What did you do today in ME?

Miriam Shepard, Paragon Floldier, ME3 Insanity:

Grissom Academy: took EDI and Liara. Jack died in ME2, so there was new content for me in this mission, it has quite a different feel, certainly a less positive one. That said, unlike Tuchanka with Wrex dead, it didn't feel like being "punished" for making a wrong decision in a previous game. Rather, it put a different spin on a difficult situation.

Anyway, I did a straight-up Paragon run, recruiting the students for support roles. Died once in the second half of the atrium battle: got gunned down by a turret on the upper level before I could react. That aside, it was easier than I anticipated, largely due to Flare Soldier's overpowering cheapness

I have Flare up to rank six now (damage, detonation, improved damage).

Question, while I'm here: do the broker terminal intel bonuses affect the entire squad, or just Shepard?

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Having finally convinced Liara to take a half-hour break, Miriam sat with her friend on a bench overlooking the Presidium Commons.

"Anderson never mentioned Kahlee Sanders," said Miriam, sipping from her coffee. "I never imagined him with anyone, really."

"It would be a simple matter to find out more," said Liara. "My network has several contacts in Alliance intelligence. Of course, you know nothing about them and will deny all knowledge of this conversation if asked."

"Gossip behind Anderson's back?" asked Miriam. "No way, that'd be a betrayal. Better to let the man have his private life."

"You mean that it would be more fun to needle him directly?" asked Liara with a hint of an innocent smile.

Miriam grinned. "It's as if you read my mind."

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Media:

After playing the trilogy so many times over the year, I no longer intended to start it again. But in another forum someone posted a thread about the 10 years of ME1 and folks began a discussion on the graphics and that texture mod and I decided to experiment, just for the purpose of testing. There was no way, when I started the game, I could not stop, the first is my favorite, I absolutely love this game.


I went with the Engineer with bonus in Sniper, with Kaidan and Tali as companions. The goal would be to make a pure tech squad, the same I normaly do in ME3, so Garrus would be a better option to Kaidan, but Kaidan has absurd 4 crowd control powers (push, lift, Neural and Stasis), I had no way to leave him out. And the tech force bar stays the same for both, so .....


For Tali and me, I did not put any point on AI hacking and I did not miss it. I invested in damping, which is not of the most useful powers, but serves to paralyze husks and those ugly Torian minions. It also increases the Overload and Sabotage radius, which is an extra bonus.


As always, I went on the Veteran difficulty. It is the best, fair difficulty and without many enemies using Imunity, which is quite annoying. I hate bullet sponges in games. Against Imunity, Neural shock rulez. I have something more to talk about Neural Shock (NS), more ahead.

Again I tried to keep Onyx as my armor, but by the time I reached level 40, it was unbearable. Unfortunately I had to change, or it was always 0HKO against an enemy sniper shot. 

I beat the game at level 51. It could have been higher, but there came a time that gave me a urgency to finish it. That way, I missed one medalion and one light metal. Also I I did not finish the Cerberus/Rachni arc.

It may seem contradictory to me to say that it is my favorite game of the trilogy and I suddenly have urgency to finish it, but it has explanation.

1) I started quick generic Shepard. When I was 7 hours into the game, I could not bear to look at his face anymore. So I started again lol.
2) I want to test the build that I have been planning for 2.

Let´s see: Ash die, date Liara (I never finished this romance, but I like to see her naked in 1), Save the Concil, pick Anderson in the end. Usually I pick Udina, because I like his speech more in the end, but this time I roleplay a Shepard that stood against him all the time. Paragon ending.

As for his appearance, I was again forced to choose a blonde, because that is the only color that the beard looks full and masculine instead of a failed adolescent beard.



I loved his face, he seems to be pissed at the world all the time. Unfortunately it did not look cool on 2

His mouth felt wrong. He seems to be 45 years old instead of 30, 32. I wanted a completely bald Shepard, but I forgot that there is no such thing in 2. Now he has a thinning hair with a baldness on top, which makes him even older. I'm going to make some changes in the character editor.

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In ME2, I choose NS as my bonus power. It seems to be redundant because Cryo Blast occupies the same function, but it has a small difference. NS aligns enemies for the sniper rifle use, cryo Usually knocks them back to their protection. Also, lower cooldown. My big problem with that power is that sometimes it does not work. I can not explain it right, but it seems that when an enemy loses their protection, you have to wait half a second before using it, or nothing done. As I play in Insanity, that makes a difference.

As a bonus, I keep the consistency between my Shepards, in relation to powers. Too bad you can not start straight with the rifle. Can I change this in the editor?

Anyway, Engineer is the true mage of the Mass Effect universe. At the level 5, I can cast Fire, Ice, Thunder, psychic rays and summon a sidekick. It is all about the powers. Funny that in ME3 I find it annoying the constant use of powers with virtually no consequences. Want to piss me off? Says you does not use guns on 3.

More later.

Met admiral Mikhailovic, what an ass... and after that Khalisad plaa plaa plaa Jilani, that went surprisingly well. Went on to do some UNC missions. First meeting with tresher maw, auch. Saved Burns, arested father Kyle. Met EDI for the first time at moon. Had to shut her, tried to kill Shepard too many times 😉 Now off to Feros!

I am nearly through with ME2. Just have to do Legion's loyalty, Suicide Mission, and Arrival.

One thing I always disliked about Samara (on top of her obnoxiously rigid code) is that if you have a high renegade meter, she claims that I've done things that would cause her to attack you. Yet, I saved that sick Batarian on Omega, I saved those people on Zaeed's mission, helped all the Salarians on the Dantius tower, etc. The only thing my Renegade Shepard is guilty of is being intimidating and sarcastic. That bit is just poorly written and makes Samara less likable for me.

As far as I am aware, Broker Intel bonuses affect only Shepard, not the squaud.

Brought Svetlana into ME3 the other day, did Mars, Eden Prime, Surkesh and the Rachni mission so far. Playing exclusively with the Striker grenade-rifle for the first time. It's damage can be a little underwhelming but it's damn fun to use with inferno ammo. Get a few targets burning then leap in with a charge or disrupt with a lash for tasty explosions. Visited Ash in the hospital but have been taking the renegade dialog, haven't decided on her fate yet. I'm leaning towards sparing her if possible and sending her to Hackett. Mainly taking Javik along for the trolling, I like how he has renegade Shepard's back on everything.

Miriam Shepard, Paragon Floldier, ME3 Insanity:

Citadel:

• completed some fetch quests
• visited Ashley in the hospital, congratulated the newly-appointed Spectre and listened to her family news
• assisted Jondum Bau with his investigation. I'd wondered whether Kasumi would get some different dialogue here given that she mentions Jacob if he's still alive, but she just didn't mention him at all
• made contact with Aria and recruited the Blood Pack and Eclipse syndicates (Paragon solution, left Sederis in jail)
• made contact with Miranda

Annos Basin: hosted a tense war summit. Full Paragon, natch; Miriam took Wrex's side.

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"So, did my little stunt fool you even for a second?" asked Kasumi.

"Actually, it did," said Miriam. "My heart missed a beat when the bomb went off. Then I remembered that you've escaped worse than that."

"Sorry to worry you."

"It's fine. I know I'm going to lose more friends to this war. I'm just glad I didn't lose one today."

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Screenshots:

Miriam Shepard, Paragon Floldier, ME3 Insanity:

Sur'Kesh: took Liara and EDI on the mission to extract Mordin and Eve. This was pretty easy for a Flare Soldier, no deaths, though I did almost screw up once; managed to cling on to a sliver of health after a grenade went off a little too close.

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"What's wrong, Miriam? You getting old? Take that thing out! Back in the day, we dealt with thresher maws and geth armatures with less trouble!"

Wrex's words of encouragement blared into Miriam's earpiece as she readied a grenade while her shields recharged.

"Come to think of it, didn't you used to Lift fully-shielded armatures? You should be able to send that pipsqueak into orbit."

"That was with a sentinel amp. This one works differently," said Miriam, unleashing a Flare.

"Excuses, excuses. You want I should come down there and kill it for you?"

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Media:

Jeff Shepard:

Exploring Horizon with Kaidan and Javik. Clear signs of Reaper tech. Then we saw masses of refugees turned into husks. A horrible way to go, with TIM claiming it was all for the "good of humanity". That kind of thinking was what got most of my squad killed when I ran with Cerberus. And now Oriana Lawson was leaving messages to follow. Worse, Kai Leng was on her trail. Unlike Miranda, Oriana was not a trained fighter. Once we found our way too her, Henry Lawson had Oriana in a headlock with a gun pointed at her temple. I told him if he let her go then maybe he walked. He took the risk. I shot him. No way this traitor got to live. Besides, he was likely indoctrinated and there's no coming back from that as far as we know.

Back on the Normandy, EDI and I had a chat. She was repulsed by the Reapers and impressed by the ultimately futile sacrifices humans had made during the war. She therefore modified her programming against self-preservation (which she felt was the way of the Reapers) and decided she was now willing to sacrifice her own existence to others, primarily Joker. (He had, after all, set her free of the constraints that locked her programming.) Kaidan was pissed like I've never seen, even more than the last time we'd met on Horizon. Not that I blamed him. Wouldn't want to be in his way when we went after Cerberus. Tali was also taking Miranda's death hard for some reason, even though she'd died last year. Guess encountering Oriana kicked up some of those feelings. Javik said pheromones spoke up my relationship with Kaidan, something I said I needed in order to survive. He also asked if I would want to remember the many deaths of those I'd known the way he could with the memory shard. Honestly, I wish I could forget those I'd allowed to die for my ego. Traynor also really wanted Cerberus destroyed since Horizon had been her home.

That's when I was forced to head in to get the Normandy in tip-top shape before engaging Cerberus. Hackett believed that once they were down that we'd head straight to Earth. That meant mandatory shore leave. I was also given Anderson's Citadel apartment for my use. Now I had to figure out what the hell to do with this free time.

Jeff Shepard:

Anderson's apartment was interesting. Recordings for memoirs all over the place. Made it feel like he was still present rather than leading resistance forces on Earth. It also had a fireplace, a bar, multiple bedrooms, a hot tub, some nice artwork, and freaking waterfalls! He had to have gotten this during his time as Councilor. No way his pay as captain would have bought this.

Then came a message from Joker to meet at a swanky sushi place - on him. He also had to be making more than me for this to me possible. There was a very long line but the French maitre d' waved me in, apparently recognizing me on sight. Joker was already there. It didn't take more than 2 minutes to discover we'd been set up, followed by some bumbling intelligence agent intruding in on us and then an attack by unknown mercenaries. I sent Joker to get help. Unfortunately, the awesome fish tank floor was destroyed in the attack.


Now, Brooks wanted me to stay radio silence, except with her, since she claimed to someone how be secure. When Kaidan heard I was in trouble he started heading my way and reached out to me. Brooks didn't get that my crew had by back. Liara also chimed in, not even a little surprised that trouble had found me. Anyway, Brooks was sending a C-Sec shuttle to a skycar lot. When I got there, I saw the mercs were already fighting someone else. Not at all surprised to see my man in action. It was pretty hot.


The shuttle that arrived was full of mercs instead of C-Sec. Fortunately, James was nearby and fired a missile right into the shuttle, killing all the mercs. Then Joker arrived with a shuttle of his own and got us back to the apartment. Liara went to work tracking a pistol I'd taken from a merc to Elijah Khan, owner of a local nightclub. There was a fundraiser that night to help war refugees. We were going to have to infiltrate and get to Khan. We needed a tech expert to crawl through ducts. Our best option was the intelligence agent, Brooks. She'd accompany myself and Kaidan and we'd all work together on this one. When we made it to Khan, he was dead and his drives were wiped clean. Still, the comms showed the last call made. When calling it, I reached my enemy, who scrambled his face and voice. Showed me he was afraid.

Back at the apartment, EDI examined the drives and found enough to lead us to the Citadel Archives. I brought Kaidan and Tali along with me but everyone was in on this. It just meant splitting into separate teams. We were attacked right off. After a short battle, someone above had Brooks at gunpoint. When he pushed her aside and jumped down we saw that it was me. Well, he was wearing the same armor as the mercs but had my face: same green eyes and blue-gray hair. He was a Cerberus clone intended for spare parts but abandoned when he wasn't needed. He wanted to steal my life and had already hacked my comms, stolen my Spectre codes and now took the command codes for the Normandy. My squad had to die because he knew he'd never fool them - but the fact was he'd fool no one, not even my crew, certainly not Hackett. Worse, he didn't have my training and skills, which meant he wouldn't succeed against the Reapers and the entire galaxy would pay for it. Once he got those codes he ran but I was hot on his tail. My squad was with me and the others - as Team Mako and Team Hammerhead - followed from above. However, I eventually lost contact with both of those teams and, again, only Brooks was accessible. Seemed...off. Couldn't quite put a finger on it but there was no reason why they would be jammed but not her. The clone certainly knew about her. Then we fell into a trap, sealed in an iridium vault. That's when I learned Brooks had been working with the clone all along, pretending to be Alliance intel. It was meant to go a lot easier but my team was much better than she had expected. She was ex-Cerberus and had parted ways with TIM because a) he was indoctrinated and she was anti-alien. She had actually compiled the dossiers TIM had given me but later realized it was "wrong" to work with aliens. Of course, they'd missed something crucial, namely that Liara's Glyph was still out there. It freed us and we were on our way to make sure the clone didn't escape with the Normandy.

This time it was Kaidan and Liara with me. We fought our way to the ship. It was preparing for takeoff and we were in the airlock. Traynor was also there, having been discharged by the clone for "conduct unbecoming" or some other nonsense. Only way in was through an emergency exit hatch but it was designed to open out. None of us had the biotic control to open it but Traynor's 6000 credit toothbrush did. I vowed to pay for a new one, out of my own pocket if necessary. Did get pissed he was getting rid of my hamster! We fought in the cargo bay. His uniform was like my but with a blue stripe. Obviously had no clue what the red stripe was about. In the end, we were hanging off the ledge. My squad came for me while Brooks ran. I had a choice to save the clone or kill him. I thought about how he never really had any choices. He was also meant to be cannon fodder and had been brainwashed by Brooks. He had nothing. Just like me, after Mindoir. Maybe he could be redeemed. After all, I turned my life around after screwing everyone over before the Reaper invasion. I decided to save him. However, he didn't want to be saved. He let go and plummeted to his death. Brooks was another story. I didn't see redemption for her. So when she tried to run I had no problem shooting her in the back. Anyone who would pull this kind of crap in the middle of a war needed to die.

Really wanted to get some ME in today. At my parents' house and I knew I'd never be able to play ME3. Thought I could play some ME1 but, sadly, it crashes every time I try to open it, regardless of using Steam or Origin. Weird, too, since "Can You Run It?" says this computer meets minimum system requirements. That'll teach me about not bringing my laptop.