136 réponses à ce sujet

[goofyomnivore]

I just think more care and time to craft elf npcs would go a long ways. The three they probably spent the most time on Orsino, Fenris and Merrill didn't turn out to bad looking. But then you had some abominations running around that looked like they were just randomized through a filter and stuffed into the game.

As for the style. I don't think either are very good. I hope they improve on both styles greatly if they go the middle route.

[Overlord_Mephist]

I preferred the DA2 art style, especially the ears. In DA:O they were just humans with slightly pointy ears and the rest of the art was incredibly blocky/dull faces for everyone, which amusingly enough fit the dwarves perfectly.

[milena87]

I was fine with the elves in DAO, but I don't think that their distinctive look in DA2 was a bad idea. They were maybe a little too skinny and some had very strange eyes, but at least they were different.

Orana was straight from a clownish nightmare, though.

[Doveberry]

DA2, definitely. While the design for that game wasn't flawless, it at least made the elves look like a separate species. DAO's elves were just skinny humans with pointy ears.

[CaptainBlackGold]

Whenever this topic comes up, I have an irresistible compulsion to respond; I did not like the "new" elf design at all and hope that Bioware uses their new engine to re-imagine them.

Elves are according to DA lore supposed to be alluring and beautiful - not giraffe necked, bug eyed, emaciated mutants. I really do not understand the argument that "Elves in DAO just looked like short humans with pointy ears." What else are they supposed to look like if humans are to find them beautiful?

Slender, lithe, ethereal, sure - but DA2 elves were none of these. "Unique" or "distinct" does not necessarily mean "better;" especially when the result violates the lore.

Here's hoping that DA3 with more time and a new engine, also gets a new art direction. I suspect that a lot of things in DA2 did not work out the way that Bioware envisioned. Now they have the resources and time to use their talents to amaze us - and hopefully, give us elves that do likewise.

[Bfler]

Doveberry wrote...
DAO's elves were just skinny humans with pointy ears.

Like in almost every movie, book and other game.

[Cathey]

The DA2 elves looked ill.

[CaptainBlackGold]

Oh and can we put to rest the argument that "Elves must look radically different from humans because they are a different species?" Elves, humans and dwarfs can all interbreed and produce viable offspring. Therefore they are all the same species.

Breeding within a closed community can produce certain physical similarities; hence dwarfs are short and stocky, elves slender with pointed ears, etc. But they are all recognizably originated from a common ancestor.

And if people object to elves as being "Just short skinny humans with pointy ears" do they also find fault with dwarfs being "short, stocky humans with beards?"

Sorry to belabor this; if people like the new design for elves, more power to them. But it is the reason given that I have a hard time wrapping my head around. Elves in the lore are smaller more slender, beautiful versions of humans with pointed ears.

If Bioware wants to retcon this, they have the right to do so. But to offer this as an argument in favor of the new design, without that retcon is just not reasonable.

[Terraforming2154]

I actually liked how the elves looked in DA2 for the most part. I wasn't that impressed with DAO's design.

I loved how Merrill and Fenris and Tallis (please don't shoot me) looked in DA2 -- I can't image how dull they would have looked as DAO elves. But, I will be the first to admit that some of the DA2 elves were strange looking -- I think it was the severe nose bridge that threw their faces off quite a bit.

Hmm, maybe there can be a blending of styles? Not sure how that is possible...but I do think that Tallis looked a bit more human than the other elves -- maybe they could build off her style. Of course, there are people here who hated how she looked as well, so...

My biggest complaint is that I would like for the elves to be a bit more hale than they were in DA2 -- sometimes they looked far too thin (especially Fenris, who you would think would look a bit stronger).

[StaceysChain]

I'd rather Bioware bring back the designs from Origins. The elves design in DA2 were horrible! They were fugly!

[hussey 92]

like they did in Origins. when everyone didn't hate them.

[DarkKnightHolmes]

DAO all day. Don't care if they look "Human".

[Sidney]

CaptainBlackGold wrote...

Oh and can we put to rest the argument that "Elves must look radically different from humans because they are a different species?" Elves, humans and dwarfs can all interbreed and produce viable offspring. Therefore they are all the same species.

Breeding within a closed community can produce certain physical similarities; hence dwarfs are short and stocky, elves slender with pointed ears, etc. But they are all recognizably originated from a common ancestor..

Except the lore says they aren't all the same species but we can assume the lore doesn't know what a species is.

It really doesn't matter if they are something like the Herero/Nama tribes that have a different look than the Norweigians and are of the same species or if they are chimps and ****** sapiens different. They no longer share a common look and/or build either way. you could easily argue that the elves in DA2 looks no more different from the Fereldens than tribesmen from the Amazon do to a native Frenchman. Elves in DAO look like teenaged humans other than ears that are sorta, kinda big - I mean in DAO the knife ears insult made zero sense since their ears weren't distinctive.  What you want is for these separate populations to basically look like Europeans  and teen-aged Europeans (some with darker or lighter shading but same features). That's not really very interesting or reasonable.

[thinfeniel]

I voted for neither; while i liked the direction DA II took, it did look a bit over the top.
I'd tone down the angle of the ears and the size of the eyes a bit. Otherwise, yay for ears that aren't flat. (I guess there's a reason the dalish use "flatears" as a slur).

Not sure if anyone mentioned this before, but there's one detail I'd really like to be added to the elves: eyeshine.
It was mentioned in "The stolen Throne" (eyes glowing in the dark, better eyesight than humans in the dark).

It would definitely make elves look different from humans in some scenes (not in broad daylight, of course) without messing up any facial features.

Modifié par thinfeniel, 03 novembre 2012 - 10:26 .

[SpEcIaLRyAn]

Honestly the only real problem I had with DA2 elves was the bridge of the nose. Also Zevran looked stupid. And not that this has anything to do with elves but Alistair looked terrible too. I realize its some odd years later and he should look a little different but come on. Just eww.

[Nurot]

I prefer the DA2 look, but I agree with those that say it needs some tweaking. Some elves, like Merril and Fenris, look really good and others look a bit weird, like Zevran.

I actually disliked the elven design i DAO more than the few ugly elves in DA2. They were so short, they looked like children and I also think that they looked like humans with pointy ears. To mix the DAO and DA2 designs are probably a good idea. The distinct look from DA2 with the less weird look from DAO would probaly be great.

[Giltspur]

I don't think there's any right answer for me.

I had no complaints about DAO's elves.  I didn't mind that they looked like humans for the most part.  DA2's redesign worked for some characters (like Merrill, Fenris, Athenril, Orsino) and not for others (like Orana and some of the less important PC's and background characters).  In terms of clothing I don't know why they dress like kids going fishing in the Andy Griffith show.  I think the whole 'we're poor!' thing is overdone with them in their fashion.  I'd like some elves to react to the run-down look they're known for and have some kind of pride in their appearance.

In general, though, the best looking elves have been the DAO concept art (the female mage and the male Dalish) elves and the Witcher 2 elves.  The DA2 elves were more lithe and ethereal, which is fine and worked out in Merrill's idle animations.  So while I'd prefer a more prideful, fierce look like in the DAO concept art, I think t he Merrill direction is fine too. I'd like the elves consistently look better though because after the redesign the elves that aren't attractive really stand out in a bad way.  

[Brain Defect]

Jerrybnsn wrote...

Aleya wrote...

My favorite look for elves is actually created by tmp7704's Elf Update mod. It takes the elven bone structure from DA2 and more or less imports it to DA:O.

For me that's proof positive that it's the DA2 engine that makes characters look ugly, because with tmp's mod the elves in DA:O look absolutely gorgeous. This doesn't just apply to elves. It's nearly impossible to create a good-looking Hawke, too. So just give me a new engine that makes DA2 elves look good =)

Do you have a screen shot you could share with us?  I'd like to see one.

Well, I have.













Some elves in DA2 are gorgeous(Marethari, Fenris, Merril), some look weird. In DAO they look too much like humans and that's bad... 

[Potato Cat]

Before the redesign, we had lore saying that humans often found elves attractive, so that should be very important when making elves. Of course, not all of them can be supermodels, but still. There were attractive elves in DA2, but the ones who weren't looked like they needed putting down, I'm saying that in the nicest possible way as an elfophile.

And to be honest, I don't understand the whole, "They look like humans" arguement. I for one could always tell the difference instantly, I thought they already had their own unique look with them usually having longer, thinner faces. That, and the majority of NPCs had their ears sticking out.

[Sejborg]

Bioware should have evolved on the design of the elves in Origins. Not throw everything out the window like they did.

[Bernhardtbr]

Even a baby could break DA 2 elven necks if they tried hard enough. I´ve always though Fenris looked weird. Also, let´s cut the anime look crap, swinging swords required strength and so, at least if the character is a warrior, he should look strong.

[eye basher]

There were elves in origins all i remenber were humans with pointy ears.

[Mello]

Edeanne wrote...

Jerrybnsn wrote...

Aleya wrote...

My favorite look for elves is actually created by tmp7704's Elf Update mod. It takes the elven bone structure from DA2 and more or less imports it to DA:O.

For me that's proof positive that it's the DA2 engine that makes characters look ugly, because with tmp's mod the elves in DA:O look absolutely gorgeous. This doesn't just apply to elves. It's nearly impossible to create a good-looking Hawke, too. So just give me a new engine that makes DA2 elves look good =)

Do you have a screen shot you could share with us?  I'd like to see one.

Well, I have.




Some elves in DA2 are gorgeous(Marethari, Fenris, Merril), some look weird. In DAO they look too much like humans and that's bad... 

Woah, Woah, Woah, Where the hell did you get Ashley's hair? 

[frostajulie]

I prefer the elves in DAO because supposedly elves are sexually attractive to humans but in DA2 they got beat with the ugly stick, however, Fenris was pretty attractive and Merrill was cute so I think they can tweak the DA2 elves so that they will not all be fugly as uck. I don't mind if they don't look like humans but if they are all fugly then whats the point.

[Bernhardtbr]

eye basher wrote...

There were elves in origins all i remenber were humans with pointy ears.

You mean, like in Lord of the Rings (where elves were blond humans with pointy ears) and AD&D? Elves in The Witcher also look quite like humans (and wear ridiculous pajamas) 

So, I´d like people to point out other medias where elves look different without being ridiculous because so far I can´t remember any.

EDIT: there are elves in Harry Potter and I´m pretty sure no one wants to play Dobby.

Modifié par Bernhardtbr, 03 novembre 2012 - 03:01 .