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Solarco

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Companion Rankings: Mass Effect Franchise

Here it is! After spending way too many hours playing Mass Effect I have finally (mostly) come to terms with where each of the series squad members rank up against each other!

This list includes every possible companion from the Mass Effect franchise, including Andromeda (big surprise at where they rank lol)

List items

  • Companion in Mass Effect 1, 2 & 3.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 2. Important character in Mass Effect 3.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 1 & 3.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 2. Important character in Mass Effect 3.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 1. Important character in Mass Effect 3.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 2. Important character in Mass Effect 3.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 1, 2 & 3.

  • DLC Companion in Mass Effect 3.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 2.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 3. Important character in Mass Effect 2.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 2.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 2.

  • Companion in Mass Effect 2.

  • I don't really think that Kaidan is any better than Ashley but let's be honest, the same voice actor played Carth Onasi in Kotor so Kaidan gets just a little bit of an edge, if only out of nostalgia.

    Unfortunately for Kaidan, he is a mirror image of Carth but somehow less likable. Maybe he's a little to "cool" whereas Carth would actually call you on your shit or maybe it's just seeing a starting companion from a Bioware game come back and do the same thing yet again that makes Kaidan feel stale.

    Much like Ashley, Kaidan's time to shine is in ME1 and he does a good job at that. Kaidan really does fit the role of intro companion and does it in a way that I don't mind his company along the way. He's a good constant, like a less humorous Varric from the Dragon Age series, but because of that he's kind of doomed to be a middle of the pack companion. Add that into a cold shoulder treatment by ME2 and a storyline that almost lives up but feels a bit too removed from the rest of the campaign in ME3 and Kaidan never really makes a comeback like some of the first game companions.

  • Let me start of by saying that while she is pretty universally hated throughout the Mass Effect Fandom, Ashley actually has a pretty strong start as a companion when you first meet her on Eden Prime. She is brash, sure, but headstrong in a way that you would appreciate out of a soldier on the front line and she acts as a great counterpart to the modest Kaidan in the first moments of the game where your Shepard must decide where their morality falls. Ashley isn't truly a renegade, but she could sway Shepard down that path pretty easy, just as Kaidan shows the beginnings of a more Paragon focused path in contrast.

    But then she gets all xenophobic and you start to realize that Ashley is pretty damn selfish, problematic and pretty sheltered in her "human first" bubble. It's believable though, naturally you'd have some crew mates that would feel this way, it hasn't been long since humanity came into the alien world and it feels pretty dang likely. What you don't expect is for the game to push a crew member like this in as one of your first two squamates and, looking at ME1 as a whole, it makes sense. Ashley is a slow burn and if you really spend time with her and challenge her on her ideas then you do start to see progress and some real character development.

    Then she gets shafted by ME2 and half-assed with ME3 and she plateaus pretty much the whole way through after ME1 unless you romanced her and, even then, gets forgotten easily in a standout cast that is much less abrasive and arrogant.

  • I really wanted to like Grunt more than I did but after Wrex, getting another Krogan (and then seeing Wrex on Tuchanka later in the game) just made me dislike Grunt because he wasn't the Urdnot Mercenary that I came to seriously love in the first game.

    There isn't anything bad about Grunt, much like any of the mass effect companions (aside from James Vega) but he is just a bit flat in comparison to the other ensemble, especially the powerhouse ensemble of Mass Effect 2.

    Could he have stood out more in ME1 or ME3? Probably. But alas, he goes toe to toe against some really great characters and almost always gets benched pretty quick in my playthroughs.

  • Zaeed suffers a similar fate as Kasumi but gets off just a little bit better because he's one of the first companions that you are likely to get in Mass Effect 2 (especially since he was a part of that hideous "Day One DLC" plan that EA had for a hot second) but he still falls short just due to lack of execution outside of his introduction and loyalty mission.

    Because I usually recruit him so early in the campaign I do end up using him a decent amount (in comparison to Kasumi at least) and that is what primarily pushes him over the edge in overall ranking. Plus he has some good one lines if you take him on certain missions.

  • Kasumi is so cool! So sheik! So mysterious! So forgettable! It's really not her fault but Bioware really fell the shortest with Kasumi in their list of DLC characters.

    Knowing that only a handful of players would even play the game with her as a squadmate (the DLC itself came out after I'd already finished the campaign once and let is sit for a few months) it seems like the developers just kind of phoned this one in.

    Don't get me wrong, her loyalty mission is actually one of the best ones in Mass Effect 2 but the SECOND you get her back onto the Normandy there is just nothing of substance. Sure you could listen to her random witty dialogue when you click on cool things in her area of the ship but you just can't get to know Kasumi like the rest of the crew and eventually just forget that she's even there until she blows up in your engine bay during the Suicide Missions (whoops).

  • If you hadn't played Mass Effect AT ALL up until the release of Mass Effect 3 and were only into it because you could shoot aliens and stuff then YOU are who EA wanted to market to! Hooray! Introducing James "Unnecessary Exposition" Vega as the brochaco that will most certainly bring new gamers into the Mass Effect Universe. James is consistently one-note though, to his credit, tends to behave like a tried and true marine archetype, but there just isn't a lot of depth and the depth that is there seems cliche and ham-fisted with only a few fleeting moments of actual character that sometimes SOMETIMES make him stand even close to the writing of the other companions throughout the trilogy.

    Vega's only saving grace is that I'm almost positive that the writers at Bioware wrote him up to be this hammy and annoying specifically because they HAD to market to new consumers and thought that that notion was just as dumb as this character.

    I'm probably wrong but it helps me sleep at night.

  • Morinth is a very interesting character and one that, if given more time as a potential squad mate, could've really stood out BUT in order to get her you need to betray Samara, a squad mate that you've probably had for at least a little while by now AND it's really only justifiable if you're playing as a renegade Shepard and then, even if you do happen to match all of that criteria, Morinth only has a few hours at best to shine before the game comes to a close.

    She isn't a bad companion but one that isn't utilized in a way that makes sense a solid addition to your team and therefore is always forgotten as a hidden secret companion of Mass Effect 2.