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Okay, in celebration of N7 Day (and in the spirit of November being my blog’s “Getting around to those articles I’d kept saying I’d do but never did” theme), I take a look at how to play Vetra Nyx in the tabletop game Thirsty Sword Lesbians using The Matriarch playbook.
whammy5 reblogged
Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness explores a mono-gendered alien culture with tact and nuance. In one scene a human, Genly Ai, and a monogendered Gethian, Estraven, discuss the differences between their cultures. “Ai brooded, and after some time he said, ‘You’re isolated, and undivided. Perhaps you are as obsessed with wholeness as we are with dualism.’”
Estraven replies, “‘We are dualists too. Duality is an essential, isn’t it? So long as there is myself and the other.’” In other words, for the Gethians, otherness comes not from inherent sexual or racial difference, but in the inherent distance between two aware beings. In the same conversation Estraven asks, “Tell me, how does the other sex of your race differ from yours?” To Estraven, the idea of a gendered otherness is completely foreign; it must be explained. Both of these moments bring out something Mass Effect never quite explores, at least with the asari: the encounter with something speculative that can recolor or even transform preconceived notions.
So I’m at a con and the dad for the actor who plays Genie for the Broadway Aladdin (Major Attaway had a panel here) wanted to know where I got a print of Grunt from Mass Effect going “I lived, b****” so that’s my oddest con experience now lol.
How to Play Garrus Vakarian in Thirsty Sword Lesbians
I recently finished my replay of the #MassEffect series, & my big-brain decided "Screw it, let's figure out how to play #GarrusVakarian in @EvilHatOfficial #ThirstySwordLesbians ." It was originally just a joke & then I was 4 pages in so why not?
One of the benefits of the Thirsty Sword Lesbians system is that it is designed to be relatively neutral to the setting of your world. Queer romances and flirtatious combat can be done just as effectively in a fantasy world as a sci-fi one, which is demonstrated by the sheer range of options within the games various pre-made settings and adventures, some of which involve traveling with your…
So after finishing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition I figured “why not” and started and Andromeda replay too. There’s plenty I could nitpick about (look, Bioware, stop trying to make mining a thing), but at the end of the day I actually really don’t mind the game at all where it matters for me: the crew.
...
Okay, admittedly a big chunk of that is because I absolutely adore Vetra and Drack, especially when they’re in the Nomad together and Drack’s just giving her advice on parenting Sid and she comments how maybe things would have been better if he had been their dad and just...mmm, hit me right in those feels.
The rest of the crew is pretty okay, too and are about on par with most of the other teammates in the original trilogy.
Plus, I honestly like Ryder as a more unsure of themselves newbie to being the hero thing compared to Shepard’s badass right out of the gate. Just even the small things like struggling to close out the meetings throughout the game are such an interesting contrast to Shepard, and watching them grow into a competent badass who’d be able to keep up with Shepard is fun.
And it’s just really sad at the end of the day we’re probably not going to be getting anything else out of it because of the reception: the DLC got scrapped and shoved to a comic, and the only hints we have of any future Mass Effect content didn’t give me much hope it was continuing Andromeda’s story. I just hope they don’t get completely forgotten, at least.
So hey, apparently there's a bug with Mass Effect Legendary Edition where the Paramour achievements might not unlock properly (romanced Garrus but didn't get it in ME2). Anyone know if it just messes up the achievement but still imports into ME3 or do I need to wait till patched?
I’ve been having fun with the Photo mode, capturing this intense longing for someone who is eternally distracted by the bargains.
A bit sad seeing the Mass Effect trailer that they're not continuing Andromeda, at least not right now. I actually liked Andromeda and wanted to see more of it.
Granted, a good chunk of that desire is just wanting more Vetra Nyx and her sister, whose relationship was one of my favorite part of Andromeda. But in general I liked the story and wanted to see how it went -shrug-.
I'm...also a little concerned cause the endings of ME3 are quite clearly incompatible: either you destroyed all AI life (like the Geth), Shepard is a benevolent Reaper God, or everyone's a cyborg. Gonna be really hard to square those three-different circles.
Wow, this sounds interesting. Sounds like something that would be a good single-player DLC. If only they still made those...
whammy5 reblogged
Don’t mess with Sid. It’s not good for your health.
Just a quick illustrated thought on the life Vetra and Sid left behind by coming to Andromeda. Also a fun exploration of ‘teenage delinquent’ Vetra and ‘kid Sid’, exploring how younger Turians look and giving them the outfits to match.
whammy5 reblogged
Space mom making sure you eat your 5 a day
whammy5 reblogged
Like many fanbases, the Bioware fanbase/playerbase is a trash fire at any given time. Said fanbase didn’t even let Mass Effect: Andromeda get off the ground before lambasting it for various graphical inadequacies and stilted line delivery. However, while there do exist some graphical glitches, weird bugs, and a disappointing character creator, ME: A is not that bad. Since I’m not even halfway through the game yet (no spoilers!) this isn’t going to be a full review, but rather a look at a troubling reaction by Mass Effect’s audience. After already being labeled as “SJW propaganda” by people who loathe anything that looks like a diverse cast, it’s absolutely no surprise that there’s such negativity surrounding a woman in charge; even less surprising when that woman is Black. While there’s absolutely fault on the fanbase for the unfair treatment surrounding her, in what I’ve seen and experienced I can only come up with one conclusion: Bioware set up Sloane Kelly to fail.
Spoilers beneath the cut.
whammy5 reblogged
I love Mass Effect, but I will say, the inability yo Romance Miranda and Tali as FemShep is a terrible injustice.
The only reason I ever played MaleShep was because of romancing Tali. If I could have romanced Tali as FemShep I'd never need MaleShep ever again.