Mass Effect General Discussion (spoilers)

Keeping the Collector Base is the only way Mass Effect 3 makes sense for me so I always do it, even on Pure Paragons.

Because of the Indoctrination of Cerberus?

It does work from that angle. Although early ME 3 Shep's blatant hostility towards Cerberus doesn't at all jive with giving them the Collector Base at the end of 2. "I gave the most advanced technology in the galaxy to these assholes I never liked or trusted."

Well at least later on when you talk to Kaidan Shep does reveal she used to believe TIM had humanity's best interests at heart. Still one of my favorite scenes from ME 3.

Does anybody know if you always get that scene? Where Kaidan asks you about Cerberus and if they were all evil bastards? He certainly became a lot more...worldly by ME 3. He sees the individuals in Cerberus and not just Cerberus itself, like he did in 2.

edited 28th Mar '15 12:26:07 PM by Nikkolas

You always get it with him.

Good to hear. I somehow doubt Ash will have an equivalent scene.

Also, I know it's been discussed in here before, and I even alluded to it not too long ago, but the "Paragon/Renegade Shep" changes from game to game. At least for ME 1, Paragon Shep was the good little obedient boy scout/soldier. ME 1 Renegade Shep meanwhile was a xenophobic alien-hating asshole with no real regard for authority.

How would you describe Paragon and Renegade in ME 2 and 3? The "alien hater" thing is dropped completely from the equation as far as I could tell. I suppose you could put yourself as Human First but it's not the same as in ME 1.

Honestly I'm not sure. From what I can tell the Paragon path has the PC more sympathetic to others and kinder under most circumstances, where as the Renegade always acts anywhere between callous at best and borderline malicious at worst. To summarize it, not too different from what it was before. I must say though, I've been picking choices I'd actually make if I were in the game's situations and the vast majority of them were paragon by nature (Compare a full paragon meter to an almost 40% renegade bar.)

If I get any renegade points at all, most of the time it tends to be due to my Combat Pragmatist tendencies because let's face it: Even with all those upgrades it's way too damn easy to die (surprisingly I seldom need to restart).

I always go Paragon... except for the shockstick during the Archangel mission. That's the biggest exception :p

PS. I don't hit the hug button for Tali. Always feels condescending to me.

edited 28th Mar '15 4:17:54 PM by AnotherGuy

Agreed, although I mainly didn't notice the paragon interrupt at the time. I mainly took the renegade interrupts in terms of combat because I don't believe in giving "fair fights" even in a simulation, because war is not a game as far as I see it.

Did anyone else create their character with the Spacer/Sole Survivor combination? I chose it because I wanted to create a commander who held a "realist" philosophy, a background that wasn't purely idealistic or unfortunate.

My Femshep is a Spacer/Sole Survivor. I really like how I ended up RP'ing her.

edited 28th Mar '15 9:29:23 PM by TheAirman

Interesting, and I'm not sure what you mean. By R Ping do you mean in an RP thread or in-game?

I always tried to envision what kind of story could be told with the Spacer/Sole Survivor background with a Paragon alignment. What I managed to picture was a young Shepard (Male or female) growing up being forced to move frequently, almost always to another world due to both their parents being part of the space forces. (I know some say Space Is an Ocean, but I never go so far as to consider spacecraft part of a navy and I probably never will.) As the years pass and more places come and go, the young Shepard is expected to carry the family tradition of military service, regardless of what they think and they eventually do just that. Problem is (was it the first mission Sole Survivor happened? I can't remember) whatever hint of an idealistic view they might have had on military assignments gets painfully deconstructed as a thresher maw destroys their platoon and they miraculously survive.

On a strange note, whenever I have the PC go out of their way to try and keep as many people alive as possible from ME 2 and beyond, I like to imagine it's because they still feel some kind of effect from that Sole Survivor event, determined to never let that kind of massacre happen to their team again. So far that's gone mostly successful for me, with the only preventable deaths happening to Grunt (Damn it!) and Miranda (eh...don't care).

edited 28th Mar '15 9:22:21 PM by ParadoxialStratagem

In game. My first Shep was an Earthborn/War Hero Paragade. I felt I didn't get his personality right until 3.

I imagined my S/SS Shep similar to yours, but I think somewhat more "broken" by the events on Akuze, if that makes sense. That is to say, my final dialogue with Saren is what determined whether I got the Paragon or Renegade result of telling the Alliance to concentrate on Sovereign. I also choose to not give Legion to Cerberus, but not activate it either; and I played the Suicide Mission so that Zaeed, Jacob, and Miranda die, not really feeling anything for them accept perhaps pity for the latter two.

I would have saved Zaeed's loyalty mission for later so I could let him die, but the formula for the Suicide Mission only allowed Jacob and Miranda to die if I had him killed by the Seeker swarm.

edited 29th Mar '15 12:03:25 PM by TheAirman

You'd probably imagine the PC more broken by the event at Akuze than I did, which was basically have Shepard drop all priorities at the sight of a thresher maw and try to murder it in a perceived act of revenge. Was surprisingly rewarding in Grunt's loyalty mission when I took one out using a homing missile launcher, weirdly imagining in Dutch's voice from Halo 3 ODST "That was for Akuze you stupid, hideous, spineless worm! All the more surprising with the Genophage Cure mission where I caught myself commenting "I never thought I'd be glad to see a Thresher Maw...better not stick around too long."

If there was a jump mechanic, I have to wonder if biotics would use their abilities to pull off some kind of superjump or maybe a powerful divebomb.

Huh, I don't know why I've been calling it Paragrade up until now. I didn't even notice until someone elsewhere pointed it out to me and said it should be Paragade.

My bad.

Paragon Male Shep feels a lot like Jacob. And you know why nobody likes Jacob? Okay, it's an exaggeration to say that... I know some like him. But the reason Jacob is so....unremarkable is because he's the Only Sane Man. The Normandy SR-2 is a den of nutjobs and colorful people. People are attracted to that dysfunction. Jacob and Paragon Shep are just too....plain. They need issues!

Jacob is like an unrefined version of James. They get the template with Jacob and they did it better with James. It helped that James had someone to play off though with Cortez. Their banter went a long way to making me like Vega.

Poor Jacob is stuck there all alone, not really developing, not really changing. He needed a flaw.

edited 29th Mar '15 12:13:04 AM by Nikkolas

You know, you don't have to stick to every single Paragon choice. Even if you're screwed for points by not importing, a few renegade or neutral dialogue choices here and there won't ruin you.

Paragon Shep's a lot more popular than Jacob simply because they're the protagonist. Since the player's filling in a lot of their personality anyway, blandness is less damaging. Moreover, like you said, a Paragon Shepard ends up being the Only Sane Man—which works when you're trying to get everyone else to work through their issues. And lastly, bland as they might be, Paragon Shepard is at least consistent in his character—Renegade Shepard swings wildly in characterization over the course of the games, particularly when things start paying off in ME3.

Speaking of character, I've had my Paragon Male!Shep with a Spacer/Sole Survivor background constantly bottling their feelings and pretending they don't feel any issues while supporting others through their problems in ME 3. Is there some point where I can at least try to create an O.O.C. Is Serious Business scenario where he just drops the act entirely, even if it's just a downplayed version of the trope?

No.

Closest I can think of are some of the dialogue options while Liara is aboard the Normandy at the end of Lot SB, and some of the Renegade options during the Rannoch arc (specifically, gut/dick-punching Gerrel, and brokering peace by telling Gerrel you will stand there and watch the Quarians die if he doesn't back off.)

edited 29th Mar '15 12:26:11 PM by TheAirman

So if ME 4 has a new protagonist, do you all think we might finally get to choose our race like in Dragon Age Origins/Inquisition?

If so, what race would you like to be?

I only foresee Council Races being options.... I'd like to be Krogan but then there probably wouldn't be any romance options.

If not Krogan then Asari.

Depends on what voice and gender options there are, and if Quarians are an option, what all we get to customize.

Rachni.

It could happen.

edited 29th Mar '15 7:25:34 PM by SilentColossus

I'm not sure if they mentioned that one can pick the PC's race in ME 4, but if I could I'd probably select male quarian or cyborg male human if at all possible.

Is it too much to ask for to be a Vorcha?

Hanar and Elcor won't be playable due to engine stuff. Geth probably not, as well.

And I wouldn't bet on a Volus protagonist.

Other than that? I can see it happening. The multiplayer of 3 did a quite good job at not making the distinct species mere reskins.

edited 29th Mar '15 8:05:08 PM by Eriorguez

Huh...okay...he's getting there, kinda. The Male Shep scenes with Jack aren't too bad now.

I kinda want to romance Miranda but I don't think her and my Paragon Shep would get along. Now me and my "canon" Femshep, she and Miranda were kindred spirits. Very similar personalities, beliefs, etc.. But the Shep I'm playing now...just feel like he'd be drawn more to Jack.

Just recruited Morinth. You know, I like her, I truly do, but you can't help but feel it's...a somewhat ignoble end for a person like Shepard. You know, dying by fucking Morinth. It happens right after the Suicide Mission, correct?

It's like The Great Legendary Saga of Commander Shepard:

Defeated a Reaper

Saved multiple planets

Saved billions of lives

Defeated the Collectors

Died in sex.

What would Harbinger say?

edited 30th Mar '15 3:39:36 AM by Nikkolas