Kyrene wrote...
So my question then:
Do any of your Shepards start having a life of their own in this kind of sense, where they somehow just break away from what you thought they would turn out like? Do you love them more or less for it?
Forgive me if I quote myself here. After my last post I stepped away from ME a bit (this weekend was filled with other stuff including the annual Toy Run with my son–Xavier for whom John Shepard is now named–riding as pillion on the Thruxton and carrying the toys on his back–very important job that else the needy kids don't get them) because running back to back campaigns with Xavier and Kassia (Shepards, not my kids) was getting tedious. So last night I picked up where I left Kassia and she saved little Miss Shadow Sue (was again forced by the game to undergo the mind reaming) and plotted a course for Noveria (briefly stopping by the Citadel for supplies; meta reason to refresh the HMW-selling vendors). She thus met Lt. Zabaleta, and with some tough love managed to convince him to go to the VAO.
While speaking to Hannah Shepard (and to a smaller extent to Ashley about her sisters), I was once again reminded of exactly why Kassia does the things she does. Her mother is military, and she's a military brat who yearns for the affection she never felt ("Not now I'm on duty" or "Oh, it's you"). I have a sneaky suspicion she sent those marines to die on Torfan so that others could feel her pain. Nasty and selfish if true, I know, and it backfired most spectacularly on an emotional level as she is now seen as a 'butcher' (even by her mother I suspect).
Because of all this, and the self-development she has shown (which I know is bullsh*t, it still comes from me driving the character as the player), I've decided that she'll be a Kaimancer at least in this game (will deal with Horizon when it presents itself). She didn't fall into his arms after the "cutting corners" conversation, but did tell him to broach the subject of 'a them' at some later stage. And she called him "Kaiden" instead of "Lieutenant," so that gives me hope she'll find some love before Ilos.
It's going to be hard leaving Ashley behind though, as I personally love her a ton more than Mr. "I'm so grounded I'm a bit of a wet blanket sometimes" Alenko, but at least the roles will be reversed for Xavier.
***
In other news, she killed her third maw on foot, even if she nearly froze to death on Xawin doing it. Kai and Ash were heard complaining about the cold, not the maw hunting, over mess dinner that night. They may 'speak freely' and demand no maw hunting again occurs in −131 °C outside the Mako. The fact that Kassia had to carry their 'corpses' to the Mako before they revived may give some merit to that argument.