Original NPC portraits by Obsidian

[Messier-31]

Lo and behold, I shall start a thread, because I can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First of all a disclaimer: there will be a lot of words like "portrait" showing a lot of times in huge proximity to one another in next sentences, so watch out - I'm not a professional writer and English isn't my first language. And now to the point. Wanted to talk (type) to you guys about original NPC portraits by Obsidian. You got it. This is not about custom portraits, nor about companions. This is specifically about:

• Thaos, Iovara, Renengild and Galvino
• Portraits available to the player to choose from

 

 

 

Anyhoo, the first thing I wanna discuss are them four characters. I really like NPC's with portraits in these games (be it BG2 or PoE). I even like to muster a mod or two for BG saga, so more characters get a portrait, but only those who really are important to the game, story or setting. I wouldn't like to see every single peasant having a portrait, but I think that people like Gorion, Elminster, Drizzt deserve one. That is why I absolutely love the fact, that Obidian made these 4 (or 6 if you add the two variants for Thaos and Iovara).

 

Thaos and Iovara are absolutely incontestable. And while I really fancy portraits for Renengild and Galvino I question the reason behind giving portraits to those two specific characters.

1. First of all Renengild is a mayor of Stalwart in WM1. It would make a lot of sense to give a portrait to the leader of a community, but Duc Aevar Wolfgrin (artificial gods bless his soul) hasn't got one. Wasn't he quite a figure in Eora?
2. Renengild is no longer a mayor in WM2. What makes it more nonsense is that her role completely has no meaning in the second part of the expanion. She literally doesn't have more to say to you other than "k thx bai".
3. Lady Webb is a super major NPC. Killing her ends the game prematurely! Still, lacking a portrait. For me it would make more sense to change the Renengild's one to Lady Webb's, because they look pretty much similar to eachother.
4. Galvino is a semi-important character. I really like that guy (like most Vailians), but also his role in WM2 diminished (if not vanished). Yet somehow I get a feeling that there was some political correctness involved. Obsidian simply needed to give a portrait of an "ocean human" and thus avoid being frown upon. But that is just my loose observation.

Don't get me wrong. The more portraits, the better. I only think that maybe there are more important characters who would deserve a portrait. I know all about time and money issues that play a major factor here, but I wonder what do you guys think nonetheless. What are your types for characters who shoul've get a portrait? Apart from Duc Aevar and Lady Webb my other choice would be the leader of the Iron Flail.

 

 

 

 

Hey lady, do you have a twin sister?

 

 

 

Moving on. Portraits available to the player to choose from - that is an impressive amount of portraits the devs created. Bravo. Alas, there is also a lot of combinations while creating a character. If someone wants to make a specific character you only end up with 2 portraits tops. Custom portraits come in handy, but it is hard for all you aumaua/orlan/godlike lovers to get what you want. Also, one of my pet peeves is having a portrait of a completely different art. style than the rest. I think the fans of Luis Royo disagree, but I just see too much of a difference.

 

So maybe there could be more of it in the future? Given that somebody at Obsidian would like the idea and it wouldn't be a big time/money issue to make it? AFAIK there have been some portraits added to the game in recent updates. I am 100% sure that there were only 2 male dwarves one year ago when the game launched, and now we have 3 of them. You think there might be a possibility of Obsidian making a small portrait bonus pack? I - for one - would really like such a treat.

 

 

 

TL;DR in a nutshell:

• Was giving portraits to Renengild and Galvino a good idea?
• What are your types for major characters that deserve a portrait?
• Does it make sense to ask Obsidian to make more portraits?

 

 

P.S. Speaking of Renengild. What happened to her son in WM2? He's nowhere to be found?

[Crucis]

I do think that not having a portrait for Lady Webb was a terrible mistake.  Duc Avar, not so much.  After all, he only showed up in a single scene.  But Lady Webb showed up repeatedly.

 

As for Renegild, honestly it seemed like a waste to have gone to the trouble of producing a portrait for her, and then effectively writing her out of WM2.  Also, I'm not really sure why Galvino warranted a portrait.  You only really need to meet him once in WM1, and IMO, he didn't really seem like all that important a character in the WM1 storyline.  That said, I like seeing significant NPC's having portraits.  I wish that the female Aumaua who ran the Salty Mast had a portrait.  Heck, it wouldn't have bothered me if every innkeeper had a portrait, since you do meet them a lot more often than many other NPC's.

 

Another NPC who could have been worthy of a portrait was Lord Raedric.  (Maybe two, if you know what I mean.)

[house2fly]

Galvino's portrait is great and he's a great character so I don't mind him having a portrait. I agree the leader of the Iron Flail should have gotten one.

[AndreaColombo]

I would love more portraits to choose from at character creation.

Don't get me wrong: This game has a lot more portraits to offer than any of the IE games ever had, and they're all pretty great. However, I'm one of those who values art-style consistency a lot, and therefore hots to rely on custom portraits that look nothing like Obsidian's. There are many class/race/sex combinations that are still uncovered (to say nothing of hair/facial hair styles) and especially Aumaua, Orlan, and Godlike should get more because even finding custom portraits for them is hard.

 

I was also kinda baffled that all new portraits in PX2 were male humans, the one variety that was needed the least.

[Messier-31]

I would love more portraits to choose from at character creation.

Don't get me wrong: This game has a lot more portraits to offer than any of the IE games ever had, and they're all pretty great. However, I'm one of those who values art-style consistency a lot, and therefore hots to rely on custom portraits that look nothing like Obsidian's. There are many class/race/sex combinations that are still uncovered (to say nothing of hair/facial hair styles) and especially Aumaua, Orlan, and Godlike should get more because even finding custom portraits for them is hard.

 

I was also kinda baffled that all new portraits in PX2 were male humans, the one variety that was needed the least.

 

Pale elf with beards - total portraits: 0

[Lychnidos]

Maybe that Aumaua with a beard was supposed to be a Pale Elf, but there was a mishap in communication with the artist. As far as I understood Aumaua don't have beards.

[FlintlockJazz]

 

I would love more portraits to choose from at character creation.

Don't get me wrong: This game has a lot more portraits to offer than any of the IE games ever had, and they're all pretty great. However, I'm one of those who values art-style consistency a lot, and therefore hots to rely on custom portraits that look nothing like Obsidian's. There are many class/race/sex combinations that are still uncovered (to say nothing of hair/facial hair styles) and especially Aumaua, Orlan, and Godlike should get more because even finding custom portraits for them is hard.

 

I was also kinda baffled that all new portraits in PX2 were male humans, the one variety that was needed the least.

 

Pale elf with beards - total portraits: 0

 

This is a big issue for me.  The major point of playing Pale Elves is that they are Elves With Beards, yet none of their portraits have one and due to the unique and specific characteristics of Pale Elves that make them differ such from normal Elves make it really hard to find Appropriate Portraits for them.  I refuse to Elf without Beard!

[smjjames]

edit: Whoops, mistook this as being in the PoE2 section.

 

edit2: And a year old, necro'd it by accident by not paying attention.

Edited May 14, 2017 by smjjames