Gonzito
Gold Member
Last edited:
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Why does Sony make female characters uglier in their games?
- Thread starter Gonzito
- Start date
Interfectum
Gold Member
Shubh_C63
Member
Idk man. We did see her at the end of 2018?/Ragnarok? and she looks the same in Laundry here. That feels to me they had a vision and executed it well.
Doctor Hades
Member
I am not normally someone who comments on the appearance of character models in game but I admit that have noticed a trend in western games to make characters look very ordinary to ugly (depending on your point of view) whereas eastern developed games go for more attractive character models for both male and female characters.
After watching the God of War: Laufey footage this morning, my first thought was how unattractive the main character was - she was clearly meant to be an older woman and she is a warrior and mother - and then I wondered if that might impact on sales of the game? I mean Kratos is hardly a handsome man but that doesn't matter because most male gamers aren't playing God of War because he looks nice. It is because he is strong and powerful and kicks ass! However, male gamers typically prefer a more attractive female character is they are having to play as woman and games with uglier female characters seem to sell less well and attract a lot more negativity.
I guess time will tell but I admit that while the visuals look great in the game, I am less keen on the design of the main character.
After watching the God of War: Laufey footage this morning, my first thought was how unattractive the main character was - she was clearly meant to be an older woman and she is a warrior and mother - and then I wondered if that might impact on sales of the game? I mean Kratos is hardly a handsome man but that doesn't matter because most male gamers aren't playing God of War because he looks nice. It is because he is strong and powerful and kicks ass! However, male gamers typically prefer a more attractive female character is they are having to play as woman and games with uglier female characters seem to sell less well and attract a lot more negativity.
I guess time will tell but I admit that while the visuals look great in the game, I am less keen on the design of the main character.
Mozza
Member
They washed her beauty away lol..
Mozza
Member
Not an impossible task at all... they simply choose the more woke inclusive option.
BbMajor7th
Member
I mean, the look that Deborah Anne Wohl has in press shots you can find in this thread is the result of modern hairstyling, cosmetics, fashion and dental care. She isn't sauntering through an ancient medieval setting with modern clothing, why would she be wearing modern make-up, styling and dental?
The same way Dragon Age: The Veilguard was immersion breaking in how it used modern gender terminology that made no sense in the Dragon Age universe: there are no gender-specialist clinics in Thedas and there are no cosmetics shops in Midgard. The most immersion breaking thing in Laufey for me - the thing that's true to our reality and doesn't make any sense in theirs - is the dialogue. Why are all these mythical, otherworldly being from across thousands of years of human history talking like a bunch of hipster millennials?
Mozza
Member
I can't help you if you fail or refuse to see the obvious agenda being pushed here...
This is the actress
An off angle photo of a TV screen (screenshots not invented yet where you live?) Vs photos of glammed up premiere photoshoot from a decade ago when she was 10 years younger.
You guys are not serious people.
Last edited:
Orbital2060
Member
Interfectum
Gold Member
Yeah that comparison is fucking hilarious. I can't tell if he's trolling or intentionally this dumb. It's gotta be twitter brain rot... it's where he's pulling these images from anyway. Maybe he's buddies with SmashJT?
Hypereides
Member
Male gaze status: completely eviscerated
Sony HQ is hoisting the "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner over their main entrance as we speak.
Sony HQ is hoisting the "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner over their main entrance as we speak.
Topher
Identifies as young
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
You might as well show pics of her from True Blood 15 years ago your argument is so shit.
BbMajor7th
Member
I think (in fact I know) there are ideological factors at play in the development of modern media. I can acknowledge that whilst also acknowledging that to a man with a hammer everything can look like a nail. A lot of character designs in video games are morally high-handed, condescending, self-important posturing from a bunch of preening, metropolitan media types who want to use social politics as a moral cudgel to lecture other people. I also know that just because that's the case sometimes, it doesn't mean it's the case in all situations.
The tell for me is whether the creative decisions are consistent with the setting, story and lore (as they are with Faye's design here) or at odds with it (a medieval European town with the racial diversity of a Bay Area coffee shop). Again, the inconsistent thing here is the tone of the dialogue - I assume this will extend to the story telling within the game too, presenting something which is consistent with expectations of the audiences in 2026 rather the more 'problematic' outlook of ancient Norse society.
Mozza
Member
Move on............. Nothing to see here lol..
Interfectum
Gold Member
Sony is making her uglier in real life too! OMG!That was my first thought as well. The pictures here seem selective. Like this.....
Mozza
Member
Like I said no issues from me, I would simply play and enjoy the game. But pointing these agendas out is not a crime. And I very much doubt the developer factored in the time period and lack of any makeup into the equation..
MiguelItUp
Member
I get that there have been cases of unattractive female models in games, but I feel like freaking out over Faye is an exaggeration. Some of y'all are too far gone in that sauce and the whole "conspiracy", Jesus Christ. The girl was just cremated and we see her in the after life and you expect her to be all dolled up? Lmao. She looks like a woman with no make up. Go back and watch clips of her in Ragnarok.
Last edited:
Interfectum
Gold Member
Is Sony making actresses in real life intentionally uglier?
From our friend Gonzito:
Mozza
Member
Which one is the ugly one?That was my first thought as well. The pictures here seem selective. Like this.....
Topher
Identifies as young
Mozza
Member
Just remember folks they are not making women in videogames ugly... they are just making them more realistic lol...
MiguelItUp
Member
The SmashJT and his cronies praise I've seen on here for months is extremely telling. I mean, Christ, we can barely have constructive talks about actual video games before someone finds a way to take it into that drivel every single time.
How so? On that same note you could very well say they likely chose not to. I mean, she wasn't all dolled up in 2018, why would she be now?
Last edited:
PlayStaytion
Member
It's not a personal decision inside studios.
Topher
Identifies as young
I didn't say that so why are you replying to me with this?
Interfectum
Gold Member
More screenshots from the new God of War to add to the OP... fuck he's right. What is Sony doing??
Last edited:
SEGAvangelist
Member
I think the character model looks great. It's just the rest of the game that looks like Disney Star Wars slop. I was scared for this game, then first minute of the trailer I was interested, then it just went off a cliff. Awful.
realcool
Member
WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO JENNIFER ANISTON, SONY?!?!
BbMajor7th
Member
No, I don't think it's crime either - I think it's a fair cop, but I'm willing to give benefit of the doubt here. We can't honestly know how they got there, but we can at least say it's consistent with the broader vision and - for me - that's enough. When there's little room for doubt and it's clear some overpaid Seattle-based director is using their game as a soap box to preach a particular world view, it's not shocking that it gets people's backs up. Preachy art is shitty whoever's doing the preaching - I don't want some born-again Christian hijacking a game franchise so that they can give me a sermon on their lord and savior either.
As I've said before, I don't mind politics in media - a game wants to explore complex ideas in thoughtful ways and give me scenarios which pose interesting philosophical questions then I'm all for it - but I don't want propaganda: I don't want someone using a fictional setting to 'prove' the moral perfection of their worldview and the moral evil of anyone who thinks differently. Dragon Age: The Veilguard was this in spades: when Taash comes out as non-binary there's no discussion or pushback, there is a singular truth that receives no scrutiny and the only person who doesn't accept it is portrayed as a bad person until she changes her mind. Get out of here with that.
OLED_Gamer
Member
Its clear some of you here in GAF wouldn't bang a 10 if she had sharp knees.
The game character is very close to the actress. Not every game needs to be a Stellar Blade scenario.
The game character is very close to the actress. Not every game needs to be a Stellar Blade scenario.
Mozza
Member
What did you say?... Plus it said folks.. so not unique to yourself.
Last edited:
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
It's a real shame this will never be on PC. Then you folks complaining about this could make her look 19 and put huge nattys on her.
The_hunter
Member
The simple answer is that this game was greenlit 6 years ago at the height of DEI.
When the project is 80% done, you can't really change things.
When the project is 80% done, you can't really change things.
Guilty_AI
Gold Member
They still need to have an appealing design though
Last edited:
cortadew
Member
Why not both?
Looks kind you've done some research here. That's closer to the look on the game sans makeup.Daredevil Born Again Season 2 launch event, earlier this year.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(757x307:759x309)/Deborah-Ann-Woll-daredevil-premiere-033026-2-23796274c37b475993ab8c2e009970fb.jpg)
Looking fan-fucking-tastic at 41.
PlayStaytion
Member
Right, there's a lot more about average looking woman than her look, it's like comparing blue pill to red pill.
Represent.
Represent(ative) of bad opinions
woman = woke
Thats the thing though, for these people, unless the girl looks like Stellar Blade or DOA Beach Volleyball, then it is woke. literally. LMAO
Bojji
Member
You mean that almost all western devs AT THE SAME TIME decided that their "vision" will be: ugly woman as main character?
Black rock money and LGBT/feminist mafia have nothing to do with it?
Is Sony making actresses in real life intentionally uglier?
From our friend Gonzito:
Still looks far better than in the game.
Pic from 2019
2018
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Topher
Identifies as young
If you are trying to make a point perhaps reply to the "folks" that actually said that.
Mozza
Member
No problem, so what where you saying?
Shubh_C63
Member
I am talking from case to case here. I am there with you on developers uglyfying characters and putting in agenda to appease their ESG ratings for further funding or whatever.
But in GoW case, even from back 2018 the model looks the same like Laundry over here. Her age, beauty, demeanor fits the narrative so I don't have a problem at all.
MiguelItUp
Member
Yup, just like I said with the rumor. Faye has existed in the universe, but now that she's the main protagonist in a new game you see girl boss and woke. It won't be admitted, but that's true too. I feel like the only times it hasn't been criticized is because it's some unrealistic looking waifu with double d's in a skimpy outfit.