MASS EFFECT 3 (Zero Punctuation)

[@lostfan10000]

*Yahtzee:* I don't see how they can raise the stakes anymore... *Meanwhile at EA:* Guys... we should do another Mass Effect. This time you save... a different galaxy.

[@cobusleroux2169]

+lostfan10000 They will screw it up, mark my words. The fact that they call it Mass Effect, and not include Shepard, should already be an indication.

[@jedidethfreak]

They really couldn't include Shepard, if you think about it. In order to do so, they'd have to choose ONE ending from Mass Effect 3 to be the "real" ending, because it had galaxy-wide consequences. They couldn't reasonably be expected to build a sequel where all three endings are taken into account - they'd have to make three whole games.

[@cobusleroux2169]

jedidethfreak That's the point. You can't have a mass effect game without Shepard. He/She was the face of mass effect. Making another one is pointless. Change the name or let me play as Shepard's asari granddaughter.

[@melthorn641]

+jedidethfreak Playing as someone new from Shepard's lineage would kick ass. Of course, it would be Shepard's adopted lineage for me. But even playing his adopted son would be awesome as hell.

[@jedidethfreak]

Cobus Le roux That is just absolutely stupid. You can't have a Mass Effect game featuring a Krogan, Turian, or Asari main character? Why not a Geth? You can most certainly have an ME game without Shepard, especially since no two Shepard's are exactly the same.

[@wildroses2009]

"It could have been worse" is the kindest thing I've heard anyone say about the Mass Effect 3 ending. You know writers have fucked up the ending big time when the kindest quote said about the ending was given by Yahtzee.

[@wildroses2009]

Whoami691 And you thought posting angry comments on statements 6-12 months ago would help all the people who made them so long ago move on? I didn't even remember I'd made this comment until you decided to reply. If I'd actually played this game, as opposed to being a Yahtzee fan who noticed lots of people didn't like the ending of ME3, I'd probably be annoyed about it all over again. I had to google EC Mass Effect 3 to understand the second paragraph of your comment.

[@MrMortull]

wildroses2009 I'm surprised you bothered to reply to this bait, honestly. Still, thanks for sticking up for a genuine grievance.

[@Tarkus-Ivalice-dweller]

Yikes!

[@xxRyuuzaki]

@@Whoami691 4 years later and still one of the dumbest things I've had the displeasure of reading

[@teawithwhiskey]

@@Whoami691 you did reply tho

[@claytonmachine12]

4:29 I think EA watched this and decided that that was a challenge

[@Gboy86ify]

Are you implying EA possesses enough human emotion to feel challenged?

[@mikevailprodutions]

but the fridge on a roller skate did have a rocket jump

[@ToastyMozart]

Yeah no wonder he didn't like the Mako sections in ME1, he didn't know about the best feature.

[@thecanmanification]

More like a rocket hop

[@murygordyH]

A rocket white man’s jump, if you will

[@freddiekruger3339]

"White Makos can't jump"

[@bobbyboy1797]

It's a pretty pathetic "jump".

[@Salocinist]

"what am I supposed to do, make out with Garrus?!" .... well *yeah*, he´s the best

[@SorakuFett]

I only wanted one thing from Mass Effect 3's ending. Garrus and Shepard cuddling naked on top of a dead Harbinger.

[@DWatchRazgriz]

Time for a stereotypical Warhammer 40k comment...PURGE THE XENOS LOVER! Now for the real response. Honestly I don't really give a darn who you romanced, it's your choice...It's part of being an RPG, the story is determined by your choices. My only complaint is the lie we were told by Bioware that our choices matter in Mass Effect 3.

[@omegasrevenge]

I wanted whoever Shepard was shagging at the time to be naked with him on top of a ruined Harbinger. Would be a fine way to celebrate life by creating new life straight on top of his corpse.

[@1UpEXP]

"Are you ready to be a woman?"

[@AusMarkus]

"We shall fuck upon the corpse of our foe in order to assert dominance!"

[@PonzooonTheGreat]

The reapers die But Shepard is protected by a BUBBLE OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP She flies down to earth where all her friends are Everyone hugs Shepard. THE END

[@SlayerOfKleiners]

Yahtzee predicts that the series is over, following basic logic and smart storytelling. Then EA tosses us Mass Effect: Andromeda, following their arses.

[@Gingergeek101]

SlayerOfKleiners their arses constructed out of 50% greed and 50% moronic ideology

[@infirmux]

+SlayerOfKleiners EA usual antics aside, ME universe is to good to end it completely. Shepard story was told in 3 games. Now we can have more adventures, as long as it's well written, not made only for $$$. You can argue about what's going on with Star Wars franchise, but there are interesting stories told there. Not all of them I like (at all), but I wouldn't ask to kill SW once and for all.

[@garrus_from_mass_effect7607]

But the lead writer came back after he left after the production of Mass effect 2 so I have great confidence that Andromada will be good.

[@sdolnicek]

+SlayerOfKleiners Oh dear. Bioware: another victim of EA-ness.

[@SajirouPlays]

+Garrus_from_mass_effect I have NO confidence. EA so much as sneezes Bioware is running at them with a box of hankies and wondering if they can give it a handy jay while it blows its nose. After 3, I gave up. 1 and 2 were masterpieces, 1 was masterpiece of story, 2 was masterpiece of Story and Gameplay, 3 was ... oh all those fancy decisions you made? Well fuck you, your decisions didn't really matter. Those bug people you saved? Oh they get taken over by the reapers and you have to kill them.... so you might as well just always kill them like a heartless bastard in 1.. but at least it let you see Grunt again so he could call you Shepard and you can say you have to go and he can call you Shepard again ... then you can say you have to go and he can call you Shepard again ... and then you can say you have to go and... wait, where was I going with this? (I literally did this in ME2... it was fun to jank the conversation like that) And everything culminates in a Star Child you never were told about and 3 choices to make... oddly enough after all the promotion for the game was " We don't want to give you an A b C ending " and then in the end all you get is a Red, Blue, Green endin... wait, I guess they were truthful they gave you colors instead of the alphabet. Then to "fix" their ending all they did was add explanations as to their endings in a free DLC that made every one collectively sigh. It's too bad it sucked so bad, the Citadel mission looked like it might've been fun but shame on me for spending money twice on a crappy game just for the one good part about it.

[@Destructerator]

I'm probably the 103004th person to say this but... the Mako does have a rocket jump.

[@discoder]

Destructerator Yeah, but maybe they should have mounted a gun that works properly onto it.

[@Rebellions]

discoder Oh it worked properly (at least for me) my complaint with the damned thing was the fact that the gun had no damage compared to my own weapons and the sound effect for it was terrible, had no trouble aiming with it. The fucker just did like no damage and sounded like the Mako was coughing at things until they died.

[@discoder]

That's pretty much what I was getting at.

[@spourchoable]

It wasn't until my like... 7th playthrough that I noticed it actually had a zoom for the gun and on the 9th playthrough I found out it had a high damage rocket luncher!! Would have made the game so much better had I known that. But it still cuts experience points in half...

[@sir.mannington]

I imagine Yahtzee would say the same thing about Mako's rocket jump as he did the ending of Mass Effect 3. Also everyone complaining about Mako's low damage, you do realize it had a cannon function, not just the machine gun that's about as effective as a high power super soaker loaded with cat piss. But your best bet is getting out and killing things the old fashion way so that you don't get jibbed on the xp.

[@ShermTank7272]

I liked the Mako. Not the driving around part, but the part where it made the universe seem like it has planets that are actually traversible.

[@Dukeofnachos]

Tbh what's the point of being Male Shepherd if I can't get gay with Garrus? That's EXACTLY what I wanted the gay option for.

[@GenericUsername-qp1ww]

+Dukeofnachos you mean apart from the fact that Garrus is canonically straight? gee, I don't know.

[@Dukeofnachos]

Matt Allen Right, he's straight, and I'm upset about it.

[@GenericUsername-qp1ww]

Dukeofnachos why? because Bioware don't wanna do the same stupid shit they did in DA2 by making EVERYONE bisexual?

[@Dukeofnachos]

Matt Allen Tbh, making everyone bisexual is better than having certain people only available by gender. That's more annoying than helpful. I mean, story wise it's easy to explain differently than "You just so happen to be surrounded by bisexuals. Lucky you.". I've always seen things like that as "No one has explicitly stated sexualities, but whoever you choose to romance is into you.". Kind of like a sort of Schrodinger's gay. They are simultaneously straight, gay, and bisexual until you decide to romance them. But yes, as someone who prefers to play male characters and also liked Garrus more than the actual gay option, I'm upset.

[@GenericUsername-qp1ww]

Dukeofnachos um, actually it's pretty ridiculous. You can't expect everyone in the galaxy to be bi-sexual ffs. So glad they fixed that in DA:I and didn't make every LI bisexual like in DA2.

[@outlettered]

In comparison to some of his reviews, this was surprisingly positive... when considering certain things

[@gibberconfirm166]

It begs the question whether there wasn't some element of "Internet mob hysteria" surrounding the ending issue. I'd say it was objectively a bad ending, though. Somewhat common for scifi franchises and soap operatic TV show things. Crucible made no sense, synthetics vs. organics made no sense, Starchild was dumb (Carl Sagan's "Contact" had a shit ending as well.) "The Matrix: Revolutions" also sucked balls. At least the rest of ME3 was pretty good.

[@outlettered]

It was my personal favourite in the series, I just loved the emotional gravitas it pulled of and the huge scale of a war that i just really feel. I don't despise the extended cut endings, i'm no blind fan though, yes the endings could have been massively better. But i actually quite liked the control ending, i like the idea of shepard basically becoming a god like figure, very very sci-fi. And at least the extended cut shows more consequences for your actions and provides closure despite the plot holes at the end. And seeing as i never experienced the original endings personally i never felt as betrayed as some people did.

[@ShiftyEyedKirk]

4:24 The first and last time Yahtzee has ever stumbled over his words.

[@BFedie518]

ME3's ending is fine if you *only* look at ME3. If it's the only/first game you play, the ending is fine. But as the ending to an 100 hour, sci-fi epic trilogy, it's a disgrace.

[@PonzooonTheGreat]

"Rich universe; well put together story" is enough for me!

[@mrwindupbird101]

PonzooonTheGreat If you read between the lines of his reviews, you can tell which games he likes lol

[@TheDuckClock]

"Still it is nice for a big property to get all wrapped up before it faceplants into too many yeast infections' On Yahtzee you spoke way too soon, because now the characters in the next game are holding their guns backwards, complaining that their faces are tired and walking like they've got half a rabid badger jammed halfway up their arse.

[@shadow4126]

"I always thought mass effect was when I fell asleep at church" good one Yahtzee...

[@ShowMePicardsFlute]

its disturbing how accurrate the sex metaphor was for my acutual first time :/

[@Broekje]

I loved all three Mass Effects and will not let the last hour ruin the whole series for me.

[@nicolaswarren3453]

If you want an unproven theory to make that last hour seem awesome, you should look up the Shepard Indoctrination Theory. I think Space Hamster did a video on it.

[@jedidethfreak]

Except the Indoctrination Theory doesn't hold water - if he was being indoctrinated by the Reapers, they wouldn't allow him the choices they did.

[@nicolaswarren3453]

Well, to be honest, the only choice that poses any real threat to the Reapers is the one that wipes them out, but if i'm remembering correctly that only applies to the Reapers in our galaxy. So that would leave the Reapers in every other galaxy left to f*$k our s*&t up, leading us into a false sense of security and allowing Shepard to die off naturally and thus not pose a threat any longer.

[@jedidethfreak]

Nicolas Warren I was under the impression that, canonically, the Reapers only were around our galaxy, meaning they were all dealt with. And, no - the Symbiosis ending would end up removing any and all free will from the Reapers, so I doubt they'd bother offering such a choice, much less advocate it.

[@nicolaswarren3453]

Well the Symbiosis, at least from what i could gather, just combined all life into a weird natural/mechanical state. Meaning that the originally biological life forms may have lost free will. After all, the Mass Effect universe is one that has already practically perfected unshackled AI and Shepard was able to bring co-existence between artificial and natural life. Regardless, the Reapers, being Reapers, would still want to remove life in any form from the universe. Though, we have learned through the Promethean DLC that they aren't the best at it.

[@king_arcabious4269]

The good bad and the ugly is considered the best of the trilogy

[@OfficialJab]

Few Dollas More is better though.

[@king_arcabious4269]

OfficialJab nah, my personal fav is GBU

[@ChuckPalomo]

King_Arcabious If you can call it a trilogy when the only connection between the three films are a few actors. I think they only grouped them together for distribution purposes.

[@king_arcabious4269]

ChuckPalomo How is it not a trilogy? It has the same characters, same tone, and everybody else seems to acknowledge it as a trilogy but you. With that logic, how is the dark knight a trilogy? How is the godfather a trilogy?

[@ChuckPalomo]

King_Arcabious It doesn't have the same characters, at all, all of Leone's westerns have the same tone, and there is no continuous storyline between the 3 films. Clint plays the same mysterious gunslinger that he plays in most other westerns I can remember, so it can't be argued its the same protagonist in all of them, just the same archetype played by the same actor. And yes, it is acknowledged as a trilogy, but only in a formal sense, because of Leone's collaboration with Eastwood, not for its overarching continuity, which is what really counts storywise. I guess what I'm trying to say, and I really don't know why I'm putting so much effort in it, is that the good the bad and the ugly is only the third in the trilogy because it was released last, not for being the culmination of the 3 movies. Order doesn't really matter then.

[@bdeamon1]

0:30 did Yahtzee predict the acquisition of star wars and marvel by Disney?

[@zaruyko]

I actually found Mass Effect 3's story to make even less sense than the other games, mainly because of the first two games. In ME 1 you spoke to Sovereign who stated that organic life is an accident and that they will never ascend or reach the level of understanding the reapers have. ME 2 sort of forgot the reapers existed and instead focused on the collectors, so it doesn't have a really big hit on the story compared to the first. And then in ME 3, the reaper on Rannoch completely ditched Sovereigns statements and just said that the cycle must continue to prevent the self destruction of organics. Star child is the worst pile of shit due to the fact that he completely removed any semblance of badassery or futility in the reapers. Sovereign said that they are timeless, eternal, and infinite, and now we have a little kid saying that he created them. Way to destroy the first game and the feeling given from the reapers.

[@VicariousReality7]

zaruyko What kid? Have you not spoken to Leviathan?

[@theodorehodbor5080]

+zaruyko Sometimes I actually wish they never said what the Reaper's true motivations were. Sometimes it works better not to know where the enemy came from or why they do what they do. It gives them a sort of mysterious feel that makes them seem truly alien. Maybe what Sovereign said was right, organics cannot truly comprehend the Reapers, their origins, or their intentions. Either that, or at least just leave it at they use organics to create more of themselves. But instead, we get this shoehorned in thing about how "the Reapers were actually kind of the good guys because they kept organic races from destroying themselves because their creators got mad about how their slaves made robots to do the heavy lifting, which then rebelled and killed their creators." I have a really big feeling that that storyline wasn't going through the developers' heads during the creation of Mass Effect 1. It just once again proves that EA turns any game it touches into First/Third Person Shooter DLC simulator. It would have been icing on the cake if they made Mass Effect 3 a first person shooter.

[@whodatninja439]

+Theodore Hodbor Sovereign is still the scariest Reaper in Mass Effect. Harbinger was shit in comparison

[@theodorehodbor5080]

***** I'm not too sure about that. I mean, I agree that Sovereign was the scariest one, but then again you didn't have a single clue what it was or what it's capable of. Also it captured the effect that the Reapers are this "unknownable, unstoppable, alien force" they claimed to be. Since you already knew what the Reapers were when Harbinger made an appearance, he didn't seem as intimidating. And by Mass Effect 3, he turned full on Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain.

[@JelliThePilot]

I loved the feeling of war and hopelessness at the citadel.

[@SmokeRodent]

until everyone gets wasted at the dlc

[@catiseith]

Something funny about the ME series is how more and more over the top the first action part on each game gets. ME1: Oh, sh*t! The colony just went under attack! Let's go down, kill the geths left, and stop the bomb from blowing up everything. ME2: Oh, sh*t! They shot our ship! There is fire everywhere and people is dying! Let's GTFO before everything blows up! ME3: Oh, sh*t! The reapers are here! Everything is blowing up in Michael Bay style! Let's go outside and enjoy the fireworks while escaping!

[@Xfushion2]

In terms of gameplay this was the best of the three. ME1 combat is a joke, cover is tedious, slow and for some reason you always have acces to all wepons regarding the fact if you can use them or not. And the Mako (the tank) was complete trash, even with the jump it controlled badly. ME2 improved a lot, especially by giving classes exclusive powers, diching the whole weapon and armor farming, but not being able to dodge was stupid, so I'm the best space soldier of all time but I don't know that I can dodge bullets by dodging? Also they added another Vehicle (The Hammerhead) that had fine controls and thus good vehicle sections. ME3 is basically ME2, only faster, with the ability to dodge and perform a heavy attack and for that is good, because it also implements the powers of the characters by giving a decent number of enemy variety, the only thing they fucked up in gameplay was that they didn't make playable sections out of the Normandy.

[@Egalitariat-likesecretariat]

+SuperHothead14 In most cases, true. In my case, the combat bored me out of the RPG, and once I finished ME1, I went straight for the sequels and haven't looked back since.

[@cpob2013]

The single biggest problem with the ending is that if a relay explodes, it destroys a whole system. In the ending, it shows every relay in the galaxy blowing up. The whole ending from the point you start limping just seemed forced compared to the rest of the game

[@SinerAthin]

The writers should probably have thought of that before stuffing them up with so friggin much TNT xD

[@Jmike3543]

They patched the ending up with the extended cut, but the whole "organics and synthetics can't get along" thing was just bullshit.

[@SinerAthin]

Jmike3543 When you have to retcon to make it work, you know you've fucked up somewhere :P

[@cypher515]

I was pissed at the ending because it was objectively incomplete. It had no falling action. THEN they did the recut and I was somehow not pissed at all.

[@melthorn641]

Some people liked this one the least out of the three. It was my favorite one. The Mako could jump, by the way. Citadel DLC FTW

[@Unethical.FandubsGames]

+Mel Thorn You probably also think that Jurassic Park 3 and Terminator 3 were the best in the series. You must have no grasp of coherency or internal consistency when it comes to story-writing. Probably another nutter that thinks Bioshock Infinite's ending makes sense... I give up with this world.

[@bloodmercs]

+Mel Thorn Careful there, expressing opinions that go against the norm will have people hurl insults at you.

[@JesseLeeHumphry]

+bloodmercs Oh you mean insults like "You must have no grasp of coherency or internal consistency when it comes to story-writing"? It's one thing to express an opinion, it's another to insult someone's taste. You don't have to hate something or be down on someone to be a "cool kid" you know.

[@justiziabelle]

+Mel Thorn Mass Effect Games from worst to best: 1,2,3. It got better in every aspect: Storywriting, character characterization, combat, world design, loading times, elevators, elevators, oh and ...elevators. Also I had quite a lot of fun with the multiplayer, despite it's monetization system, which was pretty fucked up. The only downside (to the SP aspect of the third part) is the ending, which was a little bit underwhelming, but then almost all game endings are that way.

[@bloodmercs]

Lawlsomedude I tip my fedora to you sir.

[@matternicuss]

I actually liked it too, though I do recognize the lore issues with the original cut. Still, to me it made sense because it answered the one big question I had since the beginning; 'why don't the Reapers kill *all* organics?' when they very well are capable of doing so. Thematically, it also tied in very well with a reoccurring theme: Creation vs. Creator. I also liked some of the ambiguity, though I understand its not to everyone's tastes.

[@aelechko]

I was fine with it too. What did people want parades around the Citadel and udina and Shepard bro hugging it out? Could it have been done better of course. But the amount of hatred towards the entire series based only on the end is remarkable. Yeah the other 120 hours are terrible because the last ten minutes weren't exactly what you wanted in your head. And yet there's been like 7 five nights at Freddy's games. People make no sense.

[@LtScarecrow87]

I’ll admit I wasn’t a fan of the ending, but that being said, I think the cinematic and sound score at the end was well done. I’d even go so far as to say beautiful.

[@PonzooonTheGreat]

Perhaps Yahtzee might have liked it more if lots of the good content wasn't arbitrarily left out as DLC. The combat seems to be the easiest in the third too especially for a Vanguard. If you get the upgrade that charges your shields after a biotic charge and Nova you are unstoppable. You can take down platoons of the toughest enemies within seconds without firing a shot. The only reason I died after getting that upgrade was the preanimated instakills, the charge not firing sometimes for some reason and the occasional stun lock. And mapping sprint, interact, take cover, switch cover and do rolly pollys to space bar is perhaps some of the worst design ever...

[@silenceinspace.]

Ugh, yes. Those fucking controls. I'd be blithely sprinting somewhere and then BOOM, in cover. And then during combat, lord forbid you stand 3 degrees at the wrong angle and you can't get in cover. Stupid shit.

[@VicariousReality7]

***** I practically never use cover

[@silenceinspace.]

VicariousReality7 Ah, I see. As an Infiltrator who focuses mainly on sniping, cover's just about required.

[@PonzooonTheGreat]

Or a vanguard +200% recharge speed and a biotic charge that replenishes shields. No need for cover then!

[@PonzooonTheGreat]

I just found out that obviously there is a mod to fix the shitty controls.....

[@wilfnelson3177]

I actually liked the ending of Mass Effect 3, I played through all three games in a month did every side quest, understood all of the action and even stomached playing three games online to get the points needed for the synthesis ending. It made sense to me, the reason for the reapers was well explained, you could see that same reason was happening again, the answer actually helped all people and didnt hurt anyone (metaphysical arguments ignored because I have enough of a life) and ended with each character holding a resolution to everything that was built up. The ending was not just what happened to Shepard but everyone and when i played the quick version without previous saves it was depressing and awful. The complete all three games completely done version is up there with my first playthrough of Bioshock or when I finally figured out the truth about Captain Walker's mission. Maybe Bioware misstepped when they made a game that would only have a pay off if you put a considerable amount of time and effort into it, but then again that is not something I can agree to and whole heartedly want to see another game of Mass Effect's quality

[@stafer3]

You didn't say that ending was good, but that those resolutions which occurred through rest of the game for other characters were good. People didn't whine about those, but about that certain point of game where nothing from your previous actions mattered. I mean what's the point of making decisions and gather forces in three games if you can just play multiplayer, gather the points and have same ending. And if they wanted to make it that way then they should give us shitload of very different variants (if their outcome is independent from previous decisions they don't need to tie everything together). So player can choose whatever he/she wants so it doesn't feel totally forced between: A) genocide of all synthetic, but I'm doing it right because I'm Shepard B) do what Ilusive man wanted, but I'm doing it right because I'm Shepard C) do what Saren wanted, but I'm doing it right because I'm Shepard D) you are screwed, because you didn't like our three options I would just gather enough assets to force reapers to recall their overwhelming forces from other systems which would be too much for my conventional forces, but just that act that they were forced to do something like call for backup would get me that warm feeling that all that gathering of forces through three games meant something. Even if I would be defeated in the end, but at least they could show it. Instead of their “You lost” if you chose D, they could at least give one stupid map with horde mode where there would be the waves of enemies until all your allies and you are dead. It's a game. If you want to player to lose because it's logical that he never had chance to defeat stronger enemy, then let him play that bitter end and not just “shut up, you lost”. Alternatively, you could just destroy mass relay and took whole solar system with you. You would die, but you would took reapers with you. Alternatively, you could use your knowledge of reaper IFF and temporally disable it for reaper force. Then you could destroy solar system and even let your fleet escape. Alternatively, you could use saved quarian fleet to evacuate millions from Earth before you destroy it. Most of those ships would be destroyed. But if you saved quarians and geth together then geth support would saved those ships. Alternatively, you could use small mass relay in citadel to escape as well. Do you see what I'm doing. That's still only variant D, but instead of “So be it” and you lost, outcome of your choice is tweaked by your previous choices. Same way as all those other characters in their stories you said were good. We could make geth the new reapers 2.0, but instead of harvesting advanced civilizations they could just make galactic police which would search for new advanced civilizations and AFTER they produce AI, they would make choice for AI to join their community of synthetics which are OK with organics or be destroyed. Cycle of harvesting would continue, but this time it would keep synthetics in line. It could be interesting concept. Or if Shepard chooses to control reapers, he could choose some renegade evil overlord option. What I'm trying to say, that they could go either nuts will all different (word different is very important, not just 3 instant saved the galaxy buttons) if they didn't want to tie endings to previous development. If people could choose their ending instead of mentioned 3 instant saved the galaxy buttons, then they would be OK. Or they should make ending which would be connected with player's gameplay of all three games.

[@jasonb5359]

stafer3 Depending on your decisions in the first two games you had additional options in the third game. If you only played the third game then there were resolutions for key points of the game that you would not have access to. An example would be the war between the Quarians and Geth. By default the game will make you choose one side or the other, and both choices result in the death of a character. However, depending on how you resolved Tali's trial, and what you choose to do with Legion you could get a third option that would allow you to save both races, both characters, and add their combined strength to the war effort. Yes, you can still attempt the third option under certain circumstances, but without the effects from the previous game it will most likely fail. Not to mention, that certain choices in the first two games will have an effect on just how much strength the different factions will actually bring to the war effort. "But what effect does any of this have on the ending", you ask? Well the choices you make, tied in with the strength of your forces when you head back to earth, as well as, your Galaxy's preparedness level (only raised through multiplayer) will effect the following: 1) How many forces actually make it to the planet, and how many survive the assault. 2) Whether or not you will have enough strength to defend the catalyst. 3) Whether or not a team mate dies when you get blasted during the suicide run to the transporter. and finally, no matter what you chose to do (other than D, Reapers win) your choice will have a Galaxy-wide effect. If your numbers are high enough then the side-effects will be minimal, and the Galaxy and the Normandy will recover relatively quickly. If your numbers are mid-range then their will be more death and damage on earth, and the Mass Effect Relays will be more severely damaged, but recoverable (Normandy may or may not get stranded). If your numbers are low then the Mass Effect Relays will be completely destroyed effectively ending all long range space travel, and pretty much destroy Earth, and anyone on it, and the Normandy will be stranded on some planet somewhere. I'd say that's quite a difference, wouldn't you? One final point; Saren and the Illusive Man were unwitting pawns of the Reapers, and would never have been allowed to have their way. If you pay attention to the things you learn about the Reapers then you'll see that they always use pawns to prepare for their arrival. You even learn that there was a faction of the Protheans that fights against the rest, which weakened them so they could be harvested and made into the Collectors. It's exactly what the Reapers were trying to do with Saren, and then the Illusive Man when Saren failed. And in both cases they were left to think that what they were doing was for the good of all races until they became aware they were being controlled or convinced to stop.. Then they lost it. Which leaves Shepard to be the only one who can do anything about it, if only because he was the only one to make it to the Catalyst alive. Last, but not least, Shepard was wounded and quite possibly bleeding to death by the time he even makes it to the Catalyst so the likelihood of him being able to return to the fight, or even make it off the Citadel for that matter, were very remote. In any event, he would not have been able to recover fast enough to make any kind of "last stand" when the Reapers had all but won by that point anyway. It was chose A, B, or C or let the cycle continue, end of story.

[@stafer3]

Jason Buford First part of your text is about what I said was done right. Throughout the whole game I had the feeling that my actions from previous games mattered. But this stopped with the end. You mentioned military strength, that it is connected with your decisions. Thing is, you need 3100 points for all endings. Buy DLCs and you get 1000 points just from them. Which means you need like 2000 points from 7500 possible. Which kind of means you can happily choose whatever you want, skip whatever you want, let die whoever you want, don't care at all and you get exactly the same A,B,C,D options in the end regardless of your choices. On your final point. We as Shepard said that those options were wrong, not just people who are advocating them. If they really wanted to turn everything around then they should have made little bit of work in that scenario. At least more than reaper telling me that it is OK to do this and that because I'm totally not indoctrinated like the others before me who wanted the exact same thing, which was thing I was against through all three games. About survivability of Shepard, that part was actually inspired by fact that he survived destruction of reapers in original, so I put that option there just for the heck of it. I have not problem with him dying.

[@TheBoxGhost97]

When he said the mako from ME1 would've been better with a rocket jump I don't know if he realized it actually did have jump jets on it

[@GenericUsername-qp1ww]

ME3 was essentially 90% 3rd person shooter 10% RPG. There are two culprit's to blame for the ending; EA and the asshole who leaked the original ending that made far more sense and had something to do with dark energy instead of that Starbrat BS. Starbrat: the created will always rebel against their creator's. *flashback to geth/quarian peace* Geth Prime: you are welcome to return to Rannoch, with us Admiral Raan. ME1: awesome RPG element's, godawful combat ME2: awesome combat, awesome RPG element's ME3: awesome combat, godawful RPG element's (not that there is much)

[@Web720]

Nah, ME2 wasn't really an RPG. more like an action game with RPG elements. it wasn't a good hybrid like you think it is. Go watch Yahtzee's both Dues Ex videos on the difference between an action rpg and an action game with RPG elements.

[@utubinator]

+Matt Allen First off, sorry for the terrible formatting of this comment. For some reason youtube won't let me have spaces inbetween paragraphs, and when I post it all becomes one big block of text. No, the original ending would have been shit.Consider: The original ending was based on the theory that the build up of dark energy will eventually tear the universe apart. Except for this will only happen with the closed universe theory, and that is not a wildly accepted theory in science. On top of that, even if it will happen, the reapers slowing down the build up of dark energy will have absolutely NO affect what so ever. There are billions of galaxies. The reapers slowing down the build up in the Milky Way would have been completely negligible. The plotline of organics vs. synthetics is far more foreshadowed as well. The Reapers, the Reaper on Rannoch, the Quarians vs. Geth, Javik, the Leviathan DLC, EDI rebelling against Cerberus... And the Dark Energy plotline was introduced in Tali's dossier in Mass Effect 2, on Heastrum. Got a few brief mentions here and there, but otherwise was almost non existent. And might I ask how the hell ME3 has less RPG elements then the previous games? For every skill on the last 3 upgrades you have two options each. You can take what guns you want with you, there are far more guns to choose from, and said guns have a new mod system that allows for customizability as well as the ability to upgrade them in the armory by paying for a more advanced model. Also, it has multiple pieces of armor that you can mix and max as you please.  Mass Effect 3 has more customizability and choice in regards to gameplay character building then any other of the games.For sure, Mass Effect 3 has WAY more RPG elements then Mass Effect 2 did, which offered you a set list of upgrades to unlock, a few guns, only two sets or armor without any money costing DLC and a very limited amount of skills to upgrade with only one choice of customization when you completed the bar. (which even reaching level 3 you really didn't have enough points to finish more than one or two)

[@TheSpearkan]

+Matt Allen what leaked ending?

[@utubinator]

Spearka Originally, the ME3 ending was going to be about the reapers toppling galactic society to slow down the build of dark energy (which the use of ezoo was causing) because it would destroy the universe eventually, but it was leaked so they changed it. Read my ealier comment for the details.

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

+jakeford2 Are you telling me somebody fucked us out of getting to basically play the ending of Gurren Lagann? Where do we sign up for the angry mob? :P

[@davidgerrard216]

The M35 Mako was a well put together machine, Yahtzee. Despite being an armoured vehicle that can't resist small arms fire. And really "fridge on a roller skate" doesn't quite cover it, but still!

[@ShadowHunter120]

I remember in mass effect 1 when I used the mako, I almost never used the guns on it, I just drove and stomped on anything not friendly with it. That car was so god damn heavy It just went through even the strongest of enemies without slowing down.

[@chwenhoou]

Finally! A Zero Punctuation that hasn't been taken down... yet.

[@bottasheimfe5750]

i actually quite liked the combat in ME3, well at least in the Multiplayer game mode. playing a Vanguard is very fast paced as you biotic charge from enemy to enemy (which can only happen when properly leveled) and i very rarely need to stay in one spot for more than ten seconds before i'm charging off to some other dipshit and blasting him in the face with my shotgun

[@newflesh666]

same i found the actual gameplay to be an improvement to ME2's, which i liked a lot. maybe I'm just a sucker for getting to stab people with omniblades. the multiplayer was a lot of fun, but loot boxes and the whole "galaxy at war" system was pretty shit imo.

[@quincentupleyourmoney5650]

Fun fact - this is the longest any ZP video goes without a yellow background

[@ryan43816]

wym

[@quincentupleyourmoney5650]

@@ryan43816 you know what? I have no idea lmao. I'm sure I thought this was super clever when I posted it but now I'm baffled lol

[@clvnmdr453]

But, the Mako did have rocket jumps.

[@romxxii]

I think what happened is they made a few key planets, then copy-pasted the rest to fill out their quota. I still wish they could've done planet exploration for 3, and give you the option to take either the Mako, the Hammerhead, or a shuttle. That way, you get different experiences. Plus a little greenery helps. Just look at Overlord's beautiful meadows.

[@egoalter1276]

The moment Liara first mentioned the crucible, and they wee taking it seriously, and not writing it off as an obvious Reaper trap, I started groaning...

[@adamloga3788]

Yeah, that's probably the biggest plothole in the whole series. "OH no, all the Prothean knowledge caches were left behind as a trap because it's almost impossible to defeat the Reapers with Mass Effect Technology! Luckily we JUST FOUND this new Prothean plan in the knowledge cache we've been probing for thirty years that would have let us know of the threat early if we'd found it before and it appears to be a superweapon that can conveniently destroy the Reapers, left behind as plans by the Protheans who never used it for reasons that will barely be acknowledged. Let's focus our ENTIRE MILITARY STRATEGY on this one hope and a massive singular battle for Earth!"

[@blodstainer]

ME3 with Mako + Hammerhead + some of the ME 1 & 2 mini-games as well as maybe a Normandy-flying section or a flying section with the Shuttle would've been awesome. I totally agree with Yahtzee they didn't really screw up bad with the ending, it was the fact that they didn't really improve the game-play from ME 1 and 2 they just took good parts and painted a nice new weapon customization on it.

[@NerdestGamaer]

Even though Mass Effect 4 may seem like Bioware is beating a dead horse, the idea that they will include the Andromeda galaxy is too awesome. The extreme amount of potential they have with the story being Andromeda finally making contact with the Milky way is insurmountable, I just hope EA doesn't get their greedy fingers into the pot and ruin the stew.

[@Nix-Man]

I weep for you in hindsight

[@NerdestGamaer]

@@Nix-Man oh god I did not know I posted this, I was still in college during this hahahaha 😅 I remember I was disappointed, but I had a friend that was way more hyped and disappointed

[@Nix-Man]

@@NerdestGamaer haha, I feel that. Think we were all caught off guard with that 4th game. Guess time makes fools of us all. Cheers!

[@caz1764]

I'm just wondering how many comments Yahtzee's gotten over the years that if he'd saved Kaidan on Virmire, you can romance him as MaleShep in this game.

[@maiadraconica6488]

im looking forward to seeing his review on the new mass effect

[@MrKGBOOM]

There wasn't one last week, Yahtzee was at the Escapist Expo all the way over in the USA.

[@okatakio]

I think the directors cut answered any what the fuck questions I had about the ending for ME3, aside from the fact that it wasn't exactly what I wanted and there wasn't much difference between the 3.

[@Lulba]

jesus christ i found a reviewer who has things to talk about other than the ending, I salute you sir Yahtzee

[@halismeful]

Well well, I wonder how he feels about mass effect 4 being put in production

[@BrawnX]

Dunno about him, but there's just nowhere to go with the story.

[@halismeful]

I eager quite frankly. Flogging the dead space horse indeed.

[@applepie231]

Nowhere to go?! Dude...the entire galaxy is in ruins, entire species are gone. Finally for once in a trillion years civilization can actually continue and you say there's nowhere for the story to go?!

[@halismeful]

That would be a game about a bunch of races fighting over who gets what. In a sequel I want the stakes to be upped, and the only way to up the stakes would be have us kill something that was even closer gods than the reapers were.

[@Endgame1011]

hal fryer or, they could do a game where the stakes have nothing to do with saving the universe? how come people think that the only way to make a game exciting is to make the stakes massive? Cant think of a recent rpg in which if you didn't do X the entire world/galaxy would die, or be shitty, or whatever. Sometimes i just want to be the little guy, with little problems (but to me they seem massive) i would play that, would be like baldurs gate, but in spaaaaaaaaaace. Actually, thats what i really want, baldurs gate in spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace. on a side note 'me4' is going to have nadda to do with Shepard, so they could pick literally any time period they wish. im hoping for first contact war.

[@TailsTheFox31]

@forgottenbow- 1. That "speaker" is called Yahtzee. 2. It's called a theme song, and I doubt he'll change it just because someone asked him to

[@laok]

jak and daxter 3 was a pretty good sequel

[@docterfantazmo]

Is 3 good? I've almost completed 2 twice now but the game is so freaking hard I stop to prevent my teeth from being ground away...

[@laok]

that it was but i think the games were to played as a hole so the difficulties meant to be like that and 2s end is hard and i neaver finshed 3s last boss its dark souls for kids

[@15oClock]

Ah, the years before Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

[@koolkidinawheelchair]

I enjoyed the Mass Effect 3 ending, it was sad, it made you feel. There was no hero's welcome, and it wasn't a happy ending. People complain that you didn't feel like the choices you made mattered, but thats the whole point, they didn't matter. You were in over your head, you had one last hope, one last chance, and that was the crucible. Tell me, how would any of the choices you made mattered anyway? "Oh I chose to let Jack stay mad at me when I chose Miranda's side in ME2, Guess that changes time and space!" Give me a break. Making small decisions matter in terms of fighting the war, and who you are fighting with in that war, but there was only ever meant to be 2 outcomes, you make the choice to use the crucible or not. What ever happens after that is beyond our control. and thats what it felt like.

[@corvo2696]

I wonder how Yahtzee feels knowing that there's gonna be Mass Effect: Andromeda

[@AlphaZeroX96]

I'm going to find every comment of mine in your video comments and delete them or edit them as an apology.

[@azzzanadra]

What did you comment?

[@Dannyboyyay]

0:50 an analogy in an analogy. Oh boy, we're reaching depths.

[@SGz_Eliminated]

Quite frankly I'm an anomaly when it comes to the whole Mass Effect 3 ending because I loved it. Not before the extended cut because before the extended cut was released it was far too short. After the extended cut however the endings were frankly amazing and very well thought of. People only get pissy at the ending because you don't see Shepard standing with one foot on a brute chanting about victory. The ending just wasn't focused on Shepard, it wasn't about Shepard that's the point but somehow that's why everyone gets mad. Shepard saved the galaxy from extinction so the game shows you the various species and in some cases the reapers helping to rebuild a somewhat destroyed galaxy from scratch but because it's not all about what shepard or his mates are up to everyone gets pissed. ME3 ending is good ending and anyone with a imagination range longer than a teaspoon would agree with me.

[@Spartansoldier217]

Lol, no. People hate the ending because it makes very little sense (even with extended cut) and it's obviously a tacked on script adjustment made at the last possible minute. It takes into account a bare minimum of your choices throughout the series (that's with extended cut, the ending disregarded pretty much everything the player did before EC was released), creates more questions than it answers and is generally just a poorly thought out mess. I couldn't care less if Shepard dies if the ending is good enough, but the ending is far from good enough. That Shepard only (possibly) survives if you download extended cut and choose what is ostensibly the worst end-game choice is just an added slap to the face, especially if you took the time to make sure organics and synthetics could live in relative harmony over the course of the three games. The game itself is fantastic in my opinion and the trilogy as a whole is still one of my favorite game series of all time, but there is just no defense for the abysmal clusterfuck that is ME3's ending.

[@BFedie518]

The problem isn't that it wasn't a happy ending, the problem is that no matter what choices you made throughout all three games, the difference in the ending comes down to one of four coloured explosions.

[@BoySamusMetroid]

LOL, another person either missing or ignoring the entire dispute. The ending was a contrived shit of (literal) Deus Ex Machina, get used to it.

[@Veladus]

Sam Trott Sorry, but learning to spell Shepard's name correctly is a pre-requisite for lecturing people about the ending. It's no fucking wonder you didn't see anything wrong with that nonsense if you paid so little attention you don't know the main character's name. Christ almighty.

[@SGz_Eliminated]

Veladus Can't argue with that because the spelling was wrong.

[@assadi89]

You know what's really cool? Reading his books in his voice!

[@SuddenlyAllie]

Only thing i disliked about the ending personally, was to get the best possible ending required online play, no if's and's or butt's about it.

[@MrC4iny]

Not anymore. You can get the best ending via playing the other games and clever decisions. (Provided that you have the "Extended cut", so you kinda need the internet, but you don't need to *play* online.)

[@whybag]

One thing I really (REALLY) disliked was that the "best" ending amounted to "*gasp*, he took a breath!" Haven't played since they redid it, I only finished it immediately after launch.

[@SuddenlyAllie]

MrC4iny: Why should i need to download anything. Can't companies make complete and working games at launch anymore.

[@MrC4iny]

Adam Clarke Apparently not.

[@Ralfast]

There is no best ending.

[@WhoIsIanMcGovern]

The fridge on rolerskates did have a rocket jump

[@ZetaGundam336]

This game was rushed end of story.........and let's not talk about the end of this story lol

[@wildroses2009]

I've never played any of the games, but the popularity of the Indoctrination theory told me everything I needed to know about the end of the story. If large groups of people are trying to change the ending into: "And then Shepard woke up and found it was all a dream" because they prefer it to the actual ending, you know the writing must be terrible.

[@ZetaGundam336]

wildroses2009 well as a whole the writing of the first 2 games was good but the 3rd game...............lets just say someone got high in writing the script lol

[@grekain1]

wildroses2009 Well, it does not say, that everything was a dream but just that last sequence (10 minutes + "ending"), while it obviously still leaves us with an open end to "what happens next?" it is definitely far better than the standard concept of the ending. And of course it was not a normal dream because Shepard thought of taking a nap in the battlefield but it was an indoctrination attempt. Yea, the game was rushed and I would have loved to see their real ending but the theory makes quite a lot of sense. And I guess in the end, if you did not like the ending, that does not ruin the whole series like how some people see it. The game was totally worth every second and no ending will destroy that.

[@D4rkkn1ght1000]

Charles Harris the reason the ending was bad was because one of the people in charge of the ending left and gave the producers a script saying it had to end with Shepard having a choice between the three options. If the guy stayed it would have been better, but what do I know. Let's all blame EA for wrecking another franchise

[@RexxTastic]

darkr0bo Honselty i feel that EA managed to get their hand on some prototype end script from Deux Ex, Where the protagonist would be able to Take control Of all augmented people, Destroy all augmented people, Or Spread his gene's to everyone giving them super abilities without having to augment and taking away the side effects of getting augmented. Then they decided to to put it to use in Mass Effect because battlefield just had human enemies and there were mix fealings about having the player choose to control and army of Necromorphs in Dead space.

[@gaedikus]

"handles like a fridge on a rollerskate" got me

[@Unethical.FandubsGames]

"What do you do after you threaten to destroy every living thing in the Galaxy" You break any kind of coherency and break all Mass Effect lore and place the next game in another Galaxy. Well done Bioware. I might pirate it if I think it'll be worth the few GB it takes up on my system but... after 3 I think I might only play it for about 10 minutes and say "fuck it". 2 was fantastic (needed the vehicle missions in at the start) and 1 was pretty damn awesome too... 3 was just mediocre and uggh... SHITE.

[@anonymosity2264]

4:01 were Andromeda's features released at the time of this video?

[@angermyode]

I don't understand how Yahtzee can possibly be jaded. The man gets to play video games and have his opinions broadcast to a bigger audience than most of us could ever dream of, and his attitude is that of a man who has to spend 8 hours a day in line at the DMV. What the hell does Dame Fortune have to do to brighten up your outlook Ben, bake you cookies?

[@kutless45]

That is just how he is.

[@petergreen5047]

And I hope he stays like this. I am tired of reviewers kissing the game's ass.

[@kanesoban]

If all you did is play games for work than maybe you would be jaded too.

[@killerbee2562]

Part of it's being in "character," if you watch his personal channel yahtzee19 he's not _as_ negative.

[@RealEnerjak]

"Yurr my besht friend" You too Garrus, you too.

[@thunderbug8640]

Well with the streak Bioware has been on recently I cant wait to see how shit Dragon Age 3 is gonna be. Im guessing vomit inducing but maybe thats being optimistic, maybe it will be so bad that anyone who is stupid enough to buy it dies from shock at the piss poor quality of the game.

[@Damalycus]

I hope devs/writers got cancer for making #2, and #3 will have no links to previous games storyline wise. I will never play #2 and it sucks to skip on a universe I've invested in. The least of that universe is in #3 the better.

[@thunderbug8640]

***** i said same thing about DA-2 and ME3 when Bioware didn't have anything to prove, now cos of recent mess ups they have to prove that being bought by a 2nd rate company hasn't turned them into a 2nd rate developer. Not many devs can survive being infected by the EA virus though unfortunately.

[@4rmond]

Seeing how EA gave Bioware an extra year to work on Inquisition, i'm sure Inquisition won't feel as rushed as Dragon Age 2.

[@thunderbug8640]

RighteousPoop We will have to wait and see but i dont hold out much hope tbh. Bioware seems to be a shell of its former self, I just wish they hadn't butchered 3 good franchise in the process of dying.

[@himynameisbaloghdani]

callum flude oh for fucks sake. Mass Effect 3 and DA2 both had an extremely short development cycle. For DA: Inquisition, not DA3(at least know the name of the game before calling it shit), is looking like they are bringing out the big guns and taking their sweet time making it. From what I've seen of it, it's going to be pretty sweet, but I'll reserve my judgment until release date. As should you. If it sucks, I'll be right there with you bitching, like I did with DA2 and the ending to ME3(the rest of the game was fine).. but until then zip it. Oh, and the people who keep saying Bioware is a former shell of itself... just shut up. The higher ups, except for the two founders of the company, are the same as the ones who worked on the original Kotor. The only difference is, now they're the bitch of EA. We'll see how that turns out..

[@kieranbako7362]

4:38 Yahtzee quotes The Hollow Men by T.S. Elliot. +respect

[@damobeck1]

I agree with Yahtzee about the ending, while it wasn't the best, there are great games with similarly not so good endings that are being totally ignored, like Dishonored for instance. Totally love the idea, and gameplay is fun, but the ending is just... Bleh.... Has great potential though.

[@docterfantazmo]

I enjoyed the good ending but I thought the bad one felt a little forced. I'm glad that moral choice bollocks is becoming rarer in games, I like choice to be about moment to moment situations not meeting criteria for a specific outcome, that takes fore thought which is fine in some cases but is no where near as interesting.

[@crimsonlanceman7882]

3:26 I actually loved that part!

[@TheSonic1685]

the makers of mass effect couldn't think of a better form off aliens and simply said "why not just copy war of the worlds I mean its not like nobody will notice" they said while repeatedly smacking them self's across the face

[@Mooseplatoon]

You tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it didn't even matter.

[@davidlindquist1499]

OriginalityImpaired Somewhere war of the worlds will find it a place it belongs.

[@TheSonic1685]

science fiction oh sorry

[@yakattack2983]

The absolute fuck are you talking about?

[@mikemcmullen5006]

So they did add a rocket jump to the car in the legendary edition. It totally fixed it

[@bromixsr]

What's the big argument, I loved the way the ending wrapped everything up?

[@yakattack2983]

Then you're an idiot.

[@MrPerson61]

You must have played after the Extended cut

[@yakattack2983]

Mr. Person Still an idiot.

[@horrorfan13666]

I'm in the same boat. I haven't started Mass Effect 3 yet, but the very first thing I'll be doing when I do is getting the Extended Cut.

[@DogMechanic]

Even when I like a game, I love listening to Yatzees perspective. I agree about the ending; it could have been worse. It wasn't an ending I could feel good about, but it didn't make me hate playing the rest of the game.

[@MrHostile12]

That Garrus scene on the bridge was awesome!

[@ICantSplel]

Speaking of Mass Effect (1) did anyone else's game just start giving them 17000 credits for every killl. I've like 99999999 or w/e the max credits is on that game, no idea why.

[@PAJ_L2001]

If you import a ME1 save to ME1, you'll end up with the credits, gear and invested lvl up points you had at the end of your imported save.

[@0sheldm]

points i forgot to mention, the health system, ME2 basically stole halo's health bar, ME3 changed it up a bit, kinda involving resistance. and there is the whole thermal clips, the old system was unique, it worked, it forced you to play differently. then they said you know what lets make an ammo system, but with only one type of ammo so when you run out for one you run out for all

[@Doomtrain55]

The very fact that everyone seems to hate on ME3s ending just goes to show how great it actually was. Sure we don't get a happy ending no matter what you do in the game and we neer find out what actually happens to Shepard after the cut scene but not everything needs a happy ending. In fact endings like ME3s are memorable because people hate it, and why do people actually hate it? Its not badly written, it ties in nicely with the storyline and the choices avialable though not desirable were realistic. The only reason anyone with half a brain and an understanding of the series could hate on the ending is if they were emotionally sucked into it. If the crew were more than just characters to them, they were like friends. Of course we're going to want closure or for them to be happy but the fact that we don't have that doesn't make the ending bad.

[@germanoverlord8655]

But we could only choose the freaking colour of the explosion. That's it.

[@Veladus]

What a bunch of bullshit. People don't hate the ending because it wasn't happy, they hate the ending because it completely shat on every major theme of the series. Synthetic life is different but not evil and we can work together to overcome our differences. The Reapers, however, are pure unadulterated evil. These themes, especially, were betrayed as hard as they could be. The Reapers aren't killing to save us, they're killing because they're monsters who enjoy it. I could write an entire essay about the malice the Reapers showed in the trilogy that can't be explained by this "yo dawg" trash they gave us at the end. Mass Effect also used to be impressively realistic for sci-fi. Some fictionalization is always necessary with space travel stories, but the writers bent over backwards to make Mass Effect scientifically realistic whenever possible. Astronomers and physicists with PhD's were impressed by this series early on. 3 ends with a giant green beam that puts printed circuitry on tree leaves. Disney wouldn't put something that stupid that in their movies for fear of insulting the intelligence of 8 year olds. Anyone with half a brain has half a brain more than required to realize people don't hate the ending because it lacks closure, they hate it because it's garbage. And so is your post.

[@RockingSpaceDragon]

More to the point, they hate it because it boiled down every single choice from every single game in the trilogy into three options that your past actions had NO affect on. How come fucking SILENT HILL 2 could have an ending based on how you played the game, but mass effect 3 couldn't? And don't give me the bullshit that it would be too hard.

[@Veladus]

Whoami691 No, the story was a masterpiece in ME1 when the Reapers were a perfect Lovecraftian horror. Don't bother looking that up, you're not smart enough to appreciate it anyway. I can find very few faults with the story of 1 and 2 (assuming that the Reapers were subtly involved in helping Cerberus bring back Shepard), but 3 was a bunch of nonsense from start to finish. No, it's not just the ending. The entire thing was a train wreck after Drew Karpyshyn left. The Crucible and everything about it is incredibly retarded. The Reapers clean up so thoroughly that no one even find a little cave picture drawing telling them the Citadel is a trap, but for "countless cycles" in a row (the game's words, not mine) they accidentally left the blueprints for a weapon that can kill them all? Blueprints that can be understood by any race and no race ever has it pre-made for the Reapers' invasion? If you call that a masterpiece, I call you a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome. And while we're at it, the main Reaper AI being housed in the Citadel completely negates the first game. Why did Sovereign launch an assault that could and did end in its destruction when the Reaper hivemind was already in the Citadel to begin with? Are we supposed to believe it's there but it has literally no control over anything? Because that's the dumbest thing I've heard since... well, since I read your post actually. Yes, there are worse games out there. But they never used to be something great. We're not pissed because ME3 was a bad game, we're pissed because Mac the Hack Walter and Casey "Artistic Integrity" Hudson wiped their asses with one of the best stories of this era.

[@RockingSpaceDragon]

Whoami691 I stand by my single point, in all honesty. What irritates me about the ending is not that the story doesn't make sense or that it's boring or anything of the sort, my gripe is that you spend an entire trilogy building up a character, relationships, making choices and decisions that impact the game, only to have an ending that would have been the same had you only played the last hour of the game. Why centre a game on the impact of your decisions, if the overall ending doesn't take them into account? Take silent hill 2, for example - that game has about 10 endings, I think? Which you get from things you do IN THE GAME. You don't make choices, the ending is catered to the player depending on how you played the game. Why can a game produced over a decade ago do that, yet mass effect three fails to?

[@TempoTronica]

I would have loved to shack up with Garrus.

[@XxRobloxPlayerxX1]

Even though Mass effect was a disappointment for some people, I am hoping things will turn around for Mass Effect Andromeda. Because I feel like Mass effect doesn't deserve the hate. Mass effect 2 IMO was the best game of last generation hands down. Even though ME3 wasn't all it was lived up to be, it still wasn't a terrible game, like some people think. But hey I have great confidience because the head writer, or whatever, has returned to conduct the story of Andromeda.

[@daviddelpozofiliu5556]

I got 150h of enjoyment with 1 character in ME trilogy. I got 15 minutes that were pure and utter shit (for me). the problem is not that ending is bad, is that it diminishes everything else in the game's universe. Sovereign (the Reaper from ME1) said: "My kind transcends your very understanding. We are each a nation - independent, free of all weakness. You cannot grasp the nature of our existence." but in the end it turns out it was only a single AI controlling all of them (kind of, but not really because it was introduced in the last 10 min and there was no time to actually figure it our) that took the form of the creepy star-child. The Citadel, that in the first game turns out it was a Mass Relay (nice plot twist because it made sense, there were clues for it, if you looked hard enough, but it wasn't obvious, and it fit with the whole reaper plan) is again the shocking reveal that it has been the secret weapon all along! in addition to the Mass Relay for the Reapers! Which they could have conquered at any point in the story! It felt lazy. Also, what I really loved about the whole ME franchise is the detailed in which they described how everything worked, it might have been science fantasy more than science fiction, but it was very detailed and coherent, how the weapons worked, how the comunications worked, the biology and climates of every species/planet. But the ending works because of magic. You can control the Reapers, or destroy them all, or change the fabric of the genetic of every species that probably don't even share basic mollecular structure in their cellules! How can you do that you ask? No time to explain, it's the ending of the game and we already have introduced you to the god AI thing that contradicts our previous lovecraftian depiction of our unknown evil and you're still trying to figure that out, so space magic will have to remain unexplained! I still liked everything else but man... it just was so jarring... so disconected from everything else that the series was, it was just really poor writing, not just for the lack of choice in a game distinct for it, but it was really breaking the rules on how to write a good ending... Well, I also disliked the boss fight for ME2 (well, more the boss design, or general concept of it) but still, it made more sense and it was more fun.

[@jaydawg116]

The refrigerator on wheels DID have i rocket jump... and i DO miss it...

[@GuyOnAChair]

Third entries are never considered the best? Metal Gear Solid 3 anyone?

[@Zelksys]

Metal Gear Solid is hardly a trilogy, though.

[@GuyOnAChair]

Zelks I didn't say trilogy.

[@4200Felix]

Conjecture was all we had. Anyway the ending is that all syntetics die, not just reapers. That is why EDI is not present during the ending sequence afterwards. By extension so does all Geth/VI certainly. All electronics would make more sense IMO.

[@mattpowers254431]

"The third is never the best" What about Indiana jones?....

[@Valiordruid]

Indiana Jones had sort of disjointed continuity. You could take each film as their own film and know what was going on just fine without having seen the earlier ones. That's why The Last Crusade can work, because it doesn't continue a story so much as just write a newer, shorter one.

[@dyldragon1]

That was shit.... Worse than the fourth, for a series that isn't all that good

[@pablorodriguezcabrera6231]

Nothing is worst tan tempel of doom

[@Nyimen]

The Fridge on Rollerskates did have a rocket jump. :D

[@osriccauldwyn]

Did Yahtzee miss that there are actually two options for Gay Shepard?

[@soanthegreat]

Kaiden was probably dead

[@osriccauldwyn]

True enough. He did say he romanced Ashley in the ME1.

[@mattbenz99]

soanthegreat its funny i dont know anyone who saved kaiden. it is like the entire community just came together and just agreed that he was the best option to kill in ME1

[@CrazyDustbinVids]

mattbenz99 I killed Ashley cause that stupid bitch killed Wrex xD

[@brickbrickerston7099]

Epsilonic And mouthed off fucking Garrus and Wrex

[@tmsphere]

Everybody and their grandfather loved this game except of the ending. I hated the game entirely, especially for important world building and plot hole closing quest being locked behind DLC.

[@Kaefer1973]

Didn't even play it since my brother hated it, and he didn't even get close to the end either. ME3 storytelling felt even more like going through a checklist like than ME2 (with it's hire mission loyalty mission story mission pattern), it was too much to be tolerated by him, and since I'm even more anal about things like that, ME3 was not feasible to be played regardless of the end.

[@TheDamnBeast]

I'm beginning to think all the people complaining about the ending aren't aware that there are multiple endings.

[@DarkArchon88]

You mean the identical endings a slightly different colour scheme?

[@godpower97]

Not true actually, depending on how much that bar was filled up you could have Earth destroyed, purged of all life, or completely saved. I believe the Normandy could be destroyed as well. I'm not exactly sure how what you did affected how powerful the Crucible's blast was, though...

[@TheDamnBeast]

TheBlackSword Not to mention that in a story that involves saving all life on the galaxy there really aren't that many possible outcomes. "The ending" isn't just the final event; it's EVERYTHING that I did or didn't do in the trilogy, whom I saved and whom I lost, and how and when. Saying that it all boils down to the same thing is absolutely ridiculous.

[@Valiordruid]

DarkArchon88 The Extended Cut makes that argument invalid.

[@NaitsHDFTW]

***** It's still pretty similar.

[@93MANIAC]

Yeah about that 4:24

[@MercWithMouth1234567]

It's funny how last week I was desperately trying to find this video. Only to find out now,that it hadn't been made\posted yet. Lol!

[@Rycluse]

Mass Effect 1: Effectively 1 ending, one choice 10 minutes from the end that makes a cutscene and a conversation different, but it's still basically the same Mass Effect 2: 2 1/2 endings, two of them really only visually differentiated by (gasp) different colored explosions, and the third(ish) is basically non-canon Pre-EC Mass Effect 3: 3-ish endings, vastly different implications but extremely visually indistinct Post-EC Mass Effect 3: 3 very different ending cutscenes So, quality aside...

[@DarknezzMadnezz]

they have been completely removed from the playlist here on youtube... check their website for released videos from ZP that wont be found here due to them being removed... also check their comment section here on their youtube channel and you can note that a number of people made the point clear that only ZP was being censored.

[@warellis]

Or it could be that Thessia is her own homeworld? Nothing hits home in a crisis until it actually affects your own home.

[@PlanetGirthTV]

as soon as i saw this pop up my feed i couldnt help but laugh

[@tzellis]

yes that was the point, thank you for pointing it out

[@Sammie1053]

I'm impressed there wasn't more rage toward the fact that the big all-important final choice to decide how the game ends turns out to be nothing more than "pick the color of your planetary destruction", not to mention the fact that the ending sequence contains several stock photos from Google with color filters layered over them in an attempt to keep anyone from noticing.

[@infirmux]

I know how ZP usually works, but anywho... here's why I like ME despite it's all bad or worse shortcomings: - simply deciding to save the incredibly dangerous Rachni, when the "obvious" option to wipe them for good might have been the usual choice in sci-fi action movie (with cliche "see, they were evil after all"), - having "scary" AI as ally and being open and willing to actually resolving whoop-ass "misunderstanding". The fun of visiting everyone with friendly Legion and watching reactions - totally worth it :D ...and so on...

[@theodorehodbor5080]

I think (and a lot of people will agree) that the main thing that killed Mass Effect 3 was how they changed the storyline of the game in the last 30 minutes. I can understand how they might want to have some reason to the Reapers wiping out all advance life, but I don't think they came up with the best reason for that. Heck, even my idea about a fanfiction I thought about right 3 years ago where the Reapers harvest life to replenish their numbers because they are quickly losing a war out in dark space against the huge Tyranid hive fleets (looking back, I'm glad I never wrote that) sounds better than the idea they had. Plus, during the first two games, they didn't feel like they were building up to that. It was much more mysterious in their intentions. Seeming truly alien in the first game, and then you see the reason for harvesting life in the second game, but then you wonder why they do that. Then in the third game you get stuff about the morality of AIs and whether they should be made or considered sentient or not, and that's the reason the Reapers harvest life. You see the disconnect? Honestly, I think it would've gone by much better if they never said what the Reapers' intentions or origins were. Sometimes, it better not to know everything, because you get a feeling of mysteriousness and something that is truly alien. Just ending it at the crucible going off without explaining the reasoning behind the Reapers would have worked far better in my opinion, because sometimes there are secrets which mere mortals should not know.

[@Kalris23]

The ending does actually change alot depending on the bar... If you have really low EMS and pick the destroy (red) ending then you inadvertently blow up planet earth