Ashley talks about Kaidan alot, it seems like they were really close if you choose him on Virmire and vice versa. It kinda makes me wish they would of originally went with an option to where you can save them both.

I always give Ashley the Black Widow.

For recent playthroughs, I have been giving her the N7 typhoon for her assault rifle, She kicks sooooooooooooooooooo much ass with that. For Sniper Rifle's I too also give her one of the Widows or a rapid fire Sniper Rifle with good overall stats.

I just wanted something with some closure in it and for me to have a choice in the matter because that was the problem in the first place. Nothing you do matters and no matter what you do you get the same shitty 3(4 if you count refusal) colors as your ending. But wheres my option? where can I save the Geth and Edi while at the same time sending the reapers to gell? in my opinion all 3 choices are crap even if 99% of the time I do pick destroy. I could have accepted an ending to which Shepard would have died and Ashley and the rest of the crew go on without him but I would accept it at the same time knowing there was a "happier" ending to which i know Shepard and Ash will be together again and settle down and start a family. My problems with the endings are mostly revolved around a lack of closure and lack of player choice in the matter.

I like the destroy ending and not because my shepard lives and gets to be with Ash again. It completes the mission that you've been working 3 games to complete. You signed on to destroy the reapers not make a truce with them, when I'm about to make the "final" decision, personally I think of every friend they took away from me so it makes it easier to send those bastards to hell. I fully blame EA, the same guys who ruined Dead Space 3 and Dragon Age 2 for what happened to Mass Effect 3, that game was written in 2 months and the ending was written in either 5 or 10 minutes(confirmed by Mac Walters) without consultation from the writing staff.  On the subject of "Not Mass Effect 4," its hard to be optimistic with no Shepard or Normandy crew, its also hard especially since none of the staff that brought us the original trilogy are involved with the game (with the exception of the two idiots that wrote the ending of Mass Effect 3) and its hard to be optimistic when I find that Mac Walters is the guy put in charge of writing "Not Mass Effect 4"

The other day I started a very old save from ME2 and just did Horizon, that was disappointing of course, but it got me thinking. Playing the trilogy now is a mixed bag, the story and interaction are great but the Ash romance of course still isn't really. It's a weird journey, playing ME2 (played ME1 enough), and probably ME3 again.

I've always found that the romances added a lot to the overal story and experience, but knowing it will all be over in the end is a bit unsettling.

 

To those still playing or just in general, how do see the trilogy now? Is it still worth playing again or have you moved on, perhaps mostly reading or writing canon?

Especially considering Ash won't be in ME4.

 

Edit: I'm hoping for ME5 they bring back the old crew, like they brought Master Chief back. So Shep and Ash can once more save the galaxy. Not necessarily the whole crew, but the core.

But I'm in the minority there, one can dream though.

I personally think that the Ash romance is great. Especially because it stretches out over 3 games but when it comes to the ending? I'm numb to it, it doesn't make me mad or sad like it did before. I made my own closure for Ash and Shepard whilst retconning the end of Mass Effect 3 in a fanfiction.

If you unite the two she overcomes it but if your forced to choose between the two, things are different. In terms of Ash, I would say she does. Shes a lot more level headed in Mass Effect 3. But I credit that to the fact that they retconned her after her writer left before the second game. If your a male shepard and you romance her, you can actually help her to become more open minded (one of the many things I love about Mass Effect 1) and she actually lobbies you to save the aliens instead of sacrificing them for the humans at the end of the game. Her writer left after the first one so I think the guys at Bioware took the "ashley is a space racist" thing and kinda ran with it, which sucks but thats just my opinion.

Yeah but Tali spends a good part of her story arc however trying to justify what is considered to be considered racist and genocidal. But when you find out in 3 that the quarians are just the closests things to space Nazis who got bit in the ass for playing god with the geth and you have to make a choice between them and the geth, Tali tries to justify it, I personally choose the Geth everytime just because of what the quarians are.  Ashley, however doesn't display the qualities of a hardcore racist to which 90% of the fandom condemns her to bomb duty on Virmire for, shes just young, ignorant, and cautious because of what happened to her family and having never served with aliens before. She can be brutally bitchy and shows a lot of insecurities at times but I actually enjoy that about her character. 

Those compilations are just sick. I've played video games most of my life and I don't understand the hate Ashley gets as compared to some of the characters in the Mass Effect universe who are actually very racist and genocidal as compared to Ashley who just gets flack because she doesn't like Turians and has trouble trusting Garrus and Wrex with the Normandy. Tali and Wrex for instance are undeniably racist, you cannot deny that. Yet the fandom loves them despite them sharing the "racist" billing for which they condemn Ashley. Hell, the only character in Mass Effect that doesn't openly have hints of xenophobia and racism is probably Liara, Samara, Thane, and a few others that I can't name off the top of my head.

That is true bfoore, I went out of my way to fix stuff in ME3. Buying stuff, visiting as often as I could, but it still felt a bit meh to me. Almost like salvaging something that has been buried very deep for a long time.

Until the cabin scene I had doubts it was all good actually, they could have done more to show the relationship was solid, but that might be me.

 

One easy solution to solve a lot of this was to just use emailing more. No need for long cutscenes or voiceacting, just a little message goes a long way, easy to implement, doesn't cost a lot of time and resources for Bioware.

A simpe email saying how she feels, and that it's all good, or a 'thank you' email, an 'I love you' email, loads of possibilities there. It may be a bit weird as they're both on the same ship, but people message each other all the time.

I remember that some people here were working on an email mod a long time ago, not sure if that was ever made.

 

Anyway, this topic has probably been discussed a lot over the years. I just notice that it still ircks me when I do a replay of the series.

Probably one of the reasons I don't do those replays a lot anymore.

Yeah, I wish they would have implemented an emailing thing for you and your LI. On the other hand tho, I sort of like going out of my way for Ash. Her romance isn't bad in ME3, all the romances in that game got the shaft because Bioware was too busy trying to force feed Liara down the gamers throat which is one of the reasons I personally can't stand Liara. None of the romances in any of the Mass Effect sequels were quite on par with how ME1 did it, in my opinion and I may seem bias but Ash is the best option for me. I always felt that in the end, through everything that has happened between herself and Shepard, shes worth with it. There is alot of realism in her and Kaidan's romances that you don't see in the alien romances in my opinion. Tho Kaidan is written alot better than Ash(not her fault) is in ME3, its still hands down one of the best romances in the game just because it has a sense of realism. Her and Shepard actually disagree and fight and bicker like real couples in real life sometimes do, like anything in real life nothings ever quite perfect and sometimes **** hits the fan and you gotta batten down the hatches and endure. But like I said before, in the end if you like the person enough or in Ashley and Shepard's case love each other enough, you work through it because they're worth it. 

Ashley really likes Ice Cream and coffee in my fanfic as well. But thats not entirely true in terms of her romance, if you're faithful to her she is very nice and lighthearted with you in the hospital scenes and I like to believe being faithful to her and not cheating on her helps you her to trust you and draw down on you during the coup attempt.

You are correct there about Ash but in my opinion its only another example of how she was poorly treated by the writers of Mass Effect 2 and 3 since her original writer, the guy who created her and knows her best left after ME1. I would have liked to see Ashley a little more in ME2, I feel she could have accompanied you during the Arrival DLC which would have given you the perfect opportunity to smooth over what happened on Horizon(another very poorly written and retconned event involving Ash) and smooth over how she feels about you in ME3. Because lets be honest, I never cheat on Ash and my Shepard goes out of his way to please her in 3 so it confuses the hell out of me when she tells me she trusts me but then out of nowhere shes pulling a gun out at me (another out-of-character event) to albeit protect the councilors from Cerberus. In terms of Garrus and Tali tho, they have been hinted kinda sorta since ME2 and they flirt at several points during the main game in 3 making it very evident that they like eachother beyond friends, most notably when you bring an unromanced Garrus and Tali to the Geth ship after you get Tali as well as several times after that. In my opinion, Bioware did Garrus and Tali the right way. Ashley and James dialogue fits more of that of comrades and nothing really beyond that, kinda like James and Cortez. its not like James and Femshep where you can feel some sexual tension going on between them. 

I always let her win the drinking game in the Citadel DLC

The couldve done by her alot better. Nothing you do with her in ME1 matters in ME3, I kinda wish they didn't mellow her out as much and turn her into a girl who drowns her problems out with liquor. Ash is better than that, Kaidan is actually pretty well written himself.

Yeah and that only happens during the crazy party, she completely stays away from him during the more relaxed party. Even then, Citadel is just simple fanservice and not to be taken seriously by any means. It has no real effect on gameplay, the story, or dialogue of any matter. Hell, if you're not locked in a romance with her, she'll still flirt with James during that DLC and the romance with Shepard will still progress as if it never happened because Citadel doesn't effect anything. Its nonsense, fanservice to fans by bioware/EA after ****** up the ending. I like James, I don't like him with Ashley at all. They don't really have alot of chemistry or don't really fit each others personality, plus James has a stick up his ass about protocol and relationships in the military. Ashley is also a very stern and serious woman, yeah I can see her letting her hair down and having fun here and there but not to the extent of a one night stand, its just not in her character that she makes herself out to be in ME1. But then again, her original writer left after ME1 and I wasn't much of a fan of how they wrote her character in 3 and I find that she kinda got shafted in favor of Liara. I still look past it but only because I like Ashley alot and adore her character.

There's so much stuff to talk about post-war, bfoore - so every fanfic expanding the universe is welcome

 

Despite not being nowhere close to finish anything anytime soon, one thing is for sure already: Ash won't get pregnant in one night - I think that doesn't fit her character being that careless and not using some kind of protection (same for Shepard) in the middle of a war. Just my idea about her. There's plenty of time post-war doing that stuff - and I fear, post-war era won't be peaceful, thanks to some selfish species like the Salarians (cure sabotage) and the Asari (they knew what was coming). In short: situation is still bad, 'though not as bad as it was with the Reapers around. And Shepard is still needed, despite his heavy PTSD issues. At times like this, it's Ash, but also Garrus and Joker who can keep this guy working.

I never said that it was planned tho, Ashley is a girl that probably does things by the book and according to a plan but in this case, they kind of slip up and even acknowledged early on that it was not part of their plan. But they alter their lives to adapt to the situation and embrace it. My galaxy is nowhere near peaceful either, in my opinion, nothing is ever peaceful. Peace is only a gleeful delusion used by governments to push their agenda. My galaxy doesn't have any Reaper scale enemies mind you, I couldn't come up with something that could top that and I doubt Bioware can even top them with their next game. My galaxy makes use of the pirate and merc concepts from the first and second game, except theyve begun using stolen Reaper Tech to further advance themselves to stop the Alliance/Council races. I wish i could think of a "galaxy wide" threat like the reapers but anything I could possibly think of would simply rehash and rip-off the Reapers. Again, I'll take suggestions/tips from anyone who likes my idea. 

Yeah, thats actually what I got going for them. I have Ash taking a training position in the Alliance, preparing a "new breed" of Alliance soldier (can't see her sitting at a desk) and I have Shepard still working for the Alliance as part of a N7 task force with James Vega and occasionally Garrus for old times sake, but hes not gone for months at a time, usually no more than a few days. I was gonna have Ash just do N7 missions or stay in active service with Shepard but I can't see her leaving her child(ren) for a few days/months at a time after what she had experienced with her father in the Alliance. Early on in the story once she tells Shepard shes expecting, I have them make a commitment to be actively present in their child's life because I thought that would be something Ash would do. My original idea was for them to live on Eden Prime or some colony world but I just can't see them lounging around doing nothing post-war, I just see it as kind of out of character for either of them. But mine is kinda in the rough draft stage as well, I like sitting around and editing it or adding on specific scenes. I usually read it after I'm done with a playthrough just so I can get some closure to my canon. Its been real fun writing it, almost like I get full creative control over my two favorite characters in Mass Effect.

Nice. I am working on something similiar. I have two characters whose story starts well before ME1. They meet certain squad members along they way (without breaking any continuity).

 

This way I can have my own little story going inside of the ME setting, interact with everyone, explain what Ashley does in between ME1-2 and 2-3, and eventually through the end of the Reaper War. And a little past it.

 

HA HA I make my own closure!! For Shep and Ash. And everyone else, too.

Thats the only way to do it man. I'd honestly be interested in reading it if you have it on any fanfic websites. On mine tho, I haven't created any characters or anything and I've tried not leaving any of the old crew out but early on it mostly revolves around Shepard dealing with his decision at the end of ME3 to destroy all synthetic life as well as still dealing with the loss of Anderson. He almost has PTSD and Ash helps him through it alot and eventually he comes to terms with what happened and accepts what happened. It can be kinda dark at times but at the same time its kinda mostly sappy goodness of Shepard and Ashley adjusting to life outside the military and preparing to be parents. My only problem tho and I'm open to suggestions from anyone is figuring out whats a good role in the Alliance for Shepard and Ashley post ME3? I had Ashley as a commander and a field officer before finding out shes prego, taking out pirates and mercs in the beginning but I'm having trouble figuring out something for later. 

I have something similiar with mine. The Salarians essentially become an isolated state, due to the lack of support during the war and general distrust from everyone else because of it.

 

As for Shep and Ash, they stay with the Alliance for about 10 more years then retire. And as a nice "Thanks for your service" gift, they keep the Normandy. Because you know the Alliance is bound to improve upon the Normandy's design and have at least one new "Normandy" class ship.

Man I was soooo frustrated with the end of Mass Effect 3 that for the past year I have been writing a fanfic centered around Ashley and my Shepard after the war. The gist of it is, my Shepard gets retrieved and is alive and Ashley later finds out shes pregnant from their night prior to the assault on Cronos station. They eventually move in together whilst both still working for the Alliance. I Don't want to be give to much away because I'm still working on it but she has a girl, they then get married and eventually down the road have another child, a boy.Its actually pretty cool and I get a lot of closure from it

Indeed. This angered me to no end. Yes, at times his taunting did get annoying, but they could have saved it in the next game by having him preform evil disgusting acts throughout the game. Maybe give him an smaller Avatar akin to the assuming of direct control, but actually a part of him. If they did that, it would have given us an outlet to hate and eventually take our rage out in a decent fight.

 

I'm convinced if they had Harbinger spear heading all the major Reaper attacks, we would have had a better experience. Maybe having him kill a Squad mate as well. Really get the anger flowing. A Harbinger Avatar would have been far more satisfying than Kai Leng, and have a Sovereign when we kill the avatar Harbinger gets weakened and the fleet tears him apart.

 

They could have had a mission where we assault a Reaper facility where they do their experimentation on the Organic races, Creating Brutes, Banshees and such while have Harbinger over see it all considering the established fact that he is the sort of Reaper that likes to tinker with organic races. Having victims cry cries of agony echo through the facility as travel through it. Really add to the nightmare fuel.

 

And one last thing to muse on is maybe give him more of a personality. The more Shepard and Co slows the efforts, pissing off Harbinger. Perhaps making him feel a bit more organic. Like the Legion and EDI championed the more positive aspects of learning more about humanity, while Harbinger shows the more negative sides going from annoyance to anger. But the anger is even greater. Being a self-aware machine who sees himself better than Organics and having him feel any form of emotion at all would ****** him off all the more thus pushing Harbinger over the edge of insanity and begin more sadistic means of harvest that take longer but cause more pain overall, all the while having the other Reapers question his sacrificing of efficiency.

They also could have went with their original idea for the ending and have Harbinger turn the Illusive Man into something kinda like Saren after Sovereign took control of him at the end of Mass Effect 1. I really liked Harbinger and hes hands down one of my favorite antagonists in the series, I enjoyed his arrogant taunting in Mass Effect 2 and it angers me as well to no end that they just had him to a back seat to the Illusive Man and Cerberus. Not that they weren't good antagonists, they did their job but in my opinion the game should have been centered more around stopping the Reapers instead of stopping Cerberus because lets not forget that Cerberus was also trying to stop the Reapers but was just using different methods. Harbinger would have been alot better of a main antagonist in Mass Effect 3 and it pains me that they they just wasted his potential like that. Maybe they had intended to use him more, I know that Mass Effect 3 was supposed to come out the holidays of 2012 or early 2013 but EA being EA said no they wanted the game out by March so maybe they were just strapped for time. They cut way too many corners in that game and they paid the price for it.

Also, I really wanted some closure with Harbinger.

He was completely ignored in ME3, reduced to a meaningless cameo more or less. They built him up in Mass Effect 2 only to have him take a back seat to the Illusive Man and Cerberus. i would have liked some more Harby in Mass Effect 3

I've never necessarily hated Mass Effect 3. In fact, next to the original Mass Effect, Mass Effect 3 is my favorite in the series. Its a great game but it just felt rushed and unfinished. The ending does the game no favors as when something youve invested so much time and love in finally ends, you want closure. The EC gives you enough to write a decent fanfiction so you could tell yourself, "this is how i wanted it to end." It seemed almost like Bioware released a complete unfinished product hoping the fans wouldn't care but they got bit in the ass when they did care.  

Gameplay =/= story 

Oh! I see. Then I honestly don't have a complaint, they all brought something to the story at least in my opinion. I honestly thought we were talking about gameplay but still Miri or Grunt would have been better than EDI.

Grunt is a bland character that really wouldn't have added much. Kasumi would be even more senseless and useless than she already was in ME2. 

 

Miranda is really the only character that would have made sense to add. Problem is, she is viewed a bit as a chew toy by the developers. Granted, when everything was said and done, she's arguably the best LI for Male Shepard (and that's not favoritism but objective speaking), and she had a lot more character potential than was tapped into. I personally wanted her to be her darker, more ambiguous self who would be a voice of dissent among the ME3's mindless shilling of the alliance. Seeing her whoop Ashley's ass in a debate about the alliance vs. Cerberus was something I was especially looking forward too. 

 

Vega was arguably the best addition to the team in ME3. He had a lot of depth and was a generally decent character without being sanctimonious, self-righteous, or stupidly in love with the alliance. EDI was better when she wasn't trying to be a human and fall in love. She's not an organic. She's a synthetic, and she is fundamentally different from organics. They are both life, but they are not life as we understand and know it. And that was part of the crap BW threw in with Synthetics. It's one of the few things I'd actually say in favor of the Catalyst, with him being an actual alien synthetic entity on the level that they would realistically be at.

I never said Vega wasn't a decent character. Hes a good guy but hes useless to me as a squad member and his skills are just a knock-off of Grunts. Kasumi is useless?? Her shadow strike is one of the deadliest attacks in Mass Effect 2, I've seen her stop Harbinger on Insanity with that thing.  

Alot of the writing in Mass Effect 3 is rather underwhelming to put it lightly, the Horizon encounter with Ash/Kaidan is the shittiest excuse for writing in Mass Effect 2.

Urdnot Grunt, Kasumi, or Miri would have been more welcomed additions to my squad than Vega or EDI (her sex bot)