Kaidan Alenko

Last updated
Kaidan Alenko
Mass Effect character
KaidanAlenkoME3.png
Kaidan from Mass Effect 3
First appearance Mass Effect (2007)
Voiced by Raphael Sbarge
In-universe information
Home Vancouver, Earth
ClassSentinel
SkillBiotics
Technology

Kaidan Alenko is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who acts as a party member (or "squadmate") in the first and third games in the series. The character is initially introduced in the original Mass Effect as a human Systems Alliance Officer and primary squad member in Commander Shepard's team. Kaidan's fate on the planet Virmire is part of a pivotal decision which the player has to make in order to advance the narrative.

Contents

If Kaidan survives the events of Mass Effect, by the events of Mass Effect 2 he is encountered on the human colony of Horizon after Shepard receives a tip that Horizon will be the next human colony to be abducted by the enigmatic race known as the Collectors. In Mass Effect 3 , Kaidan initially appears at the Alliance base in Vancouver before taking off on a mission to Mars with Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR-2. Kaidan is voiced by Raphael Sbarge.

Initially presented as a heterosexual love interest for a female Shepard in the first game, the character is reintroduced in Mass Effect 3 as a bisexual love interest, a decision by BioWare which attracted mostly praise as well as some criticism. Kaidan has received an overall mixed reception throughout his appearances in the Mass Effect trilogy.

Character overview

Raised in Canada, Kaidan is a Systems Alliance officer born with the ability to manipulate dark energy, employ telekinesis and create mass effect fields called biotics, after his mother is affected by "Element Zero" during an incident in Singapore while he was in utero . [1] In gameplay terms, Kaidan is a "Sentinel", who combines biotic and technological abilities to manipulate the environment, enhance defensive capabilities, disable and track enemies. Kaidan suffers from infrequent, but debilitating, migraines as a side effect of the controversial L2 implants he was fitted with during his time at Biotic Acclimatization and Temperance Training ("BAaT"), nicknamed "brain camp" by Kaidan. [2]

Kaidan is cited as an example of the consequences that come with branching narratives in video games. [3] In the first game the player has to decide whether Kaidan or Ashley Williams would survive during a late-game mission on the planet Virmire. The squad member who survives will afterwards serve as a constant reminder of the player's choices throughout the Mass Effect trilogy. [3] Kaidan shares the same overall story arc as Ashley in the sequels and while both characters effectively function as opposite-gender placeholders for one another throughout the trilogy, they start off differently in the first game and have distinct personalities and skills. [3]

Kaidan is a romance option for a female Shepard in the first game, and their relationship could persist over the entire trilogy depending on the player's choices. He can also be romanced by a male Shepard in Mass Effect 3 , where he would reveal his unrequited feelings for the Commander. [4]

Creation and development

Raphael Sbarge in May 2013. He voiced Kaidan for all media. MCM Once Upon A Time Panel DSC 0619 (8979513625).jpg
Raphael Sbarge in May 2013. He voiced Kaidan for all media.

Kaidan Alenko's face is modeled after Luciano Costa. [5] BioWare opted to reuse Kaidan's visage from the first game and updated his face model for Mass Effect 3. BioWare decided to overhaul Kaidan's look to make him more memorable: in contrast to his generic outfit in previous games, Kaidan's default armor for 3 has a blue-and-white theme. The armor design went through multiple iterations as the team was figuring out the Systems Alliance colors for human male characters before settling on the final color scheme. [6] The character is given a more muscular redesign in order to "show that he's seen a lot of action and is ready to fight in the biggest war the galaxy has ever seen". [6]

In a 2013 interview, Kaidan's voice actor Raphael Sbarge claimed that Kaidan was originally planned to be a romance option for both genders in the original Mass Effect, and that he did work on the extra content that never made it to the final version of the game. He was personally enthusiastic about BioWare's decision to make Kaidan available as a same-sex romance option in Mass Effect 3. [7] In March 2017, Jessica Lachenal from The Mary Sue reported that fans have uncovered cut content from the game files of the original trilogy, which reveal entirely voice-acted lines from both Ashley and Kaidan for a same-sex romances relationship with Shepard which never made the final cut of the first game, as well as coded lines where Kaidan would address a male Shepard as if he was female. [8] In 2021, project director Mac Walters clarified in an interview about Mass Effect Legendary Edition that Kaidan was never intended to be a same-sex romance option in the first Mass Effect, and that the presence of the aforementioned coded lines in the first game's files are a combination of technical oversight and human error. [9] Walters further confirmed that the developers had no intention to develop Kaidan as a same sex romance option for the remastered version of the first game, as the Legendary Edition compilation is only intended to introduce generalized improvements and otherwise stays as close to the source material as possible. [9]

Sbarge used his natural speaking voice for the character, albeit with a slightly formal manner. [7] Sbarge credited Ginny McSwain, a voice director on the first two games, for helping him find the right tone for Kaidan to balance his military background along with a solid and straightforward personality, which according to Sbarge has become the character's hallmark. [10] Sbarge said he could relate to Kaidan in that the character is guided by his conscience and tries to do the right thing. [10]

Appearances

In video games

Mass Effect

Alenko first appears on the SSV Normandy as a Staff Lieutenant and head of the starship's marine detail. He accompanies Shepard on his first mission to Eden Prime where they learn that Saren is leading the attack with the geth. Upon encountering Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, she joins the mission and following the mission on Eden Prime, he gives his recommendation to Captain Anderson that she should be assigned to the Normandy.

After several missions, the squad is ordered to the planet Virmire, where Shepard can assign Kaidan or Ashley to work with the salarians or assemble the bomb that will be used to destroy Saren's facility. Shepard will later be given a choice between saving either Ashley or Kaidan, as Shepard's forces have only adequate resources to save one of them during the evacuation. [3] If Kaidan is chosen, he will express survivor's guilt over the fact that Ashley was left behind and killed, having prepared to sacrifice his own life for the rest of the team.

Mass Effect 2

If Kaidan survives the events on Virmire, he will appear on the Normandy before it is destroyed by the Collector ship. Shepard will order him to an escape pod before the Normandy's demise. He will not appear again until Shepard's mission to the human colony, Horizon, having been stationed there after an anonymous tip that the colony would be attacked. He will express disappointment and anger that Shepard did not reach out to him during the two years since he/she was presumed dead and the fact that he/she is now working with Cerberus. Shepard will invite him to join the crew of the new Normandy, but Kaidan refuses, stating he does not trust Cerberus and never will. Following this encounter, he will send Shepard a message at the private terminal apologizing for his harsh words during the exchange only if she is still having a romantic relationship with Kaidan.

Mass Effect 3

Kaidan will appear in Vancouver at the Alliance base before the Reaper attack. Following the invasion, Kaidan will accompany Lieutenant James Vega and Commander Shepard on a mission to Mars to find Asari information broker and Prothean scientific expert, Liara T'Soni. During the mission, Kaidan is critically injured by a high-tech Cerberus mech and is hospitalized on the Citadel. While recuperating in the hospital, Ambassador Udina makes Kaidan an offer to become a Spectre, which Shepard can encourage him to accept.

Shepard can choose to visit Kaidan following each main story mission and during this time the basis for a romance can be either established or re-established. Following a message from the Salarian Councilor to Commander Shepard regarding Councilor Udina's betrayal, Kaidan is assigned to protect the Council, something that pits him against Shepard when he comes to confront Udina. If Kaidan is unable to be convinced that Udina is guilty, either Shepard or one of his squadmates will shoot him. If Kaidan can be convinced, either he or Shepard will shoot Udina. In the aftermath, Shepard can either offer him a spot on the crew to resume a relationship if Shepard is female or start a gay relationship with a male Shepard, or send him to the Alliance to become a war asset.

If Kaidan accompanies Shepard on the final mission to the Conduit in London and the player has not accrued enough war asset points, Kaidan will die. If Kaidan survives and is in a relationship with Shepard, he will place a plaque on the memorial wall on the Normandy. If enough war points are accrued, Shepard will survive and Kaidan will not place the plaque, but instead will smile in reminiscence.

In other media

A fully voice acted version of the apology email Kaidan sent to Shepard following their meeting on Horizon in Mass Effect 2 was released by Raphael Sbarge as a sound file on November 24, 2011. Intended to be a Thanksgiving Day present for Mass Effect fandom, Sbarge said he did not anticipate that the sound file would go viral and that he would receive an overwhelming amount of praise from fans all over the world. [10]

Kaidan is the protagonist of the fourth issue of the comic series Mass Effect: Foundation , which retells his time training at BAaT, an experimental group and a forerunner to the System Alliance's biotic training programs in the present day. [2] The conditions at BAaT are depicted as poor, and he and his classmates have been treated badly by a turian instructor named Vyrnnus who is openly racist towards his human students. [2] He falls in love with a girl named Rahna, but the potential for a relationship dissolves after he accidentally kills Vyrnnus in retaliation for breaking Rahna's arm during a training exercise gone wrong. After BAaT is shut down following the fatal accident, Kaidan enlisted with the Alliance Navy, and he is eventually transferred onboard the SSV Normandy. [2]

Reception

Kaidan Alenko's characterization throughout the Mass Effect trilogy have received a mixed response from players and video game journalists. Player statistics released by BioWare in 2013 revealed that Kaidan was the least popular Mass Effect 3 squad member who was the choice of 1.5% of the player base. [11] [12] Liana Ruppert commented that Kaidan was one of the widely disliked or divisive characters in the Mass Effect series due to his "by-the-book" personality, and his perceived lack of characterization for players who do not follow his romance story arc in the first Mass Effect. [9] Notably, PC Gamer staff do not approve of the character. Wes Fenlon explained in an article written shortly after the release of Mass Effect 3 that Kaidan sounded very similar to Carth Onasi, a character from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic who is also voiced by Raphael Sbarge, and he found Onasi to be very obnoxious. As a result, he did not care about whether Kaidan was a nuanced character and paid little attention to him during his playthroughs. [13] Nevertheless, he praised BioWare's dedication to carry the player's decision to save or abandon Kaidan on Virmire through the entire trilogy, calling it "a landmark moment for interactive storytelling" and said that he felt "less of a content consumer and more of a collaborator in their storytelling" as a result. In a later article, he considers Kaidan to be marginally better than Jacob Taylor and called him "a boring male starter companion". [14] Fenlon's colleague Ben Griffin and Alex Walker from Kotaku were both in agreement about Kaidan being their least liked BioWare character and called him "dull". [15] [16] GamesRadar's Jordan Baughman described Kaidan as "The Pile of Grey Sludge (aka The Male Support Character)" character archetype, typically encountered as the most boring companion character in BioWare titles who is "generic to the extreme". [17]

Other sources have been more positive in their evaluation of the character. In Chapter 1 of the book Digital Love: Romance and Sexuality in Games, Michelle Clough presented a case study which illustrated how Kaidan is an example of the shifting portrayal of male sexualization in the original trilogy. [18] She believed that the character's overall depiction in the series framed him as a good choice for Shepard as a romantic and sexual partner. [18] Kristine Steimer from IGN said in 2010 that she enjoyed her conversations with Kaidan; she praised the character's loyalty as his best quality and looked forward to completing the character's romance arc with her Shepard in any further DLC content or sequels for the series. [19] Alex Knapp, a staff writer at Forbes , initially had a self-described "irrational dislike" of Kaidan due to his experiences with the character in the first game. [20] Knapp disclosed in a later article that he had completely changed his mind about Kaidan after completing Mass Effect 3 with him in his squad, praising his character development and also his gameplay utility during combat missions because his powers are well balanced. [21] Liana Ruppert commented that her opinion of the character "changed dramatically" when she played as a female Shepard and commit to his romance arc from the first game. [9] A few sources have commented that much of the fanbase missed out on Kaidan's growth as a character during Mass Effect 3. Daniel Horowitz, writing for VentureBeat , said Kaidan was the most overlooked character in the series and generally not marketed well by BioWare; he drew attention to the fact that the trilogy's promo art has historically focused on a male Shepard, and Ashley was featured prominently in promos for the first Mass Effect. [2] Horowitz went into detail about Kaidan's story arc in the trilogy, and argued that while his subtle characterization and understated nature does not generate as much fan interest as Shepard's other companions, he is "the most developed, well-rounded and fully realized character in the Mass Effect universe". [2] Ruppert said players who play as a male Shepard would have had a better context in connecting with the character if the option to romance him was available at the commencement of the trilogy. [9] In an editorial published by This Is My Joystick, Bryony Stewart-Seume drew a comparison to Jane Eyre in order to highlight the actual quality and depth of game writing for the character. [22] Writing for Fanbyte, Kenneth Shepard agreed that Kaidan is one of the series' best written characters, and opined that Kaidan's characterization was intentionally stunted in the original Mass Effect for players choosing a male Commander Shepard, which was an example of what he called an attempt to "create a heavily-gendered, heteronormative world" before Mass Effect 3. [11] In 2015, Logo TV ranked Kaidan as the third on their list of the sexiest male video game characters. [23]

Kaidan's involvement in the narrative as a potential survivor of the "Virmire Decision" is well received. IGN included the Virmire Decision in the first game [note 1] in their list of 13 Best Mass Effect Moments. [24] The "Virmire Survivor", a role he shares with Ashley Williams in the trilogy, is discussed in the 2017 book 100 Greatest Video Game Characters. [3] Lynda Clark, who wrote the Virmire Survivor's entry in the book, observed that Kaidan's backstory is reminiscent of a superhero origin story; while Ashley is statistically more likely to be chosen as the Virmire Survivor by players, Kaidan is preferred by a vocal and influential minority of Mass Effect fans who primarily favor the female version of Commander Shepard. [3] [25] [19]

Same-sex romance option

A potential response to Kaidan as part of a romance event tree in Mass Effect 3, which is only available to a male player character. KaidanME3Romance.jpg
A potential response to Kaidan as part of a romance event tree in Mass Effect 3, which is only available to a male player character.

BioWare's decision to offer Kaidan as a same-sex romance option for a male Shepard player character in Mass Effect 3 generated significant coverage about the sexuality of the aforementioned characters, and a broad discussion on the issue of LGBT themes in the Mass Effect series. [26] [27] [28] Kotaku published an article on May 16, 2011, less than a day after developer Casey Hudson's announcement about the game's incorporation of same-sex romances, reporting that some players have spoken out about their concerns that certain characters that have been established over the course of one or both of Mass Effect 3's prequels may undergo "implausible and abrupt sexual transformations" at the expense of "narrative consistency and integrity". [29] One user comment highlighted by the article specifically claimed that the character is "sometimes nervous with opposite sex but never with men". [29]

Following Mass Effect 3's release, Kaidan's inclusion as a romance option for a male Shepard was mostly well received. [21] [30] [31] Horowitz's article for VentureBeat argued that a male Shepard's "friendship, relationship and eventual partnership with Kaidan offers far more depth and reward than the one with Ashley, or arguably any other character in the game by a wide margin". [2] The Advocate and Gay Community News named Kaidan one of the best queer characters from video games of all time, both praising BioWare's decision to allow players to pursue a same-sex relationship with him in 3 as progressive. [32] [33]

Conversely, Queerty noted in its positive coverage of the topic that there were some negative user-generated comments on Metacritic which focused criticism on the presence of gay male sex scenes in the game, as well as its possible correlation with the below-average Metacritic user rating for Mass Effect 3 at the time. [34] Craig Takeuchi from the Georgia Straight reported on negative reception to the game's same-sex relationship content, which consisted of dismissive and homophobic comments which were posted on several websites. He compared the gaming world to the world of sports, which "has been slow and resistant to addressing homophobia or including gay content". [35]

Analysis

In Clough's case study, she observed that although Kaidan is presented as a love interest for a female Shepard in the first game who is conventionally attractive and has an appealing personality, there was little acknowledgment of the physical aspect of his appeal, and outside of a sex scene which mostly focuses on a female Shepard's body, little opportunity for the character to be appreciated in a sexual context. This is contrasted with Kaidan's more sexualized presentation in Mass Effect 3, where the character is shirtless in multiple scenes, and more emphasis is placed on the intimacy between him and Shepard. During one scene where Kaidan is reboarding the Normandy and still in a relationship with Shepard, the camera alternates quick cuts between a close up of Kaidan's buttocks and a close up of Shepard's gaze, indicating that she enjoys looking at him in a sexual way. [18]

Denis Farr from Kotaku, who identifies as openly gay, decided to role-play his version of Shepard as a closeted male soldier who show no interest in female or feminine characters throughout the series, alluding his character's experience to the United States government's former Don't ask, don't tell policy. [27] He noted that he has to accept a willful suspension of belief concerning the gender and sexual politics of the world of Mass Effect: prior to the introduction of same-sex romance between male characters and openly homosexual characters in Mass Effect 3, he was unable to express his avatar character's romantic desires (which matches his own) in the game universe, and that his character's particular journey through Mass Effect 3, which involves a late blooming romance with Kaidan that was not possible in the game's prequels, [note 2] was a necessity born out of the series' options. [28] [27] He concluded that the Mass Effect's series' own evolution of its concept of male same-sex romances is a direct reflection of the real-life world's politics on gender and sexual identity, and that as time progressed, so did the series' sexual politics. [27] In his essay published in the 2017 book Queer Game Studies, Todd Harper compared Farr's experience to his own when attempting to interpret his version of Shepard as a queer character in a technologically advanced world where a human and an alien can have a relationship unquestioned and unchallenged by the wider society. [28] As a character that can be romanced by either gender, Kaidan has what Harper terms "Schrödinger's sexuality", an observation he made that Kaidan's sexuality "exists in a sort of quantum superposition that the player can collapse into observed certainty by choosing to romance or not", and that it is "defined primarily by his relationship to Shepard". [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Mass Effect</i> (video game) 2007 video game

Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2007. It is the first game in the Mass Effect series, and takes place within the Milky Way galaxy in the year 2183, where civilization is threatened by a highly advanced machine race known as the Reapers. The player assumes the role of Commander Shepard, an elite human soldier who must stop a rogue agent from carrying out the Reapers' galactic invasion. The game involves completing multiple quests that generally involve space exploration, squad and vehicular combat, and interaction with non-player characters.

Asari (<i>Mass Effect</i>) Fictional species in the Mass Effect series

The asari are a fictional extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Mass Effect multimedia franchise developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Introduced in the 2007 novel Mass Effect: Revelation, the asari are a sapient homeotherm species who are naturally inclined towards biotics, the ability to manipulate dark energy and alter the mass of objects through the use of electrical impulses from the brain, which produce various psychic abilities such as telekinesis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commander Shepard</span> Player character in the original Mass Effect trilogy of video games

Commander Shepard is the player character in the Mass Effect video game series by BioWare.

<i>Mass Effect 3</i> 2012 video game

Mass Effect 3 is a 2012 action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The third major entry in the Mass Effect series and the final installment of the original trilogy, it was released in March 2012 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. A Wii U version of the game, entitled Mass Effect 3: Special Edition, was later released in November 2012. The game is set within the Milky Way galaxy in 2186, where galactic civilization is invaded by a highly advanced machine race of synthetic-organic starships known as Reapers. It concludes the story of Commander Shepard, an elite human soldier who is tasked with forging alliances between species for the war.

Ashley Madeline Williams is a character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who acts as a party member in the first and third games in the series. Within the series, she is a human Systems Alliance Marine, who is a potential romance option for a male Commander Shepard throughout the first three Mass Effect games. Ashley becomes part of Shepard's squad during the first observed Reaper attack in the first Mass Effect. In a late-game choice on the planet Virmire, the player must choose whether to save Ashley or Kaidan Alenko in order to advance the narrative; this choice leads to the latter character's death. If Ashley is saved, she will make a cameo appearance in Mass Effect 2, followed by a more substantive appearance in Mass Effect 3 as a potential member of Shepard's squad. Ashley is voiced by American voice actress Kimberly Brooks.

Mass Effect is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the galaxy using technology left behind by advanced precursor civilizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miranda Lawson</span> Fictional character in the Mass Effect video game series

Miranda Lawson is a fictional character in the role-playing video game series Mass Effect by BioWare. In it, Miranda is an officer of the pro-human group Cerberus, first appearing in the 2009 iOS game Mass Effect Galaxy, and then serving as a squad mate in Mass Effect 2. In addition to these, the character also makes an appearance in the Mass Effect: Redemption comic series, in Mass Effect 3 if she survived the events of the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, and in issues 5, 6, 8 and 9 of the Mass Effect: Foundation comic series. She is revealed to have been genetically designed by her father, Henry Lawson, to be perfect, and ran away from home to join Cerberus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garrus Vakarian</span> Character in Mass Effect

Garrus Vakarian is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who acts as a party member in each of the three games in the original trilogy. Garrus is a turian, one of the various alien species in Mass Effect, and is voiced by Brandon Keener.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urdnot Wrex</span> Fictional character from Mass Effect

Urdnot Wrex is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who serves as a party member in the first game of the Mass Effect trilogy. He is a krogan, an alien race near-sterilised by other galactic races for their violence and high population growth. Introduced as an experienced krogan mercenary, his role changes in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 where he becomes leader of an expanding krogan clan and eventual head of state for the krogan as a whole. After over 1000 years of aimless apathy, Wrex seeks to bring back hope to his people and reverse their fate by undoing the genophage. He is voiced by Steven Barr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thane Krios</span> Fictional character in the Mass Effect video game series

Thane Krios is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who first appeared in Mass Effect 2 as a party member. The character is a drell, a race of extraterrestrial reptilian humanoids who form a sociopolitical alliance with the hanar, a sentient species of jellyfish-like entities. Thane Krios is voiced by Keythe Farley in the video game series.

Samara (<i>Mass Effect</i>) Companion character in the Mass Effect series

Samara is a fictional character from BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who serves as a party member in Mass Effect 2. She is an asari, a feminine species in the Mass Effect universe who are naturally inclined towards biotics, the mental ability to manipulate dark energy and generate various psychokinetic effects. Samara is a member of a highly respected and feared ascetic order of mystic warriors known as the Justicars. Samara's features were based on model Rana McAnear, and she is voiced by American actress Maggie Baird.

Jack (<i>Mass Effect</i>) Fictional character in the space opera video game series

Jack is a fictional character in the role-playing video game series Mass Effect by BioWare. Jack appears as a squadmate in Mass Effect 2, and may appear in Mass Effect 3 as a supporting character provided she survives the events of the previous game. Jack is voiced by Courtenay Taylor. Within the series, Jack was orphaned at an early age and was kidnapped by the anthropocentric paramilitary group Cerberus to be exploited as a test subject. Designated Subject Zero by Cerberus, she is considered to be one of the most powerful human biotics in existence in the Mass Effect trilogy as the result of unethical experiments conducted by Cerberus to enhance human biotic ability, though her traumatic experiences have molded her into an antisocial and psychopathic individual.

Tali'Zorah, or Tali in short, is a character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who serves as a party member in all three games in the Mass Effect trilogy. She is of the quarian alien race. Within the series, she is a skilled technician and the daughter of Rael'Zorah, a member of the quarian judicial review Admiralty Board. Ash "Liz" Sroka voices Tali in each of her appearances. Outside of the trilogy, Tali appears in Mass Effect: Homeworlds, a comic series with individual issues on each of several Mass Effect 3 squadmates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liara T'Soni</span> Secondary character of the Mass Effect franchise

Dr. Liara T'Soni is a fictional character in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, who serves as a party member in the original Mass Effect trilogy. She is an asari, a female-appearing species from the planet Thessia who are naturally inclined towards biotics, the ability to "manipulate dark energy and create mass effect fields through the use of electrical impulses from the brain". Within the series, Liara is noted for being the galactic scientific community's foremost expert in the field of Prothean archaeology and technology, specifically evidence concerning the demise of the ancient Protheans, believed by the galactic community to be the pre-eminent civilization in the Milky Way galaxy until their sudden disappearance fifty thousands years before the events of the first Mass Effect.

<i>Mass Effect 3: Citadel</i> 2013 video game

Mass Effect 3: Citadel is a downloadable content (DLC) pack developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for the 2012 action role-playing video game Mass Effect 3. It was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in March 2013. The pack follows Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR-2 starship on shore leave, where they must uncover the truth surrounding a conspiracy against Shepard.

<i>Mass Effect 3: Omega</i> 2012 video game

Mass Effect 3: Omega is a major downloadable content (DLC) pack developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for the 2012 action role-playing video game Mass Effect 3. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 27, 2012, with a delayed release in Europe on the PlayStation 3 platform set for November 28, 2012. The pack follows Commander Shepard and the asari pirate queen Aria T'Loak as they attempt to liberate the space station Omega from the anthropocentric terrorist group Cerberus. Omega expanded beyond the developers' original plan during its development cycle, both in response to a mandate of freedom by BioWare management and as a result of the development team's desire to develop the experience they wanted, and incorporates cut content from the main game.

<i>Mass Effect 3</i> ending controversy About the 2012 Electronic Arts video game

Mass Effect 3 is an action role-playing video game and the third installment of the Mass Effect video game series, developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts (EA). Upon its release March 6, 2012 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows, Mass Effect 3 generated controversy when its ending was poorly received by players who felt that it did not meet their expectations. Criticisms included the ending rendering character choices inconsequential, a general lack of closure, plot holes, and narrative inconsistency.

Joker (<i>Mass Effect</i>) Supporting character in the Mass Effect series

Jeff "Joker" Moreau is a character from BioWare's Mass Effect franchise. In the original Mass Effect video game trilogy, he is the pilot in command of the Normandy-class SR, a highly advanced series of spacecraft with stealth capabilities which serve as the base of operations for the player character, Commander Shepard. In Mass Effect 2, Joker briefly becomes a playable character when the Normandy is invaded and the majority of its crew captured by hostile forces. Outside of the video game series, Joker appears as the central character of the 2013 comic book, Mass Effect: He Who Laughs Best, which explores the backstory behind how he became the pilot of the Normandy. He is voiced by American actor Seth Green, who was given a level of creative freedom to improvise the character's dialogue during recording sessions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Cortez</span> Fictional character

Steve Cortez is a character from BioWare's Mass Effect franchise. He appears in the 2012 video game Mass Effect 3 as a crew member of the SSV Normandy SR-2 and pilot of the starship's auxiliary shuttlecraft vehicle, the UT-47A Kodiak. Cortez was designed as a potential love interest for the male version of the game's player character, Commander Shepard.

References

  1. BioWare. Mass Effect. Codex - Biotics: Biotics is the ability of rare individuals to manipulate dark energy and create mass effect fields through the use of electrical impulses from the brain. Intense training and surgically-implanted amplifiers are necessary for a biotic to produce mass effect fields powerful enough for practical use. The relative strength of biotic abilities varies greatly among species and with each individual. / There are three branches of biotics. TELEKINESIS uses mass-lowering fields to levitate or impel objects. Mass-raising KINETIC FIELDS are used to block or pin objects. DISTORTION uses rapidly shifting mass fields to shred objects.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Daniel Horowitz (February 13, 2013). "The Right Choice In Mass Effect: Kaidan Alenko". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jaime Banks; Robert Mejia; Aubrie Adams, eds. (June 23, 2017). 100 Greatest Video Game Characters. Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. ISBN   978-1-59582-768-5.
  4. Matt Hughes (March 9, 2012). "Mass Effect 3 romance guide". Gamesradar. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  5. "[Interview] Rana McAnear & Luciano Costa, Samara et Kaidan dans Mass Effect". YouTube. Official Gentlegeek Channel. November 26, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Hudson, Casey; Watts, Derek (February 2, 2012). The Art of the Mass Effect Universe. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN   978-1-59582-768-5.
  7. 1 2 "Video Game Sophistry". May 18, 2013. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  8. Jessica Lachenal (March 1, 2017). "Fans Discovered Mass Effect Trilogy Same-Sex Romance Options Sadly Left on Cutting Room Floor". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Liana Ruppert (February 9, 2021). "BioWare Says Kaidan's Male Shepard Romance Wasn't Cut, It Was Never Planned". Gameinformer. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 Jennifer Kibble (Mar 3, 2012). "Interview With Raphael Sbarge, The Voice Of Mass Effect's Kaidan Alenko". Game Fanatics. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  11. 1 2 Kenneth Shepard (2020-04-22). "An Ode to Kaidan Alenko". Fanbyte. Archived from the original on 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
  12. The Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2015 Ebook, p. 74.
  13. Wes Fenlon (March 26, 2012). "I hate Kaidan Alenko, but that's okay". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  14. Wes Fenlon (December 14, 2016). "The Mass Effect companions, ranked from worst to best". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on June 1, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  15. Andy Kelly (November 7, 2018). "The best and worst BioWare companions". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  16. Alex Walker (March 30, 2017). "What's The Worst Character In Mass Effect?". Kotaku . Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  17. Baughman, Jordan (2011-05-03). "Recycled characters you see in every BioWare game". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 2014-05-20. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  18. 1 2 3 Heidi McDonald, ed. (November 2, 2017). Digital Love: Romance and Sexuality in Games. CRC Press, 2017. ISBN   978-1-35164-473-0.
  19. 1 2 Marc Nix (November 20, 2015). "Falling In Love With An Idea". IGN . Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  20. Alex Knapp (April 23, 2012). "Alas, Poor Kaidan: Further Thoughts On Mass Effect". Forbes . Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  21. 1 2 Alex Knapp (May 14, 2012). "Mass Effect 3: The Return of the Shepard". Forbes . Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  22. Bryony Stewart-Seume (April 25, 2012). "Kaidan Alenko: A 22nd Century Jane Eyre". This is my Joystick. Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  23. "The 20 Hottest Video Game Hunk". Logo . 2015-12-16. Archived from the original on 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  24. Destin Legarie (June 16, 2014). "13 Best Mass Effect Moments". IGN . Retrieved March 17, 2020.[ dead link ]
  25. Lisa Granshaw (June 16, 2017). "Mass Effect Trilogy 15 Toughest Story Decisions". Syfy. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  26. Yannick Lejacq (June 25, 2012). "Love and Chaos". Killscreen . Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Denis Farr (May 14, 2012). "With the Galaxy in Flames, My Video Game Hero Finally Came out of the Closet". Kotaku . Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  28. 1 2 3 4 Bonnie Ruberg; Adrienne Shaw, eds. (March 28, 2017). Queer Game Studies. U of Minnesota Press, 2017. ISBN   978-1-45295-463-9.
  29. 1 2 Drew Cohen (May 16, 2011). "Mass Effect Fans Worry That Expanded Gay Options Will Create Inconsistencies, Alter Canon". Kotaku . Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  30. Kenneth Shepard (January 10, 2019). "To Be Gay in Mass Effect Is An Act of Rebellion". IntoTheSpine. Archived from the original on May 10, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  31. Aimee Hart (January 20, 2019). "That's Underrated: Commander Shepard and Kaidan Alenko". Gayming Mag. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  32. Deirbhile Brennan (September 12, 2019). "13 of the best queer characters from video games". Gay Community News . Archived from the original on February 19, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  33. Jacob Ogles (February 2, 2018). "25 LGBT Video Game Characters". The Advocate . Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  34. Dan Avery (March 6, 2012). "Watch: Mass Effect 3 Gives Gamers An Intergalactic Gay Tryst". Queerty. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  35. Craig Takeuchi (March 9, 2012). "Mass Effect 3 goes gay: Lesbian and gay sex scenes spark debate". The Georgia Straight . Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.

Further reading

Notes

  1. The article's author, Destin Legarie, implied a preference for Kaidan over Ashley.
  2. Kaidan would justify his belated expression of romantic interest towards a male Shepard by telling him: "You were always so focused on the work back then. The mission was everything.".