What did you do today in ME?

I always think the best experience comes from starting at the beginning of it all.  Even though ME2 derails significantly from the overarching plot, it's still a great game.  ME3 makes more sense if ME1 was played.

Oh, I've played different Shepards. It's just that I miss my canon Shep a little. Plus I feel like she's the best way to dig into trilogy again.

And personally I don't mind having saves with the same name, I never get them confused

Oh, I'm definitely starting with ME1. It's not even a question  Who would skip the possibility of driving the MAKO

I love the Mako.  I mean, I wish it drove more like the Nomad but those cannons are awesome.  Also, what other vehicle can land on its ass and still keep going?  Not that piece of flying tissue paper we got in ME2.  Shuttles are boring because we don't get to "play" them.  (Though some stunt flying by Cortez would have been nice.)  Some of the personal side missions are really nice.  Also, because Kaidan is my right-hand man I always try to save the biotics when they do stupid things like join cults run by non-biotics or kidnap government officials.

Karen Shepard, Soldier, ME3 cont'd:

Citadel - “And that's why I hate politicians”

The Normandy arrived at the Citadel so Commander Shepard could meet with Councilor Valern. Unfortunately, all hell had broken loose. The Citadel was under attack by Cerberus, C-Sec had been “compromised” (according to Thane, who radioed the Normandy after evading Cerberus commandos at the hospital), and Cerberus assassins were after the Council.

Shepard, Liara and EDI used a shuttle infiltrate the station and made it to C-Sec headquarters. With the help of Commander Bailey – wounded in the fight, but able to keep in contact over the radio – they headed for the executors office, where Valern had intended to meet them.

As they made their way through C-Sec headquarters they found evidence of traitors within the agency, who looked the other way as Cerberus smuggled assassins and weapons onto the station, then murdered their colleagues when the coup attempt began.

The reached the executor's office, but they were too late. He was dead, but as Shepard looked back out into the lobby she noticed Councilor Valern hiding with the aid of a cloaking device. Unfortunately, a Cerberus assassin found him as well, and a stand-off ensued. Valern confirmed that Udina was the one backing the Cerberus coup attempt, and needed to be stopped before he handed the Councilors over to Cerberus.

Thane arrived and engaged the assassin, but he was critically wounded in the fight, and the assassin got away. Shepard and her team chased after him, fighting their way through Cerberus forces along the way. Eventually, they found Udina and the other Councilors, being protected by the newly appointed Spectre agent, Ashley Williams.

Another stand-off ensued, and Udina tried to imply that Shepard was the one working with Cerberus, not him. But Ashley and the Councilors believed Shepard, and when Udina pulled a pistol on Councilor Tevos, he was shot and killed by Ashley.

Commander Bailey and some C-Sec officers arrived, confirmed Shepard's story and informed them that the Cerberus soldiers chasing the Council had fled when they realized their coup attempt was doomed to fail. The Councilors expressed their gratitude, but Shepard (and Ashley) had just been doing their jobs.

Shepard met with Bailey in his office. He had no additional info on the Cerberus assassin thanks to a virus that Cerberus had installed in the Citadel's security system. He also let Shepard know that Thane was at Huerta Memorial, and his prognosis wasn't good. Shepard headed over there right away.

The physician treating Thane confirmed that there was nothing that could be done. Kolyat was there, and Thane asked them to join in reading from a prayer book. After Thane had passed away, Shepard realized that the prayer Thane had recited was for her, not for himself.

Finally watched Mass Effect: Paragon Lost. Hadn't realized it was on Hulu.

Personally I liked it. Not a masterpiece, but still good piece of ME story.

Karen Shepard, Soldier, ME3 cont'd:

Citadel

The cleanup from the Cerberus coup attempt was ongoing. After saying goodbye to Thane at Huerta Memorial, Shepard headed for the docks to make sure Kelly was OK. She was, despite a scary moment when she overheard Cerberus commandos looking for her by name. Thankfully, her new identity had protected her. Shepard also assisted a film-maker named Solik obtain footage of the suffering of the refugees on the docks for a documentary he was working on.

Shepard ran into a doctor complaining that someone was sabotaging medigel dispensers, so she offered to assist. She encountered her old “friend” Conrad Verner near one of the dispensers, trying to recruit for Cerberus on the basis that Shepard used to work for them so they must be OK.

Shepard quickly set Conrad straight, and deduced that a Cerberus agent had sabotaged the dispensers while everyone was distracted by Conrad's antics. While talking to Conrad she also learned that he was actually a brilliant scientist who had written a research paper that would be useful to the people working on the Crucible. Nothing surprised her anymore (but that came close).

Conrad pointed out his Cerberus contact, who tried to kill Shepard, but Conrad pushed Shepard out of the way and sacrificed himself to save Shepard. Or at least he would have, if the Cerberus agent's gun hadn't misfired, thanks to Jenna, the C-Sec informant from Chora's Den that Shepard had helped years ago. She was impressed by Conrad's heroism (as was Shepard), and the two of them left together. It had been a strange day, but everything seemed to have worked out well in the end.

^ I love this

Aww... my 11 yo daughter just finished the entire DA trilogy, so I suggested she starts MET. She plays on easy/casual and has a tendency to name her characters after her favorite thing in the world - food.

Pie Shepard, Adept, War Hero, Earth-born, Paragon. She made it through the Dig Site, found the beacon and returned to Normandy... after DA she is not having much difficulty so far, but then she did not drive Mako yet..

Kaiden got a solid meh as a romance, but she thinks both Kaiden and Ashley are nice

Well, here is to the growing BioWare fandom base

Pre-teen angst:

Kiddo: “mom, Joker sounds like he’s playing a video game. Is he permanent?”
Me: “Yes, he will pilot your ship for all three games.”
Kiddo: “Dang! What do I need a character named Joker for?”

Karen Shepard, Soldier, ME3 cont'd:

Normandy

EDI requested a moment of Shepard's time for another philosophical chat. At the end she decided to devote processing power towards “duty, altruism, love”, thereby “turning herself good” (as Joker put it).

Urdnot Bakara emailed with an update on the situation on Tuchanka. Shepard read a news report that said Aresh Aghdashloo, who as a boy was a victim of Cerberus experiments on Pragia along with Jack, had sacrificed himself to save a shuttle full of children escaping the Reapers.

Samantha challenged Shep to a chess match. Shepard lost, since “real life” tactics aren't very effective on a chess board. Diana Allers requested an interview about the Cerberus coup, which the commander granted. James wanted to meet as well – he'd been recommended for the N7 program on the day the Reapers invaded, and wanted Shepard's opinion on what he should do. Shep felt it was ultimately his decision, but that he'd do great if he accepted.

Admiral Anderson called (again), to update Shep on the situation on Earth. He mentioned that news of Shepard's successes were a boost of morale to the people fighting on Earth. He mentioned something big going down in London, and reiterated that she shouldn't underestimate Kai Leng.

Garrus was at the memorial wall, and the two talked about the coup. Dr. Chakwas asked for Shepard's help to negotiate an exchange of medical supplies on the Citadel.

Far Rim: Quarian Diplomatic Convoy

The Normandy flew to the Far Rim to rendezvous with a quarian envoy ship. The members of the Admiralty Board came aboard – Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh, Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib, and their newest member, Shepard's old friend Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Tali had been elected to take her fathers place on the Board; Tali downplayed the importance of the promotion, but Shepard was proud that her expertise was recognized by her government.

It turned out the quarians had other concerns than just the Reaper invasion. They had initiated a war to try and take back their homeworld, and in doing so had driven the geth to reach out to the Reapers to try and ensure their own survival. It was a mess, and clearly there was still conflict within the Board itself about the decision, but Shepard understood the quarians point of view. The conflict had dragged on for three centuries, and it needed to come to a head one way or another. They best they could hope for now was to try and end it while minimizing the loss of life. The Reaper presence complicated things, though (to say the least).

Plans were made to attack a geth dreadnought that was being used by the Reapers to coordinate geth defences. Shepard had a bit of time to talk privately with Tali about the geth war, the Reaper war, and her promotion. She called it a “formality”, but Shepard knew that the knowledge and expertise of both the geth and the Reapers that she'd acquired over the last few years would be invaluable to the Board.

Karen Shepard, Soldier, ME3 cont'd:

Normandy

Shepard spoke with Legion to discuss the geth's side of the conflict, what Legion had been up to since they last spoke, what happened to the “heretics” that they had rewritten, and how the geth ended up aligned with the Reapers. He also revealed that geth fighter squadrons were endangering quarian liveships, and proposed a plan to stop them.

Maelon had evidently heard about the genophage being cured, and emailed Shepard about it. He seemed to think this exonerated him. Shepard wasn't sure about that, but she grudgingly had to admit that without the data from his experiments things might not have turned out as well as they did.

Garrus gave an update on the situation on Palaven. The krogan presence was helping, but he wasn't sure it would be enough. He was still trying to adjust to having all of that responsibility placed on him, with the Primarch asking him for advice all the time. Like Tali and Wrex, his experiences over the last few years with the Reapers had thrust him into a leadership position, and his people were relying on him.

In Engineering, Ken was being his usual “charming” self (poor Gabby). James and Steve were debating the merits of the Mako vs the Hammerhead. No contest in Shepard's mind – Mako all the way. Steve was also impressed with the geth fighter Shepard had got a chance to fly in. James was understandably suspicious of Legion, and thought the quarians were “loco” for starting the war at a time like this.

Perseus Veil: Rannoch - Rescue Admiral Koris

Tali and Liara accompanied Shepard to the surface of Rannoch, to attempt a rescue of Admiral Zaal'Koris and his crew after their ship crashed during the battle with the geth dreadnought. They were briefed by Admiral Xen during the shuttle flight. Admiral Koris had sacrificed his own ship to take out a geth cannon that had been targeting the fleet. The other civilian captains were apparently panicking without their leader, with many expressing a desire to try and flee the system. That would get them torn apart by the geth, so they had to find the Admiral and the other survivors of the Qwib Qwib fast.

Tali was obviously moved when she set foot on Rannoch for the first time. Shepard hoped the rest of her people would be able to join her before too long.
Geth ground forces, along with a jamming tower, complicated the search. They found no survivors on the route to the tower, other than Dorn'Hazt, an maintenance worker who'd tried to hold off the geth to buy time for his shipmates to escape. Unfortunately, his injuries were so severe he died soon after they found him.

With the help of Steve's shuttle, they destroyed the jamming tower and were able to contact Admiral Koris. He'd become separated from the rest of his crew, and wanted Shepard to prioritize rescuing them first. Shepard understood – she would have argued the same in his position – but she had to insist that Admiral Koris be rescued first. She hated to do it, but losing the Admiral would likely result in the death of thousands if the Civilian captains tried to flee due to a lack of leadership. Earlier, Garrus had referred to these kinds of decisions as “the ruthless calculus of war”. At that moment, Shepard understood exactly what he'd meant.

Admiral Koris eventually agreed, and transmitted his location. The shuttle rescued him from the geth forces that were closing, but there was no time to search for the rest of the crew. They had already been overwhelmed by geth forces.

Normandy

Back on the Normandy, Admiral Koris contacted Shepard by vidcom. Having seen the state of the Civilian Fleet, he expressed support for Shepard's decision, despite his sadness at the loss of the crew of the Qwib Qwib.

Legion and Admiral Raan reported that the location of the base transmitting the Reaper control signal had been found. Legion indicated that the upgrades the Reapers had provided had evolved the geth, to the point that they were closer to true AIs. Individuals, even. That complicated things ethically, but it was a moot point for the time being. As long as they were controlled by the Reapers, the geth were the enemy, and needed to be treated as such.

They came up with a plan to destroy the geth base, but Admiral Raan recommended taking out the geth fighter base first. Shepard concurred.