Samuel_Tow
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:That's actually one of the reasons I've stayed away from designing "female robots" and female inhuman monsters and so on and so forth. I'm probably going to get a lot of Golden Girl hate mail for this, but the basic humanoid body shape is, at least in my visual cortex, that of a genderless bald male figure, and so if I'm going for something that is clearly humanoid but very clearly not in the slightest human, such as animate stone, a robot or a an animal, I'll go for the basic framework.Originally Posted by vulpish_one
But I've helped her design some characters, too. One of her core design principles, though, was that her characters have to have some outward show of femininity. Otherwise, it rather defeats the point, no? Samus Aran doesn't do the trick. Neither does the perpetual victim, Princess Zelda. Lara Croft does. (Less Valkyrie and Swan, more Ms. Liberty, if you prefer.) Personally, I like the slightly softer look of the Tai gloves, and I think she'd agree.
I HAVE had some success with stepping out of those bounds, but the kind of difficulty involved in making it worth the model choice has severely limited what I can do. In fact, I have probably a dozen men in full helmets or otherwise obscured faces, but so far only a single woman with a mask. Those are the limitations I have to work with, I guess.
So I agree with your friend - I don't want the bigness and the toughness to overshadow the "woman" part of "giant woman"
By the same token, however, I'm hedging my bets on contrast of concepts, and I can't really compromise one for the other too much, or it loses its point, which in turn makes it SEVERELY less interesting.
Ugh... I really don't want to try the wraps, but since you're the second person to mention it, I should probably at least have another look at them. I guess having leather wraps secured in metal chain might actually be... Pretty dang aggressive, now that you mention it, and the way the chain is executed in City of Heroes, that will also have the added benefit of bulking ulp the forearms. I have a slight problem with this, however, in that I actually want bigger hands, ideally.Quote:That said, there's plenty of decorative touches about the character already: the tiara, the hair, the midriff. If you're not enamored of the Tai look, let me ask this: have you tried the different forearm wraps? Forearm wraps with chains could hopefully be made to match the leather boots and the chest detail. It'd have a delicate core wrapped in iron.
The Tai gloves don't really make her actual hands any bigger, as they apply over the existing model, but they make the silhouette of the hand much bigger, which is ultimately what I'd like to see. It's really odd to see these small, delicate fingers holding the huge, fat (and square) handle of the Legacy Axe. And not because the axe is too big. The hand is just a little small for what I want. The Tai gloves help with that, even ever so slightly.
Still, I'll try the chain wraps. I already have precedent for it in the form of the chain tangle that secures her large Gladiator shoulder (I LOVE that effect, by the way), and if I colour the wraps brown or, more likely, orange, I should be able to pass them off as fur, leather or animal skin, or whatever actually makes sense. Should look appropriate, is all.
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That's kind of why I say I'm biassed. I actually LOVE the large gloves for what they are and how they look like mittens One of the things that bugged me from trying this costume in action the few times I have is how tiny her hands are. There's nothing that can be done about it - that's just what the female model's hands are like. It just seems odd on what is an otherwise pretty large character.
That said, the gloves I used were the Tie gloves with the Skin subcategory. They're from the Martial Arts pack, and I believe they're intended to simulate the Ken/Ryu/Akuma/Sakura martial arts padded gloves, but coloured like the rest of the leather, they should pass muster.
One thing that I should mention, though, is that if I'll use full gloves at all, they'll be some variant of big, be they the actual Large gloves, the Banded gloves or some other variant. The only reason I'm going with the "smaller arms" look is for the skin, so if I'll be covering that up, I might as well go big, anyway.
*edit*
Just to make it clear - I'm not dismissing the suggestion. I did put Costume 4 on the table, and that's already a vote for it. I can see going with that. -
Quote:This sounds like wanting to eat your cake, and have it, too. I would be VEHEMENTLY against being done to bases to make them an important, integral part of the game that offers serious benefits and, as someone already mentioned, costume unlocks, for the simple reason that this basically means not just forced teaming, but forced socialisation. It also corrupts the POINT of having SGs to begin with, which was originally for friends and acquaintances to have their own group. The last thing we need are Eve-style soulless corporations that "recruit" people to work for them.Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
What I'm saying is, rather than make being in a supergroup a mandatory part of the game, make it an additional layer of gameplay someone can experience if they decide to participate.
I don't mind more stuff being done with bases, but I wish the developers would finally live up to their City of Villains propaganda - that bases would be the next costume editor. They aren't, and not just mostly. They are not in ANY way, shape or form.
Ideally, I'd like to see a simpler editor, personal bases (or bases with the ability to invite your own alts) and an end to base rent. Forget grinding for Merits, forget farming for Inf. If there's one thing in this game that feels like work, work and more work, it's bases. Too much work building them, too much work raising enough funds for them, too much work down the drain with constant base rent. Actually, do you realise that bases are the ONLY part of the game which has negative progress associated with it? You die, you get debt, but debt only slows you down. You pay rent for a base, you are paying upkeep. And I HATE upkeep.
Basically, I feel bases are fine as they are, in terms of "importance." The last thing I want is to feel like I NEED a SG. That would piss me off like you wouldn't believe. -
Quote:There is a HUGE logical step between players experimenting with Inventions and players experimenting with SET Inventions. People who make the step from SOs to Inventions step into Commons first, and it's not safe to assume they will step into Sets next.Originally Posted by Aggelakis
One of the benefits of using IOs is that you don't have to buy new enhancements every five levels. Giving that benefit to SOs makes it less likely that players will experiment with IOs. Players not experimenting with IOs do not learn the awesomeness of sets, set bonuses, frankenslotting, and the market.
/no. -
OK, I know I said I was happy with the costume as is... But then I sat down to tab through the options, and I came up with a few ideas that I liked almost just as much. They're not different enough to call different costumes, but they're different enough to inspire me. So, I want to ask you guys for help one last time on this one. I have a few options here, and I hope you can tell me which y you like best or, if you're feeling REALLY generous, give me a mock-up of your own. Here we go:
Costume 1 - This is basically the same costume I've been toting around since the start, but I "fixed" it. Colours now match each other (the oranges were all over the place) and the gaudy cheetah-print cape is gone, and for the better. Weapons are still the same, so they will not be pictured.
Costume 2 - This is the costume that caused me to wonder if I couldn't do something more. I have no catgirls (yet), but I figured that a woman from an alternate dimension where humans aren't exactly human might prove to be a good opportunity to make me a dog girl. I mean, it makes about as much sense as the rest of the story. The question is - does it look good?
Costume 3 - Taking a hint from my other giant woman, I wondered if bigger gloves might not carry the point across even better. Sure enough, there is a Rough Leather glove texture to match the boots, so this actually looks pretty good. The question, though, is does it not compromise something that was good about the original design? I'm biassed in this case, since almost ALL of my characters have gloves, so I'd appreciate an objective opinion.
Costume 4 - Another glove variant, this time with the Tie gloves with skin. I guess a part of what's cool about the original costume is the full-length bare arms, but they still looked a little... Bare. The Tie gloves are a good solution that matches the leather of the rest of the costume, gives me a glove AND still leaves a mostly bare arm. I'm not sure if it doesn't look a little... Un-tribal, though.
Again, sorry to keep perpetuating this. It's just something I honestly can't decide for myself. -
Quote:What effect simulates dismemberment, to me, is... Well, death through overwhelming damageOriginally Posted by Leo_G
Would Axe *need* -def? No. Even to cover mechanics, I'd rather Axe get something else. What effect would simulate dismemberment? -Regen or -Res? Would be cool if they added that or -def to 1 of the powers...
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Interesting half-poem we have in the tags here
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I'm pretty sure you can track both health and endurance via Combat Attributes if you need to watch your stats but don't want to see the main menu.
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Quote:Not really. You very much do not need a team to deal with the Soldiers of Rularuu. I took a Blaster through them that did just fine, and I've been having occasional stints in the Shard with a Kat/SR Scrapper throughout the Issues. They're hard, they're cheap, they're annoying, but they are NOT impossible to deal with.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
In a way I think that's great too. I wish more of the TFs were populated by enemies you really needed a team to deal with. Rularuu are one of the few groups that can really bake you. Too bad the TF that features them is so painful.
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Rasif: Well... That should be enough. I got about as much stuff as I could carry. Hmm... Do you think we can convince Zane to strap a few gold statues to his back? Those things are heavy!
Sol: It is comforting to know that you have not changed at all, Rasif.
Rasif: Look who's talking!
Sol: Asking Zane to loot his own ancestral temple would be a mistake. In fact, he is guaranteed to be pretty upset at your pilfering when he finds out. And making a dragon upset has historically proven to be a poor decision.
Rasif: Eh, he's been distracted ever since he checked out the vault. He's all mopy and quiet and all. He won't notice if I tuck a few bags of gold coin in my sleeping bag.
Sol: Your sensitivity for his feelings warms my heart.
Rasif: Sensitivity? What are you, now, his mum? He's a god damned dragon! I don't care about his "feelings." He's a big boy now. I'm sure he can handle himself. I mean, he's... He's... Why are you looking at me like this. Oh... He's standing right behind me, isn't he?
Zane: I did not think it was possible to be tired of being angry at someone, but the depths to which you will sink just keep breaking new ground, Rasif.
Rasif: Oh, my goodness! What is all this treasure doing in my sack? Some, uh... Goblins must have put it there while we slept. I'll go put it all back in its place now!
Zane: *sigh*
Sol: What did you find in the memory vaults, Zane?
Zane: Nothing.
Sol: ...
Zane: ...
Sol: ...
Zane: *sigh* I found out that this graveyard holds the body of Irrania.
Sol: Is that someone you knew?
Zane: She was my soul mate. We bound our hearts together over a thousand years ago. I promised her that I would always be by her side, that I would always protect her. She thought it was charming back then. The young apprentice just fresh out of warrior academy swearing to protect a grandmaster of the king. I was just a child then, and she my mentor, but I fell for her from the first moment I looked upon her.
Sol: I am sorry for your loss, Zane.
Zane: Thank you, my friend. I should have been prepared for this. I have seen the state of our capital, I know all of my people are long dead. I thought I was ready for this, but... I do not know any more. I suppose somewhere deep down inside me, I still refused to accept that she was gone. I hoped that maybe, just like me, she had found a way to survive this cataclysm. That maybe... *sigh*
Sol: Tell me more about Irrania.
Zane: Grandmaster Irrania of the Tundra was my life. Ever since I was a child, I dreamed of one day becoming a warrior and serving as her right hand. I never dreamed she would choose me as her soul mate. I was honoured. I lo... I loved her so much, Sol. I swore to protect her. I may have been weak, I may have been inexperienced, but I meant what I said. And she accepted me. She turned down so many suitors of great power and noble birth, to bind herself to a commoner's child who did not even have that impressive a performance score. I swore to protect her, and I failed.
Sol: You should not blame yourself, Zane. There was nothing you could do once you were under Mordrog's curse. You could not have broken it yourself, and you could not have aided your brethren in...
Zane: I know! I know... But I swore to protect her, and I failed. I failed her. What was the point of it all? Why did I train to be a warrior all of this time? The one time it truly mattered, the one time when I had to fight and win, I failed. I do not know what to do now, Sol. I... I do not know if I can go on. We are gifted, my kind, with long life spans. We see many things, we experience many things, and we see the world as it changes. But my gift is now my curse. To live forever when those I loved are dead and I'm to blame? Some gift...
Sol: You cannot blame yourself. If you must blame someone, blame Mordrog for imprisoning you and starting the great war. He is the real evil here.
Zane: Yes... I know...
Rasif: What are you doing?
Zane: Ugh... Not now, Rasif. I am not in the mood to argue with you.
Rasif: Oh, no! Right now!
Zane: ...
Rasif: What happened to the dragon who threatened to replace my face with a boulder? What happened to the proud warrior who fought to defend his honour and dignity? What happened to you?
Zane: *sigh*
Rasif: No, don't sigh at me! You're a dragon, for god's sake! You're one of the proudest, most powerful creatures to ever live! I know you lost someone you loved. I know the world seems like the most rotten place. I know you probably don't even want to go on any more. Well, tough! You'll have to! We all want to just sit down and give up sometimes, but we can't. It's not easy, it's not fun, but there's simply no choice about it.
Sol: Rasif, you are not helping.
Zane: No, he has a point.
Sol: ?
Rasif: I do?
Zane: Ever since I returned to the world, I have been feeling sorry for myself. Oh, woe is me. My people are gone, my home is in ruins... But you are correct, Rasif. I am a dragon warrior. I swore a vow to protect all creatures great and small. I swore a vow to oppose all evil. I cannot just give up because I feel sad or hurt or tired. I simply cannot afford to.
Sol: Are you sure?
Zane: It is what Irrania would have wanted. She made me swear that I would always protect the innocents and always keep true to my vows. Irrania was a dedicated protector of all things good. She had a dream of a better time when all creatures, great and small, could live in peace and harmony together. I... I've lost my love, but at least... At least I can still keep her dream alive. I can never give up.
Rasif: Now that's more like it, dragon boy! Now let's go burn us some bad guys!
Sol: ...
Zane: Ugh... You know, Rasif, much as I appreciate what you did for me, you need to learn when to just shut up and not ruin a good moment.
Rasif: Sorry...
Zane: Ugh... Either way, enthusiasm aside, what do we actually do next? Should we look for another memory vault to access?
Sol: I do not think that would be a good idea. Consider events as they have unfolded so far: As soon as your freedom was known to the world, the king mobilised virtually his entire army into dragon hunting duty, as I'm sure you've noticed. Not only is this out of character for King Henry, it is immensely dangerous to leave the borders as unguarded as they are now. When we went to seek help from Rasif, someone had already approached him to set up a trap for us. And when we approached the dragon vault, Reinhardt was already there.
Zane: What are you talking about? None of those events have anything to do with each other.
Sol: As a matter of fact, they do - you. It goes far, far beyond random chance that seemingly unrelated events continuously transpire to hamper your progress and threaten your life, Zane. These are not mere coincidences. There is some unseen puppeteer hiding in the shadows, manipulating events, most likely in an attempt to kill you.
Zane: That... Is really far-fetched. But even if we assumed that were true and this "unseen puppeteer" is able to stay one step ahead of us, why has he not sent the Seekers to ambush us at our destination and been done with it?
Rasif: He's playing his cards close to his chest.
Zane: Huh?
Rasif: Think about it. If those were indeed these Seekers that tried to kill you at my hut, then why were they dressed like human soldiers and why did they use human weapons? The way Sol tells it, they wouldn't need weapons at all to kill you, so why were they posing as human soldiers even when there was no more point to hide? And in general - why use seemingly unrelated events at all and not just direct confrontation? Because whoever this is is trying to get you without actually playing his strongest cards.
Zane: Huh?
Sol: Rasif used to swindle people in cards in the old days. But he has a point. I do not believe we were meant to piece this together and realise there is method to the coincidences. I would not have noticed it, had Reinhardt not been involved. Of all the people left alive today, she is practically the only one who could penetrate a dragon vault so effortlessly. If indeed the aim was to prevent us from accessing the dragon vault, then her intervention was quite literally the only way. This makes her involvement more than a mere coincidence. It makes it a deliberate move.
Rasif: But didn't she say she wasn't working for the Seekers?
Sol: You said the same thing, yet you were. It is very possible that she very much is working for the Seekers, but merely does not know it. Or is she...
Zane: What do you have in mind?
Sol: Something Rasif said on the way here. One of the masked Seekers we met at his hut spoke to him, which got me thinking...
Zane: That Seekers do not speak because they are nothing more than animate ash?
Sol: Precisely. If a supposed Seeker spoke with Rasif, then we know that either there is yet someone else working with the seekers, or much more likely, that the Seekers themselves are working for someone else.
Zane: That is not possible, Sol. The Seekers are the creation of the Fire Lord Hethfeth, himself. They are his instrument of destruction. None other than him could control them.
Sol: But that in itself suggests that they are being controlled. They are mindless minions serving another's will. And they could not be serving Hethfeth himself, for he has been imprisoned deep within Mt. Doom for nearly ten centuries now.
Rasif: Perhaps he escaped?
Sol: That is unlikely. The seals which hold him were placed down by the combined might of the entire pantheon of elder gods, most of whom are long since gone. There is not enough power left in the world to break his seals. And even if there were, then trust me - everyone would know about it.
Zane: Maybe the seals have corroded and his essence is seeping through?
Sol: I doubt it. That is not how the divine wards operate. But even if they were, Mr. Doom is inaccessible to all, even dragons, so manually checking the seals is out of the question. At this point, our safest bet for uncovering more clues to this mystery is finding Reinhardt, ideally before Rasif's tracking wears off or is discovered.
Zane: Would that truly be useful? You said it yourself that she probably does not know she is working for the Seekers, or whoever might be controlling them. How will finding her help us?
Sol: Unlike Rasif, Reinhardt is not a simple mercenary.
Rasif: Hey!
Sol: If she is gathering dragon vault conduits, she must have her own reason for it that whoever is behind this is using to guide her into our path. I have a sneaking suspicion that she was guided along this path artificially to serve as our enemy, and that uncovering her story would help shed much light on this.
Zane: A "suspicion?" Does it not seem foolish to travel half-way across the kingdom just to pursue what amounts to a baseless hunch?
Sol: Yes. However, consider our options: We cannot reach Mt. Doom to verify the magical seals on Hethfeth's tomb. We could seek out another dragon graveyard, in the process letting Rasif's tracking rune time out and losing our ability to find Reinhardt. Or we could go after her, safe in the knowledge that the dragon graveyards will be there when we get around to them.
Zane: Unless Reinhardt decides to rob another one.
Sol: But since we are tracking her to begin with, it doesn't matter where she goes. If she goes to a dragon graveyard, then we will go to one. However, I would prefer to confront her in a less mystical place if at all possible.
Zane: Why?
Sol: Zadan's magic is weak, but it is capable of overpowering mystical auras and feeding on their power. Within a magical shrine, her abilities are amplified. Her ability to summon undead would be greatly increased and the distance of her gating spell is much greater. If we catch her in a town or out in the open, she will have much less opportunity to protect herself.
Rasif: I like the way you think! You don't know how long I've waited to get my hands on that woman!
Zane: I can imagine.
Rasif: Err... Not like that. Though, now that you mention it, that might not be a bad idea, too.
Zane: *roll eyes*
Sol: Shall we consider this decided, then?
Zane: Well, I do not suppose we have much choice in the matter. Find Reinhardt it is.
Rasif: Yeah, let's go. Oh, wait, hold on a minute!
Sol: ?
Rasif: Yeah, you said something about being worried about something in memory vaults and you wanted to check it out. What was that?
Sol: ...
Zane: I mean no disrespect, Sol, but I would appreciate it if you were a little more open with me.
Rasif: Whereas I very much do mean at least some disrespect. Come on! Do you have something to hide?
Sol: As a matter of fact, no. I turned out that my concern was completely unfounded.
Rasif: And what was your concern?
Sol: ...
Zane: Sol, please.
Sol: I... Suppose there is no harm in discussing this. My original fear was that Mordrog's essence had tainted the memory vault network of the dragons, and that this was what caused the catastrophe that destroyed their capital and devastated their species. Considering the catastrophe reapplied Mordrog's old curse of silence on all dragons who survived, that seemed like a likely scenario.
Zane: You suspected Mordrog's essence was present within the memory vault and you did not warn me before I accessed it?
Sol: Zane, Mordrog's essence cannot infect you through the memory vault. That was never its purpose there. If I felt there was any danger to you, I would not have permitted you to use the vault.
Rasif: Oh, yeah, because you're the caring type.
Sol: Allow me to explain. When Mordrog still led his campaign of destruction, he had many different plans to achieve his goal. One of these plans was to infect the dragon memory vault network with his essence and in so doing destabilise the very lay lines which they had built their temples upon. Why he wanted that, I am still not sure.
Zane: Is that not how you described the catastrophe that wiped my people to me?
Sol: Yes. From the very first day I heard of the tragedy, I suspected that Mordrog's old plan had eventually succeeded, even if a century after Mordrog himself had fallen. This is the primary reason he sought to enslave as many dragons as he could manage. His ultimate goal was to catch either a member of the High Council or a dragon whose aura was close enough to one of the members, which would grant him access to the memory vaults. I always hoped he had failed, and that the catastrophe which destroyed your people was merely a coincidence. I am relieved to know that I was right.
Zane: I am not sure I can find as much solace in your revelation as you do, Sol.
Sol: Nor should you, my friend. Your loss is unimaginable and tragic. Nothing could ever make up for it. But had I found Mordrog's essence in the vault, this would have meant doom for the world.
Rasif: Aw, you always talk about doom and gloom, Sol.
Sol: And with good reason. Given enough time, that essence could have collected enough of the natural energy which circulates along the lay lines to allow Mordrog to manifest himself on the world once more. Only this time, the world has no more heroes to oppose him.
Zane: Good god! How could you not have told me this, Sol?
Sol: I needed to make sure, Zane. I would have told you either way, but I needed to know the truth before I discussed it.
Rasif: So, scales, you still want to trust him?
Sol: I am sorry I have not been very forthcoming, Zane, and that I probably will not be in the future. I can promise you this much - I will not keep from you any information which is important to your own quest. But there are certain things that I simply cannot discuss unless it is absolutely necessary or no longer important. This was one of them.
Rasif: Yeah, and who gets to choose what's necessary and what isn't? So if we're walking into a demon creature's den, would that be necessary enough to tell us?
Zane: Why are you doing this, Rasif?
Rasif: Doing what? Questioning his trustworthiness? Simple - I do not trust Sol. And neither should you. I mean, if he doesn't trust you enough to tell you something as important as this, why do you trust him? I mean, you've known him for, what? A month? Two months? How much do you know about him?
Zane: I know enough. Why do you mistrust him so much, yourself? You are clearly still alive.
Rasif: Bah! Do what you want, but don't say I didn't warn you. I liked you better when you were angry and shouting all the time. At least then I knew you were in charge. That's what I hoped to snap you back to with my little speech before. But if you're determined to be soft, trusting, gentle kind of dragon, then be my guest. It's your funeral.
Zane: You know what, Rasif? I think I am finally used to your insufferable insolence. You no longer bother me. I can simply acknowledge your irritation and ignore it. It is almost enjoyable, in a way.
Rasif: Hmph! Well, why don't I go pilfer some treasure from your precious temple, then! See how much THAT bothers you! Ha!
Zane: *shake head*
Sol: We should move on. I have finally been able to pinpoint Rasif's tracing rune. It is somewhere South-East of here, approximately a hundred miles. If my estimate is correct, Reinhardt should be somewhere in the castle city of Waris.
Zane: A large city might be problematic for me to move around in.
Rasif: I think I have an idea to help with that, actually.
Zane: Do tell, then, oh annoying one.
Rasif: I'll tell you on the way, oh ungrateful one.
Sol: I agree. We should start moving. If we are moving overland, it will take us over a week to get to the city.
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And so our heroes left the dragon graveyard behind them, and only a few precious treasures lighter, as well. Though the mystery of their unknown adversaries had not become any more clear, at least now they had a goal ahead of them - find the necromancer Eva Reinhardt and discover what her agenda is, as well as who has put her up to it. It sounds so simple, but practice is rarely as simple to enact as plans are to plot.
But what of the Seekers? Could they really be serving their old god, returned from damnation? And what of the human king? Has he been influenced in his decision? Every step brings new answers, yet ever step seems to bring even more questions, as well. Can our heroes stay the course and unravel this mystery, or will their group itself unravel from within, undone by mistrust and hidden secrets?
For the moment, all seems stable and secure, but there is much more yet to transpire. -
Quote:It's surprising how often this sails right over my head. I want REALLY BIG, but for some reason I'm always conservative with the slider. Really big, but... Not too big, I keep telling myself. Erm... Why? So I can get pissed off the character's not big enough later on and spent three free tailor sessions incrementing the height, waste people's time on the forums and end up going too big anyway?Originally Posted by Peacemoon
I have to say, when choosing a height for my characters I tend to disregard the numbers because I don't feel they are an accurate representation once you get ingame.
I tend to think "Above average" or "Below average" and move the slider based on that. If you want a character to be a really big, I would put the slider far to the right.
Eventually I'll learn that lesson. I just hope it's soon. -
Quote:I'd say the legs are a matter of taste. I mean, they probably ARE out of proportion, but I personally prefer that kind of look. I will say right here and right now that, yes, going too long on the legs looks a bit odd... Which is kind of what makes it funOriginally Posted by Arctic Man
I have a female character of max height, but what I did there (and do on all female characters) was to set the leg slider to minimum, because I think the default settings for the legs make them out of proportion with the upper body. I tend to go for the "youthful" headshape though, so it adds a little bit of height there compared to the default. Whenever I have any of my taller women Walk, it's always cool to get that feeling of real height because it feels like their torsos and their shoulders are just abnormally high off the ground.
Granted, the ones I'm talking about are naturally very tall, as well, but the legs do help. I guess I'm just a fan of the less life-like aspects of fiction. Nothing bugs me more than "just a person in clothes" concepts to play. There has to be some kind of angle beyond "Looks decent." The one "guy in a suit" that I have is designed with a crisp head-to-toe white suit with just a bright red tie and bright read head and beard. Kind of like what a friend of mine wore to his prom
Now I just have to wait, what... Months? Until Going Rogue ships. Rasa-frasa! -
I read your whole post, but I want to focus on your questions:
Quote:For me, that has always had to do with making new exciting characters and basically pushing my own limits wit what others often find to be stupid stuff, which I nevertheless take perfectly seriously. It's simple things like a girl made out of slime, a Marxist time-travelling elf, a(nother) really tall monster woman, a more classical yet not really classical vampire and so on and so forth.Originally Posted by Grausigkeit
o How do you, oh veterans of City of Heroes, make the game feel fresh, or at least somehow continue scrounging up fun?
Turns out I had a LOT of childhood fantasies when I was younger that I either forgot or was never fully aware of, but every now and then I'll hit upon a concept and go "This is so cool! I can't get enough of it!" I have quite a few of those, and every time I go back to them, I keep thinking "I can't believe I'm actually playing this. This is too much fun to be possible!" It's all down to having a character you can't stop playing, or at least is for me.
Once you know the content by heart, it's pretty safe to assume you no longer need to read it, at least not word for word. Instead, try and figure out how you would re-write the missions to fit your character better, yet keep true to events just the same. One example I can think of was redoing Marshal Brass' missions with a new-ish villain of mine, whom I made as the right hand of another of my villains. I basically pictured her taking orders from Brass, then hopping to the top of a tall building, whipping out a communicator and reporting in to her leader.Quote:o Do you have any suggestions as to how I can somehow make doing the same lower leveled content feel alright again (like, perhaps building a nifty A.E arc or something)?
I know it's a pretty cheap mental game that probably isn't nearly as entertaining if you're not naturally a dreamer personality, but if you like your characters enough as characters, it helps a LOT because it forwards their story and it lets you just have fun with it.
I couldn't begin to tell you. I try to avoid making my experience any more social than it absolutely needs to be, and the few times I've contemplated leaving the game it's been because "sociable" people have pissed me off like you couldn't believe. I'm sure someone else will know, though.Quote:o Do you have any suggestions as to how I can make the City of Heroes experience feel more social, friendly, and more like an M.M.O.R.P.G rather than a mental abuse machine? -
Quote:I see what you mean. I think I might just go with that. I'll have to check out what I have her set to now, but it's pretty close to what you have in your pic. I also don't think you can go much higher than in that picOriginally Posted by MDanger
Since you'll never be taller than every NPC you encounter (namely Council/Column soldiers who are even taller than max), something arbatrary between 7' and 8' should be tall enough to lord yourself over most PCs you'll meet.
I'd go with "an ear above 7 feet" tall if it were me.
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Quote:The Shard is probably the most epic of epic places and storylines in the entire game. It feels like that's why it was made to begin with. But it was handled SO badly I just want to grab whoever originally greenlit the design and slap him upside the head.Originally Posted by Umbral
I always suspected that the Cryptic devs originally intended to fill the Shadow Shard with more stuff. I mean, honestly, if you look at the zones and how they're laid out (there are entire barren stretches of empty sky that can, quite easily, just have a new island dropped into them and it even makes sense within the context of the zone for a new island to randomly appear), they seems more like zones still waiting on the content monkeys to come swarming by: the only thing really missing from the zone is, quite simply, story arcs (though I'd agree that some development of the Mole Point system would be awesome, especially if it were tied to zone content to represent you delving further into the Shard and pushing further in). It seems to me that the devs probably just saw how little attention the Shard got (which, really, it didn't get much even when it was new, but I think that was mostly due to the lack of content rather than a lack of interest) and then, in a monumentally back decision, decided to simply abandon any plans to fill the zones with content (and instead focused on giving us more mid-level content... joy!).
People didn't go to the Shard when it was first introduced? No ****! Why would they? What was there to do? Ridiculously lengthy, utterly boring 8-man TFs? Trial zone sized spawns? There's a reason I say the Shard is the height of wasted effort. They made this entire thing, spent Lord knows how much money making these HUGE zones ostensibly by hand... And they put DICK in it. It's the old mentality that "if you build it, they will come" in full swing here. Once upon a time, someone who was about five years behind the times was SURE that if you just gave people large zones full of enemies and ZERO story, then people would obviously flock to them to kill stuff. I mean, why wouldn't they? They did so in EQ and all the others.
This demonstrates an almost CRIMINAL lack of understanding of YOUR OWN PLAYERBASE! The developers of the time were the ones who introduced better mission rewards. They were the ones watching street-hunting dwindle into nothingness when they instituted their purple patch and beyond. They were the ones who sat and watched indoor instances farmed. Even if they hadn't originally intended for it to be that way, the game turned VERY solo-friendly and A LOT of people were running their own missions either by themselves or with a friend or two. It's easy to say there isn't enough interesting 8-man team trudging TFs now that it's obvious, but it was clear from how players played even back then.
I don't know if I should lay this in Jack's lap, but this was around the time when he was stomping his foot and insisting on NO SOLOING! 1 hero = 3 white minions! I guess it took something like a couple of years before it sank in that people really didn't come to City of Heroes for the massive time commitment large-scale boring slogs and that just killing stuff for no reason, with no context and with no story just wasn't what we wanted to do.
But it outright HORRIFIES me to think that the developers might have looked at the Shard and decided "Hm! It's unpopular, so screw the Shard! We'll work on something else!" No **** it's unpopular! It's because it's only half done! Has been only half done for five years now. There are zones, and they're great, there's a story... Kind of. But what am I supposed to do in there? Look at the pretty bunny? I have stories and arcs everywhere else. I have squat to do in the Shard. OBVIOUSLY I'll go somewhere else. It's like sitting me down in an empty room and then being surprised when I get up and leave.
I lay all of this nonsense at the hands of the old regime. I don't know who's left from there (I know Geko left, but seems to have left an evil one in hos wake), but I want to think our current developers at Paragon Studios are just stuck with this rancid legacy of poor design and simply haven't gotten around to fixing it. Sooner or later they're remember about the four largest, most detailed zones in the entire game and SOMETHING will happen to them. Eventually...
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Quote:I wouldn't know their real heights. I do know, however, that Goku tends to be one of the tallest characters around, despite training in 100G for long periods of time, and Vegeta never gew any shorter after training in 300G for what must have been three years. Point is, realism is probably my last concern, somewhere between the shape of the ear canals and the length of the toenails. And her hair covers her ears and she's wearing bootsOriginally Posted by Lastjustice
Goku is 5'7" and Vegeta is 5'2". None of the sayians are that tall besides their really big hair. Not sure where you get this idea from. Like other posters said, higher gravity would result in a shorter being and if anything DBZ only reinforces that.
I actually tend to disregard advise given in feet, and not because I don't respect the people who give it. But the character editor ruler is... Let me see if I can pick the right word. There we go: "******." It doesn't have anything to do with anything to do with anything. Civilians are seven feet tall, cars are designed for people five feet tall or less, NPCs vary from something like 4 feet tall to hulking 10 feet tall juggernauts (within the same enemy group sometimes) and the "middle slider" value for men is around 6'6'' on the ruler.Quote:Given that comics and video games are fantasy, most people put an ideal self, or what would be ideal to be or "super", hence so many male super heroes are 6' or taller. (usually 6'2") But in this game, you see so many taller people, you're actually average sized then heh.
People have been telling me to make her something like 6'5'' or 6'8'' or taller, and I disregard this because she was 7' tall to begin with, and I quickly got sick of being dwarfed by basic cops and my very own contacts. Then I remembered what I set out to make. Not a tall woman, but a GIANT woman. Not tall for a woman, not tall for a human, but GIANT. 7' tall isn't giant. It's basketball player size. The tallest actual real person on record, Robert Wadlow measures 2.72m, which in feet is about... Let me see. A little over 9 feet.
That's higher than anything our scale can produce (ours caps out at 8 feet and women can't even reach that, frikkin' misogynist scale!), and yes, his head does appear to be larger than normal, though I don't think he's eight head heights tall. Either way, I'm not looking for something that's normal for humans, or indeed normal for humans with our messed-up ruler and scale. I'm looking for something that's giant and clearly inhumanly big. 6'anything'' just doesn't cut it, and this is something I'm growing more and more aware of as I think about this.
Right now, I went with 34 out of 36 by the costume file, and I already know I'll be going for 35 out of 36 when this rolls Live. Not quite max height, but close enough that it might as well be
*edit*
By the way, if it sounds like I'm dismissive of other people's opinions, I'm not. I just CANNOT overstress enough just how badly out of scale the scale ruler is with anything you'll see in the in-game world. If you try to make your character "real hight," then be prepared to be dwarfed by practically everybody. It may say 5'8'', but in this world that's still a full foot and more under just the random civilians roaming the streets. -
The Quaterfield TF isn't so much bad, it's boring. The souvenir you get is pretty much all the evidence you need to tell how boring it is. "Then you raided the first lab. Then you raided the second lab. And THEN... You raided the third lab." I don't know who was tasked with writing out mission sequences back in 2004, but I hope he got fired or tasked with something else, because the amount of dead air present in anything trans-dimensional is just staggering. 90% of Maria Jenkins' arc is spent looking at this screen: "I'm sorry, but your Statesman is in another castle!" and most of Unai Kemen's arc is spent investigating Dimensions 1, 2 and 3, several times over. Not even the DAY 1!!! content is quite this boring and dead.
The Shard, as it stands right now, is a monument to terrible, misunderstood design. It is THE largest, most expensive, most creative wastes of resources and investment in the entire game, and all of that is down to a single reason - it was created to ape "other MMO" end game raid grinds, though at the time "other MMO" was usually EQ or DAOC or SWG. I suspect EQ, though, with their Planes of Whatever. It's built on the notion that all anyone should be doing after 40 is massive time-sink max-size-team long, repetitive encounters day after day after day with the story being largely irrelevant.
The Shard HAS to be revamped with lessons learned since. Give it some story arcs. In fact, render the old TFs as story arcs. For the most part, they are. Give it more contacts, give it more story, extend the Mole Points system and get rid of the cop-out teleporters, mark the vertical-shooting geysers, then add a few NEW TFs that have to do with Rularuu the Raveger, himself. The Cathedral of Pain is a good idea in that regard, but a few smaller-scale ones would be fine, too. Just make sure people have reason to go there by themselves. -
Quote:All of Dragonball Z's Sayans are heavy-worlders and, with the exception of the comically short Vegeta, they're all pretty much the tallest people around. This, as best as I can understand it, is because they train to be so tough they can basically ignore the stress caused by gravity, rather than adapting to mitigate it.Originally Posted by Lazarus
A heavy-worlder should be shorter than a person from a 1G planet. Under stronger gravity being tall would place extra stress on the body, not just the skeleton but pulmonary system as well (extra distance from heart to lower extremities means extra stress on the heart, greater blood pressure, etc..)
The only example I've seen of a tall heavy-worlder is Buck Godot and he's almost as wide as he is tall just to have the skeleton and muscle to support it all.
Much as it may seem embarrassing to draw inspiration from Dragonball Z, that's what I'm shooting for. I'm less interested in what someone would become to adapt to the conditions presented and more what someone would become to THRIVE in the conditions presented and largely IGNORE them. Smaller creatures developing as a result heavy gravity is adaptations. HUGE creatures developing in spite of heavy gravity, by contrast, is life defying nature, which, again, is what I want.
I never had any doubt whether this girl should be big or not. The answer was always clear - she should be big, and then some. The question was just HOW big, and judging by the answers, what I was originally shooting for was nowhere near big enough. I understand what would be logical, reasonable and natural. I'm shooting for pretty much the polar opposite of that
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Quote:That was my biggest fear, to be honest. Xanta was my original "giant woman" whom I brought from Lineage II (still the best orc women around) and adapted as a Troll girl with a rather grim history. I wanted her to be ostensibly a huge, imposing monster, similar to what the She-Hulk very nearly was and completely failed to be in the 90s Fox cartoon. When I realised how screwed-up the height scaling in the game was, I cut the middle man and went max height. Would have gone higher if I could, but that's as high as it went.Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
You could go max height, but I also think that would be a shame to diminish your other max height female character (Unless, of course, that was what was called for).
Brutticus, by contrast, originally came from MyBrute when a friend invited me to play it. I couldn't figure out what name to use and all I tried was taken, so I ended up figuring "Brutticus the Brute" made the most sense It's been free in every game I've ever tried it, so I feel really creative about it. I needed an actual concept for the idea when it came to City of Heroes, and the "Savage Earth" idea just popped up on its own. Since then, I've wanted to make her really big, too, but possibly not as big as Xanta. Why I didn't want that, however, I do not know. I'm sure I had a reason at some point, but right now, all I can think of is "Err... Why not?" My mind works in mysterious ways sometimes.
Sometimes I tend to think in comic book covers. You know those "vs" comic books that have the faces of both characters scowling at each other? Like, say, The Thing and the Incredible Hulk just sizing each other up? Think something like this, only with more ANGRY. That's sort of how I imagine the relationship between these two, and that's sort of why I actually wanted another giant woman on my roster. That alone pretty much requires them to be at roughly the same height.
And, by the way - it might seem like I'm rambling (and I am), but this actually helps me a LOT. I don't know why that is, but I can never seem to put my thoughts in order in much the same way just by myself if I'm not replying to someone, even tangentially.
You know what? I'm starting to think the ruler is almost completely pointless, to the point where I intend to list my character's height by costume file scale. By costume file scale, Xanta is 36 out of 36 high and Brutticus, as of right now, is 34 out of 36 high, but I can see her growing another unit between now and Going Rogue. The Female Scale goes from -27 to + 36, with 0 being mid slider (yeah, it's not symmetrical) and the Huge scale goes up only to 25 and I'm not sure to -what. I'll have to have a look. Worse come to worst, I can always use percent scale, which would put Xanta at 100% and Brutticus at ~94.4%, looking at ~97.2% in the future. It's not simple to hand-edit that number into the game, but it's not exactly hard to do if you teach your computer to open *.costume files with Notepad.Quote:Anyway, my initial thoughts were 1) I tend to go by the foot marker behind the slider (Despite knowing the deal with the other NPCs and all in the game). Thusly, 6'8" would probably be around where I'd start for her... but I could definitely go higher. 2) Since she's from this other world you have described, I'd likely go bigger since I don't completely hide myself from the NPC scaling issue... And I'd think anywhere from 7-7'4" would likely do the job.
There actually isn't a lot of leeway in the game for beefy woman, to be honest. Where the sliders default to is way too frikkin' skinny, and it's hard to just up them without ending with something that looks more chubby than muscular, which misses the point. I've noticed, however, that if you up the shoulders, use longer legs and a wider waist, you can mitigate a lot of the awkward chunk, especially if you finish that up with bulky costume items to balance things out. As of right now, I THINK she's close to max muscle slider, close to max shoulders, around 75% waist, probably max legs and around 75% breasts... I mean chest. I didn't really want to up her bust, but the way the musculature scales up, you really can't notice, and it actually feels a little out of place. Besides, I'm a guy, so why not?Quote:I'd probably beef her up just slightly... But that is entirely just a matter of personal opinion and, regardless, I think she looks great.
I have one design for a human female barbarian type... Actually based on an old D&D character of my wife's. I like the overall look and shape of her, besides not being able to make the arms bulkier (And I'd love to see the alternate muscular texture options come to the game some day). All the stuff in this thread is making me want to go and make her, hehe.
I should probably think about narrowing her pelvis. Right now, I have it about as wide as it will go, and I'm still trying to trace back through my thought process to figure out why I did that. I found out with Xanta pretty early on that one of the key things I needed to do was narrow the hips to offset the big butt that larger "muscle" slider values create, so what would possess me to up the pelvis on this one I do not know. I'm thinking I'll leave it as it is, though. Don't really want the two of them to be just skin swaps of each other.
It's actually done and pasted in the All Things Art thread, but it wasn't as profound as I'd hoped. Largely, because I was wrong about rather a lot of things. It also doesn't hold all weapons, and not because I don't want to do the leg work, but rather because I can't pictures big enough to show 'em all. I picked the Legacy weapons and the largest weapons I could find, but I can do other comparisons if anyone else wants.Quote:Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
That would be great! I'd love to see it. Doo eet! -
Quote:The point of the screenshots was not to be scientifically accurate but rather to look pretty, so I took some liberties. If you can't trust the pictures, then trust me when I say they are close enoughOriginally Posted by Durakken
your screen shots... never measure from a look up or looking down perspective... there is an illusion that happens because we see ourselves as the viewer and measure heights based off our own heights... so when you look down you will measure everything as smaller than you and you look up you will measure everything as bigger It may not show from the exact screenshots, but I had a much better perspective when making them, so I know where she stands. And aside from BABs and that SuperProf, she really is taller than most people, at least when she isn't hunched over in combat pose.
The results I found satisfy me, and none of them were really grotesquely out of proportion (no more so than I'd have wanted anyway), so chances are I'll be going with that height when the time comes.
To be honest, outside those instances where they get the human anatomy completely wrong (His leg looks like it joins his body just under the pectoral muscle!), I don't actually mind the "Leifeldian" style much at all. Sure, it produces crappy artwork like the perpetual scowl or the Youngbloods' Disease, but it also produces the kind of off-the-wall artwork I really like when given to a half-way decent artist.Quote:The reason Linkara was ******** about that image has more to do with he fact that western artists like to say they draw more realistically to slight people that draw anime but more often than not... western artists are the same or worse than anime artists in that they can only draw surface pretty and that ends up causing tons of problems which are readily apparent in most western comics... especially the 90s which is where a lot of his review books come from.
To be perfectly honest, I don't like realistic designs in non-real fiction, which is basically anything that's not live action. I don't like the super-realistic anime because it misses what I find to be the charm of the genre, and I don't like the kind of Western animations that shoot for a realistic look like the Centurions (now there's an oldie). And I ESPECIALLY hate this plague of realistic 3D artwork that seems to be spreading among Japanese games. Ever since Silent Hill, and possibly even before that, most of what's 3D follows this kind of attempted realism that both falls into the uncanny valley all too often (no mean feat since I don't actually GET the uncanny valley feel) or simply end up looking like crap. People love to rag on Dragonball Z's crazy unreasonable hair, but for a show with that premise, it just fits the bill.
By the way, through what I've posted in the past few months, I may come off as some kind of super fan of huge women. While I would never actually deny that, I like all styles, from the small to the big, from the thick to the thin, from the fancy and fashionable to the utterly alien to the power-suit-wearing ones and, yes, even to the furry-inspired ones. But a more muscular look for women is the one thing in this game that you simply cannot fudge in any believable way, and so I've made it a point to take every opportunity I can to argue for it, so it seems like that's all I have on my mind. It isn't. Those two that I've posted here are literally the only ones I have, out of 12 or so female characters that range all throughout the spectrum. The others just have more options open to them.
Men have it easy in this regard. Their sliders go from scrawny to tumorous, and if even the thickest man isn't quite thick enough, you have the Huge model which is basically Rob Leifeld's wet dream, and then with that you can go so high I question what people need it for. Men's weapons, furthermore, are scaled much more favourably, with not too much of a rift between the Legacy items and the current customization options. But for women, it's just sad. Their models go from frighteningly bony to skinny to kind of chubby, not even skirting "muscular" along the way and, unlike men, only have a single skin texture that's more appropriate to a beach bunny than anything else. Furthermore, their weapons scale down so harshly that even the supposedly biggest customization options, such as Rularuu's Bane, are towered over the very basic, uncolourable Legacy options.
You'll note that the axe I pictured in the screenshots is about as wide across as the spiked targe. That's because the axe is Legacy. I'd originally planned to swap it for that one single-bladed Cimeroran axe like what the Minotaurs use, but that fell completely through because that axe is shorter, narrower, has a smaller balde, isn't as thick at the mounting ring and doesn't really feel nearly as heavy. BABs talked about larger weapons by design, but I'm not sure what became of that, considering the largest weapons women have access to are STILL the legacy options.
*edit*
I'm actually determined to do a comparison between weapons on the female model, because you can't really see the scaling difference on ParagonWiki. The weapons there are shot from all models, given without size reference and oftentimes outdated. -
Quote:Well, I can handle being wrong. I was under the impression that head size was fairly universal among people and determined by the size of the brain it needs to contain, whereas body size not so much, so a taller person would have a similar head size to a short person. Maybe that's simply not the case.Originally Posted by Durakken
Generally speaking, yes, but height isn't 1 to 1 with head size. There are plenty of people with much larger heads that are smaller than average.
It doesn't change much, though, because:
Pretty much. You can upscale a small character, head and all, and pass that off as a larger but still proportional character. In fact, if you use the City of Heroes editor, it WILL NOT SHOW you the relative scale of the model. You can pick the largest or the smallest model and it will still look exactly the same with the same costume. It's only when you put that character in the actual world and measure it up by other characters that it becomes apparent.Quote:It's not really something that is noticeable unless you are going around measuring heads. I mean do you notice a difference in head size between someone who is 6' and 6'6"? Of course not. and when you are drawing if you use the 8head model it's 6 inches divided into 8 parts which is .75 inches per head length. Add another 6 to get to 7' and it's still only 1.5 inches and that really doesn't look all that different.
This is something I'm trying to avoid, and I am consciously designing my "big" costumes to look big in and of themselves, even when seen in the editor with no sense of size or scale. This is why you'll notice Brutticus having what Zombra once dubbed the "pinhead effect." I can make her body as big as I want, that won't stop her from looking like an upscaled normal woman. So what I did was shrink her head down (and by quite a bit) which makes her more heads high and more heads wide without actually making her practically bigger. Makes her shoulders feel wider, makes her legs look longer.
Now, clearly this isn't to everyone's taste. Linkara was pretty flabbergasted when he measured Thunderstrike in one particular pic and came up with 11 head heights tall and 5 head widths at the shoulders. Maybe I don't have any taste, or maybe I just like the more "out there" stuff, but that doesn't really bother me visually. I'm much less interested in realistic depictions of human beings (if I were, I wouldn't be watching anime) and much more so with iconic impact of characters. If I have to make them distorted to achieve that effect, then so be it.
Incidentally, I'm pretty happy with the height I picked for this one, as you can see in the screenshots. As far as the editor permits, that's just about the most I can get, anyway. -
Quote:So, what you're saying is that taller people have bigger heads?Originally Posted by Durakken
btw...what you are saying about a women that are 7' is wrong and stupid. People, unless there is something is wrong with them, grow proportionally and person that is 5'4" looks no more stretched than someone that is 7'1".
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Quote:403 Forbidden... Hmm, you have a point, this does indeed appear to have all options enabled.Originally Posted by PoptartsNinja
Here ya go, Siergen, you just didn't have the right options enabled.
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Alrighty! I did some work with the help of a high-level friend of mine to give me access to more zones and more cooperative NPCs, and I managed to get a pretty comprehensive size comparison with a variety of notable figures. We have the following:
Brutticus and Henry Peter Wong - Aw! The little guy is so cute when he's angry ^_^
Brutticus and Back Alley Brawler - OK, he's HUGE! But apparently, so is Brutticus. Not quite as thick around, sure, but oh well.
Brutticus and Some Random Hellion - Dude! Whatever you do, don't look behind you!
Brutticus and Valkyrie - Yeah, she's really tall, but she's also so thin and spindly. Brutticus is taller AND more chunky. I win!
Brutticus and Positron - Looks like Positron needs to eat his greens! Wait, no... Forget I said anything...
Brutticus and Some Outcasts - Make way for big momma or be trampled underfoot!
Brutticus and the Freakishly Tall University Staff - What do they feed these guys? Depleted uranium? Anyway, Brutticus has probably an inch or two on SuperProf, and I'm counting that as a huge victory.
Brutticus' Axe and Positron - By my calculations, you, Sir, are as as wide across the shoulders as this axe. Now that I have your measurements, I shall have your suit done by tomorrow.
I hope you like those, guys. I sure had fun taking them, and I'm REALLY looking forward to Going Rogue now
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Quote:Something like that. She comes from the kind of hideous world that if you dropped a regular human in there, he would choke on poison air, die from extreme weather and probably sink in a sand pit within 30 seconds, and that's before realising godzilla waiting around every corner is the LEAST of his problems. There are giant carnivorous poisonous shooting plants, aggressive poisonous insects everywhere, giant monsters at every turn, and the only food is both toxic and far too hard to eat while most water is both poisonous and teeming with aggressive, resistant, necrotising bacteria. It's the kind of world that, by all accounts, humans should not be able to survive with, but the humans there that do survive are simply beasts so strong you basically couldn't kill them if they let you try. Guns, lasers, explosives - that's the kind of damage they face and actually suffer on a daily basis, and they live through it with little more than an hour's rest.Originally Posted by KayJMM
Well... first thing I would considerate is: She is stronger... but why people on that planet evolved to be stronger?
If they are that way because of too many extremes of the planet Biome, I would try making her as strong (and big) as I could get, maxing every slide.
THAT is the kind of hideously, absurdly monstrous creature I'm looking to create.
You know, I actually based this on something I saw in a documentary on the Discovery channel. An archaeologist had this thigh bone they'd dug up, which had been dated back to something like 10-20 thousand years ago... I honestly don't know, but before civilization, anyway. He puts the thigh bone to his own leg and says: "As you can see, this bone is about as big as my own, in fact it's a little bigger. Only from its structure, we can tell it belonged to a 15-year-old child. You can just imagine how large that person would have been when they grew up."Quote:Originally Posted by KayJMM
But one concept that I would also consider is "density"... I think (with no science basis whatsoever, just pseudo-considerations) I would make her a little (some 30%) SMALLER than an average person, but at the same time maxing all the other sliders (except legs, as it would actually make her bigger, and that isnt the idea) to the max. I would think on a very tough woman, shaped by her world to be really hard. She would be brutish, but not hulking brutish...
Now, I don't know if that's true or not, and it could be my rotten memory playing tricks on poor interpretation, but that's what originally inspired me to make this woman. The idea that, here on Primal Earth we've always had it easy, so we were allowed to grow soft and small. On their world, that was never an option, so they had to evolve to be strong, tough and above all BIG, to be able to manually wrestle the many big, BIG monsters who were trying to kill them basically around the clock. A smaller, "denser" woman would be appropriate if she were from our world, but for this one I want a character obviously big enough that whenever she walks down the street, people instinctively take a step back and go "Woah!" She comes from a world of monsters, and in large part, I want her to be a monster, herself.
I realise it may seem like I'm only ever working on eccentric concepts, like a slime girl or a panda girl or a communist elf, but that's just because these are the only concepts I need help with. The more mundane concepts are easy to make, so I rarely need to ask other people about them. This one is... A bit more eccentric than usual
I used to feel that way, Primal, but my other max-height woman proved me wrong. Not only does she pretty much tower over everything that isn't supposed to be giant anyway (and even then she measures up), but she's SO BIG I actually dwarf most players and most regular-level NPCs. But, yeah, that requires some pretty extreme height to achieve. It also, however, makes her broadsword around six feet long, and that is awesome like you wouldn't believeQuote:Originally Posted by Primal
Sam, considering that you KNOW about the crazily off height scale in this game, purposely setting out to make a character taller and bigger than most seems rather self-defeating. You'll pretty much have to stay right under the 8' mark, and I'm not sure she'll ever look quite right to you, especially if you start comparing. It's like swinging at people with a sharpened support girder. Mmm... Reminds me of the Juggernaut. In a good way
As for this one, sadly you seem to be right. I'll have to stay just shy under maximum (by the way, "max slider" is about 7'10'' for women) and just put her in the same category of unreasonably gigantic as my other giant woman, only I'll put her a few inches behind.
You know... When I have a mental image of what she SHOULD like, I'm actually thinking something on the order of how Avatar's Na'vi compared to humans, only she'd be much less skinny and much more muscular. Probably not QUITE as profound a difference, but thereabout. And, yeah. That would require some serious slider.
Well, better now than when it hits Live
OK, honest question here - why no taller than 7'? I mean, it'd look odd for a realistic woman, that much I would grant you, but for a monstrous one? I mean, she's already dragging around an axe wider than what would fit through most doors, wouldn't epic giantness do this justice?Quote:Originally Posted by Amerikatt
I would recommend no taller than 7' tall. Male characters can go to 8' tall, but I'd stop with 7' tall for a female character.
In contrast, I believe that Wonder Woman is about 5'10" or 5'11". No more than 6' tall.
I had her at just under 7 feet before I made this thread, and the reason I made her taller is because she simply didn't measure up to most things I ran across. Oh, sure, she was taller than some normal people, about eye-level with some other normal people, only barely slightly taller than some regular-looking women and actually shorter than a few enemies who were still supposed to be human. I upped her height twice, and by a bit, before I even made this thread, but it didn't seem like enough, but it also seemed like I was skirting max height. I essentially just didn't know if I should. I have no problem making her max height, or indeed max height in all by name. I guess I wanted people to tell me to do it
I'll do some tweaking and run some numbers, then I'll let you know what I came up with. From the look of things, though, if scale 32 is the maximum, I'll probably go with something between 28 and 30. Not quite max height, but not quite not. I'll see about giving you an in-world comparison when I can.
*edit*
If it seems like I post too much and ramble on too long, I apologise. This is actually very interesting to me
*edit*
Bad memory... The scale goes from -27 to +36, not 32. What this means is I'm not looking for scales from 28 to 30, I'm looking for scales from 32 to 34. And I think I'll go with 34. And I should explain - those are fairly big increments on the slider.
Also, this has changed since the last time I tried it, though it may just be different on men. Last time I tried it, the max on men was scale 25. I'll have to have a look at it some time.