I Should Go - The Mass Effect Series

Discussion in 'Fan Town' started by Kittenly, Aug 5, 2015.

  1. Kittenly

    Kittenly Just Squish That Cat!

    Mass Effect is my greatest love in the world of video games.

    Share your Shepard, your choices, your romances, your ending, your favorite characters, and most importantly, your eternal tears.

    All the spoiler warnings.

    When I'm not in mobile, I will give the write up of my Shepard.

    And remember: you can fight like a krogan, run like a leopard, but you'll never be better than Commander Shepard.
     
  2. Kaylotta

    Kaylotta Writer Trash

    ahhhhhh Mass Effect how do I love thee, let me count the ways...

    this is my Shepard.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    from my Tumblr post:
    She is:
    • an exasperated Paragon with a hint of a vindictive streak (she keeps it under wraps)
    • a Spacer on good terms with her family (the best family is family you don’t have to see every day)
    • a Sole Survivor who has learned to grieve silently and move on (but she keeps a journal, which includes the beginnings of letters to families, photos of old friends, plenty of self-recrimination, and a fair few tearstains)
    • a one-turian kind of woman (though in my first playthrough I reasoned myself into romancing Liara, then when I found out you could romance Garrus in ME2, went back and replayed ME with no romance - I far prefer the comfy friendship with Liara)
    And some musings from ages ago:
    and finally. I write a lot of fanfic. warning, there is nsfw content. I also have a good dozen-ish prompts lingering in my brain from when I had spoons and time to write frequently.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2015
    • Like x 1
  3. tinyhydra

    tinyhydra a dingus

    I don't got any pictures, but I remember I purposefully designed my Tucker with what I imagined were "hawkish" features. Basically, she was a severe, sharp, and serious looking black lady with short curly black hair that looked lacquered over. She was in her mid to late thirties in the second game, and she romanced Liara in the first game, nobody in the second(because I did not realize that Jack was straight), and Liara again in the third. Fun fact, she almost accidentally cheated on her with Traynor, cause I sort of didn't realize how letting someone take a shower in your private quarters might be taken as anything but platonic friendliness. I headcannoned her as romantically and sexually inexperienced, and I'm pretty sure that kinda obliviousness is why.
    She's a colony kid, and I like to think was a farm kid growing up, cause she took on a kind of Southern Gentlewoman vibe to her as the game went on. She also ended up more smily than I intended her to be, so she's got kind of a big old, long limbed puppydog vibe to her. She joined the military out of a sense of duty to the people who rescued her and a desire to do good, and has been stubbornly clinging to that idealism ever since. She was a war hero, but never really thought it was anything worth the kind of praise she got for it and always regretted not doing more. She's the type to never be satisfied with what she's done. Always embarrassed by praise. She definitely didn't handle becoming the savior of the galaxy very well, cause then more power and recognition the got, the less she felt like she'd earned it. I remember making her drink a lot, just cause I like watching characters stumble around and find screen wobbles soothing, but it feels pretty in character for her to have a drinking problem, so. It all works out!
    She was mainly Paragon, but would take Renegade options when she felt they would help more than hurt. Which wasn't often, cause I never really saw the point in escalating situations when the diplomatic approach worked just as neat. She didn't have a whole lot of faith in her ability to make world shaking decisions, and got really fucking paranoid about making snap judgements and acting on the fly.

    And that's my Shep! She was my first real RPG character, and most of what she is came about accidentally. I never planned to get as into her as I did, but I ended up with all these little headcannons about her, and all these little ways she'd talk and act different from how she did in game and stuff.
     
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  4. Nochi

    Nochi small waterfall of pure void

    Sophia Shepard, Paragade (mostly "gade") Colonist Sole Survivor redhead. Romanced Garrus in 2 and 3 after having a serious crush on him in 1. Finds scanning planets for minerals relaxing bc she was a geology minor in the Academy (totally not bc I needed an IC reason to spend hours doing it), kind to her Space Family and everyone else can space themselves. Was unable to have children before Amada, but Cerberus (Miranda) "fixed" that and she's still not sure how to feel about it, other than non-specific hollering at people (Miranda) about meddling with people's lives. Synthesis ending, but I prefer to think 3 was a fever dream after Amada and this fic happened after she woke up. It's been so long since I actually played that I don't remember any more specifics than that, but Mass Effect is my one true VG love. I cried actual tears during Citadel.

    aaaaand earworm activate
     
  5. Kittenly

    Kittenly Just Squish That Cat!

    I wish I had pictures of my Shep. But I could never figure out how to take screen caps on the PS3.

    Grace Shepard spent her first seventeen years on the streets of Chicago. She's scrappy and clever, with a moderate biotics talent and a way with machines. Though she had no formal education, she hung around the colleges and universities, sneaking into lectures and libraries. At sixteen, she lied to an Alliance Enlistment Officer about her age and went to bootcamp. Despite being really intelligent, she would have flunked out in David Anderson hadn't noticed her talent and taken her under his wing. He put her in training as a field medic, where she flourished.

    Personality wise, Grace is a little bit of an odd duck. She's autistic (which actually makes all of the weird bioware-face and "I should go" awkwardness perfect for her), which makes her awkward socially, a bit oblivious, and very blunt/straight forward. She's a paragon to the max, with only a few choices that weren't full on paragon (such as focusing on Sovereign in ME1). Though despite being the biggest paragon, she's a very put upon paragon, who will always do the good two shoes thing but complain about it (usually to Garrus or Kaidan) the whole time. Really the only time she really went renegade was telling Dr Archer in ME3 that she hadn't seen David (she had) and not interfering when he went out and shot himself in the head. In a fight she's totally in control, but out of combat she struggles more and more with severe PTSD. She and Kaidan fell absolutely head over heels for each other in ME1, and their encounter on Horizon nearly broke Shepard. In early ME3, when they're reunited it's awkward because they're still both incredibly angry at each other but are also clearly still pathetically in love. So they eventually get back together and repair their relationship and it gives me feels.

    She sees very little difference between synthetic life and organic life, and values them both equally. By the end of ME3 she's coming apart at the seams and goes into the final battle believing she won't come out of it alive, and is okay with that. She's ready to be done. Ready to rest. And then she chooses control because Destroy and Synthesis were Unacceptable Options. Sooooo. She went in willing to give up her life and ended up giving up her death, effectively damning herself to make sure the diversity of life can continue, for all life. *Cries forever*

    I have a lot written about her, because she's my special interest to end all special interest and was my biggest life line during the periods where I was suicidal or dissociating. I think most of it's here though I've got one absolutely ridiculous Shakarian crack fic here
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2015
  6. Kaylotta

    Kaylotta Writer Trash

    The pics I posted of my Shep are the only pics I have, because I am a console gamer (360) - I had to recreate her in ME2 on @Avalon's Steam account for the sole purpose of taking pictures. XD
     
  7. Kittenly

    Kittenly Just Squish That Cat!

    I find this fascinating because the opposite happened to Grace. She wasn't overly bothered when Miranda told her (she never wanted kids anyway), but when Wrex found out, he flipped SO many tables.

    I do the same thing on my bezzie's computer with my Quizzie. I need some nice pictures of Grace. She sorta is modeled on Hawkeye from FMA:B except with red hair and not anime.
     
    • Like x 1
  8. Kaylotta

    Kaylotta Writer Trash

    OH - i should add that i'm absolute shit at most PC game controls, and this certainly held true when i made my Shep... i'm pretty sure the opening sequence took me a good hour to get through to a point where i could pose and screenshot. -_-;;;; 'tis hilarious in retrospect, but was fucking frustrating at the time ... XD
     
  9. hoarmurath

    hoarmurath Thor's Hammer

    For fanfic (never happened), I had a little sneaky dude Shepard who not!romanced Zaeed of all people (don't ask), but in the game I've always played with a female Shepard because voice acting yoooooooooooooo.

    Also Mordin. And Wrex. And Garrus. And Tali.

    *sobs into a small pillow*
     
    • Like x 1
  10. EulersBidentity

    EulersBidentity e^i*[bi] + 1

    *flails incoherently*

    My first and forever Shepard is the quick-start female (though I just started a new playthrough with a customised Shepard, she looks amazing, I will take pics). She is paragon to her friends, renegade to any fucker who pulls a gun on her or her found family.
     
  11. AbsenteeLandlady123

    AbsenteeLandlady123 Chronically screaming

    Elaine Shepard, sort curly flame red hair and soft green eyes. She had plump lips that were quick to smile, and she was an Infiltrator who excelled at one shot kills and stealth. She romanced Kaiden in ME1, Garrus from 2 on, and bitterly regretted the thing with Kaiden. They are not friends. Garrus complements her personality perfectly. He is a fucking dork and she loves him more than anything.
    She destroyed the Reapers with a max readiness score. It meant losing the Geth and EDI, and she will never be over that, and donates credits regularly to efforts to resuscitate them. Maybe it even works one day.
    She wakes up screaming sometimes, and Garrus helps. Sometimes she does the same for him. She lights a candle for those lost every month. She hangs out with Joker a lot. He doesn't hold EDI's deactivation against her, but she feels responsible anyway.
    She still fights. There are still people that need helping. But she is a very very loud and influential voice on the galactic stage, campaigning for inclusion and equality.
     
  12. Kittenly

    Kittenly Just Squish That Cat!

    Ahh. I love reading about all these Shepards!

    @KathyGaele, just out of curiosity, why does Elaine regret the thing with Kaidan so much? Also this is kinda weird to say, but it makes me happy to read about people who focus on the bitter-sweetness of destroy instead of making it the happily-ever-after ending.
     
  13. AbsenteeLandlady123

    AbsenteeLandlady123 Chronically screaming

    The way he reacted to her in the second game really stung. She had bought Garrus with her, so she also took his distrust as an insult to Garrus as well. And then in the third game, he continued to treat her with distrust while also being upset that she had moved on from him romantically. She had no time for that.
     
  14. Kittenly

    Kittenly Just Squish That Cat!

    Ahhh, yeah. That's one thing that really bothered me about his romance (particularly in comparison to Ash's). There is no reason to think you're still together after Horizon. I get him being upset because feelings are feelings, but in Ash's romance you have the option to flat out say, after what happened on Horizon we weren't together. That was us breaking up. Which should have been there in Kaidan's?

    I honestly was very sympathetic to Kaidan during Horizon. We know from a meta perspective that Shep is doing the right thing, but Kaidan (and to a lesser extent Shepard) really don't know that she's not being controlled and used by Cerberus. Which is why my Shep wanted him to come so badly. So while I think he gets angry, in my playthrough, it was a fallout that was both of their but also neither of their faults. Thankfully she had Garrus, who stepped up after that in making sure she wasn't being used, and thus the galaxy's greatest moirallegiance was formed.
     
  15. Meagen Image

    Meagen Image Well-Known Member

    My first playthrough of ME1 was a super-Paragon, Spacer/War Hero Big Blonde Boyscout Dirk Shepard. I did all the blue things and was noble as fuck and had a romance with Liara and it was nice.

    But then I still needed some more Achievements. And so I rolled a red-headed, green-eyed Dana "Loose Cannon" Shepard. Earthborn/Ruthless. Choosing all the Renegade options, and having them delivered in the Jennifer Hale voice. It was amazing, it was catharsis, it was bliss. All the annoying people that Dirk Shepard was noble and polite at for the Greater Good, Dana Shepard insulted and threatened and bullied into compliance. Udina: insulted. Council: yelled at. Pushy journalist: punched. Kaidan: shut way the heck down.

    So there I was, happily going along and doing my thing and giving zero fucks, when Tali asked if we could go blow up some Geth. Dana went "sure, I love blowing up Geth." And then we found some data. And Tali, sweet innocent Tali, asked if she could please have the data, to take back to the Quarian Fleet.

    My mouse hovered over "NO, because FUCK YOU" option for so very, very long. I just... couldn't bring myself to do it. Eventually Dana pushed the data thingy at Tali and muttered something about nobody finding out about this, and sulked off. From that point onward, Dana Shepard was a massive asshole who did things her way and insulted anyone who tried to argue, while secretly having a soft spot for the sweet innocents who ask nicely.

    ME2 added a whole bunch of new story options, and I wanted to explore them all. Tali romance? I didn't want to give up Liara for it, but maybe if Dirk Shepard had romanced Ashley instead... Any of the characters could die in the final mission? I wonder how much tragedy I could concievably pack into the life of a single Shepard? Kill off Ashley or Kaidan *and* Wrex in ME1, then play ME2 through the final mission so that the smallest possible amount of characters survive while still allowing for progression into ME3...? The main thing that stopped me at this point was that for every one of these story paths, I would need to replay ME1 again. And the gameplay was increasingly dated and awkward.

    But I had Dirk and I had Dana, and somehow Dana's playthrough overtook Dirk's. It was probably the Jennifer Hale voice. Without any previous romantic entanglements (Kaidan was still alive but not technically romanced), I was free to mack on my main man Garrus. I still went mostly Renegade, and got to see some of the best Interrupts, but I played her a bit softer towards Her People.

    I kind of lost track of all the DLC, so when the ME3 demo dropped I was a bit confused as to why Shepard was on Earth and being accused of something or other, but I figured Dana had probably done something. Mysterious disappearing small children made me wary, thinking it was probably some kind of mind-screw. I half-joked that I hoped we weren't going for the "everything was the dream of an autistic child" ending.

    And then ME3 dropped. I had resigned myself to getting Origin for it. Dana's story, and her romance with Garrus, was worth it. And then the buzz about the ending started coming in, and the fact that everything I had done, every choice I'd made, would have no impact on the actual ending, and that whatever I did it would be heavily implied that everyone dies and civilization ends forever. I got to the part where Dana and Garrus had a shooting contest on the bridge, and I lost all interest in playing any more. The story I was interested in was over, I got a conclusion, and I couldn't manage to care about anything else.

    I uninstalled ME 1 and 2 a while back for disk space. I still have a spreadsheet of three characters with five possible story paths throughout ME1 and 2. Only one of them is marked "COMPLETE". I may return some day. Maybe.
     
  16. Meagen Image

    Meagen Image Well-Known Member

    Two little memorable snippets from ME3:

    Assaulting the Cerebrus-controlled Citadel. I have Dana with a shotgun, backed up by Garrus with a sniper rifle. I run towards a couple Cerebrus grunts standing around in a lounge, intent on taking them down ASAP. Before they even notice me, one drops dead of a headshot. My heart actually made a happy little leap, because mai husbando is so reliable. <3

    Kaidan is still recovering from having his head bashed in by a runaway cyborg. Dana visits him in the hospital. He fondly recalls how thoughtful and considerate she was to him way back on the Normandy.

    Dana has a flashback:

    "Commander, I just feel so sad sometimes because of my sad, sad past, and-"

    "Stow it, Lieutenant. I'm not the fuckin' ship's counsellor."

    Dana awkwardly pats Kaidan's hand, and assures him that the doctors here are very good and if he gets lots of rest he'll be back to normal soon, probably.
     
    • Like x 2
  17. tinyhydra

    tinyhydra a dingus

    Bought Mass Effect the First for the first time! Last run through I started with ME2, cause we couldn't find a copy of the first for some reason. Anywho, was gonna finally make an MShep, but the lack of beard and hair options sorta killed that for me. So! Kirk Shepard, Earthborn, Sole Survivor, and Infiltrator. I've decided that she'll be mostly neutral and Renegade, cause her experiences have left her more focused on survival than morality. She's blunt and serious and kind of literal minded. She doesn't trust people, but also doesn't see the point in talking about it. Never give away your intentions and all. She just talked to the Consort, and fuck is she confused. As am I, really. What the fuck even happen there? Did we bang? I didn't ask to be banged, and I'm feeling pretty violated right now. :C
     
  18. Kittenly

    Kittenly Just Squish That Cat!

    @Meagen Image

    I personally really love ME3, up until the very very end, but even then I don't particularly dislike it (this is with the free extended edition DLC). Your actions definitely matter (I think they could have made it feel like that moreso but still). Your readiness determines what endings you can choose and the state of the galaxy after. How you treated your companions and who is still alive determines what options you can take and how hard it is to achieve them throughout the game.

    Also, the Citadel DLC for ME3 is worth every penny. The extra romance scenes (Especially for Garrus) are hilarious, sweet, and GOD I just loved them.

    (Examples: Can't cure the genophage without Mordin, it's a lot harder to do it without Wrex being alive and well. Achieving peace between the Geth and Quarians is much harder without both Tali and Legion still being alive, also how you dealt with the heretic Geth effects how willing the Quarians are to listen to you. Even if they didn't die in ME2, characters who weren't loyal in ME2 will die in ME3. Like Grunt, Miranda, and I think Jack?)

    I have tried, and I am really incredibly bad at playing renegade Shep. I just can't seem to get out of the metagaming mode where I could be accomplishing the same things and not being a total asshole?

    Also people seem to dislike Kaidan and I don't understand. He's not overly well written in ME1, especially if you're not intending to romance him, but no one is that well written in ME1. I guess I didn't find his backstory that angsty, or at least even though bad things happened to him, he seems to be dealing with things pretty well. For my Shepard, he knew what it was to deal with a lot of emotional turmoil and had come through the other side, so he was exactly what she needed when things got ugly.
     
    • Like x 2
  19. Meagen Image

    Meagen Image Well-Known Member

    @Kittenly

    Re ME3: I don't begrudge people who still like it. The way the original ending was handled just killed my enthusiasm and nothing I've heard since has managed to get it back. It's sad, but what can you do.

    Re Kaidan: I actually quite like him, personally, but then I am a sucker for the Bioware Fangirl Bait. Dana Shepard just had absolutely no patience for him early in her career.

    Re Renegade: I play to "what would the character do" more than "how do I OOC want to achieve my goals", and besides, in a meta-gamey way, I had already been polite and diplomatic once, and could now freely be an asshole to see what the writing for it was like.
     
    • Like x 1
  20. tinyhydra

    tinyhydra a dingus

    D:< I brought my fucking high powered sniper rifle on this mission for a reason, ME1, and that reason was not so that I could spend ten minutes dancing around at 3oom trying to figure out if my aim was off or if the damn thing only works in close quarters whist geth plink away at my health with fucking pistols, for fuck's sake. Holy shit, am I miffed! Are snipers always this sucky, or do they get better in the next games?
     
    • Like x 1
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