What did you do today in ME?

Rachni everywhere. Miriam Shepard, Kaidan and Wrex wish they'd packed some bugspray.

It started during a routine survey of the Styx Theta star cluster. Exploring the planet Altahe, the squad happened upon a building surrounded by strange craters. Approaching the craters revealed the horrible truth: rachni nests. The building turned out to be a classified Alliance listening post that had been overrun by rachni shortly after the arrival of a consignment of supplies. None of the Alliance staff on Altahe had survived; furthermore, a recording of a distress call from the nearby planet Nepmos indicated that the listening post there was under similar pressure.

Shepard ordered Joker to make best possible speed to Nepmos. Going planetside, the squad found the remnant of an Alliance platoon vainly attempting to repulse wave after wave of rachni soldiers. Lending her squad and the Mako to the effort, Shepard helped to eliminate the rachni vanguard, then took Wrex and Kaidan to the abandoned mine where the bulk of the rachni forces were holed up. There seemed to be no end to the rachni forces; and underground, in close quarters, their acid proved to be a terrifyingly effective weapon. Shepard dipped into her stock of grenades and medi-gel to subdue the rachni and keep her comrades on their feet.

(As one-shot minor NPCs go, I did like the Alliance officer here, Lt Marie Durand. Shame she didn't reappear in ME2 or ME3. I wonder if she survived the Reaper war? Doubt she'd have enjoyed facing off against Ravagers. Speaking of Ravagers, I'm really seeing the resemblance to the rachni soldiers now. They're about the same size, and there's that acidic goo they leave behind).

It transpired that the Alliance bases on Altahe and Nepmos had been supplied by a ship from a depot in the Argos Rho cluster. On arrival, Shepard found the depot devoid of all human life, but crawling with yet more rachni. Wearily fighting her way through the bugs to the command centre, Shepard accessed the logs and discovered that the depot was a Cerberus front. The rachni had been hatched close to the queen in a failed attempt to produce controllable weapons.

Miriam Shepard returned to the Normandy somewhat disturbed. It appears that Cerberus is like an iceberg, mostly unseen beneath the surface, much bigger than it had at first appeared. It's not a question of if she'll encounter them again, but when; and what horrors will she uncover when she does?

ME1 Final Thoughts.  It's in spoiler tags for size.



Next time! ME2 and The Return of the Living Shepard. I've gotten some of it started. I was too tired to post last night.

--Tried to recreate my character so I could change her hair.

--Got off the damn station.

--Giggled at seeing the Kestrel armor again. Worth the real world cash.

--Then sighed at the clothing selection.  I miss having all of the clothes unlocked.  

--Checked out Freedom's Progress.

--Sent Veetor back with Tali.

--Restarted because my recreation of Shepard looked cross-eyed and used my imported face.

--Grabbed Zaheed.

--Grabbed Mordin, saved his assistant and the sick bartarian.

--Did all of the planet scanning for that system.

--Renegade interupt on the gunship mechanic.

--Got Garrus, died a couple of times. I hate those damn vorcha pyro masters.

--Did yet more planet scanning.  Gods I haven't missed that.

--Grabbed Kasumi.

--Listened to all of the Galactic News.  Interesting little tidbits of info there.

--Became a Specter again. Zaeed is the perfect person to be around for that.

--Saved inside the prison before I went to bed. Getting ready to find Jack.

Actually postponed my ME2 playthrough and decided on another ME1 run. lol. This time with Ash surviving.

Daily log of events!

--Got Jack. Took Garrus and Zaeed with me. They are a good combination and Zaeed has some good commentary.

--Picked up Grunt. Mordin and Jack were my combo. Shockwave, how I have missed thee.

--Did more planet scanning. My left finger is officially starting to hurt from holding down the L2 button. I'm not doing anymore until I need the materials for upgrades. Thankfully, I've got a good stockpile of stuff.

--Turned in the quest for Ken and Gabby (the enigneers) as well as the quest for the ship's cook. Janitor. Who almost never forgets to wash his hands.

--Let myself down on a story level. I did Horizon, and my party makeup is good for balance. I took Jack and Mordin with me. The problem is that Mordin's quiet confusion at Kaidan's reaction is no subsitute for Garrus' response. This was a double screw up, since I'm doing Kaidan's romance.

--In my head, Shepard finally got the point. She knows she was dead for two years, but there hadn't been a ton of change. Horizon brought it all home, so I took her to the Normandy crash site. Normally I place the monument near the Galaxy Map, but this time I did it next to the Armory. Shep's feeling more than a bit of survivor's guilt and did that to mark a grave of sorts for Ashley.

Next time!

--Getting drunk with Chakwas. Shep could use a drink. Or three.
--Jack's loyalty mission. Gimmie Warp Ammo.
--Jacob's loyalty mission.
--Excitement and blue skin at Illum. With my favorite NPC just around the corner...

I'm not going to lie. If I'm just trying to get through ME1 as quick as possible, while also doing side quests, Benzeia can sound extremely melodramatic. Her, "Goodnight Little Wing," speech (if you take Liara) can sound particularly corny.

It's been awhile since I've played, so I enjoyed it this time around. Sometimes I'm into it, and sometimes I'm drumming my fingers waiting for her to stop interrupting battle. Depends upon my mood and the mindset of my Shepard.

In this case, I don't blame the VA. That's actually Marina Sirtis. She's the actress that played Deanna Troi in TNG. I know she's a lot better than that. I blame the VA director for instructing her to speak her lines that way.

Oh well. In every RPG, no matter the company, a little cringe-worthy voice acting must fall.

No doubt. It was cheesy when Benezia said it. It was outright funny when Liara says it in ME2. Liara is a character that I'm okay with. She's usually a "little sister" to my Shepards. However, take Liara's rather girly voice with that line and it's really bad. At least Benezia had more of an alto voice. She made it a little bit easier to deal with.

My least favorite is, "I can feel his fingers on my spine! His teeth on my ear!" Even when I'm into the scene, I always flinch at that line. I have to wonder why the hell the VA director had her say that line in such a way. She went from a villain that was I taking mostly seriously to a kid in a high school play. The fact that she interrupts the battle four times makes it worse. The pacing of the scene sucks.

She interrupts the fight three times so the game can show her getting weaker. Then you have her brief conversation as herself. Then she says a death speech when she finally gives up. Heaven help you if you fail during the fight at any point and get to go through that all over again.

...wow.  Until you posted that, I had no idea it was even possible!

What makes Benezia interesting to me isn't her, but Liara over time really. By ME3, I feel like the game is pushing me to be Saren 2.0, complete with Asari sidekick + Geth and Krogan armies. In my headcanon, my Shep is trying to fight it back.. trying to find things to ground himself in. It's why he's such a miserable bastard without his ME2 buddies. All he has Javik to keep him company.


But anyways, just running through the Citadel on this new ME1 run. This should be awhile.

Jonathan Shepard:

1. Found General/Primarch Victus and brought him aboard the Normandy.

2. After a power drop on the Normandy, I fought that EDI had transferred part of her mind into Dr. Eva Core's mech body.

3. Visited Kaidan at Huerta Memorial - gave him a bottle of whiskey. Thane was also checked in and we had a chance to catch up.

4. Spoke to Aria T'Loak, who is spending her time in Purgatory since Cerberus ousted her from Omega. Offered me a way to get the Blue Suns, the Blood Pack and Eclipse to fight in the war.

5. Returned the Banner of the First Regiment to the turians. Gave some non-human medi-gel to a doctor at Huerta.

Hello there, journal #5.
I am happy! Garrus is back, alive and well. When we headed to Menae, I thought about him a lot, seeing how Palaven burned. Just... he wasn't on Palaven, thank god. He was right there with General Corinthus. Garrus joined our team, and we also got the primarch out of there (a new one, since the old one unfortunately had already died when we arrived).
Garrus and I caught up a bit after returning to the Normandy, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us, once this Reaper war is over. Which I hope is soon.
We are making some progress with rallying the races. There's a summit to be held soon, but Sam made me aware of a situation at Grissom Academy. It was good we arrived when we did, because Cerberus tried to take the students there away. Not soon in we met Jack. She looks healthy, and she's a teacher now... I'm glad she found something nice in her life.
We were able to evacuate the students and Kahlee Sanders, a friend of Anderson.
Before heading to Grissom we also stocked up on some things on the Citadel, and there I met Thane (poor guy likely doesn't have much time left...), Kasumi, and I visited Ashley. She got an offer from Udina to become a Spectre. I hope she says Yes, it's a great chance for her. She said she trusts me again, and I'm glad. Things were pretty bumpy between us ever since she shot Wrex on Virmire and when we met on Horizon. Nothing's been good between us ever since, but I have hope now.
Our next stop before the summit will be Eden Prime, picking up an artifact. It's been a long time since I was there, and lots of bad memories are tied to it, so I hope it goes better this time.
See you in a bit.

Pics:


I have now upgraded the Eviscerator shotgun (I used it during ME2 already) and picked the weight bonus so I can carry a Sniper Rifle too and still be a little over 100% with the cooldown I'm looking forward to try out the shotgun in ME3 again. Hopefully it's equally fun as in ME2!