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Mass Effect made me love myself as a human being.

Id honestly prefer Bioware is dissolved and Dragon Age is given to a developer that actually cares about making great dragon age games that players really want. We have begged for a return to Origins since DA2, Not just the gameplay but the writing aswell. I just don't trust Bioware to make Dragon Age games anymore. I say all this cause the lore/writing is the key as to why I have lost Faith, Ive been down this road once, Veilguard is like Shadlowlands in Warcraft and shadowlands was traumatic as a fan of good fantasy storytelling. 200 million dollars and 10 years HELL NO! Anthems failure, mass effect Andromeda, now this, Bioware is more than likely gonna go under, They bleed funding and create bad PR for the third time and even Inquisition at the time was hated by fans cause it makes you do a ludicrous grind.

Uh...it's not any kind of punk. And the hope is purely dependent on the player's choices. We know what Mass Effect is. It's Space Opera. That's its genre. We've known since 2007. Disliked for the stupid title. XD

I have loved this game since its original release but i had only played the sequels at their lauch. I did eventually pick up the Legrndary edition and i am about a third of of yhe way through my first full paragon playthrough of the series. I love the campions and how cute some of the romances are. It was really cool to feel nd this video right now. If you haven't already you should check out Becky Chambers books.

You missed out on the renegade playthrough. Perfect excuse to replay.

Punk is fundamentally about resisting oppressive systems within a dystopian setting, which disqualifies both Mass Effect and Solarpunk from being truly "punk." Mass Effect leans more towards space opera, focusing on heroism and diplomacy rather than rebellion against an inherently oppressive society. Similarly, while Solarpunk presents an alternative vision of harmony between nature and technology, it lacks the dystopian struggle and defiant tone central to punk. Belief in utopias, historically, has often led to some of humanity's darkest chapters, as the radical pursuit of perfection inevitably justifies extreme measures and extreme oppression.

The way you say “that is human nature” sickens me to my core. The framing of qualities which we naively thought were solely human makes no sense in a world with many other sentient species and even sentient AI. This whole video is so disgustingly anthropocentric. But it’s so accurate as well. Because humans would behave so pathetically in such a world. The disease that humans suffer from the most is myopia. It affects almost everyone.

i would actually argue that the councils treatment of the Humans/the Alliance (and Shepard/Anderson specifically) is actually remarkably courteous, when we look at the other citadel species like the Elcor, Hanar or Volus we see that they are afforded even less power by the council than humans are even though they have been part of the citadel MUCH longer and (presumably) represent a large population. as for Shepard and Anderson... they behave like utter dipshits in front of the council, who are just showing the most basic ammount of due diligence when presented with some (at the time) absurd claims. tldr: there is a lot of oppression in the mass effect universe but the humans are NOT the victims.

Mass Effect is Star Trek with a Halo twist to it. I see the hope but don't see the punk.

Similarly from bioware, the first dragon age game seems soemwhat the same to me. Its a grim dark horrible setting, and as a result the main atagonist is actually not a laughably evil guy, hes just a cynic who is willing to do anything for his country. Meanwhile, your character saves the day by forging alliances, and solving conflicts useally fuels by a similar cases of good people being cynical and desperate. If you play as a good guy, the whole game kinda comes across as a critique of cynicism (morrigans whole arc is being less cynical). Through beign hopeful, you and alistair inspire your allies and save the day in a bleak bleak world.

This trilogy tuned me in a radical renegade....

Hope and imagination is a combo that we need so much when reality seems so bleak and it seems easier to surrender to fear and cynism. Fantasy, and more specifically the punk branch of the fantasy genre, can be a powerful tool to cultivate both imagination and hope on us to face reality and to make the present a time of more possibilities.

Oh man... this was beautifully written, and honestly made me tear up. Your topic is very appropo of what many of us feel right now, and its easy to fall to despair or resignation. Looking at such a personally influential series for hope, thats what art is for, and what community is for. I'm glad we are both in this little Mass Effect community, and I'm happy again my videos could help a little! You gave me some much needed light in dark times. It's been a good ride, and here's to many more!

One of the examples of hope is in star wars in original trilogy and serials, books, etc. set in the era of the empire. The rebels dont lose hope that they will defeat empire and they do eventually. On a related note I prefer Star wars than mass effect. It's cause there is a confirmed higher power in star wars(the Force) and mass effect is mostly atheistic which I dont like very much. It's not like I dont like mass effect, I do. I just prefer star wars

Wow, I'll have to give Mass Effect another try. This sold me on it

"being afraid of humans is totally warranted" <= story of my life Also, Cole, if you love hopeful stories, don't ever read any creative work of mine.

Humans aren't naturally bad to one another. But we are forced to live in states. And to states we are just resources to be used. They need to grow stronger, by conquests and/or exploitation. If they don't, they themselves will become conquered and/or exploited. We can't meaningfully interact with with the state. Changing who's in power doesn't change their nature, at most just their approach. So we can and should be nice to each other. But the systems we're living in literally require us to suffer and do as we're told.

I think the idea of the Maker is, and always will be fairly ambiguous. I think the questions that were answered were meant to cast doubt on the Chant of Light, because if they reinforced the Chant, it would make the idea of the Maker fact. And I dont think this Universe does well under a factual notion that there is a God that is looking out for everyone who does good. The things happening in Thedas have always been the physics of the world, or the mathematics of the world. It is cause and effect, which is what we can measure and predict. Even something called "magic" can be studied and predicted and created and experimented on. Therefore, the story of Andraste and the Maker will always be fairly murky as to the truth. We will probably never truly know what it all means, as in, I dont think there will ever be answers about who or what the Maker is, but we will likely be given a better understanding of what the world means. If you really think about it, there are not really a lot of mysteries left anymore in this world. The blight question has been answered, the question of the veil has been answered, the existence of Titans has been answered...I think now the game will focus on cause and effect. What was the cause of the elven wars, who are the Qunari, and the humans, how will the truth about the blights, and the dwarfs, and the veil effect the world as it is today. I think it sets up a very interesting Universe. There will be new power players, and the world will have to adapt to it. Some siding with them, others against.

Solas also doesn’t have to do anything about the Blight-my Solas went out screaming that he is a god like a true Pride demon, and never said anything about lessening the Blight. It was still cured.

Personally i don’t think there’s a Maker. Like we now know what the Golden City was

A thing i wonder is how the Darkspawns will behave in the future. Now they have no more possible Archdemons. Will they gain independence ? Will they rally to the remaining blighted magisters like the Architect? Will they be called by the Titans instead ?

My theory is the other elven gods became vulnerable by their Archdemons being killed, and Solas killed them during his ritual. The last two he had to try to imprison again since their Archdemons were still alive

For real. The amount of energy people put into being awful to others is astounding.

The is video is gonna be so relevant now

I was mad he was not used in Inquisition he would have been a good villian that we could have used get rid of the main villian.

34:10 Morrigan says the aspect that fell in love with the chieftain moved to a swamp. Andraste didn’t move to a swamp, she died. Flemeth moved to the swamp.

31:43 Art book shows they eat darkspawn hearts.

I think the Caretaker might be an Executor. They're a humanoid, robed figure wearing a many-eyed mask and have a voice that sounds both male and female at the same time.

I have a theory that the Storm is the Blight and is actually the enemy of Those Across the Sea, not their weapon. When the voice mentions "the Storm", "the Sun" and "the Wolf" they are clearly talking about the defeats of Ghilan'nain, Elgar'nan, and Fen'Harel respectively. They are saying these three big threats to their plans have been dealt with. Secondly, Qunari lore has them attempting to become more like dragons in order to survive the Storm, and the Blight is famous for having a hard time infecting dragons, and also being weak to fire. Thirdly, "the Storm that drinks the Sky" in Ghilan'nain dreams may have been metaphor for the Blight taking over the Fade. She never says the Storm is from across the sea, only that the Masked Eyes are. And dreams are more often symbolic than they are literal. And since prophecies can be interpreted in different ways, for all we know her dream was of a future where they went to war with the Executors, using the Blight against them. Which in turn led to the "storm" drinking the "sky" (aka the Blight consuming the Fade) as a consequence. Dooming the world. And finally, Anaris says he wants to "succor IN the Storm". Meaning he isn't trying to escape FROM it but to USE it. I think he wanted a body because he wanted to become blighted like Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan, because he wanted the power to fight Those Across the Sea, which as you speculated might be weak to the Blight. Also, I think the Executors are agents of something greater rather than masterminds themselves. The term Executor usually means a person or institution appointed to carry out the will of a decreased person. I think they might be the "Executors" of the last will of the Titans (or some similar beings) across the sea, and which are connected to the Yellow-Green Lyrium from Horrors of Hormak. Which in turn I believe is related to the Chantry iconography of lyrium being called the "Emerald waters of the Fade". Perhaps the Executors or Those Across the Sea are the Maker.

God I have so many things i want to say. I wish i had friends like these to discuss Veilguard lore with. My friends don't play DA expect for one who can't afford the game yet.

I think the executors will be linked to a Lovecraftian twist in the lore & story. The Executors I think will be an old cult of some kind, but they're described as "wrong" rather than evil because the motives of the Gods/ whatever celestial beings they serve won't be something mortal races can moralize. I think the Evanuris were formed in part to counteract the executors/celestial influences. But now that the fade is safe, the Executors don't have the disadvantage of having to account for it. I believe they'll represent something inherently un-magical, more celestial. This is why they were "aligned" with the inquisition, because they shared a goal in protecting the veil. I think it might even tread the uncaring Gods line - where the executors will prepare the world for the coming of their lord/ maybe the maker. This might also be part of why Solas wants the tear down the Veil - though I understand it might contradict the "best" ending.

Well well well

Hot take that a lot of commenters don't agree with: the game was great, well paced with interesting storylines, satisfying lore payoffs & very beautiful world design. Where it loses me a LITTLE BIT is that the writing is a bit too direct. I don't mean it derogatorily, but that everything is explained to you as of you need full clarity. Which isn't offensive or anything, but a lot of these things the majority of purple don't need spelled out to them & the ones that do will lovely not be paying attention anyway. I also don't like the secret ending. Thankfully, based on the wording it can be easily written out of or retconned.

I love the idea of the Fade being 'the Maker!'

I completely disagree with your take on how the chantry isnt involved with this. They are the whole reason this has gone so bad. Elthina was disgusting in my eyes, she had every chance to steer this the right way but she didnt. The chantry controls the people AND the templars until DAI. There's no excuse for how the mages were treated throughout this series.

Very good message. And it doesn't matter what label we put on things. Respecting characters, their writers, people who love those characters and their arcs, is important.

The executors literally say they whispered, which is why ppl think they manipulated everyone’s actions

Bro brood mothers are never coming back, ppl threw to much a hissy fit about how disturbing they were and now your a bad person if you want them to come back

I do find it interesting how this origin has so little to do with Origins main game and Awakening but has implications for the rest of the entire series.

I wasn't super thrilled by the secret ending, but I'm willing to see what BioWare decides to do with it. I am, however, really excited that we will finally get to see the executors. There are so many strange things that hint at what's going on ''across the sea''. What i rarely see anyone mention, are a couple of Codex Entries you find during Bellara's last proper story mission. They talk about a strange yellow liquid that absorbs magic, and mutates things it comes into contact with. That substance reminds me of the brine pool in ''The Horror of Hormak'', specifically the yellowy-greenish lyrium crystal above said brine pool. That, along with the fact that the executors smell strongly of the sea, aka brine, makes me think that this strange mutating, devouring substance is linked to them and the mysterious devouring storm. Maybe Ghilan'ain only experimented with that substance and wasn't it's origin. Sorry for going on this tangent, i really got lost in that train of thought

If you romance Bellara and have her be the one that gets captured, you do get a mid credit scene where they clarify that Bellara isn't cured. She just isn't connected to Elgar'nan anymore. She clearly presents as blighted and you can have a conversation where you and her emphasize the time you have left. Like making the best of what time you have left together.😢

i think the something new calling the blight since it was left openended its probabaly the Executors