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[alex90c]

this guy above me is probably the best poster i have ever seen on BSN

[Lasien]

To respond on topic...

1) I actually rather like the design of the DA2 elves, although several of the NPC characters looked... bad. The style that they have has potential. The narrowing of the frames and faces was probably not necessary, just having the more horizontally oriented ears and the combined bridges and foreheads would have given the elves a sufficiently unique, but pretty, look. It would have also been a lot easier to create attractive charaters. I think another problem is that, for some reason, one of the designers at bioware seems obsessed with breasts. They were just waaaay out of proportion to the bodies, in my opinion. I think this is probably part of why they looked somewhat anorexic.

2) I would like to see some of that Sami clothing mixed with celtic and traditional elvish clothing. Would make for some very cool costumes. Also, I like the art deco stuff mixed in with everything else. It actually does seem rather medival when done right. 

   http://ts3.mm.bing.n...ed11fa30597739d

http://ts4.mm.bing.n...1b71d18da209d36


3) I agree that the best darkspawn would be somewhere between DA:O's and DA2's. I don't really get why all of them should be festering piles o' meat though. That seems kind of expected to me as well.

4) And I would just like to say something I have said before. The whole of DA2 is narrated - by varric. Who exaggerates. A. Lot. It just seems like, to me, that the devs left themselves an out with that. With DA2, they could try out different things to see if they worked, and then keep what did, and chalk the rest up to "Varric adding flavour."

[Das Tentakel]

Lasien wrote...

To respond on topic...

 Also, I like the art deco stuff mixed in with everything else. It actually does seem rather medival when done right. 

   http://ts3.mm.bing.n...ed11fa30597739d

http://ts4.mm.bing.n...1b71d18da209d36

Oh, as I stated in a couple of posts back, I am not against using modern art per se, but there is some that is immediately and recognisably 20th century to quite a few people.
Three modern 19th/20th century 'styles' or groups of styles, Historismus ('Historicism') Jugendstil/Art nouveau and Art deco are frequently used.
I think that, strictly speaking (regardless of their date) three of the examples above are examples of Historismus ('Historicism'), i.e. art directly imitative of historical examples. 
The book ends are clearly art deco though. I can't really explain it well, but art deco is often (not always) highly stylized in a recognisable way.

For examples of modern art influences, look at the Elves in the LotR movies; there is a definitive Jugendstil vibe there. Orzammar in DA:O has Art deco influences, but there it fits because the more 'massive', 'geometric' and 'angular' look of much of art deco sort of fits the Dwarves. 

I'll try and place some pictures later on to show what I mean. The relevance to the Elvish look is that I think that there's something the DA Elves could take from Jugendstil art, not just from Celts, Sami or Native Americans.

@EWR:


Is the German Larper (a 'Naturmagier'i.e. Nature Mage) on the right the direction you're thinking of?

[TEWR]

Is the German Larper (a 'Naturmagier'i.e. Nature Mage) on the right the direction you're thinking of?

Yea, that's somewhat on the right track. The hat I could do without, but the clear use of fur in the clothing is a bit more like what I'd like to see.

Obviously, there would have to be a uniquely elven style to the clothing/armor. But the fur spread throughout the clothing/armor is along the lines of what I'm searching for.

Perhaps additionally an entire fur pelt falling diagonally over the armor for the Elves (I could swear I've seen something close to or exactly like that in the real world)?

Modifié par The Ethereal Writer Redux, 15 février 2012 - 02:48 .

[Das Tentakel]

The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...

Is the German Larper (a 'Naturmagier'i.e. Nature Mage) on the right the direction you're thinking of?

Yea, that's somewhat on the right track. The hat I could do without, but the clear use of fur in the clothing is a bit more like what I'd like to see.

Obviously, there would have to be a uniquely elven style to the clothing/armor. But the fur spread throughout the clothing/armor is along the lines of what I'm searching for.

Perhaps additionally an entire fur pelt falling diagonally over the armor for the Elves (I could swear I've seen something close to or exactly like that in the real world)?

Sort of like this, but with, say, a wolf- or bearpelt?



If one would go for a certain understated kind of elegance, there is such a thing as too much fur (as with the German LARP shaman).
So: A fur-trimmed long leather garment, decorated with naturalistic ([pseudo-Celtic/Scythian whatever) designs (not too excessively) , a pelt slung diagonally over it. Add a torc with halla-heads at both ends, perhaps an Ouroboros bracelet, some strategically placed tattoos ('leaping halla')



and presto! Something more distinctive than a Keeper wearing a bog-standard mage's robes.

Torc like this, but perhaps with halla-heads (or some other animal, it's not necessarily a good idea to over-use certain designs):



Oh, and while we're fantasizing anyway, how about giving a Keeper a staff with this on top of it?



Well, now back to reality. At best, I expect Dalish Keepers to end up with vaguely 'Elvish' robes, rather than Mage robes in DA3.
Or maybe somebody at Bioware decides that it's best to 'stick to da generic' and copy this:



But hey, at least it's iconic :innocent:

Or we end up with something that makes for good cosplay:



Humongous pauldrons and staffs über alles!

I am joking of course, but at some level I think the pictures of the German LARP shaman and the cosplay WoW Night Elf druids above illustrate two ends of the fantasy spectrum very well: The (pseudo) realistic and the over-the-top cartoony. And I do not have too much faith in Bioware's self-restraint in this respect:(

Modifié par Das Tentakel, 15 février 2012 - 09:14 .

[TEWR]

I think we're on to something here. We're getting a lot closer to knowing what we'd like the Elves to look like and what we wouldn't like them to look like.

If only I wasn't so rusty on my artistic talent. I might try and actually draw something along the lines of what we want.

But, alas since I'm so rusty it would take too long for me to get it back up to snuff again.

Humongous pauldrons and staffs über alles!

To be fair, DAO already had humongous pauldrons. Not for any mages obviously, but for the Massive Armor sets.

[Das Tentakel]

The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...

I think we're on to something here. We're getting a lot closer to knowing what we'd like the Elves to look like and what we wouldn't like them to look like.

If only I wasn't so rusty on my artistic talent. I might try and actually draw something along the lines of what we want.

But, alas since I'm so rusty it would take too long for me to get it back up to snuff again.

Well, it's bound to be better than my stick figures :-)

A propos 'furry' armour, I was pleasantly surprised to run into what the Russian MMO Allods Online made of a 'duid' warrior. While I think this fits 'Northern' type human barbarians more, I like what they did with this. Very distinctive, yet familiar. Could have used some less spiky bits, but they do sort of fit the 'savage barbarian' look.
Post this because I think it's a good example of something that looks distinctive and fits a 'close to nature' cultural vibe, without being too excessive (even if I prefer it slightly more subtle). Would be nice to see something like this using a more realistic style / more advanced graphics engine, with added details.



(BTW, if I seem to have made fun of the WoW Nightelf druid lady cosplayers, I actually totally respect and dig what they did there. Fabulous costumes )

[TEWR]

Das Tentakel wrote...


Well, it's bound to be better than my stick figures :-)

A propos 'furry' armour, I was pleasantly surprised to run into what the Russian MMO Allods Online made of a 'duid' warrior. While I think this fits 'Northern' type human barbarians more, I like what they did with this. Very distinctive, yet familiar. Could have used some less spiky bits, but they do sort of fit the 'savage barbarian' look.
Post this because I think it's a good example of something that looks distinctive and fits a 'close to nature' cultural vibe, without being too excessive (even if I prefer it slightly more subtle). Would be nice to see something like this using a more realistic style / more advanced graphics engine, with added details.

Now that is fitting with the look of close to nature in terms of applying fur to armor, as well as not going too far overboard. Granted, the wolf head helm is something I'm not a fan of, but otherwise it's pretty great.

There's also the Ancient Nord Armor Set from Skryim:

Modifié par The Ethereal Writer Redux, 22 février 2012 - 03:39 .

[Das Tentakel]

The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...

Das Tentakel wrote...

Now that is fitting with the look of close to nature in terms of applying fur to armor, as well as not going too far overboard. Granted, the wolf head helm is something I'm not a fan of, but otherwise it's pretty great.

I am not too fond of ‘wolf’ helmets myself, though this is one of the better ones. One thing that ruins it a bit for me is the glowing eyes…

One ‘solution’ would be using a combination of a proper helmet and an animal’s head in the way a Roman signifier, standard bearer, wore them.





Care would have to be taken not to make it look ‘too Roman’. The style of helmet would have to be noticeably different. One possible tweak would be to use a masked helmet (though rarely depicted, we now know that at least some Roman signifers wore masked helmets, but that’s a little-known fact).



The mask would have to be stylized differently too, to make it look ‘Elvish’. The one above one is actually probably a cavalry masked helmet, but the face here has that slightly pointy, narrow but somewhat ethereally beautiful ‘look’ that is often associated with Elves.

Or something like this, an ‘archaic’ Greek helmet decorated with scenes:





Now, imagine this one with ‚Elvish’ mythological scenes, worn under a wolf’s head but with the scenes at least partly visible. Perhaps an ancient artefact recovered from ruins?

The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...

There's also the Ancient Nord Armor Set from Skryim:

The Nord armour is a classic example of ‘Northern barbarian armour’. Great example of style, mood and lore fitting together.
Personally I am not too fond of this kind of armour because I am semi-allergic to the ‘northern barbarian’ stereotype in movies. However, Bethesda did a good job of fitting the art style with the stereotype; Skyrim’s Nords do look nicely intermediate between LotR’s Rohirrim and the old Hollywood Viking / Germanic hordes stereotype.

Well, I doubt Bioware will pick up any of this, but I have to admit this makes for enjoyable speculation