I didn’t even realize which hairstyle this was ‘inspired by’ until I saw this thread :/ really disappointing. I hope they fix this bc the situation is ridiculous
I didn’t even realize which hairstyle this was ‘inspired by’ until I saw this thread :/ really disappointing. I hope they fix this bc the situation is ridiculous
It feels like they went with a safe option based on their design documents, but those design documents resulted in the joke afro we currently have. Please squeenix, get some outside consultants to look at the designs like these. I refuse to believe its a rendering issue.
Adding my support as well. I had to double check if that hair really was supposed to be inspired by that entry, because it looks nothing like it. And there were so many people celebrating it when it got selected as a winner!
It looks so far off that if they added that hair and said nothing about it being "inspired by" a winner entry, most people wouldn't even be able to tell. But them confirming it was, it is disappointing because it looks like they didn't even try to replicate it, or completely misunderstood it.
Replying here to voice my frustration with this. I've wanted to see properly rendered curls of some kind in game for a long time, and seeing a really well-made concept implemented with so little care feels horrible.
Wanted to throw in on this. Extremely disappointing to get a hairstyle that so aggressively avoids the very spirit of the winning design. Flat, wet hair waves are not at all a substitute for tight curls. I don't know if the screenshot previews are just particularly unfortunate, but in general the shots presented make that hair feel remarkably low quality, especially compared to other recent hairstyles, especially Hrothgal hairs, which DO have curls.
Coming into this thread to say this, both in support of those commenting and square enix's devs. I'm very disappointed by this hair, especially as someone with curly hair, but I will say that I do not blame the devs entirely that this is the result based on how the game currently handles hair. That being said, I think this is a good sign that things need to be changed, at least slightly.
For those who may not know, hair in this game is nothing more than flat pieces of paper stacked on top of each other (that's why Miqote's fluffy tails have that cross(+) at the end of it for example. It's just two flat pngs). As such, any curls they make would end up as flat images, like the ones on female highlanders.
In response to some of the comments made in this thread. Using enemy models as a basis on what can be accomplished with character models is not the same. When designing an enemy, Square Enix never has to consider 300-1000+ of those models being on the same map and standing in the same location (Patch day MSQ locations, Hunt trains, holiday events, hell-- Limsa Lominsa's lobby). What Square Enix can accomplish on enemies is not feasible logically on players in an mmorpg, at least if they want to be considerate to as many people's computer/console specs as they can. Even if you hide most players from sight, the presence of that many players still affects your gameplay performance to some degree.
That being said, this hair could definitely be better. Literally just adding a few defining strands at the top I think would be nice to add volume. And at least add SOME curls to the texture. With their current system, having nothing but curls would probably look bad from most angles, but a few here and there I think would help create a better illusion of a large amount of curly hair rather than just waves.
(edit): fixing some typos. Probably still missed some.
The whole point of winning the contest is to have your hairstyle design implemented into the game. Its not for SE to be "inspired" by it, then add a hairstyle thats only similarity to the winner is that its a hairstyle.
Disappointing, Square Enix. Do better, actually try for once.
Please please consider updating this hairstyle with the constructive criticism that has been mentioned in this thread. It lost so much of the original concept. "Inspired by" is such a disservice to the true intent of the hairstyle.
This hairstyle is stunningly in bad faith and terribly executed. SE you should be ashamed, especially when there's tons of curly hair textures already in the game on non player models.
A good contemporary MMO to compare graphic capabilities to is Guild Wars 2, which came out around the same time as 2.0. Like in this game, hair is made with flat polygons + textures, but by using similar techniques to how you would render say, voluminous plants like trees or bushes, combining polygons at many angles with good texturework can create voluminous hair with tight curl patterns. And yes, I do mean for player characters! Guild Wars 2 implemented a bunch of textured hairstyles in some of its later expansions.