iakus wrote...
Shepard does indeed have an impressive resume. "But bringing back from the dead"-worthy? "Spending as much as an army of mercs" and "a brand new warship" worthy?
Shepard in Mass Effect showed that he was able to fight through a Geth army singlehandedly. This, along with everything else he does in Mass Effect, already stretches beyond the bounds of 'mere mortal'. I don't think an army of mercs could have accomplished in any manner what Shepard achieved in Mass Effect by himself. I would certainly say this makes him resurrection worthy. He has a proper motivation, he understands the full scope of the threat, he has exceptional ability, has dealt with the enemy previously, and has saved the galaxy through his own personal inititiative. I would say this is certainly enough for resurrection to be a worthy effort.
I don't know many other individuals who make claims to these kinds of feats in Mass Effect's history. I don't recall hearing about any exceptional krogan who single handedly killed 100 rachni, or Turians who fought through armies of Krogans. Shepard already performs super human feats without taking into account Mass Effect 2. The reason why he seems less like a 'super hero' is that most of these feats occur throughout Mass Effect, barring your service history. But by the game's end? No, he does not strike me as only 'exceptional marine' material. Even an exceptional marine could not have waded through a geth army so easily.
For a symbol? A symbol now seen as a crackpot, if not an outright traitor? You say yourself later, Shepard is now a stranger to the galaxy. What us is he/she as a symbol?
Shepard is a stranger by virtue of being dead for two years. "What is Anderson up to? Where are the Geth?" He probably couldn't answer most of these questions. Which he means he doesn't have a full grasp of the situation when he wakes up.
Yet he still hasn't been forgotten by the galaxy, more like set aside. He is ultimately a figure behind which people can rally (and have) in the past. Hence, the whole image as the Alliance 'poster boy'. Again, as Jacob says Shepard was
the human ideal. Not simply an 'exceptional human'. He was looked on as the definition of everything a human aspired to be, which is right up Illusive Man's alley.
Given the timing of the revelation, I find it very highly relevent. This is the point where the Illusive Man is trying to win Shepard's trust. Cerberus is, after all a terrorist organization. Shepard is likely to have run across several of their projects in ME 1, and reacted violently to them. Shepard may in fact have been a victim in one of their little experiemtns on Akuze. This is not the time for handwaving. This is the time for TIM to lay cards on the table, or tell a convincing lie. Or both. Anything less is an obvious attempt to push Shepard's buttons. Itmakes Shepard look foolish and credulous
I think offering to pay for Shepard's crew, a brand new Normandy, and most other expenses goes a long way to gaining Shepard's trust. Not to mention resurrection. The point is that why TIM believes Shepard is irrelevant to the entire function of the story. Shepard doesn't care why TIM believes him any more than he cares why the Council believes him; all he wants is action from these galactic players. If TIM says "Oh, I saw the video feed of Sovereign attacking the Citadel and decided to help you", then great! Shepard has his resources. If TIM says "Oh, the evidence is there, buried where most can't find it, but I still want to help you", (which he does say) then still great! Shepard has his resources. Laying the cards on the table is about proving to Shepard that TIM is willing to provide aid, which he does.
The lack of a control chip also is a significant investment on this front. If TIM didn't care about trust, he could have simply placed the chip and forced you to aid him, which he didn't. Clearly, he thinks there is some kind of advantage to Shepard aiding of his own volition. And he also straight up tells Shepard "If you don't believe me after Freedom's Progress, you can walk away". Regardless, TIM picks you up where everyone else merely laid you aside.
It can't be a coincidence that the writers chose the Collectors to be Protheans repurposed. Any other race could have been made up. Even a variation of Keepers would have made sense. But they chose Protheans, I don't have to tell you that Protheans hold a special place in the ME universe. They were the last race to fight the Reapers. They were the creators of the Conduit, the beacons, Vigil, and had a galaxy-wide empire. It's largely because of them that this cycle has gone off the rails. Heck the Hanar worship them. To see such a people, who were once the pinnacle of civilization in the galaxy, fall so far, if that doesn't mean something, it should. Both Shepard and any squadmate brought with should react with horror and revulsion. EIther becasue this is the remains of he people other civilizations strive to be like, or fear that this may be their future.
Well, your squad mates do actually remark on your bolded statement. But regardless, it could not have been anyone but the Protheans or a Keeper variant. The reason why EDI is even able to determine the original race is because she was able to compare it to DNA sequences of actual protheans in her data banks. She had no such faculty available for some 'invented race' as she would have had for Protheans or keepers. I'm still confused though why you should think that anything has changed as far as the Protheans 'falling so far'. As of Mass Effect, we were under the impression that the Protheans were all dead, although the Collectors were hinted at by Vigil by the reference to 'Reaper agents'. The fate of the Protheans should not have meant any more than it previously did when we thought they were exterminated.
I'm not saying that Shepard working for Cerberus wasn't inevitable, or even a bad move, story-wise. What I'm saying is the process was done backwards. Shepard had not had an oportunity to see just how bad things had gotten with the Alliance or the CItadel. In fact, before encountering Tali on Freedom's Progress, Shepard doesn't speak to any nonCerberus personel. He doesn't try to verify that anything TIM said is true, aside from the fact that, yes, at least one colony seems to have disappeared.
Shepard clearly forgot the old saying: "Trust everybody, but cut the cards"
What I'm saying is that Shepard joining Cerberus was not done backwards. What TIM tells you regarding the Alliance/Council is no different than what we are told in the prologue. Again, how could the situation with the Council have gotten any better in the time since Shepard's been gone? He was the leading proponent of the Reaper theory, he was the one sent to discover more proof regarding the Reapers. And then he died. For two years. That doesn't exactly do brownie points for his investigation. Going back to the Alliance/Council would lead back to the same point : "Hey, we need proof before we help you" which Shepard already knows, only now everyone's forgotten about the Reapers so they don't want these theories brought up again.
Cerberus doesn't require that he go scavenging through Prothean ruins to find potential Reaper evidence.
They skip that entire first step and basically say "Hey, we believe you, if you "trust" us, then we can help you" and that's really all Shepard needs. So he can either go digging through old ruins, scavenge for shreds of evidence, or he can actually take TIM's offer and do something.
Modifié par Il Divo, 14 janvier 2011 - 02:47 .
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