I think it's more like the forms aren't well-defined enough, and there needs to be more contrast.  You need to allude more to shapes and etc to create dimension. JWK's pic demonstrates this a bit. Yours is very muddy, John, and the strokes are doing less to define form and more to cause flatness.

Derek follows me for some reason.

http://thernz.tumblr.com/

is it because my name is derek too

Stomping the Game.

Yeah, but I bet your brain is decorated

with knowledge

Go with 3D. There's a greater consistency between the house and grass ground with the extra depth applied to the roof. If you do that, the house will look like it can be interacted with on first glance. I would've just assumed the house was a background element otherwise.

Ass Effect.

Was the Renegade option, "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women"?

Something well-integrated into the field akin to lots of WRPGs or Xenoblade, as well as providing some strategical depth and intuitiveness. Battles should still be pretty fast paced. More strategy-heavy games aren't that fitting for keeping up a cohesive world. Also, don't be dumb and convoluted like Valkyrie Profile 2 where the actual "depth" is just a way to cheese your opponents.

also yeah customization

My reason for it is that it only serves to encourage grind for grind's sake, which doesn't allow for a steeper difficulty curb as the game progresses (it's even worse in action-rpgs like Symphony of the Night where everything gets stupid-easy quickly).

Heh, you didn't even need to grind in SoTN for it to be easy. The game just graciously strengthens your character every step with all its power-ups and knowing where to get the loot.

I would've just had those power-ups and rid of the leveling entirely.

Isn't the black outline supposed to suggest a sense of solidity though?
I think you could stretch the style for this instance.

I never really liked Bioware RPGs starting with KOTOR.

Yeah that's hardly just standard to the JRPG. That's almost Battlestar Galactica!
The original Mass Effect was pretty much emulating that of a old and kitsch Sci-Fi movie, while the sequel became its big budget epic brother.

Also, JRPGs, please never evolve into this. Thanks.

I'm playing xenoblade (review: get it) and ff13 (review: avoid) and they are just the same.

ff12 (review: get it, less for the actual gameplay, and more the ideas it purports through gameplay and strong aesthetic and world, also hitoshi sakimoto soundtrack.)

dont forget your face

too bad the only good modern game is demon's souls!

[Bungle Bug]

Bungle Bug by thernz

bitten by a bungle bug,
is there a crueler fate, she said

to bungle till the first rays of the sun
emaciated corpse with a pulsating groin
for all the blood pumped there

to bungle till the first rays of the sun
she walked from her corpse

yeah, that's better. there you go.

i think the bollywood thing is just an extension of things and the whole thing might extend back to even the aryans, who were likely lighter.

@thernz, I think the world is trying to adhere to the white standard of beauty. This is why Asian girls get circle lenses and eyelid glue to make their eyes look rounder, this is why black girls straighten their hair. All of the features of Nomura's characters are Caucasoid; the arch of the nose, the shape and color of the eyes, the facial bone structure; these are all white features. I think if anything most of these characters end up looking half-Asian, or like Asian-inspired white people, or maybe white-people inspired Asians.

i think my argument was more like it wasn't the white standard of beauty because it's a misappropriation. while it may be influenced by that white standard, it's largely its own thing full of its own nuances like gackt-sama. even with "white features," they are aesthetically and uniquely japanese.

and to me, all of nomura's characters look asian/or ambiguous anime (which is less white and more interpretative based on who views it) in facial features and etc, just with dyed hair and colored contacts which is just ANIME.

barring ff13


literally white

By the way, wasn't the older Nier in US and maybe Europe and the younger in Japan? I think it was a matter of region, not console.

We only got old Nier while Japan got both depending on console.

yeah, this is true even in india, where most of the movie stars in indian bollywood films have really light skin by the standards of india; lighter skin is considered more attractive there

I'm pretty sure that was prevalent before western influence.

It's more like a corrupted second-hand sense of American beauty that doesn't strongly correlate to American taste now anyway. It's evolved into its own thing. Kinda like how bizarre Deadly Premonition is. I really wouldn't put much value in the racist opinions of other groups too. I mean they've also called Japan morally defunct, and I believe there's a substantial amount of Korean influence nowadays. I really don't think bishounens or etc., aka the source of the problem for Phubans, came from American influence. Hell, Yoshitaka employed a lot of

Long, shaggy hair? Check.
Physically attractive faces with effeminate features? Check.
All in the same age group of about 18 years old? Check.
Decked out in clothing that is more fashionable than functional? Check.

too. Their faces are even more extremely idealized when Yoshitaka does that.

of course he's western-influenced too
there's clearly a lot of jean giraud in his work, as well as the typical western fantasy

nomura is terrible for other reasons, they're less rooted in fashion-fetishism and in how he applies those elements, be it: color, balance, etc.

all adhering to the "Caucasian standard of beauty"

what are you on

it's clearly adhering to the "Japanese standard of beauty."
have you looked at any japanese fashion, i don't think caucasian fashion would ever focus on their core aspects. there's a reason why ff13 female chars all look more based off of japanese female models than white people.

ff12 hero/vaan isn't even the protagonist. the player plays the role of an observer. it's basch who's the real star-baby. i think they changed it to vaan because vagrant story got a bad reception because you played as an older than usual (and daddy) char too. of course, they're pretty too, but i prefer their personalities.

i'm not sure if it was marketing pressure that caused vaan to appear, but i think it's an interesting perspective, where your own role isn't central, to be used in a rpg.

i am mostly talking about the actual function of the character than the visual design, but i think that's more important to look it. visual character design should never supplant the actual function and design (personality, etc) of the character. vaan's visual design is somewhat irksome with the armor he has. he would've been better without it. as i can't see how armor embellishes on how he's a street rascal who lithely steals. without it, i think it's fine and aladdin-esque.