What did you do today in ME?

In my last ME1 playthrough, on Hardcore, I stuck with the Onyx armour throughout the game. Melody Shepard was in medium Onyx VII or VIII by the end.  Onyx has that unhappy combination of great aesthetics but horrible stats, and I didn't find anything that looked better on Melody.

Melody Shepard, Colonist/Sole Survivor/Infiltrator, ME3 Insanity:

The Normandy crew took a day off at the Citadel before heading to the Far Rim for their next mission.

As the ship sped at FTL across the Serpent Nebula, James asked for a moment of his CO's time, revealing that he'd been invited to join the N7 programme but was concerned about the hard choices, having lost a squad to the Collectors when they were betrayed by a Cerberus mole. Privately, Melody was a little shaken that a member of her former employer's organization was working with the Collectors at the same time that she was trying to bring them down; but knowing what she now knew about Cerberus, it made a disappointing kind of sense. She advised James to make up his own mind about becoming an N7, despite knowing what he'd choose.

Disembarking at the Citadel, Melody found Steve Cortez watching the ships go by, trying to take his mind off the war and his personal losses. She encouraged him not to give up. He indicated that he might leave a memorial to his late husband at the memorial wall in the refugee camp.

Garrus talked Melody into a spot of target-shooting atop the Presidium, regulations be damned. Despite his best efforts, he failed to out-shoot the Lazarus-augmented infiltrator.

Next was lunch with Kaidan at Apollo's Café. The Presidium still showed the scars of the Cerberus assault, but it was still a pleasant spot for a meal with a colleague. Kaidan said that he needed a "sanity check" after all the recent craziness. He said that he admired his CO and was glad to be part of the crew.

Melody caught up with Liara a little further along the Presidium. They talked about Liara's memories of growing up, about Benezia in happier times, and resolved to stay in touch after the war.

Passing the C-Sec station, Melody happened upon Captain Aaron Sommers, a former Alliance marine who had information about an Alliance traitor who had murdered his colleagues during the Cerberus coup. The traitor was in a C-Sec jail cell. Melody used her Spectre privileges to have him released into Sommers' custody to be dealt with summarily. She also met with Narl, one of Aria T'Loak's subordinates, and helped him overthrow the current Blood Pack leadership so that Aria could install a new leader more amenable to helping her; and, indirectly, the war effort.

At the Spectre office, Melody made contact with Miranda via QEC Skype and tipped her off about Kai Leng's recent activities.

In the Purgatory club, Melody met up with Jack, who brought good news about her students' effectiveness in support roles on Palaven, assisting the krogan troops there. To encourage Jack to take a break from work, Melody dragged her onto the dance floor. She also encountered Joker and EDI at the club. She encouraged Joker to concentrate on being a friend to EDI; and gave EDI some advice about finding a place to fit in among organic people.

Returning to the Normandy, Melody finished her day by playing a couple of games of Chess with Samantha Traynor. The comms officer took her CO to school. N7 training can't prepare one for everything, it seems.

Pics...

1. It goes to the point that the frustrating thing about the Catalyst ending is that so much of what your Shepard does ends up not impacting the ending in any way.  So what was the point?  Peace with the geth should undermine the rationale for sending in the Reapers.  Catalyst takes no notice of this or of how you interact with EDI.

2. You always see her talking with Dr. Chukwas in the waiting room.  I've pondered picking her up in place of Dr. Chukwas, but Dr. Chukwas always talks to you first and begs you to return her to the Normandy.

I'm not mad at the Catalyst, either.  It's not stupid.  I'm sure it many ways its intellect outstrips every human ever.  It just seems to lack imagination or perhaps be constrained by its programming.  I'm not sold on Synthesis being the end goal because, frankly, it may not be.  It's undoubtedly the direction some will go.  If I live long enough, I can imagine slowly integrating non-organic parts into myself.  Though, tbh, I'd have a preference for gene mods.  And since I think both routes are extremely likely to happen I can't endorse one over the other.  I think it's a case of both.  At the pace AIs are growing, I have no doubt humanity will be dealing with sentient non-organic "life" and we'd better learn how to co-exist with them.

Dr. Michel is usually wearing a green and white outfit.  She's in the main lobby of Huerta, toward the back.  When Chakwas is alive, she's on the left side but moves over to the right side.  So she could be in either of those places.  She also takes some convincing to get her on the Normandy.

As for Padok, as a stand-in for Mordin, I assume he has the same chance of survival as Mordin.  Which tells me what choice you made in regard to the genophage.  You're a traitor to your race!  

From the Journal of Ioan Shepard:

- Citadel, Personal Apartment: Liara and Brooks have found something. Looks like the guy after me got his gun from Elijah Khan, a casino owner. He didn't like seeing said gun in my hands all over the news and ended the association. We decided it would be necessary to infiltrate the casino and have words with Khan. The mercs themselves were named "CAT6" which is an Alliance term for those dishonorably discharged. Cita Didn't sound like a fun crowd. There happened to be a fundraiser at the casino that evening. Liara had Glyph buy us tickets. Brooks was going to have to come along but she was not going to be my date. I had a certain major in mind for that.
- Citadel, Siversun Casino: At the casino, had to do a lot of mingling and distracting. Neither was my strong suit. Also, some dancing. Not my style. Can only really get into the music at Purgatory, lose myself in it, hands in the air and all. Eventually we all got into Khan's panic room, only he was dead. There was also a deletion order on his terminal but the comms hadn't been wiped. I dialed his last call and it was the CAT6 leader. The video was distorted so there was no way to know what he looked like.
- Citadel, Citadel Archives: We tracked the mercs to, of all places, the Citadel Archives. We were attacked by CAT6 right off but defeated them pretty easily. I did have my entire squad with me: Kaidan, Tali, James, EDI, Liara (with Glyph!), Garrus, Javik and even Wrex! It was only when the merc leader showed from the rafters, holding a gun to Brooks's head. And then the other shoe dropped. He came out of the shadows and revealed him to be my clone. Even when it's not Cerberus, it's Cerberus. The clone wanted to take over my life but he was learning it wasn't so easy to do. He ran off to do whatever he was doing while we pursued. I sent Glyph ahead to find him. At least I know this drone will never revolt. It's far too stupid to understand anything but the most explicit commands. Also, these CAT6 guys were shit fighters. They'd be completely useless if they weren't so well armed.
- We were split into squads but, eventually, I lost touch with everyone except Brooks. It was strange that it would be so, just like how it was safe to talk over the comms with her but no one else. Then the trap was sprung, and a force field went up around us. The clone and Brooks appeared and it turned out she had been working with him all along. They had thought it would be easy to take care of me but I was difficult and my friends made it even harder. Then he changed the fingerprints on file to match his own, sealed us in an iridium vault and left to take over the Normandy. The thing was, Glyph was still free and able to free us all.
- Normandy: Once outside the Archives, Joker showed up with a shuttle. He could take me and two others. I chose Kaidan and Wrex. We fought our way to the Normandy. Got to the airlock just in time to see Traynor being kicked off. There was an emergency escape hatch but it would require fine biotic control to open it from the outside. Me, Kaidan and Wrex were all incapable of anything like that. However, Traynor had her 6000 credit toothbrush and it did the trick. That was on my list of things to buy for her. We came up in the CIC and took out the mercs there. I was pretty pissed off to see my poor space hamster in a bin for disposal. Also had my model ships, my books and my medals. How's this guy expect to be me when he removes everything that makes me "me"?
- The clone launched the Normandy and we went down to the shuttle bay to fight him. Meanwhile, they couldn't leave the Citadel because a skycar was in their way. Had to be Cortez. No one else could fly a shuttle like he could. The clone wasn't a match for me. Close, but he couldn't match my years of training. I also had one other thing he didn't: the loyalty of my teammates. So when we were both hanging off the edge of the bay, Kaidan and Wrex helped me up while Brooks backed away. He had asked why me and not him. It seemed obvious. I hadn't killed everyone who got in my way, wasn't willing to bet against the galaxy's only hope. Still, I tried to save him. After all, he knew nothing except what Brooks taught him. Maybe he could learn differently, if he survived. But he wasn't interested and chose to drop to his death. Probably better that way. Brooks had also been caught and I could tell from her voice that she was plotting something. I told her to serve her time. She thought I was pleading for my life but I told her I was pleading for hers. Her entire body language changed. She knew I would have shot her if she ran so she gave in. Maybe some useful Cerberus intel would come out of her. Meanwhile, the Normandy repairs not only weren't done but more work was needed after the clone trashed my ship - plus the firefights in the CIC and the shuttle bay. Joker convinced me to have a party, though it looked like everyone wanted some time we me now.

Slam, Neural Shock, and Stasis are considered 'one-point wonders', which means they do their job well at one point.

Benefits of Slam:

• Can prime enemies for a Warp-bomb during the lift animation. This is the main selling point of Slam.
• Can replace/substitute Pull early if you want to focus on other powers, or if you do not have Pull
• Short cooldown (3 second base cooldown) which is shorter than most class-unique powers. 
• Can stagger most protected enemies (enemies with shields, barriers, or armor).

Since you are an Adept, Slam is not as beneficial to you since you have access to Pull. With a level 50-60 import from ME1, you can get access to Pull at either Lazarus Station (level 60 import) or right after you talk to the Illusive Man for the first time (level 50-59 import). That being said, you can ignore Pull if you Slam until later while you focus on upgrading your other powers or passive talent.

On PC, there is a bug (or bad/missing code) that prevents you from taking Stasis as a bonus power during the initial bonus power select screen, even if you unlocked Stasis previously (requires completing Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC). You cannot select Stasis until you recruit Mordin and then change it from the Normandy terminal. Because of this bug, some players choose Slam until they can change it to Stasis later.

About Warp-bombs with Slam: since the lift duration is so short, your squadmates need to be behind you/out of your line of sight so that they do not perform their casting animation. In Mass Effect 2, squadmates will not perform a casting animation if they are behind you, or generally if they are out of your line of sight. This means that they will instantly-cast their powers. This means that you can cast Slam, then quickly use Miranda/Thane/Liara's Warp to create create a biotic explosion. If they are in your line of sight, they will perform a casting animation, which means if you press Slam first then their Warp, their casting animation will cause them to hit Warp after Slam's lift animation, causing them to miss the Warp bomb.

Note that it is generally a good idea to always put your squadmates in cover behind you. Enemies in Mass Effect 2 will attack the closest enemy, so it is considered good practice to put yourself as the closest enemy. This allows your squadmates to stay upright longer, giving you access to their powers when you need them. They tend to go down to Scions pretty easily but there is not much you can do with that.

About Barrier: When activated, Barrier will restore (or add) some shields. If you were on health, this means it also gives you back some shield gate. In Mass Effect 2, you have about 1 second after losing shields before you start to take health damage. Using Barrier/Fortification/Geth Shield Boost is good getting back Shields without using Medi-Gel, especially if you are out in the open. It will not restore health, unlike Medi-Gel. Barrier also benefits from the Biotic Cooldown upgrade.

The problem with Barrier is that it has a 12-second base cooldown. This is much longer than your other powers, meaning that after you use it, you will have between 7-12 seconds (depending on Biotic Mastery levels and upgrades) before you can use another power. This is why other powers like Slam, Stasis, or Warp Ammo are preferrable to Barrier. Barrier is a good "oh crap" power if you find yourself out in the open and need cover, as it should give you enough time to get back into cover. It just generally does not work as part of a featured playstyle, since the Adept has a lot of cast-able powers and relies on using as much of its power set as possible, especially in conjunction with other squadmate powers.

You can cast it at the beginning of a fight, but if you keep casting it during a fight, you will not being using all of your Adept's power set, which is really where the Adept shines. Barrier can last up to 60 seconds, but at higher difficulties it can get shot off really quickly, making it almost pointless. 

If you want an "oh crap" power for those rare situations, I would leave it at one point.

Started ME2 PT with Giovanna Shepard, Paragon Vanguard on Hardcore. I chose Warp Ammo as my additional. I spent way too much time yesterday trying different face options from Faces of Gaming. The code system used is pretty slick; I wish the DA games did that. (How many times did I go through the scene where Shep saves Joker only to get "spaced." Amazing Joker never apologizes for getting you killed.)

After escaping the Operation Lazarus lab, Giovanna goes to the Freedom's Progress colony with Jacob and Miranda to investigate the disappearance of the human colonists. She runs into her old friend Tali and a team of Quarians trying to retrieve a Quarian who came to live with the colonists. At last, a possible witness to what happened! Like many Quarians, Veetor is a tech geek and has set the mechs to keep everyone away from him. Giovanna ultimately reaches Veetor and gets an amazing account of how the Collectors came with a swarm of insects that stung and paralyzed the colonists so they could be "collected."

After returning to base, the Illusive Man (TIM) is impressed with what Shep has accomplished and lays out a path forward: a new ship modeled after the original Normandy but greatly improved and dossiers for renowned warriors for Shep to recruit to go after the Collectors. Giovanna would prefer to recruit her old companions with whom she went after Saren, but they have disappeared to the four winds.

Her logical first stop is the nearby world of Omega to recruit Mordin Solus, a salarian scientist who has worked with the STG. Solus will prove critical to countering the toxin of the swarm insects the Collectors use to paralyze their victims.

This is my third or fourth ME2 PT but this is the first time I've run into Fist in the Afterlife Bar! Love the little details! Also saw Helena Blake, but I've seen her before on ME2.

Wow, great stuff on the emails from Morinth! It's taken me a long time to get here, but I'm tempted to do a true Renegade run. I always feel so bad for the people I kill or betray which is why I have a hard time with it. Then again, it might make me appreciate the Paragon runs all the more.

+1 on the thanks to fraggle, I'll never get to see those emails otherwise.

I don't think I'll be doing a Renegade run; to be honest, my current Paragade run has been a bit much in places; all those summary executions... Almost makes me want to go into a Paragon run immediately afterwards just to bleach my brain.

Mêlée attacks on Banshees are perfectly safe when they stop teleporting around and start throwing Warps. They won't sync-kill you (i.e grab and execute) when they're in that mode. As long as you can weather their attacks, you're fine.

In multiplayer, they can't sync-kill you at all if you're on a ramp and they're standing above you or below you. I guess that's probably true of single-player as well. So a mêlée-only strategy is viable against Banshees as long as there's a convenient ramp.