Ranking the Mass Effect Trilogy Squad-mates
Mass Effect Andromeda is coming out this Tuesday, in honor of that, I thought it would be fun to rank all the squad-mates from the original trilogy.
In order to qualify for this list said squad-mate has to be able to be a permanent member of your squad following their recruitment, so people like Cprl Jenkins, Wilson, and Admiral Anderson arnt included as they are only around in the intro level. Neither are Aria T'loak and Nyreen Kandros as they are only useable in ME3 Omega DLC. However, Zaeed, Kasumi and Javik are eligible as they can be used in the main game
Also, primary consideration is given to the squadmates role in games they are playable in....not games they appear in. Meaning for example, that Wrex is judged only on his appearance in ME1 not ME2 or ME3 where hes not playable, though events from ME2 or ME3 will be mentioned, they wont have much impact on his placement.
With all of that said, we are left with 20 possible squadmates over the 3 games, so lets count them down, from worst all the way to the best
#20 Morinth
Literally the worst character Bioware has ever created.....mostly because there is no reason to choose her and no payoff for doing so.
Ok so at the time you could recruit her, you would have to kill her mother Samara. Now while this was clearly intended as the "Renegade" choice, given Samara trying to be the Mass Effect version of a Paladin or Jedi, even for Renegades it doesnt make sense.
See at the time the two characters are attacking each other, Samara is already part of your party, going so far as to swear an oath to serve you, including total submission to you and accepting your moral code as her own until the end of the assignment.
So, even from a Renegade point of view, I have two equally powerful characters, one of whom suffers from a compulsion to murder people, and would (and can) murder me when given the chance. On the other hand I have a character who has sworn unquestioned loyalty to me, and who may want to kill me, but never will until I release her from my service (which presumably would never happen/arrange to have her die to avoid retribution) .
So why would I take the risk of killing the loyal one in exchange for the one whoes a threat? it doesnt make sense.
Oh, and even if somehow you do decide to take Morinth with you, her story consists of her pretending to be Samara, with exactly the same dialogue. Furthermore in Mass Effect 3, the only difference between her being alive in that game, or dying in ME2, is that a single Banshee enemy will have her name, there is no story arc, and its literally the easiest to miss appearance.
And none of this mentions the fact that unless you play pure renegade or paragon your not going to have enough morality points to recruit her in the first place....so shes a hidden shitty pointless character.
So yea, for creating a character that doesnt fit any of the RP options or mindsets of the PC, and basically forgetting about her in the next game, Morinth is well deserving of the bottom of the list.
#19 Samara
Near as I can tell, Samara was basically designed to be an analog to the Jedi.....but holy hell did Bioware fuck that up.
This woman is an idiot. There is no other way to say it. As mentioned in the Morinth entry, she takes a vow to serve you blindly and unquestionably no matter your own moral compass....and she does this because you helped her find a clue about where to find this killer shes been tracking for centuries. A clue that you can then turn around and choose never to pursue, therefore never giving her closure, and theres nothing she can do about it because she basically swore to be your slave.
Though admittedly evem her own moral code is well, fucking weird. See this code is supposed to basically make her the personification of justice....though oddly enough, the only just punishment for all offenses appears to be death.
In fact in Mass Effect 3 she tries to (and can) kill herself as punishment for something.
And oh yea, the list of injustices itself is well, crazy. For example in ME2 your given 24 hours to find the clue she wants....otherwise her code commands that she kill a bunch of police officers. Cause you know, reasons.
Also remember when she swears that oath to you? she says "I can pick up my own mission later" and her loyalty mission is basically "oh shit I just realized I kinda cant wait to do my own mission cause my target is going to keep moving"......which should have been freaking obvious to her BEFORE she agreed to postpone it.
And one last thing, Samara is the only character in any of the mass effect games who will shoot you down if you try to romance her. Now having an NPC actually reject you is a pretty unique and cool idea, given the usual "fuck anyone you try to" philosophy of most games which is cool but not nearly enough to redeem her.
#18 Jacob
Jacob isnt particularly a bad character, the problem is, hes not a good one either. And he's boring as all hell, given that his personality is non-existent in Mass Effect 2, hes just kinda there. Also, hes like the least loyal person ever, at least if ME3 is anything to go on. Even if you didnt romance him, he wont rejoin with you, cause you know he's going to be a father soon.
Which might seem like a good reason....if your failing your mission means the complete and utter extinction of mankind, including the family he says he wants to protect. Cause you know that makes sense.
Well I suppose it does, as it is basically Jacob surrendering to his own inadequacies....again. Cause thats basically Jacobs story, joins something, is average at it, decides something else would be better, does that, is average again, rinse and repeat. And thats a damn sad and pathetic story....especially since he never overcomes it.
#17 Jack
Jack suffers from two major problems. The first is that shes two different characters basically. In Mass Effect 2 shes basically a psychopathic rebel without a cause, with no self respect, loyal to no one and a massive grudge. In Mass Effect 3 she's a teacher, super loyal to her students, and fully confident in her self and her abilities.
Now yes, getting from the portrayal in ME2, to her portrayal in ME3 is believable, and would make for a pretty interesting character arc. Except that Bioware chose to show none of that....it all apparently happened in the period between ME2 and ME3, which is about 6 months.
And the second problem: Jack should have killed you on sight. As a child she was experimented on by Cerberus, the group your working for when you encounter her, and they are basically responsible for every fucked up thing in her life. Except according to her loyalty mission, maybe something was happening that she didnt know about.....but they never followed up. Also they never explain what makes her special at all really compared to everyone else they experimented on.
But at least when she first joins up the game gives some reason why she might not kill you on sight....doing so would cause her to die as you are the only way off the space station shes on thats falling apart. So clearly Jack doesnt have a death wish. Which is why she joins your team for a suicide mission. Wait what?
Seriously, for it to make sense for Jack to get on your ship in the first place, she should have gotten off it as soon as you made port somewhere. And given that, unless you romance her, your interactions with her basically end with her hating you, she clearly didnt stay out of loyalty.
Which brings up another minor point....holy hell does her default ME2 character skin SUCK. Seriously her top is just a belt over her boobs. I almost bought the alternate attire pack so she didnt have to look like this. As it is I just try to complete her loyalty mission ASAP so that she looks decent. Now her ME3 attire on the other hand is freaking awesome looking....but at the same time, its a testament to how bad her first attire was that was the only ME2 character to get new attire in ME3
Also, another minor quibble I have with Jack. Shes the only non-asari character in the entire game to say outright shes had sex with men and women or state she has neither a boyfriend or girlfriend. Yet shes only romanceable by men? furthermore you can also have a one night stand with her (resulting in her never talking to you again) but again you have to be male. Why? the character is bisexual. Or even if you want to Kinsey scale it, and claim she only wants a relationship with a man....shes clearly open to sex (as a form of exploitation at least) with women...so the one night stand thing should be open to all and the fact its not reeks of bad writing.
#16 Grunt
Oh shit, you mean everyone loved that one character in Mass Effect 1 that most of them wound up having to kill on Virmire (per bioware 64% of players killed him on Virmire)? Well lets just make another character to fill his role.
This, I imagine, was the conversation that led to the existence of Grunt. Cause yea, basically all Grunt is is Wrex when Wrex isnt available. Well except Wrex was all about defying the stereotypes of his race, while Grunt is the embodiment of all of them. Which makes him much less interesting. Basically all Grunt does is smash things, while complain about wanting to eat.
Furthermore, Grunt was never really supposed to be on your team. You found him when you were sent to recruit the man who created him Okeer. And Okeer's role on the team was supposed to be his familarity with the Collectors you are trying to find, and presumably his scientific know-how in combination with Mordin Solus'.
But Okeer dies, and your left with Grunt...who knows nothing of those things. In fact when you meet Grunt he's in suspended animation in the tank in which he was born. But you can choose to open the tank if you want, and even keep Grunt around...despite having no purpose or reason to do so, except that you want to...and seeing as how Cerberus is anti alien normally, its kinda unclear why they let you keep Grunt anyways.
Also what in the blue hell does it mean to be "pure krogan" This is never explained. Also they tend to call Grunt a "clone" if you pick renegade responses as opposed to "tank born"...though they also use the two terms interchangeably....point is, if Grunts a clone who's he a clone of? Okeer? again never said.
#15 Legion
Legion got screwed, theres no other way to put it. In ME3 Legion plays a HUGE role, and he's actually a pretty interesting character in both ME2 and ME3 to the point the choice to save the Geth or the Quarians (or both) was difficult primarly because of him (without Legion it would have been a no brainer to side with the Quarians).
So why is he this low? because he doesnt become available until the very end of ME2 and hes not playable in ME3. As in as soon as Legion is recruited, your crew gets kidnapped, and you have just enough time to do his loyalty mission before you have to go after them (or risk half of them dying). And if your like most people, by simple necessity (IE ensure loyalties and avoid deaths), you did all the other available missions before the mission where you meet Legion. So its not like you ever really get to interact with him, he might as well be an NPC, which is why he's so low on this list.
This wasnt the original plan either. Originally Bioware wanted you to be able to recruit everyone in any order, and hidden dialogues for Legion in other characters recruitment missions confirm this. But then ME3 got too big to fit on one disc, and Legion was banished to Disc 2 (along with Thane, Samara and Tali)...and then further held up by the storyline until a specific point, which when mixed with the fact you pretty much HAVE to start the end game right after his introduction to get the best ending basically took the legs out from under his character.
Had he had more time or more involvement in ME2, theres a decent chance he'd be topping this list as the "robot outsider who doesnt get organics" roll can be played pretty well...as EDI proved in the next game, and he was funny in the very limited time he had.
#14 Thane
Allegedly the Drell were introduced a sex symbol to real world women as the Asari were to men.
So we get a moody, emotionally unavailable, killer brooding over the death of his love, with a wonky explanation as to how all the people he killed werent really his fault and how hes really a peace lover.
And oh yea, hes going to die real soon.
So yea, heres your sex symbol ladies, chronically depressed and predestined to end badly.
Also, what part of Shepards mission requires an assassin? Like almost everyone else has a role that can kinda be justified: Tali and Garrus as the "familar faces" for shepard, Jacob and Miranda as heads the Cerberus crew, Mordin and Okeer (remember Okeer was the intended crew member Shepard was supposed to recruit and not Grunt) were supposed to be science and also familiarity with the collectors, Jack and Samara are the powerhouses in case shit hits the fan (though both of them characterwise dont really make sense unless we assume TIM knew Samara's Code would be easy to manipulate and that Jack could illogically stick around), and Legion (and Grunts) recruitment were not planned.
Yet Thane's was. But it never clear what he provides to the ship. The whole rest of the crew operates on the assumption when they fly through the relay there is going to be some thing the ship needs to blow up or attack. So what good is an assassin in that situation? And if they had been expecting a massive land invasion, they'd have brought an army....so whats a single assassin going to do?
I cant justify any reason at all for Thane to be needed on the team. And that means he has to be considered a failure as a character. And actually given that it appears the Drell will NOT be returning a species in Mass Effect Andromeda, it seems Thane might be considered a failure as the playable representation of a species.
#13 Zaeed
I have pretty much the same problems with Zaeed I have with Thane. Its not clear why he's needed or what skills of value he brings to the table, and whatever he does is likely redundant with the skills Thane brings.
However I rate him higher than Thane for a few of reasons. Mainly he's an unrepentant immoral ass.....which makes him a better fit personality wise, as someone willing to work with TIM and Cerberus. And he's human....again something the anti alien Cerberus would likely prefer. So yea, he does whatever Thane's job is supposed to be, and in a manner preferred by Cerberus.
In fact, I believe had Zaeed been in the original game and not DLC, its highly likely Thane wouldnt have been created. Heck in a perfect world, give Zaeed Jacobs job and save us from two shit characters
#12 Javik
Fun fact: Up till now, every character mentioned has had one thing in common....their only playable appearance was ME2. Meaning Javik is officially the worst character NOT in Mass Effect 2.
And alot of that is because, honestly he's just disappointing. Taking Javik and Liara with you on Priority: Thessia may be one of the most interesting and fun bits of banter of any mission in the trilogy.
But beyond that (and other cut scenes with Liara) Javik is pretty much a one note character with ever comment showing his disdain for "Primitive's" or talking about "in my cycle" or both. And that's really all there is too him.
#11 Kasumi
As far as actual personality, banter and how fun the loyalty mission was, Kasumi is probably my favorite ME2 character, even if her crush on Jacob suggests she has horrible taste in men. And shes the only companion who really comments on other companions and whats going on with them on the ship which is pretty cool.
But theres a problem. Strength of personality and fun missions only gets you so far. Then we hit the same problem Thane and Zaeed ran into. Which is, if I cant justify or find a role for an assassin or bounty hunter, I damn sure have no idea what in the holy hell a thief is supposed to add to this mission.
In fact, Kasumi is the only character in ME3 who, when she turns you down as far as rejoining, my first thought was "of course your not going to join me....you had no business joining up in the first place".
Its kinda a shame, with a different background (say making her a scientist or pilot) more obviously critical in ME2, shed likely be a lot higher on the list.
Also, its a total fluke all 3 DLC characters came in one after the other...but at least Biowares consistent on the quality :P
#10 Wrex
I can already see jaw's hitting the floor on this one, so let me explain: Wrex isnt playable at all in ME2 or ME3 (minus a couple of missions in the citadel DLC). And I prefer to focus on the games where the character is playable, meaning Wrex is effectively a single game character. And he's pretty cool in the one game where he's playable....however like every non human character not named Liara, he's not really fleshed out too much in the game. You get his sense of honor, his smartassness and his dedication to helping his people....but only the bare bones basics. Even his ship conversations dont do much to flesh out his character the way Tali and Garrus' give them some depth.
Now some of this is likely due to the fact he could possibly die on Virmire (and likley does if you didnt know in advance to have either a high charm/intimidate skill or his family armor), and didnt even have to be recruited at all.
So he seems to have been mostly envisioned as a possible "shock value" kill on Virmire (not that it needed it).
Now yes in ME2 and ME3 his arc comes full circle and hes actually got one of the better character arcs of any character in the series...but again by this point hes completely an NPC (again due to the likelihood he didnt survivie Virmire) so i dont want to credit him too much for those games.....even though on an overall characters list (not just companions) he'd rank much higher.
#9 Miranda
ME2's resident sexpot, Miranda actually isnt bad as a character for most of the game. In fact she seems to possibly even be the Normandy's true captain, in that shes the top Cerberus officer on the ship and well it seems likely if you order something and Cerberus didnt like it she could countermand the orders and the Cerberus crew (minus joker) would likely listen to her. Plus shes a sentinel, which means shes one of the most powerful characters in the game (can strip both shields and barriers), and there are very few squad pairing she doesnt work well with.
However shes as low as she is on this list for a reason: Her defection from Cerberus at the end of the game makes no sense. Consider, when you first meet her, she shoots a man in cold blood because she assumes hes a traitor, though this is never confirmed at any point in the game. We also discover though the course of both this game and her cameo's in the citadel DLC that shes happy to lie or mislead you, yet she supposedly defects from Cerberus at the end of ME2 cause they mislead the Normandy a couple times.
Given that shes been in Cerberus for most of her life, she either was never paying attention to anything ever before, or this flat out doesnt make sense. And the fact she gets a larger role than almost any other character, including the playable ones in ME3, and still isnt playable, despite also being possibly the only sentinel squad mate (assuming Kaidan died on Virmire) is kinda obnoxious.(not going to lie, if she was playable in ME3, I think she might have broken into the top 5)
On the upside, since shes Cerberus at least she has a reason to be on Shepards ship...making her one of the few characters with a reason to be there (equally true for Jacob I suppose though his lower profile roll held him down much father)
#8 Ashley
The space racist. Except not really. If you actually spend time with Ashley you find out shes not really a space racist per say, she's just a little overly sensitive and a bit mean about aliens because of what happened to her grandmother and how she believes it ruined her family's reputation, but when faced with real racism towards aliens (from Terra Firma) she backs the aliens.
However, after ME1, she becomes MUCH MUCH less complex. For starters her refusal to side with you in ME2 doesnt really fit her character....especially if she was your lover. Ashley's entire thing in ME1 was about loyalty to Shepard, not specifically the alliance as he was the one who got past the fact she was a Williams. Then in ME3 she randomly becomes a drunk......based solely on a single line in ME1 where she mentions having a drink on a day of remembrance....this now qualifies as "being a drunk"
Also as far as a ME1 to ME3 makeover, consider in Mass Effect 1, Ashleys "default" appearance is full armor....compared to say every other woman who defaults to a skinsuit (at least on the character selection screen). In fact Ashley is the ONLY female character in the entire series to get full armor on her inital appearance .
Well at least until ME3 rolled around and she suddenly had full lips, eye shadow and a Miniskirt with some small elements of armor here and there. Total backslide.
In summery, honestly if you want the best out of Ashley, leave her to die on Virmire, its all downhill from there for her anyways. In fact, if she had been the default Virmire casuality and never appeared in ME2 or ME3, shed likely rank a few points higher.
#7 Tali
Tali is a hard one to rank, because for the most part, shes inseperable from the Geth/Quarian storyline, especially in the 2nd and 3rd game. That said, her character arc through that storyline is second only to Wrex in my opinion. She goes from being a naive teenage in the wrong place at the wrong time (ME 1) to her peoples last hope in ME3. Shes also forced at every turn to deal with the reality of the Geth, that they arnt all evil, and maybe even that they had a point when the Quarains were exiled. In fact she can go from being the first Quarian being friends with a Geth to committing suicide if Shepard sides with the Geth, and it still all fits her character...which is a pretty wide range to make work.
That said, if I'm being honest, I could have done with her being an NPC in ME3, she joins a bit too late in that game to have any impact beyond the missions on her own home world. In fact, if given a choice, simply for gameplay reasons I'd trade her redundant [with EDI] engineer class for Miranda, if for no other reason that to have a Sentinel no matter who died on Virmire.
Also worth noting, in my opinion Tali's best outing is ME2, shes an adult now, confident and riding high off the fame she got from Shepard...until her loyalty mission turns her life upside down, and yet there no matter what the outcome, she shows the strength of character to either clear her fathers name no matter the cost or learn that perception is more important than reality....which feed right into her admiral or exile status and how she deals with them in ME3
#6 Vega
Believe it or not, I like James Vega and I dont really understand the hate. Ok yes he looks like he just came from gears of war, but once he opens his mouth you realize how untrue that is. And I think thats Vega's point...as a character he's supposed to turn a stereotype on its head. He's compassionate (as shown in the Leviathan DLC), not much of a ladies man....despite always hitting on Femshep, he makes it clear hes just kidding around, and gets uncomfortable if Shepard encourages his attentions. And he's incredibly approachable and friendly, I dont think its too big a stretch to say by the end of ME3 he has a solid bormance going on with both Steve Cortez and Garrus.
And yes, often times he comes across as in over his head and overwhelmed or lost with whats going on....but thats also the point. It helps to have an occasional reminder as to how massive the stakes really are, especially for a player likely jaded to the whole "universe destroying reaper" idea after 3 games. Plus, in game hes actually the only playable character who hadnt been in both of the other games (technically EDI is in ME1 as an enemy)...and therefore is totally new to this (and while the DLC exclusive Javik is also a newcomer, hes coming from another war again the reapers)
Finally, his method of "fixing things" when assigned too, and his conversation in the mess hall with Garrus have to be a couple of my favorite moments in ME 3
#5 Liara
Liara in Mass Effect 1 is arguably the most central character other than Shepard. Liara in Mass Effect 3 is a total badass and Shepard's right hand.
The problem is...its hard to believe its the same character. They dont do a great job of explaining how she went from "naive archaeologist" in ME1 to elite information broker in ME2 in only 2 years.....especially given that Asari are supposed to develop slowly given they live until 1000 or so. Granted her basic personality is actually pretty unchanged just less naive but still if youd been dead 10 years instead of 2 it would be a lot more believable.
But if you can get past that (and the fact shes this high says I can) shes actually pretty cool. Shes the teams Biotic powerhouse for two of the games, and at least as far as animations the Biotic abilities are pretty cool looking compared to the tech abilities. Not to mention singularity (which only she and adapt Shepard learn) is pretty freaking useful.
The biggest downside with Liara though, is that shes clearly supposed to be your girlfriend. She's the one who bothered to track down your corpse after the opening of ME2, shes the one gave you to Cerberus because it might bring you back to life even if she kinda saw cerberus as bad, she made that sacrifice for you. At the end of ME3 she has that gift for you....which is the Asari mind meld thing and you two cuddling as you go into some unseen memory ect. Point is, given all she does for you in the games, and how clearly she has feeling for you.....you kinda feel a bit like a dick if you romance someone else. But at the end of the day even that speaks to how real and fleshed out her character is, shes definitely one of the least "1 dimensional" characters in the series, and very little question in my mind anyways that she's Shepards second in command by the end of ME3 (replacing miranda from ME2 and Kaidan (by rank anyways) in ME1)
#4 Garrus
This comparatively low ranking is likely going to shock people (especially if youve been keeping track of which ME1/3 character HASNT shown up yet) but I've never understood the big deal with Garrus.
Everyone says hes Shepard's best friend...but Ive never seen it. In fact, if anything he functions more like Shepard little brother. Consider, hes the only "moldable" character in the series....his personality is slightly darker or lighter based on the choices you make about his life, specifically letting him kill or spare Dr. Heart (in ME1) or Sidonis (in ME2). Now given you do have this ability to shape Garrus that makes him really freaking cool and one of the reasons I've put him this high on the list.
Still given that you cant fail his ME2 loyalty mission, he stays loyal to you no matter what, and given that his goal in ME3 seems to be to prove he's better than you at something (which you can give him by throwing the shooting contest), and is the only companion to drop everything and come running anytime you call (Tali always has to finish her own shit first) every thing about him screams little brother.
Still hes a pretty cool little brother....but that does raise a question....who is Shepard real best friend? Well in my opinion thats our next entry on the list
#3 Kaidan
This is another ranking thats going to SHOCK people....Kaidan is usually seen as pretty dull and bland, but I think this is a misconception.
Kaidan suffers ALOT because of some the design choices of Mass Effect. In ME1, you got more personality and dialogue out of the romance-able human squadmate....and since most players were Male, that was Ashley. By the same token, if players came to the series later in ME2 or ME3, the romance-able human was the one assumed to survive virmire....so again with a predominantly male player base, Kaidan was dead in the later games. On top of that, Sentinels are a very complex class to use, even as a squadmate in ME1, with him basically being equaled or outclassed in most areas by any other combination of squadmates biotic or tech abilities,
But, if you played as a female Shepard (which I did on my second playthrough) or used Kaidan in your squad regularly you'll get a lot more personality out of him. First his world view comes into much better focus....he realizes the world is imperfect, and everyone, including the alliance and Shepard can make mistakes, the trick is moving past them and learning from....like he had to do with the Turrian he killed at "brain camp" during his biotic training.
In fact, he seems to regularly disagree with Shepard in ME1, if you take him on the right missions...the only character to do so, though he always supports Shepard once the decisions been made.
Furthermore the role he/ashley play in ME2, where they have their fallout with Shepard over Cerberus works so much better with him than Ashley. He wont support you, but he DOES understand why you need to work with Cerberus.
Furthermore in ME3, given how much more angry Ashley would be than Kadian over Cerberus and his own belief in his fallibility, his decision to work with Shepard again, and trust him when they come to blows later makes much more sense.
Finally in ME3 you find out he even wound up with his own squad....who he trained properly in biotics so they didnt have to go through what he did when he was trained. So his character arc brings him full circle...from victimized kid, to the guy making sure the next time we do it right.
Also, lets be honest, the fact that the Sentinel class became AMAZING in ME3, and he's the only possible Sentinel works in his favor as well.
The one thing that does bug me about Kadian though was Biowares decision to make him bisexual. Now I have no problem with Bisexual characters (heck I dinged Jack a bit for NOT being bisexual, and I'm pretty sure my #1 character is bisexual, and while their not included here Cortez and Trayner are awesome) but the way they went about it SUCKED.
For starters in ME1, you find out most of Kaidans motivations at brain camp was cause of his huge crush on a girl...in fact thats why he killed the Turrian. Comments from him as you explore the citadel (namely Chora's Den) also point out his strong strong attraction to women. And at no point in ME1 or ME2 is their any hint at all he might be interested in men. In fact the only way you ever find out he's into men is if your man-shep decides to flirt with him while he's recovering in the hospital.
Meaning basically your Shepard has to decide, with no evidence to support it that your very injured friend isnt going to be taken aback if you randomly suddenly decide you want to bone him. Its made worse by the fact the initial flirt is inside a response that is summarized on the dialogue wheel as not appearing romantic at all. So its possible your straight man shep has just decided it would be a good idea to randomly hit on his hospitalized friend cause reasons
Thats not a situation I see going over well in real life. If Kaidan had been the one to make the first move that might have been a different story......but as it played out it stank of forcing a sexuality on to a character, albeit in the opposite direction they did with Jack in ME2.
Still for being the only character who makes a habit of giving his opinion because you need to hear it, even when he doesnt agree with you, and then realizing you need to make your own decision...and having the respect for you to follow your orders even when he outranks you (as he does in ME3), Kaidan Alenko totally screams "best friend" and/or boyfriend material.
#2 EDI
Oddly enough, EDI is both the best and worst thing about ME3.
She's the best because if you play though the game with an interest in characters and story, shes going to cause you major issues at the end of the game.
On the one hand, you can pick destroy....the option that accomplishes all your goals for 3 games, and kill the Reapers, but also kill EDI
On the other hand, you can pick Control/Synthesis, abandon everything youve been trying to do for 3 games, (and possibly if synthesis is picked, basically let the reapers win by making everything technoorganic) and kill yourself....but save EDI.
So the ending choice has more impact on her than any other character in the series
And if you care about EDI....this is a hell of a choice. Even if you dont....would a paragon sacrifice/murder a member of his crew to save the universe or abandon his mission? Would a renegade sacrifice himself for his crew? or would he turn down the ability to "beat the system" by taking over?
So she adds a nice complicating wrinkle into the game.
At the same time, shes the worst part of the game, because she disproves the entire freaking point of the Reapers.
At the end of the day the Reapers are the old troupe where "man"creates machine to protect "man", machine realizes that "man" greatest threat is "man" and so eliminates "man" to protect "man" from himself.
This is the cycle the starchild talks about...and most sci fi agrees this is the inevitable result.
Well except for EDI, she (and possibly the geth if they are still around) dont fit this cycle....in fact they disprove it, as they do manage to live side by side with organics and EDI is even programmed to protect Organics...her solution is to die herself as she mentions she would risk "non functionality" (or death) for Joker
So by breaking the trope, she kinda disproves the point of the game. So the Reapers go from classic Trope to bad programming...reducing there perception as a threat :/
Though overall as a character shes pretty good. Shes clearly the comedic relief of ME3 (and ME2 to some extent) as her humor develops and her interactions with both Shepard and Joker are fun to watch. Plus shes damn near impossible to kill in combat...so shes a great character to have around if your Shepard is a bit on the fragile side. And as I pointed out before, she successfully manages to humanize synthetics in a way legion tried (and failed in my opinion) to do in ME2....and I think without her in the game there would be no real reason not to chose destroy every time, so for basically being critical to the main decision of the game and making it difficult she has be one of my favorite characters.
#1 Mordin
Yet another character that makes no real sense. First off, its not clear WHY an alien would choose to work with Cerberus. Grunt has the "excuse" of being a newborn and not knowing any better, and its kinda believable that Samara might not have known anything about Cerberus either. Garrus and Tali meanwhile have existing relationships with Shepard, so its understandable why they would want to work with him. And Thane had a deathwish,
That said, at least it makes sense why Cerberus needs him.....they need him to protect against the collectors swarm tech and its side effects, and hes apparently the only one who can. This makes him unique among ALL ME2 characters (Shepard included) as he is the only one who MUST be on the mission and couldnt have hypothetically been replaced with anyone else in the universe. This is true to some degree for the other ME games as well. Kaiden/Ashley/Wrex/Garrus and Tali ar e all only really with you in ME1 because of being in the right place at the right time.....any 5 other people in the universe could have taken their places and helped the team equally as well. Same can be applied to James and Javik in ME3, and arguably EDI as well (though as she is your ship, its a bit hard to say she could have been replaced by anyone else unless you also gave up your ship and all its advances as well....and those do make a difference)
So yea, for being one of only two characters (liara in ME1 being the other) with a plot based reason for needing to be on the team, Mordin scores high marks in my eyes.
And the fact that he's also the comic relief, a smartass and manages to be interconnected to the entire galaxy (had sex with Aria T'loak (at least according to his journal in the citadel DLC) helped strengthen and then destroy the Korgan genophage, served under Captain Kirrahe) makes him incredibly interesting to bring anywhere really. Hell even if you dont use him at all his comments on your romance (especially if its cross species) in ME2 is hilarious....or even if you dont have a romance when he thinks that means your interested in him and he shoots you down (BTW, he does this if your male or female and seemingly not opposed to either, so I suppose he's ME's first openly bi male).
Plus hes got one of the best loyalty missions from a character perspective....watching him struggle to deal with what he did with the Genophage and watch the cracks in the wall of pride he'd put up around it as well as possibly evenually lay the groundwork to reverse his work (which eventually kills him) is amazing to see. I've played ME2 4 times now and every time the emotional journey Mordin takes in this mission plays a bit differently depending on how my Shepard feels about the Krogan and the Genophage...so its a great mission
It also helps his case that of all characters he gets the greatest and most detailed final send off/death in ME3.....though admittedly the "replacement character" who appears in ME3 is Mordin doesnt survive into that game may actually be better than Mordin so its worth killing him in ME2 as well.
But lets be honest, we all know what gave Mordin the real lead on this list was his singing skills.....just saying.
Also Im not immune to the irony that ME2 is my least favorite game in the series, ME2 characters made up the entire bottom half of this list....and yet a Mass Effect 2 character tops my list.
In order to qualify for this list said squad-mate has to be able to be a permanent member of your squad following their recruitment, so people like Cprl Jenkins, Wilson, and Admiral Anderson arnt included as they are only around in the intro level. Neither are Aria T'loak and Nyreen Kandros as they are only useable in ME3 Omega DLC. However, Zaeed, Kasumi and Javik are eligible as they can be used in the main game
Also, primary consideration is given to the squadmates role in games they are playable in....not games they appear in. Meaning for example, that Wrex is judged only on his appearance in ME1 not ME2 or ME3 where hes not playable, though events from ME2 or ME3 will be mentioned, they wont have much impact on his placement.
With all of that said, we are left with 20 possible squadmates over the 3 games, so lets count them down, from worst all the way to the best
#20 Morinth
Literally the worst character Bioware has ever created.....mostly because there is no reason to choose her and no payoff for doing so.
Ok so at the time you could recruit her, you would have to kill her mother Samara. Now while this was clearly intended as the "Renegade" choice, given Samara trying to be the Mass Effect version of a Paladin or Jedi, even for Renegades it doesnt make sense.
See at the time the two characters are attacking each other, Samara is already part of your party, going so far as to swear an oath to serve you, including total submission to you and accepting your moral code as her own until the end of the assignment.
So, even from a Renegade point of view, I have two equally powerful characters, one of whom suffers from a compulsion to murder people, and would (and can) murder me when given the chance. On the other hand I have a character who has sworn unquestioned loyalty to me, and who may want to kill me, but never will until I release her from my service (which presumably would never happen/arrange to have her die to avoid retribution) .
So why would I take the risk of killing the loyal one in exchange for the one whoes a threat? it doesnt make sense.
Oh, and even if somehow you do decide to take Morinth with you, her story consists of her pretending to be Samara, with exactly the same dialogue. Furthermore in Mass Effect 3, the only difference between her being alive in that game, or dying in ME2, is that a single Banshee enemy will have her name, there is no story arc, and its literally the easiest to miss appearance.
And none of this mentions the fact that unless you play pure renegade or paragon your not going to have enough morality points to recruit her in the first place....so shes a hidden shitty pointless character.
So yea, for creating a character that doesnt fit any of the RP options or mindsets of the PC, and basically forgetting about her in the next game, Morinth is well deserving of the bottom of the list.
#19 Samara
Though admittedly evem her own moral code is well, fucking weird. See this code is supposed to basically make her the personification of justice....though oddly enough, the only just punishment for all offenses appears to be death.
In fact in Mass Effect 3 she tries to (and can) kill herself as punishment for something.
And oh yea, the list of injustices itself is well, crazy. For example in ME2 your given 24 hours to find the clue she wants....otherwise her code commands that she kill a bunch of police officers. Cause you know, reasons.
Also remember when she swears that oath to you? she says "I can pick up my own mission later" and her loyalty mission is basically "oh shit I just realized I kinda cant wait to do my own mission cause my target is going to keep moving"......which should have been freaking obvious to her BEFORE she agreed to postpone it.
And one last thing, Samara is the only character in any of the mass effect games who will shoot you down if you try to romance her. Now having an NPC actually reject you is a pretty unique and cool idea, given the usual "fuck anyone you try to" philosophy of most games which is cool but not nearly enough to redeem her.
#18 Jacob
Jacob isnt particularly a bad character, the problem is, hes not a good one either. And he's boring as all hell, given that his personality is non-existent in Mass Effect 2, hes just kinda there. Also, hes like the least loyal person ever, at least if ME3 is anything to go on. Even if you didnt romance him, he wont rejoin with you, cause you know he's going to be a father soon.
Which might seem like a good reason....if your failing your mission means the complete and utter extinction of mankind, including the family he says he wants to protect. Cause you know that makes sense.
Well I suppose it does, as it is basically Jacob surrendering to his own inadequacies....again. Cause thats basically Jacobs story, joins something, is average at it, decides something else would be better, does that, is average again, rinse and repeat. And thats a damn sad and pathetic story....especially since he never overcomes it.
#17 Jack
Now yes, getting from the portrayal in ME2, to her portrayal in ME3 is believable, and would make for a pretty interesting character arc. Except that Bioware chose to show none of that....it all apparently happened in the period between ME2 and ME3, which is about 6 months.
And the second problem: Jack should have killed you on sight. As a child she was experimented on by Cerberus, the group your working for when you encounter her, and they are basically responsible for every fucked up thing in her life. Except according to her loyalty mission, maybe something was happening that she didnt know about.....but they never followed up. Also they never explain what makes her special at all really compared to everyone else they experimented on.
But at least when she first joins up the game gives some reason why she might not kill you on sight....doing so would cause her to die as you are the only way off the space station shes on thats falling apart. So clearly Jack doesnt have a death wish. Which is why she joins your team for a suicide mission. Wait what?
Seriously, for it to make sense for Jack to get on your ship in the first place, she should have gotten off it as soon as you made port somewhere. And given that, unless you romance her, your interactions with her basically end with her hating you, she clearly didnt stay out of loyalty.
Which brings up another minor point....holy hell does her default ME2 character skin SUCK. Seriously her top is just a belt over her boobs. I almost bought the alternate attire pack so she didnt have to look like this. As it is I just try to complete her loyalty mission ASAP so that she looks decent. Now her ME3 attire on the other hand is freaking awesome looking....but at the same time, its a testament to how bad her first attire was that was the only ME2 character to get new attire in ME3
Also, another minor quibble I have with Jack. Shes the only non-asari character in the entire game to say outright shes had sex with men and women or state she has neither a boyfriend or girlfriend. Yet shes only romanceable by men? furthermore you can also have a one night stand with her (resulting in her never talking to you again) but again you have to be male. Why? the character is bisexual. Or even if you want to Kinsey scale it, and claim she only wants a relationship with a man....shes clearly open to sex (as a form of exploitation at least) with women...so the one night stand thing should be open to all and the fact its not reeks of bad writing.
#16 Grunt
This, I imagine, was the conversation that led to the existence of Grunt. Cause yea, basically all Grunt is is Wrex when Wrex isnt available. Well except Wrex was all about defying the stereotypes of his race, while Grunt is the embodiment of all of them. Which makes him much less interesting. Basically all Grunt does is smash things, while complain about wanting to eat.
Furthermore, Grunt was never really supposed to be on your team. You found him when you were sent to recruit the man who created him Okeer. And Okeer's role on the team was supposed to be his familarity with the Collectors you are trying to find, and presumably his scientific know-how in combination with Mordin Solus'.
But Okeer dies, and your left with Grunt...who knows nothing of those things. In fact when you meet Grunt he's in suspended animation in the tank in which he was born. But you can choose to open the tank if you want, and even keep Grunt around...despite having no purpose or reason to do so, except that you want to...and seeing as how Cerberus is anti alien normally, its kinda unclear why they let you keep Grunt anyways.
Also what in the blue hell does it mean to be "pure krogan" This is never explained. Also they tend to call Grunt a "clone" if you pick renegade responses as opposed to "tank born"...though they also use the two terms interchangeably....point is, if Grunts a clone who's he a clone of? Okeer? again never said.
#15 Legion
So why is he this low? because he doesnt become available until the very end of ME2 and hes not playable in ME3. As in as soon as Legion is recruited, your crew gets kidnapped, and you have just enough time to do his loyalty mission before you have to go after them (or risk half of them dying). And if your like most people, by simple necessity (IE ensure loyalties and avoid deaths), you did all the other available missions before the mission where you meet Legion. So its not like you ever really get to interact with him, he might as well be an NPC, which is why he's so low on this list.
This wasnt the original plan either. Originally Bioware wanted you to be able to recruit everyone in any order, and hidden dialogues for Legion in other characters recruitment missions confirm this. But then ME3 got too big to fit on one disc, and Legion was banished to Disc 2 (along with Thane, Samara and Tali)...and then further held up by the storyline until a specific point, which when mixed with the fact you pretty much HAVE to start the end game right after his introduction to get the best ending basically took the legs out from under his character.
Had he had more time or more involvement in ME2, theres a decent chance he'd be topping this list as the "robot outsider who doesnt get organics" roll can be played pretty well...as EDI proved in the next game, and he was funny in the very limited time he had.
#14 Thane
So we get a moody, emotionally unavailable, killer brooding over the death of his love, with a wonky explanation as to how all the people he killed werent really his fault and how hes really a peace lover.
And oh yea, hes going to die real soon.
So yea, heres your sex symbol ladies, chronically depressed and predestined to end badly.
Also, what part of Shepards mission requires an assassin? Like almost everyone else has a role that can kinda be justified: Tali and Garrus as the "familar faces" for shepard, Jacob and Miranda as heads the Cerberus crew, Mordin and Okeer (remember Okeer was the intended crew member Shepard was supposed to recruit and not Grunt) were supposed to be science and also familiarity with the collectors, Jack and Samara are the powerhouses in case shit hits the fan (though both of them characterwise dont really make sense unless we assume TIM knew Samara's Code would be easy to manipulate and that Jack could illogically stick around), and Legion (and Grunts) recruitment were not planned.
Yet Thane's was. But it never clear what he provides to the ship. The whole rest of the crew operates on the assumption when they fly through the relay there is going to be some thing the ship needs to blow up or attack. So what good is an assassin in that situation? And if they had been expecting a massive land invasion, they'd have brought an army....so whats a single assassin going to do?
I cant justify any reason at all for Thane to be needed on the team. And that means he has to be considered a failure as a character. And actually given that it appears the Drell will NOT be returning a species in Mass Effect Andromeda, it seems Thane might be considered a failure as the playable representation of a species.
However I rate him higher than Thane for a few of reasons. Mainly he's an unrepentant immoral ass.....which makes him a better fit personality wise, as someone willing to work with TIM and Cerberus. And he's human....again something the anti alien Cerberus would likely prefer. So yea, he does whatever Thane's job is supposed to be, and in a manner preferred by Cerberus.
In fact, I believe had Zaeed been in the original game and not DLC, its highly likely Thane wouldnt have been created. Heck in a perfect world, give Zaeed Jacobs job and save us from two shit characters
#12 Javik
And alot of that is because, honestly he's just disappointing. Taking Javik and Liara with you on Priority: Thessia may be one of the most interesting and fun bits of banter of any mission in the trilogy.
But beyond that (and other cut scenes with Liara) Javik is pretty much a one note character with ever comment showing his disdain for "Primitive's" or talking about "in my cycle" or both. And that's really all there is too him.
#11 Kasumi
But theres a problem. Strength of personality and fun missions only gets you so far. Then we hit the same problem Thane and Zaeed ran into. Which is, if I cant justify or find a role for an assassin or bounty hunter, I damn sure have no idea what in the holy hell a thief is supposed to add to this mission.
In fact, Kasumi is the only character in ME3 who, when she turns you down as far as rejoining, my first thought was "of course your not going to join me....you had no business joining up in the first place".
Its kinda a shame, with a different background (say making her a scientist or pilot) more obviously critical in ME2, shed likely be a lot higher on the list.
Also, its a total fluke all 3 DLC characters came in one after the other...but at least Biowares consistent on the quality :P
Now some of this is likely due to the fact he could possibly die on Virmire (and likley does if you didnt know in advance to have either a high charm/intimidate skill or his family armor), and didnt even have to be recruited at all.
So he seems to have been mostly envisioned as a possible "shock value" kill on Virmire (not that it needed it).
Now yes in ME2 and ME3 his arc comes full circle and hes actually got one of the better character arcs of any character in the series...but again by this point hes completely an NPC (again due to the likelihood he didnt survivie Virmire) so i dont want to credit him too much for those games.....even though on an overall characters list (not just companions) he'd rank much higher.
#9 Miranda
However shes as low as she is on this list for a reason: Her defection from Cerberus at the end of the game makes no sense. Consider, when you first meet her, she shoots a man in cold blood because she assumes hes a traitor, though this is never confirmed at any point in the game. We also discover though the course of both this game and her cameo's in the citadel DLC that shes happy to lie or mislead you, yet she supposedly defects from Cerberus at the end of ME2 cause they mislead the Normandy a couple times.
Given that shes been in Cerberus for most of her life, she either was never paying attention to anything ever before, or this flat out doesnt make sense. And the fact she gets a larger role than almost any other character, including the playable ones in ME3, and still isnt playable, despite also being possibly the only sentinel squad mate (assuming Kaidan died on Virmire) is kinda obnoxious.(not going to lie, if she was playable in ME3, I think she might have broken into the top 5)
On the upside, since shes Cerberus at least she has a reason to be on Shepards ship...making her one of the few characters with a reason to be there (equally true for Jacob I suppose though his lower profile roll held him down much father)
#8 Ashley
However, after ME1, she becomes MUCH MUCH less complex. For starters her refusal to side with you in ME2 doesnt really fit her character....especially if she was your lover. Ashley's entire thing in ME1 was about loyalty to Shepard, not specifically the alliance as he was the one who got past the fact she was a Williams. Then in ME3 she randomly becomes a drunk......based solely on a single line in ME1 where she mentions having a drink on a day of remembrance....this now qualifies as "being a drunk"
Also as far as a ME1 to ME3 makeover, consider in Mass Effect 1, Ashleys "default" appearance is full armor....compared to say every other woman who defaults to a skinsuit (at least on the character selection screen). In fact Ashley is the ONLY female character in the entire series to get full armor on her inital appearance .
Well at least until ME3 rolled around and she suddenly had full lips, eye shadow and a Miniskirt with some small elements of armor here and there. Total backslide.
In summery, honestly if you want the best out of Ashley, leave her to die on Virmire, its all downhill from there for her anyways. In fact, if she had been the default Virmire casuality and never appeared in ME2 or ME3, shed likely rank a few points higher.
#7 Tali
That said, if I'm being honest, I could have done with her being an NPC in ME3, she joins a bit too late in that game to have any impact beyond the missions on her own home world. In fact, if given a choice, simply for gameplay reasons I'd trade her redundant [with EDI] engineer class for Miranda, if for no other reason that to have a Sentinel no matter who died on Virmire.
Also worth noting, in my opinion Tali's best outing is ME2, shes an adult now, confident and riding high off the fame she got from Shepard...until her loyalty mission turns her life upside down, and yet there no matter what the outcome, she shows the strength of character to either clear her fathers name no matter the cost or learn that perception is more important than reality....which feed right into her admiral or exile status and how she deals with them in ME3
#6 Vega
And yes, often times he comes across as in over his head and overwhelmed or lost with whats going on....but thats also the point. It helps to have an occasional reminder as to how massive the stakes really are, especially for a player likely jaded to the whole "universe destroying reaper" idea after 3 games. Plus, in game hes actually the only playable character who hadnt been in both of the other games (technically EDI is in ME1 as an enemy)...and therefore is totally new to this (and while the DLC exclusive Javik is also a newcomer, hes coming from another war again the reapers)
Finally, his method of "fixing things" when assigned too, and his conversation in the mess hall with Garrus have to be a couple of my favorite moments in ME 3
#5 Liara
The problem is...its hard to believe its the same character. They dont do a great job of explaining how she went from "naive archaeologist" in ME1 to elite information broker in ME2 in only 2 years.....especially given that Asari are supposed to develop slowly given they live until 1000 or so. Granted her basic personality is actually pretty unchanged just less naive but still if youd been dead 10 years instead of 2 it would be a lot more believable.
But if you can get past that (and the fact shes this high says I can) shes actually pretty cool. Shes the teams Biotic powerhouse for two of the games, and at least as far as animations the Biotic abilities are pretty cool looking compared to the tech abilities. Not to mention singularity (which only she and adapt Shepard learn) is pretty freaking useful.
The biggest downside with Liara though, is that shes clearly supposed to be your girlfriend. She's the one who bothered to track down your corpse after the opening of ME2, shes the one gave you to Cerberus because it might bring you back to life even if she kinda saw cerberus as bad, she made that sacrifice for you. At the end of ME3 she has that gift for you....which is the Asari mind meld thing and you two cuddling as you go into some unseen memory ect. Point is, given all she does for you in the games, and how clearly she has feeling for you.....you kinda feel a bit like a dick if you romance someone else. But at the end of the day even that speaks to how real and fleshed out her character is, shes definitely one of the least "1 dimensional" characters in the series, and very little question in my mind anyways that she's Shepards second in command by the end of ME3 (replacing miranda from ME2 and Kaidan (by rank anyways) in ME1)
#4 Garrus
Everyone says hes Shepard's best friend...but Ive never seen it. In fact, if anything he functions more like Shepard little brother. Consider, hes the only "moldable" character in the series....his personality is slightly darker or lighter based on the choices you make about his life, specifically letting him kill or spare Dr. Heart (in ME1) or Sidonis (in ME2). Now given you do have this ability to shape Garrus that makes him really freaking cool and one of the reasons I've put him this high on the list.
Still given that you cant fail his ME2 loyalty mission, he stays loyal to you no matter what, and given that his goal in ME3 seems to be to prove he's better than you at something (which you can give him by throwing the shooting contest), and is the only companion to drop everything and come running anytime you call (Tali always has to finish her own shit first) every thing about him screams little brother.
Still hes a pretty cool little brother....but that does raise a question....who is Shepard real best friend? Well in my opinion thats our next entry on the list
#3 Kaidan
Kaidan suffers ALOT because of some the design choices of Mass Effect. In ME1, you got more personality and dialogue out of the romance-able human squadmate....and since most players were Male, that was Ashley. By the same token, if players came to the series later in ME2 or ME3, the romance-able human was the one assumed to survive virmire....so again with a predominantly male player base, Kaidan was dead in the later games. On top of that, Sentinels are a very complex class to use, even as a squadmate in ME1, with him basically being equaled or outclassed in most areas by any other combination of squadmates biotic or tech abilities,
But, if you played as a female Shepard (which I did on my second playthrough) or used Kaidan in your squad regularly you'll get a lot more personality out of him. First his world view comes into much better focus....he realizes the world is imperfect, and everyone, including the alliance and Shepard can make mistakes, the trick is moving past them and learning from....like he had to do with the Turrian he killed at "brain camp" during his biotic training.
In fact, he seems to regularly disagree with Shepard in ME1, if you take him on the right missions...the only character to do so, though he always supports Shepard once the decisions been made.
Furthermore the role he/ashley play in ME2, where they have their fallout with Shepard over Cerberus works so much better with him than Ashley. He wont support you, but he DOES understand why you need to work with Cerberus.
Furthermore in ME3, given how much more angry Ashley would be than Kadian over Cerberus and his own belief in his fallibility, his decision to work with Shepard again, and trust him when they come to blows later makes much more sense.
Finally in ME3 you find out he even wound up with his own squad....who he trained properly in biotics so they didnt have to go through what he did when he was trained. So his character arc brings him full circle...from victimized kid, to the guy making sure the next time we do it right.
Also, lets be honest, the fact that the Sentinel class became AMAZING in ME3, and he's the only possible Sentinel works in his favor as well.
The one thing that does bug me about Kadian though was Biowares decision to make him bisexual. Now I have no problem with Bisexual characters (heck I dinged Jack a bit for NOT being bisexual, and I'm pretty sure my #1 character is bisexual, and while their not included here Cortez and Trayner are awesome) but the way they went about it SUCKED.
For starters in ME1, you find out most of Kaidans motivations at brain camp was cause of his huge crush on a girl...in fact thats why he killed the Turrian. Comments from him as you explore the citadel (namely Chora's Den) also point out his strong strong attraction to women. And at no point in ME1 or ME2 is their any hint at all he might be interested in men. In fact the only way you ever find out he's into men is if your man-shep decides to flirt with him while he's recovering in the hospital.
Meaning basically your Shepard has to decide, with no evidence to support it that your very injured friend isnt going to be taken aback if you randomly suddenly decide you want to bone him. Its made worse by the fact the initial flirt is inside a response that is summarized on the dialogue wheel as not appearing romantic at all. So its possible your straight man shep has just decided it would be a good idea to randomly hit on his hospitalized friend cause reasons
Thats not a situation I see going over well in real life. If Kaidan had been the one to make the first move that might have been a different story......but as it played out it stank of forcing a sexuality on to a character, albeit in the opposite direction they did with Jack in ME2.
Still for being the only character who makes a habit of giving his opinion because you need to hear it, even when he doesnt agree with you, and then realizing you need to make your own decision...and having the respect for you to follow your orders even when he outranks you (as he does in ME3), Kaidan Alenko totally screams "best friend" and/or boyfriend material.
#2 EDI
Oddly enough, EDI is both the best and worst thing about ME3.
She's the best because if you play though the game with an interest in characters and story, shes going to cause you major issues at the end of the game.
On the one hand, you can pick destroy....the option that accomplishes all your goals for 3 games, and kill the Reapers, but also kill EDI
On the other hand, you can pick Control/Synthesis, abandon everything youve been trying to do for 3 games, (and possibly if synthesis is picked, basically let the reapers win by making everything technoorganic) and kill yourself....but save EDI.
So the ending choice has more impact on her than any other character in the series
And if you care about EDI....this is a hell of a choice. Even if you dont....would a paragon sacrifice/murder a member of his crew to save the universe or abandon his mission? Would a renegade sacrifice himself for his crew? or would he turn down the ability to "beat the system" by taking over?
So she adds a nice complicating wrinkle into the game.
At the same time, shes the worst part of the game, because she disproves the entire freaking point of the Reapers.
At the end of the day the Reapers are the old troupe where "man"creates machine to protect "man", machine realizes that "man" greatest threat is "man" and so eliminates "man" to protect "man" from himself.
This is the cycle the starchild talks about...and most sci fi agrees this is the inevitable result.
Well except for EDI, she (and possibly the geth if they are still around) dont fit this cycle....in fact they disprove it, as they do manage to live side by side with organics and EDI is even programmed to protect Organics...her solution is to die herself as she mentions she would risk "non functionality" (or death) for Joker
So by breaking the trope, she kinda disproves the point of the game. So the Reapers go from classic Trope to bad programming...reducing there perception as a threat :/
Though overall as a character shes pretty good. Shes clearly the comedic relief of ME3 (and ME2 to some extent) as her humor develops and her interactions with both Shepard and Joker are fun to watch. Plus shes damn near impossible to kill in combat...so shes a great character to have around if your Shepard is a bit on the fragile side. And as I pointed out before, she successfully manages to humanize synthetics in a way legion tried (and failed in my opinion) to do in ME2....and I think without her in the game there would be no real reason not to chose destroy every time, so for basically being critical to the main decision of the game and making it difficult she has be one of my favorite characters.
#1 Mordin
Yet another character that makes no real sense. First off, its not clear WHY an alien would choose to work with Cerberus. Grunt has the "excuse" of being a newborn and not knowing any better, and its kinda believable that Samara might not have known anything about Cerberus either. Garrus and Tali meanwhile have existing relationships with Shepard, so its understandable why they would want to work with him. And Thane had a deathwish,
That said, at least it makes sense why Cerberus needs him.....they need him to protect against the collectors swarm tech and its side effects, and hes apparently the only one who can. This makes him unique among ALL ME2 characters (Shepard included) as he is the only one who MUST be on the mission and couldnt have hypothetically been replaced with anyone else in the universe. This is true to some degree for the other ME games as well. Kaiden/Ashley/Wrex/Garrus and Tali ar e all only really with you in ME1 because of being in the right place at the right time.....any 5 other people in the universe could have taken their places and helped the team equally as well. Same can be applied to James and Javik in ME3, and arguably EDI as well (though as she is your ship, its a bit hard to say she could have been replaced by anyone else unless you also gave up your ship and all its advances as well....and those do make a difference)
So yea, for being one of only two characters (liara in ME1 being the other) with a plot based reason for needing to be on the team, Mordin scores high marks in my eyes.
And the fact that he's also the comic relief, a smartass and manages to be interconnected to the entire galaxy (had sex with Aria T'loak (at least according to his journal in the citadel DLC) helped strengthen and then destroy the Korgan genophage, served under Captain Kirrahe) makes him incredibly interesting to bring anywhere really. Hell even if you dont use him at all his comments on your romance (especially if its cross species) in ME2 is hilarious....or even if you dont have a romance when he thinks that means your interested in him and he shoots you down (BTW, he does this if your male or female and seemingly not opposed to either, so I suppose he's ME's first openly bi male).
Plus hes got one of the best loyalty missions from a character perspective....watching him struggle to deal with what he did with the Genophage and watch the cracks in the wall of pride he'd put up around it as well as possibly evenually lay the groundwork to reverse his work (which eventually kills him) is amazing to see. I've played ME2 4 times now and every time the emotional journey Mordin takes in this mission plays a bit differently depending on how my Shepard feels about the Krogan and the Genophage...so its a great mission
It also helps his case that of all characters he gets the greatest and most detailed final send off/death in ME3.....though admittedly the "replacement character" who appears in ME3 is Mordin doesnt survive into that game may actually be better than Mordin so its worth killing him in ME2 as well.
But lets be honest, we all know what gave Mordin the real lead on this list was his singing skills.....just saying.
Also Im not immune to the irony that ME2 is my least favorite game in the series, ME2 characters made up the entire bottom half of this list....and yet a Mass Effect 2 character tops my list.
Comments
Post a Comment