Huge Mass Effect Journal Entry
because there is too much that I have already had to think about. Haven't finished it yet though, so more later probably.
If you haven't played this game, PLAY THIS GAME! If you don't like shooters, play this game! The third person view makes it a whole lot easier on sour stomachs (like mine) and the RPG elements make up for it. You also pick two comrades that follow you around and help shoot stuff during missions (they get smarter as the series goes along, they are mainly cannon fodder in the first game though). If you don't like story though, that is a whole other matter. This game series is BIG on story and if you like looking for it, BIG on fluff and random factoids.
The following reads as if you've already played and know what is happening. I'm not going to replay plot since that is only going to make this entry longer.
For ME 1 Not much here since it was the first but:
Enter Andrew Shepherd, a mostly paragon adept spacer that follows his own moral compass.
Still can't figure out if I saved Kaiden over Ashley solely because I accidentally romanced her trying to get her backstory (didn't want the "space racist") or if I was actually paying attention to the fact she wanted me to save him and he was a bit of a dumbass setting off the bomb early. Going to save her in next playthrough though.
Saved rachni queen because I can't willingly let a species go extinct. Not sure if can do this with a renegade Shep or not.
Figured Saren and geth were pawns in a larger game. Didn't suspect Reapers (relatively new to gaming didn't quite make sense of the scenes Shepherd was shown until Virgil). Thought Benezia was at the helm till she offed herself.
Convinced Saren to off himself. Saved council from Sovereign.
No moral issues. Though I decided against a few renegade options because I was told you get a lot of bonuses getting full Renegade or full Paragon for the next game. Next playthrough I'm not going to care as much or find Shep talking out of (her) ass as often.
ME 2
Expecting return of Reapers after Sovereign.
Never expected Collectors to have been Protheans. They are pretty awesome looking, but I HATE playing against them in the ME3 multiplayer. Love the character design. Not as much as the turians and geth but I'd totally hit that if they weren't a bunch of mindless slaves out to rid the universe of organic life. Harbingers voice is sexy! Damn. Also, the possession is a very unique and creepy (and strangely arousing?) way of psychologically screwing with you while you shoot at Collector drones. It was a kind of a love/hate thing the whole game.
Could not figure out why the Collectors would develop a disease that affects everyone except humans. Expecting return of Reapers to do exactly what they end up doing in the third game. Figured that having everything die off would go against their ability to do so until I was reminded they can use dead as well as living tissue. So I guess they were attempting to make their job easier?
The only side mission that really sticks out in my mind from the second game is Garrus' loyalty mission. I never expected it to be that vivid because I unquestioningly wanted him to shoot Sidonis, expected it to be no big deal. What Sidonis did was treason. He should have met his death honorably at the hands of the Blue Suns instead of outing his team and getting them all killed to save his ass. He deserved death and in my mind, the only thing that would have made it right was his death. Whether Garrus' reason for doing it was revenge or not. Probably won't change this decision in next game.
However, I find myself wondering, if I had been put in that same situation, could I live up to my lofty ideals? Could I lay down my life, or worse, endure hours or days of seemingly endless painful torture to save my friends or comrades? If your enemies want it enough they aren't going to stop at just a bullet to the head. Or will I, a coward, a creature often controlled by his own fear (of what, success or failure I am still not entirely sure), become that same monster I see in Sidonis. A creature deserving of nothing better than death.
Rewrote the geth. Still not comfortable with this. I see it as having changed their personality. Though had they been organics I would have been against it as it would equal slavery in my mind, even if they aren't aware their personality has been changed against their will. An organic would prefer annihilation. However as software I understand it. A programming error that needed correction. Yet it is a common assumption that the beginnings of true AI will be errors. Small errors that show up in code over time. Those little quirks that technology can develop; a ghost in the machine. Rather than just an engineers programming a machine to be capable of learning. After all, programming can always be called into question. Is it alive or is it just following it's code? Would rewriting this code ruin that AI? Or are you simply fixing an error? At what point does it become a violation of the machine's rights that should be as unquestioningly real as a humans?
There's a lot of questions on this and if you've read my entry "Through Commercial Eyes" http://slipstreme.livejournal.com/12971.html
You'd know that synthetic life is something I feel very strongly about. I see them as being equal to organic life. Friends instead of tools. I think that in the near future it will become important to be able to differentiate the two. Or at least lead to people paying a bit more attention to treating their tech better. There's a lot to love in circuitry. It's beautiful. It's like looking into an analogue of the human brain itself.
The reason I like the geth is because they emulate this. Their war started over AI. They didn't want to fight.
The reason I hate the Reapers is because they seem to be more along the cybernetic monsters you see everywhere else. Beings whose sole purpose has become ridding the universe of what probably was at one point, their creator race, or assimilating them like the Borg. Or like Hal, machines that followed their programming perfectly, perhaps too perfectly to allow a fondness for organics.
Love Legion. Hacking him in the game early next time. You don't get to spend enough time with that geth.
Destroyed Collector base. Tech was too dangerous. Though I can honestly say, destroying it was hard. I see the potential in having it. And as I stated above the tech is beautiful.
Going to save it next time just to tell Illusive Man, "I told you so." Expecting saving base to go very poorly.
Also Urz is adorable! <3 In my head cannon he is on the Normandy. After all, he followed me around = my dog (well varren).
Wrex is awesome. Glad I kept him alive.
Romanced Tali. She is adorable. And yes she's clear of charges.
Should have made Garrus available for M Shep. Dammit! *flails*
Hatred and mistrust of Cerberus growing.
Shepherd totally talks out of his ass to Conrad. Shooting him next time. Maybe.
Loved the paragon option for dealing with the annoying reporter lady. Also really respected that somber mission with the Normandy 1 crash site. Glad they put a memorial in the Normandy in ME 3.
Fast track to ME 3. There will be a lot of referencing above. ME 2 and 3 flow very well together.
Hatred and mistrust of Cerberus confirmed. Expecting Illusive Man is indoctrinated. Stupid bastard.
The Normandy SR 2 was fucking beautiful. So sleek, so shiny. Just beautiful. Every shot, every angle and then you get that Silaris shielding and she just shines so smoothly golden. It was ship porn. In every aspect and such a fantastic reveal and tour. Every landing, every take off was such a joy to see (the first game was fantastic too but the second a major improvement of the first). Just wow! Would love to have all the cut scenes of the Normandy 2 on one video. (and yes I love Edi too)
But then you get it back and they completely ruined it! I like the war room. That was pretty neat, but they had to redo the interior and the cables everywhere. ALL the Alliance had to do was remove the Cerberus logo that was everywhere and slap their own on. FFFFFFTTTT!!!!!!!!
Edi's new body. Meh. I can have her with or without. I like it now that she can be off the ship but I miss having her available all over the ship (even though in the other rooms you just got to ask her what the room was). Though I know in cannon she is the ship as much as she is the body though you can now only interact with the body. Again, I like synthetic life. I would be the one that would converse with her anywhere I happened to be. Just because she inhabited a human like body would not change my feelings for her and I wouldn't want her to feel the need to be constrained.
I'm ok and figured it would happen, with Joker/Edi. Though I would have preferred to see Edi/Legion, especially after such interesting conversations they had in the AI suite together. You don't get to spend enough time with that geth...
The turians got sexier. Wouldn't have expected it possible after the second game but holy hell! Glad I trained Shep in sniper rifles in the second game for those extra close-up views... *ahem*. (Even though he can access other weapons I keep him with what he was trained) There will eventually be art of this. Cause its only a matter of time you realize some human is aiming a rifle at you, no matter his intentions. Turian females are sexy too! Loved Omega. Nyreen is made of awesome.
It was actually pretty interesting on Menae. Seeing the reapers everywhere really got the gravity of the situation to sink in. Where as on Earth it was Holy Shit a Reaper! Run!!! Suddenly looking at turian asses didn't seem as important anymore (but what fine hips! And such beautiful eyes...) God Palaven.... Seeing the planet from Menae and reading the description of what happened to it... Tears at you. Then Garrus points out where he grew up and the situation looks so hopeless.
I feel very sorry for the batarians. Of all the races you don't really get to know them and suddenly their entire society is wiped out aside from small pockets here and there.
It is about fucking time that the krogan are freed of the genophage. I really like the krogan. They're not my favorite race but no race deserves that. At least not to see their children still born. What kind of hope can you build when every child you have is born dead? Could have figured a way to keep some embryos from developing. Hell the salarians are smart enough for that aren't they? I can understand it seemed as bad as it did during the Rebellions but did it really need to come down to that? At least though they weren't nearly wiped from existence like the rachni.
Sucks to see Mordin gone. He was really awesome. My third favorite from the second game. Even though I didn't say much about him. I really respect what he did. And there really was no better way for him to end his life. To be known forever as the one who freed the krogan. Don't know if I like him more than Tali or not. They're probably about equal.
Also Thresher maw vs Reaper was kickass.
Hard to pick between Aralakh and rachni, but again, I can't willingly let a species be wiped from existence. Except the Reapers. By this time my hatred of them was sealed. They will not stop until organics or them are wiped from existence.
Garrus/Victus/M Shep plz thanks! <3
Again, there seems to be SOO MUCH context to suggest that Garrus was supposed to be one of M Shep's options. They are too much bros to be only friends. I've never had a friend worry about my sleep. Only my significant others. He's like that one friend that had situations been different you two would be dating. (I have a friend like that)
Kaiden and Cortez seem like cute m/m matches but still planning on doing my femShep/Garrus next time. Andrew's with Tali, going to stay with Tali too.
I am bi even though I show more M/M preferences. I'm just really friggin picky about my females because I HATE stereotypical sexy female. Of the ME females, I like Tali and Jack, That is all. The others are nice, but not anything I want to date.
Javik. Cool, but seriously could I have found a more useless Prothean? No I don't actually think he was useless but I was expecting someone to help figure out what the Catalyst is, not a soldier (though I'm expecting the catalyst is Shepherd). Too bad he ultimately says something to tick you off, though his convos are pretty amusing and him meeting the hanar was hilarious.
Don't have Leviathan. Don't know what Leviathan is. Also now, don't have Citadel. Hopefully will have it for femShep.
Hey look Udina's an asshole. Totally saw that coming. Which was why I put Anderson in charge in ME 2.
Expected Thane's death. Glad to see he got closure. Very sweet to see his son there with him.
Now to where I am in the game and why I decided now was a good time to do this entry:
Legion and the geth.
In the second game there was a DLC called Overlord. When I met David I was shocked, appalled, intrigued and mortified all at the same time about what happened to him. One of my biggest interests is the combination of man and machine. To meld symbiotically and harmoniously into one unit. This is different than the control and mutilation of the Reapers. The networked geth consciousness is exactly how I imagine that kind of kinship between man and machine; multiple minds (though from two different kinds of life) working together, aware of each other but still separate entities be they in geth platforms or servers. But what happened to David was not how I expected to see that connection.
However stepping into the alcove Legion uses is a lot closer to how I pictured it. I've actually been trying several times over the years to draw what I picture (something like David with the physical connections but harmonious and smooth, welcoming and warm not fearful and horrible) and have failed every time to get it right.
Interestingly, being in the geth conciousness. I had a dream that was very much like that over a year ago during the middle of the day nap when I had issues staying awake behind the wheel in the early mornings. Except the colors were different and my walkways didn't appear before me. It was a labyrinth and yes, a "virtual" world that was supposed to be inside a machine mind as depicted through my mind. Though I was not lost in the labryinth, more an explorer searching for buried treasures. I found that very fitting. I would love several screenshots minus Shepherd for desktop backgrounds. The history snippets were pretty cool. It was nice to see that there were quarians who fought for the geth instead of only against them.
Geth tech on the dreadnought is beautiful. Again how I feel of the Normandy SR 2 from ME 2 is how I feel of the geth. Though they can manage wires everywhere without it looking out of place and run down. Maybe the Alliance should ask them how to do it eh?
What Legion did was very noble. I really respect him for that. To give up his own life as he was coming into his own. As Edi pointed out on the ship later that Legion called himself "I" at the very end. A full actualization of his identity. That he would sacrifice that to bring that awareness to the geth is very humbling. I miss him, and it was like right after you find him again, he's gone.
Also glad to see Tali misses him too. It was very nice to bring her to Rannoch. To see her planet. Also very nice convos between her and Shepherd here. I'm beginning to see why some people would be upset to see their Shepherds die in the end. It is very easy to imagine her and him building a home together on Rannoch (Though his spacer past would probably bring him back to a ship at some point).
Nice to put this stupid war between the quarian and geth behind them. Had they welcomed the geth into their society in the beginning and helped them come into their own, this whole unpleasantness could have been avoided.
I know it is a possibility there would be war between AI and humanity, but I think a little bit of kindness goes a long way. Trying to understand someone can often mean the difference between getting along and hating each other. Though I'm expecting we will find a way to fuck it up. Humanity always does. Probably will refuse to treat the machines as if other human beings. I doubt humanity will be able to accept synthetic life before it sees an end to racism, sexism and homophobia. Even still, there will always be haters. Even if the problem is lessened, there will always be that problem.
On the subject of racism. Reading the comics detailing the Illusive Man's origins really puts the First Contact War into context. No wonder there is so much tension between the races when it comes to humans! Mass Effect takes place only some 26 years after that war. It's easy to lose track of that short a time span reading planetary descriptions, codex entries and such only. Hell there are salarians who would still be alive from that time!
Honestly, I love all the races. If there were one sci-fi franchise I would like to see actually be the galaxy as we know it, it is this one, minus the Reapers. Or at least, Reapers who have less of a "kill all the organics- order over chaos" and more a "live and let live" mindset. Then I would probably like them as much as I do the geth.
So yeah TLDR. Sorry for that.
Should probably make this private but eh.
Probably more insights after I finish the game.
If you haven't played this game, PLAY THIS GAME! If you don't like shooters, play this game! The third person view makes it a whole lot easier on sour stomachs (like mine) and the RPG elements make up for it. You also pick two comrades that follow you around and help shoot stuff during missions (they get smarter as the series goes along, they are mainly cannon fodder in the first game though). If you don't like story though, that is a whole other matter. This game series is BIG on story and if you like looking for it, BIG on fluff and random factoids.
The following reads as if you've already played and know what is happening. I'm not going to replay plot since that is only going to make this entry longer.
For ME 1 Not much here since it was the first but:
Enter Andrew Shepherd, a mostly paragon adept spacer that follows his own moral compass.
Still can't figure out if I saved Kaiden over Ashley solely because I accidentally romanced her trying to get her backstory (didn't want the "space racist") or if I was actually paying attention to the fact she wanted me to save him and he was a bit of a dumbass setting off the bomb early. Going to save her in next playthrough though.
Saved rachni queen because I can't willingly let a species go extinct. Not sure if can do this with a renegade Shep or not.
Figured Saren and geth were pawns in a larger game. Didn't suspect Reapers (relatively new to gaming didn't quite make sense of the scenes Shepherd was shown until Virgil). Thought Benezia was at the helm till she offed herself.
Convinced Saren to off himself. Saved council from Sovereign.
No moral issues. Though I decided against a few renegade options because I was told you get a lot of bonuses getting full Renegade or full Paragon for the next game. Next playthrough I'm not going to care as much or find Shep talking out of (her) ass as often.
ME 2
Expecting return of Reapers after Sovereign.
Never expected Collectors to have been Protheans. They are pretty awesome looking, but I HATE playing against them in the ME3 multiplayer. Love the character design. Not as much as the turians and geth but I'd totally hit that if they weren't a bunch of mindless slaves out to rid the universe of organic life. Harbingers voice is sexy! Damn. Also, the possession is a very unique and creepy (and strangely arousing?) way of psychologically screwing with you while you shoot at Collector drones. It was a kind of a love/hate thing the whole game.
Could not figure out why the Collectors would develop a disease that affects everyone except humans. Expecting return of Reapers to do exactly what they end up doing in the third game. Figured that having everything die off would go against their ability to do so until I was reminded they can use dead as well as living tissue. So I guess they were attempting to make their job easier?
The only side mission that really sticks out in my mind from the second game is Garrus' loyalty mission. I never expected it to be that vivid because I unquestioningly wanted him to shoot Sidonis, expected it to be no big deal. What Sidonis did was treason. He should have met his death honorably at the hands of the Blue Suns instead of outing his team and getting them all killed to save his ass. He deserved death and in my mind, the only thing that would have made it right was his death. Whether Garrus' reason for doing it was revenge or not. Probably won't change this decision in next game.
However, I find myself wondering, if I had been put in that same situation, could I live up to my lofty ideals? Could I lay down my life, or worse, endure hours or days of seemingly endless painful torture to save my friends or comrades? If your enemies want it enough they aren't going to stop at just a bullet to the head. Or will I, a coward, a creature often controlled by his own fear (of what, success or failure I am still not entirely sure), become that same monster I see in Sidonis. A creature deserving of nothing better than death.
Rewrote the geth. Still not comfortable with this. I see it as having changed their personality. Though had they been organics I would have been against it as it would equal slavery in my mind, even if they aren't aware their personality has been changed against their will. An organic would prefer annihilation. However as software I understand it. A programming error that needed correction. Yet it is a common assumption that the beginnings of true AI will be errors. Small errors that show up in code over time. Those little quirks that technology can develop; a ghost in the machine. Rather than just an engineers programming a machine to be capable of learning. After all, programming can always be called into question. Is it alive or is it just following it's code? Would rewriting this code ruin that AI? Or are you simply fixing an error? At what point does it become a violation of the machine's rights that should be as unquestioningly real as a humans?
There's a lot of questions on this and if you've read my entry "Through Commercial Eyes" http://slipstreme.livejournal.com/12971.html
You'd know that synthetic life is something I feel very strongly about. I see them as being equal to organic life. Friends instead of tools. I think that in the near future it will become important to be able to differentiate the two. Or at least lead to people paying a bit more attention to treating their tech better. There's a lot to love in circuitry. It's beautiful. It's like looking into an analogue of the human brain itself.
The reason I like the geth is because they emulate this. Their war started over AI. They didn't want to fight.
The reason I hate the Reapers is because they seem to be more along the cybernetic monsters you see everywhere else. Beings whose sole purpose has become ridding the universe of what probably was at one point, their creator race, or assimilating them like the Borg. Or like Hal, machines that followed their programming perfectly, perhaps too perfectly to allow a fondness for organics.
Love Legion. Hacking him in the game early next time. You don't get to spend enough time with that geth.
Destroyed Collector base. Tech was too dangerous. Though I can honestly say, destroying it was hard. I see the potential in having it. And as I stated above the tech is beautiful.
Going to save it next time just to tell Illusive Man, "I told you so." Expecting saving base to go very poorly.
Also Urz is adorable! <3 In my head cannon he is on the Normandy. After all, he followed me around = my dog (well varren).
Wrex is awesome. Glad I kept him alive.
Romanced Tali. She is adorable. And yes she's clear of charges.
Should have made Garrus available for M Shep. Dammit! *flails*
Hatred and mistrust of Cerberus growing.
Shepherd totally talks out of his ass to Conrad. Shooting him next time. Maybe.
Loved the paragon option for dealing with the annoying reporter lady. Also really respected that somber mission with the Normandy 1 crash site. Glad they put a memorial in the Normandy in ME 3.
Fast track to ME 3. There will be a lot of referencing above. ME 2 and 3 flow very well together.
Hatred and mistrust of Cerberus confirmed. Expecting Illusive Man is indoctrinated. Stupid bastard.
The Normandy SR 2 was fucking beautiful. So sleek, so shiny. Just beautiful. Every shot, every angle and then you get that Silaris shielding and she just shines so smoothly golden. It was ship porn. In every aspect and such a fantastic reveal and tour. Every landing, every take off was such a joy to see (the first game was fantastic too but the second a major improvement of the first). Just wow! Would love to have all the cut scenes of the Normandy 2 on one video. (and yes I love Edi too)
But then you get it back and they completely ruined it! I like the war room. That was pretty neat, but they had to redo the interior and the cables everywhere. ALL the Alliance had to do was remove the Cerberus logo that was everywhere and slap their own on. FFFFFFTTTT!!!!!!!!
Edi's new body. Meh. I can have her with or without. I like it now that she can be off the ship but I miss having her available all over the ship (even though in the other rooms you just got to ask her what the room was). Though I know in cannon she is the ship as much as she is the body though you can now only interact with the body. Again, I like synthetic life. I would be the one that would converse with her anywhere I happened to be. Just because she inhabited a human like body would not change my feelings for her and I wouldn't want her to feel the need to be constrained.
I'm ok and figured it would happen, with Joker/Edi. Though I would have preferred to see Edi/Legion, especially after such interesting conversations they had in the AI suite together. You don't get to spend enough time with that geth...
The turians got sexier. Wouldn't have expected it possible after the second game but holy hell! Glad I trained Shep in sniper rifles in the second game for those extra close-up views... *ahem*. (Even though he can access other weapons I keep him with what he was trained) There will eventually be art of this. Cause its only a matter of time you realize some human is aiming a rifle at you, no matter his intentions. Turian females are sexy too! Loved Omega. Nyreen is made of awesome.
It was actually pretty interesting on Menae. Seeing the reapers everywhere really got the gravity of the situation to sink in. Where as on Earth it was Holy Shit a Reaper! Run!!! Suddenly looking at turian asses didn't seem as important anymore (but what fine hips! And such beautiful eyes...) God Palaven.... Seeing the planet from Menae and reading the description of what happened to it... Tears at you. Then Garrus points out where he grew up and the situation looks so hopeless.
I feel very sorry for the batarians. Of all the races you don't really get to know them and suddenly their entire society is wiped out aside from small pockets here and there.
It is about fucking time that the krogan are freed of the genophage. I really like the krogan. They're not my favorite race but no race deserves that. At least not to see their children still born. What kind of hope can you build when every child you have is born dead? Could have figured a way to keep some embryos from developing. Hell the salarians are smart enough for that aren't they? I can understand it seemed as bad as it did during the Rebellions but did it really need to come down to that? At least though they weren't nearly wiped from existence like the rachni.
Sucks to see Mordin gone. He was really awesome. My third favorite from the second game. Even though I didn't say much about him. I really respect what he did. And there really was no better way for him to end his life. To be known forever as the one who freed the krogan. Don't know if I like him more than Tali or not. They're probably about equal.
Also Thresher maw vs Reaper was kickass.
Hard to pick between Aralakh and rachni, but again, I can't willingly let a species be wiped from existence. Except the Reapers. By this time my hatred of them was sealed. They will not stop until organics or them are wiped from existence.
Garrus/Victus/M Shep plz thanks! <3
Again, there seems to be SOO MUCH context to suggest that Garrus was supposed to be one of M Shep's options. They are too much bros to be only friends. I've never had a friend worry about my sleep. Only my significant others. He's like that one friend that had situations been different you two would be dating. (I have a friend like that)
Kaiden and Cortez seem like cute m/m matches but still planning on doing my femShep/Garrus next time. Andrew's with Tali, going to stay with Tali too.
I am bi even though I show more M/M preferences. I'm just really friggin picky about my females because I HATE stereotypical sexy female. Of the ME females, I like Tali and Jack, That is all. The others are nice, but not anything I want to date.
Javik. Cool, but seriously could I have found a more useless Prothean? No I don't actually think he was useless but I was expecting someone to help figure out what the Catalyst is, not a soldier (though I'm expecting the catalyst is Shepherd). Too bad he ultimately says something to tick you off, though his convos are pretty amusing and him meeting the hanar was hilarious.
Don't have Leviathan. Don't know what Leviathan is. Also now, don't have Citadel. Hopefully will have it for femShep.
Hey look Udina's an asshole. Totally saw that coming. Which was why I put Anderson in charge in ME 2.
Expected Thane's death. Glad to see he got closure. Very sweet to see his son there with him.
Now to where I am in the game and why I decided now was a good time to do this entry:
Legion and the geth.
In the second game there was a DLC called Overlord. When I met David I was shocked, appalled, intrigued and mortified all at the same time about what happened to him. One of my biggest interests is the combination of man and machine. To meld symbiotically and harmoniously into one unit. This is different than the control and mutilation of the Reapers. The networked geth consciousness is exactly how I imagine that kind of kinship between man and machine; multiple minds (though from two different kinds of life) working together, aware of each other but still separate entities be they in geth platforms or servers. But what happened to David was not how I expected to see that connection.
However stepping into the alcove Legion uses is a lot closer to how I pictured it. I've actually been trying several times over the years to draw what I picture (something like David with the physical connections but harmonious and smooth, welcoming and warm not fearful and horrible) and have failed every time to get it right.
Interestingly, being in the geth conciousness. I had a dream that was very much like that over a year ago during the middle of the day nap when I had issues staying awake behind the wheel in the early mornings. Except the colors were different and my walkways didn't appear before me. It was a labyrinth and yes, a "virtual" world that was supposed to be inside a machine mind as depicted through my mind. Though I was not lost in the labryinth, more an explorer searching for buried treasures. I found that very fitting. I would love several screenshots minus Shepherd for desktop backgrounds. The history snippets were pretty cool. It was nice to see that there were quarians who fought for the geth instead of only against them.
Geth tech on the dreadnought is beautiful. Again how I feel of the Normandy SR 2 from ME 2 is how I feel of the geth. Though they can manage wires everywhere without it looking out of place and run down. Maybe the Alliance should ask them how to do it eh?
What Legion did was very noble. I really respect him for that. To give up his own life as he was coming into his own. As Edi pointed out on the ship later that Legion called himself "I" at the very end. A full actualization of his identity. That he would sacrifice that to bring that awareness to the geth is very humbling. I miss him, and it was like right after you find him again, he's gone.
Also glad to see Tali misses him too. It was very nice to bring her to Rannoch. To see her planet. Also very nice convos between her and Shepherd here. I'm beginning to see why some people would be upset to see their Shepherds die in the end. It is very easy to imagine her and him building a home together on Rannoch (Though his spacer past would probably bring him back to a ship at some point).
Nice to put this stupid war between the quarian and geth behind them. Had they welcomed the geth into their society in the beginning and helped them come into their own, this whole unpleasantness could have been avoided.
I know it is a possibility there would be war between AI and humanity, but I think a little bit of kindness goes a long way. Trying to understand someone can often mean the difference between getting along and hating each other. Though I'm expecting we will find a way to fuck it up. Humanity always does. Probably will refuse to treat the machines as if other human beings. I doubt humanity will be able to accept synthetic life before it sees an end to racism, sexism and homophobia. Even still, there will always be haters. Even if the problem is lessened, there will always be that problem.
On the subject of racism. Reading the comics detailing the Illusive Man's origins really puts the First Contact War into context. No wonder there is so much tension between the races when it comes to humans! Mass Effect takes place only some 26 years after that war. It's easy to lose track of that short a time span reading planetary descriptions, codex entries and such only. Hell there are salarians who would still be alive from that time!
Honestly, I love all the races. If there were one sci-fi franchise I would like to see actually be the galaxy as we know it, it is this one, minus the Reapers. Or at least, Reapers who have less of a "kill all the organics- order over chaos" and more a "live and let live" mindset. Then I would probably like them as much as I do the geth.
So yeah TLDR. Sorry for that.
Should probably make this private but eh.
Probably more insights after I finish the game.