As the face packs multiply, plausibility declines

[liamgamer55]

So as the number of ethnicities keeps on growing, it seems like the amount of plausibility with the facepacks is just going to decline more and more.

I just had my cousin, who is Arab looking because he's half Ethiopian and half Norman... marry a Russian girl and the game randomly decided that halfway between Russian and half black+white is Russian. I know it's just graphics but it's pretty immersion breaking. At the very least can we have half and half looking kids for each graphics type combo? It's a lot of graphics work but still, the way it works currently is starting to annoy me. An East African unit pack (with people with black faces that actually look Ethiopian, not west African) would solve the white+black=arab issue at least (by having a slightly more plausible looking in between avaliable for the game to use).

 

[riknap]

you see, the problem of making "hybrid" faces is that you need an entirely different "pack"/set for each.
So an Arab and a West European hybrid is different from a Russian and Arab hybrid or Arab and Middle Eastern Hybrid.
As an aside, if you've happened to have read any of the comments of the graphic artists of the face packs, they often state how they have to achieve a "generic" look as much as possible, which can only imply that there just isn't enough resources to justify creating face pack combo's.

 

[HabemusZlatan]

If this is an excuse to have an East African face/unit pack then I agree with you.

 

[Lessing]

I bet there's a software company out there selling an engine that models faces with given input parameters a la ethnic heritage(s), beauty, health, and so on.

 

[artesox]

To be sincere, about east africa, we need more than a spritepack to fix it

 

[liamgamer55]

As an aside, if you've happened to have read any of the comments of the graphic artists of the face packs, they often state how they have to achieve a "generic" look as much as possible, which can only imply that there just isn't enough resources to justify creating face pack combo's.

Ofcourse there's the issue of limited resources, but still, hopefully in a few months to a year's time if people keep buying dlcs then we'll get to the point where there's not too much completely implausible looking people going on.

If this is an excuse to have an East African face/unit pack then I agree with you.

It is indeed, as that could either be the half white/half black pack, the half arab/half black pack (which may affect west african rulers as well) or both.

 

[TheLionHeart]

I am still mad about all the Africans looking like pagans with their face paint and such. Only pagan Africans should use the face paint, while Muslim and Christian ones wear turbans and normal Arab clothing.

 

[Pinstar]

I'm glad I haven't picked up the face packs... My French Dynasty who...just by chance, happen to LOVE marrying Golden Horde Mongol women has a nice hybrid look going to them. Are there any specific packs that people would recommend as being generally all-positive in terms of what they add to the game?

 

[liamgamer55]

I'm glad I haven't picked up the face packs... My French Dynasty who...just by chance, happen to LOVE marrying Golden Horde Mongol women has a nice hybrid look going to them. Are there any specific packs that people would recommend as being generally all-positive in terms of what they add to the game?

Well, my favourite/the most useful one would have to be the arab faces pack.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

Well, my favourite/the most useful one would have to be the arab faces pack.

Wut ? There's no arab face pack. You either mean mongols or african i suppose.

 

[liamgamer55]

I thought the arab faces weren't in by default, let me have a look at what's actually avaliable then. In that case I'd choose Mongol faces. They're very well done and aren't jarring at all.

 

[Swxpert]

I am still mad about all the Africans looking like pagans with their face paint and such. Only pagan Africans should use the face paint, while Muslim and Christian ones wear turbans and normal Arab clothing.

I wonder if it is a cultural thing as well as a religious one because I swear it doesn't matter what religion a guy is, if he is Magreb or andulusian, he has a turban on.

 

[TheLionHeart]

I wonder if it is a cultural thing as well as a religious one because I swear it doesn't matter what religion a guy is, if he is Magreb or andulusian, he has a turban on.

Yeah, especially when kings of Jerusalem convert to Levantine they start wearing a turban and become sultan. It happens very frequently too, maybe if they change culture appearance shouldn't change.

 

[unmerged(150945)]

There doesn't need to be a new face pack for every combination, they just need to dis-associate appearance from culture. All different possible mixed-race characters can be represented by the Arabic or Mediterranean face sets as long as they don't have to wear turbans or Byzantine crowns.

 

[Jeltz]

I wonder if it is a cultural thing as well as a religious one because I swear it doesn't matter what religion a guy is, if he is Magreb or andulusian, he has a turban on.

I think the face paint is added based only on the culture, where it instead should be added only based on religion.

 

[Federalist girl]

There doesn't need to be a new face pack for every combination, they just need to dis-associate appearance from culture. All different possible mixed-race characters can be represented by the Arabic or Mediterranean face sets as long as they don't have to wear turbans or Byzantine crowns.

Uh they've already done that. Graphical culture and culture are two different things.

When an African and a Westerner marry, their kids might have an Arab skin tone but will still dress like the culture portrayed on their character page.