How to SAVE EVERYONE and Get the BEST ENDING in Mass Effect Legendary Edition (ALL 3 GAMES) 

You forgot to mention Jack in ME 3. If you don't complete the Grissom Academy mission in time, Jack will become a Phantom and you will be forced to kill her.

if you're going for the trophies/achievements on the Legendary Edition. You'll pretty much automatically get the best endings on both ME2 and ME3

"Does this unit have a soul?" - This line always brings tears to my eyes because Legion is my favourite character and i know whats about to happen to him :(

I actually got Wrex's family armor out of pure coincidence: I put Wrex in my squad to visit the fortress where his armor lay, without knowing it was there haha

This is easy. Killing everyone is much more challenging, and requires some planning. Especially if we also want to kill as many side characters as possible.

Interestingly when it comes to Kirrahe, the only check you need to fulfil is destroying the Geth Flyers. If you ignore the rest of the side objectives he’ll still be just fine. That said, it’s worth doing the side objectives anyway because xp/credits.

How could you completely forget about Conrad Verner and his noble sacrifice in ME3!!!

The obscure way to keep Wrex alive requires you to not have Garrus OR Liara. That's because it's a softlock prevention measure: Because Kaidan and Ashley are removed from the party in the next sequence, killing Wrex would leave you with only Tali to back you up, and since late-game combat especially is balanced around a full team of three, being shorthanded can make the game unwinnable.

I didn't know, rewriting the Geth heretics made it harder for achieving peace between the Quarians and the Geth in ME3. I have been choosing the option for years and never had a problem. lol

I intentionally killed Jacob, but other than that I was very careful not to kill anyone, but apparently Wrex dying can save Mordin. Oh, the pain.

Regarding DLC Overlord, I cant imagine anyone actually leaving David with Cerberus. It hurts too much to even think about doing that to him, poor guy.

I realise that my first playthrough of the trilogy was extremely lucky, i managed to save Wrex on Virmire, saved everyone on the suicide mission (apart from half of the normandy crew) and only got Mordin and STEEEVE Cortez killed on earth cause i didn't talk to him enough. Even got perfect destroy too

0:26 that scene with dancing Vorcha in the screen kills me everytime 😂😂😂

RIP to the fish that died a horrific death at the sushi bar attack.

I always see it as that since Shepard survives, so will EDI and the Geth, since the reason given for Shepard’s death is that they’re part synthetic due to project Lazarus so in my head canon EDI and the Geth survives if Shep does

Just want to say thanks "Big Dan"', for all the great Mass Effect DLC videos'! You put in a lot of hard work on these. Thanks brother.

I rationalize the destroy ending by telling myself "they can just fix edi and the geth" because the star child outright told you it was a possible and inevitable outcome. Then i just pretend the citadel DLC is an epilogue where everything is fine. I also suspect the destroy ending will become the canon ending in Mass Effect 4, as it's the only ending possible where shep survives.

I'd also recommend bringing EDI to the DLC mission in ME3 where you're fighting Shepherd's evil clone, there will be unique dialog between them where the clone will say EDI is just artificial software pretending to be alive and EDI will respond to the clone by calling it a cheap imitation

Oh and for anyone wondering about how high assets should be to keep Shepard alive in the destroy ending I was able to get it with 7850 points but please save before you start the last mission so you can backtrack if needed to

There is (kind of) one part at the end of ME3 you missed. During the final confrontation between Shepard, Anderson and the Illusive Man, it is possible to for Illusive Man to kill Anderson if you don't talk him out of it. To do this, you have to make sure that you fully explore all the left-side conversation options in all of your previous interactions with the Illusive Man in ME3, and make sure to trigger all the Paragon/Renegade speech option with him. This tripped me up a few times in my repeat playthroughs of ME3. The first time through, of course you're going to select everything, but the next time through it's like "blah, blah, blah, heard all this already," and you then get to the end, and the final Paragon/Renegade speech option to convince the Illusive man is locked off no matter how much Reputation you have. I had to look this one up to figure it out. (You can still stop the Illusive Man from killing Anderson with a Renegade interrupt, but as a only-ever-done-one-Renegade-play-through-and-it-left-me-so-traumatised-I-swore-to-never-do-one-again player, this is more satisfying.) (Technically, this doesn't count, as Anderson dies shortly afterwards anyway, but at least this way you don't miss out on his final "I'm proud of you Shepard" speech.)

Big Dan, thank you so much. Recently I completed my first play through and only James, Liara and EDE were alive by the end of the trilogy.

You've just reminded me of all the things I wished I knew before playing the trilogy for the first time!

In Zaeed mission you can talk him down with a renegade speech check as well as paragon. In Samara mission look through the victims room and use the clues you find there in your conversation with Morinth, no need for trial & error. Edit: I managed to get Shepard to live with about 7900 asset points. Even though I was Renegade I saved the Rachni Queen but betrayed her later, I got peace with the Quarians & Geth while destroying the heretics. I sabotaged the genophage to keep Mordin alive and then did all other side missions that rounded up my points. Everyone alive except Wrex and the Virmire victim.

Dan. I just recently played Samara's Loyalty Mission and here is a funny thing. As I was at the travel option, I told Morinth that I like exploring and I received a Paragon Speech Check for it. Same with the Power is Strength dialogue option. I got to pass a Paragon Speech Check and passed it, since at this point, my Shepard's had MAXIMUM bar of Paragon points. 😂

I’m still pissed that Legion dies. And that you don’t get him sooner in ME2. Your vids on the extra dialogue you get with him through “hacking” the game are awesome.

So basically, in a galactic alien nutshell, do the main story missions as slowly and late as possible prioritizing all the side missions and loyalty quests first and for most, got it. I honestly always go out of my way to be nice and a paragon to the crew mates anyways, being a total renegade to mostly everyone else not of the Normandy or at all affiliated with her crew. I’d die before I let anyone on my ship get hurt or killed. 😋

I actually like the control ending. It’s somewhat poetic that you end up going with the Illusive Man’s plan. Especially if you’ve fought him every step of the way.

So many people pointing out what Dan forgot in ME3 there's a lot that is why he has all the videos going into detail this one is just a quick rundown

Awesome! Can you also make a disaster scenario/pink goggles Shep choices for a depressing Citadel party

Roleplayed the trilogy as myself the first time i played, saved everyone like in this guide without knowing some of them could die this easily

I recently had the opportunity to play the trilogy for the first time, and I have a little pride in the fact I was able to keep most folk alive throughout the game. Mordin died cause of that weird numbers rule thing in the games code for ME:2 And if my research is correct and you have to get 7500 war assets to get the ending where Shepard lives I was only like 1000 assets off from saving him. (If I went with the destroy option. Tali’s dialog and ending slides still breaks my heart if you romanced tali in ME:3 and don’t live

TLDR: you cannot.

I usually watch your stuff for "what not to do in (insert game here)" this was refreshing 8)

Steeeeeeevvvvvvveeeee!!!!! We need an hour long loop.

"Do all the side quests, pick common sense characters for suicide mission." I just saved you 18 minutes. You're welcome.

Wow, watching all of this, I am honestly surprised I made all the right calls throughout the series without doing any retries! The only mistakes I made and kept were getting Grunt killed and not going out to dinner with Kelly (because Tali lol). But either way I must say I'm so impressed at how well woven these choices are made into the game, it felt like my choices just led to the standard story, not realizing how many bullets I dodged and how important the small choices were like killing the heretic geth.

3:00 I did all 3 of the lead up ones and sent all the guards to the far side of the base and Kirrahe survived. I didn’t know that was possible and was very surprised to find him on the Normandy after.

I call this the picture perfect playthrough.

I remember the moment my very first playthrough as i talked down both sides of the Geth/Quarian war. I almost cried... Later i learned that Tali can die. That's where I just sad back and thought... "Fork it..." I guess watching Star Trek The Next Generation as a child paid of somehow.😅 But i have to admit... I love scanning as much as i loved the Mako.

✨Paragon for the WIN ✨

In ME5 I want a huge ass statue of Shepard on a green and vibrant Tuchanka with a plaque "Our Saviour, Urdnot Shepard."

Chimba de juego, chimba de trilogía 🔥🔥

Kasumi is NOT guaranteed to survive ME3 even if she is loyal in ME2. You HAVE to complete the Spectre quest where she "tags along" to help and convince her to work on the Crucible. Otherwise, she dies on the Citadel. Her name will appear on the wall in the final scene of the game. That was how I found out. I failed to complete the mission as I got bored with the Citadel missions and left before that one mission was finished to work on other things. When I came back, there was a bug preventing me from completing the mission.

About to attack Cerebus base on ME3, holding it off cuz I don't want it to end. Also I didn't know you could have so many characters in The Citadel DLC, I only had like half of them. Oh well now I just gotta replay the entire trilogy 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣

You forgot to mention that you can lose loyalty of few squad-mates if you fail in speak check after their loyalty missions. I'm talking about Miranda vs Jack and Tali vs Legion in ME2. Until today I remember that I did Miranda and Jack missions to soon and I never in this playtrough regain loyalty of Miranda and she always dies in last mission.

it wasnt until this latest playthrough that i realized you could save cortez

Something I'm interested in after my last playthrough , I kinda wanna know what the absolute max readiness score you can get in the game is (and what that playthrough looks like) Like obviously that means doing all the side content but besides that what choices do you have to make throughout the series to maximize the score in ME3?

They go out of their way yo say Shepard is part synthetic and he/she survives. It'd make sense for the majority of the geth and edi to survive as well as they're mostly data and could easily transfer themselves somewhere safe (the geth to their mega structure or maybe quarian suits would allow them survive, edi to a cerberus data center or something)

If you don't have high enough renegade or paragon, save Jack's loyalty till after Miranda's.

Oh yeaaa scanning planets, that’s what I was forgetting

Mass Effect taught me that Side Quests are as important as Main Quests, the only game where Side Quests can still give you Huge impact in the future.

oddly enough i had 7914 war assets and I still got shepard being alive secret ending

Didn't tell us how to save Jenkins >:(

Bumrushing a reaper with 0 ammo. Shepard really DID get reinstated in the Alliance, didn't he?

Big Dan, i finally did it ! Geth/Quarian peace, everyone lives & is @ Citadel party, synthesis ending & whole trilogy on insanity, all in one play through ! Wooooooooooohoooooooo ! (I Should Go.) 🤓🇺🇦😂

Steve!!!!! Lol will always get me 😹

Make sure you do all the loyalty missions for all companions and nobody will die. Unless of course Shepard does it him/her self. Also i always let the sausage die in ME 1.

I literally. Wrote. An entire essay on this for my friend because he asked. And you just. Make a 17 minute video with 90% less among us jokes and table top game references. How dare. Lmao (Jk, love the videos)

I always felt like there was a missed ending with refusal and war assets. For the first time ever in the cycle organically force the Reapers into a proper pitched space battle, and I feel like all 3 of the ending aren’t the best they all require a bit of mental gymnastics to justify any of the 3 real endings. But what if the refusal ending could have been either the “worst” with liaras tape playing underground. Or the best depending on war assets. Could’ve even gone halo reach style and given us a final mission to fight the reapers and depending on score you could actually just beat them. And that would be the best ending I reckon.

I must be strange because I enjoy the planet scanning minigame. I always scan every planet in the game.

in the futur ei would love an entire remake of this trilogy with a few changes, like having a few of the characters acually join u in the last game and adding some of the powers from thwe villians to squade mated a musch better ending , yes what ever grapics and thigns for the time

ME 2 - Ship crew always have trouble. (Will check this out.) New game plus helps too not everything in one run.

Best Ending is to destroy because catalyst might be harbinger and it’s all illusion to brake Shepard’s will there is lot of reason for that.

"You did good,son. You did good. I'm proud of you."

Why doesnt anyone talk about why the catalyst in ME3 is the child Sheppard watched die on earth

Bout to do a full renegade run and kill everyone except Tali and Garrus. Gonna be depressing.

Knew none of the game 1 stuff yet managed to save everyone. And I did save the Queen and council lol. But wasn’t intentional. Haven’t lost anyone in mass effect 2 yet and haven’t got to 3

my first two times I didn't even know you could talk to steve for some reason. I only found out with legendary.

For captain Kerrame (sorry I misspelled that) you must go and assist his team at the end of vermire for him to survive. So whichever squad mate you want to live send them with his squad

I prefer to save the citadel dlc party for before you go to take on the illusive man as Shepard knows this is a mission he/she isn't coming back.

I am happy that I was able to save the heretics and bring peace to Quarians and Geth without even knowing it was a difficult achievement.

From romancing Liara through all three and keeping everyone alive, all to sacrifice my damn self in the end, get the girl, save your bros, all to die x.x

Suppose I should have looked this up before i put 100 hours into replaying the trilogy.

The Audemus Happy Ending Mod is now canon in my mind. Best possible ending available. The previously cut dialogue with Shepard and Anderson is honestly perfect and it's sinful that it was cut.

6:58 actually I managed to keep all alive despite not all being loyal, Jack still was a little irritated that I chose Miranda over her. but she still survived the final mission and was in ME3 up to the end

Basically balance Paragon and Renegade usage and listen to the obvious best parts for clues.

I'm approaching the end of my first playthrough on all three games and I don't know if my choices we're always the right call but I do know that I'm going to hit the reapers with everything I've got I lost 4 characters in the suicide mission jack, kasumi, Jacob, and grunt I also lost the council in the citadel attack but for the most part I have saved lot's of assets so I like my odds

Jacob for Vent specialist

I think Jack as biotic specialist during suicide mission should have her biotic upgrade.

It looks like I managed to only miss Miranda somehow with the couch photo at the ‘end’

something of importance in ME2 is that after you complete the loyalty missions for both jack + miranda and Tali + Legion, you have a dialogue sequence afterwards where you need a certain renegade / paragon level, otherwise you have to side with one of each, losing the loyalty status of the other. I know this because i stuffed this up in my 1st ME2 playthrough and lost Miranda's loyalty

1.) Sad thing is in mass effect 1 their was cut content where you could save both Ashley and kaiden on virmire their was even dialog if you managed to save them both. 2.) In mass effect 3 on the rannok mission legions death was pointless since legion himself said that geth are software not hardware which means he could have easily made a copy of himself before the mission even started.

Could you please do a guide on how to save Jenkins? Thank you.

A few days ago I sent the recommended people for the tasks in the Collector base mission, and Mordin got killed so unceremoniously that I didn't even realise he was dead until I saw his name on the ME3 memorial. I don't understand it. I've done that mission a million times with no deaths and I know who to send. I didnt choose him for anything and the whole team, including him, were loyal. The only thing I did differently was consistently disagree with him about the genophage.

I didn't even know Miranda could die in ME3! She always survived in my play throughs, even in my first...

been playing this game since it came out and just today found Wrexs family armor for the first time 😅

KAIDAN!

Correction. You only need 7,500 military strength for Shepard to survive. Total assets acquired by scanning is 1,500

I didn't know it was possible for both Kayden and Ashley to survive

I need help!! I already imported my ME1 profile to ME2 however I accidentally deleted the ME1 save from the ME1 loading screen . Will the imported file that i already imported still keep track of my previous game and the story or did i mess everything up?

Got the best ending on my first playthrough

STEVE!!!! 😂😂😂

can you do an guide how to get as much if not all possible uest for the dlc party? I want only the virmire death to be missed but i just cannot get it ... somehow i need to do it befor mordin dies i guess... but than tali wuld be missing rhight? pls help me :D i wan the ultimate nostalgia partyy!

Dude, I saved maelon's data and imported this save to mass Effect 3 but still eve died. When I checked on the internet about this I figured out that this is a glitch which has happened to many players. It is mentioned that a save editor can fix this, but name of the save editor isn't mentioned. Can you please tell me the name of the save editor?

I need a warning before you start playing "I'm Proud of You". That track always gets me in the feels.

With "Virmire Savior Mod" you can save both Kaiden and Ashley, complete with new cutscenes and banter in later Games. With "Thane can live Mod" Thane will undergo an experimental cure for his disease and will fully recover. It will only be revealed via Mail. The only ones you can't save (not even with mods), are Mordin (Paragon), Legion (Paragon / peace between Geth and Quarians) and Anderson.

When you're getting Shepard Survives Ending for either gender you need a total exact amount of Effective Military Strength E.M.S. for short as they like to call it, along with need total exact amount Tactive Military Strength T.M.S to aquire it, but in the Remastered Legendary Edition they lower the amount. So far I don't want to play the Remastered version Mass Effect Legendary Edition, just want to play the Original Trilogy, first time I ever played Mass Effect 2006 PS3 was September 17 2021, finished it on October 6 2021. Even before I ever seen this video I know I definitely wanted the Original Trilogy since they're much better software with their own D.L.C.s, also M.E.2 also M.E.3 Legendary Edition graphics do not look much from the Original, they look mostly the same, but then I first saw this Video I'm like In order to get Shepard Survives Ending, need to make sure to spare the Rachni Queen, save the Council make sure everyone on the Suicide Mission Survives, but when I heard that each squadmates in M.E.2 must Survive, I'm like Heck No. There's Three Companions in M.E.2 I do not like they've done Many Dishonorable Things during their lifelong journey in this War, they're annoying, especially become liabilities in M.E.3 they're not much if any Help in M.E.3, the three Companions are Jack, Jacob, Miranda. In M.E.2 I want them dead💀. I'm never getting the Legendary Edition Remastered version. So for I Sir Gabriel New big Admirer, Speech Person, New Gamer of Mass Effect, Admirer of E.A. Games, Admirer of Shepard for years, lawyer, + Agent of John Commander Shepard, along with any other Gamers that wants to play the Original Trilogy on the Original Consoles Xbox 360, PC, PS3, we ask RU-vidr MotherMantiss how to get Shepard Survives Ending on the Original Trilogy, because since the E.M.S plus T.M.S score numbers are different on both versions, then what about the choices in each of the three Original games? What do we need to do exactly in order to get Shepard Survives Ending on Original M.E.3? Also for each of you Wondering why Jack, Jacob, Miranda are hated look at this other comment

My headcannon is I pick controll and then self-destruct the reapers.

First time I saw Kai Lang I thought that Kaiden had survived and was turned into a Cerberus drone

I’m proud to say that I got the best ending of all games in my first try. I played Paragon all the way