OH GOD BIOWARE WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE

[Betty Elms]

Snake... just... Snake. Your argument here. It's just fucking floating upstream in its little patrol boat towards the cambodian jungle, passing through horrors each more hallucinatory than the last, the disconcerting wailing of The Doors rumbling through these scenes of savagery, and by the time you've reached your destination you can no longer see whether it even matters, whether anything matters, you've passed the threshold. There is only madness in this jungle, and it is devouring you.

[stefan]

I think the outrage has less to do with the fact that its a black voice actor as it does with the fact that Bioware has introduced a Jamaican Samurai Space Bug Man as a character and still expect to be taken seriously as storytellers.

[BitVyper]

...Jamaican? That's pretty a distinctly African accent. I mean, I wouldn't be able to place the exact region, but I'm not sure where you're getting Jamaican.

Anyway, I'm gonna go with the Doctor on this: Lots of planets have a north.

Samurai Space Bug

As opposed to a ninja space lizard with an eidetic memory?

[Arcanum]

Originally Posted by stefan

I think the outrage has less to do with the fact that its a black voice actor as it does with the fact that Bioware has introduced a Jamaican Samurai Space Bug Man as a character and still expect to be taken seriously as storytellers.

Are you implying that a Jamaican (though it's actually African) Samurai Space Bug Man is not awesome? Because it sounds like that's what you are implying and that is just plain wrong.

Anywho, this may be completely horribly wrong since I know hardly anything about ME lore, but isn't every alien voice we hear technically being heard through translation software? It's not like every race speaks English (or whatever language you pick) for humanity's convenience. So really it's not the bug alien that has an african accent, but the translation software that is using the accent. Which pretty much makes this whole argument even more silly. Also if this is totally wrong I refer you back to the part moments ago where I said "this may be completely horribly wrong."

And in more "Let's get this thread back on topic and less about how racism is a thing" direction, if anyone wants to actually play the demo instead of arguing about Mass Effect, my Gamertag is Hyperion MBD.

I played a bit earlier, and I have to say going in as an Adept with only a pistol has alleviated almost all concerns I have of the universal cooldown timer, since I was throwing singularities and exploding them with Warp nonstop. And that was just at levels 1 through 3.

Also, does anyone know if the experience you gain and the mods and stuff you unlock in the demo carry over to the actual game?

[Osterbaum]

Wow, I must have been doing a pretty poor job of presenting my opinions over the years if any of you think I would hate on a character and the entire company that created it, just because of an African accent.

Yeah no obviously the case here is that all the production and story choices Bioware has made (or rather the ME-team) that I've disagreed with or found otherwise ominous weren't quite enough to get a full on hate boner about; but fuck that African accent really broke the camels back. Clearly.

For the record, I dislike the entire character. I watched the video with the voice actor and I found myself not really paying much attention to the accent. I just remembered again they were making a Prothean squad-mate.

To clarify, I really don't care about the accent at all. It can be whatever. I just can't bring myself to accept a Prothean squad mate and some of the other crap choices (IMO) the ME-team has made. I just found myself dissapointed with the ME-team once more. Being drunk and all I did not find the mental capacity to specify further at the moment or to make a less provocative comment.

I'm not saying being drunk is an excuse for anything, btw. Just putting that out there before someone says I'm justifying being racist with being drunk.

I'm also not denying the existence of racism in society neither in it's obvious or less obvious forms. I'm also not claiming to be somehow immune to the kind of subconscious racism Liz was talking about. Maybe it did influence me somehow. But I sure as hell didn't just denounce Bioware because I was so outraged that they would dare to have someone speak with an African accent.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Yeah, I'm not gona touch the race debate here with a 20 foot pole, and instead try and steer us back into safer waters by responding to this;

Originally Posted by CABAL49

Really? I've been pretty aces at it. Check the difficulty you are playing it under. There is Bronze, Silver and Gold. It is randomized by default. Vanguards are total powerhouses. Two teammates abandoned me and another vanguard. I played a Drell Vanguard cause those cluster grenades are pretty handy. Finished it no problem.

I've been playing on nothing but bronze all the time, except for 1 mission where I tried out silver to see the difference. I died 2 minutes into the first wave, though I did only have 1 teammate. Maybe it's just me being shit at the game.

I might try it again at some point, though I think I'll need to start putting all my points into shields to stop me getting 1 shotted all the damn time.

[CABAL49]

Nah, you definitely need more than one teammate. At any point they could glitch and it is basically you versus everyone. That usually resolves it's self after a wave, but it is a serious pain in the ass.

Phantoms are bullshit though. Almost made to the end of a Silver when a bunch of phantoms rushed us and one-hitted us all. It doesn't help that my Vanguard is melee specialized. Pretty effective against everyone. Goes to shit against a phantom.


Also, I honestly don't care there is a Prothean Samurai. They already revealed in the first game they were not all dead. Second game was about them not being really dead. This is that continuation of judging something before you know everything. You could have just as much of a bromance as you would with Garrus and Wrex.

[Melfice]

So, how about that? We're getting a Prothean squadmember?
Holy fucking shit...

Mind is blown. Seriously. It's blown.

What's what you say? His voice? Who gives a fuck? IT'S A PROTHEAN SQUADMEMBER! =D

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Originally Posted by Melfice

So, how about that? We're getting a Prothean squadmember?
Holy fucking shit...

Mind is blown. Seriously. It's blown.

What's what you say? His voice? Who gives a fuck? IT'S A PROTHEAN SQUADMEMBER! =D

He better have some awesome abilities. I'm assuming Protheans would, considering they've been around like 50,000 years now.

[Ramary]

This is what happens when I decide to rush to bed after posting something.

It is not because of the African accent specifically, I think this would be still be stupid to me if it was a British accent. I think it is stupid that he HAS an accent at all.

When I think, this Prothean must be really old right? So I figure he would have a more neutral voice, or a voice that is not altered by any sort of human accent. I buy the other aliens having accents cause maybe that is just how they learned English from the humans, like all the Quarrens learned English from one guy with a Russian accent. I know that is a stretch but it is always how I had to explain it to myself.

Plus the AFRICAN accent kinda clashes with the SAMURAI thing they seem to want to go with him, so it is kinda awkward to me.

And of course the YouTube comments would be racist as hell, this was first posted on 4chan.

EDIT: On second thought, I remember a Quarren sounding like he was from Texas, so screw it, ALL the accents are nonsensical and silly and is actually something that always threw me out of the experience in ME.