#she romances jaal btw

[vhenad4hl]

you know i luv her so much that i had to commission pathfinder sara ryder from my bestie @deeplord

[bloghiddeninthesand]

Hollie Bennett (UK head of communication at CDPR, she's featured in the night city wire episodes) is doing the lord's work and told the lead quest designer at CDPR to give us a Takemura romance.

Below are my personal thoughts about this and it's pretty long, so feel free to scroll past. I would add a "read more" if I knew how but can't find anything helpful for mobile.

Edit: I do think this is in the realm of possibility. Of course it wouldn't happen for quite some time considering the circumstances. But it is something that has been somewhat accomplished in the past.

What comes to mind for me is Jaal from Mass Effect: Andromeda. Yes, he was already a romance option at the game's launch, but it was initially for female Ryder only. Though with enough demand, BioWare eventually released a patch where he could be romanced by male Ryder as well. Obviously BioWare was able to do this more easily considering they were able to just reuse animations and didn't have to rely on a lot of motion capture, which is more expensive.

Entire new scenes would have to be crafted if Takemura got his own romance. There are events where they could cut the cost on that, however, by taking advantage of moments where the groundwork is already somewhat laid. Adding optional romance dialogue during Gimme Danger would be a clear opportunity for instance. That mission is where I personally felt the strongest connection to his character and think many others would agree.

And honestly? I think Takemura's performance actor would be very happy to do more work on a romance since the man has absolutely seen and actively likes and retweets people's thirst tweets.

I know I'm not an expert on game design/development and this all most likely means nothing (feel free to correct me on some of the statements I've made btw, I want to be sure I'm not throwing out false information) but damnit is it ever interesting to think about.

So I guess the takeaway here is to please continue being horny on main...

[omegastation]

It's not that we don't know what the remake/remaster difference is, it's that the content was already there and more or less good to go with some minor changes (as seen in romance mods). I have to believe that the work they put into the Mako would have been far more difficult than this. & Also I feel like people would have less to say about it if we hadn't been getting more recent commentary like the article about Jack (1/? sorry I have no idea how long this will be aha)

(2/?) The article about Jack where her writer (iirc) went on about how she was conceptualized as wlw and that it's something he wanted to see for her (once again iirc, I don't have it in front of me but I believe that's what the gist of it was). Or in Tali's case, where they had her completed voicelines for the entire trilogy. They can't say that they didn't use this existing content because Fox News was breathing down their necks for this release, nor do I really think (con'd)

nor do I think that budget makes sense either, given that, yknow, it's already there. I also find it hard to believe that at least one or two people on the dev team don't know how their fanbase feels about this, particularly because of what happened with Jaal & his M!Ryder content. I'm happy we're getting ME content period and I don't want people to assume otherwise, like I genuinely adore this game! And it's also been implied that they're willing to (3/? sorry for rambling ffdgfhfhg)

willing to work with modders as far as what it means for existing mods goes, so I can only hope that modding MELE isn't going to be the same nightmare process that trying to mod the OT was. But I'm just really struggling to understand and wrap my head around why they wouldn't restore content that they know we know exists in a 90% completed state & they also know we would like to see in game without having to mod it. To me, I don't think (4/? :') sorry again)

I don't think that's asking them to necessarily add anything, especially when you consider the fact that the core story of the game isn't all that affected by Shepard's relationship to the point you can experience Mass Effect with zero romance whatsoever. & It is kind of upsetting for people to see that complaint & become condescending about it & assume I don't know what remaster means. Bioware acknowledging the existing-yet-unseen (5/?)

existing-yet-unseen "canonically" queer content feels like they're looking for some sort of praise without doing anything to actually deserve it. & you can't even say that the modding community fixes everything, because it leaves console players with whatever they're given from Bioware in the 'final' version and nothing else, and I don't really think that's fair. Personally, I think I'll probably still end up purchasing it at some point (I've lost count of my asks i am SO sorry)

at some point, though it's not high on my list of priority games at the moment (for a variety of reasons, not just this). It just kind of leaves me feeling sort of dejected because I felt like prior to this, Bioware was implying that they would seriously consider adding this back in, and there's also a significant portion of the online community that thinks we're just complaining for the sake of complaining & want to ruin the mood for everyone else, which is definitely not the case at all.

I am SO sorry for so many messages in your inbox btw fdgfhgj I'm long-winded by nature & trying my best. I just wish I could jump on the hype train like everyone else & not have it ruined because of my own disappointment with this, you know? & The irony is, my 'canon' is F!Shrios--my main Shepard wouldn't even be affected lmao, it just makes me sad & I wish more people could see where we're coming from.

You really don't have to apologize at all, your messages are nice and comprehensive! I also think you did your best to explain exactly where you're coming from.

Accusing others of ruining the mood is just a way for them to say they can't handle other people disagreeing with them or feeling differently. Truthfully, it's not that hard to understand, empathize and/or ignore if it's too much. And two things can coexist at the same time. Nuances > Extremes.

[pestopascal]

what do you think with the romances in mass effect overall? i was kind of happy with andromeda in the end bu t i did miss some of the other ones

sidenote i actually got completely sidetracked with your question so let me preface with that despite a lot of grievances i do enjoy the romances and the characters, obviously, or i wouldnt still be here. yes even liara, to some degree.  not a lot but to some degree shes not the worst character ive met in a game. lots of things i would improve on or yknow. change but hey. we’re here now. rest under cut skjfdh

overall? hm. i mean................. there’s no denying that femshep got screwed over massively in the OT. i mean they were like ‘oh my god we dont have any hot aliens for femshep bc we never figured we’d get this far. lets throw a fish and a bird together and see what happens. oh but then give him terminal cancer and a son he doesnt speak to, and have him mention how much he loved his wife while you proposition him for sex’ and presented it with a lil bow on top. no wonder there were and still are soooooo many fics and art and comics out there rewriting the entire romance lmao. oh and jacob? cheats on you, knocks up another woman, names the baby after you. they wrote the black man doing that? like i know bioware is tone deaf but thats too much. and if you do decide to pursue vega? yeah. we all know what happens there. oh AND if you do decide to romance someone else in me2, after romancing kaidan in me1, he says you cheat on him. you cant call him out on it. however if you play mshep and romanced ashley then someone else, you can shut her entire conversation down. their justification btw was that, same with how kaidan doesnt use his biotics half the time anywhere like when eva core smacks him around the beginning, that it was too time consuming/expensive to rig an entirely new set of lines/interactions/everything, so it’s basically just. ashley’s stuff.

and that mass effect couldnt work out just what it wanted to be, even in the beginning, with being a new cool fancy space opera, but wait we still gotta be like. super manly. no one is gay in space. (like why bother recording the mshenko romance from me1, the mshrios one in me2, and then debating including mshakarian like hello. NEVERMIND tali, miranda, jack alone in me2 for femshep). and mshep can still pick up other romances in me3, however he can inadvertently kill his me2 love interest if he dumps them.

i love shrios. hate what happened with it. i played me2 first on ps3 (as obv me1 hadnt been ported and u didnt even get the genesis comics u got a longer questionaire with miranda and jacob), and so like if you play femshep, and say u saved kaidan.......... the game automatically looped in a romance. and i had NO idea who this bloke was, but his photo was in my cabin, and it ended up being face down lmao. i did go back to me1 eventually on the xbox, and played through with the romances but yknow. that will always be the funniest experience to me. like i love kaidan dont get me wrong but like. i had no idea who tf he was.

i think andromeda tried, but never should have promised. i mean like gil pre patch? his romance was terrible (the forced “oh i have to have a child with my straight female friend bc she guilt trips me into it and i cant imagine not having kids” or w/e it was entirely idk i just know that it was. yuck). and jaal shouldve been an option for both from the beginning bc yknow. entire species hinges on forming deep emotional relationships far removed from appearance and sexuality? but hey i mean, at least they arent a complete race of sexy blue babes so. i mean i love jaal i just 🤦‍♀️ @ bioware yknow. and i did romance reyes, but im still soooooo mad that his romance hinges on killing a black woman in a place of power who is doing the right thing by her people, whose story is in the prequel novel, and you dont even get to interact with to form an opinion, and is also hinted to be suffering from the effects of being in longterm cryo and just wants HELP. just basically a “if you wanna bang this dude? kill her” like. hello.

vetra though? what a fucking QUEEN i lvoe her. my sister actually romanced her on her first playthrough and then jaal and like. cried. over turning down vetra. it was adorable. also i love liams romance? so many ppl had problems with it but it was FUN and it was different and he was funny and seriously i love him with all my heart but its a crime that they were like “actually he has to be the token straight guy” like. SURE JAN.

[cousinslavellan-archive]

What’s the most angsty idea you’ve ever had? And the opposite, what’s the most fluffy idea you’ve ever had? Also, what’s the most funny thing you think any of your characters would ever do? Btw I feel ya on the whole “not feeling great” thing. Dealing with a nasty flu myself. Hope you feel better soon!

OKAY HI THIS TOOK A WHILE.

I’ve pretty much written the most angsty idea I ever had - that would be Willow Shepard being terminal while helping Arisa take down the Collectors, romancing Thane, and then both of them dying from their respective illness’ in the end. I was a ball of tears writing the last couple chapters of that fic (The Other Shepard)

FLUFFY…. I mean. I get fluff ideas all the time. And I definitely write them! So anything that’s the LI being sweet and family times happening would count as this??? Jaal doting like crazy on Aria while she was pregnant? Garrus purposely staying in bed long after he’s awake to watch over Arisa, make sure she’s sleeping peacefully? Rainer seeking out the most interesting flowers he can to bring to Rose as presents? Braham wrapping Terra up in his Wolf’s cloak when she’s cold, picking her up and carrying her places so she doesn’t need to walk in the snow?

…yeah. Fluff is my game haha. Most FUNNY thing? Um… not sure tbh! Maybe Malee drawing on Rainer’s face plates when he’s sleeping sometime? (I owe a follower for that idea! ) Hmmm.

The weather needs to get better before my migraines will fully go away unfortunately, but thank you! I hope you’re feeling better as well!

Thank you so much again for the ask, I’m so sorry this took so long! ♥ ♥

[avaquet]

Jaal HC Discussion Pt. 2

Is Jaal a virgin? (I’d love to hear your thoughts, too!)

I believe so, yes. I got some reasons-

So I guess, lets start with angara cultures and stuffs. Angara feel deeply, their emotions can be quite intense and are open about everything. From the things they like to the things they dislike. Jaal is more emotional than some other angara, it is quite noticeable, he also seems to feel deeper... 

(Warning: kinda longish post ahead)

 Another thing is, they seem to take relationships slow. Angara wouldn't be the type to do a week long relationship. Jaal had one lover that he talks about. He says he was very young- I'm guessing about early teen years. He never says how long the relationship lasted but it was obvious he was deeply in love with her. (Remember human culture/society is a bit different from Angara) I'd say the love lasted about two years, gives Allia time to fall in love with Jaal's brother. She probably doesn't leave him for another six months to a year. (Probably making sure she was actually falling for his brother.) So, now in his late teens, Jaal's heart is broken. 

He says in game; "I suffered a broken heart for many years." Many- is a vague word, I will admit. But his heartbreak most likely lasted into his early twenties. He was most likely not looking for anyone else at this time. Allia and Jaal's brother got caught by the Kett and killed. So now- the grieving process. Everyone is different but in my sights, Jaal would not seem ready for a relationship for a while. /Jaal feels quite deeply. So the grieving process might've lasted another year or so. 

Keep in mind, in game Jaal says he is 27. (banter between Jaal and Liam)

 At this time he probably occupied himself with other tasks. He does tinker and tries to keep himself busy to keep from thinking about things. He's in the Resistance and focusing on the fight. We do hear that he does try to flirt with Avela- I suspect one of two reasons that she didn't really respond to him- number one, she noticed he missed the intimacy. He wants the intimate touch, not necessarily her. Number two, she just wasn't interested. Since Angara are so open with their feelings, this probably happened over a span of a couple of weeks to a month. So, Jaal moved on. Incomes Ryder. /btw I think the smile he gives Ryder is that of a sympathetic one- especially the way he keeps Ryder at a distance at the very beginning. 

Now- "She kissed me, and I was seduced." Seduced doesn't necessarily mean that they had sex, but I will admit, it doesn't mean that it doesn't. But! Angara are very open about their sexual relations as per Liam and Jaal talking about erogenous zones on the Nomad and Sahuna sending emails. That's one of the major reasons that I don't think that's what he meant, he probably meant more or less that he fell deeper in love with her. Or realized he was deep in love. Another thing is my HC that Angara take things quite slow. And also, Jaal doesn't hold anything back. He isn't ashamed of his relationships. 

He does go down on Ryder. Now, I also believe that he is quite insecure- he constantly says he doesn't feel adequate, that his family is prestigious but his place is not what he would like it to be, that he is unhappy with his life. He makes gifts for the crew I think out of a kind heart and to keep his mind from running but also because he wants to appeal to people. He does go to Liam and Lexi for talks, and he does talk about Ryder, he tells Lexi about their time together and asks Liam about the zones. My theory is, he asked not only for advice, but medical diagrams, vids, pictures, everything, because he doesn't want to feel inadequate to Ryder. Also of course, he does things out of his heart, but deeper meaning here. He wants to show Ryder that he loves them with everything he has. He wants to appeal, deep inside he wants Ryder to return the love, and of course Ryder does (if they romance him). But he's probably constantly afraid that Ryder might leave him. Like Allia did. Of course, he will let Ryder go if Ryder so chooses to leave. 

As per one night stands. I don't think it's common amongst Angara, just looking at their culture. They might perceive sex as a very intimate and extremely close thing. Maybe not the most intimate thing, but huge. "Angara feel deeply." Of course humans sometimes feel this as well, but one night stands are quite common with humanity. And with Angara tightly family bound and the feels, I don't think it would be common. Also, the ladies in Aya say that Jaal is impervious to flirtation. He was either actually oblivious, or not interested at all.

Anyways, these are my reasons that I believe that Jaal is a virgin and Ryder would be his first. Not that it matters, if Ryder romances him, it seems to be what actually matters. The love between them.

[eloarei]

Okay, so my friend Lila (perhaps foolishly) expressed an interest in hearing about the fandoms I've been into in the past-since-we've-really-talked, and I'm now an old woman of 28 whole years so time kinda flies by like a supersonic jet now, so I'm gonna start back about 2 years ago, because that still feels 'recent' to me. Under a cut for your convenience (given that 99.5% of you probably don’t want to read it). Also, I bolded the important things so you can just skim through it haha ^^; And I added pictures because... pictures!  also, I tagged a few people, but not so much because I wanted them to see it, but because they were relevant to my story. So don’t feel obligated to read this, if that’s you. I wasn’t trying to get your attention, I just wanted to credit you properly. 

September 2015 -- SO! This time two years ago, I was (I think) making a valiant effort to try to finish my darling long-fic, Rogue, so I guess you could say I was in the HINABN fandom. (It's one of my on-and-off fandoms; I don't think I'll ever fall out of it completely. You know, in fact, I'd call it on-and-on. I'm always into it, just in different intensities.) (I didn't come remotely close to finishing Rogue then. It took me until March of THIS year to finish it. ^^; )

October 2015 -- Around that time, One Punch Man came out, so I was deinitely into that. I've always loved Madhouse, so chances are I'm gonna be nuts for anything they make. OPM was a really fun series, though my involvement was mostly watching the show and reblogging shitloads of fanart. I read a few fics, but never got involved in making any myself. I had a vague idea about like some evil-Saitama x hacked-Genos fic which would have been called Genocide, as a play on their fantastic ship name, Genosai. I'm still waiting for season 2. Just... waiting patiently over here.

November 2015/ May 2016 -- Then, Fallout 4 came out. I didn't play it, but boy did I ever fall in love with the beautiful robot man everyone was posting about, Nick Valentine. I like to play games in order though (even though everyone said you didn't have to with this series), so I got Fallout 3 (the oldest one easily available on any system I own) for Christmas and was CRAZY hooked. I spent the first month of 2016 pretty much exclusively playing FO3 (and reading @chocochipbiscuit 's fantastic rarepair longfic, Jinxed. lol I felt so blessed that someone else had thought to ship the main character with the big frightening loyal intelligent monster companion. <3 (Fawkes is still the best.) Then I played the sequel, Fallout: New Vegas, but unfortunately it's the glitchiest damn game in existence, so even though I loved it, I couldn't put as much time into it as I wanted. BUT then Jason bought me Fallout 4 and I was just head over heels, wow. I put over 250 hours in the game, and still didn't beat it, because wandering around post-apocalyptic ruins was way more entertaining than finishing the story. XD; So basically the first half of 2016 was entirely consumed by Fallout, and my love for Nick Valentine. I conceptualized a fic, but didn't let myself write it because I was still in the process of trying to finish Rogue. (I also spent THE REST OF MY LIFE being pissed that you couldn't romance Nick Valentine in the game, even though there were so many other options and he was the one that just, ugh, just MADE SENSE! and you couldn't do it! *rages*)

June 2016 -- Around June, Pokemon GO came out, so I actually spent large portions of the summer walking around (can you believe it?!) and catching the 'mons. September 2016 -- When it started to cool down, around September, I somehow got into Back To The Future, and I'm not really sure how it happened. I just realized one day that I'd never fully seen the movies, so I sat down and watched them, fell in love, and then sat down and played the Telltale game, and fell in love more. (Young Emmett is so precious.) I spent probably the majority of October reading @irisbleufic​ Mammett stories, which are fantastic, and then started writing my own. (See recent WIPS list post for the depressing number of BttF fics I started and never finished. I did finish one, at least.) (Fanart below is by Fightbeast, who is a pretty great artist =D) 

November 2016 -- November was NaNoWriMo, so I don't remember anything except wildly attempting to write my heart out. Oh, and starting to watch Yuri on Ice. Hoo, wow, that was a fun ride. My friend @tempuslunam​ came over to watch it with me every week. It was fantastic. I didn't get involved in any fic or anything though; I guess it was just good enough how it was haha. December 2016 -- In December, I was riding the end of the BttF wave and crashing head-on into the Overwatch fandom. I'd been kind of into it for months, but it just grew in Nov and Dec, and I spent the whole two weeks surrounding Christmas reading a massive and fantastic McCree/Hanzo fic called Hang the Fool. I still REALLY love the fandom, even though I'm not currently involved in reading or writing for it. McHanzo, Reaper76, and Roadrat are my main ships. God I'm so glad it's a big fandom. Most of my fandoms are usually way too small. (The picture below is Tracer; not part of my ships, but a good character, and the face of the series. She’s a cutie. =3) 

Oh, I also started reading this webcomic called Long Exposure. It’s about a gross bully with a longstanding crush on a nerd, and also they get superpowers?

Janurary 2017 -- January, I was flip-flopping between the various games I'd gotten for Christmas, and then in February I got Final Fantasy Fifteen and went totally nuts over it for the next month or two. Met @nomadsky​ through her wonderful fics, and started WAY TOO MANY of my own fics. As with BttF, I only finished one.

March 2017 - In March, I finished my longfic, Rogue, spent several days just overwhelmed about it and feeling so proud of myself and happy and empty all at the same time. Then I jumped into Mass Effect Andromeda. This was fun because a) I love the Mass Effect series, and b) I went into it without knowing anything about it. Fell in love with the beautiful alien Jaal, then was pissed because you couldn't romance him (having Nick Valentine flashbacks) even though he kept flirting with you, and then was flooded with relief because oh okay actual you can. Also fell in love with the sad story of Avitus Rix and Macen Barro, and I started writing a story about them but never finished it.

 April / June 2017 -- In April my friend came to visit, so I kind of forgot everything I was doing, and when she left I decided to hardcore get back to my writing, so I picked up that Fallout 4 Nick Valentine fic I conceptualized the previous year and did basically just that for the next few months. July 2017 -- In July, I a) accidentally remembered that I love Jak and Daxter, and minorly got back into that and started writing a fic I'd meant to write for years, and b) accidentally stumbled upon a One Piece mobile game (Treasure Cruise, which, btw, is the best OP game available for the simple reason that all the dumb side characters I love are playable) that reminded me that I love the series, and made me start rewatching that and writing more Cobymeppo fic. (Oh my LORD! I’d never seen this precious Coby until I googled it! He must have been a rare/seasonal character! I have the more common forms of them.) 

AAAAND that's pretty much where I'm at now, still kind of balancing those fandoms and quite a few older ones. Other things I watched but didn't necessarily get involved in the fandom for: -- Noragami. Stumbled upon this one without ever hearing about it on tumblr. I love it. (lol I can't believe how straight all my ships are though! And they're still so good!) I'm hoping season 3 happens eventually. -- Ore Monogatari. Saw like two clips on tumblr and instantly went, "oop, well gotta go watch that immediately." It's now one of my favorite anime, super precious. Jason even watched it with me and agrees that it's top notch.

-- Mob Psycho 100. Everyone was watching this last November-ish, and I just didn't for some reason? It's by the same author as One Punch Man, but for some reason I didn't think I was gonna like it as much? Um. But I did. Well, differently, but it's still good.

-- Wander over Yonder. It was around this time that I sat down and just tore through the first season. Cute show, but I haven't managed to watch season 2 yet, somehow.  -- The Phantom of the Opera. Like literally all I wanted to do for 2 weeks was listen to the soundtrack. BAD ASS main theme, I love it. 

Now the only thing I'm really specifically looking forward to (besides the continuation of any current series) is the movie The Shape of Water, because yes please I can always use more human/monster love, good gosh.

And there's my fandom breakdown from the past two years!!! =D =D =D Of course, I'm more than happy to go into more detail about any of them, of course. =3 (Just TRY to get me to stop talking about my interests; you can't! XD;;; )

[isuspectyouhavefantheories]

Sara Sneezes, Romance Companions React

Saying it now so as not to disappoint anyone, I only play as females in games, and so only do the romances to that gender. M/F and F/F. I’m not against M/M in anyway what-so-ever, but I just like writing about the romance characters I connect with more or have a personal attraction to myself. So without further interruption, here’s my first piece of writing on the ME A Romance characters for female Ryder (I refer to her as Sara btw)

Liam

They were moving the old dusty couch around Liam’s hide away near the Nomad station. All had been going well, but after Sara flopped down on the ancient sofa, a small dust cloud wafted up into her face, causing her to sneeze uncontrollably.

Liam watched as she squeaked out tiny, cute little sneezes, face contorting into an adorable mess, arms flailing around trying to dispel the dust around her.

“That was bloody cute.” Liam laughed, causing Sara to glare through her coughing and sneezing.

Liam wrapped and arm around her waist, still chuckling, resting his head atop hers.

Vetra

Sara and Vetra were doing some work on the Nomad, clearing off some of the dust left on the axles from Eos, with the radiation gone and nothing to worry about, they simply got buckets of water and some cloths to sweep it away.

After dislodging a stubborn clump that broke apart and flew up into the air, Sara went into a fit of squeaks. Vetra watched in mild confusion and amusement as her little human was reduced to a helpless state. Once the sneezing had stopped Vetra threw her arms around the squishy human and lightly nuzzled her cheeks with her mandible.

“I don’t know what that was but that was ADORABLE.”

Suvi

Sara was examining some sediment samples with Suvi when some dust samples got out of the pietry dish and made their way up Ryder’s nose. The adorable sneezes that ensued cause Suvi to giggle.

Once the sneezing had stopped Suvi smiled at Sara, caressing her face and without thinking she let slip a dreamlike “I love you.”, Sara quickly went into awkward mode, scrambling for words, causing Suvi to smile at Sara’s crimson cheeks.

Jaal

They were sitting together in silence, Jaal liked to talk but Sara seemed content reading her fathers paper bound books, leaning her head against his arm, humming softly. Jaal would often close his eyes and just enjoy being near her. His eyes snapped open when Sara was suddenly almost doubled over, seemingly convulsing.

“Sara-?!?!”

Looking at her face it was contorted in an what he could only describe as an uncomfortable expression, nose crinkled. before he could ask if she was alright, Sara let out, in Jaal’s opinion, to most adorable, unbelievable foreign and cute sound he had ever heard in his life. She continued to squeak until it subsided.

“Sorry some of there books are old and dusty. Severe allergies so I sometimes sneeze like craz-” Before she could finish Jaal’s mouth was on hers, his tongue diving into her already open mouth while his arms captured her in a steel embrace. Once he pulled away, she was breathless, panting slightly.

“I apologize, the noises were... pleasing to hear.” Jaal breathed.

Sara could only gape at him.

“What in the-! Me sneezing turns you on?”

Jaal held her tighter, and began nuzzling into her neck kissing the soft flesh there.

“Among other things.”

“Why are we still sitting here then?”

[sugarbubbleslove]

@bisexualryder - I’ve noticed that too and the graphic is making me want to play it too. She looks gorgeous so I think I will end up booting it up at the weekend (plus I got the walkthrough at the same time I got the game so lol)

BTW

Does anyone know of the pairing names when it comes to Mass Effect Andromeda?

I know one - Rydam (Duh) but it’s the others.

Bold means it’s a tag system already.

Normal are suggestions. Will turn bold when a choice had been made

Italics means they are tentative tagging system - not yet taken so may not continue. 

Ryder and Tempest Crew Romances

Liam/Ryder - Rydam

Jaal/Ryder - Rydaal*

Cora/Ryder?  Ryda** (LOL), Hyder, Ryper, Cryder or Coryder (This will probably take off, sounds more like them)***

Suvi/Ryder? (important!) (Syder? Ruvi?)

Gil/Ryder? (Gilder?)

Vetra/Ryder - Vetryder*

Ryder and Other Romances

Reyes/Ryder - Reyder****

Other Character Romances

Peebee/Jaal - PB&J^ (tentative pairing choice at moment) 

Curious so I know when it comes to the tagging system - especially with Suvi and Vetra being next on the list of my romance.

*Thank you to @nadyasfire

**Thank You to  @vir-tanadahl

***Thank You to  @dawn-dellion

****Thank You to @SPOONIEFULOFSUGAR

^Thank you to @anidragon

(I suck at naming things and we need a better name system when it comes to Mass Effect - seriously)

I’m willing to add in outside Tempest Romances shipping name up here too! (Not 100% sure of who you can romance outside the Tempest Crew so don’t be shy!)

And I am willing to add any in non-Ryder romances too! Might as well form a major list!

[perseus-huntress]

@thefantasyhasnolimits I'm even more convinced that it needs banter as the trigger. 

I am only saying this because I have gotten to basically end game before (I restarted, don't ask...) and PeeBee and Vetra haven’t so much as said hello to each other, I am romancing Jaal btw. 

On another note, is it just me or PeeBee and Vetra are an even stranger combination that PeeBee and Jaal? 

I mean Jaal clearly has some Commander Shepard in him, in that he is totally open to a good bang. And that makes sense when coupled with PeeBee’s attitude. 

But Vetra? The Pillar of the Tempest, cool, calm collected Vetra? That seems kinda odd to me in the narrative sense. From the flirts I have had with her, she seems to be pretty solidly in the commitment camp, hell she is the only one who is commitment ride or die from the guide. 

Maybe I am thinking too hard about this :) 

[billowsandbreeze]

So, I found out that if you don’t romance either of them, Jaal and Peebee hook up, and I just don’t get it.

I mean, I can see why Peebee would be into Jaal. He’s that “new, exotic, never before experienced thing” (which, gross, btw) that she loves so much. But I just can’t wrap my head around why Jaal would be into Peebee.

If they wanted to have a crew hookup, why couldn’t it have been Jaal and LIAM. Like, fuck, they ADORE each other. They probably have matching bff lockets with each other’s pictures inside. LET THEM BE BI!

[paulhway]

My Mass Effect: Andromeda thoughts...review thing... kinda.

Finished it last night, maybe 90 hours. More if you use Multiplayer.

Expect minor ... S P O I L E R S ...

To start, character customization is garbage. This isnt anything new, I cant remember a Bioware game where I was happy with it. From the limited "cryo chic" hairstyles, to the surprisingly unfriendly facial morphs, finding a face you're OK with is challenging and takes far more time than it should. While I wholeheartedly applaud the racial variations available, everything else is sub par, at best. For a game where 75% of the game is your character taking and emoting right in front of you, this is still too glaring a mistake to overlook. You need to do better, Bioware, this is terrible (I think I said this abount DA:I too).

The Tempest is awesome. Love it. Want more.

Scene: I am talking with Jaal about something sad, and suddenly his leg starts spasming like crazy and never stops. Scene: Sitting lovingly w/ Peebee, and her hand is clipping inside her stomach, and the cup Lexi was drinking floating 2 feet from her actual mouth. Scene: Talking to Drack, when his Drack clone walks by in the cut scene (He doesnt have those, btw). Scene: Talking to the Moshea, cutting back to me and you can only see the top of my head. Yeah, far more of that than there should have been. I don't even know what this IS, but it happened. A. Lot.

While on the surface some of the characters can seem kind of bland, once you get to know them, almost all of them are wonderful. Even the people I didn't like, I liked. ;) Yes, even Tann.

Startships in cut scenes are good, and mostly in game they are too (Love the Tempest!). The exception to this is "mob drops". On most worlds, enemy outposts are supplied w/ "mobs" via dropships, which are completely broken. They fly in @ mach whatever through mountains, the ground and other physical impediments JUST to get in your way. Then they launch into the stratosphere as if "my people need me" is still a thing. I had more than one fly right through me just to get to it's drop.

Vetra goes from Tony Curtis in Operation Petticoat to protective Older Sister instantly, and never looks back. Her sister Sid is more Vetra than Vetra is. While I love Vetra, I REALLY wanted her to be more proactive in her "supply officer" role. But outside of some small character things here and there, it never happens (did not romance her). As a character, she is better than this.

Facial animations for humanoid are, almost across the board, terrible and poorly done. They all suffer from "Botox Face". Addison has the emotional range of a flea, Cora and the Asari are always happy about SOMETHING, not matter how horrid the scene is, and default Sara Ryder looks like a victim of the Jokers laughing-gas bombs. Sara's emotions are almost non existent, visually (her voice conveys far more emotion that her face ever does). I CANT count the amount of times I was removed from a scene because the facial animations didn't fit the scene OR voice. I CAN count on my hands the variance of emotions Sara had in cut scenes, and even fewer that worked (wry smile, semi-angry, cute smile)

Drack is the best ever at everything. He was never not in my landing party (save for certain quest obj), and his personal story is the strongest (and most fun/touching).

While Liam needed more development time to become an interesting character (dug the Movie Buff aspect), I really loved the whole loyalty story side of him (fighting pirates, Star Wars references) and wished THAT Liam was more present in the regular story.

OK, I need to get THIS off my chest. Peebee loyalty story. I HAVE BIOTICS! I CAN THROW PEOPLE! I CAN CATCH GRENADES! How the FUCK can I not grab the Remnant thingie while Peebee saves the ex? HOW?!?

Love the Raptor, and the Angara are a cool new addition to the ME universe (while feeling kinda Geth-y @ the end). Jaal is amazing.

Ok, when you're invited to the party on Kadara, get wasted. Best scene in the entire game.

Reyes. I saw his con the second I met him, but the game wouldn't let Sara. I tried to "romance" long-con him the same way he was me. I needed the James Bond style "We are romancing each other, but totally gonna kill each other" choice here. Sara is NOT this dumb, people.

Andromeda felt like "Star Wars: The Force Awakens". Using the formula of the first game/movie and restart the series. It was OK, but once you saw it, some of the magic died. Mass Effect can do better than that.

I could see the Archon's end game before he did. Seriously. How do I NOT have the option to counter this? It kind of started to ruin the story.

You fight the Archon's fight 4 times before you finally fight him. The Architects. The first time, "OK! Fun!". Second time, "Oo, something different? Oh. No?". Third time, "Fuck you!", fourth time, "Another mob...", final time "Really?". Just... shitty.

Archon was a shitty villain. He had no weight behind him. Bland as bland could be. The IDEA of what he was and represented was stronger than anything he actually brought to the game/story.

Backtracking sucks. I cant tell you how often I had to go back to the planet I was just at because "reasons". And being unable to skip certain cut scenes (Landing) or just directly land on the planet (ala Eos) makes it even more annoying. I literally alt tabbed out the second I clicked on a planet knowing I could surf the net and not miss of affect anything in game.

Cora had a nice story. She found herself in being able to help the new Asari Pathfinder, and it worked real well. I loved that and wish we had seen more of it.

Bioware in in danger of becoming the next Ubisoft. Ubisoft games are marked by the "Climb the tower" mechanic, and now Bioware games have that same mechanic. If you played Dragon Age Inquisition, Andromeda feels almost the SAME. I neither want, nor need this. Once you SEE the mechanic, it's ALL you see. Story first, guy, come on. You used to know this.

Having finished it, I am glad I played it. ME:A is a good game, a 3 out of 5. But because it's a Mass Effect game, I expected more. It’s only been a day, but I miss the world, I miss the characters, I miss my Pathfinder.

If you're an ME fan, you're already playing it. If not, it's a very average RPG. If you're looking for one, try it out. I wouldn't pay full price, though. Wait for a sale. Anything around 40$ and I'd be happy w/ what I got.

[realfinemood]

It is amazing to me that people having been finished with Andromeda for a week now. I haven’t even gone to Kadara yet. 

Spoilers for up to that and a bunch of character stuff, especially Liam’s loyalty mission.

So I lied and didn’t end up doing Cora’s loyalty mission. Well, to be fair I did start it, but the actual main mission part is on hold for a while. I do like that the crew’s missions aren’t just a one and done thing, there’s a lead up, but it did throw my plans a bit. So her’s is on hold, Peebee’s will spring hers on me at some point, and Drack’s waiting for us to actually go to Kadara. Vetra is just holding out on me I guess. So I did Liam’s!

Liam’s loyalty mission was so good y’all! So ridiculous. I loved that everyone was basically “this is not a plan Liam. Did you think this through at all, wtf Liam?” through the entire start, and the payoff of the rescue was nicely done. I loved what a giant manbaby the bad guy was. I totally hung up on him. (Nicely done Star Wars references too.)

Vetra btw super hated every minute of it. I had Ryder ask Liam to hold her, because if she’s gonna die, she’s gonna die like she lived - a sarcastic little shit, and Vetra goes “I’M SAD I CAN’T PUNCH BOTH OF YOU.” It was pretty great.

(Poor little Droney was trying so hard to not get spaced with nothing to hold onto though!)

It’s also the first time Ryder’s face... went weird.

She was just really angry okay?? For. You know. A while. Totally normal. 

Ryder would’ve yelled at Liam at the end, but he... basically did all of that himself, so hey.

I’m also super glad the game automatically saves not only at chapters but at loyalty missions, for easier replay. (And cause my video got really fucked up at this point for some reason.)

Also I am 100% going to be romancing Liam the next time I play Sara. 

No particular reason.

I think he may have actually forgotten how to wear a shirt?? (But no really, the fact that went “awww” over a story about a car...)

But anyways! The romance I’m actually doing!

I have not got super far into Vetra’s romance, just flirting every chance I get. And just like. I may never have gotten Garrus to blush, but I’m pretty sure Vetra does the turian version of it like, 100% of the time. It’s so great. I’m not sure which is my favorite so far, the little smile/mandible twitch thing she did or Ryder saying all the Angara were totally crushing on her and wanted a spiky girlfriend.

I’m also dragging her everywhere, because that’s what LIs are for, which means she’s gotten most of the banter (when it decides to work). Which so far has amounted to her and Liam fighting over Sid, Cora making judgements about her not having done bootcamp, and not being sure she liked Jaal because she wasn’t sure Jaal liked her which. Vetra. Honey. 

Also bitching about my driving, but in my squad’s defense, immediately after one of those I may have driven straight off the edge of a mountain. So. You know. Fair point. 

Jaal has been interesting. I’m not 100% sure what I think of him yet. I get that bringing him on Angara worlds makes sense but... I’ll bring you when I want to hear your reaction to something or when I want you to banter with someone, that’s how the game works kiddo. I’m also super confused by his flirt(??) conversation icon? Is it flirting? I thought at first that maybe it was just a friendship thing that he got earlier than the others because Angara are so emotional or whatever. But both times I tried going with that option it was so ooc emotional on Ryder’s part that I immediately backed out. But if it’s just for flirting I don’t really get why he has a special icon for it?

Also she wasn’t showing off, she was being a giant nerd.

Gil and Kallo had a giant fight and Ryder... picked Kallo’s side. Sorry Gil, I know you apparently think we’re BFFs*, but there’s no reason for you to be a dick about changing things on the ship without telling anyone until Kallo notices it. I get where Kallo was coming from as well, but yeah, mostly the “maybe tell someone you’re changing navigation while we’re in the middle of flying, thanks.” But after a while they kissed and made up bonded over ship repair, so I think it turned out okay.

(*seriously though, Ryder and Gil’s friendship got personal weirdly fast, at least on his part. Not a fan of him shutting down her feelings about her dad, but thought it was pretty hysterical that he asked the girl attempting to date the alien girl who’s dna spins the wrong way whether she’s thinking of having babies. Sure man, top of my priorities. Also she totally cheated in poker and didn’t tell, because what else is the point of having an AI in your brain?) 

The little extra weight side mission was also really unexpectedly sweet. I’m sad that hugging Kallo wasn’t an option ever, even if he probably wouldn’t have appreciated it.

I may have gotten so lost at one point that I ran into the literal edge of the map. I don’t care if it’s handholding for filthy casuals, what I wouldn’t give for a damn minimap instead of the compass... 

Also a fun minigame, other than space sudoku, is “will this dude run after me or stand perfectly still while I kill it?” It’s that one time he decides to actually move that’s super fun as you quickly try to run away so he doesn’t eat you.

I’m not sure which was worse - the one on Eos, or going through this mission thinking “it’s another fucking Architect, isn’t it” and then seeing this down the road. The one thing I think Shepard wouldn’t have handled as well as Ryder are these giant metal flying thresher maws. 2 for 2 on killing the bastards though! 

Eventually I need to move on to the actual next part of the story. But in the meantime, I am enjoying how the million sidequests actually seem to be part of the story and mostly make sense for Ryder to be doing them. (Maybe not the “scan some rocks” ones but still.)

[cccrystalclear]

Both Ryder's are so cute!! I am curious to see who your f!ryder is gonna romance (if you've decided) since we've seen m!ryder and jaal! (Very cute btw) also while I'm at it, who did you shep romance? I don't think I've ever heard!

Thank you!! I truly wish that Jaal will be romanceable with m!ryder, but if he isn’t I will go for him in my first playthrough of the game as f!ryder since my first playthrough is more or less a self insert and is mostly unrelated to what I take as canon for my characters. But (and it’s a big but), if Vetra is romanceable with female Ryder my f!ryder will officially romance her. SO, in other words, if both jaal and vetra are same sex romance options, my m!ryder will romance Jaal, and my f!ryder will romance Vetra. :)

As for my Shepard, she romanced Kaidan in the first game, then Garrus in me2 and me3.

[sleepymarmot]

MEA liveblog #6

Spoilers!

Kadara

Alright, let's hope this virus sample is as harmless as SAM said... Why doesn't this scene have an interrupt? Why does Andromeda have so few?

Oh, right, there's still a quest with Reyes and Drack's story about Spender

I think I should also try the monolith again. Regardless of politics, activating the vaults for Ryder is like closing rifts for the Inquisitor.

Thank you internet for telling me how to activate the southernmost monolith! There's a cave entrance at the base of the mountain, on the road to the east of the monolith and north-east of the forward station.

Ugh, navigating this vault and trying not to die took a long time...

Why do I get flirt options with Reyes in 90% of dialogue wheels?

Okay, I finally crafted something. Chest and legs for armor. Iitiative V. Together they give +11% XP instead of +15 I had on the pre-order set, but I could put lots of bonuses onto them. Used "25% shields on kill" as enhancement and "+50% recharge speed, -30% weapon damage" as a mod.

Yikes! It looks so ugly! Here I thought Deep Space looked mediocre compared to Scavenger, but this...

My adept profile is now rank 4!

Zia's voice sounds terribly familiar.

I literally met murderers disposing of a body, why can't I interact with them?

Two Hydras, more like "run around the entire time". Ugh, why are biotics in this game so weak against armor? And where's the fall damage? The entire point of biotics is killing enemies with physics! Why does a combo, on normal difficulty, not kill a mook, but throw him somewhere I can't see him with a sliver of health so he continues to shoot at me? This is ridiculous!

Me: Ugh I don't wanna do Kadara Also me: *does every single sidequest in the Badlands, raises viability to 70%*

Tempest

Peebee: idk why I wanted to write to you -- Aww :D

Yay, finally I can make my inventory bigger!

"I like it when you flirt" is still an option smh. Clicked it because I think someone mentioned that the zero-g scene is repeatable, but nope.

Alright, time to finally move on to the loyalty missions!

Cora's LM

Convenient when you can reuse an entire map huh :D

TBH most of the things people are saying are flying right past me. I'm just following the quest markers. So, is the arc pretty much empty now? 

Asari sword V!!! Something I wanted to craft or find a long time ago. 

This ascendant wasn't even dangerous. Just a boring bullet sponge. I need to get more weight capacity so I could always carry a sniper rifle just for those guys...

I'm a biotic too!!! I walked through this entire mission as an adept! Why am I not helping with the shield?

Revealed the truth, then said Sarissa should stay as the Pathfinder. Not a difficult decision.

Tempest

"Outcast HQ" sounds ridiculous...

Meanwhile, my Bronze/Silver strike team has five positive traits and no negatives...

Nexus

Good thing I went here before moving on to Vetra's mission! There's a follow-up scene. And apparently, there were a lot of asari still in cryo?

Is this the guy who already sent me a grateful email? This game really fails at continuity sometimes.

Fuck! Jien Garson "died alone"?! All this time I was suspicious about her absence, but people talked about her death so confidently I was sure there were witnesses!

lmao a burned body in an unexpected place. suuuuure

Oh, so she is dead :(

Okay, this is simpler than I thought. The Initiative was about escaping the Reapers. And I thought they were looking for something in Andromeda...

If there's really nothing more to it -- I'd actually be disappointed. The game just continues to subvert its own most ridiculous statements. Pretty much everyone assumed that building something called Arcs and moving to another galaxy right before the Reaper invasion is an attempt to preserve people and culture. The game insisted that wasn't the case, except of course it is. There were only two new races, suspiciously alike -- are they related? Nobody even mentioned the possibility in the game until it was confirmed. On the one hand, it's a relief that the game doesn't believe its own bullshit. On the other, I'd like not to be treated like an idiot. I'd like a story with a premise that makes sense by itself, and with reveals that are genuinely surprising. What's next on the list of predictable "plot twists"? Is Alec alive? Is Reyes the Charlatan?

Tempest

What, I got a bunch of AVP just for promising to do Drack's mission?

Fuck yeah vanadium

H-047c

When you land, the subtitles just disappear...

I almost fell off a cliff and Liam shouted "Ryder!!" in a very startled voice

Whoa, a Reegar!

Took the interrupt, of course.

After Liam's mission, the other two seemed bland...

Havarl

Thanks to the internet, finally found the Fusion Mod of Adrenaline. How can anyone find that by themselves?!

Archon's ship

I'm tired of messing around, let's get on with the plot

Let me guess, I'll have to choose between the map to the Meridian and the salarian arc's survival?

This Pathfinder actually sounds like a Salarian!

A new carfalon, nice

this fight didn't go well lmao

Oh great, now we wiped everything but the ascendant and then he killed me

Ughh, on the third try...

Poor Ryder

Yeah, yeah, we've already heard all that from Harbinger...

Archon's chamber, health and ammo packs... Annoying boss battle, here we go

oh great, it's the Krogett

ah, so it's a mix of Virmire and Priority: Tuchanka

Ouch, I wish I didn't take Drack on this mission...

Well thanks I feel like a monster now

And of course, the autosave is after the choice. I've long suspected that the lack of saving in priority mission is designed to make us live with our decisions...

Honestly when I was making a choice it seemed simply whether a bunch of krogan or salarians are saved from exaltation, the krogan are connected to your friend but the salarians have a Pathfinder. But then the game seems to present it as "many krogans, your friend's friends, vs one Pathfinder"?

So, where to now? After the Nexus.

I have 3 loyalty missions in progress, Peebee, Jaal and Drack, and the last one seems pretty urgent. 

I need to go to Elaaden, especially because after this I need to restore my relationship with the krogan.

I need to activate the vault on Voeld, people in my outpost and my angaran allies has been freezing their limbs of for a long time.

Kadara is the only place where nothing important is happening, but I need to get it to 90% asap to unlock the fusion mod perk.

Tempest

Poured some more points into combat to decrease the weight of sniper rifles, and crafted a Vintage Isharay V. Now I can carry it along with the Hornet and a shotgun of my choice. Some power user I am... :D

No, Gil, I don't really want to meet your friend. Though on second thought, maybe if the Pathfinder tells her we're not here just to breed, maybe she'd believe...

"My mother created the implant in my head, and my father created the AI that uses it. I haven't lost them either" ;_;

Suvi organized a comparative religion seminar, and Jaal and Kallo signed up!

Got myself a bald space mouse

"Okay, I'll learn a new party trick" :D

"You are daring. I had to up my game" It's just a casual option, but sure sounds like flirting... :D

"Just don't get yourself exalted" -> "Just don't relax too much" The translation is getting worse and worse... There's some nonsense in almost every conversation.

Aw, Vetra!

Nexus

Thanks, Tann! Now I have time to do sidequests and loyalty missions without guilt!

No thanks to other Pathfinders, seems like I have to rush the main plot after all :(

Scott!!!

Why is Ryder asking him about things she must know just as well?

Honestly, this game design is super stupid! Kadara opens up a lot of new quests, but also the rushes the main plot like hell! Am I supposed to do the loyalty missions and shit after the end of the story??

Wait, how exactly did Keri scare people? Why was she arrested? I don't understand.

Tempest

Aw, Liam is worried about how I'm coping with my clinical death! *Shepard sighs with envy from another galaxy*

Kadara

Why does the game shower me with shippy Reyes material even when I'm not trying to romance him?

Finally another interrupt lol

"Try to settle here, and I'll consider it an act of war" If I took the story seriously and roleplayed honestly, this would be the point I'd abandon this planet forever, even if I didn't do it far earlier. There's no reason for Ryder to plan for an outpost here -- and I only do because of the queat description. Ughh, the writing in this game is killing me.

How do you take a recipe anyway? How do you make sure there isn't a copy left on the person's computer? Anyway, took it from the asari because I assumed I could destroy the info instead of giving it to the doctor, but had to give it back anyway.

Whoa, the date with Vetra is incredibly romantic

Was it really necessary for two freaking eirochs to greet us as we exit the cave?!

People who lit Sloane from behind so that every time there's a closeup on her, the camera adjusts to that bright light and her face becomes a pitch black blob: please don't ever stage anything again

Travel from the Badlands to the Port, meet Sloane, immediately travel back to almost the same place in the Badlands. Is the game intentionally trying to waste as much of our time as possible?

I think my game ran out of save slots... Without any warning. When you try to write in a new slot everything seems normal but the save just doesn't appear.

Whoa! Ryder WASN'T surprised that Reyes is the Charlatan! I didn't expect her to figure that out...

I'm not sure how Reyes's actions were supposed to weaken Sloane but whatever

First I shot him because I use interrupts instinctively, then replayed and didn't. I don't give enough fucks about this petty war.

100%! Now I can finally leave this snake pit.

BTW, re: the choice: Sloane is almost as bad as Aria at this point, the only redeeming quality is her backstory. And she's proven herself a bad leader, while Reyes could turn out to be better. But deciding to let her die within a split second -- that's not something I or my idealistic character could do. And now Reyes has a potential for a cool comeback story, and Sloane -- for a redemption arc. We have both characters alive and active, while the other option kills one off. (Which, I realize, is a reason that we might never see an interesting follow-up.)

Tempest

Reyes bothered to send a letter! I hope we'll see his dramatic return in a sequel or a DLC. Imagine if you romance him and then save Sloane -- that's a good story! Also, glad I didn't shoot, because the internet says the letter is very bitter and ominous in that case.

Aaand what some people on the internet were saying is true. Fusion Mod Support, which was the sole reason I went to complete Kadara, is broken and deprives you of all buffs. Well, whatever.

Drack doesn't tell me to fuck off anymore. Does this mean I don't need to "give him space" anymore and can plausibly do his loyalty mission? It's weird that the game just ignores all that's happened -- it's not like he tells me he forgave or anything. Consequences my ass. Just lazy writing.

And Lexi just repeats her first description of Drack -- that he's "always good". Ugh. No, he's not!

NOW you want to talk about my death, Cora! Not when I approached you after that mission!

Elaaden

The krogan have a nice flag!

Logical: "Don't make me headbutt you. I absolutely will" Ha! The emotional option was some shit about friendship... 

The worm? That thing from the promo pictures, right? Is it the same thing as the Architects people on the internet are mentioning?

Aww, is this a letter from multiplayer's krogan engineer?

A krogan LARP!

The krogan are literally the only people whom I can understand and support in a decision to jump galaxies

Drack's LM

I don't understand how Vorn got here...

For once I'm not the one with a dilemma lol

"There's only one thing getting destroyed today (...) So there are a lot of things getting destroyed today, actually"

Drack please don't talk during fights, I don't hear a single word, too busy charging people and slashing them with my sword

I still don't understand what all of this has to do with Spender, and don't remember Drack ever mentioning before that the botanist is so important and irreplaceable.

I love being a vanguard on normal because even with an incomplete build you can tank two hydras. To be fair I was standing right on top of a health box...

That's all?? So short...

At least Drack hasn't forgotten my choice...

Ah, so the botanist who sent us on this mission and the botanist we rescued are two different people? Okay, one question answered.

Elaaden

Hmm, this puzzle seems more difficult...

The second monolith has a console puzzle instead of sudoku. I spent a pretty long time on it before realizing there were three consoles, not two...

WHy am I breaking into this base and slaughtering everyone inside??

Couldn't solve the console puzzle in the vault, looked it up, didn't understand the explanation, clicked some more and activated it by accident.

Shit, is this the same puzzle but on pillars?

I fell into the water and the game respawned me into the same fall -- but in the Nomad.

Jumped around and activated the bridge somehow, but the door behind it is still closed

How am I supposed not to fall from the pillars? It's impossible to know if you're jumping not far enough, too far, or not high enough.

Oh, here's that difficult sudoku. I spent like 15 minutes on it and still can't solve it...

Holy crap, I solved it! Took me about 25 minutes...

The purification field was already in the room when I closed the door on it...

Lmao apparently the main krogan on this planet is right in the starting zone... I searched the entire colony for him! And now, with the planet at 83% viability, I finally meet the guy I came here for :D

I clearly was meant to do all of this right in the beginning lmao. But I was in a rush to do Drack's mission...

Pressuring women into childbirth is bad enough in normal circumstances, but when children have about 1% chance of surviving? Back the fuck off.

Messages on the terminal are interesting. I don't like the confirmation of too-earthlike misogyny on Tuchanka, but at least things are getting better here. And I'm still impressed by the letters from the krogan engineer -- do other multiplayer character have presence in the main game too?

And here's the deal with the Remnant ship! I was waiting for the reason to visit it...

I like Morda. I hope I won't have to fight or depose her.

(Btw she's Norda in translation because "morda" means "face, mug")

It'd be much more fun to fight fiends if they weren't sync-killers. I can't even use a shotgun -- the entire fight consists of running away, throwing powers at them when at safe distance, turning around to run again, and if I'm very lucky, finding a moment for a sniper rifle shot a couple of times.

Btw this entire time I thought fiends were exalted eirochs -- but they're just a normal local species? What?

Lmao the viability is at 99% now

The Remnant Ship is a lovechild of the Collector ship/Derelict Reaper and all those veilfire dungeons from DAI

The Nomad looks bad in this planet's lighting... Or is it because I raised texture quality? On Eos and Voeld the entire hull looked the same, now I can see the difference between two areas.

Oh. Is this why I was supposed to break into the scavenger base lol

Well, this was a good planet to bring Drack and Peebee with you everywhere! Sorry Peebs, but even you didn't feel joy when we finally found that drive core after all the bloodshed; plus it's your own philisophy to look into the future instead of the past; plus we might find other Remnant ships but this diplomatic opportunity is huge and unique. It's a laughably small price to pay for so many good things -- not just the outpost, but paying our debts and renewing friendship with a good ally led by an admirable woman. This makes me feel really good, unlike Kadara. New Tuchanka in generally is a feel-good place. The krogan look more real with their occupations and interests, their reason for being here makes perfect sense unlike the rest of the Initiative, and they're happier than in the Milky Way (at least until the end of ME3. Yeah, they have the genophage here, but also the Reapers aren't killing and harvesting them, so I'll call it a draw).

Oh my god, the translators misread "fiends" as "friends"! "Even if it means taking out three friends at once"! L M A O

"We're all a little krogan in here" That sounds pretty racist, Ryder

Nexus

Wait, how is exile harsher sentence for Spender than jail? In exile he'd just be free to continue his racist criminal activities.

"It is the will to continue living" Ugh, don't give me that Padme bullshit

Eos

That's all? This short rude conversation is why Gil called me to meet his shitty friend?

Aw, Cora started a garden! Right on a nest of poison-spitting bugs, but still cute. 

Just as I switch from Flamethrower to Annihilation, I get attacked by two fiends -_- Where's my biotic armor damage, Bioware?!

Btw the Nomad now looks plastic on Eos too :(

And here's the Architect! I avoided looking up videos because I wanted to find out how this fight goes by myself.

And of course, when I died the autosave was glitched and froze my entire game -_-

And it happened again -_- The cutscene doesn't start and I can't do anything

For fuck's sake, on its leg WHERE?

Managed to shot down a leg, got killed trying to shoot its head

Whoa, I won! Ate like 20 shield boosters, though. What a bullet sponge, I felt like I was doing no damage at all. And in the final section of the fight it spent like 5 minutes just shooting and throwing grenades at me without ever exposing the vulnerable spot, I thought that maybe the game just forgot to indicate it. I used Vanguard, Charge/melee/Lance for adds, gun/Lance/Charge for the Architect itself. For some reason it didn't occur to me to switch to Infiltrator or Soldier or even Explorer for sniping lol

Now that I finally leveled up Lance today, I tried a lot of setups... Flamethrower/Energy Drain/Lance (Sentinel), Annihilation/Energy Drain/Lance (Sentinel), Annihilation/Charge/Lance (Vanguard), Pull/Charge/Lance (Vanguard). Next time I'll try Singularity as the first primer. I don't have the final evolution of Annihilation yet, so it's not at full synergy. I really don't know what I like better -- ED/Sentinel or Charge/Vanguard. The latter is novaguard reborn, basically, but I already have one Vanguard profile, which is melee/tank oriented, and I don't want to remove Backlash, especially to replace it with a power that slows down Charge. Four favorites are not enough, Bioware! At least seven -- one for each profile. I still don't have a build for Remnant VI and I really want to use it! Btw, my final blow to the Architect was with Lance -- ending the testing session with style!

I can craft N7 armor X already! Wow. Why no level requirement? I'll replace my chestpiece -- massive buffs to biotics >> 4% XP. Don't know if I should disassemble my old armor or just buy more enhancements...

I just (re-)realized that Charge/Lance/asari sword is basically N7 Slayer... I definitely need that N7 armor!

I'm watching other people's Architect fights -- and turns out, Backlash can deflect its attacks! That's what I should have used as the third skill.

Not related at all, but I hate how people put spoilers in thread titles on Reddit :/ I guess the most obvious ones get filtered out, but indirect spoilers stay. "What are your theories about [thing]?" -- thanks a lot for telling me it won't be explained in the game, dude!! >:[

[slecnaztemnot]

So, Tenny plays Mass Effect Andromeda...

Aka my impressions and what do I think so far. (I will try to keep it spoiler-free, but some minor spoilers anyway)

My Ryder

Sadly, I don’t have a better pic yet since screenshoting doesnt work, so pic from my phone at least. (used preset 4, i think?) 

I kept her default name, so she is called Sara. Her brother is adjusted preset 4, as well.

And what she is like? Well, she is kind of a dork and very unsure in her new role, but she is getting there. Mostly tries to be professional and calm and sticking to principles, but has lot of empathy for others. (i usually use professional conversation option and mix of logical and heart)  She misses her family a lot.

She didn’t have time yet to think about romance or anything (she is biromatic ace, btw), but she really likes Vetra and Jaal is certainly interesting too.

So far, I really like all the companions - Liam is a bro, Cora is great, Peebe is fun, Vetra is *hearteyes*, Jaal is new and amazing, Drack is my new grandpa. And crew is great too, I just wish Kallo and Gil wouldn’t fight so much! The only crew member I am not that keen on is Suvi cause my atheist ass kinda feels uncomfortable around her. Oh, well.

I havent met any game-breaking bugs yet, only some minor annoyances. The jumping is great and nomad is certainly better than mako.

And I am really enjoying the game and story so far!