100 réponses à ce sujet

[CrutchCricket]

Harbinger. Too bad he didn't have a bigger role in ME3

Compared to the holokid maybe. Otherwise he was still too cheesy to be taken seriously.

 

Otherwise for me, the only ones that qualify are the new ME3 characters basically. I was (and still am) pissed about ME2 squadmates getting the shaft so I wasn't very receptive to the new guys.

 

Javik- probably the one I railed against the most, not just for squad status but for the concept of him being a Prothean. I thought it was dumb that after all we'd established about their extinction and Ilos specifically we just happen to find one anyway. Clearly I was converted. Best squadmate of ME3.

 

Vega- looked like a meathead and again he was taking up valuable real estate on the team. But of course, he was surprisingly insightful and genuine. And he's definitely a tank on the battlefield.

 

Traynor- not a squadmate so I didn't really care much one way or another. I liked Kelly though so there was a bit of resentment for that and for seemingly being created for pure PC reasons, to satisfy the same sex crowd. She proved her worth in the end. But things took a bit of a dip with Citadel. Her treatment of maleShep is atrocious, particularly in the hottub scene. I'm your CO, not your damn towel boy. If dude Shep couldn't join her because lesbian they should've had them do something different as colleagues/friends. This colored the chess match in the vanilla game as well, although I came to dislike it anyway for forced Shepard derp. Pretty sure that even people who've never seen chess wouldn't play it like they were going muzzle-to-muzzle.

 

Cortez- same with Traynor, minus the downtime grievances. Steve's character arc was well done.

 

Allers- I tried to like her, I really did. I even made a support thread the minute she was announced/leaked (really I just wanted to make a support thread). But she was so not needed and so poorly used (and rendered). I don't hate her like most on here seem to because I don't think there's enough to hate. You can hate the shitty mocap and the selling out that created her but hating the character itself is like hating an empty cup.

 

Others:

Petrovsky- No expectations, thought he was probably overrated because some people wouldn't shut up about him. Was pleasantly surprised. They played enough with the gentlemen officer and brilliant tactician tropes to earn my approval.

 

Henry Lawson- was expecting a brilliantly ruthless magnificent bastard. Got a stunted weakling I'd probably kill by accident and not even notice. Words cannot describe how infuriatingly disappointing his appearance was.

[Goodmongo]

One big disappointment for me was that I couldn't get Traynor killed or thrown off my ship.  Only way is to have a very low EMS where no one on the Normandy survives.

 

I wanted to take Jarvik's advice and throw her out the airlock in stead of Legion.  A $6,000 toothbrush?  She was one person that even when I'm paragon I liked to use the renegade choices with.  Big deal you did your job now get over it.  Even her relationship with my FemShep wasn't that good.

[themikefest]

One big disappointment for me was that I couldn't get Traynor killed or thrown off my ship.

Why?
 

I wanted to take Jarvik's advice and throw her out the airlock in stead of Legion.

I could say the same for the hologram turned robot. The thing was better off as a hologram. I also wanted to throw a couple other characters out the airlock
 

A $6,000 toothbrush?

So she likes expensive things. So what? At least the credits come out off her pocket. I looked all over the Citadel to buy her the toothbrush. Oh well
 

She was one person that even when I'm paragon I liked to use the renegade choices with.

She takes it in stride and does well. Near the end she developes a bit of a backbone
 

Big deal you did your job now get over it.

Get over what?
 

Even her relationship with my FemShep wasn't that good.

It was great with my femshep even when playing renegade

[CrutchCricket]

Traynor's good at her job, not so good in off-duty moments. Except kicking that asari's ass in space chess or whatever it was.

[Goodmongo]

Why?
 

I could say the same for the hologram turned robot. The thing was better off as a hologram. I also wanted to throw a couple other characters out the airlock
 

So she likes expensive things. So what? At least the credits come out off her pocket. I looked all over the Citadel to buy her the toothbrush. Oh well
 

She takes it in stride and does well. Near the end she developes a bit of a backbone
 

Get over what?
 

It was great with my femshep even when playing renegade

 

I would love to toss a few out the airlock.  Too bad we never had the option to pick and choose.

 

I was referring to how she responds when she found things out like Grissom and the other Cerberus signals.  She was like someone begging for acknowledgement from a person she has no real interest in when playing a male Shepard.  I can accept it as a FemShep as she wants to impress but it flat out doesn't work for me as a male Shepard.  Do we see other people acting like that when they do their jobs?  She has self-esteem issues that as a commander is not my job to deal with, especially in war time.

 

I think this also gets to a major difference in some players.  Some treat it more like their Shepard is a psychologist trying to solve their personal self-esteem issues while others play more like a real military commander would.  Not saying one is better than the other.  The game allows this difference so it's 100% valid to play either way.  It's a matter of taste.

[paramitch]

Also I accidentally romanced Jack in ME2, so I always sit there smirking when she calls me 'The king of the Boy Scouts' in ME3 because I like to think that she realizes that it was all a big accident and she basically just forced herself on the most oblivious person of all time.

"Hey Jack, ol' buddy good to see you! I'm still dedicated to being your friend- why are you sad? Don't be sad we can be friends I won't bother you with questions- wait what are you- Why are you grabbing the zipper on my pants- NO DON'T TOUCH ME THERE LEGION HELP SHE'S-" *com cuts off*.

 

 

That was hilarious -- I laughed out loud. I haven't played a male Shep yet -- I'd like to at some point, just to get the alternate storylines and potential relationships. Although I'm still always puzzled that Jack isn't gay or bi -- I always think the character was written to be that way, then hastily changed. (She's just very aggressive and oddly flirtatious with Femshep, for instance, when there's no need for her to be.)

 

If you're worried about having squadmates die during the suicide mission, do an ME3 default playthrough. You will be able to do Grissom without Jack. She is not in an ME3 default playthrough. Also, a default playthrough is a lot different from having an save imported from ME2

Thanks! This is a great idea. I'll definitely have to add this to my upcoming list of playthrough options. I'm very interested to see how different the game is in both ME2 and ME3 with a default 'new' start.

 

Reading most of the responses I've noticed that a pattern might be forming.  People that end up liking Jarvik or James seem to be more anti-PC and kill em types.  People that like some of the others like soft spoken types and try to fight the war in a less violent way.  I am NOT saying one is better than the other.  Just pointing out a difference.

 

FWIW, I definitely don't fit this trend though. I'm a hugely PC-liberal-type and I love Javik and James.

 

Another character I turned around on in ME3 was -- in a way -- Grunt. I liked him okay in ME2, but I didn't use him much, and usually woke him up from the tank pretty late. He never has much to do in the SM either for me.

 

But in ME3 he's just the most adorable thing ever, and you really get the sense of what a kid he is, and he's just so overjoyed to see Shepard again. I love Grunt's typo-filled e-mails to Shepard, the way he survives that last Rachni attack, and at the Citadel party scene he's again just incredibly funny and heartwarming. He totally is a big kid, whether he's climbing statues, demolishing the Citadel, turning away the party crashers (I always want to let them in), or ending the night mumbling in the shower. Grunt is awesome. 

[cap and gown]

 

Another character I turned around on in ME3 was -- in a way -- Grunt. I liked him okay in ME2, but I didn't use him much, and usually woke him up from the tank pretty late. He never has much to do in the SM either for me.

 

But in ME3 he's just the most adorable thing ever, and you really get the sense of what a kid he is, and he's just so overjoyed to see Shepard again. I love Grunt's typo-filled e-mails to Shepard, the way he survives that last Rachni attack, and at the Citadel party scene he's again just incredibly funny and heartwarming. He totally is a big kid, whether he's climbing statues, demolishing the Citadel, turning away the party crashers (I always want to let them in), or ending the night mumbling in the shower. Grunt is awesome. 

 

Grunt can be very amusing in ME2 if you take him on missions with you. Here is one of my favorite scenes with Grunt in ME2.

 

[Batarian Master Race]

Reading most of the responses I've noticed that a pattern might be forming.  People that end up liking Jarvik or James seem to be more anti-PC and kill em types.  People that like some of the others like soft spoken types and try to fight the war in a less violent way.  I am NOT saying one is better than the other.  Just pointing out a difference.

 

Huh. My favorite ME3 characters are, in order, James, Tali, Javik, and Kaiden. I'm fairly sure that's a pretty even split.

 

 

On topic: Vega. After reading more about his backstory, I realized that he's got a blend of hero worship and misdirected survivor's guilt that gives him a unique relationship with Shepard. He's far more than the muscled hunk people give him credit for, and the crew did need a bit of lowbrow humor.

 

Also, Kaiden. ME1 Kaiden was sort of boring, but the way the Virmire mission worked out, it made sense to save him. I'm glad I did; ME3 Kaiden's laid-back attitude makes him a geniunely nice person to be around, and his history with the rest of the crew makes his interactions with the others more meaningful.

[aoibhealfae]

you mean throughout the trilogy, right? honestly I like them all from the start.. but the feelings tend to vary as time went by.

 

Three characters that surprised/won me over in later playthroughs

1. Kaidan

Before my first playthrough, I've heard a lot of bad things about him like how he's boring, whiny and vanilla etc and all the hype about how Garrus, Liara and Thane being the best romance for FemShep etc. Naturally, I choose him as my first LI for FemShep because I am that boring. I was prepared to be disappointed because that's how I roll with all my first playthroughs. I fully expected the regular Bioware's one-dimensional cute/vanilla relationship; i.e: You flirt - a lot, have some sort of crisis which you need to solve for them, have fade out scene with implied sex, more conflict, swear your undying love for each other, quote cute mushy lines together and then the game moves on as usual.....boy, I was dead wrong.

 

I don't get it. Kaidan is a true-complex, layered and very well-written character from the start and even more so than all other characters who seem to perpetually stuck in daddy issues. He's goddamn expressive and he's an effing cgi! There's always something new about him that I find in every playthrough. Like he can be made flirty and horny in ME1 and then love sick idiot in ME3. I love the way he always look lovingly at Shepard from behind, the way his fingers caress Shepard's skin and how he was still acting even in silence. There's always new things for me the analyse with each playthroughs. It's really sad that people dismiss him so easily when all I see was a perfect match for my Shepard. 

 

2. Joker

I didn't like him at first. I already knew him as a teenage werewolf who broke Willow's heart and he's a poor version of Wash and his jokes aren't funny. It took me several playthroughs to really warm up to him. I'm still trying to 'read' him better as a character and I'm still exploring his narrative as I never actually had a full game with FemShe discouraging him from pursuing EDI.

 

I realize that Joker had a big crush on FemShep in ME1 which made sense when he interrupted the near kiss scene and again during the aftermath. In ME2, he never said it outright but he did feel guilty about her being dead because of him. And I love that after Horizon, he was concerned about Shepard's feeling and it made more sense why he felt resentment toward VS after Citadel standoff. With this narrative, I find its natural that Joker was feeling protective and that he sees her as his family (especially since my poor Sheppie is an orphan). Then, their argument post-Thessia and Joker's pouting made everything so precious.  

 

3. Jack

I didn't take an instant liking to her until much later. She's a version of Biotic Colonist FemShep/SS if she was kidnapped by the Batarians and being sold to Cerberus. Even her loyalty quest is similar to Talitha's. Then her narrative followed Kaidan's path, she was brought into the Alliance, she teaches biotic student. I love that she bonded well with Shepard even without being romanced. Even if she was being given a relatively small cameo in ME3, I find that she's the most well-developed complex female character in the game next to FemShepard. Besides, I imagine Kahlee would adopt Jack as well as Shepard after the war ended. 

 

and three characters that I like initially and then they became a disappointment in subsequent playthroughs... 1) Garrus 2) EDI 3) Miranda

[paramitch]

Grunt can be very amusing in ME2 if you take him on missions with you. Here is one of my favorite scenes with Grunt in ME2.

 

Thanks for sharing that! I've never seen that scene yet in my SM run, so that was really fun.

I forgot to add that I also love Grunt's rocky headplate. It makes him look even more kidlike to me somehow. 

 

On topic: Vega. After reading more about his backstory, I realized that he's got a blend of hero worship and misdirected survivor's guilt that gives him a unique relationship with Shepard. He's far more than the muscled hunk people give him credit for, and the crew did need a bit of lowbrow humor.

 

Also, Kaiden. ME1 Kaiden was sort of boring, but the way the Virmire mission worked out, it made sense to save him. I'm glad I did; ME3 Kaiden's laid-back attitude makes him a geniunely nice person to be around, and his history with the rest of the crew makes his interactions with the others more meaningful.

 

I definitely agree on the hero worship front with James, and that aspect makes for an interesting bit of friction when he joins the Normandy. All he knew of Shep was the post-ME2 Shep, so it's interesting to see him kind of get bombarded by all these realizations and confrontations (on top of the devastation of Earth of course). He's new to us but he isn't new to Shep, and I like the way the game helps us remember that.

 

Three characters that surprised/won me over in later playthroughs

1. Kaidan

Before my first playthrough, I've heard a lot of bad things about him like how he's boring, whiny and vanilla etc and all the hype about how Garrus, Liara and Thane being the best romance for FemShep etc. Naturally, I choose him as my first LI for FemShep because I am that boring. I was prepared to be disappointed because that's how I roll with all my first playthroughs. I fully expected the regular Bioware's one-dimensional cute/vanilla relationship; i.e: You flirt - a lot, have some sort of crisis which you need to solve for them, have fade out scene with implied sex, more conflict, swear your undying love for each other, quote cute mushy lines together and then the game moves on as usual.....boy, I was dead wrong.

 

I don't get it. Kaidan is a true-complex, layered and very well-written character from the start and even more so than all other characters who seem to perpetually stuck in daddy issues. He's goddamn expressive and he's an effing cgi! There's always something new about him that I find in every playthrough. Like he can be made flirty and horny in ME1 and then love sick idiot in ME3. I love the way he always look lovingly at Shepard from behind, the way his fingers caress Shepard's skin and how he was still acting even in silence. There's always new things for me the analyse with each playthroughs. It's really sad that people dismiss him so easily when all I see was a perfect match for my Shepard. 

 

2. Joker

I didn't like him at first. I already knew him as a teenage werewolf who broke Willow's heart and he's a poor version of Wash and his jokes aren't funny. It took me several playthroughs to really warm up to him. I'm still trying to 'read' him better as a character and I'm still exploring his narrative as I never actually had a full game with FemShe discouraging him from pursuing EDI.

 

I realize that Joker had a big crush on FemShep in ME1 which made sense when he interrupted the near kiss scene and again during the aftermath. In ME2, he never said it outright but he did feel guilty about her being dead because of him. And I love that after Horizon, he was concerned about Shepard's feeling and it made more sense why he felt resentment toward VS after Citadel standoff. With this narrative, I find its natural that Joker was feeling protective and that he sees her as his family (especially since my poor Sheppie is an orphan). Then, their argument post-Thessia and Joker's pouting made everything so precious.  

 

3. Jack

I didn't take an instant liking to her until much later. She's a version of Biotic Colonist FemShep/SS if she was kidnapped by the Batarians and being sold to Cerberus. Even her loyalty quest is similar to Talitha's. Then her narrative followed Kaidan's path, she was brought into the Alliance, she teaches biotic student. I love that she bonded well with Shepard even without being romanced. Even if she was being given a relatively small cameo in ME3, I find that she's the most well-developed complex female character in the game next to FemShepard. Besides, I imagine Kahlee would adopt Jack as well as Shepard after the war ended. 

 

and three characters that I like initially and then they became a disappointment in subsequent playthroughs... 1) Garrus 2) EDI 3) Miranda

 

Your post is so eloquent about Kaiden that I really wish I liked him more. If it helps, I do think he's a good guy and heroic, etc. I just don't care for the way he's written -- at least based on the conversation wheel decisions I've made with Femshep thus far, he always comes across as petulant, passive-aggressive, and far too quick to make assumptions about (my) Shepard and her feelings. I'm sure he's much better when chosen and interacted with as an LI rather than as someone who dismissed any feelings he might have had. I'm also biased because I really hated the sloppy writing for Kaiden in ME3, that basically had him acting toward my Shep like an angry and entitled ex-boyfriend -- add that to the horrible non-choices where I had to watch Shep get all hysterical over his safety and stand over him while sappy music played, and my hatred was so great that I went back to my ME1 playthrough, got to Virmire, and killed him off. But you make a good case for people reconsidering him as an LI.

 

On Joker, great to see another Buffy-watcher (hee, although I loved Oz)! I loved Joker in 1 and 2, but the sexbot development in 3 oversimplified his relationship with EDI and it lost a lot of its subtlety. I still love Joker, but not as much as in ME1, when I wanted my Femshep to romance him, darn it, I thought he was fabulous.

 

On Jack -- she's another character I came around on. I didn't love her at first, and found her sort of two-dimensional (especially since with a femshep and without the romanced Jack, we don't really get to see a softer side of her in ME2 even after her loyalty mission). But I loved her story trajectory and was very moved when she had become a teacher and was risking her life for her students. I also found it very true to the character as written -- of course Jack would be a tiger for her kids against any Cerberus threat. It was nice to see her loosen up and joke with everyone in the Citadel DLC party (and at Purgatory) too.

[txgoldrush]

The worst character for me, outside of Cortez, was Udina.  His motivation was never fully explained on why he sided with TIM and what he expected to get out of it. 

Which was actually a good thing.

 

The codex suggests that he just snapped from desperation, which would be in character. He was edgy when you meet him in ME3.

 

Din Korlack though needs more explanation. 

[Mercyva]

its not a special thing to say, but i dont hate any character in mass effect, but i do have to say that in ME1 wrex was just there, i never took him with me anywhere, though i liked him! but i liked other characters more if that makes any sense, anyhow.. then playing ME2, seeing him for the first time.. i was proud. i immediately pressed the ''come with me'' whatever that meant. irony isnt it? it took me losing him to appreciate him that much more... and even then some, when i saw him in ME3! i just was.... proud at the leader he's become.. after that, i really looked up all the things that could make him a companion xD but always, failed. i loved wrex always, but i appreciated his company and snorty come backs more in ME2 and ME3.

[cap and gown]

I thought I would share my experience with the characters as someone who started with ME3 rather than ME1 or ME2.

 

I really liked most of the characters in ME3: Liara, Garrus, Tali, EDI being especially notable. I can't remember my reactions to the VS. I think I did three playthroughs of ME3 before going and getting the other two games. All the characters seemed really well developed in ME3 except for maybe Miranda. She was just kind of there, and of course she always died on Horizon because these were non-import games. Jacob was also more-or-less a non-entity. But the characters on the ship were very well done with lots of interaction.

 

Playing a non-import game meant I had never met Jack, Samara, Grunt, Wrex, Legion, Zaeed, Kasumi, or Thane.

 

Then I got to ME1 and I was quite disappointed. Compared to their treatment in ME3, the characters seemed very undeveloped in ME1. Tali was just a codex entry. Garrus was a pure, one-note, cardboard stereotype of the red-tape hating cop. Liara was OK, but her naive goody-two-shoes act (particularly the fainting stuff) put me off compared to the character I knew from ME3. I still prefer the ME3 version of Liara over the ME1 version. Wrex I didn't particularly like in ME1 as far as ship-board conversations. The dude was a thug, a pirate, a hit man (even though he called himself a bounty hunter). His dialogue on missions, however, was amusing. Ashley was a racist. Kaidan was even more goody-two-shoes than Liara. On the whole, I just didn't feel much connection with the ME1 characters. The two Alliance people were the most well-developed, yet I had issues with their personalities.

 

When I got to ME2 I really started to meet people who I had not met before. Miranda, who was just kind of "there" in ME3, initially put me off. She murders someone right in front of me as our first interaction, and then after talking to TIM, is utterly cold. So, in my first playthrough, I didn't like her, though later, as I said above, I came to respect her a lot. Jacob was cool, no problems there. Mordin was great. Jack I didn't like and I still don't like her even after having romanced her in ME2 and ME3, though I will grant that her romance content, particularly in the Citadel DLC is some of the best. Thane was pretty cool, though his talking like he was just a tool to be used like a gun rather than a person with free-will was off-putting. Legion was pretty cool. On my first playthrough, playing as a Soldier, I ended up using him during the SM for his drone, for which I was quite thankful. Samara has never been a character that I felt much for. Kasumi was adorable. Zaeed is not a character I care for much, and every time he opens his mouth all I can hear is the mayor of Redcliff village. Of the returning characters Tali fared the best for me. She was no longer a walking codex, and her trial added a lot to her development. Garrus, OTOH, still came off as under-developed. He had almost nothing to say: 1 dialogue after picking him up; 1 dialogue to give you his loyalty mission, and 1 dialogue after his loyalty mission. Liara was almost a non-entity until I got LotSB, at which point I think she finally became a character I could care about. Meeting Wrex on Tuchanka was pretty cool. And I really took to Wrex in ME3. Grunt, to me, came across similar to the way Wrex did in ME1: his ship-board dialogue was rather nondescript, but his dialogue during missions was very amusing. When I got to see him again in ME3 I really liked him, particularly his Citadel content.

 

The character that I really fell in love with from ME2, though, was Garbriela Daniels. I can't believe Ken and Gabby don't show up in a non-import game. Having Ken and Gabby in ME3 just brightens my day.

[Vazgen]

Positive:

James. Never payed him much attention, used Garrus and Tali for the most of the game. Then I decided to give it a try and took him on all missions. I was pleasantly surprised. Paragon Lost fleshes his character more and Leviathan DLC has some of his best moments.

 

Javik. The guy is an a**. But you can see logic in his words, the outlook shaped by the years of fighting Reapers and the loss of his men. Plus he's a walking foreshadowing of the endings

 

Negative:

Liara. Didn't expect her to be on the ship after helping her to become Shadow Broker. And then she started stalking Shepard... creepy.

 

EDI. I liked the ME2 version. ME3... weird sexbot with Pinocchio syndrome.

 

Tali in Citadel DLC. Her portrayal there went against my vision of her character and I was not comfortable with the change. 

[KaiserShep]

Cortez, James and Javik are the winners for me, but Jack must get an honorable mention. In ME2, I didn't expect to really like her all that much throughout, but she became one of my favorites after doing her loyalty mission, and despite her small role in ME2, only made me like her more, especially now with her Armax Arsenal meet-up in the Citadel DLC. 

[TheRevanchist]

The worst character for me, outside of Cortez, was Udina.  His motivation was never fully explained on why he sided with TIM and what he expected to get out of it. 

 

Actually the Codex went over that. He was desperate. He didn't actually want the Council to die. That was Cerberus. he wanted to hold them hostage so they would grant him Emergency Powers so he could take control of the Citadel Fleet. He wanted to order the Fleet to Earth to liberate it. This of course would have been a horrible idea. But long story short, he did it out of misguided love for humanity.

[Xetykins]

Legion.
I thought I'd never warm up to a monotone scrap metal, but it happened with "Shepard Commander".

Actually, the fact that I ended up utterly loving all ME companions surprised me.

[aoibhealfae]

Your post is so eloquent about Kaiden that I really wish I liked him more. If it helps, I do think he's a good guy and heroic, etc. I just don't care for the way he's written -- at least based on the conversation wheel decisions I've made with Femshep thus far, he always comes across as petulant, passive-aggressive, and far too quick to make assumptions about (my) Shepard and her feelings. I'm sure he's much better when chosen and interacted with as an LI rather than as someone who dismissed any feelings he might have had. I'm also biased because I really hated the sloppy writing for Kaiden in ME3, that basically had him acting toward my Shep like an angry and entitled ex-boyfriend -- add that to the horrible non-choices where I had to watch Shep get all hysterical over his safety and stand over him while sappy music played, and my hatred was so great that I went back to my ME1 playthrough, got to Virmire, and killed him off. But you make a good case for people reconsidering him as an LI.

I don't think he's all that good and heroic. He proved that he could be ruthless to the person he loved in ME2. He have his code similar to Samara but he's like a man who was trying to repent for what he did and to be a better person. I find that's an admirable quality in anyone in real life and even better in fiction.

 

It really depends on how you play Shepard. I don't really see my Shepard to want someone who is fully dependent on her, who would pander to her every whims or sweet talk to her to oblivion or amaze her with grand displays of affection. She needed someone who could stood up to himself for what he believes in, who would support her when she needs it the most. She didn't need him to defeat the Collectors but she needed him to stay with Anderson and the Alliance. And unlike everyone, he didn't leave her to rot in jail, he help clear her name and he was the reason everyone in Council and the Alliance believe in her. 

 

Garrus was a pure, one-note, cardboard stereotype of the red-tape hating cop. 

 

He's simple-minded at best. I think I start to feel less about Garrus after I listen to all of his ME1's banters with Tali and Wrex. I can't believe that he said he didn't think the krogans and quarians was properly contrite and that they deserve everything that happened to them (i.e: the impending extinction for both races). Someone pointed out to me its because he was thinking about justice but that was nonsense, it was a deeply held belief which wasn't much explored. It's frustrating when the rest of the game merely gloss over it as it did with the aftermath of Dr Heart and Sidonis. His characterization could have used more consistencies and depth.

[paramitch]

On Garrus: What I do like is that he frankly, honestly and point-blank apologizes for some of his views in ME1. That's kind of extraordinary and cool to me. When he apologizes to Tali, it means something to me and shows me how far he's come as a character. (Also, I freely admit that I love Garrus.)

 

I would love to toss a few out the airlock.  Too bad we never had the option to pick and choose.

 

I was referring to how she responds when she found things out like Grissom and the other Cerberus signals.  She was like someone begging for acknowledgement from a person she has no real interest in when playing a male Shepard.  I can accept it as a FemShep as she wants to impress but it flat out doesn't work for me as a male Shepard.  Do we see other people acting like that when they do their jobs?  She has self-esteem issues that as a commander is not my job to deal with, especially in war time.

 

I can buy it as Shep's a celebrity no matter what in her world, and she's serving for one of the most decorated and talked-about commanders in human history.

 

For me, I like Traynor because she's such a lovable geek stand-in. She's capable at her job, and obviously beautiful, but awkward, socially a complete misfit (see also DLC party), and while she's sexually confident, she's also kind of klutzy and goofy. But I like that about her. She's never been an LI for my character but I definitely see the appeal.

 

On topic: Vega. After reading more about his backstory, I realized that he's got a blend of hero worship and misdirected survivor's guilt that gives him a unique relationship with Shepard. He's far more than the muscled hunk people give him credit for, and the crew did need a bit of lowbrow humor.

 

Also, Kaiden. ME1 Kaiden was sort of boring, but the way the Virmire mission worked out, it made sense to save him. I'm glad I did; ME3 Kaiden's laid-back attitude makes him a geniunely nice person to be around, and his history with the rest of the crew makes his interactions with the others more meaningful.

 

I think the hero worship is the most interesting aspect, as it separates Shep from those who may look up to her (Vega, Traynor) from those who already know she's fallible (Liara, Joker, VS, etc.).

 

And yet another note on character evolutions (people you grow to love) -- I hate losing Mordin (whom I've always loved) but it is easily one of the most moving moments in the entire 3 games for me, so I'm still sort of undecided on how I feel about his character's change on his philosophy re: the Genophage.

[Excella Gionne]

 

So she likes expensive things. So what? At least the credits come out off her pocket. I looked all over the Citadel to buy her the toothbrush. Oh well

Shepard has 9,999,999 credits and refuses to buy Traynor's toothbrush for 6,000 credits... If only money actually made a difference in dialogue.

[Barquiel]

Grunt...I was very MEH on him at first (probably because he wasn't Wrex), but after I started using him he became on of my favorite characters (and he had some of the most amusing lines in the citadel DLC!). Same with Jack. I remember she annoyed me to no end in the ME2 ad campaign and I still don't like her as a romance, but as a character, I do. I also fully expected to hate or at least dislike James and EDI in ME3, but they turned out to be good additions. Khalisah Al-Jilani, Aria and Councilor Tevos are some non-squad members who annoyed me at first, but I grew attached to these characters as the series progressed.

Joker and Traynor the opposite effect, as well as Tali.

[KaiserShep]

Shepard has 9,999,999 credits and refuses to buy Traynor's toothbrush for 6,000 credits... If only money actually made a difference in dialogue.

It's funny, because my Shepard bought some prejek paddle fish on Illium for 8,000 credits. Priorities, I guess. 

[Oni Changas]

Positively?

Definitely James. I expected him to be a pure exposition device for new players but the writers also used "the new guy" to emphasize how much histiry connected the rest of the team. That was well done and also, his straight forward character makes him likable. One of the positives for me definitely.

Dr. Michelle: Honestly, I did not expect to see her again at all in ME3. Imagine my surprise when I found out that we could even recruit her. I almost always choose Chakwas but still, the fact that the possibility exists is nice.

 

Negatives:

Mording and Legion in ME3 because of how their characters changed all of a sudden.

EDI: Didn't see the whole body thing coming and thought she was more interesting as "being the ship" without all the done-to-death Pinocchio cliches.

TIM and Udina. Didn't expect both characters to get shoved down the evil drain through indoctrination

Kai Leng: After reading Retribution I did not expect this. At all.

Perfectly stated my opinion here. Though I'd add Javik to the positives list. When I first heard his voice I cringed. When I saw how lame the prothean twist was I cringed harder. When I interacted with him and watched him constantly destroy the whispering moron on an intel broker Liara, I became an insta fan.

 

And yes, I'm adding Liara to the negative list. I liked her in ME1 and throughout most of ME2, but the whisper thing got really annoying, then there's the fact that her character is all over the place. Same with Jacob. He was this cool headed soldier who didn't join then Shepard fan club but instead developed a mutual respect who's willing to step up and join the fray when the time calls, then suddenly he's this coward who's scared to help with the Normandy and refuses to rejoin the Alliance.

 

EDIT: I'm subbing Mordin for Aria. Mordin felt consistent enough with me despite the downgrade in voice acting. His ME2 arc pointed in that direction, and he's the one character who dies a friggin LEGEND the likes of Karl Tanner would respect.

 

Improve Genophage, intimidate Blue Suns and Blood Pack, h4x Reaper/Collector tech, whip Collector ass, cure Genophage, drop mic.

[Eleonora]

I never expected myself to like Miranda. I respected her character as she's a strong and capable woman, but I never thought I'd get to like her. I hated her personality and nothing made her likable to me. She didn't seem like a very deep character to me, just something nice for the guys to look at. As a woman, I didn't mind her sexualization that much (though the buttshots were laughable), but it didn't help her character either.

 

Though eventually I got to like her. Her initial cold demeanor makes sense to me now, and she gets a lot nicer after a while, to the point I can see Shep and Miranda being good friends at the end of ME3. Troubleshooting space diva's ftw