u/Nervous_Tailor_4337

TBH I got it for free and have never gotten into it.

DBH is one of my favourite games of all time.
But I got hooked via the playable demo. The chapter in which Conner deals with Daniel on the rooftop
Had I just started cold with the main game, I doubt I would have made it past the dishwashing and laundry.

So that's my question with Heavy Rain

I have tried but never made it past the showering and dinner plates

My other concern is that people describe the story as being very "dark".
I'm not into stories that are too oppressive, feature a lot of gore, horror, or outright evil.

Follow Up, my objections are noted in the first thread.

Changing the bare minimum in the rest of the game, this is my alternative beginning to ME2. To provide alternatives to what I consider to be major stumbling blocks.
The purpose of this is illustrative only. Call it "Headcanon" if that suits. And naturally, if you don't share my personal objections, you may not see the need for this.

Shepard and the Normandy have been ordered to patrol the Neutral Zone Perseus Veil, looking for Geth holdouts. Shepard has a vision/ dream, that in conjunction with Liara, leads him to investigate clues to the "Leviathan of Dis". He believes he will find an extant Reaper Corpse, conclusive Proof of their existence.
He travels across the galaxy, leaves Pressly in command, and takes the mako to the surface, accompanied by Ashley and/or Kaidan.
It's a trap, and whilst he blunders about on the surface, the Collectors attack the Normandy, quickly disabling and causing massive damage. Pressly evacuates everyone, and heroically tries to land the Normandy himself, dying in the crash.
As is customary, Shepard faces a Board of Inquiry over the loss of his ship. The fact that he abandoned his assigned patrol area, chasing Reaper Visions, counts heavily against him.

Depending on choices in ME1, whether Mikhailovich survived, whether he supports him, whether the council survived, If Anderson is still in the Military, positive or negative media pressure from Khalisah, whether you were paragon or renegade, the exact details of the following can change slightly, but with the same basic result.

Shepard's detractors ally against him, he may be offered the option of scapegoating the dead Pressly, which he refuses. Pressly is recognised as a hero, and Shepard is punished.
Having been promoted at the end of ME1, he's busted down a rank,
He's either discharged, or sidelined into a desk job, crew is disbanded, etc.

The upshot is that either way, Shepard is stuck, He's either in the Alliance without the backing to get him a command, or he's out, but stripped of Spectre Status, so can't get council backing.

Fast Forward "1~2 years" (or whatever is necessary and appropriate)
He's approached by Miranda, a shadowy representative of "H1" (Humanity First). A greyish Fringe Pro-Humanity group, ostensibly concerned with the recent attacks on Human Colonies. Shepard reluctantly agrees to help her investigate the latest attack, at Freedom's Progress. Following this, Shepard is sympathetic, but can't do much without a Ship and Crew. She takes him to a dilapidated shipyard, where it's revealed that they have (legally) salvaged the Normandy, and (barely) got her flying again.

The game then proceeds more or less as standard, with a few significant differences:

1. Shepard deals far more with Miranda, the source of her intel is more secretive, he's vaguely aware of her shadowy boss, and only meets TIM much later.
2. He's legitimately forced to scrounge spare parts, loot, steal, etc, etc, because of no budget and the need to repair and upgrade the Normandy.
3. Recruitment of the crew and squad is mostly unaltered, just a lot more organic.
4. Additional rooms on the Normandy, added into previously void spaces, to make it closer to the SR2 spec, are opened up progressively as time, resources, and money permits.
5. All the random side missions are basically either jobs for hire (credits) or done to chase specific pieces of tech or upgrades.
6. He and his squad become increasing suspicious over time, and it is slowly revealed the H1 is simply a front for Cerberus.

The purpose of the above, is simply to illustrate that there were alternative ways of achieving the schism and pushing Shepard into working with Cerberus.
And that there could have easily been a smoother transition of the Cerberus stories of 1, 2, and 3.

Just a minor question that I've always wondered?

Firstly, those b____s freak me out.

In the Monastery Mission, (and why is it a Monastery and not a Convent) it's said that the Reapers came especially for the AY.

That seems a little weird, since they're going to totally zombify them anyway. (I can't see this relatively minor genetic influence making a difference.)

Now if they are, that would seem to imply that there were a lot more AYs than we have thought.
And if not, if they can convert any Asari, then why specifically target the Monastery?