Part 29: Monasteryia

Monasteryia

Liara told us a while back that the Asari government wanted us to go help out with a small problem. When we get there we find it's a refuge for Ardat-Yakshi who are trying not to be homicidal maniacs. While it's noble that they give those who want to try an alternative to being summarily executed, it's probably not a good idea to isolate it to the point where when things go hinky you have no idea wtf is going on there. Also I feel like several hundred AY being monitored by a few Matriarchs and a handful of guards is a plan asking for disaster, whether a case like this or if the residents decided to stage a coup.

Everything is very spoopy at first, then goes full-blown However along the way we get to meet up with an old friend. Samara's remaining kids are here. We finally get introduced to banshees, which are a vanguard's worst nightmare, even moreso than phantoms. At least a charge will stagger a phantom, banshees don't give a fuck and will happily yoink you out of your charge into an extremely nasty sync kill. They're an absolute nightmare in MP, where you can get sucked back a good 10 yards into the sync due to server lag. They can be safely engaged if you are not on the same level as they are, like ramps and staircases. I really enjoy facetanking them in MP and then watching someone who doesn't know better try it on flat ground I've had more than a few messages from other players asking how I managed to not get murdered by them. I get what they were going for with the design as far as making the sexy Asari a horrifying exaggeration, though I do think the glowing nipples are a bit much.

We get to the bomb and find Samara's other daughter has fallen victim to the reapers so we leave her to her own fate, though she goes out with gusto. Then Samara goes full-on ronin and will blow her brains out if we don't stop her. You can be a complete asshole, let her do this, and then kill Falere on top of it for shits and giggles. If you chose Morinth for some deranged reason back in 2 she's now one of the Banshees roaming around the place, kind of like you'll find Jack as a phantom if you don't do Grissom. But since we're not a horrible person, we stop Samara and Falere makes it so she doesn't have to choose.

I did this mission before moving on the plot, as banshees show up a lot later on in both DLC and regular missions and didn't want anyone who hasn't played ME3 to get spoiled on them. Also our higher level MP videos are littered with them. That fucking scream they do is indelibly imprinted in my brain and when you're in a gold or plat match it's pretty much nonstop. They reused that sound asset in DAI which gave me flashbacks every time I heard it.

We'll take a quick detour through the ship and stop by the Citadel, as we got lots of off-camera messages from squadmates who wanted to hang out for a bit, then next big plot beat. After that I'll do the Leviathan DLC and part of Citadel DLC, and then we're actually ready to start the endgame.