Honestly its one of those fan theories about how things should have gone which totally ignores what the last 2 games had previously said on the subject. As this one seems to totally ignore how indoctrination actually works. Much like how people were clamoring for an option to fight the Reapers conventionally despite Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 pretty much explaining it was suicide as the Reapers totally outmatch everyone.
Except they kind of did ignore it in Mass Effect 3 as why blowing up the relays was a bad idea was in the Mass Effect 3 codex. So the pre-extended cut endings were actually worse since they ignored the freaking game they were in.
I actually had my first FemShep romance Jacob in ME2 then let him die in the Suicide Mission... specifically because she romanced Liara in ME1 which I really did wanna continue, I absolutely didn't want to have the awkward "gotta pick one!" between Liara and somebody, and Garrus and Thane were cool enough to continue the romance. Then I read about how Jacob's a colossal jerkass if you romance him and he survives anyway. I felt vindicated.
I think ME3 struck the best balance between the first two games' inventory systems and RPG mechanics. Too bad about the lack of dialogue control, though...
ME1 is my favorite of the games, and I still wouldn't want its inventory back. Something more like it than in either of the two later games, yes. But fiddling with mods just got tedious after a while, especially when it's not entirely clear what effect they had.
I thought it was kind of lame of BioWare to not include a romance option with James. Did anyone else end up liking him a lot more than they thought they would? When he was first revealed I thought he was going to be incredibly annoying, but he actually ended up being a great addition to the team.
No, but that's because I'm a fuddy-duddy and stuck with the characters I knew and loved (Liara and Tali, balancing out my soldier with the other two classes).
James, like Jack, definitely grew on me. He's way, way better than Jacob personality-wise, and I like all his banter with Steve in the shuttle bay. I watched Paragon Lost for the first time recently and while, ok, it was sort of lame, I do have a greater understanding/appreciation now for all his background info he talks about throughout ME3. Odd that he never mentions his asari love interest though, especially after Priority: Thessia.
Yeah James is pretty awesome. I don't really mind he's not potential LI - Normandy's got plenty already - but I was somewhat surprised.
Ah, see, I was never a huge fan of Liara. I kind of resented how the third game suddenly forced her into so much of the plot and made her seem like Shepard's one true, constant friend when that didn't really jibe with how I handled her in the first two games. I did like Tali, but not as a love interest. I always saw her as kind of like Shepard's adopted little sister, so adding a romance subplot in ME2 felt really icky to me.
I ended up liking James a hell of a lot more than I expected to and I *really* liked that they didn't make him a LI. Not every relationship need be defined by whether or not you get to bang. I also liked the way they handled the gay LI's interaction with Shepards of the opposite sex for pretty much the same reason. ME already had so many LI's that adding any more would have just been doing it because they could, not because it made for good story telling.
Just to be clear, I didn't want James as an LI option for myself, I just think it would have been cool of them to provide the option for people who might have wanted it.
You can sleep with James in the Citadel DLC, but I guess that just makes him a Sex Interest, not a Love Interest. Although sometimes I worry Bioware don't understand that distinction. When I started ME3, I resented the addition of James and was a bit of an ass to him. But like everyone else, I was surprised to find myself liking the character and thought he was a good addition to the crew.
^I had the party tonight and Shep slept with him, but I was sort of annoyed he's not next to you when you all return to the Normandy docking bay after the party. You get Joker talking to you instead. Oh well, I took him along to Cerberus HQ to make up for it. Was interesting to hear a little different party dialogue here and there for a change with no Wrex (killed him on Virmire) and no Samara (chose Morinth).
"Hi, I'm Kestrel. I didn't want to continue my relationship so I let my lover die. Breaking up makes me feel uncomfortable. I'd rather avoid the personal embarrassment and let my lover die a horrible death on an alien spaceship." You are the worst person in the world. Seriously, next time you want to dump somebody: Send a text message.
Well it is Jacob...and he *did* volunteer to go into the vent despite not having the expertise to actually complete the objective competently. To me the former is reason enough to let him croak, while the latter is just a convenient alibi. Also...it's just a game, no?