Elibean Nights

[Miacis]

Looking at his hair, I'm going to assume the face in unfinished...? Yeah, it probably needs a bit of tweaking. He doesn't look as stern and serious as Kent usually is, I guess.

Not sure what the problem with the previous armor was, though. It even had that awesome Edgeworth-like frilly scarf. o3o

Edited May 15, 2013 by Miacis

[Arch]

There's one edit to the mug, it shall be the only edit. My apologies for being so adamant, but we aren't dealing with this sprite critique clusterfuckery. This is the mug, it is finished, and that's that. The old Kent was replaced for reasons. This one's better anyways.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Arch

[Mage Knight 404]

Don't worry Arch, I'm still completely focused on Gaubama there.

[Red Dingo]

It looks much better.

This isn't so much of a critique as it is an artistic inquiry: did you make the decision to shorten Kent's as a sign of maturity or is there also as aspect to his character development in the tale?

[Teapot]

Nah, it was just because I hate Kent's vanilla mug with a fierce passion born of derploathing. Face, hair, armor - whatever. I hate him, I hate his mug, and I hate my mug.

[Shugey]

My only issues are that Kent looks a bit younger and less serious. A Kent that isn't serious looking just feels wrong.

BUT WHATEVER I GUESS IT'S BETTER OH WELL.

The real issue I have is that all you did was make his face look a bit different and give him a haircut. Lyn's change was more than that, whereas this is changing something for the sake of changing it. So it's less of an improvement and more of a change to annoy people who are bugged by that stuff.

Edited May 16, 2013 by Shugey

[Miacis]

There's one edit to the mug, it shall be the only edit. My apologies for being so adamant, but we aren't dealing with this sprite critique clusterfuckery. This is the mug, it is finished, and that's that. The old Kent was replaced for reasons. This one's better anyways.

I don't really understand how refusing sprite critique on the thread logically leads to "no more edits on it evar" (and it's not like there's any place else on the boards to talk about it, or heck, anything else to discuss about in this screenshot) but hey, he does look a bit better. Still not a big fan of how the hair looks kinda flat, but it's certainly good enough.

This isn't so much of a critique as it is an artistic inquiry: did you make the decision to shorten Kent's hair as a sign of maturity or is there also as aspect to his character development in the tale?

Arch could pull a Lucia on us, I guess? :-P

"Lyndis, Marquess of Caelin. Surrender now, or we shall lightly trim his hair around the ears!!"

Edited May 16, 2013 by Miacis

[Caliban of Sycorax]

I actually like the new mug. The armor's friggin' sexy as hell. The hair's a little lacking on the detail side but hey Kent's hair isn't really detail-oriented in the first place. The armor's awesome though. Like, arguably, some of the best armor in the hack.

[Primefusion]

"Lyndis, Marquess of Caelin. Surrender now, or we shall lightly trim his hair around the ears!!"

Can this be in the creative liberties?

[Iridium]

Why do the Halberdiers need to be black?

Because they've got bigger lances, duh!

[Teapot]

My only issues are that Kent looks a bit younger and less serious. A Kent that isn't serious looking just feels wrong.

BUT WHATEVER I GUESS IT'S BETTER OH WELL.

The real issue I have is that all you did was make his face look a bit different and give him a haircut. Lyn's change was more than that, whereas this is changing something for the sake of changing it. So it's less of an improvement and more of a change to annoy people who are bugged by that stuff.

In case it wasn't apparent enough: I know. I'm as aware of the portrait's shortcomings as anyone else is, but I'd like to step away from it for a little while, if only because my own loathing for it isn't going to make it any better. If you'd like to attempt fixing it yourself, then by all means: do so. I'm done with it for now, and if someone else has a better solution, then I'll gladly give them the stage. Again, it's not because I don't want to fix it: I'm just keenly frustrated and tired of this particular mug, and I don't think I can make it any better in my current state.

Alternatively, I'd like to argue that the previous version was no more than a body edit, itself, so I'm not really sure what you're getting at.

Edited May 16, 2013 by · j e a l o u s y ·

[Red Dingo]

Nah, it was just because I hate Kent's vanilla mug with a fierce passion born of derploathing. Face, hair, armor - whatever. I hate him, I hate his mug, and I hate my mug.

Dude, calm down. I'm just asking from the perspective of a student who did a couple character design courses recently. Who also wants to design his own characters for a comic series one day.

Arch could pull a Lucia on us, I guess? :-P

"Lyndis, Marquess of Caelin. Surrender now, or we shall lightly trim his hair around the ears!!"

Or I was refering to the fact that his affections for Lyn have gone unreturned and the family he's dedicated his life to serving is basically done. Maybe he's responded by becoming even more disciplined. Shorter hair, more discipline. Regardless, the new mug looks good.

Gaufrid looks awesome too. What's his backstory? Summer Isles? Not a token minority hopefully.

[Arch]

Gaufrid looks awesome too. What's his backstory? Summer Isles? Not a token minority hopefully.

He's a loyal Caelin soldier, born and raised there. Strong devotion to his family, two sons and a wife that he treasures. He's just as boring as all of the white people, honestly. This is kind of important, I feel, because a "token minority" would be made more interesting just because he's different from the rest of the cast. Tokenism isn't just about injecting the character with as many stereotypes as possible (Barrett from FFVII says "hi"); more broadly, it's an effort to differentiate and define the character based solely on the color of their skin.

Now, he's got a conversation with Lyn where they do touch upon some racial issues and his family history (this touches upon stories his grandfather used to tell him about their homeland, but he's far removed from that to a point where it isn't very definitive for him). I'm taking care to avoid tokenism as much as possible, hopefully I succeed.

Edited May 16, 2013 by Arch

[Teapot]

Dude, calm down. I'm just asking from the perspective of a student who did a couple character design courses recently. Who also wants to design his own characters for a comic series one day.

Doesn't change the fact that I've the biggest dislike for vanilla Kent. His original hair 1) made no sense, 2) was ugly, 3) doesn't fit his strict, orderly personality. His hair was too long. However, I did't want to push the edit too much, lest it sat even worse with the public than I already did. I actually intended to change all of his hair and face (which I more or less did, but not noticeably so). Arch also expressed some interest in him having shorter hair. Personally, I just thought the trim would be better to show some time for change and fit his personality better. Aside from my loathing for his vanilla mug, I tried to make him look a little more mature by squaring out his jaw and chin more, as well as making his nose less pointed. Half of this is also because I tried to use more realistic facial proportions, as well, and thus reduced the length of the eyebrows and moved them up a px. Also attempted to lighten his eyes and make them actually have color rather than simply being mostly border color. Unfortunately, the general consensus seems to be that the facial edits made him look younger rather than older.

Edited May 16, 2013 by · j e a l o u s y ·

[Kon]

Would this look better? I didn't do much really, just moved up his ear a pixel.

[Klokinator]

The shading on the side of his face kinda looks like a rash. Maybe it's just me.

[ShinKuma]

Man I swear it's never a dull moment when people with talent get criticized. I respect the work of the person but I don't want to get things thrown off course. I like the concept that was done for this alternate side quest. I hope that this story is just as interesting as the all the other ones I've played. Keep it up now Arch this old fool here respects the work you're doing and AK as well lol.

[Agro]

the worst part is that i don't even know which comments are srs

[Miacis]

... Is it really that bad for people to just express their feelings about a sprite? It's not like anyone's been an ass about it, and the responses are always very favorable when edits are made to them. The people who posted here, as well as jealousy and Arch have all been acting reasonnably, so maybe it would help more to cut it with the "oh man, people be criticizing *rooleyes*rolleyes* " comments?

I dunno, I'm just pretty sure that jealousy is big enough to know how to react to those by herself, and Arch to know what he wants to do with his sprites. How about we just let them deal with whatever criticism comes and not be condescending to anyone? Pretty sure then that those discussions wouldn't turn as contentious as they seem to be.

[Red Dingo]

Doesn't change the fact that I've the biggest dislike for vanilla Kent. His original hair 1) made no sense, 2) was ugly, 3) doesn't fit his strict, orderly personality. His hair was too long. However, I did't want to push the edit too much, lest it sat even worse with the public than I already did. I actually intended to change all of his hair and face (which I more or less did, but not noticeably so). Arch also expressed some interest in him having shorter hair. Personally, I just thought the trim would be better to show some time for change and fit his personality better. Aside from my loathing for his vanilla mug, I tried to make him look a little more mature by squaring out his jaw and chin more, as well as making his nose less pointed. Half of this is also because I tried to use more realistic facial proportions, as well, and thus reduced the length of the eyebrows and moved them up a px. Also attempted to lighten his eyes and make them actually have color rather than simply being mostly border color. Unfortunately, the general consensus seems to be that the facial edits made him look younger rather than older.

I've looked been looking between this, the vanilla mug, and the official art for Kent. It's the brighter eyes and softer shape of the brows that's throwing people. Making the brows more rectangular and re-darkening the eyes should replace any spark hopeful youth with a disciplined sternity.

He's a loyal Caelin soldier, born and raised there. Strong devotion to his family, two sons and a wife that he treasures. He's just as boring as all of the white people, honestly. This is kind of important, I feel, because a "token minority" would be made more interesting just because he's different from the rest of the cast. Tokenism isn't just about injecting the character with as many stereotypes as possible (Barrett from FFVII says "hi"); more broadly, it's an effort to differentiate and define the character based solely on the color of their skin.

Now, he's got a conversation with Lyn where they do touch upon some racial issues and his family history (this touches upon stories his grandfather used to tell him about their homeland, but he's far removed from that to a point where it isn't very definitive for him). I'm taking care to avoid tokenism as much as possible, hopefully I succeed.

It looks like you will, actually. Race inevitably has some impact on a character, especially when they stand out in a homogenized setting, but it also depends on the attitudes of that setting. That attitude is usually fostered by the geopolitical atmosphere. The racism and distrust some caucasian-like Lycians nobles display towards the asian-like Sacaeans is due the potential of the latter to invade but also in how they may be exploited as mercenaries.

[bottlegnomes]

The shading on the side of his face kinda looks like a rash. Maybe it's just me.

So I'm not the only one. The shadow seems too harsh? I can't think of a better word. Then again, I know nothing about spriting.

Otherwise, it looks awesome.

[Arch]

Chipping away at the rest of Tale 2xb, gearing up for the final release this summer.

I don't really have any progress to show, I'll post a big batch of screens once the tale's completed.


Until then, I've got a new something up on the blog I hope you all might enjoy. A boss profile for Dawson, which contains some information about the events of 2xb, as well as some background for Tale 3's villain. I might write up some more of these profiles for other bosses, since generally I didn't properly explore the backgrounds of my villains given that I have such limited time to work with them. You'll notice that it's got a pretty strong political emphasis. Sorry if that isn't your cup of tea, but I'm a politics major at university. Dawson's story is my one real political plot-line in the hack, and his profile appropriately reflects that.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Arch

[-Cynthia-]

Interesting. I had never thought much about who was to become the leader of the Lycian Alliance in FE6- I always assumed Lilina was out of the running because she was too young. Lilina joining Roy's army instead of staying behind in Ostia always struck me as a bit strange though.

[deranger]

Politics major who creates hacks in his free time. I like it

It always did bug me that tale 3 is about fighting for monarchy over something that has some semblance to democracy/meritocracy (hector isn't one for have progressive ideas). Interesting thoughts, I'm curious as to how you envision post FE6 Lycia (or any of the other countries for that matter).

Edited May 20, 2013 by deranger

[Arch]

Politics major who creates hacks in his free time. I like it

It always did bug me that tale 3 is about fighting for monarchy over something that has some semblance to democracy/meritocracy (hector isn't one for have progressive ideas). Interesting thoughts, I'm curious as to how you envision post FE6 Lycia (or any of the other countries for that matter).

I was a hacker before I was a politics major.

Tale 3's an attempt at saying that sometimes the "good" guys can be wrong. Good and bad is a matter of perspective, after all. Hector's a good ruler; good head on his shoulders and a compassionate heart, just simply a product of his era in terms of his opinions. More than just "good is sometimes bad," it's that there are good things and bad things to every side. That's something that I think a lot of people really don't understand about politics. Too many people are unwilling to see past that black and white viewpoint, the "good guys are always good" model. Dawson is staunch and militaristic, but is fighting for something which can actually be viewed as good. In some ways I could envision Dawson's rule being a debacle since he is so adamant and opinionated, these types of leaders typically fare poorly when faced with opposition, which a usurper would undeniably have to deal with. Either way, neither side is perfect. Putting the player against democracy, I feel, is a great way to illustrate this.

Tale 3: The Political Manifesto

As for post-FE6 Lycia, I feel that Roy's ascension to the kingship would signify a change in tradition. Eliwood's ascension was simply a product of emergency, whereas Roy is chosen for his heroism (aka, chosen by his ability rather than his heritage). I don't think Roy would have much interest in building a dynasty, which would leave his successor to be chosen in a similar fashion. As time goes onward small little democratic breaks would come through, given the nature of Lycia (it isn't a straight up monarchy, it's an alliance, which creates an environment more conducive to democratic decision-making). Slowly, I think Lycia would actually be the Elibian country most likely to break ground on democratic governance.