Was Mass Effect 3 as bad as I remember? - A colorful ending to a beloved trilogy

[@NobodyOfficial.]

“A fucking space ninja stole our Prothean Tamagotchi.” Best description of that mission I’ve ever heard.

[@WesleySmallz80]

Everything around Kai Leng is pure gold

[@RazorsharpLT]

Honestly sad that i can't witness it. Not going default shep in a review video is a sin. He's the ONE character we all found a common connection with. Making your own just seems like a bit of a slap in the face... kinda sad, since i came here to re-experience shep

[@Ultralightaman]

@@RazorsharpLT my Shep looks like Obama

[@bruhgod123]

fucking jetstream sam from metal gear rising revengeance steals our sentient prothean tamagotchi

[@RedDrake110]

@@bruhgod123 comparing kai leng to sam is a sin... Let's call him monsoon instead...but even that might be an insult to monsoon

[@Phoenix27272]

Saren had a similar role to Kai Leng in that he was as skilled as Shepard and worked against them. The difference was, Saren was a tremendously well executed and well written villain.

[@DemonLordSparda]

I think it is tremendously funny that Kai Leng comes across as pathetic in ME3, because he is. He truly believe that because he is skilled, he deserves to win. He doesn't even put in any planning, he just assumes he'll come out on top. The only reason he gets away on Thesia is because the Illusive Man did all the planning, and the Normandy had to leave due to the Reaper invasion. EVEN THEN they track his stupid ass to Sanctuary, thwart another Cerberus OP and find out where the Illusive Man's base is. Just a tremendously pathetic villain. I like him because he makes me laugh.

[@thelastcrow5660]

Saren was definitely a perfect foil.

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

Kai Ling got that ass smacked by a Drell with Keprel Syndrome for a good minute.

[@Phoenix27272]

@@LegendaryDarkKnight602 Very True. Thane at his best was probably the best hand to hand squadmate Shepard ever had though.

[@patrioticshitstain]

Saren was also not an OC from what are generally considered to be really awful books and comics, with one in particular being so factually incorrect about a bunch of stuff that it was pulled, rewritten and an official apology given out by BioWare. I haven't been able to confirm it, but it feels like he was a passion project by the creatives responsible for the specific spin-off media, and thoroughly hated by everyone else on the team, because he swings back and forth between "the biggest awesomest badass who never loses, has a harem of sexy ninja chicks and has superpowers that nobody else has and that break how the technology is supposed to work" and "edgy 14 year old wannabe-tough-guy who gets his shit slapped in by a terminally ill space-tuberculosis patient who can't go a day without dialysis."

[@artur6912]

2:34:07 IF only it where that simple. Javik was day one dlc and the most blatant example of cut content to make it in to DLC at the time, that's why he's so well integrated in to the game. In fact this whole scene was basically designed to have Liara and Javik in the party for it.

[@erikhendrickson59]

Yup total horseshit. They knew that every hardcore Mass Effect fan was obviously gonna purchase the playable-Prothean DLC character.

[@fenrisvermundr2516]

You were also supposed to save either him or her. Then one of the devs got mad cause it meant his wife could die. Which is why From Ashes actually became a day one DLC. EA may have played a little bit into but it was mostly that dev.

[@artur6912]

@@fenrisvermundr2516 I'm way past being in love with Bioware and I got disillusioned with them to the point I can believe it was a decision made there and not on EA level. Regardless which company made the call, it was still a shitty decision, because the level of integration Javik had in the game (when compared to Kasumi or Zaeed) clearly shows that he was supposed to be in it from the start, and was cut out at a very late stage of development.

[@playlistforlistening]

On-disc DLC, if only that was the worst shitty practice. You said what I was going to say.

[@nateyourzek5249]

Javik was not day one DLC. He was pay-wall content. There are plenty of articles and reddit posts documenting programmers finding him on the disc files and enter a command to unlock his content. On console this meant you had to spend $10 more bucks on content you already owned with your $60 purchase. This whole game is such a slap in the face. From the logical fallacy of the reapers destroying everything about this game to the funnel of decisions that you thought would matter but didn't. My personal distaste comes from the reapers. They aren't acting like reapers, and From ashes tries to retcon this is. The gist of my theory is this; every cycle the reapers warped in to citadel space to wipe out leadership and to shut down the relay network. With transit cut off, and all the records at their disposal the reapers could go system by system and maximize their harvest. Cycle after cycle this happens. Even in Mass effect 1 that was the endgame. Mass Effect 2: Arrival hinged on destroying the relay to stop the reapers. My implication is that if the reapers got to the relay they would warp to the citadel and...well Bill Paxton says it the best. So, why does this break Mass Effect 3? Well two major factors. 1. The reapers engage in a full-scale galactic war that destroys billions of bodies that could be harvested for the cycle. 2. the reapers don't rush to the citadel at the start of the game. Instead they wait till the end to take it...and don't shut the relay network down! If Shepard was the biggest threat wouldn't they shut down the network, use the transit records from the relay, find The Normandy and send the entire fleet after it? My theory on this is that EA wanted mass appeal, not cohesion. that is why combat has a faster pace and is more dynamic. Dice was brought in to help with the sound editing of the guns and the special effects. The mini games and RPG elements were stripped down and made linear. There is even an option to make the game action oriented and truncate your dialog options to make the pace of the game streamlined. This game could have been a masterful war of attrition slow burn, but EA wanted to milk as much cash out of this game as possible. Which circles back to Javik. His story shows a ground war with the reapers to improve ME3s internal logic. He is also a soldier and has nothing to scientifically contribute to the end game. I apologize for the rant. This game gets me very passionate and emotional.

[@josephsylvain6953]

I love Liara saying on Thesia "it must be reacting to you Shepard cause you interacted with the beacon on Eden prime." Nah, I think it's cause there is living breathing Prothean standing next to me.

[@They_Hit_The_Pentagon]

Yeah that’s what Javik says

[@RedDrake110]

Liara spends the whole of thessia just trying to deny Javik's suggestion of the truth the last dialogues of their conversation go Javik: The asari hoarded our technology, look what ended up happening Liara : The protheans used reaper tech, look what happened to you Javik : So, you do bite. Good, save it for the Reapers Javik just knows how to talk someone down.

[@erikhendrickson59]

Only if you paid for that DLC, lol.

[@ElodieCunningham]

The point that really disappointed me in the endgame was that the factions you ended up recruiting for the fight just aren't seen. I had this idea of seeing rachni and krogans fighting alongside you, but the battle is identical no matter who you side with

[@vinccool96]

It was cut because it was rushed

[@gelwocuthbert1360]

And bruh I actually didn't mind most of the BS with Andromeda but I literally got to the end and said, at least this, at least they did something here to only to have like 4 lines over the radio come in and like 3 less enemies on screen for a 100% playthrough lmao

[@mabiniss2]

During the end game when you're on Earth you do see Rachni soldiers running in the background in some areas alongside Alliance marines and you do see Krogan in the cutscenes but yeah, in actual gameplay it's just normal Alliance soldiers and makos everywhere you look.

[@creatorsfreedom6734]

Multi Billion Dollar B.S. EA Corp

[@Zigzf]

On my first playthrough that was literally what I expected for the whole game. Like, ME2 last missions change a lot depending on who you find/bring, so logically the ME3 would work the same way, right? But nope, all those recruited forces are just points with some lore text slapped onto them. It was so disappointing...

[@LiarraSniffles_X3]

Instead of: "you saved the council but we're not going to help, go help this turian if you want help." It could have been: "you saved the council and we're going to help but the main turian fleet is stuck with a reaper attack, go help them and they'll help you." Same quest, same mission, basically zero dialogue changes yet it at least acknowledges your save file. This isn't that hard to do!

[@12SickOne34]

I know it's been a year but Most of what is rightly criticized would not have been difficult to fix or change. But it would have taken time. And time is money for investors - And investors want their money back, promptly.

[@SpaceBoyDigital]

@@12SickOne34Chocking up bad things to investors is stupid. Its obviously the devs choices. No ones hanging money in their face, they chose to pump out a bad game. Im tired of treating people like they cant be better just because they have to earn money.

[@shyper17]

To be fair, the way the Council reacted to your requests in all three games is probably how most of the global governments would react. Sorry, but growing up I've seen too much political and national discord, especially amongst politicians, and it's hard for me to envision humanity uniting in face of a common threat. Once again, they'll probably say the same thing the Council said to Shepard in ME3. "We have to look at our own borders." Unfortunately, the devs were being realistic with that one. I wish the Council had remembered how many human lives were lost to save them, but I also wish the West would remember just how many of my people were lost to save *them*.

[@erseshe]

​@@SpaceBoyDigital Sure, it's the devs choice. Not like they worked slave hours for months on end for a deadline that they couldn't meet.

[@DocTaxian]

Related to the Citadel DLC: You can invite almost everyone on the crew up to the apartment before the party, not just after. You just have to go back and forth from the Citadel a few times and read the e-mails where they sort of ask for an invite between missions.

[@riemaennchen]

Getting the cutscene where you "invite" Grunt makes this DLC worth it.

[@goobersunshine3864]

You don't even have to leave the Citadel. All you have to do is leave the apartment, (maybe) visit another location on the Strip, then come back. You will usually see more options for squadmates to invite up.

[@TheMasterUnity]

@@goobersunshine3864 This is only if you’ve finished most, if not all missions. Otherwise you’ll have to do a mission and then come back

[@snek1973]

​@@TheMasterUnityimportant thing to note is the arena counts as a mission

[@Ancient_Path]

It’s always weird seeing other people’s Shepherds in cinematics.

[@NeonSuperNovas]

Right 😂!

[@hundkebab2433]

the only Shepard I've ever known is the Vin Diesel Shepard everything else feels wrong

[@megakillerx]

When i don’t see a Shepard that isn’t a blonde haired cro-magnon on my screen. Then he isn’t Commander Shepard to me.

[@highdefinition450]

ikr even just the different armor colors is kinda cursed lol. mine has to be red

[@Khtras]

Funny enough, his Shepard looks so similar to mine, it didn't even register when I watched the video

[@Salt_Mage]

Kai Leng continues to sour my mood every time I hear his name. The books only make the character worse. He breaks into Anderson’s apartment and eats Anderson’s cereal to assert dominance at once point. He also pisses in one of the potted plants - yes that is actually written in a novel for this franchise.

[@scrotumscratcher2474]

sounds like fucking kai lang. only makes the renegade option so much sweeter

[@broonters2671]

He breaks into Anderson's apartment not to kill him, but to steal his Lucky Charms and take a wizz on a plant??? Fucking hell.

[@TheMaestroMizerous]

*Shows you a picture of Kai Leng*

[@noctisastrum7495]

They honestly should have replace kai leng with the virmirre victim ashley/kaiden it would have been way more better but granted kai leng didnt exactly set a high bar

[@billyboleson2830]

I sew why fans of books hate video game books...

[@Tempistfox]

Always liked that if you don't romance either of them Tali and Garrus end up together in a relationship. While Liara was largely absent in ME2 doing her own stuff Garrus and Tali have been at Sheppards side all through the trilogy and end up a mirror of Sheppard personality. Both striving to be like Shep and both ending up as leaders in their own right.

[@tortoiseoflegends4466]

I love the Shadow Broker note that being with Shepard is holding Garrus back from realising his potential as a great leader. TBH I've always felt that having Mass Effect 2 be with Garrus as the protagonist could have been brilliant.

[@malcolmalexander5484]

My favorite romance is definitely Tali but I feel like I'm cock blocking my best bud so I go Liara these days 🤣

[@Jojje94]

@@tortoiseoflegends4466 There's so much spin-off potential in the Mass Effect universe. Garrus' days as Archangel being just one of them.

[@TheBackwardsLegsMan]

@@Jojje94 I think this falls firmly under the scope of "I don't trust modern Bioware not to fuck it up." I would love a good Mass Effect game too, but I just don't trust them not to brick it. The Citadel DLC was fantastic though. An entire game that just takes place on the Citadel (or Omega in the case of Archangel) with the same vibe as that DLC would be amazing. But could modern Bioware do it?

[@bizzapandare1209]

@@tortoiseoflegends4466 But it is a full potential as a "Shepard" potential, or back to his angsty ME1? Let's remember that in ME2 Garrus was after a traumatic event, angry at everything and everyone. Full Renegade or at least Paragade. Shadow Broker wasnt a token of morality either.

[@IshanDeston]

Oh you forgot the best part of the Vanilla Ending... when old guy is like "But this was just one of the stories of the shepard" and then it pops up a "buy DLC" window. To really give you that middle finger feeling.

[@danielstocks9088]

Wait that happened how did I forget ?

[@voittolehti2432]

Also the fact that you couldnt get max fleet points without online play before the patch

[@nagger8216]

@@danielstocks9088 It didn't straight up take you to a menu of all the DLC, but it was basically an emotionally manipulative """Thank you""" letter from Bioware for sticking with them and Mass Effect throughout the trilogy with a tease of more things to come in the form of DLC iirc. It's probably been long patched out of both the original and remastered versions of the game at this point but it's been awhile since I've played ME3

[@brandonlyon730]

@@nagger8216It probably wasn’t intentional to make people by future dlc ‘s but seemed like Bioware or EA was patting themselves on the back after an extremely half-assed ending.

[@toastedt140]

@@brandonlyon730 They still have the letter at the end of the remaster and its still as tone deaf with all the dlc included from the beginning

[@solicitr666]

Thessia: the dialogue runs MUCH more smoothly with Javik-- more evidence that he was part of the original game and they cut him out because EA is greedy.

[@shadowrosegaming3566]

"OK so we added this prothean character and got all the voice lines and missions sorted it will be amazing" EA "great how much are we charging for this dlc" "dlc?"

[@Robul96]

He was even included in the physical version of the game, literally on the game disc lmfao

[@looinrims]

‘More evidence’ my boy Javik was in the original script for me3

[@RedDrake110]

and Thessia is basically Javik calling the asari out on their hypocrisy from start to finish. (Never really liked the asari councillor from the start... bit of a hypocrite that one. Only when she saw Shep resolve the Krogan conflict, the Citadel siege and the Quarian-Geth conflict that she deemed fit to randomly "help" out/expect a similar perfect resolution) It was sad to see Liara desparately trying to defend her race's actions...despite the truth staring them in the face. (I mean, when your fundamental beliefs are being challenged.. who wouldn't). If it was Samara, she would have a downright existential crisis right then and there.

[@MrPronGogh93]

They cut out javik not for EA, but because bioware did rewrite the story: javik used to have a much larger role with the crucible.

[@FoxyFoxlyn]

One of the things that annoyed me about ME 3, was that they removed the ability to holster your weapon. It looks really weird in the cut scenes too. I loved seeing the animation of the guns folding and unfolding in 1 & 2.

[@MexicanJay-zp7ce]

Shits anoyying like im walking around talking to people and my gun just hanging out pointed at them

[@FoxyFoxlyn]

@@MexicanJay-zp7ce Exactly! In 1&2 they make a show of Shep putting their gun away.

[@dominicp9296]

Ya that was always weird to me also. It didn't bother me a shit ton but it was weird for sure

[@FoxyFoxlyn]

@@dominicp9296 It really annoyed me. I love the details in my games.

[@HazzronIV]

Shepard forgot basic gun safety in the midst of all those reaper attacks. In fairness, seeing how they indoctrinate others, he might just be playing it safe. Well, safe for him anyhow.

[@cord113]

The "fetch quests" for Aria to get the gang leaders on her side isn't part of the Omega DLC, that's just part of the base game. Once you get an email from Aria that says "it's time" you can just skip all that and go straight into the main Omega mission.

[@MistahJay7]

Salt can be quite dense. Lol

[@khiyabarrett1459]

@@MistahJay7 lol

[@ardoronro6677]

I always love the renegade dialogue when it comes to telling the quarian fleet to stand down. He list everything he did to help the quarians followed by "I'm through saving you. If you continue to attack, I will stand and watch as the geth lay you to waste." And when they do, he smirks. Kills me every time.

[@luisgay5897]

If only all the renegade actions were so satisfying.

[@bruhgod123]

if only admiral gerrel wasnt a war monger

[@RedDrake110]

shep will smirk even in the paragon prompt.. but yes.. renegade prompt is better in this case.

[@TheDancerMacabre]

I love how smugly he says "Keelah Sali" It feels like such a "Fuck you" to the Quarians.

[@davidduncan5897]

Just a note: You can get the "invite friend" options done before the Citadel Party. You just have to leave the apartment and come back multiple times. I think they designed it so you invite some friends over, go hang out on the strip, come back and then invite more friends. That way the ending where you go back to the Normandy ends on that really emotional note.

[@solicitr666]

You can also do it in little pieces throughout the story, if you do the "clone" adventure fairly early.

[@njones52]

The omega dlc didn't begin with the fetch quest missions, those where in the vanilla game. Omega starts once you get in the car with Aria. They didn't make the beginning bad they made a bad vanilla quest and tied it into a way better one.

[@maraudershields283]

I like the Omega DLC, but I kind of wish the mid-arc missions had been liberating the 3 main gangs and their leaders to join Aria’s cause (though his was essentially the idea of the citadel missions). 2 gangs and you can progress, 3 gets you a better ending to the DLC, and there could have been great callbacks to Garrus’s recruitment mission in ME2.

[@Onishiro]

Omega is one of the worst DLC Bioware's ever done. Everyone is out of character; Aria is acting like some dickhead, the citizens of Omega are happy-go-lucky, Talons, a Turian exclusive gang, are now inviting Krogan, humans and Batarians, you have no reason to care for the people of it and Nyreen was a waste of space that thankfully takes LTG's advice, and Petrovsky is suddenly some honorable guy and isn't indoctrinated like 99% of Cerberus at that point. The creatures introduced in the comic are a total joke. I hated every single second of it.

[@njones52]

@@Onishiro I'm glad you wrote a long winded essay on how much you hated it, what do you want me to do about that?

[@ragnos2262]

@@njones52 Absolutely unfathomably based response

[@linuxnbg94]

@@Onishiro That's gotta be the worst take I have ever seen

[@LaigledeMeaux]

When you talk about Kai Leng needed to be in the first or second game to have an actual impact to the story, I always thought he should have been the crew member you leave behind on Virmire. They get the same treatment as you by Cerberus, but this time put in the control chip.

[@romxxii]

There's another fan fiction that suggests Jacob taking Kai Leng's place, as he's already Cerberus, already gets into pissing contests with you during ME2, and can be an outright pissy bitch if you choose another romance option.

[@Rick586]

That would've been an excellent twist that added a lot of weight to replaying the entire trilogy.

[@Biodebatable]

That would've been a great choice with added replayability given the different skillsets the two choices have plus a chance for some good old talk no jutsu in the final confrontation. You would lose out on the sheer hateability of kai kemg though.

[@DragonessYT]

He's the antagonist of the Redemption novel. He's awful. Even with his... Development he's stale as hell.

[@Rick586]

Imagine being so desperate to bully someone that you try to make fun of them for reading their email.

[@nyyfandan]

I can't believe you skipped right over the true final boss of the trilogy. Marauder Shields.

[@rawrxdnuzzlesuwu]

dont forget the 3 huskateers

[@Drefsab]

HIS NAME WAS MARAUDER SHIELDS

[@MistahJay7]

I always find it funny how we add shields to his name like its actually his last name or something 😂

[@novagona2023]

He tried to save us.

[@Raphael_Bizmann]

@@MistahJay7 He tried to shield us from the ending. His nobleness will never be forgotten.

[@InterloperBob]

3:04:00 you keep asking "why didn't the reapers attack the citadel 1st" when that was the entire plot of ME1 and if not for Shepard (and Vigil before him) they wouls have warped into the Citadel and reconquered the galaxy exactly how the beat the Protheans. Vigil and Shepard just stopped them.

[@PabloYaos]

well they did in ME1, why not in ME3 ?

[@Whiteythereaper]

@@PabloYaos the Prothean scientists on Ilos that froze themselves used the Conduit to travel to the Citadel after the Reapers left at the end of their cycle. They disabled the Reaper's ability to control the Keepers and make them open up the Citadel relay to allow them to travel straight there from their Dark Space home. Sovereign is a scout Reaper that doesn't leave the Milky Way as he watches over the expansion of the species ready to signal that the next Extinction is needed. When he signalled the rest of the Reapers this time, the Citadel didn't respond & he had to get Saren and the Geth to undo the Prothean sabotage. Shepard stops him before he can do it, meaning that the Reapers have to travel the slow way and enter the galaxy from the edge. When they usually arrive, they immediately assault the Citadel and destroy whatever Galactic Government is in charge, cutting off those below from help. They use the Citadel archives to see exactly where all current spaceworthy species are located using Census records and location records and start the extinction with the upper hand so no species can fight back for too long. In Mass Effect 2, Harbinger tries to use the Collectors to create a new Reaper so they can assault the Citadel again with an advance scout, but Shepard shuts down that plan by assaulting their base.

[@KepleroGT]

There are a lot of plotholes in ME3 but yeah, this isn't one of them. They don't attack the citadel first because they don't have remote control over it, it's literally the point of ME1.

[@Ryan-yu5kt]

@@Whiteythereaper You seem to know a lot about the lore so my bad if im 2 months late But I just finished 3. Why would Cerberus and TIM resurrect Shepard and send him to stop the collectors if TIM was indoctrinated? Shepard destroying the base actively foils the Reapers plans.

[@bonfiregaming1747]

The illusive man doesn't begin getting indoctrinated until after the events of me2. He uses the technology from the reaper base (Or somewhere else if you destroy it.) To start trying to find a means to control them.. inadvertently indoctrinating himself in the process.

[@BTroit]

3:41:15 To get all the illusive man checks you need to have a maxed out bar (easy to do tbh) and have picked paragon or renegade the other three times you talked to him (mars/thessia/Cerberus HQ). You can actually miss those pretty easily if you don't go through all his dialogue options. From a story point of view it's you eroding his confidence every time you talk to him, not just a final speech that somehow makes him do a 180. But I agree that it doesn't really come across that way in the cut scene.

[@fredrice8650]

Yeah this criticism annoyed me, because I absolutely did not have this option when I played and was pretty pissed about it. I don't know if it has to be all paragon or renegade and that is how it happened because I started to pick a lot more renegade actions as the game went on and people were still not taking things seriously enough, but as someone who had every other paragon renegade option available the entire game but not this one. It is most certainly not a sure thing.

[@shockfire3DG]

The Citadel DLC is really meant to be played either right before the point of no return (before Cerberus HQ) or after the game ends and you reload to play it. It has such a different tone and is meant as an appreciation and humorous story and cooldown with the squad. I love it for that. I think you did a disservice to yourself by starting it so early, especially without Tali there. There are romance specific dialogues that only really come to fruition after you've committed to a romance. Anyways, love the whole vid, just wanted to get my thoughts out on that.

[@WalterTheWalrus]

Are you telling me there are people who play it without their partner there?

[@uhobme2028]

I like to play it after Rannoch as it's at a point where you have most of your companions available to attend but just far enough from the end as some companion content only become available after doing additional missions. I also like to headcannon that after the Battle of Rannoch, the crew would need a breather and the ship would need repairs.

[@Grivehn]

@@uhobme2028 That is correct, but it likely even hits better after Thessia. Everyone is down, so they need to cheer up a little.

[@lvl6humancleric216]

Tali poisoning herself with cheese and then spending the night casually talking about maybe possibly dying because of said cheese had me cackling. 🤣

[@ownage11445]

Yep you gotta do this after priority horizon in order to get Miranda to show up. Also go to the party and see Miranda actually dresses up to go for a fun night on the town with Shepherd is also a nice touch.

[@mrdewarion]

You can actually save Kelly Chambers by making her change her appearance and name. It's a dialogue option at some point before the Cerberus attack.

[@RevolverOcelot1]

Yes. Was looking for this comment.

[@Lucef]

What I like most about this is, that convincing her to change her identity is actually a Renegade option, yet it results in a positive outcome.

[@oliviawilliams6204]

Ironically it's a renegade option

[@jeremygilbert7989]

@@oliviawilliams6204 Further reinforcement on how Paragon and Renegade doesn't mean shit anymore in this game

[@oliviawilliams6204]

@@jeremygilbert7989 I kind of disagree on that for this case. Paragon Renegade was never about more good or evil, or good consequences bad consequences. It was meant to be more Good cop or ruthless cop, either case your still a cop. The ruthless cop being more pragmatic and assertive that she should change her name and identity make sense. I'm more pissed at the obvious evil choices the game throw at us that i'm like "Who would even behave that way?"

[@waleedkhalid7486]

My favorite part in the entire series is when the entire United fleet comes out of the mass relay towards Earth. It was just… perfect. All the running around to get people to put aside their differences for the greater good, all the crap Shepard had to wade through, and death he had to experience, all culminated in that moment. It brought a tear to my eye, and it still does to this day.

[@robertb.warren4749]

*Shepard:* Illusive Man, the reapers are evil! *Illusive Man:* From my point of view, the galaxy is evil!

[@mihaylov131]

That dialog has "Revenge of the Sith" vibes.

[@robertb.warren4749]

@@mihaylov131 That's where I got it from. Lol. For some reason, the dynamic between Shep and the Illusive Man reminded me of it.

[@TheMasterUnity]

Renegade control Shepard: I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new empire.

[@zuzoscorner]

"Team Rocke tis blasting off again!" lol

[@wastelanderone]

Honestly like, both aren't wrong lol

[@corevo7570]

Whenever one of your videos drop its like an event to me. Where I mentally map out my day so I can listen to your video in one go. Even if I don’t always agree with all your points, you always explain yourself in a way that’s logical and entertaining that I hang off every word. I look forward to watching this and it all your future videos.

[@zordo90]

Couldn’t have said it better. Haven’t watched yet, but I’m planning my day around it lol

[@zimgamingchannel]

What Corevo said!

[@lachlanmillett3182]

Best comment I’ve read bro. Like @Joseph Daniels couldn’t of put it into better words

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

simp

[@somethingsomethingusername7871]

Word

[@tacticalmanatee]

When you wake up from the Citadel Party there is an easy to miss datapad next to the bed. It contains messages from Mordin. It was a very touching little addition, and the last entry made me tear up a little.

[@RedK11]

What does it say?

[@darrenweston2527]

@@RedK11 it says 'Remember Joe'

[@Chris-uy2qe]

@@darrenweston2527 Who's Joe?

[@darrenweston2527]

@@Chris-uy2qe Joe Mama

[@Chris-uy2qe]

@@darrenweston2527 lmao

[@NoahGooder]

"they used to eat flies" that line had me laughing way more then i should

[@shadowrosegaming3566]

When

[@pbluma]

@@shadowrosegaming3566 First conversation with Javik after you return to the Normandy. J: The lizard people evolved? Liara: I believe they're amphibian. J:... They used to eat flies :) Liara: *Leaves*

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

He also later says that they used to lick their eyes with their tongues.

[@hundkebab2433]

the smugness with how he delivers that line makes it comedy gold

[@SomeHomesickAlien]

Kai Lang has to be the funniest villain ever. The fact that he writes you a mail saying how great he is and how bad Shep is just unbelievable 2:41:13

[@MrSpartan993]

He’s such a try hard loser honestly. I could never take him seriously.

[@bennygerow]

They set him up to be such a badass and he was really cringe.

[@yol_n]

@@bennygerow they tried doing both. The game makes him a badass and a punching bad at the same time (Thane even mocks him). But fail both miserably. Its like they didnt know what to do with him

[@brandonlyon730]

@@yol_n Yeah and they cover him up in so much plot armor it’s ridiculous.

[@bennygerow]

@@yol_n that's the part I don't get. Tonally it doesn't work on either level, and seems like one writer started it and left the project, and another person took over and hated the character so they made him a bitch.

[@LMarti13]

Your overall point about "always choosing the blue or red option" makes everything else meaningful is correct, BUT you accidentally choose a really bad example to make that point because a LARGE percentage of players don't have that option unlocked during the final dialog with the illusive man. You only get that option if you selected all blue or all red in all your conversations with him in the entire game. My first playthrough, I completely missed one of them because it was hidden behind an investigate that I sloppily missed. Reading around the internet, a lot of other people ran into the same issue, and I strongly suspect a large percentage, if not a majority, of people who play the game don't have those options in the final conversation.

[@Elite7555]

Which just underlines how bullshit this mechanic was.

[@sergiomendoza4850]

Having played through the entirety of the trilogy twice, I never got this dialogue option. Not once, in both an entirely renegade and paragon play through its just a bullshit game mechanic.

[@onemoreminute0543]

Same. I didn't know this. I ended up going for red on my first Illusive Man meeting and then blue on the second, so I didn't get it. Should have done the same thing I did with Saren in ME 1. Such a satisfying moment to keep hammering home the blue option so that he breaks free of the Reaper control and blows his brains out

[@rozenzoon]

I really wanted to best ending, so I searched everything up. It was my first time playing and despite that, I still walked clean past the red/blue thngs straight into the beam. I saw my Shepard disintegrate and I was like ''wait a second...''. I closed and reloaded that shit😂 The image will not leave my mind for a while😪

[@GG-ou7it]

Commander Shepard has become a legend by ending the Reaper threat. Now you can continue to build that legend through further gameplay and downloadable content.

[@BOSKD]

1:00:00 funny thing for Mordin's scene, if you never got him to sing the Scientist Salarian song in ME2, he has different dialogue.

[@cosmictreason2242]

Took me years to learn that the original tune is from the play "The pirates of penzance" And called "The model of a modern major general"

[@YoungMrBlue]

Uhh that timestamp shows the thresher maw fight

[@k3salieri]

Damn, doing the Citadel DLC without Tali. Man I could never imagine doing that. It really is best to wait till the point of no return since you need to finish Horizon to invite Miranda.

[@k3salieri]

@Anonymous G Right, keep thinking it's Noveria. XD

[@PetitTasdeBoue]

Yeaaah I went in with everyone except Miranda because she was taking so long to prepare herself LOL

[@jamestoze4714]

Exactly, no miranda means no Jack and Miranda conversation at the party! Definitely missing out there.

[@DemonLordSparda]

He really needs to think through his order of missions. Unfortunately he's pretty lazy if you go watch his Twitch vods. I like his man content, but he doesn't put forward any planning

[@zafelrede4884]

I did the DLC without a lot of the party, mostly because i didn't know it was coming.

[@interregnum_]

An unromanced Liara spends a lot of her downtime conversation not really succeeding at hiding her big ol’ crush on you, and I kinda love it. And I really like how that changes her final chat before the end run. It’s adorable.

[@justanaverageguy912]

agree as a shrygma male myself, i ofc play these games romanceless from start to finish, only allowing myself a quick brojob with my man Steve from the lower decks.

[@chimpsmart1724]

@@justanaverageguy912 Unless you run femshep, then you're giving the brojobs.

[@SerDerpish]

@@justanaverageguy912 excuse my ignorance, but what’s a “shrygma”? Based on context it sounds like some kind of variant on asexual/aromantic but urban dictionary is mum on the word (as of the time of this writing) so I’d like to know what it means if it’s not too much trouble

[@theirishviking9278]

@@Penguin-MD ...why a mushroom?

[@11Survivor]

@@theirishviking9278 Shrooms = hallucinogenic narcotics

[@Innocuous_Inc.]

I think andromeda might be worth covering as a sorta "what went wrong?" Kinda video. I remember being actually kinda impressed by the moment to gameplay, but i also remember tye bugs, the wonky facial animation, and saying "this choice makes no fucking sense" on multiple occasions.

[@thesilverblueman]

having played to end the gameplay gets old its a long game in the bad way it also took the driving from me1 and made it somehow worse existing solely for transport

[@putowtin]

I think (aside from the repetitive gameplay, a reused plot "Oh the bad guys turn us into them", and the fact that the game was so broken at launch) the biggest thing that went wrong was the expectation that the Pathfinder would be another Shepard, a confident space marine. Instead we got to play as someone not ready for command who is fallible. I really enjoyed Andromeda and plan another playthrough soon

[@chronichavok9847]

@@putowtin The first team briefing was the first and only scene in the game I liked that wasn't fuuny glitch. Seeing the contrast between Shepard and Ryder as leaders was one of the few things i liked about the game, even if the rest of the game didn't sell Ryder growth that well.

[@ArcAngle1117]

@@chronichavok9847 I would say the reason it has a hard time selling the growth is because of how open the story is. It's a lot harder to write scenes meant to show a steady character arc when you have no way of guaranteeing which order the player will do content in. The Original Trilogy keeps character development either to personal missions or ship conversations specifically for that reason.

[@zalabit927]

...also that Krogan fight, jesus christ🗿

[@Sir_Phobos]

Honestly I think if the person he was chasing was in the dream was Jenkins, the first person he lost in the reaper saga it could be stronger. Then every time he crossed a tree it was another lost character, then it ended with Ashley/Kaiden it would be more impactful than tunnel kid.

[@bhthereaper]

This must have been a lot of work, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but one small inconsistency. The relay to the citadel was changed, in the first game it was revealed that the prothean scientists changed the signal on the citadel so that the reapers could not use the citadel relay without physically interfacing with it. Hence they could not reach citadel space until they have reached the next relay that linked to it. Thus it could not be a first target since it was near the middle of the galaxy. This is I guess easily missed since it wasn't brough up much in the subsequent games. Also, the citadel project was kept a secret from the reapers in past cycles. No previous cycles had gotten to the point where they physically needed the citadel.

[@pelicanofpunishment6]

There’s another inconsistency. In ME2, Samara claims she has 3 daughters and there are 3 Ardat Yakshi in the galaxy. Yet there is a monastery in ME3 to contain many of them. Which is a lot, considering Banshees are Ardat Yakshi Reaperised. Which leads to another inconsistency. The PTSD Asari in the hospital had a commando friend she wanted to be lovers with but couldn’t due to a “medical issue.” This commando was an AY but not in the monastery.

[@alexpage4355]

@@pelicanofpunishment6 To be fair, Samara said there were three that she _knew_ of. One of her stated goals, should she happen to survive the suicide mission was to continue scouring the galaxy in case there were others lurking in the shadows, out there.

[@aracniphobia1]

I think the monastery was also for known carriers of the ardat yakshi gene, like so they couldn't reproduce, and the reason Samara wouldn't be there too is that she seems to have sworn to celibacy as a justicar

[@pbluma]

So, let me get this straight... The Reapers built the Citadel, created the Keepers so that they would maintain it and hide its true purpose. The Protheans find out, and eventually a small team reprograms the keepers so they wouldn't obey their masters anymore, and also remove their ability to control the mass relay network, forcing them to fly at regular FTL speed. This time one of them who remained in the galaxy has to use Saren in order to gain control to Citadel's'' master controls'', he fails. Shepard then destroys the Alpha relay when he finds out that that's the systen where the Reapers would come first and this is the relay they're going to use for their invasion, because actually it's the oldest known relay in the Milky way and it has the capability to send mass to various places, even as far to to the Citadel, so... Now that it's gone, Harbinger is annoyed even more than before because now they have to make a detour and that takes time. And as far as I remember, they get to the Citadel in the 3rd game at the end, what do you mean 1st target? Are you talking about the Citadel being the first target in the previous cylces? Like it couldn't have been the first target because they had to get there first using one of the relays close by? I don't understand what you meant by ''Hence they could not reach citadel space until they have reached the next relay that linked to it. Thus it could not be a first target since it was near the middle of the galaxy'' I mean, the Citadel, being a mass relay itself, leads to dark space where they hybernate, and they used it to take control of the network, isolating everyone. Kind of like... Give command to the keepers for activation, jump to the Citadel and kill the governments there and other important leaders, then reprogram the relays and prevent the enemy from using them, use the several nearby relays to spread and genocide faster. Then again, I might be just re*ar*ed, it's late and I'm tired :D

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

A lot of them looked like they were missing shots that were headed straight towards Earth.

[@WillFarshore]

Ok the "I'm dying from space polio" sequence had me gut laughing in a way I really needed today. Thank you so much for doing these. That earned a like and a sub.

[@artur6912]

1:40:52 I love how choosing a different class totally alters the perception of some levels. I played as a sniper so this room was a breeze for me, but I also recall the final fight with Petrovsky, locked in a room full of adjutants, you barely even mentioned the fight since it was a perfect match for the jump,nova,shotgun combo but I really struggled with that fight because getting close to enemy or rapid fire where two things my shep sucked at.

[@NostalgiaVivec]

i fucking raged at the Petrovsky fight playing infiltrator

[@absollum]

I played it with an engineer, and if I didn't have my turrets and drones, I would have died a lot.

[@StevenZephyc]

It became really obvious if you played multiplayer that there were really only 3 classes: Soldier & infiltrator a.k.a the distance cover shooters Adept, engineer, sentinel, a.k.a middle distance magic casters Then there's vanguard a.k.a get me closer I want to hit him with my Omni sword

[@Raiders1917]

My first playthrough I was an engineer so I kept hearing "I forgot your an engineer in all this shooting". It was honestly kinda funny, especially after you just uno reverse card Petrovsky lol.

[@solicitr666]

A shoutout to the clever way they wrapped up the Conrad Verner side story, in a Rube Goldberg way that pays off IF you completed various trivial tasks in 1 and 2. It's really very funny as each new step drops ("Would this collection of Matriarch Dilinaga's writings help?")

[@joezilla29]

Your don't even need to collect all of the writings. Just get one and ME3 will flag you as having found them all. A pleasant surprise for me, since exploring with the Mako became so tedious I eventually gave up trying to finish the quest.

[@rayvonehackshaw3399]

I believe you can actually save Kelly chambers by talking to her before the attack about changing her identity, so that in this moment that Cerberus approaches her, she does not identify as Kelly Chambers. *This may have been mention already, in which case carry on

[@DillsyYourDaddy67]

Still though, it's such a dumb ass move from her. Armed soldiers from the rogue terrorist organisation that you turned your back on ask you to confirm your identity in the middle of a coup and you say "yes". Like jesus, the line right after this makes fun of her for saying yes.

[@RustedKing]

While that's true it doesnt make her death any less dumb lmao

[@HisMagnificence]

I forgot to do that last time I played and felt so bad.

[@cosmictreason2242]

Haven't played the game. Why is her identity burned, so to speak? Why does cerverus want to keell her?

[@2g33ksgamingttv3]

​@cosmictreason2242 because after Shep leaves cerberus the illusive man kinda goes off the deep end and they start getting worse so Kelly leaves because she doesn't agree with what they're doing, at least that's from what I remember

[@thesmooze3185]

I think my favorite part of the Citadel DLC is that it really emphasizes what makes Shepherd special, you pull people together. The entire time the crew is acting like this is some big family trip, not them being attacked while on shore leave. and it all gets naratively capped off by the ending. you and the clone are clinging to the ramp, just moments before he was ranting about "what makes ypu so special!?", only to be answered by Shepherd's crew, your family in all but blood, saving you... while the clone's "friend" leaves him to save herself.

[@smartalec2001]

Someone called it "Shepard's Loyalty Mission"

[@tristandelasuertemexcla]

That’s a perfect name for it

[@dinosdaniel3508]

Throwback to the ending of the second "The Mummy" movie.

[@hersh1138]

Citadel dlc was pure comedy which was a fun change of pace for that game. Liara calling someone a cheater for shooting while she was on a ladder for instance.

[@rippspeck]

I dunno man, to me, the entire shore leave thing felt like wacky fanservice. In my opinion, they did the overall theme of the game a disservice by making a "sitcom episode". The clone plot was kinda good, tho. Not extraordinarily well executed and filled to the brim with tropes and clichés, but it made sense.

[@Aerowarrier]

I do love how much Wrex treats Liara like a little sister. Like he loves her so much, and has so much respect for what she’s become. It’s even better knowing she’s 1/4 Krogan

[@Kris-wo4pj]

he does the same for tali during the citadel dlc they talk about shotguns and she says shes still using all the advice he gave her during their travels in me1

[@NiftyGoose]

She is 1/4 Krogan? I thought she said in ME1 that she is whats known as a "pure blood".

[@lunaticq2283]

@@NiftyGoose She's Pureblood due to being born from two asari however her Mother Aethyta, who you meet on Illium in ME2, has a krogan parent.

[@NiftyGoose]

@@lunaticq2283 hmm, don’t remember that but I’m replaying it now so I’ll check that out. You would think that insult would be used on some one who has generations of only Asari. At least that’s what I assumed

[@strawberrylotlizard]

@@NiftyGoose I think because of their long lifespans is a generational disgust instead of familial thing

[@suzuyajuuzou8235]

Playing a fem shep and romancing thane in 2. Staying loyal to him in 3. His funeral is one of the saddest moments I’ve ever experienced in a game ever. When you get his last videos he tried to send you. It’s so heartwarming/heartbreaking

[@micheleosullivan4430]

Agreed! It is the first and only time a game made me tear up!

[@xXJoveXx]

lmao

[@missingaria2503]

You're telling me, I romanced Kaidan in 1, he f-in betrays you at the start of 2, I am won over into love again by the amazing Thane and stay loyal to him in 3, then LESS THAN AN HOUR AFTER HE DIES that half of a dying Krogan's brain cell that is Kaidan goes "soooooo wanna get back together?" I have never wished I saved Ashley more than I did in that moment.

[@suzuyajuuzou8235]

@@missingaria2503 I am so sorry lol. I play female characters alot(as a male) and I can say with no real certain reason, Kaiden rubbed me the wrong way from the start. I did one play through where I saved him 👀😂

[@voteDC]

It's possible to romance both Liara and Thane throughout the trilogy and get all of their related content. The only thing you miss is the Ghost sequence in the Citadel DLC at the very end.

[@Syenthros]

Also: Yes to Mass Effect: Andromeda. I didn't think it was a particularly good entry in the series, but it deserves to be talked about.

[@Texelion]

Honestly the bad games are the best to talk about. With good games it's just "wow this was awesome, and this too, and this, and I love this character" and the few negatives are seen as nitpicking. With bad games you can learn something from their mistake, or you could discover that there are some good points you haven't seen before.

[@mr.steinhaus6014]

Decent game overall if it didn't have the "Mass Effect" label. I replayed a few months ago and had a great time.

[@Prodigial]

@@Texelion What's there to learn that hasn't already been known? Don't hire people for clout and diversity when they are subpar. Don't rush out a buggy mess of a game. Don't try to "fix" a system that has worked for you in the past when you don't have the talent to build up a new system. The team that made Mass Effect Andromeda is so vastly different from the team that made Mass Effect 2 (the highlight of the series) that they should've known it would fail. Another example is how Obsidian was able to come in and make the best Fallout game by FAR in only 1 year while Bethesda has continuously botched the franchise and doesn't know what it stood for or what to do with it; Obsidian had people on its staff behind the first two games who understood the series whereas Bethesda just saw a cash cow.

[@grilledleeks6514]

I don't agree. It really did nothing deserving of being talked about.

[@Alva_Lombax]

its such a shame as well, cuz even with all the shortcomings of ME3, ppl where still hyped about adromeda, adn that game has a massive plot twist, even tho it lacks impact

[@Drefsab]

Shore Leave is the true ending to ME3 and I will not hear otherwise. Also, hearing Mordin sing Amazing Grace was the perfect way to hear from him one last time.

[@TheDarkkilla12]

I know some people consider Citadel DLC to be the actual ending to the game. And that’s a better explanation than what we got.

[@TheKurtkapan34]

there is a mod for that. takes out the parts about reapers from dialogues and makes you play the dlc after the finale.

[@ember-evergarden]

Objectively wrong opinion but okay, stay in denial.

[@Drefsab]

@@ember-evergarden You must be real fun at parties.

[@prestonmitchell9135]

@@ember-evergarden cope, seethe, L, ratio, excommunicated

[@thechatteringclown]

2:33:59 slight correction. javik was dlc, yes, but he was day one dlc, meaning you could buy the dlc the day the game launched. which, apart from causing a lot of outrage, because why wouldn't you included a fully fleshed out companion in the game when he's already completely finished by launch, means the whole game was programmed with javik in mind. they didn't have to go back to adjust anything for him, as he was always meant to be there. 3:03:02 you seem slightly confused how things work here. the reapers attacked the citadel during the prothean cycle a.) because that's where their point of entrance was meant to be, which we managed to disable during me1 and b.) due to the protheans being a single unified space empire they only had one centralised government, which resided on the citadel. by taking over the citadel, the reapers could get rid off their entire leadership at once and throw the remaining planets in chaos. however, it is made clear that that wouldn't work in our cycle. in our cycle the council is more like the un. yeah, they make some important large scale decisions, but ultimately each member has their own government, that makes their own decision independent from the council. therefore the reapers can't just attack the citadel and throw the galaxy in turmoil like they did with the ptotheans, as all that would happen is that each race would simply fall back to taking orders from their own government instead. thanks to the decentralized leadership structure of this cycle, the reapers attacking the citadel would do absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, so they don't really have a reason to do so. not until they learn about the conduit once cerberus get their hands on the AI on thessia.

[@Funinightmare]

Wrex went from a ruthless, bad ass veteran in me1 to a jokey, fun loving grandpa who can still knock you out in me3 And I love it through and through

[@superbrian7997]

Well I don’t and I didn’t. Wrex childlike boisterous behavior and teenager like false sense of invincibility. Along with his reckless aggressive actions like when we arrived at the Salarians Homeworld. Are what strongly aided in convincing me that Eve was wrong about Wrex being an anomaly amongst Krogan men and a mutant. Because in spite of the fact that Wrex wants good for his people. He often behaves precisely like the Krogan back in the day did when interacting with other powerful and influential species. Wrex is no different from the Krogan Ambassador who caused a ruckus right before the Krogan Rebellions War. Wrex more than anyone caused me to believe that he wouldn’t be around long enough to keep a cured Genophage Krogan in check. Even when we were on Tuchanka Wrex failed to de-escalate the situation and Eve had too. And there is no way that Eve is gonna always be able to be by Wrex side to keep him from making things worse. Especially if Krogan get multiple extra-solar colony worlds! Even in Mass Effect 1 Wrex was reckless af! He told C-Sec that he was gonna assassinate Fisk. He dared C-Sec to try and arrest him. He threatens to kill Commander Shepard on Virmire in front of armed STG and Shepard’s own squad! As much as I like Wrex look. I like Wrex voice (In ME1). I like his stories. Wrex is a reckless idiot when he chooses violence over civility.

[@gnat6216]

​@@superbrian7997 you missed one important note. Unlike other Krogans he actually talks and open to options. In ME1 any other Krogan would just try to shoot you, he listened and agreed. In ME2 he actually forces clans to unite and stop infighting. These werent just some plans, he actually did this. In ME3. Salarian homeworld, he acted ruthless but the most valuable thing to his entire race was kidnapped by STG while theres reaper envasion going on. And even then he only threatened them, didn't shoot. Other Krogans wouldnt hold back, Wrex does and actually belives Krogans should stop wars. With Eve's help they got all chances to do it.

[@Leviathan1494]

​@@superbrian7997 L take, Wrex is still a Krogan at the end of the day. It's in his DNA to be violent, and without violence there's no way he could have united Tuchanka. But he's also one of the few Krogan that can make long term plans for the good of his species. Every time Wrex acts recklessly there is a reason for it. C-Sec is too spineless and tied up with red tape to stop him or capture him. At Virmire he sees a cure to the genophage that the Salarians are trying to destroy. Even the Salarians there say "Saren has cured the Genophage". In what world would he not be angry that everyone else is trying to destroy it? The thing he has spent centuries dreaming about curing. I think his reaction is warranted. Wrex is the best of his species because he has all.the Krogan tendencies but is able to rise above them when it really matters.

[@codysellers4151]

@@superbrian7997 Wrex's actions on Virmire were both justified and understandable, a cure for the thing killing his people was literally within reach, and his friend and ally, Shepard, was going to destroy it. While Wrex claimed he had given up on his people beforehand, his tone when discussing them and him getting offended/triggered when Shepard compares Humanity's history with aliens to the Krogan's betrayed his true feelings on the matter. Him threatening violence when in reach of something that could save his people is justified, and most anyone of any other species would do the same thing. The scene with Eve is not at all a mark against Wrex. The point was to give a female Krogan power and influence in her race's destiny, and Eve of all people HAD to be the one to calm down the tensions, they were doing that mission for her, not Wrex. Wrex was there to help safeguard her, in reality that entire mission was Eve and whichever Salarian you have with you's play. Wrex being threatening and hostile with representatives of other races is also understandable. The Genophage REALLY fucked up his people. Do you have any idea what it would be like to give birth to multiple children, only for all of them to die because of what an alien government did to your people? Now expand that to cover the entire Krogan race. Of course he's pissed at the other governments, he has every right to be, they brought that on themselves when they almost forcibly sterilized an entire people, regardless of their reasoning. If the Salarian government came along and sterilized our species, we would be VERY pissed, and rightly so. But the thing is, Wrex IS different. He may not like the other governments but unlike most Krogan he is fully willing to work with them if they help cure the genophage, and that is a completely reasonable request. Both he and his clan are willing to unify and work with the other clans, accept Grunt into their clan despite it going completely against tradition, and even on Virmire Wrex can be convinced to side with you provided he trusts you enough, He does not like it, but he will see your side and go along with you, asking only for Saren's head as compensation. Wrex may still be a Krogan at heart, but he has proven that he understands the Krogan MUST change if they are to survive.

[@wiilov]

@@superbrian7997 Hell, I'll side with the correct but out-numbered crowd. The Krogan don't need to have 1000 babies a year per female. They can make due with 1. The fact that they cannot is more a show of an inability to adapt than any cruelty on the Salarian or Turian Government's parts. 1000 eggs a year was the old Krogan birthrate, PER FEMALE. Of course, because "The Audience" had a 'gasm over Garrus and Wrex, they had to rail-road the story to fix something that, frankly, the Krogan don't deserve fixed.

[@Lowrholler]

"Shepherd I'm dying from space polio." I laughed way too hard at that

[@mounne13]

I honestly saw Keprals as Space Cancer but Polio is way funnier

[@jeremygilbert7989]

@@mounne13 I saw it more as Space TB since it targets their ability to absorb oxygen in their lungs.

[@Xavier_Destalis]

​@jeremygilbert7989 we all know that it's really space chicken pox.

[@darksideon]

The funny thing about the man talking to the child about Shepard, is that the little boy is actually a shrunken down model of an alliance officer😄. I never realized just how much reused assets were used for ME3. In the beginning the civilians running from the reaper are just purple and gold copies of Jack.

[@00110000]

They literally had a model for a child in the game already, why wouldn't they just use that?? Unless it's like an inside joke among the devs

[@piotrkarp9562]

@@00110000 Probably to cut time with rigging and animating it.

[@funtourhawk]

They had like no time to make ME3 compared to the 2nd or 1st

[@BenD0v3r32]

I finished ME3 today, and noticed it too, haha.

[@BenD0v3r32]

@@00110000 My thoughts exactly.

[@Aerowarrier]

Trainor is an absolute weirdo, if you romance her then Edi talks about how Shep is like 40% biotech and Trainor gets super turned on and wants to try and figure out how to make her spine glow, like she’s such a freak but it’s low key fantastic

[@ppprulz]

I think you also join her in the bath if you romance her, been a while though. And isnt she locked for femshep only?

[@ElecTrishian924]

@@ppprulz Yeah, she's gay

[@Aerowarrier]

@@ppprulz you do and she is. She’s 100% gay and thriving on it between Edi and Femshep lol

[@zelohendricks51]

Traynor is one of the best Romances imo

[@Amrylin1337]

The spine glow is a reference to BSG.

[@LivingxPrime]

If you're a biotic in this game, all action cutscenes featuring Shepherd are uncanny.

[@shadowrosegaming3566]

Uncanny or just fucking hilariously fucked

[@BiriBiri925]

Literally my experience in this game. I've always played biotic.

[@inkchild4115]

I was so confused when he pulled out the arm blade thing in one cutscene knowing my shephard could literally biotic blast people with his fists

[@KravMagoo]

Well...the issue is that Shepard is NOT a biotic, plain and simple. You can play the game as though he is, but he isn't. YOUR Shepard might be, but THE Shepard is not. Kaiden was turned into a biotic due to a (probably deliberate) accident with eezo. Nothing in Shepard's backstory indicates such exposure, so he isn't biotic. In games where players get to portray themselves in the role of the main character, such as KOTOR & KOTOR 2, regardless of the variety of options players of the game have to "experiment" for the sake of "replayability", there is nevertheless a particular canon characterization, and in the case of Shepard, he is a non-biotic paragon soldier, and probably a spacer war hero, maybe a colonist war hero.

[@alexinivai08]

​@@KravMagoodaddy chill

[@ruppelspoopels]

I always thought Jacob disliked Shepard, he's the only companion that cheats on you. So, Shepard not giving him medigel is par for the course.

[@my5head]

Not enough people talk about how Jacob spends the ENTIRETY of ME2 disagreeing with every decision made by Sheppard.

[@elbowremovalservice]

Vent% team rise up

[@FamusJamus]

The worst part of the ending for me was knowing it was a one-way trip to give the Reapers hell, choosing a depressed Javik as a squadmate because that sounded right up his alley, and then having to send him back when the drama gods decided he stubbed his toe.

[@nagger8216]

It's a one way trip, with way higher stakes than the actual suicide mission in ME2, but quick we gotta call in the Normandy all the way from orbit or take it away from providing fire support somewhere to evacuate two people because they're Shepard's squadmates and one's most likely the love interest. Gotta have that cheap drama, baby

[@arantir4150]

@@nagger8216 That scene was added in the extended cut DLC. One of the complaints with the ending was that after the mad dash for the beacon we never saw our squadmates again. But yeah, we went from: "We can't land near the beacon because of that Destroyer Reaper" to "Joker we are under fire from the Harbinger. We need an evacuation now"

[@brandonlyon730]

@@arantir4150 Yeah and it just made Harbinger look stupid for not blasting away the large Normandy ship away, and makes Shepherd dumber for thinking that was even a good idea in the first place.

[@TheMasterUnity]

@@brandonlyon730 Presumably it’s because Harbinger was too busy blasting away people running for the beam. Which is a much higher priority than just some ship.

[@brandonlyon730]

@@TheMasterUnity Seems like a pretty lame excuse it’s not like the Normandy was tiny transport, it’s pretty big ship, and it was out in the open just a short laser beam would easily destroy it in seconds. This just felt like a lazy way for the writers to fix a plot hole in the original ending.

[@dm121984]

3:52:00 Honestly, I think the fans where not so obsessed with Shepard living (though obviously there will be some who did); however, with the endings being so dog shit even after the 'extended cut'; people wrapped up the idea that Shepard was being brainwashed by the reapers with the idea that him living shows the destroy ending is him 'escaping' indoctrination - I don't believe it was the intent of the developer, but it is fans trying to make sense of an awfully written ending - I would have been cool with Shepard dying IF the ending had been satisfying - but it really wasn't and gave no closure to anything, as well as overwriting or ignoring choices made by the players.

[@ericsebena1734]

As a big proponent of the Indoctrination Theory as it's been dubbed, I understand that it's likely not what the devs were going for, but it makes for a great head-cannon to escape the horrible reality that we got. It also would have been legendary for its memorability and people would still rank it as one of the most impressive moments where a game fucks with its player alongside MGS and Eternal Darkness.

[@thegumonyourshoes]

If I’m being honest, when I was playing ME3 back in the day, I used to like these endings for whatever reason. I liked the idea of Shepard dying in the end and, in the “extended cut” ending, having his partner (typically Kaidan or Liara) carrying on with the Normady… but now I feel kinda robbed. As for the Indoctrination Theory, I think its a cool idea and would’ve made for an interesting twist imo. I feel like ME3 just needed something different overall for an ending rather than the push-the-button style… whatever this is.

[@TheKueiJin]

​@@thegumonyourshoes The Quarian V Geth needed to be cut, as the second game fixed it perfectly; TIM and Cerb needed redo-ing; Asari part needed scrapping, worst dogshit of the series, even worse than the ending IMHO; more emphasis on each of the members. Hell even some loyalty missions for the new ones and maybe the game would have been better. The Legendary Edition should have just contained the first and second, remastered. And a maybe the 3rd being separately funded, with much MUCH more work put into it would have probably saved the series. As it stands I am completely put off of the Mass Effect games. I'm not touching anything BioWare ever again, as everyone should. Why? Because it should have been clear, long ago, that BioWare has already died, and is only being puppeteered by EA.

[@gamn6834]

I do think fans wanted Shepard to live, mostly because Shepard spend 3 games in the frontlines fighting for everyone lives but by the end dies. We all wanted that "happy ending" of Shepard retiring with their LI or even getting a few years break before the next game, but we got those color coded ending and each one killed Shepard, that why destroy is the "best ending" it skip the stupid color coded ending (because Shepard is alive) and let thing open ending so they can go back to their LI or something.

[@LB-py9ig]

@@ericsebena1734 "No Sehpard, you are the Raepers" G8 ending m8

[@samuelclayhills3298]

Man imagine if Kai Leng was the villain of the citadel and the clone was in the main game. The email bit would be hillarious in such a silly dlc and cerberus making a clone would be extremly on point.

[@shadowrosegaming3566]

That would've been much better tbh

[@Bloodletter8]

My wife and I started calling Kai Leng "Samurai Jackass" back in 2012 and the name stuck. I honestly forgot he had an actual name until I watched this video.

[@bluesrike]

I only refer to him as "Lieutenant Bastard"

[@uhobme2028]

Man, EVE has got to be one of the most underrated characters in the franchise, only playthrough I could bring myself to betray the Krogan is the one where Wreav is the sole Leader left.

[@nathanielhughes8071]

"Maybe I'm missing aomwthing" in regards to the geth. Yeah, Legion explains it to you after you free him. The reapers didn't just take control of the geth, the geth sought out the help of the reaper because the quarians attacked. Even without the reaper signal, the geth are still at war and you are with their enemy.

[@MrSpartan993]

GAWD he’s fucking dense sometimes.

[@Mykedigz1]

Kaiden feels completely different in ME3 because he is. In ME1, he & Ashley are different characters with their own personalities, backstories, & motivations. But only 1 of them survives. From there, BW merger them into one character. Your interactions with them are identical. I’ve played the game through several times. The only difference is Kaiden is a romance option either way, while Ash is only a romance option for male-shep. I obviously have no direct knowledge as to why they did this. But my guess is to make that particular choice an aesthetic one. Kaiden & Ashley are EASILY the least likable characters in ME1. So essentially both Kaiden & Ash die in ME1. From then on, they are replaced with “generic male/female Virmire” survivor. They have no effect on the story. You just have a male or female former crew member.

[@DemonLordSparda]

This isn't remotely true at all. Kaidan and Ashley are entirely different in ME3. In ME2 they are essentially the same. Kaidan has tremendous survivors guilt, he's a higher Alliance Rank than Shepard, he has a squad he trained. Ashley is mostly prideful and enjoying her promotions. I don't think there is a single conversation that is the same with both of the outside of Mars.

[@Tito_michi]

Not to mention that Ashley's original writer Chris L'Etoile left Bioware before ME3.

[@crawman334]

Ashley has one of the best character arcs and romances in the entire trilogy. And besides samara (if you even count that as a romance) it's probably one of the most difficult one for Shepard as a character. Ashley goes from an ignorant, racist stereotypical human to being friendly with basically the entire normady crew and having being WAY more trusting of Shepard during the citadel attack depending on your choices. Don't get me wrong, she's still very morally questionable. But she had one of the biggest character arcs in the series, ashley from ME1 and Ashley from ME3 really are different people from a lot of standpoints

[@superbrian7997]

Bro, you are so wrong. It was so clear to me that whoever was in charge of writing Ashley’s scenes in ME3 didn’t like her character. Whereas a lot of heart and love was invested in Kaiden Alenko’s scenes in ME3. 1. Ashley who kept her distance from Shepard like he had Covid-19. Expects Shepard to visit her repeatedly at the hospital. 2. Be emotional support for her when she’s comforting her younger sister who loss her husband. 3. Then Ashley gets drunk on the Normandy and is lying on the floor. And it’s all treated like a joke. Ashley in ME1 didn’t even drink real liquor on the Normandy to celebrate Armistice Day but in ME3 she doesn’t give af! Ashley looked real good in ME3 but her character was treated like trash. And all blame goes to the writers. This is a great video esssy about how well written Ashley is in ME1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nV6vgnV4aNtkfcksi=fJZK0OVAsE-52ADN

[@superbrian7997]

@@Tito_michiI did not know this. So he abandoned his little girl and she was devoured by ravenous wolves who didn’t like her or understand her. What a shame. What a tragedy.

[@matthewchambers1005]

I swear these videos are beautiful, the time and effort put into all of them are just amazing. I've been loving these long form videos and a small form every here and there in between. Thank you for making a 12hr day just flow on by

[@Wiicubemaster]

I'm playing through ME3 right now, I've always enjoyed it. The main story ending I'd a little meh but the rest of the game is absolutely incredible

[@tombyrne9003]

Yeah the first 90% of the game is fantastic. The ending will always upset me but the rest of the game is very fun in my opinion

[@Nixus237]

@@tombyrne9003 I didn’t even mind the ending that much I beat for the first time a few months ago with the Legendary edition and with all the talk about how bad the ending was but I liked it I had to work my ass off to get the good ending where Shepard survives and it took all my choices from the previous game carry over

[@tombyrne9003]

@@Nixus237 I replayed it when legendary edition dropped and finally did the citadel DLC. Still not thrilled with the overall ending but that dlc serves as a very nice wrap up. I’m glad you enjoyed the ending though, it’s a great trilogy of games

[@Spike2276]

I've learned to look past the ending and care more about the journey, and it's a really good one

[@grayzelfx]

Same here!

[@theonegoldengryphon]

Actually, you can be locked out of the paragon and renegade options in the final conversation with the Illusive man. To get them, you have to have picked paragon/renegade at every single opportunity the game gives you in previous conversations with the Illusive Man, a couple of which are hidden behind other dialogue. I missed one by accident, so I was locked out

[@venkateshshenoy4888]

Yes, this is actually something I really liked in ME3. You have to consistently choose Paragon/renegade throughout the entire game, and you'll see cracks show in the Illusive Man's demeanor as you get to the last few. I very much didn't agree with that criticism of his.

[@ember-evergarden]

Which is stupid because just choosing Paragon or just Renegade is dumb. You have to pick both

[@gamn6834]

Same problem, unless you are skipping dialogue you always go left first for extra info, then you go paragon or renegade there is no point in going for neutral, there are like 1-2 in which you talk to IM and the option on the left just continue the dialogue instead of giving more info, but you would still not miss it.

[@misternich4935]

@@gamn6834 they removed neutral dialogue for most of this game

[@infinitebombdog]

Those random Cerberus missions were to introduce new multiplayer maps in the original ME3. Instead of using a known area, they made new maps then added these missions to explain them.

[@faelarheal-leaf8157]

God that somehow makes those missions even worse

[@Aerowarrier]

The fact that a Shepard who hasn’t romanced anyone in the entire series aside from Kelly ends up sleeping with Javik after they both get super drunk is low key fantastic

[@RedheadJack]

I discovered this yesterday to my absolute horror when I realized I missed the deadline for Liara's romance

[@inkchild4115]

@@RedheadJack can't imagine how liara would feel finding out you had a one night stand with the last living prothean

[@s0undw4v3]

Probably jealous.

[@Aerowarrier]

@@s0undw4v3 but of who???

[@anthonytitone]

@@Aerowarriershe just wants to join in

[@kaptenteo]

Javik was actually in the launch version, but Bioware had blocked access to him and his recruitment mission unless you paid extra for it (or had pre-ordered the game, I think). So he wasn't inserted after release.

[@noneofyourbusiness7010]

Originally he was intended to play a much bigger role in the story but publishers decided they wanted a day 1 dlc so his role was changed drastically

[@GamerPete101]

@@noneofyourbusiness7010 That’s not why it was changed. Originally he was so pivotal to the story that the devs realized Shepard had become a glorified chauffeur taking this plot critical character where they needed to be. So they cut him and reworked the story. Then, when they were making decisions about DLC, they decided to bring him back. Contrary to the narrative of content being cut for DLC, a more common circumstance is that content cut for other reasons gets repurposed as DLC.

[@wngmv]

You did not get javid for free if you had pre-ordered the game. I pre-ordered and had to shell out an extra $10 for it. That, plus what was the first loot box (upgrade in the oven coop multiplayer) made me3 an incredibly greedy game.

[@MishraArtificer]

@@wngmv The "From Ashes" DLC with Javik was included in the Collector's Edition; I got it on my PC version, back in the day. Did you get the standard release?

[@whatthehec108]

I love how Cortez's death was just glossed over when it was easily avoided.

[@Giddog40]

Yeah, when he got to that part of the video I just thought, so he didn’t talk to Steve

[@thehucklebillyfenn]

He was probably meming but he said that he played the entirely of ME2 in four hours for his review. He likely only plays and does things he feels are necessary.

[@whatthehec108]

@@thehucklebillyfenn It's understandable, considering how big these games are. He probably feels some amount of pressure to get them out as soon as possible, so missing some details is fine. I was just amused by how casual his death was mentioned, as if it was an unchangeable story moment. Besides, I've always considered these a review from a more casual standpoint.

[@TheTexasDice]

"STEEEEEEEVEEE" "It's okay, I'm alright." "ok"

[@aschles503]

@@thehucklebillyfenn When he said this, it didn't make any sense to me. He easily has over four hours of footage in his Mass Effect 2 video. In fact, the mass effect 2 video he uploaded is four hours long. And his video has so much cut content from his playthrough, like all the combat and cut-scene lengths, and all the talking to different people and crew members. So I don't think he was referring to doing all of Mass Effect 2 in only four hours, but I don't know what else he would have been referring to? I think he was referring to something else, he just worded it quite poorly. Edit: I just realized that when he said "the four hours I took for my mass effect 2 playthrough" he was talking about his video length, not that his entire playthrough took only four hours.

[@DangerIncFilms]

In regards to the Reapers not going after the Citadel in this game right at the start, you have to realize that while it may have just been a single Reaper, Sovereign got his ass eaten out for lunch in ME1. Coupled with not being able to just relay-hop straight there (read the Prothean scientists’ patch notes from the first game) without attracting too much attention, and them basically coming from the edges inward, it’s entirely believable for the Citadel to be one of the last places to be attacked.

[@tovek77]

Not to mention attacking the citadel would 100% unite every race in the galaxy at once. Divide and conquer.

[@hereniho]

More importantly, the reapers do not care about the order they do their invasion in. It's not a war to them, but a feeding. The citadel and its members have to worry about logistics and all that; the reapers need only slowly advance their way through.

[@rippspeck]

@@hereniho For some immortal being that has been around for maybe millions of years, a harvest that only takes a couple of centuries is pretty damn short.

[@zafelrede4884]

The only reason Sovereign got so easily destroyed is because his shields failed after he assumed control of Saren and Saren got finally killed.

[@DangerIncFilms]

@@zafelrede4884 They can’t be sure what the reason for Sovereign’s defeat was. All they could possibly know is that this cycle possibly has something able to kill them.

[@DraculOkeanos]

Slight correction - at 1:06:19 you mention the Salarian Councillor being the one who tried to double-cross the Krogan. That's actually incorrect - the Salarian Dalatress, while she looks very similar, is NOT the same person as the Salarian Councilor. They really should have named these two, though.

[@PsyrenXY]

They did name them actually: Dalatrass = Linron, female Councilor (saved, ME1) = Valern, male Councilor (didn't save) = Esheel, female

[@DraculOkeanos]

Oh! Thank you! So yes, Valern/Esheel is less of a shitheel than Linron.@@PsyrenXY

[@YoungMrBlue]

⁠@@PsyrenXYValern is still the biggest dushe of the council Would be the Turian if it wasn’t for ME3

[@Aerowarrier]

God seeing Garrus holding back a bawling Tali while she watches her love go off to almost certain death hits so fucking hard. I forget who I had with me on my Talimance playthrough but I missed that and I regret it now

[@NeverSaySandwich1]

Tali died in my playthrough and the writing for it was so dumb

[@jeremypurdy1833]

@@NeverSaySandwich1 How was it dumb?

[@LostShipMate]

@@NeverSaySandwich1 You mean when you choose the Geth over her people? When she watches everyone she considers family die, and decides to follow them by falling off a cliff?

[@kittogashi8561]

I decided to be Javik's buddy in my last playthrough. Watching him get poleaxed at the end, essentially being commanded to survive hit harder than I thought it would, and made even his modest-at-best character development impactful.

[@wilsonweiseng6485]

Seeing Garrus stutter in front of a female is... wow this is the wise-crack Garrus i remembered

[@okbVinyl]

as this video criticizes Ardat Yakshi mission, I want to point out one cool detail. If you chose Morinth over Samara in ME2, resulting Samara to die and Morinth impersonate her, this mission in ME3 goes a bit differently. If Samara, for any reason, is not present, you can choose to let Falere stay in the monastery (as she hints that she will commit sudoku) or kill her yourself. If Morinth survived ME2, you can find an email she sent to the monastery, being concerned about security of her sisters. You also meet Morinth in London, as a named banshee. Nothing special about her, just the name. From what I understand, this entire mission is set to be a depressing one (because there's no one to save there, it's basically lost even before you go in); the whole point was to show the utter devastation that reapers cause. It's set at night, most of it is dimly lit by moonlight, and it introduces one of the most terrifying (and terrifyingly bullshit one-hit kill animations) enemy, while simultaneously explaining what they are. It's essentially a haunted house episode.

[@nessyno-name3855]

This is a nice and well thought out comment so I'm not trying to ridicule you by saying this but I'm pretty sure you meant 'commit sepuku' as 'committing sudoku' would be to sit down with a nice relaxing number puzzle for an hour or two.

[@Ares9804]

@@nessyno-name3855 commiting sudoku is a common jest/wordplay with seppuku, though

[@nessyno-name3855]

@@Ares9804 Ah, I guess I didn't pick up on that since OP's tone was pretty neutral around that but fair enough. Sorry if I came off as nitpicky or r/whoosh

[@patrickn.4113]

There are one hit kill moves here?

[@Ares9804]

@@patrickn.4113 Yeah, Banshees have a move that can oneshot you in certain situations

[@CorvusCorax12d]

Honestly in love with ME3. Yeah the ending wasnt really the best they could've had but the entire game is the ending, not just the last 5 minutes

[@darksodos]

I disagree with the Illusive Man view that he just turned evil in the 3rd game. He was always going towards that. He wasn't a grey area guy he was always leaning towards "evil" and extremism. Cerberus started as just a black ops group that grew bigger and bigger. The thing is, is that he understood what was going on and eventually just decided it was worth going to the extreme to make sure humanity/himself won no matter the cost. Like that is where any hardcore belief eventually goes to unless you have something to check it. Illusive Man was only really checked by Shepard during the 2nd game. Cerberus in the 1st game lured soldiers to their deaths by thersher maws, experimented on captured people, killed anyone that tried to figure out what was going on. Cerberus in 2nd game, "we want to control the geth and make a super biotic by ANY means but don't go too extreme(but we will use the data later on tho *winkwink*) By their own pattern where else would Illusive Man go when faced with the eventuality that the Reapers are at our doorstep?

[@fullparagon7468]

Yeah TIM was always going to be someone you had a reckoning with. That said...the really did him dirty in the last part. Like most of Mass Effect 3, it was pretty good...right up until you stepped into the beam.

[@k-master973]

Yeah the people who say he suddenly turned evil forget that Cerberus is essentially just the Proud Boys who became successful and powerful. They assassinated the fucking Pope!

[@Poonchow]

Personal headcanon is that "Cerberus" was a project in the Alliance established shortly after First Contact - Cerberus is a 3 headed dog that guards the underworld. In a literal sense, Earth is the underworld, and Cerberus is it's guard dog; the three heads are the Alliance, the private corporate ventures, and some sort of planetary militia or 3rd party tech research group. At some point, the corporate capitalists took over surreptitiously and undermined the other ventures and the Alliance sort of forgot about it (because it was supposed to be a secret project that protected Earth assets from potential Aliens). So, Cerberus was initially a project that made sure human-centric funds staid in human projects that promoted humanity, and got so far ahead of itself that the "Illusive Man" at its head simply took control and delegated all the illegal (by Council standards) manufacturing of arms and ships and technology and formed a shadow army over time. I think ME2 would have been a much better story if Shepard was sent to the Terminus systems to investigate Cerberus rather than what we ended up with, since ME2 has so many moments of Shepard being clearly upset with Cerberus but going along with it anyway. If Hackett had asked Shepard to seek them out and the Collector plot had happened anyway, I think it would have worked a lot better to paint Shepard as the villain many characters treat him/her as in the 2nd and 3rd games. There's little reason for the Sole Survivor background, for instance, to work with Cerberus - I think that Shepard would straight up NOPE out of that situation.

[@alexandersturnn4530]

Exactly. When Cerberus turned evil in ME3, my reaction wasn't shock or incredulity, it was more a 'Wow, what took you Guys so long?'

[@kinagrill]

Actually it's also more with the fact he post-game-2 began to dabble with reaper stuff, thus indoctrination and hence the corruption from within. Especially since it's a small, gradual thing, so by the time you might even notice a difference with yourself... you won't really care anymore by then.

[@austinfowler2707]

Correction since you've said it several times. The salarian dalatrass and salarian councilor are two different characters, even if you let the council die in ME1. From what I understand, the councilor is not happy but in a more "not what I would have done" kind of way. The Dalatrass is the racist bully. The councilor is far more on your side than the dalatrass. Or at least, more amenable to your cause. So I never got the idea that he outright was against us. Think of it as the councilor is the Salarian President of the Citadel, and the Dalatrass is the Salarian President of their government. Both have high seats but one technically works under the other. And if you save the councilor, he is far more willing to work with humans, creating a split in the Salarian War Effort. I'm probably wrong on some details but the gist of it is there. Edit: The female councilor if you let the council die in ME1 is far more against you than the male one, probably because he has more respect for his life. She probably dislikes you for obvious reasons in ME1

[@k-master973]

The Salarian government is fucking wild to keep track of if you delve into it. The Salarian Union is actually still a feudal government, so it can be hard to track what’s what

[@Silvertough123]

So, you mentioned at the tail-end of your discussion on the Leviathan DLC that it was silly that the Reapers didn't immediately attack the Citadel and repeat what they did with the Protheans. The thing is, they were planning on it, but you stopped them. In Mass Effect 1, you learn that a small group of Prothean scientists who survived the purge traveled to the now empty Citadel and basically reprogrammed the Keepers to be immune to the Reaper's influence. Without that influence, the Reapers were unable to use the secret mass relay at the heart of the Citadel. They then attempted plan B, which was to use the Alpha Relay. You destroyed it in the Arrival DLC in Mass Effect 2. So basically, the Reapers were forced to start from the outer edges of the Galaxy and work their way in towards the Council races, instead of being able to overwhelm them all in a targeted strike at their government, like they had done for countless millennia.

[@ramirogodfrid7331]

👏👏👏

[@grzegorzflorek5623]

That doesn't explain why they haven't rushed to capture the Citadel as the first objective. If they did, they would cut our access to FTL and Mass Relays, and stopped any chance of organizing united resistance. Instead, they cherry picked different worlds for harvest. I'll explain why. Because if the Reapers did this (as simple logic required), we would have lost already. There would be no way to leave our systems, to escape Reapers, or to gather resources from the entire Galaxy to build Crucible in a safe place. Reapers had to make a brain dead decision for this game to have any reason to exist. So basically, a plot convienience. That's it.

[@NostalgicGamerRickOShay]

@@grzegorzflorek5623 The whole pulling-out-a-super-weapon-at-the-last-minute felt like a real shoehorn. We were supposed to win originally because the Reapers lost the Citadel, as well as the element of surprise.

[@grzegorzflorek5623]

@@NostalgicGamerRickOShay Yeah, that too. That should have been explained in ME2, not at the last second...

[@thechatteringclown]

​@@grzegorzflorek5623 what are you talking about? FTL and mass relays have nothing to do with the citadel. they work perfectly fine on their own. no, it is explained that they didn't bother rushing the citadel because it wouldn't really do anything during our cycle. unlike with the protheans, who were united under one centralized empire and had all their leadership sitting in one place, therefore making the citadel a prime target, the council in this cycle doesn't really matter all that much. yeah, they make some important decisions, but at the end of the day they are just a bunch of ambassadors sitting around and arguing all day. i mean, what would attacking the council actually accomplish? nothing. humanity would still have their leadership on earth to give them orders, the asari would still have their leaders on thessia and the turians still would have their leaders on palaven, ect. us actually being a coalition of planets with a decentralised government instead of being one unified empire actually saved our butts, since, unlike with the protheans, the reaper don't have a single target to destroy to take out our entire leadership at once. they have to spread their attention between several planets, spreading out their forces in the process, which bought us just enough time. the reapers don't really have a reason to attack the citadel until they learn about its importance from cerberus.

[@jbainsley5401]

From Ashes, the DLC for Javik was Day One DLC. Released along-side the base game. You got it as a pre-order bonus if I remember correctly. So the dialogue at the Asari Temple checks out.

[@BillyKatze]

Thanes death hits even harder when you play as FemShep. "Kolyat, why did the last verse say 'she'?" "The prayer was not for him. He already asked forgivness. It was for you." in his last moments in life he asks his gods for mercy on your soul. god damn.

[@monkeybone1080]

You get that as Maleshep though, just without the "she" part obviously.

[@Kris-wo4pj]

@@monkeybone1080 hits harder with the gender switch

[@monkeybone1080]

@@Kris-wo4pj Opinions

[@MerrilMicra]

Garrus used to be my fav romance just because the whole there's no shepard without vakarian thing really worked for me. But now I'm a lot more grown up I can appreciate the grief and angst of Thane's romance so much more and after I replayed recently I ended up regretting not romancing him. He's my fav now

[@Kris-wo4pj]

@@monkeybone1080 sure sure your opinion is wrong but sure. wanna know why? cuz why would anyone question Thane if the pray said he. the She then asking the question and getting that answer makes it actually hit how the writer wants it to. i played it as both MaleShep first and then as FemShep still hit harder the second time. feel like the writers would have rather had femshep only with how many scenes hit better as femshep.

[@JpK_23]

Grunt falling from the hospital had me dying of laughter. Best character hands down.

[@solicitr666]

"I love you, Grunt."

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

Just press this button and say "no."

[@davidthomason788]

The thing that burns me the most about Mass Effect's story was that the original scrapped story was so much better sounding. All that foreshadowing about Dark Matter and how the Reapers were terrified of their own mortality and required the chaotic growth of organics to solve the mass effect induced acceleration of the heat death of the universe. So much more to that then organics will always enslave synthetics and therefore synthetics will always rebels and genocide, ugh.

[@Ryanfinder226]

@@nek6730 there’s nothing you can read that’ll give you more than this comment did. We never get to see the full scrapped plot-line or how it was gonna be resolved and we likely never will

[@laurentleplat333]

@@nek6730 it is my understanding that this plot-line was scrapped early in development due to leaks and was never fleshed out. Least that the reason we’ve been given. I wonder if it could be a similar problem to the original ending of Terminator Salvation or the plot of Matrix, in that they tried with a stupid test audience, and dumbed down the whole thing afterwards.

[@grantcawby7225]

@@laurentleplat333 Didn’t they sort of hint at that plot line in ME2 when you recruit Tali? Something about Dark Energy causing the local Sun to die a lot sooner than it should?

[@inquisitorpig5760]

@@grantcawby7225 They kinda say something about the sun dying out faster than it should have, but it's never touched on again after that mission, to my memory, at least. Dark energy is mentioned several times in relation to the Reapers(and Collectors), but afaik, that also doesn't get any details to it. We don't even really know what this 'dark energy' is, unless I missed an explanation in the games.

[@grantcawby7225]

@@inquisitorpig5760 I don't think they do. I don't think Dark Energy is mentioned again until Conrad Verner's Theory on the stuff in ME3 but getting that requires a whole laundry list of pre-reqs from the 1st and 2nd games and is only worth like 5 war assets and only has flavor text. Maybe they just intended that stuff as a reference to the original idea since neither that or the star is mentioned ever again?

[@Leonfei]

Citadel has always been my favourite dlc. It was the last one released, after all the controversy over the ending, and struck me as a love letter from the devs to the series. Also, the humour is fantastic, self-referential humour is my jam, and Citadel delivers it in spades.

[@BradTheAmerican]

I've always been really conflicted about the Citadel DLC. The humor is great and it works fantastically as a standalone thing, but it just doesn't fit with the rest of the game's tone and plot. Space Hitler is committing genocide right down the metaphorical street and we're going out for sushi dinner in luxury restaurants, planning heists, and partying for shits and giggles. And it makes no sense why the reapers didn't already take over the Citadel since that's the center of galactic civilization and where 90% of all relay traffic ends up going, and the Citadel was always the first target in previous cycles.

[@digitalutopia1]

Regarding why the Reapers didn't attack the Citadel first - they tried that. That was literally the plot of the first game. That hidden relay that Saren was trying to open? Yeah, that's how they got the Citadel during the Prothean, and previous cycles. So instead of doing that, they they had to take the long route. Now, why didn't they just travel first to the Citadel in 3? I mean, we see how much of a fight the Alliance races put up at the end, despite their losses at their respective planents. Now imagine what happens if all the races are at full strength, attacking all the Reapers at a single place. That's the exact reason they started off attempting to divide and conquer the races themselves, and used indoctrinated Cerberus to take over the Citiadel.

[@brandonlyon730]

I mean just Sovereign put up quite a fight by himself against with just large fleet of Geth and they tore apart the defending Citadel fleet and still put up a tough fight with the alliance reinforcements, he was only defeated after Shepherd killed his undead Saren Avatar and he no longer was attacking and presumably no longer had his shield up. If he alone can do that then certainly a couple dozen reapers and destroy whatever new defenses or fleets there are considering they had zero issue doing the same to the Turian Homeworld the most militarized place in the Galaxy and taking over the Citadel will efficiently cripple any other race from trying to send reinforces now they have control over the relay network.

[@digitalutopia1]

@@brandonlyon730 Yeah, but you gotta keep in mind that it was only the Citadel fleet (and Normandy) - just a tiny fraction of the Human, Turian, and Asari fleets. In addition they were completely unprepared - as they didn't even know what a Reaper was - by the time the Reapers showed up en masse, all the races could've converged on the Citadel at full strength. Even with all the fleets being severely weakened by the Reapers' divide and conquer strategy, the battle for Earth did result in the loss of many Reapers The strategy was sound - especially with the marole damaging effects of ground troops literally made from your dead, and they most certainly would've been ultimately defeated if not for the crucible and Shepard.

[@Whiteythereaper]

@@brandonlyon730 Sovereign's defeat gave the galaxy access to some Reaper technology, like the core parts for EDI, which gave them an extra leg up. Hell, even the Thanix Cannon that you add to the SR2 to assault the Collectors is created from salvage from Sovereign

[@aracniphobia1]

Considering that even when you untie all the species you can and choose the refusal ending everyone still dies I don't think that's a good reason, not to mention that the time it would take for everyone to realize the citadel is under attack, mobilize their fleets and get to the citadel the reapers could have control of the relays already and then everyone finds themselves stuck wherever they are.

[@GoodWoIf]

I think I did the weird silly "decorate appartment" dlc at the best time, which is after I had finished the game, decided I hated the ending, but loves everything else so much that I needed to go back and get the stuff I missed. Essentially it means all of that fun nonsense was the last thing I experienced of the game and honestly it's a great send off to characters that honestly had come to mean so much to me.

[@girlgamersftw]

If you're playing on PC there's a mod that removes the whole "three color ending" choice and makes the citadel DLC the last part of the game. Highly recommended if you ever give it another playthrough :)

[@AesirUnlimited]

I agree with you about Kai Leng. A cool idea that I had was what if the crew member that you let die in Mass effect 1 was somehow saved by Cerberus, and then experimented on like Shepard was for the Lazarus project. They could hint about a “failed test subject” in mass effect 2 and imply that too much of the original personality of the test subject was lost in the revival process that they used. So they had to fill in the blanks with false memories and new personality traits to compensate for the total loss of the original person. The result being a ruthless super soldier to be used for secret black ops for Cerberus. Then in the third game this subject is revealed to be Kaiden or Ashley, filled with hatred for Shepard because he let them die. Unable to remember the true circumstances behind their death, so they’re filled with a lust for revenge. I didn’t put too much thought into the idea, and I know this would require certain aspects of the trilogy to be changed. But I think it would be a more interesting character than just plain old edgelord Kai Leng.

[@couchpotato2222]

......God damn it, now I WANT him to be that. Way better story depth and more consequences for your actions. Wolfenstien kinda did that, but they used it right away as a final boss instead of over a trilogy

[@1800REDGENESIS]

Theres actually a mod I saw of this very thing. It literally replaces kai leng with the one who died on virmire. I think theres video of it on KZbin.

[@AesirUnlimited]

@@1800REDGENESIS Maybe I’ve seen it before and subconsciously thought about it. Lol. I’ll have to look into this. Thanks for letting me know.

[@11555Rambler]

That's a really good idea

[@highoverseer9323]

Although nowhere near as cool as this idea something similar is in the games, if you sell Legion to Cerberus in ME2 instead of reactivating him, he'll appear as a unique sniper enemy in 3 during the reaper remains mission on the cerberus base, same with if you let Morinth live she'll appear as a unique banshee later.

[@Mysteriousstranger6]

This trilogy was my life at the time, I couldn’t wait for number 3 , the day it released I got my copy and spent the next 3 days completing the game.. perfect ending played online and scanned nearly every planet. That ending tho my god did it take a hit to my love but I chose destroy as the other options were too bizarre to me.

[@anthonyernst999]

I just started playing it 12 days ago for the first time, and I already finished it. I think the destroy ending is the best ending, especially since if you do it right, you end up surviving. The only real loss in my eyes is EDI. Not a fan of the geth

[@BradTheAmerican]

@@anthonyernst999 I find Control to be the most practical and future-proof. Destroy only kills all reapers and other robots who are in the Milky Way Galaxy and nearby to a mass relay, and you can only do it once unless you wanna risk destroying all the mass relays again and crippling galactic civilization every time you use the Crucible. But what if there are more reapers in dark space? Surely the super intelligent reapers would know better than to put all of their eggs into one basket for a single invasion since they also knew the Crucible plans existed since the previous cycle. And each cycle supposedly takes centuries to completely wipe out, so surely there's no rush for them to have 100% mobilization. With Control, you now have a reaper military force that does Shepard's bidding, such as defending the galaxy from any potential leftover reapers or other threat. Even if there are no more reapers in dark space, you still have a reaper workforce to rebuild everything and to restore order. Also, the Star Child doesn't say that Destroy kills off only robot races. He cryptically and nonsensically says "synthetic", but doesn't define what that means beyond saying that Shepard is also synthetic. Shepard merely has cybernetic implants based on their military specialization, so does that mean every implanted Alliance solder also risks dying from the Crucible? Do people with pacemakers count as "synthetic?"

[@NiftyGoose]

I recently played through Andromeda for the first time and I came away from it thinking that it was fine. The combat is really good and I like what they did with the perk system. The companions were kind of "meh" which is weird to say about a mass effect game. For me its the Fallout 4 of the Mass Effect games. I think you should do a video on it. If not a normal deep dive then a high light and low light video would be cool.

[@foxysobek8109]

Thats actually a really accurate comparison

[@vidmanandrew09]

I’ve not seen too many people say they enjoyed Andromeda. It certainly had ups and downs, but the fact it was compared to the entire trilogy when it was designed as the start of a new story irks me.

[@MandoWookie]

I liked Andromeda. It felt like a Mass Effect 1 with more of a budget. The vehicle and movement was amazing, the amount of freedom you had was great and the exploration aspect I also appreciated. The setting and storyline had me intrigued for where it could go, and aside from one particular companion I thought they were good characters. I liked the setup of it being a whole new galaxy separate from the main trilogy, as I felt that really was the only way you could go forward in ME without discounting all the games prior. The bugs and animations didnt really bother me, but maybe that was because I just had finished replaying ME1 on the 360, so it was kind of par for the course. What burned my ass was preordering the season pass, and EA canceling the DLCs that I had already paid for. They forced the game out too early( shades of both ME3 and KOTOR 2) without properly beta testing it, then shitcanned it to move onto another IP they proceeded to do the same to. A lot of the problems of Andromeda could have been fixed with a couple of updates and DLCs to finish out the half baked main story.

[@dominicp9296]

@@vidmanandrew09 I liked it very much. I was like everyone when it first came out but I replayed it after the legendary edition and I enjoyed it very much

[@dominicp9296]

@@vidmanandrew09 like you said it was the start of something new. I admit when it came out b The bugs were horrible but after that was fixed atleast I haven't encountered any problems I liked it alot

[@Kazinator21]

My favorite part of the ending was that on the Xbone, Shepard's gun is still active during the cutscene so if you're spamming the trigger you can accidentally shoot one of the ending zones and the cutscenes interrupt each other.

[@shadowrosegaming3566]

Lol really?

[@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime]

It was like that on PS3 too. Nevermind I’m thinking of how you used to be able to shoot the gun in the cutscene where shep is getting up after getting lasered.

[@GamerM1235]

I think the reason the Reapers didn't take over the Citadel first is because of Mass Effect 1. You stop Sovereign who was going to use it to teleport in all the reapers. Stopping that, stops their instant decapitation of the government. While they could have made a beeline straight for the Citadel. It was the first time a wrench has been thrown into their plans, so they likely fell back to a slowly, more thorough elimination of the people slowly surrounding and boxing us in. Rather than spreading out in a chaotic disorder.

[@masterpwn3r]

Yeah, salt is wrong on this and his take is a bit embarassing.

[@Hellafast2uDude]

Saren was needed to open the citadel from the inside so that the Reapers can control the relays (close every race in their systems).. In the third game, this task is performed by TIM (this was the initial attempt to capture the citadel by Cerberus)

[@Kodasa_Sinclair]

It's worth mentioning that in regards to your summation of the reapers not attacking the citadel immediately, that they DID try that. That's what the entire first game was about. During the first game part of Vigils exposition states that the reapers revealed the citadel trap and cut off the heads of prothean government before anyone knew what was going on. Sovereign was attempting to do the same thing, however it was stopped by Shepard, who also uploaded a modified prothean code gained from Vigil that prevented the reapers from accessing the citadel remotely via the keepers. That and the events of the Arrival DLC from ME2 are why the reapers instead attacked the galaxy the way they did in this game.

[@greatmatt301]

I haven't played the arrival DLC yet (just started 2 again with DLC) but i thought the citadel sabotage ala the protheans only stopped the reapers from using the citadel as a mass relay. That wouldn't stop them just entering the milky way and immediately going for the citadel right?

[@Wanglord]

Salt is genuinely unrivaled in keeping my attention for so many hours, to the point where I've actually done the thing and clicked the bell.

[@ElectricBookWorm]

Noah Caldwell is really good as well. Shameless plug to help another really good channel grow as well.

[@shiftedprograms86]

gotta watch Hbomberguy they both are soooo good at long form content

[@Xboxkokoko]

My wife played this for the first time last month and was able to make all the correct descisions and have enough reputation to not have Tali or Legion die on her own without me giving her any help or her looking up how to do it online. It makes me think she should go through it again, taking the bad options in order for her to be hurt like I was when I watched Tali jump off a cliff

[@VashdaCrash]

Why would you want her to do that?! 😱 You said yourself it hurted, I mean, it'd make her understand better that pain but it wouldn't be the same, as she'd do that by choice and not by mistake.

[@lavrentii-kolotushkin]

You can't save Tali + Legion (dies anyway) unless you're importing ME2 save file

[@jackfenwick6182]

Yep that's how my first playthrough went back when it came out, tali topping herself nearly made 14 year old me cry and turn it off and not play it again😂

[@Kris-wo4pj]

@@lavrentii-kolotushkin Legion always dies tho?

[@lavrentii-kolotushkin]

@@Kris-wo4pj Yes, he sacrifices himself if you don't kill him

[@geoffreyporter7567]

On the one hand, I feel like Andromeda’s flaws are pretty apparent, and have kinda been done to death at this point. On the other, I’ve always felt that there are a few redeemable aspects to the game that don’t get talked about much (though it’s definitely still not a great game). I’d definitely love to see you cover it, but I get it if others aren’t interested.

[@g.4279]

The worst part of the ending is the tonal shift. Mass Effect goes from autistically describing the physics behind how everything works to literal space magic. Like how exactly does everyone become an AI-organic hybrid?

[@BradTheAmerican]

There's also that dumb line from Star Kid, "even you are part synthetic", presumably due to Shepard's cybernetic implants that any Alliance soldier seemingly has, which makes me wonder if people with pacemakers or smart contact lenses are considered "synthetic" for the purposes of being violated by the Crucible. But there's also a wider language problem, because even a lab-grown fully organic limb replacement that's 100% indistinguishable from an original limb from birth would technically be synthetic. How does the Crucible even measure the state of "synthetic"? It all feels way too "gamey" in the worst illogical way, like if people had INI config files that could be opened up and checked for 1s and 0s in the appropriate profile settings. And I also wonder what kind of hippie space juice gets injected into everyone's brains in the synthesis ending to somehow end all "space racism" between organics and machines, as if the only reason for conflict between them was that one superficial difference rather than any sort of individual personality issues or politics or whatever.

[@cognitivedissonance9938]

One thing I have become much more forgiving off is the decision to give Shepard more of a personality independent of what the player chooses. I see Shepard more like a Geralt now. You can decide to an extent how the character responds and acts, but you cant make them break character. It had been like that to a more limited degree in the other games, but much more in ME3.

[@LORdREDSTOneNR1]

Well in that case the question is: Who is Commanding Shepard?

[@fenrisvermundr2516]

My main problem is that it kind of forces you towards Liara even if you don't like her. And honestly the more I dig into her the more I realize how toxic of a person she really is.

[@AnotherHim]

I mean, you are presenting a question "Is X as bad/good as I remember?" so playing Andromeda is a necessity. After all, you already covered 3 games in the trilogy. And as much as I hate Andromeda, you really have a great ability to put thoughts into words that some people lack, so I bet it will be a good experience.

[@EvanOfTheDarkness]

But, did he (or anyone) actually *play* Andromeda back then? Best I remember it was a buggy mess, and after ME3 most people just didn't care enough to try it. And I _think_ I heard that the story and the characters were pretty bad, and not really worth picking up, so I never did.

[@okbVinyl]

agreed. People were dunking on andromeda when it came out (and rightfully so), but when I played it much much later, it was ok, from technical standpoint. Utterly boring though, I never finished it.

[@MrMedaboss]

the citadel dlc was so great as a long time fan. bioware gave the fans so much time with a bunch of characters we loved.

[@joshuapatrick682]

38:10 that’s actually a long standing tradition for toasts that was coined by a scottsman. I am not military so I don’t know if this is something that they do.

[@qzbnyv]

What I love when watching this is all of the events that you discussed that you didn’t seem to realise were actually playing out a particular way as a consequence of your choices in the earlier games. That you just seemed to assume were a scripted part of Mass Effect 3 for everyone. I’ve never played these games, but during 2020-2022 I’ve watched my share of game playthroughs (lol). And am in awe at how many of the things from the earlier games actually did matter in this game, but that were integrated so seamlessly you’d almost never know.

[@Grivehn]

Yeah. In comparison to most other, especially more modern games, your choices still mattered in big and small areas both. It may have not much on old Fallouts, but still... shows how degenerative the industry is over time.

[@foxysobek8109]

Idk your situation and how much free time you may or may not have but I REALLY... REALLLY recommend you play through these games yourself. Watching playthroughs does not do the series justice. Trust me. Plus, if you're short on time you can B-line all 3 games within like 50 hours.

[@TenthSgtSnipes]

The “Cerberus side missions” are N7 missions, which were small additional content that came with the N7 edition of the original game. They’re just singleplayer missions packed into the multiplayer maps so didn’t really serve much purpose and couldn’t be too impactful due to the nature of how you unlock them

[@johnwerner6445]

They came with every edition of the game

[@TenthSgtSnipes]

@@johnwerner6445 So they did, my mistake. Just had to check my box lol. Just everything else prefixed N7 was an exclusive. Not confusing at all that 😅

[@haraldhimmel5687]

I'm glad you didn't trash the game for 4 hours straight because its probably the most memorable for me. Shepard uniting the galaxy and solving every long standing conflict was just the natural thing for him to do. And yes, the "best ending" felt like they planned to do something and in the end they didn't bother but left in the stub for some reason. Which.. is a feeling I got at a few parts in the game. Like the dream sequences with figures that look an awful lot like "oily shadows". No wonder people snapped and fantasized their own ending and puzzling together "clues" like Shepard getting indoctrinated. Oh and I think you're off with your assessment that the illusive man is that noble grey area type in ME2. That's precisely the image he wants you to believe after bringing you back but depending on the choices you've made, you could tell that he is pretty much just shitting you to get what he wants. Like in the first mission, when you let Cerberus take the Quarian to "make sure he is allright", they will really experiment on him until hes just a shell of his former self. So they arguably always were ruthless and without morals. The player just didn't necessarily see through it depending on his playthrough.

[@ElizaBlakeney]

I think you sum it up pretty perfectly here. The thing that truly galls me about the synthesis ending is that it is antithetical to basically two and a half games' worth of thoughts and beliefs and then suddenly they're like, "oh no, all those times where we basically said that this very thing would be terrible, all those moments with EDI where it is basically spelled out that yes synthetics and organics can work together but it's not an easy solution and takes time, effort, and understanding...yeah, we're just suddenly going to thrown all those meaningful quests, dialogues, etc. in the trash and embracing merging with robot overlords because...you get glowey skin and eyes? That's cool right?! Heck even right up into the runoff of those there is an amazing moment where Shepard is questioning if he is even brought back or is he an AI and basically all the dialogue options focus on...his realness and aliveness. Not, hey, you're a cyborg now and that is cool so doesn't matter! Sorry, rant over. I have so many feelings about this game because for years ME2 was literally my favorite game ever, I bet I played it 20 times. I've never even personally finished this one. I can't seem to do it. But your video sums up so many things beautifully. There are parts of this game I remember as if I played them yesterday. Parts of it might very well be the best in the series...but the ending nearly kills it all for me. Again, great video!