So With Ultra Mode Coming ...

I think that many of the NPCs should be given a new look. Not EVERYONE, but I think at least some of our older contacts could do with a new look.

Here are my candidates:

1. Azuria. She should be given a more mystical look. For some reason, I think she'd do well with something Gypsy-like. (She should NOT show skin, but I think she needs something that screams "Magic" rather than "I shop at the Dime Store.")

2. Gregor Richardson. If he's the rebel mage, then the dude needs a trenchcoat.

3. Rick Davies. He was active up until the Rikti War and then had to retire. SHOW us why he gave up the job as a hero. Give him a prosthetic arm or artificial eye or both.

4. Jake Montoya. He lost his leg in battle with the Clockwork King. Give him a pegleg as we don't really have a good non-bionic limb he could use.

5. Statesman. The dude needs a major new look. Get rid of the face plate or give him a full helmet. Give him short sleeves and wrist bands, maybe-- long sleeves and gloves just don't scream super strength to me.

Who do you think needs a new look and what would you like to see?

Statesman should stay exactly the same - it's distinctive

Back Alley Brawler: Should lose the power gloves and be given the Boxing Set Veteran Reward look.... why not? After the effort the design team put into it at least SOMEONE should wear it.

Captain Mako: Large fish-bowl helmet with bubbles floating in it that covers his entire head and neck down to the gills. Also floating fish flakes for when he feels like having a snack.

Synapse: Not so much a costume change as an effects change. Every few minutes he should blur and a streak of color move from his standing point then back again. When the blurring stops he should be holding things he just fetched... girly magazine, six pack, bag of pork rinds, etc.

Scirocco: Heavy black eye make up, much paler skin, IPod with the entire Linkin Park collection on it.

Sister Psyche: Same general costume but the lines that radiate out from ... er.... "central points" should now rotate slowly around their foci with bands of colors sweeping out along them... making you wonder if it is just a hallucination instead of actual clothing.

Willie Wheeler: Same as it is now, but with beads of sweat constantly forming and trickling down his forehead... oh... and pit stains... definitely pit stains.

Manticore: If anyone ever needed flowing hair it was this guy.

Television: Actual broadcasts on the screen... no... no wait! Even better! I want live streaming video from a web cam set up in the NorCal break room! Now we can spend all day hanging out in Grandville screaming "Get back to work you bum!" in Broadcast.

Fusionette: Same general costume except she has a GPS device attached to her belt with the "Batteries Low" light flashing off and on.

Ms Liberty: Considering that most of Ultra Mode graphics is about reflective surfaces Liberty should now wear pants.... definitely pants.

Azuria: Should wear an Alfred E. Neuman shirt captioned "What? Me Worry?"

Black Scorpion: His battle suit, following modern trends in pop culture and robotics, should now transform into an Arachnos Flyer upon command. It should, obviously, also have the Decepticon logo on it rather than the Arachnos one.

Nemesis: Should be a pimply, slightly overweight and horribly near-sighted teen age/early twenties guy who loves wearing plaid long sleeve flannels over a stained Pink Floyd prism t-shirt... He controls all his troops and automatons from his mother's basement. I say this because I'm pretty sure I used to play Dungeons and Dragons with him... if ANYONE was a "killer dungeon/players never win" Dungeon Master it's Nemesis...

I expect Psimon Omega's head to reflect everything around it and possibly give everyone around him a toHit debuff called [Sunglare]

Kelly Uqua should have flashing neon sign over her head stating "Not a Rikti Spy."

More of an audio upgrade thing, but:

Westin Phipps would need to have a deep, orchestral score surrounding him, possibly with faux latin vocals and an evil, demonic laugh in the background.

Doctor Forrester and Vernon Von Grun ought to have a laugh track every time you accept their missions.

Dimitri Krylov and Boris the Russian should have an appropriate soundtrack play around them, just in case people can't quite figure out what they're supposed to be.

For some reason, I keep thinking Terrance Dobbs really needs to have Darth Vader breathing sound effects in the background.

And Dalra Mavins' experience would probably be enhanced greatly by having the sound of a baby crying when you talk with her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Positron should be wearing sunglasses. With GRAY lenses.

Actually, all of the contacts having some more motion would be awesome. Even if they weren't signature, custom emotes, a little more personality in the contacts would go a long way.

The entire Freedom Phalanx desperately need make overs. They are the "face" of the game to newcomers because they're splashed all over the boxes, ads, anything in marketing uses the Freedom Phalanx in some way or another. Their costumes all look old, dated, they're just "generic heroes".

Statesman's look was so bad, I almost didn't buy the game because of it. "Really, the main character is a shoddy Captain America ripoff with a weird mask?"

Nobody needs a makeove more than Positron! That armor looks like he's flying a bus!

Sure, just like Superman. His costume has been tweaked and refined dozens of times over the decades, admittedly sometimes more drastic than others. Even the Red/Blue debacle was mainly just to drum up publicity and a temporary plot tool.

Some examples:




So if the most iconic superhero ever can go through such drastic changes...why can't our iconic hero do the same? Actually, it turns out he's already gone through a few revisions himself:

So why would another revision hurt?

I'm not calling for Statesman and the Phalanx to be remade into unrecognizable figures, just give them some adjustments and tweaks to make them look better.

For the record, I think just giving States a full helmet goes a long way towards making him look better, check this out:

Sorry, double post.

The generic civilians could really use an upgrade. They're very dated.

On the other hand, "ultra mode" to me just looks like improved shadows and water reflections. If there are new textures, I haven't seen examples of them yet.