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Remember me. Previous Share Flag Next. I've been putting some thought into why I have such strong angry feelings about Kaidan Alenko, and have come to a conclusion. Serious discussion, not a rant. Note: This does not entirely apply to Ashley Williams. Let it first be made clear that I did not hate Kaidan in ME1. I romanced Kaidan. I don't hate Kaidan because I'm bitter about Horizon.
I am bitter about Horizon, and that colors my vision in a way. But in this case, my anger at him for Horizon is not my reason for hating him. I hate Kaidan because I hate everything he represents. I heard the smarmy reproaches of Carth Onasi, goody two-shoes hero of the Galactic Republic.
Carth was the voice of empathy, usually—a voice I didn't need to hear while Force-choking the innocent and blackmailing aliens into handing over their meager life savings. He was in my squad!
It was a waking nightmare. I stuck out the opening mission and spent the rest of Mass Effect paying as little attention to Kaidan as possible.
And then I spent the next four years thinking of Kaidan Alenko as little as possible. It wasn't until Mass Effect 3 arrived that I realized how incredible that is—because I killed Kaidan, and he still matters. BioWare struck gold with the personalization of Commander Shepard, as evidenced by the Internet's reaction to every Mass Effect screenshot out there "That's not what Shepard looks like!
Shepard looks like this! Mass Effect takes one interpretation of the "role" in role-playing game to its logical extreme, cultivating an unusually fierce bond between player and avatar. The way the entire Mass Effect saga handles player choice is ultimately a greater achievement, at least from a technical perspective.
Think of it this way: voice actor Raphael Sbarge has dedicated several months out of the past half-decade recording dialogue for the Mass Effect trilogy. Writers at BioWare have dedicated even more time to creating that dialogue, assuring that Kaidan gets his share of unique dialogue. Artists and animators devoted dozens of hours to Kaidan's armor and movements and character expressions in each game.
I didn't care about any of that. That's okay. In Jane Shepard's world, Kaidan's been dead for more than four years. Actually, "sacrificed" isn't the right word. I left him to die, gleefully, elation triggering a reaction in my head that went something like this: "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes. If my trusty shotgun hadn't been equipped with sledgehammer rounds that sent even the mightiest of Krogan warlords ragdolling into walls, killing Kaidan would've easily been my fondest memory of Mass Effect.
But that doesn't make Kaidan a bad character. Video game characters usually earn my scorn through shoddy storytelling or dialogue: I can't stand the legions of Japanese characters like Final Fantasy VIII's Squall Leonhart, who lean far too heavily on the the Japanese tsundere archetype of aloof hostility.
Kaidan, on the other hand, fits the definition of a well-developed character. He has a complex backstory and traits that cast him as the most virtuous of the Normandy's crew much like KotOR's Carth Onasi. Before we dive into that part of the report, though, it should be said that the entire infographic breakdown is actually quite interesting. For instance, this section reveals that the average player-created Shepard is a male soldier who was an Earthborn survivor. There are a few surprises found throughout the stat sheet, though.
It would be interesting to see what those stats looked like when the original Mass Effect was released and players had no knowledge of how that decision would affect the events of later games.
Ad — content continues below. According to the report, the character most likely to survive that mission, based on player choices, is Garrus. That brings us to Kaidan.
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