OH GOD BIOWARE WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by "Half Assed" Karesh

I think it would be harder to morally justify the killing of Morinth if Morinth wasn't also totally evil. Whether or not she needs to do what she does to survive(I can't remember if that's ever stated) she doesn't show remorse for it or compassion to her victims.

And Samara does???

Also: Based on the initial description and with no help from guides, I was totally convinced the Biotic Barrier shield thing had more to do with concentration / ability to remain cool under fire than just raw ability. If anything I thought any indication that raw strength was a determining factor was a lie, because I actually over-thought things, gave Bioware too much credit and thought there was potential for misdirection there.
Like, I thought the moral of the story would be "Hah! You choose that completely undependable girl to power your biotic field even though she's crazy? It backfires! Should have stuck with Miranda instead, you know she wouldn't let you down!"

Of course, my decision was also partially due to the fact that I thought if I made the wrong choice, my choice for the Biotic Person would be the one who'd die, not a random member of my party. In other words: Jacob was my least favorite character, so I continuously chose him to lead my Fireteams because I figured he'd die if I guessed wrong, and I didn't mind the thought of him dying. In that case, the choice worked out because Jacob actually was apparently a great Fireteam leader. With Miranda, same logic: I really liked Jack, even preferred Morinith over Miranda, and trusted Miranda more than either of them to handle the job anyway despite the fact that Miranda's one of my least favorite characters. Assuming that if she was the wrong choice, she'd die and I'd lose little of value, I chose her.

...And then Garrus died instead. And I was not happy. =/

[Osterbaum]

And Samara does???

Well, yeah if you bother to talk to her on the ship.

[MuMu]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

gave Bioware too much credit

Pretty much this whole thread.

Edit: Also, you actually chose Morinth over Samara, what the fuck

[Azisien]

Samara is totally the Lawful Good Paladin super righteous dude you have sitting at your weekly D&D table. Whatever you think of taint within the Bioware ranks, it's totally still D&D nerds writing this shit.

[BitVyper]

Bah! It's only the obvious choice if you made the terrible moral decision when choosing between her and Morinith in Samara's sidequest.

I can see why a more renegade Shepard would make that choice ('cause I don't see him giving her a chance to finish the suicide mission and decide that she's going to fight him for something you did, even if he's confident he'd win), and I can see why a more paragon character would be sympathetic to her, but regardless of which you'd side with, this is ultimately just a sidequest. Shepard has a job of enormous importance to do, and Morinth is an unstable, dangerous choice. Even if you don't like her, you can pretty much 120% trust that a justicar will be absolutely devoted to the mission.

Ultimately, killing Samara doesn't really help anyone except Morinth, who mentally dominates people and rapes them to death - I don't really care how into it the guy seems, she takes the final choice away and that's rape (obviously in Shep's case you can potentially resist her, but not really the point). She's been doing it every couple months for hundreds of years (this is what she went on the run to do, and in her own words that's how long she's BEEN on the run). When she's done helping you, Samara is going to head back to Asari space, where the culture has justicars built into it. It may be that killing her is just, but it's not really helping anyone at that point - there will still be justicars in Asari space, and while the culture is such that they won't be in conflict with cops and such, they will still be murdering people at least sometimes. As any sort of grand gesture, killing Samara is futile.

Could I see a more paragon Shepard siding with Morinth? Sure; I even considered it, although I think there's not a whole lot of reason to at that point in time, especially since you've actually experienced her attempt at rape whether you resisted it or not. However, even if he feels sympathetic toward her (and your Shepard may or may not), it still makes more sense from a paragon perspective to stick with the devil he knows.

There's plenty of reason to kill (or incarcerate, I guess, but fuck half measures) both of them, really. The only reason I see NOT to, is that you need a dependable biotic specialist for the suicide mission. That's Samara.

Edit: Krylo I know we were talking about whether Morinth thinks she'll kill Shepard by sexing him in chat the other day, so I watched the scene. The last words she says to him are "embrace eternity," and then she smiles while he dies. Now maybe she thought he would or maybe she thought he wouldn't, but that's definitely pretty suspicious.

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Azisien

Samara is totally the Lawful Good Paladin super righteous dude you have sitting at your weekly D&D table. Whatever you think of taint within the Bioware ranks, it's totally still D&D nerds writing this shit.

Do you know what years of dealing with real-life 'Lawful Good' Paladin super righteous conservative dudes and dudettes has taught me?

...I'd rather have an honest batch of Morinith who just wants to jump my bones and kill me with sex than deal with more of that holier-than-thou bullshittery again.

(Keep in mind that I'm Snake, too, an utter failure with all women everywhere, so any character in a fictional work who essentially is like "I want to seduce you" is going to immediately win serious points with me, even if she wants to kill me too. It may not be the right way to think but let's face it SNAKE IS DESPERATE people.)

[Osterbaum]

It could've actually been interesting to explore Morinth's right to excistence and this whole genetic defect a bit more.

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Osterbaum

It could've actually been interesting to explore Morinth's right to excistence and this whole genetic defect a bit more.

That justification for keeping Morinith alive would have been giving me far too much credit, I'm afraid.
(Though I still did find the whole "She had no choice in being born with that genetic disorder" argument kind of persuasive, it was more or less utilized to justify an inclination I was already leaning towards. I never liked Samara. By contrast, this random new Asari said smexy things.)

[Marc v4.0]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

Do you know what years of dealing with real-life 'Lawful Good' Paladin super righteous conservative dudes and dudettes has taught me?

Those people aren't Lawful Good, Snake

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Marc v4.0

Those people aren't Lawful Good, Snake

...And Samara is?!?
(She isn't.)