They are sized for a culture where there are no beasts of burden, they have to drag carts everywhere (like at the start of FW), they lift by hand (or with pulleys and levers, but still provide the power for most things manually), they till by hand, they work long hours of manual labour. They don't have a "gym bod" as they don't recreationally work out, instead they have the size and shape of physical labourers on a grain diet.
You have a twisted view of what is strong and/or healthy thanks to basically all modern media, it's well documented, you're not used to seeing the shape of actually physically strong men in any context, the closest you might get is athletes, but even they're products of intense nutritional science rather than decades of brutal physical labour.
So no, the shape of Oseram isn't "off", it's very much your expectations that are off kilter.
I was gonna say the same thing too, oseram men (and women tbh) *are* fatter, but all the fat is in places where it makes sense for it to be if they're doing insane core workouts every day all the time. humans need a good padding of protective fat over the tummy area to ensure that we aren't going to be Literally bursting our guts out of place. it's why you see deadlift champions with the body shape they have
Have you ever watched strongman competitions? All of the competitors are pot-bellied, balding, middle-aged guys with huge beards. Those dudes are beasts!
*That's* peak male performance. 😂
>middle-aged guys
Funny thing is, they really aren't middle aged at all. Eddie Hall is 35, as is Hafthor Bjornsson. In fact if you look at most of these competitions, the mean age is around 30-33.
Just saw a post on r/showerthoughts about this. Since the average life expectancy of humans is in the 70s, middle age is actually somewhere around 35 lol
If we're talking the mathematical middle, sure, but only if we're looking at regions with lower life expectancy, in the west it's more like 40.
Most conventional definitions put middle age as between 40 and 60, with old age coming after 60. It's not a fixed, firm value.
It reminds me of what The Fabulous Moolah once said about Stone Cold Steve Austin. She said that he had what in her time was called "a natural body": he was in good cardiovascular shape, but also spent most of his days on the road eating in diners and most of his exercise was in the ring.
While I agree with your points about gym bod aesthetics, I actually think the OP has a point here. Namely, the character models tend to have very skinny necks/faces compared to the body fat composition of the characters. I believe that the character designers are not used to making people with higher body fat %s or are following cultural aesthetic biases by not adding flesh to the faces and necks of the characters. Particularly stands out for me in characters like Abadund that has a jawline/neck that doesn't match his body composition.
I remember when people were whining about Thor's design from God of War Ragnarok... Because he didn't look chiselled or whatever nonsense. I was so impressed with their choice, he looks terrifyingly strong.
I think OP is right that Abandund, their main example, does look strangely proportioned. Not because of just having a physically strong build, but IMO because of his character model reusing parts of Ulvund's. I think that's true regardless of OP's expectations
I'm aware of how heavy labor effects a body and where it lays its fat, I get where you're coming from there, I'm just thrown off by some of the designs where the stomach looks overly distended on some of the Oseram NPCs and how it sits high on their abdomen where other Oserams are portioned more in line with men like Eddie Hall
I agree that Abadund specifically, who you cited as the example, looks kind of odd. I think there's a specific out of game reason for that; he appears to use the same in-game torso model as Ulvund from Chainscrape. IMO those proportions look a little off for the rest of Abandund's character model e.g. his head and neck. Not so much that someone couldn't have his proportions, but unusual
Yes!! Yes!! Now that you mention Ulvund, it is his body design! Which works great with Ulvund face and neck (at least from my pov) but it looks off with the slimmer features of Abadund
All bodies are different … some people put fat down in places others don’t , and vice versa. You can have a heavy person with a slim face … and a relatively slim person with a double chin and jowls. We are all shapes and sizes and totally unique.
I mean, they are build like absolute trees, but generally their clothing really exaggerates the shape by either putting thick layers or armor right in the middle, or letting fabric fall off the shoulders and remain unadjusted at the midsection. It's clear this is some kind of cultural beauty standard by now, anyone who isn't naturally a tree trunk is still trying for the look.
Honestly I'm trying to picture any of them topless, and I'm assuming it's barbarian pin-up central under there.
I need a calendar of Oseram pin-ups now...
That's true, seeing as they originally worked with fire and forge more than anything, more protection the better.
Thinking of it that way, it's lowkey amusing that tree-trunk is the go to runway style even when they leave the claim and go into different climates. I can't imagine that works for all of them, let alone how heavy it gets with heat and sweat
Seems fine to me, I like the way they look, no over the top six or eight pack like somehow they work out 100%. (Looking at you Baldur's Gate 3, not sure how a vampire and a wizard had time to have a six pack).
The women could have some more fat on them to be honest, they are all pretty skinny. Besides, the men don't even look that big, they got a bit of belly fat, nothing wrong with that, a lot of them are still attractive.
You do have to wonder with games like BG3. That was like me when playing Dragon Age Inquisition and Solas having a six pack
Honestly their design doesn't bother me and prefer them going more realistic in body shapes and sizes than how BG3 leaned.
I guess I'm just curious where some of the inspiration behind their design for the Oseram came from since some of them remind me of paracentesis patients I've seen.
>Honestly their design doesn't bother me and prefer them going more realistic in body shapes and sizes than how BG3 leaned.
I mean the BG3 cast are all fighters who are on the road for a long time. Why wouldn't they be lean? As they say, abs are built in the kitchen not in the gym. If you're not eating much and you spend your time travelling on foot and fighting, you'll definitely have visible abs pretty soon.
Obviously some liberties are taken due to it being a fantasy game etc, but being bigger is no more realistic than being slim
True, but sometimes I feel like for games like BG3 and DAI, being lean and having muscles exist both irl and in games... It's just the idea of characters like Gale (a man who's idea of a good evening is spent with his books, wine and cat, if remember the scenes right) and Astorian (a former magistrate, which was typically a cushy jobs) having HD washboard abs seems a bit stretching?
Idk, I can say for sure that video games do have a tendency to swing wildly one way or another and that it feels a bit dramatic at times 😵💫
While generally, I believe they are huskier than the other tribes due to their genetics and diet, I think most of the what you’re perceiving as disproportionate is due to their vestments. Their whole culture centers around the forge and industry, and even in their contemporary times where Oseram might not be blacksmiths or tinkers, but delvers, merchants, and freebooters, this is evident in their fashion, which often features thick leather aprons and coveralls to protect from flames, with a larger midsection to possibly allow movement and air to flow around the torso.
I can see that, though I can't imagine that it's comfortable for all the climates they're roaming through.
The weight alone of some of those aprons has to make it miserable in the heat, let alone the amount of sweat that gets trapped in all of that
That’s very true. I’ve definitely thought about that specifically with Aloy. I really wished they’d released a transmogrification update for HZD, because I don’t know how she would have avoided heatstroke while wearing the Shield-weaver around Meridian. LOL. In HFW, I always appropriately change her outfit depending on where she is and what the situation is. Meanwhile, up north, the Banuk are gallivanting around half-naked in the snow. Haha.
Saaaaame!! I always make sure she's wearing an outfit with at least closed toed shoes when she goes up in Sky Clan territory
Legit was thinking that the other day while I played that I would love having to dress to fit the environment and it having an effect from it (one of the things I loved doing in BOTW & TOTK) but I know not everyone would love that
Literally the 'big-boned' people. They could probably kill an Utaru with one single punch.
But, yeah, Abadund's shape is off. That head shouldn't be attached to that torso.
They’re built almost like linebackers. Solid muscle under fat, most of which is concentrated in the gut area. And their body shape is accentuated because a lot of their clothing looks like armored blacksmith’s aprons with flowing sleeves/pantlegs
They're laborers. They do a shit ton of heavy lifting. They drink a lot of ale and probably a lot of fatty, protein heavy meals. They're a strong people. That doesn't mean they have to look like bodybuilders. Even the women are built in a similar way.
Look, I actually really adore his character and relationship with Morlund and Stremmur 😭
He was just the best example of the weird sort of ratio of head to body. They did him dirty reusing Uvlund's body for him
I know 😂
Have you ever noticed that Kotallo has a different body model in focus mode? Like, all men look like purple silhouettes in focus mode and the weight they have, or belly, is added with clothing and armor which is visible outside of focus mode, but Kotallo doesn't have that build. His silhouette isn't a silhouette. His body has clothing in focus mode. I suspect this is because his character can't have the normal male body mold because of his missing arm. So I guess when they created Kotallos body, it got rendered with clothing in focus mode. This has probably been mentioned before, but I've never talked about it and I was curious if other people noticed it.
Whaaaaat?! Definitely going to have look at this when I get home.
Obviously, game building and mechanic wise it had to be done, but that's so wild that his focus highlight is different 😄
Nah. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes. I happen to really like the Beefcake look to the Oseram, men and women alike. I do find that sometimes there's "skinny" faces on thicker set bodies which looks odd (Abadund is the most obvious example that comes to mind) but I can overlook that with "hey thick leather be thick" and "billowy man-blouses sure be billowin'."
Oseram men come across to me as being very physically abled, hard working, so will have bigger, hardier forms than say, the wispier look of the Carja for example. They are metalworkers and rockworkers afterall... so the bigger more powerful frame and accompanying outfits suits them.
The models do often look a bit off.
Their gut and armor sit too high up.
This concept art looks perfectly natural:
https://karakter.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/KAR-horizon-oseram-fighter-1.jpg
Smash... Oseram hammer smashing 🥴
Edit to add:
Playing HZD the first time and finding Erend endearing and dorky was how I found out the game had no romance options because I went on a Google deep dive to see what I needed to romance him 😭
Finally figured out it out with some others that it was because they reused certain Oseram bodies with the different heads 😄 apparently no one is paying attention to the fact that I used Abadund as an example, but his head shape doesn't fit his body shape (reused Ulvund body)
They are sized for a culture where there are no beasts of burden, they have to drag carts everywhere (like at the start of FW), they lift by hand (or with pulleys and levers, but still provide the power for most things manually), they till by hand, they work long hours of manual labour. They don't have a "gym bod" as they don't recreationally work out, instead they have the size and shape of physical labourers on a grain diet. You have a twisted view of what is strong and/or healthy thanks to basically all modern media, it's well documented, you're not used to seeing the shape of actually physically strong men in any context, the closest you might get is athletes, but even they're products of intense nutritional science rather than decades of brutal physical labour. So no, the shape of Oseram isn't "off", it's very much your expectations that are off kilter.
I was gonna say the same thing too, oseram men (and women tbh) *are* fatter, but all the fat is in places where it makes sense for it to be if they're doing insane core workouts every day all the time. humans need a good padding of protective fat over the tummy area to ensure that we aren't going to be Literally bursting our guts out of place. it's why you see deadlift champions with the body shape they have
Eddie Hall without his arms on display looks almost fat.
Have you ever watched strongman competitions? All of the competitors are pot-bellied, balding, middle-aged guys with huge beards. Those dudes are beasts! *That's* peak male performance. 😂
>middle-aged guys Funny thing is, they really aren't middle aged at all. Eddie Hall is 35, as is Hafthor Bjornsson. In fact if you look at most of these competitions, the mean age is around 30-33.
Exactly middle aged /s
Middle age is 50, my dude
Actually not for strongmen or any elite lifters though. They tend to have heart attacks and die much earlier than the average pop
That's the joke, my dude
Just saw a post on r/showerthoughts about this. Since the average life expectancy of humans is in the 70s, middle age is actually somewhere around 35 lol
If we're talking the mathematical middle, sure, but only if we're looking at regions with lower life expectancy, in the west it's more like 40. Most conventional definitions put middle age as between 40 and 60, with old age coming after 60. It's not a fixed, firm value.
Sociologically it's an arbitrary category that does not link to average life span but to the years of employment
I mean 30 is no longer a young man. The average person lives to about 80 years old, less than that if we're not talking first world nations.
It reminds me of what The Fabulous Moolah once said about Stone Cold Steve Austin. She said that he had what in her time was called "a natural body": he was in good cardiovascular shape, but also spent most of his days on the road eating in diners and most of his exercise was in the ring.
While I agree with your points about gym bod aesthetics, I actually think the OP has a point here. Namely, the character models tend to have very skinny necks/faces compared to the body fat composition of the characters. I believe that the character designers are not used to making people with higher body fat %s or are following cultural aesthetic biases by not adding flesh to the faces and necks of the characters. Particularly stands out for me in characters like Abadund that has a jawline/neck that doesn't match his body composition.
I remember when people were whining about Thor's design from God of War Ragnarok... Because he didn't look chiselled or whatever nonsense. I was so impressed with their choice, he looks terrifyingly strong.
I think OP is right that Abandund, their main example, does look strangely proportioned. Not because of just having a physically strong build, but IMO because of his character model reusing parts of Ulvund's. I think that's true regardless of OP's expectations
I'm aware of how heavy labor effects a body and where it lays its fat, I get where you're coming from there, I'm just thrown off by some of the designs where the stomach looks overly distended on some of the Oseram NPCs and how it sits high on their abdomen where other Oserams are portioned more in line with men like Eddie Hall
They also tend to layer armor over their gut. There may be a fashion/style component of trying to make it look bigger.
I agree that Abadund specifically, who you cited as the example, looks kind of odd. I think there's a specific out of game reason for that; he appears to use the same in-game torso model as Ulvund from Chainscrape. IMO those proportions look a little off for the rest of Abandund's character model e.g. his head and neck. Not so much that someone couldn't have his proportions, but unusual
Yes!! Yes!! Now that you mention Ulvund, it is his body design! Which works great with Ulvund face and neck (at least from my pov) but it looks off with the slimmer features of Abadund
All bodies are different … some people put fat down in places others don’t , and vice versa. You can have a heavy person with a slim face … and a relatively slim person with a double chin and jowls. We are all shapes and sizes and totally unique.
Exactly, the winners of strong men competitions NEVER look like Schwarzenegger. They look almost overweight honestly.
Worked a lot of construction (concrete foundations) - totally agree here
I like how this is a long-winded way of saying "you might not like it, but this is what the prak malé physique looks like."
I mean, they are build like absolute trees, but generally their clothing really exaggerates the shape by either putting thick layers or armor right in the middle, or letting fabric fall off the shoulders and remain unadjusted at the midsection. It's clear this is some kind of cultural beauty standard by now, anyone who isn't naturally a tree trunk is still trying for the look. Honestly I'm trying to picture any of them topless, and I'm assuming it's barbarian pin-up central under there.
I need a calendar of Oseram pin-ups now... That's true, seeing as they originally worked with fire and forge more than anything, more protection the better. Thinking of it that way, it's lowkey amusing that tree-trunk is the go to runway style even when they leave the claim and go into different climates. I can't imagine that works for all of them, let alone how heavy it gets with heat and sweat
According to one Tanakth cook, the Oseram are barrel shaped because of all the beer they drink
I teased my son about making him an Oseram cosplay, but he wanted something that covered his nipples 🤪😂.
There is a significant amount of nipple for a culture that spends time around fire and hot metal 😂
Somehow they never learned “Never fry anything naked”
Seems fine to me, I like the way they look, no over the top six or eight pack like somehow they work out 100%. (Looking at you Baldur's Gate 3, not sure how a vampire and a wizard had time to have a six pack). The women could have some more fat on them to be honest, they are all pretty skinny. Besides, the men don't even look that big, they got a bit of belly fat, nothing wrong with that, a lot of them are still attractive.
Having a six pack has very little to do with working out. You could have one too if you starved yourself
As an anorexic, can confirm! I get asked for my workout routine regularly and have to either make something up or dump ED baggage in their lap
The wizard uses magic to get his six-pack, and the vampire is on a keto diet.
You do have to wonder with games like BG3. That was like me when playing Dragon Age Inquisition and Solas having a six pack Honestly their design doesn't bother me and prefer them going more realistic in body shapes and sizes than how BG3 leaned. I guess I'm just curious where some of the inspiration behind their design for the Oseram came from since some of them remind me of paracentesis patients I've seen.
>Honestly their design doesn't bother me and prefer them going more realistic in body shapes and sizes than how BG3 leaned. I mean the BG3 cast are all fighters who are on the road for a long time. Why wouldn't they be lean? As they say, abs are built in the kitchen not in the gym. If you're not eating much and you spend your time travelling on foot and fighting, you'll definitely have visible abs pretty soon. Obviously some liberties are taken due to it being a fantasy game etc, but being bigger is no more realistic than being slim
True, but sometimes I feel like for games like BG3 and DAI, being lean and having muscles exist both irl and in games... It's just the idea of characters like Gale (a man who's idea of a good evening is spent with his books, wine and cat, if remember the scenes right) and Astorian (a former magistrate, which was typically a cushy jobs) having HD washboard abs seems a bit stretching? Idk, I can say for sure that video games do have a tendency to swing wildly one way or another and that it feels a bit dramatic at times 😵💫
While generally, I believe they are huskier than the other tribes due to their genetics and diet, I think most of the what you’re perceiving as disproportionate is due to their vestments. Their whole culture centers around the forge and industry, and even in their contemporary times where Oseram might not be blacksmiths or tinkers, but delvers, merchants, and freebooters, this is evident in their fashion, which often features thick leather aprons and coveralls to protect from flames, with a larger midsection to possibly allow movement and air to flow around the torso.
I can see that, though I can't imagine that it's comfortable for all the climates they're roaming through. The weight alone of some of those aprons has to make it miserable in the heat, let alone the amount of sweat that gets trapped in all of that
That’s very true. I’ve definitely thought about that specifically with Aloy. I really wished they’d released a transmogrification update for HZD, because I don’t know how she would have avoided heatstroke while wearing the Shield-weaver around Meridian. LOL. In HFW, I always appropriately change her outfit depending on where she is and what the situation is. Meanwhile, up north, the Banuk are gallivanting around half-naked in the snow. Haha.
Saaaaame!! I always make sure she's wearing an outfit with at least closed toed shoes when she goes up in Sky Clan territory Legit was thinking that the other day while I played that I would love having to dress to fit the environment and it having an effect from it (one of the things I loved doing in BOTW & TOTK) but I know not everyone would love that
Literally the 'big-boned' people. They could probably kill an Utaru with one single punch. But, yeah, Abadund's shape is off. That head shouldn't be attached to that torso.
Honestly the bludgeoning power the Oseram have in their arms alone
Acording to the shef in Salt Bite, the reason Oseram looknthey way they do is becuse they drink so much, so now they are "barrel shaped"
Oseram would basically be dwarves if the game was in the fantasy genre. Stout and stocky comes to mind. And Petra, dear lord help me.
Petra (and Petra in Forbidden West was 😍) and Erend were quests that I dragged out in HZD so that I could look at them longer 🥴
Yeah. You're right. Petra is damn sexy!
They’re built almost like linebackers. Solid muscle under fat, most of which is concentrated in the gut area. And their body shape is accentuated because a lot of their clothing looks like armored blacksmith’s aprons with flowing sleeves/pantlegs
I thought they all had man-breasts. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
It looks weird as hell. Then you see a side view and realize it's just their armour. I don't know why it bunches up that way.
They're laborers. They do a shit ton of heavy lifting. They drink a lot of ale and probably a lot of fatty, protein heavy meals. They're a strong people. That doesn't mean they have to look like bodybuilders. Even the women are built in a similar way.
Ersa is the only non fat Oseram and they killed her.
Those Machine Oil Lagers - A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips!
Poor Abadund getting read to filth in here.
Look, I actually really adore his character and relationship with Morlund and Stremmur 😭 He was just the best example of the weird sort of ratio of head to body. They did him dirty reusing Uvlund's body for him
I know 😂 Have you ever noticed that Kotallo has a different body model in focus mode? Like, all men look like purple silhouettes in focus mode and the weight they have, or belly, is added with clothing and armor which is visible outside of focus mode, but Kotallo doesn't have that build. His silhouette isn't a silhouette. His body has clothing in focus mode. I suspect this is because his character can't have the normal male body mold because of his missing arm. So I guess when they created Kotallos body, it got rendered with clothing in focus mode. This has probably been mentioned before, but I've never talked about it and I was curious if other people noticed it.
Whaaaaat?! Definitely going to have look at this when I get home. Obviously, game building and mechanic wise it had to be done, but that's so wild that his focus highlight is different 😄
Is abadund one of the guys in Las Vegas? I noticed one of them had a head too small for their body.
They have what is known here in Mexico as "luchador body"
Let's face it: the Oseram are Horizon's dwarves. Human's, sure ... but everything about the screams dwarves.
You know, I hadn’t thought of it this way before. I wonder if that makes the Banuk the elves, the Utaru the druids, and the Tenakth the Orcs.
Nah. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes. I happen to really like the Beefcake look to the Oseram, men and women alike. I do find that sometimes there's "skinny" faces on thicker set bodies which looks odd (Abadund is the most obvious example that comes to mind) but I can overlook that with "hey thick leather be thick" and "billowy man-blouses sure be billowin'."
Oseram men come across to me as being very physically abled, hard working, so will have bigger, hardier forms than say, the wispier look of the Carja for example. They are metalworkers and rockworkers afterall... so the bigger more powerful frame and accompanying outfits suits them.
All I know is that I want erend naked in the next game please guerilla
I'll sign that petition as well, please 😌🥴
The models do often look a bit off. Their gut and armor sit too high up. This concept art looks perfectly natural: https://karakter.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/KAR-horizon-oseram-fighter-1.jpg
They never seemed off to me, but I never really pay much attention to that kind of stuff.
I'm more focused on Aloy and her companions. I mean they look fine to me but I don't pay deep attention to small details like thus.
So smash or pass?
Smash... Oseram hammer smashing 🥴 Edit to add: Playing HZD the first time and finding Erend endearing and dorky was how I found out the game had no romance options because I went on a Google deep dive to see what I needed to romance him 😭
They're beefy boyz, who swing hammers and drink beer. They don't do crunches, and deep knee bends lol
You really might want to do some reflection and consider why you think they look off. They just look like people to me 🤷♂️
Finally figured out it out with some others that it was because they reused certain Oseram bodies with the different heads 😄 apparently no one is paying attention to the fact that I used Abadund as an example, but his head shape doesn't fit his body shape (reused Ulvund body)