Tenacity Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) Newsflash, bioware - this isnt warcraft, or warhammer, or everquest, or dragon age. This is star wars - did you forget to mention that to the art team as they were working on high level and endgame pve/pvp gear sets? Honestly, I feel like I'm playing a bad fantasy game with how some of the level 50 raid and pvp gear looks. None of it reminds me of starwars, not even the slightest bit. Did bioware employees somehow watch an alternate version of star wars, where Darth Vader looked like Optimus Prime or Emperor Palpatine looked like a hagraven? In what universe does boba fett look like an insect, and how in the hell are we hovering when all of the jet vents on our gear face directly backwards? I havent seen the endgame gear on the republic side yet, but I've heard most of it is just as bad. The only class that doesnt have crap looking endgame gear on the empire side is the imperial agent, but theirs still has no resemblance to star wars at all. Stop giving us ten ton shoulderpads and ten foot spikes, and give us something that makes us think we're actually playing a starwars game. We're not orcs, ffs. Edited February 2, 2012 by Zoggel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyersfan Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 The Republic stuff is worse, in my opinion. The Marauder and Agent stuff that I've seen is pretty decent, but I don't like anything other than that. The gear all looks ridiculous, especially the Sorcerer. What is that headdress about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stenrik Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) OK first off, this game doesn't take place at the same time as the movies. Honestly, if all the gear was really close to the cannon, it would be boring. Do you see fashion thousands of years from now looking exactly as it does now? Another thing is that silhouette is important in games. People need to be able to instantly tell a class at a glance, and from a distance. (Check out the TF2 character lineup. All of the silhouettes are interesting and different from one another). Making an interesting, iconic silhouette means big/unusual shoulders and unusually shaped helmets. In fact, many complaints I've seen are that jedi gear is too "boring" and "humble/scaled down." That's what they get for sticking with the films. I say bring in some of the color. I do think that players should be given more options on their look, and I agree with some of the complaints (especially about the consular headgear being kinda silly looking, and robes making giant rear ends). But a pet peeve of mine is overly utilitarian sci-fi design. By this, I mean that some concept artists ignore culture, ceremony, and history when designing characters in sci fi. Bringing in "fantasy" influences can be a good way to make it come alive. Mixing genres is one of the best ways to create good and interesting design. I think the smuggler gear is a good example: it's a combination of wild west, WWII bomber, sci fi soldier, even gypsy. As long as it has some sci-fi gadgets to balance it, it works great, and creates the feel of a "lived in" universe. That said, the gear designs certainly aren't perfect. Some are better than others. Hopefully they'll listen to the players when it comes to new expansions, without firing their whole team, as you suggest. Why don't you post some of your own designs? I'd be glad to critique them. Signed, ~ A concept artist with some experience designing characters for an MMO. I've also talked personally about this kind of stuff with Ian McCaig, an influential character concept artist for the prequels. Edited February 2, 2012 by Stenrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kedan Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 You know, even putting aside the opinion that the gear looks horrible, you have to wonder at the competence of a team that can not even get set pieces, things theoretically designed to be worn as a single outfit, to work together without clipping. So not only does it look terrible, but it was implemented terribly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stenrik Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) You know, even putting aside the opinion that the gear looks horrible, you have to wonder at the competence of a team that can not even get set pieces, things theoretically designed to be worn as a single outfit, to work together without clipping. So not only does it look terrible, but it was implemented terribly. I do agree about this. Sometimes there are communication problems between departments. Some companies think that's part of the concept artist's job to design with all technical specifications in mind, and some expect the 3D artists to adjust the design to work ingame. If a sloppy designer's stuff is passed to a sloppy modeler with no art director to catch it, it's gonna happen. This may have to do with the fact that art was outsourced to multiple studios. Some of the 3D studios are known for modeling the concept art precisely, but not deviating enough to fix problems like clipping. If a concept artist from studio A isn't used to designing with technical constraints, and a modeler/animator from studio B is used to just copying the design, that's what you get. I think having different body types complicates things too, as it seems like gear was designed with no. 2 body types in mind. Also the "giant rear end" of robes is supposed to prevent clipping with weapons and bulky leg armor in the INSIDE, but doesn't work well for blasters on the outside. I wonder how long it will take until smart cloth finds its way into MMO's. Edited February 2, 2012 by Stenrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osuaaron Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I always laugh when Khem Val shoves his sword into the gigantic mass that is his back. He somehow has a fleshy, calloused sword sheath made out of his own skin and sinew. Most impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodofThisWorld Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 The thing I dislike most about end-game armor isn't just their looks, its that a lot of them seem to abandon the visual theme that is built up for the class. Take the Sith Warrior for example. Leveling up, the gear progressively became more and more, if you will, Darth Vader-ish, starting with the armored look, then adding the cape, etc, etc. So what happens to this look when you reach endgame? Totally gone, nowhere to be found. You can either look like the Terminator or Spiky-dude (and I actually don't mind the pvp look to a degree). What happened to mah awesome cape BW? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenacity Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 OK first off, this game doesn't take place at the same time as the movies. That would be a good point, IF this game wasnt based on the KOTOR games, which took place in the last few centuries before this game's timeline. None of the KOTOR gear looked anything like what we have at endgame here, and I find it hard to believe that 'fashion' suddenly took 180 for a short period and then decided to go back. Doesnt usually work like that. Star wars has never been about gaudy, flashy looks. Not in any of the games, not in the movies - and it shouldnt be here. Jedi were always known for their simple robes and armor, sith were always known for their black or darker-colored versions of jedi outfits. Bounty hunters are known by fett's look. Smugglers by han solo. So on and so forth. The only really extravagant outfits you ever saw in the movies were worn by royalty (padme and the naboo nobles, for example), and we do see a bit of that design in lower level consular gear - which is fine. Most of the gear before level 40 looks great, if very color clashing at times (pink skirt with a green hood, anyone?) - the color issue would be easily fixed if they re-added the option we had during beta to match the color scheme of all of our equipped armor to our chest piece's color scheme. Still, it's like after designing all of the gear for all of the classes from level 1 to level 40-45, bioware got rid of their art team and hired ex-warcraft designers to bring out the endgame gear. The endgame pve and pvp sets do not mesh with anything else in this game, or with star wars in general, they're themed like fantasy gear, and that does not work here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenacity Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Also, I cant believe they edited one sentence out of my post and warned me about 'rude, disrespectful comments' -_- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts