Dr.Morris79
Gold Member
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Why does Sony make female characters uglier in their games?
- Thread starter Gonzito
- Start date
ResurrectedContrarian
Suffers with mild autism
I'll bite to say that Kratos -- like most of their male protagonists -- clearly represents hyper-male attributes in his build and appearance. He's like an exaggerated, aspirational fantasy icon of masculinity.
So one would expect the female leads to likewise represent aspirational, fantasy pinnacles of femininity in their appearance. But they absolutely do not represent this at all -- in fact, at a glance, they always have dramatically reduced femininity, including a million little adjustments to make their look more hardened, to look a bit aged rather than youthful/feminine, to be square jawed a little rather than feminine face, to be way taller than typical women, etc.
That's partly because so many genres are power fantasies, and even the most 'woke' devs on earth feel deep down on a subconscious level that "feminine" and "powerful" are hard to reconcile, so they almost in instinct make her less feminine. The only way to actually reconcile the two is to lean into the fantasy side and forget about realism... yeah Eve from Stellar Blade probably wouldn't be able to fight like that while looking like that, but who cares, let fantasy be fantasy.
tl;dr it's a basic fact of reality that femininity and video-game-style power protagonists aren't compatible. So you either "fix" her and downplay most of her actual womanly traits, as devs do now, or you lean into fantasy and make her feminine without caring about how realistic that is (the eastern-dev approach). The latter solution makes much more sense, given that games are fantasies in the first place.
So one would expect the female leads to likewise represent aspirational, fantasy pinnacles of femininity in their appearance. But they absolutely do not represent this at all -- in fact, at a glance, they always have dramatically reduced femininity, including a million little adjustments to make their look more hardened, to look a bit aged rather than youthful/feminine, to be square jawed a little rather than feminine face, to be way taller than typical women, etc.
That's partly because so many genres are power fantasies, and even the most 'woke' devs on earth feel deep down on a subconscious level that "feminine" and "powerful" are hard to reconcile, so they almost in instinct make her less feminine. The only way to actually reconcile the two is to lean into the fantasy side and forget about realism... yeah Eve from Stellar Blade probably wouldn't be able to fight like that while looking like that, but who cares, let fantasy be fantasy.
tl;dr it's a basic fact of reality that femininity and video-game-style power protagonists aren't compatible. So you either "fix" her and downplay most of her actual womanly traits, as devs do now, or you lean into fantasy and make her feminine without caring about how realistic that is (the eastern-dev approach). The latter solution makes much more sense, given that games are fantasies in the first place.
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Hyper_hyper
Member
Both words are starting with letter W. Maybe because of that. LOL
Wipeout is woke then.
In Ragnarok you had a sword that talked to Atreus already. People just want to see what they want to see and make up any old thing to point to 'woke'. They could have just had a female human sidekick if what you want to see were true. It's a universe cube because the world is already full of magical shit and somebody came up with a cube as some magical companion much like the sword Atreus had. I bet it's just the equivalent of some realm tear (the orbs in the previous games) and it has some connection to the story.
Plague Doctor
Member
True story.
You forgot this live video feed of the developers working with the mocap actresses
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LordOcidax
Member
Gonzito
Gold Member
The one from Mimi looks exactly the way I would expect a competetent developer without any agenda to create a character based on that actress
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
She's definetly uglier than the real model but it's not the worst example I've seen, those still belong to ME: Andromeda and SW: Outlaws.
What I don't understand is the trend of using real life models for characters designs. It must be expensive as fuck while also putting a limitation on what characters you can design, plus it alienates the players because what if I think the actor is and idiot or sucks? I might dislike the game because of that. Plus I just prefer original characters, they'll always be cooler and more memorable.
On the topic of Sony, yes they have an agenda and it's clear as day. Just as clear as how infantile some users here can be that aren't able to discuss a topic without insulting their fellow gamers but hey, I guess the company goes first. Zealot behavior if you ask me.
What I don't understand is the trend of using real life models for characters designs. It must be expensive as fuck while also putting a limitation on what characters you can design, plus it alienates the players because what if I think the actor is and idiot or sucks? I might dislike the game because of that. Plus I just prefer original characters, they'll always be cooler and more memorable.
On the topic of Sony, yes they have an agenda and it's clear as day. Just as clear as how infantile some users here can be that aren't able to discuss a topic without insulting their fellow gamers but hey, I guess the company goes first. Zealot behavior if you ask me.
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Witchilich
Member
Thinks Faye is ugly but is okay with this
Every single time.
Pretty funny that you became what you accuse others to be.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Steam has lots of porn games to fill your needs.
Gonzito
Gold Member
I dont need porn man. I just need ugly stupid activists out of my hobby
Ogbert
Member
Because traditional Western art has pursued beauty and truth.
Wokeism (which is just rebranded Marxism) despises beauty and truth, hench brutalist architecture, veneration of queer monstrosities, destruction of melody, aesthetic disintegration, paganism and ugly women in video games.
Wokeism (which is just rebranded Marxism) despises beauty and truth, hench brutalist architecture, veneration of queer monstrosities, destruction of melody, aesthetic disintegration, paganism and ugly women in video games.
MiguelItUp
Member
Right, but that even still doesn't look like her here which is very recent. You're stuck on her look from 15-20 years ago...
Notice the details in her face. Notice that they're not present in that image you prefer. Also this is her covered in make up, clearly that's not present in the game.
If anything this is a result of them trying to be too realistic/accurate.
You're trying way too hard here man. I get there are examples of that, but I just truly don't feel like this is it, and it's more of a "you're seeing what you want to" scenario.
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Gonzito
Gold Member
Right, but that even still doesn't look like her here which is very recent. You're stuck on her look from 15-20 years ago...
Notice the details in her face. Notice that they're not present in that image you prefer. Also this is her covered in make up, clearly that's not present in the game.
If anything this is a result of them trying to be too realistic/accurate.
You're trying way too hard here man.
I think you are the one trying too hard to defend wokism in videogames my friend
the first one is ridiculas the second one is spot on. in fact the 2nd one goes to show you how bloated the orignal one was made.
MiguelItUp
Member
Again, you're making up a scenario. That's not me, I just choose to not have this nonsense make up my personality.
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What? LMAO
It's fictional, they have all the technological power to make her and every other male and female character as hot as they want, they purposely choose not to when it comes to female characters, for reasons...
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Most adults understand that when someone resorts to instults it's because they lack any actual arguments.
There's nothing wrong with appreciating human beauty (much less when in a product that we are being asked 70€ for) and that's has nothing to do with "wanting to watch porn". There's a reason why singers and movie and TV actors are pretty: it sells, and it sells because that's what people want to see.
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It's not, Jean Grey is top tier representation of female beauty, but whatever, Idgaf about capeshit anymore, so they can make her an ogre for all I care, Wolverine representation of Jean Grey is the least of the problems from that game...
violence
Member
Too bad they'll never make Heavenly sword 2. I think my only problem with this game is calling it God of war.
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Gonzito
Gold Member
Gay take
InterMusketeer
Member
We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting.
Unless you're making a game about Quasimodo or something, I don't see why you wouldn't take any available steps to make your main character attractive.
Unless you're making a game about Quasimodo or something, I don't see why you wouldn't take any available steps to make your main character attractive.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Exactly. Pretty sells, so why make the extra effort to make everything super ugly?
Hell, part of the Knight's Path marketing campaign is just showing off their pretty female NPCs, and it's doing wonders for them:
But I guess AAA Sony studios have money to burn and would rather send a message than make money. It sounds crazy, I know, but it's the only explanation I can see making sense.
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Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
This is hilarious. You stick a beauty filter on and .... dum dum dum ... suddenly that 6 becomes a 9 ! Shocking!
Someone better tell girls on Instagram and dating apps... oh wait ...
Saber
Newd Member
Beauty and sex are different things. Friendly advice though: equating the uglification of female model on purpose to porn isn't going to end well for you.
Yea, for some reason their is definitely an agenda from western devs to make women characters worst than mid. Mary Jane in Spider-Man is the worst MJ of all time. Nowhere is any comic has she ever looked like that. Shes always been very attractive. SONY has done this to all their female lead characters. Horizon, Yotei, and now God of War. She clearly looks tones down from the actual actress
Hypereides
Member
Jean Grey's change definitely looks better. I'd buy that as an improvement over Insomniac's current model.
demigod
Member
No it isnt, they intentionally make them uglier. Even Aloy is butt ugly. Something wrong with these dumbasses that thinks people like to play as uglyass chicks.
It's not hard to make them look attractive, look at Capcom.
bender
What time is it?
Outrage farming of course.
Zannegan
Member
I think he has a point. When you react to everything, it turns your reactions to legitimate issues into white noise.
I get being wary given the context of AAA gaming for the past decade or so, but you don't want to cross the line into being triggered by every little thing.
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Shadowstar39
Member
I don't get it. It's been happening since late 2010s. I get they want more female characters, but why do this? I had no problem playing Heavenly Sword. I loved that game and Nariko was AMAZING, strong and sexy.
When they do this it raises red flags. Sony has to know there is a large segment that this will turn off. Why not just make her how she looks and appeal to everyone (well the insecure feminist and trans m-f may not like it, but they are a small spec in the user base.)
When they do this it raises red flags. Sony has to know there is a large segment that this will turn off. Why not just make her how she looks and appeal to everyone (well the insecure feminist and trans m-f may not like it, but they are a small spec in the user base.)
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Most of photos OP used are her from long ago IRL. She's 41 now. Recent red carpet etc shows plenty of wrinkles on her and looking more in line with the character.
It's like people still posting Batista from 15 years ago to play Marcus from Gears. He doesn't look like that anymore bud.
It's like people still posting Batista from 15 years ago to play Marcus from Gears. He doesn't look like that anymore bud.
Gonzito
Gold Member
OLED_Gamer
Member
There is nothing unappealing regarding her design. Some of you think every woman needs double Ds and a swim suit to be appealing. Thats not what GoW 2018+ has been about.
Its wild the amount of people here that will soon be married to AI girlfriends.
Zacfoldor
Gold Member
Well it is a videogame. If they can add fat they can remove wrinkles.
Gonzito
Gold Member
I am not buying it, she is older but her looks are nowhere near as hideous as in the game
From 2026
Plague Doctor
Member
Next thing you are going to say is that talking cubes and quippy ribbons aren't real and completely fabricated by these "video game developers".
Your flat earth bullshit isn't flying here.
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Bojji
Member
People insulting
Gonzito
and others are morons, they most likely look like Reddit mods and have never seen real pussy in their lives.I can get why Faye doesn't wear make up here, but in the same universe Freya is wearing makeup (so all those "why?" questions are irrelevant). I also think she looks BETTER than real life person she is based on:
They were able to do that in 2018 but can't do that with 2026 technology...
Ingame lighting oddities are normal. You wont see that during cutscenes and important gameplay situations. This is more a technical problem than something made on purpose because you need some sort of raytraced illumination to make your character look right all the time.Bojji knows better how to explain this in a more technical way
On the other hand, the GOW laundry game is showing you a direct cutscene in which the lighting should look good because its being hand placed by the developers and on top of that during the presentation of the game
There's a huge difference in context when comparing both screenshots
Yep. 99% of the time RE models look very good, game also has RT that helps. Straight from PS5 Pro:
I think that in this case it wasn't necessarily a matter of making the character ugly.
This seems to me to be another case of exposing the limitations of the Santa Monica engine, it's starting to get outdated.
A large part of the problem stems from the lighting, there's a lack of shadows in many places, the hair looks disjointed, and it has that floating effect due to the lack of shadows.
Ray tracing would help. To me, it shows that all the good artists at Sony are no longer with the company. They used to work harder (probably with a lot of crunch).
That is true as well, raster lighting doesn't help here.
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Moondoggy
Member
AWWW YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH! PC version of Resident Evil 2 remake, I can tell by the graphics, best version.People insulting
I can get why Faye doesn't wear make up here, but in the same universe Freya is wearing makeup (so all those "why?" questions are irrelevant). I also think she looks BETTER than real life person she is based on:
They were able to do that in 2018 but can't do that with 2026 technology...
Yep. 99% of the time RE models look very good, game also has RT that helps. Straight from PS5 Pro:
That is true as well, raster lighting doesn't help here.
Zannegan
Member
The magic of flat lighting. Look at the gif of the interviewI am not buying it, she is older but her looks are nowhere near as hideous as in the game
From 2026
MiguelItUp
sent you. That's how she's going to look in motion, and both are of an actress heavily made up.But why would they want to remove wrinkles in a character that's supposed to be an older warrior/mom of a teen?
To your point though, Kratos never gets hit that hard with the realism stick, so why the double standard from SSM?
Bojji
Member
You heaven't seem good and great looking women in real life?
Model should be based on her in 2018, not 2026. They can do whatever they want with... 3D models of people, including making them look better (like Freya), making them look uglier, younger, older - whatever.
It's PS5 version (on Pro).
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TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
To make her more appealing? To sell more copies of the game? Why the obsession with realism? It's a videogame about mythologies and legends, yet people are focusing on realism when it comes to the MC's design and nothing else. Why?
down 2 orth
Member
Damn, is that her? I couldn't tell without the Down's syndrome embellishments.