From the journal of David Shepard:
The Reaper IFF was installed, but it needed to be tested, so I took the squad to Omega while the crew ran tests. When we got back, we found the entire crew had been abducted by the Reapers except for Joker, who had unshackled EDI during the abduction so the Normandy could get away.
I. Am. Furious.
Time to go kick the Collectors in the ass and take back my crew.
Playing some of the N7 missions from Mass Effect 2 I always leave till after I've completed the main story.
Good opportunity to go exploring some interesting planets with some members of the squad that are ultimately neglected because of my strong bias towards using Garrus, Tali, Miranda, Mordin, Grunt, Legion...
I felt Samara and Zaeed are a good pairing for some of the missions involving dealing with the Blue Suns, Blood Pack, Eclipse. Both seem to have different ideas and methods about enforcing justice.
Anything that involves an archaeological digsite, or something Prothean makes me miss Liara... and Javik. So ultimately I pick Jack and Kasumi since they are the ones I hardly used in my main story play through of Mass Effect 2, even though Kasumi is one of my all time favourite squadmates! Jack I only began to really like in Mass Effect 3. And since Jacob was slightly hostile to Thane upon recruitment, I always throw those two together during other N7 missions, and imagine what witty quips and barbs may fly between the two of them during the dispatching of some goons!
I also love Thane's ski mask-esque breather helmet for the toxic planets like Tarith!
- talked to the council
- found the new Primarch
- got a book for Ashley
- its Kasumi
- Aria gave some tips to get help
- saved some sutdents
- saw a yagh beat up 2 Cerberus guys
- Ashley wants to come back on the Noramdy
- Miranda says hi
- left the fake queen to die
- shot Wiks in the back
William found himself in a bit of a pickle. Liara was too distracted by what was going on with the Shadow Broker to want to be with him (either personally or on his mission) and he had developed feelings for Miranda after working closely with her on many missions, including stopping her father from finding her sister. Miranda seemed to reciprocate so things moved along nicely. And then Tali misinterpreted his affection for her as romantic. He had only himself to blame since he rescued her from Haestrom and then helped her when the Quarians lost their collective minds and accused her of treason. He even saved her father's good name. He tried to let her down easily but apparently that didn't work out quite like he meant. So he had to tell her, no, he didn't want to be exclusive with her (oddly there was no way to tell her he didn't want a romantic relationship with her just not an exclusive one). Oh well. She seemed to take the hint this time. Maybe he can redirect her attention to that other Quarian they saved on Haestrom. Kal'reegar I believe his name was.
William is still a bit ticked off that TIM sent them to this "derelict" Collector ship without telling him that it was a Collector trap ahead of time. At least EDI proved helpful and they got some good info about what they needed to get through the Omega 4 relay successfully. Unfortunately that involved getting a specific device from a "derelict" reaper ship, that might not actually be derelict since the science team TIM sent stopped reporting in shortly after they arrived. He is putting that off until the whole crew is undistracted. For better or worse, only Kasumi, Thane and Garrus are left with problems to resolve. So it won't be too long now.
**Whew. Insanity got pretty insane for the Collector ship mission. Most of the other recruitment and loyalty missions haven't been too bad although occasionally hordes of varren cause issues because they swarm you before you can get their armor down. And the abominations at the end of the Collector ship mission. Lots of strategic 'retreating' (Run away!) and getting used to health being in the red. Although the inferno grenades have been very very useful in bringing down health and armor without getting too close.
Meet Garrett Shepard or Tarrik, the Prothean. Memories of the past are battling constantly in Shepard's mind and two personalities keep trying to gain control of the mind..
The Prothean Soldier, episode 1 
William resolved Kasumi's, Thane's and Garrus' problems with only a bit of trouble. Kasumi's was probably the most difficult because there were only the two of them and Hock had a gunship and a lot of mercs. Thane's problem with his son was dealt with using minimal actual violence. And William talked Garrus down from killing Sidonis (although he had no problem letting him shoot Harkin in the leg). After all this and resolving a couple of matters on the Citadel (it was hard to destroy the Krogans' dream that were fish in the Presidium lake but fun to let Tali harangue the Volus and C-sec officer who were being jerks to a young Quarian on her pilgrimage), it was time to collect the IFF from the derelict reaper.
Which, as expected, turned out not to be quite so derelict. The one good unexpected thing was a talking Geth that helped him kill some of the husks that had overrun the station. The sheer number of husks aboard made William wonder about the size of the scientific delegation that had been sent to the ship. Were they expecting to stay long enough that they had brought spouses and children too or did they just bring a lot of research assistants for each scientist? Miranda and Samara were good for husk control until the final section when the husks were approaching from pretty much every direction. William had to finish off the majority of those husks by himself. The inferno grenades were extremely helpful. As well as a lot of running around so he wouldn't get mobbed.
They decided to take the Geth with them when they left. Miranda wanted to turn it over to Cerberus and Jacob wanted to throw it out the airlock but William wanted to talk to it before deciding anything else because it had both spoken to and helped them. After talking to it, William made it one of his crew. Because the IFF was going to take awhile to incorporate into the Normandy's systems, William decided to get a better understanding of the Geth by helping Legion with a problem. He would take Tali with him as well just in case it was a trap.
Entry 37 of Shamus Young's Mass Effect Retrospective is out!
http://www.shamusyou...edtale/?p=30682
Full list: http://www.shamusyou...edtale/?cat=508
Because I chose the wrong dialogue, though it worked in my favor, I had to back track 4 hours of play to choose the dialogue. I made up that 4 hours in about 90 minutes and now I'm back to where I was. Will be heading to Eden Prime shortly
Finally got off that derelict reaper. Activated the Geth. Helped rewrite the heretics. Helped Grunt kill a thresher maw. Conveniently took all my squadmates with me on a simple mission, and all of my crew got kidnapped except Joker.
EDIT: HOW CAN I FORGET...... Garrus came up to my quarters and gave me some wine and a head bump.
I managed to get through the Omega 4 relay unscathed. Thank you, upgrade Gods. Garrus and Thane helped me shoot a thingy trying to kill us in the cargo bay.
The collectors conveniently left us alone long enough for me to pick Legion as my tech expert and Garrus as my fire team leader. I would have chosen Miranda for my fire team, but she currently hates my guts. I'm fully prepared for her death. Bye Felicia.
Then I had to go to bed at 8:30 because I work full time and have a three year old. Some days it's a struggle to stay up past then. 
I also love Thane's ski mask-esque breather helmet for the toxic planets like Tarith!
Thane does look kick-ass with his helmet on. He always goes to bad atmospheres with me on his way to his destiny in the vents.
I was going to hold off on this post until I had posted the accompanying videos on YouTube, but that will take until at least late tomorrow, so I figure I might as well write this now.
From the journal of David Shepard:
Today we traveled through the Omega-4 Relay to take on the Collectors. Not everyone survived. I wonder if I could have done better, if I should have done better; would they still be alive?
No sooner had we passed through the relay, we were attacked by automated sentries. Someone mentioned they looked like giant eyes, causing Miranda dubbed it "Oculus". This caused her and Mordin to argue whether the plural should be "Oculuses", "Oculusi", or just "Oculus" (like how "fish" is can be both singular and plural).
One of the sentries crashed into the cargo hold of the Normandy. I took Miranda and Thane down to deal with it. Sometime during the fight, our shields took a bad hit, causing our drive core to expend too much power to compensate, frying Kasumi who had wandered down into Engineering. Soon after that, the Collector Ship, my old nemesis, came out to meet us. Joker managed to dodge its fire and then fired our brand new Thanix Cannon. The Collector Ship was torn apart much quicker than the Normandy SR-1 had been. But the Normandy caught some debris and crash-landed on the Collector Base. Luckily, they Collectors did not seem to detect us.
In the meeting room, we pulled up the Collector Base schematics extracted from EDI's scans and came up with a plan. We split into two teams: my team would go up the middle while another team would go through the side. Some doors blocked our paths, so someone would have to crawl through some vents to get to the other side and open the doors. We needed someone with tech skills to open the doors, so I sent Garrus through the vents. During my time with him two years ago and hearing about his exploits with his team on Omega, he seemed like the logical choice. He had good tech skills and was used to infiltrating strongholds. Miranda offered to lead the second team, but no one wanted to follow her, so I chose Jacob instead. I figured his time in the Alliance -- particularly the Corsairs -- had made him suitable command material due to his extensive background with military structure and missions.
The infiltration went very smoothly until the very end, when Garrus was able to open the doors, but encountered problems trying to close them again.The Collectors were pushing hard to get at us, so Garrus abandoned the hacking attempt and tried to shut the doors manually. We managed to close them, but not before Harbinger's thrall chucked a biotic deathball at us, killing Garrus in the process.
We found ourselves in a chamber with a bunch of pods attached to tubes leading to some other chamber in the base. A colonist -- I'll never know her name -- was still alive and was liquefied before my eyes and sucked down the tube. We then rescued as many people as we could: our entire crew. It felt good to know that my crew was alive at least.
The next plan of action: we decided to split up again, keep the Collectors fighting on two fronts. I would lead a team straight through the heart of the station while another team moved alongside another route. The route I planned to go down was filled with seeker swarms. Mordin's counter-measure would not work with that many seekers, so we needed another solution. Samara proposed creating a biotic field, and Miranda said that any biotic could do it. I had witnessed Jacob's biotics first hand, and with his military (and personal) conditioning, he seemed the most logical candidate to create and hold the biotic bubble. With Jacob holding the bubble, I needed another leader for the second fire team so I chose Zaeed with his years of experience leading merc bands.
Tali was not looking too well. I felt a pang of guilt about that, since she had risked her own health to share an intimate moment with me before traveling through the relay. I wondered if perhaps I had been too selfish. I sent her to escort the crew back to the Normandy. Once back aboard the ship, Dr. Chakwas could take a look at her and treat any infection she might have.
The long walk was dangerous to be sure, but we managed to make it to the door nearly unscathed... until Jacob faltered and lost control of his biotic bubble. We ran to the door while Collectors dropped in, but Mordin fell behind and was carried away by seeker swarms. On the other side, the second fire team was pinned down; we opened the door to let them through, but Zaeed's shields went down and his armor couldn't stop the hits. He slumped against the door, swore, then died.
We were nearly at the central chamber, where we would plant the bomb. The Collectors were nearly upon us, trying to hack their way through their own door to get to us. I left Thane, Samara, and Jacob behind to guard the door while I took Miranda and Jack to the central chamber. The Collectors came in on platforms trying to stop us, but we took care of them fairly quickly and took the remaining platform to the central chamber.
And that's when we saw the Reaper. Well, Reaper Larvae actually. Seems the Collectors were constructing a Reaper using the captured colonists as... well I am not really sure. EDI told us that Reapers are techno-organic hybrids, although the purpose of the organic fluid remained unclear. It was also unclear why the Reaper looked... human. We managed to shoot the injection tubes -- a weak spot -- causing it fall from its moorings on the ceiling. Then we planted the bomb.
Then the Illusive Man called us, asking us to spare the base instead of blowing it to bits. He figured a timed radiation pulse would kill the Collectors to keep the base intact. This would allow Cerberus to study the base and its secrets to better fight the Reapers. I understood the logic, but after what I had seen I could not bear the thought of sparing the base, so I chose to destroy it. He was angry and ordered Miranda to stop me, but Miranda refused and resigned from Cerberus. I like her spunk.
We planted the bomb, but then the Reaper Larvae returned and tried to destroy us. It was big, but unfinished, and we managed to shoot it enough so that it stopped functioning and fell... taking the platforms were were standing on with it. Somehow we survived and I called the Normandy for extraction. We hightailed it to the Normandy and got out of there before the base exploded. It looked glorious. We left through the Omega-4 Relay.
I was glad to see that the crew holding the line had survived. Tali had also made it back alive with the entire crew. All total, the crew, Tali, Jacob, Miranda, Thane, Samara, and Jack had survived. But the loss of Garrus, Zaeed, Mordin, and Kasumi was crushing. I keep thinking back to the mission and wondering if there was anything I could do to get everyone out alive.
I talked to Tali after. She was running a fever, had a bad cold, and goodness knows what else. I felt terrible but she assured me it was worth it. That made me feel a little better but I still feel guilty for even having risked her life like that. Although I suppose we all risked our lives on the suicide mission. But it still makes me feel like a selfish jerk.
I need to take my mind off things. I think I will head out and rescue Admiral Hackett's friend, Dr. Kenson, from that Batarian prison. It would give Tali some time to recover from her infections. And we still have Project Overlord that Cerberus wanted us to take care of. That will at least distract me for a while from thinking about the people we lost... because of me.
Apologies for that last post. I keep forgetting how long my posts in this thread can get.
After I complete David Shepard in ME2, I am not sure what to do next. I want to import him into ME3, but I am thinking of doing an Adept run in ME2 only. It has been a while since I played the Adept. I feel like I need to break up the monotony of playing so many tech-based characters (even though David uses Slam). David is the second (of a planned a three) Engineers in a row, followed by an Infiltrator. I feel like I need to work in a biotic for a change of pace. And ME2 Adept is a lot of fun.
- rescued some ex-Cerberus scientists
- talked with holo-Lawson
- got the Volus bombing fleet
- destroyed a reaper on foot. imagine what I could do if I was on hand. hahahaha. get it?
- the quarians live to see another day
- the asari councilor tells me about an artifact. I tell her about my space hamster in my cabin
- the asari councilor tells me about an artifact. I tell her about my space hamster in my cabin
I picture the Asari Councilor giving Shepard a blank stare.
From the journal of David Shepard:
Joker got me as close as we dared to get in Batarian space and then I took a shuttle to the Batarian prison. Breaking into the prison and finding Dr. Kenson was the easy part. Breaking back out of the prison was a lot harder. Kenson was not as experienced with combat as my squadmates so it took longer to take out a bunch of the Batarians and escape in a shuttle.
Once in the shuttle, Dr. Kenson told me about the project: seems she and her team had discovered a Reaper artifact that showed her visions of the Reapers arriving. There was a relay near by the asteroid they were working on called the Alpha Relay, and this relay could connect to all the relays in the galaxy. Kenson and her team were planning to slam the asteroid into the relay, preventing the Reapers from using the relay.
I had my concerns about the artifact, but Kenson assured me they knew what they were doing. Once at the project base, she showed me a countdown. In two days, the Reapers would arrive. That was not good. Then she showed me the artifact, just sitting out in the open unshielded. That was worse.
Then artifact showed me a vision of the Reapers arriving. That was bad. Then Kenson got angry at me, saying she could not let me stop the arrival, then she ordered the project staff to take me down. That was worse. I got really badly injured in the fight, and they took me to the medical bay.
I woke up in the medical bay, only for the attending staff to try shoot me again. I knocked two of them out, but the third staff member sealed me in the room. Luckily, I had access controls to some mechs and used them to shoot my way out. After listening to a datapad, I learned that they had kept me sedated over two days, and they had to keep upping the dosage. Not sure how I managed to break out of the sedatives but I assume it was due to the implants Cerberus gave me during Project Lazarus. I will have to thank Miranda for that later.
By this point the entire project staff was clearly indoctrinated and Kenson was the craziest fanatic of them all. I no longer felt bad about killing any of them I shot my way to the project control center, where I activated the fusion torches, setting the asteroid on a collision path with the asteroid. I tried to warn the Batarians on the nearby planet, but Kenson stopped the transmission to yell at me some more. I had to find Dr. Kenson and quickly.
Kenson then told me she was going to destroy the asteroid by putting the fusion reactor on meltdown, then ran away. Despite interference from the project staff, I managed to re-insert the cooling rods to prevent the meltdown. I then tried to talk Kenson down, but she refused to listen and blew herself up. I hurried to the landing pad outside, where the project staff was escaping. I killed as many as I could, then contacted the Normandy for extraction. Harbinger himself then talked to me through the communications relay, taunting me, telling me that my fighting was a futile effort. I essentially told him to stuff it and that I would find a way to win. The Normandy then picked me up and we beat a retreat through the relay before it was destroyed by the asteroid.
Later, Admiral Hackett himself came to see me. He thanked me for the effort and expressed regret that his old friend had been indoctrinated. He also told me the Batarians wanted retribution and that the Alliance was ready to put me on trial to placate the Batarians; they did not want to go to war while the Reapers were coming. Hackett did assure me that he would stall the Alliance for as long as he could.
The crew seemed relieved that I was still alive, and I was glad to see that Tali had recovered from her illness.
And someone dyed my hamster purple. Terrific.
- Joker saved that Normandy! Someone get that kid a medal
He prefers gold as opposed to silver.
And so begins my umpteenth Mass Effect trilogy play through. And so begins the adventures of Commander Matt Shepard (I'm so done with John, and it helps me differentiate saves, cause I'm a creature of habit and always play as soldier).
Udina being the first character we hear speak is always a nail scraping metal moment. But then Keith David and Lance Henrikson start talking, and I geek out.
Cue the Mass Effect opening. What's Oz doing in space? Why was Kaidan being co-pilot for less than a minute? (probably couldn't handle Oz being such an unprofessional, cocky git) Why I'm I getting these questions now?
Always love Eden Prime, and having visited the Lake District National Park here in England, its definitely eerie seeing that inspired landscape being ravaged by death and destruction.
Eurgh Ashley.
Yay Saren and seeing Sovereign in the not-so flesh for the very first time.
And finish up in the Normandy Med-Bay, a location of significance for all my playthroughs since the first one, since it is the only time I go Renegade in ME1 where I get angry at Ashley just for being on the Normandy at Captain Anderson's request. Also to stop her giving Shepard those looks if I answer Paragon. Just cause I'm appreciative of having been fawned over unconscious doesn't mean a damn thing so don't get any ideas you unprofessional, confrontational idiot. Perhaps you and Oz can talk, hmmkay?
In short, Mass Effect never gets old for me.
From the journal of David Shepard:
With the crew fully rested, we headed out to figure out why Project Overlord went silent. We dropped off in the Hammerhead and entered Hermes facility. We found a bunch of dead bodies inside. We also talked to a Dr. Gavin Archer on the comm, who told us that the experiment they were running went bad and needed to be shut down. Whatever that experiment was involved Geth, which started coming out the woodwork -- old human expression; I suppose it should now say out of the pre-fabricated-work or something. I better work on that phrase.
Anyway, it appears they were working on some sort of human-VI intelligence hybrid that went out of control, and it started taking over a lot of systems. It then started trying to send its signal off-world using the satellite dish. So we hurried over the dish and destroyed it, barely making it off in time before it collapsed. then Dr. Archer met us in person and explained the situation.
The experiment was designed to fuse a human intelligence with a Virtual Intelligence to create a figurehead for the Geth. It was supposed to try and end conflict with the Geth before it began. Gavin explained that his bother David had volunteered for the project, but his mind could not handle the connection and he spread like a virus. Dr. Archer needed us to go and lift the lockdown at Vulcan and Prometheus stations so we could then go to Atlas station and try to shut down his brother.
First stop: Prometheus Station. Prometheus Station was the remains of a crashed Geth ship. Inside we found lots of dormant Geth. Audio logs indicated that the intelligence had suddenly spread to the station and herded the staff to their death. We never saw the bodies. After lifting the lockdown, all the Geth became active and we had to fight our way out the station.
I suppose at this point I should say that my AI Hacking skills really came in handy this entire mission. Lots of Geth and mechs to control.
Next up was Vulcan station, the geothermal plant. It was a long drive in the Hammerhead, followed by a brief fight against some mechs controlled by David Archer. i nearly died at one point when I lost track of a mech that got behind me, but fortunately Thane and Miranda took care of it before it became fatal to my health.
Then it was off to Atlas Station. Resistance was minimal, but the place was incredibly dangerous just the same.. and very enlightening. At one point, David Archer hacked my implants, giving me hallucinations and visions: replays about what really transpired on Project Overlord. Seems the David did not actually volunteer for the experiment. David Archer was autistic and was able to communicate with the Geth, and so Gavin Archer and his project staff forced him to connect to the Geth network,... where his mind was overwhelmed and he reflexively fought back at everyone around him. It was frighteningly cruel.
Luckily, I managed to shut the machine down, and I saw David strapped to the machine, tubes and wires coming out of his body and mouth. It was horrific. Gavin Archer came in and tried to explain, but in no way could I ever agree with his extreme methods. I unhooked David from the machine and took him to Grissom Academy for treatment and care. I promised Dr. Archer that if he ever went near his brother again I would hunt him down and kill him.
I hope I never see Dr. Archer again..
And that is it for David Shepard in Mass Effect 2. I started an ME2 Adept playthrough (an old ME1 level 50ish import). I plan to do a whole playthrough, and maybe include some commentary for how I play the Adept. I have a lot of fun playing the ME2 Adept on Insanity.
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