Why Do Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Female Characters Look so Ugly?

Megalith

Megalith

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Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but there is nothing subjective about what BioWare artists have done for the new Mass Effect. The actress for the female version of Ryder must be wondering why the heck her face was modified so drastically for the game. It’s actually quite interesting, since the male Ryder looks pretty consistent with his model—what did BioWare mean by this?

…the female characters from the old “Mass Effect” games (mainly ME1-2) were really attractive and feminine, so I would love to know what happened to BioWare as a whole after the release of “Mass Effect 2.” Because by the looks of it, BioWare slowly started to turn into an SJW studio around 2010 (that’s the year that ME2 launched. However, ME2’s development started around 2008). Furthermore, I bet that Anita Sarkeesian and Feminist Frequency had a part in that transformation. As a matter of fact, I remember a really good post about the matter over at the Obsidian forum (Luzarius posted that one back in 2015). The post is called “Mature discussion on LGBT/Feminists who want to censor games,“ and it’s a truly interesting read I have to say, especially since the post is now even more relevant today than it was back in 2015. (So much for the “She’s not going to take your games away“ part because we all know how that turned out in the end…)
 
I think it's pretty obvious they do this on purpose in many AAA titles coming out in order to appease potential blowblack from the SJW crowd who think showing attractive feminine characters is sexist.. because.

Don't know about you but in any game I play I would expect the 'hero' character to look great because it's a fucking made up story. If I wanted to experience real life I wouldn't be playing a fucking game.
 
I guess if you're the kind of person who gets off to video game fan fiction this is problematic....but otherwise, what the hell does it matter? Frankly the stupidly attractive lycra bodysuit female companions just detract from any immersion in a game anyways. Yeah, I mean, I don't really want to stare at Sloth from the Goonies with a wig on as a character model, but this seems like a non-issue. Mindlessly throwing "SJW" around is almost as annoying as being a "SJW'.
 
Seems like they widened the jaws of all the female characters.

Not sure how much of this i just lousy character models versus SJW pandering.

The models in DA:I were absolutely hideous.
 
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Bioware makes ugly stuff, their hair always looks like Play-Dough, their skin looks like rubber, and they've never made a game with decent lighting.

Mchart said:
I think it's pretty obvious they do this on purpose in many AAA titles coming out in order to appease potential blowblack from the SJW crowd who think showing attractive feminine characters is sexist.. because.
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There's a war raging inside your head huh?
 
It's tough to say if this was purposeful pandering or if it just is what it is.

Maybe there is even some bug that is covered up with the different wider jawed models. I remember some article I read once where there were tears in the floor that the player would fall through in some game because the engine was so flaky - and they just covered them up with trash cans and the like.
 
It isn't that they are not pretty, but they look odd. Frostbite seems to have poor facial animation technology compared to other engines. Or maybe Bioware/DICE are just bad with it, but I though ME1-3 looked great for their time. Character art design should fit with the game. Silly super models look out of place, but really ugly and odd is just as bad. Tomb Raider 2013 got it right, realistic and fitting for the character. Witcher games look ridiculous on the other hand.
 
looks the same as the model- just cut her hair short, make her eyes bugged out and make her face a bit bloated
 
Mchart said:
I think it's pretty obvious they do this on purpose in many AAA titles coming out in order to appease potential blowblack from the SJW crowd who think showing attractive feminine characters is sexist.. because.
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They are sick and tired of people being able to assume a characters gender. Ideally, they should all be androgynous hambeasts named Pat, where people really are like, "uhm, excuse me xir".
 
BioWare rode the coattails of its success, but The Old Republic drove off its creators. Essentially this is EA's influence. And The Old Republic went from a promising idea with some flaws and awesome story to utter shit under the direction of who they have now. That, and their community manager, Eric Musco, is a hype man smug bastard who has been driving people away from the game for years now.

Frankly, the players of TOR got a front row seat to BioWare going to shit.
 
If you want an exciting space adventure, play ME: Andromeda (I hope).

If you want to jerk it to a smoking hot video game babe, play Dark Messiah (Xana).
 
magoo said:
other than the overall shape of the face, I see a close resembalence.

The video character is less " attractive" but come on, it's a game, not a beauty contest.
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Look at the photos and tell me something else that you can pick out that is different.

Maybe something about the tilt of the head ?

Does the real deal look "demure or warm" ?
Does the computer version look "assertive" ?
 
Her jaw line is too square and her lips out of proportion to the model.
 
I think frostbite is just a terrible engine period. UE beats it any day in any metric. But of course they had to bet on their own horse. All female characters look weird, they're hedgehogs with rubbery faces.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Her jaw line is too square and her lips out of proportion to the model.
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The jaw line is going to look different if you don't have a forward tilt to your head. I think someone wanted this character to look more assertive and self reliant, although the eyes have a "everything surprises me" look.

And I think someone was specifically trying to avoid the "I want to be your girl friend" look.
 
lcpiper said:
The jaw line is going to look different if you don't have a forward tilt to your head. I think someone wanted this character to look more assertive and self reliant, although the eyes have a "everything surprises me" look.
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You are on to something. Her eyes are smaller and rounder than the models. The real life model has wider set eyes. Also the eyebrow line is way too high on the computer character. The orbital plate and frontal bone placement appears off. Her nose is more button like with a slightly wider alar groove.

Overall this is a poor representation.
 
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Mchart said:
I think it's pretty obvious they do this on purpose in many AAA titles coming out in order to appease potential blowblack from the SJW crowd who think showing attractive feminine characters is sexist.. because.

Don't know about you but in any game I play I would expect the 'hero' character to look great because it's a fucking made up story. If I wanted to experience real life I wouldn't be playing a fucking game.
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Next thing is when the character creator says "your character is too good looking, you have to make her uglier to continue"
 
DigitalGriffin said:
You are on to something. Her eyes are smaller and rounder than the models. The real life model has wider set eyes. Also the eyebrow line is way too high on the computer character. The orbital plate and frontal bone placement appears off. Her nose is more button like with a slightly wider alar groove.

Overall this is a poor representation.
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Agreed.

You know, if they really want to make all women look assertive all they had to do was add a wedding ring ..... sheesh :rolleyes:
 
One of my faves still today. Anita Sukeezyin.

P_lucy.jpg
 
I have faith that modders will fix a lot of these issues in due time. For now, I'll have to deal with female character models that Bioware can't seem to perfect.
 
They did the same thing to Lara Croft between TR1 and TR2. First one she's super hot, 2nd one they give her a fat face
 
If only Bioware gave us a way to customize our character. If there was only a way I could change her face, hair, eyes (height, length, depth), the bridge of her nose, the point of her cheekbones to be more edgy, that body type that I want...if only they did that...
 
Only female models get hyper-analyzed. On both sides of the "SJW" debate. Blah blah, I don't care. If you care, install a mod that will be available within hours of the games release, if not before.
 
I thought Witcher 3 raised the bar for the industry in general ... but looks like Bioware is missing the point of the "hero" character. If anyone wanted to see ugly, they can go look outside at real life. I hope the guys at CD Projekt finish the Cyberpunk game sooner rather than later. I know I can trust those guys to do what the fans want.
 
Definitely not as "hot" as the model, but IMO she is "average" not "ugly".They obviously did not want the male or female lead to look like a model. I'm pretty sure "average" is what they were aiming for... you can blame it on SJWs, inclusiveness, a want for nerdy fans that don't look like models to be able to cosplay the characters, or whatever, but I think that is what they were trying for and that is what they did.
 
Mchart said:
I think it's pretty obvious they do this on purpose in many AAA titles coming out in order to appease potential blowblack from the SJW crowd who think showing attractive feminine characters is sexist.. because.

Don't know about you but in any game I play I would expect the 'hero' character to look great because it's a fucking made up story. If I wanted to experience real life I wouldn't be playing a fucking game.
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I think this is exactly it.

Having beautiful female models in a game like Mass Effect makes the experience more enjoyable for their primary audience, but will they not buy it like this?
No, they will still buy it, so let's accommodate the largest audience that will be triggered (Coincidentally, people who will not even buy the game, but WILL cause a massive PR storm to feel self-important).
 
Maybe they'll have an extensive character creator with presets of hot models.

That way everybody can be happy!

I'll have to check out the male actor and ingame model later. If the male actor looks like a bronzed statue and the ingame model does *not* look like a dork - I'm crying foul.
 
So wait a bit. Let the mods come out. Then give the ladies some big ole headlights and a shapely posterior. Easy enough.

My favorite part of skyrim was making female characters CRAZY proportioned just bc it was fun. Not sure how you could swing a sword with such huge encumberments but hey, it's a GAME.
 
I just thought they were doing it to be more 'realistic'. I mean put a model through boot camp and then put her in combat, and she will not look like her glamour shot.
 
Bigdady92 said:
If only Bioware gave us a way to customize our character. If there was only a way I could change her face, hair, eyes (height, length, depth), the bridge of her nose, the point of her cheekbones to be more edgy, that body type that I want...if only they did that...
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Yeah but then we couldn't get these lovely clickbait conspiracy stuff. I mean it's funny that an article exist claiming how terrible it is that the female character isn't hot.
Mchart said:
I think it's pretty obvious they do this on purpose in many AAA titles coming out in order to appease potential blowblack from the SJW crowd who think showing attractive feminine characters is sexist.. because.

Don't know about you but in any game I play I would expect the 'hero' character to look great because it's a fucking made up story. If I wanted to experience real life I wouldn't be playing a fucking game.
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avgc0Y7.jpg

The two default ryder characters neither of them are exactly hot they're pretty generic is what i really don't care about, don't stand out. Mass effect always had a character customization like most bioware games, ofc most of the time you just make monsters.

Frank West was fugly but it's fine, character is character and dead rising is a hell of a game. What makes a good character in a video game is what they do and who they are, for the most part unless they look completely putrid people get over it.

You want to know the real problem, character animation https://t.co/bOtRIfw9xb da fuk is that, that's terrible animation.
 
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They probably want to dial it back from Miranda, she basically has pants so tight they looked like they were painted on, that and the camel toe. Her face was still a bit horse faced, but a lot of guys did not care.


Personally, as long as the male characters look good I'm happy. It's we gay guys that get screwed over more than anyone else. Most of the people doing the art and models for these games are straight guys and so of course the females look like they are constantly popping out of their clothes. What about us? What about our needs? Our eye candy?
 
Semantics said:
Yeah but then we couldn't get these lovely clickbait conspiracy stuff. I mean it's funny that an article exist claiming how terrible it is that the female character isn't hot.

avgc0Y7.jpg

The two default ryder characters neither of them are exactly hot they're pretty generic is what i really don't care about, don't stand out. Mass effect always had a character customization like most bioware games, ofc most of the time you just make monsters.

Frank West was fugly but it's fine, character is character and dead rising is a hell of a game. What makes a good character in a video game is what they do and who they are, for the most part unless they look completely putrid people get over it.

You want to know the reason problem character animation, https://t.co/bOtRIfw9xb da fuk is that.
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I always thought the character customization in previous mass effect games was pretty rough. That's why I went with default male shepard as every time I tried to create something that looked better he looked like he was dropped on his head at birth. I could not even get into the witcher series because of something so superficial as not wanting to look at Geralt all the time.
 
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