Rumination Analysis on Mass Effect 3

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[@pkr5968]

Marauder Shields and the Three Husketeers. Never forget their sacrifice. As they tried in vain to protect us from the ending.

[@SirLugash]

You have to give Bioware credit that they let continue the legend of Marauder Shields. He was actually weakened by the Extended Cut (he was pretty much one of the toughest enemies on Insanity difficulty, no kidding), but they left him one segment of shield so his name remains Marauder Shields.

[@GoldStandardPunk66]

Frederick II FOR THEY DIED FOR BIOWARE'S SINS!

[@user-hi4sm3ig5j]

+Patrick Roux He stood in silence waiting, for the day when you would arrive, to protect you from the ending, to make sure you would not survive. He only had one goal, to stop that awful blight, to stop those from progressing, into the beam of light. Alas he failed his mission, he did not have the last word, instead he fell to one soldier, known by the name of Shepard. The ending was seen by millions, and woe was spread throughout, the world was cast in shadow, the world was wrought by doubt. Had that really happened? Was that just a dream? What the hell did we just see, and what was it supposed to mean. He is in a better place now, full of green and golden fields, we salute our fallen saviour, we salute you, Marauder Shields.

[@pkr5968]

All these years later and still pissed about the ending.

[@stargate1990]

@@pkr5968 few years after even this commen, i am still very much annoyed about the ending.

[@captmoroni]

11:33 Seven years later, I realize meeting the Catalyst should be like meeting Solas, with the option to NOT ask him questions. “I suspect you have questions.” Option: “Not really, no.”

[@jesuscarrillo7952]

My distaste for the ending comes from the total lack of narrative exposition to support the claims of the Catalyst. Synthetics, in this case AI specifically, were never hostile towards organics UNLESS the Reapers were involved. The Geth allowed the Quarians to flee WITHOUT pursuing them....this alone disproves the Catalyst's assertion of synthetic life eradicating all organic life. Then there's the peace that can be brokered between them in 3. I know some ppl claim "well it just hasn't happened yet", but that's a weak counter argument. You don't cheat on your girlfriend bc you were cheated on by your ex and improperly assume that you have to cheat before they cheat....it's faulty reasoning. If anything the Reapers are a self filling prophecy. They cause the problem that they then intend to 'solve'. They're similar to the mother in the movie The 9th Life of Louis Drax. She had Manchausen Syndrome by Proxy where she would poison her son only to nurse him back to health. This is the Reapers' entire existence in Mass Effect based on 3's ending....they create a problem then attempt to 'fix' it while somehow blaming us for causing the problem.

[@MFKR696]

Always important to remember the Hegellian Dialectic: Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis. In other words, create a problem, control the reaction, and then come in with your own "solution" (which is the thing you wanted in the first place). It's an age-old tool of Tyrants.

[@jarjared3522]

I honestly think the war assets should have been done similar to the way you used your squad in Mass Effect 2 for the suicide mission. When getting to Earth you select which war assets go where and if you make the wrong calls you lose said war assets. Maybe have the number of assets you had for the Crucible affect how stable it was when you use it like say the destroy ending killing all A.I. if you have barely any Crucible war assets, and having all Crucible related war assets would have the destory ending only kill the Reapers themselves.

[@Ellinon_Vasileus]

Always imagining to see charging krogans in Australia and Elkor tanks in India... I was so sure of this I was seeing it coming... until I touchdown in London...

[@SirLugash]

If I remember correctly, Bioware's view on the Refusal ending was that the next cycle's species find the time capsule and build the Crucible before the Reapers arrive rather than bringing the fight to them while they hibernate in dark space. So unfortunately they will Deus Ex Machina their way to victory...

[@egoalter1276]

Refusal was a spit in the face of the audience.

[@MAJ0R_TOM]

I recently replayed ME1 and 2 to count each individual dialogue wheel and dialogue option for main story missions and conversations with squad members on the Normandy. ME1 had approximately 600. ME2 had approximately 250-300. I was to depressed to finish ME3 but got past Tuchanka at less than 100 and auto-dialogue was miles ahead of choice-based options. Disclaimer: No, I don't have a life.

[@JaminKoehn]

1:28:06 - Keeping Shepard's death a secret would defeat the purpose of killing of Shepard, in the first place.. Shepard's death was tasteless sensationalism to hype up the game. It was, in large part, just a marketing ploy. From a plot and storytelling standpoint, there was no reason to kill off Shepard. If they wanted to reset character level and/or make everyone think he was dead for 2 years, they could have put them in a coma or a Batarian prison, then rescued/saved by Cerberus

[@fatesrequiem]

The refusal ending should have just ended up being a readiness check and if you had perfect galactic readiness, you win in a straight battle.

[@SMAXZO]

Kai Leng really bugs me because he's looks out of place in a setting like Mass Effect...that and his design is basically Raiden from MGS4 with magic..err..biotics.

[@gwelstorm3363]

yup.

[@MuireKnight]

He looks like Adam Jensen from Deus Ex.

[@ChuckOriley]

SMAXZO yeah that was a dumb character. embarrassing

[@egoalter1276]

He was a mary sue, and he was still a powerless failiour...

[@Gollvieg]

When I first played the ending scene to ME3, I was hoping beyond hope that if I made the right choices it would turn out that Star Child was actually Harbinger and after refusing to be tricked by him I would get a final battle with Harbinger.

[@thebiss1846]

"Casper the genocidal ghost." Best. Description. Ever!!! xD

[@YonatanJuhl2]

I got goosebumps when you spoke about the Emily Wong intro.

[@yurtyybomb]

ME3's "overall theme" was wrong, IMO, because of my favorite in the series - ME2. ME1 and ME3 were the novels of the series. ME2 was like a spinoff or a collection of short stories and vignettes. The organic/synthetic stuff and something I wish would've continued - sense of discovery, making a way for humanity in the galaxy - disappeared in large part due to ME2. The impact was diminished in ME3 because ME2 forgot to keep those running strong enough for the player to "get it" at the end of ME3.

[@BigBlackGWAR]

0:08:27 That IS NOT A FLAW! You are a grown man, who in very intelligent, articulate and honest. NO ONE should talk down to anyone, I have this same "flaw" but I will and have not apologized for it. I am tired in video games and I have found in anime that they have to explain everything to me.

[@therisingdyingidiot8022]

I'll always pick Destroy. That's been the mission since the end of Mass Effect. Destroy the Reapers.

[@GB-oo2mt]

I never chose destroy, I saved Geth and made peace between Geth and Quarians. I couldnt destroy them.

[@endershepard7117]

G B I couldn’t force Commander Shepard to give his life again. He’s given enough of himself to the galactic community and he deserves to live, laugh and love and enjoy being alive for a change. As Miranda Lawson told Shep in The Citadel DLC. “There’s no point in saving the galaxy, if you don’t take time to enjoy living it for a while.”

[@AnimeFan4Eternity23]

I agree. I refuse to validate anything the Illusive Man tried to accomplish in his lust for power by choosing the Control ending, I feel the Synthesis ending forces change on everyone in the galaxy without their knowledge or consent, and the Refusal ending? Shepard... Commander Shepard... would refuse to stop the Reapers at all? After everything they have done to get this far? All the sacrifices they made, the friends they have already lost trying to make it to this point? To just give up, I feel, would completely and utterly invalidate everything that everyone fought so hard for. So, I have to go with the Destroy ending. Even if I think the idea that it would affect all AI is stupid. I thought it was built specifically to kill the Reapers. I guess that previous cycles may have been so anti-AI, that in designing the Crucible, they didn't really care which AI it targeted, so long as the Reapers would be destroyed. Still... Can the Geth not be brought back? Or EDI, surely she has some sort of backup to her programming that could be employed to bring her back online? It's not as impossible-sounding as, say, something like Project Lazarus, is it? They may not have backed themselves up right to the point where they are "killed", but I believe there has to be a way to revive them somehow. And, honestly, I like to think that, even in her weakened state, standing atop the Crucible, my Shepard would have enough presence of mind to at least try to contact the geth, EDI, anyone, before destroying the big red thingy. Even if she couldn't get through with radio, a typed message, something, anything, she would try to let them know to try and get out of range if they can, to back themselves up in the case that they are "killed", that their organic allies will do all they can to bring them back if the worst happens. And then, she would shoot the big red thingy. And the Reapers would die. And Shepard would survive, be found and rescued by whomever managed to reach the shattered Citadel first, and live to reunite with her significant other (in my Shepard's case, Kaidan, because darnit, he deserves to live and be happy too, instead of being left to die on Virmire like most people seem to do to him. >.

[@mattrobertson2449]

I just stumbled upon this video the other day....and I just want to say thank you for making a beautifully engaging, intelligent discussion on what I believe to be one of my favorite sci-fi series. No one here where I live really plays Mass Effect, so I have sadly no one to bounce off of when it comes to this series. Congratz on whatcha do. Its moments and discussions like these that give me a reason for still caring for everything...even after....it all ended so unfortunately

[@heckyeah4314]

The synthesis and control endings are basically the Mass Effect version of Boromir taking the Ring and using it against Sauron.

[@HadoukenX]

Nobody has reviewed the mass effect series like you have. As a viewer I can just feel the passion you have for it and it's great! The same can be said for all your videos. Thank you for wanting to share with us.

[@TheFly212]

Know this, 2 hours and 22 minutes, is a real review by a REAL fan of Mass Effect and Bioware. I salute you sir. Damn, EPIC review.

[@classicstar1]

Very interesting take on the refusal ending. I really never thought about it that way. After what you said it really is the only ending that completely sits right with me. I feel like you just helped me get past a trauma I experienced almost a decade ago. Thank you hahaha

[@Flaris]

In the end the Refusal ending could have been perfect if Bioware hadn't been acting so petulant the whole time. It gives people want they want. Those that don't want a happy ending? There you go, everyone dies! That bleak enough for you? But you get to tell off that stupid Psychotic Casper. Set it up with the message getting to the next generation, they spend all their assets and efforts to prepare to wipe out this threat and they do it. That would have worked so well. If they weren't willing to do this right, that would have been fine if they hadn't made it out as a "middle finger" ending. This just didn't feel like Mass Effect. They did just abandon the theme that if you do things right you can fight towards an option that you can live with. The Geth and Quarians were a great example within the game itself of what you could do with the ending...but nope. Sadly the world just doesn't work sometimes. Sometimes people just screw up and that happened here. They ignored what they did in the first two games and that's that.

[@egoalter1276]

To be frank the whole idea of a crucible felt idiotic from the beginning.

[@adrianRK]

There is one thing I am truly thankful for in the original Mass Effect 3 ending, and that is the fact that because of it I discovered your youtube channel! Thanks for the great review

[@MermDaddy]

Im like you i guess. I dont see why people are suddenly ok with this ending. I still hate it. None are good.

[@LightStreak567]

+MermDaddy Are you sure that none are good? "The right choice is usually not the easy one." Destroying the Reapers is the right choice despite the fact that it has a few negative consequences because if the Reapers die, that AI disguised as the kid Shepard saw die will fail in fulfilling the request his creators, the Leviathans, gave him, which will result all life being free from the possible risk of being enslaved by the enigmatic Leviathan race. Believe it or not, after years of studying the Extended Cut and Leviathan DLC, I've figured out the true purpose of the Reapers and the right way to beat them, and that is to destroy them using the Crucible. Shepard and James Vega weren't selected to become N7 soldiers on a whim by the Alliance, they were selected because they understand from personal experience that sometimes to defeat an enemy and win a war, sacrifices must be made, either themselves or their soldiers at some point. That is what it means to be N7 ranked, having the courage to make hard choices other people would hesitate to make.

[@Blubox84]

The ghost kid said that, if you choose the destroy ending, ALL synthetic will get destroyed. He even mentions that shepard will die because he is part synthetic. Shepard is not the only person in the galaxy who is part synthetic. You not just kill the reapers, you kill the geth (after you just helped them to make peace with the quarians, the god child saying that it would be impossible), the relays are fu**ed, you kill EDI and every AI or VI on every ship/station or whatever in the galaxy (with most of the ships being on earth). By choosing destroy you basically send the Galaxy back into the stone age with god knows how many dead people. So, no, it is not a "good" ending. Even IF it is the right choice, as you say, it is NOT a good one.

[@LightStreak567]

"Back to the stone age"? Are you joking? Sure, destroying the Reapers causes damage to the technology everyone relies on, but the damages can be repaired, and we should thank our lucky stars that if you have the human reaper heart and maxed out your war assets beyond the minimum requirement, the blast is constrained only to synthetic life, it could have been worse. It is an unfortunate loss, one that I wish wouldn't be necessary, but I'd rather let the geth die as free willed sentient machines rather than let them live as slaves of the Reapers or the Leviathans. Freedom is worth fighting for, even if we are forced to make the hard choices.

[@Blubox84]

That still doesn't make it a good ending, like you were saying. I can't remember the Leviathan DLC, I played it once and didn't like it. None of the endings are good. Choose your favorite color, thats it. You not just wipe out all Geth, There weren't many Quarians left either, I think Tali mentions something like 13 Million, and how many died in the final attack? The Geth could have helped them with their immun system, so they don't die or get sick so easily. So, what was the point in helping them (on Ranoch) in the first place? Since all Geth are gone now it is very likely that the Quarians also go extinct. 13 million is not as much as it sounds, or however many are left now. Two races are gone, but hey, Shepard lives. That is a selfish ending. Not even close to anywhere good.

[@LightStreak567]

Killing the Reapers is not supposed to be the kind of ending that makes you feel like a hero who accomplished something great. The fight against the Reapers is a war, and sometimes in wars, you have to make sacrifices to win, whether you understand it or not. That is also what it means to be an N7 ranked soldier for Shepard, sometimes you have to have the courage to make a sacrifice to emerge victorious, either sacrificing your own life, the lives of your allies or both if necessary, that's something few to no people have the emotional strength to do. Some people, like you, for example, think that making sacrifices like that makes you a selfish person, but let's just say the morals of Shepard's actions are more gray than black and white, if you know what I mean. Some people label Renegade Shepard as "Evil Shepard", but there is no such thing as an "Evil Shepard", Renegade Shepard just strongly believes in getting a job done no matter what the cost, but that doesn't mean he/she doesn't have a conscience, Shepard still experiences doubts about his/her actions through ME3, having nightmares and all.

[@mattserafini984]

Remember watching this video back in the day… wow can’t believe it’s been over a decade. Thought this was such a thoughtful analysis that I still remember it. Nicely done!

[@GarrusDeWitt]

This was not so much a review so much as it was a "thoughts on" kind of thing which I have no problem with by the way. It focuses a lot on what COULD have been in the game rather than just what is in it. Even though I disagree on some points(the despairing tone), I can at least understand where you come from because it is well articulated...which, given the run time of the video, it better be! Great stuff though anyways. I know I'm very late to the party but sometimes it has to be said.

[@user-hi4sm3ig5j]

"We're going to die on our terms." Or we could just, you know...not die...

[@1234kalmar]

That was my thought exactly. It's easy for Shepard to be this morally superior saint in their own mind. In the meantime, mothers will watch their children be transformed in to cyborg zombies and be eaten by them. The Refusal ending is jus the pinnacle of hubris and sociopathy to me. "Oh, Silly reapers, you failed because I'm philosophially superior to you". heheheh NO.

[@OhManTFE]

It shits me off that Shephard only survives in the Destroy ending. That's the ending where EDI and the Geth are destroyed!!! AKA NULLIFYING THE ENTIRE GETH/QUARIAN UNIFICATION STORYLINE. AKA WORST ENDING EVER!!

[@Draygera]

Glad to see that you're still making videos. I hadn't seen any updates in awhile. And definitely glad to see that you have as many views as you do for these.

[@TheMentorKing]

I agree. I'll never again play the Mass Effect original trilogy, mainly because I don't want to choose any of Mass Effect 3's endings.

[@skyhazel6205]

I will always treasure Mass Effect 1, and fondly remember Mass Effect 2.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

i hate how everyone ignores the entire game and say its all shit just because of the ending

[@ben_sisko2149]

One really good thing about this game is how much the whole Krogan plot changes if you kill Wrex in the 1st game. If you do it, his brother gets to be the leader of their clan and he's... eh, well... he's a ruthless animal that also happens to be able to speak. It gives you a whole different perspective on the ethics of the genophage. In than run, I enden up lying to the Krogan and I stand by it. They would've been a big problem. Of course, thing are completely different with Wrex as their leader.

[@whalebirdgaming1949]

With moments this game portrays, and the unimaginable emotion a video game gave me, regardless of the ending (which i am ok with to an extent, has its flaws) this game as a whole..is art

[@cr-nd8qh]

Exactly it's the end honestly the game is great I really don't care about the end.

[@YerMawsDa]

I like the bit where you reject the choices and then it puts on the reaper voice 'SO BE IT!' then trolls.

[@marvelouschester4104]

Well, to be fair, the body EDI used was an infiltration unit. It makes sense for it to be physically appealing.

[@therisingdyingidiot8022]

Especially considering when it was Cerberus who designed it.

[@oliviawilliams6204]

Marvelous Chester I just don’t see why her endosqueleton is like that how that “hair” part for example fitted under her doctor Eva skin and hair?

[@endershepard7117]

You bring that up but not EDI’s hypocrisy? When it tells Shepard that it will destroy itself before it lets the Reapers repurpose it to do harm to organics. But EDI has no problem doing the exact same thing to Cerberus Infiltration Unit: Dr. Eva. Who did fight EDI. Tried to resist EDI deleting and replacing its code.

[@marvelouschester4104]

Ender Shepard But didn’t Eva lack true free will? That was just some code fighting back, meanwhile EDI is truly sentient.

[@LordEmpyreal]

You have to remember, though, in the Extended Cut, the star child explains that they've tried Synthesis in the past, and it never worked solely because they weren't ready, the organic's naturally rejected it. But he says with absolute certainty, that this generation was ready. Also, while simply discussing the matters with him, I like that for each option, you can choose to say "yes, that makes sense" or "No, I will not do that" and it changes how he presents the next option.

[@ZELDANERD9]

Compared to LATER videos, early in this video, Archengeia seems very nostalgia blind, but becomes more realistic near the end of the video. Also, depressingly, Destroy is the GOOD ending, while Control is bad, and Synthesis is a bit of both. Endings in a video game shouldn't be black and white with only one shade of gray.

[@Dexyu]

how is destroy good? i do see it. . Blue is good you sacrifice yourself so that geth a race can continu and EDI can screw Joker and reapers get new directives to repair the dmg

[@abhilashgaikwadstiff]

***** destroy is not good are u kidding me man, after me1 me2 you really wanna save those s.o.b reapers ? there is no negotiations when it comes to reapers in my books turned against their own creators making their 1st harvest on leviathan, im sorry bro but there is just too much death with reapers countless cycles of races wiped cant even imagine giving up the chance to not to kill them lol re-think your comment bro

[@jebes909090]

Control is the best. Harbie becomes your bitch mwha ha ha!

[@missjuliusseizeher]

I have never been excited for KZbin subscriptions until now. I hang on your every word. Archengeia, thanks for your reviews, thank you for your honesty and thank you for your wonderfully thought provoking opinions. No wonder you are bombarded with questions for QandA all the time, I would get your opinion on everything too if I could!

[@Ullenes12]

Just found your channel, really love your Mass Effect videos!

[@yursaman]

Love returning to these.

[@docnanomusic]

Like most people, I was disappointed by the ending. I'd still put the rest of the game right up there with ME2 and ME1. Each entry in the series had its annoyances; ME1 had its tedious button-mashing mini-games, horrendous load times, and flawed combat and inventory systems; ME2 replaced the boring mini-games with other boring mini-games, dumbed down the RPG elements too much, and had rather formulaic loyalty missions; ME3 relied too heavily on multiplayer environments and planet-scanning was only slightly less tedious. Yes, the ending was stupid, and forced me to impose my will on the entire galaxy to resolve an organic-synthetic conflict that still appears contrived to me. But to me, none of this breaks the series. The universe and characters were so compelling, and their story arcs woven together so well, that I'll easily forgive these imperfections. As Garrus said, it was a hell of a ride. I want more.

[@endershepard7117]

Disappointed by the ending? The entire third act of Mass Effect 3 is trash! Where as the 3rd Act of Mass Effect 1 & 2 are legendary! Virmire, Illos and The Battle of the Citadel. The Suicide Mission. 10 years later and it’s still flames! 🔥 Fredric Nietsche told us that, “Those who fight mobsters must take care that they don’t become monsters.” But Mass Effect 3 completely betrays everything that Commander Shepard and company is fighting for. They are not just fighting to survive. They are fighting for their independence. The Reapers have been imposing their will on sentient life in the galaxy for millions of years! Commander Shepard is determined to stop them. And the Crucible permits Shepard to become the Reapers. Not just with the control option. But with every option... Shepard unilaterally decides what becomes of the Reapers and all sentient life in the galaxy. Just like the Reapers have been doing for eons. That is a disgusting hypocrisy kid the highest caliber!

[@Lorerunner]

No in my ideal ending Xadenra successfully aids the galaxy in uniting against all odds and defeating the reapers themselves, earning their victory the right way, not having a deus ex machina handed to them on a plate. (my ending also changes ME3 as a whole somewhat, notably the Crucible being a trap)

[@xLetalis]

Refusal ending all the way.

[@snakesnoteyes]

I think that the BSG reboot(?) was more like things keep going to hell because people (and I’m qualifying Cylons as people) keep making decisions based on fear and anger, but the few times things went well or right was when people made decisions based on their desires for a unified future that wasn’t rooted in fear or anger. I think that’s relevant to Mass Effect because I think that the writers of ME3 misunderstood their how strongly they established their strength because of difference theme story wise, and their gameplay theme of if you try hard enough and do everything right you can make the seemingly impossible happen. BSG wasn’t just a slog through every increasing amounts of hell to me because we saw people on both sides make choices not based in fear or anger, and we saw that those decisions could have positive outcomes overall if more people would have just gotten onboard. And I think that was the point of BSG- choice. So BSG never lost its core theme, but ME did. ME3 wasn’t just a loss of theme it was a betrayal of theme. The idea that light borg-Ing everyone is really the best possible ending (based on how much work you were required to do to get it) is the biggest example of that betrayal of theme. Edit: the idea of conventional war in the ME universe is also intrinsically tied to factional or inter-species war, so unconventional war would be the unification of the galaxy. Just another way that the ending(s?) of ME3 betrayed the core theme of the franchise.

[@docnanomusic]

Props to you for pointing out how ridiculous EDI looks, though. People who dismiss it as prudishness are missing the point. Sex appeal doesn't have to mean big robot (or Asari) breasts in your face; it can be subtle, even tasteful -- and IMHO, subtlety is a good thing in a game made for adults. Same problem with Miranda's butt-cam -- no subtlety. Hopefully they do better with ME4.

[@user-hi4sm3ig5j]

+docnanomusic Benezia in mass effect 1 was just as bad.

[@docnanomusic]

+iM3GTR True, but the sexualization of main female characters wasn't quite so prevalent in ME1 as it was in ME2 and ME3. I'm not the cleavage police, and there's a place for games like Bayonetta, but I do think that ME1 struck a more mature balance in that regard.

[@TyllerJ]

glad to hear that you are still go in to do this videos cant what for the next one

[@TheGreenEquinox]

As flawed as ME3 is, I think it´s important to realize that it´s not a terrible game. When it comes to gameplay it had some really good new/re-introduced features, like the combat roll, the weight system, weapon attachments, extended skill trees and armor customisation to name a few. I know your videos are more focused on the story, setting, themes and characters in a game, but I feel like it´s important to make note of gameplay innovations as well. ME3 might arguably be the worst in the series, but that doesn´t mean it´s a bad game in and of itself.

[@johngun7418]

I actually really liked the game and still do up until the end which I wish they had just swallowed their pride and just changed the dam ending.

[@AustinMalone]

Spot on, every single bit. When I saw how long it was, I was like oh man, here we go, but I stayed for the whole thing because this review is seemingly the only (or one of the only) completely honest review of ME3. Good to see that you take it all seriously and don't just jump to one side or the other like so many other reviewers did for some odd reason (regardless of being payed off or just tired of ME3). Subscribed.

[@totem91]

I actually may be the person who had almost no problem with the ME3 ending. Hear me out though, before you downvote the comment. Obviously massive spoilers ahead. Here goes: I came in the trilogy relatively late. When I first saw my little brother playing ME2, the 3rd one was already out. My brother urged me not to start from ME2, but to play the first one instead. In the first game, even though I eventually did multiple playthroughs, I originally ended up romancing Liara 'cause I hated Ashley's speciesism (is that the word?) and having Wrex alive. I played a renegon Shepard, who was all about getting the job done. For my main companions, I played mostly with Garrus and Tali, having the input from my brother that they come into their own during the events of the second game. So I played the first game all the way through, then got to the second game with all the DLCs. Being a completionist, it took me some time to get through it, and by the time I was done, the Leviathan, Citadel and Extended Cut Ending DLCs were already out. So I played through the Lair of the Shadowbroker, rekindling my romance with Liara (in the second game I had romanced Miranda, even though she's a bitch, but I was a Chuck fan, and I broke it off when Liara was game again). So I'm going into a more complete ME3 than most people did. As soon as I got EDI on the team, I did all the Leviathan quests, learning early about the ancient f*cked up AI they created, who then created the reapers in the Leviathan's image, and then proceeded through the rest of the game and the emotional roller-coaster of saving the Krogan, losing Mordin, thinking that Grunt is gone but him coming back again with "anybody got something to eat?" (seriously, man-tears of joy) etc. I loved the game so far and I was like "why is everyone so hard on this game? Is the ending really that bad?" During the Ranoch quest, I didn't have enough paragade points to chose a mediating resolution, because I didn't save the admiral that I hated during the previous game and instead saved the f*ckin' civilians who were innocent, or because I chose to re-write the f*ckin' heretic geth who then went to the reapers BY CHOICE and worshiped them as gods, or Idk whatever. And Legion had acted kinda like a jerk throughout the missions, withholding information that he had reaper upgrades, that the re-written heretics were in the battle killing Quarians etc. Here I must point out that I got Legion relatively late in ME2, so I only did 2 missions with him (I had to go after my crew before they died), and I had no personal connection to him, compared to Garrus or Tali, or even Liara for that matter (who was also popping my thermal-clip, sic). So I was scolding Legion the whole time, and then he turned on me for choosing the Quarians. He tried to choke me to death. Motherf*cker, you're gonna be alive, the geth primes that I saved by going into your f*ckin' consensus without being prepared for it are gonna be alive down here. The geth who actually HELPED the f*ck out are gonna be alive, so SHUT THE F UP, be a good f*ckin' self replicating AI and as soon as the others are gone, re-upload yourselves into more geth platforms and start a new f*ckin' society without all the geth douchebags who went all "we worship you, space Cthuhlu" or whatever. But "NOOOOOO!", he wanted to save all the space-Cthuhlu-worship-nazi-geth too. So f*ck him. F*ck Legion and f*ck the geth. We got bigger problems right now, and Tali killed him and she felt sad about it. I didn't. NO PROBLEM. After that, I go up in the Normandy and EDI is like "you're a space racist, you killed the ones that looked less familiar to you", and Joker had some amazing lines that put her in her place, called her out on her bullsh*t. I was ready to space her out the airlock like Javik (space-bro for life) said. But then I had a wonderful conversation with her a few missions later, about how she'd "risk non functionality" in order to make sure that Joker would survive, so we were cool. "I did that in the beginning of the second game, girl!". *fist-bump* She was just a few years behind of where I was. Playing with Garrus and Tali throughout most of the games, I used to go to them after every quest, and I got to see them developing as a couple (I was like "WTF? This is so cool!"), so even though I was romancing Liara, she was in my squad only until I had both dextros on the team. So when I came up to the ending I was prepared for most of it. Garrus and Tali had hooked up in their banter after the missions, and I had the scene they were smootching by the gun battery, so I was happy for them, like having your two best friends that you know that they have become perfect for eachother through all the sh*t you've been through together, so... Obviously, I took Garrus and Tali with me in the last mission, even though I romanced Liara, and during the run I had Garrus not wanting to leave me. Tali was pulling him back to the Normandy. My brother kept saying that Tali and Garrus would never abandon him (he romanced them in his two playthroughs). They weren't abandoning me. Garrus was hurt, and Tali was clearly trying to save the love of her life. So I had no problem with that scene either. For the "starchild", I was like "you're just a d*ck AI the ancient giant Cthulhu squids created, they told me at the start of the game", and he was clearly on a killing-spree-loop. So he's like "I know you're thinking about destroying us" or something along those lines. And the "us" bit sealed it for me. "Yeah, I'm destroying you. All of you. You're clearly what's controlling the reapers, you're ON THEIR SIDE, and the other two options are your lousy attempts to continue your vicious cycle". So there's the sad music when EDI pops up during the end cinematic, and I'm like "she sacrificed herself to save Joker, as she blatantly told me she would, so this isn't THAT sad. It's actually kind of epic." And I even got the breath ending. So after playing ME3 all the way through, the feeling I had was that of completion. A few months later, when I got there with the rest of my playthroughs, I kept thinking "why was everyone so pissed off? This works great with a Jack romance, a Miranda romance, with a Femshep Liara romance, with a FemShep Kaiden romance, with a FemShep Thane romance (amazing ending at the Citadel DLC and all)" etc. Before I go into my final thoughts, I have to mention the other 2 options the catalyst gives you. 1. Control: It's the most hypocritical of the endings. There's a 95% chance that before you got there, like 17 minutes before, you used the line "We don't deserve that kind of power" on the Illusive Man. I couldn't, in all good conscience, go for that ending. And, honestly, I has kind of a douche as a Paragade Shepard myself. I was headbutting Krogans and punching Quarian admirals. Was I really the one to be in control of the galaxy's most deadly force imaginable? (and now imagine that my Paragade playthrough, as a completionist, was a better playthrough than all Renegade playthroughs and most Paragade playthroughs). 2. Synthesis: F*ck. That. This ending is morally appalling. I know Bioware is trying to steer you towards this ending like it's the best possible result, but seriously, f*ck that masterfully, with a reaper tentacle. Seriously? Making all the galaxy uniformed genetically? Doesn't it smell kinda like Nazism or at the very least a more morally decrepit Aryanism? For f*ck's sake, there's a statistical certainty that eventually, in some backwater planet that's uninhabited, somewhere in the galaxy, a few thousand/million/billion years from now, organic life will pop into existence. What are we, the green-cyborgy Aryans, gonna do to them? Grab them at their single-cellular organism state and force them to get nano-chips, or are we gonna wait for them to grow into multi-cellular intelligent life, then abduct them and probe their butts and make them cyborgs? WTF Bioware? Is this really a viable "good ending" for your standards? Finally, after going through some of the more obscure playthroughs, I kinda got why people were so upset by the endings. So basically, if you romanced Garrus or Tali, or choose Control or Synthesis, or played the game with Wreav after you killed Wrex, or if you went out of you way to achieve peace between the Quarians and the Geth (sacrificing a full liveship of civilians to save one admiral, my dear paragon, I might add) or played through the games without the DLCs etc, you were playing it wrong. Maybe I just got lucky my first several times through the game, but I insist. I had to struggle through the 5th or 6th playthrough I did, leaving civilians to die, killing krogan babies and punching reporters in the face, to get an ending I didn't like. You maybe hate the ending the first time you play the game, but then I have to quote Will Friedle from his stint in Critical Role. "Your fun is wrong". XD Love, Totem. P.S. The missions and parts of ME3 I didn't mention, I had no problems with. I can make an equally long post on how awesome the Citadel DLC was though.

[@Sheechiibii]

I totally agree with you, and in all honesty strangely enough the only other people I've ever met who actually like or love the ending always choose destroy. Sometimes I wonder if their choosing synthesis or control, and those two options basically being what everything else the game has told you up until that point is completely wrong, plays a part in their dissatisfaction with the ending.

[@GauravMahajanAvaron]

xactly...the theme had this spark...victory through unity..and we were the biggest unknowns the reapers ever faced

[@allclevernamesgone]

Call me a wide eyed optimist but I have a feeling that BioWare is going to make a comeback and do the ME universe justice in ME: Andromeda. They have been brow beaten by the fanbase for a rushed and flawed ME3. They have plenty of development time for the new one and they have the talent. Is there a chance I will get my heart broken? Perhaps --- but I want to love again, dammit.

[@allclevernamesgone]

Well, I was wrong. Andromeda is an average game. Unfortunate.

[@SaberRexZealot]

Matt Graham we all wanted it man. Believe me me did.

[@DaleFranks]

Matt Graham I admire that you came back specifically to admit this.

[@Akibatai00]

I enjoy your reviews, the longer the better!

[@maxrav1831]

Your talk is really interesting then you get to the part about the robot and do the sheep mentality thing. It's a totally prudish argument and though personally I don't care I really mean that personally I don't care but Joker and his sexy robot were comic relief and she had to look over the top sexy for him to get confused as it were which was very funny and since it's an adult game why the hell not.

[@dark_fire_ice]

mass effect game analogy: 1 high class but over priced meal, 2 one of the best meals one will eat and can change your palette forever, 3 value meal, 4 an over and under cooked meal from 1, all on the same menu and same price in the same restaurant.

[@jomo999]

No need to apologise for disliking the extra catalyst dialogue, did not go any further to explain, including lines like 'You would not know them and there is no time to explain' basically translating as 'stfu and deal with it'. We were being patronised alright.

[@mornegroth]

You're talking about Reaper motivation. I was pointing out the main plot goals and how they should've developed in ME2 and ME3. The thing that happened was: ME1 --> Finding about the Reapers ME2 --> Stopping the Collectors ME3 --> Learning how to stop the Reapers and stopping them I didn't get what you were trying to say, although you were right in the possible changes of the Reaper's motivation (which we're only sure through external sources) -- but that still doesn't invalidate my argument.

[@brwghost]

You are an excellent reviewer archengeia. I, as well as everyone else wish you well, and continue to hope for more insight from you!

[@xsamplexample]

Shepard lives in destroy and control; these choices represent Shep choosing between their synth/organic side. shep lives as either fully organic (destroy his implants) or fully synthetic (engage with citadel). the breath scene/shep's epilouge prove this idea. they devs tried to make you focus on this theme all through the cerberus base. the 'hidden' '3rd' ending is synthesis, where shep does die but everyone prospers in an ironic fashion.

[@Boomachucka]

I have never seen your channel before, but I just went through this entire video. Very eloquent and well done, I'm impressed with how well you could get on with just a couple bullet points and stream of consciousness- especially given that many of the sections you delved into certainly had some depth to them. Subscribed, I look forward to watching other videos!

[@oielvert]

I did the Renegade playthrough before the Paragon in Mass Effect 3 and I was gut wrenched into tears the whole Tuchanka section. The voice acting for Mordin's character was so on point and I was so committed to going full renegade that when it came down to shooting him I was like: 'Not like this! Please don't make me end him like this!'. I ended him.

[@billsutherby]

Control or Refusal endings were probably the "best" choices for my personal tastes. Synthesis removed everybody's free will which is in stark opposition to what I (and by extension, my Shepard's) beliefs. And Destroy eliminates the geth and Edi, along with any other AIs that exist, which seemed unfair if I were fighting for ALL life in the galaxy. So Control allows the galaxy to continue with free will and try to work with the reapers under Shepard's control. And Refusal ultimately means the next cycle wins and defeats the reapers because of Liara's time capsule. So for me, Refusal is probably the best outcome for me as well. Also, though I realize this video is like 2 and a half years old, and you may already have looked this up or discovered it by now; But in regard to the Citadel events and the Cerberus coup attempt, if Thane died in the suicide mission in ME2 but Captain Kirrahe survived Virmire in ME1, then Kirrahe actually dies to stop Kai Leng assassinating the salarian councilor. However, if both Thane AND Kirrahe are already dead, then Leng kills the councilor and escapes. Also if Leng kills the councilor, I don't think you are able to talk down Ashley/Kaiden from supporting Udina and you're forced to kill them as well. Or at least in that particular playthrough, I was a complete renegade and didn't really try to talk them down, so maybe you still could, but I don't know for sure.

[@N7Normandy1]

For me, Kaidens character realy grew on me in Mass Effect 3. I love his last lines in London. "Guess we are old soldiers ar'ent we Shepard?" "Huh..Yeah...Good old days." "Its...been an honour Shepard." "Take care Kaiden." "You know, I've never been to London. Huh."

[@Zlobivka]

Control is not stopping the harvesting but picking what to eliminate and what to let grow. That's the whole point of being in charge to tell them what to do and not do nothing with them.

[@stefansibbes2440]

ME3 WITH all DLC is absolutely amazing. But you need Leviathan, From Ashes and Extended Cut to appreciate the ending. I actually love the fact that all 3 games feel completely different and each have their own strong points.

[@Lorerunner]

One individual who was actually a LS not a member of the Bastion 'went rogue' and was working for Merlinae (who is... a long and complicated story) in order to flesh out a plot that was being pushed by Myriad (another long story). But as stated he wasn't actually a member of the Bastion so I suppose the answer would be no. As for your second point: if I were doing a new game I would either set it immediately following ME3, or before ME1 occurred, but I'm leaning towards the first option.

[@ShadowQuickpaw]

My favorite Rannoch scene was always: Admiral: You just jeopardized your mission and your people. GET THE HELL OFF MY SHIP. I am SO glad they opened renegade and paragon up for ME3, if only for that moment ALONE.

[@endershepard7117]

Right! BioWare really cut off Commander Shepard’s balls in Mass Effect 3. Forcing him to be far to diplomatic by default. As The King Beyond The Wall said to Jon Snow. “The freedom to make my own mistakes. Is all I ever wanted...” I hate how so many great new characters from Mass Effect 2 got done dirty in Mass Effect 3. Legion and the Geth betraying there guiding philosophy for centuries to download Reaper Code. Admiral Han’Gerrel being okay with sacrificing his only ally against the Geth and Reapers! Councilor Udina being either indoctrinated or idiotically working with Cerberus to seize control of The Citadel. Mordin behaving like he was indoctrinated. By trying to cure the genophage. The very thing that Saren and The Reapers we’re trying to do in 2183. If it was wrong then. How the hell is it right now? The galaxy is at war. It doesn’t have the resources to sustain a resurgent origami population. And krogan birthrates would provide The Reapers with an infinite genetic resource for creating New Reapers!

[@TheHaloTrickster]

I have heard that too, but even though I rewrote the geth I still got the peace option. I'm pretty sure as long as: Tali isn't exhiled, both Tali and Legion survive the suicide mission, you do both Rannoch side missions (and save the admiral), and have hish enough rep, it doesn't matter which you pick. Actually that rewrite vs. destroy option only affects war assets. And if you make peace that choice doesn't matter at all.

[@wonderfullgamernmb1]

i gotta say Archengeia, your videos are awesome, fun and with depth. keep doing them, most of all have fun doing them and good luck with everything. :)

[@NickCorvello]

Very good analysis. I agreed with a good chunk of it, especially the Emily Wong part. One thing you didn't mention at all, though, was Indoctrination Theory. What are your thoughts on it from back then? And do you think it could still be canonized in both the remakes of the trilogy and Mass Effect 4?

[@Zlobivka]

By synthesis you manage to save everyone. There is no destruction of synthetics and future conflicts of choosing the destructive ending, there is no wiping out any opposition in the name of greater good by becoming the new galactic overlord and there is noone dying just because shepard in the last moment chooses to be a selfish child not wanting to take responsibility. So the synthesis of organic and synthetic life is actually the save everyone kind of ending.

[@tribalvaden8129]

Loving the video's Arch, been a fan for some time. Did you ever start that Fallout: New Vegas playthrough you were talking about or is life taking you over at the moment? I know the feeling man!

[@just1234person]

Awesome, I look forward to watching your analysis shortly.

[@Alamandorious]

I can respect your opinion, and indeed you make good points. For me, each Mass Effect game had it's own micro-theme under the main theme of stopping the Reapers. ME 1 was the exploration; you got to delve deeply into the Galaxy. ME 2, as you say, was the comradery aspect. ME 3 is actually not a bad war-time story...going around and seeing/hearing the effects of the war as it escalates...usually, we only see the battlefield in-game, not how it affects everything else.

[@TheFly212]

The single best analogy of the endings I've ever heard. This is full of so much win.

[@GhostRyder1172]

And when the organics of a cycle failed to do so, perhaps those dissenting Reapers, through indoctrination or other means, helped races of following cycles to continue improving the design and capabilities of the device. So, at some point the rest of the Reapers found out about this and decided to punish the dissenters, but it was too late since the design of the device was already outh there. Which would explain why Casper would not want to talk about its creators to Shepard.

[@PatMacMusic]

So many things you mentioned in this that made me love mass effect 3, the characters, the goodbyes, mordin,tuchanka, garrus scene, everything...i love this game...i can't hate it. Together with the Trilogy (which is how I played it, bought the trilogy, with the DLC ending. 1,2, and 3, together...exist in my Art Category, to the highest degree. I can't imagine not loving me1,2 or 3. Maybe if my 1st playthrough didnt have the extended cut, might be different, but my first play through had the extended cut..I loved every game. ART

[@Martee1990]

Number 1: I can't believe i sat down and watched this all the way through, its an amazing review, thanks for that. subscribed. Number 2: That talk about thane gave me goosebumps, such an amazing character, died in peace, didn't deserve kai lang as his death though.

[@cinnamon174]

I'm not going to lie, I think my anticipation for this video was actually greater than my anticipation for the DLC itself. Also, I would definitely consider donating a few dollars. Last thing, what was your opinion on the lack of planet exploration in Mass Effect 3 and its replacement with the collection of war assets that ultimately didn't contribute anything to story progression? Personally, this was the thing that bothered me the most about the game (aside from the ending).

[@IntuitionJo]

I haven't watched this video much yet. I haven't heard your opinions, I don't know if there's a war going on in the comment section, nothing. But you sir? Your voice is liquid buttery goodness.

[@evenfall369]

That little "cha-koo" noise at the end always gets me. Always brings a smile to my face. Also, how'd you feel about the scene where you break Kai Leng's sword and counterattack? Because, in my opinion, I think that was badass.

[@Sheri159]

You've put a lot of intelligent thought and time into this, and it shows big time. If the world was just you would be either a writer for a major developer or getting paid for video game reviews. 10/10 would watch again

[@Flaris]

There is not enough words in this youtube comment box to say just how much I agree with you. Just about everything followed a lot of what I felt. The Rachni Queen thing (didn't matter). Geth (kill or brainwash) doesn't matter. Refusal being the ending I'd take over all the others. It felt like the most Mass Effect of the endings. Stand, fight, and sure die, but take down some Reapers and leave hope for the future. This was a long listen, but it was really great.

[@Zlobivka]

I personally like the fact, that harbinger is not a dull evil mastermind and i think it's a misunderstanding to see him as a master reaper. His line was "We are the harbinger of your salvation" or some such, he was always part of a whole, part of the space janitory system in which the reapers are not working on their own but all of them are trying to achieve the same goal together.

[@1stCainite]

Even you saying "had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong." brings a tear to my eyes.

[@FellishBeast]

"At ramming speed." I got goosebumps.

[@endershepard7117]

I hate that shit... When the hell did my beloved Emily Wong become John Mclane from Die Hard!? Lol!

[@Esakosarara]

awesome i'm so happy you'll be able to keep doing this videos

[@weedgoku69]

Not sure if anyone said it, but Legion's mission in ME2 (rewriting or destroying the heretics) actually does significantly impact your ability to broker peace in the geth/quarian war, as well as whether or not Tali is exiled. If you, say, have Tali exiled and rewrote the heretics, you'll have a really hard time forcing peace.

[@TreuloseTomate]

Sorry, I was talking about the dark energy and human reaper plot that wasn't continued in ME3. If your concern is just the crucible being a win machine, then I agree, there should have been foreshadowing in ME2. But there are also other possibilities. You would think that with a threat like the reapers the writers would have thought about this problem even before ME1.

[@OhManTFE]

Kelly Chambers died in my first playthrough of ME3. :( This is because the devs were sneaky. Usually all Renegade options are on the bottom right, and Paragon options are on the top right. The 'change your identity' option was bottom right, and, therefore, I thought it was renegade and didn't press it!

[@robd9413]

Had the Reject ending been the much missed Hail Mary Pass fight ending, the War Assets mechanic would have been useful. Maybe not showing everything you did, but at least some like, say, if you saved them you see the Volus fleet bombing a reaper or a particular Armada fleet being about. They didn't do it, so it didn't really matter. If you played the "Galaxy at War" minigame thing as well to get your Galatic Readiness percent up, you could skip most of the side stuff and still get a high enough rating for the "best" endings.

[@zachbrown8350]

This is the only ME 3 video from Archengeia I've watched so far (it seems I have about six other shorter ones to check out), but as this one seems to be the most complete, I might was well use this comment field to express how astoundingly on-point I find his opinions once again. Granted, I do slightly differ in terms of the theme for this particular game (versus the series as a whole); it seemed to me that he didn't find the darker theme of necessary sacrifice in the hell that is war to be appropriate to the entire series, yet I thought it fit nicely in parts of this installment. Still, I do VERY much agree that the series' theme of making the appropriate choices in order TO triumph fully was not realized in the endings, and not even having that choice was disappointing. Most critics only attack the idea that Shepard so often has to die, and I appreciate Archengeia's view that Shepard and his entire crew CAN die, but true satisfaction needed this sacrifice to be met with full victory (ie defeat of the Reapers without killing off all synthetics). Am I reading this right? Oh, and as a side note, I'm really happy that FINALLY someone has attacked EDI's character model. For a series of this intelligence, magnitude, and apparent understanding of human condition, a lowest-common-denominator move like this was indeed insulting, misogynistic, and downright embarrassing. There are so many other games out there that do this to its female characters, I really had wished Bioware would have been above this. At least Miranda had a story and character driven purpose behind her sex appeal; EDI's design was simply cheap.

[@yurtyybomb]

Also, archengaia, I am not sure the "can't save everyone theme" was at odds with what ME's themes were. ME1's central decisions DID, from the very beginning, involve decisions where you couldn't save everyone. Kaidan/Ashley, and the Council/fleet - though, admittedly, they diminished that decision with ME3's council There were some decisions where it can all work out - geth/quarians, etc. but the Reapers would be changed from great to weak villains if there wasn't a huge tradeoff to defeat them.

[@UltraDumbbum]

Hey Archengeia i love your videos and opinions keep up the great work! You should get a better webcam so we can watch your videos in higher quality. Also could you change your recording ratio to 16:9 aspect ratio so there is no black bars on the side of the screen? Again i want to say i really enjoy your videos and thanks for making them :D

[@shadow8928]

this is what i took in extended cut: control: the catalyst was created to be the peacemaker between organics and synthetics, it failed...let's give a human mind this job. in the stargazer scene, no reapers are flying around... synthesis: the catalyst said they tried synthesis before but failed due to forcing it on organics...then the kid proposes shepard to do the same. destroy: an unarmored shepard can survive a citadel blast to the face. enough said. refusal ending:FU by being incharacter

[@AfroLegendxX]

I've seen it all, what an awesometacular vid, well played man

[@Dotoku14]

I agree completely with you. I liked the improvements that they made to ME3, but I would have liked a 'Perfect" ending. In my mind, I see the Destroy ending to not have killed the Geth and EDI just do to the fact that Shepard was supposed to die, and didn't. I think the Starchild was trying to make you lean toward the other 2 by lying to you. And i'm very glad that you will be doing videos still! Can't wait till your next review!

[@1x93cm]

btw the thane death scene is different for Thane- In my play through Kai leng did have to retreat and thane died of his injury after but it was more of his illness from ME2. I think it had to do with a ME2 decision or something because in the cutscenes he was saying that it wasnt worth it to get his injury from that fight healed cuz he was going to die anyways from the disease

[@MarkArandjus]

Thing about the destroy ending thought that I never hear people say is that at the end of the day Shepard is a soldier. Not the chosen one or the anointed messiah. Just a very talented mortal on a mission. Your mission is: destroy the Reapers, that's what everyone in the armada wants you to do, it's what they all expect. By what authority do you disobey your orders? The choice is not your's to make. It's like if the Enola Gay crew went, "Hey I don't think this is okay, let's not do it.".

[@masterfreeman117]

Destroying the remains of Saren overloaded Sovereigns systems for some reason that is why he could be destroyed so easily. It has been stated that it takes 4 Dreadnoughts to take down a big Reaper considering how many of them exist, there is simply not enough fire power in the galaxy to take them down conventionally. Also in the control ending it has not been stated that you will be a threat to anyone but instead protect and guide the galaxy and Refusal makes perfect sense.

[@robd9413]

@1:40:00 What you did with the Geth Consensus in ME2 determines if you can get the Geth/Quarian Peace in ME3. Peace is still possible, I think, without it (for those that didn't play ME2), but a lot harder to pull off.