If you read the "Mass Effect Deception" book, then you will realize that you are absolutely correct about how you described Kai Leng. He literally eats cereal while on a mission
Mordin was the most badass character in the entire series. From him start to his end. I was really sad to have him go and it was probably the most memorable scene in the whole series for me.
The only downside is that Mordin is so lovable that it's near impossible to get the alternate shroud endings. Only a monster could bring themselves to kill Mordin
I killed him. Shot him right in the back. And I’m glad I did because it remains the most memorable and tear jerking moment in video game history for me. Will never forget it.
I think it is just insane that the other races just doesnt help at all (minus a few individuals) if you dont accept their deal. Then again.... even the entire race of Turian doesnt even measure up to one fleet of humans according the the war assets.
You can keep Mordin alive but Wrex must not survive Virmire or be recruited so that Wreav is in charge of the Krogan and Maelon's data must be destroyed which results in Eve's death. This leads to Shepard being able to reason with Mordin that the Genophage can't be cured at the time because The Krogan under Wreav would strike against every other species while they are weak after just fighting off the reapers without Eve's presence to stop him
When you get to the Citadel docks, there is a teenager asking about her parents. For a while if you come back she is asking again, and the Turian she is asking gets more and more distraught and sad about it. For some reason this is burned into my brain.
@@The_Punisher The scene just stuck with me because it showed the tough hardened militant Turians had a soft side. You could hear it in the Turians voice how sad he was and he knew the truth, while the teenagers innocent sounding inquiries and hope.
Im really glad someone stood up a bit for Vega. I'll admit i dont care about him, but i am also convinced that had he been in the game from the beginning, he would be a fan favorite, he just didnt have time. Also, small gripe: Jaavik doesn't kill himself if you use the renegade option to stop him from viewing the shard, and he goes on to help Liara write a book on Protheans. I love it because its one of the few times Renegade is used to improve people's lives, which proves it isnt just another way of saying "bad" because sometime people need tough love. Id argue Kasumi needs the same thing
No he wouldn't have, because Vega is a chunk head who would've had no place in ME1 and would've blended into the background of ME2. He is completely useless, obnoxious and on top of everything voiced by the charisma vacuum that is Freddie Prinze Jr.
If it was Vega instead of Kaiden in ME1, people might have saved him more than they did to Kaiden. Since he is a meathead and didnt need much personal development, it'd have been fine. And Kaiden would have got all the development he did across the trilogy in ME3.
Nah Vega is a pretty dull character really, same as Jacob was in ME2, Jacob just got diluted out with the other great companions, ME3 unfortunately just has a smaller companion cast and its more apparent that he's just the generic action film army guy sort of stock character. Does it damage the game? Nah not really, it's just a shame that we didn't get a more interesting one. Also side note the alliance is meant to be all of earth so it would have been good if they'd used the opportunity to have a non Canadian/North American character, like they did with Miranda in ME2. Added a lot to the world building that not everyone comes from somewhere between texas and vancouver
Small correction: Javik only says he’s going to kill himself if you encourage him to touch his memory shard. If he doesn’t, he states he’ll adjust to the new cycle and possibly write a book on the Protheans with Liara
And if you encourage him to not touch the memory shard but get him late game, he'll talk about going to the Hanar and ruling them as their GodKing haha
I was looking for these comments. The saying let old ghosts lay. Is a very powerful qoute for everyone that has experienced loss. This can be a touchy subject. To have a memory file that reminds you of the final moments would be torture on your heart, and soul. No one wants to be reminded of what they lost. To move on to some capacity where the pain isnt as bad. You have to bury it to some degree. Easier said than done however. You move on at your own pace. You can't ever move on being reminded of what you lost with a memory shard file.
@@Patriarch.Chadimus I got him early in the game and still got that dialogue from him. I believe that dialogue is triggered by not paragon interrupting when Liara confronts Javik in his cabin after Thessia since their relationship remains in a bad state.
@@lofivibes3640 I think either end to his story is good. Either he decides to continue living and make the best of it, or he decides his time is over and it's time to return to his people.
Under the correct circumstances at the shroud, Mordin does reveal that he deeply regrets his work on the genophage. If pressed hard enough and the right decisions were made, you can get him to scream "I MADE A MISTAKE!". He then proceeds to give his life to right this grave error.
This is one of the most powerful scenes of the game for me, and ever since I discovered that he could say this, I will always make him say this before the genophage is cured.
You can make Mordin admit that he made a mistake with the genophage and it's pretty personal for him to fix it. The problem with Kai Leng...... he was introduced from the books that barely nobody read at all.
Kai Leng should've been a Squadmate from ME2, either Miranda or Jacob, who remained loyal (Or were Indoctrinated) to Cerberus, unless you make a very specific set of choices in ME2, in which case they're just replaced by nameless Cerberus Agents.
@@CABRALFAN27or he couod have been an actual squadmate of his own. TIM sends you the dossier for one of his top military agents, and the mission (both recruitment and loyalty) are about helping Kai on a mission for Cerberus. He would most likely use shotguns and sniper rifles, and have the vanguard class (biotic/combat). He COULD have been interesting.
To me what was weird with Kai Leng is that no matter how tough people made him out to be, he would never feel like an actual threat to Shepard. Shepard took down a reaper, collector base, died and came back to life, and fought countless enemies. The most frustrating thing though is the fight with him and Thane. Shepard and your companions are just there and dont help at all. The writing just makes You ( the player), Shepard, and your companions just feel helpless because of plot. You touched on this but why a sword? Why not two powered up Omni blades that we havent seen before.
Players watching haplessly as the plot happens right next to them is one of the most infuriating aspect of games telling a story. (Same for series and movies if they do similar to their main characters, of course.)
I agree that scene is very annoying, although for the sword I will say it's not unheard of in Mass Effect, it's a rather obscure reference but when Ashley was talking about her sisters she says what they all took up for defence and well sword training is still a thing 🤷🏽♀️
@@Heartshapedbox81 that’s fair but I don’t buy it for a guy with who knows how many cybernetic and biotic enhancements who’s boss has seeming unlimited resources. And considering Shepard shatters it in one hit tells me that a metal sword is very very outdated and should only be used if that’s all you got.
@@Grivehn I think Borderlands 3 is probably the worst example of this; a fan-favorite character is murdered in front of you and your character does nothing about it. It's one of the most jarring sequences I've come across in any game I've ever played.
When ME1 released, we were explicitly told "You won't be able to say 'I got ending A, B, or C'" at the end of the trilogy. We got ending Red, Blue, or Green.
Actually Casey Hudson stated that on ME3's release, not ME1. Which means that he already knew the RGB ending that his drunkard of a friend wrote and wilfully lied. This is why I'm glad the last game Hudson worked on for Bioware was Anthem. A fitting punishment.
@@zephyr8072 I mean what else was he supposed too say? The Ending sucks because oure origial plan was leaked so we had too scramble fore a bad rewrite?
@@neptuneplaneptune3367 Who cares if it was leaked? If your story hinges around gimmicky spoilers and plot twists then it's a bad story to begin with. They had no reason to panic or do a hasty rewrite. Especially not one that was so utterly poor and contradictory to the entire setting.
@@zephyr8072 I...didnt say any of that? I just said what was the guy in that interwiew supposed too say at that moment? He could hardly admit that they made a dumb decision and now have a garbage ending.
Honestly, I fucking love that Thane absolutely bodies Kai Leng for most of their fight. It shows just how strong Thane is that even in the late stages of Kepral's Syndrome where he essentially has Cystic Fibrosis with an added side effect of low Iron from poor Oxygen intake. He powers through his pain and fucks up the enhanced cybernetic ninja through pure combat skill and reflex and only gets hurt because he got worn out and couldn't be perfect. For my usual trilogy playthrough I romance Liara in ME1, Thane in ME2 and then go back to Liara in ME3
But then they go & ruin it by falling back on the tired, ludicrous trope of trying to make us believe that a seasoned warrior would somehow throw away their advantage & forget they're holding a ranged weapon, instead allowing their melee weapon holding opponent to get within striking range lol. Not even a novice would make that mistake. It only happens in films/tv (& now games it seems lol)
I played through the series recently, and when I got to their fight I remember saying “You almost died to a cripple. Where does your outrageous sense of confidence come from you worm”
Everything about Kai Leng just feels like the most self indulgent bullshit from one person on the team. K.L. Is one of the few general low points of the game as a whole.
@@jubei7259 well he moved close because shooting failed - ? Maybe taking chances because of the stakes involved. In any real scenario the others would not just watch but move in on KL any way they could. Now Thane moving in perhaps meant they could not easily shoot..
Over time, ME1 has slowly crept into my number 1 spot in the series. I adore all 3 games. But ME1 overtook 2 just because how tightly it's written and capped with that amazing end credit song like a perfect movie. Still. All 3 games are absolutely amazing.
I sitll have a soft spot for me1 and the remaster made it leaps better, playing 2 again(didnt play all the dlc) felt like such a slog and chore to do everything for the best ending, didnt like the combat as much as I thought, I still love alot of me3(and got to play all the dlc) but damn does the ending ruin it
@Matt D While ME2 is definitely in that Halo 3, MW2, AC2 category of supremely polished and refined games that are indeed up there in the "all-time" category, ME1 did have some things better than it. Exploration, RPG elements, story/plot development etc.
I actually think Kaidan goes through a pretty neat arc in ME3. While Ashley is still doesn't really like Cerberus and still doesn't fully trust them Kaidan after doing the ex Cerberus scientist mission is conflicted on Cerberus and has a mini monologue wondering just how many good people are in Cerberus. He even questions if the Illusive Man was good at a point. Kaidan has a really cool arc of realizing how gray situations and people are. In ME2 he was very clearly "Cerberus=bad" but over the course of ME3 he comes to realize how wrong and stupid he was to just paint the whole organization as bad and he even asks Shepard what to do about Cerberus members. I also love how he leads his own Biotic team and seems to really care about the people in the team. I love the times when he asks EDI about where to find them. I feel him leading a Biotic team is a great way to end his character off. I also just think he's more endearing in ME3. In ME1 (for Male Shepard at least) he was a good bro type character but aside from just being someone you can talk to he didn't have many other traits. In ME3 I like how he's much more of a leader, I like his continued confusion on how to deal with Shepard and I love his talk at the Citadel. If you don't romance him he has a really tender speech about knowing he isn't the life of the party and that his integrity gets on people's nerves but that he values Shepard as a friend. I think Kaidan is a very open character and it's one of the reason's when he was available for Male Shepard as a romance option I took him in a heartbeat. I honestly think Male Shepard with Kaidan is one of the best relationships in the Trilogy especially if you go into the Trilogy wanting that romance.
Bear in mind that Ashley got a new writer for ME3 because the original creator and writer were fired. This was a HUGE setback for her character's development. All of ME3 was written by new writers.
That was due to Drew Kapshyn being force out and Director Hudson listening to fans about narrative when he should only listened about game mechanics. Thus, he heard many people who cannot parse nuance and chalked Ashley up to 'space racist' rather than hearing her pragmatism and the fact SHE WAS RIGHT about everything that happens in ME3, so they diminished her and built up Kaiden because most let Ashley die on Virmire. Another reason ME3 and Bioware went downhill by injecting current bad ideology & hired workers not based on meritocracy.
@@TheImapotato Yeah, I despise Patrick Weeks as a writer, like yeah he does good work but he should never EVER be placed in charge of a project alone or with Casey Hudson again.
2:00:40 with Javik when he tells you about the memory shard if you tell him to let the past go instead of reliving it again (and he's on good terms with Liara) on earth he'll tell you he's going to help Liara with her book and enjoy peace for a change. If Javik isn't cool with liara then he'll go to the hanar homeworld to live as a king.
ME3 broke my heart, and was exactly as you described it. Though after Rannoch, the game just goes into a nose dive in quality. The entire final mission of earth was just anti-climatic, and I felt like the writers really had no idea what to do at that point. AND THEN I got to the ending. I didn't touch ME3 again until the Legendary edition was released, my feelings on the endings still felt the same but all the DLC's were very well done.
Obligatory fuck EA because ME3 suffers from New vegas syndrome, they announced the game's release date while me2 was still in development, they had 2 years to finish probably the greatest gaming trilogy ever
@@opticalraven1935Very rushed and you can definitely thank EA for that fact. They put an impossible task on Bioware on completing Mass Effect 3 in just barely two years after 2. It was just not possible for them to fully flesh out the game in that time. It explains why Jack, Kasumi, Zaeed, and Miranda barely have any screen time and why Jack and Miranda's romances are not focused on as much among other problems in the game. Shame too as moments in this game showcased it's potential (Tuchanka, Rannoch, and squatmate development.)
A really cool part of the Omega DLC is that when you’re deciding what to do with the reactor if you’re an Engineer I believe you can quickly reroute the power instead of waiting or cutting it. One of the only times I’ve ever really seen a class have an effect on the story.
I've heard that there were a pair of devs working on ME3, the one that wrote Kai Leng and loved him, and another guy that absolutely HATED Kai Leng and didn't want him in the story at all. It kinda feels like these two writers were fighting over his inclusion and presentation.
So basically one writer made an OC and wanted to include it in the game, likeobviously he won because Kai Leng is in the game. But they have to live with the fact that the entire ME community see him as an annoying pos, that is completely unneeded for the game. XD 😅😅
It's a bummer that the nature of war assets being tied to the multiplayer meant that they would be worthless to a single player interest. Legendary Edition removing multiplayer completely kinda supported this too.
@@alemswazzuassets were not only multiplayer. You got most of your war assets through the campaign and side content like normal. However, you could play the multiplayer content to supplement it. It wasn’t a significant amount, but it was something and it tied the multiplayer content nicely into the main game. When playing multiplayer, you are playing as teams completing missions that are assisting the war effort, therefore contributing to Shepards war assets. With legendary edition, and so much time later, the multiplayer servers have long since been shut down so there was no need to keep it in the game.
That's part of why I'm not a great fan of the Rannoch arc as no matter what we do the geth are dead. Legion literally got his name because of the thousands of geth active in the platform, yet all those individuals are killed and merged into a singular being. The geth suffer the same fate as the human colonists in ME2, they are killed and merged together to give birth to something new.
@@vinccool96 What a wonderful complete destruction of everything that made them interesting and likable in ME2, all covered in this saccharine illusion of it somehow being a good thing that what defines them is being destroyed in favor of something more familiar to humans. The geth had a soul, and ME3 kills it no matter which route you take on Rannoch
You touch on one of my biggest gripes with the ME trilogy's story when you talk about Leviathan. Our conversation with Sovereign painted the reapers basically gods. We learn that they don't need resources or slaves, that they're almost indestructible, each one of them is "a nation," and that they see themselves as above any organics, and that their presence warps the minds of anyone around them. They're basically Eldritch horror space robots. "We impose order on the chaos that is organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because they demand it." Sovereign never once speaks of salvation or preservation of organics, but their *end.* And when asked about their goals or origin, all we learn is that it is beyond what we could fathom. ME1 painted them to be beyond our understanding and gave them a huge air of mystery which only made them seem even more menacing. Mass Effect 2 gave us a little more info, but it's basically that reapers melt organics down to turn reproduce. The "why" of what they do and their origin is still shrouded in mystery. What little we learned made them more scary, especially since we knew we'd be facing them in the next game. But by the end of ME3, we know exactly what they are, where they came from, where their mind warping abilities come from, and their motivations. And not only that, but everything Sovereign says about the Reapers being the end of organics is a lie because they actually see it as "saving" us. By the end of ME3 the mystery of the Reapers is completely gone and what we learned in the beginning of the trilogy that made them so scary turns out to be a lie anyways.
I don’t mind everything that Sovereign said turning out to be a lie (or just arrogant bloviating), if it had narrative consequences. But it didn’t so it’s just an eldritch machine horror that is lying to the player or an eldritch machine horror that understands itself less than the Geth. Both of those options lack narrative satisfaction in any meaningful way.
@@thecupcakemedjay3314 if they’re built up to be eldritch horrors then it’s perfectly within functionality of the genre for there to still be mystery about them. It’s very easy to see that for the first two games they were heavily influenced by Lovecraft and the Borg, but the only Reapers we meet are closer to Lovecraftian mythos than the Borg.
@The Cupcake Medjay I disagree. I think you could have given a satisfying end without explaining every last detail about the Reapers. It would have been a challenge for sure, but it could have been done. But my main gripe isn't so much thr lack of mystery, but the contradiction. I should have been more clear about that, but it feels like a retcon that Sovereign was like "we're here to end all of you" and the Catalyst is like "we're killing you all to *save* all of you!"
For the beam run during the end, a ship could suicide tackle harbinger. The resulting explosion could still injury shepherd instead of a direct shot of a warship destroying beam. If your war assets are low it would be the normandy. If it is high it could be the destiny ascension or your mother's ship (if you didn't save it and have a mom) or some generic alliance ship.
In my understanding, Harbinger left because Anderson had successfully made it past the defences and onto the Citadel without people realizing because of the Chaos of the situation
@@darykeng if they can't then I understand. if it is out of concern for collateral damage, it's the end of galactic civilization. Maybe not run into harbinger but shoot it to grab his attention. There needs to be a reason for harbinger to leave and not double tap shepherd.
2:06:09 It's actually worse than that. Because Catalyst claims that Synthesis is the endgame of life. Which means that Catalyst and its Reapers had been actively sabotaging his perfect solution by killing all life before it has a chance to get there.
Actually ya, they could've just waited until the crucible was built and just have been super slow with their takeover or use only a small chunk of reapers to attack so that their takeover would be much slower, but just enough that the alliance couldn't beat them conventionally
it's funny cause Shepard actually asks "why you didn't do this before?" and the Catalyst basically answers "ehhh i just thought about it now" like WHAT??? ARENT YOU THE CLOSEST THING TO OMNISCIENCE IN THE GALAXY???
synthesis is the worst ending by far though. aside from forcibly turning everyone against their will into half organic/synthetic hybrids, the reapers just kinda up and leave for no reason to go do who knows after. that and the thought that after untold countless millennia of a repeated cycle of genocide the reapers just all get off scot free after it all. though i suppose the blue god shepard isnt much better. sucks for the geth after bothering to make peace but the red end is the only tolerable one.
@@JoshSweetvale low key exactly that lol. anyone who thought the green or blue was the better ending basically thinks Saren did nothing wrong, and that shepards whole journey to defeat the reapers was pointless and we should have just let Saren make us all mindless slaves in the first game.
About the elusive man having biotics that control people. If during samira's loyalty mission you kill her and take her daughter Morinth. She has an ability called Dominate That allows you to control organics enemies into fighting each other. It's possible with reaper tech the elusive man could have gained a similar ability.
I was hoping someone else noticed. I'm surprised he missed this given that he was pretty thorough in exploring the avenues of the game. But, even the most detailed analysis can still be flawed.
I mean Asari and Humans don't have the same physiology (they don't even have to have intercourse to become pregnant) and she was an ardat yakshi so I really don't think the same can apply, not to mention what was said is True, Tech and biotics are not the same, it just kinda seemed like a cop-out for an already lazy ending.
With Reaper tech anythings possible when you consider how much knowledge and power they have at their disposal. It's no wonder a separatist faction exists in every cycle.
@Heartshapedbox81 true BUT Shepard can use this ability in 2 and 3 and Reapers could certainly jam that kind of biology in a human we're the most genetically malleable in ME
I have so many issues with this game but my main issue with War Assets as a day one ME3 player; It required you to play the multiplayer to get the max war potential. And eventually, people played so much multiplayer that you could've done the most self-sabotaging renegade playthrough in the entire game.... and still got the best ending, even with 50% readiness. It broke the game in one way, then another. :/
I just watched your other two Mass Effect videos this week and thoroughly enjoyed them. I was only disappointed that 3 wasn't out yet. Thanks for the early Christmas present!
@@Gingy . I looked through the channel hoping/expecting a retrospect video covering the Dishonored series. Considering it's rich with lore and gameplay mechanics that encourage the player to play their own way; something that seems to fit into the quota of most of your videos as of late. Maybe some day, I'll be here to check it out and hopefully make similar videos in the future.
@@Gingyjust as the other reply said dishonored would be a great video and personally the Witcher would be awesome. Obviously Witcher has a dense and complicated lore, but regardless it is amazing.
James kicking that console was hilarious. I was endeared to him really fast probably because I could tell he was the "filler" companion and that somehow made me more sympathetic. Also I found his rapport with Cortez nice. That was still when the "gay romance" thing was still kind of a big whoop, and while Cortez's ongoing dead husband angst is its own hamfisted thing, I just thought it was nice for the "token gay" to have a warm rapport with the "stereotypical meathead". The line was something about James doing a lot of chin-ups and James just laughing that Cortez was enjoying the show. I guess the fact that it was the *lack* of any kind of hostility or disdain in the joke being notable is pretty telling for the atmosphere of the day, but whatever. Cortez + Vega BFFs 4ever!
I always wondered why Cortez's dead husband is such a negative point for the community. Frankly I see him as one of the better examples of representation we have.
@@rafabuda0 I don't think he's awful or anything, but--admittedly it's been a while--I remember feeling like Cortez was less about Cortez and more about the dead husband and it felt like that's all he was about. I don't remember any other traits about him. That may not be the case in actuality--maybe the poor man just suffered (like James) being a new character without the history/baggage of pre-existing ones and he just wasn't that memorable in comparison?
@@rafabuda0 id imagine its because you feel kinda dirty taking advantage of someone whose spouse literally just died. its kinda messed up if you start dating after all that. i mean its literally you going up to a mourning friend at their husbands funeral and going "this means you're single now right?"
The dead husband thing is like....an hour tops. 3 interactions and the grieving Cortez will be less of an angsty workaholic. He didn't mention him at all after that in my run, not even the citadel DLC where you'll get the most opportunity to interact with him.
One of the things I hate about me3 is definitely how they put missions into your journal. Its a fucking mess to see which one’s are primary missions and which one’s are secundary. I would’ve liked to have it like me2 because it was obvious which one would progress the main quest.
2:03:57 The Reapers dragged the Citadel through a mass relay and started processing its inhabitants. And yet... the Citadel wards in the background look like it's as bustling as ever.
I always wondered what happened to everyone on the citadel when the reapers "brought it to earth" its like they don't really say much about it, and if they do it's a pretty unceremonious mention for the millions living there lol
The Catalyst being a V.I. is still damn funny though. The Reapers are a paperclip maximizer, a homogenizing swarm. They're bad coding. The Reapers aren't 'right or wrong' they're _mistaken._
One of the weird things about the Omega DLC is it's one of the few times your class comes into effect when making a choice. You get given a binary choice as every class that's not engineer... but as an engineer, you can choose to solve both problems and not be forced to choose the lesser of two evils.
@bingbong754 when you go to shut down the red barriers with Aria and the female turian who's name i forgot sadly and the choice is to shut down power in the apartments and kill 1000s or save Aria and the female turian
thats a non-choice though. if you save only the 1000s aria just biotic bad ass forces her way through the barrier anyway and nothing changes. the only thing any of the choices in the dlc do is determine if aria chills out or stays the cold hearted queen in the end, they all do nothing and affect nothing beyond that.
CORRECTION: The person who wrote the Planet Codices in ME1 left during ME2, and has since then told us that Leviathan of Dis was a 5-minute blurb he wrote at the end of ME1 production, and he had no intention of it being a backstory to the Reapers -- rather, he felt it was a backstory to a pre-Prothean war against the Reapers, to characterize how different cycles describe the Reapers differently. I played ME3 when it came out originally. The only hint to Leviathan being retrofitted as a Reaper lore, is when Balak shows up on the Citadel. But the Leviathan DLC was only made once BioWare knew they had to make additional content to "rationalize" the bad logic in the ending. I do believe they had theorized Leviathan to become the actual backstory all throughout ME3's development. It was one in 5 popular internet theories back in the ME1/2 days, anyway. But it is absolutely retroactive continuity.
I think it might not be so bad. There’s actually a great explanation for his character. Good. You opened this message. This isn't actually asari military command. They're busy tending to what's left of their planet. So you survived our fight on Thessia. You're not as weak as I thought. But never forget that your best wasn't good enough to stop me. Now an entire planet is dying because you lacked the strength to win. The legend of Shepard needs to be re-written. I hope I'm there for the last chapter. It ends with your death. -KL
@@J0k3R32100 *goes through the entire range of emotions while picturing it* "Well, here's our chance to ask! Eve, how do krogans mate?" "Very clumsily." "Well, there you have it!"
Just wanted to put this out there, in reference to why Harbinger didn't just shoot the Normandy out of the sky during the final push. The Normandy has literally the best stealth technology in the galaxy. It's why the Reapers won't detect you when you're in Reaper space unless you use the pulse mechanic to find things on the galaxy map which alerts them. The Reapers detect through heat signatures and the Normandy's stealth drive keeps it hidden from those types of sensors. That's why even since ME1, the Normandy has always been called the ultimate stealth ship but never actually has any form of "cloaking" tech. Could also explain why Harbinger didn't speak to Shepard directly during that instance, there were so many warm organic bodies around it probably couldn't tell one from another. It just saw a ton of warm, fleshy blobs it needed to shoot.
Leviathan was the best dlc, loved the exploration and detective work. The only problem I have is that it should be part of the main game as its essential to explain the reapers existence.
Another great breakdown! I really feel the Kai Lang character could have either been the Ashley/Kaiden we sacrificed on Vermire. Would have made for a good twist IMO.
The problem with using the Virmire sacrifice is that they were either right next to the nuke or within several hundred meters of it at detonation. In either instance, they would have been vaporized. It was approximately 5 kilotonnes more powerful than little boy was on Hiroshima. Even if they were protected enough by the building around them at the AA gun position to not be vaporized (unlikely), there would have been way too much damage to the body to be brought back enough to be an indoctrinated servant of Cerberus
Mordin being involved with the genophage cure isn't that much of a surprise if you pushed him during his loyalty mission. If you did that, it becomes quite clear at the end of the mission that he's changed his mind about the genophage.
To be fair, Vega did get an entire movie to flesh him out. It covers the backstory you mentioned with the Collectors but adds a lot more depth, explaining that he lost a lot more than he cares to mention. Far from a perfect movie but well worth a watch. Also, Thane's death hits WAY harder on a FemShep run if you romanced him in ME2. I honestly think Thane is the best romance choice for FemShep. Liara is kind of the freebie choice for everyone, Kaiden is usually dead, Garrus works better as MShep's bro, and Jacob is a lowdown dirty cheating S.O.B.
Liara only feels like a freebie if you’re not a gay woman who’s been forced to play straight characters for the entirety of your video game rpg experience before mass effect (or dragon age, but that’s twice in a whole genre at that point)
I just found your videos and just binged them all while at work man,the way you break things down it’s masterful you made me wanna go back and replay all those old video games
The weird conversations on the citadel never bothered me hugely. Definitely more than a little stiff on the writing, but not awful. Shepard doing his job of trying to make everyone work together on every scale imaginable, makes sense for the character. But the one that really gets me is the one where two parents are arguing about whether or not to send their child to school or keep him home with them in light of the invasion. The message Shepard gives is “just do whatever is best for your child”, to which they respond in the typical “oh thank you you are so right oh great and wise Shepard” fashion. But the problem is he not only didn’t resolve their argument (as they are literally arguing over what is best, not whether they should do what is best), but also doesn’t contribute to their conversation in literally any way, but for some reason they are still happy with him. Just horrible writing that really killed my immersion for a bit.
I always thought the last reaper you kill before the beam should have been Harbinger. It would have made it much more intense and impactful and it would’ve been this showdown between two rivals.
I feel like Thane is always given the short end of the stick as a romance choice, but in my opinion he's got the best romance in the series. Bittersweet, but just as delightful, plus it gives the ending a different weight, especially when he shows up at the end of the Citadel DLC.
Small correction: The galaxy has FTL without the Relays. You move through the clusters via FTL very quickly. Its only on the bigger scale of moving between clusters around the galaxy that the Relays are so important.
I always saw the lackluster stand ins when the original squad members die as the devs roundabout way of imposing consequences for killing/not investing in the OG squad members throughout the past games. I’m always happy to see another Mass Effect retrospective.
i so love the fact that asari has had the VI for THOUSANDS of years and they didin't think of asking "hey so why are proteans gone" they literally should have had atleast some of the info from the memory of that thing even if the vi "only appears with sipher/protean" there.... Liara spends few weeks and finds out super weapon (funny how now 1 copied that data like certain robot did + ancient ancient computer (not typo) that could stop working at anymoment so no copies?) while "smartest" asari made their race super power with 1 of them and found 0 clues of certain group that is coming to kill them? the asari councill member is so in on the "we know nothing" bit on rule "you must tell others if you find 1 of there" world is burning and only when its burning your feet you decide to "oh maybe i should hint at something" the "story" bucket literally has no bottom here
I'm surprised you didn't mention how absurd the addition of Shepard evacuating his squad mates during the run to the beam is. If people making it to the beam is of the highest importance - pretty much the last chance the Alliance has to stop the Reapers - as the characters say it is, then having Shepard stop what he's doing to call the Normandy in to evacuate his squad mates would never happen. Getting to the beam is more important than anything else, including the lives of Shepard's squadmates or even Shepard's life. Aside from showing a complete lack of judgement and disregard for priorities (incompetence really), it makes him, the Normandy, and the squad mates he's trying to evacuate sitting ducks for Harbinger. It's no wonder Harbinger just stood there like a dunce and allowed it to happen - if he had done something, it would have shown even more how stupid that whole scene was. The Normandy would have been destroyed, Shepard's companions would be dead, and Shepard would be dead. I've actually never heard anyone mention how ridiculous it is.
FYI the illusive man talk down isn't just related to reputation it's also related to all the conversations you have with him through out the game. If you always talk to him with paragon options he will unalive himself, the same goes for if you only choose renegade. If you mix the choices even once during the game you can't talk him down.
It might have been that way originally, but not in the Legendary edition. I had mostly paragon interactions with him, but definitely some renegade (no human reaper bits for you in ME2, TIM!), and I was able to talk him into ending it.
59:30 Tali: "...then introduced into the suit through an emergency induction port." Shepard: "That's a straw, Tali." Tali: "EMERGENCY INDUCTION PORT" That gave me a big chuckle when I originally played the game 😄
If I remember correctly, the only time I actually encountered a war asset on Earth was Jacks kids helping to destroy the reaper before the Taco Bell run to the Crucible and being on the radio talking about how they’re holding off reaper forces with biotic fields. Otherwise, yeah, that’s about it
What I loved about Mass Effect 3 is it had a very survival horror vibe to it. The reaper threat is literally the threat of nightmares and seeing Banshis and knowing their lore is so creepy it’s good. I just loved Mass Effect 3. Besides the crap ending and some choices, I had a good time.
I've always found ME3 interesting in a particular fashion. After playing through all the games in multiple different mixtures of renegade and paragon, I'm often reminded of the "Epic Man Theory" with storytelling and history...
Given your ME2 vid i knew it wouldn't really be a part of this one but i genuinely missed Miranda so bad.. like she was without a doubt my favorite character, her story was the most interesting to me so i was so disappointed that she got relegated to what amount to cameos (and emails ig?)
The illusive man wasn't using biotics he is using the special implants that cerberus developed from the horizon experiments. The game just uses the biotics animation when it happens.
What I don't get is why the catalyst an AI that has stayed on its course for hundreds of thousands of years suddenly decides to let us stop it for no apparent reason. It could have just let Shepard die in the room he killed the Illusive man. It didn't need to bring him to the room he makes the choices or explain it. It also doesn't make sense. That is why a lot of people came up with the idea that Shepard had been exposed to enough reaper tech to become indoctrinated and the catalyst was a indoctrination induced halucinations and all three endings are really Shepard breaking the crucible. There is destruction aka shoot some equipment, synthesis jump into a energy beam killing yourself and possibly breaking something, and control grab some high energy pieces of equipment killing yourself and possibly breaking something. You probably walked right past the firing button. Frankly this is why the refuse ending is the most satisfying for me. In this light Shepard is realizing he has been subverted and refuses to do the Reapers bidding even if that means sitting down and hoping someone else can finish the job now that he can't.
This is the only game in the Shepard trilogy I haven't played multiple times, I haven't don't any of the dlc, the ending threw me off so much I never went back. I've played Andromeda more than me3. Sadge. Great video.
Man, so damn glad to see this video release at last. Personally my favorite of the trilogy despite its disappointing upcoming (The ending, god it is a let down still). Cant wait to rewatch the entire trilogy retrospective videos once again
All 3 games were great, but I tell my friends that ME1 is still my favorite. Clunky combat and Mako driving included. There was this sense of adventure and exploration that made me forgive the boring planets. The story was damn good too. Remastered was how ME1 should have played. It is perfect now.
I think it may have been part of the Extended Cut endings, but no matter which of the three main endings you pick, it's stated that the relays are repaired after a time. The issue of everyone being stuck without FTL was one of things that prompted them to make the Extended Cut. Also, I'm pretty sure you can play out a renegade and keep most companions alive, lol. Your renegade was just particularly psycho.
I did a 90% Renegade playthrough when the Legendary Edition launched and can confirm this. It's entirely possible to play as almost a full Renegade while still getting the most optimal ending. Perhaps it requires more meta knowledge that a full Paragon playthrough would require, but it's still more than doable. I don't understand why the discourse surrounding Mass Effect's morality system seemingly chooses to ignore this.
SERIOUSLY. I thought renegade was just "ruthless means to the same end" not pissing in a fan. You can be a hard renegade and get your entire squad through the suicide mission.. You can be a hard renegade and save your whole crew. Both are based on logic and haste and have nothing to do with your morality.
On the old Bioware forum they stated they were surprised that so many people concluded that both the turians and quarian fleets were essentially going to starve to death as they can't eat any food found on Earth.
I see the control ending as the reapers “surrendering” to Shepard. Or rather seeing him as the only person worthy of determining their fate. It’s my personal favorite ending of the 3. I don’t believe a paragon Shepard would destroy an entire race of synthetics ( assuming you brokered peace between the Geth and Quarians) and allow Eddi to die. I also wouldn’t personally pick the synthesis ending because it completely neglects everything Shepard has done to preserve the galaxy’s robust and diverse life. Of course I’m looking at this through the perspective as a paragon Shepard.
I agree 100%. I can't bring myself to murder the Geth just DAYS after giving them sentience, and with Joker's family dead, EDI is all he has left. I also don't feel like Shepard has the right to rewrite the genetic makeup of every creature in the universe without their consent. Sacrificing his physical form to force the Reapers into submission really feels like the most "Paragon" choice.
Red ending - commit genocide Blue ending - do what Cerberus wanted Green ending - do what Saren wanted None of the endings are good or "Paragon". All of them are cowardice and surrender to the Starbrat's insane troll logic. That's the problem.
I think the Control ending is dangerous, Shepard kind of becomes Dr. Manhattan. Absent his body over time he may become further and further detached from living beings. Perhaps he’ll come around to the Reapers’ way of thinking that he needs to intervene in other species development. Who will stop him then? No one. Destroy is tragic, particularly if you brokered peace, but is the best choice of a shit situation. Not ending the Reaper threat now at the cost of synthetic life will lead to more deaths in the long term. I do think there should have been some combination of installing all ship upgrades and dialogue choices that let the Normandy outrun the Destroy blast wave so that EDI could be saved.
@@GuardianOwl The issue with Destroy is that it's bad writing 101. They knew that if there was a way to save EDI and the Geth and kill the Reapers then that would be the perfect ending everyone would take. So rather than expand on the merits of control or synthesis.. or just not do an Endingtron 3000 to begin with they attach an arbitrary and ridiculous penalty to destroy _even though the lore has several entries detailing how the Crucible can track and discriminate Reapers and Reapers alone._
The war asset system really messed up this game for me. It was confusing, and so much of it ended up being tied to whether you played as a paragon or renegade. I personally like to mix the two to create the character arc for Shepherd across the trilogy that feels most compelling to me, and I ended up with this weird and very sudden lukewarm ending that I didn't really know what to do with.
Humm the Javik part where he says he'll end it after the final battle, Idk how you got it but in my playthrough Javik said he would relax, enjoy peace and write a book about the Protheans with Liara. He gets a happy ending, you just have to not make him use the prothean thingy in his room i believe
Correct, avoid that thing like a damn plague if you want a happier ending for the last prothean. He'll either end up writing a book or going to the hanaar homeworld to be a god king lol. Depending on a few choices involving liara i think.
If you play an engineer, during reactor decision on Omega you don't have to choose between waiting to reroute or shutdown. Engineer Shep can reroute instantly.
Sir. Sir. Please get out of my head. Great video. You pretty much said everything I thought of the game as a whole. I loved everything about the game, save for the ending and the war assets. You summed the latter up pretty well, all our choices were turned into numbers and felt like they were made pointless. Not to mention that war assets were also tied to the multiplayer mode too. While I enjoyed the fuck out of that mode, I know there were people who didn't. Not sure what happens now because I'm assuming people don't play the multiplayer mode that much anymore. I beat the game within 48 hours of it coming out-because I had to do things like sleep and eat, lol. I was so giddy when I got to go past the opening and get to Mars-I played the demo like crazy and was so hyped for the games release. When I got to the ending...words really can't describe how confused and disappointed I was. I think I literally said "Wait. That's the ending? That's it?" when the colored cutscene played. I get that some people like the ending, it fit their Shepard's story and there lies the problem, I think. People are so attached to "their Shepard," the character they've built out through three games and already had an ending in mind for them. I don't know if anything Bioware did would have satisfied the mass majority-something would have always been wrong. Even the 'Extended Cut', like you said, was a bandaid. For some, it fixed the issues they had with it. For me, I'm still salty as fuck. An idea I had about the whole rachni queen choice was give players different enemies to fight depending on their choices from ME1. If you saved the queen then you would have the ravagers to fight. If you had killed her off, then you'd fight another race's reaperfied version, or maybe have the Collectors return-which they did for the multiplayer. That would have made it more fun to replay with different Shepards. The ending made me trust the Mass Effect team less-so much so that I have yet to touch Andromeda, even if I own it...I think I got it for free or on a really good discount years after it's release. I swear...Bioware better not fuck up Dragon Age 4... Sorry for the rant. Thanks for the great video!
Thanks for these. I wanted more visible at the final battle rather than war assets, like you stated. The best thing that happened to this game are the AHEM mod, which ends the game with Anderson and Shepard, paired with Citadel Epilog mod, which pushes the Citadel DLC after the main game with a tie in slide to state that it's some time later and the Normandy is going in for dry dock, this giving you a nicer satisfying send off to the trilogy. Also the Shut Up Kai Leng mod helps a lot! Looking forward to watching more of your essays.
I've been really enjoying your videos as of late and I would love it if you would make one about Dragon Age Inquisition! I picked it up again recently and I just fell in love with it all over again, it's definitely one of my favourite games of all time!
@@Gingy I just love to hear you say that! I'll watch the Dragon Age videos with glee when you eventually get around to making them. Keep up the great content! 😄
I can't bring myself to like Inquisition and it mainly comes down to how it controls. In Origins and DAII I never used WASD to control my character only click to move and holding down LB+RB on my mouse. Yet in Inquisition both those options were removed and it felt more like playing Mass Effect: Dragon Age Edition. It also didn't help that they removed the auto-attack option and when patching it back in managed to do it in the worst way possible. When Origins came out it was clear that Bioware cared about giving both console players and PC players the best experience possible. DAII faltered a little but still understood that console and PC players will control the game differently. Inquisition said "fuck it" and just tried to map the controller inputs to the keyboard & mouse. Inquisition was the first time I really felt that Bioware lied as "made for PC gamers by PC gamers" clearly wasn't true.
Solid content as always. I wonder if an in game timer set around the passage of weeks and tracking the reapers advance would have improved the game by forcing the player to prioritize characters and events.
I truly think that Shepard is the real Catalyst, That Shepard is what the Leviathan A.I was looking for in its solution for the organic v synthetic problem. Without Shepard the cycle would have continued like normal, as the catalyst state Shepard was the first organic to enter the crucible. It didn't have to let us in, it chose to because we forged new option for its problem. For most of the game it does seem that no other cycle united against the reapers and that seems to be the key. The 3 ending seem to have this in mind. 1.Destroy, After showing the galaxy that they are stronger united the threat of A.I killing off species is lessened. ( a bit of a weaker argument but I think that this is the worst ending for the setting). 2 Control, Shepard A.I has the drive to unite the galaxy using your either paragon for renegade settings. 3 Synthesize. Also stated by the catalyst it has tried this and failed before, but why did Shepard need to be absorbed for it seems like an integration of Shepard. It only states your energy is added what if that energy is the pure will of Shepard. The hero that united the races. Shepard's will always seems to be looked over but to me always come off as unyielding. Like yes we are the hero of the galaxy but I always think that there is more to it. We are always around and fighting reapers that there tech yet we seem mostly unaffected by Indoctrination and as parts of the story are vague it always made sense to me that our will is what sets us apart from others in the galaxy. The will to Unite and the will to forge ahead. But yea... I think that the Catalyst was searching/waiting for a real catalyst to emerge/evolve and I think that is us Shepard.
The only DLC's I ever played for ME3 were "From Ashes" and the "Extended Cut." I preordered the Collectors Edition, took a week off from work when it came out, and played through the entire game. I was so horribly disappointed by the ending that I never bothered to even try another playthrough even though the majority of the game had been enjoyable. I experienced the "Extended Cut" by loading up my save, but was still disappointed. I'm still mad about it more than a decade later. Other than Zelda games, ME3 was the last game I've preordered. I now wait for reviews so I don't waste my time and money.
The whole series has been based around making choices. It's an RPG so yeah of course, but it also had your choices carry over from game to game however meaningful they ended up feeling. So, the freedom of choice feels like an important part of the game and the story as a whole in my opinion. With that said, the Catalyst explains the three options to us. Destroy kills all synthetic life, including the Reapers, the Geth, EDI, and any other partial synthetics similar to Shepherd. Ignoring the ending where Shepherd wakes up and the Indoctrination Theory, this seems like an awful ending and even worse if you are Renegade or have low war assets. I'll come back to the Control Ending. The Catalyst says that the Synthesis ending is the best as it will bring harmony to the organics and synthetics by making everyone an organic/synthetic hybrid. If we take what the Catalyst says at face value then that seems like the best choice, but this story has been partially about the freedom of choice and we are making a pretty big choice for all the races in the Galaxy by making them become these hybrids. That feels like that goes against one of the main aspects of the series by taking away the rest of the galaxies choice. Finally, let's talk about the Control Ending. If we ignore the Indoctrination Theory, also consider the freedom of choice being a core tenant of the series which would overrule the Synthesis ending, believe everything that the Catalyst says, have enough war assets, and be a full Paragon player then I would have to say that this is actually the best ending. The reason I say that is because the galaxy would have the Reapers at their disposal as long as AI Shepherd stays Paragon post ending, the other synthetic lifeforms wouldn't be destroyed, and Shepherd would use the Reapers to help repair the civilizations and the Mass Effect Relays which would only be damaged rather than destroyed. Admittedly, the Reapers helping rebuild and the Mass Relays only being damaged are only aspects added in the Extended Cut and is also something that happens in the Synthesis ending, but they do it of their own accord or the Catalyst's accord. Some would say that Reapers still being around in the Synthesis and Control is a bad thing which would mean Destroy is the only good ending, but that doesn't feel right either based on the Geth, EDI, and other partially synthetic people being destroyed as well. Synthesis takes away the people's choice. Renegade Control and low war assets Destroy are probably the worst endings. Paragon Control is only bad if the AI Shepherd eventually goes rogue, but the Synthesis ending could eventually have the Catalyst change its mind and kill everyone as well. I think I would rather take my chances with AI Shepherd. Lastly, the Control Ending as a whole is framed as a bad ending because it was the Illusive Man's idea so that's another thing to feel contentious about. And Refusal is just a bad ending. Which brings us to the Shepherd Wakes Up Destroy Ending. The Catalyst said that partial synthetics like Shepherd would be destroyed in this ending and even if we say he survived that somehow, he was also already in bad shape and would have then seemingly fell from the Crucible way up in the sky (stratosphere maybe?) all the way to the surface of the planet and survived that fall without any kind assistance. No parachute and I don't believe he had any like thrusters on his combat suit, but I could be wrong. It also seems like he probably would have been knocked unconscious from the blast from the Crucible and not even been able to activate any parachute or thrusters even if he did have them. How the hell does he survive a fall from near orbit? This ending is either pure fan service or the Indoctrination Theory is true and everything with the Illusive Man, Anderson, and the Catalyst was all some kind of final test and picking the Destroy ending was simply breaking the Indoctrination meaning that the rest of the "ending" that we saw was just a bunch of bullshit. As much as I like the Indoctrination Theory, it just can't be true and the Shepherd Survives ending is simply fan service. Paragon, High War Assets Control is the best ending in my opinion with Synthesis bringing up second place I guess. The rest of the endings either suck or aren't that satisfying even Synthesis in my opinion. Renegade Control and Low War Assets Destory are the worst endings, but also maybe the funniest in a dark humor sort of way.
The Catalyst doesn't say that partial synthetics like Shephard will die, it just calls out that Shephard IS partial synthetic (hinting at his death). Presumably, Shephard is somewhere on the Presidium during the finale, which remains largely intact after the Destroy Ending meaning he didn't fall. The problem with the Destroy Ending is it's so ambiguous. Is EDI gone even though they repair the Normandy? Was all technology destroyed? Is that why the Geth ending up being destroyed? Because like... the Geth only achieve consciousness through a consensus of programs. Would that mean that any programs isolated enough to just have animal level (or lower) intelligence are still saved and the Geth can be 'reborn'? Especially if you choose to not upload the Reaper Code to make them all individuals (bleh, I hate they did that to the Geth). It doesn't explain a whole lot of *anything*.
Regarding free will vs synthesis, no matter what you choose you are making a decision for every species in the system. At that point only one person has an option for the future of every individual, i.e. free will, and that’s shep.
Something about mass effect 3, is I feel that the missions and overall game is more fast paced, which makes sense, I mean Earth and the rest of the Galaxy is falling, and while timers are not nice for RPGs in my opinion, Bioware managing to keep a fast pace in the game keeps that feeling of desperation in a way. I mean it would not make sense if shepard does something like what the main character of Fallout 4 does where he or she is looking for his or her son and then does more side quests and stuff that aren't really connected to meeting the kid any sooner.
Small correction: Kaiden DOES go through a change just as large as Ashley if you were looking for a male romance option for a male Shepherd. BioWare got a lot of critique for really lacking options and shifted Kaiden into that role for just the third game. I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it was important to players like me.
Your pronunciation is amazing!! This may seem like a lackluster comment but is anything but. You speak quickly, but it's always easy to understand. It gives your narration and analysis great energy, and the SOUND of balance and investment. Thank you!!
The most disappointing thing for me about ME3 ending was the realization that i had spend all these countless hours to get to this point to finally find out that Saren was right??? as the best ending which made sense to me was Synthesis :(
I frankly can't share this thing about the terrible ending anymore. I feel like people keep repeating it for the sake of repeating it. It's a fact because everybody decides it's a fact, not because of the facts. If you get what I mean. So, yeah, your choices stop being relevant once you get to the final choice. It's a little disappointment but "a terrible ending"? Seriously? It's a very common practice in many story based games, most visual novels, graphic adventures or rpg's do the same stuff. Baldur's gate 2 had basically one ending for the good guy and one for the bad guy. And that's a story based game with a complex choice system, a very adored game. Mass effect 3 has those 3 endings and I find it's good enough. Destroy, control, synthesis. Maybe I am the only person in the world with the x-wings to say this, but I love it. That's a very hard decision that comprises the entire game in one go. You are not punished for doing a few things here and there, which is why everybody in the gaming community uses similar systems (almost everybody). You have the freedom to choose your ending, that's your reward for getting there. That's not terrible, that's good game design. It lacks ambition, for sure, that's why I understand it feels as disappointing. But that's it.
Very well done man! Oh boy, if there was ever an IP where 'it was about the journey' it would be this one. Being there for the giant shit show that was the original ending (also higher required minimum asset rating which more or less required you play the MP). I was so confused and angry. Went online to find any kind of answer only to start finding a bunch of 'indoctrination' theory videos because we were on that much copium. I've mostly made my peace with all of this and I can appreciate the trilogy as a whole now with some of these characters still being among some of my favorite.
Same! I literally went and googled for anyone else's reaction right after I finished the game thinking there was no way I was the only one pissed by it. I enjoyed the MP but I could 100% understand ppl being pissed about having to play it for the best war assets. I equate it to me needing to PVP in a game for a companion-which was also a Bioware game now that I think about it. Lol.
I chose Synthesis: "I am alive. All of us, synthetic and organic, have been changed. The war is over, and the Reapers are helping to rebuild. Where once they threatened us with extinction... ...they now bring us the collective knowledge of the cultures that came before. As a galaxy, we can now live the lives we have wished for... ...taking our first steps into a new and wonderful future... ...where organics and synthetics can coexist peacefully. With peace across the galaxy and with unlimited access to knowledge... ...to recover the greatness that was lost... ...and surpass it. We will reclaim our worlds... and the stars. As the line between synthetic and organic disappears, we may transcend mortality itself... ...to reach a level of existence I cannot even imagine. And we will remember that this chance for a new life did not come without cost. No matter how far we advance, we will remember the sacrifices of those who made it possible. And we will remember Shepard. Because of him... I am alive, and I am not alone." - EDI, Synthesis ending
One thing that always bugged me about Mass Effect 3 was the Banshees. The game makes a point to say only ardat yakshi could become banshees, but if memory serves (it's been awhile since I played Mass Effect 2) Samara tells Shepherd that there are only 3 ardat yakshi in existence, her three daughters. So where did all these Banshees come from?
Latent or less severe Ardat-Yakshi gene carriers (a portion of purebloods, if Samara's to be believed) can be converted into banshees too. ME2 states there's ~1% of asari population who has those, which means that out of approx. 6 billion asari, Reapers could make 60 million Banshees (known as a "Regular Firebase London plat match")
Man, that empty room in the group picture for the renegade play through.. That's depressing when you see the alternative. I mean... Still more friends than I have.. shit I made myself depressed.
Actually if you side with Morinth over Samara in ME2, one of her powers is Dominate, where she creates a barrier for an organic enemy and commands them to attack their allies for a short period of time. It's still random and stupid that the Illusive Man magically has that ability, but it's not the first time that a biotic power has allowed someone to take control of another person's body
Just finished another play through of this recently. Haven’t touched this series for some time and was so glad to return to it. However this one just hurts on so many levels. It’s beyond ludicrous that only two missions take place during the finale on earth. In a perfect word the last act becomes it’s own version of the galaxy map set on earth. You along with those rallying go from location to location on earth fighting with everything you have left. This may sound crazy since the LE edition exists but I want a straight up remake of Mass Effect 3. A remake with a real ending that’s earned not rushed because it deserves it.
Gameplay was definitely a major focus for the devs. It felt a lot better in this entry especially the ability to switch to whatever weapons you wanted.
@@Gingy yeah I have a cynic theory as to why the gameplay was pushed so far. EA trying to match the high octane of COD. They pushed more explosive campaign and action in their stories, the same happened a year later for Dead Space 3. Mass Effect 1 feels clunky as far as TPS of todays standards but it was definitely more tactical than anything. With long cooldowns and little to no regen health. Mass Effect 2 is like the taint between the two with more action but still tactical and slow. Mass Effect 3 introduces a dodge roll, quicker cooldowns and as you mentioned a vast array of weapons to use at your disposal. Where as in the previous entries each class had certain weapon to balance those classes out. I can imagine the thought process being: “Adepts have singularity so we can’t have them use a sniper rifle”. Another thing that was scrapped was armor types. Vanguards have the abilities to wear Medium and Heavy armor while the Adept wasn’t. For better or worse ALOT of changes were made ME3 (and ME2) and the gameplay is def the peak of the trilogy (and the 2nd best in the franchise due to Andromeda) . There were a lot story and narrative changes that made the series take a nose dive l. I can’t say whether the gameplay changes was definitively for better or worse in the long run but I can DEFINITELY say it doesn’t fit the identity of the Mass Effect I once knew.
I love ME1 as it was the injection into the mass effect universe. It's the hardest to replay completely through as a lot of QOL elements were lacking making replay ability VERY tedious. ME2 refined the combat so much that it became easy to play over and over just for the action. The story was heavily engaging and I'll never forget missing some loyalty missions and watching my team die. Jesus I had to restart completely as I was so invested I couldn't let any die! ME3 wasn't necessarily bad. The ending was unforgivable though and really soured the entire experience that I just couldn't shake. Revisiting the game years later I enjoy 3's combat more than 2's.
There is actually a biotic ability called Dominate in ME2 that makes enemy organics turn on their allies, like Sabotage. The only way to get that is via Morinth, however, so not many people get access to it.
I did not appreciate waking up next to Javik after the crew party on the Citadel. Not at all. In my playthrough I was strictly paragon and romanced Liara in ME1. In ME2 I lead her on because garrus was my romance goal all along. After I solidified things with garrus, I told Liara I no longer wanted to pursue a relationship. Tali got shot in the face.
I genuinely cannot wait for your coverage of Andromeda. I recently gave the entire ME franchise a total play though for the first time. And I have to admit, Andromeda came out a lot better on that list than I genuinely thought. I think Andromeda is a solid answer to problems within the main trilogy
Andromeda had its share of issues like boring squad mates and a boring villain, but I still think it's a solid game. The main problem was that people keep trying to compare it to the trilogy.
@@darksideon I honestly thought the companions had a solid arc among each, seeing as all they have is just the one game. I mean ME1 Garrus in a vacuum is boring
I've just always been amused that Andromeda's very premise torpedoes the Starbrat's moronic and insane "bUt sYnThetiCs wIlL wIpE oUt orGAnICs" motivation but the writers were such cowards they never acknowledge it.
@@zephyr8072 I think the writers also just looked back at the Starbrat as a mistake in writing which, as a writer, does happen enough and just quietly pretend the Catalyst isn't a kid who knows everything everywhere. Andromeda does have a ton of missteps, and the Archon is boring which is a shame. Given enough time, I'm sure the Primarch could've been good, but honestly I think the Mass Effect series, past Saren and Sovereign, lack a good direction for a galaxy-wide threat. That being said -- I did actually love most of the companions. It's a shame the game got torpedo'd, because I honestly trusted Team B with Andromeda more than I think I'd ever trust Team A with a mainline game, compared to the guys who did DA: I's writing.
@@kalithoulouse2231 Andromeda's problem, I think, was that it tried to shoehorn in an evil antagonist and epic storyline where none was needed - that's why the Archon and the Kett are so tedious. It also inadvertently shoots their own premise in the foot, because if it wasn't for the Kett messing things up then the Angara would've dominated the sector and there's no reason to think they'd have tolerated aliens setting up in their space if they controlled it all. It would've worked far better if it had focused on the exploration side, discovering new worlds, maybe even adding colony building to gameplay. A "breather" game between the epic space wars. Alas it was all thrown away.
I used to have a friend who was a really big ME fan and your passion about these games reminds me of him a lot I never personally played ME but the story is intriguing and - as always - your passion talking about these games makes it all the better And you manage to make me snicker at least once during most of your videos, your snark really lends these videos its charm and your thoroughness combined with your directness is what makes your videos so awesome
Bioware should feel blessed that somebody came along and saved their ending with Indoctrination Theory. With THAT as the cliffhanger ending? The ending is mint and I don't care if that cliffhanger is ever resolved. God that theory is soooo good.
In my head, that's the actual ending. It required people desperate enough to piece together an actual ending, blindly following a hunch. "That can't be the ending of the trilogy," they said, and came up with this wonderful piece of fanfic, with actual evidence of in-game lore, and instead of riding the wave, they came and said, "Uh, that's not actually the truth." Leaving themselves with the shittiest ending possible at the time, So in my head, I refuse to believe anything else. Indoctrination Theory is my headcanon.
@@TheMaflan And funnily enough you are sounding indoctrinated yourself by believing it. Going against what little established canon ending there is. Not as a jab to anyone. I just find the contrast (or lack thereof) quite funny. The theory is still quite good, but there are also aspects that disprove it in the games as well. In the end, believe what you will, because it wasn't going to be better than pokemon gen 1 colors for the endings otherwise
@@thedeathray8620 Pretty much. You are indeed correct, I am indoctrinated myself into beliving it. Refusing to see those aspects that disaprove it in the game itself. They did wanted for us to think about what happens after the ending anyways, and a bitter ending like described in the indroctrination theory was pretty good. I still like the canon ending where we pretty much EMP our entire galactic civ back to the stone age. Geth included (wich is really funny when you think about it if you chose to save them).
If you read the "Mass Effect Deception" book, then you will realize that you are absolutely correct about how you described Kai Leng. He literally eats cereal while on a mission
Mordin was the most badass character in the entire series. From him start to his end. I was really sad to have him go and it was probably the most memorable scene in the whole series for me.
The only downside is that Mordin is so lovable that it's near impossible to get the alternate shroud endings. Only a monster could bring themselves to kill Mordin
I killed him. Shot him right in the back. And I’m glad I did because it remains the most memorable and tear jerking moment in video game history for me. Will never forget it.
@@ZombiemanTemple based af "Sorry mate, can't let you do that"
I think it is just insane that the other races just doesnt help at all (minus a few individuals) if you dont accept their deal.
Then again.... even the entire race of Turian doesnt even measure up to one fleet of humans according the the war assets.
You can keep Mordin alive but Wrex must not survive Virmire or be recruited so that Wreav is in charge of the Krogan and Maelon's data must be destroyed which results in Eve's death. This leads to Shepard being able to reason with Mordin that the Genophage can't be cured at the time because The Krogan under Wreav would strike against every other species while they are weak after just fighting off the reapers without Eve's presence to stop him
When you get to the Citadel docks, there is a teenager asking about her parents. For a while if you come back she is asking again, and the Turian she is asking gets more and more distraught and sad about it.
For some reason this is burned into my brain.
I like to head cannon that the Turian decides to adopt the teenager and that they both survive the war.
@@BrightWulph same!
It's probably to show that 2 races that hated each other found comfort through a hard situation
@@The_Punisher The scene just stuck with me because it showed the tough hardened militant Turians had a soft side. You could hear it in the Turians voice how sad he was and he knew the truth, while the teenagers innocent sounding inquiries and hope.
Yeah it's basically In the docking area where the conversation takes form. That C sec turian officer.
Im really glad someone stood up a bit for Vega. I'll admit i dont care about him, but i am also convinced that had he been in the game from the beginning, he would be a fan favorite, he just didnt have time.
Also, small gripe: Jaavik doesn't kill himself if you use the renegade option to stop him from viewing the shard, and he goes on to help Liara write a book on Protheans. I love it because its one of the few times Renegade is used to improve people's lives, which proves it isnt just another way of saying "bad" because sometime people need tough love. Id argue Kasumi needs the same thing
No he wouldn't have, because Vega is a chunk head who would've had no place in ME1 and would've blended into the background of ME2.
He is completely useless, obnoxious and on top of everything voiced by the charisma vacuum that is Freddie Prinze Jr.
Vega has grown on me with every replay. I think that introducing him in a book served him poorly.
If it was Vega instead of Kaiden in ME1, people might have saved him more than they did to Kaiden. Since he is a meathead and didnt need much personal development, it'd have been fine. And Kaiden would have got all the development he did across the trilogy in ME3.
@@snakesnoteyes Well, that confrontational introduction in ME3 served him very poorly as well. Shepard has shot people for less.
Nah Vega is a pretty dull character really, same as Jacob was in ME2, Jacob just got diluted out with the other great companions, ME3 unfortunately just has a smaller companion cast and its more apparent that he's just the generic action film army guy sort of stock character.
Does it damage the game? Nah not really, it's just a shame that we didn't get a more interesting one.
Also side note the alliance is meant to be all of earth so it would have been good if they'd used the opportunity to have a non Canadian/North American character, like they did with Miranda in ME2. Added a lot to the world building that not everyone comes from somewhere between texas and vancouver
Small correction: Javik only says he’s going to kill himself if you encourage him to touch his memory shard. If he doesn’t, he states he’ll adjust to the new cycle and possibly write a book on the Protheans with Liara
And if you encourage him to not touch the memory shard but get him late game, he'll talk about going to the Hanar and ruling them as their GodKing haha
I was looking for these comments. The saying let old ghosts lay. Is a very powerful qoute for everyone that has experienced loss. This can be a touchy subject. To have a memory file that reminds you of the final moments would be torture on your heart, and soul. No one wants to be reminded of what they lost. To move on to some capacity where the pain isnt as bad. You have to bury it to some degree. Easier said than done however. You move on at your own pace. You can't ever move on being reminded of what you lost with a memory shard file.
@@Patriarch.Chadimus I got him early in the game and still got that dialogue from him. I believe that dialogue is triggered by not paragon interrupting when Liara confronts Javik in his cabin after Thessia since their relationship remains in a bad state.
@@lofivibes3640 I think either end to his story is good. Either he decides to continue living and make the best of it, or he decides his time is over and it's time to return to his people.
@UCXnqEp5sWUJC3DGAxTfEOHQ that is weird. Every play through I’ve seen with that option he says he’s gonna kill himself
Under the correct circumstances at the shroud, Mordin does reveal that he deeply regrets his work on the genophage. If pressed hard enough and the right decisions were made, you can get him to scream "I MADE A MISTAKE!". He then proceeds to give his life to right this grave error.
Or you kill him. He says it when you try to convince him to not release the Genophage.
This is one of the most powerful scenes of the game for me, and ever since I discovered that he could say this, I will always make him say this before the genophage is cured.
Or, OR, you do the morally right thing- keep the genophage in tact and keep Mordin alive.
@@versebuchanan512 How is that the more morally correct?
Glad someone said. I was going to!
You can make Mordin admit that he made a mistake with the genophage and it's pretty personal for him to fix it.
The problem with Kai Leng...... he was introduced from the books that barely nobody read at all.
Kai Leng should've been a Squadmate from ME2, either Miranda or Jacob, who remained loyal (Or were Indoctrinated) to Cerberus, unless you make a very specific set of choices in ME2, in which case they're just replaced by nameless Cerberus Agents.
@@CABRALFAN27or he couod have been an actual squadmate of his own. TIM sends you the dossier for one of his top military agents, and the mission (both recruitment and loyalty) are about helping Kai on a mission for Cerberus. He would most likely use shotguns and sniper rifles, and have the vanguard class (biotic/combat). He COULD have been interesting.
To me what was weird with Kai Leng is that no matter how tough people made him out to be, he would never feel like an actual threat to Shepard. Shepard took down a reaper, collector base, died and came back to life, and fought countless enemies. The most frustrating thing though is the fight with him and Thane. Shepard and your companions are just there and dont help at all. The writing just makes You ( the player), Shepard, and your companions just feel helpless because of plot. You touched on this but why a sword? Why not two powered up Omni blades that we havent seen before.
Players watching haplessly as the plot happens right next to them is one of the most infuriating aspect of games telling a story. (Same for series and movies if they do similar to their main characters, of course.)
I agree that scene is very annoying, although for the sword I will say it's not unheard of in Mass Effect, it's a rather obscure reference but when Ashley was talking about her sisters she says what they all took up for defence and well sword training is still a thing 🤷🏽♀️
@@Heartshapedbox81 that’s fair but I don’t buy it for a guy with who knows how many cybernetic and biotic enhancements who’s boss has seeming unlimited resources. And considering Shepard shatters it in one hit tells me that a metal sword is very very outdated and should only be used if that’s all you got.
@@Grivehn I think Borderlands 3 is probably the worst example of this; a fan-favorite character is murdered in front of you and your character does nothing about it. It's one of the most jarring sequences I've come across in any game I've ever played.
@@dr_feelgood1902 Deckard Cain. Diablo 3. That's all.
When ME1 released, we were explicitly told "You won't be able to say 'I got ending A, B, or C'" at the end of the trilogy.
We got ending Red, Blue, or Green.
Actually Casey Hudson stated that on ME3's release, not ME1. Which means that he already knew the RGB ending that his drunkard of a friend wrote and wilfully lied.
This is why I'm glad the last game Hudson worked on for Bioware was Anthem. A fitting punishment.
It never was about the Red, Blue or Green. Mass Effect 3 in a whole is the ending, not just the last 15min.
@@zephyr8072 I mean what else was he supposed too say? The Ending sucks because oure origial plan was leaked so we had too scramble fore a bad rewrite?
@@neptuneplaneptune3367 Who cares if it was leaked? If your story hinges around gimmicky spoilers and plot twists then it's a bad story to begin with.
They had no reason to panic or do a hasty rewrite. Especially not one that was so utterly poor and contradictory to the entire setting.
@@zephyr8072 I...didnt say any of that? I just said what was the guy in that interwiew supposed too say at that moment? He could hardly admit that they made a dumb decision and now have a garbage ending.
Honestly, I fucking love that Thane absolutely bodies Kai Leng for most of their fight. It shows just how strong Thane is that even in the late stages of Kepral's Syndrome where he essentially has Cystic Fibrosis with an added side effect of low Iron from poor Oxygen intake. He powers through his pain and fucks up the enhanced cybernetic ninja through pure combat skill and reflex and only gets hurt because he got worn out and couldn't be perfect. For my usual trilogy playthrough I romance Liara in ME1, Thane in ME2 and then go back to Liara in ME3
But then they go & ruin it by falling back on the tired, ludicrous trope of trying to make us believe that a seasoned warrior would somehow throw away their advantage & forget they're holding a ranged weapon, instead allowing their melee weapon holding opponent to get within striking range lol. Not even a novice would make that mistake. It only happens in films/tv (& now games it seems lol)
like Red Dead Redemption. if he wasn't so late in the stage, he'd kick the absolute shit outta the other guy
I played through the series recently, and when I got to their fight I remember saying “You almost died to a cripple. Where does your outrageous sense of confidence come from you worm”
Everything about Kai Leng just feels like the most self indulgent bullshit from one person on the team. K.L. Is one of the few general low points of the game as a whole.
@@jubei7259 well he moved close because shooting failed - ? Maybe taking chances because of the stakes involved. In any real scenario the others would not just watch but move in on KL any way they could. Now Thane moving in perhaps meant they could not easily shoot..
I was sad I didn't get to visit the Elkor home world. Elkor are largely ignored in ME3.
And ME2.
And ME1.
Sadly: Yes. You are correct. In Despair: I don't have any hope for ME4 correcting ME3 and MEA's mistakes. :(
Seeing as their homeworld has a surface gravity of 4.0 earth g's, are you SURE you wanna visit?
@@noblevi3623 Also the reason they're built like tanks, but still a fall could be deadly to them while on their homeworld.
@@noblevi3623 I'd love to visit Hanar Planet
Mass effect 4 should Explore these races
@@NostalgicGamerRickOShayElcor can make great poets
Over time, ME1 has slowly crept into my number 1 spot in the series. I adore all 3 games. But ME1 overtook 2 just because how tightly it's written and capped with that amazing end credit song like a perfect movie. Still. All 3 games are absolutely amazing.
I sitll have a soft spot for me1 and the remaster made it leaps better, playing 2 again(didnt play all the dlc) felt like such a slog and chore to do everything for the best ending, didnt like the combat as much as I thought, I still love alot of me3(and got to play all the dlc) but damn does the ending ruin it
Definitely not. ME1 has always been dogwater. ME2 is a top 5 game of all time on both platforms. Don't compare that to ME1.
@@mattd9881 Nahh, the music in 1 is way better than 2, its more an rpg too and me2 has worse explortation
@Matt D While ME2 is definitely in that Halo 3, MW2, AC2 category of supremely polished and refined games that are indeed up there in the "all-time" category, ME1 did have some things better than it. Exploration, RPG elements, story/plot development etc.
@@mattd9881 I would say a close example is when people prefer Morrowind to Skyrim.
I actually think Kaidan goes through a pretty neat arc in ME3. While Ashley is still doesn't really like Cerberus and still doesn't fully trust them Kaidan after doing the ex Cerberus scientist mission is conflicted on Cerberus and has a mini monologue wondering just how many good people are in Cerberus. He even questions if the Illusive Man was good at a point. Kaidan has a really cool arc of realizing how gray situations and people are. In ME2 he was very clearly "Cerberus=bad" but over the course of ME3 he comes to realize how wrong and stupid he was to just paint the whole organization as bad and he even asks Shepard what to do about Cerberus members.
I also love how he leads his own Biotic team and seems to really care about the people in the team. I love the times when he asks EDI about where to find them. I feel him leading a Biotic team is a great way to end his character off. I also just think he's more endearing in ME3. In ME1 (for Male Shepard at least) he was a good bro type character but aside from just being someone you can talk to he didn't have many other traits. In ME3 I like how he's much more of a leader, I like his continued confusion on how to deal with Shepard and I love his talk at the Citadel. If you don't romance him he has a really tender speech about knowing he isn't the life of the party and that his integrity gets on people's nerves but that he values Shepard as a friend. I think Kaidan is a very open character and it's one of the reason's when he was available for Male Shepard as a romance option I took him in a heartbeat. I honestly think Male Shepard with Kaidan is one of the best relationships in the Trilogy especially if you go into the Trilogy wanting that romance.
Bear in mind that Ashley got a new writer for ME3 because the original creator and writer were fired. This was a HUGE setback for her character's development. All of ME3 was written by new writers.
That was due to Drew Kapshyn being force out and Director Hudson listening to fans about narrative when he should only listened about game mechanics. Thus, he heard many people who cannot parse nuance and chalked Ashley up to 'space racist' rather than hearing her pragmatism and the fact SHE WAS RIGHT about everything that happens in ME3, so they diminished her and built up Kaiden because most let Ashley die on Virmire. Another reason ME3 and Bioware went downhill by injecting current bad ideology & hired workers not based on meritocracy.
@@TheImapotato Yeah, I despise Patrick Weeks as a writer, like yeah he does good work but he should never EVER be placed in charge of a project alone or with Casey Hudson again.
I usually go with Steve Cortez.
2:00:40 with Javik when he tells you about the memory shard if you tell him to let the past go instead of reliving it again (and he's on good terms with Liara) on earth he'll tell you he's going to help Liara with her book and enjoy peace for a change. If Javik isn't cool with liara then he'll go to the hanar homeworld to live as a king.
Fun fact. The voice actress for Samara is Billie Eillish's mom
Nonsense kid.
@@blokin5039 voice actress is Maggie Baird. Her daughter is Billie Eillish.
@@kennethforman5265 You should have told me that from the beginning.
And her face is modeled on Rana McAnear. Samara is brilliant.
wtf lol
ME3 broke my heart, and was exactly as you described it. Though after Rannoch, the game just goes into a nose dive in quality.
The entire final mission of earth was just anti-climatic, and I felt like the writers really had no idea what to do at that point.
AND THEN I got to the ending.
I didn't touch ME3 again until the Legendary edition was released, my feelings on the endings still felt the same but all the DLC's were very well done.
Obligatory fuck EA because ME3 suffers from New vegas syndrome, they announced the game's release date while me2 was still in development, they had 2 years to finish probably the greatest gaming trilogy ever
Wasn't Mass Effect 3 rushed?
@@opticalraven1935Very rushed and you can definitely thank EA for that fact. They put an impossible task on Bioware on completing Mass Effect 3 in just barely two years after 2. It was just not possible for them to fully flesh out the game in that time. It explains why Jack, Kasumi, Zaeed, and Miranda barely have any screen time and why Jack and Miranda's romances are not focused on as much among other problems in the game. Shame too as moments in this game showcased it's potential (Tuchanka, Rannoch, and squatmate development.)
A really cool part of the Omega DLC is that when you’re deciding what to do with the reactor if you’re an Engineer I believe you can quickly reroute the power instead of waiting or cutting it. One of the only times I’ve ever really seen a class have an effect on the story.
They adeed it as a treat for engineer players cause it's the least picked class
it is, in fact, the ONLY time your class effects the choices that you have.
I've heard that there were a pair of devs working on ME3, the one that wrote Kai Leng and loved him, and another guy that absolutely HATED Kai Leng and didn't want him in the story at all. It kinda feels like these two writers were fighting over his inclusion and presentation.
So basically one writer made an OC and wanted to include it in the game, likeobviously he won because Kai Leng is in the game. But they have to live with the fact that the entire ME community see him as an annoying pos, that is completely unneeded for the game. XD 😅😅
It's a bummer that the nature of war assets being tied to the multiplayer meant that they would be worthless to a single player interest. Legendary Edition removing multiplayer completely kinda supported this too.
What? Assets were only multi-player before? That sucks.
@@alemswazzuassets were not only multiplayer. You got most of your war assets through the campaign and side content like normal. However, you could play the multiplayer content to supplement it. It wasn’t a significant amount, but it was something and it tied the multiplayer content nicely into the main game. When playing multiplayer, you are playing as teams completing missions that are assisting the war effort, therefore contributing to Shepards war assets. With legendary edition, and so much time later, the multiplayer servers have long since been shut down so there was no need to keep it in the game.
I remember crying the first time i heard Legion say "I" and lo and behold, im crying again, such a great character
I remember raising an eyebrow, since individuality was never something the geth desired.
They didn’t desire it, but they finally became an Artificial Intelligence instead of multiple Virtual Intelligences working together.
That’s a good name
I approve
That's part of why I'm not a great fan of the Rannoch arc as no matter what we do the geth are dead. Legion literally got his name because of the thousands of geth active in the platform, yet all those individuals are killed and merged into a singular being. The geth suffer the same fate as the human colonists in ME2, they are killed and merged together to give birth to something new.
@@vinccool96 What a wonderful complete destruction of everything that made them interesting and likable in ME2, all covered in this saccharine illusion of it somehow being a good thing that what defines them is being destroyed in favor of something more familiar to humans.
The geth had a soul, and ME3 kills it no matter which route you take on Rannoch
You touch on one of my biggest gripes with the ME trilogy's story when you talk about Leviathan.
Our conversation with Sovereign painted the reapers basically gods. We learn that they don't need resources or slaves, that they're almost indestructible, each one of them is "a nation," and that they see themselves as above any organics, and that their presence warps the minds of anyone around them. They're basically Eldritch horror space robots.
"We impose order on the chaos that is organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because they demand it." Sovereign never once speaks of salvation or preservation of organics, but their *end.* And when asked about their goals or origin, all we learn is that it is beyond what we could fathom. ME1 painted them to be beyond our understanding and gave them a huge air of mystery which only made them seem even more menacing.
Mass Effect 2 gave us a little more info, but it's basically that reapers melt organics down to turn reproduce. The "why" of what they do and their origin is still shrouded in mystery. What little we learned made them more scary, especially since we knew we'd be facing them in the next game.
But by the end of ME3, we know exactly what they are, where they came from, where their mind warping abilities come from, and their motivations. And not only that, but everything Sovereign says about the Reapers being the end of organics is a lie because they actually see it as "saving" us.
By the end of ME3 the mystery of the Reapers is completely gone and what we learned in the beginning of the trilogy that made them so scary turns out to be a lie anyways.
They are the end of 95% of the organic life every cycle for a new beginning. Sounds pretty “end of the organic life” to me
It's the end of a trilogy, there really shouldn't be mystery about them anymore
I don’t mind everything that Sovereign said turning out to be a lie (or just arrogant bloviating), if it had narrative consequences. But it didn’t so it’s just an eldritch machine horror that is lying to the player or an eldritch machine horror that understands itself less than the Geth. Both of those options lack narrative satisfaction in any meaningful way.
@@thecupcakemedjay3314 if they’re built up to be eldritch horrors then it’s perfectly within functionality of the genre for there to still be mystery about them. It’s very easy to see that for the first two games they were heavily influenced by Lovecraft and the Borg, but the only Reapers we meet are closer to Lovecraftian mythos than the Borg.
@The Cupcake Medjay I disagree. I think you could have given a satisfying end without explaining every last detail about the Reapers. It would have been a challenge for sure, but it could have been done.
But my main gripe isn't so much thr lack of mystery, but the contradiction. I should have been more clear about that, but it feels like a retcon that Sovereign was like "we're here to end all of you" and the Catalyst is like "we're killing you all to *save* all of you!"
For the beam run during the end, a ship could suicide tackle harbinger. The resulting explosion could still injury shepherd instead of a direct shot of a warship destroying beam. If your war assets are low it would be the normandy. If it is high it could be the destiny ascension or your mother's ship (if you didn't save it and have a mom) or some generic alliance ship.
In my understanding, Harbinger left because Anderson had successfully made it past the defences and onto the Citadel without people realizing because of the Chaos of the situation
@@vinccool96 Harbinger left because he wiped out all of Hammer.
Hannah Shephard servers on Alliance's dreadnought... they, as a rule, do not enter planet's atmosphere
@@darykeng if they can't then I understand. if it is out of concern for collateral damage, it's the end of galactic civilization. Maybe not run into harbinger but shoot it to grab his attention. There needs to be a reason for harbinger to leave and not double tap shepherd.
@@Nerbatsu The dreadnoughts are just not made to support a planet's gravity. The engines are not powerful enough
2:06:09
It's actually worse than that. Because Catalyst claims that Synthesis is the endgame of life. Which means that Catalyst and its Reapers had been actively sabotaging his perfect solution by killing all life before it has a chance to get there.
Actually ya, they could've just waited until the crucible was built and just have been super slow with their takeover or use only a small chunk of reapers to attack so that their takeover would be much slower, but just enough that the alliance couldn't beat them conventionally
it's funny cause Shepard actually asks "why you didn't do this before?" and the Catalyst basically answers "ehhh i just thought about it now" like WHAT??? ARENT YOU THE CLOSEST THING TO OMNISCIENCE IN THE GALAXY???
synthesis is the worst ending by far though. aside from forcibly turning everyone against their will into half organic/synthetic hybrids, the reapers just kinda up and leave for no reason to go do who knows after. that and the thought that after untold countless millennia of a repeated cycle of genocide the reapers just all get off scot free after it all. though i suppose the blue god shepard isnt much better. sucks for the geth after bothering to make peace but the red end is the only tolerable one.
@@e.corellius4495Do you want indoctrination, indoctrination, or destruction?
@@JoshSweetvale low key exactly that lol. anyone who thought the green or blue was the better ending basically thinks Saren did nothing wrong, and that shepards whole journey to defeat the reapers was pointless and we should have just let Saren make us all mindless slaves in the first game.
About the elusive man having biotics that control people. If during samira's loyalty mission you kill her and take her daughter Morinth. She has an ability called Dominate That allows you to control organics enemies into fighting each other. It's possible with reaper tech the elusive man could have gained a similar ability.
I was hoping someone else noticed. I'm surprised he missed this given that he was pretty thorough in exploring the avenues of the game. But, even the most detailed analysis can still be flawed.
I mean Asari and Humans don't have the same physiology (they don't even have to have intercourse to become pregnant) and she was an ardat yakshi so I really don't think the same can apply, not to mention what was said is True, Tech and biotics are not the same, it just kinda seemed like a cop-out for an already lazy ending.
With Reaper tech anythings possible when you consider how much knowledge and power they have at their disposal. It's no wonder a separatist faction exists in every cycle.
@Heartshapedbox81 true BUT Shepard can use this ability in 2 and 3 and Reapers could certainly jam that kind of biology in a human we're the most genetically malleable in ME
You also get Dominate after Leviathan DLC, well at least that's how it was for me
I have so many issues with this game but my main issue with War Assets as a day one ME3 player;
It required you to play the multiplayer to get the max war potential. And eventually, people played so much multiplayer that you could've done the most self-sabotaging renegade playthrough in the entire game.... and still got the best ending, even with 50% readiness.
It broke the game in one way, then another. :/
Trying to make a game that's obviously supposed to be a single player RPG into a multiplayer game seems like a really bad EA decision.
I just watched your other two Mass Effect videos this week and thoroughly enjoyed them. I was only disappointed that 3 wasn't out yet. Thanks for the early Christmas present!
lmao same xD
Now you got to do entire Metro franchise
I would love to talk about those games one day. Maybe even STALKER as well. Only ever played Metro but they are very similar at least to my knowledge.
@@Gingy . I looked through the channel hoping/expecting a retrospect video covering the Dishonored series. Considering it's rich with lore and gameplay mechanics that encourage the player to play their own way; something that seems to fit into the quota of most of your videos as of late. Maybe some day, I'll be here to check it out and hopefully make similar videos in the future.
@@Gingyjust as the other reply said dishonored would be a great video and personally the Witcher would be awesome. Obviously Witcher has a dense and complicated lore, but regardless it is amazing.
@@Gingy yh stalker evokes similar feelings to Metro, they are a bit clunky to play but definitely worth it
James kicking that console was hilarious. I was endeared to him really fast probably because I could tell he was the "filler" companion and that somehow made me more sympathetic. Also I found his rapport with Cortez nice. That was still when the "gay romance" thing was still kind of a big whoop, and while Cortez's ongoing dead husband angst is its own hamfisted thing, I just thought it was nice for the "token gay" to have a warm rapport with the "stereotypical meathead". The line was something about James doing a lot of chin-ups and James just laughing that Cortez was enjoying the show.
I guess the fact that it was the *lack* of any kind of hostility or disdain in the joke being notable is pretty telling for the atmosphere of the day, but whatever. Cortez + Vega BFFs 4ever!
I always wondered why Cortez's dead husband is such a negative point for the community. Frankly I see him as one of the better examples of representation we have.
@@rafabuda0 I don't think he's awful or anything, but--admittedly it's been a while--I remember feeling like Cortez was less about Cortez and more about the dead husband and it felt like that's all he was about. I don't remember any other traits about him. That may not be the case in actuality--maybe the poor man just suffered (like James) being a new character without the history/baggage of pre-existing ones and he just wasn't that memorable in comparison?
@@fizzplease6742 it IS a big part of Cortez in the beginning, that's for sure, but after you get him on track he's pretty solid for a side character
@@rafabuda0 id imagine its because you feel kinda dirty taking advantage of someone whose spouse literally just died. its kinda messed up if you start dating after all that. i mean its literally you going up to a mourning friend at their husbands funeral and going "this means you're single now right?"
The dead husband thing is like....an hour tops. 3 interactions and the grieving Cortez will be less of an angsty workaholic. He didn't mention him at all after that in my run, not even the citadel DLC where you'll get the most opportunity to interact with him.
One of the things I hate about me3 is definitely how they put missions into your journal. Its a fucking mess to see which one’s are primary missions and which one’s are secundary. I would’ve liked to have it like me2 because it was obvious which one would progress the main quest.
2:03:57
The Reapers dragged the Citadel through a mass relay and started processing its inhabitants. And yet... the Citadel wards in the background look like it's as bustling as ever.
I always wondered what happened to everyone on the citadel when the reapers "brought it to earth" its like they don't really say much about it, and if they do it's a pretty unceremonious mention for the millions living there lol
That's not "bustling." Those are just lights.
@@sanguinetales you can see skycars moving in the background
Last time I was this early Shepard hadn't committed war crimes yet.
Dam that's early
War crimes are made up. History is written by the victors. There are no laws in war. Only victory.
Batarians deserved it. Simple as. I'm not racist, just don't like em
Shepard*
@@jakebaca264 iiuil
If only we got the dark energy plot line. Its such a better motivation for the reapers and adds so much moral gray!
The Catalyst being a V.I. is still damn funny though. The Reapers are a paperclip maximizer, a homogenizing swarm.
They're bad coding.
The Reapers aren't 'right or wrong' they're _mistaken._
One of the weird things about the Omega DLC is it's one of the few times your class comes into effect when making a choice. You get given a binary choice as every class that's not engineer... but as an engineer, you can choose to solve both problems and not be forced to choose the lesser of two evils.
Is there a choice to be made as to which the female Turian survives?
Do u remember which part/choice it was? That sounds really cool, I just don’t remember having to decide between the lesser of 2 evils on that dlc.
@bingbong754 when you go to shut down the red barriers with Aria and the female turian who's name i forgot sadly and the choice is to shut down power in the apartments and kill 1000s or save Aria and the female turian
thats a non-choice though. if you save only the 1000s aria just biotic bad ass forces her way through the barrier anyway and nothing changes. the only thing any of the choices in the dlc do is determine if aria chills out or stays the cold hearted queen in the end, they all do nothing and affect nothing beyond that.
CORRECTION: The person who wrote the Planet Codices in ME1 left during ME2, and has since then told us that Leviathan of Dis was a 5-minute blurb he wrote at the end of ME1 production, and he had no intention of it being a backstory to the Reapers -- rather, he felt it was a backstory to a pre-Prothean war against the Reapers, to characterize how different cycles describe the Reapers differently. I played ME3 when it came out originally. The only hint to Leviathan being retrofitted as a Reaper lore, is when Balak shows up on the Citadel. But the Leviathan DLC was only made once BioWare knew they had to make additional content to "rationalize" the bad logic in the ending. I do believe they had theorized Leviathan to become the actual backstory all throughout ME3's development. It was one in 5 popular internet theories back in the ME1/2 days, anyway. But it is absolutely retroactive continuity.
The 'Evacuating Thessia' email from Kai Leng broke me. It's worthy of it's meme status.
I think it might not be so bad. There’s actually a great explanation for his character.
Good. You opened this message. This isn't actually asari military command. They're busy tending to what's left of their planet.
So you survived our fight on Thessia. You're not as weak as I thought. But never forget that your best wasn't good enough to stop me. Now an entire planet is dying because you lacked the strength to win. The legend of Shepard needs to be re-written. I hope I'm there for the last chapter. It ends with your death.
-KL
padok wiks is a really entertaining character in of himself, they definitely put more effort into his writing then a generic salarian replacement.
Have you ever thought about how krogans mate?
@@J0k3R32100 *goes through the entire range of emotions while picturing it*
"Well, here's our chance to ask! Eve, how do krogans mate?"
"Very clumsily."
"Well, there you have it!"
Just wanted to put this out there, in reference to why Harbinger didn't just shoot the Normandy out of the sky during the final push. The Normandy has literally the best stealth technology in the galaxy. It's why the Reapers won't detect you when you're in Reaper space unless you use the pulse mechanic to find things on the galaxy map which alerts them. The Reapers detect through heat signatures and the Normandy's stealth drive keeps it hidden from those types of sensors. That's why even since ME1, the Normandy has always been called the ultimate stealth ship but never actually has any form of "cloaking" tech. Could also explain why Harbinger didn't speak to Shepard directly during that instance, there were so many warm organic bodies around it probably couldn't tell one from another. It just saw a ton of warm, fleshy blobs it needed to shoot.
Leviathan was the best dlc, loved the exploration and detective work. The only problem I have is that it should be part of the main game as its essential to explain the reapers existence.
Another great breakdown!
I really feel the Kai Lang character could have either been the Ashley/Kaiden we sacrificed on Vermire. Would have made for a good twist IMO.
There's a mod that actually does this
they would be fucking ashes if even
The problem with using the Virmire sacrifice is that they were either right next to the nuke or within several hundred meters of it at detonation. In either instance, they would have been vaporized. It was approximately 5 kilotonnes more powerful than little boy was on Hiroshima. Even if they were protected enough by the building around them at the AA gun position to not be vaporized (unlikely), there would have been way too much damage to the body to be brought back enough to be an indoctrinated servant of Cerberus
Mordin being involved with the genophage cure isn't that much of a surprise if you pushed him during his loyalty mission. If you did that, it becomes quite clear at the end of the mission that he's changed his mind about the genophage.
To be fair, Vega did get an entire movie to flesh him out. It covers the backstory you mentioned with the Collectors but adds a lot more depth, explaining that he lost a lot more than he cares to mention. Far from a perfect movie but well worth a watch.
Also, Thane's death hits WAY harder on a FemShep run if you romanced him in ME2. I honestly think Thane is the best romance choice for FemShep. Liara is kind of the freebie choice for everyone, Kaiden is usually dead, Garrus works better as MShep's bro, and Jacob is a lowdown dirty cheating S.O.B.
There’s a mass effect movie??
@@donqon Anime like movie called Paragon Lost.
@@donqon yep, Paragon Lost. Basically covers that story of James' run-in with the Collectors.
Jennifer Hale said Garrus' romance is the best, and Thane was the most boring, so nah.
Liara only feels like a freebie if you’re not a gay woman who’s been forced to play straight characters for the entirety of your video game rpg experience before mass effect (or dragon age, but that’s twice in a whole genre at that point)
I just found your videos and just binged them all while at work man,the way you break things down it’s masterful you made me wanna go back and replay all those old video games
The weird conversations on the citadel never bothered me hugely. Definitely more than a little stiff on the writing, but not awful. Shepard doing his job of trying to make everyone work together on every scale imaginable, makes sense for the character. But the one that really gets me is the one where two parents are arguing about whether or not to send their child to school or keep him home with them in light of the invasion. The message Shepard gives is “just do whatever is best for your child”, to which they respond in the typical “oh thank you you are so right oh great and wise Shepard” fashion. But the problem is he not only didn’t resolve their argument (as they are literally arguing over what is best, not whether they should do what is best), but also doesn’t contribute to their conversation in literally any way, but for some reason they are still happy with him. Just horrible writing that really killed my immersion for a bit.
I always thought the last reaper you kill before the beam should have been Harbinger. It would have made it much more intense and impactful and it would’ve been this showdown between two rivals.
Those missiles were enough to take down a Reaper destroyer, but wouldn't touch a full-size dreadnought like Sovereign or Harbinger.
@@solicitr666Which might be the time to bring in the cool shit.
I feel like Thane is always given the short end of the stick as a romance choice, but in my opinion he's got the best romance in the series. Bittersweet, but just as delightful, plus it gives the ending a different weight, especially when he shows up at the end of the Citadel DLC.
I found him soulful and deep.
But not my type.
@@antediluvianatheist5262ah you enjoy paper cups
the Tango scene with Garris says Hi.
Small correction: The galaxy has FTL without the Relays. You move through the clusters via FTL very quickly. Its only on the bigger scale of moving between clusters around the galaxy that the Relays are so important.
I always saw the lackluster stand ins when the original squad members die as the devs roundabout way of imposing consequences for killing/not investing in the OG squad members throughout the past games. I’m always happy to see another Mass Effect retrospective.
i so love the fact that asari has had the VI for THOUSANDS of years and they didin't think of asking "hey so why are proteans gone" they literally should have had atleast some of the info from the memory of that thing even if the vi "only appears with sipher/protean" there....
Liara spends few weeks and finds out super weapon (funny how now 1 copied that data like certain robot did + ancient ancient computer (not typo) that could stop working at anymoment so no copies?) while "smartest" asari made their race super power with 1 of them and found 0 clues of certain group that is coming to kill them?
the asari councill member is so in on the "we know nothing" bit on rule "you must tell others if you find 1 of there" world is burning and only when its burning your feet you decide to "oh maybe i should hint at something"
the "story" bucket literally has no bottom here
I'm surprised you didn't mention how absurd the addition of Shepard evacuating his squad mates during the run to the beam is. If people making it to the beam is of the highest importance - pretty much the last chance the Alliance has to stop the Reapers - as the characters say it is, then having Shepard stop what he's doing to call the Normandy in to evacuate his squad mates would never happen. Getting to the beam is more important than anything else, including the lives of Shepard's squadmates or even Shepard's life. Aside from showing a complete lack of judgement and disregard for priorities (incompetence really), it makes him, the Normandy, and the squad mates he's trying to evacuate sitting ducks for Harbinger. It's no wonder Harbinger just stood there like a dunce and allowed it to happen - if he had done something, it would have shown even more how stupid that whole scene was. The Normandy would have been destroyed, Shepard's companions would be dead, and Shepard would be dead. I've actually never heard anyone mention how ridiculous it is.
FYI the illusive man talk down isn't just related to reputation it's also related to all the conversations you have with him through out the game. If you always talk to him with paragon options he will unalive himself, the same goes for if you only choose renegade. If you mix the choices even once during the game you can't talk him down.
That’s not true- at least in the legendary edition
It might have been that way originally, but not in the Legendary edition. I had mostly paragon interactions with him, but definitely some renegade (no human reaper bits for you in ME2, TIM!), and I was able to talk him into ending it.
@@chibiktsn3 The Illusive Man's name is now discovered, he is Tim, nothing will convince me otherwise now.
Terrific breakdown as always. Seeing a Gingy upload gives me life.
59:30
Tali: "...then introduced into the suit through an emergency induction port."
Shepard: "That's a straw, Tali."
Tali: "EMERGENCY INDUCTION PORT"
That gave me a big chuckle when I originally played the game 😄
If I remember correctly, the only time I actually encountered a war asset on Earth was Jacks kids helping to destroy the reaper before the Taco Bell run to the Crucible and being on the radio talking about how they’re holding off reaper forces with biotic fields.
Otherwise, yeah, that’s about it
What I loved about Mass Effect 3 is it had a very survival horror vibe to it. The reaper threat is literally the threat of nightmares and seeing Banshis and knowing their lore is so creepy it’s good. I just loved Mass Effect 3. Besides the crap ending and some choices, I had a good time.
I've always found ME3 interesting in a particular fashion. After playing through all the games in multiple different mixtures of renegade and paragon, I'm often reminded of the "Epic Man Theory" with storytelling and history...
Been loving your story videos!
Given your ME2 vid i knew it wouldn't really be a part of this one but i genuinely missed Miranda so bad.. like she was without a doubt my favorite character, her story was the most interesting to me so i was so disappointed that she got relegated to what amount to cameos (and emails ig?)
The illusive man wasn't using biotics he is using the special implants that cerberus developed from the horizon experiments. The game just uses the biotics animation when it happens.
Nerd
@@ZeroFische we are all nerds here buddy, you are watching a sci fi RPG game where there is lore for EVERYTHING.
@@Definitly-not-Omegon ok Nerd! Let’s go to my bedroom and fight this out like real men!
What I don't get is why the catalyst an AI that has stayed on its course for hundreds of thousands of years suddenly decides to let us stop it for no apparent reason. It could have just let Shepard die in the room he killed the Illusive man. It didn't need to bring him to the room he makes the choices or explain it. It also doesn't make sense. That is why a lot of people came up with the idea that Shepard had been exposed to enough reaper tech to become indoctrinated and the catalyst was a indoctrination induced halucinations and all three endings are really Shepard breaking the crucible. There is destruction aka shoot some equipment, synthesis jump into a energy beam killing yourself and possibly breaking something, and control grab some high energy pieces of equipment killing yourself and possibly breaking something. You probably walked right past the firing button. Frankly this is why the refuse ending is the most satisfying for me. In this light Shepard is realizing he has been subverted and refuses to do the Reapers bidding even if that means sitting down and hoping someone else can finish the job now that he can't.
Am currently binging all your vids and suddenly you just release another one XD you've become my favorite gaming story UA-camr overnight
This is the only game in the Shepard trilogy I haven't played multiple times, I haven't don't any of the dlc, the ending threw me off so much I never went back. I've played Andromeda more than me3. Sadge. Great video.
This has to be the best in-depth analysis I've watched/listened to. Thanks for putting into words, what swam around my brain for several years!
Man, so damn glad to see this video release at last. Personally my favorite of the trilogy despite its disappointing upcoming (The ending, god it is a let down still). Cant wait to rewatch the entire trilogy retrospective videos once again
All 3 games were great, but I tell my friends that ME1 is still my favorite. Clunky combat and Mako driving included. There was this sense of adventure and exploration that made me forgive the boring planets. The story was damn good too. Remastered was how ME1 should have played. It is perfect now.
I think it may have been part of the Extended Cut endings, but no matter which of the three main endings you pick, it's stated that the relays are repaired after a time. The issue of everyone being stuck without FTL was one of things that prompted them to make the Extended Cut.
Also, I'm pretty sure you can play out a renegade and keep most companions alive, lol. Your renegade was just particularly psycho.
I did a 90% Renegade playthrough when the Legendary Edition launched and can confirm this. It's entirely possible to play as almost a full Renegade while still getting the most optimal ending.
Perhaps it requires more meta knowledge that a full Paragon playthrough would require, but it's still more than doable. I don't understand why the discourse surrounding Mass Effect's morality system seemingly chooses to ignore this.
SERIOUSLY. I thought renegade was just "ruthless means to the same end" not pissing in a fan. You can be a hard renegade and get your entire squad through the suicide mission.. You can be a hard renegade and save your whole crew. Both are based on logic and haste and have nothing to do with your morality.
On the old Bioware forum they stated they were surprised that so many people concluded that both the turians and quarian fleets were essentially going to starve to death as they can't eat any food found on Earth.
Man I loved that ME2 had 12 companions, sonmuch replay value in that alone
I see the control ending as the reapers “surrendering” to Shepard. Or rather seeing him as the only person worthy of determining their fate. It’s my personal favorite ending of the 3. I don’t believe a paragon Shepard would destroy an entire race of synthetics ( assuming you brokered peace between the Geth and Quarians) and allow Eddi to die. I also wouldn’t personally pick the synthesis ending because it completely neglects everything Shepard has done to preserve the galaxy’s robust and diverse life. Of course I’m looking at this through the perspective as a paragon Shepard.
I agree 100%. I can't bring myself to murder the Geth just DAYS after giving them sentience, and with Joker's family dead, EDI is all he has left. I also don't feel like Shepard has the right to rewrite the genetic makeup of every creature in the universe without their consent. Sacrificing his physical form to force the Reapers into submission really feels like the most "Paragon" choice.
Red ending - commit genocide
Blue ending - do what Cerberus wanted
Green ending - do what Saren wanted
None of the endings are good or "Paragon". All of them are cowardice and surrender to the Starbrat's insane troll logic.
That's the problem.
@@zephyr8072 oh no doubt all these endings suck. I just prefer the control ending out of the 3, technically 4, options that were given.
I think the Control ending is dangerous, Shepard kind of becomes Dr. Manhattan. Absent his body over time he may become further and further detached from living beings. Perhaps he’ll come around to the Reapers’ way of thinking that he needs to intervene in other species development. Who will stop him then? No one.
Destroy is tragic, particularly if you brokered peace, but is the best choice of a shit situation.
Not ending the Reaper threat now at the cost of synthetic life will lead to more deaths in the long term.
I do think there should have been some combination of installing all ship upgrades and dialogue choices that let the Normandy outrun the Destroy blast wave so that EDI could be saved.
@@GuardianOwl The issue with Destroy is that it's bad writing 101.
They knew that if there was a way to save EDI and the Geth and kill the Reapers then that would be the perfect ending everyone would take.
So rather than expand on the merits of control or synthesis.. or just not do an Endingtron 3000 to begin with they attach an arbitrary and ridiculous penalty to destroy _even though the lore has several entries detailing how the Crucible can track and discriminate Reapers and Reapers alone._
The war asset system really messed up this game for me. It was confusing, and so much of it ended up being tied to whether you played as a paragon or renegade. I personally like to mix the two to create the character arc for Shepherd across the trilogy that feels most compelling to me, and I ended up with this weird and very sudden lukewarm ending that I didn't really know what to do with.
Humm the Javik part where he says he'll end it after the final battle, Idk how you got it but in my playthrough Javik said he would relax, enjoy peace and write a book about the Protheans with Liara.
He gets a happy ending, you just have to not make him use the prothean thingy in his room i believe
Correct, avoid that thing like a damn plague if you want a happier ending for the last prothean. He'll either end up writing a book or going to the hanaar homeworld to be a god king lol. Depending on a few choices involving liara i think.
@@chuck9246Memory drives are death flags in Mass Effect
If you play an engineer, during reactor decision on Omega you don't have to choose between waiting to reroute or shutdown. Engineer Shep can reroute instantly.
Sir. Sir. Please get out of my head.
Great video. You pretty much said everything I thought of the game as a whole. I loved everything about the game, save for the ending and the war assets. You summed the latter up pretty well, all our choices were turned into numbers and felt like they were made pointless. Not to mention that war assets were also tied to the multiplayer mode too. While I enjoyed the fuck out of that mode, I know there were people who didn't. Not sure what happens now because I'm assuming people don't play the multiplayer mode that much anymore.
I beat the game within 48 hours of it coming out-because I had to do things like sleep and eat, lol. I was so giddy when I got to go past the opening and get to Mars-I played the demo like crazy and was so hyped for the games release. When I got to the ending...words really can't describe how confused and disappointed I was. I think I literally said "Wait. That's the ending? That's it?" when the colored cutscene played. I get that some people like the ending, it fit their Shepard's story and there lies the problem, I think. People are so attached to "their Shepard," the character they've built out through three games and already had an ending in mind for them. I don't know if anything Bioware did would have satisfied the mass majority-something would have always been wrong. Even the 'Extended Cut', like you said, was a bandaid. For some, it fixed the issues they had with it. For me, I'm still salty as fuck.
An idea I had about the whole rachni queen choice was give players different enemies to fight depending on their choices from ME1. If you saved the queen then you would have the ravagers to fight. If you had killed her off, then you'd fight another race's reaperfied version, or maybe have the Collectors return-which they did for the multiplayer. That would have made it more fun to replay with different Shepards.
The ending made me trust the Mass Effect team less-so much so that I have yet to touch Andromeda, even if I own it...I think I got it for free or on a really good discount years after it's release. I swear...Bioware better not fuck up Dragon Age 4...
Sorry for the rant. Thanks for the great video!
Thanks for these. I wanted more visible at the final battle rather than war assets, like you stated. The best thing that happened to this game are the AHEM mod, which ends the game with Anderson and Shepard, paired with Citadel Epilog mod, which pushes the Citadel DLC after the main game with a tie in slide to state that it's some time later and the Normandy is going in for dry dock, this giving you a nicer satisfying send off to the trilogy. Also the Shut Up Kai Leng mod helps a lot! Looking forward to watching more of your essays.
I've been really enjoying your videos as of late and I would love it if you would make one about Dragon Age Inquisition! I picked it up again recently and I just fell in love with it all over again, it's definitely one of my favourite games of all time!
Dragon Age has been on my list for a while. Would love to delve into the series when I get the time.
@@Gingy I just love to hear you say that! I'll watch the Dragon Age videos with glee when you eventually get around to making them. Keep up the great content! 😄
I can't bring myself to like Inquisition and it mainly comes down to how it controls. In Origins and DAII I never used WASD to control my character only click to move and holding down LB+RB on my mouse. Yet in Inquisition both those options were removed and it felt more like playing Mass Effect: Dragon Age Edition. It also didn't help that they removed the auto-attack option and when patching it back in managed to do it in the worst way possible.
When Origins came out it was clear that Bioware cared about giving both console players and PC players the best experience possible. DAII faltered a little but still understood that console and PC players will control the game differently. Inquisition said "fuck it" and just tried to map the controller inputs to the keyboard & mouse.
Inquisition was the first time I really felt that Bioware lied as "made for PC gamers by PC gamers" clearly wasn't true.
Solid content as always. I wonder if an in game timer set around the passage of weeks and tracking the reapers advance would have improved the game by forcing the player to prioritize characters and events.
I truly think that Shepard is the real Catalyst, That Shepard is what the Leviathan A.I was looking for in its solution for the organic v synthetic problem. Without Shepard the cycle would have continued like normal, as the catalyst state Shepard was the first organic to enter the crucible. It didn't have to let us in, it chose to because we forged new option for its problem. For most of the game it does seem that no other cycle united against the reapers and that seems to be the key. The 3 ending seem to have this in mind. 1.Destroy, After showing the galaxy that they are stronger united the threat of A.I killing off species is lessened. ( a bit of a weaker argument but I think that this is the worst ending for the setting). 2 Control, Shepard A.I has the drive to unite the galaxy using your either paragon for renegade settings. 3 Synthesize. Also stated by the catalyst it has tried this and failed before, but why did Shepard need to be absorbed for it seems like an integration of Shepard. It only states your energy is added what if that energy is the pure will of Shepard. The hero that united the races. Shepard's will always seems to be looked over but to me always come off as unyielding. Like yes we are the hero of the galaxy but I always think that there is more to it. We are always around and fighting reapers that there tech yet we seem mostly unaffected by Indoctrination and as parts of the story are vague it always made sense to me that our will is what sets us apart from others in the galaxy. The will to Unite and the will to forge ahead. But yea... I think that the Catalyst was searching/waiting for a real catalyst to emerge/evolve and I think that is us Shepard.
You forgot about Marauder Shields
Just finished this trilogy last night and watched your other retrospectives perfect timing for the 3rd
The only DLC's I ever played for ME3 were "From Ashes" and the "Extended Cut." I preordered the Collectors Edition, took a week off from work when it came out, and played through the entire game. I was so horribly disappointed by the ending that I never bothered to even try another playthrough even though the majority of the game had been enjoyable. I experienced the "Extended Cut" by loading up my save, but was still disappointed. I'm still mad about it more than a decade later. Other than Zelda games, ME3 was the last game I've preordered. I now wait for reviews so I don't waste my time and money.
The whole series has been based around making choices. It's an RPG so yeah of course, but it also had your choices carry over from game to game however meaningful they ended up feeling. So, the freedom of choice feels like an important part of the game and the story as a whole in my opinion. With that said, the Catalyst explains the three options to us.
Destroy kills all synthetic life, including the Reapers, the Geth, EDI, and any other partial synthetics similar to Shepherd. Ignoring the ending where Shepherd wakes up and the Indoctrination Theory, this seems like an awful ending and even worse if you are Renegade or have low war assets.
I'll come back to the Control Ending. The Catalyst says that the Synthesis ending is the best as it will bring harmony to the organics and synthetics by making everyone an organic/synthetic hybrid. If we take what the Catalyst says at face value then that seems like the best choice, but this story has been partially about the freedom of choice and we are making a pretty big choice for all the races in the Galaxy by making them become these hybrids. That feels like that goes against one of the main aspects of the series by taking away the rest of the galaxies choice.
Finally, let's talk about the Control Ending. If we ignore the Indoctrination Theory, also consider the freedom of choice being a core tenant of the series which would overrule the Synthesis ending, believe everything that the Catalyst says, have enough war assets, and be a full Paragon player then I would have to say that this is actually the best ending. The reason I say that is because the galaxy would have the Reapers at their disposal as long as AI Shepherd stays Paragon post ending, the other synthetic lifeforms wouldn't be destroyed, and Shepherd would use the Reapers to help repair the civilizations and the Mass Effect Relays which would only be damaged rather than destroyed. Admittedly, the Reapers helping rebuild and the Mass Relays only being damaged are only aspects added in the Extended Cut and is also something that happens in the Synthesis ending, but they do it of their own accord or the Catalyst's accord.
Some would say that Reapers still being around in the Synthesis and Control is a bad thing which would mean Destroy is the only good ending, but that doesn't feel right either based on the Geth, EDI, and other partially synthetic people being destroyed as well. Synthesis takes away the people's choice. Renegade Control and low war assets Destroy are probably the worst endings. Paragon Control is only bad if the AI Shepherd eventually goes rogue, but the Synthesis ending could eventually have the Catalyst change its mind and kill everyone as well. I think I would rather take my chances with AI Shepherd. Lastly, the Control Ending as a whole is framed as a bad ending because it was the Illusive Man's idea so that's another thing to feel contentious about. And Refusal is just a bad ending.
Which brings us to the Shepherd Wakes Up Destroy Ending. The Catalyst said that partial synthetics like Shepherd would be destroyed in this ending and even if we say he survived that somehow, he was also already in bad shape and would have then seemingly fell from the Crucible way up in the sky (stratosphere maybe?) all the way to the surface of the planet and survived that fall without any kind assistance. No parachute and I don't believe he had any like thrusters on his combat suit, but I could be wrong. It also seems like he probably would have been knocked unconscious from the blast from the Crucible and not even been able to activate any parachute or thrusters even if he did have them. How the hell does he survive a fall from near orbit? This ending is either pure fan service or the Indoctrination Theory is true and everything with the Illusive Man, Anderson, and the Catalyst was all some kind of final test and picking the Destroy ending was simply breaking the Indoctrination meaning that the rest of the "ending" that we saw was just a bunch of bullshit. As much as I like the Indoctrination Theory, it just can't be true and the Shepherd Survives ending is simply fan service. Paragon, High War Assets Control is the best ending in my opinion with Synthesis bringing up second place I guess. The rest of the endings either suck or aren't that satisfying even Synthesis in my opinion. Renegade Control and Low War Assets Destory are the worst endings, but also maybe the funniest in a dark humor sort of way.
The Catalyst doesn't say that partial synthetics like Shephard will die, it just calls out that Shephard IS partial synthetic (hinting at his death).
Presumably, Shephard is somewhere on the Presidium during the finale, which remains largely intact after the Destroy Ending meaning he didn't fall.
The problem with the Destroy Ending is it's so ambiguous. Is EDI gone even though they repair the Normandy? Was all technology destroyed? Is that why the Geth ending up being destroyed? Because like... the Geth only achieve consciousness through a consensus of programs. Would that mean that any programs isolated enough to just have animal level (or lower) intelligence are still saved and the Geth can be 'reborn'? Especially if you choose to not upload the Reaper Code to make them all individuals (bleh, I hate they did that to the Geth). It doesn't explain a whole lot of *anything*.
Regarding free will vs synthesis, no matter what you choose you are making a decision for every species in the system. At that point only one person has an option for the future of every individual, i.e. free will, and that’s shep.
Something about mass effect 3, is I feel that the missions and overall game is more fast paced, which makes sense, I mean Earth and the rest of the Galaxy is falling, and while timers are not nice for RPGs in my opinion, Bioware managing to keep a fast pace in the game keeps that feeling of desperation in a way. I mean it would not make sense if shepard does something like what the main character of Fallout 4 does where he or she is looking for his or her son and then does more side quests and stuff that aren't really connected to meeting the kid any sooner.
Small correction: Kaiden DOES go through a change just as large as Ashley if you were looking for a male romance option for a male Shepherd. BioWare got a lot of critique for really lacking options and shifted Kaiden into that role for just the third game. I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it was important to players like me.
Your pronunciation is amazing!! This may seem like a lackluster comment but is anything but. You speak quickly, but it's always easy to understand. It gives your narration and analysis great energy, and the SOUND of balance and investment. Thank you!!
The most disappointing thing for me about ME3 ending was the realization that i had spend all these countless hours to get to this point to finally find out that Saren was right??? as the best ending which made sense to me was Synthesis :(
I frankly can't share this thing about the terrible ending anymore. I feel like people keep repeating it for the sake of repeating it. It's a fact because everybody decides it's a fact, not because of the facts. If you get what I mean.
So, yeah, your choices stop being relevant once you get to the final choice. It's a little disappointment but "a terrible ending"? Seriously? It's a very common practice in many story based games, most visual novels, graphic adventures or rpg's do the same stuff. Baldur's gate 2 had basically one ending for the good guy and one for the bad guy. And that's a story based game with a complex choice system, a very adored game.
Mass effect 3 has those 3 endings and I find it's good enough. Destroy, control, synthesis. Maybe I am the only person in the world with the x-wings to say this, but I love it. That's a very hard decision that comprises the entire game in one go. You are not punished for doing a few things here and there, which is why everybody in the gaming community uses similar systems (almost everybody). You have the freedom to choose your ending, that's your reward for getting there. That's not terrible, that's good game design. It lacks ambition, for sure, that's why I understand it feels as disappointing. But that's it.
Very well done man! Oh boy, if there was ever an IP where 'it was about the journey' it would be this one. Being there for the giant shit show that was the original ending (also higher required minimum asset rating which more or less required you play the MP). I was so confused and angry. Went online to find any kind of answer only to start finding a bunch of 'indoctrination' theory videos because we were on that much copium. I've mostly made my peace with all of this and I can appreciate the trilogy as a whole now with some of these characters still being among some of my favorite.
Same! I literally went and googled for anyone else's reaction right after I finished the game thinking there was no way I was the only one pissed by it. I enjoyed the MP but I could 100% understand ppl being pissed about having to play it for the best war assets. I equate it to me needing to PVP in a game for a companion-which was also a Bioware game now that I think about it. Lol.
I chose Synthesis: "I am alive. All of us, synthetic and organic, have been changed. The war is over, and the Reapers are helping to rebuild. Where once they threatened us with extinction... ...they now bring us the collective knowledge of the cultures that came before. As a galaxy, we can now live the lives we have wished for... ...taking our first steps into a new and wonderful future... ...where organics and synthetics can coexist peacefully. With peace across the galaxy and with unlimited access to knowledge... ...to recover the greatness that was lost... ...and surpass it. We will reclaim our worlds... and the stars. As the line between synthetic and organic disappears, we may transcend mortality itself... ...to reach a level of existence I cannot even imagine. And we will remember that this chance for a new life did not come without cost. No matter how far we advance, we will remember the sacrifices of those who made it possible. And we will remember Shepard. Because of him... I am alive, and I am not alone." - EDI, Synthesis ending
I'm so glad I'm here to watch it as soon as it's posted
The amount of work that actually went into this is insane. Bravo, great job.
One thing that always bugged me about Mass Effect 3 was the Banshees. The game makes a point to say only ardat yakshi could become banshees, but if memory serves (it's been awhile since I played Mass Effect 2) Samara tells Shepherd that there are only 3 ardat yakshi in existence, her three daughters. So where did all these Banshees come from?
From the monastery in 3 where you rescue one of Samara's daughters
I believe that MA3 just contradicts what we heard in MA2
Latent or less severe Ardat-Yakshi gene carriers (a portion of purebloods, if Samara's to be believed) can be converted into banshees too. ME2 states there's ~1% of asari population who has those, which means that out of approx. 6 billion asari, Reapers could make 60 million Banshees (known as a "Regular Firebase London plat match")
Man, that empty room in the group picture for the renegade play through.. That's depressing when you see the alternative.
I mean... Still more friends than I have.. shit I made myself depressed.
Actually if you side with Morinth over Samara in ME2, one of her powers is Dominate, where she creates a barrier for an organic enemy and commands them to attack their allies for a short period of time. It's still random and stupid that the Illusive Man magically has that ability, but it's not the first time that a biotic power has allowed someone to take control of another person's body
You also get this power by completing the Leviathan DLC
Just finished another play through of this recently. Haven’t touched this series for some time and was so glad to return to it. However this one just hurts on so many levels. It’s beyond ludicrous that only two missions take place during the finale on earth. In a perfect word the last act becomes it’s own version of the galaxy map set on earth. You along with those rallying go from location to location on earth fighting with everything you have left. This may sound crazy since the LE edition exists but I want a straight up remake of Mass Effect 3. A remake with a real ending that’s earned not rushed because it deserves it.
There is one point of this game I will defend til I’m out of breath: the gameplay.
This game has the best gameplay in the entire trilogy!!!
Gameplay was definitely a major focus for the devs. It felt a lot better in this entry especially the ability to switch to whatever weapons you wanted.
@@Gingy yeah I have a cynic theory as to why the gameplay was pushed so far. EA trying to match the high octane of COD. They pushed more explosive campaign and action in their stories, the same happened a year later for Dead Space 3.
Mass Effect 1 feels clunky as far as TPS of todays standards but it was definitely more tactical than anything. With long cooldowns and little to no regen health.
Mass Effect 2 is like the taint between the two with more action but still tactical and slow.
Mass Effect 3 introduces a dodge roll, quicker cooldowns and as you mentioned a vast array of weapons to use at your disposal. Where as in the previous entries each class had certain weapon to balance those classes out. I can imagine the thought process being: “Adepts have singularity so we can’t have them use a sniper rifle”. Another thing that was scrapped was armor types. Vanguards have the abilities to wear Medium and Heavy armor while the Adept wasn’t.
For better or worse ALOT of changes were made ME3 (and ME2) and the gameplay is def the peak of the trilogy (and the 2nd best in the franchise due to Andromeda) . There were a lot story and narrative changes that made the series take a nose dive l. I can’t say whether the gameplay changes was definitively for better or worse in the long run but I can DEFINITELY say it doesn’t fit the identity of the Mass Effect I once knew.
Well yeah, those were the only employees who were hired on their merits. All others replaced good writers due to their ideology
I love ME1 as it was the injection into the mass effect universe. It's the hardest to replay completely through as a lot of QOL elements were lacking making replay ability VERY tedious. ME2 refined the combat so much that it became easy to play over and over just for the action. The story was heavily engaging and I'll never forget missing some loyalty missions and watching my team die. Jesus I had to restart completely as I was so invested I couldn't let any die! ME3 wasn't necessarily bad. The ending was unforgivable though and really soured the entire experience that I just couldn't shake. Revisiting the game years later I enjoy 3's combat more than 2's.
Javik is such a great addition because him insulting everyone he comes across is some of my favorite dialogue in the whole game.
There is actually a biotic ability called Dominate in ME2 that makes enemy organics turn on their allies, like Sabotage. The only way to get that is via Morinth, however, so not many people get access to it.
I swear it feels like Gingy doesn't take a breath in his scripts, the pace is perfect.
I did not appreciate waking up next to Javik after the crew party on the Citadel. Not at all. In my playthrough I was strictly paragon and romanced Liara in ME1. In ME2 I lead her on because garrus was my romance goal all along. After I solidified things with garrus, I told Liara I no longer wanted to pursue a relationship. Tali got shot in the face.
I genuinely cannot wait for your coverage of Andromeda. I recently gave the entire ME franchise a total play though for the first time. And I have to admit, Andromeda came out a lot better on that list than I genuinely thought. I think Andromeda is a solid answer to problems within the main trilogy
Andromeda had its share of issues like boring squad mates and a boring villain, but I still think it's a solid game. The main problem was that people keep trying to compare it to the trilogy.
@@darksideon I honestly thought the companions had a solid arc among each, seeing as all they have is just the one game. I mean ME1 Garrus in a vacuum is boring
I've just always been amused that Andromeda's very premise torpedoes the Starbrat's moronic and insane "bUt sYnThetiCs wIlL wIpE oUt orGAnICs" motivation but the writers were such cowards they never acknowledge it.
@@zephyr8072 I think the writers also just looked back at the Starbrat as a mistake in writing which, as a writer, does happen enough and just quietly pretend the Catalyst isn't a kid who knows everything everywhere. Andromeda does have a ton of missteps, and the Archon is boring which is a shame. Given enough time, I'm sure the Primarch could've been good, but honestly I think the Mass Effect series, past Saren and Sovereign, lack a good direction for a galaxy-wide threat.
That being said -- I did actually love most of the companions. It's a shame the game got torpedo'd, because I honestly trusted Team B with Andromeda more than I think I'd ever trust Team A with a mainline game, compared to the guys who did DA: I's writing.
@@kalithoulouse2231 Andromeda's problem, I think, was that it tried to shoehorn in an evil antagonist and epic storyline where none was needed - that's why the Archon and the Kett are so tedious.
It also inadvertently shoots their own premise in the foot, because if it wasn't for the Kett messing things up then the Angara would've dominated the sector and there's no reason to think they'd have tolerated aliens setting up in their space if they controlled it all.
It would've worked far better if it had focused on the exploration side, discovering new worlds, maybe even adding colony building to gameplay. A "breather" game between the epic space wars. Alas it was all thrown away.
I used to have a friend who was a really big ME fan and your passion about these games reminds me of him a lot
I never personally played ME but the story is intriguing and - as always - your passion talking about these games makes it all the better
And you manage to make me snicker at least once during most of your videos, your snark really lends these videos its charm and your thoroughness combined with your directness is what makes your videos so awesome
Bioware should feel blessed that somebody came along and saved their ending with Indoctrination Theory.
With THAT as the cliffhanger ending? The ending is mint and I don't care if that cliffhanger is ever resolved.
God that theory is soooo good.
In my head, that's the actual ending.
It required people desperate enough to piece together an actual ending, blindly following a hunch. "That can't be the ending of the trilogy," they said, and came up with this wonderful piece of fanfic, with actual evidence of in-game lore, and instead of riding the wave, they came and said, "Uh, that's not actually the truth." Leaving themselves with the shittiest ending possible at the time, So in my head, I refuse to believe anything else. Indoctrination Theory is my headcanon.
@@TheMaflan And funnily enough you are sounding indoctrinated yourself by believing it. Going against what little established canon ending there is.
Not as a jab to anyone. I just find the contrast (or lack thereof) quite funny.
The theory is still quite good, but there are also aspects that disprove it in the games as well.
In the end, believe what you will, because it wasn't going to be better than pokemon gen 1 colors for the endings otherwise
@@thedeathray8620 Pretty much. You are indeed correct, I am indoctrinated myself into beliving it.
Refusing to see those aspects that disaprove it in the game itself. They did wanted for us to think about what happens after the ending anyways, and a bitter ending like described in the indroctrination theory was pretty good. I still like the canon ending where we pretty much EMP our entire galactic civ back to the stone age. Geth included (wich is really funny when you think about it if you chose to save them).