rian_frostdrake

i just see hulk yelling MOTORBOAT! but then again, i'm 5.

and brand, well, then you pretty much laid it out, we want the game to go in different directions, you want them to stay limited in the spandex look of more classic comics, i keep trying to expand the game's choices to include a broader influence of graphic novels and manga. For this particular discussion, i dont think it will affect you that much for them to make what amounts to one or two tops and one or two bottoms options with a bit more definition. not an amazing amount of work and it works for those of us who would appreciate it, you will still have your more simple, cleaner looks to make with you characters and we all can coexist.

i still disagree strongly with you about the sliders though, raising physique on the female model makes them puffy, not defined, simply cinching the waist does nothing to remedy that, as i said before, a convincing look muscular character is going to have definition on top of a lean physique, the current physique slider makes them look fat rather than powerful because it just widens the existing physique, rather than just the areas that muscular development would occur. thus we get the Jennifer Lopez with a massive cheesecake effect, which im not upset with, mind you , but it aint a good look for me making a powerful street fighter type female character. i want to make that character here, she exists elsewhere, where there are more sliders, but i'd prefer her here, and implementing this would make it possible to do here.

were you standing in line to begin with? if so, then pay for your groceries and get moving, im stuck in the same line and want to get home.


anywho, well, the outfit is striking, i rather like it but then again, im a fan of any monstrous character that is put together well... given his grammar and style, maybe he just is very young and thinks all female characters ingame are actually females who look exactly like their characters and he was attempting to have a conversation with significantly limited vocabulary and social skills. the weird thing to me was the alteration of rude-jocular-friendly in the interaction, that is some serious weird interaction right there. I have gotten a few comments on either my way out there costumes or someone gets the silly puns or references in their names, but nothing like that.

for the record, this is my current project, rather pleased with the look, and has gotten comments, he looks like a hero, right? http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...8-18-57-41.jpg

ok, azure gave most of my answer, but yeah, i did conflate the terms, my mistake there. I am kind of an anomalous coh player in that i'm not overly focused on the "super" aspect of the game so much as the heroic elements. you figure, the term hero was used by cultures to describe exemplary individuals long before superheroes were officially discussed. Hercules was a hero, so was finn mac cool, king arthur, krishna and susano o mikoto, all of whom were the bases of some of humanities self defining narratives.

I guess one reason your mentioning of fantasy bugs me is because it implied a tired argument that by integrating elements that are perceived as part of fantasy, coh is becoming city of "enter competitor fantasy mmo here" whereas i see the flexibility of the game genre, that we can fight ultratech crey, magical circles of thorns and modernistic knives of artemis and not have it chafe the genre, as one of coh's most desirable qualities. now you didnt specifically make that argument, but your point, such as it was, logically flowed right into that limiting and narrow minded criticism that people trotted out against cimorea, dual blades, and other things that made coh a richer game. its a harmful mindset really that can only strangle the game's creativity.

i still maintain that making female heroes with more defined musculature is entirely in theme with the super-heroic comic genre, and that simplay as one or two tops and bottoms options, would not be enough to really affect anyone's game negatively. and that trying to dsimiss sams examples by saying they are "fantasy" themed is a distraction from the central argument.

oh i get your point, few sane comic artists draw characters that detailed in every frame, it woudl take them forever to do a page, but the general aesthetic idea of what a powerful woman looks like does, nonetheless, involve definition similar to that, and since video games can render that sort of detail,so really its overcoming a limitation.

also, while comics and especially manga are rife with examples of small, skinny and otherwise unassuming women doing immense feats of strength, we are asking for an option to increase verisimilitude, some stuff is flat out fantastical, we cant make a real world approximation of magic or energy blast, but we do have bodybuilders, and mma fighter, and such, so an option to approximate them in this game, in the same manner we can with males now with the tights muscular option, would be something some of us would like.

as for sams examples..well, yeah he used fantasy looking characters, if he had done it with a machine gun and camos for a woman that looks like rachel mclish in iron eagles 3 or a pro wrestling looking getup like chyna from the wwe, it would have meant no mroe or less. muscular women do exist in comics(and lets be honest, coh really draws from the broader nerdosphere, not just comics anymore), and really what sam used is irrelevant.

oh and just sayin, conan the barbarian ran from oct 1970 to december 1993, ignoring the other jungle or fantasy comics out there with similar female designs, id say that gets them seniority in the comics genre.

really, yes, or more accurately, its desire for better definition. given the rating, there is only so much of the character's torso we can show, so the pectoral definition must remain a tantalizing mystery . but the rest of what can be done, and is done on male tights muscular, is defined abs, more defined latisimus dorsi and trapesius and more defined shoulder caps(the 3m muscles that make up the deltoids). now this is just for upper body, a neccessity since the two are seperated, but more defined quads and calves would work for me as well.

again, there is some discussion about how muscular, many competitive female bodybuilders who use a lot of "suppliments" can take on a huge, bulked up look, it fits the comic genre with mutants and super-soldier serums but some feel it would be disturbing. I am not touching that because last time it turned into a extended argument that wasted space, what i will say is that there are also female bodybuilders who look quite typically feminine but still are significantly muscular, and yeah, the very defined abs are one of the key things that hold together the look.

one discussion that has grown on me is having alternate arms, similar to robotic arms that are more defined and muscular than the sliders support. in addition to maybe some monstrous arm options too, i like this idea as a way to add the option that could be bolted on to the "defined" female body while giving those who want massive biceps and triceps the option to have them, while letting those with aesthetic concerns the ability to opt out.

if we get these, we do need a "second layer" selection of midriff baring tops for females, because one thing i have found irl as well as in comics, but if a person has diamond cut abs..they want to show them off.

it should me noted that while the sliders are nice, on females they don't work very well, they tend to make females chunky looking rather than defined looking. usually a person who is cut is actually quite lean, outside of their muscles which are more visible because of that leanness, sliders tend to inflate the whole character. to really show muscular definition they would very likely have to add more polygons for the different muscle groups, and that would lead to a significant performance hit, so i dont see sliders really helping much.

yes, always, no matter what.

again, the question just comes to mind, would another set be unique enough to stand out while not being overpowered and soon to be adjusted, or underpowered, each new powerset runs the risk, and it just seems that rather than adding in a set without a definable gameplay hook, rather than one that is largely cosmetic, it really seems more a job for alternate animations. we will be getting new powersets, so its not like i'm saying no new sets ever, but maybe its best to make sets when their purpose is one of gameplay, and let the animation tech handle the cosmetic elements.

i wouldnt get that worked up, nobody really was that nasty after we got what you meant. it was just an initial misunderstanding, sometimes people ask for powersets that are a little specific, they arent well thought out or would get redundant and clutter-y, and some mistook you for that, once we understood you better, we were mostly in agreement. animation customization seems to take time, the blasts, even though they were fairly plain, they still took effort, so for those powers, as well as the pools, bffs and controls, thats looking down the road. I'm not a techie myself, but those whom i have talked with indicate animations are a pain, very time consuming, particularly since we have 3 skeletons, rather than just 2 so i guess we just gotta say, be patient, a lot of us agree with you, but realize that its going to take time. thats really the best we will get.

one side thing that you can use now, it aint perfect but it does some work. did you get the origins aura/cape pack? the runes in it can be set to combat active only, so while it wont directly change the animation, if you put the runes on your hands and make them combat activated, then you will be throwing bolts, and have glowing runes floating around your hands, not perfect, but might do.

I was high on life once, but i got into a 12 step program.

exactly, one thing that would work, not just for magic but probably for tech as well would be for them to really plow into alternate animation effects and make animation effects that do things like surrounding your hands with runs or using magic staves, using guns like the crey pistol for an elemental raygun effect, or even (and this was asked for a while ago in a relevant thread) alternate animations for the medicine pool and buff sets to be more ultratech/magic looking. I also was nagging for mystical looking kanji symbols, because i want some more anime themed stuff.

depends on if you alt and how you play. tips and radios are nice, they stay in zone. honestly if you belong to a open minded group, msr's and pick up itfs can get you even high levels fast, if people are willing to bring you along. so yeah, it can go fast,that said, i tend to take a long time to get to 50 because i screw around, play my 50s and alt like a hyperactive loony, so in 6 years i have 3, and they all took a good bit of time. i have a bunch on the cusp, and might get around to finishing them, but with shards now adding to the stuff to do with my characters that i am heavily invested in, who knows?

funny thing is, back when shoulder pets came out in issue 4, we complained and cricket(i think) told us they were unaware that we wanted them, but would foreward our thoughts to the devs. there was a bit of a scuffle on that one. we also wanted parrots and dragons, but nothing ever came of it. my layman's guess is that the male and huge models expand a lot more in the shoulders than females do, so i could see some serious long-cats on a maxed huge model, but i just really wished they had found a way to do it. also, yeah female baron would be nice. as woudl boleros (and maybe furless boleros to, if i may push my cause again)

I do not see that happening. subtle differences in animations between male and females would really stand out and make things look really bad.

you really dont remember the bionic 6, do you? sheesh.

this. while player reaction may factor into how highly it is prioritized, it likely is a work issue. i know a number of players have lamented that females cant wear the baron jacket from the magic booster, really wished we had that.

i'm pretty sure i see 5 legs... i will find a state that allows me to marry marcian.

oh, and to try something different, ill post on topic. fulcrum shift is really really good when you get a crowd around you, which i do when playing a brute or scrapper..or controller...or defender.... if you scrap, having a fs'er beats any other such nonsense.

i like that story

is that the offspring or just somebody sounding like the offspring?

no, you never really do, but you foiled that particular plan, as far as you know.