i got to that part in the video and just want to add that the blabla messages you get from the nikkes are more or less under the same boat as the small interactions you get to increase their bond lvl
I think the argument is more about looks rather than actual character. Women don't have to be drop dead gorgeous to be a likable character, and they don't have to be ugly to pander to people who don't even play videogames. They just need to be characters that people can relate to and enjoy playing as.
The problem with that argument that in practice, most people prefer beautiful forms for attraction at the first sight, sometimes it doesn't even have to be on facial beauty, just look at people amazed by beautiful physiological figures of athletic body or even working figures It applies the question to practice by how men also viewed by women, unless money (and/or power alongside influences) are involved, fat to obese men will always be less preferable then thinner to fit men, it's ingrained in our biological impulses instead of social studies' perceived philosophy
@@ohamatchhams what you say is true, but the real problem is not the sexualization of women in media but rather how most of these sexualization are just shallow cash grabs which many women find offensive and men find uninteresting.
@@ohamatchhams TL;WR I personally like INTERESTING designs, so I believe a lot of people do too, even if they don't realize it. It's not bad if a character is hot when their design has more than that going on for them, but when that's all it has going for it I'm left unimpressed, and I think people should feel that same way, even if I may realize that's what people in the business call "a me problem". That REALLY depends. Personally, I like characters I think it'd be cool to be. And on that token I like chiselled men like kiryu or sett alright, but I REALLY love absolute units like Saejima or even Fate's Herakles. And you'd be hard-pressed to call those guys beautiful. Hell, even for women, I care less (not to say I hardly do, mind) about how a character looks as I care about her personality. To wit one of my favorite women is the Princess from Slay the Princess, who at best looks eerily beautiful and at worst...well the eye of the needle requires a very specific set of tastes that I happen to have. And that's not even getting into lategame spoilers or her other forms. Hell, one of my favorite forms of her is the Specter who's just a skellington in a dress. I think saying that beauty is what catches someone's eye is part of the truth, but I think even more that what TRULY catches the eye is interesting designs. Designs that seem to have something to say or make you feel. And frankly? I'm *personally* rather exhausted by the standard anime babe, inasmuch as that stirred lust in me when I saw kiddy grade the first time when I was a kid and later on Soul Eater while in puberty, but after that the bit got stale. This is less so because I don't find hot characters hot but moreso because it's OVERWHELMINGLY the same fucking body which gives in no small part a creepy stepford wives effect where I feel like it's just a doll with hair and clothes and colors swapped around. Again, this isn't about why I think the design shouldn't be done, it's why I don't find beautiful designs compelling on their own. I'll take a design that stands out, even if it's by having abs over one that just tries to brush my undercarriage, and I don't think I'm alone. And I still think there should be designs like this, but I want more cool, badass designs too. Or weird ones. Hell, Enikk is a voluptuous lady with a presumably pretty face, but just on account of how monochrome and faceless she is I find her design much more intriguing than, say, Jackal. Hell, I'll take Volume, too, since yes she is hot, yes I do enjoy that but more importantly her design is EXUBERANT. I just take a look at it and I think "oh she's certain she's that bitch". And this is to say, I just want something more to draw my eye beyond just tits the size of the anime average and legs that look so skinny they'd probably break from one jump.
@@robbieaulia6462 why women find it offensive when most of them are neither interesting nor good looking baffles me. I get why some men find them "uninteresting" thought. They just have high standards for women or really like immersion, which women with a lot of exposed skin seems to break since they sort of break the aesthetics of the setting.
If u ask me, sexualization's empowering someone when there's more to them than that. If the ONLY thing about them is that they're attractive, then its demoralizing.
It’s not the sexualization that’s demoralizing them, it’s the damn writing. That’s like blaming the gun for killing a person instead of blaming the assailant.
There is a chase about how someone being more better looking can affect a persons first opinion on them but the thing that either makes them a good or great character or a bad one is if they are written in a good way or have depth.
@@danielantony1882 LIke I said, if its only the sexualisation thats being added to a character, then they're bad. If there's more to them, like the recently released Yinlin from WWA, then its alright.
@@kyarumomochi5146 No. I just don't even understand the comment. I have ASD. Why don't you just explain why it's understandable instead of being gratuitously hostile or assuming hostility in me?
I do wonder if Neir:Automata started this "Look sexy dressed charcters in an apocalyptic world", to "Oh my God this game changed my life with it's writing" type of game. Given that both games talked about, "Stellar Blade" and "Nikke" gave that smilar description to Nier:Automata and might be inspired by it.
Woman here and you raise really good points! I really enjoyed my time with the video! I kinda want to share my thoughts on sexualized male characters, I hope you don't mind LOL Honestly, I don't think we're all that different from men. Some women like superficial handsome characters, but some would prefer a more fleshed out character. For those preferring fleshed out characters, my evidence is: Tumblr sexyman. Just look at the lineup and their designs. There's Sans, a literal triangle, the damned onceler, you get my point (there are times where they would be sexualized... but i think this just shows that women tend to start sexualizing AFTER falling for a character, but the opposite sometimes happens too). This is true for me too. There are times that I would fall for a character design, but ended up liking another character because they just have a more interesting personality/backstory/character motivation and contributes to the story more. HOWEVER! On the other side of the spectrum, there are some women who just enjoy seeing hot men. I think this can be proven with the success of games like Nu Carnival (BL gacha game), Love and Deepspace (otome game), and Obey Me (otome game). I'm not saying that these games are shallow (except for Obey Me. I'm just speaking the truth, don't come at me) but these games in particular are usually marketed in a way that accentuates the guys' sex appeal, like showing pecs and stuff. Love and Deepspace's marketing really focuses on the fact that you can touch the handsome anime men and tickle them when they're shirtless, things like that. But when you play the game, it has plot and some worldbuilding (but I can't personally say if it's well done or not. I played a bit and dropped it because it's not really my thing). The main focus are the guys and how beautifull/handsome they are, and how you can interact with them, that's for sure. TLDR, men and women aren't that different when it comes to this. Some women sees a hot guy and that's all it takes for them to simp, while some needs more than that. But again, that's just my personal opinion. If there's a woman reading this and would like to add their own experience/thoughts, please do so! Otherwise, I hope this is insightful? Thanks for taking the time to read this!
@@Sleepy_aku First I want to put up a disclaimer. I have nothing against Obey Me fans, I used to like it too. I get why someone would like the game and stick with it, and I love the VA events that they held every once in a while. If you're an Obey Me fan, nothing wrong with that! Continue to like what you like and don't let a stranger from the internet stop you! I just personally think that in terms of story, it's a bit lacking in substance and feels very lackluster. The lore feels like it's trying to go somewhere, but it doesn't and it feels bogged down due to heavy slice of life filler moments. They also keep teasing that the characters will have more under the surface but so far I've yet to see it (and I don't have the patience to keep going LMAO). Not to mention the uneven character spotlight. This is hell particularly if you're aiming for the non-demons, like I did with Solomon and Simeon. I figured that if I raise my relationship up with them by constantly using their cards in battle, I'll have more of their story, but I got none. Just crumbs 😭 TLDR The game can be fun at times and I love the VA events, but I don't see myself continuing Obey Me for its story and characters. They feel very surface level, lackluster, and the lore feels lacking in impact. If you disagree though, feel free to let me know! I'm all here for a healthy discussion of medias
@@ivana2609 ah I see I see, also it’s alright XD, I really was just curious, no big deal I’m shit at writing comments so I hope you don’t mind just reading me yapping for paragraphs hshdbdbdn Ok yeah, with my experience with the game’s story thus far I can definitely get behind that. Even though I wasn’t THAT far into the chapters I think I have gone through at least one serious “arc” and almost immediately after that they diverged back to becoming a sitcom with all the shenanigans LMAO 😭 (completely forgot they’re supposed to have more character under the surface w that) Feels like the game is just supposed to be lighthearted and not to be taken too seriously imo, personally I didn’t mind it, I think that may be why I never really had a problem w the game’s lore n character Not continuing for the reasons you listed is very understandable too, thanks a lot for the reply and I really hope this reply’s understandable enough HAHAHAH 😭😭
Ahhhh the tumblr sexyman. To this day tumblr remains a well of weird and wisdom. I remember someone making a post and thread about sexual looks. "Does anyone get turned off when the design is so obviously sexual to the point it's like body horror and you can't get turned on anymore?" Or something like that. I love the people who agreed and brought up examples of their experiences. Most of which about the gigantic deformed anime booba
@@Sleepy_aku Yeah your comment is very understandable! Dw about it! I do agree that Obey Me is definitely the game to just have fun and not overthink things (like I did LOL). It's good that you don't mind it and find enjoyment in that! Hope you can continue to find happiness through the game and have fun with it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Obey Me and for having this discussion with me
Oh, if you wanted deeper stories for Nikke then you're looking in the wrong spots. Advise stuff is meant as momentary gags and quick bite sized moments and for upgrading stats. The proper development you wanna see is in the main, relationship stories and event stories. About half of all stories and interactions outside of that are split between just slice of life interactions and seeing an interesting interaction take place. Just as well if you want to see Rupee's whole shopping gimmick get turned into one of the most wholesome character traits check out the Christmas event she has with Anne. It ain't that Nikke doesn't have shallow characters, but most do have layers if you look where the game lets you. Also I really appreciate that you took the time to actually look into the content and dog for the positives. Shows you don't really have malintent when researching stuff.
True true! I haven't played much of Nikke but I geniuinely think that most of the characters are super nice and unique, which I especially see in the main story and events, like dawg I almost cried sometimes because you can geniuinely get attached to them. The fanservice does throw me off at times, especially because it's so obviously male-gaze centered and I'm a woman, but on the other side the art is so beautiful, the voicelines fit, the stories are nice, the gameplay is fun...
I feel if the sexualization makes sense for the character such as bayonetta a confident and charismatic adult women it’s great! But if it doesn’t fit the character’s personality or background and is only there to tittalate the viewer then it only takes away from the character.
@@Timmy-mi2ef Just outfit, no - it can't. But if character starts acting like anything but themselves just to be "sexy" then it's just putting character into trash. There are many ways to be sexy, writers should choose special sexy way fitting their characters - like spice for food. You can use pepper for gingerbread, but it may not fit cheesecake...
Agree. Nobody had an issue with Bayonetta, she is a fun character with tons of personality, her sexuality being an integral part, and she knows it. In contrast, characters like Eve and 2b are a bit creepy because they seem just like dolls, sexualized for no in-universe reason and seemingly unaware of this.
Not really, even a cherry is important to the compotition of a cake, if you have a cherry where it doesn't need the cake would be (less points) in the quality
Maybe, but not EVERY female character needs to be some super in-depth character. Hell, Lord knows many male characters aren't deep. How many action heroes are 1 dimensional
Not exactly, there's no one size fits all. Fanservice may also detract from a game to some since say the game is trying to be all philosophicsl then you add boobs, which some may enjoy either way and say that it's extra and makes things hilarious, but others might not.
@@Cecilia-ky3uw If the game has good philosophical talk, a little ass here and then will not detract from that. Unless it specifically talks about fan service and sexiness being bad, while also utilizing it to draw people in, nothing of the philosophical meat will be lost through a bit of eye candy.
Well, I don’t. I get bored of bad writing. You can’t have too much fan service, only bad writing that doesn’t know how to utilize it properly so it bores you.
I enjoy fan service as actual fan service (where you see your favorite characters back or a certain reference or callback to something else or giving your favorite characters the best character arcs) more than trying to make fans horny
Sexy characters are great but sexiness is also fleeting. It's one thing for a character to be hot but if I'm supposed to engage with them further and remember them, then there must be more to the character. I would even argue that good characterization makes a character even sexier.
"Came for the *plot,* stayed for the plot." I think this is a pretty common sentiment across a lot of actually good "light-ero" games. Personally, I am never really bothered by gratuitous fanservice of male and female characters. Stuff like that hasn't ever influenced my judgement -- for the better or worse -- of the overall product. I suppose that is why I am always confused when someone says something like, "Oh, the over-sexualization of this game's characters really bring it down." because it doesn't make sense to me how a quality experience and having sexy characters are often thought to be mutually exclusive. Anyhow, good video.
it brings it down when the fanservice interrupts the experience and the player isn't into it i can handle most fanservice, but when a show i'm watching stops just to insert it, it turns me off because i consume media for the stories and characters, not to be horny 😂
@@lana-ana-ana You can look at big butts and big boobs or muscle behemoth dudes without being horny. But in what context would you say the fanservice interrupts the experience?
Some people have their own taste on how women look that's why sometime it turns ppl off, last year i've almost install nikke bcs i think maybe the storyline is great and the gameplay looks fun but after seing more and more character got released it turn me off the fan service is getting more and more wilder and more overexagerated b00b and a$$ physic its like watching a plastic attached to their body and the gameplay also highlight the physic, for example the pink bunny suit that i saw yesterday from ads and that new released character(i think) that one loli that show her feet, its just fell weird to look at that, it came from normal sexualized character to overlysexualized and fetish reliever character
Because in most cases these characters are made as sex object to be sold. It doesnt help the secualization clashing with the story trying to be told is another factor.
One has to remember that not all feminists think alike. Korean feminists have different ideas about how feminism should work than say, a russian feminist, who would have different feminist ideals than an ethiopian one, and to an american one, and to a british one. Different cultural tastes come into play here.
I've played Control and the Horizon games, and I genuinely had fun. It didn't matter to me that Jesse and Aloy weren't beyond supermodel levels of attractive. I found them enjoyable because they were witty and badass, and the stories they were experiencing were intriguing.
I watched the 3 hour Moon Ch. documentary on Korean feminism and gacha drama and the takeaway for Nikke seems to be that gender relations are so negative that the very idea of "being nice to women (and people below you) is beneficial to everybody" (the main plot thread of nikke) is actually progressive and subversive over there. Crazy to think about.
Same here. I'd actually had the game installed on my phone for a week or so before watching Moon's videos, and they actually got me to try the game, and I feel like having that background knowledge really added a lot to the experience. It sounds utterly ridiculous from a Western perspective to say "oh yeah, in the game your special ability is treating women (Nikkes) like people," but with the background context of this rigid, hierarchical society, where everyone is being inexorably crushed by the layer above them, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Sorry to disturb your happy imagination, but Nikke's main theme is "the persecuted soldiers on the front line and the self-proclaimed patriots in the rear who persecute them behind their backs." This is not a story about the treatment of women.
@@hp0635 First of all, I'm curious if that's something that's been explicitly stated by the developers, or just your opinion. Secondly, a work of media can have multiple interpretations. Just because you see a bear in an ink blot test, doesn't mean that someone who sees a dog in the same ink blot is wrong. Also, I would consider it a compliment to Nikke's writing that people can come to differing conclusions about its central theme. It's a sign that there's plenty to dig into and think about.
@@internisla The translator isn't working as expected. I can only tell the rough opinion. 1. I am Korean, and there are many scenes of Nikke discrimination reminiscent of the insults suffered by soldiers in Korea. It's not just similar; the keywords are specifically the same. This is clearly intentional. In addition, I would like to say something about the relationship between Nikke and ordinary commanders, and the relationship between soldiers and executives, but the translator does not work properly. 2. It is true that it can have many themes, but at least it is not a theme about the treatment of women. The reason is simple. This is because Ark citizens discriminate against Nikke. The Ark citizens are not a group made up entirely of men, and there is no description of any special discrimination between them. Ark citizens all discriminate against Nikke, regardless of whether they are male or female. And the discrimination Nikke experiences is not at all reminiscent of discrimination against women, and is much more intuitively reminiscent of discrimination against soldiers. If you claim that this work is a story about the treatment of women just because Nikke is all female, then you can argue that modern warfare FPSs feature only men appears and are all killed by machine guns so these games are a story about the treatment of male. It's the same as doing. 3. I don’t think Nikke’s story is good. However, I also respect other opinions.
You apparently not played Nikke's events (which all can be replayed from the commander's office) like Overzone, Red Ash, Scarlett's event, or the full bond stories each Nikke has when they reach certain affection levels, for example Diesel or even Soline.
Just after editing this video, I got some really good pulls including Crown. Just got to chapter 6 last night and I'm really interested to see how the world and story are going to unfold.
@@Haedal_VTI think the quote I see thrown around quite a bit is "came for the boobs/ass, stayed for the depression." Also something unrelated to the characters and Story. Soundtrack slaps. (Edit, stubbed and waiting for thy next video)
@@Haedal_VT 2 weeks later, hope you are still enjoying the game. If you manage to get 2 memory films to unlock previous events in Archives, I highly recommend going to Red Ash --> Over Zone. They both are major events that will give you a tremendous insight in the world of Nikke. My best friend got me into this game, and I've only been playing for 3 months yet it has to be the most enjoyable game I've played haha. Storyline is absolutely worth it.
As long as sexualisation does not come at the cost of Character Fire force is the worst case of this where a character is sexualised so often (Shes often put into posistions in where she is losing so she can have clothes ripped and stuff, in this case sexualisation makes her seem weaker. Kill la kill is a good version ,The characters are heavily sexualised but it does not come at the cost of character development
On the other hand, Fire Force has a female character with good muscle tone that doesn't go overboard. Too often when you see a strong female character, they either don't seem to have muscle tone at all or they go to bodybuilder extreme. Maki was a refreshing and gorgeous change from that.
I agree, and sexualisation helps to bring interest to something. Gojo and Makima are both hot characters but people end up enjoying them because they are good characters beyond just their looks. Eve from Stellar Blade only appeals to people based on her looks as she is a weak character, and the girl from Fire Force is kind of a victim of sexualisation as the story itself becomes a slave to it...
I mean fire force did have maki and some of the other female characters who were actually really decent Maki especially with layers upon layers of subverting how you think her character would be, it makes me think tamaki was just added for the sake of filling out the fanservice editor checklist
To put it simply, no, it doesn't. The only people I've ever known to think less of a character for their sexually appealing aspects are the very people who howl about "objectification" and call characters from properties they know nothing about "sex dolls with no personality"; in other words, the very people who make the titular claim.
I really liked Baldur’s Gate 3. As a women I like to look pretty/hot/cool and I like pretty/hot/cool characters of male and female variety. However I don’t want things to be sexualized to the point it’s ridiculous. When I have a piece of armor and place it on a male companion it looks cool it doesn’t become two pieces of scrap metal when I place it on a female character. When I have a skimpy outfit on my female character I can place the same garb on the male character. True gender equality right there. There’s definitely fan service but it’s in the context of romance when the characters are trying to be appealing and not weird voyeuristic shots at serious moments. The only questionable thing I find is the fact that Lae’zel underwear flavor text claims to be practical when it’s the second to last practical one out there only above a incubus.
While I did enjoy BG3 from a gameplay point of view, none of the female companions are beautiful. Sure, they look like normal women, so they're not ugly either (aside from the frog). It goes beyond that, it's impossible to create a beautiful female character and I tried. That doesn't seem to be a problem for male characters though. Apparently women get really thirsty over Astarion. The worst part is that nearly all of them are some degree of insufferable. The one character that's wife material is Alfira and she's not even playable. I think Shadowheart is the most picked romance companion because she's the first one you meet, has access to heals without respeccing and is the least bad option. That's a trait shared by male characters. I can't think of a single male character in that game I'd enjoy having a beer with.
@@antoineguerrier2965 Alfira is pretty but I think Shadowheart is just as pretty comes down to personal preference I think. Visually my favorite girl is mussel mommy Karlach but to each their own.
I like adventuring bums who look like they will crawl through feces for coin. Who are drawn with all the crap a dungeon bum carries, like a rope, a shovel or even just a backpack. Armour as mail is a mail hauberk and nothing else. Character survival should be the highest priority. I liked how the stooges in Dungeon Meshi had backpacks, bedding etc. No lights though.
@@antoineguerrier2965AD&D could be very you against the world. The other bums are the only reliable thing you got. I draw the line when I can't figure out why a group of bums are even together.
You’re too unbiased. You’re analyzing the problem separate of your own viewpoint. This is extremely rare in the current year. I suggest you try more Nikke. The story gets wilder the more chapters you complete. It helps revisiting the old event stories as well.
Nobody is unbiased in this world (me included), but the video was very level headed and without standard shallow emotional response I was honestly expecting (I don't know your channel). You approached the subject from an actual scientific perspective and kudos for that.
@@azradun3903 Bias control is a genuine skill, and most critical thinkers, analysists, journalists and scientists must exercise it regularly to remain objective. It's the act of playing devil's advocate in a way, or essentially arguing against your own personal beliefs in the aims to be a impartial party to the subject. Suspension of personal judgement for further investigation is necessary to many fields, though it's not perfectly inforced. Its definitely a doable thing, not indefinitely, most likely, but in many instances. So yes, people can be unbiased, but it takes active control, awareness and internal dissection of ones own motives, intellectual honesty, full self-disclosure, awareness and of course, a knowledge of common bias traps to avoid. Definitely possible though, yet genuinely uncommon, especially in the context of RUclips.
Im not feeling like grinding myself to hell or wasting a lot of money to progress tho. I like Honkai Star Rail I'm genuinely interested in the characters and history but I dropped it because the predatory essence of gacha games
It really dosn't need to be deeper than hot characters are nice and easy on the eyes. It is ok to just have nice things for the sake of them being nice. They don't need to justify them being hot by having ocean deep story arcs and personalities. It helps to make the character even better, but it is not a sin to be hot or pretty, just like not all ugly characters need to be evil. Not every game I play have to be the deepest examination of human condition, sometimes I just want to have fun.
Did people seriously complain about Aloy’s peach fuzz? 😐 They DO realize that all humans have hair and men just have darker, thicker hair… right? That not all women are constantly caked in makeup… RIGHT?
As a bi woman that loves playing games, sexualization of female characters makes me uncomfortable - if I see that it is not a part of their personality, but just designed to please viewer. I enjoy female characters that are sexy and like to be sexy (Bayonetta for example). But when it is nudity for sake of it and it has nothing to do with personality, I feel like that kind of female characters was created just to objectify them, and anything else comes second. I can't relate to them, cause I don't want to feel objectified too. So I just avoid such content But the video was interesting, thanks for good quality content!
I had a relevant experience with a gacha game and my girlfriend (bi and pan respectively )used to play: SNOWBREAK. At first we loved the setting and the character designs, and while we agreed that the story was kinda bad, all characters were cool and interesting with very accentuated personalities, they were attractive but in a dignified way, there was fanservice but it was optional side content in the form of skins or as interactioes that were cute and cemented a sense of comraderie with the player. And then the game started catering to a mainly chinese male audience, characters slowly became flanderized into making their entire personalities and lives revolve around how much they loved the main character, not only that but as new content dropped the designs were becoming more advertly sexualized and flirty towards the viewer with camera angles emphasizing this. So we dropped it, we had already endured the slow character progression and the fact they removed all male npcs at the rewuest of the chinese fanbase, but what they did to one of our favorite characters was the straw that broke the camel's back.
You are not suposed to relate to them... guys like sex girls... all of this complexity you are talking about is the cherry... the first thing is... is this character hot? is this caracter showing their body? it objectifies them? dont really matter... majority of guys are just, well the character has a hot body?the character has a good voice? put fan service and guys will play a literal washing machine... Again all of this you are talking about it does not matter to the majority of men, that is a reality women just can't accept.
@@elisehalflight majority of guys dont care about any of this you said... the game is doing more money them ever because of this, they removed the male npcs as they should because the game is made to make money, if guys are happy... is not really a problem, is just think this is not a game you should be gaming with your girlfriend at all... not to offend gamergirls are in majority mentally ill, better to have a normie girl.
The answer is different wiring between men and women. Men are visual creature. Simple and easy. I don't know about women. I am a guy. But one thing for sure, suits are sexy both for men and women. For an example, draw both male and female soldier in full service uniform and they rocks. Make it into an anime, cutesy style and everybody will be crazy. About sexualization, here is the key. Take a good look at the discussion after the player finish the game. If they discuss the story/lore with sexualization as an afterthought, that means the game is good despite the sexualization.
I agree with all of this besides the first paragraph Men and women are the same creatures… the belief that we’re biologically different is pseudoscience mostly. It only really applies in the heat of pubescent hormones Of course men and women do act differently, but that’s all social. If men are “visual creatures” who just desperately need to see boobies to be happy, then, to be blunt, we would be no more socially capable as literal dogs. (Also gay men wouldn’t exist) The fact that over time, less media has been over-sexualizing women in objectifying ways and more media has been sexualizing men should be proof that things do not need to be this way. And things are changing for the better, despite what some people very desperate to see boobies all the time might think. One day there will gacha games of men with fat bulges and fatter asses and you’ll see that so many women are “visual creatures” too lol (including me but I don’t play gacha games)
I remember asking what works better for chicks back in the day. Apparently it's more about subtle things and the feeling of something. Stuff like rolled up sleeves showing muscular arms with a bit of hair or a good looking guy with a nice suit and a tired expression with messy hair. At least that's what a few women I knew told me.
@@bornanime3255 So it is more like specific feature of the body, right? Interesting. However, you said about tired expression and messy hair. It turns out men love these too. Including me. Take a good look at fashion models. Both male and female models also have tired faces and/or messy hair. This is called aftersex/afterglow face by some people. As the name suggests, it is the expression after having sex.
"Take a good look at the discussion after the player finish the game." Honestly, this is a very good benchmark. And really, once the story hooks you in, you won't even notice all the jiggling it could throw your way. Sure, you know it's the reason you're there, you make jokes about it with the bros, but once you're in deep, the only thing you'll be thinking in the long run are not the assets, but _"Jesus christ these people need a break, I just want them to be happy"_
After I’ve learned to care about my own body and learned other peoples’ attitude about bodies, I’m actually okay with the sexualization of characters as long as it’s fair. Others’ opinion on melons and pears won’t change my mind about going to the market when they’re on sale. Devs know what sells and they’re selling. Gamers are buying. Game recognizes game, and gamers recognize games with things they like. Seggs sells. Nikke, now that I think of it more than I did back then, has a great and compelling story that has managed to pull me in. I’ve even related to some characters I didn’t think I would. I initially downloaded it because of Anis, now I keep playing it because of the actually powerful heart tugs and lessons in the story…and Anis 😭
me personally when it comes to hot men I have MASSIVE crushes on Zhongli and Xiao from genshin impact and Dan Heng from Honkai Star Rail What can I say I like hot men who aren't really human as they appear
the reason male characters wear allot of clothes in this games is not because clothed males are sexy nonsense, is because chinese censorship prohibit having shirtless male characters so studios by pass that by drawing then wearing skin tight clothes and a jacked
Thank you. People mistaken a lack of product to a lack of want for a product. I mean there are a few games that have men in outfits equivalent to what sexualised female characters wear but they aren't as popular but that's not to say that lots of women don't love them and regularly play and talk about them.
It's important to know that outer societal pressures are also a factor to why majority of these games can be hypersexualized. East asia mostly comprises of very conservative countries, countries that still hang on to the belief of numerous traditional family values with slow progressivism. While it isn't entirely wrong to think in such a way, men are often pressured heavily into these norms that men should actively search out a good wife and women should get married as soon as possible. Almost every aspect in life as asians are towards getting better in life until you are rich or marry someone rich or have a family legacy of sorts. This leads back to pressure. Often groups of men here seek out the notion of the "perfect" woman for them, even if it means searching it in something as simple as a manga panel. It's why "otakus" tend to be a stereotype, why the perception of love tends to be skewed here, why sex is both morally sought after in a wed bed and immorally desired in a red light district. The very notion of showing your friends a hot anime grille with huge honkers is much more normalized and not excessively shunned upon. Eastern devs can do just that because "why not?" and "I just like girls" and people wouldn't mind that. It rakes in money, kills boredom and gives people the alternative of getting aroused neuron activation than watching pr0n out in the open. This is also hilariously true on the other side of the spectrum. With the surge of games like Genshin Impact a few years ago and the fact BL exists, it's becoming clear that male characters can make bank in the eastern market predominantly comprised of men liking strictly women in their games. If chiseled abs and marble cut jawlines are present in your game, expect females wanting in on the action. Many cultures of women here love a good yaoi as much as the guys like yuri much definitely more towards guys who they can constantly write fanfiction of, like cookie cut K-Pop or TV series with corny romance plots. The pressure of finding a guy you like substituted by yet another 2D character. Bonus if you're some bisexual fella or a respectable cultural guy/gal and you're basically surrendering your wallet. Truth is, people make what they like, people play what they like. Sexualizing a characters account for the market, the culture and especially the interests of it all. Sometimes it's even a ploy to get people invested into your game for other aspects of your game like good writing, designs, personalities. Sexualization feels more like an added thing that's indicative of a developer's intentions and it's up to the player whether they're comfortable with it or not and to interpret accordingly. It's not going anywhere anytime soon as long as characters are designed well enough to warrant them a tag in R34. I'll take my cute degenerate submissive femboys and thicc thighed women who could step on me any day.
Excellent analysis I agree, it’s just something that’s there, depending on how it’s done. It’s either something that is, in most cases, neutral, or actually enjoyable. The only case I find it detracts is Nikke, which overdoes it in my opinion. Anyways yeah, big jigglies and soft skin attract attention, and actual meaningful substance keeps it. And I’m perfectly fine with that.
And that's the problem people talk about not knowing how to sexualise men but don't ask women and even argue with them when women disagree. I saw a post about what men thunk is sexualised (a man wearing normal fitting clothes) vs what women actually find as fanservice (a man in a very tight suit from head to toes. Also look up nu carnival and oni onsen. I find the mention of chiseled jawline funny. I notice mostly men use that term and use it as a main attractive things
I just left a very similar comment under the video, but think what isn’t spoken about enough in these communities is the power imbalance when it comes to sex. And how that loops into sexual content. Artists have a very real responsibility when doing artwork of women because left unchecked, it can subliminally perpetuate sexual expectations and build dangerous desires. Women are typically (not always, obviously) perceived and depicted as weak and commodified. Submissive. And this is a feeling that bleeds over outside of film, games, shows, or whatever. Whether you agree or not, there are hundreds of thousands of men who view women this way. Whereas an attractive man is typically depicted as dignified, independent. dominant. And I think the push in the west to be more careful when sexualizing the female form is in a joint effort to recontexualize how, society on the whole, sexualizes the female form. To give women the power and control over how they are perceived. Rather than the through the “”””Male Gaze””””. And until that standard is adequately deconstructed and women are perceived in a safer context, it’s important you present sexual content incredibly carefully and consciously out of respect for women who face abuse and assault from it.
@@sugarzblossom8168 It's the whole perceptive barrier kinda thing. If you barely have a diverse crew of developers or find out about people's interests the opposite of your gender, chances are, devs will just resort to what they know from their common peers. Societal pressure hampers this even more when guys and gals don't know how to even properly interact with each other.
The whole "fully covered but still hot" thing doesn't just apply to men though, it can apply to women too. Arlecchino is hot as hell and she's not showing anything.
As a women, its not so much the sexualization but more so the AMOUNT of it. Go ahead and be horny for fictional characters. But its not a surprise that most of the characters being sexualized are women, both in real life and fiction. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if shows treated men the same as sexualized women, A LOT of men would not like it. Constantly, seeing fictional men being pandered to women. I like to think of this the same as abusive relationships in media. I have nothing against showcasing abusive relationships in a more "romantic" light as long the audience knows its wrong. HOWEVER, if abusive relationships become more and more common then we need to take a step back and redifine cinema.
What do we do then, when the faintest amount of so-called sexualization is enough for the puritans to come bearing arms? Shall we make up a new arbitrary limit to what creatives are generously allowed to do without being harassed by outraged online mobs, limits that won't matter in the least in stopping those people from complaining and demand censorship anyway? Should we once again make some arguments about male sexualization, how it allegedly doesn't exist (entirely false), how men wouldn't like if male characters were treated the same (they are, regularly, since the '80s and before, nobody cares), how we could make things better if we started sexualizing men as well (it literally never mattered to the outrage mob who just hates on fictional tits and won't stop at anything to enforce their puritan worldview)? The same exact arguments have been repeated ad nauseam, non-stop, for more than 10 years now, constantly pretending that sex itself isn't the problem and everyone's fine with sexualization when this is clearly the one and only problem, never been willing to admit that the simple issue we are facing is one of a bloc of backward, conservative, art-hating regressives and people who no longer live under the rule of medieval "morality".
@@cammyshill3099 Honestly, in my personal opinion, sexualization of characters can never be the #1 reason why a game is bad - It is always the side-effect of the #1 reason that people don’t realize and only target sexualization as a collateral. Sexualization can never be the reason something is bad - the utilization of it can; a.k.a. bad writing. If you dislike how fanservice is done, it’s because it’s not enough and that the writer is incompetent and makes it seem disruptive or gimmicky. _That_ is the reality. Unless you still get turned off regardless - then that’s a mental health issue. It’s called “hyposexuality”, an unhealthy lack of sexual attraction to anything. I should know, I’m a hypersexual - the opposite of unhealthy lack of sexual attraction; and I know that’s not healthy and can still judge a story without needing it to be sexualized. Honestly though, a lot of ecchi Anime, for example, are light ecchi, so the pointlessly rare and unrevealing ecchi moments make me dislike them more, because the writer has no idea what they’re doing. Either way, the point is clear.
I'm reminded of something I thought of when I was playing Soul Caliber decades ago. Something like, "The ladies there are pretty heavily sexualized, but hey, we got some hot guys too, so at least it's equal-opportunity." I mean, if I were a straight girl, I'd be drooling over Kilik. Even as a straight guy, I can say, "If I *were* to bang one of the male SC characters..."
Its a very simple answer, yes men like looking at at beautiful women in games, but its not what makes us stay, example tifa and jill from final fantasy games are drop dead gorgeous but their looks are not what makes people like them so much its their personality and great character development throughout their story, heck lulu from final fantasy 10 is dress like a goth beauty, and a dress that show all the good stuff, but even though her design to be sexy she is a great character that struggles with move on from her past, and puts on a brave front to hide her sadness, its not all about looks but how they're portrayed and caring themselves.
Take Lightning from 13 as a comparison. She was cute but was written like a carboard cut out. Even when they added cosplay for the third game of that series, that still didn't make her more appealing.
@@hxntaiguy3318 I just ended the series out of curiosity to see how the story would end but I never cared for lightning. Noel, Caius and even Yuel were more interesting to me 😅.
@@adriansanmartin5773 yeah I want lie and say lighting was the most interesting character out there, it was basically female cloud without the charm, but I still enjoyed the series I know people think the 13 series sucks but not to me.
Lulu's outfit is so stupid though. Not only does it clash with the character but it just makes no sense at all. It's like she just found it floating in the air & jumped inside of it. There's nothing keeping it on her at all. It's worse than Christie's jacket from Dead or Alive 4 but at least Dead or Alive 4 was advertised as being fairly pornographic.
When done respectfully it can add value. I like aesthetically pleasing, sexy, cute characters who also have their own wants, desires and personalities. Sexiness itself isn't bad. It's when their just a sex object that it can become a problem. When the character is just there to be an object for people to fap at then it degrades them, They're simply there for people to lust over. They're an object, a sexy prop for people to stare at, not a character. And for some it makes them think that people might be like that too, an object to sexualize. At least subconsciously, it normalizes it. Sort of dehumanizes people. If our culture wasn't like it is then one note, fap material wouldn't be that much of a problem. We live in a culture that does objectify people, mostly women but also men with lesser frequency. If you object to that then you must likely haven't experienced it personally, you might even do it to others yourself without thinking about it. That's what makes it most insidious. Its hard to accept you might be part of a problem when its so ingrained and normalized into a culture. Turn that uncomfortableness that makes you feel into something productive, be more conscious of the society and culture around you. Its okay to be attracted to others, but respect them as fellow human beings, and always keep in mind that they don't owe you sex. Always ask for consent before touching people. Be respectful both in your words and actions. Think about how your words might make people around you uncomfortable. Don't objectify people, respect them.
_"Its hard to accept you might be part of a problem when its so ingrained and normalized into a culture."_ Yeah, that's exactly why it's so hard for extremists like you to understand why your anti men propaganda is so wrong. ;)
I am so fucking sick of this goddamn discourse. Whether or not they’re sexy has nothing to do with wether or not they are written well or if the gameplay is engaging and fun. Attractive characters are just that, attractive. People need to stop moralizing how beauty is depicted. Who gives a fuck if their sexualized? Who gives a fuck who it “empowers” or “demoralizes”, just fucking pick what you want and shut up. This whole issue isn’t about women or sexualization. It’s about marketing, social media, and people being pretentious and petty. I’m sick of it.
The problem is that people donʼt realize characters can be blatantly sensual and profound at the same time. It doesnʼt need to be one in expense of the other & thatʼs what NIKKE does. Blatant sensual ladies with profound stories, but even if it they were just sensual it wouldnʼt be a problem of art.
Here's the thing, from my perspective as a bisexual woman, I can quite like sexualized female characters(love your intro btw)... if they're actual characters. There are plenty of games or shows where I can be like "hell yeah she's so cool and hot" and enjoy it (It can even heighten the experience lol) However many games and other mediums take the route of objectifying female characters rather than just sexualizing them, and at that point, they aren't a "cool character who can step on me" or an "adorable person who deserves to be loved" (etc yall get it). Rather, they end up just being sex symbols with little to actually care about them for. As much as it hurts to say, titties are meaningless if I can't care about the person with them. At that point, the most I can do is appreciate good art. Similarly I dont get the hate for the horizon zero dawn character (though I haven't played the game yet) But she seems pretty cool hunting robot dinosaurs and all that, and certainly doesnt look unnatractive (while also being more immersive to the setting) I can agree some western media has an annoying aversion to sex, but I feel the whole issue is blown out of proportion. What most people want are good characters, not objects of desire. Good characters are often inherently desirable and most people are fine with/enjoy them being sexualized somewhat, but within the bounds of them as a character/person, rather than treating them like dolls. Finally, I do think some of the issue comes from the difference between how male and female characters are treated, as mentioned in the video, fully clothed men with good outfits that portray their character are hot(so hot 🥵). But they don't feel like they were forced into those outfits to show off for an audience, rather they seem like actual outfits the character would wear. I want more of the same for female characters, lemme see a woman in full dress uniform, make female characters that show a lot of skin in a way that feels like a real and fitting outfit, and not like a big arrow pointing to boobs (I'm already looking I don't need my attention directed to them lol). I would absolutely argue those genshin impact men are sexualized, but it's done in a better way. Also in general we need more male sexualization please 🙏. Overall though this was a good video and fun to watch.
Finally a bit of sense in the comment section. I hate when people call it "puritanism" or "purse-clutching" when you try to explain the difference between sexualisation and objectification. Objectification is about breaking the immersion and putting a character's pornographic appeal before good writing, their background or simply logic. It operates in the same way porn does storywise - every chararacter trait or story behind them becomes something to accomodate the action part. It doesn't really matter how plumbers, mechanics and family members get into the doing, the plot in the beginning exists solely for the purpose of setting up the premise. So, everything about the character loses its meaning when the character is objectified, because it becomes an accomodating trait, a kink in a way. A vampire woman arc is no longer about vampire lore or the horror of vampirism, but a fetish, a porn category, Big Titty Vampire Dommy Goth Mommy whatever. Even her own expression of sexuality loses its meaning, because the entire object that she symbolises is inherently sexual, the control that she has over her sexuality is not important and it's not focused on enough, because, again, all her character traits are subordinated to her pornographic appeal.
@@klauserji this is a false equivalency. book covers and blurbs are like movie trailers: they're what draw you in and the same book can have multiple covers, but once you start reading the book, the book cover doesn't matter anymore. just like how once you start watching a movie, the trailers don't matter anymore. character designs are different. unlike book covers, a character's design is an important aspect of them. it can inform you about their personality, backstory, and is what comes to mind when you think of that character. it's not like a book cover. not to mention, the original statement is about not having prejudice and giving things/people a chance before you arrive at a conclusion. so, "don't assume a character who looks bad is bad" or "a character who looks good is good", etc. it's a different type of judging.
Funny how you mention Nikke and Stellar Blade in the same Breath and context because as far as ive heard sgift up made games like nikke to be able to one day make games like stellar Blade and here we are they did it congrats to shift up. Also thanks for talking about Nikke (never underestimate the sexy boob game to tell a dark and depressing story ) and using the soundtrack in the beginning. I've grown to love your videos more and more.
No, you see, it was because he made liking women sound gay /s No but fr, you'll see a lotta lefties tryina push this narrative and while I don't doubt a sizable part of the backlash was from right-wing chuds, I'm pretty sure the worst of it was from lefties who sicced their fanbases on him, as he himself stated people he looked up to turned their back on him. Honestly? After his hogwarts legacy statement I'll be hard-pressed to care. Shoe on the other foot and all that.
@@stegosandrosos1291 Really? That's weird, because he mentioned that people he looked up to turned on him and joined the hate mob. You think he looked up to manosphere influencers, the kinda limp-dicks who would do the "he made liking women gay" shit?
tbf, Azur Lane is very sexualize because the way it's monetized is different from most gachas most gachas don't give a lot invocation materials, while Azur Lane is very generous when it comes to most resources besides the "premium" money, so the devs decided to put the monetisation in the skins rather than make people pay to get more girls or be stronger faster so they have to make characters hot enough so the player prefers / loves some of them and eventually spend some money to get new skins for his favourite ships
Azur Lane is the only gacha I play because I like the character designs, don't feel like I'm being ripped off, and don't feel that the game will shut down soon and waste my money.
a big part of the sexualization of male characters, for the ladies you will notice that none of them are bald or even buzzcut or have any facial hair, while in reality those hairstyles are common with men. male gamers, however, seems to like baldies and facial hair more, evident by the common male protagonist, particularly from the PS3 generation where I think gaming is still predominantly male.
Two things: small note for some people, women still CAN look mid or even ugly in games too, especially if most of the men are. Aloy is fine (not ugly anyways) having realistic features and doesn't mean other games can't still have supermodels (Eve is literally modelled after a Korean model so she may be a bad standard but she's not unrealistic. And two: look at vtubers. Yes they make their models to grow an audience and sell themselves as a character (personality is so important though, a lot of the biggest ones are just entertaining, and some happen to be stacked). But they also are a representation of the person, usually when they have big honkers it's because the person behind the model either HAS big honkers or they LIKE that look, it's not shallow sexualisation to make your OC hot if you wanna feel hot yourself. But also for example, Matara Kan in Vshojo, she had a pretty standard anime level hot character design but not really sexualised, and actually stated she did not want to make her chest any larger. Then she got a new model in a very non revealing sweater but her assets had grown considerably. She didn't do it to make money, she had a VERY established fan base before Vshojo and then a ton of new Vshojo fans behind her. She did that because assumedly the artist likes drawing that and she thought screw it, why not have bigger milkers? Besides this, she really doesn't lean into fan service with lewd or dirty talk or bits, she's seen by her community as a wine mom and like actually mother not mommy. Sure some people will see her as a sex object but that goes for any hot person and even a lot of not hot people and that's on the viewer for objectifying. Anyways there's a recent ironmouse quote that most of the vtubers with big booba, HAVE big booba in real life. Anecdotally I haven't analysed the chest but every single vtuber I've seen irl male or female has been cute or hot, surely the "ugly men pretending to be hot girls" are out there somewhere but not any vtuber I've ever seen.
Regarding examples where sexualization adds to the story, I’ll dig my own grave by championing Looking Up To Magical Girls as the prime example of this.
I actually saw someone arguing that Eve, and in general, Stellar Blade, isn't hot enough. This was after the game released, but really, she''s very plain of a character. If you want to make a sexy character, their personality should be attractive too, and it doesn't have to come to disrupt the story in any way. For example, in Bayonetta, Cereza is a very well fleshed character. There are so many details in the way she acts and dresses that add to her character. She's also sexy, a big part of the gameplay is her owning her feminity. One thing that is interesting is that many kinds of people find her attractive, men and women alike. I wish that Eve's sexiness added to her character, but most of the time in the game, she doesn't do much to show her personality.
For me, my main issue with a lot of fanservice stuff is that it is so often used in the most shallow and superficial way possible. Like so many other tropes, it is a tool in the writers toolbox and is one of the most misused out there. The most I could compare it to is horror oddly enough. It is similar to the jump-scare, being a cheap and easy method to evoke an instinctual reaction out of the player rather than actually putting in the legwork to craft something deeper that sticks with you. One particular issue I see so often with fanservice is that how the plot is forced to be in service of the horny rather than the horny being in service of the plot. Like, how often do you see whole essays in a story trying to justify a certain horny element contrary to how nonexistent fanservice elements is instead used for things such as character growth or advancing the plot. One easy way I can see if the fanservice is pointless or obstructive is to ask "Are they a good characters because of the fanservice or in spite of it?" I think the only time that I can pull at the top of my head where fanserivce was used in a constructive manner for the plot was in Suisei no Gargantia, specifically the second dance scene between the main character Ledo and the love interest Amy. This was where Amy, decked out in a belly dancer outfit, did a private dance for Ledo set to a calm flute melody and auroras in the background. This serving as a big turning point in their relationship as Ledo awakens to emotions he didn't know he had for Amy and it just ends up being a sweet moment between the two. The focus was on the characters, the sexy was just a vehicle for that. Though even with all this said, they had to use a more standard fanservice scene to act as as setup for this one.
Nikke does suffer from extreme tone changes between the various characters, and quite often the personalities really don't match the appearance of the Nikkes themselves, and that's coming from a daily player. Some of the supposedly deepest characters have foot-deep personalities, while in some other completely random cases, you get philosophical talks on the level of good visual novels. The partner of Centi, who you presented in the video, Liter, goes from a fun episode about Anis not cleaning her room to existential horror and nihilism at the drop of a button. Meanwhile Admi is about liking cats. ... And that's it.
It's why I'm not a huge fan of traditional fanservices. Characters with deep story and lore are just much more interesting than their neuron activators, although appearance is still important as it is the introduction of a character. After all, it's the first thing you see, their physical characteristics. Rarely though, there are occasions on characters having neuron activators but for good reason. The ones on top of my head is ahri and evelyn from league of legends, both using their appearance to lure men and absorb their energy basically. Basically, i dont like fanservices because games that incorporate that do so for the sake of fanservice, instead of having actual reason and story behind it.
I agree to an extent but I rather them just make interesting characters and if they do a story make it at least somewhat interesting or entertaining because sometimes let’s be honest I rather a game or series be honest about the fanservice than try to come up with a arbitrary nonsense reason as to why it happens I don’t mind them explaining why it happens but sometimes it does kind of make me laugh that they come up with some silly excuse, to that I say just make sure it fits the character instead of explaining it just make sure the character is a kind of risqué kind of character.
4:24 I think one thing to note is that the human eye is attracted to motion, as we are a species that largely relies on eyesight for safety. It's a shame this objection falls apart when you notice just how hard it is to focus on any details (compared to any other thing you can observe). And I wonder how much of male sexualization being far more subdued (unless you look at yaoi) has to do with that it's not like we have much to hide. Being toned is kind of expected, and implicit from wearing business casual (and not being chunky).
Personally, I dont really fet the need for deep characters, depending on how were defining deep. Yes, a character should actually be a character ( plot, story, reactions, etc) but I fail to see why it needs to be super complex or in-depth to be good, nor why they must either be a stereotype or defy expectations, instead of just doing what they would do in a given situation ( without breaking character all of a sudden).
18:05 "Let me use this as an excuse to look at twinks-" *pulls up picture of Wanderer* That shit caught me off guard, I was not mentally prepared 😭 thanks for the laugh 👍 Uh yah, wandering forever 🍃
My stance on the subject: I don't want games to be sexualized. BUT. You don't have to make sexual characters to make good-looking characters. You can have characters that look good, but aren't being sexualized, and that is what I believe we should aim for.
Thats a perfectly fine opinion, I personally dont agree. I love sexualization and I dislike any kind of puritan stance on how characters should be protrayed. With that said, its fine if you prefer and only play games that dont have sexualization, just as long as you dont think that you're opinion is the law and everyone should be forced to make and create games that only pander to your own world views.
@@GlaDos321 Of course people are free to do as they wish, as long as they aren't taking it too far. Again, I only have an issue with it if it interferes with the game or character in a bad way. Otherwise I don't really care. And most people really shouldn't.
I might be alone on this one, but since I’m a guy the first thing I look at when trying new characters is how cool/badass they are and how emotionally impactful they were in the story, if there’s any. I remember playing DMC5 for the first time as a newcomer to the series and I immediately picked Vergil for “obvious” reasons, but the thing is even if Vergil was absurdly speaking a female, I wouldn’t give 2 shits. When I play a game I know I’m playing a fictional product thus I already know that what’s happening doesn’t reflect reality. I think all guys have dreamed of cool fights at night at least once in their life and that’s literally all I ask for in games, which is why I never really cared about sexualization. If a character is cool/has an impact on me story/lore wise, that’s enough for me, Furina is the perfect example, I’ve never seen anyone sexualize her, and she’s probably the most respected female character in the Genshin community after playing the main story. Long story short fan service can be nice, but I’d rather play someone as cool as Vergil anyday rather than some girl with extreme bazoonkas from Azur Lane just because she’s hot😂
But why tho? Why must she be be pretty or sexy? How does it add to the characters development and goals, and so on? What’s the benefit to it? Just looking good and fuckable?
5:11 Im pretty sure someone else has already explained it, but the lore reason is that every Nikke is outfitted with combat capabilities, no matter their role in society, just in case it is needed. But canon-wise, theyre nowhere near the active warzone. It's the same kind of logic as Venti being in your party, fighting against Signora in Inazuma. His presence there is not canon, he's just a character you use.
Hi there Haedal, have you ever tried Reverse 1999? Its the most philosophical and character rich gacha game I have ever played, and I'd love your take on the philosophy of mathematics
16:15 i think the man in uniform / suit =hot mechanic has something to do with suids symbolising wealth and politicla power and uniforms symbolising military power. Both impling that the male is strong / capable. This translating to men = attractive, is, i think, related to remnants of our biological past / ancestors, where the partner was chosen by the females based of of their capability to create healthy and strong offspring in order to further the gene poll and ensure the survival of the species. Plus their ability to protect the family once its established. Hence the above mentiont characteristics beinf persived as attractive from a female perspective.
For figuring out if a guy character is sexualized simply flip his gender and ask yourself if people would pull for them based on sex appeal. Lets take wanderer would people pull on a girl that wears shoes with visible toes that steps on you in her burst while saying stuff like "bow your head!" "cry louder!" "know your place!"? I let whoever's reading be the judge :D
I think that's just because women's bodies are more sexualised though, rather than it being a natural thing, because if you go to cultures where women go topless boobs aren't sexualised, theyre just seen as a normal body part. The men aren't going round aroused all the time. In general I think your statement is somewhat true, like as a straight woman abs and muscles are hot and everything but its not like boobs for example where you can get off to them. That being said I still think men are hotter in less clothing than more, its just that the effect is less dramatic maybe than for straight men. Sorry this wasn't very well worded but yh this is just my personal experience.
@@franisthebest1234 Thank you for sharing your opinion. It does make sense that, in the end, less is hotter. But yeah, as you stated, what I meant is that, in general, the effects are less dramatic in women (or at least that's from my observations) than men.
Hoooly you cooked hard with this one... thoughtful opinions that make sense while being an entertaining video. Hope you get skyrocketed by the algorithm.
15:36 you bring up an interesting point. The way I see it is that when it comes to male characters the focus is often shifted more to what the character is, does and represents and focuses less on how they look, even if that is still important. Men are often considered attractive doe to what they are capable of, that can mean a lot of different things, but it is a very important thing, that's why a calendar with shirtless guys may sell but a calendar with shirtless firefighter men sells more. Since you mentioned Genshin Impact, lets take a look at one of the fan favorites, Zhongli. He is handsome and has a nice voice, but he doesn't show a lot of skin, but he is not only dressed but very well dressed, he is also well read, polite, a bit of a know it all but definitely someone that you could talk to for 5 hours and not even notice, he also takes his promises very seriously, and in terms of gameplay he is skilled with the spear, looks cool using it and is a shield character, so there's the protector thing going on. All of these traits are part of why fans like him but they are also hinted at by his look and posture as well, showing less skin actually makes him more attractive because his clothes are expressing what he represents. This is also what makes people like female characters but the balance is often shifted more towards the way they look in a sexual way first, specially when it comes to gacha games, but if that's all they have going on the character won't last long or will only attract very weird hyper focused fetish people. Since I am more familiar with Genshin Impact I'll use another character from there: Noelle. She is a maid with some odd pieces of armor here and there and carries a big sword, is shorter than the tall characters in the game and is pretty, like all playable characters, but these are superficial traits. She has more going on. She is reliable, wants to help people even at the cost of her own health, she is strong and has goals, and when she fails she just gets back up and keeps going. Even in terms of gameplay she is good for new players and at C6 she is a beast, when she says "leave it all to me" she means it so she also has the protector aspect there. Her posture shows that she is polite and tries to be friendly, and even her armor that leaves vital parts of her chest and back exposed show her personality because she is putting her heart on the line, she uses herself as a target so she can protect others, it also shows that she is not dumb since her Geo magic allows her to generate shields so she is merely baiting the enemy into attacking her, so she is knight material on top of all. Sorry for the long post, in short, fanservice is good when it hits that imperfect but fitting balance, those are the types of characters that we love and want to see in our games.
Interesting that you say that Ruppee is shallow, yes on the surface she is, but she actually gets interesting character development on an event named Miracle Snow (which you can play on teh archive) don't gonna spoil it but she;s just a sweetheart, also you showed Yuni and Mihara a lot, they have a really interesting arc through the plot.
I think a lot of people forget that, on a fundamental level, one of our biggest collective sexual turn-ons is a pretty face. You give a character a pretty face and you barely have to do anything with the body. They can be at least decently chubby (see: Mei, Elegg 🥚), and even at higher levels of body fat there are people who will be into them. You can make them tall or short. Big or small breasted. The hips/ass area is probably the only other place you'll want to be particular, but even then you just have to not fuck it up entirely and you'll get a good number of submissions on [redacted].
One of the reasons one of my favorite games of all time is Limbus Company is because the sexualization in that game is non-existent. Simply comparing any of the character designs to the likes of Nikke tells you all you need to know. Limbus, nor any of its franchises, has ever even hinted at anything sexual, with the exception of maybe Lobotomy Corporation, the first game of the franchise which had a couple rather voluptuous character designs (but even that was purely visual, and on top of that, is arguably extremely tame in comparison to most other games). Early on, the game reinforces the idea that sex and gender are not a dividing factor in the universe- everyone are legitimate equals in the way that everyone is subject to the same, harsh conditions of the City, and everyone has the means to try their best to survive in those harsh conditions- meaning that the only thing that really separates people is what they can bring to the table. It couldn't care less about who you are. It's one of the first games I've played (and the same goes for all Project Moon games) that really focuses on them just being people. There's no need to rely on some horny bait to draw players in. No need to objectify characters. Even when the characters do get "sexualized," (I'm talking the Molar Ishmael ID and the Molar Sinclair ID which can hardly even be called sexualization) you don't even really notice. None of it is forced or out of character, and none of it is made or designed specifically for the reason to arouse you. They are simply very well written, realistic, and reasonable characters and that's it. They're just characters who you can, and who the game expects you to, like for their actual character and personality. I'm more tired of people finding ways to justify the use of sexualization without seeing that most if not all media can do just fine without it, as long as it has actual integrity beneath the sexualization. Why bait people into consuming your product by capitalizing on their horniness, rather than just letting your story and world speak for itself? It lowers the integrity of your product overall through the use of it, because it essentially indirectly tells the consumers that: "No, we didn't have enough confidence in our writing that people would actually want to play our game without big anime biddies swaying around in their faces." I know in the majority of cases we are just talking about videogames or gachas specifically, but I still think that people are entitled to good, well-written stories. Games shouldn't be held back because of the fact that they are games, and people shouldn't feel as if this is the level of quality they should expect from all their games coming forward. But I digress.
I think one of the issues is that people may avoid playing games with overly sexualized characters. I always steer clear of games with overly sexualized characters. But then again, I’m female, so maybe it can’t pull me in like it can a guy haha
Would definitely recommend you play the old events. They are in the archives section within the commanders' quarters. The events and other activities bring allot of nikke's from the roster into them, and REALLY do a good job making you fall for them. Not all Nikke's are fleshed out yet. But many of them are. I don't see lifeless eyes.
I stopped watching to write this really quick, but I really do love your content, they're so in depth and worded well, but they never feel degrading or pretentious. They acknowledge multiple angles while keeping your stance, and nothing feels out of place or unnecessary. Sorry if this is kinda weird, I just really appreciate your work and I can't wait to see more!
I really appreciate comments like these. I really try to do my best to not say anything that might in some way be disrespectful or inflammatory because the last thing I want is to make fun of a thing someone loves. Even posting this video I got a bit paranoid thinking that maybe I should have worded things a bit differently, but I'm glad to see that the reception has been mostly positive
God bless the Phyrrhixz for opening the eyes to new fans about the lore and its characters. Hes always working hard on his videos of Nikke Goddess of Victory.
My take is that video game characters can just be sexy with no strings attached. Hot people also just exist irl and we accept it as natural fact. Why should Lara Croft need some bogus explanation for why she has a busty, feminine figure and why she likes to raid tombs in athletic crop tops and shorts? She's simply like that, she enjoys it and that's it. It doesnt degrade her character, she's still a powerful, sophisticated, intelligent woman who doesnt take any💩from anyone and lives life on her own terms. Or she used to be like that, before Crystal Dynamics decided that classic Lara is a ''sexist trope'' in need of a unnecessary revamp that made her more bland with the 2013 series of Tomb Raider games where she lost her curves, long athletic legs, her cup size became incrimentally smaller with each new game and she now had 0 outfits that could be viewed as sexy. Instead of creating new, more modest female characters, they tear down the already existing bombshells left, right and center. That's what grinds my gears.
Just gonna answer the immediate thumbnail, sex is neither empowering or demoralizing, its just sex, its existence is simply to be sex, this idea makes sex seem like something far more special than it ought to be, treating it as exceptionally good or bad only furthers its denormalization
Which ironically plays right into the patriarchy, and against the liberation of women. The whole reason why people, especially men wanted to make sex seem special, is to ensure the security of his own lineage and offspring. Feminists who fall right into this trap in an attempt to reverse the sexual revolution by making sex special and shameful again are actually regressing.
I think what is so cool about this game is the depth of all the characters and the amount of mystery in the story. Not too many games have this kind of depth anymore and I miss that in games.
For me, I love characters like Violet Evergarden, Mikasa and Erza Scarlet because they've shown love and compassion to the people they care about. Erza on the other may have her sexy moments like in the movie Dragon Cry but I think she's an amazing character by being a big sister to her guild mates. Mikasa is a badass Ackerman who isn't that much sexualised but people remember her for her action scenes in the early seasons. Violet is a girl (apparently, she's 14 ) who wants to understand what love is and suffers the loss of her captain which made her want to become a doll and write letters for people. She may not dress in such revealing attire but her character is what made me fall in love with her. And also, she was a child solider and being such a young age, experiencing harsh violence front and centre while not being fazed by it.
I've always believed men's sexual attraction is mostly physical, women's sexual attraction is mostly emotional. Men like physically seeing jiggly soft skin to activate their neurons, women don't need that as much. They just need to see a design that evokes a certain emotion in them. I see most women will say, for example, that Zhong Li is the most sexy male Genshin character and he is covered up to his neck in clothes, VERY modest! But his design evokes intelligence, competence and confidence. A commanding presence and a deep voice which I think women find VERY sexy. Also he has an infinite money exploit and probably would own a Mercedes without even recognizing its value.
I think that's too surface level. everybody likes bare skin and fit bodies. But something happens after you are done looking: you need to interact. You need to DO something with that body. for Men, it is easy to have shallow interactions because they probably have the social and financial power to control those interactions. For people without that power, they need to be more cautious, and will look harder for context clues about the person behind the body. That's where outfits, body language, grooming, and other cues become important. A woman won't hop in bed with a sexy naked man because if that interaction goes sideways, she could be seriously hurt, humiliated, or killed. Most men either have nothing to fear from a naked woman, or are too dumb to realize that they do.
@@PoorMuttski Yeah, idk about that, the idea that women by and large are afraid of men I think is something else and untrue in a lot of cases. Women certainly aren't afraid of men in my country, that's for damn sure, and they still prefer presence over a physical body.
@@Shadestars That's because you're not living in India lol. Jokes aside, the fear of men certainly comes from the culture of a place and what people teach them. Vice-versa for guys who assume all "3D" women they've met that have been horrible to them is indicative of women in general.
@@Shadestars I am not saying that women prefer presence because they are afraid. I think men prefer bodies, or at least are more able to indulge that preference, because they are unafraid. Like I said, getting excited by a shape is easy. It requires no reflection or critical thought. Men are constantly getting into trouble by not exercising critical thought 😄
@@pillarmenn1936 women’s fear of men is absolutely not cultural. Just the fact that the average woman is several inches shorter and has 10-20 pounds less muscle than the average man puts that idea right out the window.
I'm honestly convinced that, aside from the obvious reason of "seggs sells", the sexualisation of the Nikkes is an intentional bait and switch. While the marketing of the game does everything to objectivy the characters, the game itself does a lot to subjectivy them. It offers multible forms of interactions and thus opportunities for characterization, it has: Advise sessions, Bond stories, random encounters, blabla messages, relatively frequent cameos in event stories, side stories and of course its main story. I also like to think that Nikke has no real filler, as the slice of life stuff serves to humanize the characters. Whose humanity is exactly what you are fighting for in the story. A good direct example is Diesel. I don't understand (though i'm aware that it is done by people) how anyone could shamelessly lust after her, after reading her bond story. That's just me though, and i'm aware that i'm probably taking this game's story a bit too seriously.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for checking out the bond stories! Eventually we’re trying to get them all done! Great video and enjoy NIKKE!
Thank you so much! I'll be sure to check them out on your channel as I get new characters
@@Haedal_VT You want the spice of Nikke story? Play the OverZone story event in Nikke, trust Me you will love it.
i got to that part in the video and just want to add that the blabla messages you get from the nikkes are more or less under the same boat as the small interactions you get to increase their bond lvl
@@Haedal_VT your framing of the issue is all wrong of course. ''false equivalence fallacy'' right here - 2:38
I think the argument is more about looks rather than actual character. Women don't have to be drop dead gorgeous to be a likable character, and they don't have to be ugly to pander to people who don't even play videogames. They just need to be characters that people can relate to and enjoy playing as.
The problem with that argument that in practice, most people prefer beautiful forms for attraction at the first sight, sometimes it doesn't even have to be on facial beauty, just look at people amazed by beautiful physiological figures of athletic body or even working figures
It applies the question to practice by how men also viewed by women, unless money (and/or power alongside influences) are involved, fat to obese men will always be less preferable then thinner to fit men, it's ingrained in our biological impulses instead of social studies' perceived philosophy
Fuggin’-A, man.
@@ohamatchhams what you say is true, but the real problem is not the sexualization of women in media but rather how most of these sexualization are just shallow cash grabs which many women find offensive and men find uninteresting.
@@ohamatchhams TL;WR I personally like INTERESTING designs, so I believe a lot of people do too, even if they don't realize it. It's not bad if a character is hot when their design has more than that going on for them, but when that's all it has going for it I'm left unimpressed, and I think people should feel that same way, even if I may realize that's what people in the business call "a me problem".
That REALLY depends. Personally, I like characters I think it'd be cool to be. And on that token I like chiselled men like kiryu or sett alright, but I REALLY love absolute units like Saejima or even Fate's Herakles. And you'd be hard-pressed to call those guys beautiful. Hell, even for women, I care less (not to say I hardly do, mind) about how a character looks as I care about her personality. To wit one of my favorite women is the Princess from Slay the Princess, who at best looks eerily beautiful and at worst...well the eye of the needle requires a very specific set of tastes that I happen to have. And that's not even getting into lategame spoilers or her other forms. Hell, one of my favorite forms of her is the Specter who's just a skellington in a dress.
I think saying that beauty is what catches someone's eye is part of the truth, but I think even more that what TRULY catches the eye is interesting designs. Designs that seem to have something to say or make you feel. And frankly? I'm *personally* rather exhausted by the standard anime babe, inasmuch as that stirred lust in me when I saw kiddy grade the first time when I was a kid and later on Soul Eater while in puberty, but after that the bit got stale. This is less so because I don't find hot characters hot but moreso because it's OVERWHELMINGLY the same fucking body which gives in no small part a creepy stepford wives effect where I feel like it's just a doll with hair and clothes and colors swapped around.
Again, this isn't about why I think the design shouldn't be done, it's why I don't find beautiful designs compelling on their own. I'll take a design that stands out, even if it's by having abs over one that just tries to brush my undercarriage, and I don't think I'm alone. And I still think there should be designs like this, but I want more cool, badass designs too. Or weird ones. Hell, Enikk is a voluptuous lady with a presumably pretty face, but just on account of how monochrome and faceless she is I find her design much more intriguing than, say, Jackal. Hell, I'll take Volume, too, since yes she is hot, yes I do enjoy that but more importantly her design is EXUBERANT. I just take a look at it and I think "oh she's certain she's that bitch". And this is to say, I just want something more to draw my eye beyond just tits the size of the anime average and legs that look so skinny they'd probably break from one jump.
@@robbieaulia6462 why women find it offensive when most of them are neither interesting nor good looking baffles me.
I get why some men find them "uninteresting" thought. They just have high standards for women or really like immersion, which women with a lot of exposed skin seems to break since they sort of break the aesthetics of the setting.
3:57 Fanservice in Arknights be like:
SCOTLAND FOREVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
SCOTLENDDDDD
SCOTLAND FOREVER!!!
This is why I like Arknights & Reverse 1999
LMAOO
If u ask me, sexualization's empowering someone when there's more to them than that. If the ONLY thing about them is that they're attractive, then its demoralizing.
Well put
It’s not the sexualization that’s demoralizing them, it’s the damn writing. That’s like blaming the gun for killing a person instead of blaming the assailant.
There is a chase about how someone being more better looking can affect a persons first opinion on them but the thing that either makes them a good or great character or a bad one is if they are written in a good way or have depth.
@@ColorfulStarburst tell that to any gacha game player and their heads would explode
@@danielantony1882 LIke I said, if its only the sexualisation thats being added to a character, then they're bad. If there's more to them, like the recently released Yinlin from WWA, then its alright.
"I love woman" show lappland and texas alter, can I be honest? I completely understand you
based
@@Haedal_VT lappy and texas lets goo
Explain why it's understandable?
@@Josh-sz8ip Bro got hurt over a 2 month old comment damnnn
@@kyarumomochi5146 No. I just don't even understand the comment. I have ASD. Why don't you just explain why it's understandable instead of being gratuitously hostile or assuming hostility in me?
I do wonder if Neir:Automata started this "Look sexy dressed charcters in an apocalyptic world", to "Oh my God this game changed my life with it's writing" type of game. Given that both games talked about, "Stellar Blade" and "Nikke" gave that smilar description to Nier:Automata and might be inspired by it.
Stellar Blade is definitely inspired by Nier Automata. There are similarity even in the game design and gameplay.
Nier definitely popularized it and both games are openly inspired by Nier to some degree, especially Stellar Blade. Yoko Taro likes both games too
@@xylathoth also worth mentioning nikke had a collab with nier and unlike other 2 collabs characters were sexualized.
I don't think stellar blade will be nier levels of writing...
Nier is a beast of its own.
But I think it will be good.
Yeah, the nier ending was deep.
That said, stellar blade is miles more daring than nier auromata in terms of fanservice.
Woman here and you raise really good points! I really enjoyed my time with the video! I kinda want to share my thoughts on sexualized male characters, I hope you don't mind LOL
Honestly, I don't think we're all that different from men. Some women like superficial handsome characters, but some would prefer a more fleshed out character.
For those preferring fleshed out characters, my evidence is: Tumblr sexyman. Just look at the lineup and their designs. There's Sans, a literal triangle, the damned onceler, you get my point (there are times where they would be sexualized... but i think this just shows that women tend to start sexualizing AFTER falling for a character, but the opposite sometimes happens too). This is true for me too. There are times that I would fall for a character design, but ended up liking another character because they just have a more interesting personality/backstory/character motivation and contributes to the story more.
HOWEVER! On the other side of the spectrum, there are some women who just enjoy seeing hot men. I think this can be proven with the success of games like Nu Carnival (BL gacha game), Love and Deepspace (otome game), and Obey Me (otome game). I'm not saying that these games are shallow (except for Obey Me. I'm just speaking the truth, don't come at me) but these games in particular are usually marketed in a way that accentuates the guys' sex appeal, like showing pecs and stuff. Love and Deepspace's marketing really focuses on the fact that you can touch the handsome anime men and tickle them when they're shirtless, things like that. But when you play the game, it has plot and some worldbuilding (but I can't personally say if it's well done or not. I played a bit and dropped it because it's not really my thing). The main focus are the guys and how beautifull/handsome they are, and how you can interact with them, that's for sure.
TLDR, men and women aren't that different when it comes to this. Some women sees a hot guy and that's all it takes for them to simp, while some needs more than that. But again, that's just my personal opinion. If there's a woman reading this and would like to add their own experience/thoughts, please do so! Otherwise, I hope this is insightful? Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Yoo this is kinda unrelated but why do you think obey me is a shallow game? Just out of curiosity, if you don’t mind answering
@@Sleepy_aku First I want to put up a disclaimer. I have nothing against Obey Me fans, I used to like it too. I get why someone would like the game and stick with it, and I love the VA events that they held every once in a while. If you're an Obey Me fan, nothing wrong with that! Continue to like what you like and don't let a stranger from the internet stop you!
I just personally think that in terms of story, it's a bit lacking in substance and feels very lackluster. The lore feels like it's trying to go somewhere, but it doesn't and it feels bogged down due to heavy slice of life filler moments. They also keep teasing that the characters will have more under the surface but so far I've yet to see it (and I don't have the patience to keep going LMAO).
Not to mention the uneven character spotlight. This is hell particularly if you're aiming for the non-demons, like I did with Solomon and Simeon. I figured that if I raise my relationship up with them by constantly using their cards in battle, I'll have more of their story, but I got none. Just crumbs 😭
TLDR The game can be fun at times and I love the VA events, but I don't see myself continuing Obey Me for its story and characters. They feel very surface level, lackluster, and the lore feels lacking in impact.
If you disagree though, feel free to let me know! I'm all here for a healthy discussion of medias
@@ivana2609 ah I see I see, also it’s alright XD, I really was just curious, no big deal
I’m shit at writing comments so I hope you don’t mind just reading me yapping for paragraphs hshdbdbdn
Ok yeah, with my experience with the game’s story thus far I can definitely get behind that. Even though I wasn’t THAT far into the chapters I think I have gone through at least one serious “arc” and almost immediately after that they diverged back to becoming a sitcom with all the shenanigans LMAO 😭 (completely forgot they’re supposed to have more character under the surface w that)
Feels like the game is just supposed to be lighthearted and not to be taken too seriously imo, personally I didn’t mind it, I think that may be why I never really had a problem w the game’s lore n character
Not continuing for the reasons you listed is very understandable too, thanks a lot for the reply and I really hope this reply’s understandable enough HAHAHAH 😭😭
Ahhhh the tumblr sexyman. To this day tumblr remains a well of weird and wisdom.
I remember someone making a post and thread about sexual looks.
"Does anyone get turned off when the design is so obviously sexual to the point it's like body horror and you can't get turned on anymore?" Or something like that.
I love the people who agreed and brought up examples of their experiences. Most of which about the gigantic deformed anime booba
@@Sleepy_aku Yeah your comment is very understandable! Dw about it! I do agree that Obey Me is definitely the game to just have fun and not overthink things (like I did LOL). It's good that you don't mind it and find enjoyment in that! Hope you can continue to find happiness through the game and have fun with it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Obey Me and for having this discussion with me
Oh, if you wanted deeper stories for Nikke then you're looking in the wrong spots. Advise stuff is meant as momentary gags and quick bite sized moments and for upgrading stats. The proper development you wanna see is in the main, relationship stories and event stories. About half of all stories and interactions outside of that are split between just slice of life interactions and seeing an interesting interaction take place.
Just as well if you want to see Rupee's whole shopping gimmick get turned into one of the most wholesome character traits check out the Christmas event she has with Anne. It ain't that Nikke doesn't have shallow characters, but most do have layers if you look where the game lets you. Also I really appreciate that you took the time to actually look into the content and dog for the positives. Shows you don't really have malintent when researching stuff.
True true! I haven't played much of Nikke but I geniuinely think that most of the characters are super nice and unique, which I especially see in the main story and events, like dawg I almost cried sometimes because you can geniuinely get attached to them. The fanservice does throw me off at times, especially because it's so obviously male-gaze centered and I'm a woman, but on the other side the art is so beautiful, the voicelines fit, the stories are nice, the gameplay is fun...
I think this guy is gay. No big issue, but a weird take to try to degrade pretty women for being pretty, and shallow.
i suggest finishing the vid!
@@inthediamondsky i did😭 wdym
None of this bargain bin writing (of which an AI could do better) negates the issue at hand, which is the dangerous objectification of women!
I feel if the sexualization makes sense for the character such as bayonetta a confident and charismatic adult women it’s great! But if it doesn’t fit the character’s personality or background and is only there to tittalate the viewer then it only takes away from the character.
Agree
Disagree sexualization such as dresses really can't "take away" from a character
@@Timmy-mi2ef Just outfit, no - it can't. But if character starts acting like anything but themselves just to be "sexy" then it's just putting character into trash. There are many ways to be sexy, writers should choose special sexy way fitting their characters - like spice for food. You can use pepper for gingerbread, but it may not fit cheesecake...
Agree. Nobody had an issue with Bayonetta, she is a fun character with tons of personality, her sexuality being an integral part, and she knows it.
In contrast, characters like Eve and 2b are a bit creepy because they seem just like dolls, sexualized for no in-universe reason and seemingly unaware of this.
"If you're attractive but not interesting, its actually a negative trait."
Fan service should be the cherry on top of an already great character sundae.
Not really, even a cherry is important to the compotition of a cake, if you have a cherry where it doesn't need the cake would be (less points) in the quality
Maybe, but not EVERY female character needs to be some super in-depth character. Hell, Lord knows many male characters aren't deep. How many action heroes are 1 dimensional
Not exactly, there's no one size fits all. Fanservice may also detract from a game to some since say the game is trying to be all philosophicsl then you add boobs, which some may enjoy either way and say that it's extra and makes things hilarious, but others might not.
@@Cecilia-ky3uw
If the game has good philosophical talk, a little ass here and then will not detract from that. Unless it specifically talks about fan service and sexiness being bad, while also utilizing it to draw people in, nothing of the philosophical meat will be lost through a bit of eye candy.
@@silverscreen842 it will dent the mood
To a point, I get bored from sexualization, and don’t like seeing it
I enjoy when the fan service is just cool visuals
For Real
Well, I don’t. I get bored of bad writing. You can’t have too much fan service, only bad writing that doesn’t know how to utilize it properly so it bores you.
I enjoy fan service as actual fan service (where you see your favorite characters back or a certain reference or callback to something else or giving your favorite characters the best character arcs) more than trying to make fans horny
@@danielantony1882 Spoken like a true gooner lmao
@@PeruvianPotato Spoken like a real degen.
"Here's an average college kid for reference" and "Calcium Cannons" caught me so off guard here.
Should have compared it to a faculty staff or archivist instead of a college student, honestly.
Sexy characters are great but sexiness is also fleeting. It's one thing for a character to be hot but if I'm supposed to engage with them further and remember them, then there must be more to the character. I would even argue that good characterization makes a character even sexier.
Bayonetta's personality is more attractive than her looks
@@Godzilla_Star_Eater*Bayonetta personality is just as attractive as her looks.
@@BeccaVinesz I didn't mean she doesn't look good. I mean her charm is even better.
"Came for the *plot,* stayed for the plot."
I think this is a pretty common sentiment across a lot of actually good "light-ero" games. Personally, I am never really bothered by gratuitous fanservice of male and female characters. Stuff like that hasn't ever influenced my judgement -- for the better or worse -- of the overall product.
I suppose that is why I am always confused when someone says something like, "Oh, the over-sexualization of this game's characters really bring it down." because it doesn't make sense to me how a quality experience and having sexy characters are often thought to be mutually exclusive.
Anyhow, good video.
it brings it down when the fanservice interrupts the experience and the player isn't into it
i can handle most fanservice, but when a show i'm watching stops just to insert it, it turns me off because i consume media for the stories and characters, not to be horny 😂
@@lana-ana-ana You can look at big butts and big boobs or muscle behemoth dudes without being horny. But in what context would you say the fanservice interrupts the experience?
if its overwhelming it seems tasteless
Some people have their own taste on how women look that's why sometime it turns ppl off, last year i've almost install nikke bcs i think maybe the storyline is great and the gameplay looks fun but after seing more and more character got released it turn me off the fan service is getting more and more wilder and more overexagerated b00b and a$$ physic its like watching a plastic attached to their body and the gameplay also highlight the physic, for example the pink bunny suit that i saw yesterday from ads and that new released character(i think) that one loli that show her feet, its just fell weird to look at that, it came from normal sexualized character to overlysexualized and fetish reliever character
Because in most cases these characters are made as sex object to be sold. It doesnt help the secualization clashing with the story trying to be told is another factor.
One has to remember that not all feminists think alike.
Korean feminists have different ideas about how feminism should work than say, a russian feminist, who would have different feminist ideals than an ethiopian one, and to an american one, and to a british one.
Different cultural tastes come into play here.
True, but not wanting to be objectified as a sex symbol does seem to be a pretty common trend, even if a few are rather stupid about it
It depends on the necessities, since societies are different. A woman in the US won't face the same challenges as a woman in Iran.
Ask a muslim feminist her thoughts...oh wait shed need permission
this is called intersectionality
@@Castigar48 From the fact that they're known to exist, they apparently are able to share their thoughts anyway.
I've played Control and the Horizon games, and I genuinely had fun. It didn't matter to me that Jesse and Aloy weren't beyond supermodel levels of attractive. I found them enjoyable because they were witty and badass, and the stories they were experiencing were intriguing.
I watched the 3 hour Moon Ch. documentary on Korean feminism and gacha drama and the takeaway for Nikke seems to be that gender relations are so negative that the very idea of "being nice to women (and people below you) is beneficial to everybody" (the main plot thread of nikke) is actually progressive and subversive over there. Crazy to think about.
Sounds like a foreigner's delusional take on Korean culture. Being nice to women is not a western invention. Wake the F up.
Same here. I'd actually had the game installed on my phone for a week or so before watching Moon's videos, and they actually got me to try the game, and I feel like having that background knowledge really added a lot to the experience. It sounds utterly ridiculous from a Western perspective to say "oh yeah, in the game your special ability is treating women (Nikkes) like people," but with the background context of this rigid, hierarchical society, where everyone is being inexorably crushed by the layer above them, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Sorry to disturb your happy imagination, but Nikke's main theme is "the persecuted soldiers on the front line and the self-proclaimed patriots in the rear who persecute them behind their backs." This is not a story about the treatment of women.
@@hp0635 First of all, I'm curious if that's something that's been explicitly stated by the developers, or just your opinion.
Secondly, a work of media can have multiple interpretations. Just because you see a bear in an ink blot test, doesn't mean that someone who sees a dog in the same ink blot is wrong.
Also, I would consider it a compliment to Nikke's writing that people can come to differing conclusions about its central theme. It's a sign that there's plenty to dig into and think about.
@@internisla The translator isn't working as expected. I can only tell the rough opinion.
1. I am Korean, and there are many scenes of Nikke discrimination reminiscent of the insults suffered by soldiers in Korea. It's not just similar; the keywords are specifically the same. This is clearly intentional. In addition, I would like to say something about the relationship between Nikke and ordinary commanders, and the relationship between soldiers and executives, but the translator does not work properly.
2. It is true that it can have many themes, but at least it is not a theme about the treatment of women. The reason is simple. This is because Ark citizens discriminate against Nikke. The Ark citizens are not a group made up entirely of men, and there is no description of any special discrimination between them. Ark citizens all discriminate against Nikke, regardless of whether they are male or female. And the discrimination Nikke experiences is not at all reminiscent of discrimination against women, and is much more intuitively reminiscent of discrimination against soldiers.
If you claim that this work is a story about the treatment of women just because Nikke is all female, then you can argue that modern warfare FPSs feature only men appears and are all killed by machine guns so these games are a story about the treatment of male. It's the same as doing.
3. I don’t think Nikke’s story is good. However, I also respect other opinions.
In the immortal word of yoko taro, "I just like girl."
’Tis the simple truth, fellowmen.
You apparently not played Nikke's events (which all can be replayed from the commander's office) like Overzone, Red Ash, Scarlett's event, or the full bond stories each Nikke has when they reach certain affection levels, for example Diesel or even Soline.
Just after editing this video, I got some really good pulls including Crown. Just got to chapter 6 last night and I'm really interested to see how the world and story are going to unfold.
@@Haedal_VTI think the quote I see thrown around quite a bit is "came for the boobs/ass, stayed for the depression." Also something unrelated to the characters and Story. Soundtrack slaps. (Edit, stubbed and waiting for thy next video)
@@Haedal_VT 2 weeks later, hope you are still enjoying the game. If you manage to get 2 memory films to unlock previous events in Archives, I highly recommend going to Red Ash --> Over Zone. They both are major events that will give you a tremendous insight in the world of Nikke. My best friend got me into this game, and I've only been playing for 3 months yet it has to be the most enjoyable game I've played haha. Storyline is absolutely worth it.
Why would reading some bargain bin (and likely ai-generated) writing negate the problem at hand exactly?
@@ganshrio7336 The story isn’t AI driven and quite thought out. The “problem” is just a pair of tits.
As long as sexualisation does not come at the cost of Character
Fire force is the worst case of this where a character is sexualised so often (Shes often put into posistions in where she is losing so she can have clothes ripped and stuff, in this case sexualisation makes her seem weaker.
Kill la kill is a good version ,The characters are heavily sexualised but it does not come at the cost of character development
in the case of fire force the character youre talking about is supposed to be a gag character making fun of the trope
On the other hand, Fire Force has a female character with good muscle tone that doesn't go overboard. Too often when you see a strong female character, they either don't seem to have muscle tone at all or they go to bodybuilder extreme. Maki was a refreshing and gorgeous change from that.
I agree, and sexualisation helps to bring interest to something. Gojo and Makima are both hot characters but people end up enjoying them because they are good characters beyond just their looks. Eve from Stellar Blade only appeals to people based on her looks as she is a weak character, and the girl from Fire Force is kind of a victim of sexualisation as the story itself becomes a slave to it...
I mean fire force did have maki and some of the other female characters who were actually really decent
Maki especially with layers upon layers of subverting how you think her character would be, it makes me think tamaki was just added for the sake of filling out the fanservice editor checklist
Well Kill La Kill is satire, though sometimes it falls short of that and just ends up being booba
To put it simply, no, it doesn't. The only people I've ever known to think less of a character for their sexually appealing aspects are the very people who howl about "objectification" and call characters from properties they know nothing about "sex dolls with no personality"; in other words, the very people who make the titular claim.
I really liked Baldur’s Gate 3. As a women I like to look pretty/hot/cool and I like pretty/hot/cool characters of male and female variety. However I don’t want things to be sexualized to the point it’s ridiculous. When I have a piece of armor and place it on a male companion it looks cool it doesn’t become two pieces of scrap metal when I place it on a female character. When I have a skimpy outfit on my female character I can place the same garb on the male character. True gender equality right there. There’s definitely fan service but it’s in the context of romance when the characters are trying to be appealing and not weird voyeuristic shots at serious moments. The only questionable thing I find is the fact that Lae’zel underwear flavor text claims to be practical when it’s the second to last practical one out there only above a incubus.
While I did enjoy BG3 from a gameplay point of view, none of the female companions are beautiful. Sure, they look like normal women, so they're not ugly either (aside from the frog).
It goes beyond that, it's impossible to create a beautiful female character and I tried. That doesn't seem to be a problem for male characters though. Apparently women get really thirsty over Astarion.
The worst part is that nearly all of them are some degree of insufferable. The one character that's wife material is Alfira and she's not even playable. I think Shadowheart is the most picked romance companion because she's the first one you meet, has access to heals without respeccing and is the least bad option.
That's a trait shared by male characters. I can't think of a single male character in that game I'd enjoy having a beer with.
@@antoineguerrier2965 Alfira is pretty but I think Shadowheart is just as pretty comes down to personal preference I think. Visually my favorite girl is mussel mommy Karlach but to each their own.
I like adventuring bums who look like they will crawl through feces for coin. Who are drawn with all the crap a dungeon bum carries, like a rope, a shovel or even just a backpack. Armour as mail is a mail hauberk and nothing else. Character survival should be the highest priority.
I liked how the stooges in Dungeon Meshi had backpacks, bedding etc. No lights though.
@@antoineguerrier2965AD&D could be very you against the world. The other bums are the only reliable thing you got.
I draw the line when I can't figure out why a group of bums are even together.
Practical in a video game lol ok...
You’re too unbiased. You’re analyzing the problem separate of your own viewpoint. This is extremely rare in the current year.
I suggest you try more Nikke. The story gets wilder the more chapters you complete. It helps revisiting the old event stories as well.
Thank you! I've been liking Nikke quite a lot so far. Just got to chapter 6 last night and I won't be stopping anytime soon
Nobody is unbiased in this world (me included), but the video was very level headed and without standard shallow emotional response I was honestly expecting (I don't know your channel). You approached the subject from an actual scientific perspective and kudos for that.
@@azradun3903
Bias control is a genuine skill, and most critical thinkers, analysists, journalists and scientists must exercise it regularly to remain objective. It's the act of playing devil's advocate in a way, or essentially arguing against your own personal beliefs in the aims to be a impartial party to the subject. Suspension of personal judgement for further investigation is necessary to many fields, though it's not perfectly inforced.
Its definitely a doable thing, not indefinitely, most likely, but in many instances. So yes, people can be unbiased, but it takes active control, awareness and internal dissection of ones own motives, intellectual honesty, full self-disclosure, awareness and of course, a knowledge of common bias traps to avoid.
Definitely possible though, yet genuinely uncommon, especially in the context of RUclips.
Im not feeling like grinding myself to hell or wasting a lot of money to progress tho. I like Honkai Star Rail I'm genuinely interested in the characters and history but I dropped it because the predatory essence of gacha games
@@pablon333 gacha games are annoying sometimes
It really dosn't need to be deeper than hot characters are nice and easy on the eyes. It is ok to just have nice things for the sake of them being nice. They don't need to justify them being hot by having ocean deep story arcs and personalities. It helps to make the character even better, but it is not a sin to be hot or pretty, just like not all ugly characters need to be evil. Not every game I play have to be the deepest examination of human condition, sometimes I just want to have fun.
Did people seriously complain about Aloy’s peach fuzz? 😐
They DO realize that all humans have hair and men just have darker, thicker hair… right? That not all women are constantly caked in makeup… RIGHT?
It's a video game. You don't need to be $100 realistic especially when it comes to gross things.
@@PeteyPirahna77 it’s not gross tho… how tf is that gross. If you think that you’re not gonna ever get a girlfriend bud
The mature route would be to realise that facial hair (Something everyone has) is not disgusting, but rather a normal human trait.
@@PeteyPirahna77damn bro you really announced you don’t get any bitches
@@PeteyPirahna77 It’s gross to you because you can’t come to terms with the fact that women are human and mammals and have hair
As a bi woman that loves playing games, sexualization of female characters makes me uncomfortable - if I see that it is not a part of their personality, but just designed to please viewer. I enjoy female characters that are sexy and like to be sexy (Bayonetta for example). But when it is nudity for sake of it and it has nothing to do with personality, I feel like that kind of female characters was created just to objectify them, and anything else comes second. I can't relate to them, cause I don't want to feel objectified too. So I just avoid such content
But the video was interesting, thanks for good quality content!
i also completely agree!!
I respect that take too, it does that especially for characters who are shy to things like that.
I had a relevant experience with a gacha game and my girlfriend (bi and pan respectively )used to play: SNOWBREAK.
At first we loved the setting and the character designs, and while we agreed that the story was kinda bad, all characters were cool and interesting with very accentuated personalities, they were attractive but in a dignified way, there was fanservice but it was optional side content in the form of skins or as interactioes that were cute and cemented a sense of comraderie with the player.
And then the game started catering to a mainly chinese male audience, characters slowly became flanderized into making their entire personalities and lives revolve around how much they loved the main character, not only that but as new content dropped the designs were becoming more advertly sexualized and flirty towards the viewer with camera angles emphasizing this.
So we dropped it, we had already endured the slow character progression and the fact they removed all male npcs at the rewuest of the chinese fanbase, but what they did to one of our favorite characters was the straw that broke the camel's back.
You are not suposed to relate to them... guys like sex girls... all of this complexity you are talking about is the cherry... the first thing is... is this character hot? is this caracter showing their body? it objectifies them? dont really matter... majority of guys are just, well the character has a hot body?the character has a good voice? put fan service and guys will play a literal washing machine...
Again all of this you are talking about it does not matter to the majority of men, that is a reality women just can't accept.
@@elisehalflight majority of guys dont care about any of this you said... the game is doing more money them ever because of this, they removed the male npcs as they should because the game is made to make money, if guys are happy... is not really a problem, is just think this is not a game you should be gaming with your girlfriend at all... not to offend gamergirls are in majority mentally ill, better to have a normie girl.
18:45 oh, he hasn't seen THOSE Andersen pics.
PD: subscribing to hopefully see another Nikke related video.
The answer is different wiring between men and women. Men are visual creature. Simple and easy. I don't know about women. I am a guy.
But one thing for sure, suits are sexy both for men and women. For an example, draw both male and female soldier in full service uniform and they rocks. Make it into an anime, cutesy style and everybody will be crazy.
About sexualization, here is the key. Take a good look at the discussion after the player finish the game. If they discuss the story/lore with sexualization as an afterthought, that means the game is good despite the sexualization.
I agree with all of this besides the first paragraph
Men and women are the same creatures… the belief that we’re biologically different is pseudoscience mostly. It only really applies in the heat of pubescent hormones
Of course men and women do act differently, but that’s all social. If men are “visual creatures” who just desperately need to see boobies to be happy, then, to be blunt, we would be no more socially capable as literal dogs. (Also gay men wouldn’t exist)
The fact that over time, less media has been over-sexualizing women in objectifying ways and more media has been sexualizing men should be proof that things do not need to be this way.
And things are changing for the better, despite what some people very desperate to see boobies all the time might think.
One day there will gacha games of men with fat bulges and fatter asses and you’ll see that so many women are “visual creatures” too lol (including me but I don’t play gacha games)
I remember asking what works better for chicks back in the day. Apparently it's more about subtle things and the feeling of something. Stuff like rolled up sleeves showing muscular arms with a bit of hair or a good looking guy with a nice suit and a tired expression with messy hair.
At least that's what a few women I knew told me.
@@bornanime3255 So it is more like specific feature of the body, right? Interesting.
However, you said about tired expression and messy hair.
It turns out men love these too. Including me.
Take a good look at fashion models. Both male and female models also have tired faces and/or messy hair. This is called aftersex/afterglow face by some people. As the name suggests, it is the expression after having sex.
"Take a good look at the discussion after the player finish the game."
Honestly, this is a very good benchmark. And really, once the story hooks you in, you won't even notice all the jiggling it could throw your way. Sure, you know it's the reason you're there, you make jokes about it with the bros, but once you're in deep, the only thing you'll be thinking in the long run are not the assets, but _"Jesus christ these people need a break, I just want them to be happy"_
@@XG417 punishing: gray raven
After I’ve learned to care about my own body and learned other peoples’ attitude about bodies, I’m actually okay with the sexualization of characters as long as it’s fair. Others’ opinion on melons and pears won’t change my mind about going to the market when they’re on sale. Devs know what sells and they’re selling. Gamers are buying. Game recognizes game, and gamers recognize games with things they like. Seggs sells.
Nikke, now that I think of it more than I did back then, has a great and compelling story that has managed to pull me in. I’ve even related to some characters I didn’t think I would. I initially downloaded it because of Anis, now I keep playing it because of the actually powerful heart tugs and lessons in the story…and Anis 😭
me personally when it comes to hot men I have MASSIVE crushes on Zhongli and Xiao from genshin impact and Dan Heng from Honkai Star Rail
What can I say I like hot men who aren't really human as they appear
the reason male characters wear allot of clothes in this games is not because clothed males are sexy nonsense, is because chinese censorship prohibit having shirtless male characters so studios by pass that by drawing then wearing skin tight clothes and a jacked
Thank you. People mistaken a lack of product to a lack of want for a product.
I mean there are a few games that have men in outfits equivalent to what sexualised female characters wear but they aren't as popular but that's not to say that lots of women don't love them and regularly play and talk about them.
@@sugarzblossom8168 and those games are normally japonese games and not Chinese games
@@yokai1235 I mean Chinese companies do get away with the female characters
@@sugarzblossom8168 they don't
@@yokai1235k
I played Nikke for the booba but I stayes for the sad lore(still bobba)
creep
It's important to know that outer societal pressures are also a factor to why majority of these games can be hypersexualized. East asia mostly comprises of very conservative countries, countries that still hang on to the belief of numerous traditional family values with slow progressivism. While it isn't entirely wrong to think in such a way, men are often pressured heavily into these norms that men should actively search out a good wife and women should get married as soon as possible. Almost every aspect in life as asians are towards getting better in life until you are rich or marry someone rich or have a family legacy of sorts.
This leads back to pressure. Often groups of men here seek out the notion of the "perfect" woman for them, even if it means searching it in something as simple as a manga panel. It's why "otakus" tend to be a stereotype, why the perception of love tends to be skewed here, why sex is both morally sought after in a wed bed and immorally desired in a red light district. The very notion of showing your friends a hot anime grille with huge honkers is much more normalized and not excessively shunned upon. Eastern devs can do just that because "why not?" and "I just like girls" and people wouldn't mind that. It rakes in money, kills boredom and gives people the alternative of getting aroused neuron activation than watching pr0n out in the open.
This is also hilariously true on the other side of the spectrum. With the surge of games like Genshin Impact a few years ago and the fact BL exists, it's becoming clear that male characters can make bank in the eastern market predominantly comprised of men liking strictly women in their games. If chiseled abs and marble cut jawlines are present in your game, expect females wanting in on the action. Many cultures of women here love a good yaoi as much as the guys like yuri much definitely more towards guys who they can constantly write fanfiction of, like cookie cut K-Pop or TV series with corny romance plots. The pressure of finding a guy you like substituted by yet another 2D character. Bonus if you're some bisexual fella or a respectable cultural guy/gal and you're basically surrendering your wallet.
Truth is, people make what they like, people play what they like. Sexualizing a characters account for the market, the culture and especially the interests of it all. Sometimes it's even a ploy to get people invested into your game for other aspects of your game like good writing, designs, personalities. Sexualization feels more like an added thing that's indicative of a developer's intentions and it's up to the player whether they're comfortable with it or not and to interpret accordingly. It's not going anywhere anytime soon as long as characters are designed well enough to warrant them a tag in R34. I'll take my cute degenerate submissive femboys and thicc thighed women who could step on me any day.
Hey I could use an arranged marriage. Western VvVoman are horrendous.
Excellent analysis I agree, it’s just something that’s there, depending on how it’s done. It’s either something that is, in most cases, neutral, or actually enjoyable. The only case I find it detracts is Nikke, which overdoes it in my opinion. Anyways yeah, big jigglies and soft skin attract attention, and actual meaningful substance keeps it. And I’m perfectly fine with that.
And that's the problem people talk about not knowing how to sexualise men but don't ask women and even argue with them when women disagree.
I saw a post about what men thunk is sexualised (a man wearing normal fitting clothes) vs what women actually find as fanservice (a man in a very tight suit from head to toes.
Also look up nu carnival and oni onsen.
I find the mention of chiseled jawline funny. I notice mostly men use that term and use it as a main attractive things
I just left a very similar comment under the video, but think what isn’t spoken about enough in these communities is the power imbalance when it comes to sex. And how that loops into sexual content. Artists have a very real responsibility when doing artwork of women because left unchecked, it can subliminally perpetuate sexual expectations and build dangerous desires.
Women are typically (not always, obviously) perceived and depicted as weak and commodified. Submissive. And this is a feeling that bleeds over outside of film, games, shows, or whatever. Whether you agree or not, there are hundreds of thousands of men who view women this way. Whereas an attractive man is typically depicted as dignified, independent. dominant.
And I think the push in the west to be more careful when sexualizing the female form is in a joint effort to recontexualize how, society on the whole, sexualizes the female form. To give women the power and control over how they are perceived. Rather than the through the “”””Male Gaze””””.
And until that standard is adequately deconstructed and women are perceived in a safer context, it’s important you present sexual content incredibly carefully and consciously out of respect for women who face abuse and assault from it.
@@sugarzblossom8168 It's the whole perceptive barrier kinda thing. If you barely have a diverse crew of developers or find out about people's interests the opposite of your gender, chances are, devs will just resort to what they know from their common peers. Societal pressure hampers this even more when guys and gals don't know how to even properly interact with each other.
The whole "fully covered but still hot" thing doesn't just apply to men though, it can apply to women too. Arlecchino is hot as hell and she's not showing anything.
The video was well edited and the essay well written
As a women, its not so much the sexualization but more so the AMOUNT of it. Go ahead and be horny for fictional characters. But its not a surprise that most of the characters being sexualized are women, both in real life and fiction. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if shows treated men the same as sexualized women, A LOT of men would not like it. Constantly, seeing fictional men being pandered to women.
I like to think of this the same as abusive relationships in media. I have nothing against showcasing abusive relationships in a more "romantic" light as long the audience knows its wrong. HOWEVER, if abusive relationships become more and more common then we need to take a step back and redifine cinema.
What do we do then, when the faintest amount of so-called sexualization is enough for the puritans to come bearing arms? Shall we make up a new arbitrary limit to what creatives are generously allowed to do without being harassed by outraged online mobs, limits that won't matter in the least in stopping those people from complaining and demand censorship anyway?
Should we once again make some arguments about male sexualization, how it allegedly doesn't exist (entirely false), how men wouldn't like if male characters were treated the same (they are, regularly, since the '80s and before, nobody cares), how we could make things better if we started sexualizing men as well (it literally never mattered to the outrage mob who just hates on fictional tits and won't stop at anything to enforce their puritan worldview)?
The same exact arguments have been repeated ad nauseam, non-stop, for more than 10 years now, constantly pretending that sex itself isn't the problem and everyone's fine with sexualization when this is clearly the one and only problem, never been willing to admit that the simple issue we are facing is one of a bloc of backward, conservative, art-hating regressives and people who no longer live under the rule of medieval "morality".
What? It's obvious only one side cares about such. Where are all of these men protesting?
@@cammyshill3099 Honestly, in my personal opinion, sexualization of characters can never be the #1 reason why a game is bad - It is always the side-effect of the #1 reason that people don’t realize and only target sexualization as a collateral.
Sexualization can never be the reason something is bad - the utilization of it can; a.k.a. bad writing. If you dislike how fanservice is done, it’s because it’s not enough and that the writer is incompetent and makes it seem disruptive or gimmicky. _That_ is the reality.
Unless you still get turned off regardless - then that’s a mental health issue. It’s called “hyposexuality”, an unhealthy lack of sexual attraction to anything. I should know, I’m a hypersexual - the opposite of unhealthy lack of sexual attraction; and I know that’s not healthy and can still judge a story without needing it to be sexualized.
Honestly though, a lot of ecchi Anime, for example, are light ecchi, so the pointlessly rare and unrevealing ecchi moments make me dislike them more, because the writer has no idea what they’re doing.
Either way, the point is clear.
It’s just annoying when the sexual situations are unconsentual and sexualized characters are 90% of it
@@hotchocovibes8379 Both of those are blatant lies. Don't you puritans ever get tired of lying constantly about this stuff?
As a woman I don't care, since they design nice husbandos as well 😌
Heck Yeah! Equal opportunity fan service for the win!
I'm reminded of something I thought of when I was playing Soul Caliber decades ago. Something like, "The ladies there are pretty heavily sexualized, but hey, we got some hot guys too, so at least it's equal-opportunity." I mean, if I were a straight girl, I'd be drooling over Kilik. Even as a straight guy, I can say, "If I *were* to bang one of the male SC characters..."
@@MrLightlike78 exactly
Its a very simple answer, yes men like looking at at beautiful women in games, but its not what makes us stay, example tifa and jill from final fantasy games are drop dead gorgeous but their looks are not what makes people like them so much its their personality and great character development throughout their story, heck lulu from final fantasy 10 is dress like a goth beauty, and a dress that show all the good stuff, but even though her design to be sexy she is a great character that struggles with move on from her past, and puts on a brave front to hide her sadness, its not all about looks but how they're portrayed and caring themselves.
Take Lightning from 13 as a comparison. She was cute but was written like a carboard cut out. Even when they added cosplay for the third game of that series, that still didn't make her more appealing.
@@adriansanmartin5773 true but I still playing as her in 13 and lightning returns, plus dressing her up was pretty fun
@@hxntaiguy3318 I just ended the series out of curiosity to see how the story would end but I never cared for lightning. Noel, Caius and even Yuel were more interesting to me 😅.
@@adriansanmartin5773 yeah I want lie and say lighting was the most interesting character out there, it was basically female cloud without the charm, but I still enjoyed the series I know people think the 13 series sucks but not to me.
Lulu's outfit is so stupid though. Not only does it clash with the character but it just makes no sense at all. It's like she just found it floating in the air & jumped inside of it. There's nothing keeping it on her at all. It's worse than Christie's jacket from Dead or Alive 4 but at least Dead or Alive 4 was advertised as being fairly pornographic.
When done respectfully it can add value. I like aesthetically pleasing, sexy, cute characters who also have their own wants, desires and personalities. Sexiness itself isn't bad. It's when their just a sex object that it can become a problem. When the character is just there to be an object for people to fap at then it degrades them, They're simply there for people to lust over. They're an object, a sexy prop for people to stare at, not a character.
And for some it makes them think that people might be like that too, an object to sexualize. At least subconsciously, it normalizes it. Sort of dehumanizes people. If our culture wasn't like it is then one note, fap material wouldn't be that much of a problem. We live in a culture that does objectify people, mostly women but also men with lesser frequency. If you object to that then you must likely haven't experienced it personally, you might even do it to others yourself without thinking about it. That's what makes it most insidious.
Its hard to accept you might be part of a problem when its so ingrained and normalized into a culture. Turn that uncomfortableness that makes you feel into something productive, be more conscious of the society and culture around you. Its okay to be attracted to others, but respect them as fellow human beings, and always keep in mind that they don't owe you sex. Always ask for consent before touching people. Be respectful both in your words and actions. Think about how your words might make people around you uncomfortable. Don't objectify people, respect them.
_"Its hard to accept you might be part of a problem when its so ingrained and normalized into a culture."_
Yeah, that's exactly why it's so hard for extremists like you to understand why your anti men propaganda is so wrong. ;)
I think your problem is that you're equating fictional character to real life people.
@@DarkSpyro707twitter basically
0:17 what an intro😂😊
I am so fucking sick of this goddamn discourse.
Whether or not they’re sexy has nothing to do with wether or not they are written well or if the gameplay is engaging and fun.
Attractive characters are just that, attractive. People need to stop moralizing how beauty is depicted.
Who gives a fuck if their sexualized? Who gives a fuck who it “empowers” or “demoralizes”, just fucking pick what you want and shut up.
This whole issue isn’t about women or sexualization.
It’s about marketing, social media, and people being pretentious and petty. I’m sick of it.
The problem is that people donʼt realize characters can be blatantly sensual and profound at the same time. It doesnʼt need to be one in expense of the other & thatʼs what NIKKE does. Blatant sensual ladies with profound stories, but even if it they were just sensual it wouldnʼt be a problem of art.
Here's the thing, from my perspective as a bisexual woman, I can quite like sexualized female characters(love your intro btw)... if they're actual characters. There are plenty of games or shows where I can be like "hell yeah she's so cool and hot" and enjoy it (It can even heighten the experience lol)
However many games and other mediums take the route of objectifying female characters rather than just sexualizing them, and at that point, they aren't a "cool character who can step on me" or an "adorable person who deserves to be loved" (etc yall get it). Rather, they end up just being sex symbols with little to actually care about them for. As much as it hurts to say, titties are meaningless if I can't care about the person with them. At that point, the most I can do is appreciate good art.
Similarly I dont get the hate for the horizon zero dawn character (though I haven't played the game yet) But she seems pretty cool hunting robot dinosaurs and all that, and certainly doesnt look unnatractive (while also being more immersive to the setting) I can agree some western media has an annoying aversion to sex, but I feel the whole issue is blown out of proportion. What most people want are good characters, not objects of desire. Good characters are often inherently desirable and most people are fine with/enjoy them being sexualized somewhat, but within the bounds of them as a character/person, rather than treating them like dolls.
Finally, I do think some of the issue comes from the difference between how male and female characters are treated, as mentioned in the video, fully clothed men with good outfits that portray their character are hot(so hot 🥵). But they don't feel like they were forced into those outfits to show off for an audience, rather they seem like actual outfits the character would wear. I want more of the same for female characters, lemme see a woman in full dress uniform, make female characters that show a lot of skin in a way that feels like a real and fitting outfit, and not like a big arrow pointing to boobs (I'm already looking I don't need my attention directed to them lol). I would absolutely argue those genshin impact men are sexualized, but it's done in a better way. Also in general we need more male sexualization please 🙏. Overall though this was a good video and fun to watch.
100% agreed.
Finally a bit of sense in the comment section. I hate when people call it "puritanism" or "purse-clutching" when you try to explain the difference between sexualisation and objectification. Objectification is about breaking the immersion and putting a character's pornographic appeal before good writing, their background or simply logic. It operates in the same way porn does storywise - every chararacter trait or story behind them becomes something to accomodate the action part. It doesn't really matter how plumbers, mechanics and family members get into the doing, the plot in the beginning exists solely for the purpose of setting up the premise. So, everything about the character loses its meaning when the character is objectified, because it becomes an accomodating trait, a kink in a way. A vampire woman arc is no longer about vampire lore or the horror of vampirism, but a fetish, a porn category, Big Titty Vampire Dommy Goth Mommy whatever. Even her own expression of sexuality loses its meaning, because the entire object that she symbolises is inherently sexual, the control that she has over her sexuality is not important and it's not focused on enough, because, again, all her character traits are subordinated to her pornographic appeal.
Also you need more views because this is a legitimately well-made video.
never judge a book by its cover
Unless its camilla from fire emblem fates
the entire purpose of covers is to be what the book is judged upon! thats their main purpose!
but the cover is A PART of the book, and should be judged alongside everything the book has to offer.
@@klauserji this is a false equivalency. book covers and blurbs are like movie trailers: they're what draw you in and the same book can have multiple covers, but once you start reading the book, the book cover doesn't matter anymore. just like how once you start watching a movie, the trailers don't matter anymore.
character designs are different. unlike book covers, a character's design is an important aspect of them. it can inform you about their personality, backstory, and is what comes to mind when you think of that character. it's not like a book cover.
not to mention, the original statement is about not having prejudice and giving things/people a chance before you arrive at a conclusion. so, "don't assume a character who looks bad is bad" or "a character who looks good is good", etc. it's a different type of judging.
@@no-ev1om only before you start reading
Funny how you mention Nikke and Stellar Blade in the same Breath and context because as far as ive heard sgift up made games like nikke to be able to one day make games like stellar Blade and here we are they did it congrats to shift up.
Also thanks for talking about Nikke (never underestimate the sexy boob game to tell a dark and depressing story ) and using the soundtrack in the beginning. I've grown to love your videos more and more.
Careful with that opening statement. Jocat was bullied off the internet for liking women.
No, you see, it was because he made liking women sound gay /s
No but fr, you'll see a lotta lefties tryina push this narrative and while I don't doubt a sizable part of the backlash was from right-wing chuds, I'm pretty sure the worst of it was from lefties who sicced their fanbases on him, as he himself stated people he looked up to turned their back on him.
Honestly? After his hogwarts legacy statement I'll be hard-pressed to care. Shoe on the other foot and all that.
He was bullied off the internet for trying badly to do the uwu internet catboy schtick.
@@mr.selyumor5402 He was bullied to be to "gay" in liking women. The contradictions and the insecurity of some males are apparent.
Too many people were upset that him liking women was "too gay" which is insane
@@stegosandrosos1291 Really? That's weird, because he mentioned that people he looked up to turned on him and joined the hate mob. You think he looked up to manosphere influencers, the kinda limp-dicks who would do the "he made liking women gay" shit?
This has to be one of the funniest intros i've seen in a video.
tbf, Azur Lane is very sexualize because the way it's monetized is different from most gachas
most gachas don't give a lot invocation materials, while Azur Lane is very generous when it comes to most resources besides the "premium" money, so the devs decided to put the monetisation in the skins rather than make people pay to get more girls or be stronger faster
so they have to make characters hot enough so the player prefers / loves some of them and eventually spend some money to get new skins for his favourite ships
Sounds like poor business sense. They do realize the vast majority of money in f2p mobile comes from convenience-related purchases?
Azur Lane is the only gacha I play because I like the character designs, don't feel like I'm being ripped off, and don't feel that the game will shut down soon and waste my money.
@@ganshrio7336 The game is 7 years old at this point, and last month it made about 7million dollars. I'm pretty sure the devs know what they're doing.
a big part of the sexualization of male characters, for the ladies you will notice that none of them are bald or even buzzcut or have any facial hair, while in reality those hairstyles are common with men.
male gamers, however, seems to like baldies and facial hair more, evident by the common male protagonist, particularly from the PS3 generation where I think gaming is still predominantly male.
i can imagine that one does not refer to nikke as kino lightly. you've won me over, I will now play your game.
"I love women" into drum and bass is the best intro to a youtube video ever.
I actually subscribed when that happened, like there's no way they actually just did that... they did though.
Two things: small note for some people, women still CAN look mid or even ugly in games too, especially if most of the men are. Aloy is fine (not ugly anyways) having realistic features and doesn't mean other games can't still have supermodels (Eve is literally modelled after a Korean model so she may be a bad standard but she's not unrealistic.
And two: look at vtubers. Yes they make their models to grow an audience and sell themselves as a character (personality is so important though, a lot of the biggest ones are just entertaining, and some happen to be stacked). But they also are a representation of the person, usually when they have big honkers it's because the person behind the model either HAS big honkers or they LIKE that look, it's not shallow sexualisation to make your OC hot if you wanna feel hot yourself. But also for example, Matara Kan in Vshojo, she had a pretty standard anime level hot character design but not really sexualised, and actually stated she did not want to make her chest any larger. Then she got a new model in a very non revealing sweater but her assets had grown considerably. She didn't do it to make money, she had a VERY established fan base before Vshojo and then a ton of new Vshojo fans behind her. She did that because assumedly the artist likes drawing that and she thought screw it, why not have bigger milkers? Besides this, she really doesn't lean into fan service with lewd or dirty talk or bits, she's seen by her community as a wine mom and like actually mother not mommy. Sure some people will see her as a sex object but that goes for any hot person and even a lot of not hot people and that's on the viewer for objectifying. Anyways there's a recent ironmouse quote that most of the vtubers with big booba, HAVE big booba in real life. Anecdotally I haven't analysed the chest but every single vtuber I've seen irl male or female has been cute or hot, surely the "ugly men pretending to be hot girls" are out there somewhere but not any vtuber I've ever seen.
Regarding examples where sexualization adds to the story, I’ll dig my own grave by championing Looking Up To Magical Girls as the prime example of this.
One of the videos of all time.
Love all your other content though.
Question in the video of was "what does Dorothy make you think about?"
Over Zone, Sadness and campaing
I actually saw someone arguing that Eve, and in general, Stellar Blade, isn't hot enough. This was after the game released, but really, she''s very plain of a character. If you want to make a sexy character, their personality should be attractive too, and it doesn't have to come to disrupt the story in any way. For example, in Bayonetta, Cereza is a very well fleshed character. There are so many details in the way she acts and dresses that add to her character. She's also sexy, a big part of the gameplay is her owning her feminity. One thing that is interesting is that many kinds of people find her attractive, men and women alike. I wish that Eve's sexiness added to her character, but most of the time in the game, she doesn't do much to show her personality.
Unrelated but my brainrot preferences is based on a character (male or female) having white hair
so you like grannies?
Your writing is really witty and funny, subbed
For me, my main issue with a lot of fanservice stuff is that it is so often used in the most shallow and superficial way possible. Like so many other tropes, it is a tool in the writers toolbox and is one of the most misused out there.
The most I could compare it to is horror oddly enough. It is similar to the jump-scare, being a cheap and easy method to evoke an instinctual reaction out of the player rather than actually putting in the legwork to craft something deeper that sticks with you.
One particular issue I see so often with fanservice is that how the plot is forced to be in service of the horny rather than the horny being in service of the plot. Like, how often do you see whole essays in a story trying to justify a certain horny element contrary to how nonexistent fanservice elements is instead used for things such as character growth or advancing the plot.
One easy way I can see if the fanservice is pointless or obstructive is to ask "Are they a good characters because of the fanservice or in spite of it?"
I think the only time that I can pull at the top of my head where fanserivce was used in a constructive manner for the plot was in Suisei no Gargantia, specifically the second dance scene between the main character Ledo and the love interest Amy. This was where Amy, decked out in a belly dancer outfit, did a private dance for Ledo set to a calm flute melody and auroras in the background. This serving as a big turning point in their relationship as Ledo awakens to emotions he didn't know he had for Amy and it just ends up being a sweet moment between the two. The focus was on the characters, the sexy was just a vehicle for that. Though even with all this said, they had to use a more standard fanservice scene to act as as setup for this one.
Nikke does suffer from extreme tone changes between the various characters, and quite often the personalities really don't match the appearance of the Nikkes themselves, and that's coming from a daily player.
Some of the supposedly deepest characters have foot-deep personalities, while in some other completely random cases, you get philosophical talks on the level of good visual novels. The partner of Centi, who you presented in the video, Liter, goes from a fun episode about Anis not cleaning her room to existential horror and nihilism at the drop of a button. Meanwhile Admi is about liking cats. ... And that's it.
It's why I'm not a huge fan of traditional fanservices. Characters with deep story and lore are just much more interesting than their neuron activators, although appearance is still important as it is the introduction of a character. After all, it's the first thing you see, their physical characteristics. Rarely though, there are occasions on characters having neuron activators but for good reason. The ones on top of my head is ahri and evelyn from league of legends, both using their appearance to lure men and absorb their energy basically.
Basically, i dont like fanservices because games that incorporate that do so for the sake of fanservice, instead of having actual reason and story behind it.
I agree to an extent but I rather them just make interesting characters and if they do a story make it at least somewhat interesting or entertaining because sometimes let’s be honest I rather a game or series be honest about the fanservice than try to come up with a arbitrary nonsense reason as to why it happens I don’t mind them explaining why it happens but sometimes it does kind of make me laugh that they come up with some silly excuse, to that I say just make sure it fits the character instead of explaining it just make sure the character is a kind of risqué kind of character.
BTW „mostly straight“ while gushing over a lot of men two seconds afterwards is a weird way to say your bi as fuck, which is fine, but own that, man!
This is why I like character customization, you decide, and if that's not an option I judge everything by the Bayonetta scale .
4:24 I think one thing to note is that the human eye is attracted to motion, as we are a species that largely relies on eyesight for safety. It's a shame this objection falls apart when you notice just how hard it is to focus on any details (compared to any other thing you can observe).
And I wonder how much of male sexualization being far more subdued (unless you look at yaoi) has to do with that it's not like we have much to hide. Being toned is kind of expected, and implicit from wearing business casual (and not being chunky).
Personally, I dont really fet the need for deep characters, depending on how were defining deep. Yes, a character should actually be a character ( plot, story, reactions, etc) but I fail to see why it needs to be super complex or in-depth to be good, nor why they must either be a stereotype or defy expectations, instead of just doing what they would do in a given situation ( without breaking character all of a sudden).
18:05 "Let me use this as an excuse to look at twinks-"
*pulls up picture of Wanderer*
That shit caught me off guard, I was not mentally prepared 😭 thanks for the laugh 👍
Uh yah, wandering forever 🍃
"Why the hell Aloy has a beard?" Tell me you've never been close to a woman without telling me you've never been close to a woman.
That intro goes hard.
My stance on the subject:
I don't want games to be sexualized.
BUT.
You don't have to make sexual characters to make good-looking characters.
You can have characters that look good, but aren't being sexualized, and that is what I believe we should aim for.
Thats a perfectly fine opinion, I personally dont agree. I love sexualization and I dislike any kind of puritan stance on how characters should be protrayed. With that said, its fine if you prefer and only play games that dont have sexualization, just as long as you dont think that you're opinion is the law and everyone should be forced to make and create games that only pander to your own world views.
@@GlaDos321 Of course people are free to do as they wish, as long as they aren't taking it too far.
Again, I only have an issue with it if it interferes with the game or character in a bad way.
Otherwise I don't really care.
And most people really shouldn't.
W take
Finally an adult talking here!!!!
I might be alone on this one, but since I’m a guy the first thing I look at when trying new characters is how cool/badass they are and how emotionally impactful they were in the story, if there’s any. I remember playing DMC5 for the first time as a newcomer to the series and I immediately picked Vergil for “obvious” reasons, but the thing is even if Vergil was absurdly speaking a female, I wouldn’t give 2 shits. When I play a game I know I’m playing a fictional product thus I already know that what’s happening doesn’t reflect reality. I think all guys have dreamed of cool fights at night at least once in their life and that’s literally all I ask for in games, which is why I never really cared about sexualization. If a character is cool/has an impact on me story/lore wise, that’s enough for me, Furina is the perfect example, I’ve never seen anyone sexualize her, and she’s probably the most respected female character in the Genshin community after playing the main story. Long story short fan service can be nice, but I’d rather play someone as cool as Vergil anyday rather than some girl with extreme bazoonkas from Azur Lane just because she’s hot😂
My girlfriend summarized it the best:
If I'm going to be a fantasy woman, I want to be the prettiest/sexiest one
But why tho? Why must she be be pretty or sexy? How does it add to the characters development and goals, and so on? What’s the benefit to it? Just looking good and fuckable?
5:11 Im pretty sure someone else has already explained it, but the lore reason is that every Nikke is outfitted with combat capabilities, no matter their role in society, just in case it is needed.
But canon-wise, theyre nowhere near the active warzone.
It's the same kind of logic as Venti being in your party, fighting against Signora in Inazuma. His presence there is not canon, he's just a character you use.
Hi there Haedal, have you ever tried Reverse 1999? Its the most philosophical and character rich gacha game I have ever played, and I'd love your take on the philosophy of mathematics
I looked it up and I really liked the aesthetic! I'll probably give it a try when I have a bit more time
you know a video is good when it's 20 mins long yet you finish watching it an hour later
"When i say Dorothy what do u remember " doro!
Simple answer is Yes. Beautiful characters draw people in, the story/characters then get to take over.
16:15 i think the man in uniform / suit =hot mechanic has something to do with suids symbolising wealth and politicla power and uniforms symbolising military power. Both impling that the male is strong / capable. This translating to men = attractive, is, i think, related to remnants of our biological past / ancestors, where the partner was chosen by the females based of of their capability to create healthy and strong offspring in order to further the gene poll and ensure the survival of the species. Plus their ability to protect the family once its established. Hence the above mentiont characteristics beinf persived as attractive from a female perspective.
yesss i had that same thought but it would have taken me hours to say it as well as you just did :)
@@Oriol-oo7jl Thanks and glad that I am not the only one who thinks that way
For figuring out if a guy character is sexualized simply flip his gender and ask yourself if people would pull for them based on sex appeal. Lets take wanderer would people pull on a girl that wears shoes with visible toes that steps on you in her burst while saying stuff like "bow your head!" "cry louder!" "know your place!"? I let whoever's reading be the judge :D
I think in general, men find attraction more in the visuals while girls find attraction more in traits, manners and actions, but hey that's my theory.
I think that's just because women's bodies are more sexualised though, rather than it being a natural thing, because if you go to cultures where women go topless boobs aren't sexualised, theyre just seen as a normal body part. The men aren't going round aroused all the time. In general I think your statement is somewhat true, like as a straight woman abs and muscles are hot and everything but its not like boobs for example where you can get off to them. That being said I still think men are hotter in less clothing than more, its just that the effect is less dramatic maybe than for straight men. Sorry this wasn't very well worded but yh this is just my personal experience.
@@franisthebest1234
Thank you for sharing your opinion. It does make sense that, in the end, less is hotter. But yeah, as you stated, what I meant is that, in general, the effects are less dramatic in women (or at least that's from my observations) than men.
Hoooly you cooked hard with this one... thoughtful opinions that make sense while being an entertaining video. Hope you get skyrocketed by the algorithm.
Also what kind of eldritch monstrosity are u trying to kill that u need Blaze, Gavial, HORN AND TYPHOON dealing with the same lane 💀
15:36 you bring up an interesting point.
The way I see it is that when it comes to male characters the focus is often shifted more to what the character is, does and represents and focuses less on how they look, even if that is still important.
Men are often considered attractive doe to what they are capable of, that can mean a lot of different things, but it is a very important thing, that's why a calendar with shirtless guys may sell but a calendar with shirtless firefighter men sells more.
Since you mentioned Genshin Impact, lets take a look at one of the fan favorites, Zhongli. He is handsome and has a nice voice, but he doesn't show a lot of skin, but he is not only dressed but very well dressed, he is also well read, polite, a bit of a know it all but definitely someone that you could talk to for 5 hours and not even notice, he also takes his promises very seriously, and in terms of gameplay he is skilled with the spear, looks cool using it and is a shield character, so there's the protector thing going on. All of these traits are part of why fans like him but they are also hinted at by his look and posture as well, showing less skin actually makes him more attractive because his clothes are expressing what he represents.
This is also what makes people like female characters but the balance is often shifted more towards the way they look in a sexual way first, specially when it comes to gacha games, but if that's all they have going on the character won't last long or will only attract very weird hyper focused fetish people.
Since I am more familiar with Genshin Impact I'll use another character from there: Noelle. She is a maid with some odd pieces of armor here and there and carries a big sword, is shorter than the tall characters in the game and is pretty, like all playable characters, but these are superficial traits. She has more going on. She is reliable, wants to help people even at the cost of her own health, she is strong and has goals, and when she fails she just gets back up and keeps going. Even in terms of gameplay she is good for new players and at C6 she is a beast, when she says "leave it all to me" she means it so she also has the protector aspect there. Her posture shows that she is polite and tries to be friendly, and even her armor that leaves vital parts of her chest and back exposed show her personality because she is putting her heart on the line, she uses herself as a target so she can protect others, it also shows that she is not dumb since her Geo magic allows her to generate shields so she is merely baiting the enemy into attacking her, so she is knight material on top of all.
Sorry for the long post, in short, fanservice is good when it hits that imperfect but fitting balance, those are the types of characters that we love and want to see in our games.
Interesting that you say that Ruppee is shallow, yes on the surface she is, but she actually gets interesting character development on an event named Miracle Snow (which you can play on teh archive) don't gonna spoil it but she;s just a sweetheart, also you showed Yuni and Mihara a lot, they have a really interesting arc through the plot.
I think a lot of people forget that, on a fundamental level, one of our biggest collective sexual turn-ons is a pretty face.
You give a character a pretty face and you barely have to do anything with the body. They can be at least decently chubby (see: Mei, Elegg 🥚), and even at higher levels of body fat there are people who will be into them. You can make them tall or short. Big or small breasted. The hips/ass area is probably the only other place you'll want to be particular, but even then you just have to not fuck it up entirely and you'll get a good number of submissions on [redacted].
One of the reasons one of my favorite games of all time is Limbus Company is because the sexualization in that game is non-existent.
Simply comparing any of the character designs to the likes of Nikke tells you all you need to know.
Limbus, nor any of its franchises, has ever even hinted at anything sexual, with the exception of maybe Lobotomy Corporation, the first game of the franchise which had a couple rather voluptuous character designs (but even that was purely visual, and on top of that, is arguably extremely tame in comparison to most other games). Early on, the game reinforces the idea that sex and gender are not a dividing factor in the universe- everyone are legitimate equals in the way that everyone is subject to the same, harsh conditions of the City, and everyone has the means to try their best to survive in those harsh conditions- meaning that the only thing that really separates people is what they can bring to the table. It couldn't care less about who you are.
It's one of the first games I've played (and the same goes for all Project Moon games) that really focuses on them just being people. There's no need to rely on some horny bait to draw players in. No need to objectify characters. Even when the characters do get "sexualized," (I'm talking the Molar Ishmael ID and the Molar Sinclair ID which can hardly even be called sexualization) you don't even really notice. None of it is forced or out of character, and none of it is made or designed specifically for the reason to arouse you. They are simply very well written, realistic, and reasonable characters and that's it. They're just characters who you can, and who the game expects you to, like for their actual character and personality. I'm more tired of people finding ways to justify the use of sexualization without seeing that most if not all media can do just fine without it, as long as it has actual integrity beneath the sexualization. Why bait people into consuming your product by capitalizing on their horniness, rather than just letting your story and world speak for itself? It lowers the integrity of your product overall through the use of it, because it essentially indirectly tells the consumers that: "No, we didn't have enough confidence in our writing that people would actually want to play our game without big anime biddies swaying around in their faces." I know in the majority of cases we are just talking about videogames or gachas specifically, but I still think that people are entitled to good, well-written stories. Games shouldn't be held back because of the fact that they are games, and people shouldn't feel as if this is the level of quality they should expect from all their games coming forward. But I digress.
The internet was literally focus on Ricardo Milos back then but no one bat an eye.
I think one of the issues is that people may avoid playing games with overly sexualized characters. I always steer clear of games with overly sexualized characters. But then again, I’m female, so maybe it can’t pull me in like it can a guy haha
Would definitely recommend you play the old events. They are in the archives section within the commanders' quarters. The events and other activities bring allot of nikke's from the roster into them, and REALLY do a good job making you fall for them. Not all Nikke's are fleshed out yet. But many of them are. I don't see lifeless eyes.
I stopped watching to write this really quick, but I really do love your content, they're so in depth and worded well, but they never feel degrading or pretentious. They acknowledge multiple angles while keeping your stance, and nothing feels out of place or unnecessary. Sorry if this is kinda weird, I just really appreciate your work and I can't wait to see more!
I really appreciate comments like these. I really try to do my best to not say anything that might in some way be disrespectful or inflammatory because the last thing I want is to make fun of a thing someone loves. Even posting this video I got a bit paranoid thinking that maybe I should have worded things a bit differently, but I'm glad to see that the reception has been mostly positive
Thank you Master Miller for your insightful opinion. See you next mission.
God bless the Phyrrhixz for opening the eyes to new fans about the lore and its characters. Hes always working hard on his videos of Nikke Goddess of Victory.
My take is that video game characters can just be sexy with no strings attached. Hot people also just exist irl and we accept it as natural fact. Why should Lara Croft need some bogus explanation for why she has a busty, feminine figure and why she likes to raid tombs in athletic crop tops and shorts? She's simply like that, she enjoys it and that's it. It doesnt degrade her character, she's still a powerful, sophisticated, intelligent woman who doesnt take any💩from anyone and lives life on her own terms.
Or she used to be like that, before Crystal Dynamics decided that classic Lara is a ''sexist trope'' in need of a unnecessary revamp that made her more bland with the 2013 series of Tomb Raider games where she lost her curves, long athletic legs, her cup size became incrimentally smaller with each new game and she now had 0 outfits that could be viewed as sexy. Instead of creating new, more modest female characters, they tear down the already existing bombshells left, right and center. That's what grinds my gears.
Just gonna answer the immediate thumbnail, sex is neither empowering or demoralizing, its just sex, its existence is simply to be sex, this idea makes sex seem like something far more special than it ought to be, treating it as exceptionally good or bad only furthers its denormalization
Which ironically plays right into the patriarchy, and against the liberation of women. The whole reason why people, especially men wanted to make sex seem special, is to ensure the security of his own lineage and offspring.
Feminists who fall right into this trap in an attempt to reverse the sexual revolution by making sex special and shameful again are actually regressing.
I think what is so cool about this game is the depth of all the characters and the amount of mystery in the story. Not too many games have this kind of depth anymore and I miss that in games.
For me, I love characters like Violet Evergarden, Mikasa and Erza Scarlet because they've shown love and compassion to the people they care about.
Erza on the other may have her sexy moments like in the movie Dragon Cry but I think she's an amazing character by being a big sister to her guild mates.
Mikasa is a badass Ackerman who isn't that much sexualised but people remember her for her action scenes in the early seasons.
Violet is a girl (apparently, she's 14 ) who wants to understand what love is and suffers the loss of her captain which made her want to become a doll and write letters for people. She may not dress in such revealing attire but her character is what made me fall in love with her. And also, she was a child solider and being such a young age, experiencing harsh violence front and centre while not being fazed by it.
I've always believed men's sexual attraction is mostly physical, women's sexual attraction is mostly emotional.
Men like physically seeing jiggly soft skin to activate their neurons, women don't need that as much. They just need to see a design that evokes a certain emotion in them. I see most women will say, for example, that Zhong Li is the most sexy male Genshin character and he is covered up to his neck in clothes, VERY modest! But his design evokes intelligence, competence and confidence. A commanding presence and a deep voice which I think women find VERY sexy.
Also he has an infinite money exploit and probably would own a Mercedes without even recognizing its value.
I think that's too surface level. everybody likes bare skin and fit bodies. But something happens after you are done looking: you need to interact. You need to DO something with that body. for Men, it is easy to have shallow interactions because they probably have the social and financial power to control those interactions. For people without that power, they need to be more cautious, and will look harder for context clues about the person behind the body. That's where outfits, body language, grooming, and other cues become important. A woman won't hop in bed with a sexy naked man because if that interaction goes sideways, she could be seriously hurt, humiliated, or killed. Most men either have nothing to fear from a naked woman, or are too dumb to realize that they do.
@@PoorMuttski Yeah, idk about that, the idea that women by and large are afraid of men I think is something else and untrue in a lot of cases. Women certainly aren't afraid of men in my country, that's for damn sure, and they still prefer presence over a physical body.
@@Shadestars That's because you're not living in India lol. Jokes aside, the fear of men certainly comes from the culture of a place and what people teach them. Vice-versa for guys who assume all "3D" women they've met that have been horrible to them is indicative of women in general.
@@Shadestars I am not saying that women prefer presence because they are afraid. I think men prefer bodies, or at least are more able to indulge that preference, because they are unafraid. Like I said, getting excited by a shape is easy. It requires no reflection or critical thought. Men are constantly getting into trouble by not exercising critical thought 😄
@@pillarmenn1936 women’s fear of men is absolutely not cultural. Just the fact that the average woman is several inches shorter and has 10-20 pounds less muscle than the average man puts that idea right out the window.
Haedal: Am I stupid?
Entire Nikke community who got around to seeing the actual plot:Knowledge pot:Yes. Yes you are.
I'm honestly convinced that, aside from the obvious reason of "seggs sells", the sexualisation of the Nikkes is an intentional bait and switch. While the marketing of the game does everything to objectivy the characters, the game itself does a lot to subjectivy them. It offers multible forms of interactions and thus opportunities for characterization, it has: Advise sessions, Bond stories, random encounters, blabla messages, relatively frequent cameos in event stories, side stories and of course its main story.
I also like to think that Nikke has no real filler, as the slice of life stuff serves to humanize the characters. Whose humanity is exactly what you are fighting for in the story.
A good direct example is Diesel. I don't understand (though i'm aware that it is done by people) how anyone could shamelessly lust after her, after reading her bond story. That's just me though, and i'm aware that i'm probably taking this game's story a bit too seriously.
God tier editing and script btw