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You might miss this, but if you look closely you might see that the Commander Shepard standard model for women Legendary Mass Effect Editing is a bit different. Easier on the eyes – at least, according to BioWare.
During a hands-on presentation detailing the changes to the remastered version of the sci-fi trilogy, Environment and Character Director Kevin Meek noted that the iconic female version of Shepard was only introduced. Mass effect 3. With that, he said, there was an inherent disconnect: you could have played the first two games one way, and then booted the final game to look entirely different. The remastered version won’t have this problem, as the default FemShep we all know and love will be available right off the bat.
And it has been retouched.
“I think she was a very good example of ME3 character who you know still had room for improvement, ”Meek said. The team decided to do “another pass” on her where they slightly altered “some larger shapes of her face, or adding medium and fine details like wrinkles and pores and specular breakage.”
The average player might not see the difference, he admits, but the hope was that the new model would “catch the light better.”
“She rivals the iconic male shepherd more in terms of overall quality now,” he continued.
Polygon has asked if the male version of Shepard will also get a facelift, but has yet to receive a response. Cynically, one could take this as an unspoken admission that BioWare did not put enough work into the original FemShep model. At the very least, it’s a spiritual continuation of the bizarre beauty pageant that brought FemShep into existence in the first place. In 2011, BioWare held a voting contest where fans could choose how they wanted FemShep to look, both as the standard model of the game, but also in marketing materials such as trailers. There was also a second follow-up vote organized by BioWare to determine the hair color of FemShep.
At the time, the initial contest was a bit of a triumph for fans who had urged BioWare to give FemShep its due, but the way it played out was odd. When the votes were tallied and blonde Shepard won, you couldn’t get rid of the feeling that people just wanted Barbie’s most attractive, conventional woman. That BioWare would then come back years later and keep tweaking her, when Male Shepard seemingly stays the same, is an off-putting shade.
Or maybe there is a more optimistic way of looking at it. We can’t change what happened in 2011, but in 2021 there is no voting, no massive fan campaign for BioWare to equalize consider highlighting FemShep.
Quietly, FemShep was right in the big reveal trailer that announced the release date of Mass Effect remastered. There are only a few seconds left near the end, and yet it feels monumental. Don’t just take it from me. Just watch how FemShep’s voice actor, the indelible Jennifer Hale, rocks after seeing her own character be the star of the show from the start.
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