Dragon's Crown Designer Apologizes for Exaggerated Characters

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

This game looks kind of neat... I like the art style. A few characters of both genders are exaggerated - but nothing we haven't seen before. I also understand the difference between fantasy and reality.

The reality is, if it offends you and aren't into it, don't buy it. Same way I'm not into and don't buy firemen calendars.

Honestly, who is still offended by stuff like this?
That's bloody retarded.

People with a lot of free time on their hands and the ability to make people bad about themselves.

 

[Compatriot Block]

So are no female characters allowed to be sex appeal anymore?

Listen, I'm all for strong female characters. I think they're awesome and still not common enough. But it seems like if any game has even a single scantily clad female character, the hate-brigade starts up.


Also, I always see people arguing that characters like the Sorceress are sexual fantasies while characters like the Fighter are power fantasies. How does one create a stereotypically attractive male character for fan-service purposes?

Because I don't think the usual sarcastic hypothetical of "put a dude in a thong" would actually be appealing to the general female population.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

My God.....that beard.

I fucking reckon, that guy must sweat testosterone to grow a beard that manly. Look at that fucking thing!

Probably has to shave it with his battle axe.

 

[BNguyen]

well, if the designer decided to only make that one character "sexy" and well-endowed then yeah, people should be able to have a problem but when every facet of the design is similar then they shouldn't be able to complain about just the one character.
An artist has the right and freedom to design something the way he or she wants, it is not the public's right to say he or she can't do that just because they don't agree with it.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

All I can think of when I look at that sorceress is this:


There's no way anyone could find that sexy.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

but the apology about the Facebook incident was much needed. The art style kind of reminds me of the old Conan book covers, but far more exaggerated.

I fail to see why he needed to apologize for that even.

The Sorceress design is not super terrible compared to some of the stuff out there, but that second pose? Come on man. Skeleton breast feeding? Conjuring staff between her cheeks? That's not about proportions. That's just overt sexualization. Cut that one of the mix and it would probably be fine more/less.

We're going to get more of this "overt sexualization" card aren't we?

Well Congrats internet, you just made a man apologize for creating the art he wants to create.

I really hate you.

We criticized him because he created something that we didn't like. When someone puts something out for the public to consume, it is open to criticism.

You didn't like it, so he had to apologize?

 

[Erttheking]

but the apology about the Facebook incident was much needed. The art style kind of reminds me of the old Conan book covers, but far more exaggerated.

I fail to see why he needed to apologize for that even.

The Sorceress design is not super terrible compared to some of the stuff out there, but that second pose? Come on man. Skeleton breast feeding? Conjuring staff between her cheeks? That's not about proportions. That's just overt sexualization. Cut that one of the mix and it would probably be fine more/less.

We're going to get more of this "overt sexualization" card aren't we?

Well Congrats internet, you just made a man apologize for creating the art he wants to create.

I really hate you.

We criticized him because he created something that we didn't like. When someone puts something out for the public to consume, it is open to criticism.

You didn't like it, so he had to apologize?

Where did I ever say that? I never pointed a gun to the guy's head or demand that he apologize. That was his decision.

 

[RedmistSM]

The proportions on the Sorceress don't bother me, even if the poses in those illustrations do. All his designs are like this, it's been the style in at least both Odin Sphere and Muramasa, and there are all kinds of different characters with exaggerated bodies in those. If all of them were like Sorceress, it would be terrible, but they aren't. He's not responsible for variation in designs for videogame characters in general, he's responsible for his own, and he's been good at keeping those varied. And exciting. And memorable. I'm not the biggest fan of his games, but I have a lot of respect for the art direction in them, they stand apart from everything else and you can immediately tell who made them.

Comparing the Fighter to Rob Liefeld drawings in the article really provokes me as an artist, though. Is it because he has a huge chest, like that Captain America drawing? Styles are different. You can't just draw a regular american superhero comic looking character like normal and then expand his chest, you have to change everything around, and this artist certainly does that. I can understand if this kind of style isn't your thing, but comparing him to Liefeld is unreasonable. Not as much as calling him a 14-year old kid for designing one character with colossal breasts and a nonexistant waist, but still, low blow.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

I thought it was stylish and unique compared to most fantasy games. Why does everything have to look the same and "realistic" anyway. It is what it is.

 

[Karadalis]

As i said in another topic about this issue. These immages in particulary are caricaturs of the standard fantasy char tropes of chainmail bikinis vs. overly broad chested super muscles guys... with tiny tiny lower halfs.

Since when did someone had to apologize about making fun of these tropes by overblowing the "usual" physical traits of the generic male/female fantasy char?


Also unless other games (ME3 ending) this is indeed an artistic choice and not ment in the slightest as sexism... and actually it isnt sexism.

Sexism is the opression of a gender.. i cannot see anyone here being opressed... only bizarly distorted proportions of EVERY char.

 

[1337mokro]

Guess I have to apologize to for these kinda raunchy drawings I made during a lecture.

I am sorry women of planet earth.
I am sorry snobbish game journalists.
I am sorry men who didn't get to see them.

I will now commit sepuku for having disgraced myself by drawing these atrocities to humankind.

I mean seriously people? Yes women in gaming are sexualized to an absurd degree. Yes men have it NO WAY near as bad. Yes we should strife to uplift gaming away from that... but can we also do that whilst not all becoming knee jerk apologists for any and all transgressions of not drawing plain neutral characters for both sekses?

We can use a little bit of sexualization once in a while. Life is boring enough without all of our escapism being mandated to be the same as well by "decency" standards.

 

[Hisshiss]

I don't get why this is a debate, its an art style, and an artist is free to be as weird and exaggerated as he wants. I mean I can understand if people don't like it, but it's not right to pretend this is somehow offensive just because a few people find it aesthetically displeasing.

 

[Akexi]

So an artist's style has come under fire because some Kotaku journalist (I swear that has to be an oxymoron) got severely whiny and proceeded to bash the art style because it made him uncomfortable. After a back and forth internet spat between the two, which was pretty immature of both sides, the artist has now apologized for firstly offending a grown man who cried about it on the internet instead of simply ignoring it. *sigh* This just reinforces my belief that if Kotaku is involved, I should expect idiocy of the highest caliber.

The biggest point of this whole mess is that it is just an art style. If someone has a decent grasp of what is actually on the internet,(or *gasp!* knowledge of ancient art that exaggerated reproduction) I don't see how this could actually offend you. What I feel like I'm trying to say is that this whole mess was started because Jason Schreier was made uncomfortable and everything should suit his taste because he is a self-centered individual. He honestly called this style "part of a lolicon fantasy" because the sorceress has a young face and everything else is apparently realistic. I really can't take this guy seriously after a comment like that, but I have learned to despise him for making an artist apologize for his work.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

The topic of sexism in video games has become a self-righteous farce, and it seems like people are latching onto the slightest claim of it with the tenacity of a pack of rabid lemmings.

Once we all realize that different people are offended/not offended by different things, this fad will slow down and the rest of us can get back to talking about sexism in a serious manner.

 

[llubtoille]

well, it's kinda his art, if people don't like it, then don't look at / play it.

 

[I.Muir]

I almost always feel that having to apologies somehow means you have lost. Still after the three dwarfs it's what was expected.

It doesn't really make me uncomfortable (though I imagine most of those women would be in those postures) but it is laughably immature design.

Id say more dated then immature, the sexy seductress/burly barbarian have been done to death and this seems like another game using it to set the theme.

OT: I actually like the art style, its old school and looks like a medievil painting (though one drawn by a manga artist). The comments they made however WERE immature and im glad they've both apologised.

We need more class in gaming politics.

We need more maturity where games are concerned. From the journalists, various 30 years old man children, developers and small time comic writers.

 

[gamernerdtg2]

I'm really looking forward to the game. If it sucks, then all of this talk is useless.

It(the art style)reminds me of Odin Sphere a little bit. Note the Queen of the Dead is hanging out for all to see...




I kinda like the proportions for Dragon's Crown. I'm into appreciating the feminine form without objectifying it, and I like when masculine heroes are over-built in the fantasy context.

Sure, if you toned down the proportions for the women, the game will still play the same. Sure there's probably no option to change the way that the characters look on screen. It's not like the option to turn off blood unfortunately.

But again, gameplay is the selling point for me in all things. It looks like Dragon's Crown is about more than T&A, which will keep me playing. Unlike Dead or Alive, which is totally about sexualizing the women. If there weren't any other options then DOA would be amazing, but the fact that there are so many great fighting games out there makes DOA seem shallow.

Dragon's Crown belongs to a genre that seems to have largely been ignored by the current generation, so I say bring it on.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

Wow, I can't believe how sick I am of things like this.

Can everybody just quit acting like sex appeal is a bad thing and stop trying to make everyone conform to their idea of what is and isn't acceptable? If you don't like this game's art, guess what? You can not buy it. This guy shouldn't need to apologize for anything.

 

[Riobux]

"I decided to exaggerate all of my character designs in a cartoonish fashion," he wrote.

"I exaggerated the silhouettes of all the masculine features in the male characters, the feminine features in female characters, and the monster-like features in the monsters from many different angles until each had a unique feel to them," he continued. "I apologize to those who were made uncomfortable by the art's appearance, and did not see the same light-hearted fantasy in my designs."

I'm still a little confused why the Amazon (assuming pictures 1 and 2 are the Amazon) just looks more weird than anything else. Like her leg looks like it has jelly-like wobble to it in picture 1 and in picture 2 her head looks way too small for her body.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

snip

Then I spoke in haste, my apologies, I thought your post implied that.

Dude, he's an artist. If he's gonna put his stuff out there, he will expect criticism.

No doubt.

And don't try to diminish the relevance of my opinion by saying it's a "card". It's not a card, I'm not playing a game, I'm telling it like it is.

Saying "this is too sexual" is completely arbitrary. I fail to see how this is legit criticism, unless it merely reflective of how you see it.

You can't measure sexuality, lest you get people claiming "oversexualization" from one instance of cleavage.

The fact is the guy's trying to distinguish his artwork with a unique style and all he does is draw some chick with a big backside and her breasts hanging out. I'm sorry, but if his goal was to distinguish himself he completely failed with that character because he's doing the same shit that everyone else is doing.

He distinguishes himself by:
1. Being one of the few Japanese game directors who still uses to 2D artwork in mainstream videogames at all.
2. Having been producer, designer, director, AND artist of videogames since the 90s.
3. Founding his own company to do games that HE wants to do.