BioWare Exec "Blown Away" By Support for Mass Effect's FemShep

[Roserari]

Well, it's a fair balance I suppose. Male shep looks good but sounds bad. Female Shep looks ugly but sounds great.

 

[JediMB]

I play FemShep because I prefer playing female characters. Even in first-person games. It doesn't have anything to do with the oft mentioned "if I'm gonna stare at an ass for XX hours" reasoning.

Shepard does not have a canonical gender. When will this misbelief die?

When there is an adequate explanation as to why in both ME games, the Shepard in the video sequences is a male, why the default character in both games is a male and why in the ME3 teasers, Shepard is a male.

They explained in the very article you supposedly just read. It's easier to market a character, and the game that character is part of, if you give the character a face and stick to it.

 

[theaceplaya]

I love Jennifer Hale as FemShep, but I don't think that Mark Meer (ManShep?) is as bad as people claim he is.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

It'd be nice if either Shep had certain choices available. Like white hair, glasses, piercings...you know...normal ideas like that.

 

[barash]

Hale's got a much wider emotional range in her voice than Meer, and when the protagonist delivers a lot of dialogue that becomes very important. FemShep renegade über alles.

 

[Baradiel]

I prefer Male Shephard. I prefer his voice acting. Apparently Hale is an outstanding voice actress, but I personally find her terrible in Mass Effect.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

There is. It's called marketing.

So why not have alternate video sequences, each with a different gender?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

They explained in the very article you supposedly just read. It's easier to market a character, and the game that character is part of, if you give the character a face and stick to it.

So why not choose a female to have in the sequences?

 

[JediMB]

They explained in the very article you supposedly just read. It's easier to market a character, and the game that character is part of, if you give the character a face and stick to it.

So why not choose a female to have in the sequences?

Because (marketing) people are convinced that male action heroes sell better than female ones?

 

[AlternatePFG]

Eh, I'd only say female Shepard's voice is only slightly better than the male one. Both versions are pretty bland, to be honest. Jennifer Hale actually has done some really good voice acting though, which leads me to believe BioWare made them bland on purpose. *shrug*

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

I still feel David Gaider's explanation was pretty flimsy. If you want to do something like that you spend time and characterise each person, instead Bioware felt it was easiest to just make everyone bisexual, less script and less time spent changing things.

Unfortunately, I think we will see this laziness in ME3 where pre-established straight and fleshed out characters suddenly get the hots for Shep. If you're going to do it, do it right Bioware and write in this stuff properly.

I also feel these have become less and less romances (throughout recent Bioware games) and more Shep/Hawke gettin their leg over with less and less character interaction in between. I don't know if it's the hand of EA or lazy writers but it's got to stop imo, they have stopped progressing in quality with their IPs.

 

[Jake the Snake]

I don't get the appeal of a female protagonist, being male myself. The "role playing" aspect has never worked for me, as I find it harder to connect with the character if I'm the opposite gender. *shrug* But if you like playing as FemShep, more power to ya. I love Jennifer Hale as a voice actress.

 

[Sunrider]

I'm surprised how many people actually prefer male Shepard. Or well, not male Shepard per se, but the male voice actor. To me, they are incomparable, and Hale just blows him out of the water. They are worlds apart in my opinion.

 

[ToxicOranges]

Well for me, it kinda boils down to the fact that all of the futuristic space suits are skin tight.

Do I, as a heterosexual male, want to watch a man's skin tight bum for 30+ hours as I blast aliens?

No, no I don't. Femshep it is!

 

[Distorted Stu]

Femshep <3

I only hope she stays the same in ME3, shes epic to play as renagade!

***** IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!

 

[tlgAlaska]

RPG Players like to have options in their character creation... well, who would have guessed? That just blows my mind.

 

[The Great JT]

Actually, I consider it quite the opposite. To me, FemShep kind of sounds...well, bland. Meanwhile, I like ManShep a considerable amount more. Jennifer Hale does a decent enough job and I certainly don't hate FemShep's voice, but I just think Mark Meer does better.

 

[silver1881]

Shepard does not have a canonical gender. When will this misbelief die?

When there is an adequate explanation as to why in both ME games, the Shepard in the video sequences is a male, why the default character in both games is a male and why in the ME3 teasers, Shepard is a male.

That's advertising, not canon. Marketing has nothing to do with story.

 

[The Forces of Chaos]

Can't say I "get it" myself (beyond looking at a woman's arse for 30 hours).

Jennifer Hale just sounds like she's doing an impression of a macho guy - I've not seen anything with any more range than Mark Meer (who I also thought stepped up a fair bit from the first game to the second), who sounds much more natural when ManShep is speaking.

Hale was infinitely better as Bastila in KotOR.

I agree with you 100% Woodsey. Goes back to private thoughts about Bastila.

 

[ZehMadScientist]

I prefer the MaleShep voice over FemShep's, but then again that's just nitpicking. I think both of them fit their roles.