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Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
This looks like a sick Asian about to throw up...
The older model just needed a few adjustments in the nose and bigger fangs.
Disagree, there should be diffrence between kaelar and vaelune regarding skin color just like pyrai are darker and has antlers compared to Empyrean. Stop trying to make a certain race into a cesspit of several races. What would be the diffrence between kaelar and vaelune then?? trying to find logical reason for your request here. Or is the problem that kaelar are white and based on europe? If you are Asian and wants "representation" so bad just make a kaelar with slanted eyes and darker features im sure it will be available no big deal
When I look at these I see Ren'kai. The last models were cool but they didn't feel like the Ren'kai.
I can understand people who love beefy characters are disappointed with the facial structure but I've not doubt that players will be able to create more chunky muscular faces in character creator.
This model feels like it will offer more flexibility in character creator.
I look forward to seeing the full body and scale patterns! I hope this race is still the tallest ^^ I can't wait to see all the races in game next to each other!
As far as the Asian vibe, I think that should be an option in the character creator. I would hope that's not a locked look for the general race. In all honesty I believe that kind of trait (for all actual races around the world) should be optional for all game races, but subtle and not a key feature. This way you can allow all game races to subtly include actual human race like traits. The player can create themselves in their own image! (kinda).
2 cents
- The entirety of the nose, mouth, and chin area looks very good and has a nice identity.
- I really like the wrinkles and roughness on the male model’s skin, especially around his crows feet and on his cheeks. I feel it gives him a bit of that ruggedness people want to see.
Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why?
- The strong, high cheekbones with thin cheeks are giving me a bit too much of an elf vibe. I think they should be filled out a bit more and potentially lowered a bit.
- The jawline might be a bit too soft. I think a little closer to the squared off jawline of the previous model might help the aggressive look desired.
- The female brow is very straight and soft compared to the angular, aggressive look from the male model.
- I feel there may be too much ogre influence in the ears, especially the female ear being a bit pig-like. I think the elongated cylindrical shape for the ear opening comes off as looking passive instead of powerful.
- The almond shaped eyes are very small and may not look good from far away, especially on the male.
However like others have mentioned part of the Ren'Kai identity is their sheer size and power, When a Ren'Kai becomes enraged though, there aren't many men or beasts who can live and tell the tale and They are considerably taller than their human counterparts.
So while i think this was a great step in the right direction, I believe having slightly more muscular facial features in both the male and female models would go a long way in portraying their terrifying power. (Please don't have the whole "female orc is just a green elf") Also make the Ren'Kai have large, muscular proportions, like the previous model, however with slightly more athleticism to match the facial features. I truly believe you have an amazing orc in the making, it's just hitting the sweet spot between the two versions you have shown us.
Lastly, as a side note. I think the new concept art does a brilliant job with real life inclusion, and while this shouldn't be the main focus of the races, it is a nice touch that will most likely attract a wider player base.
But I also hope there is an option for the more hulk/shrek like orcs like in WoW.
Original:
The large size was great, and with the tattoos / skin it made them almost look scaly and gave me the impression of dragon lineage. True that prolly should be more Tulnar but I liked it and thought it was a fresh interpretation on Orc. The original design seems like a large Samoan to me. Ear styling seems more bat like which again lended to Dragon motif. The jaw was big, kinda too pudgy, which went more to a traditional pig motif for Orc. The teeth are way to small, they're little baby teeth on a mountain of a character, totally out of place.
New:
The new design seems more Asian influenced, which make sense considering the architecture. Ear styling seems more elfish, which pays homage to LOTR that Orcs are tortured elves I believe? Though I'd prefer getting away from the lore that Orcs are tortured Elves and prefer them being their own race. I do like the more angular features on the new design, compared to the pudgy features originally, my ideal would be a more sheer rock face (Dwarves would more round and boulder faced.) I like the larger canines on the new design.
Overall:
On both I like the stretched area between the mouth and nose (weird but unique). When you have the tendon lines stretching it again makes me thing of bat wings / dragon. The scrunched nose seems appropriate for traditional pig orcs (again weird but unique). The limbs seem too uniform in diameter, but I guess its good, makes each limb look more like a single trunk instead of articulating joints, might be better outside T-Pose and in their resting posture. The forehead on the new one is better to give a more angular resting scowl almost but I like the round of the outer brow to take it away from being too elven angular. Original's strong rounded cheekbones are good. Tightening up the jawbone a bit, or making it more of a sheer jawbone instead of a soft rounded jawline. (Hard to compare against new with the full beard).
Take away notes:
I like how the current designs can express full range of emotions based on their default pose here. But orcs need to be savage and almost feral. Bigger canines to the point where you see all there teeth sharper and pressing against their lips causing them to portrude some (not to the extreme of where someone wears those cheap plastic Dracula teeth). More tendons with the muscle (neck, upper lip, ear down neck, jaw down neck), continue to exercise a bat wing to flex the dragon motif more, like their power is constantly stretching them and morphing to contain more. Continue with stubby nose. Continue with tiny eyes, almost like their skull is a helmet and their eyes are safely tucked back.
However, I really hope you stick with your guns on this one because I would love to play this race!
I know that you have real world ethnic inspirations for your game races and cultures (which I love). That seemed to be missing in the past for this race, but I see it now. Both in the facial features and the hair style/accessories/tattoos.
I was initially concerned with the green color, because I still wanted the option for a red-skinned orc, but then you mentioned that it was still an option.
Unlike your previous versions, I have no feedback for things you could improve. I can't find a fault in this. Maybe I would seeing the full-body model (or concept art) but for now, all I can say is well-done. I have been planning on using a Ren'Kai as my main, and you've made this player extremely happy.
This is so far my favorite race design, even though I do not usually play Orc-like races. This has to do because I do not like big and brutish characters, so being able to play a softer female Ren'Kai would work for me.
Formerly T-Elf