#Me thinking too much about how much I hate the virmire survior plot

[captaindoubled]

So I was thinking about the Virmire Survivor plot, how much I hate it on terms of weak story writing but also because it just doesn't make sense for Kaidan and Ashley to have to exact same reactions to Shepard asking them to join.

Bioware couldn't be bothered to remember that they are individual characters and so it came off as shit compared to the rest.

Liara and Wrex both says they couldn't join for very valid reasons that were really no different from Ash and Kaidan's. They missed Shep and all but they got shit to do without them. Life didn't stop moving when they died. Big difference tho is that A/K had the added bonus of almost disgust and distrust in Shep, which again, shit on both as characters.

Not to say they couldn't worry that Shep was a clone. On the contrary, that's a pretty solid question and should have been a major source of personal conflict for the Shep dawg anyway. (You know, maybe instead of being just a self sacrificing hero, the idea that they aren't even the real Shepard makes it easier to throw life and limb into a cluster fuck of black holes, ya know, bit more depth and growth there). But they should have been given their own individual spin is all.

Spit balling but just to improve it:

Ashley, no matter what you do or say can't be recruited in ME2, while, depending on how you played in ME1, you got a shot in recruiting Kaiden.

Why?

Ashley's backstory makes sense for her lack of recruitment chances, not just to join Shepard but to leave the Alliance, to be absolutely believable. She's trying her damnest to rebuild the Williams name in the Alliance after her grandfather's surrender to the turians. And she feels like she has to make up for that. After being part of the group that saved the Citadel, and moving up in the ranks, there is no question: she would be absolutely against the idea of throwing that away to join up with Cerberus under their flag.

She also has 4 sisters to take care of that's she's raised most of their life and her own. I can not see her willingly joining onto a suicide mission when she does have family back home that she feels need her protection as their big sister. And def that should be a conversation prompt that comes up if you bring Miranda to the Horizon mission in order to give Miranda something to chew on later for her loyalty mission and help push her away from Cerberus faster.

For ME2, it would be one of those all roads lead to one point things for her, matter how pro or anti alien you push her in conversation either. She's a locked out squad mate in ME2.

Kaidan on the other hand, I could see that as something that can happen. Kaidan doesn't have the same pro alliance loyalty as Ashely does. And even if Kaidan is super pro alliance loyalty, his blood will literally never been as blue and silver and Ashley's. Also Kaidan's biotic school was not Cerberus run so that distrust of Cerberus other than past mission stuff shouldn't out way his trust in Shepard. The biotic school fact tho should def should be a dialogue prompt if Jack joins that mission, same way as Miranda, for something to chew on later.  In ME1, the same way you can either confirm Ashley's alien Bias or make her deal with them, you can push Kaidan into more xenophobic views too. This could be def a reason why he could be recruitable but even if that wasn't, Kaidan's a pretty loyal guy. To people, not groups per say. They could def play on that and make it so that his loyalty to Shepard and choices you the player made in ME1 can effect the chance to get him as a squad mate. Like a strong red or blue Shepard in the previous games makes this path easier. If Shepard was wish washy in the middle, then Kaidan wouldn't follow them because they didn't hold strongly enough to their guns to be someone Kaidan could drop their life for, or him to join in on a suicide mission for. (Hard Blue Shepard and non Xenophobic Kaidan or Hard Red Shepard and Xenophobic Kaidan) If you can pass those checks, you get a bonus squad mate but also Shepard gets a chance for closure that they didn't lose  as much as they thought in their death. And that worry of being a clone, at least in ME2, is lesser.

Even more changes to give A/K their own personal stories. Different locations!

Ashley can stay on Horizon to protect a settlement of folk because she's fucking tank of a woman. She's be a good fit to help protect folk like that because in the previous game she had armor stats higher than Wrex sometimes and he's a fucking Krogan.

Kaidan can go to a different colony for a different function. Maybe a research group in need of smaller, localized protection within the building. He's a biotic and a strong one but story wise he's still an L2. Sending him off the bumble snatch west fuck alone is just bad on the writing part because if he strained himself protecting folk without proper medical help, there goes Kaidan. Even if that doesn't happen, you gotta write with the possibility that it could.

You can't send someone in a snake pit, have them walk through fine and then don't acknowledge the danger of the situation because you didn't think of a scenario of where they got bit.

Ashley being a literal tank puts her in danger from the collectors because she can't punch and shoot the paralyzing bugs away. But she's got all those bunkers to get in. She's a good solider she'll be in danger but it doesn't kill her.

Kaidan in the other hand has a mega advantage considering biotic shields main plot device used to get through the fucking swarm in the end.

(Hell, Kaidan throwing up a shield bubble during that mission at any point would have been a bad ass way to introduce the concept early without saying it. Something that, in an Ashley play through, doesn't happen and puts back that how the fuck do we get past the swarm in the end. It makes the game slightly different and changes the difficulty a bit and make your choices really matter in ways other than characters you get. )  

Just, he needs something else make it so he's in danger but doesn't KO him permanently. Also it gives Kaidan his own story line.

Because tbh, the Virmire Survivor plot sounds like it was written for a Male Shep who romanced Ashley so they banked on her sticking around. Or at the very least, a Male Shep player who at some point romanced Ashley or Liara (because Bioware pushed hard on that Liara romance) so again just having to account for the fact she'd be the most likely one alive out of Kaidan or Ashley. The stuff Ashley does makes sense, what she's doing and her even being sent out to a piss hole terminus system because of her name makes sense as a sort of punishment. I don't even like Kaidan that much but, while Ash's actions may seem like dick moves in ME2 they are understandable to her character backstory, Kaidan's make no fucking sense to him as a person and only make him look like an ass.

Now in ME3 though they could have flipped the script.

Ashley and Kaidan both go on the mission with Shepard to Mars Ashley and Kaidan having wildly different ideas on who Shep is.

Why?

Because of how non Shepard centric most of the plot of ME2 was. I enjoy the fuck out of ME2 for the same reason I love Dragon Age 2 (and I'll fight you on this game). You have to be emotionally invested in the growth of your team mates in order to make it through that last mission with them. It's very squad centric and forming that bond as a team I love that in story with a group dynamic element. The Citadel DLC in ME3 was peak that and the little moments just in ME3  they expanded on were even better.

But ME2 was missing something that DA2 had.

Moments devoted to the player character. In DA2, who you were as Hawke changed your party dynamic from the start and set up the pin of Hawke being a centric figure in the narrative of the story. If you were a Mage, say fuck off to your Mage sister. And if you weren't, bye bro. You picked who you wanted to be tacked on to in order to work in Kirkwall, your choices to take your brother or sister to the deep roads decided their life or death and subsequently, was also dependent on if you picked Anders as well. Your character's emotional investment for their family, can fuck up their life, and hurt their mother if done wrong but still lose that party member done right. But at least you still get letters from your sibling if you can keep them alive.

Then there is the plot line about the mother's boyfriend and her subsequent death that came in the form of small but in your face fetch missions. Like say what you want about that game, but at least all the little things you did to get gold in the first act built up and grew into their own stories across the next two acts. You feel a lot more for Hawke, understanding who Hawke is, what they are going through, each act taking away family members one by one until it is just Hawke in a mansion alone. But you walk around the house and touch things, books Varric recommended, wine and a mask that remind them of Fenris and their morbid sense of humor, Anders manifestos all over the damn place, and Isabela's dick scribbles all over the place. So even when you have that moment where Hawke can't go in their mother's room, the house still has family and love in it. It's fucking noice! 👌🏿👌🏿

Mass Effect 2 was one mission after the other for Shep to do but nothing really to grow as a character. And while you were out there getting folk, the game doesn't really stop to make them moments that Shep can relate to other than throwing a bone to the previous game. Por ejemplo:

Garrus and his missions. It is rightfully framed around Garrus' pain and loss of not just Shepard, but his life back home, his team, and his future. Getting through to him in one way or another is important for the mission but there isn't a moment of humanizing for Shep in it. If Shepard's backstory was Sole Survivor, Shep should have had a dialogue option to bringing that up and talk to Garrus to work through that pain. It brings Shepard the character, not just Shepard the player' character, back to the forefront. Like I said about Shep maybe being a clone should have been the major source of emotional conflict for Shep in ME2. It would have made moments where Shep has to be a person and relate to their squad mates as that person and not just the beacon of hope leader. You are going into a suicide mission and you barely get to know Shep's feelings on it aside from pissed off and "Duty".

Other moments could have been: Earth/Colonist Shep relating to Tali on the loss of their parents. Shepard talking to Thane about their own death and mortality. Sole Survivor Shep having major disadvantage on Grunt's loyalty mission. Moments where Shepard talks about their lack of a father in any bg with Jacob or even, for god honest Christ sake mention that Anderson played that role and a father that gave you DNA doesn't have to be your dad. You can find someone else. (Which could have set up for Jacob finding a mentor in ME3 but we aren't gonna talk about that 😤😤) Spacer Shep relating to Grunt and even envying the fact Grunt finds a place among the Urdnots when Shep never had a home planet to call home and all that. A Ruthless Shep or War Hero Shep having major conflicts with Mordin's mission because both Mordin and dude that worked under him thought they were doing was right by it was also a terrible path. I could go on! But the point is, ME1 gave the player little moments to have their back stories mean something and be specific to the player, even if it was one or two of them.

ME2, they were background hum on radios that you can ignore or just not pay attention to because you got fucking lost on Omega for the 10th time.

But why would all this matter in a Kaidan/Ashley story line?

Because they could have serviced as their loyalty mission but in different games. For Kaidan it would have been in ME2 and literally the boss battle before the boss battle. Joker has his own shit going on in ME2 (which I enjoyed the fuck out of) so someone has to be that ultimate question asker, are you the real Shepard? If Shep couldn't show they were the real Shepard, Kaidan isn't loyal. He doesn't die, he'd be the one life guaranteed character but it would fuck over your playthrough of ME3 if you can't convince him otherwise. You can be pissy, mad Shepard and not provide proof because who does Kaidan think he is? Loyalty failed. You can be emotionally detached soldier Shep and never had those moments. Loyalty failed. If you can't just gain the loyalty of enough members of your crew?? Failed! Who's Shepard if not the ultimate commander. If Shep can't get folks loyal to their cause, fucking that ain't Shepard. Least not in Kaidan's head. And as the player, now your thrown for a loop wondering the same thing going into a suicide mission! Imagine having to play the game and remember who Shepard is! Not just paragon or renegade pointed checks but actually Shep the character! What Shepard you made in ME1, why you chose that backstory and how it relates to the character you created and the folks around them. That would have been epic. Hell, it could have been put in that Kaidan only gets a partial loyalty and that's as high as you can get. Because Kaidan is still in mourning for Shepard and no matter how much like Shepard you are, it isn't enough to convince him that his friend is back!

Going into ME3, Ashley could still very much think that Shepard is a clone and doesn't have those major moments to test for herself if Shep is real or not before the robot rock misfortune. So in ME3, now Ashley is going to go through the same moments like Kaidan where observing and wondering if Shepard is real or not. There can be moments where how you acted toward folks in the loyalty mission comes into play in her decision. And since ME3 let your squad mates piss off to do what they wanted, moments where you go the hospital for example and find Garrus sitting with Ash and talking, but stopping when you enter the room, would create heart pounding suspense. Because since Ashley wasn't on the Normandy in the last hypothetical better Virmire Survivor plot, you don't know it's a loyalty check until it's the Udina show down. The part where Shepard insists they are the real Shep and not Cerberus and telling the truth is undercut by the fact Ashley (or Kaidan in the boring bad Virmire Plot as well) never got to check on if Shep was Shep, in just a really more complex paragon/renegade check. Give Ash a chance to check Shepard and also make the player play the Shep they created!

Again, Kaidan can have an entirely different show down point. Hell, he can have Udina and Ashley something else, just give their characters moments where they are doing something different if they are following the sameish plot line.

If you recruited Kaidan but failed his loyalty, you're fucked. You got the advantage of having an extra squad mate in ME2 so not that advantage is a disadvantage. Because if you failed his loyalty out right, you are probably going to have to shoot him or fuck over the mission . Same way there is jack shit you can do other than some complicated duck and dodge maneuvers with Wrex if you betray him and don't cure the genophage. If your at passed or in the hypothetical, just partial passed a Kaidan loyalty in 3, Shep has an easier time and doesn't have a moment of stand off at all. If you already paid your dues once, you don't have to do it again.

But even if you don't recruit Kaidan, you probably shouldn't have to go through so many hoops just because of Kaidan's character. The only way you get screwed in the end is if you don't play true to your character Shepard but insist on having him in ME2.

Again: just spit balling and the ideas can probably use some polishing on their own and I somehow ended up taking about another major flaw in Mass Effect but it's all good.

Because the major point is: the Virmire plot should have still let Kaidan and Ashley play their own characters and have their choices make sense, and also instead of just making the Virmire Survivor plot a thing that happened where you get characters one or character two, they serve as a check for your character to play true to who they are.

Because unlike the dragon age franchise, Shep is the main through line of that trilogy so there had gotta make the stories connect not just by the main lead but how they interact with the world.

Games like that came from the table top esk mechanics. You can modify your stats over time and make up for short comings and balance stuff out, but you gotta play the character you made.

Story wise, the fact that I can make a Ruthless Colonist Shepard and end with the franchise with them having more Paragon points than sin is fun and good Meta story telling for me and my fic purposes, but I should have had more resistance in game. I should have had the hardest time recruiting any sort of Batarians aid. The fact that I blew up the relay in the dlc and killed even more Batarians should have just sealed my fucking fate with them.

There is a moment in the Omega DLC that is my absolute favorite where if your Shep is an engineer, you can disable that barrier with no fucking problem at all with only the snuggest of comments. It is, out of all the moments in the game probably my favorite. Because that was my first Shep before I really got into the fandom and found out that Vanguard was actually the fandom favorite class. Most people didn't even pick engineer, biotic mains were the thing and there were like 3ish in the game. I didn't even play a biotic until my next run with a new Shep just to see what those powers were all about. But there were folks that I talked to that played and didn't know in the you could hack and fuck over mechs and how much fun that was for me.

I really like when choices like that, especially ones that are supposed to just matter in combat, work their way back into the story.

Because even though it was a choice I made for my Shep, it was so little, I barely remembered it was important to her backstory just the same as her being sole survivor and a spacer.  I made me wish there were more times where the fact my Shep was an Engineer came into play with hacking mechanics in the game. She could have bypassed them entirely or had a slightly easier game compared to other classes.

Joker is thick and thin loyal but he spends most of his time at the front of the ship.  The first characters you fight with on a team are Ashley and Kaidan (Jenkins) and their characters, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan, should really connect more story wise.

I hate the Virmire plot so much because it takes two very important characters to Shepard and makes them 1D dlc characters and so only after you go through all the same checks and balances and gun point and yelling do you have moments to bond again in ME3 as individual like before. It's sad. And should have been ingrained in the plot before. Hell! Liara gets a whole dlc where you and her can talk about wtf happened while also doing shit again together. Fucking Ash and Kaidan get a letter and a big middle finger till 3 where they spend 1/3rd tof the game in a coma.

They would have been a good reminder that Shepard is who you made them in 1, the Shepard they remembered and loved and mourned and for the rest of the game, that's the Shepard you play. You could have not done that, just to see if the grass is greener on the other side, but there should have been a punishment system them. And they would have been a great checks and balances system to put it.