thresher Maws, just one calorie, not Thresher Maw enough.
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'Last game's thresher maw would have demolished this pillar and Shepard in one shot.'
The Thresher Maw gets Shep a few times but fails to one shot him. In Mass Effect they one shot the Mako. Just saying.
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'Down he goes. And he was the only Thresher Maw in Mass Effect 2. How the mighty have fallen.'
After the Thresher Maw goes down Uvenk shows up and tells them that nobody has killed a Thresher Maw on foot since Wrex. Damn if Wrex had told me that in Mass Effect I would have sent him against them a few times. That is probably why he left that out.
Uvenk and is impressed and says Grunt can join his clan as a second-class citizen and not be destroyed as Uvenk intended. Grunt is not impressed with the offer.
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'Great so now we have to kill an entire Krogan krannt? Thanks Grunt.'
Fortunately fighting Krogans and fighting Varren and Klixen are not so different.
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'The ice for the post-Rite party will be Uvenk's remains.'
They get back to Urdnot HQ and the Shaman welcomes Grunt into the clan. Grunt picks Shepard as his battlemaster.
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'The token is a shotgun upgrade, of course.'
Speaking of Fortack now they have a discount as his store, since Grunt is a member of Urdnot now. He has some expensive stuff so they will be coming back to Tuchanka from time to time as they get money.
The Shaman then tells Shepard all about the Krogan's 'civilization'.
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'You are some stupid motherfuckers.'
Thraddash only less silly...ok equally silly.
NORMANDY
Joker is bummed Wrex will not be coming with us.
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'Yeah I think every ship has a one Krogan limit.'
Jacob is good. Like wanting to party good.
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'Ah yeah we are going to get spill all the drinks. Wait...what?'
Oh Jacob you and your hip slang. I bet the kids think you are rad.
That ends all the talking you get to do with Jacob for the most part. I will talk more about him in the postgame.
Grunt is finally given a purpose in life. An identity to murder for.
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'That is great until we finish our mission...then I worry.'
Speaking of murdering Zaeed is impressed with our antics.
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'Not as tough as one might think'
Seriously after that battle I had to go back and check to see if somehow the difficulty has been turned off insanity. Maybe I am just really good at Mass Effect 2 now.
GOING AFTER MORDIN'S COLLEAGUE ON TUCHANKA
Now to rescue Mordin's colleague.
Wrex said his scout might help them out. The Blood Pack have him and the Blood Pack is known as Clan Weyrloc on Tuchanka. The leader of the clan, and the Blood Pack I assume, is Weyrloc Guld. They have set themselves up in an old Krogan hospital which I understand are more sturdy than bomb shelters since, when sick or injured, Krogan tend to become incredibly violent. Because of course they do.
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'So there is a giant road that goes right to their base? Did Wrex really need me to talk to a scout to find out where it is?'
Once they reach the outskirts of the hospital the violence and mayhem begins. Or rather continues but now Shepard is a participant.
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'No that is not the truck we took here. There are just lots of burning trucks lying around.'
There are also two side quests on this mission. One is getting a spare part for a truck, well plenty of those lying around. The other is finding a mission Urdnot scout.
They reach the hospital and see a dead human the Krogan were experimenting on in their Genophage experiments. Mordin is impressed.
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'Oh are we? How nice!'
Hah! In your face other species. Nobody is as useful in experiments as we.
They reach the gates and Krogans come out to meet them. Their clanspeaker tells Shepard that Weryloc Guld has allowed them to live so long as they leave and tell the universe about its imminent doom once they cure the Genophage.
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'Yeah then the Salarians will rue the day they ever introduced the Genophage! I guess instead of just killing them all.'
Shepard says the rest of the galaxy thinks the Krogans are cute and fluffy and will be shocked to discover the Krogans are violent.
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'I can only assume this is the half of the galaxy that has never met a Krogan before.'
I mean does anybody think that if the Genophage is cured the Krogans will NOT wage war on the galaxy again? Well we will be meeting somebody soon who doesn't.
Shepard tells him they are not leaving without Maelon so the Blood Pack attacks.
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'The Blood Pack is violent? Well they just lost my support.'
Beyond the gate they find the brutal carnage of the Genophage research lab. Dead experimental subjects fill the room.
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'Um Mordin the Krogan have destroyed their own civilization 12 times. Pointless wastes of life are what they specialize in.'
Beyond this they find the captured Urdnot scout. He has been brainwashed to be eager to sacrifice himself to help the Blood Pack with the Genophage because he thinks he is small and weak. Well Shepard shakes him out of it by giving him the ultimate insult.
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'Woah. That's going just a bit too far.'
At this ultimate insult the Urdnot scout charges back to Urdnot with a mighty roar. But since everything between Shepard and Urdnot is dead he really does not need to get so worked up.
Then they enter the heart of the hospital where the Blood Pack is waiting for them. This fight is pretty fun with lots of charging bad guys and multiple levels. But it turns out to be the only fight. Weyrloc Guld even charges in.
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'Wait he is the leader of the Blood Pack and he does not even get a cut scene?'
I know Weyrloc and the Blood Pack are pretty bad people but he still deserved better.
They find the lab where Maelon is being held. And he is not being held.
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'Well he could just be insane.'
Yeah Maelon has decided that the Genophage is bad and he is going to fix it by helping the Blood Pack wage a bloody war of conquest.
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'True. Little did you know how much havoc and war they would cause even with the Genophage.'
Yeah he says that the galaxy is violent anyway and having a Krogan population explosion would make everybody smarter, I guess because they would have lots of rampaging Krogan running around. Pretty weak. Mordin wants to kill him but Shepard tells him to let Maelon go.
Mordin then has to decide what to do with his Genophage curing research. Well we do have a Reaper invasion coming so you never know...
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'I mean what is the worst that can happen?'
So yeah. Someday the Genophage might be cured. Won't that be nice?
Quote from: viper37 on May 22, 2017, 10:28:45 AM
They want Shepard alive, for some reason. Or some part of his genetic material still intact. And yeah, EDI messed up that plan.
Yeah I guess she kept them from just blowing up the Normandy. Pretty embarrassing for them eh?
QuoteSee Mass Effect 3: Leviathan for an answer.
I cannot wait! Though I might have to wait awhile. I did what I thought was one parts worth on Illium and then it ended up being 2.5 parts. The Mass Effect 2 part of this AAR is taking longer than I thought but I guess it makes sense as there are so many unconnected side plots.
Quote'Last game's thresher maw would have demolished this pillar and Shepard in one shot.'
That's just a juvenile, like the first shark in Jaws 3 ;)
Btw, in Illium, did you forget two side quests? One involving two star crossed lovers and one involving a Salarian?
Quote
I cannot wait! Though I might have to wait awhile. I did what I thought was one parts worth on Illium and then it ended up being 2.5 parts. The Mass Effect 2 part of this AAR is taking longer than I thought but I guess it makes sense as there are so many unconnected side plots.
Yes, ME3 is the same. Though they try to tie it to the plot a little better.
MASS EFFECT 2 PART 9 or BAD GIRLS DON'T CRY BUT THEIR VICTIMS' MOTHERS DO
NORMANDY
And the intrepid band leaves Tuchanka and sets off back into the galaxy in search of minerals and side quests.
The events on Tuchanka fill Mordin with Salarian pride.
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'There is that proud day when one of your students seizes their destiny of handing the galaxy over to a murderous mercenary band.'
Grunt is reveling in his patriotic desire to murder for his clan and krannt. Shepard wants him to dial it back a bit.
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'Calling for sanity? I can see that would be a weird foreign thing to Krogan.'
Now to Omega to finally drop those packages off to Ish and see about Samara's sweet baby girl.
OMEGA
Ish's packages all seem to put him in trouble with Aria. Shepard points out that this information could get Ish killed.
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'Forget this. I am tired of trying to save people from themselves. If you want to be fried alive by space gangsters that is your business.'
Good luck not dying Ish. I am already guardian angel to the Quarians, if I start saving every Salarian to I would hardly have time left to save the galaxy.
SAMARA'S LOYALTY MISSION ON OMEGA
Shepard goes and asks Aria about Morinth. Of course, she knows everything.
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'Really? Can I just go to a tenement on Omega and ask about the dead girl? I don't have to be more specific?'
Fortunately there is one apartment you can go into in the tenement and it is hers. Whew I thought we would be spending all month. Her mother is upset that justice is hard to find on Omega and glad somebody is here to investigate.
I mean she did decide to live on a planet run by gangsters and mercenary bands.
Anyway her daughter was named Nef (no really, that is her name) who was a bit of a loner and spent all of her time making sculptures.
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'She was just going through a phase. A very short phase.'
It is a pretty horrible story actually. Morinth is a real monster. Shepard and Samara promise to help get justice for her daughter.
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'Oh my she is crying blood!!11'
I am disappointed they have not yet invented mascara that doesn't run in the future. They go look through Nef's things and her diary shows how Morinth seduced her and invited her to her doom.
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'Yes...a hunger for your blood.'
I wonder if this is why people think Vampires are hot. 'He looks at me like he wants to eat me up.'
All the details of this seduction are important because Shepard needs to name drop things Morinth likes to get her to invite him over so Samara can nab him. Just have to hope she asks no follow-up questions.
They go to the VIP lounge of the Afterlife Club (the club that seems to be the functional capital of Omega) and get in using the trick Nef did when she met Morinth. Shepard changes into his civilian gear. Samara gives him an inspiring pep talk.
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'Yeah I am not some lonely kid thinking she is just some Asari. Pure evil and certain death just are not what I am looking for in a relationship right now.
But you are with Miranda.
Point taken.'
Death by snu snu possible.
Anyway Shepard now has to appeal to Morinth without freaking her out. Just coincidentally the very first guy he talks to has a similar goal and he wants to get tickets to a band Morinth loves. Shepard takes note of the band so he can name drop later.
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'Yeah you may want to just stay friends with this one pal.'
Morinth likes people who live dangerously. Fortunately, just a few feet from entering the club a dangerous situation is unfolding. An undercover journalist is trying to do a story on a dangerous gang leader. But he is on to her and is going to hurt her bad. Since gang leaders run things on Omega I don't get his paranoia here. Shepard must warn her by using the word 'Terminal' and 'Eternity' in that order so she can escape.
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'Well done. Somewhere a creepy Asari is hungry for your soul.'
After that he beats up a Turian who is creeping on the strippers, somebody should talk to Aria about her bouncers. Then he shows off is dancing skills with some glamorous patrons.
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'Advanced technology has done nothing to help dancing development.'
Morinth's black little heart has squeed enough and calls Shepard over to get to know him better determine if he is worth murdering. Shepard drops the names of the artist, the movie, and the band which does not at all look to Morinth that he has been researching her. Then he mentions how he likes traveling throughout the galaxy murdering things, which is actually true. Then he turns on the charm.
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'Just the kind of guy you want to bring home to mom. Except your mom is trying to kill you.'
Morinth is super excited now and wants to feed on his sweet sweet soul.
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'What? You are not into public displays of murder?'
In her apartment Morinth shows Shepard all her favorite things, including an assault rifle he gets a nice upgrade from.
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'Wow that is very subtle subtext there.'
He sits down on the couch with her and Morinth moves forward to seduce him and devour his soul. But Shepard resists her magical death spell to her shock. She quickly realizes she is screwed.
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'Bitch's little helper: that is me. You Asari throw around that word a lot.'
Samara then enters right on cue and the ultimate Asari heavy weight fight begins. Despite trying to murder Shepard just a few seconds ago Morinth tries to bargain with him.
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'Well...let's see. She has threatened to kill me but you have tried to kill me. Tough one.'
But seriously Morinth is one of the most repulsive people on Omega and that is saying something. Considering how many missions have no choices in ME2 it is weird that this one has this bizarre option. It is like that weirdly sociopathic option to destroy the Urn of Sacred Ashes in Dragon Age on the behest of an obviously insane cult that keeps trying to kill you. Why would you do that? Well because you can mostly.
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'Nef's mother sends her regards.'
So that is that. The only main mission in the game with no fighting. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
NORMANDY
Joker not-so-secretly wishes that Shepard had chosen the other side though.
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'What a way to go, amiright?'
Sure, beats Shepard's almost certain death-by-Reaper coming up here soon.
Speaking of the Reapers Mordin has been studying the degeneration of the Protheans and notes their lack of culture or sophistication as Reaper-slaves. As their brains degenerated it was all replaced by tech making them a bizarre organic-synthetic life form. Hey just what Saren was convinced was the supreme destiny of life right? I think we can pass on this destiny, despite how exciting the Collectors make it look. During this conversation Mordin notes he participates in culture by singing Gilbert and Sullivan productions. He then demonstrates.
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'See? I am not the only one to slip in a lame modification of a popular show tune into this AAR.'
We shall never speak of this again.
Kasumi wonders how that last quest was for Samara.
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'Oh right. I probably should go talk to her about it. I am sure she is taking it well.'
Samara has all the bright shiny optimism one might expect from a Paladin-Samurai.
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'Oh good because I was worried you were taking this hard.'
But she is ready to do 'good deeds', as defined by her crazy code anyway, until her life comes to its inevitable violent end now that she has nothing left to live for. What a great quest.
Back out into space. They find a cargo ship hijacked by the Geth that is about to crash into a human colony.
MSV BROKEN ARROW CRASHING INTO THE PLANET JONUS IN THE PYLOS NEBULA
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'You know you might have cursed your ship by giving it a name like that.'
They board and try to save the colony and the much-needed supplies aboard the ship from its violent end. The Geth are assholes.
They board with just moments to spare because we need maximum drama.
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'Nice shot Shepard. That wall will be feeling that in the morning.'
But what do they need to do? The ship's computer fills them in.
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'Right. What does a power coupling look like? Damn I should have brought Gabby and Ken with me.'
And there is little time to figure it out and an infinite number of Geth shoot at you while you are trying to do it.
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'Can you stop please? I am trying to foil your evil plan.'
But Shepard manages to get them activated and turn the engine back on. The Geth run away and the day is saved! Human colonies saved: um...several. More than one. Losing track really.
But I know none of us got enough of killing Geth in the first Mass Effect so let's do this some more.
CANALUS
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'Geth and their wacky weather machines.'
Wasn't there some sort of geth weather machine back in the Hammerhead missions? Anyway why the Geth are doing this is not addressed in this mission and the weather they are creating is just really foggy weather that makes the fighting tougher.
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'When creating fake fog the Geth's flashlight heads puts them at an immediate disadvantage.'
After fighting through waves of Geth they finally reach the weather device.
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'Awwww one of those Geth computers from Mass Effect! All the nostalgia for a few months ago.'
NORMANDY
Back on the Normandy Mordin gives Shepard crap due to his choice of romance partners.
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'Ok you can stop giggling now.'
Shepard and Miranda have laid hands on each other about two times for a total of about five seconds so I think he is safe.
Samara regales Shepard with tales of her run in with his old friend Nihlus. He managed to get away by using her own code against her.
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'If only Nihlus had similar cunning in dealing with other Spectres.'
JOAB
The next vacation location for Shepard is the planet Joab in the Rosetta Nebula. Huh I just noticed how Greek is becoming less popular for planet and star cluster names.
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'I presume their intentions are: being evil.'
Shepard brings Zaeed along to see his own mates but he does not have anything to say.
This planet has a human colony named 'New Jericho' and a population of a staggering 21 million. Considering all Mass Effect had said about human colonization efforts I am finding these seemingly endless numbers of huge human colonies hard to believe...at least in the context of the lore. But Mass Effect 2 shoots the lore all to hell so I really need to get over it.
An illegal archaeological team, our friends from the ExoGeni Corportaion, has discovered a Prothean artifact and decided to seek the aid of the Blue Suns. This was not a great idea.
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'Hey guys! After all the Blood Pack and Eclipse I kind of missed you guys.'
I hadn't killed Turians in so long.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-16-48-04_zpsthj4n4gd.png&hash=4711fec02af908f534f15bf2e9370072ff398cbd)
'You can always count on Vido. Just not for what you are hoping for.'
I was a little surprised Zaeed had nothing to say about that tie in.
Eventually they find the big Blue Suns boss.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-22-53-96_zpsg84xf88k.png&hash=a2595e1d28153f63f5ff7bd207c467c8f6a9de23)
'Fight behind a crate? Real men prefer bullet proof glass.'
And they find the Prothean artifact. Which is one of those pyramids.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-24-07-97_zpswwa4nfoh.png&hash=8ec3487695693f0b837b6292e6f90f375fa762e7)
'Hey one of those Prothean computers! All the Mass Effect goodness...except it is not amber anymore.'
Then Shepard gets the vision from Mass Effect again except this time with the right Protheans in there so Bioware can show you what you REALLY saw in Mass Effect.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FMassEffect%25202017-04-05%252004-31-38-19_zpsb7ofqrzp.png&hash=75ce3b7c974378f412415a5a752ca035c4de5c88)
'So forget all about this.'
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-24-26-91_zpsgkhyz25c.png&hash=0e697ff1e499592f8f37ba8e55bdb462f15d88c1)
'This is what you really saw.'
So that is that. Well ok not entirely. This is part of a whole Blue Suns mission sequence. Lieutenant Locke was supposed to secure the Prothean relic and meet with a certain Captain Vorhees.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-25-18-85_zpsfggkh3w6.png&hash=2458ee82f092e4016561ddb5f760a0a9cea1c9ba)
'We will get right on that.'
But first we have something much more urgent: an empty building to blow up.
PRAGIA
Time to go to the Nubian Expanse and help Jack do some petty shit.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-27-51-07_zpskthq34ta.png&hash=46e48a92735c79c356a384904b2fc8d845cfd895)
'This empty building will never know what hit it!'
Jack wants us to go to the ruins of the Cerberus facility where she was lovingly brought up as a psychopathic murderer and blow it to hell, if you cannot remember from back in Part 5.
It is always rainy and miserable on Pragia.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-29-31-36_zpsmdvfbkzo.png&hash=b2d1618472ca7c55a7c2db62dfa9e3e8773ca52a)
'Welcome to rain forest planet.'
Shortly after entering the facility they find one of those holographic journals everybody seems to make of everything. The guys running the facility are proud of the progress they are making creating super powerful human biotics but want to keep what they are doing from the Illusive Man who is getting suspicious about...something or other. But they hope their results will get him to look past whatever they thing will upset him. Miranda says the facility obviously went rogue and that is enough to convince her Cerberus is cool. And has nothing else to say in this mission. That is weird because for some reason I had this memory of she and Jack going back and forth as you explore the facility. Jack does have a comeback for her though.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-32-55-14_zps5trwbhbn.png&hash=7431febcfeb386ee1c7a2bfd462708d2c5f04297)
'They were using the wrong cover sheets on their TPS reports.'
This room also has those portable cells they had back on Purgatory that Jack speculates they used to bring the kids to the project.
Jack has this memory that she was horrible abused and hated by everybody but she survived because she was so very tough and awesome. But it becomes clear that in fact she was the crown jewel of the project and everyone and everything was sacrificed for her success. Granted even then she was subjected to things like pumped full of narcotics when she killed people with biotics to make murder pleasurable for her. Well mission fucking accomplished Cerberus.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-40-19-66_zpsgim0nott.png&hash=474899ac70b6ad6c327dc5995404081d61a71f57)
'Wow this has to be tough on your ego Jack.'
But there is trouble in evil paradise. They are not alone.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-41-07-95_zpscl4osii4.png&hash=1c25a47cbc25d86a15b0edfcf8283c28f744dea1)
'Well that and how Varren got here to begin with.'
Somebody from Tuchanka might be in there with them.
And who could it be? Let's assemble a series of clues from the parts of the game we have played thus far...oh just kidding you know who it is.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-42-27-01_zpsngxd4ofa.png&hash=5ffc95f75faa27f5009382171f3fd07c8d60415a)
'I am shocked to see a random mercenary group here!'
At the next holograph journal they discover that the other kids in the facility were being experimented on to see what worked so they could use it on Jack. But since they discovered they had an arena where they had her kill the other kids I guess that is not surprising.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-53-13-80_zpsihwe6ezf.png&hash=c7aef00409adad9581198575bd1b6bb12f59beb6)
'Cerberus killing humans like chattel? Doesn't sound like they went rogue to me.'
But eventually somebody kills the guy while he is in the middle of doing his journal. And that somebody is Jack.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-54-32-25_zps5oq6psrs.png&hash=f6520ce7eba334d81a80a2f2b94621307dc38aea)
'I am impressed you were doing this while angry biotics were destroying your facility. Proper documentation is important.'
The Ascension Program is the program that Captain Anderson's girlfriend works at in the book Ascension. I wonder if we ever cross paths with Kahlee Sanders in the games?
Anyway, right before they get to Jack's room they run into the main forces of the Blood Pack and they were hired by one of the former kids in the project. Crazy. I guess there is a lot of money in being a traumatized biotic.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-55-36-62_zpspkfo8pxn.png&hash=117a6186a8fb1e142b741ce7834f2b3be59553bf)
'So kill us first and think later? Sounds like the Blood Pack alright.'
Though since Shepard did kill the leader of the Blood Pack they probably would have tried to kill him anyway if they thought about it. Three Krogans at the same time might be a problem but they were all stuck there on that platform. Which works great for a sniper like Shepard.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252000-56-29-15_zpstylwrcgr.png&hash=5d436dadfd2803b12f8b5e4f576e5379bd02c990)
'Not a bad idea. Pity you will all be dead before you can even get down here.'
After the Blood Pack Krogans are dead they go into Jack's old room and find the former student, Aresh, there. He has a very specific way of making sense of his trauma: inflict it on other people.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252001-02-32-07_zpsugmtidcp.png&hash=14e730e9ca3ec8e46ccb2e39f62779f3890713af)
'Though to be fair he could just be getting the data but...'
Shepard manages to convince Jack to let him go without murdering him, though I have no idea how he is going to escape with us planting this bomb. After a bit of sightseeing and reminiscing on Jack's horrendous childhood at Camp Cerberus they plant the bomb and leave.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252001-06-16-20_zpspw4plwhn.png&hash=7c7e0911436c8b092955b1558624667d0c0d796d)
'Really? Even when we plant the bomb with no enemies at all we still make it exciting?'
Shepard must be an adrenaline junkie.
NORMANDY
Back on the Normandy Jack goes to have a conversation with Miranda.
Jack wants Miranda to admit what Cerberus did to her was wrong. Miranda thinks it was not truly Cerberus but a rogue group. And well...that is basically it. They are at an impasse. Jack decides the best way to convince Miranda is to inflict unspeakable torture on her.
Some might say that is an overreaction.
Shepard appeals to their sense of duty.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252001-07-42-51_zpsbnvwspwl.png&hash=174e8c653877c6eeb4b2d1e3eff6954349bd8869)
'Or whatever is getting in the way here.'
Jack...sort of agrees.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi93.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl58%2FValmy77%2FME2Game%25202017-06-03%252001-08-01-22_zpsb4ivkzy6.png&hash=2bdeb7694cdc267f1fb98ac262a7be33ac49d8ab)
'Sure...I guess that makes sense.'
But Jack is now loyal and unlikely to murder us all...besides Miranda. Win!
Next: Murder and Treason...not involving Jack
Quote
Really? Can I just go to a tenement on Omega and ask about the dead girl? I don't have to be more specific?'
Criminality is an at all time low on Omega. Well, not many things are illegal per se, so asking about a "dead girl" means you're looking at an unsanctionned death, so these are rare.
Quote
Really? Can I just go to a tenement on Omega and ask about the dead girl? I don't have to be more specific?'
No, that's because they shine in the sun.
Quote
They board with just moments to spare because we need maximum drama.
I think it's just your incredible timing. ;)
Quote
The Ascension Program is the program that Captain Anderson's girlfriend works at in the book Ascension. I wonder if we ever cross paths with Kahlee Sanders in the games?
Why do you keep asking questions you do not want answers to? ;)
I like your AAR, but once is enough :P
Quote from: viper37 on June 07, 2017, 10:08:22 PM
I like your AAR, but once is enough :P
Languish glitched on me for some reason. Photobucket is screwing up to.
In fact I was not even aware it successfully posted. I came here to try again only to find three copies :wacko:
Once again, an enjoyable AAR.
We will not speak of this again.
Quote from: grumbler on June 08, 2017, 04:15:36 PM
Once again, an enjoyable AAR.
yes more entertaining than the game's plot :)
ME3 is a little better on the plot side, but unfortunately, they went to far with the extended cut.
Um Photobucket seems to have cracked down on the evil of 3rd party hosting. Whatever that means. So what I can store stuff there but not link it anyplace? Huh. Not really sure what that means for this AAR. Anybody have any ideas?
Edit: So here we are.
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/06/30/photobucket-now-charges-399-for-third-party-hosted-images/
QuotePhotoBucket now charges $399 for third-party hosted images
by Martin Brinkmann on June 30, 2017 in Internet - Last Update:June 30, 2017
If you have visited a website recently that displays images hosted on Photobucket, or are embedding images hosted on Photobucket on your own, you may have had a rather rude awakening one day as Photobucket decided to block these images from being displayed on third-party sites.
All Photobucket images hosted on third-party sites, at least from what we can tell, are replaced by a dummy image. It reads: Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting. For important info, please go to www.photobucket.com/P500.
According to some users that we spoke with who are affected by this, this happened without prior notice or any form of warning on Photobucket's part.
Photobucket defines third-party hosting (what is with using 3rd instead of third?) as embedding an image or photo on another website. This includes embedding photos on forums, eBay, Etsy, Craigslist or another other site on the Internet that is not Photobucket.com.
When you open the referenced page on the Photobucket website, you are informed that you may restore the third-party hosted content by becoming a Plus 500 subscriber.
A Plus 500 plan allows for unlimited third-party hosting, and provides members with other benefits such as an ad-free browsing environment on the Photobucket site, priority customer support, or full resolution photo storage.
Photobucket offers three paid plans to members, but only the most expensive plan supports third-party hosting of images. It is available for $39.99 per month, or at a discount when billed yearly for $399.99.
According to Photobucket, the site has more than 100 million unique users who have stored more than 15 billion images on its servers.
For users who are affected by this, it is important to note that the images are not gone. They are still hosted on Photobucket, and you can actually load them right then and there by right-clicking on them and selecting "open image in new tab" or "open link in new tab" depending on the web browser that you are using. This opens the Photobucket website where the original image is displayed.
The problem right now is however that Photobucket has been used as a host for images for years on many sites on the Internet. And it is not even the case that the site owner can do something about it if other members of the site have embedded photos from Photobucket as the disabling is account linked.
All members of a site who used Photobucket in the past would have to sign up for the -- rather expensive I might say -- Plus 500 plan to restore the old functionality. This is not practicable at all, and it won't happen.
As far as alternatives are concerned, there is Imgur for instance which supports the embedding of images on third-party sites.
While members of Photobucket may wait and hope that the company reverses the stance on third-party hosted images, it is probably better to migrate the photos to another hosting service entirely.
You can download your entire library of images by selecting Library on Photobucket, and there the download album link under actions.
Closing Words
Photobucket may make a quick buck from the unannounced change, as some members may feel pressured in paying up so that their images are displayed again on third-party sites.
I think however that many more will leave Photobucket and use another service instead for image hosting. This may be fueled by site-wide bans of the service.
The plan is overpriced in my opinion, not only because there are free alternatives available out there, but also because you may sign up for a VPS or web hosting account instead for a fraction of the price that Photobucket charges.
Even if it would be priced reasonably, and Photobucket has any right to adjust its pricing, blocking images without prior notice or migration options, especially since this was free before, is not the most elegant of ways to go about it.
Well fuck. That is a hell of a lot to migrate and then go back and change. All my AARs are now screwed up.
Short term plan: Switch over to imgur for the time being and hope Photobucket comes to its senses. Once ME2 is over I may go back and try to fix all this crap if they persist.
Quote from: Valmy on June 30, 2017, 02:02:49 PM
Short term plan: Switch over to imgur for the time being and hope Photobucket comes to its senses. Once ME2 is over I may go back and try to fix all this crap if they persist.
Flicker or Google photo could do the job.
https://alternativeto.net/software/photobucket/
from what I see, you have a unique name for all your pictures, not something auto-generated by your site, so only the domain name would change.
You would need to migrate all your pictures to, say, Imgur, then edit your posts here, copy the entire text, past it in Wordpad, search&replace "http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/" by "http://imgur.com/gallery/user/" or rather its equivalent. it's still a pain in the ass, so I think your idea of waiting to migrate your stuff is a good one. they may quickly backtrack on this.
The team behind the ALOT mod I had Valmy install has reprocess their texture through AI upscaling to make 2k and 4k versions of their pack...
It looks gorgeous. Makes me want to play ME2 and 3 again... Maybe even #1 if I can find it again...
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/03/mass-effect-2-with-ai-upscaling-looks-fantastic/
Quote from: viper37 on July 01, 2017, 06:57:16 PM
they may quickly backtrack on this.
seems like they did because I can see your pictures on Photobucket now :)
Quote from: viper37 on April 25, 2019, 02:55:38 PM
Quote from: viper37 on July 01, 2017, 06:57:16 PM
they may quickly backtrack on this.
seems like they did because I can see your pictures on Photobucket now :)
Yes so I may start this up again at some point. But plenty has changed since 2017 I have another baby and stuff. Also since it is EA and they hate their customers, since Andromeda did not sell well they instantly stopped supporting it which I find a bit annoying.
Quote from: Valmy on May 01, 2019, 10:57:52 PM
Quote from: viper37 on April 25, 2019, 02:55:38 PM
Quote from: viper37 on July 01, 2017, 06:57:16 PM
they may quickly backtrack on this.
seems like they did because I can see your pictures on Photobucket now :)
Yes so I may start this up again at some point. But plenty has changed since 2017 I have another baby and stuff. Also since it is EA and they hate their customers, since Andromeda did not sell well they instantly stopped supporting it which I find a bit annoying.
Andromeda isn't related to Sheppard. It has the name Mass Effect, it has some of its technology, but it ain't related story-wise.
I understand real life takes precedence. It was fun reading it. :)
Maybe when the new baby reaches her teen, you'll find some time to finish it ;)
It ain't a bad thing you stopped, after all ;)
Mass Effect trilogy remaster released by next April (2021) (https://www.pcgamer.com/rumor-mass-effect-trilogy-remaster-will-be-out-before-next-april/?utm_content=buffera59b0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb&fbclid=IwAR0B1rLvxJwpFBmt0y3OQA0WfxvXXmrIwHX2ghKcbk4jqVXwoRXOUKaCJ3Y)
I'm hopeful for this one :)
Also, a new Mass Effect game is to be released, in no way related to Andromeda.
Pity I kind of wish they had done something with the Andromeda concept. Ah well.
We will see where I am next April :P I would have to start over again wouldn't I?
Quote from: Valmy on May 07, 2020, 01:09:34 PM
Pity I kind of wish they had done something with the Andromeda concept. Ah well.
We will see where I am next April :P I would have to start over again wouldn't I?
I have no idea, it's too early to tell. Most likely yes. We don't even know if they'll released all 3 at once or one after the other, one per year.
I don't know if I can take playing through Pinnacle Station again :lol:
Mass Effect Legendary edition + a few mods.
I took some screens:
https://ibb.co/M2tnD7C
https://ibb.co/XWy1bv9
https://ibb.co/VQGrzgX
https://ibb.co/x3wh99W
https://ibb.co/54QDC2V
https://ibb.co/6y215Ln
https://ibb.co/BPsFJBC
https://ibb.co/KqHBz4w
https://ibb.co/C260WfZ
https://ibb.co/rwJqS0h
https://ibb.co/PmSd2TG
https://ibb.co/YpB283J
Hopefully, it'll entice Valmy to take over his AAR :P
You don't have to replay the whole 3 games. You can just pick up #2 and/or #3. There is a mod, trilogy save editor, that can be used to load your old save and convert it to a newer format, with all your game choices to be imported in Legendary.
Hmmm...ok well I might have some time this year if I can import my save.
Quote from: Valmy on January 05, 2022, 02:05:47 PM
Hmmm...ok well I might have some time this year if I can import my save.
If you can do it, it would be with this software:
https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/20
It ain't in the notes, but it might be done. It's a simple tool to use whose main goal is to adjust plot points (say you skipped a minor quest in ME1 but want its effects in ME2&3), but I think you can load your ME2 save and resave it in the new format.
As you can see in this AAR I skipped no content in ME1 :lol:
Quote from: Valmy on January 06, 2022, 11:19:24 AM
As you can see in this AAR I skipped no content in ME1 :lol:
yeah, I see that :P
I, on the other hand, did inadventely skip a mission in ME2, so I fixed it with this :D
And I also realize that there are some unique piece of dialogue in ME3, depending on whom you use for what in the suicide mission. :)