What did you do today in ME?

I seem to remember having to change the Aspect Ratio setting first, in order to get the resolution option I want to show up in the Resolutions field.

I usually use the MassEffectConfig.exe file to change those settings after reinstalling ME1.  It believe it has more options than the in-game menus.

With MEA hype getting bigger after the N7 day, I decided to finish a trilogy run that was untouched for some months.

So the first thing my Shep did was consulting his VI how his approach should be going forward. "We can defeat everything if we work together..." was the VI's answer:


That wasn't too assuring, but "so what" thought my Shep, "let's ask EDI how we win this war", but she was just making fun...


Though it really wasn't the time for it, so my Shep remembered the lost for a second:


Then, over Rannoch, Thessia and Sanctuary the team finally - thanks to Miranda - tracked down the Illusive Man's base.

So after some shore leave...


... it was time for the final push. The poor bastard Kai Leng didn't stand a chance:


We learned that the Citadel is the catalyst and that the Reapers had moved it to Earth, so there we went. (BTW: after lots of Multiplayer hours I had a blast replaying Priority Earth from a gameplay standpoint - barely needed any help of the squadmates. )

"This is it, isn't it?" Said Liara, and we shared one last short moment together:


After that, a Marauder called "Shields" tried to stop me from entering the beam, but that poor bastard...

... didn't stand a chance.

TIM tried to convince Anderson and me that we should try to control the Reapers, but with the last my Shep had left, he shot him and shared another final moment - this time with his mentor:


The end. Oh wait, this wasn't really the end.

But, the end. Nah, of course destroyed the Reapers before the end. 

I played a lot of Mass Effect 3 today it seems.

Erin Shepard:
1. Rendezvoused with Aria's fleet. Aria wanted help kicking Cerberus off of Omega, Erin loves kicking Cerberus (and shooting Cerberus, and stabbing Cerberus, and...), so it that was all right by her. The two of them frolicked through the dark corridors of Omega, killing all Cerberus troops they encountered until they finally captured the top dog on the station: General Petrovsky. Aria then choked him to death while Erin enjoyed watching the show.

2. Not having had enough of her Cerberus-killing fix (she can never have enough; she may have a problem), Erin went to Eden Prime to go steal a Prothean artifact from Cerberus' clutches. In a stroke of luck, the Prothean artifact turned out to be a living Prothean frozen in stasis. Cerberus was not happy that they were stealing the prothean, but Erin was ecstatic they kept getting in the way of her bullets. Eventually, no more Cerberus troops were left alive which made Erin unhappy, but at least they got to take a Prothean on board.

3. Erin went back to Tuchanka to go locate a Turian platoon that had been shot down. Much to her great disappointment, it was the Reapers that had shot the platoon down, not Cerberus. Somewhat annoyed, she killed all the Reaper forces while pretending they were Cerberus troops.

4. The Turians then wanted help in defusing a bomb. Erin does not mind playing with explosives, but she perked up when the Turians said Cerberus had the bomb. Even better: they wanted her to go kill Cerberus while they dealt with the bomb. It all worked out (except for the part where all the Turians died, but who cares about the Turians when there is Cerberus to kill!)



Jen Shepard:
1. Continued to procrastinate on meeting the Quarians, went to Omega with Aria instead. Kicked Cerberus off the station.



Kim Shepard:
1. Went to Eden Prime, found a Prothean. The Prothean is a biotic. As a Vanguard, that makes Kim very happy. Kim wishes she could take Liara, Kaidan, and Javik to all missions to explode even more things.

2. Went to a snowy planet to go find some Ex-Cerberus scientists. Found Cerberus trying to kill the scientists. She intervened and got the remaining survivors out alive.

Continued with my first PC play-through of Mass Effect last night. I really have to say the difference is astounding, compared to the 360 version I mean. The load times are almost nonexistent!

So after some messing about on the Citadel and discovering evidence that implicates Saren in some dodgy business I became a SPECTRE, got the Normandy, and was ready to begin a new adventure. First thing on my list was to go get Liara so I headed to the Artemis Tau cluster but couldn't remember which system she was in so I traveled to the Macedon System and landed on Sharjila. I came across a mineral site but didn't have enough decryption/electronics points to recover it so I returned to the Normandy in a huff and immediately set a course for Feros. After docking I sorted out my team's skill points as some characters I hadn't used since recruiting them at the Citadel. Now that I have my team sorted regarding their roles within my unit I am going to go back for Liara.

It's a minor annoyance in Mass Effect that you cant configure you character's skill points until you have them in your team on a mission/quest. It would have been nice to have been able to edit their skills when kitting them out on the Normandy at their lockers but it's forgivable.

So tonight I'm going to get Liara and anything else worth it in that cluster and then I think I'll head to Noveria as I've always done Feros first.

I don't want to come across as some PC elitist here but the difference between the original Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect and the PC version is staggering.
As mentioned earlier the load times are much quicker, which might not be a big deal really but I really did notice how much shorter they are.

I had started a female Shepard run on my 360 just recently in the original ME, but after playing the game on PC I'm finding it hard to go back to the 360. The framerate at times in 360 ME is just awful. MY PC more than meets the recommended requirements for the game and so it's running smoothly at maximum settings. Since I've been used to the 360 versions of the Mass Effect games and this is the first time I've played Mass Effect on a decent PC I am amazed at the difference. I mean of course I expected it to look a bit sharper and for it to be a little smoother but nothing like this.

I actually installed both ME 2 & 3 (then deleted them) in a bit of a panic, to see if the difference in those games was the same but it's nothing like the original game. PC ME2 & 3 might look a bit smoother, shinier, whatever but the contrast is nothing like compared to the original 360 ME and the PC version. I mean the framerate in the original game is just appalling at times, and obviously I didn't know any differently before so even though I could see the game had some technical issues I just accepted them and enjoyed the experience immensely. Now I've played the game on PC I think it'll be hard to ever play the 360 version again, which is sad as it's one of my most treasured games (I'm not a huge game collector but I have the limited edition of ME with the steelcase and bonus disk).

Anyway, tonight it's off to get Liara and then showdown with Benezia.

By the way I managed to increase the resolution in the game settings. It was just some ridiculous noobness from me when I first installed the game. I went in to the graphics settings and I thought it only went up to 1280x960 as I didn't see the indicators to move the range of resolutions. I now have it running at 1920x1080 - (16:9). Looks great.

John Shepard:

Normandy SR-2: Traynor suggested I go visit Steve Cortez. It was a little weird watching him crying over an audio recording of his last conversation with his husband - who was killed by the Collectors. But it's been at least six months. I can understand the sadness but still listening several months later? Maybe it's the anniversary of the day or something. I gave him a pep talk and told him I was always available if he needed anything.

Engineer Adams was pleased with my recruitment of Daniels and Donnelly. I'm sure they're also pleased not to be in the brig anymore. Kind of miss Rupert Gardner in the mess hall but there was no way I was getting him back. He wasn't someone who had been part of the Alliance and left. He was a Cerberus guy. That's why I dropped him off elsewhere before heading back to Earth.

Planet Scanning: Found more artifacts, salvage and fuel at random locations. Truthfully, some of the locations are based on things I overheard people talking about on the Citadel. All of it is useful in giving me more allies. The biggest problem is always in pinging the systems to find what I'm looking for. It attracts Reapers so I have to minimize usage.

Citadel: Dropped by Huerta Memorial to see Kaidan. He was out of bed and in uniform, which was good to see. He'd also accepted the Spectre position offered to him. Can't think of a better person to fill the role of humanity's second Spectre. I invited him back to the Normandy but he wanted to track down his old students from the spec ops squad of the Biotics Division first. While I was there I also gave some biotic interfaces from Grissom Academy to an asari scientist who thought she could tweak them to work for her people. Also gave some biotic amp schematics I'd found on the Ismar Frontier to a salarian doctor who had been looking for them. He said it would help the Alliance but any biotic who could be helped was an asset.

Gave Kannik some black market pieces I'd found. Now he's cooperating with C-Sec and General Oraka will leave the Blue Suns alone. That means they can be one more gun aimed at the Reapers. Delivered a prothean obelisk to a volus ambassador who said it could be used to help build the Crucible. Authorized entry to the Citadel of the younger students from Grissom Academy who aren't ready for battle but still in need of training.

Talked to Kelly Chambers again. She apologized for giving reports on the mental state of the Normandy crew - myself included - to the Illusive Man. Though I hadn't known it doesn't come as a surprise. She's a psychologist and would have been making evaluations of us all. She didn't see the Illusive Man for what he was back so there was no reason for her to hold back. The thing that's disturbing is that she still hasn't changed her identity. If she doesn't do so soon she might end up dead.

Met up with Miranda. It was good to see her safe though she was on the run from Cerberus. She's worried about her sister again. Miranda can't reach Oriana and suspects her father is involved. She's not looking for help just yet, just someone to talk to. She's pretty lonely right now since she's not especially welcome anywhere in Council space.

Normandy SR-2: Met with Wrex, the salarian dalatrass and Primarch Victus in the conference room. Wrex laid out exactly what he wanted in order for the krogan to aid the turians: a cure for the genophage. The dalatrass refused, of course, but I wonder if she didn't suspect this might happen and only showed up to stop it. In any case, Wrex brought up the salarian scientist Maelon who I'd encountered on Tuchanka. He'd been trying to cure the genophage but used to brutal methods to do so. Leaked information revealed that some of the krogan females had survived and were immune to the genophage. Those females had been taken by the STG. Wrex wanted them back. She caved and told us they were at an STG facility on Sur'kesh. She then had the gall to call me a bully when my motive is to save the galaxy and hers is to keep the krogan down. Maybe I'd just had enough conversations with Wrex on the SR-1 to understand that the krogan were slowly dying off, from apathy in addition to hte genophage, that I felt sympathetic. In any case, I saw them as more than merc trash. I believed they could be more.

Sur'Kesh: It made sense to bring Liara and Garrus with me. They knew him as well as I did. The dalatrass took her time sending word to the facility. They had no idea we were coming and a major incident almost ensued. As it was, they would not allow Wrex into the facility. Padok Wiks told us the krogan females were in poor health when found and that's why they were brought to Sur'Kesh. It's not entirely impossible but I'm sure they weren't being held there six months later for that same reason.

I was just playing MP today, trying to learn the Sniper Rifle on my own in solo with hilareous results.

On the upside, a H!Soldier with a Phaeston and the gear module that gives an extra frag grenade & AR damage is actually waaaay more fun now, so I can finish levelling/promoting him finally without wasting away from embarrassment. He will be my last class to get to level 20, and promote.

Speaking of promotions, I also finished up the Salarian Engineer and finally cried a little and promoted my Vanguard. Then I took him into bronze match on level 1, because I am that insane. Yeah, I was getting used on him having some survivability, so it wa not stellar, but darn, Vanguard is a fun class to play! The one thing I have not played forever is my Krios spin-off. Well, I'll get to it

Lot's of fun!

Not a lot of time today so let's see what John Shepard can accomplish:

Sur'Kesh (continued): Glad to hear for all of his threats, Wrex acknowledges it's all bluster. I think he knows that acting on them would work against him. He wants to save his people like no other krogan has in recent history. Ran into Major Kirrahe (another one moving up the ranks, though I'm not surprised after Virmire). He also said that regardless of what the dalatrass might decide, he was committed to fighting for Earth. Good thing I didn't burn too many bridges when I began all of this fighting Saren and the geth. Interestingly, Padok Wiks is a Darwinist, after a fashion. He believes that the evolutionary process should decide the fate of the krogan rather than politics. Hence, he thinks the genophage should be cured so that it can play out properly. Can't help wondering what the galaxy would be like right now had the Reapers not destroyed so many races over the last billion years or so.

Just as I was entering the elevator to the base, alarms went off. Sur'Kesh, which had thus far been untouched by war, was being attacked. Wiks sent me to my destination anyway. I met Mordin Solus down there and he told me he was the one who had leaked information to Wrex. He wanted to help the female krogan survive but, despite having Maelon's data, only one remained. Turns out a genophage cure could be made from a combination of Maelon's research and a tissue sample from the surviving krogan female. That made her life extremely valuable. The route to the shuttle was destroyed by a bomb. Had to find an alternate path while Wrex took the shuttle.

Saw some yahg test subjects here - the same race as that of the Shadow Broker prior to Liara. The salarians are attempting to uplift them, just as they did with the krogan. It's like they never learn. Even so, an escaped yahg did break loose and take out some Cerberus troops.

We fought our way back to the top. Had to take out an Atlas mech before Wrex could land the shuttle. But we did and got the krogan female safely aboard the Normandy. Mordin went straight to work to synthesize a cure.

I've liked the Troopers' promotions in SWTOR, even though it came without an actual command. Don't remember them getting Colonel, but I've probably quit before that occurred. It's good to know my Troopers have the upward mobility if I were to restart that game.  But in Mass Effect I've also assumed that Specter is a separate rank altogether, and it defines Shepard.

In ME3 today I spent some time on the Normandy configuring my weapons and armour as I bought 2 new mods for my M-96 Mattock. Also bought the Aquarium VI as I always forgot to feed my fish in ME2 and they died. Now I have some Koi, Illium Skald Fish & some Thessian Sunfish for my tank and I wont have to worry about remembering to feed them now

Armour wise I have the Mnemonic Visor but the rest is standard N7 stuff for chest, shoulder, arms and legs at this point.

My M-96 Mattock is upgraded to level V and I have 2 mods that increase damage and accuracy so I'm happy with that weapon for the time being. I also have a modded sniper rifle but I cant remember which one as I rarely use it. I don't have any additional weapons eqipped at this point.

Since I had bought some fish I went to my cabin to check them out and I noticed that you cant select previous ME tunes from your sound system like you could in ME2, which is a little disappointing but some of the selections are funky.

It's nice to be able to view your team from your personal terminal but I think it would be better if you could also assign skills and configure weapons for your squad here too but it's not a major issue really.

So after some time faffing about on the Normandy I landed on Tuchanka to deal with a bomb with Liara and Javik as my squad. The L.Z. was pretty hot and we had to deal with numerous Cerberus people. Liara's Singularity and Javik's Slam both came in handy here dealing with the Cerberus goons and I managed to reach the bomb site without too much hassle. Turns out the bomb was placed on Tuchanka ages ago by the Turians, in case of another Krogan uprising, but there was no time to discuss that as various Cerberus troops were coming in waves as Lt. Victus tried to disarm the bomb. It wasn't too hard dealing with Cerberus until they deployed an Atlus mech which almost killed me at one point and took down Javik and it almost reached Lt. Victus, but we fought on and defeated them and Lt. Victus managed to deal with the bomb but he died in the process.

In the aftermath things got a bit heated between the Krogan and the Turians but I reminded Wrex of Primark's loss (Lt. Victus), which eased the tension slightly.

Now I have the support of the Turian Blackwatch but it's still a very long way to go until I have enough assets to even think about doing something about those blasted Reapers.

This is only my 2nd experience of ME3. The last time I had the EC but none of the other D.L.C.

I didn't realise Lt. Victus was Primark's son last time and that was me just finding out. I cant think of another game where moments like that resonate so deeply like they do in the Mass Effect saga.

This is actually kind of an idea I had in my head for a while of how the trilogy should have ended.

Shepard is lying in a hospital bed, possibly with a love interest at bedside (if you had one). Then Hackett comes in, congratulates you on a job well done, then offers you a promotion. The promotion means you will no longer be fighting in active combat situations. You then have three options:
1. Take the promotion
2. Decline the promotion and retire
3. Reject the promotion because you want to keep your current rank