Dragon's Crown Designer Apologizes for Exaggerated Characters

[Reeve]

FFS, he shouldn't be apologising. What happened to artistic integrity? We live in a culture where people are eager to get offended about things. Well, I say to those people: Go fuck yourself.

 

[Erttheking]

FFS, he shouldn't be apologising. What happened to artistic integrity? We live in a culture where people are eager to get offended about things. Well, I say to those people: Go fuck yourself.

You know, as someone who didn't like the design, I'd rather not.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

For some reason people seem to think that the issue is that people are getting offended or hurt by the fact that a woman's being sexualized. Or at the very least they seem to be under the impression that's the issue. Which it absolutely isn't. It's just how prolific the trend is. This work alone? Strikes me as immature and kind of pathetic, but nothing beyond that. It's the difference between a fuss being made about a black man being killed in a game and someone coming up and saying, "Uh, hey... it looks like you're ONLY killing black guys". Obviously it's not nearly to that degree, but it hints that there might be some reason behind that trend. In the case of games, it just shows that they're intended to be played by straight guys.

Sure, it might not be harming anyone in particular, but I think it's an unfortunate trend that basically shoves the message "Oh, I'm sorry, this isn't for you" in the face of anyone not being pandered to with it. Which is fine in porn, but I'd hope for a bit more maturity than that with games.

And the figure isn't just exaggerated like all of the others. As I mentioned in another thread about this the real issue is the fact that she's sliding a staff between her butt cheeks and pressing a skull into her breasts. It shows exactly what they wanted to go for with this character's presentation

OT: The artist shouldn't have apologized, nor should have had to apologize about the character design. That one individual design isn't the problem, it's just kind of immature

 

[JemothSkarii]

snip

Hmm, maybe it's just that image, but that seems to be about the right size for a staff...unless it has something to do with a gameplay video. Then I'd have to check it out myself. Thinking about it you could make anything into a pin-up, even say...George Bush .

Oh no no, the size of the staff isn't really the issue, it's the grinding of her ass on it just for the sake of the sexy pose that separates the Sorceress from the other, well endowed Necromancers.

And it really depends upon which George Bush you're referring to.

Senior obviously

Didn't you know? The butt is the most magical area of your body. Farts? That's you losing your magical essence because you don't use it enough.

In all seriousness, the pose is certainly...thought provoking, but I don't have issues with the design aside.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

This game looks different; KILL IT FIRE FOR NOT CONFORMING TO MY STANDARDS BLARRRG!
Much sarcasm was had that day. I remember a dude called fucking Picasso that drew differently to everybody else and they called him a genius, but you know can't have that attitude elsewhere.

The artist doesn't have to apologize for his style, if people dont like it there are thousands of other games for them to play. Im getting a bit tired of this knee jerk feminism, guy can't draw a girl with big tits and be called a mysoginst. News flash: just because a guy likes a girl with large features, doesn't mean he thinks her only skill is making sandwhiches.

 

[grey_space]

We need more class in gaming politics.

...And that my friends is the moral of the story. We don't need to ban the game. We don't need tens of hundreds of scoffing, snarling comments to the theme of 'feminazis' or 'sexist'. Or indeed stupid inflammatory article attempting to initiate flamewars.

We just all need a little class.

 

[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.