Live Blogs The Adventure of Failure Shepard or How Not to Play the Mass Effect Trilogy

lrrose2013-02-16 13:22:12

Fail Shep meets with TIM via Quantum Entanglement Communicator (aka holograms). TIM tells Fail Shep that in the two years he was dead, human colonies in the Terminus Systems have had their inhabitants disappear. TIM wants Fail Shep to go to the most recent of these abducted colonies, Freedom's Progress, and find out who or what is responsible. Fail Shep decides to implicitly trust TIM.

Fail Shep, Jacob and Miranda head to Freedom's Progress and find that the security mechs have been programmed to attack anyone they see (this is a very common occurrence during ME2).

After examining a few buildings, Fail Shep and co. come across a squad of quarians led by Tali. The quarians are after one of their own, Veetor, who was not abducted with the rest of the colonists. Veetor was always somewhat mentally unstable and whatever happened on Freedom's Progress provoked him into hacking the mechs to attack everyone. The plot gods railroad Fail Shep into teaming up with Tali's squad to find Veetor.

Tali's second in command, Prazza, defies her orders and goes after Veetor without waiting for Fail Shep's squad. This gets Prazza and most of Tali's squad killed.

Fail Shep finds Veetor babbling incoherently. After Fail Shep calms Veetor by shooting a nearby monitor, Veetor reveals that the colonists were abducted by the enigmatic Collectors. The Collectors are a reclusive species who live beyond a Mass Relay that only they can use without being destroyed. Until now, the Collectors only interacted with the rest of the galaxy by occasionally hiring mercenaries to abduct people with interesting genetic conditions. This is the first time the Collectors have ever made such a blatant act of aggression against another species. Fail Shep defies Tali's wishes and sends Veetor to Cerberus for interrogation.

Fail Shep meets with TIM again. TIM and Fail Shep agree that the Collectors need to be stopped, but the various galactic governments are too busy dealing with the fallout of ME1 to send their armies against them. The only option is for Fail Shep to gather a team of skilled soldiers to go on a suicide mission against the Collectors. To help, TIM gives Fail Shep and upgraded version of the Normandy. Fail Shep is reuinted with Joker, who once again serves as the Normandy's pilot, and is introduced to EDI, the AI who helps operate the Normandy, and his yeoman, Kelly Chambers. Fail Shep and Kelly quickly begin to flirt with one another.

If anyone is curious, I am planning on having Fail Shep survive the Suicide Mission so he can live to screw up in ME3. Although I have Zaeed and Kasumi's DLCs, I am not going to recruit them. I am going to recruit everyone else though.

And, aside from Fail Shep, only two of them will survive.

Death List:

• Jenkins (Squadmate, Plot)
• Nihlus (Plot)
• Fist
• Stirling
• Anoleis
• Gianna
• Ventralis
• Benezia (Plot)
• Rachni Queen
• Peak 15 Scientists
• Talitha
• Conrad
• Jeong
• Zhu's Hope Colonists
• Fai Dan (Plot)
• The Thorian (Plot)
• Shiala
• Actus
• Wayne
• Toombs
• Kirrahe
• Avot (Plot)
• Droyas
• Imness
• Ashley (Squadmate, Love Interest)
• Saren (Plot)
• Sovereign (Plot)
• Pressly (Plot)
• Fail Shep (Plot, Resurrected)
• 20 Normandy Crewmen (Plot)
• Wilson (Plot)
• Prazza (Plot)

Comments

EndarkCuli Since: Dec, 1969

Feb 16th 2013 at 5:35:23 PM

The detail is a nice touch, I must admit. And I'm certainly curious as to how you're going to handle recruitment and loyalty; having to choose whether it is worse to avoid gaining the trust of your allies and having them die while holding the line, or to go through missions and murder their enemies only to lose them to poor management later on. It seems as though you've been planning this for some time, and I trust in your ability to mess up the galaxy utterly and completely. Keep it up!

I do wonder about one thing, though. I understand your decision not to recruit Zaeed, as it ends with either a bunch of innocents saved or a major gang member killed off, neither of which seems like a failure. But out of the two outcomes, Irrose, which do you personally prefer? I'm just curious.

lrrose Since: Dec, 1969

Feb 16th 2013 at 6:00:57 PM

Personally, I prefer to save the civillians. I'm not recruiting Zaeed and Kasumi because doing so would complicate my plans for the Suicide Mission.

Thank you for your input.

montagohalcyon Since: Dec, 1969

Feb 17th 2013 at 8:37:42 AM

I've never done it, but can't you kill Zaeed during his loyalty mission? That would seem like a unique opportunity for failure. I understand if you don't want to complicate your later plans though.

lrrose Since: Dec, 1969

Feb 17th 2013 at 9:17:00 AM

I couldn't figure out a way to finish the Suicide Mission with Zaeed and the two people I want to survive as the only survivors.