Ashley, always Ashley. I don't understand why someone would every pick Kaiden over her. Even FemShep saves Ashley in my book, just makes sense to me. And you can convince her not to be Space Racist anymore guys.

Ashley because Kaidan was with the bomb. I wasn't leaving the bomb until Saren was good and gone and the bomb was secured.

It probably didn't hurt that I was already a lady soldier, so I had a lady soldier to spare.

Kaiden, dude's not a space racist.

I really don't like either character, but Ashley's a lower ranking grunt and Kaiden's a higher ranking biotic. It makes more sense to save him.

She's also kinda a space racist.

Kaiden. Had just about enough of Ashley's space racism by the time it came to it.

Also Kaiden was straight up magic which helped.

Ash is distrustful of aliens, but not xenophobic. I'm pretty sure I saved her because Kaiden was all about making sure the bomb went off and I agreed with him.

Kaiden had a good death, and it kinda sucks that there weren't any situations where making a choice would definitely result in someone's death (or leaving) until the very end of the series, since those choices tend to be the toughest and most memorable. For instance, it would have been pretty cool if some of the clashes between characters in ME2 just straight up weren't solvable through diplomacy, and resulted in either-or crewmates.

Ashley.

Because boobies.

Kaiden. Both him and Ashley are hella generic cardboard cutout characters with cardboard cutout issues to make it seem like they have depth. But at least Kaiden didn't have a big obvious set of knockers hanging off him. I cut Ashley loose because I don't like it when video games try to pander to me.

At least Miranda had a narrative reason for being a Barbie doll.

Kaiden, he seemed more helpless at the time and thought Ashley would be fine on her own.

Ashley, but I would have killed both if I had the chance.

I saved Ashley because even though I was doing everything I could NOT to romance Kaiden, the game wasn't getting the message and kept giving him progressively more friendly dialogue with my Femshep. So, really, the only thing left to do was friend-zone him permanently. Via nuclear detonation. I'm sure he understood.

Kaiden, because he's Carth Onasi.

I saved both, because I had separate playthroughs. But my male Shepard saved Kaiden and FemShep saved Ashley.

I think in Mass Effect 1 they hadn't really defined how powerful Biotics could be, whereas a physically resilient soldier with a gun was pretty clearly useful. I remember on my hardest difficultly run I would camp in the back while I sent in Ash and Wrex to tank/kill for me. I just sat in the back waiting for my respawn units cooldown to reset while I took potshots form safety. Good Times.

Also I was already a biotic and thus based on the "squad build" bars, didn't need to bring another one with me.

@Brodehouse said:

and 2 got them both right.

I agree with you there, but I still hated Jack. Put some clothes on, you freak!

In my first game i saved Kaidan because Ashley is so fucking annoying. But now that i played ME3 and found out that Kaidan is even more annoying in that game than Ashley is in the first one he's the one who ate it in my second playthrough.

Both.

@Brodehouse said:

and 2 got them both right.

I agree with you there, but I still hated Jack. Put some clothes on, you freak!

Kaiden, mainly because I was a soldier so I would always take a biotic and a tech guy with me, so I hardly ever used her and she wasn't particularly interesting character to me. Kaiden was one of my main guys.

@Brodehouse: Agreed, I think Jack gets a lot of shit she doesn't deserve. I still think she is probably the best story romance as she begins to open up about herself towards Shep.

Kaiden, I thought failing to ensure he was doing alright would've ended with the bomb failing to detonate for some reason so I figured I'd personally ensure it went off as planned by backing him up.

I hadn't realized it would've went off properly either way. I might've saved Ashley in that case.

@Skyfire543 said:

Kaiden, because he's Carth Onasi.

That's why I let him die.

Ashley, out of chivalry.

I prefer Kaiden but saved Ashley because I was thinking with my dick

Kaiden, because ME2 comic and not the actual game.

Ashley, Why? My dick.

Kaiden most of the time because Ashley is a terrible space racist. I played through the first game about seven times for all the achievements and ended up saving her a couple of times, but the save that carried over into 2 and 3 that bitch was dead.

(Kaiden is pretty lame though.)

Kaiden was pretty lame in Mass Effect 1, but at least he wasn't a racist. Also, he became less lame in ME 3, which is another nice perk.

Ashley. I never found Kaiden to be that interesting, and I figured it would be better for him to be there guarding the bomb til it went off anyway.

Kaiden's powers were completely useless. He was on bomb duty and he knew it. I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO DAMMIT...

:::sobs::::

i'm sooo sorry Kaiden

:::sobs::::

Kaiden, because he's not a shitty person.

@Brodehouse said:

@Ravenlight

@Brodehouse said:

and 2 got them both right.

I agree with you there, but I still hated Jack. Put some clothes on, you freak!

I've actually read a pretty compelling article that talks about how survivors of invasive physical trauma often turn to 'extreme' expressions in order to reassert agency over their own body; this would be Jack's tattoos and choice of dress. There's actually a lot about her mannerisms as relates to contact that expresses this, even when this close to fighting Miranda she eschews making any contact, Shepard manages to bar her path temporarily simply by placing his arm in front of her, in her romance scene there's clear trepidation regarding touching Shepard. I think a lot of people brush Jack off way too fast, and it's almost a metastory with that character. Her initial characterization is hostile and tries to push you away, those that are pushed away play into her negative feedback loop, which in itself explains her hostility. There's more there than people give credit for. Of course, her nakedness is also just an art designer going "I gave her all these tattoos and I want them showed off Goddammit!" But that's not your point, and not really germane to this topic.

I think Jack is a fairly well-realized character, I just didn't like her even after the back story and romance option :P

Kaiden, usually. I find his backstory like from Jump Zero to be more interesting that Ashley's. And I think Kaiden's voice actor is better.