LogFAQs > #941159122

It turns out I was right at the end of Tali's loyalty mission. There was only one encounter with 3 geth left, and then we found full confirmation that Tali's dad was deliberately reactivating Geth with the parts Tali sent him. It seems like his primary motivation was to retake the homeworld for his daughter's sake, and he consciously tried to avoid tangling her up in the resulting politics - though he failed in that regard. Tali asks Shepard not to tell the Quarian Admiralty Board about this in her upcoming trial, because it will lead to her father being remembered as a traitor. I like this as a decision. You can either do as Tali asks at the cost of seeing her exiled (which would make her miserable) or go against her wishes for her own good. Of course, with enough Paragon points you can get the best of both worlds, which is what I went for. For the record, I see Shepard as the surrogate mom to her crew, and in line with that interpretation I would've chosen to tell the truth if I'd actually had to choose.

Next I went to Illium, where the Shadow Broker DLC and the recruitment missions for both Thane and Samara are located. I figure at this point in the game I should make a concerted effort to recruit everyone I can, because you need to have them around for a while to unlock their loyalty missions and extra dialog, so I'll go on a recruiting spree next time. Tonight, though, I had no time to start any missions. I spent a lot of time just walking around Illium listening to the NPC dialog and doing some speech based sidequests - I'm now a tiny notch away from maxing out my Paragon score, which is a relief, because I remember the game will remove loyalty from characters if you're paragon isn't high enough.

Illium is an Asari free-trade planet complete with corporate espionage, drug running, and slavery, but perhaps more compelling is the fact that it serves as a hub for a lot of the follow-up to minor events in the first game. We meet an Asari who has psychically bonded to the Rachni Queen, who gives us a cryptic update on what they're doing, as well as the one Saren sold out to the Thorian, who is now working to solve some issues with the physical health of the colonists as Zhu's Hope, who are experiencing some after effects of plant-based mind control. The girl who helped us bust a corrupt Salarian on Noveria also shows up, and I helped her out again for old times' sake. Of course, to complete this Asari-centric set of flashbacks to the former game, we also had a chat with Liara, who is now working her as an information broker. She told us where to find Thane and Samara, and we agreed to help her out with a jam she's found herself caught in as part of the high-stakes game of knowledge trading.

I think this is one of my favorite areas of the game. I like Western RPGs when they focus on talking to people and sorting out varied problems, rather than getting mired in the combat. It's also lively and showcases some of the game's good writing. One thing I especially liked was an ad for a film about a Hanar Spectre. That was quite funny, and it showcases the depth of the series' lore, because it has enough in-universe concepts to be able to combine them in amusingly absurd ways like that. In contrast to Gall's disappointment with the game, I'd say I'm starting to get more on board with it and definitely feel a strong sense of improvement from the first game, both in terms of game design and storytelling.

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I'm playing every game from GotD 2020! Games Completed: 3/129
Currently Playing: Mass Effect 2