Commandr Bond wrote...
The_KFD_Case wrote...
It's a potent ethical decision BioWare has crafted with that scene. The tactician in me clearly recognizes the tactical value of weaking the enemy force before the planned upcoming fight, yet my humane side is disgusted by the thought of jabbing a high current electrical tool in to another person's back whom I was just conversing with a few moments prior and whom has no idea that hostile intentions are imminent on my part. War is not glorious, it's not pretty and it's not about fighting fair. It's about bringing the other side to its knees as quickly as possible with as little loss as possible to your own side.
On my first playthrough I fried him. I felt bad. Second time I decided just to suck up the extra fight I'd have to take though I did sabotage the mechs since that did not involve killing someone whom was engaging in non-violent work duties. Ideally I'd like to find another way of sabotaging the Mantis without killing the Batarian mercenary sergeant in such an ignoble manner.
This was pretty similiar to the Fist decision in Mass Effect one. I had gotten him killed in every playthrough I'd had because I'd always had Wrex with me. On my most recent one I didn't, and I had to choose whether to kill him or let him escape.
This was the longest I've ever taken to make a decision in Mass Effect.
I didn't like the thought of killing an unarmed prisoner. I didn't like the notion of murdering in cold blood. I was going to let him go, let him disapear. And then I thought of what kind of person he was, to sell strangers out for cash, and with a history of violence to boot. The thought of him mugging/killing to get himself where he needed to go seared into my brain. I couldn't let the bastard live, my humanity be damned. I'll take the hit so that no one else got hurt.
I pulled the trigger and didn't look back.
The longest I've ever paused in ME to make a decision was which part of the Franklin Colony, in orbit of Watson, to save.
Save thousands of lives, at the cost of removing a vital Alliance bulwark against the Terminus Systems and seriously weakening strategic considerations in that part of space? Ensure the stability of that sector and ultimately, the capacity for force projection at the cost of thousands of colonists?
I chose the strategic considerations of the Alliance over colonists. (My) Shepherd has sent her friends to die and her decisions have killed more than a few people who have never even met her. To sacrifice the colony was to send a message to every would-be terrorist that getting the Alliance to go home is a lot easier than you might think.