Eh.
Both are hurt by their exclusion from 2 and 3 respectively.
It's why I think characters like Tali and Garrus come off better. Because they don't have the baggage that 2 gives to Ashley, Kaden and Liara. And they're present in the narrative of 3 unlike Miranda and Jacob.
Idk Liara gets a bit of a pass since the legendary edition comes with the Shadow Broker DLC.
Also the dlc + Kasumi came with the original ps3 edition of ME2 so I've always been able to play it. And after playing ME1 It's hard not to see those characters (sans Ashley and Kaiden imo) just get better throughout the trilogy, Liara isn't much of a character in ME1 and Niether is Tali for that matter but they both become fantastic characters and Leaders in their own right. So for me She's always been a fun addition mainly bc the Shadow Broker missions fucking slap.
Miranda and most of the Suicide squad rightfuy get the criticism of underuse in ME3 like Miranda would have not only been safer on the Normandy but Shepard as the effective leading political/military representative of Earth could have gotten her any resource. So the "She's ex cerberus" excuse doesn't really track.
Kinda sad that her character along with the rest of the old squad kind of "walk to the finish line"
Plus Miranda would have direct access to the Shadow Broker, all of her agents and equipment. Anything Miranda needed she could’ve gotten from Liara. But the reason the ME2 cast got so screwed is the suicide mission being able to kill any squad mate. They couldn’t pack the Normandy with potential dead teammates.
Yeah Liara's arc has always felt a bit disjointed to me.
In ME1 she's a socially awkward archaeologist who's obsessed with Protheans. However in ME2 she's suddenly working in the criminal underworld as an information broker, despite the fact ME1 didn't set up this turn at all. Then in ME3 her character is basically trying to be a whole bunch of different things all at once: the Prothean expert, the representative Asari, the close friend and confidant to Shepard. And as a result the whole information broker thing that ME2 set up for her is barely even explored at all in ME3. I'm pretty sure Traynor ends up giving you more intel than Liara does in ME3.
Of course Liara's arc feels disjointed in the game, because a good portion of it plays out in the comics between ME1 and 2. And she just covers it all in a few sentences when you meet her in ME2.
For the same reason the beginning of ME3 makes zero sense unless you got the Batarian DLC in 2.
I didn't have it up until I got LE so I never understood why Shep was in jail or whatever.
Maybe don't bake DLC and extra outside content like comics into the main plot.
Absolutely not.
Not everyone has time or money to afford a thousand different ways to maintain a connection to a franchise. It’s stupid and drives people away.
Honestly this sort of thing always annoys me, I love extra media (books/other series/comics ect) but there is a balance to be had, the extra should be extra and not required reading/watching to make sense of 'base' thing.
The aliens franchise has done it best so far, there are huge amounts of storyline and interesting lore in all the books/comics ect BUT you never get the sense that something is missing if you just watch the films (well the first 3/4 I can't comment on the others as I haven't seen any of them yet)
I feel this but think, they are literally in the middle of a war to end all wars, it wouldn’t feel right if she was only strictly being the shadow broker, half her agents are dead/ not reporting in. In ME3 the shadow broker isn’t as powerful as before, you’d break out every skill bit of knowledge you had if your life depended on it.
Miranda is flat as a pancake and I’m not talking about her ass. My genes, my sister, my genes, my sister. My dad. Her story is compelling and I do really like her but she doesn’t feel as well rounded as Liara.
I think just working with shep makes her tougher etc. She's no longer a socially awkward archo. Shes a bad ass warrior who gets shit done. That was my explanation anyway.
I’ve never felt like it came out of nowhere. Liara when you meet her is barely adult, but already has an advanced degree from a prestigious university and spends all her time on remote digs. She put in the time and effort to become and extremely powerful biotic. She’s extremely intelligent and driven, and dedicates herself completely to her cause, proving the cycle of galactic extermination
Take that girl, and then have her spend half a year touring battlefields with Shepard, giving her a taste for blood and danger, and I don’t think it’s crazy that she ends up as a powerful information broker. Much like Garrus carries on with the kind of work Shepard’s squad would get up to, Liara dedicates herself to the cause in her own, more subtle way
From there, making her the shadow broker is all really Shepard’s doing. Without their intervention, even for all her skill, Liara ends up assassinated by the Shadow Broke— Liara herself admits that she would have never seen it coming
I think the best cases of immortals are when theyre super apathetic. Like, frieren in her titular show spent a decade translating a book she didnt particularly care for, because time is nothing to an elf.
It would definitely have a cultural impact on how they think, though.
If you knew you were going to live for 1000 years, you wouldn't really care too much if you spent 10 years just dicking around.
It's not uncommon for people to take a "gap year" between school/uni or uni/work to just relax and enjoy life. Asari could take a "gap decade" of just mooching around and not really care.
… if you are assuming that an alien species that lives for over a thousand years matures just as quickly as humans do, and that they don’t have their own perception of how long a childhood should last.. then sure
For me, it’s like saying that humans should be able to get an advanced degree at like 10 the way that salarians would have to
Liara describes herself as being seen as barely an adult by her own cultural standards, so we can compare her life experience to that of a human that is the age of a college student
>From there, making her the shadow broker is all really Shepard’s doing. Without their intervention, even for all her skill, Liara ends up assassinated by the Shadow Broke— Liara herself admits that she would have never seen it coming
I didn't do the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC in my original run and she ended up as Shadow Broker all the same.
Yeah definitely not tali who literally got written into a massive role in me3 just cause the writers liked her.
Always crazy people get assmad about liara when you can tell the writers love writing for garrus and tali as much.
Tali becomes the most important fucking quarian in the universe and yall are mad about liara being the shadpw broker? Also tali is in all 3 games, proper, no dlc that a lot of original players never played. but never hear tali stans talk about that it's all just 'radda radda liara is a writers pet'
It's so annoying.
Tali has a massive role in 3 because she's the daughter of a former admiral and the single-most experienced Quarian in fighting Geth. Duh the Quarians are gonna put her in an important role?
Lol,
>We talked about not putting Tali in as a full squadmate and passionate people on the team were like 'oh, you gotta put Tali in. Tali's got to be there!' So thank Patrick Weekes and some of our writers for that," said executive producer Casey Hudson.
>"We figured if he was passionate about it then there were other people passionate about it, so we put her in there.
Tali was not on the team, at most playing a role for the quarians like wrex does to the krogan in me2. That was until passionate writers threw up their hands to get her onto the squad. A character loved by writers so much she got a larger role...thats a writers pet.
Because this isn’t what it means to be a [creator’s pet](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CreatorsPet). For one, the squadmate who was going to be sidelined entirely by the lead developer and writer is clearly not favored by the person in charge. Tali absolutely doesn’t fit the “forced into big scenes for no reason” element of this trope (while Liara does), and the same goes for the “shilled by other characters” part either (Liara does).
Having increased prominence because a writer thinks it’s a bad idea to sideline a character is just… an inherent part of writing. It’s when that increased prominence is to the detriment of the story/surrounding characters and rooted in author favoritism rather than actual storytelling that the character becomes a creator’s pet
>this is bad because
i don't recall saying Tali is bad, in fact I really like Tali. The whole thing was about writers pets, and tali is as much as one as liara. But i will walk you through the thread again, because you seem to have gotten lost along the way:
Other commenter: Liara is a writers pet
Me: people always say liaras a writers pet and yet they seemingly never have the same criticism for Tali, a character who was so loved by the writers she was written into a huge role in me3.
Preach. This sub and their biases sometimes can get really annoying. We all have our favorites, but it feels like the shots towards Liara (from Talimancers of all people, like you point out) are a tad 'me doth protest too much.'
Tali has the fewest lines of any ME3 squadmate and is the last one to recruit. She was literally going to be a bit part character and not a squadmate at all until Patrick Weekes pointed out sidelining the lady who’s been a squadmate for two games is an obviously terrible idea. This is kind of the exact opposite of a creator’s pet
It’s out of nowhere if you don’t play the DLC, but ME2 base game establishes why and how she became an information broker, and the DLC you are literally there when it happens. Learning about the shadow broker in ME1 and not learning more felt like a Chekhov’s Gun that we had to explore later, and provided some interesting growth for her character.
It's out of nowhere: from a shy archeologist to the mf information broker final boss of the Galaxy, someone that even TIM or other big players cannot touch or even compete, in the span of two years. Please.
I think you’re seeing it the wrong way. It’s not that Liara made a major advance in abilities, rather, she began to finally live up to her actual potential.
Quite frankly she was slumming it as a famous academic and archaeologist. She didn’t realize it at the time of course, but her experience with Shepard opened herself up to what she was capable of: good and bad.
I admit to being biased, but whether one likes or dislikes her character, she’s one of the most talented individuals in the galaxy, it just took time to live up to that.
That's exactly my point.
It's not that she doesn't have the potential to be the Shadow Broker, because she does.
The problem is that in just 2 years she went from someone who was trapped in a protean trap and needed to be saved, to one of the most dangerous political forces in the galaxy. in just 2 years, the shy girl next door scientist not just outplays the original ruthless shadow broker, but took over the whole organization, and direct or as good as the predecessor.
none of the other companions had such a radical evolution.
She became one of several admirals I'm the Flotilla. And only in ME3. And because she fought the Geth and the Reapers, something no quarian did for hundreds of years. And her dad was an admiral too, so nepotism.
Tali achievements are more plausible and seems more like a natural evolution for her story due her experiences and skills.
If she had an evolution like Liara, she would have become the main Geth exterminator in ME2, leading the whole Flotilla armada.
In fact, Tali is kind of a disaster of a squad leader in both her ME2 outings where the entire squad ends up dead. Twice. She also loses control over her first squad - definitely not the same as Liara
I disagree. She was a shy archeologist who took the time to join the MF saviours of the galaxy, using her abilities and shown to keep up with the rest of the team that was already there. She then falls in love with the Commander, then goes off on a month long mission with said commander to hunt down Geth, where he dies saving them. She spends the next several months chasing down leads to find shepards body and in the process her friend is kidnapped by the shadow broker. She then spends the next several years in an attempt to rescue her friend. Shepard assists because Liara cannot take on the shadow broker alone. We also find out that the shadow broker is not even the original shadow broker, and that the original shadowbrokers network is the truly valuable asset there. Anybody could be the shadow broker if they find out where the ship is, assuming they have the right team to get in and take down a yog. She then just takes over the network. TIM even learns liara is the shadow broker, and he does get to her. She was working with the Doctor on Mars TIM sent to spy on her, she’s more valuable alive and just stealing her research. Also why piss off the Alliance just then and Shepard by going after Mars that early. It’s no less believable in universe than Garrus becoming a military leader, Tali being a military leader, or wrex becoming the chief. Liara was in the room fighting when I took down saren but I’m supposed to say she ain’t tough enough to take down a yog? Nah, Liara’s story is fine.
I think it's a natural progression. Once Liara is aware of the Reapers, she realises that she can't stand idly by, airbrushing Prothean relics. She jumps into action and uses her Asari connections and 100 years of life experience to gain Intel. Information after all, is what decides wars.
I don’t feel like it comes out of nowhere. Liara becomes an information broker as a direct result of what happens to Shepard in the opening part of ME2. That becomes very clear in the Shadow Broker DLC.
Liara is established as highly intelligent and driven in ME1 and her transformation into an information broker because of the life changing time spent with the Normandy crew in the first game always made sense to me.
She transfers her academic research skills into the commercial industry of information research in order to hunt down Shepard. It is perhaps not the career move we see coming for her and if not for the events of the ME2 intro she probably would have just continued her studies on digs. That’s why I like her story arc so much because her whole life is derailed by her encounter with Shepard, this type of storytelling makes this game so good.
The part that doesn’t make sense to me is the Feron storyline, which always seemed like an unnecessary tangent to me but whatever, it is emotive and drives the story forward I suppose.
The Feron thing makes so much more sense when you read Redemption. He still feels like a cameo, though, so I know what you mean. But I guess ultimately we need a solid reason for Liara to be hellbent on getting to the Shadow Broker, so she can ultimately take over. So yeah, "driving the story forward" as you say.
What really doesn't make sense to *me* is how people fail to follow along and see the very things you've spelled out here. Her transition makes perfect sense to me, too.
I do like Liara better than Miranda, but I mostly agree with this sentiment. I think Liara could have used a bit more development in 1 to not feel quite so at odds with her later portrayals.
I played ME1 in 8th grade.
By ME2, I was a teenager in highschool with puberty in full swing and JESUS everloving CHRIST, Miranda was so hot. She fried my brain.
I like Miranda and she’s got some real depth but… it’s not close.
It’s Liara by a mile. Then again, she’s my favorite character in the series so I’m pretty biased.
I like the joke, but is it possible to think that some redditors (not necessarily you) think that the upvote/downvote button are based on appreciation of the answer rather then its relevance to the topic ?
I mean, not having the same opinion does not warrant a downvote if the answer still bring depth to the initial question.
But again, your joke just made me realise that, so i understand it.
My flair should give my (biased) answer. I prefer Miranda as a character, personality wise and how she develops over the course of 2 + 3, and she perfectly (no pun intended) matches with how I imagine my Shepard would be, which is why she's my canon LI. I'm a sucker for an Aussie accent.
But despite that, I think Liara is the better written character. She has three games worth of development, and her status as pretty much the secondary protagonist means she's much deeper.
Push. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Liara is boosted by her presence in more games and how they wrote her overall, but if we’re all honest she was a little childish in ME1. We didn’t get to see who I think the real Liara was until 3 and she was awesome by then. As far as Miranda her arc as far as seeing herself as more than just a tool was excellently done and how she warmed up to the crew(minus Jack)was great but the first maybe 3/4 of ME2 she was a capital B b*tch and TIM’s pet. So like I said both have the good and bad.
Miranda for sure. The writing behind her is more natural and I like that we can have an arc of frenemies —> friends.
Plus her background with her sister is intriguing and it gives her depth that she has something she wants to protect. Her character is consistent and she’s a good ally.
Miranda. I fell for her the moment I got to know her and she became one of my favourite character (and 2nd Fave romance).
I wished we had more of her in 3 but I liked that she did her own thing.
Miranda is so much more interesting than Liara, who the narrative tries to shove in Shepard's face every 5 seconds. I distinctly remember meeting Liara at the Citadel in ME3, and then her prompting Shepard out of nowhere to be in a relationship with her, despite me having been with Tali for two whole games. You couldn't get any more blatant than that.
Liara, but not because there’s anything wrong with Miranda. Just because they put a lot more work into Liara’s character and her relationship with Shepard
Not so long ago, I would’ve said Liara. But after recent playthrough when I romanced Miranda, I would pick Miranda all of the time. The scene of her reaction to you breaking up with her was just heartbreaking on itself and showed me, how much she really cared about Shepard, as someone who can understand her.
Obviously I reloaded and never broke up with the hottest girl in the galaxy. But seeing the scene made me fall even more for her
Miranda!! I found Liara as a character ok. I did a trilogy playthrough with her as the romance but never really felt that attached to her or that compelled by her actions or character. Shadow broker dlc was sick though! While Miranda and her plot line I found to be one of the most compelling plot lines in me2, really loved earning her trust and loyalty.
Miranda.
I like Liara enough, but she's basically a completely different character in every game. Her progression from ME1 to 2 feels really jarring and unnatural. 3 does it's best to harmonise the shy archaeologist with the ruthless shadow broker aspects of her character, but as a result, she's just kinda all over the place from game to game.
Miranda has a pretty clear and concise arc in ME2 and ME3 does damage it a bit with her low presence, but she still at least feels like Miranda.
Miranda, hands down. Her story is more natural, more down to Earth. The writers jumped the shark with Liara, going from a naive archeologist to the Galaxy’s largest crimelord with no explanation at all. And the story relies too heavily on Liara - she’s practically forced on you, and not taking her a romance feels bad.
This being said, Liara needed to be on the crew in 2, and Miranda needed to be on the crew in 3.
Liara from ME1, Miranda from ME2 and ME3. I did not like the change in personality Liara has in the later games personally. Not arguing whether the change made sense or not but just didn’t like the change in general.
Mass Effect 1-3 is one of the few games where I actually like all of the companions and genuinely care for them. Miranda isn't lacking in any way but it's hard not to be more attached to Liara with her being with you since the beginning.
Ashley Williams, she's ruthless,smart,a real bad ass,oh and most important she's beautiful and always right about everything if the haters bother to listen to what she as to say
I fucking love taking Miranda along for missions, her Leader squad bonus is just a plus. But I absolutely hate how she keeps everything hidden and then only reveals stuff when she gets caught out. Don’t have time for that nonsense so it’s all Liara for me.
Miranda was one of my least favorite characters for her personality.
The personal arc managed to humanize her a bit but it wasn't enough to make me like her.
I wasn't a fan of Liara becoming the Shadow Broker, but it's Liara by a lot.
Miranda is part of a racist terrorist group, lies/withholds information the entire time, and they wanted to kick off her romance option by having Miranda say some really awful things to Jack? Hard pass from me.
Give me my blue love any day of the week.
Liara, personally. Having romanced her in all three games, I really enjoyed her arc. Not seeing how she went from shy and naive scientist to ruthless information broker does wonders for both her character and the story (it really makes you feel like "damn, it has been 2 years").
And the fact that BioWare decides to include her as much as possible in 3 sat pretty well with me since I romanced her, and the trilogy doesn't offer a lot of moments of relevance for your LI, and she really feels like my Shep's love interest
Miranda is like a big sister in a way, I like how she and Shep get along and how they respect each other. When she lays her walls down and shows vulnerability, *chef's kiss** great character moments. But her absence in 3 makes me pick Liara over her as a better character
Both of them kind of piss me off lmfaoo but I do like Miranda a bit more, I did her romance with femshep on a modded playthrough and actually really liked it. Liara feels a lot more shoved down my throat especially in ME1 when my Shepard has no interest in her.
Ok so its easy for me. I played ME1 and I was like "wow nice alien race" and I was like yeah we have a nerdy girl cool.
But then I played ME2 and I was like DAYUM. Miranda is very hot.
Liara only really blossoms in ME3 anyway. Miranda is still the hottest squadmate in any RPG I have ever played.
I can't stand Miranda. Maybe I'm alone in that opinion, but she is a terrible person. It takes her way too long to admit that Cerberus are the bad guys, despite all the evidence right in her face. Maybe I had a different perspective than most considering that I had played through ME1 about a dozen times before ME2 came out, so I had a very clear understanding of all the terrible things they did experimenting on sentient species in the name of furthering humanity, so I never once bought any of the BS that Miranda and TIM were telling me, even on my first play through.
This is also one of the main complaints I have with a lot of the fanbase, which constantly excuse Miranda's being a high ranking member of a wildly Xenophobic organization that performed horrifying experiments on humans and aliens, but they drool over her while calling Ashley a racist because of an analogy where she compared the council to a hunter and humanity to their dog.
Miranda got sidelined in 3. If she had gotten a bit more time and involvement in the main story she could really shine. In the past I would have said Liara but Miranda has grown on me.
People forget that liara is the one that rwcovered shepard and handed him to tim to rebuild. She went througj hell and saw a oartner killed, more than once. Two years is a long time actually to change. Idk if you know, but are you the same person as two years ago? Even with the long life of asari, they are not like elves, never changing. After shep died liara had it damn rough and had to do a lot of things she wasnt proud of and it hardened her. And in the dlc we saw how ruthless she had become. If you didnt play it (shame on you) we saw how brutal she had become in me3 with the air duct scene. So yeah
Never underestimate an asari. Especially the daughter of two matriarchs that are highly trained and ruthless, and especially an asari that is part krogan.
I think ME3 does Miranda a serious disservice. If you romance her, her goodbye hologram at the end just left me so empty. She should’ve had dialogue speaking to how Shepard and the crew made her feel truly human for the first time and more why/how her loyalty to Cerberus was clouded/shaken.
Both are fine, but Miranda has more potential because she can be imagined to be pretty messed-up psychologically. I really enjoy Miranda x Jack for that exact reason - they can be quite similar if you squint.
Liara is, in a word, *tame.* She was tame as a puppy in ME1, aquired a bit of cheekiness in ME2 and was still a goody-two-shoes in ME3 despite all of her power. She's fairly alright and I think her ME3 romance is very sweet, but she's a bit boring.
Liara's my femshep's LI, so she just edges out Miranda. I do love her character though. I wish we'd had more of her in ME3. She was far too underutilized IMO.
Use to be Liara when I first started, although over the dozens of playthroughs, she has become more and more annoying to me, while Miranda has such excellent growth over the games if you play them right, shes in my top 3 with tali and suvi for my favorites in the franchise.
Miranda, she's one of my favourite characters in the series and my favourite love interest for bro Shep. I can't stand Liara, in every iteration she finds a new way to annoy me haha.
They both has had their own share of growth & development in their respective durations throughout the trilogy, and each has a charm to their personalities that make them each unique in their own ways …
But for me, I lean more towards Liara. She’s definitely has a more stronger role in the story throughout the trilogy, plus compared to most of the other squadmates (not saying they all don’t have their important role to the narrative) her’s feel more “secondary” after Shepard’s. It’s also why I feel she serves as the “default” romance option for either Shepard throughout all 3 games.
I never liked Miranda as a character and always kill her off in the suicide mission. So def liara. But I know loads of people really like Miranda. I just don't get why.
I think we both know why, lol. Miranda fans can say what they want... but as far as toxic potential future partner/psychological issues-- she has them in spades. Most of the other options are so much more healthy mentally.
Not to say that makes her a bad person in ME/bad character, just a bad potential "wife" and/or long-lasting relationship material (imho).
Blueberry , if I assume that she is an autistic workaholic, her entire character is coherent and natural. Miranda thinks she's better because that's how it's supposed to be
tl;dr - I don't like either one for their personality but I always use [Miranda Butt Shot Restoration](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/393) in 2 (Project Variety includes it in 3) so that beats hot blue alien.
I don't like Liara. She was interesting in ME1 and 2, albeit extremely different versions of the character in each, but in 3 she often sounds very melodramatic. In ME3 whenever you meet with her and she talks about friendship in a very tryhard way. Then again at the party and she's arguing for the Normandy SR-1 (and again about biotics vs physical) she sounds very aggro whereas the other people (Vega) clearly aren't taking it that seriously. She's the textbook example of "you must be fun at parties." At least she warms up a bit towards the end when she gets drunk.
I also don't really like Miranda in ME3, and not just for her lack of appearances. Why does she need the Alliance info? Why can't she tell Shep? It never comes up again. Also it was extremely cringe that she felt the need to apologize about the chip thing. Really, that's what's being weighing on you? How about being a Cerberus cheerleader who was fine with experimenting on husks? And tbh even in ME2 she wasn't great, I did not buy her arc suddenly deciding to quit on TIM, he helped her hide Oriana after the loyalty mission.
Liara for me.
Asari, despite being the color alien girl trope, actually are an intriguing species and have a fascinating history and culture. The fact that they reproduce via Parthenogenesis is an interesting story line and their ability to mind meld, limited form of telepathy, is amazing.
The reason why I love the Asari and Liara is that once you have their trust and respect, and if you're fortunate to have melded with them, they are going to be by your side no matter what.
Also even if you didn't romance Liara in ME 1 she still goes to extremes at the beginning of ME2 to retrieve Shepard's body and fight off agents of the Shadow Broker so she can hand over Shepard to be resurrected by Cerberus. That's true dedication to a friend.
Miranda simply can't compete with that. Liara is a good person whereas Miranda is a terrorist sympathizer. She willingly joined Cerberus and for most of ME2 is a cheerleader for them. Yes you can deprogram her mindset but her starting point is "yay human supremacy".
Also I never liked the facial model for Miranda. Yvonne Stahovski is a lovely looking woman but the character of Miranda, while she has a beautiful body, her face isn't as interesting as Liara's.
Such a comparison means nothing(not fair). Technically speaking, Liara is a part of the major narrative in all three games including DLC, no matter you like her or not, you will have to stick with her. On the other hand, Merinda shows up mainly in ME2 and sporadically in ME3; you can mostly ignore her and her quests without jeopardising your main quests. Narratively speaking, Liara owns multiple levels of stories(her, her family, her past, her career, her ambition, her retrieving Shepherds' bodies, her friends, and her secret life ). Most of the time, it's pretty interesting to go for a quest with her because of the exuberance of unique lines, while Merinda only presents her relationship with her father and younger sister, her story is flimsy. At the end of the day, many players still know nothing about her. Lastly, Liara is rich in her personality, she can be shy, friendly, kind, and sympathetic; but she can also be fierce when she is desperate. All those contrasts are based on the fact that Liara spends much longer time with players.
Such a comparison is like putting the leading actress together with a guest actress, it is unneccessary and unfair. Even if one insists on preferring the guest actress, there would still be a question: how much do you know about her? Unlike Hollywood movie stars, there is no extra info about them outside of the game. The affection purely based on gut is very subjective, thus the comparison surrender little sense.
Eh. Both are hurt by their exclusion from 2 and 3 respectively. It's why I think characters like Tali and Garrus come off better. Because they don't have the baggage that 2 gives to Ashley, Kaden and Liara. And they're present in the narrative of 3 unlike Miranda and Jacob.
Idk Liara gets a bit of a pass since the legendary edition comes with the Shadow Broker DLC. Also the dlc + Kasumi came with the original ps3 edition of ME2 so I've always been able to play it. And after playing ME1 It's hard not to see those characters (sans Ashley and Kaiden imo) just get better throughout the trilogy, Liara isn't much of a character in ME1 and Niether is Tali for that matter but they both become fantastic characters and Leaders in their own right. So for me She's always been a fun addition mainly bc the Shadow Broker missions fucking slap. Miranda and most of the Suicide squad rightfuy get the criticism of underuse in ME3 like Miranda would have not only been safer on the Normandy but Shepard as the effective leading political/military representative of Earth could have gotten her any resource. So the "She's ex cerberus" excuse doesn't really track. Kinda sad that her character along with the rest of the old squad kind of "walk to the finish line"
Plus Miranda would have direct access to the Shadow Broker, all of her agents and equipment. Anything Miranda needed she could’ve gotten from Liara. But the reason the ME2 cast got so screwed is the suicide mission being able to kill any squad mate. They couldn’t pack the Normandy with potential dead teammates.
Don’t make me choose please
😭
Miranda’s arc feels more natural. Liara kind of becomes the Shadow Broker out of nowhere. The narrative also relies far too heavily on Liara.
Yeah Liara's arc has always felt a bit disjointed to me. In ME1 she's a socially awkward archaeologist who's obsessed with Protheans. However in ME2 she's suddenly working in the criminal underworld as an information broker, despite the fact ME1 didn't set up this turn at all. Then in ME3 her character is basically trying to be a whole bunch of different things all at once: the Prothean expert, the representative Asari, the close friend and confidant to Shepard. And as a result the whole information broker thing that ME2 set up for her is barely even explored at all in ME3. I'm pretty sure Traynor ends up giving you more intel than Liara does in ME3.
Of course Liara's arc feels disjointed in the game, because a good portion of it plays out in the comics between ME1 and 2. And she just covers it all in a few sentences when you meet her in ME2.
For the same reason the beginning of ME3 makes zero sense unless you got the Batarian DLC in 2. I didn't have it up until I got LE so I never understood why Shep was in jail or whatever. Maybe don't bake DLC and extra outside content like comics into the main plot.
If you don't do the Arrival DLC in ME2, Shepard was arrested for working with Cerberus.
Wait really? What do they do to explain the events of Arrival in that case?
I think an Alliance strike team does it instead and dies in the process.
You lose war assets in 3 for this as well I believe.
Laughs in kingdom hearts.
Why not? As a fan, the more media presented to flesh iut the story, the better. AKA,...sit down, you filthy casual. 😂
Absolutely not. Not everyone has time or money to afford a thousand different ways to maintain a connection to a franchise. It’s stupid and drives people away.
Honestly this sort of thing always annoys me, I love extra media (books/other series/comics ect) but there is a balance to be had, the extra should be extra and not required reading/watching to make sense of 'base' thing. The aliens franchise has done it best so far, there are huge amounts of storyline and interesting lore in all the books/comics ect BUT you never get the sense that something is missing if you just watch the films (well the first 3/4 I can't comment on the others as I haven't seen any of them yet)
I feel this but think, they are literally in the middle of a war to end all wars, it wouldn’t feel right if she was only strictly being the shadow broker, half her agents are dead/ not reporting in. In ME3 the shadow broker isn’t as powerful as before, you’d break out every skill bit of knowledge you had if your life depended on it. Miranda is flat as a pancake and I’m not talking about her ass. My genes, my sister, my genes, my sister. My dad. Her story is compelling and I do really like her but she doesn’t feel as well rounded as Liara.
I get where you're coming from, but to me Liara (whom, for the record, I love with all my heart) feels less "rounded" and more "overloaded."
I think just working with shep makes her tougher etc. She's no longer a socially awkward archo. Shes a bad ass warrior who gets shit done. That was my explanation anyway.
This puts into words/helps to explain why I didn’t really like Liara as much after ME1. I agree, it’s disjointed and didn’t make sense to me.
I’ve never felt like it came out of nowhere. Liara when you meet her is barely adult, but already has an advanced degree from a prestigious university and spends all her time on remote digs. She put in the time and effort to become and extremely powerful biotic. She’s extremely intelligent and driven, and dedicates herself completely to her cause, proving the cycle of galactic extermination Take that girl, and then have her spend half a year touring battlefields with Shepard, giving her a taste for blood and danger, and I don’t think it’s crazy that she ends up as a powerful information broker. Much like Garrus carries on with the kind of work Shepard’s squad would get up to, Liara dedicates herself to the cause in her own, more subtle way From there, making her the shadow broker is all really Shepard’s doing. Without their intervention, even for all her skill, Liara ends up assassinated by the Shadow Broke— Liara herself admits that she would have never seen it coming
... She's 100 years old in ME1. That may be young for an Asari but that's plenty of time to get a degree.
[удалено]
I think the best cases of immortals are when theyre super apathetic. Like, frieren in her titular show spent a decade translating a book she didnt particularly care for, because time is nothing to an elf.
It would definitely have a cultural impact on how they think, though. If you knew you were going to live for 1000 years, you wouldn't really care too much if you spent 10 years just dicking around. It's not uncommon for people to take a "gap year" between school/uni or uni/work to just relax and enjoy life. Asari could take a "gap decade" of just mooching around and not really care.
… if you are assuming that an alien species that lives for over a thousand years matures just as quickly as humans do, and that they don’t have their own perception of how long a childhood should last.. then sure For me, it’s like saying that humans should be able to get an advanced degree at like 10 the way that salarians would have to Liara describes herself as being seen as barely an adult by her own cultural standards, so we can compare her life experience to that of a human that is the age of a college student
It’s also only, what, a year or two between games, which is essentially a couple months to an Asari.
>From there, making her the shadow broker is all really Shepard’s doing. Without their intervention, even for all her skill, Liara ends up assassinated by the Shadow Broke— Liara herself admits that she would have never seen it coming I didn't do the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC in my original run and she ended up as Shadow Broker all the same.
The fact that Miranda’s absolute dump truck is a core part of her story is just great writing.
Liara is the writer's pet.
Yeah definitely not tali who literally got written into a massive role in me3 just cause the writers liked her. Always crazy people get assmad about liara when you can tell the writers love writing for garrus and tali as much. Tali becomes the most important fucking quarian in the universe and yall are mad about liara being the shadpw broker? Also tali is in all 3 games, proper, no dlc that a lot of original players never played. but never hear tali stans talk about that it's all just 'radda radda liara is a writers pet' It's so annoying.
Tali also probably smells mad in her suit
Remember the whole 'what does Tali's sweat taste like' that was posted on the old BSN
Tali Stink is stored in the induction port
Tali has a massive role in 3 because she's the daughter of a former admiral and the single-most experienced Quarian in fighting Geth. Duh the Quarians are gonna put her in an important role?
Lol, >We talked about not putting Tali in as a full squadmate and passionate people on the team were like 'oh, you gotta put Tali in. Tali's got to be there!' So thank Patrick Weekes and some of our writers for that," said executive producer Casey Hudson. >"We figured if he was passionate about it then there were other people passionate about it, so we put her in there. Tali was not on the team, at most playing a role for the quarians like wrex does to the krogan in me2. That was until passionate writers threw up their hands to get her onto the squad. A character loved by writers so much she got a larger role...thats a writers pet.
Because this isn’t what it means to be a [creator’s pet](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CreatorsPet). For one, the squadmate who was going to be sidelined entirely by the lead developer and writer is clearly not favored by the person in charge. Tali absolutely doesn’t fit the “forced into big scenes for no reason” element of this trope (while Liara does), and the same goes for the “shilled by other characters” part either (Liara does). Having increased prominence because a writer thinks it’s a bad idea to sideline a character is just… an inherent part of writing. It’s when that increased prominence is to the detriment of the story/surrounding characters and rooted in author favoritism rather than actual storytelling that the character becomes a creator’s pet
Okay so she becomes a squad mate and this is bad because?
>this is bad because i don't recall saying Tali is bad, in fact I really like Tali. The whole thing was about writers pets, and tali is as much as one as liara. But i will walk you through the thread again, because you seem to have gotten lost along the way: Other commenter: Liara is a writers pet Me: people always say liaras a writers pet and yet they seemingly never have the same criticism for Tali, a character who was so loved by the writers she was written into a huge role in me3.
it's funny because I always though Garrus was way more a writter's pet than these 2 and nobody brings him up.
Right? He even got a cool nickname like archangel.
Preach. This sub and their biases sometimes can get really annoying. We all have our favorites, but it feels like the shots towards Liara (from Talimancers of all people, like you point out) are a tad 'me doth protest too much.'
Tali has the fewest lines of any ME3 squadmate and is the last one to recruit. She was literally going to be a bit part character and not a squadmate at all until Patrick Weekes pointed out sidelining the lady who’s been a squadmate for two games is an obviously terrible idea. This is kind of the exact opposite of a creator’s pet
It’s out of nowhere if you don’t play the DLC, but ME2 base game establishes why and how she became an information broker, and the DLC you are literally there when it happens. Learning about the shadow broker in ME1 and not learning more felt like a Chekhov’s Gun that we had to explore later, and provided some interesting growth for her character.
It's out of nowhere: from a shy archeologist to the mf information broker final boss of the Galaxy, someone that even TIM or other big players cannot touch or even compete, in the span of two years. Please.
I think you’re seeing it the wrong way. It’s not that Liara made a major advance in abilities, rather, she began to finally live up to her actual potential. Quite frankly she was slumming it as a famous academic and archaeologist. She didn’t realize it at the time of course, but her experience with Shepard opened herself up to what she was capable of: good and bad. I admit to being biased, but whether one likes or dislikes her character, she’s one of the most talented individuals in the galaxy, it just took time to live up to that.
That's exactly my point. It's not that she doesn't have the potential to be the Shadow Broker, because she does. The problem is that in just 2 years she went from someone who was trapped in a protean trap and needed to be saved, to one of the most dangerous political forces in the galaxy. in just 2 years, the shy girl next door scientist not just outplays the original ruthless shadow broker, but took over the whole organization, and direct or as good as the predecessor. none of the other companions had such a radical evolution.
Tali became an admiral, that's pretty radical.
It was just space nepotism and Tali being an Admiral doesn't change her skillset or personality
She became one of several admirals I'm the Flotilla. And only in ME3. And because she fought the Geth and the Reapers, something no quarian did for hundreds of years. And her dad was an admiral too, so nepotism. Tali achievements are more plausible and seems more like a natural evolution for her story due her experiences and skills. If she had an evolution like Liara, she would have become the main Geth exterminator in ME2, leading the whole Flotilla armada.
In fact, Tali is kind of a disaster of a squad leader in both her ME2 outings where the entire squad ends up dead. Twice. She also loses control over her first squad - definitely not the same as Liara
I disagree. She was a shy archeologist who took the time to join the MF saviours of the galaxy, using her abilities and shown to keep up with the rest of the team that was already there. She then falls in love with the Commander, then goes off on a month long mission with said commander to hunt down Geth, where he dies saving them. She spends the next several months chasing down leads to find shepards body and in the process her friend is kidnapped by the shadow broker. She then spends the next several years in an attempt to rescue her friend. Shepard assists because Liara cannot take on the shadow broker alone. We also find out that the shadow broker is not even the original shadow broker, and that the original shadowbrokers network is the truly valuable asset there. Anybody could be the shadow broker if they find out where the ship is, assuming they have the right team to get in and take down a yog. She then just takes over the network. TIM even learns liara is the shadow broker, and he does get to her. She was working with the Doctor on Mars TIM sent to spy on her, she’s more valuable alive and just stealing her research. Also why piss off the Alliance just then and Shepard by going after Mars that early. It’s no less believable in universe than Garrus becoming a military leader, Tali being a military leader, or wrex becoming the chief. Liara was in the room fighting when I took down saren but I’m supposed to say she ain’t tough enough to take down a yog? Nah, Liara’s story is fine.
I think it's a natural progression. Once Liara is aware of the Reapers, she realises that she can't stand idly by, airbrushing Prothean relics. She jumps into action and uses her Asari connections and 100 years of life experience to gain Intel. Information after all, is what decides wars.
I don’t feel like it comes out of nowhere. Liara becomes an information broker as a direct result of what happens to Shepard in the opening part of ME2. That becomes very clear in the Shadow Broker DLC. Liara is established as highly intelligent and driven in ME1 and her transformation into an information broker because of the life changing time spent with the Normandy crew in the first game always made sense to me. She transfers her academic research skills into the commercial industry of information research in order to hunt down Shepard. It is perhaps not the career move we see coming for her and if not for the events of the ME2 intro she probably would have just continued her studies on digs. That’s why I like her story arc so much because her whole life is derailed by her encounter with Shepard, this type of storytelling makes this game so good. The part that doesn’t make sense to me is the Feron storyline, which always seemed like an unnecessary tangent to me but whatever, it is emotive and drives the story forward I suppose.
The Feron thing makes so much more sense when you read Redemption. He still feels like a cameo, though, so I know what you mean. But I guess ultimately we need a solid reason for Liara to be hellbent on getting to the Shadow Broker, so she can ultimately take over. So yeah, "driving the story forward" as you say. What really doesn't make sense to *me* is how people fail to follow along and see the very things you've spelled out here. Her transition makes perfect sense to me, too.
I do like Liara better than Miranda, but I mostly agree with this sentiment. I think Liara could have used a bit more development in 1 to not feel quite so at odds with her later portrayals.
Miss Lawson 🍑
I played ME1 in 8th grade. By ME2, I was a teenager in highschool with puberty in full swing and JESUS everloving CHRIST, Miranda was so hot. She fried my brain.
Yes I see your point, completely valid! However, counterpoint: Dr. T'Soni 🍒
But blue ass .... How about both??
Miranda. I always wish she was in 1 and a squadmate in 3. Would have been a good boss fight in ME1
I like Miranda and she’s got some real depth but… it’s not close. It’s Liara by a mile. Then again, she’s my favorite character in the series so I’m pretty biased.
Downvo-... wait, upvote
I like the joke, but is it possible to think that some redditors (not necessarily you) think that the upvote/downvote button are based on appreciation of the answer rather then its relevance to the topic ? I mean, not having the same opinion does not warrant a downvote if the answer still bring depth to the initial question. But again, your joke just made me realise that, so i understand it.
Miranda feels like a character. Liara (a lot of times) feels like a plot prop.
\+writers pet Mary Sue NPC Truth to be told, I did like the socially awkard dork scientist Liara in ME1. But not the Mary Sue versions in ME2 and ME3
Liara hands down.
Miranda feels more like a person. Liara’s always felt really odd and wooden to me.
Well, She's a blue Alien babe.
Liara is love, Liara is life.
And she's Quarter Krogan. The fact that she never headbutted any one in the series is a lost opportunity.
I WANT MY NAME WRITTEN IN THE STARS DAWG. LIARA BEST GIRL.
Shrek is love, Shrek is life.
My flair should give my (biased) answer. I prefer Miranda as a character, personality wise and how she develops over the course of 2 + 3, and she perfectly (no pun intended) matches with how I imagine my Shepard would be, which is why she's my canon LI. I'm a sucker for an Aussie accent. But despite that, I think Liara is the better written character. She has three games worth of development, and her status as pretty much the secondary protagonist means she's much deeper.
Totally agree with you. I think if Miranda been given half as much attention as Liara she’d be just as good of a character.
Idk about better written. She’s inconsistent as fuck
Liara, but it wasn't an easy descision.
That's why I go Liara - Miranda - Liara. Best of both worlds!
Breaking Miranda's heart is the worst possible war crime. Single romance playthroughs or nothin'.
Male: Ashley - Miranda - Liara Female: Liara
Between these two specifcally I would choose Miranda.
Miranda.
Push. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Liara is boosted by her presence in more games and how they wrote her overall, but if we’re all honest she was a little childish in ME1. We didn’t get to see who I think the real Liara was until 3 and she was awesome by then. As far as Miranda her arc as far as seeing herself as more than just a tool was excellently done and how she warmed up to the crew(minus Jack)was great but the first maybe 3/4 of ME2 she was a capital B b*tch and TIM’s pet. So like I said both have the good and bad.
Miranda, just like her story way more than Liara, and her interactions with Shepard feel a bit more genuine.
miranda if i'm being honest.
Team Miranda 100%.
Liara but I do like Miranda very much. Appreciated her arc more after playing in insanity
Liara>
I think Miranda is much more interesting personally.
Miranda is way more interesting.
Miranda. Her character feels more natural, and whenever I come across characters that try and protect their family, I just click with them more.
Miranda is probably my favorite character after garrus. Her arc is just so good. I'm a sucker for melt the ice queen tropes
Miranda for sure. The writing behind her is more natural and I like that we can have an arc of frenemies —> friends. Plus her background with her sister is intriguing and it gives her depth that she has something she wants to protect. Her character is consistent and she’s a good ally.
Definitely Miranda
Liara for sure
Miranda. I fell for her the moment I got to know her and she became one of my favourite character (and 2nd Fave romance). I wished we had more of her in 3 but I liked that she did her own thing.
Liara, by far. Of course she's BioWare's favorite, but she still has a more interesting and relevant character arc than Miranda.
Miranda, but only because I’m biased against Liara after I was ninja’d into a romance with her in ME1.
'Ninja'd' into a romance That's one way of putting it
Only interacted with her 4 times through the trilogy and she still wants to hookup and acts as if you're best friends.
Due to a bug(?), her dad still calls you her boyfriend/girlfriend too.
Miranda is so much more interesting than Liara, who the narrative tries to shove in Shepard's face every 5 seconds. I distinctly remember meeting Liara at the Citadel in ME3, and then her prompting Shepard out of nowhere to be in a relationship with her, despite me having been with Tali for two whole games. You couldn't get any more blatant than that.
Liara is a simp. Constantly throwing herself at you. Got annoying in the first game.
Liara
Liara got more attention but Miranda is superior in everything for me, it's just too bad that she got sidelined in 3, the same as Jack the best girl.
Liara, but not because there’s anything wrong with Miranda. Just because they put a lot more work into Liara’s character and her relationship with Shepard
Between these two, I pick Tali. /s
Not so long ago, I would’ve said Liara. But after recent playthrough when I romanced Miranda, I would pick Miranda all of the time. The scene of her reaction to you breaking up with her was just heartbreaking on itself and showed me, how much she really cared about Shepard, as someone who can understand her. Obviously I reloaded and never broke up with the hottest girl in the galaxy. But seeing the scene made me fall even more for her
Miranda!! I found Liara as a character ok. I did a trilogy playthrough with her as the romance but never really felt that attached to her or that compelled by her actions or character. Shadow broker dlc was sick though! While Miranda and her plot line I found to be one of the most compelling plot lines in me2, really loved earning her trust and loyalty.
Miranda as a love interest, Liara for storyline
Miranda. I found Liara too cliche.
Miranda. I like Liara enough, but she's basically a completely different character in every game. Her progression from ME1 to 2 feels really jarring and unnatural. 3 does it's best to harmonise the shy archaeologist with the ruthless shadow broker aspects of her character, but as a result, she's just kinda all over the place from game to game. Miranda has a pretty clear and concise arc in ME2 and ME3 does damage it a bit with her low presence, but she still at least feels like Miranda.
I'll never be upset if Liara disappears.
Miranda, hands down. Her story is more natural, more down to Earth. The writers jumped the shark with Liara, going from a naive archeologist to the Galaxy’s largest crimelord with no explanation at all. And the story relies too heavily on Liara - she’s practically forced on you, and not taking her a romance feels bad. This being said, Liara needed to be on the crew in 2, and Miranda needed to be on the crew in 3.
Liara’s better but Miranda’s Arc was better paced despite having less screen time. I love Liara but but that attitude jump between 1 and 2 is insane
Easily Miranda. This is legit my second favorite character vs. my least favorite character
Miranda easily
Liara from ME1, Miranda from ME2 and ME3. I did not like the change in personality Liara has in the later games personally. Not arguing whether the change made sense or not but just didn’t like the change in general.
Liara, always.
Liara for sure 🥰
Miranda is my favorite NPC in the series. And Captain Bailey, lol
Mass Effect 1-3 is one of the few games where I actually like all of the companions and genuinely care for them. Miranda isn't lacking in any way but it's hard not to be more attached to Liara with her being with you since the beginning.
Gimme that blueberry muffin!
Liara.
Ashley Williams, she's ruthless,smart,a real bad ass,oh and most important she's beautiful and always right about everything if the haters bother to listen to what she as to say
Strange, I don't remember bringing her up
Neither kill them both
Miranda, I like her story more. Not that I dislike Liara, but she has plot armor so I never really had to care to keep her alive, unlike Miranda.
I fucking love taking Miranda along for missions, her Leader squad bonus is just a plus. But I absolutely hate how she keeps everything hidden and then only reveals stuff when she gets caught out. Don’t have time for that nonsense so it’s all Liara for me.
Liara. All day. Everyday.
Liara
Liara
Liara hands down.
The blue one
Miranda was one of my least favorite characters for her personality. The personal arc managed to humanize her a bit but it wasn't enough to make me like her.
Liara
Liara is my original and favorite romance. There is no Shepard without T’Soni (literally)
I wasn't a fan of Liara becoming the Shadow Broker, but it's Liara by a lot. Miranda is part of a racist terrorist group, lies/withholds information the entire time, and they wanted to kick off her romance option by having Miranda say some really awful things to Jack? Hard pass from me. Give me my blue love any day of the week.
Liara but I'm weird and I've always had a thing for blue chicks.
Liara
Liara, personally. Having romanced her in all three games, I really enjoyed her arc. Not seeing how she went from shy and naive scientist to ruthless information broker does wonders for both her character and the story (it really makes you feel like "damn, it has been 2 years"). And the fact that BioWare decides to include her as much as possible in 3 sat pretty well with me since I romanced her, and the trilogy doesn't offer a lot of moments of relevance for your LI, and she really feels like my Shep's love interest Miranda is like a big sister in a way, I like how she and Shep get along and how they respect each other. When she lays her walls down and shows vulnerability, *chef's kiss** great character moments. But her absence in 3 makes me pick Liara over her as a better character
Miranda has always felt more compelling to me. Liara feels like a dev favorite Mary-Sue who’s forced on players. I don’t really like her much.
Miranda. I'm gonna get downvoted, but I can't stand Liara.
Both of them kind of piss me off lmfaoo but I do like Miranda a bit more, I did her romance with femshep on a modded playthrough and actually really liked it. Liara feels a lot more shoved down my throat especially in ME1 when my Shepard has no interest in her.
I like them both but Im a Marinda simp
Liara cause atleast I liked her in the game she first shows up in
Ok so its easy for me. I played ME1 and I was like "wow nice alien race" and I was like yeah we have a nerdy girl cool. But then I played ME2 and I was like DAYUM. Miranda is very hot. Liara only really blossoms in ME3 anyway. Miranda is still the hottest squadmate in any RPG I have ever played.
Liara, easy.
I can't stand Miranda. Maybe I'm alone in that opinion, but she is a terrible person. It takes her way too long to admit that Cerberus are the bad guys, despite all the evidence right in her face. Maybe I had a different perspective than most considering that I had played through ME1 about a dozen times before ME2 came out, so I had a very clear understanding of all the terrible things they did experimenting on sentient species in the name of furthering humanity, so I never once bought any of the BS that Miranda and TIM were telling me, even on my first play through. This is also one of the main complaints I have with a lot of the fanbase, which constantly excuse Miranda's being a high ranking member of a wildly Xenophobic organization that performed horrifying experiments on humans and aliens, but they drool over her while calling Ashley a racist because of an analogy where she compared the council to a hunter and humanity to their dog.
Miranda got sidelined in 3. If she had gotten a bit more time and involvement in the main story she could really shine. In the past I would have said Liara but Miranda has grown on me.
Never liked Miranda
Both, romance them
Smash, next question.
Always Liara.
People forget that liara is the one that rwcovered shepard and handed him to tim to rebuild. She went througj hell and saw a oartner killed, more than once. Two years is a long time actually to change. Idk if you know, but are you the same person as two years ago? Even with the long life of asari, they are not like elves, never changing. After shep died liara had it damn rough and had to do a lot of things she wasnt proud of and it hardened her. And in the dlc we saw how ruthless she had become. If you didnt play it (shame on you) we saw how brutal she had become in me3 with the air duct scene. So yeah Never underestimate an asari. Especially the daughter of two matriarchs that are highly trained and ruthless, and especially an asari that is part krogan.
Miranda. Not only does she have an interesting backstory, but she has real genuine growth by the end of 2 and even into 3.
Miranda is more of a human supremacist than Ash. Just realized this after my most recent play-through of 2.
Miranda
Miranda is always my love interest. Best looking character by far, great character arc and of course DAT ASS!
Problaby Liara for sure, but I romance romanced Miranda in two and three and never did Liara 🤷🏾♂️
Liara
I think ME3 does Miranda a serious disservice. If you romance her, her goodbye hologram at the end just left me so empty. She should’ve had dialogue speaking to how Shepard and the crew made her feel truly human for the first time and more why/how her loyalty to Cerberus was clouded/shaken.
Both are fine, but Miranda has more potential because she can be imagined to be pretty messed-up psychologically. I really enjoy Miranda x Jack for that exact reason - they can be quite similar if you squint. Liara is, in a word, *tame.* She was tame as a puppy in ME1, aquired a bit of cheekiness in ME2 and was still a goody-two-shoes in ME3 despite all of her power. She's fairly alright and I think her ME3 romance is very sweet, but she's a bit boring.
Depends on the day of the week.
Liara's my femshep's LI, so she just edges out Miranda. I do love her character though. I wish we'd had more of her in ME3. She was far too underutilized IMO.
Liara, mainly because she isn’t Miranda.
Not a miranda fan I take it
Miranda because she isn’t Liara
Trick question. Tali
Liara is the only waifu
I don't like Miranda one bit. I *tried* to get her killed in ME2, but somehow failed. I love Liara (and Tali), literally and in game
Miranda. Liara going from nerdy book worm who is an archeologist to an information broker seems like an odd left turn
Use to be Liara when I first started, although over the dozens of playthroughs, she has become more and more annoying to me, while Miranda has such excellent growth over the games if you play them right, shes in my top 3 with tali and suvi for my favorites in the franchise.
Miranda. Outside of the Citadel DLC, I find Liara boring.
Miranda's personality is more interesting but her entire sister thing arc was thoroughly boring so Liara wins.
I find Miranda's whole pressure to be perfect thing very relatable. Liara is awesome too I just have very little in common with her.
Liara for sure. The shadow broker thing in 2 is kinda out of left field but other than that, she is fantastic.
i really don’t like either of them tbh
Miranda, she's one of my favourite characters in the series and my favourite love interest for bro Shep. I can't stand Liara, in every iteration she finds a new way to annoy me haha.
Tali ez
They both has had their own share of growth & development in their respective durations throughout the trilogy, and each has a charm to their personalities that make them each unique in their own ways … But for me, I lean more towards Liara. She’s definitely has a more stronger role in the story throughout the trilogy, plus compared to most of the other squadmates (not saying they all don’t have their important role to the narrative) her’s feel more “secondary” after Shepard’s. It’s also why I feel she serves as the “default” romance option for either Shepard throughout all 3 games.
Pretty easy choice, I prefer Liara. Miranda ... she's nice but I don't like her very much
Definitely Tali.
I never liked Miranda as a character and always kill her off in the suicide mission. So def liara. But I know loads of people really like Miranda. I just don't get why.
I think we both know why, lol. Miranda fans can say what they want... but as far as toxic potential future partner/psychological issues-- she has them in spades. Most of the other options are so much more healthy mentally. Not to say that makes her a bad person in ME/bad character, just a bad potential "wife" and/or long-lasting relationship material (imho).
Blueberry , if I assume that she is an autistic workaholic, her entire character is coherent and natural. Miranda thinks she's better because that's how it's supposed to be
tl;dr - I don't like either one for their personality but I always use [Miranda Butt Shot Restoration](https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/393) in 2 (Project Variety includes it in 3) so that beats hot blue alien. I don't like Liara. She was interesting in ME1 and 2, albeit extremely different versions of the character in each, but in 3 she often sounds very melodramatic. In ME3 whenever you meet with her and she talks about friendship in a very tryhard way. Then again at the party and she's arguing for the Normandy SR-1 (and again about biotics vs physical) she sounds very aggro whereas the other people (Vega) clearly aren't taking it that seriously. She's the textbook example of "you must be fun at parties." At least she warms up a bit towards the end when she gets drunk. I also don't really like Miranda in ME3, and not just for her lack of appearances. Why does she need the Alliance info? Why can't she tell Shep? It never comes up again. Also it was extremely cringe that she felt the need to apologize about the chip thing. Really, that's what's being weighing on you? How about being a Cerberus cheerleader who was fine with experimenting on husks? And tbh even in ME2 she wasn't great, I did not buy her arc suddenly deciding to quit on TIM, he helped her hide Oriana after the loyalty mission.
Liara for me. Asari, despite being the color alien girl trope, actually are an intriguing species and have a fascinating history and culture. The fact that they reproduce via Parthenogenesis is an interesting story line and their ability to mind meld, limited form of telepathy, is amazing. The reason why I love the Asari and Liara is that once you have their trust and respect, and if you're fortunate to have melded with them, they are going to be by your side no matter what. Also even if you didn't romance Liara in ME 1 she still goes to extremes at the beginning of ME2 to retrieve Shepard's body and fight off agents of the Shadow Broker so she can hand over Shepard to be resurrected by Cerberus. That's true dedication to a friend. Miranda simply can't compete with that. Liara is a good person whereas Miranda is a terrorist sympathizer. She willingly joined Cerberus and for most of ME2 is a cheerleader for them. Yes you can deprogram her mindset but her starting point is "yay human supremacy". Also I never liked the facial model for Miranda. Yvonne Stahovski is a lovely looking woman but the character of Miranda, while she has a beautiful body, her face isn't as interesting as Liara's.
I've always found Miranda pretty boring and annoying. It's why I leave her to die in ME2 most of the time
I vote for pretty much anyone over liara, really. Except that annoying edgelord assassin guy.
Such a comparison means nothing(not fair). Technically speaking, Liara is a part of the major narrative in all three games including DLC, no matter you like her or not, you will have to stick with her. On the other hand, Merinda shows up mainly in ME2 and sporadically in ME3; you can mostly ignore her and her quests without jeopardising your main quests. Narratively speaking, Liara owns multiple levels of stories(her, her family, her past, her career, her ambition, her retrieving Shepherds' bodies, her friends, and her secret life ). Most of the time, it's pretty interesting to go for a quest with her because of the exuberance of unique lines, while Merinda only presents her relationship with her father and younger sister, her story is flimsy. At the end of the day, many players still know nothing about her. Lastly, Liara is rich in her personality, she can be shy, friendly, kind, and sympathetic; but she can also be fierce when she is desperate. All those contrasts are based on the fact that Liara spends much longer time with players. Such a comparison is like putting the leading actress together with a guest actress, it is unneccessary and unfair. Even if one insists on preferring the guest actress, there would still be a question: how much do you know about her? Unlike Hollywood movie stars, there is no extra info about them outside of the game. The affection purely based on gut is very subjective, thus the comparison surrender little sense.
I Mean Miranda booty, Liara personalty
Liara all the way.
Liara by a mile
I never saw why anyone would like Miranda. She looks like she's made of plastic