Your Commander Shepard

[CT862]

Quite enjoyed this article on Kotaku:

http://kotaku.com/one-last-tribute-before-commander-shepard-is-gone-fore-471312957

The team outlined their Commander Shepards as a tribute to the character and as part of their Mass Effect week. I'm sure it's been done but I thought people could share their experiences. I'll kick us off (obviously spoilers)...


Name/Gender/Class: Jennifer Shepard, Female, Infiltrator

Back Story: Earthborn, Sole Survivor and faithful Liara lover

Paragon/Renegade: A Paragon at heart but with a Renegade attitude, meaning all major plot decisions were Paragon (saved Rachni Queen and Council, destroyed Collector base, cured Genophage, etc), but day-to-day conversation almost always involved Renegade dialogue. A friend's quite accurate description of my Shepard was "So basically, she's House".

Favourite Memory: So, so many... Legion referring to himself as "I" and saying "Keelah se'lai" to Tali nearly made me cry. Also, Shepard smack talking with a Reaper during the same mission has probably my favourite line of dialogue ("Tell your friends we're coming for them!"), although it faces competition from the taxi ride with Liara in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC. The brief scenes in the first half of ME3 with Liara and Shepard rekindling their relationship were also quite special.

Which Ending did you choose: While I find the Synthesis ending extremely haunting (Shepard basically decides on one master race for the galaxy) and the Control ending also quite powerful with Shepard's voice-over, I have to go with the Destroy ending as my canon as I love the idea of Indoctrination Theory. Shepard heart-wrenchingly sacrifices her good friend EDI and all other synthetics to stop the Reapers, wakes up in the rubble and slowly begins to realise that not everything was as it seemed...

 

[soren7550]

Roslyn Shepard, Soldier
Earthborn Sole Survivor, faithful to Kaidan
Paragon
Favorite Memory: Hard to say. I love the whole romance between Shepard and Kaidan, but then there's curing the Genophage, telling the Illusive Man to shove it, gutting Kai Leng like a fish, Jack's growth as a character, seeing Anderson punch Udina in the face, there's just so much!
And then Citadel came out.
Ending: Destroy. It's what you've been working towards for three games, and I still kinda believe in the Indoctrination Theory.

Spoiler: Roslyn ME1-3

 

[The Madman]

As I played I began to feel sorry for my Shepard because I never pursued any romances with her (The one I ended up completing all three games with, I did dabble on other characters) and by the end with all those scenes of her sitting alone in her room, snapping at Joker as the stress piles up, and the nightmares that began to plague her sleep... yeah. No clue whether it was intentional on Bioware's part or not but I got the feeling she was lonely and just exhausted by conflict.

Played her as a pure military type as well. Do whatever it takes to get the job done right, even if it's not pleasant. That meant just as much renegade as there was paragon, and just as many people damning her as there was praise. Still, no matter what she got the job done dammit and she got it done right, even if she didn't enjoy doing it! Thus no romance, even if I like to think she might have had feelings for some of her crew and companions. Not until the job is done right!

I just wish I could have given her a happier ending than she got. Poor Commander Shepard.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

Argh, I came here specifically to make a thread about this article, and the Mass Effect Week thing in general. Ninja'd before I even began my stealth training...

Anyway, I have a lot to remember about my Shepard. The memory of playing these games will always be with me, and though I may not recall all the details of my first time through it, the time that really counted the most, I can still bring back enough to make myself all warm with nostalgia.

Name: Eric Shepard

Class/Backstory: Soldier/Earth-born/Sole Survivor (yes, I was just a default ManShep; somehow in the setup screen I must have hit default and skipped all the choices, because I thought for a while that there was only one version of Shepard. Pretty hilariously ironic considering where I am right now!), who stayed true to Tali throughout the series, even in ME1 when she wasn't available.

Paragon/Renegade: About two-thirds paragon to one-third renegade. This being my first play through, I knew nothing about how to game the system, and made all my choices based on what I thought my character would do. I am glad that the game is not too punishing for those who want to really roleplay and not worry about screwing yourself over.

Favorite Memory: Waaaaaaaaa-hay-hay-hay too many to count here. Or anywhere, unless I just say the majority of ME1, all of ME2, and most of ME3. I think, if I had to pick one right now (and this answer would probably vary depending on whatever I happened to think of at any other given time), my favorite memory would be finishing the series for the first time. The confrontation with the Illusive Man, finally getting to shoot that bastard, sharing Anderson's last moments. The thing with the Catalyst after that never bothered me, I just remember feeling such a feeling of melancholy and catharsis at seeing the end of Shepard's story.

Which ending I chose: Destroy. After all that struggle, Shepard was not going to let the reapers get away with uncounted genocides. The geth were already gone, and any other AI out there would simply have to make the same sacrifice I was making. No matter what the price was, it had to end right there. Control was too risky, too fallible a solution, and I didn't have the EMS necessary to get the Synthesis option; if I had, I still would have chosen Destroy.

 

[Korica]

I never played ME3 because I honestly did not care enough about the franchise - I bought ME1 and ME2 on Steam for $20 during a Christmas sale. Not bad games, but not something I got excited about either.

Name: Alexander Shepard

Story: A vaguely ugly man, with the grizzled face of a stereotypical eastern-european. Soldier by class, though if I enjoyed the mechanics more I would have gone Vanguard - shotguns were always my first love. I cannot even remember his history, I think I was the Sole Survivor, born from a military space family. In ME1 I had a relationship with Ash. In ME2 I banged Jack in the cargo hold because she didn't bullshit around, but I did not care about her soft side. Samara would have been my best partner, but my tendency toward being Renegade meant she had no interest in me. I never cared for bringing anybody with me that wasn't packing a shotgun and ready to charge in face-first. I always traveled with a Krogan in my party.

Paragon/Renegade: Half and half. The end result must be done honorably, but I am not above maiming and killing people along the way if I deem it necessary.

Favorite Memory: First favorite, punching that reporter in the face. Second favorite, letting the Council die. Idiots got what they deserved.

Which ending I chose: Never finished.

 

[Souplex]

I am confuzzled. There are Shepards besides Gabe Shepard the Male Paragon Ruthless Colonist Vanguard?
Is this some sort of mod or hack?

 

[ShogunGino]

I actually just beat 3 a few days ago for the first time. I waited until all the DLC was released.

Name: Darien Shepard

Classifications: Infiltrator. Colonist/Sole Survivor.

Paramour: Faithful to Liara (by far, one of my fav love interests of any game)

Paragon: Frequently a peacemaker, does whatever he can to bring problems to a mutually beneficial conclusion, but is not above punching a Quarian admiral in the gut if stupid, reckless behavior is taken, or zapping a Batarian in the back to prevent him from repairing his enemy gunship. He tries to make everyone live through all three games, as many as he can. He loves Liara because of her vast knowledge and (mostly) humble demeanor, and because of her ability to give calm, but very reassuring encouragement to him when things look grim. ("The Collectors are just going to keep coming." "So you'll stop them.") He represents generally how I would try to act in his situations.

Ending: Here is where I'm a little conflicted. Either Synthesis or Destroy. Synthesis because he is a peacemaker, and a great exchange of knowledge and understanding that leads to prosperity is something he would greatly like. On the other hand, that ending kills him, and a major point of his character is "no matter what, the forces of the universe will make sure that he survives". He survives his colony being hit by slavers, he survives a Thresher Maw attack that kills his whole squad (except Toombs, obviously), he survives being dead for two years, he survives the so-called "suicide mission" and makes sure that his whole crew does, too. With enough war assets, it is implied that Shepard lives in the Destory ending. It may take the sacrifice of the geth, with whom he worked hard to make a peace with the Quarians, and EDI, whom he helped understand what it means to feel human, but in the end, he survives. Overall, I'd say I'd go with Destroy for those reasons.

Favorite Moments: Most of the romantic scenes with Liara in 2 and 3. Looking at Earth from the surface of its moon in 1. Being told by Wrex that no matter what happens next, my name will mean 'hero' to the Krogan. Knowing that I made it out of the Collector base with all my crew intact. Having nearly everyone come to associate me with a mythical quality for bringing peaceful relations to the Krogans/Turians and Quarians/Geth. Meeting and convincing the makers of the Reapers to get off their rather large, arrogant, crustacean asses and help stop what they created.

 

[wintercoat]

Lily Shepard, Female, Infiltrator

Spacer/Ruthless

non-stupid Renegade, Paragon to those she's grown to respect and trust(Tali, Garrus, Kaiden, Joker, Liara and Wrex from Virmire in ME1(Ashley was sacrificed) and in ME2, some of the squad from ME2 near the end(Miranda and Legion were Renegade, Jacob and Jack were mixed), all squadmates(both former and active) in ME3 except James, though Paragon to James further into his character development. Bet your ass I beat the shit out of him while sparring though.

Didn't kill Wrex, killed the Rachni queen, let the council die, did everyone's loyalty missions successfully, but sided with Jack and Tali and didn't have high enough meter to resolve the issue, said fuck you to TIM and destroyed the Collector base, Chakwas was the only survivor of the crew, no squadmates left behind, cured the Genophage, and united the Geth and Quarians, though fat lot of good that did in the end, eh?

Romance: None in ME1, Garrus in ME2+3.

Favorite Memory: All of the innuendos while romancing Garrus.

I chose Destroy. It's what Lily has been fighting for all this time. Even if it meant the deaths of all of the Geth and EDI. The guaranteed survival of every other race in the galaxy was worth the cost.

 

[putowtin]

My first, and favourite Shepard:
Amanda Shepard,
Soldier/ Earth Born/ War Hero
No ME1 love, 1st playthrough couldn?t find Kaidan (when he talks to you after you leave Ash on Vermire I was like ?where the hell he?d come from!)
ME2, hooked up with Garrus and quickly became a ?One Turian woman!?
Favourite Memory:
Err, too many but off of the top of my head:
ME2 Romance discussions with Mordin Solus
ME3 date with Garrus
ME3: Citadel, Tango with Garrus
ME3 ?Had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong?

Ending: Destroy, you spend 3 games fighting the Reapers to get to the last minute and agree with their creator?!? Not this Shepard!

Oh and just to be fair

Bartolomeo Shepard
Engineer/Spacer/ Sole Survivor
No ME1 love, no ME2 love, found what he didn?t know he was looking for in ME3 and Kaidan?s arms.
Favourite Memory:
?I've had enough of your disingenuous assertions!?

Ending: Destroy.... see above!

 

[Casual Shinji]

Both Rosemary and Marvin Shepard were taken away from me by Mass Effect 3's failing face import, limited dialoge control, and stupid nightmare sequences.

 

[Delerien]

Leni Shepard, Colonist and Ruthless Infiltrator.

Renegade, at least most of the time. I still saved the council and cured the genophage though (I probably spend half an hour on that decision). I got Kaiden killed in ME1 and Thane in ME2, destroyed all Geth in ME3.

I romanced Garrus. Initially i played somewhat Xenophobic, but as time went on, especially when it became more and more apparent that Cerberus is a bunch of dicks, i kinda dropped that. Garrus just had a lot in common with my Shepard and he was as far as i'm concerned one of the coolest characters in the game.

The destroy ending seemed like the only logical choice to me, especially since the Crucible is so damn sure it's a bad idea. Yeah, you just wanted to destroy every space traveling civilization, sure i'm gonna take my advice from you...

As a best moment i'd choose the last dialogue with Anderson. Besides that other great moments included arguing with the Turian concil guy after almost every mission in ME1, telling Cerberus off at the end of ME2 and of course killing Kai Leng now that he doesn't have a gunship to back him up.

 

[Anachronism]

Grace Shephard, Spacer and War Hero, Vanguard.

Paragon for the most part, but I made the occasional Renegade choice such as destroying the Heretic Geth. Also took a number of Renegade Interrupts in ME3, because I couldn't say no to the opportunity to shoot Udina and gut Kai Leng with an omniblade.

Faithful to Liara across all three games. Kaidan wasn't terribly interesting to me in the first game, but Liara was sweet, shy and slightly geeky, which I really liked. I enjoyed Thane's company a great deal in the second game, but when it came down to it, my Shepard wasn't going to cheat on her girlfriend.

Most of my favourite moments came from the third game, just because of all the emotional attachment you've built up to the characters by that point. As others have mentioned, Legion referring to himself as "I" before dying was heartbreaking; and I've rarely felt like as much of a hero as I did when curing the Genophage. Doing a bro-shake with Wrex beforehand was just the icing on the cake. But, my overall favourite was probably the love scene with Liara before attacking Cerberus' base. Three games worth of relationship came to a head there, and it made me really happy to see Shepard and Liara just holding hands and looking up at the stars.

I chose Synthesis in the end. Control didn't sit right with me, and after all the work that had gone into saving both the Geth and the Quarians, I couldn't bring myself to pick Destroy.

It was one hell of a ride. I'll miss my Shepard.

 

[Yuuki]

Eva Shepherd - Infiltrator - Spacer, War Hero. Paragon all the way.

ME1 - Loved Liara, saved the Rachni Queen, saved the Council, saved Wrex, saved Ashley, voted Anderson for council.

ME2 - Destroyed Maelon's Genophage data, sided with Samara, convinced Garrus not to assassinate that guy, rewrote Geth collective, destroyed Collector base. Basically all the Paragon stuff.
On my first playthrough I lost way too many squadmates in suicide mission, in subsequent playthroughs I figured out how to get them all to survive. I played ME2 the most, probably blew 60+ hours on multiple playthroughs and DLC content.

No headmorphs/gibbed (couldn't be bothered) so couldn't really create the more "beautiful" ME2 faces.

ME3 - played it half-heartedly on Easy. For me the story and gameplay didn't hold the same charm as ME2 and the EMS scoring system confused the hell out of me. Played paragon as usual. On the second playthrough I used some coalsed/Ini modifiers to cheat through EMS and unlock all endings to get the one get to see Earth, all squadmates and Eva Shepherd survive. What, I wanted to see Eva survive dammit and 4k+ EMS is the only way >_<

 

[Tomaius]

I've never liked this idea of "My Shepherd". Think about it, what personal choice do you actually have in Mass Effect? The most you have is basically who to romance, and that hardly makes a difference in the end. It basically comes down to:

Paragon Shepard
Renegade Shepard
Inbetween Shepard

There, I just described all your Shepards.

 

[Random berk]

Name: Kate Shepard

Class/Backstory: After spending her youth with a gang in one of the big city underbellies of Earth, Kate enlisted with the military and soon rose to the status of a war hero for her actions in the siege of Elysium.

Class: Kate Shepard was a reknowned Biotic, though she was also a crack shot with a pistol, and had some training with rapid fire weapons from her gang days.

Paragon/Renegade: Roughly 85%/15%. Kate tended to do things the right way rather than the easy way, but she did have a short temper, as the Rachni queen found out in a cave on some God-forsaken space rock. She never liked reporters much either.

Romance: Kate was not a perfect individual, and although she loved Liara, there was some confusion over Liara's less than ecstatic greeting on Illium, and she ended up having a short affair with Garrus. Later patched things up with Liara while helping her with her Shadow Broker problem.

Favorite Memory: Oh, where to begin?
ME1: Being filled with a sense of awe and hope on hearing the words of an actual Prothean on Ilos, and knowing there was still a way to stop Saren.
Putting a bullet through Saren's throat and shutting him up once and for all.
Worst Memory: Fighting the Asari on Feros. she was quite annoying the first time.

ME2: Almost everything. Though Samara and Miranda usually weren't involved.
Worst memory: Making it back from the suicide mission to find that Mordin hadn't.

ME3: Being 'outshot' by Garrus on the Citadel.
Baiting Salarians with Wrex.
Curing the Genophage.
Stab-murdering Kai Leng.
Seeing Ashley passed out drunk on the floor.
Talking sense into a Quarian Admiral and saving countless lives.
Most of the game, actually.
Worst memory: You know what it is. But also seeing Thane and Legion die, watching worlds fall to the Reapers, and knowing that the end of the game was going to end with many great characters dead.


Which ending I chose: Control- Extended. In the end, Synthetics had proven that they absolutely could co-exist with Organics, and since the Reapers apparently just the tools of one mad AI the whole time, I had no qualm about grabbing the controls. And as far as I'm concerned, Kate Shepard ascending to a kind of half-living deity was a far more epic and poignant end for such a character than simply dying to blow up the Citadel.

 

[The Madman]

There, I just described all your Shepards.

Generally speaking anyone with an imagination and some investment in a story will begin to fill in the gaps with their own details while projecting added depth to even shallow characters. It's human nature, and it can give everyone a slightly different perspective on things. It's why two people can read the exact same book and both come out with a completely different outlook on a character, despite both starting with the same material.

So no need to be snarky. With a series as long as Mass Effect it's only natural people will have built up their own Shepard as a unique personality.

even with a romance and a loved one as such shepard is still coming apart at the seams and exhausted. it boggles the mind though shepard coping with that alone

Honestly I'm not much interested in rpg romances, maybe it's just me being cynical but more often than not they just come across as cheesy to me. As a result I've never tried any of the romances in Mass Effect 2 or 3, though I figure I'll finally give em a try in an upcoming playthrough.

As for what happens if you don't do any romances there are lots of scenes of Shepard sitting alone and staring out windows while sad music plays where others would presumably be talking with/having sex with their romance choice. Gives a very self-sacrificing vibe to Shepard as a character, especially in 3 where she begins to crack under the pressure.... Personally I liked it, made Shepard a more tragic figure gave some added emotional depth to moments like the final farewell to Liara or Kaiden.

By the end I was honestly feeling sorry for my commander Shepard. In my own mind she was trying so hard to do the right thing and giving everything she had to accomplish, and in the end even her life.

 

[mechalynx]

Name/Gender/Class: Kathryn, Female, Vanguard

Back Story: Spacer, Ruthless. Romanced liara in ME, comforted Thane in ME2 and planned on retiring with him in ME3 until his death by an irksome space ninja. Spent the night before the Cerberus base attack with Kaidan, because he's a lot less of a ***** if not romanced in ME. Still, should have gone with Liara, though, but she seemed so distant.

Paragon/Renegade: A smart Renegade who'se 100% devoted to her friends and doesn't kill people unless she really has to. Like that merc in the skyscraper.

Favourite Memory: Seeing Wrex on Tuchanka in ME2, when he shoved aside a Krogan and rushed to see Shepard, his friend. Womanly tears were shed right then, I must confess.

Which Ending did you choose: Destroy.

Captcha: nautical phrases. Ahoy, matey!

 

[Nightwolf214]

Name/Gender/Class/History: John Shepard, Male, Soldier, Spacer, War Hero

Paragon/Renegade: Paragon when it came to the big choices (except the Rachni queen, which when I finally imported a file in ME3 where I spared her, didn't think it was worth it), saved the Council, saved Wrex, killed Kaidan (regret that, he was a slightly better character than Ash), completed everyone's loyalty missions in ME2, destroyed the Collector base, cured the Genophage, united the Geth and the Quarians. Although there were a lot of Renegade interrupts. Couldn't resist.

Romance: Ash in ME1, but Miranda in ME2 and ME3. I personally loved Miranda out of all the choices because despite her cold shell and recklessly confident attitude, deep down she's broken, and it clicked with me.

Favorite Memories:
Convincing Saren to do the right thing in ME1 (first it was satisfaction at finally taking the bastard down, but after multiple playthroughs, I realized how sad it was too, he'd been trying to fight it and failing the entire time)

Recruiting "Archangel" in ME2 (when you find it's Garrus, I flipped), Tali's, Thane's, Garrus', and Legion's, and Mordin's loyalty missions were all really great in ME2. Meeting Wrex on Tuchanka in ME2.

Wrex's 'hero' line was especially touching, as was the end of that mission (I love it because it's so heart-breaking), the end of the Citadel Coup mission (same reason as before), spending time with most of your crewmates in ME3 (like the shootout with Garrus, helping Ash comfort her sister, and just spending time with Cortez (ME3 had a lot of great minute moments)), the end of the Rannoch mission too.

Ending Choice: Synthesis. I didn't want to resort to The Illusive Man's ridiculous methods, and I didn't want to sacrifice any more lives, EDI and the Geth deserved to live. My Shepard had been fighting for as much peace as possible, and that meant the war had to end one way.

 

[Vern5]

Name/Gender/Class: Jeremiah Shepard. Male. Soldier -> Vanguard

Back Story: Spacer, Sole Survivor, and Pragmatic Pimp. (okay maybe not a pimp but I couldn't romance Tali from the get go and somehow wound up with Ashley for Mass Effect 1. It made for an interesting story, at any rate)

Renegade/Paragon: I took as many Renegade options as possible mostly out of principle because they saved time and got the point across; my Shepard was not the kind of person who fucked around when the galaxy was at stake. Did a few Paragon things, though, but I didn't really choose them with paragon intentions. Releasing the Rachni Queen was more about gaining a possible ally against the Reapers, a dangerous gambit but the resurgence of the Rachni might prompt a good reason for curing the Genophage, which would also grant me Krogan allies. The only time I deliberately went with possible Paragon options was when dealing with squadmates and crew because you can't always be brief with people you need to watch your back. Oh right, I DID have the old Council killed. I swear it was an accident, though. I figured concentrating fire on the Reaper would help everyone but no, I guess that wasn't an entirely realistic expectation.

Favorite Memory: I remember a lot of punching people in the face and chest. Also, shooting people while they were still talking. My best memories are probably defending Tali during her trial. On the other hand, I did enjoy the moment that begins with "You're working too hard" and ends with a Batarian merc being electrocuted. Good times.

Preferred Ending: I never actually played Mass Effect 3 because it never came to Steam. A petty reason, true, but I'm not about to install Origin until it has been proven to exceed Steam in some reliable way. I've seen the endings though and I can reliably say that I would pick Destroy every time. It would cost EDI and the entirety of the Geth but I already got Legion killed on the Collector base (again, it was an accident. I honestly thought Thane could lead a squad) and Joker will just have to live with the loss of his metallic lover. All of the endings were stupid, though, so I would probably go out of my way to mod in one of the Player-edited endings (which is a revision of Destroy but without the ridiculous cost of the Geth, all AI, and the Mass Effect Gates).