Not at all. I've seen similar sentiments around now and then, and hey, might as well educate now that I see it here =) I'll start from the basics.motomotogirl wrote...
This also means that all NPCs will have the same body.
The way BioWare's games have always worked (and indeed, the vast majority of titles out there) is that there is no "body" underneath "clothes." They are the very same thing, much similar to a LEGO figure. On a LEGO you've got the leg part, the torso- and arm part, as well as the head. Hair goes on top of head. All of these are separate pieces that can be mixed and matched freely.
Dragon Age models work the very same way with but one difference - the legs and the torso are one piece instead of two. So a DA model is built out of three pieces; the body, the head and the hair. All of these are full molds and can change around freely (although I would imagine that male and female heads are shaped differently, meaning they'd need separate hair styles).
When you undress a character, what happens technically isn't that something is removed. You simply change to a different body model. Whatever a body model looks like (ie what proportions it has or what it's wearing) doesn't matter. The only difference between an armour and a naked model would be that the naked model is the default one to be loaded when you don't have anything else equipped.
That being said, have you ever looked at armour mods for DA2? Let's take Isabela as an example. Her body is definitely not your standard model, right? I mean, wow, those breasts! There are armour mods that apply her body model onto a piece of armour to allow it to be equipped on a Hawke. Doing so will make your Hawke's body look just like Isabela's does. Isabela or Hawke, there is no difference between the two. They are only wearing different "armours" ie body models. Different LEGO torsos, remember? =) That's also why when equipping Isabela with a generic piece of armour that any NPC in the game or Hawke wears, her body proportions will be that of a standard character.
So how does that apply to whether DAI characters can have unique bodies or not? Well, since armour sets will look different on, say, Cassandra than on a human female inquisitor's, this means Cassandra technically applies a different model from the inquisitor's when it is equipped. Since it is a 100% different model that still needs to be created from scratch, it may as well be created with Cassandra's body proportions. It does not take a single minute's extra work since it's all made from scratch anyway.
This is also why race options are so expensive to implement (but also maybe not - I'll show you why!). Using DA2's design style, if I wanted to make a heavy armour available, I'd have to make one or two models. If the model would in any way look different on a woman, I'd have to make two - one for female and one for male characters. Many of the huge armours are non-gendered however, so I could maybe just create a single model and then I'd be done. Easy!
Now, how about DAI's design decisions? Well, we start off similarly to DA2 - we'll have one or two models depending on whether gender matters. On top of this, we have to create one or two models for the elves who can wear the armour. Then another one or two for the dwarves. And finally one or two more for the Qunari. This ends up leading to the creation of 4-8 armours depending on whether the armour fits differently on the two genders. Notice how 4-8 is obviously much more expensive than 1-2.
It would be lying by omission to stop at that point though, methinks. Yes, it's expensive to create lots of models for all these races, indeed. But unless you want every single NPC to look the same (remember the DA2 Qunari?), you will want to create these different models for NPC use anyway. Allowing the inquisitor to equip all the different racial variants that you'll be making for the NPCs anyway is more or less completely free. Mind you, there are lots of other complications that come from allowing multiple player races than just modelling so I by no means intend to sell BioWare's work short here.
DAI adds another complication to the modelling however. If we are to assume Cassandra, Cullen and Beardey Warden are all companions who all have these unique looks, that heavy armour I made would need to indeed have 4-8 models for generic NPC use. On top of that, I need one for Cassandra, one for Cullen and one for the Warden. That's 7-10 models in total for one, single armour. Good thing the companions at least have set genders! ^^
The concept art often makes it seem like the inquisitor has a unique look as well, not just the companions. So if the inquisitor does not share armours with generic NPCs like Hawke did in her game.... that means we have some 4-8 additional models just for our PC - and if that is true then racial options are incredibly costly. If the inquisitor indeed has completely unique models like the companions do and not just retextured (essentially repainted) generic armours, we're speaking 4-8 generic + 4-8 inquisitor + 3 companion = 11-19 freaking unique models for every piece of heavy armour in the game.
After calculating all the way down there, I feel sorry for the 3D artists =S I hope for their sake that the inquisitor does not have unique models. Heck, if I was a 3D modeller, I'd ask for DA2 design style any day of the week. I much prefer to make 1-2 designs of an armour instead of potentially 11-19 designs. Holy cow.
Sorry about the wall of text. I believe I kinda went further than the topic at hand as well, but meh.
EDIT: That moment when I realise MMG put "every NPC" and not "every companion." I weep at my reading comprehension making me type up all this crap
Modifié par KiddDaBeauty, 03 septembre 2013 - 03:13 .
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