Why are the male Asura so freakishly ugly?

[aaron.7850]

Now dont get me wrong, I love Asura, and all 4 of my characters are Asura, and I will never play anything BUT Asura.For female Asura, you have 9 faces to choose from, and 3-4 of them are pleasant to look at while the other options are either "grandma" or "ugly disney villain"

But NOT the Male Asura tho... you get only 8 faces to choose from, and only 1 of them is pleasant to look at, that sole option always ends up being my only choice for male asura. The other 7 faces look nightmarish, which makes me sad because we really have no choice! Unless you want to look evil and ugly, you are out of luck!

Would it be too much to get a WoW treatment and give us better faces? Charr also have it bad, and its embarrasing that the best Charr model design belongs to an NPC (Bangar Ruinbringer) and that awesome face is not even player selectable!

[Dreamreaver.4908]

Part of it is a matter of personal opinion. But the other part is just one of the most common depictions in nearly every media production ever.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MenAreStrongWomenArePretty

At any rate, a Total Makeover Kit may be useful to you for expanding facial options, though I feel we're long overdue for a kit update across ALL races.

[Obfuscate.6430]

Asura have come a long way, visually from their conceptual origins.

I believe Arenanet wanted to "break the mold" with a lot of common mmorpg conventions at the time. In other games the most diminutive races are often "cute" and infantalized. The asura by contrast began as vicious cave dwelling goblinoids. They are intellectual and competent, but with a capacity for great callousness and cruelty.The art direction was to depict them as exactly what they were and if you look at the concept art you can see the artist originally was driving to capture their reptilian, goblin vibe.And oh let me tell you, in those early days after Gw2 launch, it was a tremendous freedom to play these ugly-cute little gremlins! That they aren't conventionally soft, or handsome like other small races in popular games was a part of their charm!

Guild Wars 2 was not meant to BE like other games, the dream was to break away from that.

Years after launch, they did eventually release some more options found exclusively in the makeover kit. While I love the variety, I question some of them (the Slitheen face in particular, which is the antithesis of Matthew Barrett's concepts ) New faces fail to capture at all, the cold, calculating reptilian minds behind those gleaming eyes that can pierce the dark.You can preview the exclusive face options at a makeover preview npc - there is one stationed in every major city.

[ChillyKoti.1928]

I'd be in favor of face overhaul in all races but asura and charr, males in priority.I don't necessarely want to look "cute" or "creepy" on asura, for exemple. What about something... neutral? Even on female it's either "child-like" or "grumpy grandma". Same problem with male, but amplified.Or just have a cleaner face, I don't really know.

Those pictures of Asura mentors we see at the character screen, both male and female mentors, I would be more than happy to have the option to make a character like that.

[Yggranya.5201]

I don't think they look too ugly, my problem with the basic faces is that most of them look like they are a 10000 years old. That may be the point but, eh... at least there is the one face in the makeover kit that's fine. Especially the weird eyes.

[Daria Morgendorffer.7049]

Well, let's take a look:

We can number them 1-8, going left-to-right, top-to-bottom

These are all unique faces that would each fit a different character? I think that #8 might be the "pleasant to look at" one you meant, but #'s 1, 3, and 4 have a similar appeal. I've talked to SO many Asura quest characters who have those faces and find them charming. Do you really think most of the Asura in the game are ugly and unlikeable? I think the Asura faces do a good job of showing how different Asura can look, and offering a whole different vibe. Just a different perspective. I use #8, myself

The problem IMO is that 8 is far too few base options. They spent all their budget making 18 (!!!) different human female faces, some of which are just with different eyebrows or makeup (not that those don't make a difference), and fit all male Asura into 8

You might be happier with the Exclusive faces (from a makeover kit, can preview them at a makeover NPC, usually near a Black Lion Trader). They tend to cater to that fairly narrow "pleasant to look at" style

[Quench.7091]

Sometimes I can't tell the difference between male and female asura. I find that the best way to tell the difference is to hit them with the ugly stick until they squeak. The different pitches in squeaks lets you quickly identify which one is which.

[Dawdler.8521]

Naturally they look like raisins.

[Kulvar.1239]

@"Obfuscate.6430" said:Asura have come a long way, visually from their conceptual origins.

Diminutive highly intelligent lizard race would have been AWESOME !Two colored scales motifs would have been awesome. Stripes, spots, lines, ...

@"Obfuscate.6430" said:I believe Arenanet wanted to "break the mold" with a lot of common mmorpg conventions at the time. In other games the most diminutive races are often "cute" and infantalized. The asura by contrast began as vicious cave dwelling goblinoids. They are intellectual and competent, but with a capacity for great callousness and cruelty.

I'm disgusted by all those childlike races. Whenever I see them, I always assume they cater to pedophilia inclined people.

@Daria Morgendorffer.7049 said:The problem IMO is that 8 is far too few base options. They spent all their budget making 18 (!!!) different human female faces, some of which are just with different eyebrows or makeup (not that those don't make a difference), and fit all male Asura into 8

I agree. They lack imagination. Just like with Charr's haircuts, they're mostly terrible.

[Fueki.4753]

In my opinion, the only Asura that actually is unpleasant to look at, is Phlunt.And that's not for his appearance.

I don't mind that little Gremlin look all of them have.It always positively reminds me of WoW's Goblins.

[Udolpho.1209]

@"Daria Morgendorffer.7049" said:Well, let's take a look:

We can number them 1-8, going left-to-right, top-to-bottom

These are all unique faces that would each fit a different character? I think that #8 might be the "pleasant to look at" one you meant, but #'s 1, 3, and 4 have a similar appeal.

My go-to default face is #7. Second is #4 and a distant third is #2. I rarely use #8 because, while it's the cutest, it's also kinda bland. The sliders can make some of the others attractive.

I agree it's hard sometimes picking the limited options. Asura males don't do too shabby in the total make-over kit in terms of cute faces. Compared to say, Charr males or even human males (talking exclusive added faces only), pretty much every male Asura face is oozing traditionally cute and attractive (there's the one old one).

Would be happy to see more, of course.

[Dantert.1803]

Hey hey hey, I'm beautyful for asura standards! You monkey faced bookah!

[Astralporing.1957]

They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

[Kulvar.1239]

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.

[Vision.7265]

To make a cheerful looking male Asura is a challenge, but it's possible. I created one that looks like a happy human kid. I have at least one of each race and yes, Asura look like they're permanently angry or judgmental (maybe because they're the most intelligent of all the Tyrian races?). So aside from that design challenge, an effeminate Norn (male or female), a fluffy cute Charr (not intimidating), are among other design challenges for the player to tackle in game but perhaps much more possible than the Asura one.

[Dawdler.8521]

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.Did you just assume our species?

[Fueki.4753]

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.

Are you sure about that?

[Astralporing.1957]

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.

Oh, are we?

[Friday.7864]

There's one good face and that's it. The rest is too ugly to look at...I resorted to skin markings to make mine look somewhat different

[Vancho.8750]

It is the chin, they don't have option for strong jaw line. Interestingly enough there is concept art with chins.

[Kulvar.1239]

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.Did you just assume our species?

@Fueki.4753 said:

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.

Are you sure about that?

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.

Oh, are we?

I would be happy to be proved wrong.You would be chased by mad scientists wanting to perform vivisection...But ! It would be the discovery of the century ! Non human intelligent life discovered !

[Fueki.4753]

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.Did you just assume our species?

@Fueki.4753 said:

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.

Are you sure about that?

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.

Oh, are we?

I would be happy to be proved wrong.You would be chased by mad scientists wanting to perform vivisection...But ! It would be the discovery of the century ! Non human intelligent life discovered !

Chimpanzees and dolphins are rather close to humans.

[Cerioth.7062]

@Kulvar.1239 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:They are not ugly. They simply have different beauty standarts than humans.

The issue is mostly: the players are all humans.

Do not dare call me a human, mouse.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"aaron.7850" said:Why are the male Asura so freakishly ugly?

Funny, that's exactly how I feel about female Asura in GW2. They look like creepy "wannabe cutsiewootsie" puppets that freak me out with their super tiny mouths and noses and oversized eyes. The male Asura are what Asura do look like (see GW1, males and females) - GW2's female Asura for some reason got redesigned into creepy manga thingies. :s

P.S. This is Oola, a famous female Asuran scientist:

:+1:

[HAsAsIN.6724]

the asura model is obviously from pygmies that has transcended into something that has unique features coz of their full access to nature magic (alchemy in game). look at the teeth of asura and search online Ota Benga, the congo pygmy that was displayed in the Saint Louis Exposition.

the native black pygmies file their teeth to look like shark teeth, like the asura, and instead of tattooing, they do scarification.