What did you do today in ME?

If you run into anything like that again, check out the Bug List thread. Thanks to the help of folks like Red, there is a pretty comprehensive post of various known bugs. I'll be reorganizing the thread and putting Red's post into the Bug thread OP later.

Daily log of events! I didn't play today, but I did yesterday.

--Started ME3 with a new face code.

--Didn't like it and started over after gaining control of the Normandy.

--Used a different one that actually looks like my character. That's the one I listed yesterday.

--Left Earth and watched The Kid blow up. I always felt bad for Shepard. That wince speaks volumes to me.

--I liked Liara's reintroduction in the series. Her and Kaidan are still a helluva powerhouse. I took the two of them to Saren in ME1 and kick even more ass now.

--Boo for Kaidan getting hurt. Boo for Allers. I still invited her onto the ship, but I'm going to ignore her as much as possible. I won't be gentle when I blow her off either.

--First dream down. The eyelid clipping isn't nearly as bad on console as it was on the PC.

--Started scanning for goodies in the galaxy. Ran from the Reapers a few times. I miss my coalesced edit here.

--Grabbed Garrus. I always liked the mission. It's fun, fast and with a ton of upgrades. I'm also glad the writers continued the little running gag of turians being fascinated with human expressions.

Vega: Like shooting fish in a barrel!
Garrus: What?
Vega: Fish. In. A. Barrel! It's an old human expression.



Next time!

--Hoping my fever breaks.

--Apien Crest to get the turian banner.

--More scanning and more dodging!

--Samantha will probably direct me to Grissom Academy.

I'd heard on the forums that there was some bugs and crashing related to the ME series, so I looked up the known bugs on the ME wiki. When I saw that one, I knew to leave Legion behind. Everything I've read suggests that it isn't a bug that happens all of the time. It's just often enough to where I warn everyone that wants to bring Legion into the Overlord DLC.

Miriam Shepard ordered the Normandy to Ilos and passed the travel time alone in her cabin, contemplating the challenge ahead. After some consideration, she made up her mind to take Ashley and Wrex planetside. Virmire was still raw in everyone's minds, and those two had unfinished business with Saren.

Joker dropped the Mako as close as he dared to Saren's position, but he slipped past a heavy security door before the party could catch him. Shepard and co made they way through the overgrown ruins and around the multitude of statues of ancient tentacled figures. Were these Protheans, or did they depict an even more ancient civilization? The ruins were swarming with geth; all fell swiftly.

(Fighting Armatures on foot, always a riot. Managed to avoid taking any hits to the face this time, fortunately).

With the security door overridden, the party boarded the Mako and proceeded in pursuit of Saren. The ruined, half-flooded tunnel was lined with cryostasis pods, a legacy of the Protheans' last stand. Finding their passage impeded by a force field, the team followed a short path into an elevator and found the Prothean VI Vigil, from which they learned the truth about the Reapers' plans, the Citadel and the Conduit.

(I had forgotten the details of this part, I like that the seeds of Shepard's success were sown by the Prothean scientists at the end of the previous cycle. Forgotten heroes indeed).

The Conduit turned out to be a mass relay back-door into the Citadel, which Saren intended to use to gain access to the station's control systems and usher the Reaper armada into the galaxy. Shepard put her foot to the floor and gunned the Mako's engine, sending it careering past a squad of geth Colossi and into the relay. In the blink of an eye, the armoured car plummeted from the mass relay "monument", coming to rest only feet away from the entrance to the Citadel Tower.

How does that saying go? "If you can walk away, it was a good landing."

Ready to do SM. Wish this wasn't about to end. I kind of want to do it all over again.

Finished ME2.. actually was hard for the first time in awhile. Wasn't full lvl 30 yet and didn't zoom past things like I'm used to. I kept getting respawns and waves of Harbinger. Last minute I got a refill on my heavy weapon and took down the Reaper with a Cain. *Cue King Cailan* "Glorious!" Saved Jack falling from the platform and then Legion saved me jumping on the Normandy. I usually like Jack and Legion or Jack and Miranda. Not sure what's better.

I'll take it from you. You're the expert.

But seriously, I need to play ME3. Just need to finish Arrival and I'm good to go. I might even jump into MP for a change.

Due to the Citadel Tower's elevator being offline thanks to Saren's interference, Miriam Shepard, Ashley and Wrex made their way to the Council chamber via the scenic route. Geth resistance was light to begin with, until a dropship delivered reinforcements. The squad soon found their way blocked by an installation of heavy turrets manned by rocket troopers. Fortunately, a narrow passageway to the left provided an alternative route.

(I died a couple of times there before checking the map and seeing the alternative path. That triggered a memory of doing the same thing during my first playthrough. Amazing how many things one forgets after 2½ years and several other games).

Arriving in the Council chamber, the party confronted Saren, his indoctrination now worse than ever due to implanted Reaper technology. Nonetheless, Miriam's persuasion finally got through to Saren's buried personality; in a moment of clarity, he drew his pistol and ate a bullet. Wrex fed him another one, just to make sure.

(On Virmire, Wrex did say that he wanted Saren's head).

Retaking control of the Citadel, Shepard opened a channel to the Normandy and ordered Joker to lead the Alliance fleet to the station in order to defend the Asari flagship Destiny Ascension, to which the Council had been evacuated. The extra firepower ensured that the Council was saved, at the cost of many Alliance vessels and lives. While Wrex agreed with Miriam that the security of inter-species government justified the cost to the Alliance, Ashley was sceptical of her commander's decision.

(This is a change from my first playthrough, where I chose "Concentrate on Sovereign", considering it to be the correct military decision. Unfortunately, ME2 and ME3 seemed to reduce the three-way decision here to a two-way choice, and it was always treated as if Miriam had coldly abandoned the Council in order to serve humanity's interests. Hence I made the opposite choice here).

In a last-ditch attempt to salvage its plan, Sovereign reanimated and huskified Saren's body. The cybernetic endoskeleton gave the former Spectre near-supernatural agility; it seems clear that the geth hoppers were also augmented with the same Reaper tech. Despite its agility and firepower, the husk was not invulnerable to biotics and bullets; after a protracted fight, Shepard's team put it down.

(I died a couple of times here, both times due to Shepard being hit with a volley of red projectiles. I had a couple of ME3MP moments there, instinctively trying to dodge before realizing I was playing the wrong game; and hitting the medi-gel key only for nothing to happen, like what happens when you're off-host and the ops packs don't work in time).

With Sovereign blown to smithereens and the immediate danger over, the Council promised to take the Reaper threat seriously, and offered humanity a seat on the Council in recognition of the sacrifices made in the battle. Miriam declined to recommend anyone for the job; she's not a politician.

(In my first playthrough, I nominated Anderson. I want to change things around this time without actually nominating Udina myself; just can't bring myself to support his candidacy after what he did prior to Ilos).

I really enjoyed my replay. It was much less of a chore than I thought it might be; a gap of 2½ years between playthroughs seems about right to me. I got through the whole game on Normal difficulty this time. I don't know that I'd have enjoyed it on a higher difficulty, but I'm glad I didn't need to knock it down to Casual at any point as I did when I first played it.

During the endgame, I took a few photos which I have posted in the "share your Shepard" thread.

I'm going to take a little break to play something else before continuing with my replay of the trilogy.

ME3 Day Today - Returned to Citadel and met up with Ashley at Apollo Cafe. She asked Shepard whether or not their relationship was going anywhere. He made the mistake of being honest with her and told her he was reluctant to pick things up again because they had hurt each other before. He met up with Miranda afterwards and she expressed regret at wanting to put a control chip in his head. He was really tempted to tell her how irritated he was, but opted not to make the same mistake he had just finished making with Ashley (i.e. being honest). Instead, he sweet talked her... good move on his part... he can always blow her off later.

After dropping off some items around the Citadel and doing some shopping, Shepard plotted a course for the Silean Nebula to help bring a reactor back under control. He met up with a Captain Riley and assisted her team in clearing the facility of reapers and getting it back online; and he will likely give Captain Riley spectre authorization for a commendation when the ship gets back to the Citadel... but is heading off to Lesuss first to assist the Asari... some sort of problem with a monastery there.

Part 4. Stage one of ME2

Shepard stared hard at the two men as she silently turned the name over in her mind. Images floated to the fore, unpleasant and grievous. Company 586, the Shusters, Erial, Doc, Captain Landry, Corporal Toombs. . .Toombs. Dirty, gaunt, red of eye, in a battered Alliance hardsuit with faded unit patches, screaming at a bruised cowering man, waving a pistol wildly about. Cerberus. Responsible for the death of everyone in 586 except for her and Toombs. Responsible for the death of Admiral Kahoku, conducting experiments on alien species and humans. Her chest constricted painfully. Experiments. On her?

Jacob exchanged a glance at Watson when she only stood there. "You were declared MIA by the Alliance after they couldn't find you but we managed to locate you and brought you back to this facility," he said.

"MIA?" she repeated dully.

"Yeah," he said sympathetically. "You were in really bad shape when you arrived."

"How long?" she said. "How long was I out?"

"Two years to put you back together."

Two years? She could hardly believe it. "How bad was it?"

"To put it candidly, you were just meat and tubes."

It sounded terrible. It was terrible, she realised. It was impossible for her to have survived a drop to the planet. "Was I dead?"

"They said not." When she shifted to a stance he recognised as edgy, he raised his hands defensively. "I'm just passing on what I heard. I'm not the guy who have the hands on. He does though - " he jerked his chin at Watson.

"If you think I'm going to piss off the boss, you'll be disappointed," Watson returned.

She turned her attention to him. "You were there when I woke up, once."

"Yeah, you woke up, you went back to sleep. That's all I'm going to say." He began to hobble across the room to the far door. "I'm going to get out of here. You guys have a nice chat."

"Where're you going? You're not even armed," Jacob reminded.

Watson turned around. "So you can either stand there, let me walk into death and wait for the mechs to walk in on you or you get moving and we all get out of here."

"He's right. This isn't exactly the place to talk. Once we get off this station, I promise I'll answer any questions you have. Deal?" Jacob held out his hand.

Shepard looked at his hand. "I'll hold you to that," she said mildly, curtailing the desire to stomp his friendly gesture down. "I'll take point."

He let his hand dropped and didn't seem offended. "Take a right, the corridor leads to the shuttle bay," he said. "Stay in the middle, Watson, we'll cover you."

That didn't seem to please Watson though he said nothing. He hobbled after Shepard, looking about him and peering at each doorway they passed nervously. His bald head gleamed with sweat and every so often, he rubbed his eyes. Jacob wondered what was ailing him. The wound he tended to was a flesh wound and would heal quickly. Perhaps the man wasn't used to the pain. After all, he was a lab tech, not a soldier.

They ran into a few more mechs. Thankfully none of them was a heavy. The large hatch to the shuttle bay loomed ahead after another trio of mechs fell. The sight of it galvanized Watson to hobble faster, brushing brusquely past Shepard as she paused for a moment to survey the area behind them.

"Shouldn't take long now," he muttered, fingers punching fast at the control panel. The hatch snapped aside. "Once we get..," he stopped abruptly. "Miranda..."

Shepard turned just in time to see a snarl on the face of a dark-hair woman as her arm snapped up, a pistol in her hand. Watson crumpled to the deck.

Jacob froze, staring at the body in shock. "What the hell are you doing?"

"My job," said Miranda.

Jacob looked up to see both women with their pistols aimed at each other. "Whoa whoa, hold it. This is Miranda."

Shepard glanced over at him before lowering her arm. Miranda followed suit. "Why'd you shoot him?"

"He's the one who's been setting off the mechs. His fingerprints are all over the security bypass."

"Watson?!" Jacob exclaimed.

"Why?" asked Shepard.

"Doesn't matter. Right now, we have to get you off this station. The Illusive Man wants to meet you."

"Illusive Man?"

"Our boss," said Jacob. "He's in charge of Cerberus."

"I've never heard of him," said Shepard.

"He's not meant to be," said Miranda as she turned away. "There's no one left but us, it's time to leave."

It was tempting to say no but what would be the point? Clipping the pistol to her belt, Shepard followed her to the shuttle.

I got a wonderful surprise as I set out playing yesterday. Apparently, I was not done with companions, because a side-quest to grab IFF from a delerict ship got me another crew mate. The story with the reapers, proteans and geth just put another twist in the spiral! So, I got another round of companion convos as well, but messed out with Jack, cutting out of the convo too quickly, by mis-click. Too bad, but such is life. Mordin's convos as usual the most intriguing, and his rendition of Salarian Scientist was hilarious. Reminded me the Doctor from Voyager (don't judge).

I am poised to hit another mission, and figure out if reprogramming already reprogrammed droids is morally wrong. By some reason the companion I am dead-set on romancing thinks it is equivalent to murder. Well. Okay, hopefully we'll navigate through it between the waves of attackers.

Weeee!

Hi swear, I am not spamming, I am just excited. I've finished the second part of the trilogy. I gotta say, they did such a fantastic job with setting up the characters and Shepard's relationships, that the Omega 4 mission was really cool, because it was so interesting to chose the set-up. Not to mention some of the scenes were really emotional. I loved the choices I was making and how it was turning out. Jack pushing that biotic field and Tali in the shaft was a stuff of legends. The only thing is, heh, the game's was too short, because I really felt like adventuring with most of those chars. But, ah, well.

In the end, I don't know how my 'likes' run compared to other folks, but basically:

Totally loved: Thane, Garrus, Tali, Mordin, Jack
Would not have minded more development: legion, samara
Would not be disappointed to never encounter again: Miranda, Jacobs and grunt

I am enjoying the excitement, so please keep posting more.
My companion like list changes with the weather, but I'm always fond of Miranda. She has warp AND overload.
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As for what was done today, started Carter's run in ME3, since I prefer to play Bioware games with two or more characters at the same time.
He did the first mission, had a shockwave battle on a roof with a mech on the ground, recruited an elderly but fit alien and got way to touchy with said alien. Will be visiting the Turians next. Also, might have joined the Reapers, judging from the spooky music during his first chat with Traynor.

Kirstin met with the Krogan, after spending a generous time harassing Kaidan. Suspect he hit his head to hard, since he seems to like it. But he was always a crazy kid. The meeting went well. Was a bit disappointed that I'd already met Padok, so...sorry Mordin?. But the mission broke at the end. The cutscene ends and I'm stuck in a black screen, able to shoot but not much more. On the second try I could save at the black screen, but reloading just restarted the cutscene, but this time Kirstin had a bugged arm and could shoot from her gun. So win/lose. Because the arm thing made me chuckle, after being really mad at the local mech. But if I have to fix the mods and replay the game I'm just going to cry.
Either the game got scared at Mel Gibson shouting for his son back or disabling ME3 recalibrated did the trick. I believe the former. 
So smiles all around