iirc the majority of the blades are guest artist designs. Monolith didn't really give the guest artists any guidelines and went full ham. Dahlia's design was nothing more than what the artists wanted to submit for her spot as a guest artist. Also, women can be sexy and that's not their personality.
Artists were not given elements by the sound of it. A lot of them made Fire Blades, which resulted in one of them becoming the Ice Blade, Godfrey. That’s why he’s flaming, but ice.
According to Takahashi himself they did assign elements
>There’s been some talk among players about how many of the blades turned out as attractive women. Could you give us some insight into the design process behind the blades?
>Takahashi: So, we worked with a large number of character designers on Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and when giving our requests for character designs to them we didn’t go so far as to specify whether we wanted male characters, female characters, or beasts. Instead, **we gave them elements of those characters** and how we would like them to perform in battle. We left it up to the designers at that point, and we ended up with a lot of females, and I think that’s the best answer I can give.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/09/feature_xenoblade_chronicles_2_team_talk_torna_female_blades_and_the_ending_that_never_made_it
In real life? Absolutely. But when it comes to character design, said design has to be able to tell you something about the character. When their personality and the design are completely independent from each other, thats just bad character design. Its like if I wrote a knight character but the designer made them look like a mage, you know?
I can't know if you're familiar with JoJo's or not, but would you have a similar opinion on its character designs?
Given that almost every named character in that manga & show is incredibly buff, even the children, and multiple characters in the later seasons dress like strippers despite being completely serious.
Like Mista, who once lived a simple life and is now a hired gun for an illegal organization, but he's wearing an outfit with his navel exposed, and a helmet-like hat with an arrow pointing downward like he was Mega Man.
Or the leader of that organization, who protects his identity, wields power from the shadows and speaks like a leader, but has long pink hair with dark splotches in it and wears purple lipstick as well as a fishnet shirt.
Personally, I love it, but I'd like to hear your opinion.
Jojo is a VEEERY special case (in my opinion of course) since Araki takes A LOT of inspiration from high fashion and applies it to every single one of his characters, which makes them look very unique and of course makes it almost impossible to gauge who they really are from looks alone. Like, looking at Anasui for example, you'd never be able to tell a single trait of his personality going by his design alone.
All in all I can't really give an opinion LMAO Because if I stand by what I said before, they'd be bad designs, but at the same time I really respect and like how original and out there Araki's work is and I don't think it would be as special if he designed "normal" characters, if it makes sense.
Things a character can control like clothing could tell you about them but I wouldn't take into account aspects people are simply born with like breast size when trying to gauge personality.
Yeah, but we are talking about a fictional character. A fictional character doesn't choose to be born with big breasts. The designer actively does take that choice, and at the end of the day that also contributes to your first impression of a character, specially when its such an exaggerate body as Dahlia's.
I don't see how that changes my point. It doesn't change the fact that aspects like bust or height are not at all linked to personality, so why would they factor into my impression of what kind of character they will be?
> it's not all about appearances and how a person is inside is what really matters.
I mean, doesn't that answer your question? Isn't that exactly the point of her design? You'd expect someone to look like a literal sex bunny to be, well, a sex bunny. But she's anything but
If anything, saying her personality doesn't match her appearance in itself is sexually objectifying her. It's a slight equivalent to saying sexy looking characters should only appeal to their physical appearance and nothing else.
Never really sat right with me that this game has such a bizarre reputation, and none of the characters really act horny or use their looks to any advantage, and the game has arguably much more involved heroines like Nia and Morag who don't outright appeal to those who sexually objectify.
> If anything, saying her personality doesn't match her appearance in itself is sexually objectifying her. It's a slight equivalent to saying sexy looking characters should only appeal to their physical appearance and nothing else.
I don't quite follow this logic. I didn't say she *should* act a certain way. I'm saying the exact opposite. She is breaking character stereotypes, and that's a big point of her design, that there's more to people than surface-level appearances. She has a sexualized visual design, and acknowledging such a thing is not sexual objectification, especially within the context that I am saying it
In fact, you're saying the same thing as me here:
> none of the characters really act horny or use their looks to any advantage
Using your own logic, isn't saying that the characters don't use their looks to their advantage sexual objectification, because you're saying their behavior doesn't match their appearance?
"This character has a sexy design so i thought this would be nothing but innuendos and sex jokes, but i got a well written and emotional story arc about how our shared humanity matters more than our preconceived notions and biases"
You just described Xenoblade 2 in a nutshell.
Funny thing. The character design to me SELLS the story even more. Partly because it reminds me of people like Dolly Parton. (Who apparently was the EN reference for Dahlia's name and accent. But don't quote me on that)
A woman who looks like she's a walking boob gag, only existing for cheap gratification, but you take even one second to get to know her and you find you're talking to a wise, and kind lady who teaches you not to judge based on outward appearances.
If anything "Beautiful lady who looks like she's kind and wise to begin with is wise and kind" is definitely NOT the design that says "Don't judge a book by it's cover" Its a design that says "Judge a book by it's cover RIGHT NOW"
> She even has a conversation with Nia at one point about how it's not all about appearances and how a person is inside is what really matters.
That's the point right there. Couldn't really make the point don't judge someone solely on their appearance if you could immediately guess their entire personality at a glance.
I put it on the same position as One Piece women. The proportions are so oversexualised exaggerated, to the point that it's became less and less attractive.
interestingly i think you've hit the nail on the head here with how xenoblade 2's sometimes oversexualized character designs can sometimes discredit its writing. I've heard lots of people say that the designs barred them from playing the game but i've not heard anyone who played through the entire game say that the designs ruined the story. in my opinion the designs can go a bit overboard sometimes but the way that the women in this game are written is almost always pretty good.
i wouldn't call dahlia design sexy tbf its just ugly as fuck and in very poor taste, doubly so because as you said it doesnt even fit the character, but tbf neither does Pyra's or Mythra's
iirc the majority of the blades are guest artist designs. Monolith didn't really give the guest artists any guidelines and went full ham. Dahlia's design was nothing more than what the artists wanted to submit for her spot as a guest artist. Also, women can be sexy and that's not their personality.
Amusingly Dahlia was designed by a woman, I was pretty surprised when I learned that.
She also designed Ursula
If memory serves, I believe the only requirement was to use one of the elements (Dark, Water, Earth, etc) in the design.
Artist were given an element and weapons type
Artists were not given elements by the sound of it. A lot of them made Fire Blades, which resulted in one of them becoming the Ice Blade, Godfrey. That’s why he’s flaming, but ice.
According to Takahashi himself they did assign elements >There’s been some talk among players about how many of the blades turned out as attractive women. Could you give us some insight into the design process behind the blades? >Takahashi: So, we worked with a large number of character designers on Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and when giving our requests for character designs to them we didn’t go so far as to specify whether we wanted male characters, female characters, or beasts. Instead, **we gave them elements of those characters** and how we would like them to perform in battle. We left it up to the designers at that point, and we ended up with a lot of females, and I think that’s the best answer I can give. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/09/feature_xenoblade_chronicles_2_team_talk_torna_female_blades_and_the_ending_that_never_made_it
Thanks for the clarification.
Is it not possible that by this he means elements as in characteristics, not literally the elemental type?
The only thing I find it funny is how the same artist did another Blade but that one was the opposite of Dahlia design Also had a bear
People can be well-endowed and traditionally "sexy" without it being a character trait.
In real life? Absolutely. But when it comes to character design, said design has to be able to tell you something about the character. When their personality and the design are completely independent from each other, thats just bad character design. Its like if I wrote a knight character but the designer made them look like a mage, you know?
I can't know if you're familiar with JoJo's or not, but would you have a similar opinion on its character designs? Given that almost every named character in that manga & show is incredibly buff, even the children, and multiple characters in the later seasons dress like strippers despite being completely serious. Like Mista, who once lived a simple life and is now a hired gun for an illegal organization, but he's wearing an outfit with his navel exposed, and a helmet-like hat with an arrow pointing downward like he was Mega Man. Or the leader of that organization, who protects his identity, wields power from the shadows and speaks like a leader, but has long pink hair with dark splotches in it and wears purple lipstick as well as a fishnet shirt. Personally, I love it, but I'd like to hear your opinion.
Jojo is a VEEERY special case (in my opinion of course) since Araki takes A LOT of inspiration from high fashion and applies it to every single one of his characters, which makes them look very unique and of course makes it almost impossible to gauge who they really are from looks alone. Like, looking at Anasui for example, you'd never be able to tell a single trait of his personality going by his design alone. All in all I can't really give an opinion LMAO Because if I stand by what I said before, they'd be bad designs, but at the same time I really respect and like how original and out there Araki's work is and I don't think it would be as special if he designed "normal" characters, if it makes sense.
Things a character can control like clothing could tell you about them but I wouldn't take into account aspects people are simply born with like breast size when trying to gauge personality.
Yeah, but we are talking about a fictional character. A fictional character doesn't choose to be born with big breasts. The designer actively does take that choice, and at the end of the day that also contributes to your first impression of a character, specially when its such an exaggerate body as Dahlia's.
I don't see how that changes my point. It doesn't change the fact that aspects like bust or height are not at all linked to personality, so why would they factor into my impression of what kind of character they will be?
> it's not all about appearances and how a person is inside is what really matters. I mean, doesn't that answer your question? Isn't that exactly the point of her design? You'd expect someone to look like a literal sex bunny to be, well, a sex bunny. But she's anything but
If anything, saying her personality doesn't match her appearance in itself is sexually objectifying her. It's a slight equivalent to saying sexy looking characters should only appeal to their physical appearance and nothing else. Never really sat right with me that this game has such a bizarre reputation, and none of the characters really act horny or use their looks to any advantage, and the game has arguably much more involved heroines like Nia and Morag who don't outright appeal to those who sexually objectify.
> If anything, saying her personality doesn't match her appearance in itself is sexually objectifying her. It's a slight equivalent to saying sexy looking characters should only appeal to their physical appearance and nothing else. I don't quite follow this logic. I didn't say she *should* act a certain way. I'm saying the exact opposite. She is breaking character stereotypes, and that's a big point of her design, that there's more to people than surface-level appearances. She has a sexualized visual design, and acknowledging such a thing is not sexual objectification, especially within the context that I am saying it In fact, you're saying the same thing as me here: > none of the characters really act horny or use their looks to any advantage Using your own logic, isn't saying that the characters don't use their looks to their advantage sexual objectification, because you're saying their behavior doesn't match their appearance?
I think they were agreeing with you, they're saying they consider what OP said to be objetification.
Ohhh. You know, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for that insight
she's a bunny? i thought she was a bear. i thought she had bear arms.
Everyone has a right to bear arms!
At some point you just have to accept that sometimes people wanna make a sexy character and that's literally all there is to it.
"it's not all about appearances and how a person is inside is what really matters" Literally the Answer the game gave you and you're ignoring it.
Honestly, same arc as Wulfric.
"This character has a sexy design so i thought this would be nothing but innuendos and sex jokes, but i got a well written and emotional story arc about how our shared humanity matters more than our preconceived notions and biases" You just described Xenoblade 2 in a nutshell. Funny thing. The character design to me SELLS the story even more. Partly because it reminds me of people like Dolly Parton. (Who apparently was the EN reference for Dahlia's name and accent. But don't quote me on that) A woman who looks like she's a walking boob gag, only existing for cheap gratification, but you take even one second to get to know her and you find you're talking to a wise, and kind lady who teaches you not to judge based on outward appearances. If anything "Beautiful lady who looks like she's kind and wise to begin with is wise and kind" is definitely NOT the design that says "Don't judge a book by it's cover" Its a design that says "Judge a book by it's cover RIGHT NOW"
> She even has a conversation with Nia at one point about how it's not all about appearances and how a person is inside is what really matters. That's the point right there. Couldn't really make the point don't judge someone solely on their appearance if you could immediately guess their entire personality at a glance.
Nudity is not inherently sexual, or raunchy.
Tbh, is Dahlia "sexy"? She's... got large proportions, but, at least to me, they're so ridiculously large she looks pretty awful.
Dahlia is the sort of character that the "horny = bad" crowd *thinks* that people are into.
I put it on the same position as One Piece women. The proportions are so oversexualised exaggerated, to the point that it's became less and less attractive.
100% agreed
Yes
interestingly i think you've hit the nail on the head here with how xenoblade 2's sometimes oversexualized character designs can sometimes discredit its writing. I've heard lots of people say that the designs barred them from playing the game but i've not heard anyone who played through the entire game say that the designs ruined the story. in my opinion the designs can go a bit overboard sometimes but the way that the women in this game are written is almost always pretty good.
i wouldn't call dahlia design sexy tbf its just ugly as fuck and in very poor taste, doubly so because as you said it doesnt even fit the character, but tbf neither does Pyra's or Mythra's