What did you do today in ME?

Karen Shepard, Soldier, ME2:

Normandy

Emails - Kate Bowman emailed about the upcoming anniversary of the terrorist attack on Terra Nova, as she was busy with preparations for a commemorative ceremony. Shepard liked Kate and was glad to hear from her. Diana from Omega sent her thanks - she'd heard that the person responsible for Nef's death had been killed, and that Shepard and Samara had been the ones that had avenged her daughter. Cerberus had analyzed the Firewalker data from Corang, saying it had "incredible value for historians" and might lead to a better understanding of the Protheans' legacy.

The Phoenix Massing: Lattesh - Project Firewalker cont'd

Shepard, Samara and Tali took the Hammerhead to the frozen planet Lattesh, looking to retrieve data nodes set by Dr Cayce to study the planet's anomalous weather patterns. They managed to collect all 10 probes and extract before the Hammerhead's engines froze up.

Collector Ship

Kelly informed Shepard that the Illusive Man wanted to speak with her, so Shepard headed for the conference room. TIM revealed that a Collector cruiser had been disabled by a turian patrol and was drifting in space. He wanted Shepard to board it and gather intel on the Collectors, specifically on the Omega-4 Relay. It was such an obvious trap, but TIM was in full denial mode. Shepard sometimes wondered whose side he was really on.

The Normandy travelled to the site of the disabled vessel and Shepard, Tali, and Samara boarded. As they investigated, they encountered neither Collector forces or surviving colonists - there were lots of bodies, however. Tali remarked on the ships resemblance to an insect hive., and Samara stated that in all her years of experience she had never seen a ship like it. They found empty pods, like the ones used on the colonists on Horizon, and piles of bodies, victims of brutal experiments.

Eventually they reached a research terminal - the Collectors seemed to be experimenting on one of their own for some reason, making genetic comparisons between themselves and humans. EDI analyzed the data, and was able to determine that the Collectors were in fact huskified Protheans. The Prothean race hadn't been exterminated, they'd been enslaved by the Reapers.

EDI also confirmed that the ship was the same one that destroyed the Normandy SR1. They found more pods - enough not only for all the humans in the Terminus, but Earth itself - but there were no life signs in any of them, no doubt they malfunctioned when the ship lost power. Shepard's squad was on edge, with Samara noting that there were no Collector bodies around.

Shepard linked EDI to another terminal and the AI began searching the Collector databases. The Collectors sprung their trap, and ambushed Shepard and her team. Two Scions accompanied Harbinger and various Collector troops, but the Normandy team took them down with some help from the new assault rifle Shepard had found on the ship - the Revenant.

EDI finished her data-mine, and found the information they needed on the Omega-4 Relay. She also revealed proof that TIM knew the mission was a trap and didn't say anything, which didn't surprise Shepard at all. As EDI worked on finding them a way out, Shepard, Samara, Tali and Chatika vas Paus fought their way through Collectors, husks, and Scions, with Harbinger “assuming control” of various Collector troops in each battle. A Praetorian showed up at one point, but the Collector Particle Beam and the Revenant helped take it down without too much trouble.

They made it out just as the Collector ship was powering up, and Joker was able to get the Normandy to safety before the Collector's weapons came back online. Shepard called TIM from the conference room, and as expected he rationalized sending them into an obvious trap as a necessary risk. By this point Shepard had basically tuned out his BS and didn't much care to listen to his reasons / excuses.

The data EDI collected confirmed the Collectors used Reaper IFF technology to navigate the Omega-4 Relay. TIM revealed that Cerberus had found an ancient wreck of a Reaper vessel in orbit around a brown dwarf. He wanted Shepard to go retrieve the IFF, and use it to take the Normandy through the Omega-4 Relay to the Collector homeworld, which EDI had discovered was near the galactic core.

Jacob felt there was no need to wait, and wanted to retrieve the IFF right away. For once Shepard was in agreement with Miranda, that they should continue to prepare to ensure they had a full crew complement before even thinking about boarding a Reaper vessel. Shepard also briefly considered going to Anderson with the location of the derelict Reaper, to provide proof to the Council of the Reapers existence, but rejected the idea. They still couldn't do anything publicly for fear of creating panic, and nothing would change. It was Shepard's responsibility to handle this, that's the reason the Spectres were created, and she and her crew would have deal with it on their own.

Hey, I just noticed that the poster rankings have changed: I'm now an N4. Anybody know the new step system?

Hello Harkin my old friend,
I've come to shoot your legs again.
Because your mech weren't too strong.
This mission did not take that long.
And the mission ended with Sidonis getting shot.
But fear not.
For Garrus is, now loyal.

Karan had a grand time. Jacob also got lucky, since Karan managed to squeeze in his loyalty mission before the end game started. Jacob met his dad again and gave him a gun and a bullet to remember him by. Again, there seemed to be no neutral option, so Karan continued the balancing act from Jack's mission and voted for death.
Next mission was Overlord, but the Collectors came-a-knocking so Joker just had to plug in the other Overlord instead.

Since there was no way in hell Karan was feeding his fish, a rescue mission was launched immediately.
Tali's romance seen was okay is. Karan took off her helmet, she did not die from asphyxiation. Guess Jacob's not going in the vents.

Operation Bugship went thusly.
Team Dextro took the opening round. Tali in the vents, Garrus as a team leader. Karan was accompanied with Jack and Samara. Tali was not burned to crisp, but Karan might have dropped a few times to a bullet in the head.
Kelly survived and was sent of to make sure the fish were fine. Mordin accompanied her, in case the fish needed medical assistance Chakwas could not supply.
Jack made the bubble, Samara made the Reave and Grunt made the pretty. Jacob led the second fire team and stopped the death bullet with his abs.
For the final round Karan took Samara and Tali. Kinda regretted taking Tali at first, but Chitikka von Paus turned those regrets into dust. Big boy went down surprisingly quick. Mixture of incinerate, throw and submachine gun got the first few tubes, so only had to deal with one rounds of collectors. Big Boy did not approve, so he didn't help me by toasting the collectors in the second round, as he's done for the last five times I think. But Karan still got him down on first try.
As a nice touch, Tali handed Karan the grenade that wrecked Big Boy and also terminated Karan's employment with TIM.

Now Karan is either done with the game or half way through, depending on how many side quests/dlc I'll do. The sidequests are not that much of an issue, since they are pretty quick once you start them. The dlc's can be same, depending on the mood I suppose.
Did a quick check to see if his face imported nicely into the next game. Which it does. Karan got a scruffy stubble in celebration, which also imported nicely.
So crew is fine, fish is fine and face is fine. So that will do as today's what was done. Even if there might be some sidequests squeezed in later. 
Oh and also watched the Monster Factory ME2 video. Almost died from all the chuckles. So the game can be dangerous, even if not playing it.
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As for the title change, I suppose the ranking now goes from N1 to N4. Unless there is a higher tier going up to N7. Which would make sense on the Mass Effect side.
All I know is that my plans for God-hood have been thwarted. Which means I retreat to my more lurkerish ways. And there was much rejoicing.   

Laura Shepard, Colonist, Sole Survivor


A bit of background...I played this character in ME2 and ME3 once before, when ME2 became free on Origin. However, without an ME1 import -- in fact, without any real knowledge of ME1 at all -- the playthrough ended up with lots of "mistakes" that needed to be fixed (failed loyalty missions, Wrex dead, etc.). I just got done taking Laura through ME1, and now I've re-imported her into ME2 with the intent of having a "perfect" playthrough for her.

So! I've imported a world with a living Rachni queen, the council saved, Anderson on the council, Kaidan dead, and Liara ninjamanced (I had intended for Laura to stay single, because she's Garrus's But then Liara and Kaidan both accused Laura of flirting with the other one, so...fuck it, I picked one). They will split up in Lair of the Shadowbroker, though, in time for Shepard to get very drunk again and then arrange to be friends with benefits with Garrus.

Having now played ME1, the opening of ME2 was so much more meaningful and emotional. Seeing Liara and Joker escape the dying ship, seeing my ship in pieces, and waking up in the hands of terrorists...none of that struck me the first time, because I obviously did not have the background experience necessary to really get it. Also, it is so clear that TIM is manipulating Shepard from the start. Giving her her old pilot back and unveiling the new Normandy built just for her...I didn't see the manipulation the first time, not like this.

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Anyway, after rescuing Veetor, sending him back to the quarian fleet, and failing to convince Tali to come along, Shepard went to visit Anderson and was relieved to see another familiar and friendly face. She was given back her spectre status, but the council are still useless assholes. They learned nothing.

Shepard, feeling disgusted, went to the club to get shitfaced. Jacob and Miranda naturally dragged her into the men's room to recover, where she woke up to see a peeing Turian glaring at her.

Found the Leviathans, rid a comm hub of Cerberus, and learned what TIM was up to on Horizon. Then, threw one hell of a party. Loud, loud, dance options this time.

I had to take the second pic since Kaidan was breaking his neck in the first one. Luckily Glyph is a better screenshotter than I am.

Next up: putting an end to Cerberus

Oh crap, sorry, didn't know there was even a drunkard shepard scene in ME2.  ME3 Shepard runs around the entire citadel alone, if you recall. Even though Joker/James were always in the bar, she always drank and danced alone. (well, unless you head canon that that Asari/human woman was giving you the eye and wanted you to join them.)

This was great. I need that, thanks!

Jarec Shepard:

- Visited Kaidan while he's in a coma, Council is still completely useless, turian councilor asked for my help in exchange for help, convinced another reporter to keep harassing the Council.
- Creepy nightmare followed by interruptions by Liara and a very presumptuous Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor. Talked to Hackett. Met the rest of the crew. Found a bunch of my old ship models and my space hamster running around on his own after six months.
- Stole some Reaper tech from a Cerberus lab.

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

In the Attican Beta cluster with Garrus and Liara:

Eletania: searched for a lost data module, taken from a crashed probe, to prevent it from falling into geth hands. Found it in a disused mine inhabited by pyjaks; the squad retrieved it without harming any of the pyjaks. Ambushed by geth on the way out: neutralized all targets.

The party also found a Prothean artefact that responded to the trinket given to Melody by Consort Sha'ira, granting a vision of a primitive human observed by Protheans fifty millennia ago.

Toxic hazard notwithstanding, I do like Eletania. Garden worlds are so much nicer to explore than barren rock-balls.

Feros: docked at Zhu's Hope spaceport; immediately set upon by geth. Neutralized them and proceeded to the colony. Found it in bad shape from repeated geth attacks. Colonists were cagey, and not just about the geth; something was generally off. Melody assisted the colonists with their food, water, power and geth problems. (One death here: the bit on the way to the geth transmitter in the tunnels, where there are two geth snipers on a balcony behind a door. Newsflash: facetanking double Assassination doesn't work).

Proceeded along the Prothean skyway to ExoGeni HQ, under geth occupation.

Liara: "And now to the geth base. Not something an intelligent being would typically say."

Discovered the remnants of a second colony of ExoGeni employees. Manager Ethan Jeong seemed unconcerned with colonists' lives, more worried about ExoGeni property. Learned that one person, Lizbeth Baynham, was still in the HQ.

Reapers Destroyed (again).

I copied the pre-choice auto-save file and gave it a number, so now I'm going to go back to watch the Control and Synthesis endings since I haven't seen those for a while.

I am sorta curious to see if I can do another NG+ with this character and upgrade all the guns to level X. Most of the ones found in various areas are now level VIII or higher, so I'd just have to buy upgrades for the weapon pack stuff (and my Black Widow).

We'll see....still got a few more days until early access for MEA, and I need something to do to keep me away from spoilers.