Do you want your character portraits to be like Baldur's Gate or NWN2?

[Pintash]

Honestly I'm happy with both.  With today's tech 3D animated portraits will look absolutely fine.  However, there's something special about having a cool 2D portrait.

 

The biggest issue for me is, IF they opt for 2D portraits - and I suspect they will - PLEASE give us an in-game option to import (and crop) our own.

[Ninjerk]

I voted for BG portraits, but I'm also a big fan of animated portraits like the ones in Jagged Alliance 2 (I think another game I've played recently has them, too).  Blinking, mouth moving during dialogue, etc.

[Johse85]

I would prefer the Baldurs Gate version and hopefully the costom button that allowed you to paint your own portrait and use it to personalize the character. 

[Namutree]

Baldur's Gate, and I do mean Baldur's Gate not the second one as the portraits in that one were just horrible: the pretentious added scars, fugly dreadlocks, and my god what did they do to Imoen's face...and Jaheira's, and Minsc's! BG1 just seemed to be more awesome while BG2 seemed cartooney and actually badly drawn (Jaheira's eyes seemed wonked out).

I also thought that Jaheira's portrait in BG2 was a little... off. As she is my favorite character that really bothered me. I sometimes replaced it with a better version.

 

As for the thread question; I would prefer the BG portrait system. Those painted portraits are just so pretty!

[Jarmo]

Was there already an official answer for this?

Almost certainly painted ones because the other doesn't make sense.

 

That's probably the one mod I'm going to get, a portrait pack. Because there's never enough.

Unless one wants a comical gnome uglyface, because there's usually enough of those.

 

I never played an elf in NWN2, simply because the face generation systems elf didn't allow for anything but a bug eyed mongoloid.

(and it's enough my characters are stupid and incompetent, don't want them ugly as well)

[Klixen]

I vote for Baldur's Gate type portraits. They are much easier to create and talented people can create their own portraits.

[Kjaamor]

BG system is what they are going for and is more in keeping with the zoomed out isometric style (since in depth character creation is - take note, D:OS - pointless in such a style).

 

That said, the NWN2 style was probably the most hideous execution of that particular style I have witnessed, and in games like DA:O (whatever you might think of the rest of it) it was done far better.

[Suburban-Fox]

I'm going to say NWN, because having pre-painted 2d portraits depends on there being a portrait that accurately reflects your character.

 

If there isn't one, I would either have to use a portrait that didn't fit my character, or go online and seek out a portrait that is more to my liking. But I don't like the idea of being forced to source a portrait from elsewhere to be able to use my character.

 

I know it's important, for nostalgia purposes, to have 2d paintings - and granted, some of them do look really nice. But surely it's equally important for your character to look like you think he/she should look? If it's a painted portrait, that won't always be the case, and you may have to settle for one that doesn't quite fit simply because it's the closest one out there. If it's a 3d render, your character will look exactly as you've designed his face to look (assuming you can model his face like you can in modern RPGs...if you can't then obviously it's a moot point).

 

What would be really awesome (but I have no idea if this is even possible, let alone practical!) is if the game could somehow generate a 2d portrait based on the face you select/design/whatever, and maybe some other factors that you can select (expression, angle of view, etc) - that would be amazing! XD

[Sedrefilos]

If we could have both (like wasteland 2) it'll be great

[Jarmo]

I'm going to say NWN, because having pre-painted 2d portraits depends on there being a portrait that accurately reflects your character.

 

 

Have to admit I get frustrated far more than reasonable when I can't find decently matching portraits.

It's far worse in games like Icewind Dale or Temple of Elemental Evil, where you have to supply for the whole party.

 

Little things, like I already took the one youngish armored dude for my fighter, now what to take for my paladin and ranger?

There's an armored fellow that's bald, has scruffy beard and is about 60 yrs. Not ideal for a young paladin.

 

And I made my ranger have yellow hair, the only suitable ranger pic has black!!

The suffering when I have to pick an obvious elf image because that's the closest.

 

Stupid stuff, but apparently important for me.

So I hope it's easy enough to supply my own, and I hope people will jump in and make a big pack to choose from.

[Silent Winter]

What would be really awesome (but I have no idea if this is even possible, let alone practical!) is if the game could somehow generate a 2d portrait based on the face you select/design/whatever, and maybe some other factors that you can select (expression, angle of view, etc) - that would be amazing! XD

That'd be handy but may be outside budget.

 

Probably more effort than most people would go to but here's an idea:

Check out the program Daz Studio (www.daz3d.com) - there's a free version and a lot of free content around on various sites (plus a lot of paid content but...)

You can use it to make a character (by dialling combinations of pre-made morphs onto a premade figure), add hair+clothes models, light and render your own portrait - then put it in game.

Takes a bit of practice to get the character you want though, but the results are probably better than what you'd get from a NWN2-style capture.

(See Fan-Art thread for some examples by me using DS+FotoSketcher (also free))

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64531-fan-art-collecting-tank/page-2

Edited July 24, 2014 by Silent Winter

[Suspiria]

I will go for the BG style also. Especially in this kind/style of game it suits perfectly.

[Immortalis]

I would definately prefer 2D portraits over 3D Rendered ones. The problem with 3D rendered portraits is when you have a lack of faces and hairstyles you start to get this Clone War syndrome where everyone start to look samey.

 

At least with the portraits you can almost gurantee that yours will be unique from NPC's you meet (Usually.. ) and of course you can load in custom jpeg's that you like.. (Please be less strict on the dimensions of the jpegs.. do the formatting for us.. it's such a pain in the ass! LoL!)

[Falkon Swiftblade]

Personally, I'd prefer a mixture of both. I'd prefer a static portrait on the toolbar, but then an animated 3d head of our character that expressed their facial expressions depending on our conversations on the dialog bar. I would love something like the Sony Emote feature found in Everquest 2. https://www.soe.com/soemote/guide/index.vm

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_njzXElnlSw

[futureworld]

Definitely the 2D Baldur's Gate style, given the talent of the artist it gives more bearing and personality toward the character IMO, I guess it also depends on how pretty the 3D models end-up. E.g. I would much rather GW2 3D model portraits than say Divinty's Original Sin, but that's just my opinion

[ubinsg]

I would prefer BG2 style portraits... which give a more defining character personalities... 

And I would prefer more portraits option... probably around 30 original portraits... without cross-usage with NPCs or playable NPCs

Yes... 30-40 would be a good number considering the number of races and classes... 

[Lekian]

Baldurs Gate all the way!

 

I prefer the artistic portraits from the IE games,  than a 3D animated avatar.

[Bryy]

For my birthday, I'm having my friend make up a set of portraits for Torment, Wasteland 2, and Eternity.

[NWN_babaYaga]

Like the infinity engine games. The idea wasnt bad in NWN2 but 3d faces will never look as good as painted ones and i like the idea of just 2d art for portraits! 

[Sondai]

As long as most the best portraits aren't elven.

 

I'd really like to see more variety in interesting and attractive humans whichever the style. I don't mean that in a shallow way either.  :D

I also like attractive but intriguing vs. only scary/odd-looking evil characters as an option. I know there were some, but from memory, they were limited ...in my opinion.

[iraya]

While I very much enjoyed the BG type of portrait, I personally voted for the NVW2 because it represented your character accurately. That being said, I agree with others saying that it could be something in between. Kind of like a painterly finish (much like BG) but it reflects your character model as well.

[Grand_Commander13]

Yeah, since they've gone with portraits I'd really prefer it if each portrait chosen had a preset face for the character model, to spare me the difficulty of trying to remember what the portrait looked like and match my model up with it as best as I can. Oddly enough, you couldn't really accurately replicate most of the Shadowrun Returns faces I tried, but it doesn't matter much I guess.

[5anitybane]

I'd love painted portraits akin to Baldur's Gate 2, I think the artistic feel adds a lot more to the style of the GUI and the game in general, since they're traditionally similar to pen and paper RPGs (or, in the case of BG and NWN, using actual DnD rulesets).

[TCJ]

I voted for BG style.  Not only do I like them, I think it also adds the option for more creativity as far as modding goes.  One fun thing about BG2 was the ability to make a new portrait and import it into the game.

[5anitybane]

I voted for BG style.  Not only do I like them, I think it also adds the option for more creativity as far as modding goes.  One fun thing about BG2 was the ability to make a new portrait and import it into the game.

So true regarding modding! I'd forgotten about importing portraits because I never made my own; I can't draw, only matte paint, . Given the amazing talent on the web I wouldn't be surprised upon release to find a fair few portrait replacers or add-ons.