Who are your least favorite squadmates in the ME trilogy and why? [Pick 2]

I meant superfluous in the dramatic sense. Stopped doing feel-good playthroughs where everything went as well as it possibly could half a decade ago. Now I want war and sacrifice! I don't care about war assets because Shepard isn't meant to survive the end, and dead Spectres are like sweet, sweet sprinkling on top of the bloody brutality, grief and desperation that is the third game. The only squadmates I don't kill in ME2 are mostly the ones who have even more dramatic deaths waiting for them in 3 like Miranda, Thane, Samara and Mordin. 

This time I'm sacrificing Kasumi, Zaeed, Jacob and Jack at various points throughout the Suicide Mission. And the only reason Legion hopefully makes it is because it's even more tragic for Tali to later gun him down while his "species" is destroyed. 

Normally Shep is forced to personally and tragically kill Mordin and Wrex in 3 as well, but my current Shepard has unexpectedly turned out to empathize a lot more with the Krogan than s/he usually does. So... they're probably going to escape the block this once. Well, Wrex will at least. The only ones I feel compelled to keep alive are Garrus and Tali. And I'm seriously considering letting the seeker swarm eat Garrus next playthrough. Oh, and I just did Legion's loyalty quest before starting the Suicide Mission to make sure half the Normandy crew and the sweet Kelly Chambers get juiced, to cement how serious the Collectors are.

All their lives will serve a higher cause, far higher than mere war assets: A good, tense, dramatic atmosphere!



Personally I'm mostly just annoyed with Jacob's holier-than-though attitude and supposed discipline for a man who joined a terrorist organization just because he felt underused. But apparently he also abandons Shepard without a word and starts a family with someone else in the six months between ME2 and 3 even if they get together. Because he 'couldn't be expected to wait' while his girlfriend was jailed for saving the galaxy again. Maybe that has something to do with people's dislike for him. Haven't been there myself.

I've thought about giving Morinth a shot next playthrough, but it's hard to justify a Shepard who would ever allow her on the ship. Best I might be able to do is one who has serious issues with the uncompromising insanity of Samara's Justicar code, as you say, and is just kind of a sucker for sexy women who show her attention.

The cerberus cheerleader ice queen that thinks she is in charge.

Thane is a cool character, but so far in my current playthrough he's been the most boring companion to talk to.

Hum, indeed, i guess BW ignored the shepard % that took jacob as their LI.

I dont really see her more dangerous than a AI ship or legion or kasumi or all those alien species whose motive could change. In my first playthroughs, she felt far more fun. And even maybe less risk of jeopardizing a mission because of a stupid old code.
But in the end samara and her code are a better bargain story wise imo, i like them both (samara and her code)

Most of ME2, but mostly Jack, Thane and Jacob. Sigh.

I went with Jacob, because he's about as interesting as a cardboard box, perfect playthrough is when everyone survives the suicide mission, except for Jacob, you want to volunteer to go through the vents, fine by me, and EDI, I tend to zone out when she drones on, about the only time I was somewhat interested in listening is hearing her take on the Cerberus base in ME3, but I'd rather have had Miranda go on that mission.

Wait what??!! Are you saying they recorded Miranda dialogue for that that didn't make the cut???

<looks at the poll results>



Some things never change.

My unpopular opinion is Garrus, Kaiden, Jacob, James in that order because well I found their abilities to be useless.

I didn't need them one iota. And only started playing with Garrus and James on my second playthrough just to hear what ridiculously stupid banter they have with other crew mates. Kaiden I could never get on board with...from the moment I first played ME1 I wanted to throat-punch his dumb ass and space him.


I love how people think Liara's useless. I love playing with her, she complemented my FemShep's biotics very nicely and just because her stats aren't the strongest doesn't mean shit when her abilities can more than make up for it.

From roleplaying perspective it's a great choice to have, but she has no character arc and I don't understand why she killed off screen in ME3 instead of used as a replacement for Samara like they did with other characters (Mordin, Wrex, etc). Even so I do still make that choice if I can because I don't like blind fanaticism and that's what the Justicars represent. 

For the poll I went with:

1. Kasumi - An absolutely useless character within the context of ME2's plot, just a a waste of space and effort. Her Loyalty mission was nice though, but like the characters itself added little log term value to the Mass Effect universe.
2. Jack - Like Kasumi she's a characters that is utterly unsuitable for ME's 2's storyline. Her backstory also advances the 'Cerberus are supervillains' plotline of which I'm no fan at all.

Several (dis?)honourable mentions, in no particular order, go to:

• Grunt - Replaced Okeer, one of the series' potentially most interesting companions, with esentially a big empy. Also a character that doesn't really go with ME 2's storyline since he just extra baggage. On the plus side his plotline does give us insight in Krogan culture and politics.
• Thane - Again, a character with limited utillity in ME2's plot but better justified than the other characters on this list. I'm mostly put off by his overly angsty personality, his raspy voice and memory recall scenes don't really win points for him either. Ultimately, he's not too badly written, but I just can't help but dislike him for the most part.
• Liara - Aha, the series most prominent Asari, reviled by some loved by others. I think her personality in ME1 was quite likeable, but making her a squadmate with her inexperence and lack of military training was a bad move. In ME2 in she's horrible. In ME3 she's fine but just kind of there and again not squadmate material.
• Wrex -  I just can't help but feel unsympathetic to him and  his cause, that's all I can really say about him.
• James - Not too shabby, but ultimately a vapid character, he's really bad early on, but does become more tolerable from the midpoint of ME3 into the DLC's. His point was to provide a relatable voice for new players, but that just translates into a lack of wit. If Bioware had cared more about military details they should have made him an NCO rather than an officer.

Lastly, I do have issues with other squadmates, such as Ashley, Garrus, Miranda and Jacob, but not really the kind that would make me rank them as the series' worst.

You can probably infer which characters I enjoy the most by the fact I haven't mentioned them in my post!  

Now in all honesty I do like most of the characters. Even from ones I mentioned earlier I think that Liara, Ashley, Garrus, Miranda and Wrex are all well written and strong personalities for the most part. if anything it's the narrative that sometimes fails to properly intergrate each character, ME2 in particular has this even though it's probably my favourite game.

Now as far incorporating characters as squadmates go I am more picky, a common criticism of ME2 is that it spends a great deal of time on each character individually but very little on the team as a whole. It think this is a valid observation and the main reason why I tend to criticize certain characters a bit more than I probably should do.