I find the female Shepard to be less believable in the role that she plays. In part this might be because of gender issues; some deep-rooted sexism in my brain, maybe. More likely, I think it has something to do with the fact that the dialog and story are written around a male character, and the female character has identical lines. And even though a female character in Shepard's position, doing the things that Shepard does is perfectly fine and believable, I think that this theoretical female Shepard would probably NOT use the exact wording in all of her responses as a male version, or have the exact same facial expressions and the exact same animations at all the exact same times. And I think that that is the biggest source of my not being able to take the female version as seriously in the role: because it's a female voice and body doing things and saying things that were written and choreographed for a male character.
You might be right about this. I don't really know exactly what lines for men vs lines for women sound like, but I definitely buy what you're saying.
Which is a lose-lose for Bioware, because if they start having the female character say different lines, they'll probably get accused of even worse things. Not to mention the astronomical increase in writing, and thus voice-acting, costs.
I think it would depend on how they do this. There would be an increase in writing costs, but as long as they did it the cheap way, I don't think it would be much. And by "cheap" way, I mean that they don't have to give fem-Shep entirely new dialog trees, they just have to have her convey the same meaning as male-Shep, in a more feminine manner. Does that make sense?
In other words, if male-Shep comes up to an informant and says something intimidating to make him talk, then fem-Shep just has to say something that would get the same result. It doesn't have to be meant to be intimidating though. Maybe she has a more subtle, clever line. I don't know.
Anyway, that would indeed increase writing, because she'd be saying different things. However, it would NOT increase the voice acting. So long as all the other characters could retain their responses to both characters, then the fem-Shep voice actress would just be swapping lines. You'd have double the main character LINES, but not twice the effort, because you'd just be coming up with two phrases that mean the same thing, rather than writing interactions from scratch.
Why not? Let's have a Mass Effect thread.
02/02/2010 05:02:32 PM
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Character discussion: Mordin Solus
02/02/2010 06:28:41 PM
- 1862 Views
Mordin Solus is great
02/02/2010 08:21:26 PM
- 1290 Views
Actually, that's what happened to me too.
02/02/2010 08:33:22 PM
- 1420 Views
The Illusive man
02/02/2010 08:34:09 PM
- 1491 Views
I didn't even realize that's who he was.
02/02/2010 08:44:07 PM
- 1420 Views
"I'm having trouble hearing you. I'm getting a lot of bullshit on this line." *NM*
02/02/2010 09:34:53 PM
- 697 Views
Who is sharing your bed?
02/02/2010 09:42:09 PM
- 1417 Views
Tali for my male Shepherd
04/02/2010 03:52:03 PM
- 1300 Views
Does she take the helmet off? *NM*
04/02/2010 07:57:18 PM
- 721 Views
I went simple - Miranda.
07/02/2010 06:32:25 AM
- 1214 Views
Which reminds me that I always wondered...
07/02/2010 11:54:14 AM
- 1334 Views
You probably wouldn't be able to woo anyone by being a total dick. *NM*
07/02/2010 03:32:41 PM
- 693 Views
I was lucky enough to meet the game's producer... (No spoilers)
02/02/2010 10:58:59 PM
- 1450 Views
No spoilers here either, as per my rules. Regarding the ammo:
03/02/2010 04:51:54 AM
- 1276 Views
I just want to be part of this....that said, Best Buy is no longer selling ME:1
02/02/2010 11:16:51 PM
- 1413 Views
Could well be.
03/02/2010 04:52:49 AM
- 1174 Views
Glad the PC version was $50, at the risk of sounding like a snob.
03/02/2010 04:01:52 PM
- 1211 Views
Mass Effect 1 vs 2: RPG-shooter vs Shooter-rpg (This is for you, Cymbaline!) (No spoilers)
02/02/2010 11:28:24 PM
- 1388 Views
The "Holy crap that was awesome" moments. SPOILERS
03/02/2010 11:27:55 PM
- 1347 Views
Re: The "Holy crap that was awesome" moments. SPOILERS
04/02/2010 04:59:54 AM
- 1247 Views
Re: The "Holy crap that was awesome" moments. SPOILERS
04/02/2010 06:16:29 AM
- 1353 Views
Well. . .somewhat, I guess.
04/02/2010 06:43:02 AM
- 1369 Views
Re: Well. . .somewhat, I guess.
04/02/2010 03:32:26 PM
- 1307 Views
You know what? I'll actually buy that. I appreciate the explanation.
04/02/2010 06:30:37 PM
- 1128 Views
A couple of more things......
16/02/2010 12:41:19 AM
- 1366 Views
Game was too easy, primary plotline too short
04/02/2010 09:03:52 PM
- 1300 Views
Nice. I'm playing through on Insanity now, and I think it's a good challenge.
05/02/2010 02:17:02 AM
- 1205 Views
Whats your character build?
05/02/2010 02:45:31 PM
- 1460 Views
Ok, so male or female Shepherd?
05/02/2010 01:50:23 AM
- 1228 Views
Hm. This brings up a thought.
05/02/2010 01:52:37 AM
- 1172 Views
Male for my first playthrough, female for my second.
05/02/2010 02:28:24 AM
- 1335 Views
Agreed, on some of those counts.
05/02/2010 07:28:00 AM
- 1181 Views
Re: Agreed, on some of those counts.
05/02/2010 07:43:20 AM
- 1326 Views
Male so far. I plan on playing the female Shepard next playthrough. *NM*
05/02/2010 03:25:00 AM
- 744 Views
Your Teams, and Your Deaths.
07/02/2010 06:30:25 AM
- 1152 Views
Re: Your Teams, and Your Deaths.
07/02/2010 09:07:17 AM
- 1343 Views
Do you know...
07/02/2010 03:46:59 PM
- 1153 Views
Re: Do you know...
07/02/2010 04:31:29 PM
- 1242 Views
Awesome. Thanks! *NM*
07/02/2010 04:40:59 PM
- 723 Views
Yeah, that's what I did.
07/02/2010 06:37:50 PM
- 1105 Views
Hmmm...
09/02/2010 03:48:48 PM
- 1187 Views
Strange.
09/02/2010 04:19:04 PM
- 1237 Views
me too
13/02/2010 03:01:05 PM
- 1229 Views
Did you do Legion's loyalty mission?
15/02/2010 05:52:36 AM
- 1324 Views
I did, for what it's worth.
15/02/2010 07:26:38 AM
- 1256 Views
Gah. Then I wonder if loyalty of the rest of the crew has something to do with it.
15/02/2010 04:20:13 PM
- 1218 Views
I have come across a big problem.
07/02/2010 06:53:36 PM
- 1268 Views
Want FREE Mass Effect 2 DLC? ME 2! (har, har) Bioware bonus goodies detailed inside.
09/02/2010 07:03:23 PM
- 1389 Views
Now if only the DLC armors didn't have helmets.
09/02/2010 07:26:47 PM
- 1166 Views
Of course, the Shotgun is released AFTER I beat my Vanguard *sigh*
09/02/2010 11:31:13 PM
- 1246 Views
It's nice, but you don't miss much if you already had the Claymore shotty w/ an ammo upgrade. *NM*
10/02/2010 05:16:00 AM
- 674 Views
Anyone find anything interesting about Zaeed Massani?
11/02/2010 09:08:16 PM
- 1263 Views
I enjoy Zaeed.
11/02/2010 09:22:39 PM
- 1222 Views
I'm near your spot in the story and completely agree. One-sided conversations, but worthwhile. *NM*
11/02/2010 10:20:47 PM
- 605 Views
Yeah, I've listened to him alot but it's the same stuff every time.
12/02/2010 03:14:11 PM
- 1173 Views
Who, what, where? *NM*
22/02/2010 08:18:31 PM
- 637 Views
If you bought a new copy of the game, it came with a code for the "Cerberus Network"
22/02/2010 08:22:18 PM
- 1175 Views
Is there a way to install the game on the Xbox, so you don't have to switch discs?
12/02/2010 01:39:07 AM
- 1205 Views
Good ones have two discs, of course. DVDs can only hold so much. *NM*
12/02/2010 02:46:39 AM
- 631 Views
This is the first I've ever seen. *NM*
12/02/2010 02:51:34 AM
- 664 Views
I've never understood why people are unhappy with the multiple discs.
12/02/2010 04:18:42 AM
- 1212 Views
So far, so great!
12/02/2010 08:35:00 AM
- 1183 Views
Re: So far, so great!
12/02/2010 02:31:43 PM
- 1289 Views
Re: So far, so great!
16/02/2010 10:17:12 PM
- 1238 Views
Nope, I was referring to honest-to-goodness cheating. lol
16/02/2010 11:03:53 PM
- 1282 Views
Ahh, I just figured you were on console as I am, so.....the grind will continue I guess *NM*
17/02/2010 06:41:59 PM
- 716 Views
I love the detail put into this game.
12/02/2010 02:58:35 PM
- 1169 Views
"Our amino acids aren't even compatable so there's no risk if we go natural."
12/02/2010 03:15:50 PM
- 1216 Views
Re: "Our amino acids aren't even compatable so there's no risk if we go natural."
12/02/2010 07:16:21 PM
- 1142 Views
"Technically we don't even have sex drives... oh, she is rather flexible...." *NM*
12/02/2010 07:20:53 PM
- 661 Views
Female Turians....
12/02/2010 09:05:39 PM
- 1149 Views
Nope. Don't exist in-game.
14/02/2010 01:47:23 AM
- 1112 Views
I believe a krogan female is shown once.
14/02/2010 02:03:27 AM
- 1196 Views
No I don't think that's right.
14/02/2010 08:54:32 AM
- 1124 Views
Asari
15/02/2010 06:51:10 AM
- 1255 Views
Not really.
15/02/2010 10:41:54 PM
- 1178 Views
Though it is fun seeing the asari coupled with basically every race under the sun.
15/02/2010 10:54:41 PM
- 1201 Views
The final verdict
22/02/2010 08:06:12 PM
- 1216 Views
By the way, my game was surprisingly buggy
23/02/2010 08:49:28 AM
- 1308 Views
A complaint about the Morality system. (Or, how Mass Effect semi-killed roleplaying).
27/02/2010 06:40:35 AM
- 1303 Views
Re: A complaint about the Morality system. (Or, how Mass Effect semi-killed roleplaying).
27/02/2010 12:28:29 PM
- 1141 Views
Re: A complaint about the Morality system. (Or, how Mass Effect semi-killed roleplaying).
27/02/2010 04:57:43 PM
- 1194 Views
Re: A complaint about the Morality system. (Or, how Mass Effect semi-killed roleplaying).
28/02/2010 12:34:31 AM
- 1246 Views
A vital part of role-playing is forcing the player to deal with the consequences of their actions
27/02/2010 11:53:56 PM
- 1476 Views
Admittedly, my post was somewhat stream-of-consciousness.
28/02/2010 03:28:02 AM
- 1176 Views