99 réponses à ce sujet

[Bail_Darilar]

Hey gang I remember back when DA2 was released that there was alot of negative reception to the design they took for the darkspawn in that game. I was just wondering what peoples opinions were now that the game was released nearly two years ago and the next game in the series is coming up?

The original darkspawn design was more similar to the designs of orcs in tradition fantasy, looking more bestial and in the cases of the hurlock and genlock kinda more reptilian. In spite of their bestial design they character movements and sounds were more similar to a humanoid with the hurlock's laughing evily during battle, making them seem cold and calculated and making warcries animations simlar to beserkers. This is further reinforced by the encounters in which they would set up traps for you and try to take you out through different tactics. There was also that possible element of darkspawn religion that was hinted upon in Return to Ostagar dlc where the darkspawn had erected a crude possibly religious idol.

In DA2 the darkspawn were changed to look more skeletal. The genlocks were further changed so that instead of being just diminuitive versions of hurlocks they began to look more bestial with huge chunky arms and muscular legs. The hurlock emmissaries were made to look more lanky with bald heads rather than normal hurlocks weilding staves. All of them however had expressions  and animations that made them seem bestial, not to mention the fact that the encounters were straight up fights with not much variation.

Personally I feel the aesthetic design of the darkspawn is better in DA2. The skeletal features are more fitting the mindless horde persona the darkspawn are meant to represent and the differing character designs between each class of darkspawn also add to their individuality. However the darkspawn seemed more threatening in DAO because of the impression they gave of low level cunning and intellect and a possible culture unknown to the other races. Whenever you met a darkspawn in DAO they were in caverns with low lighting and corpses, blood, grime around them, they seemed menacing. In DA2 everything was abit too clean about them and simple.

So anyway these are my opinions, what do thers feel? Should they go with one design or the other, I mean since we are hearing from Varric's point of view they could easily retcon and go with the original designs. Or maybe they should giive the darkspawn a whole new design and explain it by saying they apparently have regional variation in their appearances due to whatever reason.

[Welsh Inferno]

Clownish or Intimidating

I know which I prefer.

[garrusfan1]

I want them to go back to the way they were or change

[The Six Path of Pain]

Yes! Get rid of those pathetic excuses for Darkspawn XP

[MichaelStuart]

I actual like the design of the new Darkspawn themselves.
What I would like changed, is the armor they wear to be made to look more functional

Modifié par MichaelStuart, 28 novembre 2012 - 05:34 .

[Vortex13]

DA:O's design for me.

In fact when I first saw the Darkspawn and Flemeth (yeah not a fan of her DA 2 appearance) I thought it was merely the Seeker's interpretation of Varric's tales; kinda her mind's eye reacting to what Varric told her.

I hope that is the case anyway, since IMO the DA 2 Darkspawn looked horrible compared to thier Origins bretheran. Like the OP said, the Darkspawn looked too clean to be the monsters they were portrayed as in the first game, and their menacing, evil laughter / cunning was removed leaving only simple shells that had no varity to their attacks. Granted DA 2 had a rushed timeline and the Darkspawn weren't the main focus of the game, but the redesign really nurtured their appeal to me.

I would love to see the Origins Darkspawn again, or at least a look that closely resembles it instead of the DA 2 trend to make everything look pretty.

The lore surrounding the Darkspawn is graphic and evil. Broodmothers are created by forcing women to eat the flesh of their fellows, and by raping them repeatedly, the Children of the Mother's life cycle was based around devouring its prey and going through grotesque; almost Necromorph like; metamorphosis.

The Darkspawn NEED to look evil / twisted, otherwise their lore creates a disconnect with their appearance, I mean how are we as the player supposed to feel fear, revulsion, or awe when the Darkspawn look cleaner than the PC?

DA:I doesn't have to feature the Darkspawn as the big ultimate bad guy (although I would like that personally), but I would love to see the variety that DA:O and DA:A had, including the more graphical enemies; namely Broodmothers and the Children.

[Vortex13]

A bump, since I find the discussion of DA:O Darkspawn vs DA 2 interesting.

[The Teyrn of Whatever]

A thousand times yes. I want them to change their design back to the way they were in DA:O, although I'm kind of on the fence concerning the Emissaries and the Genlock redesign at least made them a little more distinctive than just Ewok-sized Hurlocks.

But definitely no more...

Derpy Darkspawn, please.

Modifié par The Teryn of Whatever, 28 novembre 2012 - 11:53 .

[henkez3]

They only need to change the armour, the rest looks fine. With the new look they look less like your typical orc derivative.

Modifié par henkez3, 28 novembre 2012 - 11:54 .

[The Teyrn of Whatever]

henkez3 wrote...

They only need to change the armour, the rest of the looko is fine. With the new look they look less like your typical orc derivative.

I found they looked more like beefy undead rather than orcs, although the Genlocks were somewhat more orc-like. The armor wasn't the problem, it was the noses and the derpy grimaces. I liked the old design for the Hurlocks a lot more.

[Maria Caliban]

If by 'change design' you mean 'not have them in the game?'

Yes.

1) Darkspawn never looked cool or scary.
2) Mindless hordes of evil are not compelling. Darkspawn are about as interesting as the random goblins you have to fight in DnD when you travel.
3) Though if you replaced them with smurfs who worship Orcus like H4IC did, that would be more interesting.

[henkez3]

The Teryn of Whatever wrote...

henkez3 wrote...

They only need to change the armour, the rest of the looko is fine. With the new look they look less like your typical orc derivative.

I found they looked more like beefy undead rather than orcs, although the Genlocks were somewhat more orc-like. The armor wasn't the problem, it was the noses and the derpy grimaces. I liked the old design for the Hurlocks a lot more.

They kind of look like undead orcs!

I liked the new faces actually, although it is a shame that the Disciples/Awakened no longer have a unique look.

[upsettingshorts]

Take the Dragon Age 2 darkspawn.

Give them uglier, dirtier, monster teeth.

That's all I'd change. Provided I can't just cosign Maria Caliban's "I'd rather not have them at all" post, because... I'd rather not have them at all.

[Welsh Inferno]

Maria Caliban wrote...

If by 'change design' you mean 'not have them in the game?'

Yes.

1) Darkspawn never looked cool or scary.
2) Mindless hordes of evil are not compelling. Darkspawn are about as interesting as the random goblins you have to fight in DnD when you travel.
3) Though if you replaced them with smurfs who worship Orcus like H4IC did, that would be more interesting.

1) Disagree.
2) Not every enemy needs to be compelling or complex or any other synonym.
3) That just sounds silly.

[axl99]

So long as the darkspawn stop looking like orcs I'm good. Because that is a tired and boring direction for monster design altogether.

[Wulfram]

Bring back the DA:O grin, and make the skin less bleached looking.

[Welsh Inferno]

Eh, regardless of what they do decide to do with them they should look a lot better with the new engine.

[JWvonGoethe]

My memories of the darkspawn in DA2 are nothing like the image posted above. I can only remember little brown blobs running about on the monitor.

Zooming in the camera to allow the average NPC sprite take up more screen space so that I can actually see them would be required before I could properly comment on the design (which actually looks fine from the above image.)

Modifié par JWvonGoethe, 29 novembre 2012 - 12:46 .

[TacticalAce]

They need more variety, all hurlocks shouldn't look 100 percent identical. I think they should go the lord of the rings approach, where orcs looked significantly different from each other.

[Quill74Pen]

To answer the OP ... eh, no, I'd prefer TPTB not again redesign the darkspawn. I'm afraid we'd wind up with something akin to hairless Furbies if they did.

[Heimdall]

I don't mind their new skin and such, I would just like new armor that actually looks scavenged and patchwork, unlike the current look.

[Dr. Explosion]

Upsettingshorts wrote...

Take the Dragon Age 2 darkspawn.

Give them uglier, dirtier, monster teeth.

I'm okay with this.

The only other change I'd make would be giving them to new armour; keep it similar to their DA 2 armour, just make it a full suit of armour.

And get rid of the stupid chain hoods.

[Doctoglethorpe]

The biggest issue with the DA2 design was not the darkspawn themselves but their armor. For one, it showed way too much skin. It just looked silly like it was pulled right out of an old he-man cartoon. Second, the color of the armor and skin contrasted too much, again making it look too cartoony. Both of these issues would of been solved by just giving them armor that properly covered most of their skin. And less hoods. Those hoods don't serve them well.

The design of the darkspawn themselves, the faces and all, wasn't really bad. In fact I prefer that they have a closer resemblance to the races they once were, humans, elves, etc, instead of looking more like an entirely different species. A genlock should look like a corrupted dwarf, not a goblin.