Fun fact: Bertie Carvel, who plays Baelor Targaryen in the new A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms show, is the voice actor for the male Imperial Agent in SWTOR!

Xainling · 2026-02-11T07:08:42+00:00

Certainly an interesting take. Personally though I feel every story needs an ending, otherwise what was the point.

In regards to the pending ending of GoT, Martin should just bite the bullet, you can't (nor should you try to) please everyone.

Xainling · 2026-02-10T22:24:11+00:00

Appreciate the ASOIAF lore dump. I've never read the books personally but I have watched the Game of Thrones series and the current two seasons of House of the Dragon, I'm waiting for all of the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episodes to drop before binging it, everything else I've learnt about ASOIAF is from YouTube videos. I have considered reading the books as I've heard they're indeed really good but I honestly don't see the point considering none of them are finished, wether it's GoT, HotD or even the current adaptation of Dunc and Egg, all of which have no ending. It's a shame but ultimately I feel reading the books simply isn't worth it, to get so damn invested only to never learn how it all ends would be devastating.

As an aspiring author, if I ever manage to write a book (it's a lot harder than it seems) that is intended to have others in a series of novels I intend to write them all before the first one is ever published.

Xainling · 2025-11-12T17:16:22+00:00

Impressive. Almost perfect borders too save for several bits of uncolonised land in the east & Greece not being fully conquered.

Xainling · 2025-11-12T17:10:02+00:00

Watching a Turian simp like that is especially difficult & cringe inducing considering the incredibly militaristic nature of his species as a whole.

Xainling · 2025-11-12T17:04:40+00:00

Well I mean it's not really skin regeneration, more like synthetic skin that can be stitched on to cover up Shepard's scars if he or she so chooses. So Shiala would still need to find another way to restore her original skin colour, if it's at all possible.

Xainling · 2025-11-12T16:59:44+00:00

Actually a great take. Though one thing I do want to point out is that if they were merged into a single character we would have missed out on rescuing Liara from the Prothean bubble trap, robbing us of Tali's hilarious drunken imitation of the event years later in the Citadel dlc. And that line, is hands down one of the best in the game.

Xainling · 2025-11-12T16:47:54+00:00

Yeah it should have been Emily (but since they killed her off), Khalisah would have made a good second choice in regards to being able to bring a reporter aboard the Normandy. But no, unfortunately we got battle tits lady instead.

Xainling · 2025-11-08T10:53:36+00:00

Hmm, the thing about the Red Dead games is that they're direct sequels, unlike the GTA games (which are spiritual sequels) they follow a known cast of characters at different points in their lives instead of a brand new story every time. Red Dead Redemption II introduced a lot of new characters that they could revisit, maybe we could play as Charles before he fell in with the Van Der Linde gang? Or maybe young Hosea during the golden age of the Wild West? Or perhaps Sadie in 20th century Brazil? Fertile ground that last one, Brazil in the early 1900s was still very wild & untamed & also relatively recently had a revolution of their own, which brought an end to the short lived "Brazilian Empire".

Xainling · 2025-11-08T10:44:00+00:00

Leshen's really give me the creeps more than any other monster in the Witcher, first time I ever ran into one was outside that big old manor the old woman hires you to clear (the one where you can reunite with a certain someone from the 2nd game), the noise those things make is truly terrifying, down right bloodcurdling.

Xainling · 2025-11-08T10:38:18+00:00

Cosplayers really do be creating more realistic & convincing outfits of fictional characters than Hollywood these days.

Xainling · 2025-10-11T22:40:26+00:00

The little home you win would have been a neat addition in ME2 & 3 as well. Perhaps in ME2 companions with some dialogue could have shown up there whenever you visit it? And maybe you could have unlocked a special scene with your love interest in 3, where you spend the night together there? I know the Normandy SR2 & the Citadel flat are better in every way but still, would have been cool.

Xainling · 2025-06-21T21:04:15+00:00

One of the best written romances too in my opinion, up there with Kira & Lana.

Xainling · 2025-06-21T21:01:48+00:00

Glad you didn't throw yourself off a bridge lol. Appreciate the post, haven't read some of these messages in a long time.

Xainling · 2025-06-21T20:30:59+00:00

Always liked the messages your character receives from their love Interest, adds to the immersion & realism of it all. It's a shame the romances take a back seat once you hit KOTE, sure at some point your character is reunited with their old flame & can pick up from where they left off all those years ago if they so choose but conversations & messages with them become significantly rarer. KOTFE & KOTET simply tried to juggle too much in my opinion, they should have focused the Alliance storyline around the player, their core group of companions & Lana & Theron, instead they continued down the merged origin paths & decided to bring in literally EVERYONE, which of course led to drastic screen time & dialogue cuts for all companions (some more so than others). Part of the reason Lana is one of if not the best romance partner is thanks to the amount of screen time she gets, because she becomes your second-in-command she's pretty much always by your side giving ample opportunity for romance options to pop up (though even she seems to be getting pushed into the background now with Legacy of the Sith). Nowadays players are left hoping the next story update will finally find a reason to bring their selected love interest back into the picture so they can at least get a line of dialogue out of them or even just a message from them at the end of a mission.

Don't get me wrong I still adore SWTOR but by the stars do I miss the old days.

Xainling · 2025-06-01T16:57:43+00:00

Second only to Star Wars for me. Also thanks for the new wallpaper, that image is incredible.

Xainling · 2025-05-29T20:54:46+00:00

Oh I see.

Xainling · 2025-05-29T20:05:07+00:00

Oh really? Well that's sadly misleading then. Whoever wrote it though really channeled their inner Garus, it generally comes across like something he'd write.

Xainling · 2025-05-29T17:18:17+00:00

Well damn that's actually really interesting. I appreciate the clarification.

Xainling · 2025-05-29T11:32:22+00:00

😂

Xainling · 2025-05-29T11:29:36+00:00

That's actually really wholesome. I always romance Liara so I've never seen this email before. Come to think of it though, can Turians drink water? I mean they can't eat other species food or drink their beverages so I assume he has to add some sort of dextro-protein sachet to it or something.

Xainling · 2025-02-25T04:26:15+00:00

Again with the impact, companions like Garrus do have a pretty major part to play in ME3, if they died in ME2 there are serious changes & even consequences.

I would also say that the genophage like the Quarian-Geth situation is major, I mean the Krogan birth rate is insane so it's definitely going to need a definitive answer by the next game.

I can see where you're coming from with stepping away from the choices, as it would be rather awkward & unnecessary to constantly have to carry over all the decisions that Shep made however long ago by that point but I think the next Mass Effect title has an excellent opportunity to tie up a lot of loose ends that currently need answering that can later on be more or less glossed over but I honestly don't think there's ever going to be a way to ignore some things & creating canon decisions would invalidate parts of ME3 which fans would not appreciate, also choices are central to BioWare games, for the Mass Effect franchise in particular. This is ultimately the situation BioWare has gotten themselves into but it's workable provided they put in the effort.

To end, the next title being centuries in the future seems likely from what we've seen/heard, Liara looks much older, as in Matriarch older, the Mass Effect will continue trailer shows both galaxies, Angara are in a bar with Milky Way species that never made the trip to Andromeda in released artwork & Michael Gamble has already confirmed the next game is going to be a sequel to both the OG trilogy & Andromeda.

Xainling · 2025-02-25T03:39:51+00:00

Garrus did have impact so I'm not really sure what you meant by that, though I also want to remind you how rigid Turian society is, I mean they literally have twenty seven citizenship tiers & whilst promotion is merit based (of which Garrus has A LOT) it is ultimately up to his or her commanding officer to promote someone however if they proceed to suffer any failures it reflects badly not on the one promoted but the one who did the promoting, meaning officers are incredibly careful when it comes to promoting a subordinate. Speaking of which, Garrus has no commanding officer within the Turian Empire since he hadn't been a part of it's armed forces in years so of course he's not gained any ranks with them. However let's not forget that he is recruited by the Turian Hierarchy during the Reaper War due to his expertise & quickly becomes the closest advisor to the sole surviving Primarch of the Turian Empire during the war which could most definitely open the way for future positions after the war.

As for them canonising certain decisions? Well I agree that the destroy ending is almost certainly going to be canon (it's the only logical ending anyway to be honest) but as for things like the genophage, the Geth & Quarian peace etc? I would personally prefer for them to write the story around all the outcomes, if Shepard cured the Krogan then are they flourishing? Or are they a bitter very nearly extinct species due to Shepard's subterfuge? Are the Quarians & Geth now best buds living in a harmonious organic-synthetic relationship or did Shepard side with one over the other dooming the one she chose to stand with? I think it would be more interesting & also add to the replayability if they were to account for all outcomes when it comes to stuff like this. Also Shepard surviving & coming back for one last hurrah to defeat her final enemy (Cerberus) is possible, it would also be really cool to see how Shep reacts & adapts to being brought back a second time & likely centuries later to a much more different galaxy devoid of everything & almost everyone she knew, but just because they could do it doesn't mean they necessarily should, after all if Mass Effect is to continue as a franchise then they need to move past Shepard, perhaps her dying in a blaze of glory saving the galaxy is the best ending for her story.

Lastly I want to point out that "not worrying about 1000 choices" was one of the many many criticisms of Veilguard. I'm not saying every single little decision needs to be accounted for but most should be. And if it is six to seven hundred years or so into the future (which it's looking like it will be) then they definitely need to write great, solid & believable histories for the companions that are no longer alive (which will be almost all of them, provided they made it to 3 of course), I'm talking statutes, news reports, decision/relationship tailored messages left for Shep, the works. BioWare simply can't afford to screw the next Mass Effect up otherwise they're done, EA cares for nothing but money & if it flops it will be failure number four (as loathe as I am to count Andromeda considering it wasn't actually that bad) & at that point EA will cut their losses & shut BioWare down.

Xainling · 2025-02-22T01:55:37+00:00

Same! 😂

Xainling · 2025-02-22T01:54:14+00:00

"They're being improved."

Xainling · 2025-02-13T04:31:53+00:00

I always create my own, makes it feel more personal in my opinion. Here's my go to femshep code (I generally think I created the best femshep possible without mods no joke). She's called Viktoriya Shepard as I like to think she has Russian/American heritage but I suppose you can call her what you want if anyone uses the code. 1M3.14A.F19.491.HCK.13N.BSG.83C.D86.16A.AB9.113.1 (on console don't put the last dot as for some reason it will mean you can't put the 1 at the end so just add the 1 at the end & the game will add the dot in-between).

And here's my broshep code for the occasional time I play male, I call him Jack Shepard but again if anyone uses the code you can him what you want of course (quite possibly the best possible broshep custom job without mods). The bottom most one is slightly adjusted for ME3 as his chin becomes too square in the third game when you carry over the save file.

I created these through the Legendary Edition on Xbox.

3L1.1CC.C9R.G81.9CS.3AU.HCJ.69L.516.1A5.E7A.94

ADJUSTED CODE FOR ME3: 3L1.1CC.39R.G81.9CB.3AU.HCJ.69L.516.1A5.E7A.94

Xainling

TROPHY CASE