122 réponses à ce sujet

[congokong]

@congokong
Well, if you let Balak go, he uses the Batarian embassy codes to remotely shut down a dozen life-support machines and causes a passenger ship carrying over 100 Alliance soldiers to crash (none of which is reflected in your war assets). If you arrested him or left him to die, he uses the codes to secure medicine and food for Batarian refugees. His "softening" makes little sense, but he technically does kill more people if you let him go than if you don't.

I didn't know that. It must have been kept somewhat hush hush for it to slip by me. Where/when does this happen?

 

When you let Balak go you pretty much know more than 3 people (# of hostages) will die by his hand eventually. Shepard just doesn't want to taint his/her honor the same way Batman wouldn't by not killing the Joker. A similar situation occurs in ME2 with Vido Santiago.

 

On my first playthrough I kept Balak alive for the Alliance because I was hoping they'd flay him or something ...only to find him prancing around the Citadel in ME3. After that I meta-gamed by always just killing him.

[Daemul]

Vido Santiago is another I kill instead of letting go. The dudes a sociopath in an extremely powerful position as head(though he hides it) of one of the biggest merc groups in the galaxy. He had to go. Same with Jona Sederis. These merc groups are run by absolute psychos. 

[DeinonSlayer]

Vido Santiago is another I kill instead of letting go. The dudes a sociopath in an extremely powerful position as head(though he hides it) of one of the biggest merc groups in the galaxy. He had to go. Same with Jona Sederis. These merc groups are run by absolute psychos.

Seems reasonable to me that Vido would attempt to assassinate you or something in ME3 if you let him go. Instead they went with the "exit pursued by a bear" route, with Vido dying off-screen between ME2 and 3 at Zaeed's hand.

Shotgun Julia has brought up the relevant point before that Shepard would have neither the equipment nor the expertise to put out a refinery fire. Makes sense to go after Vido for that reason alone (though there would be a rather unpleasant "chat" with Zaeed afterwards in regards to his conduct). The other obvious solution would have been to have the Normandy blow up his dropship as it was flying away.

@congokong
Gotta listen to what Noles says about how the codes were used.

[congokong]

Seems reasonable to me that Vido would attempt to assassinate you or something in ME3 if you let him go. Instead they went with the "exit pursued by a bear" route, with Vido dying off-screen between ME2 and 3 at Zaeed's hand.

Shotgun Julia has brought up the relevant point before that Shepard would have neither the equipment nor the expertise to put out a refinery fire. Makes sense to go after Vido for that reason alone (though there would be a rather unpleasant "chat" with Zaeed afterwards in regards to his conduct). The other obvious solution would have been to have the Normandy blow up his dropship as it was flying away.

@congokong
Gotta listen to what Noles says about how the codes were used.

 

Oh right. Since Balak was only alive once it never really clicked with me.

 

Regarding people like Vido and Balak, if you put someone like Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, or Adolf Hitler (all 3 were dangerous people with a lot of influence) in their place would the government scoff at a few casualties to stop them? Granted, Vido/Balak aren't quite as influential despite Balak nearly killing millions and being the batarians' "best agent" while Vido is leader of the pain in the butt Blue Suns.

[ImaginaryMatter]

Seems reasonable to me that Vido would attempt to assassinate you or something in ME3 if you let him go. Instead they went with the "exit pursued by a bear" route, with Vido dying off-screen between ME2 and 3 at Zaeed's hand.

Shotgun Julia has brought up the relevant point before that Shepard would have neither the equipment nor the expertise to put out a refinery fire. Makes sense to go after Vido for that reason alone (though there would be a rather unpleasant "chat" with Zaeed afterwards in regards to his conduct). The other obvious solution would have been to have the Normandy blow up his dropship as it was flying away.

@congokong
Gotta listen to what Noles says about how the codes were used.

 

What does she say about the codes?

[DeinonSlayer]

What does she say about the codes?

You'll have to listen to her after finding each one. If Balak was permitted to leave on X57, she describes how "this code was used to shut down a dozen life-support machines in the hospital" and "that code caused a ship with over a hundred Alliance soldiers on board to crash in the docks." If Balak was arrested/left to die/killed and replaced by another Batarian, we instead hear her saying that "this code was used to direct medicine to batarian refugees" and "that code was used to secure food."

I honestly think the quest is bugged. Balak isn't supposed to show up if he was arrested, and if he was left to die (and survived), we were supposed to hear about terrorist acts committed with these codes.

[Obadiah]

ME2 doesn't give me enough reason to sacrifice the factory workers to go after Vido. You have to infer that he's some sort of menace or something to go after him. There is some evidence of this because his name shows up in one (or two?) of the side missions involving the Blue Suns, and of course many of the combat side missions involve the Blue Suns.

[KaiserShep]

ME2 doesn't give me enough reason to sacrifice the factory workers to go after Vido. You have to infer that he's some sort of menace or something to go after him. There is some evidence of this because his name shows up in one (or two?) of the side missions involving the Blue Suns, and of course many of the combat side missions involve the Blue Suns.

 

Vido always struck me as a high-level goon, and not much of anything to really be concerned about. I mean what's he going to do, hunt down an elite commando that happens to captain a stealth warship? I wouldn't bother chasing after that vermin just to help some guy I don't care about yet get his revenge.

[MassivelyEffective0730]

Vido Santiago is another I kill instead of letting go. The dudes a sociopath in an extremely powerful position as head(though he hides it) of one of the biggest merc groups in the galaxy. He had to go. Same with Jona Sederis. These merc groups are run by absolute psychos. 

 

I kill him, but not out of those ideals. I do it so I get Zaeeds loyalty. Typically, I'll avoid killing him if I can talk Zaeed down. I'd rather keep the infrastructure of a fuel management plant intact. If it goes up, it can cause a massive ecological problem that can end up ruining profits and interest in colonization. It's a flagging industry as it is. Space is dangerous. Letting the regional ecology around a destroyed fuel station on a tropical jungle planet burn doesn't help. Vido's a bug. Like Darius before him, I kill worse people than him on the way to real problems. 

[von uber]

I simply kill him for the renegade points.

[Daemul]

Dat Assault Rifle upgrade.

[cap and gown]

Dat Assault Rifle upgrade.

 

You know, its really strange how my soldier Sheps suddenly discover that Vido Santiago is the biggest threat to galactic security ever.
 

[Staff Cdr Alenko]

I never kill Balak because I always save the hostages, and as for the other guy, I always talk to him but then fight him. It goes like this: Shepard slowly approaches the batarian while aiming down his sights, listens to what he has to say and then when the guy starts talking about "a simple slave grab"... "That's reason enough for me".

[ImaginaryMatter]

You'll have to listen to her after finding each one. If Balak was permitted to leave on X57, she describes how "this code was used to shut down a dozen life-support machines in the hospital" and "that code caused a ship with over a hundred Alliance soldiers on board to crash in the docks." If Balak was arrested/left to die/killed and replaced by another Batarian, we instead hear her saying that "this code was used to direct medicine to batarian refugees" and "that code was used to secure food."

I honestly think the quest is bugged. Balak isn't supposed to show up if he was arrested, and if he was left to die (and survived), we were supposed to hear about terrorist acts committed with these codes.

 

Oh, those codes. For some reason I thought you were talking about some additional thing.

 

Too bad that exists as flavor text and doesn't have any ramifications beyond that.

[Jukaga]

Balak dies every time. Anyone who does otherwise is derelict in their duty to humanity and the alliance. The hostages can not even be taken into consideration, they are a non-issue in the decision making process. The choice to harm them or not is entirely Balak's, not Shepard's. The story consequences of Balak surviving into ME3 should not be ignored. Rather than 'man-up' and join the anti-Reaper alliance he indulges in more petty terrorism at the expense of human soldiers on the citadel, then Shepard is supposed to say 'aww shucks' and let him rally the remaining Batarians? Screw that. His nameless replacement who only steals food and medical supplies is someone I can deal with, but Balak? Nope. Every character I play he dies.

[Obadiah]

Can there be any redemption for someone like Balak? It would literally be like working with UBL (tho some of us do work with the Reapers which is way worse).

[Obadiah]

I usually get Balak in ME3 whether I killed him or not in ME1, and I always assumed Balak was operating as a lone terrorist during the X57 incident, or at least someone with a low rank in the military operating as a rogue on his own.

So, I finally got the non-Balak batarian guy in ME3, and he indicated that Balak was actually high ranking military operative when he was killed in Mass Effect 1. That means the X57 incident was not just some random terrorist attack, but an outright unprovoked act of war by the Batarian Hegemony. It was an act in which their first salvo was the murder of millions of civilian humans on a colony, and complete destruction of the planet's biosphere. It would have been worse than the Geth attack on Eden Prime, or almost any attack the game shows except for the Reaper invasion.

As a "terrorist" incident, it was an act the Hegemony could have denied any part in, and called any Alliance response an act of aggression.

[Ryriena]

I kind of figured he was a high ranked official in ME1 as such not a lone terrorist. Their was no way a small group could've pull something off that big it had to be a official in the Hegemony that helped them to get enough people too pull it off. To me he didn't seem like the lone terrorist type to me I let him go in order to find out who order the group their in the first place. That we could kill him in Me3 for doing such a thing in the first place.

[RZIBARA]

I kill that son of a b*tch everytime

[Farangbaa]

Balak dies every time. Anyone who does otherwise is derelict in their duty to humanity and the alliance. The hostages can not even be taken into consideration, they are a non-issue in the decision making process. The choice to harm them or not is entirely Balak's, not Shepard's. The story consequences of Balak surviving into ME3 should not be ignored. Rather than 'man-up' and join the anti-Reaper alliance he indulges in more petty terrorism at the expense of human soldiers on the citadel, then Shepard is supposed to say 'aww shucks' and let him rally the remaining Batarians? Screw that. His nameless replacement who only steals food and medical supplies is someone I can deal with, but Balak? Nope. Every character I play he dies.

 

So if I break into your house, try to steal stuff, you catch me doing it and I tell you that if I am not out of the house all by myself in 1 minute your mother will be slaughtered... you'll keep me there because the harm done to your mother is my fault?

[DeinonSlayer]

I usually get Balak in ME3 whether I killed him or not in ME1, and I always assumed Balak was operating as a lone terrorist during the X57 incident, or at least someone with a low rank in the military operating as a rogue on his own.So, I finally got the non-Balak batarian guy in ME3, and he indicated that Balak was actually high ranking military operative when he was killed in Mass Effect 1. That means the X57 incident was not just some random terrorist attack, but an outright act of war by the Batarian Hegemony. It was an act in which their first salvo was the murder of millions of civilian humans on a colony, and complete destruction of the planet's biosphere. It would have been worse than the Geth attack on Eden Prime, or almost any attack the game shows except for the Reaper invasion.As a "terrorist" incident, it was an act the Hegemony could have denied any part in, and called any Alliance response an act of aggression.

My canon arrests him in ME1. Secondary kills him.

I suppose the problem with arresting him is that the Alliance would potentially be distracted from the problem with Saren by the new war brewing with the Hegemony. Either way, it's still better in my view than letting the guy walk.

[Steelcan]

I arrest him or leave him for dead depending on whether I am a colonist or not

[Bardox9]

I kill Balak and Vido. Yes the hostages don't make it, but those two pricks need to die!