Torment Torment: Tides of Numenera Thread

[Lurker King]

The T:ToN portraits aren't great, but at least you can tell them apart at a glance..

That's because you are comparing six portraits with 30 small portraits in a collage, you waste of air.

Do you think that this dude

has anything to do with this face

or this

or this

or this

?

But hey, since it's AoD it's okay to dismiss the art and say that fucking Agathoh is just like Faelen! LOL

 

[Prime Junta]

As a not-fan of the way AoD looks in general I gotta weigh in.

The portraits are great. Top-notch. In the top 10% of the genre. Whoever did them ought to feel damn proud of himself.

(That's all.)

 

[opium fiend]

I've made a video just for you.

Spoiler

Because I want to see you suffer.

Ahah, it's even worse than I thought, I thought it plays only during crises. It drowns out background noises and everything.

Thanks man

 

[Darth Roxor]

Now compare those portraits to this:

They are generic people.

sounds like they'd fit in tworment then

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I know what they were thinking. Companions being too weird would be too much when the world iweird too. Players need some familiar hooks, otherwise they would not connect to the game.

The problem is not being weird, the problem is being uninteresting. Let's consider PS:T again. The companions, the setting, the first location are all weird as fuck and nobody complained about then. Being weird has nothing to do with it. If anything, the weird companions in ToN are bland and boring.

Tell it to the inXile, not me

 

[supervoid]

InXile has better portraits than those overpainted photos:

But probably somebody's niece wanted to be vidya gaem artists or something like that.

 

[Lacrymas]

Citation needed.

As I mentioned, that's what Darth Roxor said. Ask him for citations. The game is financially fucked either way.

 

[t]

Agreed. The T:ToN portraits aren't great, but at least you can tell them apart at a glance. These on the other hand, you would have a very hard time remembering their names.

Sure, once you see all of them at the same time. But in the game you get to know them one by one. I never had any problems recognizing anyone in AoD, in fact I love the portraits. They are not only very well made, they also show a lot about a person. You have Dellar

who tells you the story of raiding and years spent in the mines and you can see those years in his eyes. His face is not smiling, it really shows how disillusioned he is with high lords, with dreams of fame and fortune. On the other hand you have

this fine fellow who spend weeks eating rats, hiding from constructs. He is clearly mad. And this

Fargo snake-oil salesman doesn't even need an introduction.

And I haven't even picked out the most distinct ones. You have a cesar, a demon, a construct, a god, few stages of Palpatine Meru; old people, young people, other races...

EDIT: I should probably read ahead and see whether or not I'm ninja'd by other fanboys.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

So much better

 

[cvv]

WTF were they thinking?

I know what they were thinking. Companions being too weird would be too much when the world iweird too. Players need some familiar hooks, otherwise they would not connect to the game.

Exactly. I feel the main reason people find this game "uninteresting" is because there aren't enough of those familiar hooks (or they're badly executed). Consider PST - Mortuary without Morte would be much more dreary too. Sure Morte is a flying scull but his wit, humor and lingo is comforting and and reassuring in the weird, alien environment. There's nothing to ease you into the weird world of TToN. If InXile knew about the problem they failed to address it.

 

[Lurker King]

Tell it to the inXile, not me

We are not a tier 1 site.

 

[Sigourn]

InXile has better portraits than those overpainted photos:

But probably somebody's niece wanted to be vidya gaem artists or something like that.

Jesus Christ, those look far better. Particularly the bisexual dude. The in-game portrait makes him look like a rapist.

 

[bataille]

These portraits cannot be compared. The 'bland' ones from AoD are this way because they are grounded in a particular historical bit of reality, and you can only do so much with that. The numenera ones are of the 'anything goes' kind (since the setting is an amalgamation of all the things ever). They (as the characters they represent) serve different purposes and are subject to different rules imposed by their relation to the narrative, tone, etc.

What I can't forgive numenera, though, is the fact that the developers didn't try to convey some of the characters' personalities through their facial expressions. While the last castoff is tabula rasa and should probably be neutral to avoid any conflict with their chosen tide, half the companions really should have more defined countenances. Tybir has his smirk, Matkina has a sort of an abyss of sadness and wariness across her face. Rhin is kind of lost. But Alligern? Is he braindead? Doesn't seem like that in the game, quite the opposite. Calli? I don't buy that a woman of her temperament can have this expression while not heavily sedated, and even then the 'faraway' look is not very likely for a character this practical and 'present'. Which clashes even more with her *red* luxurious, ornate dress.
I don't think it's the case of 'everyone has their own way of expressing emotions' either, because even Erritis has this tranced, nonchalant look. The 'raddiance' metaphor is pretty on the nose, but his face doesn't have even a fraction of that fire burning within him? A stone-faced don quixote? For me, Erritis is the most grievous offense. The next time he exclaims 'Here comes the boredom slayer!', look at his portrait. And hope that he slays the non-caring bores that painted him this way.

 

[Jarpie]

The old portrait of Callistege reminds of some actress who's been on some tv shows and films but cant remember the name or what's she has been in. Frustating.

 

[FeelTheRads]

The old portrait of Callistege reminds of some actress who's been on some tv shows and films but cant remember the name or what's she has been in. Frustating.

Peggy Bundy?

That was the first thing I thought of when I saw this portrait when it was revealed.

 

[hexer]

Yeah... the portraits suck but having bland personalities for companions is even worse than that!

Before you encounter Matkina, there's such a buildup of her legendary reputation from dozens of NPCs..
And when you finally find her... NOTHING!

She says nothing, nothing happens, you feel nothing, you stop caring,
you go to the nearest liquor store, you become a bro with local drunks,
you drunkenly shout at random passersby how the TTON story trailer is better than the entire game,
you say NO! to the offers of a local prostitute, you vow to her about starting your own game studio and spending time making fun, prestigious PC games instead of collecting STDs like Pokemons

 

[Turjan]

Numerera companions:

Man, they should've added an extra stretch goal during the campaign. For $200 extra, we'll take a trip down to the local community art college and get literally anyone to draw better portraits than the ones we ended up using after 4 years dev time.

If I'd take a guess, they changed the portraits to make it easy to identify the party members in the row of button portraits that represents the order of action during a crisis. You can see at a glance whose turn it is, and I don't even need my glasses for this. While the AoD portraits have much more character, they would all look the same on that initiative sequence strip.

 

[bataille]

InXile has better portraits than those overpainted photos:

But probably somebody's niece wanted to be vidya gaem artists or something like that.

Oh my god, Calli is spot on. I wouldn't be surprised if they told the second artist about all the superficial stuff like her hair, dress and the other *external* ways of expression while completely forgetting about telling them how to present her posture, her gaze, her general expression. The result is a bunch of props with a random face pasted onto it. That hurts.

 

[Lilura]

These portraits cannot be compared. The 'bland' ones from AoD are this way because they are grounded in a particular historical bit of reality, and you can only do so much with that.

Bullshit. Check out some oil paintings by fine artists. You know, real artists. They could even make a basement-dwelling Codexer look interesting. Oops, went to far on that one.

 

[Stokowski]

So, while everyone cheers that inXile is taking a hit due to all your combined nerd rage, what is your goal? Attack, attack, attack every non-AAA rpg studio until there is only Bioware, Bethesda, and CD Project? I don't understand how people on a supposed rpg forum can clap at the second death of rpgs. You fucking pricks did this with Troika. Where is your hate on all these fucking super rpg-lite Asian games that come out? Where is your rage?

What is your goal? Your fucking nerd whinny and genre hate doesn't work when it comes to the AAAs, you refuse to attack the Asian games you all really love. What do you guys have against rpgs? Seriously, why do you guys even post here?

NO!

 

[Lilura]

Meh, not much variety there. IWD's are much better.

That's because you are comparing portraits of faces with portraits of full body, duh.

Half the point, they should have gone full Roman body. But ok, Arcanum.

 

[Ivan]

I actually like Rhin's portrait. looks like a young Ellen Ripley

 

[bataille]

These portraits cannot be compared. The 'bland' ones from AoD are this way because they are grounded in a particular historical bit of reality, and you can only do so much with that.

Bullshit. Check out some oil paintings by fine artists. You know, real artists. They could even make a basement-dwelling Codexer look interesting.

You don't understand. I mean the AoD portraits were painted this way to fit in this little world and be a part of it. This uniformity is one of the integral parts of the game's world. Nobody can afford an ornate dress, so they differentiate through the immanent human quality: personality and emotion. So, the portraits are perfectly serviceable, like a dilapidated building or a mud-covered orphan.

Real art is incomparably more interesting because it isn't in servitude to some narrative that happens to be playing in the foreground. It's limited only by the artist himself, and is not constrained by something that goes before it.

 

[Chris Avelltwo]

Do you think that this dude

has anything to do with this face

Aside from the beard and the grin, there's not a huge difference, no.

or this

or this

Could be the same guy after putting on a bunch of weight.

or this

?

Goes without saying since that's the only non-human in the lineup. So 1 non-human plus 59 similar looking Anthony Hopkins/Mark Wahlberg clones.

 

[Lilura]

You don't understand. I mean the AoD portraits were painted this way to fit in this little world and be a part of it. This uniformity is one of the integral parts of the game's world. Nobody can afford an ornate dress, so they differentiate through the immanent human quality: personality and emotion. So, the portraits are perfectly serviceable, like a dilapidated building or a mud-covered orphan.

Real art is incomparably more interesting because it isn't in servitude to some narrative that happens to be playing in the foreground. It's limited only by the artist himself, and is not constrained by something that goes before it.

What waffle. Go and write for inXile.