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[SwobyJ]

For the last several months, I've had a friend over, who we will call 'Dany Shepard'. We relax, chat, maybe have a dinner that I make or we order out, she might bring wine or I might have some available, and we play Mass Effect. I got her started on ME1 and we're now progressing through ME2, with the intention to finish the trilogy and perhaps play through the fourth game (likely owned by myself unless we can make safe file/story import/etc work smoothly enough for her on a hypothetical future new PC or console of hers) at around the same time as each other.
 
It has been some real fun. From the beginning, first on a whim but later with her clear permission, I've recorded the progress in posts on the "What did you do today in the Mass Effect trilogy?" topic, and I think I'll continue to do that, but that thread is so long and has such a variety of types of posts that I don't like only posting there. I also want to more directly read what people think of this playthrough and maybe even take requests for choices/builds/etc (though it is up to Dany's discretion).
 
I'll be putting the entries in here shortly, to catch up, along with the most recent January 13, 2015 entry.
 
Screenshots may happen too, but I won't be taking them while she's playing, but instead just a couple to show what her Shepard looks like. Dany is a rather casual gamer at best, barely familiar with RPGs and Shooters, but she's enjoying herself and our time hanging out. I hope you enjoy our story
 
July 25, 2014 -- First, Second -- Starting ME1 -- Eden Prime, Citadel, Therum
July 30, 2014 -- Third -- Therum, Feros

August 5, 2014 -- Fourth -- Sidemissions, Bring Down The Sky DLC
August 7, 2014 -- Fifth -- Bring Down The Sky, Sidemissions
August 12, 2014 -- Sixth -- Novaria
August 30, 2014 -- Seventh -- Sidemissions

November 13, 2014 -- Eighth -- Virmire
November 27, 2014 -- Ninth -- Done ME1, Starting ME2 -- Ilos, Citadel, Lazarus Project, Freedom's Progress

January 14, 2015 -- Tenth -- Omega, Mordin's Recruitment

January 20, 2015 -- Eleventh -- Jack's Recruitment, Grunt's Recruitment

February 11, 2015 -- Twelfth -- Citadel, Garrus' Recruitment, half Horizon

February 28, 2015 -- Thirteenth -- half Horizon, Illium, Thane's Recruitment

April 3, 2015 -- Fourteenth -- Tali's Recruitment, Jack's Loyalty, Samara's Recruitment

April 7, 2015 -- Fifteenth -- Tuchanka, Grunt's Loyalty

May 5, 2015 -- Sixteenth -- Collector Ship, Kasumi's Loyalty DLC

June 11, 2015 -- Seventeenth -- Mordin's Loyalty, Garrus' Loyalty, Jacob's Loyalty

July 23, 2015 -- Eighteenth -- Thane's Loyalty, Samara's Loyalty, Sidemissions

September 3, 2015 -- Nineteenth -- Miranda's Loyalty, Zaeed's Loyalty DLC, Normandy Crash Site DLC

November 19, 2015 -- Twentieth -- Firewalker DLC, Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC

March 2, 2016 -- Twenty First -- Overlord DLC

March 24, 2016 -- Twenty Second -- Hub Clearout, Legion's Recruitment, Tali's Loyalty

May 25, 2016 -- Twenty Third -- Legion's Loyalty, Suicide Mission

X X, 2016 - Twenty Fourth -- Sidemissions and Hub Clearout, Arrival DLC, Done ME2?, Starting ME3?, Vancouver?

 

Mass Effect 2 To-Do List:

-Arrival DLC

-Various Sidemissions and Hub Clearout

 

Mass Effect 2 Completed List:

-Lazarus Project

-Freedom's Progress

-Mordin's Recruitment

-Garrus' Recruitment

-Grunt's Recruitment

-Jack's Recruitment

-Horizon

-Samara's Recruitment

-Thane's Recruitment

-Tali's Recruitment

-Jack's Loyalty

-Grunt's Loyalty

-Collector Ship

-Kasumi's Loyalty DLC

-Mordin's Loyalty

-Garrus' Loyalty

-Jacob's Loyalty

-Thane's Loyalty

-Samara's Loyalty

-Miranda's Loyalty

-Zaeed's Loyalty DLC

-Normandy Crash Site DLC

-Overlord DLC

-Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC

-Overlord DLC

-Legion's Recruitment

-Tali's Loyalty

-Legion's Loyalty

-Suicide Mission

 

Mass Effect 3 To-Do List:

-Vancouver

-Mars

-Manae

-Sur'Kesh

-Turian Platoon

-Cerberus Bomb

-Rachni Planet

-Tuchanka

-Grissom Academy

-Cerberus Coup

-Geth Dreadnought

-Quarian Admiral

-Geth Consensus

-Rannoch

-Ex-Cerberus Scientists

-Asari Monastery

-Thessia

-Sanctuary

-Cronos

-London

-N7 sidemissions and Hub Clearout

-From Ashes DLC

-Leviathan DLC

-Omega DLC

-Citadel DLC

[SwobyJ]

*Reminder: This is just copy+pasted from months ago, without any updating.

 

JULY 25, 2014

 

My friend's 'Dany' (nickname) Shepard is progressing gradually. She plays it when visiting, over wine and chatting. Very fun

 

First visit:

-FemShep, custom

-Sentinel (Warp Bonus power as that's only one available on my PC version)

-Can't remember background

-Completed Eden Prime and 2/3 of Citadel main storyline

-She has been a mix of all 3 convo states and Paragon/Renegade, but has really been surprising me with how Renegade she can be sometimes, especially in regular conversation

-A good way to put it is that she's inquisitive and willing to learn and be friendly with others, but can easily not give a damn and just wants to move on

-She didn't mind Kaidan and Ashley but didn't particularly like them either

-She really wants to romance Joker; much more than Kaidan. Too bad - I wonder if she'll be against EDI in ME3 in jealousy? Haha. She may skip Kaidan and Liara and move onto a ME2 romance (I'm predicting Garrus or Thane as she doesn't mind aliens). I don't think she'll be going for a more lesbian Liara or Samantha thing, unless she ends up loving Liara (hasn't met her yet).

-Quickly swapped Ashley, her least favorite character so far, with Garrus.

-Has a lot of trouble with combat but it isn't really because she's 'bad' imo, but because she's not used to these genres (shooter, RPG) and she's playing on a keyboard+mouse while sitting on a couch (TV). She's getting better with every couple hours though, and if we get to ME2+, she'll probably be fine on Casual or Normal difficulty (Veteran is possible but would surprise me).

 

Second visit:

-Reached Level 8 at the end of it

-Completed the last 1/3 of Citadel and some of Therum. Probably would have done all of Therum if we didn't keep taking breaks to talk.

-So far is leaving most Citadel sidequests and possibly UNC for last, if at all (depends how interested she gets after Virmire/Other). We'll see.

-Her Renegadeness is really popping out (she had no problem with bringing Wrex to Fist even when I told her what the consequences would be -  "What? Its his job. He was hired to kill."), but funny enough, still has slightly more Paragon points than Renegade so far.

-She loves Wrex and her party is Garrus and Wrex, carrying on to Therum. Wrex is the tank and Garrus is the box opener and maybe medic.

-She likes Tali but doesn't seem particularly attached to her. Tali's Codex-like rambling didn't help. Likes her outfit!

 

Next visit will probably finish Therum and either move into sidequests, BDTS, or most likely Feros (she agrees with my suggestion of Therum-Feros-Novaria(with Liara)-Virmire).

 

I may update if she visits frequently enough (hopefully at least once every week or two).

[SwobyJ]

July 30, 2014

 

My friend's Dany Shepard is back!

Sentinel Female Shepard Sole Survivor (can't remember origin)

 

She visited earlier to play but another friend tagged along and we ended up talking and watching Lego Movie, which I don't mind at all! Great movie.

 

She was here today and this is what we did.

 

Third Visit

-Reached Level 24 at end of it

-Completed Therum and Feros entirely

-Still no UNC/Citadel sidequests, though we agreed I may help her out tonight by doing some of the most boring ones and just giving she a short textfile summary of them haha (certainly not things like Wrex's Armor, etc)

-Things are looking fairly Paragade so far, and her actions on Feros really helped that along. I'm not sure it'll stay this way though, and I think its quite possible she'll end up Renegon. She is regularly Renegade response to people, but just doesn't consider life a good thing to toss away when she has the power - even if she won't lose sleep over it...

-Okay, Ashley's gonna burn, I know it now. Dany is totally bored of her, nearly considers her a speciesist, all that jazz. Funny enough though, she likes Ashley's family.

-Kaidan lives, so there's that. Still boring to Dany.

-Liara... is getting romanced? Whoh. FemShep/Liara! Guess she did end up liking Liara enough! However, I don't think she adores her, so a change to someone in ME2 is quite possible. She's still Renegade towards Liara, but just friendly enough for a romance to happen.

-Wrex is still adored.

-Garrus is still liked, but we're both finding his audio equalizing and blurry texture to be a bit annoying...

-Tali is ignored except to talk to her after missions. A 'oh, she's there! I forgot' kinda deal.

-She still wants to romance Joker.

-Brought Garrus and Wrex to Therum. Brought Liara and Wrex to Feros. Will probably bring Wrex, and possibly bring Liara to Novaria, unless she wants to shake things up. At this point, its quite possible that Wrex is with her the entire game!

-On Feros, we did all those colony sidequests. She was fine with letting Jeong die due to lack of Charm/Intimidate. We saved MOST of the colonists - taking a 'lives are important but it isn't the top priority' approach. Shiala was just barely spared, and I think only because she spoke of helping the colony rebuild. So the result wasn't 'optimal' but was appropriately Dany and reasonable given the situation she was facing.

 

Next visit will prioritize Bring Down the Sky and Novaria. Maybe Pinnacle Station. Maybe going to the Citadel again for sidequests.

 

At this rate, we'll almost certainly be done ME1 by the end of August, and done all the games by N7 Day.

[SwobyJ]

August 5, 2014

 

My friend's Dany Shepard is back! Only for a few hours instead of several, due to scheduling issues, but that's okay. She enjoyed herself as best she could for the content we played

 

Fourth Visit

-Reached 27 at end of it.

-Original intent was to get into Novaria and/or Bring Down the Sky, but neither happened.

-Instead, we went to the Citadel and did the full sweep of sidequests that could be acquired, and sidequests that could be completed in a single visit.

-Oh my Maker this was boring and tiring.

-On the bright side, she gained a few levels and was surprised to gain so many morality points! Still has a bit more Paragon than Renegade, but her points and Charm/Intimidate are both now high enough that she can comfortably pass most conversation checks, which is good.

-Again, mostly more Renegade responses to things, except when it meant full disengagement from an activity/NPC communication, or quickly killing others. For example, she held back her gun while doing that assignment that would let Jenna off the hook with C-Sec. Remember Me mission was sad but successfully completed, proving that Dany has a heart, even if it is not something she showcases often. Keeper scanning was annoying.

-Wrex and Liara. This really looks like the common team, and she wished they had more elevator lines.

-She wished she could have successfully negotiated with the Flux AI. Made me wonder if she'll eventually be a Controller or Synthesizer, or not.

 

We then went to BDTS and finished the first torch. Kinda sucks that we did though, because I was going to go back and complete all of Pinnacle Station for her while she is gone (she doesn't want to do the arena but the rewards would be nice for her to have).

 

Next up looks like BDTS, maybe Novaria, and possibly our first rounds of UNC missions. We won't be going back to the Citadel for a good while, but will make sure to do it before Virmire, of course. After talking a bit about it, it does seem like we may be going for a completionist playthrough, at least with my help for the smaller stuff.

 

Might be playing again later this week to make up for the shorter playtime (3-4ish hours instead of 5-6) this time around.

[SwobyJ]

August 7, 2014

 

My friend's Dany Shepard kicked some ass!

Sentinel Colonist Sole Survivor

 

She had a few hours free today so the afternoon involved a lot of driving and killing.

 

Fifth Visit

-Reached 34 at the end of it

-Completed Bring Down the Sky, Garrus and Wrex's sidemissions, at least one or two more

-Paragon and Renegade are nearly equal now, with Paragon still very slightly ahead; Charm and Intimidate are near max anyway

-She ended up going after Balak, allowing the hostages to die, but instead of killing him, she placed him in Alliance custody. She did this because she isn't there to outright murder those directly threatening her life or mission, but he had to be stopped regardless, and not just let go. It was one of the first really tough choices for her. I had to tell her the trilogy consequences before she even decided (our playthrough is spoilerriffic, just as we both like it).

-Wrex is Wrex is Wrex is love, so of course we had to get his armor! Got lost on another UNC in the meantime.

-Dr. Heart was a dead man. No regrets.

-Tali will be joining on her pilgrimage-related mission, but I'm not sure about what else.

-Liara and Dany come closer together.

-Dany now understands why Ashley is guarded and suspicious of aliens, but I'm not sure she cares.

-Kaidan is boring.

-I think she still wants to romance Joker but that will have to take a back seat to what is happening.

 

Next up we will prioritize some sidemissions like Tali's and maybe Cerberus related stuff, and then Novaria if we have the time.

After/around that, we'll do Pinnacle Station and other UNC we come across.

 

A few more good visits should cover ME1 for us, August for sure at this rate.

 

Next update on this thread will probably be my Insanity NG+ playthrough again, where I just finished all initial Citadel stuff and I'm onto sidequests and Therum. My friend will visit again by some time next week.

[SwobyJ]

August 12, 2014

 

Dany Shepard had a long visit here but didn't play *that* much Mass Effect.

Sentinel Colonist Sole Survivor

 

Sixth Visit

Level 40 - Full Throw, much Barrier, some Stasis, most Decryption, most Electronics, some Warp, full Bastion, near full Charm AND Intimidate, full Spectre Training

-Completed all of Novaria (every sidemission and speaking to Normandy crew afterward)

-Several bars (nearly 50% of max) of Paragon and Renegade each, but Paragon still has a bit more

-Took Wrex and Liara to Novaria, them being Dany's best friend and romantic interest respectively.... but by now, she almost wants to romance Wrex!

-Turned in Anoleis, did the full package transfer, nearly did the full hotel bar business dealing (couldn't do final persuasion check for extra stuff but it was still successful)

-Dany didn't bust her way through the Peak facility, though I did tell her about the two possible routes to get through to Benezia.

-Rachni Queen was SPARED. Dany is rude, mean, but she is not going to be one to kill a whole species based on just what 'may' happen. She's more likely to punish for what 'did' happen, and the Queen doesn't even seem like a Queen that was alive (or at least important) during the Rachni Wars.

-Wrex is still the best. After showing her Citadel DLC clips of him (we do not care about spoilers for the trilogy at all), she is absolutely sure of this now.

-Dany is damn rude to Liara about the asari and their culture, but Liara cannot help but be attracted...

 

Next 1-3 visits will be Pinnacle Station and a crapton of sidequests, mostly UNC. After that, its the Virmire-->Ilos-->Ending run, but I don't know when that will be. If all goes well, like I've said before, it'll be done by the end of the month.

 

Spent rest of day having dinner, watching Youtube, watching Edge of Tomorrow, instead of doing ME1 sidequests. Novaria was enough.

 

She's really enjoying herself. No doubt this will be a full playthrough (even if I have to mineral/writings/etc search for her on my own, so she gets it all). Can't wait for ME2-ME3 later this year.

[SwobyJ]

August 30, 2014

 

Dany Shepard happened again, finally, but it was just sidequests and chatting!

 

Seventh Visit:

Level 43 (from 40)

Full-Master Throw

Basic Lift

Basic Stasis

Master Decryption

Master Electronics

Zero First Aid

Zero Medicine

Advanced Warp

Full Bastion

Near full Charm AND Intimidate

Full Spectre Training

Approx 50% of both Paragon and Renegade still, Paragon still a little more.

Rank VIIish gear is normal now, and soon VIII and IX will be.

 

-Only completed a couple more random UNC planets (full clear of maps, using Mass Effect Wiki for reference), and Tali's Pilgrimage Data sidemission. Of course Dany gave her the data.

-Wrex all the time still, but took Tali to fight geth.

 

-Next visit is Pinnacle Station (for sure now) and more sidequests (anything more trilogy-story related like Cerberus etc), which she isn't minding at all (except the crappy angles to drive over on the Mako). I'll have to bump the completion time to happen September instead of August.

[SwobyJ]

November 13, 2014

 

Long time, no see!

 

My friend and I have had a busy month or so, so no Mass Effect, but we finally got to meet to play Mass Effect last night!

 

We were going to do all sidequests, but considering the time apart and our waning enthusiasm for the first game, we agreed that it was better to just skip most remaining sidequests and move on. We left a save behind in case she, one day, became very interested in doing a more completionist playthrough.

 

However, it is still the plan to do pretty much everything in ME2 and ME3. ME1 is just getting tedious.

 

Eighth Visit:

Level 47 (from 43)

Full-Master Throw

Basic Lift

Full-Master Barrier (might have missed this line in the last post)

Basic Stasis

Master Decryption

Master Electronics

Zero First Aid

Zero Medicine

Advanced Warp

Full-Master Bastion

Near-Max Charm

Near-Max Intimidate

Full-Max Spectre Training

 

-Very sad, but again, no more sidequests (especially UNC), and we're not doing Pinnacle Station. Technically, I could still do the sidequests myself as long as we're still on ME1, but I haven't decided if I wanted to do so. She did want to speak to Conrad and renegaded him and made him cry, but I think it was in the way that has him continue on to ME2.

 

-Squadmates used was Wrex full time (OF COURSE) and a mix of Liara and Garrus, especially Liara.

-Only Virmire was completed. It was good fun!

-Wrex was talked down easily, due to having high Intimidate and getting his family armor.

-Ashley was sent off with Kirrahe's team, which survived.

-Ashley was set away from the team for the bomb.

-When leaving to save Ashley, Dany Shepard decided to go back to Kaidan and save him instead. There's only room for one abrasive woman on the team (that was literally our joking together).

-Dany listened to the Terra Firma guy, and in a hilarious moment, decided she just didn't want to have anything to do with this nonsense and left. No 'yes', no 'no', just 'bye'. It was awesome

-Convinced that addict that he was an addict.

-There was the casino hacker guy too, and Dany had no time for that. Talked to him but told him what he was doing was stupid and left.

-Anderson punched Udina.

-Romance scene with Liara!

-She's now just landed on Ilos, with Wrex and Liara.

 

So that's it. Only Ilos and the Citadel left!

 

I'm not sure what she'll do with the remaining choices. She'll probably Intimidate down Saren, but I don't know about the Ascension. Could go either way.

 

It looks like her Paragon and Renegade really may equal at the end, which is really strange to her. She's trying to be mostly rude, mostly authoritative, all that jazz, but still gets the Paragon. Oh well!

 

One, at most two more sittings. Ideally, the next visit will be Ilos+Citadel+Normandy+Lazarus Project and maybe Freedom's Progress and touring the ship. That's if we have more than a couple/few hours. This may happen this month.

[SwobyJ]

November 27, 2014

 

Yay! Done Mass Effect!

 

As said before, we skipped a bunch of ME1 sidequests because things were dragging on, but we intend on Dany Shepard doing the majority of side content in ME2 and ME3

 

Ninth Visit:

Mass Effect

Level 49 (from 47)

Full-Master Throw

Basic Lift

Full-Master Barrier

Basic Stasis

Master Decryption

Master Electronics

Zero First Aid

Zero Medicine

Advanced Warp

Full-Master Bastion

Near-Max Charm

Near-Max Intimidate

Full-Max Spectre Training

 

-Ilos and Citadel ending completed

-Wrex and Liara taken of course. Wrex for friendship, Liara for romance.

-Only Ashley died in this playthrough

-Surprisingly, there was not enough Charm or Intimidate to persuade Saren. The first boss fight happened. Otherwise, she would have Intimidated him.

-With some thought put into it, Dany decided to save the Council

-Anderson for Council

-Against her efforts, the Blue ending happened, because Paragon was slightly over Renegade!

 

Mass Effect 2:

Level 4 Sentinel

Throw Lv 1

Warp Lv 0

Tech Armor Lv 2

Overload Lv 1

Cryo Blast Lv 0

Defender Lv 2

Fortification Lv 1

 

-Lazarus Project and Freedom's Progress completed

-She finds Jacob sexy, ugh. Not saying she'll romance him, but she wasn't especially attached to Liara (but brightened up at the idea of LOTSB)

-Not too pleased with Miranda, at least so far

-Gave Veetor to Cerberus, under the thought that maybe they'd find something new from him (heh, they don't)

-Both Paragon and Renegade are near their first bar (out of 5). I told her about the new RP, which shouldn't be a problem since when it comes to most behaviors, she'll go Renegade (ME1 was just weird.. I think?)

-A LOT of import bonuses, both from ME1 (profile and missions and achievements) and the Previous ME2 Playthrough bonus

 

She'll probably take the game's and my suggestion to pick up Mordin first, but grabbing Zaeed and/or Kasumi along the way for missions is possible.

 

Maybe we'll be done this game this year. A lot less messing around on the Mako means a much smoother playthrough with a couple or few missions done each visit.

If she wants me to do the smaller stuff while she's not around, then that's also easier and less boring. I'm a 'master' at planet scanning now and N7 missions are mostly quite fast.

[Ithurael]

huh...this will be interesting to see how it all pans out.

[SwobyJ]

January 14, 2015

 

Tenth Visit (CURRENT AS OF THIS THREAD)

 

Level 5 Sentinel

Throw Lv 1

Warp Lv 0

Tech Armor Lv 2

Overload Lv 1

Cryo Blast Lv 0

Defender Lv 2

Fortification Lv 1

(so no real changes yet)

 

-We had a lot of chatting and pauses throughout the game to talk about things (including distractions to Youtube), so not much was done this time.

-Playtime consisted of getting used to the Normandy, exploring most of Omega and chatting with Aria, and completing Mordin's Recruitment mission.

-Brought Miranda and Jacob by default, and she didn't like Zaeed so he may be benched; though she is SUPER looking forward to recruiting both Jack and Grunt, and only picked up Mordin first due to finding out that he is necessary for  upgrades.

-She is definitely getting more Renegade, but Paragon keeps popping up too... ugh. She does default usually to the Renegade stuff though, so hopefully she doesn't find herself in a place where she can't pick an option because it is greyed out.

 

This is all taking longer than I thought it would (I thought at first that we'd be able to finish the trilogy by the end of the year, and then at least ME2, but neither happened), but ME2 and ME3 tend to have a better pacing (IMO) for multiple play sessions, so I think we'll be fine. Kinda sad we didn't do ME1 completionist, but it is very understandable and she doesn't miss out on THAT much.

 

Next up is likely two or three more recruitment missions, at least one of which will be Jack or Grunt (she wants em both!). Maybe a visit to the Citadel if she really wants to. No N7 missions yet, and no DLC missions.

 

She's liking Jacob more than most do, but is generally negative about Miranda. She seems to like Mordin, but not very much. Seems the initial team will be more like Jack, Grunt, maybe Garrus, maybe Jacob. I think she misses Wrex hard.

 

We're playing on Normal (instead of ME1 Casual) this time and I had to help out at the ventilation area for Mordin's mission after she died twice near the end of the combat scenario. I dunno why they made that part so comparatively tough, for it being so early in the game.

[JasonShepard]

Ooh, this all sounds fun. Kinda curious what her response to TIM was (and to the whole Shepard dying and being brought back stuff).

[rapscallioness]

I enjoyed reading thru this very much.

 

And yes, Wrex is life. Wrex is love. I, too, missed him hard in ME2 and ME3.

 

I like your "Dany Shepard". Hope all goes well, Love.

[SwobyJ]

Ooh, this all sounds fun. Kinda curious what her response to TIM was (and to the whole Shepard dying and being brought back stuff).

 

We talked about TIM being Lucifer (debatable, but that's not the point) but otherwise I think she was pretty neutral on him. I'll definitely get her opinions and feelings on Cerberus/TIM/Control/Etc stuff later on.

 

We didn't do the ME1 Cerberus sidemissions but I did brief her on them.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, we did talk about Shep's resurrection. She totally understands it being a lot of 'sciencey handwavey' material, but it isn't like she's a raging BSNer about it.

[SwobyJ]

I enjoyed reading thru this very much.

 

And yes, Wrex is life. Wrex is love. I, too, missed him hard in ME2 and ME3.

 

I like your "Dany Shepard". Hope all goes well, Love.

 

She's somewhat the opposite of me.

 

'Color-wise', you could say that I'm mostly Blue but with a touch of Red (I'm not getting into Green as that's a whole other matter), while she's mostly Red but with a touch of Blue that ends up being more than anyone expects .

 

This isn't just for Paragon/Renegade, but also thematically. I'd be trying to find out everything in the story that I can, but not everything (I'm not a memorizer), and I do value getting into combat sometimes. While she just gets right into the action, yet still enjoys the story and its why she's even playing, and she doesn't like extended combat scenarios.

 

So this is quite fun. Its giving me another perspective on how people play through the games, while not being too annoying (like if someone just spacebarred through all convos or something ridiculous like that).

 

And I've never experienced such Wrex preference before, in-person, so that's neat.

 

Other than some possible class-alts I may make, casually, in the future, this friend playthrough and my current 'definitive PC MainShep' playthrough will be the last that I actually know I'll see of the trilogy. The end, finally!, in 2015-2016. :'(

[Vazgen]

I find it awesome that you have someone who likes to share her Mass Effect experience. My gamer friends prefer to play in seclusion. I was like them, but I think that time has passed. I just want to share my feelings and thoughts about games, movies, books etc.! Part of why I started a YouTube channel

Hope you'll continue posting progress, it's very interesting and fun to read through!

[SwobyJ]

I find it awesome that you have someone who likes to share her Mass Effect experience. My gamer friends prefer to play in seclusion. I was like them, but I think that time has passed. I just want to share my feelings and thoughts about games, movies, books etc.! Part of why I started a YouTube channel

Hope you'll continue posting progress, it's very interesting and fun to read through!

 

Thanks!

My boyfriend of nearly 4 years is also a gamer, but he prefers to experience single player storylines alone, or at least with fresh eyes (so often, he can't see me play it first). Sharing thoughts and feelings about the games also comes after the matter, not during gameplay. So it is nice to have a friend that I can just pause the game and chat a bit with.

 

Aim is to at least get past Horizon this month. That's only a few missions... I think we can do it.

 

EDIT: For the record, bf picked Destroy while being almost entirely Paragon for pretty much everything. But I also gave him my IT-ness so he may have been influenced by that, even though I was perfectly accepting of him picking anything.

[SwobyJ]

January 20, 2015

 

Eleventh Visit

 

Level 8 Sentinel

Throw Lv 2

Warp Lv 0

Tech Armor Lv 3

Overload Lv 1

Cryo Blast Lv 0

Defender Lv 3

Fortification Lv 1

 

-Progress! She had a few hours free so we continued ME2

-Playtime consisted of Jack and Grunt's Recruitments and Normandy talking.

-Brought Miranda and Mordin (bye Jacob, boo Zaeed) to Jack's mission, and Jack and Mordin (bye Miranda, though Dany likes her sorta) to Grunt's mission. So far, this is determined to be the start of something great: Jack and Grunt super-team.

-Renegade is gaining. It has 1.5 bars while Paragon has only nearly 1 bar. Hopefully it gets even stronger as the next missions progress. We need Terminator Dany Shepard!

-She is very happy about Grunt.

-I repeat, she is very happy about Grunt.

 

Next up is 'Archangel's' Recruitment, and maybe the Citadel trip to grab Kasumi and maybe maybe speak to the Council, probably in a rude way . Horizon is possible. We won't be caring about sidemissions just yet, or the early-accessible DLC. I'm not sure if she actually knows who Archangel is, though she knows Garrus is in all three games so it won't take a lot for her to figure out.

 

Normal difficulty was quite troublesome this time. A couple times she would die twice to something and I'd take over the combat. However, I'm still impressed with her still for being a mostly non-gamer and non-shooter player. She would probably preform much better with a controller, but BIOWARE DECIDED NOT SO SUPPORT CONTROLLERS. Ahem. Please, for ME4, kthnx (it isn't a big deal when playing on my monitor but I almost require it for my TV).

 

I'll be glad when we get past Horizon because this initial mission stretch is one of my least favorite sections of the trilogy. I mean, the most disliked is all the Mako driving for sidemission completionism in ME1, but in terms of main progression, the Mordin-Jack-Grunt-Archangel stretch is just sooo boring compared to what else is out there. But I suppose its a good enough intro to things for new players to the franchise. Sigh. I want Thessia and Legion stuff :S.

[cap and gown]

 

Normal difficulty was quite troublesome this time. A couple times she would die twice to something and I'd take over the combat.

 

Well, Grunt is not a great team mate for an inexperienced player. He does not offer much in the way of powers and all your team mates do only a fraction of the weapon damage Shepard does. But his dialogue is usually very funny, so he is worth taking for that reason.

[SwobyJ]

Well, Grunt is not a great team mate for an inexperienced player. He does not offer much in the way of powers and all your team mates do only a fraction of the weapon damage Shepard does. But his dialogue is usually very funny, so he is worth taking for that reason.

 

Dany don't care. No matter what I say, she'll use him.

[Vazgen]

I find Grunt to be quite a useful addition. With squadmate healing limited to medi-gel it pays off to have a squadmate that can take a lot of punishment. And Grunt sure can Squad Incendiary ammo also doesn't hurt... 

Not sure how well will he work with Jack though, especially with the power setup you have. Horizon might be a pain if you bring those two without Warp to deal with all the Collector barriers. Concussive Shot doesn't really cut it, despite its description

 

Edit: I forgot, you play on Normal. Should work fine

[SwobyJ]

I find Grunt to be quite a useful addition. With squadmate healing limited to medi-gel it pays off to have a squadmate that can take a lot of punishment. And Grunt sure can Squad Incendiary ammo also doesn't hurt... 

Not sure how well will he work with Jack though, especially with the power setup you have. Horizon might be a pain if you bring those two without Warp to deal with all the Collector barriers. Concussive Shot doesn't really cut it, despite its description

 

Edit: I forgot, you play on Normal. Should work fine

 

Yeah, again, when Dany dies twice, I pick up the controls.

 

Or I can turn down the difficulty to Casual if Normal brings too many problems.

 

We're not going for optimization, and combat is secondary to story and overall narrative experience.

 

I'll be playing ME2 on Insanity pretty soon myself, though

[Vazgen]

Yeah, again, when Dany dies twice, I pick up the controls.

 

Or I can turn down the difficulty to Casual if Normal brings too many problems.

 

We're not going for optimization, and combat is secondary to story and overall narrative experience.

 

I'll be playing ME2 on Insanity pretty soon myself, though

I remember bringing Garrus and Jack on Horizon in one of my early playthroughs (Insanity though). The last section with husks had me running around and hiding with Cloak. I had no way to deal with armor and husks just destroyed both Jack and Garrus I learned much about the game since then

The armor layer on husks creates the most problems IMO. Without it (on Normal, for example) Jack fully leaves up to her fame. Shockwave is particularly entertaining

[SwobyJ]

February 11, 2015

 

Twelfth Visit

 

Level 9 Sentinel

Throw Lv 2

Warp Lv 0

Tech Armor Lv 3

Overload Lv 1

Cryo Blast Lv 0

Defender Lv 3

Fortification Lv 1

 

-Took a couple weeks, and a period of cold+bronchitis+bruised rib for me, but we found time to hang out.

-Playtime consisted of a trip to the Citadel (Kasumi+Sidequests+Tour+Council), Garrus' Recruitment, and some of Horizon before Dany head to leave.

-Used Jack, Grunt, Mordin, who all seem to be her favorites, but she was disappointed that Grunt didn't say much on the Archangel mission.

-Renegade is almost 2 bars, while Paragon has only slightly over 1 bar. It does SEEM that we'll have a very strong Renegade, but her occasional Paragon points tick both of us off, I think. But there's no way she's going to be completely mean, so we'll just have to deal.

-Dany seems to like Kasumi but hasn't used her yet.

-Archangel mission was really cool, quite an adventure . While I guided through the level, I never had to take over (in the combat area I mean), which is quite cool given its extended combat sections and minibosses.

 

Next up is finishing Horizon, and then... I dunno! Could be any of:

-Recruiting Samara, Thane, or Tali

-Loyalty Missions

-Sidequests/Smaller DLC like Firewalker or Normandy Crash Site

 

It is up to her. She seems to have all the characters she was looking more forward to (Jack, Grunt), so we may start with Loyalty.

 

She likes New Garrus more than Jacob, so far. Still dunno what she's going to do with romance. Garrus? Thane? Continuing with Liara? All I know is that she hates talking to Jacob.

I hope she likes Samara, Thane, and Legion. They're some of my favorite Mass Effect characters, personally, while the first bunch of ME2 (Mordin, Grunt, Jack, etc) I'm more lukewarm about.

[SwobyJ]

February 28, 2015

 

Thirteenth Visit

 

Level 12 Sentinel

Throw Lv 2

Warp Lv 0

Tech Armor - Power Armor Lv 4

Overload Lv 1

Cryo Blast Lv 0

Defender - Guardian Lv 4

Fortification Lv 1

 

-Playtime consisted of finishing Horizon, then going to Illium and mostly exploring it before stopping part way through to grab Thane.

-Used Jack and Grunt for Horizon, and Mordin and Grunt for Thane's Recruitment. Her favorites have kept solid

-She seems to like Thane, at least in a way, but we'll have to see if she forms an attachment, especially after Loyalty missions. This may be the case for many characters. Part me really wants her to drop Liara for Thane, despite breaking Liara's heart from that. The way I see it is that when it comes to the Red-Blue-Green (Green seemingly becoming an emerging morality type in Bioware games, connected more to completionism and story optimization and Investigation options), Dany Shepard is a mix of Red and Green (still largely Red), and not Blue. As such, I think it'd be a cool relationship for her character type. To be the very tough and ruthless (though not as often thug-like - she isn't 100% Renegade) hero, matched with the spiritual warrior type, who she tries to understand more about. We'll see!

-Finding Kasumi kinda bland now.

-Gameplay has been kinda tricky, especially with keyboard controls, but she's still finding success on Normal.

-Due to class upgrade, Dany Shepard is now 2.5 bars Renegade and 1.5 bars Paragon. She's got the scars and eye lights, but we could get sooo much more than this in time.

 

Next up is likely at least one more Recruitment (probably Tali), and then maybe more of a detour into maybe Loyalty, but possibly sidequests and lesser DLC (Firewalker?). I'll be planet scanning for resources and galaxy map pinging N7 missions while she's gone (she'll do the missions herself, but just know where they are), to make things easier.