#squad: mordin

[agirlking]

My friend pointed out it looks like Ayla's been crying in this scene and it's ruined me.

[veilblight]

i'll be having fun in my space game and then a character will say the most batshit genocidal racist shit like it's their morning routine

[grtmnick]

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our English dead. And sheathed their swords for lack of argument. That those whom you called fathers did beget you."

William Shakespeare. "Henry V". First Folio. First published in full by Edward Blount and Isaac Jaggard, 1693. England.

[annalyia]

If you could take one squadmate from mass effect 2 and make them one in 3 who would it be and why?

probably grunt? the lack of a krogan squadmate in me3 is an actual crime tbh!!!!! there's definitely an argument for any of the squadmates (including the ones who are, uh, easy to kill or canonically die in me3), but i'd still probably say grunt. need me that good good krogan baby boy

[margoteve]

Making a drink but we don't know what the other people put in there Normandy SR 2 Style.

Miranda: Miranda Lawson. we all have learned that i don't trust them, so i am putting in some lemonade.

Tali: Tali here! i am gonna put in Poppi because I feel like Shepard is going to put in a lot of liquor. Trying to play it safe

Garrus: Garrus Vakarian. i am putting in lemonade because Shepard just got dumped and I can tell they will try to go hard tonight, so....

Mordin: Mordin Solus. Sprite. Team consisting of hardened military and criminal element. Lots of liquor suspected. Trying to protect liver.

Jacob: I'm Jacob. i am putting in OJ, because I am kinda scared of Shepard

Shepard: Hi, this is Shepard. it's been some long ass week, so I'm putting in some Everclear *sniffs the bottle amd recoils* *starts pouring* *assesses and pours in way more*

Jack: *flips off camera* *adds liquor*

Zaeed: *adds more liquor*

Kasumi: *trying to shake the container but some spills* what the fu-

Cut to entire squad taking a shot. Cue sputtering and shouts of "Jesus Christ!" and "Holy Everclear!!". Shepard with mild grimace pouring themselves, Zaeed and Jack another shot.

[upwards-descent]

Pretty please reblog to enhance sample size!

[aimeelouart]

blease tell us about the mass effect au please

Don't mind if I do!

It came from me pondering dropping one Archangel on another, since 7c9s Cloud's propaganda nickname is Archangel and Garrus's vigilante name is Archangel. So that's exactly what I did :D

Honestly this is just an excuse for me to give Shepard and Garrus a feral soldier son. And let Cloud interact with everyone from Mass Effect. And save Garrus's merc group.

Here have a preview:

As Butler explained the injuries in detail, Shepard looked between the maybe ten-year-old kid and her old friend. “Garrus,” she said, “why is there a human kid in your merc base?” Garrus rubbed a hand over his fringe. “It’s a long story, but the kid is… one of us.” “A mercenary?” she clarified. “He was really more of a vigilante first. And he was like that when I found him, I swear,” he said, as if he was worried she’d accuse him of corrupting the kid. If anywhere would turn a kid barely chest-height to Garrus into a vigilante, Shepard supposed it was Omega. “How old is he?” “The scans can’t read him properly and he won’t say, but the humans in our group insist he’s ten or younger.” Ten. She looked at him. His face was burned and bloody. She thought that his hair might have been pale blond under all the dirt. Mordin was already at work, so focused he wasn’t even talking aloud. “He never wanted to tell us his name, either,” said Garrus. “Insisted we call him Arc. It took me a while to get it out of him, but his real name’s Cloud. He saved the entire squad, and he went down hard to do it.” “…right,” Shepard decided. “Tell me your plan. We’re getting the kid out of here.”

[bloedewir]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Mass Effect companions

If talking about Bioware there's always a familiar personality types from game to game (and it's totally ok because despite well known archetypes the devil is in the details). So. I was bored and thinking about the da4 squad. Let's just say it's kind of a comparison and a try to guess what to expect. No serious stuff included, just for entertainment.

(also it would be hilarious to wait the release and found out I failed dramatically)

Bellara Lutara

Peebee

As devs said Bellara is the one who always has a solution and so as Peebee.

She may seems immature and careless yet is actually smart and resourceful despite the first impression. A true adventurer in a search of truth and new knowledge. Savvy of the team.

Lucanis Dellamorte

Garrus Vakarian

Archangels, as celestials, are supposed to be with wings so Dellamorte with his wings is a perfect match.

I mean. Kills shitbags. Outrageously skilled yet surprisingly awkward in a matter of personal relationship. The job must be done even if not a nice one. Dedication of the team.

Emmrich Volcarin

Mordin Solus

Academic mind. Responsible and quite a work enthusiastic yet morally questionable. Calm, polite, discreet. Tremendous vocabulary (I hope the speed of speaking isn't salarian tho). Wits of the team.

Lace Harding

Wanted to say Liara T'Soni because of VA, but it's Nyreen Kandros

Moral compas always point in a right direction. You have to do anything that is possible to help those who can't protect themselves. Conscience of the team.

Neve Gallus

Miranda Lawson

Smart and capable. Ice queen at first sight but if you can earn the trust is the loyal friend. Determination of the team.

Davrin

Liam Costa (??)

Having a problem here. Not much known about Davrin yet. Liam Costa seems fitting because he's not a hero or a chosen one or something. A good person who cares a lot, wants to help and tries to make things right. And he is bold and charming so as Davrin was described. Heart of the team.

Taash

Aria T'Loak

Strong, confident, brave as hell. You need to get shit done? It's your lady. Yet has a soft side you can see if prove yourself trustworthy. And then the most loyal ally who goes with you to hell and back. Courage of the team.

[sol-consort]

One of my favorite parts of Mass Effect is going to the club, like is the universe about to get annihilated? Possibly, but not before Shepard has her shots, makes it rain on the dancers, and brakes it down on the dance floor to these sick beats.

THE CLUB ROCKS!

The absolute most hilarious moments happen in the club istg. The turian who asks you about your boobs and what they are if you're a femshep, the whole poison incident in omega, the krogan mix Shep tries to down only to end up fainting and waking up on the bathroom floor with your two current squad members looking at you with concern, a very nonchalant turian awkwardly zipping up after taking a piss and leaving the bathroom.

I liked femshep still having the option to sit and watch the asari strippers. Like yessss let me be gayy!!!

I adored the ME1 special dialogue lines for crew members who you take to the stripclub, ranging from awkward and embarrassed to intrigued and interested.

God they removed it in ME2, and I get why. But I would've KILLED to witness Thane, Mordin and Miranda's reactions to being taken to a Chora's Den. Omega just doesn't hit the same.

Because it subtly tells you more about the person! For example Kaidan's lines

"Too many lights too much noise" and "Never been a real fan of crowds"

Reminding you of his chronic migranes and how sensitive his eyes and ears are, courtesy of the L2 implants.

"Not really my kind of place but there sure are so spectacular views here"

He doesn't like the wild party life. He is more of a romantic at heart. He is still, however, a gaint simp to pretty little things.

Or Tali for example!

Dancers are highly respected amongst my people, but I get the feeling that these women aren't held in high esteem

It establishes three facts

Quarians have dancing in their culture! not only that but it's considered a significant part and being a dancer is very respectable. I wish we got to see a Quarian dance.

Quarians don't have strip clubs? It makes sense for sex work to be sparce in a society where you start your life in an artificial bubble before adorning a suit for the rest of your existence, one whose taking it off could spell your doom. Tali is very bouncy on her feet so that could be related to Quarians being natural dancers.

Tali is polite but not shy or judgemental when it comes to sexual acts. Remember that movie she adores in ME3? The steamy scene it had? She consumes porn without any of the moral judgement, it's just as mundane as eating to her

There are also lines about her loving the strip club because of the crowd, the action, the music and the dancing! She's excited to be in a place brimming with life.

I wanna know if Drell have stripclubs :( What Mordin's reaction would be to one considering his entire species is ace, do salarians have host clubs instead? Like strip clubs but for romance where a "host" flirts with you and acts very charming.

[nellasbookplanet]

I think the most frustrating part about ME3 and its endings is that, for the most part, it has such great respect for player choice and agency and above all consequences, good as well as bad. I'm assuming it's because it was the last of the trilogy (or was at least intended to be, at the time) and so the writers didn’t need to have any regard for 'how will we make this work in the sequel'. They could do whatever. You could do whatever.

It's up to you whether the genophage is cured, and whether it being cured ends with continued peace or the krogan seeking vengeance. It’s up to you whether the quarians and the geth live, and whether they find peace. Did you save Wrex in ME1? Did you save Maelon's data? Did you seek friendship and common ground with the Virmire survivor, or did you antagonize them and break their trust, forcing you to shoot them? Did you save the Rachni queen, last of her species, or the squad of your friend who deeply trusts you? Did you save the general, voice for peace, or the soldiers he begged you to go back for? Did you speak with Thane, warn Miranda, stop Samara? Did you encourage Javik to remember or forget? It all rests on you.

They make you feel it when you pick a dark choice, or get forced into one by the consequences of your previous actions. Legion on its knees, still asking if it has a soul as it is killed alongside its people. Tali taking her mask off, Shepard running at her as she lets herself fall to die with her kin. Shooting Mordin and throwing the gun away, watching him crawl as he tries to reach those last few inches that will fix the mistake he finally admitted to, and failing. Wrex, your friend, coming back to end you. Kaidan/Ashely turning away from you as they die, disgusted. Javik telling you he will return to the graves of his soldiers, and he will join them.

And fact of the matter is, the endings don’t lean in to this. A renegade Shepard who stops the genophage cure has to watch the consequences, even as there’s material victory in it too. A paragon Shepard that tries and fails to stop the geth/quarian war pays dearly. Even as the ending is a choice, it's a choice not reliant on previous actions, that doesn't make you feel the consequences of what you pick. You wiped out the allied synthetics you just saved; you stole the agency of an entire galaxy; you enslaved a species; you embraced the ideology of the enemy. Do you feel it? Do you feel it?

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2 replay, exploring and part of Tali’s loyalty mission:

Phi Clio

-Cyllene – There’s an archaic helium-3 refueling station. This implies someone found the system by FTL, rather than the mass relay.

-Parnassus – It has geothermal and solar power station. There’s no history of the planet or its government in Citadel Council records. Since Cyllene is on record, it must have been deleted.

-So what the hell is the deal with this system?

My take away is that once the mass relay was discovered, the Parnassus population bailed because now it was too close to main traffic routes.

I am very curious. I suspect it was used by the Council for purposes they did not want officially known. The Citadel Archives probably has a history for it.

Enoch

-Laban – There are bunkers from an ancient race that were blown apart by a dreadnought class weapon.

-Mizraim – There’s debris orbiting the planet indicating that artificial satellites were destroyed

-Joab – Thousands of years ago a primate like spacefaring species were destroyed by massive orbital bombardment to their population centers. They’re only known because of time capsules buried outside of population centers.

-The buried time capsules implies the species knew death was coming and took some measure, however small, to ensure they would be remembered. Pretty tragic.

-Is this where Liara got the idea to leave behind time capsules in ME3, just in case her cycle also lost the fight against the reapers?

-The most likely culprit are Reapers.

This comes back to what level of civilization Reapers destroy. Was this race just barely spacefaring? This is the only planet I’m aware of where they’re remains exist.

If so, it comes back to my hypothesis that the Reapers are very thorough when exterminating civilizations to prolong the next harvest. They destroy races well before they develop mass effect technology.

-N7: Archaeological Dig Site – To the shock of no one, the planet is Earth like. At least the haze is an interesting twist.

-According to one of the terminals, Exo-Geni contacted “co-executive” Commander Vido Santiago of the Blue Suns for transport.

Nice call back to Zaeed’s loyalty mission.

-And the Prothean pyramid returns! With a side of the prothean vision Shepard received in ME1.

For such a short mission they crammed a lot of references into it.

-Who did Shepard give the Prothean pyramid to? I hope not Cerberus, but it’s not specified.

Normandy

-The email from Leslie, one of the woman on Aeia, has more reflection and emotion about Ronald than anything Jacob has expressed.

It’s frustrating. Bioware clearly can use the mission to generate turmoil, but they refuse to let Jacob experience it.

-Speaking of Jacob, he has more to say this time.

-If you go renegade (by asking how he’s handling the revelations about his father!), he actually calls out your attempt to talk him through any trauma he has. He points out you don’t have the qualifications to do so.

-If you go neutral or paragon, it’s all about the mission.

It’s interesting – he refuses to dwell on personal issues, doesn’t want to hear that everyone will die, but also rejects the false optimism that everything will be okay.

It’s over all a very grounded approach, but shows how Jacob is less malleable than some other characters. He has hard boundaries with Shepard and won’t let Shepard overstep them, even to reassure him.

Since one of Jacob’s boundaries is Nothing Personal Ever, it results in a character that feels more distant than the other squad mates. It’s not rejection of Shepard, exactly, so much as Jacob’s coping mechanism is to work and never do internal reflection.

So the issue Jacob is in most dire need of help with is the one he refuses to let Shepard assist on.

-Mordin has more post loyalty dialogues than any other crew member. Most only have their initial post dialogue loyalty and than one more conversation. I think this is Mordin’s third such conversation.

-Why did salarians develop unconscious social cues to discourage others from prying into secrets? What the hell kind of evolutionary tract results in that?

-Mordin presumably does not have any children of his own, since he’s using his favorite nephew to personalize the conflict.

Given Mordin’s prestige, that must be by choice. I’m sure he’d have no trouble obtaining a breeding contract.

-He’s very happy to be participating in an effort that involves no ethical conflicts. This is something he can be unambiguously proud of.

-Zaeed says he can’t blame Jacob’s father. You do what you need to do to survive.

I say Zaeed deserves a punch to the face. At no point was it necessary for Ronald’s survival to rape his crew.

Raheel-Leyya

-Migrant Fleet – The amount of care Tali’s mission has compared to Jacob’s is stark.

There is so much world building and complexity in just the first part of Tali’s mission alone.

By comparison, Jacob’s mission was barebones and straight forward. There was no world building and never any ambiguity about Ronald’s actions. The only question was how he would be treated.

-Tali specifying the Normandy is not clean is a nice touch. Of course that would be a standard question to ask all docking ships.

-The importance Quarians place on captains is also logical. Quarians live their entire lives in ships; it’s natural for captains to receive tremendous respect.

-Shepard, if they clarify they’re only a commander not a captain: Technically, I’m no longer in the Alliance military at all.

I suppose this is because Shepard was dead and not because they were/are a spectre?

It would have been nice if ME1 had ever explained Shepard’s status once they were made a spectre. See, it only takes one line!

-Miranda’s breather cannot possibly be acceptable for the quarians. Get the woman a helmet.

Actually, given the quarians’ history with Cerberus bringing her along probably isn’t much better than bringing Legion. The only saving grace is that the quarians might not know she’s officially with Cerberus.

-There are two layers to stripping Tali of her ship name.

First, it makes her look worse to the audience.

Second, it screws over her defense. Since Tali didn’t know she’d been stripped of her name, Shepard had no time to prepare a defense for her. Moreover, since Shepard is not familiar with quarian law or custom, it puts Tali at a huge disadvantage. They’re improvising on pure instinct what will work.

-If Shepard goes renegade when told they’re defending Tali, she says: They’re trying to turn the crowd against me.

Nice hint most players never see that choosing the option “Rally the crowd” later on can win Tali the trial.

-The trial comes across like a blatant attempt to get Shepard to reclaim the Alarei.

Every time I play it, I always think they could have saved a lot of trouble by shooting Shepard an email asking for help. No need for the farce that plays out.

-Why haven’t the geth fixed the Alarei yet? It should be well within their abilities.

-Once again, will Veetor ever complete his pilgrimage?

I doubt he’ll ever be in condition to do so. Quarians must have exceptions for those that cannot go on one.

-The dialogue with Kal’Rheegar discusses dark energy at length. The build up to it as a plot point in ME3 is incredibly obvious.

The fact it was dropped entirely in ME3 is a sign of Bioware’s decline in writing. You cannot have a concept built up that extensively and than do nothing with it without the end product feeling disjointed. They should have at least worked it into a side plot.

-Kal’Reegar on the effects of dark energy: Some days I think flying around in the fleet without a planet of our own is the right idea.

Like the Reapers?

This line is such obvious foreshadowing.

-Kal’Reegar straight up explains that the plan is for Tali to kill geth to build up audience support and find evidence to clear her name in the meantime.

I suppose Bioware felt the need to spell it out for anyone in the audience that missed it.

-Admiral Xen is awful, but I like her as a character. She’s quite pragmatic.

If Rael experimented on live geth, he was an idiot and no trial is necessary. If he did not, then this was a tragic accident and no trial is necessary.

-Her end goal is to regain control of the geth.

It’d be interesting to get her and TIM on the same call. I’m sure she’d be fascinated by Project Overlord.

And consider it appropriate that nearly everyone got killed by geth, because only idiots experiment on live geth. She would have done a much better job with a ship of crashed geth. Send it to her!

-Shal’Raan set up the trial carefully to best help Tali, even if it hurt Tali in the process. Not informing Tali of her father’s fate until mid trial was a necessary evil.

On a similar note, later on you can clear Tali’s name by handing over the evidence of her innocence. This helps Tali by preventing her from being exiled, but loses her loyalty since it tarnishes her father’s name.

Tali wants to be respected as much as cared for. Trampling over her desires to do what you consider best for her does not make her happy.

Does it remind her too much of her father, perhaps? He was so focused on providing for Tali that he never took the time to be with her.

-The “bubble” (environmental unit) quarian children are placed in from birth is so damn tragic. Logical and fantastic world building, but so incredibly sad.

Children need stimuli. They need physical contact with other people. But this must be limited for quarian children so they can survive.

Their parents need to work. How much time do quarian children spend away from their parents out of necessity? How small are their worlds for their own safety?

Receiving their first environmental suit must be a tremendous increase in freedom for them.

Ironic, as the rest of the galaxy considers their suits their prisons.

-The real purpose of the trial is whether the quarians will start colonization efforts or go to war to reclaim the homeworld.

Tali is just collateral damage in that debate. Is the risk in fighting the geth worth the possible reward?

-Koris guesses correctly that Rael experimented on live geth. His mistake is assuming that Tali was also aware of that.

-He also calls correctly that going to war could end with the fleet dying over the homeworld.

-Koris is extremely sympathetic to the geth. That he was made an admiral shows that a much more significant portion of the quarians must be sympathetic to them than we see.

[illusivesoul]

Unpopular opinion, but I think ME2 and the Suicide Mission are made more impactful when some squadmates die during the mission.

I know we all love the squadmates and we'd all prefer them to live, but I think that having some of them die really adds to the weight and impact of the mission and the game overall. It goes to show the sacrifice the crew and squad had to do in order to fight back and stop the Collectors.

It also just adds to the already massive emotional weight ME3 has. Plus, some of the replacement characters for the me2 characters that you meet in 3, like Padok Wiks, who replaces Mordin, are pretty awesome, and characters like Rodriguez and Falere being more prominent in their missions if Jack and Samara are dead respectively is also quite interesting.

[stormikins]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

tagged by @nowandthane thank you!! Warning I ramble a bit in this lol

I am a fan since: 2017, I got it for Christmas in 2016 so I always just say '17

Favorite Game of the series: By virtue of simply replaying it the most, three. I really love the combat in it so I've played it near thirty times? But all time fave would have to 1 because of the aesthetic, tone, and story. There's something about first discovering a world which is what me1 is about.

MShep or Femshep? Gotta go with Femshep. I have played both, its just hard to capture the male shepard image I have in my head in the character creator so Femshep it is.

Earthborn, Colonist, or Spacer: earthborn! My main Shepard Jenn is earthborn so that's what I'm going with. Though, I have numerous Shepard's are various background combinations. I have feelings about each background trust me

Biotics or tech: Both! Though I really do love biotics, you can do some cool stuff with them, setting up and detonating both biotic and tech explosions.

Paragon or Renegade: I have to repeat what nowandthane said, paragon choices, renegade dialogue.

Favorite Class: Sentinel. I love the versatility of the class, but I do have an affection for Infiltrator because that's what got me through me2 on insanity.

Favorite Companion: Tali. By story value, Javik. He's like one of the most important characters

Least Favorite Companion: Javik, throw your attitude out the airlock. IM JOKING! (he has every reason to be like he is. I love him very much) Liara is my answer though only because I don't like some of the story choices the devs did with her. (ex: why does she have Shepard's armor in a display case when i didn't even romance her??? I can't mention this at all??)

My squad selection: For Jenn's playthrough: Wrex/Tali in me1. Garrus/Mordin/Miranda generally in me2. Thane and Miranda/Samara for the collector base. Kaidan/Javik/James in me3. Of course, I mix it up based on story aspects and the difficulty settings. But me3 is pretty fixed bc I always play on insanity.

Favorite in-game Romance: Tali and Garrus. I'm a sucker for awkward, wet cat of a man like Garrus is. But Tali's romance man.... her parting line to Shepard during the beam run "I have a home" makes me insane actually

Other pairings I like: Obligatory Nihlus/Shepard/Kal (and the duos within in this throuple) mention here. Other than that, Joker/Miranda and Joker/James, Ashley/Garrus, and Shepard/Wrex, I could list a whole lot so I'll keep it to those ships lol

Favorite NPC: Nihlus and Kal'Reegar for sure. Victus and of course Niftu Cal our favorite biotic god.

Favorite Antagonist: Saren. He's the best one that we get in all three games (Harby could have been number one if they did anything with him in three but that's a rant for another time lmao)

Favorite Mission: Haestrom/Tali's Loyalty mission because that's when I get to see Kal <3 and blow up a colossus with the Cain. Also, the Collector Ship mission I have to mention because it's frankly the only mission besides the two previously stated where I've loaded up the save to play it on insanity when I'm bored. It's fun. Of course, this is with the Infiltrator.

Favorite Loyalty Mission: Tali for numerous reasons. Kal mention here. But I love the insight into Quarian culture we get. Also we see that fire in her when she's talking to the Board which I always appreciate. Along with her dialogue at the end, "I got better, Shepard. I got you." and then on the ship afterwards, "I don't think life is about what we deserve." I love her so much.

Favorite DLC: Leviathan. Only because of the horror aspect.

Control, Sythesis, or Destroy? Destroy. I have so many issues with the ending and that's the least worst option in my opinion so. (I too ignore that it wipes out the Geth and Edi fuck that)

Favorite Weapon: The M-90 Cain or the M-99 Saber aka the "Big Iron". Lancer in three was my favorite weapon before I found the Saber. Special mention to my bud the Mattock, I have been convinced of its glory. I do not think the Harrier is better anymore lol which my brother would be happy to hear

Favorite Place: me1 Citadel my BELOVED.

A quote I like Quotes I Like: The ENTIRETY of Sovereign's dialogue on Virmire GOD ITS SO GOOD!!!! / "Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer." / "Does this unit have a soul?" / "Just followed your example, Shepard. Yell loud enough and eventually someone will come over to see what all the fuss is about." / "I won't let fear compromise who I am." / "I MADE A MISTAKE!" / "Help me out here, Shepard. The line between friend and foe is getting a little blurry from where I stand." / There are so many great quotes in these games I could go on and on but I'll stop myself

No pressure tags: @spacebunshep @jtownnn

[thefloatingstone]

ME Question: If you could only have two squad mates for a whole trilogy run, who would the one other than Garrus be?

Mordin.

On an earlier playthrough many years ago, I remember having to turn the difficulty up because I play Infiltrator so me and Mordin just set everything on fire and it MURDERED anything we came up against.