#bioware was cowards for not letting me romance both of them | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

feeshies · 4 years ago

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why did everyone decide to hate rick riordan for woke points? go to another fandom if you're going to spread hate. fandoms are dramatic enough already

Okay. This has been in my inbox for a while, along with a few similar asks I got when I was reblogging and posting more rr crit. I never answered, partially because I’m really bad at answering asks on time, but also I was afraid any response I’d give would come off as needlessly aggressive and rude. But whenever I’d do one of my sporadic answer sprees, I’d see anons like this one. Anyway, I’m in a mood now and I don’t care about being rude anymore. Consider this answer a response to all of those anons I got.

putting this under a cut because it got long.

You’re right, anon. I’m only in this fandom out of hate.

I’ve spent hours of my free time talking and writing about tkc, because I hate it.

I think about this series almost constantly, because I hate it.

I put off opening commissions because I didn’t want to take time away from a huge tkc drawing I was working on - for free - because I hate it.

I’ve bought the Red Pyramid 3 times to gift to friends, because I hate it.

This series I’ve met friends through? That helped immensely in improving my art and writing? That served as a near-constant source of creative inspiration? That resparked my love of Egyptology?

All of that was out of hatred. You caught me.

Listen. I’m not saying that when you like a piece of media, you have to write a thesis about every problematic element. But if you notice something wrong or, more importantly, if people directly affected by these problems point them out, the least you can do is believe these concerns.

I love tkc. But the romance subplot with Sadie makes me uncomfortable. It made me uncomfortable as a teenager, and it makes me uncomfortable now. The only difference is that now I have a tumblr blog where I can rant about it. Every piece of rr crit you’ve seen came from a similar place, I guarantee. No one was sitting around thinking “huh, I really need to dig in deep to find something to object to in these books...”. No. If all you’re getting from any of these posts is “some people just don’t like his books :(”, you’re not paying attention, both to what’s being said and who’s saying it.

“Go to another fandom”, do you think tkc is my only rodeo? I’ve been in other fandoms and it’s always the same story. Whether it’s dragon age or fallout or whatever. It’s the same shit over and over.

And you know what? (sorry i’m getting heated). i think the reason why a lot of this criticism is undermined by just being “mindless hate” or “fandom drama” is because it involves the treatment of marginalized groups. If any other element of the writing was criticized (i.e. plot elements, romances, minor plot holes/inaccuracies), there would not be this much push back.

It’s the same thing in Dragon Age. White people in the fandom will make posts like “hey bioware, fuck you for not letting us romance this npc!” or “this game mechanic is fuckin’ stupid” and the responses will be shit like “yes!! you’re so right! bioware is full of cowards!” but then a creator of color will make a post like “hey, you should be respectful when you draw/write characters of color” and they’ll get responses like “you’re reading too much into it” or “no need to be so aggressive, it’s just a video game”.

You say I should leave the fandom for “spreading hate”, but I’m not going to do that. Because if the people who “spread hate” (as you define it) leave, the only people left in the fandom space will be the worst of us. I love The Kane Chronicles. I love Dragon Age. My life is better because of these franchises. But I will not attach my ego to works of fiction. You should do the same.

#Anonymous

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pathfinderlittleduck · 4 years ago

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Mass Effect Tag

With all the discourse on Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, 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.

Thank you @weird-aunt for the tag!! You’re the best and I care about you and your continued support to help me through school will never go unnoticed, it is something I admire about you!!

I tag @becauseanders and also well anyone else.

I am a fan since: I started Dragon Age on NYE 2014, and kind of followed Mass Effect gamers a little before that. They kept recommending it to me but I felt weird about an RPG in space. Eventually I got around to playing the trilogy for the first time in January of 2016.

Favorite game of the series?: Don’t make me chooooooossseeeee...... Mass Effect 3.

There’s a certain emotional rawness that really grips at me, and that really has me relate to the core plot line of the game. I love 2 a lot, but I think overall I love 3 a lot more.

MShep or FShep?: I play both equally. My canon Shepard is MShep, and my AU Shepard is (f)Shep.

Earthborn, Colonist, or Spacer: Earthborn is my favorite because it kinda fits to how I felt growing up. Sure I had “parents” but they weren’t great people. So as I grew up and moved out, I felt on my own a lot because of how they act towards me and about me.

Spacer is a close second. Talking about Shepard’s mom in 3 during the Citadel DLC and asking Hackett about her tugs the heartstrings...

Biotics or Tech: Ok I am torn here. My canon Shepards are always Infiltrators. But even so, I rarely use tech abilities. Mostly in 2/3, but not a lot. I do love Vanguard a lot, but not getting Sniper Rifle training until the collector ship in 2, always bugs me... just give me a sniper rifle and biotics (at the beginning) you cowards!! lmfao

I do prefer Biotics in Andromeda a lot more though.

Paragon or Renegade: Renegade for life bitches!! Except when talking to Cortez and/or the romance option.

Do you have an AU?: Yes! I never ended up writing the long fic for it, but it’s called Powerless. It follows my (extreme) canon divergent AU Shepard, Alessa; and her descent through addiction and PTSD, her relationship with Bailey, her dishonorable discharge, and forgiving the crew member who’s report eventually lead to her discharge. Also her friendship with Garrus and meeting two Turian OCs I have too!!

Favorite Class?: Infiltrator first as my canon, then Vanguard for any other non canon Shepard.

Favorite Companion: CORTEZ. “But Viktor, he’s not a comp-.�� CORTEZ IS MY FAVORITE COMPANION. HE IS MY PILOT AND MY BOYFRIEND.

Least Favorite Companion: In terms of personality? Liara. I admire her at times sure and she has some good in her, but I think BioWare did her kinda dirty so as a result I don’t like how she was written.

In terms of squad selection? Anyone who doesn’t have biotics or tech specialties. I use biotics and tech a lot more than just weapons so I usually just go full on into tech and biotic specialist while I handle weapons.

My Squad Selection:

Mass Effect 1 - Garrus, Kaidan

Mass Effect 2 - Zaeed, Garrus | Jack, Garrus | Kasumi, Jack

Mass Effect 3 - Kaidan, Garrus | Javik, Kaidan | Javik, Vega (specifically for Priority London)

Favorite In-game Romance: CORTEZ OR GO HOME. TEAM HAMMERHEAD HUSBANDS!!

Other pairings I like: Shenko, Shakarian, basically all of them ngl (except Shepard/Vega, that’s a nOTP for me).

Favorite NPC: BAAAIIIIIIIILLLLEEEYYYYYY

Favorite Antagonist: Shepard Clone

Favorite Mission: Priority Earth (London), hands down | DLC: Leviathan, but the part where you are flying off world and the romance in the party fusses over you as you wake up.

Favorite Loyalty Mission: Eye for an Eye. Because I don’t care what the fandom says, I will 100000% always let Garrus shoot Sidonis.

Favorite DLC: Leviathan, it gave a REALLY good look into the background of the Reapers.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: Destroy. All day every day. The only non Destroy endings I got were my first ever run of the Trilogy and I selected Refuse. And my non canon Shepards choose Control. I also have a really heartbreaking gif set of my Kathryn J Shepard x Garrus during a Control ending here

Favorite Weapon: Black Widow, the really expensive one.

Favorite Place: Is it too NSFT to say Bailey’s bed?? Or Cortez’s bed??

A quote(s) I like:

This is where I belong... - Javik, Priority Earth

Don’t argue, Garrus. - Shepard | We’re in this ‘til the end... - Garrus, Priority Earth

I can still fight, just give me my gun. - James, Priority Earth

Don’t leave me behind... - Kaidan, Priority Earth

Damn it, I can do this! - Ashley, Priority Earth

You’re not leaving me behind... - Liara, Priority Earth

I can’t stay behind. - Tali, Priority Earth

The backup... systems. I can initiate repairs. - EDI, Priority Earth

#I told my friend lacy I was studying for class #and then I filled this out and watched all the squad evac videos for the quote #and then I studied so technically i didn't lie!!!! lmfao #mutual tag #friend tag #mass effect #mass effect trilogy

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abbeyfangirl · 5 years ago

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dragon age: all characters (companions)

I’ve been in this fandom for a hot minute now and I want to update my opinions on characters :)

Origins

Alistair: super sweet dude who literally is not the stereotypicalchantryguyfightme. He’s a great example of healthy masculinity and I totally wish he was bi because I have an entire essay on that— also: he’s a poc! His mum was brown. In game he’s got dark features. if you really want a blond/blue-eyes/white guy, make your warden that. or accept that brown people can be noble and moral. or just draw cailan, idk. just because BioWare whitewashes doesn’t mean you should.

Leliana: someone hug my singing girlfriend before I crush her under with my own hugs. Also: nugs. Yes! Shoes. Yes! She likes how I style my hair? YES!! I honestly think she’s super duper and it pisses me off whenever someone’s like: yeah she enjoys killing people and the Game. ok. and michel de chevin willingly participated in genocidal marches through the alienage he grew up in with his elvhen mum.

Morrigan: dirty swamp witch that i stan and also have a v big crush on. tiddies. Have a son with a GW so we can raise him with our tiddies out in the forest. she’s also white-passing, as her father was chasind and all people we’ve seen that are chasind are black. therefore, she is biracial. therefore, poc can be goths and don’t shy away from giving morrigan a darker skintone. if the devs had of been thinking, she’d have a darker skintone.

Zevran: Actually is the best romance, I think. Loves consent, therefore I will stan him so hard my skull cracks a little. Also: he is a very brown boy and if he’s white in da4 I’m seriously going to throw all canon out the fucking window. genuinely a good person who needs to be told so.

Wynne: grandma who only likes my friends who go to church. but also super sweet and I’d rest my head on her bosom (in a platonic way omg ZEVRAN)

Sten: angry quiet boi. the bestest boi. I totally would give him a kitten for a gift and bake him cookies. Thicc softie. I think if I had DA:O and i knew how to use mods i would mod the fuck outta him. sorry.

Sha(y)le: who’s gender? idk her. See also: fuck birds and authority. pound ur ass into the ground you feathery meatbag little shits. fuck songbirds.

Dog: such a good boi. thicc. thinks Alistair is a whiny fuck and is Morrigan’s only friend. love him. he’s the cutest companion. bet.

Ohgren: honestly forgot about him bcc he’s such a shitbag. also: he could’ve been a really cool addiction recovery type but NOPE. probably would have a trump shirt in a modern au and would catcall wlw and hit mlm. no thanks.

Awakening

Anders: he acts like rlly straight but he’s so gay I can smell it. also he’s rlly cute and fun and I love him so much.

Justice: MAYBE i’M selF CONSCious OF THE twitchING. is the friend that genuinely doesn’t get dick jokes but is ur 110% ride or die.

Nathaniel Howe: honestly is sort of a white knight/neck beard a little, but it’s kind of charming with his whole velanna m’lady?? grump boi. annoying soul patch that I’d mod out SO FAST—

Sigrun: would have ROMANCED the FUCK out of her. why she even entertains the idea of fucking with ohgren makes me realize most of the writers are dumbfucks.png. peppy little emo. 12/10 would die if she kissed my cheek teasingly.

Ohgren: why. why. why. I’d have brought Shayle over. Maybe Zev? Definitely Dog.

Velanna: she was written to be an annoying feminist and you can tell but I deadass am a kindred spirit with her bcc I too am deadpan annoyed with Thedas’ general population too. love her. Would’ve loved to romance her. She’d totally be one of those who’d get all tsundere and be like “n-no i hate you” *kisses the fuckin soul out of you then blushes so hard she’s now a tomato*

Dragon Age II

Anders: fuck the cops. i don’t care. fuck the cops. (vine reference). also: do i hate him for blowing up the chantry that would eventually annul a huge collection of his people? no. read dalishious’s meta on Anders. v intriguing. didn’t they retcon the fuck out of the reported deaths too? like there was like eight Templars and Elthinia in there. Templars killed more “abominations” in a day than Anders in the game canon—

Aveline: initially thought she was fine and then realized she’s shit to my lil brother and I will fucking clap her ginger ass. See also: whorephobia isn’t a joke so fuck off with treating Isabela badly, you tit.

Bethany: sunshine. Literal sunshine. I feel my freckles grow in her presence and i love it. she’s my little baby sister and I’d slam that ogre so fuckin hard before it touched either twin.

Carver: there has to be a mod where both twins survive. I love them both to bits. My babies. carver is my bitter, angry little brother and I can relate because I too am very angry and would totally clap my own ass. hes so genuine and I don’t get the competition between Beth and Carver. Like, both are fuckin stellar in different ways. In this essay I will—

Fenris: honestly, I don’t get the general hate between him and Anders. Fenris’ main arc should’ve been a recovery arc, not drunken moping and revenge. he deserves better. give him a soft sweater instead of his spikes and let him love himself as much as I love him for MAKERS SAKE. like when you really think about their relationship, it could’ve been an eye-opener for fenris and finally some legit sympathy for anders. but we all know that if they had of teamed up that Meredith would’ve been dead before the end of Act 1 so.

Isabela: whorephobia is not a joke. oversexualizing your only appearing brown woman is so poorly written. how about we appreciate her and her lovely bosoms but also let people tease her about her heart of gold? her innate understanding of freedom? instead of just a wave of dick? please?? can we give her some pants for when she fights? can we accept that i fall for rogues who hate themselves?? fuck. also whomever draws her x femHawke x Merrill literally is after my own heart.

Merrill: my fucking babygirl MARRY ME. Fenris could’ve been her older brother type, but NO. she and Isabela should’ve been canonical gfs instead of Isabela/Fenris (no shaming the pairing tho!!). I love how she’s written as neurodivergent. V nice. Sometimes I just look her up and cry because she’s fucking everything. Also: she’s in the Dalish origin and she’s far from being white. Why did they make the most innocent/naïve character really white? hmmmm.

Sebastian: whew that boy. Would totally be that annoying Mormon at your door but you still let him in bcc he’s super sweet. Also: huge ass bible thumper and should get his head slap because you said the maker loved all his children why do you defend a complicit old hag you annoying attractive fuck—

Varric: totally is a bard and the devs couldn’t handle the idea of him being one bcc it might make him look less straight. is the only grey morality person I don’t want to fucking bash in with a fry pan. he sees people and I like that, but you totally know he’s siding with mages every time bcc him and Anders are like besties. I’m sorry. I don’t make the rules. “Professional Younger Brother”.

Tallis: I know nothing about her but she seems okay. I think she was an escaped slave and honestly? Fucking props. Spy on a shitting organization, idk what you’re doing, but your VA was that cool lesbian from SPN so I think ur okay?

Inquisition

Blackwall: Redemption Arc 101. Love him to bits. Sad dad bunwall. good man. actually atoned for his sins by actively becoming a good person. his initial design is 80% hotter im so sorry but so not.

Cassandra: was way browner in the last game. would romance the fuck outta her. I love me a butch lady who melts at my dorky recitation of poetry. BioWare is a coward. also is the worst choice for divine. but not a bad person. could use some more guidance or get her ass whipped by a dalish elf about religion or a circle mage kid whos like “yeah bud i didn’t ask for the templars to whip my ass everyday for existing.”

The Iron Bull: I think the Qunari/Vashoth were a little based off black people (the whole anti blackness thing where ppl are scared of them bcc of whatever reason) and it pisses me off that he had a weird ass dubcon thing with Dorian in banter. It doesn’t make sense— he’s an A+++ dom and would not jump straight in role play without at least checking in at first like wtf BioWare.

Cole: his mother was chasind so he’s like not supposed to be that white? or like biracial? albino? idk. love him to bits tho. He’s neurodivergent and I deadass love him. romancing him? idk. I see why ppl think it’s fuckin nasty but also like as a writer I’d age him the fuck up so fast before my inquisitor even THOUGHT about that. like idk. I’m down with him being a sweet little bro character tho. he’s a babe. love him.

Sera: had the worst fucking writer I’ve ever seen and I willingly read the twilight saga twice by a shit ass racist white lady who okay’d pedophilia. like. Fuck you Kristjanson suck your own dick you fuck. had the worst options in regards to speak to her. has a thicc case of internalized racism that literally most of the fandom just loves to use against her. my lesbian neurodivergent queen. Would write a thousand fix it fics for her. Love her to bits. im gay.

Varric: I haven’t played DA2 so i don’t get why everyone wants to romance him but like. a dwarf romance? yes please. Idk he reminds me of my uncle so I only see him as fun uncle material. Deadass should adopt Cole and Merrill and co parent with Blackwall for Sera. dads? fuck yeah. love me some wholesome, present fathers.

Dorian: is a gay stereotype that I love/hate so much. and he’s also just as bad about being a creep bcc he sexualizes qunari men (in banter). I attribute that to shit writing tho. I want to protect him from all the “omg gay best friend!” people. he’d clearly be that tired gay that wouldn’t give a diddly damn about ur het romance. wanna talk about politics? he’s ur guy/gay.

Solas: “me, an intellectual:”. I don’t hate him, but I’m not about him. He comes off as mysterious and suave (which he totally is) but I deadass would not save him from himself because he’s a racist, exclusionist eggshell. idk. not my cup of tea, but I can totally see the appeal. And he’s interesting, I’ll totally say that. “I think the Dalish are garbage but they made you” is not a compliment. it’s so offensive. and such bait for “quirky girls” which I’m no fan of. Would be Achilles and let Patroclus (Lavellan in his case) die before he realized how his pride is literally a waste of time. If he gets a redemption arc I hope Lavellan gets to slap him before getting him to teach all about ancient Arlathan and show that the Evanuris weren’t all total dicknozzles. (Aka I really have a hard time believing that they’d be slavery cult things. especially since they’ve compared elves to indigenous ppl, Jews and the Romani.)

Vivienne: it’s so racist that they’d make a black woman be pro-slavery. That’s such internalized racism. She could’ve been the cool ass “educate yourself first before you speak, fool” ice lady, but NO. the devs could’ve kept the “Templars are a tool that I proudly can mandate” and the “circles are very good education” and we. Could. Have. Romanced. Her. Like. Fuck. Sake. I just wanna give her a hug and say “love yourself omg!!” and not even in a romantic way. Also: she and morrigan should not have been so antagonistic towards each other. I’d expect them to have great respect for each other, as they both moved up in the world through hardwork and very little help. They could learn different magic from each other too and still maintain that rival respect “oh you” mood. Sidenote: probably the cooler option for Divine. if her approval is high enough she’ll love and be loyal to you forever and i can’t see her agenda being bad. she improves the circles exponentially and tells all the antis to suck her pretty painted toes.

Josephine: an actual disney princess. romanced her my first playthrough. I love her so much. she just makes me so happy. And she’s like: “Integrity, Loyalty, peace. That is what it means to be a GREY WARDEN good fucking person.” she’s the person who would let you hold her hand if you got anxious and she’d be that person who shouldered the whole group project with finesse and poise and would probably lie for everyone as to not be mean. i love josie. her and leliana’s relationship is so cute, too. whether it’s romantic or not: women supporting women.

Leliana: if you leave her hardened you must hate her. why. she becomes so against herself. i like how shes feminine and lighthearted because that’s so powerful-- to remain hopeful when the world is hopeless. (its hard to know when to soften her/harden her so i get it but. google it. she deserves to be happy and sweet again.)

Cullen: uwu war criminal with shit ass “redemption arc” that was actually a half-assed (at BEST) recovery arc. Recovery isn’t linear, it isn’t pretty, and even the broken need to be told they are wrong in order to heal right. Like I’m offended by that bullshit. I’ve had to do some mental health recovery in the past and unlearning lots of toxic ideologies— which I’m still unlearning— and it bothers me that he gets an easy pass because he’s hot. It’s one thing if you like Cullen, it’s another thing if you hold him accountable.

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expertmakodriver · 5 years ago

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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.

#mass effect #30dayMEchallenge #day5 #tl;dr garrus is best boy #me1 #me2 #femshep #shakarian

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blairextraordinaire · 6 years ago

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SWTOR asks: 2, 3, 19, 20?

I’m terrible at choosing, so I definitely have more than one answer to these questions.2. which class has your favourite visual aesthetic?I love that the smuggler is such a haphazard character and just sort of throws something together and says “that should work”, which is really apparent in their fighting style and companions.3. what advanced class has your favourite combat style for levelling, pve, and/or pvp?ohh, there are a few. SInquisitor advanced classes are both pretty great, and I especially love Madness Sorcerer. Likewise with Agent, and Concealment Operative is so visually dynamic. 19. which companion traits would you like to return to the writer’s room for reevaluation?Oh boy, I have some feelings.LET ME ROMANCE ZENITH AND SCOURGE, YOU COWARDS. On a similar note, let Akaavi and Kaliyo be bisexual.If you’re gong to let f!SWarrior have a one-night stand with Pierce, let me flirt with him more, or make him romanceable.I’ve only met Doc on a f!JK, so I can’t speak to him as a non love interest, but he grates on me so much. I’m not a huge Temple fan, but I can’t really describe why, other than my suspicion that Bioware realized the Agent needed another companion and just sort of tossed her in there. Ashara needs to figure out what she’s doing with her life, but I did like her KotET reunion.I would love more Xalek screentime, but I think what he has isn’t bad.Rusk. I’m not sure what exactly to change, but he just doesn’t mesh with the rest of the JK party.Ditch Tharen’s flirting with f!JC.Throw Skadge directly into the sun. I’ve been playing for almost 4 years, and the only reason I don’t have all the class devotion achievements is because I HATE Skadge. 20. what five companions would you pick, from all of them, if you had to make a new crew?Team “Get Shit Done”: T7-01, Jorgan, Zenith, Koth, Kira Team “Cut Bitch, Get Paid”: Torian, Akaavi, Andronikos, Gault, Kaliyo

#swtor #swtor ask #swtor companions #necromancy-savant

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irlpinkiepie · 8 years ago

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quick review of dragon age ii, now that i’ve finished act i and have a pretty good idea of what i’ve gotten myself into

Character Reviews:

Anders - i already knew him from awakening so there’s not much surprise here, but wow is anders pretty darn great (though ‘a wizard did it’ is probably the cringiest line in the world, good job bioware) Aveline - a very good friend, i love how despite me being an openly criminal apostate mage who’s best friends with two other openly criminal apostate mages, one of whom is a blood mage, she hasn’t arrested me yet - that’s always good Bethany - there is no way i’m not playing this game as a mage; sorry bethany but i’m just never gonna meet you and that’s life Carver - he is a very good brother and i don’t know why he hated me and seeing him faded in the background every time i change my party around is gonna be emotionally tumultuous let me tell you right now Fenris - i know nothing about fenris ‘cause he’s never in my party. the lyrium thing is cool? sorry i got nothin’ really Isabela - GOSH i haven’t decided who i’m gonna romance yet but wow is isabela amazing my super suave pirate pal Merrill - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (why are there so many cute girls in this game gosh) Sebastian, Tallis - i’m poor Varric - isabela has sort of replaced varric as the rogue in my main party (which is currently aveline, isabela, and one of anders or merrill depending on how much i need two healers) but varric is still a Cool Pal

Gameplay Review:

- i’m gonna be 100% honest when i first started playing this game i was really put off by how much it didn’t look like a dragon age game, but honestly now that i’m into it it feels very much like a refined and polished origins - i still hate the reliance on the tab key to make side quests possible, but i’m loving the new r-button feature that automatically loots whatever’s closest to you - companion armor is actually a really neat touch and it saves a lot of worrying about whether or not i should prioritize giving the one set of tier 7 armor to me or my companions - also i like that the game is a lot more transparent about the numerical values behind most (looks angrily at the friendship/rivalry slider) of the gameplay features - speaking of that slider, i honestly love the concept behind it, ‘cause it’s basically rewarding you for having a consistent personality and not penalizing you for having negative relationships with some of your companions; the way it actually plays out, though, is that you only seem to get rivalry points for deliberately going against the fundamental beliefs of your companions, and i’d prefer where rivalry was like ‘oh you have a different way of going about things i respect your style’ and being mean to your companions would decrease both friendship and rivalry and certain actions would increase the meter no matter which way it was pointing - skill trees are excellent; not much to say there other than this is how it should have worked from the beginning - i like that the first act wasn’t just its own compartmentalized story, and it seems like the events of the second act are gonna draw heavily upon those from the first, and with all the origins-dependent sidequests in act 1 i really am feeling this sense of a continuing epic adventure which was something i was very much looking forward to from the series and never really got from origins or awakening - so, i know that this game was done on somewhat of a rush, and there’s a lot to be said for it being a little repetitive, and definitely i’m feeling that, but also there are some aspects where the reuse is actually neat - like, environmentally speaking, there are a bunch of buildings and caves that all look similar ‘cause they’re using the same setting, but the way certain aspects have been cut off or extended in some places makes it feel as though there’s a unified setting to this whole place, and the strategically placed doors and so on are a really neat design touch that lets them get away with a lot on a pretty short resource budget - the combat, however, could use a lot more diversity, especially since it’s the primary mode of interaction the players have with the world; as it stands, almost every fight has sort of the same basic components: a large number of fairly weak enemies, some ranged users and one particularly strong target; the fight begins with only a few enemies visible and as the fight progresses more appear; the basic strategy revolves around drawing all of the enemies to one place, using a single aoe ability to kill off the weaker ones, kill the stronger ones, and then repeat when the next wave arrives. i miss origins combat where all of the enemies were in front of you and you could do things like force field opponents to stop them from using sustained abilities, or sneak up behind darkspawn patrols and use their ballistas against them, or open the gates to mabari kennels and flood the field with allies, to say nothing of the final battle; origins had a lot of really memorable combat beyond just the boss fights that ii just hasn’t so far - also like? minor bugs that don’t affect gameplay at all but just break the immersion: occasionally when you go to a quest area it’ll take a few seconds and then all of the quest npcs and environment spawn in at once, or every so often an enemy will spawn in and then just wait a couple seconds before attacking - it’s very distracting - also immersion breaking - don’t set so much of your combat in the middle of a large city in broad daylight if you aren’t going to have the average citizens react to that; seeing someone walk through a lightning storm and preaching the chant at me is not very realistic - ok, final complaint about the lack of development time: fetch quests. why are there so many and why do they all have the same generic dialogue and why are they all as simple as ‘find this object somewhere around town and bring it to someone else in town, quest complete’ - i didn’t mind herbalist’s task ‘cause that felt like an adventure but this? not so much - bring back arcane warriors you cowards

Story Review:

- as i mentioned, i love the act structure, and i love the expanse of this game, and i’m really excited to see how it plays out - it does seem a lot more linear a game than origins, at the very least because there seems to be a definite ending in sight (hence cassandra’s involvement) - which makes sense, ‘cause hawke is a much more defined character (i actually just used the default hawke in my playthrough ‘cause making my own marian hawke seemed like a betrayal of the story) - i wish they made more of a deal about the champion of kirkwall and the warden-commander of ferelden being related; like, i’d hope you at least get something (maybe if you become king/queen? idk) - mage rights forever, qunari rights forever - WHY IS CULLEN IN THIS GAME. who on the story team looked at cullen and said ‘ah yes, that creepy templar who’s only role in the story in origins was to be uncomfortably romantically interested in you and to beg you to kill mages. let’s bring him back for the entire rest of the series and also make him romanceable in dai why not’ like????? - when is my brother coming back. blease

Overall Review:

this seems to be a much longer game that origins was (i’m already at 80 hours in dragon age 2, according to my origin account) and i’m excited; hopefully that isn’t just padding - i still think origins is a better game but i’m getting to the point where i honestly prefer ii as an actual gameplay experience, even if the game itself is a little less well put together

#talking always yes lots of reading #donut rebagel #vg: dragon age #'quick review' yeah that did not last long

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pregnantcornbread · 8 years ago

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Mass Effect: Andromeda - Choices, romance, further questions.

So, I preordered Mass Effect: Andromeda to be delivered to me via courier on release day. Why? I absolutely loved Dragon Age: Inquisition, and loved BioWare’s style. The hard choices you have to make actually make a difference in the story, as do your personality and influence (not like TellTale’s Walking Dead series, who promote that your choices matter, when actually, they really don’t, the story continues regardless). In DA: I, I was a female hunter Lavellan, with not-so pointy ears (which made a difference how the other elves interacted with me), and a Ghilan'nain vallaslin (which endeared me to the halla herders). I originally romanced Blackwall, but when he left, I went full Cullen, a satisfying relationship filled with awkward coughs, innuendo, and drug withdrawal – and frequent visits to the ramparts for ‘alone time.’ I spent over 300 hours completing every side quest, relishing in new environments, killing everything bad in sight, trying not to whine when all the important choices somehow fell to me (including what is to be done with a man who is flinging goats at my stronghold) and taking down all the dragons. I never felt tired playing that game, the ‘fetch’ quests were fun due to the party banter (hint: if you have your romantic interest in your party, things get hilarious!), and the lovability of your party, well developed characters who don’t just rehash the same lines all the time (except in fight mode: “Solas needs help” is still ringing in my ears, after all this time). The DLC was quite well crafted as well (although The Descent is possibly my least favourite – why am I collecting mugs in the deep roads again? Trespasser had a great ending, and gave you another change to mix it up with your crew). So my expectations were quite high with ME: Andromeda.

After spending a quick five minutes deciding on a male or female Ryder, I chose the obvious. After having to play countless RPG’s as a man (Far Cry, Shadow of Mordor, Sleeping Dogs, GTA:V, Witcher), I chose a woman, because yeah, I am one. I spent an hour fixing my Sara to look like a human rather than whatever the preset was. My Sara, in the design part, sort of looked like a young Mary Steenburgen. Satisfied with my choice, I got on my merry way with the game. Upon waking up out of cryo, I saw everything that was wrong with my Sara’s face, the shading was shitty, the skin was terrible, her nose was way bigger, her eyes looked purple in some lights (instead of deep blue) and what was up with her goddamn eyebrows? But in some scenes, she actually looked like the Sara I had designed. Rather than spend another hour redesigning her face, I decided to roll with it and keep her. It was a good choice, because she looked like present day Mary Steenburgen with worse skin and a neck tattoo, and looked like she had seen some shit and could handle her shit, rather than some prim and proper pathfinder’s daughter who was only on the ark because her dad said so.

End game spoilers ensue, so please read at your own peril:

The following is split up into three parts: My choices in the game, romance, and post-game questions.

My game is at 111 hours and 98% completion. There were two quests that I did not finish before completing the game (excluding the medicine quest after Herbal Entrepeneurs, because it was bugged) – ‘Path of Hero’ and ‘Aid Apex’ (because I killed all the architects before I got the mission, and so had no option to scan them). Post game, these quests are no longer available to me.

My Choices:

Sometimes I would leave the game running for hours while deliberating on a choice. My first choice was whether or not to have a scientific outpost or a military outpost on the first world, Eos. As your advisors tell you, what you choose will reflect on how the initiative is seen in the eyes of possible intelligent life in the system, and will set the standard of what you intend to do in the system. I chose a scientific outpost – less “we’re coming to invade you”, more “we’re just here to live and learn.”

First murderer: I chose to release Nilken, because intent is not a crime, but I also didn’t speak to his wife outside the jail, so his secret was not exposed.

Vehn Terev: I gave him to the resistance, because interfering with Angaran justice wasn’t the right play.

Path of a Hero: I spoke to Kerri, but declined her offer, as I was just new to this pathfinding business, and didn’t feel that I could offer any nuggets of wisdom. Then I forgot about it and it failed the quest. Meh.

Reyes Vs Kelly: Both are terrible choices for leaders, but at the time, I wanted to see where a romance with Vidal would go, I played it out, and was disappointed, but in my do-over, I still let Kelly die, because she was quite evil. Even though Reyes was a tosser for cheating, he still seemed the better hand.

Angaran AI: I gave the Angaran the AI, because I didn’t feel right about keeping it for myself – and potentially angering the Angara.

Secret Water reservoir: I let the Angara merchant keep the water in reparations for the outcasts killing her brother, and to prevent the Nexus from becoming a thoroughly colonising body in Elaaden.

Drive Core: This one was a bit fuzzy for me, because I was also doing the quest with the AI saboteurs, and they were talking about Overload (I think), a program about a weaponised AI, and Drack was sending me emails about Overload Morda, so I thought that Morda was a weaponised AI. I ended up scanning Knight’s hideout a little too thoroughly, which made her people hostile to me, and she ended up being sniped on the Nexus. Alain vows revenge, which is unfortunate, because SAM made him walk again. After finishing a few more quests, I came back to Elaaden and I ended up trusting Morda with the drive core, because pissing off all the Krogan was not my idea of ‘peace among worlds.’ Also, after all the shit the Krogan have been through, the Krogan need a voice at the table – they didn’t even get their own pathfinder!

Avitus Rex: Rex became a pathfinder, because he was out finding Turians when the Turians weren’t.

Sarissa’s Fate: I couldn’t let Sarissa keep her position after all that dickery that got her Pathfinder killed. It may not have been the smart move, but although she was the best person for the job, a huntress without her squad’s support will not go far. Also, I don’t think I could have looked at Cora if I agreed to lie to everyone about it. If Tann (number eight in line) can be the director, why can’t Valderia?

Salarian doctor: Ehh, what a moral dropkick. He got jail.

Exaltation facility: I let it stand, for further help in the final mission.

Salarian Pathfinder: This one was heartbreaking. A female Salarian who is an actual trained pathfinder (would have been the only one in my crew), who is captured trying to rescue her people despite my commands to get the f out of there vs Drack’s dime a dozen Krogan scouts. I had planned on saving the Krogan scouts beforehand, and had Drack in my party, but while I was doing this mission, I was really torn. If I choose the Salarian, the Krogan won’t trust or respect me, but if I chose the scouts, I would get further support from the Krogan, with no real consequences on the Salarian side. Whatever I chose, I would be taking a side, with consequences down the line. I went with ‘Krogan lives matter,’ despite sacrificing the most badass Salarian, ever. I mean, every Salarian would want to mate with her just for the prestige!

Kill code: While it may come to bite me in DLC or sequels, I used it, just to get it out of the way. I don’t trust Primus to honour his deal in the future.

Ambassador: I loved Morda for the choice (just to spite Tann), and Bradley would have been a good second, but I ended up conceding power to the Moshae, I believe she was the smart choice. Although I had enough of a presence to unite the Angara and the Initiative, the Moshae would not be swayed by outside or inside influence. If I chose Hayjer, the Krogan would hate me, as much as “Krogan lives matter,” Morda would only act in favour of the Krogan and Clan Nackmor, and possibly make a heated attack against the Salarians/Turians in retaliation for the genophage, and Bradley, well, I could be accused of being specist.

Romance:

This is where I think the game could use improvements. It is pretty disappointing if you are FemRyder or a MaleRyder who doesn’t romance Cora (the extreme effort put in this relationship compared to the minimal effort of the others is quite disappointing – they actually kiss properly and there’s thrusting!).

Look at those two humanoids realistically kissing!

The lack of dialogue choices means that relationships become boring and quickly. While in DA:I, the cut away sex scenes did hold a little to imagination, that fact that you could go and talk to your interest during long, arduous missions and sneak away for a little kiss cut scene helped keep your interest in them, and having them in your party was always a hilarious time (“Keep your eyes off the Inquistor’s behind!”). While playing the game, you get a sense of your SO and your squadmates, their endearing and not-so endearing traits, it almost felt like they’re almost real people. DA:I is a well-fleshed out, well-written RPG, and the relationships are defining trait of this game – I’m sure that if all there was to do was going around killing things, I probably wouldn’t care. Instead, you help Cullen get off his lyrium addiction, let Iron Bull teach you your umm… limits, hunt around trying to find the perfect gift for Sera (much to the utter dismay of your compatriots), read terrible poetry to Cassandra, strong-arm a fop for Dorian’s pendant, save a spirit with Solas, challenge Josephine’s fiancée to a duel, save Leliana from spy assassins, and want to give Blackwall the coward another chance.

The last major RPG I played that had multiple romance options was Fallout 4, and I romanced MacCready, Cait, Piper (just to shut her up – every time I’d talk to her, she’d want something more - ehhhhgghh), Danse and Curie (to also shut her up). Having one romance option in FO4 became too tedious, the only thing that changes is their scripted dialogue when they wake up next to you, so I romanced others to see what they said – because I honestly didn’t care about romance in that game because it was so flat.

Here’s who I romanced in ME:A (usually by flirting with everyone and then seeing what happens):

Liam – I started off flirting with Liam because he seemed interesting, until he quickly didn’t. His dialogue doesn’t change. You can’t really flirt with him in between missions after you’ve had a one night stand, and he’s so boring, I’d rather eject myself out of an escape pod than deal with him. If you go the whole game with Liam, he makes you a jump pack, but is it really worth it for being bored to death?

Vidal – I quite liked having someone off the ship to avoid a HR nightmare, but it turns out that after you become exclusive and dance with Reyes, that’s it – that’s your big romantic scene. Reyes becomes a chatterbox of nothing after that.

Jaal – Jaal is interesting, and unknown, and kind of reminds you of a perfect, dreamy boyfriend who is too in touch with their feelings, and you stay with them because you don’t want to deal with the fallout if you break up with them, because they’ll probably kill themself. Rocking a sexy, deep voice, I was almost convinced to be in a relationship with him, if not for Jaal’s confusing switch between Vulcan logic and hopeless romantic during the course of a conversation. Jaal is a warm space Mufasa, and will tell you what you want to hear, but his sex scene kinda sucked. Although the post coitus (?) debrief with Lexi is quite hilarious.

Vetra – I’m not sure if I didn’t flirt enough with Vetra, or if she didn’t want to be with me because I told Sid off – a lot, but perhaps it was never meant to be. My codex reads that Vetra hopes that we can be friends, so perhaps admonishing Sid worked against me.

Suvi – I didn’t flirt with her at the beginning, and I decided against a relationship with Suvi because her sex scene was awkward/awful.

Which leads to my commitment for the game:

Peebee is the one with the purple jacket… not young Sarah Paulson rocking the undercut…

Peebee – Peebee is a thorn in your arse from the moment she joins your crew. Rem-tech this, remnant structures that. Tight-lipped, evasive, and a motor-mouth, she’s a bit like Sera from DA:I, but a bit more grown up. She has limited long-range fighting skills, so bringing her to anything bigger than a small raider camp firefight is pointless. She insults Vetra, Liam, and Cora, but has some quite funny conversations with Jaal (interspecies breeding) and Drack (about their age). Liam and Cora, even during the final stages of the game, relentlessly question her loyalty. I chose Peebee because her storyline was the most interesting, as opposed to other potentials (Liam – “Hey, I’m a boring human too.” Jaal – “I’m an alien, meet my mothers, I moisturise my neck flaps.” Vidal – bad boy Han Solo). I turned down Peebee’s offer of casual sex, because at the time I didn’t want anything to do with her, so I told her that I’d want more to get her to leave me alone, and I didn’t want a Liam thing – where you have a one night stand once and then all of a sudden they want you to commit. But I kept flirting with her, regardless, recycling the “I like it when you flirt” dialogue whenever I got on the ship. I couldn’t do that with Liam, Jaal, or Reyes. Turns out, the more I learned about Peebee, through doing her loyalty missions, the more endeared I became towards her. From being tight-lipped and evasive to slowly trickling out interesting snippets – like her relationship with Kalinda, and her rem-tech project, she started to grow on me as I realised that she was not like the others, who give you all the information up front and you spend the rest of the game cycling through dialogue that you first heard 70 hours ago, with minor changes mirroring your progression in the story. You have to prove to her that you’re trustworthy. If you do commit to a relationship with her, and reciprocate her trust - it leads to a pretty explicit sex scene – complete with Asari melding. While the mechanics of the scene are quite awkward with FemRyder’s weird facial features – she looks like she’s super confused and not enjoying it all – trusting Peebee enough not to leave you brain dead during the first time she has melded with someone, and having Peebee trust you enough to meld with you makes the relationship all that more worthwhile. While I’m all for space boinking, Peebee’s relationship was less about the physicality of the act of boinking, and more about the trust and emotional connection inherent in the relationship, which I felt was satisfying. Post-meld Peebee has some killer dialogue aboard the Nomad, inviting Cora over for a pyjama sleepover, faking extreme horniness to get Jaal to admit that he was faking being asleep, and at the end, when you ask her ‘what am I going to do with you?’ she offers to make you a list. But the relationship and closeness doesn’t really go anywhere near the level of a relationship that DA:I does, due to the stunted dialogue choices. Although, I hope I didn’t get Peebee pregnant.

Post-Game Mysteries:

The ending scenes kind of set up the unfinished issues for the DLC/sequels – Primus wanting to kettify everyone, exploring Meridian, understanding the Jaardan, finding all the other lost arks, how many more useless solar systems are around, etc. Some questions remain, though. Say if I find a way to fix Ellen Ryder, what could she add to the story, other than my mother being there? She may be able to assist with new gadgets for players who chose a biotic route, or will she just serve as a ‘bringing your romantic attachment home to mum’ trope? Should we care about Jian Garson’s death and the mysterious benefactor? You learn during the game that the Milky Way has been fucked over by the Reapers, but we can’t save them, should we care?

After finding out why Alec Ryder made Sara the Pathfinder, all I wanted to do was talk to Cora about it – she wasn’t “looked over” and the promotion was to protect Alec’s secrets (i.e. Ellen on board, Milky Way gone to shit). I felt like my number two deserved an explanation, rather than sullenly assisting the other untrained Pathfinders on the Nexus (who did nothing, by the way – go out and bloody Pathfind – it’s not that hard!). I noticed that after ‘Journey to Meridian,’ Cora seemed cold, and would barely speak to me. Perhaps she was disappointed in me choosing Peebee, or perhaps SAM leaked what I found out to Cora. Will I ever get the chance to tell Cora about it?

During the pre-prologue descision making process, you get to choose if you want a Male Shepard, or a FemShep (your ME:3 save has no bearing over this game). I went with a FemShep, like my ME:3 counterpart. Did I hear Jennifer Hale during the game? No. Does it even make a difference? Unknown.

After leaving Meridan and coming back to talk to everyone, some questions remain. During the epilogue, you meet the new crew responsible for Meridian. After you come back, the Australian implores you to go and find the sprog (a baby). Every time I see Addison, I ask about the baby that was born on a spaceship flying away from the Kett, who I suggested the family settle on Eos (no way was I going to get that lady on the Nexus – she’d have hated it!), but when I’m in Prodromos, I can’t find the baby. If that baby has been stolen by the Kett, I swear – I will hurt Bradley!

Further questions: Will Lexi and Drack ever get together? Will Vetra find love? Will Peebee take Jaal’s offer to try Asari-Angaran reproduction? Will the Nomad ever get some tunes? Will Drack live to see great-grandfatherhood? Will Cora hook up with Scott? If I agreed to sign up for Jill’s insemination program, and Peebee was carrying my child, could I raise them as siblings? How would my FemRyder deal with being a father?

What would happen if the Jaardan came back to Meridian to check on their experiments? What happens if the scourge takes over Meridian? Have I screwed over all of humanity by settling them there?

#me: a #mass effect #me:a spoilers #mass effect andromeda #kroganlivesmatter #me:a mysteries #andromeda spoilers

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