Coran is a joke. No chin, not even elven ears. Yellow teeth. He's plain ugly, and still supposed to be successful with the ladies?
As Corvino explains, its called Charisma (not Looks). You can be successful with the ladies without being a radiant looker, even in Faerûn apparently.
Having said that, I wouldnt be too quick to judge someones appearance based on one flamboyant portrait.
Somewhere in my posting history is a long winded argument why Khalid can have low charisma, but not be conventionally ugly. I certainly see where you are coming from. But... Coran's portrait is atrocious. If even Quayle looks better, the women of Faerun are either blind or the least realistic fantasy creatures in the game, if so many of them are willing to give a drop dead ugly dude a chance based only on his smooth talking; enough to count as a womanizer. The NPCs in BG1 are mostly stereotypes with a few voiced lines, there's no denying that. You can summarize most of them in one line. Imoen is the cheerful, bubbly one. Xzar is the crazy evil guy. Montaron is the antisocial psychopath. And so on. For Coran, it's "the charming ladies man". His portrait should reflect the stereotype (most of his banters do not, so there's that, too), just like the others. Coran is just neither here nor there.
As for attractiveness, I really don't care if Shar-Teel is attractive or not. My issue is that the portrait doesn't match the sprite. The hair color of the portrait is available for sprites in vanilla (and before the NPCs were recolored). It's just sloppy to not match it.
Isnt there a ring that can charm people? And tomes of Charisma? Wealth (or simply just the illusion of wealth) attracts women aswell. Determination. Not to mention dragon-slaying confidence. The options are many!
People can get haircuts, dye their hair and whatnot. It doesnt somehow alter past photos of them however.
Coran is a joke. No chin, not even elven ears. Yellow teeth. He's plain ugly, and still supposed to be successful with the ladies?
As Corvino explains, its called Charisma (not Looks). You can be successful with the ladies without being a radiant looker, even in Faerûn apparently.
Having said that, I wouldnt be too quick to judge someones appearance based on one flamboyant portrait.
Somewhere in my posting history is a long winded argument why Khalid can have low charisma, but not be conventionally ugly. I certainly see where you are coming from. But... Coran's portrait is atrocious. If even Quayle looks better, the women of Faerun are either blind or the least realistic fantasy creatures in the game, if so many of them are willing to give a drop dead ugly dude a chance based only on his smooth talking; enough to count as a womanizer. The NPCs in BG1 are mostly stereotypes with a few voiced lines, there's no denying that. You can summarize most of them in one line. Imoen is the cheerful, bubbly one. Xzar is the crazy evil guy. Montaron is the antisocial psychopath. And so on. For Coran, it's "the charming ladies man". His portrait should reflect the stereotype (most of his banters do not, so there's that, too), just like the others. Coran is just neither here nor there.
As for attractiveness, I really don't care if Shar-Teel is attractive or not. My issue is that the portrait doesn't match the sprite. The hair color of the portrait is available for sprites in vanilla (and before the NPCs were recolored). It's just sloppy to not match it.
Isnt there a ring that can charm people? And tomes of Charisma? Wealth (or simply just the illusion of wealth) attracts women aswell. Determination. Not to mention dragon-slaying confidence. The options are many!
People can get haircuts, dye their hair and whatnot. It doesnt somehow alter past photos of them however.
There aren't that many different sprites and colors for hair. It can't be that difficult to match the colors of the portrait by default, so I can see which one is Branwen and which one Shar-Teel. There are no photos in Faerun, and that's not the point anyway. The point is - sprite and portrait don't match, which is why I consider it a "bad" portrait. Would be the same if Edwin was by default purple and had the normal portrait. Sure he could have changed his robe for some reason, but the portait would be "off".
There are charm spells, charisma tomes and wealth, but Coran has none of it. Safana does, so I see how she would be above average successful with men, regardless of her actual charisma. Coran doesn't have this ability, he has no ring, he has no tome, he has no wealth. What he does have is a portrait a LOT people find ugly/unattractive or plain bad because the anatomy is all wrong (no chin, no elf ears). Doesn't match his character and it's not explained (or even addressed) how he can be a womanizer. As it is, it appears his portrait was meant to look like a confident, handsome charmer and it simply doesn't.
Coran is a joke. No chin, not even elven ears. Yellow teeth. He's plain ugly, and still supposed to be successful with the ladies?
As Corvino explains, its called Charisma (not Looks). You can be successful with the ladies without being a radiant looker, even in Faerûn apparently.
Having said that, I wouldnt be too quick to judge someones appearance based on one flamboyant portrait.
Somewhere in my posting history is a long winded argument why Khalid can have low charisma, but not be conventionally ugly. I certainly see where you are coming from. But... Coran's portrait is atrocious. If even Quayle looks better, the women of Faerun are either blind or the least realistic fantasy creatures in the game, if so many of them are willing to give a drop dead ugly dude a chance based only on his smooth talking; enough to count as a womanizer. The NPCs in BG1 are mostly stereotypes with a few voiced lines, there's no denying that. You can summarize most of them in one line. Imoen is the cheerful, bubbly one. Xzar is the crazy evil guy. Montaron is the antisocial psychopath. And so on. For Coran, it's "the charming ladies man". His portrait should reflect the stereotype (most of his banters do not, so there's that, too), just like the others. Coran is just neither here nor there.
As for attractiveness, I really don't care if Shar-Teel is attractive or not. My issue is that the portrait doesn't match the sprite. The hair color of the portrait is available for sprites in vanilla (and before the NPCs were recolored). It's just sloppy to not match it.
Isnt there a ring that can charm people? And tomes of Charisma? Wealth (or simply just the illusion of wealth) attracts women aswell. Determination. Not to mention dragon-slaying confidence. The options are many!
People can get haircuts, dye their hair and whatnot. It doesnt somehow alter past photos of them however.
There aren't that many different sprites and colors for hair. It can't be that difficult to match the colors of the portrait by default, so I can see which one is Branwen and which one Shar-Teel. There are no photos in Faerun, and that's not the point anyway. The point is - sprite and portrait don't match, which is why I consider it a "bad" portrait. Would be the same if Edwin was by default purple and had the normal portrait. Sure he could have changed his robe for some reason, but the portait would be "off".
There are charm spells, charisma tomes and wealth, but Coran has none of it. Safana does, so I see how she would be above average successful with men, regardless of her actual charisma. Coran doesn't have this ability, he has no ring, he has no tome, he has no wealth. What he does have is a portrait a LOT people find ugly/unattractive or plain bad because the anatomy is all wrong (no chin, no elf ears). Doesn't match his character and it's not explained (or even addressed) how he can be a womanizer. As it is, it appears his portrait was meant to look like a confident, handsome charmer and it simply doesn't.
Ah, but men are less interested in wealth and more in looks. Way of the world :P
How do you now he hadnt had Tomes and Rings and whatnot?
Are you wearing the same clothes as you are on your passport photo? Hairstyle identical? Look, we could debate this forever and you are very entitled to your opinions, but I still disagree. On the other hand, I dont pay much attention to the portraits while playing the game.
Coran is a joke. No chin, not even elven ears. Yellow teeth. He's plain ugly, and still supposed to be successful with the ladies?
As Corvino explains, its called Charisma (not Looks). You can be successful with the ladies without being a radiant looker, even in Faerûn apparently.
Having said that, I wouldnt be too quick to judge someones appearance based on one flamboyant portrait.
Somewhere in my posting history is a long winded argument why Khalid can have low charisma, but not be conventionally ugly. I certainly see where you are coming from. But... Coran's portrait is atrocious. If even Quayle looks better, the women of Faerun are either blind or the least realistic fantasy creatures in the game, if so many of them are willing to give a drop dead ugly dude a chance based only on his smooth talking; enough to count as a womanizer. The NPCs in BG1 are mostly stereotypes with a few voiced lines, there's no denying that. You can summarize most of them in one line. Imoen is the cheerful, bubbly one. Xzar is the crazy evil guy. Montaron is the antisocial psychopath. And so on. For Coran, it's "the charming ladies man". His portrait should reflect the stereotype (most of his banters do not, so there's that, too), just like the others. Coran is just neither here nor there.
As for attractiveness, I really don't care if Shar-Teel is attractive or not. My issue is that the portrait doesn't match the sprite. The hair color of the portrait is available for sprites in vanilla (and before the NPCs were recolored). It's just sloppy to not match it.
Isnt there a ring that can charm people? And tomes of Charisma? Wealth (or simply just the illusion of wealth) attracts women aswell. Determination. Not to mention dragon-slaying confidence. The options are many!
People can get haircuts, dye their hair and whatnot. It doesnt somehow alter past photos of them however.
There aren't that many different sprites and colors for hair. It can't be that difficult to match the colors of the portrait by default, so I can see which one is Branwen and which one Shar-Teel. There are no photos in Faerun, and that's not the point anyway. The point is - sprite and portrait don't match, which is why I consider it a "bad" portrait. Would be the same if Edwin was by default purple and had the normal portrait. Sure he could have changed his robe for some reason, but the portait would be "off".
There are charm spells, charisma tomes and wealth, but Coran has none of it. Safana does, so I see how she would be above average successful with men, regardless of her actual charisma. Coran doesn't have this ability, he has no ring, he has no tome, he has no wealth. What he does have is a portrait a LOT people find ugly/unattractive or plain bad because the anatomy is all wrong (no chin, no elf ears). Doesn't match his character and it's not explained (or even addressed) how he can be a womanizer. As it is, it appears his portrait was meant to look like a confident, handsome charmer and it simply doesn't.
Ah, but men are less interested in wealth and more in looks. Way of the world :P
How do you now he hadnt had Tomes and Rings and whatnot?
Are you wearing the same clothes as you are on your passport photo? Hairstyle identical? Look, we could debate this forever and you are very entitled to your opinions, but I still disagree. On the other hand, I dont pay much attention to the portraits while playing the game.
We likely won't agree here because you argue from a roleplay angle - things Coran may have done or acquired - and I argue from a gameplay angle - consistency of NPC abilities and matching artwork. To me, the NPC portraits are not a passport photo or one of many pictures of the same person. They are the only picture of the NPC, meant to convey his or her personality to the player of a game. And in that regard, several of the portraits are "bad" because they don't do that - Imoen and Skie look too old, Coran too unattractive, and when I think about it, Viconia too aggressive (she's evil, but she's not a bloodthirsty killer like Shar-Teel). To stick with the passport example: If I knew that my passport photo would forever be the only picture of me, and would serve to convey my personality to everyone I meet, then I would pick out the clothes and expression and pose that does the best job to represent me. I wouldn't try to look younger or older, wouldn't wear clothes I'd never wear otherwise and I wouldn't decorate myself with items that have no meaning to me. Hence if I was Shar-Teel, I'd try to look as intimidating and aggressive as possible (and not wear a wig I'd never wear after the photo session). Regardless of the hair color mismatch, that is what Shar-Teel's portrait says: aggressive, no bullshit amazon, so I don't have a problem at all with her looking 'ugly' or 'unattractive'. Being pretty isn't her priority. And if I was Coran, I'd try to look as handsome and charming as possible. Going with my logic above, I have to assume Coran's portrait is meant to be exactly that and that's a full fail. His portrait doesn't even show the correct race.
I really like all of the BG1 portraits except for Imoen's one. That one doesn't fit how she comes across with her voice actress. There's something motherly and wise about it, and Imoen is the polar opposite of that. But that is the only misstep, every other portrait I completely buy as being an authentic representation.
I have to say that I love the 'ugliness' of the BG1 portraits, they are completely in character with the setting of Baldur's Gate. Oddly enough I prefer Viconia's BG1 portrait over her BG2 one, since that looks like a supermodel Smurf. I think BG1's gritty realism is a better fit than than BG2's glowing beauty shots.
Maybe slightly off topic, but for those people who don't like BG1 Viconia as is, perhaps you might want to try this alt version?
This is what Viconia's portrait always should've been IMO. It clearly shows her as a drow and captures her evil essence better than either of the other pictures IMO.
@SharGuidesMyHand - Definitely much better. Is there a way I can implement it to all existing and future saves?
1. Create a "Portraits" folder in the BG:EE folder (if you haven't already). 2. Save the above portraits as "ViconiaL.bmp," "ViconiaM.bmp," and "ViconiaS.bmp" in that folder (I believe they have those names already, so you should only need to download them).
This should be enough to override all portraits of Viconia in both past saved and future games.
I've been told you can also save the pics to the "override" folder, which is located in the program (not BG:EE) folder.
@SharGuidesMyHand That's a nice medium between BG1 and BG2. Amazing that a change in the colour scheme could make her more beautiful whilst still keeping that Drow coldness. I can totally buy Viconia looking like that rather than her Smurfette portrait.
Maybe slightly off topic, but for those people who don't like BG1 Viconia as is, perhaps you might want to try this alt version?
This is what Viconia's portrait always should've been IMO. It clearly shows her as a drow and captures her evil essence better than either of the other pictures IMO.
Well thx ^^ (I did that portrait, with some help of Lava del Vortel, should find the topic somewhere on spellhold studios forum)
good aerie qt jan i love jan engineer portrait it is the best
bad garrick - purple nuff said khalid - portrait is too good for this coward he looks angry and tough
Forgive me, but you are wrong. Khalid isn't a coward - I have absolutely no idea on what you could possibly base that erroneous assertion on other than his stutter. And a stutter is a speech impediment not an indication of cowardice. Every other thing that Khalid can possibly do or say in the game shows that he is brave, loyal, and kind.
I am genuinely baffled at how anyone can say Khalid is a coward.
good aerie qt jan i love jan engineer portrait it is the best
bad garrick - purple nuff said khalid - portrait is too good for this coward he looks angry and tough
Forgive me, but you are wrong. Khalid isn't a coward - I have absolutely no idea on what you could possibly base that erroneous assertion on other than his stutter. And a stutter is a speech impediment not an indication of cowardice. Every other thing that Khalid can possibly do or say in the game shows that he is brave, loyal, and kind.
I am genuinely baffled at how anyone can say Khalid is a coward.
Actually, he is much more likely then most of the NPCs to suffer a moral failure. Don't get me wrong, I like Khalid, and a fair amount of the ass-kicking I deliver to Irenicus is for him, but let's just say his spine isn't made of cast iron.
Khalid is one of my favorite NPC's, behind only xan. I generally dislike people who say he's not a good fighter, because he is. You diss Khalid, you diss me, people.
I am genuinely baffled at how anyone can say Khalid is a coward.
Yeah, me too. I really like Khalid, and though I don't know his exact reasons, I'm sure there are explanations to his increased chance of moral failure and severe stuttering.
Kivan: "Your courage shames the others." Khalid: "Th-thank you."
Say whatever you want about Khalid, but he IS a coward and has been so since the original BG1. 1/3 health and he'll start running away, sometimes he only needs one big critical to bring him down to 50% and he's out of the fight.
I have a distant memory of reading about the moral failure chance, comparing Khalid and Shar-Teel. Khalid did have a lower threshold, either a variable or health %. Shar-Teel doesn't run/panic even if she's down to 3 health or so; Khalid panics with way more health, other NPCs fall somewhere between them. No guarantee or source for that tho.
I don't think people's problem with the femal BG1 portraits is that they're ugly, per se. For me it's more the WTF expressions/poses. Like with Faldorn. I mean, is she playing with a child and pretending to be the 'big bad monster' or something? Or with Shar-teel. It kind of looks like she's trying to snarl, but it just came out all wrong.
I guess that's what happens when you grab a wandering programmer and tell them to strike a martial pose!
If you look closely, you'll realize Viconia, Shar-Teel, and Skie are painted from the same person. Alora too, possibly. She's pretty attractive. So please stop ragging on Viconia and Shar-Teel because they're not pouting like adult models.
As has been reported before, the model for BG2 Viconia is this lady, model Zdenka Podkapova
But you are talking BG1 there's a shared model for Viconia, Shar-Teel, and Skie? Never noticed that before. I hate the action pose that Viconia BG1 has. What the hell is she doing? Why can't she sit still for her portrait like the other NPCs?
Say whatever you want about Khalid, but he IS a coward and has been so since the original BG1. 1/3 health and he'll start running away, sometimes he only needs one big critical to bring him down to 50% and he's out of the fight.
Thats called suyrvival instinct, not cowardice :P
So he might not be the most powerful warrior, but for all his stuttering and weak self esteem, he still gladly follows a good natured Bhaalspawn around, delivering the Sword Coast form evil. That, in fact, makes him even more noble and courageous than the regular goody two-shoes.
Say whatever you want about Khalid, but he IS a coward and has been so since the original BG1. 1/3 health and he'll start running away, sometimes he only needs one big critical to bring him down to 50% and he's out of the fight.
Thats called suyrvival instinct, not cowardice :P
So he might not be the most powerful warrior, but for all his stuttering and weak self esteem, he still gladly follows a good natured Bhaalspawn around, delivering the Sword Coast form evil. That, in fact, makes him even more noble and courageous than the regular goody two-shoes.
He is a VERY powerful warrior, one of the best in BG1. But you can't trust him to be there when you need him the most. When i fought the bandit camp he ran away after getting one critical from hammer guy, and then he actually complains about the same guy chunking Jaheira... Hello moron, you're the one who should have tanked him!
If you could have had a cavalier in the original game with his remove fear ability, it wouldn't have been half as bad.
And the problem isn't that Khalid sucks. The problem is that he is really powerful, so when you can't use him when it's important it really does SUCK.
Comments
People can get haircuts, dye their hair and whatnot. It doesnt somehow alter past photos of them however.
aerie qt
jan i love jan engineer portrait it is the best
bad
garrick - purple nuff said
khalid - portrait is too good for this coward he looks angry and tough
"Your courage shames the others."
"Th-th-thank you!"
There are charm spells, charisma tomes and wealth, but Coran has none of it. Safana does, so I see how she would be above average successful with men, regardless of her actual charisma. Coran doesn't have this ability, he has no ring, he has no tome, he has no wealth. What he does have is a portrait a LOT people find ugly/unattractive or plain bad because the anatomy is all wrong (no chin, no elf ears). Doesn't match his character and it's not explained (or even addressed) how he can be a womanizer. As it is, it appears his portrait was meant to look like a confident, handsome charmer and it simply doesn't.
How do you now he hadnt had Tomes and Rings and whatnot?
Are you wearing the same clothes as you are on your passport photo? Hairstyle identical?
Look, we could debate this forever and you are very entitled to your opinions, but I still disagree.
On the other hand, I dont pay much attention to the portraits while playing the game.
To stick with the passport example: If I knew that my passport photo would forever be the only picture of me, and would serve to convey my personality to everyone I meet, then I would pick out the clothes and expression and pose that does the best job to represent me. I wouldn't try to look younger or older, wouldn't wear clothes I'd never wear otherwise and I wouldn't decorate myself with items that have no meaning to me.
Hence if I was Shar-Teel, I'd try to look as intimidating and aggressive as possible (and not wear a wig I'd never wear after the photo session). Regardless of the hair color mismatch, that is what Shar-Teel's portrait says: aggressive, no bullshit amazon, so I don't have a problem at all with her looking 'ugly' or 'unattractive'. Being pretty isn't her priority.
And if I was Coran, I'd try to look as handsome and charming as possible. Going with my logic above, I have to assume Coran's portrait is meant to be exactly that and that's a full fail. His portrait doesn't even show the correct race.
I have to say that I love the 'ugliness' of the BG1 portraits, they are completely in character with the setting of Baldur's Gate. Oddly enough I prefer Viconia's BG1 portrait over her BG2 one, since that looks like a supermodel Smurf. I think BG1's gritty realism is a better fit than than BG2's glowing beauty shots.
This is what Viconia's portrait always should've been IMO. It clearly shows her as a drow and captures her evil essence better than either of the other pictures IMO.
2. Save the above portraits as "ViconiaL.bmp," "ViconiaM.bmp," and "ViconiaS.bmp" in that folder (I believe they have those names already, so you should only need to download them).
This should be enough to override all portraits of Viconia in both past saved and future games.
I've been told you can also save the pics to the "override" folder, which is located in the program (not BG:EE) folder.
Well thx ^^
(I did that portrait, with some help of Lava del Vortel, should find the topic somewhere on spellhold studios forum)
(don't know how to make pics appear as a preview)
Forgive me, but you are wrong. Khalid isn't a coward - I have absolutely no idea on what you could possibly base that erroneous assertion on other than his stutter. And a stutter is a speech impediment not an indication of cowardice.
Every other thing that Khalid can possibly do or say in the game shows that he is brave, loyal, and kind.
I am genuinely baffled at how anyone can say Khalid is a coward.
If your charisma is decent, Khalid can be excellent. If its your dump stat, you may want to go with someone else.
Short of being hit with a fear spell, he's never run with my Swashbuckler. But he's got a 17 Charisma and stole Algernon's Cloak for another +2.
Yep, I'm not wasting that kind f Charisma score. Though I do tend to not use Algernon's Cloak. Maybe that's it.
Kivan: "Your courage shames the others."
Khalid: "Th-thank you."
But you are talking BG1 there's a shared model for Viconia, Shar-Teel, and Skie? Never noticed that before. I hate the action pose that Viconia BG1 has. What the hell is she doing? Why can't she sit still for her portrait like the other NPCs?
Thats called suyrvival instinct, not cowardice :P
So he might not be the most powerful warrior, but for all his stuttering and weak self esteem, he still gladly follows a good natured Bhaalspawn around, delivering the Sword Coast form evil. That, in fact, makes him even more noble and courageous than the regular goody two-shoes.
If you could have had a cavalier in the original game with his remove fear ability, it wouldn't have been half as bad.
And the problem isn't that Khalid sucks. The problem is that he is really powerful, so when you can't use him when it's important it really does SUCK.