User blog comment:Brianbreed/Why Do I Burn Kaiden?/@comment-4800118-20120228141455

I was like you when I first played Mass Effect. My first several playthroughs, I always tended to save Ashley, except for the one playthrough I intentionaly picked the other options just to see them play out. It always felt the natural choice for me, playing a male Shepard (if you believe it, I still have yet to play a FemShep). Romance Ashley, kill off Kaiden.

Then when I started doing playthroughs with ME2, things seemed to changed. I found I liked Kaiden. He is a very interesting character, an easy guy to like, and a good squad member. And i found I liked romancing Liara more than Ashely, so now the natural tendency is to save Kaiden on Virmire. It is a tough choice. Obviously if there was the option to save them both I would pick it. I find it tough on playthroughs to get rid of squad members, like killing Wrex or not letting Garrus into the squad. I have to on purpose do those things, say that in this playthrough, I am going to go this route.