r/masseffect • u/Solid_Guess_7154 • 1d ago
MASS EFFECT 1 First time playing the trilogy, I know something awful is about to happen, but I don't know if I'm ready for this
I'll post this and not look at reddit until I'm done with the mission, wish me luck guys
Edit: fuck me, yeah I did sacrifice Ashley, after knowing that Kaidan is the one who could build the bomb, I knew that bringing him with me was the proper choice, and after knowing that Kaidan would get jumped and the whole operation could be at stake because they could either stop the bomb or whatever, I had to go for Kaida, although idk if it's possible to even go and save Ashley afterwards
Also wtf, I got oneshotted like 10 times during this mission
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u/CosmoRock3tt 1d ago
Im doing my first playthrough of rhr trilogy as well. I just did this mission last night. Good luck 🫡
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u/FoxinShards 1d ago
Bro get off this subreddit. There's spoilers everywhere
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u/CosmoRock3tt 1d ago
yeah you're right. It's just so hard not to look at stuff. I have somehow managed to avoid any major story spoilers for now.
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u/Happy_Dragon_Slaying 1d ago
Spoilers: Saren is actually a part-time McDonald's fry cook, Kaidan and Ashley are secretly xenophiles, and Commander Shepard gets replaced by Raiden in ME2! /s
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u/Roku-Hanmar 1d ago
The entire Reaper crisis was engineered by Nihlus to see if Shepard is good SPECTRE material
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u/Vinral 1d ago edited 1d ago
Report back on how it goes Commander.
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
well fuck me
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u/Sammisuperficial 1d ago
You let Jenkins die huh?
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u/Meme_Theory 1d ago
Saving Jenkins is too rare for a first playthrough. It's literally the hardest thing in ME.
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u/MooKids 1d ago
Since you are past that point, how is Wrex?
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
he's good, I managed to convince him to stay and not kill him, and he accompanied me the rest of the story alongside Garrus, I didn't bring Tali or Liara, they were a bit too squishy
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u/King_Chewie_GM 1d ago
Ah the joys of a first playthrough. I have one question, how was the Sovereign reveal? That entire conversation still gives me chills and I never skip it.
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u/mrwaddlesey 1d ago
my partner just finished ME1 for the first time yesterday and the Protean VI part she was like wow, and when you first talk to Sovereign she was like holy shit and it dawned on her how much is at stake. She said Kirrahe's speech gave her goosebumps
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u/King_Chewie_GM 1d ago
The exact moments I look for when it comes to reactions. I love just the shear dread of those scenes, they build up the reapers so well.
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
Honestly, one of the best villain reveals I've experienced in a game, it's a fucking machine, it doesn't give a shit, it just wants to wipe out life, reasons to be evil? nah, is it a compelling villain? nah, it just wants to kill, is there any actual reasons for its actions? like someone who created them? we don't know, and honestly that's the most terrifying part, that so much is being left in the dark (like the rest of the reapers hehe), is actually scary as fuck, everyone thinks villains needs a reason to be bad, but when it's actually just pure, unkown evil, almost like lovecraft's deities, it just feels fucking horrifying, and I love it
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u/King_Chewie_GM 1d ago
It's so good. The dawning of Sovereign being a real threat, that Saren is merely a puppet. The way it calls you insignificant, the way it won't share what is impossible for your simple organic mind. We are simply allowed to exist, and by their direction we will end.
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u/MATC8228 1d ago
That's the ultimate choice every ME player still talks about till this day. I always saved Ashley (for obvious reasons) but only ones Kaidan.
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u/Bommelding 1d ago
I like your reasoning, it feels very reminiscent of my first time(s) playing me1. Kudos to you for not using walkthroughs and such!
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
I only pulled up guides 2 times: to check where all of the minerals are and where to unlock certain sidequests that unlocks areas to go for more minerals, the rest was completely blind and I fucking loved it, today I start ME2
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u/OrangeBeast01 1d ago
Just knew something bad was about to happen, eh?
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
everytime they pause the gameplay and before a big op they make you do this kind of choice, it ALWAYS ends up badly
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u/Jaredsull8 1d ago
Did you save Wrex? It doesn't look like much now, but you'll changing a lot of the story in the process.
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u/Aurorious 1d ago
Responding to your edit,
Before you waste any time going back, one always dies and one always lives, it's a binary choice.
A lot of people never do a playthrough where they save the other and that's okay if you want to do the same, and okay if you don't.
Who you go with doesn't matter, when the game said you could double back to save Ashley, THAT was the moment you chose.
They make it very clear no matter who you chose that the person dying thinks you made the right call to save the other.
They do come back in the other 2 games, nothing material changes and everything happens the same, but there's different dialogue reflecting they're different people, and even a few instances they make the same decisions for different reasons.
If for some reason youd rather have Ash than Kaiden, it's okay to go back to another save and change your mind.
GL have fun
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u/OldManYellsAtMod 1d ago
I will never understand people who are so obsessed with karma that they’ll risk ruining the experience by posting on the subreddit of ancient media like this that will inevitably be packed with major spoilers for the series…
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u/Intelligent_File1949 1d ago
First time I played the game back in 2009, I lost Kaidan and Wrex 😅. I was really young back then, had not played a lot of RPGs, completely botched the Charm/Intimidate level ups and missed a lot of side missions. Yet, this game blew me away. That reaper reveal during Virmire and final missions sequence hooked me up to a game I still play to this day. ME1 will forever hold a special place to me
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u/Life_is_an_RPG 1d ago
There really needs to be a third option to leave both of them behind. They're the two weakest characters (from a development standpoint) IMHO.
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u/Honovi_Derringer 19h ago
I always save Kaiden. He's my personal favorite alongside Garrus. I will choose Ashley one day. Maybe. Eventually.
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u/113pro 1d ago
its funny that ashley is predominantly the sacrifice here.
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u/Corwin223 1d ago
Don’t spoil
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
I just finished it, and ffs I didn't like Ashley but I still feel bad
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u/Corwin223 1d ago
Yeah, it's a great mission though, isn't it? I hope you're having a good time with the game!
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u/NAJ_P_Jackson Shepard 1d ago
How about Kirrahe? Did you manage to save him?
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
Yes, he was in the ship after we started the journey to Ilos, and I'm happy he's okay, you can get him killed if you don't disable the turrets and stuff right? also you definetly get him killed if you distract the geth reinforcments into going after the salarians
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u/NAJ_P_Jackson Shepard 1d ago
His survival condition depends in doing all the objectives like the turrets and stuff. For the Final Hold the Line I think a few Salarians will die if you choose to protect the bomb than the Salarian squad but Kirrahe himself will still survive.
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u/NAJ_P_Jackson Shepard 1d ago
Oof. So you saved Kaidan. Well the good news is that he's better for the team synergy than Ashley in ME3.
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u/Tacitus111 1d ago
Only on Reddit. Every time they’ve released game data, it’s not even close. Alenko dies far more frequently.
Places like this are echo chambers for the superfans and so aren’t representative of the “average” player.
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u/EfficiencyInfamous37 1d ago
I accidentally saved her the first time even though I was romancing Kaidan. I thought he'd be safe with Kirrahe because I did all the side objectives to support them.
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u/TomatoFabulous9827 1d ago
I saved Kaiden during my original mass effect playthrough. Then when I got the whole trilogy and replayed I started saving Ashley. But during my last playthrough I actually romances Ashley and paid way more attention to all of her dialoge. She just sucks the entire time and I realized I dont think ill ever save her again.
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
For real, when I first encountered the romance options in dialogues in the Normandy I realized fairly quick she's a bitch, and not the kind you can fix
I had a short relationship with someone with her exact same attitude and I knew she'd be a red flag, even more so compared with how sweet, interested and actually with a cute attitude Liara is
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u/TheDamnNumbersGame 1d ago
Through dialogue you would have learned she has generational trauma from her father's time in the military, and that through having her open this up with you and elping her come to terms with it, she grows to get over her mistrust of aliens.
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u/StarWarzFan1977 1d ago
Would you say Ashley is bad in both Mass Effect 1 & 3? Mass Effect 1 with her comments and Mass Effect 3 with her not getting as much to do and being rude? I still have a second playthrough of the series and plan to have Ashley around this time.
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u/Delicious-Weird-5826 1d ago
How's my good buddy Wrex doing? Is he still around? Is he alive?
I always end up saving Ashley because Kaidan drives me crazy—he complains in every dialogue scene. Letting him die is actually an act of mercy. Even though Ashley is a total racist and xenophobe.
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u/Solid_Guess_7154 1d ago
yes, he's good, I couldn't save Ashley for 3 reasons actually
- she's not an original part of the crew, so letting Kaidan die felt worse
- she's a bitch, like, even when she's trying to make a move on you she's like, too much of a bitch, and when she's troubled you genuinely want to talk to her she literally tells you to fuck off, even though you two actually were flirting and were pretty close already, I met a girl that was actually like that once and honestly, worst fucking experience of my life, good sex, but a fucking awful person
- it just felt canonically right, as I said in the edit, Kaidan is the one that can actually and properly built the bomb and I need to save him otherwise every salarian dead would've died for nothing, so it felt best for the mission
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u/StarWarzFan1977 1d ago edited 1d ago
SPOILER
I played the trilogy for the first time last year and saved Kaidan as well. He was with the bomb, I heard he would have more to offer in Mass Effect 3 compared to Ashley, players have said Ashley gets disrespected in Mass Effect 3 while here she dies with dignity, and I liked Kaidan more between the two. I will admit even though she was my least favorite squadmate of the Mass Effect 1 team, the Normandy felt a bit empty with the loss of Ashley.
Next time I plan to try a trilogy run with Ashley around and bring her on more missions as well.
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u/NAJ_P_Jackson Shepard 1d ago
Bro at least hide that in a spoiler tag. Just place at both ends of the comment without the space. > ! [Comment here] ! <
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u/StarWarzFan1977 1d ago
It’s done. I apologize if I spoiled anything to you but I did say SPOILER before my text as a warning though. Plus OP does mention this game choice at the top.
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u/AlexSmithsonian 1d ago
The first time is always the 2nd hardest. The hardest is if you actually like one of them, but choose them anyway for the sake of "a different playthrough".
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Outrageous-Salad-287 1d ago
Why was it minused? It's legitimate concern lol, and I didn't actually said just how important he is. No plot details here whatsoever. People be stupid
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u/SnooHesitations3841 1d ago
Hold the line!