29 réponses à ce sujet

[ReiSilver]

After playing through all three backgrounds I still find Sole Survivor to be the most interesting and the most dissapointing. We had a back story we thought we knew only to have it revealed that the Thresher Maw attack was planned by an organisation
called Cerberus who have been experimenting on the only other survivor. After this truth is revealed Shepard dies and is resurected by this same group, the potential was there for some serious drama yet for some reason the ME2 writers seem to have forgotten how personal this is for some Shepards and a lot of people feel they wasted a great oppurtunity.

I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to this background so we can share stories and theories of our Sole Survivor Shepards. How do you think your Shepard survived on Akuze? How did your SS react to Cerberus' ressurection? Did your Shepard hold a grudge? Do you think Cerberus erased those memories? Did your SS lose people close to them on Akuze? Do they suffer PTSD? How did your Shepard handle Toombs? Would anyone else love to see some DLC related to Akuse where sole survivor can bring up what happened and their thoughts on it?

Modifié par ReiSilver, 06 décembre 2010 - 11:19 .

[Alienmorph]

Me too I prefer the SS background 'cause it gives Shepard strongest reasons to distrustus Cerberus. Also, in LotSB there's a line of conversation about how Shep can work with them knowing what they've done on Akuze, so I can't think they herased Shep's memories about it.

Modifié par Alienmorph, 06 décembre 2010 - 12:08 .

[Collider]

Many will come. Only one poster in this thread will survive.

[Sir Ulrich Von Lichenstien]

An interesting concept I have thought of and know some others have as well (Dean_The_Young being one of them) is along the lines of going with the idea that Shepard was actually an operative of Cerberus even as far back as Akuze. Yeah it's all 'personal' RP and will never get mentioned in the game, but I think the way they've handled it so far is neat because it allows for people to use such an idea.



Another way of looking at it, is that Shepard could say that Cerberus pretty much helped shape them into the person they've become. There is never just 'one side' to a story and this is further proof of this.

[aeetos21]

one story im hashing out on my shep is only a chief when the attack comes. his squad and the rest of his platoon is wiped out of course so as to how he survived? in the games he can say luck or skill - i think me1's explanation about it, when's he talking to ash, is the best and honestly? i think her reasoning makes the most sense:



"you had an angel on your shoulder that night"



given how many times shepard should've died but somehow survived? i dont like to put much stock in fate or destiny but after a while even the most jaded have to wonder

[Cypher0020]

Just saying I love the SS one too.... its great how no one really knows how Shep survived... and its up to us as players to figure it out....



however... I hate that my Shep who stayed loyal to Kaidan wakes up every day... and sees herself in a cerberus officer's unfiorm....commanding a cerberus ship... and suddenly finding herself taking Timmy's orders....



Oh.... and because I helped Toombs NOW he wants to kill me??!

[ReiSilver]

for my SS Akuze/Cerberus is a very personal touchy subject, being Earthborn she used to be more like Jack; pushing people away with insults and aggression for fear of being hurt. After she saw everyone in the unit die she suffered a lot of survivor guilt and came out of it far more Paragon then she was before because she realised she should have had the courage to trust others and get close to others because you never know when they could be gone. She also vowed never to let people die if she could do anything to stop it; "No one gets left behind" is very meaningful when she says it.

Thinking it was a natural accident was one thing but when Toombs revealed someone orchestrated it she nearly snapped, she would have taken the shot herself but she felt Toombs had suffered more and deserved to take the shot thinking she could get Toombs help after... then he shot himself, which she considers a personal failure. She pretty much tore up any Cerberus facility she found after that (I can also imagine her getting out of the Mako the first time you kill a Thresher Maws just to unload bullets into it's corpse)

This was all part of her character before I even knew anything about ME2... you could say my SS Shep was... most displeased but at least now she has TiM as a personal enemy and holds him personally accountable for every horror Cerberus leaves behind.

[FireEye]

In her words, my Shep survived Akuze because she refused to die.  She doesn't talk about it much, so it's hard for me to say.  She does get annoyed when people hold it up as some great thing she did, though.

With Toombs, she let him kill the scientist... which was a lapse of judgment on her part.  She was in shock and thought for a fleeting moment that it might help him cope.

She's rather stubborn and, well... she doesn't survive much farther than Lazarus Station, unfortunately.  I had to play without her. 

[Cypher0020]

Ok my Shep was still trying to get a handle on her biotics when the disaster on Akzue hit. She wasn't terribly thrilled at being under Toomb's command however, but suffice to say she didn't want him to get eaten?



That night was a blur to her. Still is. She remembers retreating to the Mako's, firing shots and using her biotics, getting burned by the acid, and knocked down by her squadmates in retreat.



Tried to save Toombs. Maybe got one or two of her friends to safety, but died due to injuries.



She was afraid, but she wasn't a coward... it just happened.



Now poor Teddy suddenly finds herself taking orders from o'l TiM and is.. well she's distanced herself from it....she's 31 now not 24... a lot has happened and a lot will continue to happen...



hurts, but you can't dwell on it anymore.... with the Collectors, prothean visions, the Reapers and every other merc, assassin, robot trying to kill her... she has enough nightmare fuel for a life time thank you very much...



Akuze looks like a cakewalk after all Shep as been through

[chris025657]

Out of curiosity, does anyone who plays as a SS feel that the Alliance bears some responsibility for what happened on Akuze?

As I understand it, Cerberus began as an Alliance black operations organization, and only recently broke away from the Alliance. Cerberus would have been an Alliance organization when Akuze occurred. Admiral Hackett even describes Akuze as a classified Alliance project and former Alliance scientists are being killed. Apparently, the Alliance continued to fund and operate Cerberus for some time afterward and seems to have covered up activities like Akuze.

Modifié par chris025657, 06 décembre 2010 - 02:35 .

[Cypher0020]

Hm good question. I never thought to see it as a fault to the Alliance actually....



When did the Cerberus/Alliance split occur?

[FireEye]

chris025657 wrote...

Out of curiosity, does anyone who plays as a SS feel that the Alliance bears some responsibility for what happened on Akuze?

As I understand it, Cerberus began as an Alliance black operations organization, and only recently broke away from the Alliance. Cerberus would have been an Alliance organization when Akuze occurred. Admiral Hackett even describes Akuze as a classified Alliance project and former Alliance scientists are being killed. Apparently, the Alliance continued to fund and operate Cerberus for some time afterward and seems to have covered up activities like Akuze.

In ME1, yes.

In ME2 and the new supplementals, Cerberus seems to have been around a lot longer than their Alliance black ops cell.  The way it's written, anyone in the Alliance who is with Cerberus is probably an agent rather than someone having been assigned to Cerberus from the Alliance.  So... *shrug?*

[chris025657]

Cypher0020 wrote...

Hm good question. I never thought to see it as a fault to the Alliance actually....

When did the Cerberus/Alliance split occur?

It's never said exactly when the split occurred, I just thought it seemed clear that Azuke was classified as an Alliance project and cover up. 

[Northern Sun]

My Shep's biotics were the key to his survival on Akuze, although even he probably doesn't remember how he did it(I'd imagine the actual attack would be hazy). He doesn't bring up Akuze in ME2 because he doesn't want to hear whatever BS reasoning Cerberus comes up with.



On a somewhat related note, does anyone think that a Colonist/Sole Survivor is too "much"? Losing everyone you care about(my Shep saw his unit as a new family) twice in your life has got to leave some serious mental scars. Though it does have some RP opportunities. My Colonist/Sole Survivor Shep's inability to have it happen a third time caused him to save Ashley even though he sees Kaiden as the logical choice.

[aeetos21]

It isn't so much when the Alliance and Cerberus split but rather when Cerberus started performing rogue operations while still technically under Alliance jurisdiction. There is no way the Alliance would approve Cerberus's op on Akuze or what they did to Jack and the other children on Pragia. So, IMO, the Alliance has just as much blood on its hands as Cerberus does when it comes to Akuze. The difference is the Alliance takes responsibility while Cerberus keeps trotting along as if the whole incident never happened.

[Badpie]

Alienmorph wrote...

Me too I prefer the SS background 'cause it gives Shepard strongest reasons to distrustus Cerberus. Also, in LotSB there's a line of conversation about how Shep can work with them knowing what they've done on Akuze, so I can't think they herased Shep's memories about it.

They might as well have with the attention they actually gave the SS background.  I was pretty disappointed in ME2 when it came to Cerberus.

1) the only people who seemed to remember just how awful they are, were Ash and Kaidan and both were vilified for having their strong reaction.

2) Shepard.  He's all "Whatever, Cerberus sucks but I guess you convinced me after 5 minutes of conversation.  Sure I'll do whatever you say and work for you if I have to.  Water under the bridge and all."

3) No chance whatsoever to even mention Akuze to Miranda, Jacob or The Illusive Man?  Really?  "Oh yeah.  It totally shaped who I am in almost every way, but I guess it's not important.  Forget it."

[Giggles_Manically]

No mentioning Akuze at all in ME2 ruined my SS Shepard's game.

[PrinceLionheart]

Giggles_Manically wrote...

No mentioning Akuze at all in ME2 ruined my SS Shepard's game.

Seriously, not to rain on the parade of SS players, but ME2 totally broke my Suspension of Disbelief for that character. I'm not talking about Shep going psycho like Jack, but even if Shep decided to put his/her anger aside for the mission, not eve bringing it up once completely unbelievable. 

[Calla S]

PrinceLionheart wrote...
I'm not talking about Shep going psycho like Jack, but even if Shep decided to put his/her anger aside for the mission, not eve bringing it up once completely unbelievable.

Not really. As always, it depends on the Shepard. Most of the time, yes, it doesn't make any sense, but my "main" Shepard (a Spacer/Sole Survivor) wouldn't have dwelled on it. The initial distrust/anger with Cerberus was enough for her. It's been a long time since Akuze, and she's had time to mourn the losses and screw Cerberus over enough times to not go bats*** crazy on them when they bring her back. The galaxy is at stake; this is bigger than her.

But, like I said, it depends on the Shepard. Sole Survivor will always be my favorite service record.

[PrinceLionheart]

Calla S wrote...

PrinceLionheart wrote...
I'm not talking about Shep going psycho like Jack, but even if Shep decided to put his/her anger aside for the mission, not eve bringing it up once completely unbelievable.

Not really. As always, it depends on the Shepard. Most of the time, yes, it doesn't make any sense, but my "main" Shepard (a Spacer/Sole Survivor) wouldn't have dwelled on it. The initial distrust/anger with Cerberus was enough for her. It's been a long time since Akuze, and she's had time to mourn the losses and screw Cerberus over enough times to not go bats*** crazy on them when they bring her back. The galaxy is at stake; this is bigger than her.

But, like I said, it depends on the Shepard. Sole Survivor will always be my favorite service record.

Like I said though, I'm not talking about going on the attack with it, but the idea of Shepard working for the Organization who's responsible for the death of his previous squad, and not even bothering to ask a single question about it is still confusing, especially when you question the Illusive Man about everything else.

Hell, Shep could've even asked Miranda or Jacob without screwing with the mission.

[FireEye]

PrinceLionheart wrote...

Hell, Shep could've even asked Miranda or Jacob without screwing with the mission.

Particularly since it comes up in the shuttle ride. 

[ReiSilver]

FireEye wrote...

PrinceLionheart wrote...

Hell, Shep could've even asked Miranda or Jacob without screwing with the mission.

Particularly since it comes up in the shuttle ride. 

yeah this, que screaming inside.
I also would have liked to bring it up to Jacob since when he talked about his reasons for joining Cerberus it made my SS want to strangle him.

[Terraneaux]

My Sole Survivor Shepard (Male Renegade Spacer Vanguard) I imagined to have been more than a little bit of a bad seed before Akuze - terrible relationship with his parents, joining the Marines rather than Navy to ****** them off (this sort of thing can be a Big Deal for military families), but of course scarily competent at tearing people to shreds. Akuze was a big deal, as it was the first true test the character had - and looking back, he survived as much due to luck as his own skill, which engendered a feeling of hatred for the order and hierarchy in the world around him - the strong were going to rule over the weak, and no amount of government or philosophy was going to obscure that fact. Finding out about Cerberus in ME1 gave him some license to engage in some cathartic house-cleaning, including killing Toombs' target so he doesn't have to, before engineering the council's death at the end of the first game. Along the way he developed a relationship with Ash, wished he could be a better, more loving person, then beat himself up for choosing to save Ash over Kaidan on Virmire due to his relationship with her. The fact that Kaidan was willing to sacrifice himself over the issue just makes it worse.



Cue ME2, resurrected by Cerberus, but Shep is smart enough to come off as just 'regular' pissed off at Cerberus in order to bide his time and see what the situation is. He plays along, agreeing with the necessity of the mission despite being highly suspecting of TIM's motives, taking the time to try to sway Jacob away from Cerberus, and inadvertently succeeding in Miranda's case. He feigns being slowly won over by Cerberus's attitude, though once TIM decides not to come with him through the Omega relay, he decides 'screw it' and ends up just blowing up the base so that Cerberus can't have it. This Shep is still a very emotional sort of person, but through sticking through thick and thin with friends like Wrex, Tali, Liara, and especially Garrus and Ash, he's realized that he *does* care about some people in this galaxy enough to do something other than be an agent of pain and suffering.

[Sable Rhapsody]

Calla S wrote...
Not really. As always, it depends on the Shepard. Most of the time, yes, it doesn't make any sense, but my "main" Shepard (a Spacer/Sole Survivor) wouldn't have dwelled on it. The initial distrust/anger with Cerberus was enough for her. It's been a long time since Akuze, and she's had time to mourn the losses and screw Cerberus over enough times to not go bats*** crazy on them when they bring her back. The galaxy is at stake; this is bigger than her.

But, like I said, it depends on the Shepard. Sole Survivor will always be my favorite service record.

I agree.  Shep is/was a Spectre.  The duty of a Spectre is to protect and defend the galaxy at any cost, which includes any personal cost to pride, feelings, desires, etc.  My Earthborn/SS/Paragade loathes Cerberus, though not just for Akuze.  She disagrees with just about everything they stand for.  She took Akuze relatively in stride emotionally due to her violent upbringing on Earth, but that's just another bone to pick with Cerberus.  If TIM hadn't needed her so badly, they would have been gunning for each other.  But her personal feelings aren't more important than the fate of the entire galaxy, and that's why she's willing to swallow her anger and work with them.  

Also, the game might not give you the option to call TIM or Miranda out on Akuze, but it certainly gives you the opportunity to really mess with Cerberus.  You can shut down Overlord, set Liara up as the Shadow Broker to give yourself an information network independent of Cerberus, upload damaging intel about Cerberus to Alliance command in a sidequest, deny TIM the Collector Base, and best of all, take the entire Lazarus Cell and Normandy with you when you give him the finger.  Lazarus and Normandy SR2 were an insane investment on Cerberus's part, and you can go running away with it TIM's greatest asset, top agent, and most powerful warship.  WINSAUCE.  God, that was satisfying.