I mean, I'm totally in love with Yen too, but what's your point? If you're gonna come in here and talk about your body preferences on video game women, then don't. It's detrimental to the discussion and it only further proves our point.
Literally nowhere in your post do you discuss the topics presented in the OP.
I disagree. Look:
I want to get out of the way that I am a sex positive feminist, and when I criticise sexualized female character designs, it has nothing to do with prudishness or slut-shaming or anything like that; instead, it comes from a place of frustration, because how the hell are we supposed to combat sexism in gaming when one of the biggest examples of that--that serves to both reinforce and reflect sexist viewpoints--is consistently let slide?
Because yes, if you have a game where all the dudes are covered from head to toe and your one female character is running around in a trash bag bikini and looking thoroughly uncomfortable about it, it's sexist. It reinforces the (already widespread, particularly in gaming "culture") idea that women are objects who exist solely for male titillation and pleasure. It's not "puritanism", it's wanting to be treated like **** people.
There's nothing wrong with a female character wearing a bikini if, for example, a game is set on a beach, and the male characters are in their swimming trunks. Complaining about that would be prudishness, and a little ridiculous. But it often seems like developers are so desperate for boobs that they're willing to break the audience's suspension of disbelief and hurt their own narrative in the process, and it's like, wow, do you really want to objectify women that badly? Can't you just leave us alone for five **** minutes? Because Quiet breathing through her skin is not a compelling reason for a trash bag bikini, within the narrative or outside of it. If you really, really want to stick with the skin-breathing, **** , just dress her in a sports bra and running shorts. At least that would be practical, and not grossly out of character. Cindy is a mechanic in the **** desert who walks around in hot pants and a bikini top, because she has grease-repelling skin that never burns, I guess. Meanwhile, Noctis and co. roll up in jeans and t-shirts. It's like, okay, we get it, this game is for dudes and the women are there for eye candy. Can we stop now, please? We're just so **** tired of this. And then we get steamrolled by dudes who barge in and try to insist that this **** is actually empowering and we're just prudes, and, like, we get it, you don't want anyone to take your boobs away, stop pretending it's some righteous cause, thanks.
(I've talked about objectified female characters in gaming before, and I have received some amazing responses: I'm jealous because I'm a fat ugly loser; I have no idea what I'm talking about and Quiet wearing a trash bag bikini is actually empowering and feminist; "ohmygod why are you trying to take away my BEWBS"... you get the idea. Still, hopefully this time will go a little better.)
In my very first sentence, I say that I'm a prude, which directly addresses the OP's first sentence.
I did not address the specific examples that the OP uses because I have not played MGSV or whatever game Noctis and Cindy come from, so I had to produce my own examples of what I find tasteful and practical.
Elsewhere in the topic, OP includes the example of a topless female barbarian that they believe is better in design than one that isn't, because of proportions, lack of breast support, etc. And so I provided an example of my ideal female barbarian, ideal fighting game character (not Dead or Alive).
Maybe you just glossed over my post and did not see the parallels.
I *am* a prude. Therefore, I don't really see the need for all the displays of skin.
But if I have to look at it, I prefer it as follows:
The best design of a female character ever is Yennifer.
And unlike all the other sorceresses, she's fully-clothed (there are arguably aesthetic/cultural/story reasons for this given where she was during Witcher 1 and Witcher 2), and reveals flesh strategically (grandmothers use to say show one or the other; never both). At any rate, there isn't a more intelligent woman players can encounter over the span of 3 Witcher games...probably in any game I've played.
In the first 25 seconds of this video is the greatest comeback line I've heard a woman say in a video game. Made me chuckle and miss the rest of the conversation the first time I played.
I also enjoyed what she had to say about the bed.
She has her soft moments, too. Exquisitely balanced, exciting character. In every scene she's in, she enraptures. Massive contrast from what I am accustomed to, from eye candy to designs that ask me to suspend disbelief even beyond disbelief.
Second best design goes to the female barbarian in Diablo III.
She is a biiiiig gurl, and I LOVE it. I mean, if you want to talk about sex appeal, this woman can commit demonic genocide while dual-wielding gigantic axes and keep you warm atop a cold mountain. If folks want to talk about body positivism, compare those wide hips that are for bearing armor that would crush most men.
OG Vanessa from VF4 is my third all-time favorite female character design. She looks like if Serena Williams picked up MMA instead of a tennis racket. That booty is skronk, and she will kick your butt hard!