Poll: Which Commander Shepard has the better voice acting?

[Casual Shinji]

For me the real problem was that I could never create a ManShep whose face didn't look totally crap.

Creating a good looking FemShep was easy-peasy, but a ManShep was a shear impossibility. Hence, it was always Jennifer Hale's voice.

Heh, yeah, I had a similar problem. I first went with female Shepard after like six failed attempts at making a decent male face.

That said, my female Shepard still looks kinda derpy.

The one problem I have with ManShep is always the eyes; No matter which you choose, they look completely devoid of interest or intelligence.

With FemShep you could at least add eye shadow which would instantly add some depth and life to the character.

I do finally have a quality ManShep now. He might suffer a bit from sleepy eyes, but that's just part of his character.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Always so much hate for Mark Meer. I think I just think he is perfect because he voices his Shepard exactly how I envision mine doing it, totally disinterested and sarcastic!
I also am not a big fan of Jennifer Hale in anything she does.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Jennifer Hale is by far the better voice, in my books. Every time I tried to get through ME1, I'd get bored and quit...it was only after I switched to FemShep that it started to get involving.

Mark Meer fits the default Shepard perfectly. But that's about it; the voice seems out of place on anything else, in my experience, while Hale's voice had to suit different builds.

To me, it ends up with ManShep being the badass, generic space-war-hero with generic space-war-hero acting. FemShep comes across as being more layered.

 

[loc978]

FemShep.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to bag on Mark Meer's performance... it's perfectly acceptable most of the time and has some moments of greatness. Jennifer Hale just does a great job capturing the essence of the Action Girl trope in every line.

My Shepard would scare the shit out of me if she were real (but she's also got the Earth street kid - ruthless commander background and goes about 60/40 paragon/renegade).

 

[Autumnflame]

jennifer hale. mainly due to the emotion she brings to the front.

mark need to work on emoting a little.

for example you know and feel Femsheps emotions as shes talking( at least i do).

while male shep seems a little flat to me

 

[KB13]

Jennifer Hale defiantly i'm currently trying to play through as maleshep so I can romance Tali but he's so bland and un-punctuating, when going after Garrus, Femshep actually sounds like she sighs when EDI tells her about the routes, maleshep just says it. He's just as bad when you take the prompt to hug Tali, ugh no emotion what-so-ever.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Jennifer Hale is pretty much the voice actress of the video game world.

Meer doesn't really emote that much, but I still think he fits the part.

 

[Dr. Paine]

The one problem I have with ManShep is always the eyes; No matter which you choose, they look completely devoid of interest or intelligence.

With FemShep you could at least add eye shadow which would instantly add some depth and life to the character.

I do finally have a quality ManShep now. He might suffer a bit from sleepy eyes, but that's just part of his character.

Who has time to sleep when there's a galaxy to save stores to endorse?!

 

[Exocet]

Jennifer Hale is the best paragon, Mark Meer is the best renegade. His deadpan delivery makes some of the renegade comments infinitely more badass.

Pretty much this, Jennifer Hale puts tone and nuance where needed, Mark Meer puts sharp, cold, or even downright evil where needed.
Plus, he looks the part when he has glowing laser eyes in ME2.
Yes,I know they do not actually fire lasers, but I like to think they can, and Shepard isn't using them, because it would be just too damn easy.

 

[Jandau]

Female was better, but I never understood all the hate directed at Male Shepard. It was a decent piece of work. Not as good as Jennifer Hale, but solid nonetheless...

 

[Imre Csete]

Mark Meer because Jennifer Hale graced us with such amazing performances before, that her FemShep voice is overshadowed by them for me.

She sounds like a bored killing machine, compared to Bastila/Fall-From-Grace it hurts my ears.

 

[Kelethor]

Meer. it was always Meer.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I went with the female Shepherd, Jennifer Hale; Mark Meer's male sounds cheesy and overtly heroic, like a cross between John Wayne and Futurama's Zapp Brannigan (sp?)

 

[j0frenzy]

I don't think Meer is all that bad, Hale just does a better job most of the time. There are times when she comes off a bit flat or Meer is better at selling a line (generally renegade, but I haven't seen a whole lot of paragon broShep). I should also point out I haven't touched broShep in ME2, so that may change my opinion if I ever get around to it. I will say that I prefer femShep for other reasons, namely that the character model for broShep is really unflattering and silly if you are wearing light armor.

 

[Dr. Paine]

I went with the female Shepherd, Jennifer Hale; Mark Meer's male sounds cheesy and overtly heroic, like a cross between John Wayne and Futurama's Zapp Brannigan (sp?)

... I would so play as ManShep if they actually had Billy West doing the Zapp Brannigan voice, it would be the funniest damn thing ever.

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

FemShep's voice irritates the hell out of me. DudeShep all the way!!

Have to say, the times I get irritated by ME, it's usually the dialogue, not the voice acting.

 

[Scorekeeper]

Hale by far. Meer's abysmal voice acting was the biggest reason I chose to play as FemShep in ME1.

 

[draconiansundae]

I prefer Femshep, myself. But I like Manshep when I'm a playing a renegade character. I've also heard rumors that his voice acting has improved quite a bit in ME3.

 

[MPerce]

While I prefer Hale, the best line reading of all time will always belong to Meer's "big stupid jellyfish" line.
That was beyond brilliant.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

To be honest, I think one of the reasons people are so divided on who's voice is better is because everyone's Shepards probably look much different from one another. Mark Meer's voice goes very well with my canon paragon Shepard, and I credit that to my Shepard unintentionally looking like Jon Cryer, and as such I almost expect said Shepard to come off as slightly meek but still badass, and Meer fits completely. I can actually say the same about my non-canon female renegade Shepard (she doesn't look like Jon Cryer though, thank god). I think it's more-or-less just the way I designed and play my Shepards that makes their voices fit.

It's funny really, I tried playing through with a second male paragon Shepard, only this time I intentionally made that Shepard to look middle-eastern; voice did NOT fit AT ALL, and I abandoned that Shepard on the first Citadel visit because I just couldn't take it. This Shepard and my original Shepard were saying the same lines, but the new one's appearance and voice clashed immensely.