Mass Effect 2...Little Late.

[DrgoFx]

So yeah, I actually JUST NOW got my hands on Mass Effect 2. I wanted it for Christmas so I could get Mass Effect 3 for my birthday since it comes out around then.

Now with that established, I have a question to ask. Back when the game first came out, I heard a lot of guys like Miranda and a lot of girls hated Jacob. My close friend that loves the franchise and has pre-order both games told me she hated Jacob and likes Miranda somewhat.

I hate Miranda, I hate her so much. She's too overly confident for me, nothing about her strikes me as appealing. Jacob, where as I wouldn't say he's a guy every girl should date, he's a nice guy. He feels a lot like Garrus to me; someone that wants to do good but needs the right direction.

I had mix feelings with Ashley and Kaidan. I didn't like Kaidan all that much, and Ashley, like Jacob, I didn't find dating material but I didn't really hate her. I related to Ashley a lot since I was a navy brat growing up, but I grew up off of military base, not in it. I interact with the culture of the countries I was in, half the time I get along with foreigners more than I do with Americans. But at the same time, some of the things she said were really just absurd and I had to pause for a moment and try to see things from her perspective.

The basic thing I'm bringing to discussion is of the human Mass Effect squad members in both games. What is everyone's opinion of them? Do you like them? Hate them? I'm not bringing the aliens into perspective because I feel they're talked about enough, no matter who you are you like the aliens a tad bit.

 

[number2301]

One question, how far through are you? Miranda becomes a lot more sympathetic later on the game while Jacob remains relentlessly dull despite having one of the best loyalty missions.

I didn't have a problem with Miranda at all, there is a reason for how she is. Jack on the other hand, what is the deal with her outfit?

From me1, Ashley was a massive racist, but kaiden was so so dull. Why didn't I let kaiden die

 

[DrgoFx]

This is my opinion: The characters Jacob and Kaidan aren't dull, just over shadowed by the alien crew members. Jacob I find, thus far, to be just the average guy. I see many of his points, and they are good in fact. Miranda has yet to grow on me and Jack is just nutso crazy. Lots of fun with Jack. In the first game, though, I partied a lot with Wrex and Tali especially after what happened with Wrex on the cloning facility. Also, Wrex and Shepard talking is funny. "Wrex." "Shepard." "Wrex." "Shepard."

 

[Vrex360]

Ashley is, and always has been, one of my favorite characters in Mass Effect. She was the one I romanced in the first game and I stuck by her in the second. I can't really explain what it was that I liked about her, save for that I just like tough sassy women and that Ashley really did feel like a full and complete human being with all the flaws associated with it.
Do I always agree with her? Of course not, but I like the fact that unlike most stories where a character is either unambiguously perfect or unambiguously evil, that Ashley was able to just be a person. She had perfections and imperfections.
Hence why Horizon just pissed me off so much, Bioware completely mishandled the character in a way that made both her and Shepard look incredibly dumb (Shepard acts like an unemotional block of wood and Ashley into a petrified shrieking harpie) and after that only an email to even acknowledge that she even existed in the first place.
If you ask me, it was a really unfair way to treat the character. Still, I have reason to be hopeful that Mass Effect 3 will be more respectful towards her and other characters (I have some of the leaked dialogues from the leaked script).

All I know is, the main reason I am even interested in Mass Effect 3 is getting closure with the characters I've grown fond of and 'get a happy resolution to my romance with Ashley' is a big part of that.
It's been a long and bumpy road, me and Ash, but it's almost at an end and I can see light at the other end of the tunnel. The reason screenshot of Ashley wearing armor gave me reason and hope that Bioware hadn't completely forgotten that Ashley had presence beyond just being a sex symbol. Then the more recent 'reading of the Horizon letters' finally at least gave me a voice to imagine behind the otherwise barren text I recieved.
Whatever the case, Ashley is one of the absolute most favorite characters and I'm looking forward to the resolution of what has been a very long and frustrating road to get to the sweet resolution.

As far as the other humans go, well, I believe there might be some truth in the argument that because they aren't 'cool aliens' people are liable to overlook them in favor of Garrus and Wrex and such. But then again, there are still a few that are monumentally popular. Personally I also quite like Jack and if it weren't for Ashley, she'd be my preferred love interest. As a side note, like you too I dislike Miranda.
Can't put my finger on it, I suspect that the constant T&A shots were a factor in that respect. No better way to rob a character of her dignity then to show exploitative and repeated shots of her ass while she's talking about her sister's life being in danger. But frankly even after that point, I tried to get to know her but nothing clicked. Plus, like I said before, I was dead set on sticking with Ashley.

As far as the others, I liked Kaidan well enough but I still had to sacrifice him for the sake of Ashley. I also had some degree of respect for Jacob though this could largely be due to pity and I'm willing to give this new fellow James Vega a chance though I suspect as far as 'surrogate male best friend' goes, mine will still be Garrus.

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

I actually like Jacob a bit. He's the only "normal" person on board the ship. His loyalty isn't some contrived revenge plot or maniac plan to destroy a facility, he's finding out the truth of what happened to his father. Of course, his abilities are useless, but he's still the most relatable character for me.

 

[DrgoFx]

I actually like Jacob a bit. He's the only "normal" person on board the ship. His loyalty isn't some contrived revenge plot or maniac plan to destroy a facility, he's finding out the truth of what happened to his father. Of course, his abilities are useless, but he's still the most relatable character for me.

This pretty much sums up Jacob for me. I don't think he's the greatest character, but he's certainly one of the most normal, and I think that's why so many people over look him, he's normal. I live in Barbados right now due to my father's job, I head to college in 2013 but the marines here, a lot of them are like Jacob.

 

[soren7550]

In short, my feelings on the human squadmates are as follows:
Kaidan - Love him. He's probably my favorite character in the series.
Ashley - Initially I hated her, but after a few playthroughs, I liked her a bit more. Still always Virmire'd her ass though.
Miranda - Does come off as un-likable at first, but she became my most often used squaddie and one of my favorite characters in ME2, esp. after I took her with me to destroy the Collector Base.
Jacob - Didn't like him. Just came off as bland to me. Also didn't like how every time I'd talk to him, Shep used a sexy voice.

 

[Encentrik]

My view is that since we're humans ourselves, we tend to gravitate towards the Alien species more because not only do we know nothing about them when we first play but they're new and interesting. Jacob, as others have pointed out, is an everyman but in a galaxy full of amazing creatures that ends up being dull. Miranda, on the other hand, as the game progresses becomes one of the more interesting human characters due to her past dealing with her father and what she's done to be emotionally detached from the world.

On the topic of Ashley and Kaiden; Ashley was never that interesting to me, Kaiden, however, was. A bit of role reversal but Kaiden always struck me as more interesting due to the problems of "Brain camp" that he had to endue to me an L2. Not to mention his voice actor always reminds me of Carth Onasi from KOTOR. Ashley, as racist as she may be, is just like Jacob in terms of blandness. She's a human, by the books Navy brat; nothing really interesting there aside from a few funny family stories. Take that against someone like Garrus, who has a history of being an officer who was sick of the red-tape and Wrex, a Krogan who had to kill his own father, and you'll understand why I like the aliens a lot more than the humans.

 

[Zhukov]

Heh, welcome to the club.

As for my oh-so-very-important opinions on the human crew members...

Kaiden and Jacob: Meh. They're nice enough guys and generally likable. But they get totally overshadowed by the collection of badasses, cuties, psychos and head cases.

Ashley: I like her. She's not a favourite, but I think she's a very solid and well defined character. Never understood the whole racist (speciest?) thing. She's mistrustful, not racist. Although I never took her on missions, so maybe she only starts KKKing it up out in the field.

Miranda: Ehhhh... I found her to be way too pandering, and no, not because of the outfit and arse-shots (didn't even notice that until that once screenshot started doing the rounds). It was the whole, "Hi, I am literally the perfect woman, feel sorry for me, and now I want to sleep with you." However, she did gain some serious sympathy during her loyalty mission.

Zaeed: The only Mass Effect character I am unable to like. They just tried way to hard to establish him as a badass ("Oh hey, did I mention that time I took down an armoured Krogan with my bare hands? Badass I tell you, BAD. ASS.") Also, his loyalty mission was incredibly corny.

Kasumi: A rather simple and one dimensional character, but she makes up for it by being entertaining. Plus, her mission actually has an emotional sting in the tail.

Jack: Ah, poor Jack. Cops so much hate. I think she's a great character. Just wish they could have given her a tank top or something instead of that ridiculous leather boob-strap.

 

[Lilani]

So yeah, I actually JUST NOW got my hands on Mass Effect 2. I wanted it for Christmas so I could get Mass Effect 3 for my birthday since it comes out around then.

Don't worry, I'm exactly the same boat. I just got ME2 today as well I'm even more behind, though--I went on Steam today and also bought ME1, so I could know what the hell is going on whenever I get around to installing ME2. Hopefully I can have them both finished by...this time next year-ish. I am very behind with modern games and my ability to make progress is being further hindered every semester by classes. So worry not! There's no shame in being behind! We get to enjoy the same games everybody eles does, but CHEAPER!

 

[Vault101]

.

here's my veiw on it...

I always found jacob bland..more so than kaiden,even after many playthrough's...he's still so..boring, I cant quite figure out why

I didnt mind kaiden, I think perhaps he is more interesting than Jacob because you sort of get to know him,and what it was like adjusting to being a Biotic....in fact now all I can think of in regards to Jacob is "my dad was kind of distant..I joined cerberus because they get shit done"....thats it

Ashley I like...even though she gets Hate..I have never kept her alive for a full playthrough though (on my to do list) because Ive alwaus romanced Kaiden, I actually woulnt call her "racist" just at first, a little distrustful, and I think she gets over that

Jack always annoyed be becaused I could never "fix" her

Mirranda...is a *****, but I dont dislike her (and as others have said) she does have a human side...she may be "perfect" but she's not shepard

I liked Kasumi...but you cant interacting with her like you can the others because she is DLC...which is a shame because she would have been a great team member

Kaiden always struck me as more interesting due to the problems of "Brain camp" that he had to endue to me an L2. Not to mention his voice actor always reminds me of Carth Onasi from KOTOR.

I thourght he WAS Carth from KOTOR...after playing KOTOR for the first time Kaiden now strikes me as "Carth 2.0"

 

[krazykidd]

I let ashley die , i hated the ***** . Plus she killed my wrex ,***** had it coming . Kaidan was boring as hell. I played as a female shepard so i ended up doing jacob. Plus jacob is black so he gets bonus points ( dem abs bro , wish i had abs like that ). Jack was awsome because she was batshit crazy , wouldn't have known she was a woman if they didn't tell me . Anyways ain't nobody got jack on jack.

OH And miranda , i HATED miranda , smug spoiled overachiever , i hate those kinda people in real life , i had NO sympathy for her.

 

[Vault101]

I let ashley die , i hated the ***** . Plus she killed my wrex ,***** had it coming . Kaidan was boring as hell. I played as a female shepard so i ended up doing jacob. Plus jacob is black so he gets bonus points ( dem abs bro , wish i had abs like that ). Jack was awsome because she was batshit crazy , wouldn't have known she was a woman if they didn't tell me . Anyways ain't nobody got jack on jack.

OH And miranda , i HATED miranda , smug spoiled overachiever , i hate those kinda people in real life , i had NO sympathy for her.

dont YOU give the order to take down wrex? I mean obviously if you dont have the points to talk him down mabye...but..yeah

 

[Encentrik]

.

here's my veiw on it...

I always found jacob bland..more so than kaiden,even after many playthrough's...he's still so..boring, I cant quite figure out why

I didnt mind kaiden, I think perhaps he is more interesting than Jacob because you sort of get to know him,and what it was like adjusting to being a Biotic....in fact now all I can think of in regards to Jacob is "my dad was kind of distant..I joined cerberus because they get shit done"....thats it

Ashley I like...even though she gets Hate..I have never kept her alive for a full playthrough though (on my to do list) because Ive alwaus romanced Kaiden, I actually woulnt call her "racist" just at first, a little distrustful, and I think she gets over that

Jack always annoyed be becaused I could never "fix" her

Mirranda...is a *****, but I dont dislike her (and as others have said) she does have a human side...she may be "perfect" but she's not shepard

I liked Kasumi...but you cant interacting with her like you can the others because she is DLC...which is a shame because she would have been a great team member

Kaiden always struck me as more interesting due to the problems of "Brain camp" that he had to endue to me an L2. Not to mention his voice actor always reminds me of Carth Onasi from KOTOR.

I thourght he WAS Carth from KOTOR...after playing KOTOR for the first time Kaiden now strikes me as "Carth 2.0"

That's what I meant; as in he always reminds me of Carth because it's the same Voice actor :3

And Vault101: She kills him if you end up pissing him off through your choices and you don't put him down.

 

[Sixcess]

Most of the human squadmates bored me - it felt like the only reason they were there was to be the Default Male Romance Option and the Default Female Romance Option. Jacob was meh, Kaiden was bleh, Miranda was...alright I suppose. Eye Candy at least. And then there's Ashley the Space Republican...

I'd give them all up for my favourite human character - Kelly Chambers. At least she wasn't constantly pestering me to do a loyalty mission.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Did you play Mass Effect 1 and if so, who did you end up with? I ask because...

*spoiler*

...It seems heavily implied that if you were with Liara in ME1 you can get back together with her in ME3. You just have to put off romantic entanglements in 2 (or pony up for Shadowbroker). Otherwise, I thought Jacob was cool for a human but not for a romantic partner. One of my playthroughs I ended up with Tali but for the most part I stayed true to Liara.

 

[maxmanrules]

One question, how far through are you? Miranda becomes a lot more sympathetic later on the game while Jacob remains relentlessly dull despite having one of the best loyalty missions.

I didn't have a problem with Miranda at all, there is a reason for how she is. Jack on the other hand, what is the deal with her outfit?

From me1, Ashley was a massive racist, but kaiden was so so dull. Why didn't I let kaiden die

I got the collectors edition of the game (what a god-damned awful pun THAT turned out to be)
It has a little artbook, and it says her tatoos are meant to represent her past or something. The other outfits for her were worse though. And yeah, its bloody bizarre, but it suits her.

 

[DustyDrB]

Kaiden: No strong feelings about him. He provides a window into the history of human biotics. He helps enrich the universe in that way, so I'm glad he's there if just for that.

Ashley: Great character, as evidenced by how polarizing she is (the discussions about Ashley may get repetitive, but I think the points for each side are good). She distrustful of other races. She and her family are accustomed to having to prove themselves and to be wary of others. Is she actually racist? I think it's hard to say.

Joker: No, he's not a part of the ground team, but he's almost as well developed as a character as some fan-favorites. He's a joy to speak with, especially in ME2.

Jack: Most of her conversations in ME2 have to do with how "bad" she is. But I always felt like she had potential to be more than that, so I'm glad to see her return in ME3. As a character, she shows how irresponsible and outright evil Cerberus can be. You could have learned that lesson in the first game by doing two different series of side quests (the Kahoku quest line and the "colony of the dead" quest line). But Jack's story reveals this in a more personal way.

Kasumi: It might be a case of "the allure of the unknown", but I really wanted to have actual conversations with Kasumi on the Normandy. I love her voice actress, and she seems to have the potential to be a good, complex character (if maybe a little cliched: The thief with a heart of gold). I hope she returns in a bigger role.

Zaeed: He's an 80's action hero. There isn't much more to him than that. Kinda boring.

Jacob: He's a human version of Garrus. I like him, though he's far from a favorite. He seems like the one a Paragon Shepard would most likely be an actual friend with.

Miranda: Her "I'm perfect" speeches can grate on you a bit, but I still like Miranda as a character. She's a tool for the Illusive Man and is blinded to that fact (even after the end to ME2 if you make the big Paragon choice, I wouldn't be surprised to find Miranda again at the side of the Illusive Man again championing his cause). You love to hate her, and that can be a good quality in a character.

 

[Smeggs]

-snip-

Mine was the exact opposite.

I hated Miranda because she was a self-absorbed ***** who was more focused on her human flaws than her genetic enhancements. I could've accepted it were she just a cold and calculating woman, but no, she had an attitude on her.

Jacob was a bro. Until I finally decided to download Zaeed I used him for probably a third of the missions in the game along with Garrus (Then it was Zaeed and Garrus; space-lion bro, and I couldn't get enough of Zaeed's rugged MAN-PUNCH attitude).

Ashley was a racist ****. If I had seen the cutscene of how she killed Wrex with a smile on her face before I would've easily chosen Kaiden over her. Only reason I didn't was because at the time Kaiden had shown about as much emotion as a wooden plank with a face on it. And of course then in ME2 you get to Horizon and she's all like, "DURR IM NOT GUNNA LISSEN 2 U, SIRBURRUS IS EE-VILL AND I DUNN WANNA HEAR YOUR TOTES LOGICAL ARRG-U-MANT ABOOT HOW ITS 4 TEH GR8ER GOOD!"