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New BG:EE Portrait!

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  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited September 2012
    JayCarr said:

    To make a sweeping generalization: Anyone who doesn't like this portrait is simply trying to convince themselves that they aren't going to spend massive amounts of money and time playing all the revamped version of BG and ID. Give up, you're going to do it and, gosh darn it, YOU'RE GOING TO LIKE IT TOO!

    /Sweeping Generalizations.

    Yup that was definitely a sweeping generalization haha. I dun like this portrait but BG:EE is gonna be awwweeesome

    I don't like it because it doesn't belong in BG; both in style AND in the garb of the characters in said pictures. I mean look at their equipment, it's also completely IWD-y. Artist is kind of a one-trick pony. But I'll probably like, import them to Icewind Dale, which is where they belong. :P
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    There are plenty of portraits in the vanilla game that I never use because I don't like them. I'm eager to take out some of the new ones for a spin.

    Although honestly, I'll probably crop down and use this one instead.
  • MerrettMerrett Member Posts: 8
    I may drift away from the subject, but I'm a fan of BG's portraits and I'd like to see Gromnir in higher resolution ( http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070727155039/forgottenrealms/images/3/34/Gromnir_small.jpg ). I believe it's made by John Gallagher. Can you help me out?

    P.S. New BG:EE portraits are just awesome! I'm greedy for more.
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    You know, i would really like a warrior in dark coloured full plate and white hair(short), something like the Blackguard from the DM's book, to use for evil or dark warriors or blackguards doh :P

    Something i haven't seen as a portrait before, but i guess what they make will have to do, and if it doesn't, i'll just import my own again :p
  • GueulEclatorGueulEclator Member Posts: 175
    edited September 2012
    Quartz said:


    I don't like it because it doesn't belong in BG; both in style AND in the garb of the characters in said pictures. I mean look at their equipment, it's also completely IWD-y. Artist is kind of a one-trick pony. But I'll probably like, import them to Icewind Dale, which is where they belong. :P


    I agree. Totally doesn't fit with the BG art style AT ALL.

    It's a nice portrait, for an INCEWIND DALE REMAKE.


    Seriously do the devs really understand? This is not IWD EE, this is BG EE. Respect the BG art style when you make a enhanced edtiton.

    After all, I'm glad they lost the art asset, If it's how they treat the portrait, I don't want to imagine how they would have treated the graphics.
  • cattlekillercattlekiller Member Posts: 55
    I think some people are overrating to this portrait.
    Its just a portrait to use , its not for a NPC its just for a PC if you CHOOSE,you dont have to use it.
  • RabainRabain Member Posts: 39
    I agree, the artist has been commissioned to make some portraits for an old game. It probably isn't the biggest job in the industry or the best to put in his portfolio. He makes nice portraits, we should all be happy the EE is actually adding any portraits at all.

    And they can be used for IWD easily! :)

  • ToggboyToggboy Member Posts: 18
    Will they be redoing all the portraits to fit this art style?
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    No, these are just additional portraits you can use for your own character. The original portraits in the game will be unchanged.
  • RajickRajick Member Posts: 207
    So finally got my wife to let me get this game when it comes out so now waiting for payday. Amazing portrait can't wait for pay day and the 18th
  • serabietserabiet Member Posts: 52
    Aosaw said:

    I think maybe somebody needs to take a break from the internet.

    Maybe yeah? I also love the sense of entitlement and the implied idea that because someone paid less than 20 bucks, a professional artist should be reduced to a monkey tracing and copying some old game graphics in a dark sweaty cellar, just the way this particular someone who invested (or hasn't or isn't planning to) said less than 20 bucks, happens to want it.

    Don't want, don't buy. Pretty simple.

  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited September 2012
    The truth lies somewhere between entitlement and "they can do whatever they want." Trust me, if every developer did everything they wanted "because they can, they're the devs," we'd have a lot of really awful games.

    On the other hand, if we put developers totally on a leash they have issues ... like not being able to add 65% of the features people want because of contractual limitations.
  • serabietserabiet Member Posts: 52
    Not disagreeing with that, listening to players = gud yes, no problem. Players trying to dictate what something's supposed to be like = balls + zipper. In general I just personally rather think of devs as say, authors of yummy goodie books instead of slaves for the consumers and in the end trust their vision more. It's usually based on something other than just 'AH FEEL LIKE THIS'. But this is neither here nor there and it's 5am. Toodles.
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853

    I wish the devs would listen to players LESS , I know most will disagree with that.

    Two words: Valve, Bungie.

    Those two developers listen to their fanbase WAY too much...
  • SpaceInvaderSpaceInvader Member Posts: 2,125
    Quartz said:

    I wish the devs would listen to players LESS , I know most will disagree with that.

    Two words: Valve, Bungie.

    Those two developers listen to their fanbase WAY too much...
    Are you serious?
    The only thing that kept Baldur's Gate alive for 14 years is its community lol
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    Listening to fans is one thing. But sometimes it's hard to parse through the fans' responses, between the trolls, the haters, the candlestick-makers--er...

    Some people also just don't understand what makes a good video game, or why it is that they like certain games. So a developer sees that the gamer "really liked the girl with the big boobs", and they think, well, it must have been the big boobs that the player liked; when in actuality, they just forgot Tifa's name, and there were a bunch of other reasons that they liked her (boobs notwithstanding).

    Someone on a message board says, "Choice is the most important thing; we need as many choices as possible", and suddenly every RPG becomes Open World, filled with minute decisions that have no bearing on the plot or the player's character.

    What needs to happen is developers need to hire a business analyst--someone who knows video games, and who can say, "this is going to appeal to gamers because of X", who can read comments on a forum and say, "gamers are responding to this aspect of Y character because Z".

    Too often, developers just read comments on a message board and take them at face value, and they try to cater to that, without knowing why people say what they're saying, without asking investigative questions like, "Why do you dislike Imoen?" or "What is it about the Reputation system that you don't like?" or "Is there something specific about clubs that adds to the game experience for you?"

    Square-Enix heard that everyone liked the story of Final Fantasy VII. So when they designed Final Fantasy XIII, they said, "How can we make this game similar to Final Fantasy VII?" As a result, most of the characters are carbon copies of their FF7 analogs. That's the real mistake.
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853

    Quartz said:

    I wish the devs would listen to players LESS , I know most will disagree with that.

    Two words: Valve, Bungie.

    Those two developers listen to their fanbase WAY too much...
    Are you serious?
    The only thing that kept Baldur's Gate alive for 14 years is its community lol
    ...Duh?

    I didn't say anything about Baldur's Gate at all. And what you say is completely solid fact.

    Did you reply to the wrong person or what?
  • Space_hamsterSpace_hamster Member Posts: 950
    Heh, I think the changes and tweaks in BGEE have shown the devs have indeed been paying attention to comments from fans. It's all about balance.
  • Excalibur_2102Excalibur_2102 Member Posts: 351
    ehh... Its a portrait guys... Frankly I think its good using portraits like this for people who prefer the style. We still have our old portraits to use, and probably a few new ones in a similar style to the originals as well.
  • scriverscriver Member Posts: 2,072
    Great picture! I hope the others are just as good, though based on the guys previous work I don't think I have anything to worry about.

    Also agree about the lack of sexism - even if the cleavage is unpractical, it's not a Chainmail Bikini by any means, and not particularly focused on either. Of course, face-portraits is very easy to avoid sexism in, as they very often lack action regardless of gender portrayed, meaning they won't easily fall into the pit of active versus reactive agents.

    Some new portraits came out of the approval system.

    @PhillipDaigle -
    Wait, more were approved? How nice do we have to ask to get them released as well?
    Aosaw said:

    @Fake_Sketch I would say that "don't need pats on the back" is different from "need a punch in the face". Criticism is good; constructive criticism is best. Insults are unnecessary and unhelpful.

    @Aosaw -
    Nah, in my mind, criticism doesn't have to be nice to be constructive - you just have to.state why you it's bad (which he.did, because he doesn't think it fits with the old portraits). Sure, people might have an easier time accepting criticism when it's nicely presented, but professional people should he able to take criticism regardless of how it's packaged.

    Of course, rude people will still be rude even if their criticism is constructive, but that's a whole other matter.
  • KolonKuKolonKu Member Posts: 87
    I like the fact that they are making new stuff for us to use in BGEE, but.. This got me thinking.

    When making official content for an enhanced edition of a game, how important is it to actually try unifying the added material with the old, style-wise? As a developer, what is your thought process when hiring and paying artists to make material for the game you're enhancing and, while doing so, giving them green lights to totally ignore the fact that the finished product will stand out so much from the old that it looks like it comes from an entirely different game?

    Imagine the work process of the artist. Is there even any *remote* evidence that he knew about Mike Sass' work before he started making this portrait? Does he know that this picture is going to be used for BGEE? Is he somehow limited in making portraits like this, or could he have done the portrait more similar to the old ones if only he gave a damn?

    You might say that I shouldn't use the portrait if I don't like it. Fine, I'll just go grab better portraits at somewhere else. But that's the point. This portrait looks like something that could have been found in a portrait-pack featuring artwork taken from random fantasy novels. Official content shouldn't look like it could have been found that way.

    What's lacking is some form of collaboration. The NPC-portraits have one distinctive style, this here portrait has another, noone appearantly knows how the original portraits look, it just feels wierd that there's no consistency going on at all.

    The only reason to why I'm writing this is because I know that the portrait isn't an optional download. It's in the game to begin with, once it's installed. It's not DLC for the ones who want it, it's official material that's going to be included among the rest of the portraits in the character creation by default.

    Am I making too much fuss about a simple portrait? Yeah, I can agree with that. But I'm a huge fan of the game and all of it's content, and every new glimpse of added material gets it's own topic. I hope the ones reading this at least understands my concern.
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    And for good measure, I've done the same cropping with the female barbarian:
    image

    This is a portrait I would use.
  • WardWard Member Posts: 1,305
    edited September 2012
    @Kolonku Like what @Aosaw said, they knew who Jason Manley is and he knew about Baldur's Gate.

    It's not like they picked up any old random guy (Nat Jones, ha, I'm kidding) to give us these portraits. They picked a guy who is famous for the IWD games which are based off the famous BG games.

    The inclusion of Jason Manley in this project is one of the most appropiate things Beamdog have done, as far as I'm concerned. I disagree with some of their approaches but this one is good.

    In my opinion Jason's portraits are better than Mike's, however, they're unique takes so who cares? I want both.
  • PoePoe Member Posts: 4
    As a painter myself, I find Jason's work awesome, I can't say enough good things about it...and thanks to Aosaw scaling them down, I think the look of them fit right in with the rest. I applaud the artist.

    In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
    Buddha
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