I finally managed to get through all 35 (at the time of writing) parts of it, and I found it quite interesting. I agree with much of it, and I've pointed out quite a few of the same things on numerous occasions. Like Shamus, I prefer ME1 over the others for much of the same reasons.
There are a few things I'd like to comment though:
1. He's talking about husks (reaper tech) being an expensive way of making cannon fodder. It's actually explained why they do it this way: It's a form of psychological warfare.
2. He's describing events as if the human relay was opened hundreds of years ago. This is false. It happened only a few decades ago, which is actually quite a problem, as humans are suddenly dominating a galaxy a few decades after proper space flight, despite the galaxy being inhabited by species that have a headstart of thousands of years. In reality, we'd be as out of place as a Viking or a Roman in the modern world, and as technologically inferior. There is absolutely no way we'd be able to dominate in such a short amount of time, which comes across as "sort of okay" in ME1 (where Turians, Asari and Salarians dominate), but in ME2 and 3 it just stops making sense.
3. Like Shamus, I completely agree that it fell apart between ME1 and 2, and that the shift from Shepard as an intelligent seeker of knowledge makes a lot more sense than Shepard the KING OF BADASS. Super advanced machines that are millions of years old and have annihilated trillions upon trillions of sapient beings would not have an issue with some dude (or dudette!) who happens to be good at shooting stuff.
4. The apathy and incompetence of various galactic organizations, including governments appear to annoy Shamus a great deal. I agree. It's flat out stupid. The Council and its various organizations (STG, C-Sec etc) have been handling intelligence, crime and war for millenia, and all of a sudden they're all completely clueless. The Alliance, who somehow have managed to rival the military of species that have a 2000 year headstart, are suddenly reduced to bumbling idiots. And let's not get into Cerberus, who the writers want us to believe are incredibly gifted, capable of curing death, creating the most advanced ship in the galaxy and the most advanced AI. Despite all that, they kill themselves more than anyone else. Also, their progress and resources makes no sense whatsoever. They're a mess.
5. Just a quick comment here: The "thermal clip" thing by some poster over there is incorrect. It doesn't spawn based on your own ammo situation. Only the half-drained ones from enemies spawn at different intervals; the static ones are always in the same locations. I've played through ME2 dozens of times and have memorized pretty much all the locations. They're always there, in the exact same amount.
6. Shamus had never heard of anyone who brought along Morinth. I have, on several occasions, to see how it all works out. It's interesting, though it appears it's not something the Q&A folks tested either, as it's somewhat.. strange near the end. It's as if the game can't decide if it's Morinth or her mother from time to time.
7. I completely agree with Shamus regarding the Genophage and Geth/Quarian side quests. They basically represent the best story told content I know of that spans several games. They're both fantastic, and way better than the main story.
8. Sadly, the Collectors and the Reapers are indeed stupid, silly and so on and so forth. Like the organizations of the galaxy, they are completely incompetent, and the fact that they can't even take out the KING OF BADASS doesn't make any sense. Millions of years of experience, and they can't pull off a simple ambush even if it was staged perfectly. Come on. The whole Collector vessel mission is just daft. The Reapers go from being unfathomably powerful in ME1 to just annoying in ME2. "THIS HURTS YOU!".. really? Millions of years, that's the best you can do? There's no way these guys would have been able to wipe out the galaxy thousands of times.
9. The way Shepard is greeted is universally bad in ME2. Ashley/Kaiden is just the tip of the ice berg. Shepard is the first being cured of death, and he/she is the greatest hero in the galaxy, yet people greet him/her with.. "yo, 'sup?". Why go through with the whole death/resurrected thing if you're going to completely ignore it for the entire game?
10. Shamus misunderstood the ending of ME2, and as such the timing of The Arrival DLC. The Arrival happens before the attack on the Collector base, and the Reapers are not shown to "wake up" at the end of ME2: They're invading. That's what the clip is about. They were already awake and heading towards us.
11. Which leads us to the single biggest flaw in the whole series: The invasion. It ruins the entire story. It ruins everything done in ME1 and 2. The Reapers are unstoppable, and "trapped in dark space" according to Vigil. If they were only a few years away, their plans with Sovereign and Harbinger makes no sense at all, nor does it make any sense for them to abandon Plan A when they get here: Take over the Citadel and the Relay network, and just harvest system by system. It invalidates everything done up to this point. I find the whole thing baffling. The Reapers could, and should, have simply swooped in without alerting anyone to their presence, and an ancient super AI would obviously know this. A couple of years makes no difference to someone that has been around for at least 37.000.000 years (the age of the dead Reaper in ME2, so they must be older than that).
All in all, I still enjoy the games for their characters, side quests and what not, and I still replay them every year, but after ME1 I was so blown away I genuinely thought this would rival Star Wars OT as a trilogy for me. It didn't.
There are a few things I'd like to comment though:
1. He's talking about husks (reaper tech) being an expensive way of making cannon fodder. It's actually explained why they do it this way: It's a form of psychological warfare.
2. He's describing events as if the human relay was opened hundreds of years ago. This is false. It happened only a few decades ago, which is actually quite a problem, as humans are suddenly dominating a galaxy a few decades after proper space flight, despite the galaxy being inhabited by species that have a headstart of thousands of years. In reality, we'd be as out of place as a Viking or a Roman in the modern world, and as technologically inferior. There is absolutely no way we'd be able to dominate in such a short amount of time, which comes across as "sort of okay" in ME1 (where Turians, Asari and Salarians dominate), but in ME2 and 3 it just stops making sense.
3. Like Shamus, I completely agree that it fell apart between ME1 and 2, and that the shift from Shepard as an intelligent seeker of knowledge makes a lot more sense than Shepard the KING OF BADASS. Super advanced machines that are millions of years old and have annihilated trillions upon trillions of sapient beings would not have an issue with some dude (or dudette!) who happens to be good at shooting stuff.
4. The apathy and incompetence of various galactic organizations, including governments appear to annoy Shamus a great deal. I agree. It's flat out stupid. The Council and its various organizations (STG, C-Sec etc) have been handling intelligence, crime and war for millenia, and all of a sudden they're all completely clueless. The Alliance, who somehow have managed to rival the military of species that have a 2000 year headstart, are suddenly reduced to bumbling idiots. And let's not get into Cerberus, who the writers want us to believe are incredibly gifted, capable of curing death, creating the most advanced ship in the galaxy and the most advanced AI. Despite all that, they kill themselves more than anyone else. Also, their progress and resources makes no sense whatsoever. They're a mess.
5. Just a quick comment here: The "thermal clip" thing by some poster over there is incorrect. It doesn't spawn based on your own ammo situation. Only the half-drained ones from enemies spawn at different intervals; the static ones are always in the same locations. I've played through ME2 dozens of times and have memorized pretty much all the locations. They're always there, in the exact same amount.
6. Shamus had never heard of anyone who brought along Morinth. I have, on several occasions, to see how it all works out. It's interesting, though it appears it's not something the Q&A folks tested either, as it's somewhat.. strange near the end. It's as if the game can't decide if it's Morinth or her mother from time to time.
7. I completely agree with Shamus regarding the Genophage and Geth/Quarian side quests. They basically represent the best story told content I know of that spans several games. They're both fantastic, and way better than the main story.
8. Sadly, the Collectors and the Reapers are indeed stupid, silly and so on and so forth. Like the organizations of the galaxy, they are completely incompetent, and the fact that they can't even take out the KING OF BADASS doesn't make any sense. Millions of years of experience, and they can't pull off a simple ambush even if it was staged perfectly. Come on. The whole Collector vessel mission is just daft. The Reapers go from being unfathomably powerful in ME1 to just annoying in ME2. "THIS HURTS YOU!".. really? Millions of years, that's the best you can do? There's no way these guys would have been able to wipe out the galaxy thousands of times.
9. The way Shepard is greeted is universally bad in ME2. Ashley/Kaiden is just the tip of the ice berg. Shepard is the first being cured of death, and he/she is the greatest hero in the galaxy, yet people greet him/her with.. "yo, 'sup?". Why go through with the whole death/resurrected thing if you're going to completely ignore it for the entire game?
10. Shamus misunderstood the ending of ME2, and as such the timing of The Arrival DLC. The Arrival happens before the attack on the Collector base, and the Reapers are not shown to "wake up" at the end of ME2: They're invading. That's what the clip is about. They were already awake and heading towards us.
11. Which leads us to the single biggest flaw in the whole series: The invasion. It ruins the entire story. It ruins everything done in ME1 and 2. The Reapers are unstoppable, and "trapped in dark space" according to Vigil. If they were only a few years away, their plans with Sovereign and Harbinger makes no sense at all, nor does it make any sense for them to abandon Plan A when they get here: Take over the Citadel and the Relay network, and just harvest system by system. It invalidates everything done up to this point. I find the whole thing baffling. The Reapers could, and should, have simply swooped in without alerting anyone to their presence, and an ancient super AI would obviously know this. A couple of years makes no difference to someone that has been around for at least 37.000.000 years (the age of the dead Reaper in ME2, so they must be older than that).
All in all, I still enjoy the games for their characters, side quests and what not, and I still replay them every year, but after ME1 I was so blown away I genuinely thought this would rival Star Wars OT as a trilogy for me. It didn't.
