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[Feedback] "The Return to Verra" Official Trailer - Faces still a concern.

VhaeyneVhaeyne Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
in General Discussion
I say this with all due respect to the team and the artists involved.

I love this game dearly. I want Ashes to succeed more than any game I’ve ever followed.

During the livestream, Steven mentioned that the Steam trailer was meant to present Intrepid’s “best foot forward” to a new audience.

To be blunt, the one and only character’s face doesn’t look good, and if this is representative of the intended aesthetic direction, it concerns me.

I’m not trying to be harsh. If it were still early alpha footage, I don’t think it would bug me as much.

I’ve defended the character models many times in the past under that assumption.

This Steam trailer is meant to show the project off to a larger audience. Seeing this particular face featured so prominently makes me wonder if this look is now considered final.

It worries me, because attractive, appealing characters matter — both for first impressions and for cosmetic sales.

Years ago, Intrepid mentioned a goal of reaching or surpassing BDO-tier character quality, and I don’t see that level of appeal or fidelity here. BDO is almost a decade old and it still looks better.

I’m not asking for supermodel perfection, just characters that look appealing, polished, and expressive in a way that draws people in.

Based on that trailer, If I knew nothing about this project and only saw that trailer, I would assume this is another Concord or Veilguard and run.

Ashes deserves better.
TVMenSP.png
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.

Comments

  • ChicagoChicago Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Exactly my thoughts, I have been bringing this concern up for a couple of years now and usually it's just met with .. it's an alpha let them cook, but the characters looking like this in a cinematic is very concerning, I was really hoping that the entire character creator was place holder and am a bit sad as we have all been lead to believe that we were getting BDO level or more.

    Even the models in wow classic look better lol
  • VhaeyneVhaeyne Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
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    I just don't like anything about this, and I don't see it pulling people in.
    TVMenSP.png
    This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
  • AndiAndi Member, Alpha Two
    Won't matter. With the game going to Steam, char models won't be the primary concern.
  • HalveHalve Member, Alpha Two
    edited November 15
    Agreed. First impressions are everything, and this just isn't it. Nobody finds this style of uglified characters appealing. It's not a skill issue, these artists are capable of making appealing characters, they just choose not to. But when you're working on a budget and need a trailer to draw people in, this ceases to be a matter of taste and becomes a technical problem.

    sc42dch31hux.jpg

    You can see from Intrepid's own concept art that it's possible to make a face which looks distinct, angular, and slightly alien while still being visually appealing.

    Note the dumbing down of the aesthetic choices between the two. The concept art has:
    • Extremely angular, straight, thin eyebrows, implying a certain level of both grace and aggression. Perfect for wood elves.
    • Distinct wood-like texture and color to the skin, helping it blend into the branchlers. Not a conventionally appealing trait, but it's subtle and thematic enough to work. Very good design.
    • Very prominent and curved ears, emphasizing the idea that this is not a human.
    • Long dark hair which outlines the face and contrasts the vibrant skin tone.
    • Dark eyeliner to make the eyes stand out, also makes the character unmistakably feminine.
    • Small nose, again reinforcing the graceful/beautiful elvish theme.

    Compare that to the trailer:
    • Thick, flat eyebrows. Distinctly non-elvish.
    • Generic human skin material, missing the distinctiveness and texture of the original concept.
    • The ears are comparatively small, even accounting for the hood obscuring half of them. Again detracting from the distinctive silhouette.
    • No visible hair. Possible technical constraint? Either way it kills the tonal contrast which was present in the concept art, replacing it with a stiff hood that doesn't contrast the skin tone or provide any physical dynamics/secondary motion.
    • Very sparse eyelashes leave the face looking flat and plain. You don't even need obvious makeup like in the concept art, just darker and thicker eyelashes would do the trick.
    • Wide, drooping nose. That honker would look more at home on a dwarf. Maybe they were going for a more deer-like appearance? Whatever the reason, it doesn't look good.

    The actual in-game characters and overall visual style already look better than this. You could argue there are bigger fish to fry at the moment, and I'd absolutely agree, but bigger problems do not overshadow the fact that this is going to be a bad first impression for thousands of prospective players.
  • GreatPhilisopherGreatPhilisopher Member, Alpha Two
    all of it looks terrible , they really couldn't even make a good looking character for their trailer so at least its game accurate :D .

    still tho all the races from models to face to everything looks horrible , same with the armors specifically the "female" ones which are just male ones put on a skinnier male models which are the "females"
    ykwk7qwgw5os.jpg
  • Scottish_AussieScottish_Aussie Member, Alpha Two
    i thought it was an Avatar cosmetic skin tbh.
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