Do you think Commander Shepard is not a well written character?

[KSarty]

For ME2, I found femshep to be very bland, as if Hale was just phoning this one in.

As for the character itself, I think Shepard is very well written. If all of you ended up as an extreme and weren't happy with that outcome than you can only blame yourselves. I played through the game mostly as Paragon, but there were plenty of people who I didn't like right off the bat and I used Renegade options for all of them. In the end I had about 3/4 of my Paragon bar filled with just under 1/2 of my Renegade filled up. My Shepard is a nice guy who doesn't take shit from anyone.

 

[TheTaco007]

The problem is that you CAN'T write Shepard. Given that the player is free to make their Shepard act any way they want, moral choices have to be up to the player, not Shepard, meaning that Shepard isn't a well rounded character. Bioware basically counts on the player to act exactly how they would, making Shepard seem like a better character to them.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Well generally yeah. I thought it was really retarded how on more than one occasion a number of your dialogue options would be exactly the same. For example: Say some NPC has asked for you help, you're presented with the following options: Paragon-"Ok I'll help" Neutral-"Get outta my way!" Renegade-"Get outta my way!" WTF?

 

[Zaik]

It is kind of weird that he's all the way a saint or all the way a dick.

That tends to be an issue with morality systems in games in general though, rather than specifically Mass Effect.

 

[Ramin 123]

Not really.

She's okay, I guess.

I have being meaning to ask you...Where is you avatar from? It's so cute!

Rahab...nice avatar

Anyway, I really think they need to introduce what I would describe as a selfish option, a greedy/selfish/sarcastic type of character who would help people if it feeds his ambitions. I know some will say "oh but you can ask for extra money for helping people" etc, but I think it would interesting.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

Be a ladeh and get back to us. She's way better.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

well the other characters are much better defined as they are certain, your character is yours, so its a bit more open for bland interpretation, so when it comes to shepherd, i am damn happy as he is a much better character than half the cookie cutter main protagonists out there that some people cult about

 

[Spencer Petersen]

The problem I found is that the backgrounds you predetermine for Shepard at the game start are very stock and uninventive. Ive found I like my Shepard more when I just abandon those backstories and make up my own.

I also have a problem with how unambiguous the choices you make are. They have no impact on your character and in no way shape their personality or how others react to you. Every renegade option is usually accepted as necessary by commanding officers and other key figures, so you never have repercussions.
When Shepard makes googly eyes with his/her love interest I also get a strange feeling of character disconnect, as the Shepard I'm playing has no problem with putting a guy in deep freeze and then shattering him with a karate chop, but when he gets back to the spaceship, he starts chatting up the blue alien about the preciousness of life.

My wishes for ME3 would be to actually add some RPG to this, well... RPG. I want different playstyles, not just different variants of put cursor on enemy and press button. A stealthy option would be nice. Maybe as character designed for non-violent tactics. Maybe specialization in coercion and deception. I want some RPG here, not just shooty action with dialogue and linear upgrades.

 

[WINDOWCLEAN2]

Shepard is a blank slate on which to base your emotions.

For a well defined character I would recommend Thane.
From the detective-style loyalty mission to the haunting past he reveals and his deep philisophical thoughts he felt the most fleshes out and personalised character, not merely another Stereotypical slate.

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

I think shepard would be a pretty good comedian; "Dont worry, things will be better than the old days" "I hope so, I died". but other than that, he's either personality dead or a guy who could seriously ruin any one's day. I think his dialouge is well written when it comes to comedy, but as far as personality goes, a stick has more.

while on the topic of comedy, am I the only one who would enjoy seeing Grunt or Wrex do stand up on open mic night?

 

[badgersprite]

Well, to be fair, it's immensely difficult to write a character with so many variables involved in how they behave, how they look, their past, who they're interested in, how they react to situations, morality, etc. Unless you're consistently choosing the same route of problem resolution, then yes Shepard will come across as inconsistent. But I've never had this problem, at least not by the time you get to ME2 where a lot of exposition and explanation is cut down, since in ME1 Shepard seems pretty clueless.

For my money, I got a real sense of personality from my Paragon Femshep, both from actions and from the way dialogue was delivered. I like the fact that the 'goody two shoes' route can also be very sneaky and manipulative, like pulling a Jedi mind trick on people, as well as being kind of snarky.

I think the main test of whether Shepard is a well written character is asking yourself, "Can you see why people follow this person?" or "Can you see why people trust them?" because that's really their role in the story.

 

[Vrex360]

Honestly, not really. I mean yeah, he'll say the occasional funny thing but the fact that he doesn't actually have a set personality is rather problematic. He is basically just a book of prepared responses, either all the way good or all the way evil with no room to develop.

He's a Mary Sue in some respects, and he can't hope to carry narrative on his own so that's why he needs to be surrounded by a supporting cast. For instance when he's having conversation with let's say, Garrus, Garrus is the one doing all the talking. About working with C-sec and his father and a few cases in the past... and in all this time all Shepard does is say variations of:
"Interesting, tell me more."
Never does Garrus ask Shepard any major questions that Shepard talks about at length, that's not how the game is designed. So all Shepard really is in these conversations is the listener who makes occasional remarks.
As a player avatar, he's perfect. As a character, he sucks.

That said, sometimes he even fails as a player avatar. These are the points where it's pretty clear that Bioware have a set plan of how a scene must go down so all of Shepard's responses are geared to not work and to not be effective. I'll give an example:
The Horizon Encounter (Mass Effect 2):

Spoiler

In this playthrough I had romanced Ashley, so when she approaches Shepard and hugs him tearfully having finally been reunited with the man she loved so long ago, it's always a bit of a shock to the system that Shepard opens with the line:
"It's good to see you, how'ya been?"

Seriously, I don't know what genius decided this would be an appropriate thing to have Shepard say in this instance but it starts the ball rolling into a negative path that only gets worse from there. Namely, the game doesn't let you explain yourself.

Ashley asks where you have been, you mention being rebuilt by Cerberus and then... no further explanation is given. Also while you can press your points to Tali and Garrus that while you are working with Cerberus it's just out of necessity and you don't trust them, with Ashley/Kaiden on Horizon you are left with only the option to either sound like a Cerberus agent or just sound like an idiot.

Shepard spends the entire time acting completely emotionally distant and brings up increasingly weak arguments to defend himself, all of them brought up with no emotion and only half baked explanations. After that, Ashley leaves and I am left devastated.

Some people blame Ashley/Kaiden for that scene. I entirely blame Shepard, because he had to open with the dumbest line ever and it only went downhill from there. Bioware made a decision to force this scene to go down a certain way and in so doing destroyed Shepard's ability to reason with people in the process, essentially making him act like an idiot in service to the plot.

So yeah, Shepard has a few issues as far as I see it. He's still okay but I'm not among the people to bow at the Temple of Shepard.

 

[Engarde]

Ah, excellent responses everyone. I appreciate the food for thought.

 

[DeltaGun]

I really enjoyed the Renegade options, and I think thats what helped shape Shepard for me.

I disagree about having to pad your paragon/renegade meter. Frankly, there weren't very many bonuses, and I found that if you answer questions how you truly want to then the meters will stray to one side or the other enough to give you their respective bonus.

Well before the end of the game Shepard can be both Renegade and Paragon enough to unlock most of the extra dialogue choices.