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[Ferretinabun]

Posted this in the ME1 forum, but on reflection it's actually pretty dead there...

 

I'm considering doing a full-trilogy run where I leave pretty much everything up to chance. So every decision will be down to a flip of a coin or doll of a dice. And not just big story decisions either - I mean who I'm taking on every mission, mission order and how I respond to my squad in conversation too: pretty much everything except where to put my XP points and which sidequests I can be bothered doing. I'm thinking this will inject a lot of mystery back into the playthrough - I have no idea what Shep will be like, who s/he will befriend, romance, etc. And I'm expecting ME2's suicide mission to be a particular highlight.

 

Has anyone done a run like this? Anyone thinking this won't turn out well? Or thoughts in general?

[fraggle]

Sounds like a fun idea! I probably could never do it myself, being scared to loose my favourite characters, but if you go for it it would be cool to kinda track your progress here and what happened in your PT.

[Vazgen]

Interesting idea! A coin might not be enough I suggest using a dice instead, or a random number generator

Will you decide on what missions to do with random numbers as well?

[Ferretinabun]

@fraggle - Thanks, I think I will.

 

Vazgen - Yes, I'll let the Gods of chaos decide that too. So basically, if any of my crew make it through ME2, it'll be a small miracle.

[themikefest]

Chaos run? Sure. I believe I've done that a couple of times minus the flip-the-coin part

[SwobyJ]

That sounds great! I'd do it myself if I had the time.

 

The results should be delicious.

[Ferretinabun]

Just in case anyone is interested, I've decided to play this out, just to see what happens. I'll be posting what happens in each game in it's appropriate forum, so here's the link for ME1...

 

http://forum.bioware...run/?p=18681652

[Cheviot]

I did a run of ME3 with auto-dialogue on, so the game chose my responses.  There were times I was on the edge of my seat wondering what Shepard was going to decide!  Otherwise, there's a site called scenario generator that comes up with random rules for playthroughs of the entire ME series.  

[Ferretinabun]

That's rather interesting. Did not know that.

[Ferretinabun]

For those interested, my chaos run has now reached ME2:

 

http://forum.bioware...47632-chaos-run

[Ferretinabun]

Okay, two games down, one to go. Here's a quick recap:

 

 

Gender: Female

Name: Sandra

Class: Infiltrator

Background: Spacer

Profile: Sole Survivor

Romanced: No-one (both games)

Bonus power: AP Ammo

 

 

Enjoy!

[Ferretinabun]

Part 1

 

I'm not exactly clear on what Sandra's been doing for six months while waiting to 'answer' for the Bataraian genocide, but she's picked up a new combat skill - AP ammo - from somewhere, so if she's been under any form of arrest then Alliance security must be REALLY lax.

 

Her paragon responses gave me the impression she was happy to see both Anderson and Liara when she first encountered each of them. She was also initially glad to see Kaidan again, but as soon as they got to Mars, she quickly snapped at all his questions about Cerberus. God, give it a rest, Kaidan! Geeze, you join a criminal terrorist organisation for a few months and all of a sudden people get their backs up around you. What's that about? She also pulled Vega up on his insubordination, so one way or another it looks like she's got to crack the whip to keep the troops in line. Not a great first impression, James...

 

It also struck me as comic that Sandra was reinstated as a Spectre - again! That's three times in three years she's officially been given that rank. You might as well mark it in your calendar - like Black Friday.

 

However, when Robot Eva took Kaidan out, Sandra's ice-queen facade shattered at the thought of not seeing his lovely face again. When they rushed him to the Citadel, she went straight to the hospital to look in on him, and give him a mushy speech about not giving up. "We need you. I need you." Indeed; because if Sandra goes a third game without romancing anyone then I'll be checking her in to an intergalactic nunnery. She also persuaded Dr Michel (who seemed alarmingly eager to jack in her job) to join the Normandy crew, which will be nice as I've never had her as the doc before.

 

After catching up with Ambassador Councillor Udina for the lovely plot leads, Sandra checked in with Bailey and then ran into Al-Jilani. When she tried to ask her some questions, Sandra took a swipe at her again, but this time she dodged and floored Sandra with a punch. I laughed - I never knew she could do that (take the first renegade QTE but miss the second). Her ego (and face!) bruised, Sandra headed back to the ship, but bumped into Diane Allers on the way. She offered her services as war correspondent, but Sandra had had enough of journalists for one day and told her to go take a hike. I've never been prouder of Sandra. 

[Bear43]

This is interesting already! I hit that Al-Jilani part once and I laughed so dang hard I had to pause the game for a good 10 minutes. If anyone hasn't done it, they really need to because it is a riot!

[mrjack]

Gah! Just got done reading the first 2 and was hoping (unrealistically) that this would be finished. I guess I'll have to wait for..."Next time on Mass Effect: Chaos..."" 

 

ETA: I just looked at that Scenario Generator site for kicks and whaddyaknow? Female Infiltrator. Spooky. I don't know if I'm gonna use their method or yours yet though so it doesn't count... this time. 

[Ferretinabun]

The good news is that I have a lot of free time next week, so I think I'll have it done by next weekend (but no promises ).

[mrjack]

Looking forward to it

[Ferretinabun]

Part 2

 

Time for a wander around our brand spanking new Normandy and a chat with the crew. Sandra seems to like Traynor, making sure she’s settling in okay and telling her to just ask if she needs anything. I’m guessing she likes her because she’s nice and subservient - Sandra likes a junior officer who knows their place. She touched base with faces new and old (Adams seems lonely down in engineering without Ken and Gabby to keep him company – and he won’t even be getting Tali later to buddy up with. Hope you brought a book, Adams…).

 

The ship may be a little empty (and will probably stay that way), but Sandra still found one familiar face to return to the fold - Hamster Lavista, baby! 

 

Sandra was flirting pretty heavily with James. Until now I’ve had to just infer an attraction to guys, but this is the first time Sandra’s blatantly flirted. She says she’ll ‘stick around for the show’ while James is doing his pull-ups and lets him call her Lola because ‘he’s cute’. She was also fairly easy on him during the sparring match. So finally Sandra’s chosen a proper ME romance – woohoo! 

 

What’s that? Non-romanceable character? Goddammit, Vega! I feel like the Sultan in Aladdin trying to marry off his daughter.

 

Sandra went straight for the Turian homeworld to find her Primark. And for the second time the Reaper-ravaged landscape was rather off-set by the scenery being so damn pretty. Sandra must be really into this ‘we must unite against the Reapers’ thing, as she barely sounded bitter or antagonistic towards enlisting the Turians at all, though it possibly helped that her eventual Primark was a soldier rather than a politician, which she seems to prefer. And she kinda bonded when he described hating having to abandon his homeworld while it burns. Yeah – been there. I was also happy to see Garrus was mentioned in ambient dialogue between Shep and Liara so he wasn’t entirely absent from the mission. Nice touch.

 

Back on ship, Sandra thought it was great when EDI commandeered Dr Eva’s robot body. But later she started probing Sandra with moral questions. Sandra made it clear she expects her crew to carry out her orders no matter what, and not to tinker with her core programming. Don’t want autonomous, moralising soldiers on my watch! Where would it end?

 

She openly praised Traynor when she picked up the tip on Grissom Academy, and went straight there. A chance to foil Cerberus, whatever they’re doing, sounds too good to pass up, even if they've recruited Michael Caine judging by the voice broadcast throughout the mission. She was as rough and strict with the students as she is with her soldiers, telling Jason Pragley (who took Jack’s role) to shape up and fight, and Rodriguez not to spare Cerberus a thought when she had a moral panic attack over killing her first man. And I think I actually prefer the ending (Pragley gets killed) to the Jack one, because if everyone just gets away scot free in that scene then it seriously looks like Cerberus were trained at the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksman Academy. In the end, though, Sandra thought biotics are best kept in reserve as support soldiers.

 

After giving another shoulder of support to Steve Cortez (another deferential grunt, good man) and clearing out a Cerberus lab, she got the news that Kaidan was up and about and went straight there to see him. She bumped into Thane, but didn't even stop to chat with him beyond the cursory hello – no time to gossip to a dying Drell when Kaidan needs a bedside heart-rub and a bottle of whisky! That done, she took a wander around, and flatly discouraged EDI from ‘getting friendly’ with Joker. I mean... well... how... it doesn't even bear thinking about! Aria convinced her to unite the mercs. The Bloodpack was easy, but Sandra ordered Septimus Oraka killed to get the Blue Suns on side. She then ran into Miranda and was oddly keen to chat and help her. Seems she likes Miranda a whole lot better now she’s ex-Cerberus. She also helped Spectre Bau foil a Hannar plot, but with no Kasumi around, Sandra saved Bau at the cost of the entire Hannar homeworld.  Ooops. First the Batarians, now the Hannar. I've known epidemics with a lower fatality rate than Sandra Shepard.

[Bear43]

I am really wondering how the whole genophage thing is going to work out. I mean, so far Sandra is pretty much genocide personified

[Ferretinabun]

Part 3

 

While she was on the Citadel anyway, Sandra popped in to see Dr Bryson - just in time to see him get shot dead by his assistant. Maybe it's proximity to Sandra that indoctrinates people... like the Reapers can use her to indoctrinate by proxy? Whichever way, her ears pricked up when EDI turned up and started spilling the beans about Leviathan. Sandra's very keen to find it and put it to good use against the Reapers. So she took Liara and James off to find Dr Garneau at a mining facility, where they encountered Ravagers and Banshees before their main-plot introduction. Damn. Oh well, maybe Sandra and co. will be just indoctrinated enough to forget about them and be surprised when they encounter them again.

 

With Garneau dead, Sandra decided to put her investigation into Leviathan on hold - to go back to the Citadel and see Kaidan again. Seems she can't keep away from him. And she assured him he'll make a great Spectre. She also recruited the Eclipse mercs by convincing Bailey to let out the crazy leader from jail, and bumped into James at Purgatory bar where he convinced her to buy the soldiers a drink. Doesn't she know she's got a Black Widow to save up for? But then Sandra does get easily distracted by the sight of James in a tight top. Also, her cash doesn't actually go down, so I can only imagine the Alliance picked up the tab. Perks of the job. :-D

 

Then it was time to convene the meeting with the diplomats. When the idea of curing the genophage was floated, Sandra agreed for practical rather than moral reasons - they simply need the Krogans. And later when talking to Joker, she admitted the Krogans were just shock troops - but important ones. So it was off to Sur'Kesh. She was pleased to see Mordin again - even if he's got a throat infection and his voice sounds a little different. When she first met Eve she admitted she needs her as a bargaining chip, but on the Normandy, when they had time to talk, I think they bonded over being women in a man's galaxy. Female solidarity and all that.

 

Speaking of which, Sandra then went to help Aria retake Omega. Along with sometime ally Nyreen, they left a trail of Cerberus corpses through Omega's labyrinth of tunnels, eventually getting trapped in a reactor. Sandra saving her comrades would mean turning off life support for thousands of Omega's citizens. To her credit, she hesitated at first (maybe there is a limit to the number of deaths Sandra can have on her conscience...?) but eventually did it anyway (...nah!). When Aria finally cornered the Cerberus General, Sandra sat back and watched her strangle him. Seeing Sandra and Aria together made me wonder which one of them really was the bigger, ruthless, amoral badass.

 

And then... genophage time. Victus had warned Sandra that there was a massive unexploded bomb on Tuchanka, but no time to worry about that! Sandra admitted to the Salarian Dalatrass that the Krogan were too violent, so when she offered the chance to sabotage the cure, Sandra listened readily. Now, there are two opportunities to warn Wreave about the sabotage, so statistically that's a 75% chance that Sandra would spill the beans, but against the odds she kept her mouth shut both times. Clearly hearing Wreave go on about wreaking revenge on the galaxy despite Sandra imploring him not to avenge the genophage put her on edge. He's really not the sort of person who needs to be at the head of a Krogan army.

 

So she activated the hammers to summon Kalros by the cunning method of Tactical Cloak-ing and completely ignoring the Reapers (got to love Infiltrators) - and that left only one problem - Mordin. At the Shroud she tried to delay him, but the clever little stick saw right through the deception, and called her on it. At the very last minute, Sandra knew she'd have to kill him to stop the cure so... she let him go. Looks like Mordin has charmed his way even into Sandra's desiccated heart and she just couldn't kill him even when he was about to kill himself. So now the galaxy will have an army of Krogan led by Wreave to deal with once the Reapers are through with them. Even when Sandra tries to do good, she ends up and the worst possible outcome.

 

That is, assuming Wreave doesn't get killed by that massive bomb that's still ticking down somewhere on Tuchanka, of course...

[Ferretinabun]

Part 4

 

The Krogans happy (perhaps a little too happy) Sandra went back to where it all began - Eden Prime - to snatch a Prothean from Cerberus' grasp. For a first encounter with a 50,000-year extinct race, Sandra was (probably wisely) cautious getting it back on board, but also amazingly incurious about questioning it. Even with Liara by her side, when the time came to talk to him, Sandra just turned on her heels. Clearly she'd heard the expression "In my cycle..." enough in the cutscenes. He can fight - that's all Sandra needed to know.

 

Then the attack on the Citadel. Thane took a blade through the gut to save the Salarian Councillor and then Sandra found herself guns drawn on Kaidan. And yet remarkably, Kaidan decided to trust Sandra (by a narrow margin according to the wiki's table for determining his trust. Thank God Sandra was so desperate to make bedside puppy-dog eyes at Kaidan and nurse him with alcohol). Kaidan spun around and put a bullet through Udina like a champ. After a shot like that on a scummy politician, how could Sandra refuse to have him back on board the Normandy again? But first, there was side-quest gathering/handing in to be done, a prayer to read with Kolyat by the dying Thane, and Joker asking about a romance with EDI. Sandra again was sceptical, but admitted, Joker's done stupider things. He didn't join her at the table though - I think that means their relationship is dead in the water. From then on Joker spends his time in Purgatory on the dancefloor instead "Haven't broken my leg yet...". That's the spirit, Joker.

 

Back on the Normandy Sandra had a chess match with Traynor (without the showering) and a pep-talk with James in which she told him the N7 was a no-brainer. She obviously takes a lot of pride in being a soldier. Then it was off to meet up with Samara and talk her down from killing herself at an Asari monastery. Samara has the honour of joining Jacob and Zaeed in the incredibly exclusive club of killable ME trilogy companions to survive Sandra Shepard. And she easily the most kill-able of the three; what a woman! Miranda and the ME3 crew have undoubtedly got their eyes on this prize...

 

After a second attempt at killing a Rachni queen (or whatever that not-a-Rachni-queen thing is), it was back to the Citadel, and this time for a hot date! Kaidan and Sandra had a heart-to-heart at the Presidium cafe and Sandra finally admitted her attraction. Thank God for that! Not like it hasn't been obvious to everyone not in a coma already or anything. Everyone buy your hats for the wedding right now! You'll have to stop all that nonsense with James now, Sandra.

 

What's that? He's topless getting a tattoo downstairs? No, don't mind me; you carry on shamelessly flirting you utter, utter trollop! After all I've done to get you a man.

 

[Ferretinabun]

Part 5

 

As she continued around the Citadel, Sandra was in a noticeably buoyant mood. She lent a shoulder to Steve as he said goodbye to his husband, convinced Javick to be inspiring to a crowd he attracted, told Samara these were certainly not their final hours, and even cheered up EDI when she was 'moping' over being alone. Though whether this good mood was brought on by finally hooking up with Kaidan or her spiffy new Black Widow sniper rifle is a very tough call. Draw your own conclusions there.

 

Then it was off to the Far Rim (tee hee) to find the Quarian admirals and do some major sucking up, telling them it was great news they were recovering their homeworld from the Geth. Even after a mission on board a Geth Dreadnought during which Admiral Gerrel nearly got them killed, Sandra gritted her teeth and waved it off as nothing important, and politely rebutted Admiral Xen's enquiries into experimenting on their new guest Legion 2.0 - for now. All of which seems to go against the combative, Geth-sympathetic Sandra we know and love, so I think it's safe to say she's biting her tongue pretty damn hard to get those Quarian fleets. As for Legion, she admitted to both James and Javick that she's wary of him - after all, he's not actually the same Legion who fought with her before. But he wants the Reapers dead too, so that'll have to do.

 

After a pitstop back at the Citadel to give Miranda her intel, another to rescue Jacob and his boffin defectors from a Cerberus raid (in what is probably Cerberus' biggest display of ineptitude - how can so many soldiers be such bad shots?) and then on to finally come face-to-face with Leviathan, Sandra led her crew to Rannoch. The first job was saving Admiral Korris, but when he insisted she save his civilian crew instead, she agreed. Soldierly duty? Or perhaps she's just not that fussed about talking the Quarians out of war with the Geth. Back on the Normandy, when Legion showed them the Reaper upgrades, Sandra flatly denied the Geth were alive, upgrades or no, but still pondered perhaps they shouldn't be entirely wiped out...

 

And so it was time to bring a second major conflict to a resolution (once again before all the missions on that planet had been done - Sandra never got all that lovely sympathetic exposition from the Geth server mision). With the Reaper down (Sandra's fourth if you count the one in Leviathan - they're falling like flies) Legion and Raan appealed to Sandra to support their causes. Initially Sandra told Legion to upload the code, perhaps hoping Raan would talk the Quarians down, but when it was clear that wasn't going to happen, Sandra stepped in and stopped the upload. Legion, and the Geth, were annihilated. 

 

And because Sandra was absolutely devastated and wracked with guilt, she went straight back to the Citadel to check out her swish new apartment. In fact I think she can feel a party coming on...

[mrjack]

Even though Sandra's clearly a sociopath. I'm kinda glad for her and Kaidan. Maybe if she chooses Destroy, she can get some therapy... but then Refuse is an option and this is Sandy we're talking about...

 

Keep it coming! I'll be sad when it's over.

[Vazgen]

Death to the machines!

[Ferretinabun]

Kaidan obviously has a thing for girls with furious gouges in her face and eyes like red headlights.

[mrjack]

So I just started my chaos run, same method and everything. I took lots of notes and screenshots but I don't know if anyone wants to hear about it or not. My Shepard is a female, ruthless, earth-born, vanguard who is lethal with a shotgun but I think has daddy issues (as in she didn't have one) as she kowtows to men in positions of power like a good girl but enjoys verbally b*tch slapping strong women (poor Ashley). Growing up on the streets of Earth must have been hard because she has a soft spot for the weak and vulnerable and absolutely will not tolerate any threat to their peace and security. She is laser-focused in her pursuit of Saren and she knows, she just KNOWS in her bones that the Reapers are the biggest threat this galaxy has ever known.

 

She lives up to the ruthless background in that the mission comes first, feelings come second and she is incredibly two-faced, telling people what they need to hear to get the job done but talking smack about them behind their backs. She really wanted to be a Spectre and happily jumped through every hoop to get the gig even though she despises the council and she really, really hates Turians... so poor Garrus... although he has no idea because she's as nice as pie to his face. Maybe because he's a man.

 

As for romance, she's all business with Kaidan but never rude. She seems almost shy and lost for words. Haven't met Liara yet.

 

I didn't mean to write so much. I could go into more detail but I don't want to hijack the thread.

 

Meet Angelina Shepard (because celebrity theme and well... lips)

 

 

 

 

 

So humbled to be made a Spectre...