Why Jacob Taylor Really is the Worst Squadmate in the Mass Effect Trilogy

[@pikmonwolf]

Had to censor a naughty word that I called Brynn. Fair enough, but I'd hardly say it's undeserved. If you're gonna act super shitty to the person who's boyfriend you stole while they are ACTIVELY SAVING YOUR LIFE, you are indeed an insufferable...

[@ItsaDonut]

walnut. Insufferable walnut.

[@keyofdestiny857]

If Jacob dies in Mass Effect 2 the mission that he appears in Mass Effect 3 plays out mostly the same his replacement doesn’t even die in the end making Jacob a casualty that doesn’t matter unlike some of the other squad that could having a impact of story Jacob’s death really doesn’t have any consequences on Mass Effect 3.

[@tepidwater5970]

VOLUME OF RECORDING IS VERY LOW. JUST LETTING YOU KNOW

[@libertyprime5923]

When it come to buffoons like Brynn who think they have it all figured out just smile and say good luck with that and give them a pat on the back before walking away because sooner or later reality will hit and that's when the pain starts

[@АдамІванко]

"People of colour" you say? So i asume all white people (no matter of ethnicity) are "Colourless" it's quite a racist quote i think you should apologize for that.

[@Natusian]

In Mass Effect 2: - Miranda: The perfect human. - Mordin: The smartest Salarian scientist. - Garrus: The Batman of Omega. - Zaeed: The toughest human mercanary alive. - Jack: The most powerful human biotic. - Grunt: The purest Krogan. - Tali: The most talented Quarian engineer. - Thane: The deadliest assassin in the galaxy. - Samara: The ancient Asari warrior monk. - Kasumi: The best thief in the galaxy. - Legion: An actual walking talking Geth! - Jacob:... Was also there.

[@radicalhonesty8244]

Illusive man says "He's former alliance, One of the best" Shepard should say "Bitch if i've never heard of him, No he isn't"

[@Terminator850]

Garrus isn't the Batman of Omega. Garrus is the Punisher of Omega.

[@Weiswolfe]

-Jacob: The Guy

[@beastalchemistVA]

Miranda has a gap in her teeth

[@beastalchemistVA]

Legion: the internet in a body!

[@brockkelly4841]

I saw a poll a while ago on Mass Effect romances Jacob was voted worse than Morinth, a character that literally kills you. Death is a preferable option to Jacob.

[@SoaringDragon562]

At least Morinth has the good grace to do it quickly and give you a game over screen. Jacob’s kills your spirit slowly and painfully over the course of the entire game.

[@luxjackson8866]

Yeah but Morinth is an intergalactic goth domme, and Jacob is just... A guy... A boring guy.

[@zeroattentiongaming820]

Morinth is death by snoo snoo, is it really surprising that would be a popular option?

[@cc0767]

TBF Morinth romance is incredible, sure its short but the energy between her an renegade shepard is real

[@WickedPrince3D]

That's actually hilarious, but then again you CAN romance Morinth who has some sex-appeal, you can't romance her mother Samara really, and hardly anyone other than Kasumi thinks Jacob has sex appeal. I almost think they introduced her as a DLC character just to try to hype up Jacob.

[@TheMoinomedian]

Homie, you forgot to mention that Kaidan remained single for two years if you were to rekindle that romance. Ashley as well. Dedication!

[@zackcook5123]

Good lord your right me I hated Ashley the most of ME1, least she grew. Although granted half my hatred was due to a bug shed repeat the animals comment exclusively even on the Normandy.

[@lancelusco7448]

Also if you are male shep Kaiden still wants you I was like wow didn’t see that coming lol

[@davidrosensin7985]

Ashley and Kaiden were single because they dump you. While I do think that they are both better than Jacob, saying that they remained single (also their words, not like we can know for 100%) means nothing when you reunite with them happy and looking forward to your love only to have them disrespect, distrust and abandon you.

[@TheMoinomedian]

@@davidrosensin7985 I wouldn't say Shepard greeted them on Horizon with love, it seemed more like Shep was greeting a distant friend than a lover. And I may be wrong but I do remember Kaidan emailing you in ME2 about how his buddies want him to move on, and finishing the email off with leaving the door open for a romance to continue after your mission. But I could seriously be wrong about that. And he mentions while in the hospital bed in ME3 that he remained single and still cares for you. I don't remember nothing about how Ashley was, been too long since I romanced her.

[@davidrosensin7985]

@@TheMoinomedian Never romanced Kaiden so can't comment there. For Ashely on Horizon she comes out, explains who you are to that rando and he fucks off. Shepard and Ashely hug, Shepard tells her he missed her. The conversation basically steers towards wanting her on the Normandy because he loves her. She says that he works for Cerberus and they're pieces of shit as well as there being no way for her to know if you really are still Shepard. She then fucks off. I don't remember if she explicitly dumps you, but it's pretty heavily implied.

[@AN-jz3kf]

Kasumi had it hard enough being a DLC character who was cut out from the original game only to be re-inserted, but then they make her a Jacob simp to make Jacob seem cooler lol

[@darthlazurus4382]

In fairness, I think it was both a physical attraction due tae Kasumi being thirsty and a great amount of pity as Jacob is pathetic.

[@obliviouslich1722]

Maybe katsumi kink is boring men.

[@GeraltofRivia22]

Someone on the writing team had a fetish for black x Asian.

[@twinodoom]

Jacob was available

[@Black_Aces]

Someone else said it but it's a strictly a physical attraction cause he's ripped. Fetishizing black people is a crazy thing to put in a game

[@Yorishiriamori]

>Play femshep >Talk to Jacob >Instantly listen to you character flirting with him for no reason at all >Never talk to him again.

[@megamike15]

thank god there is a mod that makes it so the flirt option and the normal paragon option are now sperated.

[@xXN0SK1LLZXx]

Basically my first and last time talking to him as femshep

[@melba303]

Yessss gosh that moment was when I made my option about a Jacob and he did nothing to change it.

[@churchA.I]

I just don't talk to him until his loyalty mission just to In case prevent casualties, and it's an interesting mission

[@cheshirecat1611]

same. I was like: woah, I don't want that!!!!

[@deltahalo241]

Jacob digs at Thane for being an Assassin Jacob, you work for the terrorist organization that is responsible for the deaths of Shepard's entire platoon on Akuze, you don't have much room to talk

[@Lvl1.Sentry]

Thats only if you play the Sole Survivor background. I always go for Ruthless. Damn Batarians.

[@deltahalo241]

@@Lvl1.Sentry I mean, Akuze happens whether Shepard was there or not. Even if Shepard has a different background, Jacob is still willingly working for a group that organized the murder of an entire platoon of Alliance marines and then more after that.

[@Lvl1.Sentry]

@@deltahalo241 I meant that more as the OG commenter was aiming that towards a Sole Survivor Shepard. Whereas I was just saying that comment wouldn`t effect a War Hero/Ruthless Shepard that much. But it still is true that Jacob is working for murderers.

[@josefmengele181]

@@Lvl1.Sentry 👏 👏

[@cjvaye99]

also his apparent beef was 'I dont know about you but my loyalties go beyond my next check' completely ignoring the fact that Thane said he will work for free. Jacob = moron.

[@brandontaylor6677]

"There is no reason to use him once you awaken the krogan." Let's be honest here. Its Grunt. He was on his way to replace Jacob the moment you adopted him.

[@davidrosensin7985]

heh heh heh

[@barrywhittingham6154]

That's 'cause Grunt is the ultimate wingman. Even with all the breeding requests, he still makes sure there's one for Shepard.

[@jaycehaste]

lol I literally replace him as soon as I get Zaeed on Omega. Jacobs only gets used during the first mission his loyalty mission then never again

[@davidrosensin7985]

@@jaycehaste Honestly if I could not use Jacob during the first mission that would also be ideal.

[@owainraysor5108]

@@davidrosensin7985 hell if I could just kill his dad while Jacob kept staring at the guns in the Normandy, I wouldn’t care

[@evilrollo]

If Richard Leroy Jenkins survived Mass Effect's tutorial mission he would have singlehandedly dealt with the reapers himself.

[@ffffffffffffffff5840]

You have to do his loyalty mission in ME0

[@NayrAnur]

And then he teams up with Conrad Verner. They'll be an unstoppable duo.

[@SaintMarianne]

Ironically, Jacob and Thane could’ve had actual genuine conflict, since Jacob resents his absentee father and Thane IS one. But nah he’s a PRECISE MERCENARY which is much worse apparently.

[@SleepingGiant45]

Wow. I never thought of that. Missed opportunity right there. Would've been great. But then again, squadmates not talking to each other is one of the worst aspects of ME2. Hell, even in ME3, Jack calls Mordin "the Salarian" in Grissom Academy. I remember thinking, jeez, you spent almost a year together on one ship, doing missions together, and you built no bond whatsoever? Hell, take Tali and Garrus with you to meet Liara in Illium and they just stand there not saying a damn word.

[@Mysticgamer]

@@SleepingGiant45 I really loved how in ME3, you can walk in on squadmates and crew conversing with one another.

[@kurzor0007]

Exploring this conflict between the two would have been far better for Jacob's characterization, probably not on Jack and Miranda's catfight level but at least far more interesting than what we currently have with Jacob

[@Currumpaw]

Unfortunately, they added too many characters in ME2 and there was way too many missed opportunities for conflict between other characters. Grunt and Mordin is another one that would've been interesting to see.

[@danielcooper3332]

@@Currumpaw They actually recorded voice lines for a conflict between Mordin and Grunt but cut them.

[@jaredbaxter7584]

Spoilers: Don’t forget when you reunite with him he’s getting his ass kicked, and gets his group of volunteers killed. Everyone else is badass. Kaiden/Ashley promoted then made spectre later. Jack is fighting off a crap ton of soldiers while protecting her students. Grunts leading a squad and has that epic showdown with the rachni. Zaeed is hunting Cerberus agents and helps you. Thane is six months past his death date and saves the Salarian counselor. Kasumi helps you save the Hanar home world. Tali is an admiral and main quest, Garrus is the Turians reaper expert and right hand of the primarch also main quest. Liara is shadow broker and discovered the crucible and main quest. Wrex and Mordin are curing the genophage and main quest. Miranda is dodging assassins and tracking her sister and father and ends up main quest. Samara goes to rescue her daughters and doesn’t really need your help that much and you really only save her from her code or a temple full of banshees. Jacob got shot by a Cerberus trooper.

[@pikmonwolf]

Hah so true. Not even a centurion, he gets taken out by a generic grunt.

[@LeBurgerVegan]

Why is this so true :')

[@friendsforfood96]

And literally everyone gets shot. He's just the only one that's a bitch about it. Remember when Garrus took a rocket to the face and then was like, "Yeah, I could go into the quarantine zone if you need me."

[@danielflin3877]

@@friendsforfood96 To be fair, Garrus is a turian. Turians are far tougher than us smooth skins.

[@Weiswolfe]

@@danielflin3877 but member, that natural armor is to protect them from the radiactivity of Palaven's sun it doesnt actually protect their organs, but does makes ehem, attractive scars *blushes* lmao

[@9f81rsd00]

It’s telling that by ME3, I felt more loyalty from Zaeed than Jacob. Also, my condolences to FemShep players who romanced Jacob and expected to continue that in ME3.

[@pikmonwolf]

Zaeed has the dignity to save you some bacon. Jacob would never.

[@mxmissy]

I'm lucky I'm hard Garrus-mancer that imagine, ME2 comes out you find Jacob appealing so you romance him, you finish the game, maybe play some more, then ME3 comes out, you're excited to continue your romance with Jacob, and then you get to see him and every other character gets their "hi I miss you, yes please let's continue this romance" and you meet Jacob and he's cheated on you... with another woman... who is standing like 5 feet from you... and he knocked her up... and he did nothing while you were in prison. What a massive slap to the face.

[@Wolf10media]

*bro handshake* Thank you.

[@me5969]

Let’s be honest, no one romanced him. Boring Alenko aside most of the female player base seem to be into zoophilia.. although that could just be because the two humans were mind numbingly dull.

[@motomoto6541]

I don't feel bad, they went out of their way to romance a boring potato.

[@andrew2272kag]

Jacob wants you to space the geth so cerberus can pick it up for free.

[@DrakeKnight99]

They actually makes way to much sense

[@productivestruggle9489]

"You travel with fascinating companions, T'soni. But why is Jacob here?"

[@theduke9292]

“You travel with fascinating companions Doctor. Commander sheapard I should be honored. And…uh…” “My names Jacob.” “Cool. Anyway.”

[@appelofdoom8211]

funnily enough both he and Miranda essentially have the same response from the shadow broker with the names swapped. And unlike Jacob I could actually believe Miranda getting killed would significantly hinder cerberus

[@cosmictreason2242]

Haven't played the games. Are these actual quotes? Cause that's great if so

[@erfanshahidi2804]

​​@@cosmictreason2242 don't know about Jacob because never in 450 h of gameplay I have took him there but yes there's some line throwing shade at all your crewmembers

[@Just_a-guy]

​@@cosmictreason2242 In second game you can meet shadowbroker who is shady information dealer and knows almost everything that is happening in the galaxy. And when you go talk with him he will say to your squadmate that she cant beat him and she will die (it is her mission and you are her help) and then say something about your other squadmate (you play with team of three ppl in this game, so it will be you, Liara T' Soni whose quest it is and someone third). Because all other squadmates are badass, enemy will say something about them like "there is big bounty on their heads" but Jacob is random guy so his line is same as Miranda and goes that way "At least you brought me both Shepard and Mr. Taylor/Ms. Lawson, T'soni. Their deaths will cripple Cerberus" because there isnt one single thing that could be said about him here other than "it is smart to bring someone expendable"

[@Gabrielle-zu9oh]

Spoilers: So I've never romanced Jacob, but holy shit his "Well, how long did you expect me to wait?" line was unbelievable. Shepard was on HOUSE ARREST because she had to blow up a relay and kill around 300,000 people to stop the Reapers. Does Jacob not think how much that must weigh on Shepard while she's under arrest? Yes she had to do it, but she killed 300,000 people, and during her arrest period is probably being called a racial terrorist for it (especially if you're playing colonist Shep because people would probably say it was revenge for Mindoir). So she's under military arrest for a war crime she was forced to commit, probably dealing with some serious guilt as well as the weight of knowing the Reapers are still coming, and what does he do? Sits on his ass on a beach for a while, doesn't talk to her, cheats on her, all within 6 MONTHS, then tries to say Shepard is overreacting if she gets upset with him? I never had much of an opinion on Jacob before I saw this video, but with that plus his comment toward Garrus, I might just send him through the vents on my next playthrough.

[@funbro99]

*meanwhile any torfan shepard worth their salt* Id do it again if I could.

[@hibarikyoya854]

Excuse me WHAT I thought Jacob was a bit bland compared to the other characters but was just fine his loyalty mission was well done so it makes no sense He'd cheat. Well my opinion of him just went down

[@shocker1209081]

"To the death vents with you!"

[@cfdcfd15]

and it was only like 6 months at that point but even the 2 years of everyone thinking you were dead

[@RoyHeaven]

Ok, I'll try to get into Jacob's head. Afaik, Shepard's detention period wasn't specified. She gets released because the Reapers arrived and she is the only goddamed human who knows how to fight against them. So, as Jacob wasn't sure if she would even get out soon, probably decided to start a new life ahead and not linger too much in the past. Does it make Jacob's actions justified? Imo, no. But it wouldn't be completely unreasonable from his perspective. Obviously, as a recently released Shepard, it's awful as hell.

[@sinnerssandwich4140]

Every time I think about Jacob, I think about how we couldve had a Batarian engineer squad mate. And instead, they went with Jacob.

[@shadowdragonvii]

Teammate demographics really peaked with ME2... wish we had more interactions with Batarians besides just someone to shoot at us or yell at us or just be angry with us...

[@CG-zl6kx]

​@@shadowdragonviiI really liked that interaction with the batarian patient in omega when you choose to save him from that disease. Would have liked to see more batarians written in that light.

[@planescaped]

I'd have preferred a rock stupid Vorcha crack addict as a party member over Jacob, it'd be funny/interesting at least. lol

[@PhazonInfuser]

​@@CG-zl6kxThey kinda do. Remember in ME3, some of the lore talks about how, once the Batarians were free from the constant oppressive propoganda of their government, they were much more willing to work with other races and show a level of commitment to galactic society as a whole.

[@AdblockWillWin7853]

A Batarian engineer squad mate would have been cool. And we got the walking embodiment of "meh" instead.

[@ishmaelreyes8659]

Funniest part is Jack would spare us from lengthy conversations, Jacob in a nutshell according to Jack: "Miranda is a Cerberus bitch, Jacob doesn't know who he is".

[@drdino2002]

When I first played, I thought that was a hint toward what his character arc would be... Nope

[@macedonianmuse5112]

And let's not forget that after his loyalty mission if you are wanting a romance, he tells you about Miranda needing a better man than him. He views Miranda needing a good man, but Shepard doesn't? He is saying he isn't good enough for Miranda, but since he thinks less of Shepard, it is ok for him to be with her. That's what I want in a man, someone who thinks other women are better than me and I am just the leftover female to screw and even then he leaves you for someone else. Yeah, I hate Jacob.

[@ace0071000]

Isn't he pretty open about his reservations vis-a-vis relationship with Shepard? He generally has an issue with self-esteem/self-image in ME2, and that tracks pretty well with his pained reaction if Shepard "convinces" him he's "good enough" only to dump him for someone else.

[@delphipriestess9968]

"Jacob doesn't know who he is yet but that's not my problem" --Jack

[@kainepeterson6638]

Kaidan isn’t my kinda guy, but when you get Vega to open up and realize his machismo is from his upbringing in San Diego, and his desire to be seen as a better man than his father, you get him. He’s a character. With thoughts feelings emotions. He has genuine depth and once you peel the machismo off of him, James is a fine young man with a heart of gold, even if his head is thicker than molasses. He genuinely wants what’s best for the Galaxy at large and he is 100% willing to sacrifice his own life in pursuit of that goal.

[@katie5998]

​​​​@@kainepeterson6638 To add, I think Kaiden is boring because he's literally the only character who has his shit together (in ME1). Kaiden is already a grown man when you meet him, with his own perspectives and his own world views. The only issue he really has is getting over an old love interest and his biotic implants, the former he gets over quickly, the latter he deals with with no complaint and a stoic reservation. Kaiden, why he's boring, is a pretty solid character and person. Even him being angry at Shep for dying for 2 yrs then joining up with Cerberus is understandable. I know a lot of people hate it, but tbh, I saw completely where he was coming from especially given all the horrific BS they found on Cerberus in the previous game. He's a little over emotional, but even that is semi-justifiable when you consider the amount of grief and hardship he endured after Shep's death. You can only play the pragmatist so much, and bro legit just got swarmed by Collectors and paralyzed and then watched his friends be carried off to be harvested. The lid on his emotions is understandably loose given the situation.

[@noahduncan5998]

Jacob is giving a backhanded remark about Miranda's duplicitousness and how hard it is to get along with her. A "better man" means someone that is willing to put up with her bullshit.

[@PressXtoDoubt]

" the only black main human character is the only one who cheats on you, gets a girl knocked up out of wedlock, has a missing father, and his loyalty mission deals with slavery" ... *B R U H*

[@Zmargo702]

Bro has serious issues unrelated to Jacob and Mass Effect lmaoo

[@zachw2538]

100% not racist. Im irish so i can relate to all of these things.

[@Zmargo702]

@@zachw2538 I’m Irish too but he specifically prefaced all of these descriptions that he made with, “the only black character”, so I mean. He said what he meant.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

I mean. Uh. Grunt... never got along with his "father" either? I'm trying hard here. Uhm.

[@dontworryaboutit5490]

He’s waysis for tewwing the twoof

[@gh0st_proxy]

He's especially lame when you consider he wasn't officially part of the squad Cerberus intended for Shep to pursue from the dossiers. The dude was a glorified security guy. Miranda was always meant to be XO but he just snuck his way onto the Normandy after the attack on Lazarus Station and decided not to leave.

[@pikmonwolf]

Haha I hadn't considered that. Even TIM doesn't respect Jacob.

[@spectralevolution]

HOLY SHIT!!! I've played through the whole trilogy at least 5 times now and never till now realized that! If the station had never been sabotaged he never would have been on the Normandy. And that motherfucker still had the gall to cheat on femshep?!

[@Killzoneguy117]

@@pikmonwolf Literally when you ask TiM about Jacob and Miranda, he gives a whole schpeel on how Miranda is a committed and loyal operative who is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done but when describing Jacob, he's just like "Jacob's a soldier... idk what else you want me to say. I guess he doesn't really trust me?". Even TiM, Jacob's boss can't think of one interesting quality.

[@Mattfromthepast]

Not to mention if he had done his job right the attack on the station would have never happened, someone with no security access took control of the mechs and as security chief that is on him.

[@victorpleitez768]

I might get him killed on purpose after learning this lmao.

[@lunaredgrave]

My issue with Jacob was the fact that everyone in Shepard's life became someone so much better than what they started with. Kaidan/Ashley: Became a Spectre Wrex: Became a very progressive chief of his clan Tali: Became an Admiral Garrus: Became an advisor to the whole Turian fleet Liara: Became the Shadow Broker Jack: Became a teacher to biotic kids like her Grunt: Became the commander of the Aralakh Company Mordin: Died a f**king hero to cure the Krogan people. Legion: Died a hero to give his people high level intelligence and boker a peace between Quarians and the Geth. Thane: Died a hero to save the Citadel WHILE HE WAS TERMINALLY ILL. Even if the other members who didn't have this level of drastic change in their lives has something going on. Samara: Continued the fight as a Justicar and a mohter. Miranda: Continued to take the fight to Cerberus despite that putting her and her sister in risk Zaeed: Continued the fight as a Merc against Cerberus. Kasumi: Continued the fight and tried to help a freaking Salarian Spectre. And then there is Jacob. No character development whatsoever. Nothing interesting or exciting is going on. It's just bad writing, man.

[@GigiBranconi]

Shepard may not be a perfect person, unless you go full Paragon and even then there are issues. But if you put it this way, they do have a way of bringing out the best in people. As well as finding the best people to begin with! Jacob is just the exception to the rule xD

[@WillKnapp18]

"New Year, New Me" -Says random woman about to romance Garrus again for the 50th time.

[@pikmonwolf]

100% guilty of this whenever I play femshep lol.

[@StLuxiya]

Romancing Garrus is the law for Femshep. It is known

[@80krauser]

Biotic FemShep: Liara all the way. Otherwise Garrus is her one true love.

[@AbstractTraitorHero]

@@StLuxiya I would have gone Tali if it was an option.

[@wilmagregg3131]

same here but with tali i just cant not do the best romance in gaming the second best being curie from fallout 4

[@Jedi_Spartan]

In short: there's a reason why people enjoy picking Jacob for the vents.

[@LORD_PINKY_DINKS]

I needed the no one left behind achievement But don't worry he's going in those vents with my next playthrough

[@anthonykeller1957]

@@LORD_PINKY_DINKS same

[@SoulKiller7Eternal]

No clue why. Jacob is more useful then Miranda.

[@SoulKiller7Eternal]

@David Edosomwan I dont hate him. He is actually useful...unlike the cereberus cheerleader that I usually get killed by her father. Miranda can fuck off.

[@m1.01zahranormansyah4]

@@SoulKiller7Eternal depends on how you play actually, as Vanguard, Miranda is a power house for me she really useful to destroy shield and armor, now she have both i can bring whoever I want for next squadmate, as for Jacob...I already have a pull, I dont really need a barrier... for defense I rather pick Grunt, he's more interesting and better for defense, so yeah, I dont hate him as a character in ME2, he just so easy to replace.....I dont even need Mordin, but he is an interesting character, so I'll just take him for fun

[@KaitoGillscale]

I still remember that one meme that was like “before and after Sheppard” and it was like “Grunt: mercenary to leader of his clan”, “Garrus: disgruntled cop to Turian military advisor and archangel” and it went this for all the squadmates and then at the end it just went “Jacob: Jacob…Jacob.”

[@zigzaghyena]

You mixed up Wrex and Grunt.

[@GeraltofRivia22]

Getting his ass kicked for Cerberus to getting his ass kicked by Cerberus.

[@bekfasttime7001]

I don’t get the hate for Vega. He’s Jacob but actually effective as a character. He’s a chill bro meathead and he’s fucking hilarious.

[@Anas-x3f]

when you play as femshep hes somewhat disrespectful, disobeys your orders, and your only options are to flirt or be rude

[@jays.6843]

​@@Anas-x3fThat adds more to his character tbh. Good character doesn't always mean good person.

[@OmnipotentGoggles]

"If you send Jacob in the vents, he dies." Seems like he gave pretty good advice to me!

[@Petaurista13]

Walkthrought: "Don't send anybody but Tali or Legion to the vent. They will die" Players: "Jacob? There is hole in the wall with your name on it. Hop inside, quick."

[@RykersRange]

@@Petaurista13 Yep and HE is the one that volunteers! BYE JACOB

[@hortator1844]

Das rite! Heavy risk

[@Loona10]

Omg haha

[@appelofdoom8211]

The best part about that is that there's no consequence for picking a bad 1st firesquad leader meaning you can pick jack just to mess with Miranda

[@c-secofficer123]

We can confirm here on the Citadel that Jacob has the personality of used Omni-gel.

[@jeremyallen5974]

That's an insult, Omni-gel is actually USEFUL

[@dudeguyman96]

PP is perfect, well done.

[@Handlelesswithme]

Used Omni gel has personality because it’s utility of its use and how its eventual use shapes an interesting story

[@c-secofficer123]

@@Handlelesswithme like bypassing the AI on Noveria. So helpful

[@survivordave]

Username checks out

[@IntergalacticPants]

This literally explains every problem I have with Jacob. I off handedly mention that Brynn better not leave Jacob's sight for more than 5 minutes, or he might run off with another woman.

[@pikmonwolf]

For real. it's like she forgot the old adage. "If they'll cheat with you, they'll cheat on you." Definitely seems liek a good idea to have a kid with him right!?

[@davidrosensin7985]

Would have been hilarious to me if you could steal Brynn from him.

[@mihneaiordan1813]

@@davidrosensin7985 at that point you'd probably get in hot water with the press for racial stereotypes

[@bornagain_cynic]

“Kaiden is boring” You take that back 😭

[@pikmonwolf]

I actually quite like Kaidan, I just wanted to make it clear that even if you thought Kaidan was boring, Jacob was way worse.

[@ckotherletters]

So when Jacob calls Garrus a cuttlebone he is referring to the bone of a cuttlefish that is put in bird cages as a dietary supplement for pet birds. Humans used to call Turians birds as a slur during the First Contact War. I think Jacob called Garrus a racist slur. Holy shit.

[@cozyapustaja8249]

Now imagine if Garrus was dropping n bombs lmao he’d be throwing a fit

[@Tomb-G19]

*Ashley loved that* lol JK XD

[@arctiwolf857]

Yeah people like to bring of the stereotype thing, but Jacob is actually pretty racist towards just about all the alien squadmates in some way and makes insulting comments about them.

[@Chilllaxxinn]

@@cozyapustaja8249 Jacob doesn't have a C word pass haha

[@mechanomics2649]

@@arctiwolf857 That doesn't make the carelessness in how Jacob was handled any more okay so I have no idea what your point is.

[@SchazmenRassir]

Yeaaah... In ME1, Kaidan was the boring one. _By choice._ Because he'd lost control once and he ended up killing someone. So he decides to never lose control again, keeping cool and calm nearly all the time. In ME3, Vega is pretty much forced onto us, BUT, he makes up for it with his determination, interesting-enough motivation and backstory, voice acting, and fairly likeable personality. Though, speaking of forced onto us, that's also realistic with the real military, since barring special operations and teams, officers don't often get to choose who they command. Also, given the situation, Shepard simply needed the extra gun. Jacob's most prominent moment of greatness is his anger against his dad, and even THAT is subdued and just lacking any kind of actual punch, figurative or literal.

[@NostalgicGamerRickOShay]

On my first playthrough, I honestly thought that James' sole purpose was compensate for the lack of male romance options for Femshep.

[@pajusxka]

Yeah Kaidan in ME1 is pretty boring, but he makes up in ME3 for me. He is likeable, motivated, nice and him cooking with my femshep while she drinks beer is my favorite part of the Citadel DLC. And i just can't stand Ash, so i just always leave her to die. And no, Garrus is my romance all the time :p Speaking of Vega, i always liked him. Sure he is not that interesting like Tali, Garrus, Liara but he cares about u and he has that own character. Jacob is just the worst. I literally can't find anything about him that i like. Boring story, backstory, i dont even like his loyalty mission. And in ME3..., god i just want him to leave in the vent, but he is actually a war asset so that's what keeps him alive for me :D

[@SchazmenRassir]

@@pajusxka Give Ash a chance. She does change in ME3, to the point of thinking of Tali like her little sister. This is specifically pointed out if you romance her first in ME1, then go for Tali after it. Ash doesn't mind *at all.*

[@kurzor0007]

I agree that Kaidan is boring in ME1 but at least his sheer versatility in ME1 and ME3 as a support character more than makes up for it For James, I think they should have explored more of his background instead of relegating us to the Paragon Lost movie OR emphasized the Mentor Protege relationship between Shepard, gameplay-wise, the only thing I would change in his kit was to give him an exclusive melee attack, like a football tackle that would push back the first enemy it hits but it shouldn't be as powerful as a Krogan charge as that would be ridiculous (he was intended to fill Wrex and Grunt's role)

[@stratospherica]

Also, by ME3, Kaidan's boringness is kind of played with in a way that makes him kind of endearing. People rib him for it, and he laughs along. It's cute.

[@blue_orb24]

Jacob just called arguably the most popular character in Mass Effect a cuttlebone. That's enough of a reason to dislike him.

[@zigzaghyena]

He DID volunteer to join a human supremacist group.

[@princesssmileyface91]

Agree 😂😂 anyone hates on Garrus, we are throwing hands 😂

[@YamiJayX]

Arguably? Unless you're xenophobic there's literally no reason to hate the guy

[@romxxii]

@@YamiJayX only other reason I can think of is if you have an irrational hatred of sexy scars and gun calibrations.

[@twilightparanormalresearch186]

@@romxxii I loves those

[@sashabush5434]

Kaidan Alenko: forced to kill an abuser at 16, fought to control an unstable amp and willing to die hardline for his beliefs (which stem from an extreme desire to ‘do no harm’ resulting from said abusers death), and that ass? Bro, Kaidan ain’t boring. That’s why he can get with both Shepards.

[@brazenduke8164]

To Jacob’s credit, he has possibly the greatest and most profound line in all of Mass Effect. “A good deed is like pissing yourself in dark pants. A warm feeling, but nobody notices.”

[@zigzaghyena]

I do not at all remember that line and I JUST played through the series again. That sounds way too funny to be him.

[@andrewolson5471]

@@zigzaghyena he definitely says it during one of his conversations. I think it's when he mentions his time as a Corsair.

[@amaranthofgehenna]

I wrote that in my notes app as soon as I heard him say it lol. It's his only redeeming factor

[@jacklambert1521]

@@zigzaghyena You have to ask him about his life as a Corsair. That's when he says it.

[@MetallicaRules]

The most profound line is from Javik. “Stand on the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer.”

[@Blacksmith__]

I think Kaiden's struggle with the side effects of his biotic implant and Vega's meathead lifter mindset make them a lot less boring than Jacob, who has biotic abilities and works out, but neither of which he ever seems to talk about

[@Petaurista13]

Personalities: Kaiden - struggles with implant. Vega - stereotypical soldier Jacob - stereotypical racist douche bag

[@thegrimcroissant]

@@Petaurista13 More like… Kaidan: A biotic who stays focused on his tasks, is respectful to his commander, and doesn’t let his migraines or his past get the best of him (and also becomes the 2nd human spectre if you save him). James: a hardworking soldier who stays loyal to Shepard and is willing to do whatever it takes to complete his mission even if it means sacrificing himself. Jacob: a person who never wants to connect with his squad mates, a cheater who doesn’t feel any remorse for his actions, and someone who’s casually xenophobic (ex. calls Garrus a racial slur and insults Tali about getting along with the AI)

[@nullnull4010]

And James’s friendly rivalry against steve cortez is hilarious if you go into the cargo bay

[@enaxtry]

Why people ignore Kaidan's story so much? Kaidan was physically abused as a child bcs of forced experiments with unknown new space element. The story is similar to Jack you jsut see 2 different people dealing differently with trauma, Jack was left with anger, rage, sociopathy, but Kaidan was left broken, empty inside and depressed.

[@enaxtry]

@@thegrimcroissant Jacob calls Garrus a racial slur? 🤨

[@chickendrawsdogs3343]

I did something worse to Jacob than letting him take the vent... ...I left him out of the Citadel party.

[@zigzaghyena]

I like to think of him as that coworker you just sort of deal with everyday, say hi at work functions, but not even consider them during private events.

[@masterzombie161]

The only events to invite him to is the actual Vents.

[@mandyayuso9048]

Lmao 🤣

[@EvidentlyEezy]

A fate worse than death

[@c.jaidewatts2292]

neither jacob nor ashley got an invite to mine lol

[@jjmblue7]

Kaidian isn't boring. He's sensitive, introspective, compassionate, and those aspects are informed by certain events in his past. Down-to-earth doesn't necessarily mean boring.

[@TheInsaneTeddy]

Ex-Alliance soldier, but untrained with an Assault Rifle in ME2. That sounds like an awful soldier.

[@pikmonwolf]

Hah, good point. Grunt fresh from the tank can use them but Jacob is stuck with a pistol.

[@LS-jv9hp]

Man was a POG

[@mrford215]

He was actually a Corsair not really an alliance

[@mikewillis9537]

His original idea was he was supposed to be a vanguard , I think, he had biotics and a shotgun, but his powers were pretty basic and they seemed to forget that part about him in me3 when he gets tagged by a round with no kinetic or biotic barrier

[@jrod22173]

True! I fixed that he cannot carry and automatic weapon with a mod, because it makes no damn sense! He literally runs the armory, why does he only get a pistol and a shotgun!! More uselessness! I always avoid speaking to him personally to make sure i never show interest in him.

[@Disturbedfan077]

LMAO "Liara is *Information Redacted*." oh god I haven't laughed like that in a while. Thank you.

[@Trattato68]

One thing to add to the fact that it impregnates the scientist. He decides to do so in anticipation of the final war for the fate of the present species of the galaxy, and is one of the few who are aware of this fact. That is, if Shepard had failed to unite the galaxy, the child's fate would have been to become a battery for the Human-Reaper or die fighting a lost cause, such as the Protheans. A truly exceptional timing, really

[@pikmonwolf]

Wow that's crazy true. What a great life for your kid Jacob. I'll be fighting for its future while you sit on your ass.

[@Trattato68]

@@pikmonwolf Also because the discourse of defending his people makes no sense. If the Reapers find the Crucible it's over, so if Bioware didn't want to put him as a teammate, just do as with Samara, who went where needed. To say, Tali is the only one who would make sense and reason not to follow you (especially if she is a admiral) and yet she does it, without the slightest doubt and indeed insists. Jacob instead prefers to sleep on the Crucible, because basically the marines are absolutely useless there if not to check that indoctrinated people do not arrive.

[@me5969]

Did he “choose” though? I recall him saying it wasn’t planned although I could be wrong

[@deleteman900]

Consider for a moment, that... well, Life Happens. Sometimes you gotta do shit in the hopes that things work out, because you don't have a better option. If you met someone you could picture sharing the rest of your life with, wouldn't you pull that trigger and at least *try*? Or would you just sit there and be sad, because you know things MIGHT not work out?

[@Trattato68]

@@deleteman900 Not while you're waiting for a giant war to come where the odds of winning don't even remotely work in your favor. It is selfish and irresponsible. To give a more down to earth example, it's like deciding to do it while you live in extreme poverty, which you can barely support yourself.

[@mitchcane2352]

F to those five people who romanced Jacob in hopes that Bioware would've salvaged his character in ME3.

[@NostalgicGamerRickOShay]

Kasumi's love for him feels shoehorned. A convenient excuse for why the player can't romance her.

[@pikmonwolf]

I always figured it was a meme because by the time she released they knew nobody liked him. So the joke is this new DLC characters has a crush on the guy nobody likes.

[@Exodon2020]

Yeah, because the death of her boyfriend she clearly did not yet fully process emotionally totally does not hammer that point home, right?

[@beanlegion8529]

@@Exodon2020 so falling in love with Jacob despite dead boyfriend is okay but being a potential love interest despite dead boyfriend is not?

[@AriEugene]

@@beanlegion8529 "love" is a verrry strong word here lol. She's in love with his abs

[@Exodon2020]

@@beanlegion8529 Her liking for Jacob was more of a Carnal thing though. And people who lost a loved one trying to escape into meaningless casual relationships is not entirely unheard of either.

[@devildolphin2102]

No one will ever see this comment. Originally ME2 was going to Have a Batarian Squad Mate. They made him an Engineer so he was scrapped for Tali. Let that sink in they scrapped a Batarian Squad Mate but LEFT JACOB. What. I mean REPLACE Jacob and give us a Batarian. Change his backstory to instead of hating the Alliance he HATES the Hegemony and all their Slavery and Pirate activities. He just wants to do good to REPENT for the evils his species has done. It would be a Wholesome Story of not hating yourself based on the Species you come from. Also he could learn more of the HORRORS of the Genophage and Learn ALL SPECIES do Evil things it’s what YOU do that makes you good or bad. We could even get a couple missions of freeing slave so he could feel better kinda similar to Talis Loyalty mission from ME1 We could even have almost the Exact same loyalty Mission. EXCEPT when our Batarian (Let’s call himBart) finds his dad has created a Slave Harem and Bart is disgusted by all this. And THEN we get a Branch Storyline. Branch 1: You kill barts Father end of Story. Branch 2: You arrest barts father BUT he escapes and you gotta track him down where You find out Barts Mother is Harboring him, and HAS forgiven him. Bart can stand it his own parent Feel ZERO guilt they are proud of the Slavery. And are planning to gather a Large Pirate force so they can kidnap 100s of people. And thus Bart must make a choice. Let his family live knowing they will never stop Killing. Making his Conscious clear of Fratricide but the blood of Millions of innocents will haunt his Dreams. Or kill those he Loves and save All those innocents in the Galaxy from these Raiders. When you look at it. It is an Easy choice but From here on out Bart will have Sever PTSD from killing His loved ones or letting them free. He will also be called a Parent Killer by other Batarians in the Game later on. This will lead into Kasumi trying to Cheer up Bart and them eventually Getting together. What i think Kasumi and a Batarian would look cute together. And In Mass Effect 3 Bart is one of the leaders of The Remaining Batarian Hegemony or his Parents Depending on your ME2 Choices and through out ME3 you gotta Kill off or break all the Hegemony Admirals and Generals so Bart can inspire his people and Become the ONE TRUE LEADER of the Batarians and Lead them upon a Road of Redemption and Become HEROES TO THE GALAXY. The Batarians, Krogan, and Geth the Greatest Villains Working together to bring PEACE TO THE MILKY WAY. Or you can have them kill Bart and become Even greater Evil Slavers than before. If anyone actually bothered to read this I would love some input into my Replacing Jacob OC because ANYONE is better than Jacob.

[@necordektox879]

I would love that so much! Batarians are so often depicted as bad guys any time anyone mentions them it's a joke between me and my boyfriend to say "fucking Batarians". It would be nice to meet one who wasn't a lackey at best and a sadistic terrorist at worst.

[@Gabrielle-zu9oh]

That would've been amazing, and imagine all the unique, emotional dialogue a batarian squadmate could have with colonist Shepard. There is so much potential there, and it would've been exponentially better than Jacob. Damn, what a missed opportunity.

[@Petaurista13]

Yeah. Batarian would be cool as in impressively diverse Galaxy 1/2 of our Squad are Humans.

[@Coretide660]

I actually think this could have worked perfectly even at the beginning of the game especially if we were to meet this Batarian squadmate that is 10x better the Jacob. Basically Bart (going by the comment that started this) is a freelance mercenary that was part of a smuggler transport that was helping send resources that cerberus couldn't get normally (I'm assuming they were close to the terminus systems at the beginning) but ends up getting trapped on the station thanks to the mech attack, ultimately being the only one left of that Smuggler Transport and that is when he meets Shepherd. Note: Bart would be wearing a helmet at this time so his face would be hidden even if he talked and would have it on til they are about to leave or during that midpoint when they meet Wilson just so to ask Shepherd if he can trust him despite being a Batarian.

[@devildolphin2102]

@@Coretide660 Ohhhhh. Good one man. I like the mystic, of it. And considering the Only time a Player will see a Batarian before is Them trying to nuke a Planet. That would be an Awesome reveal.

[@Razgar_Voxel]

Even thou Zaeed only joined the mission in ME2 because he was getting paid. Later in ME 3 even Zaeed seems to have become Shepard's friend. Also Zaeed a DLC character had better development as a character then Jacob. Jacob was just poorly written thou.

[@pikmonwolf]

And Zaeed gives you really cool explosive kitchen-ware.

[@PaulLundgren1970]

@@pikmonwolf I'd pay to listen to Zaeed's voice actor insult me. I love the sound of his voice.

[@Razgar_Voxel]

@@PaulLundgren1970 Sadly he passed shortly either before the Citadel DLC or after it's release. He and Garrus were my two fav squad mates in ME 2

[@fenrisvermundr2516]

Jacob was basically just a character left over from the very early stages of development. He was planned to be a male shep exclusive romance, but when they scrapped male/male romances they decided rather than scrap him, repurpose him for something else.

[@brandontaylor6677]

@@pikmonwolf blame zaeed, and run like hell

[@JulesA5266]

Kaidan may be a little boring but he’s actually a really sweet and kind character. He thinks of others’ needs above his own, and shows that throughout the game (for example, if Shepard hits Dr Manuel in Eden Prime, Kaidan would reproachfully tell the Commander that he was too excessive). I’m not a Kaidan fanboi at all but I’ve recently learned to appreciate his qualities after paying more attention to the dialogue and plot. Great video about Jacob btw. I hate this guy. I can’t even talk to him as FemShep without feeling creeped out or accidentally being in a romance with him.

[@yesterdayschunda1760]

Jacob is the only black squad mate and his mission is to find his lost father and then he cheats on you. Well played bioware. Edit: This is getting a lot of replies and the conclusion is to add the following to the above: Jacobs father also became a tribal leader that had a haram of women that he used for sex without question when he was given the opportunity to do so in a position of power. Then there is Jacob himself, Jacob is also an idiot, if you take Jacobs advice in the game you will get everyone killed on the suicide mission. Jacob suggests going for the reaper IFF before getting everyone in the squad which if you do there goes everyone on the crew that wasn't on the shuttle. he then suggests not waking up legion or even selling him to cerberus for cash, he wants to throw legion out the air lock while also suggesting that that you hit the omega 4 relay before finishing squad missions and upgrading the normandy. Anything else lol?

[@pikmonwolf]

Yeah it's... real not good. I genuinely wonder how it got approved.

[@boubakhari]

That actually made me laugh, such cliches, It was like watching an episode of Family Guy:p

[@Johnny-ny3ko]

@@pikmonwolf Well, you know, the loyalty mission was in 2010 and the cheating was probably programmed and approved late 2010 to 2011. Nowdays people may consider it a big deal

[@imbetter599]

Truly based my favorite squadmate.

[@superphantom100]

Mind you the also made his father as another black stereotype.

[@hunchojack5102]

Would have been 100x better if kia lang was your male Cerberus squad mate in ME2 Would also have made ME3 more interesting

[@HiddenManna2c]

That would’ve been hella cool

[@pikmonwolf]

Indeed, establish your main Cerberus enemy as an ally to really add in a gut punch! You could save the worst two characters by combining them lol.

[@HiddenManna2c]

@@pikmonwolf yeah having Anderson send you a dossier about Kia Lang was kinda bland and Miranda acting so scared, just for shepherd to kill him in 2 seconds lol

[@HiddenManna2c]

Then try to make it personal killing thane, but thane was already on the verge of death everyday lol

[@bobizzle1605]

When I first played ME3 I had Kaiden killed on Virmire in my trilogy playthrough, and when Kai Leng was introduced I was like “wait, no, could that actually be Kaiden??” And when it wasn’t I was a little disappointed lol

[@kirikakirikakirika]

The sad thing is, until I found out he cheated on Shepard I didn't _really_ have a reason to hate him. Sure, he was boring and pretty useless, but he was a good solider with good morals. He goaded Thane a bit, which got my shoulders up because he was my romance option, but I got over it because, one, Thane didn't seem to care, and two, Jacob at least had a valid point. After all, Thane _is_ a hitman for hire, and Jacob's distrust of an assassin fell in line with his character. I also enjoyed his loyalty mission because it was so dark. It's one of the few moments in the whole series that references rpe, and Jacob's genuine disgust with his father for that fact was admirable. But when I found out he not only cheats on Shepard, but also shows _no remorse_ for it, any respect I might've had for him went out the window. Every single romance option _except_ for Jacob remains faithful, and it's only been six months. Even worse, if you play the Citadel DLC and meet him at the club, you can confront him and he acts like Shepard should just "get over it". You can even slap him in the face and he acts confused. And what you said about Brynn also gets me, because when I first met her I loved her. She's so pleasant, smart, driven, and even wants to name her _baby_ after Shepard. But if you romanced Jacob she's like a whole different character, petty and insufferable. Really, three characters get screwed if you romance Jacob. I like to pretend that route just doesn't exist.

[@laexdream]

Honestly, I would maybe get it if he was a mass effect 1 character you could romance, and then you died for two years so he gets with another woman… but the time and reason for the non-contact between mass effect 2 and 3 is just unforgivable

[@kirikakirikakirika]

@@laexdream Exactly. 6 months. 6 months and he easily could've waited for/found ways to contact Shepard. Hell, Thane sent 100 messages and tried multiple channels to reach her. Jacob couldn't keep it in his pants for _half a year._ And even more aggregious is the fact that Shepard was simply under house arrest. Her/his sentence was limited and everyone knew it.

[@TheMasterUnity]

@@kirikakirikakirika Yeah, like if one of the LI's in ME1 got together with someone afterwards it'd be fine. After all they DID see Shepard get spaced and was gone for 2 years. But Jacob is just a twat

[@DraconimLt]

well, it's like an AU, if you didn't play that route then it didn't happen (in YOUR Shep's universe). Didn't happen in mine. Allways Male Shep anyway lol

[@Raycloud]

I think Jacob was written to cheat on Shepard in ME3 precisely because the fanbase hated him in ME2. The writers don't always stay consistent to the characters but rather write to appease the fans.

[@CraniamonRoyalKnight]

It exactly one of the several reason about why, among all those crewmates for my female Shepard, I always pick up Garrus for a romance because: -He is very loyal to Shepard and even admit one time in ME2 that he feels very alone in the galaxy, considering Shepard is the only friend he has left. -Feel bad for Garrus as he suffer inside of himself after we learn all his crew died before we join him for recruit him in ME2 so he end up blinded by hatred and revenge toward Sidonis for somes times so give him somes love could help him to heal his pain a little. -It's one of those Turians to be friendly toward the humans unlike somes others who have somes issue with humans by not trust them and being a bit hostile due to the First Contact War event. - Tali and Garrus never miss any adventure with Shepard from the first to the third game (except if we don't recruit them from the first game or that they die in the second game) by always accept to come with Shepard into the Normandy while Liara, Kaidan and Wrex refuse to join Shepard in the second game but comeback in the third games. -Garrus respect a lot Shepard and never be upset against Shepard by critics all the choice she have made unlike Kaidan who was upset in the second game that Shepard work for Cerberus. -Thane is cool too but, sadly, he end up to die due to his sickness while Garrus don't have any sickness who can short his life while Jacob, well, he isn't really loyal to Shepard by bettray her romance with him unlike Garrus so it's not a big surprise to see Jacob hang out with someone else and then take a slap and punch from Shepard. -Garrus look very cool with his attitude, his own humor and the blue paint on his face who look cool as well. I don't say others crewmates are bad or anything but I just say Garrus is one of the best crewmate to have a good romance experience into the Mass Effect serie with him.

[@JacobGunner]

See, Kaiden and Vega are boring on the surface but talking to them more reveals some more layers that gives them their fans. I thought they were both boring too on my first playthrough but they grew on me as I learned more about them on later playthroughs. Jacob though? I hate that I share a name with him.

[@pikmonwolf]

I honestly really do like them as characters, I was intentionally harsh on them because the perspective I'm trying to show is "even at these characters' worst, they're miles better than Jacob."

[@MFenix206]

Kaiden for me suffers because ME 1 wasn't as big on relationship building as 2 and 3. he is boring in a game that isn't as attention grabbing. and unfortunately he doesn't make ME 3 for me. Gunny deserves better than dying as a martyr to repay her grandfather's "sins" Vega is pretty decent. his problem being he is competing with EDI, a Prothean, and all Shepard's old buddies.

[@leowulf5280]

Vega being super good in my ME3 insanity run also helped my opinion of him. Him being so tanky and being able to use the best gun (typhoon ftw), meant and brought him on more missions and realized how fun a lot of his dialogue is.

[@KhaosKulture]

@@MFenix206 I dont hate Vega but the fact he feels the role given to Krogan squadmates in the previous games makes me like him a little less. Would have much rather had a Krogan that Jacob.

[@zackbiggins2022]

Kaiden is extremely underrated, I found myself really liking him in the third game. He is my preferable choice over Ashley anyday.

[@alphahale7668]

A romanceable character cheating on the main character is an interesting idea and would be pretty intriguing to explore if they did it well, you don't actually see that very often in games. Here it's just like "Oh, so he is an asshole. Anyway!"

[@theladycata9648]

I love the idea of it because there’s so much opportunity for character drama there that they totally brushed over. I like cute fluffy romances but my favorites are usually the dark twisted ones since they’re more interesting. I guess I do like how Jacob cheats on you but only because it gives me a lot of room for interesting headcanon, not because the writers actually did anything interesting with it. Maybe if people liked him more then they would have bothered

[@NumbDigger22]

Fella is into NTR lol

[@walterkrueger5947]

It could work if it was Liara, Kaiden, or Ashley since Shepard died, it could have made things very interesting.

[@JeanneCutieJ]

​@@walterkrueger5947the thing is most of the characters in the game don't seem like the type to cheat, ESPECIALLY Liara (in my humble opinion). So it makes sense for Bioware to have the most boring, shit character do that but it was still such a shit move

[@valor1omega]

Ashley kinda destroyed any relationship she could have had with how she treated us. I don't consider it cheating when I hooked up with Tali in 2&3. Hell if Tali was an option in ME1 I would never romanced Ash. As to Jacob he is like the unreliable guy everyone knows so it's not much of a surprise he does what he did in ME3.

[@cherylxiu1945]

I just want to mention that in a way, it isn't really surprising that Jacob cheats on Shepard. Jacob has quit literally everything he's ever been part of. He was Alliance. Quit. He joined the Corsairs. Quit that too. Presumably had a relationship with Miranda. My guess is, he quit that too. And as we know, he quit Cerberus, too. What has this man ever stayed loyal to? Nothing. Ever. So what is there to make you think he'd stay loyal to Shepard? The guy has major commitment issues. Huge red flag. Realising that is the moment my Shepard dumped his sorry ass for Garrus. I'm not excusing his behaviour, far from it. I AM saying that it's consistent with what we see of his character that he would do that.

[@housewilma4904]

im assuming miranda broke it off with jacob cause otherwise she would totally roast the shitte out of him if he pulled what he did femshep on her.

[@KhaosKulture]

He doesnt exist. He doesnt need his behavior excused.

[@silent_stalker3687]

In the original draft he was also indoctrinated but seemed to quit; you could decide to free him or not. He was supposed to be in the Miranda mission. So he even quit the reapers when they indoctrinated him, presumably

[@stylesrj]

Even when you've got him on the squad. He'll just quit being useful.

[@rwg6357]

I guess the Prize was just the experience!

[@ladylight9375]

The thing I hate about Jacob is while you're in jail between mass effect two and three he goes and knocks up another lady. Like wtf dude? You couldn't even wait?

[@gasalpha879]

It's not like the second game where you were quite literally dead, and 2 years pass, yet non of your previous romance options did anything like that, and this fucker, within 1/4 of the time, KNOWING you are alive , cheats on you and knocks another woman up, like wtf

[@comradet0m]

​@@gasalpha879 And he not only knows you're alive, he also knows the Reapers are basically at the Galactic doorstep thanks to the Arrival dlc in ME2 and that there's no way that the Alliance would keep Shepard benched when it kicks off for real.

[@featheredtoast]

I'm surprised that "femshep's terrible dialogue options" didn't even make the cut here. Every dialogue option seems to have this husky flirty tone when you talk with him and it is terrible. He could have gotten a forgettable pass otherwise.

[@pikmonwolf]

A shocking amount of complaints had to be left on the cutting room floor lol. 22 minutes was the briefest I could get it.

[@zigzaghyena]

@Mermaider And if perhaps he suffers an unfortunate accident in the Collector Base, well, his sacrifice will be honoured.

[@funbro99]

@@pikmonwolf make it a extra vid, nothing worse than spending jacob ranting. That said I personally still agreed to space legion but thats just my geth-hating ass.

[@-Zikade-]

Yeah that was so weird and immersion breaking to me cuz she was acting like she had a humongous lady boner for him regardless of how I wanted to RP her. (Btw, unpopular opinion, everyone says the voice acting of femShep is better and I guess objectively it is but one of the reasons why I actually kinda prefer m!Shep is because his delivery is more neutral. He has no moments like this bizarre one with Jacob. My favorite m!Shep RP was actually one in which he romanced nobody in 1-2, then ended up with Kaidan. It was totally believable, whereas if you decided to play similarly with femShep the scenes with Jacob make you go like "Uhh... did I miss something?")

[@Starsaber222]

Only time I had FemShep romance him was the playthrough where I intentionally had her love interests die. For those familiar with Stargate, I called it my "Sam Carter" playthrough.

[@Mulluns]

I wonder if BioWare just gave up on Jacob in 3 after seeing his reception in 2, and figured "Hey, people already hate him. Let's just let people still hate him, and make it worse for those who romanced him."

[@NostalgicGamerRickOShay]

They threw away my precious Kelly Chambers! Shepard doesn't even think about her during ME3's final run despite still being in a romance with her! 😩

[@PhysicsGamer]

@@NostalgicGamerRickOShay Chambers? Really? I get that I'm necro'ing a year-old comment, but I have to ask. The thing I remember her for most was offering to feed the fish in my fish tank. The fish which didn't exist. Because I hadn't bought any fish. She had noticed the fish tank but not the complete lack of fish.

[@Dragon_Lair]

I don’t believe he’ll stick around for his child or Brynn. Jacob has never, ever, stayed loyal to anything or anyone for any lengthy period of time. He has given up on literally every relationship and organization he has ever worked for.

[@martinosborne4703]

At risk of enforcing a stereotype, I have to agree. For someone who claims you don't know how to settle down, he sure lacks any form of consistency in his life.

[@nomadjensen8276]

Lol I'm laughing so hard right now.

[@roberthighsmith3192]

@Xbox One except as the video points out he gets pissy if you do to him what he eventually does to you. He even goes so far as to throw racial slurs at Garrus. He doesn't deserve your defense...

[@stevieblunder2656]

@Xbox One Bro, you are protesting just a little *too* much about this.

[@stevieblunder2656]

@Xbox One Which is fine in itself. My point is the you seem to only (very) strongly disagree with the Jacob/Femshep bit. To the point where you are going kinda far outta your way to try and justify it to people who you know you aren't going convince...and even get a little insulting with the power fantasy bit. You also keep ignoring the fact that most people seem to be saying it's shitty not necessarily because he does it, but how he acts when Femshep was like "Well, OK. Bye." He can go knock a rando up and we're supposed to be cool with it (which is whatever, I really don't care) but as soon as she's like "well, I'm gonna go bang Garrus" he loses his shit. It's hypocritical...and then he blames her for him doing it in the first place. If he'd have been like 'Well, it wasn't gonna go anywhere anyway so you do you" I doubt nearly as many people would have as much of an issue with it. But he doesn't. He wants to have his cake and eat it too and like most dbags he can't stand when his own crap is flipped back on him. I'm just saying it seems like there's a reason for you going so hard on this and that it has nothing to do with game.

[@Jasondurgen]

All of these mass effect videos flooding my feed is gonna get me to start a new play through soon

[@tjknight]

"I'm not big on forcing these talks Shepard, maybe later" but later never comes

[@smartalec2001]

It's rather weird that Jacob's dad is one of the few villains of the side stories with a personal connection to a squaddie that doesn't get some sort of redeeming feature, or an angle that we can kind of get. Niket thinks Miranda kidnapped her sister, Maelon wants to atone for his Genoophage work, Sidonis is wracked by guilt, Admiral Zaal'koris is trying to avert war, Aresh wants to put the suffering he went through into some sort of meaningful context, Vido Santiago got rid of Zaeed because Zaeed was running the Suns into the ground, even Morinth gets something where we might kind of understand and sympathise with her a bit. But not Ronald Taylor. He's written as irredeemable, a man who went crazy with power and became a tyrant, a murderer and a rapist and that's all there is to it, and I don't know why they did that. There's not much of a decision there to give an insight into Jacob, for sure.

[@Queen3210]

Lol I think you mean 'Ronald'; Ronald Taylor was Jacob's father. But I definitely get where you're going with this.

[@smartalec2001]

@@Queen3210 you're right, corrected.

[@thebigz3786]

A more shallow version of Walter E. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now.

[@jirkazalabak1514]

I thought it was actually very clever to write him that way, and quite realistic, too. Next to Jack´s loyalty mission, it gave us one of the darkest and most raw experiences in the entire game. Think of how much evil in the real world happens for no other reason than greed and lust for power. This mission teaches us a valuable lesson. There doesn´t always have to be a good reason for suffering. Sometimes, it happens just because the people in power are either too weak to stop it, or are actively complicit in it for their own gain. Knowing this truth is the difference between being an adult and being a child. The mission made me think about what I would have done in such a situation. Would I turn myself in, knowing that I would face punishment, or would I also try to cover it up? Also, we don´t really know how well the Blue Suns worked under Zaeed´s leadership. From what I have seen of Vido, I wouldn´t be surprised if he just betrayed Zaeed for money and power. In a business like that, it happens all the time. I think you are giving a scumbag like him a little too much credit. If Vido had been the captain during that crash, he would have most likely killed the others and taken the women for himself anyway, neural decay or not.

[@Killzoneguy117]

@@jirkazalabak1514 As shitty as Jacob is, his loyalty mission is one of my favorites. I couldn't figure out quite why until I saw @pikmonwolf compare it to Heart of Darkness. That's literally what it is. Its Heart of Darkness. You're going into this strange and alien world to find a man long lost, but the further you go, the more insight you get into his insanity, his savagery and his barbarism. You see a civilized man who turned into a savage and a tyrant and conscripted his people into his madness. Ronald Taylor is Colonel Kurtz. That's actually pretty fucking awesome. Unfortunately, unlike Heart of Darkness, Jacob's reaction simply boils down to "this is bad".

[@add8402]

In case anyone forgot, Jacob literally has his own spinoff game: Mass Effect: Galaxy. It was an IOS game released between ME1 and ME2, and covers the only part of his backstory he'll actually talk about in ME2 (him and Miranda saving the Citadel from terrorists). Because of this, he was one of the first squadmates from ME2 you could learn anything about. He got literally has a whole spinoff where we could learn more about him, and even in that game he still has literally nothing going on. What a disaster.

[@planescaped]

It is odd how heavily Bioware pushed Jacob, like they thought he'd be some kind of breakout character...

[@radityapoerwanto7018]

​@@planescaped It was an era where many Game companies are trying to make a Black MC, yet somehow none of them managed to write an interesting one.

[@AdblockWillWin7853]

Also, its an IOS game, so no good reason to care to begin with.

[@danang5]

oh wow,now im convinced this is some higher up self insert

[@Whoami691]

WE COULD HAVE HAD MASS EFFECT: ARCHANGEL BUT INSTEAD WE GOT *THAT!?*

[@TheRoxBox99]

For the boring squad, two of the three get something in the future that makes them more interesting Kaidan gets a potential gay love option with male Shepard, which was apparently supposed to be an option in 1, but BioWare wasn't allowed to do that due to the political climate of the time. But in 3, they decided to add it in anyway. So if you keep Kaidan alive with male Shepard, you have the option for them to get together. James got an entire MOVIE dedicated to him, Paragon Lost. An anime movie based off his backstory, with his squad being killed by the Collectors. I hear it's not the best film, but as far as I know, he's the only character in the entire franchise who got a movie. Jacob got nothing. He's that unlikable, he didn't get anything aside from a potential slap from FemShep in the Citadel DLC.

[@skysamurai4649]

I won’t call Kaidan boring. He is a wonderful character and I absolutely love him in the ME3. But even in ME1 he is a good character: kind, caring, respectful, righteous. IMHO his only problem is that he is overshadowed by very charismatic alien squadmates like Garrus, Tali, Liara, Jack, Thain, Mordin

[@mr.figgles]

I really grew to like Kaidan in ME3, as in he’s one of my favourites. Garrus is great, a close and competent friend you can have total trust in at all times. You comfortably have each others’ backs, ride or die. As ME3 went on I began to think of Kaidan like a brother. He isn’t totally competent, the bond isn’t one of unbreakable trust like with Garrus. It feels more like family. You know Kaidan, you know how much he wants to do the right thing, and in my case that won me over. He’s trying to find his way, and he’s looking to you for guidance. As much as he distrusts you at times, he’s always incredibly vulnerable with you, like you’ve known each other so long that it’s meaningless to hide. Garrus is the kind of friend you shoot the shit with, Kaidan is the kind of person you spend time with, if that makes any sense.

[@oatjuice5921]

i havent played in a couple of months and didnt have all crew names fresh in my mind took me like 2 minutes to realize you meant thane

[@optillian4182]

I romanced him in my second playthrough. He's an absolute gentleman. I want to be like him.

[@Blazieth]

Honestly, Kaidan is more boring by comparison. He's a human squadmate, and one without major personality issues. He has some bad history, but while he's willing to open up and talk about it, it's not something that tortures him. He's largely made peace with it; he's simply willing to talk about it if asked. He's largely professional, and even one of his biggest "weaknesses" is fairly plain - his older implant gives him migraines. It's not that Kaidan is _BORING._ It's that... well, he's human, and isn't a complete psychopath or cartoon character, in a cast of alien species.

[@Touriquette]

​@@BlaziethI like that he fills the archetype of 'Everyman', especially when you compare him to other human teammates and npcs. I like to imagine that he quite neatly represents what most enlist human servicemen are like personality wise. And considering the quest in ME1 with human biotics that got dealt a bad hand, he feels like a good foil in many moments. All in all, my opinion boils down that 'I wouldn't have minded spending more time with him', and I think that's ok.

[@coffeemaenad7455]

I loved the way you said "I would never romance Jacob." It was in the same tone of voice as "I would never set an orphanage on fire." But yeah, I'd defend Kai Leng as not worse than Jacob because Kai Leng is very funny, I have actually lost in combat with him because I was laughing. Jacob doesn't even have that!

[@TightSweaters4]

If you're referring to Thessia, you're not allowed to win. Seriously, if you manage to kill him the game is softlocked.

[@JimboPb05]

​@@TightSweaters4 That's funny, I might try that.

[@Dark_3333]

​@@TightSweaters4I almost killed him before the helicopter or whatever it is came to blind me

[@mettawatkutaninwat5411]

Also Kai Leng boss fight is literally just a reskin Phantom with beefier shield.

[@AdblockWillWin7853]

@@Dark_3333 the Harrier rifle did some work on him. I guess the reload spared me from softlocking the game; I didn't even know that could could happen. I _did_ have a save fucked up because of some weird falling/jumping animation in the cockpit of the Normandy, though.

[@crispyhundos]

The statement about him refusing to open up is right on the money. Even Jack, a character famous for her abrasive nature, opens up more than Jacob does.

[@Canadian_Zac]

Hell, she'll tell you about a bunch of things almost immediately. All about her activities and throwing things around, getting in trouble, even in a semi-relationship with a pair who betrayed her. Pretty much the first discussion you have with her is that. Jacob... All you know is. Was with the alliance. left because of Red tape. Joined Cerberus...... Thats it

[@eugenebirukov5117]

Compare Jacob’s attitude towards father committed crime to Tali’s in similar circumstances. Tali is devastated while Jacob rejects his father even before he has a chance to talk to him.

[@jimbob1862]

​@@eugenebirukov5117 To be fair Jacob walks in on his dad being an absolute piece of shit who only called for help because he was losing power over the other survivors and is open about not really being close to him before. It's a VERY different situation to Tali's, where she clearly respects and loves her father and is open about that from ME1, which makes her father's fuck up in 2 that much more tragic.

[@samanthasowell9307]

I think Jacob has trust issues like jack does. What is the difference? Is jack more awkward, and ultimately more lonely and seeking warmth then Jacob is? In a way she must be because she opens up fairly quickly. I don't think Jacob was too much of a coward to love anyone or open up to anyone. He even says that Miranda deserved a better man. Isn't that just another way to say she was too much for him? Sounds like he always wanted a quite mediocre life, where he could feel like he's loved or important, without having to compete for that recognition with his lover. He always gave me that impression and that's why I never liked him much myself😅

[@Veldazandtea]

More abusive people are actually more likely to open up. They got more pent up inside them and have to outlet more. So it makes sense in that regard. Therefor it can be argued Jacob might be too well grounded. In fact he's very "normal". And that's not a good thing. I can assure you that normal people remain weak and insecure and make excuses for it. Which may explain why many dislike Jacob when they are reminded of their own reflection. Perhaps that's the point of Jacob. To help contrast the players reflection while adding a sense of normalcy.

[@alecseuslev9054]

Jacob is a pretty interesting experiment. He's not some kind of strongly negative character, he's just.....not a very good and honest person. Reminds me of Makalov from Path of Radiance.

[@RappinPicard]

You forgot to mention that after you play his mission in ME3, Jacob spends the entire rest of the war standing around the lobby of Huerta Memorial doing jack shit.

[@bobdolesrevenge]

That's completely wrong. ...he also plays Rock'em Sock'em Robots with Shepard.

[@CommanderShepard-wq3wo]

@@bobdolesrevenge and I kicked his ass

[@hafann]

Sounds like most ME2 characters in ME3 tbh

[@aasigraa]

hahahaha yess.

[@Andrewza1]

@@hafann what? Not really they mostly end up doing shit and sort of why they not with you

[@fjorgyn7438]

I never talked to him aside from initiating his loyalty mission simply for the fact that you CANNOT talk to him as a femshep without laying on the super heavy flirting right out the gate. Literally everyone else was better than him.

[@powderkegs983]

Exactly! But unfortunately this is more of an issue with the dialogue writing for the femShep rather than Jacob's characterization. At least in ME3 the dialogues with Jacob for FemShep is much better, and his overall character is okay at least.

[@SchulzEricT]

Yeah, I saw somebody playing Mass Effect 3 as a female Shep and whenever she talked to him I was like... "gross". I never had that problem but I think it's really fucking lame that BioWare decided you couldn't talk to Jacob without flirting with him if you were female.

[@s.o.q2914]

I kind saw that I only wish to just did the mission and upgrades

[@toxicneamain]

Damn I feel you, it was super awkward since femShep felt like she was constantly flirting him even when she was talking about the weather. And the you get my boy Garrus who was calibrating the whole trip, was a bit clueless and I had to pursue him a lot to get the romance going.

[@CookiesEnthusiast]

Use mods to date Tali beforehand

[@Freyafanboy90]

It makes sense with Vega as Shepard was under house arrest for 6 months and Vega was his/her guard. That could be used as how Vega is friendily with Shepard. And yeah Vega is like a typical jarhead but I think Vega is indicative of new players that jump into ME3. Plus he's pretty good in a fight and his fortification is handy. And the nicknames he has for the crew are cheesey but he has lo-key bro vibes. If he was there from the start I'm sure something could've been done but how are you supposed to introduce a new charater at the end of a trilogy? I tend to be a bit more forgiving with Vega because of that. And of course he reminds me of a friend that I used to know.

[@pikmonwolf]

All great points! Personally I quite like Kaiden and Vega as well. But I didn't really have time to dive more into their good qualities and I worried that building them up too much would undercut the point of "even if you dislike them because you think they're boring, Jacob is significantly worse than them."

[@MrSweetiebear95]

His nickname freaked me out a bit on my first FemShep run, because I named her Lola and I thought I unlocked a secret lol

[@akris5080]

I loved his interactions in the Citadel DLC.

[@leonardchurch814]

Vega is charming and full of charisma. Aside from the start of ME3, he almost never falters as being the brightest person in the room.

[@ReelTaino]

@Max Montair He's energy is very contagious!

[@arsxxmoriendi]

Was not a fan of Vega when ME3 first came out. Just finished the second playthrough (first I've done in a decade) last night. Recently finished watching Rebels and absolutely lived Kanan Jarrus. First intro to Vega this time and I think...wait a minute...I know that voice... Vega is meant to be written off as a meathead jock until you spendbthe time to get to know him. Absolutely loved him this time around, his playful camaraderie with Cortez, one upsmanship with Garrus and utter delight at cooking his hungover friends his famous huevos rancheros!

[@Jetsetradio]

True story, I spent most of the first game expecting Kaidan to betray me because he had so little going on. That said... He's boring, but if you think about his backstory, he really isn't as bad off as it comes off. As one of the earliest biotics he has a lot of problems and he's been through some shit because of it. That he's as mellow as he is, is actually a credit to him.

[@Queen3210]

I agree 100%. He could've turned out like Jack for all the shit that happened to him (okay, maybe Jack is a bit too extreme, but he could have been angry and resentful; possibly even become one of those biotic cultists). And if you really think about it, the reason behind him being so "bland" has to do more with his regret regarding what his temper did to his Turian abuser but at "Brain Camp". You could argue that he keeps a sharp reign on his temper and emotions because he's afraid of losing control and allowing it to happen again.

[@jackmacgillicutty8045]

Kaiden's problem is he's already had his arc before ME1. He doesn't have much room to grow.

[@thegrimcroissant]

@@jackmacgillicutty8045 While I can see where you’re coming from, Kaidan actually does grow as a character in ME 3. It’s too easy to overlook his character growth because he isn’t as interesting as other characters, but that doesn’t mean it’s nonexistent. He’s a great foil to Shepard now that they’re both human spectres. Shepard being confident in what they’re doing whereas Kaidan is constantly questioning himself. Their debates on the Normandy crew’s role gives more dimension to Kaidan than we’ve ever seen in the previous games. He’s also beginning to use his biotics more comfortably ME 3 as well. In ME 1, he was afraid to use his biotics on someone in fear of repeating the same mistake he made at Jump Zero. In ME 3, he’s using his biotics at the very beginning of the Citadel DLC on 2 soldiers, and he’s one of the few human characters who learned how to reave despite having L2 implants. When you’re romancing Kaidan as BroShep, you could argue that he always had feelings for Shepard, but was too hesitant to tell him in fear of fraternization. It wasn’t until ME 3 when Kaidan realizes how much he’s lost, and that he know longer cares about the consequences of fraternization. He loves Shepard. Regardless if Shepard’s male or female, he loves them, even after Horizon. I love Ashley, but the same could be said for her arc in ME 1. She fought with the Salarian soldiers in Virmire, she saves her family name. But in ME 3, her character writing becomes inconsistent. She went from being a good soldier who puts family as her biggest priority, to an alcoholic that’s focused more on military. Kaidan does grow as a character. He does have room to grow. The article in the description really gave me an eye opener for both him and Ashley. I recommend reading it.

[@RaRmAn]

Interesting reason to expect betrayal, I was expecting it from Wrex and Liara in ME1, the game pushes her on you so much it felt like obvious sleeper agent, and Wrex, well him being so trigger happy made me suspicious.

[@rizkiagustian7640]

Thing about Kaidan is that, even if he's boring, his backstory still provides some additional insight into the Mass Effect world. His personal story is actually quite important for the worldbuilding. In a way, he sets up Jack's whole storyline and provides the player with a personal connection to the life of biotics in the game. One small thing that I'm a bit disappointed in is the fact that there aren't any meaningful additional conversations options if the player were a biotic too. Wished there were some little comments here and there commenting on the Shepard's skills depending on his/her class. Like maybe Kasumi commenting how surprised she was at how good you were at hacking if you were an Infiltrator, or Miranda commenting on how strong your biotics are if you were a Vanguard, little things like that. The player class seems to be exclusively a gameplay option separated from the word.

[@troggdorthesecond]

I think one of my biggest frustrations about Jacob. Was knowing that there was a way they could easily salvage him. Not the romance stuff, I'm not confident enough to fix that train wreck, femsheps deserve MUCH better. But of his overall character. Before you head to Freedom's Progress you learn that before joining Cerberus, Jacob was part of the Corsairs. A black ops division of the Alliance that does the dirty jobs that the Alliance military would rather not be connected to. Literally the Alliance equivalent, OF the Spectres. It is NEVER brought up again, and it is a GOLDEN missed opportunity. Because I feel even BioWare forgot this. They're not even mentioned as a War Asset in ME3 for crying out loud. As a man who used to work in black ops should have no problem working with mercs or assassins, they're virtually the same thing since they both work outside of governmental law. EXPLORE the Corsairs, what separates them from the Spectres, how many people did Jacob have to kill, bury, and hide before he got sick of it and joined Cerberus, or better yet. Make him join Cerberus because he felt COMFORTABLE doing that stuff. There's a LOT you can dig into if you just explored that overlooked part of the Alliance. But instead, all we got were daddy issues, black stereotypes, and "the PRIZE" memes. BI

[@illizcit1]

Well put. I forgot about his preCerb days.!

[@troggdorthesecond]

@@illizcit1 So did BioWare! 8D

[@unhackerthelaziestbastardo6083]

I mean, if I was writing Jacob. I would've made Jacob be a still active member of the Corsairs and basically on a deep-cover operation infiltrating Cerberus, it might be interesting. And it can offer a reason for the player to trust Jacob if he brings it up and admits that he's still a Corsair, rather than him just not wanting to talk about it, he doesn't because he might let something slip.

[@Ghost19_]

I never knew this, I'm already re-running the whole ME legendary ed this month and it kind of sad they missed this 'improved' opportunity for Jacob. Would love to see the corsair backstory be part of his character progression as well.

[@segevkrespi8609]

@@unhackerthelaziestbastardo6083 knowing how well the illusive man's connections and information network are, he would have found out the truth about Jacob in no time

[@SleepyKwee]

I'm sorry but you mentioned Cortez so I MUST express: I love him. He's an amazing character. He was broken up, grieving and had no will to live but just by being there, you see him through and save his life. And he's a total sweetheart, I checkup on all squad mates between missions and he said "You look tired, have you been sleeping?" and I think he knows Shepard suffers PTSD for this, he likely even had it himself after losing Robert. But he was such a sweet and beautiful character, I adore him. So glad he was added to the game. ❤️

[@speedyazi5029]

I couldn't help but feel bad for Cortez. He has the most tragic back story for a side character serving on the Normandy imo. A recent loss of a partner with barely any time to grieve.

[@SleepyKwee]

@@speedyazi5029 Definitely and he HEARD it happening but was unable to do anything, that would kill me. 💔

[@mackb2852]

Ill be honest I thought Cortez wasnt anything more than the shuttle pilot back when I first played through when I was 16. But ive grown to appreciate him. Hes a great addition

[@roviH]

I still get some goosebumps when his shuttle crashes near the end of the game and Shepard screams his name.

[@Matthy63]

Tbh when I was I think 17 or 18 and got into Mass Effect I played them in reverse order (I know), so because I had no emotional attachment to any character in particular I ended up romancing Cortez as mshep because the concept itself was wild for 2012. Then in ME2 Tali because I *did* get emotionally attached to her on the basis of her arc in ME3. ME1 I don't remember, maybe Liara, maybe nobody. I think I literally sacrificed Kaidan on Virmire, then went like "...no." and literally replayed the whole mission to save him instead. Because I started with ME3 I couldn't save both Tali and fake!Legion and got so salty at the time, it's what made me want to play through the whole thing As a character I mean, I remember finding Cortez a bit boring compared to the 10 main cast aliens but a nice guy all the same. If I had had my pick of absolutely anyone it would probably have been either Joker (his disability doesn't define his character but IS very relevant to his character development and an interesting part of his inner conflict) or Vega (ngl that was mostly just my reptile brain but who cares lol).

[@blueripper1558]

I know one good thing about him His dad is Lee Everitt

[@seeinred]

Can we just appreciate the amount of soul put into Garrus? The guy is *the* bro, like a perfect example, best possible.

[@marcusblackwell2372]

And Liara and Tali are the perfect romances

[@ThunderChunky101]

All he does is whinge.

[@sof0099]

​​@@ThunderChunky101I'm on my second playthrough and he doesn't? Unless you mean in ME3 where his homeworld is being attacked and his family is dying and many of his past squadmates die? If he is doing something, he is not whinging, he is calibrating.

[@vaevictis2789]

​@@marcusblackwell2372meh, Liara was spoiled by writers just for giving an excuse to not make her companion in ME2

[@DaytonaRoadster]

Best space bro since Chewbacca

[@adamg5193]

"We need a tech expert" Jacob who isn't a tech expert: "Me. I'll do it" "Did someone just say something?"

[@Skullhawk13]

No no always use him as your tech expert. Then he’s gone

[@kingofthegundam7974]

Considering that Jacob left the Alliance due to the constant red tape, I would have thought seeing his father ultimately throw away all regulation and law to become a harem king would have made him realize that the rules exist for a reason, maybe make Jacob question if he's also living out a juvenile fantasy by throwing his lot with Cerberus. That angle could have made the Loyalty Mission a bit more interesting, maybe give him some development, but I guess not.

[@dark7element]

Yeah, the loyalty mission felt like a missed opportunity in so many ways. It was an interesting scenario but then it feels like Jacob barely even shows up to HIS OWN LOYALTY MISSION, the scenario that is SUPPOSED to center on him and give his characterization a chance to shine through.

[@InitialPC]

"I don't like the red tape of the Alliance, so I'm going to join Cerberus! no red tape there!" said no one ever, except Jacob

[@FalenDragmire]

Jacob's problem was never that there were rules. His problem was that there were so many rules that it often made it difficult, if not downright impossible, to get things done effectively or even done at all in some cases. Hilariously, this is the exact same issue Garrus had when he was still a part of C-Sec; he hated having to play by the rules and going through all the red tape.

[@CREDLACE]

And even then GARRUS made it better, heck he was C-Sec and a potential Spectre candidate, bogged down by both his father and Red Tape, and he went to a Wretched Hive to become a Vigilante where his good deeds earned him the nickname "Archangel". Not quite Cerberus but at least he strived to make a difference.

[@AgentofChaos315]

I swear his loyalty mission was some random side quest that they tacked onto Jacob when they couldn't come up with one for him.

[@pandaking1300]

Screw representation make good characters

[@AustinFoss00]

I actually really like Vega in ME3. He might be a bit boring compared to other characters but as a stereotypical soldier type guy, he was done well. You actually like him during the game and he comes across as a good soldier that you would want covering your back. Wish we could have seen a cutscene where Vega beats Jacob up... I can dream

[@annemusekamp336]

Also, I can’t help but like Vega, especially because he’s a prototype for my absolute fave, The Iron Bull in Dragon Age

[@luxeternity]

He has so many funny/good lines ..that's why we like him

[@hooahguy14]

Vega in one game was more interesting than Jacob in two games, no doubt.

[@HamanKarn567]

I never knew people didn't like vega he's always been one of my favorites.

[@HolyknightVader999]

Vega is what Shepard would have been in his/her younger years. A soldier seeking to prove themselves worthy.

[@YuzaruKisekiKokoro]

the exsistance of Garrus Vakarian at all automatically ruined the chance of most characters to either, romance or bromance shepard XD

[@gaelofariandel6747]

Am I your dirty little secret?

[@DragonRhapsody99]

for me, Garrus became so much of a bro I couldn't romance him LMAO Thane is my one true man

[@Notsoshady4891]

Garrus, doesn't get Tali sick... and their sweet together...

[@Blast_S_rank_1]

@@Notsoshady4891 the fuck you talking about lol

[@Notsoshady4891]

@@Blast_S_rank_1 Garrus and Tali have their own romance if you don't with either of them. I thought that happened in ME2, but I guess it happened in ME3.

[@NaruNerd100]

I dont think vega deserves to be called boring. The spar you have with him at the start of 3 is an interesting/unique way to get to know him and he is more of a bro than the other 2. Plus he is pretty fun to have in the squad with his dialogue

[@pikmonwolf]

Him "hacking" the AA gun on Rannoch is one of my favorite moments in the series.

[@Crawver]

Agreed. Vega just has the issue of him being the newbie human at the end of the trilogy. What can they do with him? I actually do like what they did when I actually paid attention to him. He's a younger you. He's you at a crossroads, still bearing the scars and pain of his standout history moment, and has yet to turn into the true leader he is going to become. If he was in 1 instead of Kaiden, he'd have been a fan favourite, with all the time to grow, and would actually make sense for a character who makes spectre status by the end. He'd need a little bit of tweaking, but him being essentially your hot headed apprentice would have actually been a great dynamic. Also should keep him as non-romancable. I actually always liked that part of him.

[@sev1120]

Kaidan: long time ally who you've worked with for a long time James: every group's bro friend who is also kind-of a himbo Jacob: he's there I guess?

[@papadoug4681]

@@Crawver truthfully he's a very fun and cool character. But like you said he's already at a huge disadvantage by 1. Being a human in a series with sick ass aliens. And 2. Late to the party being only introduced in 3

[@galaxy-wg1lf]

"Too much information"

[@DruidGoblin]

Okay, 100% agree with everything, would just like to add, while Jacob is a really REALLY bad representation of Black people, I would like to point out that the game, may not have good Black squadmates, but it has wonderful representation. Like for example, Anderson, the man is a beast, he sticks by you through thick and thin to the point he gets fired, that is extreme loyalty, he is brave and is right there with you, he dies by your side, he is like a father figure to Shepard and besides Shepard he is the guy who did the most for the galaxy.

[@waelse1]

The bad advice aspect hadn't occurred to me but is an irritant. You just can't talk to him, all conversations are strained and weird. And there are better fighters to take with you on missions.

[@pikmonwolf]

So true, his dialogue is all so clunky and unnatural.

[@Blake4months]

god forbidden you pick the supposed nice option too and you end up back in me1 avoiding 2 squadmates cause if you pick the nice options your flirting. bruh im tryin to make you loyal!

[@Mysticgamer]

@@Blake4months It's the worse part about talking to him with a femshep.

[@Blake4months]

@@Mysticgameri wont lie i just get his mission and upgrade i dont wanna deal with it anymore lol

[@mxmissy]

@@Blake4months It's what I did in my first playthrough of Legendary Edition, I just went "okay gonna renegade every option so I don't romance w/ you, get your loyalty mission, done it, never speaking to you again."

[@perfectharbinger1398]

I still think the nano-second I turned on Jacob is, after you recruit Tali, where he makes a condescending remark to Tali about getting to know the new A.I, EDI. Sounds like Jacob being ignorant, right? Wrong. Reminder: Jacob explicitly mentions learning about the geth in school AND fighting Geth on Eden Prime. Which means he knows *exactly* what the Quarian/Geth sentiment is like, what AI mean to the Quarians and he fucking says it anyway. Fuck this clown. The only downside to killing off Jacob is that you've got to hear his voice lines in the already-awful ME3 nightmare sequences.

[@BobTheReaper]

I hardcore disagree. When I heard that dialogue in no way did it come off as condescending. And out of all the people you recruit in me2 who should be made aware of EDI its Tali

[@RykersRange]

Dude same, that was the part of me that subconsciously pinned him down as being my least favorite character along with being boring as hell when compared to everyone else in 2.

[@ThatManiacbucket]

Guy's insulting garrus AND tali? I know who's getting left at the collector base.

[@cousinzeke4888]

If Tali is actually that weak she belongs in an airlock.

[@ThatManiacbucket]

@@cousinzeke4888 Least you can say she's vastly more useful then jacob.

[@anthonya824]

The game acknowledges Jacob’s blandness in the lair of the shadow broker.

[@Ramblinman26]

8:39 Also Kaiden and Vega have decently interesting backstories that they will open up and tell you about.

[@AvatarRiku]

I’m going to have to disagree with you on Garrus though. Zaeed is literally outside the airlock on Omega. You can replace Jacob much faster this way.

[@pikmonwolf]

Okay fair lol. But Zaeed isn't really supposed to be your friend, he's very business focused when you meet.

[@AvatarRiku]

@@pikmonwolf that is true, but you know who he hangs out with at your party? Garrus. (Yes Garrus is best space bro since Chewie)

[@zigzaghyena]

@@pikmonwolf I'll take professionalism over faux friendship any day of the week.

[@derokdeathaxe6984]

Zaeed is a dlc character tho. I mean he is part of the group but if you don't have the dlcs?

[@Dragon_Lair]

@@derokdeathaxe6984 He's default part of the game in Legendary Edition.

[@sammyiisammy5113]

I once took Jacob to fight the Human Reaper to check on his dialogue with the Illusive Man (like Miranda has). But he didn't even notice him. And after the end of the game, Jacob says something like "I wish I could see the Illusive Man's face when you turned him down" even if he was there. Apparently, by the end of ME2, no one thought that someone would choose Jacob as a team member. They had already gave up on him back then. Or were sure that he would already be dead due to his own stupid decisions, idk

[@J.J.Jameson_of_Daily_Bugle]

I think this is because while making ME2 they already had rough idea of where ME3 plot would go, so they decided to focus more on Miranda as she's kinda very similar to Shepard, while Jacob is kinda just out there. If you remove Jacob from ME2, you wouldn't even feel the difference, but try removing Miranda or Garrus, you would feel the impact.

[@soaringraven0]

he really wanted to go in the vents :/

[@dizzpenzerr5367]

That dig at Tali with telling her to familiarize herself with EDI the ship's AI solidified my decision to bench him as often as possible.

[@dizzpenzerr5367]

I only ever choose him to escort the normandy crew back to the ship when we save them at the suicide collecter base. At least he's good doing that. Play babysitter and miss out on all the cool final mission moments action.

[@davidrosensin7985]

@@dizzpenzerr5367 I just don't do his loyalty mission and watch him die...but that's just me.

[@ThejollyFrenchman]

Honestly, I wasn't sure if that was an intentional dig, or if Jacob's just an idiot.

[@guilhermehank4938]

Jacob: *trash talk suit babe* Me: meet the airlock

[@fawnieee]

@@guilhermehank4938 as a Garrus mega simp, seeing him call my beloved a "cuttlebone" is... Unforgivable 🙅

[@ashlest]

How can anyone say Kaidan and Vega are boring? Two of your loyal friends who have a great sense of humor and support you when you screw up? Seriously, dude? You played the wrong game :))

[@emmafurth2873]

The point about Jacob refusing to open up to you is a good one, and not one I'd heard before. I wonder if the writers weren't trying to copy what they did with Kaidan; like Jacob, he also insists that he's over his past and doesn't need your help processing it. Maybe the writers were trying to make both characters feel like stable, mature adults to contrast the hot messes who make up the rest of your squad. The key difference is that, while Kaidan might not need your help dealing with his baggage, he still opens up to you about it. He talks in detail about his past, and how it shaped who he is today, giving you ample opportunity to connect with him over it. Jacob, on the other hand, just gives you a resume. Another key difference: Kaidan doesn't have a loyalty mission. The loyalty missions, by their nature, require the characters to have unfinished business they need the players help to deal with. Trying to make Jacob the "I've already dealt with my past" character just makes him seem weirdly uninvested in his own loyalty mission.

[@Theeight8b]

It is what I, actually, loved about Kaiden. He's... well.. just professional, I guess. He does not have some big issues, apart of his migraines and can't compare to Tali or Liara naïve approach in first games, or moral dilemma of Garrus and Wrex, or some, again, daddy issues of Ashley. But even still he's got some good points and ground to stand on. Dat's kinda neat.

[@thomasjoychild4962]

Kaidan's repeated assurances that he's dealt with his past is a joke about Carth from KOTOR, Raphael Sbarge's previous Bioware character, who had a lot of issues with his past to the extent that he's memed as going on constant paranoid rants about having been betrayed before. :P

[@WashupCyclone]

There’s also the fact that after completing like 20% of ME2, Jacob only says “Already? I’m not big on these talks” when you try to talk to him. It makes it sound like you’re coming on to him even if you haven’t spoken for like 5 missions

[@pikmonwolf]

True, his 'I'm out of conversations' line is very condescending when most everyone else is polite, just busy.

[@koffeeyka5089]

Exactly this. He said this to me twice (multiple missions happened inbetween, including his loyalty mission), so after that I was like - okay, never talking to you ever again then.

[@Spearra]

@@pikmonwolf Mfw Miranda, Jack, and Grunt early game all have better manners than the "level headed soldier character"

[@jaxusr235]

It surprised me greatly when I spoke with him for the first time right before the final mission and got the line. Supremely rude, to say the least.

[@Petaurista13]

it reminds me my mother who always scold me of talking to her when she's busy. For over 20 years. Usually she reads newspaper or just sits idle then. Me when I say I'm busy: 1. Talking to somebody who has major problems so I need to focus on talking to him/her 2. Doing sth important 3. Have episode of lying on the floor and I don't want to talk to anybody

[@shoganza8616]

Big agree. Something I read about recently kind of helped me contextualize the reason they did Jacob's dad the way they did, and I wonder if you've seen it, too. Doesn't make me enjoy Jacob by any means, but it makes it make sense. There's some reason to believe that every crew member had a direct opposite that they would eventually fight with, which would force Shepard to intervene to avoid the loss of loyalty. We still have Jack vs Miranda and Tali vs Legion in the game, however, its not hard to see what the other conflicts would have been (especially since some of the dialogue lines you get in game seem to foreshadow this). The idea would be that you would have a fight between Mordin and Grunt about the ethics of the genophage, a fight between Samara and Garrus about whether morality necessitates the violation of the law, and lastly, a fight between Thane, an absentee father who believes people aren't always accountable for their actions and Jacob, the child of an AWOL father who he very much believes is responsible for his actions. Mind you, the fights with Tali, Legion, Jack and Miranda only happen after you've done their loyalty missions, so as much as I hate how hard Jacob is on Thane immediately, it makes more sense to me in the context that they were originally meant to get into a dispute about it which would for better or worse resolve it. This, by no means fixes all the inherent problems with his characterization, but kind of contextualizes some of his weird potshots at Thane and why they felt that they needed to push the fatherhood angle so hard with Jacob. I kind of wish this angle had been pursued, because at least it would have given us a better exploration of how he thinks and feels about things.

[@zafelrede4884]

You are completely right. I wish we did get more of those fights between crew members. There was a lot of unexplored potential in ME2. Still a great game though.

[@sarasunshinemt4444]

See, this is why I read thru the comment sections of Mass Effect videos. Y'all will find some aspect that I didn't notice and make me think. I would NEVER have out this all together and now I'm like "how did I MISS THIS?!" Especially as my brother pointed out that it's not the Normandy SR2, it's the Daddy Issues SR lol

[@megasocky]

He couldve had a major bond moment with Tali after her father dies and they have the whole "when do you stop reacting to your parents and start living" thing

[@SpoopyChicken]

I honestly really like Kaidan, I know the scene where he just refuses to listen to a word you say during the collector attack was frustrating, but the payoff in ME3 of him learning to trust you again and eventually trusting you over Udina was really satisfying and somewhat wholesome. I considered them a long-time friend and personal "bro" to my Male Shep... Oh... wait, this video is about Jacob, I forgot he existed.

[@AwesomeRhinoFish]

Also I love how the first time you see him in ME3 he gets shot immediately and is then useless for the rest of the mission.

[@StLuxiya]

Shows that someone at Bioware knew what they were doing. They realised how useless he was but couldn't outrightly remove him for continuity purposes.

[@jdbeast]

This video right here. Spot on. Jacob's hatred for Thane was hilarious.....Bro you technically are a mercenary!!

[@knitkat5846]

He's mad because a large section of the players who play as femshep would rather romance a depressed, dying alien assassin than him.

[@LS-jv9hp]

@Knit Kat id go gay for thane xD

[@Sinyao]

Thane was my first romance and I never regretted it.

[@MiniBlackWaltz]

@@LS-jv9hp who wouldn't? Assuming Garrus wasn't available, of course

[@mikeb5063]

@@knitkat5846 most would also probably pick Legion over him as well.

[@aaronb5514]

Jacob was like watching paint dry. The flirty Krogan poet who had 5 min of screen time was more of a engaging character than he was. To make matters worse, Jacob fit the stereotypical black male mold. Absentee father, and infidelity issues If you played with femshep.

[@SagaciousNihilist]

Well that Stereotype is backed by statistics so it shouldnt be called a stereotype but reality, same with their tendency for criminality.

[@MagnusVictor2015]

@@SagaciousNihilist Fair enough, but pretty much all of the Mass Effect characters theme has always been about breaking molds and revealing hidden depths. Sure, most of them are in-universe/fictional stereotypes, but they all get broken anyways. The team's token Turian isn't a by-the-book militarist; he's a rebellious cowboy cop with a soft heart. The team's token Quarian isn't a shifty, light-fingered thief; she's a dedicated, hardworking kind soul. The team's token Salarian (who literally WORKED ON the Genophage) isn't a Krogan-hating mad scientist; he's a kind, Gilbert-and-Sullivan-reciting mad scientist! The team's Krogan Warlord isn't a Salarian-hating warmonger; he's a gruff but fair depressed mercenary who wants to see his people survive. The team's literal GETH isn't a kill-all-organics Reaper servant; he's a weird fellow who seems to have a hero complex for Shepard. The team's AI, who is literally made by smashing the pieces of that murderous rogue AI from Luna base in ME1 and parts from a dead Reaper together...and is a cool person who defends her friends. The team literally recruits Cerberus's former #2 leader, and she's...actually perfectly okay with aliens, and fights against Cerberus now. Etc., etc. But the team's token black man isn't a serial-cheater frequent-failure with daddy issues, he's...actually, no, he *is* a serial-cheater who has accomplished nothing in his career and has some deep absentee-father issues. He's the only crew member from the ME games that I can think of who fits every negative stereotype that would be held about him. It just makes him a boring character: he's exactly what you'd expect from his first introduction. It honestly would have been much more interesting if he was outright villainous, and remained loyal to Cerberus while acting as a mole in Shep's team through ME3. At least that would have made there be *something* unusual or interesting about his character.

[@guillermoelnino]

@@SagaciousNihilist based

[@guillermoelnino]

It's not racist if it's true.

[@HoHhoch]

@@SagaciousNihilist It's not because they're black, it's because they're poor.

[@joshfellows6161]

I don’t know. I played as male shephard, and I appreciate that Jacob had our back and was trustworthy throughout the series. I think he just didn’t have much to do, and next to Miranda, anyone is gonna look bad.

[@TheSorrel]

You know what I really hate about Jacob? Even if you didn't romance him in any way, he will tell you about his relationship with Brynn as if you're supposed to care.

[@awwmahbreadsticks1094]

lol fucking wouldn’t open up to me on the Normandy about his time as a Corsair but he’ll tell me all about how he’ll propose to Bryn and what they’ll call the baby

[@jebes909090]

the only thing that bugged me about jacob is , when i was playing fem-shep, literally EVERY conversation turned into them flirting. like the game was forcing you into a relationship with him. its wierd because hes the only squadmate like that in all the games. so i just stopped talking to him any more then necessary.

[@j19games24]

This is how I feel about Cortez while playing maleshep. Your only options are: sympathize, which makes him have a crush on you, be a total dbag, or ignore him. It's impossible to just be bros. But, it's good to know I should ignore Jacob when I finally get around to doing a femshep playthrough, although let's be honest, I was going to ignore Jacob the moment I got a 3rd squad member either way. At least with Cortez he is a lot easier to ignore since he isn't a squad mate, and isn't trying to give you terrible tactical advice like Jacob does once every couple hours.

[@enidanni3919]

I ACCIDENTALLY ROMANCED HIM BC OF THIS i triggered the romance thing and said ok why not im already here genuinely one of the most empty feeling relationships in all the series

[@josephford2226]

Something similar happened to me in ME3 when Kaiden was suddenly bisexual and into my male Shephard. My first playthrough, I was so fucking taken off guard when he suddenly started flirting with me. I genuinely felt uncomfortable as I turned him down after he hit on me for the first time ever.

[@torbbi1069]

yeah he was really hypersexualized

[@Tystolfo]

Just finished playing ME3 and James is the exact same way, it's just that it works for him because James is just a naturally flirty guy I guess.

[@makky-kat3719]

I think it's a testament to how bad Jacob is that I (who hasn't played the Mass Effect series in a good 4 years or so) clicked the video and said "wait, who's Jacob?"

[@zigzaghyena]

I just witnessed a murder and we can't even ID the victim.