50121 réponses à ce sujet

[Matthias King]

I recently started a new trilogy playthrough. I'm still on ME1 at the moment and it's given me a chance to go back and re-experience the interactions with Ashley.

 

I've always chosen her over Kaidan on Virmire because I found Kaidan a bit boring. Also the QA in ME1 wasn't great, so Kaidan's dialogue seemed to have wild variations in volume. With my system at a set volume, sometimes he sounded like he was shouting, sometimes I could barely hear him, and it wasn't due to the situation. He was speaking at what should have been the same conversational volume, but it jumped around from loud to quiet. I think that may have colored my initial impression of him a bit.

 

I never romanced Ash, so I'm sure I missed out on some of her content, but even so, I was pretty disappointed with how disconnected from everything she seemed in ME3. She's on the ship, but as has been pointed out, she doesn't really interact with anyone, and unless you romanced her you can't really have any good interactions with her other than the one on the Citadel. Admittedly, that one is pretty good, but other than that, she stays locked up in her room and all you can do is get a few Zaeed style click comments and that's it. Sometimes not even that.

 

She seemed like she got the short shrift. Leaving her out of ME2 made that pretty clear, but I thought her coming back in ME3 would make up for it, but it didn't. She was very underrepresented.

 

Also, she had almost no arc. Not everyone needs one, but she had one set up. She redeemed her family name somewhat, and I suppose that's a bit of an arc, but her dislike of aliens never really went anywhere, though it should have. She had legitimate enough reasons for her distrust of aliens in ME1, but by ME3 she should have gotten past them. Are we really supposed to believe she still doesn't trust Garrus or Tali or Wrex or Liara after everything they've been through together? A unit that shares the battlefield develops a deep trust

 

It was a bit of a letdown not to get some kind of satisfying, not conclusion, but perhaps revelation to that aspect of her personality. I think that's the main reason for the fan backlash to her character. She was regarded as a bigot, but then Bioware never did anything to really refute that, which is a shame.

 

I always appreciated her personality in my first playthrough of ME1, because like a lot of the rest of the game, it was a realistic representation. If we really did step onto a galactic stage with multiple races all vying for their own places in the galactic political arena, there would be a lot of us who would be wary and distrustful of the aliens. I liked that they had someone in the crew with that very human point of view. But then the experiences of the trilogy should have informed that point of view, and softened it, at least somewhat, but it never really did, which just made her look bigoted rather than pragmatic.

 

I thought one of the reasons for the smaller squad size of ME3 compared to ME2 was so that everyone got good narrative representation, but Ash still managed to draw the short straw.

[DeathScepter]

Is it just me or does ME3 Ash look like she had bad plastic surgery?

 

 

I do think she did. And I do think she looks better in ME1.

[DWH1982]

 

I always appreciated her personality in my first playthrough of ME1, because like a lot of the rest of the game, it was a realistic representation. If we really did step onto a galactic stage with multiple races all vying for their own places in the galactic political arena, there would be a lot of us who would be wary and distrustful of the aliens. I liked that they had someone in the crew with that very human point of view. But then the experiences of the trilogy should have informed that point of view, and softened it, at least somewhat, but it never really did, which just made her look bigoted rather than pragmatic.

 

A fair number of people see this in ME1, when you have the opportunity to make her reconsider some of her views. Although she seems to backslide a bit by her lone appearance in ME2, due to less than stellar writing.

 

Just out of curiosity, where in ME3 does Ash seem "bigoted," though? I don't remember her saying anything that seemed to convey much in the way of distrust of aliens as a whole. She's not entirely comfortable working with the geth, but given the history there, I think it would be unrealistic if she were. In fact, as a whole, I think Ash seemed more tolerant of working with aliens in ME 3 - she never really expresses general discomfort with it, and she accepts a Spectre appointment, which means working for the Council.

[ADLegend21]

Nice to see this place still kicking after all these years. I just got ME1 since it ported to next gen and...*dreamy sigh* Ashley.

[Mr. Brainheart]

It is nice, ADL. I didn't realise that this thread ever reopened, well that must've happened a long time ago now. Fun to see it's still around!
Uhm, I guess I don't have a lot of relevant things to say, but I did start one more playthrough of the ME trilogy before Andromeda, so one last hurrah for ash! (well...I say last..)

[Excella Gionne]

 

Nice knowin' you, Ash.

[survivor_686]

In her defence: As far as she knew, she just got shot by her former commander, who has now turned traitor for Cerberus (an organization that is now 'supporting' the Reapers) and is now going to kill humanity's ambassador.

 

What did you expect her to say? "Good shot, old chap"

[themikefest]

The problem with that is Ashley/Kaidan saw first hand what Cerberus was doing on Mars. They made no attempt to talk. They just shot at Shepard and squad, and as seen, killed all the Alliance personnel

 

When Shepard encounters Ashley/Kaidan, no shots are exchanged right away. Had Shepard been working with Cerberus, Shepard wouldn't of hesitated in shooting Ashley/Kaidan. Kai Leng would've killed her right away. Also Ashley/Kaidan should realize they didn't have a chance. Yeah Shepard or one of the squadmates might be killed or injured, but Ashley/Kaidan would be dead very quickly. Another thing is if Shepard is working with Cerberus, why would the squadmates work with Shepard?

 

Its also interesting that Shepard is able to be in contact with Thane, but makes no attempt to get a hold of Ashley/Kaidan to let him/her know what's going on.

 

The whole encounter was lame. I suspect it was put in there to have the opportunity to kill Ashley/Kaidan. I would guess because of what happened on Horizon in ME2. And the other thing is the player gets to shoot Udina. I would guess because of him locking the Normandy back in ME1.

[Silvery]

I do think she did. And I do think she looks better in ME1.

 

Yeah, I agree. I prefer how she looked in ME1 also.

 

 

Video I made of romancing Ashley in my go around of ME1 on the Xbox One.

[DWH1982]

 

 

 

Good for her.

[SlottsMachine]

The problem with that is Ashley/Kaidan saw first hand what Cerberus was doing on Mars. They made no attempt to talk. They just shot at Shepard and squad, and as seen, killed all the Alliance personnel

 

When Shepard encounters Ashley/Kaidan, no shots are exchanged right away. Had Shepard been working with Cerberus, Shepard wouldn't of hesitated in shooting Ashley/Kaidan. Kai Leng would've killed her right away. Also Ashley/Kaidan should realize they didn't have a chance. Yeah Shepard or one of the squadmates might be killed or injured, but Ashley/Kaidan would be dead very quickly. Another thing is if Shepard is working with Cerberus, why would the squadmates work with Shepard?

 

Its also interesting that Shepard is able to be in contact with Thane, but makes no attempt to get a hold of Ashley/Kaidan to let him/her know what's going on.

 

The whole encounter was lame. I suspect it was put in there to have the opportunity to kill Ashley/Kaidan. I would guess because of what happened on Horizon in ME2. And the other thing is the player gets to shoot Udina. I would guess because of him locking the Normandy back in ME1.

 

They were probably hoping people would gun down the VS so people didn't realize how phoned in there inclusion was in the first place (if they didn't already). I thought the character continuation left a lot to be desired across the board but I think Ash takes the cake for worst tho. Its too bad as she was a decent character back in ME1, certainly better than the rest outside of maybe Wrex but the writers did **** all with her after that.  

[Gkonone]

Amazing how this thread is still going after all those years, a testament to the greatness of the games. By the way, I don't think there's that many differences in looks between Ash from ME1 and ME3. Mostly lighting, and she wears more make up. And she didn't get a boob job, that's her uniform.

[Midnight Bliss]

I really love Ash in ME1. I always sacrifice her because Kaidan is my heart but it never gets any easier, I never understood the heat she gets or people saying she was so xenophobic. If anything much of her mistrust ends up being well placed, due to the Council pretty much throwing humanity under the Bus and covering their ass over and over again, all the way up through ME3. I remember her conversation talking about when it comes down to it people are going to always choose their own, and it sucks but it's true, boy did that really ring true later. Heh (everybody didn't do that but, still..)

 

Yikes I have no idea what happened to her appearance in ME3 though, she almost looks like a different character.. I wonder what whoever designed that was smoking because, ick!

 

If I ever did choose her I swear I'd have to figure out how to use MS3explorer and install this mod lest I keep feeling like the Ash I knew was gone and replaced by some imposter with the same name. (Maybe she looks better ingame...?)

http://www.nexusmods...ect3/mods/157/?

[RZIBARA]

ME2-3 Ashley Williams is terrible, with the exception of a couple scenes. 

 

ME1 Ashley is one of the best characters in the trilogy.

[survivor_686]

@Skarbrand: Oddly enough, I've never been able to tell the difference between ME1 and ME3 Ashley. If you extract the meshes from both games, their seems to be very little difference in terms of facial structure. That being said, by ME3 the lighting and graphics engine has been changed, so perhaps its that sudden shift that puts some people off. I will confess that in her first scene, my Shepard goes "Hot damn!" when Ashley frowns for a second or so.

 

@RZIBARA: I would disagree. I would argue that in ME3 her character has become a little bit more muted. By ME3 she has experience more of the galaxy and her personality has become a tad more silent.

 

Given that she (and Kaidan) spend considerable time laid-up (Hack Walters wanted his waifu to get more screen-time, at least for the Tuchanka arc), its understandable for many to feel that she got the short-end of the stick (That being said, most of the ME2 characters, especially Jacob and Miranda, really got the shaft in ME3).

 

Ashley shines in her off-Normandy scenes. Take her on missions (PC users have at least three easy methods to fix the marksman glitch and restore some of her bugged content) and you'll see that she has a lot of her trademark personality and quirks.

 

PS: Wrt to Hack-Walters: Am not saying that he's necessarily a bad writer. Its just that there are some instances where he fails to take advantage of Bioware's excellent team of writers and starts to blatantly favour some characters more than others. However by the Quarian arc (and DLCs) , you can tell that the rest of the writing team were able to bring to bear their talents. I also find the Thessian arc to be quite nice (except Kai Leng's cutscene immunity) in how it exposes the hypocrisy of the Asari.

 

BTW: I consider the leviathan DLC to be the best - the Leviathans live up their name and by the end of it, you can't help but wonder if they're a time bomb waiting to go off in your face.

[DWH1982]

I really don't have that many problems with Ashley in ME3. I think "in real life," some of the differences are due to a different writer handling her and the limited content. I would have liked a little more depth, but what's there mostly feels like it's Ashley.

 

Of course, I'm an unusual person. I like the Mars mission, including the way Ashley acts. I find it refreshing to have someone who actually calls Shepard out on his bullsh*t when it comes to working with Cerberus. As far as I'm concerned, Ash is the only one who has a realistic reaction to Shepard going off and working for Space ISIS for an entire year.

 

I also like the fact that she doesn't trust you immediately during the coup. Again, I find it realistic. She's acting as a bodyguard, and you've just barged in, heavily armed with two other people. Even if you worked to rebuild her trust, she doesn't immediately know what's going on, and her first priority is protecting the Council. Until she works out what's going on, yes, you are going to have a gun pointed at you. Get over it. That's the way it works. If she were all trusting in that situation, she'd be a p*ss poor body guard.

 

And, yes, I like the fact that, in the coup, she can tell you that she hopes the "Reapers send you to hell." You just shot her, and before that you most likely treated her like dirt. Were you expecting a "thank you"?

[SJNKD]

I love everyone's perspective on Ashley's character in ME3.  It was great to have at least one person stand up and call him out, tell him what they think.

 

I think its good to see someone questioning Shepard, he just walks around and basically everyone falls at his feet somewhat to help and get behind him but it shouldn't be like that, in war. Everyone has their own agenda and it was way too easy to gather species together, it didn't feel like a challenge and Cerberus was a flawed storyline, they wanted to control the reapers but they'd only pop up when they needed a plot hole to fill.

 

Also, new chapter of Shepard's journey is up. Well a couple of days ago but it took me a couple of days to remember my password after having to not put in a password because I saved it. Computer died, had it repaired. Lost everything and then I got asked for passwords, to everything. So funny, literally.

[congokong]

Ashley's greatest contribution to ME3 was shooting her.

[congokong]

And, yes, I like the fact that, in the coup, she can tell you that she hopes the "Reapers send you to hell." You just shot her, and before that you most likely treated her like dirt. Were you expecting a "thank you"?

You mainly just do not visit her in the hospital. Considering she could not be bothered to visit Shepard in those 6 months of Alliance detention, it seems only fair. Plus, unlike when Ashley didn't visit, there is a reaper invasion going on.

[kalikilic]

because posting pictures of Ash is what we used to do in here.

 

Get your Ash on!

[kalikilic]

The problem with that is Ashley/Kaidan saw first hand what Cerberus was doing on Mars. They made no attempt to talk. They just shot at Shepard and squad, and as seen, killed all the Alliance personnel

 

When Shepard encounters Ashley/Kaidan, no shots are exchanged right away. Had Shepard been working with Cerberus, Shepard wouldn't of hesitated in shooting Ashley/Kaidan. Kai Leng would've killed her right away. Also Ashley/Kaidan should realize they didn't have a chance. Yeah Shepard or one of the squadmates might be killed or injured, but Ashley/Kaidan would be dead very quickly. Another thing is if Shepard is working with Cerberus, why would the squadmates work with Shepard?

 

Its also interesting that Shepard is able to be in contact with Thane, but makes no attempt to get a hold of Ashley/Kaidan to let him/her know what's going on.

 

The whole encounter was lame. I suspect it was put in there to have the opportunity to kill Ashley/Kaidan. I would guess because of what happened on Horizon in ME2. And the other thing is the player gets to shoot Udina. I would guess because of him locking the Normandy back in ME1.

poor writing. made worse by the fact that this is the last offering in the trilogy and you'd want the best. emphasis on the Best. not the most content, but the best content.

 

i dont think that was accomplished, if we're going to be very specific and look at the game under a microscope. the state of the earth and the galaxy was a stage waiting for beautiful and intrepid characterisation and ideas to waltz on it and dance the night away. hate, subterfuge, fear. bravery, heroism, determination, unity.

 

wasted away in many instances. but alas this is just my humble opinion. and it is in fact one of the things that had motivated me to write my own bits of dialogue involving ashley. 

[survivor_686]

You mainly just do not visit her in the hospital. Considering she could not be bothered to visit Shepard in those 6 months of Alliance detention, it seems only fair. Plus, unlike when Ashley didn't visit, there is a reaper invasion going on.

 

Actually: Shepard would have been classified as a war-criminal, and would have all but been placed under heavy isolation. Its very unlikely that Ashley would have has the clearance to make contact with him. Combine this with the fact that the Alliance-Batarian relations were at their peak, its very likely Ashley would have been called away towards the border systems.

[congokong]

Actually: Shepard would have been classified as a war-criminal, and would have all but been placed under heavy isolation. Its very unlikely that Ashley would have has the clearance to make contact with him. Combine this with the fact that the Alliance-Batarian relations were at their peak, its very likely Ashley would have been called away towards the border systems.

Ashley admitted that she "couldn't face" Shepard; even when Anderson requested she visit.

[survivor_686]

Ashley admitted that she "couldn't face" Shepard; even when Anderson requested she visit.

 

Fair enough. So it appears that Ashley does feel some guilt about her refusing to join the SR-2, during ME2. As to how your Shepard's reacts to that that fact is up to you.

[congokong]

Fair enough. So it appears that Ashley does feel some guilt about her refusing to join the SR-2, during ME2. As to how your Shepard's reacts to that that fact is up to you.

I never got the guilt vibe. She never apologizes for the Horizon treatment, unlike Kaidan, or not joining in ME2, or not visiting in those six months. Instead, she continues being suspicious. And if you return the favor of not visiting.... Well, she may hope the reapers send you to hell before she dies.