Lets Play: Mass Effect (Updated - Ch 6 Part 2 - Virmire)

[AD-Stu]

That's true - I think Ashley and Kaidan also suffered a bit from the fact that they had to be designed as exposition devices in this game so that we could learn all the back-story and in-game history that we needed to learn. True, all of our squadmates in ME1 are lumbered with the same problem to a degree (Tali maybe worst of all, since I think she's literally the ONLY quarian we meet in this game) but they all get the chance to keep developing their personalities across the trilogy, while Ashley and Kaidan, like you say, are designed to die interchangeably.

I forgot to count Cortez as a squadmate - he doesn't do a lot for me, TBH. I liked Traynor a lot more, but she got a lot more opportunities to be funny. I liked James a lot more after the Citadel DLC but still found him a bit bland overall. Maybe I just couldn't reconcile Freddy Prinze Jr's voice in that body

It occurs to me I completely left Zaeed and Kasumi out too. That maybe says everything that needs to be said about them, I guess in a similar way to Ash and Kaidan they're flawed in that they're DLC and therefore have to be written so it doesn't matter if they're there or not. I found both to be pretty one-note but still with some fun moments (particularly Kasumi and again, particularly in the Citadel DLC).

Nobody's mentioning any Ash favourite moments though - did I really pick the only one she's got?

 

[AD-Stu]

I hope you don't mind, I'm going to add my own little bit of dialogue here...

Spoiler

"So, I assume you guys are going to be taking that thing deep inside the facility?"

[img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Avatars/Ash.jpg] "Nope. We're just gonna leave it right here."

[img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Avatars/Shepard.jpg] "So umm, why couldn't we have just dropped it from the air?"

[img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Avatars/Ash.jpg] "Because I wouldn't have been able to show off my expert bomb-lifting skills if we had done that."

[img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Avatars/Shepard.jpg] "I see. Are you sure this is going to work? Will it really destroy the facility from this location?"

[img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Avatars/Ash.jpg] "If it doesn't, at least there'll be a nice fireworks display."

[img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Avatars/Shepard.jpg] *facepalms* "I'm really starting to question my decision to bring you onto the team, Williams.
If only there was a way I could change my mind and reverse that decision..."

[img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Avatars/Ash.jpg] "Wait, what?"

[img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Avatars/Shepard.jpg] "Nothing..."[/spoiler][/QUOTE]

Love it - as soon as I posted this latest update I remembered I hadn't had a dig at that bit. Thanks for catching it up :)

[QUOTE=TopazFusion]It's pretty annoying how one single geth dropship completely ruins our plans, and requires us to sacrifice a squad member.

Okay, admittedly the Normandy is pretty light on crew members. Particularly combat-ready crew members.
And the geth dropship is probably crammed full of geth (since they 'fold up' into rather small packages). So it's not like the two ships carry an equal number of troops.

But come on! I'm sure the Normandy could've just blasted the dropship from the sky, somehow, before it dropped most of the geth. Or the people at the AA tower could've jury-rigged the AA tower to attack the geth ship. [i]Something[/i].[/QUOTE]

Definitely agree. Remember that at various other points in this game we've taken down an entire geth dropship with just the three people in our squad and the Mako. This would require something awesome to happen off screen out of our control though and, as discussed, Cut Scene Power To The Max seems to work backwards in this game :P

[QUOTE=TopazFusion]But having a mad scramble around the bomb, with all the water gushing around, also creates some tension too. =P[/QUOTE]

Agree absolutely, the scene works well both ways. It just wasn't until maybe my fourth playthrough that I actually went up to the AA tower as opposed to going back for whoever I left at the bomb site - seeing how the choke animation played out up there suddenly seemed so much cooler.

[QUOTE=TopazFusion]Interestingly enough, if you choose to go back to the bomb site, and rescue the squad member there instead, you don't get to see the 'death cutscene' of the squad member left at the AA tower.

No such cutscene exists for the squad member left to die at the AA tower, which is rather strange.

This actually caused a bit of speculation, before ME2 was released, about the survival of the squad member left at the AA tower. Since it doesn't actually show them dying.[/QUOTE]

You're right, and I'd actually forgotten all about that. And yeah, it makes little if any sense for the salarians that are up there with him to survive if you don't got to the AA tower and bring the Normandy with you.

Extending on that thought, it also makes little if any sense (to me, at least) for Kaidan and the salarians to be cornered on top of an AA tower in the first place - it's Shepard that's been disabling the AA towers all along so they're not there to do that, how the hell did they let themselves get stuck there?!?

[QUOTE=TopazFusion][QUOTE=AD-Stu][spoiler=Image][img src=http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/stu270/Mass%20Effect%20Lets%20Play/Chapter6Part2/MassEffect2013-06-1300-17-51-03_zpse8e9b549.jpg][/spoiler][/QUOTE]
What the hell is this? It looks a bit like crystals or something.[/quote]

Yeah - I mostly included that screenshot for the lulz, that's apparently what passes for geth "blood".

Thanks for the comments! :)

 

[AD-Stu]

Hey

From memory I actually have another update's worth of screenshots already in the can but a bunch of stuff conspired to keep me from getting anything more written - work, family, christmas, new computer, the usual. If people are really still interested though I can try to pick up where I left off.

Anyway, while I'm here, I thought I'd mention an interesting thing about Kaidan.
He's the only squad member who's already ON the Normandy when the game begins. All the others you pick up along the way.

Also, why is he with Joker in the cockpit at the start of the game, but not there ever again? Seems a bit weird.

You're right, I've never been able to work out why he was in the co-pilot's seat either... or why there even is a co-pilot's seat, given nobody seems to occupy it for the rest of the game

Maybe he was just there keeping Joker company in the opening scene, and he was trying to look busy when Nihilus and Shepard came in? "What... me? I'm totally doing important work here, swiping away at this console! Very busy! No need to take me out on any dangerous missions or anything!"

 

[Yokillernick]

Come on Stu we can't allow this much hard work go quietly into the night. We, (well more you), have to finish what we started. Just so you know still interested.

 

[Joseph Harrison]

I'm still interested in this if you're still willing to keep updating it.