Firearms Expert Reacts To The Mass Effect Trilogy’s Guns

Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the intense weaponry of the Mass Effect franchise, including the in-universe weapons, the Avenger rifle, the Mantis sniper rifle, and the Collector assault rifle.
In the latest video in the Firearm Expert Reacts series, Jonathan Ferguson--a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries--breaks down the guns of the Mass Effect franchise and attempts to compare them to any potential real-life counterparts.
If you're interested in seeing more of Jonathan's work, you can check out more from the Royal Armouries right here. - / royalarmouries
If you would like to support the Royal Armouries, you can make a charitable donation to the museum here. - royalarmouries.org/support-us...
And if you would like to become a member of the Royal Armouries, you can get a membership here. - royalarmouries.org/support-us...
You can purchase Jonathan's book here - www.headstamppublishing.com/b...

[@Legiion513]

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite weapons curator on the Citadel.

[@Mr_T_Badger]

But you said that about three different curators, you liar. 😋

[@H3Vtux]

This guy is in the back room at roddam expeditions.

[@MaffiaRK]

Came here to comment this lol

[@666sparton666]

Your definitely NOT Commander Shepard, and you dont wanna know what we do to imposter Shepards

[@Legiion513]

@@666sparton666 I already got rid of the real Shepard's space hamster. You can't stop me now.

[@laffyman8218]

Tell this man he got a reload animation changed in Hunt: Showdown due to your guys’ video on it. The Sharps rifle had its reload changed and the patch notes specifically cited the video on Hunt: Showdown lol.

[@aaronsmith4940]

That's dope

[@focumQuarium]

What reload?! The "physics" of Kinetic weapons in ME world isn't like real world. There is no reloading there. That's why they only get overheat and stop firing until things cool down or you jettison a "heat cartridge" to dissipate the heat.

[@thesmugmug2840]

@@focumQuarium they said Hunt: Showdown not Mass Effect you pepega

[@laffyman8218]

@@focumQuarium in hunt showdown not mass effect

[@lukaz20001]

@@focumQuarium Despite the fact you somehow didn't read past the first 9 words, you're also just plain wrong. Yeah sure, a large amount of the human weapons work with overheating, but jettisoning a heat cartridge and putting in a new one would still be considered reloading xD Not to mention all the non-human weapons that work via clips, magazines or others.

[@possiblycrazy442]

I can imagine him getting the email to do this game and thinking, "Okay. As a firearms expert, what exactly am I supposed to talk about here?"

[@theicemanleaveth]

Yeah, I wish they had someone explain more of the lore to him. He’s just kind of guessing as it is.

[@BlackLiger788]

@@theicemanleaveth I'd kind of like them to do 2 takes. A first impression run, then someone explains the lore etc to him, and then he does a second take on all of them.

[@VertigoSatin]

@@BlackLiger788 same i was hoping we would talk about how the weapons work, hes always bemoaning how "realistic" scifi guns are often just guns today, particularly with regular modern ammunition, while this actually is an attempt at that

[@daegnaxqelil2733]

why asking him to talk about 100% sci-fi guns? it's as moronic as asking him to talk about the weapons of a medieval game. the ones who ask him to do that must have no braincells

[@WickedPrince3D]

@@daegnaxqelil2733 I'm always confused by these; his spiel at the end suggested that doing this was HIS idea for how to pander money for his organization. Isn't that pretty much what every youtube channel is about? He didn't seem like anyone asked him to do it except unless he was asking for ideas of weapons he could look at and do a YT chat about.

[@AlexZSteinlauf]

It's so cool and impressive to me that by looking solely at the guns, Jonathan was able to identify how the Collector/"Alien" weapons in ME2 contained parallels to the other weapons from other races. Which really is a testament to Bioware's environmental storytelling, as those plot points of why technology is so similar/compatible isn't fully revealed until the third game and really is a major story element for all 3 games. (if memory serves).

[@Blackmark7410]

Quite right, the reveal being that all technological advancement was essentially directed by the Reapers, in the form of what they allowed to be left behind after each harvest. Mass Effect fields, Relays, Biotics etc, all forming the basis of all advanced technologies. Forcing all intelligent races to develop technology that the Reapers had already mastered, and preventing any race from developing new technologies that would be more effective against the Reapers.

[@neisan92]

They literally told us that in the first game though. "Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays. Our technology. By using it, your civilization develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic life. You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it."

[@pyropulseIXXI]

@@neisan92 Yeah, pretty obvious. I was wondering why he said "didn't reveal until the 3rd game." It was revealed in the first game, ya dunce!

[@simonwinn8757]

If you had one humanoid species and a similar looking humanoid species, wouldn't their gun ergonomics be very similar as well.

[@CoolAndrew89]

It's told straight to our face in the first game by Soverign on Virmire, ain't it? We exist because they allow it?

[@johnoneil9188]

"the reloading doctrine of slapping it like it owes you money." That is a brilliant way of describing that.

[@Dorian-_-Gray]

_Mass Effect 2_ going back to traditional ammo systems likely had a lot to do with how current doctrines of game design prize responsiveness: the player should always be able to press something to do something. In _Mass Effect?_ Nothing to "slap". You wait for the over-heat, then wait through the cool-down.

[@BoisegangGaming]

"It seems to operate on the Reloading principle of 'slap it like it owes you money'."

[@derpherp2360]

lost it there, good laugh.

[@bldgl8723]

I mean it's a biological gun, maybe it gets bored after 30 shots so you have to remind it who's boss

[@adamwestervelt730]

It's sad that he didn't read the codex. They all have unlimited ammo, it's just that they overheat and in ME 2 & 3 they started making eject-able thermal clips that allow you to fire a certain number of shots before it needs to be ejected hence the "slap it like it owes you money". Still got a laugh out of that line.

[@BoisegangGaming]

@@adamwestervelt730 I don't really think one needs to read the Codex for that. He came to the conclusion that it had been done for accessibility reasons, which is exactly what happened. The Codex was just a justification for it.

[@Navajonkee]

@@adamwestervelt730 Well, not unlimited ammo, but abundant to the level that it doesn't matter. So yea, heat generation is the only real limiting factor here. It still baffles me though how ME1's reasonably effective heat management 'evolved' into essentially using thermal clips, and limiting the shots you can take. I understand the reason behind the change, but it is a gaping hole in the lore.

[@thatdudeinasuit5422]

Regarding the ammunition management in ME2 as opposed to 1 the difference is that after the Battle of the Citadel in 1 and facing the Geth forces with their advanced shielding tech it became clear to militaries that they needed to is up the power of the firearms but in doing so the normal heat sinks originally used by firearms of the time were no longer good enough to sufficiently cool the weapons for long periods of firing and so a new system of disposable heat sinks was devised where a upon overheating the heat sink would simply be ejected out of the weapon like a magazine out of a gun (getting rid of all the residual heat) and replaced by a new one this allowed the use of materials that would hold much more heat (but would take much longer to dissipate)

[@GenWargrey]

I like how they came up with a lore reason for this change in gameplay and i also prefer the disposable heatsinks, its very satisfying to "reload" :)

[@daegnaxqelil2733]

why asking him to talk about 100% sci-fi guns? it's as moronic as asking him to talk about the weapons of a medieval game. the ones who ask him to do that must have no braincells

[@Tounushi]

@@daegnaxqelil2733 If the weapon were a hard light projection shooting Omega Beams, you might have a point. But your acerbic contrarianism is wasted because even sci-fi weapons would need to adhere to certain rules about weapons design, even if it were only in terms of ergonomics.

[@RusticRonnie]

But in reality it’s because people complained online

[@WickedPrince3D]

@@daegnaxqelil2733 It is a bit odd isn't it? I can understand them wanting his input on whether the guns "look" reasonably realistic from an aesthetic standpoint; but otherwise it feels like asking a scientist to describe the "realistic effects" of a magic system in a fantasy game. And obviously he gave his input completely cold with no idea what he was actually talking about other than basic aesthetics.

[@rodneythundercock]

The in-universe reason for the ammo readout and the “bolt-action” on the rifles are thermal release. They use essentially disposable/removable heat sinks

[@eaglegundam1873]

i love how he says bolt action is being faced out when most snipers though they can use the baret almost non do and most stick to the .308 Remington 700 which is a bolt action why cause its powerful accurate and light i swear half the stuff he said in video sounded like he just pulled it out his ass especialy when he was talking about the avenger saying its a space AR 15

[@Befuddled_Ostrich]

@@eaglegundam1873 you missed the point he was trying to make. He was referring to how generic the description was for the Avenger and how it could apply to a modern day weapon such as the AR 15 or the M4. He wasn't making a one-to-one comparison of the weapons, but said it helped put the player in the mindframe of this universe by giving them a base reference they were familiar with.

[@eaglegundam1873]

@@Befuddled_Ostrich gamers would be more familiar with the m4 then the AR15

[@MartinTraXAA]

@@eaglegundam1873 Those weapons are so damn similar almost no-one gives a toss. Similar to how everything from an AKM to an AKS-74 to an AK-101 will just be called 'an AK (or annoyingly, AK-47). The Generic 'AR-15 style rifle'. It's an ubiquitous weapon, which was his point. And he also said he expected bolt action firearms to "shuffle off entirely" in !the next 20-odd years! You *really* going to comment on the fire-arms knowledge of the weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries? Get a grip.

[@Befuddled_Ostrich]

@@eaglegundam1873 that's a rather broad assumption you made right there. Who's to say what an individual would be most familiar with? Not to mention he does refer to both the AR 15 and the M4 when discussing the Avenger, so both bases are covered when it comes to the viewers familiarity with either weapon.

[@TheXtremeGamer97]

15:19 "slap it like it owes you money" I never really noticed that shepard slaps the rifles like that lol

[@BlackThanator]

I think it's meant to represent Shepard slapping a new heatsink into the gun while simultaneously ejecting the old one.

[@BradTheAmerican]

@@BlackThanator Thermal clip. Heat sinks were the cooldown magazines of ME1.

[@Alakazzam09]

Shep slaps his weapons like he slaps reporters.

[@josephcandela2317]

The weapons in mass effect shave off a tiny piece of metal from a block that's inside the weapon, and use mass effect fields to propel them at supersonic speeds.

[@TheAtlasReview]

As I understand ballistics, wouldn't that be great for armour-piercing (assuming the metal fragment is extremely dense) but just pass straight through unarmoured targets leaving an easily-survived tiny hole?

[@StormBringare]

Hi, your friendly ME nerd here. The projectile is suspended and has it's mass drastically lowered by the mass effect, it is propelled by magnetism however. Essentially all projectile weapons in ME are railguns. Nitpicking I know, but I really love this lore 😁, have a great weekend! Edit: Fixed mistake about the mass.

[@josephcandela2317]

@@TheAtlasReview The way it's explained, it shaves off a piece of metal that's just the right size depending on the target.

[@josephcandela2317]

@@StormBringare Ah true.

[@TheAtlasReview]

@@josephcandela2317 Oh ok, I must have missed that part.

[@arx3516]

A really interesting thing about ME weapons is how they fold on to themeselves when they're holstered, and how tyey are holstered, via attachment points on the armor.

[@TurnAGundam]

IKR? I always thought that was so cool and interesting, myself.

[@featurelength5086]

you're actually right about the shotgun thing. There's extensive lore on how every gun in mass effect has multiple computers for aiming and weather/wind compensation. They don't fire cartridges, they use antigravity fields to cut up and launch bits of metal the size of sand grains. There's no lore justification for not having just one smart gun that does it all.

[@7ylerD]

That’s what I was trying to remember. It’s antigravity fields that separate the mass of lightweight metal into micron-sized pieces, and then launches them via a kinda rail system. That was why the first game had a cool down system instead of a reload, because the guns basically had infinite ammo built into them. I was literally trying to explain it to someone, lol.

[@LoneSkag]

I don’t the guns don’t charge either. If I remember correctly you are ejecting replaceable heat sinks in the weapons.

[@taddad2641]

think part of it is that the gun itself would still need to be configured towards that use. need wder 'barrels' for the flack of a shotgun, long mechanism for superior acceleration for a sniper gun, and so on. if you tried to configure flack for something shaped like a sniper rifle, you could scrap up the interior of the device.

[@Dorian-_-Gray]

"lore", lol

[@Dreadwing1000]

It’s generally grain-sized pieces but some weapons Fire differently, one of the shotguns fires serrated sheets that are shaved off, the plasma shotgun fires super-heated donut shaped discs, and different weapon types fire at different velocities & hit harder than others so weapon variance in Mass Effect is for the same reason we have different weapons irl, to perform different functions

[@H3Vtux]

Would love to see tf2, anything half life, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., serious Sam, system shock 2, deus ex original. Really I would listen to this guy talk about any game.

[@Duron0]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and TF2, I can get behind that! Consider Yourself seconded :D

[@ebenkleinhans4474]

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R trilogy! That would be awesome.. before we finally start getting more info on S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2.

[@Jed02000]

Do you mean Team Fortress 2 or Titanfall 2?

[@matthewboer8279]

I’m surprised there has been no half life either

[@hejshshjejeheh5557]

@@Jed02000 TEAM FORTRESS 2

[@vishxification0]

IGN : Alien specialist reacts to all the species in mass effect.

[@bobpettersson5422]

Inshallah one day in the future my friend

[@user-dd8vo7or2d]

*Shows a US immigration officer*

[@ieruza]

Giorgio Tsoukalos: My time has come.

[@jackydchemist]

Jonathan: "it seems to work on the reloading principle of slap it like it owes you money" A casual reminder to his museum colleagues to pay pack any money owing 🤣😂

[@antonyduhamel1166]

I am so surprised he didn't mention Mass Effect 2's M920-Cain. Like, it launches paint chips that explode like mini nukes: that's freaking insane!

[@torgranael]

I love the description for it talking about how it's not actually a nuke launcher but everyone calls it one anyway.

[@EvanMe]

I just kept waiting for them to show him an M-490 Blackstorm. Mini exploding black holes, anyone?

[@1999Almaz]

@@EvanMe Or Reegar Carbine. How would you describe lightning going from your weapon, uh?

[@ryanchrabaszcz]

​@@EvanMe literally my favorite heavy weapon

[@lolicanadian]

@@1999Almaz Or the Kishock, basically a hyper-powered harpoon gun that's a _lot_ of fun to shoot (provided you don't miss). Or the Venom shotgun and the Scorpion heavy pistol, both of which fire high-explosives. Or the M-20 Falcon, the Stryker Assault Rifle, and the Chakram Launcher, which are a 20 mm mini-grenade launcher, an _automatic_ grenade launcher, and a…device that launches explosive discs. Or the Prothean and Collector particle rifles, neither of which are _technically_ rifles but are capable of liquefying human-sized enemies.

[@Parattchi]

I love him referring to everything as 'X in SPAAAAACCEEE'

[@Mutant1988]

Probably what the production/design documents says for most sci-fi guns in any media.

[@nicholascecil6733]

Jonathan Ferguson is so professionally hilarious

[@EAGLEBLACKInquisido]

In the realm of Sci-Fi it would be cool to see him analyze the Halo Franchise weapons.

[@CAARaeed]

I still can't get over the fact that a grey-haired, posh accented, professorly museum curator has played all my fav videogames. And makes KZbin videos about them. Johnathan is life goals

[@gregtronica3569]

its obviously dyed

[@Dorian-_-Gray]

He mostly watches clips of other people playing. He notes the exceptions, like Fallout 3, where he's played the game himself.

[@daegnaxqelil2733]

why asking him to talk about 100% sci-fi guns? it's as moronic as asking him to talk about the weapons of a medieval game. the ones who ask him to do that must have no braincells

[@CAARaeed]

@@Dorian-_-Gray If you've watched the Loadout series, he mentions games he's played every so often and it's all the essentials. He also wears gamer/nerd shirts quite often so he's quite familiar with nerd culture.

[@adamrea2530]

He also a consulting firearms expert for games.

[@cyn6440]

If we're doing sci-fi now, I'd love to see Jonathan react to Halo's guns

[@mrmadmax4523]

God yes please I want to see the comparison to the f2000

[@rebel6301]

i wanna see him break down half life's weapons

[@NashBasNicholaiandGeorge192]

I'd love to see him react to the BR and MA5

[@thitipongkasemwarit3560]

He would be like........."I'm surprising that 500 years in the future humanity still use conventional firearms. Like I said. If it ain't broken, don't fix it." MA5 = Very F2000 futuristic look but 7.62 NATO? I guess 500 years in the future we can solve the recoil and weight. BR55/BR85 = XM8+Famas M45/90 Shotgun = 8 Guage? That's overkill for shotgun. SRS99 = 14.5mm is big and Russian overkill but I can understand you need something that can penetrate alien armored. M6 Magnum = It's like you adopting Desert Eagle as your primary sidearm. Covenant Plasma Rifle = I thought it was Plasma Machine Pistol because it doesn't have the stock. It was holding more like a pistol more than a rifle. Covenant Storm Rifle = What plasma rifle suppose to be. The design look much better and yet still having overheat problem.

[@Kouki240sx]

Absolutely need to see Jonathan’s take on Halo and its weapons.

[@firdawesome3203]

Jonathan Ferguson in a Deadpool shirt was not something I expected, but here we are.

[@Mr_T_Badger]

Seriously Johnathan has some great shirts and is definitely One Of Us. I even ended up buying a badger resistance t-shirt from the U.K. because of him.

[@tonypeppermint5329]

:D

[@freakymoejoe2]

I like how his biggest complaints are when the devs got lazy and didnt diverge from modern designs *enough*

[@Dorian-_-Gray]

It's certainly refreshing compared to the normal tone-deafness of something like Internet Movie Firearms Database, where the editors know plenty about guns but nothing about the realities of moviemaking, turning most entries into a mass of whiny nitpicks that obscure the useful information.

[@Dk-mi8pr]

To Jonathan and crew thank you much for you're time and effort not only with this awesome content, but also you're curation and preservation of one of my personal favorite hobbies/interests I believe firearms to be extremely important tools, aswell as a basic and fundamental human right. Much love from across the pond

[@sartorialdriver6528]

This is the adult version of Saturday morning cartoons to me.

[@steampunknord]

Sunday morning for me.

[@celebalert5616]

These come out on Saturdays??

[@tonypeppermint5329]

And it's great.

[@lsherwood4997]

Same watch it every time after work

[@HellsingMayCry]

I'd love him to look at the guns in Titanfall and Apex

[@mightbeahumanmaybe247]

Same

[@robmanning6006]

Well I suppose you better get on creating them

[@morethanjustasloth5528]

Seriously, the guns in Titanfall 2 are both creative and physically interesting to watch fire. I'd love to hear what he has to say about the Mastiff, Sidewinder, or Papa Scorch's Pilot Cooker.

[@thitipongkasemwarit3560]

Same here. He would be like.........."I'm surprising that even in the era of space colonization we still use simple projectile weapons like firearms instead of energy weapons like laser or plasma. Like they said. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. And for those mech? Those guns is massive. It's like they modified Aircraft or LAV autocannon to be wield like assault rifle or light machine gun. " G2A5 = Springfield M1A with Archangel stock. Hemlok BF-R = Like a SCAR with 3 round burst. R-201 Carbine = ACR mix with Kriss Vector V47 Flatline = I'm surprising that 100 years into the future Kalashnikov still work and continued to be use in every conflict even in interplanetary war. It simple, rugged, reliable, and easy to manufacturer. R-97 = It looks more like assault rifle more than sub machinegun if you ask me. Beside it use 5.8x42mm which is an intermediate cartridge use by the Chinese PLA.

[@LtPulsar]

Christ knows I'd love to hear his take on the alternator, its twin barrel design and alternating firing pattern sounds like an absolute nightmare of a mechanism

[@stopaskingforrealnames3853]

Fun fact: Sound emulation is a common thing, usually for space battles. We could see that being used for these kind of firearms, too, to make weapon reports more recognizable.

[@sandar9614]

Can't believe you haven't made him react to Cain. That thing is quite literally the definition of game breaking weapon.

[@sandar9614]

@@baronvonslambert Fancy math and all, but you forget that Cain destroys the Reaper core through the shield in an IFF mission. It is literally a gamebreaking weapon.

[@SwitchFeathers]

Crytek actually officially responded to the video on Hunt: Showdown, to the point where they altered the animations of the in-game Sparks (Sharps) rifle and even showcased a video of how the Mosin Avtomat functions with a turn bolt mechanism. Would love to see that game get more coverage as there's so many weird weapons in it.

[@Daniel_C_Griffin]

There's a new update coming out with new weapon variants too, like a Scotfield with a speed loader and a Berthier with a deadeye scope.

[@SpaceSpaider]

My man Jonathan lookin' extra fresh today in that deadpool shirt, ngl.

[@Racc_Oon]

Mans got the drip 😳💯💦

[@SSG_Hades117]

First of all I want to say how much I enjoy these videos! Having someone as knowledgeable as Jonathan that understands that he’s looking at a game makes me come back every time! Also I would love to see you guys do a halo vid with Johnathan reviewing the games.

[@ParanoidCarrot]

In the lore The Mass effect weapons have a block of metal as the ammo, so you could have like Gold, Platinum and Uranium, and you open the gun up pop that ingot in, and close it, and that ingot gives you thousands of rounds, and all of the guns are coil type guns , they use the mass effect of the element zero to accelerate the projectile, so that the projectile can be inert as electricity vice. like modern IRL Rail-guns need a ferrous projectile. AND the firing method produces a ton of heat, and in mass effect 2 forward the ammunation managements you see is still the heat system you use heat sinks that get expended and are glowing red hot and they are ejected and thus the heat leaves the gun and you can safely keep firing the gun with out slaging it. and its in the lore of some mercs and soldiers removing the need for heat sinks, and its considered illegal modification. Edit: the heavy weapons are their own thing, some gain ammunition by manufacturing it by the use of the omnitool. like the Cain nuke launcher is a really works in use like a Anti armor squad, one of them has the gun and maybe some ammo and rest of them have spare ammo and designator. and they use more complicated ammunition that the well basic weapons do that cant really be manufactured in the field

[@danielkelley3700]

That’s awesome that he’s aware of the lore in regards to the weapons work

[@joecrazy9896]

Would be cool to see him look at the guns from the Killzone series.

[@IRMacGuyver]

@4:40 the "round count" in later Mass Effect games is still in theory heat based. The idea is that instead of just letting the gun cool down now you have a thermal mass that you can swap out instantly to keep the gun cool and the numbers let you know when you've used up the thermal mass in your magazine.

[@barrybend7189]

Yeah I think an explanation bis that the Alliance used older heat sink systems on weapons to allow good operational use for weapons but by the time of Mass Effect 2 and 3 switched to the thermal clip system for efficiency as it allows better cooling and fire rates.

[@domacleod]

@@barrybend7189 the alliance and every other alien, because thermal clips are reverse-engineered from geth weaponry recovered from the attack on the citadel in ME1. Geth used a thermal clip analogue, and humans and the rest of the aliens saw that it's an improvement over slow cooldown, so they made their own.

[@rdrrr]

Fine, except if that's the reasoning then weapons should still passively cool and "thermal clips" should be an emergency option if you need to keep a weapon firing _now_. The amount of "ammo" left in your... "magazine" should steadily refill to reflect this passive cooling. I personally dislike the rationalization of what is absolutely just a conventional ammo system in ME2. If there was no rationalization we could write it off as what it is (a gameplay contrivance) but because the game feels the need to tell us how they work we're naturally inclined to pick up on all the ways the "thermal clip" logic contradicts itself.

[@domacleod]

@@rdrrr It would be fairly slow cooling, to the point where it's not even noticeable, it was explained that the system that allowed weapons to cool fairly rapidly was replaced with the thermal clip system, so it can't do both. I think as far as explanations for gameplay mechanic changes go, Mass Effect did a good job. In Mass Effect 3, they also re-added the cooling mechanic in the form of Javik's Particle Rifle, since the Protheans never developed Thermal Clips - even their geth analogue might have had Thermal Clip technology, but the Protheans likely just destroyed anything remotely AI. I think it's pretty good worldbuilding.

[@garyballard179]

The ME1 weapons and the Prothean particle rifle vent heat, rather explosively, out the sides of the weapon. (For what it matters, so did the Remnant weapons in Andromeda.) Lore-wise, it would be rather complicated to make all guns able to take and eject thermal clips _and_ have thermal vents. The dual technologies would be cost-prohibitive. As a gameplay mechanic, it would be _cool_ if thermal clips slowly lost heat buildup; but lore-wise, how would you explain the heat loss while still installed in the weapon? Maybe instead, keeping spent thermal clips instead of littering, where they cool down in inventory; and you see your reserve ammo pool (very) slowly creep up, but not your current clip.

[@DiscoRaptor]

Cool, a new series of vids to watch. Digging this dude's commentary on the weapons, and the Royal Armouries Museum is really cool.

[@Imagination4all]

When he got to the ME2 heavy weapons I really wanted to hear his thoughts on the mini-nuke launcher.

[@JARface11]

Surprised this wasn’t included!

[@JSHADOWM]

i mean... its a Davy Crocket missile launcher is SPAAACE, what else do you want.

[@someguy3766]

Well he did talk about the nuke launcher in Fallout recently, I imagine the same comments apply here. Basically, yeah, it's a one-man Davy Crockett launcher in space.

[@scottmcintyre2809]

@@someguy3766 And the first time you find one in ME3 it's on a 300m long enclosed spaceship. AKA "IT'S A TRAP!" lol

[@sciarpecyril]

It's launches a simple slug, not mini-nuke.

[@swillz1416]

They should have him react to the guns and attachments in rainbow six siege.

[@malcolmthorne9779]

Would be fun to see you have a go at the entire Mass Effect arsenal actually. This was fun and interesting.

[@antivanti]

That Collector Particle Beam is a beast. It gets more powerful the longer you hold the trigger down and doesn't require reloading although it can overheat. Slap some ammo capacity upgrades on it and it will overheat slower allowing you to get another level of beam power out of it which just rips enemies.

[@urban7135]

I have 2 questions. 1) is Jonathan a Deadpool fan ? 2) does Jonathan know about the bioshock series ?

[@Mr_T_Badger]

Johnathan is definitely One Of Us so the answer is more than likely yes to both. Whether or not he’s played bioshock is another story.

[@darren5777]

I took a break from the Legendary Edition to watch this

[@gethgod2350]

The conversations this man and Garrus would have are the things of legend

[@wij2012Gaming]

Never expected to se a real weapons expert breakdown/rate the ME guns. Awesome stuff. Love to see his reviews on this.

[@Erdanya]

It's honestly kinda like they wanted an H&K Slap for the Collector AR reload, but couldn't find a way to mimic a charging handle on it.

[@KillahMate]

That's exactly what that looks like. I'm guessing they were going for a design inspired by H&K originally and the animators were told to animate it with the slap, but then they changed the design during development but didn't have time to change the animation.

[@TheAnttiasd]

We want to see Jonathan reacting to RE village weapons

[@WolfPlisken]

He’s a gamer himself, so I’m sure it’ll come in the future once he’s had a little time to play through it

[@Orinslayer]

Ooh, you should do another one of these but with some of the more bizarre weapons from ME3.

[@KasumiRINA]

Andromeda also had guns from like four different cultures. Precursor, Kett, Angara and Milky Way guns.

[@Wireline2]

I wish someone had told him about thermal clips and how they use mass effect fields as well as the prevalence of personal barriers before the video. Always a joy to watch regardless

[@wikihowfrog9034]

What about reacting to guns from Doom?

[@rob_odd]

"Slap it like it owes you money." XD Made my day!

[@keskes1338]

I'd love to see more of this, but some of the weirder weapons, especially some from ME3. He'd probably love the Prothean particle beam.

[@captainzac24]

Can we please have a trivia challenge between John from the royal armories and Ian from forgotten weapons

[@terry7907]

I think it would need to be something like Jeopardy, where the categories allow a balance. Otherwise, I think Ian’s all around knowledge would give him too much of an edge.

[@apokos8871]

@@terry7907 John has to, because of his job, know about medieval/early renaissanse firearms, on which Ian has (as he admited) less knowledge. Ian is more knowledgable on 19th-20th century firearms. so i think it would be a fair challenge if the questions are spread over the whole history of firearms. besides that, they are very friendly to each other so i wouldnt expect any real competitive feel

[@eddyguizonde401]

@@apokos8871 "very friendly to each other", ian published jonathan's book! it's a very pleasant working and professional relationship.

[@apokos8871]

@@eddyguizonde401 that's what i meant. i may have understated the kind of relation

[@ChristopherDaCrema]

I'd love to see a breakdown of the firearms in "Republic Commando" and also "Control".

[@HarryVoyager]

Republic Commando would be cool, especially because they did do the omniweapon he was talking about

[@skuylerknisely404]

If we’re doing mass effect, we should definitely get a Halo video!

[@deviss113789]

Hearing Jonathan Ferguson mention space Shotguns, makes me want to see his reaction to the Republic Commando guns. Would love to see his take on the DC-17M weapon system, also the Scatter Gun too.

[@GreavesEc]

OG unreal tournament, quake or other similar shooters please! I wanna see what JF thinks of the flak cannon!

[@Ikcatcher]

Was half expecting him to take out an actual Avenger Assault Rifle

[@robmanning6006]

......Rrrriiiigggghhhhhtttt

[@idunno966]

I think the reason the ammo power is shown on gun instead of HUD is because Shepard and squadmates could each have different ammo power and if they swap weapon then the ammo power isn't automatically applied to the new weapon

[@mikestr0592]

Man my life would be complete if he reacted to the guns in Metro Exodus.

[@Mr_T_Badger]

I know he did a metro episode but I’m not sure if he covered Exodus specifically.

[@slothfulcobra]

I'd like to see you cover the weapons of the Assassin's Creed games. There's not that many that take place during times when there's gunpowder, so you might be able to just do all of them. From the arquebuses in Brotherhood to the muskets and pistols of AC3 and AC4.

[@b-beale1931]

Would love to see his thoughts on titanfall 1 or 2 guns both pilot and titan weapons

[@rougeelite1446]

Issue is We dont reload except for just smashing a mag on

[@doughyguy2663]

One reason for the visual cue in regards to the Ammo Type might be because the ability can be shared to other squadmates, and seeing their gun with the symbol on it confirms it worked/is still active.

[@cyphermasq7870]

Interesting point about the reloading of guns in mass effect. In the first game you didn't reload because your internal magazine has hundreds of thousands of particles inside that it accelerates for ammo. The heat the weapon builds up is the effective limitation. By mass effect 2, the ammo count addition is justified as not an ammo count but as a move to using external heat sinks on the guns. You aren't reloading the guns in ME2 and 3 so much as you are replacing the device that takes all the excess heat out of the gun while it fires.

[@thealgerian3285]

Few months from now: "Firearms Expert Reacts to Bart Simpson's Slingshot"

[@Gagriel12]

I would really like to see Jonathan talk about the guns in Far Cry 2.

[@aaronsmith4940]

he did

[@Gagriel12]

@@aaronsmith4940 I cannot find the video, could you provide a link to it?

[@TovarischSkywalker]

I really like Mr. Fergusson’s awareness and open-mindedness for future boundaries of firearms development. And tolerance for Sci-fi tropes of weapons design. With appropriate references to ourdays guns. About the sound of shots: ok, we have mass effect as projecting Force for tiny bullet and no explosion within the gun. But after leaving the muzzle every projectile faster the sound must do the blast in the air?

[@mikeymike1792]

Kind of surprised you didn't show him the M-920 Cain. Jonathan would love that thing.

[@D3VYN3]

I wanna see titanfall weapons next, he'd have fun looking at weapons like the double take, mozambique and the cold war.

[@StormBringare]

Funny thing is that the Double Take is based on a real gun, or a prototype of one anyway. It was a triple barreled volleygun designed by German Kerobov in the 1960s. The Flatline is also based on one of his designs.

[@flipnasty2296]

He's just great... "slap it like it owes you money" lol

[@beneckendorff9256]

I hope Jonathan likes doing these videos cause they must ask him to do A LOT of these.

[@PhthaloGreenskin]

I kinda wanted to see him examine the M300 Claymore and try to determine what gauge/bore that Monster of a shotgun is.

[@rookiecf3399]

I would love to see his reaction to Receiver 2's guns, it's probably the most realistic gun sim/game out there.

[@warrioroflight4577]

I hope he will look at resident evil 8 guns.. some pretty interesting designs there

[@GK-mr9ko]

Saw a vid of the guns, I love how the cz scorpion recoils like a 9mm or .45 acp, it’s funny.

[@mortum_potato6124]

Now for Halo's UNSC armory, all these weapons have at least a well established specifications that Jonathan can nerd over. MA5D, M6G, M90 CAWS, M41 SPNKR, SRS99 series, M7 Caseless SMG, M6 Spartan Laser, and the BR55.

[@jeremylackey6587]

The codex has a section about the guns where they talk about reloading. The 'magazine' is a solid chunk of metal. A mass effect field shears off a sliver of metal, shapes it, and launches it at high speeds. A single reload can fire thousands of rounds before needing a reload. The worry comes from overheat. In ME2, there are thermal clips that store this heat and can be quickly replaced. So no overheating problem. It really kind if a step backwards as far as combat efficiency.

[@mercenarygundam1487]

Hopefully Next would be: TF2 Far Cry 2 L4D2 Red Orchestra/Rising Storm 1 Killing Floor 2 Payday 2 ARMA MGS3

[@thitipongkasemwarit3560]

I'll take Far Cry, Killing Floor and Metal Gear Solid. Me: Gear of War Halo BF2142 Stalker Homefront The Revolution Resistance Fall of Man/Resistance 2/Resistance 3 Aliens Colonial Marines/Aliens Fireteam Killzone 2-3/Killzone Mercenary/Killzone Shadowfall Doom 2016/Eternal Boundary (aka COD in Space)

[@aaronbustamante9282]

If hes gonna review borderlands guns it will take an hour or more

[@coolfrymaster]

@@thitipongkasemwarit3560 gears of war would be an awesome review

[@thitipongkasemwarit3560]

@@coolfrymaster I'm pretty sure when he see Lancer assault rifle. He would be like....."The gun look so big and bulky. The magazine is quad stack and I don't get why magazine release look so.......unconventional design. Let's not forget about the under barrel chainsaw which make this gun iconic in the game. However, I think by modern standard under barrel grenade launcher, shotgun or bayonet would be better in practical, but yeah it's a sci-fi shooter where you fight a monster that require something strong that can penetrate through Locust thick skin. I wonder how many COG soldiers lose their finger during training in boot camp?"

[@sigmalater]

I'd like to see Jonathans opinions on the Metal Gear Solid series and it's weapons

[@haolihfaioefh]

8:00 - aaahhh the Revenant... my old love..

[@Valandar2]

I think the key to answering his questions at 1:27 and 13:33 are that it doesn't use magnetics to launch metals, but uses gravitics to launch ANY matter. Thus, grenades, packets of poison, etcetera, can be launched. It's even in the title - "MASS effect".

[@Spartan13047]

Aw man, no M920 Cain? That's my favourite

[@budjy1]

Now this was needed

[@psionic_gamer]

OMG i love how he analyses these guns. I'd love to see him analyse the exotic guns from both Destiny games. There are some really wacky guns in those that i'd love to see him react to

[@jeffersongray9356]

I would love to see this guy reacting to the weapons from the Killzone series, given the very grounded design many of them have.

[@MrWaffel]

For his consideration: The name-giving "Mass Effect" describes the reaction of a chemical element called "Element Zero", where putting a current through it can (depending on if it is positive or negative current) increase or decrease the mass of something in the area of effect. Guns using this effect do not use bullets as we're used to today; the ammunition comes from a solid block of metal instead. A tiny sliver is shaved off the block, mass effect generators decrease its mass to near weightlessness, and then it gets accelerated out of the barrel through overlapping/interacting electromagnetic fields (standard fare railgun I suppose), where it regains its original mass after leaving the mass effect fields. The shape is designed to be squashed or shattered on impact, otherwise it would simply "punch a tiny hole through" something/someone without doing much damage. Technically an ammo block should last for about 10,000 shots fired, that's why you have the heat build up system instead for Mass Effect 1. ME2 and 3 still have the same underlying lore, but now you have ejectable heat sinks that function approximately similar to magazines if you will. The number in the HUD tells you how many shots you can fire with the current heat sink.

[@hh9852]

It would be interesting to know what the MGS V weapons are based on!

[@hh9852]

@GiRayne As far as I’ve been reading, videogame developers didn’t care much about obtaining licences for firearms in the past, especially not in Japan as general ownership is prohibited by law thus no manufacturers are in that market, barely even military as they use a lot of home grown equipment. But as the industry grew firearms manufactures have been taking notice. MGS having been sued at least once, for the music, which they had to change after Snake Eater, they probably didn’t want to take any chances. On top of being costly for such a license, an entertainment company paying weapon manufactures would at minimum be a moral issue but could also result in a PR and reputation disaster. On top of that, the restructuring in Konami where top executives started deciding more of the creative aspect (which is one of the reasons Kojima quit) probably found this “safer” route more lucrative.

[@joec3626]

Awesome, looking forward to your Resident Village episode, chock full of interesting weaponry thingamajigs. Cheers!

[@zacharyloh2300]

Johnathan is expressing noticeable volumes of sass and I’m all for it.

[@roguereaver634]

Since he mentioned it a few times a look at Gears of War would be pretty cool

[@OGTalon]

Might be cool to hear Jonathan's opinions on Sniper Elite 4!

[@kh7736]

The weapons in that game are common most likely already covered it.

[@GOICOBA]

Yes, the video I didn't know I was looking for :D

[@domacleod]

Ammo in ME (in the entire series) is not a concern. There's actually a piece of metal alloy (probably a ball, cube or similar shape for storage purposes) inside each gun, that only needs to be replaced extremely rarely. Tiny shards from that chunk of metal are shaved off and accelerated with "mass effect" fields - the basic explanation is that "mass effect" basically reduces the mass of any object to near-0. The effect when shooting is that projectiles are launched at very high speeds (canonically, faster than bullets), and due to the very high speed and very low amount of mass, the shards of metal get incredibly hot, allowing them to pierce a variety of materials. Of course, the acceleration starts inside the weapon, so a lot of heat actually stays with the weapon itself. Earlier models (in ME1) used a self-cooling system that allowed weapons to be fired in bursts followed by a cooldown period, or managing the heat by only firing one or two shots then waiting a second or two, firing one or two shots, rinse and repeat. Actual artificial intelligence, the "Geth" in-game, decided that's an inefficient way of conducting warfare, and designed their weapons around the same basic concept, but where the organic species went with self-cooling, Geth went with a substance that would absorb the heat and then be ejected and replaced. Based on reverse-engineering, the organic species came up with Thermal Clips, which are that same concept: absorb the heat in a cylinder specifically meant for it, then eject it and replace it with another. The actual "ammunition" remains the same - a hunk of metal from which chips are shaved off and shot at high velocity. As for damage type modifiers, I'm guessing it was just different metals used for the "ammo" itself. Something like Cadmium for toxic damage (since it's extremely toxic), Silver for fire damage (since it is highly heat conductive), and I'm guessing cold damage is just sort of.. there. Magic, I guess. Idk. Explosive is tricky - it''d have to be a metal that is fine with being heated, but explodes on kinetic impact. For gameplay purposes in ME2 and ME3, the player can switch to different ammo types (i.e. tungsten, incendiary - which is likely silver or copper, "shredder" which i'm guessing is a metal that cools rapidly, so any wounds made do not cauterize, and "disruptor" which i'm guessing is some metal that carries an electric charge very well and/or upon friction with air creates a static charge. Warp ammo is just magic, same with cryo ammo). Realistically according to the story as it's explained, they'd likely only switch ammo between missions, and not mid-mission. If you listen carefully, there isn't quite a "bang" with most weapons (there are still some that use more conventional ammo, like the harpoon launcher, the turian missile launcher, the grenade launcher, whatever else) and that the sounds play a little more like high pitched electric arcs. "mass effect" fields aren't properly explained because that would mean inventing the technology and however clever the devs might be they're not nobel prize levels of clever, but presumably it does involve electricity, so that about explains it. The holograms are just ammo modifiers as explained above. I'd disregard them entirely, because they do not make much sense in-universe. About shotguns existing in Mass Effect - there is a species that has high innate damage resistance, the Krogans. They also have a lot of strength and weigh about 300-350 kg on average, with more impressive specimens reaching 400kg. That's without armor or gear, if i remember correctly. They make use of that strength by literally charging forward into a melee. Shotguns act as a beating stick more than a ranged implement, but they do make use of the firing capabilities as well, and design them to shoot with a lot of force, to the point where a regular human would shatter their arm if firing one. There are also regular shotguns for other alien races and humans, but they don't see much use in actual war. I'd guess they're more for home defense and police patrols. A shotgun works fairly well in tight corners. About SMGs existing in Mass Effect - once again, not a weapon used for warfare generally, more of a support item. They're more lightweight than assault rifles while carrying similar range and accuracy, and might even be concealable with the right outfit. In Mass Effect, they're mainly used by mercenaries or space wizards (called biotics in-game). The bullets look like they're different because of ammo powers. In the Revenant showcase, it's using Warp Ammo, which is space magic nonsense. Most weapons in Mass Effect use the titular Mass Effect technology to project pellets. Very few differ, and they are obvious (concentrated laser beams, launching grenades, launching bubbles, whatever else i failed to mention). About sound in space - they have audio emulators. It allows them to hear ships coming in to dock, and yes, hear bullets in low/no-atmosphere. It's not entirely described how it works, but it could well be based on vibrations translated as sound for the user. Different vibrations, different sound. About the Widow requiring "reload" after each shot - it simply generates too much heat for a single Thermal Clip (as described above) to absorb more than one shot of. So, it's not the case of reloading, more than it is a case of "I want to be able to fire this weapon again in the future, so I would rather not let it melt between shots.". They also have safeties to prevent firing if the gun is overheating so it doesn't accidentally melt in your hands. Grenade launchers still operate on mass effect technology, but use grenades and are launched with less velocity. They don't use fragments of metal, which is why they have limited ammunition and cannot be "reloaded". You have to find special ammo for them in ME2, or have to find a pre-loaded one in ME3. Weapons being developed by all aliens in a similar manner ties in to the story of the game - some ancient robots actually pre-plan how they want organics to develop their technology, and leave behind bits of technology as well as a transport network, that always leads them to a single technological path - mass effect fields. So, all aliens in the Milky Way use technology based on the same principles. Where it varies - it only varies as much as getting close to what the ancient robots have - high-powered lasers/particle beams and electric arcs. That's about all without going into a lot of detail about the story. "Slap it like it owes you money" - thermal clips being ejected. Not all weapons make it clear, but whenever reloading, they eject a spent thermal clip onto the ground. It's visible under the highest graphic settings, and sometimes used as a plot device, too. The number of "rounds" in a clip is how many shots can be fired with a single thermal clip. For more powerful guns that generate more heat, the number is lower. Now, what I wrote there may seem like a lot, but after timing myself reading it leisurely, it takes 8 minutes to read. I know you review weapons as a real life weapons expert, but you didn't do any research into what the explanations behind things happening in the game are. 8 minutes. Let's say 10-15 minutes if you have to look the information up yourself and not be handed all of it in a single comment.

[@callofdutywarzone9709]

I clicked faster than lightning

[@Ren_0096]

Kachow

[@dustinalcorn8765]

At Mass Effect speeds?

[@incognito3817]

Cap

[@grunt1688]

How about an episode on the Halo weapons?

[@davidgoreted]

Material vs. materiel. I had to look it up! Jonathan is good...

[@raikbarczynski6582]

to Jonathan (dont know if he reads this comment section): the purple bullets on the Revenant Machine GUn was the special ammo called WArp Ammo: it is used to defeat biotic barriers

[@chringlanthegreat4556]

Would love to see Jonathan react to the guns in Valkyria Chronicles 1

[@insertnamehere6659]

That would be an episode I would avoid. Waifu culture is sure to strike the comments section ferociously.

[@thitipongkasemwarit3560]

Valkyrie Chronicles is my favourite WW2 fantasy style anime. Most of the gun in VC universe are similar to WW2 era. Semi-Auto Rifle Bolt Action Rifle LMG SMG Self Loading Pistol Revolver Lance = Anti-Tank Weapons Some of the designs are similar to MP40 SMG, MG42 Machinegun, G43 Rifle. The only problem was in VC universe, they don't have any aircraft except armored vehicles. No bomber, no fighter jet, no transport plane, not even a prototype of helicopter. If we gonna have WW2 Allies vs VC universe. Our WW2 era could win.

[@lordmuhehe4605]

@@insertnamehere6659 You do realize that you don't have to read the comments, right?

[@unkn0wngu4rd1an]

I recomend the Titanfall universe once again

[@HQ_Default]

I feel like shotguns may eventually become obsolete in traditional, _regulated_ military circles, but the classic sawed-off will prevail. There is just obvious utility in having a gun for close quarters where the spread is so wide you can basically aim in the general direction of an enemy and be sure that *something* is gonna hit.

[@algi1]

"That might be in the Codex somewhere, I don't know." Thanks for the insight. This is the weapon expertise I'm looking for.

[@l0u13__3]

Black ops 2 Titanfall 2 HALO series