Sony was nervous about Horizon's female protagonist, did lots of focus testing

I want to see what type of gameplay this game has beyond the shooting. I have big hopes for this game but somehow I don't think they will be able to pull it off. Sony making a Skyrim type of game? Just doesn't sound right. I hope the game has a lot of mystery though like the Team Ico games.
 
Pie and Beans said:
Once again, Yoshida really worries me as head of software. He has a lack of balls and routinely makes kinda really bad decisions (Demon's Souls). Heres another example of him not having his finger on the pulse of the 2014-15 zeitgeist.

I feel like Sony software succeeds in spite of him rather than thanks to.
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The thing is that Yoshida worries are made public eventually, is normal have any kind of worries in his position
Don't know how "lack of balls" makes possible things like Wattam, Dreams, etc...
 
ANDS said:
It's a big budget AAA title. I'll forgive them that they wanted to make sure the thing actually sales, and leave the social engineering to smaller studios who can afford to take those kinds of risk.

These people respond to the market, let's not push our failings on to them.
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Caronte said:
No. He's supposed to make money.
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Reflecting the real world isn't "social engineering". We don't live in the 1950s and there are female frontline military troops.

If any social engineering is going on it's the people claiming that "the market can't take female protagonists" when even fucking comic books can find success doing that.
 
The game looks like a good new idea, the character looks to be refreshing, glad to see a new IP and a publisher taking some chances.
 
She doesn't have a "bimbo" type of beauty. She looks very strong and determined. Nice design.

I still don't think people are that much caring about the sex of their avatars anymore. Is this issue overblown? We've got Tomb Raider as a house hold name already.
 
IncandescentPrecept said:
I want to see what type of gameplay this game has beyond the shooting. I have big hopes for this game but somehow I don't think they will be able to pull it off. Sony making a Skyrim type of game? Just doesn't sound right. I hope the game has a lot of mystery though like the Team Ico games.
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Ew. Ew ew ew. This game looks nothing like Skyrim and I pray to god it never does.
 
Whatever'sComfortable said:
Question.

Why is it okay to say she's attractive, but saying she's ugly is bannable?

Both are pure judgement calls based on appearance and that is part of the 'problem' with female protagonists. Is this not a little bit of double standards?

She's a very cool character, I think the dialog could be better though. It was a little bit too "I'm going to spell everything out for you".
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I think they're is a big difference between posting "she's fugly" and "I'm not a fan of dreadlocks or that whole animal skin clothes style. It seems to be used too often in post apocalyptic style games. "
 
I was positively surprised about how many female protagonists we got to see. I'm so fed up playing these stereotypical white males (and I'm a stereotypical white male :)). I always choose female and/or some alien race if possible. Horizon looks really great!
 
We need more unconventional looking characters, more unconventional character types, more diversity in general. This is rather obvious, of course, but I'm really glad their focus group tests didn't sabotage this.

Corpsepyre said:
Im curious, what exactly do you find boring while playing as a male character? Does it even matter in a game where you create your own voiceless avatar? (unless it's a game like Mass Effect, ofcourse)
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I'm male, I often chose a female character when given the chance because it feels more interesting to role play as something I'm not. Also, the majority of games have a male lead, so the variety is good.

I'll never understand people who can't do this, it's cool to have a preference of course, but outright not being able to play another gender? That's pretty closed minded and probably symptomatic of something deeper.
 
Personally I love the female protagonist. Nice to see female's in prominent roles being bad asses instead of generic male #100000. I also enjoy the girl not just having big jiggly boobs and making stupid quips.

More characters like Ellie the better
 
Pie and Beans said:
Once again, Yoshida really worries me as head of software. He has a lack of balls and routinely makes kinda really bad decisions (Demon's Souls). Heres another example of him not having his finger on the pulse of the 2014-15 zeitgeist.

I feel like Sony software succeeds in spite of him rather than thanks to.
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So he is out of touch because he green lighted that game?
 
Man it's unbelievably frustrating that in 2015 we gotta live in a world where it's questionable marketing material to have a character that represents literally half of the Earth's population. And we have some people so remarkably immature that they cannot put themselves in the shoes of a different gender, as if you're not already experiencing a thousand other fantasies as you play the game.
 
I have no problem with a protagonist of any sex, race, species, or whatever the hell a dev wants to do.

Dialogue is something that can negatively affect my experience with a game, unlike the aesthetic appearance of a character, though-- and I heard some pretty grating lines come out of the playable character in the gameplay reveal. The CG stuff was perfectly scripted and sounded nice as far as I'm concerned, but I can tell I'm going to despise the random little phrases pitched out over the course of play, and that usually only happens after dozens of hours in other games.

Might seem like an insignificant and petty thing to have a gripe about, but it's a concern to me nonetheless. I also have some reservations about the gameplay, but I won't judge that so early into this game's public existence.

Edit: I should acknowledge that I really disliked Delson from Second Son in all of the trailers and even more so when I bought the game at launch and began playing, but he grew on me the more I spent with the game (still don't really enjoy his comments or attitude, but I digress). That's perfectly possible with Horizon, too, once I begin to "know" the character-- it's only fair.
 
Amir0x said:
I think she's one of the best female character designs I've seen in ages. I love how unique she looks, how she looks rugged and muscled, how she has fierce features and red hair. I love love love her design, don't change one thing Guerrilla Games.
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This.
 
Amir0x said:
I think she's one of the best female character designs I've seen in ages. I love how unique she looks, how she looks rugged and muscled, how she has fierce features and red hair. I love love love her design, don't change one thing Guerrilla Games.
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Yeah, they don't need to pull an Itagaki and ruin an already memorable character.
 
IncandescentPrecept said:
So, they forgot that games like Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy and Mirror's Edge exist? The reality is that, if a game is good, people will buy it. Not sure where the notion that the gender of a character affects sales.

Plus, as we've seen this E3, leading female characters isn't going to be a rarity anymore.
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Because you will have people that will flatout say that they won't buy the game if there's a female lead. You never see that with a male lead. They aren't saying that just to get under the skin of people, they're being serious about not wanting to play a game with a female lead. While we're seeing more female leads, what we aren't seeing as much is what Horizon is doing by making the female lead the only playable character. If you want to play Horizon, then you have to play as Aloy. It's not like Dishonored 2 or Assassin's Creed: Syndicate where you can still play as a male character (or at least the overwhelming majority of the game lets you play as a male character).
 
Almost never choose a female character in games where you can create your Hero. Only exceptions were Demon Hunter in DIII:EE and in Mass Effect 2/3 after my first male playthrough. And oh boy my Renegade FemShep Infiltrator was such a joy to play (always on Insanity).
Don't mind playing a woman in a games with a fixed (female) character though.
 
Zakalwe said:
We need more unconventional looking characters, more unconventional character types, more diversity in general. This is rather obvious, of course, but I'm really glad their focus group tests didn't sabotage this.



I'm male, I often chose a female character when given the chance because it feels more interesting to role play as something I'm not. Also, the majority of games have a male lead, so the variety is good.

I'll never understand people who can't do this, it's cool to have a preference of course, but outright not being able to play another gender? That's pretty closed minded and probably symptomatic of something deeper.
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It makes sense playing as whatever gender you want to if it's an RPG, sure, but not when it's a very director-driven story-based linear game. That's where the director's vision comes first, and if it's a game that's written well, resonates with me, and much more, then I'm perfectly good playing as a chosen character because the character's there for a good reason.
 
I really dont care if the protagonist is male or female.

Charisma and design are the main thing. A protagonist can be one dimensional and forgettable regardless of sex/gender.
 
Living Proof said:
I have no problem with a protagonist of any sex, race, species, or whatever the hell a dev wants to do.

Dialogue is something that can negatively affect my experience with a game, unlike the aesthetic appearance of a character, though-- and I heard some pretty grating lines come out of the playable character in the gameplay reveal. The CG stuff was perfectly scripted and sounded nice as far as I'm concerned, but I can tell I'm going to despise the random little phrases pitched out over the course of play, and that usually only happens after dozens of hours in other games.

Might seem like an insignificant and petty thing to have a gripe about, but it's a concern to me nonetheless. I also have some reservations about the gameplay, but I won't judge that so early into this game's public existence.
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Yeah i did notice that during the trailer as well, kept thinking wow this is pretty sweet I just wish she wasn't talking to herseld the entire time. Hopefully just a misguided attempt at personifying the character.
 
They could have just watch Brave a few times, and saved some trouble.

Just joking about her being a red head.

IncandescentPrecept said:
Her quips were annoying for sure. Took away all the tension from the moment.
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It gives her some character, and makes it so this is like an every day thing for her in this world she has to live in. I don't want another boring super serious protagonist again. Not everything has to be super serious all the damn time.

People are getting female protagonist and they just want them to act like boring 40 year old, bland space marines still.
 
I wish this wasn't still a concern for them. Ever since the PS3 era started I've had more Japanese/Japanese published games with Female Protagonists than ones with Male Protagonists and a healthy selection of dual protagonists where you can choose one or the other (Go go Gust and Square-Enix). Hell, the first really big game that I had growing up, Final Fantasy 6 (I had 6 before 4), had two women as the most prominent lead characters in an ensemble cast and they were easily my favorites. It's weird that anyone would not buy a game because of a girl main character (I know some do, it's dumb, their loss) and I'm disappointed that they had to focus test this to make sure it was an okay thing to do in 2015. Get your shit together Sony and never consider whether a female protagonist should be ditched or not due to fear of poor sales just because she's a woman ever again.

And I think focus testing can be really dumb to begin with, but at least the reaction was positive.

Also they look more like Braids than Dreads to me.
 
Corpsepyre said:
Im curious, what exactly do you find boring while playing as a male character? Does it even matter in a game where you create your own voiceless avatar? (unless it's a game like Mass Effect, ofcourse)
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I'd play nothing but robots and monsters if given the choice.

In a game world, I like to play something that doesn't look like me. Part of the draw of gaming for me is being somewhere that isn't and being something I'm not and doing things I wouldn't or can't.
 
I can't wait for the day when something like "Is it okay to have a female protagonist?" is not even remotely a question worth seriously considering because of fucking course it is.
 
Kinda bizarre to read. What were they thinking would happen? People booing because there is a female lead? I'm not sure I quite get it.
What I am wondering is why she is CONSTANTLY talking to herself? No one does that. It looks stupid, breaks the immersion and is not helpful when you are HUNTING. lol
 
10k said:
I'm hyped for this. Finally a female protagonist that isn't all sexually dolled up and can kick ass. Dinobots! Plus I love red heads and bows lol. GG made this game for me.
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I don't mean to call you out specifically, but I don't really understand this. Isn't the bolded pretty inconsistent?
"I'm glad she isn't objectified, but DAMN I LOVE THEM TITTAYS"

Again, not you specifically, it's a common sentiment already
 
swamped said:
Why would it be risky? Female protagonists are the new 'hot' thing now. Even some TV show producers won't work with scripts unless there's a female lead in them. And I'm really glad to see this trend happening in gaming too :)

The character from this game has a really great design. This game looks awesome.

I also hope that female protagonists are not just a fad, but only time will tell.
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You know what would be great. Is if when the dust settles, the disparity between either gender being represented isn't so big that neither one is remarkable (whether they used a female or male).

Also, can I now use the "Let them make the game they wanted" rant at people bitching about it being a female and they don't want to play her? *grin*.
 
To be honest, I dont see a reason to be nervous, if the character is well design there is no reason to worry about gender or racee
 
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