When do i choose between kaiden and ashley

The leader of the Salarian group, Captain Kirrahe, requests help from Shepard's team, and both Kaidan and Ashley volunteer. While the decision of who goes with which team might seem like the life and death choice, it isn't.

Both characters will survive until the end of the mission; however, in the final moments, both teams get overrun and Shepard has to make the very black and white choice of either saving Ashley or Kaidan.

The game is very clear that saving both isn't an option. Whoever is saved can potentially stay in the series until the end of Mass Effect 3 as long as they continue surviving, so the choice is a big one. When thinking about who to save, it's important to think long-term. Does Kaidan or Ashley have the better story arc? Kaidan and Ashley are the first two crewmates introduced in the Mass Effect series, and can serve as romance options for a female or male Shepard, respectively.

Outside of Liara, this makes them the only available romance choices in Mass Effect 1. Although they don't return to the Normandy in Mass Effect 2 , their romance can still technically be continued and will pick up where it left off when they become companions again in Mass Effect 3.

Their somewhat hostile attitude towards Shepard in Mass Effect 2 , thanks to Shepard's partnership with Cerberus throughout the game, tends to make them controversial among many Mass Effect fans. Others criticize their lack of dynamic dialogue; because of the Virmire choice in Mass Effect 1 , Kaidan and Ashley fulfil very similar roles in terms of Mass Effect 's overall storyline.

That said, each has a unique story arc. Ashley is arguably the more controversial of the two potential Virmire survivors, if only because of her attitude in Mass Effect 1. Her tendency to rub players the wrong way in her early appearances means that many Mass Effect fans miss out on her development over the course of the trilogy, which is more thorough than Kaidan's storyline.

In Mass Effect 1 , Ashley isn't necessarily anti-alien, but her family history has left her with a mindset that humanity needs to be self reliant rather than relying on the other races of the galaxy for support. Her grandfather was the first human to surrender to an alien force during the First Contact War against the turians , something that marred her family record and prevented her from rising in the ranks despite her performance in the Alliance military.

This contributed in part to her distrust of humanity's alien allies, though her view is more nuanced than many players believe, and she denounces xenophobic groups such as Terra Firma and Cerberus throughout the game. She readily volunteers to go with Kirrahe's team on Virmire, respecting his command as much as she does Shepard's despite their differences in species.

Mass Effect 2 sees Ashley finally earning new titles thanks in large part to her service with Shepard, something that culminates in Mass Effect 3 when she's offered the position of Spectre. From here you have to make your way to the Salarian Camp via 3 gatehouses.

When you reach the camp, you will be greeted by a cutscene of Ashley and Kaidan arguing with the salarian captain, who introduces himself as Captain Kirrahe, 3rd Infiltration Regiment, STG. At this point, Kirrahe will form assault teams and ask you for a volunteer for one team. When you are on the bomb run with the one you choose, the other will make a distress call asking for immediate assistance leaving one behind. A few instances later, Geth will start dropping all over the place and your team will have to arm the bomb sealing the fate of everyone.

Both Kaidan and Ashley will be in a dire situation where saving both will be impossible and you will have to make the hard choice of saving one of them. The one you pick will remain in your team and journey with you through the series all 3 games and the other will perish with the bomb and permanently leave your squad for all three games. From the point of the story, none of the two will affect the future events and plots in any way.

The main differentiating point between Kaidan or Ashley is the combat abilities. While the overall story of the Mass Effect trilogy plays out similarly regardless of who survives Virmire - the survivor can become a Spectre in ME3 , and they both serve the same role on essential missions such as the Citadel coup - the personal character development of each crewmate is vastly different. Kaidan and Ashley are both romance options in Mass Effect 3 Ashley for a male Shepard, Kaidan for male or female Shepards and grow to have unique friendships with both Shepard and the rest of the Normandy crew.

Ashley starts off the series as someone inexperienced in regards to working alongside aliens. Given her family history involving the First Contact War, she distrusts and doesn't understand many of the species working as part of Shepard's crew. She doesn't hate them, she explains, she just doesn't trust them over humans.

By Mass Effect 3 , however, Ashley grows to form deep and trusting bonds with the aliens aboard the Normandy, especially those who were present in Mass Effect 1 such as Garrus and Tali.