A military mans perspective of Cora

I can agree to what he saying.

As a US Army vet (not a Marine here, but one of their slightly-bumbling but just as bad-ass cousins) I can see where he's coming from. I haven't gotten too far into Cora's story yet (been playing some MP along the way, that's good fun too) so I don't know how closely his post follows her storyline, but I've definitely seen the effects of "prior military service" on the sense of belonging issue. Still working on it myself, and I've been out for 12 years now.

Honestly, I suspect that most everything he saw in her character was purely an accident on Bioware's part. They don't seem like the type that really know much about the military and post military life if you know what I mean.

But I'm ex-navy and still work for the navy as a civilian and I can tell you one thing. Way too many navy Chiefs get out and come to work here and think they still hold their active duty rank. They can't grasp that no one gives a fuck except other lazy ex-chiefs.

There is a thread on another forum where someone was complaining about ex-chiefs and how much he hates them...it's amazing how many butthurt ex-chiefs found that post and ranted in it.

Major feels!  My brother is a marine, and this was so like him when he got out.  I went to college , he went to war, and so we both became adults in very different ways. It took me a while to understand why he felt the need to constantly remind me that he was a marine.  I saw him as more than that,  cause he was my little brother.  I felt like he was limiting his own identity, and that I knew him better than he knew himself (I am his big sister, after all, so surely I must know EVERYTHING).   It was not until I came home to visit and hung out with him and his military buddies and actually LISTENED to them that it hit me.  They all went through something huge together, and their past is still so much a part of their present. Its not that fact that they were IN the marines...it is more that they are STILL marines. It was not just something they did as much as people they became. And they are all just trying to find their place in the world, like everyone else. 

I grew much closer to him once I understood that about him.  He is my best friend, my little bro. And he is a marine.

This has actually made me appreciate Cora's character a little more, to think of her in this light.

Thanks for sharing!

Yeah that was mostly it for me too. All the "Well guess this is yours" or "This was supposed to be me, but it's you now" that kept getting repeated early on was just... I get it, just... just stop.

Glad that drops off, not glad theres like no interaction with her compared to the other companions so far. Could just be the other companions are more front loaded but there hasn't been much to do with Cora/Conversations to be had and I was expecting/hoping for at least 'something' else after her loyalty mission and still nothing. So either she has like no content, or it doesn't trigger till I get further in the story?

I dunno, but at this point Peebs has like three times the 'stuff', at least.

I can't honestly comment on Cora, because I played on the PS4 and I raged quit because of the near-constant black-screen glitch that keeps appearing during transitions. However, I would like to support Bioware on the fact, in general, they've treated the Alliance military as I would expect to be seeing a technological advanced military complete with a chain of command. The inspection process of the Normandy SR-1 by that Admiral felt pretty genuine. (one of my thoughts when landing the SR-1 was: Did anyone think to consider that this is a non-regulation ship and needs to be inspected. They did. In my opinion, the worst offenders of portraying the military is Bethesda's Fallout 3. They nailed the Enclave, but the Brotherhood of Steel looked like a raider establishment and the Outcasts (I guess, they believe they're the real BOS) looked like a raider camp as well. It's immersion and if you're familiar with a subject like military life, when details are wrong... you're out of the immersion. However, thank you Bethesda for modding! My Citadel looks good-to-go along with Fort Independence in FO4. Oblivion did a nice job and showed how hard it is to keep troops supplied across a vast expanse in New Vegas. Plenty of mops, buckets, white paint, clean floors and dress-right-dress is what I hope to see.

Good deal. I'm sure you'll like it. I can see the finish line approaching, now; and I think this is my favorite BioWare game ever. I'd not have dared hope that would be the case.

I wanted to clarify something for those who haven't played the game. I referred to "after Eos", meaning after the 10-hour EA trial portion of Eos. (That's just a tiny scratch on the surface of Eos' content.) None of the worlds ever become irrelevant after the first visit. New content continues to take you back to those worlds. Once you're there, locals will also provide new content. It's great.

They really did a good job with pacing and quantity. I honestly have no idea what the complaints about the writing are, either; but that's for another thread.

I think its a difference in perspective between those of us who serve and what we have experienced in my case the last 20 years. When i retire end of this year im sure allot of the same feelings will come about. But to be honest their is bigger and better things than to dwell on the past. Move forward and enjoy freedoms you have not had. Plus its time to get out its not the military i joined 20 years ago.
Not to far into the Cora stuff but i had already picked up the Special Operations vibe from her and the asari folks.  Will be interesting where her story goes and how it relates if at all further down the road.

Yeah for sure, I like the squad we got. I like Cora, overall, even when in the early game she can't help but remind everyone your father was supposed to be Pathfinder lol.

My only real complaint is the lack of literal interaction. I like the banter, when it happens (swear the banter bug hit's me randomly). I dunno, everyone else just feels more involved quest/conversation wise. Really liked her Loyalty though. I just want more.

Former military (Army not marines) and I cannot adequately describe how much of your time in service follows you emotionally and mentally both during and after. I've been out for years now, but everyone once and awhile you see or hear something, or someone brings something up and it's like it was yesterday. I generally try to avoid talking about it because it's not a happy topic for myself or anyone who is on the receiving end of the conversation...and most people don't really understand or want to really understand other than serving platitudes like "support the troops" etc. (Although here I am volunteering this info to you nerds) The lifestyle consumes just about every aspect of your life, and you are forced to conform to a lifestyle that is meant to define you in simple terms: you're a soldier. Anything and everything else is secondary.

There's a reason the US Military has recruiters walking around high schools, trying to find 17-18 year olds to sign up. They're still developing, can't completely think for themselves, often have something to prove, and are in desperate need of validation. Surrendering yourself to cause that people generally seem to respect and will act as a display of how "strong" you are is very appealing to those misguided kids...Cora seems to have had issues ever since she was young due to her biotic abilities, and she constantly mentions how she feels like a freak...so yeah I could absolutely see her trying to associate herself with an idea of a person rather than actually be herself.

All that being said, the reality of it seems more like some mixed writing on her character. She has her moments, but for the most part she always struck me as one of the weaker written characters in this game (as is usually par for the course for your first two human companions in any BW game) It's comical the level she brings up her asari huntress days...she frustratingly associates everything she possibly can to her asari days/military background. There seems to be some peripheral dialogue around her where others comment on it, but she doesn't seem to register how off-putting it can be and just keeps right on huntress-ing.

Maybe I missed it in the dialogue wheel, but I wanted to tell her to chill when she starts reading from memory asari manual quotes TO asari...

I know but at that point I am already so annoyed that damage is already done.