1. Before speaking to him, temporarily change your PC portrait with Dorn's one. 2. Hang on. 3. Hire Dorn. He will get another portrait (dunno which one) because you're not twins. 4. Change your portrait back to the original one you were using. No Dorn's portraits anymore anywhere. 5. Enjoy your game!
I've introduced a number of friends to BG1 over the years. While the initial reception to the BG1 portraits was positive (early 2000), the reception is now very negative. I can't show a friend a portrait of Branwen, Xzar, Montaron or Faldorn without getting major lols. I'm not suggesting you change the old portraits at all - just take off in a new direction for additional content.
Art in video games has changed substantially since 1998. These very life-like takes on heroes seem less common and less favoured now.
A good poll I'd like to see? BG2 vs. BG1 portraits.
Verisimilitude and depth perception are stylistic choices, not a measure of the quality of the artwork (imagine how boring it would be if art was reduced to a contest about creating the most transparent and objective depiction of reality, completely void of imagination and idiosyncrasy). Though you are, of course, entitled to your own opinion. IMO the new portraits by no means look rushed or amateurish, but rather detailed and expressive.
Judging an artwork only by its degree of realism is very sad indeed. Artistic expressions also vary from artist to artist. Baldur's Gate is unique for it is both realistic and expressive, the developers had done such a good job dissolving the boundary between realism and expressiveness in the game.
Note that by realism I don't mean mere photo-realism, but rather the kind of realism achieved through materializing the artist's vision into solid forms, whether it be an in-game architecture or portrait. Many architectures in BG show no reference to reality at all, Planar Sphere for instance, it is not real, but we could call it realistic for it had been turned into a convincing form by the artist. As for BG1's portraits, I am sure the developers were trying to create the same sort of realistic and expressive style to accomplish the overall aesthetics of the game.
Therefore, if we use BG1&2 as a reference, Dorn's portrait would be somewhat flawed for its lack of realism. The new portrait might be perfectly fine on its own, but since Baldur's Gate has that unique style attached to it, there is certainly room for improvement.
Now if you look at the first one: notice how solid and 3-dimensional his head look? You can clearly see how all the bones and muscles are connected. There's a huge difference if you compare Dorn's portrait with this one. See it for yourself.
This example is excelent, left in portrait of BG1 is perfect 10/10
And the new Dorn Portrait is amateur style 4/10
I want Perfect style, just like BG1
An image of a portrait for Baldurs for my taste should be at least as this::
I can see Txeroki's point, although very good. The current portrait doesnt quite catpure the same style (dare I say quality) of the originals.
But as for remplacing? I don't know.... It's still a very good painting and I haven't seen many half orc/humans to compare it too. It seems more of a stylistic difference.
I compare them with those of BG1 and I think such an amateur drawing even I could do it.
Pretty bold statements.. maybe an example of your professional painting skills compared to this "amateur" painting and would suffice to remplace this version!?
While yes the new portraits are in a different style to the original BG1 portraits they really are very similar to the BG2 style, and since BGEE will be using everything from ToB I imagine that includes PC portraits so its not out of the realms of possibility that Dorn's portrait will be sitting under a BG2 portrait being used by the PC where it wouldn't look out of place at all. With that being said I can't believe after all the work Nat and the others have put into this character people are already talking about remplacing them. And to call them 'amateur' and that you could do better to justify the remplacing. I don't want to have a go at anyone and everyone's entitled to their own opinion but I really do think they are awesome portraits and I'm super happy they're being put into the game
[...] if we use BG1&2 as a reference, Dorn's portrait would be somewhat flawed for its lack of realism. The new portrait might be perfectly fine on its own, but since Baldur's Gate has that unique style attached to it, there is certainly room for improvement.
I guess I just outright disagree with this. I personally think the new portraits fit the game very well; And within the fictional and stylistic universe of BG, the way I experience it, Dorn's portrait is just as convincing as the rest of them.
Going by the responses in this thread, I have to say this seems more like a matter of preference than an issue with the quality of the artwork to me.
Could someone tell me what 'remplacing' means? Is it actual word or just badly spelled 'replacing'? If it's the latter, why other people keep using it in this thread? O_o
Whether we like it or not new portraits will be cartoonish. Devs will not ignore WoW influence. But there is something wrong with this portrait but i cant quite catch it. He reminds me of Twilight movies somehow, he is supposed to be an evil orc but looks too girly and glamorous for a blackguard.
Now if you look at the first one: notice how solid and 3-dimensional his head look? You can clearly see how all the bones and muscles are connected. There's a huge difference if you compare Dorn's portrait with this one. See it for yourself.
Hmm i think i get it, the bald bg1 guy looks like he is being serious and authentic. The new orc guy is looking like he is posing for a magazine.
Whether we like it or not new portraits will be cartoonish. Devs will not ignore WoW influence. But there is something wrong with this portrait but i cant quite catch it. He reminds me of Twilight movies somehow, he is supposed to be an evil orc but looks too girly and glamorous for a blackguard.
Whether we like it or not new portraits will be cartoonish. Devs will not ignore WoW influence. But there is something wrong with this portrait but i cant quite catch it. He reminds me of Twilight movies somehow, he is supposed to be an evil orc but looks too girly and glamorous for a blackguard.
This is just silly. Are you sure it's not TRoller12?
Could someone tell me what 'remplacing' means? Is it actual word or just badly spelled 'replacing'? If it's the latter, why other people keep using it in this thread? O_o
It's because its actually inferctious. Once you start using it, you end up remplacing the spelling of everyday words by adding an extra consomnant.
I love how "it's like WoW" is our default insult for game art we don't like and "it's like Diablo" is our default insult for gameplay styles we don't like. Kind of like how we compare all music we don't like or understand to Justin Bieber.
Before there was WoW (2004), there was NWN (2002). These portraits are very much NWN style and everyone seems to ignore this. It's much easier to hate WoW than it is to hate NWN, after all.
This idea that long hair is girly and WoW-inspired is also not correct - feel free to check out LoTR films if you disagree. And if you think he looks too human, I would point out he's half-orc.
I think I agree with most people: it's not a question of what portrait is good, but which is good for the game. I don't like this idea that it's a terrible portrait just because it's different.
Its not that it is different, i can accept Twilight WoW style. But its different from the other portraits and it is my opinion that all default portraits should be kept in one style. Also, nwn doesnt get the hate because.. its (2002) portraits are also better. Example Grimgnaw, a lawful evil npc, which surprisingly looks like such. Not to say more detailed too.
The NWN portraits were really a step in the wrong direction (imo) as they are just far too stylised, do people out there like them? I always thought the peak of portraits in these games were those done for IWD.
You know I loved IWD's and BG1's portraits. I think IWD2 had probably the best ones for me. I miss this style of art badly. But highly stylized art seems to be the thing now. Right now we've got 8/10 out of people who do not want Dorn's portrait "remplaced."
NWN did have better pictures (and half-orc pictures). But then again, it was a flagship game for a new engine, a new rule set, and a new playing realm. So it's a question of budget, too. For the time and money that they had, I like Dorn's look a lot.
I really don't get the hate or the forced Twilight/WoW comparisons. Too many people are armchair artists/critics these days.
In the end this is what has been shown and marketed. They're not going to change it now because a handful of people said they didn't like it. If you really don't like it then you should do @g314 said or use ShadowKeeper or something and switch it with the plethora of bad shop jobs that fans have supplied for BG's custom portraits for years.
Comments
1. Before speaking to him, temporarily change your PC portrait with Dorn's one.
2. Hang on.
3. Hire Dorn. He will get another portrait (dunno which one) because you're not twins.
4. Change your portrait back to the original one you were using. No Dorn's portraits anymore anywhere.
5. Enjoy your game!
Art in video games has changed substantially since 1998. These very life-like takes on heroes seem less common and less favoured now.
A good poll I'd like to see? BG2 vs. BG1 portraits.
Note that by realism I don't mean mere photo-realism, but rather the kind of realism achieved through materializing the artist's vision into solid forms, whether it be an in-game architecture or portrait. Many architectures in BG show no reference to reality at all, Planar Sphere for instance, it is not real, but we could call it realistic for it had been turned into a convincing form by the artist. As for BG1's portraits, I am sure the developers were trying to create the same sort of realistic and expressive style to accomplish the overall aesthetics of the game.
Therefore, if we use BG1&2 as a reference, Dorn's portrait would be somewhat flawed for its lack of realism. The new portrait might be perfectly fine on its own, but since Baldur's Gate has that unique style attached to it, there is certainly room for improvement.
And the new Dorn Portrait is amateur style 4/10
I want Perfect style, just like BG1
An image of a portrait for Baldurs for my taste should be at least as this::
Fixed.
Dorn Il khan with The Girdle of Femininity?
But as for remplacing? I don't know.... It's still a very good painting and I haven't seen many half orc/humans to compare it too. It seems more of a stylistic difference. Pretty bold statements.. maybe an example of your professional painting skills compared to this "amateur" painting and would suffice to remplace this version!?
Going by the responses in this thread, I have to say this seems more like a matter of preference than an issue with the quality of the artwork to me.
If it's the latter, why other people keep using it in this thread? O_o
(It's Michael Stipe. Geddit?"
...
Before there was WoW (2004), there was NWN (2002). These portraits are very much NWN style and everyone seems to ignore this. It's much easier to hate WoW than it is to hate NWN, after all.
This idea that long hair is girly and WoW-inspired is also not correct - feel free to check out LoTR films if you disagree. And if you think he looks too human, I would point out he's half-orc.
I think I agree with most people: it's not a question of what portrait is good, but which is good for the game. I don't like this idea that it's a terrible portrait just because it's different.
NWN did have better pictures (and half-orc pictures). But then again, it was a flagship game for a new engine, a new rule set, and a new playing realm. So it's a question of budget, too. For the time and money that they had, I like Dorn's look a lot.
In the end this is what has been shown and marketed. They're not going to change it now because a handful of people said they didn't like it. If you really don't like it then you should do @g314 said or use ShadowKeeper or something and switch it with the plethora of bad shop jobs that fans have supplied for BG's custom portraits for years.