My impressions of our new squadmates

True true... they still came of as being better designed, even before the game came out, though.

...and I really wish people would finally give it a rest with the cloths issue. That's not a medieval fantasy game, energy shields are a thing in this universe. 

Subjective.

And energy shields, or kinetic barriers, dont protect you or your skin from the enviromental hazards or gasses, this is mentioned in the first games codex as i recall.

I think the new squad is very good-looking. They look like sort of...average good-looking. They don't look like supermodels which I think is pretty cool. PB is bae :hearteyes:

Yeah I never liked Jack's hair (or lack thereof) either. Bald or partially shaved on a woman is a big no-no for me. That being said, when ME3 came around Jack's hairstyle does suit her face, unlike Cora's which is just... dumb. And speaking of faces, Jack's is feminine as fuck baldness and prison tats be damned. I think BioWare overcompensated for the latter with the former. Despite not really digging the character or her look I'm a little jealous of how well she turned out.

Cora on the other hand has a truly godawful hairstyle, which not only hits my DoNotWants, but is totally not suited to her face, which could be also be better.


And I hate, hate having to include this but:

This post is concerned solely with the aesthetic analysis of a fictional video game character and any accumulated imperfections due to designer laziness and/or the limitations of the medium, including mocap and animating technology. It does not reflect any opinion or contain any prescriptive views regarding hairstyles or facials features as pertaining to real life women, where a myriad of other factors and complexities that are literally impossible to capture or even list in this context, would make any conclusion drawn here inadequate and therefore null and void. Any preference stated for general factors is just that, personal preference and is not indicative of any objective worth.

/pseudo-legalese disclaimer

Just a reminder, if you dont like Cora, Vetra or Peebee, you can go for science officer Suvi for instance, or Dr.Lexi. Theres other romancible partners for you outside the squad.

And female Ryder, if you find her basic model hideous(personally i dont, she kinda looks like younger Sarah Connor, tough i think Scotts from real live face modelling went better)theres like 8 other presets to choose from as i recall, or you can make your own.

I always made my own Shepard face cause i didnt like Sheploo or that Red haired one for the female. Worked for me.

The uncanny valley is not the only reason an animated character might look bad, or at least markedly worse than the real life model or inspiration for them. I could link that one picture floating around here of Cora's suspected model and put it side by side with an ingame shot of her but then I think I'd be lynched for real life comparisons, disclaimers or no.

Thing is, BioWare kind of sucks at mocapping, especially females. Cora, Sara, Miranda, Diana Allers, all of them are based off of really attractive people but ingame is a whole other story. Then you look at other games, even way older games and their side by sides and it's like light years ahead.

...who is voiced by Natalie Dormer. So there's not much choice left is there


A bit obvious, but don't judge me, I didn't make this.

Since we're on facial animations again, did anyone play LA Noire? Those guys nailed facial expressions in an animated format that I don't feel like has been matched in a game since.

Apart from maybe pure troll posts, this is an over-exaggeration and you know it. And even in the case of the former, if they're troll posts they're done for reactions, not because that's what they truly believe.

If someone comes out and says "X character has some manly features", invariably they'll be asked "what do you mean?" Are they not supposed to explain and elaborate on what they mean? I could turn it around and say defenders always take the details and run with them to Maximum Offense level: "omg you're complaining about her chin wtf so entitled lololol" and start trying to bring social issues into it. Not everyone of course, but a lot more go over the top on this side than the criticism side.

Most of the explanations I've seen (or at least what I took from them) about "femininity" have boiled down to animation issues and only some to design (like Cora's hair). And I still believe the presence of one aggravates the other. As with my post on Jack, the design decision (baldness, shaved head) was manly but the design and animation of her facial features more than made up for it. As a result I can't call Jack manly, even if I don't like her haircut. The overall effect Cora has on the other hand is quite different. There design and likely poor mocapping contribute to the overall verdict.

Though I will admit a few stills or a couple of seconds of cutscene may not be enough to seal her fate. It's possible some final polishing and other factors that come out when we play the game in full, including non appearance ones may compensate and swing it back around. After all, though Miranda is my favorite character from the Trilogy, her mocap is also very flawed, compared to Yvonne Strahovki in RL. And yet I barely noticed it when I played the game. It's possible that had I been around on the forums when images of Miranda were first released I may have been more critical of her looks, and unjustly so. So I admit seeing these new characters in full action may make these complaints premature. But hey, no way to know that now, right?

Somewhat the focus on how "feminine" female squaddies aren't makes this seem like troll thread to me.. but I guess I should give it a benefit of doubt.

My own opinion on squaddies this far:

- Sara/Scott: Sara's face model didn't do anything for me at the start, but I liked Scott's. However I think they have since modeled Scott's (and Sara's) towards their face models which is improvement in Sara's case, her face feel more lively, but negative in Scott's case since I was really into his first look. These don't really matter to me though since I'll be doing my own character. I'm hoping for really good CC, trilogy's wasn't that good. Voice actors sound quite neutral to me, but that's kinda good when lot of people with different characters will be using them.

- Peebee: Her personality could go either way, in paper she sounds great- adventurous scholar, fun etc.. but I didn't really like Sera who was another "fun" character. Also Jack sounded good in paper, but didn't like her either- and I ended up liking both Miranda (though not until ME3) and Vivienne although they didn't sound like characters I'd care for. In terms of design, I found first pic of Peebee quite off, she looked really young and her facial expression just didn't work. Since then she has looked more mature and bit badass. I overall adore how they have colored her. It's just so pretty, her skin fading to dark turquiose towards "hair-tentacles", sparkling stuff, lighter lines.. Also I have grown to like her raccoon make-up/coloration, makes her look like thief



- Drack: We have already had Wrex as older grumpy Krogan and grumpy old warriors aren't really my thing (I'm not so into Krogan as race) so I'm bit bored. Nice design though. I'm hoping his personality will have some new Krogan wise to get interested in.

- Cora: I was really happy about her when she was revealed on trailer. Professional, badass- the tough Asari commando I have wanted, but never had. I love her hair, since adore shorter hairstyles and it fits her. Facial features-wise, I think she looks great from front, but side profile is not my fav. Probably cause I don't like upturned noses.. and sadly have one myself that I kinda dislike ^^;

- Liam : I like his jacket, but above that I haven't found anything interesting about him personality nor design-wise. I'm sad they got rid of goggles. At first I thought he would be reckless and confident, was into that, but now that they have revealed more of him I don't see that anymore.

- Vetra. She reminds me lot of Nyreen, but not a bad thing. I like how Turians are really tall in this game and quite slender in the build. However I'm not sure if I prefer their upgrade from trilogy, somehow the faces look bit too smooth? Not sure yet. Anyways her personality somewhat reminds me just of Nyreen at this point- quite badass, but caring. That's quite nice, but makes me unsure how she's character on her own yet. I have to see more.

- Jaal. Finally, but not least. I love how ME designs aliens (not lack of female one's though, but at least ME:A is fixing that) and Jaal is no expection. This squid-lion just has pretty coloration and captivating eyes. I kinda like that he's bigger in size and I even love his cobra-neck. What we have heard of Angara this far and about him being this resistance fighter.. I think he will be great character and I can't wait to talk to him.

A little over 50 million... that was much at the time, but the technology also was relatively new ...ME3 cost 40 mil, so I doubt it was a money issue.

These women are also scifi icons and they dont look like supermodels either, at least not to my eye. They look like ordinary people, well not teh minbari, but you get where im going. I dont hear people complaining bout them.








Their attractivenes to me comes from their personality or strenght of character, not looks.

Times have changed it seems, to more shallow.

Perhaps you'll find them more attractive when you interact with them a little more?