Mass Effect 3, 3/6/12. Take Earth Back.

[AKBoarder]

The comics and the rest of the outside media, including CGI and official trailers, have Shep as a dude. Pretty obvious that the dude version is canon.

[UngorEatStefan]

Originally Posted by AKBoarder

The comics and the rest of the outside media, including CGI and official trailers, have Shep as a dude. Pretty obvious that the dude version is canon.

There were reports from E3 that promotional media for ME3 would feature both Male and Female Sheps

[Bobulus]

I have no problem with female Shep, but I've got one character that I've carried through MS1 and MS2, and he's male, so I don't want to change now.

[Jobrill]

So far, they have confirmed that the CE will include a tin with Fem shep on it alongside Male Shep, and there is a Fem Shep-focused official trailer in the works.

Regardless the whole POINT of Shepard is that there is canon shep. Shepard is who you make him or her to be, whether male or female, Paragon or Renegade.

[AKBoarder]

Originally Posted by UngorEatStefan

There were reports from E3 that promotional media for ME3 would feature both Male and Female Sheps

That just doesn't make sense at all.

I don't have a problem with femshep, but keep the marketing consistent, if they want to switch to her for ME3 marketing, switch completely.

[UngorEatStefan]

Originally Posted by Jobrill

So far, they have confirmed that the CE will include a tin with Fem shep on it alongside Male Shep, and there is a Fem Shep-focused official trailer in the works.

Regardless the whole POINT of Shepard is that there is canon shep. Shepard is who you make him or her to be, whether male or female, Paragon or Renegade.

That's why I used because Shep is a slate to make him or her as or or as you want

Originally Posted by AKBoarder

That just doesn't make sense at all.

They know that fans really like FemShep so are catering to them

[KikassAssassin]

Saying anything in a game like Mass Effect is canon is stupid. If the designers wanted there to be one true way to play the game, they wouldn't have given the players choices to play the game how they want, and your choices in each game wouldn't have an impact on the sequels.

It wouldn't be very practical to print multiple versions of all of the comics, novels, and other non-game material that has every possible version of Shepard in them, so they had to make a decision on who to represent Shepard as in those materials to keep things manageable. As far as I'm concerned, though, that doesn't have any effect on who Shepard is in the game.

My first Shepard is a female paragon colonist sole survivor infiltrator, and as far as I'm concerned, that's my "canon", because that's the first story I experienced and the Shepard I consider to be my official one that I'm going to continue first into Mass Effect 3. Your Shepard can be whatever you want him/her to be. That's the beauty of a game like Mass Effect. If you want your Shepard to be the same as the one in the novels, then that's just as valid a choice as any other.

[AKBoarder]

Originally Posted by UngorEatStefan

That's why I used because Shep is a slate to make him or her as or or as you want


They know that fans really like FemShep so are catering to them

Read my edit, you knew what I meant.

[UngorEatStefan]

Originally Posted by AKBoarder

Read my edit, you knew what I meant.

I didn't know what you meant and posted that before your edit.

They're not 100% switching they're doing both. Having Male and Female Shep promotional materials.

[KikassAssassin]

Marketing material isn't canon. It's there to sell the game, not to be part of the story. A lot of people like the female Shepard, so they're making marketing material to cater to those customers. It makes perfect sense. Just because there's a picture of femshep on the box of a special edition of the game and a trailer that features her doesn't in any way tarnish the validity of your male Shep. People have been playing female Shepards while seeing marketing material with pictures of male Shep on it for a long time. I'm pretty sure seeing a few pictures of female Shepard on the internet won't ruin the game for you.

[AKBoarder]

Originally Posted by UngorEatStefan

I didn't know what you meant and posted that before your edit.

They're not 100% switching they're doing both. Having Male and Female Shep promotional materials.

Right, I understood that, and I say it's fucking stupid. Have Shep be a girl or a boy, not both.

@Kikass

I don't have an issue with there being a female version of shep, jesus fucking christ you people are quick to read misogyny into shit, nor did I ever say it would "ruin the game". I'm also not really talking about "marketing material", I'm talking about the novels, the comics, and upcoming anime, etc, in all of which Shep will be male. The canonical version of Shep being male in no way tarnishes your ability to play as femshep.

[KikassAssassin]

Originally Posted by AKBoarder

Right, I understood that, and I say it's fucking stupid. Have Shep be a girl or a boy, not both.

@Kikass

I don't have an issue with there being a female version of shep, jesus fucking christ you people are quick to read misogyny into shit, nor did I ever say it would "ruin the game". I'm also not really talking about "marketing material", I'm talking about the novels, the comics, and upcoming anime, etc, in all of which Shep will be male. The canonical version of Shep being male in no way tarnishes your ability to play as femshep.

I didn't say anything about misogyny, you're the one who read that into what I said. Also, you're the one who said having both male and female shep in the marketing materials doesn't make sense. I was simply explaining why it makes perfect sense from a marketing perspective. It's there to please their customers and help build excitement among people who play that version of Shepard. What other reason do they need?

Would you really be happier if they switched all of their marketing for ME3 to show nothing but female Shepard, after they'd shown nothing but male Shepard in the marketing material for both of the previous games? Now THAT wouldn't make any sense.

I've already explained why the out of game media uses a single version of Shepard. It would be awesome if they could create multiple versions of the comics, anime, etc. with every possible version of Shepard, and if it were at all feasible to do so, I'm sure they would jump at the chance, but it's obvious why they can't do that. I still don't think a game like Mass Effect should be considered to have a single canon.

[AKBoarder]

I'd be fine with them switching completely, actually. It would make more sense than seeing marketing info, for one game, with two "different" main characters. And yeah, it did seem like there was a lot of veiled accusations in there.

[Jay]

Hermaphrodite Shep

[DannoHung]

It's actually really interesting the way that the ME series has worked so far in that both the first and the second games allow for every eventuality to be canon for the next game.

I'm not aware of any other series where that has been allowed.

[Bobulus]

I realize it's a necessity for the budget of game development, but that actually annoyed me.

Whether you helped or hindered the council in 1 had no effect at all on 2? (Though hypothetically it might do something in 3)

Whether you helped or hindered Cerberus in 2 had no effect on 3? (They're gunning for you either way).

[Hawque]

Originally Posted by AKBoarder

I'm talking about the novels, the comics, and upcoming anime, etc, in all of which Shep will be male.

Maybe this holds for the anime. The novels take care to only refer to "Shepard" and never use pronouns, male or female. I'm pretty sure this is the case for the comics too, though I don't remember them so well as the novels.

[Striker]

Originally Posted by Hawque

Maybe this holds for the anime. The novels take care to only refer to "Shepard" and never use pronouns, male or female. I'm pretty sure this is the case for the comics too, though I don't remember them so well as the novels.

The one that dealt with the Liara/Shadow Broker storyline (can't remember the title) took that route. Shepard was only ever referred to as 'Shepard', no first name, no gender-specific pronouns. Led to some fairly awkward moments, but they stuck with it.

[gamerk2]

Originally Posted by Bobulus

I realize it's a necessity for the budget of game development, but that actually annoyed me.

Whether you helped or hindered the council in 1 had no effect at all on 2? (Though hypothetically it might do something in 3)

Whether you helped or hindered Cerberus in 2 had no effect on 3? (They're gunning for you either way).

Well, the latest GI preview made it sound like Cerberus agents after Shepard were indoctrinated, so maybe the Reapers got to Cerberus? After all, they were screwing around with a Cerberus ship in ME2...

[DannoHung]

Originally Posted by Bobulus

I realize it's a necessity for the budget of game development, but that actually annoyed me.

Whether you helped or hindered the council in 1 had no effect at all on 2? (Though hypothetically it might do something in 3)

Whether you helped or hindered Cerberus in 2 had no effect on 3? (They're gunning for you either way).

I noticed in some of the videos that it said "Indoctrinated" before the name of the cerberus enemies

[KikassAssassin]

Originally Posted by DannoHung

I noticed in some of the videos that it said "Indoctrinated" before the name of the cerberus enemies

Maybe if you don't give Cerberus the Collector base, they're coming after you because you betrayed them, and if you do give them the Collector base, they're coming after you because they got indoctrinated? It wouldn't really surprise me if they managed to get themselves indoctrinated either way, though.

Originally Posted by AKBoarder

I'd be fine with them switching completely, actually. It would make more sense than seeing marketing info, for one game, with two "different" main characters. And yeah, it did seem like there was a lot of veiled accusations in there.

I really don't follow that logic. Not showing a male Shepard at all would be confusing to a lot of players, because they've been showing the male Shepard in the marketing materials for the previous two games, and the large majority of the playerbase plays a male Shepard. There are a lot of players who prefer the female Shepard, though, so it makes sense to create some marketing material that caters to that part of their playerbase. One of the primary features of the game is that you can make your main character be whatever you want it to be, so creating marketing materials that advertise that fact makes perfect sense. In fact, I think one of their biggest screw-ups with the first game was that they didn't make that feature clear enough to players, and I think they've probably come to the same realization.

And I apologize if my intentions weren't clear. I try not to do veiled accusations, and if I wanted to accuse you of being misogynistic, I'd state that openly. I just don't think your argument makes any sense.

[Jimmy McForum]

Originally Posted by NVB

Also I saw My tattooed pirate queen Jack In one of the trailers =D

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. Wait. Are you sure?

Did...

...did she ask about me? Y'know, heh, not that I care, or anything. She can do what she wants, I guess.

why hasn't she returned my calls

[Packin' Fists]

Uhg the more I think of ME Horde mode the more excited I get. Then I fantasize about 3 player coop and uhg uhg unnnnfffffff

[Sprint]

I think the combat in ME is pretty meh compared to almost any other shooter on the market so MP will be a feature that is never tried for me

[Packin' Fists]

So then like most other games for you? WoW doesn't count.

I really enjoy ME's shooting gameplay. I think it would work really well in a horde mode.