Mass Effect 2 Arrival - Can You Save the Batarians???

[@argiewithagun1286]

"Batarians pls stop with the slavery in the terminus system" "No, slavery is a tradition for us batarians" "Oh ok do you want to know humanity's oldest tradition ?... genocide, have fun with the reapers bloatface"

[@AndyJP]

Lol this is one of the funniest comments I have ever read. Thank you for the laugh!

[@steelbear2063]

That's what you get for being a xeno

[@zalabit927]

Lmao i hate and feel bad for Batarians at the same time🗿

[@DioBrando-wj8ui]

​@@zalabit927 Nah. F them.

[@rabidbadger5260]

@@DioBrando-wj8ui I'm with Dio

[@MegaTech81]

Hacket: Good job Shepard. You delayed the reapers Colonist Shepard: what reapers?

[@roosiniimiamiciii6666]

Nice

[@shiby1860]

i don't get it :c

[@kingkai2800]

@@shiby1860 the whole point for destroying the mass relay/system is to stop the reaper but in the process it kills everyone in that system mainly batarians, colonist background Shepard get his family killed friends enslaved by batarians so he does this to just kill batarians not stop reapers

[@Fingolfin7455]

Colonist Shepard is the most based Shepard

[@shiby1860]

@@kingkai2800 thank you for explaining, that's honestly great lmao

[@BatarianBob]

I kind of feel for Hackett in this one. "Shepard, could you do me a favor? A friend of mine is in trouble with the law. I need a discreet little prison break." "You got it. One supernova coming up." "Good. Thank you, Shepard. I appreciate it. . . . Wait, what?"

[@austinbutcher8106]

*obliterates the bahakk system *

[@baddoer]

Fun fact: this DLC was made by studio that produced Omega DLC and Mass Effect Andromeda later. Fun fact 2: Seth Green did not record any line for this DLC. I believe Joker's line was picked from Collector ship infiltration mission.

[@The.bitchen.artist]

@Journey 95 I remember when they announced the team that made the Omega DLC was responsible for Andromeda. I knew the game was going to be awful after that, and lo and behold, here we are. Omega DLC was just "shoot the bad guys" with no real reason to get invested, and yet somehow seemed to go on forever...

[@peppermint1349]

@@The.bitchen.artist Personally think Andromeda was better than ME1 for sure and actually has a potential for a good story. We only discovered a star cluster of a whole galaxy. So many unanswered questions and possibilities like with the quarian fleet but haters were to thank for all of that to be shut down and so we will not find out whether Andromeda could have been saved by the actual ME creators cause you cannot compare ONE game to entire trilogy.

[@Unknownusername1004]

@@peppermint1349 andromeda only had good combat (the best in the series). The story and characters sucked asshole. I've played through it several times and always come to that conclusion

[@lawrencerambridge7418]

@@The.bitchen.artistnot to mention the omega DLC was also hours too long, done it on insane on 3 and by the time I got past the engine area I just wanted it over.. I still had like another hour if not more, also so much missed potential in that DLC I REALLY didn't enjoy it.

[@beverlyarcher546]

Wait joker had a line?

[@janosd4nuke]

Yeah, the lack of choice can feel cheap. On the other hand, forcing down the harsh reality of not being able to save everyone is kind of a good appetizer to sell the desperation and impossible odds going into ME3

[@D3K018]

I would have liked that the warning had helped at least half of the batarians, either seeking for revenge of pardoning Shepard.

[@henrymcbark7337]

@@D3K018 Where would they have gone though? If anything you could of saved a few thousand if you were lucky.

[@davevd9944]

I mean the Batarians were the first to get hit and nobody liked them due to their extremely antagonistic nature so in the end it wouldn't have made a difference. A few more would've survived sure but still mostly a completely one sided slaughter.

[@skrotosd]

@@henrymcbark7337 it would have been enough to have a "moral wight"

[@henrymcbark7337]

@@skrotosd Sure, but regardless save them or not you will still feel the guilt of the large majority in that sector dying.

[@MarkusVeller]

The answer is no, you can't. I just saved you 10 minutes of your life.

[@NogaRuka2987]

ikr. 9:31 wtf

[@Durzel]

Lol thanks.. this video feels pretty desperate.. "keep watching for 10 minutes so I can monetise the video to answer a very simple question"

[@royrogers3624]

The real mvp

[@sydhamelin1265]

This is akin to the news saying "Will eating pizza make you rich?" Then doing a 10 minute video on why people like pizza, why they want to be rich, then...."Unfortunately, no, it won't."

[@skullaveraz]

I watch his videos and skip to the middle part. Too much filler

[@lostjedi3380]

If you complete Arrival after the Suicide Mission, then it's Harbinger you talk too, which I think makes more sense and was how the developers intended for the game to be played.

[@RevolverOcelot1]

Yes. I believe that canonically,it takes place sometime after you take out the Collectors.

[@GothicElf68]

@@RevolverOcelot1 I agree. it really plays as if it was meant to be a transitionary story between ME2 and ME3.

[@harrisonshepherd7345]

Agreed! Also adds depth that the alliance impounded the Normandy SR2

[@yharnamiyhill787]

So. What if you left it alone and go to ME3?

[@buggydyonkou8748]

@@yharnamiyhill787 it happens anyway but you don't see it. they talk about it nonetheless at ME3

[@Dillpickle1997]

"Lil fucked that you had to kill 300,000 Batarians to delay the Reapers but we all understand why you had to." Reapers? Ahh yes those Reapers the ones I had to delay. Those Reapers.

[@adamgray1753]

Yeah... I still say that the Council, regardless alien or human, they had to perform some of the greatest mental gymnastics imaginable to keep dismissing the Reaper threat. If mental gymnastics was an Olympic event they all would easily win a Gold medal.

[@gaigeschaal9070]

@@adamgray1753 Do you think their choice of ignorance was well done or hamfisted by the devs to make Shepard look good?

[@tconnelly8]

Colonist ruthless Shepard hides a smile

[@hiddensalami4334]

Batarians are an awful species. If killing 300,000 of them isnt doing God's work, then I dont know what is.

[@adamgray1753]

Boy, @@hiddensalami4334, you belong to that pro-human group from near the end of ME1. If there is ever a case to be made for space racism it is for the Batarians, man.

[@SirEliteGrunt]

Dr Kenson: I rigged the base to explode. Their deaths are on you Shepard! Shepard: *confused because they were already on a collision course with the relay*

[@julia-6195]

Yes, just because the thrusters were turned off doesn't mean the asteroid stops moving.

[@fadingghost9723]

@@julia-6195 Dr Kenson clearly doesn't have a doctorate on physics and how they function in a vacuum lol

[@joenesvick7043]

Probably should've just said Amanda did it, then they can't blame Shepard lol 😝

[@SirEliteGrunt]

@@joenesvick7043 yeah that’s what I would’ve done. Sure he was trying to make the reapers a more credible threat but he could have lied saying she was a hero and believed in the threat too

[@MoostachedSaiyanPrince]

But if the base has enough energy to power engines that will send the asteroid into the Relay with enough speed and force to destroy it, isn't it possible that the explosion from the base will be big enough to break the asteroid up into pieces small enough that they can't destroy the relay, or divert the asteroid from it's course so that it misses the relay instead?

[@juanlaise1059]

The real question is.. Do I want to save the Batarians?

[@battlesheep2552]

My Shepard with a colonist backstory gives a hard no

[@ShadowMokujin]

The REAL question is why would you want to save Terrorists?

[@BigDanGaming]

Lol

[@guilhermehank4938]

Not all batarians are evil tho..

[@Peachrocks5]

Remember Garrus' tech expert that was part of his team was a Batarian. Yeah their general culture and ruling administration sucks but individual people? That's harder to judge.

[@moisesfreire6408]

Having the pre-service history as a Colonist with the War Hero psychological profile my Shepard had quite the grudge against batarians.

[@GothicElf68]

I was thinking that someone with the Colonist background would have little love for the Batarians, but I have to question the war hero background. I know that was an attack on Elysium perpetuated by pirates. Were the pirates primarily Batarian or funded by the batarians?

[@MrMortull]

@@GothicElf68 Little of column A, little of column B. It was certainly very much a Batarian "project".

[@jacklang3314]

Colonist with Ruthless, killing them even if they surrender, just like Torfan.

[@ZrodyApo]

My "canon" Shepard had this backgroung and acted the same toward the batarians

[@DarthJane]

@@jacklang3314 My first playthrough was a ruthless colonist, but I played her as paragon, atoning for the past. Which makes a lot of conversations quite interesting imo.

[@cmwinchell]

Fun fact: If you don't play the Arrival DLC you find out that there was a team that destroyed the Alpha relay. Either way it happens, it's just did Shepard do it or did Kenson?

[@AbyssalZones]

If you don't play the Arrival DLC, the story is that Hackett sent in a team of Alliance Marines to rescue Kenson, and they ultimately sacrificed themselves to destroy the Alpha Relay.

[@Thebookguy1]

Fun fact, if you do the DLC, the original war score you would loose from Hackett sending a team there won’t be lost. You’ll have the full 103 engineering division instead of less than half of it

[@koonteriskool]

I never liked the DLC. I mean the council and the human government all deny the Reaper threat when Sheppard, probably the most decorated soldier in the world, talks about it (not to mention he's backed up by his whole crew which includes a respected C-Sec officer and an Asari scientist). But hey, some random spy finds some artifact, yep, gotta take her word for it.

[@willbaker6532]

@Facepalm Full O' Napalm nah I think youre standing trial purely for cerberus links if you never complete arrival

[@matro2]

The 103rd Marine Division takes responsibility instead if you didn't play Arrival yourself.

[@incominghabanero3927]

This channel will blow up when the remaster comes out

[@adamgray1753]

Yep. Many other KZbin channels who delve into the Mass Effect games will do the same.

[@YungOtaku]

You ain't lie

[@Timmoux]

Literally me right now. I played them all on 360 but I didn't find this channel until now

[@SydneySutterKolinkBattler]

I did this DLC recently thanks to Legendary edition. Completely blind too. Throughout the first half of the game, I was nearly convinced Shepard was gonna find another way to stop the Reapers from coming or warn the Batarians somehow so that the casualties were minimized but no... I went to bed feeling pretty bad that night. lol

[@GG_1318]

Why would you feel bad?

[@FalconWindblader]

That's war for you. It ain't pretty & at times, you'd be put in the spot where your actions would directly cause deaths of thousands, whether you like it or not. Such is the reality of war, where choices often mean losing less or losing more, instead of just winning & losing.

[@chimeraofscarlet8610]

@@FalconWindbladerok but this message would be better if it was a human world, and not b*tarians.

[@SirDonkle]

I do wish that there was more of a choice at the end. Maybe if you decided to warn the colony, the DLC ends with the same final combat sequence, and then if you decided to call the normandy, you have an easier time leaving the asteroid. It's a minor change but wouldve felt like you were actually doing something about the moral dilemma you're presented with.

[@GothicElf68]

That would have made it a lot better, I agree.

[@D3K018]

Or warning the batarians should have made a difference, like half of them surviving, either pardoning Shepard or seeking revenge.

[@typhoonstorm95]

@@D3K018 maybe impact the way to gain the support of the batarians.

[@FalconWindblader]

I like the way it is though. It's the first instance in the games where the reality of a possible extinction war coming finally sinking in, telling you that you need to make the hard choices time & again, or everyone suffers. The only instance where the 2 choices are either let hundreds of thousands die, or let trillions die.

[@magnusprime962]

@@FalconWindblader Except there isn't actually a choice. You either activate the project or let the timer run out and watch the game over screen. You can't continue the game if you 'choose' the other option.

[@p-ball_from_SEA]

"But Councillors, how could I have committed a hate crime if I loved doing it?" -Commander Shepard when asked why they let an entire Batarian system get wiped out. Jokes aside, I like how there's no option to save those in the Bahak system. Makes the entire operation a dire consequence for a chance to delay the Reaper invasion for at least a few months.

[@Demka03]

They made it kinda easy, actually. Imagine if reapers was to invade through the solar system or asari relay. Choice would be much harder and consequences alot bigger. No one really cares about batarians

[@92Dast]

damn if it was an asari relay I'd destroy it even it didn't stop the reapers

[@Nevert642]

@@92Dast to be fair the barts have that, most people would probably try to doom their race twice if they could.

[@Fridaey13txhOktober]

Rather, no one in their right minds should.

[@Canadian_Zac]

Thats the point. The Batarians are just constantly being shit on. End up in a shitty position, a load go terrorist because of it. Then the few that did go and make a colony get nuked to all fuck

[@cassiespencer6134]

"No one really cares about batarians" Except the Batarians.

[@Noschool100]

I always fond it funny the reapers have basically won when Shepard is downed after the initial fight, like all they have to do is kill him. Instead of doing that tho they capture him for like no good reason, like Saturday morning cartoon villains.

[@Killzoneguy117]

Well they wanted to indoctrinate him. Shephard earned their respect by killing Sovereign, and they felt he would be more valuable alive. Remember, the Reapers are assimilators at their core. They harvest races to assimilate their essence. Shephard presented something intriguing for them.

[@Noschool100]

@@Killzoneguy117 idk, they tried killing him often enough that him dying seemed like an acceptable outcome. Honestly the whole getting captured in arrival probable shouldn't of happened cause there wasn't a good way to do it. Like he is the only real threat to the reapers and they just throw him on some random medical table unrestrained and barely guarded? Obviously they can't just have every indoctrinated person and mech point a gun at a tied up Shepard for like 4 days and wait for the reapers cause the player can't lose, but the alternative just makes the reapers look dumb.

[@fadingghost9723]

@@Noschool100 I mean, the Reapers are pretty dumb. They kill Shepherd at the beginning of ME2 and what do they do with the two years that they're dead? They waste time and resources building some stupid evangelion looking thing instead of trying to find some method speeding their return or reclaiming the citadel relay. They're pretty damn stupid in my eyes lol

[@Noschool100]

@@fadingghost9723 maybe, I don't think it's that dumb and it is more explainable. The collector were basically all the influence the reapers had at that point, which was basically 1 ship the Normandy was able to destroy, as the heretic numbers were pretty devastated after me1. I don't see a plan that would have taken them less than the roughly 2.5 years to just fly to the alpha relay. Honestly if you assume the crucible would have been found when it was their plan was basically the best play.

[@darko1295]

it's not that they're dumb, the DLC is just kinda rushed and doesn't make a lot of sense. Shepard being captured, as far as I'm concerned, literally only serves as a way to quickly move them where they need to be in order to start the project.

[@mattrR678]

Those people were doomed. Either they died with the rely or when the reapers attack. And choosing between 300k people and billions is a easy choice.

[@marvinjackson2454]

The arithmetic of war.

[@Amyante]

Exactly. Do you kill 300k people in a clean blast, when sparing them means they get to live like half an hour longer before dying in agony as they're harvested for resources without anesthetic while dooming the rest of the galaxy in the process? If calling off the asteroid hit was an option, i'd expect it to max out my Renegade bar. Right before seeing the "Critical Mission Failure" message.

[@Mudoh415]

Trillions. You mean trillions.

[@abdullamaseeh5828]

Lol. Damn right.

[@bzqp2]

You also have to consider the possibility that Shepard is just a lunatic charlatan and there were no "Reapers" in the first place.

[@Kragith]

I always found myself really wanting an option to save the baterians. Just so I could not pick it.

[@rockspoon6528]

They had us in the first half, not gunna lie.

[@televisedpork7993]

Not funny

[@evanboll4651]

To paraphrase WarHammer 40K: Those who allow the Batarian to live share in the crime of it's existence.

[@luangu]

Whaaaa..... ahhhhh hahhahhahhhahhahhahhahhaha!!!!

[@damnedlegionaire]

Very based.

[@Activated_Complex]

It could at least have come up in one or more of the conversations if you tried to warn the system inhabitants. “Yes, commander, we received a fragment of your address to the system. But I wonder, was it a warning, or an attempt at blackmail on the part of Cerberus?” Closely followed by an interrupt. Then maybe later, when confronting the Batarian terrorist, he appears oddly forgiving of Shepard, since at least he tried to warn the inhabitants of the system. His war is against the Alliance that pushed aggressively into Batarian space, not his counterpart in an organization, like his, that looks out for their own. Shepard protests that he’s not like the Batarian terrorist, but the dying man observes that the Commander doesn’t sound so sure. “Just make sure you make it worth the price we paid, Shepard. Make the lives you ended have some meaning. Make the Reapers pay.”

[@demonblade001]

Its the Kobayashi maru. Its a no win scenario. Genocide or Genocide. Small scale or large scale.

[@kyos8462]

Lol star trek? Lame bruh...lame

[@rochipum]

@@kyos8462 you wouldnt know this is from star trek unless youve watched star trek

[@cameronzalor4997]

@@rochipum or looked up Kobayashi maru

[@СергейМисюк-ж1к]

​@@rochipum actually it was also mentioned in "Big bang theory" at least once.

[@graysondraven]

Nice i never got to play this dlc. I always thought it would have been cool to have a Batarian squad member someone who hated Shepard but wanted to fight the Reapers so they were willing to work with him/her.

[@guilhermehank4938]

You get that with the barbarian terrorist from me1 appearing in 3 to get revenge on Shepard but he convinces him to look at the bigger picture. He eventually annoyedly accepted and says "our ships are yours..." while walking away. It's not a squad member but it's a moment of batarians knowing that if the reapers win they are all dead anyway

[@RAY296]

@@guilhermehank4938 Balak, from Bring Down the sky Dlc for mass effect 1

[@myfirstnamemylastname1395]

Agreed.

[@Booya456]

I personally thought the shock value and the weight of this DLC was alot to put on the story. A whole Batarian system of 300,000 blow up just to save a year of time for the Reapers to come. Thought it could of been fleshed out better.

[@Esiaa]

I love this DLC. The story, the ending (talking with Harbinger is amazing), but the best part was that you were doing this alone, without any of the squade mates. Killing all those idiots on your way to the exit was sooooooo satisfying.

[@bruhgod123]

agreed waking up after getting injured then ripping and tearing your way through the guards was satisfying

[@Alexander-xk2nb]

First time around was fun, I was an adept spamming biotic combos with singularity. Second time, sentinel, fuck this dlc.

[@Empiro3]

I always had a problem with Arrival from an internal consistency perspective, because in ME1, even a supernova couldn't destroy a relay, just knock it around. It's also hard to believe that in the thousands of years ME races have have access to the relays, they never tried slamming an asteroid into one, even during desperate times like the Rachni Wars or Krogan Rebellion.

[@jakelee7083]

Arrival was Star Wars the Last Jedi before it was even a thing.

[@FalconWindblader]

That thing with supernova had always been only speculation, not proven fact. Besides, relays are always deemed sacred in cultural, scientific & materialistic standpoints. Not only are they relics of a very, very advanced but extinct race, they're also in finite numbers & most importantly, no one knows how to build one. Doing one such experiment would be like deliberately totaling your car despite knowing full well that you have no money to buy a new one, or even just fixing it. It's also worth noting that a relay only connects to 2 or 3 other relays, & no one knows how to change that connection. Breaking one could easily cut off access to multiple systems.

[@evanboll4651]

@@FalconWindblader In ME2 Matriarch Aethyta on Illium mentions that the Asari could potentially build one if they wanted to.

[@FalconWindblader]

@@evanboll4651 "Potentially". People could potentially do a lotta things, yet over 90% of those things don't get done, cuz it's either too costly or too damn difficult. Building something as monumental as a mass relay, even if it's very feasible, could suck Illium itself dry, & on top of that, could take well over a century.

[@marconihimself]

I had a false memory of managing to warn a small group of batarians in my first playthrough. Used to think that I could pull it off if I held the horde near the reaper artifact.

[@BigDanGaming]

Yeah, you can get an achievement for holding off five waves of enemies during that attack, before the artifact hits Shepard with an energy blast and you wind up in the med-bay anyway. But it doesn't allow you to save any Batarians.

[@Dpimidwest]

As do I... weird

[@DarthJane]

What you are remembering is that you did save the Baterians in bring down the sky. Which you can bring up when a Baterian gets all "you killed so many of us when destroying the relay"

[@adamgray1753]

Yeah, @@BigDanGaming. When I first played the Arrival DLC I too fought back as best as I could during this part. I thought it was super cheap for the Reaper artifact to hit hard with a Deus Ex Machina attack. I mean really! I was kicking butt when that happened.

[@brianlong3632]

You do get an option to warn the Batarians. It doesn't work though.

[@auroramadariaga4081]

Between Dr. Kenson and Brooks of the Citadel DLC, I kind of had enough with the fake allies in ME. It can become a cliché if abused in a story. I have much more respect for Aria for always showing her true colors from the beginning.

[@WestonWisdom]

I've purchased the Legendary edition to watch my GF play for the first time - watching your videos are going to let me see just how much she's going to fuck things up in advance. I love Mass Effect

[@Amyante]

Ah yes, Mass Effect 2 suicide mission. I get why you'd be excited to watch that :P

[@user-dd8vo7or2d]

You got to let us know how many squad mates died in ME2 tho

[@WestonWisdom]

@@user-dd8vo7or2d She's just finished Mass Effect, so a little while yet!

[@Amyante]

@@WestonWisdom Oh come on, casualties! Did Wrex survive? And did she pick Kaidan or Ashley?

[@WestonWisdom]

@@Amyante Wrex survived and Ashley went down, she also let the Council die, which is not what I’d expect

[@ndsa2965]

imagine if you can save the batarian by surviving the enemy wave and avoid the reaper artifact wave, so you have 2 days to evacuate batarian colony, and you get extra war asset from batarian in ME3

[@MrBobthened]

If you survive all the waves of enemies then Object Rho sends out a big pulse that knocks Shepard unconscious.

[@masterrafferty4065]

This DLC feels more forced than the SPECTRE acronym, and nothing is more forced than the SPECTRE acronym.

[@Taolan8472]

"SPECial Tactics and REconnissance" isn't that forced. It describes what they do pretty effectively. My question is, how does that acronym play out in the native languages of other races?

[@The_Punisher]

@@Taolan8472 That's honestly a really shit acronym

[@Taolan8472]

@@The_Punisher you have not seen shit acronyms until you have sat through US DOD training on literally anything other than your actual job as a soldier. Sexual harassment, suicide prevention, information awareness, and so-on and so-forth.

[@readyjoe6427]

@@Taolan8472 fair point but the point still stands that the SPECTRE acrynom is still forced and cringe af.

[@jakelee7083]

It's not that much different from "SEAL" -> SE, Air, Land. It just makes it sound nicer.

[@slobiden.2593]

I always reimagined this DLC. Shepard knowing there isn’t enough time to save the colony. Instead changes the timing of the impact to coincide with the arrival of the Reapers therefore ensuring he/she takes down as many Reapers as possible. We would never see the effect it had leaving it purely up for speculation.

[@Robidu1973]

Now imagine when pulling this off would make the effort of defeating the Reapers a little easier (requiring a little less War Assets to get the best ending) and maybe allowing at least some of the batarians to escape the blast.

[@KyleTaylorDesigns]

I just realized Harbinger at the end of the mission is in Collector or Reaper form depending if you've completed the Suicide Mission or not by that time.

[@pyramid_stiff6770]

You're making awesome content Dan, I'm sure your channel will keep growing. Keep up the good work!

[@BigDanGaming]

Thanks! I appreciate it!

[@zachrhinehart]

Yeah this dude was at 6.66k yesterday now he’s 6.92k. Yes keep it up Dan!

[@kevinfreitas6832]

@@williamkerfoot8039 If it's a joke, then don't watch it. It's as simple as that.

[@kevinfreitas6832]

@@williamkerfoot8039 Read my comment again. I never said it was "awesome"; but I appreciate that this guy is making videos about an overall fantastic video game trilogy. If you didn't think it's awesome, that's fine by me, but it's unnecessary to ridicule him.

[@stofsk]

I always thought what was missing about this DLC wasn't the railroading (if anything I think that's underrated about it) but rather how it should have involved the Virmire Survivor somehow. It would have been a great finale to ME2 to have a 2 hour mission where you team up with Kaidan or Ashley when they got short-changed earlier on Horizon.

[@evanboll4651]

So basically their own version of what Liara got with the whole Shadow Broker thing. That actually sounds pretty cool IMO.

[@jasonleslie203]

You destroy the relay only delaying the reapers by about 6 months.

[@justinh9674]

Better then letting them arrive 10 minutes later

[@blazebardgames5939]

Wall of text incoming. Apologies in advance. I watched the Big Dan Gaming video about the cut content in ME1 in which it would have been possible (but probably difficult) to save both Ashley and Kaidan on Virmire, and I read some of the comments. Now I just watched this video, and I read some of the comments. On the cut content video, several of the comments were like "I'm glad there was no option to save both of them -- having to leave one of them behind made it feel like Shepard isn't always some kind of overpowered protagonist who never fails to save everyone." And I couldn't help but notice that on this video, several of the comments are like "You don't have an option to save everyone in this DLC, which is lazy, sloppy writing on BioWare's part." I'm guessing that the people who wrote the "Shepard shouldn't be able to save everyone all the time" comments aren't the same people who are now writing the "Not having an option to save everyone is lazy writing" comments. Personally, I don't mind the Arrival DLC. I think it makes sense that even the likes of Commander Shepard wouldn't always be overpowered enough to pull off the impossible and save everyone 100% of all the time. But when it comes to how those moments of vulnerability are set up, I honestly prefer Arrival over Virmire. I think Kaidan and Ashley really got shafted when it came to character development in ME3, but since it was guaranteed that one of those characters would die before ME3 even started and possible that the other character would either die or otherwise go away forever during ME3, I can see why the writers would've devoted more of their limited time and resources to characters who were more likely to be around, but I still think it's unfortunate. Maybe if it wasn't guaranteed that either Kaidan or Ashley was going to die in ME1, there would've been more incentive to give them better character arcs over the course of the whole trilogy.

[@redtsun67]

"Behold, my plan to destroy the Alpha relay, and the Bahak system with it" "And you're sure this will stop the reapers?" "Reapers?"

[@Nicole-xd1uj]

This is such a dark mission that I'm always tempted to skip it when replaying...I wish that Shepard's choice of sending a message could have had some impact, even something small like one ship getting through the relay.

[@JerryHenderson72]

Even if you completely ignore the whole DLC when you play Mass effect 3 instead of being in trouble for destroying the batarian . They just blame some random stuff on you to explain you're being relieved from duty and under house arrest . Once you get into the game a little further you hear that the batarians won't be able to help against the Reapers because the Reapers hit them first and completely wipe them out .

[@DeadManSinging1]

The reapers hit the Batarians first regardless. Its explained in the Leviathan DLC that the Batarians found a Reaper like 20 years ago and their government has been indoctrinated.

[@PhoenixT70]

That’s honestly the funniest part. You kill 300,000 batarians and literally nothing substantively changes relative to not playing the DLC, implying that the Alliance does not even begin to care about Bahak.

[@danperry9293]

Great video! Personally I always wished I could have saved that colony no matter what playthrough I made. It sucks that we can't. Small correction in your video though, mate. Around 6:48 you mention that in the end, Shep's actions delayed the Reaper invasion for about a year. It's canon that it's roughly a year between the end of the Suicide mission and the Reapers invading Earth. As for the time between the end of the Arrival DLC and Reapers attacking Earth it's only been 6 months. Last I checked Anderson himself made mention of that as he addresses Shepard. Regardless of my nitpicking, I really enjoy the video's you make and I hope you continue on to make greater videos in the future!

[@tramiel3057]

Dude your making so hyped for the remastered trilogy. This was my Jam on the 360. Also RiP pinnacle station

[@Amyante]

Ugh, Pinnacle Station. Clearing it on my Insanity run was hard, though my Infiltrator did (eventually) succeed.

[@d.a.baracus]

The only thing about Pinnacle Station I'm going to miss is being able to buy rare gear in the apartment.

[@tramiel3057]

@@d.a.baracus same, plus the apartment was so cool I loved it

[@Amyante]

And even then it's not that good. The only reason you'd want to is for Shredder and Tungsten rounds, but you only get tier VI i believe. The moon sidemission for your advanced class is great for that. It has lots of robots, those drop ammo often so i usually do it when tier VII stuff starts dropping. Highest damage bonus on organics and synthetics in the game, coupled with weapon abilities enemies just... melt.

[@JohnathonHC]

Here I think I know everything, but you help me realize stuff I didn’t.

[@Snusmumrikean]

A Batarian once tried to rob me, he ran up to me with MY WALLET IN HIS HAND SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT DROPPING. So before he could do anything i dropped him on the ground with my Milky Way Pride M-23 Katana, made by humanities finest. One shot and all his eyes splattered onto a stupid jellyfish. C-sec was all on him but out of nowhere, fast as a leopard Sheppard Commander came out of his favorite store on the citadel. He told the Turians that he saw everything and the crime of the Batarians. When they let me go he gave me a fist bump and had to go. I swear that man is a godsend.

[@tsarfox3462]

Honestly, it's either the Relay explosion kills them or the Reapers do what they do when they get into the system. Given those two choices, instant vaporization is a mercy.

[@fearthepiggaming2998]

I've never seen this mission and I always wondered what the batarian was getting mad at me over.

[@stephen4006]

I found Arrival to be the weakest DLC from a writing perspective. A lot of things about it just don’t make sense

[@guilhermehank4938]

It felt rushed in a way. The lack of companions also add to it. But the ending was pretty cool with harbinger and Shepard talking face to reaper for the first time

[@tastycookiechip]

@@guilhermehank4938 Shepard already spoke to a reaper in the first game

[@guilhermehank4938]

@@tastycookiechip Yes but I meant Harbinger, the oldest Reaper and their leader.

[@stephen4006]

@@guilhermehank4938 Sovereign was way more badass and had a way cooler voice though. I liked Harbinger up until they decided to make him "the first reaper". I thought trying to elaborate on the Reapers and their origins was a mistake. I much preferred in ME1 where they were completely mysterious Lovecraftian horror machine monsters. I mean, when you introduce a villain is being incomprehensible, its a waste of time to try to explain them

[@Skyblade12]

@@stephen4006 Yep. The first rule of Lovecraftian horror: The imagination will fill in the blanks much better than your writing.

[@shan4697]

Even with my colonist and war hero backgrounds I still try to warn them they are still 300000 sentient being on the colony. at the first game I hated them because my shepherd background but also they tried to kill a human colony with an astroid but then became sympathetic enough to not shoot them on sight still hate them though

[@leaaronsanchez]

I saved the batarians in ME3, not there homeworld but, there people, sacred pillars, And fleet.

[@griffingower1883]

There's no way to save Khar'Shan.

[@leaaronsanchez]

@@griffingower1883 No but you can fly to Khar'Shan to recover The Sacre Pillars, will be risky because you'll have two or three rapers on your tail the whole time, they may even catch you if you're not quick, but I've done it multiple times and earn the thanks and trust of the Batarian refugees on the Citadel. Getting the Batarian fleet is a different matter. You need to convince the Terminus systems leader to work with you. If successful he'll give you command of the entire Terminus/Batarian fleet.

[@griffingower1883]

@@leaaronsanchez Reapers will only chase you when the Reaper Alertness is at a certain point.

[@leaaronsanchez]

@@griffingower1883 And when you activate the scan of the system. To find the Sacre Pillars, 1 scan is all you need to send it to full. So it's best to do at the lower left side of the system. And no about any planet, Reapers will grab you right away. Since the System Enter is opposite Of the pillars i If the reapers are too close lead them to the top left, or lower right corner and leave the system, then come back you have a straight line to them.

[@griffingower1883]

@@leaaronsanchez I never scan a Reaper conquered system because i don't want to have those damn mechanical squids chasing me.

[@OdieuxBarbare]

Damn the Arrival DLC should have been in included in the game and happen after the sucide mission. Imagine the surprise realising the game isn't over when you come back from the collector base!!! Ans the game ending on you destroying the relay, that just makes a lot of sense story wise

[@Torthrodhel]

Wish you could've succeeded at this. For an entire species, where all you get to meet are fanatics and pirates... with famously (at least to the codex) controlled planetary borders and social heirachy... your experience with them must be so limited! These are the ones their anti-alien government let you see (until ME3, anyway). How much richer is their culture besides just that? Underneath the strict controls, where the heart thrums. So many times in these games I wanted my Shep to be more sympathetic, and my ME3 multiplayer batarian main was a definite favourite (despite there being a select few power choices and everyone else being kinda iffy in comparison for completing missions, him included). Probably by design, though. It is interesting in a story like this to have a set of aliens whose culture you can't save, and can't even see much of - evokes that feeling of being too late for some, important in such a tale. I wouldn't change much about the batarians, just a few more in-mission decisions available with a few opinion differences as a consequence (still not liked, just a bit more mixed). The occasional opportunity to be on their side, ill-advised or not; the chance to fail that way and know what it brings in return. If Garrus can make friends with one, why can't Shep?

[@Horrorpleb]

While this is an unfortunate outcome its also a good way to show that no matter how hard you try, you can't save everyone. Shephards went through hell and back and saved many but even he/she has their limits. So in my opinion I believe this DLC is a good representation of the cost of trying to be a hero to the whole universe, a way to show that Shephard can't save everyone no matter how hard they try. I know what you're thinking, "Why would we accept a whole batarian system to be obliterated to show that Shephard can't protect everyone?" Well the thing is you can't accept it, but even so it's happened and you must endure it, that's why this DLC is unique, it tries to show just how dangerous the reapers truly are to one galaxy.

[@b1acksteve]

The problem is the ME community don't want real choices, they want to be anime space jesus/space Hitler where the universe bends to their will regardless of the impossibility of the situation. Doctors all over the world have stories of them saving a patient from the brink but I'm sure they also have stories where they didn't save a patient no matter how hard they tried. Hell I think ME could have used a few more missions like this to remind people that Shepherd is a human, not a God that has absolute control over everything.

[@grzetim]

There's one other change that can happen; if you do this mission before completing the Collector Base, you see the Collector Leader at the end; if you already did the base, you see the Reaper Harbringer. :)

[@CommanderBroShep]

Hey Dan, just found the channel a few days ago and liking the content. If you haven't done so, maybe find out the difference in ME2 and 3 from Kasumi's loyalty mission whether you have her delete Keiji's data or keep it. I've only done the keep it side cause I want Kasumi to be happy, even if Keiji is just a VI at that point.

[@BigDanGaming]

Thanks! It's on my to-do list

[@matthewhoward9826]

No major plot differences. Either way if Kasumi survives and is loyal her plot appearance in ME3 happens during the Jondom Bau Spectre mission. She helps you save the hanar/drell

[@sarasunshinemt4444]

@@matthewhoward9826 the only real difference is if you choose synthesis or not. If synthesis, she gets a virtual Kaji back. Otherwise she's left with her memories.

[@gatfatf]

"My crew is gone and my ship is impounded what gives" "Well you did blow up like 300K+ Batarians that one time" "That had to be done" "I'm sorry did I say that like it was a bad thing? That's why you aren't in jail now" "Yes! Yes you did just clearly say that like it was a VERY bad thing!" "As long as we both know that those nasty Batarians got what was coming to them, and the whole delay the Reapers thing is just a splash of icing on the cake" "What're we talking about again?"

[@jallexon2]

This mission was actually DLC, one of the last pieces of DLC for Mass Effect 2 so it became one of the last side missions players played before going onto the end mission.

[@battlesheep2552]

What do you call 300000 dead batarians? A good start.

[@audeamus1180]

A slow Tuesday? 😃

[@xeskistiken2801]

Haha :D

[@cookie_of_nine]

I think the lack of choice here was more than just "didn't want to mess up story of ME2", as they do change the start of ME3 (albeit only a few lines describing why you are on Earth). More importantly, there was precedent, in ME2 itself, with the option to leave Zaeed to die if you do his loyalty mission after the end of the game. It didn't make sense to do so during the game, since you might "need" him for the suicide mission, but after the main mission, you are allowed to leave him to die. Although it would require a deeper alteration of events during the DLC to actually make sense, they could have given you an option to get a warning out and help some Batarians survive the incident (and have Balak / other angry batarians reference it, or even Shepard: "I got a warning out, but it was far to late to help most of the colony"). In the entire Mass Effect series, even from the very beginning, there was a design decision made that Shepard would never speak or make a decision (given the time to do so) without giving the player a dialog wheel. If Shepard had time to think, you had an opportunity to choose, even if the outcome wasn't dependent on Shepard's actions. This was for a few good reasons: - It put breaks in conversations for the player to catch up and digest what was happening - it helps flesh out some aspects of the Paragon / Renegade system where it was about Shepard's approach / personality and not simply the final outcome of their decisions, as well as to allow the player to "role-play" Shepard without affecting the story. - It gives Bioware the option to show what Shepard is thinking about by putting details in the dialog options you didn't choose - It helps let the player feel like they have some agency since although they can't fully decide what Shepard will do or say, the game will not proceed until the player makes a choice One problem though that drops out of this is that there are a lot of "False Choice" situations in the game, some more obvious than others. Many times the game will give you multiple lines of dialog to chose from that functionally result in the same outcome and no morality change, and others not even that, where you get 3 (or 2 in ME3) different options to pick from, but Shepard will always say the exact same thing (although the dialog choices usually suggest that would be the case). Here they at least go to the trouble of having Shepard respecting the player's decision (Save Batarians even if futile vs. securing your escape) as they will try to do the action you requested, but this is one of the many points in the series where Shepard is incapable of following through on a decision, but the developers were required by the design principals of the series to present a choice to the player. That being said, as argued in the video, the situation was definitely engineered a lot to get you to the point where even if you did have gotten a warning out, it would have been far too late to prevent most of the deaths. This also draws parallels to the events in Bring down the Sky.

[@marcomongke3116]

Shepard could have been indoctrinated within 2 days. Personally i dont like the indoctrination theory but there are many many cases where Shepard could have been indoctrinated by the reapers. I wish the game explained a bit more about how he was not able to be indoctrinated.

[@rahvlanthal8583]

I always written it off in my official head canon that since his brain was already written and futzed with when he touched the prothean beacon, the indoctrination failed to take hold.

[@tylerslittlecafe1288]

I think it is combination prothean beacon, asari mind magic to help decipher the beacon, n7 training and military grade cybernetics/implants, and being rebuilt by Cerberus which probably resulted in even more brain cybernetics and augments, especially since they put so much effort into bringing them back 'as they were'. It could be that individuals with a strong will can also just resist it at least for a time and if commander Shepard is anything it's strong willed.

[@tylerslittlecafe1288]

There is some evidence of the strong will thing in ME1 with Saren as well: with a little pep talk from Shep Saren, while not gaining full control, can muster enough control to off himself and Saren had A LOT of exposure to Reaper indoctrination probably more than anyone we've seen in the series, but he was also a specter and I imagine the determination and strength of will one has to have to become a specter is well more than your average human, or alien in this case, posses Edit: anyone except maybe the Illusive man, but I believe you can also get him to stand down in ME3, but not 100% sure on that.

[@pietervanderzwaan4295]

If i were right shepard was in the first stages of indoctrination with his/her dreams and the child but they still allow shepard to dicide the fate of the galaxy. Also i think the cerberus tech held shepard in shape to prevent further indoctrination

[@kerricaine]

what i don't get is why sheppard takes the fall for this. "i rescued kenson, brought her back to her base. turns out she planned to ram the asteroid into the relay and i couldn't stop her in time". like..maybe i'm thinking like a renegade here, but...anyone who can say otherwise is dead.

[@MrAmazingJeff]

This is why this is the absolute last thing you do in ME2 since it sets up ME3 perfectly so if you do this DLC at any point of the game without it being the last thing you do then YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG! Amazing content as usual I wonder what you'll end up doing next since whatever it is I can't wait

[@gilles111]

It isn't wrong to do the mission in an earlier stadium of the game. You won't go to Earth in any missions and Shepard isn't an Alliance soldier so he can't be forced to return to Earth to stand his trial. Also Hackett asks Shepard in de debriefing to stand his eventual trial after he finishes the mission he's on. So there is really no right or wrong on doing this mission at any point in the ME2 game.

[@julia-6195]

You really don't have to do Arrival. It's optional. If you don't do it, Hackett sends some Marines in to do the job. The relay gets blown anyway. Shepard gets arrested for working for Cerberus.

[@michaelreedx6823]

Honestly the Arrival dlc was a sign of things to come, especially by the end of me 3 you were left with the same type of choices (pre*update). 1 outcome 3 colors...

[@beverlyarcher546]

You know Shepard could have said Kenson sent the asteroid towards the relay and cut communications and the Batarians would still say Shepard did it

[@ImplodingSubmarine]

The Batarian Hegemony: The North Korea of Mass Effect.

[@Fridaey13txhOktober]

The Batarian Hegemony: The Middle East of Mass Effect.

[@lion123torres8]

Nice & Clean Cut Info Thank u

[@diehgo_sp]

The first time I played I chose saving batarians because Shepard can always be saved by the almighty god Plot.

[@BlaineTog]

*Morinth has entered the chat*

[@ryanncochrane3981]

I mean yall gotta think. They were gonna be the first ones dead when the reapers arrived. So you really gave them a quick death instead of getting slaughtered 2 hours later.

[@wolfancap6897]

It isn't really a moral decision if you actually think about it, if Shepard blows up the relay, 300.000 Batarians die there and then, if he doesn't do it the Reapers stroll in and kill/harvest or indoctrinate those same Batarians who will have absolutely no chance of defending against the first wave of Reapers. That colony was doomed anyway, Shepard's actions bought the rest of the galaxy a few months to better prepare for the invasion, Tali becoming more influential on the fleet, Garrus and his task force, Liara becoming the motherf*ing Shadow Broker and so on. If the reaper invasion happened there and then, the Reapers would have won uncontested.

[@mysticonthehill]

Couldn't anyone say the same about any of the planets in ME3? Most things aren't enviable until you start believing it is.

[@wolfancap6897]

@@mysticonthehill If there was more time then yes, they were saveable, like if Shepard had fled and gotten in contact with the colony and used his position as a Spectre to get them to move. But within an hour, the only people that could possibly be saved would be people who were in shipyards or were already in ships already in flight, even in the ME universe the average commercial ship isn't very fast.

[@goldenrootsnet]

Accept the galaxy did nothing to prepare for the Reapers. Shepard was detained for a year and they only listened to Shepard when Earth was finally attacked. That year only helped Liara find information about the Deus Ex Crucible, which the developers pulled last minute out of their asses. Liara did not start looking for a way to defeat the reapers at the end of Mass Effect 2. For all we know she just had an epifany a few days before the Reapers attacked earth. The rest of the team, what they achieved in that year, in the grand scheme of things mattered very little. Which is proven by the fact you can still get the best ending with none of your team mates surviving the suicide mission. The Reapers could have arrived right then and there and the outcome would have been hardly different. Dr. T'soni probably would have gotten off her ass right then and there and found the plans for the crucible first day of the invasion.

[@wolfancap6897]

@@goldenrootsnet It kind of defeats the purpose of the whole ME story if Shepard's conections and friends had no impact on the result of the war. At least, that is how i see it. Besides, i dont really think it would have so little impact on the galaxy, the invasion would have been even worse without those extra preparations, as insignificant as they might seem. Plus, people like Vega, Cortez, Traynor and Adams would most likely not joined the crew, at least not right away, which would lead to dire ramifications on the whole Mars archives (no Vega kamikaze attack) and Grissom Academy (no Traynor to catch the fake signal) situations.

[@goldenrootsnet]

@@wolfancap6897 I understand your point. But fact is ME 3 was so badly written, it actually defeated the whole point of ME 2. We may want it all to matter, but unfortunately the developer choices made it thus that it didn't. Even though they knew they wanted to make a trilogy, they had no idea what the overarching story would be and how your choices should affect the story. Combined with the rushed release of ME 3 it was just a complete mess storywise. As much as ME 2 was an interesting story, as part of the trilogy, it was pointless. It's just one big side quest. The whole assault on the Collector base did nothing story wise to help defeat the Reapers. In ME3, it is just a footnote in the story. It should have been a crucial plot point in defeating the Reapers. Instead, it's reduced to some war assets. The heart or the brain of the Reaper doesn't even affect what the Crucible does. In fact nothing any species have added in the infinite amount of cycles have any impact on what the Crucible does, or on it's chances to dock with the Citadel. We don't even see it fighting it's way to the Citadel. There is not even a single scratch on the Crucible in the cutscene, no matter your amount of war assets. Think about it: Everything necessary to defeat the Reapers storywise was introduced in ME3: Crucible plans found in ME3, Crucible built in the span of the game, which according to the ME wiki spans about 5 months (also the time between Arrival and the start of ME3 is only 6 months, and not a year like you stated earlier, making delaying the arrival of the Reapers even more pointless), uniting the galaxy also done in ME3. Nothing done in ME2 gives the galaxy a head start. Hell, the whole of ME2 hinges on the council's or even earth's unwillingness to act. Hackett could have easily sent in a single dreadnought through the Omega relay and obliterate the base from space after acquiring the Reaper IFF. Hell, Hacket could have sent a special squad to acquire the Reaper IFF himself, after TIM disclosed the location of the derelict Reaper to Shepard. Besides, why couldn't they have salvaged it from Sovereign? Also, they didn't even use the Reaper IFF on all ships in ME3 to gain a tactical advantage over the Reapers. Thinking even more about it: after the Reapers amassed at Earth, the alliances should have just destroyed Earth's mass relay and achieve instant victory. Ugh, it's so badly written, I don't want to think about it anymore. Great gameplay, but storywise such a let down 😔

[@mikestepz3945]

I am currently playing the trilogy on the legendary edition and I must say your videos have been imperative in satisfying my hunger of knowing the outcome of all possible paths in this fantastic story! Subscribed!

[@thundershark8681]

Hey dan you choose an good moment to upload mass effect related videos for the upcoming rework keep going you're great I love these franchise by the way can you upload what would happen if you talk paragon after letting the queen rachni die

[@RAY296]

She betrays you if she died in mass effect 1 and you release the reaper queen in 3. She’s only loyal if you kept her alive in mass effect 1 and 3. Not only is this old news, I’m pretty sure he did a vid on it already

[@slimjim877]

The question isn't "can you save them?" it's really "why would you save them? They're batterions"

[@onkeltom8539]

Typical Mass Effect: giving you choices for something that's already decided by the writers, with zero effect on the game later on.

[@Duke_of_Petchington]

it's actually really lazy on their part, cause it means they don't have to write an entire story if you do save them

[@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013]

"A plan to knock a nearby asteroid into the relay" umm...doesn't the plot of the first game hinge on the fact that the most energetic event possible (a supernova) went off near a relay and just knocked it across space while leaving it perfectly functional? Were they planning to throw that asteroid into it faster than the speed of light? Was there a dying star *inside* of that asteroid? I know this is basically nit-picking but it annoys me way more than I can express in a KZbin comment that Bioware forgets their own rules so often.

[@rabidbadger5260]

Dr Kenson: 'Because of you everyone on this rock will be obliterated!' Shepard: 'Not if I get to you first.' Shepard proceeds to shoot dead everyone on the rock to get to Kenson. I love this game.

[@AG26498]

The Arrival DLC gave me Doom 2016 vibes. Large research facility with claustrophobic hallways, check. Shepard waking up and blasting his way out, check. A nuclear meltdown you have to stop, check. Evil female antagonist, check. And you are solo without a squad, check. The only thing lacking was Reaper husks as enemies.

[@kingaragornii9940]

*So can you, or can you not, save the Batarians?*

[@Redoer]

i just love how consistent the IT is with all the dlc content

[@christianfranck1818]

"Can you save the batarians?" Why would you even if you are doing a joke playthrough?

[@thatsicklypup]

Title: Can you save the Batarians? Me: Why would you? Why would anyone?

[@scottshepke669]

It’s funny I just played this mission yesterday for the first time and felt like the biggest dick destroying the batarian colony and that star system and I even clicked the warn option. But good to know that the star system will be destroyed regardless. Trying to be neutral/ even paragon &renegade

[@juniocosta4839]

Great vid man.

[@countdooku7020]

Wow! How did I not know about this dlc. Sorry big Dan but I’m going to have skip this video and play the dlc my self. Still giving you that 👍. I’ll come back after doing this dlc

[@BigDanGaming]

Totally understand! Hope you enjoy it once you get a chance to play it

[@NovaRX-0]

Why would you though? The real tragedy of Mass Effect is not having the option to commit space genocide against the four-eyed menace to galactic society. And tbf you cannot break the space Geneva Convention if they aren't human.

[@OfficialFedHater]

Eh, they're just xenos. This post sponsored by Terra Firma, Earth First.

[@albertwei1998]

honestly I would rather choose to blow up more relays to just wipe out Batarians. they are the plague of the galaxy and this is what I concluded since I played the whole games.

[@release_the_Diddy_list]

Save them? I'd rather broadcast Dope's _Die M'Fer Die_ on every channel as the asteroid hits the relay

[@cassiespencer6134]

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one." - Star Trek.

[@Dicyroller]

Honestly, I really hated this DLC after the first three times I played it. I never played it again. It was not fun.

[@tidan4575]

I decided NOT to send out a warning even if I was a kind hearted Shepard. There would be no time for any kind of evacuation by the time the asteroid collides with the relay. Better for the Batarians to go about their lives in ignorance before a supernova kills them all before they knew they were dead.

[@erictheblackdragon]

Paragon- I tried everything.😭 Renegade- 👀Fu(k'em!🤣

[@wavion2]

Renegade: F*ck 'em! Paragon: F*ck 'em!

[@martywittenberg1427]

Honestly i never have any moral issues during this mission. The Batarians are where they are because they are unwilling to change. Unable to adapt or to play nice. I usually save the few batarians that show they can change. The Batarians are damn lucky i even bother as a paragon. As a renegade not so much. Doesn't stop me from getting my ass off that asteroid. So long Batarians. Give Balak my regards..

[@spartanq7781]

I never liked this dlc. It feels incredibly forced. Bioware realized they needed to bridge the game to ME3 and just slapped this together. The whole of Mass Effect didn't advance the plot of the trilogy it did it's own thing. That presented a problem because they needed to tie things together. The writing in this dlc took a hit which portended the writing flaws of ME3. I also hated how the Batarians are killed her and then most of them are wiped before ME3. They missed a opportunity of having us work with the Batarians with this dlc making the Batarians weary. That could have made for great storytelling but they just went the lazy route.

[@dirkbsilver9260]

I agree. It was a giant Kai Leng like fight that nothing you do matters, your still the bad guy to the Batarians. I LOATH THE STUPID DLC.

[@Peachrocks5]

This. There's a lot of plot things I dislike in this DLC but the major one is this. I really doubt Shepard would just sit back and allow him/herself to be arrested, especially a renegade Shepard. They know damn well at this point that the Alliance who largely tried to erase their existence after they 'died' and tried to get the whole Reaper thing to go away isn't going to do anything and sure enough they don't. They sit on their thumbs and go 'how do we stop it' in a committee meeting moments before being annihilated. What was the point of sacrificing all those Batarian lives if nothing useful was done with that so called time that was made. It's even possible Shepard would take their chances with the Illusive Man and Cerberus under those conditions because by this point, the Illusive Man didn't appear to be indoctrinated, Any other option forces Shepard to do nothing while everyone else does nothing. That's not the Shepard we know.

[@markeddeer9384]

It's odd that in ME1 they were launching an asteroid to a human colony

[@dranillaasrapti9333]

Not going to save them anyways 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Totemparadox]

I didn't even realize that I was fighting the Reapers, I thought I was just cleansing the galaxy from those spider eyed freaks.

[@GreenBro11]

No one cares about the Batarians. They really got shafted in the ME trilogy. They're the only species Shepard never helps in any way. Shepard, who cured the the genophage, made peace between synthetic and organic life with the Quarians and the Geth, united the galaxy against the reapers. Also killed a ton of Batarians along the way just for fun.

[@nathanielthomson6600]

What about the vorcha?

[@user-pv7cq9bp5j]

@@nathanielthomson6600 what about them? 😌

[@nathanielthomson6600]

@@user-pv7cq9bp5j that's what Shepard thought apparently, because all we ever did was kill them.

[@Sockimus]

I guess they shouldn't have been scumbags? Batarians sounded like they deserved every bit of karma as much as the Protheans did.

[@GreenBro11]

@@Sockimus Yeah pretty much. Batarians are most known for being slave traders. I think one of Shepard's backstories is even about their home colony being attacked by Batarian raiders giving them personal reasons to hate Batarians. They are really shown as a more blatantly antagonistic species.

[@christianoperez8224]

so glad i found this channel and you’re making such amazing content, you answer so many questions i’ve wondered before but during all my playthroughs couldn’t bring myself to do because they have bad consequences but had my interest in what would happen

[@mysticonthehill]

I never complete this quest. I cannot be a part of something that unethical

[@sirVhailor]

we're given several choices, it's just sometimes shit happens regardless of what you choose. hard but important lesson