Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
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Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Apr 3, 2017 5:31:27 GMT
Glad to see some activity here. Finally got my first MEA playthrough video edited and uploading, so I thought I'd toss a little something up here while waiting for the upload to finish. So here comes a quick profile of one of the characters in Freelancers. Figured I'd use a modified version of the profile pages on the MEA website for Vetra and other characters. I don't have an image of this character (though I'd totally commission one if I could spare the money), but since I'd still prefer female turians didn't look quite so different from the males (though I can't hold that against Vetra, since she's just too adorable ), in Freelancers they look rather like this or this. In fact, the first of those was one of the inspirations for Valeria. Anyway. This was one of those things about writing that I find the most fun. Valeria Terakkis started off a few years ago as a one-shot character who wasn't even going to appear in the story. She and her husband were mentioned in a brief conversation as a bit of throw-away humor because they were famous for their vids and photo shoots for Fornax. Then I started thinking, what if this character used to be a Spectre who walked away from the job because of Saren and Tela Vasir and the horrible things they got away with, as well as the things she's done, herself? I figured she spent some time looking for work that would take her far away from her former occupation, and at one point a Fornax rep approached her. She took the job, figuring, what the hell, at least she'd be paid to do something that didn't involve hurting or killing anyone. She hit it off with the guy they paired her up with, they ended up spending time together outside of work, and after a while they got married. Then events in the story pushed her back into her old Spectre job shortly after she and her husband showed up, and she quickly became one of my favorite characters to write. I love it when that happens -- when a throw-away idea grows into an integral part of the story, completely unexpectedly. So. The bio/profile thingy .... By the way, if I could pick a voice actor for her, it'd be Angela Bassett. And I'll finish off with a snippet from Chapter 16, tucked neatly into a spoiler thingy because, well, spoilers. And because it's a full scene, so it's huge .... "Lock the door," Valeria said over her shoulder as she stepped into the interrogation room.
Elias Kelham, secured in the chair in the center of the room, stared wide-eyed at her, then glanced at the door when it closed. The holographic panel floating in front of the door turned from green to red, and his eyes opened even wider.
Valeria compared this reaction to the vids of his prior interrogations and almost laughed.
Hah. Acts tough when he's got his own private army surrounding him, or when he knows C-Sec won't hold him for more than an hour or two. But take away his support and lock him in a small room with someone who isn't with C-Sec, and his true nature surfaces.
Valeria strode over to him and began circling him, just as she had circled Bailey a few minutes ago. She held up her Spectre ID and kept her voice quiet, yet just strained enough to show him how tightly she was keeping her rage in check.
"Valeria Terakkis, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." She stopped and leaned over him, opening her mouth enough to give him a good look at her sharp, pointed teeth. "The woman you're trying to have assassinated is my husband's grandmother. She's part of my family, and I consider any attack on her an attack on me. Clear?"
His face turned almost white and cold sweat beaded up on his forehead. "Y--y--y--you want me to cancel the contract?"
"Not necessary." Valeria resumed her orbit around him. "I've already put the word out--any assassin or merc who so much as glances in Natalie Kurakova's general direction will end up strapped to a table in a vivisectionist's lab, and I will attend to each and every one of them personally." She stopped again, and stared straight into his eyes. "And I will make sure it takes every one of them a good, goddamned long time to die."
He shivered, and even more color drained from his face.
"Also, about the human your people tried to hold hostage to get me and my associates to back off." Valeria braced her left hand on the arm of his chair, and her right on its headrest, and leaned in until her face was mere centimeters from his. "That's my husband. I'm sure I don't have to spell out how I feel about this."
His trembling worsened and he tried to scoot away from her.
"You're on my last nerve, Mr. Kelham, so I suggest you answer my questions. Clear?"
"Yes," he half-whispered, half-squeaked.
"Good." She stepped back and paced slowly around him again. "For the moment, I won't get into why Cerberus has been working with your little operation, as there is a far more important matter to deal with. However, once that's resolved, I'll be back to question you again."
He turned his head slowly, keeping his wide eyes on her until she passed behind him, then he shuddered and pressed his lips together.
"Cerberus has been holding Captain Bailey's son hostage to ensure his cooperation. I need to know where."
He continued trembling until she stepped into his line of sight again. Suddenly, he glared at her, trying to pull himself together and reassert some measure of control.
"Hey, I--I have rights! You can't do this to me! I'm not saying anything until I speak to my attorney."
"A C-Sec officer can't do this to you. A Systems Alliance security agent can't do this to you. An officer of the Turian Hierarchy can't do this to you." She stopped and faced him again. "A Spectre can."
His scowl faltered for a second, but he recovered and sneered at her. "I want my attorney in here. Now."
Okay, time for a different approach. "Your high-powered attorney got you off the hook after you hired a hitman to assassinate Joram Talid during his campaign for Intendant of Zakera Ward. He might be able to get you off the hook for your attempt to have my grandmother-in-law killed. And he might be able to get the latest charges dropped." She stepped closer to him. "For Jorax Lanius. Do you even know who that is?"
He shook his head.
"He's the turian you ran down with your car. I saw the surveillance video. I read the eyewitness statements. I read the medical report. You plowed your car into him at full speed. The impact cracked his carapace open and sent him flying into a wall. You parked and walked away as if nothing happened." Valeria leaned over him again. "His internal injuries were massive. The surgeons did everything they could, but I was notified a few minutes ago that he didn't make it. Now, as I said, your attorney might be able to pull your ass out of the fire again, but that won't make any difference."
"What are you talking about? If you think you can threaten me--"
"I don't need to." She stepped back and shook her head. "I checked Jorax out once I found out what was going on here. He was a good man. A kind man. He never did anything illegal in his entire life. His wife, however, is a former asari commando named Arana Nelvos. She's said numerous times that Jorax is one of the few bright spots in her life, and he's been gradually turning her into a better person. Have you ever heard of her?"
"No." He rolled his eyes. "What the hell does that have to do with--?"
"As I said, she's a former commando. She's currently a high-ranking officer in the Eclipse mercenary corporation. She has an entire division under her command. If she doesn't already know you took away one of the precious few good things in her life, she'll find out soon. I wouldn't be surprised if she breaks all of her current contracts and sets her entire division upon you."
Kelham's defiant expression crumpled. He trembled, his lower lip quivered, and his breathing turned ragged.
Ah-hah. I've got his attention now. "I've never met Arana Nelvos, but I know her type. I can guess what she'll do. She'll kill you and everyone in your organization, as well as every Cerberus operative who gets between her and you. If you have any family or close friends, I wouldn't be surprised if she kills them first and makes you watch. Hell, if you have any pets, she'll probably do them, too."
After gaping at her for a solid ten seconds, he made one last attempt at regaining control. "You're making that up! You're just trying to intimidate me!"
Valeria unlocked his shackles. "You've got an Omni-Tool. Look her up."
He stared at her for a few more seconds before he activated his Omni-Tool and entered Nelvos's name. A dossier appeared, including an image of a grim asari in yellow Eclipse armor with a dozen scars crisscrossing her face. Kelham read the dossier and slowly raised a trembling hand to cover his mouth. He tapped a link in the file and another dossier appeared--Jorax Lanius. He read it and returned to the file on Nelvos.
Valeria leaned over for a quick glance at the display, which currently showed Arana's Eclipse history--mostly hired-gun stuff that included unnecessarily brutal actions against her clients' enemies. However, there was a noticeable shift after she married Jorax. Her division began accepting jobs from legitimate businesses and individuals, protecting the innocent and defenseless from pirates and slavers and criminal organizations larger than the one Kelham ran--and, more often than not, utterly trounced them.
And now there's a good chance she'll turn back into the person she was before Jorax brightened her life. Valeria stepped back and shook her head slowly.
Kelham finished reading, switched his Tool off, and slumped back in the chair. A long silence stretched out before he finally spoke, and when he did, his voice was a soft mumble, as if speaking to loudly could bring Arana's whole division down upon him.
"Shit. Oh ... oh, no." He ran his suddenly violently shaking hands through his hair and glanced around frantically, as if trying to find somewhere to run. But there was nowhere. "Oh ... fuck me."
Time to tighten the screws. Valeria walked in front of him and turned to meet his gaze again.
"You've got two options. You can tell me everything I need to know, and I can make sure whatever family and friends you have are placed in a protection program--or I can hand you over to Arana Nelvos personally."
Kelham gaped at her and struggled to resume breathing.
"Well?" She stepped closer. "What'll it be?"
Oh, and the video just finished uploading. Shiny ...
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
inherit
1723
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87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Mar 20, 2017 6:06:15 GMT
It's a shame no one is posting here. I'll see what I can do to remedy that. I've been a writer for a very long time, and have been officially published only twice. One was a novel released by a small ebook publisher a little over a year ago. Titled Chaser, it's about a bounty hunter in a post-cyberpunk future whose very first bounty resulted in her and her entire family having to go on the run from a crime lord hell-bent on revenge. This led to only one other small success, when a few writers with books out from the same publisher asked me to submit a story for a paranormal/sci-fi romance anthology. Previous anthologies they've done were all best-sellers ... but the one with my story in it tanked so completely that they pulled it from Amazon a few months after its release. It's been ... frustrating ... but I knew I could do more with that little story, so I've been expanding it into a full novel. Haven't added any more to it in several months due to a never-ending cascade of everyday-life stuff that keeps me sidetracked, but I'm determined to finish it and start submitting it to publishers. I've written three other novels and an assortment of stories, and published them myself through Kindle Direct and a few other sellers. None of them sold, so I finally took them all down. I'm rewriting them and planning to start submitting them to actual publishers. Going indie through Kindle Direct seemed like a fantastic idea at the time, but with no money to spare for buying advertisements and whatnot, it's impossible to stand out from the many thousands of other writers doing the same thing, many of which are able to afford real advertising, book tours, and so on. Due to the frustrations mentioned above, I decided to shift my focus and start up a gaming channel to see if I can at least get a supplementary income going with something I actually enjoy doing, and if I'm lucky, maybe get noticed and make the right connections to get my foot in the door somewhere. I'll still be focusing a lot on writing in the gameplay videos, since that's always been my thing, so I'm hoping I'll manage to catch lightning in a bottle at some point. At the moment I'm working on videos discussing the writing in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, and I'm planning something similar for Saints Row: The Third, Saints Row IV, Borderlands 2, Ride to Hell: Retribution (that would should be ... interesting), Star Trek Online, and a few others ... and, of course, Mass Effect: Andromeda.Well, I do have one other little writing success, now that I think about it. I still have mixed feelings about Kindle Worlds, but I'll at least consider any chance to get more of my work in front of readers (and make some money at the same time). For a long time, none of the properties were things I was actually interested in ... and then they added GI Joe. I tried watching the 1980's cartoon a while back, and could barely get through the first couple of episodes. Still, I thought I could do something with it, and decided to kind of spin it off from the Resolute anime-style movie from a few years ago. Ideas came together and I started writing, and that became Reactivated, which focuses on several new characters a few decades after Cobra's defeat and the Joes' disbanding because they were no longer needed. One day, the old enemy resurfaces, targeting the former Joes, and a few of them go back into action, joining the new team to take on a reborn Cobra. I decided to just have fun with it, so there's plenty of humor in it as well as a huge dose of action. It was intended to be the first in a series, but I haven't had time to work on the next installment due to the everyday-life crap mentioned above. I'm still planning to continue the series, though, and have a definite idea in mind for the next one. One of the projects I'm happiest with, though, is the one based on Mass Effect. Freelancers started off as something I wanted to do partly as a writing exercise, partly to get more free samples of my writing in front of readers, and partly just for fun. The idea hit me a long while after I played Mass Effect 2 (and played it over and over and over and fucking over because I love that game so much). It kept percolating in my head, ideas for characters and plots and whatnot gradually clicked into place, and finally I started writing. My original plan was to create a handful of original characters, start the first chapter with Lia'Vael as a sort of doorway into their lives, have them go on a series of adventures in the Mass Effect setting, beginning shortly after the end of ME2 but before any of the DLC's, and see where things went. Since this was before ME3 came out, I was also planning to find a way to get my crew involved in the plot of the third game, tagging along with Shepard, witnessing events and participating in a way that wouldn't change anything in the game. Then ME3 happened and ... yeah. Things changed. After witnessing the travesty of the entire game (not just the ending, but everything that was overshadowed by it), I decided (as a great many other writers did) to see if I could come up with not only a better ending, but a better story overall, than ME3. It seems like just about anyone could do better than the mess we got in that game, but my luck has always been consistently rotten, so the thing first and foremost on my mind is that I could completely fuck it up if I'm not careful. So I'm not rushing anything, and letting the story unfold at its own pace. It's over 150,000 words so far, and I'll be amazed if it doesn't hit 500,000 before it's finished. It started out as something I did just for fun, but now? Now, I'm on a goddamn mission. And so far, I'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out. As for plans to write something based on Andromeda ... well, I have a few ideas about some of the characters in this story going to the Andromeda galaxy and a few other "nearby" galaxies ... but it'll happen in a very different way and won't be a one-way trip, if I go ahead and use these ideas. Anyway. As usual, I didn't intend for this to be so long, but once I get started, it's kind of hard for me to shut up. I'm hoping I'll be able to post here at least semi-regularly and join whatever discussions come up ... and maybe post a few excerpts and character profiles and whatnot, as well. And on that note, I think I'll finish this up by posting a picture of one of the characters in Freelancers (commissioned way back in 2012, back in the days when I had a higher-paying job and had some money to spare for things like this), a somewhat ... unconventional quarian named Chula'Raalga vas Sulaco (hidden behind spoiler tags because the image is rather large) ....
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
inherit
1723
0
87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Feb 28, 2017 9:56:30 GMT
I can't see a conversation like that happening in the game. It was just a humorous thing I needed to get out of my system. Also, I can't stand Harkin. He always seemed exactly that creepy and disgusting to me. Anyway, I just thought some of the characters would have things they'd be glad to get away from. Trying to survive a few years on Omega, a run-in with one of Cerberus's experiments, or other unpleasant things they encountered. As well as things they would miss. It was just one of those things that take shape in my head when I'm at work and trying to keep my mind off how long I'm going to be stuck there and the tedious crap I have to go through until I can finally clock out. I mean, the crassness is fine, I assumed you were just speaking in your own voice, more or less. I also swear a lot. It was just how much you were harking on Harkin. (Puns. Eh? Ehhh??) I couldn't figure out if you were expecting something like that or not, lol. I do appreciate that idea though. I can easily see something like that coming up. There are conversations like that in zombie movies a lot. What you miss and what you don't miss from the "old world". That's just how my sense of humor works, sometimes. Though I imagine some of the characters would have conversations like that off-screen, where players will never see or hear it. One of the things that are on my mind a lot is what the characters get up to between missions. Things we never see while playing the game. Then my brain just runs amok with it. Especially if it involves a character that makes my skin crawl. On a more serious note, yeah, it'd seem weird if none of the characters at least occasionally talked about what they left behind. Like, if Vetra was taking care of her little sister, did something happen to their parents, or did they leave them behind for some reason? (I don't remember if there was ever any info on whether the rest of her family is on the Nexus, or just her sister.) Or maybe there was an argument or something that was never resolved. Or maybe a close friend who didn't want to go or washed out of the program. Things like homesickness and regrets seem likely to come up from time to time. (Whee, I'm half asleep, so maybe the above made sense. Better sign off for the night while I still have a few neurons firing.)
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
inherit
1723
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87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Feb 28, 2017 8:39:38 GMT
So this is kind of random, but this started coming together in my head a few days ago, and I only just now had a moment to write it down. While I'd prefer this game to be as clean a break from the trilogy as possible, I'm thinking (well, speculating) that some of the characters might have moments where they bond while talking about things they miss about life in the Milky Way. At least, I can't imagine any of them never talking about it. But what would be fun to see is the occasional scene with some of the crew talking about things they won't miss. Things they're thankful to never experience again. So this bit of business popped into my head. (Hidden under a spoiler thingy because they talk about Harkin ... and they get kinda rude about it. ) PB: "Oh, y'know who I'm glad I'll never run into again? There was this guy named Harkin who used to work for C-Sec." Vetra: "I never had any dealings with him, but a former associate of mine got drunk with him one night. I took one look at Harkin and decided to find something to do as far away as possible." PB: "Yeah, he was a really skeevy bastard. Looked like the kind of guy who'd drill a hole in a watermelon so he could fuck it." Ryder: "Uh … I'm … you did notice I'm eating a watermelon right now, didn't you?" *pushes it away* " Was." PB: "Of course I did. It's right in front of me." Vetra: *shakes her head but laughs softly* PB: "Anyway, this was before Harkin got tossed out of C-Sec. I'd just been in … an altercation … with someone. The details aren't important. Harkin tried to arrest me, then he had the nerve to say he'd let me go and not file a report if I had sex with him." Ryder: "Eww." Vetra: "Yeah. I wasn't close enough to overhear any of his conversation with my associate, but even from a distance, I could tell he smelled like sweat, dried semen, and beer farts." PB: "HAHAHAHA! Among other things, yeah." Ryder: "Uggghhhh. How'd you get away from him?" PB: "Well, he tried to grope my boobs, which is disgusting, but at least it gave me the excuse I needed to punch him in the neck ten or twelve times, then I just walked away while he was curled up on the floor." Ryder: "Good. I hope he learned his lesson." Vetra: *pokes at her Omni-Tool, pulls up a file and shows it to Ryder* "No, he never straightened out. Ended up causing too much trouble for his superiors to keep covering for him." Ryder: " Oh. Oh, that smile. That creepy smile. If he had a home back on Earth or one of the colonies, I bet he had a bunch of oddly-shaped mounds in his back yard. And a lot of the neighborhood children turned up missing." Vetra: *slumps over the table* "Why am I laughing at that?" PB: "Nah, he was a pig, but I don't think he was a serial killer. He seemed more like the kind of guy who'd accidentally strangle himself to death while sticking his thumb up his ass and jerking off to fart porn." Vetra: *stands slowly and walks over to stare out viewport, as if regretting all the decisions that led to her being here* Ryder: :D8: "... Jesus Christ. *glances at Vetra* I just hope he never spread his genes into future generations." Vetra: *consults file again* "He had four children. Which is disturbing." Ryder: "Very. That means … someone fucked him four times." Vetra: "BAHAHAHAHA!" *deep breath* "And on that note, I'm off to bed, assuming I can sleep with that image in my mind." Ryder: *stands and follows her out of the room* "I could wear you out so you'll fall asleep easily." Vetra: "Uh-huh. You sure you're up to it? Didn't sprain anything in that tumble down the hill?" Ryder: "Well, I'm sure I can find something for you to calibrate." PB: *watches them leave, tugs on her collar and stands* "I'll be in my bunk." Heh. Just had to get that out of my system. That conversation seems incredibly crude for a Mass Effect game. Also, I don't see Bioware painting any of their past characters as a sexual predator. That's really bad for image, isn't it? I can't see a conversation like that happening in the game. It was just a humorous thing I needed to get out of my system. Also, I can't stand Harkin. He always seemed exactly that creepy and disgusting to me. Anyway, I just thought some of the characters would have things they'd be glad to get away from. Trying to survive a few years on Omega, a run-in with one of Cerberus's experiments, or other unpleasant things they encountered. As well as things they would miss. It was just one of those things that take shape in my head when I'm at work and trying to keep my mind off how long I'm going to be stuck there and the tedious crap I have to go through until I can finally clock out.
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
inherit
1723
0
87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Feb 28, 2017 7:08:30 GMT
So this is kind of random, but this started coming together in my head a few days ago, and I only just now had a moment to write it down. While I'd prefer this game to be as clean a break from the trilogy as possible, I'm thinking (well, speculating) that some of the characters might have moments where they bond while talking about things they miss about life in the Milky Way. At least, I can't imagine any of them never talking about it. But what would be fun to see is the occasional scene with some of the crew talking about things they won't miss. Things they're thankful to never experience again. So this bit of business popped into my head. (Hidden under a spoiler thingy because they talk about Harkin ... and they get kinda rude about it. ) PB: "Oh, y'know who I'm glad I'll never run into again? There was this guy named Harkin who used to work for C-Sec." Vetra: "I never had any dealings with him, but a former associate of mine got drunk with him one night. I took one look at Harkin and decided to find something to do as far away as possible." PB: "Yeah, he was a really skeevy bastard. Looked like the kind of guy who'd drill a hole in a watermelon so he could fuck it." Ryder: "Uh … I'm … you did notice I'm eating a watermelon right now, didn't you?" *pushes it away* " Was." PB: "Of course I did. It's right in front of me." Vetra: *shakes her head but laughs softly* PB: "Anyway, this was before Harkin got tossed out of C-Sec. I'd just been in … an altercation … with someone. The details aren't important. Harkin tried to arrest me, then he had the nerve to say he'd let me go and not file a report if I had sex with him." Ryder: "Eww." Vetra: "Yeah. I wasn't close enough to overhear any of his conversation with my associate, but even from a distance, I could tell he smelled like sweat, dried semen, and beer farts." PB: "HAHAHAHA! Among other things, yeah." Ryder: "Uggghhhh. How'd you get away from him?" PB: "Well, he tried to grope my boobs, which is disgusting, but at least it gave me the excuse I needed to punch him in the neck ten or twelve times, then I just walked away while he was curled up on the floor." Ryder: "Good. I hope he learned his lesson." Vetra: *pokes at her Omni-Tool, pulls up a file and shows it to Ryder* "No, he never straightened out. Ended up causing too much trouble for his superiors to keep covering for him." Ryder: " Oh. Oh, that smile. That creepy smile. If he had a home back on Earth or one of the colonies, I bet he had a bunch of oddly-shaped mounds in his back yard. And a lot of the neighborhood children turned up missing." Vetra: *slumps over the table* "Why am I laughing at that?" PB: "Nah, he was a pig, but I don't think he was a serial killer. He seemed more like the kind of guy who'd accidentally strangle himself to death while sticking his thumb up his ass and jerking off to fart porn." Vetra: *stands slowly and walks over to stare out viewport, as if regretting all the decisions that led to her being here* Ryder: :D8: "... Jesus Christ. *glances at Vetra* I just hope he never spread his genes into future generations." Vetra: *consults file again* "He had four children. Which is disturbing." Ryder: "Very. That means … someone fucked him four times." Vetra: "BAHAHAHAHA!" *deep breath* "And on that note, I'm off to bed, assuming I can sleep with that image in my mind." Ryder: *stands and follows her out of the room* "I could wear you out so you'll fall asleep easily." Vetra: "Uh-huh. You sure you're up to it? Didn't sprain anything in that tumble down the hill?" Ryder: "Well, I'm sure I can find something for you to calibrate." PB: *watches them leave, tugs on her collar and stands* "I'll be in my bunk." Heh. Just had to get that out of my system.
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
inherit
1723
0
87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Feb 28, 2017 4:07:48 GMT
Haha, I was thinking of that scene, too. Also, the "Shooting makes me feel better!" scene in The Peacekeeper Wars. I haven't seen any info on Vetra's age, but just from how her voice sounds and the amount of experience she had before joining the expedition and being the team mom, she seems a bit more mature than the others. Which might cause some conflict between her and PB, who seems ... somewhat less mature. So I'm guessing 30-35, give or take. Just speculating, though. It's possible that, if she's been taking care of a younger sister (assuming their parents aren't in the picture for whatever reason), she might not be much older than Ryder, but has been forced to grow up faster than most people. I dunno ... something about her voice just makes me think she's a bit older. Which would make for an interesting dynamic between her and Ryder. She might start off thinking he/she needs to grow up, then gradually starting to find it kind of endearing and learning to see the new galaxy through Ryder's eyes. Guess we'll see in a few weeks. I wasn't planning to get Origin Access or whatever it's called ... but I'm starting to consider it. Might be worth getting it for a month and then cancelling just to see how off the mark my speculation is.
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
inherit
1723
0
87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Feb 28, 2017 2:50:13 GMT
Heh ... about "motherly" and "badass" not going well together ... Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, and Aeryn Sun might disagree. Kidding aside, from what little we've seen of Vetra, I don't think the "ship's mom" description = "mother hen." It's possible to offer advice and look out for the crew's safety without being motherly. In the one line of dialogue we've heard from her so far, she seemed more like she was just warning Ryder about something she knew was a bad idea, and given her background, she probably knows it's a bad idea from painful experience. How well Ryder listens to her advice might be one of the mechanics of how their relationship progresses.
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
inherit
1723
0
87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Feb 9, 2017 20:06:19 GMT
Hmm, it hadn't occurred to me that Vetra might be a "team mom" [snip] Heh ... we wouldn't have to do all this speculating if they'd just release some info on her, already. I'm expecting to find out that I'm way off the mark on all this stuff, but it would make for a fascinating character. Haha, a scene just came together in my head while typing this. While the team's exploring a planet, descending a slope into a valley ... [snip] Hah, I swear, I could create whole characters out of half the speculations I've made for the current ones. Food for though on future story projects, however. It's all good, so long as the new characters are compelling. It'll be awesome to tool around with a badass Turian again. So I guess now we are rolling around with Turian Wonder Woman, as opposed to Turian Batman, WOOT, lol! Hah, me too. It's either that, or I'll toss a character in just as a throw-away thing for one scene, then he/she becomes tied into the whole story. But yeah, a turian Wonder Woman would be awesome. And now I can see Ryder finding this in a music archive and deciding it's Vetra's theme song ... Which would probably just leave her kind of nonplussed at first, though I imagine it'd grow on her after a while.
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Post by Feel Boss on Feb 8, 2017 6:17:29 GMT
Hmm, it hadn't occurred to me that Vetra might be a "team mom" ... though there was something about her voice in the one line she had in the newest trailer that made me wonder if she's a little older than Ryder, Liam, and Cora, now that I think about it. Can't quite put my finger on it. But that'd add a really interesting dynamic to their romance, if there is one, if she's older and more experienced with combat while Ryder is kinda "ready, fire, aim" at the beginning. I could see her taking a liking to him if he actually listens to her advice and learns from her, and maybe she'd gradually find herself falling back into old patterns from the days when she was less experienced and more impulsive, and wouldn't know what to make of it. She could help him grow more mature and she could learn to appreciate the adventure they're all on. The idea of her regretting coming to Andromeda is intriguing, too. If she left her parents and any siblings behind, that'd obviously be rough on her. Maybe she had someone she was very close to, but they broke up just before she left and she's still in a bit of turmoil, wondering if she should've tried to work things out instead of leaving the galaxy. Could be an obstacle to overcome if she's romanceable. Or maybe the one she left behind was a human and she caught so much shit from her family over it that she pushed him away, and now she sees it as a mistake, and a turning point in the romance could be her accepting that she doesn't have to worry about what anyone else thinks anymore. Or it could be something as simple as homesickness. Missing her home on Palaven, that little park her parents took her to when she was a kid, the ship she spent the best years of her life serving on, the friends she left behind. If she's been on the Nexus for a while before Ryder arrived, she'd have plenty of time for all this stuff to weigh her down. Heh ... we wouldn't have to do all this speculating if they'd just release some info on her, already. I'm expecting to find out that I'm way off the mark on all this stuff, but it would make for a fascinating character. Haha, a scene just came together in my head while typing this. While the team's exploring a planet, descending a slope into a valley ... Heh ... gotta paste that into my notes file just in case nothing even remotely like that happens in the game. Can always use it for a couple of my own characters ....
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Post by Feel Boss on Jan 24, 2017 5:39:53 GMT
[edit] Oops, forgot to comment on this. I remember someone wrote in an article that Vetra might end up being a happy go lucky person that doesn't like guns and the calibration behind them(they don't think this will be the case though). I don't know about not the calibration part, but it would be interesting to see a character that doesn't like to use guns, but uses them anyway. That would actually be pretty cool. We haven't really seen a character like that in any of the games, so it'd make her stand out from the others ... and it'd also fit the Eliot Spencer parallel that popped into my mind a while back. I'd really enjoy having a squadmate who is reluctant to use guns and prefers to take enemies out by disarming them and then beating the shit out of them. (Heh, I actually have a very similar character in Freelancers (except for the happy-go-lucky part) ... a turian lady, too ... who prefers fighting hand-to-hand and tries to avoid taking lives unless there's just no way around it, so I think it'd be a hell of a lot of fun if Vetra ended up being a bit like that.) Anyway ... [/edit] Really cool picture of Vetra I found the other day ... Haven't seen it posted yet. [source]
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Post by Feel Boss on Jan 24, 2017 1:15:21 GMT
I'll be doing a playthrough for the YouTube channel I'm trying to get off the ground. Not my first run-through of the game, since that'll be just for me, for my own enjoyment and to get a feel for the game and get ideas for things to discuss later. I'll record the next playthrough, after editing out long stretches of nothing happening and whatnot (but I'll be keeping any incompetent gameplay and various fuck-ups in the videos because I've always found that sort of thing entertaining). Plus I'll probably excerpt and upload clips of graphics glitches and other goofiness, assuming any happen, just for a quick chuckle. Like this one ... Also, if any random amusing stuff happens in the background, I'll upload a clip of it, like this one from GTA Online .... I've been sporadically uploading gameplay/writing discussion videos for ME2 and ME3 on my personal channel, but decided to make a few slight edits and upload them to my new channel, and I need to finally finish both series in time to get started on MEA. I changed the title of the ME2 series to Feel Boss Saves the Galaxy and when I start re-uploading the ME3 videos, the series title will be As Useful as Tits on a Hanar: Feel Boss Slogs through Mass Effect 3. Anyway, once I finish with those, I'll first play through the game as male Ryder, hopefully including a Vetra romance, followed by another with female Ryder. In the first, I'll probably end up talking a lot about the writing and characters in the game, and in the second I'm hoping to discuss whatever I didn't think to mention in the first, plus new stuff that pops into my head. At least, that's the plan. At least it's a better strategy than, "We fight or we die!"
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Post by Feel Boss on Jan 18, 2017 19:43:02 GMT
I think it could be pretty awesome if it's done right. If it's a serious relationship and not just a fling or something thrown in just for comic relief. As I've said elsewhere, it could be a way to show the characters connecting on an intellectual and emotional level before it even occurs to them to get into bed together. It could also be a chance to take a step away from the stereotype of the always-angry, violent krogan who'd snap someone's spine if they tried to have sex. We've already seen a couple of mild-mannered krogan in previous games, and the Andromeda Initiative seems like the kind of program that would attract all sorts of people who don't fit in with everyone else, so there could be plenty of krogan here who are mellow, thoughtful, and gentle, having decided to join the Initiative because they just weren't getting by in their own society back home. Maybe some females who couldn't have children and therefore saw no point in staying on Tuchanka, or ones who just didn't want to be stuck there serving as brood mares. Krogan engineers and scientists (not "mad scientists" like Okeer) would make for some fascinating characters, I think. As for attraction, krogan always struck me as people who'd be more interested in someone's actions than their appearance. Like, imagine one of them seeing Ryder pull off an incredible move during a fight, and she's instantly smitten. If they're both tech specialists, or share some other scientific or engineering interest, some of their conversations could be them just geeking out over a newly-discovered alien gadget or some astronomical phenomenon, and they "click" so thoroughly that the physical part just becomes inevitable at some point. Part of the fun could be the reactions from NPCs. "That's too fucked-up." Or, "You really 'did it'? How are you still alive?" Or, "I'm amazed your dick is still attached." To which both of them could have a range of reactions, depending on dialogue wheel options and Ryder's comments influencing the krogan's dialogue path. Heh. Seems I've put too much thought into this ....
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Post by Feel Boss on Jan 18, 2017 18:05:00 GMT
It'll be cool for Vetra to be that tall. It'd add to the dynamic their relationship has (assuming there is one beyond just working together). Heh, and that means Ryder will have to go up on her. If her personality is as described above (by-the-book, strict, etc. while on duty, then more relaxed and mellow when she's off the clock), I think it'd be interesting if she thinks of it as maintaining a facade because it's how a "good turian" is expected to behave. Like, as soon as she's off-duty, she takes the mask off and is able to be herself, and thinks of it as feeling like she can breathe for the first time all day. And maybe, as time passes and Ryder gets her to loosen up more, she finds the need to put on that mask fading until, eventually, she doesn't bother with it anymore. I'm probably way off on that, since we know nothing at all about her so far, but I think something like this would be a nice character arc for her. I think it'd also be a refreshing change if she's more of a scientist or engineer than a soldier, since we've already worked with plenty of turian characters who were focused on combat.
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Post by Feel Boss on Dec 12, 2016 22:30:43 GMT
Well, I decided to enter this month's MassEffectFollower contest (and here's a hell of a Freudian slip: I nearly typed, "enter Vetra" ... shows where my mind is, right now ). Because, at the moment, Vetra is probably what I'm looking forward to the most. She's got a permanent spot on my squad. The comment I posted:
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Post by Feel Boss on Dec 10, 2016 6:37:44 GMT
Hahaha ... the thought of Vetra and PeeBee not getting along, yet maybe developing a gradual friendship, immediately reminded me of Eliot and Hardison in Leverage. Only, I'd like it if Vetra's a lot more tech-savvy than Eliot, like an Engineer or some other type of tech expert, as others have suggested. If PB gets on Vetra's nerves in the same way, it could be hilarious. The video quality on this isn't good, but it's the first scene that popped into my head when I thought of this.
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Post by Feel Boss on Dec 8, 2016 5:03:08 GMT
Heh, I was talking with Seracen about this just yesterday, and brought it up in a really long blog entry on the whole gameplay trailer earlier this evening. Excerpting (and editing slightly due to the lack of screenshots) the bit specifically about Vetra: So ... yeah. She's probably the biggest reason I've begun to really look forward to this game, aside from my plans to do a couple of playthroughs for my new gaming channel.
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Post by Feel Boss on Oct 18, 2016 22:49:42 GMT
I look at that image and think, "Y'know what? She's beautiful anyway." I think it'd be awesome to have a female protagonist in a game who looks like that just because it's something we never see. But it'll probably never happen as long as so many people have such a narrow idea of what a female character "should" look like. I would love to have an option in the character creator to have scars like this. Me, too. I remember the options in ME1's character creator being more limited for females. I prefer the character creators in Fallout 4 and the last couple of Saints Row games, which had the exact same scars for males and females, and the ability to apply multiple scars rather than select a single one from the list. I think it makes the character look more interesting and hints at some fascinating backstory. Since I haven't been able to find a "multiquote" option, I'll just address some general points that came up. I can see how it might be too complicated for companion characters to ask how the scars happened, or that it might lock the character into a backstory the player might not want, but it would still make for some interesting conversations. Friendlier, more tactful characters could be hesitant to ask for fear of hurting his/her feelings, but characters who are more blunt or rude could just say, "Hey, what the hell happened to you, anyway?" An additional question might be, "Why haven't you had surgery to fix that?" And the answer could be similar to the points others have mentioned here -- too expensive, recovery time too long, recovery process too painful or traumatic, or the character either doesn't care all that much about the scars, or kind of likes them for whatever reason. Or the medical equipment or expertise isn't available, or the scars are so recent that there just hasn't been time to deal with them. The character in that image lived on a "space western"-type colony planet where everything is trying to kill you, and medical facilities were pretty rudimentary despite the setting's technology level being crazy-advanced. Also, transport off-planet wasn't readily available. As for why a character wouldn't have the scars fixed, aside from the reasons already pointed out ... well, just as an example, Kolya Mason, the character in my work-in-progress novel, initially wasn't able to because the medical insurance provider used a loophole to avoid paying for the surgery, because it was "purely cosmetic." They used the same excuse to refuse covering a replacement for the eye that was damaged, and got away with it somehow. The accident that disfigured her happened nine years ago, so she's had time to adjust and move on, and by now it's kind of just part of who she is (and one idea I'm thinking over is the surgery and recovery time being too long and painful). Before the accident, she'd just started getting into a promising career as a supermodel, but then a shuttle fuel cell exploded one day. She considered herself lucky enough to still be alive, and didn't want to waste her second chance, so she changed her priorities. She decided that she wanted to see what's "out there" and started hitchhiking on starships to explore as much as the galaxy as possible and see things no one else had ever seen. She decided to become an adventurer, whereas before the accident she was focused entirely on how she looked. I also figured that making her bitter and angry would kind of be the obvious direction to take the character, so instead I decided that she'd had time to recover and was mostly well-adjusted by now, and found more fulfillment in her adventurer lifestyle than her budding model career. So she's outgoing, quick to throw herself into whatever comes next, and loves traveling to new planets and exploring ruins where no one has lived for thousands of years. She still has a lingering fear of fire and sudden explosions, but aside from that, she usually shrugs off adversity. She does want to save up enough money for a cybernetic eye, not because of what her damaged eye looks like, but because she just wants to be able to see out of it. Heh, last year I was asked to submit a story for a sci-fi/paranormal romance anthology, so I decided to use Kolya as the main character. I'd originally planned for her to be happily single and self-sufficient, but since the story had to be a romance, I thought she'd be a perfect character for it. From the reviews it got, it seemed to be one of the more well-received stories in the anthology, and I decided to expand it into a whole novel. Oh yeah, and the idea of "scars = evil" is something that bugs me, and is probably another reason why I decided to give Kolya a well-adjusted, adventurous spirit rather than making her angry and bitter and nasty. Aside from the other things I talked about, I also just like to take concepts like this one and invert them. As for whether such extensive scarring makes the character horribly disfigured or she's still beautiful in spite of them, well, that's a matter of opinion just like whether Hamburglar Girl is cute or ugly or whatever. Just for me, personally, I wouldn't consider it a deal-breaker at all. Hmm. Now that I think about it, I can see Kolya and Hamburglar Girl getting alone nicely, based on what little I've seen of the asari's personality. Looks like both are adventurers of one sort or another. But then, the way my luck works, the asari will turn out to be a completely different type of character.
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Post by Feel Boss on Oct 18, 2016 3:54:42 GMT
A friend and I were talking about this recently, and he said he thinks of James Vega whenever he hears one of those names. And now, so do I. If only that could've been a running gag in ME3, it would've made the story a bit more palatable. Especially if EDI is the one who starts it, as a test-run of her new humor subroutine. Hah ... I wasn't planning to, but now I just might have to bring Vega into Freelancers just so I can annoy him with it.
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Post by Feel Boss on Oct 18, 2016 3:39:59 GMT
Warning: long-winded bloviating ahead. I don't think Hamburglar's ugly at all. She's actually kind of cute, and I really like what I've seen of her personality. The only complaint I have is that stupid hopping thing she does when running from the things attacking the team. Seriously, who the hell does that unless they're being deliberately goofy? When something is trying to kill you, that's not the time to be screwing around. About her outfit, I actually like it, though the bare midriff isn't exactly practical for field operations. But then, maybe she didn't expect to find herself in a situation where more protective clothing would be needed. Guess we'll find out more soon enough. The face paint is a little odd because we've never seen it on an asari before, but there's probably an in-story reason for it. Maybe she chose that paint job just for the sake of being different from every other asari. Maybe it's common among her family or clan or whatever. Maybe she chose it for the same reason some humans decide to get a mohawk or spikes or some other punk 'do. I actually like the idea that she might've done it out of impatience. Most asari seem to put a lot of time into their face paint (assuming it isn't naturally part of their skin pigment), but maybe she just decided, "Who has time for that?" and grabbed a can of black spray paint. *psssssst!* "There. Done. Moving on." As for her having eyebrows ... eh. There are humans born with mutations and oddities and whatnot. An extra finger, an excessively hairy body, going bald while still a teenager. It's possible that Hamburglar has something fucked-up in her genes that caused her to be born with eyebrows, though I doubt anything like that is the actual in-story reason for it. Could make for an interesting conversation if something like that were explored in the game. In fact, I can see that being a reason for the raccoon paint job -- to draw attention away from the eyebrows, if she's self-conscious about them. What'd be amusing is if another character nicknames her Rocket and she has to research some old entertainment vids to figure out what the hell they're talking about. Anyway, whether she's attractive or ugly is a matter of opinion. What bugs me is when people have a conniption about it and start ranting that she's ugly or looks like a man or whatever, just because she's not a supermodel, or that BioWare is "shoving an agenda down our throats" just because every female character in the game isn't the hottest woman they've ever laid eyes on. The idea that if you don't look perfect, then you're hideous, is something that's always bugged me. If you're not pretty enough or not thin enough, then you shouldn't even be seen in public, shouldn't be seen wearing a bikini, etc. In real life, there are people who are attractive by society's standards, and people who are "ugly" ... and the whole range in between. I think that kind of range in video game characters, movies, etc., would just make it more interesting, not to mention more believable. I'd applaud BioWare if they were choosing to move away from the stunning supermodel look for female characters. I'm not saying there shouldn't be any "beautiful" characters in the game. But there should be a wider variety. The farther I got into the first game, the more I noticed that everyone had the exact same body type. After a while, that just kind of became an elephant in the room. It would've been interesting, for example, if Bakara had been a romance option in ME3 (as I mentioned in another thread) just to show the characters connecting on an intellectual and emotional level, without physical attraction being a factor at all. Or if it is, it happens much later, long after they've already gotten together. I dunno, maybe my standards of beauty are way off, but I never really found the asari attractive aside from Samara (except that strict Justicar code of hers was way too creepy for me -- it reminds me of the Operative in Serenity ... a "true believer") and Aethyta (who I consider the sexiest asari who ever appeared on screen). I actually find Bakara kind of alluring based on her personality alone. Well, that and her ability to use a shotgun. I always thought Liara was kind of bland and boring, and she only became interesting during the Shadow Broker DLC, though I still don't find her physically attractive. I pretty much fell in love with Tali from the very beginning thanks to her personality and her voice, though I never knew what her face looked like (and I refuse to acknowledge that quarter-assed Photoshopped image as canon). But anyway. This idea that a female character in a game, or a movie, or what have you, has to be absolutely gorgeous just irritates me. Plus, there seems to be a bit of a double standard, with male characters who are not conventionally attractive, or all scarred up, or downright ugly hooking up with women who look like supermodels. I didn't see the Warcraft movie, but from the trailer, it looks like male orcs are kind of hideous, but the females are a lot more human-looking. At least, the one most prominently featured in the trailer was. And FemShep has Garrus, who's not human looking at all ... while MaleShep has Tali, who has a nice-looking body and, if you accept that lazy Photoshopped picture, looks almost human. For me at least, it gets boring and predictable after a while. "Oh, look, the hunk is romancing another beauty queen." I guess that's why I tend to swap the genders on those sorts of relationships in my novels and whatnot, because it puts a fresh spin on the concept. One of my current works in progress has a female protagonist with a badly scarred face hooking up with a hot guy, among other pairings in my other works. It's just automatically more interesting to me than the way it's usually shown. Got the idea for this character when an image in the old Borderlands cinematic trailer kind of jumped out at me .... I look at that image and think, "Y'know what? She's beautiful anyway." I think it'd be awesome to have a female protagonist in a game who looks like that just because it's something we never see. But it'll probably never happen as long as so many people have such a narrow idea of what a female character "should" look like. Anyway. Didn't expect to go on and on about this. It's just one of those topics that kind of sets me off just a bit.
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Post by Feel Boss on Oct 15, 2016 4:42:32 GMT
The only way I can stomach a replay is by using the MEHEM and CE mods MEHEM sounds awesome! But what is CE? Unless you meant EC? MEHEM is indeed awesome. It's not flawless, but it gets the job done. Since it uses audio clips that are recognizable from ME2 (and possibly ME1 ... it's been a while since I've played it), it's hard to watch the cutscene without being reminded that it's not part of the official game, but it's the best anyone could've done without access to the voice actors to record new dialogue. I suppose one could argue that MEHEM removes what little choice the player has at the end, as it cuts out the entire "Catalyst" section and goes straight to the Crucible firing. It uses the Destroy cutscene, the Reapers drop dead, but the geth and EDI survive, if they were still alive at that point. For me, the lack of choice doesn't matter because none of my choices mattered at the end, anyway, so I'm fine just skipping all of that stuff. I think the EC was just an attempt to polish a turd, and no matter how much polishing you do, it's still shit -- but it needs to be installed before you install MEHEM, if I remember correctly. So, all I have to do is slog through the final confrontation with the Illusive Man, which is little more than a copy of the final confrontation with Saren in ME1, and then I just let MEHEM give me an ending as close to the one I expected as possible ... not a completely happy ending since so many people have already died up to this point, but a way to end the Reapers without any more completely unnecessary sacrifices. The CE mod puts the Citadel DLC at the end, where it should've been in the first place. As much as I dislike the constant doom-and-gloom in ME3, the Citadel DLC seemed completely out of place in the middle of all the grim-darkness and edginess. A lighthearted adventure ... after which it's back to the doom and gloom and the complete and utter nonsense at the end. "Citadel" works so much better as an epilogue, in my opinion. I like to think of it as taking place at least a couple of years after the end of the game, at a time when everything's been rebuilt and life is going on. I still reject almost the entirety of ME3 as canon, but as I mentioned, after spending so much money on the game, once I found out about the MEHEM and CE mods, I downloaded them and went ahead and bought the Citadel DLC so I could get some actual enjoyment out of ME3. Without those mods, I played through the game once, started a second playthrough, and about halfway through, I just couldn't go any farther. These two mods give the game some replay value.
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Post by Feel Boss on Oct 12, 2016 5:09:33 GMT
Just a bit of humor I had to share .... Ever since I found out that the player character's name is Ryder, something's been poking at the back of my mind. I'd heard the name before (aside from the moving-truck company, I mean), but couldn't put my finger on it. It finally clicked into place a day or two ago. Ryder is also the name of the hero in the 1988 gem Space Mutiny, which became the fodder for one of MST3K's more famous episodes. So, if I ever get around to playing Andromeda, I'm totally doing a Male!Ryder playthrough just so I can name him David in honor of Blast Hardcheese. Or Beat Punchmeat. Or Slate Fistcrunch. Or Big McLargehuge. Or ...
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Post by Feel Boss on Oct 11, 2016 22:42:02 GMT
Just while we're still somewhat on the subject of design decisions: Why, oh, why does EDI have a cameltoe? Yeah, I know the robot body she’s wearing is an infiltration model and might have a penile induction port to help EVE gather information in other ways but why does she have a cameltoe? Cameltoes tend to be accidents in real life but here, someone had to actually decide that EDI, EDI, should have one and then take the time to implement it. Why? Just so we’d know her body was designed to look anatomically correct? If so, shouldn't she have nipples too? Is it so we wouldn’t have to lie awake, wondering if Joker was able to get some from her? But hey, apparently Miranda had this too in Mass Effect 2 so I guess there's a precedence for it? Sorry, I needed to vent about this. I've wondered about that, myself. For it to happen, you'd think the human-like skin Eva used would be required, but EDI never used it, as far as I can remember. It makes no sense for her metal surface to have it. But it's probably there for the same reason Miranda's cameltoe was, and the same reason some of the female characters appeared to get boob-jobs between the end of ME2 and the beginning of ME3.
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Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Oct 11, 2016 22:10:56 GMT
Ugh. I've ranted about ME3 elsewhere, so I won't rehash it all here. I'll just say that at the end, we were railroaded into a tiny handful of "choices" that amounted to picking "A, B, or C." Those choices also flew in the face of things we'd done earlier in the game and were creepy (Control) or horrifying (Synthesis) or tragic (Destroy, which kills the geth and EDI). In the Destroy ending, the geth and EDI are killed off, so the choice of getting the geth and quarians to coexist and fight together against the Reapers is meaningless. So is the choice to encourage the relationship between EDI and Joker. Before the final battle, EDI says that Shepard is the reason she feels truly alive now ... and only a few minutes later, she dies because of the "choice" Shepard makes. Also, even if you convince the quarians and geth to end their war and work together, at the end the game tosses that out the window, insists that synthetics will always wipe out their creators in spite of you proving that statement false, and doesn't even give you a way to get around it. That and everything else about the ending contradicts themes and choices thorughout the previous games and most of the third, and it just comes out of nowhere. It's like the end of a completely different story was tacked on to this one. And it also forced the "hero has to die at the end" BS on us. And sorry, I don't count that gasp-for-breath stuck onto the very end as survival. The entirety of ME3 is badly written, with the exception of a few genuinely good moments scattered throughout. It's just that the ending was so reprehensible, it overshadowed all the other problems with the story. The only way I can stomach a replay is by using the MEHEM and CE mods and spending more money on the Citadel DLC just to finish it off on as positive a note as possible. (I should also note that I have not bought the Leviathan or Omega DLCs, and will not in the future.) I'd already spent $80 on it, so I needed a way to get some enjoyment out of it.
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
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87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
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Post by Feel Boss on Oct 11, 2016 20:33:58 GMT
Glimpses of gameplay footage, the character creator, romance options, and species confirmations would be nice, but the thing I want more than anything else is a few details on the story. I need some reassurance that it'll be a good story with compelling characters and not another pooch-screw like ME3 was. I don't need to know everything ... just a few things that'll make me think, "Okay, like where that seems to be going. I'm more interested in buying it now."
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Feel Boss
N1
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy
Posts: 26 Likes: 87
inherit
1723
0
87
Feel Boss
Writer, Semi-Competent Gamer, and Total Geek
26
October 2016
feelboss
Mass Effect Trilogy
|
Post by Feel Boss on Oct 4, 2016 6:19:42 GMT
Two come to mind immediately ... Aethyta and Bakara. Aethyta because she's a total badass and sexy as hell. I've always thought it was a shame that there wasn't an option to get her on Shepard's team. The Normandy even had a bar she could've tended. Bakara would've been a really interesting romance, I think. Tough, strong, and she knows how to use a huge shotgun. But at the same time, calm and level-headed. In conversations, she actually sounded friendly rather than angry/threatening like most krogan. Also, it would've been a chance to show a different type of romance, with the two of them connecting on an intellectual and emotional level where physical appearance isn't a factor (or if it is, it'd likely happen after the emotional/intellectual bond forms).* And it'd also be cool to see a krogan character on the team who takes a more thoughtful approach rather than roaring and charging full-speed-ahead. *Granted, FemShep had that with Garrus, with them being good friends before any romantic feelings came up. But MaleShep didn't really have that with any of the female LIs.
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