- Joined
- Jun 13, 2009
- Messages
- 10,336
![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
-
Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
God of War Laufey (PS5)
- Thread starter polonyc2
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2009
- Messages
- 21,087
Some more good points about this game and Sony in general. As I was saying before; they're changing their target audience.
View: https://youtu.be/7_6MagRwE7I?si=H400EPSD9aHp_jdC
View: https://youtu.be/7_6MagRwE7I?si=H400EPSD9aHp_jdC
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2018
- Messages
- 4,686
Or there's a pattern.
Laufey will succeed or fail based on its gameplay, story and graphics...as will any other game...the small, insignificant number of folks who are blaming it on some other agenda won't matter in terms of sales...they just shout the loudest online...the people that really enjoy a game, movie etc aren't usually the ones jumping online to talk about it
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2009
- Messages
- 10,336
Dion
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Messages
- 4,048
I'm not a God of War fan or have played enough of the game to care.. ( played like 2 )
But I understand why fans are mad. They love Kratos. I love Tomb Raider games.. I'd be super pissed if they replaced Lara Croft and called it a Tomb Raider game.
It has nothing to do with hating on WOMEN.. It's fans of the game not liking games being made by people who AREN'T fans of the series.. Changing a main character that's been in decades of the games is really just insulting.
But I understand why fans are mad. They love Kratos. I love Tomb Raider games.. I'd be super pissed if they replaced Lara Croft and called it a Tomb Raider game.
It has nothing to do with hating on WOMEN.. It's fans of the game not liking games being made by people who AREN'T fans of the series.. Changing a main character that's been in decades of the games is really just insulting.
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2018
- Messages
- 4,686
Yeah. If they replaced Tomb Raider with a dude, people would be equally upset.
Laufey is Kratos wife...not some random outsider...this new game runs simultaneously in the timeline as the 2018 game
Dion
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Messages
- 4,048
Exactly... a mediocre game rarely sells well no matter what the characters look like, and a good indie game might fare poorly because it's either niche or just doesn't get enough buzz.
I was looking at the 20 top-selling games of 2025 based on Circana data, and fun fact: the games that aren't just the yearly installments of mutliplayer-focused military shooters and sports titles tended to either have female leads (Ghost of Yotei, Split Fiction) or are gender neutral (Elden Ring, Minecraft, Monster Hunter Wilds, Pokemon Legends Z-A). So the notion that games 'need' more male (or conventionally attractive female) leads isn't supported by the evidence.
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2018
- Messages
- 4,686
We're all very aware who she is, thanks.
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2009
- Messages
- 10,336
I Didn't know I had to be old to appreciate good humor.
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2009
- Messages
- 10,336
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2009
- Messages
- 10,336
Blade-Runner
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2013
- Messages
- 5,633
I came to laugh at the soy boys but stayed for the memes....
Comixbooks
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2008
- Messages
- 25,917
I like the spin attacks anyway usually 3rd person games you don't see the front of your Avatar. I've been sick of Kratos ever since they started making him in 3rd person games. This is a welcome change. I never finished the last one I skipped Raganok.
Comixbooks
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2008
- Messages
- 25,917
Saw some guy called this game Laundry lol on Steam Forums.
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2018
- Messages
- 4,686
Yes ... that's been discussed here.
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2009
- Messages
- 21,087
Pretty much what I wanted to post in my first post here, verbalized.
View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZNtqSVTPjF/?igsh=bjdvYnRndGYzODZ2
Key quote here: "It's not about the God of War game playing as a woman, it's why."
View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZNtqSVTPjF/?igsh=bjdvYnRndGYzODZ2
Key quote here: "It's not about the God of War game playing as a woman, it's why."
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2018
- Messages
- 4,686
That was the most well put together rant about all of the garbage that's happened recently that I've ever seen. If you deny this is happening after watching this, you're being intentionally obtuse.
no one is denying that gay/lesbian/minorities are becoming more prevalent in gaming...it's the why that you're not understanding...those groups were under-represented for years in all forms of media...so yes there is a concerted effort to include them more now...Yes there are now more openly gay game developers, so Yes they would want to create games where there is more of a diverse group of characters...there is not a single AAA game with only gay characters or stories
if you want just White straight men gaming there are thousands of those games...why make a big deal if a small group of games now include them?...the majority is still there for you to play with
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2018
- Messages
- 4,686
I knew you'd chime in with absolute nonsense and ignore literally everything that was just presented before you. Thank you for the absolute zero surprise.
Anyway, back on topic.
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2009
- Messages
- 21,087
Is that really the threshold for you to consider this a legitimate issue? For literally every character to be gay and/or woman?
Women and LGBTs are still way over-represented in the AAA game space, esp. when you consider their actual audience vs. their target audience that aren't playing these games in the first place (please spare us the few exceptions to this if you're thinking otherwise).
Again, we don't want to just play as straight white men. We just don't want our existing male-lead games and spaces replaced with women and LGBTs. Or even traditionally asexual female characters (like Lara Croft, or Aloy in Zero Dawn) to suddenly get gay at the end of a game or in their DLC.
But as stated in that IG reel, they know they can't get their own games and IPs, because there's no real audience for them and they'll fail like all of the others so far (Forspoken, DA: Veilguard, Concord, Dustborn, etc.) So they have to hijack the existing successful IPs and hope for success still on the backs of beloved male characters who got them there.
you list a group of games that failed because the gameplay sucked...yes the main character in Forspoken also sucked...if she was a man or straight etc the game still would have failed...it has nothing to do with the lead being female...yet you ignore Cyberpunk which had a lot of representation or Forbidden West or Last of Us 2 etc etc...those games may not have sold as well as their predecessors but it has nothing to with wokeness or anything of the sort...LoU 2 killed off one of the main characters...Forbidden West was a step down in story plus it was pretty much the same in terms of gameplay
Lara Croft has been in gaming for decades...why no uproar over her?...because she wears revealing outfits?...certain gamers have such low brow standards...I play games for the challenge, combat, level design, graphics etc...does Aloy being gay suddenly change the combat sections of the game?...does it change the exploration?...why does it matter so much?...games are not movies, people are interested in the gameplay over story...most video game stories are nothing special
weren't they hinting at Lara Croft being gay in the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot?...maybe they'll make her lesbian in the new 2027 TR: Catalyst game
the 2013 Tomb Raider video game reboot dropped strong hints about Lara Croft’s queer identity, primarily through her deeply intense relationship with her best friend, Samantha 'Sam' Nishimura...while never made explicitly text in the main games, the creative team has openly admitted that they originally intended for the two women to be romantically involved
the 2013 Tomb Raider video game reboot dropped strong hints about Lara Croft’s queer identity, primarily through her deeply intense relationship with her best friend, Samantha 'Sam' Nishimura...while never made explicitly text in the main games, the creative team has openly admitted that they originally intended for the two women to be romantically involved
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2009
- Messages
- 21,087
Indeed, they would have failed, but likely not to the extent to which they had if they skipped all the forced DEI in the game. But these are largly irrelevant and counter-productive points to the real discussion because nothing can be proven to any convincing degree either way, so there's really no point in bringing this up.
Same as above, they likely would have sold better and been more successful if they skipped all the forced DEI characters and messaging into the games. And again, largly irrelevant due to no way to prove if they would or wouldn't have been more successful after changing the games in any way.
But Cyberpunk is doubly irrelevant here; as that is an RPG where you can play as both male and female and pretty much have complete agency over your character's decisions and romaces as well. No one (here at least) is upset over women or gay characters in CP or any other RPG where these things are optional.
Also, no one is saying a game is made or broken by these DEI decisions being made in games. But you have to admit that they are considerable factors to them either failing or not succeeding as well to their predecessors that either had male leads or did not have all the DEI representation in their games before. There's nuance to these discussions that you're being ignorant of.
No, because she's not being turned gay or being replaced by a man as the main character. We've already covered this in the thread.
We're all the same in this respect and I can agree with this. It just seems you're willing to accept the eventual replacement of men in gaming spaces and the significance/impact this can have on our culture overall. I do love a good story to follow in most of the games I play though, which is why many of my favorites are games like the Uncharted series, first TLoU, Horizon ZD, Mass Effect, and the Metal Gear Solid series to name a few. And in those games, their stories are more impactful than any movie to be because of the amount of time you spend in them and the depth of the characters you get to explore as well. And replacing any other those characters' gender or over-sexualizing them by making them gay when it's largely irrelevant to the story only distracts and degrades from the overall story, just the same as it would if they had a straight relationship out of nowhere.
Last edited:
you say any of those characters being gay would be 'irrelevant to the story'...yet when they make Aloy gay you deem it such a major misstep...it's irrelevant to the story of the giant robots and how the world became this way...the Horizon games are not about how Aloy became gay
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2009
- Messages
- 21,087
Yes, as it detracts from the rest of the story/game and from their DEI message as a whole because it's disenginuous and blatenly forced. So why put in in there other than to virtue signal to that audience who isn't even playing the game? Can you argue as to why it was necessary and benefited to the rest of the game or story? Esp. considering it was with a seemingly throw-away character where it was clear they're parting ways immediatley afterwards?
And why did you only responding to that one point? Because you are conceeding to all the others, I assume?
what is the cultural impact this is having on society?...so less straight male main characters in gaming means more men will turn gay?...I enjoy playing as a monkey in Black Myth: Wukong or as an Undead Knight in Dark Souls etc...I could care less if I'm not playing a straight man in a video game
why is anyone gay in real life?...it's part of Aloy's story...there's no deep meaning behind it...there are many real life stories of people who are in a short relationship and then part ways...every relationship doesn't lead to a happily ever after marriage...in a post apocalyptic world this is even more understandable
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2009
- Messages
- 21,087
I'm sure the intended impact is the same as it is in movies or any other media; that' being LGBT is normal or even encouraged because that makes you more "diverse" and diversity is always good.
But IMO the actual impact can lead to confusion among many impressionable teens or even adults consuming this media, and potentially leading them to decisions that can harm them physically and mentally, esp. when entertaining the "T" community and what all that entails. There's more nuanced arguments I could make against the cultural impact these forced DEI decisions make in media, but getting into this here would be complelely de-railing the thread and be outside the scope of the game. And I'm sure you'll just disagree while moving the goal-post again as well.
Well real life and telling a curated story are two different things. No one cares about gay people IRL, but inserting them into a story is a completely intentional decision that can be part of character development and (should at least) have an absolute motive to it if you want it to be meaningful. Deciding to add a romance option to a character, esp. when they've largely been asexual throughout the first two main games, is an inherently significant development of a character.
So yes, there's no deep meaning behind it. So why intentionally add that to Aloy's story, if not to only virtue signal to that community? You can say it's not a big deal and dismiss it, but this argument goes both ways. And I have the valid opinion that since it only detracts from the rest of the character and story with how it was presented, that I would have rather them not included that in the game, as is the case in most other games and media as well.
Last edited:
Comixbooks
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2008
- Messages
- 25,917
Doing the wash is serious
Comixbooks
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2008
- Messages
- 25,917
If a man vocally and rpeatedly complains about the sexual attractiveness of a lead female character, he's not doing it because he's interested in her intellect and personal growth.
Also, talk about goal post shifting. It remains true that those female-led games outsold other titles available at the same time. For you to make your case, you'd have to show that fewer people were buying the games specifically because men were turned off by those leads and not for other factors (a tough economy, a late-stage console cycle burdened with price hikes, you get the idea).
Me? I'm not saying that people were magnetically drawn to those characters — just that the real-world market for story-driven games isn't driven by the gender or sex appeal of who you play.
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2009
- Messages
- 10,336
There you go again assuming it's about sexual attraction. It's not. They're making people ugly on purpose, not a 1:1 conversion.
If they have a reason to do it, like Charlize Theron in Monster, then so be it.
In all of these games, they have zero reason to do it, the actresses are portraying themselves, they're making them uglier with no justification, also it's a one way street. Male actors are a 1:1 conversion. Why can they not be uglified?
As far as moving goalposts, I didn't move them at all, I was comparing them to their predecessors.
Comparing them to other releases at the time:
chatgpt said:
Digging deeper:
chatgpt said:
Sure the sequels outsold some games, but they're not a screaming success.
Also you and I both know that I can't prove that they sold less because men weren't attracted to the main character, but you can't prove it was because they were released late in the cycle, or a tough economy, or price hikes either.
What is true though, is the sequels interjected "the message" and made the female characters uglier or gay, or both.
The looks you cannot disprove. There is not a narrative reason for them to make the women look worse, they weren't "recast" - they were redesigned to look worse, but they kept the males the same or improved them. Make that make sense.
And again, stop sexualizing the argument, that's not the point. At all. If that's what you think it is, you have a problem.
xnaughtyowlx
n00b
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2025
- Messages
- 44
I actually thought she looked pretty badass in the trailer.
As for the idea that they made her “uglier with no justification,” the story is literally about a family that’s been through years of stress, danger, and — in her case — pregnancy. It makes sense that the character design reflects that.
From a biological standpoint, pregnancy and childbirth can cause long‑term changes to things like muscle distribution, skin elasticity, and facial volume. Men and women also age differently because of hormonal shifts — for example, women experience a sharper drop in estrogen in midlife, which affects skin and bone structure.
So I think folks are saying the way she looks isn’t random or political; it’s consistent with the story and with how real people change over time.
But I also understand the feeling of the game going in far too different of a direction, and the artistic style shifting from a more fantasy look to something more realistic. Of course you are right to feel dissatisfied with the change, or just plain not interested in playing as this character.
"kept the males the same or improved them" no shame in feeling more attracted to the dudes, it is that time of the year I hear...
As for the idea that they made her “uglier with no justification,” the story is literally about a family that’s been through years of stress, danger, and — in her case — pregnancy. It makes sense that the character design reflects that.
From a biological standpoint, pregnancy and childbirth can cause long‑term changes to things like muscle distribution, skin elasticity, and facial volume. Men and women also age differently because of hormonal shifts — for example, women experience a sharper drop in estrogen in midlife, which affects skin and bone structure.
So I think folks are saying the way she looks isn’t random or political; it’s consistent with the story and with how real people change over time.
But I also understand the feeling of the game going in far too different of a direction, and the artistic style shifting from a more fantasy look to something more realistic. Of course you are right to feel dissatisfied with the change, or just plain not interested in playing as this character.
"kept the males the same or improved them" no shame in feeling more attracted to the dudes, it is that time of the year I hear...
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2018
- Messages
- 4,686
most of the God of War characters are ugly so I'm not sure why people would expect Laufey to look like a stripper
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTndXIlvcT3/?utm_source=ig_embed
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTndXIlvcT3/?utm_source=ig_embed