515 réponses à ce sujet

[Romantiq]

I'd rather have Conrad as squadmate and an option to shoot him in the face.

[Taitiana]

Hmm...has anyone considered that CE James to be a filler?

[KainrycKarr]

Taitiana wrote...

Hmm...has anyone considered that CE James to be a filler?

That's a little too detailed to be a filler.

[Taitiana]

KainrycKarr wrote...

Taitiana wrote...

Hmm...has anyone considered that CE James to be a filler?

That's a little too detailed to be a filler.

I suppose so-just having a immense feeling of deja vu from another Bioware character. (Who released a rendered character, which turned out to be very different.) 

[ReD BaKen9]

James is a BOSS

[Therefore_I_Am]

Too much QQing in this thread.

*throws out diapers napkins to the crowd*

[Eurhetemec]

ChuckNorris18 wrote...

I love how everyone in the community is showing hate to a character that we haven't even seen in game. It's also pretty funny that everyone is hating his character design, through a very blurry low res picture.

Why not just wait a little bit and see what he looks like in-game before attacking the design?

The problem here is that what little info people have fits a very clear stereotype, one that is wildly overused in computer games, and one that is very popular with the marketing departments of various companies, and worse, one that steps directly on Shepard's toes.

I mean, what do we "know" about Vega.

1) He's male.

2) He appears to be white or so close it doesn't matter. Vega can be a Latin American or Spanish name, but given he used to be called James Sanders and this seeminly only got changed because people found that name out, it's easy to make the assumption that he is.

3) He's a got a steroid-y muscle-man-type build. Seemingly moreso than Shepard's model in ME3.

4) He's an experienced soldier (not necessarily in the class sense).

5) He has a really big gun that previously only Shepard and Legion could have, because normal humans can't fire it without lying down and using the bipod - only Shepard's cyborg traits and the fact that Legion is a powerful robot let them use it.

6) At least in his AA, he has a really stupid haircut associated with macho, aggressive, often stupid characters.

So basically all the information we have says he is an utterly generic "steroid-pumped space marine" - which is the stereotype I referred to. Worse, as I said, he steps on Shepard and arguably Ashley's toes, because Shepard is already a space marine (though 'borged-up rather than steroid-y), and Ashley is a space marine, and this guy, is, as noted, already doing something that was previously "special" to Shepard (and Legion).

None of that is conducive to people liking him.

I mean, you say, why hate on so little info? Yeah, reasonable position, but there's literally no reason to like him, and many reasons to think he'll be annoying, because he seems to resemble annoying characters from CoD, GoW, and zillion other games.

The only reason is can see not to hate is that this is Bioware, and that's why I don't hate. They've never given me a total dud character in Mass Effect. Never. The closest to dud is Kaidan, and he's still likeable. I might not like Zaeed, but gosh, he was a lot of fun, love him or hate him. I might not like Ashley, but she has a personality and is interesting.

So with this guy, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but I have to say, I am a little dubious.

Modifié par Eurhetemec, 17 juin 2011 - 05:34 .

[Lvl20DM]

I don't think they changed his name because Sanders was spoiled - they even announced the change. I think it's either because of the VO or a slight shift in character concept.

[ODST 5723]

I'm a big FPS fan and I don't see anything yet that shows that Vega fits the "steroid pumped space-marine" archetype.

And this comes from a guy that plays Duke Nukem, who happens to be the sleazy uncle of the "steroid pumped space-marine' archetype.

[Eurhetemec]

ODST 5723 wrote...

I'm a big FPS fan and I don't see anything yet that shows that Vega fits the "steroid pumped space-marine" archetype.

And this comes from a guy that plays Duke Nukem, who happens to be the sleazy uncle of the "steroid pumped space-marine' archetype.

I think you might be missing the wood for the trees, ODST.  I mean, you say you're a big FPS fan, and are named after an FPS full of space marines (albeit not steroid-pumped), so I think maybe you're so into shooters that you actually see characters most people see as really similar, as quite distinct.

Here's a good test, what do you think of the guys in Gears of War 1/2? If the answer isn't "They're a bunch of steroid-pumped space marines", then you're probably making distinctions more subtle than other people are likely to care about.

I mean, I hope Bioware surprises us, and he's actually an interesting character with an actual personality, but we'll see.

@Lvl20DM - That's quite possible, just going on what I've heard.

EDIT - Oh and two OTHER things I've seen people use as reasons to hate James Vega:

7) Unlike all other listed companions, he appears to be forced on the player in this game, not recruited in a previous game. Hopefully we'll be allowed to tell him to ****** off.

8) Some people say he's put in just to please Modern Warfare fans (Bioware have specifically said they'd like to get more of the CoD market - I mean, who wouldn't? 14 million copies week one? Jeez!) and to give them a  macho wanker to relate to (just like most of the characters in MW). That's kind of funny because it implies Shepard is too clever and not macho enough, so I'm not sure I buy it.

Modifié par Eurhetemec, 17 juin 2011 - 06:32 .

[Heimdall]

Can't pass any judgement on him at this time, though both the pictures of Liara and James (He stole my Shepard's name...) make them look like action figures, so I doubt they're final. Apparently he's representative of the "New Player" So I'm guessing he'll be the least experienced member of the crew, I'm sure Bioware will right him interestingly.

[ReallyRue]

That guy... has no neck.

How does he turn his head? Is he like an owl-man or something?

[ODST 5723]

Eurhetemec wrote...

ODST 5723 wrote...

I'm a big FPS fan and I don't see anything yet that shows that Vega fits the "steroid pumped space-marine" archetype.

And this comes from a guy that plays Duke Nukem, who happens to be the sleazy uncle of the "steroid pumped space-marine' archetype.

I think you might be missing the wood for the trees, ODST.  I mean, you say you're a big FPS fan, and are named after an FPS full of space marines (albeit not steroid-pumped), so I think maybe you're so into shooters that you actually see characters most people see as really similar, as quite distinct.

Here's a good test, what do you think of the guys in Gears of War 1/2? If the answer isn't "They're a bunch of steroid-pumped space marines", then you're probably making distinctions more subtle than other people are likely to care about.

I mean, I hope Bioware surprises us, and he's actually an interesting character with an actual personality, but we'll see.

@Lvl20DM - That's quite possible, just going on what I've heard.

EDIT - Oh and two OTHER things I've seen people use as reasons to hate James Vega:

7) Unlike all other listed companions, he appears to be forced on the player in this game, not recruited in a previous game. Hopefully we'll be allowed to tell him to ****** off.

8) Some people say he's put in just to please Modern Warfare fans (Bioware have specifically said they'd like to get more of the CoD market - I mean, who wouldn't? 14 million copies week one? Jeez!) and to give them a  macho wanker to relate to (just like most of the characters in MW). That's kind of funny because it implies Shepard is too clever and not macho enough, so I'm not sure I buy it.

Interesting that you pick Gears of War as your primary example, considering that it's on the extreme end of the argument.

CoD doesn't feature a single space marine, and if you've actually played the games you'll realize that the characters presented are typically special forces soldiers more akin to Shepard than they are to Marcus Fenix, Baird, Cole and Dom.  You're not even using the archeteype correctly when you cite CoD and Gears of war together.  Soap and Price are extremely different from Marcus and Dom.  They're also extremely different from John-117 from Halo, which features a very different type of protagonist in a mostly silent super-soldier more akin to the protagonists of other classic FPS games like Doom.

Games like Gears and Bulletstorm do feature distinct characters with thier own nuances, but present everything, including in their visual style as dialed up to 11, in your face, edgy, testosterone driven gorefests.  Yet they also are able to tell a story.  Not always a great one, but a story nonetheless.  These games do feature signifcant elements from that archetype.

And Duke Nukem?  He's the king of that archetype, he's just not a space marine.  The games revolve around carnage for the sake of it, for personal glory, beer and booty.  The story is as as paper thin as the characters are roided up.  Hell, you even take steroids to pump up you melee.

That you or others may see characters as similar doesn't have to mean that they're actually similar.  It could mean that you don't have any context to see differentiation and base your judgements on the cover and not the book itself.  And even if it's a popular interpretation, collective ignorance is still ignorance. 

That people are already looking at James Vega and that you're focusing on so many of the arguments being used to not like him, and that despite your claim of keeping any open mind followed with a negative comment indicate to me that your mind isn't as open as you say it is.

I don't look at James Vega so far and see anything resembling a roided up space marine.  Not yet.  It's so early that I can't even take that notion seriously.  All we really know right now is that he's an experienced Alliance Marine who's not that familiar with the political machinations of the universe. 

Wasn't that Shepard just 3 games ago? 

[Eurhetemec]

ODST 5723 wrote...

Interesting that you pick Gears of War as your primary example, considering that it's on the extreme end of the argument.

CoD doesn't feature a single space marine, and if you've actually played the games you'll realize that the characters presented are typically special forces soldiers more akin to Shepard than they are to Marcus Fenix, Baird, Cole and Dom.  You're not even using the archeteype correctly when you cite CoD and Gears of war together.  Soap and Price are extremely different from Marcus and Dom.  They're also extremely different from John-117 from Halo, which features a very different type of protagonist in a mostly silent super-soldier more akin to the protagonists of other classic FPS games like Doom.

Games like Gears and Bulletstorm do feature distinct characters with thier own nuances, but present everything, including in their visual style as dialed up to 11, in your face, edgy, testosterone driven gorefests.  Yet they also are able to tell a story.  Not always a great one, but a story nonetheless.  These games do feature signifcant elements from that archetype.

And Duke Nukem?  He's the king of that archetype, he's just not a space marine.  The games revolve around carnage for the sake of it, for personal glory, beer and booty.  The story is as as paper thin as the characters are roided up.  Hell, you even take steroids to pump up you melee.

That you or others may see characters as similar doesn't have to mean that they're actually similar.  It could mean that you don't have any context to see differentiation and base your judgements on the cover and not the book itself.  And even if it's a popular interpretation, collective ignorance is still ignorance. 

That people are already looking at James Vega and that you're focusing on so many of the arguments being used to not like him, and that despite your claim of keeping any open mind followed with a negative comment indicate to me that your mind isn't as open as you say it is.

I don't look at James Vega so far and see anything resembling a roided up space marine.  Not yet.  It's so early that I can't even take that notion seriously.  All we really know right now is that he's an experienced Alliance Marine who's not that familiar with the political machinations of the universe. 

Wasn't that Shepard just 3 games ago? 

Good post, but for my money, you're proving my point - you're a very serious shooter fan (right down to calling "Halo guy" by his real name!), so you're making subtle distinctions that other people might not see.

To you, that matters.

To others, it doesn't. It's not really "ignorance", that's an overstatement.

Also, you've not addressed my point re: him doing something that ME2 specifically tells us is physically impossible for a human who isn't a cyborg. That plus him having a heavier build than Shep suggests the futuristic equivalent of 'roids to me.

You're also being very silly about one thing - you accuse me of focusing on the arguments to not like him - but that's precisely my point. No-one is making any arguments the other way. If there are reasons to like him, please tell me what they are.

I can think of one, and I stated it: he's by Bioware, and they almost never give you a dud party-member.

As for "wasn't that Shepard 3 games ago" - YES. But as I said, that's one of the reasons people dislike him. He's treading on Shepard's toes. There can only be one true Shepard! If you can't see how that could annoy people, especially people who don't like the idea of "mentoring" him, I don't think you've thought about it very hard. It's particularly odd that he's a white male, when default Shep is also that.

Duke Nukem isn't the "king of this archetype", either, he's a different archetype. "Steroidal Space Marine" = Doom Guy, Quake Guy, any Space Marine from Warhammer 40K anything, any Terran Marine in StarCraft, most of the characters from Gears of War, and a zillion other guys in computer games and tabletop wargames. These guys don't make wise-cracks all that much, they're too focus on bloody murder.

Duke Nukem isn't those guys. He's "Wise-cracking '80s a*hole a*kicking B-movie hero". He's evolved from Snake Plissken or Jake from Big Trouble in Little China, to Ash from the Living Dead, to Rowdy Roddy Piper in They Live. He even quotes several of those characters. He isn't a "steroidal space marine", he's an "'80s wise-cracking a*hole hero". They're different. So I think it's strange that you're confusing them, whilst making a distinction between other archetypes which are about equally similar.

So is he definitely a "steroidal space marine". No, he might not be. But what would you call his apparent archetype? Especially given his superhuman strength? And his being, y'know, a space marine!

[AngelicMachinery]

People best stop QQing about Brick Hardmeat. He's going to be glorious, glorious I say!

[Ryzaki]

ReallyRue wrote...

That guy... has no neck.

How does he turn his head? Is he like an owl-man or something?

LMAO

Thanks for the mental image.

[Jademoon121]

If I want muscle in my team, I'd rather have a human veteran than a walking turtle. Wrex is awesome, but those tiny arms....how do Krogan carry things?

[Aoba]

Hm, just thought I'd delurk once more and comment with who I believe to be the narrator for two of ME3's trailers as well as the voice of James Vega: Sam Worthington. I know I'm not the first to suggest this lad, but I bring links! Pretty links! You know you want to click on them. Do eeeeeeeeeeet. 

Fanity aside, I found an interview vid up on YouTube of S.W., and at around the 2:15 mark, the way he says "world" sounds remarkably like how the FoE narrator pronounces "world."

For comparison purposes:

S.W. Interview
Fall of Earth trailer

The only difference is the narrator's voice is a bit deeper, but I still think it's Worthington. Oh, and here's a pic of the handsome lad:



I'd totally hit it... hard.

... and fanity assumes direct control once again. *sighs and crosses out "get a life" from her to-do list for 19/7/11* 

Modifié par ACWolfe, 19 juin 2011 - 09:54 .

[PinkDiamondstl]

ACWolfe wrote...

Hm, just thought I'd delurk once more and comment with who I believe to be the narrator for two of ME3's trailers as well as the voice of James Vega: Sam Worthington. I know I'm not the first to suggest this lad, but I bring links! Pretty links! You know you want to click on them. Do eeeeeeeeeeet. 

Fanity aside, I found an interview vid up on YouTube of S.W., and at around the 2:15 mark, the way he says "world" sounds remarkably like how the FoE narrator pronounces "world."

For comparison purposes:

S.W. Interview
Fall of Earth trailer

The only difference is the narrator's voice is a bit deeper, but I still think it's Worthington. Oh, and here's a pic of the handsome lad:



I'd totally hit it... hard.

... and fanity assumes direct control once again. *sighs and crosses out "get a life" from her to-do list for 19/7/11* 

Here's hopeing that he'd look as half as good as this gorgeous man here.

[Clonedzero]

wait did they actually reveal him or are we still going on that alt costume in the blurry collectors edition picture?

[MadCat221]

I'm hoping that that "Alt Apperance" is an entirely new mesh and not his default. He looks... generic. His suit has none of the stylings of the typical Mass Effect standard hardsuits. Even Miranda's appearance pack armor was closely akin to medium armor from ME1. And it looks like both Bubble-Buttified Ashley's armor (Does somebody on the character modeling team have a fetish for those or something?) as well as Kaidan's armor are still "Alliance issue". And of course, The standard N7 armor for Shep is still styled after ME1 armor.

Vega in that pic? He looks like he should be Gorge from Unreal Tournament without the giant shoulder pad.

Modifié par MadCat221, 20 juin 2011 - 12:43 .

[sgtrock]

i hope that mohawk he has Shepard can get, but i think he will be a good character. he does seem cliche, but i don't really see a problem with that. different isn't always the best either.

[Paradocs]

I saw the thread title and got really excited thinking we finally got a real shot of his face.

I am disappoint.

sgtrock wrote...

i hope that mohawk he has Shepard can get, but i think he will be a good character. he does seem cliche, but i don't really see a problem with that. different isn't always the best either.

I think I remember reading somewhere that they were planning on more hair options, but the specific one I'm thinking of was about longer hair... does that apply to both sexes of Shepards? I wouldn't complain, though I am curious noting that long hair and military don't always appear together. A mohawk wouldn't be out of the question, but even if it doesn't become an option, I'm sure someone will manage to find a way to edit it in.

Have we had a snarky, sarcastic character yet? All of the ME characters have their moments of humor, but I can't think of one that acted more facetious than anything.

Guess I'm thinking of Joker, actually.

Modifié par Paradocs, 20 juin 2011 - 10:19 .

[sgtrock]

Paradocs wrote...

I saw the thread title and got really excited thinking we finally got a real shot of his face.

I am disappoint.

sgtrock wrote...

i hope that mohawk he has Shepard can get, but i think he will be a good character. he does seem cliche, but i don't really see a problem with that. different isn't always the best either.

I think I remember reading somewhere that they were planning on more hair options, but the specific one I'm thinking of was about longer hair... does that apply to both sexes of Shepards? I wouldn't complain, though I am curious noting that long hair and military don't always appear together. A mohawk wouldn't be out of the question, but even if it doesn't become an option, I'm sure someone will manage to find a way to edit it in.

Have we had a snarky, sarcastic character yet? All of the ME characters have their moments of humor, but I can't think of one that acted more facetious than anything.

Guess I'm thinking of Joker, actually.

i know there is a mod for a mohawk, but i'm not very good with computers. i would rather it just be included in the game, besides it is somewhat of a famous military cut. as for james character he should be some what like the men of the "filthy thirteen", they were more interesting than i realized when i read about them. they would certainly make good molds for james vega character.

[Phosfor]

AngelicMachinery wrote...

People best stop QQing about Brick Hardmeat. He's going to be glorious, glorious I say!

We put our faith... In Blast Hardcheese.