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There's something that supports the indoctrinating theory even more and that's anderson. After you regain consciousness and head towards the beam anderson is nowhere to be seen, you kill a few husks and a marauder enough time to for anderson to say something and nada. You enter the beam and now anderson radio you in saying he followed you but how? He wasn't there when we made it to the beam when he radio you he tells you he's in area where there's lot of bodies then he tells you about chasm then he "finds the control room where Tim was also waiting at the weird thing about this is anderson tells you he's in a different side of crucible but he saw the bodies the chasm and then made it to the control room in following the same steps as shepard if you were being guided to reach that control room. He also tells you the area hes at looks the the inside of a collector ship despite anderson never seeing or setting foot inside of one Tim dies then shortly anderson passes away. Shepard is radio by hackett and is told the crucible was not firing, shepard once again heads towards the terminal but loses consciousness again, then is teleported to where the reaper "servers" are at by the starchild then he wakes you up and tells you your choices. When the starchild talks to you about destroying the reapers you see a flashback of anderson shooting at the reaper terminal but here's the thing. Anderson never made it to the floor where the catalyst takes shepard so why would shepard see that vision it never happened since anderson is "dead" in another floor. What most likely happened is that Harbinger managed to kill everyone including anderson shortly after shepard placed his two squadmates in the normandy, shepard is mortally wounded by the attack and everything that happens in the crucible happens in his head while he was unconscious. It also explains how he wakes up in the aftermath of the battle in london therefore making him a lone survivor. I say what we destroyed while shepard was unconscious was not the reapers he had a battle with himself and what we actually see is if we choose control we choose to stay indoctrinated and destroy is shepard freeing himself from indoctrination. I think shepard subconsciousness took the shape of admiral anderson as a moral compass to break from the indoctrination which is why anderson is "looking" at shepard when he says you're indoctrinated maybe leviathan had something to do with it to ensure you live since they can manifest into people you know mentally and leviathan wants shepard to succeed because its using shepard to destroy the reapers so they can indoctrinate the galaxy again. I know I'm like 10 years late but I just played mass effect for the first time last month and wanted to add my own observation into the indoctrination theory. Ps for anybody wondering what shepard would've looked in mass effect 2 when liara found him, search up Vladimir Komarov. Trust me shep is dead in me3 if not a dream lol as the uploaded said

It always bugged me how anderson tells you he followed you but he was nowhere near the beam, then you enter the beam and suddenly anderson already beat you there and gets to the catalyst control room before Shepard does. Idk but i feel shepard "died" and everyone else including anderson died shortly after he placed his two squadmates into the normandy. They all get wiped out by harbinger during the push to the beam there's even a comm officer confirming the casualties of the attack thus making shepard a sole survivor because he awakes after everyone is been wiped out. The only thing I can't put together is that if the indoctrination theory was true which I feel should be but where are reapers when sheps regain consciousness? You'd at least heard explosions and the sounds going all around but you awake in the aftermath of the battle. Also why is anderson shown shooting at the reaper terminal during the flashback when the starchild tells you about the destroy ending. Anderson died before the catalyst revealed himself to us. Since Anderson never made it into the area where the starchild meets shepard why would shep see a vision of anderson destroying the reaper. This would mean also that by the time shepard finished building the crucible everyone on earth was under the effects of indoctrination since reapers indoctrinate via that screeching sound they make and anderson army of soldiers were fighting the reapers on earth while shep was busy in space.

5000th like

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Calling this cooking is an insult to the word.

To those watching this video in 2024: there is a persistent thread through here that clevernoob is going on about. The idea that the BioWare devs have made such a great story so far and wouldn't fumble the ball so horribly in the final part. We do know what the organisation of the writing staff was like for both the finale and the game in general, and unfortunately for the theory they are indeed very different. While the series as a whole was a collaborative effort between the whole writing staff, the finale was written behind closed doors by senior writers without input from the rest of the staff. That means a lack of input from the people who wrote the rest of the story, a lack of quality control, and probably a bit of a rush to do the art for the ending after the senior staff finally allowed the rest of the team to know what was happening. The fact that the ending looks rushed and doesn't fit with the themes of the rest of the series reflects the way it was crafted. BioWare is very lucky that fans have been able to piece together a theory like this gave Mass Effect 3's ending something to talk about, as otherwise the ending would have been irredeemably bad.

IMO I don't think that the destroy choice was as bad as it seems. I personally think that it only would have ended the reapers and they were scared so they lied about the Geth.

In my head this theory is canon. Either that or there is no ME 3 at all

Hot take.. I think the best explanation is that the leviathans were messing with shep and harbinger to ensure the reapers demise.

It’s a shame that BioWare never went through with the indoctrination theory and left Mass Effect as having one of the worst ways to end a trilogy ever

Still watching it from time to time. Great documentary.

They should’ve ran with this theory

If you take the Reapers at their word and replay ME2 you will realize the logical conclusion to the story is AI blah blah blah. Why are they making a Human Reaper, because they synthesize organics with robots to avoid conflict. When Harbinger talks about salvation, this is what he means. They obviously planned this ending. It has so many plot holes because it was rushed by EA, but it is a testament to the universe the writers creates that it is plausible Shepard is having an indoctrination dream sequence at the end.

the way he said octagonal lol

Was this before the Leviathan DLC?

this was actually on sale... none of the stuff he said was on sale was actually on sale

OG Bioware are long dead. ME3 was an unfinished mess, and Andromeda was pathetic. No idea why anyone has hope for ME4 😂

I don't even think Anderson was even there. Unless Shepard was on Earth the whole time and Hacket seems to notice Anderson in the Crucible. It might have been ANDERSON that sacrifices himself in the cannon ending.

I don't know if I believe the indoctrination theory, but I don't think poor game design is a good excuse either

Mind defining points for the theory overall really go as follows. Locating any of the protein devices while exploring the landscapes in Mass Effect coming across the silver spheres is what I believe to be the initiation point of the *Leviathan* indoctrination but not the Reaper. Still impairing the efforts of the Reapers but not interfering with the ability for the leviathans to reemerge. From a common sense standpoint every one of the major decisions toward the end game and through the endings of Parts one, two, and three have their Paragon and Renegade options from a common sense standpoint swapped. In the first game the options are to save a single ship with important people aboard or save the entire Citadel from possible destruction. Billions versus thousands of lives at stake. Destroying the station depriving the Reapers of a new member of their number while also eliminating the puppets they have bioengineered since the last cycle. In contrast with leaving the puppets to run rampant and still interfere while granting Humanity and the current Cycles species at Large the ability to understand or begin to replicate the reaper technology. Then choosing whether to destroy the Reapers and all artificial intelligence as Renegade, choosing to maintain your personality but be integrated into the Reapers as Paragon. Or the unexpected option of evolutionary Unity between organic and synthetic. As a renegade it looks to be discouraging you from destroying the Reaper's outright. The unity ending seems to be undefined. But the listed Paragon ending would give the Leviathan and inroad to rest control of the Reapers through Shepherds influence and force of personality amongst their ranks. That's all I've got. Probably not enough to really base much on but that's how I see it.

Burping means youre hungry in this morons mind

1:30:00 There's a third option. Shepard didn't get hit directly.

59:05 Pretty sure everyone has translators so everyone can understand each species language and writing.

I'm late af, but I think the room with the control panel was supposed to be the battle room. Why? On the ramp up to the room there's a tiny cigarette as a hint of what you're walking up on. Unfortunately, doesn't quite jive with TIM being a manifestation of Shep's morals

I know I'm...9 years late but Honestly, I think that even if the IT is wrong I think the conclusion that the ending is a dream is 100% true. Let me clarify: I don't mean it's necessarily a "it was all a dream" a.k.a. it didn't happen I would assume something like: When Shep reaches the beam their mind is sent to the citadel but their body is still in London. Maybe what we see in the illuisive man room is a test from the catalyst or something to test if we are suitable to "make the choice". There is too much evidence for something being up with that section between the beam and the catalyst meeting.

“Additional ingredients “.

To date the BioWare team insists indoctrination theory is wrong, yet the anderson-IM-Shepard confrontation cannot be denied. The bullet holes cannot be denied. It's too deliberate.

i always thought Shepard did not directly get hit by the beam but the beam hit just in front of him and he got knocked out by splash damage

All those that hate dsp shut the fuck up you know you cook like this some point in your life y’all like to hate

So if the indoctrination theory was true, then we never got a conclusion to the series. That’s even more depressing than a poor ending🤦‍♂️

The longer you watch this series of videos, the more frustrating it becomes. Very little understanding of any aspect of game development, so many bizarre points that don't prove what they're trying to prove, and refusal to consider other options. It was fun to take part in Indoctrination Theory a decade ago, but it does not hold up at all lmao.

Wow, nearly a decade later and I'm rewatching these videos thinking how the hell did I ever believe this theory? A lot of the evidence is hilariously bad. Though the answer is: it was fun. I had a blast back then connecting all these dots. Once the extended cut came out I didn't even think the ending was that bad but it was still fun to be a conspiracy theorist for a bit lol.

This is my white whale, this is my JFK conspiracy theory rabbit hole. After all these years I still cant get this theory out of my head. I always pick Destroy at the ending, convinced that Shephard is being indoctrinated and that he/she wakes up in the rubble...

Literally everything in this video was a massive stretch 😂 Bioware did not think up any of this.

dude forgot me3 was cooked in a goddamn 5000watt microwave in a fraction of the time of me2 or 1 like so many of his points fall apart when remembering they had no dev time

Just casually showing everyone his trash can next to the toilet, filled to the brim with toilet paper and lotion

That yellow and black on your armor looks really good

Do you hear that hum? Is that just me? -James Vega,when Shepard is near him

No, dude you are reaching so far. I appreciate the lengthy video. Shepard resisted indoctrination when he interfaced with the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime. That was his/her catalyst and their quest. Every other interaction just cemented their will even stronger, especially after Ilos. I would love to put Bioware ahead of these claims, but honestly, it was damage control to give conclusive ending(s) to the series and nothing more. Honestly, I hope for a definitive tragic end to the galaxy where Shepard still lives and we can pick it up there for the next game with the stakes being decimated.

how in the hell can you be from the north east and screw up a hotdog?! it's one of our staples!

The original indoctrination theory, the very first one that was made while the Retake Mass Effect movement was rebelling against Bioware and EA to get the ending changed said that the reapers where trying to indoctrinate Shepherd from the beginning. The final sequence of the game was their final attempt and the make or break point for shepard. The trees and shrubs from shepherds Dreams are their prior to getting hit because the entire sequence is a dream. The dreams and nightmares shepard has been having are the reapers attempts at indoctrination. The boy at the beginning of the game was a hallucination and the key the reapers used to make shepard susceptible to indoctrination, which is why you don't see anyone try to help the kid. From that point on the reapers are trying to indoctrinate Shepherd. Throughout the entire game Shepard is fighting off indoctrination in dreams and hallucinations. By the time you reach the end sequence, his/her dreams are starting to merge with reality (which is why you see the trees and shrubs everywhere) When Harbinger hits Shepherd with the beam, this is the point where the reapers finally make a play to control Shepard having spent the entire game trying to make him susceptible to it. The entire of the game after the beam hits Shepard takes place in his/her mind.

11:07 Thank goodness he warned us to shake the grease off the bacon before eating three bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. Wouldn't want to have a heart attack.

Bro really felt the need to grease a pan before putting bacon on it.

I know this video is old as hell, but let me just bring 56:10 real quick here. Legion has as much of a soul as literally any organic race in the Mass Effect universe. This is a sci-fi game, souls are a religious belief, an interpretation of how individuals work, they're not a proven fact in the universe and, therefore, saying Legion has a soul is as valid as saying the same for anyone else in the series.

A immense, well made and interesting vid, but god damn it is a comedy of errors.

I just think that this video is a lot of speculation and not much tangible evidence? I get it, but I don't fully agree with it.

I'm just in the first 23 minutes of this video and I feel like it has some indoctrination effect on me already 😀

imagine being so cocky when being totally wrong

Destroy ending all the way. The Catalyst is an agent of Reaper indoctrination, and cannot be trusted.

Well done for re uploading this 👏 Peice of gaming history that shouldn't be forgotten.