I can definitely see her point. So far, marketing chose the straightforward, easy way (same with DA2, BTW - MaleHawke only) to drive the Mass Effect protagonist home with people.
Looking forward to seeing FemShep on that box <3
Mass Effect 3
- Thread starter PsychoPere
- Start date
Looking forward to seeing FemShep on that box <3
Well of course that's a pretty safe bet considering that even these days the majority of (non-casual) gamers are still males in that 16 - 35 demographic. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot more girl and women gamers now than there were even a few years ago, but it's still *mostly* a "boy's hobby."
Still, i think it's a fair point that Bioware games (and RPGs in general) have a higher proportion
I don't know if it's really been a strength. They never even bothered to program the FemShep model with appropriate female movements and positions until the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, if I remember right.
Depends on how you look at it really. On the one hand, yes, a lot of the animations had a distinct "masculine" quality to them (especially the walking/jogging cycle) but on the other hand this person is a career soldier who's spent most of his or her adult life wearing armour and crouching in the mud while dodging hypersonic projectiles. In the case of my main soldier FemShep she's EarthBorn and so a former street rat and gang member. Not exactly a recipe for girly behaviour.
In a way it was especially appropriate with the Kasumi DLC to see her trundle along in her mannish gait, looking very uncomfortable in a dress and high heels.
Actually, in Dragon Age II, one of the things that completely took me out of the game was the female Hawk's idle animation. Here I was with my aggressive, great-sword wielding warrior, looking all tough an mean, but as soon as she stands still for a few seconds, she strikes this demure little pose that looks so completely inappropriate.
You know I have heard some people complain that Hale's performance sounds "butch" (I'm assuming this is what you're referring to; if not then my apologies.) Personally, I just don't see it.And I'm not going to comment on the latter part of your post, except to say that I disagree about FemShep not being overcompensating. Hale's vocal performance is the very definition of overcompensating.
Earnest? Certainly. Strong? Absolutely. But butch? Nah.
See now I've known some proper butch types in my time (power lifters, bouncers, construction workers etc.) and Hale isn't even *close*. I wouldn't even call her performance tomboyish.
Well they did and the didn't. It'd probably be fair to say that the character of Shepard was written to be mostly gender neutral. It just so happens that there are so few female "hero" characters in video games to compare her to that (combined with the MaleShep oriented marketing) tends to lead people to think of the male version as the "preferred" version.
Either way, I think it's to Bioware's credit that they haven't gone out of their way to overtly distinguish between the two gender options, at least from a story point of view. More than anything, I like how it plays against one's expectations of how a female protagonist is normally characterised.
Case in point, for a lark I used the gibbed save editor to set my last playthrough as a vanguard as a femshep in a relationship with Ash. I half expected it to break the game, but lo and behold, when I got to Horizon all the relationship stuff worked without a hitch. Granted it's because the same conversation with Kaiden is essentially identical, but the character dynamic for both the male and female Shepard with their (possible) respective paramours was the same, regardless of gender.
^Agreed
QFT, that's exactly my interpretation of her character.
She's a freaking Space Marine, she's supposed to be a tough gal with a very distinct military vibe to her.
Well I think they said the vote will run for a few weeks at least so it's not decided yet...but yeah, unless there's a dramatic shift or some big fan drive to get people voting for another one then it does look like BlondyFemShep will be the winner.
I just hope that close shorn hairstyle will be available because it'd suit my infiltrator shep very well. After two games she's probably a little sick of the shaved head look.
I will cry tears of joy if that short haircut in my av becomes available in the editor, tears of joy I tell ya
Well I think they said the vote will run for a few weeks at least so it's not decided yet...but yeah, unless there's a dramatic shift or some big fan drive to get people voting for another one then it does look like BlondyFemShep will be the winner.
I just hope that close shorn hairstyle will be available because it'd suit my infiltrator shep very well. After two games she's probably a little sick of the shaved head look.
Thanks
I forgot to mention for reference, there's a bigger version of that image set up as my profile image.
My only criticism of his work (which is otherwise awe-inspiring) is that his Miranda doesn't look quite right.
Oh that's meant to be Miranda? For some reason I thought it was a FemShep. Yeah it doesn't look much like Miranda, but then most of the portraits don't look very much like the characters' in-game appearance either (Mordin especially.) They're just easier to identify because they're distinctive aliens.
Not to knock it mind; the guy has an excellent technique and a real flare for detail.
^ Yeah, it's Miranda. But, like you said, it's impressive work nonetheless.