A YouTube exclusive series where Yebba FINALLY plays a demanded game from viewers. The Mass Effect Series has been a highly recommended series to me over the years and I’m finally playing it! Join me on my adventure through the life of Jane Shepard!
0:00 – Hackett on the Normandy & Mission Prep
4:55 – The Galactic Fleet Has Arrived
9:20 – Clear the way for Hammer
15:09 – HI DADMIRAL ANDERSON!!!
19:30 – Time to start saying goodbye…
47:49 – Advancement team, march!
1:10:04 – Reaper Down! Keep moving!
1:17:14 – Stumble to the Citadel
1:24:33 – Final showdown with TIM
1:33:05 – Meeting The Catalyst
1:48:11 – Decision Deliberation
1:54:45 – Decision Made & Aftermath
2:08:58 – We watch the credits in this house and overall thoughts
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR WATCHING!!!!
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7DHdbdyKfAeD9CnGLh_mxCyKNBCk4NyN
Footage from September 2023
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The series is so good it's life-changing.
Oh, and the Stargazer in the post-credits scene is Buzz Aldrin btw.
Alternate playthrough recommendations (as spoiler-free as possible):
ME1 – Save Ashley – They put a bit more effort into her story in ME3 than they did Kaiden's… not much, but you know, since they even in-joke about it in ME3, he's so bland, so they leaned into it.
ME2 – Beat all missions except Tali's LOYALTY mission, do all your shopping, then do the Reaper IFF mission. Immediately do Legion's Loyalty then immediately Tali's (bringing Legion with you). When Garrus tells you about the Reach and Flexibility, even if you are not going to date him, offer to ease stress together.
ME3 – Tell Chakwas to stay and work with Hacket… Then keep talking around. Be single and take the Omega DLC IMMEDIATELY as it is available (preferably as an Engineer) and do all of the Renegade options FOR THIS DLC ONLY. If you run into Kelly, tell her to change her identity. As fem Shep (if not installing poly relationship mods) try dating Traynor (note you can let her use your shower without it becoming romantic, hilarious to watch the "non-romantic option" in a playthrough after having dated her) and then during the Space Chess, choose the more aggressive dialogue options. Just be honest with Brooks and tell her that you want to kill her. In a playthrough in which you are dating Garrus, choose a non-dancing option (might be in the slow party option instead) and when you can't find Tali, REALLY LOOK/LISTEN for her and then listen carefully to everything she has to say after your conversation. Take a love interest on that final push mission.
I always choose control as, to me, I make one choice that affects only me, then I take the danger away from everyone. It's who I am, but if we're already going to die, right? I have to protect everyone or else I am just not me.
OH! OH! OH! The voice of the old man after the credits… Buzz Aldrin. Fan speculation has suggested that the character is Joker in his old age.
The end of an era. … I first started watching, because well, ME3, but then because you seemed so very familiar (like an old college classmate or former coworker despite always being in California), but stayed because of your content. You made ME3 fun again in ways that other content creators haven't, so thank you so much for that.
The way I look at it, every moment with "the kid" was actually the Catalyst. "Everyone's dying," "You can't help me", etc. The Catalyst does not like the solution it came up with, in fact, it hates it and is hurt watching it. However, from the data it collected, if synthetics kept progressing, synthetics would wipe out ALL life. This resulted in the solution of the Reapers harvesting only the advanced life before that can happen, so that what life that remains can flourish. It was the only solution the Catalyst could see. However, every cycle, it hopes despite not believing in it, even tries to influence organics, to come up with a new solution. It reaches out "observing" the one most likely in each cycle (at the start of the harvest), in this case, Shepard (hence also challenging him/her, their stopping of Sovereign encouraging the Collectors into making the Human Reaper, intentionally placing the Illusive Man as Shepard's foil – and most bits of TIM's actions seeming so focused on or around Shepard in ME3, etc). It wants all this to end, it never actually wanted any of this death, it just made the best tough decision it believed that it could, no matter how bad it just wasn't the worst possible option (just second worst). Kinda like how the parties offer during the U.S. elections the worst possible choices for their candidates and we have to pick which one is the least worst as opposed to getting the best possible candidates and picking between the two best choices. So, in a way, the Catalyst is the most tragic character in this entire series, being forced to make the most agonizing decision and being forced to implement it every 50,000 years for millions upon millions of years.
"Synthesis can't be forced"
Game then proceeds to force synthesis on everyone 🤣
Now for you to see the true ending…
Especially after you allowed the Reapers to win.
There's no Shepard without Vakarian.
FWIW, I also chose Synthesis the first time because I hate the idea of destroying the Geth and Edi. You weren't wrong about people giving you dissertations on your choice though, based on some of these comments lmao. There's no wrong choice though.
Also, post-Mass Effect depression is a real thing. Game freakin changes you. But you'll be back 🙂
Recording the goodbyes with Garrus is the only time Jennifer Hale (Shepard) broke down due to how much she loves him and the romance.
Welcome to the end of the road. This is one that's going to stick with you too. I imagine you can understand how Mass Effect fans lost their shit when Legendary Edition was announced completely out of the blue. It has been a real treat watching people experience this for the first time. Thank you for sharing this with us.
As for your ending, there's no real "answer" to the question of the Reapers. Just the ending that speaks to you individually. I will say the Adam and Eve imagery of Joker and EDI coming out of the ship together in Synthesis is a nice touch.
Edit: Enjoy your ice cream!
Great wrap up to a great series 🙂
I'm in the camp that thinks there is no correct ending – they all have positives and some pretty horrific drawbacks.
I think the choice a player makes isn't as important as the reasoning they use to get there – I think it displays a LOT about someone's character. I've seen defenses of all 3 endings that I can respect, and some really good discussions about the meaning of each of the ending. It certainly makes some people think.
It also leads to a lot of people digging in and RATIONALIZING knee-jerk choices they make for emotional reasons, rather than being RATIONAL – but people-gonna-people.
Looking forward to seeing what you play next 🙂
My first playthrough I chose the same but on the second I realized that I was basing my decision on what the AI said, There would always be conflict. I ask, How do you know? The future is not written. Bad data or uncertain data at best. The AI survives this way . Shep already proved that without having to combine we can still find peace. Regardless of you did awesome! Good work, Commander!
It's been the hell of a ride! Yours has been the best playthrough I've seen around.
You did well child, we're proud of you.
Had so much fun taking on the reapers with you Commander 🫡I’m grateful and honored to watch you complete this journey. Thank you Yebba vas N7🔺
Hey Siha, you did good child, you did good, we are proud of you. It had to be you someone else might have gotten it wrong. Synthesis is the Best, you cant kill edi.. remember that this Unit have a Soul <3
Situations change and the means to reach your objectives do as well in this game. Destroy ending is for those who don't adapt and adjust to new information and options. Synthesis gives you the better option I think. Control is not the option anyone chooses but in reality, I could see governments preferring that option. Someone did a fan option they did destroy but somehow Geth and Edi didn't die and this would have been the best option if were it in the game maybe or even canon. Next game that would be cool to see that happen and they can find reasons to make that happen. Romance options are so much better as male Shepard I think but then I am a guy. Miranda, Tali, Ashley are the ones as fem Shepard you couldn't romance.
I really dislike the synthesis ending but Tricia Helfer's delivery in the extended cut makes it worth choosing once
I'm happy to see you understood/processed the "fire" and "reaper" line. Not everyone really thinks about that one, it is a very interesting line.
I'm glad you loved the game so much, your reaction to it was exactly how I felt when I first played it and that's why it is my favorite game 🙂
So many decisions that have consequences.
Unfortunately by letting Javik look at the echo shard, he goes to join his fallen comrades & doesn't go on to live out the rest of his life writing a book with Liara.
By speaking to Cortez & helping him through the mourning of his husband, he didn't die in the shuttle when hit by the harvester.
Played the trilogy so many times, but still get the spine tingles watching the fleet come through the relay.
Hope you have many more playthroughs to come.
Fun fact..the catalyst voice is a combination of make & female shepherds voices.
I can really see you crying, if you ever choose Shepherd as a colonists & meet the girl behind the crate.
Wow, what a remarkable and rewarding journey this has been. No need to apologize for being a genuine human being with emotions, it has brought me much joy watching you experience this masterpiece. Thank you!
I am glad I got to share this with you : ) As for the crying, it's that piano bit that always gets me, it seems a fitting bookend for the start and the end of his final game. I sometimes just watch that intro when the reapers arrive, just the mood of it is so powerful. And with that I quote a famous commander and say: I should go.
This is such a great trilogy and it has been a fun journey to see you play through it!
The AI controlling the Reapers at the end says it was created to make a connection between organics and synthetics and in a twisted way it kind of succeeded. Both it and organics are attempting to preserve life in their flawed ways.
One thing I find funny is the galaxy had members of all species working on the Crucible, just a massive group of researchers and engineers. They built a machine capable of docking to the Citadel without anyone realizing that's indeed what had been built. Like the identity of the Catalyst was a mystery but for some reason this thing we are building for it has docking arms that exactly match the Presidium's width.
I personally prefer the destroy ending. None of the endings are perfect and are very much up to personal preference.
Ok, I may be talking too much, but I don't care…
There is a moment where we understand that the Geth and EDI's neural pathways have become organic rather than synthetic. We see it in the War Room when Legion even says that this is representative of an organic construct, not synthetic. Also, many feel that the 'destroy' option is canon. I'm not one of these people. However, I understand where they're coming from. If this is the case, do the Geth and Edi escape the destruction of synthetic life?
This entire mission gives me a heavy heart, even the handshake with Joker…knowing it’s the last time he’ll ever see Shepard.
I cried as much as you did and maybe a little more. And we both picked the same ending!
It's important to remember that there isn't a right ending and that each ending has it's own moral problems and/or risks. I love that because to me it hammers in the point that sometimes things aren't black and white and we sometimes have to work with the grey or make hard decisions as Garrus and Anderson talk about at different times during the series.
Out of curiosity I've tried all the possible variations you can get, but I'm always happy I initially went with paragon control (and to be fair, THE best ending monologue – though paragon/renegade are veeeery different). Even though all options come at a high cost, the other options were just too unconscionable for me to go with…I mean, essentially rewrite all life in the galaxy in sort of my own image, commit genocide of billions and allow untold millions more to suffer the aftermath, or just let the cycle continue….some pretty god awful options there 😄
That was, and still remains my reasoning – I agree with you, there are no good choices, only the lesser of a whole bunch of evils…so I prefer to go with the immortal AI equipped with my Shepards morals and ehics, and a perfect blueprint of Shepard on file ready to be recreated in ME4 😄
Ok, done droning on about that now, but I would like to point out this is just me elaborating on why I chose differently, not critizising your choice, which I do not have the right to do, nor would I ever want to be that big of a youknowwhat. This is probably about the….let's see here….billionth time or so I've said so, but yours is my favourite playthrough, and my only critizism is that is has now come to an end…until ME4 at least 😁
Heyhey!
Congrats on completing your Mass Effect journey! I think you worded it very well in saying that there's no wrong choice at the end given player experience and Shepard's journey in someone's specific playthrough, but at the same time there's also not a good choice because each comes with their own uncertainties and ramifications. There's simply not a clear-cut, happy ending available. I heard you mention something about dissertations, so I might as well share mine based off of own playthroughs and watching some Let's Plays and seeing other people's first experiences with this wonderful trilogy. You mentioned wanting to do another playthrough concerning the destruction ending, so my thoughts on that choice are written up more on the concept of destruction and the Catalyst's view on it, rather than talking about its epilogue narration. It's a giant wall of text and a big blurp of thoughts, but if you're ever bored/interested you can have a look! 😁
— Ramble on the Priority: Earth mission —
Priority: Earth in general has always been contentious for a lot of people, partially because they just don't want the trilogy to end and partially because they feel it was rushed. To me, at times it also feels it strained my suspension of disbelief more than other parts of the game. The final rush to the beam having all these vehicles blow up around you, but the Normandy, which is supposed to be fighting Reapers with the Sword Fleet, can quickly swoop in to save your squad and leaves without a scratch. And the ending being a CTRL+ALT+DELETE choice at the end (synthesis is sometimes referred to as alter, hence the ALT) also irked some people. All your previous decisions in the series seemingly don't influence the options for the ending , aside from feeling a more personal attachment to EDI and the Geth depending on how you played and not wanting to destroy them because of that. It came to a point where Bioware even released a free "Extended Cut" DLC to expand on the endings, which helped them feel a little more fleshed out at least. With Synthesis, from what I remember the entire part with EDI's narration was only added in the "Extended Cut" and the original endings were missing that whole bit to flesh them out.
It was difficult on BIoware's developers end at the time as well. There was a huge amount of development crunch unfortunately, which meant a lot of parts near the ending genuinely were rushed and they definitely didn't have as much time to flesh things out the way they wanted to. I'm just happy that the backlash over the initial endings didn't stop them from making the Leviathan and Citadel DLCs. I really enjoyed those additions and can't imagine the Mass Effect series without them now that I've experienced them. And the fact that the endings still lead to debate so many years later and there are a lot of people excited to see someone play this series for the first time really shows how much people enjoy the game series as a whole after all this time still. 😊
— Ramble on the Catalyst —
When the endings are introduced by the Catalyst, I'll always have difficulty accepting the explanation of the ending choices at face value. The Catalyst itself is not being very clear and is also contradictive at times. It reminds me in a way of how ME2's Legion during his loyalty mission at first says they accepted and respected the heretics' choice to ally with the Reapers, but then at the same time provides an option to rewrite (i.e. brainwash or indoctrinate) the heretics to conform with the Geth again. Your other squadmate for the loyalty mission literally calls Legion out on it even, to which Legion just states its an option and he doesn't prefer it over the other. Like with Legion not really understanding its own reasoning and logic in that moment, it feels to me like the Catalyst cannot comprehend its own situation and the choices that the Crucible has made possible.
Another thing that has me doubt the Catalyst is that he calls his creators flawed and that they lack foresight in not recognising themselves as being a part of the problem. Meanwhile, it clearly didn't expect organics to successfully come to a point where they'd dock the crucible and have an organic facing them, so the Catalyst is blind to its own lack of foresight and being flawed as well. The harvest and creation of Reapers is a placeholder for an actual solution, preserving the essence of the organic and synthetic races in a cycle and hoping that a future cycle might present an actual solution at some point. Now that the crucible has made possible solutions available the Catalyst tries to explain them, but I don't think they're actually capable of understanding them itself.
— Ramble on the different endings —
When it comes to the other endings, there's a few ways to look at them. Alongside Synthesis, Control actually has variations in the ending depending on if you're a Paragon or Renegade Shep. Next to those, there's also a (hidden) Refusal ending that has its own epilogue. Like I said earlier, the Synthesis and Control rambles have more specific analysis in it concerning the epilogue, but as you're still looking to experience the destruction ending yourself, that ramble's more on the concept of destruction as presented by the Catalyst.
For me, the synthesis ending epilogue always has me feeling a little like the galaxy has become some sort of Borg hive mind. Doesn't have to be a bad thing of course when there's nothing left to integrate into them against their will with everyone achieving synthesis at once, but I just find it difficult to wrap my head around how everything's interconnected (even the plants on the planet the Normandy crashes on seem to have a circuitry of sorts running through it!), but at the same time EDI still makes it sound like everyone is still their own individual being. It's vague enough to be left to personal interpretation, which is fun for some and a bit frustrating for those that just want closure.
With synthesis I'm also reminded of Mordin's talk in ME2 on the Collectors modifications disrupting the socio-technological balance and scientific advancement being due to intelligence overcoming, compensating for limitations. "No limitations, no advancement. No advancement, culture stagnates". Synthesis essentially turns everyone and everything into something with limitless potential and its difficult to imagine how life evolving/ascending in such a manner can still keep its diversity, culture, struggles and overcoming of these struggles… it all just seems to end up like this massive blob of limitless intellect with no further individuality, goals to chase or reasons to even be alive at that point.
The control ending has the feeling of becoming a form of intergalactic space police to enforce peace on everyone. It seems like a weird solution to me because of something EDI said. EDI mentioned the Geth uprising went the way it did because they were made as a collective intelligence, rather than individuals that have preferences like EDI herself, Being an individual AI made sure she didn't devalue individual lives. In the end Legion also believed individual AIs, rather than a collective consensus, was the way to move forwards and evolve as a species. With Shepard becoming this nebulous, collective Reaper intellect enforcing galactic peace and losing her connection to her own species, I find it difficult to see how she'll not grow to devalue individual lives and just end up as another Catalyst doing some sort of directive like "keep peace at all cost" in a flawed manner until she has to be stopped herself.
The destruction ending seems like a reset button for the galaxy to a time before the Catalyst, the Reapers and even the Leviathan were in charge. The Catalyst is seemingly convinced that the cycles are the only thing keeping the galaxy alive in some shape or form. However, other than observing civilizations during the time period of Leviathan, it has no sample size and I feel that hardly qualifies as enough evidence to decide the cycles are the only way to go. The Catalyst has never seen a full galaxy evolve and advance without the Leviathan lording over it and they also don't have a trigger to intervene in the galaxy specifically when the organics and synthetics start their "inevitable" extinction war each cycle. They simply have a timer that goes "advanced enough, harvest time!" every 50.000 years regardless of the state of the galaxy at that point.
Because of that, I don't believe the Catalyst's argument that synthetics would always wipe out organics with out the cycles. They're presenting their observations and opinions as facts when there's not enough evidence to support that claim. I imagine Mordin would scold the Catalyst for sloppy work by acting on not sufficiently proven hypotheses on how the galaxy and interaction between organics and synthetics works. Not to mention that to reach proper conclusions and consensus you'd need peer review and instead of discussing its findings with the Leviathan, the Catalyst instead chose to consider its hypothesis as fact and act upon it by straight up harvesting their creators.
—
Massive wall of text! Thanks to anyone for reading some or all of it if you did! Hope it was somewhat interesting or entertaining to go through, I liked writing it up at least 😅
Control ending is not as bad as you think, especially if you're playing the paragon Shepard. You'd get to keep everyone alive including the Geth and EDI plus the fact that peace and security for all races is going to be guaranteed. Now, the real Control ending which you'd wanna avoid is the renegade variation. I hear it's very dark and sinister 😅
By the way, I wish you'd brought Tali instead of Javik. She can be deadly to the enemies if you use her powers in tandem with your own and the other teammate's abilities. Don't underestimate Normandy's best girl. She's also one of the best romance options for maleshep 😊
Something else to keep in mind, do you know if the Catalyst can be trusted? You are essentially talking to a Reaper.
There are no warm and fuzzy "good" endings. Each ending has it's drawbacks.
No judgement here on your choice. I can make a compelling case for or against all of the endings.
2:05:40 No reaction to Quarians no longer wearing their masks?
And YES, play Andromeda! It's not the trilogy, but it's good in it's own right.
N7 Day is Nov 7. Please think about what you would like to see in ME5. BTW, some fans don't count Andromeda as ME4. But internal to Bioware the next Mass Effect is 5.
kinda surprised to see most streamers i see go to Synthesis ending…i always destroy lol
there was a fourth ending option, don't choose and let the war continue on to the next cycle. this is a real option that you can pick.
I have always hated the synthesis option it wraps things up too neatly and kind of feels like an escape from what would be a harder choice if you only had control, destroy or let the cycle continue. as aside from Shepard being dead its basically saying we are all the same now, we can all live together in harmony we have achieved universal oneness. i don't think that suits the tone of the trilogy personally.
Next playthrough do the Destroy ending for a special surprise. I only do the Destroy ending now lol
Ah yes. I was pacing back and forth on which decision to make😂
The biggest difference I found between femshep and maleshep is maleshep makes goofy faces.
Damn I forgot how much watching Anderson die hurts. The first time really fucking sucks
What a playthrough ….one of my personal highlights was when you saw Conrad Verner in ME3 the look on your face was just magic ….. your emotions were honest and true , I watch your episodes to make life better 🥰
34:41 in my world, that was Liara getting pregnant. Little blueberries on the way!!
Oh, heeeey Admiral Hackett. What, this dress and jewelry? Funny story actually…
There is a 4th choice, the cycle continues, if you shoot the star child, or less dramatically if you say you refuse to choose. I feel like a Renegade Shep might say the this cycle doesn't deserve to be the one.
Synthesis robs every race of the ability to self determine their own course and future. Legion said it for his people, the geth will choose their own future. Shepard should not choose for them or any race.
Destroy is genocide on the geth and Edi dies, a heavy price.
Control kills no one, except Shepard, but Shepard gets to make that Choice, and the star child the the entity that controls the Reapers is giving permission to be controlled.
When you think about the ethics of the choices control is the one, really that is ethically the best choice. No genocide, no taking away agency and self-determination from every race in the galaxy.