Do Backgrounds Matter in Mass Effect? (Sole Survivor vs War Hero vs Ruthless)
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- In this video, we’ll be taking a look at the differences between the psychological profiles (aka reputation) in the Mass Effect Trilogy. These backgrounds are Sole Survivor, War Hero and Ruthless. I’ll show you how these backgrounds impact gameplay and unique dialogue.
THE FULL STORY OF AKUZE
• Sole Survivor: The FUL...
EARTHBORN MISSION - SHEPARD USED TO BE A GANGSTA
• Shepard Used to Be a G...
COLONIST MISSION - THE MOST HEARTBREAKING QUEST IN MASS EFFECT
• The Most Heartbreaking...
0:00 Introduction
1:27 Overview of All Reputations
4:01 NPC Comments on Shepard's Reputation
5:39 Ruthless Unique Dialogue (UNC: Major Kyle)
7:07 War Hero Unique Dialogue (UNC: Espionage Probe)
8:45 Sole Survivor Unique Dialogue (UNC: Dead Scientists)
10:25 Reputation Dialogue in Mass Effect 2 & 3
During character creation, there are two different types of backgrounds you will select for your character - pre-service history and psychological profile. The pre-service histories - Earthborn, Colonist and Spacer - determine what happened to Shepard before he or she joined the Alliance Military. We won’t be talking about those particular backgrounds in this video.
Today we’re focusing on the psychological profiles, which are Sole Survivor, War Hero and Ruthless. These determine Shepard’s claim to fame in the military as well as the leadership style for the Commander.
If you’re expecting the psychological profiles to have a massive impact on the game, you’re going to be disappointed. They are mostly meant for roleplaying and character building purposes. That being said, there are some minor differences in morality scores, as well as some unique dialogue that is worth exploring.
Each psychological profile grants you a bonus to your morality score at the beginning of the game. Sole Survivors are granted an equal amount of paragon and renegade points, making them good middle of the road characters who can lean either way. War Heroes get a boost to paragon points and Ruthless ones get a renegade bonus. - Hry
I like that no matter which backgrounds you choose, the events of the other ones still happen. It's just that Shep isn't there in them.
There's a trope for this called "Schrodinger's player character". Dragon Age used this too. Basically whatever character/background you choose, the other potential grey warden candidates all suffered a bad ending, like the human noble getting killed at the beginning when his family is attacked if you pick a dwarf or elf for instance.
That's one thing I liked about Bioware's games, and how they try to tie these things together, albeit a bit badly at times.
Isn’t it the same thing for Skyrim? It doesn’t matter what factions you join because every story happens even without the dragonborn. Except the civil war we probably won’t know which side one until elder scrolls 6.
@Justin B but that's because of dragon breaks when all timelines merge. In ME and DA, the Alt PCs exist in all timeliness, but each timeline/playthrough persists independently.
It's nice to know that if I don't pick Earthborn, Earth still exists.
@@Geckogold Yeah you can actually find the Dwarf Commoner's corpse in the carta dungeon if you picked a different origin.
What I really like about Ruthless background paired with paragon is that there are several lines that Shepard has that show their remorse and make it seem like they're trying to redeem themselves.
This. I played through the entire trilogy with this type of mindset. And in ME3 I made him slip back into his more “ruthless” self because we were at war with the Reapers and the stress was mounting up. (Basically I went mostly Paragon in the first 2 then slipped into more Renegade in 3)
Agreed. My Fem Shep Lilith. Is an Earthborn Ruthless Infiltrator.
My backstory for her was that she was an assassin for a gang on earth. Until she was assigned to kill an Alliance Commander. She botched the attempt. But instead of being reported to the police. She had her skills put to use as the commander’s right hand woman, and assassin. She works her ways up the ranks. Until Torfan. Her commander dies there and she’s field promoted. Now working under Major Kyle directly. She unleashes her wrath on the batarians. The blood finally becomes enough for her to realize what she’s become and she pulls back from the edge. Largely taking a Paragon Route from that point on.
Though my Shepard doesn’t take any shit, and will go back to being “The Butcher of Torfan.” As soon as she’s lied to or insulted.
She’ll Save the Destiny Ascension, The Rachni Queen, stop an assassin, keep her friend’s secret, save important data, and put Civilians over her own needs time and time again. But she’ll also headbutt krogans, incite others to kill bartenders, and toss mercenaries out windows.
It’s made my first play through of mass effect really fun.
@@awesomechainsaw i 9
@@awesomechainsaw
That's interesting. The Paragon Male Shepard I playing currently is Colonist/Sole Survivor.
@@KritoSkywaker Mine too.
My default Shep build is a colonist war hero and I feel like, as a backstory, there's a nice kinda narrative to a kid who barely survived their home getting scorched by slavers and then later seeing it about to happen again somewhere else but maybe even worse and saying "not on my watch, you bastards."
I love it. They ever make a movie, that should be his background
I also do that, it just feels natural for shepard.
That's my Paragon Soldier Shep standard too :)
Yeh I think my main shepard is also colonist + warhero they don't really matter but certain ones give better missions. Also Jacob just killed the human reaper in my newest ME2 playthrough... made me hold him in somewhat high esteem...
And it's the best options for Paragon, Shep who just wants to help all he can after witnessing his friends and family getting killed as a kid. A very much "Leave no man behind background"
I honestly got kinda mad when I wasn't able to confront the Illusive Man about how he was responsible for killing all but one man in my team on Akuze. That moment is literally supposed to be a defining moment for Shepard but I guess he forgot about the many Cerberus side missions in ME1.
That upsetted me too, and no option to tell the Illusive Man to shove it until the very end of the game
Especially since Toomes will send you an email, calling you out for working with Cerberus if he survived the first game.
There is a dialogue in ME2 with i think Miranda, where Shepard mentions he has seen the labs with torian creepers and rachni Cerberus was experimenting on (probably only happens if you did those side quests in 1) and Miranda explains those were actions by renegade scientists, not on order of the illusive man - which most likely is just what he told her, and not the truth. So there is that ...
@@nerd-mask723 Well we do have confirmed rogue scientists because end screens for missions are drawn up as the Illusive Man's reports or Cerberus reports. Plus Miranda would just explain how it's justified, it's more in her character.
@@nerd-mask723 In regards to the explanation for those quests, I believe Miranda mentioned that Cerberus was looking into using Creepers and Rachni as expendable shock troops.
Those unique dialogues on the missions always felt like they were Shepard's own loyalty mission.
So it seems that the psychological profiles only play their role in ME1, but basically none in ME2 and ME3. Hope to see more involvement of character backgrounds in the upcoming sequel.
Wait what sequel. There's a sequel coming
@@fangwhiteclaw7089 Yeah, the sequel is in early development phase. But Bioware already released a teaser trailer in CZcams.
@@Arijit_Das_ Really? I can't wait! I loved all of them (yes even Andromeda) so I'm sure this is going to be fantastic.
There's slight mentions of certain things here and there in the sequels but nothing too tangible, as far as his/her soul survivor profile.
@@BillBilliamson agreed, fellow Commander 💪🏽
when the major said "I know you - The butcher of Torfan" i genuinely thought "The butcher of Blavican"
I can't help but think that corporal Tombs was Cerberus' first attempt at what would become project Lazarus.
I like how every profile or background make you much more well-written as a protagonist. For example, there's a chunk of dialogue in ME2 that colors Jack as a psycho and a lost cause by the crew. However, if your background is an Earthborn delinquent it makes Shepard much more relatable to Jack - he once was in a bad spot in his life and recognizes Jack is somewhat similar to him, which makes Shep/Jack romance even more beautiful.
Also, I've been replaying the trilogy and i'm currently in ME2, and on Omega, I've heard a news report about the Shepard foundation - an initiative that helps delinquents in human gangs enlist in the Alliance army or recieve proper education. Those little things really add to the worldbuilding and Shepard as a person.
gameplay-wise not really, but roleplay-wise a hell yes it matters, I love the backstory system.
Definitely true. I do wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
My bad for rambling on.
These are some of the reasons I think ME1 is the best out of the trilogy. The smoother combat in the following games is nice, but the storytelling and level of detail in ME1 is unmatched in the series.
Totally agree! ME 1 has a special mood. Even the misterious music, the vast lore, the huge codex, and the sci fi vibes (instead the spqce fantasy in ME2)... All of this makes ME1 my favourite one.
But I love the whole trilogy, sure.
Sorry poor english.
@@Outonna agreed! Sometimes I consider the series as a single game especially with the character import.
I think that me2 and 3 have some storytelling issues that me1 didn’t have.
Actually, the combat is also better in ME1. Biotics are gods (as they are supposed to be). Sniper rifles and shotguns have real impact (as they are supposed to have).
So... Really love ME1, but in terms of overall impression my heart is with ME2.
@@im_piano
Exactly! The gunplay may be dull in ME1 (which is why I think Soldier is the most boring class you can choose in ME1), but biotics are crazy OP so I recommend choosing a biotic-related class to maximize your fun during gameplay. ME2 may have improved shooting mechanics, but they changed the game into a cover shooter with heavily nerfed biotics.
I may be in the minority here, but as a Sentinel, I actually had more fun with ME1 combat thanks to OP biotics than ME2, as ME1 didn't force you into cover as much.
It would probably be my favourite if the side missions weren’t so….The same, the story telling on some is great but there are like 3 interior layouts on each planet and once you notice it, man that gets old. Also those very long mako sections which would be fine if they weren’t so abundant
Is that even a question ?
My background as a colonist & sole survivor literally defined my relationships with Ashley, Miranda & Liara + made several events carry a lot more emotional weight.
- My first introduction to Cerberus came from rogue Alliance scientists who experimented on my unit & thresher maws.
- Ashley directly asked me how I dealt with the losses on Akuze while being racked with survivor's guilt over leaving Kaidan behind on Virmire & was worried over offending me over my family situation.
- Miranda specifically mentioned that she was jealous coz me, a colony kid who grew up in prefab unit had achieved a lot more than her, despite her genetics.
- Liara even recorded in her time capsule that I wasn't someone who would let some ancient tragedy define her.
- The clone hurling insults that I was just an average soldier with a lucky streak made sense coz I literally survived a thresher maw attack by stroke of luck.
- I lost my parents & sibling to Batarian criminals, but then became the boogeywoman for 300,000 innocent Batarian families who turned to antihuman terrorism to express their anger against humans.
My colonist War Hero had a similar experience with Ashley: she never met someone who won the Star of Terra and she asked me how it felt ordering soldiers to their deaths and being called a hero after Kaidan died, my Shepard said he was the one who killed him and not her and that after the deaths of his men on Elisyum he promised to do better same as with Virmire and that lead him to save his entire crew on the Collector Base Assault.
The problem with the backgrounds is that they mattered less as the Shepard games went forward, as a colonist the events of ME2 should have been affecting the player a tad more as we investigated the case and the Arrival DLC should have had a response based on our backgrounds: a War Hero would be conflicted as he took a choice that made him murder over 300k beings regardless of their role in the anti human attacks (which the Alliance had a big fault at the start as evidenced by Bring Down the Sky).
In ME3 the only thing that I can hear the origins being brought back are in Eden Prime.
I though you're ruthless, he he he.
@@grunt7917 I love you, Grunt ;)
I like to do sole survivor and Earthborn, makes ties with Cerberus a lot deeper. And makes Shepard’s reaction toward earth a lot sadder
Mindoir-4-Life!!!!
5:53) Funny. In one playthrough (which barely started because it was on the heel of me beating the trilogy on the Legendary Collection), pick “Colonist” and “War Hero”. My mentality was that since this Shepard knew the fallout of Batarian Slave Raiders, it motivated them into a heroic/motivating figure because they don’t want anybody else to go through what they experience. Though the “colonist”/“Ruthless” combo does make sense if you want to make Shepard a Batarian hater.
And (for fun) the “Colonist”/“Sole Survivor” combo… That’s a “yikes” combination that makes you wonder how that Shepard might still have a positive outlook on the galaxy.
What about Ruthless + Earthborn?
I honestly usually go for the Colonist/Sole Survivor for maximum ptsd. I usually play as paragon as possible simply for the fact my Shepard wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what he did. Makes losing Kaidan on Virmire even more heartbreaking. Makes the scene at the beginning of ME2 hold more weight for me. He wouldn’t let anyone else die while he is around
Yeah colonist sole survivor was the first one I played as. Thought it the most tragic and gave the most motivations. The Cerebrus connections were icing on the cake, though didn’t mesh to well with ME 2 unless you were constantly at TIM’s throat.
I also really like the war hero colonist, it’s probably my go to given what I know about the other games now.
Who says my Sherpard kept a positive perspective over the galaxy ? My Sherpard developed a nihilistic perspective of the world around her and developed this need to change the world around her throught manipulation and ensure survival of the fittest according to her own perspective.
My first ever playthrough was a colonist/sole survivor
It's nice to notice BioWare corrected Elias' model to a Turian; it does make more sense with him being Turian.
Arousingg
I like how one of the Alliance Navy War Assets in Mass Effect 3 is one of the ships that reinforced Elisyum during the Skylian Blitz. There are several Search + Rescue assets that I like to imagine lines of dialogue for (similar to the transmissions from planet scanning anomalies in ME2) and whenever I come across it on a War Hero playthrough I like to think that Shepard tells the Captain to consider the rescue as returning the favour.
Teaming up with Cerberus in Mass Effect 2 never made sense with a Sole Survivor Shepard. I would think that'd be the last thing they would want to do, seeing as Cerberus caused what happened on Akuze. I guess it could be a last ditch effort thing, but I know when I did my SS Shepard run-through she was pissed about it the whole time XD
It never makes any sense ever as long as you did the Kahuku quests. BUT I personally made a headcanon that I never really teamed up with Cerberus (like Karim Chakwas says it) and I did the things that needed doing as independant party where I just accepted to use some info from The Illusive man because i found it helpful. I was constantly against them when talking to Jacob, Miranda and Illusive man and constantly too sides against them with Tali etc. AND during the quests I even gave intel to the Alliance, Overlord I stopped the experimend and gave David to Alliance and other things that hurt Cerberus. On Illium when I met Gianna Parasini and told her a vague answe - she said that she understands when working under cover. Later there is also the Hacket call suggesting Alliance still counts with Shepard => you really are sort of undercover agent of the Alliance who infiltrated Cerberus and got people like Miranda to leave Cerberus which is a massive loss for the Illusive man AND after finishing the Collector base - I hanged up on The Illusive man and walked away while taking their AI, their ship, their resources and most importantly their recond in command that turned into my girlfriend.
So, my Shepard technically never joined Cerberus or teamed up with them. He accepted their gifts and achieved his goals. Blowing up the base instead of giving it to Cerberus is another point.
@@Dark_Voice I did a lot of the same stuff, especially destroying the Collector Base and hanging up on the Illusive Man. It's funny to me that he thought he could eventually be able to manipulate Shepard into thinking Cerberus was anything other than a group of human supremacists whose experiments scarred them for life, and hanging up was like slamming the door he thought was wide open in his face. So satisfying 🤣
I made my shepherd ruthless and raised on military vessels. The plot for mass effect 2 actually makes sense for my shepherd considering I would imagine he would have the mentality that “I don’t give a shit who helps me as long as our mission is complete “ and sense the alliance never took the reapers seriously even after the attack he would be like “ok fuck it”
Sole Survivor Shep can be continually antagonistic toward IM in ME2 -- nothing prevents it. Shep can be belligerent and uncooperative from the outset, in every exchange.
That said, it is a lapse in BioWare's writing that there isn't more specific dialogue with Sole Survivor Shep addressing Cerb's role on Akuze during ME2. As I recall, there is a short exchange about it at one point, and the dialogue options you get aren't satisfying.
The lapse is all the more strange for the fact that an Earthborn Sole Survivor is the 'default' Shepard.
@@CognizantCheddar Exactly, Shep can be as uncooperative as they want, but in the end they still have to do what IM says (at least for main missions) and you don't get to call him on anything about Akuze. They had a chance to add a nice little thing in there to acknowledge the backstory, but didn't.
I like to play a colonist ruthless character as a paragon. My headcannon is that the trauma Shepard went through early in life caused him to act brash and extremely aggressive. However getting almost his entire unit killed made him extremely remorseful and he tried to change after that and find some redemption, but a kernal of that darkness remains within him. Nothing makes my character more ashamed than when people bring up what he did on Torfan in a positive light.
For me I went Earthborn sol survior. The way I played him was that after seeing his whole squad get wiped out he didnt' want to loose anyone else. IF he could save lives aka go paragon options he would. Made him go more renegade as the games went on and tired of everyones bullshit. But, he was still paragon majorit and had the same mindset throught the whole series. Right now I'm playing a spacer war hero and leaning more towards renegade. Have him start out but going more down the ruthless path.
Recently I had an idea for a 4th profile called 'Cultured' that would unlock after your first playthough which would unlock certain Codex entries by default and have Shepard generally more knowledgeable about the wider galaxy (eg: not comparing the First Contact War to the Genophage when you first talk to Wrex). Here's a hypothetical overview I came up with today:
"When you first joined the Alliance, you were fascinated by the galactic civilisation Humanity had only recently come across. After your outstanding combat record and N7 training, you were one of a small number of soldiers given the chance to work and fight alongside various species of the galaxy including gaining additional training alongside Turians on Palaven and advice from Asari Commandos on the effects of Biotics on combat scenarios. The proudest moment of your career was a joint Alliance - STG infiltration mission that allowed the Systems Alliance to later launch a strike against Batarians and other Terminus pirates on Torfan."
Then the opening dialogue I came up with is this (MaleShep).
Hackett: "He's had more experience with the Council Species than any other Alliance Soldier, even by N7 standards."
Anderson: "Our operation with the Salarians he was involved in gave us invaluable intel that made the mission against the Batarians on Torfan possible."
Fine idea!
This should be made available as a new game+ option on ME1😲
Shepard becomes humanities answer to Grand Admiral Thrawn
Should be called aristocrat
The grew up wealthy educated, naive bit and became a soldier to see the world yknow adds to the personality
@@owendiaram3870 Thrawn wouldn’t go down to just one human.
I always think Earthborn works nicely with ME3. I remember at some point Liara says "I'm sorry about earth" to Shepard and Shepard just answers "Yeah..." or something like that. That one just hits when Shepard is from earth. And Sole Survivor adds that much more pain in ME2 and shows just how far Shepard is willing to go to fight the Reapers considering they're working with the people that were responsible for what happened on Akuze. To me, the Earthborn and Sole Survivor backgrounds combined have just the right amount of heartbreak, give some nice extra motivations and layers to certain things in the story and also...both are kind of survival-focused and the background explains how Shepard got that survival drive, which works really well with Shepard's constant survival motivation throughout the story.
Nice! I like this. 👌🏾
I did Earthborn and war hero first playthough when young. Just wanted to seem heroic.
This time round, I want more of narrative and drive to the end course. And, your story...definitely got me thinking. Thanks.
I still think that Spacer + War hero is the best because someone like that is the most likely to be selected for a specter by the council. Also you should have some special interactions with Quarians since Spacer is essentially human Quarian background.
@@Dark_Voice You also have a mom
@@Dark_Voice i always loved hearing about Shepard's mom in all the ME games cause i played a Spacer, War Hero, Femshep XD
I always thought Earthborn war hero was good. You're a kid who spent years running with a gang until you want out and it leads you to do great things. You're a hero in all respects but what you did back on Earth colors many of your actions. I've personally always liked running 75% paragon with some renegade for semi balance.
I made my paragon shepard a colonist sole survivor. I liked the idea of a character marked by tragedy, obsessed with saving lives. It really set up the kind of decisions a paragon Shepard makes in ME3, that "Surviving by sacrificing our humanity is not worth it attitude".
Ahhh ok, Haliet *did* have a human model in OG ME. I was wondering about that when I saw him again.
I thought the same thing
Ngl. Thought it was weird why they changed it.
@@mjpraetorian4386 He was supposed to be a Turian to begin with. The devs just fucked up and gave him a generic human model
I played a ruthless Spacer and did love how integral the backgrounds were in ME1 but do wish they were included more in ME2 and 3.
I agree with that. I do wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
I have always picked Earthborn as my by background, because I kinda wanted Shepard to have that connection to earth. However, in my recent playthrough I chose Spacer for the first time, and it's so weird to have a mother to interact with. It really humanises him and gives more reason for him to fight. Hopefully Tali gets to meet Hannah.
Shoutout to all my Ruthless players. I’m on ME2 Legendary right now. I can’t belief I didn’t play this game earlier.
I really like the Spacer - Sole Survivor backstory for Shepard. I always imagine that you are this excited kid who’s eager to explore the galaxy and prove yourself. But then you get a swift reality check when you lose your entire unit on Akuze and get scarred for life. You’re like “I guess the galaxy isn’t all just fun and adventures.”
I always completely forget about my background, and rarely reminded to it.
But it is part of the character I can identify with, so it is good to have.
For this reason I wouldn’t recommend any of these for specific reasons like paragon/renegade points etc), because it has insignificant effect.
Choose whichever you like and matches your personality.
That’s why i wished mass effect would have done a infamous game thing. As do more Ruthless or Paragon stuff ether dialog or actions. It would change your color in clothing and armor. Maybe as go through your storyline people see your actions. Maybe be affected by it good or bad. That would change certain things when talking with people in missions side or main. Or something like that idk. Maybe Is it possible in the next trilogy we get. Not a big it would have been fun. Even picking class kinda has special effects for certain things.
If you choose sole-survivor, then in Cerberus HQ, you can find a video of the illusive man personally authorizing the release of the thresher maw on Shepard’s squad. Found it on my first playthough
Really? Never found out about that.
My Shepard is a colonist+sole survivor, I wanted it to feel like the spectre status and ship+crew were earned because Shepard could survive impossible situations. Which is what makes him/her a good leader and since he/she obviously knows what to do in order to survive the others will do as we say (ie: controlling their actions during combat) I picked sentinel to have both tech and biotic. I went paragon+renegade because id rather answer how mine would instead of just picking for exp points sake. First time playing and its a lot of fun
The sole survivor is particularly interesting backstory becus cerberus is ultimately to blame for the situation but its never brought up with TIM. It would have been an interesting personal conflict to explore.
I always made a Colonist War Hero. I liked the story behind it and I feel like when Zaheed mentions he "killed more men with that gun (Jessie) than died in the Blitz." And I always felt like Shepard would swap a Blitz story with Zaheed.
I've been dedicated to my Earth born soul survivor Paragon vanguard this WHOLE TIME since it's release and I'm about done with the 3rd of the legendary edition. Thanks for the in depth details of each, my renegade I usually run a spacer war hero adept. Can't wait to do it all over again. Just to do it all over again, again.
Edit: I just want to also say that I really appreciate everyone from this fandom in the comment section who are sharing all of their backstories as far as their Commander shepherds play style
My primary Shepard is a Sole Survivor, and I think the devs made Cerberus look a little *too* evil in ME1 before deciding to make them such a big part of ME2.
It's not insurmountable, but I do wish they either had changed it a little, or added a little bit of extra dialogue in ME2 to address Akuze. Maybe something along the lines of 'The Illusive Man started exerting more control over the various cells afterwards to prevent cells from going too far,' or something similar to Miranda's dialogue on the Pragia experiments.
The first time I remember the contradiction even coming up in my first playthrough of ME2 was Vasir calling Shepard out for ignoring what happened there, and that occurred after I had played the base game.
Considering that I still have and mostly play the original Mass Effect Trilogy on Xbox 360 it was no wonder that I was a little confused when I saw that the turian character model in place of the human worn during the Espionage overview. I never thought much of it but after seeing this it makes sense that they would change that at least. Though it really doesn't ultimately matter because it's just as satisfying to vaporize the jackass with the Mako's cannons either way! 😎
I always stay up on the ridge and sniped them all.
The psychological and background selections will affect renegade and Paragon points achieved during gameplay. A Spacer/war hero starts the game with more paragon points than the others and will derive more Paragon points throughout the game. This is the ideal setup for a pure Paragon run as you will max out Paragon faster.
I believe earthbound/ruthless does the same for renegade.
I've chose Earthborn/war hero and I still made some renegade choices but I'm a Paragon. I don't think it really matters as much but it does somewhat impact the games story depending if you live up to it. The only differences is background and dialogue. You still make the choices that heavily impact the story and characters around you. Just my thought on the subject.
The best combos in my opinion are Colonist War Hero, Earthborn Ruthless and Spacer Sole Survivor
I loved playing the combination of Colonist Sole Survivor. Really gave the feel that Shepard was someone who went through a lot of trauma and somehow always was the last one alive, similar to what he survives throughout the games. Especially as a Paragon it meant that even through experiencing so much loss, he still tried to do the right thing.
I think the Sole Survivor background fits better in the story, since Shepard would be allied reluctantly with Cerberus in the second installment. It would also be pointed out by a DLC villain and your former teammates /associates.
Here’s my take on what would realistically happen to the various backgrounds
Spacer & Sole Survivor - under a great deal of suspicion for abandoning their platoon to die, but family connections forestall any serious investigation and prosecution. Allowed to work an obscure desk job, then leave with all benefits when minimum service obligation is up.
Colonist & Sole Survivor - PTS from slaver raid suspected as the underlying reason for abandoning their platoon. Given a medical discharge on psychological grounds and ordered into long term therapy.
Earthborn & Sole Survivor - under a great deal of suspicion for juvenile criminal past. Court martialed, but not necessarily found guilty. Military career prematurely terminated.
Spacer & War Hero - considered THE military ideal, used in lots of recruitment ads, movie made about their exploits, then given very high visibility postings such as aide de camp to the Navy CinC, military aid to the PrimeMinister, military liaison to Parliament etc. Due to extremely high visibility and name recognition, considered unsuitable for covert operations. Denied entry into the N7 program, but given other prestigious conventional commands.
Colonist + War Hero - due to unique personal background, is nominated to run for Member of Parliament in order to mollify colonists complaining about inadequate defenses. Wins election comfortably, becomes an MP and is under consideration for ministerial positions, possibly even a future Prime Ministerial candidate. Military career terminated in favor of political career.
Colonist + Ruthless - under suspicion that massacre of surrendering slavers was motivated by revenge instead of military necessity. No war crime charges filed, but military career torpedoed to silence detractors.
Spacer + Ruthless - viable candidate.
Earthborn + War Hero - viable candidate.
Earthborn + Ruthless - viable candidate.
I like the Earth born +War hero background because it reminds me of the backstory for Chris Pine's version of Captain Kirk.
@@spartancolonel Chris Pine’s Kirk grew up fatherless and a joyriding hell raiser in the country. Earthborn Shepard is more like a Crip who joined in order to survive as an orphan on the street.
You cant wear N7 armor like Shep right at the intro if you arent one to begin with. Hell, ME3 has James Vega ask you for advice because you made it to N7
@@elseggs6504 but in a lot of the backgrounds, the person wouldn’t realistically have been allowed to apply for N1 training much less N7, since even being accepted into N-school and flunking is considered a career booster.
My favourite is earthborn, war hero.
Kid, who wanted to escape from gangs, see galaxy and do something good, became a war hero. Skills he got while living on the streets, gave him an advantage during Skylian Blitz (knowlegde of tech and long distance weapons).
In ME 1 he was just a good guy, who cares about crew, but had no problem to kill someone with cold blood, like in old times. On Virmire he chose to protect the bomb and let die another crew member.
In ME 2 he started to be more renegate, beacuse he lost everything and don't trust Cerberus. Alliance and Council don't want him back. Horizon confrontation with Ashley/Kaiden is like stab in the heart. Shepard gave up and started to trust Cerberus. He had romance with Miranda. At the collector base, he again had doubts, when Illusive man wants him to keep the base. Shepard blew it up.
In ME 3 Shepard was on the edge. Earth was gone and he had to play politician instead of fighting. Hard choices between saving Earth and loyality to old crew members haunt him in nightmares. He chose to destroy the reapers, beacause he had enough od everything and just wanted to see them burn.
My favorite is Colonist, Solo survivor where he basically lost everything which gave him this "I have nothing to lose mentality." I thought about losing many member in ME2 final mission but I'm unsure about it.
Bro the music in me1 when you are in this underground areas is both very good and terrifying at the same time. Sometimes I thought I was going to get jumpscared coz the music.
Would have been interesting if Sole Survivor background could affect Shepard during Grunt's Loyalty mission like hearing Shepard hyperventilate as the fight goes on, or maybe having micro-second flashbacks interrupting the fight in progress, or begin hearing the voices of Toombs and the rest of his old squad, even have Shepard sit and curl up after the fight to try to calm down then get back up as the next cut scene begins
You should be a writer for the sequel lol
None of that would be in character for Shepard. Curling up after a fight isn't happening. By the time Grunts mission happens Shepard has already downed many Thresher-maws. One more isn't going to make him curl up or hyperventilate. Hilarious though I would laugh my ass off of it happened.
@@nunya_bizniz there are seven thresher maws in ME1, and only one is tied to an optional side assignment. It’s possible for Shepard to have not seen a thresher maw between Akuze and ME2.
@@nunya_bizniz true
This doesn't make sense with ss psychological background.
You survived exactly because you're the only one that thought only how to survive without bothering too much about fear, pain and so on.
The ss background creates a Shep that doesn't matter the situation and the stress/danger involved in it, s/he will try to succeed on one way or another overcoming any bad feelings.
That's why Council takes you in consideration for Spectre position.
Obviously every background have their shining strength and weaknesses.
In this case you could be seen a little bit too cold and maybe even as some kind of "monster" since I wouldn't be surprised that ss Shep would even eat some dead companion to survive 🤣
A far from this, sure, some kind of reference to ss past is sure welcome, but without all the trauma shit which is film cliché e not what actually happened to Shep.
I rolled up a Spacer, Sole Survivor in my current playthrough. A legacy and a tragedy.
Finally! I thought I was the only one! Make Shep biotic and suddenly the game literally forgets she even exists lol.
I like how you can mix and match both profiles. You can really make it unique to how you want Shepard to be portrayed.
Instead of shooting Toombs, Sole Survivor should unlock the option to hug him. It would be such a bittersweet moment for them both. A man who had been experimented on being comforted by the person with survivor's guilt (implied in convo with Jenkins) after thinking all was lost for so long afterwards.
If you are persuasive enough (believe at least 11, maybe 12). You can make him stand down.
In ME2 you get mail he reconvalescented, but after your death started merc to hunt Cerberos. And since you work with them, will hunt you.
Sadly no conclusion in ME3.
I hated that they kept bringing up akuze in the third game. If you went sole survivor.
"Everyone but you died on akuze, it must have hurt..."
Shepard: "i have been resurrected, blown up a mass relay killing thousands, earth is being purged by the reapers, i blew up the collector base and saved/killed the council. And youre bringing up the fact that some of my N7 team got killed by a thresher maw a decade ago? Ive killed like 20 thresher maws since breakfast this morning."
I did colonist, and ruthless and I’m glad I did as it’s the least poplar options and made my shepherd more like “my” shepherd
"You assume I give a damn. That's cute" - UNC: Espionage Probe Renegade Line
I find it really interesting that you put such a heavy focus, series-wise, on the post-Alliance psychological profile, rather than the Pre-Alliance one. On one hand, Spacer's and Earthborn's missions award more morality points than Colonist's in Mass Effect 1. But As for the three post-alliance backgrounds, only Ruthless has a benefit, as it doesn't require a charisma check to bypass Major Kyle's followers in the beginning. I also find that Colonist has the best side-quest of the three (Talitha's testimony is so raw and emotional), and all three pre-Alliance backgrounds get attention in all three games. Spacer gets to talk to their mother multiple times, and is the only Shepard who ever gets to directly respond to someone when a topic regarding Family is brought up. Any person who would remark about your history (like Anoleis, Miranda, or Liara at Eden Prime) will also specifically point out something about the way you grew up before the Alliance, and not after. Colonist Shepard (especially a Renegade one) has a lot of eyeopening unique dialogue lines, most notably a moment during Bring Down the Sky where they specifically remark about the Alliance not giving a damn about colonies enough and letting Batarian Terrorists do this all over again. Earthborn Shepard for me was the most forgotten of the three, but I distinctly remember a couple moments in Mass Effect 3 where Shepard (or a close friend) brings up their upbringing on Earth, and how painful it is to see the entire planet in shambles. So while the background itself isn't a huge part of the game, I still find myself being aware of what my Shepard's pre-history was, more than their post-history. As I did my playthroughs, I distinctly remember a character more often mentioning how hard growing up on Earth might been, or how tight me and my family must be with Alliance backgrounds, than anyone ever reminding me about my moments during the Blitz/Akuze/Torfan, especially after Mass Effect 1.
My favorite part was the 2 throwaway lines most will miss from the spacer background. I smiled when you got to talk with sheps mother.
But generally speaking with psyche profile i always picked sole survivor so.
I have to wonder if shepard did something messed up in order to escape on akuze. Maybe he/she did something like ordered some troops to their deaths to try and give time for others to escape but still ended up being the only survivor.
With all the great content this channel provides, in depth analysis and a careful and thought out approach to all of those scenarios we may have been too afraid to pursue for our own head cannon, I think it's fitting and appropriate to change the name of this channel from Big Dan Gaming to The Illusive Dan! Just need to find Dan a casual business suit, glowing eyes, and that secret star-base that Miranda has been to in ME2 but forgot its location for us in ME3!
Since I always go paragon it makes sense for me to play a spacer war hero. For the morality boost and role playing
Sadly it gives you minimal morality points, your first 2 dialogue choices makes a bigger effect:)
I think Colonist and Sole Survivor makes the most sense alongside Earthborn and Sole Survivor. Escaping the crimes just to have a shit experience during the Akuze. These two make the most sense.
@@kamata93 Colonist goes well for ruthless as explained in the video, so that gives us Earthborn/Sole survivor as 3rd option.
I would use the former for a renegade but successful Shepard, and the later for the one which makes bad decisions (and low war assets in the end). His life sucks anyway:D
Not sure if it still works in the legendary edition, but there's an exploit with the monkeys on Elatania that lets you max out on paragon points. In the original version, that was the only way to max out your paragon points in a first single playthrough. That way, you can choose whichever background you like the most.
@@GTAVictor9128 I never had the need to max out the paragon points, every blue dialogue choices are available with much less than max.
The only exception is the Hanar preacher side quest during the first visit on the citadel. If I did that too early, I didn’t have enough paragon points, but just a bit late, and the Hanar was not there anymore.
I mean, I guess with the voice they went with a Turian as the mastermind of the Skyllian Blitz but it would probably be even more fitting if the pirate leader was a Batarian.
I got the community patch, so Tooms will no longer tell my war hero "you got away with a scary reputation!" Before that my war hero killed him so that couldn't happen. My ruthless renegades tend to kill him anyway
Just finished an ME1 playthrough as an Earthborn/Ruthless, mainly because whenever I play an MMO or RPG styled game I like putting my character through an arc of sorts.
Whether that means making them an Anti-Hero turned Hero or Hero turned Anti-Hero. I just think it’s pretty neat and almost feels like a natural progression of putting my character through character development.
Since I already knew that I would mostly be playing the Paragon Path, I, on purpose, picked the Ruthless background to gain some Renegade points. :-P
Honestly love your work. The only good Mass Effect CZcamsr I know. (Of course I don't know everyone so... room for others I guess.)
Awesome video. Have you done a video on the "support" mini quests in ME3. Do any of these have a significant impact on war assets?
My Shep was a Spacer + War Hero since I really wanted my Shep to have parents and I feel saving Elysium was a good memories for Shep. Also Peregade Shep.
I always felt like there should have been more. But, since they moved away from the rpg side of things as the series progressed, I am not surprised the players first two choices were just an after thought.
My Renegade Adept was a Colonist/Ruthless Shepard who was basically genocidal against Batarians.
My colonist sole survivor tried REALLY hard to forgive the Batarians, and sought to manipulate a few of them in order to have them start a revolution. Doesn't mean she didn't feel a BIG pleasure in shooting Balak down after interrogating him, even though she knows the protocol demanded her to take him alive.
Earthborn and war hero all day every day. I really like this combination of background choices.
Ever since I played these games for the first time, I always did Earthborn, Sole Survivor background. I made my Shepard mainly paragon with some renegade choices that I believe needed to be done. I just love that background with the Reaper War as I made my Shepard a lot more Renegade, but still got the good ending. Love this series man❤️, cant wait for ME4
My newest backstory is spacer ruthless. My imagining is that on a routine trip, shep's ship was attacked by slavers who had just finished there plunder of a colony. Only Shepard and his/her parents made it out.
Colonosit/Akuze background is the most tragic
Spacer + war hero is really a great choice for paragon playthrough.
It goes well for Shepard because, it gives him a real motivation yo be good, family and a good reputation.
Also, you can kow Shepard's mom, wich really is a sweet moment during the franchise.
Interesting I choose colonist and war hero. I play a paragon shepherd who hates batarens, so I choose renegade options until I do the arrival DLC last in ME2. I say after destroying the relay shepherd spends his time getting over his hate of batarens and start using paragon option when dealing batarens in ME3
* Spacer/War Hero 20 Paragon
* Colonist/War Hero 15 Paragon
* Earthborn/War Hero 10 Paragon
* Spacer/Sole Survivor 15 Paragon, 5 Renegade
* Colonist/Sole Survivor 10 Paragon, 10 Renegade
* Earthborn/Sole Survivor 5 Paragon, 15 Renegade
* Spacer/Ruthless 10 Renegade
* Colonist/Ruthless 15 Renegade
* Earthborn/Ruthless 20 Renegade
videos really dont need a minute long intro
I'm planning to do a Paragon Colonist/Ruthless FemShep playthrough.
She loses her home, friends and family and (headcanon starts here) has nightmares about it. When she found out that the Batarians who were hiding on Torfan were the same ones who raided her home, she saw red and open fired on them, even the ones who surrendered. Getting revenge felt good in the moment but now instead of nightmares of losing Mindoir, she has nightmares of the Batarians she killed taunting her with the fact that she may have taken them down, it won't bring her home and loved ones back. (headcanon ends here)
The trilogy ends up becoming one massive redemption arc for her and the way she interacts will depend on where they stand on the moral scale. To his crew, squad and people who are in need of help, she's a Paragon. But when dealing with the scum of the galaxy, that's when her attitude comes out.
One of the reasons why I like ME1 the best is because of this feature. I don't know why backgrounds are rarely mentioned in 2 and 3. They're part of your character. I like the trilogy as a whole. They're all great games but there's things that I miss from ME1 that I feel are lacking from 2 and 3. I really enjoyed exploring uncharted worlds. Unfortunately that was replaced with the planet scanning mini game which I never liked. I always felt that a lot of the planets you come across in 2 and 3 could've been side missions you can do. If it's possible, I would like to see someone create a conversion mod for 2 and 3 that makes them more like the first game. For example, the mod would replace a lot of the scanning for more N7 missions, it would add the mako to ME3, it would add armor types from 1, and it would add the shuttle bay to explore in 2
My default psych profile was sole survivor, and it's mostly because I liked the nonchalant way he talked about it at the beginning of ME2.
Short answer: yes, they do matter. You get a unique quest for your bg in ME1 and characters mention in throughout the trilogy.
I never found these missions in ME1 and I've played the game so many times... ME never ceases to amaze...
Thanks a lot for video!
I originally went with Earthborn Sole Survivor Soldier, now I go for Spacer Sole Survivor Soldier, just because Spacer has Shepard's mum alive, would've been awesome if she was a war asset in ME3.
Thank you, i can watch something interesting in school today :D
I never knew about the bonus moral points, cool.
I'll always pick War Hero/Spacer whenever I replay Mass Effect. Especially Spacer since Shepard can talk to his/her mom in the Citadel dlc.
same, I just think it fits
You can also talk to her in ME1 about a former crewmate of hers
@@VegetaLF7 You're right! I forgot about that one. lol!
@@robbybobby4373 I only remembered it because I literally did that quest yesterday, just wrapped up ME1 and moved to ME2 on my current playthrough of the trilogy, only just finished the initial Omega stuff.
I forget sometimes that my version of shepard isn't the only one. When i look at other avatars i am like why is she looking like that ?
What I like is that the backstory is just kinda there to set the tone for what kind of Shepard you're playing, but they also incorporate it into the first game. Each origin has it's own side quest, and each service highlight is incorporated into an already existing side quest, as well as characters mentioning bits about it in normal conversation. It's also interesting that only the Spacer origin has Shepard's parents still alive, and you even talk to their mother Hannah Shepard. At the same time, all the events of the backstories still happen regardless of which you pick. BTW, typically I go Spacer War Hero for Paragon, and Colonist Sole Survivor for Renegade. I like the idea of the perfect soldier who never had anything bad happen to them be the embodiment of good, while the one who suffered so much just let it get to them and now wants to watch the world burn.
On my first playthrough i picked an earthborn and ruthless. In the first game i roleplayed as a cold-harded soldier, Who's not ultimately bad, but rather an anti-hero type of character. In Me2 due it's dialogues system i went with paragon, and continued it onward in Me3. And roleplaywise it's great, my Shep started as a ruthless soldier, but then he met his friends and love ibterest - Tali, and eventually redeemed himself by becoming a 100% paragon who sacrificed himself to save the Galaxy from the reapers.
Fun fact about Elanos Haliat. Not only did he get a species change from Human to Turian. There's also a manufacturer in the first game called "Haliat Armory". Idk if they're related, but I feel like they totally could be.
Haliat was always suppoused to be Turian. Him having human model was a bug in PC version. It actually never made much sense that batarians would ally with a human.
What's cool about you being able to choose which background you want for your Shepard, that technically makes ALL these backgrounds canon.
Always Thought It Was Cool How Whatever BG U Pick It's Mentioned In The Story As Well As The Other's Too. By Others Speaking On It Or Hearing About It. Love My Mass Effect Game's. Yes Andromeda Too. As Always Hope All Is Well. And U And Ur Family Is In Good Health.
War hero also changes your last interaction with Conrad in ME1, found out yesterday
A video on what happened during the blitz would be quite cool too 😁
I would guess it was pretty much Dossier: Archangel - Shepard took a sniper or some other longer ranged Assault Rifle and held a well entrenched point or was funneling people into a choke point where he just slaughtered them by the hundreds.
Ruthless / Earthborn. Makes the Renegade decisions I make seem in character cause my Shep is just a street hardened psycho.
No offense, but I think that's somewhat child's play. Since my colonist sole survivor Sherpard is a nihilistic and manipulative predator/psycho.
My favourite combinations are:
Male - Colonist - War Hero
Female - Spacer - Ruthless
Male Shep being the archetipical Paragon hero and female Shep being the win at any cost Renegade. I love roleplaying.
I always enjoyed Shep reaching out to his parents with the Spacer background.
In ME2 (I think) there was a news article in the citadel where my earth born Shepard hears of a program to help homeless/disenfranchised human youths get better lives, it was called the Shepard Fund. It made me smile.
I love the sole survivor background because it acknowledges that there is something inherently special about Shepard. No one knows how or why, but Shepard walked out alive that day. Time and time again, Shepard and those who follow them find a way to beat the odds. In other words, it makes doing the impossible a character trait, and allows the player to showcase exactly why Shep survived that day on Akuze.
Sole survivor in ME2? “Sure, I’ll work with the same group that murdered my entire unit. What could possibly go wrong?”
Why was this dramatic twist not elaborated upon?
My main Shepard is a colonist sole survivor, mostly paragon but a few renegade options thrown in throughout the 3 games.
Replaying my Ps4 disc of ME Legendary Edition on my new Ps5 .
The super fast load and saves times just makes the game much better .
The 4K/60fps is a secondary advantage .
The most interesting combo to me in the Colonist - War Hero. There's something about surviving the slave raid and preventing another from happening when you have the power that's very compelling. Plus, it gives Shepard a unique perspective on what it's really like out there, all the good and bad that can happen. It's my default and my favorite! The other ones are meh.
In my first full playthough, I want with colonist and ruthless but played the game as a paragon. It was an interesting roleplaying choice as my Shepard was once clouded with revenges and that's cost the lives of his men. Now he's trying to atone for what he did. And showing his squad mates that vengeance is never the answer.
The thing about taking back Earth being such a big plot point in ME3, means i almost always choose Earthborn now. As it feels like it has the most stakes from a rp standpoint, the other backgrounds would still have those stakes considering it's still the homeworld of Humanity but it feels very personal as an Earthborn.