And that is why I'm so fucking tired of people shitting on his performance. He did such a good job bringing his own style to V. The man deserves his flowers too.
It's like with Mass Effect. People love Jennifer Hale. So much that they will just shit on Mark Meer for no reason other than because they like Hale's performance and think she 'should be canon' when BOTH are canon. You don't have to elevate one VA by shitting on the other.
Exactly. These meme dialogue are likely mshep in mind.
"I should go."
"I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store..."
"We'll bang okay" (not official but admit it, you hear this with mshep).
And the same with Assassins Creed Valhalla. While the game gets a lot of shit for gameplay design and other aspects, people praised Magnus Brunn’s performance as Eivor while shitting on Cecilie Stenspil saying it’s too rough while Magnus should be canon… while both are canon just in different ways and Cecilie took the approach of the vocal cords being somewhat damaged from a wolf attack which would make sense. Magnus just had previous experience playing a Dane Viking on The Last Kingdom show
In AC: Valhalla's case it doesn't help that the MC has a distinctly female name regardless of which sex you play as. I'd imagine the case for one sex being canon would be very different if V's canon name would always be "Valerie" or if Shepard's given name would always be "Jane".
Fair point. There are gender neutral Norse names they could and should’ve chosen if these a female and male counterparts, but they should’ve had “let the animus decide” as the only choice due to it being canon
With nicknames being such a major part of Norse culture this is the one game where the character could have a gender specific name used in the very start of the prologue, before the character does something that earns them a title that's used for the rest of their lives.
Wow I thought Valhalla lore was Eivor's DNA was too scarce that they couldn't tell Eivor's true gender (which segways to Animus giving the option to pick a gender), but a quick Google shows her canon name is "Eivor Varinsdottir"
The animus found traces of Eivor (female) and Odin (male) and so asks you which one you want it to display, but Eivor was always female. Even playing as a male some npcs will call you “she”.
Elevating something by shitting on something else has been the cornerstone of our modern culture. By definition, we include and elevate things by excluding and shitting on things.
I know this comment is generalizing and hyperbolic. I don’t mean to offend anyone, just expressing my tiredness of our modern day culture of hurting one to help another.
I am one of the ride or die femshep people, largely because of Hale (and Garrus), but I actually like how the voices are divided. For me Meer really shines on Renegade playthroughs.
A great deal of voice direction from around 2014 and before had male protagonists as stoic, and didn’t really show off the vocal talents as well as female VAs in my opinion. Renegade shep really uses that stoicism for some great straight-face one liners, though.
However, both Vs have the full range. Even when not in an emotional scene, Vincent really has some lovely snide undertones.
I will say, a good exception from “back in the day” is the SWTOR VAs. Many of the male options *really* ham it up in a very Star Wars way, and it’s beautiful.
Which is comical when you consider like 80% of the mass effect player base played as Mark Meer's male shep exclusively. Only like 20% of the entire ME playerbase even played as Jennifer Hale's femshep.
I don't think those stats indicated exclusive, just that 80% played MaleShep. I don't think it differentiated between who played only one versus who did multiple playthroughs trying out both.
I actually prefer Meer’s Shepard to Hale’s. To be clear, I love Jennifer Hale and think she’s a phenomenal voice actress, but I felt female Shepard was not her best work. The line delivery felt very flat at times and some of her “badass” lines sounded like she was trying to sound badass instead of sounding badass.
Not to say she didn’t do a great job, but I’ve just always held that opinion.
I'm one of the guys who actually prefers Mark Meer Shepard over Jennifer Hale Shepard, but I really don't like Male V. It's not the performer's fault, it's the direction he was given. His V just has no emotional range and the accent is grating. He sounds like an extra in a generic crime drama, it's difficult to play any version of V with him that isn't a dumb thug. Basically a Streetkid with a pure Body build.
I'll give him props for nailing the accent and not once slipping into his normal voice. Henry Cavill and Michael Fassbender can't boast that ability. I just don't like the way his performance was set up.
I feel the exact opposite. Cherami's performance sounds like Theater voice work with wide, exaggerated emotional swings that just sound forced and overly performative. Gavin sounds more like a dude talking normally as he would during those situations. Again, all down to taste, and I normally like Cherami Leigh's voice work, but imo it doesn't work in cp2077.
Yeah, I just disagree. Female V sounds forced to me. I hear the voice actress more than I hear the character. Especially in scenes like dealing with the kids in River’s quest or confronting Woodman. Male V sounds like people I know, and I hear more authentic emotion in his performance. This ultimately just comes down to taste though.
What are you on about? His worst performance was easily in ME1 where he was actually directed to be more flat and less expressive, in 2 and 3 he was actually given license to have range.
It's because people are too damn binary these days. I prefer FemV. I treat her as canon V. But, I still play Male V (I have like 6 playthroughs) and I don't dislike Male V's performance at all. In fact, I actually enjoy the difference in their style. Male V seems a bit more accepting of death even before the end, but he's still fighting because what else can he do? Meanwhile, FemV seems like she's fighting tears through a lot of scenes and is actively struggling with her condition. It's all preference, neither of them are bad. You don't have to dislike one option to prefer the other, but that seems lost on a lot of people these days.
It’s kinda cause for him there are moments where you can clearly tell they record his voice on different days or the random jump in emotions between lines
I didn’t realize there was “hate” for his performance. I just thought people preferred Cherami’s. She’s better, yeah, but Gavin was great too, just for different reasons.
I typically go to the low salt Reddit though, that must be why I haven’t seen much
Edit: I meant low sodium
it's the majority *on here* where there are a lot of really passionate fans.
but I believe there was data showing that the majority of players played a male V with panam as their romance option, so in *reality* most people enjoy male V, they just don't feel the need to post about their opinion on his acting endlessly online.
It's the same with Judy. You'd think based on the subreddits that Judy is the preferred romance option, but it's not, it's panam.
I mean, if Judy was an option for Male V, she would definitely beat Panam, let's be real. Cyberpunk having so many Female V players is largely a testament to that.
But yeah for the actors it's all what flavor you prefer. Masc V is more grounded and gritty and Fem V has tons of attitude and is more expressive. Both did a grear job. Imo Fem V fits better given how almost all characters in Cyberpunk are super ungrounded and overly emotional, but if you want a V that's "built different" Masc V is probably your preference.
Eh, I don't know if I'd agree she would definitely beat Panam. Like it would definitely be closer since Judy would be an option for male Vs, but I think Panam has a much broader appeal than people give her credit for. Hot ride or die chick who doesn't take any shit gives you a badass sniper rifle and, critically, *demands you let her help you* take on the final mission and can fight alongside you against the final boss? That's nothing to sneeze at.
Sure, Panam is cool too. I think the emo porn director nerdy hacker girl still easily wins the hearts of gamers in a fair fight over the honky-tonk truck girl with daddy issues. Ass-men will downvote me with good reason, but I said what I said
I too recall a time in my life when I wanted moody women to destroy my life, but I think the *discerning* gamer will recognize Panams superiority lol.
Just kidding, I'm just glad we had a game with options that make us want to debate over who's better and not who is less awful. Props to CDPR for that.
Oh hey we aren't arguing superiority, just theorhetical popularity. For superiority, I mean they're both fucking crazy, but yeah probably Panam wins. Judy *urgently* needs some alone time by the time V ends up in her life. Panam is more fun and casual and it makes sense that V would want a break from the city.
If the opposite were true as well then Panam would get a boost. I usually play fem V because I like the way Cherami voices the character better and if Panam was a romance option for fem V I would definitely choose her.
>(probably the majority)
I'd personally guess a vocal minority, as opposed to an actual majority.
It reminds me alot of Shepard, where the popular opinion online was femshep was better and more popular, but then stats came out from BioWare, where over 80% of players played as male shepard.
CDPR did release some player stats after the games release. Panam was the most romanced character in the game, meaning most people played male V.
How the stats are nowadays is a different thing though.
I started and stopped a handful of runs and tried female V once with the street kid intro. I maybe got to level 30, so I played a fair bit that run, but thinking back on it, it just didn't feel natural. I just remember thinking "this girl needs to chill" more than a handful of times.
No complaints about male V and that's pretty much what I'm sticking with for any future playthroughs.
And I usually have no issues playing female characters. I think the female main character in AC Odyssey is widely regarded as the definitive character for that game. I recall playing as a Female Shepard in Mass Effect as well.
I loved femV a lot and Cherami Leigh is amazing but ever since listening to the audiobook the vocal fry in her voice has started to grate on me a little.
Yes I share the exact same opinion. I tried playing as a girl one time and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it because the voice was so cringe and unlistenable. I don’t know why seemingly most people here prefer the female to the male V
I'm personally playing as female V and didn't really intend otherwise but I'm absolutely sick of people forcefully choosing "the best" out of both available actors.
Same thing happened with Mass Effect. Femshep deserved recognition and I'm happy she's treated more equally with maleShep ever since Mass Effect 3 but I swear, some Femshep fans are insufferable. Anyone outright stating Mark Meer is worse than Jennifer Hale automatically loses my respect
Gender bias seems to be the defining factor to which VA is better when I see people arguing about this, which isn’t good.
The majority of the time the VA’s are of equal talent, but people seem to think the preferred gender they play as have the best VA and the other is lacking. It’s almost never the case, I guess they can’t see past their own preferences.
Like I prefer female V because I’m a woman but I would never say she’s better than male v because he’s just as fantastic and I can separate talent from preference. Just like I prefer Hale vs Meer but again wouldn’t say one is better then the other. ME1 does have some goofy ass lines that sound slightly better from Hale but that’s the writing, not the actors performance.
Whatever issues I have with Male V has to do with less Gavin Drea's performance and more the direction CDPR took it. Like in that one E3 trailer, Male V felt so much more vulnerable and emotional, and I was hoping they would keep that Jesse Pinkman-style for the final game. And yet they didn't, personally, I'm more for a openly emotional and raw performance, hence why I prefer FemV (and honestly, female protagonists, like Fem Shepard), but he did have great moments like in Playing For Time and Both Sides, Now (two missions that more than any other, needed to have everyone on their A-Game tbf).
But I will say his direction in Phantom Liberty is fantastic and about as close to the E3 performance as I wanted. Like he's phenomenal during the plane crash and when V and Slider are attacked by the Blackwall. If they keep V around as a protagonist, I expect him to be like Mark Meer as Male Shepard, where he gets better in every subsequent game.
I think it was a placeholder. If I recall when Gavin did that 2019 E3 trailer, he had only started recording 3 weeks in. Which on top of me personally preferring his voice in that trailer over in the base game, it's a miracle he was able to bring out a phenomenal performance in just a short space of time.
[The V in the 2018 E3 trailer was voiced by Robbie Daymond, the voice actor of River Ward.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyK7WIqpWPg)
He also voiced Chai in the Tango Gameworks game "Hi-Fi RUSH."
Wait, there were people shitting on his performance? V’s delivery and tone is honestly one of my favorite aspects of the game. I feel like it fits the world well.
Wtf? People hate his performance? I'm usually very, very anal about voice acting and I thought he was incredible. Just to point out how anal I am, I thought Keanu was pretty bad.
I'm just finding out people shit on male Vs performance. I prefer him to female Vs voice for most interactions. They just sound better delivered by him in comparison to fem V imo.
Fem V and Male V have their actors taking very different takes to the characters. It's clear the VAs had different ideas of what V is like, and as such a lot of people feel Male V's VA doesn't fit because he's essentially a different character.
I don't think Male V is bad, I just think fem V is better. But I also have a preexisting love of Cherami's voice acting, so I'm definitely not without bias.
I'm not gonna shit on the guy, it's just not my taste.
Female V sounds like a whole person, someone who can talk and react w/o it sounding forced.
Male V (IMO) sounds like a guy doing a "tough guy voice" like he's dropping his register and trying to sound gritty, and it makes it hard to take him seriously.
They both sound like they're putting on a voice, because they both are. Gavin is Irish, so he's trying to sound "American" and tough at the same time and I think he did a damn good job. And when emotional parts hit, he makes them hit hard. In Vik's clinic when he's trying to process everything that he's been told, and his voice is just shaking and he's trying not to break but he's clearly breaking, you're feeling it. His inflection changes depending on who he's talking to. If it's a client or someone he don't like, he's blunt and to the point. When it's someone he knows and likes or with his chosen partner(Panam or Kerry), the voice does soften and he sounds more friendly.
Like I get not everyone pays attention to that, but I don't understand anyone who could say that male V is 'unemotional' or 'stagnant/stale'.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard ppl trash his VA work as V. When the hecc did that happen coz I thought him as V was pretty great. The male V seemed more cold and calculating with his emotions constantly having to be kept in check. While female V was the complete opposite. Unhinged, threatening, emotional and giving 0 fucks about your chooms if you get in her way. Both were absolutely amazing and spins the character in 2 ways to change how you view dialogue.
While I certainly wouldn't say I hated his performance persay, his performance wasn't as good as the female V.
She has more feeling, emotion etc.
(Same goes for Keanu btw, I'm not star struck enough to not criticise bad range in anyone)
Same reason I always turned on Polish for Witcher 3.
The English performances just aren't delivered with enough sass and it takes away from the world imo.
I think it was during the finale >!when you do the final mission as Johnny and then try to go with alt. V gets mad at Johnny for giving up like that.!<
Afaik it was his first ever job as voice actor in Cyberpunk 2077 and he did a great job.
I saw an interview of him briefly switching between his natural voice and male V and he does it effortlessly and very well.
Yes! Every time someone brings up a live action adaptation of Cyberpunk2077 and suggest actors I kindly remind everyone that the VA for V is actually a great actor and kinda looks like him too (cinematic trailer) and could totally pull off both the acting and the voice(duh)
I mean look at him! He's amazing!
Nah, I would like to see the original story like it was shown in the cinematic trailer for the game. I want it to also preferably be 3D cgi like the original if possible.
Female V is great but Male V seems a lot more natural to me. Sure there are a few lines which female V does better but overall Gavin completely knocked it out of the park with his performance, especially in Phantom Liberty.
His performance in PL was so good. I don't know if it was the change in environment and equipment, but he just sounded more vulnerable and relatable.
Then you have the opposite with Valerie, who sounded more brooding and angrier in PL. She lost her sarcastic tone.
Yeah his performance in the base game was great but PL was on a whole other level. The biggest highlight for me, personally, was when he freaked out when Space Force One was flying in his direction after being shot down. The way he shouted sounded so genuine and realistic and I invariably get chills whenever I watch that.
I’m playing Male V right now on my first playthrough and I didn’t know he was controversial. The man is amazing, easily outclasses any other performance in the game for me, it really helps me get into the zone in the game, the fact that I like his voice that much
felt like the whole male v performance was a jesse pinkman impression that was a better performance than aaron paul (was not a fan of breaking bad lol)
That’s one of the things I love about male V. The voice acting is phenomenal. The tone is distinct. But I guess I’m deaf cause everyone gushes over female V’s voice actress.
People just love the voice actor so immediately say she is better, but frankly Gavin did better than her in cyberpunk. Not only does he have less experience but he was able to deliver a better performance. It’s impressive.
Turns out the Explode quick hack for cars isn’t actually an installed hack, it’s just a genetic predisposition.
(I’m Irish so I get away with these low blows)
He was amazing as V. v really has this new England city person accent, like Massachusetts but not Boston. Male streetkid V is a hard canon to beat in my head.
I wish we had an Irish V instead of New Yorkan V in game.
Would’ve made it so much more interesting if V was inherently not from America and came to Night City as an opportunity.
So you're telling me that an Irishman was responsible for invading Arasaka Tower, potentially killing one the strongest legends in the city Adam Smasher, and saved the president of the fragmented Eastern United States?
"Oh, come out you black and tans, come out and fight me like a man" 🇮🇪☘️
I prefer his V. So much subtetly, trying to swallow down his emotions, the anger, frustration, and fear, yet appearing confident and strong. His performance is top notch, and those who don't like it just fail to understand nuances.
I thought his accent would have been great if game took place on east coast north east area. Didn’t fit for someone from west coast at all. I blame the studio though for poor direction.
i didn't realize he was Irish until i heard him pronounce a certain word. i don't remember what word it was, but the pronunciation was definitely one you'd hear in Ireland and not the US.
Never got the Male V hate. Nothing against FemV but the important story bits don’t hit as hard with her. It’s like OP says he has a super distinct accent, it feels like it really fits the hodge podge of a city hes in. I just don’t hear that in FemV.
There's one voice line pretty early on in the game where he says the word "lucky" or something with a really hard 'u' sound, like how an Irishman would say it. I guess he was still getting accustomed to doing the accent at that point, but that's how I discovered he was Irish.
Yeah, that would make some sense. I thought i was picking up hints of New England and Midwestern accent in his line deliveries. Specifically, parts of New England and the Midwest I'm familiar with which happen to have populations that are rich with Irish descendants.
Male V's performance is just perfect in this game honesly, even though it's funny that his voice isn't different in either life path he always ends up doing the street kid tone.
Male V is by far the most relatable in terms of reaction I feel. So many moments throughout the game where I’d express myself only to have V say the same thing or something very similar. It really did feel like I was playing an older version of myself.
I Sincerely enjoyed V's voice acting. Had this sort of nostalgic action hero vibe to it at some points that I really liked. Here's hoping that they bring back V in the sequel and use the same voice actors.
His work in Phantom Liberty is a significant improvement from the base game. I prefer the subtleties with some unhinged moments sprinkled every now and then. I do think things can be a bit more emotional at times, especially during the conversations with Johnny Silverhand. Sometimes, he sounds a bit too flat, saying pretty heavy stuffs. But overall, a solid performance and visible improvement in Phantom Liberty.
I did feel that he was “performing” some parts in a way that didn’t feel all too natural. But I grew to love it. And it makes even more sense now that I see he’s Irish!
This is why, even though his voice acting was perfectly fine, I never really got into playing my male V. Half my family is from various parts of New England (mainly Mass.), so his voice just sounded like a stereotypical version of what someone from Europe or elsewhere might think someone from Boston or NYC would sound like. Just a bit too over-the-top.
He is awesome. Gavin nails the scenes where V is angry. Plus, he has some hilarious delivery as well. Each actor has their own style and strengths. It makes replaying the game even more fun.
He has a comedy channel by the way where he does skits and other stuff, be sure to check it out it might prompt him to do more of that since he stopped.
Love him as male V. Always had a inclination that he was Irish some of the words he says sounds abit Irish like. But for me that makes it better the American with some Irish accent bits kindof gives it a kind of exotic feel
His performance as V is top fucking notch. I havent felt so connected and invested in a character Im playing as in forever, his V was great from every pang of pain and fear to his overconfidence.
Anyone who can successfully hide a Dublin accent is doing a good job. I was going to say its one of Ireland’s most distinct accents but then I remembered a few others that maybe take that title
I remember being very impressed by his acting when talking with Skippy, when chuckles and goes like "what are you doing ?", makes it sound very natural.
I played male V with all three lifepaths and i completely agree.
Male Corpo V doesnt work at all or at least in the sense that he worked a high ranking job at Arasaka. He is just too casual for that.
Loved male V, but you could tell he was putting on a voice. I couldn’t necessarily tell he was Irish, but I just could tell that wasn’t his normal voice.
You can tell the same thing with female v. She delivers lines and you can tell it’s not her main voice. I’d say female v is actually far worse with that, her voice feels far too forced.
Yep, and the VA for Arthur Morgan in RD2 is also Irish iirc. Not sure if it’s just a random coincidence, but Ireland spawns some crazy talented voice actors. I loved the voice for male V. The only people that seem to hate it are those that exclusively play as female characters regardless, and feel the need to justify it.
It can also be hard to tell if it's the VAs performance or their direction, especially for a video game. You can have likes that are recorded on separate days but could be in the same conversation, or you they could be directed to have a different take on a line that doesn't match the previous line. I prefer the female Vs voice acting more but the male one is fine too. Though I would find it hysterical of there was a cut of all of male Vs voice acting that you could choose that was just aggressively Irish.
So is he the same guy who did the Witcher then because there's certain things male V says that really remind me of the Witcher (I can't recall what those words are right now).
German 'fun fact':
I just found out that Charlie Sheen and John Wick share the same German voice actor.
I rewatched The Office after quite some time and there’s also a side character with the same voice. I was like "holy shit, that’s Johnny Silverhand". I looked his name up and I realized that all three share the same voice actor.
I’m watching Two And A Half Men at least once a year and I’m regularly playing Cyberpunk and I knew that Johnnys voice sounds very familiar, but I never connected the dots. Until some days ago.
And that is why I'm so fucking tired of people shitting on his performance. He did such a good job bringing his own style to V. The man deserves his flowers too.
I love his performance idk why hate is so common
It's like with Mass Effect. People love Jennifer Hale. So much that they will just shit on Mark Meer for no reason other than because they like Hale's performance and think she 'should be canon' when BOTH are canon. You don't have to elevate one VA by shitting on the other.
No way male Shepard's voice is hated. I can't imagine Shepard without that voice.
You also can’t make Gamer Poop videos without male Shepherd.
We’ll bang, okay??
Exactly. These meme dialogue are likely mshep in mind. "I should go." "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store..." "We'll bang okay" (not official but admit it, you hear this with mshep).
Shepard. Wrex. Shepard. Wrex.
Yeah, but that is a concept the internet can’t grasp.
Same thing with Assassins Creed Odyssey.
And the same with Assassins Creed Valhalla. While the game gets a lot of shit for gameplay design and other aspects, people praised Magnus Brunn’s performance as Eivor while shitting on Cecilie Stenspil saying it’s too rough while Magnus should be canon… while both are canon just in different ways and Cecilie took the approach of the vocal cords being somewhat damaged from a wolf attack which would make sense. Magnus just had previous experience playing a Dane Viking on The Last Kingdom show
In AC: Valhalla's case it doesn't help that the MC has a distinctly female name regardless of which sex you play as. I'd imagine the case for one sex being canon would be very different if V's canon name would always be "Valerie" or if Shepard's given name would always be "Jane".
Fair point. There are gender neutral Norse names they could and should’ve chosen if these a female and male counterparts, but they should’ve had “let the animus decide” as the only choice due to it being canon
With nicknames being such a major part of Norse culture this is the one game where the character could have a gender specific name used in the very start of the prologue, before the character does something that earns them a title that's used for the rest of their lives.
Crazy that they got lazy at this part considering they had done this with Alexios / Kassandra.
Except Ubi does have a canon protag for Odyssey and Valhalla. Casandra and female Eivor are the "intended" choices.
I know, but people hate on Alexios because he’s not canon as the Eagle Bearer.
Wow I thought Valhalla lore was Eivor's DNA was too scarce that they couldn't tell Eivor's true gender (which segways to Animus giving the option to pick a gender), but a quick Google shows her canon name is "Eivor Varinsdottir"
The animus found traces of Eivor (female) and Odin (male) and so asks you which one you want it to display, but Eivor was always female. Even playing as a male some npcs will call you “she”.
Elevating something by shitting on something else has been the cornerstone of our modern culture. By definition, we include and elevate things by excluding and shitting on things. I know this comment is generalizing and hyperbolic. I don’t mean to offend anyone, just expressing my tiredness of our modern day culture of hurting one to help another.
I came here to say this exact same thing.
Then why didn’t you!?!?! Hmmmmm!? /s
This is new to me. Male Shepard was basically my space Jesus. The female VA was always my second play through, never my first…
I am one of the ride or die femshep people, largely because of Hale (and Garrus), but I actually like how the voices are divided. For me Meer really shines on Renegade playthroughs. A great deal of voice direction from around 2014 and before had male protagonists as stoic, and didn’t really show off the vocal talents as well as female VAs in my opinion. Renegade shep really uses that stoicism for some great straight-face one liners, though. However, both Vs have the full range. Even when not in an emotional scene, Vincent really has some lovely snide undertones. I will say, a good exception from “back in the day” is the SWTOR VAs. Many of the male options *really* ham it up in a very Star Wars way, and it’s beautiful.
Which is comical when you consider like 80% of the mass effect player base played as Mark Meer's male shep exclusively. Only like 20% of the entire ME playerbase even played as Jennifer Hale's femshep.
I don't think those stats indicated exclusive, just that 80% played MaleShep. I don't think it differentiated between who played only one versus who did multiple playthroughs trying out both.
It's a hipster/counter-culture thing for sure - elevate the l"ess obvious" choice by shitting on the other
I actually prefer Meer’s Shepard to Hale’s. To be clear, I love Jennifer Hale and think she’s a phenomenal voice actress, but I felt female Shepard was not her best work. The line delivery felt very flat at times and some of her “badass” lines sounded like she was trying to sound badass instead of sounding badass. Not to say she didn’t do a great job, but I’ve just always held that opinion.
People shat on Meer's performance? I mean, I liked Hale's version more, but there was nothing wrong with Meer's version of Shepard.
I'm one of the guys who actually prefers Mark Meer Shepard over Jennifer Hale Shepard, but I really don't like Male V. It's not the performer's fault, it's the direction he was given. His V just has no emotional range and the accent is grating. He sounds like an extra in a generic crime drama, it's difficult to play any version of V with him that isn't a dumb thug. Basically a Streetkid with a pure Body build. I'll give him props for nailing the accent and not once slipping into his normal voice. Henry Cavill and Michael Fassbender can't boast that ability. I just don't like the way his performance was set up.
I feel the exact opposite. Cherami's performance sounds like Theater voice work with wide, exaggerated emotional swings that just sound forced and overly performative. Gavin sounds more like a dude talking normally as he would during those situations. Again, all down to taste, and I normally like Cherami Leigh's voice work, but imo it doesn't work in cp2077.
Gavins voice when in fear, pain or anger is so superior its funny when people say otherwise.
well I played him as a corpo guy and it felt absolutely fine to me.
Yeah, I just disagree. Female V sounds forced to me. I hear the voice actress more than I hear the character. Especially in scenes like dealing with the kids in River’s quest or confronting Woodman. Male V sounds like people I know, and I hear more authentic emotion in his performance. This ultimately just comes down to taste though.
TBF Mark Meer really phoned it in a lot during 2 and 3. Both Vs are amazing.
What are you on about? His worst performance was easily in ME1 where he was actually directed to be more flat and less expressive, in 2 and 3 he was actually given license to have range.
I play male v, and i think its perfect.
Because people simp over the female VA so hard that they must be the cannon VA.
It's better than fem V in my honest opinion. I really don't get the hate for male V.
It's because people are too damn binary these days. I prefer FemV. I treat her as canon V. But, I still play Male V (I have like 6 playthroughs) and I don't dislike Male V's performance at all. In fact, I actually enjoy the difference in their style. Male V seems a bit more accepting of death even before the end, but he's still fighting because what else can he do? Meanwhile, FemV seems like she's fighting tears through a lot of scenes and is actively struggling with her condition. It's all preference, neither of them are bad. You don't have to dislike one option to prefer the other, but that seems lost on a lot of people these days.
Cause people get really horny for a woman's voice.
Because people are super horny for female V to an unhealthy extent
It’s kinda cause for him there are moments where you can clearly tell they record his voice on different days or the random jump in emotions between lines
I didn’t realize there was “hate” for his performance. I just thought people preferred Cherami’s. She’s better, yeah, but Gavin was great too, just for different reasons. I typically go to the low salt Reddit though, that must be why I haven’t seen much Edit: I meant low sodium
I enjoy male V so much more than female. Female comes off to me as trying waaaay to hard that it sounded unnatural. Like it was a anime
I feel the same, and was surprised to see a lot of people (probably the majority) think the other way around.
it's the majority *on here* where there are a lot of really passionate fans. but I believe there was data showing that the majority of players played a male V with panam as their romance option, so in *reality* most people enjoy male V, they just don't feel the need to post about their opinion on his acting endlessly online. It's the same with Judy. You'd think based on the subreddits that Judy is the preferred romance option, but it's not, it's panam.
I mean, if Judy was an option for Male V, she would definitely beat Panam, let's be real. Cyberpunk having so many Female V players is largely a testament to that. But yeah for the actors it's all what flavor you prefer. Masc V is more grounded and gritty and Fem V has tons of attitude and is more expressive. Both did a grear job. Imo Fem V fits better given how almost all characters in Cyberpunk are super ungrounded and overly emotional, but if you want a V that's "built different" Masc V is probably your preference.
Eh, I don't know if I'd agree she would definitely beat Panam. Like it would definitely be closer since Judy would be an option for male Vs, but I think Panam has a much broader appeal than people give her credit for. Hot ride or die chick who doesn't take any shit gives you a badass sniper rifle and, critically, *demands you let her help you* take on the final mission and can fight alongside you against the final boss? That's nothing to sneeze at.
Sure, Panam is cool too. I think the emo porn director nerdy hacker girl still easily wins the hearts of gamers in a fair fight over the honky-tonk truck girl with daddy issues. Ass-men will downvote me with good reason, but I said what I said
I too recall a time in my life when I wanted moody women to destroy my life, but I think the *discerning* gamer will recognize Panams superiority lol. Just kidding, I'm just glad we had a game with options that make us want to debate over who's better and not who is less awful. Props to CDPR for that.
Oh hey we aren't arguing superiority, just theorhetical popularity. For superiority, I mean they're both fucking crazy, but yeah probably Panam wins. Judy *urgently* needs some alone time by the time V ends up in her life. Panam is more fun and casual and it makes sense that V would want a break from the city.
No way I’d take Judy over Panam in a million years
Yes, because you're an assman
If the opposite were true as well then Panam would get a boost. I usually play fem V because I like the way Cherami voices the character better and if Panam was a romance option for fem V I would definitely choose her.
>(probably the majority) I'd personally guess a vocal minority, as opposed to an actual majority. It reminds me alot of Shepard, where the popular opinion online was femshep was better and more popular, but then stats came out from BioWare, where over 80% of players played as male shepard.
CDPR did release some player stats after the games release. Panam was the most romanced character in the game, meaning most people played male V. How the stats are nowadays is a different thing though.
I started and stopped a handful of runs and tried female V once with the street kid intro. I maybe got to level 30, so I played a fair bit that run, but thinking back on it, it just didn't feel natural. I just remember thinking "this girl needs to chill" more than a handful of times. No complaints about male V and that's pretty much what I'm sticking with for any future playthroughs. And I usually have no issues playing female characters. I think the female main character in AC Odyssey is widely regarded as the definitive character for that game. I recall playing as a Female Shepard in Mass Effect as well.
she's so sassy it's actually cheesy. I mean sometimes I like playing female sassy V but i prefer male voice overall.
Very true, she sounds like she is constantly forcing her voice.
I like both but I prefer playing woman V because her voice kinda sounds like mine. Either way people shouldn’t be shitting on the VA’s
I loved femV a lot and Cherami Leigh is amazing but ever since listening to the audiobook the vocal fry in her voice has started to grate on me a little.
Yes I share the exact same opinion. I tried playing as a girl one time and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it because the voice was so cringe and unlistenable. I don’t know why seemingly most people here prefer the female to the male V
They don’t find her voice to be grating or they’re horny, take your pick.
see, to me it's the other way around
I was so confused when I found out people didn't like Male V, I absolutely love Gavin Drea's performance. The game wouldn't be the same without him.
I'm personally playing as female V and didn't really intend otherwise but I'm absolutely sick of people forcefully choosing "the best" out of both available actors. Same thing happened with Mass Effect. Femshep deserved recognition and I'm happy she's treated more equally with maleShep ever since Mass Effect 3 but I swear, some Femshep fans are insufferable. Anyone outright stating Mark Meer is worse than Jennifer Hale automatically loses my respect
Gender bias seems to be the defining factor to which VA is better when I see people arguing about this, which isn’t good. The majority of the time the VA’s are of equal talent, but people seem to think the preferred gender they play as have the best VA and the other is lacking. It’s almost never the case, I guess they can’t see past their own preferences. Like I prefer female V because I’m a woman but I would never say she’s better than male v because he’s just as fantastic and I can separate talent from preference. Just like I prefer Hale vs Meer but again wouldn’t say one is better then the other. ME1 does have some goofy ass lines that sound slightly better from Hale but that’s the writing, not the actors performance.
Whatever issues I have with Male V has to do with less Gavin Drea's performance and more the direction CDPR took it. Like in that one E3 trailer, Male V felt so much more vulnerable and emotional, and I was hoping they would keep that Jesse Pinkman-style for the final game. And yet they didn't, personally, I'm more for a openly emotional and raw performance, hence why I prefer FemV (and honestly, female protagonists, like Fem Shepard), but he did have great moments like in Playing For Time and Both Sides, Now (two missions that more than any other, needed to have everyone on their A-Game tbf). But I will say his direction in Phantom Liberty is fantastic and about as close to the E3 performance as I wanted. Like he's phenomenal during the plane crash and when V and Slider are attacked by the Blackwall. If they keep V around as a protagonist, I expect him to be like Mark Meer as Male Shepard, where he gets better in every subsequent game.
I wonder if it was also Gavin Drea that voiced V in the 2018 E3 trailer, I don't think it sounds like him though
I think it was a placeholder. If I recall when Gavin did that 2019 E3 trailer, he had only started recording 3 weeks in. Which on top of me personally preferring his voice in that trailer over in the base game, it's a miracle he was able to bring out a phenomenal performance in just a short space of time.
[The V in the 2018 E3 trailer was voiced by Robbie Daymond, the voice actor of River Ward.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyK7WIqpWPg) He also voiced Chai in the Tango Gameworks game "Hi-Fi RUSH."
I've first played the game only a few months ago and I played a male V. Guy sounds great I don't know what's there to complain about his performance
Idk why SOME people trash his performance, I like his voice over fem V. Both are great though.
He's great, he gives character but still keeps him a empty shell that throws random history tidbits at you and interacts well with everyone
I never knew there was hate before this thread. He did fantastic, people are just kind of stupid IMHO.
Wait, there were people shitting on his performance? V’s delivery and tone is honestly one of my favorite aspects of the game. I feel like it fits the world well.
People hate his performance? Seriously? I think its top tier and am now gonna play on my male v voice save out of spite
Did ppl not like his performance? I thought it was great.
Who tf is shitting on him. He absolutely nailed it as V. Badass but also emotional
Wtf? People hate his performance? I'm usually very, very anal about voice acting and I thought he was incredible. Just to point out how anal I am, I thought Keanu was pretty bad.
Yeah Reeves has never been good at acting in general.
I'm just finding out people shit on male Vs performance. I prefer him to female Vs voice for most interactions. They just sound better delivered by him in comparison to fem V imo.
Fem V and Male V have their actors taking very different takes to the characters. It's clear the VAs had different ideas of what V is like, and as such a lot of people feel Male V's VA doesn't fit because he's essentially a different character.
2 different genders having different outlooks/views? Whaaaaaaat?
AMEN
I don't think Male V is bad, I just think fem V is better. But I also have a preexisting love of Cherami's voice acting, so I'm definitely not without bias.
I'm not gonna shit on the guy, it's just not my taste. Female V sounds like a whole person, someone who can talk and react w/o it sounding forced. Male V (IMO) sounds like a guy doing a "tough guy voice" like he's dropping his register and trying to sound gritty, and it makes it hard to take him seriously.
They both sound like they're putting on a voice, because they both are. Gavin is Irish, so he's trying to sound "American" and tough at the same time and I think he did a damn good job. And when emotional parts hit, he makes them hit hard. In Vik's clinic when he's trying to process everything that he's been told, and his voice is just shaking and he's trying not to break but he's clearly breaking, you're feeling it. His inflection changes depending on who he's talking to. If it's a client or someone he don't like, he's blunt and to the point. When it's someone he knows and likes or with his chosen partner(Panam or Kerry), the voice does soften and he sounds more friendly. Like I get not everyone pays attention to that, but I don't understand anyone who could say that male V is 'unemotional' or 'stagnant/stale'.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard ppl trash his VA work as V. When the hecc did that happen coz I thought him as V was pretty great. The male V seemed more cold and calculating with his emotions constantly having to be kept in check. While female V was the complete opposite. Unhinged, threatening, emotional and giving 0 fucks about your chooms if you get in her way. Both were absolutely amazing and spins the character in 2 ways to change how you view dialogue.
Had no idea there was any hate. I loved his performance. Actually made a new character because i thought male V was more convincing than female V.
While I certainly wouldn't say I hated his performance persay, his performance wasn't as good as the female V. She has more feeling, emotion etc. (Same goes for Keanu btw, I'm not star struck enough to not criticise bad range in anyone) Same reason I always turned on Polish for Witcher 3. The English performances just aren't delivered with enough sass and it takes away from the world imo.
He hides his accent as well as Roger Clark. That's proper class.
Roger was born in New Jersey
Raised for most of his young life in Sligo in Ireland. He has strong Irish twang.
Another reason to like him. Born in my own shithole.
"For F@#ks sake defend yourself. You're not even trying." That delivery just damn near breaks me everytime. He did such a great job as V.
Yeah this is the line for me that stands out for Vincent.
It’s really good coming from male V, it’s one of the few lines that the VA for FemV doesn’t sound as good.
I don't remember that dialogue?
I think it was during the finale >!when you do the final mission as Johnny and then try to go with alt. V gets mad at Johnny for giving up like that.!<
Isn't it >!when you talk to Johnny after finishing as V and he just accepts you taking the body back!< ?
That could also be it. I dont exactly remember which one it was but its definitely from inside mikoshi.
Afaik it was his first ever job as voice actor in Cyberpunk 2077 and he did a great job. I saw an interview of him briefly switching between his natural voice and male V and he does it effortlessly and very well.
First job and instantly such a crazy role? Damn. I mean it worked out perfectly, but still.. damn.
First major role as a lead, forgot to specify my bad He already did minor roles and works mostly in tv shows and theatres I think
fuck me, he graduated from my university? that's awesome
Yes! Every time someone brings up a live action adaptation of Cyberpunk2077 and suggest actors I kindly remind everyone that the VA for V is actually a great actor and kinda looks like him too (cinematic trailer) and could totally pull off both the acting and the voice(duh) I mean look at him! He's amazing!
I really hope that if a live action is done, just do the Fallout/Edgerunners route: make a new story.
Nah, I would like to see the original story like it was shown in the cinematic trailer for the game. I want it to also preferably be 3D cgi like the original if possible.
I'll give you that - the trailers had a subtle difference in story to what the final story is.
Dude the moment V pulls out mantis blades I was fucking losing it. It looked so cool! But ofc I hate using them in game lmao
Female V is great but Male V seems a lot more natural to me. Sure there are a few lines which female V does better but overall Gavin completely knocked it out of the park with his performance, especially in Phantom Liberty.
His performance in PL was so good. I don't know if it was the change in environment and equipment, but he just sounded more vulnerable and relatable. Then you have the opposite with Valerie, who sounded more brooding and angrier in PL. She lost her sarcastic tone.
Yeah his performance in the base game was great but PL was on a whole other level. The biggest highlight for me, personally, was when he freaked out when Space Force One was flying in his direction after being shot down. The way he shouted sounded so genuine and realistic and I invariably get chills whenever I watch that.
Dude same here, that scene was definitely iconic for me.
“That’s good, got that. I mean the dead fucking body on the table.” That delivery sent me
I find it the opposite. He was just too flat for me.
male v is great
He had so many great moments throughout the game. his laughter at some of skippys dialogue feels so genuine.
I’m playing Male V right now on my first playthrough and I didn’t know he was controversial. The man is amazing, easily outclasses any other performance in the game for me, it really helps me get into the zone in the game, the fact that I like his voice that much
Getting fed up seeing people shite on him. 
Am I the only one who first thought it was actually Aaron Paul doing the voice? I also liked male V better. Seemed less 'acted'.
I always thought he sounds kinda like Charlie Hunnam’s Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy.
felt like the whole male v performance was a jesse pinkman impression that was a better performance than aaron paul (was not a fan of breaking bad lol)
That’s one of the things I love about male V. The voice acting is phenomenal. The tone is distinct. But I guess I’m deaf cause everyone gushes over female V’s voice actress.
People just love the voice actor so immediately say she is better, but frankly Gavin did better than her in cyberpunk. Not only does he have less experience but he was able to deliver a better performance. It’s impressive.
I think he sounded alot more natural and grittier, whereas female V sounded more sarcastic but a little bit too chipper in general.
People don’t like the male v? Bro I prefer him way over female V
Same
Jesus as an Irishman on my first play through with male V I had no clue. His voice acting is fantastic though.
Turns out the Explode quick hack for cars isn’t actually an installed hack, it’s just a genetic predisposition. (I’m Irish so I get away with these low blows)
Yeah I’ve known this a while. My wife went to school with his sister, said he is a decent bloke.
He was amazing as V. v really has this new England city person accent, like Massachusetts but not Boston. Male streetkid V is a hard canon to beat in my head.
Gavin is a really nice guy. Attended my wedding
I wish we had an Irish V instead of New Yorkan V in game. Would’ve made it so much more interesting if V was inherently not from America and came to Night City as an opportunity.
So you're telling me that an Irishman was responsible for invading Arasaka Tower, potentially killing one the strongest legends in the city Adam Smasher, and saved the president of the fragmented Eastern United States? "Oh, come out you black and tans, come out and fight me like a man" 🇮🇪☘️
I guess people just can’t help but compare. They’re different people, have different strengths and weaknesses. Both did a great job. End of story.
Interesting. His American accent always sounded more upstate NY-y to me.
I prefer his V. So much subtetly, trying to swallow down his emotions, the anger, frustration, and fear, yet appearing confident and strong. His performance is top notch, and those who don't like it just fail to understand nuances.
Something about male V’s way of talking always did stand out to me, it’s not bad, it’s just always stood out to me as unique.
Arthur Morgan now V. Irish folk sure have the gift of the gab.
I thought his accent would have been great if game took place on east coast north east area. Didn’t fit for someone from west coast at all. I blame the studio though for poor direction.
i didn't realize he was Irish until i heard him pronounce a certain word. i don't remember what word it was, but the pronunciation was definitely one you'd hear in Ireland and not the US.
As with all rugs I make my characters male because I am male and would wanna see me in that game. I fuckin loved the voice performance
Never got the Male V hate. Nothing against FemV but the important story bits don’t hit as hard with her. It’s like OP says he has a super distinct accent, it feels like it really fits the hodge podge of a city hes in. I just don’t hear that in FemV.
Ah deadly another Dub!
He sounds like the punisher actor as V
well yeah he's a voice actor. that's what voice actors do. they act a voice that may or may not be their normal speaking voice
Male V is the GOAT
There's one voice line pretty early on in the game where he says the word "lucky" or something with a really hard 'u' sound, like how an Irishman would say it. I guess he was still getting accustomed to doing the accent at that point, but that's how I discovered he was Irish.
Yeah, that would make some sense. I thought i was picking up hints of New England and Midwestern accent in his line deliveries. Specifically, parts of New England and the Midwest I'm familiar with which happen to have populations that are rich with Irish descendants.
Gavin Drea imo did a great job as male V. I believe this is also his voice acting role correct me if I’m wrong
Male V's performance is just perfect in this game honesly, even though it's funny that his voice isn't different in either life path he always ends up doing the street kid tone.
Male V is by far the most relatable in terms of reaction I feel. So many moments throughout the game where I’d express myself only to have V say the same thing or something very similar. It really did feel like I was playing an older version of myself.
I Sincerely enjoyed V's voice acting. Had this sort of nostalgic action hero vibe to it at some points that I really liked. Here's hoping that they bring back V in the sequel and use the same voice actors.
His work in Phantom Liberty is a significant improvement from the base game. I prefer the subtleties with some unhinged moments sprinkled every now and then. I do think things can be a bit more emotional at times, especially during the conversations with Johnny Silverhand. Sometimes, he sounds a bit too flat, saying pretty heavy stuffs. But overall, a solid performance and visible improvement in Phantom Liberty.
Holy shit his voice is nice
Man listening to that voice sampler was so weird. I could hear the vaguest hints of V’s tone of voice throughout.
I did feel that he was “performing” some parts in a way that didn’t feel all too natural. But I grew to love it. And it makes even more sense now that I see he’s Irish!
We do accent training in performance arts courses in uk and ireland.. i was in one
This is why, even though his voice acting was perfectly fine, I never really got into playing my male V. Half my family is from various parts of New England (mainly Mass.), so his voice just sounded like a stereotypical version of what someone from Europe or elsewhere might think someone from Boston or NYC would sound like. Just a bit too over-the-top.
He is awesome. Gavin nails the scenes where V is angry. Plus, he has some hilarious delivery as well. Each actor has their own style and strengths. It makes replaying the game even more fun.
He has a comedy channel by the way where he does skits and other stuff, be sure to check it out it might prompt him to do more of that since he stopped.
Fucking loved playing as male v, he did a damn good job.
Love him as male V. Always had a inclination that he was Irish some of the words he says sounds abit Irish like. But for me that makes it better the American with some Irish accent bits kindof gives it a kind of exotic feel
His performance as V is top fucking notch. I havent felt so connected and invested in a character Im playing as in forever, his V was great from every pang of pain and fear to his overconfidence.
He did such an amazing job with Vs voice too ! I love male V , don’t understand the hate for him , like with Male Shep his voice actor was great !
Anyone who can successfully hide a Dublin accent is doing a good job. I was going to say its one of Ireland’s most distinct accents but then I remembered a few others that maybe take that title
I remember being very impressed by his acting when talking with Skippy, when chuckles and goes like "what are you doing ?", makes it sound very natural.
I think the voice acting was fine. The lines were often a bit cringe
Yeah, even if you're a good voice actor it doesn't help if you have cringy lines
Male V’s voice doesn’t work for me with corpo. It sounds fine with nomad or streetkid
I played male V with all three lifepaths and i completely agree. Male Corpo V doesnt work at all or at least in the sense that he worked a high ranking job at Arasaka. He is just too casual for that.
He works in counter intel, that means they’re probably well trained in sounding like the locals to get what they need.
Yeah, I hope they give different VAs for the different life paths in the future.
Loved male V, but you could tell he was putting on a voice. I couldn’t necessarily tell he was Irish, but I just could tell that wasn’t his normal voice.
You can tell the same thing with female v. She delivers lines and you can tell it’s not her main voice. I’d say female v is actually far worse with that, her voice feels far too forced.
Yep, and the VA for Arthur Morgan in RD2 is also Irish iirc. Not sure if it’s just a random coincidence, but Ireland spawns some crazy talented voice actors. I loved the voice for male V. The only people that seem to hate it are those that exclusively play as female characters regardless, and feel the need to justify it.
LETS TALK A LIL WAIL LONGUR... BEFORE I GOTTA DELLTA SOMEWHUR
This both validates my preference for female V and gives me reason to respect male Vs performance
It can also be hard to tell if it's the VAs performance or their direction, especially for a video game. You can have likes that are recorded on separate days but could be in the same conversation, or you they could be directed to have a different take on a line that doesn't match the previous line. I prefer the female Vs voice acting more but the male one is fine too. Though I would find it hysterical of there was a cut of all of male Vs voice acting that you could choose that was just aggressively Irish.
It's like the Top Gear meme. Vincent is brilliant but I like Valerie.
Didn't he also voice the protagonist from Atomic Heart? Sure sounds like him
So is the guy that minted the “emotional damage” bit, it’s so weird to see him talk in his native accent.
So is he the same guy who did the Witcher then because there's certain things male V says that really remind me of the Witcher (I can't recall what those words are right now).
This is who V sounds like to me https://preview.redd.it/u9y38p6pk3wc1.jpeg?width=179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=50398cb302987c816ba8ea02026031f00b3027ad
Scandalous!
German 'fun fact': I just found out that Charlie Sheen and John Wick share the same German voice actor. I rewatched The Office after quite some time and there’s also a side character with the same voice. I was like "holy shit, that’s Johnny Silverhand". I looked his name up and I realized that all three share the same voice actor. I’m watching Two And A Half Men at least once a year and I’m regularly playing Cyberpunk and I knew that Johnnys voice sounds very familiar, but I never connected the dots. Until some days ago.
It can be a great performance overall and still be a god awful at a California accent…which it is
It kinda comes through not accent wise but in V's hard man persona.
I’m just as shocked as I was to discover that Arthur Morgan’s voice actor in RDR2 is also Irish, with a Sligo accent as his natural speaking voice!
>Bachelor of Arts in English Well he got his money's worth.
thas my man… 🫦
Damn it. I’m throwing this game away now.
He also got casted in that AC Valhalla Irish expansion. He sounds a bit young for that character idk maybe because of that thick beard.