Mass Effect Trilogy - Review and Analysis

[@smartalec2001]

The original party members illustrate the alien stereotypes by being misfits. Garrus is frustrated by strict hierarchy and rules, Liara is inexperienced and socially awkward, Tali is outgoing and adventurous, and Wrex is world weary and contemplative. They all play against type. Kaiden and Ashley then represent the two halves of Humanity in space, the spaceborne and the colonial.

[@LAGator-qu7tc]

I like that….. I hope the new guardians game give off this vibe.

[@kalashnikovdevil]

Kaiden and Ashley also play well against Shepherd in terms of both being on the IQ level of an aging Golden Retriever. So we have the full spectrum of humanity on full display in game one.

[@OrbitalHUB]

Great point....That way you can worldbuild around them going against the grain, while giving them a unique flare.

[@Anzellla]

@@kalashnikovdevil what, cause they don’t kiss shep’s ass? i thought that’s what dogs do, loving unconditionally and all that

[@smartalec2001]

@@_DeadEnd_ Ah, I didn't say Liara was shy! But I think if we just take their portrayals in ME1, Liara is definitely awkward. Halting, uncertain conversations, always worrying if she's said the wrong thing, clumsy attempts to flirt... By contrast, in ME1 Tali seems like a happy-go-lucky motormouth. She's more than happy to just tell you about whatever's on her mind. Talk about the engines? Sure? About being homesick? No problem! They both change a bit as the series goes on, but in the first game, I stick by my assessment.

[@T0mN7]

To me, one of the most disappointing moments of the trilogy was not being able to reply "Ah yes, Reapers" to the Turian councilor in ME 3.

[@beefstrokinoff]

I love that I can hear this exact line in my head lol

[@kalashnikovdevil]

Shit, that's be choice.

[@xLatinAssazzin]

one the most disappointing this was you cant aim while legendary edition your able actually aim

[@jaquin525]

It would've been a magnificent Renegade option when talking to the councilors

[@predatorasap5040]

For me it was when they wasted the change to show what a quarian looks like in 3

[@n7grey]

Every game in the trilogy has their big flaws but the highs are one of the best and most memorable moments in gaming for me. This trilogy is just special for me

[@poseidonc1259]

Agreed

[@MoonlightLunaMoonlight]

fellow p3 fan detected

[@n7grey]

@@MoonlightLunaMoonlight hell yeah, hope there'll be more of us once the port comes to modern platforms

[@KafkaDatura]

I think that's the entire point. Even the video cannot deny that what ME did right, it did absolutely gloriously. The suicide mission is one of my greatest moments of gaming.

[@wertywerrtyson5529]

Mass Effect is special not just because it was the first game of its type but it’s pretty much the only game of the type. I can only think of Alpha Protocol that’s even remotely using the same mechanics. And even that is more like Splinter Cell with some light ME touches. All other RPGs are either fantasy or they are first person loner games like Fallout. There are no party based third person shooter/RPG games. We have dozens of fantasy based RPGs like Dragon Age and that’s great but space and action and RPG that combination is pretty unique.

[@SpawnKill4Fun]

Very minor detail: with the fight with James; if you do a Paragon interrupt, you block his blows When Shepard does a renegade interrupt he hits James. Just to clarify.

[@jackstack2136]

I find it really interesting that you attribute Paragon/positive actions to Player's choice, but negative (Renegade) actions to Shepard's character.

[@ColdHawk]

@@jackstack2136- a psychologist comments!

[@cashnelson2306]

He? There's a male Shepard?

[@kimiyamk]

@@cashnelson2306 Yeah who wants to look at a dude's backside for hundreds of hours?

[@joedatius]

thats not why he's saying its confusing. its because there is no logical reason why fighting back would be considered evil when you're literally being forced to spar with him. the issue is that the interrupts have no way of knowing what they would do so at some points its just interrupting them with you talking and others its shooting and innocent person

[@whiskeysour1179]

The trilogy is best on your first run, with no spoilers. The illusion of consequence is as strong as possible, and you can make mistakes or achieve success yourself. I jumped on Virmire early and didn't have the charisma to save Wrex, Ash killed him for me. It was extremely frustrating, and I got a little too focused on the rep stats as a course correction, but that meant I had no problem smoothing out the Miranda/Jack argument or the Tali/Legion dispute. I got with Liara in ME1 and ignored romance in ME2 to wait for her (didn't have LotSB), and that made the reunion in ME3 much more satisfying. It also went towards seeing Tali and Garrus end up as a couple, which was so satisfying since they were, predictably, two of my favorites, and I very nearly went for Tali in ME2. It was a nice reward for staying in character. I saved all of my squadmates on the suicide mission, but I took slightly too long to get there so I lost my other crew to the Collectors, which was particularly frustrating. I really liked Chambers, even disregarding her stripper dancing, and I missed the engineers for the rest of the series, too. I saved the Quarians and the Geth first try, and I was absolutely elated that I'd done something that seemed impossible, making peace and protecting my two favorite races at the same time. I let Ash die on Virmire because I never liked her anyway, and Kaidan was a real bro the rest of the series. It made more sense, as Kaidan was a higher rank with more experience and talents, and it was great to see him become a Specter and know that I helped him climb that high, and he deserved it. I did my best to put Anderson in power and protect human interests, but Udina beat me in the political arena because Shep is not a politician, he's a big damn hero. It all felt earned, the wins and the losses, and I was satisfied with the writing even at the times when I thought, "Ah, that's how they deal with that decision, well I guess they had to rein it back in for the story of later games." I understand the frustration that comes from seeing the puppet strings, but I don't think it's reasonable to ask for so much consequence to choices, especially while disapproving of the broken quest chains that can come from dead squaddies. If a character dies, it makes good sense that their quest line should collapse, and you should be punished for your failures. Yes, the games use a pretty heavy coating of contrivance to try to plug plot holes, but considering the complexity of the project and the real limitations of games and dev teams, Mass Effect is special because it sells the Hero Space Captain experience so well. Yeah, it can be ham-fisted in how it manages consequences or determined success and failure, I really dislike the entire crew kidnapping bit and the mechanics of its resolution are pretty bullshit, but it worked when there was enough uncertainty there to sustain my suspension of disbelief. Your criticisms are fair, and I'm glad you didn't like the series--otherwise I wouldn't have had this video to enjoy, right?--but I do think you are asking a little too much. And that's fine too, we improve by asking for too much and then climbing to capture that out-of-reach goal. It's just important to remember to have reasonable expectations as well as respectable aspirations. No one can say you didn't give the series a fair shake. Thanks for your hard work.

[@CatBitchNami]

Fanboy

[@deepdog8729]

@@CatBitchNamiPEOPLE LIKE VIDEOGAMES!? AND MEDIA!!? WHAAAAT NO WAY!? PEOPLE ENJOY THINGS!?

[@whiskeysour1179]

​@@CatBitchNami Better a Mass Effect fanboy than a Dark Souls 2 fanboy ;)

[@CatBitchNami]

@@whiskeysour1179 Pfff, what do you even see as being a Dark Souls 2 fanboy? Is liking the game at all a prerequisite? I'm afraid that if this is the case, then I have to tell the DS2 fandom is filled with millions of fanboys. Said that, if you must know, my favorite souls game is Dark Souls 1(gameplay-wise), I haven't played Elden Ring yet, neither Bloodborne(Althrough I think I like Bloodborne's lore more than Dark Souls.)

[@whiskeysour1179]

​@@CatBitchNamiI was just cracking a joke about your username, Aldia. Give Sekiro a shot before you invest three months into Elden, best From game since DS1.

[@Kryptice]

The world-building is what made the first Mass Effect game so great, and the reason it's still my favorite in the trilogy. And the Citadel has never looked better since.

[@robertharris6092]

Same. People alwsys overlook world building and lore. Its why i love halo so much despite me loseing ijterest in the gameplaym

[@snakesnoteyes]

Hard agree! I enjoy(ed) seeing more of the Wards in 2 and going back to the Presidium in 3, but 1 gave us the best variety and that first glimpse even after all these years whenever I replay 1, is still a moment of awe.

[@666lupine666]

So... the citadel is your favorite citadel on the citadel?

[@silent_stalker3687]

Babylon nine

[@johanneskrohn3336]

@@666lupine666 I'm Commander Jo and this is my favorite comment in this comment section.

[@MaglaMach]

I'd disagree when you said killing your companions has no effect. killing wrex changes the entire fate of the krogan, and killing legion or tali ruins any chance at peace between the geth or quarians.

[@sliccthedestroyer1881]

In my play through they both died. But the geth are free to make choices of their own. So it isn’t that bad.

[@mocianK]

I think what he means is more that the attitude from ppl towards you doesn't really change. And I think it would take a ton of effort to implement realistic attitude changes.

[@MaglaMach]

@@mocianKI think that was a separate point he was making but yeah I agree. dragon age did how companions reacted to your choices way better, with them sometimes even attacking you.

[@snakesnoteyes]

Yes, but as the ending to 3 largely disregards all of that, he’s not wrong.

[@Grifball]

@@MaglaMach when *spoiler* betrayed me near the end of Dragon Age Origins because I didn't spend anytime raising their approval it damn near blew my mind as a teenager. At the time I figured it would be like the influence system in KotOR2 and have minimal effect to things outside of missing dialogue.

[@MaskofPoesy]

”...the galaxy's best and brightest, plus Jacob...” Never, you're officially a ME fan. Sorry mate.

[@maku4814]

What a rotten way to die.

[@MaskofPoesy]

​@@maku4814 What a shame.

[@JohnZingTTV]

OMG the 2 hrs 20 something minutes part is the best part of this video man the tears in my eyes what genius what top narraion and escalation of flow at this point i chuckled soo hard it hurt. I truely came away inspired i wish i could make content to this level. Am i the only one does anybody else agree with me? BTW i sware i've seen that jc denton id comment on alot of other videos i've watched before. i assume ur v active on youtube?

[@MaskofPoesy]

@@JohnZingTTV Might be other people. Although I'm very active as well.

[@dignes3446]

@@MaskofPoesy It's a simple message I am demonstrating. We know where you are going and what you intend.

[@Indigo_Gaming]

I'm consistency impressed by the sheer volume of content you put out. Well done, man!

[@zaratustra00]

and the quality of the content! the narration is astonishing

[@bellenber]

Holy crap another Content Creator I love to watch.

[@DatAsuna]

While Andromeda dropped the ball on many aspects, I'll always respect the decision to go back to mass effect 1 and attempt to improve the many mechanics that 2 just discarded entirely.

[@AniGaAG]

I might be the only one on this planet who thinks Andromeda is (now that it's in a technically fine state) an alright game. Not brilliant, not great, but alright.

[@dhanraj0958]

​@@AniGaAG Its definitely a solid game tbh, the story and the dialogue is a bit cheesy but its definitely enjoyable and the combat is super fun throughout.

[@Kris-wo4pj]

@@AniGaAG im still pissed the dlc got turned into a fucking comic book. i hope they keep the one great aspect in andromeda tho for the next game. being able to change your literal class in the middle of combat. i loved shooting or sniping in soldier then changing to adept to do a charge to clear enemies in cover then changing and to throw barriers on me and my companions to engineer to get rid of armor/shield/robots to changing to sentintal to be able to tank and shoot without issues. soon as i learned the exact specs i needed to do that and i got over classes being static i went crazy.

[@Kris-wo4pj]

@@dhanraj0958 i think its cuz the game was suppose to be less space opera and more of a hopeful heroes always save the day action adventure story. atleast thats how i justified the story and dialogue being the way it was. despite how people died and stuff on screen it was less horrific and graphic than the trilogy is. i came to that conclusion talking to the leader of the first outpost.

[@MetalGearyaTV]

MEA has not dropped the ball in anything. ME was the epitome of mediocrity since the beginning. Andromeda actually in many crucial regards is better than any previous games.

[@egamruf]

The trope you're looking for is probably "Cassandra" (in Greek myth, a Trojan priestess who was cursed to tell true prophecies nobody ever believed) and it's millennia old.

[@pineapplethief4418]

not only that, she was cursed so that prophecies were self-fulfilling - by mere fact of telling the prophecy you set the chain of events which will inevitably lead to that prophecy becoming true

[@acrow5]

@@pineapplethief4418 I mean, if she told a prophecy, it was going to happen regardless. That's the literal meaning of a prophecy, since there was a god of prophecies, every prophecy given would come true regardless, they predicted the future. Once you start going down the rabbit hole of prophecies, you can't help but wonder if the future is determined from the get go, no matter what you do, will fate cause the events to happen? Prophecies are bullshit, just put it that way.

[@pineapplethief4418]

@@acrow5 I guess I miss the point of your comment, lots of words, but boils down to platitudes

[@jeffhoward162]

Older than writing, that trope.

[@Jacob-df5hr]

Nobody Ever Believes Harry Potter is a pretty good off the cuff name tho

[@Xboxkokoko]

I always saw Mass Effect was less role playing as a character, but directing a character. You don't decide what the character says, but what the intent is behind what they're saying.

[@dr.science_0177]

Agreed. I don't mind it because I have too much fun with the gameplay

[@emilbj23]

Yes but the video makes it very clear how much Shepard as a character sucks / is lazily written, both in the paragon and renegade playthrough. He's no Geralt unfortunately

[@Squadwin]

"You don't decide what the character says" You decide whether Shepard shoots Wrex or not. You control and project yourself onto Shepard, you don't strap onto his back for a ride.

[@popkhorne5372]

@@emilbj23 to be fair, geralt was already an established character written by a very good author. But yes, imo mass effect failed the compromise between making an actual character, an iconic one whose adventures you follow, and your own avatar.

[@Sidiciousify]

I was watching a fudge muppet video about the whodunit quest in oblivion es3 and the sad reality when it comes to virtual rpgs is that no amount of industrialization can substitute for ones own creative dialogistic potential as one would have in a traditional table top rpg. Thus i believe that these sort of, or perhaps what has become, standard critiques of moral ambiguity in rpg games is effectively a moot point. Considering even in a standard table top rpg l, most of the so called decisions that one makes are already tightly woven into the dungeon master's narrow perspective of potential moral and physical potentialities.

[@benvos2458]

That Mordin scene where you shot him hurt me a surprisingly large amount

[@DanKaschel]

Anyone else would have gotten it wrong 😭

[@gdoggcasey]

Same...Mordin was my favorite companion and I had no idea that could happen...

[@bennemeth625]

Weird how they put all the best scenes in a version of the game barely anyone would see.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

@@bennemeth625 And when Wrex finds out, that's also an amazing scene. Actions having consequences, the game just needed a few more of those for the paragon options.

[@HeffryCuddles]

You are all monsters how could you shoot Mordin

[@pavfeira]

I was speechless when I saw "Third Playthrough" pop on screen. Was yelling at the screen "it's okay! You're allowed to just *not* enjoy a game. You don't have to torture yourself, forcing yourself to agree with critics from a decade ago." But wow. Am I glad I watched the Third Playthrough. That was... that was one hell of a trip.

[@McMingus]

Coming from someone who just played the seires for the first time and am absolutely in love with the trilogy it was so interesting to hear your thought process and your detailed experiences with it, you raise some really valid points and you've portrayed it all in a really engaging way - you've just earned another sub!

[@donotevenbegintocare]

12:00 While the Mass Effect dialogue wheel has its problems, I personally disagree with the comparison to Fallout 4's. The problem IMO with Fallout 4's is that there was no actual choice. Every response's "choices" were: 1. Yes 2. Yes with more steps 3. Sarcastic No 4. SHAWN!

[@Edax_Royeaux]

Even the F4 speech options often do NOTHING except provide xp. This is unlike Mass Effect where you can potentially kill someone during a dialogue if you so wished. The fact that Neverknowsbest said Mass Effect 2 removed quests with different outcomes is bizarre, of course it had different outcomes. You could leave Zaeed to burn to death if you wanted. The entire Suicide Mission was about choices mattering.

[@Nickulator]

There's also the fact that Fallout started out with having a silent protagonist and continued to do so for several games until FO4, whereas Mass Effect started with a voiced protagonist and stuck with it so the expectations were set and met from the beginning. Mass Effect and The Witcher games are similar in that the protagonist is not supposed to be a self insert no matter how much neverknowsbest wants it to be. You're supposed to roleplay as "them" and with every decision think "what would Commander Shepard do or what would Geralt do?". Fallout, and by extention the Elder Scrolls games, are about blank slate protagonists that you then form through your roleplaying and choices, with the possibility of a self insert if you desire. A voiced protagonist with a very set-in-stone background, clear goals and motivations wouldn't work for this type of game, hence why FO4 failed in this regard.

[@twZera413]

I think that's part of the problem, but the main one is that they're fundamentally different kinds of games. Fallout is more about creating your character and roleplaying with them, while Mass Effect is playing Shepard's story and making some choices.

[@malachiramel9516]

SHAWN!

[@Oroberus]

And you do not see the similarity to the ME-wheel? Seriously? Upper right - Yeah, I agree/do it because it's moral! Middle right - I don't know Lower right - Yeah I agree/do it because it's evil! And the only actual change this brings is how glowy your scars get xD Neither does going paragon or renegade lock you out of quests, nor does it open up new quests, it doesn't even change the option you have with in quests. The wheel is so hollow, that you'll even get the exact same responses from NPCs for roughtly 70% of the time. And before I get dogpiled, what will happen anyways, yes, there are some (about a hand full? half a dozen, maybe?) choices within the wheel that actually matter but those choices are either short term, or are completely voided by the non-choice at the end of the trilogy you're forced into. ME is the perfect example why fatalism might be worth being entertained as a philosophical concept but makes a uniquely bad design choice for video game genres which are based on making decisions ;)

[@peteriter]

That part where you kill Wrex and mention all the things he could’ve done in the trilogy really made me feel like sh*t, for a decision that I’ve never made xD

[@TheAffectation8724]

Ditto. Except in my case, I couldn't charm Wrex, so Ashley killed him for me.

[@thatannoyingguyinthecommen5970]

Same man!! NKB has a certain way of tapping into your imagination with the way he describes scenarios with great detail, I've felt more of an impact listening to him describe things in certain games that I actually played through myself, that's great story telling there ❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻

[@tacioob2337]

I killed him, i regret it, only played Mass effect once

[@BlackViper37]

@@tacioob2337 its not too late to change the past my friend

[@BoulderPunch]

As great as this video is, the "third playthrough" section is something else.

[@dangerguy32]

Right

[@sayedistrending]

Holy crap! It's Boulder Punch. I love your KZbin channel and this Channel too 🎮👍

[@christopher_munn]

It caught me off guard, not gonna lie. Just expected it to end with a conclusion. Replay-ability for third play through (or more for some people) is something this game did well. You always wonder if there’s something in the greater story you missed that would answer all the questions you had. As he saw, there were some cool scenes to witness for “wrong” choices, but ultimately they didn’t matter. You, unfortunately, didn’t miss anything at all.

[@dankenstein9462]

Right, the cringey over-philosophy, like a discount Whitelight and the bad takes are just like, bruh wtf lol 😂

[@danesmith2133]

What Mass Effect did best in storytelling was the "Show don't tell." The way that you interact and uncover the layers of your party members was a continuous building on your past shared experiences. I never really thought of Mass Effect as an RPG series, but it is a worldbuilding and narrative gem.

[@KyriosHeptagrammaton]

The trope dates back to mythology the Cassandra truth trope

[@snakesnoteyes]

Exactly. And it’s not unfounded in reality. Systems tend to lend more credence to insiders than outsiders even to their detriment.

[@smartalec2001]

I found it amusing that, with the monkey-stole-a-module side quest in ME1 that you get Paragon points if you refrain from shooting any of the monkeys in frustration, and Renegade points if you blow one away.

[@malachiramel9516]

YOU are morally obligated to kill a monkey.😇 Letting one live is pure evil. 👿

[@malachiramel9516]

@@nek729 I'm commander Sheppard and this is the best reply in existence!

[@Chronolia]

I don’t remember that in the original the first time I played

[@thedogmaticdirector]

I have to keep loading saves on that mission, because I keep accidentally running them over.

[@jasonsguitarjourney2060]

Even if you accidentally run one over you get renegade points

[@anonsenpai6533]

"Pikachu doesn't evolve." Raichu: "And I took that personally."

[@Swatman170]

Yeah, I got pretty confused when I heard that one.

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

Pikachus evolve, but iconic Pikachu doesn't evolve, because branding and stuff.

[@ebonyPM]

@@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842 exactly... it would be risky and drastic change for iconic pikachu and people like familiar things ... that was the point of the whole pikachu remark

[@kazaamjt1901]

in pokemon yellow you couldn't evolve pikachu. Seeing as that was the game on screen I think that's what he's referencing.

[@zeroattentiongaming820]

@@kazaamjt1901 Yellow is the only game where you are guaranteed to have a Pikachu, therefore the only time you are forced to have one it is one that cannot evolve

[@thenaiam]

Props for the Civ analogy to describe the Mass Effect races. And I completely agree with you on the Sovereign scene; it is executed perfectly, and it gives me chills every time.

[@linkenski]

1:54:00 CORRECTION: The Crucible was NOT designed to kill the Reapers. We literally have no idea what it does in the entire game, and the characters just mistakenly assume it will kill the Reapers but they actually have no idea what it does, and you're reminded of this several times. It's blind faith that taking it to Earth is gonna work, which is a whole other can of worms: Why does Illusive Man think it can control the Reapers? Why does Shepard think it can't? What's the point of them arguing if neither know what the Catalyst truly is (evidently they didn't: It's the Citadel AI which nobody ever sees but Shepard) and why are we even setting up a war effort for Earth and Earth alone? The entire goal of Mass Effect 3 is set up after Sur'Kesh when Hackett says "Everything we're doing is a delaying action for you. Build alliances and we'll build the device, and when it's ready we take it to Earth!" as if liberating Earth is gonna do anything. Our goal is to STOP THE REAPERS, but the narrative keeps assuming that our primary interest is making sure Earth is safe, despite how much ME1/2 decried "Earth-first" mentality... and it all hinges on a plan that we don't even understand because the Crucible is just blind hope. The only thing anyone knows is that it houses enormous energy and it does "something". That's why the scenes on Thessia are stupid and the ending with Anderson is somewhat spoiled in quality. Thessia has Shepard yammering "We get the Catalyst and the war is over!!" but he doesn't know that. Before Anderson passes away Shepard sits down in tired satisfaction: "We did it." And sure... we did hook up the device. Our plan on Earth worked, and the job is done... so what does the thing do? Well, tadaa~ it brings up this ending. That is the TRUE function it had. It was not build by Protheans originally, as we knew. It was also not built by the cycle before the Protheans. So how far does it go down? The only answer that makes canonical sense is that it's the Reapers' creators that made it. You'll notice that when asking in Leviathan DLC about the Crucible, the puppet-character shifts his eyes to the left and pauses before answering that it's "unknown". With that, you can feel the suggestion that the Crucible was originally made by organics before the Reaper solution was made, and was halted because of the Reaper solution. Apparently they deemed it more efficient to harvest people into synthetic shells, in order to "preserve life", but what the organics wanted was to use this device either to control, synthesize life, or destroy all synthetics. And once you hook it up at the end, it awakens the Catalyst and rewrites parts of its programming or something "changing the variables" so that it now wants to utilize the Crucible. Also claiming it is "little more than a power source." This means the Citadel itself is the real weapon, and the Crucible's only function is to power it up with the properties to unleash either outcome, and rewrite the Catalyst (or maybe that automatically happens when this energy charges up). It's convoluted and vague, but this is how it makes sense, and it is the only thing that could add up. If it isn't the truth, then we're back to square one: The endings simply don't add up. They're just nonsense just like ME3's central plot written by Mac Walters who did not write Mass Effect 1's plot, and only co-wrote Mass Effect 2 with Mass Effect 1's original plot writer. He screwed it up, because he simply isn't that good at writing.

[@mahatmaniggandhi2898]

well the earth isnt really safe anymore considering there is a large fleet above it

[@Sanquinity]

That was one thing that CONSTANTLY bothered me during ME3. Shepard, Anderson, Hackett, and a few others constantly going on about getting reinforcements for earth. Like, why is earth so special? Just because it's the human homeworld and Shepard is human? It makes NO logical sense for the entire focus to just be on earth. Yet everyone in the game makes it sound like that is the ONLY logical thing to focus on. It just makes...no sense...

[@Drewe223]

I totally see, acknowledge, and even agree with people's issues with ME2 and 3, yet I swear those are two of the most enjoyable and memorable games I have ever played. This isn't even nostalgia talking, I just played them this year.

[@Dentson]

I have loved ME 1-3 since I started playing 2 ( there are no other ME games in Ba sing se) . 2 is my favorite with three close behind, only reason on release the end was bad there is no getting around that but I enjoyed everything up to the final mission.

[@Stentron]

Each game was the best at something

[@Edax_Royeaux]

The fact that Neverknowsbest said Mass Effect 2 removed quests with different outcomes is bizarre, of course it had different outcomes. You could leave Zaeed to burn to death if you wanted. The entire Suicide Mission was about choices mattering.

[@hughjass9914]

I'm in the same boat, I've never had nostalgia for games so soon after playing them. Absolute and pure magic.

[@derianardor]

I agree with you.

[@thesummerofmark]

3 hours of fresh NeverKnowsBest content, now that’s how I like my Sundays to end

[@noegonzalez4918]

That's a little disheartening

[@mctooch]

Amen

[@browning2471]

L L you seem mad

[@browning2471]

L L relatable

[@malachiramel9516]

Next week: death! jk

[@westberlinerbuoi70]

"One part tank, one part pogostick." Ahahaha imagine a war of makos, mostly awkwardly bouncing around

[@malachiramel9516]

It'd be like getting all your G.I Joe tanks and putting them in the dryer.

[@envi2273]

Beautiful video, even though I've played this trilogy through dozens of times and know it's lore in and out, I'll never get tired of these in depth reviews and retrospective videos, great work man.

[@CleverCheetah]

I liked the planet scanning in ME2 lol. It is just relaxing to listen to the great galaxy soundtrack while popping drones into the system. Just me tho.

[@Discovery2024-rn8kn]

Did you probe Uranus? Funny listening Tricia saying it

[@steveharrison76]

@@Discovery2024-rn8kn”really, commander?” 😂

[@Tehstampede]

I've always imagined a full Renegade Shepherd as being an extremely focused but abrasive and self-absorbed man getting the job done in the most efficient way possible. Your interpretation of a Renegade was unbelievably depressing and I loved it.

[@kingrantsalot5837]

The fact that even Evil Shep throws his pistol away after shooting Mordin...oof...

[@derpro8125]

Add to the fact it's the same pistol (or at least the same model) that Mordin gave him.

[@Sanquinity]

@@derpro8125 Yup that's what really got me. In all other cutscenes you get a standard pistol to shoot with. But in Mordin's cutscene it's specifically the pistol that you unlocked when he gave it to you. In other words you murder one of your closest allies, both betraying his trust and cutting off his path to redemption, by specifically shooting him with the gun that he gave to you when he first met you.

[@AniGaAG]

My take: Going all Paragon or all Renegade _ruins_ Shepard. The more I just _roleplayed_ Shepard, ignored Paragon/Renegade, and just picked whatever "my" Shepard would say then and there, the more believable the experience of playing "my" Shepard got. Mind, that's _still_ a flaw - the whole Paragon/Renegade system is dumb, and the game is better if you ignore it. Still... ignoring it _does_ make Shepard feel a _lot_ better.

[@Sanquinity]

@@AniGaAG It's why I loved that paragon/renegade didn't matter that much anymore in 3. Either would contribute to the "total score". Also the system didn't suck. It was innovative and seen as a good, if kinda basic system back when ME1 was released. Though by today's standards, yes, it's kinda bad.

[@AniGaAG]

@@Sanquinity That's the thing: I am _not_ a friend of "oh, it _was_ good" / "good for its _time_ though". And also not of "innovative = good". Yes, it was an innovation - but not a good one, because cutting morals into red and blue is incredibly shallow. And had you asked me back at the release of any of the three, I'd already have told you that I thought it's dumb and that ME3 stepping back on it was a good thing... so yeah.

[@garyfoster7134]

1:04:54 "to recruit the universe's best and brightest... plus Jacob"... lmao I may not agree with you all the time but hot dang do I love your dry wit

[@Xxbte96xX]

After seeing the third playthrough, it's wild to me how hard Bioware pulls back on the "wrong" way of playing the game. It's very similar to those TellTale games that made you think you were making all of these choices and that everything was changing, but in the end it all was the same outcome.

[@Sanquinity]

That was the main issue people had with ME3's ending. All 3 games made you feel like your choices really mattered. With little bits and pieces (and sometimes seemingly major ones) here and there that would rely on previous choices to determine their outcome. Then the ending of ME3 boiled down to 3 choices and the amount of EMS points you managed to accumulate. And even then each choice and the EMS you had only gave relatively minor differences in the ending.

[@AniGaAG]

My take: Going all Paragon or all Renegade _ruins_ Shepard. The more I just _roleplayed_ Shepard, ignored Paragon/Renegade, and just picked whatever "my" Shepard would say then and there, the more believable the experience of playing "my" Shepard got. Mind, that's _still_ a flaw - the whole Paragon/Renegade system is dumb, and the game is better if you ignore it. Still... ignoring it _does_ make Shepard feel a _lot_ better.

[@thealgerian3285]

Actually a lot of these choices he calls "meaningless" have very serious implications narratively. It's just gonna be lost on the typical RPG player who doesn't care about anything that isn't an ingame mechanic advantage or disadvantage.

[@CatBitchNami]

@@thealgerian3285 Fanboy, Mass Effect killed depth in RPG's, you should not act like it is deep.

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

@@Sanquinity I never understood why it took some people 3+ playthroughs to realize that mass effect choices don't matter that much. I realized that since the first playthrough, and I never really looked at the games as rpg's. In the 2nd game you literally have 5 skills. I just like the world-building, the characters and the journey. And to call the guy's attempts to compare shepard to jesus a cringe inducing, contrived nonsense would be an understatement. Seeing as when the first time I played through the trilogy at 15 years old, my shepard completely failed at doing the suicide mission, killing his crew and himself in the process, only to reset the save and still get Tali and grunt killed. Started mass effect 3 only to finish it with not enough war assets and completely lose the war, killing trillions of galaxy's inhabitants and failing to achieve what I was destined to do in a way that actually mattered. I failed. Saving 99% of the galaxy and stopping the reapers; compared to losing 99% of the galaxy and not stopping the reapers is a pretty massive dichotomy. And to say that your choices don't matter in the end would just be factually wrong. Because they did matter. It literally depends whether you win or lose the war based on those choices. In other games like Deus ex, you can pretty much get fucking everyone killed, do whatever you want, kill the president, rape dogs, whatever, you can still get the best ending simply by choosing a b or c. All options are available, and option a b or c don't have any variables based on your previous choices, they are the same 3 choices you get no matter how well or badly you performed up to that point. Which is why mass effect is so good. It has 8 actual distinct endings which sure repeat some events, but have vastly diffetent implications on the gameworld. Also the choices still impact the story more than 99% of the supposed "rpg's" anyway. Deus ex human revolution, for example, which is considered "one of the best games ever made" by nearly everyone that's played it - has literally 3 choices that affect the story, 2 of which happen in the first tutorial mission and they only affect the one mission that the decision was made. The other 1 determines whether you get a fuzzy screen or not in the penultimate mission's boss fight. That's it. That's all the choices. The game tricks you into thinking there's more but there really isn't. There's just a b c or d options at the very end they are all available for your choosing despite how you performed in all of the previous missions leading up to that choice. So, again - why is mass effect a problem when just Mass effect ONE (1) had more choices and more consequences in the 2 opening hours than human revolution does in it's entire 25 hours. If you want a game with genuine choices that affect the narrative in both small and massive ways then just play new vegas. it's the last relic of that genre and probably the only one in that genre that even achieves it at all. Which is at the cost of an actual interesting, emotionally-driven narrative. The whole narrative is just you preparing for a battle, and you can take different sides at that battle. To prepare for said battle you do faction specific quests. Those faction specific quests don't really feel like quests, they are errands that are almost indistinguishable from the throw-away regugrgitated a thousand times over the gameworld side-quests. The game is split into 2 halfs, the first half is always identical on all playthroughs, you track down benny and kill him/ or spare him, either way it doesn't affect all that much of anything. Then you get to chose any of the 4 factions. it's literally 4 different campaigns with slightly different quests, which sounds cool at first, until you realize that some quests are always gonna appear in all 4 factions, meaning you always repeat the same quests in all playthroughs anyway. It's cool and there's still a very vast ammount of replayability, but there's absolutely 0 emotional reason for the player to care for what's happening in the gameworld nor does the game provide any reason that the player would care about anything past getting revenge on some guy that shot you 20 hours ago which forced you to grind at disconnected side quests for 20 hours just so you could get tough enough to face him. Imagine if mass effect opened with saren shooting you in the head, only for you to wake up in some near abandoned planet, then do random errands for the natives of the planet for 20 hours just so you could finally level up enough to go meet him, then you either shoot him or spare him, only to which the concequence is that a random npc spawns an hour later trying to kill you if you spared saren or nothing happens and saren just dissapears from the story if you spared him. Then you go on to join a faction where you go do errands again for another 20 hours just so it could all conclude in a battle between those factions where your faction wins and the game ends. Just think for a second how fucking uninteresting and boring that sounds compared to what mass effect is actually about. And the dramatic and actually emotional journey it takes you on. So, for the last time, why the hell is this guy still so salty about "the choices not mattering", when they are infinitely more interesting and sometimes even more impactful to the narrative compared to other examples in the genre? Just because it's *slightly* weaker than new vegas? The battle of Hoover Dam is almost the same as Priority:Earth except with an infinitely worse production value, but slightly more small variables. And despite the major flaws in Priority:Earth, it's still a much more impactful, personal, emotional and just plain better conclusion to a story than the battle of hoover dam ever even wished to be.

[@vicvera4636]

50:27, totally agree with you on this one. The conversation with sovereign was such a powerful secene and reveal that to this date, even though I know what comes next in regards to the reapers, it still give me chills. I just wished the direction they decided to go was different.

[@cass7448]

Imagine an alternate trilogy where the Reapers were so insurmountably powerful that their slow crawl across the galaxy isn't because of the stiff resistance, but because they just don't feel any need to rush things. Imagine Sovereign being the only Reaper to be successfully killed, and only because of the extenuating circumstances. Imagine an attack on Earth that doesn't start with explosions. It just starts with thousands of Reapers hanging silently in the sky, seemingly doing nothing. But within a few months, half the population is worshipping them thanks to indoctrination. And the half of the population that are still resisting aren't able to even scratch the Reapers themselves; which seemingly don't even notice they're being fired upon. And imagine the change in tone if you actually devise a way to win, and the Reapers suddenly consider you an actual threat to be eliminated as swiftly as possible. And only after that point do they acknowledge Shepard. What a horrifying yet exhilarating moment that would be. Single greatest missed opportunity of the series IMO.

[@ElJefeRules]

Remember the part in Mass Effect 2, before your crew gets abducted, where Shepard and his entire squad conveniently leave to go on some unspecified mission that you don’t get to play or learn anything about?

[@monsterGLL]

If you have sidequests left to do the abduction happens when you try to start a mission.

[@probablythedm1669]

@@monsterGLL I have... literally never had that happen. I only knew of El Jefe's experience. It's really weird how it is paced out where the common thing is for it to trigger for seemingly no reason instead of when you're headed back from a major mission that requires the whole squad, because no mission requires the whole squad besides the last one and this weird instance where the expendable crew needs to be captured... it's a pretty jarring lowpoint of nonsense. Mission or not.

[@ElJefeRules]

@@probablythedm1669 The game tries to justify it with Miranda saying “you can choose who to take with you when we get there” which still makes the characters look like idiots for leaving the Normandy unprotected.

[@popkhorne5372]

Are tou the doujin guy ?

[@ElJefeRules]

@@popkhorne5372 I refuse to change my picture just because some hentai site uses it as their default avatar for some reason.

[@senabea]

Obviously I have not finished the video yet, but i gotta say coming into the ME Trilogy for the first time with the legendary edition has been an absolutely incredible time for me. The series as a whole has some extremely glaring issues, but overall it's characters, world building, lore have provided such a rich experience it's very easy for me to (partially) overlook the obvious flaws with the dialogue wheel,combat, etc. The mass effect universe managed to be so gripping to me, which was pretty surprising considering I'm not usually a huge scifi fan lol

[@ultimategohan1551]

Exactly, just played through all games back to back for the first time. Some of the most enjoyable and memorable moments in my gaming history.

[@Sadduur]

If you loved ME series, I definitely recommend playing Kotor games as well! :) Unless you for some reason hate Star Wars (nothing wrong with that either).

[@15awesomehighfive]

One of the best soundtracks ever; all of the composers were at the top of their game.

[@Sanquinity]

Seriously, just hearing ME1's intro music or even menu sounds makes me feel incredibly nostalgic and want to reply the series every single time. The music and sound design (for the most part... gun sounds sucked) of at least the first game was stellar.

[@gownerjones]

@@Sanquinity To me, the best tracks are Suicide Mission and The End Run from the second game.

[@Elora445]

@@gownerjones Yeah, Suicide Mission is one helluva great track. One of my favorite versions of this track is one uploaded here on KZbin - the person combined the London Philharmonic Orchestra's performance of it with the original version and in my opinion, it's even better. Both versions are absolutely fine on their own, but together, it's freaking awesome.

[@WobblesandBean]

BWOOOOOOMM....

[@maddieh6093]

Its so weird to hear the other side of the story. The Mass Effect trilogy is my favorite game series of all time. Great video, so interesting to watch as a fan.

[@martinkirotar6994]

Your analysis is thorough in some ways, and yet some parts of it strike me as incredibly superficial. The Turians have nothing to them except looking cool? It made me think: "Did you even play the games?" (Although you definitely did.) The Turians are an incredibly structured and collective culture, their whole society (the Hierarchy) is built up like a military, they are expected to be super dutiful all the time. They are the orderly dutiful military guys to the Asari's diplomats and the Salarians' scientists. An aspect with which Garrus struggles throughout his arch. All this is easily apparent from just talking to the characters and playing the game. It surprises me that details like this escaped you despite your thorough approach, and it makes me think your innate prejudice against Mass Effect still stopped you from analyzing the series in an objective light (even though you made a commendable effort).

[@10011110011]

Around 20:50 That statement is false. You are in space traveling for hours without anything to do. Might as well clap them cheeks.

[@Irespawnoften]

jesus that bad end route was fucking depressing.

[@LhynnBlue]

Everyone at the party seemed to be having fun though.

[@inybisinsulate]

Imagine roleplaying Jack and you will enjoy more than half the red choices. But damn the dream sequences become boring.

[@LhynnBlue]

@@inybisinsulate dream sequences were a clear reference to indoctrination. It is talked about in ME1 lore index. Oily figures and all.

[@JCdental]

Disco Effect Mass Elysium

[@iceman00behave]

@@LhynnBlue Bioware themselves admitted that they weren't that clever, and that indoctrination was never the intention. If indeed the reference is there in ME1, it's pure coincidence. The reality is, due to incompetence, deadlines, publisher mandates, or a myriad of other things, Bioware fumbled the ending. Even with that said, I'd argue the backlash was overblown.

[@jasonschachat1982]

Narration over clip from Jade Empire: "I was in no way jaded enough..." Me: *wipes away tear*

[@MrCheekyScientist]

I have been a huge mass effect fan from the begining. And this. A fully exposed drawn and quartered assessment. Is one of the most beautiful pieces of content that I have ever consumed on the subject. Ever. Thank you.

[@blakefrei3015]

As a 54 year-old gamer who's seen it all, this video hit home. Great writing, presentation, great everything. Now I need to play ME again. Thanks!

[@Truthseeker-iz3dj]

Witcher 3 + 2 dlcs and ME legendary edition is the best single player experiences I have ever had in a game.

[@del46_60]

The controversy was because they had advertised the game as having an ending that couldn't be reduced to A, B, or C. And yet that's exactly how the game ended. They lied to their fans and customers.

[@NKL3085]

Dont watch advertising lol

[@Canadish]

On top of the fact the other writers stated hey got locked out the room for the ending writing sessions, with Casey H taking over full control. Or the fact that the whole ending was a last minute swap, the original writer for ME1 had his plot thrown out in the middle of 2's development (original the plan was the R eapers were there to limit the use of Mass Effect tech development because it was causing an acceleration in super nova star implosions). The ending controvery is a rabbit hole, Bioware royally ruined it. It's not like outrages these days, it was organic, real. It deserved it.

[@smartalec2001]

@@Canadish So, Hudson *assumed direct control?*

[@robertharris6092]

If only some dumbass didnt leak the ending.

[@Lo-Kag]

I did not play ME3 and even I knew that it was from the fact that there was no difference in the ending. Not real a RPG when only the last decision matters and there is nothing to decide.

[@EarthB00]

Ironically, ME3 gave you to most "choice" in conversation despite only two options instead of three. This is because of the "Reputation" system which meant that you were free to choose Paragon or Renegade on a case-by-case basis because either option increased your reputation and unlocked conversation dialogue that enabled the favorable resolutions. The morality meters were not split, but additive.

[@Dext3rM0rg4n]

Yeah but the removal of the middle conversation option still make it the game with less choice by far to me. I'm playing a paragon Shep and I'd say in the first 2 games I chose paragon 70% of the time, middle 25% of the time and renegate 5% of the time. I contemplated the paragon and middle response for a few seconds, not sure what to say a lot of time in the first two games, but in the third one I chose the paragon option immediately almost all the time because the renegate is out of character for my Shep and the middle option was removed.

[@benl2140]

I haven't played ME3, so I'm not entirely sure how that reputation system works, but that "solution" sounds like just removing consequences from your paragon/renegade choices entirely. A better solution, imo, would be to keep the separate paragon and renegade meters, but to have some situations where it's actually beneficial to have a mix of both, so players aren't overly punished for not consistently sticking one approach.

[@eduardolapenda7268]

This is a dumb change they made. The point of Paragon/Renegade is that it rewards players that follow mostly a path, but don't punish by a lot players who want to deviate from it sometimes. Shepard can have an incridibly inconsistent personality in ME3, and the player will be rewarded regardless. And ME1 was pretty bad in this aspect aswell, since gaining Paragon and Renegade was much more rare than 2 and 3, and you could dump stats in charm or intimidate, making the system pointless. The only game that really nailled the system is 2, specially with the Legendary Edtion.

[@BRAWGWill]

@@eduardolapenda7268 But what if I want my Shepard to start of 50/50 paragon/renegade and develop into a 90% paragon by ME3?

[@worldwar2freak12]

Man, I also love the idea of Mass Effect: Canis Major Dwarf! For real tho, thats what happens when you ask your C-team to spend their first project on trying to out-do what your A-team accomplished.

[@anonym1504]

@toaritok Thought so as well for a long time, but I recently replayed Andromeda and it was really bad. Even though the gameplay should be better with all classes available. And the free movement. The Oblivion approach to world developement really kills that game. And they stripped almost all intresting races from that game and replaced them with some shitty star wars aliens.

[@finoderi]

There were no A-team at that moment. Most of the people made ME1 were long gone.

[@alhoon6173]

Yeah, and the A-team went on and made Anthem. Let's face it, the good old Bioware is dead and can't write for shit anymore.

[@littlecoy2886]

I gotta say, throughout watching this video I disagree heavily with many of your final thoughts/gripes on the Reapers, their effect on the galaxy and it’s inhabitants, the value of relationships with each of the companions, the weight of each decision you make and some smaller details. However, I will say two things i didn’t expect to appreciate and respect. One being able to play through the trilogy killing and despising so many characters for sake of the story and relating. I appreciate your willingness to go against your own fiber to make a character as relatable as possible even when it goes contrary the sensible choice nine times out of ten. It actually had the reverse effect on me; it made me appreciate the characters ten fold getting to see a side of them I have never personally seen through several play throughs of the trilogy (generally either being fully paragon or just playing according to what I personally would like to do regardless of Paragon/Renegade score). It also made me respect the writers for writing in so many things that they had to imagine many people would never experience. Example: Mordin has always been one of my favorite characters in the trilogy due to his growth from his Scientifically Binary system of right and wrong to becoming compassionate towards other characters and wanting to do right by the cure even at the cost of his own life. The extent he fights Shepard on it at the tower to ensure that it gets done right just made me love him even more! The other thing I respect that you did was the way your artistically broke down the ending and finale. I played through the trilogy as it was being released and I remember to clearly how ferocious people were to BioWare about the ending of the 3rd game, yet I never understood why. Personally it felt like a good ending to me at the time and before I knew the logistics behind the game design of it it didn’t feel like all my decision was being boiled down to ABC. Even after I learned that though I still understood what the Devs were going for (just as you said). Ultimately I overwhelmingly found myself disagreeing with your perspective of the trilogy time after time through each of your play throughs, but I also didn’t expect to appreciate your determination to fully analyze this trilogy multiple times over. To conclude I know that I consider the Mass Effect Trilogy to be the best, if not, one of the best in gaming and I know I’m not alone in saying that. I can almost guarantee you would not agree with that, but I respect your effort in exploring this galaxy to give it a fair shake so much. Thank you for making this video. It really opened my eyes to another side of the Mass Effect player base. People are allowed to like different things and that’s ok so thank you for stating that with your platform. This video earned a like and a follow. Keep putting out good thorough stuff!

[@littlecoy2886]

@LWKGD ya I guess I just disagree… I can agree that they have to tale some artistic liberties to make for good gameplay because yes they should maybe be invincible in most ways, but that doesn’t make for a fun game. I feel they built it up unbelievably well. I also don’t know where you are referring in the games where Shepard is just slaughtering hoards of reapers. There’s like 2 instances where he and the assistance of armadas of troops or giant earth tremors take on a smaller reaper, but this notion that it’s Dynasty Warriors Shepard edition (I appreciate the reference though I love those games!) I feel is just not accurate. But I honestly feel like this video as I stated in my comment 7 months ago opened my eyes to many other perspectives of this series. I respect you for coming to the conclusion you’ve come to and still loving the games. As for me and mine and many others like me I regard these games as the best trilogy of all time for more reasons than one. Though they have some short comings lore wise, character wise, story wise, gameplay wise, they are unmatched and beautiful and I love them all!

[@PadChords]

After watching your commentary on your second (third?) "selfish" playthrough, I kept thinking, "Oh, this is the person Disco Elysium was made for." By comparison, I can understand why you would be let down by a (so-called) role-playing game where instead of people changing the way they act toward you depending on the decisions you make, you have 100% total freedom to "play" the "role" of Galaxy Savior, even if your every action is antithetical to the rest of the story.

[@TheMysterieRPGguy]

Years ago when I first played mass effect I was just like you are annoyed to say the least at the council for their extreem denial about the reapers, but a friend of mine pointed out there might be a reason for that. We learn at the end of the first game that the citadel was made by the reapers and the room where the council resides is even shaped like a reaper if you look at it from a top down perspective, my friend told me he believes there might be a very weak indoctrination signal slowly doing it's thing on the council making them doubt the existence of the reapers even when faced with large amounts of evidence.

[@KennethKaniff999]

I like this!

[@m0cker184]

That's a cool idea.

[@joesheridan95]

Okay, that´s a new possible reason for their reaction that i didn´t know of. Thank you :) Seeems extreeeemely possible

[@TheMysterieRPGguy]

@@joesheridan95 You're welcome.

[@TheMysterieRPGguy]

@@JavaSchoolBlues Perhaps, but to be fair the story makes it just about as clear as it can without outright saying it. Indoctrination is a thing and Vigil the VI on ilos makes it clear that the reapers build the citadel and like I said the room where the council resides is shaped like a reaper, it would make sense the reapers would build indoctrination into the station to weaken the minds of the people there. I honestly feel like I don't really need much more than that, writers don't always need to outright say everything. In fact it's often better if they don't makes the story more interesting if you figures these things out by yourself. If you ask me there is too much evidence for this theory for it to just be a writing cliché, I cloud be wrong of course but it seems to all click just a little too well for it to all be a coincidence.

[@jacktraister7853]

It was not a well felt choice by Bioware to remove the middle option from Mass Effect 3. Look up the development cycle of that game. It was strangled by EA and undercooked in development. I do not think anyone in the studio wanted there to be simply two dialogue options.

[@robertharris6092]

I feel like having 3 options would of been better if there was dialog only available if you didnt go heavy into paragon or renegade.

[@Arcling]

Actually middle option very often was the same as top or bottom one. Sometimes all options were the same in ME1, just to give illusion of a choice. People often complain that ME2 and ME3 had too much auto dialogue, but in fact ME1 had a lot of it too, just hidden (and less recorded dialogue overall than it's sequels).

[@fourlamb1]

I'm commander lamb, and this is my favourite channel on the citadel KZbin.

[@wisdomleader85]

I enjoyed your expertise in "Goat of Duty".

[@fourlamb1]

@@wisdomleader85 Always happy to help my little lamb.

[@bennygerow]

No you're not. You didn't even use proper grammar. Lame beta.

[@SandyCheeks1896]

2:37:08 Dude, this is genuinely hilarious to me though. Yes I live mass effect and I take the emotional moments and character deaths seriously. Mass effect has made me cry. But one of my goals has ALWAYS been to have the most carefully planned out tragic bloody playthroughs and then arrive at “Mass Effect the Sitcom” Citadel Party dlc with almost no one. With 20+ dead absent friends and awkwardly and depressingly shuffle around and chuckle with the few who made it through my tyrannical crusade and only showed up to my party out of fear. You’re living my dream. It’s hilarious. Try to appreciate it.

[@Kitserina]

The narrating of Shepard as the tragic hero is the best part of the video, I never thought to make this type of playthrough. Just a tiny detail - Mordin didn't create the genophage, since at this point it's about 1000~ years old and Salarians have a pretty short life expectancy of 40 years, he did work on adjusting it, since Krogan became resilient to the formula and it needed to be tweaked occasionally. Awesome video, great work!

[@nataliecameron]

I like that shepard isn’t a cardboard cutout and has opinions and drives outside of the players

[@mcmays22]

It's like Geralt of Rivia. You can craft better stories with fleshed out protagonists. (Edit: typo)

[@AAhmou]

Though I would have loved if those drives were impacted by his backstory. We get very few scenes when that happens, which is disappointing... Especially additional reluctance to join Cerberus if you're a survivor, considering that it was one of their experiments that wiped out his squad.

[@gg829]

Sure, but Shepard is also a very bad, bland and unlikable character. They are culturally coded as a US military badass from a shitty action movie paid by the DOD and there is a whole galaxy that worships the very ground they walk on. An entire race of ancient eldritch psychic super-beings decides to abandon their MILLENNIA old practices of being hidden because an American jackboot gives them a little speech about right choices and apple pie. It is very jarring. The world is great, the rest of the cast is interesting, but Shepard is a loathsome can-do hero out of typical US propaganda reel. This amazing world revolving around this fascist thug cheapens it and ruins it.

[@MAJ0R_TOM]

The ending to ME3 is just something you can't fully understand in posterity alone. You had to be there.

[@Csumbi]

that ending has to be one of gaming historys lowest point, it definitely ruined the franchise for me to some extent, making all previous games almost meaningless. I have not played the revised version, but i cant see how they could improve anything bout it. Might give it another go one these remasters get cheaper :/

[@Dext3rM0rg4n]

@@Csumbi I'll never understand why they decided to make all 3 ending so radically differents, making a sequel impossible and killing the franchise after only three games. Like they could have kept the red ending identical, change the blue ending so that Shepard decide to make the reaper leave the galaxy forever and remove the green ending because it's an abomination. That way a sequel can still happen, it doesn't change much if the reaper are destroyed or gone for good. But with the ending we got the only way to make a sequel to ME3 is either with massive retcon or choosing a canon ending in a game about choice.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

It was the Game of Thrones Season 8 of it's time. Something that was at the top of the world until the death from a thousand cuts ending effectively destroyed the franchise canon.

[@KratosisGod]

@@Dext3rM0rg4n Not every series needs to be a franchise sometimes ending something is better just look at star wars, Halo, gears of war all these series were supposed to end at some point but because of money they are still being kept alive like a Frankenstein's monster.

[@seniorsterling1064]

@@Dext3rM0rg4n or a massive time skip

[@maraudershields283]

I hate the Mission Complete screen. It really pulls you out of the moment, and makes the game feel like a sequence of separate missions, rather than exploring a world.

[@MrSoopSA]

I feel the opposite, that it adds to the tension of building your team, giving it additional impact in that you’ve completed one more step toward the eventual suicide mission.

[@ironwolf56]

I view ME1 and 3 as like big budget scifi movies; whereas ME2 feels more like a season of a great scifi TV series. So to me the mission complete screen is almost like an episode's end credits.

[@Ruckus907]

What a journey this video was. Thank you for putting the time in to go through all of this, twice!

[@IAmRodyle]

One of the best pieces of analysis on this series I've ever seen, subscribing and watching your other vids.

[@Syastsk]

The dichotomy between idealistic stories and "realistic" stories is one I find interesting, and I think this video was interesting in how it showed someone who has a strong preference for "realistic" stories clashing with idealism, especially due to the lack of meaningful choice that resulted from the bias of the developers (e.g. them obviously wanting to tell a story about Shepard the Hero, and thus the story implicitly assuming everyone would be playing a hero, even renegades.) I've recently found myself on the idealistic side of things, though, so I found myself not quite comfortable with some of the conclusions and approaches made. Now, this isn't criticism of the video, since ultimately it is indeed a matter of aesthetical preference and you do describe much of this as a bias, but I think it's a bias worth examining if it hasn't been. That is to say, I think it's worth examining the mindsets and thought processes which lead to the bias for "realistic" stories over "idealistic" stories, because I myself used to strongly prefer them for pretty fallacious reasoning, and changed my mind after examining where exactly my preference was coming from. What I really had to call into question, I think, is whether it's right to associate human weakness with "realism." A major sticking point presented in this video is how "unrealistic" it is for Shepard to be the second coming of Christ and universally make the world a better place without ever making the wrong call. I think it's very tempting and logical to associate this with a lack of realism - "the real world would never work this way" - and it's only natural that a true RPG player would value realism above all else, since a realer world leads to more meaningful roleplaying (hence the third playthrough). However, I don't actually think this connection is one that's necessary to make, or necessarily true. I don't think that realism needs necessarily be tied to human weakness, or failure, or impossible decisions with no correct answer, etc. I think strong biases for "realism" are often based less on the internal consistency of a world, and more on a fetishization of suffering, which I think is worth examining. How much do we just want to see characters and people suffer? Fiction is, by nature, idealistic representation of worlds. Why is it, then, that so often we chain down the ideals to real life suffering? Why do we create worlds only to chaos death and chaos in them? Is it really because misery is realistic? Or is it just because we enjoy the misery? If we find issue with idealistic worlds, is it really because it's less realistic, or is it because we find them lacking without any misery to feed off? After all, the struggles we deal with on Earth aren't inherent facts that affect all realities. In a general sense, I think being dissatisfied with stories along the lines of Shepard's Jesus-esque odyssey is understandable, and it all comes down to a matter of preference, but I think it's worth looking inside oneself and see if that preference is actually based on realism, or on a desire to feed off suffering. I myself have had the exact mindset described in this video (which is NOT to say my current mindset is superior due to having changed my mind), and in my case at least, it was only because I thought internally that things had to have suffering to be real, and I enjoyed that suffering. But that's not actually true, and since then I've tried not to associate realism with suffering/darkness/etc, which has helped me enjoy stuff like Shepard's Jesus Odyssey more. (Sorry I'm kind of rushing through this because the comment is getting long and I don't want to lose people due to verbosity.) Also, all that said, Mass Effect 100% fails in internal realism/consistency in the Renegade route. That is 100% understandable. In ym opinion, Mass Effect should never have even tried to have renegade options. It's clear the developers were intent on making a story about a jesus-like hero. It doesn't make for a good RPG to just take on generic "bad dude" options which don't change the fact it's a story about a hero. It certainly DOES fuck with the realism of the world to have characters not respond at all to Shepard acting terrible instead of heroic. So that I completely find valid and logical as a perspective, free from bias, even.

[@2la84me]

Very well worded and introspective Id say.

[@winnistube]

You are right but I think realism isn't only about suffering but also a sense of danger. If nobody of the main characters die due to plot armor the story is kinda boring. Also there have to be consequences for actions. For renegade options these do exist like killing Wrex but not for Paragon. You simply can't make a bad choice if you play Paragon and that is also IMO boring.

[@dagrooseisloose5749]

I agree that Shepard as a character becomes inconsistent with the world and the story in the case of going full renegade, but at the same time, I would've definitely liked the game less if there were no renegade options in the game. That's because going the full paragon route is also somewhat inconsistent, albeit only slightly and FAR less so than the renegade. Shepard acts a little too nice and too forgiving, which I concede would be acceptable when you're comparing them to Jesus, but I never really thought of him that way because Shepard was always surrounded by a crew with mixed values and morals, and any character with all paragon or all renegade eventually raises the question of how all of the crewmates can stand their ass. IMO , Shepard becomes most consistent with the story when they are mostly paragon with a tinge of renegade in certain circumstance, similar to Garrus. With that being said, I know the games push you to go one or the other all way because of the morality checks, so I understand where you're coming from.

[@anonymousperson420]

I don't realism is about suffering, but rather the kinds of moral abiguity that comes from when the morally correct answer is unclear or when there is no morally correct answer basically require a lack of idealism, and those kinds of decisions can be far more interesting.

[@Ori_nament]

Not to sum up your piece very simply, but essentially you're either a Spider-Man fan or a Jesus "Shepard" Christ fan

[@DargorShepard]

Did you really never noticed that in ME1 you don't have to bring up the big clunky menus to give commands? There are hotkeys for that, that allow you to issue commands in realtime.

[@thechrastastrophe]

Up until Mass Effect 3 I really preferred that. For me it matched the clunky gunplay.

[@ironwolf56]

Watch more of this guy's videos he has a tendency to nitpick about "problems" with games that are results of him misremembering or not paying attention to things. He's not DSP level bad but...

[@DargorShepard]

@@ironwolf56 I was poking fun. I was not trying to actually criticize him and besides, I have no right to judge considering my comment could easily be considered "nitpicking".

[@acid2all87]

very mature of you to say . . unlike the nitpicky idiot above you

[@Denazon]

You are quite depressing, but the Andromeda joke at the end was a good one

[@RastaGamesful]

I have always loved mass effect franchise for the scale of events. Too much is at stake and depends on you and you do not feel insignificant in this world. This is especially felt in the 3rd part when you are fighting with the reapers. it feels like you are a direct participant in all these cosmic events. I haven't this in any game. The soundtrack pushes you to immerse the world of the game even more, which is probably why I like these games so much.

[@cashnelson2306]

like 90% of games are about you being the most significant special boy saving everything at stake 😂 what is this comment even talking about

[@themaskedman757]

Dude you played through this series three fucking times. Ur opinion is a valid one if I’ve ever heard one. I respect ur thoughts and u brought up a damn good point pointing out how it’s kind of stupid that everyone just magically loves you no matter what, even if you’re an incompetent leader. Thanks for the great vid !

[@aaronenix6418]

"sometimes the options we dont pick are just as important as those we do. and its only though having the options to not pick something that what we do pick is given meaning" words to live by

[@drink__more__water]

The best idea for a new game I've heard is basically: Buddy Cop Drama with you and Garrus solving mysteries and hunting down criminals on Omega.

[@gownerjones]

Omega Noir?

[@sopranophantomista]

Man, this must have taken hours upon hours upon days to edit. I appreciate you tackling three playthroughs of this game trilogy, not just for the critique, but for your own satisfaction to finally put the series to rest for yourself. I think that's really admirable. I also respect that not everything has to appeal to everyone, but it's how you discuss a non-interest to those that do have that interest a symbol of the content of your character. You could have ripped this series in two without a care, but you didn't. And as a critic, I think there's a fine balance between airing your grievances with something while still propping up what you felt worked. You've done your job. Mass Effect, and it's subsequent trilogy, will always hold a place in my heart. It was the game that got me out of bed after being burned out from University, and the only thing that allowed me to escape the major depression I felt during that time. For me, it wasn't just the world, but the fact that I could what was right, and not have anyone question it (which is the complete opposite of where you're coming from, which I think is funny). I dove headlong into the fandom, even writing short stories and one-off drabbles from 1 or 2 panel comics I found on Tumblr. I found some great people who, like me, found the series when they were in a bad place. For that, I'm eternally grateful for Bioware and the trilogy that they produced at the right time, and for the stars to align to allow myself to get sucked into the world.

[@SpoopySquid]

Everyone knows the canon ME3 ending is shooting the Star Child in the face

[@matiasblasi_music]

I love this long videos. Your narration, arguments and script structure is beautiful!!! Magnificent job! ♡ Your channel is a great discovery, just like finding Joseph Anderson's.

[@peterw2880]

2:08:41 made me incredibly sad. Someone who pours this much love into projects like this deserves much better than that. Appreciate what you do, man

[@gownerjones]

I may be wrong but I'm 80% sure that was a sarcastic joke. You can see the character he made on screen. He looks like a crescent moon, no real person looks like that.

[@THATGuy5654]

Great review! The "wrong man at the wrong time" playthrough was a great idea as well. The fact that your choices could never have that big of an impact in the first two games was always a problem, but an understandable one. Each sequel would have been exponentially more complicated if they had to account for entirely different choices. That's what made the third game's ending so galling. They didn't have to hold back for the sake of streamlining a sequel, so they could have gone in wildly different directions. Instead you got half a bag of Skittles.

[@DuinHark]

While I love these long reviews and by no means does everyone have to agree with your opinions but I think many times we can over analyse these games and end up having an overall negative experience. I think the series with all its flaws is well made and entertaining.

[@reyalskrad1]

I actually disagree, and I think this argument can be made both ways. There are a lot of series that I didn't enjoy at first glance that I ended up falling in love with, once I looked deeper. I think he's allowed to not enjoy the series, and express his opinion, without people saying that he only hated it because he "over-analysed it".

[@DuinHark]

@@reyalskrad1 yes. Thats true it can go both ways.

[@skdeathxlife]

@@reyalskrad1 wait a smart comment on youtube huh?

[@BTAL1ama]

Yeah I agree with him, they were mostly novelty that was doomed to fail. I tried to like them at the time but this was one of my first truly disappointing gaming experiences. It had neat parts but all I remember is slogging through blurry grey/blue rooms just to listen to some ugly, awkward character models rambling cliche melodramatic dialogue at me between annoying loading screens. And the never-ending cutscenes; Awkward pauses, actors interacting with misaligned or nonexistent objects and constantly glitching around. Just killed the whole lofty "cinematic" vibe to the point they were as much a grind as the clunky repetitive gameplay with all the interesting parts streamlined out as it went. I felt like I had to play them because it was all my friends were talking about but I couldn't take it by #3 and I would've been happier watching Star-Trek and playing Halo. They aren't terrible games but I was so bombarded with everyone worshipping the damn things that I'm left with an unreasonable hatred for the series and "cinematic" games in general. But maybe I'm crazy, I actually liked the Mako sections after all.

[@lanarizsuperlativa]

Man, I just want to say your videos have really helped me with clinical depression over these past two years. Thank you very much.

[@theogannon9826]

That third playthrough hurt my soul and I doubt I can ever forgive you for that. Just subscribed btw

[@Yura-Sensei]

@ 37:00 A Cassandra Truth is when a character tries to warn others of some danger, or tell them something incredibly important, but is dismissed out of hand for no good reason due to laziness, prejudice, stubbornness, etc.

[@sntxr0r]

„Pikachu doesn‘t evolve“ *insert Surprised Raichu face

[@SimonBuchanNz]

Common mistake: he's referring to Pikachu, Ash's Pikachu, not Pikachu.

[@coffeebreakhero3743]

1:25:00 maybe I'm missing and you'll talk about it later, but I feel like a lot of your criticism of the narrative comes from not playing the DLCs (which were basically cut from the story, like arrival)

[@DeriDraws]

If they are integral to the narrative, they shouldnt have been cut in the first place. Specially to put them behind a paywall.

[@coffeebreakhero3743]

@@DeriDraws I absolutely agree with you that EA suck. and yet (for example), the reason sheppard is on trial on earth for destroying a batarian galaxy and killing billions is "arrival" DLC. the narrative makes absolutely no sense without it.

[@somethingsomething9006]

I've only played the collection and recently found out that Arrival was DLC...like, how could they cut something that important???

[@coffeebreakhero3743]

@@somethingsomething9006 they cut a lot of really integral things from the dlc! like how liara became the shadow broker (best dlc), and a meeting with leviathan. the prothean squadmate was a day 1 dlc!!! EA are fucking evil! (still love mass effect)

[@somethingsomething9006]

@@coffeebreakhero3743 Javik was DLC????????? I figured Citadel, Shadowbroker, Leviathan, and Omega were DLC since they were such large departures from the rest of the games they were in, but I had NO idea Javik was DLC...

[@tquinnhunsaker4344]

Man I love the makeo it's just so bouncy and happy like a little puppy

[@jamesmunn576]

This will honestly be my favorite trilogy of all time. For when it came out in my life, and all the joy that I still recieve from playing it!

[@Alkis05]

2:08:40 LMAO, you killed me right there. Are your eyes really that separated from one another?

[@isaacchapman7628]

1:52:06 Genocide is the ONLY way to say hello. Haven't you played Stellaris?

[@aleksapetrovic6519]

No, but I love Warhammer 40,000 where I learned: 1. Burn the alien, kill the mutant, purge the unclean! 2. There is only the Emperor, he is our shield and protector. 3. There is no innosence, only degrees of guilt. 4. Life is Emperor's currency, spend it well. 5. Suffer not the witch to live.

[@bitterleafcastle1552]

And of course the guy who says that has Balthazar Gelt on profile XD

[@Some_Guy_87]

One important thing that was not mentioned regarding the Indoctrination Theory: The original assumption (at least in the Bioware forums) was that the PLAYERS were indoctrinated along with Shepard, and that there would be a later DLC dropping the bomb regarding that. Bioware was always known for great story twists, and as you mentioned it was at the time where internet usage (and DLC) was on the rise. So the assumption was that they played with us as players - we always assume we are special, and getting into the same situation as Saren and TIM, we basically fall for the same traps as them. A lot of people abandoned the idea the moment the Extended Cut came out regardless of developer comments. I gave up my "bad guy" attempt at the quest with the grenades - going out of your way just to be evil just didn't sit right with me, even in a game. In KotoR they managed this much better as there's always this sarcasm that gave these decisions entertainment value. In this game, it just feels bad. No wonder you didn't enjoy Citadel playing it in such a run. It's an absolute blast in a Paragon playthrough and a must before starting the final mission in my opinion. The series is clearly meant to be played Paragon, and I can very much enjoy it even though most of the choices can almost be considered an illusion because of that.

[@carteljameson8395]

I said this years ago and I still stand by it today. Mass Effect is not a particularly good RPG franchise. But that doesn't mean they can't be good video games. ME2 in particular is exceptional, not just because of its gameplay but because I think it has a level of reactivity the other two games don't have. But regardless, I don't consider any of them to be good RPGs. But that's how I've felt about Bioware since KOTOR. They've been considered a top tier RPG studio by many fans and critics when they haven't been since Neverwinter Nights. The only truly great RPG they've made since 2003 is Dragon Age: Origins. And that's where I've stood with Bioware for many years. It doesn't mean they haven't made great games. They have. They just haven't made great RPGs.

[@robertharris6092]

Indeed. People use the word RPG far too loosely.

[@marbl3d45]

Uhhhh what?

[@carteljameson8395]

@@marbl3d45 tldr Just because an RPG is a good game doesn't make it a good RPG. Mass Effect is the perfect example of this.

[@jaded-harper]

@@carteljameson8395 like fo4 a good shooter but a meh rpg game imo

[@Rainebowes]

You can actually get a third option between the quarians and the geth to save them both if you get enough friend points. Thats what i got in my playthrough.

[@KaiKai-ix4sd]

You have to save legion though. Theres also this point system factor that goes into it if you import your character

[@hungjon]

“Maybe that's what being a critic is about: trying to learn from failure. “ I’ve learned a lot from your videos, thanks for making them. They’re of benefit to anyone seeking to design games or understand what makes them good.

[@TheHalcyonTwilight]

I'mma get some snacks for this, god damn

[@SandyCheeks1896]

Something I’ve always wanted to do is complete the trilogy with the least teammates alive all while giving each one the most tragic and sickening death possible. It’s actually the hardest play through that requires the most careful planning and will power. All to the hilarious and incredibly depressing means of the happy reunion citadel dlc actually becoming a monument and reminder to all of your betrayals, failures, and awful decisions.

[@flowerthencrranger3854]

I’m not commander Shepard, but this is my new favorite video on the internet :)

[@arsenii_yavorskyi]

outstanding, thought-provoking commentary. I'm so glad I found this channel.

[@DryHeavingLlamas]

At no point in the trilogy did I feel like Shepard was supposed to be me, or reflect me in any way. I always felt like I was playing a character, like I was having a hand in someone else's story.

[@smartalec2001]

ME2's reluctance to use the Collectors, and then kill them off, is very weird. It's easy to say that the recruitment and loyalty missions don't connect to the main story, that's a given, but the random stuff you find doesn't either. ME1 had a lot of stuff, like you going on a ship or in a mine to find it full of husks, or Geth would be setting up bases or try to ambush you, or after Feros you'd get a couple of things about ExoGeni trying to use Thorian creepers, or after Noveria there's stuff about Cerberus trying to use cloned Rachni... And in ME3, everything was to do with the Reaper War, or Cerberus. But in ME2? Almost nothing connecting to the Collectors. We hear about the Collectors attacking a bunch of colonies, making arrangements with other groups... but I don't think there's a single side mission that deals with them. It's either some little fun setpiece, or you're fighting one of the Merc groups. The closest I remember was finding out the Collectors created the plague on Omega in Mordin's recruitment mission, so why not have a Collector or two there? They never do... I think they had a lot of untapped potential. I could imagine an ME3 where you're not fighting the Reapers, you're fighting a bug swarm of Collectors awakening after you blew up their base, swarming from undiscovered Prothean worlds beyond inactive relays, using their creepy tech to turn people into the monsters you fight in ME3, intending to summon the Reapers themselves. An ending against them would likely be much easier to write. Finding a way to seal the Reapers off and keep them in slumber, rather than destroy them.

[@TigoODonnell]

One of the initial plan was that humans were meant to succeed the Reapers, so my guess is that the Reapers tried with the Protheans but it didn’t work as they didn’t have the right genetic code. Humans however did, which allowed them to harness dark energy potentially greater than even Asari. Hence why ME2 has the Collectors taking humans and why Harbinger says he is bringing humans to their “ascension.”

[@samuraiflack3880]

Wait isn't this that guy that posted the in-depth Dragon Age retrospective and has the super sexy britishy announcer voice? Cool!

[@RoseOfSharyn18]

The Sovereign reveal is something I will never forget. I get chills and everything still when I play the game but the first time was just sooooo like.... stomach dropping.

[@Bjorick]

indoc theory - it's not what they intended, and it's likely not fleshed out enough to fit the puzzle, but it's how I choose to interpret the ending, as it's better then what we got, and it turns bioware's failure into something that leaves the ending up to the player - which is what i want - they could never finish the trilogy in a way that would satisy what i wanted, which was part 1, not 2 and not 3, the direction of the games changed so much after part 1 - meeting sovergn...... so i don't try to hate on them, just choose my own head cannon edit: fyi, i love the mako sequences in me1 - that was the part of the game that gave you the freedom to play how you wanted

[@coffeebreakhero3743]

2:03:00 as a massive fan of mass effect, I never found the story to be about sheppard. sheppard is pretty blank guy. it's the world and the NPCs and the agency.

[@indylockheart3082]

Im glad to see you cover this series...ive always loved all 3 games despite all the flaws

[@danieljames1622]

Very nice “jaded” usage during the jade empire footage

[@Analwreckage]

Man, that game never gets talked about!

[@danieljames1622]

@@Analwreckage I know right? Such a damn shame. One of my favorite bioware stories ever

[@JulesA5266]

Wow ME3 was already a very sad (or bittersweet if you're more positively inclined) but you made the game even SADDER from 2:27-2:30. Seeing Mordin drag himself the entire span of the elevator to the console was heartbreaking. And then the camera panning out to show you that he failed. It just killed me.

[@basilisk..]

Do you mean 2:27:00 and 2:30:00 Because 2:30 is literally the start of the video

[@mrnobody546]

Surprisingly, this video actually got me to start playing the games for the first time and I’m absolutely obsessed. While I may love them I can see how others might not get the same enjoyment out of them. Either way I wouldn’t have known or even played the games if it wasn’t for you and this video. Thank you

[@samueltheprideofafrikarobi9319]

I've said several times that if there was any series that deserves a from-the-ground-up remake in the vein of the first three Resident Evils or Final Fantasy VII or Metal Gear Solid...it's Mass Effect. In fact, the series absolutely BEGS for it. A retooled story, further quality of life improvements, an expanded leveling system, more in-depth weapon, armor and ship modifications, the complete removal of the paragon/renegade system and dumping the whole human-Reaper baby idea would be just a few welcome changes. And I wish that they'd done that instead of just throwing a new coat of paint on the bones of the original series, but I doubt that the studio is willing to invest the time and manpower to it regardless of how successful the sales figures of the Legendary Edition forecast it would be. That's apparently shelf space that would be better served with another NBA2K or Call of Duty... 🙄 I must say though, I've played the trilogy four (or more) times over. I love it. But I'm a man who finds comfort in routine, security and friends. I'm angry...a lot. But I was born with too kind of a heart and if I could save someone by giving everything of myself, I will. Even if it means never experiencing certain aspects of RPG's like this. I've rarely ever played a RPG, even just for the sake of seeing what will happen, as a negative, insensitive or evil character. To that end, there are decisions in ME that I've made and never changed: I always romance Liara in ME and Tali in ME 2 & 3. I always save Ash as I personally think she's a better character than Kadin. Despite her bible-thumping zenophobia she's a better and more mentally stable Soldier, I think she has a more engaging history and I like the stories of her family. (She's far more likable/agreeable than Kaden in ME 3 by-the-way.) I always do my best to save every squad member and shipmate possible, save the counsel and support Anderson's appointment to represent humanity. To that extent, I've never seen Wrex bite that bullet. I've never sacrificed Samara in favor of the evil daughter. I've never shot Ash to get at Udina. And I've never, NEVER turned on Mordin. Seeing him die like that was so inglorious and sad...it was cruel. And hearing Ash damn Shep to Hell is...not agreeable with my sensibilities. ME definitely has flaws in its story telling and how it handles choice (or the lack thereof). But what it does do is reward those like me; it rewards the kindhearted while not really caring about "bad boys/girls". The Citadel DLC was envisioned for those who nurtured friendships, took a long term lover and invested in their crew's needs and desires. It was a thank you, not only to long term players, nut primarily to those who tried to always take the moral high road. Now, do I think that the writers should have taken the time to account for missing crew or an average of whether you were overall good, overall bad or overall natural? Sure. Do I wish that Bioware had paid for the extra studio time needed to record a couple hundred additional lines to account for such divergents? Absolutely. But, all that being said, if evil characters or (what I'd refer to as) mean-spirited playthroughs receive no real sense of fulfillment from the addition...I can't say that I find fault with it. Regardless, I applaud you giving the series MORE than a fare shake and trying to like it. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your time with it more.