#Ive only played mass effect 3 times (on 3rd playthrough now) and ive only been male once

[gothamcityneedsme]

ok side note. Thinking about how insane the shepard/miranda ship is. like she was the head of the resurrection project for two years. She saw shepard go from a bunch of meat and tubes slowly back into a person. She led making sure shepards personality and cognitive status wasnt different. She wanted to install a control chip in his brain but TIM said no. she basically literally built him back from nothing.

How she felt about that corpse on the table is so enigmatic, this was an assignment, a project, bringing back a symbol for humanity. it wasnt personal. She didnt know him. She recreated him just as he originally was.

something something. Miranda herself as a genetically engineered human. How that forms and shapes everything about her and her mindset. Her at the helm of this project. Bringing back a symbol, not intending to care for the man.

Then if they fall in love like. Hello. That is so insane.

[acradaunt]

Etrian Odyssey Nexus Playthrough - Week 1

I thought it would be a fun idea to record weekly my progress through EO Nexus. Why? I enjoy reading people's experiences where multiple options are available; what they chose, and why, and how exactly that turned out for them. It's something this EO has more than ever before, and it's such a central concept to my own work on DR, so in its own way, it's research. And since there is a need for people to have 100 QR codes, it serves a purpose there, too.

I'll try ultra-hard to avoid any form of spoilers, so expect me to be vague as hell about stratum or FOE names. To make the most of all these fun class options (and the extremely early Memory Conch), I'm rotating characters around as I see fit, but mostly in accordance with when conditionals are needed or interesting weapons are available. I mean, that kind of class-switching has been the norm for things like Final Fantasy since III, so why not do it here? Between these two things, I'm going to be writing about how characters are faring and where they shone, rather than going on about each stratum.

Couple general notes before character remarks; I'm playing on Expert (which is the norm for EO), and I just punched into the fifth stratum. On that, things are really coming together, as I'm now seeing enemies from three different regions of III and IV at the same time. Lush Woodlands was so aggressively a carbon-copy of its EOIV incarnation it made me really worried. Those fears seems fairly quashed at this point. Also, um, character remarks in Read More, because they're actually kinda long.

Imperial / Arcanist / Harbinger / Shogun / War Magus / Nightseeker - None of these have seen any use yet. Of 19 classes, some just might not fit in a first playthrough. The first three definitely'll show once subclasses come along, but right now aren't super-appealing for various reasons; Imperial's ridiculous TP requirements make it sound like a non-starter in early game, I don't trust turn-end heals when most random battles last 1-3 turns, and, well, I feel it'd be wrong to use my #1 Harbinger without also bringing along a certain Dragoon (Hero) and Masuaro (Ronin). That debuffer role has also lowkey been stolen by Landsknecht, of all things.

Klein the Hero - Klein has been absolutely devastating in random battles, but has generally floundered during bosses and FOEs, with Hero mostly being about multi-target attacks and a bit of a TP-hog. After netting the 3rd stratum boss' weapon, his damage output has been fairly ridiculous, and Shock Strike is nothing short of amazing. He's definitely not going anywhere, but I wouldn't say he's irreplaceable, either; that sword's nutso damage is innately amazing in anyone's hands. In a lot of ways, Hero is a remix of Dragoon, and while I definitely didn't like Dragoon at first, it grew on me quite a lot.

Iris the Protector - Iris came in strong against the 2nd stratum boss, and only got better with that boss' weapon able to shoot cheap line-piercing Fire attacks that could sweep most of the 3rd stratum. Ultimately, circumstances made her not very appealing for the 4th stratum, and I haven't seen any remarkable new spears, so she's mostly waiting for that. Or a Boss/FOE where Taunting is effective to return to the forefront.

Terra the Highlander - Terra was off-and-on for the early part of the game, trading said spear with Iris as was convenient. Veteran Skills haven't been particularly kind to her, but Master or Subclasses might still change that. She's certainly strong and sturdy enough to handle the frontline, and there's something to be said about how tricky it is to shatter a three-person front-row that doesn't need to rely on Protectors.

Stella the Zodiac - One of my starting five, Stella repeatedly died in one shot in the 1st stratum and burnt through TP way too fast, and performed similarly poorly in a brief stint in the 3rd stratum. I considered bringing her on again for a specific FOE, but ultimately didn't. After Warlock's same-turn Charge and Runemaster's Runes, this class just feels tremendously disappointing.

Coral the Landsknecht - Easily the most all-around reliable, if never the shining star. Extremely burly and with a diverse array of skills at hand, she's always useful. Primarily though, she shield bashes to cripple foes with Debuffs then Links away when they can't possibly do enough damage to kill anyone.

Erika the Ronin - Absolutely the core damage dealer for the 2nd's Boss and the 3rd stratum, primarily due to an incredibly good Katana you get midway through the 2nd Stratum. She was all about Air Blades from the back-row, then dashing to the front-row to regain her stance, drop offenses, or go for a strong arm-bind. It's a really fun class, all around. However, getting caught by a single good attack, even when in the back, is usually a death sentence for her, so it's a bit tricky, too. That said, she still came through big-time in both the 2nd and 3rd Strata Bosses, which were more endurance matches and about conserving TP more than anything, so there's something to say about that.

Laura the Medic - Not a ton to say here. Medics heal and revive; lifesavers when things get hairy during FOEs/Bosses. What is no joke is her Star Drop's ability to ruin defenses. Like Erika, she did occasional row-switching when things were safe. Not something you'd expect from a Medic. During initial planning, she was gonna be a Medic/Landsknecht, for high-speed Star Drops, but Star Drop is a normal debuff now, not a one-turn affair like it was, so I'm not too sure what her endgoal is anymore. I'm considering swapping her for Adam, who's designed to be a Medic/Zodiac, so I would at least have SOME form of normal mage (not to mention cheaper TP for heals via Free Energy). Laura's a dumbass though, and I love her for that, and right now, the Medic is hitting stuff in her free time, not casting, so she fits the bill better right now, especially as conserving TP is still a huge deal. STILL can't buy Amritas.

Juri the Survivalist - Probably the overall MVP for the first four strata. Blinding Arrow was vital against most Lush Woodlands FOEs/Bosses, and doubling all harvesting for a single skill point is nothing to scoff at. Add in cheap on-field healing, and she was good enough to kick Laura out for the whole 3rd stratum (until FOE/boss time). She's definitely starting to feel like she's falling off, though. Veteran added some nice moves for random encounters, but Master skills sound very lackluster, with only Disabling Shot sounding appealing (though Disabling Shot [Add Leg Bind to ALL Bow Skills] is VERY appealing). Master's still a long ways off though.

Yai the Pugilist - Yai wound up coming in for some conditional-drop hunting near the end of the 3rd Stratum, and with another great fist from a FOE on the World Map (making it a... WOE? MOE?), has stayed around off-and-on since then. Binds can always completely swing the flow of a fight, but they're not super-reliable, and she suffers from Erika's frailty, with none of the row-swapping tricks to keep her alive. She isn't terrible, but she's failing to live up to her EOV self. That said, she actually combos amazingly with Coral this time, as opposed to last time where she was the only one who DIDN'T play into Coral's pierce-a-thon.

Olga the Gunner & Leon the Sovereign - Neither have seen significant use but bear mention. When Bind conditionals first came up, it was an immediate coin-toss between getting Olga or Yai ready. Yai won because the current array of Guns failed to impress. However, with Yai's questionable performance and Juri's waning damage, a solid Gun could easily make Olga a mainstay. Leon, likewise, is basically waiting for more Skill Points and a weapon with a decent Skill to use to come in on. Leon definitely hasn't felt as sturdy as he did in III, which is also holding him back a bit, as I'd prefer him to be a part of the front-row wall-of-steel. Still, using the same gear as Klein and Klein's own iffy performance against bosses means he'll probably push through for the 5th or maybe 6th's Stratum bosses.

Kagura the Ninja - Brought in for a bit during the 4th stratum, when I was wondering if I was overlevelled, as upon first arriving, I was seeing yellow FOEs. I don't think I was. She actually served pretty decently in random encounters, essentially being able to mass-sleep an entire wave of enemies, which came in major handy, as the 4th just loves throwing 4+ enemies at you at once. Having her mother's (now retconned to being her sister, I guess) badass Katana to swap to definitely eased her entry into the group. Not material for FOEs, though; her overall damage output remained quite poor.

Kahna the Landsknecht - It's no secret that I'm a huge sucker for Landy's Links and especially Fencer's Chains as a primary form of team synergy. I'm seriously considering the possibility of running TWO Landsknechts; Coral on Shield Bashing debuff duty, and Kahna as a high-speed Linker. Truth is, Coral spends so much time with the shield keeping foes down, she has little time to lift herself up, and Landsknecht has no shortage of damage buffs, to boot.