What a fascinating character. Brilliant but misguided, simultaneously embodying the best and worst of our nature, the Illusive Man works from the shadows to further what he believes to be the common interests of humanity. He is a visionary in every sense of the word, having created a galaxy spanning extralegal organization with a (mostly) unified goal and nearly unlimited financial resources. In a galaxy filled with aliens of every stripe, he's able to keep up with or outpace all of them. The man is cunning enough to play the game on even footing with the goddamn Shadow Broker. If we need proof that we're just as capable or intelligent as any other Citadel race, we need look no further than the Illusive Man. But on the other side of the coin, he also proves that we, as a species, can be just as petty and tribal, with our own inner demons.
One of the things, I believe, that Mass Effect has encapsulated beautifully is a human being or, to be more precise, human nature. For instance, it took us only 8 years to receive an embassy on the Citadel when it mostly takes a century or more for any species to receive one. There is a reason why Council wanted us on their side. They recognized the potential benefits of that relationship, and also, the dangers of leaving us unchecked and as possible enemies.
If I would come to make a business deal with you and I would enter a room like this my next words to you would probably be: ¨Yes Sir¨, Right away Sir¨, ¨Anything else Sir ?!¨ ....
@@pacificblue5461 Bruh, being a ceo is being both spending and economical. But i agree with you on that, that's the part that goes under the spending part.
The Illusive Man was just visually brilliant. We don’t even have to talk about his merit as a character. Few characters in fiction are so aesthetically captivating and scenery-chewing as him. His room conveys an all-knowing presence with its endless screens implying he knows about everything happening in the ME universe. He has a lone chair, signifying that he alone makes decisions at Cerberus, a visual cue to his genius. It just speaks to his character overall: you admire but also fear him, you’re fascinated by him but you also don’t trust him. He’s created an empire out of nothing, and he’s utterly determined to see his vision of human dominance achieved. Just looking at his room, you know it’s not wise to bet against someone like this.
@@High_7 They never really flesh out G-man. He's just some weird being that can stop time or some shit. The Illusive Man is a part of the story, rather than a tool to move it along.
and probably the best one. I mean who else has a privilege of having an office in outer space and a grandiose view of a dying star before them? Nobody.
"I tried, Shepherd" Have to give that man his dues. He tried his best but unfortunately his ambitions were far too great for only one human to shoulder.
You know, some people see the Illusive Man as being "butchered" in ME3, but I'm actually fine with the arc his character goes on. In my mind, the final conversation you have with him in ME2 is the last time we ever meet him; everything after that is a different character. He died before ME3 even began, with some reaper walking around and speaking through his body. He was "butchered" in ME3 because, in the lore, that is EXACTLY what happens to someone who is indoctrinated. They begin to lose their mental faculties and contradict themselves and go insane, like he did throughout the Reaper War. Edit: Honestly I'd say the Illusive man is one of the only things ME3 actually did well (Aside from Tuchanka, Rannoch, the intro, and the final goodbyes on Earth).
Yeah its what happened to Saren, you could talk him into killing himself once you helped him realize how much he had messed up, just like the Illusive man in ME3's ending
To be honest, TIM was a loonie before ME3 as well. His depiction in ME2 is uncharacteristic because he is purposefully trying to appear nice to Shepard. But see e.g. Mass Effect: Ascension that gives a less biased picture.
"Fascinating race, the Protheans. They left all of this for us to discover, but we've squandered it." The Illusive Man is one of the best characters in Mass Effect, and also one of the most tragic. He dedicated most of his life to finding a way to defeat the Reapers by sacrificing countless numbers of lives, but, in the end, that would be useless for he was already under Reaper control.
The problem is, Basil Gaizka that you need a rocket/ship to get there AND have sufficient heat shielding. A proper window is necessary too, you dont want to go blind, but you dont want a darkened vision of the sun either... we were born in wrong generation, we can only hope that hibernation will be discovered soon, so we could freeze ourselves until the proper tech is avaible.
@@xDxD-hm5vt If we freeze ourselves there will be nothing to wake up to. It's up to us to develop that technology, so that our desecandants can thrive. That is the human way now. We work to better our species, not ourselves. If we are frozen then so is our progress, we would never wake up. We would be frozen until the sun expands to the point where the earth is swallowed, then we are no more. We are dead. The elements that cosnitituted our bodies have been recycled and we will finally be one with the universe agian. Life is entropy, and death is equilibrium. Do not fear it, embrace it. Enjoy your life. We are the universe. It has birthed us, given us the ability to live. Do not squander that gift, do not live your life wishing for another.
That's exactly why I kinda stopped regular gaming ~2 years ago. I've tried to play the newer AAA titles and the well-received ones released in the past two years, and am utterly disappointed. Been having some free time and have decided to go back to "older" games with good stories, memorable characters and soundtracks...**sighs**
Yeah I haven’t bought a whole lot of new games in recent memory because of this but one day, just one day they will see how this is financial suicide and need to step up with the games alot
just replay all the older games, and enjoy the trip down memory lane. That's the thing about video games, you can play them over again, and it will feel new every time.
I miss how focused the experience was in this era. Currently, games are pumped full of side content and (essentially) mini-games. It's not all bad, but it can break the flow a bit. I'm 66% of the way through Spider-Man, but had to take a break due to banging out so much of the side content. Put RDR2 down weeks ago. Not sure if I'll get back to it. Witcher 3 was awesome, though. Haven't played anything great since.
I never thought of it like that, that the Illusive Man just has speakers that play his theme consistently. Also you sir just got yourself another subscriber.
Gaming Ambience I can't help but laugh now whenever I think about that. The Illusive Man just playing his song throughout the entire base and especially his personal chamber. It's a funny thought.
Maybe it helped his enormous ego. Wonder what his brainwashed soldiers and scientists thought hearing it all day while performing their regular duties there.
I think the best thing about his character was that he realized all the way up to the end exactly what he was doing even with the reapers banging on his brain. I frequently associate him with being manipulative, murderous and a kind of schemer. I equate him to some form of cancer that humans should have dispensed with by this point in the fiction of Mass Effect but when I look at his overall purpose and what he was trying to do, I feel bad for him. He truly wanted what was best for humanity and he really believed what he was doing was right.The world is full of grey areas and he was the most interesting character to me in the series because he made me think twice about the difference between right and wrong. A lot of the characters in the series seemed to focus on what he had done to accomplish his goals but never the goals that he had attained. He was the personification of "the ends justify the means". It would be easy to dismiss him as a kind of Hitler and put him in a box but I don't think I'd be the only one to say that if he hadn't made some of the decisions that he did the reapers would have taken over a lot sooner. Hell there wouldn't have been a second and third game if it wasn't for him reviving Shepard.
fireeverything many times in the trilogy do characters mention that they are glad that they aren’t the ones making the hard decisions. The illusive man embodies that very train of thought. Near the end he lost the thing he was fighting for, humanity
I've always seen him as a calculating opportunist in dire situations. Also someone that does whatever it takes and refuses to bargain with morality and ethics. Rationality and logic always come first in decision making, like an artificial intelligence. In fact, his eyes symbolize this concept. Paradoxically, humans are all about morality and ethics. Perhaps he was cheering for the wrong 'team'.
Just found out they were reviving the trilogy and I randomly thought of this song again. I had forgotton about this comment and thought, " jesus they screwed up Andromeda so bad". God damn THIS trilogy was so good. I'd give up alot of shit to go back and play this game with a blank slate and not know what happens.
Mass Effect was great at creating an ambience, this is well known - it did this through the creation of convincing locations, discernable characters, an aura of mystery around some of them, and a pace with which to absorb it all. Great game, few other games are as good.
One thing I absolutely loved was how his music was NOT dark and sinister. It seemed intelligent, high tech, and superior, with a hint of a romantic kind of desperation. In the second game I really wanted to believe in something with him that would benefit mankind, even if it was radical. Throughout the whole second game, I played as a renegade who did not trust Cerberus, but in the end he still praised me enough when I made difficult choices (such as how I handled keeping David in project overlord) The whole second game where most of my crew approved of cerberus, I diddnt. But then my Shepard gave in handed him the collector base, and SUDDENLY everyone disapproved. I felt like that was a real turning point in my perspective. He did not want to stop the collectors because he cared. He wanted to replace the collectors so he could control the reapers and use people like test subjects as well. Even at the end-in the third game-part of you felt nostalgic and wanted to work with him even though you knew he was a lost cause
If EA didn't rush 3, if they let the game have 4 or 5 years development instead of 2, I think they would have expanded cerberus a bit more. Fallout let's you entirely side with different factions, something like that could have been implemented to side with the alliance or cerberus, and whichever you side with, the opposition seems indoctrinated. Imagine Hackett and the virmire survivor with reaper eyes
@@cpob2013100% agree Cerberus was doing good in the Second game. Even if you try to point out some bad, like Project Overlord the illusive man himself disavows what Archer did to his brother.
I think it's safe to say that this them and the Illusive Man himself were inspired by the X-Files (Cigarette Smoking Man/Cancer Man etc.). This theme (among many of the trilogy) are so iconic and stand the test of time. It was great to be back in this universe with the Legendary Edition. Brilliant work.
At the end of Mass Effect 3 where Shepard has to choose which path to save the galaxy, he concedes that the illusive man was right all the time. The only way to defeat the reaper is either to control them or to sacrifice yourself, the illusive man of course chose to control the reaper to protect humanity's interest and as a mean to raise humanity status above all species in the galaxy. This proves that Illusive man's prowess and vision exceeds billions of species in the entire galaxy even Commander Shepard himself. I love that man, indeed he was indoctrinated by the reapers by he didn't submit to them he was too deluded to realize his limit, pride and overconfidence were his downfall. In the end, his victory was that he manages to achieve the impossibility the attempt to confront or control the reapers.
not necessarily sacrificing yourself, but sacrificing all synthetics. If you have over 3100EMS (used to be 5000 but they changed it) and destroy the reapers shepard survives the ending.
But he was never given the chance, not truly. "The reapers knew TIM could never control the reapers, because the reapers already controlled him" in other words, he only got so close because they knew there was nothing he could do
You know when you have one those sort of blush response feelings and along comes goosebumps and then the hairs stand on end at the back of your neck, this invoked that in me. Hearing this deeply melancholy track while seeing that dying star really puts it into perspective how nothing lasts forever. Nothing escapes entropy. Even magical Jovian stars die eventually. Mass Effect 2, great game.
There is some thing very unique about this soundtrack it doesn’t make you feel emotional in a sad way but it makes you feel perplexed in the mass effect sense shepherd has this huge undertaking of trying to save the galaxy and doing the right thing but having to work with such a shadowy figure like the illusive man he doesn’t know or understand. I listen to this to fall asleep
The greatest antagonist in video game history. Misguided by his ambition, fell doing what he truly believed what was best for his species, until the reapers had him under their full control as a means to bring Shepard down.
"Mankind is not to be seen as only people. Mankind is a civilisation, Shepard. We both know that sacrifices are to be made for the greater good and we should not be egotistical about the resources and the people we lose in this war. What is a generation lost for a thriving and powerful civilisation living on for centuries, millennias even. I went against the very laws of nature to bring you back from the dead, do you really think anything could stop me from sacrificing what needs to be sacrificed on the altar of our success as a species, Shepard? You don't understand. If I have to go against these very laws of nature that bind us to our mortality, our fragility... I will. Again and again. Forever if I have to."
Having read all the books, comics and passed all 3 parts of the Mass Effect, my attitude to The Illusive Man and Cerberus can be described: "Neutral, mixed with disgust". I understand the goals and motives of this organization, to elevate and protect humanity, but the way they try to achieve it I hate, especially after what The Illusive Man has done to Paul Grayson, their experiments on people and not only and the study of Reaper technology where they subsequently indoctrination The Illusive Man. I understand why they did it, but I do not accept it. I have no hatred for Cerberus or The Illusive Man, I just have a neutral-disgust for him and his organization.
This is easily my favorite song in the entire franchise. I love Cerberus and what it stands for to begin with (bad writing in ME 3 aside), but I've honestly had this theme as my ring tone since ME 2 came out over ten years ago.
I know this post is almost a year old, but what I found strange about that scene was that the Illusive Man didn't have his implants. You watch the video of TIM getting ready for the reaper implants just before you go into his room, and then he appears without them. However at the end of the game he has them. So I don't know if that was some sort of mistake by the developers or what.
@@hawksm2783 he had his implants, however they were underneath his skin. They were concealed as it was a surgical operation. However, after the battle of earth and the failure of the reaper operations to crush the remnants of human resistance, the Illusive man starts to grow impatient and his inner conflict with his indoctrination intensifies thereby overloading his implants. This, in turn, leads to the implants burning through his skin and starting to become visible. It is similar to when when we kill the biological Saren in ME1 and his skin and flesh burns off the reveal his implants. It is an obvious assumption that the Illusive man would do his best to hide his reaper based implants. He didn't know his plan would fail and he intended to address the leaders of the resistance after his plan was fulfilled and the reapers were under his control.
@@hououinkyoma1662 To bad that he was part of the Reapers game from the beginning. Their very last line of defense to be more accurate. It seems the Illusive Man never expected that the Reapers themselves were just tools of an incredible powerful god ai hiding behind the scene. In fact the Reapers had won once more through the Illusive Mans help if the AI hadn't intervened. I mean Shepard does succumb to his/her wounds on the finish line.
I've always loved this cutscene part of the mass effect - it reminds me the view from the Oblivion movie with Tom Cruise - but there was our Sun instead :)
The Reapers saw great danger in Cerberus. The unprecedented potential of an organization that stood to protect humanity from numerous enemies, internal and external, and later to protect the whole galaxy. Even after massive indoctrination, Cerberus was still a threat to the Reapers. Thanks to me, the Reapers fell but at what cost? Is controlling the Reapers worth it?
I thought the Dragon age series missed a villain like the Illusive man, I mean, Corypheus is nice for what he is, but the charachter itself is just meh. Well, Tresspasser tried to rectify it, but as charming as I find *****, the Illusive man is more awesome.
This is legit in my floor plan in my house build right now. Minus the tech interface and hologram projector unless people know of any. But one wall will be completely made of LED panels to display the dying star. All reflective tiles and flooring. Surround sound to play this song on repeat. Can also act as a sensory deprivation/meditation/light therapy room as well. I don't do many video calls for business but I will hop into this room for those calls specifically.
metalgear thekonamipain Hey, try to look some in the Steam libraries - there's couple of interactive wallpapers available there, however they eats some of your pc's resources
I saw it recently and thought the same thing. I would have much preferred that than what we got: surviving the gauntlet of infinite spawning marauders and banshees followed by three husks and the infamous Marauder Shields.
I wish ME3 dropped the idea of making him the bad guy completely. I guess BioWare didn't want to risk making people think that TIM might be in the right, tho, so they just indoctrinated him and stripped him of any redeaming qualities
When i started my first playthrough of Me2 the second TIM showed up on screen i knew i shouldnt trust him he gave of vibes that he would betray Shepard or any of his friends if it would somehow benefit him so under my Me2 playthrough evrytime i got an oportunity to screw over Cerberus and the Illusive man i did it
What a fascinating character. Brilliant but misguided, simultaneously embodying the best and worst of our nature, the Illusive Man works from the shadows to further what he believes to be the common interests of humanity. He is a visionary in every sense of the word, having created a galaxy spanning extralegal organization with a (mostly) unified goal and nearly unlimited financial resources. In a galaxy filled with aliens of every stripe, he's able to keep up with or outpace all of them. The man is cunning enough to play the game on even footing with the goddamn Shadow Broker. If we need proof that we're just as capable or intelligent as any other Citadel race, we need look no further than the Illusive Man. But on the other side of the coin, he also proves that we, as a species, can be just as petty and tribal, with our own inner demons.
Pride has been the downfall of many brilliant people ;) Pride and ambition.
Love your comment sir
One of the things, I believe, that Mass Effect has encapsulated beautifully is a human being or, to be more precise, human nature. For instance, it took us only 8 years to receive an embassy on the Citadel when it mostly takes a century or more for any species to receive one. There is a reason why Council wanted us on their side. They recognized the potential benefits of that relationship, and also, the dangers of leaving us unchecked and as possible enemies.
Regarding your last sentence: remember he was indoctrinated. He was right all along, but the reapers had already got to him.
Well said
If I ever become a CEO of a large corporation, I’m getting myself a room like this with a big ass 4K display of a dying star
If I would come to make a business deal with you and I would enter a room like this my next words to you would probably be: ¨Yes Sir¨, Right away Sir¨, ¨Anything else Sir ?!¨ ....
@@blackmondayy1 "I should go."
Secretary walks in: "What's on todays agenda sir?"
Me: "To secure humanity's dominance across the galaxy"
Secretary: "What?"
Pshhht 4K...that's why you'll never be CEO of anything but a lemonade stand. Think 64K and then we'll talk 😆
@@pacificblue5461 Bruh, being a ceo is being both spending and economical. But i agree with you on that, that's the part that goes under the spending part.
Anyone thought of recreating the Illusive Man’s room in VR as their home area? I think its the perfect design for it.
Might try that on my oculus
This idea please, people would eat this up
Somebody fund this man
Update, this is totally a room in steam VR, it's my room!!!
And if you could play this (copyrighted, alas) music while you’re there...
Cerberus isn't just an organization or the people behind it. Cerberus is an idea. That idea is not so easily destroyed.
Best Shepard comeback
Shepard: Watch me...
We'll bang okay
"Shepard, you're in my chair"
Behind this mask and flesh there's an idea Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.
Additionally the room smells like alcoholic floor polish and a scent of Marlboro packages.
So?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_Smoking_Man I always figured he was inspired by C.G.B Spender
Suiseisexy wow I can see it, it’s funny that he’s also called c-man, I’m sure g-man was inspired by him too.
The Illusive Man was just visually brilliant. We don’t even have to talk about his merit as a character. Few characters in fiction are so aesthetically captivating and scenery-chewing as him. His room conveys an all-knowing presence with its endless screens implying he knows about everything happening in the ME universe. He has a lone chair, signifying that he alone makes decisions at Cerberus, a visual cue to his genius. It just speaks to his character overall: you admire but also fear him, you’re fascinated by him but you also don’t trust him. He’s created an empire out of nothing, and he’s utterly determined to see his vision of human dominance achieved. Just looking at his room, you know it’s not wise to bet against someone like this.
Completely phenomenal character. Especially in ME2.
Martin Sheen did a terrific job voicing him and giving him character. I'm happy to know Martin is still alive - let's all toast for his health!
I’d bet on him - unless Shepard is on the other side.
And Martin Sheen is a national treasure.
Illusive man is nothing but half life's G man's copy character.
@@High_7 They never really flesh out G-man. He's just some weird being that can stop time or some shit. The Illusive Man is a part of the story, rather than a tool to move it along.
It's one hell of an office that's for sure.
The corner office in a nutshell
@WITE FOX very
and probably the best one. I mean who else has a privilege of having an office in outer space and a grandiose view of a dying star before them? Nobody.
"Shepard, you´re in my chair."
"This chair is about to be the only damn thing you have left...Cerberus is finished."
@@KritoSkywaker "Cerberus isn't just an organization or the people behind it. Cerberus is an idea. That idea is not so easily destroyed"
"I tried, Shepherd"
Have to give that man his dues. He tried his best but unfortunately his ambitions were far too great for only one human to shoulder.
The most relaxing bad guy theme ever
Anti-Hero is more accurate
Because he's not a bad guy
Cerberus is the guardian of humanity
You know, some people see the Illusive Man as being "butchered" in ME3, but I'm actually fine with the arc his character goes on. In my mind, the final conversation you have with him in ME2 is the last time we ever meet him; everything after that is a different character. He died before ME3 even began, with some reaper walking around and speaking through his body. He was "butchered" in ME3 because, in the lore, that is EXACTLY what happens to someone who is indoctrinated. They begin to lose their mental faculties and contradict themselves and go insane, like he did throughout the Reaper War.
Edit: Honestly I'd say the Illusive man is one of the only things ME3 actually did well (Aside from Tuchanka, Rannoch, the intro, and the final goodbyes on Earth).
Yeah its what happened to Saren, you could talk him into killing himself once you helped him realize how much he had messed up, just like the Illusive man in ME3's ending
To be honest, TIM was a loonie before ME3 as well. His depiction in ME2 is uncharacteristic because he is purposefully trying to appear nice to Shepard. But see e.g. Mass Effect: Ascension that gives a less biased picture.
Indeed.
Exactly. It would be strange for him to somehow not get indoctrinated after spending all that time around Reaper technology.
@@GreatEmerald those comics stuff are not to be taken very seriously
one of my favorite tracks in the original trilogy
Me too it fits so well the illusive Man one of my favorite Character in the games
Cerberus isn't just an organization or the people behind it. Cerberus is an idea. That idea is not so easily destroyed.
Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human. Cerberus is Humanity.
Humanity come first!!!!! 😎(Cerberus)
Space Trump lol
Screw you, i like humanity, not you
For the Emperor of hu...emm...For the cerberus....yeees...
"Fascinating race, the Protheans. They left all of this for us to discover, but we've squandered it." The Illusive Man is one of the best characters in Mass Effect, and also one of the most tragic. He dedicated most of his life to finding a way to defeat the Reapers by sacrificing countless numbers of lives, but, in the end, that would be useless for he was already under Reaper control.
Background music of choice when smoking, browsing the internet at night. Just need to find a star now.
Luckily there are billions of them.
The problem is, Basil Gaizka that you need a rocket/ship to get there AND have sufficient heat shielding. A proper window is necessary too, you dont want to go blind, but you dont want a darkened vision of the sun either... we were born in wrong generation, we can only hope that hibernation will be discovered soon, so we could freeze ourselves until the proper tech is avaible.
@@xDxD-hm5vt If we freeze ourselves there will be nothing to wake up to. It's up to us to develop that technology, so that our desecandants can thrive. That is the human way now. We work to better our species, not ourselves.
If we are frozen then so is our progress, we would never wake up. We would be frozen until the sun expands to the point where the earth is swallowed, then we are no more. We are dead. The elements that cosnitituted our bodies have been recycled and we will finally be one with the universe agian.
Life is entropy, and death is equilibrium. Do not fear it, embrace it. Enjoy your life. We are the universe. It has birthed us, given us the ability to live. Do not squander that gift, do not live your life wishing for another.
@@xShadow_God this is the best comment I've ever red. Thanks brother, we'll see all each other one day I hope.
I demand a next-generation Mass Effect prequel where you play ONLY as the Illusive Man's rise to power.
You can see some of it in The Comics to.
Wouldn't it be nice if the prequal showed him creating Cerberus
You mean jack harper and his manifesto
Man gaming was at it's best around this time.
Now it's nothing but pay ti win expensive DLCs and no single player.
That's exactly why I kinda stopped regular gaming ~2 years ago. I've tried to play the newer AAA titles and the well-received ones released in the past two years, and am utterly disappointed. Been having some free time and have decided to go back to "older" games with good stories, memorable characters and soundtracks...**sighs**
@@ndbd9drn Thankfully, the new games coming out next year seem good.
Yeah I haven’t bought a whole lot of new games in recent memory because of this but one day, just one day they will see how this is financial suicide and need to step up with the games alot
just replay all the older games, and enjoy the trip down memory lane. That's the thing about video games, you can play them over again, and it will feel new every time.
I miss how focused the experience was in this era. Currently, games are pumped full of side content and (essentially) mini-games. It's not all bad, but it can break the flow a bit. I'm 66% of the way through Spider-Man, but had to take a break due to banging out so much of the side content. Put RDR2 down weeks ago. Not sure if I'll get back to it. Witcher 3 was awesome, though. Haven't played anything great since.
"Everything I do, no matter how cruel, is to further the human race."
"If we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow"
"Then see to it that we DONT. LOSE. HER."
him
@@mdq8198 Technically it's both
@@mdq8198 He talks about humanity
Fem Shepard is top cringe
@@MaxMaxx-tb6nz You're top cringe
Three things go into making great antagonists: a cool lair, mystique, and a memorable theme song.
Let the Illusiveness flow through you.
I never thought of it like that, that the Illusive Man just has speakers that play his theme consistently. Also you sir just got yourself another subscriber.
Thanks :)
Gaming Ambience I can't help but laugh now whenever I think about that. The Illusive Man just playing his song throughout the entire base and especially his personal chamber. It's a funny thought.
Maybe it helped his enormous ego. Wonder what his brainwashed soldiers and scientists thought hearing it all day while performing their regular duties there.
I mean to be fair I wouldn't mind hearing this a lot. It is a beautiful music track after all. I do believe Suicide Mission has it beat though.
Lord of the Manatees suicide mission has the exact same notes as this theme. But on a more epic scale.
I think the best thing about his character was that he realized all the way up to the end exactly what he was doing even with the reapers banging on his brain. I frequently associate him with being manipulative, murderous and a kind of schemer. I equate him to some form of cancer that humans should have dispensed with by this point in the fiction of Mass Effect but when I look at his overall purpose and what he was trying to do, I feel bad for him. He truly wanted what was best for humanity and he really believed what he was doing was right.The world is full of grey areas and he was the most interesting character to me in the series because he made me think twice about the difference between right and wrong. A lot of the characters in the series seemed to focus on what he had done to accomplish his goals but never the goals that he had attained. He was the personification of "the ends justify the means". It would be easy to dismiss him as a kind of Hitler and put him in a box but I don't think I'd be the only one to say that if he hadn't made some of the decisions that he did the reapers would have taken over a lot sooner. Hell there wouldn't have been a second and third game if it wasn't for him reviving Shepard.
fireeverything many times in the trilogy do characters mention that they are glad that they aren’t the ones making the hard decisions. The illusive man embodies that very train of thought. Near the end he lost the thing he was fighting for, humanity
I've always seen him as a calculating opportunist in dire situations. Also someone that does whatever it takes and refuses to bargain with morality and ethics. Rationality and logic always come first in decision making, like an artificial intelligence. In fact, his eyes symbolize this concept. Paradoxically, humans are all about morality and ethics. Perhaps he was cheering for the wrong 'team'.
Just found out they were reviving the trilogy and I randomly thought of this song again. I had forgotton about this comment and thought, " jesus they screwed up Andromeda so bad". God damn THIS trilogy was so good. I'd give up alot of shit to go back and play this game with a blank slate and not know what happens.
@@kaaijer And you know what they say about eyes... They are a reflection of yourself of you
Mass Effect was great at creating an ambience, this is well known - it did this through the creation of convincing locations, discernable characters, an aura of mystery around some of them, and a pace with which to absorb it all. Great game, few other games are as good.
that is a room of true minimalist
"Shepard. You're in my chair."
?
@@blueshit199 🤔
"This chair is about the only damn thing you have left. Cerberus is finished."
Illusive Man disliked this video. Probably because he expected to see himself sitting in that chair
This is getting out of hand there are 10 of them now.
One thing I absolutely loved was how his music was NOT dark and sinister. It seemed intelligent, high tech, and superior, with a hint of a romantic kind of desperation. In the second game I really wanted to believe in something with him that would benefit mankind, even if it was radical. Throughout the whole second game, I played as a renegade who did not trust Cerberus, but in the end he still praised me enough when I made difficult choices (such as how I handled keeping David in project overlord) The whole second game where most of my crew approved of cerberus, I diddnt. But then my Shepard gave in handed him the collector base, and SUDDENLY everyone disapproved. I felt like that was a real turning point in my perspective. He did not want to stop the collectors because he cared. He wanted to replace the collectors so he could control the reapers and use people like test subjects as well. Even at the end-in the third game-part of you felt nostalgic and wanted to work with him even though you knew he was a lost cause
If EA didn't rush 3, if they let the game have 4 or 5 years development instead of 2, I think they would have expanded cerberus a bit more.
Fallout let's you entirely side with different factions, something like that could have been implemented to side with the alliance or cerberus, and whichever you side with, the opposition seems indoctrinated. Imagine Hackett and the virmire survivor with reaper eyes
@@cpob2013100% agree Cerberus was doing good in the Second game. Even if you try to point out some bad, like Project Overlord the illusive man himself disavows what Archer did to his brother.
@@cpob2013Bioware choked.
I think it's safe to say that this them and the Illusive Man himself were inspired by the X-Files (Cigarette Smoking Man/Cancer Man etc.). This theme (among many of the trilogy) are so iconic and stand the test of time. It was great to be back in this universe with the Legendary Edition. Brilliant work.
Cereberus was supposed to be our Sword, not the Dagger in our back.
People like the Illusive Man reach such great heights...that even their downfall seems glorious.. something to be envious of...
Everytime the illusive man appeared on screen with that theme instant chills.
The stubborn Citadel Council really make Cerberus a more attractive ideal.
I just put this on and it's been playing without me knowing for about half an hour. It just blends in so well with whatever you're doing.
You goddamn right
"Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human. Cerberus is Humanity"
At the end of Mass Effect 3 where Shepard has to choose which path to save the galaxy, he concedes that the illusive man was right all the time. The only way to defeat the reaper is either to control them or to sacrifice yourself, the illusive man of course chose to control the reaper to protect humanity's interest and as a mean to raise humanity status above all species in the galaxy. This proves that Illusive man's prowess and vision exceeds billions of species in the entire galaxy even Commander Shepard himself. I love that man, indeed he was indoctrinated by the reapers by he didn't submit to them he was too deluded to realize his limit, pride and overconfidence were his downfall. In the end, his victory was that he manages to achieve the impossibility the attempt to confront or control the reapers.
not necessarily sacrificing yourself, but sacrificing all synthetics. If you have over 3100EMS (used to be 5000 but they changed it) and destroy the reapers shepard survives the ending.
But he was never given the chance, not truly. "The reapers knew TIM could never control the reapers, because the reapers already controlled him" in other words, he only got so close because they knew there was nothing he could do
One of the best tracks in the series. TIM was such a good character, even with his flaws. I almost felt bad for him, almost.
Shepherd......Your in my chair
Tyler Lol Illusive Man was pissed off
Too late, Illusive Man. It's mine now.
this chair is the only damn thing you have left Cerberus is dead
Sorry dude
Bioware went from TIM to the Arkon ( or whatever the fk his name was)
I just can't
Please dont remind me
You know when you have one those sort of blush response feelings and along comes goosebumps and then the hairs stand on end at the back of your neck, this invoked that in me. Hearing this deeply melancholy track while seeing that dying star really puts it into perspective how nothing lasts forever. Nothing escapes entropy. Even magical Jovian stars die eventually. Mass Effect 2, great game.
Johny40Se7en remember hearing this watching Cerberus ships fly towards the collector base at the end of the game
@@cruznix4741 good Job
There is some thing very unique about this soundtrack it doesn’t make you feel emotional in a sad way but it makes you feel perplexed in the mass effect sense shepherd has this huge undertaking of trying to save the galaxy and doing the right thing but having to work with such a shadowy figure like the illusive man he doesn’t know or understand. I listen to this to fall asleep
This must be the coolest place in the universe
in remembering of the exciting dialogues with the illusive man
When i'm doing homework, or creative works ( such as modeling in 3D, watching tutorial ) i play this in background
This is the best fucking music to exist.
There is something in this tune my soul needs to hear right now
I've been always looking for the glowing planet moving like a wallpaper but no luck however this is awesome enough:)
Actually it's a star :)
The greatest antagonist in video game history. Misguided by his ambition, fell doing what he truly believed what was best for his species, until the reapers had him under their full control as a means to bring Shepard down.
This OST alters the senses.
Miranda: The Reapers are still out there.
Illusive Man: And, it's up to us to stop them. ppppppppfttttt
lmao you can clearly notice the man is not a smoker
"The Archives, or did your shadow broker miss that one?"
"Show yourself! I promise, I won't miss."
I can't wait to see this place in the remaster.
If humanity ever makes it that far I hope their will be a “Cerberus” protecting mankind and human interests.
I only Hope they are more efficient
I mean half of the stuff they do blows up, the Other half turns against them😂
@@Ale-dd3ek I agree lol
@Ale-dd3ek they did successfully create a drug that neutralizes biotic. They tested and deployed it on asari.
Imagine how crazy it would've been if this office was on the Citadel this whole time
This is music that you look out a window with your arms crossed to, thinking of your next step.
It's soundtracks like these that are the reason I survived this last school semester. Great study music.
Honestly this is so iconic tbh
This music gives a very good concentration
I always wondered how didn't the dwarf that is in front of his station impair his vision. I assume that it's because of his prosthetic eyes.
Illusive Man : I'm high af right now shepard
"Mankind is not to be seen as only people. Mankind is a civilisation, Shepard. We both know that sacrifices are to be made for the greater good and we should not be egotistical about the resources and the people we lose in this war. What is a generation lost for a thriving and powerful civilisation living on for centuries, millennias even. I went against the very laws of nature to bring you back from the dead, do you really think anything could stop me from sacrificing what needs to be sacrificed on the altar of our success as a species, Shepard? You don't understand. If I have to go against these very laws of nature that bind us to our mortality, our fragility... I will. Again and again. Forever if I have to."
Having read all the books, comics and passed all 3 parts of the Mass Effect, my attitude to The Illusive Man and Cerberus can be described: "Neutral, mixed with disgust". I understand the goals and motives of this organization, to elevate and protect humanity, but the way they try to achieve it I hate, especially after what The Illusive Man has done to Paul Grayson, their experiments on people and not only and the study of Reaper technology where they subsequently indoctrination The Illusive Man. I understand why they did it, but I do not accept it. I have no hatred for Cerberus or The Illusive Man, I just have a neutral-disgust for him and his organization.
It feels like I'm in audience with the illusive man. And I'm gonna do something great, that can affect to the whole galaxy
This is easily my favorite song in the entire franchise. I love Cerberus and what it stands for to begin with (bad writing in ME 3 aside), but I've honestly had this theme as my ring tone since ME 2 came out over ten years ago.
Masterpiece.
Love that theme
Were was the Illsuive Man when Shepard was in his main room? Surley he wasn't on the station.
I think he was already on the Citadel at that point, flying towards Earth.
I know this post is almost a year old, but what I found strange about that scene was that the Illusive Man didn't have his implants. You watch the video of TIM getting ready for the reaper implants just before you go into his room, and then he appears without them. However at the end of the game he has them. So I don't know if that was some sort of mistake by the developers or what.
@@hawksm2783 he had his implants, however they were underneath his skin. They were concealed as it was a surgical operation. However, after the battle of earth and the failure of the reaper operations to crush the remnants of human resistance, the Illusive man starts to grow impatient and his inner conflict with his indoctrination intensifies thereby overloading his implants. This, in turn, leads to the implants burning through his skin and starting to become visible. It is similar to when when we kill the biological Saren in ME1 and his skin and flesh burns off the reveal his implants. It is an obvious assumption that the Illusive man would do his best to hide his reaper based implants. He didn't know his plan would fail and he intended to address the leaders of the resistance after his plan was fulfilled and the reapers were under his control.
@@hououinkyoma1662
To bad that he was part of the Reapers game from the beginning. Their very last line of defense to be more accurate.
It seems the Illusive Man never expected that the Reapers themselves were just tools of an incredible powerful god ai hiding behind the scene.
In fact the Reapers had won once more through the Illusive Mans help if the AI hadn't intervened.
I mean Shepard does succumb to his/her wounds on the finish line.
Oh, turns out I listend for over 50 minutes
TIM is one of the best Mass Effect characters
Back shots in there would go CRAZY 😂😂
I've always loved this cutscene part of the mass effect - it reminds me the view from the Oblivion movie with Tom Cruise - but there was our Sun instead :)
Thanks this is what I've been looking for this
what a great view of the station :D
The Reapers saw great danger in Cerberus. The unprecedented potential of an organization that stood to protect humanity from numerous enemies, internal and external, and later to protect the whole galaxy. Even after massive indoctrination, Cerberus was still a threat to the Reapers. Thanks to me, the Reapers fell but at what cost? Is controlling the Reapers worth it?
For the advancement and preservation of humanity...
Shepard; you're in my chair.
I thought the Dragon age series missed a villain like the Illusive man, I mean, Corypheus is nice for what he is, but the charachter itself is just meh.
Well, Tresspasser tried to rectify it, but as charming as I find *****, the Illusive man is more awesome.
33,3K subscribers, nice :D Happy to be another one ;)
This is what it's like to sit down in front of a dying star in a space station and chew 5 gum tobacco
The illusive man may not always be right, but he is rarely wrong.
Listening this makes me want to go out and save youmanity.
This is legit in my floor plan in my house build right now. Minus the tech interface and hologram projector unless people know of any. But one wall will be completely made of LED panels to display the dying star. All reflective tiles and flooring. Surround sound to play this song on repeat. Can also act as a sensory deprivation/meditation/light therapy room as well. I don't do many video calls for business but I will hop into this room for those calls specifically.
first world moment
I really envy his office.
God I hope the tweet bioware put out means they are re releasing 1-3 with better graphics/etc plz ....plz god
Your faith has been rewarded
Does anyone know where I can find a wallpaper where the star is moving like it does in the games?
metalgear thekonamipain Hey, try to look some in the Steam libraries - there's couple of interactive wallpapers available there, however they eats some of your pc's resources
ruclips.net/video/Bb0EeDT0meQ/видео.html
Then see to it that we don't lose him...
I felt the feelimgz when i suspected the first time that he indeed was indoctrinated, what a waste
How can he even see on those screens with all the glare
When bioware made games that were finished and didnt break your consoles
Mass Effect 3 and "finished", good joke.
@@n0h4ndl3 compared to anthem
@@n0h4ndl3 ME3 was 90-95% there. They missed on a couple big swings but the huge majority was exactly at or above expectations.
God I miss when games were this atmospheric and story driven
I always loved this character, mostly everything with him is good.
This plane... is going to China.
If you listen closely you can hear the burning of cigarettes
Elon Musk's evil brother
@Mattress Store Maybe Elon Musk's evil bother extended his life for 160 years
Скажите пожалуйста а где можно скачать эти треки?!🙏🏻
Still wish ME3 went with the concept art plan of making him the final boss fight.
I saw it recently and thought the same thing.
I would have much preferred that than what we got: surviving the gauntlet of infinite spawning marauders and banshees followed by three husks and the infamous Marauder Shields.
I wish ME3 dropped the idea of making him the bad guy completely. I guess BioWare didn't want to risk making people think that TIM might be in the right, tho, so they just indoctrinated him and stripped him of any redeaming qualities
When i started my first playthrough of Me2 the second TIM showed up on screen i knew i shouldnt trust him he gave of vibes that he would betray Shepard or any of his friends if it would somehow benefit him
so under my Me2 playthrough evrytime i got an oportunity to screw over Cerberus and the Illusive man i did it
"What is the Catalyst? And how exactly will it help you to control the Reapers?"
@@Sigurjon96
"When did you started...?"
@@Sigurjon96
"If you willing to do, everything it takes, then hand over the Catalyst. With the Crucible, we could end this!"
@@Sigurjon96
"It is! It's THAT simple! We're fighting each other, while the Reapers occupy Earth! It's time to stop!"
@@Sigurjon96
"Even with Cerberus in ruins, you still think you can do this your way."
@@Sigurjon96
Shepard: EDI?
EDI: I've almost got it.
The illusive man still has the lazurus project up his sleeve to return. Too bad his demise was very dissapointing in ME3.
Thank you.