Mass Effect: Andromeda - In Defense of Liam

Historically human crew members have not been universally loved by Mass Effect players. The newest members of that cast are Cora Harper and Liam Kosta. People aren't exactly spreading the love to Liam and Cora. I don't have much to say about Cora because she really thinks she's an albino Asari. But, Liam is getting an unfair assessment because people aren't paying attention to the story and actually speaking to him beyond the first few missions and we're going to clear up some complaints right now.

First, there's this idea that Liam is bad at his job because he's changed careers several times. He didn't change because he was bad, he changed because he no longer felt connected to what he was doing. First Liam tried Engineering but didn't think he was making a connection people. As a police officer he left because he felt the corruption was too strong. Finally he began search and rescue where he felt as if he was actually helping people. The next career he had was working under Alec Ryder where he had been chosen for his background in multiple fields. He wasn't just getting fired left and right because he was bad at his job. He left because he felt the job no longer matched where he was in his life. Don't act like you never left a job because you didn't want to be there anymore. 

Next, there's the idea that he's not smart. The man was an engineer, but left to pursue law enforcement. He's not an idiot. Additionally he's the person who manages all of the jump jets for the crew as well as armor modifications. Just because he's not reprogramming Remnant Tech like Peebee, doesn't mean he's borderline illiterate. 

Liam is a little overemotional at times, I don't have anything to argue against that. He is, but so are a lot of people. Sure, sometimes he'll empty a clip into someone's face when it's not really necessary, but you would too if you saw how the Kett treated innocent civilians. There's also the incident where Liam provides Angarans with Nexus information as a peace offering because he stated the leadership in both groups wanted to play it safe. Liam instead chose to go behind their backs and work on building bonds between the groups. This wasn't a stupid idea, it didn't work, only due to variables he could not have predicted. However, his emotions led to him creating a stronger bond than simply creating an embassy would have. 

Liam is a guy who fucks up, I get that, I relate. You probably do too even if you don't want to admit it. But, here's the thing, it makes him human. Vetra is the perfect smuggler, Drack is almost the perfect Krogan, Cora has the best biotics of any human we've met, and the list goes on. The reason Liam and Ryder get along is because they've both landed in these roles that neither had prepared for. Liam and Ryder thought they'd be helping settle a new colony and now they're out facing down the Kett and being forced to find new worlds that can be settled because the ones they planned for were destroyed.

I'm not saying Liam is the best crew member ever, I'm just saying he gets painted in a poor light. You don't have to put your feet into his shoes to understand why he's overwhelmed with the situation because you're in the same shoes as Ryder. Neither of you expected this, you both expected Alec to lead the pathfinder mission around the planet or Cora in the event something happened. But now you're pathfinder and he's exploring an entire galaxy. You don't have to take him on every mission, you don't even have to love him, but cut him some slack. Also, he has really funny banter with everyone except Cora, she hates him for some reason.

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet. You can also check out his playthrough of Sleeping Dogs or Skyrim

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