#I just think they’re funny. two-face would have like 0 default opinion on her which is so rare for him but she likes Two-Face pretty well &

[ziracona]

Telltale Batman was right. Catwoman and Two-Face is an incredibly underutilized dynamic. In this essay I

[annakie]

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Five

Will we make it off the Citadel in this update??

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Flux is my favorite bar in all of the first game, I know there’s not many to choose from, but I like the music best, everybody’s clothed, everyone’s having a good time, there’s slots upstairs for entertainment, there’s dancing, and plenty of space to chill out in.  Also the color scheme is great.  It looks particularly great now with the graphics mod improvements.  

Doran gets a nice glamour shot here.

I’m a tattle tale who always turns this guy in.  I agree with Kaidan...

Also I really love Rita’s quest with her sister.  She loves her sister, Jenna  wants to be helpful, even Doran’s like “Hey I’d love to give her her job back.”  Everyone here is pretty wholesome.  And Jenna gets one of the best surprise appearances in ME3 if you do things right.  ME1Recalibrated fixes the bugs with her quest, too!

Speaking of bugged quests, Hello Conrad!  ME1Recalibrated fixes Conrad’s bug, and even if it doesn’t, ME2Re does.  The only bad thing about that is it makes his apology for accusing you of something you maybe didn’t do make no sense.

Everyone else was sure Conrad would turn out to be evil, too, right? Instead making him into just a big lying dummy with an advanced degree was a great move.  I was kinda hoping he’d show up in the Citadel DLC.   

Harkin is JUST the FUCKING WORST.  I’m always tempted to let Garrus cap him in ME2 because what a waste of air he is and doesn’t learn his lesson.  

This is also maybe the most overt place where FemShep experiences sexism.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s some pretty shitty sexism sprinkled throughout the games (as discussed a bit last post) but ugh this guy, if I could shoot him this game, I might.  At least on renegade playthroughs.

Speaking of Garrus...

Finally, an alien who wants to hang out with us.

As primarily a Kaidan-romancing gal, who tends to keep up with the Kaidan Alenko tag, especially back in the heyday of tumblr, for a while, loving Garrus was... difficult.

In October, when I was finishing up my latest ME3 playthrough and also cleaning up my blog, and also rewatching Doctor Who and thinking a lot about Rose Tyler and Martha Jones, I posted a long thing in a post about Kaidan and Garrus and badly behaving fanbases, which I don’t feel like typing again.  Here’s the whole thing, but I’m going to pull a part of it into here.

I love Garrus, so much.  And I was thinking with this whole parallel DW rewatch / Mass Effect replay think I’m doing right now how both Rose Tyler and Garrus Vakaraian are characters that were ruined for me for awhile due to their respective… overly enthusiastic fanbases who a small percentage of were dicks to people who loved other characters.  The Kaidan tag (and from what I understand Thane got some of this too, but not nearly as bad) was a pretty hostile place for awhile (and yeah I used to regularly check the Garrus tag too and there was a small amount of tag-invasion there but uh, like 5% of what the Kaidan tag got) which made loving the character of Garrus a lot harder for awhile.  But when actually watching seasons 1 & 2 / the end of 4 of Doctor Who, or actually playing the ME games, those characters are awesome.  

Fanbases can be amazing or terrible, and time and time again I think you start to realize that no matter how great a fandom is, there are going to be a few people who can only enjoy themselves by feeding on drama, or on lifting up what they love by stomping on other people/characters/plotlines.  

It’s not fair to characterize everyone who loves a popular thing as someone who does this.  It’s also hard to avoid completely because there will always be jerks, or young/new people who don’t realize what bad form they’re showing.  I did learn by trying to fight it for a year or two, that responding might help that one person not do it again, but it’s not going to stop overall.  

Anyway, don’t be a dick about the things you don’t like.  

It’s sad that even thirteen years past the release of ME1 and eight years past ME3 some people still need to have this fight online.   It’s basically impossible to enjoy like, any non-curated Mass Effect space online because of pissing contests or people spouting the same boring opinions.  Which they’re entitled to.  I’m just real tired of “Kaidan is boring!” “Ashley is a racist!” etc with no further depth of thought being given.

The ability to mute / block people and get away from the worst of it is one of the reasons I’m still on tumblr.  Especially always mute/block “confessions” blogs.  Yeesh.

---------

I’m glad Garrus is here, and I’m glad he’s on the team.  What’s funny though, is that people tend to forget that Garrus like, wasn’t really all THAT popular of a character before ME2.  I know I was only in the fandom for a year before ME2 but I dug in pretty deep in that time.

It wasn’t until he gets his face blown off and starts talking about Old Times that a lot of people started to REALLY like him.  He’s still great in ME1, but not like, elevated to god-tier that so many people did post ME2 release.  But in ME1 he IS neat because he’s really malleable.  Probably the companion who can have the biggest personality shift depending on your choices.

Also, I remember a time when the people who wanted to romance Garrus were like... outliers?  I remember thinking “GARRUS?  As a romance?  That’s... weird.  Who would do that!?”

OH HOW I WAS WRONG.  But that was before reach and flexibility.

Hey I even have a Shep that romanced Garrus in ME2 and ME3.  And I loved it!

Were I to replay a different Shep, she’d be my first choice.

So yeah, I love Garrus, I keep Kaidan in the squad all the time in ME1 and the other spot I try to rotate everyone else somewhat evenly, but you’ll see plenty of him.  Then ME2 he’s by my side most of the way.  And an awful lot in ME3, too.  But I’m happy for him to get crushed on by Dr. Michele and glad to see him and Tali find happiness in ME3.  SO that’s the path we’ll be going down if we get that far here.

I love the Destiny Ascension flyby moment on the Citadel, and it’s so easy to miss.  Also really hard to get good screenshots of.  Thanks Flycam.  Don’t pay attention to the untextured wall in the first pic, just look at the pretty lights!

Let’s go get another squadmate!  This time, a not-as-initially-friendly alien!

What an amazing entrance for Urdnot Wrex.

“Do you want me to arrest you?”

“I want you to try!”

Hell.  Yeah.

Here’s where the somewhat in somewhat evenly comes in.  I probably do favor Wrex and Ashely in the squad in ME1 a little because... well you know what’s coming for Ash and Wrex you get the least amount of time with by far of the other companions.  Also, he’s just... great?  A tank, with some biotics and a shotgun... okay well so am I as a vanguard, but Kaidan has just enough tech powers for us to muddle through where we need to when Wrex is in the squad and he’s so much fun to have around.  His “Fuck you, I don’t care” attitude is great, and his growth story throughout the trilogy is one of the best arcs a character gets, imho.  I just really love Urdnot Wrex.

This is a real nice flight control office you’ve got here, C-Sec.  It would be a shame if someone planted a bug in it later, since literally anyone can just walk on up here uncontested.

This entire area really is so pretty though.

I always pump points into Paragon as much as possible from as early on as possible, and saving these poor guys’ lives is one of the big reasons.  They don’t need to die.

Ash usually still stays in the party up to this point, though sometimes it’s Garrus.  Fist is still a dick in ME2 but he doesn’t need to die here, sorry Wrex.

...raise your hand if you still occasionally forget to pick up Emily Wong’s evidence and have to reload.  I remembered!  ...once I was almost out of Chora’s Den and had to turn around this time.

Kaidan?  Kaidan my love?  My darling... perhaps YOU shouldn’t be the one standing in the middle of the corridor with no barrier or protection?  (I suppose I could scooch over but then I’d look less badass for these screenshots.  Naaah.)

It’d be a shame if someone properly lit the corridor so we could see what’s going on.

But hey... TALI!  Tali Tali Tali!  The first quarian we see, and only one for... awhile?  Is there another quarian in this entire game? I’m trying to remember and seriously can’t think of one.

Anyway, I love Tali, but another character you really need to ignore their most rabid fanbase portions of.  Yikes, Talimancers were really something back in the day.  The biggest problem I have with Tali being in the squad is that normally she’s REALLY useful against Geth and... not so much against just about anything else.  She gets sidelined on my team more than I wish she would.  Especially since she doesn’t show up until very late in ME2 and late-midway through ME3.

Finally, the proof we need.  And the game continues to introduce new concepts to us with the Conduit and we hear the word Reapers for the first time.  We also get a loredump on the quarians and the geth.  

Tali’s voice doesn’t have quite as heavy of an accent in ME1 as it does in 2 and 3.  I guess we can assume she’s lost part of it while on her pilgrimage?  Picking up the local dialects a bit?  The next two times we see her she’s just spent a lot of time with her own people.

Tali’s suit and omnitool look SO GOOD with the updated textures.

I swap Ash out and Tali in at this point, and usually finish up a few more quests along the way.

Ah, Septimus.  You lovesick fool.

Honestly, the very best thing with Septimus is to bring Garrus here if you’re gonna romance him, have Garrus laugh at him for coming undone for love and then... well, ME2 and especially ME3 happen.  But still.  Septimus... always needs a kick in the pants but will get around to doing the right thing.

Hey here’s a cool thing ME1Recalibated does -- Morlan carries a Squad Iconic Armors stock, so you can always find tier-appropriate default look armor for you and all the squad.  Very cool of you, Morlan.  You are currently my favorite store on the Citadel.  Now stop sending me spam, I didn’t sign up for your mailing list.

Look, I have questions about what exactly Xeltan told the consort and how... all that... works... but... I don’t think I actually want to ask them.  Just.. let’s all shut up about all of it, it’s over now.

BTW, according to one of the novels, Councilor Anderson finds Ambassador Cayln super annoying.  I need to re-read that book.

OK fine... I’ll go talk to the Council.

Coming at ya with Actual Proof and a quarian tagging along to back up the claims, the Council is ready to listen.  And while not surprising that it’s finally time to become a Spectre, the actual ceremony is really well done.  With the swelling theme music blaring, and all three councilors stressing what a big deal this is and what will be expected of you, you really feel the weight of this moment.  People take notice.  Although apparently later, Kaidan or Ash get an entire televised event around becoming a Spectre, I guess there’s no time for that right now.

It definitely feels like the game so far has been building towards this moment, not only with POUNDING it into your brain about who Spectres are and why they’re so important and letting you know you’re being evaluated... but it feels like there’s been a shift in the game after this moment.  It’s A Big Deal.

I didn’t finish all the sidequests on the Citadel yet, they can wait, I’ve been here long enough.  Let’s go check out the new cool stuff we can buy.

ME1Recalibrated adds in this Spectre Armor.  Eeehhhhh... no thanks.  We’ll stick with Onyx.

I did cheat myself in a bunch of credits and picked up Spectre weapons though. This ain’t no tryhard playthrough.  

Well OK, we can finish ONE more quest.  Thanks, startlingly loud and triumphant music queue that’s never used again!

Man, this would be SUCH a good pic of the Normandy if... the airlock didn’t go straight through the ship.

We’ve got a ship of our own!  And most of our squadmates to put on it!

Sucks for Anderson to be sidelined, though.  We already love you, Anderson!

It’s cool to get a bit more of the Saren & Anderson backstory here for real.  Still, I enjoyed the book more.  Maybe I’ll do a re-read of all the ME books here soon.

Udina... just keep being you, I guess.  

WE HAVE A SHIP!!!

Okay, whew... we made it off the Citadel.  Now I gotta actually play some more to have more updates to post.  Might be a few days.  Have to actually go back to work tomorrow. :p

Let’s probably do like one sidequest then go get us an Asari!!

[chellonihaoma]

For the other ask thing: ALL OF THEM.......................................

This is super long.

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk? - Not sure. I wind up with leftover milk, but it could easily go either way.2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day? - Yes.3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books? - Literally anything. I have used my phone before.4: how do you take your coffee/tea? - I don’t drink either, but I love hot chocolate.5: are you self-conscious of your smile? - Not really.6: do you keep plants? - No sirree, I’m allergic to basically every plant.7: do you name your plants? - No.8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings? - If I could draw, I would draw. I sing.9: do you like singing/humming to yourself? - Yes. Very much.10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach? - Side, though I try to sleep on my back because it’s better for posture.11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends? - There are a lot. Imagination.12: what’s your favorite planet? - Saturn.13: what’s something that made you smile today? - I watched Phantom Rouge. Illumi is beautiful.14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like? - I am very minimalistic, so it would be mostly empty with some basic furniture. Everything neatly organized and out of the way.15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is! - Don’t need to Google. I used to be obsessed with space. If you approach a black hole, you will be “spaghettified.” Literally pulled apart. Doesn’t that sound fun? :)16: what’s your favorite pasta dish? - They’re all the same to me since I just eat plain noodles.17: what color do you really want to dye your hair? - Red. Or, if possible, I just want Illumi’s hair.18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up. - The Negative Cats Incident^TM. Basically, I thought too hard about a mathematical concept in class and couldn’t stop laughing. 老师 was not very happy with me.19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it? - No.20: what’s your favorite eye color? - Brown that’s almost black or dark green. For unnatural, violet.21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to heck and back with you and that you love to pieces. - Don’t have one.22: are you a morning person? - Absolutely not.23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations? - Dance, sing, read (often fanfiction), and sometimes draw. I also watch stuff.24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets? - No.25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into? - I have never technically “broken into” anywhere.26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit? - I just wear black shoes that look the same.27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor? - The regular one.28: sunrise or sunset? - Sunset. I hate the sun. I love watching it die.29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing? - I love it when my friends get really excited about something.30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared? - Yes.31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock heck? really, just talk about socks. - Socks are good, but I hate putting them on. Not really. Not often. I mostly wear white socks, but I have some black and one or two grey pairs.32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends. - I have never been with friends that late. Unless it was the next day.33: what’s your fave pastry? - Are doughnuts pastries? I like a lot of plain ones.34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it? - Chris Doggie, although it never had a specific spelling (can’t expect a little kid to understand the complications of English). It is a yellow dog. There were actually two, because apparently I almost removed the nose of the first one. I still have both in my room.35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often? - I don’t even know what stationary is. I like pretty colour pens, but rarely use them.36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now? - Yuzu, maybe SID.37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean? - My room is always spotless.38: tell us about your pet peeves! - People mispronouncing certain words. There are probably several others, but I’m drawing a blank right now.39: what color do you wear the most? - Probably black or blue. Dark blue.40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you? - My wife crotched me a black ring.41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving? - The Way of Kings.42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it! - I don’t drink coffee and I make my own hot chocolate.43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with? - 妈妈，although that was many, many years ago.44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything? - Gosh, I can’t even remember. It has been a long time, but I long for that feeling.45: do you trust your instincts a lot? - More than I think I do.46: tell us the worst pun you can think of. - Killua? More like, Killu-nah. Get it? Because he won’t kill. (I know someone who can come up with so many, you should ask her)47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe? - I really can’t stand oranges.48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today? - I don’t remember. No.49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?- I don’t think I’ve ever bought one. We had many in my home growing up, but I never bought one.50: what’s an odd thing you collect? - I don’t really collect anything. I DO have about 100 pictures of Illumi on my phone though.51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them? - I don’t have any. I only do that with fictional characters.52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far? - I don’t know what year memes are from. I really like none pizza with left beef and I love/hate loss.jpg.53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them? - None but Beetlejuice and I can’t even remember it.54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face? - It was me. In the mirror.55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point? - Gosh, I don’t know, but I probably have done something crazy.56: what are some things you find endearing in people? - When they care and are passionate about something.57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics? - I don’t like that song. It is overrated, in my opinion.58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why? - I’m wine mom. Vodka aunt would be either @wackopig or @birdageddon .59: what’s your favorite myth? - I like most with dragons or the moon.60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves? - Not really.61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received? - Oh boy, there are a lot. Literally everything I give to my friends is stupid or some inside joke. I have a cardboard cutout of Zac Efron. I have never even seen anything he is in. I just know he’s some kind of American celebrity and my friend had it for some reason and gave it to me?62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind? - No.63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be? - Everything is always very organized.64: what color is the sky where you are right now? - Black.65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with? - Nanami or a nurse I used to see a lot.66: what would your ideal flower crown look like? - Dark violet flowers or blood-red roses.67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel? - These are my favourite days. I love when it’s overcast. I love the rain. I feel much more peaceful and aware.68: what’s winter like where you live? - Cold.69: what are your favorite board games? - Is Zombicide a board game?70: have you ever used a ouija board? - No.71: what’s your favorite kind of tea? - I don’t drink tea.72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it? - YES. And it’s horrible!73: what are some of your worst habits? - Picking, Tumblr, etc.74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns. - Very good artist. Loves aliens. IS an alien.75: tell us about your pets! - Don’t have any.76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t? - Isn’t there always?77: pink or yellow lemonade? - Both. Pink.78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub? - NO.79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you? - My wife made me a little Ciel doll.80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why? - White. It was the default.81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of. - I am SO bad at abstract imagery, especially in English. Um, dirt.82: are/were you good in school? - The best! If I wasn’t, my parents would have disowned me.83: what’s some of your favorite album art? - I don’t know what that is.84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones? - No.85: do you read comics? what are your faves? - I don’t.86: do you like concept albums? which ones? - I don’t know what those are.87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives? - All Ghibli films. Especially Spirited Away.88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy? - Not sure what that means.89: are you close to your parents? - No.90: talk about your one of your favorite cities. - I like Tokyo, although I have not been there.91: where do you plan on traveling this year? - Probably nowhere.92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch? - I eat plain pasta.93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most? - Straight down.94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday? - Kaili.95: what are your plans for this weekend? - I want to watch Spirited Away again.96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot? - I put them off forever.97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house? - ISTJ, 龙 (dragon), Ravenclaw.98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it? - On Wednesday. No. We got lost and I’m allergic to nature.99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them. - Many Coldplay songs, a lot from Madoka Magica, and Ghibli music.100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why? - Past. As much as I don’t want to relive anything, I could make myself stronger.