The New Look for Circle of Thorns
By
A Musing Mage,
Posted on: 2011-08-08 10:57 in Developers' Corner
I'm coming around to this redesign. Especially seeing as I want practically every costume item on the Minion.
Bad Voodoo by @Beyond Reach. Arc ID #373659. Level 20-24. Mr. Bocor has fallen victim to a group of hooded vigilantes who have been plaguing Port Oakes, interfering with illegal operations and pacifying villain's powers. He demands that revenge is taken on these miscreants and his powers are returned! You look like just the villain for the job. Challenging.
So no more overgrown Jawas? Good. Mostly.
Ooh me likey! A lot! 
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Um, the Circle of Thorns has never evoked Lovecraft for me. Ever.|
Originally Posted by The_Haze
So the Circus of Thorns was what you were shooting for right? Seriously, this make over is terrible and completely lacks the Lovecraft flavor that the Circle once had.
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I have no problem with you disliking the new look, but I don't get that as a reason for it at all.
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Have to agree. I don't know what kind of Lovecraft he's been reading, but I can't think of anything that remotely says "Lovecraftian" to me in the current Circle of Thorns design.
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Originally Posted by UberGuy
Um, the Circle of Thorns has never evoked Lovecraft for me. Ever.
I have no problem with you disliking the new look, but I don't get that as a reason for it at all. |
Bad Voodoo by @Beyond Reach. Arc ID #373659. Level 20-24. Mr. Bocor has fallen victim to a group of hooded vigilantes who have been plaguing Port Oakes, interfering with illegal operations and pacifying villain's powers. He demands that revenge is taken on these miscreants and his powers are returned! You look like just the villain for the job. Challenging.
The Banished Pantheon are more Lovecraftian than the CoT.
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You will be able to buy those in the Paragon Market later this year. |
Originally Posted by Icy_J
I need a new change of pants after seeing these.
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Oh, and for the record?
Kudos, art team. Nice work!
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Anyone else think Lordi on seeing this?
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Originally Posted by Angerdog
I believe I fixed it, if not properly, then here you are again.
 |
Nuff Said...
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Quote:
They had to use the player rig for the costumes to be usable for players.|
Originally Posted by Gaspard
Ehh.... well at least the bosses look ok.
I don't really know, some of those NPCs look ok while some of the designs look very flashy and "busy" for my taste. Glad they at least worked on the original revamp designs... Edit: Damn those CoT guys are ripped. |
So yep, they're going to be buff like players.
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Looks better but I think you should keep the minion and the death mage is the original costumes they had but update the textures.
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While I wouldn't describe the CoT as "Lovecraftian" either, HPL certainly populated his stories with robed cultists, e.g. The Festival, Dreams the Witch-House, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, etc. It's a widely used and recognized trope (just as spiky armored spellcaster is for a certain variety of fantasy art).
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Originally Posted by UberGuy
Um, the Circle of Thorns has never evoked Lovecraft for me. Ever.
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I actually prefer the old look. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the new costumes... I just liked the whole "robed cultist" look. It was kind of nice having an enemy group that wasn't at all flashy. The new outfits are awesome but they lost that understated, basic look that I found appealing. Sometimes in fashion less is more...
Maybe we could get the old robes on some of the basic grunts like the Guards? Those mooks don't even know magic yet... they don't deserve flashy outfits. 
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Still comes across as being over the top and and too flashy for my own personal taste, but I don't think I'm going to win this argument either.
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I think(he can obviously speak for himself, but it's what I read from it), that it's because|
Originally Posted by UberGuy
Um, the Circle of Thorns has never evoked Lovecraft for me. Ever.
I have no problem with you disliking the new look, but I don't get that as a reason for it at all. |
the "cultist" feel of the early CoT is pretty much... entirely gone, at least from the looks
of what you see here.
The cult thing is also part of the CoT mythos, in that they have and do go around trying to
pass themselves off to the normals in this way, rather than just going around kidnapping
people at random. A classic story example is Johnny Sonata, who was introduced to them
in much the same way as people wind up in creepy fringe cults in the real world. It just
happened that they showed him real magic, and when they asked him to ante up with his
chick in exchange for an introduction to Wailer Demon #5, he did it, and it worked.
You never really got that feel off late-game CoT of course. They all seem like demons,
combat mages, and gimmie your soul types. But the early CoT(the humanoids at least)
were much more cult-subtle. There's not really any trace of that left. If Mr. Pipes met
these guys in a back alley, I don't think the reaction would've been the same.
And then we wouldn't have that shiny pyramid in St. Martial, and it would've been ALL
YOUR FAULT.
Death Mage's belt buckle looks like a flower >_>
-STEELE =)
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Thumbs up to the latest revamp. Only major critisium I can think of is, at a glance, the Ruin Mage could be confused with the Ice Thorn Caster.
With the exception of the Death and Agony Mages, the bosses all look like the higher level minions with a difference colour pallet when really they should stand apart (they are higher ranks, after all), so possibly give them the same back and leg things the Death and Agony Mage has, possibly culpted slightly differently though I doubt that's likely.
So how do you want to be done? Medium, Well or Extra Crispy?
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Wow... Those are frickin' sweet! They look much nicer, er, much more menacing that the CoT bathrobe-types we've been fighting for years while still clearly being CoTs.
Death Mages are the stuff of nightmares.
I can't wait to see these guys in the game. Well done art team!
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I still have an issue: the new Death Mage is too awesome for a mere boss. Must be upgraded to Elite Boss.
I may have to change my signature link, though. And it was such a fun song. 
Edit: Or I can just add a link to this thread!
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Which is precisely why I would never use "Lovecraftian" to describe it. The CoT are, at their core, just an ancient race of human wizards who, based on in-game stories, traffic in your garden-variety fantasy magic, including some rather significant bargains with demons. Lovecraft is a much more specific trope, characterized by Eldrich Abominations or things that are otherwise cosmically wrong. While Lovecraft stories often contain cultists, that is certainly not what characterizes them.|
Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
While I wouldn't describe the CoT as "Lovecraftian" either, HPL certainly populated his stories with robed cultists, e.g. The Festival, Dreams the Witch-House, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, etc. It's a widely used and recognized trope
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About the closest thing I can get to a Lovecraftian feel from the CoT is that they are very old. Indescribable ancientness was a common theme of actual HPL fiction (less so in the Mythos works of his peers). The game lore doesn't stress this ancientness much - it's just part and parcel of the CoT's story and isn't presented as anything inherently horrible the way I think HPL would have tried had he created them. (And probably with good reason - I always thought HPL was weird for seeming to think that the ancient was intrinsically horrible.)
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American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
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Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
Way to go Art Team! Very happy to see this rework. Thank you for acknowledging the players and making this happen. You people are great!
I want all these pieces... will everything be available to the player or are there locked NPC only items? Will there bundle set available or merely per item? Gotta know so I can start socking money away to give you 
Again, well played!
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*yeah, I quoted myself.
Well, I can certainly see that some people are still not happy on the change, however, the majority seem either ok or totally in favor of this re-design of the re-design.
As for me? I think they will work. Definitely work. It will make groups like the skulls, trolls, hellions, tsoo and outcasts look even more outdated, but I expect them to get re-vamps soon too, especially if they are going off player models, you can make some really wicked-looking outcasts with the current pieces, and all you need is the outcast chest symbols.
I would still like to see the new ghosts and demons. I think the CoT Behemoths were some of the best looking creatures in the older game, but if they were brought to be more in line with Demon Summoning then, awesome!
Those look absolutely awesome! 
That said, The new look comes off more as some kind of ceremonial garb than standard shadowcult streetwear. Then again, the CoT tend to do their rituals and ceremonies out in the open anyway, so it kinda works. In any case, way better than what was introduced before. Great Job!
P.S. Really REALLY want all those costumes for my altitis... i mean alts
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I'm with you visually.|
Originally Posted by Gothenem
I would still like to see the new ghosts and demons. I think the CoT Behemoths were some of the best looking creatures in the older game, but if they were brought to be more in line with Demon Summoning then, awesome!
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But I swear, if they start making the Behemoths scream all the time like the DS demons
to, I will quit this game right then and there.
But will we still have female Oranbegans?
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