And so concludes our journey through MechWarrior 5: Clans. Thank you all for joining me on this adventure. I hope you found my commentary insightful, my excitement endearing, my refusal to spend even a single credit tolerable, and my 'Mech skills adequate. Regrettably, this chapter also marks the end of our near perfect playthrough. Until this point I had only failed one mission because I allowed two stolen OmniMechs to escape. However, before I even got to the start of this recording, I was taken down by the Nova Cats during the Trial of Possession. Whether that counts or not is debatable, as it was before the "start" during a mission I'd already completed. But then I was beaten bloody by Delta Galaxy in the first Luthien mission too before I could reach the Union-C. That's why I play so conservatively in that level during this video. You might be able to hear where I've taken my voice from the first attempt and laid it over the successful second effort. I spoke so much more in the initial playthrough and I wanted to include what I thought were some good talking points. Nevermind. One or two deaths in a whole playthrough when most of the time I was underweight is still pretty good going. Amusing how many folks kept saying I needed to spend the cash on a full lance of Timbys/Dire Wolves, but I think I managed just fine with the original handouts. You should challenge yourself. As far as endings go, I enjoyed the Warden path (it certainly felt more hopeful), but I preferred the Crusader path. Warden made me feel sorry for Jayden with his naive belief he could "save" Mia, whereas Crusader actually made me feel both mild disgust towards Jayden but also conflicting sadness for the entire Warrior caste of brainwashed children. Mia's death legitimately upset me. Abandoned by her literal family, forced by the warped Clan culture to try to kill them, then decided to take her own life when that was no longer possible in a futile effort to stay true to the beliefs she was indoctrinated with. Repugnant. I have a emotional weak spot for any character who makes that choice in media regardless of circumstances (I'm legit crying a bit typing this) and her choice was made for the most utterly pointless of reasons. I hope to god that they patch the game to make those cutscenes end less abruptly, because it robbed me (and everyone) of part of that impact in the moment. I am definitely going to make a video going into more detail on the characters because I earnestly believe they're some of the best written in the series. I saw at least one person who worked on the game in the comments of these videos. If that includes you, well done for playing your part in making something wonderful. I enjoyed it immensely.
I agree with your thoughts about this side of the game feeling weird. No one in the clans would know how in lore the invasion would end. Jayden is intelligent and thoughtful but not a traitor.
I think it would be better if, say, Liam, while hacking Smoke Jaguar's computers earlier in the game, found secondhand records of earlier clan leaders arguing over the Crusader and Warden ideologies. This would introduce the protagonists and the player to the possibility of invasion MAYBE being a misinterpretation of Kerensky's true goal long before the split paths in the story are presented. Being only from secondhand sources, it would be vague enough to give both sides a way to rationalize their ideologies to themselves so both sides can believe they stayed loyal to their cause. Then, instead of having the Dragoons be revealed as Ezra's contacts AFTER Jayden chooses Ezra, have it revealed WHILE Ezra and Mia are arguing before the big decision Lastly, they really should've added some dialogue during Jayden's defection that went less like "The clans all want us to think we are humanity's saviors but it is all an illusion" and more like "The clans all want want us to believe we are humanity's saviors, but the way we have gone just makes us into the very same tyrants that caused our ancestors to leave the Inner Sphere. There are more ways to save these spheroids from themselves, ways without sacrificing what The Great Father fought for." As the game stands now, it makes it look like Jayden decided to abandon the clans altogether and didn't care about the mission anymore until he found out he was being taken in as a bondsman to the Dragoons. It was like he tripped and fell into being a Warden rather than being slowly pushed towards it through his own doubts in the rest of the clans throughout the game.
I think the endings would've been better if they committed to Smoke Jaguar, no Warden/Crusader endings or Wolf bullshit, but true/alternate history endings that flash forwards to Tukayyid or whatever. No Smoke Jaguar wanted to become a Warden. The Warden/Crusader stuff does not play well in retrospect, it's a product of a time when the clans were seen as the "other" and their way of making Smoke Jaguar villains were to make them act worse than Kurita, Wolf were the reluctantly competent "good guys" and "the ones that remembered to think about food", and the Clans were not allowed to be viewed from the perspective of their culture. There's no need to put Warden ideologies in Smoke Jaguar, backstabbing traitors aren't fun.
I had no way of recognising it's significance at the time, but it's Mia who brings up the concept of Bondsref earlier in the game after Yuichi is taken. I believe her she says something to the effect of "I'd rather commit Bondsref than allow myself to be taken by these honourless surats."
At least more free as they would under a Crusader Clan. It is true the Combine is not very nice to civilians...but at least more like a Crusader Clan like Smoke Jaguar
49:10 You are correct. By the time of Tywincross they had two Regiments with Danial Allard in charge of the 2nd Regiment. And yes they got their Omni-mechs from this battle and maintained them with their close connections to Wolf’s Dragoons which they semi-formed over their fighting against the Kuritans in the 4th Succession War and when Jaime Wolf allowed Morgan and his Wife to sire their kid Phelan Kell using a Iron Womb as his wife could not have her own due to prior injuries as a Mechwarrior - I think they mention it as her womb having suffered damage from shrapnel she received inside a battlemech. Which… note this is a personal theory, tho I think it’s quite implied at times by Jaime Wolf and Natasha Kerensky’s actions throughout the Blood of Kerensky trilogy, that essentially by doing such they “made” Phelan Kell as the perfect infiltrator for Clan Wolf. 1. Phelan Kell was born using an Iron Womb and from a distant relative of the Ward Bloodline. Essentially making him Trueborn with a claim for said bloodline as we see - and even Natasha and Ulric kind of use to weasel their ability to allow Phelan to claim his Bloodname. 2. They note for his first few years instead of going straight to Kell he actually was essentially raised within one of the Wolf Dragoon Sibko’s tho with knowledge and overwatch by his biological parents he still technically served the same time as any number of Trueborn in a Sibko. 3. Natasha implies that she didn’t just return to the Wolf’s because she wanted to help out her old buddies, but actually was there to help out Phelan - note she doesn’t act surprised seeing Phelan, and it would be quite expected that many of Morgan Kell’s close companions would learn his son was taken by these invaders… well it only makes sense to send their bloodnames trueborn back to help him settle in easier and climb the ranks. - plus even more, look to Ulrics reaction to Phelan Kell. There’s plenty of random freebirth Mechwarriors and such he could easily have picked out to essentially be Bondsman and turn into a Warden example of a IS Freebirth Wolf. But he specifically made sure to claim Phelan straight away. Me think Ulric may already of known of a certain scheme which was being played. 4. What do many of the aged and high ranking Wardens inside Wolf do with Phelan. They don’t just teach him to be a Wolf Warrior, no they essentially get him ready to start taking up a Khanship from early on. From making sure he’s bonded fully in as a warrior. To making sure get gets a bloodname and a rank above warrior. And by the end of the first trilogy where does he stand? As SaKhan of Wolf. - and if not for the Falcons intervention, it’s very much looking like Natasha and Ulric were setting him up to take proper Khan (tho they’d also do such by making him the Khan of Wolf-in-Exile by having him escape with all the Wardens and bloodying all the crusaders in unknown knowledge they were doing so to allow the Wardens to flee). - also have to put here as a Jade Falcon myself Clan Wolf should of been blood dead here. We put em down by Wolf plot armour means somehow they get to revive after being properly absorbed and annihilated. I’m just saying as a Falcon we’ve essentially put the Wolf down quite a few times and somehow it’s always just been allowed to get back up. Hopefully! Hopefully! With this current era, we’ll get that one proper and last blow that’ll make sure they stay down proper this time. Ps. Also I know Morgan is technically a Lyran and it makes sense for him to have a German accent, but am I the only one to have ever read his character as having a more smooth gentlemanly southern accent. Also Morgan just doesn’t look right without the board and stache.
I somehow completely missed the fact that Phelan is trueborn. I remember it being mentioned in one of the early books but the significance of it hadn't really sunk in until reading this comment. I love the "sleeper agent" theory as well. P.S. I too found Morgan's voice off-putting at first. Never read him with a German accent, but then people who read the books in different languages don't imagine the characters speaking English either, so I guess it's fair game. Never mind the beard though, where's his luscious locks? His beautiful flowing white hair?
@ oh yes we can’t forget those locks and shiny white hair either. But it’s also interesting to think that depending on small changes, 3/4 of the main invading clans could have ended up with a quite high ranking member of the IS in them. We know that Wolf ends up with Phelan Kell as essentially SaKhan. In ghost Bear your get Ragnar Magnusson who ends up becoming a SaKhan at one point after they take him from Wolf in Exile. And when you look to Jade Falcon, when you see how many of them reacted to Kai Allard-Liao, we hear from Malthus that had he been taken bondsman they were just going to skip the whole “induction” thing and just straight make him a warrior with the Jade Falcon name. And if you see how they start to act after Aidan Pryde and the revelation of his freebirth daughter (who incidentally goes on to claims his bloodname) and how Marth Pryde runs the Falcons, I could easily see a potential for both of them to have become Khan and SaKhan of Jade Falcon almost together if he was taken bondsman and she didn’t get bombed by the Blakists.
Finally finished this video series last night. First, my profound thanks for letting me join the trip. It was a great interlude between your Third Succession War videos. Next, there are two quibbles i have, one editorial and one based on tech base in the lore. I would've loved it if there had been more discussion of ComStar's philosophy by the Demi-Precentor. In many ways, i think Blakists and Crusaders are very similar, both seeing themselves as responsible for saving humanity from itself. The other quibble is about how Ezra actually reached the Dragoons. I think the video talked about "frequencies," which I take to mean radio frequencies. But radio messages would take years to reach the Dragoons unless they were already in system. Ezra must have sent an HPG message, either through ComStar or using one of the Clans' portable units. I suppose just talking about frequencies would be easier for most people to understand.
I found the Wolf's Dragoon's ending to be personally satisfying, but the Clan ending more true to the setting. As for Mia... Soon as I saw the EI enhancements on her, I knew she was gone. It wasn't a hard choice, even if Ezra was pretty whiny.
I have to admire how much your aim has improved over these series of videos. You started wildly waggling lasers over your enemies, but are now are reliably getting near pure CT shots at 300m-350m.
First,I have to thank you for the series. I love the lore bites that you dropped in the middle of the game. So many things that I had forgotten or that I never knew. Thank you! I’m happy that you could continue with the Smoke Jaguars. I hope that it is the “canon” ending. Too many times the games go with the “good option”. Why I would want the Jaguar ending to be the canon one because of course I would want to see Tukayyid, operation BULLDOG and Task Force SERPENT ending with the Great Refusal from the Jaguars point of view. Heh, Jayden could survive until the end. It would be so interesting to see on the receiving side how the, as the ending of MW3 said “The starleague taught all the clans the true horrors of war. As it is practiced in the Inner Sphere” went.
for what its worth I would love to see a debrief or post mortem from your playthrough. Very enjoyable watch and I love the historians insight during the go. Wonderfully done.
I came into the story hoping to like Jayden, slowly began to like Liam as he became more mature (until he died), and ended the game really liking Yuichi. Dude is basically a space ronin, a samurai that hadn't fully pledged himself to a faction and is looked down upon in both his home and by his captors, yet keeps pulling through it all. I wish we got more of his character fleshed out, but it feels like a lot of his personality only got shown in the Warden ending (which is understandable since having a personality feels almost illegal in the Clans)
Actually you dont have to survive every mission. You can die if you do you can just take over another star member. You can also just swap in general by pressing Y. I think the mission jayden has to survive in order for the fight late in the mission to make sense. You can also still pass most missions with at least one star member and have jayden die.
I legit didn't realise it was even possible to change 'Mechs until I fell that first time. I'm almost glad I didn't, because it allowed me to inhabit the character of Jayden, rather than switching between the Star like some omnipotent mastermind.
I very much enjoyed this playthrough. I loved the context you added throughout the series. So much so that I hope you consider playing MW5 Mercs and HBS's BattleTech and giving them the same treatment. I know the main stories of both don't tie into lore as much as Clans but I'd be excited to listen to your thoughts regardless, particularly during the MW5 DLC campaigns.
I find it amusing that the two temporarily MechWarriors (Amelia and Lance) had nothing to say about defecting, and it is a bit odd they seem to disappear (probably absorbed into another Dragoon unit, or decide not to fight).
Staying loyal felt better, I don't think the justification for turning was quite enough considering the amount of time they'd spent being trained, but maybe there's big time jumps or something. I think staying loyal would be the canon path, also I far preferred Mia over Ezra, especially when she hardens herself after being beat down. Jayden just came across as more of a traditional clan protag like Aidan Pryde.
Overall, the game is fun, if you are into BattleTech. While I preferred Merc's, because you can play on (I'm close to 800 hours), the story was good and I was entertained. When I first played through it, I had chosen the Warden path. I never liked the Jaguars and getting away from them felt like a salvation. Besides the limited replayability, my main issue is with the missing tutorial and I wished there would have been a bit more background for new players. As DLC I would like to have the Ghost Bears (there is nearly nothing told about them, besides their famous football match as a batchall for a planet) or the Jade Falcons. Followed by Tukayyid. But following the BT tradition, we will get a Clan Wolf DLC probably first. Or another Jaguar one, that follows Perez to Wolcott (maybe as a free DLC, since it is more or less only one campaign and would be a awesome goodie for the players). I usually tried to get as much tonnage out as is allowed. I used 5 Dire Wolves at the end an done of the most important modules to unlock was always the AMS. Felt a bit like cheat, but it reduced teh damage especially in the last missions a lot. In the end, it's a 7.5/10 for me, because Merc's spoiled me a lot, especially with all the mods.
If Jayden chooses to stay, he will probably perish at the Battle of Tukayyid or before, in Operation Bulldog. Clan Smoke Jaguar is going to be destroyed. If Jayden remains with Wolf's Dragoons, I could see that evolving into a Sandbox like Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries.
I doubt that. If they add a sandbox they will make as Jayden and survivors of Smoke Jaguars after their destruction becomes mercenaries to rebuild the clan. They need to earn the meals some way.
I think you can forget about them building what basically is a new game as a DLCs. This Is a linear single player game first and foremost and they should focus on that experience, which was missing from previous game. That said, i think striking a deal to have the Cobalt warriors attached to a ComGuard unit on tukayyid isn't more far fetched than the dragoons mounting a secret mission into enemy territory to retrieve four Jaguar defectors 😉
I understand it might feel more "in chatacter" to go for the crusader path, on the other end the novels are full of clan characters facing conflicts over their upbringing and prejudices towards the Spheroids, their place in their Clan or Clan society, and so on. Trent is only the most famous, and a Smoke Jaguar at that. Considering they've just graduated and their first experience of real war is the invasion of the IS, i can see how that experience in one way or the other shapes their perception of the way of the Clans and challenges their preconceptions about the spheroid warriors being unworthy foes. And honestly i can see how even in the most brutal clan there could be 1% of warriors who think the Edo massacre was wrong and dishonorable. Having wolf's dragoons mount a secret mission to retrieve them might serm a bit forced and far fetched but i don't think they could have handles it in a better way and i'm glad they took the time and resources to create more characters and location for a cool faction like them. Honestly i enjoyed both endings and i can't wait to see if there is development tò them in the story DLCs
I was one of the ones who said that was probably Natasha, but I was figuring she featured in a flashback scene or something. I did call you ending up in the Dragoons though XD
Guy, voice actors took a great slack in this project. How about the protector Kerenskij suddenly coming out as Kiureneseky with the butchering of word "udachi"(properly spelled as "udači" /oo-dah-chie/) as /yu-dah-chie/?
Pretty sure it's a war chant that's been used in various forms going back centuries at this point. I think 'Huzzah' and 'Ura' are some other variants you still hear.
Morgan Kell having a german accent is giving me a stroke. Always imagined him as Liam Neeson, with a slight irish accent. Especially given he names his kids Megan, Phelan and Caitlyn lol.
So, if you really wanted to break it down, they probably weren't. To maintain lore consistency, there must have been a time transition during that clip of the DropShip manoeuvring. Luthien hadn't even been selected yet at the time the Clans returned from the homeworld, let alone Wolf's Dragoons dispatched.
1:04:30 Agreed. This is, maybe, the "popular" ending. After all Jayden was bred to be a cog in the SJ war machine. The two endings feel like patriotism vs nationalism ideologies clash. Wardens vs Crusaders. Perhaps I liked Yuichi the most.
Definitely looks like a fun game, can't wait to try it for myself. The only thing I'm not a real fan of is all the upgrade stuff you can do to mechs, I kinda miss the feel of the older games like MW2 3 and 4 where upgrades more or less came from downing progressively better mechs and gaining new equipment. I can see why that was added in, but to me it kinda takes away from it really feeling like a MechWarrior game
In the mission where we talk with the Kell Hounds, there is an archer in KH Colours on the field, I wonder if that is the Colonel himself and also wether we can lock on to him....
I really wish the Clan Invasion era move toward unity and understanding between some of the Houses would have lasted longer. I hate the way the storyline went post FedCom Civil War.
It’s called unite affiliation if you’re worried about your former partners.As someone that lives off the North Atlantic I know this well,,,if you can’t take life on the “deck”,,,,heehehaaaae
DLC #1 should be the Battle of Tukayyid followed by DLC #2 being an Open sandbox 3051. Also cant wait for YAMAL to add in some weapon selections to buy for the missions.
Really, Yaml? Or we're as potent as piranha's coding and we can't make the function of the ammo switch? Therefore there's one gun for srm, a gun for inferno srm, cluster LBX, slug LBX and other wonderful barely balanced crap?
You had Ezra randomly die at the start of the second half of the first mission in the Executioner, I had Samantha randomly die at the same place in an Executioner as well. Mech is cursed.
So lame. The have that cinimatic moment at the end, it should have reset the field and had you fight after. What a sham. Also very disatisfied they didnt actualy have you walk into a union dropship bay… They seem to forget the setring and set-pieces are exiting. Also prety retarded the dopahip wont leave/open its bays, when if the dropship is here for pick up, it should want to pick you up and leave immediately not sit around.
Kudos for playing through these in hard mode by not doing tons of modification/uniform lances (I couldn't do it 😆)! I got a big kick out of the Ano Rentoshi appearance - Ghost Bear's Legacy was so great!
And so concludes our journey through MechWarrior 5: Clans. Thank you all for joining me on this adventure. I hope you found my commentary insightful, my excitement endearing, my refusal to spend even a single credit tolerable, and my 'Mech skills adequate.
Regrettably, this chapter also marks the end of our near perfect playthrough. Until this point I had only failed one mission because I allowed two stolen OmniMechs to escape. However, before I even got to the start of this recording, I was taken down by the Nova Cats during the Trial of Possession. Whether that counts or not is debatable, as it was before the "start" during a mission I'd already completed. But then I was beaten bloody by Delta Galaxy in the first Luthien mission too before I could reach the Union-C. That's why I play so conservatively in that level during this video. You might be able to hear where I've taken my voice from the first attempt and laid it over the successful second effort. I spoke so much more in the initial playthrough and I wanted to include what I thought were some good talking points. Nevermind. One or two deaths in a whole playthrough when most of the time I was underweight is still pretty good going. Amusing how many folks kept saying I needed to spend the cash on a full lance of Timbys/Dire Wolves, but I think I managed just fine with the original handouts. You should challenge yourself.
As far as endings go, I enjoyed the Warden path (it certainly felt more hopeful), but I preferred the Crusader path. Warden made me feel sorry for Jayden with his naive belief he could "save" Mia, whereas Crusader actually made me feel both mild disgust towards Jayden but also conflicting sadness for the entire Warrior caste of brainwashed children. Mia's death legitimately upset me. Abandoned by her literal family, forced by the warped Clan culture to try to kill them, then decided to take her own life when that was no longer possible in a futile effort to stay true to the beliefs she was indoctrinated with. Repugnant. I have a emotional weak spot for any character who makes that choice in media regardless of circumstances (I'm legit crying a bit typing this) and her choice was made for the most utterly pointless of reasons. I hope to god that they patch the game to make those cutscenes end less abruptly, because it robbed me (and everyone) of part of that impact in the moment. I am definitely going to make a video going into more detail on the characters because I earnestly believe they're some of the best written in the series.
I saw at least one person who worked on the game in the comments of these videos. If that includes you, well done for playing your part in making something wonderful. I enjoyed it immensely.
Great job.
I agree with your thoughts about this side of the game feeling weird. No one in the clans would know how in lore the invasion would end. Jayden is intelligent and thoughtful but not a traitor.
I think it would be better if, say, Liam, while hacking Smoke Jaguar's computers earlier in the game, found secondhand records of earlier clan leaders arguing over the Crusader and Warden ideologies. This would introduce the protagonists and the player to the possibility of invasion MAYBE being a misinterpretation of Kerensky's true goal long before the split paths in the story are presented. Being only from secondhand sources, it would be vague enough to give both sides a way to rationalize their ideologies to themselves so both sides can believe they stayed loyal to their cause. Then, instead of having the Dragoons be revealed as Ezra's contacts AFTER Jayden chooses Ezra, have it revealed WHILE Ezra and Mia are arguing before the big decision
Lastly, they really should've added some dialogue during Jayden's defection that went less like "The clans all want us to think we are humanity's saviors but it is all an illusion" and more like "The clans all want want us to believe we are humanity's saviors, but the way we have gone just makes us into the very same tyrants that caused our ancestors to leave the Inner Sphere. There are more ways to save these spheroids from themselves, ways without sacrificing what The Great Father fought for."
As the game stands now, it makes it look like Jayden decided to abandon the clans altogether and didn't care about the mission anymore until he found out he was being taken in as a bondsman to the Dragoons. It was like he tripped and fell into being a Warden rather than being slowly pushed towards it through his own doubts in the rest of the clans throughout the game.
I think the endings would've been better if they committed to Smoke Jaguar, no Warden/Crusader endings or Wolf bullshit, but true/alternate history endings that flash forwards to Tukayyid or whatever. No Smoke Jaguar wanted to become a Warden.
The Warden/Crusader stuff does not play well in retrospect, it's a product of a time when the clans were seen as the "other" and their way of making Smoke Jaguar villains were to make them act worse than Kurita, Wolf were the reluctantly competent "good guys" and "the ones that remembered to think about food", and the Clans were not allowed to be viewed from the perspective of their culture. There's no need to put Warden ideologies in Smoke Jaguar, backstabbing traitors aren't fun.
@@paragonrobbie9270 He does say that they've become the tyrants they were supposed to fight
"I can save Mia; I'll take her as a bondsman-"
"Bondsref is a thing, Jayden."
"-dammit!"
I had no way of recognising it's significance at the time, but it's Mia who brings up the concept of Bondsref earlier in the game after Yuichi is taken. I believe her she says something to the effect of "I'd rather commit Bondsref than allow myself to be taken by these honourless surats."
@@SvenVanDerPlank the principle of Čehov's gun.
"The people of the Combine will wake up free."
Yeah, about that...
"We did it, Patrick! We saved the Draconis Combine!... Patrick, are we the baddies?"
Saxon/norse,,,
At least more free as they would under a Crusader Clan.
It is true the Combine is not very nice to civilians...but at least more like a Crusader Clan like Smoke Jaguar
49:10
You are correct.
By the time of Tywincross they had two Regiments with Danial Allard in charge of the 2nd Regiment.
And yes they got their Omni-mechs from this battle and maintained them with their close connections to Wolf’s Dragoons which they semi-formed over their fighting against the Kuritans in the 4th Succession War and when Jaime Wolf allowed Morgan and his Wife to sire their kid Phelan Kell using a Iron Womb as his wife could not have her own due to prior injuries as a Mechwarrior - I think they mention it as her womb having suffered damage from shrapnel she received inside a battlemech.
Which… note this is a personal theory, tho I think it’s quite implied at times by Jaime Wolf and Natasha Kerensky’s actions throughout the Blood of Kerensky trilogy, that essentially by doing such they “made” Phelan Kell as the perfect infiltrator for Clan Wolf.
1. Phelan Kell was born using an Iron Womb and from a distant relative of the Ward Bloodline. Essentially making him Trueborn with a claim for said bloodline as we see - and even Natasha and Ulric kind of use to weasel their ability to allow Phelan to claim his Bloodname.
2. They note for his first few years instead of going straight to Kell he actually was essentially raised within one of the Wolf Dragoon Sibko’s tho with knowledge and overwatch by his biological parents he still technically served the same time as any number of Trueborn in a Sibko.
3. Natasha implies that she didn’t just return to the Wolf’s because she wanted to help out her old buddies, but actually was there to help out Phelan - note she doesn’t act surprised seeing Phelan, and it would be quite expected that many of Morgan Kell’s close companions would learn his son was taken by these invaders… well it only makes sense to send their bloodnames trueborn back to help him settle in easier and climb the ranks.
- plus even more, look to Ulrics reaction to Phelan Kell. There’s plenty of random freebirth Mechwarriors and such he could easily have picked out to essentially be Bondsman and turn into a Warden example of a IS Freebirth Wolf. But he specifically made sure to claim Phelan straight away. Me think Ulric may already of known of a certain scheme which was being played.
4. What do many of the aged and high ranking Wardens inside Wolf do with Phelan. They don’t just teach him to be a Wolf Warrior, no they essentially get him ready to start taking up a Khanship from early on.
From making sure he’s bonded fully in as a warrior.
To making sure get gets a bloodname and a rank above warrior.
And by the end of the first trilogy where does he stand? As SaKhan of Wolf.
- and if not for the Falcons intervention, it’s very much looking like Natasha and Ulric were setting him up to take proper Khan (tho they’d also do such by making him the Khan of Wolf-in-Exile by having him escape with all the Wardens and bloodying all the crusaders in unknown knowledge they were doing so to allow the Wardens to flee).
- also have to put here as a Jade Falcon myself Clan Wolf should of been blood dead here. We put em down by Wolf plot armour means somehow they get to revive after being properly absorbed and annihilated. I’m just saying as a Falcon we’ve essentially put the Wolf down quite a few times and somehow it’s always just been allowed to get back up.
Hopefully! Hopefully! With this current era, we’ll get that one proper and last blow that’ll make sure they stay down proper this time.
Ps. Also I know Morgan is technically a Lyran and it makes sense for him to have a German accent, but am I the only one to have ever read his character as having a more smooth gentlemanly southern accent.
Also Morgan just doesn’t look right without the board and stache.
I somehow completely missed the fact that Phelan is trueborn. I remember it being mentioned in one of the early books but the significance of it hadn't really sunk in until reading this comment. I love the "sleeper agent" theory as well.
P.S. I too found Morgan's voice off-putting at first. Never read him with a German accent, but then people who read the books in different languages don't imagine the characters speaking English either, so I guess it's fair game. Never mind the beard though, where's his luscious locks? His beautiful flowing white hair?
@ oh yes we can’t forget those locks and shiny white hair either.
But it’s also interesting to think that depending on small changes, 3/4 of the main invading clans could have ended up with a quite high ranking member of the IS in them.
We know that Wolf ends up with Phelan Kell as essentially SaKhan.
In ghost Bear your get Ragnar Magnusson who ends up becoming a SaKhan at one point after they take him from Wolf in Exile.
And when you look to Jade Falcon, when you see how many of them reacted to Kai Allard-Liao, we hear from Malthus that had he been taken bondsman they were just going to skip the whole “induction” thing and just straight make him a warrior with the Jade Falcon name.
And if you see how they start to act after Aidan Pryde and the revelation of his freebirth daughter (who incidentally goes on to claims his bloodname) and how Marth Pryde runs the Falcons, I could easily see a potential for both of them to have become Khan and SaKhan of Jade Falcon almost together if he was taken bondsman and she didn’t get bombed by the Blakists.
Finally finished this video series last night. First, my profound thanks for letting me join the trip. It was a great interlude between your Third Succession War videos. Next, there are two quibbles i have, one editorial and one based on tech base in the lore. I would've loved it if there had been more discussion of ComStar's philosophy by the Demi-Precentor. In many ways, i think Blakists and Crusaders are very similar, both seeing themselves as responsible for saving humanity from itself. The other quibble is about how Ezra actually reached the Dragoons. I think the video talked about "frequencies," which I take to mean radio frequencies. But radio messages would take years to reach the Dragoons unless they were already in system. Ezra must have sent an HPG message, either through ComStar or using one of the Clans' portable units. I suppose just talking about frequencies would be easier for most people to understand.
I found the Wolf's Dragoon's ending to be personally satisfying, but the Clan ending more true to the setting. As for Mia... Soon as I saw the EI enhancements on her, I knew she was gone. It wasn't a hard choice, even if Ezra was pretty whiny.
I have to admire how much your aim has improved over these series of videos. You started wildly waggling lasers over your enemies, but are now are reliably getting near pure CT shots at 300m-350m.
For whatever reason this game is way twitchier on my joystick than MW5 Mercs. I try to turn down the sensitivity but the settings don't stick.
First,I have to thank you for the series. I love the lore bites that you dropped in the middle of the game. So many things that I had forgotten or that I never knew. Thank you!
I’m happy that you could continue with the Smoke Jaguars. I hope that it is the “canon” ending.
Too many times the games go with the “good option”.
Why I would want the Jaguar ending to be the canon one because of course I would want to see Tukayyid, operation BULLDOG and Task Force SERPENT ending with the Great Refusal from the Jaguars point of view. Heh, Jayden could survive until the end.
It would be so interesting to see on the receiving side how the, as the ending of MW3 said “The starleague taught all the clans the true horrors of war. As it is practiced in the Inner Sphere” went.
So nice of the Dragoons to bankrupt themselves so they could reimburse your 'party on Terra' fund.
Hahaha. They all chipped in. 🍻🥳
for what its worth I would love to see a debrief or post mortem from your playthrough. Very enjoyable watch and I love the historians insight during the go. Wonderfully done.
I came into the story hoping to like Jayden, slowly began to like Liam as he became more mature (until he died), and ended the game really liking Yuichi. Dude is basically a space ronin, a samurai that hadn't fully pledged himself to a faction and is looked down upon in both his home and by his captors, yet keeps pulling through it all. I wish we got more of his character fleshed out, but it feels like a lot of his personality only got shown in the Warden ending (which is understandable since having a personality feels almost illegal in the Clans)
Actually you dont have to survive every mission. You can die if you do you can just take over another star member. You can also just swap in general by pressing Y.
I think the mission jayden has to survive in order for the fight late in the mission to make sense.
You can also still pass most missions with at least one star member and have jayden die.
I legit didn't realise it was even possible to change 'Mechs until I fell that first time. I'm almost glad I didn't, because it allowed me to inhabit the character of Jayden, rather than switching between the Star like some omnipotent mastermind.
You have to survive every mission from the "choice" and further.
Not going to lie, I wanted Mia to live... but on the other hand, Clanners deserve to get Focht.
Long live the Inner Sphere!
I very much enjoyed this playthrough. I loved the context you added throughout the series. So much so that I hope you consider playing MW5 Mercs and HBS's BattleTech and giving them the same treatment. I know the main stories of both don't tie into lore as much as Clans but I'd be excited to listen to your thoughts regardless, particularly during the MW5 DLC campaigns.
I find it amusing that the two temporarily MechWarriors (Amelia and Lance) had nothing to say about defecting, and it is a bit odd they seem to disappear (probably absorbed into another Dragoon unit, or decide not to fight).
Staying loyal felt better, I don't think the justification for turning was quite enough considering the amount of time they'd spent being trained, but maybe there's big time jumps or something. I think staying loyal would be the canon path, also I far preferred Mia over Ezra, especially when she hardens herself after being beat down. Jayden just came across as more of a traditional clan protag like Aidan Pryde.
Overall, the game is fun, if you are into BattleTech. While I preferred Merc's, because you can play on (I'm close to 800 hours), the story was good and I was entertained.
When I first played through it, I had chosen the Warden path. I never liked the Jaguars and getting away from them felt like a salvation.
Besides the limited replayability, my main issue is with the missing tutorial and I wished there would have been a bit more background for new players.
As DLC I would like to have the Ghost Bears (there is nearly nothing told about them, besides their famous football match as a batchall for a planet) or the Jade Falcons. Followed by Tukayyid.
But following the BT tradition, we will get a Clan Wolf DLC probably first. Or another Jaguar one, that follows Perez to Wolcott (maybe as a free DLC, since it is more or less only one campaign and would be a awesome goodie for the players).
I usually tried to get as much tonnage out as is allowed. I used 5 Dire Wolves at the end an done of the most important modules to unlock was always the AMS. Felt a bit like cheat, but it reduced teh damage especially in the last missions a lot.
In the end, it's a 7.5/10 for me, because Merc's spoiled me a lot, especially with all the mods.
yeah, the warden ending feels like it has more spectacle, but the crusader ending feels like the True Ending to the story of cobalt star
If Jayden chooses to stay, he will probably perish at the Battle of Tukayyid or before, in Operation Bulldog. Clan Smoke Jaguar is going to be destroyed.
If Jayden remains with Wolf's Dragoons, I could see that evolving into a Sandbox like Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries.
I doubt that. If they add a sandbox they will make as Jayden and survivors of Smoke Jaguars after their destruction becomes mercenaries to rebuild the clan. They need to earn the meals some way.
I think you can forget about them building what basically is a new game as a DLCs. This Is a linear single player game first and foremost and they should focus on that experience, which was missing from previous game. That said, i think striking a deal to have the Cobalt warriors attached to a ComGuard unit on tukayyid isn't more far fetched than the dragoons mounting a secret mission into enemy territory to retrieve four Jaguar defectors 😉
I understand it might feel more "in chatacter" to go for the crusader path, on the other end the novels are full of clan characters facing conflicts over their upbringing and prejudices towards the Spheroids, their place in their Clan or Clan society, and so on. Trent is only the most famous, and a Smoke Jaguar at that. Considering they've just graduated and their first experience of real war is the invasion of the IS, i can see how that experience in one way or the other shapes their perception of the way of the Clans and challenges their preconceptions about the spheroid warriors being unworthy foes. And honestly i can see how even in the most brutal clan there could be 1% of warriors who think the Edo massacre was wrong and dishonorable. Having wolf's dragoons mount a secret mission to retrieve them might serm a bit forced and far fetched but i don't think they could have handles it in a better way and i'm glad they took the time and resources to create more characters and location for a cool faction like them. Honestly i enjoyed both endings and i can't wait to see if there is development tò them in the story DLCs
I was one of the ones who said that was probably Natasha, but I was figuring she featured in a flashback scene or something. I did call you ending up in the Dragoons though XD
oh hey they even give you a different guy in the background of the science lab, neat
not having played the game, was quite surprised to hear Morgan Kell's accent - my head canon has him as Irish.
Or at least not German.
Guy, voice actors took a great slack in this project. How about the protector Kerenskij suddenly coming out as Kiureneseky with the butchering of word "udachi"(properly spelled as "udači" /oo-dah-chie/) as /yu-dah-chie/?
1:49:10--I didn't realize McKenzie Wolf was a U.S. Marine. Or is there some other group that says "ooh-rah"?
Pretty sure it's a war chant that's been used in various forms going back centuries at this point. I think 'Huzzah' and 'Ura' are some other variants you still hear.
Morgan Kell having a german accent is giving me a stroke. Always imagined him as Liam Neeson, with a slight irish accent. Especially given he names his kids Megan, Phelan and Caitlyn lol.
So...she Stackpolled herself?
Now wonder thee little kitties could not get it done.
Love how they're just standing around, casually chatting during a 2-g burn.
So, if you really wanted to break it down, they probably weren't. To maintain lore consistency, there must have been a time transition during that clip of the DropShip manoeuvring. Luthien hadn't even been selected yet at the time the Clans returned from the homeworld, let alone Wolf's Dragoons dispatched.
The Lydia AI is alive and well....
Wonder what happened to Lance and Amelia.
"Don't ask me how Ezra's still standing..."
Plot armour :D
The Wolves secret weapon
1:04:30 Agreed. This is, maybe, the "popular" ending. After all Jayden was bred to be a cog in the SJ war machine.
The two endings feel like patriotism vs nationalism ideologies clash. Wardens vs Crusaders. Perhaps I liked Yuichi the most.
200+ missiles fired out of range in the battle supporting the Kell Hounds. Derp.
Definitely looks like a fun game, can't wait to try it for myself. The only thing I'm not a real fan of is all the upgrade stuff you can do to mechs, I kinda miss the feel of the older games like MW2 3 and 4 where upgrades more or less came from downing progressively better mechs and gaining new equipment. I can see why that was added in, but to me it kinda takes away from it really feeling like a MechWarrior game
1:39:50--I think you mean Shin Yodama.
That's the one, thank you.
Samama is nath's adoted dauther and is third in command of Wolf dragoons
In the mission where we talk with the Kell Hounds, there is an archer in KH Colours on the field, I wonder if that is the Colonel himself and also wether we can lock on to him....
You're probably correct, sorry I didn't think to check.
Wolf’s dragoons also agreed to this battle to take bondsman’s,,,as mentioned by the writers
I really wish the Clan Invasion era move toward unity and understanding between some of the Houses would have lasted longer. I hate the way the storyline went post FedCom Civil War.
It’s called unite affiliation if you’re worried about your former partners.As someone that lives off the North Atlantic I know this well,,,if you can’t take life on the “deck”,,,,heehehaaaae
DLC #1 should be the Battle of Tukayyid followed by DLC #2 being an Open sandbox 3051. Also cant wait for YAMAL to add in some weapon selections to buy for the missions.
Really, Yaml? Or we're as potent as piranha's coding and we can't make the function of the ammo switch? Therefore there's one gun for srm, a gun for inferno srm, cluster LBX, slug LBX and other wonderful barely balanced crap?
@@worldoftancraft you dont have to have the mod, this isnt North Korea. I would like more flavor since this is not a sandbox game (hopefully yet).
@@michaelernst3731 just try MercTech for once.
You had Ezra randomly die at the start of the second half of the first mission in the Executioner, I had Samantha randomly die at the same place in an Executioner as well. Mech is cursed.
That Mech is a building sized death trap with not enough armor to justify its mobility.
The true crime?
Nova Cats 5003th Harasser Cluster not using appropriate camo.
If you remain a Dragoon, lemme warn you about some toaster worshippers.
Did not Theodore’s sister lead the house of light(all five)???She supported him as well as the ISF
So lame. The have that cinimatic moment at the end, it should have reset the field and had you fight after. What a sham.
Also very disatisfied they didnt actualy have you walk into a union dropship bay…
They seem to forget the setring and set-pieces are exiting. Also prety retarded the dopahip wont leave/open its bays, when if the dropship is here for pick up, it should want to pick you up and leave immediately not sit around.
Game Sucked. There was no Duncan Fisher.
I am so kidding... game was amazing!!!
He’s too busy commentating on Solaris VII matches. Lol
Kudos for playing through these in hard mode by not doing tons of modification/uniform lances (I couldn't do it 😆)!
I got a big kick out of the Ano Rentoshi appearance - Ghost Bear's Legacy was so great!
th-cam.com/video/5s1FNOc9LV4/w-d-xo.html
Dude... spoiler in the title and the image? Not cool. There were hints in the trailer but really would have preferred not seeing this.
thanks for spoiling the game in your title.....
Fair enough. I've changed it.
@@SvenVanDerPlank❤