Nikua's art and appearance : Old vs New
lemulet
Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
In an old cosmetic, we saw them looking more hobbit like. Slim and agile little humans with large feet to help them run a long time as they hunt. They looked more like miniature people which gave them a much more unique look. I think it's good to offer a muscle slider and weight options, but I think they would look much better if the base characters looked closer to this :
The latest model we saw were the usual bulky dwarves with a different skin color. Even if the two descend from the same race, you could see a drastic differentiation between dwarves shaped to fit in small places and carry rocks around vs fast little hunters in the tropical forests which muscles are specialized for endurance. This doesn't look like something that can run fast in the forest :
To me everything with the Nikua feels like they should be more like agile and slim dwarves rather than bulky dwarves. It could just be the lower limit but I feel if they get bulkier it would be because of more fat not muscles.
The latest model we saw were the usual bulky dwarves with a different skin color. Even if the two descend from the same race, you could see a drastic differentiation between dwarves shaped to fit in small places and carry rocks around vs fast little hunters in the tropical forests which muscles are specialized for endurance. This doesn't look like something that can run fast in the forest :
To me everything with the Nikua feels like they should be more like agile and slim dwarves rather than bulky dwarves. It could just be the lower limit but I feel if they get bulkier it would be because of more fat not muscles.
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Comments
Yes, the character creator is intended to provide a good amount of design flexibility for us, but when we only have limited models and this is what they have chosen to show us, you can only make the assumption that this could be the middle ground but even that would just be an assumption.
Personally I really like the new model, I decided to see the differences I could see:
The face I would say is significantly different - nose, eyes, head shape/size and of course the cultural differences.
The Dunir have a thicker abdomen, legs and arms with bigger traps and much wider less protruding pecs.Just generally wider overall.
The Nikua conversely do have thinner more toned calves and thighs, beefier pecs and smaller hands.
I think that when you look at two single models you can only get one impression, but even without accounting for char creator variations there is a fair amount of variety. I think that when it comes to the body how much to you have to differ two races?
Take the Kaelar and The vaelune. I don't think their body types will really differ. They too are mostly skin colour with cultural differences. I think Dunir and Nikua already will have more variation between the two which is fair enough humans are a bit more polarised.
I would love for them to perhaps get all the race character creator features sorted and then have a big session going through each race and the variety we can make with the tools. Perhaps it can come before Tulnar as that might justify its own stream, but i'd be happy for the rest to fit into one stream.
There's plenty of other stuff we'd want to know about Alpha 2 features.
Another big Dev Livestream session on the Character Creator would really be a big hint that it's going to be many, many months before they're ready to open Alpha 2.
The proportions are definetly not the same. In the end, this is really a preference thing. I'm just hoping for Nikua to have a special unique identity, not just Dunirs with a different skin color and one tick less on the size slider.
In the character creation demo - We did see the cursor grabbing and bringing in a bicep and waist etc. So I'm sure we will be able to reduce mass similar to how you can on the Sims 4 / BDO.
I have faith the Developers know what they're doing - the creator so far looks good and I'm sure nearer the time we'll have more options.
(I know it's far fetched - but I hope for the option to upload our own PNGs for the body tattoos, How cool it would be for a guild to have matching Nikua styled tattoos etc)
They literally look different in everyway, their hairstyle and facial features & proportions are different from one another; their build is much slimmer. They're unique from the Dunir already, so I dont get your argument at all. Most people liked the design, there's no need tp give more hassle to the artists now.
They're different like two character of the same race being modified with character creator. Not different as in evolved as two type of dwarves. If you like the newest Nikua design, just ask for the Dunir to have different skin tone and a size slider. It shouldn't be hard to go from one to the other with their current iteration of character creator.
I don't know where you got your survey of what most people liked as most people I interact with liked the older design more. There is no harm in talking about this since I'm only stating my preference so I can play the race I would want. And it would also allow you to play the new Nikua design, just as a Dunir.
You should just say you want halflings it be a lot easier for people to understand.
We received a lot of good feedback after we showed you the 3D models for the Niküa. I, unfortunately, can't confirm at the moment, but you may see some new Niküa-related art soon
I look forward to seeing what y'all continue to discuss in this thread ^_^