26 replies to this topic

[Lexee]

Yes it's silly. Yes it's trivial. Sure, it shouldn't even matter to a true gamer. But I know I'm not the only gamer to have felt this way. I HATE the way my character looks. And it's bad enough to make me not want to play.

I know this is an issue that has been somewhat touched upon in the past, generally with a response something like, "Who knows? Perhaps this is something that will addressed in the future!" But unfortunately for you guys at QoL, your future is the rest of world's past and present, and designing video game characters to be aesthetically pleasing shouldn't really have been an issue. IMO, with the exception of disconnect issues and absent community, the ugly player character graphics are next in line to be the game's greatest fault currently.

My apologies to the artist(s) responsible for player character graphics. But I don't feel TOO bad about expressing this. You know you've taken the (laziest? least time consuming?) path of character graphic design. You really just cannot take a male character, with male character animations and make him smaller and thinner and give him longer hair and then call him your girlfriend. Because what you end up with is a character clearly suffering gender identity issues.

I'm going to leave out the jokes about how you guys might not know what girls actually look like because that's just too easy. I did have to chuckle a bit though.

So there. I said it. I see that issues such as disconnects and player community will be addressed in the near future, however I do not see that improvements to player character graphics are going to be made in time for the game to even have a chance. It's shockingly important to be vain.

I think she even has an adam's apple

[DustinL]

I heard muffin doesnt discriminate against gender.

I HAD TO LEXEE!

[Wraithblade]

Yes it's silly. Yes it's trivial. Sure, it shouldn't even matter to a true gamer. But I know I'm not the only gamer to have felt this way. I HATE the way my character looks. And it's bad enough to make me not want to play.

I know this is an issue that has been somewhat touched upon in the past, generally with a response something like, "Who knows? Perhaps this is something that will addressed in the future!" But unfortunately for you guys at QoL, your future is the rest of world's past and present, and designing video game characters to be aesthetically pleasing shouldn't really have been an issue. IMO, with the exception of disconnect issues and absent community, the ugly player character graphics are next in line to be the game's greatest fault currently.

My apologies to the artist(s) responsible for player character graphics. But I don't feel TOO bad about expressing this. You know you've taken the (laziest? least time consuming?) path of character graphic design. You really just cannot take a male character, with male character animations and make him smaller and thinner and give him longer hair and then call him your girlfriend. Because what you end up with is a character clearly suffering gender identity issues.

I'm going to leave out the jokes about how you guys might not know what girls actually look like because that's just too easy. I did have to chuckle a bit though.

So there. I said it. I see that issues such as disconnects and player community will be addressed in the near future, however I do not see that improvements to player character graphics are going to be made in time for the game to even have a chance. It's shockingly important to be vain.

I think she even has an adam's apple

After having stiffled several obvious rejoinders... ^^ I suspect its another of the trade offs they had to make with a limited staff, and hence a limited number of things that can be done in a given period of time. My daughter is involved in these types of animation and technical problems, and you might be amazed(and/or horrified) at how much time and effort is involved in character creation and animation. Hopefully this is on their list of Things To Do, once they deal with those higher up on the list.

[Syndic]

I have never been happy with the female characters on human and particularly Talrok. I'm just hoping at some point (not too far away) they can do some model upgrades.

I would certainly like to see something more like their concept art, with regards to both male and female.

[Eldaran]

The free to play game Regnum Online just went through a HUGE graphical revamp, so it can be done later but wondering if it is on the future plans list for QOL is the real killer.

[Lallante]

Many here know how I feel about the player models lol. I even wrote a post about it. More for hindsight - for when they DO change them (and they will, so many have voiced that there needs to BE a change) - what did they look like at release?

Nearly all games revamp their character models. Some sooner than others. I hope Alaganon takes this more seriously. And I sincerely hope more people post about it too.

[Lexee]

I hope Alaganon takes this more seriously.

^Indeed!

[Soupdragon]

My Character Looks Like A Man, Runs Like A Man

Aye but does she taste like a man?

[Eldaran]

Aye but does she taste like a man?

Lexee's Character = strong enough for a man, made (to look like) a woman

[Tork]

We could make a helmet that is just a large paper bag with two eye-holes cut in it. Or did you mean your whole character? We could make a helmet that like a GIANT paper bag with two eye-holes cut in it.

All joking aside this is an issue that we are aware of. We hear your pleas. I'm inclined to think it is a bit "lower" on the priority queue at the moment. That doesn't mean it will never happen just that if it does it will be in the future.

What games have you felt like the artists did an exceptional job with the female avatar artwork?

[bairanax]

We could make a helmet that is just a large paper bag with two eye-holes cut in it. Or did you mean your whole character? We could make a helmet that like a GIANT paper bag with two eye-holes cut in it.

All joking aside this is an issue that we are aware of. We hear your pleas. I'm inclined to think it is a bit "lower" on the priority queue at the moment. That doesn't mean it will never happen just that if it does it will be in the future.

What games have you felt like the artists did an exceptional job with the female avatar artwork?

I've always liked the Lineage2 models. But perhaps that is because i'm a guy..

[Wraithblade]

We could make a helmet that is just a large paper bag with two eye-holes cut in it. Or did you mean your whole character? We could make a helmet that like a GIANT paper bag with two eye-holes cut in it.

All joking aside this is an issue that we are aware of. We hear your pleas. I'm inclined to think it is a bit "lower" on the priority queue at the moment. That doesn't mean it will never happen just that if it does it will be in the future.

What games have you felt like the artists did an exceptional job with the female avatar artwork?

Guildwars and Cabal online come to mind. Look at the new trailer for Guildwars2 for even better.

[bairanax]

After having stiffled several obvious rejoinders... ^^ I suspect its another of the trade offs they had to make with a limited staff, and hence a limited number of things that can be done in a given period of time. My daughter is involved in these types of animation and technical problems, and you might be amazed(and/or horrified) at how much time and effort is involved in character creation and animation. Hopefully this is on their list of Things To Do, once they deal with those higher up on the list.

I hear that a lot (all?) of the graphic design was done by an outsourced Romanian company. I can't remember exactly the name of the company now, but I do remember visiting their website and noticing their portfolio was also looking rather bland in the visuals department. I am going to go out on a limb and say that maybe this was the best they could offer, and maybe QOL didn't have a large enough budget for hiring their own graphic designers.

[Lexee]

What games have you felt like the artists did an exceptional job with the female avatar artwork?

Aion of course, but that goes without saying,and it's really not fair comparison at all anyway. I've been trying out Allods Online lately and have been very please with its character models. I never had a complaint about WoW models except that I regretted having gone Alliance once Burning Crusade came out with Blood Elves. I'd honestly be pretty happy if the girls just looked like girls. And of course everyone wants their character to be unique.

And I agree - definitely if the models were more of a reflection of the concept art, that's be pretty sweet.

[Lexee]

PS I google imaged "Romanian Girl" and this was my first result. So they definitely have girls there.

[Soupdragon]

Get a female designer to do them, then they might actually look like women.

Rather than pneumatically assisted stereotypes!

[Mhantra]

Hah, my brother and I play our duo as females on the Talrok side, and they even SOUND like men. We even forget we're playing female characters. But serously, if we wanted a non-man-like character, we wouldn't have gone Talrok. They are ugly as sin and perfect that way, except for their jump. Seriously...the jump. LOL

The human females, though, could probably use a sprucing up. Funny thing, though, I have heard complaining about models that look TOO unrealistically female, or too "Barbie" in their measurements.

So for both men and women, why not add a portly option, a pimples option, a mishsapen breast option and a "my ears are too big" option. Add a bowl haircut, chubby cheeks, and a low self-esteem option. Stretch marks, bad knees, surgery scars and flat-footedness. There are many more, too. I would use them, and I wouldn't even need the bag, though for Halloween, that might be fun.

Only then can we call our models realistic.

Who's with me?!

[Lexee]

The human females, though, could probably use a sprucing up. Funny thing, though, I have heard complaining about models that look TOO unrealistically female, or too "Barbie" in their measurements.

So for both men and women, why not add a portly option, a pimples option, a mishsapen breast option and a "my ears are too big" option. Add a bowl haircut, chubby cheeks, and a low self-esteem option. Stretch marks, bad knees, surgery scars and flat-footedness. There are many more, too. I would use them, and I wouldn't even need the bag, though for Halloween, that might be fun.

Only then can we call our models realistic.

Who's with me?!

But I can do all of these IRL.

[Mhantra]

But I can do all of these IRL.

LOL! Me too! I modeled those things off of me a mine

Although I forgot the messed up blind right eye option.

[DeLang]

What games have you felt like the artists did an exceptional job with the female avatar artwork?

Lineage II offered feminine looking, moving, sounding female avatars. The boobage could be toned down a bit, but they did a great job.

A close friend irl bought Alaganon and likes the classes & crafting, but just can't relate to any of the character models, finding them laughably outdated and off-putting. He doesn't play anymore because it rubs him the wrong way and distances him from his avatar.