The female characters in Overwatch...look pretty darn cool

[Erttheking]

In case you didn't catch it, Blizzard announced that they were working on a new game called overwatch, a class bassed shooter that evokes feelings of TF2. And I have to say I like what I'm seeing of the female characters so far.

There's nothing wrong with sexualized characters, just when it's all they have and/or there's a lack of alternatives, and Blizzard manages to sidestep that pitfall.

And while Overwatch does have sexualized characters like Symmetra and the Widowmaker

Spoiler

http://bnetus-a.akamaihd.net/overwatch/static/media/artwork/widowmaker-concept.1EwFH.jpg

http://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0gA_AW2zakQyXaQsnNIsU0Tv140=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2439150/symmetra-concept-16x9.0.jpg

(Best picture I could find. She DOES show off a bit of leg)

It balances it out with characters like Tracer and Pharah

Spoiler

http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OOOFXJB0CNCPq-V6NNgz-A9KFD0=/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2439148/tracer-concept-16x9.0.jpg

http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IpQNX3G5U9Z3jD2FIHC84zP5D8Q=/cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2439162/pharah-concept-16x9.0.jpg[/IMG]

Frankly all of them look really good, but the cherry on top is that I just find this to be a really good step in the right direction. There's plenty of room in gaming to appeal to people who want sexualized characters and the ones who want more sensible ones. We can have it both ways.

Oh, and the game just looks like it'll be really fun to play. That's a plus.

So what do you think? Do you think that this is a step in the right direction?

 

[The Wykydtron]

Did you just forget to mention the Medic who is a freaking ANGEL? The fuck?

OT: I have nothing to add to a proper gender debate that this thread may or may not turn into but that fact that the Medic is an angel sells it to me. I have a thing for revive skills too.

Already applied for beta, hopefully it can live up to how cool it looks

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Widowmakers open cleavage does seem a bit unnecessary, otherwise I see nothing wrong with her stealth outfit.
Symmetras dress is only improper for warfare, in other settings no one would blink an eye I think.
Pharas armor seem a bit bulky at the shoulders. It would obstruct the view.

Tracer looks hella fine to me. ,)

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

The webpage has more pictures of everyone. http://us.battle.net/overwatch/en/ I like Symmetra's outfit best. I like the techy Ipod look of things. I love tracer to, but I keep going back and forth about if I hate her pants or not.

 

[Phasmal]

I'm not a fan of the Widowmaker's spine (or lack thereof), but otherwise I agree!

I personally cant wait to check out Tracer and Mercy, they look the most fun to me.
I think that while I would have liked perhaps a bigger diversity in body types, it's definitely a step in the right direction.

It's nice when games take a positive step.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

This game looks like it was made by Pixar more than Blizzard lol.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I think they all look amazing. The aesthetics are just...SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!

I'm glad that Tracer looks so freakin' cool because I'm loving those dual pulse pistols and all of her abilities. I think Blizzard will finally get a sniff of my money after so many years. I really hope I can get into beta.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I'm not a fan of the Widowmaker's spine (or lack thereof), but otherwise I agree!

I personally cant wait to check out Tracer and Mercy, they look the most fun to me.
I think that while I would have liked perhaps a bigger diversity in body types, it's definitely a step in the right direction.

It's nice when games take a positive step.

Same here (I liked those two girls the most, I also liked that Tracer generator/ engine thing is on her chest instead of being put elsewhere on her body so that her breast can still be seen), I mean you got a engineer dwarf (so typical) and a big hulky robot with a hammer and yet the female look the same in terms of body type. Also I just realise there is no robot girls among them of does the robot like Bastion (also one of favourite) class as genderless?

Also Symetrex look so Portal/ Ipod like (not saying it's a bad thing) and while Pharah look cool but I don't think the trailer had presented her well (up in the air, spam missles but then got shot down due to her being out in the open).

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I'm so freaking hyped for that game! While morons' reaction is something akin to "Ugh, it's just Team Fortress from Blizzard", my reaction is "HOLY SHIT IT IS TEAM FORTRESS FROM BLIZZARD!". I'm so excited! It's probably the first truly CLASS BASED shooter since... well Team Fortress 2!

As for character designs, I love'em. Already in love with Mercy. The racial diversity is really, really cool. I don't remember the last game where we had Indian and Egyptian characters. I can see why some people might not be really jazzed about female characters' body type, but in this game it kinda makes sense. All of the females introduced in the game are combatants with some military background. Tracer was a pilot, Widowmaker is a trained assassin, Pharah is a military officer and Mercy is a field medic. Symmetra is the only outlier. It is still an incredibly diverse cast and it makes me happy.

 

[GrumbleGrump]

It looks promising to say the least. That means I'm hype as shit.

Lets hope they don't lump a bunch of bullshit into it like Valve did with TF2.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm not usually a big team shooter guy, but this does interest me. It's amazing to me how stuck in a rut that genre is. Almost everything is some mild variation on "army men", with very familiar archetypes doing very familiar things. TF2 is about as wacky as it gets, and it isn't even that wacky. One of the fucking classes is "Soldier" for heavens sake.

I think the initial roster of characters could stand some expanding, and it'd be interesting to see another "class" or two added, but this is promising.

And yeah, the female characters look cool. Love Tracer.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

Looks interesting, now if only Tracer's pants weren't so godawful.

Oh and HOLY SHIT IT'S A TF2 STYLED BLIZZARD GAME WITH ABILITIES AND ULTIMATES AND SHIT!

 

[EyeReaper]

First I've ever heard of this, and all I have to say is....

Holy shit, is Pharah a Gatchaman?

 

[white_wolf]

Guys in and one girl in mech suits,3 girls in cliche skimp typical, you lost my interest in this title with those photos OP and I count 6 out of 7 well protected male characters and 2 out of 5 protected female characters just for the homepage, You should've put up the blue mech suit girl (originally I thought that was a dude)or the odd pants orange girl, the other women suck at being fit for battle and only 1 dude. They at least get a point for trying to make the player characters even but they should try making them all ready to take bullets instead of pose for photographers.

 

[EternallyBored]

The character design in general seems interesting, and the comparison to Pixar seems pretty apt, it's definately Blizzard trying to ape Team Fortress 2, which isn't necessarily bad but the weapons per character seem limited, and there's probably going to need to be serious balancing if your going to have teams with almost completely asymmetrical abilities like that.

As for the female characters, there's 5 so far, and 2 arguably 3 are dressed in the pretty standard sex appeal armor, with Widowmaker being the obvious offender, Symmetra coming in at number 2, and arguably Mercy with the standard skintight futuristic bodysuit with boob cups that seems to run in a lot of sci-fi stuff. The other issue being the body types that leave all five female characters with very similar bodytypes to the point where all of them, except maybe Tracer, could fit into each others armor, whereas the male characters go from short and squat, to more lithe and muscular, to massive and hulking, the only reapeats are maybe Hanzo and Reaper.

The diversity is nice though, some of the characters could be accused of playing to cultural stereotypes (Zenyatia and Hanzo), but it's minor enough that it's more just kind of a cliche than a negative point or a strike against the game itself. They all, male and female, pop visually, the body type criticism is mostly just out of exasperation with how common it is, but overall I don't have any major problems with the designs as they currently are, seems like it could be interesting, if nothing else, at least Blizzard is finally branching out into new IP.

 

[Saetha]

Widowmakers open cleavage does seem a bit unnecessary, otherwise I see nothing wrong with her stealth outfit.

Eh, not necessarily. I suppose from a purely practical standpoint, yeah, but she's clearly going for a spider motif, and spiders have historically been associated with dangerous, seductive women, probably because lots of female spiders tend to eat their mates. I like that her design harkens back to that. I think it's a great design overall.

 

[Barbas]

I dunno what the heck's going on with those pants, but Tracer looks pretty cool.

I keep thinking her pants should be baggier to fit with the rest of her apparel. They just seem a bit too odd and figure-hugging. Ah, now I see what happened: she got her trousers mixed up with Maya's!

Spoiler

EDIT: Tracer looks great. I just thought that was worth stating twice.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Definitely the most interesting female game character designs I've seen in...a while. Appealing as well as more or less functional.

As for the female characters, there's 5 so far, and 2 arguably 3 are dressed in the pretty standard sex appeal armor, with Widowmaker being the obvious offender, Symmetra coming in at number 2, and arguably Mercy with the standard skintight futuristic bodysuit with boob cups that seems to run in a lot of sci-fi stuff. The other issue being the body types that leave all five female characters with very similar bodytypes to the point where all of them, except maybe Tracer, could fit into each others armor, whereas the male characters go from short and squat, to more lithe and muscular, to massive and hulking, the only reapeats are maybe Hanzo and Reaper.

Yeah, what's here is pretty cool though it would be nice to see a female cyborg or creature or something.