Tin Foil Skirt and Thigh-High Boots - Ashley Williams Thread

I agree completely. I think she's one of the most interesting characters in the game really. The development she goes through is unmatched by most companions. She goes from very distrusting in ME 1 to very trusting in ME3. Even in ME1 she went throught some development, asking Liara how she's doing after Liara found out about her mother's fate. Ash was concerned about another race, Asari in this case (Liara), so no reason to call Ash xenophobic or whatever. Ashley just doesn't trust people in general until proven otherwise. Yes she has a history with aliens because of her grandfather, but that has never motivated her primarily as far as her outlook on life or society goes. 
If you cheat on Ash (God forbid btw) in ME3 with Tali, she'll say that she always regarded Tali as a sister.

People that can't get past some of Ashley's remarks and judge her just on those remarks, are short-sighted, seriously. There's so much more to her than her 'I sometimes can't tell the animals from the aliens' remark. She is opionated, she's a strong woman, she won't just say 'yes and amen' whenever Shepard is trying to prophesy the fate of the galaxy in whatever conversation. 
What mostly annoys me is that Bioware never acknowledged her potential.

I haven't played the games in ages, but I do remember quite well Ashley expressing her concerns after Liara met her mother in a conversation during a team meeting on the Normandy.

I never cheated on Ash, why would I really, so I don't know how she reacts to other events. But I could see her not being ok with Shepard cheating on her with Jack or Miranda. She's only human, maybe she heard bad things about them, or her love for Tali makes it somewhat ok. Anybody's guess.

On the topic of Cerberus and the Horizon encounter, Bioware just f*cked up really. Ashley's writer left after ME1, and that might explain how she was treated afterwards. I always thought that the ME1 companions were never meant to play a big role outside of ME1, and that when they found out that ME1 companions were quite popular, they changed their mind. Apart from Liara, she's always been a Bioware favorite.
I'm quite fine with how Ashley reacted the first time you meet her in ME2,  it's totally in line with her persona, she hates Cerberus (the most racist organisation in the galaxy btw, go figure). The biggest issue I have there is that there's no way to reconcile with her.

But, as far as as Ashley goes, lot of bad writing because they probably didn't know what to do with her in ME2, and to some extent, in ME3. As much as I love Ashley as a companion, they could have done so much more with her. They could have delved further into how religion may have changed her, or her military background. There is only so much you can do in a game I guess.

gkonone

I think Ash merely just says to talk to her and that she must be hurting. Kaidan says the same thing. I also do not cheat on my romance but its worth knowing how characters react to them. For instance, finding out Miranda takes breaking up with her so hard was an interesting aspect to know about her character.

I think the Horizon arc in general is poorly written for the Virmire survivor. But Kaidan being more apologetic about it sits better with me than how Ash reacts. As themikefest said, things would be quite different if that obnoxious asari told someone about Shepard being with Cerberus. But yeah, its really strange that Ash/Kaidan both witness the Collector attack and Shepard stops it, but they still get pissed off.

And I think the writers just cut stuff with Ash in general. She could have been waaay more interesting. She had a lot of potential things that could have happened. I think its the "EA effect" more than anything. The game likely got rushed out, so a lot of stuff was removed.

Yeah, Horizon was not great for either of them. It was almost as if they forgot about Ash/ Kaidan, then went "oh, we can put them here!" But other than that I never had a problem with Ash's reaction, or not really apologizing for it later later on in ME3. She felt betrayed, and since Liara did not (probably) tell anyone about giving Shepard's body to Cerberus, was probably convinced Shepard was still dead. Ash admits she was wrong later on, but does not apologize for how she felt at the time. I felt that was fairly accurate for her character.

Agreed, I thought that Liara's decision about it seemed selfish.

I understand your view and absolutely agreed with it in my first few ME2 runs. I accepted it as fitting with her character but, like you, it doesn't mean I don't think there could have been another action/ reaction that was also fitting for her. I cannot speak about Kaidan having never romanced him.

The most obvious is the email after Horizon in ME2; which is as close to an apology, or admitting her actions were a bit extreme, as we probably get. Something similar is talked about briefly on Mars and at the Hospital, something along the lines of "we'll work it out." Ash does also bring up that she should have joined Shepard on Horizon. (It has been awhile since I've gone through the trilogy, so I may need a refresher playthrough.)

I would guess if Shepard was given the opportunity to tell Williams that the t'soni asari knew that Shepard's body was in the hands of Cerberus, Williams would drop kick the asari to another galaxy. When Bioware remakes the trilogy, they might add that option. I know I would.

Liara is not only selfish, but is actually despicable in that arc in general. She knows about the Collectors because she is trying to track the Shadow Broker down to find her Drell friend. She doesn't warn anyone what the threat of the missing colonies is about. 

I think Ash showing a less tough girl persona to her would have been a nice touch. I mean Miranda is similar to Ash in that she doesn't trust Shepard initially and is tough. But she has quite a few subtle instances where you can tell she has softened quite a bit (as early as breaking up with her when you first see her in ME3). You don't have to romance Kaidan for his scenes. I play a heterosexual broshep and usually choose to save him over Ash. Even as your friend he is apologetic. If you are less than friendly with him on Mars, he is still apologetic (or at least feels bad for the words that were said). Even if you cheat on him, he doesn't act as short with Shepard as Ashley does. Again, I know this is all down to it fitting their characters. But one just comes off a lot better in my eyes than the other.

Another things that bugs me about Ashley is that she can potentially curse Shepard before she dies on the Citadel. I'm not so sure how the rest of you feel, but that also isn't cool in my book. Especially if I wasn't the one who shot her. I think the apology letter from Horizon is a double edged sword. She sends it and it feels heart felt. But then in ME3, she still acts accusatory. I don't believe she ever says "we'll work it out." She says "its going to take time." But she does say she wished she was with you when finding the proto Reaper. But Kaidan says that also.

Her best bits come from when Shepard is viewing the video logs of his reconstruction. I liked what she said. 

It's not up to discussion that Liara (and Miranda btw.) knew that the Collectors wanted Shepard, but is there any proof that anyone but Aria knew that they're after the entire humanity?

themikefest might be the best person to ask regarding this. 

But I think Liara is pretty aware of this. If you talk to Feron, he mentions that he leaves the Shadow Broker because he trades information and not people. This is why he was hunted and captured. And given how much Liara knows so much about everything (and waited something like 2 years while gathering infor), I am pretty sure she knew why Feron was taken. It is possible that they are just talking about Shepard. But I think having her connections she might have known something.

Or how about when she does take over as the Broker? I am sure she definitely knew by that point. Yet she doesn't really help much. Its been a while since i played SB DLC so I could be remembering wrong. 

Did she know anymore than what Cerberus and the Alliance did? Well Cerberus knew that hundreds of thousands of human colonists were vanishing. The Alliance didn't really pay attention to these according to TIM. So, if she knew as much information as Cerberus, then yes Liara knows humans were vanishing by the boat load. She just didn't know why. I can understand why Cerberus wouldn't inform the Alliance if this were the case. But I can't understand why Liara (a former associate of Shepard's) wouldn't try to inform anyone.

Also, considering how Liara was in cahoots with Cerberus and the fact that she seems to know nearly everything about everything when you talk to her, I find it hard to believe she was completely unaware of thousands of colonists vanishing. It makes it come off that (to me at least) she was putting some grudge and rescuing a single Drell while possessing the knowledge of so many innocent people vanishing.

I mean it wouldn't be the first time right? She doesn't tell anyone about Shepard being alive and therefore causing a rift between Ash/Kaidan. She still doesn't mention this at all in ME3 to either of them while they clearly still have issues with Shepard's loyalty. So this wouldn't shock me either.

I wouldn't say hundreds of thousands. That datapad Aria finds in Incursion suggests that Freedom's Progress was the first colony of noticeable size to get hit, the previous ones being... samples, easy to be confused with slaver attacks.

Cerberus could strongly suspect the Collectors because they crossed paths with them a few years back while the Alliance didn't but nevertheless noticed something and started arming colonies – even those in the Traverse, technically beyond their jurisdiction. TIM would have hard time admitting this, but Horizon was partially saved only due to those lasers and the only reason anything went wrong was temporary problems with calibrations and powering. Also, Fehl Prime.