Chicks playing as MaleShep

[LittleBlondeGoth]

I'll always play a female character first if I'm given the option, it just feels right. But having said that, I will also play through as a man on another go, see what it's like from the other side.

Done this on Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and come to the following conclusions:

DA:O Warden is female.
DA2 Hawke is male.
Shepard could honestly be either, but I prefer female.

 

[moosek]

OT: I pick male and female characters. I've never gotten people who buy an RPG (derangedly over restrictive and overused term) and only play once.

I played through Final Fantasy VI once and only once. Square RPG's are long and a little tedious, but western RPG's often have branching paths.

Female in Mass Effect, Male in Fallout, Male in Demon Souls.

I like to playthrough as a girl in Fallout just to see how the fucked up setting will treat her. Also I wrote a paper for my Psychology of Women class about my experience in post-apocalyptic Vegas. I failed that class, beeteedubs. And Demon's Soulszssszzzz is not good, just ask @RealJimReilly on twitter.

Wonder how they can hold a controller

It's a vernacular thing that I've picked up over the years. Calling an adult female a "girl" is kind of infantilizing. I guess calling them "chicks" isn't much better, but I've been calling men -> dudes and women -> chicks since I was 12.

There's been quips this thread about who's plays Shepard better. I don't want to argue about whose voice acting is better. That's like arguing which flavor of ice cream is better. It's a subjective matter of preference, so I'll take Mark Meer's Mint Chocolate Chip over Jennifer Hale's Raspberry Sherbet (a majority of the time that is, I still enjoy raspberry). I do college radio, and occasionally we do audio dramas. I'm not trying to brag, I just like to analyze certain aspects of voice work. The point I was originally trying to make is that Hale can be jarring (again matter of preference!) because I'm not exactly hearing a unique voice, I'm hearing Trishka or Bastilla Shan or Naomi from MGS. That's not even a complaint, it's the reality of acting.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Female in Mass Effect, Male in Fallout, Male in Demon Souls.

I like to playthrough as a girl in Fallout just to see how the fucked up setting will treat her. Also I wrote a paper for my Psychology of Women class about my experience in post-apocalyptic Vegas. I failed that class, beeteedubs. And Demon's Soulszssszzzz is not good, just ask @RealJimReilly on twitter.

Well, truth be told, I did start Fallout 3 as a Woman for the same reason you did. I do like seeing how more uncivilised societies treat women in games.

But the reason I switched to a male was more astetic, and a bit shallow. It came down to the fact I wanted to wear a three-piece suit I found. As a suit it would look cool on a female, but the game switched it to a womans 50's outfit (with a skirt and such). I just didnt like the look of it, so I started again as a male. Then again, I havent played the game very long at all.

 

[manythings]

OT: I pick male and female characters. I've never gotten people who buy an RPG (derangedly over restrictive and overused term) and only play once.

I played through Final Fantasy VI once and only once. Square RPG's are long and a little tedious, but western RPG's often have branching paths.

Funny how, right there, in the two sentences you quoted, I point out that I consider the term RPG applied to too many different things. Anyone would think I was speaking specifically about a BioWare style RPG as opposed to a JRPG.

 

[Hagi]

I'm male and I picked FemShep for my first playthrough. Her voice acting is better, I honestly don't think you're going to see too many people defending Mark Meer on this one.

You'd be surprised. Some people swear by him. Some of them get pretty touchy about it.

Really?! That's the first I'm hearing about it, pretty much every one I've come across seems to be of the opinion that Jennifer Hale was much better in the role. Everybody has their opinion I guess.

I personally prefer Mark Meer for Shepard. His voice acting does have less emotion in it, but I quite like that. Shepard is a hero, but he's also a serious soldier. He defends humanity/the galaxy no matter the cost to himself/others (depending on paragon/renegade). His voice fits the character for me, determined and rational.

The only way I can see Shepard as a 'real' person doing the things he does is by him having a certain disconnection from his emotions. That no matter what he does, even in the romances, there's always a part of him that's focused on the mission.

With Jennifer Hale I feel the Shepard we see in conversations is a totally different person from the one in the larger story. She sounds too idealistic to be 'real', more of a wish-fulfillment fantasy then an actual character. Just slightly too emotional to be able to handle the things Shepard sees and does.

I think for me a large difference is that Mark Meer doesn't sound like he's actually happy, while Jennifer Hale sounds like she kind of is beneath it all. And I just can't imagine anyone with any of Shepard's histories or experiences being happy in a 'realistic' setting. To me, Mark Meer sounds just slightly emotionally scarred, not an open wound but one that healed and left a scar, and that just fits the Shepard the game depicts (whether paragon or renegade) so well. While Jennifer Hale sounds like she's fine, no emotional scars or past trauma, and that just doesn't fit how I see Shepard.

 

[Vault101]

nope...cant bring myself to play male shepard..for me she IS female, no question

 

[Robert Ewing]

My girlfriend doesn't like femshep, she always place as maleshep.