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[Garlador]

...Why do you like him again? Sounds like you admire the writing but dislike the character =P

I like jerkbag characters from time to time. Zaeed, Miranda, and Aria are pretty similar.

It's possible to like a character because they are flawed and to like them while disagreeing with their ideologies. Javik can be insufferable... and that's partially why I like him. He's a powder keg of a character that other characters react strongly to. I love watching Liara's child-like fancy of the Protheans crumble into disgust at some of the things he says as reality crashes hard into her fantasy.

And, to be fair, Javik grows and evolves as a character. He ended in a different place than where he began for me. "I've never known "peace" before. ... I would like to experience it."

It felt to me like the writers were striving too hard for him to sound "old-timey" with his phrases and opinions, and how everything had to be explained in a "deep" way (maybe "deep" isn't the perfect description, but hopefully you get what I mean).

Possibly, but I honestly felt he was more plain-spoken than many other characters (Samara, I'm looking at you).

Though I wonder if part of my dislike for him is because I wanted to think of the Protheans as completely alien compared to our own culture, and yet here this guy was, based heavily on romantic/tragedy versions of our own ancient warlike cultures, acting like a bit of a dick and speaking in semi-riddles whenever the mood took his fancy.

I thought it was a brilliant subversion. They build them up to be something special, something transcendent... Liara hypes them up for two games as wise and unknowing, advanced beyond all our understanding...

... And in reality, they were just like everyone else. Desperate, foolish, angry, confused, and reliant upon the technology and advancement of previous races and generations. I can understand being disappointed that they weren't "special", but the de-mythification of the Protheans kept putting a smile on my face because I COULD relate to it.

It's like how some people say the 40s or 50s were some "golden age" in America, and then you look up and see some of the horrible things we did and tolerated and the myth falls utterly apart. It humanizes the Protheans, and we soon look at the "riddles" and "philosophy" of Javik and we aren't impressed by it; we roll our eyes and sigh and realize he's an old, outdated, judgmental racist from a bygone age, a relic of the past who thinks he's so much smarter and more clever than we are, even though his race lost the war and yet he advocates using the same tactics that failed them the first time.

At least, at first. I like that. It creates a blueprint for a fascinating character.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

I used Garrus and Liara in 1 & 3, Garrus and Mordin in 2.

 

[galv]

Garrus, Thane, Legion, Tali and Miranda for me would be top tier.

Morinth, Jack and Mordin round out the 2nd tier. The rest can be placed wherever.

I like Morinth way more than Samara - atleast Morinth has a personality. Plus, I could actually understand where she was coming from. It's not about being evil, it's about the whole conflict between choosing evil and being born evil.

I didn't like Jacob at all though, he might be my personal worst squadmate.

 

[Darkstorne]

I thought it was a brilliant subversion. They build them up to be something special, something transcendent... Liara hypes them up for two games as wise and unknowing, advanced beyond all our understanding...

... And in reality, they were just like everyone else. Desperate, foolish, angry, confused, and reliant upon the technology and advancement of previous races and generations. I can understand being disappointed that they weren't "special", but the de-mythification of the Protheans kept putting a smile on my face because I COULD relate to it.

It's like how some people say the 40s or 50s were some "golden age" in America, and then you look up and see some of the horrible things we did and tolerated and the myth falls utterly apart. It humanizes the Protheans, and we soon look at the "riddles" and "philosophy" of Javik and we aren't impressed by it; we roll our eyes and sigh and realize he's an old, outdated, judgmental racist from a bygone age, a relic of the past who thinks he's so much smarter and more clever than we are, even though his race lost the war and yet he advocates using the same tactics that failed them the first time.

At least, at first. I like that. It creates a blueprint for a fascinating character.

Awesome. We're on exactly the same page with his character analysis, but all the reasons I hate him are the reasons you love him =D

Personally, I like the idea that alien races can be completely different to us and impossible to relate to culturally (Protheans) or logically (Reapers prior to Mass 3). I agree that it makes for an interesting template to have aliens we can relate to, but that had already been done with every other alien species in the game. I think Bioware's need to humanize absolutely everything in the galaxy, past and present, is unfortunate. I kind of wish Protheans had been left to our imagination for that effect, and definitely wish the Reapers hadn't explained their motivations.

 

[Garlador]

Awesome. We're on exactly the same page with his character analysis, but all the reasons I hate him are the reasons you love him =D

Personally, I like the idea that alien races can be completely different to us and impossible to relate to culturally (Protheans) or logically (Reapers prior to Mass 3). I agree that it makes for an interesting template to have aliens we can relate to, but that had already been done with every other alien species in the game. I think Bioware's need to humanize absolutely everything in the galaxy, past and present, is unfortunate. I kind of wish Protheans had been left to our imagination for that effect, and definitely wish the Reapers hadn't explained their motivations.

I think those still exist... but the Protheans ceased to be that species.

Some cultures, like the Hanar, Yaag, and Drell, still strike me as incredibly alien, while beings such as The Leviathan bring back the mystery the Protheans lost.

I do with the Reaper motivation had remained more ambiguous (Sovereign just did SUCH a good job talking the Reapers up...), but at least Leviathan explained that their faulty logic WAS faulty logic; that they are, in essence, broken synthetics that got infected with a major case of adware and went haywire, rather than trying to convince the players their plans actually were supposed to make sense.

Again, demystifying them sucks, and "they're just crazy" is a bit of a cop-out, but I did like how, ultimately, they did have the same logic as any other crazy person. "My logic makes sense to ME! You don't UNDERSTAND!"

 

[Dennis]

When you see Kaidan you must start shootan'

 

[Psychoward]

When you see Kaidan you must start shootan'

Killing Ashley in 1 immortalizes her as an okay squadmate and prevents her from ever showing up in 3 though so win/win.

 

[Mozendo]

And Miranda brought her unique assets to the team.[/IMG]

And let's not forget the man jaw

 

[GwyndolinCinder]

TALI

Spoiler

I'd list my other favorites, but thats everyone but Ashley

 

[Garlador]

TALI

Spoiler

I'd list my other favorites, but thats everyone but Ashley

I romanced Ashley, found out she was racist against aliens, dumped her, dated Tali.

ME3's "reunion" between them both was fun.

 

[Ralemont]

I romanced Ashley, found out she was racist against aliens, dumped her, dated Tali.

ME3's "reunion" between them both was fun.

Tali with the sick burn tho

 

[Olengie]

I always used Garrus and Tali.

 

[ironcreed]

Mordin, Liara and Garrus for me.

 

[zbertz]

Top of my list is Tali. Love Tali.

Garrus, Liara & Wrex are also great. Oh, and Thane!

 

[hydruxo]

Everyone is welcome to their opinion but I genuinely don't know how anyone can dislike Garrus. I really don't.

 

[LTWood12]

Miranda....

 

[Jigorath]

My combos were...

Garrus + Wrex

Garrus + Miranda

Garrus + Liara

I liked Garrus.

 

[Andrain18]

Garrus is the GOAT, Morid, Thane, and Grunt

 

[Inuhanyou]

Tali...just..Tali.

 

[Boudica]

My go to in squadmates were as follows:

Mass Effect: Liara/Tali
Mass Effect 2: Garrus/Miranda and the Tali/Kasumi when I had both available.
Mass Effect 3: Tali/Ashley.

 

[Hawkeye 131]

Garrus Vakarian!!! He's single-handily the best alien bro since Chewbacca. Then again almost all of Mass Effect's entire cast of ensemble characters are brilliant. Well written and fully realized characters are one of BioWare's specialties. Wrex, Mordin, Ashley, Liara, Joker, Zaeed, Thane, Tali, Jack, Miranda, Samara, Kasumi, Legion, EDI, Anderson, and Kaidan are all amazing.

Never cared for Jacob, Grunt, Javik or James for that matter.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Going through this thread makes me realize how many great characters there were

 

[Omadahl]

Garrus is the king of bros. He's the Apollo Creed to your Rocky Balboa. I would run on the beach in cut offs and long socks with Garrus while Scorpion blasts.

 

[Rockin' Ranger]

1: Usually had Tali and Liara, sometimes Wrex instead of one of them.
2: Almost always had Miranda in my group since she was an absolute powerhouse in combat. Other than her I switched taking Tali, Moridin, or Samara most often.
3: I think I switched it up quite pretty frequently with the exception of never using the giant dude bro guy, Javik, or Edi.

As far as best I'd go with Tali and Mordin as characters and Miranda as squadmate.

 

[Skiptastic]

Garrus and Miranda were my jam.

God this thread is reminding me of how much I loved ME2. That game was something special.

 

[Rats Off To Ya]

Tali best girl.

 

[Bisnic]

Tali with the sick burn tho

 

[Boogie9IGN]

Always had Garrus and Jack (hottest chick ever HNNNGH). I remember using Wrex, Mordin Solus, Thane Krios and Legion much more than the other characters. Every once in a while I'd sub in Miranda to check out dat ass

 

[BuckRobotron]

Tali and Wrex are pretty much my favorites. ME2 would be Tali, Jack, and Grunt. ME3 I tended to just use whomever squad-wise until the Tali scenarios and that excellent Jack side-mission was a highlight (Tali or Jack would be LI in most playthroughs).

Finally, Wrex being playable again in the Citadel DLC was the best.

 

[EatChildren]

These are characters who bring interesting perspectives to the narrative and in some way greatly enhance the larger subplots of the series. EatChildren explained above my view on why Javik is so essential to ME3, but I don't agree with the notion that Legion is lame in ME3 for several reasons. For one, Legion in ME3 is presented as a flawed character. He lies, manipulates, and is evasive. It's a natural evolution of how a machine might come to exhibit certain individualistic tendencies, which was the main question of his character in ME2 (see: loyalty mission). It's clear that, like Mordin, his view on how the geth might evolve has altered. Before, he took a hardline stance that any sort of help from another race was undesirable, and that the geth would find their own path. While some found this praiseworthy, I thought it was kind of dumb and analogous to those who believe the mass relays needed to be destroyed because they are evil. Technology, all else being equal, is a neutral force, and in recognizing that his race would be wiped out without using it, Legion decided to go for what he considered to be something beautiful anyway.

I don't mind Legion (and by extension the Geth)'s perspective changing, I just dislike the path BioWare took them down, which was to undo the uniqueness of their definition to simply make them just like everybody else. The Geth seeking their own path was interesting to me because, as Legion reiterates, they are completely different as a conscious entity on a fundamental level. Their very form, function, and existence is totally alien compared to organics, yet they are sentient and are forging a future. This, to me, is exactly what makes them interesting from a science fiction philosophy perspective; presenting a believable unknown and exploring the idea.

Mass Effect 3 back peddles on a lot of this by giving them a fairly textbook Pinocchio story. I would have loved to see the former ideas developed and changed in interesting ways, but Mass Effect 3 pretty much has the Geth go "oh we want to be like everyone else now, so Legion becomes robo jesus and gives the platforms sentience". That as an idea isn't even explore; the Reapers are space magic that can give the Geth identity in some way for some reason because it makes for drama rather than actually explores their form and being.

I liked Legion's arc purely from a set piece and presentation point of view. It has feels. I've no beef with him or the Geth seeking unity with others. But for me the arc as a whole seriously regressed everything that made the Geth so interesting in Mass Effect 2 just to make them like everybody else, which is desirable for reasons that are never really specified, and accomplished via space techno magic. Instead of being an utterly alien and unique entity in the universe that is struggling to find its place let alone its own future, the solution is to just make them like everyone else to fit in.

 

[Zdog184]

1. Garrus- Number 1 bro (honorable mention Richard Jenkins lol)
2. Ashley- Ok hear me out yes she starts with a distrust for aliens and if that turned you away then I understand but if you stay paragon with her she'll eventually learn to trust aliens and even say I can't blame the council. She also condemns terra firms and Cerberus for being racists and extremists. She'll even give her life for one of them. I mostly blame bioware for what they did to her and Kaiden in me2 by making them completely blind to the reaper threat even though they previously committed treason in me1 to stop it. And in me3 I guess bioware assumed no one would remember what she looked like previously or her personality partially. This being said I think she has one of the best arcs in the game and the best romance. I just hate when people disregard and overly hate her without giving her character a fair chance because she is a lot deeper than space racist bitch which isn't even true.
3. Mordin- Best scene in the game at the shroud
4. Wrex- Number 1 badass with a heart for his species
5. Tali- Will leave the flotilla just to stay on the Normandy, true loyalty
6. Thane- one of the deepest characters in the game
7. Liara- biggest arc in the game from unsure scientist to the shadow broker
8. Miranda- decent romance and will leave Cerberus for Shepard
9. Samara- One of the best back stories
10. Jack- character grows a lot with paragon has a good me3 story
11. Legion- Cool loyalty and side missions with saving the geth from the reapers
12. EDI- Concept of the robot trying to find her humanity was cool I just thought her design was kind of dumb but I still like her character
13. Grunt- never really got into his character his dialogue bored me but I still like him
14. Carth I mean Kaiden lol- second most boring person
15. Jacob- most boring person ever
16. James- why?
Never played with Kassumi or Javik so I can't rate them fairly. Really everyone besides James is relatively close lol.

 

[Big Nikus]

I love them all and could pick any one of them as my squadmate.
Except Vega.

 

[Huevos de Oro]

Garrus Vakarian and Urdnot Wrex all day, erryday. Absolutely top tier.

Closely followed by Mordin Solus and Thane Krios. Everyone else is below that threshold.

This thread has made me feel nostalgic about the ME universe and its characters.

 

[Ikon]

That's pretty much it, but you forgot Liara OP. I Love all characters except for Ashley, Kaiden, Vega and Jacob.

Pretty much this.

It's tough to pick favorites because I liked so many but Mordin and Wrex were always a little extra enjoyable I think.