Nothing is Perfect--Part IV--When Your Own Stupidity Mars Perfection

Sometimes you make mistakes.  Sometimes those mistakes are absolutely ridiculous and you spend a bunch of time mentally kicking yourself.  I was blithely enjoying my umpteenth playthrough of Mass Effect 3 and was looking forward to getting to the best part--the fan-service DLC Citadel.  Every ME fan adores Citadel because it is a chance to just kick back, have some fun, and enjoy last minute bonding with your fictional pals from the Normandy.  Personally, I love it and especially enjoy the short side missions that allow you to hang out at various locations with one crew member.  Unfortunately, I done messed it up!  I killed someone (by accident!) and for some reason it has completely ruined my desire to continue playing.  This is something that has never happened in my bajillion times playing.

(Dramatic music) Tuchanka was in jeopardy and my Shep was trying to solve the bevy of problems that popped up.  The Turians had some sort of super-secret mission that had gone awry and they needed some assistance.  Wrex had pulled my Shep aside to reveal that the Krogan were having their own problems (of the Rachni variety) on a remote world and that they also needed help.  Sheesh...there are so many strings attached to getting the help needed to save the galaxy!  So, I was running around and completing these various missions in an effort to get to the endgame...curing the genophage, saving the Krogan, and assuring that they would agree to help the Turians save Palaven from Reaper invasion.

In the midst of all that I received a message from Miranda that she wanted to meet on the Citadel.  I promptly forgot that message and continued addressing the Krogan/Turian issues.  Then I completed the priority mission and cured the genophage...and realized that I had unintentionally stood Miranda up.  By the time I realized this fact, I had played about 8-10 hours.  I mentally grappled with re-loading an earlier save, but realized my last save was HOURS before the Tuchanka mission.  Did I really want to replay hours and hours of content?  No; no, I did not.  I did some Googling to see if I had made a catastrophic mistake and much of what I read stated that I hadn't--Miranda would simply agree to meet you later and discuss her problems.  No big deal!

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Why?

Well, it turns out that was wrong!  Fast forward....like 10-12 hours of gameplay (maybe more).  I had talked with Miranda in the Spectre office and met her in an apartment on the Citadel, so all seemed well.  Then, it came time for the mission on Sanctuary.  I grabbed my squadmates and we fought our way through Cerberus and Reapers to find Miranda, her sister Orianna, and their evil father.  My high paragon score meant that I could convince the father to give up Orianna without any kind of dramatics.  At least I thought so...he turned her over, Miranda blasted him....and then, she died!  All because I stupidly forgot to go visit her one time.  Ugh!

Now, my perfect Citadel party is ruined and I've basically stalled playthrough #4783748.  I have no desire to finish it and feel like a dodo for making such a stupid mistake (yeah, Borderlands 3 came out too...so that's a factor).  Maybe someday I will go back and finish it...or maybe not.

RIP Miranda...you were killed by my inattention to detail.