#din korlack was right!!!!

[omegastation]

(if you don't want to read something critical avoid this post because something bothers me a bit)

one of Shepard's first conversations in the Citadel in ME1 is with Din Korlack, who is so grumpy that we think, aaaaw, he's just mad the volus don't get a seat on the Council, but he talks about how some species are not seen as equal, and when you get to Avina in the embassies and you ask her about the volus and Council seats, she ends her little speach with "The embassies allow lesser species to have a voice on the Citadel." she was 100% programmed to tell visitors that, with those words.

fastforward in me3 and you can tell the writers don't know how to deal with the batarians and the sheer level of atrocity that has been commited in me2 yes yes, the reapers would have done worse in arrival and shepard had no choice, and yes, the batarians have done terrible things but it's so big, as in "every remaining batarian knows shepard's face because of what they're done" big that the writers can't deal with what truly happened and what it should do to a human being

so we get a sort of simplistic story in me3 to make the guilt seems less than it should be (the remaining batarian leader, Balak, is bad and wants revenge). after a talk with him, batarians with their ships become war assets. it goes okay?

but when Officer Noles asks Shepard if they want Balak arrested and Shepard replies "I want you to put a bullet in his head… but we're all making some sacrifices today", I'm thinking that's a very questionable default line right there and that's not how I see Shepard. because yes Balak is not exactly someone innocent in this story but the use of the word 'sacrifices' is really annoying me considering arrival and the near extinction of the batarian race.

Balak just told Shepard he feels he can't save his people. and if you read the war assets, batarians are described as "enraged survivors". he even implies that the remaining batarians are basically cut from war info, he knows the location of Reaper forces because he's listening to Council transmissions. so he's basically their only hope at this point, and it's clear he doesn't know what to do. the level of despair there is just really high

"No collection of vessels is more eager to engage the Reapers than Khar'shans last warships."

so... it's not like i want shepard to be a full on batarians fan but there was a better way to express themselves after talking to Balak

[anghraine]

Continuing my Justice for Din Korlack hobbyhorse:

He is correct in ME1 about the weird subordinated position of the volus in galactic society. And "but they control the financial world and thus are really the ones in power despite officially being under the heel of the much newer-on-the-scene turians" argument sounds uhhhhh really super familiar.

Look, I know this one is more controversial... but justice for the Thorian! Is it using its mind-control enthrallment powers to spread beyond its natural home? The game gives us no reason to think so. It defends itself and enthralls the outsiders that showed up to colonize its home where it's been living for over 50,000 years with apparently few prior conflicts. Yes, that's bad in a personal autonomy sense, but the Thorian mostly just wants to survive and grow in its ancestral home without the likes of Ethan Jeong screwing everything up. Relatable tbh.

I am also Team Vorcha. We'll see if my feelings alter when I get to them in my personal playthrough, but in all the previous ones I watched I was like "vorcha liberation now!!!" yes I have powerful feelings about the silliest pixel aliens in this 20-year-old game. Talking differently is not a crime, and I too would be filled with 24/7 rage and hatred if I was treated by literally every power structure and almost every individual being the way they are. VORCHA RIGHTS

[big-ass-magnet]

It is absolute bullshit that the volus didn't get a council seat. They were the third species to ever arrive at the Citadel! They are responsible for the galactic economy's existence!

And they don't get it because council races are expected to cough up a certain number of people and ships to protect the station, which they can't provide.

GOSH that's awfully convenient, don't you think? How quickly after the volus arrived did the salarians and asari sneak that into the rules? Ten minutes? Twenty?

The council go on and on about how a species has to "earn a seat", but then when a species does - which the volus absolutely do!!!! - ahhhh sorry, turns out there's a mandatory arms quota that you just so happen to not be able to meet, whoops.

And then the turians show up, beat up the krogan and then whoops they do have the resources to meet that quota you mentioned so I guess they get a council seat!

I bet you anything if the council thought they could afford to weasel out of giving the turians a seat, they absolutely would have.

[oldfashionedhand]

Council Posting 1

Maybe I’m just getting cynical in my old age, but as time goes on, I find I have less and less patience with the Citadel Council.

My issue isn’t even with the individual councillors per se (though they certainty have their own problems I want to address at some point), but the system of the Council itself.

You have unelected representatives of just 3 species making decisions which impact maybe 80% of known sentient species in the entire galaxy. Sure, they don’t have any “official” power, but its made pretty clear that in practise standing against the Council will turn you into a galactic pariah.

So you’re a Council member species. Maybe you’re barred from joining the executive committee but you still have some kind of say in the decisions, right? Think again, friend. The council might decide, if you’re lucky, to grant your species an embassy. This will give you the great privilege of putting an item on the meeting docket, after which you have no control over what decision the Council might come to or whether they’ll even bother to address it all. Lucky you.

OK, so being a member species isn’t great. How about you try and join the Council. You might think, going by the message the Council itself puts out, that you join by being patient and proving yourself worthy. 

Again, you would be very wrong.

If you want to join the Council, the best approach is by being too powerful and therefore too much of a threat to ignore. Do you think the Turians had to wait around 2 millennia like the Volus before joining. Haha, fuck no. Din Korlack might have a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but frankly I can fully understand his resentment (also I’m  still a little bitter they made him a traitor in ME3).

Same with Humanity, its pretty clear that a major part of the Alliance’s rapid ascension was how potentially dangerous they were. Which is why a lot of the politics in Mass Effect 1 is the Council working out how to co-opt humanity into their system, trying to find a balance between keeping them invested but also not granting them too much power.

Don’t get me wrong, I do think saving the Council provided a lot of goodwill and also reassurance, as it proved the Alliance would work to protect not dominate the Council and member species. But I don’t think the offer would have been made at all, if the Alliance were not already in a position of strength.

And don’t get me started on Avina. Just the way its been programmed to dodge any potential criticisms of the Council as even the most milquetoast enquiry is met with a regretful apology that such a question is outside the scope of its programming. Or the sheer unchecked arrogance of the statement about it being “unfair” to make the Volus a Council species as it would place an enormous burden on a “lesser species”.

My Shepard will still always save the Council regardless, as the solution definitely isn’t keeping the same broken system but just a bit worse, with  1 species, humanity, dominating rather than 3. However, I’d like to imagine there was some sweeping institutional reform once the Reaper War was over.

TL;DR: The Council needs to get off their high horse, take a good look at themselves, and reform to become an *actual* voices for the species of Citadel Space.

[wafflesrock16]

It’s Mer-May! Turian Mermaids, anyone?

I’m back on my bull-shit and working on the sequel to Fathomless Depths. I’m nowhere near ready to publish anything, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t share something for this month. So here’s a snippet from the first chapter:

The volus were penguin herders who split their time between the glacier choked ocean and snow strewn shores. They flourished in the near permanent freeze, bundled in feathers, skins, and furs, as at home beneath the waves as the flocks they attended.

Their seas were too cold for permanent merian outposts. During the summer when the ice pack retreated, scouts would investigate and report any changes or resources of note. But they always returned before the biting jaws of fall, with ice nipping at their tail fins. 

It was considered the worst assignment in the merian military. No matter how intense the sun’s rays the waves always retained an uncomfortable chill. 

Now, despite his heightened station in the world, Garrus found himself swimming the frigid waters with an envoy of merian scholars and soldiers. An aggrieved growl stuttered in his chest. Whatever the volus herders had found had better be worth this trip, he thought irritably. 

The Normandy had been forced to turn back by heavy ice flows. Not built to sustain bludgeoning or gouging by glaciers, their merian escort had pressed on alone. 

“This water is disgusting,” an older merian commented. “What’s the human phrase? A frozen hell-hole?” 

Garrus hummed in annoyance. Lorik Qui’in had proven to be an invaluable asset when it came to negotiation with pirates or patrol discipline. The amber eyed merian was, however, a man accustomed to certain luxuries. Warm, tropical waters being one of those. 

“Do you think it’ll be colder near the island?” Lorik wondered aloud, adjusting his own fur seal cape. “I cannot imagine bare rock holding much warmth.”

“Quiet, Qui’in.” Garrus admonished subvocally. The old man’s bitching was starting to rub off on the rest of the envoy and the last thing he wanted was to listen to muttered complaints the rest of the way to the volus capital. 

Thankfully, Lorik kept his mouth shut and after what felt like a lifetime of plowing through the heavy waters, the rocky sea floor rolled up beneath them. Their arrival was heralded by the squawks and cries of thousands of penguins, their sleek, black and white bodies leaving trails of bubbles in their wake as they soared beneath the surf. 

The water smelled like guano and Garrus watched Lorik gag in revulsion as a passing penguin shit right next to him. Where was the fucking volus chieftain they were meeting? Garrus felt like he wanted to crawl out of his plates.

Up ahead, the squat, round forms of the volus finally bobbed into view. They were heavily layered in penguin pelts, heads adorned with crowns made from seashells and brightly polished stones. Garrus could barely make out the bulbous, yellow eyes from beneath their trappings when the most ornately decorated of the bunch swam up to him. 

“Tsk,” the chieftain slurped. “Greetings Palaven clan. I am Din Korlack, leader of the majestic Irune tribe.” He gestured stubby fingers bound in kelp at the other volus behind him. “Welcome to our shores. Your haste in this matter is most appreciated.”

[annakie]

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Four

Wherein we make it to the Citadel, and do a lot of running around.

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

So right away, we meet Udina and the Council, way to throw us right into it.  

It’s a brief introduction and gives us an idea what Humanity is up against and who is representing us.  Basically, we’re supposed to get the idea that it’s a lot of bureaucratic bullshit, I guess.

This is also the first time we see Asari and Salarians, and they’re in reddish-brown and white, which really isn’t the best look.

Bioware continues to push the story forward.  We get enough to know that Udina is kind of an ass, and the Council isn’t going to just trust what some guy says even if he is the representative for billions of people.

And finally, after this, we’re set free.

The Citadel I think is one of the coolest locations in like almost any game I’ve ever played.  They do a great job of both making it feel huge, but also accessible.  Enough bridges to get across to places you need to get to, and after you walk somewhere once, Citadel Rapid Transit is great.  I still choose to take elevators about 80% of the time even when I can CRT somewhere, just because I like the squad conversations and news updates. There’s a shorter elevator rides mod that helps, too.

There’s so much to do and see, and having one of the main areas just be such an awesome combination of scifi futurism and lush greenery + water is both trippy and breathtaking.  I think, especially with the updated graphics mods/settings, the Presidium especially holds up fairly well.  I mean it definitely feels more populated and modern in ME3 but, I just consider this to be more of a residential / professional area of the Presidium and most of what we see in ME3 is a more retail section.

It’d be annoying to be a groundskeeper here, though.  Lots of green areas that you’d really need to climb to, or garden on a steep slant. :p

I always found it interesting that the natural first place to head to is into the ambassador’s office next door, where we find some friendly aliens, and one not-so-friendly one.  But honestly, this is a great place to find out the different ways other species view humanity, and how there’s apparently tiers of respect given to various species.

I always kind of hoped the Elcor would feature more prominently into the world in future games, but at least we got Hamlet.  I have SO MANY QUESTIONS about how Elcor like... do things?  We never see it but you have to assume that their hands have opposable thumbs and they’re able to stand on two legs, right?  I want to see what an Elcor ship looks like and Dakuna specifically.  Give us more elcor, Bioware!

BTW, the Mass Effect: Annihilation (aka the book that was supposed to be based on the Quarian Ark DLC that never happened in Andromeda) is totally worth reading just for the elcor character in it.  It’s also probably the best of the Mass Effect books, in my opinion.

Din Korlack’s got a point though, they not only have to share an office, but their view isn’t nearly as good as the human’s.  This is especially bullshit for the volus, who could stand on that railing and probably STILL wouldn’t have a view.

I love how Mass Effect 2 takes her from a completely forgettable character to making me think  “Sorry you’re gonna die in a few weeks, your mom’s really gonna miss you.” every time I see her.

PALIN DESERVED BETTER.

I don’t remember which ME3 mod it is, maybe the Spectre Expansion Mod or maybe EGM, but thank you whichever modder it was who made Palin’s story and death more clear in ME3.  Sorry Udina got you killed.

Also, it was good to get a dissenting opinion on Spectres from him.

Avina is such a good, optional way to get more loredump.  Yes, you can again ask them about Spectres if you want to hear about them again.  But I liked that each Avina terminal taught you a little more about whatever you were nearby, and the state of the galaxy in general and since they were programmed to be information dumps, it felt more natural to get information this way.

Don’t these people have jobs?

I love the Krogan statue, and the Avina terminal nearby telling you about it.  But now every time I see it, all I can picture is Grunt and his buddies climbing it.  So good.

Managed to get a clean shot of the crew without the UI in the elevator, thanks Flycam!  You have about a half a second to get this shot though, because the camera is stationary while the elevator is not.

Oh hell-lo Pailin, who is your charming-looking friend there?

This entire conversation needs to be longer. It’s a nice, quick introduction to Garrus, but, well, let’s spend a little more time with the main characters!!

I mean how can you not just not immediately love that?  Hey remember how bad Garrus’ face texture used to be?  Thanks, modders.

I just really love the Citadel tower.  Absolutely beautiful and atmospheric.

SO the thing is, if you can pretend that Saren isn’t, you know, already half Reaperized, 100% the Council is right to not just go throwing one of their longer-term agents in jail because Shepard had a bad dream and a random dockworker said the guy who killed Saren looked like this.

Honestly though, this and OH A GOOD CHUNK OF MASS EFFECT 2 would be so much easier if Shepard wore a bodycam. :p

Also, I wonder who took the dockworker’s testimony?  Did Kaidan run back real quick while Shepard was sleeping?

This was an embarrassment for humanity, and I agree with Udina that we needed more to go on before making demands of the council.  The council is right to not convict based off a bad dream Shepard had.  Go get some real proof!  Also, do a bunch of sidequests!

And scan some Keepers for this shady guy!

Which is actually good quest design, because you really have to go to every nook and cranny in the Citadel to find them all, though it would have been nice if they showed up on the minimap.   Really gets you to explore and get to know the area like the back of your hand.

This time around, I forgot to grab the one outside Dr. Michele’s office and had to hunt for it before heading up to grab the last one at the docks.

Thank you, though, Barla Von, for telling us all about the Shadow Broker and telling us about Wrex.  See u in ME3.

Bioware please give us diverse-suited volus in a remaster.  Maybe I’m reusing a pic of Din Korlack, you’ll never know! :p

Thanks, texture modders, for really highlighting what the end of the hanar’s noses look like. 

The hanar are another species I wish we got more of throughout the series.  They are probably the most alien of all the aliens we interact with.   I mean, at least we got Blasto.  I’d really love to visit Kahje someday.  I know it’s in the comics, but you know, in-game.

Annnd let’s go visit Sha'ira.

I have very mixed feelings about Sha'ira.  On one hand, she’s clearly very respected, is probably making bank, in control of her own destiny etc.  On the other hand, she’s probably the asari we have the second most interaction with in this game after Liara, and after just seeing Benezia’s boob-tastic clothing and then heading to Chora’s Den soon to see the dancing asari we’re getting a very slanted view of the species.  I think Bioware course corrects in later games but oof this is such a dude-fantasy alien species in ME1 it hurts.  Especially since Liara is almost a born-sexy-yesterday trope.

Also... don’t touch me if I don’t wanna be touched. =\

Noveria advertisements... that just say Noveria.  I guess this is effective marketing in 2148.

Look how great those shadows from the tree are... actual definition in shadow... wow.

Raise your hand if you’ve missed this conversation in a playthrough before and reloaded like an hour or more past to make sure you get it.

It’s one of those little moments that they didn’t have to put in.  Just a little conversation reflecting on humans and humanity, and our place in the world, and showcasing Ash’s wit and Kaidan’s adorkableness.  Also making sure you appreciate all the work that went into this particular view.  It’s a pause in the action and all the things you have going on, and it’s so great for characterization and making you feel a part of the world.  

Speaking of the view... I decided to flycam it.  Warning, I spoil some of the “magic” below.

Pretty quickly, you see that the arms are actual objects, untextured on the non-visible side.

I decided to head for the closest line of “cars” on the bottom center-left to see what those “cars” looked like.

Flycam feels pretty fast when you’re trying to frame a specific shot just right... but when you need to travel a great distance, it feels verrry slow.

It took me probably close to five minutes of traveling to make it all the way there.

What I discovered was... a few of the buildings are real, the rest are a very good painting.

This is how far away the citadel is from the rest of the map. That grid would be that entire view from outside Dr. Michele’s office all the way to the edge of the shops on the other side, plus some extra.

So both the building that those “cars” (the string of white lights) are coming from and going to are... on the painting.  Neither one are physical objects.

Made some gifs.

You can see the lights moving at a mostly-downward angle, while it looks like they’re just heading south when standing on the Citadel.  Also you can see other lights moving farther up the map.

And here you can see the lights “disappearing behind a building” but they’re really just hitting an invisible wall, the dark angle of that building is just a part of the wall painting.   

Looking up from the wall...

So that was a fun distraction.

Emily Wong deserved:

Better.

An entire shirt.

A mention in ME3 after she gave her life on social media defending Earth against the reapers while keeping her cool reporting on the invasion the day before ME3′s release.

That day before launch though... was amazing.  Bioware did such a great job on social media with the reaper invasion happening on twitter.  I loved that lots of fans got into it, too, posting photoshops and their own reaper invasion stories.  I remember being at work that day but not actually working very much.  A few friends and I had a google hangout going on to report in on anything we saw happening on social media and keep up with it and to be very hyped together online.  

We reblogged a bunch of it on fuckyeahbioware starting about here and working backwards through numbers.  

One of the ME3 mods, and again, sorry, don’t remember which, does give Emily a nice tribute through an email.  She deserves it.

Okay that’s enough for this post!  Will try to finish up the Citadel next time!

[jbk405]

I���m too good at Mass Effect

I’ve had this thought before, but as I’m nearing the end of my Mass Effect 3 replay -- and by extension my replay of whole trilogy -- I’m thinking again about how I’m too good at this series.

Mass Effect 3 is supposed to be the internally conflicted entry in the series.  You need to make “hard choices” because you’re faced with insurmountable problems that don’t have a singular ‘right answer’.  Do you save this person at the expense of that one?  Send resources to one struggle and sacrifice another?  It’s filled with people consoling you over doing the best you can, and a fatalistic realization that you can’t save everybody.

Unfortunately for this ambiance, except for a few plot-mandated circumstances I really can save everybody.  Because I play Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 so well that coming into this game I have enough resources and alliances and character support to Take a Third Option in almost every situation.

I’ve never had to kill Wrex on Virmire, and I’ve also never chosen to destroy Maelon’s research data on the genophage.  This means Wreav has never been in charge of the Krogan and Bakara never dies on the way to the Shroud.  So when the Dalatrass is trying to persuade me that the Krogan are too big of a threat to cure since they will inevitably try to overrun the galaxy again, it’s after a whole game sequence of both Wrex and Bakara talking about how they will change the Korgan ways and not let them expand uncontrollably again.  There’s no moral quandary here.

Tali and Legion both always survive the Suicide Mission and are Loyal, and I always save Admiral Zaal’koris on Rannoch.  So when Legion begins to upgrade the geth to full sentience I can persuade both sides to halt their fighting.  Instead of needing to choose to let either the geth or quarians die, they’re both on my side.

Same with the Virmire Survivor.  Whether it’s Kaiden or Ashley, whether there was a romance or not, I always repair our relationship while they’re laid up in Huerta Memorial so they stand aside during the Cerberus coup.

Some of it is also thanks to earlier DLC content.  Since Kasumi survived the Suicide Mission as a Loyal squadmate I can save the Hanar home world and still get Spectre support instead of choosing one or the other.  Zaeed’s presence means I can persuade Din Korlack to give me the Volus bombing fleet as well as information to save a Turian colony from attack.

Once we leave Mars during the prologue, my character doesn’t really face a defeat until we get to Thessia towards the end of the game.  During every other mission I manage to scrape out some sort of victory, including saving everybody even if it was originally presented as one-or-the-other.

All told this is a pretty good problem to have, but it’s still weird to have people coming up and consoling me about all the people I’ve failed when I haven’t actually failed anybody.

[dgcatanisiri]

Din Korlack is right to be cranky about how the Council treat the volus (and the elcor and the hanar... Basically any race not on the Council), but he’s directing it at humanity, for ‘getting concessions,’ rather than the Council for... Y’know, structuring their galactic government to keep them out of power.

[dgcatanisiri]

Strictly speaking, I do understand the Citadel races reluctance to just bring humanity into the decision making process of galactic politics - they're new on the scene, they lack understanding of galactic level events, they step on a lot of toes. BUT... Maybe it's just my own human centric view, but I completely get the unfairness of the way the Citadel Council approach things. It's representatives of three (late four) species making these decisions. Why should the asari, salarians, turians, and later humans be the only Cotadel races who get their interests directly represented? Sure, the volus are a 'client race' to the turians, but they should get a voice on that level! I mean, Din Korlack has a point when he complains about humanity's supposed preference, but he misses why that happens - humans wouldn't accept being sidelined, they kept making a noise until the Council offered them more, because at the heart of it, humans didn't want better rights to other races, they wanted equal rights to the races in power, because the Council makes decisions for all of them, and if humanity doesn't represent itself, speak about their interests and well-being, who will?