The best thing about being a Mass Effect fan is that damn near every retrospective has something personal to say about the series due it's unique nature.
Right! The trilogy is a personal experience, through the characters, the topics and issues it touches on and the atmosphere and music makes it such an emotional journey, every time I’ve played the games I get sad when it ends, are the gameplay mechanics amazing? No, is there plenty to criticise about it? Absolutely, but I still can’t help but love it anyway
The Jessica Chobit thing still makes me so mad cause she replaced a MUCH Better character in Emily Wong, who ends up getting killed off screen in an unsatisfactory manner. Also the game engine made her look like melted wax, it wasn't great.
@@galientl4723 Wong realizes that the signal she is broadcasting led the Reaper forces to that location. In an attempt to escape in a sky van, Wong is shot at and injured as the Alliance forces and airport are destroyed. Bleeding badly and without any other weapons to use, she steers her sky van toward an approaching Reaper at ramming speed. Her signal is subsequently lost, and she is presumed dead. I cant remember if it's a News Broadcast or an Email you find out about it
Wrex's explorations on the effects of the Genophage on Krogan society as he has watched over the past thousand years is a conversation most games would shy away from. He notes how Krogans themselves cling to violence and individual accolades which hurts their capacity to organize, and there is some responsibility on them as well for their slow extinction.
I very much agree with the KBash who essentially says, in the Andromeda segment, that we should review games as they are NOW - not what they once were at launch or whatever. Which is why I strongly DISAGREE with the KBash who kept on dismissively trash-talking the elements of ME2 and 3 that were originally DLC. Those stories, characters, and extended endings are now all intrinsically built into the modern experience. DLC no more - they’re just THERE, permanently.
I think the big difference here though is INTENT. The updates made to Andromeda were implemented to help fix and realize developer vision while the DLC integrated into "main" content for ME2 and 3 were clearly made with increased capital in mind first and foremost. No matter the amount of time that passes, what they are never changes. It's why the legendary edition is marketed as the trilogy with DLC included cause its identity as additional attempts to siphon more money out of players doesn't go away with a shinier repackaging.
I dunno if it's the best of the 3, but ME2 is my favorite. I played it through at least a dozen times, purposefully changing the playthrough just to see the different results from the last mission. I was completely blown away when, after never doing any loyalty missions or upgrades, you leap to the Normandy and there's nobody to pull you up, and you just fall to your death.
I love it when you wear your heart on your sleeve KBash, never feel bad for speaking from the heart. You got a good one. Your criticisms and praises are interesting and your jokes are on point as usual. You never cease to impress me, be proud of what you do!
Maybe it's my autism but I've always found it incredibly easy to empathize with synthetic life. I've always had deep empathy with robots and AIs and androids and cybernetic characters - like Data and 7of9 and Evie and the Geth. I can't imagine a playthrough where I don't work towards achieving full equal rights for the Geth. I can't imagine a time where I'd watch Star Trek TNG and argue against Picard when he defends Data's humanity. Because, although we now live in a time where "AI" is real (at least to most people's beliefs... LLMs aren't true, hard AIs in the way sci-fi imagines them), AIs and robots have always been narrative shorthand for neurodivergent people - like myself, someone who's autistic. That was clear to me from age 9 or so when I first encountered Data in Star Trek. I saw ME. Heck, I've been CALLED a "robot" by my own mother (and not in a nice way). So yeah. I'll always and absolutely identify and empathize with synthetic characters and i think it's great that Mass Effect lets me do that.
Mass Effect 1 definitely didn’t feel threadbare in 2007, at that point it was a marvel of complexity and freedom rarely seen in video games at the time. Or at least that’s how I experienced it as a twelve-year-old.
Oh definitely. The lore and world building is great in 1, waaay better than the combat. Also the most variety in the dialogue choices and role-playing, especially on Noveria.
Ashley's Grandfather was the one who surrendered Shanxi to Turians, not her father. Her Father spent his entire life and died without ever gaining a rank above an enlisted serviceman. It's a generational thing.
The synth vs organic conflict became central because that's all that was left after none of their other ideas for a possible motive befitting the Reapers panned out. Really, ME2 pivoting toward even more mainstream appeal and not actually doing anything for the central plot is what set them up for failure in ME3. They couldn't land that plane, it exploded mid-flight.
Respectfully how tf could they have a boss fight with fucking harbinger? The thing dwarfs reapers and the leviathans shepherd is like a germ to it. Besides the devs were crazy strapped for time.
Commenting for the Rhythms of Al Gore. But also, dang, the way you talk about videogames is so impassioned and interested. The Nioh video convinced me to actually play and beat Nioh 2, now this one got me back on the Mass Effect Wagon.
Welp, I commented on a video of yours a while back that if you did a Mass Effect retrospective I'd join your patreon. You delivered so... "o captain my captain" (stands awkwardly on flimsy office desk).
Mass Effect is one of those franchises that you watch videos on from everybody not just a couple. If someone makes a video about the mass effect series and you are a fan of the games you are going to watch every one and not just throw them up as second monitor listening while gaming yourself
damn hearing kbash's love for mass effect is making me want to replay it and try to appreciate it now that i'm older, i really just remember mass effect 1 and exploring with the mako and feeling existential lol
I really don't get this thing about Ashley, she's concerned because aliens are on a TOP SECRET alliance ship, would you think someone was pig headed if they were concerned that I don't know... Iranians lets say were on a top secret US ship?
Maybe this is a hot take, but I get the most enjoyment out of “closing the book on another happily ever after”. I game as a form of escapism, I don’t want the day to day strife and tragedy of a real world experience. If I wanted that I would just turn my PC off and walk out the front door. Who knows, maybe some of you have wonderfully pleasant lives and need to mix things up a bit by suffering vicariously through gaming. No, I think I’ll force feed the fulfillment of being a hero while I game. But to each their own.
Yeah. Garrus and Wrex and Liara and Kelly Chambers might not be real, but it still feels good to be nice to them. Illium and the Citadel might not be real, London isn't in rubble with godlike alien cyborg cuttlefish dominating the skies, but it feels good to try to save them and the people within. Legion isn't real, Geth aren't real, Tali isn't real, Quarians aren't real. But saving them feels real enough to be worth it. Being mean, being overly confident, killing people because I think they might do something bad in the future? I try not to be mean IRL and I wouldn't kill people even if i legally could and i thought it was morally justified. Mass Effect isn't perfect, and there's valid reasons to play as a Renegade or Paragade Shep. But most of those people are my little pretend friends and i want everyone to get along.
I always felt like this was the biggest copout from the ending defenders, I didn't hate it because it wasn't happy and/or Shepard died, I hated it because it retroactively went back on its own lore and the themes that had been building for three games. Then while it did it, they rushed the climax and conclusion, leaving us completely in the dark on how our previous choices and the ending choice actually affected things. There should never have been a choice, just the amalgamation of all of your previous actions and how it affects the fight for the crucible. The narrative went out of its way in every. single. game. to showcase that ANYTHING other than the destruction of the reapers is indoctrination. Working with them, worshipping them, controlling them, the moment any character says destroying them might not be the best idea they are indoctrinated 100% of the time. Nowhere do we have any mention or insinuation about alternative firing methods for the crucible, only that it is designed to destroy reapers. The endings are so out of left field that they created a sense of complete cognitive dissonance which is where the displeasure over it truly begins, whether the player can explain that feeling or not. Then suddenly you think you can throw the reaper AI mastermind at me telling me I'm the one singular person in the galaxy that actually CAN control the Reapers and you have the gall to imply that you didn't intend for this to be interpreted as an indoctrination attempt on Shepard's mind via the appeal to his honor/goodwill? The writers are either still lying to themselves (and us) or they accidentally created the most impressive feat in gaming history by indoctrinating the player, then went and decided that it was better to just go with the "fuck up the lore on the 1 yard line" and pretend that your 3 games of consistent narrative/theme setup wasn't actually the intended interpretation.
Im not trying to love vicariously through my games at all. I just like interesting stories that have something to say that I haven't seen a hundred times. I want the author to tell me something about what themselves through their stories. Not saying I dislike happy endings, but I'd be really bored if that's all anyone ever did.
Escapism isn't inherently bad, good endings aren't inherently bad, neither are the opposites It gets boring when it's all you want out of media tho, either way. Variety is the spice of life, I enjoy artists all telling their own tales and what I can get out of it.
So what. It's the first time this video has showed up in my feed, and I'm grateful for it. I can imagine many others are too It's a 3hr video, and if the creator wants to reupload, and it gets views, why not
It's kinda funny. Everyone rips on Andromeda for its facial anmimation stiffness but the mainline trilogy didn't have much there either. The most expressive person was always just Shephard and some of the squad members but it was always body language not facial.
I'll always give credit to Bioware when it comes to the Renegade path, cause man is it boring. It really plays into the banality of evil and how evil isn't exciting or meaningful it's just the path of least resistance. Paragon has you being more focused and at times taking tougher challenges, but it always feels more rewarding.
Kaiden was so badly mishandled. In the first game I really appreciated how he seemed very cautious and questioned what was happening and why. He was willing to follow orders and was trying to do the right thing, but he was always just very concerned that he didn't actually understand something and it was going to come back to cause trouble. That cautious attitude played well for the 5 minutes you see him in the second game, I suppose, but it disappeared in the third game. He just blindly followed Shepard like lost puppy. No more introspection, no more honest questions about stuff, just bland, vaguely sexy dude. Even if you rank low with him to coming into conflict in the 3rd game, he never actually expresses that caution or skepticism I found endearing in the first game. I think the devs thought that made him more confident or something but it really just erased his personality.
Oh I dunno my ending with kaiden in the 3rd game was tragic. He never believed that I wasn’t corrupted by Cerberus and at the vital moment he was shot by garrus and died hating me 😢
@laserhawk0078 Ah, I'm one of those who can't be mean in video games. XD I'm aware you can end up killing the Virmire survivor, but I doubt Ill ever do it myself.
I wish more games were progressive, rather than "woke". Mass Effect was progressive, it simply included things naturally as a part of the story and world. It doesn't interfere with the narrative, or broader world. A lot of gamers now misconstrue anything like that to be woke, where there is an agenda and message in there, when stuff like this really was on the forefront and pushing boundaries in a good way. Old Bioware really understood how to pull off those sorts of themes, especially because they offered a lot of player choice in the matter that some modern games don't.
Yes I would one of the people who blames Mass Effect 2 for Bioware's downfall. It is the game that turned my Star Trek RPG, into a JJ Abrams Trek shooter.
Commenting as I start the video, future me, can we handle it? Some strange fear gripped me when I've seen this upload from you, an anxiety about this game that defined my early 20s when I was truly lost. I try very very hard not to think about it anymore.
You know, in all my years as a fan I’ve never heard of mass effect being called out for Bush-era conservatism. And I’ve got plenty of years of leftist video essays on top of that. Is it like a fringe opinion or what?
See a game like this is kind of funny for me, today I was just talking to my friends that games with the tag "choices matter" are an active deterrent for me lol. When I play a game I want to get all the way to the "point of no return" trigger, turn around collect everything from the beginning of the game even a collectible I might have missed chapter 1, filling out all the other abilities that I didn't get on a skill tree because instead of limiting the the resources forcing you to stick with a kind of build you're really just picking your favorites and flushing out the rest later. Then I beat the game with 100% completion and put it down. Replay value is usually not something I even want to look into 😅. (Kind of like Kingdom hearts) But again we all get into games for different reasons 🎉
I remember being a kid and hating ashley and being so pissed that i had to go save her but realizing i couldnt just let her go because i didnt like her. then i had to make the choice between her and kaiden and again l was like, "i cant let her die because im angry with her." And for the next two games i hated her cause i saved her. so i was particularly upset when she decided to come down and act like i was untrustworthy. Like /she/ had some moral highground! Lol, its such a great story. mass effect really immersed us for like 10 years straight.
Love this review of the good and bad of the series. I’ve seen folks in critical circles lamenting the over-streamlining and reliance on cinematics from the Mass Effect series, and how it would inspire other RPG’s with similar prioritizing. To me, that sounds like the threat of a good time, and that threat was largely unfulfilled. The Mass-Effect-likes never really materialized.
It's probably time for me to play all these games again.... I barely remember my impressions of these games when I first played all of these. I do remember generally feeling disappointed in ME2's distilled and refined combat compared to ME1, yet ME3 felt the best to play even though it was clearly built off of ME2. You are exactly right about the Citadel DLC; that was my favorite part of the trilogy. I loved seeing how my crew had developed after three games. And I remember feeling, as a player with a favorite romance option, utterly let down that there was no real option for a "happily ever after" with your romance and the crew. The reapers were my least favorite part of the whole series in large part because of the ME3 endings. It felt like their existence meant the inevitability that my Shepard would never have that happily ever after no matter what you did. Andromeda... I played through that pretty much day 1. I remember going fem Ryder and romancing Jaal. I still remember the moment where he stands down the barrel of a gun and manages to only get a cheek scratch out of it. I had a hard time not taking the Renegade interrupt in that moment, but I was glad I trusted him in the end. But this was the only game I didn't play through again a second time
I feel like reuploading this video suppressed its outreach because this is wildly delicious content and suffers from seriously low view count compared to subscriber count.
I think we reached very similar conclusions about Mass Effect overall, to the point where I wondered if you had read my backloggd review for ME1 while writing this video (not trying to take credit for anything said or anything like that, lol). I ended up feeling that Mass Effect is surprisingly prescient with its vision of the Reapers as a species that harvests life and sets it back to square one, which is similar to the role capital plays in gaming. Extrapolate that to real life, where the world is being bled dry majorly for the consumption of tech, which has a lot to do with video games, and the allegory/metaphor/whatever becomes strangely circular. That's not exactly what I said, but Mass Effect truly does have a weird relationship with itself, itself as a cultural and capitalist object, and it really does feel like a flashpoint for analyzing and talking about all of those things. You released this video 2 days after I finished ME3, too, somehow. Maybe we also caught the same sale for the Legendary Edition. This was a cool video to watch in this moment.
Really like your take on ME2 and the premise being detached from what was established in ME1. After first playing ME2 my immediate reaction was a bit negative - it was a fun game, but the collectors were a newly added enemy even if they were linked to the reapers, and the whole main narrative felt like padding inserted to make the game series into a trilogy artificially. I’ve since come to appreciate the game for the visual presentation and the “vibe”, which I will say feels peak for the series.
Good video, I knew nothing of Mass Effect and only really knew of it through EA sucking the life out of the series, and I'm glad to have this show me the life that was in it
It was more of an explosion, haha. People cared a LOT about the series (including me), so the letdown was immense. It ripples to this day, in mostly unfortunate ways, tbh. They went out of their way to salvage this when they really shouldn't have.
^_^ Still my favorite trilogy ever, as a sci-fi fan. Was elated to buy the Legendary edition at launch and re experience it improved. By that time my 360 had been broken for years so I couldn't play my original 360 copies.
Watched 3 separate roommates complete full trilogy play throughs in my age, I can say it’s a damn good video game space opera, but as a general space opera it peters out
me, after saying out loud "I hope he mentions the DLC hover-mako, that thing slapped" before it's mentioned in an explicit joke satirizing my hope through the lens of.. analysis completionism?: 12/10 I enjoyed
as someone who isnt a mass effect fan, but is a fan of kbash I will respectfully mute and play the full thing and give it a thumbs up and a comment for the engagement. Love what you do (parasocial) pal, keep up the good work.
This was amazing content. I played through the entire trilogy at least 5 times back after the third game recently come out. Despite the awful ending i just couldnt get tired of all the scifi and characters and action and choice-influenced narratives. The Citadel DLC remains one of my favorite add-ons ive ever played, and i spent countless hours in the multiplayer. Many years later i would play Legendary Edition, as a grown ass adult. A lot of the flaws mentioned in this video became apparent to me upon replaying the series, but there was still a lot to like as well. Its a real shame they didnt remake the multiplayer, ideally without any microtrashactions. It was really interesting when you talked about how the game was a product of its time in a cultural and political sense. This video gave me a lot to think about. Keep it up K-Bash!
Kaidan is really only boring in ME1 if you play paragon BroShep. If you go renegade and/or FemShep you do get more of his personality, or mod the game to make him a romance option for male Shepard in ME1.
2:06:40 You can't sneak that Hadestown reference past me, Kbash. But yeah, I understand where you're coming from on ME3. It has probably the most frustrating narrative in the series, but I think it succeeds in most of its big character moments. I'd prefer they do both well, but I'll take what we got.
The Engineer being classified as "Nobody Plays This One" when thats the class I went for is so hilarious HAHAHHAHA I mean it definitely is boring in ME1, but in ME2 (kinda, you get one robot turret) and ME3 it gets better when you get your turret AND ANOTHER TURRET
I got excited at the Steambot Chronicles mention then almost immediately remembered you're the only creator I've seen actually make a video on that game lmao Also interesting thing with the Geth vs Quarian part of ME3 is it's entirely possible to be locked out of the peace option regardless of your ParaGade score. It has its hidden point system that pulls from certain choices from 2 and 3, and if you don't have enough points either the Quarians refuse to stand down and get wiped out or the Legion attacks you and the geth are wiped out. I got this result when I played for the first time, and heartbreakingly lost the Quarians and Tali despite my efforts. Then it got weird cause the game bugged and Tali (who was super dead) showed up for the end game romance scene cause she was my love interest in 2...
I remember getting really into the Mass Effect series as a teen and thinking, after ME2, that the mystery of the Reapers was fascinating, but there was no way they would stick the landing. It's a double edged sword. I truly believe that there isn't an explanation for them that would feel satisfying, but not answering the question would feel like a cop-out. Especially at the time when the game came out.
"the young burn a path through life and spend their older years trying to plant flowers over the damage" good lord kbash, that one made me pause for a minute straight holy shit
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
The best thing about being a Mass Effect fan is that damn near every retrospective has something personal to say about the series due it's unique nature.
Right! The trilogy is a personal experience, through the characters, the topics and issues it touches on and the atmosphere and music makes it such an emotional journey, every time I’ve played the games I get sad when it ends, are the gameplay mechanics amazing? No, is there plenty to criticise about it? Absolutely, but I still can’t help but love it anyway
The Jessica Chobit thing still makes me so mad cause she replaced a MUCH Better character in Emily Wong, who ends up getting killed off screen in an unsatisfactory manner.
Also the game engine made her look like melted wax, it wasn't great.
Fuck yeah! I love sticking my dick in melted wax! It's great!
They did make her crazy thick tho
Wait Emily Wong got killed off screen? I played the series like 5 times and never knew this lol.
@@galientl4723 Wong realizes that the signal she is broadcasting led the Reaper forces to that location. In an attempt to escape in a sky van, Wong is shot at and injured as the Alliance forces and airport are destroyed. Bleeding badly and without any other weapons to use, she steers her sky van toward an approaching Reaper at ramming speed. Her signal is subsequently lost, and she is presumed dead.
I cant remember if it's a News Broadcast or an Email you find out about it
@ thanks for that
The fact that Grunt is a giant violent literal baby is precisely why I love him so much.
Grunt is literally Shepherd's child and I refuse to consider any other canon.
Wrex's explorations on the effects of the Genophage on Krogan society as he has watched over the past thousand years is a conversation most games would shy away from. He notes how Krogans themselves cling to violence and individual accolades which hurts their capacity to organize, and there is some responsibility on them as well for their slow extinction.
I very much agree with the KBash who essentially says, in the Andromeda segment, that we should review games as they are NOW - not what they once were at launch or whatever. Which is why I strongly DISAGREE with the KBash who kept on dismissively trash-talking the elements of ME2 and 3 that were originally DLC. Those stories, characters, and extended endings are now all intrinsically built into the modern experience. DLC no more - they’re just THERE, permanently.
I think the big difference here though is INTENT. The updates made to Andromeda were implemented to help fix and realize developer vision while the DLC integrated into "main" content for ME2 and 3 were clearly made with increased capital in mind first and foremost. No matter the amount of time that passes, what they are never changes. It's why the legendary edition is marketed as the trilogy with DLC included cause its identity as additional attempts to siphon more money out of players doesn't go away with a shinier repackaging.
Rnegade Shepard is the closest thing to a father I've had
and Renegade Femshep is the closest thing I've had to a mommy.
Renegade Femshep is the closest thing to a father I've had
Paragon Shepard is the closest thing I’ve had to an absentee parent I’ve had
A big dumb jellyfish is the closest thing to a father I've had.
What is this comment section
Technically, this too is a Princess Maker 2-like
What isn’t these days?
GODDAMMIT
HOW TO UNSEE
I dunno if it's the best of the 3, but ME2 is my favorite. I played it through at least a dozen times, purposefully changing the playthrough just to see the different results from the last mission. I was completely blown away when, after never doing any loyalty missions or upgrades, you leap to the Normandy and there's nobody to pull you up, and you just fall to your death.
I love it when you wear your heart on your sleeve KBash, never feel bad for speaking from the heart. You got a good one. Your criticisms and praises are interesting and your jokes are on point as usual. You never cease to impress me, be proud of what you do!
Maybe it's my autism but I've always found it incredibly easy to empathize with synthetic life. I've always had deep empathy with robots and AIs and androids and cybernetic characters - like Data and 7of9 and Evie and the Geth. I can't imagine a playthrough where I don't work towards achieving full equal rights for the Geth. I can't imagine a time where I'd watch Star Trek TNG and argue against Picard when he defends Data's humanity.
Because, although we now live in a time where "AI" is real (at least to most people's beliefs... LLMs aren't true, hard AIs in the way sci-fi imagines them), AIs and robots have always been narrative shorthand for neurodivergent people - like myself, someone who's autistic. That was clear to me from age 9 or so when I first encountered Data in Star Trek. I saw ME. Heck, I've been CALLED a "robot" by my own mother (and not in a nice way).
So yeah. I'll always and absolutely identify and empathize with synthetic characters and i think it's great that Mass Effect lets me do that.
Mass Effect 1 definitely didn’t feel threadbare in 2007, at that point it was a marvel of complexity and freedom rarely seen in video games at the time. Or at least that’s how I experienced it as a twelve-year-old.
Oh definitely. The lore and world building is great in 1, waaay better than the combat. Also the most variety in the dialogue choices and role-playing, especially on Noveria.
Ashley's Grandfather was the one who surrendered Shanxi to Turians, not her father. Her Father spent his entire life and died without ever gaining a rank above an enlisted serviceman. It's a generational thing.
The synth vs organic conflict became central because that's all that was left after none of their other ideas for a possible motive befitting the Reapers panned out. Really, ME2 pivoting toward even more mainstream appeal and not actually doing anything for the central plot is what set them up for failure in ME3. They couldn't land that plane, it exploded mid-flight.
Every year that goes by it becomes clearer how special this trilogy was
Mass Effect? I've got a mass effect in my pants 😎
👁️ 👄 👁️
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...I wanted to say that...
Caused by Tali's Mass Effect.
Yoyoyo, more like ASS Effect, amirite!?
I'm Garrus Vakarian, and this is my rectum. *Bends over*
And here I go and I mean this literally this is my 23th playthrough. Happens every single time I find a Mass affect video.
I thought I was tripping when this disappeared when I linked it to someone else when I was watching it
No Harbinger boss fight at the end is truly the biggest disappointment…
They were apparently gonna have one but it was too "video gamey". Idiots.
Respectfully how tf could they have a boss fight with fucking harbinger? The thing dwarfs reapers and the leviathans shepherd is like a germ to it. Besides the devs were crazy strapped for time.
Commenting for the Rhythms of Al Gore.
But also, dang, the way you talk about videogames is so impassioned and interested. The Nioh video convinced me to actually play and beat Nioh 2, now this one got me back on the Mass Effect Wagon.
If you are going to keep throwing this Custom Robo music at me, you might as well just do a Custom Robo video by this point.
yesss 🙏
Yes please
Welp, I commented on a video of yours a while back that if you did a Mass Effect retrospective I'd join your patreon. You delivered so... "o captain my captain" (stands awkwardly on flimsy office desk).
Mass Effect is one of those franchises that you watch videos on from everybody not just a couple. If someone makes a video about the mass effect series and you are a fan of the games you are going to watch every one and not just throw them up as second monitor listening while gaming yourself
damn hearing kbash's love for mass effect is making me want to replay it and try to appreciate it now that i'm older, i really just remember mass effect 1 and exploring with the mako and feeling existential lol
I really don't get this thing about Ashley, she's concerned because aliens are on a TOP SECRET alliance ship, would you think someone was pig headed if they were concerned that I don't know... Iranians lets say were on a top secret US ship?
Maybe this is a hot take, but I get the most enjoyment out of “closing the book on another happily ever after”. I game as a form of escapism, I don’t want the day to day strife and tragedy of a real world experience. If I wanted that I would just turn my PC off and walk out the front door. Who knows, maybe some of you have wonderfully pleasant lives and need to mix things up a bit by suffering vicariously through gaming. No, I think I’ll force feed the fulfillment of being a hero while I game. But to each their own.
Yeah. Garrus and Wrex and Liara and Kelly Chambers might not be real, but it still feels good to be nice to them. Illium and the Citadel might not be real, London isn't in rubble with godlike alien cyborg cuttlefish dominating the skies, but it feels good to try to save them and the people within. Legion isn't real, Geth aren't real, Tali isn't real, Quarians aren't real. But saving them feels real enough to be worth it. Being mean, being overly confident, killing people because I think they might do something bad in the future? I try not to be mean IRL and I wouldn't kill people even if i legally could and i thought it was morally justified.
Mass Effect isn't perfect, and there's valid reasons to play as a Renegade or Paragade Shep. But most of those people are my little pretend friends and i want everyone to get along.
I always felt like this was the biggest copout from the ending defenders, I didn't hate it because it wasn't happy and/or Shepard died, I hated it because it retroactively went back on its own lore and the themes that had been building for three games. Then while it did it, they rushed the climax and conclusion, leaving us completely in the dark on how our previous choices and the ending choice actually affected things.
There should never have been a choice, just the amalgamation of all of your previous actions and how it affects the fight for the crucible. The narrative went out of its way in every. single. game. to showcase that ANYTHING other than the destruction of the reapers is indoctrination. Working with them, worshipping them, controlling them, the moment any character says destroying them might not be the best idea they are indoctrinated 100% of the time. Nowhere do we have any mention or insinuation about alternative firing methods for the crucible, only that it is designed to destroy reapers. The endings are so out of left field that they created a sense of complete cognitive dissonance which is where the displeasure over it truly begins, whether the player can explain that feeling or not.
Then suddenly you think you can throw the reaper AI mastermind at me telling me I'm the one singular person in the galaxy that actually CAN control the Reapers and you have the gall to imply that you didn't intend for this to be interpreted as an indoctrination attempt on Shepard's mind via the appeal to his honor/goodwill? The writers are either still lying to themselves (and us) or they accidentally created the most impressive feat in gaming history by indoctrinating the player, then went and decided that it was better to just go with the "fuck up the lore on the 1 yard line" and pretend that your 3 games of consistent narrative/theme setup wasn't actually the intended interpretation.
Im not trying to love vicariously through my games at all. I just like interesting stories that have something to say that I haven't seen a hundred times. I want the author to tell me something about what themselves through their stories.
Not saying I dislike happy endings, but I'd be really bored if that's all anyone ever did.
Escapism isn't inherently bad, good endings aren't inherently bad, neither are the opposites
It gets boring when it's all you want out of media tho, either way.
Variety is the spice of life, I enjoy artists all telling their own tales and what I can get out of it.
@@JameboHayabusa i agree and i don't want to imply that's all i ever want to see.
1:42:01 I still play ME3 MP to this very day. I was playing a match on my Steam Deck while watching this.
Reupload Bros Are up
what exactly is a "reupload bro"?
@@cannibaletiquette5038 It's in the name.
@@Kirby-KriosYe.
Cool Kurusu Soma photo profile. Where can I get one?
So what. It's the first time this video has showed up in my feed, and I'm grateful for it. I can imagine many others are too
It's a 3hr video, and if the creator wants to reupload, and it gets views, why not
Wake up bro. New re-upload is up. And it's amazing
It's kinda funny. Everyone rips on Andromeda for its facial anmimation stiffness but the mainline trilogy didn't have much there either. The most expressive person was always just Shephard and some of the squad members but it was always body language not facial.
Classic KBash move: fill me with hope and optimism at the end of the video and then go "nah you've gotta listen to me talk about Andromeda still"
I really thought the video was about to happily end but then i was abruptly reminded that andromeda existed.
@valentinecure329 have you played it since launch games pretty good like a good 7 or 8 outta 10
@@habijjj I haven't played Andromeda at all. Knew since launch that it wasn't for me.
I'll always give credit to Bioware when it comes to the Renegade path, cause man is it boring. It really plays into the banality of evil and how evil isn't exciting or meaningful it's just the path of least resistance. Paragon has you being more focused and at times taking tougher challenges, but it always feels more rewarding.
I really hope your marriage isn't failing man. Really hope that was just a joke.
I hope it *IS failing.* It makes the joke funnier lol
Even as a joke it’s not very funny. But it is probably a joke.
I like to think KBash wouldn't make something like that public if it were true
It's so clearly a joke
I always show up to learn about video games I don't want to play and I always leave wanting to lift up myself and the people around me.
Yikes I love a good long video essay about a series I know/like. You feed us so well :') excellent work!
Kaiden was so badly mishandled. In the first game I really appreciated how he seemed very cautious and questioned what was happening and why. He was willing to follow orders and was trying to do the right thing, but he was always just very concerned that he didn't actually understand something and it was going to come back to cause trouble. That cautious attitude played well for the 5 minutes you see him in the second game, I suppose, but it disappeared in the third game. He just blindly followed Shepard like lost puppy. No more introspection, no more honest questions about stuff, just bland, vaguely sexy dude. Even if you rank low with him to coming into conflict in the 3rd game, he never actually expresses that caution or skepticism I found endearing in the first game. I think the devs thought that made him more confident or something but it really just erased his personality.
Oh I dunno my ending with kaiden in the 3rd game was tragic. He never believed that I wasn’t corrupted by Cerberus and at the vital moment he was shot by garrus and died hating me 😢
@laserhawk0078 Ah, I'm one of those who can't be mean in video games. XD I'm aware you can end up killing the Virmire survivor, but I doubt Ill ever do it myself.
KBash on my birthday!?!? KBest gift ever!!!!!
Hbd
I've never been able to bring myself to do a renegade playthrough or maleShep.
based
I wish more games were progressive, rather than "woke". Mass Effect was progressive, it simply included things naturally as a part of the story and world. It doesn't interfere with the narrative, or broader world. A lot of gamers now misconstrue anything like that to be woke, where there is an agenda and message in there, when stuff like this really was on the forefront and pushing boundaries in a good way. Old Bioware really understood how to pull off those sorts of themes, especially because they offered a lot of player choice in the matter that some modern games don't.
Except kaiden being gay out of nowhere in ma3
Yes I would one of the people who blames Mass Effect 2 for Bioware's downfall. It is the game that turned my Star Trek RPG, into a JJ Abrams Trek shooter.
Mass Effect is one of the main reasons, why modern Bioware hurts he so much to look at.
Most accurate character description of Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams
Commenting as I start the video, future me, can we handle it?
Some strange fear gripped me when I've seen this upload from you, an anxiety about this game that defined my early 20s when I was truly lost. I try very very hard not to think about it anymore.
You know, in all my years as a fan I’ve never heard of mass effect being called out for Bush-era conservatism. And I’ve got plenty of years of leftist video essays on top of that. Is it like a fringe opinion or what?
See a game like this is kind of funny for me, today I was just talking to my friends that games with the tag "choices matter" are an active deterrent for me lol. When I play a game I want to get all the way to the "point of no return" trigger, turn around collect everything from the beginning of the game even a collectible I might have missed chapter 1, filling out all the other abilities that I didn't get on a skill tree because instead of limiting the the resources forcing you to stick with a kind of build you're really just picking your favorites and flushing out the rest later. Then I beat the game with 100% completion and put it down. Replay value is usually not something I even want to look into 😅. (Kind of like Kingdom hearts) But again we all get into games for different reasons 🎉
"They used to eat flies..." One of my fav quotes of the entire series 🤣
I remember being a kid and hating ashley and being so pissed that i had to go save her but realizing i couldnt just let her go because i didnt like her. then i had to make the choice between her and kaiden and again l was like, "i cant let her die because im angry with her." And for the next two games i hated her cause i saved her. so i was particularly upset when she decided to come down and act like i was untrustworthy. Like /she/ had some moral highground!
Lol, its such a great story. mass effect really immersed us for like 10 years straight.
Except Ashley had every right to not trust you, lol.
@@willfanofmanyii3751 sure but I didn't like her, she killed wrex. Lol
@@kaemonbonet4931 ...because Wrex betrayed you and was about to kill you.
@@willfanofmanyii3751 not my boy! I could talk him down!😭
I aint even been this fast, 3 hr video too. Know what I'm watching after work tn
Arc the Lad allowed you to carry over save data on the PSX. Mass Effect wasn´t the first of anything on consoles. Good game or not.
I liked Andromeda the most.
Yes, me being a disaster lesbian for Vetra is like 90% of the reason why, but STILL 😂
Love this review of the good and bad of the series. I’ve seen folks in critical circles lamenting the over-streamlining and reliance on cinematics from the Mass Effect series, and how it would inspire other RPG’s with similar prioritizing.
To me, that sounds like the threat of a good time, and that threat was largely unfulfilled. The Mass-Effect-likes never really materialized.
I was not alone in my terror of that magic school bus moment I see
...Save the Gaming Society... KBash...!
Never knew I wanted a video so much until now
25:33 oh my god. This is too much, haven't laughed that hard all day. I kind of wish their dialogue was exactly like that now.
Like your influence on Garrus, you can influence Ashley to be 'paragon' Ashley - she sides with the council in your pre-Ilos conversation.🤓
It's probably time for me to play all these games again.... I barely remember my impressions of these games when I first played all of these. I do remember generally feeling disappointed in ME2's distilled and refined combat compared to ME1, yet ME3 felt the best to play even though it was clearly built off of ME2. You are exactly right about the Citadel DLC; that was my favorite part of the trilogy. I loved seeing how my crew had developed after three games. And I remember feeling, as a player with a favorite romance option, utterly let down that there was no real option for a "happily ever after" with your romance and the crew. The reapers were my least favorite part of the whole series in large part because of the ME3 endings. It felt like their existence meant the inevitability that my Shepard would never have that happily ever after no matter what you did.
Andromeda... I played through that pretty much day 1. I remember going fem Ryder and romancing Jaal. I still remember the moment where he stands down the barrel of a gun and manages to only get a cheek scratch out of it. I had a hard time not taking the Renegade interrupt in that moment, but I was glad I trusted him in the end. But this was the only game I didn't play through again a second time
Idk why this made me laugh, but "again a second time" sounds so redundant
2:41
All extra terrestrials should have your hair, you are g o r g e o u s
Compared to other extraterrestrials shown in movies and games, I think he is.
I feel like reuploading this video suppressed its outreach because this is wildly delicious content and suffers from seriously low view count compared to subscriber count.
I think we reached very similar conclusions about Mass Effect overall, to the point where I wondered if you had read my backloggd review for ME1 while writing this video (not trying to take credit for anything said or anything like that, lol). I ended up feeling that Mass Effect is surprisingly prescient with its vision of the Reapers as a species that harvests life and sets it back to square one, which is similar to the role capital plays in gaming. Extrapolate that to real life, where the world is being bled dry majorly for the consumption of tech, which has a lot to do with video games, and the allegory/metaphor/whatever becomes strangely circular. That's not exactly what I said, but Mass Effect truly does have a weird relationship with itself, itself as a cultural and capitalist object, and it really does feel like a flashpoint for analyzing and talking about all of those things. You released this video 2 days after I finished ME3, too, somehow. Maybe we also caught the same sale for the Legendary Edition. This was a cool video to watch in this moment.
Masterpiece video. Thanks KBash.
Really like your take on ME2 and the premise being detached from what was established in ME1. After first playing ME2 my immediate reaction was a bit negative - it was a fun game, but the collectors were a newly added enemy even if they were linked to the reapers, and the whole main narrative felt like padding inserted to make the game series into a trilogy artificially.
I’ve since come to appreciate the game for the visual presentation and the “vibe”, which I will say feels peak for the series.
Good video, I knew nothing of Mass Effect and only really knew of it through EA sucking the life out of the series, and I'm glad to have this show me the life that was in it
It was more of an explosion, haha. People cared a LOT about the series (including me), so the letdown was immense. It ripples to this day, in mostly unfortunate ways, tbh. They went out of their way to salvage this when they really shouldn't have.
^_^ Still my favorite trilogy ever, as a sci-fi fan. Was elated to buy the Legendary edition at launch and re experience it improved. By that time my 360 had been broken for years so I couldn't play my original 360 copies.
30:09 perfect time for my internet to freeze up and keep on this frame. i thought it was part of the bit
I was genuinely surprised Andromeda was discussed. Completly forgot about the game
Watched 3 separate roommates complete full trilogy play throughs in my age, I can say it’s a damn good video game space opera, but as a general space opera it peters out
me, after saying out loud "I hope he mentions the DLC hover-mako, that thing slapped" before it's mentioned in an explicit joke satirizing my hope through the lens of.. analysis completionism?: 12/10 I enjoyed
I always go engineer and choose tali and legion whenever possible. Just driwn the enemy in summons
as someone who isnt a mass effect fan, but is a fan of kbash I will respectfully mute and play the full thing and give it a thumbs up and a comment for the engagement. Love what you do (parasocial) pal, keep up the good work.
maybe if Im feeling generous I might watch just for the jokes.
3 hour ME retrospective just what I need
breh ur content is the highest quality i've come across
This was amazing content. I played through the entire trilogy at least 5 times back after the third game recently come out. Despite the awful ending i just couldnt get tired of all the scifi and characters and action and choice-influenced narratives. The Citadel DLC remains one of my favorite add-ons ive ever played, and i spent countless hours in the multiplayer.
Many years later i would play Legendary Edition, as a grown ass adult. A lot of the flaws mentioned in this video became apparent to me upon replaying the series, but there was still a lot to like as well. Its a real shame they didnt remake the multiplayer, ideally without any microtrashactions.
It was really interesting when you talked about how the game was a product of its time in a cultural and political sense. This video gave me a lot to think about. Keep it up K-Bash!
Kaidan is really only boring in ME1 if you play paragon BroShep. If you go renegade and/or FemShep you do get more of his personality, or mod the game to make him a romance option for male Shepard in ME1.
Babe wakeup, Kbash reuploaded
Spider-Man 2: Special Edition (Featuring Dante as spider-man Itself)
2:53:39
for any who are curious, his name is spelled "Hernán Cortés".
The Custom-Robo soundtrack is really so beyond incredible
THE PROMISED DAY HAS COME!!!!
Yo yo yo this video is exceptional as always! Hope it becomes viral
holy fck what a final monologue at the en , congrats k bash
Volus was my favorite race to play as in the multiplayer, smaller hit box and infinite shield regeneration if you had other volus in the squad
1:19:17 my dude beeping out the word gamers during this segment is peak comedy 😂😂😂.
Andromeda multiplayer was actually really fun and I still reinstall it sometimes to fuck around
the ME1 Mako was the original Skyrim Horse. see that mountain over there? just GO!
physics be damned
1:43:26 Ahh yes, the underappreciated alien race of the Mass Effect series, the Battlefield 3 from the homeworld of DICE.
2:06:40 You can't sneak that Hadestown reference past me, Kbash.
But yeah, I understand where you're coming from on ME3. It has probably the most frustrating narrative in the series, but I think it succeeds in most of its big character moments. I'd prefer they do both well, but I'll take what we got.
I'm not familiar with Mass Effect so i saw the second silhouette and thought it was a little guy with nub hands piloting a tall fella.
The Engineer being classified as "Nobody Plays This One" when thats the class I went for is so hilarious HAHAHHAHA I mean it definitely is boring in ME1, but in ME2 (kinda, you get one robot turret) and ME3 it gets better when you get your turret AND ANOTHER TURRET
"I have prostate cancer" -Buzz Aldrin
30:10 at least they didn't have his eyes boil and explode from the pressure differential.
Another masterpiece. And thanks TH-cam for sucking this out of my sub box.
Engineer is my comfort class ;-;
I got excited at the Steambot Chronicles mention then almost immediately remembered you're the only creator I've seen actually make a video on that game lmao
Also interesting thing with the Geth vs Quarian part of ME3 is it's entirely possible to be locked out of the peace option regardless of your ParaGade score. It has its hidden point system that pulls from certain choices from 2 and 3, and if you don't have enough points either the Quarians refuse to stand down and get wiped out or the Legion attacks you and the geth are wiped out.
I got this result when I played for the first time, and heartbreakingly lost the Quarians and Tali despite my efforts.
Then it got weird cause the game bugged and Tali (who was super dead) showed up for the end game romance scene cause she was my love interest in 2...
saw this and exclaimed "Oh fuck yea a new Kbash video!"
I remember getting really into the Mass Effect series as a teen and thinking, after ME2, that the mystery of the Reapers was fascinating, but there was no way they would stick the landing. It's a double edged sword. I truly believe that there isn't an explanation for them that would feel satisfying, but not answering the question would feel like a cop-out. Especially at the time when the game came out.
"the young burn a path through life and spend their older years trying to plant flowers over the damage" good lord kbash, that one made me pause for a minute straight holy shit
Great video man. Definitely going to he rewatching this one. Very thoughtful analysis
"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite video on the Kbash"
Just in time for my night shift, bless you Kbash 🙏
I thought I didn't need to hear any more takes on ME3's ending, but I loved yours.