Elephant in the Room

Cassandra best girl.

Eh, I've never looked for eye candy in video games. Not going to start now

Just read this article. Agreed with most of it, but why doesn't anybody talk about one of the biggest reasons for all the hate: Sera and Cassandra?

Hetero males who felt neglected by the opposite sex options in DAI were primed to hate MAE. Big time. When the animations turned out to be lousy, they had a good excuse to viciously attack the game.

Many games like Skyrim and Fallout (even Witcher 3!) have had their flaws, but gamers were/are more forgiving because they had never been made to feel abandoned. There's a bit a eye-candy in these games, even though they aren't romance RPGs. People like eye-candy, both men and women. That's a fact that is never going to change. But the media seems to pretend its not a factor in people's purchases.

Male fear of female power in games (and in society generally) is real, and the lack of traditionally beautiful, feminine females in DAI confirmed that fear for a LOT of guys and contributed greatly to the hate parade.

And yet nobody is talking about it in the media.

Bioware can save itself a LOT of grief by including a few Yennefers (strong, powerful AND beautiful) in their next game, or even just one.

We are all afraid to talk about this because we are afraid of being branded misogynists, but ignoring the issue won't help Bioware in the long run.

www.vg247.com/2017/08/02/mass-effect-andromeda-had-its-problems-but-bioware-montreal-really-deserved-another-chance-to-get-it-right/

If this truly troubles you -then all the more reason to get the PC version.
Sometimes mods come out that make such options available.
Be it an actual romance mod or a mod that changes appearance -that are then combined together.
It happened for DAI and it is beginning to happen with ME:A -the latter type of mod being first there though.

... Or you can just be like me and not care one way or another:
#Viva La Asexuality

They're talking about the companion Sera in Dragon Age: Inquisition, not the protagonist Sara in Mass Effect: Andromeda.

I guess I don't understand the argument here. Straight men think all sorts of things are attractive. Having a 'classically' beautiful character is only going to appeal to straight male gamers who like that kind of look. So no, dude. Cassandra and Sera - Sera who they can't even romance unless they're playing a girl, are you sure you didn't mean Josephine? - have nothing to do with people's issues towards MEA.

Also, JMO, but Miranda's only pretty because the game went out of its way to tell you she was. From her face model to what happened in game, something definitely got lost in translation.

People like eye-candy, both men and women. That's a fact that is never going to change. But the media seems to pretend its not a factor in people's purchases.

Bingo!

And who is that person?

Male fear of female power in games (and in society generally) is real, and the lack of traditionally beautiful, feminine females in DAI confirmed that fear for a LOT of guys and contributed greatly to the hate parade.