Update 06/16/2022: Shamus Young passed away today. I based much of this video on his work, which is some of the most insightful and entertaining gaming criticism ever written. He will be missed.
I felt like I was going nuts whenever I'd talk about how I felt like Mass Effect 2 and its tone shift and mass-retconning was the beginning of the end for the series while everyone else sang its praises. Thank God I'm not alone. I'll have to pick up Mess Effect.
Maybe im just weird, but im the exact opposite when it comes to ME1 vs ME2. Yeah the setup for the reapers and world building was awesome in ME1, but everything else about the game aged like cheese left in the sun for 4 weeks in Australia. Nearly all the side missions are identical, because it always goes as follows: Go to god forsaken planet with only like 20 people on it, look for building that looks so painfully similar to each other you would think they just copy + pasted one building for every single planet in the game. The only building that looks even remotely unique is the last one in BDTS DLC. Kill nameless bad guys, turn in the quest and Shepard be like: Im glad i could help. There. I just described 95% of all the side missions in ME1. And that's just one of the many things that show its age. Omega alone has more life and agency in ME2 than the entirety of ME1. And i know that ME1 was the first of its kind, but that doesn't make it immune from criticism.
@@guineapig55555I get the other criticisms, but that's just delusional. The guns felt awful in the first game. They were so underpowered and pathetic and the beginning of the game, and so ridiculously overpowered by the end. I mean, you have to shoot for 90 seconds straight with the best assault rifle in the game to overheat. Why did people think the overheating was a good system again? I'll never know.
Great video and really like the suggestions about adding investigation locked dialogue. I'd also love to see more group conversations in Mass Effect - remember that circle of chairs room on the Normandy in ME1 where you only got to have like 2 roundtable crew conversations post-missions? I always loved the "Star Trek debate" dynamic of those scenes and it that idea never really got utilized.
Those scenes were great, but they VERY short (and usually just your crew reacting to a conversation you were having with Liara). More inter-crew dialogs would always be welcome! They were actually done pretty well in the Citadel DLC, although slightly limited due to all the permutations the party could have.
I always found killing Shep and the Normandy in the opening scene an... interesting... choice. What purpose did it serve? There was no other way to build up Shepherd working with Cerb? Ouldnt have Shep slowly and apprehensive work beside them to reach a common goal? It's not like Shepherd trusts Cerb more at the end of the game or something thus didn't add anything to fighting against them in 3. Also, ME 2 is just one giant fetch quest as you go planet to planet fetching allies
Not gonna lie, my first time playing Mass Effect and then reaching Sovereign's hologram info-dumping me and then the transmission cutting off and having Joker say that a ship bigger than any dreadnought the other races made just pulled a maneuver that would have ripped a smaller ship in half and was zooming towards the planet was a big 'oh shit' moment where I felt some genuine dread.
I was actually spoiled for the reveal by reading a Mass Effect 2 review before playing the first one. The fact that the reveal *STILL LANDED* speaks magnitudes on how well it was done.
Gunmetal Stug your GuP vids got me through some really hard times, I stumbled accross your vids by pure chance while just watching tank vids, It was the first time anything made me genuinely laugh out loud in what felt like years. . . You got me into watching the original GuP and I became a big Kenny and the Swordfish fan. . . Under 18 is still my pick me up music if I'm feeling a bit low. . . Actually the whole first album is really great and energetic. . . anyway I just wanted you to know that all the staggering amount of time and effort you put into your vids is really appreciated, its nice seeing other subjects for videos even if its not something I'm into I still found myself watching this just due to the usual great quality and your editing keeping it interesting. . Obviously I would love move GuP content, Yukaris tank chat was awesome but I think it's important you do what you want to exress your creativity and don't feel pressured by your fans to just make GuP videos, They are my favourite vids on UA-cam though, not even sure how many times I have watched them now. Best of luck with what ever direction you choose to take your channel though. . Thanks for all the laughs you have given me.
Hey Johnny! I'm really happy to hear that you appreciate our series so much. Sometimes I get down on myself and my earlier writing, but anything that brought you that kind of joy makes it feel worthwhile. I also greatly appreciate your patience with me and my... 'eclectic' attention span when it comes to producing content, and the direction that attention span takes. As I mentioned during the Episode 7 release, I'm really trying to dedicate my time to producing ALL kinds of content, and this Mass Effect video cemented that. Of course, I've hit a few hiccups in my attempt to do that. What makes it worse, is that, as you so kindly noted, I put a lot of time into concepting writing, editing, and producing my stuff, which results in longer, VERY high-effort and time consuming videos... the exact OPPOSITE of the kind of content UA-cam likes to push and promote. While I don't care overmuch about view count, it makes it tough to judge whether or not something I'm producing is any good or worthwhile to consume. That you enjoyed this video so much definitely helps me feel more secure in that regard. As for the overall direction of my channel, I've decided that since I had such a good time producing this video essay, it's going to become the secondary focus of the channel. HOWEVER, I do really want to make more GuP Abridged stuff, but despite being MUCH shorter, it ironically consumes FAR more development time and effort to produce (due to the huge number of people involved in voice acting and QA). This means that the video essays are nice solo projects that I can produce in-between episodes. I realize that my primary audience is here for the tanks, but I'm hoping to expand said audience by talking about all kinds of stuff. Unfortunately, GuP is no shounen anime with hundreds of episodes to crunch down - it's a very limited pool of content, and even at my glacial production pace, I WILL run out of stuff to abridge at some point. Once I reach that point, however, I hope to have built a content base that's much more robust and a little less shitpost-y, for lack of a better word. Not to fear, however, Episode 8 is going to be the next video I release, although I'm cooking up another video essay in the meantime while I organize things for GuP:A. Thanks again for your extremely kind words! It's because of fans like you that I've had such a good time over the years making stuff. :)
FOr the Squadmate Abilities (50:00) you could use something like the system from Battlefleet Gothic (dont know if other games use it too): by default, all abilities are only used when the ship gets the order to do so. but you can also individually set them to "use when appropriate". For Mass Effect, that could mean you can allow your Squadmates to use everything (Andromeda), nothing (Trilogy) or only certain things (ie grenades are ok, but only fire the concussive shot when I tell you).
I would love to see something like this! Generally, more options to control your squad is better, even when it comes to just setting the level of control you have.
You obviously put a lot of thought and editing into this and it is appreciated. I hope that you will countinue doing these kind of videos because i enjoy long form content of this nature. I hope this video finds success because it definitely deserves it. Hope you make more and improve upon a solid foundation that you have setup for yourself
I definitely plan to do more, and it really means a lot that you enjoyed it so much! It's definitely not making as big of a splash as I'd hoped, but that's only something that can happen with time and consistency.
My idea: Integrate your ship more with the gameplay One of the things I liked about ME3 was the little scanning bits on the galaxy map where you press a button to find stuff and run away from the Reapers. It was barebones, sure, and I figured out how to exploit the heck out of it after a while. But I like the idea. Make the ship more than just a hub world to hang out in between missions. Sure, it's a great hub world. But integrating it with the gameplay would make it just a bit better. Imagine commanding, or even directly controlling the SSV Omaha Beach or whatever in large epic space battles, or flying it around uncharted systems like in No Man's Sky. Maybe I just like No Man's Sky. Whatever. Imagine actually dropping the Mako manually instead of in a cutscene. Imagine actually fighting in those big epic space battles instead of having them be cutscenes. Heck, why not do away with the ship cutscenes and replace them with mini gameplay sections! Replace the Galaxy Map with a helm where you fly the damn thing yourself! Fight pirate ships, land on the Citadel, probe Uranus, whatever. Joker's probably gone off to do something else since ME3, I'm sure he won't mind. Edit: I see how easily this could create boring, repetitive gameplay sections of holding the forward button for 15 minutes straight. I hope it doesn't.
This would be cash money. Especially since it'd be a great way to dab on Bethesda after they confirmed that you can't manually land on planets in Starfield! There's also plenty of ways you could fudge how "controlling" your ship would work, i.e., just sitting down in a Captain's Chair or such that would transfer you to the pilot's seat (or a third person camera).
@@GunmetalStug Just had another thought! The Mass Relays previously served as a kind of fast travel point for you to zip around the galaxy without actually flying the ship. With the disabling or destruction of most of the Relays in the Destroy ending, there's actually an in-universe reason you'd have you fly around instead of just clicking on the space fast travel point. Perhaps the reason the player's ship is so important is because they've developed a new form of FTL that allows you to circumvent the Mass Relay network, which would then allow you to go out into the galaxy and reconnect everything. Oh, and by the way, I'm not buying Starfield. I already have No Man's Sky, no need to go pay Bethesda an extra $40 for the same thing but worse. OOH, NEW IDEA! Remember how in the main trilogy, the Normandy's big important feature was its stealth drive? Remember how in the video you talked about adding stealth mechanics? What if the SHIP had stealth mechanics too! I like that idea. Adding more freedom of choice to the gameplay, like you said. Enemy blockade? Smash through them with a missile barrage and a few shots from your main battery. Or maybe find a weak spot and engage the stealth drive to slip right through undetected. Maybe do a mix of both, hitting the enemy in once place only to vanish in a cloud of decoys and reappear somewhere else. It doesn't have to be Cold Waters, but at least put a cloaking button somewhere.
I feel like the control angle *could* be an interesting starting point, a once benevolent god Shepard begins to succumb to the same line of thinking as the original reapers their consciousness grows further apart from their long lost humanity, but then it's just reaper war again from a different angle so it's far from perfect. Anyway, good vid good job!
Synthesis could have been more interesting if it was something the whole trilogy was driving towards, or was handled a bit more intelligently in ME3. It's an entirely different direction for an entire galaxy, but as I said in the video, it's not a very good foundation to tell new Mass Effect stories.
Thank you! Finally someone else who noticed how nonsensical and irrelevant Mass Effect 2 really was. People praise it as if it was a natural evolution but the entity of the game was literally doing the exact opposite. The good parts of Mass Effect 2 have nothing to do with the actual plot and that is a problem. Another problem is save for the human crew no one has any stake in the conflict so why join? It doesn't help that we only meet one colonist and he's just an ass. Cerberus usurping the focus from the Reapers snd the other races was a momentarily stupid idea. As was unnecessarily and inexplicably changing Liara's character. Mass Effect 1 has the best combat. All the later games did was shift it from role-playing esuque to action focus. Even the music and art direction changed for the worse. The legendary edition retroactively changing character models to Mass Effect 3 was a mistake. That game had the worse facial structure and character designs of the trilogy anyway. I also hated 3's overall art design as a whole. Mass Effect just got worse and worse with each game.
When I was doing footage capture for this video, I was ASTOUNDED at how much worse Mass Effect 3 looked and felt after playing through the first two. I remembered it much differently than how it actually was. With the Legendary Edition, I think I actually agree that Mass Effect 1 has the more interesting combat model, even if it's jank and finnicky. ME2+3/A was very safe and action-focused. You're also right about the music and art direction. The vibes in ME1 simply hit different. Very unique and enthralling, even so years later.
I'd be happy to see more things like this, I watch everything/most stuff on 2x speed nowadays so even an hour long like this isn't daunting. Unfortunately even with all of this I can't see a future for ME, like you said the end of 3 was just the straw that broke the camels back, it'd already been carrying a few tons of shit up till that point. Bad narrative choices and bad gameplay choices stacking up just to end with 3. And I mean they could have done better, a lot lot better, like the decision to kill shep at the start of 2 was garbage and removes any tension because technically they can just revive him/her at another time; but what they could have done is have it matter in the narrative instead of being mentioned twice and having ooh cool red face scars or not, something like the clone inhibitor chips in the clone wars animations, a good human fights for cerberus(which are also a shit faction like you said but oh well) and you never get the choice to go against them until you either learn about it from some digging or you get miranda to like you and she spills it or something. Paragon and renegade were also really dumb besides punch reporter and push merc out of window. Hand ME over to obsidian for the kotor 2 better sequel treatment, retcon 3, don't make promises you can't keep.
You're right on the money. I disagree in that I DO see a future for Mass Effect (it is the premise of the video, after all), but I would like to see another studio take a crack at the property. However, given how tightly EA holds onto its IPs, it's unlikely that'll happen. What inspired me to make the video was frustration not only with that, but the missed potential, like you said. Hope you enjoyed the video!
@@GunmetalStug Sadly it's been a consistent downturn for most franchises if you ask me, most potential for stories and arguably gameplay innovation has been in indie titles or mods for existing games. And most companies now are just going for remasters of their already released games, some are deserved and some are not. Dead Space's story is fine and it looks great even now, I've got in installed right now so it's not nostalgia talking. Whereas RE2 and 3 to remake has been great. If they go back to the root of ME then they can make another game, I think, but beyond that I don't know. You might remember how everyone was excited for Destiny and Anthem because everyone thought you'd be able to explore in both instead of what we got which is the development equivalent of full(ish) planets vs probes in 1&2.
Hey everybody! This guy is SO busy he needs to watch everything at TWICE the speed. I get valuing your own time, sure, but unless you're Jeff bezos there's no reason for this.
I think all your combat suggestion can be achieved by decreasing the number of enemies, but making them stronger. Make Protag weaker, so you had to rely on your teammates to win the situation. Also, turn down the tempo of combat. Tarkov shows that slower action games are still fun, so make slower, heftier combat, thus showing that our current protag is no Shepard.
@@GunmetalStug These games, and others like TES post Morrowind remind me of the terminator franchise - but for some reason the general public likes most of these unfortunate sequels.
What I want in a sequel is an intelligently written story. What that story should be about is pretty variable. I also have my own fan fiction-y ideas for what I'd do. There are a lot of possibilities. I suppose the specific thing I want is a story that is NOT about a galaxy destroying threat. I want stories about ideas, perspectives, and needs. I often like to imagine this series with the Reapers never existing and how I'd have made games and what they'd have been about. I think it could have been done easily because the various factions and species and their problems are more than enough to fill the content of a single game dedicated to them. Let's take the Quarian/Geth conflict as an example. Imagine a whole game dedicated to it. What's it about? What happens? What's the scope? So the quarians are arming up to attack the geth. The rest of the galaxy takes notice, including the Council. Shepard is told that they need to become involved due to concerns about the genocide of the geth and fears that if the quarians fail the geth will retaliate against the rest of the galaxy. So they need to try and stop the war, perhaps. Only it gets complicated because the Council is divided. Some want the geth destroyed because they see opportunities for growth in helping rebuild quarian society and expand settled space. However others want the war prevented because a resurgent quarian civilization will disrupt the current status quo. Not everybody gains something from this conflict being resolved and might even lose. Some want the quarians to win because it means the end of the Migrant Fleet as it is a troublesome burden for them from time to time. Others fear the quarians won't destroy the geth and will instead subdue them. Tame them. In a stroke the quarians could become one of the most powerful races in the galaxy, which necessarily means other powerful actors lose influence with the rise of a new competitor and other smaller actors might be squished out completely. So what does Shepard do? Can the quarians be talked down? How? What do they need to avoid this war? What might they offer Shepard to help them destroy their enemy and reclaim their homeworld? What might others offer Shepard to undermine their war effort? The point is, it's a complicated issue that is much more than just the quarians getting a home world back. It has huge implications for their neighbors too. There are ethical and practical considerations every which way with lots of competing interests. You can imagine, the same is true of the genophage and the krogan. Or what about a story that centers around the STG and their tendency to assassinate anyone they view as a potential threat to their species? Where might this cross the line? How about a conflict between a human group or another species and the STG where they kill somebody that is doing something good and ethical but also counter to the Salarian Union's interests? The Special Tasks Group is easy to write as heroes but villains as well. Maybe stories about the turians acquiring new client races and current client races struggling against turian oppression for their liberation? What if the Batarian Revolution was about batarian abolitionists forcing the Council, via terrorism, to go to war with the Hegemony to destroy it forever and free their people and slaves? Do you side with mass murdering anti-slavery abolitionist terrorists or do you side with cruel but stable and not mass-murdering (planet destroying) slavers? The choice isn't straight forward or easy. Touching on the C-word for a moment here, why not explore some of the base themes behind that concept? Some of the issues and questions presented, in an honest and in depth way? Where does humanity draw the line in reasoning with aliens? Where should it stand firm? Where should it be aggressive, even ruthless? Can a balance be struck between getting humanity what it needs to thrive while also not preventing other species from thriving? Or is it wrong or not for humanity to doggedly pursue human interest and how does this compare to other species? Or, what if C's original origin as Alliance black ops was kept but we learned that they never went rogue? That was all just a deception. It gave the Alliance plausible deniability. It was done because history is repeating itself with C as the new League of One. The Council wants humanity to rely on their Spectres, not on their own human-only initiative. Politically, it could all get very murky in that case. It could be a story all about humanity's integration into the Council and explore the delicate balancing act between cooperation and exploitation. The Council has a point. The Alliance has a point. Shepard is caught in the middle.
>I often like to imagine this series with the Reapers never existing and how I'd have made games and what they'd have been about Alternatively, the Reapers not being able to return for hundreds of years once you defeat Sovereign and prevent them from arriving through the Citadel relay, making them a much more distant problem.
Re Star Trek Picard: mass effect was not the first by far to have 'advanced AIs killed old race' and won't be the last by far; for example, Alistair Reynolds Revelation Space series features advanced AIs who limit space faring species and wipe them out if they think it necessary.
I realize that the "genocidal ancient AI" plot wasn't even that original when Mass Effect did it. However, my trust in Alex Kurtzman and his Picard writing team is so abysmally low, it doesn't stretch the imagination to see how they took one of the most recent yet worst implementations of this plot (Mass Effect 3) and copy+pasted it uncritically, without considering earlier, better works in the same vein, or even attempting to add something to the idea.
Great video, and an issue that may have been remedied in future works but the audio is very quiet. It’s hard to hear at max volume with earbuds with any competing surrounding noise.
Got the legendary edition from Twitch. I'm one of the people that never got spoiled so I guess since I want to watch the video I should go play it, huh?
God damn I love mass effect. BTW I like the long form critique style video for mass effects story in the past and going forwards. Love all of your vids and really looking forward to GuP abridged 8.
I was pretty heavily inspired by a lot of long-form content creators... it's a medium I really enjoy and it was really fun making my own take on it. I think it's something I'm going to keep doing, but the next video should be Episode 8 :)
I still don't understand Andromeda. They didn't need to leave the entire galaxy to make a new game. I think a great game would be you're a mercenary captain in the Terminus systems, having Firefly/RDR2 style adventures in crime. That sounds more fun than running around a new galaxy like a gormless idiot.
Absolutely! There's a whole wealth of potential stories you could do with Mass Effect. I wasn't even opposed to the idea of Andromeda, but their execution of it was sub-par to say the least. There's so much you could do with exploring a whole new galaxy, but instead the planets are just stuffed full of annoying, Ubisoft-tier 'content' sinks.
That it did! Spec Ops: The Line did a lot of cool things, but it wasn't a big enough commercial success to really have much influence, which is a damn shame.
@@GunmetalStug Yeah. Real gem of a game that one. Brilliant that they knew they didn't have the budget for a AAA shooter experience and played right into those expectations from the beginning so they could subvert them. A must-play for any would-be game dev out there, in my humble opinion.
12:00 Honestly you really feel Drew Karpyshyn's exit from the series IMO. The writing just... tanked immediately. His intended ending sounded like it would have been quite interesting to experience, if not incredible.
Best next best Mass Effect game is just the Citadel dlc as a full game writh more Dialog and stuff. Just give me a quarian wirth hips wider then a reaper and i am satisfied!
Shamus Young sent me, and I’m glad I watched this. It actually warmed me to both the idea of a Milky Way-based sequel, and something set after the ‘destroy’ ending. Not gonna lie, I’d prefer a retcon of ME2 and 3, but I’d be onboard with your idea for a sequel.
I'm with you in that ME2 and ME3 should be totally retconned (I mentioned the possibility of it briefly), but I really doubt that'll ever happen. In any case, I'm glad Shamus Young sent you here and that you enjoyed the video so much! :)
i don,t think a retcon of ME 2 and 3 is going to have the effect you hope it would. as many of the elements that in this video are given as negatives of the later 2 games are also quite important to the story
Speaking of endings. Destroy barley out did synthesis according to comments back then. So almost neck and neck. Veyr few did control and almost no one did refusal. Me? I chose sythesis. Just liked the idea of everything combined. Maybe just me living out a cyberpunk fantasy in a scifi game where I can be part cybernetic and part human. Though my next choice would be Control. Who knows when being able to control these forces could come in handy against the next big threat. Granted they would have to come up with a bigger threat somehow. I do realize destroy would solve everything and let things continue to evolve naturally in the universe. Also, whatever ending they chose to be canon, I'm honestly fine with. I usually accept whatever canon choices a a dev tells me.
4:16 No i wont because its gameplay is at best not my cup of tea, at worst, bad. Take your pick. I dont care for easy modes because my goal is not to bypass the gameplay i dont like, its to not have to waste my time on something i dont enjoy, even if i may like the story. Good gameplay can make me play something with a bad or nonexistant story. Good story cannot make me play bad gameplay, or gameplay i dont like. Sorry. Also, im kinda here for you to gush about the story and why its so good so take it away
44:45 "I realize that the choice between stealth and going loud is the dark souls of making you feel like spider man" I just have one question, what on earth does that mean?
It's a really pretentious joke about lazy games journalism, because articles saying something is "the Dark Souls of X" or that the Playstation Spiderman games "make you *feel* like Spiderman" are a dime a dozen... just like games that offer you the choice between big action and stealth lol
@@GunmetalStug Gotcha. I was really liking the video and then I heard you say that and i had to pause and seriously contemplate what any of that meant. Phenomenal video otherwise.
EA used to do some amazing things. Especially with Maxis like SimCity (4 was the best, it was complex but damn it was good). Same goes with Mass Effect and Battlefield, but the last decade they have really been on a decline. Even so, they still make a ton of money and unless that changes they won't.
Ah, Mass Effect... its persisting hype living on thanks to people having apparently not noticed that it takes all its major story elements from superior science fiction (play Freespace 2, and read A Fire Upon The Deep), and having apparently also not noticed that its entire plot structure is the same as KOTOR is the same as Neverwinter Nights (player investigates initial threat; initial threat leads players in pursuit of pieces of an artefact that will ultimately lead to a secret location/revelation; major betrayal in the third act followed by a massive battle involving an ancient force awoken). Also helped by the number of Mass Effect fans who never played Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, and never actually saw BioWare's writing at its peak.
My question is how can you do details first storytelling in a universe that has already had all of the details detailed to the player. I did always find it weird that i seemed to be the only one who like me1 more than the others and am by no means disagreeing
Gotta admit. Watch this video and was confused. I loved all three games. I don't think I've seen anyone complain about anything in them aside from the ending of ME3. I personally loved the Inlusive Man an Ceberus, they felt mysterious. I mean were they as scary as the Reapers? Not really, but the mystery element hooked me. I also loved the twist that you die in ME2 and are brought back. Again, to each their own. Though admittedly yeah, Andromeda was garbage. When I hear they werne't doing a second one, I stopped playing it and have no idea how the story ended. I am mixed on if the new game will be any good. I will also say now that I have watched a few of your videos, and this is not a bash of you of course, you deifinitly have a very specific gaming needs in a game. Sometimes the needs are a bit overly complicated for a game to do. At least with certain genres. At least you admit you have no idea how games are really made or I'd throw out "Try making a better one then". But after a few videos I think you should honestly contact some companies like Bethesda. No I'm serious. You do have some great ideas. I mean sure the companies may not care or don't want to spend money to implement them, but at least you tried. Especially with Beth games, I do enjoy the simple, no brain approach to them. But I being older now I definitely wish they would go deeper.
Watching this video, i can't help but wonder about a few things. I wonder if ME would benefit from switching to a different game genre. I'm thinking maybe a tactics game a la XCOM. Suddenly your protagonist isn't completely outshining everyone else gameplay-wise, your companions can be more directly controlled instead of AI making them more useful and power builds can see more interesting applications in a tactics games. I also wonder if ME should have had a set character as its protagonist since the start. Shepard's dialogue and role in the story got gradually worse every game. They're not allowed to do things between games, they gradually became more of a grunt with a gun, and there's a noticeable lack of player urgency. Many of the railroading in ME2 and 3 felt like the the story was brute forcing things with elements like cut scene stupidity and emotional manipulation. I honestly would have preferred a set character who makes informed decisions rather than a brick who can't have complex opinions, has nightmares about some kid, or loses to make Kai Leng look cool. But the biggest problem I have is whether Bioware is capable of delivering anymore. ME3 and Andromeda were both nonsensical story-wise. Judging by the trailers for ME4, I think they may be going with another soft reboot approach, but that raises the possibility that they may be force retconning things to "fix" the damage the latter instalments did. Is Bioware able to live up to our expectations anymore? Can they really come up with something new that makes sense? Or will they do the same thing where they manipulate the player base's nostalgia, ignorance, and emotions? I'm really not sure anymore. It's really a shame that a game series with a really fun universe was squandered like this.
I played Mass Effect trilogy after Mass Effect 3 came out. Was great. Loved the whole thing and played all three games about a dozen times. Then I went back to see what else Bioware made and I was suddenly very sorry that I wasted time on Mass Effect and I was incredibly disappointed that Bioware took the inferior route in game design evolution. Bioware should have been the ones making Baldur's Gate 3. NOT Larian.
Destroy ending canon -- semi clean slate; Make Leviathans the big bad this time by them pulling the strings in background by means of mind controlling key political figures since they still want domination of the ''lesser species''. Make them sabotage the rebuilding of the galaxy except for the part of the galaxy that's "ruled" by their thralls, maybe have some weird religion cult of worshiping the leviathans as great providers/carers, could be interesting me thinks. (Don't forget leviathans could rebuild mass effect relays as-well since no-one except Protheans could beforehand) However since they look too much like reapers appearance wise i dunno, don't wanna have ''reapers'' but non genocidal and sneaky, but leviathan opportunity is too good to pass on IMHO.
Games with incredible side stories (KOTOR, Mass Effect 2, Witcher 3) tend to be my favorite. I almost expect the main story to be this generic skeleton that everything else is grafted on.
Not sure what you're talking about the gas grenades being harder for neutralizing the colonists. They let you knock out whole groups easily with one throw. It's is as simple as point cursor and press button.
While the grenades were very effective at knocking out the colonists, the challenge in using them came from placing them properly for maximum effect - you don't know until you reach Zhu's Hope that you're going to get a giant cache of replacement grenades, so you're forced to use them carefully. The strength of the choice was definitely undercut by a full resupply right as you hit the brunt of the resistance.
@@GunmetalStug Well I never had a problem with it. It was always faster for me to use the grenades to get through. The whole choice is poorly implemented though as Shepard never really gives a compelling reason for why he wouldn't use the grenades. That choice needed to be fleshed out better. Like, at least bring up in dialog the possibility that the grenades will wear off and the colonists may ambush you from behind. Or even let this happen. Something like that.
Now, I disagree on a lot of takes in this video (namely the first 20 minutes). But that's fine. Everyone is subject to their own opinions. What I absolutely despise, is that the vast majority of your opinions were either not elaborated on, or not explained in any meaningful way. I understand that you took a lot from a book and that you're saying that we should read that book to understand what you're saying, but I see literally no reason why you can't elaborate on what you say even a little bit. Just a tiny bit, a slight tinge, of explanation for why you feel the way you feel? Maybe? Here, let me elaborate because you did so little of that. You said Shepherd is space Jesus? Why? Like how? Is it because Cerburus revived them? Well, Cerburus revived them because they thought that the one person who had any chance of uniting the Galaxy was Shepherd. They are literally the only reason why the entire Citadel wasn't destroyed. On top of that, they ran around the Galaxy fixing everyone's problems while taking down a massive Geth force and killing a Rouge specter all in less than a month. No doupt they are known all across the Galaxy for being a savior. No doupt they got universal praise on the internet and respect from just about everyone. Also, what was so world breaking about Shepherd dying at the beginning of ME2? I just genuinely don't understand any of your takes because you don't elaborate on them at all. Maybe you assumed that you spoke about it at some point, but what it gives off is this narcissistic air of assuming that everything you say is just obviously true and completely speaks for itself because, obviously, how could anyone ever believe otherwise? I know that isn't true, but this is the energy the whole video gives off when you just make a massive claim dissing one of the most popular RPGs of all time and then don't explain yourself at all. I mean, I am kinda shocked by how little was said in the first 20 minutes of this video. You introduced a topic, made some points, refused to elaborate, and moved on for 20 minutes straight. This writing style is just consistently aggravating. I found myself being more engaged by shooting down all the random nonsensical comments you put throughout the video that almost made me feel like you never played these games before. These criticisms feel AI generated. Is that too far? Well, that's what it feels like. You make random claims with no depth to them whatsoever, act like you made a big point, and then moved on. Just focus on what your saying and stop jumping around so much. If you spoke about ONE TOPIC in that timeframe, you would have gotten so much more done. Actually focus on making a few solid points, instead of a dozen half baked ones. I got a bit angry here and there, but I couldn't help myself. It was very annoying sitting through this video with very little to actually think about. I meant to put in a lot of actually valid criticisms so you can improve on your style. I like disagreeing with people and either discussing it fairly, or just having time to mull on why they thought that way and wether I should change my own perspective, but this video.... this video just made me mad. I have never felt so baited so repeatedly. Like nothing was explained at all. I took nothing away from the first half of this video, and now I feel like all that time and emotions were wasted. I hope you understand why I feel this way, and you can try to adapt to improve your style. If you see this comment at all. To summarize all my thoughts into one bit at the end here: The video just felt so disjointed and sloppy. Like so little was said with so many words. The first 20 minutes could have been cut down to at like 8 without anything substantial lost.
Me1 gameplay sux, and thats 65% of why i play games. Story stuff is important, but if the gameplay is blah im not sticking around. (Me3 multiplayer ftw)
I think Synthesis would have been a much better ending if the "synthetics vs. organics" conflict was better established as the core conflict underpinning the entire series. As it is, it was only the Quarians vs. Geth subplot that really explored it. The 'explanation' behind the Reapers came out of left field and it felt like ass-covering more than an actual ending. That all being said, Synthesis is still a fine ending if it was intended to close out the series and franchise forever. But I don't think that's going to be the case.
Update 06/16/2022: Shamus Young passed away today. I based much of this video on his work, which is some of the most insightful and entertaining gaming criticism ever written. He will be missed.
Rip. Shamus Young got me to look at Mass Effect critically.
RIP
We’re eagerly waiting for GUP Abridged Ep 8.
yes
Hey, let the guy do other stuff too. Art takes time.
GuP and ME, never thought I'd see a channel cover both but am immensely happy that you have
This is validation for me that both are in good taste.
I felt like I was going nuts whenever I'd talk about how I felt like Mass Effect 2 and its tone shift and mass-retconning was the beginning of the end for the series while everyone else sang its praises. Thank God I'm not alone.
I'll have to pick up Mess Effect.
Maybe im just weird, but im the exact opposite when it comes to ME1 vs ME2. Yeah the setup for the reapers and world building was awesome in ME1, but everything else about the game aged like cheese left in the sun for 4 weeks in Australia.
Nearly all the side missions are identical, because it always goes as follows: Go to god forsaken planet with only like 20 people on it, look for building that looks so painfully similar to each other you would think they just copy + pasted one building for every single planet in the game. The only building that looks even remotely unique is the last one in BDTS DLC. Kill nameless bad guys, turn in the quest and Shepard be like: Im glad i could help. There. I just described 95% of all the side missions in ME1. And that's just one of the many things that show its age.
Omega alone has more life and agency in ME2 than the entirety of ME1. And i know that ME1 was the first of its kind, but that doesn't make it immune from criticism.
its gunfeel and shootfeel was worse than the first's as well
@@guineapig55555I get the other criticisms, but that's just delusional. The guns felt awful in the first game. They were so underpowered and pathetic and the beginning of the game, and so ridiculously overpowered by the end. I mean, you have to shoot for 90 seconds straight with the best assault rifle in the game to overheat. Why did people think the overheating was a good system again? I'll never know.
Great video and really like the suggestions about adding investigation locked dialogue. I'd also love to see more group conversations in Mass Effect - remember that circle of chairs room on the Normandy in ME1 where you only got to have like 2 roundtable crew conversations post-missions? I always loved the "Star Trek debate" dynamic of those scenes and it that idea never really got utilized.
Those scenes were great, but they VERY short (and usually just your crew reacting to a conversation you were having with Liara). More inter-crew dialogs would always be welcome! They were actually done pretty well in the Citadel DLC, although slightly limited due to all the permutations the party could have.
I always found killing Shep and the Normandy in the opening scene an... interesting... choice. What purpose did it serve? There was no other way to build up Shepherd working with Cerb? Ouldnt have Shep slowly and apprehensive work beside them to reach a common goal? It's not like Shepherd trusts Cerb more at the end of the game or something thus didn't add anything to fighting against them in 3. Also, ME 2 is just one giant fetch quest as you go planet to planet fetching allies
Not gonna lie, my first time playing Mass Effect and then reaching Sovereign's hologram info-dumping me and then the transmission cutting off and having Joker say that a ship bigger than any dreadnought the other races made just pulled a maneuver that would have ripped a smaller ship in half and was zooming towards the planet was a big 'oh shit' moment where I felt some genuine dread.
I was actually spoiled for the reveal by reading a Mass Effect 2 review before playing the first one. The fact that the reveal *STILL LANDED* speaks magnitudes on how well it was done.
Wasn’t expecting a video essay, nice.
Gunmetal Stug your GuP vids got me through some really hard times, I stumbled accross your vids by pure chance while just watching tank vids, It was the first time anything made me genuinely laugh out loud in what felt like years. . . You got me into watching the original GuP and I became a big Kenny and the Swordfish fan. . . Under 18 is still my pick me up music if I'm feeling a bit low. . . Actually the whole first album is really great and energetic. . .
anyway I just wanted you to know that all the staggering amount of time and effort you put into your vids is really appreciated, its nice seeing other subjects for videos even if its not something I'm into I still found myself watching this just due to the usual great quality and your editing keeping it interesting. .
Obviously I would love move GuP content, Yukaris tank chat was awesome but I think it's important you do what you want to exress your creativity and don't feel pressured by your fans to just make GuP videos,
They are my favourite vids on UA-cam though, not even sure how many times I have watched them now.
Best of luck with what ever direction you choose to take your channel though. . Thanks for all the laughs you have given me.
Hey Johnny! I'm really happy to hear that you appreciate our series so much. Sometimes I get down on myself and my earlier writing, but anything that brought you that kind of joy makes it feel worthwhile. I also greatly appreciate your patience with me and my... 'eclectic' attention span when it comes to producing content, and the direction that attention span takes. As I mentioned during the Episode 7 release, I'm really trying to dedicate my time to producing ALL kinds of content, and this Mass Effect video cemented that. Of course, I've hit a few hiccups in my attempt to do that. What makes it worse, is that, as you so kindly noted, I put a lot of time into concepting writing, editing, and producing my stuff, which results in longer, VERY high-effort and time consuming videos... the exact OPPOSITE of the kind of content UA-cam likes to push and promote. While I don't care overmuch about view count, it makes it tough to judge whether or not something I'm producing is any good or worthwhile to consume.
That you enjoyed this video so much definitely helps me feel more secure in that regard. As for the overall direction of my channel, I've decided that since I had such a good time producing this video essay, it's going to become the secondary focus of the channel. HOWEVER, I do really want to make more GuP Abridged stuff, but despite being MUCH shorter, it ironically consumes FAR more development time and effort to produce (due to the huge number of people involved in voice acting and QA). This means that the video essays are nice solo projects that I can produce in-between episodes.
I realize that my primary audience is here for the tanks, but I'm hoping to expand said audience by talking about all kinds of stuff. Unfortunately, GuP is no shounen anime with hundreds of episodes to crunch down - it's a very limited pool of content, and even at my glacial production pace, I WILL run out of stuff to abridge at some point. Once I reach that point, however, I hope to have built a content base that's much more robust and a little less shitpost-y, for lack of a better word.
Not to fear, however, Episode 8 is going to be the next video I release, although I'm cooking up another video essay in the meantime while I organize things for GuP:A.
Thanks again for your extremely kind words! It's because of fans like you that I've had such a good time over the years making stuff. :)
Just finished watching! Great work on the video essay StuG I genuinely hope to see more like it in the future!
I'm really happy to see you liked it! I'm definitely planning on doing more, but I think I've had my fill of Mass Effect for the near future!
FOr the Squadmate Abilities (50:00) you could use something like the system from Battlefleet Gothic (dont know if other games use it too): by default, all abilities are only used when the ship gets the order to do so. but you can also individually set them to "use when appropriate". For Mass Effect, that could mean you can allow your Squadmates to use everything (Andromeda), nothing (Trilogy) or only certain things (ie grenades are ok, but only fire the concussive shot when I tell you).
I would love to see something like this! Generally, more options to control your squad is better, even when it comes to just setting the level of control you have.
You obviously put a lot of thought and editing into this and it is appreciated. I hope that you will countinue doing these kind of videos because i enjoy long form content of this nature. I hope this video finds success because it definitely deserves it. Hope you make more and improve upon a solid foundation that you have setup for yourself
I definitely plan to do more, and it really means a lot that you enjoyed it so much! It's definitely not making as big of a splash as I'd hoped, but that's only something that can happen with time and consistency.
My idea: Integrate your ship more with the gameplay
One of the things I liked about ME3 was the little scanning bits on the galaxy map where you press a button to find stuff and run away from the Reapers. It was barebones, sure, and I figured out how to exploit the heck out of it after a while. But I like the idea. Make the ship more than just a hub world to hang out in between missions.
Sure, it's a great hub world. But integrating it with the gameplay would make it just a bit better.
Imagine commanding, or even directly controlling the SSV Omaha Beach or whatever in large epic space battles, or flying it around uncharted systems like in No Man's Sky.
Maybe I just like No Man's Sky.
Whatever.
Imagine actually dropping the Mako manually instead of in a cutscene. Imagine actually fighting in those big epic space battles instead of having them be cutscenes. Heck, why not do away with the ship cutscenes and replace them with mini gameplay sections! Replace the Galaxy Map with a helm where you fly the damn thing yourself! Fight pirate ships, land on the Citadel, probe Uranus, whatever. Joker's probably gone off to do something else since ME3, I'm sure he won't mind.
Edit: I see how easily this could create boring, repetitive gameplay sections of holding the forward button for 15 minutes straight. I hope it doesn't.
This would be cash money. Especially since it'd be a great way to dab on Bethesda after they confirmed that you can't manually land on planets in Starfield! There's also plenty of ways you could fudge how "controlling" your ship would work, i.e., just sitting down in a Captain's Chair or such that would transfer you to the pilot's seat (or a third person camera).
@@GunmetalStug Just had another thought! The Mass Relays previously served as a kind of fast travel point for you to zip around the galaxy without actually flying the ship. With the disabling or destruction of most of the Relays in the Destroy ending, there's actually an in-universe reason you'd have you fly around instead of just clicking on the space fast travel point.
Perhaps the reason the player's ship is so important is because they've developed a new form of FTL that allows you to circumvent the Mass Relay network, which would then allow you to go out into the galaxy and reconnect everything.
Oh, and by the way, I'm not buying Starfield. I already have No Man's Sky, no need to go pay Bethesda an extra $40 for the same thing but worse.
OOH, NEW IDEA! Remember how in the main trilogy, the Normandy's big important feature was its stealth drive? Remember how in the video you talked about adding stealth mechanics? What if the SHIP had stealth mechanics too!
I like that idea. Adding more freedom of choice to the gameplay, like you said. Enemy blockade? Smash through them with a missile barrage and a few shots from your main battery. Or maybe find a weak spot and engage the stealth drive to slip right through undetected. Maybe do a mix of both, hitting the enemy in once place only to vanish in a cloud of decoys and reappear somewhere else. It doesn't have to be Cold Waters, but at least put a cloaking button somewhere.
I feel like the control angle *could* be an interesting starting point, a once benevolent god Shepard begins to succumb to the same line of thinking as the original reapers their consciousness grows further apart from their long lost humanity, but then it's just reaper war again from a different angle so it's far from perfect. Anyway, good vid good job!
Oh boy. Another of my favorite people making video essays for me to give all my time and attention to.
I'm a sucker for the synthesis ending, because it is frees life from evolution such as we know it and presents a whole new slew of questions.
Synthesis could have been more interesting if it was something the whole trilogy was driving towards, or was handled a bit more intelligently in ME3. It's an entirely different direction for an entire galaxy, but as I said in the video, it's not a very good foundation to tell new Mass Effect stories.
Thank you! Finally someone else who noticed how nonsensical and irrelevant Mass Effect 2 really was. People praise it as if it was a natural evolution but the entity of the game was literally doing the exact opposite. The good parts of Mass Effect 2 have nothing to do with the actual plot and that is a problem. Another problem is save for the human crew no one has any stake in the conflict so why join? It doesn't help that we only meet one colonist and he's just an ass. Cerberus usurping the focus from the Reapers snd the other races was a momentarily stupid idea. As was unnecessarily and inexplicably changing Liara's character. Mass Effect 1 has the best combat. All the later games did was shift it from role-playing esuque to action focus. Even the music and art direction changed for the worse. The legendary edition retroactively changing character models to Mass Effect 3 was a mistake. That game had the worse facial structure and character designs of the trilogy anyway. I also hated 3's overall art design as a whole. Mass Effect just got worse and worse with each game.
When I was doing footage capture for this video, I was ASTOUNDED at how much worse Mass Effect 3 looked and felt after playing through the first two. I remembered it much differently than how it actually was. With the Legendary Edition, I think I actually agree that Mass Effect 1 has the more interesting combat model, even if it's jank and finnicky. ME2+3/A was very safe and action-focused.
You're also right about the music and art direction. The vibes in ME1 simply hit different. Very unique and enthralling, even so years later.
I knew this was gonna be good once I heard you mention Shamus Young. For those who haven't heard of Shamus, go check out all his stuff. He's great.
6:15 the fact that Spike is the bigger pic makes me happy ^^ I aprove this video.
Whose idea was it to give the Mako a thruster that only lets you go up like 3 feet and actually pushes you sideways when you use it on a slope?
They should have made it the way it controlled in Andromeda.
I'd be happy to see more things like this, I watch everything/most stuff on 2x speed nowadays so even an hour long like this isn't daunting.
Unfortunately even with all of this I can't see a future for ME, like you said the end of 3 was just the straw that broke the camels back, it'd already been carrying a few tons of shit up till that point.
Bad narrative choices and bad gameplay choices stacking up just to end with 3.
And I mean they could have done better, a lot lot better, like the decision to kill shep at the start of 2 was garbage and removes any tension because technically they can just revive him/her at another time; but what they could have done is have it matter in the narrative instead of being mentioned twice and having ooh cool red face scars or not, something like the clone inhibitor chips in the clone wars animations, a good human fights for cerberus(which are also a shit faction like you said but oh well) and you never get the choice to go against them until you either learn about it from some digging or you get miranda to like you and she spills it or something.
Paragon and renegade were also really dumb besides punch reporter and push merc out of window.
Hand ME over to obsidian for the kotor 2 better sequel treatment, retcon 3, don't make promises you can't keep.
You're right on the money. I disagree in that I DO see a future for Mass Effect (it is the premise of the video, after all), but I would like to see another studio take a crack at the property. However, given how tightly EA holds onto its IPs, it's unlikely that'll happen. What inspired me to make the video was frustration not only with that, but the missed potential, like you said. Hope you enjoyed the video!
@@GunmetalStug Sadly it's been a consistent downturn for most franchises if you ask me, most potential for stories and arguably gameplay innovation has been in indie titles or mods for existing games.
And most companies now are just going for remasters of their already released games, some are deserved and some are not.
Dead Space's story is fine and it looks great even now, I've got in installed right now so it's not nostalgia talking.
Whereas RE2 and 3 to remake has been great.
If they go back to the root of ME then they can make another game, I think, but beyond that I don't know.
You might remember how everyone was excited for Destiny and Anthem because everyone thought you'd be able to explore in both instead of what we got which is the development equivalent of full(ish) planets vs probes in 1&2.
Hey everybody! This guy is SO busy he needs to watch everything at TWICE the speed.
I get valuing your own time, sure, but unless you're Jeff bezos there's no reason for this.
@@foxysobek8109 I have lots to watch and not much time to watch it, for me it's a lot better use of time.
I think all your combat suggestion can be achieved by decreasing the number of enemies, but making them stronger. Make Protag weaker, so you had to rely on your teammates to win the situation. Also, turn down the tempo of combat. Tarkov shows that slower action games are still fun, so make slower, heftier combat, thus showing that our current protag is no Shepard.
I really had avoided Andromeda spoilers before now because I completely ignored it - like every halo after Reach, and every fallout after NV.
You're missing literally less than nothing, I promise.
@@GunmetalStug These games, and others like TES post Morrowind remind me of the terminator franchise - but for some reason the general public likes most of these unfortunate sequels.
He's back let's go
I think going into this video having the only knowledge of mass effect being the rayceviks video is gonna work
A surprise to be sure but a welcome one.
What I want in a sequel is an intelligently written story. What that story should be about is pretty variable. I also have my own fan fiction-y ideas for what I'd do. There are a lot of possibilities. I suppose the specific thing I want is a story that is NOT about a galaxy destroying threat. I want stories about ideas, perspectives, and needs. I often like to imagine this series with the Reapers never existing and how I'd have made games and what they'd have been about. I think it could have been done easily because the various factions and species and their problems are more than enough to fill the content of a single game dedicated to them. Let's take the Quarian/Geth conflict as an example.
Imagine a whole game dedicated to it. What's it about? What happens? What's the scope?
So the quarians are arming up to attack the geth. The rest of the galaxy takes notice, including the Council. Shepard is told that they need to become involved due to concerns about the genocide of the geth and fears that if the quarians fail the geth will retaliate against the rest of the galaxy. So they need to try and stop the war, perhaps. Only it gets complicated because the Council is divided. Some want the geth destroyed because they see opportunities for growth in helping rebuild quarian society and expand settled space. However others want the war prevented because a resurgent quarian civilization will disrupt the current status quo. Not everybody gains something from this conflict being resolved and might even lose. Some want the quarians to win because it means the end of the Migrant Fleet as it is a troublesome burden for them from time to time. Others fear the quarians won't destroy the geth and will instead subdue them. Tame them. In a stroke the quarians could become one of the most powerful races in the galaxy, which necessarily means other powerful actors lose influence with the rise of a new competitor and other smaller actors might be squished out completely.
So what does Shepard do? Can the quarians be talked down? How? What do they need to avoid this war? What might they offer Shepard to help them destroy their enemy and reclaim their homeworld? What might others offer Shepard to undermine their war effort?
The point is, it's a complicated issue that is much more than just the quarians getting a home world back. It has huge implications for their neighbors too. There are ethical and practical considerations every which way with lots of competing interests.
You can imagine, the same is true of the genophage and the krogan. Or what about a story that centers around the STG and their tendency to assassinate anyone they view as a potential threat to their species? Where might this cross the line? How about a conflict between a human group or another species and the STG where they kill somebody that is doing something good and ethical but also counter to the Salarian Union's interests? The Special Tasks Group is easy to write as heroes but villains as well.
Maybe stories about the turians acquiring new client races and current client races struggling against turian oppression for their liberation?
What if the Batarian Revolution was about batarian abolitionists forcing the Council, via terrorism, to go to war with the Hegemony to destroy it forever and free their people and slaves? Do you side with mass murdering anti-slavery abolitionist terrorists or do you side with cruel but stable and not mass-murdering (planet destroying) slavers? The choice isn't straight forward or easy.
Touching on the C-word for a moment here, why not explore some of the base themes behind that concept? Some of the issues and questions presented, in an honest and in depth way? Where does humanity draw the line in reasoning with aliens? Where should it stand firm? Where should it be aggressive, even ruthless? Can a balance be struck between getting humanity what it needs to thrive while also not preventing other species from thriving? Or is it wrong or not for humanity to doggedly pursue human interest and how does this compare to other species?
Or, what if C's original origin as Alliance black ops was kept but we learned that they never went rogue? That was all just a deception. It gave the Alliance plausible deniability. It was done because history is repeating itself with C as the new League of One. The Council wants humanity to rely on their Spectres, not on their own human-only initiative. Politically, it could all get very murky in that case. It could be a story all about humanity's integration into the Council and explore the delicate balancing act between cooperation and exploitation. The Council has a point. The Alliance has a point. Shepard is caught in the middle.
>I often like to imagine this series with the Reapers never existing and how I'd have made games and what they'd have been about
Alternatively, the Reapers not being able to return for hundreds of years once you defeat Sovereign and prevent them from arriving through the Citadel relay, making them a much more distant problem.
Re Star Trek Picard: mass effect was not the first by far to have 'advanced AIs killed old race' and won't be the last by far; for example, Alistair Reynolds Revelation Space series features advanced AIs who limit space faring species and wipe them out if they think it necessary.
I realize that the "genocidal ancient AI" plot wasn't even that original when Mass Effect did it. However, my trust in Alex Kurtzman and his Picard writing team is so abysmally low, it doesn't stretch the imagination to see how they took one of the most recent yet worst implementations of this plot (Mass Effect 3) and copy+pasted it uncritically, without considering earlier, better works in the same vein, or even attempting to add something to the idea.
Great video, and an issue that may have been remedied in future works but the audio is very quiet. It’s hard to hear at max volume with earbuds with any competing surrounding noise.
Mass effect 3 destroy ending is canon. We're going to get mass effect 4 with Shepard
Got the legendary edition from Twitch. I'm one of the people that never got spoiled so I guess since I want to watch the video I should go play it, huh?
Enjoy!!
God damn I love mass effect. BTW I like the long form critique style video for mass effects story in the past and going forwards. Love all of your vids and really looking forward to GuP abridged 8.
I was pretty heavily inspired by a lot of long-form content creators... it's a medium I really enjoy and it was really fun making my own take on it. I think it's something I'm going to keep doing, but the next video should be Episode 8 :)
@@GunmetalStug i hope you do make more long forms.. this was nice
@@cruxlamar9681 I certainly will!
I still don't understand Andromeda. They didn't need to leave the entire galaxy to make a new game.
I think a great game would be you're a mercenary captain in the Terminus systems, having Firefly/RDR2 style adventures in crime. That sounds more fun than running around a new galaxy like a gormless idiot.
Absolutely! There's a whole wealth of potential stories you could do with Mass Effect. I wasn't even opposed to the idea of Andromeda, but their execution of it was sub-par to say the least. There's so much you could do with exploring a whole new galaxy, but instead the planets are just stuffed full of annoying, Ubisoft-tier 'content' sinks.
Yes, for the love of fuck... just... chose a canon ending, be adults and chose a canon ending.
What are Yukari's thoughts on the Mako?
I wonder what a mixture of mumbling, shouting and sobbing would sound like
*incoherent screaming*
i know absolutely nothing about mass effect lets watch this
41:20 Spec Ops: The Line used gameplay for decision making expertly.
That it did! Spec Ops: The Line did a lot of cool things, but it wasn't a big enough commercial success to really have much influence, which is a damn shame.
@@GunmetalStug Yeah. Real gem of a game that one. Brilliant that they knew they didn't have the budget for a AAA shooter experience and played right into those expectations from the beginning so they could subvert them.
A must-play for any would-be game dev out there, in my humble opinion.
12:00 Honestly you really feel Drew Karpyshyn's exit from the series IMO. The writing just... tanked immediately. His intended ending sounded like it would have been quite interesting to experience, if not incredible.
15:55 Mass Effect 1 is one of my favourite games of all time and I've played it like 15 times. The sequels are just kinda there lmao
even tho GuP Abridged ep8 will take a long time i can stil re-watch and still never get old lol
Best next best Mass Effect game is just the Citadel dlc as a full game writh more Dialog and stuff. Just give me a quarian wirth hips wider then a reaper and i am satisfied!
Shamus Young sent me, and I’m glad I watched this. It actually warmed me to both the idea of a Milky Way-based sequel, and something set after the ‘destroy’ ending. Not gonna lie, I’d prefer a retcon of ME2 and 3, but I’d be onboard with your idea for a sequel.
I'm with you in that ME2 and ME3 should be totally retconned (I mentioned the possibility of it briefly), but I really doubt that'll ever happen. In any case, I'm glad Shamus Young sent you here and that you enjoyed the video so much! :)
i don,t think a retcon of ME 2 and 3 is going to have the effect you hope it would. as many of the elements that in this video are given as negatives of the later 2 games are also quite important to the story
@@kaasmaster8892 such as? Sincere question btw, because I want to know what elements of Mass Effect 2 and 3 are critical to the story of Mass Effect
Speaking of endings. Destroy barley out did synthesis according to comments back then. So almost neck and neck. Veyr few did control and almost no one did refusal. Me? I chose sythesis. Just liked the idea of everything combined. Maybe just me living out a cyberpunk fantasy in a scifi game where I can be part cybernetic and part human. Though my next choice would be Control. Who knows when being able to control these forces could come in handy against the next big threat. Granted they would have to come up with a bigger threat somehow.
I do realize destroy would solve everything and let things continue to evolve naturally in the universe.
Also, whatever ending they chose to be canon, I'm honestly fine with. I usually accept whatever canon choices a a dev tells me.
Awesome!
Trilogy was great. Honestly, I don't particularly hate the ending, given the scale of what we were fighting.
4:16 No i wont because its gameplay is at best not my cup of tea, at worst, bad. Take your pick.
I dont care for easy modes because my goal is not to bypass the gameplay i dont like, its to not have to waste my time on something i dont enjoy, even if i may like the story.
Good gameplay can make me play something with a bad or nonexistant story.
Good story cannot make me play bad gameplay, or gameplay i dont like.
Sorry.
Also, im kinda here for you to gush about the story and why its so good so take it away
44:45 "I realize that the choice between stealth and going loud is the dark souls of making you feel like spider man"
I just have one question, what on earth does that mean?
It's a really pretentious joke about lazy games journalism, because articles saying something is "the Dark Souls of X" or that the Playstation Spiderman games "make you *feel* like Spiderman" are a dime a dozen... just like games that offer you the choice between big action and stealth lol
@@GunmetalStug Gotcha. I was really liking the video and then I heard you say that and i had to pause and seriously contemplate what any of that meant. Phenomenal video otherwise.
They should make a game from garrus's perspective like when he was in c sec and archangel
EA used to do some amazing things. Especially with Maxis like SimCity (4 was the best, it was complex but damn it was good). Same goes with Mass Effect and Battlefield, but the last decade they have really been on a decline. Even so, they still make a ton of money and unless that changes they won't.
*s t a k e s*
Ah, Mass Effect... its persisting hype living on thanks to people having apparently not noticed that it takes all its major story elements from superior science fiction (play Freespace 2, and read A Fire Upon The Deep), and having apparently also not noticed that its entire plot structure is the same as KOTOR is the same as Neverwinter Nights (player investigates initial threat; initial threat leads players in pursuit of pieces of an artefact that will ultimately lead to a secret location/revelation; major betrayal in the third act followed by a massive battle involving an ancient force awoken). Also helped by the number of Mass Effect fans who never played Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, and never actually saw BioWare's writing at its peak.
I think mass effect ends at 3 we don’t end to dig up it’s corpse like andromeda did
Playing through ME again rn,
My question is how can you do details first storytelling in a universe that has already had all of the details detailed to the player. I did always find it weird that i seemed to be the only one who like me1 more than the others and am by no means disagreeing
Gotta admit. Watch this video and was confused. I loved all three games. I don't think I've seen anyone complain about anything in them aside from the ending of ME3. I personally loved the Inlusive Man an Ceberus, they felt mysterious. I mean were they as scary as the Reapers? Not really, but the mystery element hooked me. I also loved the twist that you die in ME2 and are brought back. Again, to each their own.
Though admittedly yeah, Andromeda was garbage. When I hear they werne't doing a second one, I stopped playing it and have no idea how the story ended. I am mixed on if the new game will be any good.
I will also say now that I have watched a few of your videos, and this is not a bash of you of course, you deifinitly have a very specific gaming needs in a game. Sometimes the needs are a bit overly complicated for a game to do. At least with certain genres. At least you admit you have no idea how games are really made or I'd throw out "Try making a better one then".
But after a few videos I think you should honestly contact some companies like Bethesda. No I'm serious. You do have some great ideas. I mean sure the companies may not care or don't want to spend money to implement them, but at least you tried. Especially with Beth games, I do enjoy the simple, no brain approach to them. But I being older now I definitely wish they would go deeper.
47:10 Suddenly Redline
Watching this video, i can't help but wonder about a few things.
I wonder if ME would benefit from switching to a different game genre. I'm thinking maybe a tactics game a la XCOM. Suddenly your protagonist isn't completely outshining everyone else gameplay-wise, your companions can be more directly controlled instead of AI making them more useful and power builds can see more interesting applications in a tactics games.
I also wonder if ME should have had a set character as its protagonist since the start. Shepard's dialogue and role in the story got gradually worse every game. They're not allowed to do things between games, they gradually became more of a grunt with a gun, and there's a noticeable lack of player urgency. Many of the railroading in ME2 and 3 felt like the the story was brute forcing things with elements like cut scene stupidity and emotional manipulation. I honestly would have preferred a set character who makes informed decisions rather than a brick who can't have complex opinions, has nightmares about some kid, or loses to make Kai Leng look cool.
But the biggest problem I have is whether Bioware is capable of delivering anymore. ME3 and Andromeda were both nonsensical story-wise. Judging by the trailers for ME4, I think they may be going with another soft reboot approach, but that raises the possibility that they may be force retconning things to "fix" the damage the latter instalments did. Is Bioware able to live up to our expectations anymore? Can they really come up with something new that makes sense? Or will they do the same thing where they manipulate the player base's nostalgia, ignorance, and emotions?
I'm really not sure anymore. It's really a shame that a game series with a really fun universe was squandered like this.
take your time good video though
I played Mass Effect trilogy after Mass Effect 3 came out. Was great. Loved the whole thing and played all three games about a dozen times. Then I went back to see what else Bioware made and I was suddenly very sorry that I wasted time on Mass Effect and I was incredibly disappointed that Bioware took the inferior route in game design evolution. Bioware should have been the ones making Baldur's Gate 3. NOT Larian.
hey stug , when you make gup abrigaded againt ?
Destroy ending canon -- semi clean slate;
Make Leviathans the big bad this time by them pulling the strings in background by means of mind controlling key political figures since they still want domination of the ''lesser species''.
Make them sabotage the rebuilding of the galaxy except for the part of the galaxy that's "ruled" by their thralls, maybe have some weird religion cult of worshiping the leviathans as great providers/carers, could be interesting me thinks. (Don't forget leviathans could rebuild mass effect relays as-well since no-one except Protheans could beforehand)
However since they look too much like reapers appearance wise i dunno, don't wanna have ''reapers'' but non genocidal and sneaky, but leviathan opportunity is too good to pass on IMHO.
Well color you surprised i never playes mass effect and don't know anything about it.
bit the geth are the best
Games with incredible side stories (KOTOR, Mass Effect 2, Witcher 3) tend to be my favorite. I almost expect the main story to be this generic skeleton that everything else is grafted on.
GUP Abridged Ep 8 pls
no
Yo hello!
👀
Not sure what you're talking about the gas grenades being harder for neutralizing the colonists. They let you knock out whole groups easily with one throw. It's is as simple as point cursor and press button.
While the grenades were very effective at knocking out the colonists, the challenge in using them came from placing them properly for maximum effect - you don't know until you reach Zhu's Hope that you're going to get a giant cache of replacement grenades, so you're forced to use them carefully. The strength of the choice was definitely undercut by a full resupply right as you hit the brunt of the resistance.
@@GunmetalStug Well I never had a problem with it. It was always faster for me to use the grenades to get through. The whole choice is poorly implemented though as Shepard never really gives a compelling reason for why he wouldn't use the grenades. That choice needed to be fleshed out better. Like, at least bring up in dialog the possibility that the grenades will wear off and the colonists may ambush you from behind. Or even let this happen. Something like that.
Now, I disagree on a lot of takes in this video (namely the first 20 minutes). But that's fine. Everyone is subject to their own opinions.
What I absolutely despise, is that the vast majority of your opinions were either not elaborated on, or not explained in any meaningful way. I understand that you took a lot from a book and that you're saying that we should read that book to understand what you're saying, but I see literally no reason why you can't elaborate on what you say even a little bit. Just a tiny bit, a slight tinge, of explanation for why you feel the way you feel? Maybe?
Here, let me elaborate because you did so little of that. You said Shepherd is space Jesus? Why? Like how? Is it because Cerburus revived them? Well, Cerburus revived them because they thought that the one person who had any chance of uniting the Galaxy was Shepherd. They are literally the only reason why the entire Citadel wasn't destroyed. On top of that, they ran around the Galaxy fixing everyone's problems while taking down a massive Geth force and killing a Rouge specter all in less than a month. No doupt they are known all across the Galaxy for being a savior. No doupt they got universal praise on the internet and respect from just about everyone. Also, what was so world breaking about Shepherd dying at the beginning of ME2? I just genuinely don't understand any of your takes because you don't elaborate on them at all. Maybe you assumed that you spoke about it at some point, but what it gives off is this narcissistic air of assuming that everything you say is just obviously true and completely speaks for itself because, obviously, how could anyone ever believe otherwise? I know that isn't true, but this is the energy the whole video gives off when you just make a massive claim dissing one of the most popular RPGs of all time and then don't explain yourself at all. I mean, I am kinda shocked by how little was said in the first 20 minutes of this video. You introduced a topic, made some points, refused to elaborate, and moved on for 20 minutes straight.
This writing style is just consistently aggravating. I found myself being more engaged by shooting down all the random nonsensical comments you put throughout the video that almost made me feel like you never played these games before. These criticisms feel AI generated. Is that too far? Well, that's what it feels like. You make random claims with no depth to them whatsoever, act like you made a big point, and then moved on. Just focus on what your saying and stop jumping around so much. If you spoke about ONE TOPIC in that timeframe, you would have gotten so much more done. Actually focus on making a few solid points, instead of a dozen half baked ones.
I got a bit angry here and there, but I couldn't help myself. It was very annoying sitting through this video with very little to actually think about. I meant to put in a lot of actually valid criticisms so you can improve on your style. I like disagreeing with people and either discussing it fairly, or just having time to mull on why they thought that way and wether I should change my own perspective, but this video.... this video just made me mad. I have never felt so baited so repeatedly. Like nothing was explained at all. I took nothing away from the first half of this video, and now I feel like all that time and emotions were wasted. I hope you understand why I feel this way, and you can try to adapt to improve your style. If you see this comment at all.
To summarize all my thoughts into one bit at the end here:
The video just felt so disjointed and sloppy. Like so little was said with so many words. The first 20 minutes could have been cut down to at like 8 without anything substantial lost.
Me1 gameplay sux, and thats 65% of why i play games. Story stuff is important, but if the gameplay is blah im not sticking around. (Me3 multiplayer ftw)
Synthesis ending is the only good ending, fight me. - your neighborhood transhumanist
I think Synthesis would have been a much better ending if the "synthetics vs. organics" conflict was better established as the core conflict underpinning the entire series. As it is, it was only the Quarians vs. Geth subplot that really explored it. The 'explanation' behind the Reapers came out of left field and it felt like ass-covering more than an actual ending.
That all being said, Synthesis is still a fine ending if it was intended to close out the series and franchise forever. But I don't think that's going to be the case.
I hate femshep footage
So your g@y then ?