Portrait review

[Headbomb]

One dwarf? ONE?

 

OK, with 2 Genders, 6 Races (10 if you count Godlike variants, and even more with you combine Godlike variants + base races onto which they are applied) and 11 classes, maybe it's a bit much to expect specific character portraits for each combination. But surely we can get more variety?

 

I'll classify portraits so we have an idea of what's available out there, and what they could reasonably accommodate.  You could make other divisions, like "wild" for druids, rangers, barbarians, "evil", "good", and a zillion others, but let's just to keep at the basics: Armored, Unarmored, or those that could fit either if you squint your eyes.

 

Male

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Style     | Armored | Unarmored | Either |Total |

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Aumaua    |   1     |     1     |   0    |  2   |

Dwarf     |   1     |     0     |   0    |  1   |

Elf       |   1     |     1     |   2    |  4   |

Human     |   1     |     1     |   1    |  3   |

Orlan     |   0     |     0     |   1    |  1   |

Godlike   |   1     |     0     |   3    |  4   |

-------------------------------------------------

 

Female

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Style     | Armored | Unarmored | Either |Total |

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Aumaua    |   0     |     1     |   0    |  1   |

Dwarf     |   0     |     0     |   1    |  1   | (this one could really pass for a human if you ask me)

Elf       |   0     |     3     |   0    |  3   |

Human     |   1     |     0     |   2    |  3   |

Orlan     |   0     |     0     |   1    |  1   |

Godlike   |   0     |     2     |   5    |  7   |

-------------------------------------------------

 

Conclusions: Dwarves and Orlans are REALLY getting the shaft here (1 male, 1 female). Aumauas don't fare much better (2 male, 1 female). Humans and Elves are decently represented. Godlikes have an excellent variety despite the number of variants it's possible to make. By gender, males have a good variety, but female are lacking in the heavy armor department. I really feel there should be a minimum of 3 portraits per race per gender here.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Headbomb

[Sensuki]

I'm going to wager that most of the portraits for the game haven't been done yet. However I am also a bit worried about it because time is running out (or is it?).

 

Their in-house 2D artists are clogged up with work I'll bet (UI screens, Scripted interactions and area paint overs).

[Arouet]

I'm definitely bringing in the NWN portraits collection into PoE.

[nikolokolus]

I seriously doubt this is the complete list ... I hope; not feeling too many of them. Oh well, I guess my IWD, Justin Sweet portraits are going to get another workout.

[Headbomb]

I just noticed the disparity between male and females when it comes to heavy armours.

[Forlorn Hope]

I hope we get many more portraits to choose from in the final game!

[Osvir]

I like the portraits that are the same but they have different hairstyles. But yes, feels like there's a few of them.

I talked about modifying/customizing portraits previously, so I'm probably going to take a look at adding more hairstyles/scars/eye colors/ears/neck+armor etc. (photoshop) to the already existant portraits, after I've explored/finished the Beta Areas at least once. 

[Wolf_Amarth]

Hopefully we get a lot more customisation options on release, I agree that a few of the races seem lacking in variety considering the amount of classes, cultures and backgrounds to Combine and fit together.

[Namutree]

I feel I must also bring up the lack of dark skin portraits. I made a Wild-Orlan and noticed the lack of dark skinned portraits. You aren't gonna find many orlan pictures on the internet; unlike humans, dwarves, and elves. So the new races ought to be the priority.

[Headbomb]

Yes, skin tone is also badly represented here, didn't notice it the first time around because I was upset at the lack of dwarves and not seeing much past my own nose. Most are white. It'd be nice to move away from the "regular guy is white" mentality.

[InsaneCommander]

Not to mention that Orlans have much more options for skin color.

[Gromnir]

I'm going to wager that most of the portraits for the game haven't been done yet. However I am also a bit worried about it because time is running out (or is it?).

 

Their in-house 2D artists are clogged up with work I'll bet (UI screens, Scripted interactions and area paint overs).

time is not running out. Gromnir has april 1 in the release date poll. yay Gromnir.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Monte Carlo]

The portraits are bizarre - no non-WASP characters unless you want to play someone with flowers or mushrooms growing out of their heads (which, TBH, I don't). Why the preponderance of 'godlike' characters?

 

Pro-tip - characters wearing helmets and hoods allow for ambiguity, alternatively just dump the old IWD ports in as a bonus.

[Karkarov]

It doesn't really bother me.  I expect there will be more portraits before the game actually launches but even if they aren't.... you can always make your own.  So there is already no way you wont be able to get a portrait you like, you may have to make it yourself, but it can be done. 

[PrimeJunta]

The portraits are bizarre - no non-WASP characters unless you want to play someone with flowers or mushrooms growing out of their heads (which, TBH, I don't). Why the preponderance of 'godlike' characters?

 

Pro-tip - characters wearing helmets and hoods allow for ambiguity, alternatively just dump the old IWD ports in as a bonus.

 

I suspect they did the godlike portraits first because they're entirely new races, and they needed the concept art anyway.

 

The general pastiness is a bit of a faux pas. Perhaps reflects something of the unconscious workings of the folks there, despite their obvious effort to avoid the general whiteness of western fantasy in their worldbuilding. I'm quite sure they'll remedy it, at the latest for release.

 

In the meantime, if someone makes a combined Samuel L. Jackson/Grace Jones portrait pack, I'm using it.

[RedSocialKnight]

Most of the human male models are bearded. There is no human male portrait that remotely resembles the bearded models. That seems like an obvious omission.

 

And yes, very odd that they explicitly give three different human ethnicities with different cultural info etc -- but only one of the three groups gets portraits.

Edited August 26, 2014 by RedSocialKnight

[Tartantyco]

They're making it difficult for themselves by having Godlike and Orlans. You can't plausibly use a Godlike or Orlan portrait for any other race, like you might with Halfling/Dwarf/Gnome portraits.

[PrimeHydra]

Eegahs, it's beta! Do you really think the portraits we see are the final list? Probably not even close.

[axan22]

_{I'm hoping for about double the amount of portraits we have now, as struggled to find one for most of my characters.}

[RedSocialKnight]

Not to be a grump, but what would make you think they'd portraits at the last minute?

 

The art was probably completed well in advance of the rest of the game -- and it's not as if there's anything in the portraits that needs to be tested.

[Grand_Commander13]

_{I'm hoping for about double the amount of portraits we have now, as struggled to find one for most of my characters.}

 

Double what they have now would basically be the minimum required. Even four times as much would only give them decent variety. They would need hundreds of portraits for a decently varied selection.

[PrimeJunta]

Because the 2D artists were fully booked making in-game resources and those took higher priority?

[Leferd]

Because the 2D artists were fully booked making in-game resources and those took higher priority?

Yep. And Kaz and Polina stated as much. They'll get to them as time and resources permits.

[PrimeHydra]

Not to be a grump, but what would make you think they'd portraits at the last minute?

 

The art was probably completed well in advance of the rest of the game -- and it's not as if there's anything in the portraits that needs to be tested.

They might not have actually added all of them to the game yet. Maybe digitizing their art assets is not yet complete. We don't really know. It just seemed like such a ridiculously short list of portraits (plus duplicates of one guy with a different haircut) as to be obviously non-final.

[Headbomb]

I'm not saying this is final or non-final, I'm just reviewing what's out there now, and what's missing. I got no idea what the devs have in store for us, but there's a good chance portraits are something they'll take care of later when they're done doing icons and stuff. And then this thread will be there for them, as a "hmmm, right, there's not a lot of choice for this type of NPC..." type of reminder or something.