What did you do today in ME?

Jeph Shepard, Spacer/Sentinel/Butcher of Torfan:

- Had a chat with Zaeed. Cerberus had tried to recruit them and he happened to see a trooper unmasked, saw they'd become like husks. He's been after them ever since.

- Landed on Gellix to find some Cerberus scientists. They were being attacked by Cerberus troopers, which told us a lot. Jacob Taylor was with them. Gavin Archer was also here, the asshole who'd experimented on his autistic brother. He wanted to know how David was doing. I didn't think he deserved to know. When I had told him I was taking David, he said that David was "too valuable". I didn't expect him to commit suicide but I also didn't shed any tears over it. When I found out there were families here, the mission took on a greater importance. I helped them make some repairs to their comm towers and AA guns that allowed them to escape. I then recruited them to work on the Crucible. Jacob was in love with one of the scientists so he was staying with them rather than coming with me.

What I did today? This...




Now excuse me, I need two barrels of ryncol.

Really Javik, you are the embodiment of vengence?




On another note, the scars in-game are not like this specially around the eyes. Which is a shame.

Essentially Shepard is more or less like EDI? The head and face structure are still bones, but is coated or overlaid with methalic material and implants.

But yeah, synthesis is the solution to joint organic and synthetic matter...

Korynn finished Samara's loyalty mission.

The death of Morinth was heartbreaking to her. On return to Normandy, she locked herself in her quarters and cried. Tonight is more scanning, and maybe a visit to the Flotilla.

I don't think it's the red hair (even though I am indeed fond of redheads ), but I dunno, he looks good in general. Maybe it's the combination of the nose, eyebrows and stubble

I made a list of the feelz I got from ME2/ME3. I played back in February/March for the first time, I believe, and havne't played since. So, I thought I'd share.

Feelings about OT: (I only played 2 and 3)

ME2:
Telling Kaidan to get off the ship so I could go for Joker- and dying.
Being upset by Kaidan yelling at me.
Being supremely disgusted by Jacob
Being unimpressed with Miranda
Being impressed with Samara
Falling in love with Thane
Laughing as I told TIM to fuck off.
Bonus Round: Mordin's song and patting myself on the back for only losing Legion (I was playing blind, I didn't know his importance.)

ME3:
Every moment of the intro was amazing
Enjoying battle mechanics for the first time ever
Dancing for Real instead of the stupid dancing.
The entire Geth/Quarian Arc that resulted in Tali suicide diving into the abyss still haunts me
Thane Dying- and doing the drinking too much thing in response, ending up in the elevator was a new low.
Thane's funeral in the DLC
The moment when I try to pull the clone up, and she chose death was deep
Turning Kaidan down when he asked to be together.
The way Javik looked like his entire race had just died when he got evac'd at the "big scene"
The creepiness of all the bodies and blood.
Anderson dying (even though I didn't see him as a father figure, he was a good man who had fought at my side.)
Making the decision about the Reapers. I bawled so hard. SO HARD. Picking Control because I couldn't non consensually make the entire galaxy into a hybrid, nor could I value my life over the Organic/Synthetic Alliance I'd sacrificed the entire Quarian race for.

All of ME3 was full of win, to be honest.

Except Jacob. He's a disgusting creep I'll allow to die in ME2 on my next PT.

Karen Shepard, Soldier, ME2 cont'd:

Dr T'Soni (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Shadow Broker) – part 1

Illium – Nos Astra Exchange

Shepard was almost ready to head to the derelict Reaper ship to continue the fight against the Collectors. All of the outstanding personal issues of the crew had been taken care of, and everyone was focused and ready. There was just one more piece of unfinished business to take care of. Shepard wanted to find out where things stood with Liara; even if the relationship was over, she wanted to make sure Liara was safe and happy.

Liara's obsession with the Shadow Broker made it almost impossible to get her to focus on anything else, however. Cerberus had given Shepard intel on the Shadow Broker to pass on to Liara – Shepard suspected Cerberus was up to something – their “help” always seemed to come with consequences - but she trusted Liara to figure out if the data was legitimate and useful. She had Tali and Samara join her back at the Nos Astra Exchange and the three of them headed to Liara's office for a meeting.

Along the way Shepard overheard and asari on a call with transport officials about a lost locket of hers. Shepard had found a locket at the shipping yard while stopping Eclipse from getting to Miranda's sister, so she returned it to the asari, who was relieved to have it back - “it's the only thing my child has to remember her father by.”

Liara looked over the intel Cerberus had provided, which provided clues as to the Shadow Broker's hiding place, and more importantly, confirmed that her friend Feron was still alive. Feron had helped Liara recover Shepard and keep her from the Collectors and the Broker following the destruction of the Normandy SR1, and Liara had assumed he'd been killed by the Broker's mercenaries. Shepard promised to help get him back - “any friend of yours is a friend of mine.”

Liara needed time to review the data and plan their next move. She asked Shepard to meet at her apartment at a later time. Shepard checked out the Nos Astra shops to see if any new upgrades or equipment had been stocked, then stopped in at Eternity to say hi to Matriarch Aethyta.

Illium – Liara's Apartment

Shepard, Tali and Samara arrived at Liara's place, and found it was a crime scene. Evidently, the Shadow Broker had gotten word that Liara was getting close and tried to take her out. She had survived the assassination attempt and escaped, and Illium police were investigating, along with, curiously, a Spectre agent named Tela Vasir.

Shepard was immediately suspicious – why would a Spectre be interested in an attack on an information broker. Vasir had to be mixed up in it somehow – either with the Broker, Cerberus, or some other party she wasn't aware of. Unfortunately, Shepard couldn't see any way to find out Vasir's agenda other than by playing along, so she set about helping Vasir look for clues on Liara's whereabouts. It was dangerous, but Shepard saw no other alternative.

Eventually they found a data disk hidden in such a way that only Shepard could have found it. The disk contained a recording of a call by Liara arranging a meeting with a salarian named Sekat at the Baria Frontiers office in the Dracon Trade Centre. Vasir knew the building and offered to take them there in her car.

Illium – Dracon Trade Centre

As they arrived at the Dracon Trade Centre, an explosion went off on the third floor, the same floor that Baria Frontiers was on. The Broker's forces were still one step ahead of them, it seemed. Shepard feared the worst, but she knew that Liara could take care of herself. Still, she didn't waste any time getting up to the third floor. Vasir took the skycar up to the roof to prevent anyone escaping that way.

On the way up to Baria Frontiers, Shepard discovered that some of the dead were killed by gunfire, not the explosion, which meant the Broker's mercs were on the scene. The log book at the Baria office confirmed Liara had arrived shortly before the explosion. Shepard and her team entered and were attacked by the Shadow Broker's forces. They cleared them out and looked around.

They found a room with the body of Sekat, along with the body of the merc who killed him, and Vasir. “If I'd been a few seconds faster, I could have stopped them.” Nothing fishy about that.

Liara showed up, safe and sound (to Shepard's relief), and revealed that Vasir was the one who'd tried to assassinate her. Evidently she had been working for the Broker all along. Part of Shepard regretted not taking her out back at Liara's apartment, but killing colleagues based on nothing but suspicion how she operated. Now, Sekat and a lot of innocent people had died thanks to Vasir's two botched assassination attempts.

Liara correctly deduced that Vasir had Sekat's data disk – with the location of the Shadow Broker's hideout – on her. Vasir ran, and while Liara gave chase Shepard and her team cleared out the remaining mercs. Vasir eventually reached her skycar and fled, and Liara, Shepard and Tali hopped into another car to continue the chase (Samara remained at the Dracon Trade Centre to deal with the Illium authorities – hopefully, having a Justicar explain the situation would help smooth things over with the cops).

They chased Vasir's skycar, with Shepard having to deal with heavy traffic, proximity mines laid by Vasir, and Liara's backseat driving (“Go go go go go go!”, “I'm going!” ). Eventually they intercepted Vasir and caused her to crash on a rooftop parking lot.

(to be continued)

Playing with my Sentinel broshep in ME3. I got up to the final mission but haven't finished it.

Before that, I did the Citadel DLC with Miranda romance. I still can't decide it I prefer her romance to Ashley or Jack. The problem with Miranda is her content before the Citadel DLC is lacking. But with the DLC its good. Call me dumb, but I never realized I could have Miranda as a squadmate in Armax Arsenal Arena. It makes me wish she was a squadmate. She has all the great powers rolled into one. Same thing with Zaeed. Both are friggin' amazing and makes me wish they were squadmates in ME3.

Even on Insanity, its pretty ridiculous how easy the story mode is with certain classes like the Sentinel. I'm literally just breezing through everything. I guess Gold MP will do that to you.

"Hi Alec,
I just helped Samara kill someone. It's quite messed up.
Samara asked for my help to catch the criminal I told you about. She had tracked her to Omega and we went there right away, because it was necessary to stop this person before she disappeared from there. The criminal she was after was an Ardat-Yakshi called Morinth. Ardat-Yakshis are asari suffering from a rare genetic disorder. They kill their mating partners by overpowering their nervous system instead of just melding with it like normal asari do, and there's nothing they can do to prevent it. It just happens. And the more they do it, the more they need to continue. They become addicted.
Samara said she was after Morinth for 400 years. It was important for her to stop her. Morinth was her daughter. She has 2 more daughters with the same condition. Having one daughter with this condition is tough, but all of them... shit.
I could see why Morinth had to be stopped, so we spoke to Aria on Omega and she pointed us to the latest victim's mother. Poor woman.
We found out that her daughter had been hanging out with Morinth in the VIP section of Afterlife, so Samara formed the plan that I'd be the bait while she hid and watched us. She asked me to trust her that she'd come for me once the trap was set.
I was nervous like hell. A million things could've gone wrong. But as soon as I entered that club, feeling the energy and the rhythm of the music, I felt good. Confident. And Morinth soon showed.
We talked for a bit in a quiet corner and she invited me to her apartment. It was close, Alec. Really close. It felt like I was under some kind of spell. The promise of sex, and I really wanted it. I needed it. That's what my body told me. I would have just let it happen.
But Samara kept her promise and showed up, attacking Morinth. I had thought, or at least hoped, that she would maybe get soft when seeing her daughter. You know, not kill her but arrest her or something, but... she went through with it. She killed her. It was hard to watch, even though I understand why Samara had to do it. But her own flesh and blood. It's just not fair. I can't imagine what she's going through right now.
Why is it that decent people always lose something? I'm so fed up with this. I feel terrible for this poor girl's mother on Omega, and endlessly sad for Samara. To kill her own daughter... I dread the next talk with her. What is there to say really? Damn it, Alec, why must everything be so hard sometimes? Why can't things ever be easy? Why am I always so affected by stuff like this? It's not like it's people close to me dying all over again, it's people I barely know. And yet... it always fucking affects me.
After everything that happened today, I hung out at the club. Drank again. Had sex with another guy again. I know I'm a mess, and I want it to change, but I just can't. I can't sometimes. It's the only way I know how to really cope with all the shit that's surrounding me. Just switch off my brain and let things happen.
I wish staring out at space through my cabin window would be enough. Or the bloody fish I recently bought for my cabin's tank.
It's funny. As a kid I used to think fish are dumb and boring, and I always wanted a dog. Now I find watching them soothing.
But it's just not enough.

-Dee"

Pics:


This is and will always be one of my favourite Loyalty Missions. Sooooo good. I think I'm gonna pick up Tali next, then do Jack's LM, and then some sidequests. Since I did LotSB early this time I'm hoping to get some more good upgrades too

So after about two weeks of not playing any video games, I finally got the chance to sit down and resume Ahmed Shepard's story (and play some ME:A mutliplayer).


Last night as Ahmed Shepard:
1. On Tuchanka:
a. Went with Mordin and spoke with the chief scout. He pointed Ahmed to Clan Weyrloc, who had been spotted with a Salarian. Mordin and Ahmed took a truck as close as they could to the Weyrloc base.

b. At the base, they were met with resistance from the local wildlife as well as the Blood Pack mercs. Still, it did not take much trouble to make it inside a Krogan hospital where they encountered a dead human. Mordin examined the body and determined it had been used it tests, likely by Maelon or someone working with him.

c. They encountered heavier resistance inside from more Krogan, incuding a speaker from Clan Weyrloc. He boasted that when they cured the genophage, their numbers would blot out the sun and they would wreak havoc on the galaxy. Ahmed thought he talked too much and set him on fire.

d. They found more data on a terminal as well as a dead Krogan female. Mordin was upset but was still resolute that he had done the right thing by modifying the genophage. Ahmed was inclined to agree. They found a missing Urdnot scout, and Ahmed yelled at the scout until he made his way back to the Urdnot camp (Ahmed is good at yelling).

e. More Krogan, Vorcha, and Varren attacked, and Ahmed killed them all, including Chief Weyrloc Gould. Then they found Maelon in a lab. It was quickly apparent that he was not kidnapped, but rather he volunteered to cur the genophage. Mordin was angry at Maelon for going against all available data that showed an increased Krogan population would lead to war. Maelon remained unconvinced. When Ahmed declared that they were going to shut down, Maelon pulled out a gun, but Mordin knocked it out of his hand, then killed Maelon.

f. Mordin was not sure what to do with the data, whether to destroy it or keep it. Ahmed suggested they keep the data, just in case. Ahmed was not about to let a good bargaining chip get destroyed. Plus, if Maelon was on the right track to cure the genophage, then someone else could be, and the data could prove useful to find a way to block or counteract a possible cure.


2. Shepard took Zaeed to go deal with Vido Santiago:
a. Ahmed and Zaeed landed well back from the refinery where Vido was holed up, but tapping into the Blue Suns communications proved that they had still been spotted. After a brief encounter with the Blue Suns mercs, Zaeed let Ahmed know about his history with Vido. Vido and Zaeed founded the Blue Suns, but Vido betrayed him and left him for dead. Zaeed had been seeking revenge ever since.

b. At the refinery, they met Vido. Vido taunted Zaeed, and then Zaeed set the place on fire. The original plan of rescuing the refinery workers was now out the window. Ahmed did not want to let the workers die, but Vido was an evil man. Ahmed had already several of Vido's plans earlier (stopped his operation at a Prothean dig site, recovered the cargo from the Strontium mule, and shut down the false signal they were using to ambush ships), and now it was time to stop Vido.

c. The Blue Suns put up a big fight, but eventually Ahmed and Zaeed caught up with Vido. He was limping, so they must have injured him while he was escaping. He begged for his life, but Zaeed was in no mood to listen. Vido fell in puddle of fuel and Zaeed lit it on fire and walked away as Vido died painfully.


3. Ahmed took Kasumi to go get the greybox of Donovan Hock:
a. Kasumi had Ahmed wear a suit and explained they were crashing a party held by Donovan Hock. She told him the plan was to break into Hock's vault and steal the greybox. Ahmed was a soldier not a thief, but figured he was just there to distract Donovan long enough for Kasumi to do her thing. Kasumi was smuggling his weapons and armor inside of a statue though, so Ahmed figured she was expecting a lot of possible resistance.

b. The original plan was immediately derailed when Hock met them at the door and he refused to let Kasumi inside. Ahmed was also a little miffed that Hock refused to shake his hand, but maybe Hock was germaphobe so maybe he had an excuse? Kasumi went in anyway, but stayed cloaked the entire time so she would not get noticed.

c. Together, Kasumi and Ahmed cased out the vault. To get in, they would need a voice sample from Hock and the verbal password, plus a DNA sample, as well as cut the power to the barrier protecting the vault door. It took some time, but they eventually got everything they needed and went into the vault.

d. The vault was devoid of guards, but it had plenty of valuable treasures, including the greybox and some Locust SMGs. (One of them of had killed two presidents; Shepard took that one.)

e. Donovan Hock then appeared by hologram and did not seem all that surprised. Seems he suspected that it had been Kasumi at the door. He gave Kasumi an option to surrender peacefully, but she refused, so he had his guards come in to try and take them out. Ahmed was glad for his weapons and armor and gave them a fight, then took it to all the mercs as he and Kasumi fought their way out of the vault and through the basement.

f. Once they made it outside, Hock attacked them in a gunship and more mercs joined in the fight. Eventually, Kasumi disabled the gunship's shields permanently and then Ahmed blew it up with enough bullets.

g. Kasumi accessed the greybox and viewed her boyfriend's last message. He wanted her to destroy the greybox because the data that was on it could implicate the Alliance in something. Ahmed told Kasumi she could keep the greybox if she was willing to live with the consequences.



I actually played more, but I am going to have to break this off here and post the rest later.

Welcome back, Red! Good to see you post in here again

Recruited Tali last night:
"Hey Alec!
We finally picked up Tali. It's so nice to have another person I know already on board now.
We traveled to the Dholen system in geth space and Garrus, Kasumi and I landed on Haestrom, a former quarian colony. We had to stay in the shade as much as possible since the sun damaged our shields.
We quickly found out that Tali's mission had gone wrong. There were some dead quarians, killed by geth. After a while we picked up a radio transmission of one of Tali's men, Kal'Reegar. He told us that geth had found them and that they were pinned down and couldn't get back to their ship. He also said that Tali and her team were actually there to collect data about the problem with the sun (Tali later told me it's deteriorating faster than it should). Tali was safely locked away somewhere, but I wanted to get to her right away before anything could happen to her.
Geth resistance was heavy, but we knew our enemy. Garrus and I had fought a lot of them back when we were after Saren. It's still a good feeling to hack these little shits.
We made it to the quarians' base camp, where I could speak with Tali over the comms. She was in the observatory, but a lot of geth were outside. We hurried to find her and met Kal'Reegar along the way. A geth colossus sat right in front of the door that led to Tali, and we had to plan our attack accordingly. Good that Reegar knew everything about the battlefield layout, that made things a lot easier on my end.
Reegar's suit was ruptured, so I urged him to stay out of sight and let my team take over. He had risked enough already. We took down all the geth in the area, and even the colossus went down eventually. We got to Tali and she was still okay. With her own mission over she was ready to join me on the Normandy. I'm really glad to have her back, and we caught up a little. I'm happy she trusts me enough to work with Cerberus, even if she loathes them.
I knew from back on Freedom's Progress that the quarians had issues with Cerberus, and now Tali told me why. Not only does Tali of course know first-hand what Cerberus is capable of when we shut down their sick little experiments back then, but Cerberus had attacked one of their ships only to get to a young human biotic that was on board. They were always extreme, always will be. Bloody bastards. When I'm done with this mission, I'll try everything to take them down somehow.
I also just had a chat with Samara. She's doing better already and I like talking to her. She told me a lot about justicars. I'm still not sure how anyone would want to act according to this black and white code, but hearing about it is really interesting. There's so much to discover in this galaxy, the aliens, the cultures. It never gets boring. I really wish you could see it yourself, but my usual babbling has to suffice.
Talk to you soon.

-Dee"

Some pics:


Died once during the Colossus fight. I went up the right side and tried to advance after the first geth wave there, but then I got hit by the Colossus in the process and died from the approaching geths' weapon fire. Oh well
Other than that it went really fine. I could toy around with Hacking again, which is always fun. I decided to put only 1 point into it for now, and I'm finally working on Disruptor Squad Ammo. I will completely ignore Cryo Ammo this time, and soooooon my build is complete. Yay!

Karen Shepard, Soldier, ME2 cont'd:

Normandy

Shepard received an email from Oriana Lawson, thanking Shepard for helping Miranda, and bragging about how clever she was for figuring out who Shepard was. She was Miranda's sister, alright.

Shepard had another chat with Thane, who talked more about the death of his wife, and his motivation for taking the Dantius job. He admitted that he was prepared to die, until Shepard gave him something to live for – a mission, and a chance to see his son again. Shepard was quite touched by the conversation, and was glad that Thane had joined their cause.

Miranda apologized to Shepard for the doubts she'd had at the beginning of their mission. Shepard appreciated the gesture, but felt it wasn't really necessary as she'd had some of the same doubts about Miranda. She still didn't agree with Miranda's views on Cerberus, but felt less hostility towards Miranda herself.

Shepard went back to the Shadow Broker ship, to check in with Liara and see how Feron was holding up. The Normandy then left the Hourglass Nebula and scanned for some resources in The Shrike Abyssal on their way to the Blood Pack base on Zada Ban.

The Shrike Abyssal: Zada Ban - Blood Pack Base

The data obtained from the Blood Pack communications relay on Tarith indicated the mercenary group had built some sort of weapons manufacturing facility on Zada Ban. It was obvious that the Blood Pack were up to no good, so Shepard took Tali and Samara down to the surface of Zada Ban to take out the facility.

The Blood Pack forces, led by a commander named Kalusk (mentioned in the data pads found on Tarith), put up heavy resistance, but were ultimately defeated. Shepard set off explosives inside the facility and escaped, putting an end to whatever attack or invasion the mercs were planning to carry out with those weapons.

Omega

The Normandy stopped in on Omega, so Shepard, Jacob and Tali could deliver the data packets to Ish. Shepard knew what Ish was up to, and tried to dissuade him from taking on Aria, for his own sake. Shepard wasn't Aria's biggest fan – she'd even undermined the asari slightly by helping the Patriarch – but she'd come to realize (grudgingly) that having Aria in charge on Omega was probably better than someone else, and that it could be a lot worse.

Ish agreed to back off, no doubt extending his life expectancy considerably in the process. Jacob felt it was “better than he deserved”, and was probably right.

Shepard visited Marsh's shop in the Markets and picked up some armour components, then returned to the Normandy.