The great thing about the Mass Effect trilogy is that while everyone who played the trilogy got the same story, each Commander Shepherd was different.
The decisions we all took were the same, but the reason for going down each path is unique to each of us.
Below is the story of my Commander Shepherd.
 |
| Commander Gopez Shepherd |
Rescuing Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams during the Virmire mission
The first major decision in Mass Effect and the one that made me realise Mass Effect was going to be something special.
Speaking to Kaidan I always got the sense that what Kaidan went through for his biotic training had left a deep scar within him, one I thought he couldn't get over.
This, along with the medical issues he had, made me feel like Kaidan was a guy waiting to die.
Ashley always seemed like a racist to me, the type that wanted to blame their problems on something else, something preferably different to them.
It seemed easier to her to attribute the lack of success in her career to a conspiracy against her family because of her grandfather.
However, unlike with Kaidan I thought there was the possibility of redemption with Ashley.
If she spent enough time aboard the Normandy alongside a crew drawn from species across the galaxy she might see the error of her ways and learn to embrace diversity.
Because of this I chose to save Ashley over Kaidan - it almost felt like I was doing him a favour and giving him the release he craved.
Sparing or killing Wrex during the Virmire: Wrex and the Genophage confrontation
This was an easy decision to make - there was no way I was going to kill Wrex.
Not only was he a really useful guy in a fight, but I felt a lot of sympathy for what the Galaxy had done to the Krogans (and it wasn't just the Salarians who should shoulder the responsibility for the Genophage; they might have created it but the Turians and Asari were happy enough to go along with it).
While what Saren was doing on Virmire might have looked like a cure to a desperate Krogan, what they were creating weren't real Krogans.
Even at that stage I felt the Krogans were capable of being more than just mercenaries, and that was in large part because of the conversations with Wrex.
If the Krogan were ever going to make their situation better, it would be because of people like Wrex.
It would have been a great loss to his people if he had died on Virmire, even if they didn't know it yet.
Sparing or killing the Rachni Queen on Noveria
I chose to spare the Rachni Queen, even though it wasn't clear what the consequences for doing so would be in later games.
I had two reasons for doing so, one being selfish.
In the same way I didn't think it was right to inflict the Genophage on the Krogan, they too had no right to cause another species to go extinct.
My second, selfish, reason was that I thought a species that almost defeated the combined might of the Turian, Asari and Salarians would be pretty useful to have around when the Reapers eventually showed up.
Deciding the fate of the Council during the battle with Sovereign, and the nomination of either Captain Anderson or Donnel Udina to the Council
While the council's inaction was infuriating, I felt no ill will towards them as they behaved in the way most politicians do; looking out for their interests.
However, when the Council came under attack and I had the option to save them or concentrate on Sovereign, I chose not to save them.
My thinking was that the fate of the galaxy was far more important than saving the Council and I didn't get the impression there were any particularly great leaders among the Council.
Looking back on it, maybe I felt that when these individuals were confronted with the biggest threat to galactic peace in tens of thousands of years and they chose to hide their collective heads in the sand, they were no great loss to the galaxy.
Stopping Sovereign was all that mattered at that point and I wanted to fleet to concentrate on that; I didn't think it was worth risking taking fire power away to save the Council.
The consequences of this decision in later games did take me by surprise though, and if I was given a chance to make it again I probably would choose differently.
Humanity took full advantage of both the power vacuum left by the deaths of the Council and of humanity's role in averting a galactic level threat.
I regretted that humanity would were so aggressive in the aftermath and I can fully understand why this left a bitter taste in the mouths of the other species, especially those who had been part of galactic politics much longer and still didn't have the influence humanity essentially took. It laid bare the worst of humanity and I wish we had shown more modesty, especially when you consider that while a human (Shepherd) was leading the force that finally uncovered what Saren was doing he was by no means along. Shepherd's task force was a cross-species one and it took the best of all of the galaxy's traits to avert the threat.
As for the choice between Captain Anderson or Udina to join the Council, this took no thought at all.
There are enough snivelling power hungry politicians in the galaxy already - there's no need to help one gain even more power.
When Udina betrayed the Council in Mass Effect 3 I couldn't help but feel vindicated for the way I had always viewed him.
"Romance" partner
Ah, the all important "romance"...
Why the quote marks? Because, and let's be honest here, when BioWare say "romance" they mean boning.
As I was playing a male Shepherd my choices were either Ashley or Liara, and I decided to go for Liara.
While I could see some redemption for Ashley, I still wasn't interested in having a relationship with a space racist.
Plus the way Liara described Asari sex, who could resist?
I'm guessing after I'd been with Liara I was probably too contaminated to interest Ashley anymore.
In the next part of this series I'll go through the decisions I made in Mass Effect 2.
You know, when I eventually get around to writing it.
