Character picture issues

[hrwd]

I hope that this issue will not be present in Tyranny or in PoE2:

 

When you create your character, you are given an option of hair styles, faces and hair / skin colours, yes? If you choose the red skin colour for your Aumaua, which picture should a player take? The brown one(it goes hand in hand with a brown skin)? The blue one(it's better for Coastal Aumaua and for blue skinned ones anyhow)? THERE IS NO SUITABLE PICTURE FOR YOUR CHARACTER! Not to mention that Island Aumaua get like 1 picture(the brown, serious one). What if I choose Nature or Death Godlike head type that is not represented by a picture...? etc etc.

 

In this case, I'd rather choose smaller number of options which are better covered by pictures or just a larger amount of pictures.

 

Did anyone else notice this(I mean it's impossible not to notice it, but still...some might not care)?

 

edit: picture packs which often contain pictures from other games don't help here(because Orlan / Aumaua / Godlike races don't exist in those settings).

Edited October 9, 2016 by hrwd

[Boeroer]

With a bit of knowledge around Gimp or Photoshop you can make something nice from the existing ones. But to limit the options of character creation beause you have no portrait...? Come on, you can't be serious. That will only limit other players while it will not add anything to the game. If you feel better when character model and portrait match then just limit yourself and only choose the options that you can also see in a protrait, it's that simple I guess.

 

They can't make a portrait for every combination. 

 

However - they could take the model you created during character creation, make a portrait shot and then put that through some filters in order to generate a custom protrait that looks kind of hand drawn. It will not have the quality of a original portrait done by an artist but it would be better than nothing I guess. 

[hrwd]

With a bit of knowledge around Gimp or Photoshop you can make something nice from the existing ones. But to limit the options of character creation beause you have no portrait...? Come on, you can't be serious. That will only limit other players while it will not add anything to the game. If you feel better when character model and portrait match then just limit yourself and only choose the options that you can also see in a protrait, it's that simple I guess.

 

They can't make a portrait for every combination. 

 

However - they could take the model you created during character creation, make a portrait shot and then put that through some filters in order to generate a custom protrait that looks kind of hand drawn. It will not have the quality of a original portrait done by an artist but it would be better than nothing I guess. 

 

Yeah, that'd be nice.

[Boeroer]

Now that I think of it - maybe one could make a screenshot and use an online tool (if there is any) fir the "draw" effect. 

[hrwd]

Now that I think of it - maybe one could make a screenshot and use an online tool (if there is any) fir the "draw" effect. 

 

Never heard of it.

[redneckdevil]

Or do what I do and find an image on google u think fits and save it. Use paint or whatever to scale it to the right sizes and save in the game file.

[Boeroer]

I find a lot of high quality stuff at deviantart.com. Sometimes I even find a nice picture and then build a char around it.

[LuccA]

If it is 'easy' to change colors on photoshop, than Obsidian could have hired an intern to do so. I'm with the OP on this. The art in the portraits are generally very beautiful, but the way they are presented honestly feels very lazy to me.

 

First of all, it is only a few of them which have alternate colors/versions, like the hooded woman and the female nature Godlike. Why is it just a few of them? Couldn't they dedicate some time to make at least one alternate color/version for every of them, even if the total number of different portraits got cut out?

 

The easiest solution would be to make the side arrows swap between different portraits and then add up & down arrows to choose between different colors/versions of the same portrait. When the first portraits were getting revealed during the Kickstarter campaign, when we could see they were making look-alike portraits with subtle differences in color and details, I actually thought that was the obvious way to present them in-game.

 

It just feels totally randomized the way they are now organized: "So, here are three similar female nature Godlike that look almost the same, then a single Heart Orlan portrait obligatory for anyone who wants to play as an Heart Orlan, then a fan-made portrait that was added to the official roster without much blending with the style, then a whole variety of human portraits..."  

[Boeroer]

I meant that limiting the character customisation because there are only a few portraits is not a great idea.

I wasn't saying that the game couldn't use more portraits. I also didn't say that everybody should make their own portraits with photoshop. I was just pointing out a solution for a problem. DonÄt know if the OP is able to do so, but it might have been an option.

 

If you ask for a special character portrait (here in the forum) you will usually find someone who has done it, knows where to find one or is even willing to make you one. So it's not a problem you can't solve.

 

I agree that more portraits would be great though. 

[Ben No.3]

Even so, I don't find the in game portraits limiting...

There are two fully covered faces (one with evilish helmet and one goodish)... Which work for everbody besides godlike. Then you can be creative... Many humans wear hoods or helmets, so they might as well be elfs (no huge difference besides ears), most can be dwarfes, Works especially well for female portraits. That aumaua holding a mask? Make a blue skinned heart Orlan. Any nature godlike could be an green skinned wild and in some cases heart Orlan, for male characters add the stag helmet (finally it doesn't look awful). Make use of the fact that you can make a Orlan look elvish. I just realised how many of my thoughts circle around modifieing Orlans... Guess options are not that broad after all

 

But there are a few portraits

I always found very intriguing but never manages to fit a character to... The aumaua with the mask (what class is he even?), the female elf with the shoulder tattoo (would be such a cool monk... But wood elf monk... Besides long pain maybe not that worth it), that crazy old man with only half of his teeth and the crazy look... I also really likes the one wild Orlan female portrait. There is also one girl that has yellow eyes... How cool is that? Maybe she's an avian godlike with very little mutation...(No white hair though... So no witcher )O well... Being off topic... Sry bout that

Edited October 13, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

The aumaua with the mask is a fail: he has a beard, but you can't put a beard onto aumuas while creating your character.

[Jojobobo]

As others have said use custom portraits, there is the means to do so and so if you find the current selection limiting do that.

 

However, at the same time more portraits originally would have been nice. I remember playing Icewind Dale 2 and I think there's three separate male Drow pictures, which is just one sub-race. Here we're limited to one or two for most sub-races, which is a little restrictive if you like to only use the in game resources (which I do). Then again, I'm not bothered much by aesthetics so I don't really care.

 

I think what bothers me more is a lot of the female voices seem to be covered by the same voice actress who has a faint lisp and says S sounds in a very sibilant way. While I don't mind the pronunciation, the fact that it's in quite a few of the different options makes the voice choices seem less unique to me.

[rheingold]

Definitely agree - more portraits would be nice - particularly Orlan and Aumaua, but while changing colours on a portrait is fairly easy using photoshop, illustrating them in the first place is not. Obs presumably have limited resources and can't afford to have an artist tied up drawing new portraits. The colour changes are generally easy enough for people to do them selves - if they have the software. Fortunately I have photoshop - not to sure how well Gimp actually stacks up againt it.

[Sedrefilos]

That's why the game should have, at least as option, a screenshot of your character's face. Original Sin 2 took this path and I'm glad.

[rheingold]

^^^^ Is it not to low res? How does it look? 

[Boeroer]

Gimp is free and it's powerful - it's def. potent enough for altering fantasy portraits.

[Sedrefilos]

^^^^ Is it not to low res? How does it look? 

It's fine. You can take a look at the million let's play D:OS 2 videos currently on youtube

[Sedrefilos]

Gimp is free and it's powerful - it's def. potent enough for altering fantasy portraits.

I don't see why it should be an art project to just have the character on my portrait match the model. I start the game, I create my character and want to get started. Not minimize, go do stuff elswere, import etc. It is 2016, the game has already a 3D model, quite detailed, just capture the face and place it in the frame. So easy. Dragon Age Origins did it like 5 years before Pillars. And Wasteland 2 had the option to do that in addition to having drawn portraits. Hope Pillars 2 will have at least the option.

Edited October 14, 2016 by Sedrefilos

[Boeroer]

I didn't say you should do it. I only said it's possible without spending money. 

[AndreaColombo]

Personally I prefer 2D portraits. They are just going to be more detailed and convey the atmosphere better. A 3D shot always gives me the "cheap" feeling.

 

Besides, PoE is an old-school RPG inspired by I.E. games; beautiful hand-drawn portraits are part of the charm

[hrwd]

 

^^^^ Is it not to low res? How does it look? 

It's fine. You can take a look at the million let's play D:OS 2 videos currently on youtube

 

 

Man, Divinity series blows compared to Pillars. I tried to play D:OS:EE and then the sheer stupidity of game design and WRITING caught up with me. That investigation quest in Cyseal is a torture...if you want to do a Fantasy CSI, look at how the Witcher did it in its Act II(Vizima Confidential...a beautiful quest most likely named after L.A. Confidential). But you'll need a STRONG WRITING TALENT to pull it off, not the usual piss Larian flogs under writing.

[Sedrefilos]

 

 

^^^^ Is it not to low res? How does it look? 

It's fine. You can take a look at the million let's play D:OS 2 videos currently on youtube

 

 

Man, Divinity series blows compared to Pillars. I tried to play D:OS:EE and then the sheer stupidity of game design and WRITING caught up with me. That investigation quest in Cyseal is a torture...if you want to do a Fantasy CSI, look at how the Witcher did it in its Act II(Vizima Confidential...a beautiful quest most likely named after L.A. Confidential). But you'll need a STRONG WRITING TALENT to pull it off, not the usual piss Larian flogs under writing.

 

I am talking about D:OS 2 btw and about how it deals with portraits. Who said anything here about D:OS EE or its writing or whatever? This isn't the thread to talk about this. I'm sure there are several rant topics in Larian's forums about how their game blows.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Sedrefilos

[rheingold]

^^^ I think it's a great option to have as long as they still have/create regular portraits. Might be worth adding in the survey, I'll check if I can do it twice.

[Sedrefilos]

^^^ I think it's a great option to have as long as they still have/create regular portraits. Might be worth adding in the survey, I'll check if I can do it twice.

Yes, an option will be great. I'm not talking about banning the drawn portrait altogether. But I had problems when I created characters in Pillars. I had to make them match one of the portraits and it was really annoying 'cause I would like a different face that those in portraits. On the other hand, I hated having a portrait that was copletely different from my in-game model.

 

As for 2D portraits being part of the old-school charm, I have to completely disagree here. Back in the day, the models looked like mush. The portraits helped give you a visual of how your character looks like - it wasn't like you could see the details on the model, so ok. I'm telling you, even back then I felt the portraits limited me but there wasn't anything you can do. It was the eraly 00s. Now it is the mid-'10s (late '10s when Pillars 2 will be out). Having ONLY portraits is not cool any more.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Sedrefilos

[Karkarov]

I will only caution you in that Divinity Original Sin 2 also uses much much higher quality models for their characters than what Eternity, or Eternity 2 are likely to use.  So the effect, so to speak, may not work as well for Eternity 2 as it does Original Sin 2.