#30dayMEchallenge

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 9

9. Favorite romance?

Alright everyone it’s time to fucking cry.

Garrus and Femshep just HHNFGHHN they make me HNRHGhHH I love them.

Let me break down each part of their romance and why I (and like the entirety of the Mass Effect fandom) love it so much.

I already talked about Garrus’s relationship with Shepard in my “Day 5: Favorite Character” post, so I’ll refrain from repeating myself too much here. The bottom line is that Garrus is Shepard’s most loyal and trusted ally and that “There’s no Shepard without Vakarian” is one of the few good things to come out of ME3 (which, again, I will not really be including in this discussion).

When Shepard responds to Garrus’s story about him easing tension with a recon scout years ago (probably back when he was a teenager during his compulsory military service) with a proposed plan to test his “reach” and her “flexibility”, he doesn’t even realize what she means, at first; he thinks that she’s referring to sparring. Why? Because he doesn’t think that she would want him. It seems like he might get the idea that she’s propositioning him, but he can’t bring himself to believe it because he thinks it’s impossible. When she clarifies (and possibly confirms his suspicions), he is surprised at first, but recovers quickly and expresses that he is very much interested in ”blowing off steam” with her. It makes you wonder whether or not Garrus would have ever made a move onto Shepard, had she never expressed interest him first, since he is obviously attracted to her. The reason he provides as to why he is interested is because he respects her more than anyone in the galaxy. Their relationship is built off of mutual trust and respect and Garrus is acknowledging it; he doesn’t say, “Well, sure, Shepard! I think you’re really hot and I would love to bang you”. That’s really important, as it shows how deep their companionship is. This exchange between them is very quick, but it’s intimate nonetheless. 

Look at how he backs up when she walks by him and completely keeps his eyes on her. He looks like he’s wondering if he’s actually dreaming hhnngh he’s just in absolute shock

The next time he talks to Shepard in the Main Battery, he seems nervous. He says that he’s been thinking about what they had agreed to, and that he wonders if they’re crazy for even considering having an inter-species hookup. Even though different-species relationships seem fairly common in the galaxy, Garrus is still bewildered by the idea and states that “cross-species intercourse” isn’t something that he would normally consider. Here’s the thing, though: he’s not questioning whether or not he would enjoy sleeping with Shepard (though he does seem to be considering their compatibility and whether or not they could “make it work”) - he’s wondering why Shepard would ask him as opposed to someone who is a bit more like her. Shepard sees that he’s sort of doubting himself and she assures him so gently and warmly that he’s the one that she wants and it’s fucking adorable (especially if you play Shepard to have a lot of Renegade moments, as seeing her be a total badass who is almost sadistic when it comes to punishing her enemies to then seeing her be so gentle and soft with Garrus is just insanely cute). When she tells him that she wants him, he suddenly seems to gain some of his confidence back despite still being very flustered. 

An important thing to note here is that he uses humor to hide his nervousness and says that if their “steam-blowing” goes well, it’ll be something to cherish, but if their anatomical differences end up making things awkward, fighting the Collectors would be a “welcome distraction”. I’ll bring this back up again later.

So Shepard gives Garrus an opportunity to back out of the plan if he’s feeling uncomfortable (which is very thoughtful of her. She doesn’t want him to feel pressured and wants to make sure he’s completely okay with sleeping with her. She really cares about how he feels), but he refuses to. Again, he brings up how important their companionship is to him and tells her that the matter at hand has nothing to do with a “fetish for humans” - meaning that while he is obviously attracted to her, he’s not sleeping with her just because she’s an attractive human female - it’s about him and Shepard using this opportunity to be close and intimate. This is when he starts to hint that he has deep feelings for her, but he approaches her with it very subtly because he doesn’t want to chase her away with his feelings. He almost seems conflicted: “Do I tell her and risk making things awkward, or do I keep my mouth shut and risk never knowing if she feels the same way? I’ll compromise and drop subtle hints.”

It’s kind of hard to tell with the way the camera moves, but she’s stroking his chest as she smiles fondly at him while he kinda sorta lets it slip that she has all of his uwus. Talk about pure-yet-intimate. 

It’s hilarious to see Garrus’s composure slip when he catches himself making an unintentionally dirty pun (”You know me, I always like to savor the last shot before popping the heat sink”). This entire romance is just filled with hilarity. 

Shepard says that she’ll let him get back to work, and he jokes about how he’s all hot and bothered by talking about sleeping with her and that he can’t focus on his calibrations because he’s too horny. She just grins like a goofball at him as she backs away dramatically and waves goodbye.

His final dialogue with Shepard in the Main Battery before the suicide mission is where he finally starts to make it clear that he loves her. He doesn’t try as hard to hold himself back anymore, he just up and says that he wants to give “cross-species intercourse” a try with her out of all people and that he wants to spend his final moments with her and only her before they possibly all die in the suicide mission. He still flounders around a bit when she reciprocates his enthusiasm, probably because he’s still in shock that she even wants to sleep with him, and Shepard continues to tease him in good nature. Their relationship is just… so healthy and good and pure… hhhgh

AND THEN. THE SCENE BEFORE THE OMEGA 4 RELAY

As Shepard is taking a shower and gettin ready for Garry, he’s literally standing there waiting for her with a bottle of wine AND HE LOOKS SO NERVOUS LIKE HE DOESNT KNOW WHAT TO DO HHH

and then he like jogs up to the stereo system and plays the same cheesy club music that he had made fun of in the previous game. Yes, when he said that he’ll “find some music” for them to bang to, that’s what he had in mind AND SHE CALLS HIM OUT FOR IT BY SHAKING HER HEAD IN AMUSEMENT 

AND HE’S STILL PRETENDING THAT HE’S ALL SUAVE. HE’S LIKE “C’mon Shepard I’m a natural seducer, look at my strut. Lemme smash”

Shepard is so humored by the whole thing. It’s very wholesome. I love seeing them enjoy themselves like this, especially after Garrus’s recruitment and loyalty missions, which were both very emotionally charged. 

Shepard thinks Garrus’s bad flirting is endearing as he tries to apply his knowledge of turian courtship to his current situation and then immediately regrets it because he worries that he might have said something offensive by human standards (WHOLESOME). She calms him down and assures him that he doesn’t need to worry about impressing her (as if to say “Garrus, it’s me. It’s okay. You’re my best friend, not some random dude that I’m hooking up with. We’ve been through hell together man, relax), and then he immediately starts to confess to her that he wants their two or so hours before almost-certain doom to “go right”.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT. Remember when I said to hang on to Garrus’s line about how if their “encounter” turned awkward due to their differing anatomy, they could just laugh it off and use the Collectors to keep themselves distracted? Yeah, so that line was a fucking lie. 

Garrus is coming clean to Shepard about his feelings in this final scene. He does want things to go right between them, but he was just too nervous and shy to admit that their time together would mean so much more to him than “blowing off steam”, so he uses humor to cope with it. The best part is, Shepard understands. It almost seems like she can read him because of how well she knows him; she’s aware of how he feels, but she wants him to feel ready enough to tell her on his own. ADORABLE.

LOOK. LOOK HOW GENTLE AND TENDER SHE IS WITH HIM. SHE JUST WANTS TO CALM THE NERVOUS BOY DOWN AND HE’S SO MOVED BY IT THAT HE JUST STOPS TALKING AND LIKE STARES AT HER SO INTIMATELY. IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL. 

She’s not just stroking his face, either; she’s stroking his scars - the ones that he got from an event which almost took his life - as if to comfort him and say “I was there for you back then, and I’m here with you now. I’m glad you’re okay. You’ve been through so much”. I DIE!!!!! I DIE. 

And finally, the famous head-butt of love (the first gif). I’m not sure if touching foreheads is something that turians do to show affection, but since they don’t have lips, it would make sense. Either way, it’s obviously a very affectionate and loving gesture and I cannot handle it. This to me is one of those things in life where I can think about it and immediately feel happiness no matter how bad of a mood I’m in. Do I care that it’s a fictional relationship? Nope, because it’s a very well-written (up to this game, I mean), healthy, believable, and profound relationship, and I think it’s absolutely adorable. I’m not normally into shipping or romance but this?? This is just on a whole other level. Nothing comes close to this. 

A few people feel robbed that the scene fades to black right as Garrus gently grips her shoulder (or something? With flycam enabled, he looks like he’s grabbing her boob, but that’s obviously not what’s supposed to be happening) and that we don’t even see a kiss, but I’m totally fine with it. It’s nonetheless an emotionally charged and wholesome scene and that’s exactly how it should be for them. I’m glad we didn’t get anything sleazy or fanservicey. 

If Garrus is the squad member who starts to fall after Shepard kills the Reaper-Larva thingy, it just fuels the feels. They have each other’s backs :’)

Aaah, yes, and let us not forget the post-ending canoodling. Again, not exclusive to Garrus, but seeing them so content is really euphoric, man. They’ve been through hell and really do deserve each other. 

I really like that their relationship hasn’t changed that much, even after confessing/sleeping together. We don’t ever see them acknowledge being in a committed, official relationship, but I think they do - just offscreen. I know there’s really not much post-main story romance in this game, but they still seem to interact normally. They’re very comfortable with each other; when Shepard goes to talk to him after the suicide mission, he assures her casually (but giddily) that he’s down to keep going with cuddlin and love-makin (aka, “what [they’d] talked about”). There’s nothing super romancey or cheesy, and that suits them (unlike ME3, but I’m not going to ruin this post by talking about that.)

Garrus’s romance being perhaps the most popular in the entirety of Mass Effect isn’t a surprise at all. He and Shepard are such a great match for each other, even with the romance aside. No other relationship fills the heart the way this one does. They build their relationship and really establish that same mutual respect and trust that I keep raving about before they move their companionship into a romantic light, and that’s such a great way to write a romance. 

Wholesome raptor lad and his badass, ass-kicking girlfriend own my heart. 

[ashleybexinc-blog]

30DAY me challenge

     Hi guys. So I have decided to make a challenge list *loud applause*. It would be great if you guys joined. So if any of you bloggers, vloggers, instagramers, youtubers, I don’t know, do the challenge, tag it with #30dayMEchallenge and #ashleybexinc and I will be sure to check all of them out and post a few on my blog.

    1) 500 words long about me (did that XD)

    2) 5 places you want to visit.

    3) 15 point bucket list

    4) Your biggest fear

    5) A letter to someone, anyone (be creative)

    6) Your day in great detail, at least 500 words

    7) Favourite quote

    8) Screen shot of your desktop/homescreen

    9) Your zodiac sign + description, doe it fit you?

  10) Your earliest memory

  11) TOP 3 TV shows

  12) Personality change (write/talk like a completely different character)

  13) Weird things you do when you are home alone

  14) Have you changed in the past 3 years? How?

  15) Blackout newspaper in 15 seconds (take a newspaper and black everything out except for a few words, you can choose purposely or randomly and post it)

  16) Which career would you choose? Why?

  17)  If you had 1 mil dollars how would you spend it?

  18) Make a cartoon version of yourself

  19) TOP 10 songs of all time

  20) 3 significant events in your life

  21) 5 weird things you like

  22) Hobbies

  23) When did you meet your best friend ever?

  24) Last book you’ve read

  25) Cats or Dogs, why?

  26) Your favourite childhood story

  27) A confession

  28) If you had to live on one food and one beverage what would they be?

  29) Do you believe in love at first sight

 30) A doodle of your crush as you see them

    I know this is a new blog, but guys could you please support me. Thank you to all of you, #ashleynators.

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 19

19. Best antagonist? 

Saren! There’s a lot of depth to his character that I really enjoy, outside of him being cool. 

Saren was the youngest turian Spectre and was infamous for his brutality. He, like many other aliens, was weary of humanity for how quickly they had been advancing in Citadel space, and honestly, I don’t blame him. His hatred for humanity was speculated to manifest from serving in the First Contact War, but he seems to overcome it enough to develop respect for Shepard to the point where he’s asking Shepard to join him, and that he doesn’t want to fight Shepard unless he has to. He actually goes out of his way to explain himself to Shepard in hopes to validate himself and his struggle to do what he thinks is “saving” organics. I think that’s pretty interesting.

It’s also sad to think about how Saren had to kill his brother, Desolas, because he was indoctrinated by a reaper artifact on Palaven. Cruel irony. 

Siding with the reapers may not have been entirely his choice. He wanted to study another reaper artifact to potentially learn how to control the geth and to put humanity in its “place”. He should have known after he had to put down his brother that reaper tech is not something to mess with, but he ended up becoming indoctrinated anyway. Go figure. This makes the player question Saren’s integrity throughout the whole game. How long have his thoughts been his own? He became more and more indoctrinated the longer he worked for Sovereign; was he too weak-minded to break free at the beginning of the game, when he had more of his own free will?

The fact that he thanks Shepard and says goodbye right before he kills himself (if Shepard is able to temporarily pull him from his indoctrination) speaks volumes. Seeing Saren snap out of it long enough to consider the possibility that it isn’t too late to undo what he’s done to then immediately proclaim that it’s too late for him and that he’s sorry is really emotional. Saren was a bit of a shitty guy and burned himself while playing with fire, so to speak, but I don’t think he was a coward; I think that the part of him that wasn’t completely under Sovereign’s control was trying to rationalize what he was being forced to do. Despite having Shepard choose more Renegade dialogue with Saren (”When I see him, he dies” and “You’re submitting to the Reapers because you’re afraid and I’m not going to just give up like you”), I don’t genuinely think that he was a coward - he just made really shitty choices and paid the price for them, and that’s why I don’t feel all that bad for him. The fact that he was indoctrinated during the entirety of the first game and was being forced to do things that he normally wouldn’t do and genuinely tried to fight his enslavement and felt horror at what he had become (if only briefly) is what makes me feel kinda bad for the poor bastard. He’s a pretty complex character. 

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 5

5. Favorite character?

Surprising (hopefully) not a soul: Garry Vakary himself

(Disclaimer: I’m going to be talking about him in the context of the first two games while disregarding the third. Also, while Femshep technically is my favorite character, I already made a post about her, so I’m making this section about Garrus.)

Strap in, folks, because this is going to be a long post. 

When I first encountered Garrus, I immediately felt a connection to him since he seemed like one of the few people on the Citadel who actually gave a shit about stopping Saren. Despite being a C-Sec officer bound by red tape, he proved that he was a man of action by leaving all of the bureaucracy behind and getting some real work done with Shepard and the Normandy crew. Since turians and humans had a few remnants of tension between them as a result of the Relay 314 Incident/First Contact War, which was still somewhat recent, it was nice to see another turian, besides Nihlus, act civilly towards a human. 

Garrus was so eager to step up and take action against Saren; of course I let him aboard the Normandy. His struggle and Shepard’s struggle with politics are very similar; they both don’t like being told what to do by clueless politicians/higher-ups who try to prevent them from solving problems. This comes into play when Garrus and Shepard begin conversing more and more on the Normandy. I’ve always felt that Garrus’s interactions were a bit more profound than those of any other crew member; they don’t just talk to each other, but exchange opinions and feedback and really try to understand each other. They eventually develop a sort of mentor-protégé relationship to the point where Shepard really has a deep effect on Garrus in terms of his way of viewing the world. I had Shepard lead Garrus down the Renegade path while enforcing a few Paragon ideas (such as being cautious of the thin moral line that any Spectre walks as someone with nearly unlimited power in Citadel space), and I still do to this day.

I’ve always found it funny that Garrus is always super respectful to Shepard despite being a bit of a jerk to pretty much everyone else. Seeing him thank the commander at the end of the game for letting him in on the action and teaching him some valuable lessons was heartwarming, too. It made me kind of sad to think that he would go back to C-Sec after the war with Saren and Soverign was over, especially since he seemed to be so miserable there, but it was nice to know that he would follow Shepard’s lead and train to be a Spectre later on. 

Fast forward to Mass Effect 2, and I was so upset when The Illusive Man said that Garrus had disappeared a few months after the Normandy was destroyed. I kept wondering what had happened to him and if he would ever appear in the game again, but when I took a closer look at Archangel’s dossier and noticed the line “omni-tool expert and noted sniper” on it, I became very suspicious despite not wanting to get my hopes up.

Throughout Archangel’s recruitment mission, I kept worrying. Hearing the mercs talk about how Archangel had been cornered and put through hell for the past few days didn’t sit well with me. I think that was the one point at which I hoped that Archangel wasn’t Garrus, because I didn’t want to imagine Garrus going through all of that on his own. When I saw that Archangel had blue armor, I knew for sure it was him. Taking off his helmet and revealing his identity to Shepard made me so happy that I wasn’t at all bothered by how little I was surprised. I wasn’t entirely relieved, though, because Garrus was still in immediate danger. Seeing him so tired and damaged was rough; he was fairly different from the enthusiastic C-Sec officer that I had brought with me on every mission in the previous game. Even though he was exhausted and didn’t exactly have sufficient energy to physically display his emotion, you could tell just how happy he was to see Shepard alive and kicking. “Yeah I shot at you, Shepard. I wanted to get you moving so you could come get my ass out of here.”

When Shepard was forced to leave his side to close the shutters in the base’s lower level, I was in full panic mode. I didn’t trust Jacob or Miranda enough to leave them alone with him. Then when Garrus was nearly killed by the rocket that blew half of his face off, I literally had to pause the game and calm myself down because of how pissed I was. Of course I was distraught at the sight of his motionless body bleeding out on the ground, but I was also upset with the possibility that the game would give me a surprise reunion with my favorite character just to kill him off so quickly. I was, for the second time, overjoyed when I saw that he was alive a few moments later, but hearing him gasping for breath and choking on his own blood with Shepard, who is almost always composed and level-headed, freaking out while trying to help him was heart-wrenching. 

Then, right after I see Shepard looking very nervous and upset as Jacob explains the extent of Garrus’s injuries to her back on the Normandy, the smug bastard himself walks out of surgery and just casually waltzes up to Shepard like, “It’s only a flesh wound, I’ve had worse” and I literally thanked BioWare out loud for not killing Garrus. Shepard’s look of absolute relief and joy when she saw that he was okay was very touching, as was the fact that Garrus expresses that he’s more worried about Shepard than himself even though he nearly died a few hours ago. Garrus was so eager to fight alongside Shepard again that he put himself right to work at the Main Battery, and that really demonstrated how much trust he had in Shepard and her motives though I wish there was an option to have Shepard tell Garrus to focus on relaxing and getting some rest. Poor guy just went through hell and already wants to bury himself in calibrations. 

While Shepard and Garrus were catching up later on, Shepard was so gentle with Garrus while she asked him about his team and what he had been doing while she was gone, and I could see how broken he was by the death of his team and the betrayal of his former teammate. I felt bad for him. When he asked Shepard to help him find Sidonis a few hours of gameplay later, I knew it was because he wanted the moral support - he wanted Shepard to be there with him while he sought closure with Sidonis (regardless of how he gets it). 

Seeing Shepard and Garrus so synchronized while they tracked down Harkin and obtained information about Sidonis was great. They seem more like partners than mentor and student, and that was exactly what the writers were going for. 

When it came to allowing or preventing Sidonis’s death, I let Garrus shoot him, and I continue to do so during every playthrough. There are three main reasons for this, the first being that I felt that Shepard shouldn’t be involved in the situation as both a separate party and a non-turian. Turians have their own culture and deal with responsibility and leadership a bit differently than humans do; they pride themselves on taking ownership over their choices and putting the safety and interests of the whole before the individual. Sidonis broke both of these cardinal rules. Garrus, as both a turian and the leader of the group who Sidonis had betrayed, felt obligated to serve justice to Sidonis, another turian, and that is inherently something that Shepard cannot fully understand as a human. It wouldn’t feel right to let Shepard deny Garrus the right to deal with Sidonis in the way that he saw fit.

The second reason is that Sidonis was more than just a coward; he had the opportunity to warn Garrus of the trap set by the mercs for his squad, but he didn’t. Garrus says that he learned through some old contacts that Sidonis “booked transport off of Omega just before the attack” and disappeared. He didn’t even try to make things right with Garrus by confronting him afterwards and apologizing. This is why I’m not bothered by Garrus wanting to kill Sidonis. If I felt that Garrus was being too destructive or going too far, I would have had Shepard steer him back in the right direction. He kept himself in check well enough (like when he didn’t kill Harkin). 

And finally, the third reason: If Shepard came back to the Normandy one day and found that everyone - Garrus, Joker, Mordin, Tali, etc - had been slowly and painfully killed by an enemy group because, say, Jacob had been captured and sold Shepard out (and didn’t even try to warn Shepard or stop the attack), you know damn well that most, if not all, players would bring the fury of hell onto him. 

Now for the juicy part: Garrus’s romance. When I was innocently exploring Garrus’s dialogue options after his loyalty mission and stumbled across the “We could ease stress together” line, I lost my freaking mind. The game is going to let Shepard sleep with Garrus? Is this for real? I didn’t immediately realize that “easing tension” would turn into “making love and wordlessly declaring mutual feelings for each other”, so I was a little disappointed at first, but I was willing to take what I could get. Garrus was so flustered by Shepard’s proposition, to the point where he seems like he wasn’t expecting her to be interested in him at all, and seeing badass vigilante, merc leader, and hero of Omega turn into a shy softy around her was cute. 

Through further dialogue, Garrus began to hint that he had feelings for Shepard, and ugh it was so endearing. He made subtle remarks about wanting more than just “blowing off steam” with her without making his feelings obvious, probably because he didn’t want to chase her away with his heart, and when I combined this with the fact that despite these feelings, which he has had for who knows how long now (maybe even the first game?), he isn’t the one to make the first move, I realized that Garrus was probably too afraid of approaching Shepard with any sort of interest that he had in her because he didn’t want to be rejected and/or feared ruining their relationship. That was the final straw for me: I was super attached to his character at this point. The little dork wanted to watch porn to learn how to properly satisfy a human woman and thought that playing shitty club music was a good idea. The nerd. The doofus. I love him.

I’m just going to admit it: the first time I saw his romance scene with Shepard right before the Omega 4 Relay, I went from laughing as he awkwardly played techno music and tried to woo Shep with his bad flirting skills to tearing up as he confessed to her that he wanted their time together to be special and that he wanted to do things right. Notice how this is different from something he said previously about how if their romantic rendezvous goes south due to species incompatibility, fighting the Collectors would be “a welcome distraction” and wouldn’t be a big deal. Oh, no. It would be a big deal. Garrus wants to give Shepard the best final moment of peace he can before they take on the Collector base, and when Shepard shut him up and they touched foreheads (which I suppose is like the turian equivalent of a kiss given that turians don’t have lips to kiss with) I just lost my mind. I cried and I’m not ashamed to say it. It takes a lot to make me cry, since I’m not easily moved, but seeing Garrus and Shepard so happy in such a tender moment was too much for me. My two favorite characters enjoying peace and joy that they deserve. Beautiful. 

The suicide mission - I have all my upgrades, all loyalty missions complete, and I’m still freaking out about who is going to die and who is going to survive. I made the right choices in terms of who I assigned to what, but even with Garrus at Shepard’s side the whole time, I was again in full panic mode. I had like three separate heart attacks thinking that Garrus was about to be killed. I was literally shouting in horror as this happened: 

Everything worked out in the end, though. The whole crew survived, the base was destroyed, and Shepard got to snuggle with Garrus in her cabin afterwards. I was very, very happy.

So yeah, Garrus having such a profound character and being not just a likable badass but also Shepard’s most loyal companion is why I love him so much. Evidently, this is also why he’s one of the most, if not the most, popular characters from Mass Effect. Archangel owns all of our asses.

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 16

16. Favorite DLC?

I may have a plethora of problems with ME3, but I’m still going to give credit where it’s due: I enjoyed the Citadel DLC. Yes, I did have some issues with it, since it wasn’t immune to ME3′s shoddy writing, but I loved the concept of it. The Normandy crewmembers are kind of like one big ass-kicking family with Shepard as the mom/dad. It was really nice to be able to spend time with the crew and have fun. This should have been the ending to ME3, and that’s something that a ton of fans agree on. When I hear “Bad Choices”, I get nostalgic even though I dislike this game and even uninstalled it completely. 

I would have preferred it if you were only able to invite people from ME1/ME2 to the party since Shepard isn’t as close to people like James and Traynor (as they were only introduced in this game and haven’t been through as much with Shepard and co.) but that’s alright.

Also, I did think that the DLC was too fanservice-y. Some people liked that and that’s great for them, but personally there were choices that the writers made that made me think “okay, the writers are trying a little too hard here”. An example is Garrus’s tango with Shepard. A lot of fans really love it, and I get why. Almost anyone would enjoy seeing a pairing that they love have a sexually-charged tango session on the dancefloor; it’s like straight out of fanfiction. Admittedly, I liked it too, at first. I couldn’t believe that BioWare fed the Shakarian fans that much and I was grateful, but as I viewed it more and more, I started to feel like it just... wasn’t them, if that makes sense? Like it just seems off for them, especially Garrus, and I think that the writers were more focused on serving the fans than sticking to the characters. That’s just my personal opinion. Okay I’m supposed to be talking about why I liked the DLC so I’ll stop critiquing.  

Also, Shepard’s apartment? It’s only relevant to the Citadel DLC but hell fuckin yeah does Shepard deserve a sweet crib like that after all the shit that has gone down. In terms of interior design it’s amazing but it also kinda made me miss Shepard’s apartment from the ME1 Pinnacle Station DLC. Look at this sweet view, man

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 13

13. Favorite story-line mission?

The Suicide Mission. While I have more fun playing ME1′s ending, what with driving the Mako across the entire fucking galaxy using a mini-relay and fighting on the exterior of the Citadel and using your Shepard powers of awesome to talk Saren out of his indoctrination long enough to kill himself, the Suicide Mission is like the quintessential example of “your choices matter”. Everything that you do up to this point in ME2 will shape how the mission goes, between which loyalty missions you did/didn’t do, how you resolved conflicts, what upgrades you invested in, etc. Even when I replay the game and do everything the same way that I always do (which thus ensures that everyone will make it out alive), I always feel like I’m on the edge of my seat because of the tension. The music, the creepy atmosphere, the sense of caution that the player feels in response to being in the heart of enemy territory, they all really add up well. 

It’s also nice to see Shepard’s entire squad working together, rather than Shepard going into a mission with two select teammates (and by that I mean Garrus and someone else LOL). Having a crew doesn’t feel pointless when the Suicide Mission really conveys this idea that the more people Shepard has on board, the better the chances of success are. Even if you never bring certain squad members on missions, they still feel like they have some use here.

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 25

25. Opinion on Quarian/Geth conflict?

I’ve always thought that the quarians were foolish for creating a sentient race which would be subservient to them and then starting a war with them just because they fought for their freedom, and Legion just enforces this. Any geth that sides with the reapers should be incinerated into a pile of scrap, but Legion is proof that geth aren’t the mindless robots that some people consider them to be. They aren’t as “alive” as organics, but they’re sentient enough where they can make their own decisions and form their own opinions, and they never wanted to fight the quarians in the first place.  

It’s still nice to see Tali and Legion get along, though. Solving their conflict in ME2 with a special dialogue option makes you feel like you just got your younger siblings to stop fighting lol

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 28

28. Destroy, Control, or Synthesis?

I hate ME3's ending, but regardless: Destroy is the only valid choice IMO. Yes, EDI and the geth getting wiped out is sad, but Shepard had one main goal throughout the entire trilogy: destroy the reapers. Synthesis just seems like a horrible situation to force organics into (Saren), and control is a means to an end, as the reapers would probably end up corrupting Shepard somehow (Illusive Man). There's no point in controllong the reapers when you can destroy them.

Shepard being able to survive the best version of the destroy ending is an added bonus because Shepard deserves happiness more than anyone, but that's not why I'm pro-destroy.

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 15

15. Favorite side mission?

UNC: Missing Marines from Mass Effect 1 because you GET TO FIGHT A THRESHER MAW IN THE MAKO YEE FUCKIN HAW

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 2

2. Male Shepard or Female Shepard?

Femshep, easily.

Femshep’s VA, Jennifer Hale, brings a lot of life to her character and makes her sound just as badass as she looks. Besides my appreciation for women with deeper, mature-sounding voices (as opposed to raising their voices to sound more “attractive” and feminine), Hale has a great range in terms of emotion; Femshep demands respect and projects her authority not just with her physical demeanor, but with her voice as well, which is crucial for a character in a role such as hers. While she can invoke the fear of death itself into any living creature in the galaxy with just a few words, she can also be incredibly warm and gentle, or goofy and sarcastic, or smug and confident, and I love this about her. Most people who have compared Femshep’s voice acting to that of her male counterpart seem to agree that she sounds leagues better. The difference is especially apparent in the renegade dialogue. It’s too bad that despite all of this, there are male gamers out there who are too insecure and bigoted to play as her because hurr durr I’m too MANLY to play as female unga bunga

It's also really nice to see a fearless, god-tier badass female protagonist in my favorite genre, sci-fi, that is written by writers who understand that a woman's confidence is not directly correlated with how sexual or feminine she is. I'm not normally one to preach about this stuff, but it's apparent that some people still don't get this. It's funny to see that when Femshep does get the occasional unwelcome comments from sleazy guys, she destroys them (like in the gif above).

Femshep and Maleshep, despite the few obvious differences like romance options, are treated almost identically - the same respect, and the same fear. She’s genuinely my favorite female protagonist of all time, not just in gaming but in fiction as a whole. She’s someone that I can idolize and look up to, and having that kind beloved character in my life is awesome. 

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 6

6. Favorite male companion?

Technically, Garrus is my favorite, but since I already used him to answer a previous question, I’ll go with my second favorite option - everyone’s favorite Uncle Urdnot.

(Disclaimer: ignoring the third game)

During my first Mass Effect playthrough, I knew I would like Wrex the moment he was challenging C-Sec officers to try to arrest him. When he straight up told Shepard as soon as he was recruited that he was going to kill Fist and did just that later on, I liked him even more. But what really made me enjoy his character was the fact that even though he seems like a stereotypical, bloodthirsty krogan meat-head, he’s actually a cool guy. Even Garrus acknowledges this, and Garrus - notorious for being uptight and kind of a jerk - was raised to hate krogan.

During one of the initial conversations with Wrex on the Normandy, Shepard tries to relate humanity to the krogan by mentioning how the turians had been in wars with both species. No matter which dialogue option you pick, Shepard will initially assert that their species’ wars with the turians were pretty much the same, but  Wrex explains to Shepard that the genophage and the First Contact War are entirely different; the former had much more permanent consequences than the latter, as humanity never neared extinction, ended up joining Citadel space anyway, and enjoys a (mostly) civil relationship with the turians despite a small amount of lingering racial tension. When Shepard apologizes, Wrex isn’t mad and says that Shepard’s ignorance doesn’t upset him; I thought that this was a very wise and insightful response to the situation, especially coming from a guy who was just provoking cops into trying to arrest him.

The event on Virmire between Wrex and Shepard was a testament to how much their relationship had built. Wrex seems to finally give a shit about what happens to his race, perhaps because Shepard made him think about it more during their conversations. As much as Wrex wants to protect the cure for the genophage, he puts the fate of his entire race in Shepard’s hand because of this trust between them. This again demonstrates the fact that Wrex is not, in fact, some hot-head who tries to solve all of his problems with a gun. (Well, if Shepard has the skill to talk him down, that is.)

Seeing Wrex on Tuchanka for the first time in ME2 was awesome, especially when the main theme started to play in the background as they greeted each other. He was so happy to see Shepard, who he immediately and joyously calls “[his] friend”. I was really proud to see that this once aloof bounty-hunter who was willing to let the krogan barrel towards extinction was now both the leader of clan Urdnot and uniting the krogan clans under his rule.

Also, have you seen the way he runs in ME1?

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 23

23. Saddest moment in the game?

ME2′s introduction scene. Shepard watching the Normandy explode before dying what was probably an extremely painful death all alone is still upsetting. :(

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 22

22. Hardest part of the game?  

Starting a new Mass Effect campaign with a new Shepard and getting destroyed by every Geth Juggernaut within 3 meters 

Seriously fuck ME1′s combat

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 7

7. Favorite female companion? 

I’m going to go with Samara. I feel like she’s under-appreciated, but I really like her. 

Since her only notable role is in ME2, I can’t talk about her as much as I could, say, Ashley, but she’s an interesting character nonetheless. She’s a troubled single parent and an asari justicar who carries a cold and composed demeanor, but she’s actually lonely and a bit broken inside. Her voice is very soothing (she’s voiced by Billie Ellish’s mom, fun fact), her spirituality adds to her unique flair, and she’s an easy person to be around. She’s apparently in her final stage of life, which makes you wonder how much she has seen, as asari can live to be 1,000 years old. You can learn a thing or two about her by talking to her during the second game; I think her conversations are intriguing.

Samara’s duty as a justicar and her drive to bring about justice makes her loyalty mission especially interesting, as she asks Shepard to help her track down a dangerous ardat-yakshi who is also her daughter. Although she doesn’t hesitate to pursue, corner and kill one of her daughters in the name of justice, it genuinely pains her to do so, especially since Morinth’s state as an ardat-yakshi is due to a genetic disorder that was inherited from Samara herself. Shepard has to work a little to get Samara to talk about her grief, as she does not want to accept pity, but they do connect on a certain level. Samara, in a lot of ways, is like a female Thane (except, unlike Thane, she had to kill her child. That sucks.)

Interestingly, she actually tangled with Nihlus back in the day after seeing him kill an unarmed civilian. She pursed him for a few weeks before he managed to give her the slip, but she was impressed by him. I would’ve loved to see this in the game as a flashback. 

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 18

18. Best protagonist (NPC)?

This question is pretty similar to a previous question, which asked for my favorite NPC (Joker) but I guess I’ll answer anyway?

Nihlus! I understand that he needed to be removed from the story for plot reasons (The Council would be a lot quicker to take Nihlus’s word regarding Saren and the Reapers than Shepard’s, which would remove a lot of the conflict), but I don’t think he should have died. The way that he was killed was bullshit, but regardless he could have survived his injuries.

I just really wanted to see more interactions between him and Shepard. He was pushing for Shepard to be the first human Spectre, which is HUGE, especially for a turian. His character was really interesting, and there was a lot of potential regarding him and Saren, given that Saren was his mentor for a little bit. I don’t think that a lot of the events of ME1 could have happened without him. 

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 14

14. Favorite loyalty-mission?

I want to say that Garrus’s loyalty mission is my favorite because of how much of a testament it is to the closeness between Garrus and Shepard and how cathartic it was for him to get closure to an event that scarred him for life (and also because Garrus beating up Harkin is great), but I don’t want to give Garrus the spotlight too much and let him dominate this challenge, so I’ll go with my second favorite: Thane’s loyalty mission.

There are two main reasons why I enjoy this particular loyalty mission, the first being that Shepard can be a little shit and scare some random maintenance worker into thinking that there’s a bomb so that he fucks off:

The second, as seen in the first gif, is that Shepard can play bad cop and put the beatdown on Kelham for being an uncooperative bastard. Responding to his dares to hit him with a sound knock in the head or a threat to cut off his balls is hilarious.

Though Thane’s loyalty mission involves the boring “follow the target” kind of task that you’d expect to find in an Assassin’s Creed game, I at least enjoyed the atmosphere while I was at it (and watching the turian groundskeeper absolutely shred the dancefloor despite insisting that turians don’t dance).