More NPC portraits this time around, please!

[BeauRoger]

Something i found kind of uninspiring in the first game was the lack of NPC portraits for key characters. Its a pretty minor issue all things considered, but adding them would help a lot with immersion and world building I think. As far as I remember, the only individuals with portraits in Pillars 1 were the player, the companions and Thaos. I think that there were plenty of others that deserved their own portraits in game, such as Lady Webb or Raedric for example.

 

When you have an Isometric rpg that is heavy on narrative I think its important to be able to occasionally associate all that text & exposition with an actual face, since the graphics and camera angle wont be able to supply that properly. If all the text simply comes from virtually identical, anonymous looking character models seen from a distance, the player might lose some engagement that might have otherwise been there. Speaking from a psychological perspective, humans are hardwired to process faces, and so there would be numerous advantages in having more NPC portraits, such as improved attention, deeper encoding (memorization) of individuals and narrative as well as facilitation of empathy; its a lot easier to humanize and empathize with an actual face than with just text alone.

Edited February 1, 2017 by BeauRoger

[boffmoffet]

You should go check out the current stretch goals BeauRoger, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. 

 

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire?update=245#updates

[BeauRoger]

You should go check out the current stretch goals BeauRoger, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. 

 

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire?update=245#updates

Holy ****

[Archaven]

Too bad instead of quality painted NPC portraits, they went the cartoony water colored version. I don't really mind that for quest givers but how about quality, painted portraits that available for custom party or the main PC? I think they have leave that for the community i guess? I myself have to find a good NPC portrait for my character when i first play PoE. And thanks to the community! for the big library of custom portraits. They were really very good. So basically, i think this water color NPC portraits as a stretch goal wasn't really necessary. It may not suits the tone or the settings for the game.