ME:A - Game and Model Design Decisions gone awry? *spinoff*

[Sigfried1977]

If you play without the day one patch, you apparently get to pick a female version of Ryder who hasn't been beaten with the ugly stick yet. Still looks bad because nothing is going to fix those eyes, but at least she resembles the gorgeous model on which her likeness is supposedly based a little bit more.


Okay, been reading a bit more into it and apparently the patch is built into the digital version already. Some also said it's just a bug. If that's the case, then a bug has bested whoever modeled the character. Good job, bug

 

[Deleted member 13524]

If you play without the day one patch, you apparently get to pick a female version of Ryder who hasn't been beaten with the ugly stick yet. Still looks bad because nothing is going to fix those eyes, but at least she resembles the gorgeous model on which her likeness is supposedly based a little bit more.

Wow, I had no idea this was a thing..

Left is final result, middle is the real life model they scanned and right is the original version of female Ryder.


1 - Increased her nose to twice its original size
2 - Widened her jaw
3 - Shortened her chin (or moved forward her jaw?)
4 - Pushed her eyebrows up and made them thicker but scarcer
5 - Completely changed the eyes' shape and put some large eye bags beneath them
6 - Made the mouth bigger (or moved forward her jaw?)
7 - Plucked her... eyelashes?

From looking at a video of the original model with shots from sideways (careful could be nsfw-ish, bikini stuff) and footage from the released FemRyder, it looks like they might have pushed the whole face forward from the nose down, making the nose and mouth look bigger, and the chin look wider from the front perspective. And they definitely lowered and widened her jaw.

Here's a quick montage I made:

Why..?
I know Bioware is on the forefront of the political correctness train, and among other stuff, this means scrapping off anything that would attract the male gaze from all kinds of media. This isn't news as female characters were already quite ugly in Dragon Age Inquisition compared to previous Bioware games.

What I don't understand is why they scanned a very attractive female and then made an uglier model out of the scans. And they even did this after the game going gold and printing on blurays.
Why not just scan a less attractive female from the start?


I wonder if there's an actually intelligent reason for this to have happened. For example, maybe for some reason they couldn't make the scanned model work with facial animations. So then they had to use some other 3D head/face, which they altered to look like the scanned one.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

The above two posts are so strange I do not know what to think! They de-beautified a REAL person's face to make it look more "REAL" ???? What?
I can understand the sentiment of having a non sexualised lead character, look at ALOY , she is just that ! That doesn't mean real people cannot look graceful......I don't even know what to say. I will sound wrong whatever I say. I guess its just a decision they decided to take....its so subjective that it can be ridiculed as much as it can be hailed.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Aloy isn't ugly, though. Besides, is an attractive face already too much in the eyes of these fun-hating harpies? They got the male model spot-on, by the way, so I don't think it was a lack of capabilities on their end. Heck, they even butchered their own lore by giving the Asari squadmate a visage that kinda looks like Shrek's. This is supposed to be a race with an appearance every other race perceives as utter physical perfection for mating reasons.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Heck, they even butchered their own lore by giving the Asari squadmate a visage that kinda looks like Shrek's. This is supposed to be a race with an appearance every other race perceives as utter physical perfection for mating reasons.

Peebee is not exactly your typical Asari.

 

[Ike Turner]

Wow, I had no idea this was a thing..

Left is final result, middle is the real life model they scanned and right is the original version of female Ryder.


1 - Increased her nose to twice its original size
2 - Widened her jaw
3 - Shortened her chin (or moved forward her jaw?)
4 - Pushed her eyebrows up and made them thicker but scarcer
5 - Completely changed the eyes' shape and put some large eye bags beneath them
6 - Made the mouth bigger (or moved forward her jaw?)
7 - Plucked her... eyelashes?

From looking at a video of the original model with shots from sideways (careful could be nsfw-ish, bikini stuff) and footage from the released FemRyder, it looks like they might have pushed the whole face forward from the nose down, making the nose and mouth look bigger, and the chin look wider from the front perspective. And they definitely lowered and widened her jaw.

Here's a quick montage I made:

Why..?
I know Bioware is on the forefront of the political correctness train, and among other stuff, this means scrapping off anything that would attract the male gaze from all kinds of media. This isn't news as female characters were already quite ugly in Dragon Age Inquisition compared to previous Bioware games.

What I don't understand is why they scanned a very attractive female and then made an uglier model out of the scans. And they even did this after the game going gold and printing on blurays.
Why not just scan a less attractive female from the start?


I wonder if there's an actually intelligent reason for this to have happened. For example, maybe for some reason they couldn't make the scanned model work with facial animations. So then they had to use some other 3D head/face, which they altered to look like the scanned one.

hmmm no...the whole conspiracy is some BS made up by GamerGate folks on Reddit. The female Ryder with and without the day one patch is exactly the same model. You know...the one used publically in promo material for the past 8 months +...Even the first screenshot you posted clearly states that the one in the far right is modified in Source Filmaker... (and doesn't even look like the "supposedly" pre-day patch fake screenshot flaunting around..). Now the fact that the female ryder looks like shit compared to the real-life model is another issue.

 

[ProspectorPete]

Kotaku had an article like "gamers are disappointed about gay marriage in Mass Effect", so today we had an amazing moment when a co-worker told us about this.
I said "Why disappointed about gay sex? Why can't female Ryder have an incest relationship" to which a colleague replied "Why the f*ck would you want her te have sex with her brother?? That's sick!"

So I said "???? I was talking about

Spoiler

her father

" And we all laughed as I was obviously joking. But yes, it does raise a point of were we should stop.
People will be upset if you can have a sex change operation in the middle of ME:A2, trust me on this one

 

[Deleted member 13524]

hmmm no...the whole conspiracy is some BS made up by GamerGate folks on Reddit. The female Ryder with and without the day one patch is exactly the same model. You know...the one used publically in promo material for the past 8 months +...Even the first screenshot you posted clearly states that the one in the far right is modified in Source Filmaker... (and doesn't even look like the "supposedly" pre-day patch fake screenshot flaunting around..). Now the fact that the female ryder looks like shit compared to the real-life model is another issue.

Lol, using GamerGate as the boogeyman scapegoat to block all discussion that might bother publishers and journalists is so outdated...
Are you an avid polygon reader? Just wondering.

But by all means do link to this "Reddit GamerGate origin" you mention.
There has to be this link to a kotakuinaction thread with all those evil women-haters plotting to make up stories and modify character models to create outrage, so let's see it.

Until then, I call bullshit on your post and double down with this screenshot:

http://imgur.com/a/qLSdL

and this one.

http://imgur.com/a/wD4qp

(BTW source for this isn't any gamergate reddit. It's from this thread in r/masseffect, and it has been replicated by some users such as this one.)

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Peebee is not exactly your typical Asari.

Why has my post been moved to this toxic shit thread?

 

[BRiT]

Why has my post been moved to this toxic shit thread?

It is a response to a post that is part of this "shit thread" discussion, no?

 

[Rodéric]

Oh my those screenshots are

 

[AlNom]

Peebee is not exactly your typical Asari.

Space-elf Sera?

 

[Exophase]

Why not just scan a less attractive female from the start?

I guess this evolved over time. Maybe in part by pressure from the media, consultants, and/or internal review. But I'll bet they're kicking themselves over not using a different model now.

The problem as I see it isn't that the character falls short of genetic-jackpot level beauty (I wouldn't call her ugly per se) but that the changes have caused a lot of her expressions to look completely unnatural and exaggerated. Even in the still picture above she looks like she's making a face. I don't think very many people look anything like this in a relaxed state.

 

[ProspectorPete]

Is it possible that the actress' agent played the near final game and was like: "no way you are getting attached to what probably be a lower-70's metacritic game, I am pulling you out!" , and as such they had 2 days to change the character model enough to avoid a lawsuit?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

It is a response to a post that is part of this "shit thread" discussion, no?

With the toxicity surgically removed and only narrative addressed! ;-)

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Is it possible that the actress' agent played the near final game and was like: "no way you are getting attached to what probably be a lower-70's metacritic game, I am pulling you out!" , and as such they had 2 days to change the character model enough to avoid a lawsuit?

Erm... no, AFAIK she isn't that popular (i.e. no bridges can be burnt) so I think she's still grateful for the jig no matter what.

 

[tuna]

7 - Plucked her... eyelashes?

Maybe the game model is not wearing mascara and/or fake eye lashes?

 

[ProspectorPete]

Erm... no, AFAIK she isn't that popular (i.e. no bridges can be burnt) so I think she's still grateful for the jig no matter what.

Well, if she still IS attached to the project, her agent should give Bioware a call, as the current in-game representation is worse than a caricature.

I am not saying the character in itself looks bad, but as a representation of the actress, it's as if somebody spent 3 minutes with the create-a-Ryder feature and called it a day. That seems really sloppy in this day and age.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Well, if she still IS attached to the project, her agent should give Bioware a call, as the current in-game representation is worse than a caricature.

I think if this was some top model (as in Victoria's Secrets regular roster or something), Bioware/EA would have a lawsuit so far up their asses that they couldn't breathe until they released a patch to restore the person's original looks.

But since they used a largely unknown model who has no money for lawyers, they'll get away with the disfigurement.


No matter what the real reason was, I think they're complete morons for doing something like this.
But I can vote with my wallet.


Be it because they did this as a socio-political statement or simply because they fucked up in the animations department and had to use a random 3d model instead, it's best to let EA know some people won't purchase lower-quality games, at least not at full price.

 

[swaaye]

My impression from the first preview video of this game was they designed this character to look very girl-next-door. I was surprised it wasn't another red haired green eyed dream girl.