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Having said all of that, the relationship between Joker and EDI is often too good to ignore. EDIĮDI’s highly sexualized design is sometimes a point of contention, as is this A.I.’s story arc which sometimes tried too hard to examine the philosophical implications of its eventual physical existence. He feels like he belongs as a side character in a Gears of War game, and he never really has that defining moment that elevates him above the level of serviceable archetype. Unfortunately, Zaeed rarely rises above the level of standard tough guy. While characters that couldn’t be added to your away team at some point in the game weren’t eligible for consideration (sorry Joker), we hope this list will remind you of your own Mass Effect adventures and the friends you made along the way. Which squad member is the best, though? As you’ve probably guessed, that’s the question that we’ll try to answer as we rank the various companions that Shepard can add to his away crew at various points in the game.
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Many Mass Effect players know their crew better than they know their family, which is both a testament to the quality of the game’s characters and a testament to the quality of awkward Thanksgiving dinner guests everywhere. While Shepard is the star of the Mass Effect trilogy, it’s hard to deny that some of the game’s most compelling characters are the ones who serve alongside him aboard the Normandy and stand by his side during the game’s most dangerous adventures. Along with the promise that our decisions would have galaxy-wide consequences (which turned out to be…mostly true), one of Mass Effect‘s biggest selling points was the ability to command a ship and assemble a squad of companions that would join us on our journeys and help us fulfill our Star Trek dreams.
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