Poll: Female Shepard vs Male Shepard - Mass Effect Series

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King of Asgaard

Vae Victis, Woe to the Conquered
Oct 31, 2011
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I personally really disliked FemShep because of the voice acting.

Jennifer Hale only rally does two voices: strong, gruff female warrior, with a penchant for talking really low when shit gets real, and happy, flirtatious sweetheart. FemShep flips between both in the same conversation sometimes, giving me the impression that she's got bipolar disorder. That, and she sounds bored doing the lines, as she sighs with each and every word, especially when she's trying to sound gruff. MaleShep is more consistent, able to be gruff and tough, while still being able to tackle the more sombre moments well all with the same voice direction. Meer seems to be having fun with the role, while the same cannot be said for Hale, who delivers the same performance as she does in every role she's ever been in.

Also, you can create a more unique MS than FS. I've made 3 MS and 1 FS thus far, and my brother 1 each, and the MS all look distinct and different from one another, but the FS share the facial structures and features to the point where you'd think them sisters. Even the ones I found online looked similar, so it's not just a case of my brother and I having similar tastes.

That, and the final moment with Anderson feels thematically way better with MS, as there's a father-son-esque relationship between them. FS's scene just doesn't feel as good.
 

Hagi

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Apr 10, 2011
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Male Shep here as well.

I prefer his voice acting, I like that it displays much less emotion. I think it connects the overall story much better with the gameplay. I mean during gameplay you're killing off literally hundreds of people whilst in the story you're the hero doing all he can to save the galaxy, I don't think that works as the more emotional and passionate character that FemShep seems.

Male Shep's much colder and rational, even as Paragon, approach simply fits his role as Soldier much better in my opinion. He doesn't feel like a completely different person between dialogs/cutscenes and gameplay sequences, FemShep does.
 

MeChaNiZ3D

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Aug 30, 2011
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Actually, femshep. Although I had several characters of each gender, where the male Shep's voice acting and dialogue make him look like a stupid slab, for some reason when it's female Shepard she becomes a decent character with agency and a no-bullshit attitude.
 

takemeouttotheblack

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Apr 4, 2013
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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.
 

Maleval

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Feb 2, 2011
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As was probably already said FemShem's acting is tonnes better than ManShep. ManShep was so dull for me.
 

captainballsack

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Feb 13, 2013
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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.
 

lunavixen

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Jan 2, 2012
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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.
 

chozo_hybrid

What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.
Jul 15, 2009
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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.
 

Cecilo

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Nov 18, 2011
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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.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Jul 18, 2009
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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...

 

vun

Burrowed Lurker
Apr 10, 2008
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I prefer manshep simply because I find that he has more interesting romance options available, since I'm a sucker for romance stories.
Will probably play as femshep on my next playthrough though.
 

Reaper195

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Jul 5, 2009
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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).
 

Rebel_Raven

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Jul 24, 2011
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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! :p
Sure, Male shep has Liara as an option, too, but I like Femshep/Liara more. :p

Plus Hale's voice acting is pretty pleasing to the ears for me.
 

Last Hugh Alive

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Jul 6, 2011
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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.
 

AuronFtw

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Nov 29, 2010
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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.

Rebel_Raven said:
Definitely Femshep. All male shep has going for him, imo, is Tali as a romance option.
You can bang the dude with tats in ME2 if you fuck up the other romance options, good fallback imo
 

jklinders

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Sep 21, 2010
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CBanana said:
All in all, it's a bit surprising that male and female Shepard actually have fairly different personalities.

- Paragon male Shepard is a by the book type that hides his emotions whenever possible.
- Paragon female Shepard is an altruistic, compassionate individual who leads with her passion.
- Renegade male Shepard basically puts the mission before any emotional concerns or empathy.
- Renegade female Shepard is an I don't care what you think type who is incredibly sardonic and often has a bad temper.

I think male Shepard is weaker because the emotion that Hale infuses into the role makes Shepard a more well rounded character. I think Meer's performance works a little better for renegade than paragon though I still prefer Hale's renegade performance as it can often be funnier. To be fair though, I liked Meer's performance quite a bit more in Mass Effect 3 where he starts putting more emphasis on emotion.

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.