Lets Play: Mass Effect (Updated - Ch 6 Part 2 - Virmire)
- Thread starter AD-Stu
- Start date
Thanks guys 
Tell you guys what: I'll continue on this mixed path without using the guide and see how we do. And if at some point in the future it looks like I've screwed it up, we can have a poll on which side to focus on so we can max at least one of them out
That joke goes back to the first update: the screengrab when Shepard first arrived on the bridge just happened to make it look like she'd smelled something bad and, well, Nihlus just happened to be there.
Oh absolutely, filling up either Paragon or Renegade on its own doesn't need a guide. This is the first time I've tried to max both out as far as possible though, and that's a lot more difficult.CM156 said:
Tell you guys what: I'll continue on this mixed path without using the guide and see how we do. And if at some point in the future it looks like I've screwed it up, we can have a poll on which side to focus on so we can max at least one of them out
LOL - I assure you neither I nor Grunka have anything against turiansCaramel Frappe said:
That joke goes back to the first update: the screengrab when Shepard first arrived on the bridge just happened to make it look like she'd smelled something bad and, well, Nihlus just happened to be there.
Thankye for the update! It was as fun as ever.AD-Stu said:
By the by, I noticed a typo but I currently have to run (college is fun!) and don't have time to find it again.
Third:
Hey Caramel Frappe! I didn't know you were reading this Let's Play!Caramel Frappe said:
[HEADING=2]CHAPTER 1, PART 4 (Eden Prime / Normandy) - Protheans are into weird stuff...[/HEADING]
Somewhere in the middle of this update I raised a common criticism of Bioware games - that their NPC animation can come off a bit dead-eyed and wooden. While I can see the point, I hardly think it's game breaking. Still, it got me thinking - if Bioware's animation could be better, then who's already doing it better? Which developers, which games?
Previously, on Lets Play Mass Effect: we landed on Eden Prime, watched both Nihlus and Jenkins die, had local soldier Ashley Williams join our squad, and assaulted innocent colonists in return for loot. When we left Grunka and co, they were just about to follow Saren to the spaceport on a train and search for the prothean beacon.
There they go. Meanwhile, at the spaceport end of the track...
While it's not spelled out for us at this point, levitation isn't an ability possessed by normal turians - it must be the object he's standing in front of that is making Saren float.
Our train arrives and this is what we find:
Ashley and Kaidan get an A+ in stating the obvious. Somehow, our HUD also knows there's three more bombs and that we've only got five minutes to disarm them all. There's only one way off the platform, so we charge up the ramp and across a catwalk to find geth troopers and another bomb to disarm.
More geth up ahead - at least one of them is a sniper, which is a little irritating as they can pretty much drop us with a single shot at this level.
They actually got me once and I had to reload, which is why the timer magically goes up between bombs two and three (which we can see sticking out on left of screen).
One to go. We polish off the last few geth, including the sniper, and there it is.
With the immediate threat neutralised and nothing else to do at the train station, we move on and see this:
It seems a space squid makes a gigantic molten mess of a place when it lands. Down on the platform, we spot what must be the beacon with a thin green beam of light or something coming out the top of it. We dispatch the last few bad guys and go to check it out.
After looting some containers spread around the platform, there's nothing left to do but investigate the beacon itself:
"Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac. <font color=0000FF>And have extra sick bags ready for Lieutenant Alenko. He seems a bit delicate today, and I know we just did the floors..."
"This is amazing. Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!"
"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up."
"Something must have activated it."
"No! Don't touch her! It's too dangerous!"
Being a biotic, I think Kaidan could probably have pulled Grunka out without touching her but, possibly foreseeing that doing so would ruin the plot of the whole game, he chooses not to.
We fade to black, and come back for this cut scene:
I include the above two grabs purely for those who made such a big deal about the infamous Miranda arse-shot in ME2, to remind them that moment wasn't entirely without precedent...
"It was under the command of Captain Anderson."
"And the beacon?"
"One of the humans may have used it."
<font color=0000FF>"Computer, red lighting! I want it visually demonstrated that I am in a huff!"
He means us. Uh oh. Speaking of us, Grunka should be waking up any moment now...
"About fifteen hours. Something hapened down there with the beacon, I think."
"It's my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."
"You had no way to know what would happen. <font color=0000FF>But couldn't you have pulled me out with your biotics?"
<font color=0000FF>"Well yeah, but I didn't want to break the game's plot, ma'am."
<font color=0000FF>*hissing under breath* "Lieutenant! Ixnay on the ourthfay allway eakingbray!"
<font color=0000FF>*hushed whisper* "Sorry ma'am, but how else was I supposed to respond to that question?!?"
"<font color=0000FF>Idiots, the both of you... actually, we don't even know if that's what set it off. Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out."
"The beacon exploded. A system overload, maybe. The blast knocked you cold. Williams and I had to carry you back here to the ship."
Having taken a recent blow to the head, Grunka finds herself in a charitable mood:
The screenshots obviously don't show it, but there's some subtle little facial animations on Kaidan here that convey quite nicely how chuffed he is to have Shepard saying nice things about him. I mention this mostly because Bioware often get criticised for having NPCs that seem a bit dead-eyed and wooden and, while there are plenty of scenes that support that observation, they also get things right from time to time. I think this was one of those times.
Incidentally, if you're playing as ManShep then your squadmates switch roles and it's Ashley you rescue from the beacon then have this conversation with.
"I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."
"Hmmm. I better add this to my report. <font color=0000FF>By the by, I've read some good things recently about punches to the face for clearing up symptoms such as that. It may-- Oh, Captain Anderson."
(He's talking about us - Shepard is the Normandy's executive officer in addition to her role as Head of Colonist Extortion.)
"All the readings look normal. I'd say the commander's going to be fine."
"Glad to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you - in private."
Grunka is happy to disappoint anyone who thinks she's above the blame game, it seems.
"The geth haven't been outside the Veil in two centuries, Commander. Nobody could have predicted this."
"Did we leave Gunnery Chief Williams back on Eden Prime?"
<font color=0000BB>"I liked the cut of her jib, so we brought her along. Incidentally, there are reports coming in from the surface that you punched a scientist and then took several low-grade weapons upgrades from colonists at gunpoint - dare I ask what that was all about, commander?"
<font color=0000BB>"The scientist was getting on my nerves, sir, and... uh... I was trying to scare those farmers straight? Yeah, totally that. I wasn't actually going to hurt them, I swear. I had my shotgun set to stun."
<font color=0000BB>"You're thinking of Star Trek, commander. Weapons don't have a stun setting in this universe."
"<font color=0000BB>Oh. Well anyway, you said you needed to see me in private, Captain?"
"I'll stand behind you and your report, Shepard. <font color=0000BB>That way, hopefully the Council won't see me while they're chewing you out. But that's not why I'm here. It's Saren, that other turian. Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with the geth, it means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre's trouble. Saren's dangerous. And he hates humans."
"Why?"
"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy. A lot of aliens think that way. Most of them don't do anything about it. But Saren has allied himself with the geth. I don't know how. I don't know why. I only know it had something to do with that beacon. You were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?"
"We need to report this to the Council, Shepard."
"They'll think I'm crazy! <font color=0000BB>And that means they'll probably punch me in my beautiful face!"
"<font color=0000BB>To be fair commander, there's probably already a line of people wanting to do that to you, crazy or not. But back on topic, we don't know what information was stored in that beacon. Lost Prothean technology? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it."
Once again, it's interesting to note that Anderson is pushing his own personal fears / opinions here. He has no particular reason to think the beacon contained weapons plans as opposed to a cure for cancer or a really good recipe for intergalactic hash cookies. Sure,
our vision makes the latter two options less likely, but there are other explanations. Grunka agrees with me:
<font color=0000BB>"You realise there's just as good a chance this was some ancient, horror-movie-only precursor to Netflix, right sir? Or maybe it was Prothean porn... in which case, they were into some really weird shit *shudder*"
"<font color=0000BB>N'yeah... but that invalidates the rant I was on so you can keep those thoughts to yourself commander. Now as I was saying, I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war! He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!"
If it weren't for the fact Keith David's delivers these lines in such a smooth tone, I'd say Anderson was getting borderline hysterical here. But he's clearly not going to be moved from this train of thought, so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em:
"I'll find some way to take him down."
Grunka demonstrates that, even in the future, people will still blink when they have their photo taken.
"I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel. We should be getting close. Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in to dock."
We regain control in the Normandy's medical bay.
There's a medi-gel dispenser just inside the door that will refill your supplies between missions. I point this out mostly as a community service, in case there are others like me that somehow didn't realise it was there until their fifth playthrough *embarassed face*
We have brief chats outside with Kaidan and Ashley, in which we basically commiserate about Jenkins and welcome Ashley aboard. We want to wrap this chapter up though so we'll move on up to the bridge and talk to Joker like we were told to do.
Since that's basically the end of the prologue, that's where we'll also end the first chapter of this Lets Play. Tune in next time for the beginning of Chapter 2, when there'll be... actually, there'll be lots of talking next time too. But it'll be in places that are better lit than the Normandy, and with new people we can make fun of. Thanks again for reading!
There they go. Meanwhile, at the spaceport end of the track...
While it's not spelled out for us at this point, levitation isn't an ability possessed by normal turians - it must be the object he's standing in front of that is making Saren float.
Our train arrives and this is what we find:
Ashley and Kaidan get an A+ in stating the obvious. Somehow, our HUD also knows there's three more bombs and that we've only got five minutes to disarm them all. There's only one way off the platform, so we charge up the ramp and across a catwalk to find geth troopers and another bomb to disarm.
More geth up ahead - at least one of them is a sniper, which is a little irritating as they can pretty much drop us with a single shot at this level.
They actually got me once and I had to reload, which is why the timer magically goes up between bombs two and three (which we can see sticking out on left of screen).
One to go. We polish off the last few geth, including the sniper, and there it is.
With the immediate threat neutralised and nothing else to do at the train station, we move on and see this:
It seems a space squid makes a gigantic molten mess of a place when it lands. Down on the platform, we spot what must be the beacon with a thin green beam of light or something coming out the top of it. We dispatch the last few bad guys and go to check it out.
After looting some containers spread around the platform, there's nothing left to do but investigate the beacon itself:
Being a biotic, I think Kaidan could probably have pulled Grunka out without touching her but, possibly foreseeing that doing so would ruin the plot of the whole game, he chooses not to.
We fade to black, and come back for this cut scene:
I include the above two grabs purely for those who made such a big deal about the infamous Miranda arse-shot in ME2, to remind them that moment wasn't entirely without precedent...
He means us. Uh oh. Speaking of us, Grunka should be waking up any moment now...
Having taken a recent blow to the head, Grunka finds herself in a charitable mood:
The screenshots obviously don't show it, but there's some subtle little facial animations on Kaidan here that convey quite nicely how chuffed he is to have Shepard saying nice things about him. I mention this mostly because Bioware often get criticised for having NPCs that seem a bit dead-eyed and wooden and, while there are plenty of scenes that support that observation, they also get things right from time to time. I think this was one of those times.
Incidentally, if you're playing as ManShep then your squadmates switch roles and it's Ashley you rescue from the beacon then have this conversation with.
(He's talking about us - Shepard is the Normandy's executive officer in addition to her role as Head of Colonist Extortion.)
Grunka is happy to disappoint anyone who thinks she's above the blame game, it seems.
Once again, it's interesting to note that Anderson is pushing his own personal fears / opinions here. He has no particular reason to think the beacon contained weapons plans as opposed to a cure for cancer or a really good recipe for intergalactic hash cookies. Sure,
our vision makes the latter two options less likely, but there are other explanations. Grunka agrees with me:
If it weren't for the fact Keith David's delivers these lines in such a smooth tone, I'd say Anderson was getting borderline hysterical here. But he's clearly not going to be moved from this train of thought, so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em:
Grunka demonstrates that, even in the future, people will still blink when they have their photo taken.
We regain control in the Normandy's medical bay.
There's a medi-gel dispenser just inside the door that will refill your supplies between missions. I point this out mostly as a community service, in case there are others like me that somehow didn't realise it was there until their fifth playthrough *embarassed face*
We have brief chats outside with Kaidan and Ashley, in which we basically commiserate about Jenkins and welcome Ashley aboard. We want to wrap this chapter up though so we'll move on up to the bridge and talk to Joker like we were told to do.
Since that's basically the end of the prologue, that's where we'll also end the first chapter of this Lets Play. Tune in next time for the beginning of Chapter 2, when there'll be... actually, there'll be lots of talking next time too. But it'll be in places that are better lit than the Normandy, and with new people we can make fun of. Thanks again for reading!
Somewhere in the middle of this update I raised a common criticism of Bioware games - that their NPC animation can come off a bit dead-eyed and wooden. While I can see the point, I hardly think it's game breaking. Still, it got me thinking - if Bioware's animation could be better, then who's already doing it better? Which developers, which games?
Rockstar games generally have some pretty great animation. L.A Noire's face tech is going to be revolutionary in a few year's time, but generally Rockstar do a much better job of making their characters feel alive than most other developers out there.AD-Stu said:[HEADING=2]CHAPTER 1, PART 4 (Eden Prime / Normandy) - Protheans are into weird stuff...[/HEADING]
Previously, on Lets Play Mass Effect: we landed on Eden Prime, watched both Nihlus and Jenkins die, had local soldier Ashley Williams join our squad, and assaulted innocent colonists in return for loot. When we left Grunka and co, they were just about to follow Saren to the spaceport on a train and search for the prothean beacon.
There they go. Meanwhile, at the spaceport end of the track...
While it's not spelled out for us at this point, levitation isn't an ability possessed by normal turians - it must be the object he's standing in front of that is making Saren float.
Our train arrives and this is what we find:
Ashley and Kaidan get an A+ in stating the obvious. Somehow, our HUD also knows there's three more bombs and that we've only got five minutes to disarm them all. There's only one way off the platform, so we charge up the ramp and across a catwalk to find geth troopers and another bomb to disarm.
More geth up ahead - at least one of them is a sniper, which is a little irritating as they can pretty much drop us with a single shot at this level.
They actually got me once and I had to reload, which is why the timer magically goes up between bombs two and three (which we can see sticking out on left of screen).
One to go. We polish off the last few geth, including the sniper, and there it is.
With the immediate threat neutralised and nothing else to do at the train station, we move on and see this:
It seems a space squid makes a gigantic molten mess of a place when it lands. Down on the platform, we spot what must be the beacon with a thin green beam of light or something coming out the top of it. We dispatch the last few bad guys and go to check it out.
After looting some containers spread around the platform, there's nothing left to do but investigate the beacon itself:
"Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac. <font color=0000FF>And have extra sick bags ready for Lieutenant Alenko. He seems a bit delicate today, and I know we just did the floors..."
"This is amazing. Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!"
"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up."
"Something must have activated it."
"No! Don't touch her! It's too dangerous!"
Being a biotic, I think Kaidan could probably have pulled Grunka out without touching her but, possibly foreseeing that doing so would ruin the plot of the whole game, he chooses not to.
We fade to black, and come back for this cut scene:
I include the above two grabs purely for those who made such a big deal about the infamous Miranda arse-shot in ME2, to remind them that moment wasn't entirely without precedent...
"It was under the command of Captain Anderson."
"And the beacon?"
"One of the humans may have used it."
<font color=0000FF>"Computer, red lighting! I want it visually demonstrated that I am in a huff!"
He means us. Uh oh. Speaking of us, Grunka should be waking up any moment now...
"About fifteen hours. Something hapened down there with the beacon, I think."
"It's my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."
"You had no way to know what would happen. <font color=0000FF>But couldn't you have pulled me out with your biotics?"
<font color=0000FF>"Well yeah, but I didn't want to break the game's plot, ma'am."
<font color=0000FF>*hissing under breath* "Lieutenant! Ixnay on the ourthfay allway eakingbray!"
<font color=0000FF>*hushed whisper* "Sorry ma'am, but how else was I supposed to respond to that question?!?"
"<font color=0000FF>Idiots, the both of you... actually, we don't even know if that's what set it off. Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out."
"The beacon exploded. A system overload, maybe. The blast knocked you cold. Williams and I had to carry you back here to the ship."
Having taken a recent blow to the head, Grunka finds herself in a charitable mood:
The screenshots obviously don't show it, but there's some subtle little facial animations on Kaidan here that convey quite nicely how chuffed he is to have Shepard saying nice things about him. I mention this mostly because Bioware often get criticised for having NPCs that seem a bit dead-eyed and wooden and, while there are plenty of scenes that support that observation, they also get things right from time to time. I think this was one of those times.
Incidentally, if you're playing as ManShep then your squadmates switch roles and it's Ashley you rescue from the beacon then have this conversation with.
"I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."
"Hmmm. I better add this to my report. <font color=0000FF>By the by, I've read some good things recently about punches to the face for clearing up symptoms such as that. It may-- Oh, Captain Anderson."
(He's talking about us - Shepard is the Normandy's executive officer in addition to her role as Head of Colonist Extortion.)
"All the readings look normal. I'd say the commander's going to be fine."
"Glad to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you - in private."
Grunka is happy to disappoint anyone who thinks she's above the blame game, it seems.
"The geth haven't been outside the Veil in two centuries, Commander. Nobody could have predicted this."
"Did we leave Gunnery Chief Williams back on Eden Prime?"
<font color=0000BB>"I liked the cut of her jib, so we brought her along. Incidentally, there are reports coming in from the surface that you punched a scientist and then took several low-grade weapons upgrades from colonists at gunpoint - dare I ask what that was all about, commander?"
<font color=0000BB>"The scientist was getting on my nerves, sir, and... uh... I was trying to scare those farmers straight? Yeah, totally that. I wasn't actually going to hurt them, I swear. I had my shotgun set to stun."
<font color=0000BB>"You're thinking of Star Trek, commander. Weapons don't have a stun setting in this universe."
"<font color=0000BB>Oh. Well anyway, you said you needed to see me in private, Captain?"
"I'll stand behind you and your report, Shepard. <font color=0000BB>That way, hopefully the Council won't see me while they're chewing you out. But that's not why I'm here. It's Saren, that other turian. Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with the geth, it means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre's trouble. Saren's dangerous. And he hates humans."
"Why?"
"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy. A lot of aliens think that way. Most of them don't do anything about it. But Saren has allied himself with the geth. I don't know how. I don't know why. I only know it had something to do with that beacon. You were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?"
"We need to report this to the Council, Shepard."
"They'll think I'm crazy! <font color=0000BB>And that means they'll probably punch me in my beautiful face!"
"<font color=0000BB>To be fair commander, there's probably already a line of people wanting to do that to you, crazy or not. But back on topic, we don't know what information was stored in that beacon. Lost Prothean technology? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it."
Once again, it's interesting to note that Anderson is pushing his own personal fears / opinions here. He has no particular reason to think the beacon contained weapons plans as opposed to a cure for cancer or a really good recipe for intergalactic hash cookies. Sure,
our vision makes the latter two options less likely, but there are other explanations. Grunka agrees with me:
<font color=0000BB>"You realise there's just as good a chance this was some ancient, horror-movie-only precursor to Netflix, right sir? Or maybe it was Prothean porn... in which case, they were into some really weird shit *shudder*"
"<font color=0000BB>N'yeah... but that invalidates the rant I was on so you can keep those thoughts to yourself commander. Now as I was saying, I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war! He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!"
If it weren't for the fact Keith David's delivers these lines in such a smooth tone, I'd say Anderson was getting borderline hysterical here. But he's clearly not going to be moved from this train of thought, so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em:
"I'll find some way to take him down."
Grunka demonstrates that, even in the future, people will still blink when they have their photo taken.
"I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel. We should be getting close. Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in to dock."
We regain control in the Normandy's medical bay.
There's a medi-gel dispenser just inside the door that will refill your supplies between missions. I point this mostly as a community service, in case there are others like me that somehow didn't realise it was there until their fifth playthrough *embarassed face*
We have brief chats outside with Kaidan and Ashley, in which we basically commiserate about Jenkins and welcome Ashley aboard. We want to wrap this chapter up though so we'll move on up to the bridge and talk to Joker like we were told to do.
Since that's basically the end of the prologue, that's where we'll also end the first chapter of this Lets Play. Tune in next time for the beginning of Chapter 2, when there'll be... actually, there'll be lots of talking next time too. But it'll be in places that are better lit than the Normandy, and with new people we can make fun of. Thanks again for reading!
Somewhere in the middle of this update I raised a common criticism of Bioware games - that their NPC animation can come off a bit dead-eyed and wooden. While I can see the point, I hardly think it's game breaking. Still, it got me thinking - if Bioware's animation could be better, then who's already doing it better? Which developers, which games?
Have you played LA Noire? For what it's worth, I thought it was rather good.AD-Stu said:[HEADING=2]CHAPTER 1, PART 4 (Eden Prime / Normandy) - Protheans are into weird stuff...[/HEADING]
Previously, on Lets Play Mass Effect: we landed on Eden Prime, watched both Nihlus and Jenkins die, had local soldier Ashley Williams join our squad, and assaulted innocent colonists in return for loot. When we left Grunka and co, they were just about to follow Saren to the spaceport on a train and search for the prothean beacon.
There they go. Meanwhile, at the spaceport end of the track...
While it's not spelled out for us at this point, levitation isn't an ability possessed by normal turians - it must be the object he's standing in front of that is making Saren float.
Our train arrives and this is what we find:
Ashley and Kaidan get an A+ in stating the obvious. Somehow, our HUD also knows there's three more bombs and that we've only got five minutes to disarm them all. There's only one way off the platform, so we charge up the ramp and across a catwalk to find geth troopers and another bomb to disarm.
More geth up ahead - at least one of them is a sniper, which is a little irritating as they can pretty much drop us with a single shot at this level.
They actually got me once and I had to reload, which is why the timer magically goes up between bombs two and three (which we can see sticking out on left of screen).
One to go. We polish off the last few geth, including the sniper, and there it is.
With the immediate threat neutralised and nothing else to do at the train station, we move on and see this:
It seems a space squid makes a gigantic molten mess of a place when it lands. Down on the platform, we spot what must be the beacon with a thin green beam of light or something coming out the top of it. We dispatch the last few bad guys and go to check it out.
After looting some containers spread around the platform, there's nothing left to do but investigate the beacon itself:
"Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac. <font color=0000FF>And have extra sick bags ready for Lieutenant Alenko. He seems a bit delicate today, and I know we just did the floors..."
"This is amazing. Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!"
"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up."
"Something must have activated it."
"No! Don't touch her! It's too dangerous!"
Being a biotic, I think Kaidan could probably have pulled Grunka out without touching her but, possibly foreseeing that doing so would ruin the plot of the whole game, he chooses not to.
We fade to black, and come back for this cut scene:
I include the above two grabs purely for those who made such a big deal about the infamous Miranda arse-shot in ME2, to remind them that moment wasn't entirely without precedent...
"It was under the command of Captain Anderson."
"And the beacon?"
"One of the humans may have used it."
<font color=0000FF>"Computer, red lighting! I want it visually demonstrated that I am in a huff!"
He means us. Uh oh. Speaking of us, Grunka should be waking up any moment now...
"About fifteen hours. Something hapened down there with the beacon, I think."
"It's my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."
"You had no way to know what would happen. <font color=0000FF>But couldn't you have pulled me out with your biotics?"
<font color=0000FF>"Well yeah, but I didn't want to break the game's plot, ma'am."
<font color=0000FF>*hissing under breath* "Lieutenant! Ixnay on the ourthfay allway eakingbray!"
<font color=0000FF>*hushed whisper* "Sorry ma'am, but how else was I supposed to respond to that question?!?"
"<font color=0000FF>Idiots, the both of you... actually, we don't even know if that's what set it off. Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out."
"The beacon exploded. A system overload, maybe. The blast knocked you cold. Williams and I had to carry you back here to the ship."
Having taken a recent blow to the head, Grunka finds herself in a charitable mood:
The screenshots obviously don't show it, but there's some subtle little facial animations on Kaidan here that convey quite nicely how chuffed he is to have Shepard saying nice things about him. I mention this mostly because Bioware often get criticised for having NPCs that seem a bit dead-eyed and wooden and, while there are plenty of scenes that support that observation, they also get things right from time to time. I think this was one of those times.
Incidentally, if you're playing as ManShep then your squadmates switch roles and it's Ashley you rescue from the beacon then have this conversation with.
"I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."
"Hmmm. I better add this to my report. <font color=0000FF>By the by, I've read some good things recently about punches to the face for clearing up symptoms such as that. It may-- Oh, Captain Anderson."
(He's talking about us - Shepard is the Normandy's executive officer in addition to her role as Head of Colonist Extortion.)
"All the readings look normal. I'd say the commander's going to be fine."
"Glad to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you - in private."
Grunka is happy to disappoint anyone who thinks she's above the blame game, it seems.
"The geth haven't been outside the Veil in two centuries, Commander. Nobody could have predicted this."
"Did we leave Gunnery Chief Williams back on Eden Prime?"
<font color=0000BB>"I liked the cut of her jib, so we brought her along. Incidentally, there are reports coming in from the surface that you punched a scientist and then took several low-grade weapons upgrades from colonists at gunpoint - dare I ask what that was all about, commander?"
<font color=0000BB>"The scientist was getting on my nerves, sir, and... uh... I was trying to scare those farmers straight? Yeah, totally that. I wasn't actually going to hurt them, I swear. I had my shotgun set to stun."
<font color=0000BB>"You're thinking of Star Trek, commander. Weapons don't have a stun setting in this universe."
"<font color=0000BB>Oh. Well anyway, you said you needed to see me in private, Captain?"
"I'll stand behind you and your report, Shepard. <font color=0000BB>That way, hopefully the Council won't see me while they're chewing you out. But that's not why I'm here. It's Saren, that other turian. Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with the geth, it means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre's trouble. Saren's dangerous. And he hates humans."
"Why?"
"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy. A lot of aliens think that way. Most of them don't do anything about it. But Saren has allied himself with the geth. I don't know how. I don't know why. I only know it had something to do with that beacon. You were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?"
"We need to report this to the Council, Shepard."
"They'll think I'm crazy! <font color=0000BB>And that means they'll probably punch me in my beautiful face!"
"<font color=0000BB>To be fair commander, there's probably already a line of people wanting to do that to you, crazy or not. But back on topic, we don't know what information was stored in that beacon. Lost Prothean technology? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it."
Once again, it's interesting to note that Anderson is pushing his own personal fears / opinions here. He has no particular reason to think the beacon contained weapons plans as opposed to a cure for cancer or a really good recipe for intergalactic hash cookies. Sure,
our vision makes the latter two options less likely, but there are other explanations. Grunka agrees with me:
<font color=0000BB>"You realise there's just as good a chance this was some ancient, horror-movie-only precursor to Netflix, right sir? Or maybe it was Prothean porn... in which case, they were into some really weird shit *shudder*"
"<font color=0000BB>N'yeah... but that invalidates the rant I was on so you can keep those thoughts to yourself commander. Now as I was saying, I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war! He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!"
If it weren't for the fact Keith David's delivers these lines in such a smooth tone, I'd say Anderson was getting borderline hysterical here. But he's clearly not going to be moved from this train of thought, so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em:
"I'll find some way to take him down."
Grunka demonstrates that, even in the future, people will still blink when they have their photo taken.
"I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel. We should be getting close. Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in to dock."
We regain control in the Normandy's medical bay.
There's a medi-gel dispenser just inside the door that will refill your supplies between missions. I point this mostly as a community service, in case there are others like me that somehow didn't realise it was there until their fifth playthrough *embarassed face*
We have brief chats outside with Kaidan and Ashley, in which we basically commiserate about Jenkins and welcome Ashley aboard. We want to wrap this chapter up though so we'll move on up to the bridge and talk to Joker like we were told to do.
Since that's basically the end of the prologue, that's where we'll also end the first chapter of this Lets Play. Tune in next time for the beginning of Chapter 2, when there'll be... actually, there'll be lots of talking next time too. But it'll be in places that are better lit than the Normandy, and with new people we can make fun of. Thanks again for reading!
Somewhere in the middle of this update I raised a common criticism of Bioware games - that their NPC animation can come off a bit dead-eyed and wooden. While I can see the point, I hardly think it's game breaking. Still, it got me thinking - if Bioware's animation could be better, then who's already doing it better? Which developers, which games?
Personally, considering what my favorite game is, I can deal with bad animations.
Also, I wish I had a shotgun I could set on stun. Oh well.
BTW, assuming we get a vote on these matters...
Go after Liara for the first mission and make her the romance option.
And make sure to get Wrex's armor
Valve do better character animation, I thought Crytek's work in Crysis 1 and 2 wasn't half bad either.woodaba said:
I swear, no such thing as a polite Let's Play PC...
Ah well, still pretty funny and better then the average by a long shot.
Ah well, still pretty funny and better then the average by a long shot.
Thanks for the recommendations guys - I haven't actually played LA Noire yet, will have to look into it. Crysis I've never tried for fear it will break my poor underperforming PC (am I thinking of the right game there?)
There's a few similar things I'm planning to highlight in future updates too. And duly noted on the Citadel quest - you've actually voted in advance for the poll that's going to be at the end of the next update
Thanks very much for your comments, and for reading
Yep, we'll totally be doing voting on stuff like that when it comes up and while I don't plan on doing all the copy-pasted side quests for fear of boring everybody to sleep, I'll definitely be doing the squadmate-specific ones.CM156 said:
LOL - yeah, one is forced to wonder how he got away so fast. It's not like he could hoverboard out of the atmosphere... geth dropship maybe?TopazFusion said:
There's a few similar things I'm planning to highlight in future updates too. And duly noted on the Citadel quest - you've actually voted in advance for the poll that's going to be at the end of the next update
As much as possible I'm planning for this to be a balanced playthrough, so there will be a mix of polite/respectful and just being a douche as we go forward. That said, I am finding it easier to write jokes for the docuhey actions...Geo Da Sponge said:
Thanks very much for your comments, and for reading
The_Lost_King said:CM156 said:Have you played LA Noire? For what it's worth, I thought it was rather good.AD-Stu said:[HEADING=2]CHAPTER 1, PART 4 (Eden Prime / Normandy) - Protheans are into weird stuff...[/HEADING]
Previously, on Lets Play Mass Effect: we landed on Eden Prime, watched both Nihlus and Jenkins die, had local soldier Ashley Williams join our squad, and assaulted innocent colonists in return for loot. When we left Grunka and co, they were just about to follow Saren to the spaceport on a train and search for the prothean beacon.
There they go. Meanwhile, at the spaceport end of the track...
While it's not spelled out for us at this point, levitation isn't an ability possessed by normal turians - it must be the object he's standing in front of that is making Saren float.
Our train arrives and this is what we find:
Ashley and Kaidan get an A+ in stating the obvious. Somehow, our HUD also knows there's three more bombs and that we've only got five minutes to disarm them all. There's only one way off the platform, so we charge up the ramp and across a catwalk to find geth troopers and another bomb to disarm.
More geth up ahead - at least one of them is a sniper, which is a little irritating as they can pretty much drop us with a single shot at this level.
They actually got me once and I had to reload, which is why the timer magically goes up between bombs two and three (which we can see sticking out on left of screen).
One to go. We polish off the last few geth, including the sniper, and there it is.
With the immediate threat neutralised and nothing else to do at the train station, we move on and see this:
It seems a space squid makes a gigantic molten mess of a place when it lands. Down on the platform, we spot what must be the beacon with a thin green beam of light or something coming out the top of it. We dispatch the last few bad guys and go to check it out.
After looting some containers spread around the platform, there's nothing left to do but investigate the beacon itself:
"Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac. <font color=0000FF>And have extra sick bags ready for Lieutenant Alenko. He seems a bit delicate today, and I know we just did the floors..."
"This is amazing. Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!"
"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up."
"Something must have activated it."
"No! Don't touch her! It's too dangerous!"
Being a biotic, I think Kaidan could probably have pulled Grunka out without touching her but, possibly foreseeing that doing so would ruin the plot of the whole game, he chooses not to.
We fade to black, and come back for this cut scene:
I include the above two grabs purely for those who made such a big deal about the infamous Miranda arse-shot in ME2, to remind them that moment wasn't entirely without precedent...
"It was under the command of Captain Anderson."
"And the beacon?"
"One of the humans may have used it."
<font color=0000FF>"Computer, red lighting! I want it visually demonstrated that I am in a huff!"
He means us. Uh oh. Speaking of us, Grunka should be waking up any moment now...
"About fifteen hours. Something hapened down there with the beacon, I think."
"It's my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."
"You had no way to know what would happen. <font color=0000FF>But couldn't you have pulled me out with your biotics?"
<font color=0000FF>"Well yeah, but I didn't want to break the game's plot, ma'am."
<font color=0000FF>*hissing under breath* "Lieutenant! Ixnay on the ourthfay allway eakingbray!"
<font color=0000FF>*hushed whisper* "Sorry ma'am, but how else was I supposed to respond to that question?!?"
"<font color=0000FF>Idiots, the both of you... actually, we don't even know if that's what set it off. Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out."
"The beacon exploded. A system overload, maybe. The blast knocked you cold. Williams and I had to carry you back here to the ship."
Having taken a recent blow to the head, Grunka finds herself in a charitable mood:
The screenshots obviously don't show it, but there's some subtle little facial animations on Kaidan here that convey quite nicely how chuffed he is to have Shepard saying nice things about him. I mention this mostly because Bioware often get criticised for having NPCs that seem a bit dead-eyed and wooden and, while there are plenty of scenes that support that observation, they also get things right from time to time. I think this was one of those times.
Incidentally, if you're playing as ManShep then your squadmates switch roles and it's Ashley you rescue from the beacon then have this conversation with.
"I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."
"Hmmm. I better add this to my report. <font color=0000FF>By the by, I've read some good things recently about punches to the face for clearing up symptoms such as that. It may-- Oh, Captain Anderson."
(He's talking about us - Shepard is the Normandy's executive officer in addition to her role as Head of Colonist Extortion.)
"All the readings look normal. I'd say the commander's going to be fine."
"Glad to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you - in private."
Grunka is happy to disappoint anyone who thinks she's above the blame game, it seems.
"The geth haven't been outside the Veil in two centuries, Commander. Nobody could have predicted this."
"Did we leave Gunnery Chief Williams back on Eden Prime?"
<font color=0000BB>"I liked the cut of her jib, so we brought her along. Incidentally, there are reports coming in from the surface that you punched a scientist and then took several low-grade weapons upgrades from colonists at gunpoint - dare I ask what that was all about, commander?"
<font color=0000BB>"The scientist was getting on my nerves, sir, and... uh... I was trying to scare those farmers straight? Yeah, totally that. I wasn't actually going to hurt them, I swear. I had my shotgun set to stun."
<font color=0000BB>"You're thinking of Star Trek, commander. Weapons don't have a stun setting in this universe."
"<font color=0000BB>Oh. Well anyway, you said you needed to see me in private, Captain?"
"I'll stand behind you and your report, Shepard. <font color=0000BB>That way, hopefully the Council won't see me while they're chewing you out. But that's not why I'm here. It's Saren, that other turian. Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with the geth, it means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre's trouble. Saren's dangerous. And he hates humans."
"Why?"
"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy. A lot of aliens think that way. Most of them don't do anything about it. But Saren has allied himself with the geth. I don't know how. I don't know why. I only know it had something to do with that beacon. You were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?"
"We need to report this to the Council, Shepard."
"They'll think I'm crazy! <font color=0000BB>And that means they'll probably punch me in my beautiful face!"
"<font color=0000BB>To be fair commander, there's probably already a line of people wanting to do that to you, crazy or not. But back on topic, we don't know what information was stored in that beacon. Lost Prothean technology? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it."
Once again, it's interesting to note that Anderson is pushing his own personal fears / opinions here. He has no particular reason to think the beacon contained weapons plans as opposed to a cure for cancer or a really good recipe for intergalactic hash cookies. Sure,
our vision makes the latter two options less likely, but there are other explanations. Grunka agrees with me:
<font color=0000BB>"You realise there's just as good a chance this was some ancient, horror-movie-only precursor to Netflix, right sir? Or maybe it was Prothean porn... in which case, they were into some really weird shit *shudder*"
"<font color=0000BB>N'yeah... but that invalidates the rant I was on so you can keep those thoughts to yourself commander. Now as I was saying, I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war! He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!"
If it weren't for the fact Keith David's delivers these lines in such a smooth tone, I'd say Anderson was getting borderline hysterical here. But he's clearly not going to be moved from this train of thought, so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em:
"I'll find some way to take him down."
Grunka demonstrates that, even in the future, people will still blink when they have their photo taken.
"I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel. We should be getting close. Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in to dock."
We regain control in the Normandy's medical bay.
There's a medi-gel dispenser just inside the door that will refill your supplies between missions. I point this mostly as a community service, in case there are others like me that somehow didn't realise it was there until their fifth playthrough *embarassed face*
We have brief chats outside with Kaidan and Ashley, in which we basically commiserate about Jenkins and welcome Ashley aboard. We want to wrap this chapter up though so we'll move on up to the bridge and talk to Joker like we were told to do.
Since that's basically the end of the prologue, that's where we'll also end the first chapter of this Lets Play. Tune in next time for the beginning of Chapter 2, when there'll be... actually, there'll be lots of talking next time too. But it'll be in places that are better lit than the Normandy, and with new people we can make fun of. Thanks again for reading!
Somewhere in the middle of this update I raised a common criticism of Bioware games - that their NPC animation can come off a bit dead-eyed and wooden. While I can see the point, I hardly think it's game breaking. Still, it got me thinking - if Bioware's animation could be better, then who's already doing it better? Which developers, which games?
Personally, considering what my favorite game is, I can deal with bad animations.
Also, I wish I had a shotgun I could set on stun. Oh well.
BTW, assuming we get a vote on these matters...
Go after Liara for the first mission and make her the romance option.
And make sure to get Wrex's armorThis is funny, I am going to keep updated on this.I second the Liara motion, Please date Liara.
[HEADING=2]CHAPTER 2, PART 1 (Citadel) - Why couldn't they have elected Arnie?[/HEADING]
Phew! Thus draws to an end our voyage on the SSV Long-Arse Conversation. It also brings us to a choice - how are we going to proceed with our investigation? Which lead do we chase down? Do we:
A - Go find Harkin in Chora's Den?
(Pros: strippers and booze. Cons: this Harkin guy sounds like a bum, so we might have to pay)
or...
B - Track down the Shadow Broker's representative?
(Pros: we get to use the company credit card. Cons: no strippers or booze.)
Vote away people, and as always, thanks for reading
Previously, on Lets Play Mass Effect: we took a train journey, defused some bombs, had a bunch of potentially Rule 34 images dumped into our brain by a Prothean beacon, then woke up on the Normandy half a day later to have some rambling discussions about the whole experience. We ended the chapter on our way to the Citadel...
...and here we are, arriving at the gigantic space station that's the hub of civilisation in this half of the universe. I think Bioware's visual department did some especially good work on this sequence:
"The Ascension. Flagship of the Citadel fleet."
"Well, size isn't everything."
"I'm just saying you need firepower, too."
"<font color=0000bb>Is that meant to be the spaceship equivalent of 'it's what you do with it' or something? Because that already-tortured analogy breaks down when you just look at that monster! Its main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance fleet. <font color=0000bb>Phwoar!"
"<font color=0000bb>Yeah - it's the kind of ship that would stand at the stall with two hands behind its head and a 'check this shit out' look on its face... good thing it's on our side then."
<font color=0000bb>"That's enough you two - you've already brought the tone of this whole update down, and we're barely six screenshots in..."
<font color=0000bb>"Hey, don't blame us! Bioware's writers started it!"
"Roger, Alliance Tower. Normandy out."
We finally extract Ash and Kaidan from the cockpit (stop sniggering you lot!) and follow Captain Anderson down to the human embassy.
<font color=0000bb>"Oh hey, it's Disembodied Voice 1 from the intro!"
"What about Saren? You can't just ignore a rogue Spectre. I demand action!"
The angry human getting diplomatically *****-slapped in that sequence was Ambassador Udina, humanity's top representative on the Citadel. I know. I'm not impressed either.
He was speaking with the three members of the Citadel Council. The Council is the ultimate authority in this region of space and includes one representative from each of the three member races - the turians, asari and salarians. Think of them collectively as the Galactic President, but with a lot more micro-managing than you would ever believe possible, and you're basically on track.
On a side note, IIRC the councilors' names are never actually revealed in this game...
...but anywho, I'll simply be referring to them as the turian/asari/salarian one for the purposes of this LP. Moving on, Udina is a bit butthurt about the Council giving him a hard time, so he comes to take it out on us:
"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate?"
<font color=0000bb>"For the sake of plausible deniability I'm going to say yes Ambassador, they are. We definitely didn't take the Normandy to Illium, go on a three-day red sand bender and then cover it up by killing Nihlus and destroying a 50,000-year-old piece of Prothean technology. Anywho, sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience."
"They were not happy about it. Saren's their top agent. They don't like him being accused of treason."
"Saren's a threat to every human colony out there. He needs to be stopped. The Council has to listen to us!"
Interesting to note that Grunka is pretty much copy-pasting Anderson's position here and sure, while Eden Prime was an unmitigated disaster that needs to be dealt with, the fact remains that nobody's got any particular reason (that we've seen) to think it was the opening salvo in a war on humanity. Or even that we're talking about the right Saren, for that matter...
"Settle down, Commander. You've already done more than enough to jeopardise your candidacy for the Spectres."
That said, Udina seems to be agreeing with me and it should be obvious by now that Udina is a complete toolbox... so with that in mind, maybe Anderson and Grunka are onto something with this Saren paranoia!
"That's Saren's fault, not hers!"
"Then we better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations. Otherwise the Council might use this as an excuse to keep you out of the Spectres. Come with me, Captain. I want to go over a few things before the hearing. Shepard - you and the others can meet us at the Citadel Tower. Top level. I'll make sure you have clearance to get in."
<font color=0000bb>"You said it, sister..."
We're back in control of Grunka inside the human embassy, which is located on the Citadel's Presidium ring. That's the circular bit we saw on the way in that the five big "arms" (known as "wards" from here onwards) attach to. It's Melbourne compared to the Frankston of the wards, if you'll allow me a reference that only people from my part of the world will understand
There's a computer console in here that we can hack to get a side quest and that's about it at the moment...
...so we wander outside, down the stairs and over to a rapid transit hub.
At this point there's nothing stopping us blowing off the meeting and wandering all over the Citadel gawking at stuff like the worst kind of tourist. Seriously, everyone will wait until we get there to start the hearing. But Grunka is going to at least maintain the illusion of urgency and go straight to the Citadel Tower - we'll have plenty of time to explore and faff about later.
And here we are! Just up the stairs we see a couple of turians having a discussion.
<font color=0000bb>"Too late, they've already got him on the line. Now I have to go, I'm late for having my head-spikes buffed!"
"That was Executor Pallin, head of Citadel Security. My boss. He'll be presenting my findings on Saren to the Council."
"Sounds like you really want to bring him down."
"I don't trust him. Something about him rubs me the wrong way. But he's a Spectre; everything he touches is classified. I can't find any hard evidence."
"I think the Council's ready for us, Commander."
"Good luck, Shepard. Maybe they'll listen to you."
Our meeting is at the top of those stairs.
Note the interesting visual choice made here - Saren is appearing at the hearing via holographic projection, but his hologram is five times the size of every other person in the room, and it's being projected up above everyone. Signficance?
This is a very important point. We got to see the cut scenes, so naturally we think "stupid Council, why aren't they listening to us". But at this point that dock worker (who could have been stoned for all we know) really is the only evidence linking Saren to Eden Prime - which makes all this a bit of a farce, if you think about it. Just imagine the situation in reverse:
<font color=0000bb>Turian dock worker: "He seemed like he knew the guy, called him David. Then this David guy pulls a gun and shoots him point blank!"
Turian investigator: "David? He must mean David Anderson, the famous Systems Alliance Captain! Get him boys!" *rushes off*
Turian dock worker: "...or was it Damien? Who knows - red sand's a hell of a drug!"
But I digress...
"I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre. And a friend. <font color=0000bb>Could have washed a little more regularly? Absolutely! But that's hardly reason to kill him."
"That just let you <font color=0000bb>smell him coming and catch him off guard!"
"Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me. And this must be your protege, Commander Shepard. The one who let the beacon get destroyed."
<font color=0000bb>"Intellectual checkmate!"
<font color=0000bb>"...shit, didn't think of that..."
"...but what can you expect from a human?"
"Saren despises humanity. That's why he attacked Eden Prime!"
"Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres!"
Again, the visual choices here make it look like Saren is dictating to the Council from on high when the reality is supposed to be the opposite. Deliberate, do you think?
<font color=0000bb>*muttering under breath* "Dammit Captain, I thought we decided not to bring that up on account of all the potential punching to the face..."
"I agree. Our judgement must be based on facts and evidence, not wild imaginings and reckless speculation."
Phew - seems they're as keen to dodge this topic as Grunka is. But just to save face and make us look tough again, we'll throw out this line:
"I'm glad to see justice was served."
With the hearing over, the human posse go back to the foyer for a pow-wow...
"Every colony we have is at risk. Every world we control is in danger. Even Earth isn't safe."
"I worked with him on a mission a long time ago. Things went bad. Real bad. We shouldn't talk about this here. But I know what he's like. And he has to be stopped."
"What's our next step?"
"That's right! He was asking for more time to finish his report. Seems like he was close to finding something on Saren."
"You won't have to. I don't want the Council using your past history with Saren as an excuse to ignore anything we turn up. Shepard will handle this."
"You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation."
"The ambassador's right. I need to step aside."
"I need to take care of some business, <font color=0000bb>if you know what I mean. Captain, meet me in my office later."
Everyone seems quite relieved that Udina is gone:
<font color=0000bb>"Remind me again, how did we end up appointing that guy as our ambassador to the Council?!?"
<font color=0000bb>"Don't you remember ma'am? The shortlist was him, the great-great-granddaughter of the guy who invented the Shamwow, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's head in a jar."
<font color=0000bb>"Oh yeah - Arnie so got robbed with that vote. Even without arms to swing that Conan sword around, I still say he's got political clout."
<font color=0000bb>"It really doesn't take much to sidetrack you clowns, does it... anywho:"
"The Shadow Broker?"
"An information dealer. Buys and sells secrets to the highest bidder. I've heard Barla Von's one of the top representatives. He might know something about Saren. But his information won't come cheap."
<font color=0000bb>"Sounds promising. I can charge that to the Fifth Fleet Amex, right?"
<font color=0000bb>"Sure - just keep the receipt."
It was 18 years, but who's counting?
"Saren eliminated his target. But a lot of people died along the way. Innocent people. And the official records just covered it all up. But I saw how he operates. No conscience. No hesitation. He'd kill a thousand innocent civilians to end a war without a second thought."
Is it just me, or does it not sound like we're getting the whole story here? Something to follow up on later maybe. In the meantime we'll play nice in an attempt to balance out all that face-punching and gun-waving we did back on Eden Prime.
"Killing innocents doesn't end wars. It causes them."
"I know how the world works, Commander. Sometimes you're forced to make unpleasant decisions. But only if there's no other way. Saren doesn't even look for another option. He's twisted, broken. He likes the violence, the killing. And he knows how to cover his tracks."
<font color=0000bb>"Got it sir - Saren's a dick."
<font color=0000bb>"I know - to think we could've had the head of Emperor Schwarzenegger! Such a shame. But we're stuck with Udina, and..."
"They want us to expand and settle unstable regions like the Skyllian Verge and the Attican Traverse. But when we run into trouble, they don't want to help us out. Everyone knows it's only a matter of time until we get a seat on the Council. the ambassador just thinks it should happen sooner rather than later. And I agree."
"Maybe they'd let us join the Council if we were more willing to cooperate with the other species."
"Of course they would! If we did everything they told us to, they'd love to have us on the Council. But it wouldn't be much of a deal for us. I understand their side. They don't want us dominating the Council. It's founded on cooperation and alliances. But we have to look out for our own interests, too."
"Roughing up suspects in custody, bribery accusations, alcohol and drug use. The embassy used to step in when he got in trouble, but I guess enough was enough."
"The guy's a scumbag. He should have been cut loose a long time ago. I want to know more about the Spectres."
"They're not your typical government agency. They tend to work alone, behind the scenes. They take care of problems the Council can't. It's not easy preserving peace across an entire galaxy. The Council prefers to use diplomacy and negotiation, but sometimes more extreme measures are needed."
"How do they decide who becomes a Spectre?"
"You can't just apply to join. There's no training program. Spectres aren't made - they're born. The Council's always looking for exceptional individuals. People who can get the job done, like you. They've been watching you for years."
<font color=0000bb>*gulp* "Even when..."
"<font color=0000bb>Yes, even that. I saw the report. I don't think they care, but for what it's worth you really should learn to block your IP address while you're surfing the extranet. Anyway, despite your... special interests... they see something in you. They want you on their side. Nihlus was supposed to give them a final recommendation, but with him gone, things are still up in the air."
"They tend to operate outside the law. Do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. And the Council just turns a blind eye. Spectres have a lot of power, Shepard. Everything about them is classified. We don't even know how many there are. The latest Alliance estimate puts their numbers under a hundred. But the Council couldn't do its job without them. They're the Citadel's top agents. The last line of defense. The final option before open war. The entire galaxy respects and fears them. If a Spectre shows up, you know something big is about to happen."
"It doesn't happen often. The Council is careful when they select their candidates. But when soemthing does go wrong, there's usually only one solution: send another Spectre to bring the rogue agent down."
""<font color=0000bb>Funny - I'm pretty sure we were all taking the piss out of Jenkins for saying the exact same thing back in the first update, but coming from you it seems quite sane, sir. Oh well. Tell me more about the Shadow Broker."
"He's a necessary evil of galactic politics. Buying and selling information is part of the game, and the Shadow Broker happens to be the best player on the field. Always sells to the highest bidder. Doesn't get involved in politics. Doesn't pick sides. A simple system, but it works. He's not a threat to anyone. Not directly. He's just a resource we can use. Or she is. Or maybe they are. Nobody really knows."
"He's got an impressive client list: ambassadors, diplomats, Spectres. That's probably why the Shadow Broker uses him."
...and here we are, arriving at the gigantic space station that's the hub of civilisation in this half of the universe. I think Bioware's visual department did some especially good work on this sequence:
We finally extract Ash and Kaidan from the cockpit (stop sniggering you lot!) and follow Captain Anderson down to the human embassy.
The angry human getting diplomatically *****-slapped in that sequence was Ambassador Udina, humanity's top representative on the Citadel. I know. I'm not impressed either.
He was speaking with the three members of the Citadel Council. The Council is the ultimate authority in this region of space and includes one representative from each of the three member races - the turians, asari and salarians. Think of them collectively as the Galactic President, but with a lot more micro-managing than you would ever believe possible, and you're basically on track.
On a side note, IIRC the councilors' names are never actually revealed in this game...
A few obscure references are made in Mass Effect 2, naming the asari representative as Councilor Tevos, and one of the others as Councilor Valern, but I don't recall whether it's even 100% that they're talking about the same individuals that appear in this game, or whether it is / could be their successors.
...but anywho, I'll simply be referring to them as the turian/asari/salarian one for the purposes of this LP. Moving on, Udina is a bit butthurt about the Council giving him a hard time, so he comes to take it out on us:
Interesting to note that Grunka is pretty much copy-pasting Anderson's position here and sure, while Eden Prime was an unmitigated disaster that needs to be dealt with, the fact remains that nobody's got any particular reason (that we've seen) to think it was the opening salvo in a war on humanity. Or even that we're talking about the right Saren, for that matter...
That said, Udina seems to be agreeing with me and it should be obvious by now that Udina is a complete toolbox... so with that in mind, maybe Anderson and Grunka are onto something with this Saren paranoia!
We're back in control of Grunka inside the human embassy, which is located on the Citadel's Presidium ring. That's the circular bit we saw on the way in that the five big "arms" (known as "wards" from here onwards) attach to. It's Melbourne compared to the Frankston of the wards, if you'll allow me a reference that only people from my part of the world will understand
There's a computer console in here that we can hack to get a side quest and that's about it at the moment...
...so we wander outside, down the stairs and over to a rapid transit hub.
At this point there's nothing stopping us blowing off the meeting and wandering all over the Citadel gawking at stuff like the worst kind of tourist. Seriously, everyone will wait until we get there to start the hearing. But Grunka is going to at least maintain the illusion of urgency and go straight to the Citadel Tower - we'll have plenty of time to explore and faff about later.
And here we are! Just up the stairs we see a couple of turians having a discussion.
Our meeting is at the top of those stairs.
Note the interesting visual choice made here - Saren is appearing at the hearing via holographic projection, but his hologram is five times the size of every other person in the room, and it's being projected up above everyone. Signficance?
This is a very important point. We got to see the cut scenes, so naturally we think "stupid Council, why aren't they listening to us". But at this point that dock worker (who could have been stoned for all we know) really is the only evidence linking Saren to Eden Prime - which makes all this a bit of a farce, if you think about it. Just imagine the situation in reverse:
<font color=0000bb>Turian dock worker: "He seemed like he knew the guy, called him David. Then this David guy pulls a gun and shoots him point blank!"
Turian investigator: "David? He must mean David Anderson, the famous Systems Alliance Captain! Get him boys!" *rushes off*
Turian dock worker: "...or was it Damien? Who knows - red sand's a hell of a drug!"
But I digress...
Again, the visual choices here make it look like Saren is dictating to the Council from on high when the reality is supposed to be the opposite. Deliberate, do you think?
Phew - seems they're as keen to dodge this topic as Grunka is. But just to save face and make us look tough again, we'll throw out this line:
With the hearing over, the human posse go back to the foyer for a pow-wow...
Everyone seems quite relieved that Udina is gone:
It was 18 years, but who's counting?
Is it just me, or does it not sound like we're getting the whole story here? Something to follow up on later maybe. In the meantime we'll play nice in an attempt to balance out all that face-punching and gun-waving we did back on Eden Prime.
Phew! Thus draws to an end our voyage on the SSV Long-Arse Conversation. It also brings us to a choice - how are we going to proceed with our investigation? Which lead do we chase down? Do we:
A - Go find Harkin in Chora's Den?
(Pros: strippers and booze. Cons: this Harkin guy sounds like a bum, so we might have to pay)
or...
B - Track down the Shadow Broker's representative?
(Pros: we get to use the company credit card. Cons: no strippers or booze.)
Vote away people, and as always, thanks for reading
I say option A. Strippers and booze.AD-Stu said:[HEADING=2]CHAPTER 2, PART 1 (Citadel) - Why couldn't they have elected Arnie...[/HEADING]
Previously, on Lets Play Mass Effect: we took a train journey, defused some bombs, had a bunch of potentially Rule 34 images dumped into our brain by a Prothean beacon, then woke up on the Normandy half a day later to have some rambling discussions about the whole experience. We ended the chapter on our way to the Citadel...
...and here we are, arriving at the gigantic space station that's the hub of civilisation in this half of the universe. I think Bioware's visual department did some especially good work on this sequence:
"The Ascension. Flagship of the Citadel fleet."
"Well, size isn't everything."
"I'm just saying you need firepower, too."
"<font color=0000bb>Is that meant to be the spaceship equivalent of 'it's what you do with it' or something? Because that already-tortured analogy breaks down when you just look at that monster! Its main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance fleet. <font color=0000bb>Phwoar!"
"<font color=0000bb>Yeah - it's the kind of ship that would stand at the stall with two hands behind its head and a 'check this shit out' look on its face... good thing it's on our side then."
<font color=0000bb>"That's enough you two - you've already brought the tone of this whole update down, and we're barely six screenshots in..."
<font color=0000bb>"Hey, don't blame us! Bioware's writers started it!"
"Roger, Alliance Tower. Normandy out."
We finally extract Ash and Kaidan from the cockpit (stop sniggering you lot!) and follow Captain Anderson down to the human embassy.
<font color=0000bb>"Oh hey, it's Disembodied Voice 1 from the intro!"
"What about Saren? You can't just ignore a rogue Spectre. I demand action!"
The angry human getting diplomatically *****-slapped in that sequence was Ambassador Udina, humanity's top representative on the Citadel. I know. I'm not impressed either.
He was speaking with the three members of the Citadel Council. The Council is the ultimate authority in this region of space and includes one representative from each of the three member races - the turians, asari and salarians. Think of them collectively as the Galactic President, but with a lot more micro-managing than you would ever believe possible, and you're basically on track.
On a side note, IIRC the councilors' names are never actually revealed in this game...
A few obscure references are made in Mass Effect 2, naming the asari representative as Councilor Tevos, and one of the others as Councilor Valern, but I don't recall whether it's even 100% that they're talking about the same individuals that appear in this game, or whether it is / could be their successors.
...but anywho, I'll simply be referring to them as the turian/asari/salarian one for the purposes of this LP. Moving on, Udina is a bit butthurt about the Council giving him a hard time, so he comes to take it out on us:
"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate?"
<font color=0000bb>"For the sake of plausible deniability I'm going to say yes Ambassador, they are. We definitely didn't take the Normandy to Illium, go on a three-day red sand bender and then cover it up by killing Nihlus and destroying a 50,000-year-old piece of Prothean technology. Anywho, sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience."
"They were not happy about it. Saren's their top agent. They don't like him being accused of treason."
"Saren's a threat to every human colony out there. He needs to be stopped. The Council has to listen to us!"
Interesting to note that Grunka is pretty much copy-pasting Anderson's position here and sure, while Eden Prime was an unmitigated disaster that needs to be dealt with, the fact remains that nobody's got any particular reason (that we've seen) to think it was the opening salvo in a war on humanity. Or even that we're talking about the right Saren, for that matter...
"Settle down, Commander. You've already done more than enough to jeopardise your candidacy for the Spectres."
That said, Udina seems to be agreeing with me and it should be obvious by now that Udina is a complete toolbox... so with that in mind, maybe Anderson and Grunka are onto something with this Saren paranoia!
"That's Saren's fault, not hers!"
"Then we better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations. Otherwise the Council might use this as an excuse to keep you out of the Spectres. Come with me, Captain. I want to go over a few things before the hearing. Shepard - you and the others can meet us at the Citadel Tower. Top level. I'll make sure you have clearance to get in."
<font color=0000bb>"You said it, sister..."
We're back in control of Grunka inside the human embassy, which is located on the Citadel's Presidium ring. That's the circular bit we saw on the way in that the five big "arms" (known as "wards" from here onwards) attach to. It's Melbourne compared to the Frankston of the wards, if you'll allow me a reference that only people from my part of the world will understand
There's a computer console in here that we can hack to get a side quest and that's about it at the moment...
...so we wander outside, down the stairs and over to a rapid transit hub.
At this point there's nothing stopping us blowing off the meeting and wandering all over the Citadel gawking at stuff like the worst kind of tourist. Seriously, everyone will wait until we get there to start the hearing. But Grunka is going to at least maintain the illusion of urgency and go straight to the Citadel Tower - we'll have plenty of time to explore and faff about later.
And here we are! Just up the stairs we see a couple of turians having a discussion.
<font color=0000bb>"Too late, they've already got him on the line. Now I have to go, I'm late for having my head-spikes buffed!"
"That was Executor Pallin, head of Citadel Security. My boss. He'll be presenting my findings on Saren to the Council."
"Sounds like you really want to bring him down."
"I don't trust him. Something about him rubs me the wrong way. But he's a Spectre; everything he touches is classified. I can't find any hard evidence."
"I think the Council's ready for us, Commander."
"Good luck, Shepard. Maybe they'll listen to you."
Our meeting is at the top of those stairs.
Note the interesting visual choice made here - Saren is appearing at the hearing via holographic projection, but his hologram is five times the size of every other person in the room, and it's being projected up above everyone. Signficance?
This is a very important point. We got to see the cut scenes, so naturally we think "stupid Council, why aren't they listening to us". But at this point that dock worker (who could have been stoned for all we know) really is the only evidence linking Saren to Eden Prime - which makes all this a bit of a farce, if you think about it. Just imagine the situation in reverse:
<font color=0000bb>Turian dock worker: "He seemed like he knew the guy, called him David. Then this David guy pulls a gun and shoots him point blank!"
Turian investigator: "David? He must mean David Anderson, the famous Systems Alliance Captain! Get him boys!" *rushes off*
Turian dock worker: "...or was it Damien? Who knows - red sand's a hell of a drug!"
But I digress...
"I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre. And a friend. <font color=0000bb>Could have washed a little more regularly? Absolutely! But that's hardly reason to kill him."
"That just let you <font color=0000bb>smell him coming and catch him off guard!"
"Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me. And this must be your protege, Commander Shepard. The one who let the beacon get destroyed."
<font color=0000bb>"Intellectual checkmate!"
<font color=0000bb>"...shit, didn't think of that..."
"...but what can you expect from a human?"
"Saren despises humanity. That's why he attacked Eden Prime!"
"Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres!"
Again, the visual choices here make it look like Saren is dictating to the Council from on high when the reality is supposed to be the opposite. Deliberate, do you think?
<font color=0000bb>*muttering under breath* "Dammit Captain, I thought we decided not to bring that up on account of all the potential punching to the face..."
"I agree. Our judgement must be based on facts and evidence, not wild imaginings and reckless speculation."
Phew - seems they're as keen to dodge this topic as Grunka is. But just to save face and make us look tough again, we'll throw out this line:
"I'm glad to see justice was served."
With the hearing over, the human posse go back to the foyer for a pow-wow...
"Every colony we have is at risk. Every world we control is in danger. Even Earth isn't safe."
"I worked with him on a mission a long time ago. Things went bad. Real bad. We shouldn't talk about this here. But I know what he's like. And he has to be stopped."
"What's our next step?"
"That's right! He was asking for more time to finish his report. Seems like he was close to finding something on Saren."
"You won't have to. I don't want the Council using your past history with Saren as an excuse to ignore anything we turn up. Shepard will handle this."
"You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation."
"The ambassador's right. I need to step aside."
"I need to take care of some business, <font color=0000bb>if you know what I mean. Captain, meet me in my office later."
Everyone seems quite relieved that Udina is gone:
<font color=0000bb>"Remind me again, how did we end up appointing that guy as our ambassador to the Council?!?"
<font color=0000bb>"Don't you remember ma'am? The shortlist was him, the great-great-granddaughter of the guy who invented the Shamwow, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's head in a jar."
<font color=0000bb>"Oh yeah - Arnie so got robbed with that vote. Even without arms to swing that Conan sword around, I still say he's got political clout."
<font color=0000bb>"It really doesn't take much to sidetrack you clowns, does it... anywho:"
"The Shadow Broker?"
"An information dealer. Buys and sells secrets to the highest bidder. I've heard Barla Von's one of the top representatives. He might know something about Saren. But his information won't come cheap."
<font color=0000bb>"Sounds promising. I can charge that to the Fifth Fleet Amex, right?"
<font color=0000bb>"Sure - just keep the receipt."
It was 18 years, but who's counting?
"Saren eliminated his target. But a lot of people died along the way. Innocent people. And the official records just covered it all up. But I saw how he operates. No conscience. No hesitation. He'd kill a thousand innocent civilians to end a war without a second thought."
Is it just me, or does it not sound like we're getting the whole story here? Something to follow up on later maybe. In the meantime we'll play nice in an attempt to balance out all that face-punching and gun-waving we did back on Eden Prime.
"Killing innocents doesn't end wars. It causes them."
"I know how the world works, Commander. Sometimes you're forced to make unpleasant decisions. But only if there's no other way. Saren doesn't even look for another option. He's twisted, broken. He likes the violence, the killing. And he knows how to cover his tracks."
<font color=0000bb>"Got it sir - Saren's a dick."
<font color=0000bb>"I know - to think we could've had the head of Emperor Schwarzenegger! Such a shame. But we're stuck with Udina, and..."
"They want us to expand and settle unstable regions like the Skyllian Verge and the Attican Traverse. But when we run into trouble, they don't want to help us out. Everyone knows it's only a matter of time until we get a seat on the Council. the ambassador just thinks it should happen sooner rather than later. And I agree."
"Maybe they'd let us join the Council if we were more willing to cooperate with the other species."
"Of course they would! If we did everything they told us to, they'd love to have us on the Council. But it wouldn't be much of a deal for us. I understand their side. They don't want us dominating the Council. It's founded on cooperation and alliances. But we have to look out for our own interests, too."
"Roughing up suspects in custody, bribery accusations, alcohol and drug use. The embassy used to step in when he got in trouble, but I guess enough was enough."
"The guy's a scumbag. He should have been cut loose a long time ago. I want to know more about the Spectres."
"They're not your typical government agency. They tend to work alone, behind the scenes. They take care of problems the Council can't. It's not easy preserving peace across an entire galaxy. The Council prefers to use diplomacy and negotiation, but sometimes more extreme measures are needed."
"How do they decide who becomes a Spectre?"
"You can't just apply to join. There's no training program. Spectres aren't made - they're born. The Council's always looking for exceptional individuals. People who can get the job done, like you. They've been watching you for years."
<font color=0000bb>*gulp* "Even when..."
"<font color=0000bb>Yes, even that. I saw the report. I don't think they care, but for what it's worth you really should learn to block your IP address while you're surfing the extranet. Anyway, despite your... special interests... they see something in you. They want you on their side. Nihlus was supposed to give them a final recommendation, but with him gone, things are still up in the air."
"They tend to operate outside the law. Do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. And the Council just turns a blind eye. Spectres have a lot of power, Shepard. Everything about them is classified. We don't even know how many there are. The latest Alliance estimate puts their numbers under a hundred. But the Council couldn't do its job without them. They're the Citadel's top agents. The last line of defense. The final option before open war. The entire galaxy respects and fears them. If a Spectre shows up, you know something big is about to happen."
"It doesn't happen often. The Council is careful when they select their candidates. But when soemthing does go wrong, there's usually only one solution: send another Spectre to bring the rogue agent down."
""<font color=0000bb>Funny - I'm pretty sure we were all taking the piss out of Jenkins for saying the exact same thing back in the first update, but coming from you it seems quite sane, sir. Oh well. Tell me more about the Shadow Broker."
"He's a necessary evil of galactic politics. Buying and selling information is part of the game, and the Shadow Broker happens to be the best player on the field. Always sells to the highest bidder. Doesn't get involved in politics. Doesn't pick sides. A simple system, but it works. He's not a threat to anyone. Not directly. He's just a resource we can use. Or she is. Or maybe they are. Nobody really knows."
"He's got an impressive client list: ambassadors, diplomats, Spectres. That's probably why the Shadow Broker uses him."
Phew! Thus draws to an end our voyage on the SSV Long-Arse Conversation. It also brings us to a choice - how are we going to proceed with our investigation? Which lead do we chase down? Do we:
A - Go find Harkin in Chora's Den?
(Pros: strippers and booze. Cons: this Harkin guy sounds like a bum, so we might have to pay)
or...
B - Track down the Shadow Broker's representative?
(Pros: we get to use the company credit card. Cons: no strippers or booze.)
Vote away people, and as always, thanks for reading
Then again...
You expose Saren rather quickly regardless
Thanks for the comments guys - so far we're 3-1 in favour of strippers / booze / Harkin
And yeah, obviously the downside of the screenshot format is that we miss out on some of cool cinematic stuff that was done - particularly during the pretty cut scenes I find myself hammering the screendump key in the vain hope of capturing at least part of it
I think the cinematics (for want of a better word) were one of the biggest improvements Bioware made between KOTOR and this game - the graphics are much better too, of course, but they made an even bigger step with the virtual camera work.
Yeah, I remember feeling something similar the very first time I met Garrus too. I've played the game through so many times now that my natural reaction is different, but that does ring a bell from my first playthrough.TopazFusion said:
And yeah, obviously the downside of the screenshot format is that we miss out on some of cool cinematic stuff that was done - particularly during the pretty cut scenes I find myself hammering the screendump key in the vain hope of capturing at least part of it
I think the cinematics (for want of a better word) were one of the biggest improvements Bioware made between KOTOR and this game - the graphics are much better too, of course, but they made an even bigger step with the virtual camera work.
Works for me, buddy. Works for me.AD-Stu said:
Let's do this!
Question: Do you think you'll continue into ME2 after you do this?