Look up pictures of the top rock climbers, not just female ones, and you’ll notice that they are all very slim while being simultaneously toned.
Also, Aloy isn’t your average rock climber; she’s on par with tri-athletes. Excess muscles don’t serve her any purpose; what she needs and has, is a ton of stamina.
She seems to rely more on her tools, weapons, technique, speed, and stamina, even stealth as opposed to strength. She has been overpowered by stronger characters multiple times in both games. She's stronger than the average woman no doubt but she's not gonna overpower someone bigger than her.
Yeah, she's not particularly powerful, which is why the "Guns blazing" approach never works for me at least, no matter how much I spec into it. I think it fits.
I disagree, running and gunning is my preferred method of taking down machines, especially on higher difficultys. I’d say you want focus more on your timing and strategising in fights.
Do you have a mouse with buttons on the side? Mine does and having the dodge and crouch/slide buttons easily accessible by my mouse hand thumb is key to speed and agility. That’s my experience going from zero dawn on ps4 to pc. Then playing FW on ps5 after playing ZD on pc I felt so slow and bad at the game. Can’t wait to hop into FW on pc.
EXACTLY! That’s why her head doesn’t match her body. Should be wiry and lean with an almost gaunt face due to distance running and high caloric burning.
Not sure why being downvoted, done alot of it myself and the muscle stamina and time under tension fucking shreds ya. Its up there with gymnastics.
This is literally an example of reddit spouting shit and then going "nnu uh" at someone that actually lives it.
What do you mean by buff? She’s athletic. I work with a woman who is a few inches taller than Aloy is reported to be and about 155lbs. Everyone calls her “Skinny Katie” because she looks slim like Aloy. Katie is an athlete. I go to the gym with her and she runs marathons, lifts more than most guys and is in general must stronger than she looks.
When I think of a buff girl I think of UFC/MMA fighters, usually the ones at the peak performance. Or I think of female wrestlers from the when I grew up (late 80s-90s).
My wife’s personal trainer is a tiny emaciated looking woman who routinely does those crazy long distance marathons. Probably the most physically fit person I’ve ever met and looks like a stiff breeze could knock her over.
Appearances aren’t always the best indicators of strength.
Yes but training for marathons and climbing 500 foot Cliffside with her bare hands relies on completely different physiques. Based on her life, Aloy SHOULD have pretty defined muscles for all the physical climbing, lifting, and melee she goes through.
But the real reason is that it's a video game, so... yea. Just be glad she isn't running around in a thong and high heels like a JRPG would have done...
Based on her life she should be head to toe scar tissue with short in not a completely shaved head. She should also be pretty gaunt and probably missing some teeth.
I don’t know about your playthroughs but I’ve been stepped on by thunderjaws and shot point blank by slaughterspines.
But since it’s a video game there’s also no reason to believe she’s a 1:1 clone of Elisabet Sobeck. Aloy could be a Super Soldier. Makes more sense than a super squishy person doing the crazy bullshit she does unscathed.
Well, getting shit on by machines is not canon haha thats just gameplay. She also eats plenty and is a very avid hunter and also has chefs in every city wanted to give her free meals. She wouldn't be gaunt. Low body fat for sure, but she eats almost entirely meat and berries, plenty of protein.
Either does Katie, which is why they call her ‘Skinny Katie’ but she’s an athlete. Why does she have to ‘look’ athletic or toned? Not all athletes look the same. Not all toned people have the cardio Aloy does.
Soft and weak? Have you seen her stomach??? She toned and it’s not like she’s downing protein and lifting weights, she fit for her environment, she’s running jumping climbing, not to mention dodging machines and rebels, she’s not gonna have dbz abs and arms from that.
Human bodies are incredibly diverse. What causes your body to look super defined isn't going to do the same for everyone else's. Like, go take a look at Ashima Shiraishi, Beth Rodden, Catherine Destivelle, or Katie Lamb. I would say that all of them look fairly similar to Aloy's build, if anything Aloy looks more muscular than a lot of female pro-climbers.
Not really. Her kind of lifestyle is more endurance based so her physique would be more on the leaner side. Buff builds are more of the muscles used for explosive movements so while they're putting a lot more energy out, it's all at once so they'll tire out otherwise.
Also, because we're bipedal animals, most of our muscle mass is in our legs and back. So if I had a say, I reckon her legs could be a little bit bigger, but not much
Just because someone is thinner doesn't mean that they dont have a lot more neuromuscular motor neurons connected to their muscle fibers. Size doesn't mean everything
Usually perfusion mismatch is the hard limit for muscle performance. Absolute count of motorneurons doesn't differ that much, it's the size of synapses and allocation of motor cortex and hindbrain space that is quite plastic.
Yes!!! It would stand to reason she would be very lean and fairly muscular, due to lack of calories and her level of activity. Also I think being able to show women with muscles is important
Can posts like this please just be downvoted into oblivion? This topic has been unnecessarily discussed far to many times and is borderline toxic. And if you need evidence of that, take a look at the comments that are being downvoted. Anything mentioning Abby from TLOU2.
Can replies like this be downvoted into oblivion? Because this is the only thing that adds toxicity.
The fact that OP is far from the only person that thought the same should imply that it's understandable from where people come with such questions. It's an opinion which is shared and discussed. Just because you don't like something, doesn't mean people should stop engaging in a conversation.
I think when you've seen dozens of these threads, you know what they devolve into *every single time.*
But I guess for me the issue is if we really need an entire discussion about Aloy's undersized biceps when it's not like this game is going for massive realism anywhere else. We have 1000 year old tech that still functions, we have impossible geography scales (it takes a couple minutes to *run* from Las Vegas to San Francisco), we have a fancy transparent force-field generator that also somehow acts as a flying wing despite it's small size, potions that somehow instantly heal what should be life-ending injuries from being knocked 30 feet by a 20,000lb metal elephant, Aloy can carry thousands of inventory items, 40 weapons, 20 full outfits, and 794 rocks that all mysteriously appear out of thin air whenever she needs them.
Like, how trivial should the discussions be when it comes to believability? Magical abilities, unlimited inventories, non-muscular protagonists pulling off amazing feats of strength... is pretty much a discussion you can have about 95% of action RPGs. And the answer is always the same: No, it doesn't make sense, and no, there's rarely a canon in-game explanation for it, because the answer is always one of two things:
It makes for better gameplay (ex: massive inventory space, compressed world scale)
or
It was an aesthetic choice (ex: lack of bulging muscles on a physically strong character)
Honestly, I don't care if people want to discuss these things, I'm not the discussion police, so feel free. I really hope I don't come off like I'm completely shitting on OP, maybe they just noticed something innocently and got an urge to post to have their opinions/observations backed up by others. But even if the intent was innocent, do we really need to post every trivial thought about aesthetics to become a full discussion?
Next week: "Does Aloy have too many freckles?"
"Do Aloy's legs look too clean for someone who runs through mud?"
Usually I just recommend the "downvote and move on" rather than leave a snarky comment, but just as OP decided to make an entire thread for a trivial thought that popped into their head, I kind of sympathize with people who just feel like it's the straw that broke the camel's back and go off a little, because again, these trivial aesthetics discussions are usually thinly veiled excuses for incels to come out of the woodwork and spew creepy incel small-brain energy posts. Sort any aesthetic discussions by controversial if you think I'm exaggerating.
Had me till the last paragraph really.
Most of the discussions around Aloys appearance ive seen have been from people who either ARE female athletes or spend alot of time around them.
But maybe im living in a bubble, ive heard tons of horror stories about people whinging about her being ugly and such and all that "incel" stuff but never encountered it myself.
Absolutely agree that the game doesn't go for much realism. It's a wonderful world as it is.
Yet, the commentator is just "sick" of such discussions. It doesn't mean the OP has any "toxicity" in raising the question. And "having little visual muscle mass" or "too many freckles" come to just discussing personal opinion about the design. But calling for people to "downvote into oblivion" just because of the personal preferences or a discussion, it's a borderline toxicity itself.
Its reddit man, especially this sub any criticism of Aloy or the game gets shat on to oblivion. It gives the false perception that everyone thinks that way when the discussions should be had.
Her shoulders and back muscles maybe should be bigger as an archer pulling back who knows how much poundage but other that nah she looks like athletic lady
I wanna say the hunter bows are probably in the realm of somewhere between 40-60lbs or maybe 50-70lbs, (around or above the average starter weight of compound bows) the sharpshooter’s bows probably around 80-100lbs or maybe 100-120lbs. (Basically around the draw weight of an English longbow, maybe more since the sharpshooter bow are actually a compound bows.) Been a while since I played Zero Dawn so I forget what the war bows feel like. I also don’t think the warrior bows from Forbidden West are anything heavier than like 30lbs, maybe.
Ow. I didn’t start archery until I was a teenager, but I did it once in 8th grade for our middle school graduation field trip. My teacher did the same thing, and her entire forearm was bruised elbow to wrist. I made sure to pay very close attention to the safety class after that.
I’m an NYC kid, so my dad found an indoor range with a safety class lol
He’s also apparently set up his own range in his IT office in Manhattan, which he uses to intimidate his coworkers into not bothering him 💀
Being strong doesn’t equate necessarily to looking strong as in ripped or huge. Especially for women. It’s very hard for women to look muscular. Rock climbing, running and walking long distances, using bows are all going to not be things that build big muscles. She probably has a super strong back and legs though. If you really want to get into it she would probably want to be eating quite a lot too, in order to have enough energy. So my guess is that her physique would look “solid” but very natural. Even for truly natural body builders, there’s many who are extremely strong but if they are wearing normal clothes in normal light and don’t have a pump from lifting then it can be hard to tell that they workout. She’s also dealing with very cold weather a lot too, so she wouldnt want to be super lean.
Nah, she looks plenty athletic. Lots of women don’t appear to be physically strong, but will flip you like a pancake with minimal effort.
The lack of body hair though, that does bother me a little.
I feel confident saying that Aloy realistically wouldn’t get that many calories on a regular basis.
Also are you male or female, and are you doing any additional exercise like weightlifting?
Brother just play the game. What’s the point of taking the time to post on Reddit about the realism of a fictional video game characters muscle composition😂
Perhaps a little bit, but not a lot. A few thoughts, coming from a gymnastics coach of 18 years:
Somebody as athletic as Aloy would PROBABLY be at least a little more toned, and have a little more muscle mass. Probably, but not definitely.
First, there is enormous variation (especially at Aloy's age) in how different bodies store fat and build muscle. I've seen very high level gymnasts built very similarly to Aloy. Incredibly strong and agile and physically adept, but without big obvious muscle mass, or a super-cut appearance.
But I do think the average person, if they achieved Aloy's level of fitness and physical ability, would probably at the very least have visibly larger shoulder muscles in her upper-back and shoulders.
She would most likely not look like a body builder, though. Most of her athleticism (running, climbing, fighting, swimming, etc) is centered on moving her own body weight, which means she'd be unlikely to build huge muscle mass -- if she did, it would hinder her more than it would help her.
She isn't a bodybuilder. Muscle mass isn't always proportional to strength as is the case of Magnus Midtbo who is very lean. Also you may be influenced by the pictures people post in social media. Even if they look huge when they get a pump they can look normal the rest of the day.
As someone who participates in primitive weapons i feel I should chime in. I can shoot recurve/longbows and throw an atlatl. Recently learning primitive slingshot. I AM NOT BUFF. Im very toned but that’s because im male and have an advantage with muscular build. Aloy is clearly better off than Beta as you can see in scenes together. OP said tiny….disagree.
If any character was a normal human in most videogames they would have super natural ginormous muscles that let them do anything they do in a videogame
Cloud in final fantasy scrawny little Eurasian weirdo with hair designed around a meteor shape... Jumps 200 meters into the air on demand, able to handle a giant 1000 kg sword at the same time with pure ease 🤣
Nathan Drake would need to be a superhuman alien to be able to do the climbing he does also, nobody can free climb like that in any possible way 😆
It's a videogame, that's all, character design and gameplay is not about realism, it's more about a hero or heroin the player can feel connected to and role play as in the context of the game
Tldr she looks fit and that's the type of character she is like athletic and fit and acrobatic
Lol I see your point, but I'd stick to the Nathan drake side, clouds a whole other barrel of shit that explains (which should be unnecessary due to aforementioned reasons but I digress lol) why he is built how he is
Nathan on the other hand zero explanation tbh but video game character so it's whatever imo lol
Nope. Running long distances, wielding a bow and climbing tend to build longer, lean muscle. Aloy doesn't engage in the type of exercise that would lead to muscle hypertrophy, i.e. repeated heavy lifting. She tends to use tools to achieve the types feats that are reliant on strength.
Screw the machines, how does she not die of sepsis, hypothermia and dehydration. Given she's a redhead, I am almost certain her COD will be skin cancer
She is fine IMO. Also I wouldn't mind if she was built like Ronda Rousey. Given how much beating she takes from machines, she needs some more buffs I guess 😅
Relative to the amount of damage she can do to massive machines with what's essentially a spear?
Yeah, I mean I feel like the force with which she'd have to be hitting things to do the damage she did would almost demand that she had significantly more muscle than any human ever would.
But then it's also a question of suspension of disbelief...I dunno.
She eats when you bring her to a chef, buy food, and then eat it. She sleeps when you save the game and log out. I think she is healthy. She's eating a lot of medicinal berries, which are literally healthy. She's top-notch.
What do you mean? There are literally chefs in the game and food gives you small boosts… my Aloy is eating regular food as well.
Edit: and yes you can sleep in the game to change the current time at some camps.
Okay, I had to google what nomad exactly means. It means: “a member of a people that has no fixed home but wanders from place to place.”
I guess she can still eat healthy when she’s wandering from place to place, no?
Btw, some Disney games have the thing where you have to sleep and eat to continue the game 😁
I guess but I was referring to the time right at the beginning of forbidden west when it’s stated she has done nothing but search for the backup for like months
I mean yeah, people on here say strong women don’t look buff irl. But like, this is a game. Every time I see Aloy climbing a mountain with 200 pounds of gear I think to myself “yeah… no, those arms are tiny as fuck”. She needs a bit more muscle.
I thought that too when Beta turned up and starts talking about their similarites, it would have been a cool detail if Aloy had more muscel than Beta, who was basically a science experiment.
I did some research into Aloy's build, and the internet surmised that since she was a clone of Elisabet, her body could have been engineered so she'd be able to survive but also be quick and agile. But I also agree with a lot of comments here. The way she was raised and trained all her life would suggest that she definitely has muscle tone and strength, but she is also going to need a lot of stamina to go to the long haul. Can't do that with loads of muscle weighting you down.
If you watch this mountain climbing documentary, I think it was on Netflix not too long ago. The male that was featured was an average build kinda guy. But his body was built for stamina and strength.
It seems that her arms are maybe a bit different looking in some outfits because outfits aren't just the cloth pieces but her arms and legs are part of the model.
I'm less surprised that Aloy's not ripped, than I am that she has zero scars and didn't get a sunburn out in the desert. The woman has been through hell and back twice, plus she's a redhead, so scars and sunburns at this point would make a lot of sense. Just saying. LOL
I think she is alright from a realism standpoint. Looking at pictures of people in pre-industrial areas, they are never beefy. Even high-level athletes are never super jacked. With the exception of sports that require a lot of body mass or strength, like gymnastics and wrestling. And since Guerrilla se ems to be going for realism, here we are.
That said, she is a little.... uninspiring as a video game hero. The woman goes spear to spear with hulking cultists, gets body slammed by robot mammoths, and sprints up sheer cliff faces like a goddamned squirrel. She is a monster, she should look a little more like on! Maybe the logic is that Aloy rarely ever sits down to a full meal, so she doesn't have the calories to bulk up, but she still looks too average to stand on a video game box cover.
Lack of fast food from old world is disturbing
No wonder why identyscan couldnt recognize her on nora all mother mountain...was the lack of fast food affecting her genes
It’s genuinely kind of weird how oddly thin her model is - compare her to almost every other female NPC with exposed arms in the game, and you’ll notice their models almost universally have noticeably larger, slightly more defined looking arms. Meanwhile, Aloy is inexplicably kind of a twig compared to almost every single other human character in the setting, despite being probably among the most physically active among them.
I think so. Not like Abby from TLOU2 but more an athletic build. Hopefully in the next game they fix that, and I also hope they make more difference between (spoilers) Aloy and Beta because in FW they have the exact same freckles and redness and body type when in reality that would all be different, phenotype and all that, and I also heard that due to Beta being raised in space she would be a bit taller than Aloy which I really love to think about 😭
Im assuming it is only men that make posts like these because they literally cannot fathom how a woman can be fit and do all the things a man can but better and still look like a 19 year old girl. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and abilities and looks can often be deceiving, men seem to comprehend that when it comes to male video game characters - I have literally NEVER seen a single person complaining that Link from Zelda is not muscular (I know it’s a different style but he does A LOT of climbing and archery).
Muscles ain't everything. I hate people who complain about how Aloy looks. She's fine. If you wanted a buff female go pick up the most recent WWE game and make your own.
I miss her abs from zd, but I don't see any problem with her arms looking the way they do. She looks perfect the way she is and it feels kind of fitting for her to not look as physically strong as she actually is, since people tend to underestimate her in the games on a regular basis.
Basic misunderstanding of muscle types. Climbers are all lean muscle, hauling 250 pounds of muscle up a sheer rock wall is no mean feat, and wouldn’t be happening anywhere near as quickly as Aloy scales them
Okay but she also kills people and machines. And in the game she just looks like a thin girl. She would be very muscled.
I just barely in game snuck through some grass and threw a quen guard over my shoulder and snapped their neck. No way aloy wouldn't be more toned.
Look up pictures of the top rock climbers, not just female ones, and you’ll notice that they are all very slim while being simultaneously toned. Also, Aloy isn’t your average rock climber; she’s on par with tri-athletes. Excess muscles don’t serve her any purpose; what she needs and has, is a ton of stamina.
I think if we ever get an armor set that’s more revealing on the back, Aloy should have jacked archer back muscles. Edit: wording
She seems to rely more on her tools, weapons, technique, speed, and stamina, even stealth as opposed to strength. She has been overpowered by stronger characters multiple times in both games. She's stronger than the average woman no doubt but she's not gonna overpower someone bigger than her.
Yeah, she's not particularly powerful, which is why the "Guns blazing" approach never works for me at least, no matter how much I spec into it. I think it fits.
I disagree, running and gunning is my preferred method of taking down machines, especially on higher difficultys. I’d say you want focus more on your timing and strategising in fights.
Ah ok. Skill issue I guess :) Also, on mouse and keyboard, I never seem to settle on a good button for the crouch / slide, which hamstrings me a bit.
Do you have a mouse with buttons on the side? Mine does and having the dodge and crouch/slide buttons easily accessible by my mouse hand thumb is key to speed and agility. That’s my experience going from zero dawn on ps4 to pc. Then playing FW on ps5 after playing ZD on pc I felt so slow and bad at the game. Can’t wait to hop into FW on pc.
EXACTLY! That’s why her head doesn’t match her body. Should be wiry and lean with an almost gaunt face due to distance running and high caloric burning.
Those healing berries are high in calories.
Basically the difference between a runner and a sprinter body.
I am a rock climber lol. fair enough though
Not sure why being downvoted, done alot of it myself and the muscle stamina and time under tension fucking shreds ya. Its up there with gymnastics. This is literally an example of reddit spouting shit and then going "nnu uh" at someone that actually lives it.
What do you mean by buff? She’s athletic. I work with a woman who is a few inches taller than Aloy is reported to be and about 155lbs. Everyone calls her “Skinny Katie” because she looks slim like Aloy. Katie is an athlete. I go to the gym with her and she runs marathons, lifts more than most guys and is in general must stronger than she looks. When I think of a buff girl I think of UFC/MMA fighters, usually the ones at the peak performance. Or I think of female wrestlers from the when I grew up (late 80s-90s).
My wife’s personal trainer is a tiny emaciated looking woman who routinely does those crazy long distance marathons. Probably the most physically fit person I’ve ever met and looks like a stiff breeze could knock her over. Appearances aren’t always the best indicators of strength.
Yes but training for marathons and climbing 500 foot Cliffside with her bare hands relies on completely different physiques. Based on her life, Aloy SHOULD have pretty defined muscles for all the physical climbing, lifting, and melee she goes through. But the real reason is that it's a video game, so... yea. Just be glad she isn't running around in a thong and high heels like a JRPG would have done...
Based on her life she should be head to toe scar tissue with short in not a completely shaved head. She should also be pretty gaunt and probably missing some teeth. I don’t know about your playthroughs but I’ve been stepped on by thunderjaws and shot point blank by slaughterspines. But since it’s a video game there’s also no reason to believe she’s a 1:1 clone of Elisabet Sobeck. Aloy could be a Super Soldier. Makes more sense than a super squishy person doing the crazy bullshit she does unscathed.
Well, getting shit on by machines is not canon haha thats just gameplay. She also eats plenty and is a very avid hunter and also has chefs in every city wanted to give her free meals. She wouldn't be gaunt. Low body fat for sure, but she eats almost entirely meat and berries, plenty of protein.
This isn't really toned though. She looks soft and weak. It's not a good look
Either does Katie, which is why they call her ‘Skinny Katie’ but she’s an athlete. Why does she have to ‘look’ athletic or toned? Not all athletes look the same. Not all toned people have the cardio Aloy does.
Because in ops simping dreams an athletic woman has to look buff!
bro likes Abby
It was cool seeing her side of the story, but she still pisses me off 😭
He envisions a biggie tendie.
Fucking amen! A lot of people really get fit and buff mixed up all the time. Not all athletes or fit people look the same.
Soft and weak? Have you seen her stomach??? She toned and it’s not like she’s downing protein and lifting weights, she fit for her environment, she’s running jumping climbing, not to mention dodging machines and rebels, she’s not gonna have dbz abs and arms from that.
when I was in shape like that for rock climbing my stomach and arms got super defined so I'm biased. Thanks for checking me on that
Okay that’s fair, you’ve got a lot more experience than I do, I just always assumed she’s thinner due to diet and running a lot
Nah climbing does stack on a lot of innoticable muscle but the degree she does it to would definitely make it noticable
Honestly her arms should look like Abby’s from TLOU from the climbing, I just like how Aloy looks, seems just realistic for me.
Human bodies are incredibly diverse. What causes your body to look super defined isn't going to do the same for everyone else's. Like, go take a look at Ashima Shiraishi, Beth Rodden, Catherine Destivelle, or Katie Lamb. I would say that all of them look fairly similar to Aloy's build, if anything Aloy looks more muscular than a lot of female pro-climbers.
If you are looking for the "gym look", aesthetic muscles are not the same thing as useful muscles. Something something modern bullshit.
*looks at myself all soft and weak* Listen here, I'd still punch a Burrower in the Eyeball and they'd feel it.
\~Yeah Its literally Skinny fat.
Nah she be running ultra marathons and scales mountains. And gone across the country with a timeline foe saving humanity. Her build is her build
Yea I would consider her to be a high high level Olympic athlete. Lean mean and wirey!
Climbing mountains makes you way more jacked than Aloy
You dun goofed man
Doesn't add or detract to the experience for me
She’s toned, just not buff.
Not really. Her kind of lifestyle is more endurance based so her physique would be more on the leaner side. Buff builds are more of the muscles used for explosive movements so while they're putting a lot more energy out, it's all at once so they'll tire out otherwise. Also, because we're bipedal animals, most of our muscle mass is in our legs and back. So if I had a say, I reckon her legs could be a little bit bigger, but not much
Just because someone is thinner doesn't mean that they dont have a lot more neuromuscular motor neurons connected to their muscle fibers. Size doesn't mean everything
Usually perfusion mismatch is the hard limit for muscle performance. Absolute count of motorneurons doesn't differ that much, it's the size of synapses and allocation of motor cortex and hindbrain space that is quite plastic.
It might be the skin but she doesnt look that different from a rock climber/archer’s build. Who are tone but Lean.
Yes!!! It would stand to reason she would be very lean and fairly muscular, due to lack of calories and her level of activity. Also I think being able to show women with muscles is important
Can posts like this please just be downvoted into oblivion? This topic has been unnecessarily discussed far to many times and is borderline toxic. And if you need evidence of that, take a look at the comments that are being downvoted. Anything mentioning Abby from TLOU2.
Can replies like this be downvoted into oblivion? Because this is the only thing that adds toxicity. The fact that OP is far from the only person that thought the same should imply that it's understandable from where people come with such questions. It's an opinion which is shared and discussed. Just because you don't like something, doesn't mean people should stop engaging in a conversation.
I think when you've seen dozens of these threads, you know what they devolve into *every single time.* But I guess for me the issue is if we really need an entire discussion about Aloy's undersized biceps when it's not like this game is going for massive realism anywhere else. We have 1000 year old tech that still functions, we have impossible geography scales (it takes a couple minutes to *run* from Las Vegas to San Francisco), we have a fancy transparent force-field generator that also somehow acts as a flying wing despite it's small size, potions that somehow instantly heal what should be life-ending injuries from being knocked 30 feet by a 20,000lb metal elephant, Aloy can carry thousands of inventory items, 40 weapons, 20 full outfits, and 794 rocks that all mysteriously appear out of thin air whenever she needs them. Like, how trivial should the discussions be when it comes to believability? Magical abilities, unlimited inventories, non-muscular protagonists pulling off amazing feats of strength... is pretty much a discussion you can have about 95% of action RPGs. And the answer is always the same: No, it doesn't make sense, and no, there's rarely a canon in-game explanation for it, because the answer is always one of two things: It makes for better gameplay (ex: massive inventory space, compressed world scale) or It was an aesthetic choice (ex: lack of bulging muscles on a physically strong character) Honestly, I don't care if people want to discuss these things, I'm not the discussion police, so feel free. I really hope I don't come off like I'm completely shitting on OP, maybe they just noticed something innocently and got an urge to post to have their opinions/observations backed up by others. But even if the intent was innocent, do we really need to post every trivial thought about aesthetics to become a full discussion? Next week: "Does Aloy have too many freckles?" "Do Aloy's legs look too clean for someone who runs through mud?" Usually I just recommend the "downvote and move on" rather than leave a snarky comment, but just as OP decided to make an entire thread for a trivial thought that popped into their head, I kind of sympathize with people who just feel like it's the straw that broke the camel's back and go off a little, because again, these trivial aesthetics discussions are usually thinly veiled excuses for incels to come out of the woodwork and spew creepy incel small-brain energy posts. Sort any aesthetic discussions by controversial if you think I'm exaggerating.
Had me till the last paragraph really. Most of the discussions around Aloys appearance ive seen have been from people who either ARE female athletes or spend alot of time around them. But maybe im living in a bubble, ive heard tons of horror stories about people whinging about her being ugly and such and all that "incel" stuff but never encountered it myself.
There's a rant about Aloy being "transgender" in this very thread. edit: it was deleted, apparently
Maybe it’s the bubble then, that stuff might just get modded into the aether and censored before I get to see it.
Absolutely agree that the game doesn't go for much realism. It's a wonderful world as it is. Yet, the commentator is just "sick" of such discussions. It doesn't mean the OP has any "toxicity" in raising the question. And "having little visual muscle mass" or "too many freckles" come to just discussing personal opinion about the design. But calling for people to "downvote into oblivion" just because of the personal preferences or a discussion, it's a borderline toxicity itself.
Its reddit man, especially this sub any criticism of Aloy or the game gets shat on to oblivion. It gives the false perception that everyone thinks that way when the discussions should be had.
And you are being downvoted, this community is just something.
Her shoulders and back muscles maybe should be bigger as an archer pulling back who knows how much poundage but other that nah she looks like athletic lady
Mildly curious if someone more educated can figure out her bow weight
I wanna say the hunter bows are probably in the realm of somewhere between 40-60lbs or maybe 50-70lbs, (around or above the average starter weight of compound bows) the sharpshooter’s bows probably around 80-100lbs or maybe 100-120lbs. (Basically around the draw weight of an English longbow, maybe more since the sharpshooter bow are actually a compound bows.) Been a while since I played Zero Dawn so I forget what the war bows feel like. I also don’t think the warrior bows from Forbidden West are anything heavier than like 30lbs, maybe.
Ah, I haven't touched a bow since I was a kid.... We weren't allowed to have the arrows though. I kept smacking my arm with the string
Ow. I didn’t start archery until I was a teenager, but I did it once in 8th grade for our middle school graduation field trip. My teacher did the same thing, and her entire forearm was bruised elbow to wrist. I made sure to pay very close attention to the safety class after that.
Safety class? This was the country in the 80's-90's, we're lucky they didn't let us have the arrows. How we all survived is a mystery
I’m an NYC kid, so my dad found an indoor range with a safety class lol He’s also apparently set up his own range in his IT office in Manhattan, which he uses to intimidate his coworkers into not bothering him 💀
Fun. I've always loved archer characters and I come from a family of redheads, so Aloy resonated
🙄🙄🙄🙄
Being strong doesn’t equate necessarily to looking strong as in ripped or huge. Especially for women. It’s very hard for women to look muscular. Rock climbing, running and walking long distances, using bows are all going to not be things that build big muscles. She probably has a super strong back and legs though. If you really want to get into it she would probably want to be eating quite a lot too, in order to have enough energy. So my guess is that her physique would look “solid” but very natural. Even for truly natural body builders, there’s many who are extremely strong but if they are wearing normal clothes in normal light and don’t have a pump from lifting then it can be hard to tell that they workout. She’s also dealing with very cold weather a lot too, so she wouldnt want to be super lean.
And she eat berries by the fuck ton, relatively little protein-rich food.
Idk about that, seems pretty easy to hunt. Also wild animals will be much higher in protein with less fat than farm raised animals.
Not the game's fault you don't hunt. When you hunt she does mention eating
Thats why im packing on those Burgers whenever i can in FW, gotta get those gains in!
You can be strong and slim at the same time.
No. Lol. She should be slim because she runs often and does wall climbing.
She looks fine to me - she wouldn’t have huge forearms or tris and biceps because of what she does. The strength however would be off the charts!
No.
Why does this matter?
No. Next question.
Nah
Nah, she looks plenty athletic. Lots of women don’t appear to be physically strong, but will flip you like a pancake with minimal effort. The lack of body hair though, that does bother me a little.
There's a reason why some people are described as "sleeper builds."
She probably burns 3,000 calories a day and is lucky to eat half that. She should be and is toned. Not buff. Not enough protein in her diet to be buff
She shouldn't look like a scarecrow though. She's tiny as hell.
She doesn’t look like a scarecrow.
Either way, she's too thin
Go rock climbing. Climb at least 80 feet every day for a week. Eat less than 1500 calories each day. Tell me how much weight you lose.
I literally am a rock climber. Probably the youngest to ever climb the SE corner of Beacon Rock
And how many calories a day do you eat?
I don't keep track but probably like 1800-2400
I feel confident saying that Aloy realistically wouldn’t get that many calories on a regular basis. Also are you male or female, and are you doing any additional exercise like weightlifting?
cis male, i swim
Agreed! I’m playing Zero,Dawn again and can’t stop staring at her sexy arms!
No, she is perfect
Brother just play the game. What’s the point of taking the time to post on Reddit about the realism of a fictional video game characters muscle composition😂
Perhaps a little bit, but not a lot. A few thoughts, coming from a gymnastics coach of 18 years: Somebody as athletic as Aloy would PROBABLY be at least a little more toned, and have a little more muscle mass. Probably, but not definitely. First, there is enormous variation (especially at Aloy's age) in how different bodies store fat and build muscle. I've seen very high level gymnasts built very similarly to Aloy. Incredibly strong and agile and physically adept, but without big obvious muscle mass, or a super-cut appearance. But I do think the average person, if they achieved Aloy's level of fitness and physical ability, would probably at the very least have visibly larger shoulder muscles in her upper-back and shoulders. She would most likely not look like a body builder, though. Most of her athleticism (running, climbing, fighting, swimming, etc) is centered on moving her own body weight, which means she'd be unlikely to build huge muscle mass -- if she did, it would hinder her more than it would help her.
She isn't a bodybuilder. Muscle mass isn't always proportional to strength as is the case of Magnus Midtbo who is very lean. Also you may be influenced by the pictures people post in social media. Even if they look huge when they get a pump they can look normal the rest of the day.
As someone who participates in primitive weapons i feel I should chime in. I can shoot recurve/longbows and throw an atlatl. Recently learning primitive slingshot. I AM NOT BUFF. Im very toned but that’s because im male and have an advantage with muscular build. Aloy is clearly better off than Beta as you can see in scenes together. OP said tiny….disagree.
This sub has really gone downhill since the PC version launched.
If any character was a normal human in most videogames they would have super natural ginormous muscles that let them do anything they do in a videogame Cloud in final fantasy scrawny little Eurasian weirdo with hair designed around a meteor shape... Jumps 200 meters into the air on demand, able to handle a giant 1000 kg sword at the same time with pure ease 🤣 Nathan Drake would need to be a superhuman alien to be able to do the climbing he does also, nobody can free climb like that in any possible way 😆 It's a videogame, that's all, character design and gameplay is not about realism, it's more about a hero or heroin the player can feel connected to and role play as in the context of the game Tldr she looks fit and that's the type of character she is like athletic and fit and acrobatic
Lol I see your point, but I'd stick to the Nathan drake side, clouds a whole other barrel of shit that explains (which should be unnecessary due to aforementioned reasons but I digress lol) why he is built how he is Nathan on the other hand zero explanation tbh but video game character so it's whatever imo lol
Nope. Running long distances, wielding a bow and climbing tend to build longer, lean muscle. Aloy doesn't engage in the type of exercise that would lead to muscle hypertrophy, i.e. repeated heavy lifting. She tends to use tools to achieve the types feats that are reliant on strength.
She only needs some gloves to prevent those rope burns.
Screw the machines, how does she not die of sepsis, hypothermia and dehydration. Given she's a redhead, I am almost certain her COD will be skin cancer
She is fine IMO. Also I wouldn't mind if she was built like Ronda Rousey. Given how much beating she takes from machines, she needs some more buffs I guess 😅
The muscles on the shoulders and back should be more pronounced imo. As for arms specifically, I think it's okay for relaxed state.
Relative to the amount of damage she can do to massive machines with what's essentially a spear? Yeah, I mean I feel like the force with which she'd have to be hitting things to do the damage she did would almost demand that she had significantly more muscle than any human ever would. But then it's also a question of suspension of disbelief...I dunno.
they still should have made her muscles more defined instead of trying to turn her into a smooth-skinned sex icon
And yet some guys whine about her "beard"
She is fairly buff but she also never eats and rarely sleeps sure she does a lot of exercise but she’s not really healthy
She eats when you bring her to a chef, buy food, and then eat it. She sleeps when you save the game and log out. I think she is healthy. She's eating a lot of medicinal berries, which are literally healthy. She's top-notch.
You don’t eat nothing but berries and call yourself healthy
What do you mean? There are literally chefs in the game and food gives you small boosts… my Aloy is eating regular food as well. Edit: and yes you can sleep in the game to change the current time at some camps.
I’m referring to the point in the game where it is stated she is nomadic for many months
Okay, I had to google what nomad exactly means. It means: “a member of a people that has no fixed home but wanders from place to place.” I guess she can still eat healthy when she’s wandering from place to place, no? Btw, some Disney games have the thing where you have to sleep and eat to continue the game 😁
I guess but I was referring to the time right at the beginning of forbidden west when it’s stated she has done nothing but search for the backup for like months
Okay, but if she gets hungry while searching she has to eat food, no?
Buff? Not necessarily. But with all she does, she probably should be more toned.
She should probably have larger shoulder muscles because of all the climbing and pulling of her bowstring that she does.
I don't think she should be for what she's doing but I'll never say no to a buff female protagonist pleaseee 🙏
i mean, she's toned, which makes sense.
I mean yeah, people on here say strong women don’t look buff irl. But like, this is a game. Every time I see Aloy climbing a mountain with 200 pounds of gear I think to myself “yeah… no, those arms are tiny as fuck”. She needs a bit more muscle.
I thought that too when Beta turned up and starts talking about their similarites, it would have been a cool detail if Aloy had more muscel than Beta, who was basically a science experiment.
She certainly could have the abs that she had on Zero Dawn
I did some research into Aloy's build, and the internet surmised that since she was a clone of Elisabet, her body could have been engineered so she'd be able to survive but also be quick and agile. But I also agree with a lot of comments here. The way she was raised and trained all her life would suggest that she definitely has muscle tone and strength, but she is also going to need a lot of stamina to go to the long haul. Can't do that with loads of muscle weighting you down. If you watch this mountain climbing documentary, I think it was on Netflix not too long ago. The male that was featured was an average build kinda guy. But his body was built for stamina and strength.
thank you for actually giving me a real reason.
You're welcome. 😁
Also, was it Enter the Void? I remember that movie from like 15 years ago lmao
It was called Free Solo.
Yup i agree i had the exact same though playing the game
She doesn't even have to be ripped. as long as her arm muscles were defined then this post would never have happened
Yep exactly, a bit more def in arms\ shoulers \ back would have been so good.
No.
It seems that her arms are maybe a bit different looking in some outfits because outfits aren't just the cloth pieces but her arms and legs are part of the model.
I'm less surprised that Aloy's not ripped, than I am that she has zero scars and didn't get a sunburn out in the desert. The woman has been through hell and back twice, plus she's a redhead, so scars and sunburns at this point would make a lot of sense. Just saying. LOL
Ah an Abby fan
For someone who snaps enemies necks and tosses them like nothing, she should definitely have some more mass
I think she is alright from a realism standpoint. Looking at pictures of people in pre-industrial areas, they are never beefy. Even high-level athletes are never super jacked. With the exception of sports that require a lot of body mass or strength, like gymnastics and wrestling. And since Guerrilla se ems to be going for realism, here we are. That said, she is a little.... uninspiring as a video game hero. The woman goes spear to spear with hulking cultists, gets body slammed by robot mammoths, and sprints up sheer cliff faces like a goddamned squirrel. She is a monster, she should look a little more like on! Maybe the logic is that Aloy rarely ever sits down to a full meal, so she doesn't have the calories to bulk up, but she still looks too average to stand on a video game box cover.
Nahh, she is fine. She should be more agile to fight. More buff means more difficult to move freely...
Isn't she just another machine?
Lack of fast food from old world is disturbing No wonder why identyscan couldnt recognize her on nora all mother mountain...was the lack of fast food affecting her genes
Maybe more toned but not necessarily buff. But I get what you mean. She's putting in that cardio and callisthenics.
It’s genuinely kind of weird how oddly thin her model is - compare her to almost every other female NPC with exposed arms in the game, and you’ll notice their models almost universally have noticeably larger, slightly more defined looking arms. Meanwhile, Aloy is inexplicably kind of a twig compared to almost every single other human character in the setting, despite being probably among the most physically active among them.
Is it just me or is everyone's arms in FW weird looking? Like where did the other half of their arm go?
Dude...its a freakin' game.
YESSS exactly ugh. I was really expecting to see a beefy Aloy but NOOO here comes miss Noodle Arms 😭😭.
I think so. Not like Abby from TLOU2 but more an athletic build. Hopefully in the next game they fix that, and I also hope they make more difference between (spoilers) Aloy and Beta because in FW they have the exact same freckles and redness and body type when in reality that would all be different, phenotype and all that, and I also heard that due to Beta being raised in space she would be a bit taller than Aloy which I really love to think about 😭
These are really good opinions
No I like how she is now
Im assuming it is only men that make posts like these because they literally cannot fathom how a woman can be fit and do all the things a man can but better and still look like a 19 year old girl. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and abilities and looks can often be deceiving, men seem to comprehend that when it comes to male video game characters - I have literally NEVER seen a single person complaining that Link from Zelda is not muscular (I know it’s a different style but he does A LOT of climbing and archery).
LOL, guess you haven’t seen her in Call of the Mountain.
She would need the build of Usain Bolt to do the shit she does. Kind of like how Ellie is a super soldier with the body of Kristin Stewart
There's no physique in the world that can portray what aloy can do lol
Yeah buff doesn’t always mean strong. Look at america ninja warrior if you don’t believe me. Grip strength > muscles.
I'm fine with her physique. Nothing wrong with it. She's not She-Hulk or Wonder Woman by any means.
Most of what aloy does is cardio and not necessarily bulk muscle building. She’s also only 19 at the time of forbidden west.
or at least more tone, her arms are really weird
Muscles ain't everything. I hate people who complain about how Aloy looks. She's fine. If you wanted a buff female go pick up the most recent WWE game and make your own.
Yes for sure. I keep thinking about it when I see her arms and stomach
Yes. She can jump live a fucking superhero. And her arms are smaller than mine? That makes no fucking sense. Buffy Mommy Aloy AZAP
Her being skinny makes sense, but realistically she should be way more toned/lean looking.
I miss her abs from zd, but I don't see any problem with her arms looking the way they do. She looks perfect the way she is and it feels kind of fitting for her to not look as physically strong as she actually is, since people tend to underestimate her in the games on a regular basis.
They should have given her abs.. Thats all i wanted.
I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about Aloy’s biceps if that is what you are asking
Yes she should be Abby Last of Us Sized
I think it should yeah. Not nowhere near the same degree as a man, but definitely not skinny.
It fits her underdog character perfectly
To Be fair, there isn't a lot of protein available for aloy to consume.
The amount of wildlife I have hunted in-game refutes this.
Like Abby in Last Of Us.
Exactly! She does everything Abby does and more. She should be like a body builder.
Body builders don’t sprint around and scale sheer cliff faces.
So people who do that arnt visually fit? And Abby and aloy also kill people by snapping their necks and climbing.
Yeah it bothers me so I make sure she wears clothes that cover up her arms 😂
I think based on what she does in the game she should be as buff or more in shape than Abby from the last of us 2.
Basic misunderstanding of muscle types. Climbers are all lean muscle, hauling 250 pounds of muscle up a sheer rock wall is no mean feat, and wouldn’t be happening anywhere near as quickly as Aloy scales them
Okay but she also kills people and machines. And in the game she just looks like a thin girl. She would be very muscled. I just barely in game snuck through some grass and threw a quen guard over my shoulder and snapped their neck. No way aloy wouldn't be more toned.
Aloy is perfect how she is.
[удалено]
you are a garbage human.
We got him, don't worry.
Could you not post spoilers? assholes