Collider chimes in about Andromeda's main plot.

I did not say it did not turn to shit for the natives. I said it did not start out as shit.  I'm mostly talking about the north american colonies. most only survived due to their interactivity with native american. Even in south america the Spanish were welcome in....only because they thought they were gods. And that not even going over with what happen in Asia were most of the major powers their stayed in control and adapted there war fair to compete with their more advance invaders.

The reason of what happen to the native of these place were due to technological differences, illness, and numbers. the Mayan and the Spanish had completely different concepts of war with the Spanish war was about ruthlessly killing their enemy and mayan saw it as a ritual to capture as many people they can to sacrifice to their gods. While the north american native issue were the colonist had more advance tech, and more number then they did and the same issue with illness carried by the colonist. 

the argarans don't even have those issues. tech wise we are even, number wise they have more then us, illness wise they are mostly immune and even then the initiative is paranoid about spreading illness to them by accident. And the the majority of the cultures of the initiative don't have a history of imperialism. the asari are the for front of coexistence among the race and push that on to the other races. If  they were imperialist we would have those issue in the milky way.

We are too much on an even ground to have any major conflict with the argarians. Heck, It's safe to say the initiative is weaker then the argaian 

?  The beacon did not augment his abilities in any way.  (did it?...it has been a while since I played ME1).  It just showed him a vision that he barely understood. Most of his understanding of that vision came from talking/melding (or whatever the hell it is that asari do) to/with Liara (who in turn got HER info from research into the Protheans). 

It was nothing more than important information that Shep stumbled upon.  It didn't make him "special" like SAM makes Ryder special.

It was a warning and a distress signal to the remaining Protheans. It's their last mayday so to speak. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

Hmm...like I said, it has been a while since I played the original game.  I must have forgot about the prothean language part. I thought that the Illos thing learned to talk to SHEP, and not the other way around? If you are correct, then it IS very similar to the SAM-lets-Ryder-talk-to-remnant tech.

Well...I think this makes me unable to continue the argument because my facts are muddy! Gah, I need to play ME1 again!

Bowing out...

Hmm...like I said, it has been a while since I played the original game.  I must have forgot about the prothean language part. I thought that the Illos thing learned to talk to SHEP, and not the other way around? If you are correct, then it IS very similar to the SAM-lets-Ryder-talk-to-remnant tech.

Well...I think this makes me unable to continue the argument because my facts are muddy! Gah, I need to play ME1 again!

Bowing out...

wrong. go to 21:54

I've been thinking about this for a bit, and I think yes referencing Shep as an underdog isnt quite accurate, no, but the real difference between the characters I feel is the 'Chosen One' trope.

Ryder, thanks to SAM, falls right in to the Chosen One archetype. Now, there is nothing wrong with the Chosen One archetype per se, its certainly used in many a popular fiction. Everything from Luke Skywalker, to Jesus, to King Arthur to the Matrix uses that archetype. Ryder is a 'Chosen One'.

Shepard did not come across as a Chosen One. He was a soldier, a fighter, that through his/her determination worked his way up to being considered for a controversial posting as a SPECTRE. His test mission just happened to wind him in the middle of Sarens and the Reapers plotting. Hell, even the beacon, if he hadnt moved fast enough those dreams he had would have been given to Ashley instead.

To me, that made Shepard different and much more interesting. He was simply a fighter that was very good at his job, that found himself in the middle of this crazy scenario. Perhaps that is what they meant by the underdog statement. Shepard is John McClain. Ryder is Neo. Shepard is Batman. Ryder is Superman. Yes, Shep went on to do some crazy shit, and survived crazy shit, but he didnt do so because he was destined to like Ryder, but because hes a tough as hell badass that just wouldnt give up, and those things came about during the narrative. Unlike Ryders, which was 'preordained to be the carrier of the godly SAM'.

Again, Shepard LITERALLY would not stop the reaper without the vision. Hell, it gave him/her the power to talk prothean. Shepard would not know where to start to find Saran with out it. With out it Shepard would not know about ilos, go there and get the device need to delay the reapers.

As said before without that beacon Shepard would LITERALLY not be able to stop the reapers.

The vision gave Shepard the info. The Ciper Shepard later gets give them the ability to talk and understand prothean. at 21:54


and he uses it to find Javik in ME3.


In my cycle people remembered these things.

The vision gave Shepard the info. The Ciper Shepard later gets give them the ability to talk and understand prothean. at 21:54


and he uses it to find Javik in ME3.


In my cycle people remembered these things.

The initial beacon was damaged.  THe information was muddled and incomplete.  Even with the Cipher.

FOrtunately there was another beacon on Virmire:




WHich helped them figure things out they wouldn't otherwise: