What Do You Think Pathfinder Training Entailed?

[PretzleMe]

So there's some emphasis on my lack of experience and or training by several characters regarding my being the Pathfinder and it annoys me, both because I am a horrible person and want my titles to sound powerful and "Pathfinder" and "Scrapper" just don't do it for me there (call me King Conqueror Destroyer of All) but also because I was thinking what exactly would have made anyone better at this situation than myself.

How do you train for a galaxy that you have no clue about?  I mean Captain Dunn (the love of my fictional life who for some reason has a restraining order against me) asks my dad what happens if Habitat 7 doesn't work out for us and he's like "Then it is my job as Pathfinder to find us a home that will work."

And sure, he said this with confidence to the point where I yelled "Papa, no!" later but when I thought about it, what training would he had been provided that would have made him more qualified to find a habitable world than anyone else?  Just takes a scanner and a map.  The ships would do all the work on that.

AI aside, which it seems anyone can have, what makes a Pathfinder special and or what training could they possibly had gotten that would make them more qualified in this situation than anyone else? 

And go screw yourself Addison.

[VladVonCastein]

Nope sorry its just the AI...  

Scott Ryder without AI = Mass Relay Guard,

Scott Ryder without AI. but with Daddy = Recon Scout who almost died in the first minute of the mission and died within 30 mins if not for his father,

Scott Ryder with AI = Pathfinder.

Shepard without AI = Kickas* 1st Human Spectre, hero of the citadel.  Shepard with AI = mentor to EDI, few more jokes and a less angsty joker.  

[PandaTar]

In my perception, through what we grasp from the game, Pathfinder is more like a political status than anything really specific. It's been defined that a Pathfinder had power, the say-so as they would mean here and there, and that his/her judgement upon landing and living were to be trusted.

In short, Pathfinder is power to decide, not honed skills, although you must prove yourself not being lower than the average explorer.

[Kaddris]

Mass Relay Guard = professional space coffee server.  Laughs at your job title for Ryder.:eahigh_file:

It's funny Ryder gets ANY respect at all, ever. The only thing I liked about Cora was her completely understandable issue with nepotism winning out over actual battlefield and general field experience.

A Mass Relay Toll Booth Operator is < than everyone else on that crew, even Peebee, who survived, by herself, in the wilderness, or even Jaarl, who whines about his lot in life so much I want to take him to the little room past the equipment locker on the Tempest and shut the door and have SAM vent it into space.

It took a while to get wimpy Ryder to say anything tough, but I finally did it last night. He managed to tell someone else that he didn't give a f*** what Tann thinks.

I haven't played female Ryder yet.  Is she just as flaky sounding?  If so, no video on Youtube about the Biggest B**** in the Galaxy like there was with female Shepard.

[soulguard03]

Agree to with the others, and I'll add:

I feel like Pathfinder is also a mark of experience. A leader. Someone who has done a lot, made tough choices, and has been against the wall while others depended on them. Understanding that would make you really not be all that impressed with Scott/Sara. 

Ryder's dad was an N7. Had lots of influence. Knew how to create an AI (despite that being his drumming out of N7). He also had a lot of political ties in the Milky way. Hell, him and Shepard probably had drinks together at some point. 

So in my opinion, I don't think there was any official Training. It was more about who the person was that was selected. Cora, being next in line, has years of combat training and expirence as a leader under Ryder's dad. (hehehe) Young Ryder was thrown into the mix out of desperation and has to rise to the challenge. I feel like comparing young Ryder to Shepard can't be done... as Shepard was N7 from the start... and became Specter with everyone full trust. 

The real question... What does being an N7 mean?

hmmm.... I need to play ME1-3 now/again.

[VladVonCastein]

@Kaddris

LOL actually I wasnt joking when I said he's a mass relay guard hahahaha...  He really was back in the milky way!  He said it himself at the start of the game!!  But I didnt mean to disrespect him due to his job, we all had to start somewhere in life....  I cant stand him cause of he's a door mat and lets people like addisson and angry woman trample all over him.  His father gave his life to save him, angry woman, an absolute nobody, was mouthing off and cursing his father and he allowed it...  seriously?  Protagonist of Mass Effect? I would have pull some strings and sent her to Kedara and give those cannibals her number!!!  Yes he said F* Tann behind his back... Not to spoil anything for you, but at the end of the story if you make your final choice and if you choose certain people he will be bullied again by those idiots again and he once again cannot stand up for himself.  Yes after destroying Kett armies and killing remnant bots for hours and hours, he is still a Wimp. Sara Ryder's conversations just are slightly different, no big changes, doesn't annoy me as much though, I personally feel that her voice acting turned out better.

@soulguard03

Guess the reason I am comparing Shepard with Ryder is cause they are both protagonist of Mass Effect.  Yes Ryder is younger and more inexperienced compared to Shep.  But if the writers of the ME story line is true to the characters they develop and the same writer that wrote Shepard's story now writes a prequel.  Say Shepard at level 1, fresh new soldier and he's fighting his first battle at Elysium or Akuze or Torfan(depending on which background you choose), I am very sure Shepard may be a rookie and he may make rookie mistakes, but he's a man that will never be bullied or stepped on like a door mat. Its ultimately a matter of character portrayal and in my personal honesty, I am not impressed with Ryder's character portrayal we are talking about the protagonist of Mass Effect here...  When I play a solid game like ME, I would like a solid character like Shepard, a hero, a man's man. In fact, I wont have an issue playing Alec Ryder.  If Alec Ryder is the protagonist of ME, he's level one now forgot all his N7 training cause SAM accidentally shock out his brains, I will enjoy playing him more than his son.

[Kaddris]

Nevertheless, it seems to stretch things a bit that 'because daddy said so' is enough reason to get the entire Andromeda initiative leadership to risk their few resources on someone with basically no field experience.

Of course, Tann's decision to create a rival, violent army by exiling thousands of people (effectively sentencing many of them to death) makes one doubt their decision making abilities.

The series Lexx is one of the few where a wholly unqualified captain is able to fumble through with often funny results.

Ryder is expected to suddenly deal with galactic diplomacy and First Contact situations with no experience or training except for pithy statements from his dad.

I get it. It's about rising to the occasion. It sort of bugs me that the entire Krogan loyalty thing amounted to giving them the remnant drive core and killing three beasts. Ryder is able to 'reason' with twice cheated and very angry creatures who could use his skull as a cup. I doubt human charm after one or two nice things would do the trick.

[soulguard03]

@VladVonCastein

Oh, I totally agree. I was just pointing to the history of young (male) Ryder and his lack of experience. 

Now Alec... dude was a beast. I want to replay that mission on Habitat 7 for again so I can see him action. I feel like my first time was too occupied with me in cover shooting back at the kett. While Alec was pressing forward the whole time (and I think the idea is that you can't keep up with him even if you run by all the enemies). 

The dialog they had about Alec while we were following him up the Remnent structure made him seem badass. 

Spoiler

Killing him in the first mission, I feel, was a huge mistake in the story progression. It would have been far better, to me, had Alec lived and went on a solo mission to further investigate the Scourge and Remnent, since those 2 factors are the destroying natures of the the worlds. While he was gone he would leave Sara/scott under Cora's command. Then, say, after the Eos mission settlement, you get a mission to meet with Alec at a Kett base/Remnant structure, where he sacrifices himself to save you, but he also has learned a great deal, and SAM transfer a lot of that knowledge to you when you merge. 

I just sort of feel like his death after a few missions would have been more meaningful, to know that he was willing to do so much to help the people of the Nexus. But that's just me, a wishful dreamer. 

Alec was a total N7 character and had almost all the paragon ideal, with that bad boy touch of renegade on the sitting just below the surface. yeah, would have been great to have more of him in the story. But I also think the writers wanted to tell the story of the wimpy kid (lolololoolol) rising to power. I'm only 2 settlements in, so I don't know how much young Rider rises, but I get that sense that he's a nobody who rises to be a somebody. 

What sort of sucks though, is how easy you can get N7 armor. In my opinion it should be walled off till you reach a certain "goal" or progression milestone. Something worthy of being called N7. Pathfinder, sure. I can get that armor, but N7 branding... nah body, you aint worthy,... yet. 
;-)

[PandaTar]

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@soulguard03 wrote:

Alec was a total N7 character and had almost all the paragon ideal, with that bad boy touch of renegade on the sitting just below the surface. yeah, would have been great to have more of him in the story. But I also think the writers wanted to tell the story of the wimpy kid (lolololoolol) rising to power. I'm only 2 settlements in, so I don't know how much young Rider rises, but I get that sense that he's a nobody who rises to be a somebody. 
;-)

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The potentiality to still uncover Alec's prowess is there. Some flashback gameplay while SAM, unexpectedly triggers other random memories of your dad in the next games. Looks fine to me, bringing a bit of turmoil, because it starts blending with your own personality. Also, of course, wishful thinking from my part, but it never hurts hoping, right?

[PretzleMe]

But when you think about everything, none of the focus seems to be on Papa Ryder's experience when people show concern.  The way they talk, you would think there was training specific for being a Pathfinder and it's kind of like how and what training and if there wasn't the story makes even less sense.

And me almost dying with in the first 30 mins without Papa Ryder's help was pure chance and honestly truly contrived.  He was knocked off that platform just like I was and could have died just as easily.

I didn't even like how we got knocked off the thing.  Way to slack off SAM.

But kidding aside, this game definitely heavily implies there's specialized training to being a Pathfinder rather than this being about experience.