#mich rambles

The endings, period. The consequences are fine and I think all three dip into self-sacrifice (remember: Shepard doesn't KNOW she'll survive in the destroy ending). But I wish there were BIGGER consequences. I don't know how or why or who or what, but I guess that's what AUs are for. I mean... Imagine she's guaranteed to live and had to make a choice of sacrificing a colony/planet or something. Earth would have to be one of those choices, obviously. NOW we're talking big-ass consequences to live with afterward and a lot of conflicting feelings.

Castis Vakarian is not a bad father and he's certainly not an asshole. Whenever I stumble on people who write him like a dick I think they: - don't understand where he's coming from. - are playing with his personality to fit a role (valid; I do that all the time too, but I try to tweak it so there's some kind of "backup" in canon to pull it from, if that makes sense). - are too quick to agree with Garrus without really hearing what he says in ME1.

Garrus is a talented cop--let's not get it twisted. He gets promoted fast, proving that point. Pallin even gives him the Saren-case. I guess there's a rabbit hole of why Pallin did that when he's skeptical of humanity AND he doesn't get along with Garrus, but I choose to believe he's being pragmatic about it and hands Garrus the case because he knows the young man is talented as hell. ANYWAY. That wasn't my point. I think it's easy to sympathize with Garrus's frustrations with red tape, especially when you're literally doing what he wishes he could do. He's valid for a lot of it. But those who blindly think he's in the right and does nothing wrong... would you really want him handling your case? A cop who beats suspects? Isn't cop brutality illegal or am I just isolated in my little country up north? Not acknowledging his hotheadedness or side-eyeing his "I get to do it my way for once" is a discredit to his character arc. I think the comics (which aren't canon, apparently) make us understand where Castis is coming from even more because damn, Garrus, I'd be scared if you were assigned to my case.

People who paint Saren as an evil speciesist (god I hate that word, I can never spell it right) bad guy without any depth... nope. Not for me. He's ruthless, yes. He can manipulate, yes. He's quick to use torture, also yes, and if I remember the finger-breaking scene from the first book correctly, torture is a real turian tactic in the ME-universe. Saren respects proven power. Merit. He, like many other species in the galaxy, thinks humanity is gunning for something they haven't earned yet (promotion without merit--sounds familiar?). He's just more direct with his words. If you need proof he's not just a moustache-twirling bad guy, look at how he addresses Shepard on Virmire. That's him talking to a worthy opponent/potential ally. I can ramble about Saren for hours, but I'll stop before it gets outta control.

This one is very me-coded, but I think pure paragon or renegade Shepards aren't realistic. I also think they're boring over time. I guess it's fun to be a douche and nice to be an angel, and I guess how realistic a game should be is its own discussion. But to me, an N7 and Spectre need to be able to adapt based on what you're up against. If a Spectre is uncomfortable doing the "bad" thing or if you can't yell the quarians into submission for being idiots in ME3... sorry, the Spectre life ain't for you.

Admiral Hackett is not a cold, manipulative asshole. Honestly, I think he's more of a mentor to Shepard than Anderson, but that's probably rooted in the fact that you don't really see WHY Anderson has that mentor-role. I see the "Hackett uses Shepard" thing a lot. No shit, Sherlock. He's an Admiral. His whole job is to put the best person to the right job. I think a lot of people confuse pragmatism with being cold and ruthless. Hackett is trying to win a war and make sure humanity doesn't lose its footing in the galaxy. His job means he cares about results. When you, as Shepard, provide results after results, why wouldn't he turn to you? I think it shows a deep level of trust.

This has been circulated more than once and I think I saw @lilmissnatcat24 say it first when the discussion was at its height: there are more clothes out there for Shepard than N7-branded stuff. x) I only pick the fucking hoodie in-game because it looks like the most comfortable outfit. If not that, I use Aria's outfit because it looks fucking cool.

Which leads me to: buff soldiers can absolutely dress nice, use make-up, and do their hair without losing their buff-soldier status. I draw the line at combat, of course. No one's gonna dress up for that and if Shepard does anything other than a braid, a bun, or anything that gets hair outta her face and away so enemies can't grab it, that's just... wrong.