153 réponses à ce sujet

[epyon_avenger]

For my part, I infinitely prefer Hale to Meer any day of the week. When her line is supposed to be forceful, she sounds forceful. Flirty lines are flirty, sad lines are sad. You can also play her out with all the neutral lines which don't have nearly as much emotional charge to them. Meer always sounds the same to me unless you are at the far extremes of Paragon and Renegade, and even then it's only just noticeable.



As far as sounding like a military officer goes, choosing the neutral lines keeps that up pretty well I suppose, but having more than a few friends in the military I can tell you they're not emotionless robots. Additionally, I don't care who or what you are, if you died and came back to life only to be manipulated and told you had to accomplish an impossible mission with a bunch of people you don't know (or don't know you know for the dossiers at the beginning) I doubt you'd be all ice-in-the-veins officer. Keep in mind, Shep is having to come to grips with a) coming back to life, being at least half-replacement parts or more, and c) being under the thumb of an organization he/she opposed previously. You think he/she takes a shower and doesn't have other glowing scars elsewhere? Not easy to deal with.



Anyway, I digress. My point is, even Master Chief and Gordon Freeman (paragons of the "blank slate" idea) have emotion injected into their character, whether it be by actions or reactions. Considering how...ah...static a lot of ME1/2 scenes are (you're not running around and doing crazy stuff like in HL2 or such) I think having a VA with the ability to play to Paragon, Renegade, or neutral is much more important than maintaining some sort of "blank slate" idea. Especially with how the NPCs play off of you. If Garrus cracks a joke and you reply in monotone, who is out of place here? If Tali is having a bad day and HAL9000 is comforting her, how do you think she'd react?



In any case, imagination is a double-edged sword. If you have enough to fill in for Meer's lack of emotion, you have enough to imagine Hale's lines differently.

[ToJKa1]

My first, and so far only, male shepard didn't make it trough Freedom's Progress, mainly due to the voice acting. I just don't like how he (by default) looks and sounds.

[Eain]

QualityJeverage wrote...

Jennifer Hale's performance as femShep may be better by "traditional" standards, but this is not a traditional acting part.

The problem with her performance is that there's too much emotion and feeling in her lines. Shepard is supposed to be a blank slate. An empty shell character that the player can imbue with whatever qualities he/she wants. Every single one of Jennifer Hale's lines has unspoken undertones and hidden intentions. If you aren't trying to play your character that way, her performance will fight you every step of the way.

Meer's performance is indeed very flat and unemotive. For a normal acting part, that would be bad. For Shepard, it's probably the best we can hope for. His lines are empty because his character needs to be empty. The performance may not be as traditionally pleasing as Hale's, but it's what the part really needs.

You need to understand how difficult to play Shepard must be. The actor is essentially being asked to play the part of every possible character that the player could want. Putting too much emotion or intention behind the lines risks alienating a subset of players who don't want their Shepards to go that way.

Haha, that's the most ridiculous justification of Meer's VO I've ever heard.

You know what Shepard is supposed to be? A natural leader. He's supposed to inspire people to feats of strength. He's supposed to command respect. When someone speaks like a robot, that's not going to happen. How can I take the Illusive Man serious when he says "You're a natural leader, you'll get it done.'. I wouldn't follow male Shepard anywhere, to be honest.

Also for those who think Femshep makes a bad Renegade:


I disagree. XD

Modifié par Eain, 03 mars 2010 - 01:24 .

[Legbiter]

It's not like Mark Meer's Shep is some emotionless drone. His voice acting is actually quite good when you meet Garrus and Wrex. Plus when he does the paragon butt-grab interrupt with Tali. The speech he gives to the flotilla is great as well, both paragon and renegade.

[Lonely_Fat_Guy]

its a matter of taste, people need to drop this

[TheTrooper1138]

"I didn't know humans could be so forceful..." - worst scene of all Mass Effect, thanks to Meer, who really only had a rather bored line before that and Grunt calls him forcefull... seems like someone (Meer) didn't do his job there... 

[Torhagen]

the german synchro is very bad specially EDI

the original voice cast is awesome

[Gaddmeister]

Eain wrote...

Also for those who think Femshep makes a bad Renegade:

Bad renegade? No, she's awesome. However, she doesn't work as well as a paragon to me. Sure, when she speaks forcefully she's very good. But otherwise the tone of her voice often comes of as arrogant. I mean, why does she have to try to sound so overly drawling at times? It's annoying unless I play a renegade FemShep. Then it's awesome.

That said, I can agree that Meer sounds somewhat emotionless. He's decent, but I'd like him to express more feelings, especially when he's supposed to be surprised. That always felt a little weird. But apart from that I think he's ok.

So yeah, they're both decent actors, adequate for the role of Shepard.

Modifié par Gaddmeister, 03 mars 2010 - 05:48 .

[dawsdgd]

oh **** off with these ****ing threads they are both as good as each other

[FlintlockJazz]

dawsdgd wrote...

oh **** off with these ****ing threads they are both as good as each other

I fully support this post, I seriously don't get the obsession with people trying to prove that their choice of VA is the superior one that everyone else has to acknowledge.

[TheTrooper1138]

FlintlockJazz wrote...

dawsdgd wrote...

oh **** off with these ****ing threads they are both as good as each other

I fully support this post, I seriously don't get the obsession with people trying to prove that their choice of VA is the superior one that everyone else has to acknowledge.

maybe it's because a lot of people (including me) find Maleshep almost unplayable because of the voice... it just breaks the game for me, kills the immersion... seriously, I'd much prefer him being silent than him having THAT voice... 

[Lopake]

I dont like maleshep

[Grizzly46]

Eain wrote...

QualityJeverage wrote...

Jennifer Hale's performance as femShep may be better by "traditional" standards, but this is not a traditional acting part.

The problem with her performance is that there's too much emotion and feeling in her lines. Shepard is supposed to be a blank slate. An empty shell character that the player can imbue with whatever qualities he/she wants. Every single one of Jennifer Hale's lines has unspoken undertones and hidden intentions. If you aren't trying to play your character that way, her performance will fight you every step of the way.

Meer's performance is indeed very flat and unemotive. For a normal acting part, that would be bad. For Shepard, it's probably the best we can hope for. His lines are empty because his character needs to be empty. The performance may not be as traditionally pleasing as Hale's, but it's what the part really needs.

You need to understand how difficult to play Shepard must be. The actor is essentially being asked to play the part of every possible character that the player could want. Putting too much emotion or intention behind the lines risks alienating a subset of players who don't want their Shepards to go that way.

Haha, that's the most ridiculous justification of Meer's VO I've ever heard.

You know what Shepard is supposed to be? A natural leader. He's supposed to inspire people to feats of strength. He's supposed to command respect. When someone speaks like a robot, that's not going to happen. How can I take the Illusive Man serious when he says "You're a natural leader, you'll get it done.'. I wouldn't follow male Shepard anywhere, to be honest.

Also for those who think Femshep makes a bad Renegade:


I disagree. XD

You do realize that natural leadership qualities are more than voice, right?

[Gorn Kregore]

Eain wrote...
Also for those who think Femshep makes a bad Renegade:


I disagree. XD

The way she says renegade lines always makes me gag.

[BlueInkAlchemist]

Jagri wrote...

Male Shepard: Sounds as if he could be a former military officer and it shows when he speaks to Tim. Despite what choices you make during the conversation you feel he has control of himself and his emotions to get to the core of the issue. I like to think speak softly but carry a big gun.

Female Shepard: I haven't played besides from the original Mass Effect but if her voice acting is considered better because she is more emotional then she doesn't suit the image I have of a former high ranking military officer. That view is from a retired service member.

I got the same impression of male Shepard, possibly because I play him as an Infiltrator and Paragon, and thus is something of a cold, detached sniper instead of an in-your-face sort of guy.  He's not the kind of guy to let emotions get in the way of completing his mission, and for my money, Meer's work fits this.  There's occasionally a little smile or a bit of an edge, at least to my ear.  Your mileage may vary, but I can't see his voice fitting my Vanguard.  She's a female Shep, and a Renegade, which means Hale's emotional, forceful voice acting fits her to a T.

[Atmosfear3]

The only, and I mean only, believable line I've heard from maleshep was when you choose the renegade option in the Tali/Legion fight. It actually surprised me a little bit see the oomph in Meer's voice during that scene.

[FlintlockJazz]

TheTrooper1138 wrote...

FlintlockJazz wrote...

dawsdgd wrote...

oh **** off with these ****ing threads they are both as good as each other

I fully support this post, I seriously don't get the obsession with people trying to prove that their choice of VA is the superior one that everyone else has to acknowledge.

maybe it's because a lot of people (including me) find Maleshep almost unplayable because of the voice... it just breaks the game for me, kills the immersion... seriously, I'd much prefer him being silent than him having THAT voice... 

And I can't take femShep's voice seriously, its purely a matter of taste.  That and people don't realise that what they are really complaining about is that Shepard doesn't sound the way they want, which is why some people prefer the silent protagonist approach.

[FlintlockJazz]

BlueInkAlchemist wrote...

Jagri wrote...

Male Shepard: Sounds as if he could be a former military officer and it shows when he speaks to Tim. Despite what choices you make during the conversation you feel he has control of himself and his emotions to get to the core of the issue. I like to think speak softly but carry a big gun.

Female Shepard: I haven't played besides from the original Mass Effect but if her voice acting is considered better because she is more emotional then she doesn't suit the image I have of a former high ranking military officer. That view is from a retired service member.

I got the same impression of male Shepard, possibly because I play him as an Infiltrator and Paragon, and thus is something of a cold, detached sniper instead of an in-your-face sort of guy.  He's not the kind of guy to let emotions get in the way of completing his mission, and for my money, Meer's work fits this.  There's occasionally a little smile or a bit of an edge, at least to my ear.  Your mileage may vary, but I can't see his voice fitting my Vanguard.  She's a female Shep, and a Renegade, which means Hale's emotional, forceful voice acting fits her to a T.

This is pretty much it, people come up with specific concepts of how their Shepard acts and when the voice doesn't match it destroys their perception.  Doesn't make it wrong, just for that particular character concept they came up with.

[Deiser]

I personally think that the two voices are about equal, and just give a different interpretation to how they (or at least their voice directors) think Shepard should act based on his player avatar status. Both Hale and Meer sound monotone in the calmer, slower situations and both show an (IMO) equal amount of emotion when needed. It's just that Meer's acting seems to focus more on showing Shepard's determined, dedicated side while Hale, while also showing that dedicated side of Shepard, seems to focus more on Shepard's human side.



I've compared youtube videos of the same scenes using different genders, and I think they support my beliefs on the matter. For example, if a scene portrayed Shepard verbally defending someone from another's accusation, the Shepard of both genders show the same anger and "impact" (for the lack of a better word), but Meer shows just how determined Shepard is to defend his friend while Hale shows how the situation is affecting Shepard emotionally. Both ways work, but their drastic difference in what part of Shepard is stressed made it inevitable that there's very few who like both and instead most prefer one over the other.



TL;DR: Both have the same level of impact, but MaleShep's voice focuses on one element of the character while FemShep's voice focuses on another.

[Eain]

Grizzly46 wrote...

You do realize that natural leadership qualities are more than voice, right?

Charismatic and convincing speech is one of the defining traits of natural leadership. The ability to inspire others to follow you.

Male Shepard doesn't inspire me to do anything but quit the game and go back to Femshep.

[AgniTheFire]

"hey! let's flame about how male shepard is emotionless! let's say oh, look my femshep is awesome lololol"



seriously dudes. that's real immature of you guys.

i mean, he IS emotionless, but Shepard was Made to be emotionless, since you are the dude that command him.

[A Fhaol Bhig]

I think he did a fine job.

[BattleMageMarian]

I thought the speeches given by maleshep were quite inspiring...I got goosebumps. I don't get the hate for the maleshep VO I've seen now several, SEVERAL times on this board. It's almost fanboism at it's worst and I sure hope Mr. Meers never sees any of this.

For the record I like both VOs but prefer maleshep...I'm around military folks frequently especially marines (a very large base is in my city) and he simply fullfills my idea of a tough marine

[A Fhaol Bhig]

TheTrooper1138 wrote...

FlintlockJazz wrote...

dawsdgd wrote...

oh **** off with these ****ing threads they are both as good as each other

I fully support this post, I seriously don't get the obsession with people trying to prove that their choice of VA is the superior one that everyone else has to acknowledge.

maybe it's because a lot of people (including me) find Maleshep almost unplayable because of the voice... it just breaks the game for me, kills the immersion... seriously, I'd much prefer him being silent than him having THAT voice... 

Point proven Dawsdgd, point proven.

[JediMB]

Meer did a better job in ME1, but the way he's almost constantly reading-his-lines-really-really-quickly in ME2 kind of ruins playing a male Shepard for me. Which sucks, since I really do want to play a male for a change.