68 réponses à ce sujet

[Bitech]

Decided to post in this section since I'm hoping Biware will do things a little differently in the next Mass Effect.

 

I don't know if this has bothered anyone, but one thing that really gets on my nerves is how "Shepard" is the only name the commander has/gets called by.

 

I do understand that Bioware wants Mass Effect players to be really immersed in the games so they somehow make it so the player's name given to Commander Shepard would "fit in". Honestly with the way this is done it doesn't matter what players name their Shepards, the game never mentions the chosen name; Shepard's first name will always be "Commander".

 

It just feels really weird that you get to hear your squadmates' personal and family names, but for you it's just "Commander" and "Shepard". And it feels really awkward when even your love interest only calls you "Shepard". Knowing a person's name is a huge part of a relationship (either romantic or a friendship), and personally this left me a huge gap in my relationships with the characters in the Mass Effect games.

 

Am I missing something here? Is it against the rules in the military to call your commander by his/her first name regardless of your relationship with him/her?

 

Edit: Default Shepard players should have unique dialogue exclusive for default Shepards that will allow characters to call the Commander "John" or "Jane". This way the default names won't have to be forced on players who play custom Shepards.

 

What does everyone think? Am I the only one who has a problem with this?

[Farangbaa]

It will be Bob.

 

Or Otto.

[SporkFu]

Biff. Nobody can follow Shepard. He or She will always be Biff the Understudy. 

[Vegeta 77]

Not at all kinda odd this bothers you. But vega does call shep loco and some people call him spectre.

[Pearl (rip bioware)]

Simple.

It's not feasible to have your voice actors record a list of first names (or even worse, syllables, and have the game awkwardly stitch them together), and if you railroad people into the default names, they will complain.

[Bitech]

Not at all kinda odd this bothers you. But vega does call shep loco and some people call him spectre.

You find it odd that I'm bothered with having no first name?

 

Simple.

It's not feasible to have your voice actors record a list of first names (or even worse, syllables, and have the game awkwardly stitch them together), and if you railroad people into the default names, they will complain.

My idea was to simply have the voice actors refer to Shepard as either "John" or "Jane" not some crazy voice synthesizer to fit any random name into the game. But I guess players would rather have no first name at all in the game than to use the default names.

[Han Shot First]

I'd rather have a canon first name for the character as well, so that party members can use it in dialogue whenever it is more appropriate than 'Commander' or 'Shepard' or whatever ME4's equivalent is. The ability to choose your character's first name is a bit of customization I can honestly do without, especially if it means that in the middle of a romance scene the LI won't be addressing the player character by his or her rank.

[Revan Reborn]

It doesn't happen for the simple fact that it's not technologically feasible or practical and BioWare doesn't want to infringe on the freedom of the player. It's easier for BioWare if they choose a surname and a title, such as Commander, Warden Commander, Champion, Inquisitor, etc. BioWare recognizes they need to infuse somewhat of their own bias on the protagonist due to the voice actor, dialogue, and having a surname, but the first name is left up to the player to customize and personalize the protagonist. The same goes for the character creator where we can further customize that character and make them into our own. I personally didn't like the way the default Shepard looked or how generic his first name was. So I made my own and through the decisions I made and time I spent progressing the character, he eventually became my own version of Shepard, so referring to him that way wasn't an issue.

[SwobyJ]

Shepard is a symbol.

 

Right from the start.

[Ajensis]

I can see both sides of the issue. I admit it's not ideal with friends and potential romantic interests going by your character's last name like everyone else... on the other, I think it's a big part of role-playing for many to name their characters. The fact that you've only played the default Shepards is probably the reason it's not a priority for you - John and Jane have been shaped to look like a John and Jane. But to others, their custom protagonist won't be a John/Jane - especially if they've created an Asian or Hispanic protagonist

The ability to give the PC a nickname seems irrelevant if it never comes up or is used by those you're close to anyway.

 

Maybe an alternative approach is that a given love interest could come up with a nickname for the PC if their relationship reaches a certain point. But then I could easily see it becoming weird and contrived, so I'm not sure I would prefer it. Maybe only a single LI should choose that route if it fits with their character (and then hope half the forum isn't outraged that their LI doesn't do the same).

[KaiserShep]

I'd rather have a canon first name for the character as well, so that party members can use it in dialogue whenever it is more appropriate than 'Commander' or 'Shepard' or whatever ME4's equivalent is. The ability to choose your character's first name is a bit of customization I can honestly do without, especially if it means that in the middle of a romance scene the LI won't be addressing the player character by his or her rank.

 

I don't really have a problem with this. Only issue I may have is what name they'd choose. I don't really have an issue with John, but I'm not fond of the name Jane.

[KroganSoul]

Ryder would be a cool name.

[Farangbaa]

I'd rather have a canon first name for the character as well, so that party members can use it in dialogue whenever it is more appropriate than 'Commander' or 'Shepard' or whatever ME4's equivalent is. The ability to choose your character's first name is a bit of customization I can honestly do without, especially if it means that in the middle of a romance scene the LI won't be addressing the player character by his or her rank.

 

Or do it the NBA2K14 way: have a list of nicknames you can choose from.

That list would be a lot shorter than in NBA2K14 though.

Add in a couple of common first names and you're set.

[Han Shot First]

Ryder would be a cool name.

 

Sounds like part of a porn star's name.

[x Raizer x]

His name will appear as follows:

Enter Name Here:_____________________

There you go.

[SwobyJ]

Advent.

[Farangbaa]

Lets just call him Jesus this time, right from the start.

[MSDChaos]

I think they could use the first name more even not in cutscenes. As of now they ONLY place the first name is, is on the save file and the Squad screen.

 

It get especially jarring in ME3 (or 2? I forgot.) when you drink with Chakwas and they talk about how they never say Shepards first name. You'd think she'd say it at that point.

[SwobyJ]

Lets just call him Jesus this time, right from the start.

 

Josh/Joshua.

[Bitech]

Ok how about this: Players who choose to player default character/Shepard will get their own unique dialogue where the characters will ACTUALLY refer to the player by the default character name/John or Jane while players who customize their characters. Shepards will continue to be referred to as the character's last name/Shepard.

 

This may require some more voice work, but should greatly enhance the experience and immersion as a bonus for players who decide to play as default.

[Arcian]

Decided to post in this section since I'm hoping Biware will do things a little differently in the next Mass Effect.

 

I don't know if this has bothered anyone, but one thing that really gets on my nerves is how "Shepard" is the only name the commander has/gets called by.

 

I do understand that Bioware wants Mass Effect players to be really immersed in the games so they somehow make it so the player's name given to Commander Shepard would "fit in". Honestly with the way this is done it doesn't matter what players name their Shepards, the game never mentions the chosen name; Shepard's first name will always be "Commander".

 

It just feels really weird that you get to hear your squadmates' personal and family names, but for you it's just "Commander" and "Shepard". And it feels really awkward when even your love interest only calls you "Shepard". Knowing a person's name is a huge part of a relationship (either romantic or a friendship), and personally this left me a huge gap in my relationships with the characters in the Mass Effect games.

 

Am I missing something here? Is it against the rules in the military to call your commander by his/her first name regardless of your relationship with him/her?

 

Personally I think it would have been better if male and female Shepard kept their default names "John" and "Jane" and have players only give a nickname for Shepard. People don't choose their own names until they're legal age, but even then most people are so used to hearing ans snwering to their own names that they stick with it, and I think the same should have applied to John/Jane Shepard. I might be biased here because I only played default male/female Shepard in the games.

 

What does everyone think? Am I the only one who has a problem with this?

I agree 100%. Shepard should have been John and Jane right from the start.

[Bitech]

I agree 100%. Shepard should have been John and Jane right from the start.

Actually I'm changing my idea a bit. Instead of forcing this on every Mass Effect player, this should be a bonus for only default shepard/protagonist players. I'm actually surprised there's some default Shepard players out there besides me.

[Arcian]

His name will appear as follows:

Enter Name Here:_____________________

There you go.

"You entered Douchebag. Is this correct?"

"No."

"Are you sure you want to keep the name Douchebag?"

"No."

"Very well, Douchebag!"

 

 

Actually I'm changing my idea a bit. Instead of forcing this on every Mass Effect player, this should be a bonus for only default shepard/protagonist players. I'm actually surprised there's some default Shepard players out there besides me.

Nope, I exclusively play default Shepards.

[Iakus]

Just name you Shepard "Commander".

 

Problem solved

[von uber]

Well you could have a boy named sue. How would you VA that?