Critical Incredulity

aggiepunbot:

In all fairness, I think in the case of fem!Hawke, a lot of people simply don’t like the voice actress’s performance, not the character.

Yep.  I thought Jo Wyatt was thoroughly terrible in DA2 (though my “she sucks as an actress” opinion changed when I heard her performance as the Agent in TOR, where she’s fantastic.)  The word I would use to describe her in DA2 is “detached.” 

And aside from Mass Effect 1 where she was okay and a little better than the always-improving Mark Meer, I think Jennifer Hale is tremendously overrated and in a few cases where people say her work is good I question if I’m listening to the same performance.  Namely, KOTOR:  She is brutal as Bastila, especially struggling with trying to be believable with the accent.

I haven’t had problems playing female characters when I like the VA, half of my TOR characters before I bailed on the game were female, it’s just… I’m not buying that I need to think they’re always going to deserve equal appreciation from me, nor will I concede that popular opinion in either direction is correct.

That said, I understand what FemHawke, FemShep, etc. mean to people, especially gamers who have been stuck playing Sheploo-like protagonists for the majority of their gaming experience.  I’m glad the option is there, and I’m glad people like it.  But I’ve got my reasons for not playing some of them, and they’re perfectly valid.