4 réponses à ce sujet

[geth47]

I do have a question regarding fraternization with Kaidan and Ashley:

 

I´m planning to do a canon shepard of sorts, with the decisions Ive enjoyed most, and I wanted to do a by the book soldier, who would always try to follow the regulations, unless in the cases the game forbids it and it would mean certain death, like the mandatory action of stealing the normandy.

 

I think that the idea to romance Liara is a little too dangerous. She has just survived a traumatizing ordeal of being trapped and ambushed by sarens forces, discovering that her mother is with saren and soon will become an orphan. I think she will need a friend and not a lover in the near future.

 

But what about Ashley Williams? 

 

As far as I know, her posting is still on Eden Prime. Anderson has invited her aboard, but I think it has more to to with the fact that he wants her to testify before the council regarding the incident. I could be mistaken, but unlike Kaidan in regards to a female shepard, her situation there was not explicitly stated to be a permanent one. So, trying to pursue something with a fellow marine who is just there for a brief time does not seem like a clear violation of rules. Or am I wrong?

 

Also, after Shepard becomes a spectre, is he on  athe Normandy primarily as a human Spectre commanding a ship or as an Alliance officer subjected to the same Alliance regulations as his crew?

 

My question therefore is: As spectre, is Shepard by pursuing a relationship with a member of the Normandy crew infringing regulations? I understand that the Council could not care less about him romancing Ashley or a female shepard romancing kaidan, but would the alliance have reason to reprimand him and the crew-member involved? Or his/her spectre status is so big and protective that it should shield shepard and his/her lover from any punitive action from the alliance command without any bad note in their career files?

[straykat]

It's probably against the rules.. Some people take it a bit seriously, so if that's your thing, best to avoid it.

 

OTOH, the Ash romance has a line about being criminals at the end before Ilos.. so it all works out. You're breaking more rules than one.

 

My Canon Shep has her die..I like the later characters more and Kaidan as a squaddie. I only wish the game reacted to it as a tragic/failed romance.

[Visionedmetal]

I think that it doesn't really matter who your Sheppard decides to romance. My Shepard was a male who romanced Liara and I found that she was more interesting as a character and easy to bond with than Ashley is. I also don't think that the Alliance would reprimand Shepard for pursuing an relationship with a fellow crew member because he is the face of humanity, the first human spectre and the only hope at stopping Saren and Sovereign.

[fraggle]

It is against the regs, and a Shepard that does take this serious would probably not do it. On the other hand, there are very good reasons for even such a Shepard to do it. Feelings can be overwhelming, and reasoning won't always work in this case. I think a Shepard that respects fraternization rules can still break them.

My FemShep pursued James in ME3 and he takes fraternization rules very very seriously, yet they also gave him a reason to give in to one night in the Citadel DLC. It seems, if the relationship is kept secret nothing bad can happen.

 

We know of course that nothing bad happens in the game, but then I also think the Alliance lets slip a lot in case of Shepard anyway. Not sure if the Spectre status also helps, but probably.

Also, by the time it gets serious Shepard is grounded and steals the Normandy, and then in ME2 they work with Cerberus, so I guess they could also say "F*ck it" at that point and just pursue the relationship. And by ME3 it won't matter I assume. People have bigger things on their plate.

[Vanilka]

I think that despite being a Spectre, Shepard is still part of the Alliance and being above the law, as the Spectre status allows them, does not mean they can just go and do whatever they please. Correct me if I'm wrong because I may be, but being above the law is most likely supposed to serve when the safety of the galaxy is at stake, not when you want to bang your subordinates or steal candy. And Shepard could always lose her/his job without losing the Spectre status, I think.

 

However, if you do romance Kaidan (I don't know about Ashley.), he and Shepard do not just forget about the regulations against fraternisation. They agree they need to respect them and that makes it really interesting, in my opinion. Actually, the regs are an important part of Kaidan's romance and it's the reason they decide to wait until a more appropriate time. (Is it still fraternisation if it's on shore leave/vacation? I don't know. But given they were okay with that but not with breaking the rules, that doesn't seem to be an issue.) They do talk about their relationship, they flirt a bit, but they act mature about it and know they have to wait until the whole deal with Saren is over at the very least. Heh, Kaidan even worries about the regs during the dialogue that precedes their first attempt to kiss and he worries about them again before they end up in bed for some just-in-case-we-died-tomorrow "fraternisation".

 

In ME2, Shepard is not part of the Alliance and it's probably up to them whether or not they respect and enforce the Alliance rules on a non-Alliance ship. And in ME3, almost nobody seems to give a damn any more because the world is ending and everybody very much realises this. I don't think the regulations have changed, however.

 

I like playing Shepard that's very by the book myself and I see her becoming comfortable with the thought of breaking the regulations against fraternisation as an interesting character development. She might not have even gone for it if she hadn't lost Ashley on Virmire and realised that might have been her or Kaidan any time. Well, that's how I see it anyway. But that doesn't mean that breaking the regs is not an issue still. They're still there, at least in ME1 and ME3.