Commander Shepard is Female

[Buschmaki]

I prefer male Shepard because I'm male and making a female look like me would be... strangely no that hard.

 

[unoleian]

Or at least should be. Allow me to explain.

-snip-

No, no need to explain. I completely agree. For some reason, it just fits better. I've been thinking for a while about how to justify this, but I can't. She just simply presents a more legitimate character, no matter whether you play Renegade or Paragon. My female Shep's performances always come to the fore whenever Cmdr. Shepard is mentioned.

 

[Millky95]

I've went to play the female Shepard a few times and each time, I just don't like her voice. I don't know why but I just can't really, stand listening to her. She just doesn't seem to fit. It's just weird, usually I will choose the female option in games or will the 2nd time around but, I just can't be female Shepard. She is the only female character I can't be. It's really weird.

 

[Mcface]

I had to stop reading at your first point. But I'm sorry, are you trying to troll?
>Male Shep: "Because, it's a BIG. STOOPID. JELLYFISH." in perfect unison with the hand motion.
>Fem Shep: "Because it'sabigstupidjellyfish." And letting the hand motion go on four and a half seconds later.
I actually had to stop playing my Fem Shep file because I couldn't stand how bland her acting was.
She had one emotion: Emotionless.
"Joker. You better get that ship to ASAP mister." "Why are you collecting humans?" "You're a sentient machine?" ALL said so blandly and without any emotion I thought she was some kind of automaton construct.

But Male Shep? Everything he said seemed to have force or reason behind it. Even the simplest of questions.

Agreed, some of male shepards lines actually had me, my girlfriend, and my friend laughing out loud. A game rarely does that with the voice acting. The guys a smart-ass bad-ass SOB, and his voice fits it.

Female shepard.. not so much.

 

[Irridium]

Uh...Why not just let you choose your gender?

They do, except that in all the trailers, commercials, etc., Shepard is male. If you choose the standard Shepard option, he's male. In the canon, he's male.

I asked about that, actually. I was visiting BioWare for a look at Mass Effect 2, and I suggested to Casey Hudson that perhaps in one of their demos, they could use a female Shepard. For me (and many others), it's a major selling point of the game. His response was "...but he's male in all of our marketing and on the box. How would you know it was Mass Effect?"

He's right, of course, but it's a bit disappointing just the same.

That... makes me really sad actually.

OT: If they need to fix anything in the Mass Effect games, they should start with the dancing.

Seriously, I'd say Shepard's dancing is a bigger threat to galactic stability in and of itself.

A bit more on topic... I enjoy Hale's voice acting more, however Shepard's actual motions seem to be made in conjunction with the male voice, resulting in moments where she would finish talking, and the animation would still go on. There were very few times where this happened however, but it was still there. Basically they seemed to have focused more on the male Shepard, and I found the game more fun to play through as a male.

However I do love what Hale did with Shepard.

But when everything's said and done however, I don't mind one way or the other. That being said, I would love for some more spotlight on the female Shepard. I'd love to see a gameplay demo where the woman wasn't just eyecandy/someone needing rescue/ect.

 

[Rajin Cajun]

Uh...Why not just let you choose your gender?

They do, except that in all the trailers, commercials, etc., Shepard is male. If you choose the standard Shepard option, he's male. In the canon, he's male.

Get over it then.

 

[SPF18]

Thanks for your opinion. Sadly, that's what it is - your opinion. Even sadder, your opinion does not affect anyone nor does it matter in the slightest bit.

Sorry if I'm being harsh, but all you said was "Well she's the better actor"...if someone disagrees with you (which I do. She bores me to do death. You disagree? That's fine.) then the argument falls apart.

 

[Riven Armor]

You have to realize almost every design decision that resulted in mass effect was done to not scare away the LCD. The LCD is afraid of the gay, afraid of women, afraid of actual emotion, afraid of actual complexity, difficulty, failure, and frustration.

Yes, jennifer hale is the better voice actor. Yes, it would've been nice to not be forced into creepy garrus sex, boring jacob sex, or pity-fucking thane, but because of the aforementioned, thats the best we can get (short of hacking your save to swap shepard's gender at the "is this gay?" checks, and then just imagining jennifer hale delivering lines only meer recorded).

Of course, that doesn't mean femshep is a good character. She still represents everything wrong with female characterization, its just shes the rarer form (man with tits).

I don't see how the "wo-man" characterization is offensive.

 

[Namewithheld]

And finally, a female protagonist like Shepard would have gone miles for the current big-breasted Lara Croft stereotype prevalent in gaming today. She's exactly what the male character is. It's a powerful argument that video games aren't the sexist things that some people seem to think they are.

I agree AND disagree with this statement!

See, the best female characters are, well...female. Having a female character that is just a male character with breasts is not a very good character, and it tends to make feminists - like me- a bit cranky.

But fortunately, I'm going to guess that you were just excited and didn't articulate what you meant very well. Happens to us all. Hopefully I'm not sounding TOO condensing, cause I'm really not trying to be.

Basically, the reason why F-Shep is so fucking awesome is because she is an astonishingly good female character. She's strong, determined, and capable of leading people with great ability. And yet she avoids the standard Strong Female Trap of having absolutely no emotion and being a fucking *****. Even Renegade F-Shep is not a *****...heck, she can be damned romantic as either a Paragon or a Renegade. She can also be sarcastic, wry, and so on.

The only thing that I don't see in Shepard as much as I'd like is sorrow...she/he can be wistful and contemplative, but...then again, that kinda fits with her/him being the strong leader. Tears don't come easy, and they're always trying to be strong.

Either way, F-Shep is one of the best of video game's strong female protagonists. Others include Annah, Karen S'Jet, Jade, Lilly and probably some more I can't remember or have never heard of.

EDIT: Obviously, this post is opinion. And therefor, fact.

 

[Ghostkai]

Pretty sure the canon Shep is Male Soldier. Just look at the front covers of both games.

At risk to repeting my self
There is no Canon... Drew Kapynky said numerous times that there is no Canon for Shepard story or gender, he is what you what s/he is...
Even if the comic book where Liara try to find Shepard body one of the character of the comic comment that he could not tell if the corpse in the cofin was male or female...
The character of the cover is the default one they needed one... but there is no canon choice

Don't seem to recall the player character being on the cover on any of their other rpg's. Unless I'm forgetting one. They never "needed" to put shep on the cover really. But why go to all the effort of making him an identifyable character through the covers,artwork and promotional material (trailers etc).

Heck, I don't even care THAT much to be honest, but I definately identify default male shep as the commander, I'm sure alot do.

 

[Dfskelleton]

I can't stand Jennifer Hale. Apparently, she has to be in every game. She had to annoy me as Cortana in the Halo trilogy, I had to listen to her nagging in F.E.A.R. 2, she actually made me blow myself up once in Doom 3: Ressurection of Evil, and worst of all, I have to bear with her constant whining in Left 4 Dead. I don't really hate her, but her voice is so overused that It burns my ears when I hear it.

 

[13lackfriday]

I can't stand femi sheps voice to me it doesn't sound human...

Whaaaaaat? Did you not play KOTOR?
Bastila fucking Shan.

Yes, and she was completely brilliant and alluring in that role...quite frankly, I was shocked when I learned that wasn't even a real British accent tempting me along whenever I fired up KOTOR.

But for some reason...either due to the directors of the voice talent or the whole variable morality thing, her voicework in this game is strangely deadpan. When I hear her voice when I choose Paragon/Renegade options, there's so little change in inflection, it's like it made no difference at all.

I guess one could make the argument that Mark Meer in contrast is overdoing it by being downright saintly as Paragon, and a scheming little bastard as Renegade, but the huge, comical difference is part of the reason you go through dialogue: to see the huge changes in character Shepard makes depending on your every- oftentimes radical and nonsensical- decisions, and sadly, I just fail to see that in Jennifer Hale's voicework.

I have a huge respect for the work Hale's done for the VG industry over the years, and I'm sure a good many of the characters she's lent her talent to have made great role models of the -god, does this sound contrived- strong woman, but looking here, I can't see her great work shining through.

Edit:

I can't stand Jennifer Hale. Apparently, she has to be in every game. She had to annoy me as Cortana in the Halo trilogy, I had to listen to her nagging in F.E.A.R. 2, she actually made me blow myself up once in Doom 3: Ressurection of Evil, and worst of all, I have to bear with her constant whining in Left 4 Dead. I don't really hate her, but her voice is so overused that It burns my ears when I hear it.

...You're ragging on the wrong person; that's Jen Taylor. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071768/]

 

[Yossarian1507]

Male Shepard has much better 'Paragon voice'

Female Shepard has much better 'Renegade voice'

And thus, canon Paragon Shepard should be a male and canon Renegade Shepard should be a female. There, everyone happy.

 

[VulakAerr]

I can't stand femi sheps voice to me it doesn't sound human...

Whaaaaaat? Did you not play KOTOR?
Bastila fucking Shan.

Yes, and she was completely brilliant and alluring in that role...quite frankly, I was shocked when I learned that wasn't even a real British accent tempting me along whenever I fired up KOTOR.

But for some reason...either due to the directors of the voice talent or the whole variable morality thing, her voicework in this game is strangely deadpan. When I hear her voice when I choose Paragon/Renegade options, there's so little change in inflection, it's like it made no difference at all.

I guess one could make the argument that Mark Meer in contrast is overdoing it by being downright saintly as Paragon, and a scheming little bastard as Renegade, but the huge, comical difference is part of the reason you go through dialogue: to see the huge changes in character Shepard makes depending on your every- oftentimes radical and nonsensical- decisions, and sadly, I just fail to see that in Jennifer Hale's voicework.

I have a huge respect for the work Hale's done for the VG industry over the years, and I'm sure a good many of the characters she's lent her talent to have made great role models of the -god, does this sound contrived- strong woman, but looking here, I can't see her great work shining through.

Edit:

I can't stand Jennifer Hale. Apparently, she has to be in every game. She had to annoy me as Cortana in the Halo trilogy, I had to listen to her nagging in F.E.A.R. 2, she actually made me blow myself up once in Doom 3: Ressurection of Evil, and worst of all, I have to bear with her constant whining in Left 4 Dead. I don't really hate her, but her voice is so overused that It burns my ears when I hear it.

...You're ragging on the wrong person; that's Jen Taylor. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071768/]

Jen Taylor is also awesome (and totally lovely), if maybe a tiny bit less awesome than Jen Hale.

 

[13lackfriday]

I can't stand Jennifer Hale. Apparently, she has to be in every game. She had to annoy me as Cortana in the Halo trilogy, I had to listen to her nagging in F.E.A.R. 2, she actually made me blow myself up once in Doom 3: Ressurection of Evil, and worst of all, I have to bear with her constant whining in Left 4 Dead. I don't really hate her, but her voice is so overused that It burns my ears when I hear it.

...You're ragging on the wrong person; that's Jen Taylor. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071768/]

Jen Taylor is also awesome (and totally lovely), if maybe a tiny bit less awesome than Jen Hale.

She's a bit new to the biz, but no less talented, I'd say.

She did great work bringing life to the snarky, yet sympathetic AI Cortana, and Zoey's probably one of the most badassest chicks in video gaming, thanks to her.

I think she's a little more reluctant to embrace gaming as anything other than a paycheck, but hey, so long as it doesn't affect her work, I got no complaints.

 

[DC_Josh]

Shepard *nod*.

 

[SnowdensOfYesteryear]

Because idiot male hardcore gamers (I'm just an idiot male gamer, not a hardcore one) would find it really awkward to be controlling a female and may be overcome with the urge to masturbate over having complete control over a female.