tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post2929700398815448892..comments2024-03-09T03:49:50.699-05:00Comments on Your Critic is in Another Castle: Beyond the Girl Gamer 1.3: Perspective and IdentificationK. Coxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06554183349391372039noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-39217490592626296022011-06-23T13:41:29.190-04:002011-06-23T13:41:29.190-04:00RedJenny James A
Gentlemen, you will no doubt ...RedJenny James A <br /><br /><br />Gentlemen, you will no doubt be glad to hear that my -very next post- is an in-depth discussion of FemShep in <i>Mass Effect 2</i>. :) I intend for it to go live this weekend, or Monday if I end up too pressed for time.K. Coxhttp://www.your-critic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-32313851768264377802011-05-09T22:28:41.633-04:002011-05-09T22:28:41.633-04:00It doesn't help that when you fall in Mirror&#...It doesn't help that when you fall in <i>Mirror's Edge</i>, you fall THE ENTIRE WAY DOWN, until just before the character hits the pavement. I don't get that kind over vertigo, but that seriously freaked me out the first few times I took a spill off a skyscraper.Stephen Winsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-2915341231676781902011-05-09T18:03:03.971-04:002011-05-09T18:03:03.971-04:00That's what kept me from playing Half-Life 2, ...That's what kept me from playing Half-Life 2, unfortunately. I couldn't play it for more than 10 minutes without having to lay down. It's the only game that has ever had that effect on me. Something to do with the camera angle, maybe? I remember looking online and finding that it wasn't just me.Andyhttp://onefinemess.rhinopanda.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-20050621479711657972011-05-09T18:00:34.438-04:002011-05-09T18:00:34.438-04:00I guess I'm just a horrible art-gamer...I skip...I guess I'm just a horrible art-gamer...I skip all the dialogue as fast as possible and just read the subtitles. Or at least I think I did...it's been a while. Basically, if the option exists to skip spoken dialogue, I always take that. I'm on a schedule here people! <br /><br /><br />Yet another reason I prefer books > movies & TV.<br /><br /><br />BUT. Femshep ftw. My aged matron femshep kicked some ass. Well, mostly she just shot people in the head in slow motion, but I think that counts.Andyhttp://onefinemess.rhinopanda.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-10203006144187256762011-05-09T16:30:49.840-04:002011-05-09T16:30:49.840-04:00I'm one of those who got pretty much instantly...I'm one of those who got pretty much instantly very physically ill just with the <i>Mirror's Edge</i> demo. I don't tend to get that way from most first-person games anymore, UNLESS they move very fast or have a lot of angle changes -- a couple of the later test chambers in the first <i>Portal</i> got me pretty badly too but I can play something like a <i>Bioshock</i> or <i>Fallout</i> now where I wouldn't have been able to a few years ago.<br /><br />But yeah, for me <i>Mirror's Edge</i> is permanently and forever off the table. Barf bags and headaches are not features I look for in my gaming.K. Coxhttp://www.your-critic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-54991575724547284562011-05-09T15:57:10.303-04:002011-05-09T15:57:10.303-04:00Forgettable, nauseating, and pretty. Yep, that'...Forgettable, nauseating, and pretty. Yep, that's how I like them!RedJennynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-25272262881775963342011-05-09T15:55:23.068-04:002011-05-09T15:55:23.068-04:00the story is mostly forgettable and the gameplay c...the story is mostly forgettable and the gameplay can induce nausea...<br /><br /><br />but if you're not susceptible to vertigo, it's awesome. for one, it's a refreshing change from most first person games, in that you are primarily <i>running away</i> rather than standing and fighting. for two, the lackluster story is based on a neat premise, i.e., the invisible world of couriers (and, having read a fascinating journalistic report of bike messengers a few years back, i find it to be doubly interesting). for three, it's pretty.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-55668431659746608332011-05-09T02:12:36.334-04:002011-05-09T02:12:36.334-04:00Tell me about Mirror's Edge.Tell me about Mirror's Edge.RedJennynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-33593327276761544812011-05-08T22:27:41.449-04:002011-05-08T22:27:41.449-04:00oh gosh, how could i forget that? i played that ga...oh gosh, how could i forget that? i played that game just two months ago and loved very many things about it.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-12003947558844612232011-05-07T14:37:27.660-04:002011-05-07T14:37:27.660-04:00The protagonist of Mirror's Edge is female.The protagonist of Mirror's Edge is female.Stephen Winsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-72614128136019340082011-05-06T21:18:07.879-04:002011-05-06T21:18:07.879-04:00Well, I didn't actually mean "backward&qu...Well, I didn't actually mean "backward" as if it was a bad thing, more of a strategic retreat. Voicing nearly every line of dialogue six times would have been an incredibly massive task, and they'd have been insane to attempt it. The disk space alone would have been crazy. I dislike Dragon Age for a lot of reasons, but the lack of PC voice acting isn't one of them.Stephen Winsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-68005257154626863212011-05-06T21:08:24.540-04:002011-05-06T21:08:24.540-04:00I actually only played the female Shepard in ME2. ...I actually only played the female Shepard in ME2. I keep meaning to go through it again with the male version just to see how it's different. In the first one he seemed more like a neighborhood bully than anything I'd seriously call a "renegade." I'm not necessarily surprised it's a better performance, since the whole game is so much better than the original, but I didn't expect it to be much different.Stephen Winsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-88005298869468079972011-05-06T20:15:53.057-04:002011-05-06T20:15:53.057-04:00Great minds. I was going to say that in my follo...Great minds. I was going to say that in my follow up to @RedJenny:disqus , actually. Meer's renegade performance in ME2 is pretty compelling. One of the things I like about it, not least for how it enables these discussions, is that its a very different interpretation of the character. Hales renegade is a seriously Pissed Off combat vet. Meer's is a dangerously unbalanced person with a military grade arsenal and very serious impulse control issues. That difference is why I like Hale for my cranky vet.James Anoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-47148491686441131662011-05-06T20:06:37.218-04:002011-05-06T20:06:37.218-04:00I also feel bad for Mark Meer, because his backgro...I also feel bad for Mark Meer, because his background actually is in improvisational comedy, not dramatic acting, where Jennifer Hale has a video game resume longer than many actual gamers. Meer went into ME1 with quite the handicap. I do think he improved noticeably in ME2, particularly if you play Renegade. Meer tends to play it with a sort of black comedy angle where Hale plays it annoyed and monotone.M. Coxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-45389995745724077722011-05-06T19:55:22.395-04:002011-05-06T19:55:22.395-04:00We're everywhere<i>We're everywhere</i>RedJennynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-49892283599782258842011-05-06T19:53:57.925-04:002011-05-06T19:53:57.925-04:00I'm not really a person person, so I have a ha...I'm not really a person person, so I have a hard time critiquing acting or voice acting (unless of course it's ridiculous). So for me Meer's voice was fine, and since I played John Shepard as an arrogant jerk I guess any stumbling in the delivery came across to me as part of him being bored, annoyed or disgusted at whomever he was talking to or about. He's a sneaking assassin not a charming spy like Bond. He sneaks up on people and kills them, he doesn't chat them up, so a less fluid delivery was fine by me. I guess he's a lot like Miranda, all business with no time and no interest in people. Hmm, I wonder what Miranda will look like now that I have a good video card?<br /><br /><br />Red Jenny Shepard is a soldier used to leading and so I'm glad Hale makes her likable and personable.RedJennynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-36560509651335358362011-05-06T19:43:43.935-04:002011-05-06T19:43:43.935-04:00I actually feel kinda bad for Mark Meer/Manshep. ...I actually feel kinda bad for Mark Meer/Manshep. Meer's performance in ME/2 is perfectly good, even very good by the standards of video game VA actors. I'd even argue that in the first third of ME, he's somewhat better than Hale. But after that first third, once Jennifer Hale has loosed up into the character, she starts delivering one of the finest voice performances in gaming, and by ME2 an extraordinary performance by any standards. The Mass Effect games are really well written on a sentences and lines level (even when on a story/world logic level it can occasionally get hackneyed) but even when the writing stumbles, Hale sells it. Meer can't do that, and because there is still a wide streak of the adolescent in gaming culture, it gets reduce to "FemShep Rules! ManShep SUCKS!" So, like I say. I feel bad for him. But Juliette Shepard, cranky paragon infiltrator, is still my go to character.James Anoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-72828097089672085632011-05-06T19:21:29.318-04:002011-05-06T19:21:29.318-04:00Speaking only for myself, after playing Baldur'...Speaking only for myself, after playing Baldur's Gate II, KOTOR, a bit of Dragon Age, then ME and then going back to Dragon Age I found the return to unvoiced protagonist quite negative. I only have one example of a voiced protagonist so maybe Shepard's just incredibly awesome (well, we know she is) but none of the unvoiced player characters really speak to me.RedJennynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-71311970954181803272011-05-06T19:15:32.885-04:002011-05-06T19:15:32.885-04:00My boy Wanderer and girl Courier felt basically th...My boy Wanderer and girl Courier felt basically the same to me. I think my decision to play them as rough but moral made much more a difference than gender or appearance. Of course as you say in FO you don't get many views of your character and there isn't a voice and I'm just not very imaginative. In ME you have the dialogue and cutscenes where you clearly view and hear Shepard.<br /><br /><br />I really like Cmdr. Red Jenny Shepard. I hope they don't make a Mass Effect movie primarily because I think it would suck but also because they'd use a dude. I picked up a dude Shepard to play through ME1 making different choices (infiltrator, renegade, male) but I have no particular attachment to him. Basically, I need to spend more time with women?RedJennynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-81264654586451486512011-05-06T17:20:15.539-04:002011-05-06T17:20:15.539-04:00I'll have more thoughts on this later, but jus...I'll have more thoughts on this later, but just as a point of historical observation, its not really true that Dragon Age "went back" to a un-voiced PC; DA spent several years in development, and was quite far along when the ME project started up. If memory serves, the first DA release date was before the first ME announcement came along.<br /><br /><br />I'd also take some issue with the idea that moving back to a silent PC is a priori a step back. Its a design decision, with some pluses and some minuses. Where any given player, designer, or game will fall out on evaluating those pluses and minuses will vary depending on any number of factors, and will vary wildly from game to game. But I think its a mistake to say (as it seems to me you suggest) that a unvoiced[1] PC is less diverse (however defined) than one with a fully voiced player character.<br /><br /><br />[1] And by voiced/unvoiced here, I'm speaking only of games with a largely voiced NPC cast, where a design choice to leave the player's lines unspoken is or is not made.James Anoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-57076407010528009972011-05-06T17:00:36.983-04:002011-05-06T17:00:36.983-04:00Thanks!
(And I think I owe roughly 60% of my rea...Thanks!<br /><br /><br />(And I think I owe roughly 60% of my readership to the Golden Horde, so you're not the first and I hope not the last!)K. Coxhttp://www.your-critic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-19533877141957750422011-05-06T16:56:27.955-04:002011-05-06T16:56:27.955-04:00This is a very cool blog, K. Cox! Well done!
Btw...This is a very cool blog, K. Cox! Well done!<br /><br /><br />Btw, I found this after a link-clicking journey that began at TNC's blog :)jaredwfnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-20424449323950849802011-05-06T16:20:26.574-04:002011-05-06T16:20:26.574-04:00I can't think of one since EQ that didn't ...<i> I can't think of one since EQ that didn't (unless you count <br />Diablo 2<br /> as an MMO) allow you to pick your sex regardless of character (save for Valkyries in <br />Dark Age of Camelot<br /> which would have been a bit odd).</i><br /><br /><br />Yeah. That was actually one of the things that hooked me very early on in my five-year EQII career: character gender was an appearance-only issue, and you could roll male or female in any class, and any race. Not only that but once you did roll that female fighter or scout, that plate or chain breastplate and greaves set you equipped actually covered your body the same way it did on a male toon.<br /><br /><br />Diablo II frustrated me for that reason. Although I didn't really ever play online, I did consistently play Amazons and then stab things to death with my javelins. I rarely have it in me to care about stats so much that I'll pick a male-only character class when there's a female class available. (Although I do have a pro-rogue, anti-mage streak in me that could probably make me pick a male stealther over a female finger-waggler.)K. Coxhttp://www.your-critic.comnoreply@blogger.com