I posted this on another thread about digitized actors and the current games missing realistic looking character models. I think it's relevant to this discussion.



Some are better than others like Li Mei from DA/De, but characters like Stryker in MK:A for example, could use some work, imo.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with the women of Mortal Kombat.
Compared to so many other games, Mortal Kombat looks decent when it comes to how the women dress and look like appearance wise overall. I don't think they have manly faces or anything.

I think maybe people are getting used to the pretty girly faces like those in Dead or Alive series and such, those overly girly and pretty animé faces and bodytypes. The women of Mortal Kombat look like women and not 12-year old girls with huge breasts.

The fact that they are scantily clad, well, the only thing I can say to that is: Sex Sells! And I don't even think it is that bad. The only one I think who dresses really slutty would be Mileena, but it is part of her character concept and it fits her well!

The Edenian women have the leotard-styled outfits, because it shows their natural beauty as the Edenians are known for, and they give you freedom of movement. They are agile and cunning fighters, using speed and precision rather than raw strength to overcome their enemies, so they need to dress lightly, and so they do.

Most women in fighting games are usually physically weaker than their male counterparts, so then prioritize the faster and more agile fighting styles, and then it would be foolish to clad themselves in heavy plate armour. Li Mei had an armour in MKD, but it just didn't fit her agile fighting style. It just isn't practical, or sexy for that matter. And before anyone goes "But it doesn't need to be sexy", then I shall repeat that sex sells, and the MK team knows that! So why not take advantage of that fact like every other fighting game creator does?

As a last note...
I saw that Crow posted a picture of Hilde from Soul Calibur 4 where she wears a plated armour... Soul Calibur takes place in the 17th century and she is a knight, hence the armour. Have you guys seen the other women of that game? Ivy, Taki, Sophitia - They are all scantily clad women. Hilde is an exception and they did a good job on her in my opinion, but she is one of the lesser popular characters of that game. Oh, and to go back to the main topic of this thread, Soul Calibur is made by the Japanese company called Namco and are also affected by the animé style.

I think you meant subjective.

In the eyes of the beholder...

Saying beauty is subjective is just another way of saying beauty doesn't exist.

I believe beauty DOES exist, but it's not to be confused with sexual attractiveness, which is something totally different. Beauty, if there is such thing, is a logical quality. That's why we're able to look at a painting, an innocent child, and a good deed, and refer to them all under the umbrella term, "beautiful."

It's their job, they do it for a living of course they should be good at it -_-

I've always been intrigued by character models because it's one of the most important aesthetics of the game. Just like any other part of the game the character models are a work of art. If they're done well then they're very appealing and admirable, especially when you're seeing it from an artist's perspective(something you clearly dont).

It has nothing to do about how "hot" they look or me wanting to "stroke my salami" as you put it, I'm a gay male. I look at character models as a work of art because that's exactly what they are and as an artist it bugs me when I look at character models from other games like Soul Calibur and then MK. It's not so much the graphics(MK has never had top calibur graphics) rather the facial structures of the character and since I like female characters I notice it more on them.

Eh? Beauty is subjective, and it does exist, in the eyes, or mind of the beholder. What one person finds beautiful, (whether in a sexual way or not - and that's kind of a whole another thread anyway since it's not trivial to separate sexuality from the rest of a person's taste), another person may not.

Of course, beauty is objective in a way because people's views are correlated. Most people would say Beyonce is better looking than Susan Boyle.

This is going somewhat off topic.

No offense, but I don't think the MK team has that much creativity. Or is it they know where the money is. They know that the more revealing the outfit the more guys (or gals if its your thing) is going to buy the game just to see the jiggle.

*shrugs* I gave up complaining years ago, especially since some of the male character outfits are starting to get just as bad. I just wish that they would have a few female characters that wore some sort of body armor. Unless I'm mistaken the only one who actually did that in Mortal Kombat was Frost and even then her alternate outfits were just as revealing and less protecting than the other female characters. At least give us a choice via alternate outfits to have something that can actually be fought in and that doesn't looks something is about to fall out of the girl's 'shirt' and hit her in the face.

the MK franchise is AMERICAN

this is ALL you need to know.

I think in some cases, the female's faces have been bad, such as Sonya's "man-face" in some of the later games (e.g. MK: Shaolin Monks). Even though this is just a video game series, it wouldn't hurt to make the faces look good. It doesn't mean that the females have to look like supermodels. Just make them look good and actually make them feminine.

About the whole armor thing, why can't females wear armor and still be fast? Surely, there is light-weight armor, isn't there? I personally like Li Mei's MK: Deception alternate costume as it fits the character within the context of her story.

About sex appeal and skimpiness, there has to be a line drawn. If you're trying to go for sex appeal with the outfits and all that, whatever. Just don't overdo the skimpiness, and don't make them ridiculous-looking. I think the females can dress functionally and logically while still being attractive and having sex appeal. It doesn't even necessarily mean that the character can't show some skin.

When dealing with the costumes of the characters, it should obviously be based on what kind of character we're dealing with. For example, Sonya is a Lieutenant in the Special Forces division of the U.S. Army, so it would be expected for her to dress like a soldier.

Does she? Well, not exactly. She has had very pseudo-military outfits, and she'd be a joke for the way she dresses. Even though MK is fiction, even in the story, I couldn't imagine how her superiors and fellow soldiers could take her seriously if she dresses that way. The same applies to Jax though this MK vs. DCU outfit is a step up at least.

Anyway, getting back to the main topic, I feel that with the characters in general, namely the human and humanoid characters, they should go for more of a photo-realistic look (think the likes of Heavy Rain) instead of the plastic, action-figure look. I know that MK is fantasy, but I don't see why it would hurt to have some elements of realism.

Y'know what, you MIGHT have had an argument for "people should wear armor" during the games where everybody had weapons.

But now that we're back to pure hand-to-hand...well, have you EVER seen a martial artist in a suit of armor in real life? They always wear extremely thin and loose fitting gis and robes for maximum speed and mobility.

Inferring ???

USA USA USA

(LOL I have no idea what this has to do with anything)

Mostly I can care less about how the characters look unless you want to go blind from staring at a tv screen with a video game character in it, I just play the game, follow the story, and at the end of the day I know I did a bunch of Fatalities which I couldn't do before.

It's a part of all fighting games. Female fighters have always been eye candy, starting way back wiyh Street Ftghter 2. That will never change since guys make these games for other men.

did anyone notice the change in johnny cage's hair? it went from short to spiked lol

Mortal Kombat is set in a fictional world though. A suit of armor just might be helpful against an enemy like Sektor, for example.

I highly doubt a breastplate would do a damn bit of good against a missile.

My point was more that characters in different attires would just be fine and sensible for Mortal Kombat, given the fantasy setting. Interesting fantasy is a lot different from unnecessary fantasy like giant DD breasts in a string bikini that magically don't inhibit someone's fighting abilities.

Like LadyRaiden said, I don't think it's much to ask for. Hilde is one character, yes, but my point in linking her was certainly not to say "Soul Calibur is better at MK at this" because they aren't, no one really is. But at least there's the option to play as Hilde. In MK, the only option is pretty much scantily clad, giant breasted women. It's just boring I think, and what really keeps me from liking very many female characters. Design is an important part of a character. I can't stand the oversexed designs of female fighters, and unless I really, really dig their story I won't have anything to do with them.

Well Li Mei's Deception alt was a suit of armor. And it made sense for her because that was a game with extensive weapon use AND it fit her background, having shared soul-space with a heavily armored medieval soldier and having some of his personality left behind inside her mind.

But character-wise, wearing armor wouldn't fit a lot of the women of the MK1 thru 3 era.

Sonya is a soldier from modern day America. I could see her in some sort of kevlar or other military gear, but never in steel plates. My biggest complaint with the Vincent Proce concept art of her wasn't that she had no pants like everybody else had a problem with (though that did seem inappropriate), it was that ridiculous armor on her arm. It just doesn't make any sense for her.

Now...the Outworld characters at least come from a world where suits of armor are still worn, but Kitana, Mileena, or Jade would never wear it because they're super-lithe and gymnastic ninjas.

It MIGHT work for Sindel as long as it looks elegant and royal, but on the other hand, she's a flyer and you don't want her to look too heavy.

Now Sheeva, I could definitely see wearing armor.

And if they created a completely new character who wears fullplate, I wouldn't have any problem with it, as long as she didn't just look like a female Hotaru.

I don't have an issue with every single MK design, just most of them. Li Mei's alt in Deception and Ashrah are probably the two most modest designs for female characters in the series. There are varying degrees of things in between. Normally Kitana's costumes are passable, but then you have totally unnecessary things like Mileena's alt in MKD.

Though her costumes don't rank as the most outrageous, the biggest offender to me is Sonya. She's gone from wearing what could be taken as a sports bra type set up in the first games to downright not wearing a bra at all in MKvsDCU. It's totally impractical and like I said, it really sours me on her character. The costumes are completely and totally out of character for a US Army general or lieutenant, whatever she is at the time. Any rank in the military, honestly. Males aren't oversexed, by the way. Anyone that has even had that thought is completely fooling themselves. Shirtless males are part of accepted society, and at WORST is PG television, and it would have to be suggestive to even make that. When the MK team starts accenting the bulge of a male character, then we'll talk about there being any grounds the male characters are as ridiculously designed.

I have to say Sonya on MKvsDC was AWFUL lol she looked like a she-male and had a very masculine face. I know I keep reading that they use men to do motion capture for the women as well.

You're judging a picture that doesn't 100% represent their 3D model. Good job.

Besides the obvious vs DC Sonya render, which I don't think it's bad, but it's kinda funny that you're judging a character that supposed to have an unattractive face. Not to mention which you can only see the eyes and forehead anyway. Picture wise, I think it's fine, since it represents how evil Mileena is.

Gameplay wise, you barely see her face anyway since her hair is in the way. The only time you will get a good look at her face is during a victory pose or Fatality, Which by then, in most situation, her face will be badly beaten.

I figure Sonya's top is a bespoke booby support bra/top thing. I saw some on the shopping channel the other day. Surely this is more practical than having a separate bra and top. And you can't tell that she's not wearing a bra underneath it anyway. If you could tell she was wearing a bra, people would find a problem with that, like the whole thong thing.



The new MK is an 18+ game. And plenty of girls IRL have exposed midriffs, large boobies, wear bikinis on the beach where guys get their tops off. The 18+ comes from their being femurs ripped out of people 24/7.

On a normal day on the street, people would think it odd to see ladies wearing bikinis, but they'd also think it odd if guys are without shirts, They'd also think it odd if you had a flaming skull for your head.

As far as I have seen, there is no actual nudity in MK.

I like that MK has "sexy" people in it. I also like that there is a variety of characters. Some hot, some not so much for the people who don't like that kind of thing. It's clear that opinions vary. It would be crazy IMO for the devs to go for pleasing one fraction of the demographic. Ashrah can stay. She's boring as hell but it seems some people think she isn't.

I don't think that every character should be wearing armor. Even for characters who wear armor, it doesn't have to be a full suit of armor. Obviously, you're not going to have martial artists wearing suits of armor in modern times. Characters don't need to wear armor to dress practically. It's that with the female characters, they could cover up a bit more and still look good.