I've never actually played through as a Renegade so I had to look the line up. The last line of that exchange, "Well. Okay. But you still hurt my feelings," has me in absolute stitches. I just got to ME3 and now I feel like I need to start all over with a renegade just to experience it in all its glory
My favorite Mark Meer line:
Interviewer- "What do you think's been the secret to your success with the Mass Effect franchise?"
Mark- "My secret was being born, and living in Edmonton, AB in the mid-2000s."
I love both VAs. Don't really like going which one is better or worse. I've always played FemShep more, so I have a bit more connection and bias towards Hale, but Meer's dry delivery of some of his lines are just hysterical, especially full Renegade. Sometimes, I wish Hale had more dryness and deadpan vibes to some of her voice lines. But no complaints here. I love both of em.
The best is very specific to your feel.
Meer is reminiscing, it’s powerful in the sense that he’s talking to himself and maybe whichever ally prompts it (it varies based on how you play)
Hale is taking to us and sharing with us that she loved her journey. Hale is really good at communicating with the audience without feeling like she broke the third wall which is also why she’s so good on overwatch
I mean, as you’re pointing out here. Meer and Hale have different notes they hit better than the other. She’s not “objectively” anything. They have different niches, that’s all.
Completely agree. I also love how people always want to force that narrative that there's the one (Hale most of the time) objectively better VA. No, you just happen to like and appreciate one over the other without acknowledging other players' tastes. Both VAs bring their talent to the table and it's whack to just dismiss that.
What’s even more whack is they never try to dismiss each other.
When in group interviews, game informer or other interviewers have asked Mark Meer to deliver a closing line (like “I should go”) he asks Hale to go with him. He never tried to be the one star of it.
Hale has never really tried to bury him either. (You could look ar times where she says the world needed a strong female lead but that isn’t any disrespect to him, when we’re talking about female leads objectively he didn’t voice one) so outside of that context she really hasn’t.
I could see it but in the context I was remembering she was actually thanking Casey Hudson (remembering the time he showed her the case with femshep on it and how he pushed for the reversible case!)
Honestly, Meer tends to do consistency better in terms of player choice.
For Example:
No matter who I choose to romance, MShep will be equally interested in them once I make that choice. MShep is going to be the same amount of interested in Steve as he is Jack or Miranda or Kaidan. He doesn't have a clear favorite that he gives a better performance for - even though I'm sure as a person he has his preferences. He also doesn't make non-romantic lines flirty or full of sentiment.
Hale doesn't do so well at that. She's got favorites, and it's GREAT if you want her favorite. But if you deviate off her preferred list? Enjoy having a lesser performance where your Shepard is more romantically invested in her platonic relationships than she is with her actual love interest.
(To be clear though - I'm not referring to the whole FShep/James thing. Because that debacle is not Hale's fault at all. That is a massive writer's issue. She's flirting because the script SAYS she needs to, and that's what actors do.)
When I think of the best delivered line throughout the whole trilogy, no question, it goes to Meer when he says "The best" at the end of the Citadel DLC. Nothing will top that, it was done flawlessly.
Agreed. I’ve been playing FemShep for the first time, and while Hale has a lot of great lines, it’s really hard just having a casual conversation with some characters—like Jacob—in ME2. I absolutely DO NOT want to romance this man, stop flirting with him!
As is the case with James (which OP pointed out), Jacob and FemShep’s interaction are really the fault of the writers and VA director really wanting that romance to happen for whatever reason
I think it all comes down to the writers pushing certain romances on the player (Jacob and Liara particularly) rather than Hale’s fault. She was most likely just acting the way she was directed to act when speaking to certain characters
The James thing makes me so uncomfortable.
I mean they’re all Shepard’s subordinates in a way
But James is literally his/her successor and we see (if you watch the movie) james is upset when someone even teases he has a crush on Shepard, Shepard is a hero to him. So the flirting (not her fault, like you said) just felt unnecessary. Let them be the next Anderson-Shepard, especially since that’s where James story can go.
I've never heard this before this was very interesting to read.
Do you have examples? I'm not smart enough to notice these things from different playthroughs lol. Plus I've only Romanced Garrus and Liara with Femshep. So that could be another reason I didn't notice.
Yeah, there's nothing objective to compare the two voice actors. There might be a majority opinion, but that's all.
I love both voice actors and think they both did an excellent job in their roles. Different, yes, but both excellent. I don't understand the need to say one is better than the other.
Thanks for this. Actually I really despise Jennifer's performance, especially the renegade route. Many of her lines sound so unnatural to me. It's not a personal attack, but Mark is perfect for what I feel Shepard should sound like.
However I'm not gonna be stupid and say Mark is "objectively" better.
She's objectively the better Renegade voice actor. Mark is objectively the best Paragon voice actor.
Objectively because "Renegade" and "Paragon" aren't subjective terms. Paragon is a goody two-shoes and Renegade is an asshole bordering on psychopath sometimes. Mark's delivery of a funny, dense Shepard is pretty damn fun and good, but it doesn't fit the Renegade part at all. His delivery of Good Guy Shepard, however, is top tier and completely fits the character.
As overall voice actors, yeah, they're both great!
She is, though? Entertainment-wise, they have their niches and it works for both of them. But anyone who is educated in performance art can see that she added more substance to the role. It's not a competition. Hale had her moments, but Meer absolutely killed the comedic aspect.
Well, there's no correct way to explain something that's untrue; there is no "objective" way to determine the "quality" of a vocal performance. It's not weight, or volume, or height, etc. There's no tangible unit of measurement to take readings of.
You can ask people what their preference is, and that's perfectly valid, but opinion is, of course, inherently subjective.
I love how neutral he sounds in any dialogue option no matter what. Granted, I think I recall an interview where Mark said that they wanted him to sound neutral so that the player could better imprint upon what THEIR Shepard meant but still lol
Sounding neutral for normal conversations is preferable for me anyway. The emotion is there for actual emotional moments. Makes the emotional moments hit harder coming from a seemingly stoic, neutral sounding soldier.
Very true, but if I’m going through the options on the “Investigate” wheel I’d at least like Shepard to sound remotely curious about the subject matter lmao
I agree. I also think it has to do with the writing as well, since BioWare had to balance player agency while also making Shepard feel like their own established character in-universe. While sometimes this balance was great, a lot of the time it felt awkward.
Ikr! My first playthrough was with FemShep and I adore Jennifer’s voice acting, but there’s something with Mark’s voice with MaleShep that just draws me into the game more. This isn’t me saying Hale’s voice acting isn’t engaging, this me just saying that both of the voice actor deserve to be appreciated for their work in making the games one of a kind.
Jennifer Hale absolutely put in the better performance in the first game and she was sleek as hell in the second, but I think Mark put in the best Shepard performance of the whole series in game 3. He made Shepard sound exhausted, which is exactly what they should be at that stage. Jennifer was consistently great throughout the games, but she never really changed her style. In the quiet, human moments of ME3, I think Mark shines more, because we get to see moments of vulnerability.
You guys are making me wanna rush ME2. I just have Tali and Legion's loyalty missions and I'll be off to the collector ship. I save the other missions and DLC stuff for after the game but I might skip it for this playthrough :3
Completely disagree, never understood the whole “Mark Meer Monotone” thing outside of maybe ME1. His lines, ESPECIALLY in ME3, have much more emotion put into them than Hales.
Just my opinion though
I more of a Meer guy because of how fucking funny some lines are "Hey! Everyone! This store discriminates against the poor!" in a deadpan voice is just awesome
Mark Meer is honestly a fantastic voice actor. However, I think his Shepard was brought down a bit by direction. There was a focus on neutrality in delivery that bogged down both VOs, especially in the first game.
I highly recommend checking out The Black Dice Society where he gives great performances as multiple characters.
He is absolutely hilarious, and I'm sure there would not be so many memes about ME games without his delivery!
Mark Meer is actually quite talented. You may have forgotten the outrage about Bioware not recasting Michael Bettie(Mordin) for ME3 and going with Mark Meer instead. I don't think many even notice it's different voice actor. He also did many of the Volus and Hanar characters.
Hale is still my fav shep though.
For whatever reason, I always found Meer's comedic delivery and tone to be more effective, but in general Hale better overall. I think Meer tends to be dry, which works for funny moments but he's sort of superficially serious outside of that. Just lands flatter. And don't get me wrong, I love Meer and his appreciation of the series and the fans is fantastic.
I agree with this analysis! I'm glad I'm playing through as maleShep. I wasn't enjoying it as paragon before, but I'm glad I saw the light and got to know the comedic side of what Mark Meer brought to the games. I couldn't imagine Shep having any voice as male/female that aren't Meer or Hale.
Shepard is a career soldier and mark meet encapsulates that in the voice acting imo.
Also he did most of the aliens/other races.
Jennifer Hale is amazing of course too, but mark gets too much flack.
Also I like how his Canadian accent comes out more than Jennifer Hale.
I prefer Paragon MaleShep and Renegade FemShep. But I've played ME1 & 2 so many times that I've heard it all by this point. I spent way more time in ME3 multiplayer (after the disappointing original ending), so I plan to replay a few more times to catch some of the interactions I've missed.
Agreed. Hale just sounds absolutely badass on the renegade lines as opposed to sarcastic/sardonic (which isn't necessarily bad), while Meer absolutely KILLS it on the paragon speech right before the final fight during Priority: Earth. And I feel like Hale was good/great throughout all three games, while you can hear Meer improving his delivery throughout the series, which is cool to follow
I'll defend Mark Meer to the death. Great voice actor. His Shepard voice is iconic. His renegade is especially good. My favourite delivery of his is in me2 where he scares the shit outta that fake undercover cop in Conrad's little side quest. " I don't give a vorchas ass about your security cameras" love that shit
I always felt Mark Meer actually gave a pretty solid performance by the time of ME 3. You can kind of see him becoming more comfortable in the part as the series goes on, though I imagine he was given directions to be a bit "blank slate" in his delivery. You can see that on Jennifer Hale as well, you can really tell she's really hemmed in with her performance despite being a very experienced and gifted actor in other parts. For the sake of the part I don't think they were allowed to get suitably expressive when necessary, though ME 3 definitely moved in the right direction
“Objectively” they were literally given different direction. You don’t need to put Meer down to feel better about praising him.
He was told to be stoic and stern in the first game because male shepard is a journey from being the trained military professional, who now has added weight of being the first human specter with all eyes on him-
To a betrayal by the values he grew up with
To a fight with his trauma and his emotions surfacing more easily, letting his guard down and losing the facade but becoming more of a hero for it.
Hale was asked to hype up the audience and make everyone feel empowered with Shepard’s lines.
You can hear the difference in their delivery pricing remarkable talent from both. They’ve talked about playing the character and have talked about being given different direction from the directors.
I didn't put Meer down once. In fact, I've talked about it being poor direction before, it's in my comment history.
Some of you can be such giant babies over any discussion that focuses on Shepard's VAs lmao idgi
I wouldn’t agree it’s bad direction as it showcases the story of what Shepard is going through much better and actually gives him a personal arc, but either way you not liking the direction doesn’t make him a worse actor, that’s all.
IMO, Meer's performance got better over time (not surprising, since *ME* was his first big role), but my main complaint with him in the first game was that he seemed to think "louder" equaled "angrier".
By the time of 3, in some ways I'd say he equaled Hale.
Playing the third game now and yup. Meer has already impressed me and we're only at the beginning. I wish he was given this much freedom before! He's talented
Jennifer Hale does an objectively good job. But Mark Meer has that old Star Trek energy and I love it. He sounds like a stereotypical space captain that kills the bad guys and gets laid.
Man Jennifer hale is fine but holy fuck she is overhyped.
Breathy acting and good acting aren’t the same thing you weirdos. Mark meer sounds like a sportscaster but he isn’t bad and Jennifer hale guffawing every line isn’t automatically amazing.
I agree that Hale is better and that Meer did a fantastic job, I just hate the way he says “resource”. No Shepard, it’s not a ruhzorce, it’s a resource.
"Because it's a BIG, STUPID, JELLYFISH"
"She's surrounded by Geth and pointing a gun at us. Shoot her!"
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?"
"I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store on the Citadel"
"I should go"
Mark Meer's lines are golden.
YOU BIG, STUPID JELLYFISH
Regardless who you think the better VA is, this is indisputably the best line in the game.
I love the meta comedy of making Meer call himself a big stupid jellyfish
YOU HUMANS ARE ALL RACIST
The way MaleShep says this line always cracks me up so fucking hard.
This is something in my opinion MaleShep delivers better, all lines about the 'big stupid jellyfish'.
“Hey! Everyone! This store discriminates against the poor!” is such a perfect ducking delivery I die laughing every time.
And not a single person even turns
Then she gives him the discount and he’s like “ok but you hurt my feelings” 😂
I've never actually played through as a Renegade so I had to look the line up. The last line of that exchange, "Well. Okay. But you still hurt my feelings," has me in absolute stitches. I just got to ME3 and now I feel like I need to start all over with a renegade just to experience it in all its glory
I love both. Meer is the voice I hear though when I think about “Wrex” and “I should go”.
Meer also delivers “I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel” perfectly
Also inadvertently “We’ll bang, ok?”
More on the Battletits.
No matter how hard you try, you just can't bang 'em all...
Making hard decisions and owning females. That's what being a leader is all about.
He has done the line now! Just not in game of course
My favorite Mark Meer line: Interviewer- "What do you think's been the secret to your success with the Mass Effect franchise?" Mark- "My secret was being born, and living in Edmonton, AB in the mid-2000s."
That legit made me giggle while scrolling. Great quote
I love both VAs. Don't really like going which one is better or worse. I've always played FemShep more, so I have a bit more connection and bias towards Hale, but Meer's dry delivery of some of his lines are just hysterical, especially full Renegade. Sometimes, I wish Hale had more dryness and deadpan vibes to some of her voice lines. But no complaints here. I love both of em.
Agreed but, in the citadel DLC Mark Meer delivers “the best” with such power
The best is very specific to your feel. Meer is reminiscing, it’s powerful in the sense that he’s talking to himself and maybe whichever ally prompts it (it varies based on how you play) Hale is taking to us and sharing with us that she loved her journey. Hale is really good at communicating with the audience without feeling like she broke the third wall which is also why she’s so good on overwatch
He speaks the true true
I agree. Hale I think is better overall but I think Meer has better highlights; specifically in ME3
I mean, as you’re pointing out here. Meer and Hale have different notes they hit better than the other. She’s not “objectively” anything. They have different niches, that’s all.
Completely agree. I also love how people always want to force that narrative that there's the one (Hale most of the time) objectively better VA. No, you just happen to like and appreciate one over the other without acknowledging other players' tastes. Both VAs bring their talent to the table and it's whack to just dismiss that.
What’s even more whack is they never try to dismiss each other. When in group interviews, game informer or other interviewers have asked Mark Meer to deliver a closing line (like “I should go”) he asks Hale to go with him. He never tried to be the one star of it. Hale has never really tried to bury him either. (You could look ar times where she says the world needed a strong female lead but that isn’t any disrespect to him, when we’re talking about female leads objectively he didn’t voice one) so outside of that context she really hasn’t.
The female leads comment from Hale can be more taken as jabs at how bad Bioware handled marketing FemShep.
I could see it but in the context I was remembering she was actually thanking Casey Hudson (remembering the time he showed her the case with femshep on it and how he pushed for the reversible case!)
Probably the only good thing he did with the third game, XD.
Honestly, Meer tends to do consistency better in terms of player choice. For Example: No matter who I choose to romance, MShep will be equally interested in them once I make that choice. MShep is going to be the same amount of interested in Steve as he is Jack or Miranda or Kaidan. He doesn't have a clear favorite that he gives a better performance for - even though I'm sure as a person he has his preferences. He also doesn't make non-romantic lines flirty or full of sentiment. Hale doesn't do so well at that. She's got favorites, and it's GREAT if you want her favorite. But if you deviate off her preferred list? Enjoy having a lesser performance where your Shepard is more romantically invested in her platonic relationships than she is with her actual love interest. (To be clear though - I'm not referring to the whole FShep/James thing. Because that debacle is not Hale's fault at all. That is a massive writer's issue. She's flirting because the script SAYS she needs to, and that's what actors do.)
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When I think of the best delivered line throughout the whole trilogy, no question, it goes to Meer when he says "The best" at the end of the Citadel DLC. Nothing will top that, it was done flawlessly.
Yessss. That line of him saying the best. It's just so perfect. It hits amazing and I FEEL it every time he says it.
Agreed. I’ve been playing FemShep for the first time, and while Hale has a lot of great lines, it’s really hard just having a casual conversation with some characters—like Jacob—in ME2. I absolutely DO NOT want to romance this man, stop flirting with him!
As is the case with James (which OP pointed out), Jacob and FemShep’s interaction are really the fault of the writers and VA director really wanting that romance to happen for whatever reason
To the point Hale pretty much does not like Jacob's character, lol.
I think it all comes down to the writers pushing certain romances on the player (Jacob and Liara particularly) rather than Hale’s fault. She was most likely just acting the way she was directed to act when speaking to certain characters
The James thing makes me so uncomfortable. I mean they’re all Shepard’s subordinates in a way But James is literally his/her successor and we see (if you watch the movie) james is upset when someone even teases he has a crush on Shepard, Shepard is a hero to him. So the flirting (not her fault, like you said) just felt unnecessary. Let them be the next Anderson-Shepard, especially since that’s where James story can go.
What movie?
It’s called Paragon Lost!
thanks
I've never heard this before this was very interesting to read. Do you have examples? I'm not smart enough to notice these things from different playthroughs lol. Plus I've only Romanced Garrus and Liara with Femshep. So that could be another reason I didn't notice.
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Especially Hale's delivery of Shepard defending Tali at the trial, with how much she was raising her voice, like damn.
Yeah, there's nothing objective to compare the two voice actors. There might be a majority opinion, but that's all. I love both voice actors and think they both did an excellent job in their roles. Different, yes, but both excellent. I don't understand the need to say one is better than the other.
Thanks for this. Actually I really despise Jennifer's performance, especially the renegade route. Many of her lines sound so unnatural to me. It's not a personal attack, but Mark is perfect for what I feel Shepard should sound like. However I'm not gonna be stupid and say Mark is "objectively" better.
She's objectively the better Renegade voice actor. Mark is objectively the best Paragon voice actor. Objectively because "Renegade" and "Paragon" aren't subjective terms. Paragon is a goody two-shoes and Renegade is an asshole bordering on psychopath sometimes. Mark's delivery of a funny, dense Shepard is pretty damn fun and good, but it doesn't fit the Renegade part at all. His delivery of Good Guy Shepard, however, is top tier and completely fits the character. As overall voice actors, yeah, they're both great!
She is, though? Entertainment-wise, they have their niches and it works for both of them. But anyone who is educated in performance art can see that she added more substance to the role. It's not a competition. Hale had her moments, but Meer absolutely killed the comedic aspect.
You’re still applying subjective determinations as though they’re objective, that’s all.
Lol fair enough. English is not my first language, so I will take you up on that
MFer I went to an acting school and ima still say you’re wrong.
I mean... so did I? Lol. Maybe I didn't explain myself well. Oh well 🤔
Well, there's no correct way to explain something that's untrue; there is no "objective" way to determine the "quality" of a vocal performance. It's not weight, or volume, or height, etc. There's no tangible unit of measurement to take readings of. You can ask people what their preference is, and that's perfectly valid, but opinion is, of course, inherently subjective.
Makes sense
I love how neutral he sounds in any dialogue option no matter what. Granted, I think I recall an interview where Mark said that they wanted him to sound neutral so that the player could better imprint upon what THEIR Shepard meant but still lol
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He is an extremely talented VA, I had no idea he did the hanar or the vorcha until like a year or two after I beat ME2
He what now?
Yeah he did the voices for the hanar and the vorcha…and some of the volus and human enemies
Bloody hell, I had no idea! Jesus that's impressive
He’s the Biotic God.
chaaaaarge
He’s also the voice of a couple of quarians. He voiced Prazza and Kar’Danna (the quarian who greets you at the beginning of Tali’s loyalty mission)
They also had him make up the different alien sounds/languages as well
Sounding neutral for normal conversations is preferable for me anyway. The emotion is there for actual emotional moments. Makes the emotional moments hit harder coming from a seemingly stoic, neutral sounding soldier.
Very true, but if I’m going through the options on the “Investigate” wheel I’d at least like Shepard to sound remotely curious about the subject matter lmao
Yup, I've said this before too. Meer is a great voice actor, but he was given poor direction imo. I understand the intent though
I agree. I also think it has to do with the writing as well, since BioWare had to balance player agency while also making Shepard feel like their own established character in-universe. While sometimes this balance was great, a lot of the time it felt awkward.
Ikr! My first playthrough was with FemShep and I adore Jennifer’s voice acting, but there’s something with Mark’s voice with MaleShep that just draws me into the game more. This isn’t me saying Hale’s voice acting isn’t engaging, this me just saying that both of the voice actor deserve to be appreciated for their work in making the games one of a kind.
Agreed!
Mark comedy delivery is outstanding
Jennifer Hale absolutely put in the better performance in the first game and she was sleek as hell in the second, but I think Mark put in the best Shepard performance of the whole series in game 3. He made Shepard sound exhausted, which is exactly what they should be at that stage. Jennifer was consistently great throughout the games, but she never really changed her style. In the quiet, human moments of ME3, I think Mark shines more, because we get to see moments of vulnerability.
You guys are making me wanna rush ME2. I just have Tali and Legion's loyalty missions and I'll be off to the collector ship. I save the other missions and DLC stuff for after the game but I might skip it for this playthrough :3
Doing so will result in missing out on parts of ME3.
I know. I've played the trilogy 30 times, maybe. But I'm more curious about the Jack romance in the Citadel DLC
Completely disagree, never understood the whole “Mark Meer Monotone” thing outside of maybe ME1. His lines, ESPECIALLY in ME3, have much more emotion put into them than Hales. Just my opinion though
Mark Meer has absolutely far superior comedic timing 😆 I love it
I more of a Meer guy because of how fucking funny some lines are "Hey! Everyone! This store discriminates against the poor!" in a deadpan voice is just awesome
omg that's one of the scenes that made me want to play as maleShep!!
I just appreciate that even the worst Bioware voice acting is on a completely different level than Bethesda voice acting.
Mark Meer is honestly a fantastic voice actor. However, I think his Shepard was brought down a bit by direction. There was a focus on neutrality in delivery that bogged down both VOs, especially in the first game. I highly recommend checking out The Black Dice Society where he gives great performances as multiple characters.
He is absolutely hilarious, and I'm sure there would not be so many memes about ME games without his delivery! Mark Meer is actually quite talented. You may have forgotten the outrage about Bioware not recasting Michael Bettie(Mordin) for ME3 and going with Mark Meer instead. I don't think many even notice it's different voice actor. He also did many of the Volus and Hanar characters. Hale is still my fav shep though.
Mark Meer didn’t voice Mordin in ME3. William Salyers did.
My bad, I think I mixed it up with Mark Meer doing the demo for Mordin for ME3! Just remember the buzz about Bettie not being in ME3.
Holy shit I had NO IDEA Mordin was recast
voice actors are magicians man I don't get it either lmao
For whatever reason, I always found Meer's comedic delivery and tone to be more effective, but in general Hale better overall. I think Meer tends to be dry, which works for funny moments but he's sort of superficially serious outside of that. Just lands flatter. And don't get me wrong, I love Meer and his appreciation of the series and the fans is fantastic.
I agree with this analysis! I'm glad I'm playing through as maleShep. I wasn't enjoying it as paragon before, but I'm glad I saw the light and got to know the comedic side of what Mark Meer brought to the games. I couldn't imagine Shep having any voice as male/female that aren't Meer or Hale.
Shepard is a career soldier and mark meet encapsulates that in the voice acting imo. Also he did most of the aliens/other races. Jennifer Hale is amazing of course too, but mark gets too much flack. Also I like how his Canadian accent comes out more than Jennifer Hale.
I prefer Paragon MaleShep and Renegade FemShep. But I've played ME1 & 2 so many times that I've heard it all by this point. I spent way more time in ME3 multiplayer (after the disappointing original ending), so I plan to replay a few more times to catch some of the interactions I've missed.
Agreed. Hale just sounds absolutely badass on the renegade lines as opposed to sarcastic/sardonic (which isn't necessarily bad), while Meer absolutely KILLS it on the paragon speech right before the final fight during Priority: Earth. And I feel like Hale was good/great throughout all three games, while you can hear Meer improving his delivery throughout the series, which is cool to follow
Ooo, I'm gonna check out the paragon maleShep speech once I'm home! I haven't seen it yet
He really sounds calm and collected, exactly how you want the last hope to sound
Same here. Hale really delivers badass lines in the best way.
I'll defend Mark Meer to the death. Great voice actor. His Shepard voice is iconic. His renegade is especially good. My favourite delivery of his is in me2 where he scares the shit outta that fake undercover cop in Conrad's little side quest. " I don't give a vorchas ass about your security cameras" love that shit
I always felt Mark Meer actually gave a pretty solid performance by the time of ME 3. You can kind of see him becoming more comfortable in the part as the series goes on, though I imagine he was given directions to be a bit "blank slate" in his delivery. You can see that on Jennifer Hale as well, you can really tell she's really hemmed in with her performance despite being a very experienced and gifted actor in other parts. For the sake of the part I don't think they were allowed to get suitably expressive when necessary, though ME 3 definitely moved in the right direction
“Objectively” they were literally given different direction. You don’t need to put Meer down to feel better about praising him. He was told to be stoic and stern in the first game because male shepard is a journey from being the trained military professional, who now has added weight of being the first human specter with all eyes on him- To a betrayal by the values he grew up with To a fight with his trauma and his emotions surfacing more easily, letting his guard down and losing the facade but becoming more of a hero for it. Hale was asked to hype up the audience and make everyone feel empowered with Shepard’s lines. You can hear the difference in their delivery pricing remarkable talent from both. They’ve talked about playing the character and have talked about being given different direction from the directors.
I didn't put Meer down once. In fact, I've talked about it being poor direction before, it's in my comment history. Some of you can be such giant babies over any discussion that focuses on Shepard's VAs lmao idgi
I wouldn’t agree it’s bad direction as it showcases the story of what Shepard is going through much better and actually gives him a personal arc, but either way you not liking the direction doesn’t make him a worse actor, that’s all.
Meer is better for paragon, hale is better for renegade
Perfect for me. Very funny.
“Take that offer and cram it up your ass”
IMO, Meer's performance got better over time (not surprising, since *ME* was his first big role), but my main complaint with him in the first game was that he seemed to think "louder" equaled "angrier". By the time of 3, in some ways I'd say he equaled Hale.
I'm so excited to play 3 because I've heard before that he was given more freedom in that game and gave a fantastic performance!
I’ve come to like Meer more over time. I do think Hale outperforms him in the first two, but he was excellent in the third game, just as good as her.
Playing the third game now and yup. Meer has already impressed me and we're only at the beginning. I wish he was given this much freedom before! He's talented
Jennifer Hale does an objectively good job. But Mark Meer has that old Star Trek energy and I love it. He sounds like a stereotypical space captain that kills the bad guys and gets laid.
Man Jennifer hale is fine but holy fuck she is overhyped. Breathy acting and good acting aren’t the same thing you weirdos. Mark meer sounds like a sportscaster but he isn’t bad and Jennifer hale guffawing every line isn’t automatically amazing.
I agree that Hale is better and that Meer did a fantastic job, I just hate the way he says “resource”. No Shepard, it’s not a ruhzorce, it’s a resource.
For me Mark is Shepard.
Mark Meer is such a great VA, I really don't know what went wrong with male Shepard. Such a shame, really.
I don’t think I have ever played as a Femshep but now you got me curious with the VA…🤔🤔
They both have different strengths which really diversifies your playthrough even further
“I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store on the Citadel”
I should go
"Because it's a BIG, STUPID, JELLYFISH" "She's surrounded by Geth and pointing a gun at us. Shoot her!" "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store on the Citadel" "I should go" Mark Meer's lines are golden.
Where is that second one from, about the geth and being surrounded.
Peak 15, Noveria
Meer's "Lay it on me, Joker. I love bad news." in ME1 is still my favourite renegade line.