My impressions of our new squadmates

I do agree that the face scanning wasn't as successful as last time.

Atleast Scott face seems to have worked out fine.

Only real difference I can see is lack of makeup, slightly different jaw shape and different eyebrows

I am a female gamer, and my honest impressions are...

Ryders... who cares? I am going to customize anyway. Both look too boring and pale.

PeeBee: what an idiotic name. Looks like Mission. Hopefully no Sera horrific style of talking. Drop.
Drack. Another Krogan. Drop.
Vetra. Oh, my! Fem Turian! Love!
Cora. Holy cow, neat! Probably Jaheira... hopefully she does not harp. Will see.
Liam. Not Asian, I was hoping for a good boy version of Leng. Haven't I seen that face in Hero 6, Koth, and Overwatch? Must be some famous guy they copy. Not my type. Drop.
Jaal... hot. Monocle.... why? Romance him. (Fans herself)

Gonna have to agree to disagree because I don't think it's an overexaggeration at all. When people say "X character has some manly features" the complaints are usually focused on said character's jaw, nose, scars, age, clothing... even their attitude. These people act like they want these percieved flaws to be "fixed" rather than accepting that not every character in every franchise is going to look like genetically-engineered Miranda. What's manly about looking like any woman you'd see walking around town? (And I still say every single female LI counts as an unusually attractive woman walking around town.)

Most of the complaints about femininity also stem from character design decisions that players seem to feel are an attack on their preferences. Cass and Cora having short hair, Cassandra's jawline, Josephine having an aquiline nose, her oufit not showing any skin, Sera being "pug-nosed"... there's very little that I would attribute to mocap.

I just don't understand complaining about people that look like people.

If I'd wanted to look at ordinary people, I'd go out on the street and look at ordinary people. Art and entertainment is about hyperbole, no matter whether the goal is inspiration or escapism. Which means that the bright will be brighter, the dark will be darker and all the women which are supposed to be at least somewhat attractive will be Victoria's Secret's topmodels (or whatever the author's paragon of female attractiveness is). I have to check, but IIRC, a friend of mine was telling me once how, after the ancient Greeks mastered the art of sculpting to the point where they could reproduce perfectly the human form, they returned to the slightly exaggerated sizes and proportions because they evoked stronger responses.

Those character design decisions that "I feel are attack on my personal preferences" are attacking also a lot of other people's preferences. Go into any decent hair saloon and ask what hairdo should you avoid for an oblong face. They'll tell you, among other things, to avoid top-heavy hairstyles, which, coincidentally, is exactly the character design combo that Cora enjoys. Hence the hairdo bitching.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to a certain extent. For example, the male preferences for long hair, clear skin and a certain waist-to-hip ratio have been shown to be cross-cultural. Within those boundaries, however, there are still lots of variations.



And lastly (now, this is me trolling!), I looked up Josephine's romance on youtube (couldn't slog through a second playthrough just for it). Apart from her appearance and overall character, I was also attracted to the fact that she continued to call the Inquisitor "my Lord" even after the romance had begun. Especially, after. So there.

Actually, I would not mind to hear why BioWare chooses to avoid the easy route every other game takes, and make every character gorgeous. I mean, Witcher 3 did, and everyone still has gamegasms over its gritty realism. Cd project was never shy about using beewbies to sell their games, even their new IP is advertised by a babe.

Witcher 3 didn't make everyone gorgeous though. They have some nice designs and good graphics, though BW tends to have first one as well. 

So far, the only squadmate that hasn't peaked my interest is Liam, everyone else has.

YOU FORGOT JAAL

How could u

Dr. Lexi T'Perro - the new pretty asari, I like her I hope peebee can get a reskin option closer to this. a new accent for asari as far as I know, I think it will go well would rather her as an LI than peebee but since shes not a squadmate I hope theres plenty dialogue.

Kallo Jath - a salarian pilot makes a lot of sense, reaction times and all, I think they try to hint at that with lore like fast metabolism, short lifespan, 1 hour sleep per day. I like what I've seen so far I hope he's romanceable for both scott and sara.

Vetra Nyx - besides Dr. Lexi, vetra is the only one I really wanted to romance as scott but I see their relationship being very different. Manlet Ryder will be a stay at home dad and keep the eggs warn until they hatch little turianlings while his strong wife, Vetra Nyx, goes out and brings home the dextro-worms and bacon. It's a romance I find interesting, but shes not really my type.

Peebee - awful character. didn't really have strong feelings about her until i saw the vid, you know the one, just another goofy elf character to me, but.. well I hoped she had a reskin option without the raccoon mask, I assumed all the squadmates would have at least one so i wasnt worried but they might make it a dlc which I wont get so I'd have to deal. now after the vid its a character I just wanna kill. I would have preferred Aria, Tela Vasir, or at least another Liara. asari were nymphs, amazon women, succubus.

Liam Kosta - seems a good enough guy, dont care for his accent but I do like strong accents so would have gone with something else maybe. I don't like too many human squadmates would have preferred another alien instead of liam but if it has to be human he seems alright. I dont think I'd be interested in him as an LI even if i were gay or a woman but the ladies seem to like him so I guess he is good to go all the way around. Just like I wish there were another female besides cora, a pretty girl with decent hair, I think another human male of a different type might be nice for women who didn’t find liam or jaal their type.

Jaal the Angara - I get kind of a politician vibe from him, I dont like his character design personally. I think a lot of that has to do with the eyepiece though. I would have preferred a warlike angaran or a kett over the techy looking guy. again not seeing the LI potential but again the ladies seem to like him so hes gtg.

Nakmor Drack - I like krogan, but even as far as that goes, I like Drack, from what I've seen so far. Functionally immortal, has grown weary of watching so many people die they are just meat to him, if he doesnt watch one person turned to meat, if they live through their short stay in his long life, it just means he will move on to another weak alien which hell watch be turned into meat. pretty badass.


Cora Harper - I really hope there is an alternate reskin for all the squadmates. you know, not from a dlc. I hope her reskin has some hair. I think thats pretty much all I have to say, like I said I dont like too many humans onboard to begin with, if I have to bring one, I'd hope shed have hair. alternatively I hope there is another squadmate we havent been told about, a pretty human lady with some decent hair. I'd still like a reskin for cora in that case, but to make her look more like Jack.

Scott Ryder - a manlet. do not like his baby face. do not like his short arms and legs. don't know why they did this and I dont really care... I think he and Vetra Nyx make a cute 'reversed' couple but I dont see how you could really change his face to make him more manly when hes still like... half midget... putting shepherds head on him would look like a half sized arnold Schwarzenegger. I digress I just hope I can make some decent choices to build his character how I want.

Sara Ryder - I'll take this slot as an opportunity to just complain about the female models in general... got no problem with much of anything... I can accept cartoony eyes and universal baby faces as limitations of technology mixed with overall artistic decision, design choice, could have been a higher up thing to make everything blend real well. thats all fine. but saras jaw is manlier than scotts. scott has a little baby face, so does sara, maybe both jaws are the same, and on a man it looks small and on the female it looks big. why couldnt they have made two models even... I would have thought they would make dozens accross all the species... seriously once I noticed this i cant stop, all females have the same exact jaw... human and asari and all of them... why...

Alec Ryder - heres a real character to play as... why couldnt we... just sad...

Science Officer Suvi - would like a new kelly, someone pretty and nice.

SAM - wish he had more emotion like EDI, legion, dont care for the HAL9000 voice would have gone with literally ANYTHING else. Other than that I don't like have a robot forced into my brain with no decision on my behalf.

edit: havent read most of the thread, just gonna assume you were responding rightly.

Huh, well, I feel that I still don't know much about our companions. Some rough first impressions:

Sara: can look weird or pretty depending on camera angle and lighting. But overall I think she's fine.

Scott: Milksop Ryder. I'll make a better one.

Cora: Not overly fond of her nose and glassfiber enhanced haircut (which would make even Ellen Ripley look weird). Still good looking, and I like what I saw of her personality.

Liam: Getting space bro vibes from him, which I like. Let's kick some ass together!

Peebee: Funny but utterly irresponsible. Had so many face variants that I still can't tell which one is the final one, so jury's still out on the looks.

Drack: So grim and grizzled that he's essentially an angry rock with a shotgun. Open box and let loose when war starts, I guess.

Vetra: Looks odd, like I can't tell where the bone plates end and her skin starts. But who brings a Turian along for looks? Personality seems fun!

Jaal: Aww, those big eyes and sensitive mouth. Xeno-banger bait. Zero clue about his personality.

Whom would I romance? Uh... Natalie Dormer Dr. Lexi?