Shepard vs Ryder DLC.

I like Shepard and I really enjoyed my time with her. However, I also think that after all Shepard has done, she deserves to be left alone. She suffered, and struggled and completed her mission, time to let her die or enjoy her retirement in peace.

Besides by the time of MEA she is dead.

I am 100% sure we don't all want that. I know I don't. I love my Ryder, albeit I've had to head canon parts of his story to make it workable for me. I am not always fond of how they handle Ryder. I think Ryder is too green and they should have made ryder be a bit less green, have some more experience under the belt, and be a bit older. Right now ryder is essentially an AI led protag with a second protag being SAM. They could have saved Ryder by making Ryder the leader more than SAM and the fact that they didn't recognize this issue is  pretty terrible writing. But they did  recognize it because Archon calls Ryder on it and Ryder has to defend him/herself but kind of looks pathetic in doing it. And even some of Ryder's  responses are still not about what ryder did but what ryder did with SAM's help. Sure, the end is kind of all you but oh wait, not really because now your sibling is doing heaving lifting  and you are the equivalent of a hired gun. 

SAM will always be the monumental failing of story of our protag. That the writers did not even grasp what they were doing, how they were putting  Ryder in the back seat second  to the AI in Ryder's head, is incomprehensible. One has to wonder if any of them had any formal training in the craft of writing, if they ever read a book or studied literature. If they ever even learned anything about the hero's journey. Said hero faces many trials and tribulations and said hero may accept help from others along the way but said hero is never guided nearly from start to finish by a helper who never shuts up and never gives them the chance to survive even basic situations on their own. Ryder can't even have the temperature drop or figure out  how to handle a mining tool without SAM chiming it. How the hell then is Ryder supposed to be a hero of any magnitude when the AI does nearly all the work? 

In my story, SAM is generally ignored by my Ryder and considered a burden cast upon him by his somewhat asshole father. SAM is a tool, a tool that never shuts up, but a tool he uses to make planets more livable. That is what SAM should have been. A much more silent version of itself with the prompts coming from Ryder rather than SAM at least twice as much as SAM. 

Ryder needed to be a bit more professional I think. They could still have been a wiseass but with SAM leading the way for nearly the whole journey,  Ryder can be easily relegated to a second rate  protag.

My renegade Shepard would do this if he/she arrived on the scene and found it to be the royal clusterfuck that it was pre Eos Vault going live. But any other not pure renegade version of my Shepard would realize this  is  Ryder's job and not his/hers. My Shepard would trust said rookie to learn the way just like Shepard did but be there if needed and provide as much support in the background as possible. My Shepard would most likely lead Strike teams knowing that he/she was not able to turn the vaults on without that AI. I think my Shepard would be very cautious with the AI/Ryder situation to a degree. Would probably want to have a sit down with both of them to be sure that this AI could be trusted and would shoot Ryder in the head without hesitation at the first sign it could not be. But since SAM would pass  that test, my Shepard would find another role where he/she could be far more effective. Likely it would be strike teams and we would have learned a ton more about the Kett by the end of game. In fact, I'm sure my Shepard would have invaded  their home world before the end of game and gathered a ton of intel about them. Maybe ryder will do that next time. And maybe SAM will finallly STFU.

I am 100% sure we don't all want that. I know I don't. I love my Ryder, albeit I've had to head canon parts of his story to make it workable for me. I am not always fond of how they handle Ryder. I think Ryder is too green and they should have made ryder be a bit less green, have some more experience under the belt, and be a bit older. Right now ryder is essentially an AI led protag with a second protag being SAM. They could have saved Ryder by making Ryder the leader more than SAM and the fact that they didn't recognize this issue is  pretty terrible writing. But they did  recognize it because Archon calls Ryder on it and Ryder has to defend him/herself but kind of looks pathetic in doing it. And even some of Ryder's  responses are still not about what ryder did but what ryder did with SAM's help. Sure, the end is kind of all you but oh wait, not really because now your sibling is doing heaving lifting  and you are the equivalent of a hired gun. 

SAM will always be the monumental failing of story of our protag. That the writers did not even grasp what they were doing, how they were putting  Ryder in the back seat second  to the AI in Ryder's head, is incomprehensible. One has to wonder if any of them had any formal training in the craft of writing, if they ever read a book or studied literature. If they ever even learned anything about the hero's journey. Said hero faces many trials and tribulations and said hero may accept help from others along the way but said hero is never guided nearly from start to finish by a helper who never shuts up and never gives them the chance to survive even basic situations on their own. Ryder can't even have the temperature drop or figure out  how to handle a mining tool without SAM chiming it. How the hell then is Ryder supposed to be a hero of any magnitude when the AI does nearly all the work? 

In my story, SAM is generally ignored by my Ryder and considered a burden cast upon him by his somewhat asshole father. SAM is a tool, a tool that never shuts up, but a tool he uses to make planets more livable. That is what SAM should have been. A much more silent version of itself with the prompts coming from Ryder rather than SAM at least twice as much as SAM. 

Ryder needed to be a bit more professional I think. They could still have been a wiseass but with SAM leading the way for nearly the whole journey,  Ryder can be easily relegated to a second rate  protag.

LOL I can see it now.  Ryder tries to face off with Shepard, Shep grabs his gun from him, smacks it a few times, gives it back to him and casually says "Get your money back kid."

I'd buy that for a dollar

You don't deserve to be fed or watered and should probably be chained to a tree and sacrificed at saturnalia.

I would buy that. Somehow I always think of the fem Ryder as that kid who inlist as a merc at the beginning of finding Garus. So if there's a dlc Shep would pack the sister neatly to Spectre school and romance the hell out of the Scotty.