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ageless-aislynn · 4 months ago

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I know very little about modding other than there are a LOT of mods out there for Mass Effect and that @average-mako-enjoyer was telling me about a cool save editor. Then I stumbled across a mention of the Expanded Galaxy Mod (LE) and hit it, Liara!

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This thing would practically make the trilogy a new game! Look at what it includes:

Improved Terminal Set XO, Marine Lieutenant and Chief Engineer. Requires certain levels of conversation before individuals are unlocked. Set other crew including Marines, medics, engineers and chef or barman. Require senior officers. Crew Manifest reflects Shepard's and crew's personal history. Set Normandy equipment including vehicles and customisable firing range options. Access Spectre Mail. Set your squad powers and combat gear. Gameplay Set mission timings for major missions like Priority:Tuchanka, Priority: Perseus Veil (Geth missions) and Priority:Thessia. Complete DLC without feeling like you are supposed to be somewhere urgently. Instead you can optionally set the conversation to human in the war room or vid call at your leisure (set in EGM Settings). The Alliance will give Shepard an extra 25,000 credits on boarding the Normandy to reflect an initial budget (and help towards expensive weapons). Deck 1 Cabin Invites - once romances are locked in you can invite your love interest to the cabin (if they are on the Normandy). This includes: Liara, Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus, Steve, Samantha and Tali. Each has a few interactive scenes. Cabin Photo - all romances have a photo. Interactive. Various collectables including Mako model, Hammerhead model, Collector's Blade, Shepard's Helmet and many more. View Medals (as per ME2) Deck 2 Bridge - shutters restored.CIC - Traynor's dialogue won't be cut-off if you open the galaxy map or use the elevator. Deck 3 Liara's Room - Ashley conversation restored. A cut conversation between Ashley and Liara is restored (Localized). Ashley will visit Liara's office post coup.- Fixed screens so they don't invert. A variety of screens will show.- Ilos painting (if the player completed LOTSB in ME2)- Normandy photo (if the player romanced Liara in ME1)- Liara bed scene (if the player has a loyal romance in ME1/2/3 or has locked in romance in ME3) Crew hanging around in the mess hall may include marines and others. Life Support used as office (sometimes) Arms back in Life Support (if Marine rating is medium to high) Fix shutters in Port/Starboard Observation rooms Medical bay will slightly change depending if player purchased the upgrade in ME2.If Garrus is dead he will be replaced by a crewman as Gunnery Officer. Pick bonus giving medics (requires Chief Medical Officer) Pick Barman or Chef (requires XO). They will feed Shepard's fish. Decor in mess hall and bar may reflect which is chosen (as will behaviour of some crew). Deck 4 Windows opened up on the Cargo deck in Javik's room and Starboard Cargo. Pick Geth/Quarian Engineers (requires Chief Engineer) New store allows purchase of Normandy upgrades. Deck 5 Shooting range - can be purchased from Deck 4 engineering terminal. Customisable in Manifest. Armory - as you find and gather more weapons you can view them in your armory. A small bonus is available for collecting the majority.Secondary vehicles including Mako, Hammerhead, Trident and others can be purchased after Vega destroys the spare shuttle in Priority:Mars. Customisable in Manifest. Javelin Missiles available. ME2 Weapons imports - Direct import from ME2 (Not New Game Plus). Authorise Cortez to bring the crate on board after the first dock at the Citadel. Weapons reflect ME2 level. All weapons will go to Level X once box has been opened. Crate will disappear after 6-7 missions. Mechdog has a greater variety of ambient chatter restored. New Alliance Requisitions store contains some late game Alliance weapons if you want them early. Entire Ship Marines will guard doors at various key points depending on selected security level. Use ducts to travel between decks. FTL VFX on all windows.

Setting an XO, more crew, more invites up for your love interest, the return of the medals (achievements), picking a barman/chef, opening the shutters in Javik's room (I legit used to look at Grunt through those shutters in ME2, I don't even know why, lol! I just used to check to see if he was there 🤷‍♀️), MAKING USE OUT OF LIFE SUPPORT (I still tend to go in there to look around despite the fact no one has been in there since Thane in ME2) and more interaction/sounds from KEI-9 (aka Mechdog) would all be things I'd be SO interested in! But really all of it sounds amazing, like it would add an extra amount of life to the Normandy and that would be so awesome! 🤗🤗🤗

I'm still trying to get a bunch more achievements so don't want to risk any changes/mods until I'm done, but I was just all starry eyed reading about these things and wanted to see if anybody out there uses this mod or any others? 😎😉

#mass effect #mass effect legendary edition #mass effect mods #expanded galaxy mod le #ais plays mass effect #this is my game tag #ageless aislynn #Youtube

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omegastation · 8 months ago

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Musings about Liara & grief post Thessia

I know we appreciate characters in our own way, and what would frustrate me would not frustrate someone else. But Liara post Thessia has often been talked about as selfish and focused on her own pain, ignorant and/or dismissive of everything that happened to others before. I disagree, because every single time - for every loss - she has shown empathy. Even on Thessia, when her own planet was dying, she tried to put her own hand on Shepard’s shoulder as if to comfort them. And that’s one example. I truly think Liara cares a lot, even too much sometimes.

But really there are many things to consider:

We truly don’t know how we react to things until it happens to us. It’s one thing to have empathy for others, but you truly grasp the horror when it’s done to you. It’s one thing to see another species being deformed and changed by Reaper tech, but seeing features that are your own, familiar to you, being torn apart in front of you? That’s something else. Seeing a planet destroyed, you feel empathy. Your own planet and civilization? What are you supposed to do next? Liara does things, that’s how she fixes what isn’t working. But facing this kind of devastation, what’s the next step?

Liara post Thessia is not just grieving people. She’s also dealing with all the revelations regarding the protheans. I think, in the conversation with Javik, that her anger is misdirected, and he knows it, and he takes care of it in the best way possible. But she’s angry because:

The asari probably didn’t achieve the excellence she believed they ought to achieve to save the cycle

She hints that she believed they would be protected and didn’t help them as much as she thinks she should have

Her research and career feel like a joke to her

Her mother hid things from her

Her entire species hid a big secret that, if known, might have changed the galaxy and this cycle’s future

There's a lot of guilt and shame in her post Thessia. It's not self-righteous anger. It's never been about that.

And thankfully, Shepard reminds her that she can still do things to help people. That's the moment right there with her face full of tears:

She finds the will to go on, gets up and tries to help the refugees. She thanks Shepard.

For this moment, I think she’s allowed the tears, because grief can be so devastating. Getting up at all is already a big step. But I don't think there's any moment there where she believes her pain is worse than anyone else. And her pain doesn't take away from others, it doesn't mean everyone else isn't in pain! I don't think ME3 is trying to tell us that. The opposite in fact.

Earlier Tali is found near the wall with all the names of the people they lost, Legion is added there. Garrus has found his family is safe, but it doesn't mean he doesn't have tough choices to make. Joker talked about his family and Reapers going to destroy the colony they live in. They're all allowed their moment of grief and triumph. Liara's deepest grief is just at that moment. And she's not the only one being comforted. Garrus and Tali both really worry about Liara, but they each have reassuring words for Shepard post Thessia. Joker and Anderson are focused on taking care of Shepard as well.

People need people, and they're all dealing with grief in their own way. They also all love each other very deeply and it shows. That's my conclusion post Thessia.

#debmeleplaythrough #anon i saw your question #and i'm trying to answer #but i'm also waiting to head to the monastery #because something isn't clear to me #tw grief

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wingsofthesun · 5 months ago

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Astra Shepard Bio

Astra Shepard circa 2185 (Or Mass Effect 2); looks about the same a year later, but grew her hair out during house arrest because she was feeling very petty against the Alliance for everything

Class: Infiltrator Pre-Service History: Colonist Psychological Profile: War Hero Morality: Paragade (most major decisions are paragon, but will happily take a renegade dialogue option or interrupt depending on the context)

The Shepard featured in my series To Stars (series of oneshots or short stories that take place during ME2 and ME3) and After the Fire (series of likely longer stories set after the Destroy Ending of ME3, though slightly canon divergent in that the geth and EDI live). The two series are connected to each other, but can be read independently.

If I post anything specifically about her, it will be under the tag Astra Shepard here on this blog.

Biography under the cut:

Astra was born to Hannah and John Shepard in Canada on Earth, and the entire family moved to Mindoir when colonization opened to civilians when Astra was three. (The First Contact War actually made it cheaper to move because the people in charge erroneously thought it would make people scared to move. They were wrong.)

Astra had an average colonist childhood. John was a part owner of a small fruit orchard, growing both familiar Earth fruits and unique Mindoirian fruit safe for human consumption. Astra helped him once she was old enough, but she much preferred working with Hannah, who ran a small tech repair shop in the capital. Most of her knowledge of tech comes from those days working with her mom.

That all changed when Mindoir was attacked when she was 16. Batarian slavers, furious at the Alliance expanding, attacked the capital city of the colony. Astra was working with Hannah that day, and as soon as the sirens went off, Hannah rushed her daughter into the cellar of the building, where they had strong fields blocking any scanning or other outside tech use, as it was where they tested volitle devices. Hannah was killed keeping the slavers from finding her daughter, while John was killed while working in the fields.

Astra was found by then Commander David Anderson, who did everything he could to comfort the distraught teenager, basically becoming her guardian in all but name until they could bring her back to Earth. Even after that, he still checked in on her as much as possible, though he never interfered in her career.

Astra spent the next two years under the care of her great grandparents in Canada before joining the Alliance at age 18. Her great grandparents kept in touch with her, standing proudly in the audience when she received the Star of Terra and graduated as an N7, unfortunately peacefully dying shortly after the latter from old age. She took a leave of absence to process her grief and take care of their affairs.

In boot camp, Astra was immediately noted for her skills, both as an Infiltrator and in leadership, and she was fast tracked to command. She had a distinguished record even before the Skyllian Blitz, where she took charge and led the defense on the ground until reinforcements arrived. She received the Star of Terra for her work, but made it abundantly clear during the ceremony that she believed everyone that fought with her on the ground should receive one as well, not just her.

After that, Astra was invited into the N7 program, and she accepted. She was one of only four of her class to graduate as a full N7. A couple years later, after she was made a Lieutenant Commander, Anderson asked that she be assigned as his XO on the SSV Tokyo, as no one could accuse either of them of favoritism now. When Anderson was given command of the new SSV Normandy, he asked her to be his XO once again, and the rest is history.

Major Choices:

Mass Effect 1

Saved everyone on Feros, spared Shiala, killed the ExoGeni corporate shill that tried to kill everyone because they said to

Very reluctantly spared Balak to save the hostages

Spared the rachni queen

Wrex survived Virmire

Ashley survived Virmire

Completed the Garrus/Wrex/Tali personal missions (let Garrus kill Saleon, and gaveTali the geth data)

Saved the Council and chose Anderson as Councilor

Romanced no one

Mass Effect 2

Recruited all 12 squadmates and gained everyone's loyalty

Stood in Garrus' shot and let him decide to spare Sidonis

Tali was not exiled, and her father's crimes were not exposed

Saved Maelon's data

Sent David Archer to Grissom, and the literal only reason Gavin didn't die is because she wasn't going to force David to watch

Destroyed the geth heretics

Saved the entire crew

Chose Garrus as the fireteam leader both times, Tali as the tech expert, Mordin to escort the crew back, and Jack as the biotic specialist

Destroyed the Collector Base

Did NOT do Arrival, and had turned herself in before it happened as a gesture of goodwill

Romanced Garrus

Mass Effect 3

Cured the genophage and Eve/Bakara survived

Saved Grissom Academy and sent Jack and the students to work as support

Spared the rachni queen once again

Ashley rejoined the crew

Samara and Falere both survived the monastery

Made peace between the quarians and geth

Miranda survived Horizon

Chose to destroy the Reapers with highest EMS

Romanced Garrus

#this ended up pretty long oops #i'll probably list a bunch of fun facts tomorrow or something #mass effect #commander shepard #custom shepard #female shepard #astra shepard #she also did some egm specific missions but i thought it'd be best to leave it as game canon for now

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pinguphd · 1 year ago

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Soldier of Heaven Chapter 1

I spent like 3 days editing this, but at least I finally have chapter one of my fem!Shep/Kaidan fic. Taking place after the events of ME3, we're going to explore just what happened to our dear Commander Amira Shepard and her love, Kaidan Alenko. I would like to thank @the-californicationist for putting up with my rambling, and especially @tealenko for helping me work out some of the ideas I had. Wouldn't have done it without you two, this goes out to you!

Each chapter, including the name of the fic itself, is named after a song. I will update the playlist with each chapter so you can listen along with me. Enjoy!

“I won't be coming home

I won't be going anywhere

I will guard this post forever

Here on the alpine slope, where I did my final stand, I shall remain

Among the ice and snow that binds me to this mountain”

Soldier of Heaven-Sabaton

It took close to two months in the aftermath of the Reaper War for things to return to any semblance of normalcy. While the makeshift hospitals were still full, they did not seem so utterly overwhelmed as when the Catalyst was fired, finally eradicating the Reaper threat and ending the horrid cycle. Much of humanity’s home was destroyed, yet the overall mood in London was one of optimism or cautious enthusiasm at the society they are rebuilding.

Amira Shepherd, the famed Savior of the Citadel, first human Spectre and one of the best biotics the galaxy has ever seen was one of the people still in hospital. The doctors and nurses had no idea who she was, and Amira wanted to keep it that way. Best they could figure was she was probably an Alliance soldier, but it was hard to be certain when she would not speak to any of them. The combination of watching a man she considered to be a father figure to her-Admiral Anderson die right in front of her, the comedown from the six months that she had spent going from here to kingdom come gathering everything she possibly could to ensure the continued survival of everyone in the Milky Way, and, perhaps most heartbreakingly, saying her final goodbyes to her beloved Kaidan took its toll on her.

Having survived 3 different suicide missions, curing the genophage and watching Mordin die, saving Kaidan on Virmire, even her fraught reunion with him on Horizon was distressing. She has seen enough trauma, heartbreak, and death to last her many lifetimes (quite literally, in her case). She could still recall every second of her final moments with him. Helping him up after being fired upon with that beam, even forcing him onto the Normandy even as he begged her not to make him go and his anguish as she left him was the worst of all of it. She loved him so deeply she made him go, although it broke her heart to do so.

That did not make the aftermath any easier. After she had fired the Catalyst, she had very little recollection of what it was like in the midst of all that rubble. Her armor was in pieces and near nonexistent and the burns and injuries she had, she almost couldn’t feel. All she could remember was the feeling deep within her that she had to get back to him, no matter what. Despite the risks to what she knew had to be incredibly fragile health, she did her best to keep a biotic field about her in the hope search and rescue would find her. Dead or alive, she owed it to Kaidan to know how she ended. Not another Alchera, not on her watch.

From what she had been told by the medical staff, she was in the smoldering rubble for around 3 days. By the time she was found she was incredibly weak and in what she could only imagine was a rough state. Bad enough to the point where the staff at the hospital, full to the brim with Alliance doctors, nurses and support staff had no idea she was Commander Shepard. This fact suited her just fine.

For some unknown reason they were keeping her there, so in a show of defiance, she kept her damn mouth shut. She filled her time not in PT with a sketchbook and canvas a well meaning woman visiting her friend at work gave her. It’s not right dear, you being here all alone. She was one of the only people in the few months she had been in hospital who was not interested in making her talk. I understand dear if you don’t want to say anything she said to her on her first visit. She enjoyed the companionship anyway.

This sweet older woman was completely and utterly empathetic, expecting nothing in return. Selfless too, visiting her. She seemed to have a way with, what did Kaidan call them? “Old soldiers.” Huh. Guess those words ring truer than she thought. When the woman, Elizabeth, she eventually learned was her name, had come to visit, she always had a mug of tea and biscuits with her, armed to the teeth with even more art supplies for her.

Elizabeth would sit with her in her room, chattering away about everything and nothing at all. She heard stories of her kids and grandkids, all gone now. She heard about her troubles finding ingredients for the teas and biscuits she brought with her on her daily visits. More than once the doctors, nurses, therapists and technicians chided her for being rude in not talking to her friend who was so kind in visiting someone she had never met before. Elizabeth came to her defense more than once, shutting that attitude towards her with a fury only known to a mama bear protecting her cubs.

It was on one of these visits, Elizabeth chatting away while Amira worked on a scene of her and Kaidan’s last goodbye, that Elizabeth had said something particularly interesting. “Apparently some Admiral is even in the area today. Think he might be visiting some of the Alliance folk.” Hearing this, Amira felt the blood in her veins run cold. Beyond hope she prayed it both was and was not Admiral Hackett. Desperate for word of her crew on the SR-2, she studiously focused her attention back on the pad in her lap, whilst Elizabeth prattled on and left her to get lost in her thoughts. It was something she did a lot since she was found.

Okay, she was lying to herself. She knew full well why they were keeping her there. The combination of how heavy she used her biotics in her final moments before she made it to the Citadel, the injuries she sustained, and lying half dead (well, mostly dead if she was being honest with herself) using the very last of her reserves to emit a strong enough blue glow to be found had completely destroyed her implant. The cybernetics and nanites Cerberus had given her had protected much of her fragile state and had served to speed up the healing process.

In order to distract herself from the train of thought that thinking of Cerberus always led her down (the awful reunion with Kaidan on Horizon, almost losing Garrus on Omega, the suicide mission that was the Omega 4 relay…) she instead forced herself to use her famed laser focus on running down the list of why she had not been identified, her pencil stilling against the pad of paper in front of her. Feeling a sense of calm overcome her after Elizabeth’s seemingly innocent remark at the visiting Alliance brass, she ran through the logistics she knew by heart.

During and after any skirmish, battle or war, communications were in some form of disarray. In this case, they were all but destroyed. To that end, she knew connections to Alliance systems in particular were nonexistent.

When they had to replace her L3 implant with a highly experimental L5 type model similar to what she retrieved from Grissom knowing that the logistics of obtaining a safe and extraordinarily well tested L3 implant like what she had previously (she groaned internally at that, it would be her third damn implant) it was so badly damaged they couldn’t easily trace it back to the Alliance database, if they had the access at all.

With so few resources, they did not have a chance to thoroughly scan her like they would have done pre-war.

Over half of Earth’s population was dead, and with medical staff on or near the front lines their numbers had been particularly affected. With so few staff, and an extraordinary number of patients to tend to, she was able to stay safely under the radar.

Those who needed tending to number in the many thousands. As fond as the medical field and Alliance tended to be of rules and protocol, the ability to follow such things went out the window in wartime, which she knew very well.

She thought of these 5 things, over and over, during the course of her visit with her friend. It distracted her and calmed her nerves. Anxieties she had become all too familiar with since Alchera reared their ugly head once more, however, when she heard a flutter of activity outside the small room she had been given. She looked towards the door, with a mix of fear and well-disguised terror in her eyes in contrast to the awe Elizabeth had held in hers. Elizabeth’s heart softened when she looked upon Amira, the older woman coming up to her to place a weathered hand on her bare shoulders.

Listening to the conversation in the hall with her well-practiced hearing, she heard a very familiar voice talking with the nurse that was particularly horrid to her over the course of her stay. Prone to letting her mind wander since the war's end, she thought of all the ways this woman had tried to goad her into talking. Attempts at withholding food, being more aggressive in the treatments she was giving, waking her at odd hours or abruptly, the list goes on. She guessed that was part of why Elizabeth had visited her so often, after the first time she witnessed “the wicked harpy” draw blood with a rather vicious looking needle that left a pretty purple bruise at her elbow.

“Oh, how did you enjoy your visit sir? We have had a great many Alliance soldiers grace our halls. I myself have taken care of many of them.” She could hear their muffled footsteps walking away from the corner of the hospital. Elizabeth had given her shoulder a gentle squeeze, rolling her eyes. If by “care” she means acting like a wicked harpy armed with a syringe full of medi-gel, then by all means, she took great care of you dear. The two people in the corridor were unfortunately not far enough away, because the Alliance Admiral had heard some of their words and turned back around, heading right toward the door. To her.

“Oh no sir, you wouldn’t want to go in there. This silly woman doesn’t bother to talk to anyone. No one knows her name and no one comes to visit either so clearly whoever she had in her life either is dead or she was so miserable to them like she is to us they just don’t care.” She giggled a bit at that, letting just enough of her facade crack that the man's steps came to an abrupt halt and turned about face towards her. Coming close enough to the windowed door, Amira’s eyes widened. She knew that silhouette anywhere.

With a stern voice, he addressed Harpy. “With all due respect ma’am, you were fully apprised of the reason for my visit today. I did not put up with your company for the last hour for nothing. I did not stand next to you blabbering about your skills as I visited my men and women, many of whom were under my command or under the command of a good friend who is also missing. If there is a soldier in there under MY command, I will see her.” Despite the stuttered protests of Harpy, trying to recover her “reputation”, he swiftly held out a hand to push open the door.

Amira froze and dropped her pencil. Clearly startled, Elizabeth raised her stature and wrapped both hands around her shoulders, standing protectively over her adopted charge. “And just who in the hell are you? Barging in here like a raging krogan like that, have you no manners man?” Amira placed a hand over hers and shrugged them off, standing up. The man’s eyes widened. Yes, they knew each other very well.

“Commander Shepard?”

#kaidan alenko #mass effect #i will go down with this ship #shenko #commander shepard #mass effect kaidan #Spotify

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ravioliage · 3 months ago

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ONLY time I will give a pass to a "moral dilemma where you have to choose between two factions but the devs then decided to add a 'broker peace' option" is the Geth and Quarian peace in ME3. But that is solely because to get that option you have to make specific choices in the previous games. And then by the looks of it BioWare made Destroy ending canon, as that's the only one where Shepard lives, and you know damn well they're going to bring them back in next Mass Effect game for sales reasons. So it all loops back to not giving a pass to it.

(Post signed by Control Ending truther)

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marsskop · 1 month ago

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📻 Shep ✨

Nuclear - Mike Oldfield (https://youtu.be/R_TbF5m5KpU?si=sX13696ji-cR3PVa)

Perfect song for him during and post ME3.

Standing on the edge of the crater Like the prophets once said And the ashes are all cold now No more bullets and the embers are dead Whispers in the air tell the tales of the brothers gone Desolation, devastation What a mess we made, when it all went wrong

Shepard dealing with the consequences of war, the cost of victory, survivor’s guilt and trying to live on in the devastation that follows.

I'm nuclear, I'm wild I'm breaking up inside A heart of broken glass Defiled Deep inside The abandoned child

Sacrificing himself in body and soul for the sake of the Galaxy, nuclear decay of a man that influences everyone around; also, “breaking up inside” as the physical aftermath of Destroy ending frying his cybernetics. “Deep inside / The abandoned child” as a direct reference to the dream sequence and depersonalization.

#[ask]#mass effect #commander shepard

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dragonflight203 · 1 year ago

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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.

#mass effect #mass effect 2 #mass effect 2 replay

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fiendsandfangs · 8 months ago

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The 2024 Fiends & Fangs Fanwork Exchange blessed us with a trove of monster fanworks. Here's a fic we think you'll love. 💕

Dessert Plans

by @teamdilf ※ Ao3: Missjlh

Mass Effect ※ Garrus Vakarian/Original Female Turian Character ※ (1,872 words) ※ Teen

Summary:

After meeting at a bar on the Silversun Strip, Garrus and Mena exchange letters through the end of the Reaper War.

✨ Check out this work on Ao3! ✨

#mass effect #garrus vakarian #original female turian character #garrus vakarian x original female turian character #mass effect fanfic #epistolary #post-destroy ME3 #fiends & fangs 2024

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shepcdr · 2 months ago

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was thinking about the idea that post-me3 happy ending shepard would benefit from a service dog but i know he'd just end up with smth like this

anyway. jokes aside. more rambling re: the post-me3 ending thoughts below

the scenarios im cooking will work i think whether or not the normandy crew have already returned from being crashed on that random planet in the middle of gods-know-where?? ... though i do have some thoughts on how he struggles with vulnerability going from strong and capable commander shepard to... what he is, after the war. aka an injured and disabled man who needs to heal, but he doesn't immediately see that — but the main difference, if the normandy crew is there, is he goes through... some difficulties with being perceived as vulnerable and weak around them. people who've only ever known him to be commander shepard, relentless and hardened and impossible to knock down.

post-me3 — depending on if they're even there, or if they arrive back on the citad lwhilst he's still in the process of recovering, re-learning basic functionality, even unable to walk again yet — is a really hard struggle. Either he's struggling to function without his crew there (because this is how he feels about ALL the normandy crew btw [excerpt from this thread]:

because he bonds on such a deep. and v codependent level when it comes to the mass effect crew, especially the me1 people. these were the first people he trusted after so many years of self-isolation and loneliness)... Or he's experiencing the horrific struggle of "holy shit i can't let them see me, the man they followed across the galaxy to fight REAPERS, like this"

but all that aside:

i think he'd jump onto helping rebuild as soon as he's physically capable. he doesn't know what else to do, and he's probably best off not using biotics for a while (uncertain what the destroy ending ... EMP sort of thing would have done to his biotics implant but either way. his body probably needs all the help it can get recovering. so no biotics). he certainly can't jump back into active duty whilst still struggling with even day to day functioning, and perhaps even struggling with having undergone some amputation (i'm undecided on that part...). So, volunteer work. Rebuilding both structurally and in terms of of contributing to community, building that all back up in the aftermath of horrific suffering and loss.

And part of that means he ends up on earth for a bit and perhaps.. passing through the area where he grew up. just to see how hard the reapers hit. and then he'd decide to stay a bit and help out!!!

bc i'm always always thinking about the various news you can hear in me2, in particular... about the Shepard Memorial scholarship on earth that's aimed towards disadvantaged kids (well. aka just sends them to the Alliance. but that's certainly a step up from a lot of situations they could be in) and the "Shepards" charity that conrad formed to help orphans/POWs/refugees... and i think after some contemplation, that's where shepard's mind goes first. so he sticks around, puts in some work in the place he came up in + in other low-income and disadvantaged areas/communities similar to it. my heart says he's particular dedicated to charity & work with disadvantaged kids. he bounces between there and anderson's apartment on the citadel, because he's helping there too (and. because. do they ever?? fucking move that thing back to where it was?? or is it permanently hovering above earth now? — i like to think in control ending that shepard as the catalyst + the reapers help rebuild, and drag the citadel back where it used to be because. just easier that way for everyone. but, like, in a post-destroy ending??? it's just stuck there now...)

and he probably has a dingy and modest little apartment he rents on earth around where he grew up, where he's concentrating a lot of these efforts. and in the morning he gets out on the streets for a morning run with this giant fuck-off service dog in tow... it's sitting there with him so well-behaved when he's hanging around with the bunches of rowdy kids he's working with ...

#you as a normandy crew member have two options. return during shepards initial healing process and watch him freak tf out bc-#-he doesnt know whether to be relieved by your being alive OR to curl up and disappear forever bc he cant stand to be perceived like this #or you show up back at the citadel and go “where's shepard” and they redirect you a Very rundown and dangerous feeling area on earth #where you go to a shoddy old apartment building and shepard (a little worse for the wear) opens the door with this Creature behind him #he'll probably give u HUGE hug. let you in and make u instant coffee (sorry dextros. he only has levo) and stand awkwardly with u #and then out of nowhere after a few minutes of Nothing would be like i wish they told me u were back bcuz i felt Dead without u #normal things to say. but also he knows everything is different now and the war is over and that yr time together is. limited. or done #that makes him so so sad but hes also like......🧍‍♂️i dont know how to express that to yr face.....#to be deleted.#big thoughts happening in jude brain central tonight and they're Only about yishai shepard #try finding that on government paperwork. \` * file: HEADCANON.#another day in yappersville ☀️ \` * file: OOC.

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average-mako-enjoyer · 8 months ago

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Or Mordin (for the character ask) since we're having Mordin feels this morning.

From the character ask game.

This is very, very interesting, thank you! Finally, I have a chance to talk about him.

Favorite thing about them He's one of The Characters. One of my top 3.

He's so complex, so morally ambiguous, so intelligent and yet so short-sighted at times.

He heals and he kills, but not with medicine.

He has to see the results of his actions for himself, to see with his own eyes the people whose lives he has impacted.

He's passionate, he's asexual, he's ruthless, he's one of the most compassionate people you'll ever meet.

He's everything at once.

Love him, love him, love him. Least favorite thing about them Don't get me wrong, I like his redemption arc, but it feels half-baked and toothless to me.

He's the best damn character in ME2, and I feel that ME3 kinda forgets how badass he actually is. So he takes a back seat in his own ME3 story until the final climactic moment and that's it.

I think this is the only instance where making completely atrocious renegade choices (killing or betraying Wrex, killing Maelon, destroying his data and thus killing Bakara, and pushing Mordin to sabotage the cure) feels more rewarding because it has the same moral ambiguity that is an essential part of Mordin's character. Favorite line "Life is a negotiation. We all want. We all give to get what we want."

"No tests on species with members capable of calculus. Simple rule, never broke it."

"Hard to see big picture behind pile of corpses." brOTP Bakara, obviously.

I think their relationship is incredible. It's based on mutual respect and care, and I think it's one of the rare cases where Mordin doesn't just see her as a patient or a curious piece of research, but as a person, and that person interests him as much as her genetics and physiological reactions. OTP I've seen someone suggesting Aria/Mordin, and yes, this sounds like FUN.

But realistically? Mordin/Immortality. Just give my man all the time in the universe so he can continue his studies.

I think he would have been fascinated by the post-control ending Shepard. nOTP Mordin/Shep.

I've seen some cute art, but… how about no? He's clearly not interested in romance or fucking, leave him be. Random headcanon He's also a painter and he does abstract art with names like "The Presumption of Anger p.3", and you look at it and it's just a long vertical black line on a purple background. And he's very serious about this stuff. Unpopular opinion I don't think it's that unpopular, but Gilbert and Sullivan plus the seashells quote did some irreparable damage to his image in the eyes of the fandom.

Yeah, the games portray him as this quirky, babbling genius. Oh, he tests biological weapons, but not on the crew, of course not, why are you so nervous, Joker? But that's just the surface.

There's so much to Mordin behind his mannerisms and behind his sweet relationship with Bakara. There's really so much darkness in him. And all that just gets ignored, and it's so shitty?

He gets babyfied a lot, and considering the fact that he's also a positive autistic+ADHD rep in these games, it's a little insulting tbh. Song i associate with them I don't really have one, but in the spirit of pulling random indie music recommendations out of my ass, I think he would've enjoyed the sheer ridiculousness of Hydrogenuine by USS Favorite picture of them This one.

#mass effect #mordin solus #my thoughts #ask game

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ageless-aislynn · 25 days ago

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Wrapping up my very first FemShep playthrough with a few observations!

I didn't realize that FemShep's romance scene with Kaidan before going after The Illusive Man has more to it than MaleShep's does!

#MaleShepShouldGetToSayHeLovesKaidanToo #AndGetToSitOnHisLapForReasons 😇😉

I know people often feel like Liara is constantly being forced in as Shepard's love interest, no matter who you're actually romancing, (and I'm not saying that's incorrect) but I honestly have such fondness for her that I don't mind. To me, Liara truly loves Shepard but while she shows it in ways like, you know, bringing her/him back from the dead, you also see it in little ways like this scene, where she's trying to give Shepard one last moment of peace before the final battle.

I always feel like Liara knew that this time, Shepard isn't coming back and there's no Cerberus or other magic in the entire galaxy strong enough to overcome that. This is it. This is Liara's last moment with the person she loves and I don't feel like she's over stepping any boundaries. She's not making a big declaration, she's not trying to kiss her or the like. She's just sharing this moment with her and I think that's very sweet. 💖

Anderson gives Shepard one last chance to rally her team, Liara, Garrus, Tali and, of course, Kaidan, who have been with her from the start. EDI who was there as an AI voice in ME2, then got her body in ME3 and James who's been with her from the start of ME3. But, of course, there's only one member who deserves the place of honor, right in the middle...

Sgt. Randall McRando.

Sooooooo, I, um, didn't go pick up Javik again. 😶 I MEANT to, I completely did, but I kept doing other missions first and then it was time to do the Shore Leave DLC and that felt like that would be super awkward to invite this guy they just literally met to a special party like that but would've been mean to exclude him so I just... Left him there. 😬He's fiiiiiine, though! At least it doesn't count him as dead like it'll do any of the ME2 squadmates if you don't visit them in 3. 😱

We never want to see Grunt's name on this wall ever again, m'kay? 😭

So without Javik, you get this random soldier standing in his place for some reason. Don't know why they couldn't have just left it empty?

Anyway, there were far worse repercussions. Or is that... Reaper-cussions?

Ahem. I'd checked my War Assets score and was well into the 7k but I forgot to check it one last time annnnnnd apparently I was just under the amount needed for the Destroy-but-Shep-takes-a-breath.

So Kaidan had to put our name on the wall because I got Shepard Super-Duper-Murder-Death-Killed! 😱😱😱

Which was not the ending I thought I'd get, yikes. And probably missing Javik was one of the reasons why my score came in just a bit too low. Oh well. I wanted my FemShep's first run to have at least a slightly hopeful ending but it is what it is.🤷‍♀️

Now I'll be heading back to ME1 yet again, this time with Shep hanging up her Infiltrator class (I enjoyed it) and trying out Engineer. We'll also be, ahem, trying out Garrus.

D'aww, Gare-bear! (Yes, I have completely 100% unironically blurted that out a few times. The first time was when he nearly got killed in his ME2 loyalty mission in my first playthrough. I legit gasped out, "Noooooo, Gare-bear!" 😱😭😂)

So that's my plan. Then we'll wrap things up with a Soldier FemShep and Liara romance. Annnnnd have an Absolute Cursed No-Import Playthrough of ME3 with MaleShep so I can romance Ashley without having had to choose to let Kaidan die in ME1. Since I already have done the Control ending among my preferred Destroy, I think for that playthrough I'll try Synthesis just so I can see it for myself. Then I'm still hoping to at least start Andromeda in June since my playthrough of it was in June, 2024. 😬

So I've got a lot more ME fun still to come! I actually did recently fit in a shorter game from my backlog but this post is already getting quite lorge so we'll talk about that another time. 😉

Love you all, friends, and I hope you're doing great! 🤗��

#mass effect #mass effect 3 #commander shepard #kaidan alenko #shenko #mshenko #liara t'soni #garrus vakarian #meet my new oc lol!#sgt randall mcrando #lol #ais plays mass effect #this is my game tag #ageless aislynn

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