Merlkir

Do we know what PoE news we might see coming from GDC this week? Another design talk maybe? Or a gameplay video at last? That'd be quite nice. I know we've been told Obs want to wait until the game is polished enough, but come on now. We know what Alpha means, right?

That's a bit harsh. It's not like european longswods are the ultimate template of what a sword should look like. The form reminds me of certain chinese swords. You know what? As mysterious as the area above the handle is, I'm sure it has a magical function and I like it. The basic fuller almost doesn't fit with the rest of the sword, but it still works. The proportions are especially fine for a fantasy sword of this kind. It's still very heavy looking, but not so that it breaks immersion. The armour is a mixed bag. It's well painted and I love the decoration, but the basic shapes are all over the place. Especially the greaves/boots, yes. This is done, as mentioned, to ground characters, to give weight to their lower half. (as characters with small feet tend to look unbalanced and comical) Just look at various space marines and japanese mecha. Same thing.

21st century goggles, hard. "I think this specific way and can't understand I would totally think differently under different circumstances."

Seeing the Warhammer pic, I'm once again reminded of this glorious Mark of Chaos development story (sorry if I posted it in one of the previous armour threads!): So it was time to concept and 3D model Khorne's chaos warriors, big spiky pauldrons and all. After the initial batch of models got sent to the riggers, the riggers went back to the modelers and concept artists saying: "Guys, we just can't make them lift their arms above shoulder height. That's not supposed to happen, right? Could you maybe redesign those pauldrons?" And so they did their best. Unfortunately, you can't screw with Warhammer canon, everything has a specific look you have to keep. So go and watch the CGI trailer for Mark of Chaos and see if you can spot many chaos warriors raising their arms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iO9cGopQq0 (I forgot! they also gave them furry capes.) edit: just so it doesn't seem I'm hatin', I totally love that cinematic. I'm not ashamed to admit I even ripped it off a bit in one of my recent illustrations. http://merlkir.deviantart.com/art/DrDII-Palatine-424656890

Rapiers weren't particularly light, they weigh about the same as other one handed swords. The difference is in how the mass is distributed. So they're generally really long and super good at skewering your opponent if you use them right. That's about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efZLw-tlIOs

Honestly, given that men and women AREN'T equal physicly, I find this as a cop-out. It's a cheap way to place the massage "men and women should be treated equally" by making them completely equal...when in reality they are not. Of course, you're not going to treat them COMPLETELY equally in RL either, but we are talking in general terms here. IIRC female characters in Warband start with different stats than male characters, so it does acknowledge physical differences. The female leaders are also quite similar (in their political roles) to historical ones, it's not pandering to any kind of social justice crowd.

I suspect it was one of the weapons you didn't carry on your person, more like the greatswords you'd have on a wagon, or strapped to a horse. You'd unpack it before the battle and in the meantime you could carry it on your shoulder, sure. Separate spikes would be a pain, because a screw is a difficult thing to make, iirc metal screws only started seeing use during the middle renaissance. You'd have to cut screw holes for all the spikes and then all the spikes would have to have screw bottoms made. Hitting with such a weapon would inevitably lead to loosening of the screws, the threading might rip and you couldn't screw the spike back in... Probably much more trouble than it's worth.

Rrrrrr, hey there, honey!

Yes, indeed!

I like Osprey, that's all. They employed my favourite illustrator - Angus McBride, a lot. Don't see how that makes me a worshipper. IIRC Shumate hasn't yet worked for Osprey and Sumner published his book with another company, so it's not even like you're bashing on Osprey really.

Schumate's "Sarmatian" reconstruction actually seems spot on, are we even looking at the same relief? I mean...I've been looking at it a lot, considering I wrote my MA thesis on Dacian reconstructions. Also, "the same" artist is not the same, that's Graham Sumner. And his "fantasy" Romans are all well documented in his book. Trying way too hard there, buddy. Edit: Also, "some reconstructions out there are clearly poorly done, therefore any attempt at realism is futile." is a really really retarded non-argument.

I would pledge additional money to get an NPC of a fertility god's paladin/cleric with a massive metal **** on his armour.

Obyknven, I assume you're talking about yourself? Fertility deities have never had anything to do with necromancy, the "life giving" aspect refers to the natural cycle of life and death (raising livestock and growing crops). Raising a zombie is hardly natural, right? Now, we'd have to ask the designer of those characters what he thought and that would settle this particular dispute. But without any actual examples of necromancy in fertility cults, I'm calling bull**** on your "educated" hypothesis.

Response to Obyknven, spoilered:

Except there's a LOT of Scythian art showing men wearing full on beards and long hair, not just mustaches. (which is a later, very Parthian/Sarmatian fashion) How's that related to armour again? edit: in fact, let's go through your evidence: 1) So, as far as I understand it, it's a Scythian coin depicting (or minted by) the king Ateius. The front is clearly meant to be in Greek style, showing the king (?) as Heracles. (lion skin headdress). The back shows a rather hairy archer. For comparison, I attach a coin by Alexander the Great, with the same image of Heracles. 2) Second image is (very well known) a Greek depiction of a TROJAN archer. Not quite knowing what Trojans looked like, the Greek artist made him wear something similar to a Persian/Mede/Scythian dress. That says nothing about the shaving habits of Scythians. 3) Yep, that's a Scythian cult figure. 4) This relief is part of a Khmer temple (!!!) and it's from the 7th century (! quite a few centuries too late). (I don't quite see how that's supposed to be a Scythian, or why it would be one. Yes,the cap looks similar and that's about it. Could also be papa Smurf) 5) Yep, a pimp dude from the Pazyryk burials. You do realize hair and shaving fashion likely changed through the ages, right? This one's supposedly from around 3rd c. BCE, but Scythians lived long before and after that. 6) Yes, a beautiful piece of Scythian art. Know what? here's more! And there are...oh, bearded and hairy Scythians. Oh well. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Scythian_Kul_Oba_Ukrainia.jpg/648px-Scythian_Kul_Oba_Ukrainia.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Scythians_shooting_with_bows_Kertch_antique_Panticapeum_Ukrainia_4th_century_BCE.jpg http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Images2/Scythian/Scythian_Art.jpg http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pic%5CS%5CC%5CScythian%20art_comb%20from%20Solokha%20kurhan.jpg http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pic%5CS%5CC%5CScythian%20art_ritual%20of%20brotherhood%20Kul%20Oba%20kurhan.jpg http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/images/scythians1.jpg 7) That's a RECONSTRUCTION made from a skull. How do you know if the skull's owner had a mustache, or a full beard?! Furthermore, the same artist made more of these and some of them have beards: http://www.evpatori.ru/skilur-car-skifov.html Again, I have no idea what kind of agenda you have, but it's silly.

Good grief. Here, we've been through 20 pages of this before: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63648-what-should-a-female-breastplate-really-look-like/ Ghhnnnn....As much as I find most boobplate silly, I do hate that article more. Here: http://janpospisil.blogspot.cz/2013/05/in-semi-defense-of-boobplate.html

Yay, let's celebrate disfunctional nonsense which we arbitrarily call "pretty" for no objective reason! This is just as retarded as (for example) the current way humans breed dogs. Function and utility? **** that, let's make them look all weird and ****! Let's forget we're also inbreeding them into barely alive corpses with many genetic disorders, crooked spines, disappearing noses that make it near-impossible for them to breathe and other fun and great looking mutations. Look at how cute and curled their tails are! Awww... Real armour is not boring. Most weeaboos have never seen a real suit of armour, they've seen countless stylized and poorly realized impressions of what real armour is. Real armour can be bizarre, colourful and astonishingly beautiful, while still obviously remaining practical and functional. Good grief.

Sorry, it's horrid. The armour is ridiculously thick in some places and beyond-stylized thin in others. It doesn't cover the wearer well, there are massive gaps and the articulation is all made up. Also, it has bloody spikes on it. One of the cases where the Japanese (I assume) don't get European armour right at all.

I'm pretty sure it's this: (took me a while though, I seem to have deleted it from my collection! O_o) imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245276/ whole movie with eng subs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4AmDxGBeng

If anyone else except PJ, who can't see me now, is interested in my response to his points: http://janpospisil.blogspot.cz/2014/01/response-to-critique-of-tolkiens-work-p2.html

Let's block anyone who dares imply men face any kind of hardship in this world! yaaay. \o/ <----- Progressive and socially conscious Prime Junta, everyone. *claps* I wonder if many Scandinavians are this brainwashed. Anyway, maturity and stuff.

FFS, I thought writing a post on my blog would make it easier to read. Eh. Also, no, I'm not an MRA, but I do acknowledge there is a reason that movement exists and I do tend to disagree with feminists. Ignore away if you wish.

PrimeJunta, I thought it'd take you longer, so I responded to one of the ridiculously racist and man hating articles someone else linked to. There's overlap, but I'll get to your "critique" in part 2. http://janpospisil.blogspot.cz/2014/01/response-to-critique-of-tolkiens-work-p1.html

You can bet I will. So, please do. edit: On another note, there's been exactly 0 name calling on my part. Getting defensive by default even before I've started?

No, he's talking about arbitrary diversity, where as a content creator you're forced to divert effort and time to token characters and social issues, because just writing whatever you want will get you scolded for not being diverse enough, or not writing about social issues. Also, gaslighting me much? I'm sane and cold headed enough to lay down actual arguments, something you only seem to dance around. Stop looking for excuses and stand up for yourself, or kindly give up the charade.. edit: I really dislike derailing the thread, the initial video had quite a few good points and it's a topic worth discussing. Sorry, can't let go of this ridiculous and cowardly pseudo-maybe-or-not-critique of yours.