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What do you think of the female character designs in this Fall's big Western games?

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
So I got into a conversation with someone earlier today about Western character designs and how they tend to be based on scanning actual people nowadays, when as a side effect, I noticed that a lot of the female character designs I was pulling up for games from this Fall struck me as being a bit different from prior years, especially in aggregate.

Now, obviously a lot of these games haven't released, so I'm focusing on aesthetics instead of characterization or anything else like that, but I was curious what people thought about this Fall's crop of female character designs in big Western games.

Do you like them aesthetically? Do you think they've changed in a notable way over time, and if so, do you see that in a positive, negative, or neutral way? Any other thoughts about them in general?

I tried to focus specifically on developer crafted designs using game models or renders instead of concept art or characters from character creators.

Feel free to share additional games/characters as well in case you feel I missed anyone notable. I did try to include Sunset Overdrive, but I couldn't figure out what designs weren't out of the character creator.

I'll share my own opinion a bit later in the thread, but I'm curious to see how people feel without me setting the tone first.

Anyway, on to the games.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

ilona_aw4gpna.jpg
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Alien: Isolation:

alien-isolation-charamqpqs.jpg

alien-isolation-chara3doqp.jpg

alien-isolation-596ou1.jpg
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Assassin's Creed: Unity:

image_assassin_s_creee3r0e.jpg
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Destiny:

tumblr_nbvq23ubge1qitpbowu.png
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Shadow of Mordor:

500px-talion_ioreth16p5m.jpg

image_la_terre_du_milqyoca.jpg
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Dragon Age: Inquisition:

image_dragon_age_inquf5pgj.jpg

2586046-lelianadaid8qhd.jpg

cassandra-news-screenk3rnb.jpg
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Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel:

athenadeepdive-610ijoes.jpg

nishabl-610e6pga.jpg
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Civilization: Beyond Earth:

image_sid_meier_s_civroods.jpg
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Far Cry 4:

image_far_cry_4-26609xppqz.jpg
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Quote

Quote

Member
This is obvious, but they all have natural sized chests. Most surprising is even the Borderland's characters.

This is a good set of designs. I'm not sure I would have noticed otherwise, and thats not a bad thing!
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
They seem fine. Better than I was expecting, actually. Though despite having zero context, the CoD:AW woman made me instantly think "Oh, so she's the guy's wife/girlfriend who will die and/or he'll pine for throughout the whole game, right?"

I'm glad we're finally seeing different facial types for women... It's been a lot of the same-looking proportions/shapes for female models for a long time.
 
F

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Look pretty fine to me, probably the most diverse females ive seen in gaming in...maybe the first time ever?

Quote said:
This is obvious, but they all have natural sized chests. Most surprising is even the Borderland's characters.

This is a good observation. I'm not sure I would have noticed otherwise, and thats not a bad thing!
Click to expand...

Women who have bigger boobs arent considered natural?
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Shaanyboi said:
They seem fine. Better than I was expecting, actually. Though despite having zero context, the CoD:AW woman made me instantly think "Oh, so she's the guy's wife/girlfriend who will die and/or he'll pine for throughout the whole game, right?"

I'm glad we're finally seeing different facial types for women... It's been a lot of the same-looking proportions/shapes for female models for a long time.
Click to expand...

According to the CoD wiki, she's an ex-Spetsnaz sniper, though seemingly off-duty at the time of the screenshot.

They don't have many shots of her released.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
Nirolak said:
According to the CoD wiki, she's an ex-Spetsnaz sniper, though seemingly off-duty at the time of the screenshot.

They don't have many shots of her released.
Click to expand...

I see. Still, she could very easily still end up falling into that same role. I guess that just speaks to what I expect from those kinds of shooters...
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Shaanyboi said:
I see. Still, she could very easily still end up falling into that same role. I guess that just speaks to what I expect from those kinds of shooters...
Click to expand...
To be honest, that would have also been my initial assumption having played quite a few.

I was actually thinking there weren't any female members to look for in CoD until I remembered back to an E3 preview when they mentioned you had a female squad member and went looking.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
I think scanning faces is really tricky.
It can create some really interesting faces, with great personality, but it can also very easily backfire with a whole lot of creepy uncanny valley.

As bad as her outfit is, for example, i think Quiet's face is very interesting looking (i personally don't find the woman she's modeled after particularly attractive, so it's not even that).
Alien's characters look creepy though.
 
L

LegendX48

Member
I'm kinda neutral on most of them. They don't really stand out much and kinda just blend in with the game thematically which I suppose is a good thing. I do like the Alien Isolation designs a bit more than the rest as they kinda evoke the kind of styles or fashion that exists within that world.

edit: Just realized that I focused on the clothes rather than the character models themselves >.>

Anywho, still neutral lol
 
T

TheRook

Member
Outside of the Queen of the Awoken from Destiny, the rest seem boring and uninteresting. *shrugs* I don't mind having a unpopular opinion.
 
T

tcrunch

Member
Nirolak said:
Assassin's Creed: Unity:
image_assassin_s_creee3r0e.jpg
Click to expand...

Wow, why isn't this the main character?
Really nice set of designs overall for this season. Except maybe the younger woman in Shadow of Mordor (generic, looks like hair model head pasted on medieval peasant woman body...but with some kind of push-up bra too? edit: actually looking closer the old woman/corpse-lady is pretty boring too, lots of necklaces+a shift, meh), Destiny (ugliest spread of colors imaginable), and DA:I's pseudo-AC character. However, I like Borderlands' riff on that outfit.
 
S

Spine_Ripper

Member
All I got out of this is that I'm excited for none of these games. It's 2012 all over again. But the actual designs are pretty solid. "Forgettable," sure, but I think that's good in a way. No more ridiculous characters in every game is good, but we should still have one or two. Nothing wrong with having fun.
 
G

Griss

Member
They've changed massively over the last decade plus, and changed plenty in the last three/four years.

A huge part of this is tech-related. Back when we were seriously limited in polygons, the female form had to be at least a little exaggerated or exposed to emphasise the femininity of the character and make it instantly 'readable' on screen. We don't need to do that anymore, but it took a while for designs to 'catch up', I thought. For a long time men were far too big in the shoulders and muscles and women in the bust / hips, and I thought early polygonal modelling was at least somewhat to blame.

Another part of it is how many of these games are going for a very realistic look and 'real' story. If you're going this route, over-sexualisation isn't really an option if you want your story to be taken seriously. I also think that these realistic games may have sexual fanservice - but they won't advertise that beforehand because, as I said, they wouldn't be taken seriously.

And lastly, I do think the constant feminist messages regarding female character designs over the last three years or so have made a difference.

EDIT: On the subject of the particular designs presented, I really like the facial diversity. Many of the clothing designs are fairly forgettable, probably intentionally so, but I like the CoD girl's top. The stand-out design is the black woman from DA:Whatever it is. She is utterly arresting. The Borderlands outfits and designs are predictably horrible.
 
K

Kanyon

Member
Not just this season but I think it's going to be a continuing trend to see powerful, assertive female roles in games that aren't stereotypes - Which is a good thing, I think as the industry grows we're going to see more variety and interpretations of characters.

Favourite is definitely the character from AC: Unity, looks like she means business and can fuck shit up without breaking a sweat - A character that can handle any situation herself with no problems. Like another poster mentioned, why isn't she a main playable character?
 
B

buddha0991

Member
They are mostly cool, if slightly boring but I kind of appreciate how JP and Western designs differ, it allows more variety! The Dragon Age: Inquisition lady with the crazy head wear is funny though and she totally reminds me of Rita Repulsa from Power Rangers

Rita_Repulsa.jpg
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P

Pau

Member
I like the AC: Unity outfit. I've always thought it's harder to design a good subtle or "realistic" costume than something more out there. (Like the design for a COD soldier vs. someone in Dragon Age or a historical costume.)

More variety in age than expected, which is nice!
 
M

Madness

Member
The problem is assuming these are inherently better than any other designs. I think the more that animation, rendering and motion capture get's better, the more realistic designs we'll see. We're seeing it already.

I'm not a fan of the current "thought policy" aspect of dictating how artists and creators should model their characters to fall in line with what is acceptable. For example, the Bayonetta debate. I can appreciate calling out how sexualized the character is, but the question becomes, what if he wants that character to look like that.

I was talking about this earlier. I read a few tweets about why more female characters cannot look like the protagonist of Infamous First Light aka Fetch, but the question is why should you be pigeon-holed into another persons visions for your own characters? You're in the business of money, art, whatever. Do what you want to do.

yAuElKP.jpg
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
They're very boring/generic and have same faces.

But then again, I would probably say the same about the men in those games too. That art direction does not appeal to me. :/
 
A

Auto-Reply

Member
I see characters I'm not sure if they are important or not. Can be benificial to the game or not, depending on each case individually. I see nothing outrageous and nothing special, of course the fantasy designs stand a bit more out due to the nature of how characters in that genre are represented.

It would be interesting to see some female leads in these games, except Alien Isolation (which is first person) I don't know that we have any other games on display?

So how to describe their designs respective to the games they are in? They are serviceable!
 
G

Griss

Member
Madness said:
The problem is assuming these are inherently better than any other designs. I think the more that animation, rendering and motion capture get's better, the more realistic designs we'll see. We're seeing it already.

I'm not a fan of the current "thought policy" aspect of dictating how artists and creators should model their characters to fall in line with what is acceptable. For example, the Bayonetta debate. I can appreciate calling out how sexualized the character is, but the question becomes, what if he wants that character to look like that.

I was talking about this earlier. I read a few tweets about why more female characters cannot look like the protagonist of Infamous First Light aka Fetch, but the question is why should you be pigeon-holed into another persons visions for your own characters? You're in the business of money, art, whatever. Do what you want to do.

yAuElKP.jpg
Click to expand...

I like your first paragraph. I also agree that better tech is leading to more realistic designs, but I had failed to mention animation and motion capture. I also don't think these designs are inherently 'better', but what they are is a breath of fresh air to people (especially women) who wanted less sexualised designs in AAA games.

I agree that people shouldn't be pigeonholed in terms of what kind of character they can be allowed to design. Bayonetta is ridiculously, outrageously sexualised. Fetch is about as 'normal city girl' as they come. But in this instance, I think Bayonetta is a magnificent design and Fetch a terrible one. It's not as simple as 'not sexualised = good design'; not to me anyway.

But like I said, at least people who want options are starting to get them.
 
S

Sami+

Member
Honestly it's pretty good across the board, and I'm very happy to see that. Something about Elise's face (AC girl) looked off in the CGI trailer but she looks find in game.
 
S

Sami+

Member
Madness said:
The problem is assuming these are inherently better than any other designs. I think the more that animation, rendering and motion capture get's better, the more realistic designs we'll see. We're seeing it already.

I'm not a fan of the current "thought policy" aspect of dictating how artists and creators should model their characters to fall in line with what is acceptable. For example, the Bayonetta debate. I can appreciate calling out how sexualized the character is, but the question becomes, what if he wants that character to look like that.

I was talking about this earlier. I read a few tweets about why more female characters cannot look like the protagonist of Infamous First Light aka Fetch, but the question is why should you be pigeon-holed into another persons visions for your own characters? You're in the business of money, art, whatever. Do what you want to do.

yAuElKP.jpg
Click to expand...

Ha, speaking of Fetch actually - I was listening to a random station on Rdio and this popped up in my recommendations, is it just me or is the resemblance uncanny?

like-blood-like-honey-51451f54c74fb.jpg
Click to expand...

lol
 
M

Mxrz

Member
Yep, those are women. Well dunno about Bioware and Destiny's stuff. Flip a coin on those.

Wait. They're almost all wearing jackets or multiple layers. Plethora of cold climate games a'coming! woo.
 
A

aly

Member
Black lady from Inquisition is rocking that outfit, and she is my favorite by far. Most of them blend together in a boring mash. Which I guess happens when scanning real people.
 
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