Part 55: R and R
R and RSorry about the time between updates, I was telecommuting and it was easy to do commentary and editing on my lunch breaks because I had all my equipment but the powers that be decided I should go back into the office. Combine the loss of free time with the weather improving so I can actually do yardwork and go out and do stuff and you get 2 weeks of gap time. Luckily there isn't much left for us to do so this won't stretch out into months before we're finished.
Now that we've dealt with our clone it's time to hang out with our friends and generally relax. We get access to the combat sim which is a pared-down version of MP. You get prizes based on score, the majority being things that unlock more options so you can get higher scores. You also unlock squadmates, and anyone alive at this point with the exceptions of Mordin and Legion (whenever you decide to do it) gets to come along as long as you've done their mission(s). So for example if you haven't completed Sanctuary then Miranda isn't around. I think the idea being that you'll go to the apartment as soon as it's available and then do a mission, hang out with a companion etc but nobody seems to do it that way because why the fuck would you? Getting folks to hang out with is based on doing missions and if you wait until post game to do this like we did the combat sim works the same as a mission so it'll advance the next round of interactions. That's nice of them to do so you aren't fucked if you waited. You can do a round in just a couple of minutes so moving on to the good stuff is easy.
Aside from shooting imaginary dudes we wander around the strip a bit. There are lots of conversations to listen to, the majority being references to MP and they're fucking hilarious if you have the context. Bitching about pubbies, loadouts, bad techniques and getting loot from boxes. We'll eavesdrop on these whenever we can. We also hang out with Zaeed, Traynor, Javik and Liara. Javik's thing is hysterical. He doesn't have another hangout like some characters do, but the sheer silliness makes up for it. Zaeed is bad at crane games, Traynor plays space chess, and we get a little hangout time with our GF. Weirdly Liara only meets you at the apartment, you don't get two interactions with her like you do with a couple of people. Considering how much she figures into the game otherwise I'm surprised there's only the one. If you didn't date her it's the same except you just go "oh this is nice to hang out glad we're friends." I won't show off any more of the combat sim since it's just the same shit over and over, though I will show off the ultimate prize which is an armor set that we don't use because it's inferior in every way to the stuff we already have. It looks neat though.
e: Problem seems to have fixed itself, hooray.