NPC Portraits

[DaCostaBR]

I really wish the portrait of the npc you were talking to appeared next to the dialogue, but more than that, I wish there were more than one portrait; different ones according to npc disposition: one sad, one happy, one angry, etc.

 

The idea for this came from Fallout, I loved the talking heads on that game and getting that feeling of "****! The dude's pissed!" before he even said anything. On the other hand regular npcs didn't have much to differentiate themselves. Limited resources, i know, which is why I think static portraits might be an affordable alternative.

 

Of course I don't expect this for every npc, I sure rather have no portraits for random npcs if it might get me more portraits for companions.

 

What is your stance on portraits, not only this, but in general?

[eimatshya]

I would like to see such a system. Persona 3 and 4 had something like this in their dialogue system where a picture of the character who was speaking would appear next to the dialogue text, and they would use different pictures to show different emotions. It seems like a reasonably inexpensive way to liven up the characters.

Edited September 21, 2012 by eimatshya

[alphyna]

And I don't like it. There's only so many emotions you can express like that, and because of it they look cartoonish and unrealistic. When the portrait is static, you simply don't mind it; when it's dynamic, it should be perfectly dynamic. But I doubt that can be done, so it's probably wiser to go with static.

[molarBear]

And I don't like it. There's only so many emotions you can express like that, and because of it they look cartoonish and unrealistic. When the portrait is static, you simply don't mind it; when it's dynamic, it should be perfectly dynamic. But I doubt that can be done, so it's probably wiser to go with static.

 

also saves precious $$$

[lordgizka]

I'd rather there were multiple portraits for party members and major characters and none for everyone else. Also, I remember hearing something about using 3d models in their last update, so that's good.

[Brockololly]

If they had multiple versions of portraits for the main companions or NPCs to show different emotions, that would be pretty cool. Not really necessary, but it could be a nice touch and one that I don't think would be super expensive to implement.

[hideo kuze]

Simply not possible when you have stuff of this level of quality:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60122-stretch-goal-hire-justin-sweet-to-make-portraits/#entry1188511

These are full body portraits, but the point stands.

 

Besides, with Sawyer's and Avellone's writing you don't need portraits to convey how characters are feeling or their reactions towards you. Their writing is capable of more than that.

[Tuco Benedicto]

Also, I remember hearing something about using 3d models in their last update, so that's good.

Well, using 3D models for characters and 2D art for their portraits aren't two mutually exclusive things.

 

Personally, I tend to be against 3D animated portraits unless they are executed and animated with stunning quality (i.e. DOTA 2) which I doubt could be the case with this budget and engine.

So I'm all for 2D art for this game.

[Shades]

I remember the Might and Magic games had portraits that reacted/made faces when different things happened, and... It looked a little silly/goofy I prefer the fixed portraits like those in the IE games.

[Tuco Benedicto]

I remember the Might and Magic games had portraits that reacted/made faces when different things happened, and... It looked a little silly/goofy I prefer the fixed portraits like those in the IE games.

Well, that's also because it wasn't actual art but cheesy photos with some touch-up.

[DaCostaBR]

Simply not possible when you have stuff of this level of quality:

http://forums.obsidi...s/#entry1188511

These are full body portraits, but the point stands.

 

Besides, with Sawyer's and Avellone's writing you don't need portraits to convey how characters are feeling or their reactions towards you. Their writing is capable of more than that.

 

These portraits are very beautiful, but are not representative of what will be in the game, it's just an outside artist's work and the thread was about bringing him into the project. It would certainly be interesting to have it in the game, but I was talking about the case of small portraits if it's what they end up using.

 

About their writing, I'm not doubting how good they will be, but sometimes in the older games (like Fallout) during regular conversations the world would freeze; you'd get that picture of your character standing in front of another and no one would move or do anything until the dialogue ended, when they might pull a gun on you or whatever. The dialogue seemed divorced of the world around it until it was over, my intention with the portraits to show reactions mid-dialogue was to try and make it seem like things keep moving during the dialogue.

 

Thinking about it now, that'd be accomplished better without portraits but with the actual characters moving on screen, but it'd probably be much harder to do.

[hideo kuze]

You kind of missed my point.

Have you played BG 1/2, IWD 1/2 or ToEE before?

 

Those portraits were done by Justin Sweets, who has done the portraits for the IWD games.

Those portraits intend to, well, portrait your character.

While the full image is show during party creation, during the game only the face is shown.

party creation: http://i.imgur.com/JjmAX.jpg

in-game: http://i.imgur.com/9ZTuY.jpg

 

And you simply can't have different versions of those portraits, because it would be insanely expensive, and IMO would kind of ruin its beauty.

 

And nor will Obsidian go with talking heads, because I suspect that would require a lot of money to make talking heads comparable to what it's done nowadays.

 

 

You have to understand that the "pause" is just an abstraction to provide for a decent gameplay. And for all purposes, the "pull out a gun" scenario can be done anyway with choices in the dialog.