Hello! Just wanted to pay tribute to an old Everquest motif and spread some appreciation for our misunderstood and ugly (yet appealing) races in Everquest. I wanted to grab some images of this and use Trolls/Ogres (the original EQ models) as an example, but after sifting through images I realized this was a conscious design tenet for most playable and unplayable races alike.
Some examples include:
-Missing eyes for some races in character create
-Random scarring on some races in character create
-Massive random scarring on trolls/ogres
-Some races body structure look physically disturbing (trolls and ogres look big and strong, but not a cookie cutter Mr. Olympia)
-Patched together- rugged/damaged armor
-clothing that obviously doesn't fit (troll/ogre plumbing service)
-Slime/Mold/Scum coming out of the mouth, ears, etc.
-Teeth that aren't straight
-Warts everywhere
-Troll/Ogre scratch animation, which was amazing in that even the animations supported this art direction
I'm thinking back in the 1998 , they wanted to make something that was visually realistic as possible given the nature of these fantasy beasts as they were known at the time. However, as technology progressed, it appears as if the industry across the board chased the aesthetically pleasing over of the aesthetically realistic.
My hope is that this flavor finds it's way back into games nowadays as it really adds to the immersive experience. I remember seeing a Troll SK as a kid with the epic and purple eyes and thought that it looked hideous yet amazing, which really added to the beleivability of the world. (if any of this makes any sense)
Quite agree, Perceptic. The ogres and trolls added a lot to EQ's charm. We've seen ogres with hulking stomachs in the streams, and I'd bet there'll be options to monstrify them more - I really hope there are, at least. And we haven't yet seen the Skar, who are supposed to be pretty scary and vicious. But overall, totally agree with your sentiment!
EQ Trolls and Gnomes (original not revamped) were and still are the best visual race design ever for me . I can't put the finger on it because everybody should just hate these fuzzy, low res , approximate graphics but people generally didn't and don't . Many people playing TLP even today prefer still the original graphics to the revamped version .
And you are right, the animation was also exactly in phase with the visual design - the way Trolls were running hunched and balancing their arms while the Gnomes shuffled around with those fast short rigid steps .
Somehow the designer miraculously hit the bull's eye of the essential Trollness and Gomishness so that almost everybody thought "Right . This is exactly how a Troll or a Gnome should look and move even if I didn't know it yet ." . I would like to know why it was so . Modern MMORPGs seem to have degenerated to only in 2 models - either the very realistic where everything looks like a human with minor modifications or the very cartoonish where nothing looks realistic .