#i romanced liara in the first game and then i romanced tali in the second game

[bisexual-kaidan-alenko]

.

#i romanced liara in the first game and then i romanced tali in the second game #i finished me2 few days ago and now im playing me3 and i honestly find it annoying how liara is trying to flirt with my shep #even if he flat out said he liked/loved tali #lol im kind of starting to regret romancing her in the first place

[midnightsun-if]

I totally get that! I think Liara, Garrus and Tali are easily the best romances from all the three games (even if Garrus and Tali are not available on the first game) with Miranda being in my top 5 easily too. Have you seen the teaser bioware showed on n7 day? along with the blog post? I know that the game is really really far away (2029 if the rumors are true 😭) but I'm so excited to see how our romances from the original trilogy will come up on the new game!! Imagine seeing Liara talking about shepard and their family/life together 😭😭😭😭

I adore all three of them! Even though Garrus made me want to slam my head into a wall during the second one with all of his “calibrations”. I love the way they interact with one another, how much they trust Shepard, and just everything about their dynamics in general. (Always have to keep Shepard with Vakarian, even if I’m not romancing him).

I have not seen it! All I truly want is something that shows me the reunion between Shepard and their chosen ROs… it’s something that I want so bad because I’m a sucker for those types of scenes. It’d be absolutely adorable if we get to hear Liara talk about it.

#midnight sun #asks #mass effect

[my-hot-awkward-turian-boyfriend]

Mass Effect Tag Game

I stole this from @onedismay and anyone can now proceed to steal it from me

I am a fan since: The release of Legendary Edition, which came out on my birthday. And--1500+ hours of playtime later--It's the gift that keeps on giving lol

Favourite game of the series?: Mass Effect 2 is definitely my favourite because there just feels like there's so much more at stake and all the new characters introduced are great

MShep or FShep?: Most of my Sheps are women but I do have a few men even though I technically haven't played all of them yet

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: I know a lot of people probably consider this the boring option, but I do prefer Earthborn because, for whatever reason, I have a thing about my OCs never knowing their parents

Biotics or Tech: 100% tech, I don't fuck with biotics

Paragon or Renegade: My main Shep is renegade with a touch of paragon

Favourite Class: Infiltrator is my go-to class, but I'll admit that I don't have a lot of experience with any of the other classes

Favourite Companion: Uhm all the techies are essentially my faves lol so Garrus, Tali, EDI, Legion, Kasumi, and Mordin. I also adore Joker, who I feel like gets accidentally excluded a lot because he's not someone who can tag along on missions. Then I have a bit of a soft spot for Vega. Oh, and Aria is pretty much the only asari character I enjoy lol

Least favourite Companion: I might get hate for this, but Liara. I hate how forced she is on you in the first game, and the fact that that does change for the rest of the series makes me so uncomfortable. I literally don't even both talking to her. Ever. I forget she's there half the time. If it weren't for the couple missions in ME3 where you're forced to take her, she would never leave the ship

My squad selection: Garrus is almost always there. I've forced myself to broaden my selection in recent playthroughs and utilise (almost) everyone, but Garrus is still definitely a top pick. Tali is up there, as well. Frankly, this answer is essentially the same as my fave companion(s) plus Wrex

Favourite In-game romance: Garrus. The only romance I honestly give a shit about

Other pairings I like: Joker and EDI, 100%. I'm also into the Jack/Miranda pairing, and I enjoy the thought of Ash and James ending up together

Favourite NPC: This is probably the proper place to mention Joker and Aria, but I'm not going back to edit my other answer including them lol

Favourite Antagonist: I'm not sure I really have one. Saren had potential and it would've been neat if he had stuck around for at least another game, but obviously that didn't happen. The Illusive Man was kinda lame and just overall a nuance soooo idk Udina? lmao

Favourite Mission: I'm not entirely sure... I don't think I necessarily have a favourite because they're all mandatory, for the most part. Even if they're not mandatory story-wise, they are to level up so it's ike...idk none of them really stick out to me and I dread something about each of them, to be honest lol

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Obligatory Garrus answer, but then I also enjoy Tali's mission, uhm... Kasumi's is fun, Mordin's is good, aaaand that's probably it

Favourite DLC: Citadel, hands down. Just the absolutely campiness and insanity of it. I mean, it was a good way to lighten the mood of what the rest of ME3 is, so the ridiculousness of it was honestly much appreciated. A close second would probably be between Omega and Leviathan

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: I prefer Synthesis. I don't give a shit what people say about it, I'm not going through all that bullshit of ending a 300-year long war between the Quarians and Geth just to fucking destroy the Geth in the end. It's pointless. Plus, I could never do that to EDI

Favourite Weapon: While I usually am the Infiltrator class, I always choose assault rifles as my specialisation (or just use them in general when I can), so in ME2 my go-to is the Mattock while in ME3 it's the Valkyrie or Chakram Launcher. As for sniper rifles, in ME2 it's the Viper and in ME3 it's the Valiant

Favourite Place: I enjoy Omega and Illium the most. I wish we could've explored them more because I feel like there was so much lost potential there.

A quote I like: "I won't let fear compromise who I am." ~Shepard. I would honestly get that tattooed on my body lol Garrus has a lot of good/funny quotes, too, especially in ME3 but that Shepard one is always the first to come to mind

#mass effect #mass effect trilogy #tag game #for fun

[smolsawyer]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

After my demand I was tagged by @illusivesoul :D Thanks :)

I am a fan since: 2012, my best friend was nagging at me to play it for so long until i finally folded and boy im so happy i did :D We even played the Omega DLC together side by side and it was magical :)

Favourite game of the series?: uff this one is hard, but by a teeny tiny bit... ME 3 is the winner, second one is great, but third one has reapers to fight and thats the decisive point for me

MShep or FShep?: Femshep all the way, tried Maleshep only once and didn't manage to even finish the first game... it just wasn't as much fun for me

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Tried all of them, most of the time I go back to Earthborn cos of Dark Energy fanfic saga :)

Biotics or Tech: First playthrough was pure soldier, then i discovered powers properly, loved biotics but somehow over time transitioned to tech who is now my fave

Paragon or Renegade: Tried pure both (hated pure renegade, being mean to all my squadmates was killing me inside :D), usually end up with 70:30 for paragon, now I always play like i feel at the moment without thinking much about the alignment of the choice (except for making sure Virmire ends as well as it can :))

Favourite Class: Infiltrator all the way, even tho i tried everything and no class is actually bad bad, Infiltrator is just a gameplay i love and enjoy the most

Favourite Companion: only one? Uhm...let's do two :D ME1 - Liara and Tali, ME2 - Kasumi and Grunt, ME3 - Garrus and EDI (In all the games are my absolute favourite Liara, Tali and Garrus I just tried to spice it up a little :D)

Least favourite Companion: JACOB, JACOB, JACOB :D

My squad selection: being usually an Infiltrator, ME1 - Liara and Wrex, ME2 - Miranda and Garrus, ME3 - James and Liara

Favourite In-game romance: Liara. I'm usually single in the second one even tho i tried Thane and Garrus. Thane was okay, but Garrus is my brother it was weird :D. Love Samantha too, I just have to be single since the first game, cos i can't get myself to dump Liara later :D

Other pairings I like: EDI and Joker, Garrus and Tali, The Blue Rose of Illium and Charr (I cried when I found out what happened to them in ME3)

Favourite NPC: Commander Bailey, Shiala, Captain Kirrahe, Eve... honestly there are so many amazing characters in this trilogy <3

Favourite Antagonist: Besides obvious Reapers... Illusive Man for sure, love to hate him :D

Favourite Mission: ME1 - Ilos cos of Vigil, getting all that information in my first playthrough floored me in awe; ME2 - Suicide mission; ME3 - this is hard but I'll have to go with Thessia.. first time playing this mission send me into depression in a way I didn't know a game can even do

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Kasumi's, Samara's and Tali's missions. If I had to absolutely pick one it would be Tali's

Favourite DLC: Citadel DLC without a doubt with Leviathan second

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: Usually play synthesis cos of EDI surviving, but destroy is in my opinion definitely canon

Favourite Weapon: Widow and Black Widow are my babies <3

Favourite Place: Normandy no matter the shape or colors she's flying

A quote I like: "Stand amongst the ashes of a trillion dead souls, and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer." This Javik's quote stuck with me for very long time even after finishing the last game.

I'm tagging some friends I hope actually played this game :D @offense-is-the-best-defence @iceafterdeath @raven618

Yall absolutely have to do this I wanna read through your answers :)

#this was fun #i just recently finished the trilogy replay #so it was easy to remember all the answers :) #thanks for the tag #tag game #mass effect #about me #gaming

[sol-consort]

Good morning commander.

Was curious about your preferred squad mates, class and what weapons you've been enjoying.

Also, how are you.

You're so sweet!! Thank you so much for asking <333 you made me really happy. The chance to talk about this game more is everything I want!!

And I'm not very well but I appreciate you asking, I hope you're doing well enough anon. If not then it's alright, I promise you're not alone and it will pass.

ME1

First playthrough, I tried to mix it and take everyone around equally. I did mostly end up bringing Tali and liara around because I thought they were pretty.

Started on vetran difficulty.

Infiltrator class, tried Vanguard and didn't like it, so I switched to this one. I like the sniper playstyle and used the spectre weapon. Tried hammer first and enjoyed it, but I wanted to learn better my aim, and hammer was too forgiving for that so I switcted.

The hunt for colossus armour was...painful- took many reloads but when I finally did it, it was so worth it. I didn't know much about powers and they looked intmidating so I avoided using them, but I still appreciated whenever my teamates used stasis.

It paid off, especially in ng+ when I had every colossus X armour for all teamates except Tali. I did end up taking Ashley everywhere during that playthrough and occasionally switching the second teammate since I planned on sacrificing her on virmire.

Tried hardcore in ng+, was fun but I was trying to speedrun things bc I messed up the Kaidan romance so I lowered it back to vetran.

First game Shep looked so adorable my god, I do miss the scar. I picked war hero background and headcanoned that it was the results of Elysium. Oh and earthborn too. Makes sense to have a gaint face scar while running around in gangs.

ME2

The ammo introduction helped ease me into the powers and I liked the cloaking mechanic because of its dmg boost. Still used sniper.

Cryo ammo team upgrade so the other two people get it, then I switch my weapon to either Heavy Disrupter or Tungsten.

X-98f Widow. I was kinda disappointed in how I got very few sniper choices and instead had to relay on separate upgrades, but oh well.

Cain was a stable always, the main goat in so many different scenarios I can't even begin. Especially OP in the grunt loyalty mission for the thrasher maw. Can't wait to try it in insanity.

For the armour, I didn't relay on them much. Most dmg came from seperate upgrades so i only wore whatever looked the best. I did have the helmet separation mod. The blood dragon was my favourite for a while tho! Mainly for its look.

I preferred whatever armor gave me more spare ammo since it meant the more enemies I could one shot with a sniper if I get a headshot, make every bullet count yk? And reloading was so tedious and didn't time well with my cloaking cooldown.

The N7 shadow armour looked amazing, second place is N7 Demolisher armour, and third Garmr heavy assault armour but that one might be modded and not vanilla, not sure.

I only worried about extra dmg or more ammo, everything else was ignored.

Kept same difficulty.

Thane, Mordin and Grunt were my favourite to take with me because of their dialogue. I did take Thane and Garrus with me to form a sniper trio a couple times, it was hilarious just 3 campers sitting behind covers on their cushy seats.

Only of Garrus stopped fucking switching his weapon every 5 seconds.

After getting legion, he became a constant, I even revisited old locations just to see if he has anything new to say.

Second game Shep was def more cunty, the bold eyelashes. Cerberus probably removed the scar :(

I left the surgery scars to heal on their own, but they eventually disappeared bc of my choices. I tried going more renegade to bring them back, but it became too OOC.

ME3

I haven't progressed much but so far, I'm really happy with the weapon options! So many new snipers and the power levels charts are back instead of annoying seperate upgrades hell yeah!

Plus, we get add-ons, which are very nice. I'm using the Black Widow, satisfying heavy shots, my beloved. Still picking armour based on looks but most of them look bad so- yeah.

I do use modded armour tho! Some are really pretty, especially the modded Ashley one. Anything that boosts power cooldown and headshot dmg for me is a winner.

It's a cycle of, cloak to get 40% dmg, shoot, reload, cloak to get 40% dmg, shoot, reload. And the cooldown matches perfectly with the black widow reloading so there is very little waiting. I can get my 40% bonus back on immediately after reloading.

Also I don't take any other weapons so the recharge speed bonus stays around a 100%. That's why I relay on incinerate when I run out of ammo since I don't have a pistol.

I noticed the focus on mele and I'm glad they are getting more attention, they deserve it tbh. I'm comfortable using powers now and I still do the same cryo bullets teamwide trick then switch to my own ammo.

I'm taking Javik everywhere! I love Javik, I will die for Javik, I will kill for Javik. Please ask me to kill for Javik, Please please please-

By third game I grew very comfortable with mods and added whatever ones I could find.

This is how it's going so far. I don't use tech or powers for dmg so I ignore them. Incinerate is there for when I run out of ammo since it does surprisingly decent dmg.

Using the thermal upgrade that lets you see enemies through fog, smoke and walls. Comes in handy when lining up the shot as they emerge from their cover or when they throw a smoke grenade. Still toying with the second upgrade choice but the enhancer one that slows down time for a bit seems good for now.

I tried my best to make a pretty Shepard and fix the mess the third game did to character creation, a lot of Shepard's face is adjusted bones and morphs through the save file editor.

You have to consider that this is what I started with

Eyelids clipping constantly through my eyes.

And this is after the bone and morph adjusts

I think I have decent aim now! I wanna replay the whole trilogy on insanity eventually, that's if Andromeda doesn't go on sale anytime soon. I'm still playing through the third and taking my time, this game is so fun.

[bylightofdawn]

I finished ME3 and whelp that end game was a fucking SLOG. OH MY GOD. It never ended. I ended up going with Control because I am a weak-willed paragon player at the end of the day. I will probably reload my save if I can and experiment with Destroy tomorrow though. Even though I did a shit ton of side-missions I guess my military assets still weren’t enough. I blame the fact I didn’t know the Reapors would breed like fucking lice and I prolly should have spent the first day just scanning for as much materials as I could because I did 95% of the side-missions that didn’t require scanning and I was only like 6000+

Fuck. My. Life.

Okay so my hot takes are as follows: I still love Shepard/Garrus. I was very heartbroken to break Kaidan’s heart by picking the sexy velociraptor over him.

Also, Garrus never gave me shit for picking up with Cerberus and I get why people dislike Kaidan. I still think his pluses outweigh the minuses and I am thinking of doing a m!Shep only trilogy playthrough where I romance him cause fuck I love war buddies falling in love and watching a friendship shift into something more trope. -cough cough- I’m looking at you Cortez and Vega. -cough cough-

Garrus also kinda reads as ver young and emotionally immature in a lot of ways. Like Shepard was definitely the first serious relationship he ever had. Fucks sake, this man’s idea of a date was to go and shoot things on top of the Citadel. And he cannot be smooth to save his poor Turian life. 

But that’s part of his charm, if I’m being honest. However compare that to the heartbreaking and emotionally vulnerable moments Shepard and Kaidan have, you can definitely tell the developers were more invested in that romance.

I ABJECTLY REFUSE to acknowledge they did my bae Kal’Reegar like they did and fucking offed him in a fucking email. N O P E. Sorry, rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated and he will drag his wounded ass home and surprise Tali by being alive. I will accept no other canon.

I fucking ship the hell out of Liara and Javik even though Javik is a super not-cool colonizer/ at times outright misogynist and I don’t know how I feel about this. It makes me uncomfortable but I guess that’s why you have problematic faves. So long as you are willing to acknowledge and accept that the shit they pull isn’t kosher and don’t try and defend it then it’s up for you to find that balance of on your morality scale.

But yeah even Citadel DLC hinted at that being a thing and yeah I ship it.

I don’t mind Garrus/Tali as much as I thought I was when going into ME3 and I know I kinda rudely labeled it as pair the spares but the more I think about it, the more I can see it. I mean, they have been with Shepard for years and I can totally see them building a bond. I would also be completely down for a Garrus/Tali slow-burn where Shepard/Garrus was a thing and now Garrus needs to find a way to conduct his life in a world without her being the pendulum on which his orbit revolves.

And I feel like Tali and Kaidan/Liara to a lesser extent are the people who would understand what it’s like trying to live in a world without her larger-than-life presence. I am also 1000% open to the idea of Garrus/Kaidan finding second chance love with one another with them grieving together over the loss of Shepard and HAVE in fact read some really awesome fanfics with that theme.

I’ve been reading SO MANY FANFICS during this playthrough and I have a shit ton of pairings, both crack and otherwise. I’m compiling a list of ME fanfic recs right now that I will gush about in ad nauseam later.

I got boned because I didn’t import from ME1 onwards so it felt like a personal attack and failing that Eve and Miranda died. I also didn’t have access to Kasumi or Zaheed which made me sad.

I just don’t think I’m up for sinking another 100+ hours into this series right this moment. I am debating buying Andromedea but the amount of bitching and whinging I’ve heard about it, I don’t know if it’s just fandom being a whiny titty baby because they ‘broke it’ or if it’s legitimate criticism.

I’m darkly amused that I am 2/2 in the talking at people long enough they would rather shoot themselves than listen to me pontificate any longer. First Saren and now the Illusive Man, Shepard really do be talking people quite literally to death with her care bear stares Paragon energy. 🤣 And yes I am dating myself horrifically with that reference.

I’m also debating picking up Dragon Age. I bought it on disk for PS3 I think but I’m not breaking that shit out to play a horrifically grainy near 20 year old title. Hopefully it has a remastered edition.

I’m glad I finally finished this series. I’ve legit been picking it up and putting it down for like 10 years at this point. Do I think it’s worth the hype everyone has given it? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh no? It’s serviceable and definitely a fun ride. I am super both confused and impressed with BioWare rehauling the gaming mechanics THREE DIFFERENT TIMES. Like, I respect the grind but why? I know everyone hated the Mako and none of use were sad to see it go but jeeze. I’m assuming there was a gaming engine difference between the three of them but still it’s not usual to have the gaming mechanics changed three different times and it gives it a bit of a haphazard vibe because of it.

I actually REALLY MISSED the hacking games in ME3. I suspect I’m prolly in the minority there but I would much rather have that fun code matching/icon matching memory style game over mashing buttons in ME1 or just having to sit there watching Shepard wave her hand around for 10 seconds while bypassing doors in ME3.

I hated only having access to three/eventually four weapons in ME2 but I liked it’s leveling up system the most. Class restricted weapons just didn’t do it for me. Being able to build your paragon/renegade level in ME1 is just weird and I’m glad they got away from that. I do feel like ME1 and ME3 were more similar in how they did their level scaling and I really liked being able to earn a special ability from one of your teammates if you invested enough time and effort into building a rapport with them. Whereas you could just buy it in ME2.

NGL I got Flare and didn’t look back at all. LMAO. What a stupidly OP ability. Banshee and Brutes? Eh toss some grenades and Flare at them and it ain’t a problem anymore.

There are other things but I think I’ve spazzed out long enough over this stupid video game trilogy.

#mass effect trilogy #garrus vakarian #or as I call him #stupid sexy velociraptor #tali vas normandy #kal'reegar #I will die for this man #kaidan alenko #commander shepard #mass effect romance #because that's really the reason I was pushing through the slough of an end game at the end #fucking garrus and his fucking calibrations though #this man blue balled me at every corner #I don't think you're invested in our romance as much as I am sir #have you seen commander shepard? #why aren't you taking her against the normandy's main batteries 24/7 #next time I'm romancing the sexy canadian #or the doomed to die creature from the black lagoon #look at me starting shipping wars in my tags #don't come for me because of my shitty tastes

[urrone]

Let’s spread some positive vibes by remembering what we love about  the trilogy. Fill in and tag your friends. Feel free to add your own  categories to this survey.

@hexcore-juggler tagged me in this Mass Effect meme!

I'm tagging @mallaidhsomo @swaps55 @shadoedseptmbr @theoriginalladya

I've been a fan since: So I’ve been listening to swaps talk about this game since she started playing it, but I only started playing it myself in April 2015. 

Favorite game of the series: Ahhhhh I like them all for different reasons. I love how customizable the first one is. There’s nothing like rolling out with your whole squad in Phoenix armor and dying immediately because it’s so fucking shitty. I like the story of the second game, because it’s such an interesting, cohesive narrative. And I like the combat in the third game, and also the fact that I can romance Kaidan as male Shep. 

MaleShep or FemShep?: I have an equal number of playthroughs with both, and I have equally firm headcanons for each. 

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: My male Shep is a colonist and my femShep is Earthborn. 

Paragon or Renegade? I am completely unable to be anything but paragon. Sometimes paragade. 

Biotics or Tech? Biotics

Favorite class: Vanguard

Favorite companions: Garrus, Kaidan, Tali, Wrex. 

Least favorite companions: It’s a toss up between Ashley and Jacob. I just can’t take her shitty dialogue in the first game. And Jacob was just boring.

My squad selection: I take Liara and Tali pretty much everywhere in ME1 because they can take care of almost any problem I run into. In ME2 it’s a toss up depending on the mission. In ME3 I take James literally everywhere and then just rotate out the other folks depending on the mission. 

Favorite in-game romance: Shakarian for femShep and mShenko.   

Other pairings I like: In fic I’m open to almost anything. In the game I’m very partial to the doomed romance inherent in Shrios. 

Favorite NPC:   This, recruits, is a 20-kilo ferrous slug. Feel the weight! Every five seconds, the main gun of an Everest-class dreadnought accelerates one to 1.3 percent of light speed. It impacts with the force of a 38-kiloton bomb. That is three times the yield of the city buster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth. That means Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space. -- I’m just leaving juggler’s answer. 

Favorite antagonist: Casey Hudson was an inspired answer here so I am also keeping this one. 

Favorite mission: The suicide mission!! Minus the larval reaper. 

Favorite loyalty mission: Well I’ll tell you it’s not Jacob’s fucking loyalty mission. The more I think about that one the grosser it gets. Probably Tali’s. I love solving the problems through yelling. 

Favorite DLC: There’s a reason the tag is #Citadel DLC is the best DLC

Control, Synthesis or Destroy?: In real game play I do control because it’s the shortest, fastest walk. In fiction, I reject all of them. 

Favorite weapon: The Cerberus Harrier and a good old fashioned charge.

Favorite place: Sur’Kesh

A quote I like: Stand amongst the ashes of a trillion dead souls, and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer.

#thank you for tagging me! #meme #mass effect

[imakemywings]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

Let’s spread some positive vibes by remembering what we love about the trilogy. Fill in and tag your friends. Feel free to add your own categories to this survey.

Tagged by @illusivesoul

I've been a fan since: Summer 2019

Favorite game of the series: 2

MaleShep or FemShep?: Femshep all the way

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Spacer

Paragon or Renegade? Renegade

Biotics or Tech? Ooh that’s hard! I think they’re both cool.

Favorite class: Vanguard

Favorite companions: Thane, Tali, Samara

Least favorite companions: Vega, Zaeed

My squad selection: I really try to change it up so I feel like they’re all getting enough exercise

Favorite in-game romance: Shrios TT_TT It breaks my heart but I love it anyway. I love later-in-life romances which is the feel I always get from this one, especially with Thane having already had a long-term partner that he lost. Also, I feel like he asks some important moral questions for Shepard.

Other pairings I like: Second place goes to Shiara just because they really do have an epic 3-game romance after Liara arguably falls for Shepard very early in the first game. I would love to do Tali or Ashley’s romances but tragically I’d have to play as mShep which I don’t want to do. I do have Samantha queued up for my paragon run though!

Favorite NPC: Can I pick the biotic god volus? No? Aria then! She’s terrible but she’s interesting. Urdnot Bakara is also a really neat character, love getting to talk with her.

Favorite antagonist: Sovereign. Meeting Sovereign is when it really hits home how serious this whole situation is and I feel like they bring an excellent sense of foreboding in that even when Sovereign is dead, you can’t shake the fear of something worse coming. Also, I feel like Sovereign does a better job of being neutral about the mission which is how the reapers really should operate--Harbinger crosses into malice at times which seems to counter the notion that the reapers are just carrying out protocol to the best of their ability and don’t understand why what they’re doing is wrong.

Favorite mission: Oh man, I know I’m going to forget a bunch. Tali’s loyalty mission in 2 was really well done though and there’s a great blend of both the terror/horror of what you’re seeing combined with your pain for Tali.

“Acquire the Reaper IFF” in 2 is also a great one; the defunct reaper is so creepy and the hints along the way of the previous workers going insane from being inside it is great. I wish they’d played a bit harder on the unsettling factor vs. getting swarmed by husks, but subtlety is not really ME’s forte XD

Favorite loyalty mission: See above. Jack also has a great loyalty mission.

Favorite DLC: Lair of the Shadow Broker was pretty well done, although I knock points because if you didn’t get it you have no idea how Liara ended up becoming the Shadow Broker in 3 and I don’t think that kind of key information should be relegated to a DLC.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy? Fun fact: the first time I completed the game I chose “none of these” because I thought there would be some like, secret 4th option (and I thought Shepard might be resentful about getting this far only to be presented with 3 questionable options)...there isn’t. The galaxy was destroyed by reapers. Good thing Liara made that history USB.

That said, synthesis or destroy, for sure. I’ll still do a control run just to see how it turns out but honestly I don’t think anyone should have the kind of power Shepard would have in that position.

Favorite weapon: I’m counting biotic charge as a weapon. Also, that salarian gun you can get in 3 that shoots gel bullets or wtv at people that one’s cool

Favorite place: I love Omega

A quote I like: “I’d rather gargle acid after chewing on a razor blade “ -- Femshep after a dude in Flux asks her to have a drink with him.

Tagging: @sad-mage-central @irikahkrios @clarevoience anyone else who follows me and is into ME I forget who is

#tagged #this was perfect for distracting me from my work bless

[shizuu-chann]

Let’s spread some positive vibes by remembering what we love about the trilogy. Fill in and tag your friends. Feel free to add your own categories to this survey.

tagged by @togepies, thanks again for including me!

Tagging with zero pressure: @nicolasadrabbles and @iheartgarrus

I’ve been a fan since: technically Andromeda, but I only played Andromeda first bc the LE was coming out in a few months. I loved the Dragon Age series before that, and I figured I would probably like ME, but the old graphics were a major turn-off for me. When the LE was announced, I got really excited bc it was another BioWare series I could binge and adore, but it wasn't out yet. My friend had just finished Andromeda and convinced me to try it, and now it's probably my favorite game series ever~

Favorite game of the series:  ME2! While I love ME3 because the graphics are beautiful, and you get more substance out of romantic relationships (Garrus, specifically), ME2 has my favorite vibe. You're kind of a rogue agent, assembling a team of the most dangerous and skilled people in the galaxy, and they all become a sort of found family for Shepard after the Alliance and the Council hang you out to dry. Plus, I love the interface for the game; the orange menu screen is easy on my eyes, and I like the clicky selection noises <3

MaleShep or FemShep?: FemShep <3 I love her so much. Played MaleShep once, and I loved him, too, but it really feels like FemShep is THE Shep to me.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Colonist

Paragon or Renegade? Paragon (close to ParaGade, but not quite)

Biotics or Tech? Tech, but biotics are really cool.

Favorite class: Infiltrator! I don't really love any class in ME1, but ME2/3 make Infiltrator the fucking best. Tactical cloak and sniper rifle, my beloveds. Vanguard is a close second.

Favorite companions: Garrus, Zaeed, Mordin, Tali, Wrex, Grunt, EDI~

Least favorite companions: Kaidan and Jacob. I have nothing against either of them personally, honest, and I think they're generally good characters. But Kaidan bores me, I find him wholly uninteresting, and Jacob is just repackaged Kaidan, imho.

My squad selection: ME1: this changes every playthrough, honestly. Often it's Garrus and someone else, most recently Ashley. Others it's Ashley and someone else, most often Wrex. ME2: Usually Zaeed and Garrus; those two are my go-tos and my faves. Current run is Garrus and Miranda, but I've taken Grunt a fair bit. ME3 is, surprise-surprise, most often Garrus and someone else, but I try to tailor squad selection to each mission so I can get the most interesting story dialogue.

Favorite in-game romance: Shepard and Garrus <3

Other pairings I like: I cannot pair my Shep with anyone else, so it's difficult, but I do appreciate others. I like FemShep with Tali, Liara, Ashley, Miranda, and Jack (bc I just think all the characters should be bi, lol).

Favorite NPC: I'm choosing multiple--Aria T'Loak, Joker, I adore Hackett, and Anderson.

Favorite antagonist: The Illusive Man in ME2. Sure, you're cooperating with him, but he's definitely an antagonist.

Favorite mission: ME1: If we're talking purely vanilla game, probably Feros. Otherwise, maybe the Bring Down the Sky DLC. ME2: Thane's recruitment or the Suicide Mission, if we're excluding loyalty missions. ME3: Grissom Academy.

Favorite loyalty mission: Oooh, tough. I really like most of them. It's a toss-up between two, but for different reasons: either Garrus's or Samara's.

Favorite DLC: ME1: To my knowledge, there was only one for ME1, besides pinnacle Station, but that couldn't be added to the LE. ME2: Lair of the Shadow Broker--LOVE the level designs. ME3: Super original and revolutionary: the Citadel, lol. That's the canon ending in my mind. OH! But I also love the Omega DLC! Hmm...

Control, Synthesis or Destroy?: Destroy, but I also change a bunch of that ending in my mind, too. Namely, that EDI and the geth live and the Citadel isn't destroyed.

Favorite weapon: N7 Valiant sniper rifle <333

Favorite place: Omega or Illium

A quote I like: The whole exchange during Priority: Rannoch right before Shepard takes on a Reaper on foot. There's so many, many of them from Joker. But, for the sake of choosing: "This is why I love hanging out with you guys! Why shoot something once when you can shoot it 46 more times!" --Urdnot Wrex, 2186

#mass effect

[sorcerous-caress]

I looked at the mods and stuff for guns in Mass Effect 1 and said “that’s a lot of words too bad I’m not reading em” and speaking of romance wishes god I wish Garrus was bi and poly existed in the game I would’ve both Garrus and Tali romanced so hard they were my ride or dies I took them everywhere unless I physically couldn’t or needed a specific a companion for a mission. Also I must’ve been really blinded by Ashley’s comments on aliens because it seems a lot of people liked her when I wasn’t really feeling her in one guess I gotta give her more of a chance.

(Also this is thebottomseareef I’m just on my main blog because I wanted to make a dnd/bg3 side blog to use on the app so it’d be more convenient and I wasn’t constantly logging into another account but I found out that you can’t send asks from side blogs so I’m just doing it from here because it’s easier)

"Too bad I'm not reading em" PEBCOQNXKQNDJSOJQSN yet you're still here reading my long ass posts, I'm honoured.

omfg yes, Garrus and Tali literally feel perfect in a poly yk? Like I've always took them with me on missions as a pair because their banter was so cute and they were the best balanced team for my character.

It is sad looking at older games and realising how much they hold themselves back just to appease their main demographic, like the legendary edition was two years ago and it would've made so much sense to make the aliens poly or bi. But they didn't because they didn't want to upset the majority of their demographic about the sudden change or getting into "Mass effect is woke now hmp! >:v" online scandal.

Like the romance is nice and every character is so sweet on their own, but something inside me dies each time I'm reminded this is strictly hetro and monogamous. Like I'd be having a blast cute moment with Kaidan then it hits me in the face that and I feel sad that all of this could've been missed if I had picked a male shepherd.

Games are evolving tho and that makes me happy. Especially shooter games bc we all know that's where the second most taxic gamers are, first being moba and souls-like games.

I'm happy that Liara is poly but also very shy and nervous around romance, that she admits this is not something she has ever done before. I'm glad Kaidan becomes bi because fuck yeah all the male shepherd deserves their beautiful bromance with him.

With Ashley, she is special. I like strong woman characters who are more aggressive. Like she truly embodies the soldier aspect of soldier while Kaidan feels more like a close friend with time. Ashley is someone who will punch a person if they were making you uncomfortable. She is someone who will march up to the cashier and tell them you asked for no pickles. Ashley would defend you in combat while Kaidan is more of a support.

She is more brash, confrontational. Punch first think later. Very protective and sweet in her own "no bullshit" kind of way.

With Garrus. He is so romantic and such a gentleman, my heart cannot take it. Like yk for a fact he is all starry eyed around you because you are a specter and he wanted to be one before. The way he thanks you all sweetly for letting him join your crew instead of leaving him with the annoying c-sec paperworks job. He is like RE1 Leon before he became jaded.

Tali is everything. Her genuine love for knowledge, for the craft and survival of her colony. She feels like a future ruler but before she became wiser. Tali is still in her wander and wonder phase while she travels the galaxy and gives her best to everything around her. She is earnest and very honest. Which is sad when she is met with suspicion for being too eager to help and study things.

Garrus and Tali would bond so much, shepherd would be the one keeping the both of them in check from forming a mad scientist cult that rescues kittens from trees.

#♡otherfandoms #♡mass effect #damn using your main blog with me already? I'm flattered that you're not ashamed of the smut writer you interact with anymore

[rhyske]

oh my god, Belphie is such a sweetheart! I love the little black spot on his nose and it looks like he has eyeliner and that is too cute! oh so when i called him escape artist i wasn't too far of huh? haha

I have 3 cats and one was an accident. My mom wanted a ragdoll so we got Tex, and we also got Slinky (a black house cat) so she would have a friend. Then I found a grey stray in my village and I took him in and named him Totmes, my baby. the girls don't like him very much (eww boys!🤢). Totmes and Slinky love the balcony but especially Totmes, he'll be there all day in the sun and I worry the sun will melt his brain or something.

So far Mass Effect is all right but I think I've come to the conclusion that I like fantasy more than sci-fi but maybe I am wrong and I'll be obsessed with it in a minute. The romance options for ME1 are... not great but I am planning to romance Liara in the first one at least and see how it turns out and then I might pursue someone else when the options open up in the second game. My brother played femshep and romanced Garrus so I want to do something different than that even tho he's so cool. For roleplay purposes I'll have Garrus as more of a best friend character to my femshep.

that's how I approached it in dragon age too. Varric was Hawke's bestie and Fenris was OBVIOUSLY the romance option cause he's just that good imo. In inquisition, Dorian was Lavellan's best friend and Solas was her romance option because of the DramaTM.

I try to play my characters as separate from me so sometimes I choose the mean option and I'm just like I'M SORRY I DIDNT MEAN TO BE MEAN BUT SHE WOULD SAY THAT AAAA. Lavellan was pretty grumpy at the end... well the beginning too because she never wanted to be the inquisitor.

ANYWAY mass effect has been difficult because the full dialogue isn't really what i expect from the little text option. sometimes it feels like the choices doesn't matter? idk but i'll figure it out!

this is the first time I've properly played D&D so it's a bit of a learning experience for me! what did you use to play as? ^^ 💜

He's precious 🥰 Haha, yeah, no, literally half an hour after I responded to you I found the front door open and him nowhere to be found. He's safe, he realized we found out and came running back 😂

Does Totmes have a lot of brain cells? Could be they are actually melting. I joke that Belphie killed his last brain cell when, the first day we got him, he forgot cars have windows and tried jumping out, only to smack his head into the window. I love when cats kinda choose you as their owner and not the other way around 😆 Your cats sound so precious 💕

I definitely think ME1 is the weakest of all the games. I wasn't super invested in it my first time around (and it's still a bit more of a chore to get through whenever I replay), so I don't blame you there. Just hold out until ME2, it's the game that made me fall in love with the series. Yeah the romances...are very lacking in 1. They branch out so much in 2 and 3.

GASP YOU ARENT GONNA ROMANCE GARRUS??? As someone who is a rabid Shakarian fan and can't romance anyone but the dumb turian boy, I am obligated to say you are making a mistake 😂 But if Garrus didn't exist, I'd probably romance Liara so 😆 Thane is also a good contender, you'll meet him in 2 😏

Dorian was my Lavellan's BFF too! I always imagine one going to the other like "GIRL GUESS WHAT." Tali/Liara always end up being my Shep's BFF. I imagine them having girl nights and gossiping a lot 😆

I didn't like how Inquisition just....ignored your origin. Like, when you play as a Lavellan, you don't follow the Maker. You might not even know how most shemlan cities operate! And you want me to be your religious idol??? No thanks! But nothing is ever done about it and it's frustrating.

I always tend to play as if I was in the MC's shoes. And it's helped me learn a lot about myself, tbh. But I can't be mean to most characters cause it makes me feel bad 😭 Unless they deserve it.

Choices do matter (: You'll see your choices echo through the games, in what ways you can approach missions (Paragon vs Renegade) and how people remember you (if you were rude or polite). How much attention you put into your teammates is a big mechanic in 2, for example. It's hard to see how your choices change things until 2, since y'know, first game and all. Keep at it!

I played as an elf rogue my first, and only time, playing DnD. That was my first ever exposure to DnD, so I knew nothing. Now that I know a lot more, I wanna play again and really lean into the roleplay and the shenanigans. Who are you playing as? :D

#purple heart anon #sweetheart anon #asks #i answer #i talk

[cobaltswriting]

Mass Effect 2: World and Culture Building

So, I recently got the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition on PS4, and I've been having some fun with it.

Like, the first game didn't 'wow' me as much as I was expecting from the hype (but I was kind of expecting it to underwhelm me a little, I'm used to games failing to completely live up to the hype... *side-eyes Smash Bros Brawl*) but it was a functional game. If a little buggy at times, but I can attribute most of that to me constantly jumping in and out of the main PS4 menu and leaving it on rest mode a lot.

So then, afterwards, I moved onto Mass Effect 2. First, just in case people are interested, or if it makes any real difference, I'll say what the choices I made in Mass Effect 1 were, the ones it reminds you of when you start Mass Effect 2.

I recruited everyone

My Shepherd was far more Paragon than Renegade

The game seems to think I romanced Ashley, but I did not. Her anti-alien feelings put me off her, honestly, but I guess the game thought I was more interested in her than in Liara.

I choose to let Kaiden die on Virmire... which might have contributed towards 'romancing' Ashley, come to think of it.

I calmed Wrex down, rather than killing him.

I THINK Garrus might be more renegade than Paragon, but I'm not 100% sure

I let Tali have the Geth data, for her pilgrimage.

I saved Zhu's Hope and Shiala.

I spared the Rachni Queen.

I spared Rana the Asari scientist on Virmire

I destroyed the fliers, meaning that Captain Kirrahe survived Virmire

I was kind to Conrad, although due to a bug, which I thought had been fixed, he said that I waved a gun in his face.

In 'Bring down the sky', I spared the hostages over killing Balak, and also spared Balak's second in command.

I let the Council die. Honestly, I wasn't really too interested in saving them considering all the stuff they'd done thorough out Mass Effect 1.

I chose Anderson over Udina for a place on the Council. Similarly to the Council, I wasn't interested in giving Udina any more power than he had before.

Apparently, that's all the important choices, so let's move on to Mass Effect 2 and what finally clicked for me, about why Mass Effect 2 is so loved. Although, if you read the title, you may already have guessed.

In Mass Effect 1, there is some information on the alien races, but it's mostly in text. You hear about the Quarian's flotila, you hear about the genophage and how a lot of the Krogan are more 'blood knight' characters who value strength above all else... I can't actually remember if you directly learn anything about the Turians, but I think it's implied that they are a race that is great at mechanics and engineering, and are also partially responsible for the genophage that all Krogans are infected with. You also learn a bit about the Asari but...

Honestly, it was kind of hard to care for quite a lot of it. Because it was just text. You get told, you don't get to experience any of it, partially because you're just a human.

In Mass Effect 2, this changes.

You encounter groups of Quarians twice, with Tali leading both groups. Tali is later on accused of treason, and you visit the Flotilla, which gives you a lot of insight into how Quarian culture works, as well as the trial itself. For instance, learning that a Quarian's last name comes from the ship they are from, or, if they are banished, the ship they currently inhabit, as displayed by Tali's name 'legally' having been changed to 'Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy' from "Tali'Zorah Vas Neema", and Tali commenting that it's like they've banished her already. You are then tasked with defending Tali, since you are the leader of the ship she is on. And you learn more about what the admirals want to do with concerns to the Geth, and learn more about what Tali's father was up to.

You also encounter a lab-made Krogan called 'Grunt' whom needs to go through the Rite of Passage. Since I spared Wrex, Wrex was the leader we encountered on the Krogan's home planet, and thus the one we talked to, and he greeted Shepard as an old friend. From what I've heard, if you killed Wrex, the leader instead is Wrex's brother, and he is a lot less... progressive, than his brother, and not as intelligent.

However, you find out that Wrex has managed to bring about quite a few changes, and is trying to basically unify the Krogan for their people to thrive. You find out about many rites, especially in regards to their shaman, who apparently does rites for himself every morning and every night.

It helps you see the Krogan as a lot less than the dumb muscle that they can be seen as in Mass Effect 1. While the Rite of Passage is basically what you would expect (fights against various creatures, ending with a fight against a Thresher Maw, which you would usually fight with a vechicle in Mass Effect 1) and also against a bunch of Krogan who were initially against Grunt going through the Rite (I shut them up by headbutting their ringleader, which, considering Wrex did it to them earlier for basically the same sort of reason, I assume is a show of dominance, basically a 'shut up fucker') wanting to recruit him for their clan, intent on overthrowing Wrex's clan who were trying to unify the Korgan, as mentioned.

You also get a lot more information on the Genophage, since not only is one of your crew members a Salarian, but is one of the scientists who made changes to the Genophage to made it more effective at controlling the population of Krogan. While he says that it was 'necessary', it's fairly obvious that he has guilt over it. You encounter him running a clinic for people who had been infected by a 'plague' on Omega, and he mentions his work on the Genophage often.

His loyalty mission (each crew member you recruit has a 'loyalty' mission, which ensures their loyalty and unlocks a new power for them) involves saving one of his former crew members, who has alledgedly been kidnapped and forced to do research on a genophage cure.

When you research the abandoned hospital, you find various corpses that show signs of having been experimented on, and a lot of dialogue choices where you can tell Mordin that he was wrong to do this, or that he was right to do so. And it does result in some... interesting information.

For example, the genophage was not meant to kill Krogan, just limit their population, for fear that if their population was allowed to grow too large, they would wage war upon all other species in the galaxy.

On the other hand, it's a pretty shitty thing to do.

You also find out that Mordin's former comrade was doing it voluntarily. Which makes Mordin very angry, saying that this wasn't what he taught his former coworker to do, and certainly not the way he taught him to do it. Basically, Mordin is more upset about HOW his former coworker did it than the why. If your Paragon score is high enough, you can stop Mordin from killing them.

By the end, Mordin doesn't seem to really know what he thinks about it any more. A lot of research that was done was at least viable, but it was done under terrible circumstances. You can either destroy the data, or you can save it.

I told Mordin to save it to help the Krogan. After all, the people who died during the research couldn't exactly be brought back by destroying the data.

Basically, in Mass Effect 2, there's a lot of world and culture building, especially in the three missions I've mentioned (Tali, Grunt and Mordin's loyalty missions respectively) and I can see now why people love Mass Effect 2.

The graphics are good, the gameplay is VERY solid, even if there are many other games that have similar gameplay styles (one that sticks out in my mind, oddly enough, is Gears of War, which I have never played but have seen gameplay off, and Shepard charging forward and taking cover definitely makes me think of it) that do it just as well or better, but the world building and culture building of other races in Mass Effect 2, especially with how it was in Mass Effect 2, is just *chef's kiss*

It's definitely gotten me invested enough to keep playing and to go through Mass Effect 3, even though the issues with the ending to Mass Effect 3 are... let's be nice and say 'infamous'.

Basically if you haven't played Mass Effect, I HIGHLY recommend it. While I would say to play the first one first, it DID turn into a bit of a slog near the end, so I wouldn't blame you if you decided to just start from Mass Effect 2 instead.

One last thing, although this is not necessarily as important as the rest of it...

Tali is a precious baby and must be protected and loved and cherished.

Also Garrus is a bro and I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to romance him.

That is all.

#Mass Effect #Mass Effect 2

[pyukumukuus]

i finished mass effect and i just gotta document my decisions/experience of the whole trilogy here in case i forget:

mass effect 1

my shepard is a badass. for some reason my brain rotted and i didn’t take a single screenshot for the whole of the first 2 games. but here she is in all her badassery (in me3):

infiltrator shepard grew up as an orphan on earth, was the only survivor of her squad after a thresher maw attack on akuze. she used a sniper rifle as her signature weapon and chose (mostly) paragon choices.

shepard recruited to the normandy sr-1:

kaiden - i thought he was a bit boring and annoying at first but his flirting made me like him more and i ended up excitedly pursuing a romance with him (although deep down i wanted to romance garrus). throughout the series i kind of liked him but also kind of found him really annoying

ashley - i disliked her the second she exposed herself as a bit of a racist, she grew on me a little but not really that much... still felt guilty when she died though because i had to choose between her and the dude i was banging .... i mean that just isn’t fair

garrus - you know sometimes when 0.1 seconds into a character’s introduction you know they are going to be Your Favourite??? well. that.

wrex - his attitude annoyed me at first but i quickly became interested in the history of the krogans and the effect of the genophage and as a character he massively grew on me throughout the series

tali - i liked her straight away and found the quarians really interesting

liara - i shut down her romantic advances straight away which was kind of cold... i found her a bit dull and she kind of stayed that way throughout the series but eventually i just saw the dullness as part of her personality and she grew on me. i also ended up recruiting her after i already witnessed the death of her mother which completely messed up the flow of the story

shepard saved the colony on feros and (i think?) saved shiala, spared the rachni queen, saved kaiden on virmire and also successfully talked wrex into standing down.

shepard chose to focus on fighting sovereign rather than prioritising saving the council, and chose anderson as councillor.

mass effect 2

shepard recruited to the normandy sr-2:

jacob - he was boring from the start and really never got interesting at all (loyal)

miranda - didn’t like her attitude and first and i was deliberately rude to her, but she grew on me a little as the game went on and i liked her a lot more in me3 (loyal - became disloyal after i sided with jack, then i got her loyal again by passing a paragon check later on)

mordin - i liked him the moment i met him and my god i only liked him more and more as this game went on (loyal - kept maelon’s data)

zaeed - batshit insane..... he made me uncomfortable. i don’t think i ever took him on a mission (disloyal -  i saved the factory workers and vido got away, and i must have missed the paragon dialogue or something)

kasumi - i thought she was kind of cool and i really liked her loyalty mission. she grew on me a lot as the game went on (loyal)

garrus - <3 <3 <3 he was so good in this game..... i romanced the HECK out of him (loyal - i let him kill sidonis) 

jack - i liked her fucked up energy a lot and she was such a badass (loyal)

grunt - i thought he was a bit underused but liked his loyalty quest; i liked learning more about krogan culture (loyal)

tali - tali is just great (loyal - cleared her name and didn’t incriminate her father)

samara - i really liked samara as a character and she is like.... the prettiest character ever (disloyal - i was gutted by this.... i totally fucked up on the dialogue when speaking to morinth and she bailed on me) 

thane - thane really pulled on the old’ heartstrings and i loved his backstory (loyal)

legion - i was soooooo pumped to recruit a geth (loyal - rewrote the heretics; lost his loyalty after siding with tali but got it back again later)

in the suicide mission i made the following choices:

passed all the normandy upgrade checks (nobody died)

sent kasumi into the vents and had jacob lead the fire team (all survived)

all of the normandy crew had died by the time i got to them (except dr chakwas who i successfully sent back to the normandy with thane) because i spent too long completing loyalty missions.... this was so bleak and i had to watch kelly be liquidised :( 

chose jack as the biotic specialist and jacob again to lead the fire team (all survived) 

took garrus and tali into the final fight (both survived)

left jacob, miranda, mordin, zaeed, kasumi, jack, grunt, samara and legion to hold the line (samara died)

chose to destroy the collector base

mass effect 3

shepard recruited to the normandy sr-2:

james - i liked his big dumb energy from the start and he kept growing on me too. i loved his relationship with shepard. i really thought for like half of the game that he and steve were going to be a couple

liara - she was more interesting in this game, especially after waking javik

garrus - i did the citadel dlc way too quick and then realised i missed out on The Tango Scene so i threw away like 5 hours of gameplay just to have the chance to see that (worth it bc i also got to invite more people to the party)

EDI - EDI was awesome and i absolutely hooked her up with joker

javik - i found him quite abrasive at first and although he was interesting i didn’t really like him... but he really grew on me (which i guess was probably the intended effect) and he got SO funny

kaiden - i deliberately was snippy with him at the beginning of the game because he was an arse in me2 and when he got all weird with me about dating garrus i was so mad that the dialogue options were like sowwy for hurting your fweelings / sowwy for cheating on you / sowwy...... and not like.... THAT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.... anyway as mentioned above i sort of like/hate kaiden. he belongs in the squad. annoying as hell but he belongs there

tali - loved the quarian/geth conflict and tali being an admiral, as usual she kicked ass in this game

as for the priority/major missions:

grissom academy - i fucked up and didn’t do the mission so jack ended up being taken and corrupted by cerberus (when i found out that was going to happen i thought there would at least be a sick cutscene introducing her as your enemy.... but no.....) anyway i feel really shitty about missing out on her in me3

genophage - i cured the genophage (this mission was AWESOME) and mordin sacrificed himself to ensure the mission succeeded.... i nearly cried :’( but at least he died for a cause he believed in!! it felt fitting 

citadel coup - i didn’t shoot kaiden during the coup; i shot udina right in his gutless betraying face

rachni - i helped the rachni queen escape; grunt survived

geth/quarian conflict - i chose to let legion upload the reaper code to the geth...... and on realising the outcome of this choice i did the whole mission again because there was no way i was going to let tali die like that!!! but hoo boy this was the hardest decision in me3 for sure.... after everything legion gave to the cause i really thought the geth deserved their freedom.... and having to kill him was just devastating. gutted that i couldn’t resolve this peacefully all because in me2 a) i didn’t choose to destroy the heretics and b) i didn’t resolve tali and legion’s dispute with paragon/renegade dialogue.... feelsbadman

horizon - miranda survived the horizon mission

crucible/catalyst - i chose destroy, only because i figured it was the choice my shepard would make. it was sad to lose EDI and it really hurt seeing the mass relays being burnt out.... i thought about picking synthesis but then i thought i can’t consent to that on behalf of the entire organic population..... and i definitely didn’t want to choose control because that is what the the illusive man would have done. my war asset score (despite doing everything i could) wasn’t high enough for shepard to survive :( but i really liked the reveal that the reapers were there to restore balance and that their existence was to ensure synthetic life never completely destroyed organic life. i’m a sucker for whole ‘we have been through this cycle millions of times before’ trope (i dunno what you actually call this trope..... it felt similar conceptually to horizon zero dawn)

anyway this game was wonderful and i will be thinking about it for a LONG time.... here’s some screenshots from my playthrough :)

#mass effect

[dalekofchaos]

What would you say are the biggest mistakes Mass Effect 3 made?

Okay this is going to be a long one, but these would be the biggest mistakes ME3 ever made in my opinion

Choosing Cerberus over The Reapers. The thing that annoyed me most about ME3 is the fact that Harbinger is not the main threat. The Illusive Man is. Harbinger has been built up as the big bad since ME2. "YOU HAVE FAILED. WE WILL FIND ANOTHER WAY." He says as he discards the Collectors. Then his speech to Shepard as the base blows up. "Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction. You will surrender your potential against the growing void. We return, and you will rise. We are the harbinger of your perfection. We will bring your species into harmony with our own. Your species will be raised to a new existence. We are the beginning, you will be the end. Prepare for our domination. Prepare for our coming." Then in Arrival, he came pretty damn close to unleashing quick subjugation and harvest upon an unprepared galaxy. Upon Shepard foiling his plans. "Shepard. You have become an annoyance. You fight against inevitability. Dust struggling against cosmic winds. This seems a victory to you. A star system sacrificed. But even now, your greatest civilizations are doomed to fall. Your leaders will beg to serve us. Know this as you die in vain: Your time will come. Your species will fall. Prepare yourselves for the Arrival." The perfect final villain right? Unfortunately, Cerberus was more focused on than The Reapers. My problem with Cerberus and no Harbinger is Too many Cerberus, too few Reaper forces in plot. We fight Cerberus more often than the reapers. Hardly any boss fight and the one with Reaper Destroyer on Rannoch was more an interactive movie than fight. During the Horizon mission in Mass Effect 2, Harbinger was solidified as the Big Bad. It was menacing and ominous, with just the right amount of annoying. It taunted us throughout the game, telling us how insignificant we were, and how our actions were pointless. It was willing to posses drones through the Collector General to fight us personally, and when we killed the host, it tossed them aside. Harbinger even gave the typical “You haven’t seen the last of me!” villain rant. It made any fire fight frustrating, and that made me want to kill it even more; I hated Harbinger. Many games fail to do that. Harbinger was an enemy which I looked forward to defeating. I had the desire to annihilate. In Mass Effect 3, I got a codex entry and a cameo. Harbinger just swoops in at the last second and blows my friends and I to hell(and lets the Normandy save them), then flies off. Personally, I would have loved to hear Harbinger’s menacing monologue, it drove me on. I would have felt a deeper motivation to take the fight back to Earth if it told me how much destruction the Reapers were causing, how many lives were lost. I felt cheated when I got to the final mission, only to suddenly realize it was largely absent from the game. Harbinger has been replaced. Replaced by the Illusive Man and Kai Leng. The former is an old acquaintance, albeit one now controlled by the Reapers. The latter is a space ninja from a terrible book. What would've been amazing is if Harbinger IS the Catalyst. Harbinger taunts and haunts Shepard throughout the game He uses the memory of that child to haunt Shepard as a symbol of humanity lost. After Shepard activates the Crucible. Harbinger appears. He explains to why and how The Reapers were made. the AI Leviathan created to solve the equation is Harbinger all along, Harbinger manipulated The Leviathan into giving it Reaper form and birth at first it did what it commanded and what they asked of it was to look at the dark energy building up which back then was only an anomaly that Leviathan was concerned with but then the first harvest began and Harbinger and The Reapers were born. Funny enough, Leviathan reminds me so much of FMA:Brotherhood. The Intelligence tricked Leviathan to create the Reaper is very similar to how the Dwarf in the flask became Father. So what I think should have happened is it would've been revealed that Harbinger is the AI that convinced the Leviathan that harvest was the only way to survive and justifies the harvests not because organics and synthetics can't coexist, but because of the dark matter crisis. Throughout the game we would have more confrontations with Harbinger. Have him "ASSUME CONTROL" during fights. Give us a voiced confrontation between Shepard and Harbinger. Make it clear that Harbinger chose The Illusive Man and convinced him of together they could uplift and empower humanity over the lesser races. The Illusive Man is to Harbinger, as what Saren was for Soverign. Then the Crucible will grant us the choice to Destroy or Control The Reapers or Harvest this cycle to survive the Dark Matter crisis. You could either. Destroy Harbinger and The Reapers, while the united races would discover a way to stop the dark matter problem. Give in to Harbinger to harvest humanity to save the galaxy. Control The Reapers to stop the harvesting and to work together to stop the dark matter crisis.

Choosing to have a smaller crew than ME2 and focusing solely on the ME1 characters and screwing over or ignoring the ME2 crew, especially romancing Jack, Miranda and Thane. If it were up to me, this is what my ideal ME3 line up would be Ashley/Kaidan EDI Garrus Liara Tali Javik Jack Miranda Thane(EA forgot about him and simply chose to kill him off, I think Thane could’ve rejoined the crew and even had a mission where we find a cure for Thane and Kolyat) Grunt Mordin(you'll see how later) Legion(You'll see later) Balak or any Batarian Squadmember. Ideally it would be someone who survived the Bahak system or even a Batarian freedom fighter who puts his people’s survival over the pride and prejudices of the Hegemony. His sole goal is to liberate Khar'shan and save his people. But for a more memorable person, Balak would be the squad member. I would make killing Balak not an option. The last high ranking officer in the Hegemony. Instead of causing deaths on the Citadel, he seeks Shepard out. It’s an enemy of my enemy is my friend. Over time, Balak would show remorse for his past actions as a terrorist and for the Hegemony’s past. Shepard and Balak learns to overcome their differences and see each other as friend and works together to destroy the Reapers. We would get a Priority Khar’shan where we could liberate the planet and the Batarians would be in a fighting force.

Keeping James alive. I like James, but he added absolutely nothing to the game. We already had an Alliance character. Ashley Williams/Kaidan Alenko. James should have been the Jenkins/Wilson of the game. He should have died in the crash to take out Eva and Ashley/Kaidan should have been with us from beginning to end. James is a character we barely know. We’ve waited a long ass time to see Ashley/Kaidan and it was downright disappointing that neither Ashley nor Kaidan did not get to interact with Garrus on Priority Palaven and Wrex during Priority S’Urkesh.

Mirandafying Ashley Williams. Mirandafying Ashley Williams for Mass Effect 3 was shallow and unnecessary. Wearing loose and long hair and skimpy clothing? Ashley Williams is a by the books soldier. She would not look like this. She would not grow her hair or let it down like this. I mean, it’s not that they changed her face so much, but they just tried too hard with the makeup, hair and outfit. Ashley didn’t need to be model-sexy and run around in heels and showing cleavage. She was already sexy as hell in her own way. All they needed to do was give her the Alliance Crewmen outfit as her casual look and the Phoenix Armor and the current Alliance type armor she was given in ME3, as well as a unique Spectre armor. It's not just the shallow Mirandafying. It's the fact that Ashley has little to no interactions. Ashley barely has any interactions in the game. Compared to Kaidan, Ashley is not interactable. I don't like that Ashley barely has any interactions and just feels...hollow. Ashley should have crew moments with Joker, Adams, Ashley at the monument mourning those who died with the original Normandy, Liara, Tali and Garrus. Was it so much to ask for simple interactions? And really, Ashley in the first game had a personality, Ashley in ME3 feels hollow.

Choosing Diana Allers over Emily Wong and Khalisah al-Jilani. Emily and Khalisah are two reporters we actually know and respect. They earned their place on the Normandy. Emily reported on crime and traffic controllers. Khalisah gave us hard hitting questions and actually cared about reporting on what the fuck was going on in the galaxy. They earned their place on the Normandy as far as I'm concerned. Compare that to Diana Allers. What has Diana Allers done to deserve a spot on the Normandy? Nothing. They created the Battlespace to make her seem like a hip and cool Alliance News Correspondent. Allers looked, weird and she just comes off as annoying and she's a waste of space on the Normandy when we could've had a whole new or returning squad member. God, I WISH Javik could throw her out the fucking airlock. You had TWO perfectly great reporter characters and you did jackshit for any of them. Just so you could have an excuse to hire Jessica Chobot.

Not letting us see Tali's face on Rannoch. Legendary Edition fixed the mistake by finally showing us Tali's face, but it's still exclusive to Shali romancers. What should have happened was we see Tali's face when she unmasks on Rannoch. If we don't romance her, she unmasks and gives us a smile. If we romance her we see her face and kiss her. Something simple like that. It would've been great to see

Not having the ME2 squad members join in on the Citadel DLC. I mean for fuck's sake, it's like they want us to know "fuck you, ME1 squadmembers only" Again, why? Why wasn’t Jack, Miranda, Grunt, Samara, Jacob, Zaeed and Kasumi not added? If we romanced Jack or Miranda, why didn't they come to save us when we were being hunted? Why not REALLY making it feel like Team Hammerhead by actually adding the ME2 Squad members to the Citadel DLC before the party? There was no reason why you couldn't include the ME2 squad members in the Citadel DLC

Making Cerberus the villains instead of uneasy allies, when The Batarians were the perfect allies for The Reapers. This might just be me but I think Cerberus should have been on our side in ME3 and The Batarians should have been fighting for The Reapers. Makes sense Cerberus has just been a rouge organization doing what the job no matter what the cost(even if the cost is atrocities) and instead of indoctrinating themselves they could of studied it to make themselves immune to indoctrination and The Illusive Man's goal was to use any means necessary in order to destroy The Reapers. I also like the idea that you know you can't trust him, but he does get results. The Council and The Alliance are desperate, so they accept a partnership with Cerberus. The Batarians have always held a grudge against The Alliance, The Council and would have wanted revenge for Bahak/ Viper Nebula. The fact that there are no consequences for what we had to do in Arrival from The Batarians just doesn't make any sense and you'd think this would give The Batarians the motive to turn to The Reapers. Hell in the Terra Nova DLC in Mass Effect 1 it seemed to me that Balak was already indoctrinated and Balak’s revelation of the “Batarian rebellion” makes it seem like they would be the perfect tools for The Reapers. Balak will be the new Saren figure. If you killed Balak, then The Reapers would just bring him back. The first act of war for the Batarians was the destruction of the Viper Nebula, so their retaliation was killing Udina. Prior to the Reaper invasion of Earth, Udina would go to Omega to make peace talks with Aria. The Batarians attack and gain control of Omega, Aria is ousted(but saved by General Petrovsky) and Udina is executed live for the galaxy to see. Because of Udina's execution and Anderson leading the resistance on Earth. The Illusive Man is now the Human Councilor. Miranda and Kai Leng would be squad members. Depending on if you gave TIM the Collector Base or destroyed it, he will either keep you in the dark or help you at every turn. Just think of the Cerberus War Assets Cerberus Scientists General Oleg Petrovsky Collector Base Cerberus Fighters Cerberus Phantoms Cerberus Engineers Project Phoenix We would get a big mission to deal with the Batarians, Priority:Khar'shan. If you do not deal with the Batarians, there will be major casualties. However half of the Batarian forces are not indoctrinated and just want to end the mistakes of their government and live. Balak wants to kill the rebellion of his people. Ironic. Somehow Balak has placed enough bombs on the planet to destroy everyone who is resisting Reaper indoctrination. We can either. Talk Balak out of it. Telling him to resist and fight for your people(which WOULD gain Balak as an ally) or talk Balak into killing himself. Or the true Renegade option is to kill Balak and order a strike that wipes out the Batarian forces, but sacrificing the Batarian Rebellion. By the time we get to Priority Earth everyone is on the same page and united against the true threat, The Reapers. And it is Harbinger who is the final boss

Not having Maelon be there with Mordin in ME3. This isn't really a problem, but I had a thought. If we spared Maelon and kept Maelon's data for the cure. Maelon should have been on board to help Mordin with the cure. If we warn Mordin and Maelon about the sabotage, then Maelon would choose to sacrifice himself to save Mordin. And after that, Mordin would choose to join Shepard's crew.

Legion's "death" is pointless. He....is software. He could easily copy and paste The Reaper code without sacrificing himself in the same manner when he was broadcasting the Reaper signal to all Geth. Or he could've disseminated himself after he made a copy and transfer that copy over to his platform. I just get the feeling that they didn't want to keep Mordin, Thane or Legion alive....for reasons.

#Mass Effect #Mass Effect Legendary Edition #Mass Effect 3 #Ashley Williams #Kaidan Alenko #Commander Shepard #Femshep #Harbinger #Miranda Lawson #Jacqueline Nought #Tali'Zorah #Garrus Vakarian #Urdnot Grunt #Mordin Solus #Thane Krios #Legion #Emily Wong #Khalisah al Jilani #Ka'hairal Balak

[mirandaputsherbestbuttforward]

Call me bitter, but like, the way that people are upset re: only getting bi Kaidan in Me3 (which has its own merits, don’t get me wrong) but then like, forgetting the fact that the wlw who play this game have also been done dirty from the start.

Yes, we had Liara who, despite asari being “monogendered”, was intended to be the player character’s main romance, but again, they always had mshep in mind first, so while it’s a doable option for fshep, it’s still very much a ‘neutral’ and no nuance romance re: the sapphic experience.

Second, once again, Ashley was meant to be a bi option. The voicelines are all in ME1, but she was given the Male Gaze(tm) treatment for ME3 where they, “let her hair down and gave her sex appeal” (ME3 official artbook), which disregarded her character as a career soldier, and acting as if her ‘tomboy’ appearance wasn’t attractive enough. BUT ALSO, at some con, one of the devs said, and I quote “Ashley didn’t fit the bill of bisexuality” whatever the hell that was intended to mean is still biphobic as hell. 

And then cue the issue with Jack wherein she literally talks about being involved with a man and a woman couple before she was betrayed by them. They took out her romance with fshep, Tali, and Miranda as possible options for fear of more outrage from conservatives.

Then we have Kelly (and let’s keep this straight: I like Kelly’s character a lot and think she had a Neat role on the SR2), but her “romance” didn’t count for the achievement and she was, once again, dressed in that sex scene pretty much for the explicit male gaze that just happened to include fshep.

And then! We finally get to ME3 where they’ve put in Samantha and Steve as the first lesbian woman and gay man in the series to romance. Sam’s romance, for the most part, is well done. Alix Wilton Regan, her VA, has two mums, and knowing that, she certainly put her heart into the performance. However, the way that they portray Samantha as having this weird Thing for the shower/hot tub (in Citadel DLC) is very fetishized and most certainly made for a man playing fshep to ‘enjoy the fantasy’ of lesbian sexuality, much akin to a lesbian porn category. 

So... again, not that I’m discrediting the mlm mshep players here, but often times I feel that people are quick to say that wlw fshep players got ‘more’ than they did - which, yes, in terms of options we did, but in terms of playing a romance that didn’t have the male player in mind when they were created?

Yeah no. 

#bioware wank #again i feel for the mlm players but like literally imagine if your other options beyond liara were constantly fetishized #that's how it feels most of the time #and you know i try not to think about it when i play because i just want my lesbian shepard to be in a healthy relationship in the game #but .......... #i cant speak to steve's romance since ive never played it through but i imagine it wasnt fetishized like sam's was

[yellingaboutmasseffect]

For the character asks: Joker, Ashley, Kasumi!

First impression

Joker: Oh hey it's Seth Green!

Ashley: I too would want fantastic pink and white armor

Kasumi: So I first learned that Kasumi was a thing so when second hand embarrassment drove me to restart my playthrough of Mass Effect after making out with Liara in front of Garrus who I was planning to romance I went ahead and tracked down the DLC for her which was still on the bioware site at the time and it was the best decision.

Impression now

Joker: Oh hey it's Shepard's buddy Seth Green Joker

Ashley: I would die for Miss Ashley Williams

Kasumi: I am so glad people are experiencing Kasumi for the first time with MELE she is absolutely delightful and I wish she hadn't been dlc to begin with.

Favorite moment

Joker: The oh shit moment when the Collectors attack the Normandy and the bigger OH SHIT MOMENT WHEN YOU ARE PLAYING HIM!

Ashley Williams: Her telling off Terra Firma if you bring her with you onto the Citadel after Virmire. Also just her dialogue in ME1 is my favorite because it gives you a lot of room to roleplay your Shepard.

Kasumi: Just the moment she goes after Hock's ship. It's so good!

Idea for a story

Joker: I just want to see a fic where EDI instead of being like "I do not need clothes" because fanservice is instead really into clothes because she wants to experience that aspect of organic existence and just has super weird fashion (wearing 10 different broaches, sweater over dresses, novelty sunglasses etc) and Joker is just really enamored

Ashley Williams: So in my long fic, Liara tells Ashley that she gave Shepard's body to Cerberus which changes a whole lot and it's been really fun to play with.

Kasumi: @spookyvalentine 's Mercy Shepard met Kasumi when they were younger and gosh if that doesn't make me think about how if Kasumi had maybe intercepted Artemis before she enlisted somehow and gave her another way to earn the money to keep her family's land, they could have been unstoppable.

Unpopular opinion

Joker: Not sure if I have one I can think of. I mean I think he should have been romanceable that popular round the fandom circles I travel in. Also he deserved to have a unique character model and not be shredded when he has brittle bone disease.

Ashley: Apparently that I like her I guess 8/

Kasumi: I am not big on her writing at the party in Citadel DLC for the party section.

Favorite relationship

Joker: Shepard and Joker have a great dynamic that develops throughout the games and of course as a resident ace robot fucker, i love EDI/Joker

Ashley: Shepard and Ashley have a fascinating dynamic to explore other romances I am interested in for Ashley are Ashley/Garrus, Ashley/Samantha, Ashley/Miranda, and Ashley/Liara. This marine can fit so many ships in her

Kasumi: I would love to see more Tali and Kasumi stuff I like to think they hung out. Also Thane and Kasumi bonding over meeting in the vents.

Favorite headcanon

Joker: I like to think Joker and my Shepard were friends before ME1 started because Shepard never treated him with kids gloves because of his brittle bone disease and he never treated her different just because she's Shepard.

Ashley: I like to think Ashley and Thane became friends when they were both staying in Huerta and Thane and Kolyat invite Ashley's sister, Sara, to stay with them since space is very limited on the Citadel.

Kasumi: Rolan Quarn and Kasumi are introduced by Shepard and become fast friends/partners in crime maybe more i haven't decided.

#mass effect #masseffectaskmeme #ashley williams #jeff joker moreau #kasumi goto