A Story Analysis of Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3 is a disappointing game with various ups and downs that never seem to stop. Today we will discuss the end of the Mass Effect Trilogy and see if its story holds up to the rest of the series.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:30 Prologue
15:06 Act 1
34:31 Act 2
50:43 Companions
1:07:07 Act 2 cont.
1:13:48 Side Content
1:27:29 DLC
1:54:42 Ending
2;18;47 Outro
______________________________________________________________
Music in Order Courtesy of Mass Effect Trilogy OST
• Mass Effect 1 Legendar...
0;00 Creation
15;06 Normandy
34;31 Liara's world
50;43 Illusive Man
1;07;07 Liara's world
1;13;48 Uncharted Worlds
1;27;29 The Wards
1;54;42 Sovereign's Theme
2;09;46 Vigil
______________________________________________________________
Hope You Enjoyed
#MassEffect #Gingy #masseffect3
Пікірлер: 1 400
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
@Patriarch.Chadimus
Жыл бұрын
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
@lofivibes3640
Жыл бұрын
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.
@dirtydan9153
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@HoHhoch
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@MikeP828
Жыл бұрын
@UCXnqEp5sWUJC3DGAxTfEOHQ that is weird. Every play through I’ve seen with that option he says he’s gonna kill himself
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
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.
@vinccool96
Жыл бұрын
Or you kill him. He says it when you try to convince him to not release the Genophage.
@MarceloZ2
Жыл бұрын
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.
@versebuchanan512
Жыл бұрын
Or, OR, you do the morally right thing- keep the genophage in tact and keep Mordin alive.
@scathach2815
Жыл бұрын
@@versebuchanan512 How is that the more morally correct?
@scathach2815
Жыл бұрын
Glad someone said. I was going to!
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.
@BrightWulph
Жыл бұрын
I like to head cannon that the Turian decides to adopt the teenager and that they both survive the war.
@GangstarComputerGod
Жыл бұрын
@@BrightWulph same!
@The_Punisher
Жыл бұрын
It's probably to show that 2 races that hated each other found comfort through a hard situation
@apanickedseagull
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@realitylapse
Жыл бұрын
Yeah it's basically In the docking area where the conversation takes form. That C sec turian officer.
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.
@ryantannar5301
Жыл бұрын
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
@ZombiemanTemple
Жыл бұрын
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.
@nethalar
Жыл бұрын
@@ZombiemanTemple based af "Sorry mate, can't let you do that"
@Outofrealman
Жыл бұрын
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.
@dattebayo822
Жыл бұрын
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
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
@jubei7259
Жыл бұрын
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)
@Ravathiel
Жыл бұрын
like Red Dead Redemption. if he wasn't so late in the stage, he'd kick the absolute shit outta the other guy
@lemonlefleur6236
Жыл бұрын
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”
@snakesnoteyes
Жыл бұрын
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.
@steinbauge4591
Жыл бұрын
@@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..
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.
@Grivehn
Жыл бұрын
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.)
@Heartshapedbox81
Жыл бұрын
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 🤷🏽♀️
@niftygoose4292
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@dr_feelgood1902
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@Shinteo5
Жыл бұрын
@@dr_feelgood1902 Deckard Cain. Diablo 3. That's all.
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
@zephyr8072
Жыл бұрын
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.
@snakesnoteyes
Жыл бұрын
Vega has grown on me with every replay. I think that introducing him in a book served him poorly.
@Grivehn
Жыл бұрын
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.
@Elite7555
Жыл бұрын
@@snakesnoteyes Well, that confrontational introduction in ME3 served him very poorly as well. Shepard has shot people for less.
@nektarios5291
Жыл бұрын
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
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.
@zephyr8072
Жыл бұрын
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.
@RichyRich2607
Жыл бұрын
It never was about the Red, Blue or Green. Mass Effect 3 in a whole is the ending, not just the last 15min.
@neptuneplaneptune3367
Жыл бұрын
@@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?
@zephyr8072
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@neptuneplaneptune3367
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
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.
@CABRALFAN27
Жыл бұрын
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.
@radekvaverka8921
7 ай бұрын
@@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.
I was sad I didn't get to visit the Elkor home world. Elkor are largely ignored in ME3. And ME2. And ME1.
@NostalgicGamerRickOShay
Жыл бұрын
Sadly: Yes. You are correct. In Despair: I don't have any hope for ME4 correcting ME3 and MEA's mistakes. :(
@noblevi3623
Жыл бұрын
Seeing as their homeworld has a surface gravity of 4.0 earth g's, are you SURE you wanna visit?
@LegendaryDarkKnight602
Жыл бұрын
@@noblevi3623 Also the reason they're built like tanks, but still a fall could be deadly to them while on their homeworld.
@Ale-dd3ek
Жыл бұрын
@@noblevi3623 I'd love to visit Hanar Planet Mass effect 4 should Explore these races
@The_Punisher
Жыл бұрын
@@NostalgicGamerRickOShayElcor can make great poets
Fun fact. The voice actress for Samara is Billie Eillish's mom
@blokin5039
Жыл бұрын
Nonsense kid.
@kennethforman5265
Жыл бұрын
@@blokin5039 voice actress is Maggie Baird. Her daughter is Billie Eillish.
@blokin5039
Жыл бұрын
@@kennethforman5265 You should have told me that from the beginning.
@mecongberlin
Жыл бұрын
And her face is modeled on Rana McAnear. Samara is brilliant.
@KansaiNoRyu
Жыл бұрын
wtf lol
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.
@NostalgicGamerRickOShay
Жыл бұрын
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.
@TheImapotato
Жыл бұрын
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.
@BrightWulph
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@romerjusu3804
5 ай бұрын
I usually go with Steve Cortez.
The thing about the stargazer scene that always kills me is how strange the kid looks. It's clearly the character model of an adult, so the proportions are all wrong and the only word I can think of to describe it is goofy.
@bingbong754
Жыл бұрын
Dude I thought I was the only one to notice this, it honestly is a cool scene or at least I liked it. But just the adult body made smaller made me laugh and was so funky. Also don’t they have a kid programmed in the game already I wonder why they didn’t use it?
@omarmansuri7099
11 ай бұрын
It literally looks like they just took the adult model and made it small enough to look like a child. It was so goofy I couldn't concentrate on the other stuff
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.
@vinccool96
Жыл бұрын
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
@thecupcakemedjay3314
Жыл бұрын
@@vinccool96 Harbinger left because he wiped out all of Hammer.
@darykeng
Жыл бұрын
Hannah Shephard servers on Alliance's dreadnought... they, as a rule, do not enter planet's atmosphere
@Nerbatsu
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@vinccool96
Жыл бұрын
@@Nerbatsu The dreadnoughts are just not made to support a planet's gravity. The engines are not powerful enough
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.
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.
@BrightWulph
Жыл бұрын
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 😅😅
Last time I was this early Shepard hadn't committed war crimes yet.
@jakebaca264
Жыл бұрын
Dam that's early
@nogoodhandlesavailable
Жыл бұрын
War crimes are made up. History is written by the victors. There are no laws in war. Only victory.
@anteplibela
Жыл бұрын
Batarians deserved it. Simple as. I'm not racist, just don't like em
@Cybella
Жыл бұрын
Shepard*
@morganperdue3457
Жыл бұрын
@@jakebaca264 iiuil
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.
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.
@IINareik
Жыл бұрын
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
@mattd9881
Жыл бұрын
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.
@IINareik
Жыл бұрын
@@mattd9881 Nahh, the music in 1 is way better than 2, its more an rpg too and me2 has worse explortation
@kod8933
Жыл бұрын
@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.
@kod8933
Жыл бұрын
@@mattd9881 I would say a close example is when people prefer Morrowind to Skyrim.
I wish the ending wasn’t with a choice but only consequences. Low war assets and the reapers kill everyone and high war assets the galaxy is saved.
@vinccool96
Жыл бұрын
There’s also that. With low assets, everything is badly damaged, and the higher you have, the more it’s a “we can rebuild it”
@sorrenblitz805
Жыл бұрын
There's a do nothing option in the directors cut and the end then implies that everyone dies but the reapers are eventually destroyed in a future cycle. That's the ending I personally choose to be the canon ending of the Andromeda sub-timeline. The Milky Way died again in the Reaper War and the Andromeda project is the last hope for anyone from the Milky Way to survive.
@sweetandsaltyminx7310
Жыл бұрын
I feel the same way. I think the ending would have been better received if you could actually get a happy ending with high resources and choices. The ending feels the need to be "a choice" because the game has "choices" but I think this makes it worse because they probably didn't know how to handle something like that and make it good, and so they tried anyways and failed.
@SekiberiusWelkesh
Жыл бұрын
I agree. The ending would have really benefited from a lack of choice, it would have been better if the ending you got was determined based on the choices you made throughout the series.
@CABRALFAN27
Жыл бұрын
One idea I've seen floated around that I really like is a sort of "War Summit" where you, as the unifying figurehead behind which all of the different species' are willing to rally, get to help plan the attack on Earth, like the Suicide Mission, but instead of choosing which Squadmates do what job, you're choosing where to commit all the War Assets you've gathered to balance Sword, Shield, and Hammer groups. Some choices could be relatively simple (E.G. you can choose to commit, say, the Volus Bombers to either Sword group to help in the space battle or Hammer group to provide close air support. If you do the former, they get chewed apart by the faster Reaper fighters, and if you do the former, they make a run during the mission itself to take out a few touch enemies for you), but the fewer war assets you have, the more tough calls you have to make (E.G. if you made peace between the Geth and Quarians, you can contribute the Geth Fleet wherever, and have the Flotilla, with all its civilians safely back on Rannoch, serve as transports for the massive amount of Hammer ground forces. If you got one of them killed however, you either don't have the Geth Fleet, or you do, but you have to repurpose other warships for transport duty. Either way, you end up with fewer warships to contribute elsewhere). There's a lot of ways your choices could factor into the mission itself, too, making it easier or harder, as well as just providing more flavor. Aside from the Volus Bomber example, there could be a tough section where you call in backup, and you can either get Grunt's elite Krogan Company, a group of basic Alliance troops or mercenaries, or no help at all. Or there could be a scene where you watch a massive ship get blown out of the sky, and depending on your choices, it could either be the Destiny Ascension, the Neema, or just a random Turian Dreadnought, with certain Squadmates having different reactions to each. Even just stuff like Elcor and Rachni charging alongside you like the Take Earth Back Mod would be nice. Don't get me wrong, I recognize that coding and recording all the possible permutations would be an absolutely Herculean task - Even just thinking about it makes my head spin - and honestly, even if if would've softened the blow of the ending, it still wouldn't have solved the fundamental problem with it; Regardless of how justified of an expectation it was, players were expecting an ending where all of their choices, at least the major ones, had a serious impact. To even come close to satisfying that, there'd have to be at least three different ending _missions,_ each with their own permutations based on the specifics. Maybe something like, if you're most Paragon, you choose to trust in the Crucible, the combined efforts not only of all the current cycle's species', but of all those who came before, and you get something similar to the original ending, if you're mostly Renegade, you come up with the much more ruthless plan of luring all the Reapers to the Sol System and then destroying the Mass Relay (Or maybe creating some sort of Dark Energy superweapon to make the Sun go supernova or something, if you wanna bring the Dark Energy plotline back into it), with Shepard being injured, and your choices determining whether he gives up and lets himself be taken out alongside Earth, or if he can find the strength to go on and evacuate in time (Your LI being alive and especially on the Squad would be a big contributor towards convining Shepard to leave, Earthborn Shep would almost always stay behind, etc), and then if you haven't expressed strong conviction either way, you can be convinced by the Illusive Man to try and control the Reapers, with the very heavy implication that you don't have the willpower to resist Indoctrination. Maybe in some circumstances, your Squad could even end up shooting you or something. IDK, I'm just spitballing at this point. But yeah, honestly, I don't think the ending that we got "ruined" ME3, let alone the entire series. It's mediocre at best, to be sure, and that's with the Extended Cut, but the game itself still gave us some of the most powerful scenes, most fun missions, and most emotional interactions in the series. It could've been so much more, but what it is, still isn't half bad IMO.
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.
@user-fn2mx6dd5k
7 ай бұрын
They adeed it as a treat for engineer players cause it's the least picked class
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.
@GuyWhoWatchesStuff
Жыл бұрын
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
@25cats
Жыл бұрын
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???
@e.corellius4495
Жыл бұрын
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
9 ай бұрын
@@e.corellius4495Do you want indoctrination, indoctrination, or destruction?
@e.corellius4495
9 ай бұрын
@@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.
@spyrothelegendarypurpledra8786
Жыл бұрын
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.
@Heartshapedbox81
Жыл бұрын
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.
@MikeDchy25
Жыл бұрын
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.
@dr.calibrations7984
Жыл бұрын
@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
@titaniusanglsmith2764
Жыл бұрын
You also get Dominate after Leviathan DLC, well at least that's how it was for me
I remember crying the first time i heard Legion say "I" and lo and behold, im crying again, such a great character
@spacejunk2186
Жыл бұрын
I remember raising an eyebrow, since individuality was never something the geth desired.
@vinccool96
Жыл бұрын
They didn’t desire it, but they finally became an Artificial Intelligence instead of multiple Virtual Intelligences working together.
@DanielSan1776
Жыл бұрын
That’s a good name I approve
@voteDC
Жыл бұрын
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.
@marsupialmole3926
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@vinccool96
Жыл бұрын
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
@thecupcakemedjay3314
Жыл бұрын
It's the end of a trilogy, there really shouldn't be mystery about them anymore
@snakesnoteyes
Жыл бұрын
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.
@snakesnoteyes
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@jacobcortez3545
Жыл бұрын
@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!"
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!
@rafabuda0
Жыл бұрын
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.
@fizzplease6742
Жыл бұрын
@@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?
@ShadowWolf0020
Жыл бұрын
@@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
@e.corellius4495
Жыл бұрын
@@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?"
@tjknight
11 ай бұрын
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.
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.
@JonNogo
Жыл бұрын
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
@sanguinetales
Жыл бұрын
That's not "bustling." Those are just lights.
@togiielectricboogaloo6875
Жыл бұрын
@@sanguinetales you can see skycars moving in the background
Now you got to do entire Metro franchise
@Gingy
Жыл бұрын
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.
@xetotorian3566
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@davedavid1418
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@shizukousapostle1stapostle710
Жыл бұрын
@@Gingy yh stalker evokes similar feelings to Metro, they are a bit clunky to play but definitely worth it
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. :/
@scathach2815
Жыл бұрын
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.
The 'Evacuating Thessia' email from Kai Leng broke me. It's worthy of it's meme status.
@degeneratemale5386
Ай бұрын
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
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.
@bruhmomentmaker4979
Жыл бұрын
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
@opticalraven1935
Жыл бұрын
Wasn't Mass Effect 3 rushed?
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.
@LegendaryDarkKnight602
Жыл бұрын
Is there a choice to be made as to which the female Turian survives?
@bingbong754
Жыл бұрын
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.
@iAmTheFoeOfInhumans
11 ай бұрын
@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
@e.corellius4495
9 ай бұрын
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.
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.
@donqon
Жыл бұрын
There’s a mass effect movie??
@spyro563
Жыл бұрын
@@donqon Anime like movie called Paragon Lost.
@rafabuda0
Жыл бұрын
@@donqon yep, Paragon Lost. Basically covers that story of James' run-in with the Collectors.
@willfanofmanyii3751
Жыл бұрын
Jennifer Hale said Garrus' romance is the best, and Thane was the most boring, so nah.
@snakesnoteyes
Жыл бұрын
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)
If only we got the dark energy plot line. Its such a better motivation for the reapers and adds so much moral gray!
@JoshSweetvale
9 ай бұрын
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._
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.
@ZeroFische
11 ай бұрын
Nerd
@Definitly-not-Omegon
9 ай бұрын
@@ZeroFische we are all nerds here buddy, you are watching a sci fi RPG game where there is lore for EVERYTHING.
@ZeroFische
9 ай бұрын
@@Definitly-not-Omegon ok Nerd! Let’s go to my bedroom and fight this out like real men!
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.
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.
@solicitr666
11 ай бұрын
Those missiles were enough to take down a Reaper destroyer, but wouldn't touch a full-size dreadnought like Sovereign or Harbinger.
@JoshSweetvale
9 ай бұрын
@@solicitr666Which might be the time to bring in the cool shit.
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!
@davewuff
Жыл бұрын
lmao same xD
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 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.
@SouthernVagabond904
Жыл бұрын
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.
@zephyr8072
Жыл бұрын
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.
@mr-shmitty1751
Жыл бұрын
@@zephyr8072 oh no doubt all these endings suck. I just prefer the control ending out of the 3, technically 4, options that were given.
@GuardianOwl
Жыл бұрын
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.
@zephyr8072
Жыл бұрын
@@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._
padok wiks is a really entertaining character in of himself, they definitely put more effort into his writing then a generic salarian replacement.
@J0k3R32100
Жыл бұрын
Have you ever thought about how krogans mate?
@rafabuda0
Жыл бұрын
@@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!"
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.
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.
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 think that the ME2 ending was one of the best endings for a game and should have been used as the model for the ME3 ending. The original ME3 ending at launch was so bad I didn't even replay on my first time finishing the game. Unlike what I did for ME1 and ME2. The DLC ending improved it a little bit but didn't really fix it. I always liked the Indoctrination Theory, Bioware should use it for the next game where it starts by waking up from the ME3 ending we got. Then use the next game as the real ending we should have gotten. But I doubt that would ever happen LOL
@GuardianOwl
Жыл бұрын
Indeed, the Indoctrination theory makes all the weird inconsistencies in the endgame make sense. So I choose to look at ME3 through that lens. The story of ME3 is Shepard’s mental battle with the final stages of indoctrination. In the end, it’s some unnamed soldier that made it through the portal to activate the Crucible. For Shepard to choose destroy is the only choice in which he rejects the Reapers and thus is the only one in which he wakes up in rubble on Earth.
@primordialsun
Жыл бұрын
I think the me3 team acknowledged indoctrination theory, said it was a cool idea, but that it wasn't at all their intention.
Javik is such a great addition because him insulting everyone he comes across is some of my favorite dialogue in the whole game.
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.
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.
@antediluvianatheist5262
Жыл бұрын
I found him soulful and deep. But not my type.
@ZeroFische
11 ай бұрын
@@antediluvianatheist5262ah you enjoy paper cups
@madelinemcmillan4020
2 ай бұрын
the Tango scene with Garris says Hi.
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
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.
@Stellerman7
Жыл бұрын
There's a mod that actually does this
@redpandasarecool3
Жыл бұрын
they would be fucking ashes if even
@kaitlyngarner740
3 ай бұрын
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
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.
@snakesnoteyes
Жыл бұрын
That’s not true- at least in the legendary edition
@chibiktsn3
Жыл бұрын
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.
@Definitly-not-Omegon
9 ай бұрын
@@chibiktsn3 The Illusive Man's name is now discovered, he is Tim, nothing will convince me otherwise 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.
@LyonTheGreat
Жыл бұрын
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.
@NotALotOfColonial_SpaghettiToG
Жыл бұрын
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.
@voteDC
Жыл бұрын
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.
You forgot about Marauder Shields
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
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.
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 😄
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
@chuck9246
Жыл бұрын
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.
@JoshSweetvale
9 ай бұрын
@@chuck9246Memory drives are death flags in Mass Effect
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
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.
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.
Man I loved that ME2 had 12 companions, sonmuch replay value in that alone
Terrific breakdown as always. Seeing a Gingy upload gives me life.
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
Жыл бұрын
Dragon Age has been on my list for a while. Would love to delve into the series when I get the time.
@mikeauditore881
Жыл бұрын
@@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! 😄
@voteDC
Жыл бұрын
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.
Been loving your story videos!
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'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.
Am currently binging all your vids and suddenly you just release another one XD you've become my favorite gaming story KZreadr overnight
I think it depends when you played. My first experience with Mass Effect was through the collection in 2016 so I had much of the dlc and the extended cut from the start. I had no problem with the ending. My biggest problem was how the ME 2 characters got so sidelined in this game.
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.
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
@Lord_Thunderballs
Жыл бұрын
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.
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?
@jesussilva201
Жыл бұрын
From the monastery in 3 where you rescue one of Samara's daughters I believe that MA3 just contradicts what we heard in MA2
@bogdanyuriev1507
Жыл бұрын
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")
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...
Mordin’s definitely trying to atone for his role in the genophage. If he’s alive and you go renegade and sabotage the cure, when you try to convince him to not go up to the Shroud’s controls, he’ll state that he made a mistake when Shepard asks why is he so adamant to make the cure.
@KashForte
Жыл бұрын
Yes, that what I got and he went to work on the crucible. I
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.
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.
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
@cloudvsSephirof
8 ай бұрын
You also get this power by completing the Leviathan DLC
Hey, Christmas came early this year? I'm jumping right on this, thanks Gingy!
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.
@TheMaflan
Жыл бұрын
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.
@thedeathray8620
Жыл бұрын
@@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
@TheMaflan
Жыл бұрын
@@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).
Garrus romance just so happens to be the very best one in the series its so cute, awkward and funny at the same time
@vinccool96
Жыл бұрын
I prefer Tali, tbh
@willfanofmanyii3751
Жыл бұрын
Jennifer Hale agrees.
@ChellieRawr
Жыл бұрын
@@vinccool96both romances are very good! I choose one or the other depending if I am male shep or femshep
@scathach2815
Жыл бұрын
I chose Garrus for both ME2 and ME3 and I don't regret it. He's ride or die, loyal to the very end.
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!!
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!
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!
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 :(
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.
@HoHhoch
Жыл бұрын
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*.
@GangstarComputerGod
Жыл бұрын
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.
For me, a lot of the small things, were what hit me hard. Especially the story with Joker's family and the Asari. At first, you think, she's just another shell-shocked soldier, then you hear her story and think, "horrible, but they could have both died otherwise." then Joker tells you about his family, and you realize what happened to them and how. I know it might not be the most upright, paragon decision, but I almost always give her a gun. She could after all have at least tried to save them both, or die trying.
It's always bothered me that Dr. Awa's hair somehow turned into basically a metal helmet after the crash. How the fuck did no one notice that her hair was a solid piece?
@voteDC
Жыл бұрын
Because it wasn't. EDI mentions in the game that the hair can behave just like a normal head of hair if she wants it to. Doctor Eva likely made it solid to better protect her head during the crash.
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.
1:35:01 this moment also has a unique moment in the games, class mattering outside of gameplay, you get a unique paragon interrupt if you are an engineer that lets you skip waiting, and disable the force field without killing civilians.
Amazing video like always :). One thing though, sometimes when you're explaining the plot, you skip forward to some events that will happen later. As a ME fan that has played the trilogy more than 4 times I find this a little confusing and distracting, makes me feel like you're rushing the review. I know my opinion may come as little nitpicky, but I believe the review could benefit if you explain the events in order. As always keep up the good work and have a wonderful Christmas. Thanks for the early present ;)
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.
@stratataisen
Жыл бұрын
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 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
@darksideon
Жыл бұрын
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.
@Aegxs
Жыл бұрын
@@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
@zephyr8072
Жыл бұрын
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.
@kalithoulouse2231
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@zephyr8072
Жыл бұрын
@@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.
Yeah, in ME3 it felt "weird" doing side missions, since there's already a full on invasion going on. In ME1 and ME2 I kinda took my time lol
Great video. About the endings. I never got why people liked the Synthesis ending. It's the forced onconsensual re-writing of our biology. Not just humans but all life in the galaxy. And who is to tell it won't become some hive mind? The series is about all species working together in spite of our differences and our individuality. Now we all just become the same? Eww. No. Control always seemed like the bad ending to me, Absolute power corrupting and all that. Destroy is the only useable ending for me. And if other people see it differently, thats fine.
@scathach2815
Жыл бұрын
I chose the synthesis ending because I love EDI and didn't want her to die :(. But I can agree that it doesn't seem like that's the "Cannon" ending. I feel like the destroy ending seems most viable.
The biotic mind control thing is a thing elsewhere in the games. You can get dominate power in both Mass Effect 2 & 3 which basically mind controls an enemy. So it isn’t far fetched to think that it’s possible.
I swear it feels like Gingy doesn't take a breath in his scripts, the pace is perfect.
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 only thing worse than the ME3 ending is Kai Leng the generic ninja man. For such a prominent villain in the last game, he's as bran muffin as it gets.
@JoshSweetvale
9 ай бұрын
He's a weeb villain taken seriously. If he were a crazy wannabe, Conrad Verner with reaper implants, that'd be interesting, with T.I.M. scraping the bottom of the barrel. Instead he's supposedly on a level with Shepard and Vega, which - *no.* Not with that attitude.
the illusive man forcing shepard to shoot anderson isn't unprecedented. You get a power called dominate for choosing morinth in ME2