255: Garrus, Part 6

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite lorecast on the Citadel. [SPEAKER_04]: Welcome to the Mass Effect lorecast. [SPEAKER_04]: I'm in seven the legend. [SPEAKER_05]: And I'm Genesis, join us. [SPEAKER_04]: As we explore along tides of light and through the shoals of dust to see where this lore began.

[SPEAKER_05]: And consider where it may go. [SPEAKER_04]: Specters welcome back to a unfortunately delayed episode of the Mass Effect Lork cast. [SPEAKER_04]: I am your Magnanimous loquacious host In seven a legend then joining me is my enthralled Excited and exuberant co-hosts Genesis Genesis. [SPEAKER_04]: How's it going?

[SPEAKER_05]: Uh, pretty dang good. [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, I am all of those things, especially when talking about garrison. [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, when I have my coffee, I actually, you know, tap into my fissures. [SPEAKER_05]: I like it. [SPEAKER_05]: I like it a lot. [SPEAKER_05]: I tried to have AI run a pull everything and seven has called me over the last two years, but then apparently that's against the rules because we don't have transcripts written for the episodes so it was like I cannot watch your YouTube videos and get you ad revenue to pull all of these these words.

[SPEAKER_04]: Darn. [SPEAKER_04]: You mean to say that we're not training AI with this podcast? [SPEAKER_04]: I am just so livid. [SPEAKER_05]: Anyway, I asked it only to listen to the first three minutes to find out what descriptive words ends up in the legend used to call Genesis. [SPEAKER_05]: But I wouldn't do it.

[SPEAKER_04]: On air or off air. [SPEAKER_04]: I've used a lot more colorful words, I think, off air. [SPEAKER_04]: But that being said, yeah, I guess some explanation is in order for a lot of people who were like, hey, what the hell happened to the month of July? [SPEAKER_04]: A few different things.

[SPEAKER_04]: I started a new job. [SPEAKER_04]: Sun went to daycare, total schedule change, I've been waking up at 1.30 a.m. for work. [SPEAKER_04]: I was playing with my dog, fell over, and thought I cracked some ribs. [SPEAKER_04]: Turns out it was just a really bad bruise, but I think I popped one out of place.

[SPEAKER_04]: And Genesis, you've been having a lot going on yourself. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, unfortunately my grandmother passed away. [SPEAKER_05]: My dad came out here, spent some time with me and the family, and we've been gearing up for my daughters make a wish trip, which has been a very, very logistical and a lot of moving parts.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, right. [SPEAKER_04]: You thought building the crucible was tough. [SPEAKER_04]: So that's a really bad joke. [SPEAKER_04]: Anyway, we are back talking about garrison and this is part six. [SPEAKER_04]: How many more parts do we have before we are a through kid talking about garrison?

[SPEAKER_05]: I would say that he definitely, we need to talk about his mission with Victus and or Victus' son and then the end of the game and the Citadel DLC. [SPEAKER_05]: If we really want to get a full- encompassment of at least the Citadel DLC mainly is for his romance plot line rather than the story arc overall But we definitely need to talk about the rest of Mass Effect 3 because tonight I'm only planning on talking about who he is on the Citadel in the refugee camp and then his personal mission of going on the Skycar to shoot bottles [SPEAKER_04]: right and we could talk about garris all night long could we all night long and I'm not going to sing the rest of the app because I don't want to get copyrighted and DMCAD.

[SPEAKER_04]: But all right so we have kind of introduced garris in Mass Effect 3 talked a little bit about you know his transformation to become somewhat of an equal standing on level ground with shepherd despite being taller than shepherd. [SPEAKER_04]: And really growing into his own mold of leadership.

[SPEAKER_04]: So where does that leave us today? [SPEAKER_04]: Where are we starting with Garros? [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, today we are starting with Gary's in the refugee camp. [SPEAKER_05]: He is off to the far corner in what is the Turing area within the storage containers and everything like that. [SPEAKER_05]: And while he is here, he continues to show us that he is a changed Turing.

[SPEAKER_05]: Because here we have our weapons master. [SPEAKER_05]: and he's coordinating housing. [SPEAKER_05]: He is securing the Dexter amino food required for his people. [SPEAKER_05]: He is overseeing medical care and military logistics, and there is nothing in sight to calibrate. [SPEAKER_05]: Now the garris that we knew was so driven and focused on catching criminals and mass-effect one and focused on eliminating threats on Omega and 2, but now here in 3, he feels the burden of keeping an entire species alive.

[SPEAKER_04]: right so let's talk about domesticated garris for a second because this is this is kind of like domesticated garris and and I had remarked on this last episode I think how garris was so often a lone wolf especially you know when we meet him in Mass Effect 1 and then you know the the shootout in the wards and taking risks those kinds of things but you corrected me and said [SPEAKER_04]: come Mass Effect 3 and he does take people kind of under his wings to protect them.

[SPEAKER_04]: Is that how you see this? [SPEAKER_05]: Absolutely, because now he's carrying more about not just like his family or the crew that he's been working with, his friends on the Normandy, he's taking on the responsibility of the entire population. [SPEAKER_05]: He does have other turns that he can lead on and he's not the primarck, so he's not the one making all the decisions, but he's obviously somebody that primarck relies on.

[SPEAKER_05]: and is paying attention to and the primarck listens to garrison garrison speaks. [SPEAKER_04]: So it's almost like garrison's becoming a family man. [SPEAKER_04]: Like garrison's done with his 20s and he's definitely in his 30s now. [SPEAKER_05]: He's definitely hit his 30s and is looking to settle down, but we'll get to that part after the mid break.

[SPEAKER_05]: You know, in these storage containers, one of the most memorable conversations that we have with him is about the wounded soldiers. [SPEAKER_05]: Because Shepherd can ask him if any of the wounded would be able to return to the front lines. [SPEAKER_05]: Shepherd's still in the military mindset and is trying to figure out who do we have.

[SPEAKER_05]: And in a somber moment, Garis admits that many of his wounded will never recover, and that all anyone can really do is offer them compassion. [SPEAKER_04]: If you're reading between the lines when he says that, you know, how do you think it's affecting him? [SPEAKER_05]: It makes me hurt for him because he is making the decisions of I know that my people are going to die and there's nothing that I can do and it would be a waste of resources to help healthier people survive.

[SPEAKER_05]: that hurts. [SPEAKER_05]: He didn't sign up to be a doctor who is a nurse who is doing triage. [SPEAKER_05]: He didn't sign up for this. [SPEAKER_05]: But this is him and this isn't him being cold or just regarding these people's pain, it's the acceptance of the painful realities of war and that cold calculus that he speaks about [SPEAKER_04]: sorry to interject it's it's just I have a different perspective coming at this as someone who never romansed garrison and primarily probably a place brochure so when I see this scene with garrison [SPEAKER_04]: It's it's like he's still kind of got that wall up and he's definitely not being vulnerable and it's like, yeah, it doesn't bother me at all.

[SPEAKER_04]: You know, like doesn't bother me at all. [SPEAKER_04]: I just got to make the hard decisions, you know. [SPEAKER_04]: Um, and I don't know if it's different, right? [SPEAKER_04]: If you're coming at this having romance to in Mass Effect to or, you know, that kind of thing. [SPEAKER_05]: That's a great point.

[SPEAKER_05]: I think maybe I am coloring the interactions a little bit because I've seen behind that wall. [SPEAKER_05]: I've seen his vulnerability. [SPEAKER_05]: I've experienced that. [SPEAKER_05]: So it's more of what lens are you viewing it through? [SPEAKER_05]: Is this the, oh yeah dude, I am like, it bothers me, but I'll push through it, whatever I'm good or [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I'm putting on a brave face babe, but I'm hurting inside.

[SPEAKER_04]: Do you think caring for these people in the refugee camp evokes memories of his mom? [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, um, quite possibly, uh, because he had to make medical decisions along with his sister Solana about her care. [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, and so now he's having to make, met, uh, decisions on a much grander scale.

[SPEAKER_05]: He doesn't. [SPEAKER_05]: He doesn't care personally about the soldiers that he is in charge of because I don't you need that detachment in order to do that, but I'm pretty sure that making some of these decisions definitely evokes memories of his mom. [SPEAKER_04]: But he didn't have to take on any of this responsibility, right?

[SPEAKER_04]: Like, this wasn't, you know, absolutely necessary for him to do, but he did it anyway. [SPEAKER_04]: So a part of me wonders, does he think, you know, I may not save my mom or I may not have saved my mom, but I can save these people. [SPEAKER_05]: that definitely might be part of it. [SPEAKER_04]: Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't he try to give a shepherd a pep talk at one point in time and basically says, you know, don't focus on who you've lost, but say who you can.

[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, he does, um, I believe that is much later in the game right before the end of the game, um, with, uh, after Thessia, is that conversation that we can't focus on who we've lost, but we have to focus on who we can still save. [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, so yeah, I guess he's kind of building that now of learning this.

[SPEAKER_05]: So that way when Shepherd goes through something similar, uh, he's able to give the give that that level of advice because he's already been through it. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: All right. [SPEAKER_04]: I'm done interacting. [SPEAKER_04]: I interrupted your train of thought. [SPEAKER_04]: Go ahead.

[SPEAKER_05]: No, it's okay. [SPEAKER_05]: You're just making me really think about the end of the game and how much it affects me. [SPEAKER_05]: But right now, we are still on the citadel. [SPEAKER_05]: And it hits Garus that other than the humans on board at the Normandy at this point in the game. [SPEAKER_05]: Garis is the only other one who has witnessed his home planet burning, because Thessia is in the future of the game.

[SPEAKER_05]: And he's the only one who has had to witness the aftermath. [SPEAKER_05]: Because at the refugee docks, he sees his people and the other displaced human suffering from separated families, injured soldiers arriving faster than supplies to care for them. [SPEAKER_05]: civilians with nowhere to go, and those impossible choices of who gets resources.

[SPEAKER_05]: A seasick garrison wouldn't have had the skills or the patience required for this. [SPEAKER_05]: Arcangel would have only been looking for his next mission, his next target. [SPEAKER_05]: But Commander Vicarion, he is there, struggling, but ultimately making decisions that have no perfect solution.

[SPEAKER_04]: Which is what we the players have done for three games at this point. [SPEAKER_05]: Yep, so it plays into that whole shepherds and shepherding garris are on equal footing now because previously it had been all shepherds decisions, all his all their all their choices, but now garris is having to make choices that he's seen shepherd struggle with.

[SPEAKER_05]: And in the past games, we have seen garris being molded by shepherd's actions. [SPEAKER_05]: And now we get to see the outcomes of those decisions. [SPEAKER_05]: We see a garris who is not following Shepherd's lead, but standing right next to them mirroring their actions. [SPEAKER_05]: It's being in the camps surrounded by refugees, reinforces the fact that garris is Shepherd's closest confidant.

[SPEAKER_05]: Both of them are now responsible for more than just winning battles that they have been assigned to. [SPEAKER_05]: They're responsible for the hope, the morale, the survival of the entire galaxy. [SPEAKER_04]: And I also wonder, you know, we were talking a little bit about how garrison may have memories of his mom come back from this refugee camp.

[SPEAKER_04]: But if we're talking about the people that he can save and perhaps that being a primary motivator for him taking on this responsibility, then we have to mention that ongoing guilt that he carries for his squad being wiped out. [SPEAKER_04]: I don't make up. [SPEAKER_05]: Yes, he is still wearing the same armor, and the same armor is still has 13 lines on the lower part of his chest, a constant reminder of his 13 that he lost.

[SPEAKER_05]: While both of them are only scratched out, no one that remains being Sedonus, and so it's always going to be there in the back of your mind that you have previously lost your crew. [SPEAKER_05]: And you have, and quite possibly, he has seen shepherd lose a majority of their crew, depending on how the end of Mass Effect 2 went, because you can lose almost damn near everybody in the suicide mission.

[SPEAKER_05]: And there are definitely conversations at the Memorial Wall on the Normandy, where you and Gareth can talk about all the different people that you've lost, and that has to [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, 100% and there's that number 12 again, you know, 13 minus the doughness 12. [SPEAKER_04]: Shepard had 12 squadmates in Mass Effect, too, and so that number comes up again and again and you know in our episode where we, you know, analyze the question is Shepard really space Jesus.

[SPEAKER_04]: We mentioned that, you know, the 12 could be a reference to Jesus in the 12 disciples, excuse me if I'm using the wrong term. [SPEAKER_04]: But, um, yeah, there's that number 12 again with Garros, you know, and, and this is fiction, right? [SPEAKER_04]: So it's not a coincidence. [SPEAKER_05]: Right.

[SPEAKER_05]: It's not a coincidence that the Arc Angel had 12 disciples, 12 squad mates. [SPEAKER_05]: The symbolism's not lost. [SPEAKER_04]: The 13th fell from grace. [SPEAKER_05]: Yes, Judas. [SPEAKER_05]: Yes, the doness. [SPEAKER_05]: Um, but we see this Garus who is really really grown into his own, and it makes me so happy to see it, because here is where we don't get [SPEAKER_05]: battle tactics, or flirty comments about blowing off steam.

[SPEAKER_05]: We talk about shortages, survivors, and see that Garus has reached the same level of strategic and emotional responsibility that Shepherd has previously carried alone in the trilogy. [SPEAKER_05]: This is where I feel like they are truly becoming best friends, because in previous games as brochure or a non-romance, they are total writer dice for each other.

[SPEAKER_05]: I will go into battle with you. [SPEAKER_05]: I will fight by your side. [SPEAKER_05]: I will do whatever it takes to complete the mission, but now they're talking about the next level shit. [SPEAKER_05]: They are talking about death. [SPEAKER_05]: They are talking about the people around [SPEAKER_04]: and they can relate to each other, no, on a way that they previously couldn't, you know, because Shepard had experienced the burden of command, and now Garus has, and so I imagine that it's like opening an entire world of empathetic connection.

[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, and we'll get to it in a little bit, but especially about the fact that Shepard lost their home plan at first and has had to carry that weight around for a while before reaching Garrison seeing Palavan burning. [SPEAKER_05]: And that plays a big part of it, too. [SPEAKER_05]: And while we are here in the Refugee Camp, it feels almost easy as a gamer to kind of skip over this.

[SPEAKER_05]: Like kind of gloss over the conversations, they're important, but especially if we've heard them three or four times, you're not really paying attention to the dialogue anymore. [SPEAKER_05]: We've all been there. [SPEAKER_05]: It remind watching the videos again of all this and really focusing on what he was saying as if I was trying to really listen to it again for the first time.

[SPEAKER_05]: I got to see his compassion in this moment because even in practical and pragmatic conversations about scare supplies and major battlefield bosses, he doesn't ever sound detached to me. [SPEAKER_05]: He isn't morons who relishes in death or Jack who uses violence as fuel. [SPEAKER_05]: He isn't Rex who holds generational trauma.

[SPEAKER_05]: He is garrison. [SPEAKER_05]: Garrison is clearly affected by every decision he is forced to make. [SPEAKER_05]: Because no matter what happens, Garrison remains compassionate, even when forced to make ruthless choices. [SPEAKER_04]: You know, this is something that I was actually thinking about today on my drive home from work that the burden of being a kind person, right?

[SPEAKER_04]: There's a natural burden that comes with keeping your heart soft and not hardened. [SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, it's easy, I think, especially if you've been exposed to a lot of trauma or a lot of just bad things, you know, that the world has to offer like lying or cheating or stealing or, you know, violence, anything like that.

[SPEAKER_04]: And it's the natural inclination right is to harden your heart to protect yourself. [SPEAKER_04]: But then you start to not feel the visceral reaction to those bad things anymore. [SPEAKER_04]: And it's all too easy to then propagate them or excuse them or even defend them. [SPEAKER_04]: The alternative is keeping your heart vulnerable.

[SPEAKER_04]: But that is that while more difficult, [SPEAKER_04]: is if you're talking in terms of moral philosophy, I think most religions and creeds in the world agree that that is the right or righteous path, that you need to keep your heart vulnerable because even if it's going to hurt you more, you will end up helping more people because you have not hurt in your heart.

[SPEAKER_04]: And so, Garus here, [SPEAKER_04]: I can only imagine, you know, is making that is having that same struggle. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: Our boy struggles, but when seeing Gareth here, it really feels to me like he completes his transformation that he began after his team died on Omega.

[SPEAKER_05]: With a death of the Archangel Squad, he has learned that leadership means living with the consequences when people follow you. [SPEAKER_05]: On Menei, he accepts that he is going to be responsible for defending an entire species. [SPEAKER_05]: And on the docks, he learns even further that leadership isn't just about battle tactics or leading from the front lines.

[SPEAKER_05]: It's about taking care of the people who survive after. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's the burden of leadership that I'm talking about, right? [SPEAKER_04]: That leadership isn't just the authority that comes with it and the power that comes with that authority, but it's about justifying and establishing the legitimacy of that power, which comes from taking care of the people underneath you and your command.

[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, we need our leaders to take care of us, not just tell us what to do. [SPEAKER_04]: or pass the buck. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: Own it. [SPEAKER_04]: And it's very clear that garrison's all of it. [SPEAKER_04]: Perhaps too much. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, he takes on a lot of the emotional burden that comes with it.

[SPEAKER_05]: He doesn't try to pass it off, and he doesn't try to wiggle his way out of it. [SPEAKER_05]: And I see that so much because priority Palovin shows Gary's becoming a commander, and the refugee camp shows him becoming a leader, and the differences between the two. [SPEAKER_05]: to keep going through the battle, but the refugee doc tests his empathy and his judgment in the aftermath.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, right on. [SPEAKER_04]: So this is a more civilian setting that we see Gerasin. [SPEAKER_04]: This is a more, I don't wanna say caring, but a more, [SPEAKER_04]: it's not a combat zone right and and it's not it's not an investigation it's not you know on the hunt for some bad guy but route is not on the front lines it's taking care of the flank yeah and the home front [SPEAKER_05]: it's not a mission.

[SPEAKER_05]: It's not a quest. [SPEAKER_05]: It's not from a gameplay standpoint. [SPEAKER_05]: This is just us walking up and having a conversation. [SPEAKER_05]: It's not anything that we're required to do in order to move the storyline forward. [SPEAKER_05]: This is just you going to talk to your friend and find out how he's doing in the aftermath.

[SPEAKER_04]: right yeah and wow i mean i it's so easy to skip over that right and but the thing is that even if you do garris is still there and so this is one of those things that makes this game such a great game because there's so many things that are going on in the background regardless of your participation in them [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_05]: Garus continues to make decisions regardless of shepherds input now in Mass Effect 3. [SPEAKER_04]: Right on. [SPEAKER_04]: All right, well with that, let's go over to the midbrake and then when we come back, I can't wait to hear more about Garus wanting to settle down. [SPEAKER_04]: They come a family man.

[SPEAKER_04]: Garus in his thirties. [SPEAKER_04]: So all right, let's go over to the midbrake and we'll be right back. [SPEAKER_08]: We have beef, bacon, we have beer, the foods of my people. [SPEAKER_02]: Young men have funny ideas of what a story are like. [SPEAKER_02]: I blame the extra net, and computer games.

[SPEAKER_03]: Rex, shepherd, Grant, shepherd, Rex. [SPEAKER_04]: Alright, here we are in the middle of the show and this is the part where we've read out your five star reviews if you've left them on Apple podcasts We don't have any new reviews on Apple podcasts this week. [SPEAKER_04]: However, we do have a plethora of comments all of from our day lose of episodes that I put out like three episodes within two days on Spotify and the other audio platforms [SPEAKER_04]: So I'm looking at some of these comments and why don't we go ahead and read one out from Morgan left it about a week ago on episode 253 garris interrupted by reapers.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I hope you all got that reference that I was making by putting the title as garris interrupted. [SPEAKER_04]: Did you get it? [SPEAKER_04]: Earl Enderup. [SPEAKER_05]: Earl Enderup? [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, of course. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: That's one odor rider. [SPEAKER_04]: So, Morgan says, there's so many episodes and I love it.

[SPEAKER_04]: I've been on hiatus, well, so worried, but I'm so excited to get back into this podcast. [SPEAKER_04]: I've assumed control of my girlfriend's Spotify to listen. [SPEAKER_04]: I pay it because I love her, though. [SPEAKER_04]: you guys are killing it and I love this IP so much and hope you guys never stop.

[SPEAKER_04]: I have one thought and I'd love to see Mass Effect adopt some things from Starfield. [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, there's an interesting take. [SPEAKER_04]: I feel like that game design would be perfect for Mass Effect 4 slash 5, 3.5. [SPEAKER_04]: Whatever the next one is called. [SPEAKER_04]: I love y'all and best to you and your families.

[SPEAKER_04]: Well thank you Morgan, thank you so much and I do think that there are some [SPEAKER_04]: Game mechanics that Starfield did very well and I would love to see it especially and everyone I think if you've been listening to this Podcast long enough knows how much I miss the exploration in mass-ficked one [SPEAKER_04]: and being able to go to uncharted worlds, I need that.

[SPEAKER_04]: I need that next Mass Effect, so bad. [SPEAKER_04]: You know, make it a truly open world or open worlds game, instead of just kind of how Mass Effect 2 kind of became on rail road tracks, you know. [SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, I would love to see that. [SPEAKER_04]: I fully agree. [SPEAKER_04]: What do you think, Genesis?

[SPEAKER_05]: I still have not played Starfield, but I also do miss the exploration of Mass Effect 1. [SPEAKER_05]: I really did like going around and surveying the entire planet and being able to find all the little hidden things and getting them, because I'm definitely the type of gamer who loves collectors, like give me a collection quest that lasts throughout the whole game, [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, but I, I, I don't want the make-o that was my only personal downside to it.

[SPEAKER_04]: You know what, the make-o wasn't the problem, though. [SPEAKER_04]: The problem was the super jagged mountainous terrain that we were expected to somehow navigate. [SPEAKER_04]: Like the make-o was a little weird with its stick controls, but that's like a small tweak that you can make. [SPEAKER_04]: I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, [SPEAKER_05]: I'm also a PC gamer dude, like it was really freaking hard to control the make-o on keyboard and mouse.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I don't play any games on keyboard and mouse where I have to operate a car. [SPEAKER_05]: Like I knew what I was going to get to. [SPEAKER_04]: Fair, fair point. [SPEAKER_04]: Um, yeah, maybe we'll get like an updated version of the Nomad or something. [SPEAKER_04]: Then I thought the Nomad was a great vehicle.

[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, if the Nomad had weaponry, it would be a perfect vehicle. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: All right. [SPEAKER_04]: Well, Morgan, thank you so much for your comment, and don't forget if you want your comment to be read, you don't have to leave a review on Apple podcasts, although that helps us a lot.

[SPEAKER_04]: You can leave a comment on our most recent episode on Spotify, and we will read it out, assuming that you don't curse or... [SPEAKER_04]: you know, tell us to go take a hike or something. [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe even then maybe I'll read it out. [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I read that one years ago that I've that stuck with me that someone called me a volus and I think about that every now and then.

[SPEAKER_04]: So if whoever wrote that, if you're listening to this, know that your words have power. [SPEAKER_04]: All right, um, what else we got in the middle of the show? [SPEAKER_04]: We do, I don't think either one of us picked a voice line for the pop quiz, but we both did one last time. [SPEAKER_04]: So we'll restart.

[SPEAKER_04]: We can decide who has it next time. [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, no new patrons to shout out this month, but we do have our tier five patrons. [SPEAKER_04]: William, superfly for 40 reds are about let's in it to see no curiosity. [SPEAKER_04]: Ed boy and day. [SPEAKER_04]: And a small housekeeping update, I have learned from Tom that there have been some changes in Patreon to the merch, and I'm still trying to figure out what the latest status on that is if there have been changes that have already been implemented, or if it's going to come soon, I'll update you guys as soon as I can probably through the robots radio discord, [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, so keep an eye on that, and I will also, of course, once I have an update, say it in the middle of the show, uh, on the appropriate week, but with that, let's get back to the rest of the show.

[SPEAKER_00]: After time, I drift among open stars, a long tides of light and through shows of dust, I will return to where I began. [SPEAKER_09]: Celery and reproduction different, very little sex drive. [SPEAKER_09]: If intended to try human, would try you out my bakeries. [SPEAKER_04]: Here we are in the second half of the show.

[SPEAKER_04]: take us away. [SPEAKER_04]: I take us to domesticated 30-year-old garrisland. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, before we get to domesticated, I think there is definitely the first half of this mission that we can talk about because it is Citadel meat garris. [SPEAKER_05]: Total meat cute, let's go. [SPEAKER_05]: Now, his personal mission on the Citadel is Ionic.

[SPEAKER_05]: I want to play the full portion of the Skycar speech as a romance shepherd because it adds more to the way that his personality has changed. [SPEAKER_05]: That nervous guy in the captain's quarters who had no idea how to flirt with a, um, let's call her body shepherd. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, you can handle her now, and it shows, so please Sam if you can play the clip that I added there.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yes, so we have a clip here and, um, man, I have to wonder what you mean with body B-A-W-D-Y. [SPEAKER_04]: Alright, well, here we go. [SPEAKER_06]: Shall we? [SPEAKER_06]: Shepherd, glad you came. [SPEAKER_06]: Something that doesn't involve fighting rapers. [SPEAKER_07]: That's hard to find these days.

[SPEAKER_07]: I suppose we could catch a hand-our poetry reading. [SPEAKER_06]: A no offense, but if the end of the galaxy is coming, I'm not going out on the phrase. [SPEAKER_08]: This one feels like a flower. [SPEAKER_06]: So? [SPEAKER_06]: So, I had an idea. [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, and that leads us to the scene in which we get the shootout, right, on the top of the citadel.

[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, there's definitely a little bit more to this scene. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, there is. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, okay. [SPEAKER_04]: Sorry. [SPEAKER_04]: I stopped it prematurely. [SPEAKER_05]: You did. [SPEAKER_04]: We better stop it. [SPEAKER_04]: I'm not going to touch that comment with its info poll.

[SPEAKER_04]: All right. [SPEAKER_04]: Let me resume the clip then. [SPEAKER_04]: Excuse me. [SPEAKER_07]: Where are we going? [SPEAKER_06]: Somewhere we're not supposed to. [SPEAKER_07]: Now you're talking. [SPEAKER_06]: Ever have that one thing you always wanted to do before you died, Shepherd? [SPEAKER_07]: I've woken up with a Terry and next to me.

[SPEAKER_06]: Still trying to make me blush, Sean. [SPEAKER_07]: Until it works. [SPEAKER_07]: So it's your one thing. [SPEAKER_06]: The whole time I worked at C-SAC, I'd stare up at the top of the president and say to myself, [SPEAKER_06]: I want to go up there, but I never did. [SPEAKER_06]: There were 137 regulations telling me I couldn't.

[SPEAKER_07]: So you got them changed? [SPEAKER_06]: No. [SPEAKER_06]: Now I just don't give a damn. [SPEAKER_07]: I can't even stop it there. [SPEAKER_04]: now I just don't give it to him. [SPEAKER_04]: I love that. [SPEAKER_04]: That part is not different from the romance part. [SPEAKER_04]: And I always love that line from Gareth's.

[SPEAKER_04]: But on that note, I was seriously expecting shepherd's response to the, you know, you always have that one thing that you want to do before he died and she says I've woken up to a touring before and he says what he says, I was expecting her to then reply, oh, I wasn't talking about you.

[SPEAKER_04]: they could put garrison his back foot so bad like yeah he would have been quiet for the rest of the car right yeah well I think it was very much established in Masterfight 2 that garrison was her first turn right but you know of course he I don't I don't think the garrison [SPEAKER_05]: But he's getting there.

[SPEAKER_05]: He's totally getting there and the fact that it's like, oh, now you're trying to make me blush. [SPEAKER_05]: It's not going to work. [SPEAKER_05]: And but that's so different from the nervous one who, you know, it's like [SPEAKER_05]: Are you sure that you want to continue this relationship with me?

[SPEAKER_05]: Are you sure that you want to have a human terrain liaison in the Mass Effect 2 where he was so like I need to bring the wine and complement your hair. [SPEAKER_05]: Am I doing this right? [SPEAKER_05]: Do, well, yeah, Shepherd, could try to make me blush. [SPEAKER_05]: It's not going to work.

[SPEAKER_05]: There's a confidence to him now. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and I imagine as someone who is a garrison that confidence is sexy More than just a little But okay [SPEAKER_05]: I wanted to interject just a little personal story about when I first started playing Mass Effect here, because when I first started playing Mass Effect, because my husband gave me one piece of advice for each game.

[SPEAKER_05]: In Mass Effect 1, he told me don't take too long on the beach. [SPEAKER_05]: For Mass Effect 2, he told me a rival is at the end. [SPEAKER_05]: For Mass Effect 3, he told me to miss the shot. [SPEAKER_05]: Now, I had no clue what any of that meant because he's a cryptic bastard, but I remembered all of those key words and learned what each of those meant by the end of the trilogy.

[SPEAKER_05]: And I thought that they were amazing advice for each of those games. [SPEAKER_04]: I, I also to new agree that that is amazing advice because it, it, it's basically gently guiding you away from making critical mistakes, but not spoiling anything. [SPEAKER_05]: Now this is slightly out of order but I want to talk about the contest before I talk about the romance specific scene because the romance scene is right after you step off the skycar but before he pulls out the sniper rifle for the contest so these next two scenes are a little out of order but it makes sense in my brain.

[SPEAKER_04]: Okay so we've got some more scenes here [SPEAKER_05]: We do not play in the clip yet. [SPEAKER_04]: We'll get to that in a little bit. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I was like, wait, I don't see the link here in the show notes. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, so we get off the Skycar, we've, and we are about to start shooting at bottles with an inciser, very specifically that rifle, because fun fact, this is Garrison's favorite sniper rifle.

[SPEAKER_05]: In Massive Act 2, he has a battle bark of I love this gun. [SPEAKER_05]: That only happens if you have him in equipped with the Insizer. [SPEAKER_05]: Now, this is only my personal observation and it's not confirmed, but I know my man, and if he's not holding it, he doesn't say it. [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_04]: I feel like I may have heard that before, but I almost always give him the widow. [SPEAKER_05]: Garus can't equip the widow in Mass Effect 2. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, we're talking about Mass Effect 2, all right. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, so that's when he has this battle bark of I love this gun as in Mass Effect 2.

[SPEAKER_05]: I haven't heard him say it at any other point. [SPEAKER_05]: but back to the game, back to the scene. [SPEAKER_05]: The rooftop competition perfectly captures Garish's personality. [SPEAKER_05]: Like we said in the beginning, he doesn't suggest dinner or drinks or hand our poetry. [SPEAKER_05]: He challenges Shepherd to a sniper contest, because that's how Garish connects with people.

[SPEAKER_05]: Through friendly competition and shared skills, we hear about this with Vega later on. [SPEAKER_05]: this competition isn't about proving who's the better marksman. [SPEAKER_05]: It's about enjoying one normal moment in the galaxy that's falling apart. [SPEAKER_04]: And we also know that Garris uses competition as a vector for intimacy.

[SPEAKER_05]: this is very true. [SPEAKER_05]: The boxing ring was a very appropriate place for a previous romance between garrison. [SPEAKER_05]: But I also see this as like I could see garrison doing this with Vega taking Vega up here for the exact same interaction of let's see who's the better shot.

[SPEAKER_04]: I feel like that competition though would involve a lot more alcohol. [SPEAKER_04]: and they did somehow con Cortez in the driving them up there. [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, absolutely. [SPEAKER_05]: And Cortez would be all for it. [SPEAKER_05]: He would be. [SPEAKER_05]: He would be the one with the with the goggles to make sure that the bottle went far enough and equal distance for everybody.

[SPEAKER_05]: So that way it was a clean game. [SPEAKER_04]: Cortez is 110% the designated driver of his friend group. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, I won't get into that romance now, but getting back to garris. [SPEAKER_05]: One of garris' defining traits is using humor to cope with trauma. [SPEAKER_05]: As we've seen this quite a bit.

[SPEAKER_05]: Sometimes it's that dry, cutting wit, and other times it's like, don't make me laugh, my face already hurts enough. [SPEAKER_05]: And on the rooftop, you hear that humor returning naturally. [SPEAKER_05]: Because after spending time spending the game coordinating military strategy, morning, plalvin, and helping the refugees, Gary's allows himself to simply joke with Shepard.

[SPEAKER_05]: His best friend, or in some cases, his reunited girlfriend, it's that ability to find joy, even briefly, is an important part of his resilience. [SPEAKER_04]: And it's a nice escape in terms of gameplay from all the heavy moments. [SPEAKER_04]: of Mass Effect 3 right because there is a galaxy wide genocide going on and here we get a little reprieve from that a little bit of arguably fan service but it doesn't come across as fan service because it fits in universe so well.

[SPEAKER_04]: Um, and it's like, you know, in terms of pacing, depending on when you do it, I think it's just absolutely like a perfect scene to kind of reaffirm your established bond with squadmate who has been there from the get go. [SPEAKER_05]: very much. [SPEAKER_05]: So there are little moments throughout Mass Effect 3 that are like the comedic relief, the little breaks in the game waking up drunk on Aria's couch always comes to mind.

[SPEAKER_05]: Things like that but with garrison it's just so perfect and fits the character so well. [SPEAKER_05]: and in this scene of shooting the bottles, we have a choice. [SPEAKER_05]: The choice doesn't actually affect anything at all. [SPEAKER_04]: If there's an all-loyal tea attached to it, you know how many it would be if there was, like, if Gareth died on the final run, because you didn't miss the shot, and he just didn't have to go on.

[SPEAKER_05]: Damn you shepherd why didn't you let me have that win? [SPEAKER_05]: Oh god that'd be horrible. [SPEAKER_05]: Absolutely horrible but There is no this if Shepherd chooses to intentionally miss the shot he knows it [SPEAKER_05]: His reaction is incredibly revealing in this, though, because he understands that Shepard wasn't trying to lose.

[SPEAKER_05]: They were trying to give him a victory that he needed, because Gareth needs this competition, too. [SPEAKER_05]: He still has the refugees. [SPEAKER_05]: He still has Palavin. [SPEAKER_05]: He's still worried about his dad who he hasn't been able to reach yet, figuring out of his dad and his sister or a life.

[SPEAKER_05]: Those are all there in the back of his head. [SPEAKER_05]: And rather than getting offended, Garus appreciates the gesture because he recognizes what it's really about, friendship and not competition. [SPEAKER_04]: Which is a big milestone. [SPEAKER_04]: for Gary. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, he doesn't see Shepherd as a rival or is somebody to try and be like reaching towards to obtain the same level of command or ship that Shepherd has.

[SPEAKER_05]: But he's also got to rub it in our face a little bit because I am garish with [SPEAKER_05]: I laughed so hard. [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I, the squadmates have to have been so sick of hearing that on Citadel, right? [SPEAKER_04]: Like I bet they were roasting shepherd constantly about that, like behind closed doors.

[SPEAKER_04]: Can you, can you, can you, can you get a load of this guy or gal, you know, so full of himself. [SPEAKER_05]: right. [SPEAKER_05]: Let me give you a discount. [SPEAKER_05]: Sure. [SPEAKER_05]: I'll put my name on anything for a discount. [SPEAKER_05]: And then have you ever walked through the wards again later and heard your own damn shepherd voice telling you.

[SPEAKER_05]: I'm like, I would get tired of that personally. [SPEAKER_05]: That's why I generally don't even listen to my own podcast after they've been released because I don't need to hear me over and over again. [SPEAKER_05]: Now, if Shepard does win this contest fairly, here is accepts defeat with good humor, and that, to me, is also a huge indicator of how much his ego has matured since Mass Effect 1.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and I was gonna mention that with, you know, [SPEAKER_04]: identifying that shepherd wasn't trying to lose, but, you know, not getting offended at that, not being like, you know, I don't need your pity, shepherd. [SPEAKER_04]: Not going there shows me that he checked as he go at the door, because he's, he's aware enough to see that shepherd does, shepherd's not doing that because shepherd pity's gears, shepherd's doing that because shepherd loves gears.

[SPEAKER_05]: even if it is just total best bros hanging out and having beers and shooting guns. [SPEAKER_05]: But okay, I said that I skipped this scene because I wanted to end the episode with this because this to be is so peak and is so pinnacle. [SPEAKER_05]: I just I just can't so please uh play me this clip Sam [SPEAKER_04]: Play it again, Sam.

[SPEAKER_04]: All right, so, um, okay, wait, I want to make sure I have the right link here because it says, stop at one same link. [SPEAKER_04]: One, seventeen. [SPEAKER_04]: It should start at 1630 and then stop at one. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, oh, oh, okay. [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, I might have forgotten the second.

[SPEAKER_05]: I'm sorry. [SPEAKER_04]: So it's like, oh, what? [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah, look at that Lizzie in Jets. [SPEAKER_04]: It's pull the lever, Crohn. [SPEAKER_04]: All right. [SPEAKER_04]: I'm pulling the lever, I swear. [SPEAKER_05]: Hold on. [SPEAKER_05]: You'll stop at 1732. [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope it would inspire a certain mood.

[SPEAKER_07]: Something on your mind. [SPEAKER_06]: It seemed like you needed time to figure us out. [SPEAKER_06]: Are you ready to be a one-terrain kind of woman? [SPEAKER_07]: The only thing that made leaving Earth Barrel was knowing you were out there somewhere. [SPEAKER_06]: I felt the same way. [SPEAKER_06]: The worst part about the galaxy going to hell would have been never getting to see you again.

[SPEAKER_07]: Well, here I am. [SPEAKER_07]: Exactly where I want to be. [SPEAKER_06]: The Vids Joker gave me. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, they never got this far. [SPEAKER_06]: There was the part about sleeping together, but this is... Oh, I know. [SPEAKER_07]: We need to Vid when you've got me. [SPEAKER_04]: And so, that next part is, Garrison Braces or it does the stereotypical, you know, like Bendover and Kiss part.

[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so I've never seen that scene before. [SPEAKER_04]: This is brand new to me. [SPEAKER_04]: I'm also feeling a little bit like I got ripped off because I didn't get anything akin to this in any romance as pro-ship. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, no, er, er, is a romantic and he is like, he's a sweep you off your feet romance option.

[SPEAKER_05]: And in most cases, literally because Pepper does like the princess foot thing where it lifts up in the air because she is feeling so elated in this moment and it's, it's perfect. [SPEAKER_05]: It is so perfect. [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, so I definitely wanted your reaction to this scene. [SPEAKER_04]: The writing in that scene was actually perfect, so I'd love to know who wrote that dialogue.

[SPEAKER_04]: Because it flowed very well. [SPEAKER_04]: And yeah, if I was like super into this romance that would have felt like a big payoff. [SPEAKER_05]: uh, the only part that I, I don't like about this and it, it, it also fits. [SPEAKER_05]: This is the fact that he shepherd clearly says, I love you, Gary's for carrying.

[SPEAKER_05]: Uh, Gary doesn't say it back. [SPEAKER_05]: Gary doesn't say it back at all in the base game. [SPEAKER_05]: He says it back in those text messages that you used to get in the companion app. [SPEAKER_05]: He signs all of his email messages to Shepherd as Love You G. And he doesn't say, I love you until the extended cut version of the final run to the beam.

[SPEAKER_04]: I was going to say the fact that he does not say I love you, it felt not like an oversight. [SPEAKER_04]: That felt like it was intentional. [SPEAKER_04]: You know, because that's like the natural thing to say, I love you too, right? [SPEAKER_04]: So whoever wrote that dialogue, I can imagine deliberately left that out.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I'm thinking, why, why would they do that? [SPEAKER_04]: And maybe it's because, in touring culture, there is no such thing as I love you. [SPEAKER_04]: So maybe his translator was confused. [SPEAKER_04]: And he's like, huh, you, you do what to me now? [SPEAKER_05]: I'm going to have to look back at that because I thought he said do I thought he said love you to Salana in those text messages I think you're right yeah I think you're right and I mean I think that Gary's understands the concept of human love he's watched enough videos on it well he knows the actions anyway [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, but this, this to me is why it's such a perfect relationship, especially for me as a person, because it is that fine line of, you know, the, yes, the hyper-sexualized comedy and things like that of it, but then the emotional depth that goes along with that, they, they toy through the lines

[SPEAKER_04]: it's all real and down to earth and not not like melodramatic you know what I mean [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: And it makes it feel like these two left together in scenes that we don't get to see. [SPEAKER_05]: It makes it feel like they are very active together in scenes that we don't get to see.

[SPEAKER_05]: They have no fear around intimacy around each other, whether it be emotional or emotional intimacy as well as their physical side. [SPEAKER_04]: I was just going to say that that conversation shows me that neither one of them is afraid of being vulnerable with the other at all. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: So that's probably the choice of why we feel like the chemistry between them was so good. [SPEAKER_05]: Because I mean even as a brochure and I've played brochure through four times now, I'm pretty sure that I'm equal with my bros and fem runs. [SPEAKER_05]: And so I still feel that connection to Gary's that I can be open and vulnerable with him as a male counterpart because he's also willing to break down that barrier.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: All right, well, that kind of takes us to the end of the episode for today, but we've still got more garris to talk about for the rest of Mass Effect 3. [SPEAKER_04]: So where are we going to pick up next time, do you think? [SPEAKER_05]: I'm thinking that we really need to talk about his conversation about the cold calculus of war.

[SPEAKER_05]: It's not a cut scene, it's very much a dialogue scene between him and Shepard, but it plays into so much of the storyline, and it happens regardless of romance status. [SPEAKER_05]: And then I would like to talk about how the missions on Tuchanka specifically. [SPEAKER_05]: with Gary's and the Primark Sun going through all of that, but I haven't fully decided on the order that I'm going to run things yet.

[SPEAKER_04]: Cool. [SPEAKER_05]: Eventually, I'll get to the end of the gears. [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I can't wait to see where we go with this, and maybe we'll split it up within another, like, lore topical episode, you know, like, we'll choose some topic, I don't know, some technological or or sociological or historical topic in the lore to talk about, [SPEAKER_04]: Break up the character analysis episodes.

[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_04]: We'll see. [SPEAKER_04]: But until next week, what are you got going on and how can people get a hold of you? [SPEAKER_05]: Next week pretty much people nobody can get a hold of me unless you got my personal cell phone number I am kind of gonna stay off of discord and social medias for quite a while as I will be fully checked out and on vacation with my daughter [SPEAKER_04]: that's right and so if well I guess then we have two options right well we'll either skip next week or I'm going to do a solo episode talking about a lord topic so I guess that's what people can expect for next week um all right well that's that's fun I honestly and I will be praying for it that the trip goes well but as I told you before the show started I have a lot of

[SPEAKER_04]: You're gonna have a great time. [SPEAKER_04]: The whole family's gonna have a great time and everything's gonna go well even if not everything goes according to plan I think that You're gonna come back from a very happy that that trip took place I have a lot of flexibility so I can work with whatever happens.

[SPEAKER_04]: There you go. [SPEAKER_04]: Does your husband have reach? [SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to text him. [SPEAKER_04]: I'll ask. [SPEAKER_04]: No context. [SPEAKER_04]: Alright, well, I don't really have much going on until next week. [SPEAKER_04]: I am as busy as all get out. [SPEAKER_04]: You know, like I said, I think in the pre-show chat, my bedtime is technically before my sons, which means I have zero free time.

[SPEAKER_04]: So that's fun. [SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, if people want to get a hold of me, you can add me on discord. [SPEAKER_04]: I'm part of the robots radio discord. [SPEAKER_04]: If you haven't added me on discord yet, and chat with me there. [SPEAKER_04]: If I have a social media account, it's at in seven the legend.

[SPEAKER_04]: And if you can't find it, then I don't have it. [SPEAKER_04]: That's all we got for this week'spectors. [SPEAKER_04]: To in the next week, we'll be covering a lower topic, do sure I'll be picking it, so I guess it's gonna be a surprise. [SPEAKER_04]: All right, thanks guys, and we will see you next week.

[SPEAKER_04]: Take care everybody. [SPEAKER_04]: Thanks for listening to the Mass Effect War Test. [SPEAKER_04]: Reach out to us on Blue Sky, Twitter, Discord, Patreon, or email us at Mass EffectLoreCast at gmail.com. [SPEAKER_05]: Join us next week for more lore, same space, same time. [SPEAKER_05]: We'll check out our live streams at twitch.tv slash Mass Effect WarCast.

255: Garrus, Part 6

Kapitelklicken springt direkt hin

Shownotes

Transkriptvom Podcast bereitgestellt · Zeitmarken springen hin