literally my favourite video on the internet aside from Curio's breakdown of the Witcher. Thank you so much for taking such great care of your ideas, the improvement is obvious and appreciated!!!
A video without having to wait 2 years? Don't mess with my feelings. Great video as always, still waiting for more SoulsBorne videos. Hugs from Brasil.
There were so many of these elements that I think I was sort of unconsciously aware of, but watching your video really helped me to crystallize so many of of reasons this story is so important to me.
I had never made this connection before but you're so spot-on here, the Mass Effect saga is all about our collective struggle to ATTACK AND DETHRONE GOD. ("Is Mass Effect the western Shin Megami Tensei? But hey, that's just a theory...") Superb work on this one.
Your OTH on Mass Effect was how I found you a couple years ago and you quickly became one of my favorite video essay channels (even if we don't entirely agree on Spec Ops :D ). It was an absolute treat to revisit these concepts and Mass Effect's sprawling universe with you. Thanks Porpoise, you're the man/mammal.
I generally have two issues with how the ending of Mass Effect 3 is initially presented. This first is basically just a logistical issue. We're given three options: destroy, control, and synthesis. This is initially presented as a kind of trolley problem, kill the reapers but sacrifice the geth, become an autocrat, or eliminate individuality (maybe I've misunderstood synthesis, but I'm not really sure how you *merge* organic and synthetic life without basically creating a reaper). The actual problem is that, in the first two endings, the mass relays are damaged beyond operation, trapping like 90% of the galaxy's residents in a single system without the ability to sustain them, leading to basically everyone inevitably dying. And sure, in retrospect, I now know that the story just disregards continuity and has everyone leave without the mass relays (and yes, I know there are also FTL drives in Mass Effect, but these are shown realistically to allow convenient movement at a system level, not at a galaxy level, and I don't believe for a second that all of these ships came stocked with the decades/centuries-worth of supplies they'd need to make the return trips via conventional FTL travel), but in the moment when I was making the decision, my options seemed to be "kill everyone", "kill everyone but me", "and kill everyone metaphorically". This could probably work in a different, more somber story, but was deeply unsatisfying at the end of a trilogy ostensibly about the importance of choice and self-actualization. But the deeper issue for me was, why does the Catalyst get to decide what my options are? Like, if this is a metaphor for killing God, why does God get to dictate the terms of His death? If this whole thing is supposed to be about how my choices matter, why do I have so little input into what my options are in the last moments of the third game? The addition of a fourth option, one not outlined by the Catalyst, where I can tell him to fuck off and that we'll collectively take our chances that the next cycle will defeat him more cleanly without giving him an opportunity to dictate terms, feels more thematically appropriate. Maybe we don't kill God this time, but at least we don't have to let God dictate how he would like to die. I dunno, maybe if the three options were presented by, like, any other character, or if they'd done a better job addressing what seem like the most obvious and immediate repercussions of those options so they aren't all functionally identical, they'd have worked better for me. But having the Catalyst give me three bad options that (should) largely result in everyone dying didn't really work for me.
Dude once again you have created an intensely thought provoking video using Mass Effect as its base, I never thought to think of the game that way and will change a few of my actions going forward knowing what it would symbolically mean for humanity in general and for myself as an individual. Also I appreciate you using Niche's full quote on Killing God rather than the abridged version which allows us to ponder not that god is simply dead and all is meaningless, but that we must appear worthy of our slaying of oyr creatora by using tye tools and choices we have at hand and dinstinguish ourselves by our actions and legacies.
Your videos are truly worth a 6 month wait and since I am studying literature myself, I truly admire and look towards your literary analyses as an example as some of the best. Keep up the good work
He’s back!!! I just have to tell you one of my favorite videos on UA-cam is your mass effect ending video and I can’t tell you how many people I have shared that with but it’s a great video.
It’s interesting the concept of “choice is how we express our identity”, specially regarding video games. It reminds me how in most modern games, one of the most common choices we have is how we customize the appearance of our character, and that becomes a way of expressing ourselves. That’s why it feels very insidious when games: 1) Lock some choices behind prepaid content, like in Fortnite where most appearance customs and emotes must be bought with surprise boxes It also help explains some people frustrations when they can’t play as a woman or LGTB+ character in a video game where it’s factible, as its a ways of denying them their choice. A way of denying them expressing themselves their identity. But it’s also is a testament to how great of a protagonist Shepherd is by being their own person but also an expression of the player.
So glad to see a new video from you, my man. I try to watch you on Twitch but the notification always comes at the same time I'm heading to sleep. I think you are on to something with your take on ME3 but I think the cognitive dissonance for most of us is that there isn't proper framing for it within the Trilogy itself and we know that there wasn't a cohesive trilogy story at the start. They also scrapped the story the original stories for ME3 and possibly ME2 before production/release so it is a muddied river to begin with.
This kind of video content is absolutely fantastic. The spreading of critical ideas such as this have implications beyond a simple 37 minute video. I not only applaud but thank you. This kind of well-examined content is why I still await every video you make with extreme anticipation. Thank you for making the UA-cam as well as the literary / video game community that much better!
I am glad to see someone have a similar take to me on this topic. I'll be it much more Christian references. I am surprised you didnt touch on Shepards name itself being a direct correlation between this. A shepard being one who guides and all. Great video!
very interesting video, I just read recently some of the stuff from the philosophers and writers you mentioned like Camus and Neitzche so it really came at a great time for me. you inspired me to do another playthrough, perhaps I'll get some new stuff out of it
While I don't care for the philosophy or atheistic beliefs within this video that obviously are beyond the scope of a youtube comment, I think you did amazing work connecting the dots that this is in fact referring to the Book of the Apocalypse. Obvious implication being that Shephard is the anti Christ. I can think of no other game where a player takes on that role, knowing that, this is probably one of the most anti Christian games ever made and it flew under the radar of almost everybody, (barring the Assassin's Creed series which is just on the nose bigotry). Casey Hudson who I would bet money on having Jewish ancestry, almost certainly envisioned Shephard as the "real" saviour that the jews are still waiting for. Shame the video doesn't have more views, it's really well done.
The Christian Eschatology you're using to interpret the ending is directly derived from Greek dialectical philosophy. As cool as this video is, I'm a little skeptical Bioware intended a mashup of the book of revelations and Nietzsche. There are a lot of religions and philosophies that could be used as a framework to understand ME, but I think that minimizes the novel worldbuilding and storytelling -- originality is a great thing about these games too.
Sole, you're honestly one of the highest quality UA-camrs I have the pleasure of watching, and your editing and insights are really delightful to hear. It's a shame you don't get nearly as many views as you deserve. I wonder if you might be able to change your editing and title / thumbnail approach slightly to make better use of the Algorithm, so you can get Joseph Anderson size audiences. Your quality is definitely good enough. And I'd like for you to make more stuff! Check out veritasium's recent video on clickbait, it might give you some ideas on increasing your reach.
i like the idea that shepard saw saren, objectified him as a tool and a sheep, causing saren to have a moment of rebellion and assert his own individuality, taking his own life. jean paul sartre's "the look". later developed further in critical theory as "the gaze", a broader metaphor for self awareness which under existentialism is synonymous with self control.
Your theory about healing head can be viable only in one scenario. If we killed Wrex in the first game and then Sabotaged the Cure. Otherwise, Salarians don't get on board with us. The head will be missing. If we have Wrex alive and sabotage the Cure he finds out and we lose the Krogan assets.
13:45 - You say that organic life would not exist, but that's incorrect. Humans wouldn't, as evolution would be radically different in this scenario, but organic life would be just fine (way better off in fact). One assumption that the Leviathans had (that unshackled AI would inevitably seek to destroy organic life) is incorrect. They programmed this incorrect notion into the Intelligence, so it's been trying to solve a problem that literally does not exist. This is one of the most absurdist aspects of the series, but also the most interesting one. The Intelligence is actually a VI, not an AI (per ME definitions), as the Leviathans wouldn't have created an unshackled AI, so it can't modify its core programming (like EDI does throughout ME3). This, in turn, makes the Intelligence more of a Demiurge figure in line with various Gnostic beliefs. It's a disastrously flawed creation humanity must fight against, which makes Shepard more of a Gnostic Jesus figure, than an Antichrist of Revelations (although mainline Christians would see Gnostic Jesus as analogous to the Antichrist). Still, both interpretations obviously have an existentialist bent, since it makes much more sense than Abrahamic notions of faith and purpose. 10:50 - The etymology is contested, but the Gnostics thought it referred to "truth" or "revealed truth", which fits the mystery cult origin of Christianity. The term survives today as Nasrani in Syriac and Arabic, though the root Nasr means "victory". Nazara could either mean Truth or Victory, both rather ironic, given the Reapers' eventual loss, and their habit of deceptive boasting to get the cycles to submit quicker.
Almost 10 years since Me3 came out... Its been one hell of a ride. Still one thing that bugs me all this time: why did the reapers go for earth during their latest invasion and leave the citadel for last? If they stuck to their original invasion plan, the last game would have gone berg differently...
I'm glad you remade this. Your original video on the Mass Effect series is I think the most unique take I've seen about the series. The first time you brought up the blaring of the horn gave me literal goosebumps. So glad this Final Cut exists :)
Really interesting analysis of ME, I enjoyed it immensely. I would love to hear your next take on the subject of this video in 10 years. I'm curious though, why does existentialism mean that God must be dead? Could we not all be his subjective experiences of "existence", necessary for an all-knowing infinite entity to experience being?
Thank you very much! And great question--one I hope to clear up here. Existentialism doesn't mean that God *must* be dead. I was trying to choose my words carefully there because it's not a necessary condition that Existentialism be an atheist philosophy. Kierkegaard is considered to be the father of Existentialism and he was very much a theist. He used the original sin (eating from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) to exemplify that we have choice. This is what he said man realized when eating from the tree--the knowledge that we all have a *choice* to do good and evil. And because we don't *know* what God wants us to do, he argued we all have to have faith. It's not exactly an eloquent solution to the problem he presents (in my view, anyway.) My point is, there's a lot of existentialist philosophers out there and it's not required to think God is dead. I just focused on Nietzsche and Sartre (Nietzsche was a big influence on him) because I think the way they articulate the philosophy plays out in the game. All that matters to the existentialist is we acknowledge that God doesn't interfere when we make our choices. I hope that answers your question!
So if ME4 comes out and is a direct sequel, continuing the story where we left off in 3, what would that mean in terms of all of this? Is there something new to “fight” after we’ve killed God? Is it gonna be a new trilogy where it explores an entirely different aspect of myth? I wonder if there was any connection with this stuff to Andromeda? I am very intrigued now, yessir
We know so little about what the next game might be but I would guess it would have something to do with rebuilding in the aftermath of the reapers and I guess trying to find Shepard since its implied they may have survived the ending of 3. In terms of the allegory presented in this video I guess ME4 would represent humanity coming to terms with the world/their existence after killing god?
I personally prefer the Extended Cut because it doesn’t end with the relays blowing up leading us to assume that everyone starved to death since everyone can’t go home. But the Extended Cut doesn’t outright say what happened to everyone ala New Vegas. It gives you the bare minimum amount of information to allow you to fill in the blanks. It never says the Geth are dead forever in Destroy. Perhaps they are reborn down the line with the help of David Archer. But thank you for making this. Guess my postponing of my Mass Effect videos was a good thing because it’s going to allow me to reevaluate what I have to say and allow me to plug this video to my Audience. A word of warning though. A certain Smudboy will inevitably make a response video to tell you how wrong you are. Just a heads up so you can be prepared for the toxic right-wing complaints.
Hey I already watched your first video on Mass Effect and I replied, This video is also a great video but not as good as the first in my opinion, lets throw egos. I do believe the Bible, God Elohim and Yeshua/Jesus. I wasn't a believer 6 years ago, Mass Effect actually was one way that made me become a believer. I want to add/change to what you have shown in the first and second videos: Catalyst said he was created too, God was never created, so Catalyst is basically the Satan. The Reapers in the Bible are actually harvesting the souls of humans. Leviathan is also in the Bible in the book of Job, in Psalms and Isaiah, no one can destroy him, only God by His Word. All the aliens in Mass Effect are actually Nephilim. Ai and Humans together are Genesis 6 experiment by the Fallen Angels, Nephlim in Hebrew means fallen. Shepard is actually like Yeshua/Jesus, Died and rose again, But the problem is, If you read the Bible carefully, this Shepard is actually Nimrod the king of Babylon the first king that was a hunter against God/Elohim/Yah. Even the catalyst tells Shepard "Even you are partly synthetic", Which means he is part Nephilim, and Yeshua/Jesus is Messiah, clean as it gets. Nimrod is partly Nephilim, and he is THE Anti-Christ who will rise again (like Yeshua/Jesus did) but Nimrod will lead the world astray as fake Messiah. Also Shepard "Ascends" with bright light to meet this Catalyst, and Nimrod in Genesis wanted to ascend Heavens and kill God. Nimrod was the first to reach so high, also like the Catalyst says "you're the first organic to be here". Read Isaiah 14:12. But anyways, thanks for the videos and hard work man. Bless you dear fellow, thanks for the video! much love.
I really like your theory/reading of ME trilogy, but you made an analysis mistake. The reapers and the Catalyst are the Fallen Angels and the Dragon/Old Serpent passing the crown to the Beast of the Sea. That's the reason no matter what you choose, the Dragon always wins. In Destroy ending the Beast still lives now with the authority of (have destroyed) the Dragon, in Control ending we get the born of the False Shepard, and in Synthesis ending all the people who form the Beast accept the Mark becoming one with the Dragon. The Dragon and his Fallen Angels wants be like God, so we aren't fighting God Himself but the ones who are mimicking His nature. And Nietzsche fits perfectly because he was an atheist apostate, a nonbeliever. Everyone who are not at the side of God, are against Him. That's the reason people can be easily manipulated by false doctrines, especially the ones that teaches "Man don't need God" and "Man can become a god by their own will and illumination". The final choice is a deal with Lucifer.
Existentialism could be great if so many of us weren't basal creatures compelled by lust and savage tribalism. Even places of higher learning are not immune therefrom, where a word or step out of line will see the legions descend upon you if for no other reason to assert their own virtue. Good video, though.
literally my favourite video on the internet aside from Curio's breakdown of the Witcher. Thank you so much for taking such great care of your ideas, the improvement is obvious and appreciated!!!
A video without having to wait 2 years? Don't mess with my feelings. Great video as always, still waiting for more SoulsBorne videos. Hugs from Brasil.
There were so many of these elements that I think I was sort of unconsciously aware of, but watching your video really helped me to crystallize so many of of reasons this story is so important to me.
I had never made this connection before but you're so spot-on here, the Mass Effect saga is all about our collective struggle to ATTACK AND DETHRONE GOD. ("Is Mass Effect the western Shin Megami Tensei? But hey, that's just a theory...") Superb work on this one.
Your OTH on Mass Effect was how I found you a couple years ago and you quickly became one of my favorite video essay channels (even if we don't entirely agree on Spec Ops :D ). It was an absolute treat to revisit these concepts and Mass Effect's sprawling universe with you. Thanks Porpoise, you're the man/mammal.
:')
I'm blown away. This gave me a genuine appreciate for the Mass Effect series, including it's odd ending. Thank you.
Always delighted to see you upload a new video. This is one of my favorite channels on youtube.
Omg! Thank you!
I generally have two issues with how the ending of Mass Effect 3 is initially presented.
This first is basically just a logistical issue. We're given three options: destroy, control, and synthesis. This is initially presented as a kind of trolley problem, kill the reapers but sacrifice the geth, become an autocrat, or eliminate individuality (maybe I've misunderstood synthesis, but I'm not really sure how you *merge* organic and synthetic life without basically creating a reaper). The actual problem is that, in the first two endings, the mass relays are damaged beyond operation, trapping like 90% of the galaxy's residents in a single system without the ability to sustain them, leading to basically everyone inevitably dying. And sure, in retrospect, I now know that the story just disregards continuity and has everyone leave without the mass relays (and yes, I know there are also FTL drives in Mass Effect, but these are shown realistically to allow convenient movement at a system level, not at a galaxy level, and I don't believe for a second that all of these ships came stocked with the decades/centuries-worth of supplies they'd need to make the return trips via conventional FTL travel), but in the moment when I was making the decision, my options seemed to be "kill everyone", "kill everyone but me", "and kill everyone metaphorically". This could probably work in a different, more somber story, but was deeply unsatisfying at the end of a trilogy ostensibly about the importance of choice and self-actualization.
But the deeper issue for me was, why does the Catalyst get to decide what my options are? Like, if this is a metaphor for killing God, why does God get to dictate the terms of His death? If this whole thing is supposed to be about how my choices matter, why do I have so little input into what my options are in the last moments of the third game? The addition of a fourth option, one not outlined by the Catalyst, where I can tell him to fuck off and that we'll collectively take our chances that the next cycle will defeat him more cleanly without giving him an opportunity to dictate terms, feels more thematically appropriate. Maybe we don't kill God this time, but at least we don't have to let God dictate how he would like to die. I dunno, maybe if the three options were presented by, like, any other character, or if they'd done a better job addressing what seem like the most obvious and immediate repercussions of those options so they aren't all functionally identical, they'd have worked better for me. But having the Catalyst give me three bad options that (should) largely result in everyone dying didn't really work for me.
I saw this is in my notifications, and I was like, "Damn! It's been a while!" Downloaded it right away to watch while I'm flying later.
Enjoy your flight!
Woah, a redux on my favorite Mass Effect theory?
Sign me the fuck up.
Dude once again you have created an intensely thought provoking video using Mass Effect as its base, I never thought to think of the game that way and will change a few of my actions going forward knowing what it would symbolically mean for humanity in general and for myself as an individual. Also I appreciate you using Niche's full quote on Killing God rather than the abridged version which allows us to ponder not that god is simply dead and all is meaningless, but that we must appear worthy of our slaying of oyr creatora by using tye tools and choices we have at hand and dinstinguish ourselves by our actions and legacies.
Genuinely one of the best videos on youtube, It's a real talent to fit this much meaning and nuance into 36 minutes.
Your videos are truly worth a 6 month wait and since I am studying literature myself, I truly admire and look towards your literary analyses as an example as some of the best. Keep up the good work
That's the coolest praise I could receive. Thank you!
He’s back!!!
I just have to tell you one of my favorite videos on UA-cam is your mass effect ending video and I can’t tell you how many people I have shared that with but it’s a great video.
It’s interesting the concept of “choice is how we express our identity”, specially regarding video games.
It reminds me how in most modern games, one of the most common choices we have is how we customize the appearance of our character, and that becomes a way of expressing ourselves. That’s why it feels very insidious when games:
1) Lock some choices behind prepaid content, like in Fortnite where most appearance customs and emotes must be bought with surprise boxes
It also help explains some people frustrations when they can’t play as a woman or LGTB+ character in a video game where it’s factible, as its a ways of denying them their choice. A way of denying them expressing themselves their identity.
But it’s also is a testament to how great of a protagonist Shepherd is by being their own person but also an expression of the player.
So glad to see a new video from you, my man. I try to watch you on Twitch but the notification always comes at the same time I'm heading to sleep.
I think you are on to something with your take on ME3 but I think the cognitive dissonance for most of us is that there isn't proper framing for it within the Trilogy itself and we know that there wasn't a cohesive trilogy story at the start. They also scrapped the story the original stories for ME3 and possibly ME2 before production/release so it is a muddied river to begin with.
This kind of video content is absolutely fantastic. The spreading of critical ideas such as this have implications beyond a simple 37 minute video. I not only applaud but thank you. This kind of well-examined content is why I still await every video you make with extreme anticipation. Thank you for making the UA-cam as well as the literary / video game community that much better!
That's awesome to hear! Thank you so much!
Really enjoying it, as well as the Haven music in the background, one of my favorite escapism games.
But why did this video show up in my subscription feed? And why now?
_"... there was a hole."_
It's criminal this doesn't have more views. Genius analysis!
.....Dude... You never fail to impress. Thank you for all the work you put into this! Also for reminding me that I need to read more Joseph Campbell
I am glad to see someone have a similar take to me on this topic. I'll be it much more Christian references. I am surprised you didnt touch on Shepards name itself being a direct correlation between this. A shepard being one who guides and all. Great video!
Thoroughly enjoyed this analysis. Outstanding work, as always.
Great sense of humour along with a deep outlook on games once again sole. Really enjoy your content. - Helenus
Love the Haven Soundtrack, it's a banger :D
very interesting video, I just read recently some of the stuff from the philosophers and writers you mentioned like Camus and Neitzche so it really came at a great time for me. you inspired me to do another playthrough, perhaps I'll get some new stuff out of it
Holy shit, This is one hell of a video man! I loved every minute of it
you absolutely blew me away with this video and really opened my eyes about mass effect for the second time lol
Thanks so much, Sad Pee!
While I don't care for the philosophy or atheistic beliefs within this video that obviously are beyond the scope of a youtube comment, I think you did amazing work connecting the dots that this is in fact referring to the Book of the Apocalypse. Obvious implication being that Shephard is the anti Christ. I can think of no other game where a player takes on that role, knowing that, this is probably one of the most anti Christian games ever made and it flew under the radar of almost everybody, (barring the Assassin's Creed series which is just on the nose bigotry). Casey Hudson who I would bet money on having Jewish ancestry, almost certainly envisioned Shephard as the "real" saviour that the jews are still waiting for. Shame the video doesn't have more views, it's really well done.
What a pleasant surprise for the day. Thanks porpoise!
Masterpiece of a video. I'll watch it again and again!
To quote a shrill 90's super sentai villain:
“Ahh … After 10,000 years I’m free! Time to conquer Earth!”
The Christian Eschatology you're using to interpret the ending is directly derived from Greek dialectical philosophy.
As cool as this video is, I'm a little skeptical Bioware intended a mashup of the book of revelations and Nietzsche. There are a lot of religions and philosophies that could be used as a framework to understand ME, but I think that minimizes the novel worldbuilding and storytelling -- originality is a great thing about these games too.
Don’t worry brother, I love that video as well and have watched it probably like 10 times.
Amazing video truly a unique take on this game which is saying something. Thank you for your work
Sole, you're honestly one of the highest quality UA-camrs I have the pleasure of watching, and your editing and insights are really delightful to hear. It's a shame you don't get nearly as many views as you deserve. I wonder if you might be able to change your editing and title / thumbnail approach slightly to make better use of the Algorithm, so you can get Joseph Anderson size audiences. Your quality is definitely good enough. And I'd like for you to make more stuff!
Check out veritasium's recent video on clickbait, it might give you some ideas on increasing your reach.
Thanks very much for saying that. I'll look into it.
@@SolePorpoise Great! P.S. I think you've been striking a great balance lately of these fun little jokes throughout your script, keep that part up :)
i like the idea that shepard saw saren, objectified him as a tool and a sheep, causing saren to have a moment of rebellion and assert his own individuality, taking his own life. jean paul sartre's "the look". later developed further in critical theory as "the gaze", a broader metaphor for self awareness which under existentialism is synonymous with self control.
Your theory about healing head can be viable only in one scenario. If we killed Wrex in the first game and then Sabotaged the Cure. Otherwise, Salarians don't get on board with us. The head will be missing. If we have Wrex alive and sabotage the Cure he finds out and we lose the Krogan assets.
All hail the mighty howdy dolphin
Damn new video, looking forward to checking it out!
yoooo this guys still alive
UA-cam hasn't killed me yet!
Really interesting take, enjoyed listening. Thanks!
13:45 - You say that organic life would not exist, but that's incorrect. Humans wouldn't, as evolution would be radically different in this scenario, but organic life would be just fine (way better off in fact). One assumption that the Leviathans had (that unshackled AI would inevitably seek to destroy organic life) is incorrect. They programmed this incorrect notion into the Intelligence, so it's been trying to solve a problem that literally does not exist. This is one of the most absurdist aspects of the series, but also the most interesting one. The Intelligence is actually a VI, not an AI (per ME definitions), as the Leviathans wouldn't have created an unshackled AI, so it can't modify its core programming (like EDI does throughout ME3). This, in turn, makes the Intelligence more of a Demiurge figure in line with various Gnostic beliefs. It's a disastrously flawed creation humanity must fight against, which makes Shepard more of a Gnostic Jesus figure, than an Antichrist of Revelations (although mainline Christians would see Gnostic Jesus as analogous to the Antichrist). Still, both interpretations obviously have an existentialist bent, since it makes much more sense than Abrahamic notions of faith and purpose.
10:50 - The etymology is contested, but the Gnostics thought it referred to "truth" or "revealed truth", which fits the mystery cult origin of Christianity. The term survives today as Nasrani in Syriac and Arabic, though the root Nasr means "victory". Nazara could either mean Truth or Victory, both rather ironic, given the Reapers' eventual loss, and their habit of deceptive boasting to get the cycles to submit quicker.
Missing you dude, hope all is well with you
Got 2 videos cooking. Both are pretty big but the smaller one will be out soon!
Almost 10 years since Me3 came out... Its been one hell of a ride.
Still one thing that bugs me all this time: why did the reapers go for earth during their latest invasion and leave the citadel for last? If they stuck to their original invasion plan, the last game would have gone berg differently...
WAKE UP BABE, NEW SOLEPORPOISE!!!!!!
I'm glad you remade this. Your original video on the Mass Effect series is I think the most unique take I've seen about the series. The first time you brought up the blaring of the horn gave me literal goosebumps. So glad this Final Cut exists :)
Really interesting analysis of ME, I enjoyed it immensely. I would love to hear your next take on the subject of this video in 10 years.
I'm curious though, why does existentialism mean that God must be dead? Could we not all be his subjective experiences of "existence", necessary for an all-knowing infinite entity to experience being?
Thank you very much!
And great question--one I hope to clear up here.
Existentialism doesn't mean that God *must* be dead. I was trying to choose my words carefully there because it's not a necessary condition that Existentialism be an atheist philosophy.
Kierkegaard is considered to be the father of Existentialism and he was very much a theist. He used the original sin (eating from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) to exemplify that we have choice. This is what he said man realized when eating from the tree--the knowledge that we all have a *choice* to do good and evil. And because we don't *know* what God wants us to do, he argued we all have to have faith.
It's not exactly an eloquent solution to the problem he presents (in my view, anyway.)
My point is, there's a lot of existentialist philosophers out there and it's not required to think God is dead. I just focused on Nietzsche and Sartre (Nietzsche was a big influence on him) because I think the way they articulate the philosophy plays out in the game. All that matters to the existentialist is we acknowledge that God doesn't interfere when we make our choices.
I hope that answers your question!
So if ME4 comes out and is a direct sequel, continuing the story where we left off in 3, what would that mean in terms of all of this? Is there something new to “fight” after we’ve killed God? Is it gonna be a new trilogy where it explores an entirely different aspect of myth? I wonder if there was any connection with this stuff to Andromeda? I am very intrigued now, yessir
We know so little about what the next game might be but I would guess it would have something to do with rebuilding in the aftermath of the reapers and I guess trying to find Shepard since its implied they may have survived the ending of 3. In terms of the allegory presented in this video I guess ME4 would represent humanity coming to terms with the world/their existence after killing god?
Know it's not a game but would love to hear your take on Evangelion.
Good to see your back!
YES!!! I DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT MASS EFFECT, I JUST LOVE THIS CHANNEL!
I love you too :)
@@SolePorpoise 😲😲😲♥️
It’s back!!
Awww yeah, more porpoise.
Can't get enough of your video!
Ah yes Fraps, Unregistered Hypercams.
Please tell me what's the track at 25:00. Thanks a lot. again great video.
Enjoy :) ua-cam.com/video/AuXSzda3aSc/v-deo.html
@@SolePorpoise Appreciate that, Bless you man, thanks.
Didn't the idea of killing god appear much earlier, than Niche, in niche (unintended pun) strains of Christinary?
Oops, missed the operating word lol. I edited it in
Anybody know what the bg music is at 12m? I know it's from an awesome game, just can't put my finger on which, thanks.
nm, answered my own question, Death's Door
I personally prefer the Extended Cut because it doesn’t end with the relays blowing up leading us to assume that everyone starved to death since everyone can’t go home. But the Extended Cut doesn’t outright say what happened to everyone ala New Vegas. It gives you the bare minimum amount of information to allow you to fill in the blanks. It never says the Geth are dead forever in Destroy. Perhaps they are reborn down the line with the help of David Archer.
But thank you for making this. Guess my postponing of my Mass Effect videos was a good thing because it’s going to allow me to reevaluate what I have to say and allow me to plug this video to my Audience.
A word of warning though. A certain Smudboy will inevitably make a response video to tell you how wrong you are. Just a heads up so you can be prepared for the toxic right-wing complaints.
Fantastic analysis, bravo!
Freaking hell man. Well done.
not sure how i feel ab being on the side fighting against God
What's the music at 30:00
A most blessed notification
I thought you were dead, but I am glad to be proven wrong.
What happened to your video on homage?
It got copyright claimed and restricted in a bunch of different countries. It should still be available in the US if you have a VPN.
@@SolePorpoise aw, that's a shame. I do have a vpn though, so thanks for the tip!
Is it strange that I wept towards the end of the video?
awww come'on man James is cool, I like him ;-;
Hey I already watched your first video on Mass Effect and I replied,
This video is also a great video but not as good as the first in my opinion, lets throw egos.
I do believe the Bible, God Elohim and Yeshua/Jesus. I wasn't a believer 6 years ago, Mass Effect actually was one way that made me become a believer.
I want to add/change to what you have shown in the first and second videos:
Catalyst said he was created too, God was never created, so Catalyst is basically the Satan.
The Reapers in the Bible are actually harvesting the souls of humans.
Leviathan is also in the Bible in the book of Job, in Psalms and Isaiah, no one can destroy him, only God by His Word.
All the aliens in Mass Effect are actually Nephilim.
Ai and Humans together are Genesis 6 experiment by the Fallen Angels, Nephlim in Hebrew means fallen.
Shepard is actually like Yeshua/Jesus, Died and rose again, But the problem is,
If you read the Bible carefully, this Shepard is actually Nimrod the king of Babylon the first king that was a hunter against God/Elohim/Yah.
Even the catalyst tells Shepard "Even you are partly synthetic", Which means he is part Nephilim, and Yeshua/Jesus is Messiah, clean as it gets.
Nimrod is partly Nephilim, and he is THE Anti-Christ who will rise again (like Yeshua/Jesus did) but Nimrod will lead the world astray as fake Messiah.
Also Shepard "Ascends" with bright light to meet this Catalyst, and Nimrod in Genesis wanted to ascend Heavens and kill God.
Nimrod was the first to reach so high, also like the Catalyst says "you're the first organic to be here".
Read Isaiah 14:12.
But anyways, thanks for the videos and hard work man.
Bless you dear fellow, thanks for the video! much love.
Why do people assume that god is good and on their side? ;) anyway interesting video and I enjoyed it!
has it been three years already?
Time flies when I'm not writing about God of War.
7 Nation Army.
Uh-oh.
Boy... I never seemed to realize this was a biblical apocalypse story. That makes me think even less of these games.
I really like your theory/reading of ME trilogy, but you made an analysis mistake.
The reapers and the Catalyst are the Fallen Angels and the Dragon/Old Serpent passing the crown to the Beast of the Sea. That's the reason no matter what you choose, the Dragon always wins.
In Destroy ending the Beast still lives now with the authority of (have destroyed) the Dragon, in Control ending we get the born of the False Shepard, and in Synthesis ending all the people who form the Beast accept the Mark becoming one with the Dragon.
The Dragon and his Fallen Angels wants be like God, so we aren't fighting God Himself but the ones who are mimicking His nature. And Nietzsche fits perfectly because he was an atheist apostate, a nonbeliever. Everyone who are not at the side of God, are against Him. That's the reason people can be easily manipulated by false doctrines, especially the ones that teaches "Man don't need God" and "Man can become a god by their own will and illumination". The final choice is a deal with Lucifer.
A+++
Finally 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH
Delicious
Existentialism could be great if so many of us weren't basal creatures compelled by lust and savage tribalism.
Even places of higher learning are not immune therefrom, where a word or step out of line will see the legions descend upon you if for no other reason to assert their own virtue.
Good video, though.
Damn I thot this channel died this is a surprise
So long.... for a video that can be summed up as, Mass Effect is just plagiarization of Revelation Space.