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[Tschumi]

(I don't, just an attempt at catching people who don't read OPs)

I've seen a ton of people saying Returnal is the best game of 2021 on another thread and I distinctly remember a lot of GAFers being triggered by this character's lack of sex appeal and karen'ness in the run-up to release. The idea being, I think, that if developers don't offer up something like Tifa in FF7R they're being.. woke?

Do people still feel that way?
Was it a passing reactionary fad?
Were you, are you, one of them?

Are you, like me, free of triggerdness in this case?

Are you prepared to nail your colours to the mast?

 

[kyliethicc]

 

[Banjo64]

He’s a good looking man. I don’t see the problem.

 

[Werewolfgrandma]

Only their backside.

 

[Gameplaylover]

He’s a good looking man. I don’t see the problem.

Please call him by his correct title and name: Sir Brienne von Tarth

 

[Con-Z-epT]

No why should i?

Finally a protagonist who looks more like a real human, with a non-symmetrical face and some edges and corners, while also having a nice butt.

I can only laugh at anyone who asociates their joy in playing a video game with the face of a protagonist who, on balance, and in the worst case, can be described as average and by no means ugly.

 

[Raphael]

It doesnt bother me the woman is not sexy, she actually fits quite well. I would have prefered a man though.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

I think it's nice that the protagonist doesn't look like a sub-40 year-old woman or a sub-50 year-old man in the prime of their visual appeal.

And unlike what bioware did to their female models, in this case I don't think Housemarque went out of their way to make the actress look ugly. She's just a ~50 year old astronaut who isn't all that worried about eyeliner and foundation because she's kind of alone in space.

 

[Camreezie]

No because I dont want to fuck video game characters

 

[azertydu91]

No because I dont want to fuck video game characters

Not even this one?

 

[Ellery]

No of course not. I think it is pretty silly to expect every single game to have a 10/10 athletic mid 20s protagonist that looks like a photoshopped model from the cover of a magazine.

Completely cool to have different characters. That goes both ways for me. I also don't mind when people love big tiddy Dead or Alive character and games. Same as I don't mind playing Trevor in GTA V.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Pretty sure a lot of people skipped the game due to its roguelite nature, while some roguelite fans seem to not consider it a very good roguelite.

Basically looks like one of those games that aren't necessarely bad but live in a weird limbo, which is probably why it didn't do all that good.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

 

[John Bilbo]

Depending on her personality, she might fit the story they are telling. Looking at the pictures provided in the thread, she looks like a determined person. Determined to survive I would guess. Other than that is hard to say without playing.

If the game comes to PC and is cheap enough I will probably play it.

 

[RoboFu]

I don’t think a lot of people complained about how she looked… a few people just thought they made her that way to appeal to the woke and were more irritated by that.. then the actual woke people proclaimed those people hated it solely because of her looks and sexism..

We use to call that a “ carnival of stupid “ now it’s just society

Me .. I just don’t like the concept of the game.

 

[DelireMan7]

Haven't play the game but appearance of the protagonist don't play a role in my enjoyment of a game.

Also I don't see anything bad in the OP's picture.

 

[RGB'D]

No I hold it's crap story against it. Great gameplay, bad design choices, bad story. 7.5/10 but definitely worth playing

 

[Hobbygaming]

I couldn't care less about my character's looks, just make humans look human and we're good

 

[Spaceman292]

No, I'm not a crazy person

 

[Venom Snake]

When i occasionally leave my grandma's basement, i suddenly find myself surrounded by similar people, so no.

 

[Aion002]

Honestly... A little bit.

I like the main character to be cool looking or unique, not looking similar to someone that can be found at a supermarket buying stuff.

And it's just not the mc appearance, the "suit/armor" looks boring to me.

 

[NikuNashi]

I don't care however the character model is very ugly and I have no idea why anyone would consciously decide on that for the main protagonist.

My problem with Returnal runs much deeper, the lack of a mid run save and resume, artificially extending a short experience by making players restart everytime (it's a rogue lite duhhh!. As if calling a shit idea by a special name makes it stop being shit).

Just patch the game with a continue where I died and an option for three character settings. Heroine, average chick or ageing granny with man's hair.

 

[Soodanim]

If sex appeal was a driving force behind my choice to buy or not buy a game, I'd be ashamed of myself.

I know nothing about Returnal, but from those screenshots I do feel that she is in uncanny valley territory. But I'd be more concerned with whether or not the character is a good character or if the game is fun to play, because most of any given game is from the character's eyes or looking at the back of their head.

 

[ethomaz]

Why?

 

[Aaron Olive]

No i hold that fact I can’t finish the game against the game, and it was $70 Dollars!!!

 

[Saber]

I do mind. Although this doesn't necessarilly make the game bad, games for me are a form of escapism. Just like movies, no ones wants a boring bland looking actor or actress. And this has nothing to do with sex appeal, thats some phrase people at Reera likes to regurgitate(like male fantasy).
If I want realism I would rather go outside.

 

[Haggard]

A Final Fantasy Babe would`ve been out of place imho. The protagonist was a good fit.

 

[Kupfer]

Well, kind of. I find the main character unattractive, but that's not why I don't play the game. But the whole appearance doesn't turn me on and gives me one more reason not to be interested in the game.

Edit:
I also find the character in Ghost of Tsushima unattractive, but I like the game itself better in GoT, so the characters' appearance shifted to the background. What I want to say is, if the game is good (imo ofc), the look of the main character doesn't matter that much. But of course I prefer to look and play with characters I find attractive.

 

[Guileless]

No, I'm not a crazy person

Surely it's not crazy to notice that the faces of mass entertainment products tend to be conventionally attractive? It can be useful to cast against type sometimes and there are plenty of non-conventionally attractive character actors that thrive in smaller roles, but those are exceptions. It's not likely that people consciously made the decision described in the OP, but I bet there were plenty of people browsing the PS store who were subconsciouly offput by the character design in a game that was already a tough sell for a mass audience.

But that doesn't mean it was a bad artistic choice by the devs.

 

[Bartski]

 

[Kokoloko85]

No I really didnt care and put like 60+ hours of gameplay.
If every female character looks like that then yes lol

 

[b0bbyJ03]

I don't hold it against the game, it didn't bother me at all, but that's like asking if not having a Ferrari bothers me. No, it doesn't but I'd definitely prefer having one. Give me hot chicks in games any day. I'll take it.

 

[Azurro]

I'm old school, I like my protagonist to either be cool in some way, and that usually goes hand to hand with attractive, though not always. However, what kept me away from the game was that it is a rogue-like, not that it stars this ugly, ugly man with a pretty behind.

 

[Notabueno]

The problem is not the woman but the terrible uncanny rendering, making the character uncharismatic, fucking badly scaled in the morphology, with a very gross face mocap result (which is why you want to either have la creme de la creme in face mocap, or just stylise the face like they do in most big productions, the best exemple to date being TLoUII)

 

[tommib]

No why should i?

Finally a protagonist who looks more like a real human, with a non-symmetrical face and some edges and corners, while also having a nice butt.

I can only laugh at anyone who asociates their joy in playing a video game with the face of a protagonist who, on balance, and in the worst case, can be described as average and by no means ugly.

It felt fucking refreshing to play as Selene who looks like an actual female astronaut instead of a waifu in space. Thing is, no one would be talking about what Selene looks like 10 years ago but somehow her looking normal triggers all the incels who complain about the “agenda”.

Selene looks and feels real and her tragedy hits harder because of it.

 

[Kuranghi]

Its good for people in the know but you can't not also post the audio from that one lol:




and the followup:

 

[evanft]

I'm not a coomer, so no.

 

[Con-Z-epT]

It felt fucking refreshing to play as Selene who looks like an actual female astronaut instead of a waifu in space. Thing is, no one would be talking about what Selene looks like 10 years ago but somehow her looking normal triggers all the incels who complain about the “agenda”.

Selene looks and feels real and her tragedy hits harder because of it.

Well put.

Just a normal looking woman yet you find people in here calling her very ugly, uncanny rendered and badly scaled in the morphology. How bad of a perception about an average woman does somebody have to actually believe this.

 

[Closer]

The problem is that if you don't pander to a certain group of people, you are either woke or sexist. These groups says that devs should do whatever they want but actually want things their way.

I don't care how my character looks because I'm looking for a good game with good gameplay. She could've been a walking nail with a gun and I'd still like the game just the same.

 

[ElCasual]

I spank her. Its all that matters.

 

[BbMajor7th]

A bizarre hill to die on - she always reminded me of classic 80s heroines like Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley (from films I absolutely loved growing up) and given how strong an influence the Aliens universe has on the game, this should come as a shock to no-one.

 

[Kikorin]

I don't mind her not being sexy, if I've to criticize something, I always thought her head is unnaturally big for some reason.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Never cared much as I had my pants on all the time.

 

[ViolentP]

What kind of dumb shit do you have to be to take issue with the way a videogame character looks?

 

[FunkMiller]

No. Of course not.

Because I am not a weird little incel, whose only contact with females happens online, or in my own head.

 

[Tschumi]

What kind of dumb shit do you have to be to take issue with the way a videogame character looks?

Ikr

Some people are lying though, i think I'll go back and search for Returnal threads and call out the people who perpetrated

 

[John Bilbo]

Ikr

Some people are lying though, i think I'll go back and search for Returnal threads and call out the people who perpetrated

 

[boomcrab]

Lol this is kind of dumb I'm sorry. A thread like this makes this whole forum look bad. Not just the OP but all these comments as well. I can't believe some of you actually care about this stuff. This right here is one of the reasons some games are creatively held back.

 

[Tschumi]

Can confirm lol:

My biggest gripe with this game they announced is that the main character seems like a weak, semi-politically charged idea. I was joking when I first seen it that you play as Hilary Clinton in a spacesuit. Others comments about the character being 'a Karen' is very much in-line with what was presented.

 

[Tschumi]

Lol this is kind of dumb I'm sorry. A thread like this makes this whole forum look bad. Not just the OP but all these comments as well. I can't believe some of you actually care about this stuff. This right here is one of the reasons some games are creatively held back.

Neo member takin' shots, is there a more nakedly pointless thing in existence?