DygzMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
Hmmn. Well, Steven already said that helms will accomadate horns and all Py'Rai will have horns - even if they are just tiny nubs.
The smallest horns will likely be fully covered by a helm.
So, the lore states the Py'Rai have synced with the woods.
Horns are present in plains, savannahs, woodlands, forests, rainforests undergrowth, fields, farms, mountains, valleys and anywhere else a horned animal roams.
I do not understand how the magic makes a race grow horns when attached to woodland? Are we saying the woods have horns or are we saying the Py'Rai do beastiality?
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DygzMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
edited April 2022
Who understands magic??
Sanctus doesn't have magic.
You want to have the Py'Rai racial bonuses? Play an Empyrean! You want to help to add Py'Rai experience to make a node's city Py'Rai-themed? Play an Empyrean! You want to RP a wood elf? Play an Empyrean!
......... Oh wait...
Glad someone said what I was thinking here. I really had a back story ready for my Wood elf, up until I saw they were being morphed into Dryads. . . And my next idea was Empyrean raised by the Dryad. But that would be counter productive to node leveling, unless they allow us to denounce our racial heritage and contribute to another of our choosing. Which would be ok then.
That quote was originally aimed at my post, which I made because I don't really 'get' the typical wood elf aesthetic. They always seemed like "elfs with brown skin and leaves in their hair", which seems super lazy to me.
Asking because I must be missing something: what is it about the classic wood elf design that you like so much? Why does the Ashes interpretation of adding 'branchlers' ruin that for you?
You want the horns to be optional? Good, because they already are. You can just pick empyrean. You want the skin to be different? It can be (if you play a human). GTFO with complaining for every design decision that isn't a copy-paste of the Neverwinter designs.
You want to have the Py'Rai racial bonuses? Play an Empyrean! You want to help to add Py'Rai experience to make a node's city Py'Rai-themed? Play an Empyrean! You want to RP a wood elf? Play an Empyrean!
I see you lack grey matter. I don't see the need to post a picture of a bridge and say 'bridges built are better than bridges burnt'. What I've actually learnt is you know sweet fuck all. Enjoy your limited battery life.
I suspect when all the lore is revealed then there will be reasonable reasons behind the evolution of each race.
In effect, if there is not a current reasonable reason behind the evolution, then one should be created. It is a weird disposition to mix animal features, elven features and ent features without some extensive hokey pokey or a dominant malign force who has caused a societal degradation.
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DygzMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
Same for the Vek evolution.
Expect either the lore to be tweaked or for it to be a whim of some god after the races return to Verra thru the portals.
It's likely something Steven will withold for us to discover in Beta or launch.
[*] What do you like about the current art direction of this race?
I REALLY like that the race is very much more "woodland creature" versus human with long ears. I think it is something of a challenge to make not only a race that is aesthetic in it's own way but still very pretty and a class people will want to play.
[*] Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why?
Not particularly a dislike but I have some thoughts about the look (will address in last question) but overall difficult for me to give a too much feedback with just a headshot.
[*] Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Py'rai female concept?
I would LOVE to see different variants of horns and antlers as well as possibly a vine look instead of branch look for the horns. An option with a more smooth skin vs the rough wooded skin for more variants. Variations with eyebrows that are not as long/more attached to the brow. Lots of ear variations as well as more ear jewelry variations. Black sclera for eyes would be a really cool touch with emissive corneas. I'm sure there is a lot of this already in the works but I thought I'd put a few of my thoughts here.
Overall I'm very excited to see more of this race (at the moment it's the one I'm likely going to play). Optionally (as I'm fairly short IRL :: just 5' :: ) I would like to play a relatively small race. I like cutesy things and I'm generally a very passive explorer.
Added the male concept art from the March Development Update livestream to the OP! I also made some edits in the text to reflect that. If you have any additional feedback regarding the male concept art, feel free to leave it here
The ears steal focus from the antlers and are too long and pronounced given how much emphasis is placed on the artistry of the horns (which I like). Retain the same shape but reduce the size by maybe 1/3rd.
The male eyebrows look good, the female eyebrows maybe disrupting the look of the antlers at the base as they emerge from the skull. Maybe shorten or curve to allow a full view of the emerging antlers.
The cheekbone and cheek skin treatments on the female look really interesting and are well done but are missing from the male, hopefully they will be an option.
The nose on the male seems a bit pronounced but the female looks right.
The lips and chin areas seem just fine as they are.
I love it. Nothing to change about them. They are not the traditional elves(for this I guess we'll have the other elven race with some little differences I'd say) you've always seen, and that's what's attractive of them. People need to understand that races have and MUST have unique and special features of their own. Just cause the Py'rai are elves doesn't mean the can't have horns or they have to be literally like the elves we've always seen, no. I love the Py'rai because they literally are like elves but not traditional!
I just want to say that I hope we can customize everything, not only for the Py'rai, but for all races. It would be good that antlers are not tied to hairstyles, I think that's really important. I also hope, overall, that for each race, we are able to customize/mold all aspects of the characters uniquely taking into account all features of each race, so, in this case, maybe we could adjust the length of the antlers, length of ears(these two to a certain extent, enough to not lose the unique features of this race for example), having adornments for their antlers, adjust the "bark" skin intensity, etc.
⋆⁺₊⋆☾⋆⁺₊⋆‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ Blessed you are, living in the night, guided by me and all my dear stars ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙ ⋆⁺₊⋆☽⋆⁺₊⋆
Men this design Is sick,as a no fan of traditional elves i wasn't expecting much but probably this Will be my main race,the female model Is perfect imo,but the male hair(facial and regular) doesn't convince much,i hope with some customization it matches a little better with the skin color, could also work More colors for the race like a More Green one .
I really L O V E this design and the branchlers! 😍 I absolutley love that they look like a mix of deer antlers and tree branches. Please make them mandarory.
Let us be able to customize the branchlers color, texture, shape, angle, the number of points and where they grow out from the head.
Accessories or extra optional details for the branchlers would be cool, anything from vines, moss to rings or amulets tied to the branchlers.
I'm just a bit concerned how different hairstyles will go with the branchlers.
I will definitely pick a Pi'ray female as my main if Tulnar won't be what I wish for.
I just want to make a faun.
Just wanted to hop in to say I love the design of this race. I was surprised by how many upset comments I read here about them not be 'traditional' elves. Screw traditional!! I think they look AMAZING. They're so creative! The "branchlers" are so cool. Also I adore the big, side ears. Props to the people involved designing the Py'rai! You might've just made my new favorite race
I just saw the tweet about the new Py’Rai models. And i have something i would like to see on them regarding the horns/branchlers as an option in character creation
The Tweet about the Py’Rai models
I would like if there where options for the horns/branchlers to be placed just a little bit further back on the head. Just like in this picture =]
This placements of the horns/branchlers would make it easier to have hair options that cover the face more.
I love this race just as much as the Vek and will definitely be playing one. I think what most of the critics are waiting for are the Empyrean, and will get their high-elf fantasy there.
I think it would be awesome to have an option for your branchlers to have a particular flora style (different types of blossoms, leafy sprouts, etc) but I also think the appearance would need to be tied to the season. So if you want to have fall color leafy bits, they'll be there in the fall, gone the rest of the year. Or they could be green buds in spring, leaves in summer, fall colors in autumn. If you want flowers, buds in spring, bloom in summer, gone the rest of the year. You get the idea. It doesn't matter if the lifeforce is stemming from the player's body, you aren't gonna be keeping any leaves or flower buds dangling off your head for very long adventuring around in the middle of winter.
I just saw the tweet about the new Py’Rai models. And i have something i would like to see on them regarding the horns/branchlers as an option in character creation
The Tweet about the Py’Rai models
I would like if there where options for the horns/branchlers to be placed just a little bit further back on the head. Just like in this picture =]
This placements of the horns/branchlers would make it easier to have hair options that cover the face more.
I love this suggestion. I really hope they take this into consideration because it allows for prettier hair styles.
Also I just want to separately give my own feedback of the pictures presented. Shown above is the female face and here is the body -
I loved the concept art of the female and was so pleasantly surprised. It made me want to play Py'Rai, but now you've gone in a completely different direction (and not the first time you've done this with a race where the concept looked great but the models are different and do not).
I don't like this new female face at all nor do I like the body. She was pretty before and I generally love forest/nature elves, so I was happy to find one in this game that looked good (unlike ESO's awful Bosmer). But now between the face and the body, she looks like a short, too-skinny troll.
I don't want to play a troll, I want a beautiful nature forest elf. I don't want branch veins on her forehead, I don't want body/face tattoos. I want a prettier face, I want a normal body that's not super short, has some meat/boobs on her bones, a softer less harsh/angular face. Nice hair options like the guy I quoted. Less weird ear/ankle jewelry.
Make a character model that actually looks like that gorgeous female concept art you showed. And then give her a normal shaped body not only with a more healthy body, but this body has odd proportions - especially the hands, feet, and head are too large adding to the troll-ish look. And the exaggeration of the nose, lips, cheekbones, and ears only make that troll look more pronounced.
Can't we have some races for those of us who just want to look nice? All of your other races so far, the female characters just don't look good. Except the boring humans, but those of us who want to have something prettier deserve more options. Don't turn into an ESO or New World with mostly ugly character options. Please give us better options.
I don't want to play a troll, I want a beautiful nature forest elf. I don't want branch veins on her forehead, I don't want body/face tattoos. I want a prettier face, I want a normal body that's not super short, has some meat/boobs on her bones, a softer less harsh/angular face. Nice hair options like the guy I quoted. Less weird ear/ankle jewelry.
Make a character model that actually looks like that gorgeous female concept art you showed. And then give her a normal shaped body not only with a more healthy body, but this body has odd proportions - especially the hands, feet, and head are too large adding to the troll-ish look. And the exaggeration of the nose, lips, cheekbones, and ears only make that troll look more pronounced.
I don't understand why someone takes time to give feedback but can't research about it first...
Everything you talked about can be tuned in the character creator, they have talked about it and shown it. This is just the base model.
I hope they don't give to much liberty tho, this ain't a cute anime elf, it's a different race, non human, it should look different.
I don't want to play a troll, I want a beautiful nature forest elf. I don't want branch veins on her forehead, I don't want body/face tattoos. I want a prettier face, I want a normal body that's not super short, has some meat/boobs on her bones, a softer less harsh/angular face. Nice hair options like the guy I quoted. Less weird ear/ankle jewelry.
Make a character model that actually looks like that gorgeous female concept art you showed. And then give her a normal shaped body not only with a more healthy body, but this body has odd proportions - especially the hands, feet, and head are too large adding to the troll-ish look. And the exaggeration of the nose, lips, cheekbones, and ears only make that troll look more pronounced.
I don't understand why someone takes time to give feedback but can't research about it first...
Everything you talked about can be tuned in the character creator, they have talked about it and shown it. This is just the base model.
I hope they don't give to much liberty tho, this ain't a cute anime elf, it's a different race, non human, it should look different.
We don't know that. We can tune the base models but we don't know how far. We don't know if I can find a pretty face, if I can make a body that looks normal. Without seeing the options, we only know the defaults, the intended look. And it's vitally important that those of us who feel unhappy and duped give our feedback. If I want something that looks nice, don't dismiss me and say "Oh the CC will take care of it." None of us knows that. It's an ugly character model in a sea of them. None of the females look good so far.
If those of us who want something cute/pretty can't have elves, dwarves, or orcs, what the hell can we have? Boring humans? That's all we get? Dude...
I just saw the tweet about the new Py’Rai models. And i have something i would like to see on them regarding the horns/branchlers as an option in character creation
The Tweet about the Py’Rai models
I would like if there where options for the horns/branchlers to be placed just a little bit further back on the head. Just like in this picture =]
This placements of the horns/branchlers would make it easier to have hair options that cover the face more.
Another thought - TERA's Castanic had a lot of great horn and hairstyles to take inspiration from in this regard. They had a lot of horn and hair styles, but a lot of the horns were farther back on the head to allow for more variety in the hair. But not all of them - they did have horns that were on the front near the forehead, too for people who wanted that.
The male looks okey but the females head is way too big compared to the body and the eyes (and the entire face) are also just too big. She kinda looks like a goblin here.
Please tell me this can be adjusted in the character creator.
Oh and the females belly button are placed to low on the tummy. The belly button should always be in line with the top of the hip bone.
I've once again updated the OP. This time, I've added the finalized 3D models for the Py'rai, based on the concept art images originally shown in this post!
Feel free to leave additional feedback on the models ^_^
We don't know that. We can tune the base models but we don't know how far. We don't know if I can find a pretty face, if I can make a body that looks normal. Without seeing the options, we only know the defaults, the intended look. And it's vitally important that those of us who feel unhappy and duped give our feedback. If I want something that looks nice, don't dismiss me and say "Oh the CC will take care of it." None of us knows that. It's an ugly character model in a sea of them. None of the females look good so far.
If those of us who want something cute/pretty can't have elves, dwarves, or orcs, what the hell can we have? Boring humans? That's all we get? Dude...
We do know you can create what you consider to be a "pretty" face in the character creator, based on what we've seen of how the character creator works.
But, give your feedback now, in any case. And give it again during Alpha 2.
Comments
The smallest horns will likely be fully covered by a helm.
Horns are present in plains, savannahs, woodlands, forests, rainforests undergrowth, fields, farms, mountains, valleys and anywhere else a horned animal roams.
I do not understand how the magic makes a race grow horns when attached to woodland? Are we saying the woods have horns or are we saying the Py'Rai do beastiality?
Sanctus doesn't have magic.
That quote was originally aimed at my post, which I made because I don't really 'get' the typical wood elf aesthetic. They always seemed like "elfs with brown skin and leaves in their hair", which seems super lazy to me.
Asking because I must be missing something: what is it about the classic wood elf design that you like so much? Why does the Ashes interpretation of adding 'branchlers' ruin that for you?
Care to elaborate?
I see you lack grey matter. I don't see the need to post a picture of a bridge and say 'bridges built are better than bridges burnt'. What I've actually learnt is you know sweet fuck all. Enjoy your limited battery life.
I suspect when all the lore is revealed then there will be reasonable reasons behind the evolution of each race.
In effect, if there is not a current reasonable reason behind the evolution, then one should be created. It is a weird disposition to mix animal features, elven features and ent features without some extensive hokey pokey or a dominant malign force who has caused a societal degradation.
Expect either the lore to be tweaked or for it to be a whim of some god after the races return to Verra thru the portals.
It's likely something Steven will withold for us to discover in Beta or launch.
[*] What do you like about the current art direction of this race?
I REALLY like that the race is very much more "woodland creature" versus human with long ears. I think it is something of a challenge to make not only a race that is aesthetic in it's own way but still very pretty and a class people will want to play.
[*] Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why?
Not particularly a dislike but I have some thoughts about the look (will address in last question) but overall difficult for me to give a too much feedback with just a headshot.
[*] Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Py'rai female concept?
I would LOVE to see different variants of horns and antlers as well as possibly a vine look instead of branch look for the horns. An option with a more smooth skin vs the rough wooded skin for more variants. Variations with eyebrows that are not as long/more attached to the brow. Lots of ear variations as well as more ear jewelry variations. Black sclera for eyes would be a really cool touch with emissive corneas. I'm sure there is a lot of this already in the works but I thought I'd put a few of my thoughts here.
Overall I'm very excited to see more of this race (at the moment it's the one I'm likely going to play). Optionally (as I'm fairly short IRL :: just 5' :: ) I would like to play a relatively small race. I like cutesy things and I'm generally a very passive explorer.
Added the male concept art from the March Development Update livestream to the OP! I also made some edits in the text to reflect that. If you have any additional feedback regarding the male concept art, feel free to leave it here
The male eyebrows look good, the female eyebrows maybe disrupting the look of the antlers at the base as they emerge from the skull. Maybe shorten or curve to allow a full view of the emerging antlers.
The cheekbone and cheek skin treatments on the female look really interesting and are well done but are missing from the male, hopefully they will be an option.
The nose on the male seems a bit pronounced but the female looks right.
The lips and chin areas seem just fine as they are.
Hopefully there will be a tattoo-free version
that's my two cents...
I just want to say that I hope we can customize everything, not only for the Py'rai, but for all races. It would be good that antlers are not tied to hairstyles, I think that's really important. I also hope, overall, that for each race, we are able to customize/mold all aspects of the characters uniquely taking into account all features of each race, so, in this case, maybe we could adjust the length of the antlers, length of ears(these two to a certain extent, enough to not lose the unique features of this race for example), having adornments for their antlers, adjust the "bark" skin intensity, etc.
Let us be able to customize the branchlers color, texture, shape, angle, the number of points and where they grow out from the head.
Accessories or extra optional details for the branchlers would be cool, anything from vines, moss to rings or amulets tied to the branchlers.
I'm just a bit concerned how different hairstyles will go with the branchlers.
I will definitely pick a Pi'ray female as my main if Tulnar won't be what I wish for.
I just want to make a faun.
The Tweet about the Py’Rai models
I would like if there where options for the horns/branchlers to be placed just a little bit further back on the head. Just like in this picture =]
This placements of the horns/branchlers would make it easier to have hair options that cover the face more.
I think it would be awesome to have an option for your branchlers to have a particular flora style (different types of blossoms, leafy sprouts, etc) but I also think the appearance would need to be tied to the season. So if you want to have fall color leafy bits, they'll be there in the fall, gone the rest of the year. Or they could be green buds in spring, leaves in summer, fall colors in autumn. If you want flowers, buds in spring, bloom in summer, gone the rest of the year. You get the idea. It doesn't matter if the lifeforce is stemming from the player's body, you aren't gonna be keeping any leaves or flower buds dangling off your head for very long adventuring around in the middle of winter.
Nice work y'all! Can't wait to see the rest.
I love this suggestion. I really hope they take this into consideration because it allows for prettier hair styles.
Also I just want to separately give my own feedback of the pictures presented. Shown above is the female face and here is the body -
I loved the concept art of the female and was so pleasantly surprised. It made me want to play Py'Rai, but now you've gone in a completely different direction (and not the first time you've done this with a race where the concept looked great but the models are different and do not).
I don't like this new female face at all nor do I like the body. She was pretty before and I generally love forest/nature elves, so I was happy to find one in this game that looked good (unlike ESO's awful Bosmer). But now between the face and the body, she looks like a short, too-skinny troll.
I don't want to play a troll, I want a beautiful nature forest elf. I don't want branch veins on her forehead, I don't want body/face tattoos. I want a prettier face, I want a normal body that's not super short, has some meat/boobs on her bones, a softer less harsh/angular face. Nice hair options like the guy I quoted. Less weird ear/ankle jewelry.
Make a character model that actually looks like that gorgeous female concept art you showed. And then give her a normal shaped body not only with a more healthy body, but this body has odd proportions - especially the hands, feet, and head are too large adding to the troll-ish look. And the exaggeration of the nose, lips, cheekbones, and ears only make that troll look more pronounced.
Can't we have some races for those of us who just want to look nice? All of your other races so far, the female characters just don't look good. Except the boring humans, but those of us who want to have something prettier deserve more options. Don't turn into an ESO or New World with mostly ugly character options. Please give us better options.
I don't understand why someone takes time to give feedback but can't research about it first...
Everything you talked about can be tuned in the character creator, they have talked about it and shown it. This is just the base model.
I hope they don't give to much liberty tho, this ain't a cute anime elf, it's a different race, non human, it should look different.
We don't know that. We can tune the base models but we don't know how far. We don't know if I can find a pretty face, if I can make a body that looks normal. Without seeing the options, we only know the defaults, the intended look. And it's vitally important that those of us who feel unhappy and duped give our feedback. If I want something that looks nice, don't dismiss me and say "Oh the CC will take care of it." None of us knows that. It's an ugly character model in a sea of them. None of the females look good so far.
If those of us who want something cute/pretty can't have elves, dwarves, or orcs, what the hell can we have? Boring humans? That's all we get? Dude...
Another thought - TERA's Castanic had a lot of great horn and hairstyles to take inspiration from in this regard. They had a lot of horn and hair styles, but a lot of the horns were farther back on the head to allow for more variety in the hair. But not all of them - they did have horns that were on the front near the forehead, too for people who wanted that.
Please tell me this can be adjusted in the character creator.
Oh and the females belly button are placed to low on the tummy. The belly button should always be in line with the top of the hip bone.
Here's a video showing where the belly button should be placed.
I've once again updated the OP. This time, I've added the finalized 3D models for the Py'rai, based on the concept art images originally shown in this post!
Feel free to leave additional feedback on the models ^_^
Click here to see the new images
We do know you can create what you consider to be a "pretty" face in the character creator, based on what we've seen of how the character creator works.
But, give your feedback now, in any case. And give it again during Alpha 2.