Mass Effect 3 indoctrination theory refuted

So last time I played Mass Effect 3 I got on Youtube to look up stuff on the extremely ambiguous ending. And I found a video of The Indoctrination Theory. It made me angry, because basically it says that everything that you played through after Harbinger's final assault by the beam up to the Citadel didn't happen. It was all in Shepard's head, and I hate writing like that. "You did all this but not really nah-nah". And it fit so well into all of it! So this time when I played Mass Effect 3 I actively looked for the things this video talked about and tried to see if it all really matched up. I'm proud to say that nothing did. It looks like a perfect fit on the outside, but if you start digging and looking at details you'll notice that it doesn't add up. So here I am refuting this guy's top ten arguments.

Reason 1: The Child

He claims that it's weird that no one but Shepard seems to notice the child. Well, I don't know about all you guys, but if a giant alien race out of mythology had suddenly descended upon my planet and started wreaking havoc I'd be too busy staring up into the air at that thing, rather than looking down for any children. The second point I don't know enough of psychology to be 100% sure about, but isn't it possible that the child sort of haunts Shepard's mind? She just saw an innocent child die, and she had a good look at the kid, surely that must have left some impression. It's also highly possible it's a completely different child. The reasoning that Anderson would've heard Shepard and the child talk is also strange. There would've been a lot of background noise - burning buildings, explosions, gun fire, people screaming, and the Reapers themselves aren't exactly quiet. There's no guarantee at all that Anderson "should have" heard the conversation. 

Reason 2: Dream Sequences

I see these in a completely different light than the guy in the video, I see them as proof that Shepard blames herself for everyone she couldn't save. This, imo, becomes even more obvious as the game goes on and she starts to hear the voice of everyone she's lost while dreaming. The voice of the one of died on Virmire, the voices of any and all you lost in ME2, the voices of any you loose during the course of ME3... They're all there. And the dark shadows multiply as the game goes on, giving a hint that she blames herself for all the victims of the Reaper attacks that she could do nothing to save. The guy in the video says that the oily shadows are the same oily shadows mentioned by the Rachni queen in ME1. But they are not, proof of this comes later in the game. Slow-motion movement. Yes, you're in a dream! Have you ever had a dream where you moved normally? And as for getting hit by the Reaper beam - you just got hit by a high-tech friggin weapon of mass destruction! Of course you're gonna walk slowly! And the trees - since when do you look at trees so closely that you can tell individual trees apart? Honestly? And the burning is more like her subconcious telling her that she can't save everyone and if she tried she'd burn out. She is extremely stressed out by the end of the game when that final dream sequence happens. 

Reason 3: The Normandy

Why doesn't it make sense for Joker to try and outrun the mass relay explosion? It's an explosion! Anyone with half a mind would try to get away from an explosion! And no, the engines don't explode in all scenarios. My Normandy had some bumps a bruises, but no hull breach and no exploded engines. And I took the red beam that was supposed to destroy synthetics. Read that again. Synthetics. The beam wouldn't destroy all technology! Just self-aware synthetics. The Normandy would be fine - but Joker didn't know that, did he. EDI had Reaper code installed, however, and it's entirely possible that he rushed to save her. But no, my Normandy didn't break apart. And I think that has to do with the upgrades I got in ME2. And how the crew is on the Normandy? Well, we know that Shepard called Joker to pick up the two squad mates she had with her just before Harbinger's final attack and her ascent to the Citadel. It's not entirely impossible that the others got picked up too. We have no idea what the crew were up to while Shepard was half-dead on the Citadel. 

Reason 4: Harbinger's Beam

The radio chatter says everyone was killed, and they are right to believe that. It certainly looks that way. But as soon as Shepard has entered the transporter beam we get a sequence that show Admiral Hackett being handed a data pad that tells him that Shepard has managed to get up to the Citadel. Which makes the whole thing real. Also, Harbinger must've figured they were all dead lying still on the ground like that. To Harbinger the people must seem like ants. Do you stop to make sure an ant is dead after you've crushed it? And yeah, the gun doesn't need to be reloaded, but that gun normally has about 30 shots in it, and unless you're a really bad shot there's not way you'd need to use all those 30 shots on the last 6 enemies. The ammo isn't unlimited - there's just no point in showing how much ammo it has. How Hackett knows? See above. He gets the report. How the radio works? Well, the armour still works, doesn't it? The outer layer is burnt off, but Shepard is hardly naked and I'd assume the radio isn't put on the outside with a piece of tape. 

Reason 5: Anderson and Illusive Man on the Citadel

How Anderson beat Shepard there? Probably he was blown closer to it than Shepard by Harbinger's beam. How Illusive Man is there? That's explained earlier in the game if you pay attention. Back when you're assaulting Cerberus HQ there's a video that shows the Illusive Man talking to a nurse about some implants they've experimented with. He's happy with the results and wants the implants as well - Reaper implants. Around the time of the battle with Kai Leng it's also mentioned that the Illusive Man has gone to the Citadel to inform the Reapers what the Catalyst is. So Illusive Man has every reason in the world to be there. And well, according to what she heard on the radio chatter Shepard shouldn't be up ther either, but all the evidence points towards the fact that she is. Wanna know why the Illusive Man isn't interested in the console? He's indoctrinated. It's that simple. And that's not the Reapers exerting control over Shepard. These are the oily shadows the Rachni talked about. They are not at all like the ones in the dreams. But why are they there? Because Illusive Man is using his newly implanted Reaper teach to try to control Shepard. Meaning the Illusive Man is trying to indoctrinate Shepard, not the Reapers. And if you pay attention you will notice that Shepard has been holding her left arm close to her left side ever since she got up after Harbinger's last blast. She's been hurt since then. Probably bleeding since then. But she's looking at it now, first of all because she now has time to do so, and second of all because she realised it hasn't stopped bleeding and she'll probably bleed to death. 

Reason 6: The Illusive Man's Unexplained Powers

They are not unexplained. See above. Video at Cerberus HQ. Reaper implant experimentations. 

Reason 7: The God Child Makes no Sense and Lies to you

Not gonna argue with that. That part's true. But he does angle his little speech so that he's the most favourable to synthesis, which would allow the Reapers to live, because he wants the Reapers to live. He says the least about destroying the Reapers, because he doesn't really want that. He makes no sense, and he lies. But in-between those lies it's not that hard to see that he is the Catalyst and parts of what he says are true. But we still don't know how the Catalyst works at this point. It's entirely possible that the Catalyst takes on a form that's familiar to the person who goes up there. Why would it otherwise look like a human? Humans haven't been around long enough for the Catalyst to have had that shape originally. Because of that it's also enitrely possible that the Catalyst uses a voice that's accessible to the person being there. The Reapers brough the Citadel to Earth because that's where their force was the strongest. They basically took the Citadel and put it in their stronghold. That's explained in game. Pay attention! Also why they'd establish a conduit? That's also explained - they take humans to make more Reaper ground troops from. They beam the up to the Citadel to convert them there. Seriously. Pay attention. And it's also explained that the Crucible's plans were added to over the cycles. The colour-coding was probably added at some point. Why is that even remotely important? And finally, the Catalyst knows organics tend to value their own lives, ofc he's trying to dissuade Shepard from the destroy option by lying and saying it will kill her as well. He doesn't want the Reapers to be destroyed! 

Reason 8: Shepard's Eyes

No. Husks don't come from indoctrination. They come from conversion. And even if the eyes were an indication to indoctrination you almost have to will it to look like that. The only other reference of such eyes are the Illusive Man, and we don't know if his eyes are due to indoctrination. It could easily be some sort of tech implant. Because the Illusive Man has had those eyes since the very beginning of ME2. And he wasn't indoctrinated back then, that much is obvious. His behaviour has completely changed between ME2 and ME3. 

Reason 9: The breathing scene

Yes, Shepard couldn't have survived a fall back to Earth. But she didn't fall back to Earth. She's still on the Citadel. The Citadel wasn't destroyed. I don't know if they added that sequence in a later patch or something, but I definitely got a screen showing the Citadel a little broken and a little worse for wear, but not blown to pieces. Shepard is still on there and she's lying in a pile of space rubble. And say what you want, but the Citadel looked mighty concrete-y and metal-y to me. 

Reason 10: Bioware

Well, this reason just doesn't exist anymore. The video was done in 2012 when ME3 was brand new, and the hopes of getting a DLC that would explain something about the ending were high. We now know that that didn't happen. But hopefully, maybe, we'll get some sort of explanation and closure in Andromeda next year. 

November favourites 2015

This is another idea of mine to keep the blog running - the first of each month I'll do a favourites post for the previous month! So here's everything I liked about November.

Books:

I only read two books in total in November, which is a lot less than I'd like. But my favourite out of those two is definitely Rapture by John Shirley. It's the official prequel to the Bioshock games and it was really good. Not fantastic, but good enough to be extremely memorable. 

Music:

There's been a few songs that I've had almost constantly on a loop this month: 

• All That Remains - "What if I Was Nothing"

• Avril Lavigne - "Give You What You Like"

• Berryz Koubou - "Ai wa Itsumo Kimi no Naka ni"

• C-ute - "I miss you"

• Kelly Clarkson - "Heartbeat Song"

• P!nk - "Raise Your Glass"

• Stone Sour - "Zzyzx Rd."

• Tanaka Reina, Sato Masaki, Kudo Haruka - "Futsuu no Shoujo A"

Games:

The reason I've been reading so little is because I've been completely caught up in games. I started a new playthrough (with a whole bunch of mods) of Skyrim. I also started up Dragon Age 2 on a whim, and really enjoyed it until I got another whim and started a completely new playthrough of the Mass Effect games. I'm about halfway through ME2 presently. Favourite game of the month? First Mass Effect.

TV shows: 

I watch way too many shows to list them all, but my favourite show that I've followed this month was Downton Abbey, which makes it even more painful that it was the last season ever. And it was glorious. The Xmas special better be freakin amazing!

Other things:

It was my birthday! And my favourite physical gift was the game Until Dawn for PS4. I've watched tons of gameplay from that game, but I still think I'll enjoy playing it. I'll probably do that this weekend. Other favourite gift was my ticket to next year's Sweden Rock Festival :3

I also got a new follower for my Tumblr! I now have 17 and I feel so famous rn :P 

My top 10 most played games

So I thought I'd make a quick and simple post about the games I've spent the most amount of hours in (+ two extra at the bottom because I have no idea how many hours I've spent in them - but they definitely qualify for the list!)

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (currently 710 hours on Steam) 

I have actually more than 710 hours since I played it outside of Steam before I bought it on Steam. I started playing in early 2012 and I haven't stopped, though I did take a break of about a year before I started my latest playthrough a couple of weeks back. I am currently on my fifth character. 

2. Dragon Age: Inquisition (currently 443 hours on Origin)

I started playing this after Christmas last year. When it was released in November last year I still had my old PC and it was nowhere near powerful enough to run it. I have started about seven different characters, but I've only completed my two first ones. 

3. Dragon Age: Origins (currently 146 hours on Origin)

I tried playing this for the first time back in 2012, I think, but I just couldn't get into it with my mage character Neria. Then I tried again in 2013 and I still had troubles with my warrior character Kallian. But then I tried a third time later in 2013 and instead of starting a new one I continued with Kallian. I just didn't want to go through Ostagar all over again xD And this time I actually got into it and completely fell in love with it. I have started about six different characters, but I've only completed three - city elf origin, Dalish elf origin, and human noble origin. 

4. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (currently 122 hours on Steam)

I had a really hard time with this when I first started playing it, but I'm stubborn and I fought on through tears of frustration. Once I had levelled up a bit, gotten a little more familiar with the mechanics and my surroundings, I completely fell in love with it. I loved the skill system a lot more than Skyrim's and I loved that the quests were more of a choice & consequence kind. Almost every quest could end in at least two different ways (including the main quest line) and I loved it. Screw the graphics - Morrowind is the best ES game to date!

5. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt (currently 116 hours on Steam)

Toni had played The Witcher series before and really liked it. I had been curious about the games ofc, but it wasn't until I saw him play The Wild Hunt that I decided to play the series myself. And I completely loved the series. Once again, graphics in all honour, but contrary to popular opinion I actually liked the first game more than the third. That said - I did adore this game. People tend to think I didn't play through it properly because I completed the main game in exactly 100 hours. What I did, though, was that I had subtitles on and instead of listening to the characters talking I just read the subs and skipped the dialogue. Immersion-breaking to some maybe, but a lot of the dialogue soon became repetitive (like the ones before and after contracts). I watched all the cutscenes, though, and I completed all the friggin question marks, and I did every single quest. 

6. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (currently 106 hours on Steam)

Thus far my least favourite ES game and the only one out of the latest four (that's including ESO) that I don't get homesick for. But all the same, I did have an amazing time during this game. I explored every inch of the map and did every single quest.

7. Dragon Age II (currently 61 hours on Origin)

The least popular game of the DA series and my least favourite. Admitting that, I do sometimes get homesick for Kirkwall. Last time - just a few hours ago. I've played through this game twice and enjoyed both times. I do agree with all the criticism about the dungeons being copypaste etc. I do agree that it's the worst DA game - but I still don't think it's a bad game. I do like it, despite its flaws, 

8. The Sims 4 (currently 47 hours on Origin)

The Sims is one of those franchises that I've been with since almost the beginning. I started playing the original around the time the Superstar expansion was brand new. The Sims 2 is my favourite game in the series and hearing that TS4 was going to be more like 2 than 3 I was immediately intrigued and decided to get it. This far I've really enjoyed 4. Figuring out all the quirks has been a lot of fun, but the game is still a little too new. There's a distinct lack of cheat codes. After playing 2 for so many years I feel almost naked without my beloved "boolprop testingcheatsenabled true". But 4 is awesome. But then there is the way of playing The Sims. You binge it for a week and then you put it down and don't pick it up again for months. 

9. Mass Effect 3 (currently 44 hours on Origin)

I loved everything about this game - except the ending. There isn't much more to say about it. This game is great. The best in the friggin series.

10. Mass Effect 2 (currently 40 hours on Origin)

The game I liked the least out of the whole series, which I think is also contrary to popular opinion. When I started playing the original game and I complained about some of the outdated mechanics (and OMG the Mako -.-') they all told me "just wait until you get to the second game and it will be all better", and I believed them. Because all my gaming friends are my senpai. But in the end I didn't enjoy 2 as much as 1. 1 was like DA:O - it slowly grew on me. The best moment of this game was in the end when I could finally tell the Illusive Man to fuck off. 

Bonus content:

1. The Sims 2 (been playing since release in 2004)

This is my favourite game. So many cheat codes. So many possibilities. So much to do. I have created orphanages. I have created the neighbourhood slut that had a baby with every guy she slept with. I have created huge families. I have had vampires and werewolves, witches, warlocks, zombies, robots and aliens. I have killed off sims I got bored with and I've cried when sims I've grown attached to have died. I have both accidentally and unaccidentally burned down entire households. I've killed off entire households and watched as the grim reaper casually stretched and then went to watch TV for a couple of hours. I've watched in horror as flirty sims have completely ruined their marriages by kissing a crush in front of their spouses (without any initiation from me). This game can be so crazy, and there's always something new to do. The Sims is what you make of it. If you want to make it into a boring virutal dollhouse, then be my guest. But you can also create a hilarious mayhem. 

2. The Elder Scrolls Online (been playing since original beta in January 2014)

I was so excited for this game. All of Tamriel in one single game! Despite the overabundance of bugs in the early days of beta and early access and first few months after release I loved every single bit of this game. My original toon was a wood elf in the Aldmeri Dominion. I picked AD because 1) I love elves, and 2) we haven't been to Summerset Isles, Valenwood or Elsweyr in any game since Arena in '94. My second toon was an argonian in the Ebonheart Pact. I picked EP purely for the nostalgia of running around Morrowind and Skyrim. And then I also made an orc in Daggerfall Covenant. That orc never got past lvl 8. While I love EP and AD equally, I just get so bored with DC. I wanted to have one max lvl toon in each alliance, but that's never gonna happen with DC. 

My most played games as well as my most loved franchises. Seems like I'm mostly an RPG type, wouldn't you say?! xD

11 favourite soundtracks on my iPod

TV-shows:

Elder Scrolls Online:

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:

Pirates of the Caribbean:

Dragon Age: Inquisition:

Harry Potter:

Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser DLC (Warning: Spoilers)

Here we are. The last storybased DLC for Inquisition. I knew that before I saw the trailer, so I knew this DLC would feature Solas and some answers. But I was not prepared. Holy shit. It took me days to process. And I played it twice. It did not get easier the second time.

This DLC takes place two years after the events in the base game. Thedas is safe and both Ferelden and Orlais are starting to get worried about the Inquisition's military strength and self-governing. Ferelden wants the Inquisition to dissolve. Orlais wants to rule the Inquisition (honestly, when doesn't Orlais want to rule something?). The Inquisition itself seems happily oblivious to the fact that it's causing any problems. So we arrive at the Winter Palace where the talks are going to be held. Divine Victoria had called for the talks. But before the talks we get a chance to catch up with some friends :) Varric is apparantly the new viscount of Kirkwall (which I find hilarious) and Dorian has been appointed ambassador for Tevinter. He has also taken his father's place as a magister since his father passed away (or rather was murdered). We have a spa day with Vivienne while Sera is causing a ruckus around us. The Chargers celebrate Bull's birthday, and the quizzy elopes with Cullen to get married. Blackwall now goes by Rainier and he's with the Wardens for real and seems happy. Then we start the talks, but halfway through something comes up and the Inquisitor has to leave abruptly. What has come up is a dead qunari warrior. In full armour. Out of nowhere. In the Winter Palace. Dafuq? We look around and find an active eluvian in a storage room. We go through and finds ourselves in the crossroads (which looks differently depending on whether you're quizzy is elven or not). We look around and find more qunari in the crossroads as well as some interesting facts about Fen'Harel. Also the quizzy's hand starts acting up and actively tries to kill him/her. Events happen that take us from one place to another through a dizzying amount of eluvians until we realise that we're probably at war with the qunari. So we chase after the qunari and find them where we are told that Solas is the one behind it all. Quizzy goes through the last eluvian and there he is. Solas. We get some world-shattering answers and then we go back to Orlais, get our arm amputated and decide what to do with the Inquisition.

That's the easy version.

The first time I played the DLC was with my quizzy who romanced Solas, where Bull stayed with the Chargers, but where I kicked out Sera, and where Bull and Dorian never got together. I had a great time with the DLC all the way to Solas in the end. I cheered when Bull told the qunari leader to fuck off. I had an amazing time although the whole thing started to feel ominous when the quizzy's hand started killing her. I was starting to suspect that Bioware had actually killed off the quizzy, like they could the Warden. But then came Solas and I just dissolved into tears. And shock. Mostly shock. The tears came later.

The second time I played with my quizzy who romanced Cullen, where Bull stayed with the qunari, where Sera stayed, where Bull and Dorian are together, and where human!Cole gets together with the bard Maryden. I once again had a great time. My quizzy became a Red Jenny with Sera and eloped with Cullen ♥ And then came the tears again. But this time not because of Solas - but because of Bull. I hadn't brought him with me this time, which proved to be a good thing. Because suddenly the qunari leader calls for Hissrad and there comes Bull, all set to fight me to the death - AND I HAD DORIAN IN MY PARTY! And there afterwards. Dorian starts scoffing all teary about how Bull probably never meant it when he called him kadan and that he probably lied all the time - and I just wanted to hug him!! And I cried for Dorian. And then I was just angry at Bioware. HOW COULD YOU DO THAT, BIOWARE?! I was in total shock for the rest of the DLC.

- Sera accurately sums up the DLC

But here are the juicy bits. Solas was Solas first. Fen'Harel came later. The elven gods were never gods, just mages who became generals and then kings and then gods. Solas became Fen'Harel when he started to oppose the rule of these would-be gods and started removing the vallaslin from their chosen agents and slaves. When the other gods killed Mythal (I'm sensing a love story here) Fen'Harel brought the Veil down upon the world, effectively imprisoning the elven gods in the Fade, and reducing the amount of magic in the world. The loss of magic made the eleven empire fall apart. It wasn't the arrival of the humans that destroyed their world, but Fen'Harel when he brought the Veil down. When Solas awoke centuries later he found Corypheus and gave him his orb, with the intent for him to use it to tear down the Veil. Corypheus was supposed to die from it, but then he didn't. The orb was supposed to take away the Veil, but then it broke. Solas was the only one who could've carried the Mark without any risk for his life. And now he sets out on a quest to bring his world back. His ancient elven world. He'll tear the Veil down, releasing the Fade into the world along with the elven gods. And the Inquisitor has sworn to stop him. To his face.

- Solas simplifies how it all began

The end cutscene gives two promises for the next game - 1) It will probably be in Tevinter. 2) We will get to see some old friends.

Josephine points out that Solas was one of them. He knows their every agent, every asset, everyone inside the Inquisition. So the Inquisitor points out that we'll find some people he doesn't know. Well, I'd love for the Warden to come back! And pretty much every single companion from DAO and DA2.

And I'm hoping for a new Dragon Age in 2017 or 2018. It's not unrealistic tbh. Let's look at this!
• Mass Effect, released 2007
• Dragon Age: Origins, released 2009
• Mass Effect 2, released 2010
• Dragon Age 2, released 2011
• Mass Effect 3, released 2012
• Dragon Age: Inquisition, released 2014
• Mass Effect: Andromeda, release date 2016
So I'd say 2017-2018 is pretty realistic for the next game.

Mass Effect triology completed

When I get into a game or series my blog basically takes a break :P After I had finished The Witcher 3 and then Trespasser DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition (will post about the DLC - just needed time to process it before and then ME happened) I felt that I needed a new series to get lost in. I also felt like I needed more Bioware in my life. I considered dealing with my backlog but then I saw all the Mass Effect posts made by the-ryuchan on Tumblr and decided to play Mass Effect.

I am by no means a fan of sci-fi, which is probably the reason why I haven't played Mass Effect before. I've had a lot of friends who've tried to get me to play it and I did start up the first game (originally) just to please them :P But that didn't catch my interest. I guess I needed to play the game for me. So basically, the-ryuchan gave me the figurative kick in the ass I needed to start up Mass Effect 1. And I'm not gonna bother with spoilers in this post, because I tend to be the last person to join the party when it comes to games that are a few years old.

I created an Earthborn War Hero Soldier female Shepard and got going. My original impression of Joker was grumpy, though he grew on me (A LOT) during the game. I had originally intended to romance Kaidan, but then I recruited Liara and she quickly became my favourite character in the first game. My adorable history nerd ♥ So when I made teams I always had Liara in it and then either Garrus or Tali. I love my aliens :3 I really enjoyed running around the Citadel and I made sure to do every single side quest available in the game. I can vouch for a great hatred towards the Mako by the end of the game because the damned thing never wanted to go the way I was driving it! :P All throughout the first game I was confused. It was a lot of information to process in a very short time. It took me forever to learn what the different races were called and what race did what to whom. So by the end of the first game I still hadn't figured out the origin of the genophage (I figured it sort of just happened evolutionally) or who created the geth (I thought it was Saren). But on the upside I did know everything about Tali's suit, because having a Mass Effect fanboy for a friend who always went "Tali!! \^o^/" everytime she showed up in ME2 (when I watched him play some of it) has its benefits, and he explained Tali's suit for me back then. However, despite being mostly confused for most of the game the final main quests made my eyes go round.

The Citadel is Reaper tech?! The Citadel is a mass relay?! The Citadel is the Reapers' gateway?! The friggin' Keepers are their servants?! Holy shit! O_o 

Basically. The battle against Saren in the Citadel in the end had me on the edge of my seat. He was defeated too quickly - he couldn't be dead already, could he? - and I was right. The second time around was harder and a lot more satisfying. When the credits started to roll I felt really happy that I had finally played Mass Effect and I couldn't wait to start the next one.

But lets talk about mechanics and graphics first. I didn't mind the graphics (I tend not to) and I'm sure the game looked amazeballs back in 2007. What I did mind was that I once again had to make F5 my best friend. I did mind that the game had a tendency to get stuck half of the times I tried using an elevator. And I did mind that I had to keep holding left shift to pause the game/do battle tactics. The hacking/bypass system also drove me nuts and most of the time I just put some omni-gel on it so I didn't have to bother. But that's all. That's everything I have to complain about.

Mass Effect 2 was not cooperative. I started up the game and it couldn't find my ME1 save. Great -.- Then I realised I had ME Genesis installed too and thought that it didn't matter because I could just fill out what I did in the first game. So I started up a new game instead. This time an Earthborn War Hero Vanguard female Shepard. Aaaand the game starts with Shep dying. We're off to a great start, you guys! Then ME Genesis kicks off and the game crashes. Tries again. Still crashes. Once more. Crash again. The annoying part here is that the game didn't save the prologue before going into Genesis, so every time the game crashed in Genesis I had to replay the prologue. I got pretty sick of seeing Shep die after five times. So I googled for answers, but found nothing that wasn't for a system newer than 2011. And Origin's help forum was amazingly unhelpful (not at all like Steam's), but then I found an old forum post by someone saying that after s/he had turned off Raptr the game worked fine. I tried that and voilà the game worked. But every time I wanted to play I had to make sure Raptr was turned off before I started.

So the game starts properly and Shep is rebuilt by Cerberus. And I hated it. Thanks, I'm grateful you put me back together and brought me back to life but I want nothing to do with your idiotic organization so bye. That's what I wanted to do. But I couldn't. So I trudged on with that Cerberus logo jarring my eyes. I recruited my friends, but it didn't have the same feel like the group I had in ME1. Grunt wasn't Wrex. Miranda wasn't Ashley. Jacob wasn't Kaidan. Samara definitely wasn't Liara. Almost every new companion felt flat this time around. Thane and Jack were pretty much the only exceptions (Mordin didn't grow on me until ME3). Because of this my team was almost always Garrus and Tali. And Garrus is so friggin cute that it wasn't even an option to not romance him :3 ♥ I hated the Mako in the previous game, but honestly, the Hammerhead that came with Firewalker DLC was worse. It was horrible, to the point where I found myself missing the Mako. I didn't like that they had made the Citadel smaller, although it made it easier for me to find my way. Scanning planets was waaaay too boring. To the point where I went to probe Uranus several times just to hear EDI say "Really, Commander?". Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC had the best party banter and I got to run around with my cute history nerd again. Though, she had gotten sad. Well, I can understand that. I did die and then come back and then started kissing Garrus instead of her... I made sure to finish every single side quest and then it was time to complete the main quest. Kaidan was an ass to me at Horizon because I was with the organization I didn't want to be with and he was too thick-headed to listen to me. But the main quest. It started out kind of nice and slow - human colonies are disappearing - let's investigate! Then came the bombs -

The Collectors were Protheans?! The Protheans were repurposed by the Reapers?! The Reapers are really coming?! OMG we're going inside a Collector ship! OMG we're going through the Omega 4 relay! Holy shit we're gonna die! Holy shit they're making a new Reaper out of humans?! Holy shit I have to fight the Reaper-human?! 

Getting out of all of that alive felt amazing! And I only lost Kasumi :) By the end of the game Legion had really grown on me and along with Thane and Jack had become one of my few favourites. And I got to tell the Illusive Man to fuck off! Heck, yes! :D

I still don't like that I had to hold left shift to do tactics and most of the time I completely ignored the tactics throughout this game because of that :P The hacking/bypass was easier this time around (thank god, because now omni-gel doesn't exist anymore), but I didn't like that there was no cooldown! Had I failed once I couldn't try again and that bothered me.

Mass Effect 3, then. How does Shepard find herself in the need to be reinstated at the beginning of every game? xD The third game was by far my favourite. It starts with a bang - literally. And then it's off again to pick up my crew, get to know a few new people and get to have a lot of little meetings and outings with old crew members. And there was so much crying on my part for this game. Everything concerning Garrus was awesome. I loved that I managed to cure the genophage and broker peace between the quarian and the geth. I enjoyed meeting up with Jack and see how she had evolved as a person, and I really liked to hear Jacob's family news. Lots of social life despite there being a war on! Exactly what I missed from the first two games! Saying goodbye to Thane, though, was heartbreaking as was his memorial service. Another thing that always made me take a side trip to the hospital whenever I was at the Citadel was the PTSD asari telling her war story. I just had to come back for the next snippet.

I made sure to travel around every star system in the galaxy to find every single war asset I could (and getting chased by Reapers) as well as completing every single side quest. Citadel DLC was the funniest DLC in the entire series. This time around I liked every one of my crew, except for Liara who seems to have become more boring in each game, and less like the adorable history nerd that I once knew. Kaidan grew on me in the end. And congratulations to James for being the only human NPC that I've liked straight off the bat.

But then the main quest. 

Reapers are here! Reapers everywhere! Holy shit! Not Earth! Not Palaven! Not Thessia! Why am I not surprised that Cerberus is mixed up in all this?! The Illusive Man is indoctrinated, well that's just splendid! The Citadel is the Catalyst?! Why is it always the Citadel?! You know what, I get that I have a choice, but I came all the way here to destroy those big-ass fuckers so that's what I'm gonna do! Boom. 

I hate that they left the ending so open to interpretation. Even with the Extended Cut that I got so that I saw Shep take a breath and Garrus not put her name on the wall above Anderson's. I know she survived, but what happened after the blast?! Did they move the Citadel back to the Serpent Nebula or is it stuck above Earth? Did they find Shep and got her through recovery? Did she and Garrus find each other again? Did she get the Normandy back? Is she still in the military? Is she still a Spectre? Is she still doing missions with random strays on her ship? Is EDI alive?! Did EDI survive the blast that would destroy all synthetics? And (assuming the geth didn't survive) are the quarians okay without the geth helping them to speed up the process to get out of their suits?! Did the Council survive? Who becomes the new human representative? Shepard? Hackett? Do the species help each other rebuild or does all cooperation from during the war fall apart when they don't have the common threat of the Reapers anymore? Is Cerberus defeated for good or did a new leader emerge? I need more! Finding out that ME4 isn't even about Shepard made me so disappointed. And that it takes place long, long after the events in the first triology means that the only possible character to make a cameo or a comeback is Liara.

But Mass Effect. Holy shit. What a journey.

Also I found this in ME2 and thought it was funny:

An ogre from Dragon Age as a statue in Mass Effect :D