I always imagined Keri having some kind of Mileena from Mortal Kombat thing going on under her mask. Some kind of demonic mark or the mark of an exile because of her failings with her clan, something like that.
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It doesnāt matter what you prefer, think about what the majority prefers.
We as humans are naturally horny creatures.
I donāt think character design a democratic matter. If every franchise just became whatever the majority of people wanted a lot of creators would be leaving money on the table by ignoring any audience that wasnāt mainstream.
I think a part of Vermintideās successful reputation is built on interesting and fun characters without having to compromise their appearance to suit peopleās preferences for attractive-looking characters. For example, you rarely see female characters in games like Sienna. She is older, powerful, intelligent, witty, and very dangerous, yet somewhat soft-hearted. Her character has nothing to do with being beautiful or attractive yet, she adds a lot to a simple game about cutting up rats. If they tried to make her young and attractive it would compromise the design of her character.
Yeah, but not everyone is so starved for affection, romance, and sex that it defines every facet of their life and what they want to see in video games. The virtue is personality over looks (not that Kerillianās personality is nice, but itās true to her character).
I accidentally clicked on your profile to reply and I saw you have a beautiful artistic representation of the Rampart town from Heroes of Might and Magic 3, a classic game I enjoyed for its storybook depiction of mythical creatures reminiscent of old DnD era game art and books. Since then most fantasy games have become so flanderized that they barely resemble anything that feels authentic or rooted in cultural history, mythos, and folklore (like WoW or your average anime fantasy). Thatās the mainstream now, but I prefer the more archetypal fantasy thatās derivative of Tolkien or old DnD instead of anime and cartoons. Likewise, games have compromised fantasy design over the years to make characters, clothing, and accessories look more like a BDSM fantasy than practical or historical. Again, there is a large audience for that, but Iām glad not every game is like that.
Surely you must see that the point of some games, characters, and storytelling is not to sate oneās need to see physically attractive characters or romance, and in many cases that sort of thing feels forced and distracting when it isnāt important to the characterās persona. In Vermintide 2 the focus is on the Warhammer end times and the simple pleasure of violent fantasy. In many cases, I think desirable-looking characters take the focus off of what makes an experience enjoyable or a character interesting. If youāre looking for attractive female characters, there are plenty of them out there, but not every character needs to conform to that to be successful.
Even many fables like Aesopās āThe Fox and the Leopardā or āThe Peacock and the Craneā make it a point that the virtue of personality and character is more important than looks. Itās disappointing to me to see that so many people who play video games lack appreciation for characters that arenāt attractive or sexy. Personally, I donāt care for Kerillianās character and a part of her character is that she is somewhat antagonistic, arrogant, and bitter because wood elves in Warhammer lore have been stepped on, yet they are the most intelligent and an elder race, but at least her character is consistent, authentic and Fatshark isnāt stooping so low as to make her simple eye candy.
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Everything that Ensrick said, couldnāt agree more.
Kerillian for me would just be another 2D fantasy elf character if not for her unique backstory. It gives her unfriendly demeanour and snarky comments meaning and it makes a few of her friendly interactions with other characters in the keep feel like meaningful character development. It gives her character depth and should spark interest in understanding her backstory, making her character feel truly unique amongst a sea of generic fantasy elves. Taking her masks away would disregard all of the lore that had been setup before the events of the end times and wouldnāt improve the game beyond cosmetics in the slightest, which would be an insignificant improvement if any at all IMO. I think that a character with an interesting backstory and a unique depth to their personality will always be leagues above a cardboard cutout with a pretty face, and Kerillian is so much more than that.
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Giving her a pretty face on display would change literally nothing about the quality of her character.
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Not if itās unnecessary; in many cases what a character uses to hide their face says something about their character and changing that might betray her theme. It would seem forced to me.
We never see Bardin without a beard and nobody complains about that; everyone is hyper-focused on female appearance in games, but Iām looking at Bardinās sweet mug.
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Iād rather a face mask than a balaclava. I just think the balaclava look makes every cosmetic Kerilian has look worse. Even the wood plank mask (that kinda doesnāt make sense) looks better than the balaclava to me.
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Once again I completely agree with Ensrick.
Not at face value but in terms of aligning with the pre-existing lore and her already developed character it would make no sense for her to remove the masks and would suggest that everything that has already happened previously in her backstory didnāt matter.
In conclusion: No one is forcing you to buy cosmetics, youāre entitled to your opinions and for your opinions to be respected, Iām sure Fatshark will continue to soldier on making great content despite some negative opinions and Iād suggest to keep your fingers crossed that her final premium skin for Waystalker ditches the cover although I wouldnāt bet on it.
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Again, it makes no sense for her to hide her face in front of mayflies. She ashamed herself for her own wood elf kin, not for anyone else. Fatshark had absolutely no other reason to hide her face and hair, they just didnāt want to, so they made up some obscure reason for it.
I wouldnāt be surprised if they gave her a shadowdancer or a bladesinger skin and yet they would still hide her behind a mask or a balaclava.
Because FS is dead set on not having attractive womenās faces in their games, this was made crystal clear in Darktideās female face and hair options.
As an outcast, she proudly carries on every tradition she can from her past in the presence of the other characters.
So, regardless of everything said so far, you still think this is for no reason other than to upset fans?
And you also know that non-mainstream fantasy enjoyers like myself find it refreshing that female characters in this game donāt have to be overly attractive or sexy.
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We appreciate your feedback on Kerllianās cosmetics, but since this thread is likely to go the same route as the Darktide thread OP posted, it will be locked. Itās unlikely Kerllianās covered face will change in the near future.
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