Mass Effect: How will you remember Saren Arterius? *Mass Effect 1, spoilers*

[Good morning blues]

I like to think he's like Vader, and if you are strong enough, you can redeem him in the end.

I think this is a really apt description; he's a tragic character who falls due to his own flaws and it is possible for someone good enough to redeem him. Except it kind of wasn't ? you still had to kill him for the big final boss fight. Why couldn't it have split off to some sort of ground assault on the Sovereign instead?

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Wasn't a very strong villain, you only saw him a few times. He was sort of a dissapointing element.

 

[Vuljatar]

A racist douche, so weak-minded that not only was Sovereign able to control him, but I was able to talk him into killing himself.

He was a disgrace to the Spectre title.

 

[Reverend Del]

An unlikeable ass of a bad guy. Didn't even bother trying to convince him to shoot himself, just wasted him myself. Because he wasn't worth wasting words on. Weak minded fool.

 

[MakeLoveNotWar]

the perfect villain.

*coughs coughs coughs coughs*
No. That's Bowser.

 

[TylerC]

He was a tool in more ways than one.

Haha exactly.

On an off note I enjoyed it when I got him to kill himself.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

Wow. There sure is a lot of dissonance here.
Myself, I thought he was a damn good villain - or at least better than 90% of the villains out there today. More of a personality than ganondorf, wily, ridley, the mother brain, generic terrorist "leaders"/pmcs, Bowser or Sephiroth, that's sure.

 

[Nimbus]

Idea taken off BioWare forum.

Me, I will remember him as an extremely wickedly cool renegade Shepard. Now, he definitely wasn't a saint. Destroying hundreds of innocent lives just for a diversion. I do not, however, think that he was ever truly evil. He merely took the entire "the ends justify the means" thing a little too far. A little like Jack Bauer, but he's willing to go a whole lot further. Bauer wouldn't directly harm an innocent unless he had no better choice, I think.

He was indoctrinated. Okay, he looks like a total ass if you don't charm or intimidate him at the end of the game. But if you do, he thanks you and shoots himself in the head, which is still to me the second best scene in the Mass Effect series. The first being when he attacked you on Virmire.

So, what will you remember him as?

If you read the book, you find out that he is, in fact, a GIANT douche, even before being indoctrinated. And a racist.

 

[Sebenko]

I remember him as that guy that shot himself in the face. I laughed.

"lol, you suck. Shoot yourself" "OK, lol"

 

[MakeLoveNotWar]

I remember him as that guy that shot himself in the face. I laughed.

"lol, you suck. Shoot yourself" "OK, lol"

When you put it that way it's hard not to laugh xD

 

[Eleima]

I think that he really wasn't such a bad guy in the end, as it is pretty clear he was indoctrinated by Sovereign. However, if you read Drew Karpyshyn's "Mass Effect: Revelation", you do get the sense that he truly was a "the end justifies the means" type of Spectre to begin with. Not that he was a truly bad guy, he just wasn't exactly a saint either. Clearly, he liked being a Spectre, as well as the privileges that it brought him. In fact, it's pretty evident that his penchant for power is what took him into Sovereign's clutches.
At least, that's my two cents.

 

[WorldCritic]

I remember him as being a far better villain than most of the antagonists that games today create.

 

[Sebenko]

I remember him as that guy that shot himself in the face. I laughed.

"lol, you suck. Shoot yourself" "OK, lol"

When you put it that way it's hard not to laugh xD

Yeah, and then afterwards Shepard was all like "That was funny, shoot him again, lol". Then he came back to life. So I shot him a bunch more.

Good to see a genre savvy protagonist, though.

 

[Grey_Focks]

None of you guys read the "Mass Effect: Revelation" novel, did you?

He was always a douchebag, plain and simple, and he found out about Sovereign and his immediate thoughts were to use it to control the geth to "restore the turian people to power" and to "show humanity it's place in the galaxy."

 

[Ancientgamer]

He was ruthless, but his logic was fairly sound, given what was known about reapers at the time. Of course I knew, this being a game, that shepherd would HAVE to win at the end, but really coming off the first conversation with sovereign and talking to Saren, the whole "Fight the eternal mechanized demi-gods" seemed like a stupid idea. Saren was just trying to parley the best possible deal he could, given the situation.

And if shepherd didn't have plot power, Saren would've been right.

 

[phenity]

the perfect villain.

*coughs coughs coughs coughs*
No. That's Bowser.

Well I believe there are multiple perfect villains. Bowser is one of the better ones, I admit, if not one of the best.

 

[Spacewolf]

if what ive heard about him hating humans becuase of the death of his brother or something is true then hes quite a aypethetic villian but as ive yet to find dialog talking about this then he just comes off as a overzelous lacky

 

[Shock and Awe]

He was a brutal ruthless asshole who hated humans. Though he also tried to save the galaxy; though he was actually going to destroy it.

 

[Thaius]

I think he went way too far, even before he was indoctrinated. Admittedly, he would not have been as destructive and evil as he was in the game had he not been indoctrinated, but even before that, his willingness (if not eagerness) to sacrifice innocent lives within a mission was just way too far.

He was ruthless, but his logic was fairly sound, given what was known about reapers at the time. Of course I knew, this being a game, that shepherd would HAVE to win at the end, but really coming off the first conversation with sovereign and talking to Saren, the whole "Fight the eternal mechanized demi-gods" seemed like a stupid idea. Saren was just trying to parley the best possible deal he could, given the situation.

And if shepherd didn't have plot power, Saren would've been right.

I'd have to disagree here. His logic was sound, sure, but it was kind of stupid to think the Reapers would allow everyone to exist as Saren expected. This was confirmed when we found out who the Collectors used to be; it's better to fight back than to have that happen to us. Seeing the Collectors, I'm thinking Saren was more than a little off.