I play both but have an affinity for female characters. My favorite ever was a straight human priest named Celia Fate. Oh how I did love her as the birds love the dawn. LoL! She actually made me feel the genuine sorrow and grieving I used to feel for my high level pnp characters when they accidentally drew the attention of beholders and mind flayers or worse still, wantonly played with the buttons on the Amulet of the Planes.
I generally play males, partly because that's what I identify with more, partly because the romantic options for females in vanilla are just so very dismal. Once I started adding in mods I did play a few females. (There's some [i]really[/i] interesting npc/companion/romance mods out there once you start looking.)
I don't care about the sex people want to have in games as long as they don't try to force the option on others. The femshep movement makes me a little sick I must say.
LOL ok. No, really, do you not see how hypocritical that sounds? It's 'forcing the option on others' if someone likes FemShep but you saying 'The canon is a male sheppard' is...whatnow? XD I thought the whole point was that it could be whichever the player prefers. Dunno why you care so much about people who like FemShep and want to see her on the cover of the game.
As long as it's what the writer intended and not "wierd pressures" that decide character genre, I'am ok with it.
So pressure is only wierd if it's coming from people who like playing as female. If it's coming from people who insist on male being the only option, it's okay. Gotcha.
There is a Kivan romance mod for BG2 and I am COMPLETELY OBSESSED with it. It's a good thing my husband understands my crazy fangirl issues or else he would have run away screaming a long time ago.
See, this is the thing, I've never used mods before. I'm not *that* technically-minded so all the stuff with readme's and the like that you have to do kind of puts me off. Also I've never thought the game needed that much extra stuff, I love it as it is.
That said, I might have a look for that one... With the EE coming out I want to try new things. What's that mod called/where can I find it? Also, any other ones I should look into, anyone?
I'm doing the Kivan romance right now, it's very good. And it's really not hard to install. Put the installer in the BG2 folder, run it, click 'yes' and 'next' a lot and boom, done. Look around on Gibberlings Three, Spellhold Studios and the Pocketplane for mods that sound good to you. I can personally recommend Unfinished Business (for BG1/2), the BG1 NPC Project (which is *awesome*) and Gibberling Three's various fix/tweak packs (which give you a yes/no question with every component, so don't worry if you don't like a few parts. I just found out there's a Yeslick mod for BG2, which may be the greatest thing in the world, ever.
On topic again: I usually start any game as Male (dwarven, if possible) because that's my personal identifier. That said, I've appreciated Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect more as a female (not dwarven, they don't support beards in most games for some reason, which is just a blasphemy). In Dragon Age, it was mostly that the Human Noble storyline is also way better than the Dwarf Commoner storyline (though not as ball-bustingly awesome as the Dwarf Noble one), but being able to marry Alistair and become Queen of Ferelden was very cool. In Mass Effect, the voice acting was much more to my liking with the female Shepherd. There was not a lot of difference otherwise. In Baldur's Gate, it's mostly feeling. My first real character (the actual first character was a female mage with 12's in all stats because I had no idea wtf to do and died horribly) was Drugar the Dwarf and awesome to play, but the feeling of the story got to me much better with my female Paladin, the tale of a lone woman, rightious and just, resisting the temptations of her dark heritage, blah blah. Good stuff.
^ See, I get a very 'Berserk' vibe from playing a male in this series. Particularly held true for my Hardcore (death is real, no rez) run. Casca is cool but she's not Guts.
I don't care about the sex people want to have in games as long as they don't try to force the option on others. The femshep movement makes me a little sick I must say.
LOL ok. No, really, do you not see how hypocritical that sounds? It's 'forcing the option on others' if someone likes FemShep but you saying 'The canon is a male sheppard' is...whatnow? XD I thought the whole point was that it could be whichever the player prefers. Dunno why you care so much about people who like FemShep and want to see her on the cover of the game.
As long as it's what the writer intended and not "wierd pressures" that decide character genre, I'am ok with it.
So pressure is only wierd if it's coming from people who like playing as female. If it's coming from people who insist on male being the only option, it's okay. Gotcha.
While what @Razor said did come off as a bit hypocritical, I think i see where he's coming from. I never played the Mass Effect series, but it looks like he's saying that the writer originally made the main character as a male and then (due to support for the idea, or "pressure" as razor said) created a female version of the same character as an option... This does seem a bit strange to me from a writing perspective, as this seems like it would still mean that considerably less attention was given to the female character (and that they took an existing character and altered the sex of said character, which again does seem kind of "weird"). So I can see "weird," not so much "sick" though.
If the customers were happy with the transformation as a choice, then it shouldn't really matter.
@thene You can play it as you like but as you probably noticed the videos have a canon shepard, one that the first writer idealized. Because usually if its up to gamers all we will ever get is some heroine with huge boobs and a nice ass, which I like; But not on a Story that intends to be serious. Aand I just remembered ashley from me3...
As @jaysl659 said quite well, the femshep was only pumped as a markting stunt by EA because of the number of people that was demanding a female shepard... instead of caring about the story they prefer pushing a different sex into the protagonist, cool. A sign of the times maybe.
-sick, it's a strong word but yea after reading so many things, even pcgamer had a article about how femshep was so awesome... god... I'am pissed just as I would be pissed at a group of people trying to make a male version tomb raider the official.
I don't care about the sex people want to have in games as long as they don't try to force the option on others. The femshep movement makes me a little sick I must say. (glad the disagree button went away). The canon is a male sheppard, you can like the female voice actor all you want, that will not change it. Thats what the game's writer decided and I have no doubt the canon sheppard is the most suitable. There are plenty of games with female protagonists, ME is not one of them.
As long as it's what the writer intended and not "wierd pressures" that decide character genre, I'am ok with it.
Is there anything that is canon involving Sheppard in the ME universe? ( I mean especially the big choices that you make in game, as well as gender and background). I didn't think that officially it was accepted that Sheppard is a guy.
So the fates of the millions of lives you decide on throughout the series can go either way, but whether or not the commander has boobs is set in stone and can't be changed? The story isn't drastically changed either way (though I'm only basing this on beating the first game with a female, still on the third one with my male character) so I really don't see what bothers you so much.
Also, there are trailers, videos, and even a cover for the third game with a female Shepard in/on them. And even my male Shepard looks rather drastically different from the 'canon' one. Am I ruining the immersion as well?
@bgplaya No, as long as a group of people doesnt make EA put the face of your shepard on the cover... do what you want, you didnt have to ask. I had told this already.
And using male and female does not affect the main story; only "romances". Each person use whatever shepard he/she desires in the game. I shouln't even have to say this... but bioware has a canon shepard or default if you prefer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm3s7GKlXUQ@elminster This is an official trailer, he's a guy. (There are also canon actions ex: when you don't have a save game to load)
As a male, it really depends, however in the Baldur's Gate games, I like to play female characters. I suppose the reason is that I just feel more comfortable around females a lot of the time and thus can have an easier time playing a girl protagonist (Not to mention more than half the time it gives reason for a better story!). However I don't choose them often, mostly because in a lot of fantasy games, you have the 'iron bra' issue. While I enjoy the look of the female body as much as the next guy, I personally find the typical 'Heavy Armor' getting turned into a bikini on a female model annoying. With Baldur's Gate, it's not really the case. I think the most drastic example in this game is the bearing of midriff on wizard robes, which isn't an issue at all.
So, to get to the point, I play females as long as the game isn't ridiculous with the clothing/armor.
Generally I play male characters. It's for no particular reason, I just happen to end up playing male characters 80% of the time. They do have the option of romancing respectable NPCs; females have no such luck.
I'm pretty sure that ME was written from the outset to ambiguous about the sex of the PC. It wasn't written for a male or a female. Have you noticed that during the games you actually learn very little about the PC and who they actually are, it's all about the other characters around them?
However in the trailers and box art and possibly some book, you have to go one way or the other. There can be no ambiguity as these bits are not the Player's choice. They plumped for the male because, soldiers are a male stereotype. I don't think there was any "pressure" for there to be a female option. That's a ridiculous notion.
Bioware, for quite some time now, have been writing their games in such a way as the sex of the PC is irrelevant and whatever book that "accompanies" such game is really just a money making endeavour and equally irrelevant.
Too much emphasis is being placed on some "canon". Of course if you want to keep some player independent record of the events of some virtual universe you again, like the box art, have to make a choice, but it really is a case of flipping a coin so a decision is made.
I mostly plag BG as a Male but for ME i play as a female because of both the far far superior acting and because she looks better and more unique than some cloned jarhead type.
It's an RPG, the gender is supposed to be ambiguous, but they did decide on a shepard that represents the million shepards out there and imo he's the best.
@SirBuliwyf "i play as a female because of both the far far superior acting and because she looks better and more unique than some cloned jarhead type."
I dont agree with the superior voice acting, she is very good but no way better than male shepard. The looks... I prefer playing a jarhead that actually looks like someone who fought a war than a top model playing world saviour, but that's why ME is an rpg, to allow all. I'am just glad that, back on ME1 this guy was considered default because he fits perfectly.
I agree with @SirBuliwyf. A game is not a book. A game story does not necessarily have or need a canon protagonist gender. Because contrary to a book, a game can contain dynamic elements that are determined at runtime by the player choices, and that in turn triggers dynamic different story paths or game content reactions.
Beside the Marketing canon "necessity" as pointed out by @SirBuliwyf, some stories that are kinda gender neutral like Mass Effect also have derived products such as short books. That technically requires a gender choice and character look to be printed. But that's originally more a limitation of the physical support. I would not be surprised if e-books become really mainstream to see more writers try their art at more dynamic stories, instead of static texts, allowing readers to influence the story in some way.
Just to be clear, I absolutely don't mean that every story should have dynamic gender or whatever else. But unlike static medias such as books or movies, a game have the possibility to handle dynamic contents. And when a game allows character personalization, then the canon -if existing- becomes irrelevant for this game experience.
I usually prefer to play female heroes, but I like playing male characters as well. I usually switch to male gender when I'm bored, or to enjoy different game elements that are only accessible when playing a male protagonist.
@bgplaya: At some point, Bioware decided to make a public poll, asking the community to determine the official female Shepard version between various faces and hair colors. The result would be printed on the ME3 collector edition retail box and a new official trailer would be made with the female version. In the end the ME3 XBOX360 version also got a full flippable cover to switch between the male and female version.
While it may just have been a PR stunt, I wish more games with character customization would stick less to a unique official demo character in all their pre-release videos, and at least show official gameplay trailers with various appearances instead of the same guy.
I play my own gender... Female There is no canon Shepard they have gone out of they're way to avoid possible conflict with the players choices in the novels and comics books
I don't care about the sex people want to have in games as long as they don't try to force the option on others. The femshep movement makes me a little sick I must say. (glad the disagree button went away). The canon is a male sheppard, you can like the female voice actor all you want, that will not change it. Thats what the game's writer decided and I have no doubt the canon sheppard is the most suitable. There are plenty of games with female protagonists, ME is not one of them.
As long as it's what the writer intended and not "wierd pressures" that decide character genre, I'am ok with it.
Is there anything that is canon involving Sheppard in the ME universe? ( I mean especially the big choices that you make in game, as well as gender and background). I didn't think that officially it was accepted that Sheppard is a guy.
I think the only thing canon i think is Udina get in the council it's implied in second book... Everything else there is no canon. In the comic where people fight to get commander Shepard body there is even some guard commenting that by looking at the corpse that they could not tell what was Shepard gender
If I was forced to stare at an ass for 200 hours, then female of course. But if I have to listen to someone for extended periods of time, then Males are my choice.
I´ll never play as a female, why should I. How can I connect in mind to the opposite side of my own gender? There is some truth about saying woman think very different as we males.
I´ll never play as a female, why should I. How can I connect in mind to the opposite side of my own gender? There is some truth about saying woman think very different as we males.
Why call yourself BabaYaga then, the russian witch?
Comments
That said, I might have a look for that one... With the EE coming out I want to try new things. What's that mod called/where can I find it? Also, any other ones I should look into, anyone?
http://www.spellholdstudios.net/ie/haerdalisromance
http://www.gibberlings3.net/kivan/index.php
I'm doing the Kivan romance right now, it's very good. And it's really not hard to install. Put the installer in the BG2 folder, run it, click 'yes' and 'next' a lot and boom, done.
Look around on Gibberlings Three, Spellhold Studios and the Pocketplane for mods that sound good to you. I can personally recommend Unfinished Business (for BG1/2), the BG1 NPC Project (which is *awesome*) and Gibberling Three's various fix/tweak packs (which give you a yes/no question with every component, so don't worry if you don't like a few parts. I just found out there's a Yeslick mod for BG2, which may be the greatest thing in the world, ever.
On topic again:
I usually start any game as Male (dwarven, if possible) because that's my personal identifier. That said, I've appreciated Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect more as a female (not dwarven, they don't support beards in most games for some reason, which is just a blasphemy).
In Dragon Age, it was mostly that the Human Noble storyline is also way better than the Dwarf Commoner storyline (though not as ball-bustingly awesome as the Dwarf Noble one), but being able to marry Alistair and become Queen of Ferelden was very cool.
In Mass Effect, the voice acting was much more to my liking with the female Shepherd. There was not a lot of difference otherwise.
In Baldur's Gate, it's mostly feeling. My first real character (the actual first character was a female mage with 12's in all stats because I had no idea wtf to do and died horribly) was Drugar the Dwarf and awesome to play, but the feeling of the story got to me much better with my female Paladin, the tale of a lone woman, rightious and just, resisting the temptations of her dark heritage, blah blah. Good stuff.
See, I get a very 'Berserk' vibe from playing a male in this series. Particularly held true for my Hardcore (death is real, no rez) run. Casca is cool but she's not Guts.
While what @Razor said did come off as a bit hypocritical, I think i see where he's coming from. I never played the Mass Effect series, but it looks like he's saying that the writer originally made the main character as a male and then (due to support for the idea, or "pressure" as razor said) created a female version of the same character as an option... This does seem a bit strange to me from a writing perspective, as this seems like it would still mean that considerably less attention was given to the female character (and that they took an existing character and altered the sex of said character, which again does seem kind of "weird"). So I can see "weird," not so much "sick" though.
If the customers were happy with the transformation as a choice, then it shouldn't really matter.
As @jaysl659 said quite well, the femshep was only pumped as a markting stunt by EA because of the number of people that was demanding a female shepard... instead of caring about the story they prefer pushing a different sex into the protagonist, cool. A sign of the times maybe.
-sick, it's a strong word but yea after reading so many things, even pcgamer had a article about how femshep was so awesome... god... I'am pissed just as I would be pissed at a group of people trying to make a male version tomb raider the official.
So the fates of the millions of lives you decide on throughout the series can go either way, but whether or not the commander has boobs is set in stone and can't be changed? The story isn't drastically changed either way (though I'm only basing this on beating the first game with a female, still on the third one with my male character) so I really don't see what bothers you so much.
Also, there are trailers, videos, and even a cover for the third game with a female Shepard in/on them. And even my male Shepard looks rather drastically different from the 'canon' one. Am I ruining the immersion as well?
And using male and female does not affect the main story; only "romances". Each person use whatever shepard he/she desires in the game. I shouln't even have to say this... but bioware has a canon shepard or default if you prefer.
So, to get to the point, I play females as long as the game isn't ridiculous with the clothing/armor.
However in the trailers and box art and possibly some book, you have to go one way or the other. There can be no ambiguity as these bits are not the Player's choice. They plumped for the male because, soldiers are a male stereotype. I don't think there was any "pressure" for there to be a female option. That's a ridiculous notion.
Bioware, for quite some time now, have been writing their games in such a way as the sex of the PC is irrelevant and whatever book that "accompanies" such game is really just a money making endeavour and equally irrelevant.
Too much emphasis is being placed on some "canon". Of course if you want to keep some player independent record of the events of some virtual universe you again, like the box art, have to make a choice, but it really is a case of flipping a coin so a decision is made.
I mostly plag BG as a Male but for ME i play as a female because of both the far far superior acting and because she looks better and more unique than some cloned jarhead type.
@SirBuliwyf "i play as a female because of both the far far superior acting and because she looks better and more unique than some cloned jarhead type."
I dont agree with the superior voice acting, she is very good but no way better than male shepard.
The looks... I prefer playing a jarhead that actually looks like someone who fought a war than a top model playing world saviour, but that's why ME is an rpg, to allow all. I'am just glad that, back on ME1 this guy was considered default because he fits perfectly.
Beside the Marketing canon "necessity" as pointed out by @SirBuliwyf, some stories that are kinda gender neutral like Mass Effect also have derived products such as short books. That technically requires a gender choice and character look to be printed. But that's originally more a limitation of the physical support. I would not be surprised if e-books become really mainstream to see more writers try their art at more dynamic stories, instead of static texts, allowing readers to influence the story in some way.
Just to be clear, I absolutely don't mean that every story should have dynamic gender or whatever else. But unlike static medias such as books or movies, a game have the possibility to handle dynamic contents.
And when a game allows character personalization, then the canon -if existing- becomes irrelevant for this game experience.
I usually prefer to play female heroes, but I like playing male characters as well. I usually switch to male gender when I'm bored, or to enjoy different game elements that are only accessible when playing a male protagonist.
She's in the trailer too! Now I'm all confused...
In the end the ME3 XBOX360 version also got a full flippable cover to switch between the male and female version.
While it may just have been a PR stunt, I wish more games with character customization would stick less to a unique official demo character in all their pre-release videos, and at least show official gameplay trailers with various appearances instead of the same guy.
My first BG2 playthrough had Anomen as my Cleric, and i vowed never to do it again... I loathe that man... -.-
There is no canon Shepard they have gone out of they're way to avoid possible conflict with the players choices in the novels and comics books
And Minsc, because, well, everyone likes Minsc.