https://boundingintocomics.com/2024/04/23/hypocrisy-at-its-finest-after-years-of-complaining-about-sexy-female-characters-western-video-game-industry-publicly-thirsts-over-cast-of-hades-ii/

Now I’m normally not so bold as to post an article from Bounding into Comics here, as it’s easy for these things to derail into straight on politics. But let’s keep on topic here, the subject of the seemingly double standards of the same people who decry sexiness in Stellar Blade, but praising it in the upcoming Hades II. Off the bat, I don’t have an issue with Hades II, just the double standards on display here. The game “journalists” must come up with all kinds of excuses and reasons as to why it’s okay to lust after one set of hot characters, but not another.

Now I can’t directly prove this, but I do wonder if there is some xenophobia on display here. Western made games with sexy characters get praised, while non-Western made games get a lot of backlash over the same content. Games like Baldur’s Gate 3 get praised for the sex you can have, along with BioWare games like Mass Effect. In those sex is an option, even if fade to black, it still counts. Meanwhile, games like Stellar Blade don’t have sex, but sexy characters and get grilled for it. There’s a number of M rated anime art style games on PlayStation that have been censored over the years. Characters like Bayonetta and 2B have been the subject of a lot of criticism back in the days. I remember the backlash over Xenoblade Chronicles 2 having a bunny girl that people were very angry about, complaining how unrealistic she looked... for a sci-fi character with an anime art style. No shit she isn’t realistic. Notice this “realism” thing is only a problem for female characters, not male characters. Although there have been Western games that also got complaints over sex appeal like older Tomb Raider games. It’s far from a perfect theory on my part.

Can we not just enjoy sexual content regardless of where it comes from, and is legal? This is so stupid getting mad at people for finding one set of characters hot that doesn’t line up with how people think things should be. Sex sells. You don’t need to be sexually into women to find their designs appealing. An easy on the eyes sort of thing.

These people try to argue agency is the difference between what’s okay to lust over and what’s not okay to lust over. These are fictional characters; they have no actual agency. They’re entirely on the whims of what their creators do, and what players can do. If anything, Eve has more agency than the gods in Hades II because I’m pretty sure the gods are not playable unlike Eve.

I swear this will go down as one of the sadder times in gaming history. Not from either game, but from the reactions over them. I get the feeling those lusting after the Hades II gods while decrying Stellar Blade don’t even believe their own reasoning, just double standards at work. You don’t need my permission for what you [don’t] find appealing and we sure as hell don’t need it from these game “journalists” who hardly have original thoughts. I think both of these games will be a big hit. Stellar Blade releases in a matter of days. Hades II is next year although early access is supposed to come later this year.

7961880
My trouble here is just simply that I'm not familiar with Stellar Blade. I have played a good number of hours of Hades, watched other people play it, and watched a few hours of Hades II gameplay. This pretty much leaves me in a situation where I can justify why the characters are hot in the Hades franchise, but it sounds like other people have already been doing that.

Main thing with Hades is just simply most of these characters are Greek gods, and Greek gods are going to be hot. Half the backstories of characters in Greek mythology involve Zeus having sex with someone, for example, so it'd be surprising if he wasn't. And really, if you look at most depictions of the Greek gods, they are portrayed as hot. (And just as a note: It's pretty much equal hotness, male or female in Hades.)

As far as the gods being playable; well, yes and no. Both Hades and Hades II only have one protagonist, so most of the gods are not playable. The main character of Hades is Zagreus, who is Hades' son, and would qualify as a minor god. In the sequel, you play Melinoë, his sister, thus also a god.

I'd also note that they are hot in dialogue.

In gameplay, the character models are rather too small to be hot.

I will also say that the characterizations and dialogue are very well written, with great voice acting, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they get away with a little more due to that. When Zagreus runs into Megaera, and we get this, with great line delivery, I'm too busy laughing to be at all offended...

But, again, can't really compare and contrast any of this to Stellar Blade, as I know very little about it. Doing a search, it looks to be a PS5 exclusive and I don't have a PS5, so I'll probably continue to know very little about it. I'm not very fond of exclusives, and especially ones on the Playstation side, because they tend to stay exclusives. I actually own Bloodborne, since I do have a PS4, at least, but I never play it because I don't use that system much, and I can't play it on any of the systems I do use a lot. Hades I & II are multiplatform.

Oh, and as far as Hades II's release goes, it's in the limited technical test now, and is supposed to be released into Early Access Q2 of this year. I got the impression that the technical test is just basically until they are sure there aren't any major issues.

--Sweetie Belle

7961880
Baldur’s Gate 3 did get harshly screamed at for the sexual content. Most of the noise was from the possibility of getting railed by a Wildshape Druid.
Mass Effect did get harshly screamed at for the sexual content. It was actually called pornographic by some people when it came out.

It seems to me that everything with sexualized content generates outrage, and the validity of the outrage is graded against the sales and retained popularity of the game.

So to hear that Stellar Blade is getting clickbait articles made about alleged hyper sexuality, doesn’t really get a reaction from me.
And it shouldn’t from you either.

The more these articles get reposted, tagged, and talked about; the more of that sweet SEO (and any add revenue) the host generates which rewards the host.

7961880
These people are bigoted towards Asians.

Several community managers for several different developers make sure to spell it out that they view Asians on the same plain as white people: badly. Thus, when something from Asia comes out that they don't like and they can't latch themselves onto and mold it to suit themselves, they go full mask off. Same thing happened with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth when Tifa and Aerith were shown in their bikinis. And because Tifa has the breasts of Lara Croft, they do what they do.

7961929
It is getting a reaction from you. Why else would you even comment?

7961994
Probably the same reason as you.
Something, something, silence is permission, something, something, Corpos Bad, and the pot is more interesting when it’s boiling.

7961902
They argue that it's okay for Greek gods to be hot, but not a sexualized woman in a sci-fi character action game. They come up with the oddest excuses. Greek gods are "safe horny" because the Twitter mob won't get mad at you for lusting after them, but they do get mad for lusting after Eve from Stellar Blade. As per usual, when they complain about the male gaze, they ignore queer women liking that same gaze. I know the straight male gaze and lesbian gaze are not quite the same thing due to differences on average, how men and women view sexuality. Even now with reviews coming out, they still won't stop complaining about that game's sex appeal. Everything doesn't have to be made for everyone. Unintended audiences can exist, I mean, just look what website we're on. These points are not against you, just expressing how I feel about the reactions.

7961929
I recall the ignorant backlash to the first Mass Effect. "It's about playing as a man and picking who you want to have sex with." Just so misses the point. I know who said something like that but I rather avoid full on politics by not naming them. It's like the video game moral panic hasn't stopped since the 90s. We're still having people freaking out over sex appeal in a video game, well, some but not others.

7961994
I can't wait to see how they react should this game sell very well which it will due to the amount of pre-orders, especially after the demo's release. The guy behind the IGN French article, after being forced to apologize, claimed that women are killing themselves over trying to look like characters like Eve and that men expect all women to look like Eve. The amount of tripping over themselves they do because they simply can't accept that sex sells a lot more than their "diverse" body types.

7962152
The Moral Panic over video games isn't going away anytime soon. Not since there's so many avenues to generate outrage from.
Bitching about things is a paying gig thanks to the Internet, and the current trend of people quick to jump on a side just to say they contributed keeps it going. And once you get someone going, they'll say all kinds of ignorant shit to keep momentum. Right now you got some people trying to say that Eve is gonna result in a surge of things like Bulimia and Anorexia, and you got some people talking as if they believe that eating disorders are myths or not issues worth taking seriously.

And if you're willing to say that both extreme camps are out of their fucking minds then you're some kind of coward for not taking a side; because there's some new age rule against calling out ignorance on all fronts.

7962152
Hmm. Hot and sexualized are rather different things. I don't mind characters being hot, but I can get annoyed if the game seems to be kinda horny for them and going for as much fan service as possible. For example, one game I own gave the main character very tight shorts, kinda showing off their rear end, barely covered them with a jacket, then made that jacket flip up to reveal the shorts then back down over and over again, every time you run, and you do a lot of running. Thankfully, I had some alternate outfits as a preorder bonus, and was able to switch to a different one where that wasn't a problem...

--Sweetie Belle

7962171
Difference is that one side is exclusively cradled and pandered to, while the other basically relies on themselves to get things done and stands by their viewpoints no matter what.

Stellar Blade has already been censored before release due to this:

Said cradled and pandered side spouted that this graffiti is racist. Can you see how by a mere glance?

What sprung to my mind when I saw this was "Hard R", the film rating. And I'm not even from a country that uses that rating system.

But these pigs will dig and dig for something, anything they can use to get these companies to bend in some way. They'll never actually support them when they do bend to their demands, hence so many triple A releases have crashed and burned in real time.

7962332

Both sides demand to be catered to and whine non-stop when they don’t get it. Both camps are guilty of playing the part of being outraged on behalf of a demographic, as if they somehow were personally affected by whatever the hell they’re complaining about. Both sides have their fair share of snowflakes who act like they’re the poor suppressed underdog boldly trying to stand against a system that was meticulously designed specifically to silence them.
And the worst part is that the people with the most to say just react to the problem, complain about how unfair it is, whine about how the industry is dying (again), and then instead of making a genuine push to make the industry better they jump on he next problem that smells interesting.

Every news cycle has something to say about some new scandal and how unfair it is. This has been the norm for decades. It will continue to be the norm as long as temper tantrums are the acceptable means of discourse.

7962350

Both sides demand to be catered to and whine non-stop when they don’t get it.

I repeat: one side IS catered to and STILL whines because it's never enough. The other is told to piss off.

Both camps are guilty of playing the part of being outraged on behalf of a demographic, as if they somehow were personally affected by whatever the hell they’re complaining about.

True, but one is mote prevalent than the other, and is the one listened to.

Both sides have their fair share of snowflakes who act like they’re the poor suppressed underdog boldly trying to stand against a system that was meticulously designed specifically to silence them.

One side owns the system and openly uses it to silence those they don't like; look up Sweet Baby Inc. Why do you think Gamergate is back?

And the worst part is that the people with the most to say just react to the problem, complain about how unfair it is, whine about how the industry is dying (again), and then instead of making a genuine push to make the industry better they jump on he next problem that smells interesting.

That disingenuous. The ones who have wormed their way into the industry using fear and intimidation (their own admission, not my assumption), are the ones going on about how hard and unfair they have it, while ruining once giant and beloved franchises with their poisonous ideologies. Those of us on the outside see the bullshit for what it is, and while we do report on those issues, we're always on the lookout for something to replace the old guard with that will actually respect the paying customer's time and money, and not talk down to them.

We can't make the industry better, cause those within are gatekeeping us from it. The same people who stood against gatekeeping during the first Gamergate are now the gatekeepers. Classic hypocrisy.

The industry is dying, we're seeing it in real time.

7962430

The industry is dying, we're seeing it in real time.

Then stop bitching about it and move on to something you care about enough to try changing for the better.

7962466
You understand that you could just not read threads that are going to annoy you. You're in the thread telling others what to do, when you don't even need to be here. Are you simply here to insult others?

7962468
You understand that the same critique applies to everyone who looks at threads that are going to annoy them, yourself included; yes?

And of course you would also understand that this applies to everyone who willingly looks at articles and videos that address subjects that they would find upsetting, yes?

7962469
Yes. That said, I didn't insult you or anyone else here. Also, I'm just observing what's going on in pop culture and the mainstream, mostly. I don't own a PS5 and I'm not much of a gamer, I'm observing mainly to see how this culture war is panning out, which side is doing what. I, also, watch videos about the Star Wars and that culture battle despite having no interest in viewing Star Wars.

7962472
Wasn’t my intention to insult anyone. If someone wants to say that I’ve hurt their feelings then I’ll certainly address that.

7962466
These are things we do care about. If we can't change it, we can cost those responsible for ruining it.

Funny how you didn't try to counter anything I said, you just turned the other way.

7962604
You're clearly unfamiliar with the concept of life offline.

7962626
Then why come here and throw shade?

7962627
You come off as a person who is angry at everything. I do in fact have a life offline, I just so happen to choose my free time online. I just feel like I am being rude if I do not reply. Also there is a saying that you need to choose your battles and what you have been suggestion have been an age old argument since the dawn of the internet.

7962628

I can’t believe you got him to be quiet. Tell me your secret.

You threw shade at me when I was away. If you expected me to take that laying down, not sorry to disappoint.

You come off as a person who is angry at everything.

I like what I like and don't appreciate it when sheltered pampered ideologues mess with it and slander me when I reject it.

Also there is a saying that you need to choose your battles and what you have been suggestion have been an age old argument since the dawn of the internet.

I hate having to repeat myself: You act like everything is tickety-boo and when presented with the contrary, you look the other way.

7962629
The reason I feel that me and several others do not respect you is that you also seem to lack empathy but sometimes you need to try and see where the other side is coming from and you ten turn turn a lot of people, myself including by sounding like a jerk. Respect goes both ways and you just do not seem like the person willing to give the other side a chance. It is hard not to when a lot of the times it seems like you do not respect me or others with opposing opinion. GivingSpider reasonably said that both sides have problem but then you said only one side is without giving a reason why.

7962631

The reason I feel that me and several others do not respect you is that you also seem to lack empathy but sometimes you need to try and see where the other side is coming from and you ten turn turn a lot of people, myself including by sounding like a jerk.

You act like you're completely innocent in all of this discourse.

Respect goes both ways and you just do not seem like the person willing to give the other side a chance.

Yes, and if your words haven't earned mine, why should I reciprocate?

GivingSpider reasonably said that both sides have problem but then you said only one side is without giving a reason why.

Because I and several others have, many times before on several different threads that you both have been on (this thread alone gives a clear example). But both of you just turn and play ignorant. So what's the point?

7962635
And that is your problem, you also come off as a person who will come off as condensending to anyone who has a slightly different view than you. It feel that you fight with people who have a different take, they just do not agree with you simple as that. Only you want to make it seem like the other side is ill informed. To me it sounds like you want people to think 100% like you. See where this is a problem? There is nothing wrong with have a slightly different view on things and you make it sound like it is. That you have to be right all the time and when your world view is challenged you come off as an angry person. You seem to think when people who say they do not agree as ignorant, that is not the case. I have accepted that others have a different world view on things, why can’t you?

7962641
Where was all this here, and on those threads you deleted after getting pushback?

7962625

These are things we do care about. If we can't change it, we can cost those responsible for ruining it.

What’s my motivation to bother countering someone who willfully outs himself as being no better than the Woke Mob who wants to pitch fits and bully people they don’t like into silence?

Furthermore: my point is that both sides have bad actors in positions of authority. Your argument seems to boil down to “Our bad actors are better than theirs, for me”.

7962644
There is this thing called stress. I accepted their view but I deleted it for the sake of my mental health. It certainly did not help when people were commenting non stop. I needed some breathing room.

7962646
Cost as in, don't buy what they're selling and let them fail. They said to our faces "we don't want you", and we went "alright, good luck without us", and we see their products fail in real time.

What’s my motivation to bother countering someone who willfully outs himself as being no better than the Woke Mob who wants to pitch fits and bully people they don’t like into silence?

Quote me, where did I say that?

We don't have the platform or power to silence those we don't like. These commies own the media, the devs, the publishers, the focus groups, the consultation groups, and the investors.

7962604
…
Was that absolutely necessary?

7962661
I apologize. I will see if I can delete that.

7962650
The longer you engage with someone you disagree with, the more emotional your responses get; thus your attitude starts to resemble the sort of belligerent ignorance that you find distasteful.
Whether intentional or not, you’re consistent with bringing yourself down to that level.
Want me to start treating you like you’re better than them?
Start by being the better man.

I’ll give you an easy example:

You threw shade at me when I was away. If you expected me to take that laying down, not sorry to disappoint.

You chose to engage with an act of passive aggressiveness. You could have ignored it and moved on.
What did you get out coming out swinging at someone, whom you already decided was so ignorant that they aren’t worth engaging with?

I’m gonna see myself out since at this point we’re inviting a topic lock.

7962670
You chose to engage with something in the first place despite stating that it apparently:

doesn’t really get a reaction from me.

You could have ignored it and moved on.

What did you get out coming out swinging at someone, whom you already decided was so ignorant that they aren’t worth engaging with?

Cause they swung first.

Whoa, not the first of one of my threads to blow up days later. There's hardly anything I can say that hasn't been repeated many times by now.

7961902
I'm late, but I think I see your point. Sexy can be distracting if you're not interested in that particular moment, like a serious moment in an anime and there's fan service that just gets in the way. Hades [II] looks to limit the sex appeal to just dialogue and not in the middle of gameplay. Eve is always hot in Stellar Blade, but so were characters like Bayonetta. If you're deep enough into the gameplay, you won't even notice the sex appeal, you won't pay attention to Bayonetta stripping to do her hair based attacks. Even in something like cutscenes, those are usually unique animations playing, compared to in-game where a lot of animations will repeat quite often which makes the sex appeal during gameplay less distracting especially if it's common.

7962784
Exactly.

I did find a video of the first half hour or so of Stellar Blade:

Main spot I had trouble with is the cutscene at 4:30. Hatch opens to show a woman with pretty large breasts, who then pulls you out to show that you were apparently piloting mostly in the nude, but you then materialize some clothes. Right before this was some military sci-fi and neat space battles. For me, this was kinda jarring gratuitous fan service.

A few minutes later, Tachy tosses you a health potion and you don't know what it is.
a) You headed out into combat without knowing what a health potion is?
b) Robots drink health potions? Health potion is really more fantasy terminology, anyways, and this is sci-fi.

Once you're 15 minutes in, things are looking pretty good, and the actual outfit you are wearing isn't bad. It's mostly really just fanservicy cutscene, and I wouldn't really skip the game because of it. I am wondering why the robots all look like beautiful women, but maybe there's some Neon Genesis Evangelion stuff going on, and they're all the creators dead wife or something.

What I will skip the game for, of course, is it being a PS5 exclusive.

--Sweetie Belle

7963311

I saw this review. I didn't even realize Eve was an android prior to that. Although if she's an android, that does bring up some questions. Why would her shielding not work in her base look? Does that mean she actually does wear suits separated from herself? I guess I should have realized she's an android from the base look. I suppose whoever made the androids wanted them to be pretty to look at, which I guess is kinda meta in a way. Not that other people in that setting would be looking from behind her at all times like the in-game camera does.

The review above does pretty much state the stories and character writing are awful. I know that's one person's opinion, but I generally trust her with these sort of reviews. Although I have the proper hardware to play this one, I likely won't be picking this up right away. I suck at character action games and I'm not sure how much I can really do to change that all that much. I still have other such games lying around on my PC like Devil May Cry 5, Nier: Automata, and Bayonetta.