SWTOR Character Profiles: Second Bounty Hunter.

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!  Allow me to introduce you to my Dark Side Bounty Hunter!

Name: Azulini
Gender: Female
Species: Rattataki
Age: 26 standard years
Homeworld: Rattatak
Class: Bounty Hunter/Powertech DPS tree
Personality Profile: "Savage. Brutal. Violent.  These are the things that people would call you, but growing up in the Rattatak wastes made you this way.  A life without a ready supply of food, clean water, a safe place to sleep or even clothes has made you focused first on survival, with everything else being secondary.

However, this means that there is a LOT of galactic society that confuses you; social cues, how bargain without offending, even the language at times.  Heck, even emotional stuff confuses you.  And when things start to frustrate you, you tend to start shooting things.  Still, you do the best you can, and are asking for Mako and Torian's help in how to fit in with the rest of galactic society at large."

And here's her pictures.

SWTOR Character Tales pictures: Close ups

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!  I said that, as soon as I figured it out, that I'd post the pictures of my toons, so here they are!

And yes, I intentionally showed more than just Yokonari's head.  This is actually part of her character; she uses her "assets" to distract others from her true nature.

Anyway, on with the rest.

Anstrisil does the hood thing to hide his species; so he's looked at as a Jedi first, and a Pureblood Sith second.  Just pretend the hood casts more of a shadow than it does here, and you'll get the idea what is happening in the story.

I know she's the only one who shows the Dark Side corruption, but Darth Nox here is the only one who completely embraces the corruption of the Dark Side; she doesn't have a code of honor that Adaso has or a sense of loyalty that Mamine has.  She has no lines she will not cross, and the corruption shows on her skin.

Notice the scars on her face; this is an important part of her back story, being a survivor of the Sacking of Coruscant.

And finally, I have both the headshot and a new picture of Maircus; in Mandalorian armor!

I actually added him in Mando armor because it fits him; one becoming a Mandalorian, Maircus wants to both look and walk the part.  The only thing he's missing now is the language, which he's learning from Torian.

So there we go; all the characters I still play.

SWTOR Character Tales Pictures: Last two

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den! And since I managed to finally hit the levels where they can wear my preferred armor for them, here's the pictures for Amelisan and Maircus, my Trooper and Bounty Hunter!

First is Amelisan, who IS named after the final boss of Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal. 

Why was I waiting so long for her? Simple; shoulder pauldron.  It did not look right without it.


And here is my Bounty Hunter.

I wanted something that looked both Mandalorian and mercenary, and this is the best I could do.  Still, I like the look, so here he is.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get closer shots of their faces, and when I do that, I'll post all 10 at once.

SWTOR Character Profiles: Second Jedi Consular

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

Since I've got a few chapters on ff.net under my belt on my new Jedi Consular, it's time for his character profile.

Name: Anstrisil
Gender: Male
Species: Pureblood Sith
Age: 32 standard years
Homeworld: Dromund Fels
Class: Jedi Consular/Jedi Sage Telekinesis tree
Personality Profile: "As a former White Knight of the Empire, you believe that the corruption of the Dark Side must be fought, but you believe it must be fought with impunity and not secrecy.  This is why you left the Sith and the Empire and surrendered to the Republic and joined the Jedi.

But you enjoy the freedom you gain as a Jedi more than anyone else; you can be yourself, and not have to hide you desire to heal and protect others behind a veil of apparent darkness.  You can finally do what you believe is right and not sit back as evil prevails.  After all, all that is necessary for the triumph is for good men to go nothing, and you will never do nothing again."

And unlike previous characters, I have a picture right away;

There you go. And look forward to pictures of both Maircus and Amelisan soon!

Chronicle of Ana Shepard: Continuing the saga

Just informing all who are following this that I'm continuing Ana Shepard's story into Mass Effect 2; I just posted the first chapter of that, detailing the fall of the original Normandy up to the point where she gets the new ship.

New ff.net story: Chronicle of Ana Shepard

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

Today, I'm announcing a new story on ff.net, Chronicle of Ana Shepard.  It will take plot points from the stories I had originally planned for this character, but I'm doing it in a way where I won't get stuck and lost interest; it's more of a diary that the character is writing, along with some transcripts of conversations that I will find important to the characterization.  This will allow me to summarize a LOT that bored me, and keep me interested in the story enough to actually tell what I had originally planned.

If you're interested, check it out on my fanfiction.net profile page.  For now, stay beautiful freaks!

Mass Effect Retrospective 10: Updates and retractions

Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been going through the ME trilogy again, and I've found out a few things.

First off, ME1 romances.  There is a way to cut off both romances for your gender and NOT carry one into ME2 if you choose your gender specific romance option as the Virmire Survivor.  There's a point in the romances where you have to be very, very harsh in your dismissal of them.  For Liara, you have to choose the bottom choice when she asks if you and her could share anything.  But make sure you reject Liara first, because if you reject her second, she locks in no matter what you say to her.  For Kaidan, it's when he talks about the BAaT program and initially brings up Vyrnnus.  You have to tell him that "this is a battlefield thing", which is the most "Renegade" option for the final line.  For Ashley, it's the conversation where she talks about her grandfather and Shanxi.  You have to get to the point where she starts ranting about aliens, and "kowtowing to the Council".

Essentially, you have to have the tone that "I don't need this high school bullshit" in order to outright reject them.  You'll know you rejected them because Liara won't talk about the asari joining, Ashley won't bring up the fact that "there's a reason for everything", and Kaidan won't talk about "getting the Council on our side"; in other words, they won't talk about the future with you. It's harsh, yes, but it is the only way to reject both Liara and the Virmire survivor without killing the opposite gender romance.  And a reminder that, if you want to reject both, reject Liara first.  If you reject the human romance option first, Liara will lock in, regardless of whether you reject her or not.  This is more important when playing a female character, as you have to reject both Liara and Kaidan at the same time, where as with a male, you reject Ashley one conversation after Liara.

Second, updates to my ME3 loadout.  Due to a playlist by a youtuber known as D4nnyB0y1066, I've been able to check out the weapon capabilities without going in and testing them all myself, and I found I like different weapons than I had before.  And here is the list, along with the upgrades for the weapons, as well as when you get them, and whether or not they require DLC or not.

Assault Rifles
Cerberus Harrier-Start-Firefight pack. Shepard gets the magazine mod and extended barrel, and companions get the scope in place of the magazine.
M-8 Avenger-Start. Since this is for a power focused build, this gets ultralight material and an extended barrel.

Shotguns (Companions get choke and barrel. Shepard's load out is as follows.)
M-22 Eviscerator- Grissom Academy. Choke and Barrel
M-300 Claymore- the Rachni Mission. This gun is Wrex, Vega and Grunt only, above mods apply.
Graal Spike Thrower- Priority: Tuchanka. Soldier and Vanguard Shepard Only. Magazine and barrel.  While heavy, this one has a charged shot that uses no extra ammo.

Sniper Rifle (Scope and barrel for all)
M-92 Mantis - Infiltrator start, or on Priority Mars.
M-98 Widow- Priority: Thessia.

SMG (Companions scope and barrel)
M-9 Tempest - Turian Platoon. Companion gun only.
M-12 Locust- Priority: Horizon. Ultralight material and barrel.

Pistol (Companions get scope and barrel, Shepard switches magazine or ultralight material for scope)
M-5 Phalanx - Priority: Tuchanka.
M-6 Carnifax - Arrae: Ex-Cerberus Scientists
M-358 Talon - Priority: Citadel 2. This is essentially a shotgun in range and power, so give this to someone that can tank, like EDI or Kaidan.  All else, go with the other 2.

The reason I advocate scopes and barrels on companions is 2 fold; they aren't bothered by weight, and they don't run out of ammo, so anything that doesn't boost accuracy or damage output (either ranged or melee, if you prefer melee. I don't, so I don't recommend it.) are wasted.

My preferred loadout on Shepard is as follows, in order of weapon appearance;
Soldier- Cerberus Harrier, Mantis/Widow, Eviscerator/Spike Thrower, Phalanx/Carnifax
Vanguard-Avenger//Locust, Eviscerator/Spike thrower
Sentinel-Avenger, Mantis
Infiltrator-Avenger/Locust, Mantis/Widow
Engineer-Avenger/Locust, Mantis
Adept-Avenger/Locust, Mantis

This shows a bit about my playstyle, too.  I prefer to fight from mid-far range, unless a Vanguard, and I try to balance frequency of power use with the damage output of my guns, so I tend toward light weapons for the power focus classes.  The Soldier isn't power focused, so heavy weapons don't matter, and the Vanguard and Infiltrator get on really heavy one and one really light one, since those are their signature weapons.  I've seen some pretty good builds with a shotgun instead of a sniper rifle online, so if you are into that, change out the Mantis/Widow for the Eviscerator/Spike thrower.

You'll also notice I forgo a pistol for all but the Soldier. Again, it comes down to weight.  The only reason I take a pistol along as a Soldier is that I have something back on if I ever run out of ammo.

Finally, Vega's "I'm the new player avatar" thing; I read on the ME wiki and saw that, if you take him with you on certain missions, he DOES prompt exposition from those who have been with you for the last two games on the shuttle rides down.  I tested this on my most recent playthrough, saving just before the shuttle ride down on every mission and then reloading to compare with the party I normally take,  and I found that yes, he does prompt for more information.  I guess I would have noticed this quicker if I actually used him in combat, but I digress.

As for everything else, nothing has changed.  Everything else I've said in the previous 9 entries remains true, for now.

So until next time, stay beautiful freaks!