What did you do today in ME?

Ok, writing this on behalf of Commander Jenna Shepard, she's unavailable.


Went back to Earth and kicked the Reapers out. It's all fine and dandy to have cracked Brutes, but Jenna struggled with Banshees instead. The flaming missile thing was probably the hardest part of the game (two memorable deaths, possibly my only two deaths...well, two occasions. 1)The Rannoch Reaper beaming dodging, that took about three attempts 2) Citadel DLC, stupidly killed in the market section after falling through the floor and before you friend comes to help out, i used up all my ammo in the restaurant and was struck trying to fight goons who didn't seem to respond well to being shot by shockwave). I was considering Control or Synthesis, but went for Destroy, again. Having spend the last ten minutes telling TIM "Don't be stupid, you can't control the Reapers!" trying seemed a bit stupid, i think even Jenna was a bit baffled by Synthesis, because it's just not explained properly, and everybody else Jenna knows and trusts has been yelling "destroy the Reapers!!!" for about 2 games now. I did loads of thingamagig hunting, so i got the breathe scene, although I would have been happy for Jenna to die, and she'd accepted it.

On the whole, i prefered my first run through, with an Ashmancing Sheploo.

Trying to create a new ManShep, with the aim of being a geeky explosion loving engineer who gets together with Tali or Miranda. Trying to make him blonde to differentiate him from Scott the Sheploo (or will end up with Ash again), alas, i need to give him darker eyebrows and maybe change his complexion. Plus he looks a bit like Alistair from Dragon Age, but i guess that's not a bad thing.

I don't think my PS3 likes Ashley, it handled the Garrus romance scenes and the beam run without distortions, delays or other weirdness, the minute I met her back on Eden Prime whole lines of dialogue went missing. On the other hand, it was nice to be able to tell what was actually going on in the beam run for a change.

So, we'll see, I might need to go back to change Charlie's eyebrows, or a might go back to Dragon Age Inquisition and drag Douglas nice but dim through the DLCs.

William Shep went to Illium today. He helped Miranda to bring her sister into safety and made Miranda to introduce herself to Oriana. William then helped Liara to take down the Shadow Broker, after shooting through an office building, an interesting hotel and a ship, they finally came face to face with the Shadow Broker. The Broker turned out to be a Yahg, a species that was violent and intelligent. He thought that he could take down Shep and his teammates, which didn't work out for him at all. By the end of the day, we saved Feron and Liara became the new Broker.

Shep returned to Illium, did some shopping and some side quests.
1. Gave a locket back to a widow.
2. Learned that the Rachni queen was rebuilding.
4. Convinced an Asari to take back her Krogan boyfriend.
5. Talked to Gianna Parasini, ignored her request for help. She should do her own job and stop bothering Shep all the time.
6. Helped the surviving Feros colonists again.

Shep talked to a detective who was being ordered to bring Samara into custody for the reason of "avoiding an interspecies incident", Shep thought it was obvious that the Eclipse payed off the police. Shep and his team dealt with the Eclipse, brought the information Samara needed and successfully recruited her. During the process Shep forwarded a suspicious looking message, waked the biotic god up from his dream, sent Elnora packing and turned the Volus merchant into the police instead of taking his drug money. Shep knows when to "just say no", Nancy Reagan would be proud.

Shep returned on Illium, encountered the politest Krogan he ever met and was given some credits for forwarding the message. Talked to an Asari and received more intel on Thane. Shep, Grunt and Garrus arrived at the Dantius towers, saw a bunch of mechs killing helpless Salarian workers. Cmdr. Shep, being the champion of the weak and the helpless, took down the mechs and gave a Salarian worker an application of medigel, an action Grunt disapproved. Shep went up into the tower, killed more mercs, tossed a merc of a window, freed more Salarians and finally met Nassana Dantius. Thane made an impressive entry, was recruited successfully. The team returned to Normandy. Jacob didn't trust Thane, and told Shep to be careful. I kinda wish there is an option to smack talk Jacob, remind him that he placed his trust in a terroist organization, so shut the hell up.

I am going to save Collector ship and Tali for a little bit later. Sniper rifle here I come!

Fraggle, you Femshep looks like my now late FemShep !(Ok, she got the breath scene but unlike Scott, I'm not too bothered about continuing her story as HC. Jenna would probably just settle down with Garrus somewhere, provided somebody pulls her out of the rubble, sharpish. I guess i can see her and Jack, maybe with Garrus and Kaidan, running a school/orphanage for biotic and abandoned kids. There you go Jenna, I saved you after all. A wild week on Omega with Tali, Miranda and Jack, followed by starting a new life with Garrus. Awwwww. Leave the galaxy re-building to Scott the Sheploo, or in your case, Hackett.)

Right, let's start again at the beginning. Introducing Charles A Shepard, Charlie to his mates, Engineer with a sniper rifle. Look the game gave me an option and I went for it. Charlie's a former colonist and a sole survivor (kind of wish i'd made him a war hero, then he'd really hate batarians, but trying to work out how young Shepard defended Elysium as an Interceptor was tough, as an Engineer was worse...). And he's finally got some eyebrows, but he's still blonde, he looks a bit odd, but i figure that's a problem with custom ManSheps and it's going to be hard enough to avoid getting involved with Ashley as it is, and the nostalgia for Ash and Sheploo is too much, so a slightly weird looking ManShep it is, maybe I can tweak him in Project Lazarus. Here's hoping. Charlie is supposed to be avoiding romantic entanglements for now, only to fall for Miranda or Tali in the next game. I haven't decided which yet, I feel Miranda deserves a nice Shep after getting dumped and killed in Scott's game, yet Tali, she's so sweet and loyal. On the other hand, i suspect that Charlie's skills will be close to Tali's and thus I won't be using her as much, so Miranda may win. It's good to have Mark Meer back, I have nothing against Jennifer Hale's performance but I prefer Meer, even in ME1.

Well, somebody has decided that Charlie Shepard would make a good Spectre. Alas, on a routine "collect a McGuffin" mission to Eden Prime, Charlie and his team have run into geth, which was a surprise in it'self, but even more so was the fact that they appeared to be led by a rogue turian spectre named Saren. During the mission, Charlie got too close to the beacon he'd been sent to retrieve, and ended up having a disturbing vision of the past or future.

It went well, I managed not to lose any bombs (On my first run I got blown up) and have the full conversations with both the scientists and the farmer/smugglers. I love that that Dr Manuel guy sounds like a lunatic but in fact is 100% right about everything. Shep, Ash and Kaidan are giving him "hey mr you're weird" looks, and that other lady is embarrassed, and he say "I'm the only sane one here!". Manuel, I agree wholeheartedly, yet these guys don't know what they're up against yet.

Shawna Shepard:
1. Went to Eden Prime. Found a Prothean Popsicle, but could not open the fridge. Cerberus was mad Shepard was trying to steal their popsicle. Shepard shot all the Cerberus kiddies and got the popsicle.

2. Met with diplomats. No one was friendly. Wreav agreed to help the Turians but only if they cured the genophage. He demanded they go rescue some Krogan females held by the Salarians.

3. Went to the Salarian homeworld. Found only one remaining female Krogan.

4. Cerberus attacked. Payback for stealing their Prothean popsicle? Killed more Cerberus, got Krogan female out safely. Mordin happy and still as crazy as ever.

I'm back! Wow, these were some of the most amazing days I've ever had in my life.
Well, after defeating my clone. Yup, you heard that right. A clone. A frigging clone. Of course Cerberus was behind it. It was surreal.
I can't believe I got played by the clone's sidekick. She felt so genuine and was really convincing when she played the role of an Alliance Staff Analyst.
Well... long story short, the clone planned to kill me and my squad mates to take over my life. Luckily I have awesome friends and we got her after chasing her through the Citadel for what felt like forever. I hated her for wanting to steal the Normandy, but... I wanted to help her when she dangled from the open cargo bay door. I kinda felt sorry for her by the end. But she refused and fell to her death.
After that we were finally able to relax a bit. I know I wrote I'd rather follow Leng, but I immediately noticed after all this hassle how much I needed this break. It's good to be rested and ready.
Oh right! I didn't tell you the best thing yet. Anderson gave me his apartment on the Citadel. It's beautiful! Very big, big enough in case Garrus and I ever want to have some kids...
And it has a hot tub!! (Which I let Sam use of course, haha)
I met up with everyone, it was a great time. Garrus took me dancing, which was - believe it or not - so much fun. And then there was a big party. Everyone came and we had the best time, drinking, dancing, laughing. I'm in such good spirits I feel like I'm almost invincible. But only almost. I don't want to think about what we lose if we can't finish the Crucible in time, but...
No, it has to be fine. Everything will be fine.
We are preparing to leave for the Illusive Man's hideout. Wish me luck!



Well... as bad as the beginning of the DLC was death-wise, I for once defeated the clone on my first try. But I suppose the Infiltrator, especially with Energy Drain, makes it kind of easy
The Garrus romance isnt as weird as I imagined, but the scene in the bar before the dance was not really my cup of tea. But overall I enjoyed it quite a bit so far.
I will try and finish the game asap so I can start my next Shepard! I'm super excited. This trilogy is truly evil

Damn, sorry to hear that the text got eaten away. And, yay, Tali.

EDIT: gotta buy a couple of the DLCs for this run through.

Hey there.
Cerberus is finished. Kai Leng dead...
Just need to get to the Illusive Man, but it won't be easy. He fled to the Citadel, and the Citadel has been moved to Earth. Sucks, right? But that is not even the worst part. The Catalyst is the Citadel. And now it's in Reaper-controlled space. Our chances are slim, and I'm not sure how we will make it. I just hope we can somehow.
We saw some more logs on the Illusive Man's station. He is sick. Absolutely sick and disgusting. All he ever did since we parted was getting in my way. Had he helped, we would've had everything we needed already. But he's a maniac, there's no doubt about it. He's obsessed with controlling the Reapers.
Well, I know it's pretty useless to think about all this now. Can't do anything until we arrive on Earth. But I'm restless. Anxious.
So much at stake.
Funny, I don't want to put down this pen and stop writing... might be the last time I do this.
But I need to try and rest. It will be a tough fight ahead. Good night...

So much for sleep. Garrus came to my cabin again and now he sleeps and I'm still awake. Ugh! Okay... one more try. See ya!

Damn it, okay, now is really the last time!
Garrus, I just know you will peek in here if I'm not around to
if you make it and I don't... Thanks for everything, best space boyfriend ever
~Maxine

Screenies:

Following the rather disastrous hearing with the Council into the events on Eden Prime, Karen Shepard had 2 possible leads to try and prove Saren's guilt.

Kaidan and Ashley suggested talking to Garrus, the C-Sec officer who lead the investigation into Saren. He couldn't turn up any proof in time for the hearing, but perhaps he had some leads they could follow up on. Udina had a contact who could help track down Garrus - Harkin, a human C-Sec officer who was currently suspended for various infractions. (Shepard wasn't sure why they needed the help of a suspended dirty cop - couldn't they just go to C-Sec and ask for an appointment? - but she figured she would just go with it).

Anderson didn't think much of Harkin, for obvious reasons, and suggested Barla Von, the Volus financier the team had met earlier, might be able to assist. Barla Von was apparently a representative of the Shadow Broker, who might have some information on Saren.

Shepard decided to start with Garrus. This "Shadow Broker" character sounded a little fishy to her, so she figured they would start with C-Sec first and see where it lead.

On there way out of the Council Chambers, Ashley spotted a Salarian doing something over by one of the Keepers. Curious, Shepard went to investigate. The Salarian, named Chorban, was nervous and defensive, but eventually revealed that he was attempted to learn about the Keepers using a medical scanner he had modified. Shepard had heard about the Keepers, from Avina and other conversations on the station, and agreed with Chorban that it was bizarre that so little was know about beings who appeared to have a great deal of influence in running the station. Shepard wanted to know more, so offered to scan Keepers using Chorban's scanner. If C-Sec wanted to fine her for "disturbing" the Keepers, they were welcome to try.

Back on the Presidium, Shepard managed to convince a C-Sec officer that he had better things to do than harass some Hanar preaching about the "glory" of the Protheans (like helping out with the investigation into a Turian Spectre running around attacking colonies, maybe?).

Down in the Wards, the team took in one of the spectacular views available on the Citadel. While admiring the view, Kaidan let it slip that he might have a bit of a crush on his commanding officer. Ashley was quick to tease him, but Shepard wasn't bothered (and was actually a little flattered), and didn't make an issue of it.

Next, they were flagged down by Emily Wong, a reporter who was looking into corruption on the Citadel. Shepard was curious how Emily knew about Shepard's activities, when Shepard herself had only been put in charge of the investigation a short while before. Was there a leak somewhere in the Council staff? Or did Udina tip off the press that the Council might be mixed up in the Eden Prime business to try and embarrass them? Shepard wasn't too concerned with the political maneuvering, but she promised Ms Wong that if she uncovered anything she thought the public should know, she would pass it on.

On the way to Chora's Den - the club where the meeting with Harkin was to take place - they ran into a young man named Conrad, who had evidently seen Shepard on the news and was a little star struck. "What could be the harm in talking to him?", Shepard thought to herself. An autograph was provided, which Conrad hoped would impress his wife.

Outside the club, two of Saren's assassins ambushed the party. They were no match for 3 experienced Alliance marines, however. Inside, they witnessed a tense confrontation between two Krogan, a bouncer from the club and another named Wrex, who wanted to see the club owner. Ashley advised steering clear and not getting between the two.

Harkin was a thoroughly unpleasant man, but he did provide a location for Garrus - in the medical clinic run by a Dr Michel. He also made accusations against Captain Anderson, claiming that he had once been a Spectre agent, but was kicked out for some unspecified reason. Shepard suspected Harkin was probably full of it, but made note to ask Anderson about it later.

On the way out, the 3 marines spoke to Septimus, the Turian general who was feuding with Sha'ira, the Consort. He had obviously been hurt by her rejection, but agreed with Shepard that he wasn't handling things the right way - getting drunk in a dive bar and spreading nasty rumors. He agreed to straighten up and "act like a general", and promised to sort things out with Sha'ira. Shepard agreed to help by smoothing things over with Xeltan, the Elcor diplomat from the embassies who was blaming the Consort for something that Septimus had done.

With that business finally sorted out, the team set out for Dr Michel's medical clinic and a meeting with Garrus.

The weekend is over, so back to ME2! I've been mostly knocking out loyalty missions:

--Jacob: Took Zaeed with me. I choose the paragon route, even though I wasn't sure I was going to. It's one of my favorite quests, but it's more due to the planet itself versus the quest content. I love those "near miss" Earth-like planets. Where it's almost perfect for habitation, but something is off in the native environment that prevents that.

--Jack: Took Jacob along with me. On a RP level, my Shep felt that Jacob needed to see Cerberus' past first hand. It's one thing to read about the shit Cerberus has pulled, it's another to see what places like Pragia was doing.

--Then of course "But thou must" go to the Collector Ship. I grabbed Garrus and Thane for that one. Thane wasn't bad, but I think I'll stick with a human for a third squadmate next time.

--Garrus: I took the paragon option with Sidonis. I've done it before, but I'm not going to let Siodnis live next time. It goes into the RP that I've had going between Alex and Garrus. Garrus needed to learn not to take the easy way out.

--Kasumi: Okay, I'll be honest. I wanted to have that really spiffy suit for causal wear. I also used the Renegade option to get him to talk. I thought that those lines worked a lot better for that scene than the Paragon choice.

--Samara: Once again, I took Morinth down. I'd honest consider letting her live if she was worth it in ME3. I don't need a named banshee. I did wear that suit from Kasumi though.

--Miranda: Took Tali with me. I never had before, but I've used them quite a bit for the baby Reaper. They did a good job there too. I took Tali with me for RP reasons. It makes the whole speech in ME3 where she shows her admiration for Miranda a little more applicable.

**Tip! Once you complete her loyalty quest, you get the Advanced Mineral Scanner. The scope will move faster and will be able to scan planets more deeply.

--For the Jack and Miranda fight, I took the Renegade answer. Everyone's still loyal, but Alex tends to yell when he gets frustrated.

--Zaeed: Saved the workers, had to take the Paragon answer. My Renegade has alas fallen behind enough to where Alex couldn't yell at Zaeed. I do enjoy that particular quest though. Shame that it takes a mod to find out what happened to Vido.

--Thane: So, I was going to go to Tuchunka after doing some planet scanning. I realized I dropped a little low on credits, so I decided to take care of Thane's quest. Everything went fine, until the very last check-in with Thane. I clicked on the turian and the quest proceeded to bug out. Thane was still talking as Koliat's cutscene kicked in. I watched confused as Koliat shot the bodyguard and shot towards the turian. It completely bypassed the little scene with the workers, as if I'd run out of time.

Sure enough, Thane gave his little 'you fucked up' speech ("Entropy always wins,") and the mission report came back as failed. I had to restart the entire mission, since I didn't bother doing a hard save the first time around. It worked fine the second time and I was able to get that done. Sad part was that I had just fired back up the game after giving it a bit of a breather.

Between this and ME1, parts of this run have been far more buggy than they were with my last Shep. It's a little frustrating, but oh well. It's playable and I tend to save/exit often.

I'll be heading to Tuchunka for Grunt's quest. I'm either bringing Jack, Jacob or Garrus along for that quest. Jacob might go for biotic combos and squad flaming bullets. Mordin's will follow up shortly thereafter. I'm going to bring Tali for this. I think the combo will work out well and it makes the paragon comment to sick krogan even funnier. "..Not like a sick quarian with a tummy ache."

She looks awesome.

Vance Shepard (cont'd)

Personal Log: Well, just call me the biggest patsy in the Galaxy. Hackett continues to contact me with this or that little favor to do for the Alliance. This time it was to calm down and bring in some loony Major who had killed the couple of Alliance officers Hackett had sent out before me. I managed to intimidate him into thinking I would kill all of his biotic followers if he didn't come along. In the end, I had to give him an hour to convince them he should go, but I gather from Hackett that he was good to his word and surrendered to the fifth fleet cruiser Kaidan radioed to come in after us. I guess that's not what's really bugging me... We went to Sharjila to rescue some Asari diplomat's sister and that turned out to just be a lie the diplomat told me just so I would go to kill her slaver sister. I'm tempted to hightail it back to the Citadel right now and kill that diplomat... maybe if I detour to track down Wrex's armor, I'll calm down before I meet up with the diplomat to collect the payment. Kaidan told me that the crew is aware of the stonewalling I'm getting from the council. That doesn't really bug me so much, but for some reason, Ashley isn't talking to me despite my telling Liara that I'm just not interested in her. I thought Ashley would be pleased about that, but it doesn't seem to have impressed her much. Back during our first trip to the Citadel, I remember Ashley telling Kaidan that he doesn't understand women, but heck - I don't understand women.

I thought the AMS was dependent upon that quest. I didn't know that. That's one of the reasons why I post in here. I enjoy learning more about the games, since I know there is a bunch of stuff left to discover. I always talk to my companions right after recruitment to get any upgrades. I'm a little neurotic like that.

I have noticed a difference with the AMS. The scope does move faster, at least on the PS3/PSN version, and you do get more bang for your buck. It doesn't really appear to increase the speed that much on the PC version. For my experience on the PS3, I found it worthwhile.

Oh, I managed to have the nice little platonic dinner with Kelly. So that'll be the first time I'll trigger that without messing with a Bool code*. I also want to the thank the poster that recommended Geth Shielding as a bonus power for ME2. It's been extremely useful.

_{*You can enter a code into Gibbed for ME3 to get Kelly into the game without the dinner. You can also get the Robo Dog that way too. Gibbed has a flag you can check if you like the N7 Hoodie and leather coat.}