If You Had To Cut 3 Squadmates from ME2...

Yes, I'm resurrecting this thread from it's 1-1/2 year old grave. My original votes were to get rid of Jacob, Zaeed and Legion. However, over time, my opinions have changed. I'd actually ditch Tali, Garrus and Thane. So, let me start by saying that I like all three characters, certainly more than I like Zaeed. Thing is, Tali and Garrus are repetitive. If you can't have Liara, Wrex and A/K from the original trilogy, why have those two? No, leave Shepard completely alienated. Kasumi and Zaeed fill the same role type so I'd just ditch them and have Kasumi and Zaeed as fully fleshed out characters. Finally, Thane because he's dying. Also, not sure what specific skill set he brings to the table.

Mordin is essential to the plot, so he needs to be there. Grunt fills the krogan role. Miranda and Jacob make sense because Miranda is "loyal" to TIM and Jacob fills the role of Cerberus operative who can relate to Shepard because he used to be in the Alliance. He's like a bro and might help Shepard feel more comfortable. Jack, because I like the "psychotic biotic" angle. She's not friendly but you could see her easily going on a suicide run. (Perhaps true of Thane, too, since he's dying.) Legion feels important because he fills in some gaps with the geth and makes us understand them more.

My change in votes has made little impact on the overall ratings but it does show how I've changed my perceptions over time.

Jacob, Miranda, and Kasumi.

I'm glad you did revive this because I would have never noticed it. But I agree with you. I like the idea of having Zaeed and especially Kasumi have more development. I don't mind Garrus and Tali there as it fills the role of TIM bringing in people Shepard trusted to keep him in the dark. But I do keep Mordin on the ship mostly. 

To me. I would have gotten rid of:

Grunt (don't really care for him)
Samara (she's a murdering hypocrite and if you are a renegade but not a psycho she still treats you like a bad person and claims she will come after you. Which makes no sense to me)
Jack (only because she is not as powerful of a biotic as the game tells us she is. She has rudimentary biotic powers, dies easily, and she uses a shotgun despite being squishy).

I don't mind Jack, but I just hate the way the game portray her and how some of her dialogue can be really cringey. But if not her, I'd say Mordin as just your research scientist. I think everyone else is fine. 

I don't really care because I almost always let someone die at this part. I think I have Miranda always maintain the barrier because she claims she can do it too.

But if I had to choose, then Jack. I like her more than Samara. 

Miranda, Jacob and Thane. I don't use them and I don't enjoy interacting with any of them.

Jacob - Honestly the most boring out of all the characters, as well as the one that offered the least amount of utility for the crew. He's not a leader like Miranda or Garus, not a tech expert like Tali or Legion, not a Soldier like Grunt or Zaeed, nor is he any sort of medical expert like Mordin. At most he should have been a side character, a ship bound NPC that the player could talk to in-between missions.

Jack - We already had a biotic expert in the form of Samara/Morinth, heck even Miranda could pull off the required maneuver if the player didn't care about casualties. All she really added to the game was an angsty human with authority issues as well as a perfect excuse for BioWare to use the F word so as to appear edgy and 'mature'. Sure, she had a backstory and personal mission, but then again so did Jacob. Really though, her presence in the setting as this 'Subject Zero' human anomaly who was apparently the most powerful biotic in the known galaxy, outshining even that of the naturally biotic asari, just reeked of more 'humans are special' garbage, as well as being wholly at odds with how she actually handled in-game. At most she should have been a one-off character, a method of further showcasing Cerberus' amoral experimentations, but not a as companion.

Zaeed or Kasumi - I place the distinction here because I feel that scrapping one and utilizing the resources put towards the other to fully fledge out the remaining character would have better served the story telling. It would have been nice to have more interactivity and reactivity with either of these characters instead of just recycled voice lines for 85% of the game. Out of the two of them I would initially vote for Zaeed to be cut, however if BioWare had opted to change him from being another human and instead had him as a Batarian, then I would alter my choice. I mean it's not like he personality would have had to change in the slightest, and it would have been nice to have an insight into the Batarian species as something more than the galaxy's resident 'space racists'.


Essentially I would ere on the side of less human companions. Humans are boring in any setting that contains other races or species, and even if those alien companions would only served as walking codex entries I would have gladly taken them over more 'daddy issues' any day.

Garrus
Tail
Miranda But keep her on the ship.


Thats if I had to... I’m probably the only one who doesn’t think that the squad size was to big. In fact I like the bigger squad more possibilities with who you can take with you each play-through 

I don’t think we should cut members of the squad in 2 but incress the number you have in the field from two to four

YOU MONSTER.


I agree with a couple of people here... Jacob, Zaeed and Grunt.
Jacob is simply boring and doesn't add much. Zaeed and Grunt I don't dislike or anything. But they simply can't stand a chance against the other squad mates.

I like Kasumi because her loyalty mission was good and she's a fun character. Is she as fleshed out as others? No. But she definitely beats Zaeed.

I will never understand how someone can not like Thane... His story is great.

And by the way, why do we need anyone? Kasumi is useful as a technician in the suicide mission, for one.

Thane, Legion and Jacob can take a stroll out the airlock.

*chough* HK47 is better *chough*