Mass Effect 2...Little Late.

[Rariow]

I never stopped to hate Miranda since I saw her at the beggining, even for a second. She's arrogant, bitchy and unlikable. She has no flaws, and flaws are what makes someone interesting. All other loyalty missions are about facing someone's flaws, and getting them to surpass them (Apart from Jacob's, but his was so well written in an entire other sense I can forgive him) but Miranda's was about the people around her getting to grips with their flaws, as if the game was taunting us ("Hey she's so perfect anyone around her looks evil! Nahnahnahnahnahnah!"). I've romanced every romanceable character except her, and I never will.

Jacob is an entirely different cup of tea. Sure, he doesn't have much personality, and the "...but the priiiize!" line is probably THE single most cringeworthy phrase in a videogame, but I like him not from the point of view of his character (He's the classic Nice Guy. No other personality traits, really), but from his impact into the overall party of ME2. You might have noticed, most of the ME2 party is extraordinary, and most of them are crazy to some extent, from Grunt's straight in the face murder frenzy to Thane's subtly written in and almost unnoticeable paranoia. Jacob is the only guy on the team who's just that: A normal guy. Not a badass, not a crazed killer, just a guy. And because of this, the entire party appears a lot more normal. I played through the game completely ignoring Jacob, and the Normandy felt like a flying insane asylum. Plus, his loyalty mission is great.

I never really payed much attention to the humans in ME1, since I find them boring. Kaidan holds up the classic BioWare "Captain Has-A-Traumatic-Past-But-Is-Overall-A-Nice-Guy" post, and I find it OK, but frankly, too predictable by this point. Ashley I kinda dislike because off her apparent racism (Which seems hypocritical, since this is exactly the kind of flaw that could be awesomely used to make the character grow) and the fact that she kills Wrex even if you explicitly tell her not to. I did the romance for both, and for Kaidan I wished I was talking to Carth from KotOR, and with Ashley I really didn't pay much attention.

 

[s0p0g]

as it might somewhat matter: i'm a guy (what are the odds, eh?)

sooo...
Jacob: he's cool... more or less. a little to "black" (as in nowadays clichée), and a little too "i'm so awesome, i've got the looks, the toys, and the quipment wink-wink you'd ever need, commander fem-shep". but compared to an Archangel, a crazy scientist, and the Grunt he's just pale. yeah sure the others are a little over the top; i think i mostly didn't like him for his (assumed by me) attitude towards women. maybe i was just jealous

kaidan... had much more potential, i guess, background-story wise, than they used. besides his training he was kind of boring... or rather not as interesting as others, boring seems a little harsh. he was... ok.

now to the interesting part, the female characters
Miranda... well, Miss Spandex (later: leather & lace if you prefer (wtf?!)) 2010, what more is there to say
yes, she may have been designed to be perfect... but that doesn't mean she has to run around like some space-hooker, eh? i mean, doesn't it show a lack of confidence in their product, when ea-bioware have to resort to sex sells? i mean, it wasn't only miranda; what was it with Samara's (that's the name, right? the crazy asari with the stupid codex) cleavage? why do we need two space-hookers in one bioware game? oh well.
why does her butt have to be placed right in our faces? (wait... that came out wrong) (don't get me wrong, it looks quite good, but if i am to take her serious as the cold type who gets the job done, you cannot put her in a bodysuit that leaves no room for fantasies AND place her ass in the middle of the camera in certain cutscenes)
besides that she felt kind of bland, not really fleshed out.

now Ashley... she was a different kind. i really like her; she's tough but doesn't come off like a man with boobies, she has a relatable motivation, a background, she doesn't really like Xenos i mean aliens which in some players' eyes made her a rather unlikable character, BUT she actually *has* a character and thus is one of (too) few
she was quite human, with good sides and "flaws", if you will
no, i ain't saying everyone has to like her and those who don't are morons; maybe that's one of the big pros of the game, that one actually can like and dislike certain chars (Liara, for example, in ME 1, was... sort of a red flag for me ^^)

 

[everythingbeeps]

To be honest...I hadn't really noticed it before, but I do hate all the playable humans in ME1 and ME2. Kaidan and Jacob are dull, and Miranda and Ashley are thoroughly unlikable, though for different reasons. Miranda's nice to look at, at least.

On the other hand, the non-playable humans (Joker, Kelly, Dr. Chakwa, Anderson) are very likable. So it's not that Bioware can't write good humans. And FemShep is the best character in either game, though a lot of that is just great voice acting.

 

[boag]

Jacob, Just like Kaiden is a Bro, yet Ive never saved Kaiden, ive no idea why.

 

[Vegosiux]

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

If the conversation goes on long enough, she'll shoot on her own accord. All you can do then is give her a "What the hell".

 

[Frostbite3789]

Mass Effect 2 sucked. Way too streamlined compared to the original.

Boy, that's so relevant to the thread, which in no way was a question about the quality of the game. Good job!

OT: I like both Miranda and Jacob, Miranda because she's built up her problems to be so much greater than they are in her own mind, and sees them as insurmountable, which is relatable.

Then Jacob...because he's just kind of the everyman. He got stuck on the mission. He doesn't have some extraordinary powers or crazy history. He's just a soldier doing his duty.

 

[praetor_alpha]

Even though the human characters are some of the most fleshed out in the series, I didn't care much for any of them. I generally found turians far more interesting, mostly because I never came across one that was a complete wuss.

 

[chiefohara]

Meh, I don't really mind any of the human team members.
What annoys me more is that you can't be *nice* to any of the team members the opposite sex to Shepard, without them instantly thinking you're trying to chat them up.

I totally agree, all i wanted was to do right by jack and suddenly sex comes into the equation. Struck me as clumsy because 'in character' my agenda was just to bring her back to reality. not get my end away.

 

[Zhukov]

Meh, I don't really mind any of the human team members.
What annoys me more is that you can't be *nice* to any of the team members the opposite sex to Shepard, without them instantly thinking you're trying to chat them up.

I totally agree, all i wanted was to do right by jack and suddenly sex comes into the equation. Struck me as clumsy because 'in character' my agenda was just to bring her back to reality. not get my end away.

So why not just take the "no thanks" dialogue option?

Bringing sex into it was consistent with Jack's character. She assumes that anyone who tries to be nice just wants something from her.

 

[chiefohara]

Meh, I don't really mind any of the human team members.
What annoys me more is that you can't be *nice* to any of the team members the opposite sex to Shepard, without them instantly thinking you're trying to chat them up.

I totally agree, all i wanted was to do right by jack and suddenly sex comes into the equation. Struck me as clumsy because 'in character' my agenda was just to bring her back to reality. not get my end away.

So why not just take the "no thanks" dialogue option?

Bringing sex into it was consistent with Jack's character. She assumes that anyone who tries to be nice just wants something from her.

I did, but after saying 'no thanks' several times i still got the option to instigate a relationship with her.

I happen to like exhausting dialogue options, but it just irked me that it kept defaulting to Shepard going for sex

 

[LordFisheh]

I think the thing with Jacob is that there's nothing to him. Like people have said, he's normal, not a nutcase or a brooding, 'deep' guy obsessed with revenge. But so was Kaidan, and I like him. Kaidan still had an arc to some degree; there was something to him - Jacob doesn't have that. Nothing ever alluded to his loyalty mission before it happened, and he hardly seemed to care or be affected by it afterwards, beyond a short conversation. Garrus wants to see justice done but doesn't quite know how, Jack is a messed up wreck learning to trust, and so on. Jacob doesn't have any of that. He wants to do the right thing sans politics, but he never deals with that or develops his character around it. He has some issue with his father that suddenly appears and then is gone, without being explored or developed beyond a few general lines. Hell, I think it'd have been interesting to see Jacob having to deal with being the 'normal guy' finding himself overshadowed by a team of nutcases, aliens and best-in-their-field specialists.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Ashley: Racist, though I do like that she dosent keep banging on about her religion and she warms to the alien crewmembers if you talk to her.

Miranda: Ashely 2.0, now with more character development! Her whole ice-queen shtick is a bit overdone, but its intresting to learn about her issues and she her come out of her shell. And it was so satisfying to see her verbally tearing TIM a new one.

Kaiden: Bland as all hell. There could have been some interesting stuff with his backsotry and the effects of the L2 implants, but it was never explored. I left him bvehind on Virmire.

Jacob: Static, but he's meant to be the stable one, so it works. And he does have secrets and issues, so he's not just a flat character.

Joker: I like him, and his freindly rivalry with EDI is well done. Here's hoping he says "Why so serious?" in ME3.

Jack: It takes skill to make a crazy, powerful, distant character and still have a good explanation of how she ended up like that without it seeming cliched. Also, good lord woman, put some clothes on!

Dont have the DLC charaters, so cant comment, though Kasumi just seems like "Tali but human" and Zaeed is what happens when you play Renegade for too long.

On a final note...

What annoys me more is that you can't be *nice* to any of the team members the opposite sex to Shepard, without them instantly thinking you're trying to chat them up.

I wholeheartedley agree. They need to make differnt dialog trees for "nice" and "in love".

 

[socialmenace42]

Actually, the reason I didn't like Jakob is that he's one of the few companions in the game with no significant character arc. Almost all other characters develop based on their loyalty missions (not all admittedly, Thane seems to change little, but considering his situation that's plausable if not entirely realistic) but Jakob just seems like he was 'dropped in', the required counterpart to Mirandas fervor at the beginning of the game, but he doesn't develop his oppinion of Cerberus the way she does.

 

[Manji187]

They're all various degrees of meh. Human AND alien.

 

[Joey245]

As someone who honestly likes ALL the squad members, I like the humans well enough. Here's what I think of them:

Ashley: I can see why people hate her, but not to the point that people want to willingly leave her on *spoilers removed.* Yes, she doesn't like aliens, but she has a reason for it. A very in-universe reason that, the way I see it, isn't an excuse at all. And being hated just because she believes in God? Guys, save that hatred for Christians for the Westboro Baptist Church.

Plus, from what I've seen, she looks pretty in ME3. Though she was already pretty easy on the eyes in ME1, she looks like she's gotten an upgrade. Also, she says some of the funniest lines in the game, particularly if you bring her with you to Feros.

Kaidan: He's pretty cool. He's one of the most versatile squad members in ME1 if you build him right, and he's got an interesting backstory, and he's pretty fun to talk to. He's the one true love for my main FemShep, and he's got a cool voice.

Then again, I liked Carth Onasi from KOTOR too, so maybe I just like guys with past issues and need a woman to comfort them. Probably because they remind me of me.

Jacob: One of the least interesting squad members you pick up, but then again, I'd rather have a BLAND character than a BAD character. He's an all-around rounder in the game, and he's got some insightful comments on the Normandy, so there you go.

His romance path is seven different flavors of cheesy, though.

Miranda: She's a typical Ice Queen at the start, but if you get close to her, she definitely does get more endearing as time goes on. Sure, she's a Cerberus nut, but you kinda look past that once you see her issues with the past.

Plus, as a Sentinel, she's the most versatile squad mate in ME2. Always good to bring along if you don't know what you'll be up against.

Jack: Words cannot express how much I love this character. She's got easily the best backstory, she's got the funniest lines in ME2, she's the most unique looking human member, and her romance path is one of the most rewarding ones in the game.

She's not all that great gameplay wise, but story wise, she's easily the best character in ME2.

Zaeed: He's alright. Sometimes you just need a badass, and Zaeed is the second most badass human character in Shepard's crew (After Shepard, of course.). It's fun to listen to his war stories after every mission, and some of them literally made me laugh out loud. Plus, he's got Disruptor ammo, which can be upgraded to Squad Disruptor ammo. This makes him invaluable to bring along to missions with geth.

Kasumi: My second-favorite human squadmate (though considering I had to pay seven bucks to meet her, she'd better be good). She's useful in combat, and really endearing as a character in her own way. Her voice is just perfect, and she's actually funny at some points. I really like her.

 

[Reishadowen]

Joker: I like him, and his freindly rivalry with EDI is well done. Here's hoping he says "Why so serious?" in ME3.

Here's hoping they don't. Seriously, they might as well just throw in EDI giving off a "cake is a lie" or "GLADOS" reference for how out-dated it is.

...wait...that might actually work...

What annoys me more is that you can't be *nice* to any of the team members the opposite sex to Shepard, without them instantly thinking you're trying to chat them up.

Also agreed. Is it too late to start up a petition to get the creators to put in a "love-speech" indicator in the next game?

 

[Fappy]

I find them all annoying in their own unique ways. They are just so dull compared to their alien counterparts. Kasumi is the only one I really like and she's probably the shallowest character there is (DLC characters don't get very fleshed out I guess).

 

[Fappy]

Joker: I like him, and his freindly rivalry with EDI is well done. Here's hoping he says "Why so serious?" in ME3.

Here's hoping they don't. Seriously, they might as well just throw in EDI giving off a "cake is a lie" or "GLADOS" reference for how out-dated it is.

...wait...that might actually work...

What annoys me more is that you can't be *nice* to any of the team members the opposite sex to Shepard, without them instantly thinking you're trying to chat them up.

Also agreed. Is it too late to start up a petition to get the creators to put in a "love-speech" indicator in the next game?

I find a lot of the neutral options can still be really nice without flirting. You can easily fall into their trap though.