The loyalty affecting endgame wasn't about how they felt about Shepard, they were about tying up loose ends and making sure the crew was entirely focused on the mission and not thinking about or worrying or festering on something else.

@jasonfenton8250

5 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure I'd be worrying about some childhood issues while fighting the slave army of machine gods inside of a massive spaceship.

@MrProdigy810

5 жыл бұрын

@@jasonfenton8250 when you're facing possible death you start to think about your regrets and all your unfinished business it's just human. Which is kind of ironic given most of your crew isnt

@OriginalKenDoll

4 жыл бұрын

Exactly! Which makes sense. Especially for the characters that had to deal with issues regarding their family.

Jacob does look like his father, they have the same nose, same ears, same brows, same lips, and same jaw. They purposefully mold their models as such.

@earlofbroadst

4 жыл бұрын

Seriously. That criticism genuinely made me angry. A fictional character has several people tell him he looks like his father - must be racism!

@lazaglider

4 жыл бұрын

Jake Starbuck Despite how good this guy’s reviews are, he does have an unenviable habit of going full SJW from time to time. His Witcher 3 critique was a great watch, except for the 5 minute rant about how Slavic history is too white.

@earlofbroadst

4 жыл бұрын

@@lazaglider Those damn Slavs! How dare they be so Caucasian! And to top it all off, they got themselves invaded and conquered by a bunch of Nordic Vikings so they could be even whiter!

@SaberRexZealot

4 жыл бұрын

Jake Starbuck Chris just comes across so ignorant when he makes statements like this. I like everything else in these reviews but he doesn’t make it easy sometimes.

@maurovaz6081

4 жыл бұрын

@@lazaglider how can a series of books about Slavic folklore can be too white?

Actually, you are wrong about Mordin and the ivory tower BS. He specifically mentioned he personally did regular field followups after the genophage modifications and how he was told to leave that task to others and he refused because he had to see the consequences by himself. And as he also mentions in the loyalty mission, the decision was between limiting the reproduction rate of the Krogan with the genophage or their complete eradication. You also skipped over the nuclear wasteland that is Tuchanka was unrelated to the genophage and how the Krogan problems were created by accessing new technology before developing as an advanced society capable to handle it.

@johnnybensonitis7853

3 жыл бұрын

I dunno, there's a lot about that entire bit that is open to perception/interpretation. While I ultimately felt a bit bad for Mordin by the end of his loyalty mission, it was easy to imagine other people not having such a charitable disposition toward him. I remember telling him, "Look at the dead woman.." and the way Mordin responded made me feel immediate regret as if I were punishing him for making an impossible decision. Still, the constant use of applying statistical values to living things will understandably not put some people off.

@smartalec2001

3 жыл бұрын

There were field followups as part of the STG program to reinforce the Genophage, and Mordin was part of them, but it's clear he's never really grasped the despair and desperation the Genophage has led to. He watched the Krogan from afar, dispassionately, like a scientist.

@1993JoshG

2 жыл бұрын

personally i think the whole genophage story is the most interesting part of the universe. It is an impossibly complicated moral minefield and its fascinating to talk about. You can see why they did it and argue about wether it was justified all you want but at the end of the day it happened, how do we deal with it? is it morally correct to fix it? probably. is it smart? maybe? maybe krogan will learn but its not likely, but is that a good enough reason to put a whole species through that? like i said, absolutely fascinating. I don't think you can say chris' opinion on mordin is wrong but i can't say you are either.

@TheBiomedZed

7 ай бұрын

A bit late to reply but I agree that I think Mordin was more sympathetic then it came across; I think his abnormal speech pattern more than anything made him see cold and heartless. 2 things to point out about the situation: 1) The Salarians were the ones who gave the Krogan's technological advancements they weren't ready for in the first place. There's a great conversation with Mordin where he says that culture and limitation should dictate the advancement of a species, but since the advancement was handed to the Krogans they lacked those things. It's clear the Salarians felt they had personally messed up and needed to correct this problem. It's still fair to say basically everyone at the galatic table treated the Krogans as animals rather than an intelligent species. 2) The Krogan problem was inevitable. They had literally nuked their homeworld into dust once and that was before they were a space-faring species. If the Krogans were let loose throughout the galaxy without any predator to challenge them they would almost likely reduce it to dust also. In a conversation with Mordin he basically states it was either limit them via the genophage or extinction. The galaxy and the Krogans were already at war and the Krogans were winning, so the Salarians chose what they thought was the lesser of two evils. Mordin was one of my favourite companions because he was a realist first and a scientist second; he didn't sit in a lab all day and keep his hands clean and he knew the implications of his actions. In a conversation he states that his group had to make yearly trips to the Krogan homeworld to monitor the genophage and take samples; this was generally menial work for lab assisstants but he personally did it because he had to remind himself of his actions rather than sitting in an ivory tower and keeping his hands clean.

My name is Chris Davis and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world I'm an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly, I use my speed to critique games and create the hottest takes. I have mountains of cash.

@5000Seabass

5 жыл бұрын

Whitelight we’ll bang okay

@TheAdarkerglow

5 жыл бұрын

@Paul Smith PAH! My CLIFFS of Cash are surely more impressive, as they come with cash plateaus, giving me a PAIR of broken analogies to boot! HU HA! THE ONE-UPS MAN STRIKES AGAIN!

@TheAdarkerglow

5 жыл бұрын

@Paul Smith I don't know how you saw that as a put down, but whatever.

@MarkoLomovic

5 жыл бұрын

@@jenniewilson9423 Yeah we need more

@afrog2666

5 жыл бұрын

@@TheAdarkerglow Perhaps I should introduce you to my CASH PLANET!

Hour-long game critiques with British accents are always welcome.

@johnnybensonitis7853

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed! Nothing like a refined British accent, I say.

@gabby3036

3 жыл бұрын

Watch Tehsnakerer. You're welcome.

@fabiantavarez888

2 жыл бұрын

I'm late to this comment but you took the words out of my mouth

@MoonMoverGaming

Жыл бұрын

I binged JoshStrifeHayes and now KZread thinks all I want to watch is hour-long British game critiques. My front page is filled with this guy and NeverKnowsBest.

Arrival was meant to be played after completing ME2 first. Back when it was first released most people would have already long ago finished ME2. I guess making it ONLY playable after ME2 main story would have been smart and was just a small oversight by the devs.

I'm late to the party here, but the genophage discussion is one of the most interesting in the mass effect universe. I'd argue that the big mistake was not the genophage, but uplifting the Krogan in the first place. The genophage was a necessary evil to keep either the Krogan or the rest of the galaxy from extinction. Doesn't make the genophage right, but it still likely saved the galaxy. Wherever you fall on the genophage, it is such a morally grey and nuanced discussion, and is a prime example of the beauty of the mass effect world building.

@killmonger5097

2 жыл бұрын

I see the salarians got you with their propaganda lol

@1993JoshG

2 жыл бұрын

Personally i think the whole genophage story is the most interesting part of the universe. It is an impossibly complicated moral minefield and its fascinating to talk about. You can see why they did it and argue about wether it was justified all you want but at the end of the day it happened, how do we deal with it? is it morally correct to fix it? probably. is it smart? maybe? maybe krogan will learn but its not likely, but is that a good enough reason to put a whole species through that? Like i said, absolutely fascinating.

Correction for you Chirs: At 47:00 you point out that you are standing next to NPC's having a conversation about Shep not yet returning from a mission. However, the characters that you are standing next to are not the ones having the conversation. The dialog heard here is between Admiral Koris and Shala'Raan presumably being broadcast over the ship's PA system.

@sinisteroglop

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks, was gonna say this.

@nicoleboudreau2646

5 жыл бұрын

woah! I've always made that mistake too. thanks!

@GerSHAK

5 жыл бұрын

+

@Quole1234

5 жыл бұрын

Why would a conversation about tali be broadcast?

@afrog2666

5 жыл бұрын

His name is Chirs? Speaking of corrections, lol..

Okeer's plan makes some sense, even if he is a deranged scientist. He explains it with these lines: "The galaxy bears the scars of the horde, but it will learn to fear the lance." "I will give the genophage the worst insult an enemy can suffer; to be ignored." Curing the genophage means a return to the Krogan hordes of the past. He instead is focusing on the lance; why need a horde of Krogan, when each individual Krogan can be a threat all by themselves? Hence he creates Grunt, the perfect Krogan. Grunt can breed and pass down his ideal genes to more offspring. Even as the genophage limits the numbers of offspring, that doesn't matter, as they will be such genetically great Krogan anyway... you get my point now, I think.

@Frostmourne86

11 ай бұрын

Agreed. It never made any sense that the krogan were placing so much emphasis on the Genophage, when all it does is bring krogan birthrates back to the level they were before technology gave the krogan the edge over their natural predators. Instead of wallowing on and on about the Genophage the krogan could've gone ahead with the plans that Wrex was making - making them more civilized and not bemoaning a decision placed on them as a result of their own actions. At least until the travesty of the Genophage plot of ME3.

And here I thought they killed Shepard to introduce the improved character creator Saints Row 2 style.

Normandy 2 is pretty different from the first Normandy dood

Probably to this day the best part of Mass Effect 2 that makes me chuckle still was when I "accidentally" killed Samara for her loyalty mission because I got their names mixed up. (I never cared for that character's abilities or personality.) This was after a good half hour or forty-five minutes of progress, so I lived with that decision somewhat dumbfounded by my own mistake.

@Hellsbest1986

5 жыл бұрын

lmao thats actually amazing

@SpartanWolf222

5 жыл бұрын

@@Hellsbest1986 Surprisingly, you don't have to do a loyalty mission for Meredith, which makes some sense. I was somewhat saddened that there wasn't any special mission afterwards to get to know her better.

@Sheechiibii

5 жыл бұрын

@@SpartanWolf222 Yeah Morinth was imo a missed opportunity.

I adore the storytelling of Mass Effect, despite its hiccups. There's so much fun to be had with the voice acting and the variables and the ways to play Shepard and the ways relationships develop, etc. My biggest problem is I cannot STAND the standard gameplay of shooting guys behind chest high walls. I try so hard but I just get bored, to the point I wanna get on with the loyalty missions and story content, I think I'm just an impatient jerk lol

@ace0071000

5 жыл бұрын

Try playing as a Vanguard. While not exempt from the mechanic, they are much more mobile and focused on shield management out if cover. Also, with ME3 the obvious answer is a melee build. I find Sentinels to be a blast for this.

@Leap623

5 жыл бұрын

Weirdly enough, I hate cover-based shooters but adore ME2's gameplay. With most games, cover-based shooters are just a matter of taking pot-shots at enemies, regenerating your health, rinse and repeat. While you can definitely do this, especially on lower difficulties, I found that cranking up the difficulty a bit completely changes things; everything has armor or shields, making them immune to crowd-control, and they're incredibly lethal; if they get close, or get a line of sight on you, you're dead. So it becomes a delicate balancing act, and making it hard to retreat from cover forces you to carefully manage your resources across your squadmates to strip enemy defenses, use knock-down or pull abilities on them, and put in damage when it's safe. Combat feels really urgent, and I honestly haven't felt engaged in quite the same way with any other game since. (ME3, fun as it is, feels trivial in comparison due to how hard it makes enemies to kill you whenever you just spam dodge-rolls).

Hey Chris, the mass effect 2 dlc has been free for years even though they have it for sale through origin. If you contact origin customer service, they'll refund your purchases.

@antonhallergren588

3 жыл бұрын

Lol hah Well it was so good I didn’t mind paying for it 11 years later or so😂😅😅. Got it on sale anyway

The Geth didn't rebel though, the quarians started to fear them and tried to exterminate them. So the geth only responded accordingly.

I'm Commander Shepard and, this is my favorite Mass Effect 2 critique on the Citadel!

@robkinney1974

5 жыл бұрын

Hahaha, are you going to be my Miranda?

@InfernalMonsoon

5 жыл бұрын

Can it wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations.

@Antiformed

5 жыл бұрын

"HEY EVERYONE, THIS STORE DISCRIMINATES AGAINST THE POOR!"

The scars and red eyes of renegade shepard seems like it was lifted right out of KOTOR or Fable.

@doodsalot270

5 жыл бұрын

Kotor and kotor 2 didn't have visual markers. They had 3 character pictures for the different alignments with a different stance in a menu and nothing else. Swtor is the one with visual markers

@thefalloutwiki

5 жыл бұрын

Doodsalot270 you’re completely right, thanks for jogging my memory. It’s been awhile since I’ve played :)

@TheCallofdutyghost

5 жыл бұрын

@@doodsalot270 They had visual markers in the sense that the darker choices, the more pale-dead you look. You were physically becoming a sith.

@oliviawilliams6204

4 жыл бұрын

@GiRayne That's why i hate it. I already dislike the whole "Dark Side make you ugly thing" I find it dumb, but in ME it'S completelly out of place. Not a fan of the binary morality system either as a whole trough

@stunnafan8905

3 жыл бұрын

Woman

46:54 I know I'm years late to this party, but I just wanted to point out that the voices you hear when coming back from the mission are not the voices of the quarians sitting near the bay. Those are the voices of the admirals deliberating in the auditorium. They can not see shepard and tali coming back. The more appropriate question would be, if we can all hear them why are none of the quarians in the bay reporting to the admirals that they are back?

I love how you put so much effort into your research of the games, and you're doing a great job of conveying your findings and thoughts. Kudos!

I always tell people ME1 had the best story, ME2 had the best cast, and ME3 was the best game overall. When ME2 released, I was going to college but still stayed up my entire weekend to play the game in one 42 hour sitting, only pausing to use the bathroom and eating/drinking while I played; it was an amazing experience which I will always value. I have often felt that, despite the wide praise it gets, ME2 was the worst game in the trilogy. Though it has the best cast, and improved the combat system immeasurably, the lack of a strong driving narrative and a poor ending (there is no reason your entire party should survive the suicide mission you've been building up to all game - at least half your group should have died and your choices merely determined who it was) made it my least favorite. That said, the ME Trilogy, as a whole, is my favorite computer rpg experience of all time.

@AL-wv8jx

5 жыл бұрын

I agree with the first sentence. My perspective of ME2 is it is the most fun to play. IME1 has a great story but the combat is (IMO) very boring and the animation is not as good. Plus I hate riding around in the mako (a few hours would have been alright but I like to get all the resources, ID tags etc. and it gets so old). Also ME1 armor/inventory system sucks. ME3 is great (especially the music) the ending is a bit of a let down for me, but it did not bother me as much as some. The only problem is I feel sad after completing ME3. As a standalone ME2 is not as good as the others, but as a game that brings you to the ME universe while not making you bored in the Mako/feeling sad at the end, it is very satisfying.

@fbritannia

3 жыл бұрын

I agree with you. I can't really choose my favorite one of the three.

the only triology i want remastered on ps4

@johnschwalb

3 жыл бұрын

You are in luck

@Cory_Dora

3 жыл бұрын

Its coming! Legendary baby!

A couple of things others haven't seemed to point out: If you get into conversations with Jacob, you'll find out that Shep's face was briefly used for recruitment ads. They changed it to a composite image that "tested better" for marketing. So it isn't too unreasonable for Shepard's name and gender to be known while his/her face is less widespread. With an imported Shep you have some freedom in your alignment. I tend to play what fans nicknamed a "Paragade." Basically, my character is Paragon about 80% of the time. However, she's not above hanging up on the Council, talking shit about politicians or pushing a merc out of a window. It's my favorite style of play because my good-guy Shep can have her bad moments but still be mostly Paragon. Besides, I went a 100% paragon run, with the only Renegade points I took were Killing the asari scientist on Virmire and having Kelly change her name/identity in 3. That was such an extremely boring ME run and I don't recommend it.

U putting in the sex scenes reminds me how far we've gone where SFM and bender animations of amateurs that get crowdfunded blow those crappy animations away in miles

@breadchips4803

5 жыл бұрын

KelloPudgerro KROGAN $%&£€ Shepard SFM

@nuttex

5 жыл бұрын

@darkopsguy fugtrup is entry-tier

I love how your videos can be listened to as either an actual video or it could be downloaded and then as a podcast, its brilliant

@thefalloutwiki

5 жыл бұрын

Nathan Wilson I listen to them exclusively while doing tedious tasks at work, it really brightens my day

@MatyFattyDaddy

5 жыл бұрын

I listen for my commutes to class

I’ll never forget playing the last mission of mass effect 2 when I was like 11 years old. I lost every member of my crew one by one, regretting not doing their personal missions. Only to literally lose commander Shepard at the very end. But the mission was a success. RIP My commander Shepard.

For as many issues as Mass Effect 2 has - it's so easy to call it my favourite in the series despite the stagnant story. I've always felt it would have been far better if the style of Mass Effect 1 and 2 were swapped around, that way even if the immediate story isn't instantly engaging the first game would still do a wonderful job fleshing out the world, lore and events within the series while 2 and 3 could go full speed ahead to the climax and conclusion. I guess 2 just feels like an unnecessary stop gap in what is a story that clearly has very high stakes thanks to the Reapers and that is a bit of a shame but I still like the whole episodic angle of forming friendships to take on a huge awesome mission at the end in a way that's legitimately terrifying knowing you can lose the characters you've grown to love - while it's easily understandable once you know the game, that aspect is easily Mass Effect 2's strongest point and I think that's why I love it more than 1 and 3 despite both of those having very tangible strengths over 2 Amazing video as always Chris! Can't wait for Mass Effect 3 whenever that happens :D Would you consider covering another series after this? Dark Souls, FEAR or Doom would be great fits for your commentary but they're just suggestions :)

@codyvandal2860

5 жыл бұрын

DarkStarAngelo I know what you mean but I think the character building relationship missions “are” the story. As well as introducing cerberus and filling out the backstory. And it ends with the invasion you’ve been warning about

@gillri

5 жыл бұрын

@@codyvandal2860 you just hit the nail on the head, it was almost the antidote to the more traditional linear story of the first game highly differentiating it and thus becoming a perfect sequel. It was like the dirty dozen in space best Bioware game ever IMO but I still prefer the retro 70's / 80's feel of the first game. Without ME1's groundwork ME2 simply wouldnt be in my top games of all time

@kummakummakummakummakummac8606

5 жыл бұрын

@@gillri Just curious what is ur second favorite Bioware game?

@bubbahunez3383

3 жыл бұрын

In hindsight I agree with you, but I do wonder if the first Mass Effect would’ve ended up being as compelling if that were the case

I always choose Renegade Shep for the one-liners. Paragon always felt bland to me, it makes more sense but I consider the Renegade ME3 ending canon. This definitely highlights the issue with the system I think.

I recently finished the first game and started mass effect 2. Based on what I've seen so far, I definitely prefer the first.

probably my favorite game of the series, shit is pure atmosphere.

@spartanq7781

2 ай бұрын

Really? I find the atmosphere doesn't even begin to compare to Mass Effect 1. The focus shifting from a unknown galaxy to being human centric was a huge mistake. No really the story is about saving humanity and joining a human terrorist organization. In a universe where there are so many other things far more important ME2 randomly decides to abandon it for a story that is nonsense and does nothing to forward the story. ME3 had to bullshit a way to stop the reapers,resolve character arcs none of whom help in finding a way to stop the Reapers,the Cerberus situation and resolve the galaxies conflicts to unite it.

Mass effect two went wrong from the start by killing off the main character then resurrecting them and having no choice but to join the vile Corporation you despised from the first game.The characters are bland there's a few stupid plots like all the team leaving on a shuttle then the stupid boss at the end oh yes and thermal clips.

The Paragon/Renegade system sucks in Mass Effect 2, in the first game you could max out both Paragon and Renegade, Charisma and Intimidate if you put enough points into it unlocking all dialogue options. In ME2 though if you decide to do anything that isn't either a straight Paragon or Renegade playthrough you will be completely locked out of some dialogues (usually the one's concerning companion loyalty) because they work by ratio instead of how many points that are accumulated. I literally use the savegame editor to modify my paragon/renegade points so I can do what I want without fucking up the late game.

Thanks for a great critique on one of my favourite games from the era :)

11:35 wtf is wrong with her eyes! Is this Mass Effect Andromeda?!

@TheCivildecay

5 жыл бұрын

no, a 8 year old game

@fuzzydunlop7928

5 жыл бұрын

People were often too busy being pissed at Andromeda to remember the foibles of the first two games.

@jon-umber

5 жыл бұрын

It's funny people got so mad about Andromeda's animations when the original trilogy is just as shit. Andromeda is a bad game but for reasons other than animations (though they're pretty shit too)

@AAhmou

5 жыл бұрын

Lol... I never saved her.

@blondbraid7986

5 жыл бұрын

@@jon-umber Exactly, there was like, five haircuts in the entire galaxy, most maps were either recycled corridors or empty desert plains with bumps on them and everyone had the same three outfits palette swapped in the original game, it's not like Mass Effect ever got famous for it's graphics.

I like ME2 but the majority of the cast is not needed. You don’t need an assassin, you don’t need a thief, you don’t need what ever the hell jacob is, you don’t need a mercenary, you don’t need a justicar. If ME2 had focused more on the core story and gave us gripping and relevant characters it would be a much better experience.

I remember playing Mass Effect 2, and utterly hating it for the change to cover-based shooting. I almost put it down until I realized regenerating health meant I could kill everything with meelee. Once I stopped taking it seriously, I had much more fun.

I remember the EDI joke. It sticks with me for a long time because I dreaded that EDI will turn into HAL before she said she's joking

This is my favorite game in the trilogy. I think it is one of the best RPGs ever made

Just got off work, literally perfect timing. Never played me2 but I don't care, your videos are so enjoyable to listen to!

@InfernalMonsoon

5 жыл бұрын

You absolutely should - it's a blast to play, easily one of my favourite games of all time.

Oooo been waiting for this!

That’s actually a crazy accurate assessment of the trilogy. Although I put ME2 near the top of my personal list, I think too many people turn a blind eye to its weak points, of which there are quite a few glaring ones.

Your not hearing those two quarians talk about if Tali and Shepard are alive or not, that's Han Gerrell and Shala'Ran in the next room over proceeding with the hearing under assumption they died because they haven't received word of their return yet. Also i'd hardly call Ashley a terrible person because she cares a bit more for her own races wellbeing than the others.

Out of the entire video game critique community, Chris Davis is my favorite.

@silviogrijalva8801

5 жыл бұрын

Graham Phillips the genophage was right

@grahamphillips3916

5 жыл бұрын

Silvio Grijalva #mordindidnothingwrong

@DrWiley-fm3ik

5 жыл бұрын

He's up there for sure. Matthewmatosis is by far my favorite, though. He has a way with words 99% of YT game critics just don't.

@Whitelight

5 жыл бұрын

Come on guys

@DrWiley-fm3ik

5 жыл бұрын

@@Whitelight what?

mass effect is definitely my favorite gaming franchise ever its so good!

@SimonNZ6969

5 жыл бұрын

>The Trilogy is. Andromeda is awful.

@MarkoLomovic

5 жыл бұрын

@@SimonNZ6969 I don't know ME3 was total let down for me, I didn't like so much that I didn't even bother to finish it.

@Tripnotik25

5 жыл бұрын

@@MarkoLomovic ME3 was by far and away the weakest entry, with some good writing mixed with a whole lot of garbage, but compared to Andromeda its a literary masterpiece.

the final boss is robo-corpse from contra: the alien wars

ME1’s storytelling is superior because it carries the weight of having to establish the universe and it’s lore and that’s incredibly compelling. You can never really duplicate that experience in a trilogy like this. ME2 hones the gameplay. Combat takes a huge leap forward which does an excellent job of making up for a less engaging main story. The loyalty missions are a thing of beauty though, and the finale that makes use of your entire crew was a brilliant move.

Dude well of ascension is one of my favorite books of all time! So freaking good. Same with this game. I love character development in media and both of those have them in spades. Freaking love these videos by the way, I've been binging them the last few days. Fantastic work

I caught the Mass effect andromeda critique late but one thing did bother me. when you inferred that the team that made andromeda was the same as the original trilogy team but that's not the case. They were a completely new team made solely to make a new mass effect and has no one from the original trilogy team that made those games great. If you know this now than disregard this comment but I just thought I'd bring it up and mention that the original team has been working on Anthem since Mass Effect 3

For me the the characters and the choices meaning something push ME 2 to the front. Ditto for dragon age Origin

Hello from a fellow Brandon Sanderson & Robin Hobb fan! Fantastic video, I've watched all your videos so far and they are all thoroughly enjoyable and well researched. Keep up the good work!

here's a little way to think of the loyalty missions to help you understand why they help determine rather the teammate died or not, it's not rather they like you, it's rather they still have things in the back of their minds that is unresolved, "get your affairs in order" so to speak

I love Mordin's character, because the way you describe him "No matter what he defends it in a coldhearted, logical way that fails to take into account the people affected by his actions." Anyone who's studied the Third Reich and the "desk killers" - bureaucrats that killed people with a stroke of the pen rather than bullets - then you know this was the temperament of many of them after the war during their interrogations and debriefings. This is also the temperament of the psychiatrists who helped put together the CIA "enhanced interrogation" program and that took part in the torture. Professionals that kill, but not professional killers. Shit's chilling, which is why Mordin's character is so well-written.

The worst thing about credits is that you have more than enough to buy everything you need, but not enough to buy everything there is. So if you ignore them nothing really changes, but if you focus on getting as many as you can there's no pay off of collecting 100% of the content.

It goes beyond if they like you or not, you need to chose the proper people for the infiltration, shield and command the squad otherwise people will always die.

I partly agree. The main story of ME1 is more compelling than that of ME2. However, the side quests can easily drown at the story of ME1 (remember all the mountain climbing in the Mako), whereas the pseudo-side quests of ME2 are always extremely engaging. I love breaking Jack out of prison, and rescuing Tali. I love hearing Garrus yell out headshot when I snipe someone. I love how the human and humanoid aliens express dismay at being overwhelmed by the 3 man army, led by an invincible bad ass named Shepard. That's why I look at ME2 as a collection of short stories with the same protagonist as opposed to one great novel. Perfect game: an engaging main story like ME1, engaging individual quests like ME2, improved combat mechanics, and Skyrim-esque crafting.

Somehow I still love cover based shooter despite all the inherent flaws XD

Just imagine what it felt like for people like me who had played the first one before starting 2, i had just finished a second playthrough in preparation for 2 just to see shepard die in the opening cinematic.

Funniest thing in mass effect is hanging up on the council convince me I'm wrong

Christ how do you churn out such high quality lengthy videos in such quick succession? Not complaining or anything! Just impressed.

Excellent video, you pretty much summarized my thoughts on ME2. The sequel we all love, but its complicated...

i love mordin he was such a great character and in my personally opinion his redemption within mass effect 3 was amazing and awesome in my opinion also Thane companion quest was also cool too :)

@silviogrijalva8801

5 жыл бұрын

Tevya Smolka the genophage was the right move. Mordin was right

@TevyaSmolka

5 жыл бұрын

true yes but on the other hand though mordin was also wrong too

@Samm815

5 жыл бұрын

@@silviogrijalva8801 "I MADE A MISTAKE!" - Mordin

@gilgamesh310

5 жыл бұрын

Mordin is the best character in the series. He’s not always likeable, but that applies to a lot of great characters. Chris seems to be one of the those people who believes characters need to be likable to be well written.

@TevyaSmolka

5 жыл бұрын

yup i can agree with that

I still say the genophage was justified. Unethical as it may sound theyre a useful asset, but too dangerous to be legt to their own devices.

A little correction for you in case you want to fix it. At 32:55 you say Tali sent geth components to the geth fleet, instead of them being sent to the quarian fleet. Great video. I love these longform video game critiques.

That opening is still one of the best introduction scenes of any game ever, Also the end (Suicide mission) is also one of the best scenes in a game ever.

Oh, poor Chris, you are so wrong about the DLC prices being bad now. Right now they are a godsend compared to if you had to get them all through what EA must have forgot through stupidity, BioWare points. When I revisited ME 1 - 3 on PC, I did a rough estimate and if you wanted all the story-related DLCs--not the cosmetics or multiplayer stuff--it would cost you nearly $100 in BioWare points to get everything. Each character or small story expansion was 800 points, and in Mass Effect 3 each one was around 1200 points, meaning if you used the Origin discount you would have to get the 1600 points ($20) at around two dollars cheaper each purchase. I was thankful when EA finally did us a favor in lowering the bundles to more reasonable prices.

@deusexbaby5555

5 жыл бұрын

Brian Colfxire Yeah only thing i find worth buying in me3 are weapon packs for singleplayer and expansions. Multiplayer dlc is free thankfully.

Jon snow needed to die in Song of Ice and Fire because that plays into the prophecy of Azor Ahai (too long to explain here, but if someone is interested Alt+Shift+X has a very good video about it). It also provides a loophole that allows Jon to leave the Night Watch: "Night gathers, and now my watch begins, *it shall not end until my death*". Breaking his oath with the Night's Watch is something that Jon Snow would never do.

@swaglordsircumnuggets1814

5 жыл бұрын

Also we don't know if he will be brought back in the books so it isn't a lazy cliffhanger. We also know that IF he gets revived he's gonna be vastly different due to being a mute (throat slashed open on Cat, LSH can't speak because of it. Jon gets his throat slashed in the assassination) so it would be important for the character.

"Mass Effect 1 was about the adventure. It was thrilling with rarely a dull moment." You skipped Feros and Noveria I see.

@haitrieulienthanh9851

3 жыл бұрын

Noveria isn't that dull. The creepy atmosphere before you meet the lab survivors and the port section was thrilling to play through, and the rachni was quite fun to shoot at. Benezia's boss fight can be fun if you know where the enemies usually spawn, and the decision regarding the rachni queen is not forgettable at all. Feros on the other hand though ... *remember the Thorian creepers and their ridiculous sturdy armor and strong attack, rocky wall and throwing grenades*

@spectreagent00

3 жыл бұрын

@@haitrieulienthanh9851 Port Hanshan is terrible, though.

@haitrieulienthanh9851

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectreagent00 In Noveria, right?

@haitrieulienthanh9851

3 жыл бұрын

@@spectreagent00 I like port Hanshan, though what I like is probably the getting the pass card mission, where there are lots of option for players to get it. The whole corrupt corporation aspect is probably another reason I like Noveria.

@thegreatpineapple4425

3 жыл бұрын

ME1 has excellent lore, sense of scale, and story. But it fails in other aspects. Combat and dull sidequests hurt replays a lot. ME2 has aged significantly better than ME1. These days when I replay the trilogy, I use Genesis and jump straight into ME2.

When it comes to entertainment, whether it be movies, music, or videogames, I rank everything in the same way. Did I feel happy consuming this product? And for Mass Effect 2 that is an unequivocal yes. As you say the adventure was what made it for me. Reuniting with Garrus on Omega or adding Thane, one of the most moral assassins ever, built this world of action and enjoyment. I've replayed this game over 5 times and rarely change a thing. It's like how people have seen the office or friends a bunch. I just want to relive the fun I had while exploring the Milky Way and every time I love it just as much.

Although I disagreed significantly with your gameplay analysis, I thoroughly stand by you with the story critique because as someone who played the games after the trilogy was released, there was a huge step down in narrative momentum with 2 as compared to 1. Some of the DLC, especially the arrival one was lacking because DAMN that was ass and the contrived reasons Shepard was trusting Cerberus to such an insane extent was questionable. Loved the worldbuilding through characters though. In my limited gaming experience, few games are able to build a world up better than Mass Effect 2 through its characters.

3:20 When you said the first was like a movie and the second was like a TV show I was like "He is spitting facts rn."

@UsernameGeri

4 жыл бұрын

I felt the same way at 1:04:56 - 1:06:21

You, Whitelight, and Joseph Anderson are my favorites❤️

@Whitelight

5 жыл бұрын

My guy

I was going to like this video, but you didn't say "in my opinion" in front of every sentence, so...

@Whitelight

5 жыл бұрын

Top 10 anime crossovers

@DavidPeoplesTV

4 жыл бұрын

Whitelight the layers of this joke is incredible

Wow. I never knew about the Paragon/Renegade facial changes as I normally play mostly Paragon Shep, and usually by the end-game I will have enough credits to get the operation. Red eyes and scarred Shep looks so absurd.

@blondbraid7986

5 жыл бұрын

Exactly, such blatant symbolism straight from the Fable series just clashed with the otherwise grounded aesthetics of the game. I was also kind of bothered by how the design of Samara didn't mesh with her personality and backstory at all, why is it that she who is a strict warrior-monk kind of person is wearing a flamboyant suit with high-heels and maximum cleavage while her daughter who is a sex-crazed maniac is the one wearing a modest black outfit? Did their character designs accidentally get swapped during development?

@SpartanWolf222

5 жыл бұрын

@@blondbraid7986 Something-something Samara is a THOT something-something. No, I'm sure it's meant to titillate the players who couldn't get Liara.

@carlosnevarez9119

5 жыл бұрын

All I did was play Renegade. My Shep looked badass lol

@channel45853

Жыл бұрын

It looks badass

11:57 - I remember that I was annoyed that there was no option to tell her that yes, I'm working for Cerberus now and she can shove it. Alliance was a pain in the ass from day one. The only thing of value that they have provided is the Normandy. And the Consul has the ostrich worldview as far as reapers are concerned, even the human one. And here are the "bad guys" who brought me up from the dead, constructed even more state-of-the-art ship for me to use(it's highly unlikely that the Alliance would've been so generous), provided the best operatives, the list of the potential recruits, and a lead to Reapers. Cerberus is by no means perfect and IM has an agenda, but supposed government "good guys" have nothing on Cerberus as far as I'm concerned.

I'm waiting for this soo long now!! Mass Effect 2 is a Masterpiece!! I need Popcorn, some guinness. Lets the video roll!!!

youre damn good Chris. love your work

i loved the companion quests for mass effect 2 they are really awesome

35:00 While there are some inconsistencies in the Renegade choices, I think you're misunderstanding what Renegade is, fundamentally. Paragon is doing the right thing regardless of the negative consequences, while Renegade is putting the mission above all regardless of who it might hurt or kill. For instance, in the Liara example you give Shepard scolds her because her threat jeopardizes the mission, while Shepard's renegade threats always further the mission.

Great video! One problem with your critism I found was when you mentioned that being reinstated as a spectre is almost pointless, I think that might be the point. Shepherd spends almost the whole of 2 in the terminus systems, not citadel controlled space, the council even said once that sending their fleets there would basically trigger the war. So the fact that you're a spectre doesn't mean jack to most people in the terminus. Can you imagine if Aria, the ruthless queen of Omega who hates the council, suddenly cooperated because shepherd was a spectre? It wouldnt make sense. Anyway still loved the vid!

For those of you who are old enough to remember and liked these kind of movies, ME 2 was basically "The Dirty Dozen" in space. This whole assemble a rag tag team of ruffians to do a suicide mission has a long and storied history in movies and this game fits it like a glove.

@freemanfamilyhomesteadingj4440

5 жыл бұрын

Uilkllk

31:45 This discussion becomes a lot more interesting if you bring along Jack as your 3rd squad mate. She doesn't get a lot of lines of course, but she defends the "free will" side of the argument. That's one of my favorite details of ME2 - they put extra effort into making sure that your squad had authentic reactions to a situation instead of just giving them a few canned responses.

Mass Effect 2 is a great game and contains my favourite moment of the trilogy, but it is also the game that killed Bioware as we know it.

@coolbeansjr

3 жыл бұрын

What's ur favorite moment

Regarding the Last few Minuten of the Video: I'm actually one of those People that thinks of Mass Effect 2 as the greatest in the series and one of my Favorite Gaming experiences ever but all of the criticism in this Video is totally valid and understandable

Well done.:) I am a Fallout 2 guy and indeed find ME2 the most enticing of the three. An interesting thing is the starting Genisis DLC comic to decide your previous choices in Me1 was not released for the game a full year after release. Till that point many players who did not use a Shepard from ME1 were tied to many fixed choices. These 'vanilla' choices often appeared , to me, to be more fleshed out. You are going to read Deception? I still have it on my shelves, never having gotten past the first few chapters. It's supposed to be riddled with lore-breaking plotpoints? Good luck on Me3, it infidelity is the most beefy of the three and I really enjoy seeing that much of my choices culminate throughout the story, which is the most epic and pressing of the three.

All reapers are made in the image of harvested races. The proto reaper makes sense the reapers don’t just eliminate all sentient they harvest them.

@Fami_Salami

10 ай бұрын

Too bad they all look like calamari since me2 😂

The end assignments are not about loyalty to Shepard, they are about you understanding your crew and their strengths and weaknesses. Uhh...did you never buy all the upgrades? Every credit was necessary to max out all your weapons and abilities. But ok.

11:37 bruh why is Ashley's eye looking like that? She alright?

I think calling them "loyalty missions" has given folks the wrong idea about whats going on. They are not more loyal to you, they are more focused on the mission and less likely to make mistakes, they give it there best now that their personal life is in order and some of them now have more to live for.

Wtf i was in the mood to watch this exact type of video but had already watched all oor most of them, then this popped up and it's recent. Nice.

Regarding the super strict justicar code (e.g. they can kill you for J walking if they feel like it), this is clearly inspired by Samurai

@elitereptilian200

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, if you talk to Samara she even states this herself saying that from humans the samurai and knight errants are the most comparable to asari justicar..

My favorite game of all time!

I love this game; it's one of my favorites of all time but --- ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.

Did not expect a refence to to mistborn here but I could not agree more. The final empire (1) is my favorite book and the hero of ages (3) is up there but the well of ascension (2) felt like it would never end.

1:04:33 - I think you forgot to put that in. To not waste a comment on just that I'll say this: Very good video. Although ME2 is my favourite of the series it's mainly because the more character focused approach to the story resonated with me better. Also, Mass Effect DLC pricing is a mystery that will never be explained, as is the question of why do I have to buy "Bioware points" for it. I ended up buying ME2 DLC cause I liked the game, but I still never played ME3 DLCs cause I was waiting for a sale that never came.

It's impressive how close your experience with the series is to mine. I also played the second first, and while I love it, the story is much weaker than the first. As I like to be a contrarian though, my favorite in the series is 3.

The whole paragon/renegade system that I think Bioware had envisioned would've led to complexity rather early on. Instead, Bioware already had a canon Shepard in mind and attempted to have a scale ranging from paragon actions to renegade ones. ME1 tried to address morality by making Shepard a spectre, thus allowing players to be able to make ruthless decisions without repercussions, but the main issue is that the story was designed for a paragon Shepard. However, ME2 forces Shepard into joining Cerberus and even utilizing TIM to incentivize the player into making renegade decisions in an attempt to balance out both morality routes. The issue still remains though that the story was designed primarily for a paragon Shepard which is why renegade actions have little impact on the story aside from hindering progress. I honestly wouldn't have cared if the morality system was stripped from the trilogy. The amount of time it would take to properly address the player's morality choices would end up negatively impacting the story as a whole.

Man you hardly mentioned the humor. Definitely had some really great moments: *Fires probe* EDI: Really, Commander? *Fires another probe* EDI, dripping with resignation: *sigh* "Probing Uranus." "I am the very model of a scientist salarian..." "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store in the Citadel." *proceeds to give exact same endorsement to 4 or 5 other shops* Shepard's awkward dancing Basically everything Joker says That salarian in the Citadel running space GameStop The salarian at a bachelor party Blasto the Jellyfish...the absolute GOAT "Enkindle this!" And so much more

1:06:21 it is explained very well in the game, so there is no problem with it.

The way I undestand the "loyalty missions affect endgame survivability" thing is less that their loyalty to Shep helps them survive and more that the tying up of loose ends keeps their heads in the game. Like Thane can focus on what he's doing instead of thinking about how he could die and never reconnect with his son, or Miranda staying worried about her sister. With everyone's loose ends tied up they have the right headspace to, well, get their heads in the game.

In this episode of videogames, inspired developer acquired, rebuilt and controlled by evil corporation makes game about inspired space commander acquired, rebuilt and controlled by an evil corporation.

THE SEQUEL - ME 2 was not done by the same team doing ME 1 because of the missed earnings BIOWARE had pulled the pluck and had fired BRIAN MITSODA ( KOTOR, JADE EMPIRE, VIAMPIRES THE MASQUARADE BLOODLINES, ALPHA PROTOCOL among other games ) and let part 2 and three done by anew group which also was in charge of th novelosatopms- Hence ME 1 was a WORLDBUILDING MASTERPIECE, an RPG with Shooter Elements while the Second One used with variations what was already there including the drafts Mitsoda had prepared for part Two and Three. But those ones were SHOOTERS with RPG Elements.