78 réponses à ce sujet

[teenparty]

They've always been there to some degree, but the previous engine didn't do darker skin tones well. Geographically, I think Isabela was supposed to look like she was either more African or Indic in origin although she really only looked like a very dark-skinned Hispanic and Isabela was either Antivan or Rivaini.

 

So, I'm guessing you'll get a much more accurate representation of the different looks of the people of Thedas in this engine, and I'm glad. 

Isabel has no African features. I always thought she looked mediterranean. 

[darkmanifest]

I think they just changed the ethnicity of rivain, isabela looked like a white chick with a tan in-game(which i assumed was because she was a sailor), but she has mediterranean facial features in her trailers, so i think they were originally based on mediterranean people but changed to african features in inquisition to fit vivienne in

 

That was the wonky lighting in the Pearl, when you look at Isabela's DA:O morph in the toolset, she has the third-darkest skintone possible in the default game, full lips, and a broad nose.  Same thing with Duncan and other NPCs (like the Chanter in Lothering), next to last darkest skin, full lips, broad nose.  These characters seemed to be meant to look as black as the engine allowed, only the engine didn't allow very much.  DA2 was slightly better, but Frostbite is where the improvements were huge, as we see with Vivienne.  As for the trailers, Isabela's skin was lightened and her features narrowed in those for some reason.

[KarmicSynergy]

From what I saw in DAO, Isabela had considerably lighter features and hair color in DAO than in DA2. I don't know if it was a graphics limitation or a conscious effort by Bioware to make her complexion/hair darker in DA2. If anyone has the DA2 game guide (Prima), she is actually drawn as "fairer" skinned complexion on several pages. I prefer that look in the game guide. Regardless, I would just like a little consistency, please, in the appearance of a major character in the DA series.

[Bann Duncan]

I'm not just talking about color, though, because obviously there are lots of dark-skinned Rivainis. I just read the comics today (so no engine limitations) and the Rivainis are dark-skinned with Indo-European features (like Indians in our world), as opposed to dark skinned with African features. So it's the latter that I'm wondering about.

 

I suppose the best explanation would be that both the Isabela type and African type ethnicities are subsets of Rivaini?

[Decepticon Leader Sully]

at the moment DA has only shown us what is technicaly lets say Europe. 

[Bann Duncan]

From what I saw in DAO, Isabela had considerably lighter features and hair color in DAO than in DA2. I don't know if it was a graphics limitation or a conscious effort by Bioware to make her complexion/hair darker in DA2. If anyone has the DA2 game guide (Prima), she is actually drawn as "fairer" skinned complexion on several pages. I prefer that look in the game guide. Regardless, I would just like a little consistency, please, in the appearance of a major character in the DA series.

Well, Merrill and Isabela were basically standard 'extras' in DAO, so the redesign in that case was acceptable. Alistair (who fans modded to look like his original, so the 'engine change' explanation didn't stick), Zevran etc were not.

[Drake0713]

When a black daddy loves a black mommy very very much... *sorry couldn't resist*

[DeusGoddess5010]

Yes and no. Ethnically, I'm Mediterranean and northern African. DA2 Isabela looks like she could be a sibling or cousin.

DAO Isabela looks more sub-Saharan African, or what people bluntly call, "black."

This was her design, in proper lighting:

http://s168.photobuc...la_dao.png.html

Thats wierd instead of just calling them by thier ethnicity and I was aware all different indigenous races in Africa are called black in a general sense, like those from Europe are called white

[frylock23]

I know she didn't look it. I'm going by what she was supposed to look like. The old engine didn't do people of darker skinned ethnicities very well at all IMO, so it was hard to tell what exactly she was supposed to look like except to know from what the devs said that she was supposed to look like she was from a dark-skinned ethnicity.

 

The new engine ought to help clear that up considerably.

[Deco03]

Well, first there is the technical setback: Before Frostbite, black characters were apparently not able to be reproduced succesfully in the games of DA.(In ME they did, but I don't know why DA wasn't able to do so)

 

Since Frostbite: Yahoo, here comes Viv.

 

Secondly, Isabelle, Duncan, Cassandra, Jospehine, they all look more mediteranian (Regardless of the Arab or European part). If indeed Bioware does relate to some real life features I would not be surprised that both Rivain and Orlais have large quantities of character of African Descent (Rivain clearly linked to Vivienne and if Orlais represents France, well, very likely) 

 

PS: I'm married to Black

[Lennard Testarossa]

I suppose the best explanation would be that both the Isabela type and African type ethnicities are subsets of Rivaini?

 

Maybe it's kind of like Brazil.

[Andreas Amell]

I was thinking more of the Berbers of North Africa.

[Jaqen21]

It's interesting to note that it took Bioware 5-6 years and 3 games to decide to acknowledge that black people  even exist in this universe. To be fair they were probably way too preoccupied with sexuality and other issues to care. 

[CreepingShadow]

The token ''Black'' people country is supposed to be Rivain. Isabela is Rivaini, Duncan is half Rivaini, Vivienne is ethnically Rivaini. It's just up until now with Vivienne the ''Black'' people haven't looked black at all. Throughout Origins and DA2 I honestly had no idea Isabela was supposed to be black I always assumed she was Southern European/North African maybe Romani I was seriously shocked when I learned she was black. Thank the Maker for Frostbite I guess....

[Sifr]

It's interesting to note that it took Bioware 5-6 years and 3 games to decide to acknowledge that black people  even exist in this universe. To be fair they were probably way too preoccupied with sexuality and other issues to care. 

 

I'm not sure how you think they failed to acknowledge this, when we saw a bunch of humans, elves and even dwarves with dark skin in both games? Unless you're suggesting that Bioware made both games with their eyes shut when it came to main characters and NPC creation, doesn't dark-skinned people appearing kind of suggest that the developers are aware of their existence?

[Aren]

Before someone accuses me of racism, I'm non-white and dark-skinned myself.

 

I'm hugely interested in lore, so I was curious as to where in Thedas the African-featured characters come from.

 

Rivainis appear to have a dusky-to-dark skin tone with Indo-European features (not only in-game but in the comics as well), Tevinters, Orlesians, and Fereldans appear to be white in a northern European way, while Antivans are more Italo/Iberian.

 

Chasind appear to be darker-skinned whites, but this could be an engine limitation.

 

Has anyone read up on it? I don't own World of Thedas yet and I'm afraid to go to the wiki for fear of spoilers!

Well i'm an Antivan then hola hola...

[Jaqen21]

I'm not sure how you think they failed to acknowledge this, when we saw a bunch of humans, elves and even dwarves with dark skin in both games? Unless you're suggesting that Bioware made both games with their eyes shut when it came to main characters and NPC creation, doesn't dark-skinned people appearing kind of suggest that the developers are aware of their existence?

 

Dark skin doesn't equal black. There were certainly no black elves, dwarves or  humans in the previous games. I don't think they made both games with their eyes wide open and consciously chose not to include a more realistic human racial diversity in their universe which is a shame. 

[KCMeredith]

I wanted to make a similar thread, good question   Duncan and Isabela are two of my favorite characters in the game, if all Rivaini people are that cool I do hope we get to visit the country as soon as possible

[gottaloveme]

I always thought that Antiva was parading as Spain and that Rivain was like Portugal or Malta. Dusky would be my description except for Zevran. Sort of Mediterranean. Orlais obviously France and Ferelden is Britain. Anderfels = Scandinavia. Roughly and loosely speaking.

[Rodulv]

Neither Isabela or Duncan look black(as in Sub-Saharan african), I'd say rather Central and South Asian 

 

 

Josephine just looks Mediterranean and Antiva is supposed to be a bit Italian maybe some Spanish too.

[Dean_the_Young]

According to the lore, the elves were the original inhabitants of Thedas while the dwarves lived underground. The humans were supposed to have migrated from the north, ironically the same place the qunari's horned people came from.

 

There as some implications/insinuations that the elves and humans may not have been so distantly related as many think. Gaider has let it slip in the past that being elvish is as much a magical thing as anything else, and that the reason elf-human couplings produce only humans is because the magical effect doesn't carry over.

 

If elves are a magically altered race, then naturally they must have been something else before they were elven- presumably human. If that's true, then it's possible that the 'all of Thedas was elven' narrative is itself misleading, more myth and objective history.