Would you like for one of the new characters in PoE2 to have a fat body-type?

I'm a big guy and I'm all for body positivity and representation of all body-types in media. It always feels nice when games have a +sized character for me to play as. I hate the idea that there are only 2 "cool" body types: skinny and buff.

C'mon, big guys can be cool fantasy arpg characters too:














So what do you think? Maybe our next str/int character or pure str character (for example) should be some big and burley guy who enjoys having seconds when it comes to roasted rhoa.

Hell no.

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Walkiry wrote:

Hell no.

Okay. Do you care to elaborate and have a discussion, or would you just rather say no, offer 0 explanation and leave no window for any sort of meaningful dialogue?

"

Walkiry wrote:

Hell no.

Because cannibals, my dude. Cannibals. Did you even pay attention to the early game dialogue, OP?

Wræclast is all about running. Or, as the kids call it, 'zooming'. And why? BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T RUN, THE FUCKING CANNIBALS WILL EAT YOU.

And RunningWhileFat, while entirely healthy most of the time in moderation, is not going to work in long stretches. You either lose some of that fat or you get EATEN BY THE FUCKING CANNIBALS.

Also a portly person would have been the first thing they'd throw overboard on the boat from Oriath.

Within the technological and magical perimeters of PoE, the only feasible fat body-type characters would be those living in the lap of luxury in Oriath, i.e. the ones who really don't want to be sent to Wræclast because IT'S FULL OF FUCKING CANNIBALS.

I suppose we could have some sort of Lynchian Vladimir Harkonnen situation where a grotesquely obese character gains mobility via tech or magic but in order to gain that sort of power (via virtue gems, I'd guess), you'd have to live long enough to learn how to use them and that's not happening in Wræclast because



Only about a third of the images you provided display both girth and strength. There is, of course, a spectrum of body weight and shapes. Stout, for example, I could get behind. Built as well. Solid, also a good choice.

But a straight-up 'fat' PC? In Wraeclast? Hahahahahano.

Now things might change in 20 years. We might see a Legend of Korra type situation where all that magic goes tech -- I've seen GGG do far less original things with their lore. In that case, I'd definitely have to review my stance. But what we have to work with for now? Yeah, nah.

I always was kind of sad there wasn't an early quest to deal directly with the much-vaunted cannibals of south-east Wræclast. Real missed opportunity to embrace your not-so-inner Robert E. Howard there, GGG.

Edit: I also just don't trust game developers to handle larger body types respectfully. Most of them are still caught in that notion of 'hahah fat is funny' mindset. Take the token Big Boy from For Honor, for example.



And what special moves does this Brick Shithouse In Human Form have? A bear crush. A slam. A barrelling dash. And for his executions? He just sits on his victims, where everyone else does really cool shit with their weapons to eviscerate, dismember or otherwise disassemble their enemies.

hahahahah you so funny Ubisoft fat guy funny hahahaha

Please.

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

"

Walkiry wrote:

Hell no.

Because cannibals, my dude. Cannibals. Did you even pay attention to the early game dialogue, OP?

Wræclast is all about running. Or, as the kids call it, 'zooming'. And why? BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T RUN, THE FUCKING CANNIBALS WILL EAT YOU.

And RunningWhileFat, while entirely healthy most of the time in moderation, is not going to work in long stretches. You either lose some of that fat or you get EATEN BY THE FUCKING CANNIBALS.

Also a portly person would have been the first thing they'd throw overboard on the boat from Oriath.

Within the technological and magical perimeters of PoE, the only feasible fat body-type characters would be those living in the lap of luxury in Oriath, i.e. the ones who really don't want to be sent to Wræclast because IT'S FULL OF FUCKING CANNIBALS.

I suppose we could have some sort of Lynchian Vladimir Harkonnen situation where a grotesquely obese character gains mobility via tech or magic but in order to gain that sort of power (via virtue gems, I'd guess), you'd have to live long enough to learn how to use them and that's not happening in Wræclast because

Spoiler

OF THE FUCKING CANNIBALS.

Only about a third of the images you provided display both girth and strength. There is, of course, a spectrum of body weight and shapes. Stout, for example, I could get behind. Built as well. Solid, also a good choice.

But a straight-up 'fat' PC? In Wraeclast? Hahahahahano.

Now things might change in 20 years. We might see a Legend of Korra type situation where all that magic goes tech -- I've seen GGG do far less original things with their lore. In that case, I'd definitely have to review my stance. But what we have to work with for now? Yeah, nah.

I always was kind of sad there wasn't an early quest to deal directly with the much-vaunted cannibals of south-east Wræclast. Real missed opportunity to embrace your not-so-inner Robert E. Howard there, GGG.

Edit: I also just don't trust game developers to handle larger body types respectfully. Most of them are still caught in that notion of 'hahah fat is funny' mindset. Take the token Big Boy from For Honor, for example.

Spoiler

And what special moves does this Brick Shithouse In Human Form have? A bear crush. A slam. A barrelling dash. And for his executions? He just sits on his victims, where everyone else does really cool shit with their weapons to eviscerate, dismember or otherwise disassemble their enemies.

hahahahah you so funny Ubisoft fat guy funny hahahaha

Please.

This is hands down THE BEST post I have read in my entire life. Ngl I'd vote you for president.

@OP: your supposed "body positivity" is for yourself only, so keep it to yourself pls, nobody cares. Time needs to be spent on meaningful stuff like gameplay, not making sure every snowflake feels "represented" in video games.

Sounds like a great idea to me.

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

RunningWhileFat, while entirely healthy most of the time in moderation, is not going to work in long stretches.

The player character can run literally forever - something that also "doesn't work" for a real human body. Swinging a gigantic sword around forever doesn't work. Never eating or going to the toilet doesn't work.

This is not a simulation game. If we can depict skinny people doing impossible things, we can depict fat people doing impossible things.

To be clear, I am *all* for body positivity. I'm almost 45 and I use a computer. A lot. We've been in various degrees of lockdown and sedentary life for a couple of years. I get winded going for a walk because I'm pretty sure I've got the Long version of the Little c. It fucking sucks. I MISS my teenage years of doing martial arts and eating leftover pizza and guzzling beer and oh hey is that a bit of a six pack we see? Why yes, young sir, it is. LIFE IS AWESOME...well, I can't buy my own beer, my job is cash in hand, and I still have a curfew but OTHER THAN THAT, LIFE IS AWESOME.

I'm also chronically ill with other shit (including, hahaha, allergy to heat/stress and susceptibility to the sun, and yes I live in Australia where EVERYONE is fucking susceptible to the sun because our sun is *angry*) so yeah, I get it.

But I also try to be realistic when it comes to fantasy -- I am as much against the idea of Noodlewrist herself, the Witch, swinging a honking huge two handed sword like a fucking pro (seriously, fucking great animation) as I am the idea of a truly fat character surviving Wræclast *without losing some of that weight*. I do not fuck with racial diversity because history has this little problem with those who've been chronicling it. So let's not go there. But when it comes to something as simple as 'survival of the fittest' in a setting as mercilessly devoted to Darwinism as Wræclast, well...you don't want to be the slowest rabbit, that's for sure.

Side note: I can't be the only one wondering why the Scion hasn't bled out and/or gotten sepsis from that never-healing leg wound. Or did they fix that?

My actual ideal 'image' of a warrior who's seen some shit, isn't on juice and basically wouldn't blow over in a breeze is from a much-maligned film called 'Beowulf & Grendel'. This version of Beowulf is so unimpressive I can't even find screenshots of him so here's a screenshot of the same actor doing it ALL FUCKING WRONG in the smash hit documentary about Thermopylae: 'Spartans Go Wild 7: Orgy At The Hot Gates' :



Anyway, Butler's Beowulf was solid, had a bit of a gut, stayed the fuck in chainmail as much as possible, hacked with the finesse of a paper guillotine and made me cry 'Hwæt!' more than once. (conversely Grendel was a hairy naked savage and his mother a hot Canadian red-head witch who said the 'c' word a lot [no, not covid, the other c word], so I'm not saying the movie got it ALL right...or much...)

Anyway anyway...where was I going with this? Oh yeah. Body positivity good, realistic writing better. And this goes for either end of the spectrum.


edit: ninja'd the croc. Lols. I have no time for 'this doesn't follow the rules so anything goes' arguments. They're pointless because *everything* has some sort of internal logic and in Wræclast, part of that logic is 'fat people are slower and taste better'.

That or they spit curses and hide in the bowels of a long-dead monster. Gosh wasn't Doedre's design brilliant?

(A shame they didn't stick to the flavour text that first depicted her on the item 'Doedre's Damning', long before she was put into the game as a 'ewww fat women so gross' cliché boss:

"

Where her mouth should have been there was only a whirling, black void.

I really like that line. A lot.)

Also worth noting: later depictions of Doedre as a boss drop the 'fat' look so I'm guessing GGG wised up a bit. Even if you want to blame a frog for it. Which you shouldn't.

Bonus round: EASILY my favourite 'big boy' hero from history right here. Such a man of talent. And unlike his sworn brother, the much more famous Guan Yu, he didn't lose a city. Kind of ironic for a dude who was later turned into a god...of war, wealth, and gateways and doors.

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

you don't want to be the slowest rabbit, that's for sure.

That's fine, since the suggestion wasn't to make this character slower than others. In the current campaign all the classes have the same base movespeed don't they? They could just do that again.

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

edit: ninja'd the croc. Lols. I have no time for 'this doesn't follow the rules so anything goes' arguments.

Weird, did someone make one? I certainly didn't say "anything goes". I said if we can depict a skinny person doing things that would be impossible for such a person in real life, we can depict a fat person doing things that would be impossible for them in real life too.

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

*everything* has some sort of internal logic and in Wræclast, part of that logic is 'fat people are slower and taste better'.

Surely, if anything, the things the game actually does (something you have no time to address, I know) are stronger candidates for 'internal logic' than your personal opinion that the setting shouldn't show fat people surviving. I mean that's literally external.

Unless when you say "fat people are slower and taste better" you're quoting some kind of internal GGG narrative-design document? In which case I would definitely argue they need to rethink their "internal logic".

Those pics are awesome. Indeed, that is what likely happens to your toon after he stops farming and becomes a hideout warrior. A giga fat merchant prince that dual wields roasted pork legs and decorates his hideout with almost skeletal karui children on leashes. IRL league, lets gooo! :D

There's a difference in body mass for any adventurer.

I'm going to say the "I" word, Immersion. There needs to be an explanation to justify unhealthy body types IMO. A Necromancer for instance. The opposite of the topic is justified through their magic.

Necromancy is about Life & Death, not hordes of undead. Despite most recent iterations of a Necromancer. Thus a Necromancer can stay alive through magical means despite their health. Alternatively Alteration magic can make a character be any way they want temporarily.

Mages in general are commonly out of shape and physically weak which easily puts them in dangerous situations that a Fighter or similar would have trivial issues with. While an obese Mage would be great roleplay, esp an Alteration specialized one. They would have a much higher chance of dying.

No, a character does not have to be chiseled to be strong. We all know this.
Still, there's a certain amount of immersion to the concept I can't ignore.