The Age Old Question--Ashley or Kaidan?

(This post contains spoilers about the original Mass Effect.  If you haven't played it, you should, and you shouldn't read this.)

I've been replaying Mass Effect to kill time until Dragon Age:  Inquisition is released on Monday.  When I got a new computer a few months ago all my save files from my numerous playthrough's went into the closet.  I had to start over from scratch (I refuse to get the Genesis DLC--I will replay all of Mass Effect!).  This has to be about the tenth time that I've played through it and I'm enjoying starting over.  One of the first things I did was to crank up the settings--through all those playthroughs I never realized that the graphics were set on the absolute lowest settings.  I turned the resolution and texture detail all the way up and it's like an entirely new game, even after seven years.

Ashley Williams.  Poetry loving xenophobe.

Replaying Mass Effect has thrust me back into thinking about my decision making in games.  One of the biggest decisions you must make as Commander Shepard is who to save on Virmire.  Do you save Kaidan or Ashley?  I really got to thinking about how I make this decision (which is sort of psychology related).  Do you go with your heart or your brain?

Kaidan Alenko.  Biotic eye-candy.

I tend to go with logic.  If I need Kaidan or Ashley's skills to balance out my squad I will usually save the one I use for balance (Kaidan has biotic skills and Ashley has combat).  That seems heartless, I know.  Maybe you go with your heart.  On a few playthroughs I have decided to have my character romance one of them and that is usually the person who I save.  Or maybe you go with the character that you like more.  Kaidan is such a bland character.  Sure, he's eye-candy for the FemShep's out there, but he's not the most exciting character.  Ashley, on the other hand, is way more interesting.  She comes from a disgraced military family, is a bit of a xenophobe (I kind of forgot this), and enjoys reading poetry.  If I had to choose on personality alone, I would go with Ashley.

So how do you choose?  With your heart or with your brain?