Haha, that's what I said when I first saw the title for this thread. Just go on the Bioware forums and you'll see how popular he is compared to the other characters.
As with Alistair from Dragon Age, I suspect that he was designed specifically to be appealing to female players. From what I hear, they did a pretty good job of it.
I just never used him.
Sure he has Raphael Sbarge's voice, but I didn't find his character as necessary as Carth.
Carth was needed in KOTOR because there was need for a character early on with enough wherewithal to move the plot along, because Revan was clueless, and your relationship developed out of that.
With Mass Effect Shepard moves the plot, so the whiny supporting male character becomes a npc. At least that's my experience.
Well I liked him because he wasn't Ashley and he reminded me of Carth and Scortch. As a character though I still thought he was pretty cool. He had an interesting back story and his personality fit being second in command very well.
kickyourass: If you go to fanfiction.net, go to the Mass Effect section, choose Kaiden for the first character slot, then put shepard in the second character slot, you realize that the 2nd most amount of fanfic posts come up. 1st being Garrus and Shepard of course, and third being Tali and Shepard.
Word to the wise, when you want to respond to someone's post, quote them, that way they know you're talking to them. It's just easier.
Anyway, I don't take fan fiction writrs very seriously, more often then not they are an extreme minority within that particular fanbase. But still I haven't seen anything to get excited about with Alenko, he is probably the only character in all of Bioware that I didn't fall in love with.
kickyourass: If you go to fanfiction.net, go to the Mass Effect section, choose Kaiden for the first character slot, then put shepard in the second character slot, you realize that the 2nd most amount of fanfic posts come up. 1st being Garrus and Shepard of course, and third being Tali and Shepard.
I hated him. That voice... The minute I heard him speak for the first time I knew I would hate him... He's a fucking Carth! When I got the choice to kill him I took it. Pardon me if I sound a bit unreasonable. I simply have an unending hatred for Carth which translates to everyone like him, such as Kaidan or Allistair (who was actually the most tolerable of the three).
I didn't care for him in the slightest. He always seemed too detached from the situation and always opted for the "morally correct" choice rather than the one most likely to result in a successful mission. Simply put, he never seemed to allow for emotion in any situation, which some may consider a boon but for my tastes it resulted in a flat, uninteresting character.
I think people are just sort of naturally attracted to supporting characters. While I don't hate the man, I certainly find nothing of interest about him.
He didn't actually kick him, the biotic kick just means he accidentally fired a biotic splooge ball at his face.
OT: I thought he was kinda a douche too but Ashley was also a *****, even in ME2. Garrus was my right hand man, and as weird as it sounds I always like Tali..... Though that might just be so I could get her out of that mask
I don't think Kaiden is any more or less popular than any other character in Mass Effect. Sure he wasn't one of my favorites but clearly others did like him, as a poster on Bioware social network I know this for a fact. He is perhaps popular among girl gamers because, as people point out, he is a male LI that wasn't an alien but rather just an ordinary guy.
will1182 said:
EDIT: And can someone explain how it's possible to like Ashley? She's such a xenophobic *****.
Oh boy, another one of these. Let me start with the basics.
Ashley is not xenophobic, nor is she racist. Her prejudice against aliens is not based on a superiority complex or irrational fear or hatred of the unknown. Her Grandfather fought in the First Contact War and during that time he was forced to surrender to the Turians making him the first human ever to surrender to an alien race.
Thus her family name is blacklisted in Alliance military and she feels she has to redeem her family name but due to the bias against her name she is reduced to small groundside assignments and has gotten no experience with any alien races and has nothing to go on save for the history of the First Contact War.
That is why she distrusts aliens.
That said, on Virmire she still happily volunteers to work with the Salarian team and if she is picked for the job it's clear from the radio chatter that she is perfectly comfortable working with, and possibly leading, a team made up entirely of aliens.
She also mentions at one point to Tali (elevator conversation) that she heard some humans are blaming the Quarians about Eden Prime and furthermore expresses her hope that Tali helping them find Saren will help give Quarians in general a better reputation.
Also after Liara's mother dies on Noveria if you go and talk to Ashley she suggests to Shepard to go talk to Dr. T'soni because she just lost her mum and 'that's gotta hurt'.
She also despises Terra Firma passionately and refuses to have anything to do with them believing that whatever noble goals they may once have had haven now been replaced by simple racism.
Also she herself announces very clearly at one point that she doesn't believe humanity is superior.
Finally, she can be convinced to move past her former trust issues with Aliens and admit to herself that it wasn't the Council or Turians who blacklisted her family name, it was the Alliance. And that while there exist alien foreign powers who do oppose humanity they also don't seem to want to destroy humanity either so this is an opportunity to learn.
As for why people can like her? Well because she feels very believable for one thing. She's tough and aggressive certainly but she also demonstrates a compassionate side to her. She's funny and attractive without feeling like she was designed to be oggled over and the flaws make for good characterization.
Wow...thank you for putting so much thought into your answer.
I can recall almost everything you mentioned, but while she may not have a superiority complex, the fact is that she still distrusts aliens for a petty reason. Something that happened in her past is negatively affecting her relationship with her teammates. This is unacceptable when the fate of the galaxy is at hand, it is like putting pride before the well-being of others. You're right, eventually she does get over this, so that is one point in her favour.
Thank you for being open minded with your answer, too many times have I just been insulted by someone or just had everything I say be disregarded with a comment like 'nah, she's a hater' so I just wanted to start out by saying how happy I am to be finally having this debate with someone who is being more level headed. So kudos to you.
But still I want it to be noted that she concedes that Shepard is in command and that aliens on the ship is not her decision:
"You say jump, I ask how high, you say kiss a Turian, I ask which cheek."
Plus she clearly has no problem talking to the alien squadmembers in the elevator conversations and while she does show some distrust to Garrus from time to time that's just a social thing and it doesn't affect her willingness to work with them in actual missions.
Her bitchiness is the other reason I don't like her. She is overly aggressive to everyone, even to other team members. She was downright nasty towards Liara the entire time, even though Liara is sweet and just trying to help Sheperd. Not to mention the utter disrespect she showed Sheperd, her commander, every time I tried talking to her.
To be fair though, Wrex is pretty nasty too. He mocks Tali in elevator conversations, flat out loathes Garrus and sighs with disdain almost every time I bring him and Liara on a mission and she opens her mouth. Ashley isn't really any more aggressive than any other character on the team. She has emotional baggage and past issues like everyone else on the team.
Plus I think the idea is that she doesn't like Liara for two main reasons:
1. She is the daughter of Saren's second in command and as a security chief aboard the Normandy, Ashley wonders if she can be trusted.
2. Ashley is a tough aggressive sort of a person and Liara is a soft emotional kind of person, Ashley probably just doesn't like that kind of demeanor, especially given the first point.
Plus I'm going to be honest here, I never minded Ashley being mean to Liara. Not because I don't like Liara but I have to confess that Liara kind of annoyed me because they played off her vulnerability way too much. It annoyed me how every single time after a merge she would nearly pass out or how her whole romance was just her being a sort of damsel in distress.
I much prefer the tough type I guess is what I'm saying.
That's also why I liked seeing her disagree with Shepard from time to time. Because between the flirting and the friendly banter there was the clear sign that they both came from entirely different backgrounds and that some things they weren't going to agree on right away.
For me that's better as it gives the romance more 'personality' then just listening to Shepard warmly flirt with someone who is completely intoxicated by his greatness.
Plus I wanted to point out, Ashley isn't completely aggressive. Take her with you when you meet Samesh Bahtia on the Citadel and see how she responds to him talking about his dead wife. She comforts him, tells him that his wife was a good woman and if you do the paragon option for the assignment she actually takes the time to tell him that his wife loved him very, very much. Saying that she (his wife) missed his cooking and that she listened to recordings of him every night before she went to bed.
I liked how Ashley disagreed with Shepard and I liked how she wasn't perfect. She's a good example of a flawed character in games because while she has a good sense of humor, a compassionate side to her and a strong determined sense of duty she also suffered from aggression and personal prejudices and a seriously low opinion of herself stemming from suppressed feelings of inadequacy.
Too many times I hear about 'best female characters' ending up just being Mary Sue, an idealized version of how the average gamer wants their ideal girlfriend to be, which is typically shy and completely in love with the gamer and never questions the gamer and almost seems to live their life solely to please the player character while still having the charming personality traits that we want them to.
It's actually almost a new kind of sexist fantasy that's even worse than big breasted chicks in binki's because now instead of idealizing the female form now we've moved on to personality and now any female character who shows signs of aggression or who can't be bent to the will of the player is often called a '*****'.
I liked Ashley because she was her own character, not perfect but able to move past those flaws and independent enough that she doesn't feel like she has to agree with everything Shepard tells her.
Okay that bit about Mary Sue fantasy probably isn't as bad as I am making it out to be but I think you get what I mean.
Her disposition towards other species for the majority of the game coupled with her major attitude problem make for quite the unlikeable character, personally. I'm glad you found a reason to like her though, it's nice to see the other side of the argument.
Sure thing, again I'm glad you didn't just respond with flamage. I also hope I haven't said anything to offend you in any way. If you preferred Liara then by all means, it's just for me personally, I liked Ashley.
I'm starting to suspect that Kaidan is only popular because Ashley isn't. This is starting to make me kind of annoyed as I really don't think Ashley's as bad as people proclaim her to be.
He did use biotics hence the phrase ''biotic kick'!
OT - You want to know why people like Kaidan then don't ask the (mostly) male escapists, PMSL! How would you like me to define what is attractive about a well adjusted fully functioning, attractive man who has dealt with his issues, isn't whiny (btw)? If you think he is whiny - prove it ;-)
He tells you about his past, doesn't dwell on it and deals with things in a mature fashion. I am more curious as to why men don't like him............ Oh, wait, no I'm not, he is all the things I said above and men think that makes him 'gay'!
Also, if you don't auto level him, he is a bloody squad mate!
I personally think you're all jealous cos while Sheploo is saving the galaxy Kaidan is getting all the hot chicks with those smoky brown eyes and that very sexy voice (Ash even has a crush on him, but denies it) ;-)
If you pop onto the SN at BioWare take a look at the appreciation threads and you will see the Kaidan one is one of the busiest and most on topic forums on there, with male and female fans.
Seriously though? Attractiveness is all subjective anyway, as is the whole concept of friendship, as my old gran used to say ''Wouldn't do for us all to be alike'', or put simply there are real people you like and dislike, but (and here is the shocker) just because you don't like someone doesn't mean everyone should, or will, revile them along with you. We'd all be trying to be mates with the same people and that is just dumb - horses for courses and all that! HTH
Rant over ;-)
I'm starting to suspect that Kaidan is only popular because Ashley isn't. This is starting to make me kind of annoyed as I really don't think Ashley's as bad as people proclaim her to be.
Hey, matey, you know I like Ashley, she's my Shep's gal pal and the stupid hatred for her makes no sense! She is also a great squad mate if you don't play as a soldier (I miss her..........)
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