

But it’s his attitude and demeanour that might be most worthwhile in a firefight, always cheering Shepard forward and swapping good cop/bad cop roles with them. Garrus often seeks out Shepard’s advice and looks up to them as a commanding officer, yet he also offers the harshest of dad-style disappointment speeches for making certain (Renegade) choices.ĭepending on your class, Garrus is a great complement in battle with his rifles and suite of shield- and barrier-shredding powers.

Shepard and Garrus, however, take on a very interesting relationship. Knowing the series’ lore makes this friendship all the more special, as turians were the first aliens humanity encountered in the galaxy, and the result of their meeting was a quick, bloody war.

One of the first allies you can recruit in all three games, there’s almost no Mass Effect without him (unless you’re in the slim minority that somehow never recruited him, you friendship-hating monsters). Paragon or Renegade, Commander Shepard is a bit of a loose cannon, and they need a companion who can watch their back no matter what. Garrus is one of the few companions to follow you through the whole Mass Effect trilogy. (Just… don’t get her bad outcome in the third game. Quarians use the name of the ship where they reside as their last name, and Tali’s decision to take Shepard’s flagship as her own surname, “vas Normandy,” was one of the most powerful resolutions to a character’s storyline.
XBOX 360 MASS EFFECT 3 SAVE EDITOR SERIES
Her loyalty mission in the sequel is one of the best in the entire series in my book, with Shepard truly able to stick up for their companion. Starting as a timid young pilgrim, she grapples with the core struggle of her people in Mass Effect 2 while also questioning her father’s actions, and can ultimately achieve a quarian’s greatest dream-setting foot on their lost homeworld. However Tali’s strongest element is perhaps her arc. Her species, the nomadic quarians, have a fascinating culture in themselves, and Tali serves as Shepard’s lens into that society as they try to earn their support, while also being a helpful companion when fighting synthetic or shielded enemies. Tali is met early in Mass Effect and quickly makes the leap from information source to team member. It’s not entirely a coincidence that the rest of this list consists of long-serving allies. Add in his hidden singing talents and he has everything Shepard could want in a companion. It wasn’t just his skills in battle that I missed, but his tactical insight and his comradery-yes, even in those awkward conversations about safe sex before you consummate your relationship with a love interest in the sequel. Neither outcome is ideal, but the Renegade path was the biggest dagger I put in my own back this time around, and the ghost of it chased me for the rest of Mass Effect 3. The hardest decision I had to make when playing a Renegade on this last playthrough was the one that decides Mordin’s fate. The genophage haunts him and shapes not only his arc, but also Shepard’s whole mission by extension. Yet he’s also conflicted about his past deeds. He’s arguably the Spock of the series, able to see things from a higher perspective most would not come by naturally. Mordin’s recruitment mission in Mass Effect 2 nearly paints him as a corrupt or jaded physician with shaky ethic, but as Shepard gets to know him over the rest of the trilogy, the true complexity of his moral compass begins to show.
