D.A. fan is back for an ME1 Text Only 'Let's Play' (page 51)

Okay. Less pissed now. More confused.

Blow up all synthetic life in the Galaxy. Even though I sacrificed the entire Quarian race to give the Geth a chance. And also revert people back to cave man days for a bit.

Control the reapers and the war just ends? But I become a computer/person/thing.

Or synthesis, where I force everyone to become hybrids. Like, instantly? Nanides rain down on people?

For that to happen, you need to choose paragon every time you talk with TIM in the game. Your reputation needs to be very high. Doing that will have him do the same as what Saren did to himself in ME1.

When blowing them all up came up as an option, I was like, DUH. Too bad for the current Geth but--- oh shit, EDI.   I think he also implied Shepherd would die due to the implants keeping her alive?  I don't know if I can kill EDI.

The Controlling the Reapers thing just seemed weird; will my Shepherd's soul find Thane's across the sea if she's part of a computer system for forever? But it allows for a couple of things. Everyone right now can just be as they are. And considering I sided with the Geth, and they helped the War Effort, it's possible... There is hope that the "cycle" of synth vs Org won't happen again. So it's a weird but hopeful option. 

Then Synthesis. Nonconsensual act on a universal scale. Wasn't told if this allows people their individuality. I'm a bit against forcing a hive mind on folk. I keep wondering how Thane would feel about me making his son, his people, our friends, MY people, change like this. Also, I think this option actually allows me to remain alive? And that wasn't my end goal here.

So destruction would just kill me, EDI, the GETH, and possibly cause an eventual synth vs Organic war all over again. Sooo... I've ruled that one out.

I'm leaning towards Controlling the Reapers at the moment. But I'd be sacrificing my imagined post death meetup with Thane for a possible eternity and that makes me sad.

I cried all the way to the control terminal. I cried through the flashes of Anderson, Mordin, Thane. I cried even harder when Joker didn't want to leave without me. Calmed down and got confused about that weird scene on random planet with Joker, Garrus, and Javik, wondering if I'd somehow destroyed Synthetic life on accident.

The... Sheperd not Sheperd that spoke kinda nailed my thoughts except for the part when she said, "The best plan is to control your enemy" cuz I totally wasn't thinking that when I'd decided. Tali and Legion flashed across the screen.

The Cast of ME3 gathered round to add my name with Thane's. Anderson's, Tali's, Mordin's, Legion's. Garrus and Kaidan seemed to get close ups and looked particularly sad. EDI looked fine, so all good on that front.

Yes.

You sent them to the front lines. Doing that gives more war assets, but kills them.

A happier ending is possible. It was happy enough for me, anyway, and I was super worried as I approached the end game. Do you want to know how to get it for next time?

Also, I think I somehow missed when you did the party on Citadel, or did I just forget?

I definitely did the party. I told Glyph to make it a loud obnoxious party and Grunt was taking a shower cuz he was so drunk. It had it's moments but mostly I didn't find it very relaxing. Running from area to area to area to try to listen in on my guests rather than just...be with them. Occasionally get to click or actually choose to say something instead of auto dialogue. I think I appreciated the hang out scenes more than the party itself. And the game stole my furniture and changed my picture too, which made it less special. 

Many don't manage to reason through it all... it's a real bone of controversy.  I thought your post about Thane and Siha was particularly touching... it just seemed to fit so well.  You made a grizzled old fart like me cry, dang it.

I'm pretty sure that if Kaidan were your current LI, you would have been talking to him regardless.  I'm sure I have often had Ashley as my MaleShep's LI and not used her near as much as the squad mate I've taken with her on that final run and still gotten the goodbye scene with her.  A little while ago, I did a playthrough where my Shep continued his ME2 relationship with Miranda after having romanced Ashley in ME1.  I'm pretty sure I used James a little more frequently than Ashley on that run through and I still managed to get my goodbyes with Ashley.  It was touching, because Miranda had died on Horizon and Ashley's last words were "Shepard, I.... (and I imagined her wanting to say she still loved him).  I also thought it was poetic, handing her off to James... since they were the first two squad mates at the beginning of ME3.

Destroy is indeed where the "Shep lives" ending is... and you would have gotten that ending with the EMS you had (3,143) and by shooting TIM.  If TIM shoots Anderson, you would have lost enough EMS to give you a destroy ending where Shep dies (since you would have lost 100 EMS at that point).  I tend to use Destroy when I side with the Quarians over the Geth.  EDI is a loss, but an "acceptable" amount of collateral damage, IMO.  I use the control ending a lot... some people don't like it because they akin it to "joining with the Reapers."  I tend to cling to the statement that I would be able to use the Reapers in any way I saw fit... which would never include allowing them to harvest any more organics in the galaxy.  Indeed, I envision Shepard eventually ordering them to just shut down entirely... making him an immortal with very little to do to pass the time.  For synthesis, I head canon that the "DNA" change is more symbolic than literal... representing the deep changes in how we understand each other that would be required to permanently end certain ongoing "wars" here on earth.  After generation upon generation raised to hate the "other," I think it would almost take a change in thinking right down to the DNA to stop the hating... but I'm an old idealist.   In the end "world peace" is something no one has ever really been able to solve for; and as Legion said... "The geth cannot solve for peace alone."

I should sleep now that it's 6:30 and I'm running on a 90 minute nap.

I'll need some time to decompress about this whole thing. And probably post random tidbits and then eventually my likes dislikes.

I am definitely NOT jumping right back into another Trilogy run like the brave dragontartare

I need lots of sugary romantic video game hugs and kisses from a few DA characters before I can do a PT 2. The perfect one, where kill Jacob and Zaeed, and get a Thane mod so he doesn't die and...well, actually, very conflicted about the EDI and Geth thing if I were to go with Destroy Ending. If the normandy maintained function, I don't know why Edi couldn't.

But the first PT is always the one seared into your brain. It was tragic and probably all the more realistic for it. ugh. okay. quit typing. sleep.

To be fair, the Normandy crashed. But the destroy pulse targets only AI, I think, and only incidentally destroys other electronics. Why, I don't know. I think in the low EMS endings, more electronics get destroyed.