Aquatics don't really look aquatic

[Me_]

I mean, the portraits are almost all humanoid. There are almost as humanoid as the humanoid portraits and more humanoid than most portrait groups. Arthropoids, Molluscoids, Fungoids, Plantoids and Lithouds have plenty of portraits that do not use the two-handed upright ape look. Why are so many aquatics two-handed upright apes? Why did they evolve that way underwater? What's with the creativity. Admittedly, two are not-upright but oddly-bent which is a funny twist. But still, for such an endless sea of possibilities, way too humanoid.

Also: where is C6. What have you done to C6? It was perfect.

 

[Archael90]

Slimey Slime Boy

Deep Sea Dweller

Which of them looks lkike "Two-handed upright apes"?

 

[Empire of Terra Nova]

Which of them looks lkike "Two-handed upright apes"?

edit.
I cannot paste link to "Slimey Slime Boy" and "Deep Sea Dweller" from Dev Diary

i like those 2, not at all humanoid to me

 

[Me_]

Slimey Slime Boy

Deep Sea Dweller

Which of them looks lkike "Two-handed upright apes"?

Most of the other ones. The right one is a four-handed upright ape.

In particular: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15.

But I guess showing the ones I mean would not make you feel smart.

 

[Archael90]

Most of the other ones. The right one is a four-handed upright ape.

Which one? i havnt seen more portaits, escept a robot one.
no, right one looks like some kind of arthropod, four-arm crab or shrew or something, nothing simmilar to ape except it has hands, or something that can be used as hands.

 

[Quinzal]

I don't know what portraits you're looking at but from what I'm seeing, the ratio of bipedals-to-seaweed is very similar in Aquatics as it is to other species packs. There are bipedal fungi in the base game; I think you can suspend your disbelief a little bit.

Also, what pictures are you looking at where everything looks like a bipedal ape? Maybe you're looking at the aquatic portraits mod? They all look a bit iffy

 

[Serenity84]

Here are pictures from the Stream:

Aquatics Feature Stream today at 1600 CET!

Today at 1600 CET (1500 UTC for those of you who are going to yell at me ;) ) join Live Content Producer cKnoor and Senior Game Designer Eladrin for our first Aquatics Feature Stream! Watch it here: http://twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive

forum.paradoxplaza.com

They aren't all humanoid, but the high amount of portraits with a humanoid torso and two arms is immediately noticeable

 

[Empire of Terra Nova]

Most of the other ones. The right one is a four-handed upright ape.

In particular: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15.

But I guess showing the ones I mean would not make you feel smart.

where can i see all of them?

the big brained dolphin looks pretty humanoid (i guess intentionally as he is even wearing clothes, and from all we know, science use to portrait dolphins as the "most" intelligent underwater animals)

that thing in the middle reminds me of master yoda, after the force had grown him another pair of ears

and the one on the right is an excellent portrait of an aquatic creature



edit: problem solved thx to @Serenity84

this is my favourite one:

and the other ones look fine too! excellent work

 

[Quinzal]

So basically, 1, 4, 5, and 6 are the worst offenders, 3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14 just look like fish grew opposable thumbs, and the rest look like seaweed.

So, 100% on-par for Stellaris species packs.

 

[Ryika]

There's a somewhat joke-y test in creature design: If you squint your eyes, look at the thumbnail of your creature sketch and what you see reminds you of the human form, then you're not trying hard enough to be creative. I think that's kind of where the disagreement comes from? Most of the portraits have stylized, but clearly humanoid forms, but the proportions and details are very "aquatic-like".

In the case of Stellaris, I think that isn't too surprising either. Most people have an easier time emphasizing with creatures that are heavily anthropomorphized in form, and in a game where so much depends on the stories that you create from your empire and the interactions that it has with other empires, having that immediate "familiarity" with the empires you meet is pretty useful.

 

[Dragatus]

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually like it that the portraits appear to be relatively humanoid.

 

[Surimi]

I mean, there are some humanoid portraits in each phenotype because it allows them to have job-specific clothing. Personally, I really like the non-humanoid portraits and tend to use them, but I do enjoy the clothes and I think they do add character to some of the species. Ultimately, while I get that some people are going to want full speczoo aliens, a lot of the science fiction properties that influence Stellaris are mostly populated with humanoid looking aliens, because the aliens had to be played by human actors with prosthetics.

 

[Minuro]

I know what it's like to be slaughtered with "respectfully disagree" so you're not alone. That said, I think portraits are not bad for being humanoid. You may like them more or less, but the truth is that there is a lot of variety.

 

[klopkr]

I don't agree that there's too many humanoids now that we've seen them all. But I do wish there was one that looked like a regular fish, fishing around <><

 

[Veras]

Of all the species groups, actually just arthropoid, fungoid and lithoid have a somewhat larger number of non-humanoid portraits. Lithoid is the only one with more than half of these. So it kind of keeps the tendency since launch.

 

[A2ch0n]

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually like it that the portraits appear to be relatively humanoid.

Agreed, 6 is by far the best portrait in my personal opinion. Over all are the more humanoid ones really good, maybe in addition because of the clothing options here. The lack of clothing on non humanoids is maybe the main reason why i most of the time play more humanoid portraits in any species type (but never humans themself ).

On the non humanoid side i like 10 and 12. I think the art team has found a really good way in the middle between those of us that like humanoid forms for aliens and those that don't. The species pack is over all the best so far for me. In case of all species packs i have always 3-4 portraits i like and 2-3 that are ok for hives. The rest do i not like. That convinces me, that paradox very well know how to fulfill the taste of different players.

And to be honest. The pack is completed and done aniways. There is no need of complaining about things. It won't change (and thats good!). Nobody will like every portrait i think. But i bet, at least one is there for everyone of us what we really like.

 

[Bezborg]

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually like it that the portraits appear to be relatively humanoid.

You’re a weirdo mate

 

[Jean-Luc]

I don't see the problem.

 

[ashbery76]

Yep it seems the budget limits of old sci fi shows still linger in the subconscious.

 

[Bergest]

Humanoids > Weird Blobs