There's a trope for this called "Schrodinger's player character". Dragon Age used this too. Basically whatever character/background you choose, the other potential grey warden candidates all suffered a bad ending, like the human noble getting killed at the beginning when his family is attacked if you pick a dwarf or elf for instance. That's one thing I liked about Bioware's games, and how they try to tie these things together, albeit a bit badly at times.
Isn’t it the same thing for Skyrim? It doesn’t matter what factions you join because every story happens even without the dragonborn. Except the civil war we probably won’t know which side one until elder scrolls 6.
@Justin B but that's because of dragon breaks when all timelines merge. In ME and DA, the Alt PCs exist in all timeliness, but each timeline/playthrough persists independently.
What I really like about Ruthless background paired with paragon is that there are several lines that Shepard has that show their remorse and make it seem like they're trying to redeem themselves.
This. I played through the entire trilogy with this type of mindset. And in ME3 I made him slip back into his more “ruthless” self because we were at war with the Reapers and the stress was mounting up. (Basically I went mostly Paragon in the first 2 then slipped into more Renegade in 3)
Agreed. My Fem Shep Lilith. Is an Earthborn Ruthless Infiltrator. My backstory for her was that she was an assassin for a gang on earth. Until she was assigned to kill an Alliance Commander. She botched the attempt. But instead of being reported to the police. She had her skills put to use as the commander’s right hand woman, and assassin. She works her ways up the ranks. Until Torfan. Her commander dies there and she’s field promoted. Now working under Major Kyle directly. She unleashes her wrath on the batarians. The blood finally becomes enough for her to realize what she’s become and she pulls back from the edge. Largely taking a Paragon Route from that point on. Though my Shepard doesn’t take any shit, and will go back to being “The Butcher of Torfan.” As soon as she’s lied to or insulted. She’ll Save the Destiny Ascension, The Rachni Queen, stop an assassin, keep her friend’s secret, save important data, and put Civilians over her own needs time and time again. But she’ll also headbutt krogans, incite others to kill bartenders, and toss mercenaries out windows. It’s made my first play through of mass effect really fun.
My default Shep build is a colonist war hero and I feel like, as a backstory, there's a nice kinda narrative to a kid who barely survived their home getting scorched by slavers and then later seeing it about to happen again somewhere else but maybe even worse and saying "not on my watch, you bastards."
Yeh I think my main shepard is also colonist + warhero they don't really matter but certain ones give better missions. Also Jacob just killed the human reaper in my newest ME2 playthrough... made me hold him in somewhat high esteem...
And it's the best options for Paragon, Shep who just wants to help all he can after witnessing his friends and family getting killed as a kid. A very much "Leave no man behind background"
So it seems that the psychological profiles only play their role in ME1, but basically none in ME2 and ME3. Hope to see more involvement of character backgrounds in the upcoming sequel.
I honestly got kinda mad when I wasn't able to confront the Illusive Man about how he was responsible for killing all but one man in my team on Akuze. That moment is literally supposed to be a defining moment for Shepard but I guess he forgot about the many Cerberus side missions in ME1.
There is a dialogue in ME2 with i think Miranda, where Shepard mentions he has seen the labs with torian creepers and rachni Cerberus was experimenting on (probably only happens if you did those side quests in 1) and Miranda explains those were actions by renegade scientists, not on order of the illusive man - which most likely is just what he told her, and not the truth. So there is that ...
@@nerd-mask723 Well we do have confirmed rogue scientists because end screens for missions are drawn up as the Illusive Man's reports or Cerberus reports. Plus Miranda would just explain how it's justified, it's more in her character.
@@nerd-mask723 In regards to the explanation for those quests, I believe Miranda mentioned that Cerberus was looking into using Creepers and Rachni as expendable shock troops.
I like how every profile or background make you much more well-written as a protagonist. For example, there's a chunk of dialogue in ME2 that colors Jack as a psycho and a lost cause by the crew. However, if your background is an Earthborn delinquent it makes Shepard much more relatable to Jack - he once was in a bad spot in his life and recognizes Jack is somewhat similar to him, which makes Shep/Jack romance even more beautiful. Also, I've been replaying the trilogy and i'm currently in ME2, and on Omega, I've heard a news report about the Shepard foundation - an initiative that helps delinquents in human gangs enlist in the Alliance army or recieve proper education. Those little things really add to the worldbuilding and Shepard as a person.
Definitely true. I do wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
Is that even a question ? My background as a colonist & sole survivor literally defined my relationships with Ashley, Miranda & Liara + made several events carry a lot more emotional weight. - My first introduction to Cerberus came from rogue Alliance scientists who experimented on my unit & thresher maws. - Ashley directly asked me how I dealt with the losses on Akuze while being racked with survivor's guilt over leaving Kaidan behind on Virmire & was worried over offending me over my family situation. - Miranda specifically mentioned that she was jealous coz me, a colony kid who grew up in prefab unit had achieved a lot more than her, despite her genetics. - Liara even recorded in her time capsule that I wasn't someone who would let some ancient tragedy define her. - The clone hurling insults that I was just an average soldier with a lucky streak made sense coz I literally survived a thresher maw attack by stroke of luck. - I lost my parents & sibling to Batarian criminals, but then became the boogeywoman for 300,000 innocent Batarian families who turned to antihuman terrorism to express their anger against humans.
My colonist War Hero had a similar experience with Ashley: she never met someone who won the Star of Terra and she asked me how it felt ordering soldiers to their deaths and being called a hero after Kaidan died, my Shepard said he was the one who killed him and not her and that after the deaths of his men on Elisyum he promised to do better same as with Virmire and that lead him to save his entire crew on the Collector Base Assault. The problem with the backgrounds is that they mattered less as the Shepard games went forward, as a colonist the events of ME2 should have been affecting the player a tad more as we investigated the case and the Arrival DLC should have had a response based on our backgrounds: a War Hero would be conflicted as he took a choice that made him murder over 300k beings regardless of their role in the anti human attacks (which the Alliance had a big fault at the start as evidenced by Bring Down the Sky). In ME3 the only thing that I can hear the origins being brought back are in Eden Prime.
Teaming up with Cerberus in Mass Effect 2 never made sense with a Sole Survivor Shepard. I would think that'd be the last thing they would want to do, seeing as Cerberus caused what happened on Akuze. I guess it could be a last ditch effort thing, but I know when I did my SS Shepard run-through she was pissed about it the whole time XD
It never makes any sense ever as long as you did the Kahuku quests. BUT I personally made a headcanon that I never really teamed up with Cerberus (like Karim Chakwas says it) and I did the things that needed doing as independant party where I just accepted to use some info from The Illusive man because i found it helpful. I was constantly against them when talking to Jacob, Miranda and Illusive man and constantly too sides against them with Tali etc. AND during the quests I even gave intel to the Alliance, Overlord I stopped the experimend and gave David to Alliance and other things that hurt Cerberus. On Illium when I met Gianna Parasini and told her a vague answe - she said that she understands when working under cover. Later there is also the Hacket call suggesting Alliance still counts with Shepard => you really are sort of undercover agent of the Alliance who infiltrated Cerberus and got people like Miranda to leave Cerberus which is a massive loss for the Illusive man AND after finishing the Collector base - I hanged up on The Illusive man and walked away while taking their AI, their ship, their resources and most importantly their recond in command that turned into my girlfriend. So, my Shepard technically never joined Cerberus or teamed up with them. He accepted their gifts and achieved his goals. Blowing up the base instead of giving it to Cerberus is another point.
@@Dark_Voice I did a lot of the same stuff, especially destroying the Collector Base and hanging up on the Illusive Man. It's funny to me that he thought he could eventually be able to manipulate Shepard into thinking Cerberus was anything other than a group of human supremacists whose experiments scarred them for life, and hanging up was like slamming the door he thought was wide open in his face. So satisfying 🤣
I made my shepherd ruthless and raised on military vessels. The plot for mass effect 2 actually makes sense for my shepherd considering I would imagine he would have the mentality that “I don’t give a shit who helps me as long as our mission is complete “ and sense the alliance never took the reapers seriously even after the attack he would be like “ok fuck it”
Sole Survivor Shep can be continually antagonistic toward IM in ME2 -- nothing prevents it. Shep can be belligerent and uncooperative from the outset, in every exchange. That said, it is a lapse in BioWare's writing that there isn't more specific dialogue with Sole Survivor Shep addressing Cerb's role on Akuze during ME2. As I recall, there is a short exchange about it at one point, and the dialogue options you get aren't satisfying. The lapse is all the more strange for the fact that an Earthborn Sole Survivor is the 'default' Shepard.
@@CognizantCheddar Exactly, Shep can be as uncooperative as they want, but in the end they still have to do what IM says (at least for main missions) and you don't get to call him on anything about Akuze. They had a chance to add a nice little thing in there to acknowledge the backstory, but didn't.
Recently I had an idea for a 4th profile called 'Cultured' that would unlock after your first playthough which would unlock certain Codex entries by default and have Shepard generally more knowledgeable about the wider galaxy (eg: not comparing the First Contact War to the Genophage when you first talk to Wrex). Here's a hypothetical overview I came up with today: "When you first joined the Alliance, you were fascinated by the galactic civilisation Humanity had only recently come across. After your outstanding combat record and N7 training, you were one of a small number of soldiers given the chance to work and fight alongside various species of the galaxy including gaining additional training alongside Turians on Palaven and advice from Asari Commandos on the effects of Biotics on combat scenarios. The proudest moment of your career was a joint Alliance - STG infiltration mission that allowed the Systems Alliance to later launch a strike against Batarians and other Terminus pirates on Torfan." Then the opening dialogue I came up with is this (MaleShep). Hackett: "He's had more experience with the Council Species than any other Alliance Soldier, even by N7 standards." Anderson: "Our operation with the Salarians he was involved in gave us invaluable intel that made the mission against the Batarians on Torfan possible."
These are some of the reasons I think ME1 is the best out of the trilogy. The smoother combat in the following games is nice, but the storytelling and level of detail in ME1 is unmatched in the series.
Totally agree! ME 1 has a special mood. Even the misterious music, the vast lore, the huge codex, and the sci fi vibes (instead the spqce fantasy in ME2)... All of this makes ME1 my favourite one. But I love the whole trilogy, sure. Sorry poor english.
@@Outonna agreed! Sometimes I consider the series as a single game especially with the character import. I think that me2 and 3 have some storytelling issues that me1 didn’t have.
Actually, the combat is also better in ME1. Biotics are gods (as they are supposed to be). Sniper rifles and shotguns have real impact (as they are supposed to have). So... Really love ME1, but in terms of overall impression my heart is with ME2.
@@im_piano Exactly! The gunplay may be dull in ME1 (which is why I think Soldier is the most boring class you can choose in ME1), but biotics are crazy OP so I recommend choosing a biotic-related class to maximize your fun during gameplay. ME2 may have improved shooting mechanics, but they changed the game into a cover shooter with heavily nerfed biotics. I may be in the minority here, but as a Sentinel, I actually had more fun with ME1 combat thanks to OP biotics than ME2, as ME1 didn't force you into cover as much.
It would probably be my favourite if the side missions weren’t so….The same, the story telling on some is great but there are like 3 interior layouts on each planet and once you notice it, man that gets old. Also those very long mako sections which would be fine if they weren’t so abundant
5:53) Funny. In one playthrough (which barely started because it was on the heel of me beating the trilogy on the Legendary Collection), pick “Colonist” and “War Hero”. My mentality was that since this Shepard knew the fallout of Batarian Slave Raiders, it motivated them into a heroic/motivating figure because they don’t want anybody else to go through what they experience. Though the “colonist”/“Ruthless” combo does make sense if you want to make Shepard a Batarian hater. And (for fun) the “Colonist”/“Sole Survivor” combo… That’s a “yikes” combination that makes you wonder how that Shepard might still have a positive outlook on the galaxy.
I honestly usually go for the Colonist/Sole Survivor for maximum ptsd. I usually play as paragon as possible simply for the fact my Shepard wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what he did. Makes losing Kaidan on Virmire even more heartbreaking. Makes the scene at the beginning of ME2 hold more weight for me. He wouldn’t let anyone else die while he is around
Yeah colonist sole survivor was the first one I played as. Thought it the most tragic and gave the most motivations. The Cerebrus connections were icing on the cake, though didn’t mesh to well with ME 2 unless you were constantly at TIM’s throat. I also really like the war hero colonist, it’s probably my go to given what I know about the other games now.
Who says my Sherpard kept a positive perspective over the galaxy ? My Sherpard developed a nihilistic perspective of the world around her and developed this need to change the world around her throught manipulation and ensure survival of the fittest according to her own perspective.
I like how one of the Alliance Navy War Assets in Mass Effect 3 is one of the ships that reinforced Elisyum during the Skylian Blitz. There are several Search + Rescue assets that I like to imagine lines of dialogue for (similar to the transmissions from planet scanning anomalies in ME2) and whenever I come across it on a War Hero playthrough I like to think that Shepard tells the Captain to consider the rescue as returning the favour.
I always think Earthborn works nicely with ME3. I remember at some point Liara says "I'm sorry about earth" to Shepard and Shepard just answers "Yeah..." or something like that. That one just hits when Shepard is from earth. And Sole Survivor adds that much more pain in ME2 and shows just how far Shepard is willing to go to fight the Reapers considering they're working with the people that were responsible for what happened on Akuze. To me, the Earthborn and Sole Survivor backgrounds combined have just the right amount of heartbreak, give some nice extra motivations and layers to certain things in the story and also...both are kind of survival-focused and the background explains how Shepard got that survival drive, which works really well with Shepard's constant survival motivation throughout the story.
Nice! I like this. 👌🏾 I did Earthborn and war hero first playthough when young. Just wanted to seem heroic. This time round, I want more of narrative and drive to the end course. And, your story...definitely got me thinking. Thanks.
I still think that Spacer + War hero is the best because someone like that is the most likely to be selected for a specter by the council. Also you should have some special interactions with Quarians since Spacer is essentially human Quarian background.
I always thought Earthborn war hero was good. You're a kid who spent years running with a gang until you want out and it leads you to do great things. You're a hero in all respects but what you did back on Earth colors many of your actions. I've personally always liked running 75% paragon with some renegade for semi balance.
I like to play a colonist ruthless character as a paragon. My headcannon is that the trauma Shepard went through early in life caused him to act brash and extremely aggressive. However getting almost his entire unit killed made him extremely remorseful and he tried to change after that and find some redemption, but a kernal of that darkness remains within him. Nothing makes my character more ashamed than when people bring up what he did on Torfan in a positive light.
For me I went Earthborn sol survior. The way I played him was that after seeing his whole squad get wiped out he didnt' want to loose anyone else. IF he could save lives aka go paragon options he would. Made him go more renegade as the games went on and tired of everyones bullshit. But, he was still paragon majorit and had the same mindset throught the whole series. Right now I'm playing a spacer war hero and leaning more towards renegade. Have him start out but going more down the ruthless path.
I made my paragon shepard a colonist sole survivor. I liked the idea of a character marked by tragedy, obsessed with saving lives. It really set up the kind of decisions a paragon Shepard makes in ME3, that "Surviving by sacrificing our humanity is not worth it attitude".
I agree with that. I do wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
I have always picked Earthborn as my by background, because I kinda wanted Shepard to have that connection to earth. However, in my recent playthrough I chose Spacer for the first time, and it's so weird to have a mother to interact with. It really humanises him and gives more reason for him to fight. Hopefully Tali gets to meet Hannah.
@@robbybobby4373 I only remembered it because I literally did that quest yesterday, just wrapped up ME1 and moved to ME2 on my current playthrough of the trilogy, only just finished the initial Omega stuff.
I always completely forget about my background, and rarely reminded to it. But it is part of the character I can identify with, so it is good to have. For this reason I wouldn’t recommend any of these for specific reasons like paragon/renegade points etc), because it has insignificant effect. Choose whichever you like and matches your personality.
That’s why i wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
If you choose sole-survivor, then in Cerberus HQ, you can find a video of the illusive man personally authorizing the release of the thresher maw on Shepard’s squad. Found it on my first playthough
Considering that I still have and mostly play the original Mass Effect Trilogy on Xbox 360 it was no wonder that I was a little confused when I saw that the turian character model in place of the human worn during the Espionage overview. I never thought much of it but after seeing this it makes sense that they would change that at least. Though it really doesn't ultimately matter because it's just as satisfying to vaporize the jackass with the Mako's cannons either way! 😎
I hated that they kept bringing up akuze in the third game. If you went sole survivor. "Everyone but you died on akuze, it must have hurt..." Shepard: "i have been resurrected, blown up a mass relay killing thousands, earth is being purged by the reapers, i blew up the collector base and saved/killed the council. And youre bringing up the fact that some of my N7 team got killed by a thresher maw a decade ago? Ive killed like 20 thresher maws since breakfast this morning."
The sole survivor is particularly interesting backstory becus cerberus is ultimately to blame for the situation but its never brought up with TIM. It would have been an interesting personal conflict to explore.
I've chose Earthborn/war hero and I still made some renegade choices but I'm a Paragon. I don't think it really matters as much but it does somewhat impact the games story depending if you live up to it. The only differences is background and dialogue. You still make the choices that heavily impact the story and characters around you. Just my thought on the subject.
I really like the Spacer - Sole Survivor backstory for Shepard. I always imagine that you are this excited kid who’s eager to explore the galaxy and prove yourself. But then you get a swift reality check when you lose your entire unit on Akuze and get scarred for life. You’re like “I guess the galaxy isn’t all just fun and adventures.”
I'm planning to do a Paragon Colonist/Ruthless FemShep playthrough. She loses her home, friends and family and (headcanon starts here) has nightmares about it. When she found out that the Batarians who were hiding on Torfan were the same ones who raided her home, she saw red and open fired on them, even the ones who surrendered. Getting revenge felt good in the moment but now instead of nightmares of losing Mindoir, she has nightmares of the Batarians she killed taunting her with the fact that she may have taken them down, it won't bring her home and loved ones back. (headcanon ends here) The trilogy ends up becoming one massive redemption arc for her and the way she interacts will depend on where they stand on the moral scale. To his crew, squad and people who are in need of help, she's a Paragon. But when dealing with the scum of the galaxy, that's when her attitude comes out.
Would have been interesting if Sole Survivor background could affect Shepard during Grunt's Loyalty mission like hearing Shepard hyperventilate as the fight goes on, or maybe having micro-second flashbacks interrupting the fight in progress, or begin hearing the voices of Toombs and the rest of his old squad, even have Shepard sit and curl up after the fight to try to calm down then get back up as the next cut scene begins
None of that would be in character for Shepard. Curling up after a fight isn't happening. By the time Grunts mission happens Shepard has already downed many Thresher-maws. One more isn't going to make him curl up or hyperventilate. Hilarious though I would laugh my ass off of it happened.
@@nunya_bizniz there are seven thresher maws in ME1, and only one is tied to an optional side assignment. It’s possible for Shepard to have not seen a thresher maw between Akuze and ME2.
This doesn't make sense with ss psychological background. You survived exactly because you're the only one that thought only how to survive without bothering too much about fear, pain and so on. The ss background creates a Shep that doesn't matter the situation and the stress/danger involved in it, s/he will try to succeed on one way or another overcoming any bad feelings. That's why Council takes you in consideration for Spectre position. Obviously every background have their shining strength and weaknesses. In this case you could be seen a little bit too cold and maybe even as some kind of "monster" since I wouldn't be surprised that ss Shep would even eat some dead companion to survive 🤣 A far from this, sure, some kind of reference to ss past is sure welcome, but without all the trauma shit which is film cliché e not what actually happened to Shep.
I've been dedicated to my Earth born soul survivor Paragon vanguard this WHOLE TIME since it's release and I'm about done with the 3rd of the legendary edition. Thanks for the in depth details of each, my renegade I usually run a spacer war hero adept. Can't wait to do it all over again. Just to do it all over again, again. Edit: I just want to also say that I really appreciate everyone from this fandom in the comment section who are sharing all of their backstories as far as their Commander shepherds play style
The psychological and background selections will affect renegade and Paragon points achieved during gameplay. A Spacer/war hero starts the game with more paragon points than the others and will derive more Paragon points throughout the game. This is the ideal setup for a pure Paragon run as you will max out Paragon faster. I believe earthbound/ruthless does the same for renegade.
My Shepard is a colonist+sole survivor, I wanted it to feel like the spectre status and ship+crew were earned because Shepard could survive impossible situations. Which is what makes him/her a good leader and since he/she obviously knows what to do in order to survive the others will do as we say (ie: controlling their actions during combat) I picked sentinel to have both tech and biotic. I went paragon+renegade because id rather answer how mine would instead of just picking for exp points sake. First time playing and its a lot of fun
Here’s my take on what would realistically happen to the various backgrounds Spacer & Sole Survivor - under a great deal of suspicion for abandoning their platoon to die, but family connections forestall any serious investigation and prosecution. Allowed to work an obscure desk job, then leave with all benefits when minimum service obligation is up. Colonist & Sole Survivor - PTS from slaver raid suspected as the underlying reason for abandoning their platoon. Given a medical discharge on psychological grounds and ordered into long term therapy. Earthborn & Sole Survivor - under a great deal of suspicion for juvenile criminal past. Court martialed, but not necessarily found guilty. Military career prematurely terminated. Spacer & War Hero - considered THE military ideal, used in lots of recruitment ads, movie made about their exploits, then given very high visibility postings such as aide de camp to the Navy CinC, military aid to the PrimeMinister, military liaison to Parliament etc. Due to extremely high visibility and name recognition, considered unsuitable for covert operations. Denied entry into the N7 program, but given other prestigious conventional commands. Colonist + War Hero - due to unique personal background, is nominated to run for Member of Parliament in order to mollify colonists complaining about inadequate defenses. Wins election comfortably, becomes an MP and is under consideration for ministerial positions, possibly even a future Prime Ministerial candidate. Military career terminated in favor of political career. Colonist + Ruthless - under suspicion that massacre of surrendering slavers was motivated by revenge instead of military necessity. No war crime charges filed, but military career torpedoed to silence detractors. Spacer + Ruthless - viable candidate. Earthborn + War Hero - viable candidate. Earthborn + Ruthless - viable candidate.
@@EdVarkarion Chris Pine’s Kirk grew up fatherless and a joyriding hell raiser in the country. Earthborn Shepard is more like a Crip who joined in order to survive as an orphan on the street.
You cant wear N7 armor like Shep right at the intro if you arent one to begin with. Hell, ME3 has James Vega ask you for advice because you made it to N7
@@elseggs6504 but in a lot of the backgrounds, the person wouldn’t realistically have been allowed to apply for N1 training much less N7, since even being accepted into N-school and flunking is considered a career booster.
I always made a Colonist War Hero. I liked the story behind it and I feel like when Zaheed mentions he "killed more men with that gun (Jessie) than died in the Blitz." And I always felt like Shepard would swap a Blitz story with Zaheed.
My favourite is earthborn, war hero. Kid, who wanted to escape from gangs, see galaxy and do something good, became a war hero. Skills he got while living on the streets, gave him an advantage during Skylian Blitz (knowlegde of tech and long distance weapons). In ME 1 he was just a good guy, who cares about crew, but had no problem to kill someone with cold blood, like in old times. On Virmire he chose to protect the bomb and let die another crew member. In ME 2 he started to be more renegate, beacuse he lost everything and don't trust Cerberus. Alliance and Council don't want him back. Horizon confrontation with Ashley/Kaiden is like stab in the heart. Shepard gave up and started to trust Cerberus. He had romance with Miranda. At the collector base, he again had doubts, when Illusive man wants him to keep the base. Shepard blew it up. In ME 3 Shepard was on the edge. Earth was gone and he had to play politician instead of fighting. Hard choices between saving Earth and loyality to old crew members haunt him in nightmares. He chose to destroy the reapers, beacause he had enough od everything and just wanted to see them burn.
I have to wonder if shepard did something messed up in order to escape on akuze. Maybe he/she did something like ordered some troops to their deaths to try and give time for others to escape but still ended up being the only survivor.
Instead of shooting Toombs, Sole Survivor should unlock the option to hug him. It would be such a bittersweet moment for them both. A man who had been experimented on being comforted by the person with survivor's guilt (implied in convo with Jenkins) after thinking all was lost for so long afterwards.
If you are persuasive enough (believe at least 11, maybe 12). You can make him stand down. In ME2 you get mail he reconvalescented, but after your death started merc to hunt Cerberos. And since you work with them, will hunt you. Sadly no conclusion in ME3.
I think the Sole Survivor background fits better in the story, since Shepard would be allied reluctantly with Cerberus in the second installment. It would also be pointed out by a DLC villain and your former teammates /associates.
I always felt like there should have been more. But, since they moved away from the rpg side of things as the series progressed, I am not surprised the players first two choices were just an after thought.
I find it really interesting that you put such a heavy focus, series-wise, on the post-Alliance psychological profile, rather than the Pre-Alliance one. On one hand, Spacer's and Earthborn's missions award more morality points than Colonist's in Mass Effect 1. But As for the three post-alliance backgrounds, only Ruthless has a benefit, as it doesn't require a charisma check to bypass Major Kyle's followers in the beginning. I also find that Colonist has the best side-quest of the three (Talitha's testimony is so raw and emotional), and all three pre-Alliance backgrounds get attention in all three games. Spacer gets to talk to their mother multiple times, and is the only Shepard who ever gets to directly respond to someone when a topic regarding Family is brought up. Any person who would remark about your history (like Anoleis, Miranda, or Liara at Eden Prime) will also specifically point out something about the way you grew up before the Alliance, and not after. Colonist Shepard (especially a Renegade one) has a lot of eyeopening unique dialogue lines, most notably a moment during Bring Down the Sky where they specifically remark about the Alliance not giving a damn about colonies enough and letting Batarian Terrorists do this all over again. Earthborn Shepard for me was the most forgotten of the three, but I distinctly remember a couple moments in Mass Effect 3 where Shepard (or a close friend) brings up their upbringing on Earth, and how painful it is to see the entire planet in shambles. So while the background itself isn't a huge part of the game, I still find myself being aware of what my Shepard's pre-history was, more than their post-history. As I did my playthroughs, I distinctly remember a character more often mentioning how hard growing up on Earth might been, or how tight me and my family must be with Alliance backgrounds, than anyone ever reminding me about my moments during the Blitz/Akuze/Torfan, especially after Mass Effect 1.
I got the community patch, so Tooms will no longer tell my war hero "you got away with a scary reputation!" Before that my war hero killed him so that couldn't happen. My ruthless renegades tend to kill him anyway
My colonist sole survivor tried REALLY hard to forgive the Batarians, and sought to manipulate a few of them in order to have them start a revolution. Doesn't mean she didn't feel a BIG pleasure in shooting Balak down after interrogating him, even though she knows the protocol demanded her to take him alive.
Sole survivor in ME2? “Sure, I’ll work with the same group that murdered my entire unit. What could possibly go wrong?” Why was this dramatic twist not elaborated upon?
One of the reasons why I like ME1 the best is because of this feature. I don't know why backgrounds are rarely mentioned in 2 and 3. They're part of your character. I like the trilogy as a whole. They're all great games but there's things that I miss from ME1 that I feel are lacking from 2 and 3. I really enjoyed exploring uncharted worlds. Unfortunately that was replaced with the planet scanning mini game which I never liked. I always felt that a lot of the planets you come across in 2 and 3 could've been side missions you can do. If it's possible, I would like to see someone create a conversion mod for 2 and 3 that makes them more like the first game. For example, the mod would replace a lot of the scanning for more N7 missions, it would add the mako to ME3, it would add armor types from 1, and it would add the shuttle bay to explore in 2
My favorite is Colonist, Solo survivor where he basically lost everything which gave him this "I have nothing to lose mentality." I thought about losing many member in ME2 final mission but I'm unsure about it.
Bro the music in me1 when you are in this underground areas is both very good and terrifying at the same time. Sometimes I thought I was going to get jumpscared coz the music.
I think Colonist and Sole Survivor makes the most sense alongside Earthborn and Sole Survivor. Escaping the crimes just to have a shit experience during the Akuze. These two make the most sense.
@@kamata93 Colonist goes well for ruthless as explained in the video, so that gives us Earthborn/Sole survivor as 3rd option. I would use the former for a renegade but successful Shepard, and the later for the one which makes bad decisions (and low war assets in the end). His life sucks anyway:D
Not sure if it still works in the legendary edition, but there's an exploit with the monkeys on Elatania that lets you max out on paragon points. In the original version, that was the only way to max out your paragon points in a first single playthrough. That way, you can choose whichever background you like the most.
@@GTAVictor9128 I never had the need to max out the paragon points, every blue dialogue choices are available with much less than max. The only exception is the Hanar preacher side quest during the first visit on the citadel. If I did that too early, I didn’t have enough paragon points, but just a bit late, and the Hanar was not there anymore.
I know that with War Hero, the Batarian Pirate/General/Captain that ambushes you at the refugee area in 3 references it and its brought up post Asari homeworld when Joker brings up that your vitals are worse than that time you fought off the entire Batarian military.
Thinking about this, I can't help but wonder what, if any, possible impacts the Backgrounds would have in getting War Assets in ME3 (even if it is just hypothetical). Am thinking, if War Hero, maybe Elysium contributes more combat personnel to the Alliance, and makes a point of defending evacuating colonies (I see the War Asset being named 'Elysium Exodus Unit'. If Sole Survivor, Toombs (who emails you in ME2 and says he's got his own merc squad) learns of your defection and subsequent war with Cerberus, and volunteers his squad for raids against the Reapers and ESPECIALLY against Cerberus (War Asset name: Toombs Merc Squad). If Ruthless, Major Kyle will reconstitute his biotic commune and coordinate as a biotic artillery unit (War Asset name: Kyle Biotic Artillery Unit).
I loved playing the combination of Colonist Sole Survivor. Really gave the feel that Shepard was someone who went through a lot of trauma and somehow always was the last one alive, similar to what he survives throughout the games. Especially as a Paragon it meant that even through experiencing so much loss, he still tried to do the right thing.
Interesting I choose colonist and war hero. I play a paragon shepherd who hates batarens, so I choose renegade options until I do the arrival DLC last in ME2. I say after destroying the relay shepherd spends his time getting over his hate of batarens and start using paragon option when dealing batarens in ME3
I mean, I guess with the voice they went with a Turian as the mastermind of the Skyllian Blitz but it would probably be even more fitting if the pirate leader was a Batarian.
I'm pretty sure (at least once) when I played ME1 Toombs acted like he knew my Shep even though he was a War Hero and it turns out - ''There is a bug that makes Toombs refer to Shepard as if Shepard was a Sole Survivor regardless of the origin story the player has chosen, and Shepard's dialogue options after the Charm/Intimidate check would also sound as if Shepard was a Sole Survivor''. - I was like 'what the heck are you talking about man? I've never been to Akuze in my life!'
Shepard's answer is OK. He says "I couldnt help you then but I can help you now. Let me." Which doesnt mean he was there if you pick the paragon route. The 2 other paths are really bad though.
My Shep was a Spacer + War Hero since I really wanted my Shep to have parents and I feel saving Elysium was a good memories for Shep. Also Peregade Shep.
It's strange that the game barely references Shepard being a biotic in the games. So many stories in ME1 focus on the biotics being ostracized in some way, and then there's Shepard who for some reason has lived a privileged life where all of that is inconsequential to them 🤔
Just finished an ME1 playthrough as an Earthborn/Ruthless, mainly because whenever I play an MMO or RPG styled game I like putting my character through an arc of sorts. Whether that means making them an Anti-Hero turned Hero or Hero turned Anti-Hero. I just think it’s pretty neat and almost feels like a natural progression of putting my character through character development.
I think I’m gonna be the boring one here, but I always choose the spacer and war hero. I like that I can talk to my mum, and that I hold onto good and positive convictions. Yeah my Shep is a mummy’s boy and space Boy Scout 😂
it would be so cool if they added a dlc for the background. Imagine if we got a DLC for the Skyllian blitz Batarain raid for the war hero Shepard.. We would get to play a teen Shepard kicking batarian Butt until reinforcement arrived.. It could also include Shepards family and story before the raid begins.. So much opportunity!! Bioware please make this happen
Earthborn + Ruthless - because you can always whack people in the head with that maxed out Renegade bar and brute-force through any diplomatic conflict.
My favourite combinations are: Male - Colonist - War Hero Female - Spacer - Ruthless Male Shep being the archetipical Paragon hero and female Shep being the win at any cost Renegade. I love roleplaying.
Yes they do matter because depending on the back ground you can justify the ending of Mass Effect 3... Ruthless would do the Destroy Ending because fuck actually trying to reduce casualties (EDI & the Geth) , War Hero would do the Control Ending (Everything must be perfect, retain the status quo).... and Sole Survivor would do Synthesis (Tired of all the death, no more lives loss because of this...)
Spacer + war hero is really a great choice for paragon playthrough. It goes well for Shepard because, it gives him a real motivation yo be good, family and a good reputation. Also, you can kow Shepard's mom, wich really is a sweet moment during the franchise.
I originally went with Earthborn Sole Survivor Soldier, now I go for Spacer Sole Survivor Soldier, just because Spacer has Shepard's mum alive, would've been awesome if she was a war asset in ME3.
Yes and no, they mattered in the first game but from ME2 to ME3 they got less attention. My Colonist Warn Hero Shepard got destroyed at the end of Arriva, up to that point he had done bad things but he had a good effect at the end the situation on the Bahak Relay destroyed his views and persona, had he used other methods (talking to the Batarian leadership and and infiltrating the prision) he realizes he could have accomplished the mission to destroy the Relay and save those people.
Colonist, sole survivor = neutral Spacer, war hero = paragon Earthborn, ruthless = renegade That’s the way to get maximum points for renegade, paragon, neutral
For the hardcore RP: - Colonist - Sole Survivor - rush to the suicide mission in ME2 because 'innocents are dying and there's no time to waste,' lose most or all of your squad - play your ME3 Shep as suffering from PTSD because 'everyone around me always dies' - willingly die at the end of ME3, finally relieved of your survivor guilt
I do think the potential of role playing is strong with these backgrounds like you could Have a childhood where your parents were in the military. So you joined up wanting to be just like them and make them proud. Only to have the soul survival ending, saying, 50 Marines die in front of you. And then that makes you resent your parents. I don't know.😂😂
"A sole survivor Shepard is someone who'll do whatever it takes to survive." That's one way of looking at it. Another way not mentioned in the video is that a combination of skill and luck allowed Shepard the ability to survive where the rest of his squad failed. And now, dealing with the trauma of losing his/her entire unit and coping with survivor's guilt, Shepard takes precautions to ensure that he/she loses as few comrades as possible.
My favorite part was the 2 throwaway lines most will miss from the spacer background. I smiled when you got to talk with sheps mother. But generally speaking with psyche profile i always picked sole survivor so.
I know this is one og the greatest games to have ever been on our screens but I've played over 9/10 playthroughs and will probably play it again but i wanna ask how many times have you completed the story and whats keeps you starting over and over? (our own cycle😂)
Dang dude. I've been trying to play Andromeda after finishing up the Milky Way trilogy again, and I just keep wanting to go back to the original games. The narratives are so much better!
Fun fact about Elanos Haliat. Not only did he get a species change from Human to Turian. There's also a manufacturer in the first game called "Haliat Armory". Idk if they're related, but I feel like they totally could be.
Haliat was always suppoused to be Turian. Him having human model was a bug in PC version. It actually never made much sense that batarians would ally with a human.
I like that no matter which backgrounds you choose, the events of the other ones still happen. It's just that Shep isn't there in them.
There's a trope for this called "Schrodinger's player character". Dragon Age used this too. Basically whatever character/background you choose, the other potential grey warden candidates all suffered a bad ending, like the human noble getting killed at the beginning when his family is attacked if you pick a dwarf or elf for instance.
That's one thing I liked about Bioware's games, and how they try to tie these things together, albeit a bit badly at times.
Isn’t it the same thing for Skyrim? It doesn’t matter what factions you join because every story happens even without the dragonborn. Except the civil war we probably won’t know which side one until elder scrolls 6.
@Justin B but that's because of dragon breaks when all timelines merge. In ME and DA, the Alt PCs exist in all timeliness, but each timeline/playthrough persists independently.
It's nice to know that if I don't pick Earthborn, Earth still exists.
@@Geckogold Yeah you can actually find the Dwarf Commoner's corpse in the carta dungeon if you picked a different origin.
What I really like about Ruthless background paired with paragon is that there are several lines that Shepard has that show their remorse and make it seem like they're trying to redeem themselves.
This. I played through the entire trilogy with this type of mindset. And in ME3 I made him slip back into his more “ruthless” self because we were at war with the Reapers and the stress was mounting up. (Basically I went mostly Paragon in the first 2 then slipped into more Renegade in 3)
Agreed. My Fem Shep Lilith. Is an Earthborn Ruthless Infiltrator.
My backstory for her was that she was an assassin for a gang on earth. Until she was assigned to kill an Alliance Commander. She botched the attempt. But instead of being reported to the police. She had her skills put to use as the commander’s right hand woman, and assassin. She works her ways up the ranks. Until Torfan. Her commander dies there and she’s field promoted. Now working under Major Kyle directly. She unleashes her wrath on the batarians. The blood finally becomes enough for her to realize what she’s become and she pulls back from the edge. Largely taking a Paragon Route from that point on.
Though my Shepard doesn’t take any shit, and will go back to being “The Butcher of Torfan.” As soon as she’s lied to or insulted.
She’ll Save the Destiny Ascension, The Rachni Queen, stop an assassin, keep her friend’s secret, save important data, and put Civilians over her own needs time and time again. But she’ll also headbutt krogans, incite others to kill bartenders, and toss mercenaries out windows.
It’s made my first play through of mass effect really fun.
@@awesomechainsaw i 9
@@awesomechainsaw
That's interesting. The Paragon Male Shepard I playing currently is Colonist/Sole Survivor.
@@KritoSkywaker Mine too.
My default Shep build is a colonist war hero and I feel like, as a backstory, there's a nice kinda narrative to a kid who barely survived their home getting scorched by slavers and then later seeing it about to happen again somewhere else but maybe even worse and saying "not on my watch, you bastards."
I love it. They ever make a movie, that should be his background
I also do that, it just feels natural for shepard.
That's my Paragon Soldier Shep standard too :)
Yeh I think my main shepard is also colonist + warhero they don't really matter but certain ones give better missions. Also Jacob just killed the human reaper in my newest ME2 playthrough... made me hold him in somewhat high esteem...
And it's the best options for Paragon, Shep who just wants to help all he can after witnessing his friends and family getting killed as a kid. A very much "Leave no man behind background"
So it seems that the psychological profiles only play their role in ME1, but basically none in ME2 and ME3. Hope to see more involvement of character backgrounds in the upcoming sequel.
Wait what sequel. There's a sequel coming
@@fangwhiteclaw7089 Yeah, the sequel is in early development phase. But Bioware already released a teaser trailer in UA-cam.
@@Arijit_Das_ Really? I can't wait! I loved all of them (yes even Andromeda) so I'm sure this is going to be fantastic.
There's slight mentions of certain things here and there in the sequels but nothing too tangible, as far as his/her soul survivor profile.
@@BillBilliamson agreed, fellow Commander 💪🏽
I honestly got kinda mad when I wasn't able to confront the Illusive Man about how he was responsible for killing all but one man in my team on Akuze. That moment is literally supposed to be a defining moment for Shepard but I guess he forgot about the many Cerberus side missions in ME1.
That upsetted me too, and no option to tell the Illusive Man to shove it until the very end of the game
Especially since Toomes will send you an email, calling you out for working with Cerberus if he survived the first game.
There is a dialogue in ME2 with i think Miranda, where Shepard mentions he has seen the labs with torian creepers and rachni Cerberus was experimenting on (probably only happens if you did those side quests in 1) and Miranda explains those were actions by renegade scientists, not on order of the illusive man - which most likely is just what he told her, and not the truth. So there is that ...
@@nerd-mask723 Well we do have confirmed rogue scientists because end screens for missions are drawn up as the Illusive Man's reports or Cerberus reports. Plus Miranda would just explain how it's justified, it's more in her character.
@@nerd-mask723 In regards to the explanation for those quests, I believe Miranda mentioned that Cerberus was looking into using Creepers and Rachni as expendable shock troops.
Those unique dialogues on the missions always felt like they were Shepard's own loyalty mission.
I like how every profile or background make you much more well-written as a protagonist. For example, there's a chunk of dialogue in ME2 that colors Jack as a psycho and a lost cause by the crew. However, if your background is an Earthborn delinquent it makes Shepard much more relatable to Jack - he once was in a bad spot in his life and recognizes Jack is somewhat similar to him, which makes Shep/Jack romance even more beautiful.
Also, I've been replaying the trilogy and i'm currently in ME2, and on Omega, I've heard a news report about the Shepard foundation - an initiative that helps delinquents in human gangs enlist in the Alliance army or recieve proper education. Those little things really add to the worldbuilding and Shepard as a person.
gameplay-wise not really, but roleplay-wise a hell yes it matters, I love the backstory system.
Definitely true. I do wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
My bad for rambling on.
Is that even a question ?
My background as a colonist & sole survivor literally defined my relationships with Ashley, Miranda & Liara + made several events carry a lot more emotional weight.
- My first introduction to Cerberus came from rogue Alliance scientists who experimented on my unit & thresher maws.
- Ashley directly asked me how I dealt with the losses on Akuze while being racked with survivor's guilt over leaving Kaidan behind on Virmire & was worried over offending me over my family situation.
- Miranda specifically mentioned that she was jealous coz me, a colony kid who grew up in prefab unit had achieved a lot more than her, despite her genetics.
- Liara even recorded in her time capsule that I wasn't someone who would let some ancient tragedy define her.
- The clone hurling insults that I was just an average soldier with a lucky streak made sense coz I literally survived a thresher maw attack by stroke of luck.
- I lost my parents & sibling to Batarian criminals, but then became the boogeywoman for 300,000 innocent Batarian families who turned to antihuman terrorism to express their anger against humans.
My colonist War Hero had a similar experience with Ashley: she never met someone who won the Star of Terra and she asked me how it felt ordering soldiers to their deaths and being called a hero after Kaidan died, my Shepard said he was the one who killed him and not her and that after the deaths of his men on Elisyum he promised to do better same as with Virmire and that lead him to save his entire crew on the Collector Base Assault.
The problem with the backgrounds is that they mattered less as the Shepard games went forward, as a colonist the events of ME2 should have been affecting the player a tad more as we investigated the case and the Arrival DLC should have had a response based on our backgrounds: a War Hero would be conflicted as he took a choice that made him murder over 300k beings regardless of their role in the anti human attacks (which the Alliance had a big fault at the start as evidenced by Bring Down the Sky).
In ME3 the only thing that I can hear the origins being brought back are in Eden Prime.
I though you're ruthless, he he he.
@@grunt7917 I love you, Grunt ;)
I like to do sole survivor and Earthborn, makes ties with Cerberus a lot deeper. And makes Shepard’s reaction toward earth a lot sadder
Mindoir-4-Life!!!!
Teaming up with Cerberus in Mass Effect 2 never made sense with a Sole Survivor Shepard. I would think that'd be the last thing they would want to do, seeing as Cerberus caused what happened on Akuze. I guess it could be a last ditch effort thing, but I know when I did my SS Shepard run-through she was pissed about it the whole time XD
It never makes any sense ever as long as you did the Kahuku quests. BUT I personally made a headcanon that I never really teamed up with Cerberus (like Karim Chakwas says it) and I did the things that needed doing as independant party where I just accepted to use some info from The Illusive man because i found it helpful. I was constantly against them when talking to Jacob, Miranda and Illusive man and constantly too sides against them with Tali etc. AND during the quests I even gave intel to the Alliance, Overlord I stopped the experimend and gave David to Alliance and other things that hurt Cerberus. On Illium when I met Gianna Parasini and told her a vague answe - she said that she understands when working under cover. Later there is also the Hacket call suggesting Alliance still counts with Shepard => you really are sort of undercover agent of the Alliance who infiltrated Cerberus and got people like Miranda to leave Cerberus which is a massive loss for the Illusive man AND after finishing the Collector base - I hanged up on The Illusive man and walked away while taking their AI, their ship, their resources and most importantly their recond in command that turned into my girlfriend.
So, my Shepard technically never joined Cerberus or teamed up with them. He accepted their gifts and achieved his goals. Blowing up the base instead of giving it to Cerberus is another point.
@@Dark_Voice I did a lot of the same stuff, especially destroying the Collector Base and hanging up on the Illusive Man. It's funny to me that he thought he could eventually be able to manipulate Shepard into thinking Cerberus was anything other than a group of human supremacists whose experiments scarred them for life, and hanging up was like slamming the door he thought was wide open in his face. So satisfying 🤣
I made my shepherd ruthless and raised on military vessels. The plot for mass effect 2 actually makes sense for my shepherd considering I would imagine he would have the mentality that “I don’t give a shit who helps me as long as our mission is complete “ and sense the alliance never took the reapers seriously even after the attack he would be like “ok fuck it”
Sole Survivor Shep can be continually antagonistic toward IM in ME2 -- nothing prevents it. Shep can be belligerent and uncooperative from the outset, in every exchange.
That said, it is a lapse in BioWare's writing that there isn't more specific dialogue with Sole Survivor Shep addressing Cerb's role on Akuze during ME2. As I recall, there is a short exchange about it at one point, and the dialogue options you get aren't satisfying.
The lapse is all the more strange for the fact that an Earthborn Sole Survivor is the 'default' Shepard.
@@CognizantCheddar Exactly, Shep can be as uncooperative as they want, but in the end they still have to do what IM says (at least for main missions) and you don't get to call him on anything about Akuze. They had a chance to add a nice little thing in there to acknowledge the backstory, but didn't.
Recently I had an idea for a 4th profile called 'Cultured' that would unlock after your first playthough which would unlock certain Codex entries by default and have Shepard generally more knowledgeable about the wider galaxy (eg: not comparing the First Contact War to the Genophage when you first talk to Wrex). Here's a hypothetical overview I came up with today:
"When you first joined the Alliance, you were fascinated by the galactic civilisation Humanity had only recently come across. After your outstanding combat record and N7 training, you were one of a small number of soldiers given the chance to work and fight alongside various species of the galaxy including gaining additional training alongside Turians on Palaven and advice from Asari Commandos on the effects of Biotics on combat scenarios. The proudest moment of your career was a joint Alliance - STG infiltration mission that allowed the Systems Alliance to later launch a strike against Batarians and other Terminus pirates on Torfan."
Then the opening dialogue I came up with is this (MaleShep).
Hackett: "He's had more experience with the Council Species than any other Alliance Soldier, even by N7 standards."
Anderson: "Our operation with the Salarians he was involved in gave us invaluable intel that made the mission against the Batarians on Torfan possible."
Fine idea!
This should be made available as a new game+ option on ME1😲
Shepard becomes humanities answer to Grand Admiral Thrawn
Should be called aristocrat
The grew up wealthy educated, naive bit and became a soldier to see the world yknow adds to the personality
@@owendiaram3870 Thrawn wouldn’t go down to just one human.
I can't help but think that corporal Tombs was Cerberus' first attempt at what would become project Lazarus.
These are some of the reasons I think ME1 is the best out of the trilogy. The smoother combat in the following games is nice, but the storytelling and level of detail in ME1 is unmatched in the series.
Totally agree! ME 1 has a special mood. Even the misterious music, the vast lore, the huge codex, and the sci fi vibes (instead the spqce fantasy in ME2)... All of this makes ME1 my favourite one.
But I love the whole trilogy, sure.
Sorry poor english.
@@Outonna agreed! Sometimes I consider the series as a single game especially with the character import.
I think that me2 and 3 have some storytelling issues that me1 didn’t have.
Actually, the combat is also better in ME1. Biotics are gods (as they are supposed to be). Sniper rifles and shotguns have real impact (as they are supposed to have).
So... Really love ME1, but in terms of overall impression my heart is with ME2.
@@im_piano
Exactly! The gunplay may be dull in ME1 (which is why I think Soldier is the most boring class you can choose in ME1), but biotics are crazy OP so I recommend choosing a biotic-related class to maximize your fun during gameplay. ME2 may have improved shooting mechanics, but they changed the game into a cover shooter with heavily nerfed biotics.
I may be in the minority here, but as a Sentinel, I actually had more fun with ME1 combat thanks to OP biotics than ME2, as ME1 didn't force you into cover as much.
It would probably be my favourite if the side missions weren’t so….The same, the story telling on some is great but there are like 3 interior layouts on each planet and once you notice it, man that gets old. Also those very long mako sections which would be fine if they weren’t so abundant
5:53) Funny. In one playthrough (which barely started because it was on the heel of me beating the trilogy on the Legendary Collection), pick “Colonist” and “War Hero”. My mentality was that since this Shepard knew the fallout of Batarian Slave Raiders, it motivated them into a heroic/motivating figure because they don’t want anybody else to go through what they experience. Though the “colonist”/“Ruthless” combo does make sense if you want to make Shepard a Batarian hater.
And (for fun) the “Colonist”/“Sole Survivor” combo… That’s a “yikes” combination that makes you wonder how that Shepard might still have a positive outlook on the galaxy.
What about Ruthless + Earthborn?
I honestly usually go for the Colonist/Sole Survivor for maximum ptsd. I usually play as paragon as possible simply for the fact my Shepard wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what he did. Makes losing Kaidan on Virmire even more heartbreaking. Makes the scene at the beginning of ME2 hold more weight for me. He wouldn’t let anyone else die while he is around
Yeah colonist sole survivor was the first one I played as. Thought it the most tragic and gave the most motivations. The Cerebrus connections were icing on the cake, though didn’t mesh to well with ME 2 unless you were constantly at TIM’s throat.
I also really like the war hero colonist, it’s probably my go to given what I know about the other games now.
Who says my Sherpard kept a positive perspective over the galaxy ? My Sherpard developed a nihilistic perspective of the world around her and developed this need to change the world around her throught manipulation and ensure survival of the fittest according to her own perspective.
My first ever playthrough was a colonist/sole survivor
when the major said "I know you - The butcher of Torfan" i genuinely thought "The butcher of Blavican"
It's nice to notice BioWare corrected Elias' model to a Turian; it does make more sense with him being Turian.
Arousingg
I like how one of the Alliance Navy War Assets in Mass Effect 3 is one of the ships that reinforced Elisyum during the Skylian Blitz. There are several Search + Rescue assets that I like to imagine lines of dialogue for (similar to the transmissions from planet scanning anomalies in ME2) and whenever I come across it on a War Hero playthrough I like to think that Shepard tells the Captain to consider the rescue as returning the favour.
I always think Earthborn works nicely with ME3. I remember at some point Liara says "I'm sorry about earth" to Shepard and Shepard just answers "Yeah..." or something like that. That one just hits when Shepard is from earth. And Sole Survivor adds that much more pain in ME2 and shows just how far Shepard is willing to go to fight the Reapers considering they're working with the people that were responsible for what happened on Akuze. To me, the Earthborn and Sole Survivor backgrounds combined have just the right amount of heartbreak, give some nice extra motivations and layers to certain things in the story and also...both are kind of survival-focused and the background explains how Shepard got that survival drive, which works really well with Shepard's constant survival motivation throughout the story.
Nice! I like this. 👌🏾
I did Earthborn and war hero first playthough when young. Just wanted to seem heroic.
This time round, I want more of narrative and drive to the end course. And, your story...definitely got me thinking. Thanks.
I still think that Spacer + War hero is the best because someone like that is the most likely to be selected for a specter by the council. Also you should have some special interactions with Quarians since Spacer is essentially human Quarian background.
@@Dark_Voice You also have a mom
@@Dark_Voice i always loved hearing about Shepard's mom in all the ME games cause i played a Spacer, War Hero, Femshep XD
I always thought Earthborn war hero was good. You're a kid who spent years running with a gang until you want out and it leads you to do great things. You're a hero in all respects but what you did back on Earth colors many of your actions. I've personally always liked running 75% paragon with some renegade for semi balance.
I like to play a colonist ruthless character as a paragon. My headcannon is that the trauma Shepard went through early in life caused him to act brash and extremely aggressive. However getting almost his entire unit killed made him extremely remorseful and he tried to change after that and find some redemption, but a kernal of that darkness remains within him. Nothing makes my character more ashamed than when people bring up what he did on Torfan in a positive light.
For me I went Earthborn sol survior. The way I played him was that after seeing his whole squad get wiped out he didnt' want to loose anyone else. IF he could save lives aka go paragon options he would. Made him go more renegade as the games went on and tired of everyones bullshit. But, he was still paragon majorit and had the same mindset throught the whole series. Right now I'm playing a spacer war hero and leaning more towards renegade. Have him start out but going more down the ruthless path.
Ahhh ok, Haliet *did* have a human model in OG ME. I was wondering about that when I saw him again.
I thought the same thing
Ngl. Thought it was weird why they changed it.
@@mjpraetorian4386 He was supposed to be a Turian to begin with. The devs just fucked up and gave him a generic human model
I made my paragon shepard a colonist sole survivor. I liked the idea of a character marked by tragedy, obsessed with saving lives. It really set up the kind of decisions a paragon Shepard makes in ME3, that "Surviving by sacrificing our humanity is not worth it attitude".
I played a ruthless Spacer and did love how integral the backgrounds were in ME1 but do wish they were included more in ME2 and 3.
I agree with that. I do wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
I have always picked Earthborn as my by background, because I kinda wanted Shepard to have that connection to earth. However, in my recent playthrough I chose Spacer for the first time, and it's so weird to have a mother to interact with. It really humanises him and gives more reason for him to fight. Hopefully Tali gets to meet Hannah.
Shoutout to all my Ruthless players. I’m on ME2 Legendary right now. I can’t belief I didn’t play this game earlier.
I'll always pick War Hero/Spacer whenever I replay Mass Effect. Especially Spacer since Shepard can talk to his/her mom in the Citadel dlc.
same, I just think it fits
You can also talk to her in ME1 about a former crewmate of hers
@@VegetaLF7 You're right! I forgot about that one. lol!
@@robbybobby4373 I only remembered it because I literally did that quest yesterday, just wrapped up ME1 and moved to ME2 on my current playthrough of the trilogy, only just finished the initial Omega stuff.
I always completely forget about my background, and rarely reminded to it.
But it is part of the character I can identify with, so it is good to have.
For this reason I wouldn’t recommend any of these for specific reasons like paragon/renegade points etc), because it has insignificant effect.
Choose whichever you like and matches your personality.
That’s why i wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
If you choose sole-survivor, then in Cerberus HQ, you can find a video of the illusive man personally authorizing the release of the thresher maw on Shepard’s squad. Found it on my first playthough
Really? Never found out about that.
Considering that I still have and mostly play the original Mass Effect Trilogy on Xbox 360 it was no wonder that I was a little confused when I saw that the turian character model in place of the human worn during the Espionage overview. I never thought much of it but after seeing this it makes sense that they would change that at least. Though it really doesn't ultimately matter because it's just as satisfying to vaporize the jackass with the Mako's cannons either way! 😎
I always stay up on the ridge and sniped them all.
I hated that they kept bringing up akuze in the third game. If you went sole survivor.
"Everyone but you died on akuze, it must have hurt..."
Shepard: "i have been resurrected, blown up a mass relay killing thousands, earth is being purged by the reapers, i blew up the collector base and saved/killed the council. And youre bringing up the fact that some of my N7 team got killed by a thresher maw a decade ago? Ive killed like 20 thresher maws since breakfast this morning."
The sole survivor is particularly interesting backstory becus cerberus is ultimately to blame for the situation but its never brought up with TIM. It would have been an interesting personal conflict to explore.
I've chose Earthborn/war hero and I still made some renegade choices but I'm a Paragon. I don't think it really matters as much but it does somewhat impact the games story depending if you live up to it. The only differences is background and dialogue. You still make the choices that heavily impact the story and characters around you. Just my thought on the subject.
I really like the Spacer - Sole Survivor backstory for Shepard. I always imagine that you are this excited kid who’s eager to explore the galaxy and prove yourself. But then you get a swift reality check when you lose your entire unit on Akuze and get scarred for life. You’re like “I guess the galaxy isn’t all just fun and adventures.”
I'm planning to do a Paragon Colonist/Ruthless FemShep playthrough.
She loses her home, friends and family and (headcanon starts here) has nightmares about it. When she found out that the Batarians who were hiding on Torfan were the same ones who raided her home, she saw red and open fired on them, even the ones who surrendered. Getting revenge felt good in the moment but now instead of nightmares of losing Mindoir, she has nightmares of the Batarians she killed taunting her with the fact that she may have taken them down, it won't bring her home and loved ones back. (headcanon ends here)
The trilogy ends up becoming one massive redemption arc for her and the way she interacts will depend on where they stand on the moral scale. To his crew, squad and people who are in need of help, she's a Paragon. But when dealing with the scum of the galaxy, that's when her attitude comes out.
Would have been interesting if Sole Survivor background could affect Shepard during Grunt's Loyalty mission like hearing Shepard hyperventilate as the fight goes on, or maybe having micro-second flashbacks interrupting the fight in progress, or begin hearing the voices of Toombs and the rest of his old squad, even have Shepard sit and curl up after the fight to try to calm down then get back up as the next cut scene begins
You should be a writer for the sequel lol
None of that would be in character for Shepard. Curling up after a fight isn't happening. By the time Grunts mission happens Shepard has already downed many Thresher-maws. One more isn't going to make him curl up or hyperventilate. Hilarious though I would laugh my ass off of it happened.
@@nunya_bizniz there are seven thresher maws in ME1, and only one is tied to an optional side assignment. It’s possible for Shepard to have not seen a thresher maw between Akuze and ME2.
@@nunya_bizniz true
This doesn't make sense with ss psychological background.
You survived exactly because you're the only one that thought only how to survive without bothering too much about fear, pain and so on.
The ss background creates a Shep that doesn't matter the situation and the stress/danger involved in it, s/he will try to succeed on one way or another overcoming any bad feelings.
That's why Council takes you in consideration for Spectre position.
Obviously every background have their shining strength and weaknesses.
In this case you could be seen a little bit too cold and maybe even as some kind of "monster" since I wouldn't be surprised that ss Shep would even eat some dead companion to survive 🤣
A far from this, sure, some kind of reference to ss past is sure welcome, but without all the trauma shit which is film cliché e not what actually happened to Shep.
I've been dedicated to my Earth born soul survivor Paragon vanguard this WHOLE TIME since it's release and I'm about done with the 3rd of the legendary edition. Thanks for the in depth details of each, my renegade I usually run a spacer war hero adept. Can't wait to do it all over again. Just to do it all over again, again.
Edit: I just want to also say that I really appreciate everyone from this fandom in the comment section who are sharing all of their backstories as far as their Commander shepherds play style
The psychological and background selections will affect renegade and Paragon points achieved during gameplay. A Spacer/war hero starts the game with more paragon points than the others and will derive more Paragon points throughout the game. This is the ideal setup for a pure Paragon run as you will max out Paragon faster.
I believe earthbound/ruthless does the same for renegade.
Colonist/Ruthless is the Renegade route
My Shepard is a colonist+sole survivor, I wanted it to feel like the spectre status and ship+crew were earned because Shepard could survive impossible situations. Which is what makes him/her a good leader and since he/she obviously knows what to do in order to survive the others will do as we say (ie: controlling their actions during combat) I picked sentinel to have both tech and biotic. I went paragon+renegade because id rather answer how mine would instead of just picking for exp points sake. First time playing and its a lot of fun
Here’s my take on what would realistically happen to the various backgrounds
Spacer & Sole Survivor - under a great deal of suspicion for abandoning their platoon to die, but family connections forestall any serious investigation and prosecution. Allowed to work an obscure desk job, then leave with all benefits when minimum service obligation is up.
Colonist & Sole Survivor - PTS from slaver raid suspected as the underlying reason for abandoning their platoon. Given a medical discharge on psychological grounds and ordered into long term therapy.
Earthborn & Sole Survivor - under a great deal of suspicion for juvenile criminal past. Court martialed, but not necessarily found guilty. Military career prematurely terminated.
Spacer & War Hero - considered THE military ideal, used in lots of recruitment ads, movie made about their exploits, then given very high visibility postings such as aide de camp to the Navy CinC, military aid to the PrimeMinister, military liaison to Parliament etc. Due to extremely high visibility and name recognition, considered unsuitable for covert operations. Denied entry into the N7 program, but given other prestigious conventional commands.
Colonist + War Hero - due to unique personal background, is nominated to run for Member of Parliament in order to mollify colonists complaining about inadequate defenses. Wins election comfortably, becomes an MP and is under consideration for ministerial positions, possibly even a future Prime Ministerial candidate. Military career terminated in favor of political career.
Colonist + Ruthless - under suspicion that massacre of surrendering slavers was motivated by revenge instead of military necessity. No war crime charges filed, but military career torpedoed to silence detractors.
Spacer + Ruthless - viable candidate.
Earthborn + War Hero - viable candidate.
Earthborn + Ruthless - viable candidate.
I like the Earth born +War hero background because it reminds me of the backstory for Chris Pine's version of Captain Kirk.
@@EdVarkarion Chris Pine’s Kirk grew up fatherless and a joyriding hell raiser in the country. Earthborn Shepard is more like a Crip who joined in order to survive as an orphan on the street.
You cant wear N7 armor like Shep right at the intro if you arent one to begin with. Hell, ME3 has James Vega ask you for advice because you made it to N7
@@elseggs6504 but in a lot of the backgrounds, the person wouldn’t realistically have been allowed to apply for N1 training much less N7, since even being accepted into N-school and flunking is considered a career booster.
What about finding recordings on the Cerberus base for Sole Survivor in ME 3?
I always made a Colonist War Hero. I liked the story behind it and I feel like when Zaheed mentions he "killed more men with that gun (Jessie) than died in the Blitz." And I always felt like Shepard would swap a Blitz story with Zaheed.
My favourite is earthborn, war hero.
Kid, who wanted to escape from gangs, see galaxy and do something good, became a war hero. Skills he got while living on the streets, gave him an advantage during Skylian Blitz (knowlegde of tech and long distance weapons).
In ME 1 he was just a good guy, who cares about crew, but had no problem to kill someone with cold blood, like in old times. On Virmire he chose to protect the bomb and let die another crew member.
In ME 2 he started to be more renegate, beacuse he lost everything and don't trust Cerberus. Alliance and Council don't want him back. Horizon confrontation with Ashley/Kaiden is like stab in the heart. Shepard gave up and started to trust Cerberus. He had romance with Miranda. At the collector base, he again had doubts, when Illusive man wants him to keep the base. Shepard blew it up.
In ME 3 Shepard was on the edge. Earth was gone and he had to play politician instead of fighting. Hard choices between saving Earth and loyality to old crew members haunt him in nightmares. He chose to destroy the reapers, beacause he had enough od everything and just wanted to see them burn.
I have to wonder if shepard did something messed up in order to escape on akuze. Maybe he/she did something like ordered some troops to their deaths to try and give time for others to escape but still ended up being the only survivor.
* Spacer/War Hero 20 Paragon
* Colonist/War Hero 15 Paragon
* Earthborn/War Hero 10 Paragon
* Spacer/Sole Survivor 15 Paragon, 5 Renegade
* Colonist/Sole Survivor 10 Paragon, 10 Renegade
* Earthborn/Sole Survivor 5 Paragon, 15 Renegade
* Spacer/Ruthless 10 Renegade
* Colonist/Ruthless 15 Renegade
* Earthborn/Ruthless 20 Renegade
Instead of shooting Toombs, Sole Survivor should unlock the option to hug him. It would be such a bittersweet moment for them both. A man who had been experimented on being comforted by the person with survivor's guilt (implied in convo with Jenkins) after thinking all was lost for so long afterwards.
If you are persuasive enough (believe at least 11, maybe 12). You can make him stand down.
In ME2 you get mail he reconvalescented, but after your death started merc to hunt Cerberos. And since you work with them, will hunt you.
Sadly no conclusion in ME3.
The best combos in my opinion are Colonist War Hero, Earthborn Ruthless and Spacer Sole Survivor
I think the Sole Survivor background fits better in the story, since Shepard would be allied reluctantly with Cerberus in the second installment. It would also be pointed out by a DLC villain and your former teammates /associates.
If you’re a spacer you can meet Shepard’s mother during the Citadel dlc I think
I always felt like there should have been more. But, since they moved away from the rpg side of things as the series progressed, I am not surprised the players first two choices were just an after thought.
I find it really interesting that you put such a heavy focus, series-wise, on the post-Alliance psychological profile, rather than the Pre-Alliance one. On one hand, Spacer's and Earthborn's missions award more morality points than Colonist's in Mass Effect 1. But As for the three post-alliance backgrounds, only Ruthless has a benefit, as it doesn't require a charisma check to bypass Major Kyle's followers in the beginning. I also find that Colonist has the best side-quest of the three (Talitha's testimony is so raw and emotional), and all three pre-Alliance backgrounds get attention in all three games. Spacer gets to talk to their mother multiple times, and is the only Shepard who ever gets to directly respond to someone when a topic regarding Family is brought up. Any person who would remark about your history (like Anoleis, Miranda, or Liara at Eden Prime) will also specifically point out something about the way you grew up before the Alliance, and not after. Colonist Shepard (especially a Renegade one) has a lot of eyeopening unique dialogue lines, most notably a moment during Bring Down the Sky where they specifically remark about the Alliance not giving a damn about colonies enough and letting Batarian Terrorists do this all over again. Earthborn Shepard for me was the most forgotten of the three, but I distinctly remember a couple moments in Mass Effect 3 where Shepard (or a close friend) brings up their upbringing on Earth, and how painful it is to see the entire planet in shambles. So while the background itself isn't a huge part of the game, I still find myself being aware of what my Shepard's pre-history was, more than their post-history. As I did my playthroughs, I distinctly remember a character more often mentioning how hard growing up on Earth might been, or how tight me and my family must be with Alliance backgrounds, than anyone ever reminding me about my moments during the Blitz/Akuze/Torfan, especially after Mass Effect 1.
"You assume I give a damn. That's cute" - UNC: Espionage Probe Renegade Line
I got the community patch, so Tooms will no longer tell my war hero "you got away with a scary reputation!" Before that my war hero killed him so that couldn't happen. My ruthless renegades tend to kill him anyway
I typically pick Earth-born Sole Survivor.
My Renegade Adept was a Colonist/Ruthless Shepard who was basically genocidal against Batarians.
My colonist sole survivor tried REALLY hard to forgive the Batarians, and sought to manipulate a few of them in order to have them start a revolution. Doesn't mean she didn't feel a BIG pleasure in shooting Balak down after interrogating him, even though she knows the protocol demanded her to take him alive.
Sole survivor in ME2? “Sure, I’ll work with the same group that murdered my entire unit. What could possibly go wrong?”
Why was this dramatic twist not elaborated upon?
One of the reasons why I like ME1 the best is because of this feature. I don't know why backgrounds are rarely mentioned in 2 and 3. They're part of your character. I like the trilogy as a whole. They're all great games but there's things that I miss from ME1 that I feel are lacking from 2 and 3. I really enjoyed exploring uncharted worlds. Unfortunately that was replaced with the planet scanning mini game which I never liked. I always felt that a lot of the planets you come across in 2 and 3 could've been side missions you can do. If it's possible, I would like to see someone create a conversion mod for 2 and 3 that makes them more like the first game. For example, the mod would replace a lot of the scanning for more N7 missions, it would add the mako to ME3, it would add armor types from 1, and it would add the shuttle bay to explore in 2
Since I already knew that I would mostly be playing the Paragon Path, I, on purpose, picked the Ruthless background to gain some Renegade points. :-P
My favorite is Colonist, Solo survivor where he basically lost everything which gave him this "I have nothing to lose mentality." I thought about losing many member in ME2 final mission but I'm unsure about it.
Bro the music in me1 when you are in this underground areas is both very good and terrifying at the same time. Sometimes I thought I was going to get jumpscared coz the music.
Since I always go paragon it makes sense for me to play a spacer war hero. For the morality boost and role playing
Sadly it gives you minimal morality points, your first 2 dialogue choices makes a bigger effect:)
I think Colonist and Sole Survivor makes the most sense alongside Earthborn and Sole Survivor. Escaping the crimes just to have a shit experience during the Akuze. These two make the most sense.
@@kamata93 Colonist goes well for ruthless as explained in the video, so that gives us Earthborn/Sole survivor as 3rd option.
I would use the former for a renegade but successful Shepard, and the later for the one which makes bad decisions (and low war assets in the end). His life sucks anyway:D
Not sure if it still works in the legendary edition, but there's an exploit with the monkeys on Elatania that lets you max out on paragon points. In the original version, that was the only way to max out your paragon points in a first single playthrough. That way, you can choose whichever background you like the most.
@@GTAVictor9128 I never had the need to max out the paragon points, every blue dialogue choices are available with much less than max.
The only exception is the Hanar preacher side quest during the first visit on the citadel. If I did that too early, I didn’t have enough paragon points, but just a bit late, and the Hanar was not there anymore.
I know that with War Hero, the Batarian Pirate/General/Captain that ambushes you at the refugee area in 3 references it and its brought up post Asari homeworld when Joker brings up that your vitals are worse than that time you fought off the entire Batarian military.
Thinking about this, I can't help but wonder what, if any, possible impacts the Backgrounds would have in getting War Assets in ME3 (even if it is just hypothetical).
Am thinking, if War Hero, maybe Elysium contributes more combat personnel to the Alliance, and makes a point of defending evacuating colonies (I see the War Asset being named 'Elysium Exodus Unit'.
If Sole Survivor, Toombs (who emails you in ME2 and says he's got his own merc squad) learns of your defection and subsequent war with Cerberus, and volunteers his squad for raids against the Reapers and ESPECIALLY against Cerberus (War Asset name: Toombs Merc Squad).
If Ruthless, Major Kyle will reconstitute his biotic commune and coordinate as a biotic artillery unit (War Asset name: Kyle Biotic Artillery Unit).
The Kyle Unit can always be seen drinking Monster Energy.
I loved playing the combination of Colonist Sole Survivor. Really gave the feel that Shepard was someone who went through a lot of trauma and somehow always was the last one alive, similar to what he survives throughout the games. Especially as a Paragon it meant that even through experiencing so much loss, he still tried to do the right thing.
Interesting I choose colonist and war hero. I play a paragon shepherd who hates batarens, so I choose renegade options until I do the arrival DLC last in ME2. I say after destroying the relay shepherd spends his time getting over his hate of batarens and start using paragon option when dealing batarens in ME3
I mean, I guess with the voice they went with a Turian as the mastermind of the Skyllian Blitz but it would probably be even more fitting if the pirate leader was a Batarian.
I'm pretty sure (at least once) when I played ME1 Toombs acted like he knew my Shep even though he was a War Hero and it turns out - ''There is a bug that makes Toombs refer to Shepard as if Shepard was a Sole Survivor regardless of the origin story the player has chosen, and Shepard's dialogue options after the Charm/Intimidate check would also sound as if Shepard was a Sole Survivor''.
- I was like 'what the heck are you talking about man? I've never been to Akuze in my life!'
Shepard's answer is OK. He says "I couldnt help you then but I can help you now. Let me." Which doesnt mean he was there if you pick the paragon route. The 2 other paths are really bad though.
videos really dont need a minute long intro
My Shep was a Spacer + War Hero since I really wanted my Shep to have parents and I feel saving Elysium was a good memories for Shep. Also Peregade Shep.
It's strange that the game barely references Shepard being a biotic in the games. So many stories in ME1 focus on the biotics being ostracized in some way, and then there's Shepard who for some reason has lived a privileged life where all of that is inconsequential to them 🤔
Just finished an ME1 playthrough as an Earthborn/Ruthless, mainly because whenever I play an MMO or RPG styled game I like putting my character through an arc of sorts.
Whether that means making them an Anti-Hero turned Hero or Hero turned Anti-Hero. I just think it’s pretty neat and almost feels like a natural progression of putting my character through character development.
Awesome video. Have you done a video on the "support" mini quests in ME3. Do any of these have a significant impact on war assets?
I think I’m gonna be the boring one here, but I always choose the spacer and war hero. I like that I can talk to my mum, and that I hold onto good and positive convictions. Yeah my Shep is a mummy’s boy and space Boy Scout 😂
War Hero is some lame vanilla trash.
Ruthless and Sole Survivor are way better imo.
it would be so cool if they added a dlc for the background. Imagine if we got a DLC for the Skyllian blitz Batarain raid for the war hero Shepard.. We would get to play a teen Shepard kicking batarian Butt until reinforcement arrived.. It could also include Shepards family and story before the raid begins.. So much opportunity!! Bioware please make this happen
Earthborn + Ruthless - because you can always whack people in the head with that maxed out Renegade bar and brute-force through any diplomatic conflict.
I forget sometimes that my version of shepard isn't the only one. When i look at other avatars i am like why is she looking like that ?
heroic murder hobo is the best background
So ruthless is war crime shepard
My favourite combinations are:
Male - Colonist - War Hero
Female - Spacer - Ruthless
Male Shep being the archetipical Paragon hero and female Shep being the win at any cost Renegade. I love roleplaying.
Colonosit/Akuze background is the most tragic
I did colonist, and ruthless and I’m glad I did as it’s the least poplar options and made my shepherd more like “my” shepherd
Yes they do matter because depending on the back ground you can justify the ending of Mass Effect 3... Ruthless would do the Destroy Ending because fuck actually trying to reduce casualties (EDI & the Geth) , War Hero would do the Control Ending (Everything must be perfect, retain the status quo).... and Sole Survivor would do Synthesis (Tired of all the death, no more lives loss because of this...)
Spacer + war hero is really a great choice for paragon playthrough.
It goes well for Shepard because, it gives him a real motivation yo be good, family and a good reputation.
Also, you can kow Shepard's mom, wich really is a sweet moment during the franchise.
I originally went with Earthborn Sole Survivor Soldier, now I go for Spacer Sole Survivor Soldier, just because Spacer has Shepard's mum alive, would've been awesome if she was a war asset in ME3.
I like how you can mix and match both profiles. You can really make it unique to how you want Shepard to be portrayed.
Please do a "classes" vid
Yes and no, they mattered in the first game but from ME2 to ME3 they got less attention. My Colonist Warn Hero Shepard got destroyed at the end of Arriva, up to that point he had done bad things but he had a good effect at the end the situation on the Bahak Relay destroyed his views and persona, had he used other methods (talking to the Batarian leadership and and infiltrating the prision) he realizes he could have accomplished the mission to destroy the Relay and save those people.
After being so use to Legendary Edition, footage from the original versions of the trilogy do stick out more lol
Colonist, sole survivor = neutral
Spacer, war hero = paragon
Earthborn, ruthless = renegade
That’s the way to get maximum points for renegade, paragon, neutral
Ruthless / Earthborn. Makes the Renegade decisions I make seem in character cause my Shep is just a street hardened psycho.
No offense, but I think that's somewhat child's play. Since my colonist sole survivor Sherpard is a nihilistic and manipulative predator/psycho.
For the hardcore RP:
- Colonist
- Sole Survivor
- rush to the suicide mission in ME2 because 'innocents are dying and there's no time to waste,' lose most or all of your squad
- play your ME3 Shep as suffering from PTSD because 'everyone around me always dies'
- willingly die at the end of ME3, finally relieved of your survivor guilt
I do think the potential of role playing is strong with these backgrounds like you could Have a childhood where your parents were in the military. So you joined up wanting to be just like them and make them proud. Only to have the soul survival ending, saying, 50 Marines die in front of you. And then that makes you resent your parents. I don't know.😂😂
"A sole survivor Shepard is someone who'll do whatever it takes to survive."
That's one way of looking at it. Another way not mentioned in the video is that a combination of skill and luck allowed Shepard the ability to survive where the rest of his squad failed. And now, dealing with the trauma of losing his/her entire unit and coping with survivor's guilt, Shepard takes precautions to ensure that he/she loses as few comrades as possible.
My favorite part was the 2 throwaway lines most will miss from the spacer background. I smiled when you got to talk with sheps mother.
But generally speaking with psyche profile i always picked sole survivor so.
I know this is one og the greatest games to have ever been on our screens but I've played over 9/10 playthroughs and will probably play it again but i wanna ask how many times have you completed the story and whats keeps you starting over and over? (our own cycle😂)
Dang dude. I've been trying to play Andromeda after finishing up the Milky Way trilogy again, and I just keep wanting to go back to the original games. The narratives are so much better!
When I Get ME:LE. I'll Get the Following Backgrounds:
Spacer/War Hero.
Colonist/Ruthless.
Earthborn/Sole Survivor.
Honestly love your work. The only good Mass Effect UA-camr I know. (Of course I don't know everyone so... room for others I guess.)
Ruthless rules, hehehe
Fun fact about Elanos Haliat. Not only did he get a species change from Human to Turian. There's also a manufacturer in the first game called "Haliat Armory". Idk if they're related, but I feel like they totally could be.
Haliat was always suppoused to be Turian. Him having human model was a bug in PC version. It actually never made much sense that batarians would ally with a human.
Earthborn and war hero all day every day. I really like this combination of background choices.