What did you do today in ME?

Update: I just tried this out. I was unable to one-shot a Banshee in the Armax Arena. Closest I got was getting the Banshee down to about 2/3 armor in one shot. If someone better than me wants to try it themselves, go ahead.

I was soloing Reapers Super Elites so squadmates would not throw off the tests. Without squadmates though, I was constantly being chased around by husks while I tried to get a good shot at the Banshee and any Brutes tracking me down.

Also -- and I am not sure if this happens on all platforms -- but Armax Arena Banshees have this weird habit of killing themselves, so I could only get 1 or 2 Banshees on the third round, which means if I screwed up and hit the body instead of the head, it meant I pretty much had to go back and try the match again. Really annoying. I died a few times trying to dodge with the wrong button (blame Mass Effect: Andromeda for changing the control scheme).

Melody Shepard, Colonist/Sole Survivor/Infiltrator, ME3 Insanity:

Melody, Liara and Kaidan went for a training session in the Armax Arena. Unfortunately, the simulation glitched, the safeties failed and they were locked in, making their training rather more realistic than they had bargained for.



This took three attempts, the first two both failed during the last wave (overwhelmed the first time, eaten by a Praetorian the second). Of course, I cheesed it with the Indra and squad warp ammo like the scrub that I am I also upgraded Kaidan and Liara's Lancer and Tempest to level V.

I remember this taking several attempts in my first playthrough (sentinel, Normal difficulty), and I haven't yet cleared it with my vanguard Shep.

Completed ME3. Took longer than I thought it would

ME3 keeps interrupting Sherlock. Another short session gone long. Met Liara's dad, did she always have scales on her jaws, or is it some mod maddness? Anyways, told Liara to talk to her about it.
Told Edi to wreck Joker's hips, since it's about the extent of physical pain I can give him. Had drinks with James and met Felicia, said bye to her as well and got a nice chuckle reminding some old feather rustlin' from the devs. Got a bit sad over Shepard having to walk alone in the Citadel, but guess it's the price of being able to see more of the squad off ship.
Said Hi to Aria and am kind of curious, is Lash like a whip? A biotic one? Or something else? Asking for a friend.

Anyways. Got some fellows off Benning, messed around with cannons and fetched some stuff from the stars. Delivered it on the Citadel and did most of the timed blathering as well.
Then it was time for Tuchanka. Realized I hadn't chatted to Paddy at all on the Normandy, but still not sure if it was bad or good. Kathrine did not reveal the sabotage, but let Paddy go up the elevator for Eve's sake. He said something profound and had the cutest grin before the boom.

Big props to the better dreams mod. The second dream was absolute perfection and resonated much better with me than walking in the park with Vent-Kid. The first part was especially nice, since I could totally imagine the revival being something that was chewing her up in private since it happened.

Then Citadel again. The footage of Kathrine shooting Councillor Valern is totally photo shopped.
Had treaded on thin ice with Ash, because the snark was strong today, so was glad to see that Kathrine had enough Paragon in her back to get Ash to stand down. Then lured her onto the Normandy with the promise of cookies. Yum yum. Oh and Kathrine shot Udina. Nobody stabs her in the back and gets away with it! >:C
Got a nice surprise from Liara, remembered the monastery mission being activated at the same time as Thessia, but Banshee bonanza came early. And with them Samara . Which makes it easier to spread out her content and season it liberally with head canon and unwritten fan fiction.
The mission went well. One banshee managed to get hold of Kathrine's butt, so had to try the final brawl twice. But got better music on the second try, so that's fine. Make the elevator, come a little faster, I'm pushing all the buttons, but nothing's happening.

Then time to talk to some Quarians and visit a Geth dreadnought. Tried out the Arc Pistol. Not sure how it works, but sometimes it made the Geth explode, and I'm all for that. Wish they had began with the Andromeda weapon system earlier, since Scorpion and Archy would probably become fast friends if they could be in the load out at the same time.

Might end up playing more later, might not. Since pictures are all the rage, here is one. Not a particularly exciting one, but I like it. Might have ruined it with filters, but what can you do.

Today I encountered the most grim of the glitches and made me even jump alittle. Thank god I had part of the video saved, I see if I can upload it to somewhere.

In ME3 i got stuck in the nightmare, the boy did not show up in ten minutes and my Shepard just wanders around (I did not want to give up because I was curious AND I WAS RIDICULOUS ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THAT SHEPARD WILL BE LOST TO INDOCTRINATION IF I LOSE HER THERE). After 10 minutes the boy shows up near me and the red light flashes and then comes the BOOOOMMM sound out of nowhere. After that I could finish the sequense.
It was intense, more like a real nightmare and I really felt that Shepard was shaked a bit.

"Hi Alec.
Damn. I just want to kick the Illusive Man where it hurts most. What an unbelievable prick he is. He sent me to investigate a Collector ship dormant in space. Told me he had intercepted a distress call from a turian patrol that crossed paths with this ship. The turians didn't make it, but before that they managed to cripple the Collector ship, and its systems were offline. Bloody lies.
Well not the part where the systems were offline, because they were. The plan was to board the ship and connect with EDI to collect any information on the Collectors, and how we could make it to their homeworld. I was with the Illusive Man on that. What I wasn't okay with, and how I learned from EDI while we were on the ship, was that this turian signal had been fake - used by the Collectors actually - and this fucking bastard knew it! It was a trap laid by the Collectors, and he deliberately sent me and my team in there, playing with our lives so I'd not accidentally tip off the Collectors. Fucking bullshit.
Either way, the ship powered up with us still on board, and we fought through some Collectors in order to get back to the Normandy. Just in time, we escaped them.
The curious thing about this ship was that EDI determined that it's the same as the one on Horizon, and the same that attacked the Normandy 2 years ago. I wonder what this means. Do they really target me? Am I the reason all these colonists disappear?
Being on this ship was... It was even more cruel than seeing the empty colony on Horizon. So many pods everywhere, and we also found a pile of bodies. Who knows what they're up to with all those humans. We learned from EDI the Collectors were once Protheans. Repurposed by the Reapers. Enslaved to do their dirty work. If this is what happens to our colonists... Fuck.
I hope I'm wrong, but chances are we can't save the ones lost, only try and prevent other colonists from being taken. This is really tough on me. Especially since we really have to build our team first. I want to take the fight to the Collectors so badly, but it just makes no sense to do this now. The team is good, but we're only few. I want to improve our chances for success, so I have to play the waiting game. I'm just glad I have people here I can talk to. They keep me sane. Writing to you keeps me sane. And at least we found a way to pass through the Omega 4 relay once we're ready. EDI is fantastic. The AI is a great asset and helped us through the Collector ship, and the way it can extract information in seconds is absolutely terrific. I know AIs are forbidden in Citadel space, but bloody hell, this is really useful.
On the Collector ship I picked up a weapon and took a better look at it now. No idea who it belonged to, or how it even got onto the ship. It's a sniper rifle, and it's great. This thing weighs 39 kg. Makes you wonder how a human like me could just carry it around like it's nothing, let alone fire it. Really, I don't know what Cerberus did to me with their cybernetic upgrades, but I will definitely hang on to this rifle.
I also had a chat with Kelly and she mentioned that Jack wanted to see me. I thought maybe she wanted to talk about what had happened, but she didn't say anything about our night together. Instead Jack asked for my help. In the files I gave her she found the coordinates for the facility where she had been raised by Cerberus. Now she wants to go there and blow it up. Those bastards drugged, tortured and experimented on her, trying to turn her into a super-biotic. And there were even more children. So fucked up. We'll definitely do this, but first I want to go to Illium to pick up 2 other recruits and stock up on some things. I also heard Liara is there. Can't wait to catch up with her and see what she's up to.
But now for some much needed sleep.

Night-night,
Dee"

Some pics:


1 death. That's actually pretty okay in comparison to most of my other runs, hehe. I did the 5 side missions Blood Pack Relay & Blood Pack Base to get the next Heavy Weapon upgrade and thus the Cain Then Estevanico, Endangered Research Station and Mining the Canyon. So most of them with no or minimal combat. I thought I could use the Cain on the Praetorian to speed things up, but then I screwed it up by dying, and in the second attempt I probably had a bad angle when I fired. Didn't do one bit of damage. Oh well
At least the Widow is nice so far, and I look forward to play with it from now on.

This will unlock the secret, nightmare ending!  It would be fun if something like that existed.  Strange bug.  I encounter an unrelated Sentinel bug where my Shepard frequently gets stuck in the air or on top of a crate.  I understood when I was a Vanguard and reckless with Biotic Charge but this baffles me.

It's from EGM mod, Expanded Galaxy  Map.

The mod is very good.



The most amazing thing about EGM, ME3Recalibrated and BackOff is they are entirely in the spirit of ME frenchise.
It's content that could've been created by the devs and if present in the main game, they would be praised for the most part.

It's really amazing this came from fans creating content without any support from the company, with tools they created.

I downloaded ME3Recalibrated.  Haven't installed it yet because I'm testing another unreleased mod (not mine) and don't want to risk a conflict.

A quick session with Kathrine. Messed around with fuel and communications for Hackett before raiding Sanctuary. It went well, but I'm kind of dreading the Earth portion. Then it was back to the Citadel. Armax date with Jack, then took Ash, Jack, Kasumi, Edi and Samara on some matches. Tried the mirror match and lost every time, but made it to the third round one time, so I'm optimistic on that front.
Finally did the Samara date on the Citadel. Good to see that Kathrine is still super creepy and pushy. Thinking of sticking with the just hug version. Head canon that Kathrine had a bit of a cry in Samara's bosom, some words of comfort and then a renewed sense of purpose.
Party time is later time.

A small addition to yesterdays session, since combat stuff is supposed to be fun? Shortly before the final fight, Kathrine invested in some cluster grenades. Then during the first portion, Kathrine was hunkered behind the supply station while Brooky and the brain were on the other side. So Kathrine decided to toss some cluster grenades out, while Ashley flung some inferno grenades. Figured that would be it, just some damage and then fight as normal. Then suddenly, Brooks comes flying over the station, on fire and smashes on the ground besides Kathrine, knocked out. And she stayed there until the second portion. I found it amusing at least. 
So moral of the story is, watch out for cluster grenades, they pack quite the punch. 

Jeph Shepard, Spacer/Sentinel/Butcher of Torfan:

- As we rolled into Tuchanka, we saw that a new type of Reaper had parked itself next to the Shroud facility where we were going to place the genophage cure. Can't be a coincidence. Then I got a message from the dalatrass asking me to sabotage the cure in exchange for salarian support. I know I fought this when the cure was in the hands of Saren, but this time it was different. Wrex, Grunt, and even Eve were all krogan I liked, it they were also likely to be the ones with the most krogan influence. I truly believed they could make things better for their people, because that's what they wanted. I couldn't stab them in the back this way. I already knew there were cracks in the salarian resolve. If Kirrahe, Mordin, Maelon (dead, but still indicative of trends) and Padok Wiks were all opposed to the genophage and/or willing to fight for us all, it was likely true of others. She'd either come around or the salarians would die. That was their choice to make.
- When we touched down, there was already a Reaper presence. I forgot how much fun it was to fight with Wrex. Having Liara and Garrus with us made it seem like old times, when things were tight but that one Reaper didn't seem as scary as the shitload we have now. Then Wrex's brother Wreav complained about a salarian being there. I objected, as did Wrex. Then Eve told them they could either live in the past or fight the enemy they were born to kill: Reapers. Given how powerful they were as fighters, I half-wondered if that wasn't true. Their strength, regeneration and longevity all pointed to being designed to take on something massively powerful. Not that I had any idea who could be behind such a thing but we know the Protheans visited Earth. Maybe they also went to Tuchanka.
- Things like a road out and a turian ship crash landing nearby led to myself, Garrus and Liara having to go through some underground tunnels. Eve referred to it as the City of the Ancients, a place that's been abandoned for thousands of years. We were feeling tremors, which Eve attributed to "Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws", artwork of whom we found adorning one of the walls. All indications are that it's huge, even in comparison to other thresher maws. Also found a dead creature that we couldn't immediately identify but learned was a rachni. Mutated version. No idea how since I'd killed the queen.
- When we got outside, saw streams, a few small bridges, and plants growing. For Tuchanka, this had to be the Garden of Eden. What we saw here showed what the krogan could be if allowed to flourish.
- Kalros put in an appearance and took out Wreav's tank. Then we made it to the Shroud. Eve said we could use these hammers there to summon Kalros to attack the Reaper. Not so much to defeat it but distract it long enough for the cure to be released from the Shroud. You do know you're a bad ass when a krogan calls you brother and says your name will mean "hero" to them forever after. Never been this close to a Reaper before. Sovereign and Harbinger were both holograms when we talked. The ones on Earth and Menae weren't up close. This one I was running toward.

- Then this happened.

- Mordin made it to the Shroud but damage done, and the necessity of counteracting STG sabotage, meant he had to go up the tower. He wouldn't be returning. However, he was at peace with what he did, knowing there was a good future in store for the krogan with Wrex and Eve at the helm.

- The cure for the genophage fell from the sky like a gentle snowfall, marking a new hope for the krogan.

- I was sad to have lost a friend but happy the krogan had a future. I've done questionable things in my life, including killing batarians who had surrendered and sending the rachni back into extinction but this one I could feel good about. Wrex said he'd start sending troops to Palaven immediately and, that when the time came, he'd stand with Earth. I guess giving his race a future has earned his loyalty. Primarch Victus also said he would be sending ships to aid Earth since he'd gotten the krogan support he needed. This was what it was all about. Working together. Not stabbing each other in the back out of fear. That was the Cerberus way and I wouldn't go down that path.

- Garrus convinced me to get some sleep but it was nightmares. That kid again. Heard the voices of the dead. I remember some of Ash's last words, her telling me to go back for Kaidan. I wonder if she knew something had been brewing between he and I. I also heard Mordin, saying "someone else might have gotten it wrong". I also thought about Kate Bowman and the miners on X57. I'd let them die to make sure Balak and the other batarian terrorists didn't escape. Not sure I'd make that choice if I had it to do over again.
- The salarian councilor called. He was a little bitter about the genophage cure but he called because he had a suspicion that Udina was dirty. Not sure why he'd call in a human Spectre about that unless it was because he knew Udina and I had never gotten along. I agreed to come to meet with him about it.