Why Mordin Solus Is Absolutely Brilliant
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2024
- Mordin is the very model of a scientist Salarian. Here's how Bioware made him worthy of that title.
Timestamps:
0:00 Spoiler Warning
0:11 Introduction
1:14 Mordin's Presence
3:47 Mordin's Inner Conflict
7:56 Mordin's Potential Outcomes
17:11 Conclusion
19:06 Outro
Thumbnail by: cardoon
Music in order of appearance:
Uncharted Worlds: By Sam Hulick - CA: Electronic Arts
Mordin: By David Kates - CA: Electronic Arts
A Future for the Krogan: By Christopher Lennertz - CA: Electronic Arts
Leaving Earth: By Clint Mansell - CA: Electronic Arts
Vigil: By Jack Wall - CA: Electronic Arts
Earthbound background pattern provided by: www.gjtorikian.com/Earthbound... - Ігри
As promised, here are those details: Mordin is the worst squadmate in the collector base by a lot. He has no strengths in the mission and he dies very easily. This is actually very clever and intentional. Mordin has the biggest role in stopping the collectors in terms of the story. He is the sole reason you're actually able to put up a fight against them at all.
Having him be bad in the mission balances him out. If he was great in the suicide mission as well as being so vital in the story, the other squadmates would be undercut and look lame in comparison, hurting the games entire premise of 'putting together a team of the absolute best.' You also only realize just how bad he is if you look at the raw coded numbers, in game he'll only seem a little less useful than the rest.
And the best part, Mordin’s most likely to die in the section where he is left holding the line. The best way to keep him alive is to have him escort the crew back halfway through the mission, letting him head back early. This strategy is foreshadowed by a dialogue line of his: "Bit of a cloaca though, loved his speeches. 'Hold the line.' Personally prefer to get job done and go home." The #1 way to keep Mordin alive is to let him go home and not make him hold the line, so damn clever.
A little fun fact Mordin was originally a biotic because they were unused lines of him during the collector base during the part with those bugs thing.
@@Dragon81205 I heard about that! He even has voice lines for successfully repelling them!
Mordin was also originally going to have a loyalty conflict with Grunt, like the conflicts with Tali/Legion and Miranda/Jack. Some audio files from apologizing to Mordin after siding with Grunt are floating out there. Of course Mordin losing his loyalty from an argument with Grunt is inconsistent with his characterization so it makes sense why it was cut, but it’s still interesting.
@@Superninfreak Indeed, it would also have really hurt Grunt's characterization if he could lose loyalty. It would've happened right after their loyalty missions most likely. So Grunt would be able to go from swearing you in as his battlemaster, to losing loyalty to you in like 5 minutes.
I wouldn't have minded another conflict but I'm personally glad that one was cut.
I've actually always sent Jacob with the crew and brought mordin with me and tali to fight the human reaper. His neural shock and incinerate always worked well against the collectors for me
"Best squadmate isn't Garrus or Tali..."
ME fans: *reaches for pitchfork*
"...It's Mordin"
ME fans: I'll allow this.
This comment deserves more likes
@@justsomeguywithprimusapoth5927 lol aww thank ya for appreciating my stupid joke.
I legitimately had similar thought. None shall ever be above Tali!
@@Vergil666. Garrus is above Tali. And everyone for that matter.
Tali is the #1 waifu(if you think is Liara, congratulations, you are fliting with a squid psychic parasite) and Mordin is the magnum opus of the ME characters.
I would also like to point out that "I MADE A MISTAKE" is one of the ONLY full sentences Mordin says in the two games he's in.
The singing at the very beginning of the video is full proper sentences
@@Crizzly122 still very few in total.
Don't worry, when mordin makes a mistake he does it right. Someone else might have gotten it wrong!
I MADE HIM A STEAK!!!
It's the line that sells his entire story.
"Everytime we talked about it You DEFENDED THE GENOPHAGE!"
Mordin: I MADE A MISTAKE!
That was bone chilling when I first heard him
Both of Mordin's voice actors do a stellar job!
@@pikmonwolf whoa, they replaced the actor. I've played so many times and never noticed. Both are great indeed
*I MADE HIM A STEAK!
Nice! I fkn love steak.
@@lewa_j mmm, i always thought it was the same actor but the recording booth was filled with helium when he recorded. I kinda liked it believing that lol
The impact of this line is also powerfull when you see its not his typical saying.
Examples how he usualy say:
"Wasn't fully honest"
"Getting old Shepard"
"Glad to be here"
"Might run test on seashels"
"Would like to test on seashels"
See how is saying things? Without saying " I ". This is one of many rare moments when he said I. Not that genophage was mistake but said HE made a mistake.
My favourite aspect about Mordin is his speech - he not only talks fast, but also efficiently by cutting out redundant words to get straight to the point. It truly reflects the Salarian mind.
Is a deconstruction of the nerd stereotype. He doesn't stutter, stumble nor hesitate in his speech and he speaks fast, clearly and cutting redundant or overly verbose words. Because he is a salarian, his lifespan is limited and he hates losing time
Why say many word when few word do trick
Live fast, die young.
i have to speak fast and normal speech too slow
He talks in bullet points. I have to admit that once I sometimes talked like that, so when Javik says he talks funny my reaction is, "Funny to who, mate?"
The gun metaphor is brilliant. It goes even deeper though. When you first meet Mordin, he’s gives you the gun TO DELIVER THE CURE TO A PLAGUE. Jeeeesus the story writing on Mordin is so tight
I've argued the ME trilogy has some of the best writing in all of gaming. Aside from a few zelda and final fantasy fans, which I totally respect, most people agree. They always have their favorite, either Mass Effect 1, 2, 3, or some combination of the three.
God damn, I've never realized that. That is heartbreaking to me
It's even deeper. The Carnifex is a high caliber, high power handgun made for killing armored heavy targets, like krogan, easily, it's marketing material even shows a charging Krogan coming towards the viewer with the statement "Don't you wish you had a Carnifex at your side?" It's his pistol he got for killing krogan.
@@RaithSienar The presentation of the Carnifex is so loaded (haha) with symbolism.
@@robosing225 Only flaw with the ME series is giving Bethesda the idea that the dialogue wheel works for all games..
That scene of mordin crawling to the table, putting every bit of life he had left towards trying to desperately fix his biggest mistake… Jesus that’s soul crushing
I had to record that twice because the gun glitched out when I recorded it the first time. I felt like such a bastard.
@@pikmonwolf ooof… double the devastation. My condolences
@@pikmonwolf What the gun do the first time around? I'm genuinely curious.
I'll never be able to go down that route even in renegade run.
I kind of want to unsee it
13:17 - This scene is all the more impactful when contrasted against the alternative. If Mordin died in ME2, the scenes will play out mostly the same but when shooting the Salarian that goes to cure the Genophage, he dies in the elevator. Whereas Mordin is so determined that he crawls all the way to the console using every ounce of strength his life can muster. (Because he's one tough cloaca.)
Indeed, I think it's a good contrast. Both scenes are very good (seeing Padok sitting lifelessly in the elevator is tragic) and saving the horrible way Mordin drags himself for him alone makes it so much more impactful.
I wasn't able to kill Mordin....I'm not a maniacal, ruthless member of the world.
Even when it's just a video essay about this mission, Mordin's humming while fixing the genophage brings me to tears.
It's genuinely a great scene, so emotional.
shows that he's afraid and nervous when facing his destiny, even if he put the resolute face.
and lets not forget about talking to Garrus after...
Yeah, I wanted to watch a relaxed UA-cam video during lunch. Now I'm sobbing into my salad.
Same. I'm blinking a LOT right now.
One thing that hurts even more when you stop Mordin is that it is a renegade interrupt which is tied to most people’s right trigger, meaning you literally have to shoot him in the back instead of watching a cutscene of Shepard doing it themselves
Exactly! You literally pull the trigger yourself.
And so did I
Oh my gosh I remember that. I literally had to turn the game off because I couldn't pull the trigger.
That scene where he's singing at the top of the shroud is so emotional, but the one where you shoot him is actually heartbreaking.
Have you shot him and watched him sing until he dies. That’s the worst one
@@conradkorbol I've never shot him in game, never could bring myself to shoot my buddy.
I also generally support the genophage cure, because Wrex is my buddy, so I wouldn't even get the opportunity to do so. It's also, in my opinion, the best overall outcome to have Eve and Wrex lead the Krogan and cure the genophage.
@@illoney5663 I mean it’s not necessarily the best for the war. Shepard believes the genophage cure is better but they would rather save the universe.
However, we know it ultimately doesn’t matter. So I was doing a full renegade play through. Except I wasn’t cuz I couldn’t play the game afterwards
mordin saying "Tell them, I held the line" in one of his death scenes on the suicide mission really hit me. I normally wouldn't have seen this but a friend of mine did a worst possible run for the legendary edition.
In what situation do you get this?
@@jakebishop7822the only place where such a line would be spoken, based on the way the sub-missions roll out, as if he was the second team leader while Shepard goes through the seeker swarms.
I was actually surprised when Mordin started mentioning about his beliefs. Not trying to dig at people who have them at all, but was mostly just surprised that one of arguably the most scientifically inclined people in our crew was so shaken about what he did with the genophage that he actualy saught comfort in a higher power.
I liked that. Even a super advanced scientific species can't observe what happens after death. Them believing in reincarnation because 'there's always more to do' is so fitting.
@@pikmonwolf There are salarians who follow a theistic religion, but Mordin isn't/wasn't one of them.
You'd be surprised, honestly. A lot of influential scientists were religious. Gallileo, Gregor Mendel (Monk and father of genetics) and Georges Lemaître (Priest and creator of the Big Bang Theory) to name a few.
@@Lord_Numpty religious? Yes, but their belief was often in conflict with the established theological canon. Galileo was especially opposed to the literal interpretation of the bible.
You'd be surprised just how many scientists are not atheists... They just can't speak out because those over them have a stranglehold over the narrative, insisting that there is no way for faith and reason to coexist.
When I finally found the datapad in Citadel DLC, I legit sobbed. If you've never found it, hunt around by the bed on the morning after. Listen to everything. The last piece haunts me still. They went full gut punch.
God it was so hard not talking about that datapad, but there just wasn't any good place to fit it in.
my best friend and I still sob listening to it
@@pikmonwolf That datapad definitely ties into everything you talked about in this video. Most of the recordings are goofy, with his film noir-style story, clip from him doing a science-themed kids show, and singing a parody song about science. Then it hits you with him singing Amazing Grace, a hymn written by a former slave trader who became an ardent abolitionist, and died soon after witnessing his home nation abolish slavery.
"In prophase you see chromatin condense to chromosomes, in metaphase their centromers align to make new homes" 🎵
I memorized it, it's really helpfull while studying biology! Also makes me emotional every time.
From protein we are forrrrrrmed
The interactions between Wrex, Mordin, and Eve are some of my favorite in the game.
Actually, the interactions between Tali and Legion, and Miranda and Jack are also fantastic. Bioware writers are pretty good at writing "enemies to allies to wary friends." See also: Dorian and Bull in Dragon Age, cutest NPC romance ever.
You're right, they're genuinely great at that. I think it's because they don't try to force them into best friends, they know the friendship would be awkward and take time to fully blossom.
in general Bioware has been good at writing characters, not so much stories. Those tend to be hit or miss.
Mass Effect 3 in particular has some wonderful arcs, but the overall concept is very poorly thought out and sloppily written. This is what results in the rage at the shitty ending. It isn't just the red/green/blue endings, but rather I think throughout the game you are overlooking all the cracks, plot holes and poor writing in the hopes that it will be all worth it, but the ending makes you realise the story wasnt thought out at all from the very beginning and ultimately just some random lazy crap was slapped together at the last minute just for the sake of it.
@@shriramvenu I think that depends on the writing team. The Mass Effect team had a major shake-up mid-series and, god, does it show. The second game has so many big plot threads that just get completely abandoned in the third game. The Dragon Age writing has been both intricate and surprisingly consistent across both games and books (not entirely without ret-conning, but mostly just fairly minor details). Granted, it could all get fucked up in the last game, but the writing team has remained fairly consistent even though the dev side has been a complete nightmare.
On the other hand, the Dragon Age team has no idea how to build a cohesive religion/philosophy from scratch, so everything revealed about the Qun is nails-on-chalkboard painful to anyone who enjoys either philosophy or biology.
“Had to be me. Someone else might've gotten it wrong.” Still hurts my soul even after all these years also anyone who gun him down don’t have a heart I couldn’t bring myself to do it even on my evil character
I had to do it twice because the gun glitched! It was awful!
@@pikmonwolf the fact you could do it twice says a lot 😂 kidding but dang man I don’t know how you could do that to our favourite salarian
I did do it on my renegade playthrough and I immediately regretted the decision, when the cutscene played. That was heartbreaking
"Hard to see big picture behind pile of corpses" and "Look at the dead woman, Mordin. It doesn't look like you saved her" are my two favorite lines in the entire trilogy and they're both from Mordin's loyalty mission.
Mordin's "I made a mistake!" is one of the most powerful piece of voice acting in the whole series. Change my mind.
He is the best part of those games followed closely by Garrus. I know I wouldn't like him as much without Wrex either
Indeed, the way they tie those two characters from different games together so cleanly in ME3 is impressive.
If you kill Mordin at the tower, and then Wrex at the citadel, Garrus will figure out what you've done. He'll ask you about it, and just understand and curse the damned war. Best bro or hubby ever.
@@FoxTrap86 And Garrus understands u instead of blaming
Which is another indication of how solid the writing in the ME series was. Garrus is consistently a character who is tempted by "expedient" means of pursuing his desired outcomes. When you meet him again in ME2 he is acting as a vigilante because he cannot bear to go back to C-Sec. With millions of Turrians and Humans being liquidated every day on Palavan and Terra, of course Garrus understands why Shepherd betrays Mordin and/or Wrex. Because if the galaxy lives for you to carry that weight, so be it.
If listing the best characters can't exclude tali
Fantastic video on my favorite squadmate!
Underrated conversation:
Daniel: But doctor, you believe in helping people!
Mordin: Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes cure patients, sometimes kill dangerous people. Either way helps.
11:25
When he shouted "I made a Mistake!", i legitimately was taken aback and got a bit scarred and felt sorry for him.
I've never felt that way over any other video game character, much less a companion character.
The best of Mass Effect truly is behind us
I felt so bad when I played Legendary Edition after years away from the series.
Remembering that I loved Mordin and was excited to play his Loyalty, obviously remembering what it was.
But what I didn't remember was... the dead volunteer conversation.
My god. I kept hitting the options I agreed with, and he kept hitting back.
It felt like a genuine fight between me and the character.
Except a fight isn't the correct term. He's defending his past self, and I'm attacking both him and his past.
It was more like bullying him.
I didn't like what I was doing, but it was as if I had a moral duty to go against him.
I wont play the legendary edition. I just play the originals with dlc.
@@robosing225 Good for you?
@@Her_Imperious_CondescensionLet people not enjoy things.
i do find it interesting how they managed to humanize what is effectively salarian Mengele. his line where he snaps is the part that made me fall in love with this guy, his " i made a mistake!" was so well voice acted sounds like he was actually fighting himself during it
I never fail to get chills when he shouts “I MADE A MISTAKE!” Even watching out of context in your video here.
I tend to play a Shepard who is deeply conflicted about what to do in this situation. S/he’ll go right up to the line of killing Mordin, then give in. Because killing Mordin doesn’t just mean betraying Mordin, it means betraying Eve, who is so wise and full of hope and grace, and Wrex. Who just called you his sister. Because BioWare needs to bring that little bit more ow.
The Wrex/Eve/Mordin story is what I always try to describe to people when giving an example of BioWare’s occasional brilliance with storytelling, but I never succeed in doing it justice. Will be sending your video from now on. We’ll done. You’ve got yourself a new subscriber.
I'd like to add another thing people tend to misnotice.
When Mordin started to work on genophage, he saw quite a different Tuchanka we see. Wreav and people like that krogan who hold Maelon were in charge. Eve was locked in the female camp who had no actual voice around. He had actual, good reasons to believe _then_ what he can be conviced in fourth outcome - and still he stopped working because, well, ethically his actions are discussable.
Still, Tuchanka was split between clans one worse then another. The reason that political situation on Tuchanka changed was Shepard - even if Wrex didn't survive, Shepard's destroying the Saren's cure is kind of known and launched changes.
Shepard changed Mordin's situation before Mordin ever appeared in game.
Exactly. I support Genophage Cure, but only if both Wrex and Eve are alive. Looking at Krogan history, I doubt curing Genophage would be good for the galaxy if even one of their influence is missing.
The argument in-game is more that the original strain was bad in general, and led to the increased faction breaks and general lack of willingness to reunite and build a new unified krogan civilization. Mordin's actions to maintain the status quo, thus in turn to maintain the results, are what are....problematic.
Tldr: the Tuchanka Mordin saw in your model is pitched in-game as a direct result of the genophage, thus negating much of his justification.
@@Wraithspartan which is, actually, quite an interesting notion, because there is nothing in genophage that would naturally lead to the increased factionalism on Tuchanka. Krogans were always split into warring clans. I have no idea why anybody would presume that lack of birth control would mean more united krogan civilization; the only time we know krogans were united was when they were under direct rule of salarians. The only thing that changed because of genophage is that now krogans have less krogans to kill.
Essentially, krogans had two models:
1. "Ok, we have fertility dropped, so now we would kill each other and struggle for resources until we would die out."
2. "Ok, we have fertility dropped, so now we can't afford continue our traditional fun with killing all other krogans; we need to unite and actually build and support infrastructure for our population".
It's telling that krogans were taking first model consistenly, until Wrex took control.
Genophage plot is awesome and perfectly writen cause it has no bad guys in it, only the Reapers (as is hinted). Genophage was the right call 100%
1-Reapers (or something) sour rachni songs and made them go berzerk on the galaxy
2-Council's only aswers was to uplift krogan technology and create a warrior species to prevent extintion
3-Krogan saved galaxy, but werent socially, culturally and morally prepared to how much power they gained artificially. They were raised to wage war, and so they did.
4- to prevent Krogan dominance (we can agree it would be horrible) genophage was the right call
5- If Shep makes Wrex and Eve leaders, the right call is to end genophage, like you said.
Thats really hard to write, and its so good
@@felipeporto5835
> 1-Reapers (or something) sour rachni songs and made them go berzerk on the galaxy
I personally believe it was Proteans. Javik says specifically that it was his people who run the breeding program trying to make a pretty peaceful people (he saying quite disdainfully something like "they just singing songs to each other") into biological weapons.
Mordin is one of a very small handful of fictional characters whose death made me literally cry. Such a good character, for sure
Mordin's death hit me the most out of all of them. The way he was singing broke my heart; he didn't want to die, but he had to. He was the only one who could do it. And he knew. HE HELD THE LINE
I literally use his “it had to me, somebody else would’ve gotten it wrong” line as a life mantra when I’m given responsibilities even when I don’t want to do them.
How to make yourself cry over Mordin even more: a tutorial
1. Play as femshep. Name her "Grace"
2. Play the game
3. Play the citadel dlc in ME3, and after waking up after the party, locate the data pad on the floor by the bed
4. Play Mordin's recordings he sent you
5. On the last one, he sings a verse from Amazing Grace:
"Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
And Grace will lead me home"
6. Cry a lot
LMFAOOOOOOOOOO goated 😭
I actually started crying reading this
If you know the real context of the song, making it be about the protagonist cheapens it severely.
Wonderful work, awesome analysis of Mordin’s mission! God, he’s so awesome and actually is like the first character whose story arc made me “do what’s right” instead of just saving him in ME3. You just know that it is RIGHT for him to sacrifice himself and cry and let him do it. Awful death. Incredible writing.
It's so hard letting him go up that tower. But it had to be him, someone else might have gotten it wrong.
That mission is like Virmire the first time every time,
I grew so attached to Mordin. He had a personal code of ethics that was malleable. His sacrifice made me cry. "Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."
Thane's final prayer also tugged a few tears out of me.
It's very hard for me to pick who's best between my three favorites
Mordin, Wrex, Garrus. Each of them offers really compelling stories and character growth.
that's how you know mass effect story was written so well and very special, that you have trouble picking a "favorite."
what I love about this games writing is almost everyone agrees with basic statements like garrus was a boss bro, or legions story was amazing and tragic, even if it was an ai.
they put so much into these characters, players could connect and almost impart their own selves into each conflict, cementing those moments within that person during their playthrough.
I haven't played mass effect in years bc my console bricked and haven't been able to buy another but I still remember all of these scenes because of how well the dialogue was between them and my sheperd
Just started 3, now I'm sad cuz all three of em are dead...
In my playthrough, I let the krogan know about the cure and seeing Mordin die completely gutted me. I didn't get to see the moment where he admits to regretting the genophage. Here come the waterworks.
Edit: and you're absolutely right. Mordin is an amazing character. Intelligent, funny and attuned so many people's lives eventhough it would seem he's too busy to even notice. I remember wondering why he wasn't a romance option because I most definitely would have been all up in that. Hehe
Nooooo!! Why?! That scene where Shepard is forced to kill Mordin in order to keep him from curing the genophage made me so sad. Bioware is brilliant at evoking deep emotions from the player. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do this in any playthrough of mine so I'm glad I got to see it here.
I must have over 60 or so playthroughs, and Mordin's sacrifice still gets to me to this day.
I had to record it many times and it's still so powerful.
I've actually never seen that scene of Mordin admitting his guilt before your video, that was incredibly sad but I'm so glad you highlighted it! Your commentary was great, I loved the video.
"This mission to save a race... is my penance for destroying one."
This is probably my favourite Mordin quote and the closest you can get to summing up his entire character in a single line. This specific quote didn't appear in the games, but was instead the first thing he said in his fight for the lost trailer. Meaning that these words were the first words many players heard from Mordin's mouth
Now you've made me want to go play ME2 again just so I can see Mordin again. He really is my favorite and you reinforced that. They did a great job writing him.
I just gotta play ME trilogy again bc i miss all of them. Well, most of them. All except the boring characters. Jacob, kaden, etc..
I actually gasped at hearing Mordin say "I made a mistake."
I've never seen that version of that scene before. Hearing Mordin, always so sure about his actions and methods, say that with that much force. God damn. I'm blown away
Why Mordin is the very model of a scientist salarian?
1 - He's scientist
2- He's salarian
Jokes aside very great video
To be fair, those are both also true of the serial killer from Garrus's personal mission in Mass Effect 1, but he was pretty damn far from model :P
Thanks a ton for the support man!
What's even more amazing to me is how with how common it is for Mordin to die, they managed to follow him up with a character who carries on his work and has almost as strong of a personality and impact in the short time you get to spend with him.
for me, it's always a fight between whether mordin or legion is my favorite character. both of them have an insane amount of galactic impact, but this video reminded me of just how flawed and complex mordin actually is. kudos!
I love Legion so much, but he gets so damn shafted! Why do we get him so late in Mass Effect 2!
@@pikmonwolf dude i know right!! and then we get him late/lose him early in ME3 bruh it makes me so sad
@@pikmonwolf Made even worse by the fact that apparently he was supposed to show up much earlier, with many previous missions making mention of Legion or a Geth squadmate, even as early as Tali's recruitment. :(
(Look up "Kal'reegar reacts to Legion")
@@pikmonwolf Not only is he recruited late, but bringing him aboard starts ME2’s “endgame countdown” which risks losing crew members like Ken and Gabby. That’s the real B.S.
I have this very same conflict. You know the writing is superb when you cant decide which character you like the most. Legion, Garrus, Wrex, Mordin, even Thane were written so well it's almost ridiculous.
I think Mordin is someone who I found to have one of the most unique character developments I have seen. Rather than it being "he was evil but now he's good" it's more of a case of someone who believed wholeheartedly in consequentialism - that the ends justify the means - realising his errors and starting to adopt Aristotle's views of ethics, where the ends and means should both be benevolent. All it took for him to realise the errors in his ways was seeing a much darker reflection in the mirror in the form of Maelon, as whilst the both of them were trying to achieve opposite goals, they believed that what they were trying to achieve was good for the galaxy, even if the means were ultimately barbaric: Mordin says that the genophage isn't a method of genocide, rather it just makes it so the Krogan have less babies, even if it meant that it took the freedom to have kids away from the Krogans. Maelon thought that his experiments are completely fine because the women volunteered themselves, even if they were put under horrible conditions.
Him and kirahee are the best salarians
Edit-my fave squad mates are garrus, Tali, Kaiden and wrex
Kirrahe is so great. I was hyped when I learned you can save him.
@@pikmonwolf yea me too I wish he was a playable squad mate perhaps in a dlc or something would of been cool if we got to see him a bit more in ME3 helping on earth like wrex in final battle or something
Yessss someone who doesn't hate on Kaiden 👏🏻
Between this video, your one about Jacob, and that last little dunk on Kai Leng, you've got yourself a new subscriber! I actually did a renegade playthrough in which, among other things, Mordin survived. It's a surprisingly heartbreaking outcome for him; his redemption almost hinges on him dying in the third game. He is absolutely one of my favorite characters in the franchise.
It's criminal you don't have more subs. Your analysis are always entertaining and informative.
Hopefully that number keeps on climbing lol. Thanks so much for the support man!
Replaying ME trilogy for the first time since 3 launched now. By chance I stumbled on to the Mordin "MISTAKE!" ending the first time and that whole sequence is still burned into my mind a decade later.
Also, Mordin wouldn't be nearly so interesting or impactful if it weren't for Wrex and the Rachni Queen. There's a past, present, and future dynamic that forces the we player to consider the long term repercussions of our actions. It is a brilliantly crafted side-story with one of the best emotional payoffs in gaming history.
HE IS!!!!! I mean, I’m biased because he’s my favorite character in the whole franchise, but he really was given a lot of attention by the devs, and I’m so happy about that. Love that this video popped up in my recommendations, couldn’t agree more. ❤️
When Mordin started talking about Kirrache I was crying “ loved his speeches hold the line , rather just get the job done and go home “🤣🤣🤣
I remember the moment when I fell in love with Mordin. There is a scene in ME2 where his assistant says something like 'How can you kill them? You' re a doctor! You're supposed to help people!' and Mordin just replies that there are many ways of helping people - sometimes curing them, sometimes executing dangerous individuals. That's when I knew - he' s my salarian.
The fact that he figures out that you're trying to delay him so quickly. 😢
I adore Wrex and Mordin. They both deserves peace.
I found you literally not even an hour ago and saw the worse squadmate video -I heavily agree with it!-
I also agree here with him being the best, I still recall playing the game for the first time and having to stop for a near three weeks when he died. I literally cried over this man so much during that time. Seeing him crawl to still try and undo what he did? You're breaking my heart, I'm tearing up there. I thought I was fine by now but no I'm still an emotional mess over his death.
God, Mordin just makes me real emotional. The only character to make me stop a game for so long to mourn.
It was only a year ago that I played the original trilogy -and replayed the remastered the day it came out-
is the legendary version worth it?
to me, I dont like how "crisp" it looks. I've see some side to side comparisons and it doesnt look as good as the original. plus, didnt they alter some scenes to be more left-leaning friendly? idk that's what I heard.
I'll stick to the originals.
@@robosing225 I personally got it as a gift, if you want my honest opinion? It is great, not that left leaning, I played both original and legendary, some small changes but that is about it really. If you don't wanna get it due to what others say, understandable.
I just kinda love having the chance to pause and look at the area with the photo mode it gives, really enjoy the characters, main, side or background. From what I seen? Not a lot of repeated models being used.
If you played ME1 first, his stort also has a distinct inertia
The genophase is a huge part of world building brought up quite a few times by characters big and small and Mordin sets himself as the things arcitect
So the more players have been paying attention the more that inertia will affect the players
Clean editing, nice voice over, nice audio balance, knowledgable, organized, timestamps, high quality gameplay, relatable gamer. The algorithm blessed me with your channel and I love these videos.
Glad the audio balancing is finally in a good spot lol, that took me awhile to master. Thanks so much for the support!
Patrick Weekes is amazing at writing these types of morally ambiguous characters, and that's why I believe Solas will have a great arc in DA4. Beautiful analysis, loved it :)
The first time I played ME3 the shroud scene made me full on on sob, and I've never had any other piece of media affect me so thouroughly. I wonder what kind of game it could have been if the same level of care and detail could have been applied to everything.
I definitely teared up a few times going through all of these scenes to record. It's genuinely art.
The saddest scenes in the trilogy I experienced was mordins death, thanes death, legions death and the ending
@@damo.r 3 is full of gut punches, that's definitely one of its strongest aspects.
@@pikmonwolf do you find a lot of citadel roaming dialogues from npc's hit hard or is it just me? Pretty much all of em are brilliant.
@David Hecht my saddest one is the grandma with dementia talking to her asari daughter in law without realising it in the embassies
Personal reasons only really I'm probably gonna be the 4th generation of alzheimer's/dementia sufferers in my family
In me 3 when he shouts "i made a mistake!" absolute shivers down the spine
Great video! Always loved Mordin and in the 12 playthroughs I have done of the trilogy, the shroud always gets me, no matter what way I play it. The first time I was trying to play Ms. Hardass Renegade Shep, that red renegade action icon blinked in the corner for what felt like an eternity, beckoning me to shoot him. I couldn't do it. Just could not.
The fact that it makes you have to hit the same button that actually shoots your gun. It really makes it clear that YOU'RE pulling the trigger.
"I made a MISTAKE!"
Dude. Chills. Every time.
I never really though about it before but the singing ending was probably a reference to either taking strength from Shepard's example or even better taking comfort in the (likely best) friendship as he died
What an amazing video! I had never thought of Mordin like this, nor paid too much attention to his own story arc. Great job :)
Hey thank you so much for the support!
As a former choir girl Mordin had my heart with his Music Man solo. Love him.
Music Man? That was Pirates of Penzance! For shame! That movie's still hilarious.
@@jamessinclair6276 I stand corrected.
So good. Mordin is definitely my favorite character in the franchise; well-written, well-acted, morally complex and he’s hilarious to boot. And his sacrifice in has genuine impact; so many of the (intended) emotional moments in the game just feel like ham-fisted attempts at pathos but Mordin’s sacrifice felt well and truly earned.
Incidentally, the whole Genophage dilemma is probably the strongest narrative arc in the franchise. It’s such a deliciously morally grey situation; like Mordin you can rationalize the necessity but then there’s these small moments like when a Krogan shouts “you haven’t seen the piles of children who never lived” (because Krogan lay egg clutches in the hundreds at a time) that give just a glimpse into the hard reality of it.
The first time he did that musical number in my playthrough I was surprised but endeared into laughter. Beautifully developed character.
To me, Mordin dying on top of the tower was the best ending for him. Truly fitting in every way. Even his death was a memorable event.
The other alternatives for him aren't that good IMO.
Retirement at the beach? As if Mording would have ever done that. He admitted to that.
Saving Mording till the end? Can be done, but IMO it takes away from his character and the entire game. Means playing full renegade, Wrex get killed in ME1, Maelon's data being destroyed in ME2 and not telling about the salarian plot in ME3. Particluary destroying Maelon's data in ME2 reinforces that Mordin thinks curing the genophage is wrong, hence there wouldn't be the "I made a mistake" part
I disagree that it destroys his arc, it just mirrors it.
In the Renegade case, Shepard AGREES that the Genophage was right, and the mistake Mordin made wasn't in extending it, but his crisis of conscience. Sabotaging the cure rectifies that mistake.
Love his character arc, even if it was a bit obvious. My favorite character from the series by far. My favorite way to resolve the genophage is by doing everything renegade right until the end. I had my Shepard staunchly pro genophage, openly hostile towards Wrex in dialogue (but spared him in ME1). She was unfazed by the brutality in Mordin's loyalty mission, let him kill Maelon, and destroyed the data, believing it could be a huge problem. Come ME3 she was still supportive of the genophage and made it clear to Wrex that the cure was just a pragmatic way to get turian support. She assumes Mordin feels the same and decides to go with the dalatrass' offer to sabotage the cure. When it comes time to disperse the cure she tries to stop Mordin and gets to hear that amazing "I MADE A MISTAKE!" line. But right when my Shep pulls the Carnifex on Mordin I don't hit the trigger. She's done awful things over the course of ME but cannot bring herself to murder a friend and betray another, deciding to let him die in peace and correct his self-admitted mistake. I love the ways you can develop your Shepard and give them an arc over the course of the series, the genophage cure was just as important to my Shepard as it was to Mordin and Wrex.
Mordin is what I was expecting from Renegade Shepherd when I read the ME1 manual ("Lots of ways to help people; sometimes cure a disease, sometimes execute dangerous individuals.") rather than what you actually get which is a Chaotic Neutral psycho.
I always cry whit him singing as he sacrfices himself, why do i keep re watching the same scene
I'm in love with your content man. So glad that people are still keeping up the legacy of the series to this very day
I would just talk to Mordin btw every mission of ME2, I loved him so much 🥰
I love how when you talk to him he immediately asks how he can help.
Eh okay I'm replaying this damn game.
Just thinking about Mordin storyline gives me goosebumps, his writing is so tight. When "I MADE A MISTAKE" line dropped during my first playthrough, I was just as speechless as my Shepard
Yeah it's one of the highlights of the trilogy.
My favorite moment from Mass effect is when Mordin stares at the camera and says there iconic trademarked catchphrase “it’s Mordin time”
Every UA-cam video about the Genophage:
1. Everybody calls it a sterility plague even though it is not, Mordin would be disappointed.
2. Everybody forgets that the Genophage was developed because the Krogan were unstoppable savages going on a genocidal rampage.
Yeah it’s more of a stillborn plague.
Fair, I debated referring to it as something else but there was just no easy way to convey what it generally was as succinctly as calling it a sterility plague, but you are correct. And yeah the genophage was 100% justified in its initial dispersal. It's reinforcing it down the line without even considering giving the Krogan more of a chance that was really wrong. Especially since it's implied that the Salarian government did it entirely on its own without any input from the other council races.
@@pikmonwolf I love the little mention of the initial dispersal in Citadel DLC in the archives. The Turian spec ops team actually released it at the shroud against the wishes of the STG scientist there. The salarian even said there'd be hell to pay for this decision. It offers very unique insight to that event.
@@og_awaken369 this is why they hate the Turians and Salarians. But the Turians see the error and the Salarians do not
@@conradkorbol Salarians seem to have a tendency not to see the long-term consequences their actions can cause. Them trying to uplift the Yahg, who're worst than the Krogan could ever be, is one such example
I honestly fell in love with his character when he sacrificed himself to cure the Genophage. And he had a sassy line as his send off. Top tier character
Legit got chills when he started singing 5 seconds in
Haven't played this game in years. Haven't thought about it in years. Hearing Mordin quietly singing before he dies legit brought a tear to my eye as if i experienced it for the first time. That scene is just brilliant!
Love the analysis. Hope you keep things like this going.
Makes me cry every time. So heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. Best game series ever!
I’m so glad I got to see the best of him on my first run.
I never warned the Krogan because I didn’t want them unnecessarily antagonizing the Salarians, so when I got to the tower I was still able to question Mordin while fully intending on curing the genophage.
And after all that, days and hours of gameplay later, after I’d drifted on to more pressing issues, Mordin’s recording shows up in the Citadel DLC. That was the strongest moment in Mass Effect.
4:53 - Just look at the amount of individual mocap they put into a conversation scene him, not just chaining the usual, run-of-the-mill selection of stock character animation. Gestures, body language, the pacing, the startling … they really made this character shine.
Seeing Mordin die was the most heartbreaking moment in PC gaming. Hearing him sing just tore through my heart. Well done Bioware and fy bioware. It's not easy to make people care, Mordin was just the best
just finished your jacob video and caught this one just in time!!! excellent work mate, definitely got a new subscriber in me. your formatting and ability to concisely phrase your analysis is brilliant.
Hey thanks! I really try to find that perfect middle ground between having too much fat and not having enough meat to back up my point. Glad to know I generally find it lol.
I remember when I first met Mordin in ME2, I was flabbergasted. "Here's a character who talks like I think." His fragmented, hyperactive thoughts, always saying so much with so little, and sounding like he drank enough caffeine to fight a Reaper alone and win, is exactly how my brain bounces around to and from the point in milliseconds. I loved him from the moment I met him and I don't think I've ever recovered from his death.
Thank you for the video! Mordin quickly became my favorite squad mate while playing the second one. I can honestly listen to him all day
I think this video is missing a small section, Mordin's impact on other characters not in your party. Such as what Maelon says about him, and particularly when you ask Padok wix is he knew mordin. "I once punched him in the face" will never not make me laugh.
That's very true, and you get some very interesting dialogue with Garrus if you do the unthinkable where he catches on.
@@pikmonwolf There is also the Citadel DLC datapad that some people miss.Not critical to his story in the slightest but also helps paint a better picture of the kind of person he was. How he lived his life without the weight of his actions on his shoulders for the most part.
This was a fantastically made video. I was wondering if you were going to bring up the gun, but you did. When I first learned that I was heartbroken…and honestly kinda impressed on a writing level. This video seems like it took a lot of time to compile and write up. If you’re looking for reason, I’d love to see you keep doing these (and I’m sure others would too). I’m particularly interested in seeing you talk about the arcs and nuances of the squad-mates (and even other supporting characters like Joker and Traynor). Garrus and Tali already have some immense talking points, and I’d love to hear what you have to say about them. Mass Effect 1-3 has been my favorite videogame series since I played ME2 back when it was released on my old 360. Now with the legendary edition and UA-cam commentary channels, I’m always looking for deep-dive videos like these. Again, wonderful job.
Hey thanks for the support man! I have one more Mass Effect video in the works, ripping apart Kai Leng.
@@pikmonwolf ah, you mean the universal renegade prompt? :)
"i made a mistake" is the single most powerful line in this series for me. i think ever since finding maelon on tuchanka he felt the way he says in that conversation, even if he doesn't say it unless pressed. i think he only justifies it to everyone else to avoid admitting it. i would say how early he is clearly working towards the goal before the reaper war really kicks off dismisses the circumstance argument and the fact that he will do the same thing whether you get him to admit it to shepard or not shows he knows
When I discovered a datapad with Mordins' last messages for the crew was one of the most emotional moments of the whole trilogy. They literally gave what made Mordin famous in ME2 but multiplied 10x
Hey, just wanted to say you make amazing videos and deserve more subscribers.
Hey thank you so much for the support man! Here's hoping the algorithm agrees with you lol.
Fan of Mass effect here so I do enjoy these videos. ✌🏾
It's honestly such a great game series, thanks for the support!
What a great vid! Thank’s for making these!!!
I've never stop Mordin so it's my first time seeing the scene stopping him and jeez it's brutal. It really twist the knife of guilt more and more as you watch him crawl towards the computer to rewrite his biggest mistake.
Good vid. I’d say Mordin is the best character in ME2, but not the best in the whole trilogy.
For me, that honor goes to Tali, and I’m not even including her romance plot.
In ME, you meet Tali on her pilgrimage and she serves as your conduit into quarian history and culture. She also offers an unsurprising perspective on the geth which lines up nicely with your mission, but as Shepard, regardless of whether you go paragon/renegade, you’re very critical of the quarians’ decision to permanently deactivate all geth once they started inquiring about the state of their existence. Because Tali is the only quarian you meet in the first game, you get the impression that her views reflect that of the entire race.
In ME2, you get introduced to the quarians as a whole and you learn that there are multiple perspectives on the geth. In fact, the varied beliefs are spread across all the members of the Admiralty Board, the highest authoritative body of the Migrant Fleet. On top of this, Tali’s father is an Admiral on the board, and it becomes apparent that Tali’s stated beliefs in the first game were heavily influenced by her father. In the second game, we see a more mature Tali who still believes as her father does but is more mindful of the impact of such beliefs on the lives of those closest to her. She’s resentful of the fact that her mission on Haestrom took her into geth space and cost the lives of her friends and peers. On her loyalty mission, things reach a breaking point. Tali sees what happens when beliefs are taken too far. Her father - desperate to take back the quarian home world within his lifetime - committed atrocious acts in pursuit of that goal. His actions cost the lives of everyone aboard his ship and endangered the entire fleet. Despite this, Tali’s father uses his last moments to record instructions for Tali to shut down his project. Tali, who respected her father so much despite not having much of a relationship with him is totally wrecked by these events. She spent her entire life living up to her father’s expectations; willing to promote his beliefs as her own; and now, she sees just how far an exalted figure like her father can fall. Despite this, she pleads with Shepard not to destroy her father’s reputation even if that means permanently losing her place in quarian society. To her, the integrity of the fleet and by extension, her people, is more important than her connection to them. This is again reinforced when Tali confronts Legion after both their loyalty missions are complete.
ME3 is when Tali truly becomes her own person. She realizes that she can’t live her life in accordance with someone else’s beliefs, even if it’s a person she loves and respects. She needs to make her own decisions in accordance with her own beliefs. Sometimes, things will work out nicely and other times, they won’t. But she’ll be able to own everything she does and separate that from the actions of other people. After the Sanctuary mission, she reminisces about her past self and how foolish she was in blindly accepting everything her father taught her. It wasted so much time focusing on Zorah when she should’ve been focusing on Tali.
That’s why I think Tali’s journey was the most impactful out of all the Mass Effect characters. Everyone else had a sense of identity when you meet them. Their decisions, goals, aspirations, desires, and feelings were all their own. Tali is the exception. Before her loyalty mission, it was hard to tell whether Tali actually believed in the rhetoric that she expressed. The only genuine moments she had were small talk moments. But every time she talked about quarian issues, she sounded flat, as if she was just saying what she thought her father would say. But now, she can speak for herself. It may not always get her where she wants to go, but she’s walking and talking on her own.
True, in terms of character development and loyalty mission she's basically the Iron Bull of Mass Effect. Who is also one of my favorite characters in DA:I if you haven't played any previous games (up there with Solas/Dorian and Cass/Blackwall - I played as rogue inky so I almost always went with Solas and Bull, with one of Cass/Blackwall/Dorian depending on gameplay needs).
In Bull's loyalty mission you have to choose between what Bull wants, and what you think he would want based on how every mention of Qunari culture is just him regurgitating Ben-Hassrath propaganda. Keep in mind the Ben Hassrath have imprisoned and brainwashed him to affirm his loyalty.
Taking the "harsh but pragmatic" option of sacrificing the Chargers to ensure an alliance with the Qunari reaffirms his connection to his people but costs his connection with you, who essentially murdered his chosen family, and gets you the *bad* ending, *even if you romance him*.
I think that's one reason why DA players love the Bull/Dorian romance and queer players will literally forgo the two whole queer romances in the game (sorry Sera) because their relationship arc is literally Joker/EDI, but also with the emotional baggage of Tali/Legion. That's what makes them both so good as characters individually and even better as teammates.
I hope you do a video about Tali, i like her arc that goes from her being kinda a wierd nationalist, bordering on fascist, in the first game to accepting the geth as allies in the third game and feeling regret over the loss of Legion, someone she at the start of her arc would have shot on sight without a second thought.
God I love Tali, her arc is so great and I think her growth progresses at a pretty good non-rushed pace.
The fact that peace between the Geth and Quarians becomes impossible if either Legion or Tali is dead shows just how important the friendship between the two, their growth as characters, and their understanding of one another is to the plot overall.
Fun Fact if you save Tali's recruitment mission after you get legion and bring them there. If you don't do a renegade interrupt that gets between legion and Tali, she actually starts shooting at Legion.
What is fascist about Tali? Quarian society is a democracy, racism is universal, Geth genocide was brought on by fear and misunderstanding, not hatred, adding to that the philosophical connundrum of Geth technically not being alive (if you want to argue that I'll remind you, you are required to kill or brainwash half the species to earn the loyalty of one of them and said geth cares not about the fate of its kin) and nationalism is also a universal concept.
Tali's racism is justified by the fact all geth she ever met before Legion were "heretics" on the habit of impaling people and quarians only remembered them as the ones that expelled them from home.
With all that said, tell me what about Tali is "bordering on fascism"
I only wish that in ME2 Legion wasn’t recruited so late into that game and that bringing him onboard didn’t start the “endgame countdown.” His introduction to the Normandy opened up so much about the Mass Effect Galaxy, but in the vanilla game there so little time to learn it all before the Collectors were destroyed.
It’s amazing when a new character challenges our assumptions of the world we’ve played. Geth are unlike any other life we knew in ME until we met Legion.
I came to think of it, I agree.
His presence in ME2 was huge and I was sad to let him "go".
He's basically Sheppard's assistant in ME2.
Very good way to put it! He feels much more like your right hand man than Miranda does. Though I guess she would be a right hand woman lol.
7:46 worth mentioning that this is because of the Salarian species processing emotions and mental change very quickly, Mordin said he did it on the shuttle ride back. This is because Salarians both have a faster working brain than other species, and they have a shorter life span. To become an intelligent social species, they would've had to cancel out their short life span stunting personal and cultural growth; by prioritising emotional conflict and ideologically challenging situations much faster than the average species.
Watching killing Mordin by Shepard was too much for me. I didn't save him in every playthrough I did, but he died like a hero on his terms. Fantastic character
I had to record it twice because of a glitch as well :(
He had to be the best character, someone else might have gotten it wrong.
I’m not sure what’s more heartbreaking him sacrificing himself and succeeding in the cure, or him saying he made a mistake and hearing his internal conflict manifested.
I like to imagine that after the events of ME3, Shepard, Wrex and Eve spread the word among the krogan about what Mordin did for them. Statues of him go up all over Tuchanka. And every year on Solusday, krogan children bring seashells from faraway lands and lay them at the statues' feet.
the whole time i was playing ME1 i was thinking about how cool it'd be to have a Salarian squadmate and Mordin DID NOT disappoint. even though he's not playable in ME3 i loved seeing him return and complete his own character arc. lost him on the suicide mission and knew just this once i had to reset. absolutely bullshit a former STG operative known for being as good with a gun as he is with a scalpel is rated as a lvl 1 defender.
Keep in mind he's level 1 compared to the rest. Defender score is measured less on precise skill and more on ability to destroy everything in their way. That's why Garrus, Grunt, and Zaeed are the best defenders. They all have a knack for killing, just, absurd amounts of people. Mordin is precise.
Imo if anybody should have a higher defender score it's Jack.
@@pikmonwolf yeah i get that, but i still think he should've Tier 2 since he's a cut above the basically non-combatant Tali & Kasumi. He even has the highest priority to die if your average isn't up to snuff, so he's basically considered the weakest of the weakest.
i think the idea with Jack is that she's unhinged and doesn't really work well in a time. she'd easily overextend and not give. ashit about saving her fellow squadmates. again i still think she should've been T2 with Mordin as there's a pretty steep gap between the two of them & Tali + Kasumi.