Mass Alex: Mass Effect - Part 05

Yeah, Ashley is a big ol' space racist, but as a character, I'll take her a hundred times over Kaiden, who's just the biggest charisma vacuum in the universe. Though he gets a run for his money from Jacob in 2.

He's just the Carth Onassi of the Mass Effect universe.

i like ashley she is ok.....mordin from me2 is my favorite character though

@seventytwotransformations: It depends on how you interpret it. You can either read the line as " I view alien species as equivalent to animals," or you can read it as "I cannot tell which of these lifeforms are sapient and which aren't because of how diverse they all are." Humanity only encountered aliens about 25 years before the start of the game. The Citadel is the galactic hub. It's not that unbelievable that someone would be unable to distinguish between alien and animal in their first visit. Alex did the same thing with the keepers, thinking they were sapient only to find they are basically worker bees.

After reading some of the comments and trying to skip spoilers, and since i've also been playing Mass Effect 1 for the 1st time, I have to say: "Some of you here have strong opinions on Ashley".

To be Honest I think the Alliance is just doomed to fail. All this "species" are clearly working together for personal gain, some are trying to recover a lost home, other purely for revenge, some for knowledge purposes, and some for prestigious gain. Its a mess and that is why "my" Shepard can be sometimes wrong/right, and who can stop me? I'm a freaking Specter!! Even rear admiral Bullsh** got to ask me politely before entering my ship to "assess"the situation.

I do agree that Ashley is somewhat racist, but so are most of the others. The only problem is that she is Direct in her opinions and doesn't hide it (that much) like the others

Just some pointers but make sure to look at your team balance before you go off ship. Tali is great for decryption while liara is strong with biotics. I would suggest Tali and Ashley since you are a vanguard.

Also note that planets you can visit will normally have three locations to visit and three mineral deposits you can scan. This does not apply to main story missions

Also when looking at your mission tab you have an assignment tab that holds all your secondary or side missions.

Agreed. I feel like there's a lot more nuance to be found in these sci-fi stories if we don't take a scorched earth approach of, "shut up, die in a fire, everyone who likes you must agree with everything you say and are therefore terrible people."

If someone doesn't like her, fine, but trying to tell everyone else that she's irredeemable and we're racist for even giving her the time of day? That's the part I take issue with. I like reading about and talking to flawed characters in my RPGs.

Huh, I've played this game about 3-4 times and I never remember any monkey searches. Weird.

Great as always! Excited for next week!

In reference to that point, you're correct. But in this particular case the turians helped build the Normandy and the Council approved it. The tech is explicitly a multi-species effort. Of course there is the possibility that Ashley doesn't know this at the time. That said...yeah, the "animals" comment goes above and beyond a concern with OPSEC into full-blown racist territory.

When it comes down to it, I don't think "she's thinking like someone in the military" really holds up when these games play fast and loose with everything else military-related.

@alex@vinny Back button grenades are a friend :)

Totally agree with all of this. I just enjoyed Kaidan. He seemed relatable, kind, and the only person without a giant chip on their shoulder about some person/race/organization. At the end of a day filled with space politics and space warfare, Kaidan's the guy I wanted to process it all with. He and Ashley both showed different ways humans (the "baby" species of galactic civilization) could react to the new world humanity had been thrust into. Ashley was more xenophobic, Kaidan more open-minded and curious. And he had such a soothing voice.

" HE DROPPED THE DATA MODULE " seriously had me nearly in tears.

Oh man this is my favorite episode by far. When Alex starts singing she'll be coming round the mountain I felt a deep spiritual and emotional connection.

/slowclap

Just came here to say that Kaiden is a lousy character

I remembered the monkey search mission but not that line. So good.,

Yeah okay i'm just going to put a sixth point into this ability i'm never going to use.

The neutral responses are killing me! Gotta go Paragon or Renegade so you can get some of the benefits late game!

I love the Mass Effect games but this series reminded me exactly why I should still love them. @vinny@alex you guys are doing a great job with this series.

@lt_kettch237: They've yet to see the worse line on the presidium where she casually wonders about drowning aliens in the lake. She's also just generally a much more stand offish and bitchy type in ME2 and 3.

@lunacantabile: She does not specifically mention aliens drowning. She says anyone.

I don't recall her being standoffish in ME3 past Mars, but that may be because of how my dialogue played out.

I like reading the comments to find funny jokes but this Ashley bit has given people headaches, I'm hoping I can explain the situation in an easier, light-hearted way:

Let's say humans and Dolphins are living together on Earth as they do now, Dolphins being fairly 'intelligent' (like the aliens in Mass Effect). A lot of humans know a decent amount about Dolphins and we tend to get along with them well. However, Dolphins do have a much deeper culture than we understand (we don't speak Dolphin, know their exact history, and don't live around them in the ocean,). Now say Ashley and some fellow humans were brutally attacked by Dolphins while swimming in the ocean (some 'rogue' Dolphins, the 1% of Dolphins that may actually do some harm.) That would be enough to make Ashley 'hate' Dolphins (I believe Ashley's 'unfamiliarity' with the aliens is the main reason for not 'trusting' the aliens in Mass Effect at this point, but using this attack as a more direct example). Then years later, Ashley has to work along with the Dolphins on the Normandy (work with me here). Is Ashley's vocal disdain for working with them justified? Sure. Is that the opinion of everyone else on the ship? No (especially Sheperd!). Honestly we don't know much about her yet (never played Mass Effect so following along with the GBeast crew), so as a result we are making interpretations of her based on what we know ("judging' if you will).

Is Ashley racist? By definition (From Google: A person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other [aliens], or who believes that a particular [alien] is superior to another] No. (I don't see anything mentioned in regards to humans being the best, or some alien species is inferior in comparison due to this, this, or this.

Is Ashley xenophobic? By definition (From Google: Having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against [aliens] from other [planets]. Sure (her attacked by the Dolphins if you will), but she has yet to outright say why and may change.

In regards to the "Can't tell the aliens from the animals" statement, I see it as a figure of speech (her saying it as a joke, but may have flew under a few people). Going back to my previous analogy of the Dolphins, say Ashley was just plopped under the ocean where there are tons of other 'aliens' like it was her first time at the Citadel. Some are more intelligent 'aliens' (e.g. Dolphins, Octopus) and some are more 'animals' (e.g. starfish, sea urchin). Because she is so unfamiliar with all these species on the Citadel, she doesn't know who from what.

In regards to Kaiden and Ashley being dull and uninteresting, I believe most of it is due to them being 'humans'. In the gigantic, unknown universe known as Mass Effect, humans would be the least interesting to us. As a result, we know the least about them (as of now) and not much of a motive to get to know them. Personally, I feel Kaiden has nothing really going for him but I am loving Ashley's sass.

I hope this cleared some issues, I just want to see more joke comments next episode!

"Doesn't Look like anything to me", Subtle Westworld drop, Alex?

"HE DROPPED THE DATA MODULE!"

Monkey module raffle!

@lt_kettch237: Thank you for making this post. Clearly stated.

Finally we hear from Admiral Hackett, out of my favourite characters in the Mass Effect series. One nice thing about ME3 is that Hackett finally gets some glory and actually gets fleshed out a bit besides just being a voice over the radio.

Searching the monkeys for the module was amazing. HE DROPPED THE DATA MODULE.

Hey @alex, dunno if someone's already said this but a few quick tips:

-Break down all your lvl 1 and 2 items in everything (ammo,armor,weapons,grenades) and start selling your other stuff at the guy on the Normandy. It'll make your life a lot easier and give ya lots of purchasing power.

-Also in the Mako when you're zoomed in and see a shot incoming towards you just use the boosters to hop over the shots without having to drive and lose your aim

To everyone who say Ashley is interesting i ask you in what way? How is she interesting?

As a character all she has ,besides the racism, is that she loves her family, believes in god, and is persecuted because her grandfather surrendered in the first contact war.

When it comes to her family it boils down to her dads dead and she loves her sisters but worries about them even though there tough and able to handle themselves, her mom gets some lip service about how she was strong to raise Ashley and her sister. The character building we get from this is minimal at best we learn she idolizes the military and reads poetry every thing to do with her sisters doesn't add to her character despite her telling a story about her sister beating up a pushy guy. Nothings added to her as a character because the story isn't about her its about a character that you never meet or interact with in anyway.

When it comes to her believing in god there is nothing there she just asks how can you look at the stars and not believe in a higher power that's it there is nothing else there nothing. No story about how something happened and it caused her to believe or nothing about a time when her faith was tested but it only ended up with it being stronger then ever. the only purpose for her to believe in god is so that there is a party member who does.

The Grandfather persecution is weird because it gives her something as a character but its bad and poorly handled. Ashley tells you about how her grandfather how his surrendering has lead to her family being black sheep of the military her getting her passed over for promotion and being put on less desirable posts. Accept it has no meaning we never learn the details of the times she was passed over for promotion or why and who give her bad posts. its highly possible that there where other reasons like her aggressive attitude and chip on her shoulder that could have been seen negatively. with the way its handled in the story it seems like it could just be her own perceived persecution, i wasn't promoted its because of my grandfather, i got a bad post its because of my grandfather. This just paints her as a self absorbed and that nothing is her fault, not a very interesting character in my opinion.

Now about that racism. Ashley is racist no ifs and or buts about it. however that could be interesting this could really add something to her as a character, it doesn't it's just their. Some one else brought up the fact that other Party members are racist and people love them despite that fact. if i was to guess i would say that there racism comes from personal experiences. Garrus is a cop and has to deal with krogans who number one profession is mercenary. Tali has had to live a hard life of worry about if her people even have the resources to keep on living all because of the Geth. Wrex naturally distrust and probably even hates the species that are responsible for the slow agonizing death of his people. Ashley just believes that its natural to always value your own species over others and once again nothing to it no personal reasons. its awful.

The idea that Ashley is interesting when more than anyone else in this game feels like she was made to check of boxes and target a demographic. Especially when compared to her counterpart Kaidan a character who is understated and nuanced, he feels like a genuine person. Ashley just falls flat

Alex seriously needs to take 5 minutes and read what the different abilities do, and what skills unlock what.

@josephknows: Best take on her I've seen and I agree wholeheartedly, Ashley and Kaiden are by far the most interesting characters and interactions in subsequent playthrough.

I just realised that Fai Dan is Armin Shimerman after all these years

monke