Update #77: Art in Alpha

[IRMA]

You are ****en kiddin me! THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!

[Prometheus]

I agree about the tinting feature is really nice touch, I hope they give us more choices of color than the original IE games. I work in the multimedia industry and my monitor does billions of colors per inch, it would be a shame to have like 4-6 colors to choose from.

Josh Sawyer said that you will have a wide range of colours for tinting.

 

Hair and facial hair are separate from head.  You can set hair and skin tone within a wide set of preset ranges (it's extremely easy to make that look horrible if you just go straight RGB).  The two outfit colors are more open and may be straight RGB.

[Hormalakh]

I'd have to agree with Gromnir about the boob scale armour.

 

When I read the update the first time, I don't know which I read or saw first. The words female armour or the boob scale. The first picture on the left is more noticeable than the one on the right. It looks odd seeing scale armour potrude out like that, with the scale armour going back in under the breast, like a tight fitting t-shirt. It looks like the armourer molded the scale links into this form. It makes it odd moreso that the plate armour doesn't have the boob cups protruding out. Just the scale.

 

The scales are actually smaller than you can see, they've just used different types scales to give the impression that they are those large scales that you see before you. Like a mosiac, that scale armor is just a combination of much smaller scales that just happen to look like that. Because scale is much more flexible, they are more likely to fit the person's body shape. This would also be true in most other armors except plate.

 

 

Or not.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Hormalakh

[Labadal]

I have been thinking. I want to see some interiors that aren't 80% brown. Although, I do admit that I have liked the brown interiors I have seen.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

The scales are actually smaller than you can see, they've just used different types scales to give the impression that they are those large scales that you see before you. Like a mosiac, that scale armor is just a combination of much smaller scales that just happen to look like that. Because scale is much more flexible, they are more likely to fit the person's body shape. This would also be true in most other armors except plate.

 

 

Or not.

 

I have to wonder why Obsidian reversed their decision on boob armour. The original plate worn by Cadegund was changed to look more flatter. Now we have scale boob armour. I wonder if my post about the Druid may have influenced a dev?

 

The original picture in update 72 shows the Druid Cat form to be neither male or female. There are no boobs. And there appears to be no genitals. However, I made a post in the same thread and changed the Druid cat form to have boobs. To differentiate it from the original version. Perhaps my photoshopped Druid swayed Obsidian's decision or a dev and they saw the merits of accentuating certain parts of the female anatomy. Clarification is certainly required.

[Eleneithel]

 

I'd have to agree with Gromnir about the boob scale armour.

 

When I read the update the first time, I don't know which I read or saw first. The words female armour or the boob scale. The first picture on the left is more noticeable than the one on the right. It looks odd seeing scale armour potrude out like that, with the scale armour going back in under the breast, like a tight fitting t-shirt. It looks like the armourer molded the scale links into this form. It makes it odd moreso that the plate armour doesn't have the boob cups protruding out. Just the scale.

 

The scales are actually smaller than you can see, they've just used different types scales to give the impression that they are those large scales that you see before you. Like a mosiac, that scale armor is just a combination of much smaller scales that just happen to look like that. Because scale is much more flexible, they are more likely to fit the person's body shape. This would also be true in most other armors except plate.

 

 

Or not.

 

 

Well, in fact, any mail or scale armour worn by a woman wouldn't fit like that (or like a tight fitting t-shirt) for many reasons. First of all, such armour is far heavier than a t-shirt, so it tends to flatten the curves of your torso, wether that you be a grown woman or a fat grown man with a curved belly. Secondly, in medieval times, it was custom to wear padded /quilted clothes (to know an aketon /a gambeson) under your armour (be it mail armour, plate armour, or scale armour), which would also contribute to flatten your natural curves. 

 

It has been attested at several occurences in medieval history the existence of women wearing armour, undistinguished amongst male fighters, and their gender would only be recognized after the battle when their helmet would be removed. So... I think the female version of these armours should be closer the male version, the feminisation should be more subtle (shorter and slimer frame, curvature of the breast much less pronounced). With the present version, it would take a woman with a very large breast to make the mail /scale armour protrude as much.

 

 

Edit: As for the "womanly fantasy breastplate", Skallagrim explained on his You Tube channel why it would be highly unpratical... in a lighty and funny way.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Eleneithel

[StrangeCat]

It's pretty obvious why they would emphisize the female form with armor.   Since the scale of the models are so small you need to be able to see which model is female wearing armor or like you said all characters wearing armor would look like the same sex in medieval times.

 

Also they stated that they make things a bit bigger as a model since it shows up nicely when they scale down.

[tajerio]

It's pretty obvious why they would emphisize the female form with armor.   Since the scale of the models are so small you need to be able to see which model is female wearing armor or like you said all characters wearing armor would look like the same sex in medieval times.

 

Also they stated that they make things a bit bigger as a model since it shows up nicely when they scale down.

 

I'd much rather that differentiation didn't show up at all--let me recognize my own characters in the party, and if I can't tell if other NPCs are male or female from their armor, well, too bad for me.

[Shadenuat]

As long as armor looks practical enough, I can forgive some exaggeration to help players distinguish units from one another on the battlefield.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Didn't the gameplay teaser show a female character wearing that scale armor? It didn't look over-exaggerated or out of place to me.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Quetzalcoatl

[rjshae]

It's pretty obvious why they would emphisize the female form with armor.   Since the scale of the models are so small you need to be able to see which model is female wearing armor or like you said all characters wearing armor would look like the same sex in medieval times.

 

Also they stated that they make things a bit bigger as a model since it shows up nicely when they scale down.

 

I agree. But the female form can also be made apparent from narrower shoulders and wider hips.

[Forlorn Hope]

Nice little update. Looking very good in my opinion. I have no problem with the female armor even though I usually prefer historically accurate armors and such. Thank you Brandon and Josh for responding to the questions asked by the community. I'm really pleased thus far.

[Ineth]

Well, in fact, any mail or scale armour worn by a woman wouldn't fit like that (or like a tight fitting t-shirt) for many reasons. First of all, such armour is far heavier than a t-shirt, so it tends to flatten the curves of your torso

 

Maybe the metals from which armor is made in the world of PoE are lighter than the ones from which armor was made in the real-world middle ages?

 

Remember that this is a fantasy setting, not historical re-enactment.

 

It has been attested at several occurences in medieval history the existence of women wearing armour, undistinguished amongst male fighters

 

And in a world where there was no culture of women wearing T-shirts, the few women who would do so nonetheless would of course be wearing men's T-shirts (because that's all there would be and all that tailors would be accustomed to making)...

 

 

Historically, whenever a piece of clothing or gear was commonly worn by both men and women, then gender-specific designs for that item emerged and became the norm over time - across pretty much all cultures and time periods, and all items from shoes to trousers to hats. Partly to accommodate the different body shapes, partly for fashion.

 

Is it so difficult to imagine that in a world where there's a culture of both men and women commonly fighting in chainmail armor (which was not the case in the real middle ages), visually distinguishable designs would emerge for that as well?

 

 

So... I think the female version of these armours should be closer the male version, the feminisation should be more subtle (shorter and slimer frame, curvature of the breast much less pronounced).

 

In the small isometric version, it likely will look less pronounced.

[Mihura]

The scale armor for woman could be better, there is to much form on the boobs, I would like to see less of that. Maybe a more curvy front in relation to the male version. I mean you guys did great on the plate one, why not this too. 

Edited May 1, 2014 by Mihura

[Sarex]

I personally want more boobs in armor, I am a fan of boobs and appreciate them in any medium. To balance things out, male armors can get big codpieces, fair is fair.

[Sensuki]

The scale armor for woman could be better, there is to much form on the boobs, I would like to see less of that. Maybe a more curvy front in relation to the male version. I mean you guys did great on the plate one, why not this too. 

 

The sideboob is actually pretty extreme on it.

[UlrichVonBek]

The art is absolutely PURE ART !!! The dungeon seems to just appear from Clark Ashton Smith ´s Zothique ... BAM ! 

[Labadal]

Probably just to make it easier to differentiate male and female characters, considering they won't be very large on screen. 

[rjshae]

The Clîaban Rilag Entrance looks to be underground and dark. So how are plants managing to grow? (Yes I see the fungi.) Magic, I guess...

[Lephys]

In Soviet Glanfathan, ARMOR wears YOU! 8D

 

Seriously though, Maybe they use different scales/materials/techniques, and maybe females wear the armor commonly enough that they actually take the time to make "tailored" armor.

 

It's not like it's MMO fantasy sex armor, accentuating the female form, showing a bunch of cleavage and skin and serving as a push-up bra. It's barely shaped like there's more chest mass than a dude's armor.

 

Hey, maybe female plate armor should have codpieces, too, and male armor should have boob shapes in it. Oh wait, they just made armor around what was there. Males have something where females don't? Codpiece. Wow... fitting armor around boobs (ever so slightly) is completely different.

 

Just because it didn't actually happen in history doesn't mean it's the most blatantly ridiculous thing ever.

 

I understand why people desire it to be exactly historically accurate and/or "realistic," but I don't understand why such a subtle thing is generating something close to outrage. As if this is just purely unacceptable, and Obsidian has insulted your entire family lineage and challenged you to a duel.

[Trodat]

In Soviet Glanfathan, ARMOR wears YOU! 8D

 

Seriously though, Maybe they use different scales/materials/techniques, and maybe females wear the armor commonly enough that they actually take the time to make "tailored" armor.

 

It's not like it's MMO fantasy sex armor, accentuating the female form, showing a bunch of cleavage and skin and serving as a push-up bra. It's barely shaped like there's more chest mass than a dude's armor.

 

Hey, maybe female plate armor should have codpieces, too, and male armor should have boob shapes in it. Oh wait, they just made armor around what was there. Males have something where females don't? Codpiece. Wow... fitting armor around boobs (ever so slightly) is completely different.

 

Just because it didn't actually happen in history doesn't mean it's the most blatantly ridiculous thing ever.

 

I understand why people desire it to be exactly historically accurate and/or "realistic," but I don't understand why such a subtle thing is generating something close to outrage. As if this is just purely unacceptable, and Obsidian has insulted your entire family lineage and challenged you to a duel.

 

Well modern game audience consists of people that get easily butthurt over trivial things. Go figure.

[Eleneithel]

Well, in fact, medieval armour was tailored. Noblemen (or rich commoners) bought armour made to their measurements to have the best fit possible. (When you fight the ennemy, you don't want also to fight a badly fitted armour.) Depending on their means, the less rich (most common soldiers) bought munition grade armour (in other terms, mass-produced armour fitted following a standard size) and they would make it tailored by a blacksmith to obtain a better fit for them. So, technicaly, the rare women to fight in armour were probably wearing  fitting /tailored armour. Although I am myself a man, I think (based on numerous readings online) female fighters would rather prefer armours that flatten their breast (rather than emphasize them) for pratical reasons. It is rather well known amongst female practionner of HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) today that their breast can be problematic to wield a two-handed sword... because it can get in the way and prevent them to execute certain moves. (The bigger the breast, the more problematic it can be.) So, there is that...^^

 

And, for the records, I am not the least outraged. I just thought I would share my opinion on the matter, since I have the greatest interest for Pillars of Eternity and want to contribute to it as I can. Wether PoE team makes use or not of that contribution is their decision entirely, I won't make a scandal of it if my opinion is not heard. After all, what would be the use of these forums if our opinion did not interest the least Obsidean?

 

 

Edit: Maybe it would be interesting to complete the armour artworks of the present update with screenshots of the characters (wearing these armours) in the in-game landscape to give us a sense of scale to better appreciate the work of the art designers.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Eleneithel

[Tamerlane]

 

In Soviet Glanfathan, ARMOR wears YOU! 8D

 

Seriously though, Maybe they use different scales/materials/techniques, and maybe females wear the armor commonly enough that they actually take the time to make "tailored" armor.

 

It's not like it's MMO fantasy sex armor, accentuating the female form, showing a bunch of cleavage and skin and serving as a push-up bra. It's barely shaped like there's more chest mass than a dude's armor.

 

Hey, maybe female plate armor should have codpieces, too, and male armor should have boob shapes in it. Oh wait, they just made armor around what was there. Males have something where females don't? Codpiece. Wow... fitting armor around boobs (ever so slightly) is completely different.

 

Just because it didn't actually happen in history doesn't mean it's the most blatantly ridiculous thing ever.

 

I understand why people desire it to be exactly historically accurate and/or "realistic," but I don't understand why such a subtle thing is generating something close to outrage. As if this is just purely unacceptable, and Obsidian has insulted your entire family lineage and challenged you to a duel.

 

Well modern game audience consists of people that get easily butthurt over trivial things. Go figure.

 

Modern?

[exodiark]

Beautiful pictures!
Minor quibble though, isn't the round shack a bit too close to the water?
It would be too damp for people to live in or to store goods, but other than that, it's really beautiful!

[JadedWolf]

If I understand what they said in the updates correctly, the only reason there is "boob armor" is because the Obsidian guys want the player to be able to see in a glance if a character is male or female, so that it would be easier to see who is who.

 

While I agree that there is no real practical reason why female and male armor would look different, any discussion about it seems moot when the actual reasons for it are not aesthetic but gameplay related.

 

If I had to think of a reason why there'd be "boob armor" though, the only thing I can imagine is that the wearer would for some reason favour a less practical armor that showed off her femininity over practical armor that did not.

 

That being said, I love the art. It's exactly what I would imagine for a modern day version of the old infinity games.

Edited May 2, 2014 by JadedWolf