Mass Effect Legendary Edition: ME2 Ep 15 – Miranda: The Prodigal

Mandatory Mass Effect Friday returned, although actually getting into Mass Effect took a moment. The Stream Deck decided one of its buttons was not going to cooperate, my new Amazon tablet had arrived just before the stream, and there was the important matter of checking that the Normandy’s space hamster was still alive after our previous record with the fish.

Chat was already settling into the usual level of distraction. EntertainJD declared Mass Effect Friday mandatory, Wolf was celebrating a birthday and had a new guitar, and somewhere in the background the running collection of channel games was already preparing to derail any attempt at a completely serious evening.

Once everything was working, it was finally time to continue the 100% playthrough and get to Illium. Eventually.

🌌 About the Game

Mass Effect Legendary Edition brings together the single-player content from Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, along with more than 40 DLC packs, promo weapons, armour and other content, remastered and optimised for 4K Ultra HD.

We are currently in Mass Effect 2, following Commander Shepard as we build the team needed to face the Collectors. The series also carries decisions and characters forward, which becomes particularly noticeable in an episode like this when people and consequences from the first game start appearing again.

🛰️ Where We Are in the Journey

This is Episode 15 of our Mass Effect 2 run and part of the larger attempt to work through the series as completely as possible. We had been meaning to reach Illium for several streams, with both Samara and Thane still waiting on the recruitment list and a growing collection of loyalty missions and side quests demanding attention.

This episode finally gets us properly into Nos Astra, opens several of those Illium story threads and, most importantly, tackles Miranda’s loyalty mission. By the end we have made good progress, although there is still plenty left on Illium for the next Mandatory Mass Effect Friday.

⚠️ What Happens in This Episode

Before Illium could finally take centre stage, tradition demanded a little planetary scanning. We needed more platinum for upgrades, so what was meant to be a quick resource stop became the familiar routine of listening for mineral spikes, launching probes and trying to keep an eye on chat at the same time. I joked that every Mass Effect stream seems to begin with about fifteen minutes of scanning, and this one did very little to challenge that theory.

The resource hunt did at least pay off. We pulled together enough materials to keep some upgrades moving, even if several of the things we actually wanted were still locked behind other research or purchases. Once that was sorted, we finally headed for Illium—a destination we had apparently been meaning to reach for something like three weeks.

Nos Astra immediately turned into exactly the sort of place that makes a 100% playthrough dangerous. Liara had already arranged to have Shepard’s docking fees waived, but instead of walking directly to the next major objective, we started doing what we always do: checking shops, listening to conversations, looking for datapads and making sure nothing optional was hiding around a corner. Illium might look polished and civilised, but it does not take long before the contracts, indentured servitude and relaxed attitude towards almost anything profitable start making the place feel a little less comfortable.

The first stretch of exploration brought several callbacks to the original Mass Effect. Shepard received a message from the Rachni Queen through an asari intermediary, confirming that freeing her back on Noveria had not simply disappeared into the history books. The Queen was rebuilding, remembered Shepard’s help and believed the forces behind the coming threat were connected to what had once driven the Rachni into war. It was one of those moments where the trilogy quietly reminds you that decisions made dozens of hours ago are still following you around the galaxy.

Gianna Parasini also reappeared, now working an undercover operation on Illium. After initially offering Shepard a drink, she revealed that she was watching an asari merchant suspected of smuggling restricted technology out of Noveria. We played along, talked the merchant into revealing her more questionable stock and discovered that the supposedly valuable schematic had actually been planted as part of the investigation. For a moment I was convinced we might somehow have earned a Renegade point out of the whole thing, but everything worked out rather more cleanly than expected.

There was plenty more keeping us busy around Nos Astra. Shiala, last seen on Feros, needed help with a medical contract affecting the Zhu’s Hope colonists after their exposure to the Thorian. Liara, now very firmly established as an information broker, gave us leads connected to both Samara and Thane while also pointing us towards a series of security hacks. We found shops full of things we could barely afford, picked up more fish in the hope that this batch might have a slightly longer life expectancy, tracked down datapads and even stopped to revisit the wonderfully awkward “Blue Rose of Illium” poetry.

Conrad Verner also managed to find Shepard again, this time dressed in replica armour and attempting to behave like the galaxy’s least convincing action hero. He was investigating a supposed red-sand operation, only for the entire thing to become slightly more embarrassing when it turned out the substance was legal on Illium. It was exactly the kind of encounter that makes taking the slower route through these games worthwhile: completely optional, slightly ridiculous and unmistakably Mass Effect.

Meanwhile, chat was effectively running its own parallel campaign. Hunger Games, Stargate missions, heists and increasingly questionable “Bouncy, Marry, Kill” results kept appearing between story scenes. I managed to win one Hunger Games round, which asmith501 immediately declared “rigged,” while a later victory for IThinkImAPenguin8P led to warnings about killer penguins. Frodo continued the extremely important tradition of reminding me to save, “mango” somehow ended up as the safe word, and Wolf’s birthday chatter carried on alongside conversations about guitars, retro games and what everyone was planning to play next.

There was also a growing side discussion about Splitgate. Penguin was already testing modes, checking whether bots and crossplay worked and trying to work out which version of the baseball-style mode we had been talking about. By the time the Mass Effect combat became serious, people were downloading Splitgate and discussing future multiplayer sessions while Shepard was busy taking fire from Eclipse mercenaries.

Eventually, after a healthy amount of Illium wandering, we stopped circling the side content and committed to Miranda: The Prodigal. With Mordin in the squad, we headed into the cargo areas to protect Miranda’s sister, Oriana, from Eclipse forces working for Miranda’s father. The mission quickly revealed just how complicated Miranda’s family history really is. Oriana is effectively her genetic twin, created years later as a replacement, and Miranda had taken her away to stop her growing up under the same control that shaped Miranda’s own life.

The route through the cargo terminal became a steady push through mercenaries, combat drones and industrial corridors while Miranda became increasingly worried that Niket—one of the few people she trusted—might have betrayed her. Naturally, the fact that people were actively shooting at us did not stop the search for credits, ammunition and anything else that could be picked up. At one point Mordin was more or less left to manage the fighting while Shepard went checking the surrounding area for collectibles. He seemed fine.

The fighting became considerably less relaxed once shields started disappearing and enemy barriers kept returning. The boss encounter turned messy enough for a few urgent calls for cover, but the squad pushed through and finally reached Niket. Unfortunately, Miranda’s instincts had been right. After learning the truth about Oriana, he had decided Miranda had stolen a child and sided with her father.

Miranda wanted to kill him. Shepard stopped her and managed to create a way for Niket to walk away, but the situation did not stay peaceful for long. The Eclipse captain shot him anyway, turning the confrontation back into a firefight and leaving Miranda to deal with the fact that somebody she had trusted had first betrayed her and then died in front of her.

After the shooting stopped, the mission finally slowed down. Oriana was safe with the family who had raised her, and Miranda’s first instinct was simply to leave without making contact. Shepard pushed back on that idea and encouraged her to at least introduce herself. Miranda eventually agreed, giving the sisters a chance to meet rather than letting Oriana leave without ever knowing she had an older sister watching over her.

That completed Miranda’s loyalty mission and popped the achievement, but Mass Effect was not finished with the consequences. Back aboard the Normandy, Jack and Miranda were already tearing into each other over Cerberus and what had been done to Jack. Shepard arrived in time to stop the argument becoming something much worse and reminded both of them that the Collectors were still the larger problem. They agreed to put their differences aside for the mission, leaving us immediately checking whether both loyalties had survived the conversation intact.

We followed up with Miranda afterwards and got a quieter reflection on Oriana, Niket and what it meant to finally speak to her sister. Jack also received another visit in case the confrontation had changed anything there. From there, the Normandy returned to its usual routine: checking the ship, looking over the growing model collection, finding the hamster and, most importantly, remembering to feed the new fish before they suffered the same fate as their predecessors.

Outside the galaxy-ending threat, SnowRunner continued to loom over the stream. The current community challenge had already reached roughly 80% with more than twenty days still remaining, which immediately made me wonder whether I had set the target far too low. asmith501 announced that points were already being saved for another SnowRunner redemption, while I checked the records and discovered we had already spent eleven streams and more than twenty-five hours playing it. Apparently that has not discouraged anybody.

The stream eventually wrapped a little earlier than planned because my hip was becoming too uncomfortable to keep sitting properly. That left another main mission and several Illium side quests unfinished, but we still made a good amount of progress: Illium was finally opened up, several returning characters were found, Miranda’s loyalty mission was completed and the Jack–Miranda confrontation was successfully defused.

Next time, the plan is to head back into Illium, clear more of those remaining side quests and continue the recruitment threads for Thane and Samara. We finished by making sure the fish were fed, checking the ship one last time and sending the community onwards with a raid into SecretCure. There is still plenty waiting for us on Illium, but at least the Normandy left this episode with one more loyal squadmate—and, for the moment, a functioning aquarium.

🎬 Watch the Episode

If you want to see the entire Illium session, from the planetary scanning and returning characters through to Miranda’s loyalty mission and the argument back aboard the Normandy, you can watch the full episode on YouTube.

You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel and continue the story through the Mass Effect Legendary Edition playlist. If you enjoy the episode, leave a like or a comment and let me know which part of Illium you remember most.

🔴 Join the Adventure Live

The story is only half of what happens on these streams. Somewhere between Shepard dealing with Eclipse mercenaries, chat can be running Hunger Games, planning the next multiplayer night or quietly saving enough channel points to make me play SnowRunner again.

You can join us live on Twitch or YouTube and be there when the next Mandatory Mass Effect Friday continues. This stream finished by raiding into SecretCure, so the evening carried on even after we left the Normandy.

📡 Community & Links

There is plenty happening away from the Normandy as well. If you want to keep up with future streams, community conversations, music and everything else, you can find the various channels below.

Live — Catch the streams and join chat while everything is actually going wrong:
Twitch | YouTube

Community — Keep the conversation going between streams:
Discord

Socials — Follow the various signals going out across the internet:
TikTok | Bluesky | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | X

Music — If you want something to listen to away from the streams:
Spotify | Apple Music

Support — For anyone who wants to help keep everything running:
Fourthwall | Teespring | Streamlabs

More — For the other projects and work beyond the channel:
Business Centre | Download the Brochure | About Me | Blog

🐟 Fish Fed, Illium Unfinished

We did not clear everything I had hoped to finish, but Miranda is loyal, the argument with Jack is under control and Illium is now properly open for us to continue exploring. Next Friday we can get back into the remaining side quests and start making progress towards Thane and Samara.

The fish were fed before we left, which is already an improvement over last time. Whether they are still there when we return is another question.

— Dr Ravenholm