If you are playing this on the PC, how is your mom watching the combat? Over your shoulder?
Did you explain the combo system to her? I am curious since she might end up taking Liara out even if she doesn't particularly care for her just so she can get the BE's.
Oh, the presentation has been fun.
I bring my PC over to Mom & Dad's and hook it up to the 52" TV. Then we sit next to each other about 4 feet from the screen.
Mom's left handed, so it's fairly easy for the transition to her control during conversations.
She has remarked about the level of tension in the last 3 sessions which included 1) SM and Arrival, 2) Overlord and LotSB, and 3) Intro thru Priority:Palaven.
I tried somewhat explaining combos to her, but it honestly took all the way through ME2 for her to BEGIN to take squadmate abilities into account when selecting them for missions instead of, "Oh, I don't know if I can trust him. And it's been a long time since this one had a turn outside. . ."
Well, good thing with a Sentinel is that it is easy to combo with any team mate. If your mom likes BEs, I'll bet she will love FEs! 
I've been wondering what happened with Gloria Shepard. Thanks for updating us! I've been trying to get my 52-year-old sister to try it - she's also a big fan of sci-fi - but so far she always rebuffs me with "I don't like shooting games".
Love the quote in your sig, btw. One of the best from a very quotable series.
Wait!? I'm a bit late to the party, but you got your 65 year old mother to play Mass Effect?
Now that is AWESOME! (all caps in awesome awesome).
Love the quote in your sig, btw. One of the best from a very quotable series.
Plus it fits my personal sentiments concerning the ending.
Gloria Shepard returns!
After going around the Normandy and talking to everyone, Gloria took Sam's info and dashed off to Grissom Academy. She liked what Jack has made of herself, and was happy to see David again. After a good amount of thinking about it, She recommended that the students get used in support instead of assaults.
Another round of 'round the Normandy, and our next stop was Eden Prime. Gloria Is taking a cautious approach with Javik for the time being.
Next, time to check in on all those people sending emails from the Citadel. Miranda first, since Gloria declined transport directly to Huerta Memorial. Gloria was pleased that Miranda is talking again after the cold shoulder was given for siding with Jack (too bad those two won't be able to talk things out at the party).
I was really looking forward to how Gloria was going to deal with the Thane/Kaidan issue. It's looking like there will be a better chance of seeing Thane's ghost at the end of the Citadel DLC than a tender moment with Kaidan. I was really surprised at how long it took mom to move the cursor off of the LIE option with Kaidan when he brought the issue up.
Checked in with Jondam Bau, and Gloria was quite pleased to see Kasumi again. She was also pissed off when Kasumi "died" and relieved when she wasn't really.
Next stop was checking in with Aria. Along the way, Gloria rebuffed James again with his flirtations (although she's loving the details of the character) and didn't buy the Alliance guys drinks. While running around, tracking down Aria's contacts, also talked with Joker and EDI in the Commons. Two thirds of Aria's merc groups are in the fold now (Sayn is in charge of Eclipse).
Overall character impressions:
Gloria does NOT think it's a good idea for EDI to alter her programming, although she also doesn't seem to be opposed to the Joker/EDI ship.
Garrus is feeling like a good shoulder on board the Normandy.
It's COMMANDER, not Lola, James.
Liara is still trustworthy (just not as much as Garrus).
We will see how things progress with Javik.
Nice! I think she's going to like Rachni mission...
Nice! I think she's going to like Rachni mission...
I can guarantee mom is gonna love the Rachni colony even if it's just because of Grunt. He ended up being her favorite in ME2.
I can guarantee mom is gonna love the Rachni colony even if it's just because of Grunt. He ended up being her favorite in ME2.
Combine that with a somewhat similar fate to Kasumi... His "death" is one of my favorite moments in the trilogy
Your mom doesn't realize that Liara is the canon love interest for Shepard. The others were put there for people who can't accept Liara.
Your mom doesn't realize that Liara is the canon love interest for Shepard. The others were put there for people who can't accept Liara.
Yeah, Liara did end up being the writer's pet by the end of the trilogy, especially in ME3. It's disappointing for the other LI's like the VS (Ashley or Kaidan), since they were chained to the Citadel for half the game, only to come back and have nothing to say on the Normandy. Liara on the other hand get's spotlights when she does the time capsule with Shepard, when she meets Javik, when she talks again to Shepard, when they visit Thessia, when talking about the Crucible, and ... Yeah, writer's pet
Can't wait to see how Gloria Shepard's journey will wrap up
Your mom doesn't realize that Liara is the canon love interest for Shepard. The others were put there for people who can't accept Liara.
As of right now, I put the odds of Gloria having ANY LI by the end of ME3 at no better than 50%.
I'm so in love with this thread, please don't let it die!
Well, Gloria Shepard's last session was fairly uneventful, but worth a mention.
We tackled the Cerberus Lab, Sur'Kesh, and the two Turian missions on Tuchanka.
Gloria was thrilled to see Mordin again (I'm soooooo sadistically looking forward to her crying when he dies), and seems to really like Eve as well. She was also quite pleased to have Wrex on board again as well.
Gloria was also suitably impressed by Tarquin's sacrifice.
The next session could be VERY long if we push all the way through curing the Genophage, but I think that will probably wait and get paired with the coup later on.
I look forward to reading her reaction on Grunt's mission
After the last session, this one was a blockbuster.
The day started with Gloria going to Benning to help the colonists against Cerberus. After it was over, I shared with mom that this is my least favorite mission of the game, since she remarked that the mooks just keep coming and coming (well, she didn't call them mooks, but you know what I mean).
Next, Gloria led an expedition into what ended up being a Reaper engineered nest of mutant Rachni. Mom was glad to see Grunt come into his own, said she really hated the Husks, and then when it came time for Grunt's last stand, she was upset that we were going to have to watch him die, only to hold out hope when he went over the cliff. She was greatly relieved when a bloody Grunt asked for something to eat and laughed. Oh, and this Queen met the same fate as the first one on Noveria (because it was Reaper engineered).
Our next mission was to take back an ancient ground to space gun on Tuchanka from Cerberus (Gloria remarked about how much they seem to be doing). Then it was back to the Citadel to see Thane and Kaidan and run a few errands. Mom surprised me by finally fully embracing the Thane romance.
Next, it was off to cure the Genophage. Gloria really didn't like the deal the Dalatrass extended, but she held her tongue at the first opportunity to reveal it. After some riding along with Wrex and Eve in the transport, she finally did reveal the sabotage and gained a greater measure of trust. After being suitably impressed by dodging the Brutes and the Reaper legs and then seeing Kalros do her thing, Gloria sat a little misty-eyed as Mordin went up to the top and sang his songs making sure things went right.
We had more time available, so I told mom we had time for one more trip. We could go and talk to the Salarian Councilor about Udina, or we could take out the fighter base on Noveria that Hacket asked us to. She said, "Well, let's end up not fighting for the night, so let's go to the Citadel." I could barely hide my grin.
Even before we got to see Thane in action, mom said, "It's Thane's turn to die, isn't it?", and was a little crushed when that did finally come to pass. She remarked about, "Are we supposed to know this guy?" in reaction to Kai Leng. And then came the standoff.
I told mom to BE READY during the cutscene and I think that set her adrenaline running even faster. She just missed the Paragon interrupt and then was faced with having to talk Kaidan down. Before I could remind her that the blurry dialog choices were still not grey, she hit the middle option and all hell broke loose. She ended up hitting the Renegade interrupt in time to be the one who shot Kaidan and then killed Udina. She was very upset, because she had been looking forward to Kaidan coming back on board the Normandy. I offered to go back and "fix" it for her. Not remembering whether the blurs meant I couldn't choose them, I took the interrupt and asked mom if she wanted Shepard or Kaidan to take down Udina (she picked herself). I congratulated mom on her first "do over".
We ended the night at Thane's deathbed. My own attempt at the Thane romance had never locked in in ME2, so I was treated for the first time to a reading of the prayer for "Siha".
Some of the best parts of the game All the feels!! 
Hmmm a reload though? Should you have offered?
If Kaidan's life is on the line, hell yes reload!
This thread is really cool btw, I love that there are moms and dads who play these kind of games!
Hmmm a reload though? Should you have offered?
I Shepard dies you reload, why not if Shepard kills the wrong person?
Hmmm a reload though? Should you have offered?
The main reason I offered the reload was because I watched mom desperately try to hit the right button on the mouse when the Paragon interrupt came on. Her intent was clearly to talk Kaidan down, so I took pity. Going back 2 minutes is a lot different than going back 8+ hours to make sure you have enough cred to talk down Wrex on Virmire.
After the emotional roller coaster that was the last session, I was personally looking forward to doing a bunch of the side missions this time out. Gloria, as it turned out, had other plans.
We started out with going right back to the Normandy with a brief pause to talk to a questioning Kaidan. After talking through things, he's back onboard. Then Gloria went around the Normandy and talked to the crew about the attempted coup. I continue to be intrigued by Gloria's attitude toward EDI (DON'T alter your programming) and Joker (why NOT try to pursue a relationship with EDI?).
Next, it was time to read emails. After reading all of the new ones, I finally allowed her to open the one from Aria about retaking Omega. When we redocked at the Citadel to start in on the mountain of meetups that people wanted to do, Gloria chose to go to dock 42, and even with her extreme hesitance to leave everyone behind, she decided to help Aria for all the promised resources.
Despite the action-orientation of Omega, mom enjoyed the next few hours. She never fully trusted Aria OR Nyreen, and played her responses mostly Paragon while throwing in enough Renegades that I was left wondering if Petrovsky was going to survive at the end (he did). After the story buildup of the Adjutants, mom was really getting into the final fight in Afterlife and kept on pointing out where the other foes were whenever I dispatched one.
After Aria's closing "benediction", we went back to the Citadel to start in on all those meetups and side missions. Gloria decided the first one up would be to swap the medical supplies for Dr. Chakwas. Along the way we also took some pictures for the documentarian and heard about the sabotaged medigel dispensers. And THAT led to the delightful conversation with Conrad Verner. The non-completionist track that we took way back in ME1 meant that we didn't have enough ancient Asari writings to get the final 5 WA, but it was fun all the same. Mom was confused about the "dead" Cerberus operative that was just "ignored" by everyone when the final cutscene in that sequence was over, but still had fun with the walking off into the sunset of the "hero" Conrad with Jenna.
Our final tackle of the night was tracking down Din Korlack for possibly being in cahoots with Cerberus. For all that she didn't like him in ME2, mom was glad to hear Zaeed's voice, but not enough to mourn his passing (non-loyal after all). Gloria chose the planet over the bombers.
Maybe next time will be that easy-going run of short missions I was hoping for this time out, but if my guess is right, mom will get sucked into the Leviathan rabbit-hole as soon as I let her open THAT email after blowing up the monestary.
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