I Like Sloane

fudgietroll wrote:

Anyway, one of Dr. Nakamoto's journal entries notes that he set up the clinic to seek redemption. Why? For creating the drug, or releasing it, or did he do something like Mordin, or Maelon? Big Out-There Conspiracy speculation

Respectfully, you say yourself that you are speculating. If we speculate, we can make Ryder look like that German leader from WW2 and Sloane like the Pope. The lore strongly suggests the doctor wanted to turn the drug into medicine, but Sloane didn't let him.

fudgietroll wrote:

Also, the Badlands are no longer a death sentence.

It's still a lawless place full of murderers and monsters. But nevermind that. The bigger issue here is that she exiles people for not paying the bribes. She also bleeds them dry using drugs. She also beats them when they can't pay up - that's torture, remember?

fudgietroll wrote:

The only party I saw was a town hall meeting with booze.

I don't recall Drack telling me she wanted to rule, but I do remember she had issues with authority, but given the blatant disregard for authority that Alec, Ryder, and the Pathfinders (not to mention Shepard) have displayed, I don't think that we can fairly hold that against her.I don't recall Drack telling me she wanted to rule, but I do remember she had issues with authority, but given the blatant disregard for authority that Alec, Ryder, and the Pathfinders (not to mention Shepard) have displayed, I don't think that we can fairly hold that against her.

A town hall meeting? Please explain how that was a town hall meeting. They call it specifically a party.

Nobody cares she disregards authority. You are forgetting about the whole violent warlord thing she has going on. It's the violence that bothers people. She beats, tortures, extorts, raids, etc. Reyes tortures too. When you compare the two Sloane comes on top of being more violent.

fudgietroll wrote:

You represent the Nexus so she dislikes you. You support her, she supports you, although she still hates the Nexus leadership and is going to make them "pay" $$

Well, she gives you the whole spiel of "it would be a shame if somebody would wreck your outpost, but I can stop that from happening, for a price". Reyes just wants to do trade. So, which one sounds more trustworthy to you?

fudgietroll wrote:

The Angaran government is a puppet...

I may just have a nasty suspicious mind, but these statements seem to contradict each other.

Plus, Sloane really doesn't seem to be pulling strings from the shadows, but rather just doing whatever she does out in the open.

And yet stability was brought to the inhabitants. The beatings and extortion stopped. That in turn will have a positive effect on welfare, which is likely to increase prosperity of the city.

I don't see how facts can contradict each other. Reyes took steps, he did things to show he has integrity, goodwill towards all parties, and trustworthiness. Reyes also mentions he will be pulling strings from the shadows. They are things that happened. Whether you accept his trustworthiness is another matter. Sloane has done none of that.

(sarcasm) Wait, Sloane doesn't pull strings from the shadows? I think I missed the democratic committee that must approve her decisions. (/sarcasm) Whenever she has a plan, does she informs everyone on what that plan is? No, she does not, right? So, she does things in the shadows just as much as Reyes does. The difference between the two is that people don't know Reyes is one of the leaders in charge. That is what the writers mean when they said he does things from "the shadows".

fudgietroll wrote:

Anyway, given the amount of torture and killing Reyes is behind it's hard to say he plays nice.

The amount of torture... You seem to imply that the game tells us that Reyes does a lot of torture, while in reality, we simply have one case in which we know the collective tortured someone - one case. And how much torture and killing has Sloane done? She beats up all people who don't pay up, it's part of her thugs' policy. Additionally, we know that the beatings are mentioned a lot. So, that means the game tells us that Sloane tortures more than Reyes. More than that, Reyes targets criminals, while Sloane targets civilians.

fudgietroll wrote:

Along the way he has almost certainly eliminated all of the other founding members of the Collective

Plus, if one has a nasty, suspicious mind, you might think that all those "helpful" missions you take part in with Reyes are simply just eliminating his competition and awkward witnesses. For example, the charlatan suckering the other smugglers into launching a suicide "ambush"...

Well, you are speculating again. You are also ignoring the lore, which states the exact opposite. Go watch a video of that mission you are referring to. Nothing in the cutscenes supports what you are saying.

I feel like you are doing that a lot. You ignore the lore, you twist facts, so you can paint a picture that you want to see, rather than what actually is there given to us by the writers. Well, you are free to do so, but I prefer to stick to the lore.

fudgietroll wrote:

After Kaetus gets chunked Sloane has evidence it was an inside job. Since she doesn't know which of her men will shoot her in the back she turns to the local heavily armed Good Samaritan, who has worked with her before without taking a shot at her and even kept their mouth shut about the op. It's not perfect, but it's the best she's got, and if she can handle the Charlatan she can take down the Collective without too much danger. 

She doesn't know Ryder, she doesn't know if she can trust him, and for all she knows, Ryder could be in on the plan to kill her in that cave. Maybe it was Ryder who persuaded the guards. Sloane hasn't spent any time with Ryder. She hasn't talked to Ryder. She has no clue who Ryder is as a person. So, there's no reason for Sloane to trust Ryder. No matter how you turn it, it just doesn't fit. As I mentioned before, there's also the whole thing with her shield suddenly not working which is a thing that happens during many cutscenes, actually. The writing in this game is often lackluster.