Why is Azandar so ugly?

SpiritKitten

Soarora wrote: »

Whats with people calling others ugly? First Isobel’s eyebrows and now Azandar. Not everyone has to look attractive to every person who lays eyes on them. They only need to look good enough for themselves. Of course, personal opinions don’t exist with NPCs but if you can call an NPC ugly with your whole chest, I bet you can call a real person ugly as well. And to me, well, that’s just not okay.

Wow this is next level...you're comparing video game NPCs to real humans offline?

Soarora

SpiritKitten wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

Whats with people calling others ugly? First Isobel’s eyebrows and now Azandar. Not everyone has to look attractive to every person who lays eyes on them. They only need to look good enough for themselves. Of course, personal opinions don’t exist with NPCs but if you can call an NPC ugly with your whole chest, I bet you can call a real person ugly as well. And to me, well, that’s just not okay.

Wow this is next level...you're comparing video game NPCs to real humans offline?

It’s about the mindset. Yes, most people can differentiate between real and fantasy, but that doesn’t change the mindset. How we choose to react to things makes huge differences in how we treat others and ourselves, even if you don’t see it yourself. So, while it is possible you hold the belief that ugliness only exists in fictional characters, it’s not likely. Therefore, I am assuming that it is not isolated. If something “looks off” in the way of the game’s style, that’s one thing— although I still would not call it “ugly”. However, if you were to call the position of his eyes ugly… by extension you really are calling real humans with similar facial structures ugly since you would have the same “problem” with them. This ties into representation, where real people see themselves in fictional characters and thus negative comments may reflect right back at them.

HappyTheCamper

SpiritKitten wrote: »

I WANT to hang out with him, but he makes me cringe when I catch sight of him.

Nah this post is cringe.

amig186

Overdramatic much? He's an older chap, he's not going to look like Terry Crews. He looks better than my coworkers anyway.

Jaraal

SpiritKitten wrote: »

Anyway, as soon as I get the account-wide perk, I'll probably retire him. He's old and needs to retire anyway, right?

But how will he find a good tea shop without his beloved cohort?

washbern

Ember gives me nightmares, so I try not to look in her general direction while she's around. I literally had the same question. Why she got to be so scarry ugly? A bag....err I mean helm over her head would do wonders.

Sapphire_Lily

I think I’m either aesthetically impaired or not fastidious because the pulchritude—lol sounds like a disease—of ALL the companions is an acceptable standard to me.

Azandar is an attractive erudite, thank you very much. He’s a distinguished gentlemen with luxuriant hair and a penchant for eloquence and tea.

I love him, I love his character, and I love his character perk as a thief more.

I want to commend his and sharp’s voice actors! They did a great job! And I hope they voice more ESO characters in the future.

ADarklore

Honestly, I find Bastian fairly attractive and I love his voice... except when he scolds me for accidentally killing a spider or something.

I prefer Sharp because of his personality and his little caring comments here and there even though I'm not an IRL fan of reptiles, at all.

karthrag_inak

All you bald bottoms look the same to khajiit.

Luckylancer

kaushad wrote: »

If four companions are beautiful and one is somewhat good-looking, then it's about time we got some ugly representation, not that I see it.

Just add a mask option and those who want representation can see the face while others can hide it.

Mik195

I like Bastion's tattoos, but would like to stick a bucket over his head. Mirri - she's fine but has the fatal flaw of resetting bossess. And the torchbug obsession needs to stop. Ember - the manic pixie cat thing you are doing is not as cute as you think it is. Sharp - dude, have you looked at prices for improving gear lately? Deconstruction is needed. Isobel - you need to get your hair highlighted. And seriously, hitting on the undaunted quest givers is a bit concerning. Azander - I would like to lock you in a room with Ember and see who has a nervous breakdown first.

Aztrias

When people complain about characters being ugly in games I always assume they must look like supermodels irl:p /S




As long as a character is well designed, I don't care if they are ugly, it's not like Azandar is a complete horror show:

Unknown_Redemption

My only complaint is the hair; even on ultra high resolution the hair doesn't look like... well... hair. The things on his head resemble worms more than anything.
I would love to be able to use a full costume, helm, polymorph, or even having the ability the change hair styles based on what we own from the crown store. I have a few mohawks in mind for him specifically.

gabbo1928

Just so we're all clear, of the "Four Fs," companions are only meant for Fighting.

Syldras

gabbo1928 wrote: »

[Just so we're all clear, of the "Four Fs," companions are only meant for Fighting.

So we're not allowed to eat them? I know some short, pointy-eared people who will be really, really disappointed now.

Inaya1

Azandar ugly? Hah, he's not ugly. Well, except for his hair.
.
Ember more ugly.

Dragonredux

Azandar's fine personally. Ember is probably the most ugliest Khajiit I've seen though.

LalMirchi

Azandar's not at all ugly. In fact I would like him to look older. I'm still trying to make an old and wizened wizard in the character editor without much luck.

I personally like both his and Embers hairstyles.

Carcamongus

I think a few people are putting a lot of meaning into a statement about an aggregate of pixels. First of all, yes, we have opinions and we think this person is beautiful and that other one is ugly. The important thing is to have the courtesy of not hurting the individual and to look the book beyond its cover. Azandar isn't a real person, he's an NPC created by devs. He doesn't have to be handsome, none of the companions do. It's not fair to call a person shallow for an opinon on pixels and extrapolate they must be judgmental in real life. Unless, of course, we also start calling everyone who said Oblivion characters were ugly shallow and judgmental.

For the record, I don't find him ugly and I think Isobel's eyebrows are pretty bad, though I quite like her.

disintegr8

At least there are variations in companions, just like in real life. As someone who does a lot of solo questing with a companion, I use the companion best suited to the situation rather than how they look.

SithisKhajitiiLamae

Treselegant wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

i personally find bastian kind of ugly and his personality and voice is grating lol

on and unrelated note i also want companions to be able to have headgear too

I find Bastian kind of attractive for a companion character and his voice is my favourite of all the companions...which feeds in the rest of my response really: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One person's gorgeous is another person's "meh". You really can't please everyone. It always reminds me of the comments you see about actors/models who are generally considered very attractive - there's always someone confidently declaring that these people have eyes that are too small, their jaw is too wide or some other thing most don't notice.

I actually think it's good that there's a variety of male companions and look forward to seeing some female characters who aren't young and classically pretty to add to that variety.

Elderly woman high elf Necromancer would be dope.

NotaDaedraWorshipper

SpiritKitten wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

that does not make your post less weird. he just looks like a person to me. specifically an old black dude with locks

and "artistic aesthetics" irks me.

he looks like a person and he doesn't have to look "right", whatever that is in your head.

lol he's an NPC in a video game, maybe don't be so serious?

Why are you so serious about his looks? The man is fine.

spartaxoxo

Carcamongus wrote: »

I think a few people are putting a lot of meaning into a statement about an aggregate of pixels

When the OP isn't complaining about specific features or texture issues, but rather a general stance that he's ugly. And the most immediately obvious details about him that have historically been neglected by media are things like the fact that he is old. This ties into the types of characters that have generally been represented in video games in general. If the OP had just complained the texture on his hair wasn't done well, I doubt this would be getting the same feedback. But the opening post was just that's he's ugly, when he looks pretty normal.

TheImperfect

I think for a Redguard (who looks to me mid forties or fifties) but maybe greyed through lifestyle that he looks pretty good and perhaps he is older but aged well.

They both have good voices Azander and Sharp.

ArchMikem

SpiritKitten wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

Whats with people calling others ugly? First Isobel’s eyebrows and now Azandar. Not everyone has to look attractive to every person who lays eyes on them. They only need to look good enough for themselves. Of course, personal opinions don’t exist with NPCs but if you can call an NPC ugly with your whole chest, I bet you can call a real person ugly as well. And to me, well, that’s just not okay.

Wow this is next level...you're comparing video game NPCs to real humans offline?

The Digital world is a good window into a person's Soul. Everyone's true colors come out when you take away the consequences of reality.

TaSheen

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Carcamongus wrote: »

I think a few people are putting a lot of meaning into a statement about an aggregate of pixels

When the OP isn't complaining about specific features or texture issues, but rather a general stance that he's ugly. And the most immediately obvious details about him that have historically been neglected by media are things like the fact that he is old. This ties into the types of characters that have generally been represented in video games in general. If the OP had just complained the texture on his hair wasn't done well, I doubt this would be getting the same feedback. But the opening post was just that's he's ugly, when he looks pretty normal.

Yeah.... "old" in a game like this IS an issue for some. Now - entering caveat - my characters are all young and (to me) gorgeous , because I am NOT, and this is a fantasy game so I get to make the choice to play girls who are literally "not me" (as in, not old and wrinkled etc, but muscular, fit, gorgeous).

I AM old. Husband is even older. I have the escape of playing ESO as someone I haven't been in more decades than some playing this game have been alive....

Azander seemes to be a late middle age Redguard. About the only thing I would have changed is the blond hair color - white would have been better considering his (possible) age, and the stresses of his life choices. Then again, white hair on an aging male is - something I've found attractive ever since I married husband: at 42, his hair was totally white (inherited from his very English ancestry on his mother's side) and it's still very attractive to me today nearly 50 years later.

I truly appreciate that the game can provide enough options for everyone to find something they are comfortable with. That said, I'm not into "sidekicks" - but if I were, Az would be it for me.

[And no.... I'm SO not into "father figure" stuff. So just don't go there okay?]

Nightowl_74

I think most of them have something kind of weird going on, but I don't care and would welcome some intentionally hideous companions. Also, eventually, some that aren't human and/or are no longer human. For the record his features look too small for his face to me, or perhaps too close together. But overall I don't feel he looks any better or worse than the rest.

Ilsabet

gabbo1928 wrote: »

Just so we're all clear, of the "Four Fs," companions are only meant for Fighting.

I dunno, I do a lot of fleeing with my companions trailing behind me.

Carcamongus

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Carcamongus wrote: »

I think a few people are putting a lot of meaning into a statement about an aggregate of pixels

When the OP isn't complaining about specific features or texture issues, but rather a general stance that he's ugly. And the most immediately obvious details about him that have historically been neglected by media are things like the fact that he is old. This ties into the types of characters that have generally been represented in video games in general. If the OP had just complained the texture on his hair wasn't done well, I doubt this would be getting the same feedback. But the opening post was just that's he's ugly, when he looks pretty normal.

He looks pretty normal to you and me, but clearly not to OP. In fact, they did explain what irked them and age wasn't mentioned; other people implied there was a connection.

I don't see anything wrong with Azandar's appearance, so I disagree with OP in that respect. However, that doesn't mean one's in the right and the other, in the wrong.

spartaxoxo

Carcamongus wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Carcamongus wrote: »

I think a few people are putting a lot of meaning into a statement about an aggregate of pixels

When the OP isn't complaining about specific features or texture issues, but rather a general stance that he's ugly. And the most immediately obvious details about him that have historically been neglected by media are things like the fact that he is old. This ties into the types of characters that have generally been represented in video games in general. If the OP had just complained the texture on his hair wasn't done well, I doubt this would be getting the same feedback. But the opening post was just that's he's ugly, when he looks pretty normal.

He looks pretty normal to you and me, but clearly not to OP. In fact, they did explain what irked them and age wasn't mentioned; other people implied there was a connection.

I don't see anything wrong with Azandar's appearance, so I disagree with OP in that respect. However, that doesn't mean one's in the right and the other, in the wrong.

They didn't mention age, but they did mention his face looked, and I quote here, "yuck." They mentioned later that they didn't realize he was old, they thought his face was just rough.

Okay on another note, I guess I didn't fully realize he was actually an old man, so that explains the wrinkly face. I just thought he liked to complain a lot as a character quirk. I didn't think he was REALLY that old. I just thought the devs were trying to make him look rough.

Anyway, as soon as I get the account-wide perk, I'll probably retire him. He's old and needs to retire anyway, right?

So, the impression I got was that they didn't like him having wrinkles. Or at least, not how wrinkles are designed in this particular game. Wrinkles are something generally associated with older people and by extension, older characters.

Edit
Now, the textures in this game aren't the best. So, I don't agree with the idea that the opinion reflects on how they feel about real people. But, I think it is a good idea to examine the way media generally portrays characters when discussing which characters are "ugly." It certainly speaks to broader ideas about representation in video games, in terms of player preferences. After all, Azander has a fairly standard appearance for an older character in this game.