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Is Aloy a Mary Sue?

Is Aloy a Mary Sue


  • Total voters
    250

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
"oh look at me, i'm so adult and grown-up, even my avatar is all serious and shit which proves i'm totally mature"

433eceb89da7ea8ba4f324e630239106.jpg
You have grown ass people (I assume?) derailing a thread with fat jokes about a fictional character because they are mad she isn't as hot as they want her to be.


If you don't consider that childish behavior then idk what to tell you.
 
whatever

the game itself is all about exploring the world, either walking stealthily past huge creatures or hunting them down and uncovering the mysteries of a fallen civilization

I can't care less about characters, even my avatar in the game. Would be better in VR, FP.
 
Story telling through gaming has become a lot more serious(God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, TLOU1/2). To be taken more serious stories do require a certain level believability, i.e. having characters behaving logically consistant in the world that's set up.

I'd doubt you'd wouldn't scratch your head if any of the protagonists in aforementioned games could suddenly fly in one instance and it never gets brought up again in the rest of the game.

You can leave reality at the door, doens't mean you always have to turn your brain off and swallow whatever games throw your way.

With your attitude, how would you differentiate between levels of story/character writing? If you don't care about game stories, that's a different subject. Games with bad stories can still be enjoyable enough to play just as badly written movies can still be enjoyable to watch.
First of all, I'm not the one overly concerned as to if Aloy is a perfect character or not. There is a difference between nitpicking about what a character or like Aloy or Kratos, or Jin Sakai, does in the game itself and their overall themes. I agree with the themes in today's games. The theme of the danger of over-reliance on technology was one the best things about Horizon's narrative. I'm not arguing anything like that. The point I am making if you're playing a game that has you fighting robot dinosaurs, or mythic beasts like in God of War, an invading army of Mongols like in Ghost of Tsushima, hell you better be perfect because of those not normal circumstances. That's my point.
 

Corndog

Banned
You have grown ass people (I assume?) derailing a thread with fat jokes about a fictional character because they are mad she isn't as hot as they want her to be.


If you don't consider that childish behavior then idk what to tell you.
Give it a rest. People are just having fun.
 

Ulysses 31

Member
Jesus Christ. No, she’s not a Mary Sue despite your grand attempts to prove she is. Mary Sues are flawless by definition. Aloy’s fat cheeks and mannish features are flaws. Nice try, OP.
Does Mary Sue include looks? I thought it was mainly about being to achieve things that aren't earned like having skill sets in settings where those skills wouldn't make sense to have, let alone properly learned. Like Rey understanding Wooky or being able to repair and fly ships coming from a background of scavaging parts to survive on a desert planet.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
There is nothing wrong with "mary sue" type characters if its done well, for example:

Nausicaä is also very "mary sue" both in the movie and manga but unlike Alloy, Nausicaä is faaar from being dry character.
Nausica%C3%A4_2_cropped.png
 
There is nothing wrong with "mary sue" type characters if its done well, for example:

Nausicaä is also very "mary sue" both in the movie and manga but unlike Alloy, Nausicaä is faaar from being dry character.
Nausica%C3%A4_2_cropped.png

Eh, growth, struggles and failures are what makes the best stories. That said some of that guys stories are too heart breaking for me to watch. I will never watch grave of the fireflies movie even though i will be richer for it. Same goes for To Your Eternity manga. There is only so much feelings this fragile man can take.
 
Does Mary Sue include looks? I thought it was mainly about being to achieve things that aren't earned like having skill sets in settings where those skills wouldn't make sense to have, let alone properly learned. Like Rey understanding Wooky or being able to repair and fly ships coming from a background of scavaging parts to survive on a desert planet.
Whooooosh!
 

Ulysses 31

Member
First of all, I'm not the one overly concerned as to if Aloy is a perfect character or not. There is a difference between nitpicking about what a character or like Aloy or Kratos, or Jin Sakai, does in the game itself and their overall themes. I agree with the themes in today's games. The theme of the danger of over-reliance on technology was one the best things about Horizon's narrative. I'm not arguing anything like that. The point I am making if you're playing a game that has you fighting robot dinosaurs, or mythic beasts like in God of War, an invading army of Mongols like in Ghost of Tsushima, hell you better be perfect because of those not normal circumstances. That's my point.
I haven't played HZD so I'm not particularly invested how good Aloy is writting as a character.

OP brought up some points why she may be a Mary Sue and I see a lot of people brushing it off rather than giving counter-arguments why she isn't which is the part of this topic that interests me.

Videogame characters usually are exceptional fighters to pul off what they do, they can still have character flaws, intentionally written or not. It's often those character flaws that make things interesting and memorable. Mary Sues tend to be boring and unrelatable.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Funny how there is no derogatory name for a male character that shows no weaknesses. 🙄

Other than the male version of mary sue.....gary stu.

People seem to be feeling attacked but alot of videogame protagonists are actually sue/stu.
Basically not that many people want to play a character with a shit ton of flaws who is wrong.

Because, if the character is wrong, the last 2+ hours of my gameplay has been for naught because my dumb ass character is wrong?
No, rather nobody listened to my character than this bitch have wasted my time.
 
I haven't played HZD so I'm not particularly invested how good Aloy is writting as a character.

OP brought up some points why she may be a Mary Sue and I see a lot of people brushing it off rather than giving counter-arguments why she isn't which is the part of this topic that interests me.

Videogame characters usually are exceptional fighters to pul off what they do, they can still have character flaws, intentionally written or not. It's often those character flaws that make things interesting and memorable. Mary Sues tend to be boring and unrelatable.
Well that is what I am trying to do, give some counterpoints to the OP. Particularly when it comes to this character where literally points out her flaws later in the game.
 
Other than the male version of mary sue.....gary stu.

People seem to be feeling attacked but alot of videogame protagonists are actually sue/stu.
Basically not that many people want to play a character with a shit ton of flaws who is wrong.

Because, if the character is wrong, the last 2+ hours of my gameplay has been for naught because my dumb ass character is wrong?
No, rather nobody listened to my character than this bitch have wasted my time.

TBH that would make a great rpg. You start off as a character that just mumbles and no one listens to, to one that can who can change things with a few words here and there. I would play that.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
TBH that would make a great rpg. You start off as a character that just mumbles and no one listens to, to one that can who can change things with a few words here and there. I would play that.

Yeah thats why we need pseudo to full on mary sues, rather he be a character who knows whats up but no one is willing to listen to, than our characters being full dipshit like say in a TV show where you can watch a guy be an idiot for episodes on end.
With a TV show or movie you are enjoying laughing or just witnessing the idiot.....but if you are playing the idiot, arent you the idiot?

If the mission brief is go do xyz, when I get back from doing xyz the actually intelligent character in the cast tells me i just wasted my time doing all that shit.....im breaking that disk
 
This was an excellent analysis, she does indeed feel like a Mary Sue; completely devoid of any nuances and humanity - the archetypical politically correct protagonist.

Someone above said "what has happened to this forum". To be honest, I appreciate some one going to the effort to share their ideas and observations about video games and characters we are passionate about. This is what this forum is for (and of course the occasional memes).
 

GuinGuin

Banned
Other than the male version of mary sue.....gary stu.

People seem to be feeling attacked but alot of videogame protagonists are actually sue/stu.
Basically not that many people want to play a character with a shit ton of flaws who is wrong.

Because, if the character is wrong, the last 2+ hours of my gameplay has been for naught because my dumb ass character is wrong?
No, rather nobody listened to my character than this bitch have wasted my time.

I've never heard anyone use Gary Stu in my life. Just checked, no GAF thread about Nathan Drake being a Gary Stu on record.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
You have grown ass people (I assume?) derailing a thread with fat jokes about a fictional character because they are mad she isn't as hot as they want her to be.


If you don't consider that childish behavior then idk what to tell you.
Got your moral grandstanding out of the way for today? There's a Jim Sterling thread if you want to go defend their honor and tell everyone else how horrible they are.
 

Ev1L AuRoN

Member
You know, you made it valid points but, I think I don't really care for Horizon lore and history. I just want to murder some damn robot dinosaurs.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
I've never heard anyone use Gary Stu in my life. Just checked, no GAF thread about Nathan Drake being a Gary Stu on record.

Pretty much every action hero you know whether its video games, tv or movies is a Gary Stu with some trivial problem to not be too perfect (e.g Is divorced, wife is dead, lost job even if hes the best at it...etc etc)
We are just much more accepting of it because well of course the Rock can punch a Torpedo designed to take down near city sized ships and win the fight.
If Lara Croft punch a dude and he is knocked out we call bullshit.
No way a woman could actually be good at anything.
 
Pretty much every action hero you know whether its video games, tv or movies is a Gary Stu with some trivial problem to not be too perfect (e.g Is divorced, wife is dead, lost job even if hes the best at it...etc etc)
We are just much more accepting of it because well of course the Rock can punch a Torpedo designed to take down near city sized ships and win the fight.
If Lara Croft punch a dude and he is knocked out we call bullshit.
No way a woman could actually be good at anything.

Dont you mean "everything" instead of "anything"? Same would apply to men too right?
 
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