What did you do today in ME?

Ali Shepard:

1. Followed up on Hackett's request and went to a Sirta Foundation research base that had been attacked by biotic terrorists. The terrorists had drugged the scientists so I had to be careful to only kill the terrorists (which is very difficult when your biotic and tech talents have such wide reach). Luckily, I managed to take all the terrorists down without any civilian casualties.

(In another timeline, I may have killed one or two civilians because of Singularity and Overload)

2. Landed on another planet. Nothing to do there except kill a couple of Thresher Maws.

3. I went to go look for those missing Exogeni scientists the news report mentioned. We found them in a mine... well, huskified versions of them anyway. Liara said she had heard about it before, 'machine cultists' she called them. She said an alien artifact caused them to turn themselves into husks. Dragons Teeth were all over the mine, but that artifact was nowhere to be found (probably a good thing). If these alien artifacts and links to machine cultists are true, along with the presence of the Dragon's Teeth, it seems the Geth have been active beyond the Persius Veil for longer than previously thought.

NG+?  Alternately, maybe just one more PT...

I am glad to see that this thread is back on these unofficial boards. With Andromeda coming out soon I had to go through the Shepard trilogy one more time. If I time it right I will be wrapping it up close to the time Andromeda comes out. Right now I am rolling a ruthless colonist renegade male Shepard as a soldier. In ME 1 I killed off the rachni, left Kaidan to die on Virmire, killed Wrex on Virmire, killed Balak, saved the Feros colony (it felt in character since my Shepard does have the colonist background)and let the council die. So far in ME 2 I killed Vido (or more accurately let Zaeed kill him), deleted the info in the graybox, and I just finished wrapping up the early recruitment missions and I am about to head to Horizon.

It's good to be back.  I am going to browse through this thread.  Hopefully it has lots of screenshots like the original did.

Today Nathan stopped a collector attack on Horizon and met up with Ashley whom he got into a relationship with back when they were both pursuing Saren.  The reunion didn't go so well but more importantly he did stop the collector attack but they still got away with some of the colonists on board their ship.  Nathan will most likely head to Illium next.  There is a drell assassin on Illium who is said to be an excellent sniper and a talented biotic that should come in handy against the collectors.  Also Nathan's second in command has some personal business she needs to attend to and he agreed to help her out with it since he needs everyone focused.

Ali Shepard:

1. Finally had the time to go rescue Nassana's sister. She was being held prisoner at a pretty fortified merc base. Or at least, I thought she was being held prisoner. One of the mercs was an Asari, probably the toughest merc in the group because of her biotics. Turns out she was Nassana's sister. I had some strong words for Nassana when later; I don't like being lied to.

2. I found the ship belonging to Garoth's brother, but did find his brother. The ship had been attacked. I traced the attackers to a nearby planet. They had bunkered down in a well-protected building. When I did make it inside, they put up quite a fight. I found the brother's body in a room. No idea why they brought it down to the planet. I don't really care now that the pirates are dead. I informed Garoth of his brother's death. I hate giving bad news like that; it hurts every time.

Also, I ran into a Geth trap on the planet. I like robots right up until the moment they try to kill you.

3. I met Helena Blake at her compound. She said she was going to take her gang into less serious crimes. I told her to disband the gang instead. She agreed, but only on the condition that she go free. I did not agree to those terms, and she tried to "neutralize me" (her words). That went about as well as you would expect.

Jarec Shepard:

- Helped Liara become the new Shadow Broker. It involved killing mercs, killing a fellow Spectre and killing the old Shadow Broker.
- Tracked down Sidonis for Garrus. Killed lots of mercs and crippled "Fade", a corrupt former C-Sec officer. Sidonis didn't make it.
- Found Thane's son, Kolyat, on the Citadel. Got to beat the crap out of a thug politician. Saved Kolyat from going down the wrong path.

Melody Shepard, Colonist/Sole Survivor/Infiltrator, ME1 Hardcore:

On the Citadel with Garrus and Liara:

Visited Flux. Liara found a hacked quasar machine from which someone was siphoning credits. Melody spoke with a waitress concerned for her sister Jenna, acting as an informant for C-Sec at Chora's Den.

Mat with Garrus' old colleague Chellick about Jenna. She'd uncovered an illegal arms dealer. Melody agreed to pose as a buyer to get Chellick the evidence he needed to wrap up the investigation so Jenna would be out of danger.

Spoke with Chorban, the keeper researcher, about an accusation made by his colleague Jahleed. Turns out that they were both in over their heads, working with stolen tech, though ultimately well-meaning. Melody would liked to have knocked their foolish heads together.

Approached a man and a woman arguing in public, making a bit of a scene. They couldn't agree on whether the pregnant woman should subject her foetus to gene therapy. Melody declined to get involved in this very personal matter.

Liara traced the credit-siphoning signal to a computer bank on the Presidium housing a hostile AI. Melody destroyed its power supply before it could self-destruct.

Scanned a load more keepers. Only one left to find...

Helped C-Sec Lt Girard with a teenage girl from Mindoir who had been enslaved by batarians for thirteen years. She'd got hold of a pistol and was threatening suicide. Melody approached her slowly and gently encouraged her to talk about her past as best she could. She spoke about her harrowing experiences in the third person, showing signs of Stockholm Syndrome and PTSD. Melody eventually managed to convinced her to take a sedative so she could be safely taken to hospital.

This is the first time I'd seen I Remember Me, never having played a Colonist Shepard before. Bravo, BioWare, that's some good writing. I of course took the Charm options where possible and the Paragon options where I didn't have enough points in Charm.

Right, I think we're done on the Citadel for now. UNC missions beckon...

Karen Shepard, Soldier, ME2:

Illium - Recruit the Justicar

Acting on a tip from Liara, Shepard, Jack, and Tali spoke to Tracking Officer Dara at the Nos Astra transportation hub. She seemed a little agitated when Shepard asked where Justicar Samara was; evidently, asari Justicars were similar to Spectres in how they operated and the authority they had in asari space, and Samara's presence had many people in Nos Astra on edge. Dara said they could find Samara at the commercial spaceport, so Shepard and her team went to hail a cab. On the way to the taxi stand, they overheard an asari on a call, it sounded like she was scheming to take some cargo that didn't belong to her, and mentioned a crime scene and a Justicar. Evidently Samara had gotten mixed up in something.

When they arrived at the spaceport they talked to some of the merchants and workers to try and find out what was happening. Pitne For, a volus "business man", complained about the murder of his business partner by mercenaries, and was worried for his own life. The Justicar was investigating the crime scene for some reason, and Pitne For and others seemed just as wary of her as the mercs.

Shepard and her team spoke to Detective Anaya at the police station. She was investigating the murder, and confirmed that Samara was currently at the crime scene and they would be given access to go speak to her. She claimed to want Samara to leave her district, as the Justicar's presence seemed to be making her bosses nervous. However, the Justicar Code won't allow Samara to be detained, so any attempt to follow her orders would result in serious trouble for Anaya. Jack and Tali found Shepard's claim that Anaya shouldn't have to follow an order that would put her in danger amusing, given what they faced every day during their time with the commander.

At the entrance to the crime scene, Shepard found a shipping manifest that implied that goods were stolen from someone named Thax. Shepard thought that was the name mentioned by the asari near the taxi stand. So that was what it was about. Shepard forwarded the evidence to Thax.

They found Samara, who fought and killed two Eclipse mercs when they refused to give her some information she wanted. It didn't have anything to do with the hit on the volus, she was after a "dangerous fugitive" who had been had happened to have been harboured by the same Eclipse band that murdered Pitne For's partner. Anaya arrived, looking to take Samara in - her superiors couldn't be put off any longer, and Samara agreed to cooperate for one day if Shepard would get the name of the ship the fugitive left on from Eclipse. Then she would join Shepard's mission.

Shepard suspected she was being played somewhat by the two asari, and that, despite how strict and harsh this Justicar Code seemed, Anaya wasn't in any real danger from the Samara. The detective's superiors, however, might be a different story, as they seemed very anxious to prevent Samara from looking into Eclipse activities on Illium. It made no difference to Shepard, though - if Samara wanted her to fetch some intel to prevent Anaya getting caught between her and Eclipse, so be it. Cerberus would get their Justicar, Samara would her information, and Anaya would have fewer Eclipse problems. Everyone wins.
Shepard got a pass-card for the Eclipse base from Pitne For, who also revealed that he had delivered a biotic-boosting chemical, Minigen X3, to Eclipse without telling them of it's toxic side affects. Probably why they wanted him dead.

Shepard, Jack, Tali, and Chatika vas Paus attacked the Eclipse base, taking down mercs, a few mechs and a gunship along the way, all while trying to avoid toxic clouds of Minigen X3. They encountered an Eclipse sister named Elnora who claimed to be a scared new recruit who only pretended to fight. Shepard didn't believe her, but when she wouldn't give the ship name that Samara's fugitive - who Elnora claimed was an "Ardat-Yakshi" - Shepard told her to get lost.

Deeper inside the base they found evidence of Pitne For's smuggling activities, as well as proof that Elnora was the one who had murdered Pitne For's partner. Jack said that they should have killed Elnora when they had her, but they weren't there to police a drug deal gone bad, and Shepard didn't kill people who weren't shooting at her first. Anaya would have to deal with it.

They found another of the volus that worked for Pitne, named Niftu Cal. He had been injected with Minigen X3 had was so delusional he thought of himself as a "biotic god". Shepard convinced him that taking a nap was a better idea for him than conquering the galaxy or fighting the leader of Eclipse (who was in the next room).

Shepard entered the office of Captain Wasea, the leader of the local Eclipse band, and defeated her and the remaining Eclipse sisters. They found a data-pad that revealed the name of the ship Samara was searching for - AML Demeter - and returned to the police station. Samara was impressed with their results, and pledged an oath to Shepard, so that for the duration of the mission she wouldn't be forced to choose between Shepard's orders and the Justicar Code. She had been working alone for centuries, and claimed to be looking forward to joining "a company of honourable heroes."

Shepard gave Anaya the evidence gathered on Pitne For and Elnora, and wished her well. Then the team returned to the Normandy with another new recruit.

Watched my Teenage daughter play through Virmire mission for the first time. Suggested she save before talking to Wrex. Daughter talked him down. Offered pros and cons while she agonized for ~10 minutes or so about whether to pick up Kaidan or Ash. Daughter chose Ash because she was with the Salarians, who she believed also need rescuing.


At the end had her reload to pre-Wrex conversation save, and walked her through to the "bad" outcome that sort of explains the Ashley-as-Space-Nazi memes she had been curious about.

Looks like I won't be getting any ME 2 in today. I am going to a movie in about an hour and I was too busy today drooling over the new Andromeda videos. The wait is killing me. Going to get back to Shepard's journey tomorrow though or as I now like to call the original games "Mass Effect Milky Way"