Character Creation Aesthetics and STUFF

[Eldram]

I am a huge fan of the portraits, although having the snapshot option would be nice for people who want it. I really hope they are able to create portraits to match all the options. Sounds extreme but if the hair and faces could be swaped (similar to the female face with multiple hair swaps portrait). Kinda like the flip books for kids where you change the eyes mouth and hair (but for face hair and beard). Would take some work but having so many options would be incredible.

[e_gabriel85]

The characters may look oddly-proportioned and ugly during the creation phase, but once you actually start the game, I think they look good, for the most part. The only really bad ones, IMO, are the dwarves. They look like weak and child-like rather than hardy and strong like they're supposed to.

 

You guys gotta remember this isn't an MMO - I don't think you should expect things like height/weight sliders and a bazillion different eyes, noses, etc. Especially since you can barely even see those details in-game. 

[InsaneCommander]

I don't mind the Death Godlike "shells" to much, as their description does say that they have growths that cover their eyes and most of their faces. As it stands, the only Godlike I'll be able to play as is Nature and Death. Which makes me super sad, cause I really wanted to play a Moon Godlike. But being pretty (or at least not bald..) is near and dear to my heart. The Nature Godlike (at least the female) are actually almost pretty to me. I don't mind the Death ones to much, and actually have a character idea for one. She's gonna be a former slave I think~

 

My most wanted feature at this point will be longer hair (or any sort of hair) for ALL the Godlike. Especially Moon and Fire. I'd just love, love, love some braids for them. (really braids all of them in general would please me.) 

More portraits to would be great, but if push comes to shove I'd just draw my own. I think I can match the art style well enough, coloring would be the tricky part though. :/

 

In any event, if they don't add anything more to the Fire and Moon Godlike, I'll feel really put out. Cause as it stands, without any romantic subplots and now super ugly Moon Godlike, my optimism and excitement levels for this game have dropped to 0.

I can't imagine Obsidian including these awesome portraits without the option to create a character that truly looks like that. Please Obsidian, give us Godlike hair!

Edited August 19, 2014 by InsaneCommander

[wolfstriked]

I'll be honest.  The character models are fugly.   Yes, FUGLY.  Humans look weak and small.  Hair is awful.  Faces are awful.  Body shape is awful.  I want my Barb to look like Conan and Valeria not Jim and Susan from down the block.

 

All races lack chiseled features.  The Orlans are probably the worst.  Their portraits are great, but the model looks nothing like them.  Dwarves look like fat-bellied little knee-highs.  The NWN2 models were better ffs.  Doesn't make sense.  

 

The shapes just seem all wrong.  It feels too comical.  Kills my immersion.  

 

Is it really that expensive to make character models that look good?

 

What happened to the character models?A yr back they showed realistic looking visuals that have changed somewhere along the road.Many posters say that they like the visuals though so good luck.

 

Edited August 19, 2014 by wolfstriked

[generalkorrd]

At first I didn't think character portraits were a big deal or an issue for me, but they are. For some reason, I just don't like any of the ones given. If there are going to be no changes to the portraits, or new ones added, I vote for going with a crop like NWN or DA:O

[Kronos]

 

I don't mind the Death Godlike "shells" to much, as their description does say that they have growths that cover their eyes and most of their faces. As it stands, the only Godlike I'll be able to play as is Nature and Death. Which makes me super sad, cause I really wanted to play a Moon Godlike. But being pretty (or at least not bald..) is near and dear to my heart. The Nature Godlike (at least the female) are actually almost pretty to me. I don't mind the Death ones to much, and actually have a character idea for one. She's gonna be a former slave I think~

 

My most wanted feature at this point will be longer hair (or any sort of hair) for ALL the Godlike. Especially Moon and Fire. I'd just love, love, love some braids for them. (really braids all of them in general would please me.)

More portraits to would be great, but if push comes to shove I'd just draw my own. I think I can match the art style well enough, coloring would be the tricky part though. :/

 

In any event, if they don't add anything more to the Fire and Moon Godlike, I'll feel really put out. Cause as it stands, without any romantic subplots and now super ugly Moon Godlike, my optimism and excitement levels for this game have dropped to 0.

 

I can't imagine Obsidian including these awesome portraits without the option to create a character that truly looks like that. Please Obsidian, give us Godlike hair!

I 100% agree, if the characters in the creator looked like this I'd certainly play them or at least certainly have these companions on my party. These are attractive portraits but character models are nothing like them.

 

Could it be a suggestion to have lovely 2D paper dolls in character/inventory screen... I think this would solve quite a few problems. I can understand the headaches blowing up the 3D in-game model is causing to appearance in the character screen. This is however easily avoidable. I think I'd actually prefer a 2D character/inventory screen. It would give it a more vintage feeling.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Kronos

[Amentep]

 

Kronos, how dare you use the same avatar as me? I will slap you.

lol, You'll have to stand in line behind my wife and mother- in-law

 

They also use the same avatar?

[Kronos]

At first I didn't think character portraits were a big deal or an issue for me, but they are. For some reason, I just don't like any of the ones given. If there are going to be no changes to the portraits, or new ones added, I vote for going with a crop like NWN or DA:O

 

 

Kronos, how dare you use the same avatar as me? I will slap you.

lol, You'll have to stand in line behind my wife and mother- in-law

They also use the same avatar?

nope, but they've got dibs on slapping me.

[Acridine Orange]

I'm pretty easy to please and not very critical of games in general, especially ones like Pillars of Eternity that fit the style of some of my favorite games.  Overall, I am loving the overall feel of the game.  That said, I have to agree with most everyone else here about how boring and in some cases downright ugly some of the character models and customization options are.  I understand it is an early beta, but I sincerely hope that more quality options will be incorporated.  I think the Godlike look pretty damn cool, but the Aumaua....ehh yeah they just look silly.  I think the hair and beards and all of that are fine, there just needs to be more variation.  Really more variation all around would be a BIG plus

 

As for the portraits, IMO some of them are excellent, some of them are decent, and some of them are rather annoying.  Overall, they are about what I expected with the exception of the quantity.  Absolutely need more portrait options, considering the amount of different races and class types, there are just not enough portraits available at this point.

 

So far, these character models and portraits are really the only serious criticism I have so far.  I'm loving the vast majority of what I have seen thus far, right down to the UI, menus, text, and of course the environments and music.  Oh there is one other thing, does anyone else feel like the characters just jet around too fast?  I mean it feels like they are sprinting like Usain Bolt everywhere they go.  Personally, I prefer a much more methodical approach, all the better to enjoy the excellent environments 

[DigitalCrack]

 

 

I don't mind the Death Godlike "shells" to much, as their description does say that they have growths that cover their eyes and most of their faces. As it stands, the only Godlike I'll be able to play as is Nature and Death. Which makes me super sad, cause I really wanted to play a Moon Godlike. But being pretty (or at least not bald..) is near and dear to my heart. The Nature Godlike (at least the female) are actually almost pretty to me. I don't mind the Death ones to much, and actually have a character idea for one. She's gonna be a former slave I think~

 

My most wanted feature at this point will be longer hair (or any sort of hair) for ALL the Godlike. Especially Moon and Fire. I'd just love, love, love some braids for them. (really braids all of them in general would please me.)

More portraits to would be great, but if push comes to shove I'd just draw my own. I think I can match the art style well enough, coloring would be the tricky part though. :/

 

In any event, if they don't add anything more to the Fire and Moon Godlike, I'll feel really put out. Cause as it stands, without any romantic subplots and now super ugly Moon Godlike, my optimism and excitement levels for this game have dropped to 0.

 

I can't imagine Obsidian including these awesome portraits without the option to create a character that truly looks like that. Please Obsidian, give us Godlike hair!

I 100% agree, if the characters in the creator looked like this I'd certainly play them or at least certainly have these companions on my party. These are attractive portraits but character models are nothing like them.

 

Could it be a suggestion to have lovely 2D paper dolls in character/inventory screen... I think this would solve quite a few problems. I can understand the headaches blowing up the 3D in-game model is causing to appearance in the character screen. This is however easily avoidable. I think I'd actually prefer a 2D character/inventory screen. It would give it a more vintage feeling.

Yeah the godlike portraits, especially, look way better in portraits than the character model. Fire and moon have weird glowing alien looking aura for hair and oversized horns that just aren't cool and don't feel like they fit with how the (much more epic) portraits portray them.

[Havelok]

 My main focus here is going to be on the forced use of Character portraits. I understand they are near and dear to a lot of people in this type of community but I'd again rather have a system that just shows a crop of my created character. I don't want to have to use a custom portrait and spend 20 minutes of my life every time I created a different character due to me being unsatisfied with the provided (vanilla) character portaits.

 

 

I agree with you here... Wasteland 2 allows for the use of a "snapshot" of your 3d character model, and I think it's a good workaround for people who can't find a good find for there character, portrait-wise.

[Sirabot]

The characters may look oddly-proportioned and ugly during the creation phase, but once you actually start the game, I think they look good, for the most part. The only really bad ones, IMO, are the dwarves. They look like weak and child-like rather than hardy and strong like they're supposed to.

 

You guys gotta remember this isn't an MMO - I don't think you should expect things like height/weight sliders and a bazillion different eyes, noses, etc. Especially since you can barely even see those details in-game. 

 

No, but I at least expect more options than was offered in Neverwinter nights 2. Right now, that is not the case. Also, I see those details every time I open my inventory. And it might not seem important to you, but it very important to me. I play games to be immersed in my avatar, if something pulls me out of the experience (stubby little human with generic face) then I lose interest. It is supposed to be MY character, in which I can project MYSELF into to experience the quest and story and relations with the world and lore of this game. If it's not, then why am I playing it, just so some no name character that I care nothing about can poke things with a sword when I click on them? I'd like my experience to be a bit deeper than that and sadly I lack imagination. So, very much yes. I think the character models, animations, textures, and portraits need a second pass and much more options, content and systems added. if that's absolutely not in the budget then that's a tragedy. But for it to stay as it is, hurts this games integrity as a "role playing game".

 

Edit: I don't mean to be cruel here but I HAVE seen facebook games with better quality character creation... With all due respect and gratitute for making this game a reality. I really feel like the Player Character deserves more aesthetic attention and overall quality.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Sirabot

[Sedrefilos]

I agree with the OP. Wasteland 2 has this option to either choose a portrait or a shot of your 3d model character. That's what Obsidian should do here too.

[PrimeJunta]

It should be pretty easy to add a feature that lets you snap a shot of the toon on CC and use that as the portrait, if that's how you roll.

 

I prefer the painted portraits, although ATM the quality is uneven and there aren't enough of them. In particular, there are no Ocean Folk portraits. I'm quite sure this is going to change, and I'm also sure that one of the first mods out of the gate will be a portrait pack.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Am I the only one who thinks the character models look surprisingly decent, even during the zoomed in character creation? I've been following some of the streams and apart from the occasional face (death godlike with the conehead...ugh) they all look pretty nice. Way better than I expected. And armor designs are great.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Quetzalcoatl

[Thundercat710]

They all look fine to me in-game, playing almost all the way zoomed out @ 2560x1600.  The amount of jaggies at character building and inventory screens is retro-fabulous and makes my eyes leak blood.  Love it.  Would also love to see it sharpened up as much as possible, some day.  

[Cabamacadaf]

I think all of the currently available options for the character customization look awful, luckily you won't really see them much because of the top-down perspective though.

[Sirabot]

Some of you guys are quick to defend what's present by saying it looks "decent" or looks "good enough". I believe Obsidian are made of sterner stuff than "decent" or "good enough".

[PrimeJunta]

Some of you guys are quick to defend what's present by saying it looks "decent" or looks "good enough". I believe Obsidian are made of sterner stuff than "decent" or "good enough".

 

Triple the budget while keeping the scope and mechanics the same, and I've no doubt they could make it look a lot better.

 

For $4M, I'm more than happy with how it looks.

[Sirabot]

 

Some of you guys are quick to defend what's present by saying it looks "decent" or looks "good enough". I believe Obsidian are made of sterner stuff than "decent" or "good enough".

 

Triple the budget while keeping the scope and mechanics the same, and I've no doubt they could make it look a lot better.

 

For $4M, I'm more than happy with how it looks.

 

 

Well I'm not. I was creating a character, a human mind you. My wife walked over to my PC and burst out in laughter and ask "what is that?" I then realized how silly the character looked. They look terrible, stumpy, and 3-4 identically proportioned faces. You can be content if you like, but by doing so you're not striving for quality, you're settling for less. That's the kind of thinking that gave way to EA's rise to power and Activision's call of dooty's yearly releases. You actually hurt the game by detouring the developers to improve based on others' feedback. Especially in this situation where the character models and textures are CLEARLY poor. whether or not this is strictly a beta issue that would eventually resolve itself, I can't say. I'm not going to wait and see either. I'm going to give feedback and ask for more, I want this game to be the best it can be, because I care about it.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Sirabot

[PrimeJunta]

Oh, poppy**** @Sirabot. I just have different priorities. They have a limited budget. If you want prettier graphics, they'll have to allocate more of that budget to graphics and less to systems and content, and I would much rather play a BG2-scale game that looks like this than a Shadowrun Returns scale game that looks a lot better TYVM.

[Tartantyco]

I think people are getting too caught up with the 3D models. They look crap, but I don't know why they're even there. Dump them and replace them with portraits and paper dolls, like in the IE games. We're going to be watching them from far up in the sky throughout the game, their only function right now is to slow down menus and look ugly.

[Sirabot]

Oh, poppy**** @Sirabot. I just have different priorities. They have a limited budget. If you want prettier graphics, they'll have to allocate more of that budget to graphics and less to systems and content, and I would much rather play a BG2-scale game that looks like this than a Shadowrun Returns scale game that looks a lot better TYVM.

 

Well that's like, your opinion man.

[PrimeJunta]

@Sirabot That they need to decide how to allocate their budget between systems, graphics, and content is a fact. My priorities are my opinion. "Settling for less, not striving for quality, and ruining the industry" is childish whining. 

[Starwars]

I don't care at all about how the models look up-close to be honest. They don't look particularly good I think but ít's just such a small thing in the grand scheme of things. They look fine from above when playing the game, that's the most important bit I think.

 

Would love definitely love more portraits though. It *does* create a bit of a weird thing when you customize your 3d toon, and then there's no portrait that looks like it. In that regard, I would prefer it if they just had a very standard paper-doll. 

 

But yeah, I wouldn't want them to waste resources on changing it now.