I can see your standpoint and it's a valid one (and one that I generally engage with) but there is something to be said about engaging with a game on it's terms. Now usually some kind of shitty elitist sounding statement follows sentences like that but let me tell you my story with this trilogy for context on where I'm coming from.
About a year after ME1 launched I borrowed it from my cousin. Despite mostly liking the world and narrative I bounced off of the game due to disliking the combat (which I still don't think is great in ME1) and because I disliked my character. Now I like myself but I think the reason I got bored with the character is because it was just the Shepard version of me or I guess Shepard just became my avatar. And after having played through all three games multiple times now I think going pure paragon in ME1 in particular is a dull way to go. So I picked the game back up on PC when that version launched and did something very unusual for me with these choice driven story games in that I took a different approach. Basically Shepard was no longer the power fantasy version of myself. They were their own character.
To kind of help establish a base point for the early hours of ME1 I had my Shepard make choices that were the opposite of what I'd do which generally meant I did a lot Renegade choices early on. So I was broshep instead of femshep (the ultimate Renegade choice! lol), I chose to save Ash over Kaiden (again, not technically a Renegade action but.... we know it is), I killed the Rachni Queen and was generally a company man through and through. Eventually I realized my Shep was still kind of stale because he was just the opposite version of me so I started sprinkling in some elements of me. Even though I chose to save Ash over Kaiden (and killed the Rachni) my Shep (at least by their definition, lol) was not Xenophobic, he didn't kill Wrex (my Shep & Wrex had a lot in common), he didn't punch the reporter, he saved the council, etc. and so by the end of ME1 I felt like I had a good sense of what kind of choices my Shep would make in any given situation and sometime they were choices that I would make but many times they were not.
In ME2 my Shep's trajectory was like that of a Renegade cop in a buddy cop movie. Basically, my Shep would destroy half a city block to accomplish his task but no innocents were hurt so DAMN was he a good cop! LOL. He also commanded loyalty through friendship. He initially started loyal to Cerebrus because of what they had done for him but in the end Shep's beliefs resulted in him basically telling the Illusive Man to pound salt. I will say that on my first playthrough none of the major characters died. I think Zaeed may have died and Kelly DEFINITELY died but I'm pretty sure everyone else made it through? On later playthroughs with other Sheps that would fluctuate a bit. I've never lost Garrus but I did lose Tali once. I will say, had that happened on my first playthrough I definitely would've struggled with the decision to not restart the mission but I think I would've pushed through as that was the sort of mindset I was playing these games with.
In ME3 my Shep was mostly a Paragon man trying to atone for the sins of his past (which worked well with much of the narrative stuff in that game). My Shep tried to make peace with everyone he had encountered over the past 3 games and ultimately tried to defeat the Reapers. It was a great journey and (at least for me) the approach I took played a big part in that. Letting things happen as they did and stick was pretty important for me.
Having said that, Alex should do what he wants. I think it would be cool if he let this stick but I would not begrudge him at all for replaying the Suicide Mission or modifying the save he imports into ME3 and it wouldn't hurt my enjoyment of this video series at all. He should do the playthrough that he wants to do as that's what this game is all about. Having said that, I see Alex as someone who would want things that happened to stick and I do personally hope he sticks with the way things have played out largely for the people watching this series. So for those of you who didn't experience what Alex experienced in the Suicide Mission (and it seems like many of you have not) you'll now get to see how the consequences of what happened play out in ME3 and it's REALLY interesting.
I could be misremembering (and it's been a long time since I've looked into this) but I believe I remember there being scuttlebutt back in the day about Tali being a difficult one to keep alive. From my own experience she made it through fine on my first playthrough but I want to say I had some issues getting her through on repeated playthroughs.
Either way, (minor spoilers): This is preferable to what could happen to her in ME3.
Assuming you don't mind, I'm gonna try to post links in the comments of some of the alternate ways certain choices you made could play out just so that you can see them (particularly if they're really fun). Here's the Renegade action you passed from the start of the mission:
https://youtu.be/fel2xIW3XNY?t=148
And here’s what happens when you encourage the volus:
I’m with you but I can also get why someone wouldn’t want to sit there and eve’s drop on conversations. lol
@alex:
Play how you want (as I’ll enjoy watching it no matter what) but you might want to hold off on doing that Reaper IFF mission. Like WAY off. Or don’t. Have fun!
The MiSTer seems super cool and having one box that does everything is rad but having a box like the Mega Sg where all I have to do is load in firmware (and whatever roms I do have) and i'm good to go is infinitely more appealing to me. I also do not have the rom library that make the MiSTer make sense for me and I'm not about to go down the rabbit hole of either ripping roms of my games or go down the "other" path. Much like the PC gaming vs console gaming argument stuff like the Mega Sg seems more plug and play than the MiSTer which is enough to make it more appealing to me.
Amy Sedaris is the best! Abby's got great taste in comedy.
Also, I am someone who laughs at gratuitous or extreme violence. It's not me being like "Haha, yay death!" but more just my reaction to the ridiculous stuff I'm seeing. When it's so extreme it just becomes absurd to me. It's hard to explain but I can see why some would be unsettled by that. Having said that seeing stuff like throats or wrists being slit makes me want to die as it makes me so unsettled.
Also Dan saying that this is like "Flanders explaining apple cider to Homer" might be the best/most appropriate Simpsons reference ever on this podcast. lol. I just imagined the sound of a slide whistle as that hockey conversation continued.
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