What did you do today in ME?

My guess is it plays out same as any other class who doesn't take the renegade interrupts - re-route accomplished but Aria is mad you didn't get them out of there sooner.

finished ME3

- sabotaged the genophage by shooting Mordin in the back with Wrex in charge. That's not the best part. hahaha
- I chose the quarians even though I could've had peace. I couldn't do it. No idea what will happen if the geth uploads the code
- Now the best part. You would think Wrex is killed because I sabotaged the cure? hahaha. No. He was at the fob giving his krogan a speech. He even was proud that I united the galaxy to fight the reapers. 
- I lied. There is actually a better part than the best part. I destroyed the reapers. How cool is that? Awesome. Right? I know. 

Now I will get back to my DA2 playthrough. 

I know. He's such a showoff. 

I would have completed it earlier had I not ran a few errands. 

Anyways I did start the end run mission. Nothing really to report though surprisingly I only died once during the entire thing...actually maybe twice. Felt like a right and proper bad ass running through everything. And then I got shot with the Reaper beam trying to get to the Thanix controls. Next time through I remembered this room on the other side of the missiles in easy range of it so I bunkered down in there and waited for the last thing to engage. It did, just as a Banshee warped into the place, so I ran right to it with Adrenaline Rush and pressed the button while under fire. Oh Video Games, how we love you.

I should finish the game tonight all I got left is Maruder Shields and the three Husketeers.

Jarec Shepard:

- Put any end to a crazy VI that was infecting mechs to go on a rampage against organics.
- Went to recruit Warlord Okeer. He didn't survive but I got his "son", Grunt, a tank-born krogan.
- Went to Horizon to prevent a Collector attack on the colonists. Something called "Harbinger" was very chatty. Lost half the colony. Unpleasant encounter with Kaidan Alenko.
- Awakened the krogan from his pod. Named himself Grunt.

Miriam Shepard stormed Cerberus HQ...

Kai Leng's trail led to unlisted space station orbiting red supergiant in Horsehead Nebula. Attempted to sleep en route, largely unsuccessfully. (Coffee and stims, breakfast of champions).

Hackett mobilized fleet to assault Cerberus defence force; Normandy participated in attack while Cortez flew boarding party in by shuttle. Took EDI and Tali. Shuttle came in hot into hangar bay, met expected heavy resistance including Atlas mechs. Neutralized welcoming party. Gained access to station interior by sabotaging hangar launch system, propelling fighter into space station.

Proceeded towards central lab to recover Prothean VI. Squadmates proved invaluable: EDI hacking encrypted locks using knowledge of Cerberus protocols; Tali hacking turrets set up by combat engineers. Cerberus troops numerous but largely incompetent, the effects of indoctrination apparent.

Found video logs in labs documenting Lazarus project (difficult viewing; grateful to Tali for moral support), EDI's origin (rogue VI from 2183 Luna incident augmented with Reaper tech recovered from Sovereign) and experiments with Reaper implants (including Illusive Man's own augmentation). Lab walls plastered with blood.

Found remnants of human-Reaper larva, salvaged from wreckage of Collector base, repurposed as power source. Likely contributing factor to Illusive Man's indoctrination.

Entered Illusive Man's inner sanctum, activated Prothean VI. Received communication from Illusive Man; made final attempt to convince him to join war effort, to no avail.

Spoke with VI, learned that Citadel is Catalyst. Crucible design altered during some previous cycle to incorporate Citadel for reasons unknown. Also learned that Illusive Man had fled to Citadel, thus revealing its likely purpose to Reapers. Learned that Reapers repositioning Citadel into Earth orbit.

Conversation with VI interrupted by Kai Leng. Settled the score with him, a far less formidable opponent without a gunship on his side.

Returned to Normandy and reported to Hackett. Allies hand now forced; no alternative but to proceed to Earth and end this, one way or another.

Toured the ship for probably final time. Caught Tali and Garrus sharing a tender moment, finally. (Both rather coy, Tali claiming it's just a fling. Don't believe a word of it).

Learned from Allers that her home colony, Bekenstein, has been destroyed. Reapers changing tactics, perhaps out of desperation, now exterminating rather than harvesting. This has to end. Now.

[Died a couple of times in the hangar scene. I'm always a bit derpy after not playing for a few days, and that scene really is a bit of a trial by fire for an out-of-practice player. No other deaths after that.

I managed to resist the temptation to hit the Renegade interrupt during Kai Leng's attempt to stab Shepard in the back purely because I wanted to see what would happen. Having seen it, I can now happily take that interrupt during any and all future playthroughs

Talibrations, OTP!

Next time, the ending... assuming I can beat Marauder Shields on Insanity...]

Miriam Shepard broke the cycle...

Ordered the Normandy to Earth.

Alliance analysts distilled galactic military strength into a number, 7547, estimate that allied forces are as ready as they can possibly be. Seems so arbitrary. Hope it's all enough.

Welcomed Hackett aboard Normandy. Received briefing from Anderson (via QEC) and him. Citadel in geosynchronous orbit above London, arms closed, receiving prisoners from surface via conduit beam. Small teams to land in London to destroy Reaper AA towers; then "Hammer" ground forces to land en masse, heading for beam. Anyone who can make it there to board Citadel and attempt to open arms for Crucible to dock.

Allied forces -- human, turian, asari, quarian -- arrived via Charon relay. No salarians; had hoped they would come through after all, but evidently not. (Recommend salarians be stripped of Council seat, quarians to replace them). Coordinated attack on Reaper fleet, then departed Normandy via shuttle with Ashley and Javik.

London a wreck, under permanent darkness due to atmospheric disturbance caused by conduit beam. Fought through extreme resistance to AA tower location, used M-920 Cain to destroy it. Held position awaiting extraction; used backup Cain to neutralize Banshee.

Extracted by shuttle to forward operation base. Toured base, spoke with squad (unwavering to the end; proud of every one of them). Received a memory-exchange from Liara. Used QEC to speak to colleagues at other locations, all bringing their own skills to the war effort. Met up with Wrex, rallying krogan troops. (Recommend Council seat for krogan; recommend Urdnot Bakara, "Eve", as first councillor).

Met with Anderson following "Hammer"'s arrival at base. "Hammer" strength already down to approximately 50%. Rallied the squad; selected James and Liara for final push to the beam.

Proceeded through "no man's land" in the face of fierce resistance. Radio chatter from other "Hammer" squads painted a bleak picture. Secured Alliance tank armed with Thanix missiles to neutralize Reaper destroyer guarding conduit. Guarded tank from Reaper forces including multiple Brute and Banshee units while EDI computed firing solution. Lured destroyer away from conduit and unleashed Thanix missiles, clearing path to beam.

Proceeded towards beam; progress impeded by arrival of Harbinger. Insisted that squad evacuate to Normandy, against Liara's protests. Proceeded alone; took direct hit from Harbinger's main cannon. Hardsuit pulverized; Adas rifle destroyed; bio-amp fried; sustained grievous injuries, but still somehow able to walk (the Lazarus cybernetics' last hurrah, presumably).

Scavanged a pistol from the battlefield (Carnifex, old model using fixed heat sink instead of thermal clips, modded with frictionless materials to reduce heat buildup). Staggered to conduit, neutralizing light but persistent resistance.

Arrived on Citadel in keeper tunnel piled high with human bodies. Made contact with Anderson who had also made it through. Proceeded through tunnel to control room; met Anderson attempting to open Citadel; interrupted by Illusive Man, corrupted with Reaper implants and radiating dark energy.

Unable to move due to Illusive Man's control over dark energy (akin to biotic "Dominate" technique known to be practised by rogue asari). Forced to shoot Anderson, mortally wounding him; unable to resist TIM's control.

Attempted to reason with indoctrinated Illusive Man, to no avail; he insisted that he could control the Reapers. Pressed further, admitted he was under their control, took Anderson's pistol, committed suicide. Anderson opened Citadel arms before succumbing to injuries.

Crucible did not fire.

Communicated with hidden Citadel AI, the Intelligence created by Leviathan race and the true Catalyst. Intelligence confirmed Leviathan story, offered three new solutions to organic-synthetic problem: use Crucible energy to destroy all synthetic life; or control Reapers as TIM had sought to do; or merge organic and synthetic life.

So, a choice. One of three ways, this all ends now.

And it will end. The galaxy will be safe.

...Miriam Shepard, signing off.

[That first section was the most difficult Reaper battle on Insanity so far, they were everywhere. I wondered if they were spawning infinitely, actually.

I live fairly close to London and have family there. If this were real, we'd likely all be dead. I have family further afield in England as well who might be safer.

Went full Paragon during the rousing speech.

I got myself surrounded by baddies on a few occasions due to overly-aggressive vanguarding, this was a much tougher fight than Cerberus HQ. So I changed tactics and used cover and Shockwave a lot more. Got some nice combos going with Liara, including a one-two on a Brute where her Warp simultaneously detonated a fire explosion and primed for a biotic explosion.

The missile defence sequence was longer than I remember it being, but also not as tough as I feared it'd be. Glad there were no Ravagers, though the Harvester did kill me once. I took full advantage of my vanguard mobility and constant free barrier recharges; to be honest, I don't know how I'd have done this with any other class.

The three Husks and Marauder Shields took about forty minutes of do-overs, and I set the camera sensitivity to "low" to help with aiming. Didn't knock it down from Insanity though, and got my trophy to prove it. And now I can do that part on Casual in any future playthroughs   Arguably, I don't really deserve the trophy anyway, considering I cheesed my way through the game using the Adas.

During the scenes at the end:

• Ashley told Joker "it's time to go";
• Joker, Javik and James were first out of the Normandy on the jungle planet;
• Ashley led the service at the Normandy cenotaph.
  

I rather enjoyed my replay from beginning to end. And since I won't be flying to Andromeda any time soon, I may as well play the trilogy again ]

Jarec Shepard:

- Helped Jack destroy the Tetlin Facility where she was raised. She put her past behind her with a bullet in the head and a big explosion.
- Restored the magnetic shield around a colony that would have died.
- Investigated a seemingly disabled Collector ship. It wasn't. It was a trap but we escaped.
- Tali was accused of treason. I got her exonerated. Had no idea how satisfying it was to take the Renegade option here.
- Rescued a quarian from a wild pack of varren.

New playthrough!

I was going to leave this a week, but couldn't wait If everyone loses interest in this thread after you all depart for Andromeda, I'll quit posting.

Melody Shepard: Colonist, Sole Survivor, Infiltrator. Shotgun training taken as bonus.



In hindsight, I'm not sure about those eyebrows, they look a bit over-plucked and make her look like Liara in that shot Might change them in ME2. It's a simple face to recreate, not far off the standard Femshep actually: hair obviously different, skin tone one shade darker, smooth complexion, piercing blue eyes, different nose, no makeup, most disfiguring scar I could find (Broshep gets a much better choice of scars). The facial structure and mouth are different too (both set to the far left, IIRC), though they make little visible difference in practice.

I'm going to try for a paragade playthrough. Having been raised in the colonies rather than bathed in the values of the Alliance, Melody's morality has a touch of the Wild West about it. Having survived two tragedies, her fight-or-flight instinct is a bit twitchy, and she has underlying abandonment issues.

Her approach will be:

• courteous but firm with her colleagues;
• friendly with civilians, although no patience with time-wasters (this means you, Verner);
• compassionate towards victims;
• unwilling to compromise with villains; unwilling to grant second chances. (That's "unwilling", not "unable");
• skewing Paragon when making big decisions, though her past experiences may colour some of her choices.

I'm gunning for the Turian Ally and Asari Ally trophies. Between them, Garrus and Liara can cover Decryption, Electronics and First Aid, so I can concentrate on levelling up Melody's weapons, armour, Spectre and reputation talents. I've set the difficulty to Hardcore to see how I get on. No trouble so far, though both my previous ME1 playthroughs were on Normal, so things might get problematic later.

It's a bit strange, hearing Miriam's voice coming out of someone else's mouth! But because Melody looks so different, I don't feel like she's the same character, so playing her with somewhat different morality doesn't seem weird.

Anyway, here's what she's been up to.  I'm going to do these as short lists rather than in-character narrative.

Eden Prime: prior to departure, admonished Jenkins for being an action/glory-seeker. Reassured the scientists at the camp, took a firmer line with the smugglers, and yelled at Powell. Sniped the geth where possible; a bit random with an unlevelled SR without Assassination unlocked, but I think this will be fun as the game goes on; sniping geth is very much fun in ME3MP, after all Admonished Kaidan for approaching the beacon, but checked on him and Ashley afterwards to make sure they were holding up okay.

Citadel: took a neutral-to-exasperated line with the Council. Recruited Garrus: took all the Renegade dialogue options with Harkin because he deserves it; Fist didn't get to walk away. Welcomed Tali into the squad. Accepted Spectre appointment, returned to Normandy without recruiting Wrex (setting things up for a Wrex-less ME2/ME3 without having to betray him on Virmire). Didn't do any Citadel side-quests, will come back to them after recruiting Liara so they count towards the Asari Ally achievement.

Normandy: took the neutral options when giving the rousing pre-departure speech. Toured the ship; got to know the squad. Reassured Garrus that C-Sec regulations won't restrict Spectre work. Admonished Pressly for being an unreconstructed space racist.

I'm similar, though in my case it was ME3MP that conditioned me to play like that. It's why I kept forgetting to Pull Guardian shields away: it wasn't mapped to any of my three buttons, so I forgot it was there

I did use squad powers and my other powers from time to time though, when I remembered.