Ryder's Mass Effect Experience

Inspired by DoomGuy's walkthrough threads.

First off, I just want to apologize if this feels like a shameless rip-off of DoomGuy's threads, which isn't my intention. The thing is, many months ago, I wanted to replay the entire Mass Effect trilogy and just post a retrospective review on the entire series... somewhere, just to share my joyous experience with the franchise. But due to a lack of time and, to some extent, a lack of motivation, I didn't do it. The thing is, I prefer the second Mass Effect game over the first one, and it was such a drag to go through the first game all over again. Thus, my motivation dwindled... until now anyway, when I saw the effort put into DoomGuy's threads. I'm actually surprised to find "Let's Play" threads like that in an anime forum like this since it's not a common sight in many forums, and the uniqueness of that motivated me more to create this thread.

And to be honest, I just have a lot of spare time on my hands right now, so I'm also doing this out of boredom.

And with that, I want to revisit the entire trilogy again and post my playthrough experience with everybody. That being said, I am a man of many faults, and one of those would be my over-ambitious nature, so I don't want to jump the gun and say I would necessarily have the time (or motivation) to play all three games for this walkthrough. Let's just keep it to one game for now and see where it goes.

This is probably the first Let's Play walkthrough I've ever created in my life, so I'm not entirely sure what are the proper things I should write about, but I'll try to share as much of my thoughts with you as possible, accompanied with the proper screenshots and YouTube clips.

A little history behind my experience with the Mass Effect franchise...
I've always had a fascination with games with multiple choices leading to multiple endings. There's just a sense of individuality when you get to participate in the storytelling, driving the story towards the direction you want. Compared to something like open-world games where everybody could explore the entire world in a single playthrough, games with multiple endings force you to make choices that result in a single possible experience out of many. When I get to play a role in a game in the way I want - be it a jerkass or a heroic badass - there's a cathartic feeling of control, an illusion of freedom that's hard to describe, but nonetheless feels wonderful.

Now, to be fair, Mass Effect isn't the best example of a game with multiple choices, since it only has three, and three rather similar endings at that. But at the end of this playthrough, I'll explain why that doesn't really matter since the journey outweighs the destination. The different nuances you get in each playthrough is enough to justify a replay in my opinion. Most of all, I feel like this is one of the best combination of good graphic, good gameplay, and a multiple ending system that you can get. Other games with multiple endings often had to sacrifice other elements like story or graphics, etc. but Bioware games feel like a balance between those elements, including the iconic Dragon Age: Origins, which I might consider creating a playthrough thread too in the very distant future (see what mean by "over-ambitious"?).

One of the two factors that made the Mass Effect franchise so personal to me was due to the sheer amount of time I spent with the trilogy. I first picked up the first Mass Effect shortly after the second one came out, so I got to experience all the hype surrounding the franchise during that time. There were a lot of discussions about the lore of the ME universe, and a lot of memes created that were based on the one-liners in the game. The other factor, and also the reason I spent so much time in the first place, was due to the nature of the game. In Mass Effect, you get to choose which companion to save and which love interest to have. In a way, it's almost like a science fiction ecchi game... lol But in seriousness, the way the game makes the player feel like a hero traversing across the galaxy with the love interest of your choice, among other "hard choices", that sense of individuality made the game very addicting.

And by the time it ends, when I'm faced with the consequences of my own actions, it was overpowering, melancholic, and yet, satisfying all at the same time. Shepard's sadness was my own. Shepard's pride from the smart decisions she made in the the first two games was share by myself.

And yes, I said "she". FemShep will always be my headcanon. And that's who I'm gonna play as in the following playthrough, the FemShep I've shared all those emotional moments with throughout my 300+ hours of the Mass Effect trilogy, Ruth Shepard the Ruthless Paragade (a mix of Paragon+Renegade). Yeah, okay, cheesy pun, but I felt like it worked regardless.

Without further ado, let's return to the world of Mass Effect aboard the SSV Normandy.

 

So at the beginning, we get the main menu music that will appear again at the end, during a very important scene in the game. The score is a relaxing theme called "Virgil", and it suits the mystifying universe that Bioware tries to create.

Spoiler

Personally, it isn't one of my favorite themes, and the space-exploration aspect of the game, while undeniably beautiful and admirable, just isn't quite my cup of tea. I still enjoy it nonetheless (from time to time), but I still prefer the more dramatic parts of the suspenseful story as opposed to galaxy-traversing.

After you start the game, you get this pretty cool screen where you connect to the military personnel database. The immersion has already begun here as they design the character creation to resemble a military registration process.

Spoiler

You can already tell that they probably put more heart into this game than the other ones. My memory might be faulty, but I don't really remember the other ME games having this whole process of "accessing military personnel" shtick going on, and was instead just straight away jumping into a cutscene.

After establishing the connection, I proceed to select the player profile from one of my prior playthrough, Ruth Shepard. Usually, this is the part where I show you how the character creation menu looks like... which I unfortunately could not show this time since it's a New Game Plus. I would love to just create the character from scratch again, but the thing is, the ideal FemShep I created took a long time to design, and whenever I tried creating her again, all the newer versions just never looked the same again. You can say that it's due to my nostalgic attachment to my first FemShep that I didn't want her appearance to change, but I feel like it has more to do with her appealing face with that tanned complexion and cute ponytail... Okay, I'm starting to sound like a weeaboo creep. I'll stop.

Udina: "Well, what about Shepard? Earthborn... but no record of her family."
Anderson: "Doesn't have one. She was raised on the streets. Learned to look out for herself."
Admiral Hackett: "She got her whole unit killed on Torfan."
Anderson: "She gets the job done. No matter what the cost."
Udina: "Is that the kind of person we want protecting the galaxy?"
Anderson: "That's the only kind of person who can protect the galaxy."
Udina: "I'll make the call."

Spoiler

So, right off the bat, I noticed a very distinct problem with doing a playthrough thread on Mass Effect - the cutscenes. And there are a lot. The number isn't so much the main problem, however, but rather, the main character appearing in said cutscenes. I can't just show you a random clip of the cutscene from YouTube because it would be another Shepard with a different face showing up on the screen. So what I'm going to do is to just summarize all the important stuff happening in the cutscenes as much as possible (leaving out the boring details), and leave the rest to your imagination, accompanied by a selection of screenshots. However, there will be certain special moments in the game that just can't be expressed otherwise aside from a video, and those would be the times when I will show you the cutscene.

After the above narration describing my character's background history as a ruthless Earthborn, we cut to a short summary of the lore history and the game title itself. There's going to be a lot of lore codex entries in the game that I won't bore you with, but I'll pick out the more interesting ones and tell you about them every now and then.

For now, we get our first look at the SSV Normandy traversing through the galaxy, passing various planets on her way. As we travel inside the ship herself, the camera follows behind Commander Shepard (AKA me, Ms. Badass) making her way towards the bridge and the ace-pilot, Joker. Various crew-members salute her (me) along the way, giving me that sense of pride as the mighty commander of this fine ship. Throughout this scene, there's a sense of impatience as we are kept waiting to see if our character creation turned out to be the way we wanted or not. It takes about a minute into the opening cutscene, not too long, before we see my FemShep's hot, crisp-tanned face.

Spoiler

"Like whaaat?! Not the default redhead? Not even a white woman? A Hispanic-ish woman with some kind of crew-cut? Are you kidding me, Ryder?" Well, technically, her hair is pulled back into a ponytail behind, but it's just hard to see it from this angle. And yes, I chose to go with a more Asian-looking non-white FemShep back then. I mean, let's face it, creating a woman you find attractive is one of the perks of playing a female when you're a guy, and I have a thing for tanned girls and girls with ponytail myself, so... give me a pass for being a creepy bastard for once?

Moving on. After the epic face-reveal, we get our first look at the floating machinery in space that we'll come to know as "Mass Relays".

Spoiler

Normandy gradually makes her approach towards the larger end of the structure, and like a slingshot, the machine abruptly propels it forward through hyperspace.

And finally, we cut to one of the most significant characters of the cast, Joker the ace pilot, played by Seth Green. Needless to say, if there is ever a live action adaptation of Mass Effect, I would like no one other than Seth Green, who's already an established actor, to play the role. He just brings a lot of energy into his character and the scenes he's in that I couldn't see anyone else giving off the same dynamic atmosphere.

Spoiler

At this scene, we have the Turian alien, Nihlus, approving of Joker's piloting through the mass relay. (From this point on, whenever an individual is described as some kind of species with an alien name, assume it's an alien. ) Joker's ticked off by Nihlus' arrogant sense of superiority despite being his status as a guest (VIP, but whatever), and after Nihlus walked off, he told his co-pilot, Kaiden (the guy without the ball-cap), that he hates him.

Kaiden: "Nihlus gave you a compliment... so you hate him."
Joker: "Hey, you remembered to zip your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom, that’s good, I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead, so that’s incredible. Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don’t like having them on board. Call me paranoid.”

The bickering carries on, and we eventually arrive at the first dialogue wheel choice, when the commander is fed up with all that noise.

Spoiler

[Cut the chatter!]
"That's enough! You're soldiers, act like it!"

First choice of the game and we're already going ruthless. To be fair, the FemShep I'm playing isn't a complete heartless bitch, and she's more of a pragmatic military woman who's very stringent with her rules. That said, in later parts of the story, you'll get to see her softer, more human side.

Soon, I have control over my toon and I get to explore the entire ship. For now, there's not much to see yet since I haven't picked up any other companions (aside from Kaiden at the co-pilot seat). I get to talk to some of the side characters in the story, such as Navigator Pressly and Doctor Chakwas, as I head towards my current objective - to speak to the captain at the comm room. Both Pressly and a greenhorn corporal Chakwas was talking to, Jenkins, voice their suspicions about being on a shakedown run (testing out the ship's navigating system) with a highly decorated captain and a Spectre (highly trained top-of-the-line special agents) on board. Clearly, something bigger's going on, but as the commander, I kept the others in line by telling them to shut the hell up and do their damn jobs.

Spoiler

And yes, from this close-up, you might notice that my FemShep has green eyes. Quite the appropriate color choice for an anti-hero.

And that's it for now. Before I move on with the first mission of this game, I'm gonna take a break and let this thread sink in. Tell me if you like the walkthrough so far.

 

What is up, Just Anime Nation. I'm your host, Killer Ryder. Let's get riiiight into the noose![/deadmeme]

Today, we're going to focus on the first mission of the game, where we get to test out our weapons for the first time. Now, something I noticed yesterday was that I was too verbose about my playthrough, so I'm going to shorten my posts even more just so you won't have to read through a huge chunk of unnecessary details.

At the communication room where I'm supposed to speak to the captain, Nihlus is there instead, that busybody. He warns me that the puny humans might not be ready to colonize on other planets yet, seeing how dangerous the galaxy can be. Just as I was getting sick of his passive-aggressive threats, Captain Anderson finally walks in and confirms the other crewmembers' suspicion - this is more than just a shakedown run.

Spoiler

It turns out that on one of humanity's very first established colonies, Eden Prime, researches have dug up a beacon belonging to a long dead race of aliens called the Protheans. Our mission is to go pick up the beacon. Seems that this is a big discovery for humanity since it might advance our technology even further, but the Citadel Council, the group of aliens in charge of the galaxy's safety and politics, is obviously interested in the artifact of a species extinct for more than 50,000 years.

Something you'll notice by now is that cinematic perspective of the dialogues. This isn't anything special in 2016, but back in 2007, a game that immerses the audience in what feels and looks like an entire movie, that was pretty cool, and it offers me a lot of opportunities for good-looking screenshots.

Aside from giving us the standard RPG retrieval quest, Nihlus is also here to evaluate me, Commander Shepard, for becoming part of the Spectres. Something you'll notice in most of Bioware's games is that the story follows a similar trend of the main character training to enter a special class of heroes, be it the Spectres, the Jedi, or the Grey Warden. This doesn't bother me that much, since you shouldn't fix what's not broken, but at the same time, it does feel kinda like a cheap and lazy plot-device.

During this dialogue scene, you are given the option to "Investigate" and find out more about your mission and the Prothean species, but I've already read about them, so let's move on. However, just as I'm ready to go, Joker informs us about a transmission coming in from Eden Prime. Here, we see a video feed showing a group of soldiers getting attacked by enemy forces, including our very first look at... some unknown alien ship I'm not going to reveal too much about for now.

Spoiler

Looks like we're dealing with some tentacles here. I've seen enough dead hentai memes to know where this is going...

With that, the retrieval mission quickly turns into a rescue mission. Nihlus is not following us because he "moves faster on his own". Show-off. Shortly, we finally land on the planet, and I would like to take this opportunity to show you the Inventory and the Talent Points menu.

Spoiler

As you can see, I've already acquired all the top-notch equipment as well as maxing out every talent of mine... something which you couldn't do without cheating what the hell Ryder?! lol But yeah, I used the in-game console commands to max out everything back then since I'm not really the kind of hardcore gamer that cares much about a game being challenging or not. Sorry to disappoint.

Immediately, we come across our first native lifeform, merely referred to as "gas bags" by Jenkins.

Kaiden: "What the hell are those?"
Jenkins: "Gas bags. Don't worry, they're harmless."

Spoiler

Harmless my ass! Gas bags go boom from my boomstick! lol Nothing like shooting innocent animals for the lulz.

As soon as I picked up my first loot, there's something very annoying that pops up on the screen, reminding me of the awkward gameplay that the second game improved upon.

Spoiler

The thing is, there are a lot of items you'll pick up throughout the game, from biotic amplifiers to armor to weapons to weapon mods, and each of those items all contribute to the 150 item limit. Every one of those, not just 150 limit per weapon and 150 limit per armor. Now, while the second game has removed this limit, they also removed the amount of weapons and armor you're going to get by a tremendous amount - and I do mean "tremendous". Compared to the hundreds of different weapons and armor you'll get in the first game, you're only going to get about 10-12 weapons and armor in the following games, just to put that in perspective.

As soon as me and my squad begin moving towards our objective, we're thrown into enemy fire immediately...

Spoiler

...and the new guy gets killed. Typical.

Of course, soldiers die everyday, and we have no time to mourn for cocky greenhorns thinking they're some Solid Snake hotshot.

Spoiler

Okay, maybe that's a little cold. *shrugs*

Spoiler

More gas bag chugging down my hot lead. There's just a satisfying feeling when your weapon makes something explode. No sexual innuendo intended.

Spoiler

Looks like "Geth Rocket Drone" here is having trouble blasting away my impenetrable defense... a f***ing tree. Video game logic, guys.

But seriously, the rocket-wielding mobs in the game are probably the most annoying bunch of enemies, even when you compare to the magic-wielding biotics with their Jedi mind powers. On harder difficulties, they could easily wipe you out with a single shot if you're not careful, even if it's just splash damage.

After trekking through the woods a little longer and wiping out a few more of those floating lightbulbs, we eventually get to meet our second companion (after Kaiden), Ashley Williams (no relation to a certain horror icon with a chainsaw for a hand). She's fighting against more Geth robot aliens... who are apparently sticking humans onto pillars?!

Spoiler

Spoilers: She's gonna be my waifu by the way.
Real spoilers: There isn't same-sex romance till the third game, and even then, you cannot sex up Ashley as a female Shepard. Wah wah.

But honestly though, my passion for tomboys always wins out over other female archetypes, so Ashley the tough no-nonsense jarhead is easily one of my favorite characters of the game, even if she's a bit racist (okay, a lot). More on that later.

Spoiler

Jesus, Shepard. You aren't exactly a people person, are you? Then again, I guess I was the one who made that dialogue choice... But in the end, things didn't get as heated up as it could've been, and I welcome our newest member on board. Kaiden also introduces himself to her, probably thinking he'll get lucky with Ashley, which will never happen.

By the way, I gave Ashley this very cool Geth Pulse Rifle I got from my first playthrough, and I also got myself a Geth Shotgun as well.

Spoiler

I'm not sure about Ashley's rifle, but my shotgun can only be acquired through a console command - because where's the fun if you can't get any weapon you want via a cheat code? Anyway, I think the rifle I gave her isn't the cheat code version, because it says it only has 322 damage, whereas the cheat code pulse rifle generates 25,000 damage, making it an instant kill. I'm not going that far to break the game.

After I arrive at the dig site, it seems like the beacon has been moved. As we move uphill, we come across a ravaged campsite accompanied by more of those human pillars. Of course, they no longer seem to be that human anymore...

Spoiler

Basically, space zombies meets Voltorb self-destruct powers. Creepy as hell, annoying to kill because they blow up on your face and drain your shield energy. Still, it's a pretty resourceful technique to use the corpses of the enemies against their own. Can't accuse the Reapers (the main enemy of this game) of being wasteful at least.

As we loot the destroyed campsite, we come across two campers hiding from the Geth. (By the way, these look nothing like your outdoor pitched tents, just to clarify, even though I keep on using the word, "campsite". They're more like metallic trailer park housing units rather than your ordinary "camps".)

Spoiler

If you've played Bioware's earlier game, Dragon Age: Origins, you should recognize the reference here. The "Maker" is basically DA:O's version of "God", or Shiva, depending on your beliefs.

Spoiler

Just Shepard being Shepard again, punching crazy people out like a badass. Oh, that darn Shepard. What are we gonna do with you?

Moving on, we're treated to another cutscene, where our Dragon (penultimate boss character), Saren, makes his first appearance (TVTropes FTW!).

Spoiler

We'll be seeing his ugly mug instead of Nihlus for a while. Ugh, I miss Nihlus already. He might be an arrogant smug, but at least he's not a backstabbing arrogant smug.

After the cutscene, we move forward and finally see the tentacled ship from the video feed earlier. Looks like a giant robot crustacean.

Spoiler

After dealing with a few more Husks and Geths, Shepard gets to 'play' with more civilians in her own special way.

Spoiler

Ah, Shepard. Always the charmer. Since most of the conversation is worth mentioning, and I don't want to spam a whole lot of pictures, here's what went down between Shep and the civilian 'farmer'.

Shepard: "If there's something you're not telling me..."
Farmer Cole: "Some guys at the spaceport were running a small smuggling ring. Nothing major. Exchange for a cut of the profit, we let them store packages in our sheds."
Shepard: "You greedy bastard! You weren't running for your life! You were running to check on your merchandise."
Farmer Cole/AKA Smuggler Cole: "No! It's not like that. I just... I just knew there were some packages here. Something we could use. I found a pistol. Figured it would come in handy if those things came back. But you'll probably get more use out of it than we will."
Shepard: "[Renegade Choice] I'm only going to ask this once. Think long and hard before you lie to me again. Are you sure all you've got is one lousy pistol?"

+Renegade points! And a free pistol! But wait, there's more!

Ashley: "Who's your contact at the spaceport, Cole? What's his name?"
Cole: "He's not a bad guy. I don't want to get him in trouble. Besides, I'm not a snitch!"
Shepard: "[Renegade Choice] Would you rather be a snitch or a corpse? [points gun at Cole]"

Wooooo, that's some sick burn, Shepard! lol I just love Renegade Shep so much, especially Renegade FemShep. I know she's a rather controversial choice for Shepard, but I just love ruthless and pragmatic characters that get things done. Then again, considering I've got anger issues myself, maybe it's just a case of relating to someone like me.

Cole: "Powell! His name's Powell!"

Spoiler

Damn straight, Ashley.

An interesting note about this particular scene is that a lot of players seem to miss it, including myself. It's a very easily missable scene since it's tucked away on one side of the path you're walking on right as you're fighting Husks and Geths. So when you do see Powell later on, unless you meet Cole first - which a lot of people didn't - you won't get those extra rewards through the Paragon coercion or Renegade threaten dialogue options.

Moving downhill, we come across Nihlus' body, just left there without even a burial. By the way, what does happen to all the dead bodies of characters in video games? Are they just left there to rot when they die or is there some kind of special retrieval service for video game characters, like that "Damage Control" unit from Marvel. Makes one think, eh?

Before we could closely examine Nihlus' body, someone pops out from behind a crate. Who else could it be besides the aforementioned Powell the smuggler?

Spoiler

So it turns out that our little smuggler here had ditched work and fallen asleep behind the crate right when the attack happened and was thus lucky enough to escape the Geth. Naturally, Shepard and I were disgusted and called him out for it, before proceeding to threaten him by mentioning Cole.

Spoiler

Extra grenades and grenade mods! Being a hen actually comes with its own perks in this game.

So after all that drama, we return to fighting more Geths and floating robots. I actually had quite a tough fight on my hand, surprisingly, despite all my upgraded weapons and armor. So it seems that the mobs are indeed adjusted to your character level rather than being the opening area low-level mobs, just something that I forgot since it's such a long time. We ride a tram and arrive at the final area where we'll fight Saren's goons before we finally get to our main objective, the Prothean beacon itself.

Spoiler

Wuh oh! Looks like we have to disarm some bombs before the time limit is up, all the while fighting off killer level 60 Geths trying to disintegrate us. Will Shepard finally be able to complete his first mission! Will Saren's evil plans be put to a stop? Tune in next time on... "Ryder's got other stuff to do so he's taking another unnatural break in the middle of his playthrough"!

Yes, I realize this post is more verbose than my last one... I tried, man. I tried.

 

Commander Doomguy please choose your response

Renegade Choice Approve
Neutral
Paragon Choice Disapprove


Let's kick traditional "let's play" ass to the the fifth dimension together

Excellent, now I don't have to go through this game myself again (which is something I also toyed around with in my mind but this is definitely something you would feel more inspired to do

 

Oh yeah, also want to add it's the comments to the screenshots that make these things so fun

Take it from me though, each screenshot tells it's own story. Pace yourself and try not to stress yourself over each and every scene. It's hard to sort out the screenies and decide what's worth going over (some games are so damn easy to find something worth commenting though!)
This stuff takes time but it's fun right?

Oh and I approve of renegade green eyed Hispanic lady Sheperd.

 

Thanks, DoomGuy. The encouragement from you helps a lot. I've been wondering if anyone's reading this. haha

Yeah, I agree, which is why I've been trying to shorten up the posts so that both the summaries and the screenshots are more concise. The problem is though, Mass Effect has so many things to talk about, what with its rich lore and all. Just mentioning the alien races it introduces takes up to four or five screenshots, and I want to write it in a way so that people who've never played the game before might get a glimpse of what they're missing without spoiling ahead.

That said, it's nice to know that I needn't stress myself over every scene. Helps me move the walkthrough along faster. Thanks again for the response! Much appreciated!

 

The game really is big. I only beat the first one though (always went renegade myself)
Looking forward to see more

And I speak for all the Google internet robots who one day want to grow up to be Geth when I say this...

They are watching you too

 

Ohhhhh, then you're missing out, man. Now I have the responsibility to write a walkthrough for the second and third game as well just to suck you back into finishing the series. lol IMO, I prefer the second game because it has better character writing. The drama is more serious, and the stakes are higher. I replayed the second game for about five times now, just to relive the drama. The fact that you get a lot more choices regarding who you want to save is a big plus. There are about 11 teammates in all - but that's all I'll spoil for you.

 

Last time on Mass Effect... Commander Shepard was on a mission to retrieve an alien artifact from a human colony, when a Turian named Saren attacked the dig site with an army of Geth robot aliens. After activating the alien artifact our heroes are trying to retrieve, Saren made his escape. As Shepard and her squad continued their mission to retrieve the artifact, Saren left a series of bombs to buy him some time to escape scot-free.

The bombs are actually easy enough to dismantle - just press 'E' once, literally - and the time limit is lenient. I've gotten used to shooting those Geths by now (I recommend the pistol), and the biotic powers (basically your space magic with no mana restraint) help a lot. One thing I love about the game is that you could pause the screen and assign multiple commands to your squad and yourself. This is very useful when you have several biotic powers up your sleeves. This pause-screen feature was obviously brought over and updated from Bioware's earlier franchise, Dragon Age: Origins. Now to get the artifact, the Prothean beacon.

Annnnd I got a bug. One of the Husks I shoved away with the "Throw" biotic got stuck beneath the platform I'm standing on. Thankfully, I could use the "ghost" no clipping console command to shoot that zombie-wannabe away.

Spoiler

And Kaiden had to f*** it up by approaching the beacon without my orders. Dammit, Alenko!

Of course, thanks to second-string over there, I had to push him aside and let myself get brain-fried in his place instead. The beacon lifts Shepard up and shoves a bunch of orange-hued imagery that make no sense into her brain, before exploding into smithereens. The 50,000 year old artifact just got destroyed.

Meanwhile, in some other part of the galaxy, the tentacle spaceship we saw earlier flies away. Inside, Saren gets butthurt after receiving the bad news from a subordinate of his, a busty blue-skinned MILF. She tells him that a human has activated the beacon, and he throws a pissy fit, kicking things about, before choking his Smurf slave. "The human must be eliminated!"

Back in Normandy, I wake up and reprimand Kaiden for being an idiot, but thank him later anyway for saving my life. The standard hot-and-cold treatment. Captain Anderson then debriefs me about the mission. Now that the beacon's destroyed and the mission's gone FUBAR, we have to answer to the Citadel Council for this. I tell Anderson about my vision, he tells me that Saren is also a Spectre like Nihlus. So if he was working with the Geth to get the beacon, it means he's a Spectre gone rogue. It seems that Saren has a reputation of hating humanity, so his plan to get the beacon must be an act of war against our species. With an army of Geth on his side, it's up to us to expose Saren to the Council and stop him once and for all - so it's onto the Citadel we go!

This concludes our mission. You can talk to your teammates before heading to the Citadel. Kaiden sums up our mission well, "It's been one hell of a shakedown cruise. Our mission ends with one Spectre killing another." Ashley and I exchange some sparks because of the questioning attitude I showed her earlier, but we eventually resolve the matter. She shares her regret of having her whole unit killed. Can't hardly blame her.

And now, we make our way towards what will be our home base for the rest of the game, the Citadel.

Spoiler

Joker also gets touchy when Ashley compliment the Citadel flagship, the Ascension, for its size.

Spoiler

The Normandy is about 1/50 of that oval blue-glowing opening, the Ascension's main cannon. But according to Joker, "size isn't everything," even though in this case, it pretty much is.

After docking at the Citadel spaceport, the Council "addresses" our concern about Saren... by saying "they'll look into it." Yep, pretty much means they'll do two things: Jack, and defecation. They promise to officially address the issue at a hearing we're supposed to attend, so it's off to Citadel Tower we go. Before that, we could actually do some side-quests. Other Mass Effect walkthrough would probably recommend that you save all side quests till after you acquire the last teammate if you want to get all the "do side quest with teammate" achievements, but I don't really care, so I'm going to go do them anyway. Since they're side quests, I won't elaborate too much on them unless things get interesting.

Throughout the Citadel Presidium (by the way, the Presidium is what the upper, more important levels of the Citadel is called), there are so many NPCs you could interact with that mentioning them all would be impractical, so let's get to the essentials. We're introduced to several new species in the game, including:

The Elcor. Big, elephant-like creatures that express their emotions in literal terms.

Spoiler

The Volus, neutral capitalists. The "merchant" species of the game.

Spoiler

The Asari. The blue alien of the game, and also the 'diplomatic' species of the game. Note the funky scalp.

Spoiler

Of course, what would a sci-fi story be without a holographic humanoid serving as tour guide? Technically, she's not an A.I., but a V.I. (Virtual Intelligence), a computerized programming lacking the sentience of an A.I. Nevertheless, sentient or not, she still manages to receive the Shepard treatment by referring to the less prominent aliens like the Elcor and Volus as "lesser species".

Spoiler

I love the way Ashley's looking at Shepard like, "Bruh, chill."

After that, we also meet the Keepers. Remember those 'Worm' aliens in Men in Black? These guys remind me of them.

Spoiler

Minus the witty banter and the caffeine addiction. These guys are basically the "engineer" aliens of the game, working behind the scenes to keep the lightbulbs up. They'll play an important role at the end of the game.

Finally, there's the Hanar. Remember when I said "I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going" when I mentioned that tentacle spaceship? Well...

Spoiler

They're less of a pervert than their appearance implies. They're actually quite religious, worshiping the Protheans as gods. That said, that doesn't stop people from making tentacle porn about them... in the game itself. I wish I'm joking.

As you travel through the entire Citadel, you might hear "atmospheric conversations" where NPCs in the background talk to each other, letting you know more about the lore, or are sometimes just funny banter worth hearing. This element of immersion becomes especially prominent during the third game.

Our first side quest takes us to Sha'ira, the "consort". She's an Asari that runs a service resembling that of the geisha's, providing comfort to her customers with her band of Asari "acolytes". And no, I didn't mean "comfort" in an ironic way. They're not prostitutes.

Apparently, we're expected by Sha'ira herself, even though normal appointments take three to four months. She requests for us to resolve a problem regarding a retired Turian general spreading false rumors about her (probably something regarding her controversial "services"). Before we get into that though, let's head to the Citadel Tower.

Going up the Tower, we come across our first elevator sequence. Remember that awkward Evangelion elevator scene that everyone thought was so deep and realistic even though it's just awkward af? This is pretty much it.

Spoiler

For what it's worth though, during the elevator ride (that lasts around half a minute or more, with a catchy elevator music playing in the background), you get to sometimes hear a conversation taking place between the two teammates you brought with. I'll mention it if I pick up an interesting elevator convo in the future.

Entering the Tower roof, we finally meet our next teammate, a Turian that goes by the name of "Garrus". He's gonna be my FemShep's future husban- *COUGH COUGH* Excuse me, choked on a spoiler in my throat.

Spoiler

P.S.: He's practically everyone's favorite character in the Mass Effect series. You'll come to see why in the next two games.

Joining Captain Anderson, the hearing finally takes place with the Council... not that there's much point.

Spoiler

Saren easily turns the Council against us since we don't have enough concrete evidence to accuse him of treason. The fact that Anderson had a history with Saren (read the prequel novel, "Revelation"!) doesn't help our case. Oh yeah, and Anderson was naive enough to mention my "vision", as if that's ever acceptable in a court of law. So, we're off to collect more leads for the case to expose Saren for the treacherous bastard that he is. Our first stop: Chora's Den. We need to find out where Garrus is, the Turian we met just now, since the last time we saw him, he mentioned needing a bit more time before being able to expose Saren - he might have a lead. A man named Harkin might be able to tell us Garrus' location.

By the way, the Citadel Council reminds you a lot of the Jedi Council from Star Wars, doesn't it? The same red-tape bullshit, the same political meddling on the actual powers that get the job done (be it Jedi or Spectres).

Also, here's a few more quality screencaps of my FemShep just to let you get a better look at her (especially her obscure ponytail), since the awkward camera angles limit the opportunities for a proper close-up.

Spoiler

Before we move on with our mission, there's a crucial moment of character development here I would like to mention. After I ask the Captain, Anderson opens up to me about his history with Saren. According to him, Saren is also a ruthless son of a bitch who would kill a thousand to save a million. My response? You guessed it - "Sometimes a thousand people must die so a million can live." Seems like Saren and my Shepard aren't that different. Of course, according to Anderson, "Saren doesn't look for other options. He's twisted, broken. He likes the violence, the killing." This mild but distinct difference between Shepard and Saren would reflect upon my Shepard's character development more significantly in the future, particularly in the second game.

As I exit the Tower, I come across the second side quest, where I have to scan all the Keepers in the entire Citadel (and there are a lot of them, ranging to about 20). Yeesh. Seems like there's an alien here doing readings on these creatures and I offer to help... for a reward, of course. Also, this would be the first time in the game where we come up close and personal with this alien's species, the Salarians.

Spoiler

They're based on the classic "gray alien" that we've all associated aliens with, apparently. They're also the "scholar" aliens of the game, being the most intelligent of the Council races (also the fastest to die at the age of 40, even faster than humans).

Honestly though, this side quest can be a real pain, running around and searching for Keepers, and its rewards aren't really that valuable - a bunch of credits that I already have plenty of - so I'm not going to finish it to its full completion.

When we return to the Presidium, however, there is another side quest here more worthy of our attention due to its interesting nature. A Hanar is practicing its freedom of speech, preaching about the "Enkindlers" (the religious title Hanar gave to the Protheans). Of course, a fellow Turian c-sec (Citadel Security Service) officer (the local police of the Citadel) won't allow for such nonsense - at least not without a proper permit. But the Hanar feels that the officer is being biased, so it's up to me to come between them as mediator.

Spoiler

"A big, stupid jellyfish." Mass Effect's self-aware sense of humor knows no bounds.

Now, you can choose to side with either one without much consequence, but if you side with the Hanar, you get extra medigel (the game's form of med-packs). Of course, with my pragmatic FemShep being a stickler for rules, I unfortunately have to side with the officer on this one and force the Hanar to buy a permit. There's also a more cruel option of chasing off the Hanar, mind you, so I think this is quite a fair decision I've made.

In order to reach our next objective, we need to head to the lower levels of the Citadel, which is called "The Wards". So we get another elevator ride. Kaiden mentions during the ride that he hasn't been getting as many headaches lately (he gets headaches from his current biotic implant because his L2 beta version's got bugs and isn't the latest upgraded version; and yes, to use those space magic, you have to get an implant).

It actually takes two elevator rides to get to the lowest levels. Eventually, we reach there and there's a special secret scene some people might miss. As soon as you step out of the elevator, there's a "scenic view". Click on it and you get a scene where Ashley accidentally asks the commander out on a date if you're playing a male Shep (if playing female, Kaiden says "there's no reason they wouldn't like you- I mean us, humans, ma'am").

Spoiler

Of course, with my Ruth being a stick in the mud, she has no time for romance and asks the squad to break it up and move on. Besides, she has her eyes in the future for another species. Sorry, Alenko.

Right as I'm about to head to Chora's Den, I'm stopped by a reporter. F***. Well, technically, she's the 'good' reporter, Emily Wong. There's a more nasty reporter coming up later on...

Spoiler

She requests for my assistance in handing her any evidence that exposes the corruption in the Wards so she could report on them. Fair enough.

By the way, I'm gonna mention it everytime one of these side characters show up, since most of them will have more prominent roles in the second and third games. It's just Bioware's little way of making the Mass Effect universe feel more alive.

Continuing onto Chora's Den/main objective, I picked up one of those "atmospheric conversations" I mentioned earlier. This one's particularly amusing, where a human customer is arguing with a Turian merchant about refunding an item. The human said that he recognize the Turian merchant's face from when he bought the item, and the Turian responded,

Spoiler

If you couldn't tell by now, Turians and humans don't get along well. Garrus is something else though, but most Turians just have these little funny racial tensions going on like above.

Another side quest stops us on the way, and it involves one of my (okay Shepard's) biggest fans, Conrad Verner!

Spoiler

He asks me for a digital autograph, and I accept it. In almost all my previous playthrough, I rejected this guy because Ruth isn't really the kind of carefree commander that goes around signing autographs. However, if you don't sign this guy's autograph, he goes on a wild rampage 'proving himself' that he's better than the stuck-up arrogant Shepard... and ends up killing himself. There's actually a more interesting appearance by Conrad in the second game (and also the third game) if he survives, so, I'm going to keep him alive for this playthrough.

By the way, what's so great about a digital autograph? It's so lame compared to one written with pen and ink.

After much hassle, we finally arrive at Chora's Den and are ready to collect our evidence against Saren (as well as deal with that retired general spreading lies about Sha'ira, killing two birds with one stone). But we're attacked at the entrance by Saren's hired goons. No matter, easy to deal with compared to what's coming later. After we entered the place, it seems like we've arrived at some kind of gentlemen's club, where pole-dancing Asari are entertaining the guests.

Spoiler

Kaiden: "What? You don't think they're here for the food?"

Oh Kaiden. You're so cute. Yes, I'm sure the very prominent Asari shaking her butt in the middle of the pub wouldn't distract the customers from their hunger for nutrition.

Kaiden: "I see why this place is so popular. It's got quite the, uh, view."
Ashley: "Hey, lieutenant, put your tongue back in before you trip on it."

Spoiler

Asari are just so flexible, aren't they? Or, according to one of our teammates we'll meet later on, "squishy". I totally don't understand why Sha'ira the Asari got her bad reputation of being a prostitute. Nada. Nothing.

But as much as I want to, we can't enjoy the sights too much since we've got work to do. I have a little chat with General Septimus drinking his days away. So it seems that Sha'ira's "affection" has helped the good general forgot about his horrible ordeal in the warzone, but she "rejected him" (probably after he asks her for a spooning or some kinky shit), so his pride got wounded and he's down here drinking booze and lying about her. After a little pep talk - Renegade style - I convince the general to suck it up like a soldier and not show his "enemies" his weak side.

Spoiler

After which, I receive another side quest from the general. Apparently, during his drunken rambling, he told an Elcor diplomat (the first Elcor you saw from the screenshot above) that Sha'ira leaked his personal secrets, even though she didn't. Because the general had insulted the Elcor's ancestors during that rambling, we'll have to be the one to clear up the misunderstanding - but that will be for later, when we return to the Presidium.

By the way, General Septimus plays an important role in the third game. Not sure if you need to complete this side quest to get his help in ME3 though.

Our main target is Harkin, a c-sec officer who got bounced off the force for drinking on the job. But before we could reach him, we bump into a future potential teammate, Wrex (almost as popular as Garrus, if not more). Wrex is a Krogan alien (the "brute" alien of the game), and they are well known for their temper and violent behavior (Wrex's one of the milder ones though). He is seen here arguing with another Krogan bouncer about someone named "Fist".

Spoiler

We'll hear more from him and Fist later.

Before I could get anything out of Harkin, he tries to hit on me in what is probably one of the grossest way possible.

Spoiler

Ugh. I'm a guy and even I am grossed out.

After threatening to break his teeth if he calls me "princess" again, I ask for Garrus' location, but Harkin tries to change the topic and mentions the good captain who had apparently been a Spectre once, but got kicked out when he screwed up his mission. As shocking as that rumor might be, that's not why I'm here. Harkin finally reveals that Garrus was heading towards the med clinic to see a Dr. Michel, so that's our next objective.

There's actually a shortcut alleyway from Chora's Den back to where we first arrive via the elevator, so I took that route. As soon as we entered the med clinic, however, we found ourselves walking into Dr. Michel being harassed by a bunch of armed thugs. They hold her hostage, but Garrus' quick trigger finger eliminates the target.

Spoiler

Wish I could get a clean screencap of Garrus firing that shot, but it was too quick for me to get it right. On Garrus' part, it was a reckless move that endangered the hostage, but Shepard approves it as a "nice shot". Looks like she and him are going to 'get along' well together, if you know what I'm saying...

Apparently, the thugs work for Fist, and wanted to shut Dr. Michel up about the Quarian, another alien teammate we'll be meeting later. Seems like the Quarian has some information about the Geth to share, so she went to an information broker named "The Shadow Broker" to trade for that info, or at least one of the Shadow's agents, Fist (the man we heard about earlier at Chora's Den). But Fist is now apparently working for Saren, betraying the Shadow (someone you wouldn't really like to cross). If Saren is willing to cross the Shadow for that info, it must be evidence.

Garrus joins the team, and warns us about Wrex, who's actually a bounty hunter hired by the Shadow Broker to hunt down Fist for betraying him. A big krogan like Wrex might come in handy, but he's held up by c-sec officers at the c-sec academy, so if we're gonna use him, we should head there first. That said, if you get Wrex to come along on your hunt for Fist, Fist won't appear in the next game... I mean, let's face it, Wrex is hired to kill him, after all. But Fist's role in ME2 isn't really that interesting, so I think I'm gonna kill him off. Time to head for the academy.

But before that, time for another spontaneous break. Looks like things are getting heated up. Hopefully, in the next post, I'll get to show you the very cool Spectre initiation for Shepard.

 

Previously on Battlestar Galactica- I mean Mass Effect...

After a stock RPG fetch-quest gone wrong, Commander Shepard found herself getting involved with a rogue Spectre named Saren. Determined to expose Saren's crimes to the Council members, Shepard goes on an investigation to gather concrete evidence she can use in an official hearing. The breadcrumbs eventually lead to Fist, a rogue information broker agent now working under Saren. But beside Shepard, there are other parties also thirsty for Fist's blood, namely a Krogan named Wrex...

At the 'academy' where Citadel security officers are stationed (why call it an "academy" instead of c-sec station or c-sec headquarters?), several officers are threatening Wrex to back off from Fist, owner of the Citadel's hottest night club, Chora's Den. After all, those flexible Asari at the den probably provide extra special services for the local law enforcement. Of course, Wrex being a huge mountain of an alien, the officers have some difficulty trying to arrest this gigantor.

Spoiler

I inform Wrex of my own chase after Fist, and though he kept me at arm's length at first, he eventually come to see reason and agree to work together as a team.

Wrex: "My people have a saying: Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend."
Shepard: "I think we're going to get along just fine, Wrex."

Haha! And now I finally get what is possibly my favorite combination of squad mates, Garrus and Wrex! They are just such a fun pair to work together with, especially when you later learn about the bad blood Krogans and Turians have against each other.

I have a bit of a dilemma on my hands when I went to adjust Wrex's inventory. See, when it comes to my squad's armor, I prefer to have them wear the most upgraded version of their default armor rather than give them a better set of armor. Wrex's default armor is the Mercenary, so I wanted to give him "Mercenary X" (that's the level 10 version of the armor), but there's another piece of armor that looks just as good on him - the Guardian. It makes him look like a professional hitman:

Spoiler

That said, the Mercenary does have overall better stats (note the three glowing lime-green bars on the panel that says "Mercenary X"), so I'm gonna give that to him.

And it's back to Chora's Den we go! Unfortunately, there isn't any interesting elevator banter between Garrus and Wrex this time (the elevator conversation sometimes don't appear, and is instead replaced by a anchorman broadcasting news about the galaxy that sometimes involve the outcome of your story missions). But if these two ever talk in the elevator later in the game, it can be really amusing and juicy to listen to.

Going back the alleyway shortcut, we arrive at Chora's Den only to be ambushed. Typical. Thankfully, we've got a Hulk- I mean a Krogan (Hulk Krogan?). And yet, I still nearly died even with Bruce Banner here helping me out with his biotics (yes, the hulking beast of a tank, in addition to his massive mass, also knows space magic). But the fight is almost over and we're down to Fist himself - and a pair of warehouse workers threatening to shoot us... lol Bitch plz.

Shepard: "I just killed fifty bodyguards to get in here. What do you think I'll do to you?"
Warehouse Worker: "Aw, screw Fist. He doesn't pay us enough for this."
Wrex: "It would've been quicker to just kill them."
Garrus: "Shooting people isn't always the answer."

As you might notice from this convo, whenever Wrex and Garrus are around, there's going to be a sort of buddy cop humor involving "good cop/bad cop". That's why they're my favorite pair of squad mates to bring along.

When we finally take down Fist and ask him about the Quarian carrying the evidence we need, it seems that he have set her up in a meeting with the Shadow Broker... only that nobody actually meets the Shadow Broker, and it's actually a trap with Saren's men waiting. I threaten to blow his head off if he doesn't tell me where the meeting is taking place... Annnd okay, he's useless now. Time to kill him.

Spoiler

Shepard: "A lot of people died because of him. He had it coming."

As I'm about to exit, I picked up a storage device belonging to Fist. Emily Wong, the reporter we met earlier, might want this as evidence for the corruption in the Wards. After that, it's off to rescue the Quarian, but on our way, there's more of Fist's goons waiting for us, as well as a time limit. This one actually seems more restrained than the time limit for the bombs earlier, due to the number of enemies we have to get rid of. But eventually, we finish them off and reach the Quarian meeting - right at the alleyway shortcut I kept mentioning in this walkthrough.

And bada bing, bada boom, Saren's men are easily taken care of. He should really have consulted Fist on henchmen-employment when Fist was alive.

Spoiler

If you thought Asari were squishy, wait till you see the Quarians, because they're practically skin and bones. Of course, regardless of that, Tali would eventually become the Moe Queen of the franchise. There are tons of cutesy fan art out there that show off her adorable nature. She's easily the most wanted waifu in the entire series, as creepy as that may be (she doesn't even have a proper face).

In exchange for saving her life, Tali agrees to provide her evidence in the hearing. Returning to humanity's ambassador, Udina, we told him about the information we have against Saren. Tali also shares the reason why she isn't with her flotilla, where Quarians are usually found traveling in. Apparently, she's on a pilgrimage from her home, and during her trip, she heard reports involving the robotic race that had forced her people into exile - the Geth (Quarians invented the Geth, science experiment gone wrong; you get the drift). She had tracked a Geth patrol to an uncharted world and retrieved its memory core, and this is what is heard:

Saren: "Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit!"
Unknown Voice: "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

Ohhhhhh shit. Reapers? What is that? Sounds like a final boss to me.

Spoiler

Tali: "According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then they vanished. At least, that's what the geth believe. The geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring the Reapers back."

In summary, a robot army is trying to resurrect the long-dead race of yet another robot army, but a genocidal one at that. Looks like the stakes are getting higher. But regardless, we have our crucial evidence against Saren, and if we're to stop these "Reapers" from being revived, then we need all the help we're gonna get from the Council, so it's time to present our findings to them! But before we go, Tali has requested to join us on our mission to stop Saren (putting her pilgrimage on hold for the greater good of the galaxy), so we've got ourselves yet another squad mate.

Spoiler

After the above cutscene is over, we get to deal with some side quests. First off, the Asari Consort. I clear up the misunderstanding with the Elcor diplomat at the Elcor embassy, showing evidence that the Turian general learned the Elcor's dirty secrets on his own, not through Sha'ira. As I'm about to return to Sha'ira for my 'gift', however, I receive another side quest. A man named Samesh Bhatia (an Indian man even - diversity!) had requested for his wife's body to be returned to him for cremation, but the military has refused. After he mentioned that his wife was in the 212 unit, Ashley (also part of the 212 that was killed on Eden Prime) remembers that one of her squad mates there had the same last name, "Nirali Bhatia."

Spoiler

This side quest can be completed quickly, so I head over to the "expensive bar" where the clerk in charge of handling Nirali's corpse is hanging around, one Mr. Bosker. On the way, I pay a little visit to Executor Pallin, the Turian in charge of the entire c-sec, to see if he has any leads on the investigation. Of course, he says it's classified. He also confesses that he doesn't like humanity receiving "special treatment", and he certainly doesn't like the "right hand of the Council", the Spectres, being given free reign to do whatever they like ("More like the underhanded side of the Council"). In a sense, the Spectres are kinda like special black ops team, huh?

Spoiler

The Turian might have a stick up his ass, but I can't deny that he's got a point. Look at what a tough time we have trying to expose Saren.

Arriving at the bar, we learn from "Clerk Bosker" that Nirali's body is being kept by the military to perform studies on... I don't even. Ugh. Anyway, Bosker tries to justify that because Nirali was attacked by the geth, the military might learn more about those machines by studying her body. Surprisingly enough, now that I think about it, my Shepard might actually be pragmatic enough to allow such unethical studies to continue, even though I pretty much threatened this poor clerk to release her body via the Renegade dialogue in all my previous playthroughs (the Paragon option also gets back the body, but less aggressively). But okay, why not. Just to spice things up, I won't use the Renegade option this time, and I'll let the military continue their research "for the greater good".

Annnd it turns out we actually get to use the Renegade option on the husband himself, Samesh. Oh boy, this is gonna be ugly.

Spoiler

Subtlety.

But thanks to a little smooth-talking from Ashley, that his wife sacrificed her life to keep him safe (and therefore would probably like to make the most of that sacrifice), we eventually convince the husband to...


Our next side quest completion takes us back to Sha'ira, but on the way there, there was an amusing atmospheric conversation about how the embassy lounge is lacking any decent entertainment, to which a Salarian responded, "It's run by bureaucrats! They probably spent months just voting on what kind of entertainment to get."

Yeah, the game has heavy amounts of anti-bureaucratic sentiments everywhere if you pay attention.

Returning to Sha'ira, she offers us some wise words describing my Shepard as a reward: "I see your skin, tough as the scales on any turian. Unyielding. A wall between you and everyone else. But it protects you, makes you strong. You never hide your strength, either. It serves you well. Terrifies your foes. Few will dare to stand against you."

I don't know about obstinacy 'protecting' me or 'making me strong' but, the "terrifying other people" part is pretty dead on.

Also, if you're ungrateful to Sha'ira and complain about having some stupid words as a reward, she'll grant you another "gift" instead, if you know what I mean...

Spoiler

Annnd that's where you get all the bad rep from, Sha'ira. Geisha my ass. Or I guess in this case, your (blue) ass.

If you were grateful for her words and thanked her, you don't get laid. She then proceeds to ask you to f*** off. Okay, not her exact words, but it's practically the same.

On our way back to the Citadel Tower, we come across a Krogan statue at the financial district, and Wrex has a few choice words to say:

Spoiler

And that's why Wrex is a fan favorite character. Also, time for a short history lesson, kids:

Avina the V.I. Tour Guide: "The statue you see before you was commissioned to honor the krogan soldiers who gave their lives to protect Citadel Space during the Rachni Wars. In the aftermath of the Krogan Rebellions, several embassies petitioned to have the statue removed. However, this motion was eventually quashed by the Council.

In recognition of their efforts during the Rachni Wars, the krogan were granted several new colony worlds by the Council. Over the next 400 years, the krogan species began to expand. Blessed with an extremely high birth rate, their numbers began to swell. Faced with a critical over population crisis, the krogan started a violent colonization of nearby worlds inhabited by other Council species. The Krogan Rebellions had begun. For a full century, the Council and its member species fought to bring the krogan under control. With the aid of the newly discovered turian empire they were ultimately successful."

Shepard: "[Sounds like a vicious cycle] You needed the krogan to stop the rachni. Then you needed the turians to stop the krogan. So who's going to stop the turians?"

We'll learn more about the rachni in a much later story mission. But for now... we're outta time, and have to take a break again. I feel like we've covered a lot of interesting parts of the game this time round though, even if the story progression became slower than before.

Next time though, I should be able to finally show you the Spectre initiation.

 

I hated this place, was boring for me. The sidequests were kind of a chore. So much walking around at some point I just wanted to shoot things. At least I didn't have to spend a lot of time coming back here.
The good part was hunting down Fist. Oh and the elevator conversations. Mostly.
All the other places in the game were good though, I think that ice planet (forgot the name) was my favorite.

 

Yeah, some of the side quests can be annoying, but I feel like the Citadel side quests are a lot more interesting than the UNC (Uncharted World) side quests you have to do in outer-space. Now THOSE are annoying, since a lot of them can be grindy or just don't have very interesting storylines.

 

LAST TIME ON MASS EFFECT: LOST GALAXY!


(yeah, had to get that off my chest before we move on with the plot summary)

Shepard was still in the process of gathering evidence against Saren, the rogue Spectre. She and her squad bumped into several roadblocks along the way in the form of strangers asking for help, but hey, a commander's gotta do what a commander's gotta do.

And now, FINALLY, the moment you've all been waiting for - presenting the evidence to the Council. We find out that the unknown voice in the recording belongs to one Matriarch Benezia. With the concrete proof, the Council finally accepts Saren's treason as truth. But since Saren has ran off to uncharted territories, they won't risk triggering a war by sending a fleet in. That's when I suggest to send me in instead. But in order to have the proper jurisdiction, I have to join the Spectres. Despite the dissatisfaction of the Turian councilor, with humanity joining the Spectres so soon, I convince them that it's best for everyone...

Spoiler

Suckeeeers.

But jokes aside, it's quite an epic initiation - even if similar initiations have been performed in Bioware's other games. A large audience was watching as the Council gave me an inspiring speech:

Asari Councilor Tevos: "It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance (AKA Spectre) branch of the Citadel."
Salarian Councilor Valern: "Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."
Tevos: "Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."
Turian Councilor Sparatus: "Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."
Tevos: "You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

I think I just jizzed myself. Say that again, Tevos honey, but niiiice and sloooow. Okay, I think I got infected by Harkin's perversity.

Now that I'm a Spectre, I'll even get my own ship! So it's back to the spaceport. But on the way, a few more side quests pop up (what else do you expect?). A man named Garoth wants me to search for his brother, the captain of a ship that had dropped off the grid. While in the elevator, the news feed informs me that a survey team has gone missing. These are just two of the many UNC (Uncharted World) side quests that take place on other planets. More on that later.

Amusing Elevator Convo
Ashley: "I'm surprised you're willing to fight krogan, Wrex. I thought you'd stand with your own."
Wrex: "Anyone who fights us is either stupid or on Saren's payroll. Killing the latter is business. Killing the former is a favor to the universe."



After receiving my ship, I learn that the geth have been sighted at Feros and Noveria, and that might lead to Saren. There have also been reports related to Saren's accomplice, Benezia. Her daughter was exploring the Artemis Tau cluster. We'll head there first to retrieve our final squad mate for this game.

Before you board the Normandy, you have an opportunity to find out in further detail regarding the captain's failed candidacy. It involves an extraction mission gone wrong, when Saren's violent means of an enemy diversion caused the lives of 500 or more.

Captain Anderson: "This went way beyond a simple diversion, Commander. The explosion tore the refinery to shreds. The whole place was on fire. Black chemical clouds poured out into the atmosphere. Nobody inside survived. There was a camp for the workers and their families nearby. Between the fires and the toxic fumes, the final death count was over five hundred. Mostly civilians."

In his report, Saren wrote that the Captain had blew their cover, making the diversion necessary. Needless to say, the Council believed their best agent over a mere human. I've actually read the prequel novel detailing this story myself, which was not bad. There's such a rich lore in Mass Effect that I might check out the next novel, Mass Effect: Ascension, in the future.

After entering the ship, I address my crew for the first time:

"This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders: find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you, crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. This began with an attack on a human settlement in the Traverse. But we know Saren won't stop there. His geth armies aren't going to stay on the far fringes of Citadel space.

Our enemy knows we're coming. Wherever he searches for the Conduit, we'll be there. We will hunt him to the very ends of the galaxy and bring him down. This is the most important mission any of us have ever been on. The fate of an entire galaxy is at stake. We will stop Saren, no matter what the cost!"

Spoiler

Joker: "Well said, Commander. Captain would be proud."
Shepard: "Fancy speeches won't stop Saren from finding the Conduit. If we really want to make the captain proud we better get this bird in the air."
Joker: "Yes, ma'am!"

Not nearly as epic as the Council's Spectre speech, but good enough. I wanted to go full Renegade on the speech, but man, the choices are so arrogant that it's unbefitting of my professional and "mission first" Shepard. Think of her as a female version of Daniel Craig's James Bond. He's cocky and ruthless too, but always prioritizes his mission above all else.

Before you go galloping across the galaxy, you should talk to your squad mates first. This applies to every time you receive a new story mission, since the squad always has something new to say. This is even necessary to progress your squad's character development (be it different dialogues that won't appear if you didn't interact with them, or bonus character side quests). In fact, if you didn't interact with one particular member whom I won't mention, you'll eventually lose him/her. More on that much later in the game.

First off, I talk to Wrex, who's not in the mood to chat. "Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Eventually, I get him talking, and he throws a hard ball at me by bringing up the turians' near-genocide of his entire race, the krogans. Ouch. I try to compare it to humanity's first contact with turians and how it would have the same effect if the Council didn't step in, but he throws me an even harder one.

Wrex: "So your people were infected with a generic mutation? An infection that makes only a few in a thousand children survive birth? And I suppose it's destroying your entire species?"

Spoiler

Let's just say that the turians took drastic measures when 'controlling' the krogans during the krogan rebellion. Very drastic measures. There's a reason turians are ideal selections for joining the Spectre - they're ruthless, possibly more than my very own Ruth Shepard. Oh, and if you think this is sick... lol wait till you see what happens to the krogans in the second game. It gets a lot worse. Something to look forward to, DoomGuy.

Shepard: "What can you tell me about the genophage (the drug that the turians use to control the krogans)?"
Wrex: "Ask the salarians if you want details. They made it. All I know: it makes breeding nearly impossible. Thousands die in stillbirth, and most never get that far. Every krogan is infected. Everyone. And no one's rushing to find a cure."

And people wonder why krogans are angry all the time.

Onto Ashley, who doesn't have much to talk at this point. She's a bit bitter that we didn't rescue her squad earlier before they got all wiped out. She wishes she was more alert, and I gave her some tough love by telling her, "Then be more alert."

Garrus thanks me for bringing him on board. He's sick of being saddled with red tape in c-sec, and is more than happy to leave them to see how the Spectres operate. As he voices his enthusiasm to get the job done "his way", however, I warn him that "if getting the job done means endangering innocent people, then, no. We we get the job done right, not fast." Shepard might be ruthless, but she's not above killing innocents without a good reason.

Tali is fitting right in at the engine room, where head engineer Adams praise her for her proficiency with technology. Of course, quarians are known for being great with all things tech, so it's not really a big deal IMO... (and the cries of Tali fanboys all over cry out in agony) Tali goes all fangirl on me about my ship and the humans' capability to invent such advanced vessels.

Spoiler

Then I proceed to quash her dream by reminding her of her real mission here aboard MY ship, you skinny quarian! lol But even after that, she's still kind enough to share about her people. There's a whole lot to absorb, so I won't bore you with the details. They're a tight-knit community with family values. They're also democratic, but the military also has the power over them in an emergency.

You can also learn more about the geth, which is more interesting info. "The geth were originally created to serve as an automated manual labor force. Initially, their intelligence was as limited as any V.I. Over time, we made small modifications to their programming to allow them to perform more varied and complex tasks, bringing them closer and closer to true A.I. status."

If you've read Frankenstein, you'd know how this all goes down. The creator becomes panic when the creation becomes sentient and tries to shut it down. It retaliates. This becomes an especially incriminating scene on the quarians' part during Mass Effect 3, when a geth asks a quarian scientist, "Does this unit have a soul?" THE FEELS. Millions of quarians died by geth hands by the way, and after generations of living in exile, the quarians' immune system broke down and they have to live in the suits you now see Tali in. But after all is said and done, when you see that particular scene in ME3, it's still hard to feel sorry for quarians. Karma is a bitch.

Last but not least, you can learn about Tali's pilgrimage. The reason she left her ship traces back to the quarian tradition of leaving their "birth ship" upon maturity and seeking a new crew. But unlike Earth, where you can just enter the country with a passport, to enter another ship requires you to prove that you're useful to them, or in Donald Trump's terms, "Small loan of a million dollars." (dead meme ftw!) So she leaves to find something useful to bring back to the ship she wishes to join. But she can't just bring back any gift since there's a stigma against lousy gifts, so she needs something really useful. More on that much later when we perform Tali's side quest.

And that's it for today. Sorry I went on and on about Tali, but I wanted to explain why she's wearing a suit and why she's on a pilgrimage. Her background info is also very relevant to the main story, especially over the next two games.

Next time on Mass Effect: The sixth and final squad mate joins the team.

 

STAR WARS EPISODE NONE: A NEW SPECTRE

It is a dark time for the galaxy. Okay, maybe not yet. But it is a dark time for humanity, as one of their greatest colonies, Eden Prime, was attacked by a rogue SPECTRE named Saren. He was discovered working with a hostile race of robotic aliens called GETH, later revealed to be in pursuit of an unknown artifact called THE CONDUIT, an artifact that would supposedly resurrect a long dead race of genocidal machines called THE REAPERS.

Having exposed Saren for his treachery to the CITADEL COUNCIL, Commander Shepard leads a team of specialists to stop Saren once and for all...​

You gotta love the Galaxy Map. It's this panel where you get to select which part of the vast galaxy you would like to travel to. There's something mesmerizing about having an entire galaxy projected right before you, just gradually swirling with its billions of stars.

Spoiler

And of course, who could forget about the classic background score playing when you select the map.

Spoiler

The score perfectly represents the mysterious nature of the galaxy, along with its infinite amount of possibilities. It's the ideal theme music for a game which you explore the stars and its many worlds.

All that being said, there is one thing I don't like about the galaxy map - you have to right-click several times to get to the main part of the map where you select other star systems. There should be buttons for that kind of thing, IMO, just for efficiency and convenience.

By the way, to keep things realistic, I think I'm going to make pit-stops on my way to the main objective. In other words, yes, side quests. As you can see below, traveling to Benezia's daughter, Liara, requires that I pass through two other locations along the way - Asteroid X57, and another one called the Hades Gamma cluster.

Spoiler

Now, as a big fan of the franchise, I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I don't know how traveling through the galaxy works in this game's lore, or more specifically, whether if traveling from Point A to Point D using the mass relay requires that you pass through Point B and C first. That said, I'm still going to stop by the places that red line touches because it gives me an excuse to complete the side quests.

Arriving at the Antaeus star system, I receive a transmission from Admiral Hackett of Alliance Command (basically the human military) ...played by the famous LANCE HENRIKSEN! Yes! It's Bishop from Aliens! Apparently, a V.I.'s gone rogue at an Alliance training ground, so it's up to us to deactivate it. As you survey the planets of each star system, you can also pick up different items relevant to other side quests. There's also a lot of info on the planet, but I won't infodump here.

The location for that V.I. is on Earth's moon (yes, our moon; you won't be able to explore Earth though). But let's finish exploring Antaeus first, and subsequently the rest of Hades Gamma (I'll get to our moon at a later time). I arrive on the planet Trebin in my Mako, a really useful tank with machine guns and a cannon (it also crawls on flat surfaces). On the map, there are markers for a few items I could pick up/check out, and while checking one of these "anomalies", guess what I ran into.

Spoiler

A freaking Thrasher Maw. In the first few hours of the game. Terrific. While trying to get a good shot of this magnificent beast, which made me feel like one of those crazy storm chasers filming a tornado, I got careless and got myself killed, triggering the classic "Critical Mission Failure" screen that had became a famous meme:

Spoiler

Let us have a moment of silence for the heroes who sacrificed their lives to grace us with the presence of this glorious... space earthworm.

Surprisingly, I died several times trying to fight this thing, even though I don't really have as much of a problem killing them back then. I'm getting really rusty. It also seems that you can't save your game in between your fight with the maw or it would run away. Ugh.

I also come across an excavation site where a survey team (belonging to a shady corporation called "ExoGeni" we'll learn more about later) was transformed into a massive group of Husks after they had unearthed what looks like some kind of pod-shell thingy protecting a glowing orb:

Spoiler

Turns out their mind was warped into worshiping this thing. Careful what you dig up in space. Regardless, this completes one of our side quests.

Leaving Antaeus, I headed for the Farinata system. Another transmission from Hackett comes in. This time, a group of fanatical biotics have kidnapped one Chairman Burns from a subcommittee that had denied reparations to L2 biotics. Remember what I said about Kaidan's implant? Well, a bunch of biotics like him aren't happy that they aren't getting bug-fixes for their outdated L2 implant. This time, our objective is in the same star system we receive the side quest from, on a freighter named Ontario.

Either I'm sucking at this game with each mission, or the biotics are incredibly annoying enemies. They managed to kill of Kaidan (ironic), and gave me a hard time by constantly pushing me down with their space magic.

Oh yeah, and we have three minutes before the chairman is killed.

Spoiler

I remember killing this guy (indirectly killing the chairman) and caused a lot of collateral damage in other side quests during my last Renegade run, but this time round, provoking this guy just doesn't make sense to me when I think about it since it contradicts my Shepard's professionalism. She (along with a revived Kaidan, also suffering from the L2 implant) manages to convince the biotic leader that dying for the cause would not only be stupid since the Chairman has agreed to change his mind, but also would make all biotics look bad (think post-9/11 Muslims). Bada bing, bada boom. Case closed.

Finally, we arrive at the Artemis Tau cluster, where Liara the final squad mate is. There are four star systems on this map... ugh. I'm not gonna go through them all, because I feel like this playthrough is being bogged down too much by side quests. So let's head to Liara first at the Knossos system, planet Therum.

Therum is a volcanic planet with lots of molten lava to watch out for or it's "Critical Mission Failure" all over again. Oh, and geth dreadnoughts dropping their troops on me.

Spoiler

These geth armatures are like walking versions of my Mako, with their own lasers and cannon. Their cannon fire can be avoided if you have a good sense of timing... which I don't. But I manage to avoid most of them and wipe out the two armatures. The ones I fought were actually the smaller versions (twice as tall as a human). There's actually a far bigger titan version coming up later.

After dealing with some turrets, armatures (some of which I could dispose from a great distance due to my Mako's zoom function), and other assorted geth ground troops (begging to be roadkill), I meet my first geth colossus, which is about twice as big as an armature. No problem at this point since the Mako could still dispose of it easily. The problem comes later.

Spoiler

No more Mako for me. You start to see where I'm going with this.

But even without the Mako, I manage to eliminate the rest of the geth rocket troopers and even geth snipers with the efficient use of covers - all done with a pistol. Honestly, I feel like the pistol's a more efficient weapon than people give it credit for. The assault rifle's good and all, but a pistol can pack a real punch too, especially when you have unlimited ammo (not a cheat, but a real feature that was removed in the next two games for obvious reasons).

Spoiler

COLOSSUS! Without my Mako, this might as well be a boss fight.

After being one-shot killed by the Colossus - twice lol - I eventually took that thing down using Wrex's biotic warp power and my Shepard's pistol marksman ability. Thankfully, the worst of the battles ahead is over, at least for this story mission. Noveria and Feros aren't exactly a walk in the park either. We eventually come across Benezia's daughter, Liara, trapped behind Prothean defenses during her exploration of the ruins. Despite some trust issues between me and Liara Croft here, I agree to find some way to free her.

There's actually an amusing scene you can find if you save Liara after you visited Noveria and Feros. She's trapped behind the defenses for so long that she starts to lose her mind, literally:

Spoiler

Shepard being Shepard, her solution of freeing Liara is pretty straightforward - a mining laser to blast her way out. But in order to use it, there's a pattern minigame you must play, which is a bit annoying, but simple enough. Liara is successfully rescued, but due to Shepard's recklessness with her "IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZER" attitude, the entire ruin becomes unstable. Before we could escape, however, we're stopped by a farewell party of geth troopers led by a krogan.

Spoiler

Shepard: "We don't have time to deal with this idiot. Charge!"

Resolving a mistake caused by brute force with brute force. It's a perfect cycle. Compared to what I faced just now, this krogan 'battlemaster' is a joke, and we successfully escape the now destroyed ruins filled with valuable Prothean artifacts. Shepard seems to have a neck for destroying Prothean history.

Back at the ship, I debrief my squad and the latest member of the Normandy. Turns out for the last fifty years (out of her 106 years of life, which is young for the asari, who can live up to a millennium), Liara's been studying the Prothean extinction, but have found little to no evidence explaining it, as if someone had intentionally wiped out the clues. She's also discovered a pattern among equally advanced races before the Protheans that had also mysteriously vanished, just when they had reached the peak of their civilization. A cycle of extinction. Shepard informs her that the Reapers might be responsible for the cycle, citing that the information came from a Prothean beacon.

With this new information, the picture becomes clearer. Since the beacon had contained information regarding this deadly 'cycle', it was no wonder that the geth and Saren had wanted its important data. Liara offers to join us so that she can offer her expertise on the Protheans, and of course, so that we could protect her blue ass.

Shepard: "We've already got every other non-human species on board. Might as well add an asari to the team."

After the crew is dismissed, I have to report to the Council on my findings as well (reminds me of my own sergeant, who was stuck between handling subordinates and answering to superiors). A funny thing about these post-mission reports to the Council, you can disconnect the transmission in the middle of your report. It will become a running gag throughout your other post-mission reports. For me, I always loved to cut them off back then, but I think I'll remain in-character this time and stay professional. The Council is mistrusting of Benezia's daughter as well, and Councilor Sparatus is also a bit unhappy about the utter destruction of yet another Prothean dig site (which is when you can cut the transmission), but I blame it all on the geth even though I pretty much went Godzilla on the place.

And that's it for today. Join me next time for some talk with the squad mates, more side quests, and a return to the Citadel (you should do this after every story mission since there's extra dialogues to be found).

 

Previously on Mass Effect...
A new squad member! Side quests! Getting killed by a thrasher maw and geth colossus!

And now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Conversations With Crewmembers
Kaidan: We talk about how "the final frontier" isn't as romantic as we had imagined, as well as his experience back in the biotic training camp, or as he calls it, "Brain Camp". Kaidan also compared Shepard to a Turkish campmate he had his eyes on; smart and "charming as hell", beautiful, but not stuck up about it. Looks like Shep and Kaid got a little 'closer.' Regarding Liara, he says he prefers "adventurous women." ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Dr. Chakwas: Turns out the reason she enlisted into military was because of the romanticized image of space-travel too. But she put her duties before her desires; the Alliance needs doctors, and she didn't want to abandon the soldiers. You also get to learn more about Kaidan's L2 biotic implant from her, as well as the migraines he suffers from it.

Liara: Despite her relations with the enemy, the latest crewmember assures me that she will do her best to earn my trust, as well as that of the entire crew. We talk more about her life as an archaeologist ("IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!"), her mom, and the asari species. Oh, and she calls Shepard a fascinating subject of study, which I took offense of course and berated her. Tentacled-head nerd.

Last but not least, we talk about those amusing rumors surrounding the asari mating ritual. They're mono-gendered and can have a partner of any species or gender.

Spoiler

Woo hoo hoo. Damn, Shepard.

But it's apparently less crude than that. They inherit the genetic traits of their partner through a mental connection - physical contact isn't necessary - and pass it onto their offspring. After that, the partner can f*** off if she likes because she no longer have any use for you. She's spread the seed of DNA in your head, man... okay, yeah, that sounds even more disgusting than normal sex when I put it that way.

Since they inherit traits from other species, there's a stigma against asari mating with each other since no new racial traits are gained. Liara is one such example, and is known to others as a "pureblood." Quite the opposite stigma from our own ideas about racial purity, eh?

Wrex: We talk about Saren, whom he had met a while ago doing a mercenary job for him. It was one job, but he had a bad feeling about Saren, so he quit without getting paid.

Spoiler

I'll say one thing about Saren: the turian's thorough.

Ashley: She doesn't trust Liara either, and I agree to keep a close eye. She also voices her racism- I mean, not racism, but "rational ideals regarding mistrusting of other aliens", for the first time in the game. I don't necessarily agree, but I could see the Council turning their back against humanity in times of desperation. I told her I understand, but like it or not, she still has to do her job and work with aliens. This is also the part of the game where you can truly flirt with Ashley for the first time if you're a male Shepard, and she'll start to refer to you as "Skipper" (informal, or in this case, affectionate title for Commander or Captain).

Garrus: We talk about his reasons for joining c-sec, and he mentions his father's c-sec accomplishments. He also said he was considered for becoming a Spectre as well, but his father didn't like "the idea of someone having unlimited power with no accountability." We both agree that Saren can only be taken down without backroom politics getting in the way - just like Superman in Man of Steel, free to destroy buildings however he wanted.

Tali: The quarian is homesick. She complains about the ship being too quiet, since that usually means an engine has died back on her flotilla. I told her that perhaps that's the point of the pilgrimage - to appreciate her home.

Side Quests
Asari Diplomacy: Arriving in the Athens system at Artemis Tau, Nassana Dantius offers a job, which we'll hear from her at the Citadel. You can actually complete this side quest immediately in a star system nearby, the Macedon, but I won't do that for now because we'll miss out on some juicy dialogues.

Missing Marines: In the Sparta system, on the planet Edolus, there's another side quest we can pick up without speaking to the NPC. I'll do this one since there's no difference in the dialogue.

This planet is bombarded by meteorites! Fortunately, none of those would hit you and they're just for aesthetic effects... lame.

Spoiler

Makes for a beautiful shot though.

Responding to a distress signal, I arrive at... yet another Thrasher Maw! But this time, I've managed to take it down! Without dying too. Hah! Seems like these marines were lured to a death trap by the signal like us. Kinda reminds you of the plot of the very first Alien, eh? We'll have to report to one Admiral Kahoku back in the Citadel about the loss of his men. That's it for the Artemis Tau cluster exploration.

UNC: Lost Freighter: Oh yeah. This is a spooky one.

In the Gemini Sigma cluster, Ming system, you'll find the MSV Worthington freighter, where a bunch of audio logs have been left behind, along with a body on life support. Seems like the guy's brain has stopped functioning, but his girlfriend was in denial and kept him alive. Of course, the doctor on-board couldn't support this and tried to turn off the machine. She's a biotic having depression, so you can pretty much figure out how well things went from there.

The creepy part of this is that if she would charge towards you as soon as you've heard the last audio log. She doesn't even speak as she charges you, so she might as well be right behind you by the time you turn around.

UNC: Distress Call: Yet another distress call. And of course...

Spoiler

At the Argos Rho cluster, Hydra system, planet Metgos, we pick up a request for help from a medical transport. Tali raises a red flag by saying "I've got a bad feeling about this"... Seriously, Tali, watch some human movies, or whatever it is you quarians call them. Then again, she might have seen Return of the Jedi 'coz she proceed to utter the famous line above regarding ruses and ambush.

This is also the first planet we land on with a planetary hazard. This could be caused by the planet's air pressure, temperature, or toxicity. In this case, the planet's hot as hell, and the pressure is high, but we're only dealing with a level 2 hazard, so it's still tame compared to others. There are also many steep surfaces along the planet's surface, making it tough to travel, even with the Mako.

The other system in Argos Rho is the Phoenix, where Wrex's character quest would come later, so let's move on for now. Also, if you've downloaded the Pinnacle Station DLC, Shepard gets his own apartment here. I didn't bother because it's a combat DLC where you go through some kind of Survival Mode side mission; not very interesting compared to more story-centric missions out there.

We're gonna have to cut things short for today, and I apologize for the limited content, being bogged down by the side quests and everything. But I still feel like we've made some quality progress today. Till next time, when we get to take down a rogue V.I.

 

Last time on Galaxy Trek: Deep Space Nein: More side quests galore. Crazy biotic girlfriend. More Thrasher Maw. It's a trap!

And now, back to the show. Space, the final frontier.


Rogue V.I.
Ah yes, "Sol", better known as the solar system in some parallel realities. Here we are, at the Local Cluster, where our rogue V.I. awaits at Earth's moon. Time to kick some robot-ass... or computer programming ass (doesn't sound as catchy). Of course, it's not called the "moon" but "Luna", since there are many other moons out there, some of which are inhabited by aliens now... Damn aliens. LET'S BUILD A WALL AROUND EARTH!

I wanted to bring along some tech specialists like Tali and Kaidan for this mission, but since it's humanity's moon we're dealing with, it feels more appropriate bringing Ashley along as opposed to Tali.

Spoiler

I read an article about Mass Effect some time ago, how it felt strange, almost alien, to look at Earth as just another planet in the game... as opposed to our planet. Makes us feel small, tiny, compared to the rest of the galactic races... #2deep4me.

But jokes aside, notice how insignificant humanity is in this game compared to other sci-fi stories. Usually, if there are other sentient races involved, we're the big damn heroes that come to save the day like Uncle Sam (AKA Star Wars). I mean, did you see a Wookie defeating Darth Vader? I don't think so. But here, in this game, we're the aliens. Heh.

Arriving at the training ground, we're attacked by a bunch of turrets turned against us by the A.I.- I meant V.I. Sorry, hard to keep track of all these hostile computer programs. They're easy enough to deal with, since their rockets fly at a sluggish speed. Well, I'm not surprised that our own rockets are outdated compared to the likes of geth rockets. Entering one of the three buildings, I found out that my squad's decryption skill is too low to open a storage locker. Shit. Ah well. I would rather pick teammates I like having around than those who would compensate for such situations, any time.

After that, we were immediately ambushed by a bunch of flying droids. Ugh. Curse me for letting my guard down, I guess. By the way, you have to be at least level 30 to complete this mission - without dying easily, that is. That's why the mobs here can be particularly tough. Then, we just had to shoot the V.I.'s mainframes in the building (which release toxic gas after exploding, as a defense system I suppose). One building down, two to go. Almost got lost on my way out since the rooms in the game are so blend every part of them practically look the same.

Entering the second building. More storage requiring decryption skills. Annoying. More mainframe conduits. This time, they activate a shield when I shoot one of them (including shields that block all entrances and exits). It's all basically a mob-grind from here. Two down, one to go.

Looks like the shields activated in the third and final building as well. I would've saved the previous building for last, but it seems the defenses activate in the same order regardless of which building you enter first and second. There are also rocket drones here that almost took me down - befitting our final set of mobs. For the mainframes, shooting them will activate more drones... ugh. See, it's times like these that make me miss the second game and beyond, when "Overload" is much more available, and a more useful feature since it also takes down tech enemies, not just their shields. With "Mass Overload", it becomes even easier to take down a whole army of them.

After taking down the final set of mainframes, there's a message containing these binary codes:

01001000
01000101
01001100
01010000

Have fun converting them. It does translate into a rather insightful message, especially when you consider that the message is on repeat till the V.I. finally flickers and "dies"... according to the text description anyway. I prefer the rogue A.I. we have to take down in the second game, since there's a cutscene accompanying it. But regardless, it seems like this 'V.I.' is more sentient than Admiral Hackett gave it credit for. Now I feel so dirty.

By the way, by completing this mission, I've unlocked a choice of two advanced specialization class. I went with Shock Trooper, since I don't have as much use for my Warp and Lift ability - at least in this first game. Time to leave our solar system.

Citadel Side Quests
But first, one last squad convo.

Joker: The pilot brags about his piloting skills, as well as share with me about his "disease". I warn him about infecting the crew, and he told revealed that it's actually "Vrolik Syndrome" (AKA osteogenesis imperfecta). Basically, he's Mr. Glass from M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. He assures me he's fine flying the ship since he "doesn't fly with with his feet". I also find out the origin of Joker's name, which came from a flight instructor mocking him for being too uptight and never smiling. Aha.

"They (his classmates at flight school) had all gotten their asses kicked by the sickly kid with the creaky little legs. One guess who was smiling at graduation."

Ship Inspection
Returning to the Citadel, the first person I see is Mikhailovich, a Rear Admiral riding up my rear as he demands an inspection for the "overdesigned piece of tin", my ship, the Normandy. Of course, being a military woman, my Shepard dutifully salutes the admiral and allows him to do as he pleased. Yay for feminism in the military, letting men step all over you.

There's a funny dialogue here where, when the admiral says he's not happy about your ship, you could reply with "I bet". xD As the admiral barrages you with criticisms, if you've used Paragon and Renegade dialogue options plenty of times throughout the game, therefore earning enough Paragon/Renegade points, you can easily talk your way out using P/R options. I wanted to go full Renegade on this guy, but the options come off too disrespectful and too emotional... as satisfying as they may be. Time for a more professional response - with Kaidan and Ashley by my side this time, since they're also part of the Alliance military (Kaidan would even shout the "Ten-hut!" command upon seeing the admiral). On a sidenote: switching team members in the first game is a bit more frustrating than the later ones since you have to return to the ship and then exit it.

As it turns out, the Paragon responses can be too idealistic (winning hearts and minds, building bridges, etc.), so I went with a mix of Paragon and Renegade responses. The only Renegade response I didn't like was the one where Shepard implied that the admiral was a man of "limited vision". I'm pretty sure disrespecting your superiors is considered an act of insubordination under Article 89 of the UCMJ and can be subjected to court-martial, so it doesn't make sense for someone like Shepard to do that.

Spoiler

Elevator Dialogue
Garrus: "I'd been raised to see krogan as bloodthirsty thugs, but you've surprised me, Wrex. You are different."
Wrex: "The genophage is a lot easier to swallow when all krogan are savage monsters, isn't it? Why don't you head back to the Normandy, kid? If you stay here in the real world, you might have to learn something."

You gotta love Mass Effect's dialogue.

The Fourth Estate (AKA Punching A Reporter)
Khalisah Al-Jilani. Hm. Punching a woman. Punching an Arab woman at that. This would certainly make the punchline that much more controversial... and more newsworthy for our dear reporter too, so everybody wins.

But yes, Ms. Al-Jilani here is notorious for being the nastier version of Emily Wong, and of course, notorious for being Shepard's personal punching bag - for all three games. Despite being a running gag (and a famous meme), playing a male Shepard and doing so would stir up tons of traffic on tumblr with the SJWs, but I'm a male playing a female Shepard, so I guess that counts too...

But all that aside, her questions mostly revolve round trying to expose me as the Council aliens' lapdog and a traitor to humanity. Shepard eventually got fed up and uttered her famous line, "I've had enough of your snide insinuations."

Spoiler

Reporting to Udina, the Human Ambassador
The Council isn't happy with the destruction of the Prothean ruin, and it seems Udina got the burn of it. Oh well, that's what politicians are good for anyway. Future reports to Udina should be more interesting.

Asari Diplomacy
At the bar, we meet the asari emissary, Nassana Dantius, who messaged us about a job. Her sister's cargo ship was attacked by privateers, but it turns out that her sister was actually alive, and the thugs want a random for her. Diplomats are not allowed, by law, to negotiate with terrorists, but she paid them anyway, and still didn't get her sister back. So now it's up to us to clean up her mess. More on this later.

Family Matter
A pair of sibling is squabbling at the side of the road. On one hand, the brother wanted her sister-in-law to undergo gene therapy to eliminate the possibility of the baby inheriting his late father's heart condition. On the other, the baby is the sister's only memory of her husband, and she didn't want to risk the baby's life with the therapy. With some good ol' fashioned Renegade talk, I called out the brother for acting out of grief as much as his sister. With the force of tough love, Shepard has resolved yet another crisis on the Citadel! Being a jerk FTW!

By the way, you gotta love how the Renegade symbol looks like the Soviet Union flag.

Spoiler

Missing Marines
We report to admiral Kahoku about his men. He thanks us, and goes on to inform the family of the deceased. This will become part of an important side mission later regarding a mysterious organization called... "Cerberus".

Reporter's Request
The 'good' report gets her evidence, and I get my reward. Another request from her will also appear in the future.

The Fan
Conrad the Annoying returns, once again testing my patience to ask him to f*** off. This time, he asks to take my picture... in a rather creepy way bordering on Harkin's level. Ugh. He even says he'll hang the picture on his bedroom wall, where his wife would see it. F***ing weeaboo trash.

Old Friends
Depending on your Shepard's service record, you get three different kind of special quests. Mine was "Earthborn", so I got "Old Friends" instead, where, Finch, member of an old gang Shepard used to be a part of, tries to squeeze a favor out of her by mentioning her affiliation. One of their gangmembers got arrested by a turian, and Finch wants me to bust him out. Of course, Shepard being Shepard, rats him out to the guard. Finch was not too happy about that, and threatens to spread lies about Shepard being a xenophobe.

Among many conversations like this, there's a Renegade option...

Spoiler

...and there's a "Shoot him" option.

I've held off using that option for sooooo long because I wanted to keep my Shepard professional. But then I remember how Bond has no restraint for shooting criminals. lol As I mentioned, my lovely Ruth Shepard here is an anti-heroine partially fashioned after Danial Craig's Bond - his professionalism, wit, and overall cockiness... but also his cold-hearted "shoot first ask later" policy. It helps a lot that even the Bioware team mentioned that the canon Shepard was also inspired by Bond. And honestly, it just feels a lot more satisfying shooting a xenophobic scumbag like Mr. Finch over here anyway. It's like taking out the trash.

Turian Guard: "Impressive. Perhaps the first human Spectre will not be a disappointment, after all."

But don't worry, Ruth becomes more humane down the line during the second game. Not before I picked a lot of other [Shoot him] options in this first game, that is - and yes, there's plenty more to be found.

Rita's Sister / Introducing "The Shepard (Dance)"
At another club in the Citadel, The Flux (basically the less shady version of Chora's Den), I agree to talk to a waitress's sister, working at the Den as an undercover c-sec agent. The sister, Jenna, wasn't too happy about being lectured and won't talk to me. On my way back, I bump into a Detective Chellick, Jenna's c-sec handler. After warning me about blowing her cover, he offers me to help out Jenna. I'm to pick up a weapon shipment from a krogan arms dealer named Jax. I then threaten to blow Jax's head off to get what I want, but then laugh it off as just a joke ("IT'S JUST A PRANK, BRO!"). Chellick agrees to release Jenna, and everybody's happy. Nobody died for once, heh. This also marks the first time I went full Paragon since all of the Renegade actions involved going against c-sec (and by extension, the law).

Meanwhile, Shepard shows off some of her moves by dancing with Kaidan...

Spoiler

You know, compared to MaleShep, FemShep actually dance pretty good. Just take a look at the difference:

Spoiler

FemShep's dance improves a lot in the next two games. The reverse is true for MaleShep. Despite Bioware's laziness with FemShep's animation, a lot can be said for her dancing.

Jahleed's Fears
Remember the Salarian that asked me to run around the Citadel and scan all the Keepers? Well, it turns out that "Chorban" is being accused by his "business partner", a volus named Jahleed, of premeditated murder. It seems like Chorban had arranged a meeting with Jahleed in the lower markets, so I headed there. Turns out Jahleed's the one lying about being hunted, and Chorban's merely trying to get the Keeper data Jahleed kept for himself instead of disseminating it as his partner. Of course, Chorban's not all innocent either since he had stole from his own company the scanning device. Looks like I got myself into quite the mess. But since the credits aren't too bad - and since I'm a completionist - I agree to keep scanning.

I actually manage to finish scanning every Keeper after this mission. lol All 21 Keepers scanned. They're actually easier to find than I thought; I didn't even have to rely on a walkthrough map.

Schells the Gambler
A salarian named Schells asks me to test out his cheatin- I mean winnings recording device at The Flux, where they have these slot-machines called the "Quasar". The goal of the game is this: the machine pops up a random number (I think between 1-10), and you have to press one of two buttons: "Add 1-8" or "Add 4-7". The idea is to add enough numbers to reach 20 or lower. The closer you are to 20, the higher the payout. Hit 21 and higher and you lose. Schells requires me to record five winnings, but asking Shepard to commit a crime is basically shooting yourself in the foot. I turn in the device to The Flux's volus owner, Doran. Of course, not without coercing some money outta him. Finder's fee.

I love Kaidan's reply to Schells when he asked what's he supposed to do now that I've given his cheating device away.
Kaidan: "Get a job."

Daaaaaamn, Kaidan, please control yourself. You're making my FemShep all turned on.

Signal Tracking
While at The Flux, I discovered a signal being used to funnel money from the Quasar machines to a private account, so Garrus runs a trace of the signal to reach the culprit... who turns out to be a rogue A.I.! Not a V.I. this time! It threatens to blow us up with its self-destruct mechanism if we leave. Thankfully, the self-destruct sequence has a warm-up period, and I manage to deactivate both it and the A.I., although there was this annoying pattern mini-game again similar to the laser activation from Therum. Unlike in Therum though, there was a time-limit of one minute to my death. lol No pressure or anything.

Hostile Takeover
A woman named Helena Blake has a "business proposition" for me: kill a pair of drug dealers who are getting in the way of her own cartel. Basically do her dirty work for her. I would love to turn her in, but it seems she's got her own fancy lawyer, so I'll just have to play along - for now. More on Helena and her fate in Shepard's hands later.

But for now, we're outta time. It's been a busy day full of side quests. Will Shepard be able to reach the next story mission without more side quests bogging her down? Tune in next time to find out!

 

Previously on Mass Effect: After saving Benezia's daughter, Shepard debriefs her superiors on her mission update, along with helping out random strangers through various use of brute force.

So this is something special. Me playing at night. Let's see how long I could stay up.

I leave the Citadel for the Horse Head Nebula cluster. Two systems, Strennus and Pax; the latter contains our story objective, Noveria. I'll explore Strennus first.

Cerberus
And the three-headed hellhound rears its ugly face. Admiral Kahoku sends an urgent transmission regarding the group, informing me that this Alliance black ops group is conducting illegal genetic experiments to create a super soldier - basically a generic copy of Marvel villains. I'll catch them later, since Kahoku will die whether I hurry or not.

Privateers
After discovering a ship attacked by Privateers, I follow its radiation trail to Xawin to search for clues. Xawin is an icy planet with a Level 1 Hazard. Not too bad, compared to the Thrasher Maw I have to fight off salvaging a probe my squad lack the skills to open. Dumb luck. Speaking of dumb luck, I also trigger a geth trap! But with some maneuvering, I finally reach my destination and infiltrate the Privateers' base. Turns out these are the same guys who attacked Garoth's brother, now laid dead in the base. Guess we've got some explaining to do back at the Citadel.

Noveria: Geth Interest
After a string of side quests, we're finally here - Noveria. As soon as we approach its orbit, however, we're already being threatened to have our ship impounded if they can't confirm our identity. I can already sense the warm hospitality of this planet blanketed by its blizzard storm. After a heated confrontation with security, I meet Gianna Parasini, who informs me that Benezia is at a research complex, but in order to reach there, I'll need clearance from the administrator, Anoleis, before I'm allowed leave the port. Frekking corporations.

Smuggling
Heading inwards, I meet a merchant hanar named Opold, who coerces me to smuggle goods for him. I refuse at first, but I then feel like getting involved might allow me to expose this big, stupid jellyfish of its crimes, so I'll play along for now.

Speaking of which, there are many Renegade options on Noveria. Being a planet controlled by a shady corporation, it's no surprise that you can just as easily become a scumbag criminal who smuggle, kill, and make deals with other criminals while getting away with it - even if you're the hero of the story. It's like freaking Blade Runner at this place. Due to its variety of options, you can replay this part of the story again to test out all the results.

Leaving Port Hanshan
I head to Administrator Anoleis straight after picking up Opold's package - but not to rat him out just yet. I'll explain why in just a moment. The administrator is a fast-talking salarian with little time to spare in his busy schedule - not surprising for salarians with their short lifespan.

Spoiler

He calls Earth an urban blight, an overheated, acid-washed slum, and me and Ashley tell him to watch his mouth. Clearly an unpleasant fellow, so I finish my business quickly with him and get on with my way. Seems like Opold won't be arrested since trials are bad for business, although he would be blacklisted as a business owner. In a crime-filled world like this, this is probably the best punishment you're gonna get. Ratting him out would grant you 200 credits and a pass to leave the port, along with a free weapon mod if you use a Paragon/Renegade option.

Buuut you shouldn't rat the hanar out if you want to explore other options of leaving the port - and boy, are the other options interesting. So, time to leave this twat of a salarian behind. As I leave his office, his assistant, Ms. Parasini, offer one of those other options, specifically a turian named Lorik Qui'in at the hotel bar.

Just when I head over to switch out my teammates (there're extra dialogues with specific team members on your side, particularly Garrus and Wrex), looks like Opold's krogan buyer, Inamorda, isn't too happy about me stealing his package. But he's a piece of cake compared to just about every other mob I had to fight through prior to this.

Espionage
Arriving at the bar, I'm stopped by an asari named Mallene Calis, who wants me to distract Rafael Vargas, a sales rep for Binary Helix (a company dealing with genetic engineering that will become significantly relevant to the story later) so that she could hack into his personal network. She says her intention is just to check if there's any copyright violation, but regardless of the details, it's shady either way. But since it's just hacking and spying, it's not that bad, so I guess I'll do it just for the lulz.

You can use a number of Paragon and Renegade options to keep Vargas talking while Calis' device do its work. A lot of boring business jargon related to enhancing biotic performance through amplifiers. The job is done, and I squeeze 250 more credits out of Calis than what was promised through Renegade. Hey, spying doesn't come cheap.

Lorik Qui'in
He introduces himself as the manager of the Synthetic Insights office (there are a lot of corporation names if you're interested). I'm not interested in all these corporate backstabbing bullshit, so I ask him to skip the details and tell me what he wants. Seems like Anoleis is demanding rent kickbacks from the Noveria companies - everyone's crooked on Noveria, if you haven't noticed by now. Lorik got evidence of Anoleis' actions, but now Anoleis hired goons to ransack his office and find the evidence. He wants me to take care of those goons in exchange for credits and a garage pass to leave this stupid port. So now I'm not only involved in smuggling, spying, murdering, but also straight-up B&E. Noveria sure is a wholesome place to live in.

Before I go, I head upstairs to deactivate the security at Lorik's office first - not that it would help much, to be honest. On the way, I overhear a salarian phone-call repeating Anoleis' full name. Are you ready for this? Rannadril Ghan Swa Fulsoom Karaten Narr Eadi Bel Anoleis. You can't make this stuff up. lol And people thought Muslims have long names. I wonder how many generations of salarians had Anoleis crammed into his name.

Arriving at the office, I bump into Anoleis' security. Using Renegade (and Paragon) options are useless since they'll shoot you anyway even if you've successfully convinced them to back off. Might be a bug. Regardless, because of this, when security officer Sergeant Stirling try to guilt you about shooting people, you can not bother with explaining your innocence and straight away tell her to bring it on. Despite known for being Noveria security's "secret weapon" due to her biotics, Stirling goes down easy enough - laughably easier than Inamorda, in fact. I love my marksman ability. The pistol has never been so powerful.

After that mess and fuss, Parasini advises me to talk to her before I give Lorik the evidence. When I do...

Spoiler

Apparently, Agent Parasini wants me to convince Lorik to testify against Anoleis' corruption. Although self-interest is tolerated, Anoleis' embezzlement (blackmailing?) is driving customers away. Seems like there's at least some form of justice around here. In exchange for the favor, she agrees to help you leave the port (a third option!), as well as tell you what's really going on with Benezia (not much, aside from a containment breach warning sent from the base Benezia headed to).

Now, there are a few ways you can handle this. Rat Gianna out, and she and Anoleis will both die in a firefight. +25 Renegade Points for being a manipulative scumbag. Blackmail Anoleis, which I did, and you get a funny exchange between Wrex and Garrus.

Wrex: "Bah! We could have saved time by beating him into cooperation."
Garrus: "We couldn't do that!"
Wrex: "Yes, we could! You think he lifts anything heavier than stacks of hardcopy?"

After the blackmail, it seems that you could still accept Gianna's deal as if you've never spoke to Anoleis. Huh. Well, with this many options, it's no wonder there's bound to be a contradiction between the choices. This is the ideal option for me, IMO, since Shepard still gets to dish out what little amount of justice to be had around here and get that funny convo above at the same time. Lorik agrees to testify with a little smooth-talking, and I get to take down at least one criminal in this crime-filled city. +25 Renegade Points

Spoiler

Gianna says she owes you a beer for helping her. She'll return that favor in the later games... Now for Benezia. Be sure to bring Liara along.

Peak 15
Heading to the garage to access a Mako (not sure if it's mine), I run into... more geth. Of course. These came from the cargo crates Benezia brought along, probably to stall me or something. There's a geth destroyer among them - these are kinda like more powerful versions of rocket troopers, not to be messed with. The security chief, Captain Maeko Matsuo, informs me that there could be dozens more geth out there considering how many crates Benezia brought. Terrific.

Like Xawin, Noveria is an acy planet with a Level 1 Hazard. There are lots of geth and turrets on our journey, but with my Mako's scoping, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. From this cutscene introducing the geth armature, however, it seems like the game assumes your first location would be Noveria, not Therum.

Spoiler

But eventually, we arrive at Peak 15, where Benezia's at.

Spoiler

Remember what I said about the geth destroyer? Yeah, forget about that, 'coz there's a bigger version of him - geth juggernaut ("I'm the juggernaut, you b-word!"). After the warm welcoming party, we have to activate the reactors again before we could take the tram to where Benezia is. We also meet a new enemy, the same species that the krogan were recruited to wipe out millenniums ago.

That's right - it's the rachni.

Spoiler

Cute little creatures, aren't they. They release high-pitched squeals and spit acid - exactly like the xenomorphs. And no, that's not a coincidence. Also, it seems like even Wrex doesn't know what these creatures are... Huh. Interesting.

To activate the backup system (needed to activate the reactor), we need to activate the V.I. Take a shot whenever I mention the word, "activate". There's an even more difficult puzzle minigame here which is definitely a bigger pain in the ass than all the other ones, so I'm going to consult a walkthrough- oh wait, never mind. You can just insert 100 Omni-gel, the thing you get when you recycle your hundreds of items maxing out your 150 item limit.

When the V.I. named "Mira" activates, she says the following amusing line:
"It looks like you're trying to restore this facility. Would you like help?"

Spoiler

You may introduce yourself as a Spectre or as an Alliance military officer. Surprisingly, the latter option is on the lower-half of the dialogue wheel (where Renegade-ish options are at), even though it makes sense to keep your identity as a Spectre (known for reconnaissance and espionage) a secret. The V.I. then instructs me on how to activate the backup system.

Annnnd my game got stuck. Peak 15 elevators are known for having lots of bugs, so be sure to save often.

Because the rachni's acid-spit is able to bypass your shields and biotic barrier, they can be more deadly than the geth. There's really no quick way to take down these pesky insects aside from biotics and shooting them. Also, move a lot if you're not under cover. Helps to dodge their spit.

Before I exit, there's another bunch of rachni blocking the door. If your squad has the proper electronic skills - which I don't - you can nuke them, which can be quite satisfying.

Rift Station
Arriving at Rift Station, a Binary Helix research facility (yes, that Binary Helix we encountered earlier), I'm greeted by one Captain Ventralis. Seems like Benezia's hiding out at somewhere called the "Hot Labs" (anything goes down in those labs, and security could pull the plug by melting the icecube foundation beneath it). You could head there immediately, but the entire staff would attack when you return, so you won't get to explore the dialogues or buy from the merchant. We'll get to the hot labs later, since Benezia isn't really hiding there anyway (the good Captain lied)... There's a backdoor to Benezia, but you need decryption skills to access this restricted area (also, the security would obviously attack you).

As you talk to more of the staff here (presumably working for Binary Helix), you'll find that BH is practically Weyland-Yutani from Aliens. You'll see proof of this later in the hot labs. Among the staff, I almost meet an incredibly prickly asari named Alestia Iallis who claimed I interrupted her meditation or whatever.

Spoiler

We'll see more of her later.

Quarantine
A doctor named Zev Cohen is attending to two scientists involved in a experiment gone wrong. Seems like they were developing a bio weapon when the quarantine shut down due to a loss of connection.The notes and equipment capable of saving them are locked in the quarantine labs, but the Captain doesn't want to risk contamination, even though the toxin only has a brief period of viability. So it's up to me again to save these good people... contributing to bio-warfare.

I talk to the Captain, who allows me access to the labs with one condition - his guard will lock me in and won't let me out if I'm infected. Asshole. The way to make the cure for the scientists involves another minigame (seems like there are a lot of these). There's a bar which fills up. There will be two arrows. You have to press the button when the 'liquid' that fills up enters between the two arrows. Repeat the process four times as the arrows narrow.

Immediately after you succeed making the cure, guess who shows up with a bunch of geth?

Spoiler

Wrex: "We'll see about that, bitch."

lol So glad I brought Wrex along. Of course, just when you think this will be a perfect moment for the villain and hero to trash-talk about how they're going to kill each other, Shepard seizes the opportunity. "She's surrounded by geth and pointing a gun at us. Shoot her!" After taking care of matters, a volus named Han Olar (crazed from being attacked by rachni) informs me that Alestia and the geth came from maintenance, so Benezia's probably there too. But we'll need access, and Dr. Cohen might be able to provide it.

Back at the medical bay, I hand over the cure (coercing medi-gel from him with Renegade) and receive his pass to the maintenance area. It's finally time for Benezia.

Now that I think about it though, why did my ruthless Shepard waste so much time helping out random strangers? lol It would be more practical to just focus on her mission and sneak through the restricted area, killing everybody that gets in the way. xD I mean, think about it, as a soldier, she's a "shoot first ask later" Spectre agent with a license to act however the f*** she wants to accomplish her mission and has no obligation to help these people. They're not her superiors and she doesn't answer to them. I should really keep that in mind the next time I waste so much time.

Matriarch Benezia
Liara meets her mother - not that she has much love for her daughter.

Spoiler

Freezing me in place with her biotics, Benezia sends in her asari commando squad after me. They can be tough due to their biotic Throw and Lift powers, and it doesn't help that Benezia threw geth into the mix. But with my own biotic powers, and the immunity (invincible for a while) and adrenaline (recharges all my talents immediately) ability, I manage to take down easily enough. Benezia is only able to summon three waves of enemies before her power level goes down.

As I confront Benezia, it seems she's being mind-controlled by Saren, or rather, his ship, the Sovereign, the Vanguard of our destruc- okay, too much info. More on Sovereign much later. Anyway, it seems Benezia was sent to recover the coordinates for some kind of mass relay called the "Mu Relay". After receiving it, Liara and her had one final conversation before Sovereign takes over Benezia's mind once more, and I have to put her down.

Spoiler

Throughout the entire battle, there seems to be a giant rachni contained within a room behind Benezia. As I approach it, one of the asari commandos I had put down appeared behind me, alive and well again.

Spoiler

Remember how that alien from Independence Day had controlled the doctor's corpse to speak through him? The same exact thing is happening here. Seems like this isn't just any rachni, but the rachni queen. She asks for me to kill her children, who have been kidnapped by the Binary Helix scientists and experimented on to turn into bio-weapons. Without their mother to attend to them (or in her words, "sing to them"), they went berserk and attacked. Now it's too late to save their broken minds.

After I agreed, there's one more thing to do. One very important decision that will affect the next two games (specifically, the third game): We have a rachni queen on our hands. Wrex, naturally, favor for me to kill her with the acid tanks, seeing her as another insect to be squashed. Liara, belonging to a more diplomatic species, favor for me to release her.

Spoiler

This is a big decision, since we're talking about genocide here - even if rachni kinda resemble insects. Usually, I would just not give a f*** and pull the plug, but since I'm more concerned with developing Shepard's character this time... I mean, she is ruthless, I'll give her that. And releasing the rachni might cause another rachni war if the queen goes rogue and spread her children like the xenomorphs in Aliens.

F*** it. Even though I know this will end badly in the third game, at the point of making the decision, her pragmatic self wouldn't risk releasing such a dangerous creature into the world. Cold-hearted and calculating suit her better.

Spoiler

+25 RENEGADE POINTS. No shit.

Now it's time to finish off the last of the species - her children - in the hot labs. Here, I find a Binary Helix employee explaining how his company picked up a rachni egg off a derelict ship, brought it back, and discovered it was a queen. Minus the queen part, it definitely seemed similar to the "bringing back a parasite alien on board the ship" plot in the first Alien. lol As mentioned, Binary-Yutani is just the kind of shady company to utilize the species for bio warfare.

As the guy instructs me on how to nuke the rachni contained in the lab (or as he calls it, "purge" them using this Neutron Purge; "nuke" sounds cooler), one of them ambushed him from behind and...

Spoiler

That's gotta hurt. More reason to nuke these guys.

Activating the nuke requires a code from the BH employee, which you might miss after killing the above rachni. There's a funny scene where Shepard can actually mumble something obscure in hopes of deceiving Mira the V.I., but it won't work and she'll ask you to turn yourself in to be arrested and interrogated. lol After activating the nuke, there will be tons of rachni waiting for you outside. You can rush through them and head for the exit, but you'll probably die in the process if you're not fast enough. I barely made it myself. lol

And that's it for the rachni. Sayonara and everything. That also concludes our playthrough today. I've covered lots today, specifically because I took time outta my movie-viewing to spend a bit more time to finish the Noveria missions. Next time, it will be the debriefing for the mission. Wait till you see how the Council reacts to my genocide. xD

 

Arriving on the icy planet, Noveria, Shepard maneuvers her way through the corporate backstabbing that are part and parcel on this crime-ridden world. She discovered Benezia's location and confronted the Matriarch in a biotic showdown. Liara had to watch her mother die.

Meanwhile, a genocide happened. Exterminator Shepard dealt out pest-control before her departure from the planet. In other news...

Asari Councilor: "Is this report accurate, Commander? You found rachni on Noveria?"
Turian Councilor: "Found them and wiped them out! Do you take pleasure from committing genocide, Shepard?"
Shepard: "Depending on the species, Turian."


Nah, I didn't say that. Shepard wouldn't jeopardize inter-species relationship just to crack a joke - as much as she wants to.

Squad Conversations
Kaidan
Kaidan got a little jealous about my relationship with Dr. T'soni due to rumors on the ship. He's also concerned about me cutting corners, what with my recent genocide event and all. He had a tough turian teacher in biotic school who cut corners as well, and things didn't go well for him - the teacher, not Kaidan. More on that in the next squad convo.

Oh, and Kaidan calls me "someone special to him."

Spoiler

That's sweet, Kaidan. I might just consider keeping you around after all. Maybe.

Liara
Liara expresses her acceptance of her mother's death, how I should take responsibility as a Spectre to reflect humanity as more than just a bully... as well as her interest in me beyond a subject of study.

Spoiler

Damn, Shepard's getting all the love today!

Of course, I'm not really interested in her blue ass in this playthrough... or any other playthrough for that matter. I've got my eye on someone else.

Wrex
Wrex talks about the reason he left his homeworld. He tried to help his people overcome the genophage, the sterility plague (or semi-sterile I guess, since it's 1/1000 birthrate) spread by the turians and salarians - but his own father, Jarrod, betrayed him. He wanted the other krogans to continue the war, but Wrex was convinced their population was too small, their birthrate too slow to take such a risk. To prevent Wrex from spreading his propaganda, Jarrod led him to a trap.

Spoiler

It might seem cruel, but filicide isn't an uncommon concept among predators.

Wrex also talks about an oath to his grandfather regarding a krogan armor confiscated by the turian army that he had promised to take back. Remember the Wrex character quest I mentioned yesterday? Well, this is it. Time to head back to Argos Rho.

Ashley
Unsurprisingly, Ashley supports my genocide, that xenophobe. lol She also talks about her sisters - herself being the oldest sibling - that all of them had picked up self-defense from their mother, ranging from pistol practice, swordsmanship, aikido, and last but not least, Ashley's marine hand-to-hand combat.

Spoiler

Mhm hm. That's why I would pick Ashley over Kaidan any day; I love a woman who can stand up for herself, much more one who knows badass h2h. Of course, Shepard's no slouch either, as you'll see in a future h2h fight scene.

Ashley also shares about her spacer father, and a few lines from his favorite poem, Ulysses. "I cannot rest from travel: I will drink life to the lees. All times I have enjoy'd greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those that loved me, and alone. For always roaming with a hungry heart. Much have I seen and known. Cities of men, and manners, climates, councils, governments..." A tough tomboy and a sensitive soul - how much better can she get?!

Of course, she's not perfect. She mentions how her late father is probably still watching from the afterlife... ugh. The woman had to bring up religion. I told Ashley to keep her beliefs to herself as religious matters don't make for very proper conversations in the military. Wouldn't want a religious conflict on our hands.

Garrus
Garrus shares about a case he had worked on as a c-sec agent involving body organs being traded on the black market. This led to a doctor named Dr. Saleon, who was cloning organs inside his employees - the poor and underprivileged - before harvesting them for profit. That's not the worst part - if the organ isn't good, he abandons his victims to their own fate. Of course, nobody could tell unless you perform a surgery. As Garrus puts it, "They were walking, living test tubes."

Garrus never did catch him. After taking his employees hostage, the 'good doctor' successfully escapes the Citadel due to c-sec's interference, not wanting to risk civilian casualties. No wonder Garrus hates working there. He tells me he found the doctor again recently - now with the alias, Dr. Heart . Time to catch ourselves one f***ed up surgeon. This marks our second squad mate side quest.

While talking about this, Garrus also mentions krogan testicles, and how they're selling like hotcakes among other krogans who believe that deez nuts will increase their virility and counteract the genophage (they don't).

Tali
Tali is sleeping better now. She reveals that she's royalty - daughter of an admiralty board member, but close enough. Her father's position isn't hereditary, however, and she isn't set to take over him. Despite the technicalities, people still expect a lot from her due to her bloodline, so her pilgrimage has bigger pressure than that or a normal quarian.

Spoiler

Because defeating Saren won't really affect the exile of quarians, saving the galaxy just isn't a good enough gift to bring home. Sounds like our third and final squad mate side quest. We'll have to retrieve something geth-related later on.

Tali also talks more about her parents. Her father was strict and rarely home, and her mother died of an airborne virus. The latter might not sound unusual, but when you're a quarian, you could pretty much catch a flu and die. That's how weak their immune system is.

Galaxy Side Quests
Before I depart Noveria, the Citadel informs me of their STGs (Special Tasks Group; basically Salarian spies) who were sent to discover information about Saren. Their message was cryptic, but since it came from an emergency channel, it's probably important. The message source? A little planet called Virmire.

Usually, I don't like doing Virmire before Feros or any of the other core planets, but it does make more sense to head to the destination where spies sent to spy on Saren were sending a message from. Just saying. But on the other hand, Virmire is in the far-expanses of the galaxy, so it also makes sense to visit the closer Feros first.

But first, more side quests... Yay. By the way, I hate that your side quests aren't marked on the star clusters in your galaxy map, so you don't know which place you've previously visited have the objective you want. This is solved in the next two games of course, but here in the first game, it gets damn confusing.

Wrex: Family Armor
We return to the Argos Rho cluster and enter the Phoenix system, planet Tuntau, to retrieve Wrex's armor at a pirate base. These thugs are easy enough to handle compared to geth and rachni. Even when we're outnumbered, there's nothing my adrenaline burst and biotic barrier couldn't handle.

Spoiler

Getting the armor strengthens Wrex's trust in you, something you definitely want when you arrive at Virmire.

You can talk to Wrex after this. When asked why he stays a merc rather than return and help his people, he says he'd rather kill for credits than for a lost cause. Always offering wise words. We discuss his merc life, which started ever since he left his home system. Wrex also reveals that he fights better alone, or in very small groups, which suits my small squad just fine.

Hostile Takeover
At the Hades Gamma cluster, Dis system, planet Klensal lies ones of the two druglords that Helena Blake wanted me to take out (doing that bitch's dirty work). Well, if that old bag thinks I'm derailing my mission doing this out of some naive sense of justice, she has another thing coming. We'll get Helena Bitch later. For now, let's play along.

Boom bam bop, bada bop boom POW. Biotics are useful, mercs are useless, I kill all the bad guys. You get the idea by now. lol One enemy base down, two to go.

 

I hate bugs.

Kill all space bugs in video games.
Wait that's a bad choice?
Kill it with fire then

 

Yeah, I'm a bit annoyed at how this is actually a trick question - to nuke the bugs that might trigger a war or not - but I guess it makes sense that such a tough decision shouldn't be devoid of consequences or it will cheapen the decision. I actually love how ambiguous it turns out to be, the outcome of your decisions.

But yeah, if you nuked the bastards, there's actually something wicked waiting for you in the third game. It's not too punishing, since Bioware understands your decision to kill these ugly sons of bitches. It's their fault the rachni resemble insects so much. When we think of insects and aliens, it's either James Cameron's Aliens or Starship Troopers - neither of them are good representations of the aliens.

Still, even if releasing the rachni is the 'good' decision, it's just way too pacifistic for me. Killing a highly plausible threat before it gets out of hand makes more sense to a pragmatic soldier like my FemShep.