You can't fail Garrus' loyalty mission because he's already loyal. He's the only one who joins Shepard, no questions asked. Shep earned his loyalty in ME1. All Shep does in ME2 is give Garrus some closure
Thus, there is no Shepard without Vakarian. Whether you're his best bro/wingman or the love of his life, Garrus will always be there for Shepard, regarless whether you're a paragon or a renegade.
I know i'm late, but i have one minor correction to something. Garrus isn't the only ME2 Romance to give you an out with no hard feelings. Apparently, its a dextro thing, because Tali does too.
I think the difference is that Garrus, while flattered, initially thinks it's a bit strange that Shepard wants him while Tali's thoughts on the matter come from the puppy-love crush she has on her commander. If she wasn't so nervous, she would jump Shepard's bones 100%
It's also funny that the C-Sec officer in the skycar-lobby does not realize that Legion is an actual geth unit. Just goes to show how much the information has been suppressed since Sovereign attacked.
Thought I was alone in thinking Garrus was probably one of the best written characters in the trilogy. I followed his romance by chance, on a playthrough I was messing around in. I've never been happier with a complete accident.
@@robertharris6092 The only person that is argued to be a better character than Garrus is Tali. Which is the only understandable choice for his challenger. The two Most Loyal are the best characters. I personally agree that Garrus is better, but I can understand why many say Tali.
I don't know how you came to that conclusion considering, as others already pointed out, Garrus is considered the best character in the trilogy, with few characters matching him, usually depending on the person's preference
@@Snipergod1024 Always found it funny when people call Tali one of the most loyal when Garrus I'd by a large margin the most loyal. Gar is the only companion that joined in ME1, unconditionally joined Shepard as soon as he find at she was alive in ME2, and in ME3 he followed joined Shepard even while his world was burning down because he believes she is Palaven's only hope.
I just wanna point out how insane those casualty figures really are when compared to comparative world numbers. 1st off, 85% FATALITIES. that's soldiers killed outright. that's insanity. most units in direct combat in modern warfare suffer less than 10% casualties in direct, extended engagements. in medieval warfare, it was little higher, at between 20-25% expected before the wider force begins to rout. add on that these units could suffer between 20-40% wounded typically, with modern forces only seeing around 5-10% of those wounded made combat ineffective, and you start to see the true insanity of an 85% casualty rate PER ENGAGEMENT. add on the wounded rate of the remaining soldiers and no wonder whole units are literally being wiped from the roster daily. 2nd, you compare the round 8 million casualties of the the first 2 days of combat to the nukes used at the end of world war two. but that doesn't quiet take into account the sheer killing power of the reapers. you compare them to nukes, but the reapers don't use nukes, or seemingly anything that could be classified as a WMD (weapon of mass destruction) meaning these insane casualty count was from conventional warfare(as the mass effect universe see's it). presuming that the reapers aren't causing the majority of the casualty's after day one (cause, presumably no Turian unit is quiet so bats*** crazy as to throw itself at what is in effect a walking skyscraper equipped with star-ship level weaponry) that means that they're "infantry" units are capable of going toe-toe with the highly effective turian military, continue EXPANDING the war-front after day one (what with the increased casualties) and causing 85% casualties of every unit they come up against. that would likely make them the most effective ground force in the mass effect universe by a factor of between 5-10. and thats against the turians, where every civilian is also essentially a soldier and so they can keep up these numbers for a time. Earth is.............so boned.
Earth and Thessia were basically instantly subdued. You simply cannot wage war on such a scale with these casualties for any extended period of time. The Turians were the only ones who were able to do it because of their practically infinite supply of trained soldiers to throw against Reapers. The only way to destroy the Turian military is to drive the near entire species to extinction. I can think of only the Geth who could even come close to holding out for so long, but Reapers didn't get to them before the game came to an end. But there is a certain irony to the Turian's bravery and stubbornness. By fighting back so viciously they may have invited more destruction upon themselves than anyone else. There isn't much information in the game about exact casualty numbers and speed at which they took place, but the general picture is that Reapers are much faster at slaughtering people than harvesting them. The Galaxy map lore for many colonies points out that Reapers simply bombed installations if there weren't enough people there for them to bother landing and harvesting. I might as well point out that Reapers do use WMDs. They consistently use intimidation tactics in the form of orbital bombardment to force populations into compliance, e.g. wiping one city off the map to get other cities around it to give up. The only place this failed was the Vorcha homeworld Heshtok, since the Vorcha are too dumb to be indirectly intimidated. So yeah, Reapers are quite capable of sterilizing an entire planet very quickly, they just don't want to. They're there to harvest first. The only harvesting rate we have is for Earth, which claims Reapers harvest 1.86 million humans a day. Taking into account the death from destroyed infrastructure, starvation, partizan activity the Codex said that Earth would be depopulated in 10 years. 11.4 billion people in 10 years, that's 3.1 million people dying each day. And the Turians had almost double that on the 2nd day of the invasion. At that rate with its 6.1 billion population Palaven would be depopulated in 3 years. And that's just the direct war casualties that Garrus mentioned, we have no idea how many Turians are starving, dying from disease and being harvested at all. We know from the Codex that Reapers, aware of the Turian reputation, hit them with the utmost brutality and destroyed colonies to enrage them. We know that Reapers had orbital superiority over Palaven, and could bomb the planet with impunity. We know it's a ground war and they're pushing the Turians back, even with Krogan help. And we know from the Miracle at Palaven that the one time the Turians took back territory is when they sneaked nukes into processing ships and blew them up, with all the Turian civilians and partizans aboard. The scale of brutality and destruction on Palaven must be unimaginable. Basically bombed back to the stone age. All the while the Turians are fighting Reapers on multiple fronts, for example they tried to retake the Volus homeworld Irune. I can't think of any major operations the Alliance engaged in, much less won (except for leading the Crucible project, but no fighting during construction is mentioned). If it wasn't for the Turian courage and sacrifice tying up Reaper forces, the Galaxy would be done for even faster... And by the end of the game Reapers controlled most of it anyway. You can see the desperation when the Turian fleet abandoned Palaven and other colonies to get to Earth. I think Shepard summarized it well; "This isn't a war, this is slaughter"
@@Horny_Fruit_Flies Not exactly. Considering in the game it says the Reapers HIT Earth the HARDEST and QUICKEST. Effectively killing and knocking out a majority of the Alliance fleet AT Earth. Meaning Humanity didn't have ANY time to react, while the Turian's, Salarian's and Asari had at least SOME warning. Hell, the Turian's were even somewhat more prepared due to Garrus' constant warnings and persistence. And we aren't given much indication as to where exactly the Human fleets/Ground Forces are fighting, though it's hinted that a majority of Humanities remaining Fleets are tied up protecting the Crucible, which if that falls, so does the rest of the galaxy. It isn't just ONE species holding the galaxy together. It's a multitude, without Humans, Turian's would have been utterly obliterated within the first few hours, without Turian's holding the line, the Reapers would have spread faster, and without Asari, many species wouldn't be able to get their rocks off.
@@CanadianTehGamer The fact that they hit Earth hard and quick and took over it in a matter of days if not hours is precisely the REASON why the planet was spared the majority of destruction that Palaven was subjected to. It's just a fact of warfare and evidenced by history that conquering land swiftly does significantly less damage than a protracted exchange of firepower. Compare the damage France went through in WWI were you had trench warfare for every inch of land (there are still active minefields and UXOs found in France to this day), and then the early years of WWII were the Germans blitzkrieged almost the entire country with minimal damage. Or look at the eastern front were you had the highest casualties and destruction because blitzkrieg strategy didn't work. Or a more modern example, compare the basically nonexistent damage to Crimea when the Russian swiftly took over it in 2014, and compare it to the 2022 invasion when Ukraine is resisting and we have a near-peer war; the frontline looks like a complete nightmare. The Codex flat out states that Palaven had been bombed so severely that the dust from glassed cities chokes the atmosphere and is a breathing hazard. A war so bad that it threatens global ecological collapse. The destruction the Reapers caused is comparable to a meteor strike. I agree that all species contributed to the war, I was just highlighting what the turians' contributions were since they were the topic of the comment thread.
When I played Mass Effect 3 originally, I never got that feeling from it. The only things that I was quite disgruntled about, was because you went you made all those choices, but in the end you never really got to see how they affected everything around you, not until you play the extended DLC ending. I have to admit, I don't know why they had to go back and do a major rewrite at the end, and why they didn't just add that in the very beginning when the game was originally released.
@@thecowboy9698 ME3 was made under some SERIOUS time constraints thanks to EA If the game had another year (which it 100% needed) I’m sure the extended cut would’ve made it on disc
@@epsilon1572 yeah. EA has to ruin everything it gets its grubby tentacles on. ME3 story is so sloppily written because they didn't have the time to do it right
Of course Garrus is the best character. He has a very large "cannon" for femshep to "calibrate". Seriously though he's the ultimate bro, sticks by you through the entire story and has your back as you go feet first into hell. He's the best friend you could ask for and as such an amazing partner in both battle and love.
@@tesstickle6974 what the fuck lmao i didnt get that so i looked it up and ????? i never got that line with mordin on my garrus romance playthrough omg
Just found this absolutely wonderful video. One thing you didn't mention here, and I feel is a slightly overlooked part of the Citadel date: The dance scene between Shepard and Garrus is one of the biggest and best indications of the amount of trust Shepard actually has for Garrus and shows how much their dynamics have shifted. Shepard has been the Leader and Commander all throughout the trilogy, but in that moment, she gives him complete control in an environment that she's not comfortable with - dancing. Up to that point, everyone makes fun of Shepards' absolutely atrocious dancing (even Garrus himself!), but Garrus takes the position of lead in one of the most complicated styles of dance and makes Shepard successful at it. She starts off awkward and stiff, much like Garrus did when we first met him, before growing cocky, and then confident in her actions. People often get lost in the unique, cute, and flirty moment without recognizing the very symbolic nature of it. Shepard and Vakarian are so uniquely different from one another, similar to each other, and take up each others roles when it is needed the most that it's astounding and truly shows that whoever wrote their romance/bromance poured an insane amount of passion into the fans love and demand for him to be a romance option.
“James told me there's an old saying here on Earth--may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead. Not sure if Turian heaven is the same as yours, but, if this thing goes sideways and we both end up there--meet me at the bar. I'm buying.” Garrus is the BEST bro
Just met Samara (again) in ME2 with Garrus in my party, she has a line directly saying "the expedient path may be fast and simple; that does not make it the right path." Quick cut to Garrus looking towards the camera over Shepard's shoulder
I find it absolutely hilarious that the developers threw in the little detail of Garrus hating audio recordings of his own voice. Makes it incredibly ironic, considering all of us Garrus fans list his voice as one of our favorite things about him. XD
@@danaemcmiles7477 HE'S ONE OF THE FEW TO USE A PET NAME FOR HER TOO! IN THE CITADEL DLC! I also found out there is a bug in it that prevents garrus from having this moment with shepard where he talks about her meeting the in laws ie his family!!! ah!
I just want closure with my turian husband 🥲 just let my Shep and Garrus retire on the beach with their adopted Krogan kids. Shep deserves some peace that isn’t immediately followed up with death or house arrest
@@themanofconstantsorrowelia1929 if only wreav is in charge, then it's actually morally grey to sabotage the cure, because Wreav just wants to wage war, not better his people. Save it for another time.
@@randomstuff508 exactly this. The Krogans would attack and leave a galaxy that is already vulnerable to ruins. If you’re renegade Shepard, you have to understand that the Krogans are not READY to be on even footing if their entire race has been known to wage war.
I appreciate finding this after completing ME Legendary for the first time. As someone who romanced Garrus, I enjoyed watching their relationship develop, the way they both influenced and supported each other in the best ways possible (as a Paragon at least). Thanks for such an in-depth analysis.
I don't know if it was mentioned before, when Garrus talks about his family on Pallaven and all Shepard has to offer is platitudes, if you have the Spacer pre-service history he'll ask about your family. Shepard responds that she hasn't heard from her mom either, and Garrus realizes all he has to offer is platitudes as well. In the context of the video, I think it kind of subtly teaches him that even if platitudes are old, it's sometimes all you can give
when the tango scene came up, I started grinning like a big idiot cuz this romance will always bring me tears of joy. And this big guy is definitely best boy : my sister and my dad also played Mass Effect and we all agree to that conclusion. While there's no doubt that my sister is a huge SIMP FOR GARRUS, my dad might be in love with Zaeed or something but yeah we all love Garrus.
It's me ... I am the sister in question. The person who wrote this comment is my sister. And yeah I'm a big Garrus simp and our father is a big zaeed fanboy
I love the comic I never knew about Garrus's Mother or his call with his father when we are about to rescue him in Omega in ME2. I think I care even more about Garrus than before.
I can't wait to romance him again, this was an amazing essay and I'm glad someone put it into words why I l love him and why he's one of my favorite fictional characters ever.
the whole video is a true love letter to garrus character, thank you. i gotta say, the 2:16:26 section was especially brilliant, beautiful and painful. i'd never considered that perspective before and now it hurts all over again. 10/10 would cry about garrus again.
Some of the names Turians have felt too Roman. Garrus is evocative of a Roman name but is unique enough to not pull me out of he experience. Others were not. I remember that the Turian general simping for Shaira in ME 1 was named fucking *Septimus,* a real Roman name. It felt too weird for me.
You're 100% correct, it is quite weird. But then again coming with good names for characters, while writing the games aren't that easy, in the end, so I can't blame them going over where the fence is the lowest.
I just assume all words we hear from other races is a very sophisticated translating device in the omni tool. That might be how it translates some names that are too hard to spell for humans or replaces these names with the closest example from human language.
@@XBadgerKnightX They were always on the nose. The city state of Turii joined the Romans against the other greeks in southern Italy and were the official casus belli of that war.
I always play renegade and I never sabotaged the cure. Being Renegade should be about not taking shit from anybody, not being a mustache twirling bafoon.
@@ravenstrategist1325 Exactly,people forget that Renegade was originally just being a cold person,not fucking evil like how they portrayed it in ME3,but I don't like going either full Paragon or Renegade,it makes Shepard look like one dimensional character. For me,Ruthless/Colonist Shepard makes a lot of sense,even tho she is a bit cold,she will always save the colonists in a heartbeat. And even tho she doesn't show it directly,she still cares about the Normandy and it`s crew/squadmates.
I just take advantage of glitches/bugs to have every paragon/renegade option available. I take the paragon choice on all the major decisions but can still have fun as a renegade for all the stuff that doesn't really matter. Besides I like picking renegade dialogue options because they are so much funnier than paragon which can be kinda cringy.
I love taking the paragon path with Garrus. It makes for much more interesting dialogue and a great dynamic between him and Shepard. He's such a wonderful character, I just adore him
This is a fantastic video, thank you for a very insightful and thoughtful analysis of my favorite character ever. I honestly can't romance anyone but Garrus as femshep. First and foremost, he is Shepard's best friend and sticks by her through everything. As much as Shepard mentors and guides Garrus, she can count on his support just as much. After all, the words "there is no Shepard without Vakarian" come from her mouth. Shepard achieves so much, but at the end of the day she knows her loved ones, especially her Turian bf, are an integral part of who she is. The sense that they always have each other's back is such a beautiful thing. None of the other femshep romances pull that off imo.
Just started a new play through with the remastered edition- your video reminded me why I always romance Garrus. There’s just no better character in this game. Really enjoyed your thoughts on his evolution too and you including the comic that I didn’t know existed! His relationship to his father is pretty fascinating.
If you don't romance either Garrus or Tali, and you're in good terms with both of them by two thirds of ME3, they'll hook up and live the Fleet And Flotilla dream romance. After seeing that by chance right away (I stayed loyal to Liara in my first playthrough) I found it way harder to romance either of them. I eventually did romance both of them, but in my head cannon, Sheppard is with Liara or Ash or Kayden, and Garrus is with Tali. I'll never c*ck-block my space-bro, ever again.
I see your point but it’s kinda more like fwb when your realise both wanted shepard depending on which gender you are and if you don’t pick them they just say ok fuck it I guess we will just get together 😂 it’s cool but honestly tali and garrus are the best romances for Shepard imo, just means you have to pick the destroy ending 😂
There's another, and much more sufficient reason for Tali x Garrus should be canon. Dextra DNA. Basicaly you could kill each other with a cheese otherwise :)
I am predicting your channel will explode with Legendary edition. You have genuine humbleness, hard work ethic, and it makes for good analysis. Well done, I’m subscribing.
I like the spacer background because you get a call from mom sometimes, and I always romance Garrus in me2 and 3 Also I like the death stare of shepard at some points, I never noticed, is it just a result of the sharper textures or did she already have those?
The scene of Shepard panning over to Garrus awkwardly standing there with alcohol in his hand and how it holds there for a few seconds is one of the best scenes in the trilogy.
Taking just a little extra time to enunciate would push this video from a 3/5 to a 4.5/5 for me. This video is obviously well put-together, but your sentences seem just a bit rushed, and there's a bit of word-salad that happens that could be fixed if you take an extra tenth of a second to break with one word before moving on to the next. Good work overall though, love my bro Garrus.
Agreed! found the video super interesting but had trouble understanding what he was saying at times, dudes goin wayyyyy too fast. Really good overall tho!
I always picked Wrex side regardless and never sabotaged the cure. Just to see my boi like that... T^T Otherwise, this is an excellent video and definitely what I notice playing this game over and over. It covers all the point in why I stress ME is such a great trilogy and I constantly shout that praise at people. Looking forward to the next vid. :)
Yeah, Wrex FTW. Keep him and Bakara alive, and it's smooth sailing (well, as far as that goes in the ME 'verse). Maybe it would go something like this: Khalisah: Did you take into account that the Krogan will outnumber all other sentient species combined in _our_ lifetimes? Me: Yep. It's all good. My krannt are in charge. They've got this.
What can I say about Garrus that hasn't already been said.. I guess nothing other than him being the best space bro ever. No other squadmate can come close to the level of friendship that Shepard and Garrus has between them.. Well except for Tali, but you already know that. Both Garrus and Tali has always been there for Shepard, and vice versa (unless some bad choices were made). They are the only squadmates present throughout the entire main story, and the ones that knows Shepard best, where both are seeing Shepard as a mentor of sorts at first, and as a close friend who needs their support later on. Garrus has the most screen-time out of all, being available for recruitment very early in all three games. All in all, he is the virtual representation of a true best friend who will follow you into hell itself (given the chance).
I love your videos, stumbled upon Tali's yesterday and decided I'll try them all, the quality of them is off the charts! My only very, very little criticism is that I sometimes have to go back because you sometime speak a little too fast which can make it harder to understand for me, I'm fluent but EN remains a second language for me so sometimes it gets a little hard. But overall I am stunned by the quality of your work, keep doing it as long as you please, there are so many people like me that will be here to watch your upcoming videos (still have to go back and watch the older ones) thank you for this!
This is something that I will address in the next 2 episodes involving Ashley and Miranda. The reason why I speak so quickly is because I have adult onset asthma. In some of the uncut audio you can hear me wheezing and speaking fast it the only way I found eliminates hours of audio editing. I am glad that you're enjoying my videos! Stay tuned for a channel update today about future projects and for a dumb (but hilarious) video.
@@XBadgerKnightX thanks a lot for answering and don't worry it's a very minor "issue" (even calling it that is a bit much) your videos are very well made and I thoroughly enjoy them, me having to go back a few seconds at times has no impact on my appreciation of them :) I hope you have fun making these great videos, and of course playing this truly great trilogy as much as you do haha :)
That quick comic dub at 32:14 hit me really hard for some reason.. went from listening to the vid idly in the background to trying not to cry instantly.
46:30 There is actually a way to get Kelham to give you the information you need without playing the SPECTRE card. If you rejected the council's offer to reinstate you, you're able to focus on Kelham's lawyer and convince him that the best thing for his client is to give up the information about Thane's son. It is one of the more charismatic 4d chess art of persuasion moments that Shepard has in the entire trilogy. It's hard, but there is a way to remain within the law. However, even getting it as an option basically requires you to prevent yourself from having any extrajudicial options. If those simpler, more direct solutions exist, Shepard doesn't think to use the more complicated compromise that she reaches if she's not a SPECTRE.
@@XBadgerKnightX Btw you’ve probably seen me post a lot of comments in the past few days. I’ve been watching all of your Dichotomy of a character videos while playing games. They’re great content. If I could offer one bit of constructive criticism, slow down and enunciate! I have the same issue when I do narration, I mumble a lot.
@@XBadgerKnightX facts tali is best male shep romance and garrus is best fem shep romance, shame they gave them one of the only crew mate romances since I’ll never not romance them as Shepard
I've been playing through the Legendary Edition and What I like about Garrus' character is that he a rebel w/a cause. Arguably, Shepard and all the main squad members are, outcasts from their respective societies but still trying to do good, even if it's from the outer fringes of the society or the law. It's easy to compare Garrus to characters like Punisher but IMHO he's more a Renegade Batman w/ a sniper rifle. He was on Omega to help the regular citizens, to protect them from the gangs that Aria doesn't deal with unless they threaten her standing or operation in some way. I wonder if Garrus spoke to Ashley at some point and learned about Christianity, given that he chose Archangel as his codename on Omega and of course his Christ inspired betrayal by Sidonis. In the Bible Archangel Michael goes to battle against Satan and his forces. He is not just a Warrior but a Protector, and Garrus seems to embody the same idea, as he pits himself against forces of Evil (Saren, the Omega gangs, The Reapers, etc). Even his loyalty missions deal with failing to protect others- he couldn't protect ppl from Dr. Saleon and then he couldn't protect his men from Sidonis' betrayal. At the heart of it all Garrus wants to help ppl and keep them safe. Then there's the fact that Archangel/St. Michael is the patron saint of the Police, and Garrus is effectively an ex-cop.... All and all I think Garrus represents the idea of "If you must choose between the Law and doing Good, choose Good". Garrus chooses Good and of course this makes him a rebel in a society that demands obedience above all else.
I love that. But I think it is more possible that the writers were more so influenced or inspired by biblical stories and themes. I see it everywhere in Mass Effect. Literature, in general, is.
I will say this in the paragon/renagade system, in the way Tali speaks for either the council to live or die, she doesn't say to let them die. She is just concern for alliance forces being destroyed. So if you are in for Tali romance, that is prove that Tali has feelings for Shepard. Or at least cares enough for female Shepard.
I absolutely loved the dichotomy videos you made on both Liara and Tali. But...But... the Garrus Vakarian dichotomy video blows both of those away. I was always a big fan of Garrus. Now after this video I'm even more a fan of Garrus if that's even possible. You Just gained a new fan and a new subscriber keep up the good work. I saw that the next video you may do on a mass effect character is the vivacious and lovely Miranda Lawson I can't wait. So may your drink be full your roof be strong and you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead. If you need an idea about another great Mass Effect character when you're done with Miranda just like Raymond Everybody loves Wrex.
This was an amazing video. Thank you! I didn't even know that I needed it but holy shit, this was a fantastic character breakdown. Also, the advice at the end about being a better friend really hit home. Great job, man. Respect.
the only value Kaden brings is how fun it is to save him, drag him all the way along to the end of ME3, only to reject his romantic advances at the last minute, lol
These character dichotomy videos are great man. Would love to see one for Mordin. Haven't been able to find anything like what you've done elsewhere and need a deeper look into him as a character
Worth the wait, this is good. Thanks for taking your time to delve back into the ME Universe, especially since the Legendary Edition is coming out. Really enjoyed the video. Keep up the good work, and Keelah Se' lai
I’ve personally felt so awkward being this into his character but im so glad this video literally shared the same views i had of him, especially as a garrusmancer, everything he does is truly amazing and you can tell the writers put in so much effort for this to happen
Working on a video for miranda then Ashely right now. Javik played a big role in the DoC episode where I covered Liara, same with Legion the the Tali video. I might do a video on Mordin and include wrex wreav and grunt in it as different outcomes for the genophage.
Kind of late to the party but, yeah, I’m glad that so many people love Garrus and that videos like this exist to kind of dissect what makes him work. If I were to admit something here, videos like this are actually what inspired me to start writing and also appreciate characters like Best Bro Garrus for what they really are. Also, about the Kaidan stuff at the beginning of the video, I definitely agree despite my bias towards liking him. I kind of *do* like his character in 3 (to the point that when I found out he could be romanced by male Shepard on my first playthrough, I did it) and I still do like him… But I do find it frustrating that his characterization in 1 and 3 feel off-balanced from one another. I feel like if they put the same care they had for characters like Garrus, Mordkm, and Liara into not-as-consistent characters like Kaidan or Jacob (the only squadmate I’ll admit to be *offensively bad* in writing) then things would’ve been just that much better. But hey, at least Garrus is Garrus and not some stuck-up asshole of a C-Sec cop. Just imagining a world like that, where Garrus isn’t the badass he is, terrifies me.
I could never not cure the genophage. It was always one of the easiest choices to make for me. I love the Krogan species and my boys, Wrex and Mordin, way too much to not. I even have this running gag with my wife whenever we play the ME Trilogy that Male Shep is the equivalent of a Krogan Twink.
Finally finished this- no regrets, excited to see your other videos! This was sooooo well done and reminded me of how much I adore Garrus and why his romance/bromance is incredibly powerful and just makes the most amount of sense in terms of a story. 💙
When Garrus scopes the N7 badge in the comics, I like to think two idea when throught his head. Ether his is so screwed, because one of the Merc trying to kill him is ex N7 or WTF sheperd is dead???
This is why I always warn Sidonis in the loyalty mission. To me it's not about saving Sidonis, but about saving Garrus. If I'm loyal to my best friend, I'm not letting him become someone that executes people in public by shooting them in the back.
![[SFM] Risky Recital](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RzNkY1_Nk3o/mqdefault.jpg)
You can't fail Garrus' loyalty mission because he's already loyal. He's the only one who joins Shepard, no questions asked. Shep earned his loyalty in ME1. All Shep does in ME2 is give Garrus some closure
True, the resolution for him is more do you want garrus to be more like a paragon or a renegade
true enough, I was just ripping on ME2's mission design lol
I already love Garrus as a whole but i still willingly wanted to listen to 2 hours of why Garrus is a good well written character.
Honestly same
Heck, I’d listen to a 5 hr vid of him.
Same. Garrus is hands down my favorite romance, so just getting to listen to *that* voice is enough for me. Excellent character analysis is a bonus.
If say one was a turian. His name would be Garrus. And they say dog is a man's bestfriend
@@Erikard-iw4zv Same! Garrus is best boi, best friend, and best husbando! I've watched this twice!
Thus, there is no Shepard without Vakarian. Whether you're his best bro/wingman or the love of his life, Garrus will always be there for Shepard, regarless whether you're a paragon or a renegade.
I know i'm late, but i have one minor correction to something. Garrus isn't the only ME2 Romance to give you an out with no hard feelings. Apparently, its a dextro thing, because Tali does too.
I think the difference is that Garrus, while flattered, initially thinks it's a bit strange that Shepard wants him while Tali's thoughts on the matter come from the puppy-love crush she has on her commander. If she wasn't so nervous, she would jump Shepard's bones 100%
I'm a simple man. I see Garrus, I like.
Amen.
Same!
"Geth do not intentionally infiltrate" this is why I love Legion, all his lines are pure gold
C-Sec is just mean. :(
an unspoken hero of the series.
It's also funny that the C-Sec officer in the skycar-lobby does not realize that Legion is an actual geth unit.
Just goes to show how much the information has been suppressed since Sovereign attacked.
@@Skarfar90 and also you dont expect to see robot terrorists just walk casually by
@@Skarfar90 That or probably the fact that he's talking and not clicking binary.
Thought I was alone in thinking Garrus was probably one of the best written characters in the trilogy. I followed his romance by chance, on a playthrough I was messing around in. I've never been happier with a complete accident.
The entire fandom considers him the best character.
@@robertharris6092 The only person that is argued to be a better character than Garrus is Tali. Which is the only understandable choice for his challenger. The two Most Loyal are the best characters. I personally agree that Garrus is better, but I can understand why many say Tali.
I don't know how you came to that conclusion considering, as others already pointed out, Garrus is considered the best character in the trilogy, with few characters matching him, usually depending on the person's preference
@@Snipergod1024 Always found it funny when people call Tali one of the most loyal when Garrus I'd by a large margin the most loyal. Gar is the only companion that joined in ME1, unconditionally joined Shepard as soon as he find at she was alive in ME2, and in ME3 he followed joined Shepard even while his world was burning down because he believes she is Palaven's only hope.
Also the character with the highest DPS
I just wanna point out how insane those casualty figures really are when compared to comparative world numbers.
1st off, 85% FATALITIES. that's soldiers killed outright. that's insanity. most units in direct combat in modern warfare suffer less than 10% casualties in direct, extended engagements. in medieval warfare, it was little higher, at between 20-25% expected before the wider force begins to rout. add on that these units could suffer between 20-40% wounded typically, with modern forces only seeing around 5-10% of those wounded made combat ineffective, and you start to see the true insanity of an 85% casualty rate PER ENGAGEMENT. add on the wounded rate of the remaining soldiers and no wonder whole units are literally being wiped from the roster daily.
2nd, you compare the round 8 million casualties of the the first 2 days of combat to the nukes used at the end of world war two. but that doesn't quiet take into account the sheer killing power of the reapers. you compare them to nukes, but the reapers don't use nukes, or seemingly anything that could be classified as a WMD (weapon of mass destruction) meaning these insane casualty count was from conventional warfare(as the mass effect universe see's it). presuming that the reapers aren't causing the majority of the casualty's after day one (cause, presumably no Turian unit is quiet so bats*** crazy as to throw itself at what is in effect a walking skyscraper equipped with star-ship level weaponry) that means that they're "infantry" units are capable of going toe-toe with the highly effective turian military, continue EXPANDING the war-front after day one (what with the increased casualties) and causing 85% casualties of every unit they come up against.
that would likely make them the most effective ground force in the mass effect universe by a factor of between 5-10. and thats against the turians, where every civilian is also essentially a soldier and so they can keep up these numbers for a time. Earth is.............so boned.
Reapers don't use WMD. They ARE the WMDs lol
Earth and Thessia were basically instantly subdued. You simply cannot wage war on such a scale with these casualties for any extended period of time. The Turians were the only ones who were able to do it because of their practically infinite supply of trained soldiers to throw against Reapers. The only way to destroy the Turian military is to drive the near entire species to extinction. I can think of only the Geth who could even come close to holding out for so long, but Reapers didn't get to them before the game came to an end.
But there is a certain irony to the Turian's bravery and stubbornness. By fighting back so viciously they may have invited more destruction upon themselves than anyone else. There isn't much information in the game about exact casualty numbers and speed at which they took place, but the general picture is that Reapers are much faster at slaughtering people than harvesting them. The Galaxy map lore for many colonies points out that Reapers simply bombed installations if there weren't enough people there for them to bother landing and harvesting. I might as well point out that Reapers do use WMDs. They consistently use intimidation tactics in the form of orbital bombardment to force populations into compliance, e.g. wiping one city off the map to get other cities around it to give up. The only place this failed was the Vorcha homeworld Heshtok, since the Vorcha are too dumb to be indirectly intimidated. So yeah, Reapers are quite capable of sterilizing an entire planet very quickly, they just don't want to. They're there to harvest first.
The only harvesting rate we have is for Earth, which claims Reapers harvest 1.86 million humans a day. Taking into account the death from destroyed infrastructure, starvation, partizan activity the Codex said that Earth would be depopulated in 10 years. 11.4 billion people in 10 years, that's 3.1 million people dying each day. And the Turians had almost double that on the 2nd day of the invasion. At that rate with its 6.1 billion population Palaven would be depopulated in 3 years. And that's just the direct war casualties that Garrus mentioned, we have no idea how many Turians are starving, dying from disease and being harvested at all. We know from the Codex that Reapers, aware of the Turian reputation, hit them with the utmost brutality and destroyed colonies to enrage them. We know that Reapers had orbital superiority over Palaven, and could bomb the planet with impunity. We know it's a ground war and they're pushing the Turians back, even with Krogan help. And we know from the Miracle at Palaven that the one time the Turians took back territory is when they sneaked nukes into processing ships and blew them up, with all the Turian civilians and partizans aboard. The scale of brutality and destruction on Palaven must be unimaginable. Basically bombed back to the stone age.
All the while the Turians are fighting Reapers on multiple fronts, for example they tried to retake the Volus homeworld Irune. I can't think of any major operations the Alliance engaged in, much less won (except for leading the Crucible project, but no fighting during construction is mentioned). If it wasn't for the Turian courage and sacrifice tying up Reaper forces, the Galaxy would be done for even faster... And by the end of the game Reapers controlled most of it anyway. You can see the desperation when the Turian fleet abandoned Palaven and other colonies to get to Earth. I think Shepard summarized it well; "This isn't a war, this is slaughter"
@@Horny_Fruit_Flies Not exactly. Considering in the game it says the Reapers HIT Earth the HARDEST and QUICKEST. Effectively killing and knocking out a majority of the Alliance fleet AT Earth. Meaning Humanity didn't have ANY time to react, while the Turian's, Salarian's and Asari had at least SOME warning. Hell, the Turian's were even somewhat more prepared due to Garrus' constant warnings and persistence. And we aren't given much indication as to where exactly the Human fleets/Ground Forces are fighting, though it's hinted that a majority of Humanities remaining Fleets are tied up protecting the Crucible, which if that falls, so does the rest of the galaxy.
It isn't just ONE species holding the galaxy together. It's a multitude, without Humans, Turian's would have been utterly obliterated within the first few hours, without Turian's holding the line, the Reapers would have spread faster, and without Asari, many species wouldn't be able to get their rocks off.
@@CanadianTehGamer The fact that they hit Earth hard and quick and took over it in a matter of days if not hours is precisely the REASON why the planet was spared the majority of destruction that Palaven was subjected to.
It's just a fact of warfare and evidenced by history that conquering land swiftly does significantly less damage than a protracted exchange of firepower. Compare the damage France went through in WWI were you had trench warfare for every inch of land (there are still active minefields and UXOs found in France to this day), and then the early years of WWII were the Germans blitzkrieged almost the entire country with minimal damage. Or look at the eastern front were you had the highest casualties and destruction because blitzkrieg strategy didn't work. Or a more modern example, compare the basically nonexistent damage to Crimea when the Russian swiftly took over it in 2014, and compare it to the 2022 invasion when Ukraine is resisting and we have a near-peer war; the frontline looks like a complete nightmare.
The Codex flat out states that Palaven had been bombed so severely that the dust from glassed cities chokes the atmosphere and is a breathing hazard. A war so bad that it threatens global ecological collapse. The destruction the Reapers caused is comparable to a meteor strike.
I agree that all species contributed to the war, I was just highlighting what the turians' contributions were since they were the topic of the comment thread.
ME3 is a depressing game but damn dude that run was a slog.
When I played Mass Effect 3 originally, I never got that feeling from it. The only things that I was quite disgruntled about, was because you went you made all those choices, but in the end you never really got to see how they affected everything around you, not until you play the extended DLC ending.
I have to admit, I don't know why they had to go back and do a major rewrite at the end, and why they didn't just add that in the very beginning when the game was originally released.
I am about to start my ME3 Insanity run about to do IFF in ME2 real steep curve betwean 1 and 2.
@@thecowboy9698 ME3 was made under some SERIOUS time constraints thanks to EA
If the game had another year (which it 100% needed) I’m sure the extended cut would’ve made it on disc
@@epsilon1572 yeah. EA has to ruin everything it gets its grubby tentacles on. ME3 story is so sloppily written because they didn't have the time to do it right
@@thecowboy9698 they could of made a better ending but i doubt they could make a truly satisfying one.
"Tell me again about your immune system."
"I have a shotgun"
...i mean that is a very effective anti- *biotic* .
Of course Garrus is the best character. He has a very large "cannon" for femshep to "calibrate". Seriously though he's the ultimate bro, sticks by you through the entire story and has your back as you go feet first into hell. He's the best friend you could ask for and as such an amazing partner in both battle and love.
TRUE
"DO NOT INJEST! DO NOT INJEST!"
@@tesstickle6974 that's one little detail I missed in Andromeda.
He has the Reach, and she has the flexibility.
@@tesstickle6974 what the fuck lmao
i didnt get that so i looked it up and ????? i never got that line with mordin on my garrus romance playthrough omg
Never before in any game or fictional universe can I say that there was a better Bro/Wingman than Garrus.
Navi. “Hey listen”
Or Boyfriend.
Chewie comes close, but Garrus is just the best.
Varric in Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition is definitely right up there with Garrus.
Garrus and the Arbiter Coolest partners ever
Just found this absolutely wonderful video. One thing you didn't mention here, and I feel is a slightly overlooked part of the Citadel date: The dance scene between Shepard and Garrus is one of the biggest and best indications of the amount of trust Shepard actually has for Garrus and shows how much their dynamics have shifted.
Shepard has been the Leader and Commander all throughout the trilogy, but in that moment, she gives him complete control in an environment that she's not comfortable with - dancing.
Up to that point, everyone makes fun of Shepards' absolutely atrocious dancing (even Garrus himself!), but Garrus takes the position of lead in one of the most complicated styles of dance and makes Shepard successful at it. She starts off awkward and stiff, much like Garrus did when we first met him, before growing cocky, and then confident in her actions.
People often get lost in the unique, cute, and flirty moment without recognizing the very symbolic nature of it.
Shepard and Vakarian are so uniquely different from one another, similar to each other, and take up each others roles when it is needed the most that it's astounding and truly shows that whoever wrote their romance/bromance poured an insane amount of passion into the fans love and demand for him to be a romance option.
So beautifully said
@@atrelanor4876 Now that you pointed that out, I love it even more 😭
“James told me there's an old saying here on Earth--may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead. Not sure if Turian heaven is the same as yours, but, if this thing goes sideways and we both end up there--meet me at the bar. I'm buying.”
Garrus is the BEST bro
"We're a team, Garrus. There's no Shepard without Vakarian. So you better remember to duck."
In other words: why you should always romance Garrus
playing femshep with Garrus as your bro is also incredibly satisfying
Tali taps Dat ass also so you know sss tier
He is the best female romance and the best male bromance
@@shriramvenu agreed. Their banter is rlly great. And tali goes better with garrus than femshep imo.
@@mhead1117 I disagree she says that he's a fling unlike the actual love he and Shepard might have
Just met Samara (again) in ME2 with Garrus in my party, she has a line directly saying "the expedient path may be fast and simple; that does not make it the right path." Quick cut to Garrus looking towards the camera over Shepard's shoulder
Ok I have see this on my next run through. Sounds hilarious
I literally did this earlier today. Wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but it amused me.
I find it absolutely hilarious that the developers threw in the little detail of Garrus hating audio recordings of his own voice. Makes it incredibly ironic, considering all of us Garrus fans list his voice as one of our favorite things about him. XD
It is the best kind of meta-humor LMAO
I’m not into dudes. But I can easily say garrus using that voice for sexy talk can make anybody space gay
It's like the same thing with Naoto from Persona 4. 'I'm not bisexual - I'm Garrus-sexual"
@@XBadgerKnightX im commander shepherd, and this is my favorite sexuality on the citadel
The best Mass Effect romance ever for me
also if i remember right, garrus is one of the few romances who talks about a future/family with shep if they can survive and that just gets me
It hurts me so much when he does. Because my god I want that for them.
@@danaemcmiles7477 HE'S ONE OF THE FEW TO USE A PET NAME FOR HER TOO! IN THE CITADEL DLC! I also found out there is a bug in it that prevents garrus from having this moment with shepard where he talks about her meeting the in laws ie his family!!! ah!
I just want closure with my turian husband 🥲 just let my Shep and Garrus retire on the beach with their adopted Krogan kids. Shep deserves some peace that isn’t immediately followed up with death or house arrest
Can we talk about Fem sheppard's hips? Not on Tali's level but danm
They’re very supportive.
@@iterationfackshet1990 did you just-? Reference THE Garrus himself?
I've never not cured the genophage. This was my first time seeing what happens if you don't...and holy shit that just made me so depressed.
Even as a renegade I always cure it. I can't doom a whole race
@@themanofconstantsorrowelia1929 if only wreav is in charge, then it's actually morally grey to sabotage the cure, because Wreav just wants to wage war, not better his people. Save it for another time.
@@randomstuff508 exactly this. The Krogans would attack and leave a galaxy that is already vulnerable to ruins. If you’re renegade Shepard, you have to understand that the Krogans are not READY to be on even footing if their entire race has been known to wage war.
@@randomstuff508 A person who is in charge is close to irrelevant. One properly placed explosive and we're back to square one.
@@Vladislav888 you underestimate Wrex then. You should be careful...
"come here often? I imagine anyone who does is probably an alcoholic." that line actually works
I appreciate finding this after completing ME Legendary for the first time. As someone who romanced Garrus, I enjoyed watching their relationship develop, the way they both influenced and supported each other in the best ways possible (as a Paragon at least). Thanks for such an in-depth analysis.
I'm Garrus Vakarian and this is now my favourite video on the Citadel.
I don't know if it was mentioned before, when Garrus talks about his family on Pallaven and all Shepard has to offer is platitudes, if you have the Spacer pre-service history he'll ask about your family. Shepard responds that she hasn't heard from her mom either, and Garrus realizes all he has to offer is platitudes as well.
In the context of the video, I think it kind of subtly teaches him that even if platitudes are old, it's sometimes all you can give
“That’s the thing about getting old Shepard, the platitudes get just as old.”
Always been a line that stuck in my head.
Seeing wrex die hurt my soul,i grew so attached to bro wrex was a kind dino with a quad of steal.
It always bugged me that the writers forgot he was a biotic.
RIP
I love you too, David.
@@Bigpep69420 catch bullets and make me a sandwich lizard lmao.
@@DavidSantos-ix1hu How dare you? I'm not some Salarian Wench. You can't talk to me that way.
when the tango scene came up, I started grinning like a big idiot cuz this romance will always bring me tears of joy. And this big guy is definitely best boy : my sister and my dad also played Mass Effect and we all agree to that conclusion. While there's no doubt that my sister is a huge SIMP FOR GARRUS, my dad might be in love with Zaeed or something but yeah we all love Garrus.
That's awesome
Zaeed ain't a bad choice but Garrus is still best boy.
It's me ... I am the sister in question. The person who wrote this comment is my sister. And yeah I'm a big Garrus simp and our father is a big zaeed fanboy
@@crubelliermargaux7798 simp
@@crubelliermargaux7798 you wrote this many months after she wrote it
He's pretty good. Ya know, for a Turian.
I love the comic I never knew about Garrus's Mother or his call with his father when we are about to rescue him in Omega in ME2.
I think I care even more about Garrus than before.
I can't wait to romance him again, this was an amazing essay and I'm glad someone put it into words why I l love him and why he's one of my favorite fictional characters ever.
the whole video is a true love letter to garrus character, thank you. i gotta say, the 2:16:26 section was especially brilliant, beautiful and painful. i'd never considered that perspective before and now it hurts all over again. 10/10 would cry about garrus again.
I have literally never seen that scene with Wrex and I'm so glad I haven't cause it is genuinely horrific
Some of the names Turians have felt too Roman. Garrus is evocative of a Roman name but is unique enough to not pull me out of he experience. Others were not. I remember that the Turian general simping for Shaira in ME 1 was named fucking *Septimus,* a real Roman name. It felt too weird for me.
Agreed - it does kind of require you to suspend your disbelief a bit more, but it's merits are also worth considering.
You're 100% correct, it is quite weird. But then again coming with good names for characters, while writing the games aren't that easy, in the end, so I can't blame them going over where the fence is the lowest.
I just assume all words we hear from other races is a very sophisticated translating device in the omni tool. That might be how it translates some names that are too hard to spell for humans or replaces these names with the closest example from human language.
@@XBadgerKnightX They were always on the nose. The city state of Turii joined the Romans against the other greeks in southern Italy and were the official casus belli of that war.
It’s also funny that his last name has a sort of Armenian style, ending in and “-ian”
Can I just say that Castis was completely justified in chewing Garrus out in Homeworlds? Homeboy was heading down a very dark path.
I love how Garrus is such a dork.
He’s adorable!
This man speaks as fast as a salarian.
lol probably the only way this video wasn’t 5 hours long
@@withintheshyness thas tru
I couldn't have known I needed to watch 2 hours of reasons why Garrus is awesome, but I really did. Thank you for this.
I absolutely ADORE Garrus
Seeing what happens when you sabotage the genophage makes me judge people who think the renegade run is badass even more.
I always play renegade and I never sabotaged the cure. Being Renegade should be about not taking shit from anybody, not being a mustache twirling bafoon.
@@ravenstrategist1325 Exactly,people forget that Renegade was originally just being a cold person,not fucking evil like how they portrayed it in ME3,but I don't like going either full Paragon or Renegade,it makes Shepard look like one dimensional character. For me,Ruthless/Colonist Shepard makes a lot of sense,even tho she is a bit cold,she will always save the colonists in a heartbeat. And even tho she doesn't show it directly,she still cares about the Normandy and it`s crew/squadmates.
I just take advantage of glitches/bugs to have every paragon/renegade option available. I take the paragon choice on all the major decisions but can still have fun as a renegade for all the stuff that doesn't really matter. Besides I like picking renegade dialogue options because they are so much funnier than paragon which can be kinda cringy.
being real , sheps smile is somewhat unsettling in ME2
Oh yeah don't get me wrong, femshep's pre-romance-Garrus-stank face is just as bad as mshep's one with Miranda imho
I love taking the paragon path with Garrus. It makes for much more interesting dialogue and a great dynamic between him and Shepard. He's such a wonderful character, I just adore him
This is a fantastic video, thank you for a very insightful and thoughtful analysis of my favorite character ever.
I honestly can't romance anyone but Garrus as femshep. First and foremost, he is Shepard's best friend and sticks by her through everything. As much as Shepard mentors and guides Garrus, she can count on his support just as much. After all, the words "there is no Shepard without Vakarian" come from her mouth. Shepard achieves so much, but at the end of the day she knows her loved ones, especially her Turian bf, are an integral part of who she is. The sense that they always have each other's back is such a beautiful thing. None of the other femshep romances pull that off imo.
Sometimes I forget how much Garrus looks up to Shepard. It’s kind of cute, actually.
1:01:00 tali also offers you an out. Im pretty sure every romance has the "are you sure" talk
“There is no Shepard without Vakerian!”
It’s cannon, literally a line spoken by Shepard to Garrus.
Garrus is Shepards brother from another mother!
Or her absolute soulmate.
Realizing I could romance garrus is what made me have to play as fem shep. Best decision of my life.
2:13:22 - that line from Garrus has me rolling on the floor in tears every. Fuckin. Time.
Just started a new play through with the remastered edition- your video reminded me why I always romance Garrus. There’s just no better character in this game. Really enjoyed your thoughts on his evolution too and you including the comic that I didn’t know existed! His relationship to his father is pretty fascinating.
Tali for male shep, Garrus for femshep. Fight me.
@@ssfbob456 lol never! I completely agree 😂
I love that in the Citadel DLC, if you romance Garrus, Tali can show up drunk and dreams about the three of them together.
If you don't romance either Garrus or Tali, and you're in good terms with both of them by two thirds of ME3, they'll hook up and live the Fleet And Flotilla dream romance.
After seeing that by chance right away (I stayed loyal to Liara in my first playthrough) I found it way harder to romance either of them.
I eventually did romance both of them, but in my head cannon, Sheppard is with Liara or Ash or Kayden, and Garrus is with Tali.
I'll never c*ck-block my space-bro, ever again.
It is only right that the best boy and best girl hookup if Shepard got the blue fever.
Knowing what happens to Sheppard I might do this for my new playthrough. They deserve to be happy
I see your point but it’s kinda more like fwb when your realise both wanted shepard depending on which gender you are and if you don’t pick them they just say ok fuck it I guess we will just get together 😂 it’s cool but honestly tali and garrus are the best romances for Shepard imo, just means you have to pick the destroy ending 😂
@@thebigbantha9245 The destroy that ass ending
There's another, and much more sufficient reason for Tali x Garrus should be canon.
Dextra DNA.
Basicaly you could kill each other with a cheese otherwise :)
I am predicting your channel will explode with Legendary edition. You have genuine humbleness, hard work ethic, and it makes for good analysis. Well done, I’m subscribing.
Garrus is the Sam Gamgee to Shepard's Frodo
Agreed
I like how James puts it when we go to save the primarch son...
"We're not so different"
I like the spacer background because you get a call from mom sometimes, and I always romance Garrus in me2 and 3
Also I like the death stare of shepard at some points, I never noticed, is it just a result of the sharper textures or did she already have those?
I take him on every single mission. From ME1 thru ME3 and then i choose a random character.
You deserve far more views, subs, and likes.
This guy speaks faster than my meth head cousin..... I like his in depth analysis, I wish he spoke slower
The scene of Shepard panning over to Garrus awkwardly standing there with alcohol in his hand and how it holds there for a few seconds is one of the best scenes in the trilogy.
6 minutes in and im already in love with this
And the ending BONUS BRO SHEP
Taking just a little extra time to enunciate would push this video from a 3/5 to a 4.5/5 for me. This video is obviously well put-together, but your sentences seem just a bit rushed, and there's a bit of word-salad that happens that could be fixed if you take an extra tenth of a second to break with one word before moving on to the next. Good work overall though, love my bro Garrus.
Agreed! found the video super interesting but had trouble understanding what he was saying at times, dudes goin wayyyyy too fast. Really good overall tho!
I second this, this video earned you a sub but taking just abit more time so I can clearly discern what was said would be great.
I have adhd. Usually I watch videos at faster speed. Did not have to do anything
Yeah I wanted to watch this but had to try to play it at .75 speed. There was no way I could listen at normal speed.
I always picked Wrex side regardless and never sabotaged the cure. Just to see my boi like that... T^T
Otherwise, this is an excellent video and definitely what I notice playing this game over and over. It covers all the point in why I stress ME is such a great trilogy and I constantly shout that praise at people. Looking forward to the next vid. :)
Yeah, Wrex FTW. Keep him and Bakara alive, and it's smooth sailing (well, as far as that goes in the ME 'verse).
Maybe it would go something like this:
Khalisah: Did you take into account that the Krogan will outnumber all other sentient species combined in _our_ lifetimes?
Me: Yep. It's all good. My krannt are in charge. They've got this.
"Geth do not intentionally infiltrate" is one of the funniest lines in the game. And so easy to miss, or rather quite hard to get,
Garrus Vakarian is the reason I crossplay.
1:52:30 finally Shepard gets to hear something that’s halfway positive.
"There's no Shepard without Vakarian." - Commander Shepard.
"Can it wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations." - Garrus.
🤣 that cracked me up
something that makes garrus' reaction to talis death even sadder is the fact that if you dont romance either they fall in love.
Me with my ADHD: Ah, someone who speaks fast enough to prove interesting. I shall listen.
I HAVE FINALLY FOUND ONE OF MY PEOPLE
What can I say about Garrus that hasn't already been said.. I guess nothing other than him being the best space bro ever.
No other squadmate can come close to the level of friendship that Shepard and Garrus has between them.. Well except for Tali, but you already know that.
Both Garrus and Tali has always been there for Shepard, and vice versa (unless some bad choices were made). They are the only squadmates present throughout the entire main story, and the ones that knows Shepard best, where both are seeing Shepard as a mentor of sorts at first, and as a close friend who needs their support later on.
Garrus has the most screen-time out of all, being available for recruitment very early in all three games.
All in all, he is the virtual representation of a true best friend who will follow you into hell itself (given the chance).
I love your videos, stumbled upon Tali's yesterday and decided I'll try them all, the quality of them is off the charts! My only very, very little criticism is that I sometimes have to go back because you sometime speak a little too fast which can make it harder to understand for me, I'm fluent but EN remains a second language for me so sometimes it gets a little hard. But overall I am stunned by the quality of your work, keep doing it as long as you please, there are so many people like me that will be here to watch your upcoming videos (still have to go back and watch the older ones) thank you for this!
This is something that I will address in the next 2 episodes involving Ashley and Miranda. The reason why I speak so quickly is because I have adult onset asthma. In some of the uncut audio you can hear me wheezing and speaking fast it the only way I found eliminates hours of audio editing.
I am glad that you're enjoying my videos! Stay tuned for a channel update today about future projects and for a dumb (but hilarious) video.
@@XBadgerKnightX thanks a lot for answering and don't worry it's a very minor "issue" (even calling it that is a bit much) your videos are very well made and I thoroughly enjoy them, me having to go back a few seconds at times has no impact on my appreciation of them :) I hope you have fun making these great videos, and of course playing this truly great trilogy as much as you do haha :)
That quick comic dub at 32:14 hit me really hard for some reason.. went from listening to the vid idly in the background to trying not to cry instantly.
46:30
There is actually a way to get Kelham to give you the information you need without playing the SPECTRE card. If you rejected the council's offer to reinstate you, you're able to focus on Kelham's lawyer and convince him that the best thing for his client is to give up the information about Thane's son. It is one of the more charismatic 4d chess art of persuasion moments that Shepard has in the entire trilogy.
It's hard, but there is a way to remain within the law. However, even getting it as an option basically requires you to prevent yourself from having any extrajudicial options. If those simpler, more direct solutions exist, Shepard doesn't think to use the more complicated compromise that she reaches if she's not a SPECTRE.
I'm Garrus Vakarian, and this is now my favorite channel on RUclips
Actually, Tali also gives you an out, that the possibility of her getting sick could distract you from the mission.
It is only correct that the best boy and the best girl are the best boyfriend/girlfriend to Shepard.
@@XBadgerKnightX Btw you’ve probably seen me post a lot of comments in the past few days. I’ve been watching all of your Dichotomy of a character videos while playing games. They’re great content. If I could offer one bit of constructive criticism, slow down and enunciate! I have the same issue when I do narration, I mumble a lot.
@@XBadgerKnightX facts tali is best male shep romance and garrus is best fem shep romance, shame they gave them one of the only crew mate romances since I’ll never not romance them as Shepard
Oh my god, I’ve never seen that cutscene where Wrex comes after Shepard, I’ve never made that decision….so glad I never did.
I've been playing through the Legendary Edition and What I like about Garrus' character is that he a rebel w/a cause. Arguably, Shepard and all the main squad members are, outcasts from their respective societies but still trying to do good, even if it's from the outer fringes of the society or the law.
It's easy to compare Garrus to characters like Punisher but IMHO he's more a Renegade Batman w/ a sniper rifle. He was on Omega to help the regular citizens, to protect them from the gangs that Aria doesn't deal with unless they threaten her standing or operation in some way.
I wonder if Garrus spoke to Ashley at some point and learned about Christianity, given that he chose Archangel as his codename on Omega and of course his Christ inspired betrayal by Sidonis. In the Bible Archangel Michael goes to battle against Satan and his forces. He is not just a Warrior but a Protector, and Garrus seems to embody the same idea, as he pits himself against forces of Evil (Saren, the Omega gangs, The Reapers, etc).
Even his loyalty missions deal with failing to protect others- he couldn't protect ppl from Dr. Saleon and then he couldn't protect his men from Sidonis' betrayal. At the heart of it all Garrus wants to help ppl and keep them safe.
Then there's the fact that Archangel/St. Michael is the patron saint of the Police, and Garrus is effectively an ex-cop....
All and all I think Garrus represents the idea of "If you must choose between the Law and doing Good, choose Good". Garrus chooses Good and of course this makes him a rebel in a society that demands obedience above all else.
I love that. But I think it is more possible that the writers were more so influenced or inspired by biblical stories and themes. I see it everywhere in Mass Effect. Literature, in general, is.
sorry but the scene with wrex-- the fact that they probably spaced wrex's corpse? PAIN. My heart hurts.
I will say this in the paragon/renagade system, in the way Tali speaks for either the council to live or die, she doesn't say to let them die. She is just concern for alliance forces being destroyed. So if you are in for Tali romance, that is prove that Tali has feelings for Shepard. Or at least cares enough for female Shepard.
I absolutely loved the dichotomy videos you made on both Liara and Tali. But...But... the Garrus Vakarian dichotomy video blows both of those away. I was always a big fan of Garrus. Now after this video I'm even more a fan of Garrus if that's even possible. You Just gained a new fan and a new subscriber keep up the good work. I saw that the next video you may do on a mass effect character is the vivacious and lovely Miranda Lawson I can't wait. So may your drink be full your roof be strong and you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead. If you need an idea about another great Mass Effect character when you're done with Miranda just like Raymond Everybody loves Wrex.
I see no point of playing Mass Effect without romancing Garrus. Killing Reapers is just a side quest.
Ironically, Rage for the Machine is now a more apt name for that group of tools
This was an amazing video. Thank you!
I didn't even know that I needed it but holy shit, this was a fantastic character breakdown.
Also, the advice at the end about being a better friend really hit home.
Great job, man. Respect.
Good video dude. As someone who always played broshep I never understood how deep the connection between Garrus and Shepard could get.
This is yet another supremely insightful analysis of a character that well and truly inspires me.
Great video... Thank you for your work.
Thank you so much!
the only value Kaden brings is how fun it is to save him, drag him all the way along to the end of ME3, only to reject his romantic advances at the last minute, lol
Garrus is probably the reason ill be forever single, no man, woman, or person will ever meet the standards he set.
🤣
These character dichotomy videos are great man. Would love to see one for Mordin. Haven't been able to find anything like what you've done elsewhere and need a deeper look into him as a character
Nice. That ruthless calculus part was honestly brilliant imho.
Worth the wait, this is good. Thanks for taking your time to delve back into the ME Universe, especially since the Legendary Edition is coming out.
Really enjoyed the video. Keep up the good work, and Keelah Se' lai
The next trilogy should just be the first trilogy through Garrus's point of view, where Shepard helps him defeat the Reapers.
Garrus is not the only romance that gives you an out. Tali does it, I'm fairly certain Jack does it too.
My favorite femshep romance.
You need more subscribers. I've been binging your videos and they are all well done.
I adore the fact you didn’t cut out all the times you messed up your lines, keeping them in made this expose feel all the more genuine.
I’ve personally felt so awkward being this into his character but im so glad this video literally shared the same views i had of him, especially as a garrusmancer, everything he does is truly amazing and you can tell the writers put in so much effort for this to happen
I love the breakdown and this video essay. Can’t wait to watch more. :)
How about mordin, or wrex, or thane, or javik, or Legion, or any other character from mass effect
Working on a video for miranda then Ashely right now. Javik played a big role in the DoC episode where I covered Liara, same with Legion the the Tali video. I might do a video on Mordin and include wrex wreav and grunt in it as different outcomes for the genophage.
Kind of late to the party but, yeah, I’m glad that so many people love Garrus and that videos like this exist to kind of dissect what makes him work. If I were to admit something here, videos like this are actually what inspired me to start writing and also appreciate characters like Best Bro Garrus for what they really are.
Also, about the Kaidan stuff at the beginning of the video, I definitely agree despite my bias towards liking him. I kind of *do* like his character in 3 (to the point that when I found out he could be romanced by male Shepard on my first playthrough, I did it) and I still do like him… But I do find it frustrating that his characterization in 1 and 3 feel off-balanced from one another. I feel like if they put the same care they had for characters like Garrus, Mordkm, and Liara into not-as-consistent characters like Kaidan or Jacob (the only squadmate I’ll admit to be *offensively bad* in writing) then things would’ve been just that much better.
But hey, at least Garrus is Garrus and not some stuck-up asshole of a C-Sec cop. Just imagining a world like that, where Garrus isn’t the badass he is, terrifies me.
I've always played man Shep I can't believed I missed all this great Garrus content
I could never not cure the genophage. It was always one of the easiest choices to make for me. I love the Krogan species and my boys, Wrex and Mordin, way too much to not. I even have this running gag with my wife whenever we play the ME Trilogy that Male Shep is the equivalent of a Krogan Twink.
Finally finished this- no regrets, excited to see your other videos! This was sooooo well done and reminded me of how much I adore Garrus and why his romance/bromance is incredibly powerful and just makes the most amount of sense in terms of a story. 💙
When Garrus scopes the N7 badge in the comics, I like to think two idea when throught his head.
Ether his is so screwed, because one of the Merc trying to kill him is ex N7
or
WTF sheperd is dead???
This is why I always warn Sidonis in the loyalty mission. To me it's not about saving Sidonis, but about saving Garrus. If I'm loyal to my best friend, I'm not letting him become someone that executes people in public by shooting them in the back.