Ithelia looks so weird

ArchangelIsraphel · June 5

With every new screenshot I see, she gets stranger and stranger.

Her appearance is strangely inconsistent. Every few minutes, she seems to be experiencing a violent metamorphosis between Britney Spears, Cher, and...every now and then, a very young Mick Jagger.

Her face never looks quite the same way twice. I mean, it could be the differences between every ones computers, but still.

Mirrormoor keeps rubber-banding between the 70's and the late 90's, and I'm here for it. I'm just...not quite sure WHAT it is I'm here for...XD

Soarora · June 5

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

@Soarora Great job! That improves her appearance immensely. Especially the alterations to the direction of her pupils and the added highlight.

The other thing that bothers me about her is that the size of her head is very, very out of proportion to her body. That or the disproportionate narrowness of her shoulders is making it look that way. Human bodies just...don't work like that. I know she's a daedric prince but...y'know... XD

Her hands also seem way too large for her arms.

There's just so many strange proportional issues with the entire character model. It's not really about her -looks- per-se, but just...anatomical issues.

Thank you! I agree, she has the potential to look very pretty, or even pretty and creepy at the same time, but right now she just looks confusing. If ZOS was going for zoned out eyes, I don't think having her half-lidded AND have dull eyes AND have no highlight AND have her eyes facing different directions is the way to go. It's not clear to the audience as anything other than "there's something wrong with her model". Either have normal eyes that are zoned out slightly or focused eyes that have no light, or just focus them and have light anyways because her model itself is uncanny because it doesn't fit the style of ESO at all.

And yeah, I thought her head looked weird too. I didn't wanna mess with her head shape as her head shape is fine, but you're right it looks very large compared to her shoulders and arms.

Sinhalis · June 5

Her model looks more borderlands than Elder Scrolls

E_Lucan · June 5

Soarora wrote: »

Thank you! I agree, she has the potential to look very pretty, or even pretty and creepy at the same time, but right now she just looks confusing. If ZOS was going for zoned out eyes, I don't think having her half-lidded AND have dull eyes AND have no highlight AND have her eyes facing different directions is the way to go. It's not clear to the audience as anything other than "there's something wrong with her model". Either have normal eyes that are zoned out slightly or focused eyes that have no light, or just focus them and have light anyways because her model itself is uncanny because it doesn't fit the style of ESO at all.

This! This is so true. Looking at the trailer and artwork that was done of her prior, her design has so much potential. I kind of see the direction they were going but in terms of the model, it's far from there - they could have made the eyes look cloudy, or even solid coloured and glowing, with the latter option also completely solving the animation problem lol.

I also wish they'd made the beads in her hair little shards, to sort of reference her 'wings' in the rest of her design, instead of being more 'generic' gold beads.

SkaraMinoc · June 5

Ithelia is basically Connie Nielsen in the trailer.

But she race changes into a sleep deprived Priyanka Chopra in game.

red_emu · June 5

I actually wish our character models got updated in this fashion. The polygons and low textures from 10 years ago look a bit jarring in comparison to the fidelity of new zones.

Muizer · June 5

The only thing special I see is that she's more like a real world woman than anything in-game, either npc or player character. Have yet to see her in game though.

Shagreth · June 5

Upon inspecting her model further -- I'll say it definitely needs work. But what's borderline uncanny valley stuff are the current character models, maybe we're just used to said models and their deformities filling the ESO space.. and everything else looks weird.

New models are a necessity at this point, though it will probably never happen with the current 'play it safe' direction.

WhiteCoatSyndrome · June 5

Soarora wrote: »

Fair enough! I agree her facial features themselves aren't the problem, it's that her design is so extremely different than other NPCs and the objective issues with her texturing. Her looking different from the typical art style of ESO can be chalked up to "well she's a Daedric Prince", she may have no lights in her eyes and be so high res to be creepy on purpose, but if this is the case I feel like ZOS should confirm this and the way her mouth moves and the eyelid crease is just her texture isn't fitting right on her face which I don't think can be excused.

Agree with all this, I said it during PTS but it looks like she was ported in from a different game.

Sockermannen · June 5

To me it definitely looks like the face textures, model and animations don’t match up properly and i hope ZoS revisits her design and fixes it.

Also, ZoS, while you’re at it, can we have her outfit? pretty please?

amig186 · June 5

TaSheen wrote: »

CameraBeardThePirate wrote: »

Whoever's Ithelia that is, ZOS should have used her.... AWESOME.

It's nobody's. That is Maya from the Borderlands series.

TaSheen · June 5

amig186 wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

CameraBeardThePirate wrote: »

Whoever's Ithelia that is, ZOS should have used her.... AWESOME.

It's nobody's. That is Maya from the Borderlands series.

Oh. Never played it. Makes a better Ithelia though!

agelonestar · June 5

What's the Tamriel equivalent of Botox.....?

ArchangelIsraphel · June 5

agelonestar wrote: »

What's the Tamriel equivalent of Botox.....?

Voriplasm injection as lip filler.

It might explain why she turns green in the screenshot a few pages back...hmm.

Arizona_Steve · June 5

The fundamental problem it seems is that Ithelia departs too much from the standard character artwork and is somewhat jarring as a result. And I think the comments about the animation rigging are valid - it would seem that a new skeleton and/or set of animations is needed here to make the facial animations less... uncanny valley.

I do hope the Elven hero appears as one of the new companions

This_0ne · June 5

I really would like to know why Ithelia looks so alien for eso when we have a great Sheogorad (even though I prefer the cat-eyed version)
I have no problems with her design as a Daedric Prince, but I have a lot of questions about the quality and style of her model

Sepultura_13 · June 5

Arizona_Steve wrote: »

The fundamental problem it seems is that Ithelia departs too much from the standard character artwork and is somewhat jarring as a result. And I think the comments about the animation rigging are valid - it would seem that a new skeleton and/or set of animations is needed here to make the facial animations less... uncanny valley.

At least the standard character artwork still looks more authentic.<snip>

I get that people don't like "real" anymore. I guess I'm an old-school outlier! FWIW, I look 20 years younger than I am, in spite of major stressors over the past year. No surgery or other alterations, either.

Back on-topic, Ithelia resembles a lot of people who I see IRL with plastic, unmoving, expressionless faces and horrific duck-lips. Nothing normal, natural, or attractive.

<snipped for Inappropriate Content and Language>

Soarora · June 5

Sepultura_13 wrote: »

Arizona_Steve wrote: »

The fundamental problem it seems is that Ithelia departs too much from the standard character artwork and is somewhat jarring as a result. And I think the comments about the animation rigging are valid - it would seem that a new skeleton and/or set of animations is needed here to make the facial animations less... uncanny valley.

At least the standard character artwork still looks more authentic. <snip>

I get that people don't like "real" anymore. I guess I'm an old-school outlier! FWIW, I look 20 years younger than I am, in spite of major stressors over the past year. No surgery or other alterations, either.

Back on-topic, Ithelia resembles a lot of people who I see IRL with plastic, unmoving, expressionless faces and horrific duck-lips. Nothing normal, natural, or attractive.

I think she looks fine, she just doesn’t have euro-centric features. People can have large lips without injections. That said, the rigging really doesn’t help.
And also no, as far as I know people still prefer no surgery.

furiouslog · June 5

she looks like a women's studies college drop out who now manages a cannabis dispensary

Cambion2401 · June 5

I don't mind the model in and off itself honestly. Not that she's pretty now, but not everyone needs to be a beauty. She could use with a bit less high eyefold tho lol. Anyways, the current model reminds me of the RPG's I still play from 2000~2015. But the textures (especially the face) just look like a very different artstyle than other characters and the rest of the game. I get wanting to give her unique ones and not reusing the ones used on other NPC's. But they're too different.

Honestly, I think if they can make the textures fit with the rest of the game, it would be fine.

Perhaps it's due to the fact the textures have greatly improved over the years. Just look at the armours from early in the game and those released more recent. There is also no comparing in texture detail there. I guess what happened is they also updated their skin textures (or at least tried too, if it's really an improvement I leave as a separate discussion). But because all NPC's and players use the original textures, it just looks very out of place. It's way more obvious than armours and such.

SickleCider · June 5

Soarora wrote: »

Sepultura_13 wrote: »

Arizona_Steve wrote: »

The fundamental problem it seems is that Ithelia departs too much from the standard character artwork and is somewhat jarring as a result. And I think the comments about the animation rigging are valid - it would seem that a new skeleton and/or set of animations is needed here to make the facial animations less... uncanny valley.

At least the standard character artwork still looks more authentic. Ithelia looks like she was drawn up from someone's internalized OnlyFans/Pr0nHub fantasy freakshow.

I get that people don't like "real" anymore. I guess I'm an old-school outlier! FWIW, I look 20 years younger than I am, in spite of major stressors over the past year. No surgery or other alterations, either.

Back on-topic, Ithelia resembles a lot of people who I see IRL with plastic, unmoving, expressionless faces and horrific duck-lips. Nothing normal, natural, or attractive.

I think she looks fine, she just doesn’t have euro-centric features. People can have large lips without injections. That said, the rigging really doesn’t help.
And also no, as far as I know people still prefer no surgery.

👏✨ Bold for emphasis!

Finedaible · June 5

Why is everyone making fun of Steve Buscemi?

Kikazaru · June 5

Her face looks very tired.

VouxeTheMinotaur · June 5

dude she looks like a PS2 era NPC, PS3 at best maybe. I'm laughing so much

16BitForestCat · June 5

Wow, this is so odd. She looks like an unfinished character model that got tossed in for the testing phase, and the devs forgot to update it to its final form. (Which could very well be the case, knowing how development works on this game, actually.)

Is she having an allergic reaction? Did she get stung in the lip by a Daedric bee that caused her face to simultaneously swell out of proportion and de-res? She doesn't look "inhuman Daedric Prince" unnatural or "uncanny valley" unnatural; she just looks "we'll fix it in post...oops" unnatural.

(I was one of those who was hoping she'd look very non-humanoid because we already have plenty of generic Pretty Prince Humanoid Ladies...but not like this.)

Morimizo · June 5

Rosario Dawson is impatiently waiting for her Name, Image and Likeness check. It's on the way, right Zos?

It's not that Ithelia looks strange, it's that she too closely resembles a real world (not Tamriel!) human.

Finedaible · June 5

This does have me wondering if ZoS may be using AI-assisted tools for character creation though.

KlauthWarthog · June 5

Well, this does explain why Hermaus Mora was so eager to have her sealed away.

NeuroticPixels · June 5

Shagreth wrote: »

Is she sporting what could be a slightly updated character model? They eventually NEED to do that

That was my first guess. I’m all for updated NPCs but I know some players will have an absolute meltdown if their characters get touched.

TaSheen · June 5

NeuroticPixels wrote: »

Shagreth wrote: »

Is she sporting what could be a slightly updated character model? They eventually NEED to do that

That was my first guess. I’m all for updated NPCs but I know some players will have an absolute meltdown if their characters get touched.

Yes. Absolutely, especially if it's something horrendous like Ithelia.