Support NeoGAF

[SF Kosmo]

He's not shit, but he is very much the second place choice.

 

[CitizenZ]

A lot of people prefer fantasy over reality.

 

[Tschumi]

For me at least he reminded me too strongly of Jack from LOST, and he was like an antiquated "white saviour" kind of character that I thought didn't live up to the ambitious firsts of the rest of the game.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I tried FemShep once a couple of years ago, but it just didn't work for me at all. Mass Effect without the default male Shepard is just not Mass Effect to me. Probably why I never even tried Andromeda.

 

[teezzy]

Get off of Era

 

[TheMay30thMan]

I have never heard that outside of gaming journalists.

 

[Ryzaki009]

It's because to be frank Meer (as paragon Shep) is kind of bad in ME1. Like take I remember me for example. Paragon version male is horrible. The sad/funny thing is even in ME1 Meer's renegade Shep is far superior to Hale. It just takes time for his paragon Shep to catch up.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Mark Vanderloo as Shepard Prime will be boss as fuck.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Mark Vanderloo as Shepard Prime will be boss as fuck.

I never thought to look up the model behind the character for some reason.

Now I really want Mass Effect 4 with Admiral Shepard.

 

[HarryKS]

Don't know. Some dudes wanna be dudettes.

 

[haxan7]

By people do you mean chicks with dicks?

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I also see "his deadpan voice," used in a critical tone quite often, but like. Dude reads his lines, he's kept that cadence throughout three games, and it's not his normal voice, so like...

We can't have deadpan or monotonous speaking characters in fiction? I dig it. It has that "I've seen all of the shit, and yours doesn't impress me," energy.

 

[chriskun]

It’s just a bunch of annoying hipsters who only play Femshep and drink PBR

Lol, its not 2009 anymore dude

 

[Melchiah]

To me it's one of the most iconic performances that I can remember. It feels like people are insisting on people choosing female Shepard just because there was a decent female alternative. I definitely think male Shepard is the better performance although nostalgia might be playing tricks on me.. What say you GAF?

Nah, the fem-Shep voice actress is much better, which makes the overall experience better.

 

[bender]

Because Bioware hasn't made a great game since Shadows of Amn.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I think people who hate males say that. For me it's always going to be the only choice to play the trilogy and I've started the legendary edition with male Shepard as well.

 

[Relativ9]

Because when ME:1 first arrived a well acted female protagonist was still a fairly novel concept and so it was given more attention and seemed more "impressive" by comparison since male shape was more of a known quality (though still good). From there the narrative that "femshep" is so much better began and it never really ended/was up for debate.

 

[balls of snow]

Because JHale is the best. Watch as she beat the shit outta ratchet too this friday as Rivet.

 

[GymWolf]

He kinda has a bit of a dry delivery but his aspect is kinda iconic.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Paragorn male Shep, renegade fem Shep, both with default faces. No other choices.

 

[mansoor1980]

cuz he got the movez

 

[Sloth Guevara]

I heard he is a Mary Sue….

 

[Tomeru]

Because he's an underwear model that somehow managed to land a prestigious position as one of the most elite operatives in the whole galaxy. The only combat experience he has is most likely wrestling a pair of underwear that got stuck between his toes.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Male renegade Shepard is the only Shepard I approve.

 

[IKSTUGA]

Fucking love Mark Meer's monotonous delivery, it's both hilarious and iconic.

 

[Chris23]

They're jealous of all the alien booty he gets

 

[TheStam]

It is fine preferring femshep, but I've seen quite a few articles like "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NEW MASS EFFECT PLAYERS, CHOOSE FEMSHEP" and it makes me less inclined to even try it. His monotone and I'd say iconic delivery gives me that sweet nostalgia too. Couldn't really imagine ME any other way.

 

[Corgi1985]

I like Male sheps renegade delivery. Him throwing that dude out the window in ME2 with a one liner is exactly the dumb shit I'm here for.

 

[EverydayBeast]

There’s a long history of male leads in entertainment as far as I know Shepard is primary used as a leader.

 

[CitizenZ]

It is fine preferring femshep, but I've seen quite a few articles like "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NEW MASS EFFECT PLAYERS, CHOOSE FEMSHEP" and it makes me less inclined to even try it. His monotone and I'd say iconic delivery gives me that sweet nostalgia too. Couldn't really imagine ME any other way.

If you want to know how much a joke this whole adding both genders(yes, there are only 2) go play the female on Outsiders. Holy Christ Its an absolute joke and actually made me and some friends question if this is harmful. to girls pysche. isnt there research suggesting young people are highly influenced by what they see. If that influence is a 90lb whamen beating up 250lb jacked dudes in the post apocalypses reality is going to sting...badly.

 

[Yerd]

It's been a long time since I played ME 1, but I chose female after doing male first. I remember thinking the voice acting was very bland or dull. So I made a hot lady shep and continued that through 3 games. I don't think I ever finished the 3rd one. My choice was nothing to do with female forward thinking back in 2007. I wanted hot ass to look at and a slightly better voice actor to listen to for endless hours of game play. I don't think the female shep was amazing VA, it was just not as bad as male VA.

 

[Rickyiez]

Looks dumb and generic . Bald marine #3145165474

 

[poodaddy]

Because simps and cucks are what the majority of the gamer populace seems to be comprised of now.

 

[AJUMP23]

I thought Male Shepard was great. I played him as a paragon. I played the evil Shepard take no prisoners Shepard as a woman. I enjoyed all my playthroughs.

 

[GloveSlap]

Never played female shep. Good excuse to pick up the remaster actually. Can you still romance all the same people?

 

[ReBurn]

Because they want to waifu female Shephard

 

[yet_another_alt]

Reminder

 

[Bo_Hazem]

To me it's one of the most iconic performances that I can remember. It feels like people are insisting on people choosing female Shepard just because there was a decent female alternative. I definitely think male Shepard is the better performance although nostalgia might be playing tricks on me.. What say you GAF?

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Smells like incel in here.

 

[The Hamburglar]

How often does he say we’ll bang ok

 

[Nobody_Important]

Male Shep is only shit in the first game. He is acceptable in 2 and good in 3.


The reason why he always catches shit is because Femshep is great from the start. But that's not his fault. Jennifer Hale is just a great VA.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

I always play as default male Shep. Mark Meer is a cool guy too , great with the fans.

 

[Zambayoshi]

Jen Hale is my preferred VA but I wouldn't say I hated BroShep. I've done playthroughs with both. If I remember correctly, I think more people played as BroShep according to a survey, so I think any 'hatred' probably stems from perceived poor VA performance. I think Mark Meer was perfectly fine and fit the rugged stoicism I have no doubt was in his brief.

 

[cartman414]

I dunno, I used to respect Jennifer Hale's performances a lot, but I made the rookie mistake or looking up what kind of person she was outside of her work, and of course she's "better," than Mark Meer, she basically has like an eight video playlist consisting of bawling her eyes out over every facet of Mass Effect. She portrays it like it's the very mana that holds her spirit together, she's like the kingpin of all the reunion podcasts. Major far left cat lady vibes.

Whereas Mark is just sort of like "yeah, I'll do some signatures and cosplays and say we'll bang, okay, and I should go and and people will smile,"

And Hale is like "I FIND IT SO REFRESHING THAT WE CAN GET INTO THE SHOES OF AN UNCHARACTERISTICALLY BEAUTIFUL WOMAN LIKE JACK AND THE LESBIAN RELATIONSHIP WITH TRAYNOR (WHO IS ALSO A POC) TALKING ABOUT PICKET FENCES MADE ME DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS, BUT I WAS REVIVED BECAUSE OF MY ASARI BLOOD, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER,"

Gross.

Lol. I don't know though. She's a lovely person on every front. Course I may be biased because she has quite the breadth of work (Planescape: Torment, Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness, Justice League Unlimited, MGS, Billy & Mandy). I've seen behavior that I find more annoying in others though.

 

[Kamina]

Male Shep bangs, ok?

 

[Elektro Demon]

Cuz feminism and all that bullshit.

 

[Horatius]

found his va much better than femshep's tbh. never understood the love for femshep, it's a ridiculous performance

 

[O.v.e.rlord]

there is only one true Shepard

 

[MadPanda]

I didn't even realize there's a femshep until I read it online.

When I hear Shepard I imagine a male one and I just can't imagine femshep. That's travesty to me. Like you aren't getting the right, intended experience.

 

[PleaseDontBanMe]

i used the default male Shepard face for all 3 games because tinkering with the appearance is a complete waste of time imo