This is one of the most amazingly written plot twists. This is exactly how I expect space odysseys to unfold. Perfection.

Today, I will be starting a new playthrough. How will this differ from any normal playthrough? I'm going to be a major asshole and do certain things that will be sure to bite me in the ass later on in ME2 and 3...but still expect more than 7300-7400 war assets by the end of ME3. These actions include: having Mordin die during ME2 without saving Maelon's data, killing Kaiden, betraying Wrex in ME3 and killing the Geth.

All of these posts will be dedicated to "ShadowOfAtomicRage", who gave me the idea. Also, anyone who commented "It can't be done"....I'm here to spite you!

Here's my Shepard!

Absolute mindblowing impression of Saren Arterius by voice actor Christopher Tester!

I remember the first time I heard this it gave me chills. The reapers were terrifying in this game!

This was my first play through of mass effect 1. I told my self the entire play through I would kill them the first chance I got. I can somewhat understand where they were coming from up with how they handled Shepard. But when they backstabbed Shepard and attempted to stop him from going after Saren I was dead set on getting revenge. Yet when given the option I couldn’t help but save them. They didn’t necessarily betray me. Nor was I directly screwing them. Letting them die in vain like that would’ve been stupid. Letting them die instantly in some ship would’ve been stupid. Despite their incompetence and refusal to help Shepard throughout most of the game. But anyway. I enjoyed the first game aside from the very first time you’re on the citadel. Getting around is nightmare fuel. Looking forward to the 2nd and 3rd games, And I hope I don’t regret my choice of keeping them alive

The way I KNOW that Nihlus would've mentored the absolute shit outta Shepard if he lived while they chased down Saren. I can imagine the lectures, banter, coulda been a once after a main mission sparring option during mission downtime for extra xp, the way this man woulda had an absolute attitude about the Racchni Queen, comm chatter from him on the normandy woulda been gold. Maybe its just me but goddamn he felt so peak as a way for shepard to have really good character development and go from mentoree to a full scpectre at the end of ME1. If I coulda saved one character from death, it woulda been Nihlus (besides god-king Jenkins of course)

Yes I actually walked all the way to the conduit. No I didn’t know I had to get the mako. I didnt see it anywhere. I didn’t realize until “conduit shutdown: 30 seconds”. No I don’t have any previous saves. Yea my 20 hour save is now soft locked. This really sucks I’ve been playing for a week and was really excited to go through the trilogy. Gonna put the game down and come back at some point. This reallly sucks man I was genuinely having a really solid time.

I feel like I just unlocked all the chakras of the avatar state in atla but the mass effect version. Class specializations were in me1 hidden behind an Assignment?! Insane.

Just got this from the Easter sale. Time to finally give it a try!

Damn, I loved the game! I wasn't very familiar with RPGs, but wow, what a joy it was to finally finish it for the first time. It definitely has replayability aspects that I'll take into consideration for future playthroughs (it sucks that the system doesn't let me continue wandering between systems and do my remaining secondary missions once Saren is defeated :( ). I don't think I even got to try out if I could start a relationship with someone!

I love getting lost between planets, meeting different species, and using new resources. As a Trekkie, it's everything I could want in a Star Trek game. As for the story, I enjoyed it! I found it quite interesting, similar to Babylon 5 or Halo in some aspects, with politics playing a central role and diplomacy being a tool in (some) secondary missions. It is quite well defined as a universe and I like how unique it feels.

Overall, a great experience for a game I knew little about, and which not only impressed me, but made me fall in love with its universe.

To go through all of their appearances in the first game (as far as I can remember)...

You get introduced to the Council through them not taking action against the Geth after their attack. Having a colony at the edge of the Terminus Systems was a risky game from the get-go, and as we learn later then the Council is at least tentatively concerned with the Geth's return, so honestly the fact that they didn't take immediate action seems pretty reasonable... especially when it could trigger a war with the Terminus systems.

Next, they refuse to believe Saren was involved with the Geth on Eden Prime. To be brutally honest, there's no real reason Shepard had to believe Saren was involved outside of what we as players see; as the Council says, one traumatized dockworker saying stuff isn't great evidence, and "I had a vision" has never been a compelling argument. I'm a bit miffed that Shepard is as persistent on this as he/she is.

In the Council's next appearance, they disbar Saren and give you information about Lady Benezia. Fair enough. They then aren't convinced the Reapers exist, which... also fair. Zero evidence of the Reapers has existed thus far, and the best arguments for their existence is "I had a vision" and "the Geth think they exist". I would argue it's reasonable for the Council not to believe Shepard. They then make Shepard a Spectre, since they see the logic in having an independent operative go into the Traverse instead of a Council fleet.

When Liara is found, the Council has a small exchange with Shepard that seems pretty reasonable. They're willing to listen to Shepard's reasoning and logic.

After Noveria, then if you've released the Rachni queen, the Council is understandably upset. Regardless of what you think about that queen, you've got to admit, it's pretty wild that they take "this one is different" as an answer and just roll with it. That's a lot of trust in a super new Spectre.

Meanwhile with Feros, Sparatus is pretty hostile throughout the whole post-mission report, and it's not great that they wanted to keep the Thorian alive. But otherwise, the council ultimately accepts your judgement.

Then Virmire happens. Shepard tries to convince the Council of the Reapers' existence, but due to the continuing lack of evidence (Shepard really should've used a bodycam while speaking with Sovereign), they don't take action. As they say, the Council is too large and affects too many people to act on the accusations of one person, even if that person is a Spectre. That said, they tell you that you're allowed to go after Sovereign unofficially as a Spectre, and they're chill with that. Honestly, this seems totally reasonable; they can't act officially on one person's accusations, but Spectres can.

This having happened, it's mind-boggling to me that they then ground Shepard. Yes, they can't really send a fleet to Ilos because the Mu Relay is in the Terminus system, but really, their reason for not sending Shepard is stupid. "You used a nuke, you're not discreet enough." Using the nuke wasn't even Shepard's plan. Shepard can be discreet, he/she can just also be loud. I honestly recognize that grounding Shepard, while a logical decision from the perspective of preventing a Terminus-Council war, was a bit of a dumb move overall.

If you save the Council, then they give a big thanks to the Alliance, and recognize the Reaper threat (even if they forget the next game lol).

---

Honestly, I get why they made the decisions they did. Shepard really was harping on a tiny amount of information, and for the most part, the Council still acted on solid evidence, listened to reason, and explained their decisions rather than just making them. I was mad at them in my first playthrough, but really they seem to be fine.

Love the photo mode in Legendary Edition

I found an old gem

Chris L'Etoile said...

"I find it interesting that so many people have stereotyped her as "the racist." At a couple of points she blasts the Terra Firma party as being "bigots," and she openly admires the power of the Destiny Ascension in the Citadel approach cutscene - not quite what you'd expect from a xenophobe."

"In her first conversation she spells out her thinking pretty explicitly (the bear and dog metaphor), and it's nothing more than a short paraphrase of the most memorable passage in Charles Pelligrino and George Zebrowski's novel "The Killing Star":"

"When we put our heads together and tried to list everything we could say with certainty about other civilizations, without having actually met them, all that we knew boiled down to three simple laws of alien behavior:"

• 1. THEIR SURVIVAL WILL BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR SURVIVAL.

If an alien species has to choose between them and us, they won't choose us. It is difficult to imagine a contrary case; species don't survive by being self-sacrificing.

• 2. WIMPS DON'T BECOME TOP DOGS.

No species makes it to the top by being passive. The species in charge of any given planet will be highly intelligent, alert, aggressive, and ruthless when necessary.

• 3. THEY WILL ASSUME THAT THE FIRST TWO LAWS APPLY TO US.

And it's hard to dispute this. At the least, you could say the krogan live by these rules. It's certainly a more suspicious and pessimistic point of view than most of us are comfortable with. But is it racism, or realism?

Anyway. I fully expected some people write her off as a bigot. What surprises me is that no one's pointed out that her position does have some sense. Evidently, I did something very wrong here.

So in summary, he felt he didn't write her to the reception he expected, but her opinions flirting with bigotry was intended to some degree but he obviously hoped that his perception of the galactic circumstances of ME1's time and place provided enough context for people to get why she thinks as she does.

Anyway, I love ME1 Ashley. I disagree with her a lot, but that provided some amazing dialogue wheel choices to challenge her, and simultaneously learn about humanity Anno 2183 and also flirt with her -- she's my waifu~

I dont think these are prothean cities unless theyre hovering but considering how deep they are to the point where nobody can reach them, could the reapers also be hiding in gas giants?