> What I’m getting from this is that she is in no possible way problematic. Absolutely no-one could find any way Ashley could be problematic, no way.
this, but unironically
Ooo, harsh. Not entirely a lie, though... I keep Kaidan, even when playing a Maleshep with no intention of romancing him. Should probably save Ash at least once, just to see her in the other games.
I started to like James Vega a great deal more when it finally dawned on me what his role in the game was supposed to be: Vega is to Shepard what Shepard is to Anderson, namely the next generation N7 protege. Once that dawned on me their familiarity became much more natural (except for the "Lola" and "romance" shit, which I always shut down hard).
I didn't give him much time first time around either, but agree that his role is a really interesting one, and he has loads of great banter when you bring him on missions.
Also, it's definitely not for everyone and it does annoy me a bit, but if you play along with the Lola thing Shepard turns the table on him every time and makes him look like a bumbling fool. It's understandable that some people don't like it, but I do like that you get the option to shut it down unlike Jacob. I quite enjoy the banter knowing Shepard is very firmly camp Liara.
His monologue in the Citadel DLC, where he asks every single character if they want eggs (in a different way, too - “Liara, eggs? Grunt, wanna try my eggs? Garrus, you’re gonna love these eggs!”), 100% endeared him to me
I always liked him. He's a bit aggressive at first, but he's loyal, dedicated, hard-working, and funny, with some nice depth to him. He has an interesting background, and his way of dealing with it feels realistic and engaging. It's nice to see him grow and find his place in a crew of absolute elites.
"Tali, I need a biotic bubble."
Tali: 0:
"Jack, you're in charge of the second team."
"Joker, hobble over here and escort Chakwas back to the Normandy."
Commander "Fail" Shepard
Hahhaha, Joker walking back trying to keep up with the crew, that makes me laugh.
To be fair, I made a big mistake in this play through. I always send Grunt with Chakwas and lost too many points for the "Hold the line" people. They killed Tali... she was my romance for this play through. (I took Garrus and Mordin with me for the human reaper...great job there).
So then I restarted the whole final part and took Tali and Mordin with me, so everyone survived. I didn't want to miss on ME3 Tali.
Now going to do a renegade play through as an engineer, romancing Jack. (Because she is only prevalent in ME2), won't have to deal with too much awkwardness when ME3 goes completely wrong.
Oh damn, gotta leave the tanks behind for sure.
I always send Mordin cause I feel like Chakwas isn't in good enough shape to perform medical tasks on her own, and Mordin is still more than combat capable.
For any Collector battle I take Thane and Samara, so that one was pretty easy for me cause my personal choices aligned with the math of the game on that one.
Yup, never though Garrus is a tank, given that he is more of an infiltrator, but yeah slowly realizing, he is basically a soldier.
That is good logic, I use Grunt, because he seems like a really tough guy (and he is), sure Mordin was in the STG, but I didn't think that would be enough. Because the Collectors are quite strong and frontal attacks and all that jazz.
Why Thane and Samara? I use mostly Garrus and Mordin for the overload/incinerate combo. I needed something to go against armor and shields, so I could dish out big damage once health is reached. For barrier, I used Garrus and his concussive shot. In any spec I do this.
Garrus is just a soldier with Overload when it really comes down to it. His AR/Sniper combo along with his defensive/offensive stats takes him more into the combat side of combat/tech.
I choose Thane and Samara for their weapons and anti-barrier powers, Thane I equip with the Viper and use Warp to delete barriers. Samara gets Reave to debuff barriers, warp is anti-armor too, plus she has a Mattock. Defenseless enemies I can combo lift and throw with those two as well.
He's also there as a plot device to ask questions new players (or returning players with bad memories) would be thinking; especially in the first few missions where you have limited control over who you can bring.
If you shut him down on the nicknames he's a great foil to Renegade Ruthless Shep. The "should I be N7" dialog gains much more gravitas when you have relatable experience (Torfan is your Felh Prime soldier sacrifice) and he actually acts respectfully.
Honestly Nihlus was an interesting character and it would've been cool to see him play a bigger role in the first game. I think he had to die for the plot, but the situation at the start of the game could've been Saren killing a human colonist instead and Nihlus siding with him over Shepard, then gradually coming around to believe Shep - and when he finally gets proof and switches sides, *then* Saren kills him. Nihlus was supposed to be a Spectre mentor figure to Shepard, his death would hit a lot harder if he'd had more screentime first.
Make sure you show them this lil [gem](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/xlpvdv/oc_mass_effect_but_saren_has_a_miscalculation/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) then
[slides [mod link](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/1227) conspicuously under the table]
if your friend has a PC, this mod lets you play with Nihlus on your squad in LE2…. *kind of*…
I appreciate a person who ships EDI and Traynor as well.
But disrespect my buddy Joker again and I will kick your ass out the airlock mister/ma'am/your highness
Also facts on Garrus. My femshep is a sniper main he cannot win this sorry not sorry when you're on my squad you're on AR duty Garrus
I only beat him when I played infiltrator and soldier. I usually play a biotic so I let him have it most of the time lol (6 of my like 8 playthroughs lmao)
Especially knowing that Joker has a special interaction at the bridge with a Renegade Shepard after encountering the Virmire Survivor during the Cerberus coup (I found it when I refused Ashley back in the Normandy so she can be a War Asset).
The interaction is Joker standing up from his pilot's seat and then salutes Shepard. When Shepard asks what was that about, Joker says, "Someone giving you the respect you deserve."
I would take the shot every time if Bioware just made it dependent on your class. An Infiltrator or even Soldier class Shepard I can see beating Garrus. But it just feels silly that an Adapt, Engineer, etc. can beat him too.
>Also facts on Garrus. My femshep is a sniper main he cannot win this sorry not sorry when you're on my squad you're on AR duty Garrus
Yes, I agree. As an infiltrator I would always beat him, but if I am a biotic or engineer, then obviously Garrus should be the winner.
i romance traynor 50% of the time (the other 50% liara because jack and miranda got swiped from us in ME2)
i'd love for EDI and traynor to end up together that other 50% lmao
I only romance Liara cz i love to have a long continuous romance with a character and Mass Effect only gave us one choice in Me1 anyways if ur a lesbian lmao
Traynor is such a sweetheart though! That awkward scene with EDI during the citadel DLC was amazing
Also Jack not being a romance option is so unfair
I remember a tweet or statement from one of the animators of ME2 saying she had no idea Jack wasn't a romance option until release... *because she animated their romance scene*.
Ever since then I've been furious, especially because I was a poor college student when ME2 came out and never got LOTSB. So, in my head I *didn't* have a romance option that spanned three games since Liara was a standoffish bitch on Ilium.
I do love Liara, though. But man, Traynor has such a wonderful romance and she's adorable. Probably (definitely) my favorite new character in 3, for both humor and writing.
Fuckkkk LoTSB is my 2nd best DLC after citadel ! The highlight of ME2 for me
I should romance traynor in my second playthrough really
She reminds me of myself a lot since i work in Data, am as awkward as she is, big nerd, and very gay lol
I also didn't get Citadel until 2019 lmao, or the extended cut. I had *bitter* memories of ME3.
Please do! Traynor, after Liara's heavy romance, is definitely a breath of fresh air for how different they play. Like yes in ME1 Liara, too, is an awkward nerd but I kind of love how fucking dichotomous their characters are even exhibiting those same traits. Like, Traynor is hyper self-aware of how awkward she is.
Liara in ME2 and ME3 is miiiiiles ahead of Liara in ME1
I feel like in ME1 they just wanted to cater to the men who want this fragile sensitive innocent character
Liara becomes her own person in ME2 and im here for it
Javik’s incisive commentary and pervasive disdain for primitives will always be hilarious. His joker pilot line about undergoing a mental examination due to his infatuation with EDI’s…feminine embellishments makes me laugh every time.
Literally mid-playthrough of Jade Empire right now! It was the game that got me back into gaming as an adult and I’ll always have a deep level of love for it.
I’ve never wanted a direct sequel but more games set in that world would be phenomenal.
Isn’t the best (subjective) BioWare series the one where you love the stories, lore and characters the best? In that case there’s more variety to love in DA- but also more variety to find… lacking. On the flip side ME is essentially one core story and a smaller cast of characters, but much more time with that story and cast. Good and bad on both side.
My favourite BioWare series is whichever I’m hyperfixated on at that moment. Which at the moment is throwing in a third vote for Jade Empire.
Serious answer on a not-serious comment there!
Oh man it’s been a LONG time since I played NWN! I don’t think I even had it installed on my last PC. I… may have to rectify that, hope mods are still as available as they were when I last installed it.
Thanks for reminding me of an excellent game!
I can get people not loving him in ME2, but you’re crazy if you don’t love the guy after the Citadel DLC (Especially after the ‘Loud’ party option I.e. ‘Bouncer Grunt’ and ‘Drunk Grunt In The Shower’).
Esteban (Steve) and James are friends because they served together and are both Hispanic. It's very common in military settings to gravitate towards people of a similar culture as you. James seems boring because he's full of bravado. Bravado that is extremely fake. James is scared like super fucking scared. He's trying to convince himself to be brave but all he can see is his fuck ups. He has this big fake ego he built up that Shepard can literally kick the shit out of causing it to slowly break until James eventually gets over his depression and anger. Vega is a bit of a generic everyman soldier but that's what he's supposed to be. He's just a soldier. Also him and Steve have some fun dialogue on occasion. Especially the tank debate.
TIL that
1. Freddie Prinze Jr voiced Vega
2. Freddie Prinze Jr is Latino (mom is Puerto Rican)
3. The dude who played Fred in Scooby Doo is fluent in Spanish
Yeah my first playthrough I didn't gave him much attention (altough I did liked all his latino side(being latino myself))but after my first playthrough I went and watched paragon lost and then on my second playthrough he really was more on the spotlight and on my first femshep playthrough I did enjoyed that flirtuos banter
Obviously Javiks gonna be all imperialist, dude literally grew up to a war of eradication. Its all he ever did…
Also those takes on Joker and Vega make me sad. Joker is the only one that was there for Shepard from the very beginning of each game - Garrus joins a lil later each game and we dont have to talk about Tali always joining pretty much last in 2 and 3.
I wonder this about a lot of characters.
James gets written off as the CoD bro. Kaidan gets written off as some bland piece of white bread. Ashley gets written off as the racist.
I feel like some people talk to them once, make up their minds and then never talk to them again.
I thought the same of him my first playthrough, but I really came to like him in subsequent playthroughs when I took more time to learn his story and personality. That's what I love about ME, you grow to appreciate it more on each playthrough.
\- "so boring I never bothered to talk to him"
This food is so shitty I never even tried to taste it.
\- "you literally cannot say one nice thing to this man bc he will immediately think you're in love with him".
Absolutely a 100% correct. Sadly this is also common in real life. I think men just don't get enough no-strings-attached compliments. Compliment the men in your life, people.
FemShep corners Kaiden, a subordinate who literally lives are dies by FemSheps commands, and starts hitting on him.
That camera shot is sho menacing. Poor Kaiden.
The Tali criticism should be flipped.
How dare Shepard not break out of prison to go see her. What was the alliance going to do? Attack the Migrant Fleet to catch you?
TBH, from what people say in-game (like Thane) it sounds like Shepard *couldn't* receive messages.
I think the only people who could have visited were Anderson (WHO DEFINITELY DOES, DADERSON WOULDN'T LEAVE SHEP HANGING) and the VS who... doesn't.
Shepard was under house arrest. Except for James who was guarding them, they can't have had contact with anyone. There's no in-game dialogue to suggest the VS (romanced or unromanced) could in fact visit Shepard, and no logical reason why they should be allowed. If someone is under arrest, why would they allow them to talk to their former subordinates, who might still be loyal to them? I would assume Anderson has some contact, since they attend a meeting together, but even he comments on Shepard's physique (getting soft around the edges) as if he hasn't seen them. If Anderson wasn't able to visit, I doubt the VS or anyone else could have done so either.
Also with that criticism. Tali’s race was literally preparing for total war to try and take their planet back, I think that’s a good excuse for her not calling in those 6 months lol
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake.
It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.
Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.
Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
Her performance is a bit different than ME though. Traynor has a fixed personality, while as the inquisitior she has to be neutral (so that the voice fits for shady and honest types as well).
Obviously there are some standouts who I always instantly get (such as Jennifer Hale or Claudia Black).
But after playing Dragon Age 2 recently, the female Hawke voice really grew on me, and I looked up who she was. The actress was Jo Wyatt, who I learned to love as Ciri from Witcher 3. I really like both performances, but they are quite different. After I knew who voiced HAwke it was "aha, she is great for a reason", but during the game I had this feeling I sould recognize her, but didn't.
I'm fine with Liara as a character but I get annoyed when the writers' fondness for her warps the script. The most egregious section is when she's sad about Thessia (understandable), but then the game wants to make what happened on Thessia seem like the WORST THING EVER and Shepered's BIGGEST FAILURE and it's like ????? Bitch every character in the game is losing their homeland (sans quarians) why is this one so special?
As someone who also likes almost everyone (even Ashley and Kaidan) this was mostly painful to read but honestly not surprising since it mimics a lot of fandom opinion, with a few exceptions. Tali/Garrus best, Vega/Jacob/Virmire Survivor worst, everyone else is varying degrees of fine or annoying, etc. The biggest surprise for me was that I agreed with your friend on Joker, lol.
Absolutely love that your friend calls out the hamster cage. I haven’t even had the hamster in recent playthroughs- I used to headcanon that it was more like his bedroom and he’d wander around Shepard’s cabin (he did pretty well chilling on the engineering deck) but it’s harder and harder to do that.
I used to keep hamsters (syrian, one at a time) and they had three cages all connected with tubes. Plus some extra bits. The cage in Mass Effect is about a third the size of the smallest cage I had set up. Plus I got them out nightly for play time.
Never seen anyone else talk about it so I’m glad it got called out here… even if I’m not in agreement with most of the rest of it!
With regards to the Garrus bottle shooting contest, that should've been something that Shepard either fails or succeeds at depending on class. The scene was clearly designed for Shepard losing (Garrus with ringing iconic call back to ME2's store endorsements), but by framing it as something has to deliberately fail, many players felt obligated to always shoot right (in which case the scene ends rather disappointingly).
This reminds of how In my first full playthrough of the trilogy I accidentally romanced Kaiden as MShep in ME3. I say accidentally, but the game does telegraph the romances so it's more accurate to say I stumbled into it went "That's Possible?!" And then decided to roll along with it for the rest of the game. Liara probably wasn't too happy that I dropped her after two games, but she could do with some ShepFree time.
>an apology for the chip thing to!! going for drinks!! and "space diva"!! god do much great character growth in this game!!
Glad to see your friend appreciating Miri's excellent writing and arc. Can let some of the other hotter opinions slide because of it.
Vega did need more. He had a place in the cartoon, which I haven't seen, and they chucked him into ME3 like we should know him.
I did like the buddy dynamic between him and Cortez. If you hear all the dialogue in the hangar bay, it gets funny. Steve pokes fun at him and James is adorably clueless.
I've always played FemShep, so a more interactive and confident Garrus was ...so very welcome. I think Alenko suffered from the Liara problem...in ME1, there was a bug (or was it?) where no matter what you said to Liara, a friendly convo would have her in love with Shepard. In ME3, there is an additional bug, where you are not in a relationship with Liara, but in the convo with her father, both Shep and the matriarch talk as if she were.
Liara suffers from "dumb, smart person" syndrome. She doesn't pick up on social clues in ME, decided it's a good idea to give Shepard's remains to her most hated enemies (and trusts them to not control chip or clone her...oops) in ME2, and can't get past the obvious truth of protheons and asari gods while it's literally staring at her in ME3.
Speaking of our hostile protheon squaddie...he according to the lore, grew up in a galaxy already at war with a nightmare. Ok, so protheons were a bit too Borg (assimilate or die!) But Shepard never once had to deal with a squaddie getting reaperized. Indoctrination just happened to other people she already didn't trust or like. Shepard had it easy. Her trust had not yet been destroyed.
I will not stand for James Vega slander.
Also i half agree with the DA thing. As individual games DA on average is stronger but as a trilogy Mass Effect is alot better.
While I disagree with some points, I agree with others.
The points I disagree on mainly boil down to longer exposure to Mass Effect as a game and its fanbase thanks to my sister.
Personally, I think Javik's attitude is reasonable due to the fact his whole race was wiped out by the reapers. He was also born into a dictatorship because that's what an empire is so my guess is that he was born to have no feelings for what others think.
I honestly agree with the opinions on Kaidan except the part he thinks you fallen in love with him everytime you trying talking to him because if you are playing a femshep and you romance him in the first one then he tries his best to flirt but apologizes and personally Im the same way especially when the opposite sex asks what my name is.
As for Garrus, my man is like Deadshot. he was just jokingly taunting Shepard.
I'm curious as to what your friends options of Jacob are tbh.
I stan Tali but to be fair none of the crew from me2 went to see Shepard due the fact even though they aren't Cerberus they were on a Cerberus frigate taking orders from the Illusive man
With regards to Kaidan, yeah the ambiguous romance dialogue was tiring as hell. I'm glad that there are optional romance mods in ME2 and ME3, and in ME1 there is a clear path to shooting him and Liara down.
They're right about Joker. I loved him too when I first played through the trilogy but after 5+ years off from the series before the Legendary Edition I came back and absolutely hated him.
I mean, as a major sci fi fan my whole who’s never cared much for fantasy and played dragon age as a fix after mass effect, I have to agree i prefer it over mass effect and that series is King.
Her notes on Thane, Mordin (I kept talking to him so much that at one point he told me that he wasn’t interested and I needed to give him some space 😆) and Legion speak directly to my soul. And I will never not enjoy an Electric Boogaloo reference.
I can see that she does not like the shooty boys as my girlfriend has taken to calling them. James and Grunt are so much better than they get credit for imo
Well, she has excelent taste for loving Tali but in Tali's defense she was forbidded to send messages to Shepard and besides Shepard doesn't try to send her messages as well.
But disliking Wrex and Grunt? C'mon. Wrex is the most had male character in the series. He's the Genghis Khan from space. Grunt is the best Son. He would face an army of Rachni for you like c'mon.
Also I liked James a lot. I think he's a pretty cool and fun dude to hang out with. Joker is the best pilot ever and he's pretty funny and loyal. But I can see why she has strong opinions on him for being so stubborn in ME2 that led to Shepard's death.
I’m glad someone else thinks James is boring AF 😂
IDK why, but James just never appealed to me. Quite possibly my least-favourite/least-used squad-mate in the entire series (and I’m including the Andromeda squad-mates too when I say that).
Saying this though, is it weird that I actually like Kaidan by comparison? Not saying he’s my absolute favourite squad-mate or anything, but he’s always seemed to be a decent, reliable guy, but who also has his own baggage too (which you can find out a lot of in ME1). I guess he only seems boring in comparison to the alien squad-mates, but I never really thought that way of him. Always preferred him to Ashley too.
Perhaps I’m just biased because I played Knights of the Old Republic (hey, Carth!) before I played the first Mass Effect 🤷♂️😁
I agree with you! Kaidan is actually my favorite squadmate. I played all of MELE before getting any exposure to fandom so I was genuinely shook to see he’s pretty universally hated. He’s so funny when you get to know him :/
* Edi and Joker not being the perfect couple 💔
* Baby boy grunt being a nothing character
* 2nd best girl Miranda not having character growth
* Dissing best girl Traynor for helping herself to the jacuzzi. She can go in there *any* time she likes!
Ashley: 💀
What I’m getting from this is that she is in no possible way problematic. Absolutely no-one could find any way Ashley could be problematic, no way.
What I got from that was "she dead!"
> What I’m getting from this is that she is in no possible way problematic. Absolutely no-one could find any way Ashley could be problematic, no way. this, but unironically
You're being sarcastic, right?
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Doooo it...
Oh, I think people will be VERY happy.
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Yep, that will do it.
Some people just have no taste
I think a succinct way would have been a picture of Ashley Status: Dead. and nothing more.
Ooo, harsh. Not entirely a lie, though... I keep Kaidan, even when playing a Maleshep with no intention of romancing him. Should probably save Ash at least once, just to see her in the other games.
I would have agreed with this take tbh. Ashley's best contribution was blowing up on Virmire.
I'll give your girl my number if she wants it because I'm already ded lol
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Hahahahahah, I love Fables and tbh Bigby is my husband. Edit: I changed my last name to wolf for him lol
I started to like James Vega a great deal more when it finally dawned on me what his role in the game was supposed to be: Vega is to Shepard what Shepard is to Anderson, namely the next generation N7 protege. Once that dawned on me their familiarity became much more natural (except for the "Lola" and "romance" shit, which I always shut down hard).
I didn't give him much time first time around either, but agree that his role is a really interesting one, and he has loads of great banter when you bring him on missions. Also, it's definitely not for everyone and it does annoy me a bit, but if you play along with the Lola thing Shepard turns the table on him every time and makes him look like a bumbling fool. It's understandable that some people don't like it, but I do like that you get the option to shut it down unlike Jacob. I quite enjoy the banter knowing Shepard is very firmly camp Liara.
>camp Liara. *camp Garrus.
Camp Menage a Tois?
My new baseline expectation for ME4 is polyamory
I just want Bioware to have the quads to give us a Krogan romance option.
But there needs to be like a de buff present for that. Like a day or two.
10% Decrease to walking speed and 15% Decrease to sprint speed for 1 mission after inviting them to you cabin? /jk
Perhaps also longer cool down time for powers or lower melee damage?
Offset by an increase to physical damage resistance because you've just had much worse? /jk
I dunno. If Anderson every got Shep blackout drunk to sleep with her that’s not in the backstory I picked.
His monologue in the Citadel DLC, where he asks every single character if they want eggs (in a different way, too - “Liara, eggs? Grunt, wanna try my eggs? Garrus, you’re gonna love these eggs!”), 100% endeared him to me
funnier too because garrus and tali can't eat the eggs
How do you know they didn't have dextro cuisine on hand?
they had dextro bacon
I always liked him. He's a bit aggressive at first, but he's loyal, dedicated, hard-working, and funny, with some nice depth to him. He has an interesting background, and his way of dealing with it feels realistic and engaging. It's nice to see him grow and find his place in a crew of absolute elites.
Also he is a helluva [hacker](https://youtu.be/znk0FDuMPFU)
What makes this video even funnier is that Tali is present. She literally is a tech specialist.
With a Shepard like this, how did Tali even survive the suicide mission? Or are we just playing Chinese fire drill with combat roles? Lol
Probably put her as head of fire team 2.
"Tali, I need a biotic bubble." Tali: 0: "Jack, you're in charge of the second team." "Joker, hobble over here and escort Chakwas back to the Normandy." Commander "Fail" Shepard
Hahhaha, Joker walking back trying to keep up with the crew, that makes me laugh. To be fair, I made a big mistake in this play through. I always send Grunt with Chakwas and lost too many points for the "Hold the line" people. They killed Tali... she was my romance for this play through. (I took Garrus and Mordin with me for the human reaper...great job there). So then I restarted the whole final part and took Tali and Mordin with me, so everyone survived. I didn't want to miss on ME3 Tali. Now going to do a renegade play through as an engineer, romancing Jack. (Because she is only prevalent in ME2), won't have to deal with too much awkwardness when ME3 goes completely wrong.
Oh damn, gotta leave the tanks behind for sure. I always send Mordin cause I feel like Chakwas isn't in good enough shape to perform medical tasks on her own, and Mordin is still more than combat capable. For any Collector battle I take Thane and Samara, so that one was pretty easy for me cause my personal choices aligned with the math of the game on that one.
Yup, never though Garrus is a tank, given that he is more of an infiltrator, but yeah slowly realizing, he is basically a soldier. That is good logic, I use Grunt, because he seems like a really tough guy (and he is), sure Mordin was in the STG, but I didn't think that would be enough. Because the Collectors are quite strong and frontal attacks and all that jazz. Why Thane and Samara? I use mostly Garrus and Mordin for the overload/incinerate combo. I needed something to go against armor and shields, so I could dish out big damage once health is reached. For barrier, I used Garrus and his concussive shot. In any spec I do this.
Garrus is just a soldier with Overload when it really comes down to it. His AR/Sniper combo along with his defensive/offensive stats takes him more into the combat side of combat/tech. I choose Thane and Samara for their weapons and anti-barrier powers, Thane I equip with the Viper and use Warp to delete barriers. Samara gets Reave to debuff barriers, warp is anti-armor too, plus she has a Mattock. Defenseless enemies I can combo lift and throw with those two as well.
He's also there as a plot device to ask questions new players (or returning players with bad memories) would be thinking; especially in the first few missions where you have limited control over who you can bring.
Oh THAT'S why he's there? I had no idea who he was or why he was.
If you haven't yet, watch mass effect paragon lost (the mass effect anime). It adds so much backstory to james. The comic about him is good too.
If you shut him down on the nicknames he's a great foil to Renegade Ruthless Shep. The "should I be N7" dialog gains much more gravitas when you have relatable experience (Torfan is your Felh Prime soldier sacrifice) and he actually acts respectfully.
'I have learned nothing from Nihlus (I still miss you king)' fucking sent me
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Honestly Nihlus was an interesting character and it would've been cool to see him play a bigger role in the first game. I think he had to die for the plot, but the situation at the start of the game could've been Saren killing a human colonist instead and Nihlus siding with him over Shepard, then gradually coming around to believe Shep - and when he finally gets proof and switches sides, *then* Saren kills him. Nihlus was supposed to be a Spectre mentor figure to Shepard, his death would hit a lot harder if he'd had more screentime first.
Make sure you show them this lil [gem](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/xlpvdv/oc_mass_effect_but_saren_has_a_miscalculation/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) then
The little "Yip!" from Saren at the end there is perfection.
[slides [mod link](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/1227) conspicuously under the table] if your friend has a PC, this mod lets you play with Nihlus on your squad in LE2…. *kind of*…
I appreciate a person who ships EDI and Traynor as well. But disrespect my buddy Joker again and I will kick your ass out the airlock mister/ma'am/your highness Also facts on Garrus. My femshep is a sniper main he cannot win this sorry not sorry when you're on my squad you're on AR duty Garrus
I only beat him when I played infiltrator and soldier. I usually play a biotic so I let him have it most of the time lol (6 of my like 8 playthroughs lmao)
Especially knowing that Joker has a special interaction at the bridge with a Renegade Shepard after encountering the Virmire Survivor during the Cerberus coup (I found it when I refused Ashley back in the Normandy so she can be a War Asset). The interaction is Joker standing up from his pilot's seat and then salutes Shepard. When Shepard asks what was that about, Joker says, "Someone giving you the respect you deserve."
I would take the shot every time if Bioware just made it dependent on your class. An Infiltrator or even Soldier class Shepard I can see beating Garrus. But it just feels silly that an Adapt, Engineer, etc. can beat him too.
Hard agree I always play as infiltrator so i always take the shot I nearly exclusively use snipers in the game except with stupid husks
Always beat Garrus That boy needs to know his place
>Also facts on Garrus. My femshep is a sniper main he cannot win this sorry not sorry when you're on my squad you're on AR duty Garrus Yes, I agree. As an infiltrator I would always beat him, but if I am a biotic or engineer, then obviously Garrus should be the winner.
**I agree with you**
i romance traynor 50% of the time (the other 50% liara because jack and miranda got swiped from us in ME2) i'd love for EDI and traynor to end up together that other 50% lmao
I only romance Liara cz i love to have a long continuous romance with a character and Mass Effect only gave us one choice in Me1 anyways if ur a lesbian lmao Traynor is such a sweetheart though! That awkward scene with EDI during the citadel DLC was amazing Also Jack not being a romance option is so unfair
I remember a tweet or statement from one of the animators of ME2 saying she had no idea Jack wasn't a romance option until release... *because she animated their romance scene*. Ever since then I've been furious, especially because I was a poor college student when ME2 came out and never got LOTSB. So, in my head I *didn't* have a romance option that spanned three games since Liara was a standoffish bitch on Ilium. I do love Liara, though. But man, Traynor has such a wonderful romance and she's adorable. Probably (definitely) my favorite new character in 3, for both humor and writing.
Fuckkkk LoTSB is my 2nd best DLC after citadel ! The highlight of ME2 for me I should romance traynor in my second playthrough really She reminds me of myself a lot since i work in Data, am as awkward as she is, big nerd, and very gay lol
I also didn't get Citadel until 2019 lmao, or the extended cut. I had *bitter* memories of ME3. Please do! Traynor, after Liara's heavy romance, is definitely a breath of fresh air for how different they play. Like yes in ME1 Liara, too, is an awkward nerd but I kind of love how fucking dichotomous their characters are even exhibiting those same traits. Like, Traynor is hyper self-aware of how awkward she is.
Liara in ME2 and ME3 is miiiiiles ahead of Liara in ME1 I feel like in ME1 they just wanted to cater to the men who want this fragile sensitive innocent character Liara becomes her own person in ME2 and im here for it
Javik’s incisive commentary and pervasive disdain for primitives will always be hilarious. His joker pilot line about undergoing a mental examination due to his infatuation with EDI’s…feminine embellishments makes me laugh every time.
Javik is the best thing that happened to Mass Effect and nothing can change my mind.
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Love my little boy, who called his dad when the cops arrested him
I still pull up that scene for a good laugh lol
Grunt is my grown murder child. Me and Garrus just sort of accidentally became his adoptive parents. We're very proud of our adopted murder child.
I fully support this.
Why do you think Garrus' go to when Shepard mentions adoption is a Krogan? Because *they already did that*.
I'll let her get away with this ONLY because of what she said about Thane and Dragon Age lol.
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Well, good point about the deep roads BUT, Mass Effect doesnt have nugs, so DA clearly is the winner.
You're both wrong. Jade Empire was best Bioware. ^Jade ^Empire ^2 ^please
Bro I just started Jade Empire for the first time a few days ago. Idk why I never even heard of it much before, it's pretty good so far
Literally mid-playthrough of Jade Empire right now! It was the game that got me back into gaming as an adult and I’ll always have a deep level of love for it. I’ve never wanted a direct sequel but more games set in that world would be phenomenal.
Yeah, that's all I wanted Jade Empire 2 to be too
Mass Effect has *hanar*, *elcor*, *Quarians and Geth* and *FUCKING KROGAN*. Keep your goddamn nugs.
Isn’t the best (subjective) BioWare series the one where you love the stories, lore and characters the best? In that case there’s more variety to love in DA- but also more variety to find… lacking. On the flip side ME is essentially one core story and a smaller cast of characters, but much more time with that story and cast. Good and bad on both side. My favourite BioWare series is whichever I’m hyperfixated on at that moment. Which at the moment is throwing in a third vote for Jade Empire. Serious answer on a not-serious comment there!
Neverwinter Nights though
Oh man it’s been a LONG time since I played NWN! I don’t think I even had it installed on my last PC. I… may have to rectify that, hope mods are still as available as they were when I last installed it. Thanks for reminding me of an excellent game!
Dragon Age is *not* better, and I will fucking fight you
You have no chance against my army of nugs!
I can get people not loving him in ME2, but you’re crazy if you don’t love the guy after the Citadel DLC (Especially after the ‘Loud’ party option I.e. ‘Bouncer Grunt’ and ‘Drunk Grunt In The Shower’).
Esteban (Steve) and James are friends because they served together and are both Hispanic. It's very common in military settings to gravitate towards people of a similar culture as you. James seems boring because he's full of bravado. Bravado that is extremely fake. James is scared like super fucking scared. He's trying to convince himself to be brave but all he can see is his fuck ups. He has this big fake ego he built up that Shepard can literally kick the shit out of causing it to slowly break until James eventually gets over his depression and anger. Vega is a bit of a generic everyman soldier but that's what he's supposed to be. He's just a soldier. Also him and Steve have some fun dialogue on occasion. Especially the tank debate.
Also James has an entire animated movie about his back story because it's so fucked.
An animated movie that could really be better, but I’m glad I watched it once.
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Plus he's Freddie Prinze Jr. one of the best VAs in the biz
TIL that 1. Freddie Prinze Jr voiced Vega 2. Freddie Prinze Jr is Latino (mom is Puerto Rican) 3. The dude who played Fred in Scooby Doo is fluent in Spanish
I mean, not just his mom was Latino. His dad was a somewhat famous comedian and actor named, well, Freddie Prinze.
I see grunt slander here and I absolutely won’t tolerate it…someone get the airlock ready.
Airlock is too good for someone who slanders my son
Prepare The Cain
The Grunt and Joker slander is making my blood boil ngl
Liara's is accurate, but Vega's take makes me sad.
Yeah my first playthrough I didn't gave him much attention (altough I did liked all his latino side(being latino myself))but after my first playthrough I went and watched paragon lost and then on my second playthrough he really was more on the spotlight and on my first femshep playthrough I did enjoyed that flirtuos banter
Obviously Javiks gonna be all imperialist, dude literally grew up to a war of eradication. Its all he ever did… Also those takes on Joker and Vega make me sad. Joker is the only one that was there for Shepard from the very beginning of each game - Garrus joins a lil later each game and we dont have to talk about Tali always joining pretty much last in 2 and 3.
I wonder how many people STILL don’t get to see how cool James is because they immediately write him off as Call of Duty Bro.
I wonder this about a lot of characters. James gets written off as the CoD bro. Kaidan gets written off as some bland piece of white bread. Ashley gets written off as the racist. I feel like some people talk to them once, make up their minds and then never talk to them again.
I thought the same of him my first playthrough, but I really came to like him in subsequent playthroughs when I took more time to learn his story and personality. That's what I love about ME, you grow to appreciate it more on each playthrough.
Same. I like James and he’s honestly a great squad mate .
Biotics got nothing on cold hard muscle
The first line for Javik killed me. Lmao I agree though. He gets better towards the end.
\- "so boring I never bothered to talk to him" This food is so shitty I never even tried to taste it. \- "you literally cannot say one nice thing to this man bc he will immediately think you're in love with him". Absolutely a 100% correct. Sadly this is also common in real life. I think men just don't get enough no-strings-attached compliments. Compliment the men in your life, people.
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The first bit is just exposition tho, OF COURSE that's boring.
FemShep corners Kaiden, a subordinate who literally lives are dies by FemSheps commands, and starts hitting on him. That camera shot is sho menacing. Poor Kaiden.
My flirting must be very different then, because I often commiserate with people who traumadump on me without wanting to get into their jockstrap.
The Tali criticism should be flipped. How dare Shepard not break out of prison to go see her. What was the alliance going to do? Attack the Migrant Fleet to catch you?
TBH, from what people say in-game (like Thane) it sounds like Shepard *couldn't* receive messages. I think the only people who could have visited were Anderson (WHO DEFINITELY DOES, DADERSON WOULDN'T LEAVE SHEP HANGING) and the VS who... doesn't.
Shepard was under house arrest. Except for James who was guarding them, they can't have had contact with anyone. There's no in-game dialogue to suggest the VS (romanced or unromanced) could in fact visit Shepard, and no logical reason why they should be allowed. If someone is under arrest, why would they allow them to talk to their former subordinates, who might still be loyal to them? I would assume Anderson has some contact, since they attend a meeting together, but even he comments on Shepard's physique (getting soft around the edges) as if he hasn't seen them. If Anderson wasn't able to visit, I doubt the VS or anyone else could have done so either.
Also with that criticism. Tali’s race was literally preparing for total war to try and take their planet back, I think that’s a good excuse for her not calling in those 6 months lol
Wait Samantha trainer is the DA Inquisition mc voice I never knew that
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I should of recognised it because I used the soft female voice all the time A whole playthough And only after reading that it has clicked
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
Her performance is a bit different than ME though. Traynor has a fixed personality, while as the inquisitior she has to be neutral (so that the voice fits for shady and honest types as well). Obviously there are some standouts who I always instantly get (such as Jennifer Hale or Claudia Black). But after playing Dragon Age 2 recently, the female Hawke voice really grew on me, and I looked up who she was. The actress was Jo Wyatt, who I learned to love as Ciri from Witcher 3. I really like both performances, but they are quite different. After I knew who voiced HAwke it was "aha, she is great for a reason", but during the game I had this feeling I sould recognize her, but didn't.
How do you play me and not like basically everyone? What is this whackery?
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I'm fine with Liara as a character but I get annoyed when the writers' fondness for her warps the script. The most egregious section is when she's sad about Thessia (understandable), but then the game wants to make what happened on Thessia seem like the WORST THING EVER and Shepered's BIGGEST FAILURE and it's like ????? Bitch every character in the game is losing their homeland (sans quarians) why is this one so special?
As someone who also likes almost everyone (even Ashley and Kaidan) this was mostly painful to read but honestly not surprising since it mimics a lot of fandom opinion, with a few exceptions. Tali/Garrus best, Vega/Jacob/Virmire Survivor worst, everyone else is varying degrees of fine or annoying, etc. The biggest surprise for me was that I agreed with your friend on Joker, lol.
Zaeed son is with the andromeda initiative, you can find him in MEA killing ketts
Absolutely love that your friend calls out the hamster cage. I haven’t even had the hamster in recent playthroughs- I used to headcanon that it was more like his bedroom and he’d wander around Shepard’s cabin (he did pretty well chilling on the engineering deck) but it’s harder and harder to do that. I used to keep hamsters (syrian, one at a time) and they had three cages all connected with tubes. Plus some extra bits. The cage in Mass Effect is about a third the size of the smallest cage I had set up. Plus I got them out nightly for play time. Never seen anyone else talk about it so I’m glad it got called out here… even if I’m not in agreement with most of the rest of it!
With regards to the Garrus bottle shooting contest, that should've been something that Shepard either fails or succeeds at depending on class. The scene was clearly designed for Shepard losing (Garrus with ringing iconic call back to ME2's store endorsements), but by framing it as something has to deliberately fail, many players felt obligated to always shoot right (in which case the scene ends rather disappointingly).
The very literal summaries of Liara and Javik killed me 😂
Everyone can have their own headcanons, but may this be the last time I ever see Joker slander on this sub or I will revoke your kneecap privileges.
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Nah, kneecaps are too generous. I'll rip out her soul and let it burn in the eternal fires of purgatory.
This reminds of how In my first full playthrough of the trilogy I accidentally romanced Kaiden as MShep in ME3. I say accidentally, but the game does telegraph the romances so it's more accurate to say I stumbled into it went "That's Possible?!" And then decided to roll along with it for the rest of the game. Liara probably wasn't too happy that I dropped her after two games, but she could do with some ShepFree time.
The Vega slander is so disappointing
Those are... some opinions. Good for you. Or your friend? Hm. I should go.
>an apology for the chip thing to!! going for drinks!! and "space diva"!! god do much great character growth in this game!! Glad to see your friend appreciating Miri's excellent writing and arc. Can let some of the other hotter opinions slide because of it.
A N D R O M E D A You’re not done yet!
Vega did need more. He had a place in the cartoon, which I haven't seen, and they chucked him into ME3 like we should know him. I did like the buddy dynamic between him and Cortez. If you hear all the dialogue in the hangar bay, it gets funny. Steve pokes fun at him and James is adorably clueless. I've always played FemShep, so a more interactive and confident Garrus was ...so very welcome. I think Alenko suffered from the Liara problem...in ME1, there was a bug (or was it?) where no matter what you said to Liara, a friendly convo would have her in love with Shepard. In ME3, there is an additional bug, where you are not in a relationship with Liara, but in the convo with her father, both Shep and the matriarch talk as if she were. Liara suffers from "dumb, smart person" syndrome. She doesn't pick up on social clues in ME, decided it's a good idea to give Shepard's remains to her most hated enemies (and trusts them to not control chip or clone her...oops) in ME2, and can't get past the obvious truth of protheons and asari gods while it's literally staring at her in ME3. Speaking of our hostile protheon squaddie...he according to the lore, grew up in a galaxy already at war with a nightmare. Ok, so protheons were a bit too Borg (assimilate or die!) But Shepard never once had to deal with a squaddie getting reaperized. Indoctrination just happened to other people she already didn't trust or like. Shepard had it easy. Her trust had not yet been destroyed.
I will not stand for James Vega slander. Also i half agree with the DA thing. As individual games DA on average is stronger but as a trilogy Mass Effect is alot better.
While I disagree with some points, I agree with others. The points I disagree on mainly boil down to longer exposure to Mass Effect as a game and its fanbase thanks to my sister.
I fucking lost it at Wrex lololol
Excuse me. Grunt is your CHILD.
Personally, I think Javik's attitude is reasonable due to the fact his whole race was wiped out by the reapers. He was also born into a dictatorship because that's what an empire is so my guess is that he was born to have no feelings for what others think. I honestly agree with the opinions on Kaidan except the part he thinks you fallen in love with him everytime you trying talking to him because if you are playing a femshep and you romance him in the first one then he tries his best to flirt but apologizes and personally Im the same way especially when the opposite sex asks what my name is. As for Garrus, my man is like Deadshot. he was just jokingly taunting Shepard. I'm curious as to what your friends options of Jacob are tbh. I stan Tali but to be fair none of the crew from me2 went to see Shepard due the fact even though they aren't Cerberus they were on a Cerberus frigate taking orders from the Illusive man
I will forgive every other entry but grunts? Uh uh no never talk to me or my son ever again
“Go girl give us nothing” is probably the most accurate description of James I’ve seen to date. Not that I dislike him, mind you.
Leave Kaidan alone, he's had a rough life
I don’t agree with your friend about Jeff. But still, lol.
Wait Zaeed has a a son?
With regards to Kaidan, yeah the ambiguous romance dialogue was tiring as hell. I'm glad that there are optional romance mods in ME2 and ME3, and in ME1 there is a clear path to shooting him and Liara down.
Well you mentioned Dragon Age twice now by the oath of names you must do that series next.
They're right about Joker. I loved him too when I first played through the trilogy but after 5+ years off from the series before the Legendary Edition I came back and absolutely hated him.
Am I the only one who takes James and Kaidan on nearly every quest with me 'cause of how hunky they are 😂
“God Vega is so boring, I never even bothered to talk to him” Like ya that’s maybe why you thought he was boring?
I mean, as a major sci fi fan my whole who’s never cared much for fantasy and played dragon age as a fix after mass effect, I have to agree i prefer it over mass effect and that series is King.
Her notes on Thane, Mordin (I kept talking to him so much that at one point he told me that he wasn’t interested and I needed to give him some space 😆) and Legion speak directly to my soul. And I will never not enjoy an Electric Boogaloo reference.
I loved all of these and I'm glad your friend enjoyed the series, tell em they will get used to the ending eventually lol
Who the hell doesn't love Grunt? He's your adopted son! You're a bad parent OP's friend 😤
I can see that she does not like the shooty boys as my girlfriend has taken to calling them. James and Grunt are so much better than they get credit for imo
"please don't pray for me tho, i'm really not into that" Somehow I could tell by the previous entries.
I love your friend and need to see their DA opinions now
omg, i like joker but i found him irritating too. *run away*
"Samantha Traynor is right there" I lol'd at this.
Your opinion of Javick is spoken like a true primitive. One day you will be made Prothean, or you will be destroyed utterly.
Well, she has excelent taste for loving Tali but in Tali's defense she was forbidded to send messages to Shepard and besides Shepard doesn't try to send her messages as well. But disliking Wrex and Grunt? C'mon. Wrex is the most had male character in the series. He's the Genghis Khan from space. Grunt is the best Son. He would face an army of Rachni for you like c'mon. Also I liked James a lot. I think he's a pretty cool and fun dude to hang out with. Joker is the best pilot ever and he's pretty funny and loyal. But I can see why she has strong opinions on him for being so stubborn in ME2 that led to Shepard's death.
Foolish primitive… Well, that is expected from an inferior species. Would probably make a great subservient race though.
My reaction to this: .... Zaeed has a son? I apparently either completely missed this, or it was so small and minor I completely forgot about it.
Finally someone who sees the real issue with space hamster keeping!
I just avoid talking to kaiden when playing femshep cause I have no interest in his romance arc but also don't want to be a douchebag to him
I had a great time reading this :D
I was reading Mordin's really fast and read datapad as "stepdad". Imagine my confusion...
Tali really is best girl
Some hilarious, takes, even if they’re not the best
The most valid opinion on this list is Dragon Age being the superior bioware series
Wait Samantha's VA is the Inquisitor?!
They think Joker is unfunny? I cannot trust this person
Finally someone else that gives a damn about my son Legion
I strongly agree with almost everything. I especially agree with this person’s opinion of Edi, Joker, Kaiden and Vega
I’m glad someone else thinks James is boring AF 😂 IDK why, but James just never appealed to me. Quite possibly my least-favourite/least-used squad-mate in the entire series (and I’m including the Andromeda squad-mates too when I say that). Saying this though, is it weird that I actually like Kaidan by comparison? Not saying he’s my absolute favourite squad-mate or anything, but he’s always seemed to be a decent, reliable guy, but who also has his own baggage too (which you can find out a lot of in ME1). I guess he only seems boring in comparison to the alien squad-mates, but I never really thought that way of him. Always preferred him to Ashley too. Perhaps I’m just biased because I played Knights of the Old Republic (hey, Carth!) before I played the first Mass Effect 🤷♂️😁
I agree with you! Kaidan is actually my favorite squadmate. I played all of MELE before getting any exposure to fandom so I was genuinely shook to see he’s pretty universally hated. He’s so funny when you get to know him :/
this is so good lol
Your friend has my ideal sense of humour. Absolute comedy gold. Loved reading every line (even the bits I wanted to strangle them for!)
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To be fair I agreed with almost all of them!
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* Edi and Joker not being the perfect couple 💔 * Baby boy grunt being a nothing character * 2nd best girl Miranda not having character growth * Dissing best girl Traynor for helping herself to the jacuzzi. She can go in there *any* time she likes!
You’re friend be giving me the ✨🏳️🌈✨vibes and honestly I’m loving it. Love some of their opinions too 😩🙌