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In Defense of Kaidan Alenko

Commander_PonyShep

Entry posted by Commander_PonyShep

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Everywhere I go on the Internet, there are tons of Mass Effect fans who found Kaidan to be the worst squadmate in the trilogy, just because he was the bland, generic space-marine. But really, I think the reason why they say that is because most of them played as a male Shepard, who has less dialogue with Kaidan than female Shepard. Why Kaidan had less dialogue for MaleShep than FemShep, I'll never know, no matter what. Probably because Kaidan was a romance-option for FemShep, I guess.

 

I chose to play as a FemShep because I wanted more female protagonists. I'm a feminist myself, and I believe that women can be strong-willed, capable, and independent, but not so much as to become men. It's one of the reasons why I'm a brony, and it's also why I wanted to play as a female Shepard. That, and I wanted to see heterosexual romance through a female's perspective, which in the context of Mass Effect isn't that different from the male perspective.

 

As for Kaidan, again the reason people kept saying he was bland was because they played as MaleShep, who had less dialogue with Kaidan than FemShep. When I chose to play as a female Shepard, Kaidan just seemed more multidimensional. He was just some biotic trying to stay away from romance ever since he saved and threatened one of his classmates and former girlfriend, Rahna, by killing their turian drill-instructor. He knew that if he started to romance anyone, he could end up killing for the sake of some woman's heart, like FemShep.

 

Luckily, FemShep can always reawaken Kaidan's desire for a girlfriend by romancing him herself, despite military protocol always going against romance. And, when I reunite with him in Mass Effect 2 and eventually the third game, his character-arc would move on toward regaining FemShep's love after the way she was rebuilt and hired by Cerberus to track down the Collectors. Hell, when I don't get to see that romance subplot, I instead see Kaidan get promoted to leader of the Spec-Ops Biotics Division, and eventually the second human to join the Spectres.

 

In fact, I might as well defend Ashley Williams, James Vega, Miranda Lawson, and Jacob Taylor, too, since Mass Effect fans hate those characters just as much as they do Kaidan. Yes, two of them are space-marines while the other two are Cerberus agents. But they also have their own unique character-arcs. Ashley Williams joined the Alliance military to redeem her grandfather's good name after he lost a battle during the First Contact War. Miranda Lawson would eventually quit Cerberus to save her twin-sister, Orianna, from their father, Dr. Henry Lawson. Jacob would end up leading a group of ex-Cerberus scientists to freedom from Cerberus, and would even end up marrying one of them! And, as for James, his story-arc is about him rising to the rank of N7, despite him abandoning his squad to their deaths on Horizon.

 

You see, I don't believe in picking favorites. Just as I believe that all five of Twilight Sparkle's friends are as important as their friend and leader, so, too, do I believe that the more "generic" human-characters can be just as much nuanced, well-written, and intricate as the alien-members of Shepard's squad. This idea of picking favorites was the reason why, eventually in Dragon Ball Z, Goku and Vegeta would become the most overpowered characters, most especially in DBGT, while the rest of the entire cast become disposable and useless. It's also why we had Shadow the Hedgehog, one of the worst Sonic games until Sonic 2006 came.

 

When you pick favorites amongst an ensemble cast of characters, you end up reducing almost all the other characters to minor, more disposable roles. The ultimate way to ensure that the whole cast doesn't end up useless is if at least one of us stops picking favorites, and start believing in the entire team. These characters are parts of their own respective teams, like Garrus Vakarian, and therefore they should share some of the same spotlight as their teammates. If they steal all the spotlight just because they're popular, then they're not team-players, just overpowered monsters that reduce their own teammates to dead-weight.

 

This is why I will always pair my FemShep with Kaidan Alenko, rather than someone as overhyped and overrated as Garrus Vakarian (no offense to the Garrus fans). Just because he's a human space-marine, doesn't mean he's bad or "generic". He's just some biotic getting over losing Rahna, and eventually FemShep. He's also struggling to control his biotics by remaining cool and collected, because in the Mass Effect universe, human-biotics are hated for having dangerous power over their biotics, and Kaidan didn't want to be hated for being born with those powers.

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Twiliscael

Even when I play through as a female, I choose Ashely over Kaiden every time.

 

Ashley's like Kaiden with  real backstory and (at least slightly) better dialogue, combat skills, etc.

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Commander_PonyShep

Even when I play through as a female, I choose Ashely over Kaiden every time.

 

Ashley's like Kaiden with  real backstory and (at least slightly) better dialogue, combat skills, etc.

It's because Ashley loves poetry and has three siblings, right?

 

Kaidan's born in Vancouver and is an only sibling.  And, where Ash is more brash and arrogant, Kaidan is more cool and reserved.  Again, he's not that bad when you find something good about him.  Same with Miranda, Jacob, James, and as you said, Ashley.

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Commander_PonyShep

Also, Kaidan was given L2 implants to enhance his biotics.  However, the L2 implants came with severe side-effects, such as psychological and neurological damage.

 

That counts as a part of Kaidan's backstory, right?

 

EDIT: Just what the hell.  Every time I hear people say that Kaidan Alenko is bland and generic, and Garrus is more popular, it's like everyone is telling me that I should go back to replaying the entire Mass Effect trilogy, just to romance Garrus instead of Kaidan.  It's too much bucking work and I already have a college class going on.

 

Plus, I have those thoughts always telling me that if I'm playing a game from over six years ago, then I'm going backwards.  I hate that, because it reduces my freedom on what games I can play for myself!

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Orablanco Account

At least he's better than Ashley in that he isn't nearly as annoying. That said, I never rescue him in ME1, as Ash has a family who will grieve her and all that stuff.

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Commander_PonyShep

At least he's better than Ashley in that he isn't nearly as annoying. That said, I never rescue him in ME1, as Ash has a family who will grieve her and all that stuff.

I rescued Kaidan Alenko and romanced him.  I also remained faithful to him in Mass Effect 2, without cheating on him for someone like Garrus Vakarian.  I then rekindled my romance with him in Mass Effect 3, in which he seemed more lively and developed.  He's leader of a biotic spec-ops squad and the second human Spectre.  I also get to see more emotions come out of him, from liveliness about his Canadian heritage, to disgust over things like Cerberus and its actions.

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Orablanco Account

I rescued Kaidan Alenko and romanced him.  I also remained faithful to him in Mass Effect 2, without cheating on him for someone like Garrus Vakarian.  I then rekindled my romance with him in Mass Effect 3, in which he seemed more lively and developed.  He's leader of a biotic spec-ops squad and the second human Spectre.  I also get to see more emotions come out of him, from liveliness about his Canadian heritage, to disgust over things like Cerberus and its actions.

 

Yeah, when you talk to him in ME2, his tone when talking about Shepard working for Cerberus seems much more realistic and subtly regretful, while Ash is just blech.

 

I also always play as FemShep because Jennifer Hale is a boss.

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Yes-Man

Excellent rant. It'll really help whenever somebody talks shit about Kaiden.

I, for one, prefer Kaiden to Ashley, frankly because he's calmer and collected, and his back-story is more interesting. (Suburban Military Life vs L2 Trainee)

He is also more of a tactical asset in ME3, being a sentinel, a class that is absent unless you play as one. Whereas Ashley is a soldier, meaning everything she can do James can do.

However, I like the both of them, and the Vīmre decision is one I dread every playthrough.

I also liked how you defended all human squad mates. I love every crew member to death, all of them equally. Human or alien.

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Commander_PonyShep

Excellent rant. It'll really help whenever somebody talks shit about Kaiden. I, for one, prefer Kaiden to Ashley, frankly because he's calmer and collected, and his back-story is more interesting. (Suburban Military Life vs L2 Trainee) He is also more of a tactical asset in ME3, being a sentinel, a class that is absent unless you play as one. Whereas Ashley is a soldier, meaning everything she can do James can do. However, I like the both of them, and the Vīmre decision is one I dread every playthrough. I also liked how you defended all human squad mates. I love every crew member to death, all of them equally. Human or alien.

Well, what can I say?

 

Technically, when you're part of a team, it's always important to put your team ahead of yourself.  Try to do everything on your own, especially if it's for popularity like in Garrus Vakarian's case, and you're pretty much dead.  But when you work together with your team, the job becomes so much easier.

 

This is one of the things that made Shepard and his/her crew of the Normandy so appealing.  Even if Garrus is popular but not Kaidan, they're still a team, designed to work together toward a common goal, rather than compete against each other for popularity.

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