Why women criticise sexualised character designs |OT2| I have no pants and I must scream (READ OP)

[Jotakori]

Here's another runner up for absolutely god damn awful XC2 character designs. I tried so hard with this game, and it does have a few really, really excellent designs sprinkled in but...... shit like Dahlia and this one just made it too difficult. And the boob physics. Good lord.

God forbid we just let a woman have muscles of her own, and also by tiddy jrpg law her torso must of course be basically naked at all times. 🙄

I keep forgetting about O'rin, she was great for a one time boss and yeah I always forget Corrupted Monk is a woman, but it's a great monster design. Shit if you're going to throw in Corrupted Monk I'll throw in Ebrietas from Bloodborne.

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Eheheh, yes! :D
Oh, Mergo's Wet Nurse, too! That design is so crazy awesome. Man, recent Miyazaki games are just amazing with their female characters. I'm so stoked to see what we'll get out of Elden Ring.

 

[Jaded Photographer]

Eheheh, yes! :D
Oh, Mergo's Wet Nurse, too! That design is so crazy awesome. Man, recent Miyazaki games are just amazing with their female characters. I'm so stoked to see what we'll get out of Elden Ring.

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I hope Elden Ring is good with that, I guess if GOW can give us Freya whom has a nice design Miyazaki should be able to at least equal it.

 

[ClickyCal']

I'm always surprised that the new MK's don't have muscular women. Especially since they're going for a more realistic visual style compared to most fighting games. That said, when you think a bout it which developers of any games are really giving women muscles? Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, and Capcom?

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Well samus finally did, and of course man babies whined.

 

[Komii]

Most female characters in FFXIV have been amazing.

Y'shtola

Ysayle

Yugiri

Yotsuyu

As well as characters like Moenbryda and Tataru...

... to name a few!

Ellie and Chloe by Naughty Dog also deserve a mention!

Quiet from MGSV is a strong contender for the worst female character design of the decade, along with 2B from NieR and Rachel and Jessica from Resident Evil Revelations.



Yeah, the contrast between Cindy and Aranea is interesting. Cindy isn't just a poor character design, but it's also the way the camera ogles her. Aranea on the other hand is great, and more in line with what you'd expect from a strong female character in the series.

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Not having merwylb in this list is a fucking
Crime

 

[Warrior of Light]

Not having merwylb in this list is a fucking
Crime

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I love her too. But you can't blame me! There's just too many to list.

 

[Dark Knight]

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Hilda too <3

 

[Kinsei]

So much makes me want to try out FFXIV, including those designs, but I've always been too intimidated to play an MMO.

 

[Xaszatm]

So much makes me want to try out FFXIV, including those designs, but I've always been too intimidated to play an MMO.

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It's probably the easiest MMO to solo honestly, so you can ignore most of the MMO aspect if you wish.

Well samus finally did, and of course man babies whined.

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Oh god, the dumb "boobs nerf" meme that came from that drove me up a wall.

 

[Dark Knight]

So much makes me want to try out FFXIV, including those designs, but I've always been too intimidated to play an MMO.

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Scared of other people? My girlfriend is the same way but she was able to get into FFXIV for a decent spell. I find XIV's playerbase to be generally pretty forgiving and patient if that helps you, more than most online game communities. Still gets new players all the time so people are used to helping/teaching strangers.

It's probably the easiest MMO to solo honestly, so you can ignore most of the MMO aspect if you wish.

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That's not entirely true though as progress is gated behind group content(dungeons and trials).

 

[Oinone]

My brain can't process a whole decade, but for this year, my pick would be Jesse Faden from Control.
I wasn't that interested in it, nor did I dig the story in a noticeable way, but I still started to feel a lot of sympathy for her, and her design is legit.
Biggest disappointment is easily Lady in DMC5. After I saw a first leaked shot of her, it seemed they were giving her her dignity back, after the shit 4 was. But then her whole look was revealed and the outfit seemed already iffy. And after that all the other stuff happened and... well. 5 managed to disappoint me in various ways, some I didn't even see coming. :O

 

[esserius]

That's not entirely true though as progress is gated behind group content(dungeons and trials).

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Would recommend playing a Tank or Healer if you want to level quickly, as it's much faster to queue for the handful of required group content. Still, none of that content is difficult and if you play DPS you can do lots of side-content while waiting.

For worst designs of the decade I'd say XC2 is a standout for just all-around bad designs (with the weird exception of Morag and it just makes the rest of the awful designs even dumber). Well, unless you count gacha trash but I don't think anyone considers gacha trash because we're all aware of their awfulness and laziness.

 

[Kinsei]

Scared of other people? My girlfriend is the same way but she was able to get into FFXIV for a decent spell. I find XIV's playerbase to be generally pretty forgiving and patient if that helps you, more than most online game communities. Still gets new players all the time so people are used to helping/teaching strangers.

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Mostly the idea of potentially beingthe reason a party fails. I also like playing healers and that seems really stressful in an MMO.

 

[esserius]

Mostly the idea of potentially beingthe reason a party fails. I also like playing healers and that seems really stressful in an MMO.

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If you play a WHM (White Mage) you can basically take a nap while healing in FFXIV. AST (Astrologian) and SCH (Scholar) are a bit more advanced, though I'd recommend trying them since they're both fun for different reasons (and it's great to be able to basically choose your healer style).

 

[Komii]

I love her too. But you can't blame me! There's just too many to list.

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I can! She's the freaking leader of Limsa Lominsa AND A BADASS CORSAIR

 

[ClickyCal']

Claire's new design is great. Her original one was maybe even more nonsensical than tubetop/miniskirt jill. The jacket is really cool and practical, and unique with the design on the back.

 

[Dark Knight]

Mostly the idea of potentially beingthe reason a party fails. I also like playing healers and that seems really stressful in an MMO.

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Yeah my gf is the same way. She couldn't even play anything at PAX with me because she's scared of people watching behind her.

XIV is cool though, it holds your hand a lot and progressing through the jobs are quite slow so you understand your toolkit very naturally as it grows. So no pressure if you ever think about trying it :)

 

[Rae]

I just wanted to say Evie (AC: Syndicate) and Cassandra have great designs for AC series. The latter totally made AC:O great as the MC with her reactions to everything before I got tired of running the same damn quests to progress. I feel like there's so many it's OK female character designs EXCEPT for this one part which ruined everything in the game.

FFXIV NPC design is great except for players who will always be wearing skirts in all their armor sets forever.

 

[Tizoc]

Y'all should give Tangle Tower a play.
The game's visual style is great and I really like the design of the ladies in the game.

https://sfbgames.itch.io/tangle-tower

I don't think you need to play any previous Grimoire games to enjoy this mind you.

 

[Deleted member 2669]

Any thoughts on an ad-hoc best/worst female character designs of the decade?

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Touhou is always good.

Tomomi Kobayashi's work on the SaGa series is spectacular.

 

[Syril]

Any thoughts on an ad-hoc best/worst female character designs of the decade?

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My favorite:

 

[SchrodingerC]

One consideration for worst design:

Shelob from Shadow of War.
They took a spider monster and turned her in a some pretty human woman with a slinky dress. The devs twisting middle earth lore to make their weak ass justification really didn't help either.

In other words:
Fuck.
That.

This Shelob is what the players should've been interacting with:

Vastly more interesting to ally with than what we got.

 

[Morrigan]

Best:
Lady Maria and Eileen the Crow (Bloodborne) -- not playable but you can make a woman that dresses like that so xD

Billie Lurk

Aloy of course

Amicia de Rune (A Plague Tale)

Lady Butterfly (Sekiro)

Ginchiyo Tachibana (Nioh)


--

Worst (not gonna post pics):
Quiet MGS5
That Xenoboob lady
Nowi, the infamous "thousand year old dragon" from Fire Emblem Awakening

 

[Xaszatm]

Touhou is always good.

Tomomi Kobayashi's work on the SaGa series is spectacular.

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Touhou does have weird design choices but yeah it's one of the most consistent at giving good character designs for everyone.

 

[¡ B 0 0 P !]

The best designs of the decade for me have been:

Ana (Overwatch)

Senua (Hellblade)

Reboot Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

Inkling Girl (Splatoon)

Huntress (Dead by Daylight)

Max (Life is Strange)

Cassie Cage (Mortal Kombat 11)

As for the worst it has to be a 3-way tie between:

Pyra (Xenoblades 2)

Ryza (Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout)

Sonya Blade (Mortal Kombat 9)

 

[Ferrs]

Best: Lady Maria from Bloodborne

Worst: 2B from Nier Automata

 

[Morrigan]

Best: Lady Maria from Bloodborne

Worst: 2B from Nier Automata

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[Xaszatm]

Lady Maria is awesome, that cosplay from earlier just showcased why. It looks good both in game and IRL.

 

[Servbot24]

Dahlia from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is definitely one of the worst

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Character design is the reason I'll never play this game

 

[¡ B 0 0 P !]

Character design is the reason I'll never play this game

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That's what you get when you hire a porn artist to design the characters.

 

[Jaded Photographer]

The best designs of the decade for me have been:

Ana (Overwatch)

Senua (Hellblade)

Reboot Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

Inkling Girl (Splatoon)

Huntress (Dead by Daylight)

Max (Life is Strange)

Cassie Cage (Mortal Kombat 11)

As for the worst it has to be a 3-way tie between:

Pyra (Xenoblades 2)

Ryza (Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout)

Sonya Blade (Mortal Kombat 9)

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Nice to see another Cassie fan in here. I love her current look, don't like her classic skin because it's such a downgrade for her.

 

[Xaszatm]

That's what you get when you hire a porn artist to design the characters.

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Porn Artist(s).

 

[Deleted member 32679]

Sonya Blade (Mortal Kombat 9)

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That Sonia design is insane. I remember laughing when she introduced herself to Johnny Cage as US Spec ops with her chest in full view.

 

[caff!!!]

That's what you get when you hire a porn artist to design the characters.

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I'd personally expect designs better than shaking the mouse with the lasso tool and calling the result an outfit. It's so bad pyra in the mandatory one piece swimsuit DLC looks better than the default outfit

 

[Pandora012]

The best designs of the decade for me have been:

Ana (Overwatch)

Senua (Hellblade)

Reboot Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

Inkling Girl (Splatoon)

Huntress (Dead by Daylight)

Max (Life is Strange)

Cassie Cage (Mortal Kombat 11)

As for the worst it has to be a 3-way tie between:

Pyra (Xenoblades 2)

Ryza (Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout)

Sonya Blade (Mortal Kombat 9)

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Was wondering why ryza. Then i saw her legs....lmao

 

[Deleted member 2669]

Everyone in Butterfly Soup and We Know the Devil dresses like a normal person.

Lady Butterfly (Sekiro)

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Probably the best old woman design ever made for a game.

Touhou does have weird design choices but yeah it's one of the most consistent at giving good character designs for everyone.

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Weird in what way?

 

[StarBot]

you dont see how people say she's sexy, really?

really?

the goth

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How in anyway, 2B is "goth" lmao

 

[Xaszatm]

Weird in what way?

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Weird probably isn't the word, I was remembering that one alt costume for Yuugi that was the most risque official art until that one art book came out. She uses that in her new art in the new game that was released a few days ago so I was thinking about that.

 

[Delphine]

Probably the best old woman design ever made for a game.

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In terms of old woman design, nothing has topped A Plague Tale: Innocence's Clervie for me. She's an amazing, kind & lovable character, and her design is so refreshing!

 

[Master Alucard]

So much makes me want to try out FFXIV, including those designs, but I've always been too intimidated to play an MMO.

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i think it's f2p up to level 30 (you have to buy the game tho) so you can get an idea of how it plays.
there is also a tutorial system to learn the basics and the novice channel where you can ask other people if you have doubts)
it is designed so you can play it solo on the outer world but you have to do dungeons and raids with parties
now if you play tank or healer you'll have significantly shorter queues BUT a bigger role (if the tank/healer makes mistakes it can lead to a wipe, if the DPS is low or they make mistakes it not really an issue.
the main quest is fairly easy tho, the hard part of the game is for the dedicated people who do extreme content, which is optional

Probably the best old woman design ever made for a game.

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not to undermine the character, which i found good and i liked the fight but she's like every kunoichi in all the manga/anime

 

[Laiza]

For positive rep, I always have to stan Diene for being one of the most ordinary-looking nun characters ever put into a video game, let alone a gacha game, ESPECIALLY with her having an incredibly important role in the story. Her side story is still considered the best one in the entire game one year out.

I have to agree with everyone else saying XC2 is one of the worst. Absolute garbage. Frankly, it's on par with the worst of the gacha games out there, which is astonishing when you think about the fact that it's published by Nintendo. Sheesh.

 

[QisTopTier]

I'll never understand how people talk about xbc2 having shit designs and never even bring up the worst one. Never really gives me the impression they played really which is fine and all but yeah.

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I'd take the wack ass snow bunny girl over whatever the hell this is anyday.

Spoiler

her design is not good either

 

[Deleted member 2669]

Weird probably isn't the word, I was remembering that one alt costume for Yuugi that was the most risque official art until that one art book came out. She uses that in her new art in the new game that was released a few days ago so I was thinking about that.

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Oh, the kimono? I forgot about that. It's unusually horny for Touhou.

In terms of old woman design, nothing has topped A Plague Tale: Innocence's Clervie for me. She's an amazing, kind & lovable character, and her design is so refreshing!

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She looks like a breath of fresh air for real. A very sincere portrayal of an elderly woman.

not to undermine the character, which i found good and i liked the fight but she's like every kunoichi in all the manga/anime

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I did say design. Old women in video games and anime are like unicorns, especially those who aren't jokes or who have any sort of significance.

 

[Mekanos]

There is a certain margin of "acceptable" for me when it comes to JRPGs being flooded with sexy anime girl designs and Xenoblade 2 doesn't so much cross that line as beat it to death with badly proportioned body parts.

 

[Xaszatm]

Oh, the kimono? I forgot about that. It's unusually horny for Touhou.


She looks like a breath of fresh air for real. A very sincere portrayal of an elderly woman.


I did say design. Old women in video games and anime are like unicorns, especially those who aren't jokes or who have any sort of significance.

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Yeah it's used in game in the latest one so it brought it back to my memory playing it.

It's not as bad as the original ad but still is risque compared to like 99% of Touhou designs.

 

[RedSwirl]

Character design is the reason I'll never play this game

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Character designs are one of the main reasons I stopped playing most JRPGs of recent years. Not even just the creepy female character designs either, all of them look sort of tacky to me.

 

[Xaszatm]

For positive rep, I always have to stan Diene for being one of the most ordinary-looking nun characters ever put into a video game, let alone a gacha game, ESPECIALLY with her having an incredibly important role in the story. Her side story is still considered the best one in the entire game one year out.

I have to agree with everyone else saying XC2 is one of the worst. Absolute garbage. Frankly, it's on par with the worst of the gacha games out there, which is astonishing when you think about the fact that it's published by Nintendo. Sheesh.

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I mean, Nintendo did put out the thousand year old loli and Monolith Soft added really idiotic moves to their own character KOS-MOS in Project X Zone

 

[Rae]

I want to say not all JRPGs but you know I'm not going to die on this hill today.

 

[Snormy]

Her side story is still considered the best one in the entire game one year out.

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None of the other side story nor main stories come close to Diene's imo.

It is a shame the early designs are so much better. The triple combo they did recently with Red Cecil's costume, Spec changed Wanda and the upcoming 800 year old dragon Loli is just so disappointing.

 

[Roliq]

Dahlia from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is definitely one of the worst

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Not defending the design because it's so ugly and ridiculous ( and also kind of weird considering the same person also did this one https://xenoblade.fandom.com/wiki/Ursula ) but from what I remember the image on the left is a result of a glitch, her back is not like that in the game

 

[Hella]

Her design convinced me to never play Xenoblade 2.

I'll never understand why Xenoblade went that route--the other games had some poor designs, but XBC2 is made up entirely of 'em. It's revolting.