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Dofus needs better aesthetics, more customisation, and a whole lot less UGLY.
By petticoatpetticoat#4305 December 01, 2006, 12:08:06I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned, but a primary motivator for some of us who play a game is the aesthetics and customisation of it, being able personalise our character to make it uniquely our own. Dofus, however, leaves much to be desired in this department. For instance with the character design, other than variations in colour, these characters lack any sort of distinctiveness or identity. All the characters have the same look, the same, usually very ugly, hair style, and the same blank, expressionless faces. Sure you may be able to colour your character sprite into a bright-pink glow in the dark monstrosity, or to make it into the whitest albino to ever live, but everyone still resembles a lackluster paper cut out of everyone else. Not to mention the in-game character sprites are decidedly ugly, uninteresting and coarse, perhaps a redesign is in order to make them more closely resemble the character art on the website. Wasn't this game in part inspired by anime and korean mmorpgs and such? Did they not realize the importance of differentiating and individualising characters and incorporate it into the game.
Character sprites aside, much of the cloaks and hats especially are decidedly ugly as well. Perhaps it's just me, but from a female perspective, I don't merely choose my equipment based on stats alone, I'd like them to be aesthetically pleasing as well. I'm sick of having to choose between ugly equipment and even uglier equipment. Come to think of it, perhaps why Dofus lacks different hairstyles, most of the hideous headgears cover up your entire head. I really don't understand how a good game can go so wrong in art design. Was there just a general consensus that players would find it appealing to dress their characters up to look like disproportioned mutated science experiments? Did the developers just decide that players cared little for visual stimulus? Why is it that different spells have the same re-hashed, or dull graphics? I realize that this is a game that doesn't focus on providing eye-popping graphics and such, but as it is now, it all seems a bit sub-par.
Perhaps Dofus should take a hint from all those sickeningly cute korean/japanese games, perhaps we don't have to go that far, but cute sells, at least to a portion of the female population that play this game, or those with some semblance of a discriminating eye.
Character sprites aside, much of the cloaks and hats especially are decidedly ugly as well. Perhaps it's just me, but from a female perspective, I don't merely choose my equipment based on stats alone, I'd like them to be aesthetically pleasing as well. I'm sick of having to choose between ugly equipment and even uglier equipment. Come to think of it, perhaps why Dofus lacks different hairstyles, most of the hideous headgears cover up your entire head. I really don't understand how a good game can go so wrong in art design. Was there just a general consensus that players would find it appealing to dress their characters up to look like disproportioned mutated science experiments? Did the developers just decide that players cared little for visual stimulus? Why is it that different spells have the same re-hashed, or dull graphics? I realize that this is a game that doesn't focus on providing eye-popping graphics and such, but as it is now, it all seems a bit sub-par.
Perhaps Dofus should take a hint from all those sickeningly cute korean/japanese games, perhaps we don't have to go that far, but cute sells, at least to a portion of the female population that play this game, or those with some semblance of a discriminating eye.
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but character customization is a good idea. too bad that when it was proposed a while ago (through a cash shop plan) everyone panicked and screamed "no!" we had a chance for that sort of customization, but blew it.
I do have to agree that the color combination system is pretty limited... well, you can choose any color you want, but most are a bad idea, so what few combinations exist are all shared. It would be nice if you could color pieces more individually, rather than only 3 colors.
You know what wouldn't be hard to do, either? A shop where you can re-color your clothes. We even have dyes in Dofus... I bet people would have fun with that.
Maybe you have an eye for art, but you might be lacking in a sense of humour. You're missing the joke; Dofus is a rediculous game of rediculous premis with rediculous characters. If you're playing this game with an expectation that you're going to dress dolls in pretty clothes, you're in for day after day of dissapointment. Dofus recognizes its own redicule; a game based on cats throwing playing cards and old men throwing shovels chasing after kissing chickens and biting sheep. It doesn't pretend that there is anything hip or cool here.
Maybe you have an eye for art, but you might be lacking in a sense of humour. You're missing the joke; Dofus is a rediculous game of rediculous premis with rediculous characters. If you're playing this game with an expectation that you're going to dress dolls in pretty clothes, you're in for day after day of dissapointment. Dofus recognizes its own redicule; a game based on cats throwing playing cards and old men throwing shovels chasing after kissing chickens and biting sheep. It doesn't pretend that there is anything hip or cool here.
Oh I get the whole quirky aspect of the game and such, but I don't see how the whole "ridiculous-ness" of it all has anything to do with having better designed character sprites and equipments that satisfies a broad spectrum of looks for a mixed group of people. If you want to dress your character in a hideous prespic lining and you think that looks great, then fine. But there should be more better looking options for those who don't.
Off-topic, but another addition I would like is when a trade goes through, I would like a little message in the text box comfirms the trade was successful and/or what items I received. Also when an item is sold in the sellrooms, I would like to know the item and quantity of what was sold rather just merely the amount acquired.
Also why is it that after some crit-fails you can still move and after others you can't? I would like it to be consistent that after a crit-fail you can still use your remaining ap/mp points or at least just the mp points.
i actually like the way a lot of the equipment looks...
but character customization is a good idea. too bad that when it was proposed a while ago (through a cash shop plan) everyone panicked and screamed "no!" we had a chance for that sort of customization, but blew it.
Why must it be through a cash shop plan? If you p2p it should be inherent in the package. Compared to other subscription mmorpgs, dofus has one of the most limited character customisations and I don't know why that is.
Also why is it that after some crit-fails you can still move and after others you can't? I would like it to be consistent that after a crit-fail you can still use your remaining ap/mp points or at least just the mp points.
It's one of the variables they use to balance spells. It also adds diversity in how spells function. It also adds slightly to strategic depth, as in:
Should I risk casting this fatal-cf spell before I move and my los is blocked? It would help the party, but if I cf I'll be toast.
Oh, the drama! *chuckles*
That was one of the main reasons i went p2p oh so many months ago , i thought the flow and style of the art was astounding and so diffrent from anything i had seen at the time .
I believe the reason that characters arent so customizable is just to keep things in line and just generally keep the game package smaller .
I believe the reason that characters arent so customizable is just to keep things in line and just generally keep the game package smaller .
oof - the game download is so huge already (especially considering the relative simplicity of the game: 2D, flash, etc.) that allowing for more detailed color customization, or even other details like hair style, would probably be swollowed up by whatever new featured they added, you'd never notice
I do agree, though - the graphics are beautiful
Yea, I generally agree that the landscapes are nice, colourful and whatnot. Yes, Astrub looks nice, yea, bonta looks amazing, brakmar... well brakmar is brakmar. But I'm just talking about the characters/equipment here.
You might wanna make this quite obvious in your first post cos the name suggests that looking at the game makes you wretch or something..
Yea, I generally agree that the landscapes are nice, colourful and whatnot. Yes, Astrub looks nice, yea, bonta looks amazing, brakmar... well brakmar is brakmar. But I'm just talking about the characters/equipment here.
You might wanna make this quite obvious in your first post cos the name suggests that looking at the game makes you wretch or something..
I thought the body of the post was sufficient indication of what I was talking about as I made no mention of changing the landscapes.
Yea, I generally agree that the landscapes are nice, colourful and whatnot. Yes, Astrub looks nice, yea, bonta looks amazing, brakmar... well brakmar is brakmar. But I'm just talking about the characters/equipment here.
You might wanna make this quite obvious in your first post cos the name suggests that looking at the game makes you wretch or something..
I thought the body of the post was sufficient indication of what I was talking about as I made no mention of changing the landscapes.
Well several people have mentioned the landscapes. I think the Title makes such a big impression on people that they will pretty much think that you are not liking all of the graphics unless you say that you like the backdrops.. just saying..
And crafts are better looking because a tailor made it and can add some fashion. but character customisation is very good idea i thought it too but i never posted.
Why is it that different spells have the same re-hashed, or dull graphics?
I like the overall artwork, but this is absolutely true. Every spell or action should be worth a different animation (f.e. Panda's and Sac's death is the same).
and some characters look kinda stupid