The art of Temple...

Remove all ads!

I don't like the Idea of using the "traditional Icewind Dale like art". The portraits for example, I think the ones in Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights were far better than those used in Icewind Dale. If they want to make them like the one's in Icewind Dale fine, but I would like to see some of the Baldur's Gate2/Neverwinter Nights type portraits also included in Temple of Elemental Evil when it finally arrives.
Check out Temple Portraits here: www.greyhawkgame.com

 

Well:
1. your link isn't working (ok it is now, silly net of mine)
2. The Baldur's gate 2 portraits were too cartoony for my taste, i preferred the BG1 ones.
3. NWN nights portraits are IMHO (the 'h' is for humble in this case) closer to the BG1 ones than the BG2 ones, more realistic
4. The IWD (1+2) ones i think were closer to NWN than either of the baldur's gate ones.
5. The IWD (1+2, particularly 2) portraits were more generic which allowed for greater flexibility, people feel odd giving an obvious fighter's pic to a mage and vice versa.
6. I liked the IWD portraits (especially the red wizard one from IWD2, that sorvo has at the moment)
7. TToEE is not being made by the same people as the IE games so the portraits will be different.
8. Import portraits probably has a good chance of being in so you can use any you want. Even if it's not someone is quite likely to find a way to put it in.

Points 2-7 may all go byebye/change when/if your link works.

[edit] NOW the link decides to work grr

[edit 2] Ok IMHO the portraits have a mild IWDish feel but also a new, unique, comicy feel. Having only seen 6 (if there are more then i'm too lazy to find them, read the name lol) i can't really comment on the whole lot, but to be honest will bad, if they are, portraits prevent you from enjoying the game? If you're really desperate you could paint over them on your screen though that might be a bad idea. If you ever wanted to play something else, or if you then found a 'remove portraits' button (yes i do like the 'heh' smiley) < see

[edit 3] point 8, this must have been from the interview i only read part of and then forgot all about lol.

[ August 06, 2003, 19:42: Message edited by: Lazy Bonzo ]

 

Sorry about the link, I know I did it right the first time and it wasn't a spelling error or something, but it started working when I simply took it out and then typed it again, yay!

 

I don't mind the style, as long as the appearance speaks of good skill that pleases my eye. The more "realistical" look in BG1 only made it more difficult for other artists to make their own portraits to that game. Even in the case of BG2, a majority of the portraits you could get anywhere were utter bull because even if the skill of the artist was good enough, their style was completely unfitting the one used by the official artist for the game. Some of the worst examples included vga-block graphic portraits of a scanned image, full-body pictures in general, side-portraits etc. They should all have been like the official pictures in that the resolution and colour-pallet used would have been the same as well as the size and positioning of the face. And of course, the drawing style in general as well. While some very nicely drawn anime character could go well with an all-anime party, it certainly can't fit amongst the regular portraits.

I'm satisfied with what ToEE has to offer, I only hope they'll provide us with enough faces for everyone's liking. NWN had mostly wussies and drunks for male faces, and there were very few appropriate-looking female faces as well. Although they were nicely drawn.

 

I agree on the short-sightedness of it. One of the best aspects of games like these is customization, and they just up and left a big chunk of it out. I'm very visual when it comes to games like this. For me, the portrait you choose for your character speaks as much about who he is as his stats and class. It's very important that I have a kick ass portrait I can get behind. If I don't dig my character, I won't dig the game as much.

I for one liked the BG2 portraits the very least of all the IE games. They weren't nearly as interesting as the BG1 portraits, and some were downright ugly (I'm sorry, but Nalia's small portrait looks more like E.T. than Drew Barrymore). The IWD series portraits were less detailed, but that wasn't the point. They were supposed to look like epic paintings. You look at them and imagine them hanging on the wall in a castle somewhere. They were cool as hell IMO, and I never considered using custom portraits for either game. The variety and style were great. Ditto with NWN. Though the quality of some were just plain bad, the variety certainly made up for it.

I think the portraits that I've seen that are coming with ToEE are just awful. They look like they were drawn by high-school kids (no offense, if you are one). You'd think that a company that big with such a lavish budget plus the association with Wizards of the Coast could produce a portrait artist worth a damn. I'm not saying they'll kill the game experience for me, but I'm certainly not as excited as I could be. Hopefully the gameplay will be so outstanding that I won't notice, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

You said it all deathrabbit!

 

I, for one, would rather have the designers focus on the realism of the game-play graphics during play. Not that I don't feel your pain, but I have to say I do not care AS MUCH what the icon of my character looks like, as long as there are realistic details during play. I would rather have detailed shadows, candle light, music, etc. to enhance the actual gaming. I have read great things about this aspect of ToEE. Granted, you can never trust what you read before release, but I really trust Troika. I think it will be great.

 

@Immortal: "You can never trust what you read..."
Well, we all read great things about NWN, and it was merely an average game. I do like the nwn portraits though!

 

Speaking of not being able to trust what you read, I heard that Computer Gaming magazine is going to have a story on ToEE... I have been so busy at work, I have not been in the loop for a while. Is it a good article? Do you trust the mag?