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[Ferretinabun]

She's spookily Angelina. Also, have you taken the 'film effect' off?

[Ferretinabun]

Part 6

 

 I hope you guys brought plenty of wine because we've got cheese by the bucketload. That's right, it's time for the ME parody that is Citadel DLC. I was in two minds whether to do this at all seeing as how I generally consider it non-canon, but screw it, let's do it anyway.

 

The first laugh I had was choosing to take Javik to the swanky casino. Don't mind me wandering around with the living ancient. Clearly Sandra wasn't looking to blend in (especially as he stayed stubbornly in armour rather than smart dress. Can't remember if all your companions do...). But then, his job was to distract people, so perhaps it kinda made sense.

 

I was also disappointed to see that your clone doesn't inherit your facial scars and red eyes, because right now Sandra looks like she's been gauged by a tiger. On the other hand, Sandra has clearly learned a lot over the course of the game, because she was very "All races are important" whenever the clone was Cerberus-human-supremacist, which was actually far more in-line with ME1 Sandra... OMG - new headcanon; the 'clone' was actually the more accurate reconstruction of Sandra Shepard and the one I've been controlling for the past two games was one Miranda tinkered with to be more amenable to working with their cross-species crew for the Collector Mission. That explains A LOT! 

 

Anyway, despite everything, Sandra still tried to pull her 'clone' back aboard the ship before she refused and fell to her death. Considering she was trying to get rid of Hamster Lavista (baby), I can only assume she wanted to pull her up so she could make sure she died SLOWLY, but fate is a cruel mistress like that.

 

Then it was shore leave time. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong because I could only find Joker, Traynor, Cortez and Javik around the Sunset Strip (incidently, Sandra totally doesn't grasp the concept that a film isn't real - she kept interrupting everyone insisting she was the real Shepard. Oh Sandra, thinking really isn't your strongest suit, is it?).

 

And then party time. Check out Sandra's party picture below (with special thanks to Vazgen for helping me figure out how to upload screenshots). The only downer is that we're missing Miranda (maybe she doesn't come to the Citadel DLC unless you've completed her personal mission at Horizon Sanctuary first...?) and Zaeed, who I couldn't find for the life of me. Perhaps he decided he wanted nothing to do with Sandra after ME2. Or maybe it was the other way round, considering she was always mildly terrified of him.

 

Say 'Normandy', guys...

 

[Ferretinabun]

Part 7

 

Sandra took Thessia pretty hard. She blamed herself, and allowed Liara to blow off steam at Javik rather than actually try to console her, back on the Normandy. Perhaps the only way to grieve Sandra understands is through anger. Still, no time to wallow - first it was off to Horizon and I was delighted to see Miranda made it out alive. Woohoo! That's four living squadmates. Good going, girl! Shame you missed the party, though...

 

When she set a course for Cerberus HQ, Sandra finally got her first love scene - with Kaidan! He brought brandy (good start), but oddly, Sandra wanted to just cuddle. Are you sure about that, love? Because you might not get many more chances. Just sayin'...

 

With Cerberus HQ assaulted and Kai Lang dead, it was finally time to retake to Earth. Remember I've been banging on about how much I love Infiltrators? Well that first London mission is the one time Infiltrators suck, when you're posted right next to a Reaper who makes the screen shudder like crazy every ten seconds. Try aiming a sniper rifle through that. Grrr... Still, Tactical Cloak is still really useful in the final 'proper' fight scene.

 

But first there are goodbyes to make. James (who is unusually glum): chin up, we'll rebuild. Kaidan: I'm not scared, just angry. And vid-com goodbyes with Cortez and Samara - but not Miranda and Jacob. Hmmm, maybe those two are still flying under the Alliance radar? Or maybe Sandra Shepard's just forgotten about them. It's not like she just saw them both in the last few days or anything...

 

Inside Wreav had the hump (get it? Guys? Get it? 'hump'? Guys???) with me because of the massive bomb I let go off on Tuchanka all that time ago, which I thought was a really nice touch there, to get a call-back to that. Sadly, Wreav was obviously still very much alive and kicking. Liara wanted to give Sandra 'one last parting gift' but Sandra completely stonewalled it. "This isn't the time." Yeah - maybe later, eh...? She was big enough to give a comradely handshake to Javik though, and let EDI spill out her gratitude at having a chance to really live. Good God, EDI, talk about tempting fate. Don't you know anything about dramatic irony?

 

So it was that Sandra took Liara and Javik through to her final mission - both of whom lived through the final push to the beam (helped, I'm sure, by the fact that I haven't been able to resist doing a little multiplayer lately). After giving a little salute to Marauder Shields (God rest you, brave soldier. You are an Endgame Boss without equal) she pushed on into the beam and shot TIM, giving Anderson a precious few more minutes of life - enough time for a sentimental goodbye.

 

And then the final decision. I'd deicded that 1 would be Control, 2 Synthesis, 3 Destroy, 4 Refuse, and reroll on a 5 or 6. Now pretty much ever since reaching the beam, every roll I've done had been a 4. I must have had an incredible string of 4's right up to this point, convinced that Sandra was about to doom us all to complete oblivion. So I was a little nervous on the final roll...

 

It was a 1.

 

Sandra Shepard gave her life and ascended to Godhood so she could take direct control of the Reapers and give us all a Renegade Control ending. So without further ado, let's have a few last words from her...

 

Eternal. Infinite. Immortal. The woman I was used these words, but only now do I truly understand them. And only now do I comprehend the full potential of her decision. Through her death, I was created. Through my birth, her thoughts were freed. They guide me now; give me reason, direction. Just as she gave direction to the ones who followed her, the ones who helped her achieve her purpose; now my purpose. To provide the many with a powerful leader; to put an end to the bickering of the many; to ensure the strongest are not feared or reviled for their strength. The woman I was knew that she could only achieve this by becoming something greater. There is power in control. There is wisdom in harnessing the strengths of your enemy. I will restore what the many have fought for; I will lead an army that none will dare oppose; I will protect, defend; I will destroy those who threaten the future of the many. And throughout it all, I will never forget; I will remember the ones who sacrificed themselves so that the many could survive. And I will keep a watchful eye over the ones who live on; those who carry the memory of the woman I once was, the woman who fought to become the one who could lead the many.

 

There now, don't you all feel better knowing that demi-deity Sandra Shepard has an army of Reapers under her full control and is watching over us for all eternity...?

 

 

 

FIN

[mrjack]

She's spookily Angelina. Also, have you taken the 'film effect' off?

 

 

Yeah the film grain makes screenshots look like crap... actually now I think it just makes the game look crap. 

 

As for Angelina, she is starting to wind me up. I think she is turning into Sandra 2.0. Rachnii queen dead, Kaidan got blown off and probably the worst renegade line I've heard in the game so far...

 

Turian Councillor:  Do you take pleasure in genocide, Shepard?

Shepard:                Depends on the species... turian.

 

Also, even though she keeps calling Ashley out for insubordination, she understands her concerns about the aliens and they bonded over something called goldbricking so... I'm not holding out high hopes for her. How do you cope with Shepard being so bipolar all the time? Also, I killed the queen and then went to set off the neutron purge and Angie was like "we can save the rachnii babies! Let's get the queen down here to sing to them!" Huh!?

[Ferretinabun]

I know exactly what you mean. There were plenty of times that Sandra established an attitude or pattern of behaviour and then completely went against it later on.

 

And frankly, it just gets worse as the trilogy goes on. In the first game Shep has a lot to say, so you can always put her aberrant words down to circumstance (she's lying to this person, she's putting on a brave face to that person, etc.,). But in the later games Shep is increasingly defined by his/her actions.

 

Sometimes you have have to think up excuses to rationalise away the oddities, sometimes you just have to roll with it. I'll admit I shaved off a few of the rough edges of Sandra when I posted on here - her character wasn't as consistent as I've made her out to be.

 

In truth, I'm not sure the way I went about doing a chaos run was the best (at least in terms of establishing a personality for Shep). I'm thinking if I ever do one again, I'll put major story decisions down to dice rolls, and maybe some important, personality-defining conversations too, but maybe not all of them. Or maybe I'll roll on every conversation for, say, half a game, and see what sort of personality emerges from that and then carry that on through to the rest of the trilogy. It'll be fiddly, but better, I think than having Shep swing back and forth so wildly.

[mrjack]

I know exactly what you mean. There were plenty of times that Sandra established an attitude or pattern of behaviour and then completely went against it later on.

 

And frankly, it just gets worse as the trilogy goes on. In the first game Shep has a lot to say, so you can always put her aberrant words down to circumstance (she's lying to this person, she's putting on a brave face to that person, etc.,). But in the later games Shep is increasingly defined by his/her actions.

 

Sometimes you have have to think up excuses to rationalise away the oddities, sometimes you just have to roll with it. I'll admit I shaved off a few of the rough edges of Sandra when I posted on here - her character wasn't as consistent as I've made her out to be.

 

In truth, I'm not sure the way I went about doing a chaos run was the best (at least in terms of establishing a personality for Shep). I'm thinking if I ever do one again, I'll put major story decisions down to dice rolls, and maybe some important, personality-defining conversations too, but maybe not all of them. Or maybe I'll roll on every conversation for, say, half a game, and see what sort of personality emerges from that and then carry that on through to the rest of the trilogy. It'll be fiddly, but better, I think than having Shep swing back and forth so wildly.

 

That last paragraph is exactly what I was thinking of doing but I didn't want to give up so easily. Once the story had been set up and Shepard had met all the major players, I had this idea of who she was in my head and I really liked it. It's not something I would have come up with on my own so it was great inspiration for role playing a different kind of character. That all goes out the window though when a bad number comes up and you're forced to say or do something you think is really out of character.

 

I'm still glad I've done even as little as half a game though. I like being forced into taking squadmates I normally wouldn't take. I've never been a big Wrex fan but his number kept coming up and now he's kinda growing on me. I normally take Ashley in ME1 because 1) she's a soldier and doesn't need babysitting and 2) I like her but always end up leaving her on Vermire so I want to get the most out of her while I can but this this playthrough she's hardly had any mission time. I've also always left Tali behind because she's squishy but she handles herself a lot better in a fight than I thought she would.

 

The other thing I've noticed is quite a lot of the neutral responses are exactly the same as either the paragon or the renegade choice.

 

I'm not sure I could manage all three games with the roll of a dice but I might finish the first one at least.

 

ETA: Thanks for posting Sandra's story. It might have been a pain for you sometimes but it was fun for me to read.

[Ferretinabun]

 

The other thing I've noticed is quite a lot of the neutral responses are exactly the same as either the paragon or the renegade choice.

 

Yes, I noticed that! I wonder if it's things not firing properly or Bioware cutting corners recording lines...

 

"ETA: Thanks for posting Sandra's story. It might have been a pain for you sometimes but it was fun for me to read."

 

It was a labour of love. Sometimes I didn't even see things in the story until I wrote it down, so I was getting something out of it too. 

 

I hope you enjoy yours as much.

[Bear43]

So now there is a genocidal maniac ordering around an army of Reapers.... Good to know!  Thanks for taking the time to do this and post it up. It has been an entertaining ride.

[Kelthret]

First, sorry for the Necromancing.

This idea is awesome, as soon as I finish my Dragon Age playthrough I'm gonna do one of these. A few question for any of you who have done this, how did you do it?

Choosing dialogue options, party members, what mission to do and such is easy, just roll the dice (i have a few D6, D10 and D20 around), but how did you decide on talking to someone or not, and on stuff like that? For example, if you are in the Normandy after a mission, how do you decide if you're gonna talk to the squadmates?

[Ferretinabun]

First, sorry for the Necromancing.

This idea is awesome, as soon as I finish my Dragon Age playthrough I'm gonna do one of these. A few question for any of you who have done this, how did you do it?

Choosing dialogue options, party members, what mission to do and such is easy, just roll the dice (i have a few D6, D10 and D20 around), but how did you decide on talking to someone or not, and on stuff like that? For example, if you are in the Normandy after a mission, how do you decide if you're gonna talk to the squadmates?

From what I can remember (this was a bit of a while ago now) I think I went round the whole squad on the ship in turn after each mission. And since leaving the conversation is always an option, if I rolled that immediately, I took that as Sandra not wanting to talk to that squadmate.

 

But there are other ways to do it, of course. For example, you could flip a coin after each mission for each squadmate to see whether or not you want to talk to them...

[birefringent]

But there are other ways to do it, of course. For example, you could flip a coin after each mission for each squadmate to see whether or not you want to talk to them...

That's how I did it. I also did an early coin toss for all the ship upgrades to see if I should get them or not, same with squad recruitment.