#not that this game is a paragon of writing. but this cutscene i do like.

[vultures-and-scavengers]

she has the coin but fuck me if i don't like the anxious dialogue option better. love that between the two of them, the soldier and the diplomat, she's the one headed to the final battle, but OF COURSE she's terrified. she's not a fighter, she avoided as much of the fighting as she could during inquisition, and she has to go fight a blighted dragon and a darkspawn magister?

and i like this dialogue option more just because like. then both of them are confessing their fears, both of them afraid of whats coming, and both seeking comfort from each other.

and cullen's like... he's the bystander. he's present for all the major events, but rarely has any influence on them, rarely has a role to play. and now when supposedly he would have the power to influence things, as the commander of the inquisition, he has no army. they're still in transit from the arbor wilds, and so once again, he's helpless.

[octerminal]

Avoiding the ME1 LI Romances

...And also what to do if you’ve already triggered them.

This is a post I’ve been wanting to remake forever, and with the remaster around the corner I thought now was a good time to finally get on it.

A few things first: I say “avoiding the ME1 LI romances”, but in reality this is mostly going to be about Kaidan and Ashley. While there are a few ways around Liara’s romance I’ve discovered, I have never been able to find a simple way to avoid triggering it. (I’ll get to that later.)

This post will be split into three sections: Kaidan, Ashley, and Liara. Kaidan and Ashley’s sections specifically will go over how to avoid triggering their romances entirely, and then the dialogue choices you need to take if you want to end the romance if it’s already been triggered. I have also included a few bonus things for the both of them, such as avoiding the flirting during the scenic view cutscene in the Citadel Wards. For Kaidan specifically, I have also included content about his mechanics in ME3.

Please note that most of these have been accomplished on console. I have gotten several PC users who do attest that, at the very least, Kaidan’s portion works for them. But on the off-chance that platform influences other parts of Kaidan’s, or Ashley and Liara’s, I thought it was worth mentioning. It should also be said that, obviously, these are all using the original games as a basis, though I am not expecting MELE to change any of this.

I will also be using both my Kaidan transcript and Ashley transcript as reference for their dialogue. I recommend following along there if you find Tumblr’s formatting confusing.

Final note before we begin: this post is not an open invitation to hate on any of these characters. ME1 is turning 14 this year and ME3 recently turned 9. Anything you have to say about these characters and their romance mechanics has already been beaten to death, brought back to life, and beaten to death again. No one wants to hear it, least of all me. Please keep your comments to yourself and be civil.

KAIDAN

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

Kaidan’s romance can be triggered after the first main mission has been completed. For many players, I imagine this is Therum, but it really doesn’t matter which mission it is.

Kaidan will prompt the conversation, as he will for every other post-main mission conversation so long as his romance remains active. This conversation will be about his time at Brain Camp. You can read the conversation in his transcript if you find it easier to follow along, though I have done my best to format this post as cleanly as possible.

KAIDAN: Commander, do you have a minute?

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It makes no difference yet.)

KAIDAN: Off the record, I think there’s something wrong here. This Saren is looking for records on some kind of galactic extinction, but we can’t get backup from the Council? Sorry, Commander. There’s writing on the wall here, but someone isn’t reading it.

SHEPARD: (Again, you may choose whatever dialogue option you want. It still makes no difference yet.)

>FIRST CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

KAIDAN: I hear ya. It - It just seems like a group that’s been around as long as the Council should see this coming. It’s funny. We finally get out here and the final frontier was already settled. And the residents don’t even seem impressed by the view...or the dangers.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Zip it, Lieutenant.): I’m sure your letters home are very poignant. Just keep this kind of sentimentality out of the CIC.

KAIDAN: Yes, ma’am. Sorry to have wasted your time. I’m right about the mission, though. I know it. (The conversation will end here and his romance will not trigger.)

>SECOND CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

SHEPARD (Paragon - Cute way to look at it./Neutral - An old-fashioned view.): Well, well. You’re a romantic. Did you sign on “for the dream,” Alenko? Secure man’s future in space?

KAIDAN: Heh, yeah, I read a lot of those books when I was a kid. Where the hero goes to space to prove himself worthy of a woman he loves. Or, you know. For justice. Maybe I was a romantic in the beginning. But I thought about it after Brain Camp - ah, sorry, “Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training.” I’m not looking for “the dream.” I just want to do some good. See what’s out here. Sorry if I got too informal. Protocol wasn’t a big focus back in BAaT.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Just be ready.): I trust you won’t have any questions when whatever’s coming hits the fan?

KAIDAN: None. I’m not questioning the mission. I’m just concerned. Sorry to have wasted your time, ma’am. It won’t happen again. (The conversation will end here and his romance will not trigger.)

The final chance to cut off Kaidan’s romance before it triggers happens after Shepard asks him about Brain Camp. This opens up a lot of investigation options and you may exhaust all of them. If you want to avoid hearing Kaidan imply that he thinks your Shepard is attractive, avoid the “Time to talk, then./Time to “get physical,” then.” investigation options. Once Kaidan is done speaking about Brain Camp, you will get one final chance to avoid his romance.

>THIRD CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

KAIDAN: Anyway. This was supposed to be a casual debrief, not a bull session about stuff that happened years ago.

SHEPARD (Renegade - You’re right.): I pretty much gave up waiting for the good part.

KAIDAN: Bad habit, ma’am. I do tend to run off at the mouth. I will work on it for my next review. Sorry to have wasted your time, ma’am. It won’t happen again. (The conversation ends and his romance does not trigger.)

You will notice all of these are renegade options. There is literally no way around this if you want to avoid triggering Kaidan’s romance. You don’t get any renegade points from them, and Kaidan does not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an easy way to tell if Kaidan’s romance remains active. Conversations between him and Shepard will end like this:

SHEPARD: We’ll talk later, Kaidan.

KAIDAN: I’d like that.

“I’VE ALREADY TRIGGERED IT, HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS?”

The good news is that getting out of the romance is fairly simple. The game gives you a lot of opportunities before it triggers the love triangle with Liara (assuming her romance has also been triggered, anyway).

If Kaidan’s romance was triggered, you will have an opportunity at the beginning of his second and third post-main mission talks. These are a bit more complex to transcribe, so I really recommend just reading them in my transcription if you need the exact dialogue options to understand.

But the gist: You can’t go wrong with choosing the renegade dialogue options. This is always the dialogue option that will end his romance. You are almost never going to end his romance with a paragon or neutral dialogue option. He will always prompt this conversation by wondering if he’s gotten his signals mixed up, if there’s someone else you’d rather spend time with, if he’s being too casual, etc. Once he does this, just shoot him down with a renegade dialogue option.

Again: you get no renegade points from this. He will not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an example. This one occurs in his second post-main mission talk if Liara’s romance hasn’t been triggered:

KAIDAN: I’m just saying...try to leave yourself a way out. I’ve seen what cutting corners can do and I’d hate to have that happen to you, Shepard. Commander.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I don’t need approval.): I’m your commanding officer, Alenko. Are you questioning the way I handle things?

KAIDAN: No, Commander. Just concerned about the reception of the brass if things go sour. I apologize for bringing it up. I know we’re getting the job done.

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever response you like; they all lead to the romance ending.)

If you have repeatedly not broken off the romance with Kaidan after a certain point and Liara’s romance is also active, it will trigger the love triangle scene. This is one of the last points you have to break off Kaidan’s romance, but it will lock you into Liara’s romance instead. If you are wanting a no-romance run, I recommend choosing one of the other options instead.

There is also a separate way to end the romance outside these three opportunities. In the third post-main mission talk, you must pick the dialogue option that triggers the argument that can “renegade” Kaidan’s opinion on the Council. You must not choose the charm or intimidate option here, and you must then pick the renegade dialogue options. The conversation should go like this:

KAIDAN: So yeah, I hated that turian. But he wasn’t “a turian” to me. He was Vyrnnus.

SHEPARD (Renegade - All turians are the same.): You can’t deny the turians are imperialists. And the asari, the salarians - they’re manipulators.

KAIDAN: Shepard, I outgrew the blame game years ago. If the Alliance is missing its chance, it’s because of men like Udina. Not the rest of the galaxy holding it back.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I’m not so sure.): When anyone out here listens to us, the Council starts up with their treaties and heel-dragging. We can only rely on ourselves.

KAIDAN: We’re not doing the galaxy any favors if we try to force our way into a seat at the grown-up table. They aren’t - malicious. They’re just slow to change. My story doesn’t get any better if Vyrnnus is a good guy.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Whose side are you on?): I don’t need you kissing the Council’s asses, too.

KAIDAN: Look, Shepard. You’re in command, and we’ll all follow your lead. But don’t ream me out for having an opinion. I thought we respected each other more than that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I can’t respect this.): I can’t believe you’d side with aliens over your own kind. I think we’re done here.

KAIDAN: Yeah, I think we are. It’s--It’s too bad we...It’s just too bad, Commander.

This argument will end his romance. He will also not be renegaded. This is obviously a much more convoluted way to end his romance, but I’m throwing the option out there because it’s 1) hilarious, and 2) way more dramatic, if you want to roleplay ending the romance for whatever reason.

MISCELLANEOUS

Depending on the dialogue options you take for the scenic view on the Citadel, Kaidan will always flirt with you. This does not lock you into, or even trigger, his romance. It is entirely possible to not have him flirt with you at all in this scene, and still initiate the romance later. But if you do not want him to flirt with you, simply do this:

[image ID: ME1’s subtitles showing Ashley saying “Or maybe they just don’t like humans.” with the dialogue wheel below it giving the following dialogue choices, starting from the top: “What’s not to like?”, “Let’s move out.”, and “That’s enough, you two.” end ID]

When you get to this part of the scenic view cutscene, choose any dialogue option but the top “What’s not to like?” one.

Also, even if you’ve already avoided or shut down Kaidan’s romance, Liara will still ask if there’s something between the two of you if her romance is active. Tell her that there isn’t (because there isn’t). Her saying this does not re-trigger Kaidan’s romance.

Congratulations, you have now survived ME1’s romance mechanics. Enjoy experiencing unromanced Kaidan for the rest of the game.

ME3 BONUS: “OKAY, WHAT ABOUT HIM FLIRTING WITH ME IN THE HOSPITAL THOUGH?”

I have tested both of these personally multiple times and they have always worked for me, but again: see my warning about different platforms at the beginning of this post. If it doesn’t work for you, please let me know.

If you have not romanced Kaidan previously: don’t buy him the alcohol as a present. That’s it.

If you have romanced Kaidan previously: on Mars, tell him your relationship is over. It is a renegade dialogue option, but it is necessary to avoid the flirtation in the hospital. This route also means that you can buy him the alcohol and he will still not flirt with you.

Please note that going renegade on Mars does not lock you out of his romance. It merely prevents him from assuming you’re interested during your hospital visit.

ME3 BONUS: “OKAY, WHAT ABOUT HIS APOLLO’S PROPOSITION THOUGH?”

This only happens if you have not locked in your romance with your preferred love interest first. For Garrus, this is the bottle shooting date. For Tali and Traynor, it’s inviting her up to your cabin. For Liara and Miranda, it’s her Presidium date. So on and so forth.

This means there is no way around it if you romanced Jacob or Thane and do not want to pursue a different romance after them. If you do get this scene: again, just turn him down. It is never brought up again. He does not act like he’s in love with you going forth. You will get his unromanced date in the Citadel DLC, as well as his unromanced London goodbye.

ASHLEY

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

Ashley’s romance can be triggered after the first main mission has been completed. For many players, I imagine this is Therum, but it really doesn’t matter which mission it is.

Ashley will prompt the conversation, as she will for every other post-main mission conversation so long as her romance remains active. This conversation will be about her concerns about the aliens aboard the Normandy.

Note: Ashley has one less opportunity to avoid triggering her romance in the first post-main mission talk compared to Kaidan. You may also read the conversation in her transcript if you find it easier to follow along, though I have done my best to format this post as cleanly as possible.

ASHLEY: Commander. You have a minute to talk?

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It makes no difference yet.)

ASHLEY: I know things are different aboard the Normandy, but - I'm concerned about the aliens. Vakarian and Wrex. With all due respect, Commander, should they have full access to the ship?

SHEPARD: (Again, you can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It still makes no difference yet.)

>FIRST CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

ASHLEY: This is the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy. I don't think we should give them free reign to poke around the vital systems. Engines. Sensors. Weapons.

SHEPARD (Side - You're out of line!): That's enough, Chief. You always second-guess your superiors?

ASHLEY: Sir! No, sir! I'm sorry. I was out of line. I'll get back to my duties, Commander. (The conversation will end and her romance will not trigger.)

If you do not pick the above option, Ashley will elaborate her stance further until you get to the dialogue wheel with the second (and final) chance to avoid her romance.

>SECOND CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

ASHLEY: My family's defended the Alliance since it was founded. My father, my grandfather, my great-grandmother - they all picked up a rifle and swore the Oath of Service. I guess we just tend to think of Earth's interests as our own.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Just shut up.): I expect you to keep your family politics to yourself, Chief. The mission will be difficult enough without you picking fights with aliens.

ASHLEY: Aye, aye, Commander. (The conversation will end and her romance will not trigger.)

Note: You can still pick the investigation dialogue options that discusses her service and family history. You just have to pick the renegade dialogue option outlined above afterward, instead of any other option.

Like with Kaidan, you do not get any renegade points for picking this option and Ashley does not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an easy way to tell if Ashley’s romance remains active. Conversations between her and Shepard will end with the following:

SHEPARD: We'll talk later, Williams.

ASHLEY: Looking forward to it, sir.

“I’VE ALREADY TRIGGERED IT, HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS?”

Admittedly, you have fewer easy opportunities to end Ashley’s romance than you do Kaidan’s, and most of the early game ones require Liara’s romance also being active. You are still offered multiple different opportunities out before the game ends, however.

If Ashley and Liara’s romances are both triggered, you will have an opportunity at the beginning of Ashley’s second and third post-main mission talks to end the romance. The gist is the same as Kaidan’s: You can’t go wrong with choosing the renegade dialogue options. This is always the dialogue option that will end her romance. You are almost never going to end her romance with a paragon or neutral dialogue option. She will always prompt this conversation by bringing up your relationship with Liara. Once she does this, just shoot her down.

Again: you get no renegade points from this. She will not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

In both the second and third post-main mission talks, the conversation will go something like:

ASHLEY: Surprised to see you here, sir. Thought you’d be chatting up what’s-her-name. T’Soni.

SHEPARD: (Pick the neutral or renegade dialogue option here; they both lead to the same dialogue branch.)

ASHLEY: Scuttlebutt says you’ve got a bit of a thing for her. I could understand why. The crew’s off-limits, with the regs against fraternization. And at least she looks like a woman.

SHEPARD: (Pick the neutral or renegade dialogue option here. They both end the romance.)

One of the easier exceptions to this that doesn't require Liara’s romance being active is in the second post-main mission talk when Ashley gets Sarah’s vid-mail. It will go like this:

SARAH: - Oh, before I go. You said you’re serving with Commander Shepard now? We saw him on the news here. He’s cute! Later, sis.

ASHLEY: Tell me you didn’t hear that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - That’s unprofessional.): I don’t need to tell you it’s inappropriate to gossip about how “cute” your commanding officer is.

ASHLEY: No, sir. You don’t. Sorry about that. It won’t happen again. (Conversation and romance ends.)

Please note, however, that this will lock you out of the remainder of the conversation and you will not learn about Ashley’s family.

If you have repeatedly not broken off the romance with Ashley after a certain point and Liara’s romance is also active, it will trigger the love triangle scene. This is one of the last points you have to break off Ashley’s romance, but it will lock you into Liara’s romance instead. If you are wanting a no-romance run, I recommend choosing one of the other options instead.

There is also a separate way to end the romance outside these three opportunities. In the third post-main mission talk, you must pick the dialogue option that triggers the argument that can “paragon” Ashley’s opinion on the Council. You must not choose the charm or intimidate option here, and you must then pick the renegade dialogue options. The conversation should go something like this:

ASHLEY: But hey, once we save the galaxy, maybe the Alliance will get its act together. Start acting like an actual government.

SHEPARD (Paragon - The Alliance is all right.): The Alliance isn’t perfect, but it does well enough.

ASHLEY: Have to disagree with you there, skipper. Giving aliens the run of our most advanced ship? Kowtowing to the Council?

SHEPARD (Paragon - It’s not like that.): The Alliance should be able to stand on is own. We can’t. Yet. Why not learn from the races that have been standing for the last thousand years?

ASHLEY: How can you say that, given everything we’ve seen out here? They’re already acting like Saren is our problem. Already siccing us on the bear. The Council races will always think of themselves first. It’s - human nature. We can’t afford to trust them. Not if the survival of humanity is on the line.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I’ve heard enough.): Whatever feelings I might have for you, we have to work with the Council. I can’t let you second-guess our superiors.

ASHLEY: Shepard, I’m a soldier. You’re my commander. If you give me an order, I’ll follow it. I don’t expect you to treat me differently from anyone else under your command. And if you have been - quit it. I thought you knew me better than that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Do I?): Seems like every time we run up against aliens, you whip out the “Earth first” card. I can’t have my authority undermined.

ASHLEY: I never intended to “undermine” you, Shepard. I believe in you. I wish you’d believe in anyone but yourself. With your permission, sir, I’ll return to my duties.

This argument will end her romance. She will also not be paragoned. This is obviously a much more convoluted way to end her romance, but I’m throwing the option out there because it’s 1) hilarious (that final line, oof), and 2) way more dramatic, if you want to roleplay ending the romance for whatever reason.

MISCELLANEOUS

Like with Kaidan, depending on the dialogue options you take for the scenic view on the Citadel, Ashley will always flirt with you. This does not lock you into, or even trigger, her romance. It is entirely possible to not have her flirt with you at all in this scene, and still initiate the romance later. But if you do not want her to flirt with you, simply do this:

[image ID: ME1’s subtitles showing Ashley saying “Or maybe they just don’t like humans.” with the dialogue wheel below it giving the following dialogue choices, starting from the top: “What’s not to like?”, “Let’s move out.”, and “That’s enough, you two.” end ID]

When you get to this part of the scenic view cutscene, choose any dialogue option but the top “What’s not to like?” one.

Also like with Kaidan, even if you’ve already avoided or shut down Ashley’s romance, Liara will still ask if there’s something between the two of you if her romance is active. Tell her that there isn’t (because there isn’t). Her saying this does not re-trigger Ashley’s romance.

Congratulations, you have now survived ME1’s romance mechanics. Enjoy experiencing unromanced Ashley for the rest of the game.

LIARA

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I have found no easy way around Liara’s romance. If anyone else has, I genuinely mean it when I say I would absolutely be open to you telling me, because I would love to know.

The only way to avoid triggering Liara’s romance that I have found are the following:

Simply not talking to her for most of the game (not ideal)

Completing Therum only after you’ve done at least two main missions (also not ideal since it will require Noveria being completed without her)

Completing Therum only after all the other main missions have been completed (again not ideal, though every player should at least do this once if only for the unique content you get from it)

Okay, so what if you want to complete Therum first but still avoid Liara’s romance? I have found one way to accomplish this, but it requires you to be in a romance with Kaidan (or presumably Ashley, but I have only tested this with Kaidan).

After you recruit Liara, you may check up on her in the med-bay but do not initiate conversation after that. If she prompts you by saying, “I get the feeling you want to ask me something, Commander,” do not pick the yellowed dialogue option:

[image ID: ME1′s subtitles showing Liara saying, “I get the feeling you want to ask me something, Commander.” with the dialogue wheel showing the following options: “Investigate”, a yellowed option above “Investigate” labeled “I’d like to talk about you.”, and “Goodbye.” end ID.]

After you complete another main mission, you can check back in with Liara and speak to her normally. This conversation should be the one you’d normally get after Therum, where you learn about why she likes archaeology and how she finds Shepard fascinating.

After you complete another main mission, you must talk to Kaidan or Ashley first. To clarify: at this point you should be at the post-third main mission mark. For Kaidan, you will be getting the “Vyrnnus and Rahna” talk that you can read in his transcript; for Ashley, you will be getting the “Williams Curse” talk that you can read in her transcript.

After you speak with Kaidan or Ashley, you may speak with Liara as normal. This conversation should be picking up on where you left off last time. Liara will talk about how she’s looked into Shepard’s history and Shepard can press her for why she’s so interested in them. Liara should then say something like the following lines:

LIARA: I admit, your connection to the Protheans had something to do with my initial interest. But it has grown beyond that. My interest in you, however, is strictly professional. I want to make that clear. It is obvious you and Lt. Alenko already have some type of relationship. I would not want to come between you.

Her romance will not trigger for the rest of the game.

Please note: Again, I have only tested this with Kaidan. But it should, in theory, work the exact same for Ashley considering many of hers and Kaidan’s other romance mechanics are identical.

“THAT’S NICE, BUT HOW DO I END HER ROMANCE IF IT’S ALREADY TRIGGERED?”

You will follow the same steps as in Kaidan and Ashley’s portions. When she prompts you with whether or not there’s anything between the two of you, you must turn her down. You can never go wrong with the renegade dialogue options here. Again: you get no renegade points for it, and Liara treats you no differently going forth.

She will also usually bring up Kaidan or Ashley depending on what Shepard you are playing, and mention that it seems like there’s something between the two of you even when you do not have their romance active. If you aren’t romancing the VS, just tell her that she’s got it wrong, because...she does. It does not re-trigger either of their romances.

YES I AM ALMOST DONE TALKING

The game really does give you ample opportunities to avoid or end the romances (which is only fair considering how easy they are to trip), so hopefully I have outlined at least one you are comfortable taking.

There are other ways to end both Kaidan and Ashley’s romance that I did not mention (such as during the locker scene, or if you try to un-paragon/renegade) - the point of no return you mainly have to worry about is en route to Ilos. I imagine most players will have their romances sorted out by then, though, so I’m not sure it’s worth mentioning unless you’re wanting to do it purely for roleplay reasons. (In which case: you may read those in their respective transcripts if you’re curious.)

I cannot say I have tested every single romance cut-off, but I have tested most of the important ones players are most likely to take. I am assuming the romances are cut off based on the fact Shepard and the VS’ farewells will change depending on their romanced status (as I outlined in their respective sections), which I do feel is a safe bet. But if you try one of these and find that it did not end the romance: I’m sorry, and please do let me know (and also what platform you play on).

If you read all of this: thank you for your time, and I hope you find this guide useful!

[dalekofchaos]

Harbinger and The Illusive Man

Something I think would’ve fixed Mass Effect 3 while also keeping the plot and the dynamic of The Reapers and Cerberus as the main threat is making Harbinger the big bad and The Illusive Man as his puppet or as The Illusive Man could’ve put it his “partner”

My other ME3 metas

ME3 mistakes

ME3 ending fix

I cannot state how much I hate that Harbinger is almost nonexistent in this game. 

The thing that annoyed me most about ME3 is the fact that Harbinger is not the main threat. The Illusive Man is. Harbinger has been built up as the big bad since ME2. "YOU HAVE FAILED. WE WILL FIND ANOTHER WAY." He says as he discards the Collectors. Then his speech to Shepard as the base blows up. "Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction. You will surrender your potential against the growing void. We return, and you will rise. We are the harbinger of your perfection. We will bring your species into harmony with our own. Your species will be raised to a new existence. We are the beginning, you will be the end. Prepare for our domination. Prepare for our coming." Then in Arrival, he came pretty damn close to unleashing quick subjugation and harvest upon an unprepared galaxy. Upon Shepard foiling his plans. "Shepard. You have become an annoyance. You fight against inevitability. Dust struggling against cosmic winds. This seems a victory to you. A star system sacrificed. But even now, your greatest civilizations are doomed to fall. Your leaders will beg to serve us. Know this as you die in vain: Your time will come. Your species will fall. Prepare yourselves for the Arrival." The perfect final villain right? Unfortunately, Cerberus was more focused on than The Reapers. My problem with Cerberus and no Harbinger is Too many Cerberus, too few Reaper forces in plot. We fight Cerberus more often than the reapers. Hardly any boss fight and the one with Reaper Destroyer on Rannoch was more an interactive movie than fight. During the Horizon mission in Mass Effect 2, Harbinger was solidified as the Big Bad. It was menacing and ominous, with just the right amount of annoying. It taunted us throughout the game, telling us how insignificant we were, and how our actions were pointless. It was willing to posses drones through the Collector General to fight us personally, and when we killed the host, it tossed them aside. Harbinger even gave the typical “You haven’t seen the last of me!” villain rant. It made any fire fight frustrating, and that made me want to kill it even more; I hated Harbinger. Many games fail to do that. Harbinger was an enemy which I looked forward to defeating. I had the desire to annihilate. In Mass Effect 3, I got a codex entry and a cameo. Harbinger just swoops in at the last second and blows my friends and I to hell(and lets the Normandy save them), then flies off. Personally, I would have loved to hear Harbinger’s menacing monologue, it drove me on. I would have felt a deeper motivation to take the fight back to Earth if it told me how much destruction the Reapers were causing, how many lives were lost. I felt cheated when I got to the final mission, only to suddenly realize it was largely absent from the game. Harbinger has been replaced. Replaced by the Illusive Man and Kai Leng. The former is an old acquaintance, albeit one now controlled by the Reapers. The latter is a space ninja from a terrible book.

I will admit. The Illusive Man is a worthy foe and someone worthy enough to be Harbinger’s Saren. Kai Leng however is a terrible counterpart for Shepard. 

Kai Leng. Sucks. Period. Here is a long in depth version on why he sucks. Even in the novels Leng is a terrible character. He’s a edgelord racist.  He couldn’t even kill Anderson, he almost got taken out by an aging Drell with stage 7 Drell cancer. Oh but he has snarky one liners and he sent that stupid fucking email after Thesia. KAI LENG SUCKS! He is not even interesting. I genuinely fucking sighed when he was introduced. When he killed Thane, all I could think of was “really?”. When he sent that little email I just rolled my eyes. When I saw him at the temple all I could think of was “not you again”. When he “beat” me on Thessia(I would have unloaded my N7 Typhoon and sent his whiny ass into oblivion, but game mechanics said I couldn’t) I just felt angry that such a stupid character ever made it past the writing board. Oh and BULLSHIT. Thane and Kirrahe would have killed Kai Leng. Even near his death bed, Thane could still kill Kai Leng. Kirrahe is a hardened veteran, he is AN STG MAJOR! Kirrahe would have killed Kai Leng in a blink of a fucking eye.  Here is my take on Kai Leng. He should have been killed on Priority:Citadel. If you do not save Kirrahe or don’t talk to Thane. Shepard should kill Kai Leng. If you saved Kirrahe but don’t talk to Thane. Kirrahe comes out of cloak and bombards Leng with Scorpion rounds and Leng blows up. If you talked to Thane, Thane would blow Kai Leng’s head off. The only reason why Leng is presented as a threat is cutscene logic and bad one liners. 

But back to The Illusive Man and Harbinger

To make Harbinger work as the big bad, we need to have Harbinger constantly “ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL” 

Near the end of the first mission, before Shepard contacts the Normandy, we would see Harbinger’s hologram appear like it did in Arrival. Harbinger taunting Shepard. that the harvest begins. 

Instead of suggesting Control, The Illusive Man is basically saying The Reapers can uplift Humanity and ascend them and dominate the other races. With Harbinger’s help, Humanity will be the ultimate force in the galaxy

Everytime we fight Reaper forces, Harbinger is there to “ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL”

Kai Leng dies on The failed coup on the Citadel. The Illusive Man does not care as he is close to finding The Catalyst 

On Rannoch, instead of a Destroyer Reaper talking to Shepard, Harbinger’s hologram will appear. Harbinger will continue to taunt Shepard, but Shepard shows that everyone is coming together to end the Reapers once and for all. Harbinger would not say that the Reapers are needed to keep synthetics from killing organics. He would say The Reapers are there to ascend and are your salvation through destruction. Harbinger’s end quotes from ME2 is basically the premise of The Reapers end goals. That's all it needed to be.

On Thesia, The Illusive Man will explain to Shepard that Harbinger chose him. After The First Contact War, TIM found a Reaper artifact. In that artifact, he was contacted by Harbinger. He lost his human vision, but awakened to the truth and because of Harbinger’s guidance, he founded Cerberus. Strength for Cerberus is strength for humanity. TIM believes he and Harbinger together they could uplift and empower humanity over the lesser races. The Illusive Man is to Harbinger, as what Saren was for Soverign. He will then tell Shepard, he plans on using the Crucible to finish what the Collectors started. Completing the Human Reaper. Then TIM sends a group of Phantoms, Nemesis and Cerberus Dragons to face Shepard in place of Leng. Thesia falls. 

Sanctuary is used to create Husks and harvest humans to help create the Human Reaper

At Cerberus Headquarters, TIM says Harbinger knew more about the Citadel than Soverign. There is more than one Conduit and he found it. Vendetta will reveal that the Citadel was moved by Harbinger and taken it to Earth to complete the harvest

The confrontation between Shepard, Anderson and TIM happens but we know how TIM is on the Citadel and if you read my ending fix, you will know that Anderson would’ve went to the beam with Shepard and they are transported to the same place

Shepard will ask “Why didn’t Harbinger kill me?” “Because, we need you to understand and we need you to believe”

Same confrontation ends with either Shepard shooting TIM dead or TIM killing himself after Shepard uses paragon or renegade to reveal that Harbinger used him all his life

After Anderson passes. Harbinger “Assumes Control” over TIM’s dead body. Harbinger will explain the purpose of the Harvests. The explanation is the original ending of Dark energy. The Reapers as a whole were ‘nations’ of people who had fused together in the most horrific way possible to help find a way to stop the spread of the Dark Energy. The real reason for the Human Reaper was supposed to be the Reapers saving throw because they had run out of time. Humanity in Mass Effect is supposedly unique because of its genetic diversity and represented the universe’s best chance at stopping Dark Energy’s spread. We have a choice either Sacrifice humanity, allowing them to be horrifically processed in hopes that the end result will justify the means or use The Crucible to destroy The Reapers and find a way to stop the dark energy from spreading and it shows it is hopeful with a united galaxy. However, if we choose destroy, Harbinger will attempt to stop Shepard. A Reaperfied TIM appears and Shepard fights him, while The Normandy fights Harbinger. If we choose sacrifice humanity, Shepard will be the final catalyst to completing the Human Reaper.  But obviously no one will choose that choice as the entire point of the trilogy is to destroy The Reapers. So we get a hopeful ending. The united galaxy will work together to stop the spread of dark energy, as Hackett said “If we can put aside our grievances long enough to stop The Reapers, imagine what we can do together” 

There, I came up with a way to have the best of both worlds. Harbinger and The Illusive Man as the big bads. 

I also made The Reapers motivation to actually work. They are there to control the chaos. The harvests end with a creation of The Reaper and The Reapers are the pinnacle of evolution Harbinger’s speech at the end of ME2 was enough for a motivation. The Reapers are our salvation from the coming void. They want to ascend humanity to perfection. That makes complete sense and makes more sense than destroying everyone to save everyone????? WHo fucking wrote this Starchild garbage???

The point is, The Reapers and The Illusive Man could’ve worked as the big bads collectively together. 

[ravel-puzzlewell]

i’m making a separate post bc I didn’t want to clutter this post even more, but I think keeping Nihlus on the team would solve a lot of me1 problems with both clunky first act structure and Saren’s lackluster characterization. 

like, the game clearly tries to present Saren as this far-end Renegade who started with good intentions and similar attitudes to Renegade\Ruthless Shepard, they use a lot of similar “getting things done no matter the cost” rhetoric, but we only see\hear about him after his fall from grace, we never get examples\stories of him doing legit heroic shit. So his quick, 1-minute redemption falls pretty flat in my opinion, bc there’s practically no build up or emotional investment in seeing Saren as more than just an asshole. The most we get is this abominably awkward dialogue with Liara about “mb he’s misunderstood and had noble intentions??” that makes no fucking sense bc first, Liara had to kill her own mother bc of Saren, second, it’s shoehorned right after Virmire where one of your teammates dies bc of him, third, she has no arguments except for “hmmmm, but what if??”. But if we had Nihlus, Saren’s old friend, partner (and mb ex lover?), it would very naturally give us a perspective of someone who knew Saren at his best and would be willing to try and find some excuses. 

also, as I’ve said, me1′s first act is v clunky, bc they just straight up tell you that Saren is a bad guy in a cutscene that Shepard can’t even see, but then they make you run around getting proof, but there’s no suspense, basically no dramatic stakes, you can’t even pretend you’re investigating, you just feel like you’re wasting your time. But what if instead we didn’t have any obvious proof that Saren did it? Like, first of all, we start with including Nihlus on the team, bc he’s supposed to be evaluating Shepard’s performance, for fuck’s sake, why would he want move faster on his own, bioware. He still gets shot by Saren, BUT it happens almost at the end of the mission, so he and Shepard get to work together, and second, it’s done by the sniper rifle and we don’t see who the shooter was (in-game a headshot from a Spectre-gear sniper rifles can plausibly take off both shields and most, if not all, of the enemy health, so it’s not dumb as Nihlus going down from a one pistol shot), and third, he’s taken out of commission for the rest of the mission so we can still recruit Ash, but he survives. After that, when Shepard accuses Saren of working with geth, the Council appoints Nihlus to investigate, bc honestly, internal affairs investigation by Garrus makes no sense. Garrus is a regular cop, it’s like sending airport security to investigate James Bond. (don’t worry, shakarians, when I’m hired to write me1-remake, we can still fit your boy in there, bc he’s gonna have a very different characterization and dynamic from Nihlus) So now instead of the Council just being idiotically obtuse we have to convince Nihlus that Saren did it, and it’d make sense that he’s resistant to this idea bc they are friends and he can’t believe Saren would try to kill him. We can restructure this part of the game to resemble an actual investigation more and make it a bit longer, not by a lot, just frex integrating Telos, bc rn Telos serves no narrative purpose, you could easily cut it out and just recruit Liara on the Citadel like everyone else, and second bc rn “ undeniable proof” is stupid, as if you couldn’t just fake an audio file?? Instead we can have Tali have leads to Telos, and there we find an actual evidence.

After that we can have an actual dramatic scene with the Council, where Nihlus has to confront Saren about his betrayal, instead of the Council just being clowns like we have right now. The rest of the game is structured pretty much the same, Nihlus stick with Shepard to bring down Saren and his arc is coming in terms with Saren’s downfall, but learning to trust Shepard despite the recent betrayal. I think it’d be cool and thematically relevant to have someone represent Paragon end of Spectre scale, bc right now we have only Renegade in Saren. Nihlus could play this role, being no-nonsense, but responsible, but also having to confront the reality of how the Council treats Shepard vs how he’s treated himself and realize that even tho he himself is not prejudiced and judges people by their actions (he canonically is the one who nominates Shepard to become a Spectre despite turian-human conflicts), the system in whole is stacked against non-Council races. I’m seeing his dynamic with Shepard with Legolas\Gimli vibe of mutual respect, but playful competitiveness. Also, I know it’s controversial, but I’m not married to Nihlus being turian, he needs to be one of the Council races, and we already have asari and turian on the team, so he can be our salarian representation that me1 lacks. but tbh i don’t feel strongly either way. 

[rubyredsundae]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag!

I was not tagged by anyone, I just really wanted to join in. If you see this and want to as well, please do! I've been loving reading through everyone's :)

I am a fan since… 2011ish? Definitely at least a year before ME3 came out. I remember watching my brother play ME2 and thinking it was so cool. While he was away it was a huge comfort for me to play it in his room, kind of like a bonding or cathartic experience for someone who wasn't there at the time.

When ME3 came out, me and him went to the midnight release at a gamestop like 40 minutes away or something, wearing clothes we threw together to kind of fit the N7 color scheme. Even though we don't talk anymore, those memories are still really precious to me. Also, the nostalgia of playing ME1 after-school or on the weekend, running to get my easy mac from the microwave during a cutscene, stuffing too hot mouthfuls while speeding the Mako towards the conduit on Ilos.

Favorite game of the series: It's a tough call between ME1 and ME2, but I'd say ME2. It's the game I get the urge to replay the most.

MaleShep or FemShep? Femshep all the way. I only play MShep when I want to do his exclusive romances. No offense to BroShep, but ME was the first game I ever played that let me not just be a girl, but customizable. Not just to be the already generated token girl character in a pack of boys. And not only can you play Femshep, but every game you are surrounded by smart, funny, tough women as squadmates. It was such a huge deal to me, and still is. Femshep represents so much. As Jennifer Hale put it, FemShep was a military grade boot to the video game industry glass ceiling.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer? I personally tend to lean spacer in-game, but I tend to use Earthborn when I'm writing fics.

Paragon or Renegade? Usually Paragon, but Renegade playthroughs can be really interesting, especially if I have a detailed background about why Shep is the way they are. My first Renegade, Krystle, is pretty bigoted and anti-alien until she meets Liara. Krystle is naturally guarded and quick to anger, so meeting someone who seemed to accept her and listen to her without judgment really opens her mind.

By the 2nd game, she wakes up in the cerberus lab with new biotic powers, having previously been a regular foot soldier. This makes her seeth, having someone completely take her agency, agreeing with the illusive man on the surface but plotting against him the entire time. She starts to lean more Paragon, if only to piss him off. She has the biggest smirk on her face when she blows up the collector base.

Biotics or Tech? Oooh, this is hard. Maybe biotics just the tiniest smidge because of Jack/Samara biotic bubble throw during the suicide mission. I don't know if we'll ever get a screen adaptation but THAT is a moment I would pay to see done with a big SFX budget behind it.

Favorite class: Sentinel! I don't know how much this reflects on my class preference in gaming in general, but I love the 'jack of all trades'ness of it. By the time I get an assault rifle, I don't really feel the need for anyone else to make up for something I lack. Also, tech armor in ME2? Where your shields regenerate automatically when it breaks, and the cool down is when you initially active it, instead of when you detonate it? Chef's kiss. I understand why it was nerfed in 3 but I'm still mad.

Favorite companion: Ho boy. This is obviously very difficult to choose but I'm gonna say Miranda. I've always loved and identified with her character, I love the accent, and she's always useful on missions. I was so happy when I learned she could be a squadmate in the armax arena.

Honorable mention to Ashley in ME1. Her character is rarely used to exposition lore, so she just gets to have her personality fleshed out. I don't always agree with her but she does seem genuinely willing to listen. ME3 tosses her out the airlock though; partially because her content was bugged and never restored, leaving her inclusion feel half-baked, and partly because Ash and Kaidan have to be able to serve the same plot function as each other and it negatively affects her character more than his. This could also be intentional on bioware's part, to try to flesh out kaidan's personality and tone down Ashley's as a response to criticisms of them from ME1.

Least favorite companion: Also difficult, because I don't really hate anyone as much as I am just less interested in some. I didn't like Zaeed for a long time, but I think he's much better and really funny in ME3. James was pushed on me too much at the beginning and it made me really dislike him, but I think he's greatly improved and also pretty funny in Citadel DLC. I'm also pretty indifferent to Jacob; I don't think he's a bad character, just disappointing because there was a lot of potential.

Not that every character has to go on and do some grand quest to be interesting, but I don't feel like Jacob every really got a big hero moment like everyone else. He is a very calm and introverted person (imo) who doesn't really share his feelings, so it's always been hard for to to connect with him on anything.

My squad selection: Depends on the game, but it usually involves Garrus lol. Typically it's Liara/Garrus in ME1, Miranda/Garrus for ME2, and Liara/Garrus again in ME3. I am very boring and predictable! If you have any suggestions for me to try out and mix things up, let me know!

Favorite in-game romance: Also depends on the game. ME1 it's Liara, hands down. It was the first game, really the first piece of media, where I was told two women could fall in love and be happy and that was okay. The amount of enlightenment and comfort in figuring out that I was bi these games brought me is kind of wild to look back on.

ME2 is a toss-up between Garrus and Thane. They are both wonderful but in completely different ways. I tend to now romance Thane on characters I don't plan on importing to ME3, or if I do, to just have a really depressed fucking Shepard lol. I hate how much Thane was brushed off, especially if you romanced him.

Other pairings I like: l love Miranda so much, but I'm a gay girl so I ship her and Femshep. Same goes for Tali, Jack, Ashley... damn I'm just really gay for straight girls huh :/

I don't really have any other ships for non-Shep related pairings.

Favorite NPC: Shiala is really cool to me, I wish we got to see her in 3. Emily Wong is also cool, also wish we saw her in 3. There's probably a lot more that when I come across them next I'll be like, "you! I love you! You're my favorite."

Oh also Joker! And EDI! But not together. Idk I feel like ME3 threw a curveball at me with "do you support organic/non-organic relationships?" Like m'am please don't ask me, I accidentally drank turian liquor last year, I'm not qualified to be an expert on this.

Favorite antagonist: Tbh I really dig Saren. I think his reasoning is super fascinating, both to set up how someone who's indoctrinated can rationalize to themselves that they are still in control; and as a foil to Shepard, to show what can happen when you become too isolated and the ends justify the means. I think his VA does a great job of walking the line between desperate survivor and madman. He's also the only antagonist in the trilogy that we ever fight 1 on 1 (ignoring squadmates) and it feels more personal. I think he's such a fantastic foe for the first entry in a trilogy and I don't think he gets enough credit.

Favorite mission: Is it cliche to say the suicide mission? It's honestly close to perfect. The stakes, the sequencing, the cinematics, the score. Everything works so well.

Favorite loyalty mission: Kasumi's and Tali's are really cool, as we all know. Samara's is also cool because it is entirely non-combat based. Shepard has to prove they can accomplish what seems impossible without a gun or biotics.

The confrontation at the end with Morinth always haunts me a little, because they are both right in their own way. Morinth's final line, "and they say I'm the monster", as you let Samara kill her, watch her scrambling backwards in fear... I know that she's a remorseless killer, but it gets me every time.

Favorite DLC: It's Citadel, obviously. Turns out what I really wanted was quality time and a party with all my friends. I love mass effect for many reasons, but simulating friends and affection when I had none has always made me bond to this series like other games don't. Is it sad? Sure! But I don't think love and affection for fictional characters should ever be shameful until it makes you hurt other people.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy? I'd say destroy. If the other options were presented earlier and we had time to stew with it, maybe I'd be more split. But all of this in 5 minutes? It's not like the collector base where the implications are obvious and the choice is just down to what Shepard believes. The 3 choices all seem like space magic out of nowhere, and none of them seem to really offer any insight on what Shepard should believe. So I say destroy, just because it's what Shep has intended and is most consistent with their character and their admiration of Anderson.

Favorite weapon: The spectre level assault rifle in ME1. Never have I felt more powerful.

Favorite place: Idk why but I just thought of the creepy lab with all the scientists during the leviathan DLC. I really love when Mass Effect leans into the Lovecraftian horror aspect of things. Talking to Sovereign and Vigil in ME1 gave me goosebumps my first few playthroughs.

A quote I like: I have hundreds, but the one off the top of my head is, "After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began." I have a poster of it up on my wall right now!

[shadowxcetra]

things a new rp partner should know about me !

fun new meme here ! write 3-5 things a new rp partner (or those who want to be) should know about you and tag 3-5 people! it should be related to rp and not to other interests.

Tagged by: Stolen from @ancientblxde

Tagging: @revivedxfighter @ofgeneticperfection @mastersofmidgar @ivory-paragon @lovelessblade @floralcetra @size--matters @siren-euphemia @sentry-crosis @stagnantmako @firenewtsblog @lightlorn @violetscytheia @flava-proelium @pinkvanna @katana-otoko @turkoftheslums @warofthebeasts @reapersxfolly

1) Though I follow folks, I try not to bother them. I’ll admit lately I’ve been trying to interact more but usually I keep out of people’s way unless I know for certain it’s okay for me to talk to them. I’ve come to learn that I’m not really what’s considered quality here, and that I need to just let it go and not take it to heart. I also never ever want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, it’s a constant fear. And there’s unfortunately a stigma when it comes to OCs, and it’s one of the reasons why I left this RPC a few years ago. I understand why there is that stigma, and I imagine having an OC that kind of messes with canon doesn’t look very good to potential RP partners. This is just another reason why I don’t usually try to reach out to others. Please know it’s not anyone’s fault and you’re all great. It’s just I’m kinda stupid and I don’t want to end up hurting anyone. 

I tend to unfollow folks who do not express interest in RPing (whether it be not following me back or not answering stuff). Again, that’s not anyone’s fault. Folks are free to RP with whoever they want. And me unfollowing isn’t a final thing. It’s just me trying to give people space. 

2) My activity is kind of sporadic and it’s difficult for me to say if I’ll be active or not. I’m almost finished with my Master’s degree and am trying to get a full-time job in the summer. However, I also feel a need to keep up with what’s going on on the dash and will check and reblog things often. I’m constantly shifting between anxiety of not missing out and absolute exhaustion. I’m kind of slow with replies and some asks, but I am thankful for each one and want to give the best I can in return. I’m working on getting a better handle on my depression which I hope will make me more consistent in responding to everyone who sends things. 

3) While Eden can be sexually forward (if she thinks it’ll benefit her in some way), I won’t do smut due to personal reasons. I’m all up for writing her being flirty and getting touchy-feely (it’s how she tricks folks after all), but I’ll skip over any of the actual nsfw stuff and just continue after the act. I’m also totally okay with dark themes, gore, controversial subject matter, crime,  and violence (I actually enjoy exploring these themes in writing). I just won’t write detailed sex scenes. I’m hoping that makes sense? 

4)  I’m trying to avoid gifs, cutscenes, and content directly from the FFVII remake game. I don’t mind spoilers, it’s just for some weird reason some of the things on it really screws with my mind (it’s hard to explain). It’s a beautiful game and folks should enjoy it. I just ask if folks could please tag them as “ffvii remake spoilers” or “ffviiR spoilers”. Something of the like.

[chocobutt-trash]

I have far too many feelings about the ending of Comrades

...and they’re all going below the cut.

Read on if you want to flail with me.

What the fuck, Bahamut. What. The. Fuck.

I feel like Job from the Old Testament. The Glaives tried their damned best, only to be told to give more. And more. And more. To be the physical angels guarding the prison while Noctis slept (like Bahamut was too weak to do it himself).

And to be told that I, a humble Glaive, needed absolution for my sins, I mean, come on, Bahamut. This Glaive has been literally fighting back the darkness. This Glaive has been the paragon a servant to you. And you’re treating him like a repentant sinner? You ought to be treating him like a treasured employee. but then you have a habit of treating your beloved servants like that, don’t you *cough*Ardyn*cough*

Everything always comes back to Angelgard, doesn’t it?

Going back there was awesome, though. So awesome. Especially the cutscene with the five Astrals in the frame. It was amazing seeing it treated as a sparring ring. I mean, Bahamut totally has an absolution kink. He loves constructing things just so that he can give his followers a chance to absolve themselves. Christ.

I spent that entire last fifteen minutes swearing so creatively I could’ve charged millions for it at an art gallery.

I want to fight a god now. Like, properly.

I mean, technically, I have, but it wasn’t very satisfying. Because, just like with Ardyn, it was what he wanted me to do.

I want to be Yuna. I want to say NO, ENOUGH.

I know it’s already been said multiple times that the core difference between FFXV and FFX is that XV blindly accepts fate, while X challenges it in the face of an endless spiral of suffering. That’s accurate - FFXV is also an endless spiral of suffering but there’s no escaping dharma there. It’s impossible to come out of the game feeling like you’ve truly won of your own volition. It’s a pyrrhic victory for you, the player, and a grand old game for the Gods.

But there’s another difference that I can put a little more succinctly, that makes more sense to my upbringing and background. If FFX is a Gnostic game, that makes FFXV its Catholic brother (for the record, I have grown up around both these religious frameworks and I don’t detest either of them). Think about the messages - FFX searches for truth beyond accepting what one scripture says, whilst still staying immensely spiritual, whereas FFXV places devotion, sacrifice, and absolution for original sin above all else. None of it needed to happen.

And don’t get me wrong, while I disagree with it, I don’t hate it for that. I feel it’s actually quite realistic, in a way. But I do feel horribly constrained by that thought. That it’s all an endless struggle and, sorry, but the people in power have decided that they’re not going to use that power to lessen your pain, because your abstract personal development is far more important. And worse, that we should just accept it.

Too many feelings. I’m gonna go write a story.

[nikumuchi]

Mass Effect 2 Review

Amazing presentation and much more streamlined compared to the predecessor. But as comfortable as the simplification is, the complexity of the first game, including its story, feels much deeper and more stimulating. The cutscenes are incredible. Even the talking parts are visually interesting. There are a lot of interesting set pieces but also a lot of underdesigned levels. It's dull to take cover, shoot everything that moves, advance and repeat. Maybe the level designers wanted you to be more aggressive and fight at the front. But the game is over when Shepard falls. So it's basically high risk but no reward. Your team mates can't use medigel on you. They should be a little more intelligent to back you up when you are playing dangerous. Or better yet there should be an option how they should behave. Like using techs and biotics nonstop. The story is kind of bareboned but there is nothing wrong with a simple premise per se. The design and the writing of the characters make them memorable but everyone feels rather isolated. You get a feel for the individual, but they do not play off each other. A few don't get along, which also doesn't help to consider everyone a team. I think the main threat is not established well enough. Or should I say: Not early enough... visually. Words don't cut it. You need to witness the devastation first-hand a lot sooner for better emotional throughline. And I didn't believe for a second this was a "suicide mission". You should be on the clock to get a better grasp of what's at stake. No one comments on your leadership when you take your sweet time traveling around. If compared to Mass Effect 1 a lot of elements are... I wouldn't say missing but abscent from the sequel. Most notably regarding the equipment. There is no need to prepare because the micro-management has been significantly reduced. You have to collect ammunition but there is way less items to gather. No omni-tools, no omni-gel, no armor or patches. As a result of that you cannot sell stuff, which means money is rather tight. On the other hand it makes more sense that you level up after a mission. You can still explore the galaxy and visit planets that aren't critical to the main mission. It's awesome that you can read about chemical and physical properties of planets and also that you can fly around instead of selecting everything from a menu. But you cannot drive around on the surface because there is no vehicle. All areas including the cities look and feel smaller in size - especially the Citadel. On the other hand the copypasta from the first game is gone. Could it be that there are fewer quests? Well, it's not like there is not enough content. The structure is a little repetitive and predictable. You recruit all new team members, help them sort out a personal problem to gain their loyalty and then embark on the main mission. In between you scan some planets and collect resources. I know these loops are inherent to game design but they are very transparent in this case. It consists literally of the sum of its parts. I find the emotional resonance from the narrative rather lacking. It is too cold. This can be tracked back to weak direction. It should be a big deal to meet your old team members again. A little sentimentality is called for here. Kaidan/Ashley and especially Liara are a huge disappointment in my opinion. I found myself not caring all that much what's going on in particular missions and wanted to go back to the shooting - which is untypical for a script kiddie like me. The game is very easy (I played on normal) so that you don't have to think or pay attention. You do not have to understand the mission objectives or what's at stake to follow it through. If you wanna be a paragon, you pick the upper dialogue choice. If renegade the lower. No exceptions. Reading the option itself is negligible. You can equip whatever to everyone and will be fine, which feels inconsequential and that's a problem. They neglected to provide gamepad support, which I can't understand since it was developed for the XBox. You have to install a mod to have it reinstated. With that it is perfect to play and feels wonderful. There are a couple of graphical glitches that make characters jump around in the frame. No disaster, really, just funny and a bit immersion breaking. Somehow I got stuck on a ledge twice in different places where I couldn't get off, only after I reloaded the checkpoint. And then there was this one time Shepard's model was facing in the opposite direction. Opening the menu fixed it. Also some lines are repeated twice in a row, which is kinda funny. Maybe it's due to my low cpu speed. Or it's the aforementioned mod, I don't know. The game is very stable otherwise. The german localization is top-notch but there are some issues. Sometimes the subtitle has problems with punctuation and shows blank symbols instead of commas. And the spoken word differs from the captions in a few places - sometimes drastically. Bottom line, it's a fun game but not so much an RPG anymore. It is dumbed down and therefore more accessible, which means easier to play and to like. But it doesn't challenge your wits nor your heart.

[dramatic-sapphic]

My final opinion on ME:A

Okay, some of you already know that I finished Andromeda yesterday, and I wanted to write down what I thought about it. There will be some meta and critical content, but also positive stuff. This might get long so I’ll put it under a cut for those who don’t care/ don’t want spoilers

I’m just going to start with what I liked the most about the game.

The Protagonist: I played as a sarcastic but empathic scott ryder and fell in love with him after the first three dialouges. His voice actor is amazing, and I really enjoyed that you have a bit more control about who your character is than with Shepard (except for sheps past, but bioware didn’t really work with that). My ryder kind of reminded me of Hawke, another character I could deeply connect to. Plus, they dropped the renegade/paragon system, which I’m glad for.

No forced grey morality: After the disaster that was dragon age inquisition, I was afraid that they would try that shit again in mass effect. Thank god they didn’t. Just imagine if they went “hey, the angara did this one (1) bad thing, maybe they deserved to be oppressed??!!1?”. There were some choices, for example saving the krogan scouts or the salarian pathfinder, where you could easily justify both desicions, and I enjoyed that greatly. 

The whole kadara plot: Guys, I think even before I started to play andromeda I made it quite clear that reyes vidal would be my fave. And what can I say, I know myself pretty damn well apparently because I love him. So. Much. But that aside, kadara is probably my favourite planet in the whole game, and I found the story to be intruiguing (It was also a huge missed opportunity but more about that later)

The companions: Wow, where do I start. I love all of them. Even cora and drack, two characters I believed to be a bit bland at first, grew on me after their loyalty quest. Jaals storyline was mindblowing, and in my opinion, he’s one of the best characters bioware has ever created. Then there’s Peebee, another character I grew to love with all my heart. I just. I love them all a lot. If I were to compare me:a to the OT, me:a is a close second after me:1 in regards to companions.

Some small things: The beautiful scenery. Small cutscenes, even in side quests. Everything you do seems to somehow matter. That feeling when you hit 100% viability. The angara, their cutlure, the fact that ryder hugs jaals mother because the angara “like the hugging”. Very talkative companions. The humour. I could list more, but then this post would be endless.

Now, on to the thing I absolutely hated (I’m going to skip the face animations, because you get used to them pretty quickly)

The glyph puzzles and vaults: They were the bane of my existance. I hate puzzles. I hate puzzles so fucking much, you have no idea. The fact that there are barely any puzzles in the OT was so amazing to me, and then those fuckers decided to but them everywhere. And made them obligatory. No, I don’t want to solve a fucking sudoku puzzle in a shooter. I want to shoot (and occasionally stab) things. 

Not enough focus on the main story: There were a lot of sidequests in this game, no question. And they were enjoyable, kind of. But did they really need to be there? Wouldn’t you rather focus on making one, big main plot for each planet and just throw in a few sidequest for those who like to do them? This is what I mean when I said that kadara was a missed opportunity. There was so much potential! It was intruiguing, it had two characters I would have loved to hear more about, it even had a little bit of the grey morality bioware loves so much. But they rushed it, and I’ll be forever angry because of it.

The whole ending: Okay, listen. The Archon was nothing but an evil douchebag. The story was kind of interesting at first, because I thought “Wow, he must have some really strong motivations if he’s willing to cause so much pain”. But nah. See, I think that bioware forgot how to write compelling villains and endings sometime after they sold their soul to EA. The archdemon was evil, but still terrifying (at least for me). Saren was evil, but still terrifying. The endings were amazing because there was good buildup for the bossfights. You arrive at a place which was fine before and watch it being completely decimated: people are slaughtered, everything around you is destroyed, and you become terribly aware that if you fail, everyone will die. There’s nothing like that in me:a. You waltz in there, while you buddies take care of the other bad guys, one irrelevant side character dies, you feel a bit for your twin, but that’s it. It was rushed. It didn’t have any emotional impact. If your villain doesn’t have a reason for being evil, at least make them terrifying enough for me to fear them.

The horrible treatment of bi/gay characters: When I first heard about this, I thought that people were overreacting. Oh, how wrong I was. The whole Jil/Gil story was just disgusting. The relationship between Peebs and her ex was abusive. There were those two turians in a relationship, but as it turns out, one of them died. They didn’t put as much effort into same sex relationships as they did with the others. They didn’t even bother changing the kiss animation during the dance with reyes for a male ryder, so he ended up kissing reyes chin instead. I’m sure there were more things I just missed or forgot about. What the fuck bioware? 

My final thoughts are... I’m really not sure. I enjoyed the game. Hell, I loved it more than I did me:2 (but less than the other OT games). But bioware is slowly moving in a direction I’m not entirely comfortable with. I’ve played most of their rpgs, and I loved them. But when I look back at da:o, me:1, baldurs gate and neverwinter night, I’m starting to see less and less of what made them special in their newer games. Now, their pacing is all over the place, they can’t write bad guys, there are too many meaningless sidequests, and while the games are still fun, there just isn’t any emotional impact anymore (i’m mostly talking about me:a and da:i here). And now anthem is coming and I’m starting to loose any hope that they might learn from their mistakes.

Mass effect andromeda was a solid game, with amazing companions, but a lot of the critizism it got was deserved. I just wished that bioware would finally listen to it and go back to doing what they’re good at, instead of doing whatever is popular at the moment. But that’s not going to happen any time soon.

[sleepy--mage]

I just finished Mass Effect: Andromeda and I have some thoughts. Some spoilers ahead but I'll try to be vague. Basically, it's bad. WRITING - Some characters were a pleasure to talk to, and I genuinely loved them, but others were actually painful to be around. Vetra, Jaal and Drack were particularly lovable. - The game had some really nasty homophobic elements. Nothing hateful, just ignorant. It's classic bioware bullshit but worse. I never found any trans characters but I've heard bad things. - Only gay dude is obsessed with his female friend and having babies, he barely has his own character he's just there to facilitate some kind of weird procreation thing and some of the dialogue is actually kinda homophobic. - They killed off the first character voiced by a trans person before you even get to see her which is majorly disappointing. I thought maybe we would get some actual trans representation. But no. - Cora is the worst example of bioware queercoding Straight characters. It literally felt like a trait of her character was "looks, acts, and is written as if she is a queer person, but periodically reminds you of how OF COURSE SHE IS NOT GAY WHY WOULD YOU ASSUME THAT". Shit tier writing. - Romance was really lack lustre for a Vetra. I loved her character but not a lot happened. I think I got two romance specific cutscenes and no romantic dialogue wheels. Not sure what other romances are like but I'm guessing they're all probably a little limited. - Story had a lot of recycled elements from the old trilogy that were not handled as well, and was generally... rather dull. Also the story felt rather short, ending very quickly and achieving nothing. While Inquisition felt exciting and fun Andromeda is just... empty. It has no heart. - Choices don't matter. In the original trilogy the Paragon/Renegade choices changed the tone of your playthrough quite drastically. While it's possible to be colder or more emotional in dialogue there's no real way to effect the world around you. This is particularly apparent in the main quest but is especially unfulfilling in dialogue scenes with the crew. It makes what you're playing rather two dimensional and it doesn't feel like mass effect. You guide the character through loyalty missions but ultimately you have no impact. Doesn't matter if you've done loyalty missions for main quest stuff either. It feels shallow. GAMEPLAY - Environments are... okay. They're not bad, but they're entirely generic. I feel as if Inquisition did a better job of creating distinct, pretty and fun to travel environments. It's not great, but it's not bad. It just kind of is. - In the game loading screens are hidden well. Considering how often it needs to load something I'd say it does well here. Most are covered up by nice flight animations and they're the one thing about the animation that actually looks stunning. - While you can take different approaches to combat it generally feels pretty stale. I changed only one of my powers from the beginning of the game and I honestly had no desire to switch it up. Mostly because much of it was confusing in places. I changed some things but not much, it didn't develop as well as inquisition. - What is asked of you gameplay wise is VERY REPETITIVE. Gameplay mechanics are so limited. You will be scanning things forever. Interfacing with tech is much more boring than it should be. Driving is painful in so many ways. There might be a lot to do but most of what you actually are doing is just the same thing over and over and over. It got boring fast and then quickly became annoying. The open world doesn't feel open either. It's not worth it. - My game was bugged to hell. Parts of it were unplayable and I had to load back just to be able to continue. It left me feeling very frustrated, and it happened multiple times. Luckily the auto save feature was excellent, although I wish it would let me save myself during missions. ANIMATION/ACTING - Voice acting was generally good, and the actors themselves brilliant, but there are moments when they clearly lacked context for what was being recorded. Lots of strange and awkward moments caused by characters either over or under reacting to situations, and it was bad for immersion. Bioware squandered the talent it had. -You know the animation is bad. It mostly looks unfinished. Faces barely move, eye contact is way off and body language was repetitive and often didn't match their mood. - Movement was glitchy as heck. For example, Peebee couldn't talk to be without doing a full 360 spin, and I triggered dialogue with Vetra and got transported clumsily across the Tempest. The game felt unfinished and clumsily put together. - Character models were so lazy. Character creation was limited by presets which was very disappointing. Again skin tones were off and hair options shitty. Models of other races were copy and pasted with only colours changed. All turians looked the same, and worse all Asari apart from Peebee had the same face. Many well known and loved races were not included physically so that bioware wouldn't have to animate them. It was lazy and the game looked shit because of it. I was majorly disappointed with his game and will probably end up selling it on sooner rather than later. I'm pretty sure I won't be spending any money on DLC. If you were considering getting this game I would suggest not bothering and just watching a playthrough on YouTube if you're curious. Instead buy Inquisition if you haven't already (it's super cheap at the moment) or try other titles like Horizon Zero Dawn and NieR: Automata.

[cactuarkitty]

@tr3velyan replied to your post “@theravenofwynter replied to your post “@theravenofwynter replied to...”

If you "harden" Alistair, you can make him be King and have your warden still date him, even if he marries Anora (or if he rules on his own). No one seems to mind.

Oh yeah I knew that. I just wanted to keep him a grey warden cause he was adamant he didn’t want to be King - that he loved being a grey warden. Thanks though!

@rock-paperback-scissors replied to your photo “[ugly crying]”

*hugs* This part of the game is heartbreaking, no matter what. You're almost through it, though... be strong! <3

Thank you! :) I’m up to fort drakon now so not much left I guess. Will be glad when it’s over tbh.

@wendladarlings replied to your post “I made Anora Queen but Alistair is talking like he’s the King. He’s...”

I had to get a mod for the Dark Ritual HAHA the one on Nexus is so good. I just couldn't stomach it as is. And the "Alistair Revised Romance" mod fixes his dialogue. :)

I wish I could use the romance mod but I’m on xbox. Wonder if the mods can be put on xbox. Prob not. One day I’ll get an awesome PC. Atm I guess I rely on my headcanons and imagination. I just think of Norua saying to him: “Alistair you’re not King! Shut up already!”

@sparkyandsnarky replied to your post “I made Anora Queen but Alistair is talking like he’s the King. He’s...”

The reason that Morrigan scene seems so off mood is actually because they just overlaid the Alistair skin on the scene that's used for a male warden in a romance with Morrigan. The weirdly sensual atmosphere makes sense in that context, but they didn't feel like making a completely different cutscene for an Alistair that's been romanced by a female warden. It's not so much intentionally skeevy or totally clueless as it was just lack of effort on the studios part.

It looked creepy to me mostly cause of the look on Alistair’s face. They gave him a “ew I don’t want to do this!” look. I thought they wouldn’t show it. Anyway it was icky.

@spacegryphon replied to your post “@dartheames replied to your photo “[ugly crying]” ...”

and that is why I always make my Warden the king's mistress :D okay not really for long time I didn't even know you could keep Alistair as a Warden and it just stuck

Hahaha! It’s cool us being grey wardens. We’re the grey warden power couple. Wish Alistair would stop saying he’s King tho haha.

@dartheames replied to your post “@dartheames replied to your photo “[ugly crying]” ...”

Yeah. Luckily I played the series backwards so I didn't have to :D

That’s good!

@miss-lys replied to your photo “[ugly crying]”

OMG YOU'RE AT THE END agskwiwyebdkaowuebfkwowje so many emotions!

Yeah I’m a bit behind on the random thoughts lol. Was writing up the alienage stuff. Think I’ll try to post that later before I do the final bit.

@starryundertones replied to your post “I made Anora Queen but Alistair is talking like he’s the King. He’s...”

right!?! Morrigan and Alister scene was weird!! and I felt bad for forcing him to do it because I knew what would happen if you didnt and I was like 'nope neither of us are gonna die!' but yea being an elf at the end with Alister as king stinks. Cousland has a great playthrough tho.

It was gross! But I’m glad we won’t die.

@sentinelviktorcullen replied to your post “My summarisation of the Landsmeet: Loghain: Blah blah blah blah I...”

Pretty much

Haha yeah. Shut up Loghain!

@bioticsandheadshots replied to your photo “Kimber Shepard. Soldier | Colonist | War Hero | Paragon”

She's adorable!

Thank you! :)

@erubadhriell replied to your photo “Kimber Shepard. Soldier | Colonist | War Hero | Paragon”

She is beautiful! :)

Aww thanks :) <3

@licorickblack replied to your post “Random DA:O Thoughts - Pt 12.”

Random fact, Bhelen is actually better for Orzammar. He's ruthless but very progressive!

I gathered that from talking to the other dwarves. But he seems more than ruthless to me. He’s scheming and conniving. I think he’d murder his own kids if it got him what he wanted. Glad I changed my pick haha.

[carryoncastiel]

Thoughts on ME:A now that I’ve finished the main story

SPOILERS obviously

Overall: Good game. I had quite a lot of fun with it though I definitely wouldn’t call it great. I think it’s a good starting point for a new trilogy(or however many games there are going to be) and something the devs can build on for the next game(s). I also think they should’ve delayed it for maybe half a year to fix some (technical) problems. 

Positive:

The facial animations weren’t at all as bad as many people made it out to be. Not really a positive in general but given the outcry before release I think I should mention it.

The soundtrack. I didn’t really hear too much in the game itself ‘cause I either concentrated on the fighting or on the dialog (or both). But I love listening to the whole thing on youtube.

A good casual outfit. After having to endure those ugly beige Pajamas I am so happy to have a cool leather jacket.

Ryder and crew reacting to stuff like datapad texts or when you drive too close to the edge of a canyon. It creates a good immersion.

Overall good characters. Ryder is funny and all the squadmates are unique. The friendship with Cora is one of my favorites. Alot of interesting side characters as well.

The story was good. It was kinda like the Reaper story and nothing super original but I think it worked pretty well. Especially the quest where you save the Salarian arc was done well. Creepy and disturbing. I also like that they don’t answer everything. What were the Jardaan up to? Who gave the Archon orders? As long as they don’t pull a DA:I and answer those questions in a DLC I’m excited to get more answers in the next game.

Combat is fun. I didn’t try out different profiles or much of the powers though since after finding a combat style that works I stick with it unless I have to change it.

Good sidequests. There are also fetch quests but I thought them to be more interesting than “I need ten elfroots please” (though I’m one of the only people who didn’t mind the fetch quests in DA:I that much). Reyes questline was the best for obvious reasons.

The world and quests weren’t overwhelming. That at least for me is the biggest concern with open world games (though ME:A isn’t really open world - but the different worlds are pretty big) and when I saw the first planet map I thought “Oh shit this is gonna take forever”. But in the end it felt like the right amount of stuff to do - not too much and not too little.

Negative:

The character creator. I think we can all agree on that one. 

No real jerk/evil dialog options and not enough of those action prompts (or whatever you call them). Excluding the romance scenes I can only think of one prompt in the game and that is shooting that asshole orb boss. Paragon and Renegade interrupts were so good. “Biotic God” anyone? Or killing Kai Leng as revenge for Thane. Having a prompt to punch the Archon in the face at the end would’ve been so satisfying for example.

Enemies could be more varied. It’s kinda weird ‘cause there are a lot of different type of enemies but fighting them felt pretty much always the same. The only exception is the boss-turned-mook with the orb.

No memorable boss fights. The boss with the orb could’ve been good if you weren’t fighting three or more later as normal enemies. The most memorable fight was against the one arcitect that I fought (so far) and that is optional.

The last fight is a letdown. I mention in another post that the Archon wouldn’t shut up during his fight and it was super annoying. And I thought after he fell down that you’ll get to fight him (since he is the bad guy after all) but nope. It’s over. Meh.

The romances. Apart from the obvious disservise to m/m romancers the romances seem uneven in general. I have only done the Vetra and Reyes romance so far (and I undid the Reyes one for Vetra so I didn’t see all the dialog for it - though apart from the finale I doubt there was much more) and even though I love Vetra as a character and the scenes with her and Ryder are cute it felt incredibly lacking. There were like two major cutscenes and the rest were short dialog scenes and emails (Her quest doesn’t have romance dialog). Again I loved those especially the emails. But for example the scene before the last battle was like four lines of dialog with a little handholding!? It was basically nothing. And I just have to think about DA:I where in the Cullen romance you get that whole chapel scene with worried hugging and after the final boss you get more nice scenes and argh. Also in DA:I you get to kiss your LI whenever you want and in ME:A  the dialog (at least on the ship) stays the same as if you weren’t together. Just the Vetra romance of course. I hear the Cora romance has more stuff and yeah that just sucks. But anyway before I go on forever...

Technical stuff (that maybe could’ve been fixed with a delay):

Glitches and perfomance issues. Luckily I didn’t get many glitches but I still had four times where I had to load a save or even exit the game before I could continue playing. More annoying were the framerate stuttering when driving around in the Nomad. Overall nothing super frustrating though.

The landing and starting cutscenes should be skippable. Seeing it maybe two times is enough. So much loading time could be saved. There is also dialog that repeats too often. Everytime you get to the panel that activates a vault SAM and Ryder always say the exact same lines. SAM is understandable since he’s a robot but Ryder's “Before it’s gonna try to kill us, you mean” being repeated over and over makes no sense.

Dialog being cut off by other dialog shouldn’t happen.

The writing of the Angara. This is maybe gonna be an unpopular opinion but the Angara felt like any other Milky Way race to me. They may look different but other than that there wasn’t really anything “alien” about them. They even have movies and with the same kind of tropes than we do, like...what? I know they can’t be too different because you are supposed to empathize with them but they are already humanoid looking so they could’ve gone wild with everything else imo. And since this takes place in a completly different galaxy it feels weird for them to not really be any different.

And now as I wait for the inevitable DLC announcement I may try to get the other romances as well. Though will I be able to resist Reyes a second time? I doubt it.

[radiantxhero-moved-blog]

keep this ask for last and answer all the ones you didn't get

[Boy, this is long...]

Supportive – Who did you S-rank and why? 

In Awakening, I S-ranked Tharja. Not cause she appealed to me as a character or as a “sexy waifu”, but because she shored up my unit’s only stat deficiency of mag/res.

As far as Fates, my Birthright file S-ranked Kaden, and my Revelation S-ranked Reina due to a miscalculation on army-wide supports -- though she surprised me as a marriage a option, even if she can be a little unnerving at times. 

The marriage aspect is overall sort of eh to me, so I rarely have a reason outside of “how is this beneficial to me” or “whups I made a mistake & you need to marry so and so instead lol sorry bruh”

Misfortunate – Unluckiest moment in game? 

Don’t even speak to me of Birthright. I still haven’t finished the damn game because I got so fucking frustrated with it. The entire playthrough was a big “fuck you”. 

Otherwise, probably the time I played through Radiant Dawn and got to the level where you fight Oliver again. Ike & Soren got completely separated from the bulk of the group, and were surrounded by Halberdiers and Snipers. Ike got hit by well over 10 Sniper crits until Soren ran out of staves.

Aching Blood – Did you name/forge any weapons? If so, what was your favorite name that you gave to a weapon? 

Ever since PoR! Back when you could name and change the color of the weapons (not relevant, really, but you could have freaking neon weapons, come on).

I can’t really recall specific names, there’ve been a lot. My most sentimental was probably a golden sword from PoR I dubbed “Golden Claw -- not the most creative sounding, but it stems from a fantasy world I made up when me, my bro & a friend of ours used to play with toy swords in our backyard. It was the first step into writing and world building I ever had, so it’s meaningful to me.

As for sheer punny names, though, I forged Jakob a dagger dubbed “Get Served”.

Triple Threat – Swords, lances, or axes? 

Generally axes, I just love to bash/crush things in games. But, irl, I have more...experience??? (not really, but what else am I to call it?) with waving fake swords around and handling real blades. I have a few in my closet, I really should post some pics of them.

In Extremis – Clutch moment for you in game? 

I’m sure there must have been some -- especially in RD -- but I’m blanking. The only thing I can think of atm is Zihark standing alone in the river, completely surrounded/barraged by Laguz, and Astra/critting for most of the chapter. Barely surviving for most of the time, and quickly running out of healing items and eventually weapons.

Wary Fighter – Are you reckless or careful in your strategies? 

I vacillate. I’m not that great of a strategist. With newer levels/games, I’m more careful -- I fight defensively more often than not, and try to bait enemies; which didn’t work very well in Fates, and it annoyed me. 

With games/levels I know like the back of my hand, I run around like a nutter because I know I can. 

Swap – Did you ever sacrifice a unit in order to save another? 

All the damn time. If you play without perma death, you’ll likely come across a situation where you just...have to. Meat shield was a favored term for me and my bro when we were younger, going through Blazing Sword-Radiant Dawn. Some characters were literally there to soak up hits, block paths, and draw attention in dire need.

Aptitude – Was FE easy for you when you started or was it difficult? 

I started when Blazing Sword came out to the US, so way back in 2003, when I was only eight years old. Some things were difficult on account of obvious lack of thought as a child, but I learned fast what to do and what not to do. I would say it was easy to get into, though there sure were rough patches.

Rally Spectrum – What is your most favorite/preferred stat? 

Defense, followed up closely by Attack. I like my tanks, what can I say? 

Galeforce – What was your most broken unit? 

Not counting my level who knows what MU in Awakening, the most broken unit I’ve ever used was Ephraim. Without using any stat increasing items, at the end of it, he had maxed every stat aside from res (which he was one or two off from max) through just level up. He’s ridiculously unbalanced. PoR Ike is also crazy unbalanced, and it’s not hard to max him in crucial stats without even trying -- plus, he uses Aether like a nut in PoR.

Rightful God – Favorite boss in the series? 

This is really, really, really hard?? I love Nergal and his backstory -- not mention his kickass theme, and flashy magic -- I love Lloyd, because you really just don’t want to fight him plot-wise, and he’s a challenging boss to boot.

As much as I just don’t like Orson, he’s a great boss on account of why he turns sides. It’s fucking heartbreaking, and left a very solid impression on me as a child. It’s really, really sad for those of you who haven’t played Sacred Stones, and I recommend looking into it if only for just that scene in the game. I felt absolutely awful after clearing that chapter. I vaguely remembering setting the game down for a bit, because wow that just happened.

I love the Black Knight, I love Ashnard (the crazy fuck). I love/hate fighting Shiharam; it’s an underrated, but very emotional level in my opinion. Especially if you recruited Jill. It’s sad, but it’s realistic and I love them for not glossing over the real facts of fighting against your own countrymen and family, no matter that you feel you’re doing the right thing by opposing them. Probably loads more of PoR bosses. BERTRAM WAS ALSO A FAV NEARLY FORGOT HIM!

I love so many RD bosses, too. Jarod was a great boss, in my opinion -- I just loved his character a lot. Every single boss in the Tower of Guidance is incredible, and it’s constant “fuckfuckfuck” and angst the whole way. You will never forget going up against Ashera. Never.

That one dude in Awakening after Emmeryn dies, can’t recall his name, but I felt terrible doing that level.

Fates??? Leo was fun to beat up and I liked his cutscene, I guess? I don’t really recall many bosses that I cared about. Does Silas count?

Veteran – Which FE games have you played and what was your favorite? 

Blazing Sword, Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Shadow Dragon, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, Fates. Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn and Blazing Sword will always be my tops in this franchise.

Paragon – Was there a unit that you put extra effort into/ favored over others? 

Harken and Lowen. Gerik. Ike, Boyd, Gatrie, Ranulf, Mist, Rhys, Rolf, Leanne, Rafiel, Oscar, Nolan, Volke, Geoffrey, Mordecai, lots more probably -- ones I did regret putting time into: PoR Sothe, and Kyza in Radiant Dawn. Lon’qu, Stahl, Lissa, Miriel, others I’m forgetting whups?? Silas and Kaden.

Quick Burn – Do you try to get through the game quickly or do you take your time? 

Take my time, especially now. It’s amazing how much dialogue/plot I missed as a kid by punching the A button or skipping scenes entirely. Or stuff I simply didn’t understand as a kid, too.

Vow of Friendship – Do you reset if you lose units in battle? 

Depends on A) the unit, B) how the unit was killed, C) how long I’ve been playing whatever level it is. 

If they’re a favorite unit, yeah, I’ll reset. If the unit (regardless of favoritism) died because of something ridiculous, I’ll reset out of frustration or annoyance at something that was most likely circumstantial, but usually only the once. If I almost clear a level and a unit dies -- especially one I care for -- you bet your butt I’m shutting the game off and swearing up a storm before leaving it to sit for a few hours because I’m pissed at whatever mistake/bullshit I made/happened.

But, on the whole, if someone dies, they die. It doesn’t bother me overly much, and I know that I can just use that character on another playthrough.

[thelongestdamnreviews]

Diablo III + Reaper of Souls

I originally started Diablo III as a Witch Doctor when I first got it, but I put the game away for a while and eventually came back during Season 15 and rolled a Monk for it.  It took just over 25 hours to get to the end of Act V, playing mostly on Hard with some Expert thrown in.  This review covers the base game plus Reaper of Souls, but not Rise of the Necromancer.  I played entirely on my own and since I had a seasonal character, none of the items or gold my Witch Doctor found could be used. 

Diablo III is a bit of a different beast from the previous games in the series, mostly from Diablo II.  It's more of an arcade-y experience I think.  You no longer can allocate stat points (until level 70) and you no longer have three skill trees to balance your skill points between.  Instead, the game automatically adds points to your stats and you unlock a new skill or a Rune that modifies it for every level up to 69 or 70 depending on the character class.  I imagine some people cried foul at having player choice taken away in how their character develops, but you still have control over what skills are in use.  You just don't dump points into skills to boost the synergy it has with the others you'll use.

You also unlock passive skills and slots to put them in.  

Minor break in the long review, but the best times I had with D2 were with modded games and using PlugY to not only give me a ton of inventory space as well as over four million pages of shared stash, but I could reset my stat points and skill points at any time.  Most of my playtime was during Normal difficulty and I had a bunch of builds, though not all of them were viable for anything beyond that.  I know Blizzard eventually added a once-per-difficulty respec option, but I'm still not keen on the possibility of ruining a character by investing in the wrong skills/stats.  You couldn't really freely experiment with builds unless you were willing to invest a bunch of time into leveling them and come to find out, Sanctuary really isn't a great Aura even when it's been leveled.  And for what it's worth, the only time I beat Act V Hell was in Eastern Sun, using an Arctic Blast/Winter Fury Druid. 

This still ended up being the most kills I got in one chain. 

Diablo III lets you change around assigned skills and their Runes at any time you're out of combat, no need to use a consumable or anything.  I really liked this aspect since it let me go hog wild with trying out different skills, combinations of them, different Runes, etc.  I didn't need to look up guides to see if a skill that looked good on paper was still worth using or not because there was no risk in actually trying them out.  You're given six slots (left mouse button, right mouse button, 1234 or QWER) to assign skills, and the game initially restricts you on which skills go in which slot, but you can change that with Elective Mode.  This also allows you to use more than one skill of a given category in your loadout provided it's not an "only one" situation like the Monk's Mantras category. 

Each skill has five Runes assigned to it, though you're only able to use one Rune per skill.  Sometimes they merely buff the damage a skill does, sometimes they change other parameters like making the skill hit in a wider area or they change how the skill works entirely.  For example, the Monk's Wave of Light summons a ghostly bell right in front of the Monk that deals pretty heavy damage to anything it hits.  The Wall of Light Rune changes the damage type and makes it stun enemies it hits, while Shattering Light also changes the element type but also has the bell generate a wide beam of cold that travels and smashes into anything in its way.  Its Explosive Light Rune creates eight flaming avatars of the Monk that then rush in their own direction while still dealing heavy damage, but without summoning the bell.  Some Legendary items and some Set items can also change aspects of skills, like the Tzo Krin's Gaze spirit stone causing Wave of Light to drop the bell directly on the enemy instead of placing it next to the Monk. 

Skills now run on weapon damage, though that's still derived from your stats as well as the actual stats on your gear.  I found this kinda jarring but instead of needing a caster weapon for a caster class, you can use pretty much anything.  So my Witch Doctor who could throw exploding fireballs somehow was doing more damage with it using a giant two-handed sword.  Okay.  Skills also use the weapon's attack speed, so you have to decide what balance of speed and power to run with. 

Wonderful names for Rare items make a comeback, of course!  

Once you hit level 70, you start gaining Paragon Levels.  These actually give you points you can allocate across four categories with four attributes each (though you earn points for each category in a set order), and these too can be reset at any time for free.  You can boost your primary stat, your movement speed, give points to resisting all elements, and even buff your gold find!  Most of these stats can only be raised 50 times each but there apparently is no limit to Paragon Levels, though leveling naturally slows down after some time since you still have higher and higher EXP requirements for each Paragon Level. 

Though the character sheet still has a tucked-away readout of all of your stats, all of those have been condensed to three categories that give you a general idea of your power--Damage dealing with damage per second, Toughness representing how much damage you can absorb before dying, and Recovery detailing how many points of Toughness a second you recover.  Items still have the full stat readout too, but you can use these three categories to get an at-a-glance look at which gear would be better to use.  Just remember that the game only cares about numbers when it comes to the comparison between the three categories--if you rely on Life Per Hit with fast weapons to stay alive, the game won't know that a Life Per Kill item isn't actually better for you even if the numbers are higher. 

I found that items didn't drop very often for me on Hard, and I actually liked that, as ass-backwards as that sounds for a game in a genre all about killing things and getting loot from them.  I still picked up everything, even white plain items since they could be broken down at the blacksmith.  The inventory has been expanded to 10x6 and items take either one or two slots, so no need to figure out how to fit a 4x2 giant axe into your backpack.  For me, this led to not needing to return to town nearly as often because of a full pack and I oftentimes came back willingly before I capped out because I found a waypoint or because the questline required me to come back.  There are also three crafters in town who can create items for you, and you very quickly unlock the ability to make rare-quality items and the blacksmith can even make Legendary or Set items with the post-game recipes you can find. 

Though the full CGI cutscenes are rare, the "moving drawing" ones are still pretty neat-looking.  

With Reaper of Souls, beating Act V opens up Adventure Mode for all of the characters on your account regardless of their progress in the story.  Here, you're given full access to all five Acts and their waypoints, and each Act is given five Bounties.  These involve going to X area and killing Y many monsters, or Z specific boss, or surviving for so many seconds during an event.  Completing a Bounty rewards gold and experience, while clearing all five of an Act's Bounties rewards a Horadric Cache which dumps a bunch of items, crafter recipes, and Blood Shards to use for the new Gambler.  Bounties only last for one game session, so completing four of Act I's and leaving the game for a moment will cause all Bounties to reset. 

Two types of Rifts open up as well.  Nephalem Rifts put you in "random scenery, random enemy" environments and you go through killing enemies to fill up a meter that summons a boss when full, and then you're allowed to leave.  You also earn a Greater Rift Stone, and Greater Rifts are much like Nephalem Rifts except their difficulty is determined by the Rift itself instead of the current game setting, enemies don't drop loot, and you're timed.  15 minutes is kind of generous, but Greater Rifts have access to difficulty levels well beyond what the rest of the game does.  Clear it in time and you can win a Legendary Gem and are given opportunities to upgrade it or any others in your possession a number of times.  Get a good time and you'll jump several levels ahead on the difficulty selector, as well as place well on the leaderboard that I ignored entirely. 

A Greater Rift.  Some enemies drop orbs that add to your completion meter, but you still need to watch that orange line with the hourglass as that's the timer you need to stay ahead.  

Instead of having the "complete the game three times" difficulty loop of prior Diablos, the game starts with three difficulty levels and you unlock an additional 14 as you play.  You're able to set the difficulty to whatever you have unlocked before you enter a game, but you can only lower the difficulty while in-game.  I originally started my Monk on Expert but found the enemies too damage spongey on a new character, but I honestly could've kept it there once I had actually good gear.  I found Diablo III pretty easy my first time through the story, not dying until I very smartly jumped from Expert to Torment III in Adventure Mode and got one-shot by the first boss I came across...seven times in a row.  Enemies scale with your level but the difficulty levels boost their stats while also granting you more EXP and gold per kill.  When I stopped to eventually write this review, I was sitting at Torment VIII but could probably push it up a little bit more. 

I didn't really mind the story, but I was more of a "play the game, skip the story" player with the prior games.  There are a couple of contrivances I rolled my eyes at, but I really enjoyed that your character actually has a personality and talks so much.  You converse with NPCs instead of being a monologue-catcher and you say a hell of a lot more than a single line when entering certain areas or completing quests.  You unlock three different companions of which you can take one along with you on your travels and they too have personalities and comments and you can even have conversations with them!  I didn't try going through with other characters to see if the NPC interaction was mostly canned, but this was a nice touch for me.  I actually tried to exhaust all of the dialog options with every character just for that reason to be honest, though the little blue asterisk above their head to denote a new topic might've been a driving factor too. 

I didn't really have many issues with Diablo III.  It being forced-online sucks because you can't really play in an internet outage or on the road without a hotspot, and that in turn kills off any ability to have mods.  While I gushed about the characters having personality and all above, I also triggered their taunts (from killing a bunch of enemies in a short time) excessively often and I don't think there's a way to turn just those voicelines off.  The first time through the game is probably where the game is the worst since you're probably a burning scythe with a monofilament edge cutting through demons made of wheat, but the ability to skip the story afterwards with any character more than makes up for it as does having a wider selection of difficulties.  And I wish more games did at least the "postgame for everyone" option too.  You're pretty limited on character slots (I had ten with the expansion) which wasn't really a problem for me, but I imagine people could be constrained if they had different builds or if they wanted Seasonal characters as well as their usual roster. 

Bounties are definitely worth doing, even if most of these are crafter recipes.  

I lucked out and got Diablo III plus Reaper of Souls for very cheap, but I'd say it's worth $15-20.  The story mode is kind of short but it has pretty long legs to it.  Six different character classes, a bunch of builds based around the gear you find and use and what skills and Runes you like, and a bunch of demons and other baddies to kill, recipes to learn, achievements to farm, challenges to clear...  For me, Diablo III put more emphasis on actually getting out there and killing instead of doing research on builds so you don't permanently screw over a character with misplaced points and all, and you're even rewarded for not slowing down on killing mooks or breaking things.  I didn't have way high levels of fun playing, but I actually enjoyed my time and didn't feel like stopping midway. 

Normally, you can have one Mystic Ally out at a time.  One Legendary item doubles the number, and one Set lets you have every version out at once...and these stack.  

Though you'll need a battle.net or Blizzard whatever account, you can try part of the first Act of plain Diablo III for free with any of the original five classes.  

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: "Mass Effect: Andromeda" Review

Before we begin, fair warning: I am a massive, unapologetically biased Mass Effect fanboy. It's easily my favorite new game franchise in a long while, and I've spent more time playing and replaying the original trilogy than I care to admit. I have very strong opinions on its world, its story (I legit liked ME3's ending, but I'll discuss that in the comments), and had very high expectations for Mass Effect: Andromeda, the newest chapter in BioWare's space opera RPG. Were those expectations met? Well... yes and no. Let's start from the top:

    Sometime during the events of Mass Effect 2, four massive ark ships, each carrying 50,000 individuals from representative races of our galaxy, departs for the distant Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light years away. 600 years pass, and the crew of the human ark Hyperion reaches Andromeda, and things go immediately wrong. The promised "garden world" humanity was supposed to colonize is an uninhabitable hellscape, the first aliens they meet say hello with gunfire, and nobody has any clue where the turian, salarian, or asari arks are. From here, it's up to you, the human Pathfinder, to make things right.

    Instead of the entire Milky Way Galaxy from the previous games, Andromeda focuses on one section, the Heleus Cluster, and two new races: the vicious, militaristic kett and the family-oriented angara, who've been stuck fighting the kett for longer than they can remember. Like past games, there are plenty of political entanglements to navigate, like rogue angara who (thanks to the kett) distrust all aliens, humans who want to say "screw the rules" go all Mad Max in this new galaxy, and of course, all the racial tensions from the Milky Way rearing their ugly heads all over again. It's smaller, but feels more intimate--I did miss how special humanity wasn't in the original Mass Effect and getting to learn about all these new, different races, but appreciated how Andromeda very specifically focused on handling the conflict between the angara and the kett.

    Putting things bluntly, much of your time in Andromeda is going to be spent doing the same things you did in the previous trilogy: negotiate tense situations, survive double and triple crosses, take sides in a gang war, and help your nakama crew with their personal quests. Between all the big choices and the main quest of finding new homes for 200,000 displaced Milky Way immigrants, there are plenty of smaller, personal errands to take on: get a movie night together for your ship, find the perfect ingredients to create booze, help a particularly doofy colonist find a career path (and not get killed in the process), and of course, try to hook up with everyone that gives you the dialogue option. It's a Mass Effect game, and it's all familiar to a point. It's not all dead-serious survival stress, though, and I really appreciate Andromeda's lighter, more adventurous tone.

    As opposed to the huge, sprawling cast we'd grown fond of (to varying degrees) over the initial trilogy, Andromeda starts small, with six squad members and a handful of crewmembers on your new ship, the Tempest. You've got your standard pair of human starting partners, like "I'm really not mad at you, I promise" Cora Harper and "I keep forgetting where I left my shirt" Liam Costa, a grizzled old krogan, a very business-first turian, and an asari Zooey Deschanel. The most interesting new face is Jaal, a member of the new angara race, and getting to know this new alien species on a personal level and earning his trust really adds to the feeling of being a total stranger in this galaxy. Rather than being tied down by "Paragon" or "Renegade" options and limiting responses based on your level, you can choose between Professional, Casual, Emotional, or Logical responses (with the occasional "Impulsive" interrupt) to determine your character's reputation, and a very clear Romantic option during dialogue whenever you feel the need to hit on Space Antonio Banderas Reyes.

    The biggest changes come on the other side of the action-RPG coin: the combat. As mentioned in my preview a few weeks back, combat is faster, more streamlined, and expects you to be faster on the draw and smarter with your ability use. Enemy AI isn't the smartest, but the fact that they hit harder and always, always have the numbers advantage make you want to end fights as quickly as possible. Instead of being locked into one class like Soldier or Vanguard for the entire game, you're encouraged to have a mixture of combat, biotic, and tech abilities, and switch classes ("Profiles") as needed for your playstyle or different situations. I ended up favoring the Explorer Profile, which is a perfect balance between the three, and provides strong bonuses across the board, but dedicated individual skillsets like Engineer and Adept gave huge bonuses to specific biotic or tech loadouts. You're given full freedom to build your character's abilities the way you want, and with no level cap (and the usual medbay respec option), you don't have to stress over being stuck with upgrades that aren't working out.

    That freedom extends to item creation as well--the sheer amount of junk you collect can seem daunting, but the game's crafting system will cause you to burn through it pretty quickly to create new, better weapons. If you spent a lot of time playing Mass Effect 3's multiplayer, you'll be right at home putting together your kit, weapons, armor, vehicle and all--I'm a big fan of the new melee weapons, like the asari and kett swords. Building planets' livability also allows you to customize what bonuses you get, like regular credit and resource packages, as well as upgrading your APEX strike team.

    Feeling a lot like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's Extra Ops, your APEX teams can be called in to take care of side missions while you're playing the main story. Teams have different perks affecting their chances of mission success, and completing these missions earns you more credits, resources, and occasional weapon and armor drops. Some missions can also be played by you, and that's where Andromeda's addicting multiplayer mode comes in. Just like Mass Effect 3, you'll work together with other players and hold off waves of enemies, but this time you won't need to touch multiplayer to finish the main story (but you'll be missing out-it's fun). While there are a few missing classes (sadly, no more volus adepts), I was able to unlock a few more good ones after only playing a few matches--I'll be coming back pretty regularly to Andromeda's multiplayer just for how damn fun it is to run people over with a krogan.

    But even with all the cool new stuff, there's a lot of problems with Andromeda, and not all of them can be fixed with a day-one patch. Character animations are unsteady and jittery, with characters popping into movements or just twitching for no reason during cutscenes. At one point, my Ryder was flirting with Cora, and his head started slowly turning 180 degrees before immediately snapping back to normal, just like I do when talking to women in real life. In a few instances, enemies got stuck in level architecture, completely catching me by surprise when a door started shooting at me. Other enemies wouldn't even respond, just standing in an idle animation while I ran up and punched them repeatedly. In one particularly infuriating issue, a quest update wouldn't trigger, but showed the next step available. When I finished that step, the last one still showed, and blocked me from further progress in the quest.

    Andromeda's issues run deeper than just technical screwups. While the overall story is cool, moment-to-moment writing can run from bland to trying-too-hard-to-be-Joss-Whedon dumb. Some characters will constantly speak like they're trying to be the coolest person in the room (hi Liam), and when dealing with more minor technical flaws like characters not even looking at the people they're talking to (just in their general direction), it can really break that feeling of immersion. Back on the characters, there are a few truly tone-deaf attempts to be inclusive and show a better future--the intent is there, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The new, villainous kett--and their dickhead leader the Archon--are more annoying than threatening until the game's halfway point, but I can't stop thinking of the Archon as Sarris from Galaxy Quest.

  "YOOOOOU AAAAARE OOOOOUR LAST HOPE"

  Even with all that, though, I can't say I had a bad time with Andromeda--at all, really. It's funny how the game's launch kind of parallels the game's story: after a long wait, we're finally here, and nothing's the way it should be. Everything's going wrong, it's not quite matching up to how we expected, and there are a lot of good reasons to be pissed off. Thankfully, sticking with it doesn't just open the door to a rich, fantastic adventure. Mass Effect: Andromeda brings us new friends, new memories, and--most importantly--a new home.

  REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ Brings you right back to that familiar Mass Effect sweet spot between in-depth roleplay and satisfying action

+ Lots to do across a half-dozen hub worlds and your ship, that never feels like busywork or filler

+ Aims for a lighter tone and mostly succeeds, making its emotional moments stand out more clearly

+ Faster, more intense combat is a step up from previous games

+ "Tone Wheel" adds more flexibility and better roleplay options compared to binary "Paragon/Renegade" responses

+ Fun, addicting multiplayer is also 100% separate from the story mode

+/- Lighter tone does come with some less-than-hilarious attempts at humor and quirkiness, but your mileage may vary

- Constant technical glitches and errors, likely due to me playing a pre-release build, but I'm surprised it's this broken

- Inconsistent UX decisions: why can I equip something from a chest, but not from my inventory?

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com