Part 2 here: th-cam.com/video/YglRlN6fnLE/w-d-xo.html There was an upload error I didn't detect until after I set this live. I won't delete and reupload what is essentially a fun video so PART 2 is unlisted which should mean ZERO ads. My apologies for the disruption though!
Is almost as if neutral Shepard just wants the Reapers and other galactic threats gone so he could go back to watching footage of cats on the extranet, peacefully and uninterrupted
I think the interesting thing about Neutral Shepard is that he feels like the perfect soldier but the worst leader, at least among the other versions of himself. Absolutely, neutral Shepard should be a spectre, but dear God he shouldn't be allowed to be a commander.
True Neutral: -Mission First -Not a Virgin -Knows Grunt -Alcoholic -Does not care about all the stores equally -Does not like the Sensationalist Press -Pragmatic Mercy -Bores Elias into confession -Wishes to not have strong feelings about Mass Effect 3 -Goodbye
If I remember correctly even choosing the ‘I am your commanding officer’ option still leads to romance, it’s probably just based on how many times you talk to her.
"Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men... just want to watch the world."
I heard the voice director gave Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale very different directions. Mark Meer was told to make paragon and renegade lines believably sound like they come from the same character while Jennifer Hale was told to make them sound like completely different people since everyone sticks with one anyway. Now I'm really curious what neutral femShep sounds like.
@@DragonTamer31K ME1, Hale definitely did a better job considering Mark Meer wasn't originally meant to voice maleshep and the voice acting he did was a placeholder. But ME2 and 3 I personally think Mark Meer was the better voice actor, Jennifer Hale completely fumbles some of the more emotional Shepard moments in my opinion. For example if you choose the Geth over the Quarians on Rannoch, Femshep sounds like she couldn't care less when Tali commits the die.
There's actually a neutral option that keeps Tali loyal and prevents her exile. You can "Rally the crowd" if you talk to everyone after the first part of the trail before you retake the Alarai. But doing so requires handing Veetor over to the quarians instead of Cerberus in Freedom's Progress and making sure Kal Reegar survives on Haestrom.
I always liked that neutral option during the trial but to get access to it it does require paragon options to be picked for both Kal and Veetor so it’s not true neutral but a nice option none the less I really like that it in some way helps with Veetor’s recovery by bribing him out of his shell a little
I love picking that option, one of the only times I don't go Paragon. Shep won't always be there for Tali, it's important for her own people to acknowledge what she's done for them and defend her for themselves
Tali's trial is one of the best quests in the game, there's at least 5 resolutions to it (Paragon, Renegade, give data and lose her loyalty, keep data and get her exiled, rally the crowd), I wish more quests would be as involved. Especially after 2 it went downhill.
I always choose the neutral option at the end of Grunt’s mission. Since the day I heard it I’ve never picked anything else. Some of the neutral options in 2 feel more Renegade than the actual Renegade choice.
I've always chosen that option too. I also like choosing the wound the hostage option in lair of the shadow broker, it's definitley funnier and colder than the actual renegade option.
Renegade: I lead with fear. Paragon: I lead with fairness. Neutral: I am here. By the looks of it the Garrus Loyalty in ME1 has the appropriate effect in ME2 if you tell him it was a lesson. He doesn't hesitate with Harken or Sidonis. Instead of calling the motherboard Project 0, I'd have customized it to say Project [0]verlord. Opportunity missed.
I guess "neutral" was more of an out for players who didn't have enough points to go either way. It sure does make Shepherd seem more passive. And as you pointed out, you don't have neutral options in the third game.
Yeah, that's probably the main reason people don't pick it. Like you invest the skill points or effort to get those paragon/renegade options, you're going to use them.
I play paragade. If you deserve a smack in the mouth or an omni-blade to the gut, kill Vigo or even to crap your Eclipse armour with a heavy threat, I'm your guy, if you want me to suffocate a whole deck of civilians, kill Wrex and sabotage the Krogan or let the council die, you need to find a different guy.
Mass Effect AND Futurama in one video? What a treat! "What makes a good man go neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?"
"Ah yes, Shepard is completely neutral and can balance the galaxys forces justfully and without strong emotions and attachment to either side. We have dismissed that claim."
Shepard's deadpan stare as a result of the graphical overhaul in the LE edition in ME2 and 3 just really adds to the whole "neutral" vibe you went with
I used ‘Commander’ as the first name. Gotta make them say the first and last name; addressing a senior officer with only their first name is just plain rude
Fun fact the Ethan Jeong speech check is actually the hardest one to clear in the game. You literally have to have maxed out points in charm or intimidate to choose one of those options which is two points higher than what you need to convince Saren to shoot himself in the final stand off. The dialogue where you don’t kill him is probably way more rare to see than the neutral one
Colonist, Sole Survivor would have been the "true neutral" option. It gives the same amount into paragon and renegade. Where every other option, either gives: points only into one, or an obtuse amount to both.
Grunt doesn't remove the bullets, because bullets have next to no physical size in these games... "Ammo" is basicly a hunk of metal inside the weapon, that has a tiny microscopic fragment shaven off and fired when you pull the trigger. Each piece of metal might be small, but due to the mass effect field in the weapon, even a grain of sand can be accelerated to impact with the force of a nuke. It's the reason weapons don't run out of ammo and just overheat in 1, and only need thermal clips in 2 and 3, as every hunk of metal in a weapon can last nearly it's entire lifecycle of a gun
I should watch the video before I comment, the "true neutral" end cutscene of ME1 after Sovereign dies made me laugh my ass off when Shepard Shepard was nowhere to be seen
I’ve always appreciated that Mass Effect, a game about taking a stand, rewards you whether you stick to being a heroic leader or a gruff one, but it punishes you in a lot of ways for being too wishy-washy or middling.
No, its stupid, sometimes being nice should be best, sometimes being a dick should be, sometimes being netural should be better. having netural always be shit is stupid, lazy and not realistic. i also think paragon shouldnt always be on top, neutral in the middle and renegade on the bottom, it should be randomised so you have to actually think. Also a third point system for netural with neutral special dialogues so you aren't punished for playing that way
@@Leo.23232 It sounds to me like maybe you're just interested in a different game. You can absolutely play however you want and choose options that are paragon/renegade/neutral as you see fit - nothing is forcing you to only make one sort of choice. But at the end of the day it's a game mechanic like in any RPG. And in this game, the mechanic rewards players for not remaining neutral for most choices because that is what fits the narrative. The series entirely revolves around making high-stakes decisions with as much or as little information as you can get, and Shep the character is meant to be the hero/antihero who explicitly does not stand by and remain neutral in these important situations. The point that they're trying to make in the storytelling is that choosing to remain neutral too often leads to worse outcomes - much like in real life ("stand for nothing, fall for anything"). It's not stupid, it's an intentional choice by the game designers.
@@TylerPalma Neutral doesnt mean standing for nothing, it can mean many things and isnt inherently worse in real life thats actually a bit ridiculous to bring up real life when in real life being extreme is usually the option that would lead to the worst outcomes
@@Leo.23232 Sure, absolutely. I'm talking about repeatedly picking neutral options. They're not always the worst option and you can pick them without further consequences a lot of the time, but doing so over and over is what doesn't align with what the game and story are trying to do. And again, it's a game. It's not meant to cover the full breadth and depth of human decision making. I only brought up real life because you had mentioned things not being realistic. In real life, sure, it's not a good idea to be too extreme. But being a totally neutral, passion- and personality-lacking person with no firm ideals isn't likely to serve anyone either or make them many friends. Also remember that this game is a space opera, the characters are supposed to be larger than life. Not to mention that the majority of paragon/renegade dialogue choices are just being polite and empathetic or being snarky and sarcastic, not really what I'd call extreme; the renegade interrupts are usually the most extreme impulses but those are there to be fun. Because it's a game.
I think they just didn't think out a lot of middle options, case in point: multiple times the middle option is the SAME as one on the top or bottom, BUT you wouldn't know it unless you reload to see them all as the text is different. But the lines for neutral aren't. ME2 is better with making them unique and some even give you paragon or renegade options, if you follow a wiki guide on maximizing the score, it's very interesting! Tho picking strictly middle is WAY less points. But picking top bottom or middle interchangeably let you pass all checks contrary to popular belief that you need to stick to top or bottom in ME2.
Yaroslev was supposed to be missing a leg at least according to the script, but it turned out they didn't have the technical ability to display that, which is why that scene ends up so odd. He's intended to be grievously wounded, and that's what he's referring to with his 'but...ehh.'
I was actually planning on eventually doing a neutral run just to see how different it would be, so this video saved me a ton of time. Fascinating and very thoroughly done; thank you!
6:30 Yaroslav Tartakovsky was supposed to be missing a leg and have a tourniquet keeping him from bleeding out but engine limits or something along those lines meant Bioware couldn't implement it.
The credit song for Me1, M4 Part II by Faunts, really caught me off guard the first time I ever heard it. After such a wild sci-fi adventure with a mainly orchestral, lyricless score, M4 part II is the perfect cap for that game.
I just realised every squadmate got mentioned at least a couple times in this video, except for Jacob, who didn't even get a frame of screentime. This is hilarious as he's known to be the least popular and least interesting squadmate, and this is ironic because it ties back into the video about neutral Shepard, who is in himself the least popular and least interesting version of Shepard
@@ZehnWaters I think Dantics is implying that he did finish the game. Marauder Shields got Shepard at the end. I have a feeling that he didn't have enough war assets for Synthesis ending (though Refusal would technically be the most neutral).
The mark of an amazing game and an amazing developer is putting content in that you're certain 99% of your customers will likely never see. I miss Mass Effect, well...OG Mass Effect.
@@thegoofystoic Most of the OG ex-BioWare team is actually working on a new Mass Effect style game called Exodus. When I say OG's I mean some of the guys who are credited for the best games that BioWare made in the 90s and 2000s. I'm not sure how confident people are in BioWare of today and tomorrow after the underwhelming performance of Veilguard, but these guys behind Exodus seem to be experienced and passionate about what they're creating.
My favourite Mass Effect run was with Idiot Shepard. He made all the worst decisions, got almost every one killed and made the absolute minimum effort possible to defeat the Reapers. The only character i deliberately kept alive through the ME2 suicide mission were Tali and Mordin, purely so i could betray them in the worst way possible in ME3. Though i accidentally let Garrus and the Merc guy live too, mainly because i left just them behind to hold off the collectors and the pair of them actually did it (fucking hard core 😅 ). In the end, Idiot Shepard saved the day and destroyed the Reapers. And probably half the galaxy in the process. 🤦♂️
Yeah getting the worst possible ending and having everyone die is actually WAAYY harder than keeping everyone alive. . Also I think the whole you leave behind at the end does some sort of base check on total combat strength, which since Tali and Mordin are pure tech, ironically if you'd taken garrus and Zaeed, and left Tali and Mordin, then they would likely have died leaving you with only two which is the deepest ME2 survivors you can have since if your team you bring aren't loyal, they die when the human reaper dies, (which doesn't make any sense) and if either of them do, for some reason you don't make it back to the ship in time , and Shepard dies, ( which also doesn't make much sense) so you have nothing to import to ME3. Thought Tali would normally die on approach to the collector base anyway if you haven't upgraded the ship, unless you bring her to the cargo hold, in which case for some reason Thane is in engineering in her place and dies instead, I don't remember who else does from lack of ship upgrades though
Idiot Shepard is the best Shepard. It's always fun to think that Harbinger is using incredible processing power trying to predict his next move, just to get his plans screwed by the next Shepard's random brainfart.
@regraig6869 yeah, i did my research on the mechanics of the suicide mission, and how to do JUST enough to compete it while killing off as many characters as possible. But leaving Zaeed and Garrus behind was an unintended mistake, and I wasn't willing to play through the first 2/3rds of the mission again just to correct it. I especially would have liked to kill off Garrus, but TBH the image of just those two taking out an entire Collector army was a nice consolation prize!
If you wait to do Zaeed’s loyalty mission until after the Suicide Mission, you can kill him yourself at the end of the mission. Though, non-loyal companions will die first, so it would be hard to get only him to the end
Ah, the Tim Pool Shepard. I was expecting that to be bland, but there was some fun stuff, and the idea of having a dead comrade take the place of Kai Leng is brilliant.
I remember that choice at 0:15 because even when I play renegade Shepard, I'm still nice to my boys. I'm not gonna imply that I own Grunt - he follows me because I lead by brutal example.
I played mostly neutral until it came time for major decisions, I always figured these games weren't meant to be played "straight paragon, straight neutral or straight renegade but a collection of actions leading to one major decision." What ruined ME 3 for me wasn't it's ending it was the lack of neutral options I never even finished the game because of that. Just seeing you go from me2's 3 options to 2 options in the jack scene is still jarring how they got away with basically gutting half the dialogue options lol. I think one of my favorite scenes is the transition in ME1 if you don't romance anyone like I did in my first playthrough. It's a great transition scene to the big fight.
4:40 Ethan Jeong is LITERALLY the hardest skill check in the game, most people end up shooting him, he's the only one who needs 12 Persuade or 10 Intimidate (nothing needs 11 or 12 intimidate).
The warehouse workers shooting or talking is based on whether you put away your gun before entering the room. If your gun is out, they assume hostility.
Glad you enjoyed it! I honestly thought when I uploaded this, after putting 100 hours into the trilogy again and spending a few days editing that I would get a maximum of around 5k views. Since it's so uber niche. Glad to see others enjoying it.
Imagine your first playthrough was you just being this milquetoast fence sitter and then you get that cutscene with no rendered Shepard. That would probably have been the most confusing ending and you might just think Shepard died.
I played as a mostly neutral Shepard way back when I first played the game when I was younger because I felt that best reflected my personality and morality 😂 and it fit in most situations in my own mind Plus I guess I was just antisocial when I was younger abs didn’t want to make a fuss or get involved in peoples problems 😂 needless to say I didn’t get massive rewards or massive recognition And often got the most boring or lest profitable situation resolutions 😅
2:20 I could be wrong here, but I’m pretty sure that’s because you have your gun out. Because you’re pointing a gun at them they automatically aggro, instead of unlocking the dialogue. That said, I’m not 100% sure.
15:38 Neutral answers to Joker are almost never about morality but just a setup to a different joke, it's worth checking ALL options with him as humor is good.
INTERRUPTUS! OW ow ow ow ow..... That HURT! I very much enjoyed that and thank you for uploading the "Second Part" and not pulling this one. It still hurts. :) Peaceful Skies
If I remember right, there's a mod that edits the appearance of the Noveria Hot Labs scientist to make him look more obviously wounded to justify his decision to not move and risk agitating his wounds.
Watching this video has made me realize that I skipped A LOT of content when I played this trilogy a decade ago in high school. The legendary edition has been sitting in my library for ages. I really need to play it.
I actually started off playing a more grounded neutral good Shepard on my first one before it became obvious that a straight Chaotic good Shepherd who isn't afraid to take advantage of his Spectre immunity yielded much better results, then Bioware removed all of the neutral options in 3 anyway and I wasn't the least bit surprised.
It's very hard to hear what you are saying sometimes with the game noise in the background, one example is at 42:24. The auto-generated subtitles even drop a few words that were said as the explosion goes off.
Part 2 here: th-cam.com/video/YglRlN6fnLE/w-d-xo.html
There was an upload error I didn't detect until after I set this live. I won't delete and reupload what is essentially a fun video so PART 2 is unlisted which should mean ZERO ads. My apologies for the disruption though!
How does that happen??
@@YoungMrBlue TH-cam upload error that wasn't reported to me.
lol I assumed it was a joke ending
@@Dantics no enough war recources to finish video
what do you count as many views? heh
I am commander Shepard, and I have no strong feelings about this store.
Tell my wife I said, hello
I'm Commander Shepard, and this is a store on the Citadel.
I am Commander Shepard and this is one of the stores on The Citadel
If I don't buy anything, tell my wife I said Hello
Evil Shepard be like
Is almost as if neutral Shepard just wants the Reapers and other galactic threats gone so he could go back to watching footage of cats on the extranet, peacefully and uninterrupted
Raises a good question, is Shep a cat or dog person? Hmm...
I believe he is actually a varren person, even when he spends a good amount of time killing them. It’s a complicated relationship
Hamster person
It’s almost as if the end of the galaxy is simply an unconvinced for him, rather than a life or death struggle of mythological proportions.
@@ЭндиВеласкес "There are no bad varrens, just bad owners"
I think the interesting thing about Neutral Shepard is that he feels like the perfect soldier but the worst leader, at least among the other versions of himself. Absolutely, neutral Shepard should be a spectre, but dear God he shouldn't be allowed to be a commander.
I have to agree with you there. Terrible terrible leader. The Thane scene captures that perfectly.
Almost like real leadership
Lol neutral Shepard is the Peter principle incarnated
Kasumi just giving up on the heist upon seeing Shepard is pure gold
Would you risk it?
@@Dantics well you know how the song goes : "You can fight like a Krogan, run like a leopard ... " - Hope that answers it lol
@@NoName-ym5zjblast from the fucking past thank you for reminding me of MoS bro
@@squishgod9094 ah, a man of culture. You're welcome, bro.
@@NoName-ym5zj "...but you'll never be better than Commander Shepherd,"
I’m Commander Shepard. And I have no feelings about establishment whatsoever.
My gut says maybe.
Neutral Shep be like: *I'm a regular alliance commander, and this is regular store in the citadel*
If I don't survive, tell Admiral Hackett I said hello.
True Neutral:
-Mission First
-Not a Virgin
-Knows Grunt
-Alcoholic
-Does not care about all the stores equally
-Does not like the Sensationalist Press
-Pragmatic Mercy
-Bores Elias into confession
-Wishes to not have strong feelings about Mass Effect 3
-Goodbye
Hahaha we'll bang maybe
- Chose the synthesis ending
Neutral Shepard actually doesn't care, he just trolls people and gets the job done.
Ends up being both funny and fustrating
Commander "I just work here" Shepard
Lol, thats the vibe for sure
Its really funny you can romance Ashley as a neutral
Also romancing her as the neutral option is funny
Yeah she really comes at you aggressively which is hilarious
If I remember correctly even choosing the ‘I am your commanding officer’ option still leads to romance, it’s probably just based on how many times you talk to her.
What makes a man turn neutral? Money? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?
Tell the reapers I said hello
"Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with.
Some men... just want to watch the world."
I heard the voice director gave Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale very different directions. Mark Meer was told to make paragon and renegade lines believably sound like they come from the same character while Jennifer Hale was told to make them sound like completely different people since everyone sticks with one anyway. Now I'm really curious what neutral femShep sounds like.
It's interesting how with most games the female usually has better dialogue and acting skills. It's a weird juxtaposition
@@DragonTamer31K ME1, Hale definitely did a better job considering Mark Meer wasn't originally meant to voice maleshep and the voice acting he did was a placeholder. But ME2 and 3 I personally think Mark Meer was the better voice actor, Jennifer Hale completely fumbles some of the more emotional Shepard moments in my opinion. For example if you choose the Geth over the Quarians on Rannoch, Femshep sounds like she couldn't care less when Tali commits the die.
@@kyrusxi wow thats just wrong
@@Malgravy ok
I take it you have no strong feelings about his opinion about your comment, with just that "ok" from you, huh? 😅
@@kyrusxi
14:20 your Shepard is such a non entity the game doesn’t even bother to render them.
Neutral Shep: It's about the companions I met along the way :') not me
@@Danticsi just did it, i rendered in. i dont know what you played on, but i was on console. maybe the glitch is fixed there???
There's actually a neutral option that keeps Tali loyal and prevents her exile. You can "Rally the crowd" if you talk to everyone after the first part of the trail before you retake the Alarai. But doing so requires handing Veetor over to the quarians instead of Cerberus in Freedom's Progress and making sure Kal Reegar survives on Haestrom.
I could have but it didn't feel neutral to me. I tried to pick them where possible.
I always liked that neutral option during the trial but to get access to it it does require paragon options to be picked for both Kal and Veetor so it’s not true neutral but a nice option none the less
I really like that it in some way helps with Veetor’s recovery by bribing him out of his shell a little
I love picking that option, one of the only times I don't go Paragon. Shep won't always be there for Tali, it's important for her own people to acknowledge what she's done for them and defend her for themselves
Tali's trial is one of the best quests in the game, there's at least 5 resolutions to it (Paragon, Renegade, give data and lose her loyalty, keep data and get her exiled, rally the crowd), I wish more quests would be as involved. Especially after 2 it went downhill.
If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Reegar's survival rely on a Paragon interrupt?
ME1 ending should have neutral shep just walk out like, what are you waiting for, shits on fire here get to it
"Saren was my job, call the firemen.
That line is actually cold tho@@MajorJakas
this is one of the funniest things i've ever read from the ME fandom
Neutral Shepard feels even more NPC than the NPCs
Always wondered why "I'm a SPECTRE and can kill/detain/steal from you without consequence..." was never offered more as a response in the game.
I liked picking neutral options here and there, but dang, a true neutral ending bugs out the cutscene? Tsk, tsk, Bioware.
It seems so, though it could have been a rare occurrence
It is not a bug: The job was done so neutral shep packed his bag and went home.
I always choose the neutral option at the end of Grunt’s mission. Since the day I heard it I’ve never picked anything else. Some of the neutral options in 2 feel more Renegade than the actual Renegade choice.
Now I will be choosing that every time. Agreed on the renegade choice
I've always chosen that option too. I also like choosing the wound the hostage option in lair of the shadow broker, it's definitley funnier and colder than the actual renegade option.
Renegade: I lead with fear.
Paragon: I lead with fairness.
Neutral: I am here.
By the looks of it the Garrus Loyalty in ME1 has the appropriate effect in ME2 if you tell him it was a lesson. He doesn't hesitate with Harken or Sidonis.
Instead of calling the motherboard Project 0, I'd have customized it to say Project [0]verlord. Opportunity missed.
"Neutral: I am here"
Kind of ironic considering that ME1 ending cutscene. :D
@@Frozen_Death_Knight Well, he was there... somewhere.
I'm Commander Shepard and this is a store on the Citadel
And this is a video on TH-cam
@@Danticsgoodbye
Neutral commander Shepard- "The reapers might be real"
I guess "neutral" was more of an out for players who didn't have enough points to go either way. It sure does make Shepherd seem more passive. And as you pointed out, you don't have neutral options in the third game.
But what if you want to be the guy who shows up instead of the leader?
Yeah, that's probably the main reason people don't pick it. Like you invest the skill points or effort to get those paragon/renegade options, you're going to use them.
you never know where these neutrals stand... its sickens me -Z.Brannigan
All I know is my gut says maybe replay it
It was an ....... Ok experience
Joker: "ugh"
The neutrals stand 1 to 1.2 meters away from you sir. - Kif
Neutral Shepard getting sexually harassed by Ashley. I actually feel bad for him.
Neutral shep is so indifferent to Conrad he just goes back to live with his wife happily ever after
Neutral Shepard upon seeing stillborn Krogan children killed by the genophage: "I'd like to hear both sides of the argument."
"If I know Grunt, your answer is coming at muzzle velocity" what a line
It's perfect!
"You DO know Grunt"
I like to do what I call an antihero run: renegade dialogue and paragon actions
That's my favourite too.
Save the Council, cure the genophage, unite Geth and Quarians but be a massive ASS***E while doing it lol
I play paragade. If you deserve a smack in the mouth or an omni-blade to the gut, kill Vigo or even to crap your Eclipse armour with a heavy threat, I'm your guy, if you want me to suffocate a whole deck of civilians, kill Wrex and sabotage the Krogan or let the council die, you need to find a different guy.
@@agama5538sabotage the cure is my favorite choice
Do a hypocrite run: paragon dialogue + renegade actions😅
@@angeloalvarez5520 You evil, evil Commander.
Mass Effect AND Futurama in one video? What a treat!
"What makes a good man go neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?"
All I know is my gut says maybe play ME again
Was the video intended to cut off so abruptly at the end? 43:04
That's because he chose the middle option.
Oh. 😅
"Ah yes, Shepard is completely neutral and can balance the galaxys forces justfully and without strong emotions and attachment to either side. We have dismissed that claim."
With great power comes great weakness. We'll bang, maybe.
Shepard's deadpan stare as a result of the graphical overhaul in the LE edition in ME2 and 3 just really adds to the whole "neutral" vibe you went with
Neutral Shep somehow makes me feel even worse than Renegade Shep.
“If you can’t laugh after that when can you?”
“Never”
THAT HAD ME WEAK
😂
I never thought of changing the first name to Shepard. A galactic brain worthy of the Reapers.
I used ‘Commander’ as the first name. Gotta make them say the first and last name; addressing a senior officer with only their first name is just plain rude
Shepard Shepard might be the most perfect name for a full neutral Shep
For Tali, if both Veetor and Reegar survive, you get the neutral “Rally the Crowd” option which gets the same effect as the paragon/renegade options
Fun fact the Ethan Jeong speech check is actually the hardest one to clear in the game. You literally have to have maxed out points in charm or intimidate to choose one of those options which is two points higher than what you need to convince Saren to shoot himself in the final stand off. The dialogue where you don’t kill him is probably way more rare to see than the neutral one
Colonist, Sole Survivor would have been the "true neutral" option. It gives the same amount into paragon and renegade. Where every other option, either gives: points only into one, or an obtuse amount to both.
Is there something wrong with the video's ending? It ends seemingly abruptly at 43:04
Right? Feels like there's meant to be more there
@@darth-severusthere is part 2
Grunt doesn't remove the bullets, because bullets have next to no physical size in these games... "Ammo" is basicly a hunk of metal inside the weapon, that has a tiny microscopic fragment shaven off and fired when you pull the trigger. Each piece of metal might be small, but due to the mass effect field in the weapon, even a grain of sand can be accelerated to impact with the force of a nuke.
It's the reason weapons don't run out of ammo and just overheat in 1, and only need thermal clips in 2 and 3, as every hunk of metal in a weapon can last nearly it's entire lifecycle of a gun
Centrist Shepard be like.
He's swifty moving towards a solution which pleases no-one!
I love the almost childlike glee Shepherd says "This is MY kill Garrus!"
And his response afterward "What was that Shepard?" diabolical 😭😭
that double handshake made me lose my shit lmao, exactly how it feels to say goodbye to someone then both of you start walking in the same direction
I should watch the video before I comment, the "true neutral" end cutscene of ME1 after Sovereign dies made me laugh my ass off when Shepard Shepard was nowhere to be seen
🤣 it's like the jokes write them selves!
The "I missed the part where that's my problem" run.
He is saying exactly this to council about Racing and Joker about AI
I’ve always appreciated that Mass Effect, a game about taking a stand, rewards you whether you stick to being a heroic leader or a gruff one, but it punishes you in a lot of ways for being too wishy-washy or middling.
No, its stupid, sometimes being nice should be best, sometimes being a dick should be, sometimes being netural should be better. having netural always be shit is stupid, lazy and not realistic. i also think paragon shouldnt always be on top, neutral in the middle and renegade on the bottom, it should be randomised so you have to actually think. Also a third point system for netural with neutral special dialogues so you aren't punished for playing that way
@@Leo.23232 It sounds to me like maybe you're just interested in a different game. You can absolutely play however you want and choose options that are paragon/renegade/neutral as you see fit - nothing is forcing you to only make one sort of choice. But at the end of the day it's a game mechanic like in any RPG. And in this game, the mechanic rewards players for not remaining neutral for most choices because that is what fits the narrative. The series entirely revolves around making high-stakes decisions with as much or as little information as you can get, and Shep the character is meant to be the hero/antihero who explicitly does not stand by and remain neutral in these important situations. The point that they're trying to make in the storytelling is that choosing to remain neutral too often leads to worse outcomes - much like in real life ("stand for nothing, fall for anything"). It's not stupid, it's an intentional choice by the game designers.
@@TylerPalma Neutral doesnt mean standing for nothing, it can mean many things and isnt inherently worse in real life thats actually a bit ridiculous to bring up real life when in real life being extreme is usually the option that would lead to the worst outcomes
@@Leo.23232 Sure, absolutely. I'm talking about repeatedly picking neutral options. They're not always the worst option and you can pick them without further consequences a lot of the time, but doing so over and over is what doesn't align with what the game and story are trying to do. And again, it's a game. It's not meant to cover the full breadth and depth of human decision making.
I only brought up real life because you had mentioned things not being realistic. In real life, sure, it's not a good idea to be too extreme. But being a totally neutral, passion- and personality-lacking person with no firm ideals isn't likely to serve anyone either or make them many friends. Also remember that this game is a space opera, the characters are supposed to be larger than life. Not to mention that the majority of paragon/renegade dialogue choices are just being polite and empathetic or being snarky and sarcastic, not really what I'd call extreme; the renegade interrupts are usually the most extreme impulses but those are there to be fun. Because it's a game.
I think they just didn't think out a lot of middle options, case in point: multiple times the middle option is the SAME as one on the top or bottom, BUT you wouldn't know it unless you reload to see them all as the text is different. But the lines for neutral aren't. ME2 is better with making them unique and some even give you paragon or renegade options, if you follow a wiki guide on maximizing the score, it's very interesting! Tho picking strictly middle is WAY less points. But picking top bottom or middle interchangeably let you pass all checks contrary to popular belief that you need to stick to top or bottom in ME2.
Yaroslev was supposed to be missing a leg at least according to the script, but it turned out they didn't have the technical ability to display that, which is why that scene ends up so odd. He's intended to be grievously wounded, and that's what he's referring to with his 'but...ehh.'
I was actually planning on eventually doing a neutral run just to see how different it would be, so this video saved me a ton of time. Fascinating and very thoroughly done; thank you!
6:30 Yaroslav Tartakovsky was supposed to be missing a leg and have a tourniquet keeping him from bleeding out but engine limits or something along those lines meant Bioware couldn't implement it.
Hmm.
I think this is one of Mass Effect's weaker halves. Indifference punishes harder than mixing up morality choices.
Yeh there needs to be a reward for mixing it up!
The opposite of good isn't evil, but indifference
@@FLancer218 like saying opposite of caring is not caring
The credit song for Me1, M4 Part II by Faunts, really caught me off guard the first time I ever heard it. After such a wild sci-fi adventure with a mainly orchestral, lyricless score, M4 part II is the perfect cap for that game.
It really made it feel like an epic movie 🎬
Yeah it's like a song you would hear at the end of a cool edgy 2000s Matrix-inspired action flick
Centrist Boring Commander Shepard walked so that Centrist Boring Cop Harry DuBois could Jamrock Shuffle🤣
💯 exactly
Raphael Ambrosius Cousteau
I just realised every squadmate got mentioned at least a couple times in this video, except for Jacob, who didn't even get a frame of screentime. This is hilarious as he's known to be the least popular and least interesting squadmate, and this is ironic because it ties back into the video about neutral Shepard, who is in himself the least popular and least interesting version of Shepard
Neutral Shepard and Jacob would be best friends. Just sitting together in silence, T-posing or talking about the weather.
Nice touch at the very end. Forcing us to do the exact same neutral playthrough to see how it all actually ends. 😂
I do finish it off :)
@@Danticslol in another video? Cause the last second cut in this vid is brutal.
@@ZehnWaters I think Dantics is implying that he did finish the game. Marauder Shields got Shepard at the end. I have a feeling that he didn't have enough war assets for Synthesis ending (though Refusal would technically be the most neutral).
I was so confused by this.
I didn't get the joke/idea behind cutting the video. Can you explain pls?
The only Neutral choice i consistently tend to go for is that i will neither condone nor condemn Mordin's genophage modification.
Shepard: "I feel mildly about this."
i actually have picked a lot of neutral options depending on the moment. It's nice to see this lvl of commitment to being neutral tho XD
It was very hard to stick to. Some choices and habits are hard to break
The mark of an amazing game and an amazing developer is putting content in that you're certain 99% of your customers will likely never see. I miss Mass Effect, well...OG Mass Effect.
Couldn't agree more! There needs to be more of this
Looks like a lot of the OG team is back for the next one. Hopefully after dragon age we'll get some updates on the release date
@@thegoofystoic Most of the OG ex-BioWare team is actually working on a new Mass Effect style game called Exodus. When I say OG's I mean some of the guys who are credited for the best games that BioWare made in the 90s and 2000s.
I'm not sure how confident people are in BioWare of today and tomorrow after the underwhelming performance of Veilguard, but these guys behind Exodus seem to be experienced and passionate about what they're creating.
@@zeezee8558 I just saw that trailer and concept art a few days ago. Man, that game sounds so amazing. I know it's a few years away but I can't wait.
My favourite Mass Effect run was with Idiot Shepard. He made all the worst decisions, got almost every one killed and made the absolute minimum effort possible to defeat the Reapers. The only character i deliberately kept alive through the ME2 suicide mission were Tali and Mordin, purely so i could betray them in the worst way possible in ME3. Though i accidentally let Garrus and the Merc guy live too, mainly because i left just them behind to hold off the collectors and the pair of them actually did it (fucking hard core 😅 ).
In the end, Idiot Shepard saved the day and destroyed the Reapers. And probably half the galaxy in the process. 🤦♂️
Yeah getting the worst possible ending and having everyone die is actually WAAYY harder than keeping everyone alive. . Also I think the whole you leave behind at the end does some sort of base check on total combat strength, which since Tali and Mordin are pure tech, ironically if you'd taken garrus and Zaeed, and left Tali and Mordin, then they would likely have died leaving you with only two which is the deepest ME2 survivors you can have since if your team you bring aren't loyal, they die when the human reaper dies, (which doesn't make any sense) and if either of them do, for some reason you don't make it back to the ship in time , and Shepard dies, ( which also doesn't make much sense) so you have nothing to import to ME3. Thought Tali would normally die on approach to the collector base anyway if you haven't upgraded the ship, unless you bring her to the cargo hold, in which case for some reason Thane is in engineering in her place and dies instead, I don't remember who else does from lack of ship upgrades though
Idiot Shepard is the best Shepard. It's always fun to think that Harbinger is using incredible processing power trying to predict his next move, just to get his plans screwed by the next Shepard's random brainfart.
@regraig6869 yeah, i did my research on the mechanics of the suicide mission, and how to do JUST enough to compete it while killing off as many characters as possible. But leaving Zaeed and Garrus behind was an unintended mistake, and I wasn't willing to play through the first 2/3rds of the mission again just to correct it. I especially would have liked to kill off Garrus, but TBH the image of just those two taking out an entire Collector army was a nice consolation prize!
If you wait to do Zaeed’s loyalty mission until after the Suicide Mission, you can kill him yourself at the end of the mission. Though, non-loyal companions will die first, so it would be hard to get only him to the end
Ah, the Tim Pool Shepard. I was expecting that to be bland, but there was some fun stuff, and the idea of having a dead comrade take the place of Kai Leng is brilliant.
Roast noted and approved
I remember that choice at 0:15 because even when I play renegade Shepard, I'm still nice to my boys. I'm not gonna imply that I own Grunt - he follows me because I lead by brutal example.
To summarize Neutral Shepard: Mass Defect
Medium-sized Effect
I played mostly neutral until it came time for major decisions, I always figured these games weren't meant to be played "straight paragon, straight neutral or straight renegade but a collection of actions leading to one major decision." What ruined ME 3 for me wasn't it's ending it was the lack of neutral options I never even finished the game because of that. Just seeing you go from me2's 3 options to 2 options in the jack scene is still jarring how they got away with basically gutting half the dialogue options lol.
I think one of my favorite scenes is the transition in ME1 if you don't romance anyone like I did in my first playthrough. It's a great transition scene to the big fight.
4:40 Ethan Jeong is LITERALLY the hardest skill check in the game, most people end up shooting him, he's the only one who needs 12 Persuade or 10 Intimidate (nothing needs 11 or 12 intimidate).
The warehouse workers shooting or talking is based on whether you put away your gun before entering the room. If your gun is out, they assume hostility.
Neutral shepard seems like he's socially awkward or something he seems so oblivious 🤣🤣
Yeah straight up shep-bot.
14:10 - the absolutely unwarranted heroic music in this section is great. Just a bunch of people staring intensely at different bits of wreckage.
Neutral Shepard stands out so little, he's invisible.
I am Commander Shepard, and I have no favorites nor dislikes about this store.
Never felt so badass during a sponsored segment
I actually said out loud
"You used the right music, I can't skip it."
It felt badass making it. Thank you, love hearing the work I put in is appreciated.
"Call Liara and tell her I said hello"
Shepard became natural and became a ghost lol 😂😂😂 14:31
Is this 'neutral shepard' in the room with us right now?
This is quite unique. After all these years of Mass Effect, you had the idea to go completely neutral. Really enjoyed the video!
Glad you enjoyed it! I honestly thought when I uploaded this, after putting 100 hours into the trilogy again and spending a few days editing that I would get a maximum of around 5k views. Since it's so uber niche. Glad to see others enjoying it.
It was a shock to hear the man who voices Winnie the Pooh as a Krogan. 👀
Just shows his range !
@@Dantics Absolutly.
Imagine your first playthrough was you just being this milquetoast fence sitter and then you get that cutscene with no rendered Shepard. That would probably have been the most confusing ending and you might just think Shepard died.
I played as a mostly neutral Shepard way back when I first played the game when I was younger because I felt that best reflected my personality and morality 😂 and it fit in most situations in my own mind
Plus I guess I was just antisocial when I was younger abs didn’t want to make a fuss or get involved in peoples problems 😂
needless to say I didn’t get massive rewards or massive recognition
And often got the most boring or lest profitable situation resolutions 😅
The video just ends mid-sentence? Or maybe my browser is broken
It happens to me too
no outro too
See the pinned comment - Dantics screwed up on uploading
@@cdru515 Thank you! The pinned comment wasn't showing up earlier so I was confused lol
Some of these lines are genuinely iconic and I never would've seen them, incredible.
I wouldn't have either. It is genuinely a shame.
14:20
No this is a common glitch, they sometimes dont load guys into cutscenes
It happens a lot in the ending bits of ME2
I'm playing neutral Shepard in ME1 mostly. It's the options that makes more sense for me at most time.
2:20 I could be wrong here, but I’m pretty sure that’s because you have your gun out. Because you’re pointing a gun at them they automatically aggro, instead of unlocking the dialogue. That said, I’m not 100% sure.
No, you're right. Never walk into that room with your gun drawn if you want those guys to live. I learned that the hard way.
If I die, tell my romance, "Hello"
I absolutely loved playing neutral Shep in ME1, felt like a no nonsense military officer focused on the mission.
During Al-Jilani's interview Garrus was "NOPE"
If I die now, tell my wife I said 'Hello'.
15:38 Neutral answers to Joker are almost never about morality but just a setup to a different joke, it's worth checking ALL options with him as humor is good.
shepard not being rendered in the final me1 dramatic hero cutscene is so FUCKING funny XDDD
"I'm your Commander, not your moral compass."
CAN WE GET MORE OF THIS IRL PLEASE!?
INTERRUPTUS! OW ow ow ow ow.....
That HURT!
I very much enjoyed that and thank you for uploading the "Second Part" and not pulling this one. It still hurts. :)
Peaceful Skies
If I remember right, there's a mod that edits the appearance of the Noveria Hot Labs scientist to make him look more obviously wounded to justify his decision to not move and risk agitating his wounds.
Watching this video has made me realize that I skipped A LOT of content when I played this trilogy a decade ago in high school.
The legendary edition has been sitting in my library for ages. I really need to play it.
I highly recommend it. It's now my comfort game.
I actually started off playing a more grounded neutral good Shepard on my first one before it became obvious that a straight Chaotic good Shepherd who isn't afraid to take advantage of his Spectre immunity yielded much better results, then Bioware removed all of the neutral options in 3 anyway and I wasn't the least bit surprised.
Loved how it ended mid sentence without an ending
I don't think they wrote anything. Just hit the record button and went to town.
End credits song: M4 Part II by the Faunts. I have this song on my favorites playlist to this day.
The end credits song for ME1 was 🔥🔥
Perfect example of New Retro Wave. NRW being modern music made to sound like 80's music. Good stuff.
"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is a store on the citadel."
It's very hard to hear what you are saying sometimes with the game noise in the background, one example is at 42:24. The auto-generated subtitles even drop a few words that were said as the explosion goes off.