Your Response When Our Designated Bestfriend This Time Is Human

Wrex vs. Mordin:



In defense of those of us who like to "play around" with having various different companions die in different playthroughs of the game... it's how we find out things like if Ashley survives and Tali dies, Ashley is devastated by Tali's death.  There is a tremendous amount of "emotive" material that Bioware puts into their games that would simply not be discovered if everyone played every playthrough to save everyone they can.

It is a game after all.  These characters are not real.  The real people are those who wrote the game... and I figure I owe it to them to discover all the depth I can of what they've written into each game... and, in the case of the ME Trilogy, that includes the tragedy of suffering different losses.

I don't think I've ever done a playthrough right through ME3 where I've not recruited Wrex at all.  I'll have to put that one on my bucket list to see the differences.    (That's what I really love about this game... it seems that no matter how many times one plays it, there is always a different way to do it that unlocks some different bit of dialogue or cutscene and such.)

A bit like this:

Toss a coin ?
Joking aside, you can see which character is closer to Shepard in that playthrough. Or choose based on which position makes more sense to leave unattended.

Garrus was not my Shep best friend. He was one of the two aliens I liked, but not a best friend, hell probably not even a friend. My best friend was Zaeed, took him and jack everywhere.

No I don't. Why don't you explain what you meant.


I don't agree. Wrex pulls out his weapon aiming at Shepard. Shepard was defending him/herself. No murder. The same with the encounter on the Citadel.

I have no problem shooting him. The dalatross offered to help. I took the deal. My Shepard was getting as much help as possible to deal with the reapers.
I don't agree with that. Tali failed to save her species. All she did is stand there while the geth uploads the code. All she had to do was push the thing over the edge, stab it in the back or shoot the thing. Remember on the dreadnought in the control room? If you hold off for a moment before activating the console, she will say we need to hurry, my people are dying. What happened to caring about her people on Rannoch? That's right, she never cared otherwise she would've stopped the geth. Its interesting she is quick to stab that geth in the back, when it attacks Shepard, but not quick to do anything to stop the upload to save her species. I would've added a renegade interrupt as she's falling to her death

Reasons to save either in either position are used by different players.  Kaidan being the ranking officer is indeed one reason Ashley will give for feeling guilty about being the one who survives.  Romancing one is also a choice basis set out in the game and works into the plot theme of one reason why romances within the ranks are forbidden... i.e. because they can compromise/bias command decisions. 

However, most frequently, I send Ashley to go with the Salarian team since she is the soldier and Kaidan has more tech abilities to arm the bomb.  Then, I more frequently save Ashley because the person arming the bomb is doing their assigned job by "making sure the bomb goes off, no matter what."  I reason that, in that moment, they are not asking for assistance, but are telling Shepard that they have the situation under control... the bomb will go off as planned, and Kaidan is knowingly and voluntarily sacrificing his life and the lives of the crew with him (and yes, there are other Normandy crew there) to ensure that the job gets done.  There is also the factor that Shepard leaves the bomb area with the full intention of helping Kirrahe's team.  If the team member had indicated that the bomb was in danger of not going off, then there might be a reason for Shepard to consider going back... but the one attending the bomb doesn't indicate that... the bomb will go off... the mission will be accomplished... so my Shepard usually just presses on finish the "rescue" he/she already decided on doing when he/she first left the bomb area.

When I want to save Kaidan, I will usually put him in the position of going with the Salarians... using the rationale that he is the higher ranking officer and what Kirrahe requires is not just another body behind a gun, but someone who can help co-command and coordinate his teams so that Shadow Team can work it's way in through to the bomb site.  It's only on occasion that I will go back to save the bomb attendant... using the excuse that I interpret their message more as "we can't hold them off" and so the bomb might be at risk of being disarmed.  In that case, rather than feeling like I'm sacrificing the other squad mate, I'm hoping and trusting that they will someone find a way to fending off the attackers.  That Kirrahe can show up in the cargo deck of the Normandy even after not rescuing the Salarian team tells me that they were actually able to fend off that attack... just at the cost of the Normandy squad mate's life... and a single bullet can kill anyone in a unit at any time.

I forgot to mention in my last post... In order to save Mordin, 

I guess we should get back on topic... I still don't think the game forces anyone on the player as a best friend.  Even Liara can be ignored to a large degree by simply not going to her cabin and initiating conversations with her, skipping right by her during the Earth mission, and selecting the "coldest" options possible when there is a conversation with her that the player can't avoid.  If combined with actively initiating lots of friendly conveersations with someone else, the player can easily make the game feel that she's certainly not Shepard's best friend.  I expect something similar in ME:A.  Some characters will be easier than others to give the relationship a best friend feel to it, and players will likely accuse Bioware of "forcing" the issue in some way... but in the end, the player will have quite a bit of control to manipulate such relationships to their liking.  However, if all the extra lines and elimination of the P/R system, it may take quite a few more playthroughs to figure out which dialogue choices result in the sort of relationships the player really desires in each case.

Hugs can be a casual greeting in some places... some people I know are just "huggy" by nature... although I do think customs in some places are changing.  I remember reading that Ebola was having quite an effect on causing people in the effected areas to stop greeting each other with physical touching.

... and there was a time when a kiss on both cheeks could be more of a death sentence than a friendly greeting.

I think Mass Effect was providing some "commentary" showing us some of these differences... for example, how do you interpret Javik refusing to shake Shepard's hand in light of the fact that he also continually washes his hands.  Was he shunning Shepard or was it just a cultural personal space thing?

I do agree that Shepard maybe should have been able to react negatively to her hug... but I argue that omission alone should not warrant the degree of the laments some people make about Liara being "forced" on them.  I've heard people claim that they were "ninja-manced" by Liara in ME1... yet there are two clear opportunities to tell her clearly that you're not interested in her.  You can even opt to recruit her so late in the game and it becomes impossible to romance her.

Haven't you ever had anyone who considered you to be their friend when you personally didn't feel hardly friendly at all towards them?  Happens all the time IRL.  It's just reality that some people will not treat you in accordance with how you feel you're treating them but will form their own "delusions" and treat you however they feel they want to.  If players were given the ability to full control all the companion NPCs as well as the player, it would be an absolutely awful RPG, IMO.  Having NPCs react occasionally out of line with how I feel my PC is treating them is what makes an RPG surprising and fun... for me anyways.  It's still not forcing me to become a BFF of Garrus... who perhaps a little too much concern for my well being even though I hardly talk with him... any more than it forces me to not romance Ashley... who generally shows very little concern for my well being and isn't, quite frankly, very romantic in ME3.