Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Angel and demon racial skin
insaneloli
Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Hey
I hope i placed this in the right place. Personally i am curious if there is at any point going to be a preview of what that angel and demon racial skin some of the kickstart packs mention looks like.
Is there any info on those so far?
I hope i placed this in the right place. Personally i am curious if there is at any point going to be a preview of what that angel and demon racial skin some of the kickstart packs mention looks like.
Is there any info on those so far?
0
Comments
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Racial_skins
Concept art is there.
Most models have been true to their concept art.
(Props to the modellers!!)
Crown- MMORPG Survivor since 1996
This is quite literally the most worrying aspect of development for me atm, the game looks incredible in all other aspects, and I am so excited for it.... but what happened to the realism?
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Gear_appearance
"We're going for kind of a more realistic look; not necessarily realistic setting, but we want our characters to have weight and kind of feel like they're there.[4] – Jeffrey Bard"
How is this game going to feel even slightly immersive leveling in the starting zones next to an angel or demon...
the same could be said about any cosmetic item
Actually... It absolutely could not... at all,
it is fairly easy to create cosmetics which in some way look authentic to the world or realistic especially given the visual flavour they have already introduced to the world.
Trying to establish a false equivalency between what could be some cool looking; realistic Pyrian or Dünirn armour which speaks to the lore and universe around it, to quite literally looking like an angel or demon is beyond ridiculous...
Immersion exists on a scale ranging from pong to "Are we living in a simulation?" Ashes is a world where I can ride my snail-boi horse into battle and slap someone with a sword and turn them into a pile of ashes. A handful of people looking like an angel or deamon is par for the course. It may be a little less realistic than I initially wanted myself, but it is not beyond "ridiculous".
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
Well I mean given that new cosmetics are released monthly and have been for years, the prevalence of them within the player base is fairly clear, they are obviously profitable and consistently purchased or why would they be produced? The reality is cosmetics won’t be the exception they will be the norm, and yet the universe is slated as medieval high fantasy, in none of the promotional videos do they show the players using them so the quasi-realism is the intent however cosmetic abundance will be the reality. If the intention is that we will see players running around as angels and demons then why don’t the promotional videos show it...
The reality is simply that the monetisation of skins has caused a scope creep in artistic intent, it happens in games all the time when profit is there... I mean compare wow classic to wow retail.
My point is this needs to be addressed and redressed through a button to disable store bought aesthetics with them being disabled being the default.
Either that or the promotional videos need to start reflecting the reality and showing every second character using immersion breaking unrealistic cosmetics...
And what is to say the angel and demon skins are not authentic to the world?
Also, you have seen some of the items realised so far? some o these fit the theme
The immersion is still going to be greater than pong but less than the simulation we may be living it. I know the cosmetics are not ideal, but it is better to me than the alternative. See ArcheAge... ArcheAge Unchained, Lineage 2 classic...
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
If so, great, we can get an accurate understanding of how many people are going to have cosmetics.
If not, i'ma guesstimate now. In the grand scheme of potential player base, fewer than you think. Most people who end up playing this game are going to be those who did not purchase the monthly cosmetics.
On top of that, there are going to be head start exclusive servers which will include any of the founders (for now) who want to get in the game a few days early to test the game's launch. (From what I understand, these head start servers will not be available for players who do not have founder status). These founders will all have cosmetics and probably include a solid chunk of the cosmetic purchasing population.
So, I don't think this is going to be quite as noticeable as some people are making it out to be.
And even if it is, I guess you can always consider some of these sets to be pre Verra. Our characters did have lives before coming here, after all.
That sounds amazing
The most concerning thing is, it's still early on in devlopment, so plenty more opportunities to make the game feel like a childs toy pit.
Just blame it on magic
Magic is always the answer.
I'm with you on this.
Adding these kinds of cosmetics is always the start of a slippery slope, and it seems AoC is starting on the slope from the get go.
We'll just have to wait and see how prominent it is.
Edit: To top it off, the mere existence of these kind of "racial skins" makes racial identity much less of a factor.
"I chose elf but really I'm angel because skin"
It's such a terrible look on IS and AoC and is really the only thing so far that actually worries me, because if they are being this nonchalant about racial and mount (via mount skins) immersion then where else are they going to slowly push that envelope?
I'd like to say they're smart and are going to limit themselves, but I asked in the last Q and A about how strict to the Art Bible the artists have to be and my answer was "they have lots of personal leeway".
So essentially at each step of the creation process, a team member has the chance to add in some kind of personal flavour that could further expand what is considered "right" for the world until we have a jumbled mess. A bit hyperbolic maybe, but still a valid concern.
We just recently had "British formal attire" and "Corgi" as a cosmetic.
I thought that the dress in that months cosmetic was absolutely beautiful! So yeah, people clearly do have different opinions and tastes. I personally am very happy that IS has decided not to cater to only one set style, either very realistic or completely over-the-top bikini style. I appreciate variety.
As to whether or not a specific style can be considered "native to Verra" I think Steven and the IS team are better judges of this than we are.
Sure, I agree that people find different things appealing. But does Sanctum/Verra use "British attire", or will it literally just be players who wear the skin who you'll see in it? Does it have corgis, or is it players that have the corgis?
You're right of course, but sometimes in game development it's easy to slip in to the "This would be neat to add" mindset, and because artists are given a lot of leeway, they could slowly lose sight of the original vision until it's watered down with so many options and styles that it lacks flavour.
All I'm saying is I hope they aren't adding things on whims and are staying true to the vision that was intended.
Edit: Visions can change of course, which is also fine. The difference is, are the whims expanding the vision, or is the vision changing with purpose.
It's a shame because im really really rooting for the success of this game, but everytime they release cutesie cosmetics they are killing their player base a small number of people at a time. The lineage II ultima online lovers that initially backed this game are being left out to dry in favor of gamers that prefer to play dressup over playing a game that has artistic meaningful substance.
This is the crux of it.
Edit:
This is literally what I was talking about in my last comment. It's easy for developers to slip into easy bad practices.
It'd be really nice to hear from the team if it's going to be possible to turn this off.
It's been mentioned that it'd be really rough if you're forced to level alongside unlored characters like demons and mushroom samurai from an immersion standpoint.
This isn't mentioning that alot of resources from character designers are currently going into cash grab cosmetics instead of in game armor, clothing and enemy character models. One has to imagine it's quite a resource drain, one I'd be OK to forgive if the Kickstart wasnt 2.5 million dollars over goal.
As such, is it not better to try finding a good balance between both while keeping as much as possible to the vision of the game, instead of trying to please only one or the other side? So far I can't say that many of the cosmetics have been too radical in either way (other than maybe that Bear mount, but that's again just my personal opinion).
I just never understand how some individuals kick up a fuss as soon as something doesn't meet their taste 100%.
The difference is what does it mean to the world, not to the players.
When you cater to the infinite variability of personal taste, you end up with watered down aesthetics and ridiculousness everywhere.
It's not that there can't be elegant dresses or anything like that, it's the question of "does the style fit the rest of the game?"
You wouldn't make a feudal Chinese "Romance of the three kingdoms" inspired game and then accept "Western Tuxedo" cosmetics because some players like tuxedos. They don't fit the feudal chinese theme.
Likewise, does "British Dresses" and "corgi" fit the Sanctum/Verra theme?
I'd be more than happy if there's an option to turn this off, and give the option to those of us that don't like to be surrounded by the local circus 24/7.
Did you not disagree with me a few days ago when I thought the ashes death was less realistic than I thought they were going for?
I mean I agree with you here too, but it seems like the same thing to me. The DEV team decides to reduce realism in favor of a gain in creativity. Immersion takes a hit, but we get a cool death animation or... a dress.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
OK sure, makes sense. However, considering royalty is a thing in this game, I don't see why elegance/dresses would be out of place in this game.
As to your question about "British Dresses" and "corgi" fitting the theme - I don't know. But, seeming as they decided to put it into their game, I can only assume they do believe it does.
Anyway like I said, I'm not interested in getting into any arguements here. I have expressed my opinion on the matter, so I am happy to leave it at that
Well, the difference here is that the death animation had a lore reason that fit, or seemed to fit, pre-established lore and might have been an intention from the start. That was also more of an argument on "level of fantastical elements" than of style.
It very well might have been something of what I will call "Theme creep" (an alternative to "feature creep"), but the reason for adding it fit very well with what we know of the lore already. I do agree with you that it can be subjective.
Some of the cosmetics (in our limited knowledge of the game and lore) seem to be all over the place. Though it's very possible they were always an intention and part of the original Art Bible.
I'm not saying they are falling to "Theme creep", just that I'm worried they are. My point is that we don't know and just that I am hoping they aren't.
Edit: If the death animation had been "They turn to stone and crumble because it looks cool" then I would have been completely against it, because how does that fit into anything we've seen so far?
Edit2:
Just to be clear, I don't really mind the corgi cosmetic pack too much and it's not as extreme as I'm making it out to be, I'm just using it as an example since it's the cosmetic pack that seems to be pushing at the seams the most. It could very well have always been a part of Sanctum culture and we just aren't aware of that lore yet.