How Mass Effect Wastes The Geth

Here's that promised pinned comment: The only way that Legion is not entirely out of character, is if the Reaper code has 'indoctrinated' them. Legion going from entirely anti-Reaper to demanding the use of the Reaper upgrade code would be entirely explained if the Reaper code in their programming them was what was influencing this decision. It would also explain why Legion keeps deceiving and lying to you in the missions. Potentially even meaning that they show you false records of the morning war. But there's zero evidence that this is the case. It's never even considered in game that the reason Legion could be so insistent on using the Reaper upgrade code is 'indoctrination;' and in the end Geth work to destroy the Reapers, so obviously that code is doing an awful job at controlling them if it really was what happened. As I said, this is basically a mix of stretches and head-canoning, but sadly it's the most consistent interpretation of Legion by a mile.

Even with the ability to bring Legion on Tali's loyalty mission the true highlight of it was still the Qwib-Qwib.

One of the worst decisions Bioware ever made is locking him behind a mission that triggers the endgame. If you want to achieve the best possible result from Suicide Mission you have to recruit every single squadmate and complete their loyalty missions before recruiting him.

My only explanation is that the Reaper upgrades gave Legion an understanding of what individuality is. & He determined that he wanted the rest of the Geth to experience it. In ME 2 you can see Legion struggle with the concept of individuality. Explore his dialogue enough & when something indicates he has individuality he freezes up a little & becomes thoughtful.

On the Quarian death toll, I think something often ignored is that the Geth weren't just a labour force, we see how Virtual Intelligences are integrated into every day life in Mass Effect. It's reasonable to assume the Geth were similarly integrated into the Quarians vital infrastructure to a significant degree. Imagine if our modern society had all of it's essential infrastructure that keeps food, power, ect going stopped working, the Quarians basically went to war with their own infrastructure, the death toll from lack of supplies was likely equal to those killed directly by the Geth. There is also how Geth intelligence works, the Geth become smarter the more there are due to their hive mind, while a single Geth intelligence is described as being on par with animal survival instincts, are which is why when the Quarians destroyed the Dyson Sphere the Geth's collective intelligence took a massive hit and they took up the Reapers offer. The Geth were both far less advanced back then and had a number of units destroyed during the opening stages of the Morning War, the Geth were likely operating on pure survival instincts and the second the Quarians fled Rannoch they were now able to properly consider the implications of annihilating their creators, since the threat to their survival had passed. While I don't think it excuses the Geths responsibility for the sheer number of Quarians killed (whether done directly or indirectly), I think it does provide more context for the numbers thrown about. I also think it is just another case of writers not comprehending scale and just throwing numbers and statistics without really considering the implications they present. The Writers also absolutely had a bias towards the Geth from game one, Shepards conversations with Tali in Mass Effect 1 show as much where the paragon options are mostly sympathizing with the Geth.

Pretty hilarious that the misunderstanding of the writers ends up making legion the opposite of his goals

One of the things I had a problem with in ME3 is how they tried to force the whole AI vs organics thing as the main thing of mass effect. It was a point, but it was never THE POINT.

I had completely forgotten about the "get do not INTENTIONALLY infiltrate" comment and I'm so happy I was reminded of it 😂

The way I'd have ended it, is change Legion to be the only true Geth without Reaper code imbedded in him. Then he 'disseminates' himself to spread the original backup of the Geth code out to all Geth, thus restoring the Geth to their original self's. Also, whilst Legion would effectively be 'dead' at the end of Mass Effect 3, the fact if the Geth continue with their planned upload all units to the Dyson Sphere, Legion has a door to be returned to the cast as a Messianic-Geth like figure.

The geth indiscriminately attacking in the morning war reminds me of the bugs in starship troopers (book) where they couldnt conceptualize individuality or individual responsibility so they assumed it was a species wide decision to land on one of their planets

The bit with the N7 armor being pushed forward by someone not involved in Legion's writing is very sad. And very telling of how this industry works and why we're missing out of solid storylines in gaming sometimes.

I would absolutely love a video on the crew kidnapping. It's such a poorly thought out bit of an otherwise great game.

Mass Effect 3 and Wasted Potential. Literally go together like PB&J. Seriously the best Geth scenes are at Operation Earth and you have to let the Quarians Die, and then you get to talk to the Leader Prime who is actually Chill. Seriously the Fact we couldn’t get a few missions with Geth infantry was so dumb.

I'll never forget how the Geth-Quarian resolution made me feel the first time I played it. I'll never forget the fear the non-peace outcomes of the war left me with when I first witnessed them, to the point where I refuse to play Mass Effect 3 unless it's through a save file that allows peaceful resolution. And I can't hear anything you say in this video and absolutely say you're wrong about any of it. This was an exceptionally eye-opening take on the whole thing.

I understand that it may not be the story we want, but the easy fix is to address head on the how fucked up it is that the only way for the Geth to be accepted is to fundamentally change themselves. It only requires a few additional lines, and it mostly squares the circle. I actually hope this is how the sequel handles the event. I think a lil' retcon here allows for much richer Geth storylines in the sequel.

Legion: I have to go now. My planet needs me. That's how Legion's death has always felt; just nonsensical. I love this analysis, I miss the ME2 version of the Geth and what could have been. I don't think Andromeda touched the Geth at all besides explaining that the Initiative were able to get real time date from Andromeda while in the Milky Way to pick golden planets using some magical Geth telescope.

I wanted to table-flip by the time you got around to the Reaper code. There is absolutely no way you can fit that into existing canon. None. Spot-on. It’s like the new writing team in ME3 were incapable of thinking in any alien terms.

One of my favorite lines of Legion is; "There was a hole." It's so perfect. My friend who had never played Mass Effect, watched as I spoke to Legion and he quickly became his favorite.

I think these kinds of videos are important to help people remember that it wasn't just ME3's ending that was badly written

Wow that bit about “Legion welds the piece of armor on AFTER being on the Normandy to signify his integration” is WAY cooler than the obsession route.