Mirror’s Edge Moefication
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Dec 3, 2008 04:00 JST
- Tags: Comparison, EA, Image Gallery, Mirror's Edge, Moe, VIP Quality, Xbox 360
Parkour ’em up game Mirror’s Edge seems to have attracted more attention with its character designs than with any other aspect of the game, specifically where the notoriously ugly (to 2channers at least) protagonist Faith is concerned.
Naturally, 2channers soon set about improving matters, and now it seems the moefied version has attracted more attention than the nondescript original, overseas as well as in Japan.
Animated comparison (enlarge to view):
There are some interesting comments to the effect that she looks Chinese (she would be ugly either way, I’d wager) rather than “Asian” (let us not forget this is a lazy term, and there is as much variance between the appearance of East Asian races as there is between European “whites” or African “blacks”, that is to say, a lot). Some go so far as to say the moefication is actually Japanification…
The game producer responsible, Tom Farrer, is on record as saying:
“I remember when I first had that image sent to me. To be honest, I found it kind of sad. We’ve spent time in developing Faith. And the important thing for us was that she was human, that she was more real.
We really wanted to get away from the typical portrayal of women in games, that they’re all just kind of tits and ass in a steel bikini. We wanted her to look athletic and fit and strong [enough] that she could do the things that she’s doing.
We wanted her to be attractive, but we didn’t want her to be a supermodel. We wanted her to be approachable and far more real. It was just kind of depressing that someone thinks it would be better if Faith was a 12-year-old with a boob job. That was kind of what that image looked to me.”
It seems he thinks gamers, Asian or otherwise, should accept his “real” ugly character and like it. Possibly, he should have considered looking at what passes for beauty in the East Asian markets prior to actually designing his orientalist vision of what a gritty Asian women should look like, but never mind.
Interestingly, 2channers actually reworked her back in September, and you can see something of their chaotically evolving efforts below:
We should doubtless subject the matter to a vote:
Poll unavailable.
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I like the fact that Faith isn't that attractive. Not all women are hot, and it's the character's personality people should be focusing on more.
The "moe" version is ridiculous- no one could take that character design seriously.
I understand that she's not supposed to be a supermodel, but her original face is just as ridiculous. She doesn't look like a plain Far East Asian, she looks like the typical Western "Dragon Lady" stereotype, which is just slapping slanted eyes on a sharp, long Western-style face.
I do find the moe versions ridiculous (particularly the boob enhancement), but at the very least the moe faces are better grounded in how Far East Asians actually look like (softer facial structure, less prominent noses, etc), as opposed to how many Westerners think Far East Asians are "supposed" to look like.
For other game examples, Jade Empire is another example of Westerners doing it wrong, while Guild Wars Factions is an example of Westerners doing it right.
The tiny, heavily slanted eyes and the hairstyle are a dead giveaway really. The excessive breasts on the moe version could be done without, but otherwise I think that version comes closer to what an actual (highly attractive) Faith might look like.
Interestingly, many Japanese would have us believe that Chinese actually look like that, which is obviously meant as a slight, so the original clearly falls into the caricature bracket. Certainly, nobody of East Asian descent I have met looks so.
I agree with you on the excessive breasts, but I don't otherwise see anything wrong with this new version of Faith -- I certainly don't think by any means that even that version looks overly ridiculous compared to the average game bimbo, from which, I agree, a breath of fresh air is good.
Dragonladies? Asian/white overanalyzation?
It's this kind kind of thing that makes me ashamed to be be a weeaboo.
I don't mind Applemilk1988, I don't mind Magibon, I don't mind Japanese fetishists(depending on how they behave about it), I don't mind people who want to move to Japan, but this...
This is not Asian America. This is not angryasianman.com. And we are not Asia people(well...probably not most of us), so there's no reason to get in a racist Asian victim complex about shit.
And if you're Asian, stop playing all victimizing. Racism is like some of those exaggerated long nosed Western pictures they've sometimes done. That's downright blackface like. I've seen less racist depictions of Jews during Nazi Germany.
So please people, all this whining about something being racist towards Asians is making me RAAAAGE. This is one degree weeaboo too far. Please stop.
To me, the original looks more Vietnamese and doesn't look anything like a Chinese woman. In fact, the modified ones look more Chinese to me than the original. Now, being a male of Chinese heritage that I am, I was often mistaken for a Japanese person when I went to Japan and when I was on JAL, I had Japanese flight attendants and some other fellow Japanese costomers start trying to converse with me in Japanese just because I answered which drink I wanted and thanked the flight attendant in Japanese. So Japanese people and Chinese people look much more alike than most people think.
You might want to have a look at http://www.alllooksame.com/ and see what your test score'll be.
Also, China is hueg and consists of a large number of ethnic groups.
I've seen that site before - it really isn't very scientific to compare a bunch of people randomly lumped together and all dissimilar in appearance.
Look for a site on physical anthropology and you'll see they have a point (though many of them are basically obsessed about race it has to be said).
and I say she looks damn Chinese to me...but maybe decrease some of that eye slant by 20% or something
the modified picture looks nice but i like the original waaaaay better, she's meant to be tough girl, not some anime girl that collapsed if she saw her crush walking in front of her class...
The moe version does look better and the REAL picture in the mix tells the truth about Asians with Stacked BOOBS. Damn she looks almost like the moe version to Boot!
Could one moe character do what the original could? Doubtful, but she is a VIDEO game CHARACTER. If the original designer was on such a fix about "real", then he should've gone the full course. These examples of course is for the character being still alive!
-Busted face when she slams into a wall.
-Gagging if she rams into a object in the midriff.
-Spitting out teeth if she gets the butt of a rifle.
-Breaking arms, legs, hands, face when that parkour goes plat.
-Coughing up blood when shot in the gut.
-and on.. and on.
Seriously, how "real" do you want this game?
Hm, unfortunately (or should I say fortunately?) I haven't encountered the western "dragon lady" stereotype in any significant quantities, but the original image looks a lot like a more athletic version of a friend I fancied a bunch of years ago, who was a halfie, and as halfie myself it makes me happy to see grown-up looking (as opposed to braindead bimbos or real children) genetic mixes in areas that matter to me. Especially females that are powerful and not ashamed of it. But if they're stating she's pure Chinese or Japanese etc then that's asshattery indeed.
The halfie idea raises an interesting point. Faith's face actually reminds me more of Russian Tartars than of Chinese or Japanese.
Ah? Interesting, I should look that up. Her jawline and lips look very Scandinavian to me, but I'm biased and way more used to seeing that than Russians. Though I remember seeing some documentary about a small country that had very mixed asian/european genes not too far from Russia, and some of the people there didn't look too different from her.
1) she's a videogame character, features are always exaggerated or enhanced from a real life base.
2) since when was having slanted eyes considered bad? there are asians who with no double-lid and indeed have small slits when it comes to surrounding the eyes. does that apply to all? no.
its like giving a Latino based character dark skin and calling it racism, even though Latinos come in all colors.
to me she does not look like a Dragon Lady, and she certainly does not look Evil.
understandably when it comes to the anime community, realism is considered "scary" and "ugly"
@Artefact
i'm quote shocked.
you out right twisted his words. the man is replying to what someone online did to his character. he never said "Accept my Design or Die". he just found disappointment with people who would blatantly alter his work, he has every right to be upset.
he wanted a character to look athletic and strong and to him and his team that is what they believe.
her moe makeover just looks bland, and i swear i have seen that character design hundreds of times. at least make her stand out.
I agree. I actually find it sad and a bit creepy. I enjoy Faith's look, and the game wasn't bad either. I'm actually tired of seeing moe characters and girls with big eyes. Can we please for once go for something more realistic?
THIS GAME IS FROM SWEDEN :D <3<3 owned
btw I like the real life picture :D
Hah, really? Coolt :-D
moe faith ftw
I'm disgusted, by normal human standards she's a total depiction of gorgeous!
Ughhh.
"12 year old with a boob job" is right in the edited version, my God, what pigs to call the original ugly.
And nobody can say I'm being sexist by blaming the men here, as it's known 2ch is mainly male.
This is awful.
comparing only the first two images i must say i prefer the moe version...
i understand what the author of the character says, but he's missing one point in his statement...
we play games to entertain ourselves, that said, games can try mimicking reality but the end result would probably be boring and sad and definately not that entertaining, at least depending on the genre and how far they stick to reality... just because they want to keep the game realistic doesn't mean she needs to be ugly, specially considering the environment setting, where everything looks clean and sorta high-tech, or in others words, beautiful... if he wanted to keep things realistic then the setting should have been completely different... yet it isn't...
i remember when i first saw the character and how disappointing it was, it just didn't fit with the rest... i still can't feel any kind of attachment to the character
But she isn't ugly, she's hot and beautiful. Different people have different tastes. It's far more important that if they're trying to be realistic, they don't botch up on important details, whether they're character details or not.
Its not like we see her at all in the gameplay anyway XP
Only time you would see a difference would be looking straight down to see her ENORMOUS breasts. And if thats all you want a video game for...*shrugs* dont get your desire for sex appeal in the way of a game that was really good.
As a runner she really shouldnt have enormous hooters.
A game like this should strike a tone of realism, but still be fake enough to provide fun imo
Faith is considered unattractive? Obviously my tastes differ somewhat from the norm.
If we had a caucasian version, I think you'd see where the problems lie...
What the hell... they both are caricatures.
The original does look more realistic... not necessarily ugly, but definitely not approachable. I mean, with that amount of eyeshadow on such unnatural eyes, wtf.
I apologize for my ignorant question: Why is she supposed to look as if she's to be hit on? Or is that not what was implied?
I prefer the original.
Same here
Agreed.
Original is infinitely superior to the moe version.
First one looks fake as hell. Looks like a white woman with taped-up eyes.
The eye makeup style doesn't help much either in that regard.
I actually like the moe version directly below the original at the top, the other renditions are just ridiculous. I couldn't help but lol at the increased cup size in the modded ones though, you'd figure in something like freestyle running, having huge tits would be a bit detrimental. Perhaps she should just wear glasses, cat ears, and be really clumsy to complete the image, who cares if it doesn't fit the game at all.
What I would like to know is....
Who's the cute actress; 5th pic from the bottom? ^^
She sorta looks like Aya Ueto, dunno if it is. Also some of these pics look like Aya Hirano.
'Azumi' popped in my head when I saw that picture so, yeah, I'm almost positive it's Aya Ueto.
It is definitely Ueto Aya, my favourite Japanese actress. She can play totally awesome to totally moe at the drop of a hat.
bleh to moe
i like her looking strong, bold faced and like a woman.
which japan seems to be afraid of.
I totally liked the original version of Faith... /shrug
i think the original Faith is better.
remember how many fondly-remembered female protagonists aren't exactly "attractive" or "moe".
Chell (i think i spell her name wrong...), from Portal.
or Samus from Metroid who was in vital suit all the time.
or maybe, having an ugly female protagonist make gamers (mostly male, they're) connect easily with her, sympathizing with her, contemplating her philosophies, etc.
it's a "bro factor".
ALL HAIL MOEEEEEE!!!!!!!
If the main character was a male with Asian features, no one would be bitching at his appearance. This is just 2ch's way of saying that women need to look a certain way to be considered beautiful, and it involves large breasts, innocent face, and rounded cheeks. I'm sorry, but the game is about jumping across rooftops and other structures where one mistake makes you fall to your death, and fighting enemies with automatic weapons. I would feel retarded if I was playing the game and that porcelain doll 2ch made was the main character.
Incorrect portrayals of Asian males? Don't get me started; I have a lot to bitch about. Just one example, if you look at photos of Bruce Lee, he doesn't have slanted eyes AT ALL. But everyone always draws him that way! What the hell is that all about?
....They do? What the hell? "They" who? Retarded Leeaboo fans? ;_; My brother has a pencil drawing (that he recieved as a gift) of Bruce Lee on his wall, and it's accurate. Though it's probably based on a photo.
2ch is so hardcore they don't realize how ridiculous she looks in the last image. Faith looks so unnatural that I can't take her seriously, which they intended her to be taken serious so this alteration defeats that purpose.
There is improvement in the second image from the top but she loses her strong features, never mind the breasts but I find that one acceptable. I love breasts just as the next man but Faith is not Lara Croft.
Do I find the original Faith attractive? Nah. But I don't think she is ugly either. Moe version is inferior to the original.
You do realise this was all done in jest?
Lara Croft is awful and ugly. I'll take Faith anyday.
I don't understand and never did see how any didn't anything but hate the way Lara Croft looked.
The old Lara was kinda pixilated and all ... but all the new Lara/s look fine ...
Lara's Evolution
http://animepodcast.org/d/Lara_Croft.jpg
Seriously ... If you think Lara in Underworld looks awful and ugly then maybe you need your eyes checked ..... /jk XD
How is that ugly !!?
http://www.codemonsters.de/home/img/game_wallpapers/lara_croft_underworld_wallpaper_2.jpg
All fugly and that is all I have to say. Yeeck
as a korean male, i find the original ugly ugly ugly.
to me, and i agree most asian guys i know, the original seems like typical "exotic" asian girls westerners r into, but asian guys avoid like the plague.
the moe'fied version at the end is ridiculus as it looks like she's 12, but pic #2's face isn't too bad. the boobs, meh, i don't really care either way.
btw, i read the game was meh. on average 7/10 around most review sites.
I wouldn't speak for all Asian guys