Canadian Delicacy - The Kaidan Alenko Thread

I honestly don't think this will be a problem. They still make missteps but they are getting better, I think. MEA will probably be similar to the romance setup in DAI. As to whether or not the romances are likable is another case...

What I really don't want is a repeat of Anders. Don't hide important information just because of player gender!  But, you know well enough how I feel about this...

I really don't think I should get into this here, but there's always this idea that "Anders just didn't talk about his former boyfriend" when it's so much more than that. There's pertinent, character buiding information that's tied to Karl, about who Anders is and why he fights, but all of that is stripped away for femHawke because of "reasons." It's not about needing him to state his sexuality and sexual history to everyone that walks by, it's about not removing character development because of player gender. Karl is more than "just an ex-boyfriend." And trust me, I absolutely do love Anders the way he is.

Kaidan isn't as comparable in this aspect in my mind. He does have Rahna and although it's been a while since I played I don't think he goes into great detail about her unless in romance, which makes sense, but you still learn about who is through the "Brain camp" story. Rahna doesn't remove that part of his character.

Jack is similar, she doesn't talk about a serious boyfriend she had unless in romance -- the difference here is only mShep can romance her.

Kaidan's sexuality is an area that could be expanded on in an eventual trilogy remake that included a bi kadian in mass effect 1. I don't know if such a thing will ever come to pass, but one can dream.

But that one is in-game for the femHawke too. The only thing that gets left 'offscreen' for her is that they had been actually more than friends. That line about 'why are you looking at me like this?' is still there, though. Karl's importance to Anders is 200% ovbious, and one has to be totally blind and deaf not to get it.

From my experience there are two kind of players which are affected by the 'Anders issue'. It's straight male players who had been 'dishonored' by the very fact of Anders eventually taking the initiative (and by those -5 rep points too...'How dare they to tax me for being straight?!'). And the other kind are straight female players who can't deal with his bisexuality (which they had never ever seen outside the interwebs, to begin with). There are also some 'lore nazzis', but their struggles are very likely to be more about the DAA-DA2 timeline (which IS totally f**ed up), and not about some mage's sexual preferences.

But back to Kaidan.

Minority or not, but you're not alone in this one. I also think that games should be left as they had been created, with all the characters, combat mechanics, designs etc. Im' not even a big fan of changing textures, last time I've tried Jedi Knight with one of those packs and I rolled back, it all looked awfully wrong to me. I never even mod anything other than hairstyles and outfits, and I never mod NPCs in any way. So, I'd rather have ME&Kaidan 'as is'.

The only thing I can accept is adapting old games for newer system (fixing widescreen, adding 1080 support, scaling UI etc). BG\IWD EE had it right, but I hated the retextured Bioshock. They've changed too much of the old art&styls for my tastes, and those 'Disney-Dory-under-the-sea' additions don't fit in (because, yeah, glueing a copy-pasted starfish to every glass surface does not really work well with dark-retro-steampunk setting).

Not actually true, but whatever.

That is too cute 

And also... is that the head of an Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer POP! glued atop a recoloured Commander Shepard POP! body???

If so thats inventive and I love it and need one. My Shep, Garrus and Tali POP!'s miss Kaidan and Liara 

I don't mind it if he's truly written as a bisexual for the entire trilogy but Kaidan in FemShep's trilogy doesn't need to have his sexuality scrutinized merely for someone who never exist in their story.

What FemShep has with her Kaidan doesn't invalidate what MaleShep has with his Kaidan. Its just for different story between different people.

---

On another hand, trying out some other new mods for ME3 but I still just couldn't help it...


His thousand yard stares always reminds me of this song.

Wake up and look me in the eyes again, I need to feel your hand upon my face.
Words can be like knives, they can cut you open.
And then the silence surrounds you, and haunts you

Saw this in the Mass Effect: Andromeda twitter thread about potential m/m romance and thought I'd share:

No real spoilers, but under a tag just in case.

Already I want to play as BroRyder and romance Liam (provided he is the guy in the promotional images with the Ryder siblings).

Even so, no one will replace Kaidan for me

Kaidan's romantic storyline, for FemShep and BroShep, for me, felt entirely lacking in cliche or melodrama.

It was unique, and well written and portrayed. Which is why I feel it will be so hard to beat.

I remember reading on a website about Mass Effect cocktails (if you don't believe me, savegameonline.com/c3-features/save-games-mass-effect-squadmate-cocktails-the-best-drinks-this-side-of-the-citadel) and in the Kaidan Alenko description, they said that he is the still waters run deep kinda guy, and it is sooo true!

Kaidan is a character whose many layers and qualities are there to be unraveled, they aren't there at face value like some other characters. You have to work at understanding and getting to know Kaidan, which is why I think he is one of BioWare's best, and unsung heroes! He is a multifaceted, fully formed character, who stands out with or without a romance, as a strong and inspirational Mass Effect character.

He will forever remain iconic to me, and I am sure countless others

So... I've been testing a mod lately. The mod restore the covered windows in ME3 with the regular ME2 and I didn't realize that it make a very big difference.




also romance-related


I still need to use my flycam for some of this and there's some gesture stuttering but I like that it smooth out the scene between the Apollo's Cafe and the comment he made after Admiral Koris mission. Finally they get to kiss in the middle of the game. The picture scene is well-done too. Reminds me of ME2, and then she smiles!

Although I'm curious that the mod was very detailed on Kaidan personnel's records that doesn't seem to be fanfic-ish. Made him as my proper XO