My Mass Effect adventure!
Jul. 28th, 2013 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbee(As I type this, I have some epic cat bites and a mildly sprained wrist. It's a slow process. I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS.)
I've been playing Mass Effect for a few weeks now, and I'm totally enjoying it. So much so that I finished my first playthrough of the first game, then turned around and took that same Shepard (female, colonial soldier, war hero, paragon) back to play again, this time with all the side missions I skipped.
(I am quite in love with my Shepard, who has red hair in a tight bun, cheekbones that you could cut yourself on, a long mouth and a long, thin neck. Sadly, screencaps don't seem to work, presumably because Steam knows I am am a fake gamer girl. Or something. Hence my Chell icon here. Use your imagination.)
(I do keep thinking how much better ME would be if Shepard had a portal gun, although I'm not sure Portal would be improved with Geth.)
ANYWAY, on this second playthrough, I'm having trouble deciding what I want to do with the love interests.
See, first playthrough, I was basically flirting with Kaidan with the intent of sending him to die on Virmire. Only I quite got to like Kaidan, and at the same time got really tired of Ashley's space racist routine. Then Ashley went and shot Wrex, and I had to play that scene, like, three or four times before Wrex came out of it alive, and I began to hold a grudge against Ashley. I REALLY LOVE WREX AND I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT KROGANS.
The problem with all this was, once Ashley was dead, I started having massive guilt about keeping Kaidan alive just because he's my pixellated love interest and also less racist than Ashley. So a certain amount of resentment crept in as I felt bad for making a potentially unethical choice involving the lives of tiny pixel people.
(This is why my Shepard is a paragon. Sometimes I accidentally make a choice that leads to some renegade points, and I feel really bad! And I like that my Shepard is quite professional and not a horrible bully.)
MEANWHILE, there's Liara, who's pretty great, and Shepard is partially responsible for her mother's death, which is apparently a kind of shipping kryptonite for me, I don't even know. And I do enjoy a socially awkward centenarian, but I'm not sure if Shepard is really feeling it.
(I'd love for Shepard to hook up with Gianna Parasini, the internal affairs agent on Noveria. BUT NO. STUPID GAME, WHY DO YOU THWART ME?)
I've been playing Mass Effect for a few weeks now, and I'm totally enjoying it. So much so that I finished my first playthrough of the first game, then turned around and took that same Shepard (female, colonial soldier, war hero, paragon) back to play again, this time with all the side missions I skipped.
(I am quite in love with my Shepard, who has red hair in a tight bun, cheekbones that you could cut yourself on, a long mouth and a long, thin neck. Sadly, screencaps don't seem to work, presumably because Steam knows I am am a fake gamer girl. Or something. Hence my Chell icon here. Use your imagination.)
(I do keep thinking how much better ME would be if Shepard had a portal gun, although I'm not sure Portal would be improved with Geth.)
ANYWAY, on this second playthrough, I'm having trouble deciding what I want to do with the love interests.
See, first playthrough, I was basically flirting with Kaidan with the intent of sending him to die on Virmire. Only I quite got to like Kaidan, and at the same time got really tired of Ashley's space racist routine. Then Ashley went and shot Wrex, and I had to play that scene, like, three or four times before Wrex came out of it alive, and I began to hold a grudge against Ashley. I REALLY LOVE WREX AND I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT KROGANS.
The problem with all this was, once Ashley was dead, I started having massive guilt about keeping Kaidan alive just because he's my pixellated love interest and also less racist than Ashley. So a certain amount of resentment crept in as I felt bad for making a potentially unethical choice involving the lives of tiny pixel people.
(This is why my Shepard is a paragon. Sometimes I accidentally make a choice that leads to some renegade points, and I feel really bad! And I like that my Shepard is quite professional and not a horrible bully.)
MEANWHILE, there's Liara, who's pretty great, and Shepard is partially responsible for her mother's death, which is apparently a kind of shipping kryptonite for me, I don't even know. And I do enjoy a socially awkward centenarian, but I'm not sure if Shepard is really feeling it.
(I'd love for Shepard to hook up with Gianna Parasini, the internal affairs agent on Noveria. BUT NO. STUPID GAME, WHY DO YOU THWART ME?)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-28 09:37 am (UTC)If you're torn about love-interests, there are more of 'em appearing in 2, some of whom are non-romanceable characters from this game (sadly, not including the charming Ms Parasini). Staying chaste in 1 can help you avoid drama later; of course, drama can be fun. With that in mind, you certainly don't want the person who survives Virmire to be someone you dislike; and given your view on Ashley that seems to be the case. I guess you can choose to keep Kaidan alive, but not romance him, out of preemptive guilt? I always make sure the person who dies on Virmire is the one with the bomb, since it seems they get to go out a lot more heroically that way. I think it's because the ending of "Day of the Daleks" had a powerful effect on me, as a lad.
Mind you, if you're doing the side-quests second time round it's a lot easier to keep Wrex alive.
Heh. Given your views as expressed here, I'm already imagining the bits you'll love in the rest of the series. From the next game onwards, Paragon and Renegade become separate meters, so choosing the Renegade path won't always lose you Paragon points.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-28 10:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-29 01:14 am (UTC)I romanced Kaidan the first game, and it got Super Awkward through 2 and 3. You may wish to remain chaste or pursue Liara. I do have to say that there are some pretty awesome romance options in ME2 though, and you may wish to pitch your ME1 love interest for one of those. (But sadly, a Tali/femShep romance is not to be, sob sob.)
But yes. I'm really glad you're enjoying Mass Effect so far. ME2 is even better, imo. I am always available if you need gameplay or plot help (there are a couple crucial things you might want to do to avoid Repercussions in ME3), or if you want fic recs (I have so many omg).
no subject
Date: 2013-07-29 10:23 pm (UTC)I always have that same angst with the Virmire choice if I'm romancing one of them. Then again, I also quite like engineering situations where I feel the moral choice is to save the one I don't like and then playing it like I have a super conflicted relationship with them for the next two games... Yay?
Liara is pretty cool, though. Spoiler!Lite, if you're romancing her there's definitely one piece of DLC you'll want for ME2 (curse you DLC!), but even if you don't get it (and especially if you do), Liara's character gets some serious development and err, career readjustment in future games in ways that are pretty neat. In ME1, first time I played through, I liked her fine, but it was later that I felt her character "clicked" for me. I have nooooo idea if you'll feel the same way, of course!
Also as someone else noted, there are also some more romance options in the next game.
Alas, Gianna Parasini, while she does briefly appear, is still not one of them. :(
Keep us posted! :D
no subject
Date: 2013-07-30 11:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-29 11:35 pm (UTC)