I'm gonna weigh in on this one.
I actually posted something about this long in the past. Maybe in someone else's thread, maybe in my own.
I get that they wanted to set Ladyhawke and ManHawke apart in the animation department, but the ladies were doing the Baywatch beach run. I've never seen anyone in real life run that way. Since my Hawke spent most of the time running (I wish I could run constantly like an RPG character, it would save SO much time and I'd be in fantastic shape, too), the run is what I remember and I don't remember the walk. But I do know that there was way too much butt-swagger in the run. It was embarrassingly exaggerated, and yes, as some others have suggested, I think it had more to do with "sexifying" the female characters for straight male enjoyment than anything else. I certainly don't wag my butt alluringly from side to side when I run. I'm too busy focusing on, you know, running, to worry about how sexy my backside looks. Hawke being in urgent situations, you'd think she'd focus less on that, too. And yes, it does look painful, because that run would twist your spine like whoah!
I notice if people are walking "strangely" and the hip-swagger during a walk or run being exaggerated isn't normal. Some people do it, but most of the people I've seen in my life haven't. Again, I would notice because it's unusual. Maybe that's a regional thing, and maybe there are places where that kind of walk/run are normal. However, if they exist, I haven't ever been there or seen these people.
I can't speak for the walk in DA2 so much, since it's been a long time since I played DA2. I do know that the run animation was one of the reasons I didn't feel as inclined to replay DA2 as I might have been. Normally I don't even notice what my character's behind is doing, male or female--I'm looking off around the environment. But the character's rear end is also not usually emphasized by excessive motion, either. Animation done that poorly does attract notice, and, at least in my case, not in a good way. I'd compare DA2's female animations with Divinity 2 Ego Draconis--in which basically the ONLY thing that changed if you were female was the animation. But the two games have similar female animation, and it looks similarly ridiculous to me.
Do I want them to bring back DAO animations? No, those were a bit too stiff. Do I want them to make everyone walk like Commander Shepard? Again, no. But I also don't want Baywatch: Thedas Edition.
Bioware typically does a better job, and I'm hoping that they tone down the butt swagger in DA:I--it doesn't have to be totally removed, but the way it was in DA2 was way overstated to the point of the ridiculous.
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