Early in the session tonight sis commented on a common thread of the ME2 crew by asking, "Where are you on the scale of 'abandoned child' to 'deadbeat dad' in the Mass Effect Universe?" We're somewhere in the left middle of the scale today, picking up with Garrus' loyalty mission at last. As a certified Garrus enjoyer, I've been waiting for this. If it all goes well, sis will have a hot Turian boyfriend before the night is out.
(In the mission select screen.) "We'll take Garrus and Tali, because they're besties. They've got to be at least REALLY good coworkers by now."
(Hunting down info on Sidonis.) "I love walking in a room when I can just tell everyone wants to kill me."
(Chasing after Harkin, also for info on Sidonis.) "Harkin's in here. I can smell him." "Dude, I don't know your race well enough to know if you mean that literally or not."
(After a particularly hilarious game over in which Shepâs corpse got launched Loony Toons style off a cliff.) "Does the death really count if you had fun while you were dying?" Adding this to my list of quotes that must never be taken out of context.
It's a much chiller kind of day today. Sis isn't playing tremendously well, but the mission isnât too hard, so sheâs mostly just mowing through the baddies, chatting at her squad, humming Miracle of Sound's âCommander Shepardâ song, and listening to this particular NPC go through the full range of human emotions while dying. Good times.
(Hacking the second or third PDA in a row.) "She's amazing. She's brave, she's honorable. She'll fight the Reapers without question. She's just got this liiiiiiitle bitty quirk. She will - and I mean she will take everything that isn't nailed down."
But at last, we caught up to Sidonis, and sis heads to the confrontation. Taliâs just sitting in the backseat of the car while Shep and Garrus have this super intense conversation, which as sis says, is giving "Mama y Papa."
But then she's there body-blocking Garrus's target, and I'm pleased to say sis is as into the drama as I am: "That Shepard would trust Garrus so much, she'd let him point a sniper rifle at her head for several minutes, and never once is she worried in the slightest. That eats so good. MMM." And yes, yes it does.
I was also enjoying, as always, Garrus yelling at Sidonis over comms that âyou always have a choice.â Longtime followers may recall my favorite quote from ME1 is the Paragon response in Garrusâs quest, âYou canât predict how people will act, but you can control how you respond.â And the narrative synergy at play here, where it really feels like Garrus is trying to take that to heart, but it hurts so badly. Yet he does believe it. He has to â itâs the only way thereâs any sense or justice in the world. And thatâs why even after Shep tells Sidonis to get lost, he doesnât take the shot. He must have had a chance. But he didnât take it. Because he believes in Shepard. Believes enough to accept the pain of restraint, of self-denial, with faith that the world they are fighting for every time they make these choices is a better, more just one. So yeah. All respect to Renegade enjoyers but this is the radically superior outcome for this quest.
Ermagersh though, narrative philosophizing aside, I did not expect my kid sis to be so embarrassed when we actually hit the romance dialogue in the post-mission. Sometimes I forget that she's still pretty young, even though she's technically an adult now haha. Garrus and Shepard are awkwardly flirting at each other about their reach and flexibility, and I'm encouraging her that this is the on-ramp and telling her which conversation option she needs to choose to start a relationship, and she's just melting, "THIS IS BIG GIRL GAMING. ALL I DO IS PLAY THE SIMS. (cringing, crying) AHHHH, HERE WE GOOO."
She's leaving the room, headed down the life pod hallway going, "It's a good thing that worked, because this would be the ultimate walk of shame." And ya know, it sure would be. But not this time. đ
