I don't really have a preference. Femshep has the disadvantage of far fewer good choices for romance (I never saw the attraction in Kaiden, Jacob or Thane), but on the plus side, you can that way pursue a relationship with Garrus, which is pretty awesome. ManShep gets a slightly better choice, but some of them do come across as a bit needy. So both, really. Voice acting's good for both.
Poll: Female Shepard vs Male Shepard - Mass Effect Series
- Thread starter Parasondox
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Femshep is so badass. Seriously, it becomes less of a game with male Shepard; he's just really uninteresting, whereas Femshep is just as vibrant as every other character in the series.
My first playthrough (which was ME2 because I don't own an Xbox and my PC was broken back then) was as male Shep and I thought his VA work ranged from 'meh' to 'muting my TV to preserve my sanity (+ subtitles)'. I didn't know that Jennifer Hale had voiced Fem Shep until my second playthrough, and i've stuck with Fem Shep since.
I've played as and like both, they are both just as well performed in my opinion. I get the feeling they both played a different take on the character then tried to be the same when it came to their performance.
Actually didn't like FemSheps Voice, it grated on me after a while, also no matter how I tried to create my Sheps face, I just felt like I was making a deformed mass, just like I do with Oblivion or Skyrim Face creation.
So usually I just wound up playing as Male. That and I am beginning to get Jennifer Hale Mixed up with all the other characters she plays, over saturation and that.
So usually I just wound up playing as Male. That and I am beginning to get Jennifer Hale Mixed up with all the other characters she plays, over saturation and that.
Femshep benefits from having a character editor that I can actually produce a decent looking face out of. Manshep looks like a complete dweeb almost everytime.
So usually Femshep, but I do have a Manshep on call.
Voice acting is fine on both sides, but I simply have more nostalgia towards Hale, her being Naomi from MGS and all. Though Mark Meer made great strides with this video...
So usually Femshep, but I do have a Manshep on call.
Voice acting is fine on both sides, but I simply have more nostalgia towards Hale, her being Naomi from MGS and all. Though Mark Meer made great strides with this video...
I did try playing as Male Shepard during 2, but I never got into the voice, and the main character being male seemed far too cliché. Female Shepard made the entire series feel very different (I've never finished a male Shepard in 3, and never played as him in 1), not to mention Jennifer Hale's voice is not only amazing, but her talent, particularly during the end of 3, is fucking celestial. I also try to distance myself personally from a game in something like Mass Effect, where the playable character has their own voice and personality (based on conversation options and decisions), and it makes me feel like I'm creating my own story, as opposed to trying to imprint myself onto a character (Which has only ever worked for me in Elder Scroll games and Fallout 3/NV). Another reason is that I like things to be as different as possible, probably why I find games like The Darkness, Kane & Lynch,, Journey, Dishonored and XCOM (To name but a few) more than most triple A games (I.E. Assassins Creed, All CoD games except Blak Ops 1/2 when the main character finally got a fucking voice and characer, etc).
Definitely Femshep. All male shep has going for him, imo, is Tali as a romance option.
Femshep has Garrus, and Kelly Chambers, and Traynor, and Liara!
Sure, Male shep has Liara as an option, too, but I like Femshep/Liara more.
Plus Hale's voice acting is pretty pleasing to the ears for me.
Femshep has Garrus, and Kelly Chambers, and Traynor, and Liara!
Sure, Male shep has Liara as an option, too, but I like Femshep/Liara more.
Plus Hale's voice acting is pretty pleasing to the ears for me.
I usually play FemShep nowadays.
ME2 was the first one I played and I naturally went with Male Shepard. I always appreciated his deadpan delivery, it made him more comedic and had a way better stern voice.
FemShep grew on me though. Her voice was still neutral but could still get across every emotion. Just a shame I can't create a decent looking one, and that she has so few heterosexual romance options to choose from. Kaiden is the last person my Shepard would touch male or female, he's so boring.
ME2 was the first one I played and I naturally went with Male Shepard. I always appreciated his deadpan delivery, it made him more comedic and had a way better stern voice.
FemShep grew on me though. Her voice was still neutral but could still get across every emotion. Just a shame I can't create a decent looking one, and that she has so few heterosexual romance options to choose from. Kaiden is the last person my Shepard would touch male or female, he's so boring.
Both VA's are pretty good, femshep's is slightly better, but I always felt weird going around with a female fat space marine so I always played male.
You can bang the dude with tats in ME2 if you fuck up the other romance options, good fallback imoRebel_Raven said:
CBanana said:
This a thousand times this.
The performances are different to the point where the characters are actually different personalities based on the gender. I like the Paragon Male Shep personality better the paragon Femshep's as the lead of these games. My main reason for choosing maleshep. Hale is fantastic but I liked Meer's interpretation better.
Meer is actually a pretty accomplished improv actor and comedian and it pisses me off that people interpret his delivery of the character as incompetence.
Femshep, because Jennifer Hales's voice, oh my.
Also, way back in the first game I went Femshep on a whim and that lady stuck it out through three games, persistent saves have a lot to answer for.
Also, way back in the first game I went Femshep on a whim and that lady stuck it out through three games, persistent saves have a lot to answer for.
Taken by itself, MaleShep VA is good enough for a game like Mass Effect. But when you compare it to the VA of FemShep, that's where it sounds like dog farts. It's not fair to Mark Meer, but that's probably the biggest reason people prefer FemShep over MaleShep.tilmoph said:
For me, FemShep all the way. 100% FemShep. I enjoy the idea of a kick ass woman saving the galaxy and not a single person in the galaxy bats an eye that she's a girl. This is probably the biggest reason I've fallen in love with the Mass Effect series, and why I enjoy games like Skyrim as well; they treat playing a female protagonist exactly the same way they treat playing a male protagonist. I think it's a good step in the right direction for games, away from the idea that Hero's in Action Games are Men.
On my first playthrough I play Male shep and try to make decisions how I think I would.
On my second playthrough I go full renegade femshep
On my second playthrough I go full renegade femshep
I played through the first Mass Effect as both a male and female because I'd heard there was massive differences in the VA quality and to be honest I couldn't tell you why femsheps VA gets such high praise and malesheps gets so much criticism.They were both decent and nothing more if you ask me.I stuck with my maleshep for 2 & 3.Thought Mark Meer did a pretty good job overall