Thanks to new technology, modders can dig up official unused voice files found inMass Effect: Legendary Editionto implement more same-sex romances than are officially supported in the trilogy, such as a relationship between FemShep and Miranda Lawson.
This was already possible long ago as both voice actors for Commander Shepard, Mark Meer andJennifer Hale, recorded all dialogue for both characters regardless of any gender-specific related content. Sometimes players mistake this for an early intention to support same-sex romances only to get scrapped down the line, but this is fairly common practice in game development.Cyberpunk 2077saw some controversy after modders discovered there were male V voice files romancing Judy, a lesbian character. But like what BioWare intended forMass Effect, this is simply done to avoid accidentally missing some lines and having to record them later on. Still, this leaves some content for modders to have some fun with.
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Despite the backlash that came after a report from TheGamer detailed howJack’s pansexuality was censored inMass Effect 2, a female Shepard still cannot start a romantic relationship with her. Likewise, male Shepards cannot date Jacob Taylor, despite the fact that the gay romance was originally modeled afterBrokeback Mountain. So when it comes toMass Effect: Legendary Edition, those wanting more gay romance are forced to turn to mods.
But another report from TheGamer’s Cian Maher on the matter explains how there are voice files regarding same-sex romance for the characters Jack, Jacob, Kaidan, Ashley, Miranda, Thane, and Tali. Speaking to Ryan “Audemus” Ainsworth, a prominent figure in the modding community, the modder reveals that there’s dialogue present for many unused scenes, not just unintentionalsame-sex options for Commander Shepard.
For example, in the game’s files, there’s complete dialogue for a cut romance withAshley and Kaidan, as well as other romantic scenes that were consciously cut from theMass Effecttrilogy, possibly a romance between a female Shepard and Jack.
But why this is happening now rather than years ago when each game released boils down to the technology that is now available. Now, modders can add new audio and sync them with the character models in a way that wasn’t as feasible before. Even whenMass Effect 3released in 2012, doing this was very limited, Audemus explains, and duringMass Effect 2,audio-related modding projects weren’t possible at all.
This essentially means that the material that’s always been there for modders to play with is now useable, and considering how soon afterCyberpunk’s release that aforementionedJudy romance moddropped, it probably won’t be too long before PC players see mods that finally allow FemShep to date Jack.
Mass Effect: Legendary Editionis out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
