FemShep's Voice Actress Talks Mass Effect 3 Ending

[putowtin]

Well...there go my hopes and dreams of the series getting fixed.

Time to never buy from bioware again.

There's always the chance the recording for the ending was done during her main sessions, if they always planned to expand on the ending post-release. Hale has said she never finished any of the games, so she might be unaware. It's unlikely, but a possibility.

If they do release a new ending or clarification or whatever, I would be pretty disappointed if Shepard didn't have a part in it.

Ninja'd!
That's my thought's on it to, but maybe I'm just clutching staws!

 

[Stalydan]

Escapist staff members, no matter how often I see that picture nor how many candles I put in at the shrine I have of Jennifer Hale, that picture is not going to become any less terrifying. Please stop posting it.

It appears you're not alone in your fear. I actually think it's a nice photo, in its own way. She looks like she's about to voice-act the bejesus out of something in style.

...well, that or I'm just blinded by how gorgeous her haircut is.

I think she looks like Sarah Connor about to attack one of the orderlies from the second Terminator.

 

[Timmibal]

I know I'm going to get jumped on by every female poster and white knight on the escapist, but it has to be said.

Sure, the look's a little intimidating... Doesn't mean I wouldn't still hit it like the fist of an angry god...

 

[jklinders]

I've always like Jennifer Hale. She is a class act. Little late in the game given the promised clean up n the ending being around April 21. Odds are good there isn't any new lines being recorded. I would be happy with a few lines of text explaining WTF was going on.

 

[Legion]

This would suggest that any post ending closure will be nothing more than a cutscene.

 

[Kiardras]

Well of course she isn't being called to voice new lines for Shepherd because the voice acting for the actual ending is already recorded and in a week or so they'll have it finalized and released. The indoctrination theory will be confirmed, my faith in BioWare through this whole nonsense will be vindicated and everything will be lovely forever.

Definately. We have nothing to worry about.


Besides, if they have to DLC a real ending, I'm sure they would contact the actors once they have written and decided on what they are doing.

 

[wooty]

While im mildly saddened by there (potentially) being no more from Mass Effect, its also a good thing. The series has ended and its time to let it rest, the legacy of ME cant be ruined for me by a "bad" ending and gobby morons.

Let it lie bioware, focus on your next project from now on.

 

[chiefohara]

Its still early days, Bioware promised a decision in April, we are only 5 days into April.

If Hale is contracted to supplement lines for a new ending, then she won't be approached until after that decision is made.

Thats even if they decide to use hale and mark meer. If Bioware and EA decided to record new dialogue, Hale and Meer would literally have them over a barrel, and demand a very nice bit of cash. Something im sure EA are VERY aware of.

I reckon that if we do get a new ending it will involve as little of the voice talent as possible in order to keep costs down.

P.S.

Just occured to me, wouldn't they need Hale and Meer's voices for DLC anyway? or would that have already been recorded?

 

[Vrach]

Well first off, they might not be working on it yet. Hell, they haven't even fixed the import bug yet.

Second, they don't really need Hale to "fix" the ending. They're not gonna make a whole new ending (they're not that fucking stupid, or one can only hope), they'll just throw in some more exposition to fill the plot holes - which they can do without Shepard ever opening her mouth.

 

[Scars Unseen]

""I was surprised about the level of passion about the ending," added Hale. "But there's something really great about that, too: It says people are invested and they really care and they don't want to let go, which is awesome because I don't, either.""

my god, another person that just DOESN'T GET IT! it's NOT that we don't want to let go, it's NOT that we want an ending that will satisfy everyone. WE JUST want an ending that makes sense, that doesn't break the lore entirely, and that ACTUALLY gives a little closure.

And you 150% missed the point of her quote. You're being applauded and you still complain.

And you "150% missed the point" of his quote. Yeah, Martyrdrebel is trying to be a martyr and is raging moren' a bit too hard at what she said.

However, his point was that Hale, like several others, said that a big part of this is people not wanting to let go of Mass Effect. For many, the issue is that the ending is a huge shift in tone and style, contradicts the lore of the series on several points, and violates several of the basic rules of storytelling for no good reason.

Now that I've talked about that, I want to end on this note: Jennifer Hale is awesome and I want to have her babies.

And yet she has a point. There are plenty of games out there that have terrible endings. Most of them, in fact. So why is it this game that people are up in arms about. If I was to go into a Retake Mass Effect thread and tell people that they should just let it go, I doubt that many people would respond with "oh I already have. Seriously, it's all water under the bridge. I just like to complain on the internet." People are protesting the ending precisely because there is something special about Mass Effect that just won't let them move on. That may not be what people are protesting about, but to nerdrage at someone who has nothing to do with the reason you're upset is, IMO, childish and uncalled for. Especially when she makes a good point.

Okay, first things first. We agree that Martyred Rebel was nerdrageing, and went about a thousand steps too far. He was acting like a huge jerk, and he shouldn't have spoken as he did. Just wanted to make that clear.

I also want to make it clear that there are many people who are in the "Retake Mass Effect" movement who are being jerks and going way too far.

Now that we've gotten that all cleared up....

It has been a regular theme for others to misinterpret why people are upset about Mass Effect's ending. It appears that Jennifer Hale is one of them - the anger is not about "Shepard's story coming to an end. It also appears that you misunderstand why the ending of Mass Effect has had this impact - after years of quality writing by Bioware in this game, after building up all this lore, after telling us that the decisions our almost fully customizable Shepards made would be important, after telling us that "it's not ... like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C" [http://s9.postimage.org/mhn71nknj/abc.png], they spit in our face and turn against all of that at the last minute. They only fulfilled their promises in the most rules-layerish fashion, if they fulfilled their promises at all.

But I'm getting a bit sidetracked - back on target. EDIT: MISREAD POST, DISREGARD

Jennifer Hale is not helping. She isn't a monster, and I greatly appreciate her support. But people misunderstanding "Retake Mass Effect" is a large issue, and her statement isn't helping with that. It is not wrong to point out what she has said, and how she is incorrect in that regard.

Once again though, Martyr was acting like a huge jerk.

I guess my point is that, unlike the developers, the reviewers, and the pundits, Jennifer Hale has no obligation to dig deeper and try to understand the Retake Mass Effect movement. Her job was to speak into a microphone, and she is awesome in that she appears to have gone beyond that and expressed genuine attachment to the series. She just seems to be happy that other people got into the games enough to care. And I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[Zen Toombs]

Spoiler

Okay, first things first. We agree that Martyred Rebel was nerdrageing, and went about a thousand steps too far. He was acting like a huge jerk, and he shouldn't have spoken as he did. Just wanted to make that clear.

I also want to make it clear that there are many people who are in the "Retake Mass Effect" movement who are being jerks and going way too far.

Now that we've gotten that all cleared up....

It has been a regular theme for others to misinterpret why people are upset about Mass Effect's ending. It appears that Jennifer Hale is one of them - the anger is not about "Shepard's story coming to an end. It also appears that you misunderstand why the ending of Mass Effect has had this impact - after years of quality writing by Bioware in this game, after building up all this lore, after telling us that the decisions our almost fully customizable Shepards made would be important, after telling us that "it's not ... like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C" [http://s9.postimage.org/mhn71nknj/abc.png], they spit in our face and turn against all of that at the last minute. They only fulfilled their promises in the most rules-layerish fashion, if they fulfilled their promises at all.

But I'm getting a bit sidetracked - back on target. EDIT: MISREAD POST, DISREGARD

Jennifer Hale is not helping. She isn't a monster, and I greatly appreciate her support. But people misunderstanding "Retake Mass Effect" is a large issue, and her statement isn't helping with that. It is not wrong to point out what she has said, and how she is incorrect in that regard.

Once again though, Martyr was acting like a huge jerk.

I guess my point is that, unlike the developers, the reviewers, and the pundits, Jennifer Hale has no obligation to dig deeper and try to understand the Retake Mass Effect movement. Her job was to speak into a microphone, and she is awesome in that she appears to have gone beyond that and expressed genuine attachment to the series. She just seems to be happy that other people got into the games enough to care. And I see nothing wrong with that.

Point taken.

Well first off, they might not be working on it yet. Hell, they haven't even fixed the import bug yet.

Second, they don't really need Hale to "fix" the ending. They're not gonna make a whole new ending (they're not that fucking stupid, or one can only hope), they'll just throw in some more exposition to fill the plot holes - which they can do without Shepard ever opening her mouth.

Ha, you think they're gonna fix the import bug? Silly Vrach....

Also, unless the "fixing ending" is purely a "DA:O style text crawl showing what happens to everyone after the end" then they would need Shep to speak, as every time Shep asks a question s/he has a line of dialogue to ask that question. In this case, Shep would be asking the Reaper King.

 

[theaceplaya]

Jennifer Hale is a beast of a voice actress. Pretty lady too.

 

[X10Unit1]

I already got enough closure in pre-ending dialogue with the characters of the series. I don't really need to see exactly what troubles the characters of the series go trough after/during the apocalyptic ending.

What I wanted, was an ending that is not completely balls to the walls retarded!

There are a couple of blog/articles that show how that is just terrible writing.

 

[Blind0bserver]

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/05/mass-effect-3-extended-cut-dlc-free-this-summer-offers-furth/
Well this just confirms Ending DLC.


Which also leads to one of three scenarios
1) She was just not telling the truth.
2) She was held under NDA
or
3) She recorded the lines while the game was still in development so she wasn't aware that it was "post-launch ending DLC". Which also means Bioware was already working on this ending but didn't feel like delaying the game a little to include it. They then play it off as a way of "showing how they care about their fans opinions" when this finally comes out. AKA: They knew they had a shit ending, and they didn't care to try and defend themselves because from the start they decided to use it as a way to regain fan trust.


I'm leaning on Scenario 3 personally.

.. of there's a tinfoil hat-less Scenario 4; Jennifer Hale is telling the truth and both her and Mark Meer haven't been invited back to record new dialogue because Bioware either isn't at the stage where they're needed yet or they simply aren't needed at all. After all, they do use the term "epilogue", so assuming that everything being added is post Shepard's death isn't that much of a stretch.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

Conspiracy time:

I think they initially did plan on "closure dlc" but decided not to since it would confirm what all of us assumed the moment we saw the current ending. Now they need to do something else that nobody (or at least most people) didn't expect.

 

[Smertnik]

"FemShep's Voice Actress"? There're still people who don't know Jennifer Hale?