#paragade

[peachxmoons]

as someone who plays mainly 80/20 paragon/renegade what’s it like to play almost 100% renegade? i always try to start playing that path and i CANT DO IT. let me live vicariously through you

[heyzoal]

Random Mass Effect Hot Take: Spacer/War Hero/Paragon Shepard is the epitome of a privileged protagonist.

There’s no grit. There’s no darkness. There’s no challenge. You do the right thing and it immediately gets rewarded. All the decisions are easy.

It’s boring.

[apfellart]

Quick warmup Sketch of my Femshepard

[ageless-aislynn]

As I mentioned in my last ME update, I started a New Game+ so to get the final achievement:

321 hours to get all those delicious cheevos, lol! But, here's the thing, I had to upgrade any weapon at all to level 10. I picked...

...the awesometastic N7 Typhoon which is A BEAST. I had to drop all of my other weapons to be able to carry it and still have any sort of a cooldown on my powers (then I got the weapon mod to lighten its weight, so I think +161% is pretty decent, considering +200% is the max). So, I couldn't just LEAVE and not try out a Level 10 N7 Typhoon; I gotta see how it handles and all that, right?

So here's the thing.

I'm having an unexpectedly really good time tearing things up with this thing, lol! I also changed my bonus power to Carnage because I always spammed the heck out of James' Carnage last time. Now I have my own and... I don't want to stop playing, lol!

Also, I'm having fun RP'ing that Shepard is Done With These People. He loves his crew and is always Paragon to them. He'll still help any random citizen get their Space Hamster cat out of a tree. But there are others, like, say, THE COUNCIL whom he has Had It Up To Here with. And so we've started giving them the absolute bitchiest dialogue choices available. 🤭🤷‍♀️😉

Here was how I ended that last run (note the Reputation level on the left)

Annnnd this is where it's at now and we've only done the first 2 missions. 👀👀👀

My Renegade points are definitely on the rise, oops! I have no idea what will happen if I let this continue. The last playthrough I already had a final Paragon check I failed with the Illusive Man and I know spreading your Paragon/Renegade points evenly is usually a bad idea. But...

I don't want to play Shep as an absolute psychopath, which is kinda what you get in ME3 if you go full Renegade. But I'm a little tempted to keep going as a Paragade (loving to my friends, not afraid to be a jerk to the jerks) and just... enjoy myself, even if I can't pass Paragon or Renegade checks and end up with lousy options along the way. It's just awfully satisfying at this point, lol!

My only real regret is that, without modding, I can't switch my romance from Miranda to Kaidan without it causing Miranda to die. Which I still think is an odd thing to happen to any of the romance choices, honestly. 🤷‍♀️ I also don't want her to cry if I break up with her. 😭

If I don't respond to her requests to meet, I won't have to break up with her but... she'll also die (again ☠️) when we see her near the end of the game because I won't be able to give her access to the info she needs to be adequately prepared to survive the Horizon mission.

But, of course, I really wasn't planning on playing through the entire game again, (somewhere, Fem Shep is tapping her boot impatiently at me 👀) so I might just, um, ghost Miranda 😬 in favor of romancing Kaidan then quit before we have to go to Horizon. I dunno.

I just want to be a little Paragade and romance my man, is that so wrong of me?

(I think Kaidan liiiiiiiikes Paragade!Shep. 😘🥰😉)

Anyway! At the end of that last playthrough, I went ahead and tested out what seems to govern who gets the "love interest" spot at the end if your love interest isn't there, just because I was curious.

I took Kaidan and EDI with me this time, because they both had only been with me on one previous mission (where you had to bring them). So who did the game prioritize?

Mah boy. 💖 Though their goodbye didn't include their romance dialogue/face touching/etc.

However, to my surprise, that also changed Liara from being the one to put my name on the memorial wall.

It went to Garrus. Aww, my Turian best bro!

But James still came out of the Normandy right after Joker in the "LI place," followed by Garrus. 🤷‍♀️Just thought that was interesting, lol!

Love to you all, friends, and I hope you're doing well! 🤗💖

[blighted-elf]

Jae Shepard throughout the years

[innercherryblossomsoul]

[askpokeeosin]

Paragon or Renegade?

On Mass Effect

Mass Effect is legitimately my favorite video game series of all time. I really like the morality system although I do feel that the Paragon path can at time be much more hardcore than Renegade at times, especially ME2 and onwards. For example, when dealing with Harrot the Elcor Merchant on Omega in ME2, the Renegade persuasion option is to tell Harrot to buy out the Quarian he had been threatening, presumably letting the poor kid get swallowed up by the streets of Omega. Meanwhile, the Paragon persuasion option is just straight up threaten Harrot with a serious case of broken legs if he doesn't leave the Quarian alone. That's not even getting into how the Paragon Interrupt at the end of the Overlord DLC is to straight up pistol whip a (very terrible) guy.

Of course, I've never played a full Paragon playthrough. There's just too many Renegade Interrupts that are too good to not hit, like interrupting the Krogan's long winded speech during Mordin's Loyalty Mission. I've also never done a Renegade playthrough, though. It always seems unnecessarily mean.

Ask from @askseriousrainbow

[shaundoesthings]

Forget renagon and paragade. We’re morally bisexual.

what's it called when your morals are like. not always perfectly good or evil. morally bisexual?

[laugh-of-the-medusa]

I really wanted that tiny lil kiss from Aria because her reaction (and Shep’s surprise) was adorable. I did a Paragade* run during Omega. Mostly agreeing with Aria (Renegade) and being an annoying fucker with Petrovsky (Renegade) then agreeing with Nyreen (Paragon) because seeing them argue was fun. Like, I know exes when I see em and it was way more fun to needle Aria through Nyreen than anything else.

BUT HOLY SHIT I DIDN’T EXPECT I WENT WITH TOO MUCH PARAGON BECAUSE IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN SHE SPARED PETROVSKY 😆

I was willing to give up potential Intel on TIM for revenge on what happened Nyreen regardless of how Petrovsky presented himself to my Paragon Shep (what happens in Omega, amiright?) —

BUT DAMN. Seeing her spare him was way more satisfying than the tiny peck. I did take the renegade option of threatening him with a gun but not killing him.

In my head, when she says “partner” she’s not talking about Shep. She’s talking about Nyreen. You can try prying that from my cold, anemic fingers. I won’t budge. On that note, I also believe that Aria’s morality shift isn’t just because of Shep, it’s also because of Nyreen (and the revelation that she never left Omega and somehow still stayed true to her code of ethics). I mean. Holy shit.

Imagine seeing that sort of sacrifice (with the adjutants) and not being rocked to the core???

Plus, somehow Aria being incredibly furious (and hurting) and still finding the energy to spare Petrovsky? Uggggghhhhhh sooooo satisfying.

*My Vanguard did magically transform into an Engineer midway through lmao. (Look, my personal headcanon is that Shep spent enough time with Tali, EDI, and co. that they eventually learned the final points of hacking if they’re assed to do it.)

[continuous-spec]

Back at it again with my bullshit

[ozziyo]

Terra as of Mass Effect 1

[dynamitegun]

Never mistake my good nature for weakness.

MASS EFFECT LEGENDARY EDITION: Recruiting Grunt "Offer one hand, but arm the other. Wise, Shepard."

[inuhodo]

[passes away on the ground] finally drew reference for my sheppy... her tattoos are soooo funny to me but its moe... shepard needs to be a bit lame. the threshermaw tat is cool as hell tho thanks me3 for having that thing in a cave... also she is 6'4"

[anghraine]

Diverting back to Mass Effect for a moment, this is probably my single favorite moment for the "ruthless victor of Torfan" Shepard, especially combined with the Mindoir survivor backstory:

[Image ID: four screenshots of a conversation between a scarred female Commander Shepard and the murderous batarian Balak, subtitled with their dialogue—

Shepard: How does killing innocent people make up for that?

Balak: I could ask you the same thing? How many innocent batarians died at Torfan?

Balak: Or had you forgotten about that?

Shepard: Have you forgotten?

/.end ID]

[theshepcollective]

Everyone say thank you @vesperfloyd for the creation of this gorgeous man! 😍

Got around to finally write Isaac Shepard's bio (don't have mods yet but hopefully will soon get some in game shots) but here he is! Hope Joel Kinnaman doesn't get too annoyed at me borrowing his face but he looks exactly how I pictured Isaac. Also submitting this for @theshepcollective ❤️

Isaac Shepard

Background: Spacer / War Hero

Isaac Shepard was born in 2153 on the SSV New Delhi cruiser, where both his parents were assigned as executive officers. 

Great great grandson of the astronaut Alan Shepard, his whole family has been involved in the military and space exploration since. Isaac spends his childhood following his parents from space station to spaceship, loving the idea of exploring the great unknown still out there and making a real difference. 

His parents unfortunately pass away in 2167 in a tragic accident: a rogue celestial object hits their transport shuttle and the whole crew perishes. 

His maternal grandparents, Arthur and Sylvia, take him in on the colony of Cyrene, but young Isaac is struggling, and feels trapped on the small colony. 

He starts running with some bad crowds and using drugs to cope with his grief, until he is arrested for possession and minor theft when he is 16. He spends a year in juvie and decides to get himself straight once out: he attends his missing exams and manages to enlist with the Alliance at 19. He proves himself quickly on various posts, showing a unique combination of street smarts, strategy and physical skills (aside from biotics with which he struggles with)  and even succeeds in getting an Engineering degree.

He quickly ascends the ranks and eventually gets to the level of Lieutenant. In 2176, the Skyllian Blitz happens, a major assault led by pirates, slavers and batarian warlords on the colony of Elysium. Here, along with his squad, he manages to rally the colonists against the batarian attack, and when enemy forces manage to break through the colony's defences, Shepard manages to single-handedly hold them off and seal the breach, leading to the Alliance forces winning the battle. 

He gets awarded the Star of Terra and after leading a few successful operations against slavers in the Terminus systems, in 2183 he gets assigned as Commander for the SSV Normandy under Captain Anderson.

Alignment: Paragade (do no harm take no shit)

Class: Soldier (but with Kaidan's help eventually manages to be more proficient with biotics)

Lovers: Reyes Vidal in 2183, then Kaidan Alenko, some other flings along the way

Best Friends: Joker, Garrus, Miranda

[renegon-paragade]

I need Martha Wells to know how much I love Witch King. Like to a concerning degree. Like I love the book so much I want to consume it and I'm not sure if I mean that metaphorically