#ME2 spoilers

[sol-consort]

Two years dead and everyone arounds you act as if it was your fault, as if you coming back to life disrupted their mourning.

And I get i, I get it. But to Shepard, it was only a few weeks. They were lost in space in anguish from the pain of choking as their lungs burned. The vacuum of space sucking whatever life left out of their beating heart as their final moment before their eyes closed.

Then they open them and find themselves on a medical bed. Two years passed in a blink, a second to them. Their body is the same, except for a few missing scars. Everything about them is the exact same as if they were plucked out of space during that moment and thrown two years ahead into the future.

But everyone else has changed, moved on. And no one wants to explain themselves, close friends treating them like strangers, news mentioning their name as one of the past legends, left to collect dust in the history books and memorials.

Like crashing their own funeral just when everyone else was done crying, and people feel upset at you for somehow beating the odds and surviving. Then it's Immediately back to duty, you don't even get to announce the fact you're alive again publicly. It gets spread in rumours and witness accounts.

And no one acknowledge how lonely it must have been to die surrounded by friends, knowing at least you died for them to survive. Only to wake up alone and remain alone, for everyone you've known died, or changed beyond recognition.

[catsharky]

As terrifying as it would have been, I like to think there was a moment of peace there at the end, among the stars.

-

So... this is the next part of the Shakarian comic, but it's not the big one I said would come next. I've made the decision to put that on the back burner for now and pick away at it a lot more slowly while I continue on with what I originally had planned. The next thing you see from me will likely be the Joker-centric part I mentioned a while back, but for now please enjoy this rare coloured comic in the meantime.

Part 1 • Previous Part • Next Part

[everythingmasseffectdd]

The thing about Garrus Vakarian that makes him such a 10 is that he came out of fucking nowhere.

In the first game I felt mid about him, even a little low-key concerned because he had some alarming ideals and I just had people closer to me who did the job better. Wasn't too sad to see him go.

And then there was the whole harrowing fiasco that was ME2 where he just fucking ajzbeinrbfusjanwb... And his reveal was such a roller coaster, such a colossal relief and horror and relief again. And the ride or die thing, because if you thought I was letting the emotional support vigilante out of my sight after that, think again.

I think I was like 10 hours from the end of ME3 (and WAY too far up another romance route), when the realization knocked me flat on my ass.

I love Garrus Vakarian.

Wtf am I doing with [xyz]?!?!

Holy shit, I LOVE him.

Embarrassing, honestly. He's pixels. I'd had game feelings before but... like via the main character, not like... hit me with a sack of bricks, stop dead in my tracks on a random Tuesday, moment of complete clarity type feelings. The Garrus thing really does sneak up on you though, lmao. Full arc. 10/10. Such damn good writing. Love that little sniper forever.

[carnalapples]

was this your first time through me2? who did you romance, fave companion, did you lose anyone, thoughts!!

It was!! So many thoughts:

I played FemShep, and I didn't romance anyone in ME2, but I romanced Kaidan in ME1 and I'm very intrigued to see him again

God, Horizon—the idea that he's been grieving for 2 years and is finally coming to terms with this, but to Shepard, it's been a matter of weeks?? That he was always on your side before, but now he has to draw the line and throw that wall up

I'm also so intrigued by the whole concept of Shepard being brought back to life and how that would work? And whether they would feel like they were still themself or not

It is so hard to choose, but my favorite companion is probably Tali—I had a little crisis during her loyalty mission, and I loved seeing how she was so torn between telling the truth and preserving her image of her father

I also really liked how you could challenge her on the geth, and I felt my opinions changing the more I interacted with people on the Migrant Fleet—the whole story of the quarian/geth struggles was so interesting!

I love Miranda and her strength—she really grew on me through the game, and I ended up taking her and Tali on most of my missions

I also love Legion: when you ask why he waited so long just to use Shepard's armor to patch that hole, and the response is just "no data available" ugh

There wasn't a character I disliked; even if I didn't get on with them at times, I could understand them—I thought the writing was great on that front

(On a side note, I really enjoyed that so much of the crew either had daddy issues or was the parent causing the issues)

The suicide mission stressed me out so much, especially making so many on-the-fly decisions—I loved it, and I thought the stakes felt so real. I lost Zaeed, which was—looking back on it, a fitting end to his story, but I was so shocked and I wish I could have gotten everyone out

On a more superficial note, the new Normandy looked amazing?? As much I missed the Mako and my horrible driving/"XO Pressly has the deck," I loved being able to wear sweatpants and the idea that Shepard puts together model ship kits in her free time

"Assuming direct control" haunts me

It was so haunting walking around the ship after the Collector attack—I loved the atmosphere of ME1, but I think this game had some really chilling moments

Sorry, that was a lot, but I loved this game! I can't wait to see how the next one goes—thank you for asking!

[gloomyearthling]

I never thought about it like that… makes me happy now that I always choose him to be the leader of Fire Team.

My boy is getting that closure he so desperately needs. 🥹

A thought I had about Garrus "I Took A Rocket In The Face And It Only Made Me More Mad" Vakarian in ME2: picking Garrus as the leader of at least one of the fire teams in Suicide Mission is not only sensible, because as the Shadow Broker terminal says, he has excellent team-building and leadership skills, it's also a chance for Garrus to get closure that doesn't have anything to do with revenge. He lost his whole team back on Omega, but is now leading another into hell against impossible odds - and he pulls it off. He gets the job done and brings his team back alive. Hearing his gleeful exclamations trough Shepard's earpiece throughout the fight makes me feel like it's exactly what is happening. What he needed was not revenge. What he needed was something to go right. Just once.

[colossusrhodes]

THE FINAL BATTLE TRIGGERED IMMEDIATELY??? I DIDN'T GET TO SAY GOODBYE TO LIARA??? SHEPARD LOOKING LONGINGLY AT THE PICTURE OF HER SHADOW BROKER SPACE GIRLFRIEND THEN YEETING THRU THE OMEGA 4 RELAY???????

FUCK, MY HEART! 😭

[maintitle]

I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but the first time I ever played Mass Effect 3 I did the full playthrough without Garrus. I managed to save everyone on the Suicide Mission in ME2 blind except Garrus, and I didn't realize until a few days after the game launch that Garrus could survive the suicide mission. It was a very confusing experience that I pretty much rushed through because I wanted to replay the second game and fix my mistake. It's also why I think I'm a bit frustrated that there aren't more companions from ME2 in that game, because the phantom memory of a playthrough without BOTH Garrus and Javik still exists as a spectre of horror deep in my soul even after the memories have largely faded into the abyss.

[mrs-gauche]

So I have seen several people now playing with the idea that Rook might've actually died at the ritual site and that whatever happened there with their blood and their connection to the Fade/Solas/the Dread Wolf pride demon was something similar to what we know of demon/spirit possession that can bring people back to life...... which would be absolutely insane to me, given what that could imply for the story and also how Solas feels about free will and abominations and... you know, all of that. 😂

BUT (and this is probably the most tinfoily I'm gonna get at this point lol)....

Between THIS and *checks notes*...

The short story "The Wake" implying that Lucanis died some time after The Wigmaker Job, him being called "The Demon" and all the pride demon imagery in his design/tarot card, having people suspect that he was brought back to life by a pride demon.

The devs saying "Manfred the skeleton is not romanceable, but we're not saying NO skeleton romance".

Harding suddenly having magical abilities.

There being something eerie about a lot of the companion tarot cards, mostly because of the glowy eyes that we often associate with possession.

....so I'm just gonna put the tinfoil hat back on and conclude that all this clearly has to mean that.. uh...

Everyone is dead...?

And they're all abominations now, which means that somehow all of them have a connection to some powerful spirit/demon that brought them back to life to join Rook on this final mission to save the world. 😂

Or something like that, Idk, the heat is clearly getting to me. lmaoo 💀

[princessshikky]

DAO: Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the good of the many. Your Warden might leave Redcliffe to be ravaged by the undead, let Branca have the Anvil of the Void, convince the werewolves to massacre a Dalish clan, side with the man who committed fratricide for the throne and plans to usurp the power, recruit a man who started a civil war in his own country and sold its citizens to slavery - all in the name of stopping the Blight.

DA2: Sometimes there is no good choice. Shit happens because of things that are outside of Hawke's control, and the best thing Hawke can do is try to manage the outcome.

ME2: Shepard literally has to genocide the batarians in order to delay the Reapers' arrival and buy some time for the galaxy to prepare for a war.

ME3: Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the good of the many. Shepard might lie to the crogan about curing the genophage in order to get the salarians' help, sacrifice either the geth or the quarians (or potentially both) and forcibly alter the bodies and minds of every living being in the galaxy.

DAI: Sometimes the best outcome is the one where you let that Orlesian empress be killed and help that elven rebel blackmail the new emperor into submission. Also, you may convince the future Divine that killing people is the easiest and fastest way to victory.

...

DATV: Oh no! Solas, an army general fighting in a rebellion against slavers and tyrants, had to *gasp* sacrifice some people in order to obtain a weapon that could bring them victory! How could he!.. What an irredeemable monster, right?

Just. How? How did we get from genuine grey morality to this? I just... ugh.

[sol-consort]

Mass effect 2 screenshots pile that I forgot to post

[galedekarios]

honestly, i am enjoying my second playthrough of veilguard so much.

taking my time with the game and really exploring every nook and cranny of its environments offers so many cool moments.

yesterday i found two things that i loved and wanted to share bc i do appreciate that sort of love for detail.

during harding's quest you can see a manifestation of a titan watching you from afar throughout the mission:

a companion (in my case emmrich) even comments on feeling a "malevolent" gaze upon us:

when you turn back around, this figure is gone:

this figure appears multiple times during the quest.

2. minor quests that you may think are unimportant/tedious lead into new quests that do have an impact later in the game

yesterday i finally decided to do minrathous treasure hunt quest, expecting it to be nothing more than a tedious fetch quest.

it wasn't.

it lead into the catacombs below minrathous to a conspiracy of a demon feasting on the despair of dock town's citizens:

in general i can say that the level design in this game is actually amazing. it's truly a standout to me. i think if i had stopped at that one playthrough, where i completely rushed through the game just to get from point a to b, i would like the game much less than i do now.

also listening the variety of companion banter while i explored is genuinely a treat.

[mothshrub]

The inside of Grunt's brain:

[halamshiral]

so. with 90+ hours i finally finished veilguard and

i'm a wreck

nothing will ever give me the emotional high that a bioware game gives me, no matter what

what an amazing game this would have been if they had cared enough about world states and not decided to remove every possible moral conflict ever

[monowires]

you know what fucks me up the most about me2, though? it isn't just the fact that there was a 2 year time gap, it's that that time didn't even pass for shepard.

shepard was, as jacob puts it, "in a coma or worse" for most of it—the only real conscious moment he has before waking up at the start of the game during the attack is that one moment where the sedatives wore off and he started waking up.

everyone he runs into gives him some form of "it's been two years, you shouldn't expect things to be the same," but it's literally been like blinking to shepard. he was asphyxiating in space and then he was fighting for his life in a cerberus facility. he's expected to handle this reorientation himself; it's never really talked about, not fully. he catches up with people like anderson on what's happened in the past two years, but it's never really clarified how he processes it. and even so, he makes a visible effort to try and understand it, to try and understand the viewpoints of old allies like kaidan and tali and garrus.

this is something that i feel a lot of the characters overlooked when chiding him for 'working with' cerberus. like, my dude died and then woke up immediately thereafter (to him) in a cerberus facility. his only options were to ally with them or die, and then the elusive man went to extensive lengths to make it such that shepard COULDN'T leave—where would he go? the normandy wasn't his anymore. what crew would he take with him? they'd all been contacted by cerberus beforehand.

it just breaks my heart, because he dies saving joker/his crew during the normandy attack, and is then thrust into the future—literally, to him—and expected to just get up and keep moving. he was never given any time to process it, never given any time to argue, never given any autonomy beyond which mission he did first.

in me3, he still isn't given the luxury of being understood—people don't trust him, and understandably so given the reputation cerberus built for itself—but they also don't listen to him. when he tries to defend himself by saying he didn't have much choice, he is told "isn't that just what they want you to say?"

even jack gives him shit for it, and she was with him in me2. and if he tries to say he knows, he knows cerberus is awful, she says something along the lines of 'i'm sure that'll comfort all the people they killed' and that just stung in the moment because it really shows how alone shepard is, how alone he always has been. how being alone is a necessity when you're tasked with the fate of the galaxy—how he has to sacrifice himself in more ways than one to ensure the continuity of time itself.

[sun-marie]

Veilguard is basically just like if Dragon Age was a Mass Effect game

[chiefmysticmia]

brought miranda along for jack’s loyalty mission and god. i wish she had more unique dialogue in it cause i would love to hear more of her thoughts given her loyalty to cerberus. her being in heavy denial about its true nature…….. goddd i can’t wait to do her loyalty mission

her and jack are narrative foils and i love it and them