@Ventilaator: Kaiden was so generic I continuously referred to him as Carth accidentally (as in Carth Onasi from Knights of the Old Republic, who had the same voice actor). If you asked me to do the ol' Plinkett test of describing a character without mentioning their physical appearance or their job, I would be at a COMPLETE loss for Kaiden. Ashley was actually one of the more interesting characters. She was flawed, she wasn't some paragon of perfect virtue. She seemed more REAL.

She was more interesting than Kaiden, plus I rolled with her in my squad for the entirety of the game.

@Ventilaator: Kaiden was so generic I continuously referred to him as Carth accidentally (as in Carth Onasi from Knights of the Old Republic, who had the same voice actor). If you asked me to do the ol' Plinkett test of describing a character without mentioning their physical appearance or their job, I would be at a COMPLETE loss for Kaiden. Ashley was actually one of the more interesting characters. She was flawed, she wasn't some paragon of perfect virtue. She seemed more REAL.

I needed Kaidan to take care of the fucking bomb, because Ashley is an idiot.

Ashley was a prick so she got the boot...the permanent boot...

@xobballox: Mediocre character character sympathizer?

Edit: In all seriousness, I'd rather have a character I dislike in my party than one I feel literally nothing for.

@stringbacon said:

The space-racism works in her favor for me. It gives her a personality that I can remember long after I finished Mass Effect. Kaiden has nothing that makes him stand out to me. All I remember was that he used biotics.

They both stood out to me as flawed human beings, one with a hatred or ignorance that has been built in from Childhood but also loves her family. The other had a bad childhood, pretty given away by his parents and adopted by a very strict school for biotics he show's you what it was like to be a biotic around in the early human biotic development days, since you have no perspective of this time as a character I found this interesting.

She was a bigoted bitch, but also far more interesting than Kaidan.  I hated her, but was also completely uninterested by Kaidan.

@xobballox: Mediocre character character sympathizer?

Edit: In all seriousness, I'd rather have a character I dislike in my party than one I feel literally nothing for.

Every time Kaiden opened his mouth all I could think of was Carth, and I really hated Carth, so Kaiden had to die.

Its funny really. I hated Ashley because of her character, and I hated Kaiden due to what I felt was a lack of character.

Its funny really. I hated Ashley because of her character, and I hated Kaiden due to what I felt was a lack of character.

I never liked kaidan. He was way too meh imo.

@xobballox said:

@Undeadpool said:

@xobballox: Mediocre character character sympathizer?

Edit: In all seriousness, I'd rather have a character I dislike in my party than one I feel literally nothing for.

:( I usually would agree with that, but everything about Ashley just made me hate her completely as a character and I hated it every time she spoke.

Again, though, you felt SOMEthing. I think it's gutsy of Bioware to include characters you're not necessarily going to like in your party. Like in Baldur's Gate or KotoR (both 1 and 2), you can have characters that are straight-up evil in your party.

I've let them both die and survive numerous times, usually it has to do with 'who' my Shepard is. 
Hard-ass no-nonsense Infiltrator Shep will pick Ashely cause she's got more balls. 
Empathetic and self-sacrificing Adept Shep will pick Kaiden cause the universe doesn't need any more bigots, and besides, Shep and Kaiden -are- evolution (biotics), Ashely is a relic of the past. Advance the species.

I've let them both die and survive numerous times, usually it has to do with 'who' my Shepard is.  Hard-ass no-nonsense Infiltrator Shep will pick Ashely cause she's got more balls.  Empathetic and self-sacrificing Adept Shep will pick Kaiden cause the universe doesn't need any more bigots, and besides, Shep and Kaiden -are- evolution (biotics), Ashely is a relic of the past. Advance the species.

Both characters are ultimately unlikable. Ashley is a total bitch and Kaiden is about as interesting as a blank sheet of paper. Saved Kaiden, but I don't intend on using him when I finally play ME2 (in the mail!).

I was under the mistaken impression that saving Kaidan was the only way to also save the Salarian strike force, and I kind of liked those guys. Otherwise my femShep would have chosen Ash because she is also a chew-up-nails-and-spit-out-staples kind of hardass.

I didn't mind the spacism so much; she was professional about it and took orders just fine. Kaidan felt bland to me, although I enjoyed listening to his summary of missions a'la Joker.

Who? Oh right, the humies. I don't even remember who I saved. They were equally boring characters.

Because of that ass:

I'd like to give some kind of thoughtful moral justification to why I saved Ashley but it just basically came down to the fact that I liked her more. Her xenophobia was a bit of an issue for me, but I thought she was an interesting character whereas Kaiden just seemed like a fairly normal guy to me. If Kaiden had been that unaccepting of the idea of sacrificing himself for the good of the mission it might have been a different story, but as it was saving Ashley just seemed like the more appealing prospect.

The aliens want to wipe humans out. Ashley hates aliens. My FemShep hates aliens too. And Wrex really deserved to die. So, save Ashley, humans survive and run the galaxy. Win.

I saved Ashley in all my level 60 playthroughs. Not that I didnt like Kaiden: a normal guy with some trauma.
Ashley is more to bring drama to the story (as I automatically end up as paragon and ignore what species you are from).
 
First ME run I did it for the tits and ass. Kaiden doesnt have them.
 
I should really embark on a space voyage sometime early next year and get a 60 playthrough with a living Kaiden.

Save Kaidan, you can get with him in Mass Effect 3. And he voiced Carth in KOTOR 

Kaiden has the honor of being the only mass effect character that I did not talk to at all after the first hours.

It's so long ago but I remember just hating him so.

Loved saving Ashly and letting that bastard fry.