Was looking for this. Very powerful to me. Shepard doesn't reveal the sabotage to anyone, but Mordin figures it out at the last second. The only way to stop the genophage now is to kill Mordin- But Shepard can't do that. As the elevator goes up Shepard bows his head- wondering if he made the right choice not shooting Mordin because he might have needed the Salarian support. And the nod from Mordin to Shepard before the elevator goes up- Shepard threatened to kill Mordin but he couldn't do it, and Mordin thanks Shepard with that nod for not denying his chance to right his wrongs.
I don't know why, but something about the way Shepard walks away before the lift is halfway up, throwing the gun, makes it different from the Paragon playout.
@@SkyeFyre2131 I see what you mean. That Gun was a gift from Mordin. I interpret it as he felt disgusted by what he almost did, and believed he no longer deserved it for lying to and very nearly killing his friend and of coarse attempted to doom an entire race to extinction.
I think Shepard is throwing his gun away as if to say "I betrayed a friend." Because you have to make a lot of paragon choices to get to this point, almost an entire paragon playthrough up to the point it comes time to reveal the sabotage. Saving Wrex in the first game and saving the data thus saving Eve, only to have an attempt at deception to get Salarian support discovered by the one person he knew could figure it out, then being tempted to shoot him in the back. It's probably the kind of reaction I would have if I realized years of bloodshed working towards a goal was about to undone by my own hands.
There’s a great scene after this on the ship where Shepard is lamenting the pressure the reapers are putting on him to succeed somehow, and how he can’t believe he pulled a gun on a friend, and how close he came and generally how mixed up he is about what the right thing to do is. It’s such a nice touch because you only see it if you came this close but backed down at the last moment.
I actually agree see I normally did Paragon whole way through but this was a good way to show even the perfect Shepard is starting to crack he doesn't know right from wrong anymore and is growing more desperate but he won't shoot a friend no matter what.
@@Oradone I know right? I didn’t care for the full paragon version where it’s all happy-go-lucky. But in this, it feels Shepard puts some serious thoughts in both the possibility of a future Krogan uprising and also the desperate desire for aid that the Salarians could provide. But ultimately deciding to let that glimmer of hope for a better future prevail.
I think it's best when you don't pull the gun on him You get all three of Mordin's best lines "I made a mistake!" "Had to be me" with that slight smile in his voice, and the humming to himself as he's holding back tears.
Man, imagine all that and then having Wrex be buddy-buddy afterward. Shepard must feel like the worst bastard alive, about to betray two friends, about to MURDER one....and they both sing your praises, not knowing you had a backroom dealing with the Dalatrass. I'm surprised he didn't confess afterward, would've been a nice touch if you failed to answer them twice before to have the option.
The slight nod by mordin was all he needed to say and despite how mordin might seem he's grateful, and shepherd throwing the gun away showing his own disgust that he would even think about pointing it at his friend makes me think this is the best scene with mordin ending
I think him throwing the gun away means something different in this context. After all, it was the gun Mordin gave him. To me it seemed more like he was frustrated with Mordin.
2:33 I think at this moment, Shepard was extremely disgusted and horrified with himself for even considering gunning down a great friend with the very firearm that that same friend gave to him, and for that very reason, felt as if he no longer deserved it
This is exactly how my Shepherd plays go. They're feeling the pressure. They know they should stop Mordin no matter what. But it'd mean killing a friend and betraying another and that's something they can't do despite themselves.
Killing Mordin I'm perfectly fine with mainly because he invented the genophage and for me THAT should be his legacy. Only 2 reasons I spared him is because he cures the genophage and the 2nd, you stated it, I can't betray Wrex. Why do I favor Wrex over Mordin? Mordin absolutely fucked the entire Krogan race, even those who didn't deserve it, and constantly said it was justified. Wrex wants to rebuild the Krogan but keep hostilities out.
@@trujilojilo4887 it was a pretty obvious mistake, even if it happened literally a million years ago yet Mordin is pretty damn smart, probably the smartest in the party and at the time thought it was right? C'mon man.
@@tyler-hp7oq better him than Padok Wiks so I won't let him die in the Suicide Mission. Most Salarians thought it was good for Krogan, if the Genophage was dropped on them specifically for Salarians guaranteed they'd change their mind.
The most perfect version of this scene. Hit all the most powerful versions of every shot. -"I made a mistake! " -shepard chucking the gun -Mordin's swan song It's all here!
Not the only gun related callback. In the confrontation with The Illusive Man, TIM holds the same model Saren did on the Citadel, with Shepard holding the same model from that scene as well (the gun actually changes early in the ME1 scene, so it's easy to miss).
I love Mordin. Such a well fleshed out character. ME2 he near flawlessly defends his logic behind the genophage. Yet the events of ME3 and this scene show how clearly it has always haunted him
Nice to find this scenario. This is very close to how my original 'Paragon, But Basically Just Playing Myself' version went. One of the most genuine, real-feeling moments in the whole trilogy for me. I couldn't come to terms with curing the geophage with no real solutions on how to avoid repeating history, but there was just no way I could bring myself to shoot Mordin in the back.
I love Mordin and Wrex but when you think about all the lore the writers made for this game an eventual Krogan war seems unavoidable. You got an entire race of fast-breeding warlike violent psychos, and only one pragmatic warlord who knows eternal war doesn't work for anyone and a peace-minded female clan leader to hold the entire species back. A character like Shep probably can work this out as well. So the most "realistically" paragon storyline for this scene would be "shep decides to betray the krogan to prevent a future war with Krogan and secure Salarian aid, but can't bring himself to be so treacherous". Shep being totally on board with all this just seems too idealistic.
If anyone in the future creates a mass effect movie: Please let this be the canon ending. Shepard hunted by his nightmare desperate to save Earth at all cost. But in the last moment he reawakens his paragorn side again. He realised that a universe build on betraying friends and comrades isn't worth saving and underminieng his ideals. Mordin's Story doesn't feel complete until he admits that he made a mistake....
I think a renegade Shepard would WANT to do it but finds that he physically does not have it in him to pull the trigger. He finds that his position of "sacrifice anything for our survival" is untenable, that he would rather they all die than betray Mordin.
I think that if they decided to do ME adaption they will most likely do paragon but when they get to me3 Shepard would/should start becoming more renegade thinking he has no other option then to throw his morales out the window to save the galaxy but then he gets to this moment where in the end he can’t bring himself to be the renegade and shoot mordin which will also help influence him in the quarian and geth conflict where thinking of mordin and wants to give the geth there future and save the quarians
This is almost the best version of the scene. Slightly better if you explain sabatoge to mordin then still try and stop him then threaten to shoot then decide not to.
This scene is honestly even better if you destroy Maelon's data and eve dies, since the funeral scene with her is beautiful and Shepard and Wrex bury the hatchet.
This is the best version of the scene. Mordin finally admits to both himself and Shepard that what he did was wrong. It's a shame most players will never see it.
What always breaks me is the nod. Mordin gets it. He created the genophage, he understands the weight of cruel decisions. He isn't even mad at Shep, he respects his decision and understands his situation.
This is as far as I can go in regards to sabotaging the cure. I love Mordin and Wrex too much to kill them, even if it's just a video game lol. Guess I'm a big softie. What made this even better was that Mordin was one of the three people my Shepard saw as she activated the Crucible (Anderson and Thane were the others.) I love how Mordin nods at Shepard both in this scene and during the Crucible vision.
It's possible to, technically, avoid killing them both and still sabotage the Genophage. If you just let Ashley kill Wrex on Noveria you don't have to deal with the guilt there and as long as you destroy Maelon's data in ME2 you can convince Mordin that with an unchecked Wreav as their leader the Genophage is still the best option for dealing with the Krogan. He relents and even becomes a war asset and since Wreav is too dumb to notice you still get the Krogan aid. It's deplorable but it can be done. That's how I finished my one, and only, renegade Shepard run.
If I commit to not curing the genophage all the way up to deciding to not shoot mordin (so exactly like this video plays out), will wrex confront me on the citadel with his recording of shep or will everything pan out alright with wrex?
This whole scene really is a testament of good storytelling and choice decisions. Not telling or warning Mordin of sabotage only for him to figure it out himself and putting you in the decision to either kill him or let him cure the Genophage. And him finally admitting he yearned for curing the Krogan
I love this version when you balance paragon renegade.....just the start of Mordin....'you're not going up' is very cold and intimidating and then trying to talk Mordin out of it and it escalates and yet at the end Shep just can't do it.
It's almost 12 years since ME3 came out and that "I MADE A MISTAKE" hits just as hard. Not to mention, I've still only had the heart to experience this moment via RU-vid clips (i.e. the shooting that happens after). Never could play the renegade route (perhaps if Wrex wasn't in the picture, this wouldn't be required then)
I would love if there was a mod that would give you this outcome and the additional possibility - if Shepard lowers their gun - to get the sea shell dialogue and the "I'm sorry" from Shepard.
I'm one those naturally friendly people who pick of the positive moral choices because I really don't like being cruel or deceitful, my power fantasy is about having the power to help people, though it doesn't keep from occasionally making a fitting Renegade option, sometimes you have to take out the trash. Thank you for posting this because I was never going to see this in game, playing an absolute bag of dicks Shepherd ruins the entire game for me
Ive heard that if you chose the paragon option in the first scene here, Shepard can tell Mordin that he isnt sure he/she trust the Krogan but DO trust Mordin. Might try this on my next playthrough, i wanna see that scene, and it doesnt prevent the Good ending either (like this one dont)
I love the fact, that the cutscene after Mordin's death is different too in this scenario. Wrex seems to be way more appreciative of Mordin than in the paragon scenario, which he should! After all, it was Mordin who sacrificed his life for the cure, not Shepard.
@@Oradone This always seemed like a plot hole to me. If you don't tell Wrex that the dalatrass offered salarian support to Shepard in exchange for him saboting the cure, and then proceed to kill Mordin, Wrex finds out that you sabotaged the cure by intercepting the message. But if you do what you did here, where you don't tell Wrex about the sabotage, but don't kill Mordin, the circumstances are no different. Wrex could still intercept the message and think Shepard sabotaged the cure. Or am I missing something?
@@idonthavh1n166 wrex probably intercepts the message anyway, but the genophage was indeed cured, so there may already be an increase of births or any other evidence that makes wrex conclude shepard didn't mention it (probably to not make things more tense between the krogan and salarians) but simply didn't go along with the salarian plan.
@@ignacio4159 Wrex mentions an "unborn son" if he finds out about the sabotage so I would assume his unborn child miscarried if the genophage was not cured, but since Eve is successfully carrying the pregnancy he knows it was cured.
@@idonthavh1n166Wreav mentions that the females are having trouble giving birth if you trick him into thinking the genophage is cured. Wrex unlike Wreav is smart enough to come to the conclusion that Shepard lied to him after seeing the first still born Krogan post "cure"
The level of dificulty in this game isn't tied to the enemies or gameplay, is tied to the story, play as Paragon is pretty easy, but play as Renegade is incredibly hard man...
I remember reading that Mordin was intended to be somewhat looked at as a genuinely evil character, they wanted him to be the guy who made the genophage but obviously can’t work within lore, so they made him the guy who made essentially the second genophage and felt he was completely justified and reasonable. And you can as Shepard throughout ME2 sway him to consider, maybe it wasn’t right for him to decide the fate of an entire sentient race. And by 3, you can see how it fucked him up, and that “I made a mistake” was 2 games worth of build up. He wants to repent essentially, he even says in 2 he doesn’t have much time left, he wants to spend it giving his all to the galaxy. And if he you let him, he does. 🥹 truly a touching turnaround