the-midnight-doe submitted (spoilers in text and links):

This is a image compilation of the character Sharla from Xenoblade Chronicles. Xenoblade is a great game (if you are able to find it due to its ridiculous rarity,) and a big part of the gameplay is being able to upgrade your character by giving different them outfits and armor to up their defense and other stats. Unfortunately for Sharla, “better armor” means nothing at all, as literally every single one of her outfits shows off her cleavage and stomach, and most of them leave her thighs exposed. While her default look isn’t exactly something to praise either due to its inclusion of thigh-high heels, booty shorts, and some kind of interesting crop-top deal, it at least makes sense to some degree.

Sharla isn’t the only female character to receive this treatment, unfortunately: Fiora, who dies within the game’s first few hours and serves as the main character’s motivation for revenge against the enemy Mechon, also has a problem of boob windows and strange default outfits. However, the final playable female character is treated with far more dignity, and even if her outfits aren’t flawless, they are a million times better than the above examples.

And of course, in a move that will surprise absolutely no one, every single playable male character has proper armor, and they’re the exact same ones that the female characters wear. Hell even the Pokemon-esque character has better armor than the women’s. What’s even worse is that the cutscenes are rendered in real time, so whatever your character was wearing in battle is what they’ll be wearing when the camera is out of your control. It’s incredibly frustrating because the characters are actually very well written and can hold their own in a fight, and yet the women are still treated so disrespectfully by the game developers.

Images courtesy of the Xenoblade Wiki

I have to say… if I bought this game based off the cover art (some of us old timers still do that) I would be quite shocked and confused with these assortments of costumes.

Seriously, this trope of always giving female characters “sexy” (I cannot air quote that enough) attired because woman really does create some jarring juxtapositions between the overall feel and aesthetic of the game and that of those characters.

– wincenworks