Dissing Mass Effect Andromeda because it has diversity and equality

[Kingjackl]

Not even surprising any more.

Like, I get it, those animations are pretty average. But to single out anyone for harassment is shit behaviour, especially for shitty reasons.

And let's be honest, a lot of people have been wanting this game to take a fall. Either because they've still got hurt fee-fees about the ending to 3, the direction the company has gone under EA, social justice warriors, or that one racist dickhead developer (did he not get fired? I heard people say that, but haven't heard anything to confirm). That's why everyone jumped on the animation issues even though they're really not that much worse than other games in the class like Fallout 4, Horizon or even Witcher 3, dare I say it.

All the better if you can pin it on a woman and work out a load of resentment at the same time.

 

[josemlopes]

The anti-white thing seems to be because the player cannot create a white Ryder. It seems to be the anti-sjw crowd jumping at the chance to point out the hypocrisy and call everyone cucks or whatever.

Wait, what? Every trailer features a Ryder white enough to shoot up a school. If I see someone paler than that in real life I ask them if they're feeling ill and I'm living on scandinavias doorstep, so... Do these people go outside? "White" doesn't mean "pale as chalk".

The default characters are as the whitest, the custom ones cant be as white as them, that is what they are complaining about.


OT:

From blaming it all on a female developer and claiming she was hired just for minority quota (as if animations are made by a single person),

They actually admitted to want to be more diverse in their staff and that it was wrong to have a full white male staff (Manveer Heir, the subtle gentleman already posted here), so that is the only reasonable justification to hire a 24 year old person (it doesnt matter if its male or female) to be lead anything of a 40 million plus budget game.

 

[zellosoli]

That's why everyone jumped on the animation issues even though they're really not that much worse than other games in the class like Fallout 4, Horizon or even Witcher 3, dare I say it.

games which came out 2 years ago by the way, and also i think you're waaaay glossing over how bad the animations are in comparison (heck fallout 4 is kinda the bare min for passable facial expressions)

also "fee fee's on the ending of 3?" c'mon, grow up. most people don't care about that and the ones that did became SJW's, everyone knows that

as for wanting to see it taking the fall, i kinda find that a bit of a pessimistic view of of players in general, personally i haven't been given a reason to care one way or another


except for Manveer Heir (the racist game dave) who was not fired and in fact stated that the higher ups in bioware supported his comments, that kinda turned me off a bit (only brief research on this so i'm open to correction on this)

 

[Casual Shinji]

Oh, bullshit.

I didn't even cherry-pick that. I just typed "dragon age origins dialogue" into youtube and clicked at random.

I suppose I should make it clear that I'm not trying to defend the quality of animation in Andromeda. It's shoddy stuff. But that's business as usual for Bioware. Their animation department is clearly under-resourced and always has been. I would like to see them do better. I realize that going full Naughty Dog doesn't mesh well with dialogue options and would be prohibitively expensive for games with as much dialogue as theirs. However it would be nice if they could at least manage something along the lines of Witcher 3 which managed to animate okay despite using dialogue options.

The standard of work on display is disappointing, but pretending like it's something new is a bit silly and blaming it on the SJW Shadow Government is the product of sad and deluded minds that really, really need to get outside more.

DA:Origins was never very good looking though.

If you compare what we've seen of Andromeda with Inquisition they're obviously using some new animation technique. And it's making it look worse then before. There's an added level of realism that makes the wonkiness look even wonkier. Sarah Ryder's face is the poster child of this now. It's not the design of the face itself, but what's going on underneath that's making things look incredibly screwy. In many shots the symmetry is way off, looking like half of her face is hanging limp. And in others there's no expression other than her now famous weird smile.

The characters in previous Bioware games looked more mannequin-like, so the expressions didn't come off as unnatural as they do now. The only human-faced character that I've seen in Andromeda that generally looks fine to me is actually PeeBee, everyone else has disturbing clay faces.

 

[felbot]

It appears people hate the game for "having too many non-white human characters" and "not very sexy girls".

I have never seen this shit, but I have seen plenty of people saying the characters are incredibly fucking ugly which they are. Especially the asari, and the Asari are supposed to be attractive.

 

[Terminal Blue]

The stupid flows freely from both sides of the spectrum. Some exceptional folk [https://heatst.com/gaming/outrage-after-mass-effect-character-revealed-to-be-not-gay/] on Twitter [https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=cora%20straight&src=typd] got very upset that a "queer coded" character wasn't actually gay. False advertising! Sad!

The thing is.. I genuinely don't think the artists understood what they were going for there, which for a company which aims so heavily for queer inclusion is kind of shit.

Undercuts are fine. Straight women have undercuts now. Straight men have undercuts now. But there's a difference between making a character with an unconventional style or a masculine look and making a character who, if they were a real person, would have long ago got really really sick of being hit on by girls and just moved their parting a bit or shaved their undercut down fully or any of the other things which would stop them being obvious queerbait.

Like, there are signals which queer people, and especially lesbians and bi women (who don't have the wealth of facilities men do to hook up) use to show each other that they're gay. One of those signals is hair. Like, you all know this really.. that's why you all spent your teenage years running around shrieking at each other for expressing the slightest bit of the ghey in your dress, hair or mannerisms.

There's also a bunch of community politics involved, because gay female romances in videogames have to be written to be sexy to both men and women despite the fact they usually like very different things. A lot of gay women like butch women, but the butch/femme (or butch/butch) dynamic is less accessible to straight men than femme/femme. Gay women in general, do not like the way they are sexualized by straight men and the persistent lack of butch lesbian characters in queer exclusive stories is kind of a part of that.

In short, A lot of people don't seem to be getting that there's a big difference between a stereotype, which is an externally imposed standard, and a system of voluntary cultural representation. Queer fashion exists for a reason, usually the reason is to help queer people recognise each other so they can fuck or at least have decent conversations.

That said, it is a bit silly and some of the people calling it out on twitter have decent points, just not the article you linked to or the vast majority of responses.

 

[DOOM GUY]

I dunno, it just didn't look like it was going to be a very good game to begin with. It's just EA using the name of a beloved IP and studio, been there, done that.

 

[Mechamorph]

I just don't want to see another beloved franchise and studio go the way of so many others under EA's defiling tentacles. Would that be too much to ask? After Bullfrog and Westwood, does Bioware have to go the same way? I am praying for a good game (but none too hopeful) for no other reason than not to see another of my old favourites be stuffed and used as a carney attraction to fleece money from rubes.

 

[ManutheBloodedge]

Anyway, I feel disheartened. I put so much work and effort into being an arsehole, and I'm still nothing compared to those who are naturals.

Spoiler: Ah, the age-old question

[https://imgflip.com/i/1loxxi]

 

[Jandau]

So, if I dislike Andromeda, I'm simultaneously a racist, homophobic alt-right manchild AND a regressive ultra-left SJW cuck, depending on who I talk to? And if I like it, the same thing? Gotcha!

 

[Erttheking]

It appears people hate the game for "having too many non-white human characters" and "not very sexy girls".

I have never seen this shit, but I have seen plenty of people saying the characters are incredibly fucking ugly which they are. Especially the asari, and the Asari are supposed to be attractive.

Struggling to remember who said that the Asari all had to be pretty, even then the Asari squad mate wasn't ugly. Just not built like a super model.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

except for Manveer Heir (the racist game dave) who was not fired and in fact stated that the higher ups in bioware supported his comments, that kinda turned me off a bit (only brief research on this so i'm open to correction on this)

No, that's broadly true [https://i.imgur.com/r0vxSNc.png], at least according to Heir himself.

The man himself sounds like an extremely unlikeable person, but that's distinct from whatever skills he possesses in game design. From what I hear the gameplay is the only good thing about Andromeda, so he may well know his shit. In which case...I guess don't fire him? I don't want to be the guy who says "you must fire this man because of an unrelated thing he said on Twitter!" because then I'd feel pretty dang hypocritical.

Though it'd be nice if he could at least get a stern rebuke from his boss for being deliberately obnoxious [https://lucien0maverick.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/manveer-heir-white-tears.jpg]. I mean, there's "have a rational discussion about systemic racial privilege" and then there's "trolling." I'll let you guess which one Heir's more enthusiastic about.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Now, speaking about character visuals - I may be biased. Because I like "ugly" characters. I find them more interesting when they look flawed, because 99% of the people you meet in real life aren't superhot models either. Besides, it feels like it takes far more work to design a character with visual imperfections than a generic cookiecutter idealized body. So, to me, they aren't "ugly" but "goodlooking" in that I like their uglyness. How do I explain?

I like "ugly" characters too, when they're like that by design. But that's not the case of ME:A. They clearly were aiming for decent to pretty looking characters, but then butchered it by screwy execution. That's why so many people are making fun of how characters in this game look and act. Because they look unintentionally goofy.

 

[Erttheking]

http://theralphretort.com/a-cosplayer-with-no-video-game-experience-was-the-lead-facial-animator-for-mass-effect-andromeda-3017017/

Sigh

Ok, is there any reason he's so hung up on her being a cosplayer? Any reason why that's such a big no no?

Oh, implying she slept with someone to get her position. Class-y.

Oh...and there's...you know. This.

https://twitter.com/bioware/status/843190432033005568

There's accusations of lying all over the fucking place, I have no idea what the fuck is going on, I just know that everyone is acting like cunts, your source included.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

... Why do you need to be attracted to your squadmates to save the people?

I'm very curious about this. The mission is to save humanity. Are we going to refuse because not enough characters spur our genitals?

 

[one squirrel]

http://theralphretort.com/a-cosplayer-with-no-video-game-experience-was-the-lead-facial-animator-for-mass-effect-andromeda-3017017/

Sigh

Ok, is there any reason he's so hung up on her being a cosplayer? Any reason why that's such a big no no?

Oh, implying she slept with someone to get her position. Class-y.

Oh...and there's...you know. This.

https://twitter.com/bioware/status/843190432033005568

There's accusations of lying all over the fucking place, I have no idea what the fuck is going on, I just know that everyone is acting like cunts, your source included.

No matter if she really was the Lead Facial Animator or not, sending her abusive messages is not ok. And with abusive I mean insults and threats, not harsh criticism.

This whole story is quite confusing, why would she claim to be the Lead Facial Animator, while Bioware denies it and she isn't even appearing in the game's credits? Something is fishy.

 

[Erttheking]

http://theralphretort.com/a-cosplayer-with-no-video-game-experience-was-the-lead-facial-animator-for-mass-effect-andromeda-3017017/

Sigh

Ok, is there any reason he's so hung up on her being a cosplayer? Any reason why that's such a big no no?

Oh, implying she slept with someone to get her position. Class-y.

Oh...and there's...you know. This.

https://twitter.com/bioware/status/843190432033005568

There's accusations of lying all over the fucking place, I have no idea what the fuck is going on, I just know that everyone is acting like cunts, your source included.

No matter if she really was the Lead Facial Animator or not, sending her abusive messages is not ok. And with abusive I mean insults and threats, not harsh criticism.

This whole story is quite confusing, why would she claim to be the Lead Facial Animator, while Bioware denies it and she isn't even appearing in the game's credits? Something is fishy.

I don't freaking know...I already said I don't know what's going on. This whole situation just reminds me that my favorite game series has been reduced to nothing but bitterness and hatred whenever you try and talk about the games. I'll just stick to my fanfiction.

 

[The Raw Shark]

Something that BioWare did was enough for the internet to throw a shitfit again?

I mean geez I thought Andromeda was a great chance for me to harp on people that still defend Dragon Age: Inquisition for finally getting it even more abruptly than last time but this has steered off in to the usual stupid crap. I can even see the comment wars in a day or two continuing the current trend of:

"You're a racist" "You're sexist" "SJWs" "Alt-Right", etc. etc.

 

[cleric of the order]

From blaming it all on a female developer and claiming she was hired just for minority quota (as if animations are made by a single person),

i think you are blowing this way out of proportion, infant the whole media did because i see the cabal of usual suspects crying gamergate but i have heard of this controversy long before it blew up so i think i could piece my way though it.

A while ago i say something claiming the head animator was an unskilled cosplayer that some how was given the job and way before that i've had comments from people in the industry speaking about how bioware had become insufferable and incestuous. A game studio were the emperor wears the best pants.
But that's not enough to really produce a game, hell if I'm not mistaken they had a smaller budget then witcher and were expected to do more with it. the game was poorly marketed, so much so i didn't even know when it was coming out this year compared to ME3 that's a miles difference.
All together it seems to be the death throes of 3rd rate incompetents and a dying company.

which is why I'm mildly interested into how much the shock there is a focus on some rando on the youtubes and you have the usual suspects screaming GAMERGATE, CYBER BULLIES.

It's bollocks

Either way she is clearly shit at her job

to mocking the characters because they aren't supersexy,

I will mock who ever I will damn well feel like and there isn't a thing you can do about it.
And i think that goes for everyone else.
Don't whine to me and say people are pointing to a motion capture they based on another person, that looks wholly different from that persons looks and say it's about super sexiness.
with the asari, her features are weird and remind me of a middle aged women(some people say shrek but i don't see it). holding aside the fact that asari don't look like or age like humans I'd say it's another example of the animation department/modeling's failures.

to calling Bioware "anti-white", and so on and on and on. Almost all of the comments are about that, and they hardly discuss the actual game.
/quote]
I will continue to call it that while a man who shares my soil and city continues to say such outrageous and frankly demeaning stuff from a position of authority within the company.
He says this, on his public twitter, the company cannot unaware of it or until he suitably says something about this. He doesn't have to loose his damn job but he could stop being a dick.
fucker probably spits on lower caste/class people too.

Ah gaming, still the hobby of choice for mature, well-adjusted adults I see.

I agree, those loud ordinary people who smell bad, who talk dirty, don't really think things through and think with their baser organs; they should stay out of my hobbies.

No, I'm not making this up. People have been grumbling about it since the very first WIP demo reel which showed the Asari squadmate's face and she was promptly deemed insufficiently attractive.

I mean if you like shrek in your game fine by me, don't quite get it because the species is confirmed to be manipulating the minds of the species around them to appear attractive because mating with other species is evolutionary desirable seems odd.

Then again i think it only worried the people who were going to be buying it, I gave it a confused look and sauntered off. but the people who are going to sink full price on this trainwreck
oh boy.
Those poor folks who wanted a decent looking models in their AAA game, perhaps those folks with a higher libido who like their team mates to appear attractive facially. Who were against all logical sense invested in this game and hoping it turns out all right. I'd be salty too.

 

[cleric of the order]

Something that BioWare did was enough for the internet to throw a shitfit again?

I mean geez I thought Andromeda was a great chance for me to harp on people that still defend Dragon Age: Inquisition for finally getting it even more abruptly than last time but this has steered off in to the usual stupid crap. I can even see the comment wars in a day or two continuing the current trend of:

"You're a racist" "You're sexist" "SJWs" "Alt-Right", etc. etc.

I'd still be interested.
The game has left me sour since I picked it up. Being unable to read the memory that is on the damn console and having to go to a central server is beyond stupid.
I was absolutely bloody livid