What did you do today in ME?

Red, I'm loving these write-ups a lot!

Continued as well, played through Leviathan today
"We had located Dr. Garneau on a mining asteroid. But when we landed there and entered the facility, nothing seemed right."
"What happened?"
"No one seemed to want to have us around. No matter who I asked, they wanted us to leave and would not answer any of our questions. These people were not all there."
"Oh my, how disturbing."
"Yeah. After a while, we located Garneau at the med bay, but he acted just as weird as Bryson's assisstent back in the lab, and fled. We followed him to the mines, where an ancient artifact, an orb of sorts, sat around. Garneau blew it up because this artifact was the connection to Leviathan, and it really didn't want to be found. Tali discovered the body of the real Garneau close to it... He had been killed some time ago, because he had found a way to block the artifact and thus Leviathan's ability to mindcontrol. So Leviathan made sure he was killed and controlled an imposter through this artifact. Well, and not only him, as it actually had enthralled the entirety of the miners for 10 years..."
"10 years?! So much time... just... lost."
"Yeah, it was pretty messed up. But at least we found another lead in the real Garneau's log. Some missed calls from Dr. Bryson's daughter, Ann. She was researching for the task force as well. So EDI and I returned to Bryson's lab on the Citadel. He had one of those artifacts sitting there right in his lab, so we needed to shield it before it could cause any damage. And we needed to find out where Ann Bryson was. Finding her and getting her to work with us was our top priority."
"And you found her, I assume?"
"Yes, we did. She had been on a dig site in the Pylos Nebula and had uncovered one of those artifacts. The site had been overrun by Reapers because they had started to chase down Leviathan too, but we got her out safely. Back in the lab she had the absolute crazy idea to let Leviathan take control over her mind with the help of the artifact in the lab, so EDI could trace the signal it emitted and get a lock on Leviathan's location."
"You didn't actually do this, did you?"
"We really had no choice there, mom. It was risky and we would have stopped it had it become too dangerous. But it went fine, and it was worth it. We narrowed it down to a cluster and set out to finally find Leviathan."
"And that you did. What exactly happened there?"
"A lot... We took the shuttle down to a planet in the Psi Tophet System. It was all ocean, but we headed for some structure to land on. When we were almost there, a pulse hit our shuttle, and we crash-landed on the structure, which was actually a ship. And it wasn't the only one around, plenty of broken ships sat there in the ocean. We figured Leviathan was the cause of this pulse to prevent people from leaving, and we wouldn't be able to do so unless we finally found it and convinced it to fight for our cause. Since we weren't able to communicate directly with it from there, Steve suggested I'd take one of the diving mechs aboard the shipwreck to--"
"Oh my god, honey..."
"I know, ma. But I needed to do it. We'd have been stuck there otherwise. Leviathan had hidden away in the deep sea, but I did find it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I was trapped down there, had no way of knowing if I ever would come up again, and I faced this giant thing that looked just like a Reaper. And it wasn't exactly the only one left alive..."
"Only hearing this has me terrified."
"Still, I learned a whole lot about the past, the Reapers, and their origin. The Leviathan race indirectly was the cause of all these cycles, this endless pain and slaughter in each of them. They had created the Catalyst, unleashed this thing upon the galaxy. They had created it to deal with a conflict during their time, synthetics created by organic races wiping out their creators over and over again. So they themselves created an intelligence to find a solution to this..."
"Like an experiment gone wrong. Jesus."
"Yeah. But that wasn't all it told me. The Catalyst was the reason they went into hiding. It had started to wipe them out, and made the first Reaper out of their essence, shaped it after their image. So that's why they look so much alike."
"I see. That's some really heavy stuff... And then it just let you leave?"
"After it finally gave in and joined our war, yeah. I went back to the surface and barely remember making it back to the shuttle. Reaper forces had overrun this place and as I dropped out of the mech I couldn't walk anymore, I was so exhausted. I collapsed and vaguely remember Kaidan picking me up and dragging me to the shuttle, then I lost consciousness for a while."
"Oh sweetie. You poor thing."
"I had a headache when I woke up, but otherwise I was fine. And then it sunk in what kind of ally we just had made. Something so ancient and powerful, it was incredible."
"It was. I heard about what these creatures were capable of during the war... hard to believe something like this is even possible."
"Agreed, but I'm sure glad they were on our side. So after this, I finally checked in with the asari Councillor. She had asked me to come by earlier, but Leviathan had kept me so busy..."
"Ah. This is about Thessia, isn't it?"
"Yeah."

Couple pics:


I also did the N7 Cerberus lab mission prior to Leviathan, where I gracefully died 2 times, but the DLC went without any deaths.
I also tinkered around a bit more with my next planned Shepard and played through Mars to see how it works out with the power-setup I plan to use Damn, a non-import is really tough to do on Insanity in some places

 They took their inspiration from SF tv shows. From Star Trek to Babylon 5. They're more concerned with the story and chars which are the important elements but they slacked on other details. They got the skipper & Co heroes theme from ST; captain on away missions is the norm. The concept of the Citadel / Council from B5. That's why the ranking system and the chars' job descriptions is so messy.  The uniforms in ME1 look sort of neat but the rank insignias were all over the place, no unit or ship patches, no salad, nothing. I dislike the ME3 Alliance uniform because it looked flashy and extraneous; I only like the shoulder boards.   

I don't bother to follow really what they set out in MET in my fic. However, I do have to justify wth Shepard was even commanding a ship when she's a groundpounder. I just made it out there's a thing in the Systems Alliance called cross-services where a marine officer (or vice versa) could opt for training in Naval operations; leadership, management, ship / fleet tactics. And it's from this cadre that the Systems Alliance Admiralty Board picked and kicked up the ranks a bit faster than those going the normal course. It's a group where officers were qualified to command the Alliance warships and take control of troop deployments / actions when necessary. These officers however, are slated to command only frigates than cruisers and dreadnoughts. To command the latter, they would have to stay on the naval career tree, go for AT / ATC and qualified.

RedCaesar97: I do like the storytelling. Maybe you should write fanfic!

If I were playing on PC, I would likely give the EGM a try. However, I'm playing on PS3, so no mods for me.

My Mass Effect campaign is nearing its end, and almost everything has been said, but I'll share some great moments of today and yesterday:

In tears after Priority: Rannoch.



Shooting at the Reaper from the gunship, then fighting it on foot, it was one of the most epic scenes I've ever witnessed in any videogame. I mean, is there anything cooler than that? The animation was truly exceptional. The final scene where Legion asks: "Does this unit have a soul?" and then makes the ultimate sacrifice for the Geth, it made me tear up. And I *never* cry in real life. Never. Just goes to show how powerful some moments are.



Took this screen by chance. Introducing Annie Shepard, the most badass person in history :



Thessia is lost, Shepard is cracking under the pressure, but she manages to give that determined look.

Then: one of the most beautiful moments in Citadel DLC.



That shot from distance, them standing in front of the window, that beautiful piano piece... I love the bond which develops between Shepard and Samara. Their worlds are lightyears apart, yet there is a genuine mutual affection between them. Their relationship somehow reminds me of Hawke and Aveline, the dynamic is somehow similar. They feel like true equals - both having confidence in themselves and respect for each other. I love how Samara slowly opens up about her life and shows that there is more to her than a cold justicar. She has slowly become one of my favourites in the series. The scene is defintely the best Citadel DLC has to offer.

Wildfire: If you get that emotional over Legion's question to Tali, you should know that in the romance subforum, under Tali's thread, I posted a pic of Tali putting up a picture of Legion at the memorial wall on the Citadel.

Just doing a little catching up, I decided to pop in here and see how erryone is doing. As of late I made an ME1 Vanguard and leveled to 60 (it took 2 playthroughs). Each playthrough I did every single side quest imaginable, mined every resource, did all of the UNC quests etc. I had a blast because I love ME1 so much - the more immersion the better.

Last weekend I imported "Doofus" the lvl 60 Vanguard into ME2. I used the Gibbed editor after I ported my character over - I see no reason why Doofus could not have his credits from ME1. I also don't want to mine, so I cheesed the stats on element zero, palladium and the like. Doofus is rich, you see. He has connections.

I decided to go with Reave for his bonus power. I know - it is unusual (at least for me). I hardly ever used Reave, and now I wonder why. I charge only as a panic button, because Reave is so insanely overpowered when used with Cryo IV ammo. I give my squad incendiary ammo, then give myself heavy cryo ammo, pop area reave on targets, and shoot them with the M-12 locust from Kasumi's loyalty mission. Bing Badda Boom. next.

After I complete the game I think I'll re-import Doofus and do an insanity run. I think that my silly Reave build will make it pretty easy.

I dismounted for every kill - even the turrets on Luna base.  Even in hazard conditions - you know like Colossus(i) on Noveria.  It added a little complexity and made the game more fun.

Ahmed Shepard:

1. Went to Luna and shut down the Rogue VI. Learned the Bastion specialization. He also destroyed some other turrets that were also in the area.

2. Hackett called, asked Ahmed to retrieve a data module from a crashed probe before the Geth took it. Found the probe, but discovered that some monkey-type creature took it and somehow made it inside a mine past several large, locked doors. Ran over some of the monkeys, shot some other monkeys, found the data module, destroyed the invading Geth, and got the heck out of the mine.

Also, Ahmed found a Prothean structure and used the trinket the Asari consort gave him. He another weird vision.

3. Found The Majesty --the ship belonging to Garoth's brother. No one was on board, but there was a trail leading to a nearby planet. Landed on the planet and killed another Thresher Maw. Then Ahmed survived a Geth ambush. then he found a pirate base and killed all the pirates with extreme prejudice. Also found the body of Garoth's brother.

4. Ahmed went shopping! He bought one Medical Exoskeleton. He did not have enough credits left for the pistol he wanted. He also told Kahoku and Garoth the bad news. Kahoku later told him the location of some Cerberus bases.

5. Hackett called again, this time telling him some news. Apparently some scientists who were on Akuze were being murdered one by one. Ahmed suspected that they may have had something to do with his unit getting wiped out years ago by Thresher Maws. He was not sure if their murders were a good or bad thing. He went to the location of the last remaining scientist, Dr. Wayne.

The facility was overrun by mercs and he killed them all when they attacked. Then he found Dr. Wayne, being held at gunpoint by a very much alive Corporal Toombs! Toombs was surprised at seeing Shepard, and he told them the scientists worked for Cerberus and that they had orchestrated the Akuze attack. He also told Ahmed that when the scientists found him alive, they used him for experiments, torturing him.

Ahmed Shepard was angry at the revelations, and he let Toombs shoot Dr. Wayne. The unit was avenged. Then Toombs, still deeply scarred mentally and emotionally, killed himself. Shepard was once again the sole survivor of Akuze.






6. Ahmed attacked the bases uncovered by Kahoku. At the final base, they found Kohaku's dead body.




At the location of the last Cerberus base, Ahmed killed another Thresher Maw, then attacked the base and wiped out Cerberus. Ahmed found a terminal, and copied as much data off of it that he could before it was wiped.

Back on the Normandy, an agent of the Shadow Broker called, asking if Shepard would give him the data, since that was the deal brokered between Kahoku and the Shadow Broker. Ahmed agreed to the deal and sent him the files.


7. Hackett asked Ahmed to deal with Major Kyle, a veteran of Torfan who was now leading a cult of biotics. the cult had likely killed some Alliance negotiators sent to bring him in peacefully. Hacket did not want the confrontation to turn into a bloodbath.

It turned into a bloodbath.

Before heading back to the Normandy, Ahmed killed some scavengers, along with another Thresher Maw because they keep popping up.

He used Extended Galaxy Mod.  That's why he has war assets that don't exist in the game.  It lowers the war assets in general but requires fewer to get a "perfect ending" if that's what is sought.

I started another playthrough of ME3. It involves a....



Anderson: Are you sure it will work?
Shepard: I do. I need to get to the Normandy before more reapers appear.

Shepard: Joker get me to these coordinates. Now!
Joker: Yes ma'am.



Shepard: Joker get me to Mars
Joker: Yes ma'am



Inside they meet with Liara who tell them about a device that can destroy the reapers


They make it to the archives when...


Shepard chases the Dr.Eva person. Ashley is seriously injured.


Shepard visits Ashley who is still unconsious. Dr.Chakwas joins the crew. Shepard talks with the council. Fortunately the turian councilor gave a lead that would help.

Shepard has a dream about eating that Big Mac that TIM will buy her.

Shepard meets Samantha Traynor. After that, she talks with Hackett

Getting ever closer to the end. And what a journey it has been. Some screens, because I've gotten into taking screenshots.

Shepard and Miranda in the apartment. I love these somber moments in Citadel DLC. Wish there had been more of them.



One of the saddest and most touching scenes in the trilogy. In the end, you are always alone. At least they threw one hell of a party. Probably the last one.



Shepard meets the Leviathan in a desperate bid for support. Great DLC, but even creepier than Arrival.



Shepard hugs the boy in her dreams. Oh how I love those dream scenes, all her demons coming back to haunt her. "Never thought I'd see a woman under all that armor."



Shepard in the Illusive Man's room. Badass as always.



Final farewells to Traynor. "I love you too, Traynor. And we'll definitely have the house, the retriever and the kids."



I love this game. I love it. How the hell did BW pull off something like this? And how on earth did I never realise its greatness until now?