@@Dave-xn4zg Ballas was a big poisonous snake among a pit of vipers. dude straight up doesn't get enough hate even though the entire community hates him with extreme spite
Same here. The first time I experienced Second Dream(I was there when it launched) made me cry from awe. Even now, so many years later, once the choral starts and Lotus picks us up, I still get a little teary-eyed.
And remember. This is a 11/10 quest. In a game you don't ever have to put money into. Which is why the fans are more then happy to buy the cosmetics. To show their support to everyone who made this game.
All the incredible things the Tenno are capable of doing, and their real super power is literally just having empathy for others. The way Ballas describes it as if empathy was some sort of alien concept that was only “learned” by the Tenno through random chance that defies logic and science is EXTREMELY telling of his character.
Little note about the various frames in the game. Every base Warframe has or will have a Prime variant. But only Excalibur has an Umbra, and he will forever be the only Umbra.
"Somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing...and take away its pain" This line hits so damn hard, such beautiful writing.
@@getawayfromme44 not only alien to them, but terrifying, like that line from doctor who about "the most terrifying thing being when a good man goes to war"
I think it's worth mentioning that Lotus was gone for like... 4 years or so for us before we got a resolution to that plot (not saying what the resolution is). If not longer than that. I still get flashbacks when I see the purple hologram version of her
I’m honestly more used to purple digital lotus than I am to regular lotus because of the wait, this shit was so hype when it came out man I remember everyone going crazy over umbras reveal 😭😭
Hey mactics, heres a personal side quest for you, try to find and scan all of the cephalon fragments you can find around the missions on planets and, after you manage to scan them all, theres a very interesting piece of information you can find hidden on the images the fragments reveal, every image has a special message from "someone" you know...but also dont know? if you care about lore, this is a very nice treat.
He does. Out of all the frames, he never mentions them as gods, the closest one is Nidus, who he calls a demigod (interestingly enough, a demigod is the son of a god or a being that has obtained some sort of lesser divine status, which is a cool double meaning since not only does that mean he sees frames as inferior, Ballas sees himself as a god due to the definitions of a demigod).
Isaac and his mother lived alone in a small house on a hill. Isaac kept to himself as his mother watched Christian broadcast on the television. Life was simple and they were both happy
It is time for the quest that made everyone start hating Ballas. Also the quest that gives us A LOT of insight on the Orikin ,the frames and even the Tenno
There used to be a menu overlay on top of the Umbra scene, so you didn't realize it was a unique cutscene. I think they changed it because people were Sh!tting themselves when he lunged. It looked exactly the same as the arsenal, until Umbra lunged through it. One of my friends blasted his undies because of it. To be fair he was towards the end of a food poisoning ordeal. I still laughed at him though.
I thought I remembered the menu still being there, felt like I was going insane watching new player reactions to it now! I think they should've kept it tbh, the mini-jumpscare was part of the fun ;)
I think the actual reason it was removed was cause people were causing the game to glitch by somehow gaining access to Umbra before the intended sequence.
@@demonhunterx7094 Aw rip, that'd make sense though. I did wonder if anyone had managed to glitch their way into the appearance and/or modding screens early and ended up having a hot pink Umbra for the rest of the quest lol
"I'm boutta cook this clown" I heard more conviction behind those words than anyone else who has ever played this game. Watching you blaze through Warframe with as much eagerness to learn the lore as much as the gameplay has been nothing short of invigorating. Can't wait for you to dive further into it, and enjoy Umbra! "I'll fix you" and the cat fucking took me out LMFAOO
That hole scene where the music starts and Umbra is there crying makes me tear up a little every time. "see inside an ugly broken thing, and take away its pain." One of the best scenes in the game.
All of what I'm going to talk about is information available to you from before and during this quest. To understand Umbra, we have to first understand the different generations of Warframes we knew of before Warframe:1999 was teased. There are 3 different generations of warframes, designed and created by Ballas, some in collaboration with others while a small percentage made made without Ballas' direct influence, E.g. Xaku. We also learn from this quest that the sentients were made by Ballas. The first generation are made using humans turned infested using the Helminth strain, eventually most go mad from the torture of becoming a Warframe and end up berserk E.g. Rhino. So because of that, the second generation of warframes were made, these warframes are still made from humans turned infested, but are without any memories, effectively turning them into lifeless dolls, the transference bolt fitted in their heads allows for them to be controlled by a Tenno. Lastly, the third generation of warframes are copies of the second generation warframes, these warframes can be fabricated using the necessary materials and are the warframes we own and build in the foundry. Umbra is different in that, he's a first generation warframe with a unique Umbral transference bolt that will no matter what, only force him to relive the memories of him killing his son against his will. When we witness Lotus' memory at the start of the quests, we see Ballas destroy the original first generation Umbra. We then go the the location to scan his remains to create a blueprint copy of him, but because of his unique Umbra transference bolt forcing him to relive his memories, even though we built a third generation version of him, he was still able to act as though he was a first generation warframe. That's why he's able to act on his own, even when we're in operator mode. What's interesting is that The Stalker is likely a first generation warframe, though in his Codex description when you scan him, he's only referred to as a "Low Guardian" that served the Orokin, the reason why he hates the Tenno is because basically committed mass genocide on the Orokin. And maybe I'm mistaken but our starter warframes might be the second generation ones. Maybe I'm wrong about the history of warframes but this is how I understood it atleast.
I don't think Stalker is a 1st gen as they rebelled and were destroyed by the Orokin. I suspect he is a 2nd gen that a human mind (we know whose but Ill not put here because spoilers) was Transferenced into by his partner to save him from execution. As such he is neither 1st gen insane, nor Tenno, but a human mind trapped in a warframe similar to how Silvana became the Silver Grove. Explains why [redacted] knew who he was and spared him, and also why her punishment was so much more twisted than simple execution.
All warframes possess memory to an extent. The difference is that the normal warframes were solely designed to be piloted by an Operator and thus are more docile. Rhino in the Lancer Codex operated of it's own volition until an Operator began to calm him. Umbra, however, was never made with the purpose of being used as a Warframe by an Operator. Ballas made him Umbra just to suffer. He has an almost unparalleled amount of freedom because of not having an Operator to mend his shattered mind.
finding out that the Warframes were once people who most likely had the infestation forced into them, going through painful transformations and still constantly feeling pain (mental and physical) even while they're frames, was mindblowing to me. and then finding out that the Tenno were the missing piece that eased their pain...oof. i always tear up when Ballas says "It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing...and take away its pain." it's so powerful 😭
yeah that's how all the original frames were made, from people being turned into them; then the ones we make are synthetic copies of them and that's why they aren't sentient, prime frames are the forms that were optimized/perfected by the orokin and mass produced for war, the ones we use are from the broken fragments of them put back together
And then jade happens ..... which breaks me even more .... if i was unfortunate enough to be a frame i would have ended up being the stalker if you havent yet go play it yet another pain i am all too familiar with
wanna kow something? this was already known by most players who read the codex. same with the operator being the surviving children in the zariman. you can go to the codex and read about those things. long before you can do those quests. and as someone who knew about them. they were still incredibly effetive and emotional to me. similarly, we KNOW what cephalons are, because of ordis lore, and you can do that before the silver grove.
@@marcosdheleno again, not all cephalons are born from the unwilling, some were also volunteers, such as Archemedian Suda, who was suffering from anterograde and retrograde amnesia, despite her role as an archemedian who vowed to preserve orokin history, culture, and technology, her memories of them were slipping away day by day, and so she chose to become a cephalon, so that her memories may be preserved as incorruptible engrams for the future of the origin system.
So the dialogue choices are not good or bad. They are on a scale of emotional (light) to indifferent (dark). Pay attention to that that last one because we are building to something big here.
I came to comment on that as well. It's not a morality system like in Mass Effect or KOTOR, but alignment: Sun (light): choices that are driven by passion like "Squirm like the maggot you are" Moon (dark): idealistic and level-headed Neutral: balance between passion and pragmatism The overall effect is deciding what kind of character your Tenno is. The outcome is set, but players decide what kind of journey they will have.
I remember umbra being a Chinese exclusive frame meant to be the Chinese version of Excalibur prime only obtained through a founders pack until everyone cried about it being only exclusive to China. So they had to give it it's own quest to fit narratively in the story so everyone can get him.
@@agssilv5919 Only on the Chinese build, yes. We got regular umbra later after the players begged for it (though iirc they might have had it in planning already)
2018... This was the quest that got me into the game. I was over at a friends house and he wanted to get his daily login reward before playing call of duty together. I was intriged by the look of the game and he showed me around his orbiter before handing me the controller. He began to explain some of the lore for the game and I was immediately interested and he had me play this quest while he explained all the lore that was out at the time. Roughly 6 hours passed while he explained all the lore of the game all the whole i was enraputred by the gameplay. I will never forget that day because it was the influence for one of my favorite games of all time.
@@awesomearsam1890 I'd argue his friend was impatient, but in a good way. Like when you give someone a gift and can't wait to see their reaction when they open it.
This is still the best quest in the game. Clears 2nd Dream, WW, NW EASY. Best writing, great music, characters aren't morons, and it's quite emotional.
@@dustingrim9095 great analogy 🤣, although I thought it was even worse than "infinity war" equivalent. lf I were to rank quests by story, 1. Sacrifice, 2. WW, 3.SD, 4 NW.
New war seems to be the most polarizing quest in this community. Personally I really liked it. Satisfying ending to this first "arc" of warframe. Though I do absolutely agree, Sacrifice clears every other quest in this game. My god is it amazing. What's even better is it didn't introduce any massive new systems, didn't change the landscape of warframe in colossal ways. DE just wanted to tell this story. Amd it turned out to be the best they've told.
Ok, so, fun trivia time! In the beginning of the video, in the prologue, when you pick up the helmet at the end of it; the music there is very very like the normal song you hear at the beginning of the game, but it has one key difference: In the beginning of the game, it was one voice calling out and a chorus answering her, in the one at the end of this prologue, it is a chorus calling out and NO ONE answering. It has been spoken on by the team who did music and the such, in the start of the game, it is the Lotus calling out and all the Tenno answering her, this time it was all the Tenno calling out for the Lotus and her not being there
It’s so cool seeing this series unfold. This series is what got me to start Warframe and I am now just a bit ahead in the story. Getting my mind blown by a quest then less than 10 hours later watching someone else get their mind blown by the same quest is awesome.
Ooh, guessing game I'm in The only one that comes after that hits deeply is the Jade quest Others are good and cinematic (new war) but I don't think it's what you're alluding to
@@brianlosi I agree with you, Jade quest hits the hardest, but you were right, I didn't mean that. I'm more of a "muh lore" guy when it comes to Warframe :)
That's the thing about warframe. "The best quest" is just the last major quest you play, because they just keep getting better. (I say major quest because... yeah, lotus eaters is like 30 seconds...)
I'm pretty sure that it is partially because they need to give enough exposition in advance and partially because it introduces potential bugs before the big update, during which process of working through them will be so much more overwhelming.
@@dahSweep affinity boosters don't mean shit when you dont have 20 frames and weapoons waiting in the foundry for you and spoliler alert, mactics doesnt.
@@dahSweep or because playing 10+ hours a day is literally his job. sure, the boosters help, but progressing through the chart and doing all quests does not take that long. plus content creators will never have the same experience playing through a game for the first time as someone who doesn't stream or have help.
I have to say for someone that has all of the puzzle (story) done (for now) watching someone go back through and having context now changes my understanding of what is happening in this play through and could argue that a 2nd playthrough is just as unique and deepens the lore yet again and has me theory crafting all over again on some things I thought I knew.
So! You asked what the Helminth is! Im no lore expert but... The creation process... infecting a person, watching their skin blossom into sword-steel... that is how EVERY Warframe is made. At least their original versions. The Tenno find blueprints to replicate these original versions. But every original Warframe was a person, infected by the HELMINTH strain of the infestation. A strain created by the Orokin for just this purpose. To turn people into puppets to kill on their behalf. That is the origins of the Frames you inhabit. Not Machines. And that-back when i first found out- Is a twist that broke me. Aside from this one, burning memory being repeated... that process of disease and transformation is not unique to Umbra.
This is easily my favorite part out of all this specific quest line. The Second Dream and War Within felt like opening up the giant gates. And past that gate, we see the darkness in Chains of Harrow, and the suffering in The Sacrifice. From this point on, Warframe has become one of my favorite narratives in video games. Not just for F2P games. Also, all aboard the Ballas hate-train. The Orokin were already despicable. But Ballas takes it to another level. Does his job as a villain pretty well. 10/10 would stab again. The choices you made were interesting though. Didn't think of it that way. "This was inevitable" sounds a lot better to me now.
Just as i thought. 33:44 there is supposed to be music here, but its been bugged for over a year and won't play. It's a unique track too, it gets more intense when ballas starts speaking to really emphasis the severity of the scene.
Really? It sucks these impactful quests seem to always be breaking in some way. Like when the Warframe would always be holding the secondary in TSD sword split scene. Or in TWW where the lighting would turn complete black on some of the operator vision things in the mountain trials. I also feel like the glass reflection of the room in the Yuvan theatre isn't supposed to looks so... flat.
I remember doing the Sacrifice for the first time. Back in the day, the Arsenal UI didn't disappear until Umbra shouts, making it so that the shock that Umbra is alive more of a shock. I guess with the many changes to the UI over the years, the UI just disappears immediately upon equipping Umbra. But even now, it's still one of the best surprises I've ever experienced in a video game for the same reason that using the Arsenal feels so natural that it genuinely surprises you when it goes wrong.
Ah ... yes, the other quest that will break me into an emotional mess. Second Dream / War Within being the first. Here's to a third quest that also makes me shed a tear soon.
To explain frames... there are I believe 3 gens. The first generation are sentient the second is partially sentient but are basically a robot... the third are just puppets. We are in the 3rd generation were we just 3d print the frames. The story off the frames are really interesting
The worst part about these quest is you can never do them again for the first time, you can only watch baby tenno have the same baffeled look on there faces we all probably had, these quest, there writing and execution is some of the best in gaming ever, i have never felt so many feeling in any other quests or missions i have ever done in any other game
The 2nd dream was an experience, and a damn good one, but the sacrifice is my favorite because of its story. The music that plays when you finally help umbra really set the tone. Fun little story mantics, after this quest, someone went to DEs office and taped a sign that said "thank you". Skillup talked about it in one of his warframe vids
I just got back into this game after a few years and it has been a joy seeing you play these quests. Its a great refresh for me and I love watching your reactions. This was my favorite quest when I had played originally and was excited to see you play it. Now I'm hooked again and I got a lot of quests to do.
29:14 He is talking about the infestation, they made it so the infested would kill the sentient, it didn't work. Then they used the infestation to create the warframes.
this quest is peak storytelling, the second dream was a gamechanger in the truest meaning of the words, since warframe players had never experienced a story focussed quest before and seconds dream turned everything we knew on it's head.
I enjoyed this quest more than Second Dream as well. (Jade Shadows is my favorite Warframe Quest. The full circle moment of it is.... *Chef's kiss*) The world building, the character development, the heartbreak (Umbra and seeing Lotus returned to her true form Natah), it was incredible. Most importantly, learning the dark and horrible truth about the Warframes, the frames we had so casually been playing around as all this time was a hefty gut punch. Makes you want to learn about every Warframe's creation. Who they once were, why they were chosen...how they transformed... So much to discover and unpack.
I've been playing Warframe for over 10 years and I have the opportunity to see everything again through the eyes of a "new" player. It’s so good, thank you for that!
I loved this quest. Fav one so far. Going into this, i thought it was one of those kinds of quests where they show something cool, but you have to farm it for hours just to actually obtain it. I was pleasantly surprised when, after the quest, it straight up gives you the Umbra, equipped with full mod compacity, the skaijati, and a set of Umbra mods. My excitement went through the roof. But it wasn't just the rewards, but the quest itself was absolutely epic, the graphics and story... gameplay in general... man i love this game too much. 10/10 Quest Would play again.
Excalibur Umbra was a Dax named Umbra, infected with a similar strain that created the Excalibur warframe. Umbra frames wouldn't make sense, since there was only one person named Umbra that was turned into a warframe. Umbra isn't a frame variant applicable to all frames, just a secondary title. His strain (Excalibur) and his name (Umbra)
So few people get what is actually going on here. Ballas didn't betray the Orokin because they killed Margulis. He betrayed them to save her. Everything from the Old War to the New War is Ballas's gambit to save her. Hunhow destroying himself, Natah thinking she's a spy based on Margulis to control the Tenno, Ballas Helminthing Umbra because the he found out what he was planning to do, his manipulation of the Tenno to kill the Seven and destroy the Empire. All of it was just a ploy to save Margulis from The Jade Light. He burnt everything down because they tried to take her away from him and he's a sociopathic egomaniac that sees Margulis as his. Ballas convinces Natah, Erra and Hunhow that he's defected and will help them win, and how they will do it is by shaping Natah into likeness of Margulis so that she can control the Tenno. But that was never the truth. What he actually did was use The Continuity to transfer Margulis into Natah. The Lotus is both Margulis and Natah, but she isn't even aware of that herself. She thinks she's Natah reprogrammed to resemble Margulis as part of the plan...but it's actually Margulis in there influencing her thoughts, that's what makes her betray Hunhow and not complete the sequence...The Lotus loves the Tenno because Margulis does and Natah can't ignore Margulis's feelings, she feels them herself because they share a singular consciousness. The Lotus thinks she's Natah who just changed her mind because of some maternal desire caused by her being unable to have children of her own after travelling through the void, but that's what Ballas wanted her to think because Natah wouldn't have gone along with it if she knew she'd be giving up control of her own mind. Up until Apostasy, Natah was just the dominant personality. When Ballas disconnects the helmet he shoves Natah into the back seat of her own mind and Margulis takes control. This was always his plan. to have Margulis eventually dominate her out of her own mind the way the Queens were trying to do to you with the Kuva staff. That is why she says "I'm not who you think I am" when they first meet and Ballas replies "Oh but you are imprisoned as she was"...he knows what he did. He knows there's a copy of Margulis in Natah's head that she isn't aware of. That is what changed her personality and made her start calling herself The Lotus, because she couldn't reconcile the two conflicting personalities. She became a third person that is both of them.
The Sacrifice is such a peak quest. Amazing story, amazing quests, amazing additions that are free. Just when you think the game peaked, it just gets better. Umbra is one of my top frames that I use. His passive and roar are handy for fighting multiple foes. If you build him for Chromatic Blade, he's a walking death machine.
Chat should've told Mactics about Excalibur Frame that was before Umbra, but wasn't a Prime or the base Warframe during this quest. I felt that it drove to create this story, but I could be wrong because I'm entirely aware of the origins of 'The Sacrifice'
It's so nice seeing new reactions of all the twist and turns this story has. And you're in for so much more shock as you find new stuff, and the Cephalon Fragments
Excalibur Umbra was what brought me to Warframe and I unfortunately speed ran my way through all the other quests up until this one, I didn't even know Transference was a thing until the War Within and that we had that cool Void beam attack until I had already traded it out. Although, despite missing all the context, this quest still hit so hard for me, I remember nearly shedding a tear, watching Umbra suffering under that tree, this and the entrance to Fortuna are at the top of my favorite Warframe experiences, and I'm glad to be back after such a long hiatus. (Destiny robbed me of peak) PS: All me and my homies stay hating on Ballas
The white/black sun/moon alignment dial for dialogue choices doesn't code for good/evil. What affects it are actions you take and what it represents is the player tenno's state of mind resulting from the consequences of your choices. Sun represents actions that are passionate and hasty. Moon represents pragmatist and idealistic actions. Neutral is balance between action and inaction.
videos like this is why I, a vet, am always looking for new players to watch. We all been here spitballing ideas and possibilities. The genuine reaction is why vets won't tell you what happens but will tell you "play the mission first then we can talk". This is truly one of my top 5 favorite reactions to this quest. maybe top 3 purely for 18:44. my mouth dropped too when i played it
The Sacrifice is genuinely the best story in Warframe. It's beautiful, it's tragic, and its core theme of healing and finding peace after pain is sonething so rarely touched upon. Even all these years later it still hits me every time I replay it or watch someone's first playthrough.
Nice to see how closely you follow the story (and understand it) and how empathic you are, which is not often seen people playing this game (and truth be told, probably also not the expectation when playing a looter-shooter).
Fun fact about the seven, they had special sealed chambers they remained in so that they didn't have to breath the same air as the lowly peasants below them.
I have a feeling that Matics here may have misunderstood a very important detail about this mission that explains the process of creating warframes which gives a very dark knowledge of what warframes really are. All warframes are made with a transferance bolt, Umbra is not special because he was created from a dax / another human being, Umbra is special because he's the only one that doesn't relinquish control. when you play as a warframe you play as an individual who was forcibly "volunteered" to become a walking murder machine against their will, very few did it willingly. The archive on your ship contains information about each warframe, and who they once were. You should look at some of the levarian items on them.
Also, in the event that nobody has mentioned it in the comments or your chat yet, Excalibur is the only frame to have an umbra from. It's because his prime frame was some kind of pre order bonus but only in Japan or something? And they've never brought it back into the game cycle. So they gave us umbra who acts like a prime instead
Well no, Excalibur Prime was given to all the Founder players, which were players who were some of the first to play and stick by Warframe in its most earliest development.
Excal Prime was part of a Founders Pack. What would be a Kickstarter bonus were it to happen today. Excal Umbra was originally a design from the Chinese build of Warframe, which has an increadably predatory business model, but par for the course for Chinese games. Chinese gamers have it rough in general.
its so funny seeing narratives like "this game has no story" or "its so convoluted" only for a guy on his first playthrough literally understand everything he is seeing and even understanding how it all ties together funny how that works i guess.
This quest barely even scratches the surface of what an absolute _bastard_ Ballas is. Once you dive more into the lore you'll find that he's probably the most evil character in the entire game.
@@cefloh nah, remember Umbra had to remember murdering his own son on loop for decades, as well as the knowledge that the person who erased his whole bloodline is the one person he can't kill.
When you walk up to Umbra in the gold memory state and he’s just there grabbing is head in agony…that’s where I lost it. Amazing quest, amazing storytelling.
22:44 Honestly, Second Dream is just an alright quest, but it's important cause it's when the game finally opens up and shows its true colours to the player. There are many better quests left to experience, ones that most never get to because the quit before the turning point that is the Second Dream.
second dream is a good quest, that is held up for being the first true cinematic quest in the game, and for being a literal game changer. its weight is less to do with the quest itself, and more with what it represents. it did what nothing in destiny ever could. take the lore, and make it tangible in game. with the gravitas it deserves.
@marcosdheleno my issue with the Second Dream is that it was fairly predictable. I didn't expect a character creation menu, but otherwise it wasn't surprising at all
@@nahqiv " my issue with the Second Dream is that it was fairly predictable." they literaly spoil the second dream in the lore if you decide to check it. but its the same for the war within and the sacrifice. the game talks about warframes being "weird", or machines, soulless and so on. so its not that its predictable, they want you to question what they are from the start. its the reason the new intro pretty much screams it at the player. so i would argue that, the fact you already figured out the secret of the tenno was on purpose, i mean, we are LITERALY called OPERATOR for a reason. so its the other way around. its not that you predicted it, its that you pieced together based on the hints the game gave you.
i don't think i've ever said it out loud or even typed it out, but i agree - The Sacrifice was a more significantly impactful quest to me than The Second Dream was. still one of my favorite video game quests of all time (with Second Dream AND War Within both not far behind).
Also keep in mind the timing of these releases. We were left for about a year waiting to see what happened to Space mom. Granted it wasn’t Star Wars scale waiting, but it was long enough we didn’t know what was going to happen.
Just for some context, we lived with Apostasy Prologue/The Sacrifice Lotus for five years. We had to wait for a super long time to fully understand what's going on with her.
Consider playing Duviri's Paradox before the New War adventure, let's say Duviri's Paradox starts at the beginning of the New War in parallel temporally speaking. You will understand the story better if you complete it before the New War adventure. Also, by completing Duviri's Paradox you access the circuit where you can get warframes for a while. It's worth it.
Whats very cool about Umbra is that he can control his own body without being transference controlled which make it beneficial of distributing damage with Umbra AND operator
not gonna lie, this is still my favorite quest of the game. New War is a great payoff to mutliple plot threads coming together in one huge climactic event, but Sacrifice is just so intimate and emotional, the final scene where you tame Umbra by joining minds with him is just so beautiful.
One of the great things about Umbra is he's the only frame that can function as a fighting specter while you are in operator mode. I like to use him on eidolon hunts. He fights while I am in operator and voidrig modes. Edit. A lot of people have that misconception at first that he is a frame type. It's not. Umbra is his name. The name of the individual that was transformed into that warframe. He is unique. A unique version of excalibur, like a custom car.
"This is the best quest in any game ever." no... This is the best quest... SO FAR...The story will just keep escalating. It is so hot that it will send you to the sun.
When you take control of umbra as ballas says: :they somehow managed to see through an ugly broken thing... and take away its pain" is one of the greatest moments of warframe. The tenno in the old war were one of the only who cpuld give peace to the 1st warframes who still were "sentient" and give them peace to their rage and sorrow.
"Was Ballas a bad guy among a bunch of good guys?"
No... Orokin were all assholes. Ballas was a bad guy among a bunch of other bad guys.
Ballas was a very big snake in some very tall grass.
@@Dave-xn4zg Ballas was a big poisonous snake among a pit of vipers.
dude straight up doesn't get enough hate even though the entire community hates him with extreme spite
Not all orokin were assholes. Most of the elite was, but the rest were a mixed bag just like any other. Look at Margulis after all, and the Dax
more like the worst guy among bunch of BAD guys
@@Zach-cn4lbMargulis wasn’t an Orokin she was a part of their empire but only the people at the very top were actual Orokin.
“…And take away its pain”
Still makes me cry every single time
1st time playing this quest made me cry and still rewatching after years still makes me cry
dude seriously. i teared up like a bitch just watching this again, the delivery on the voice acting in this game is so god damn good
First time was a full on cry, though the effect has diminished with time and now I just sorta feel like I'm going to.
Yo, and that song in the background? OOF.
Same here. The first time I experienced Second Dream(I was there when it launched) made me cry from awe. Even now, so many years later, once the choral starts and Lotus picks us up, I still get a little teary-eyed.
And remember. This is a 11/10 quest. In a game you don't ever have to put money into. Which is why the fans are more then happy to buy the cosmetics. To show their support to everyone who made this game.
I can't wait for the New War and Whispers in the Walls videos.
@@yasserkerbache yeah, New war is gonna be a couple of videos :P
11/10 quest in a free game and its arguably not even the best quest in that free game
Just bought 40 bucks worth of plat with a 50% coupon, first thing I did was buy skins
@@jayschranz7940 It's 100% the best written quest
All the incredible things the Tenno are capable of doing, and their real super power is literally just having empathy for others. The way Ballas describes it as if empathy was some sort of alien concept that was only “learned” by the Tenno through random chance that defies logic and science is EXTREMELY telling of his character.
the best part is, he is so disconected to it, that even him describing it, makes it seems like an alien concept or something.
bro could've found that quality in lots of places if he knew what it looked like
Textbook definition of a sociopath
@@gokkiyoutube pretty much
its extremely telling of the orokin as a whole. Because it wasnt just ballas that didnt get empathy. none of the orokin besides Margulis did
Little note about the various frames in the game. Every base Warframe has or will have a Prime variant. But only Excalibur has an Umbra, and he will forever be the only Umbra.
Wrong excalibur prime has existed. He was obtainable till 2013 edit: relax i didnt read it right
Rhino codex has plenty of reason for there to be a rhino umbra
Actually, the devs have talked on their streams about possibly making more Umbra frames, but its not set in stone :(, it is a possibility tho
Imagine being so contrarian you respond without fully reading the post
Excalibur Prime does exist, it was given to the (I think) year one founders supporters of Warframe when the game first launched
"Somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing...and take away its pain"
This line hits so damn hard, such beautiful writing.
The way the writers managed to describe empathy as such an alien concept just shows the depravity of the Orokin.
@@getawayfromme44 not only alien to them, but terrifying, like that line from doctor who about "the most terrifying thing being when a good man goes to war"
Getting Umbra just to immediately change his helmet is a war crime.
the worst war crime 😞
kinda ruined the finale for me honestly
thats exactly what i did since i already got the nightwave helmet 😅
@@howitzer5600nothing beats his original helmet
@@Okipullup6103 i replace it in every fashion tbh 💀
I think it's worth mentioning that Lotus was gone for like... 4 years or so for us before we got a resolution to that plot (not saying what the resolution is). If not longer than that. I still get flashbacks when I see the purple hologram version of her
dude i had to turn on creator mode to hide spoilers so that the constant static would go away. pure pain
I was in denial those years 😭 everytime I saw the hologram it reminded me that she was gone and made me feel abandoned all over again 😭😭😭
womp womp
wait the quest really took 4 years? dayum cant imagine how that must have felt
I’m honestly more used to purple digital lotus than I am to regular lotus because of the wait, this shit was so hype when it came out man I remember everyone going crazy over umbras reveal 😭😭
Hey mactics, heres a personal side quest for you, try to find and scan all of the cephalon fragments you can find around the missions on planets and, after you manage to scan them all, theres a very interesting piece of information you can find hidden on the images the fragments reveal, every image has a special message from "someone" you know...but also dont know? if you care about lore, this is a very nice treat.
Oh yeah, HIM. Should definitely do this for the lore.
absolutely,even better,sombody with his unholy luck should be able to find the kurias as well
@@IceVamp Capital letter HIM is the only way to tell it, I love that guy.
man i have over 800 hours in the game and had 0 clue this was ingame
@@danielvazquez3885 Well the Kuria are always in the same place, so it shouldn't involve that much luck.
The Son name is Isaah - it's a reference to biblical story of Isaac ;) And as we know Ballas he could easily think of himself as a god - a creator
He does. Out of all the frames, he never mentions them as gods, the closest one is Nidus, who he calls a demigod (interestingly enough, a demigod is the son of a god or a being that has obtained some sort of lesser divine status, which is a cool double meaning since not only does that mean he sees frames as inferior, Ballas sees himself as a god due to the definitions of a demigod).
Isaac and his mother lived alone in a small house on a hill. Isaac kept to himself as his mother watched Christian broadcast on the television. Life was simple and they were both happy
@@anclejackman Isaac and his Isaac lived alone in the small Isaac on a Isaac.
Not to mention the literal burning bush when you reach Ballas at the end
It is time for the quest that made everyone start hating Ballas. Also the quest that gives us A LOT of insight on the Orikin ,the frames and even the Tenno
My guy took one look at Natah and said "I can fix her" and he's so real for this.
never watched a warframe "lets play", but you keep me looking at recent uploads every day lol
SAME
SAME
SAME
He's cooking, and veterans love it
ДА
There used to be a menu overlay on top of the Umbra scene, so you didn't realize it was a unique cutscene. I think they changed it because people were Sh!tting themselves when he lunged. It looked exactly the same as the arsenal, until Umbra lunged through it. One of my friends blasted his undies because of it. To be fair he was towards the end of a food poisoning ordeal. I still laughed at him though.
I had way too many sodas when I played this quest for the first time. When Umbra lunged I ALMOST peed myself.
I thought I remembered the menu still being there, felt like I was going insane watching new player reactions to it now! I think they should've kept it tbh, the mini-jumpscare was part of the fun ;)
I think the actual reason it was removed was cause people were causing the game to glitch by somehow gaining access to Umbra before the intended sequence.
@@demonhunterx7094 Aw rip, that'd make sense though. I did wonder if anyone had managed to glitch their way into the appearance and/or modding screens early and ended up having a hot pink Umbra for the rest of the quest lol
thats the reason they changed it?😂😂😂people are so pussy
"I'm boutta cook this clown" I heard more conviction behind those words than anyone else who has ever played this game. Watching you blaze through Warframe with as much eagerness to learn the lore as much as the gameplay has been nothing short of invigorating. Can't wait for you to dive further into it, and enjoy Umbra!
"I'll fix you" and the cat fucking took me out LMFAOO
That hole scene where the music starts and Umbra is there crying makes me tear up a little every time.
"see inside an ugly broken thing, and take away its pain."
One of the best scenes in the game.
Best apart about that scene for me is that the song played is “Smiles from Juran”, the song Isaah said his father played for him.
@@Ashin1O3O I just learned how to play that in Final Fantasy XIV. Hoping to play it in a big town and see who shares the emotional damage with me.
All of what I'm going to talk about is information available to you from before and during this quest.
To understand Umbra, we have to first understand the different generations of Warframes we knew of before Warframe:1999 was teased.
There are 3 different generations of warframes, designed and created by Ballas, some in collaboration with others while a small percentage made made without Ballas' direct influence, E.g. Xaku. We also learn from this quest that the sentients were made by Ballas.
The first generation are made using humans turned infested using the Helminth strain, eventually most go mad from the torture of becoming a Warframe and end up berserk E.g. Rhino.
So because of that, the second generation of warframes were made, these warframes are still made from humans turned infested, but are without any memories, effectively turning them into lifeless dolls, the transference bolt fitted in their heads allows for them to be controlled by a Tenno.
Lastly, the third generation of warframes are copies of the second generation warframes, these warframes can be fabricated using the necessary materials and are the warframes we own and build in the foundry.
Umbra is different in that, he's a first generation warframe with a unique Umbral transference bolt that will no matter what, only force him to relive the memories of him killing his son against his will.
When we witness Lotus' memory at the start of the quests, we see Ballas destroy the original first generation Umbra.
We then go the the location to scan his remains to create a blueprint copy of him, but because of his unique Umbra transference bolt forcing him to relive his memories, even though we built a third generation version of him, he was still able to act as though he was a first generation warframe.
That's why he's able to act on his own, even when we're in operator mode.
What's interesting is that The Stalker is likely a first generation warframe, though in his Codex description when you scan him, he's only referred to as a "Low Guardian" that served the Orokin, the reason why he hates the Tenno is because basically committed mass genocide on the Orokin.
And maybe I'm mistaken but our starter warframes might be the second generation ones.
Maybe I'm wrong about the history of warframes but this is how I understood it atleast.
I don't think Stalker is a 1st gen as they rebelled and were destroyed by the Orokin. I suspect he is a 2nd gen that a human mind (we know whose but Ill not put here because spoilers) was Transferenced into by his partner to save him from execution. As such he is neither 1st gen insane, nor Tenno, but a human mind trapped in a warframe similar to how Silvana became the Silver Grove. Explains why [redacted] knew who he was and spared him, and also why her punishment was so much more twisted than simple execution.
All warframes possess memory to an extent. The difference is that the normal warframes were solely designed to be piloted by an Operator and thus are more docile. Rhino in the Lancer Codex operated of it's own volition until an Operator began to calm him. Umbra, however, was never made with the purpose of being used as a Warframe by an Operator. Ballas made him Umbra just to suffer. He has an almost unparalleled amount of freedom because of not having an Operator to mend his shattered mind.
finding out that the Warframes were once people who most likely had the infestation forced into them, going through painful transformations and still constantly feeling pain (mental and physical) even while they're frames, was mindblowing to me. and then finding out that the Tenno were the missing piece that eased their pain...oof. i always tear up when Ballas says "It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing...and take away its pain." it's so powerful 😭
yeah that's how all the original frames were made, from people being turned into them; then the ones we make are synthetic copies of them and that's why they aren't sentient, prime frames are the forms that were optimized/perfected by the orokin and mass produced for war, the ones we use are from the broken fragments of them put back together
And then jade happens ..... which breaks me even more .... if i was unfortunate enough to be a frame i would have ended up being the stalker if you havent yet go play it yet another pain i am all too familiar with
wanna kow something? this was already known by most players who read the codex. same with the operator being the surviving children in the zariman. you can go to the codex and read about those things. long before you can do those quests.
and as someone who knew about them. they were still incredibly effetive and emotional to me.
similarly, we KNOW what cephalons are, because of ordis lore, and you can do that before the silver grove.
it should be noted that not all warframes were born from the unwilling, many were actually volunteers, such as the original banshee.
@@marcosdheleno again, not all cephalons are born from the unwilling, some were also volunteers, such as Archemedian Suda, who was suffering from anterograde and retrograde amnesia, despite her role as an archemedian who vowed to preserve orokin history, culture, and technology, her memories of them were slipping away day by day, and so she chose to become a cephalon, so that her memories may be preserved as incorruptible engrams for the future of the origin system.
Here begins the Ballas hate
Balass
GOOD ALL MY HOMIES HATE BALLAS
Yea until wave rider quest is unlocked then you just forget about him
Ballas more like Ball Ass. Ha got him
Ballas is just misunderstood 😢
So the dialogue choices are not good or bad. They are on a scale of emotional (light) to indifferent (dark). Pay attention to that that last one because we are building to something big here.
I came to comment on that as well. It's not a morality system like in Mass Effect or KOTOR, but alignment:
Sun (light): choices that are driven by passion like "Squirm like the maggot you are"
Moon (dark): idealistic and level-headed
Neutral: balance between passion and pragmatism
The overall effect is deciding what kind of character your Tenno is. The outcome is set, but players decide what kind of journey they will have.
I remember umbra being a Chinese exclusive frame meant to be the Chinese version of Excalibur prime only obtained through a founders pack until everyone cried about it being only exclusive to China. So they had to give it it's own quest to fit narratively in the story so everyone can get him.
Not all companies would even do THAT much, much less make a quest this good.
@clocked0 right, DE willingness to please its community is unmatched.
Umbra Prime still is exclusive, but otherwise, yes
@@hiitsjustdee wait umbra prime is a thing?
@@agssilv5919 Only on the Chinese build, yes. We got regular umbra later after the players begged for it (though iirc they might have had it in planning already)
49:26
-bunch of nonsense being emited
-cat: "waaaaat?"
2018... This was the quest that got me into the game. I was over at a friends house and he wanted to get his daily login reward before playing call of duty together. I was intriged by the look of the game and he showed me around his orbiter before handing me the controller. He began to explain some of the lore for the game and I was immediately interested and he had me play this quest while he explained all the lore that was out at the time. Roughly 6 hours passed while he explained all the lore of the game all the whole i was enraputred by the gameplay. I will never forget that day because it was the influence for one of my favorite games of all time.
This was heartwarming to read, glad that you got to the game like this and bless your patient and helpful friend
@@awesomearsam1890 I'd argue his friend was impatient, but in a good way. Like when you give someone a gift and can't wait to see their reaction when they open it.
@@Squeekysquid fair enough
Now imagine having this cliffhanger and having to wait a year for New War
one? Bro it was THREE MISERABLE YEARS OF WAITING
New War released like 4 years after the Sacrifice and dude, these were the longest four years in my life
Never forget the Tennocon 2018 teaser. Christmas release my ass, that was the perfect example of the [DE]layed meme
@@TheTanmoy1990 Good thing they stopped over promising and Warframe is in a better state than ever
All these quests that were so spread out for us, it's definitely easier to follow one after another like this.
This is still the best quest in the game. Clears 2nd Dream, WW, NW EASY. Best writing, great music, characters aren't morons, and it's quite emotional.
Agreed, New War was okay at best coming off this arc.
@@Maschine_Elf the new war was the endgame to the sacrifice's infinity war.
@@dustingrim9095 great analogy 🤣, although I thought it was even worse than "infinity war" equivalent. lf I were to rank quests by story, 1. Sacrifice, 2. WW, 3.SD, 4 NW.
New war seems to be the most polarizing quest in this community. Personally I really liked it. Satisfying ending to this first "arc" of warframe. Though I do absolutely agree, Sacrifice clears every other quest in this game. My god is it amazing. What's even better is it didn't introduce any massive new systems, didn't change the landscape of warframe in colossal ways. DE just wanted to tell this story. Amd it turned out to be the best they've told.
Uh? The New War is miles ahead of this one in my book. This one doesn't even make it into the top 5.
"Puz is short for puzzle btw, im just using slang" LMAOOOO that reference is crazy
What's the reference?
A tiktoker using Calc as slang for calculator maybe ? Could be wrong
@@hylianglitchmobber7570 search "calc stands for calculator"
shits funny
Yo chat I just joined, what does calc mean?
Ok, so, fun trivia time!
In the beginning of the video, in the prologue, when you pick up the helmet at the end of it; the music there is very very like the normal song you hear at the beginning of the game, but it has one key difference: In the beginning of the game, it was one voice calling out and a chorus answering her, in the one at the end of this prologue, it is a chorus calling out and NO ONE answering.
It has been spoken on by the team who did music and the such, in the start of the game, it is the Lotus calling out and all the Tenno answering her, this time it was all the Tenno calling out for the Lotus and her not being there
You know without the blue flashing i would have never found out those puzzles.... Looking at it now its super easy to see... how did i miss this.
It’s so cool seeing this series unfold. This series is what got me to start Warframe and I am now just a bit ahead in the story. Getting my mind blown by a quest then less than 10 hours later watching someone else get their mind blown by the same quest is awesome.
To each his own.He says this is the best. From my experience going through Warframe story over the years, the best is what happens next.
Ooh, guessing game I'm in
The only one that comes after that hits deeply is the Jade quest
Others are good and cinematic (new war) but I don't think it's what you're alluding to
@@brianlosi I agree with you, Jade quest hits the hardest, but you were right, I didn't mean that. I'm more of a "muh lore" guy when it comes to Warframe :)
@@tomasz9429 ah, then it's the new war what you were alluding to, fair
That's the thing about warframe. "The best quest" is just the last major quest you play, because they just keep getting better. (I say major quest because... yeah, lotus eaters is like 30 seconds...)
Yeah ngl I felt kinda cheated with that but then I remember prelude to war is all interactive cutscenes
I'm pretty sure that it is partially because they need to give enough exposition in advance and partially because it introduces potential bugs before the big update, during which process of working through them will be so much more overwhelming.
It's insane how fast he's progressing, I love to see it! Watching these vids made me get back into Warframe, and I've been loving it. W Mactics!
@@dahSweep Or maybe its because its literally his job and its fairly easy to progress in warframe when the path was laid out for you 5 years ago.
@@dahSweep affinity boosters don't mean shit when you dont have 20 frames and weapoons waiting in the foundry for you and spoliler alert, mactics doesnt.
@@dahSweep He has used the same frame and weapon for the past 3 questlines lmao
@@dahSweep or because playing 10+ hours a day is literally his job. sure, the boosters help, but progressing through the chart and doing all quests does not take that long. plus content creators will never have the same experience playing through a game for the first time as someone who doesn't stream or have help.
@@dahSweep 2k forma to be exact and 100s of slots allowing him to get any weapon and frame
I have to say for someone that has all of the puzzle (story) done (for now) watching someone go back through and having context now changes my understanding of what is happening in this play through and could argue that a 2nd playthrough is just as unique and deepens the lore yet again and has me theory crafting all over again on some things I thought I knew.
So! You asked what the Helminth is!
Im no lore expert but...
The creation process... infecting a person, watching their skin blossom into sword-steel... that is how EVERY Warframe is made. At least their original versions.
The Tenno find blueprints to replicate these original versions. But every original Warframe was a person, infected by the HELMINTH strain of the infestation. A strain created by the Orokin for just this purpose. To turn people into puppets to kill on their behalf.
That is the origins of the Frames you inhabit.
Not Machines.
And that-back when i first found out- Is a twist that broke me.
Aside from this one, burning memory being repeated... that process of disease and transformation is not unique to Umbra.
This is easily my favorite part out of all this specific quest line. The Second Dream and War Within felt like opening up the giant gates. And past that gate, we see the darkness in Chains of Harrow, and the suffering in The Sacrifice. From this point on, Warframe has become one of my favorite narratives in video games. Not just for F2P games.
Also, all aboard the Ballas hate-train. The Orokin were already despicable. But Ballas takes it to another level. Does his job as a villain pretty well. 10/10 would stab again. The choices you made were interesting though. Didn't think of it that way. "This was inevitable" sounds a lot better to me now.
Just as i thought. 33:44 there is supposed to be music here, but its been bugged for over a year and won't play. It's a unique track too, it gets more intense when ballas starts speaking to really emphasis the severity of the scene.
Really? It sucks these impactful quests seem to always be breaking in some way. Like when the Warframe would always be holding the secondary in TSD sword split scene. Or in TWW where the lighting would turn complete black on some of the operator vision things in the mountain trials. I also feel like the glass reflection of the room in the Yuvan theatre isn't supposed to looks so... flat.
Brother holding to the karak for dear life
Commenting before premier: is it The Sacrifice quest?
Edit: apparently I was right. Title image updated after my original comment.
Nah at the end of the last Warframe vid, he said he was doing call of the tempestarii next
@@yahiko7701 I guess mac pulled a fast one ya
You are one step closer to no longer being a baby Tenno. And yes, the rollercoaster keeps going up even after The Sacrifice.
One step closer to seeing a baby... 😂😂😂
I remember doing the Sacrifice for the first time. Back in the day, the Arsenal UI didn't disappear until Umbra shouts, making it so that the shock that Umbra is alive more of a shock. I guess with the many changes to the UI over the years, the UI just disappears immediately upon equipping Umbra.
But even now, it's still one of the best surprises I've ever experienced in a video game for the same reason that using the Arsenal feels so natural that it genuinely surprises you when it goes wrong.
the puzzle solving was CRAZY... very smort 😗
That was some impressive puzzle-solving! It is such a treat reliving this through you. Thanks for uploading this.
Ah ... yes, the other quest that will break me into an emotional mess.
Second Dream / War Within being the first.
Here's to a third quest that also makes me shed a tear soon.
"For the brothers!"
i hope that 1999 is that 3rd quest
And we all run
To the golden son
For Narmer
To explain frames... there are I believe 3 gens. The first generation are sentient the second is partially sentient but are basically a robot... the third are just puppets. We are in the 3rd generation were we just 3d print the frames. The story off the frames are really interesting
The worst part about these quest is you can never do them again for the first time, you can only watch baby tenno have the same baffeled look on there faces we all probably had, these quest, there writing and execution is some of the best in gaming ever, i have never felt so many feeling in any other quests or missions i have ever done in any other game
The 2nd dream was an experience, and a damn good one, but the sacrifice is my favorite because of its story.
The music that plays when you finally help umbra really set the tone.
Fun little story mantics, after this quest, someone went to DEs office and taped a sign that said "thank you".
Skillup talked about it in one of his warframe vids
I just got back into this game after a few years and it has been a joy seeing you play these quests. Its a great refresh for me and I love watching your reactions. This was my favorite quest when I had played originally and was excited to see you play it. Now I'm hooked again and I got a lot of quests to do.
Did he totally miss wally after chains of harrow lol
Also damn no wally post quest here either
He's been Hey Kiddo'd a few times on stream. We'll see it here eventually
@@TheShadowscale Yeah, i dont got twitch so I haven't seen his streams. I'm hoping to see a hey kiddo soon
29:14 He is talking about the infestation, they made it so the infested would kill the sentient, it didn't work. Then they used the infestation to create the warframes.
They didn't make the infested. They used it as a bioweapon. They infected planets with it just to slow the Sentient down and deny them resources.
this quest is peak storytelling, the second dream was a gamechanger in the truest meaning of the words, since warframe players had never experienced a story focussed quest before and seconds dream turned everything we knew on it's head.
I enjoyed this quest more than Second Dream as well. (Jade Shadows is my favorite Warframe Quest. The full circle moment of it is.... *Chef's kiss*)
The world building, the character development, the heartbreak (Umbra and seeing Lotus returned to her true form Natah), it was incredible.
Most importantly, learning the dark and horrible truth about the Warframes, the frames we had so casually been playing around as all this time was a hefty gut punch.
Makes you want to learn about every Warframe's creation.
Who they once were, why they were chosen...how they transformed...
So much to discover and unpack.
I love how many warframe players just immediately started backing you once you dipped your toes in, great content keep it up
Seeing the quest again made me understand more about the origin and the story, now I'm like damnnn😱😱
I've been playing Warframe for over 10 years and I have the opportunity to see everything again through the eyes of a "new" player.
It’s so good, thank you for that!
I loved this quest. Fav one so far.
Going into this, i thought it was one of those kinds of quests where they show something cool, but you have to farm it for hours just to actually obtain it.
I was pleasantly surprised when, after the quest, it straight up gives you the Umbra, equipped with full mod compacity, the skaijati, and a set of Umbra mods. My excitement went through the roof. But it wasn't just the rewards, but the quest itself was absolutely epic, the graphics and story... gameplay in general... man i love this game too much. 10/10 Quest Would play again.
Excalibur Umbra was a Dax named Umbra, infected with a similar strain that created the Excalibur warframe. Umbra frames wouldn't make sense, since there was only one person named Umbra that was turned into a warframe. Umbra isn't a frame variant applicable to all frames, just a secondary title. His strain (Excalibur) and his name (Umbra)
Ballas's messages were sent before the 2nd dream but after Margulis was killed by the council. Margulis's death drove Ballas to betray the Orokin
So few people get what is actually going on here. Ballas didn't betray the Orokin because they killed Margulis. He betrayed them to save her. Everything from the Old War to the New War is Ballas's gambit to save her. Hunhow destroying himself, Natah thinking she's a spy based on Margulis to control the Tenno, Ballas Helminthing Umbra because the he found out what he was planning to do, his manipulation of the Tenno to kill the Seven and destroy the Empire. All of it was just a ploy to save Margulis from The Jade Light. He burnt everything down because they tried to take her away from him and he's a sociopathic egomaniac that sees Margulis as his.
Ballas convinces Natah, Erra and Hunhow that he's defected and will help them win, and how they will do it is by shaping Natah into likeness of Margulis so that she can control the Tenno. But that was never the truth. What he actually did was use The Continuity to transfer Margulis into Natah. The Lotus is both Margulis and Natah, but she isn't even aware of that herself. She thinks she's Natah reprogrammed to resemble Margulis as part of the plan...but it's actually Margulis in there influencing her thoughts, that's what makes her betray Hunhow and not complete the sequence...The Lotus loves the Tenno because Margulis does and Natah can't ignore Margulis's feelings, she feels them herself because they share a singular consciousness.
The Lotus thinks she's Natah who just changed her mind because of some maternal desire caused by her being unable to have children of her own after travelling through the void, but that's what Ballas wanted her to think because Natah wouldn't have gone along with it if she knew she'd be giving up control of her own mind.
Up until Apostasy, Natah was just the dominant personality. When Ballas disconnects the helmet he shoves Natah into the back seat of her own mind and Margulis takes control. This was always his plan. to have Margulis eventually dominate her out of her own mind the way the Queens were trying to do to you with the Kuva staff. That is why she says "I'm not who you think I am" when they first meet and Ballas replies "Oh but you are imprisoned as she was"...he knows what he did. He knows there's a copy of Margulis in Natah's head that she isn't aware of. That is what changed her personality and made her start calling herself The Lotus, because she couldn't reconcile the two conflicting personalities. She became a third person that is both of them.
14:00 if you like puzzles, you should 100% try lua 100lvl spy mission.
The Sacrifice is such a peak quest. Amazing story, amazing quests, amazing additions that are free. Just when you think the game peaked, it just gets better.
Umbra is one of my top frames that I use. His passive and roar are handy for fighting multiple foes. If you build him for Chromatic Blade, he's a walking death machine.
Chat should've told Mactics about Excalibur Frame that was before Umbra, but wasn't a Prime or the base Warframe during this quest. I felt that it drove to create this story, but I could be wrong because I'm entirely aware of the origins of 'The Sacrifice'
It's so nice seeing new reactions of all the twist and turns this story has. And you're in for so much more shock as you find new stuff, and the Cephalon Fragments
I still find it crazy that the warframes were originally people, volunteers or not, and were infested by the helminth to turn into warframes.
Excalibur Umbra was what brought me to Warframe and I unfortunately speed ran my way through all the other quests up until this one, I didn't even know Transference was a thing until the War Within and that we had that cool Void beam attack until I had already traded it out.
Although, despite missing all the context, this quest still hit so hard for me, I remember nearly shedding a tear, watching Umbra suffering under that tree, this and the entrance to Fortuna are at the top of my favorite Warframe experiences, and I'm glad to be back after such a long hiatus. (Destiny robbed me of peak)
PS: All me and my homies stay hating on Ballas
The white/black sun/moon alignment dial for dialogue choices doesn't code for good/evil. What affects it are actions you take and what it represents is the player tenno's state of mind resulting from the consequences of your choices. Sun represents actions that are passionate and hasty. Moon represents pragmatist and idealistic actions. Neutral is balance between action and inaction.
videos like this is why I, a vet, am always looking for new players to watch. We all been here spitballing ideas and possibilities. The genuine reaction is why vets won't tell you what happens but will tell you "play the mission first then we can talk". This is truly one of my top 5 favorite reactions to this quest. maybe top 3 purely for 18:44. my mouth dropped too when i played it
Thank you for this video series. Allowing me to relive the story for the first time again through you has been a great ride :)
The Sacrifice is genuinely the best story in Warframe. It's beautiful, it's tragic, and its core theme of healing and finding peace after pain is sonething so rarely touched upon. Even all these years later it still hits me every time I replay it or watch someone's first playthrough.
to this day, whenever a new quest has released, i always bring umbra as my frame, it just feels right. It is by far my favorite quest in the game :)
Nice to see how closely you follow the story (and understand it) and how empathic you are, which is not often seen people playing this game (and truth be told, probably also not the expectation when playing a looter-shooter).
Fun fact about the seven, they had special sealed chambers they remained in so that they didn't have to breath the same air as the lowly peasants below them.
This is my favourite quest in the game. Glad you enjoyed it!
I have a feeling that Matics here may have misunderstood a very important detail about this mission that explains the process of creating warframes which gives a very dark knowledge of what warframes really are. All warframes are made with a transferance bolt, Umbra is not special because he was created from a dax / another human being, Umbra is special because he's the only one that doesn't relinquish control. when you play as a warframe you play as an individual who was forcibly "volunteered" to become a walking murder machine against their will, very few did it willingly. The archive on your ship contains information about each warframe, and who they once were. You should look at some of the levarian items on them.
To be fair, we play as 3d printed copies of tortured humans, not originals
Also, in the event that nobody has mentioned it in the comments or your chat yet, Excalibur is the only frame to have an umbra from. It's because his prime frame was some kind of pre order bonus but only in Japan or something? And they've never brought it back into the game cycle. So they gave us umbra who acts like a prime instead
Well no, Excalibur Prime was given to all the Founder players, which were players who were some of the first to play and stick by Warframe in its most earliest development.
@@alexmanzanares200 ahhh, that was long before I was playing so the details have always been fuzzy to me lol
Excal Prime was part of a Founders Pack. What would be a Kickstarter bonus were it to happen today.
Excal Umbra was originally a design from the Chinese build of Warframe, which has an increadably predatory business model, but par for the course for Chinese games. Chinese gamers have it rough in general.
@@dyciefisk2535 i belive they had ALOT of unique stuff as well. but mostly in predatory form.
its so funny seeing narratives like "this game has no story" or "its so convoluted" only for a guy on his first playthrough literally understand everything he is seeing and even understanding how it all ties together funny how that works i guess.
Wow I didn’t realize they had a reference to jade this early on. They really have some aspects of their story planned out well in advanced
This quest barely even scratches the surface of what an absolute _bastard_ Ballas is.
Once you dive more into the lore you'll find that he's probably the most evil character in the entire game.
Excalibur Umbra is the only frame that managed to get a conscience of his own so it operates on its own when the operator does transference ❤❤
Man this brings back good memories, Fun fact Excalibur has a prime only founders possess and he is the first Umbra Warframe.
Ah, Umbra. The second most METAL warframe backstory, but easily the best warframe quest. Also the saddest dad in Warframe.
The stalker is the saddest dad
@@cefloh nah, remember Umbra had to remember murdering his own son on loop for decades, as well as the knowledge that the person who erased his whole bloodline is the one person he can't kill.
When you walk up to Umbra in the gold memory state and he’s just there grabbing is head in agony…that’s where I lost it. Amazing quest, amazing storytelling.
22:44 Honestly, Second Dream is just an alright quest, but it's important cause it's when the game finally opens up and shows its true colours to the player. There are many better quests left to experience, ones that most never get to because the quit before the turning point that is the Second Dream.
second dream is a good quest, that is held up for being the first true cinematic quest in the game, and for being a literal game changer. its weight is less to do with the quest itself, and more with what it represents.
it did what nothing in destiny ever could. take the lore, and make it tangible in game. with the gravitas it deserves.
@marcosdheleno my issue with the Second Dream is that it was fairly predictable. I didn't expect a character creation menu, but otherwise it wasn't surprising at all
@@nahqiv " my issue with the Second Dream is that it was fairly predictable."
they literaly spoil the second dream in the lore if you decide to check it.
but its the same for the war within and the sacrifice.
the game talks about warframes being "weird", or machines, soulless and so on.
so its not that its predictable, they want you to question what they are from the start. its the reason the new intro pretty much screams it at the player.
so i would argue that, the fact you already figured out the secret of the tenno was on purpose, i mean, we are LITERALY called OPERATOR for a reason.
so its the other way around. its not that you predicted it, its that you pieced together based on the hints the game gave you.
Finally, my personal favorite quest in the game! Umbra and his story are just so riveting to me
i don't think i've ever said it out loud or even typed it out, but i agree - The Sacrifice was a more significantly impactful quest to me than The Second Dream was. still one of my favorite video game quests of all time (with Second Dream AND War Within both not far behind).
I'm so glad you're covering WarFrame! I can't wait for your builds!
Also keep in mind the timing of these releases. We were left for about a year waiting to see what happened to Space mom. Granted it wasn’t Star Wars scale waiting, but it was long enough we didn’t know what was going to happen.
And now, I can't wait for you to get to Whisper in the Walls. Hot damn, I'm crying over that one scene. I love this game.
Bro. Been following you for awhile. Proud you finally found your way to Warframe.
Just for some context, we lived with Apostasy Prologue/The Sacrifice Lotus for five years. We had to wait for a super long time to fully understand what's going on with her.
I fkng love Ballas as a villain... i think is the best archenemy of all stories i've played /read / listen...
Ballas is a great character.
Consider playing Duviri's Paradox before the New War adventure, let's say Duviri's Paradox starts at the beginning of the New War in parallel temporally speaking. You will understand the story better if you complete it before the New War adventure. Also, by completing Duviri's Paradox you access the circuit where you can get warframes for a while. It's worth it.
While I'm 2500 hours into the game ...I don't remember any of these quests. Enjoying the journey with you :D
God. Love reliving those moments with you! You rock!
Whats very cool about Umbra is that he can control his own body without being transference controlled which make it beneficial of distributing damage with Umbra AND operator
not gonna lie, this is still my favorite quest of the game. New War is a great payoff to mutliple plot threads coming together in one huge climactic event, but Sacrifice is just so intimate and emotional, the final scene where you tame Umbra by joining minds with him is just so beautiful.
One of the great things about Umbra is he's the only frame that can function as a fighting specter while you are in operator mode. I like to use him on eidolon hunts. He fights while I am in operator and voidrig modes. Edit. A lot of people have that misconception at first that he is a frame type. It's not. Umbra is his name. The name of the individual that was transformed into that warframe. He is unique. A unique version of excalibur, like a custom car.
"This is the best quest in any game ever."
no... This is the best quest... SO FAR...The story will just keep escalating. It is so hot that it will send you to the sun.
The song for this quest literally "pulling the strings" on my heart
When you take control of umbra as ballas says: :they somehow managed to see through an ugly broken thing... and take away its pain" is one of the greatest moments of warframe. The tenno in the old war were one of the only who cpuld give peace to the 1st warframes who still were "sentient" and give them peace to their rage and sorrow.
This was my favourite quest by far. It was a long time ago and I still shed a tear.
The im just using dlang reference killed me