#nice to see Javik's dialogue here...

[death-rebirth-senshi]

It's always funny that of course one companion protests to being left behind by Shepard at the beam run and has to be kind of dragged away but that requires the other one to be like. Hell yeah I'm evacuating

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 3 replay, recruiting Javik:

-Prothean Data Discs – Apparently dark matter is meant to be the Crucible’s main power source.

Nice attempt on Bioware’s part to give dark matter some relevance, but this is not nearly important enough for all the ME2 foreshadowing.

Maybe if we’d encountered problems with using the dark matter that required efforts on Shepard’s part to solve this could have cut it.

-This playthrough I’ll be taking Liara and Javik with me as companions, so it’s off to go recruit him.

I haven’t taken Javik with me since my first playthrough, so this should be interesting.

-With that said, I dislike how Liara is forced upon you for this mission. There’s no reason you should have to take her.

Yes, yes, Prothean expert but you don’t have to take her to Noveria and that’s to deal her mother so you should not have to take her here either. This isn’t a loyalty mission.

-It’s strange that Liara speaks so nostalgically about Eden Prime being where this all began on the shuttle ride when she wasn’t there. She was picked up much later on Therum

-When you land on Eden Prime there’s a brief conversation about the geth attack and rebuilding.

There’s another rare reference to Shepard’s background here – Midnoir was rebuilt but it was never the same.

-Cerberus is stealing the colonists for processing because of course they are.

-How did Cerberus find Javik anyway and not the Alliance?

I doubt Cerberus sponsored the archaeological dig. At least not under that name.

I suppose they could have had Cerberus agents on the dig and swooped in when a prothean pod was unearthed.

-Also odd that the Reapers don’t show up. You think they’d consider this important.

If you take the angle that Cerberus is working for the Reapers because TIM is indoctrinated as hell, it makes more sense. They know Cerberus has this covered.

-Javik’s presence is very well done. It’s a natural extension of ME1’s Illos; if one Prothean facility could have stasis pods, why not another?

Although Illos’s ran out of power within a few centuries. I’m curious how Javik’s managed to last so much longer.

It’s possible there are more scattered across the stars, although if they have any survivors left at this point is debatable.

-Liara has a very rosy eyed perspective on the Prothean empire considering what we learn later.

As she says, it may be her asari bias showing.

I also wonder how much the empire changed over time. Javik is from the tail end of the empire; it’s possible that earlier on it was more akin to what Liara describes.

There may also have been different factions, with some more benevolent than others.

-Vanguard, Liara, and James are not a great choice for this mission. I can’t handle shields so turrets are deadly as hell.

-The nature of people never changes. Shout out to the locked trailer with the windows wide open.

-As others may have mentioned, why were guys gunned down watching the game wearing armor?

-Same set of tvs also have an ad for Sanctuary.

People must realize that the Reapers are also seeing these ads, right? There’s no way they don’t know about Sanctuary.

-Javik is clearly the Shepard of his cycle. One who’s lost hope and gone full renegade. Watching him comfort civilians and do his best to save his soldiers is sad.

-That’s the first time I’ve ever hijacked an atlas mech, and since it’s the last combatant I can’t even use it.

-Javik only survived because of Reaper arrogance. If they had been more thorough in making sure Eden Prime was destroyed, he’d be dead as well.

-The conversation with Hackett is a good example of my issues with ME3. I have no dialogue choices in it. Shepard feels far less like “my” Shepard and more like the character Bioware wants them to be.

-Javik’s not actually that helpful. Good squad mate and lore source, but he does not fundamentally change the plot.

Ironically, he’d be more helpful as a war asset.

-It sure is convenient that the room has already been adapted for Javik’s comfort.

This ship was to be Anderson’s mobile command center. What was the purpose of a room with a cradle of water going to be? Or did Liara request the changes be made as a shuttle was sent to collect them off of Eden Prime?

-Another example of I suspect unconscious sexism on Bioware’s part:

The fours soldier in the room with Javik when you first speak to him on the Normandy are male.

Javik himself is male. Or at least male presenting. I don’t think we ever get an overview of Prothean sex and gender.

Shepard can be male or female depending on the player’s choice.

Liara is read as female by humans, although she’s technically agender.

So this scene can play out with six men in the room and one woman.

When Bioware doesn’t think about it they default to “male”. If someone had gone through and made sure roughly half of the background NPCs were female throughout the game, these types of scenes would not feel as unbalanced.

Did anyone ever even consider making Javik female?

-Was Javik always the avatar of vengeance or did he decide upon that after waking up 50,000 years in the future?

I suspect the latter.

-Javik says his sensory ability was common among his people.

Common, not universal. I wonder how those without it were treated? The Protheans do not seem to kindest civilization.

-In Prothean history, they had a machine rebellion. They united the organics to fight it. They were winning the war when the Reapers showed up.

Hmmm. Did the Metacon War trigger the Reapers arrival? If so, why delay long enough for the Protheans to unite the other organic species against them?

And is there a Reaper out there that was made of uploaded Metacons?

-Javik says the Protheans could not win because all organics had been unified to follow Prothean doctrine, and once Reapers had adapted to it the organics were screwed.

This cycle may have an edge because of its diversity.

That will be a theme throughout the game, so good on Bioware to mention it so early.

-This is the conversation where Javik mentions that the Protheans had cities on Illos. Or rather, rumors – records mentioning Illos had already been destroyed by that point. The planet also contained ruins of a prior civilization, the Inusannon.

[kyratittyfish]

How about a fitting writing prompt if you need one: Shepard and LI in front of a fireplace, how about a virtual one on the Normandy or somewhere, trying to make it somewhat comfy when it isn't? Or instead of LI someone who has never seen a fireplace or doesn't see what humans find about it (Wrex maybe? EDI?).

alright, here's a WIP for a fic inspired by this lovely prompt! Also, my WIPs are quite weird in that I write all the dialogue first, and add the non-dialogue parts later, so enjoy this banter :)

“How about setting up some atmosphere? Y’know, romantic lightning? Sappy music? Those sort of things?”

“Never took you for a romantic, Jeff”

“Never took floating dead fish as your preferred form of interior decor, Shepard”

“Sometimes I don’t know why I put up with you”

“I like to think it’s my vibrant personality and irresistibly handsome looks, but it’s probably ‘cause you need someone to actually fly this ship. You don’t want to leave a super advanced vessel which also may or may be not the galaxy’s last hope in the hands of the Cerberus sentient robot”

“Why can’t it be both? And also - I thought you and EDI got along now?”

“Oh we do, as long as she doesn’t snitch me out to Chakwas”

“Keeping up with your medication regimen and maintaining an adequate sleep cycle is essential to your health and wellbeing, and by extension to that of the whole crew, Jeff. Shall I remind you that you’re the one preventing this vessel from crashing into a supernova and that sleep deprivation affects piloting skills worse than excessive alcohol consumption does?”

“Oh shut up mom! Also, remind me to tell you all about this great new concept of “privacy”, I’m sure you’ll love it.”

“I will add it to your scheduled reminders, right between “attend your PT appointment” and “compile the weekly ship maintenance report””

“In hindsight, I should have let the collectors abduct me and turn me into Reaper milkshake”

“Can it - both of you, before I find myself in agreeance with Javik’s stance on airlock usage”

“Alright alright… but this isn’t over EDI, you’re not winning this”

“Jeff!”

“Ok ok ok sorry I’ll stop it. So… what about that atmosphere?”

“What about it? And if it’s gonna be another comment about my aquatic lifeforms headcount, you’re sleeping in the bunks with Donnelly”

“Message received, Commander, loud and clear.”

“Good to know, Lieutenant. Bed’s awfully big, and soft, and warm, it’d be a shame to sleep in it all by myself.”

“That won’t be a problem- I’ll take over your half of the bed and hog the whole blanket, if you like it cold and cramped. You know I’d do anything for you, Shep”

“Anything except playing nice with the relief pilot, apparently”

“He flipped a Mako, Shepard. A freaking Mako. I’d be impressed if he wasn’t the one in charge of flying *my* ship while I’m supposed to have a good night of sleep”

“I flipped a Mako once and still, you play pretty nice with me”

“Yeah, unfortunately Mother Nature didn’t bless him with gravity-defying boobs and the ability to keep up with my sense of humor”

“Nor a smart ass, a bubble butt and the most piercingly gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen”

“Oh ok now you’re making me blush”

“That’s exactly what I was trying to do - you’re too cute when you blush”

“Not fair Jane, not fair”

“See? Matthews will never be this adorable”

“Or this hot”

“So, about that atmosphere… wanna put up a vid and snuggle in bed?”

“Honestly Shep? Doubt I’ll be able to pay attention to the vid and I don’t wanna risk a jumpscare in the middle of an uhm, ... snuggles session”

“Good point. So… how about this? Is holo-fireplace a good enough atmosphere for you, mister?”

“Holo fireplace is good. Shame it’s a fake one, means we’ll have to take care of the whole “heat” thing ourselves”

“Real shame indeed… C’mon, get into bed sweetie”

“Aye aye, Commander”

[professorspork]

i know I always say this, but, last night REALLY WAS the BUSIEST OF DAYS in the Reaper War

before I get into yesterday’s gameplay, I realized I forgot to react to the fact that Jacob got Brynn pregnant, which -- again, I suppose that wraps up everything about his backstory in a nice little bow, lad of the bad dad gets to be good dad, but like... it still gives like they gave his character incredibly short shrift. so. humbug to that.

but I have bigger fish to fry (ha ha, literally, see what I did there?) because ALL OF THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE, AND ALL OF THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. I rescued Ann Bryson, and learned that -- shocker -- she had a bad relationship with her dad. I uh may have condoned her getting a bit of a nasty nose bleed in order to track the Leviathan to Despoina, where as ever I got to read a bunch of people’s weirdly specific sad diaries. my jump into the depths was very cool and scary (does no one get the bends in the future???) and I enjoyed my The First-style body swapping conversation with the Leviathan in which I tried to prove I’m ~special and this time is ~different. on the one hand, I don’t know why I expected the origin of the Reapers to be anything other than yet another story of AI gone wrong, but this whole cinematic parallels thing is starting to edge out of “everything matches up and is of a piece” territory and into the murkier waters of “we kind of only had one idea, actually.” to reveal that the Reapers’ plan is just stray AI code to ‘preserve life’ is at once very chilling and a bit of a let down; when I think back to when I talked to Sovereign for the first time and I had my initial “GOD IS A MACHINE THAT WANTS TO KILL US” freak out, I was in fact very on board for an evil plan too broad and complex for a human mind to fathom. for it to be this feels kind of predictable and pedestrian.

that said, watching the Leviathan take down a huge-ass Reaper capital ship with its pulse signal was very satisfying.

oh no this is going to get very long, now that you’ve had this fun teaser i’m gonna put the rest under a cut

then we kicked it on over to Thessia and I highkey traumatized my girlfriend. I feel like I should have seen the reveal that the asari were more advanced because they were hoarding prothean tech coming, but I didn’t. hearing and seeing all the asari commandos helping me get wiped out was a real gut punch, but didn’t hold a candle to my frustration at the confrontation with Kai Leng. I’m not mad that the game wouldn’t let me beat him, per se (though I still think it’s ridiculous that I’ve taken down a Reaper by myself and I’m supposed to be afraid of a dude with a knife), but I am pissed that it all happened with combat cut scene magic. this game has given me difficult combat before! if, in fighting Kai Leng, I’d genuinely felt outmatched, I think I would have tolerated it better -- or if the combat had been me fighting the Harvesters and then Kai Leng sneaked around me because that’s what he does, he sneaks. but to have such a relatively easy combat sequence with him that felt very much like winning just to have it snatched away from me... maddening. WHY CAN’T I BEAT THIS ONE GUY AND HIS KNIFE? I don’t want to be all “Kai Leng is a Mary Sue” but like... he got to murder Thane and then beat me in overtime, and his entire vibe is I exist to sell action figures even though that’s not, as far as I know, any part of Mass Effect’s profit model. so it’s just frustrating. and for them to then rub salt in the wound and have him EMAIL ME to be like “lol snowflake r u triggered” was just. MY PATIENCE IS THIN, ME3. DON’T PUSH ME.

seeing Shepard have to admit to failure was a gutting scene, though, and a necessary one. and watching Liara fight with Javik was highkey satisfying, too. 

so anyway, because i was BIG MAD at Cerberus I tracked them first to that one N7 communications mission-- 

(Sample dialogue: Helen: Why aren’t you using cover? You’re going to die! Use cover! Me, jumping out of cover and rushing Cerberus goons trying to melee them to death: BECAUSE I’M MAD)

-- and then to Sanctuary, and HOO BOY WAS THAT A LOT OR WHAT. from the second I heard Oriana’s voice I had a pretty good idea of what was going on here, but seeing in in practice was still creepy af. and like. i’m just gonna go out on a limb and say INDOCTRINATION BAD. I AM NOT A FAN. shout out to that one capitalist volus on the Citadel who was like “lol sanctuary is a scam don’t waste your money” i guess

additionally, last night was significant because I picked not one but TWO ENTIRE renegade convince options, because I saw no reason to be nice to terrorist daddy the illusive man or actual terrorist daddy Mr. Lawson. after I got through all that, Helen explained to me how difficult it apparently is to keep Miranda alive by the end of that confrontation, so I got to do some WHAT LIKE IT’S HARD? preening at how Nice Sheps Finish First sometimes. 

but as usual, the real highlight is getting to know my crew better and talking with them. I finally got some prime flirting in with Liara during Leviathan. it was VERY cute when she was like “man what’s with you rescuing damsels from dig sites? if you end up teaming up with her to save the world and bring down the shadow broker i’ll be very jealous. ... and concerned” and WEIRDLY CUTER when she was like “hey the only tentacled alien who gets to mess with your brain is ME” because Liara is like 115 by now considering how slowly i’m getting through these missions and she still does not know what romance is. 

[no but seriously, Liara does not know what romance is. half the time I’m still going WE’RE STILL DATING, RIGHT? every time she refuses to talk to me. and even after Thessia, when everyone was like “go talk to Liara, she needs you” and even JAVIK of all people was like “you’re dating Liara, right? it’s so obvious” our interactions did not feel particularly... romantic? it’s a tricky needle to thread, obviously, I’m not looking for sloppy makeouts right after millions of her people died, but it still reads as very odd to me. anyway.]

Javik’s story about how he once had a ship like the Normandy and a crew of friends like mine and they all ended up indoctrinated and he had to personally slit their throats went way harder than I ever expected it to. even just the IDEA of having to do that as my Shep upsets me. i’m legit enjoying getting to know Javik, even though i’m still GuessWhoJustGotYelledAt.jpg every time I leave his room. I HAD ENOUGH OF THAT FROM KREIA, JAVIK, YOU’LL NEVER PUSH ME AWAY.

I was surprised by how hard Tali took Miranda’s successful challenge of Mr. Lawson, though in hindsight it makes sense -- with the geth war still happening on top of everything else, I don’t think Tali ever did get the chance to process her anger at her dad being a war criminal and all. and her whole “emergency induction port” bit about the straw was cute as hell tbh. her friendship with Garrus over the comms continues to give me life. 

(in other quarian news, I AM SAD ABOUT KAL’REEGER.)

and jeff. JEFF. after Thessia i literally ran to the bridge and said aloud “Jeff, make me feel better” as I clicked interact with him, and then he made that dig about asari dancers, and i was like NO NOT LIKE THAT. (I mean, what Shep literally said was “now’s not the time for jokes” which is ironic considering she, unlike me, still calls him JOKER) but then he was all DAD ANDERSON SAID I’M SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH, I’M SORRY, I’M DOING MY BEST and like. what a fucked up little family we are. he feels guilty that I died saving him, still! apparently he asks EDI about my stress levels and they are BAD and he feels BAD! im crey. OH AND ALSO THE FACT THAT PTSD ASARI LAURA BAILEY WAS TALKING ABOUT HIS FAMILY ON TIPTREE AND I CAN NEVER TELL HIM BECAUSE THE GAME DOESN’T LET ME DO THAT???? V UPSETTING.

and then of course EDI had to TRIPLE DOWN on all these feelings i was already having by telling me about human resistance and selflessness on Earth and how she wants to turn off her self-preservation code because she’s not about that. I’M SUCH A TOASTER FUCKER HALP.

Garrus being all “well sometimes your best friend gives you a pep talk” speech was cute as hell, and I was strangely charmed when Kaidan was like YOU CAN TELL I’M EXTRA MAD BECAUSE MY VOICE HAS GOTTEN SO DEEP grumbling.

next up: shore leave, and then going after Cerberus will trigger act 3! i may one day finish mass effect after all!

[acequeenking]

Thoughts on the Andromeda Crew

I've done two more missions in ME:A, one on Voeld and one on Havarl. Thoughts on the crew thus far below the cut:

CREW

At this point in the game, it's become clear that your crew (and the Andromeda initiative as a whole) might have had good reasons to flee the Milky Way galaxy. Besides the incoming, machine-orchestrated apocalypse, I mean. None of these guys quite “belong” in their home cultures, and all of them are misfits to some degree or another.I like that, and how, in many ways, these aren't carbon copies of Tali/Garrus/etc. It's a risk, but I think it pays off. Mostly. Liam is super-emotional, and at times this can make him unprofessional. He loves a lot, definitively an extrovert. Liam is basically the “Deanna Troi”, less in terms of psychological well-being, but more in terms of being the peacemaker of the Andromeda crew. Liam is consistently the one who who worries about making sure everyone gets along, who wants to bond not only with the milky way crew but goes out of his way to bring in Jaal as well. Not only does Liam reject our ideal of toxic masculinity, but he actually takes on a very traditionally feminine role in the group. No wonder he didn't exactly fit in in a police force made up of men like Harkin. Disaster response is closer to what his calling is, but I still think it’s wrong. Honestly, I think Liam would make a great teacher or social services provider; he cares, sometimes too much, but he cares. I also like how the game does point out this is both a positive trait and a negative one; his over-kill on the kett at Habitat 7, his arguments with Cora. It adds balance to his character. My one question: Liam, what is up with those media recommendations on your emails? It must take you a while to set those up and with everything going wrong you'd honestly think he'd focus on something greater than titles of books relating to community.

Cora, like Liam, is a rejection of traditional gender roles. She's clinical, precise, but also pig-headed. She has an almost masculine amount of confidence; she calls it how she sees it, and that's...it. Yet at the same time she has a lot of reverence for the female-coded people in her life; the girl who isn’t like the other girl, she isn’t. 

This leads to a lot of conflict with...just about everyone, actually. She's savage to Peebee for not caring about what she cares about; she doesn't get Drack, and mistrusts him even when he's pretty harmless. She doesn't get Liam, she doesn't get Jaal, and she doesn't get Vetra. Cora butts heads with literally just about everyone who doesn't believe what she does. This makes her character difficult to like, for me, personally. She's very focused on the asari, to the point of almost being an asari otaku (tm @buhnebeest). It's an ironic twist, a human who you would think, from the name, would be all “human rights forever!!!” to be pretty much in love with the asari. It's clear she believes in asari culture in asari religion, in asari strategies. She doesn't belong with humanity anymore; one gets the sense she would have rather been on the asari arc. 

Peebee is an asari with commitment issues a mile long. She's very much the anti-Liara; whereas Liara constantly wanted to get closer to Shepard, Peebee is constantly pushing Ryder away. She doesn't want to commit, tells you up front she's only here to get what she wants and then she's leaving, free-bird style. Peebee would never be so devoted to a friend/lover that she'd go on a one-woman mission to rescue their corpse, I'm saying. Despite that, Peebee is a charming girl; she's clever, smart as a whip, and you can tell she really is passionate about the remnant tech she studies. For Peebee life is all about the new and the now, and you get the feeling that there's no place she'd rather be than the frontier. Of all the people on your team, Peebs best encapsulates the “trail blazer” persona. 

Vetra is, like Peebee, very much the Anti-Garrus. Garrus was a Palaven homeboy, from the capital no less. He came from a position of turian privilege, and it's very evident, particularly in Mass Effect, that he doesn't know how to relate to the others. He started off wary of humans, absolutely cruel to Tali. (Thankfully, he got better.) Vetra is also from Palaven, but has pretty much the opposite sort of backstory: her family life was chaotic, her parents basically unsupportive. She was forced to scrap and save for her sister from a young age. Garrus ran from his family, Vetra is absolutely attached to her sister at the hip. Vetra's my favorite cast member, and while I feel like I'm becoming somewhat of a stereotype by tending to focus on turians (TURIANS!), I think she'd be my favorite even if she wasn't a spiky bird. She's kind, adaptable; I adore the way she makes decisions focused on giving people what they want. She's also intense as fuck, which is something I'm generally into in characters (if you uh, haven't noticed, which...you almost certainly have). Also her addition to dextro cereal is absolutely endearing. Vetra is almost certainly the one I'll romance my first go; I've been flirting with everyone, but I like her best, and some of her dialogue in her romance is so good. “I've got a good feeling about you, Ryder,” said in a soft, but affectionate tone; “It's nice to be appreciated”. Oh Vetra. 10/10 will fanfic forever. I can't wait until Scott wakes up and sees his two new, slightly raptor-like sisters. (I honestly couldn't think of a better way for him to wake up than having Sid squealing about him and how she's heard so much about him from Sara, and did he really break his arm climbing a tree and did it grow back or is it a robot arm???)

Jaal, like Liam, and Drack, rejects the idea of toxic masculinity; so much of Jaal's story is about his emotions, how he must express what he feels. Jaal is a soldier, but he is unquestionably a lover of a great many things: not just people, but places. Jaal I think honestly does love Andromeda; he takes great pride in talking to people everywhere and really reminds me of no one quite so much as Piper from Fallout 4 in terms of connection to the game world. Jaal was the biggest turn around in expectations for me. I don't think his look is particularly attractive and nothing about the pre-release info about him excited me.  I love him and I will definitively romance him second go. He's so emotionally powerful but also kind-hearted; he is absolutely dedicated to his people and turning things around for them. Also, his voice sounds like Javik's which is A+ for me. I will write several fics where he has eight millionty babies he adopts with Ryder. I want to write a bunch of cross-cultural fic, as the angara are interesting; a culture-heavy race long focused to be at war. Plus the reincarnation thing is just...oomph. Def. Space husband.

Drack is a rebel. He's definitively not your standard Krogan; he likes war, sure, but he's far more into family. No one in the party is as much a care-taker as Drack, expect perhaps Vetra. (Whose relationship, as an aside, I find fascinating because it's not how a turian and krogan relationship should go according to the milky way rules; Drack and Vetra not only get along like a house on fire, but Drack is presented as the expert and Vetra as the lesser-experienced.) Drack is very emotional, and it's obvious he loves his granddaughter Kesh and also that he cares about you. I was shocked – in a good way – when he sent Sara an email commiserating with her about her dad and trying to cheer her up with pictures of guns. He's astonishingly emotional, paternal even. I wish you could romance Drack because I would ride that old man's quad. He's gruff and grumpy but also incredibly caring and like Liam, someone focused on unity. He's lived a lot and seen a lot and he's old and jaded but somehow still hopeful and secretly soft as hell and I love him.  It's obvious why Gil didn't really fit in in the milky way; he admits cheerfully that he “lacks purpose” and just kind of drifted from one place to the next. He wants to find this purpose in Andromeda. I have to admit I really do not like Gil at all; I think he's a bit of an asshole. I hate his interactions with Kallo, because Gil just comes off as a jerk who thinks he knows better than the ship's builders. His modifications don't tend to be better than what we already have and as Kallo points out, often cause problems. Worse, he doesn't tell the crew he's going to be doing them, then is offended when they don't work or set off alarms that inconvenience others.

I met him for Poker on the nexus and he seemed more charming from that, as is his poker table book (although it made me wonder why Ryder doesn't get invited to the poker games when Jaal does, and he's only been on the ship for six seconds).  His friend Jill sounds hideous and gross and I absolutely hate how any attempt to tell him that her “U GOTTA MAKE A BABY BRO” speech is inappropriate is met with you don't know her, it's how we do. Yeah making someone feel bad for a sexual orientation they can't help is abuse, not friendship.

Suvi. Suvi I love, on a brighter spot; definitively space wife material, and again, a character I will run through to romance at some point. She's so bright and smart, and while I feel like a lot of people won't like her religious viewpoints, I really do. Religious characters are rare, and I glom onto them like hydrogen to oxygen, baby. I think the dichotomy she feels between being forced to choose to marvel at nature or be forced to explain it is interesting; it gives her depth. I wish Ryder had more ways to talk to her other than “I agree” or “You're shit also your religion is shit” but I do enjoy that Suvi is not an atheist. She's a profound believer in something bigger. 

I think this is what enables her to go to Andromeda, because that's not welcome in an area so soon after first contact, when so many religions on earth must have been shaken by the knowledge that we weren't alone, that there were more belief structures in the universe than we'd accounted for.  She is very much a rejection of the absoluteness of science; interestingly, she somewhat echoes Mordin, who also held some religious viewpoints and took comfort in them in regards to his work on the genophage. Also, she licks rocks, and there's nothing cuter than a girl that licks rocks. Her voice is nice as well, though I'm not sure where the accent is supposed to put her (Irish? Scottish?).

Kallo is probably the closest to fitting in with his species' general stereotype. He's another bright spot for me; Salarians really are bringing it in this game. I like him a lot. He's bright and brave but also a bit of a stick in the mud. It's clear that he expects things to run to spec, and doesn't have a lot of patience for people meddling with his stuff. (I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt in the conversation however, mainly because he isn't furthering the conflict 99% of the time with Gil, and his reasons for...wanting to know what's happening on his ship…are reasonable). Like Joker, he loves the Tempest, but he loves it in a less romantic way. He has more pride in it than emotional love. 

Lexi is...there. And I can’t honestly say much more about her? She doesn’t seem to have half the personality that Chakwas did, but hopefully she’ll get a scene to shine soon. Right now she seems like a waste of a rather famous VA.