say what they will. It doesnt cover the fact that they are using sex to allure more people to the game. Sadly the venomancer is a fun class to play but due to thier "culture" they are female only. This game does emphasis alot on romance, there are weddings and you can embrace the opposite sex. This does make the game very sexist as males have a huge advantage over females, even in the emotional display.

They could have atleast portrayed both of their art with animals that are ingame. You cannot get a bird. unless you count the phoenix that goes for 200$ about. and there are no bat mobs or infact any mobs that will serve for the gothic theme they portraid. Yeah you can make a devilish looking venomancer but inreality you cannot costomize as they portray. there are no piercings in the game. You can however buy alot of stylish clothes for your chars. but in the case of the Venomancer, your forced to one sex so it quite hurts you to be buying clothes for a female char. let alone get hit on by male chars thinking you must be a female irl if your dressing in provocative clothes.

i would love to see how they try to exaggerate the barbarian's as much as they just did to the venomancer. (that class has utterly little ways to costomize.)

Yet again, as a Westerner, I prefer the original/asian look. The fuzzy/indian feel is really nice. Instead, we get either red underwear or slutty vampire...

Where do I sign up for the non-localized version? And are the people they're supposedly "attracting" with the localization really the type of players they want in their game? Because if they are, not really sure I want to be in a community filled with people who would want this.

Sorry, I just have to criticize the author, why in the world would you use pictures of a class that do not represent the character class in game.  What is the point of looking at art that is different from what is in game?

If you are going to discuss what a class localizes to in game then put in some pictures of the class as it is in the game.  It is quite easy to print out pictures of avatars in the game. 

" You cannot get a bird. unless you count the phoenix"

Where did that comment come from?  There are many different types of birds besides the phoenix that you can get as a pet in the game. 

After reading this article I'm a little miffed at the whole topic.  I've played PW the Malaysian beta, and live game and I've also played PW the International beta which is going on right now.  Saying that this Untamed girl is what the race looks like is not true.  The way PW works you can do many customizations to your avatar so that no two will look alike, which is part of the reason why I wanted to play this game to begin with.  I can't stand MMO's that only give you a few choices of how you can look, resulting in you running into your avatar every 3rd person. 

While it's true you can only be female for this race, it is not true that you only look like this.  It's also not true that you get that armor they are showing.  The game armor goes by levels, and how you skill your character up.  Meaning that if you have more strength points you can wear heavier armor, or more intelligence, a lighter armor.  I have never seen either of the armor sets shown in the art work. 

As for birds as pets, there are some, but as someone stated already there are no bat mobs, so the western art made for us is a fabrication.  I don't understand why they felt the need to "Goth" up the race.  I don't see how making untamed more "Goth" has anything to do with Nature which is the races strength.  If anything I would have rather seen a more animalistic type avatar, not a sluttier one.   I think they should have put her in animal furs and leather straps over the outfit they came up with.  At least the furs and leather would be more in tune with the untamed race.

All I can say is I hope since it's still beta the company will continue to morph the characters in a more believeable direction then a goth pet handler, makes no sense to me at all.

Originally posted by mstrsrevati

... The way PW works you can do many customizations to your avatar so that no two will look alike, which is part of the reason why I wanted to play this game to begin with.  I can't stand MMO's that only give you a few choices of how you can look, resulting in you running into your avatar every 3rd person. ...

I guess you're playing the wrong game then. Facial features, hair color, small details are the last thing you're going to notice when you're lagging through town, and half of the heads have helmets on which look the same anyway. A red tail, a blue one, they're still essentially reskins of the same generic fox tail. Great for ERP gamers, but I think you're overrating character customization in PWI.

Until Champions or DCO come along as challengers, City of Heroes is the only MMO out there right now where you authentically do look unique (including skeletal modifications), and can get to the level cap seeing few, if any, people who look like you.

Originally posted by mstrsrevati

After reading this article I'm a little miffed at the whole topic.  I've played PW the Malaysian beta, and live game and I've also played PW the International beta which is going on right now.  Saying that this Untamed girl is what the race looks like is not true.  The way PW works you can do many customizations to your avatar so that no two will look alike, which is part of the reason why I wanted to play this game to begin with.  I can't stand MMO's that only give you a few choices of how you can look, resulting in you running into your avatar every 3rd person. 

While it's true you can only be female for this race, it is not true that you only look like this.  It's also not true that you get that armor they are showing.  The game armor goes by levels, and how you skill your character up.  Meaning that if you have more strength points you can wear heavier armor, or more intelligence, a lighter armor.  I have never seen either of the armor sets shown in the art work. 

As for birds as pets, there are some, but as someone stated already there are no bat mobs, so the western art made for us is a fabrication.  I don't understand why they felt the need to "Goth" up the race.  I don't see how making untamed more "Goth" has anything to do with Nature which is the races strength.  If anything I would have rather seen a more animalistic type avatar, not a sluttier one.   I think they should have put her in animal furs and leather straps over the outfit they came up with.  At least the furs and leather would be more in tune with the untamed race.

All I can say is I hope since it's still beta the company will continue to morph the characters in a more believeable direction then a goth pet handler, makes no sense to me at all.

what. your telling me perfect world international is still in beta????

wierd its listed here as a full fledged game

Originally posted by Cyrosphere

Until Champions or DCO come along as challengers, City of Heroes is the only MMO out there right now where you authentically do look unique (including skeletal modifications), and can get to the level cap seeing few, if any, people who look like you.

City of Heroes isn't the only MMO like that.  Provided you don't go around in shapeless robes (which have precisely zero effect ingame anyways), its really difficult to find people dressed the same in Mabinogi as well.  Huge selection of armor with mostly the same stats combined with random colors and the ability to die parts will do that.  While I was playing, I could spot anyone I regularly played with without even checking their name.

Frankly though sex sells in the west that kinda thought won't get you farther than a few horny tenagers and upturned noses since you just turned a game deeply rooted in asian mythology but threw out the asian mythology to make room for your sex.

Like the guy before I prefer the suggestive native tribal look than red underwear or slutty vampire. Stick to what your good at because now you lost your individuality and become one of the dozens of MMOs that try to use sex to sell their product.

At least a unique art style and characters will stay with you for a while but the sex appeal will wear off eventually. I know the boobs of Age of Conan could only keep me there so long.

This is just marketing and pretty poor marketing. It isn’t even about the game; It's a promo picture used on the web site.

Yeah... nice art work and all, but as the others have said we're more interested in what it looks like in the game than what the artwork looks like.  If you're trying to localize for a Western audiance, then show screenshots of how the class has changed. We don't play the artwork.

Concept art and other artwork is good when you're talking about a game that is a long time from initial release.  PW isn't one of those titles.

No, I was not playing the wrong game.  As for lagging through towns and not being able to see the differences in each person I guess that has to do with your computer set up.  I never lag in PW.  Even in the most crowded areas of the dragon city.  As for  making the customization sound great, it is.  It's one of the best I've seen in a very long time.  You can go into advanced mode in the customization area and tweak all sorts of aspects of your characters features.  As for the games you mentioned maybe they will be better, great I'm all for that.  But for a free to play game, PW is one of the best for customization of your character.  If the games you mentioned are going to be pay to play I would hope they would have an awesome character customization system. 

Originally posted by maxnrosy

Originally posted by mstrsrevati

After reading this article I'm a little miffed at the whole topic.  I've played PW the Malaysian beta, and live game and I've also played PW the International beta which is going on right now.  Saying that this Untamed girl is what the race looks like is not true.  The way PW works you can do many customizations to your avatar so that no two will look alike, which is part of the reason why I wanted to play this game to begin with.  I can't stand MMO's that only give you a few choices of how you can look, resulting in you running into your avatar every 3rd person. 

While it's true you can only be female for this race, it is not true that you only look like this.  It's also not true that you get that armor they are showing.  The game armor goes by levels, and how you skill your character up.  Meaning that if you have more strength points you can wear heavier armor, or more intelligence, a lighter armor.  I have never seen either of the armor sets shown in the art work. 

As for birds as pets, there are some, but as someone stated already there are no bat mobs, so the western art made for us is a fabrication.  I don't understand why they felt the need to "Goth" up the race.  I don't see how making untamed more "Goth" has anything to do with Nature which is the races strength.  If anything I would have rather seen a more animalistic type avatar, not a sluttier one.   I think they should have put her in animal furs and leather straps over the outfit they came up with.  At least the furs and leather would be more in tune with the untamed race.

All I can say is I hope since it's still beta the company will continue to morph the characters in a more believeable direction then a goth pet handler, makes no sense to me at all.

 

what. your telling me perfect world international is still in beta????

wierd its listed here as a full fledged game

Sorry about that.  I thought PW International was still in beta.  After going to the homepage it seems that the game is no longer in beta and is as you said a full fledged game now.  It also has an expansion on the way.  It's been months since I played it so forgive me for the misinformation.  When I played it was in beta.  So I guess the art work they have showed us is going to be the way the Untamed race is portrayed. 
 

I played it, it was fun for a time. Found out i needed to pay to progress my class, ( buy books from the item shop to finish lvling) so i quit playing after that.

Originally posted by Cyrosphere

Originally posted by mstrsrevati

... The way PW works you can do many customizations to your avatar so that no two will look alike, which is part of the reason why I wanted to play this game to begin with.  I can't stand MMO's that only give you a few choices of how you can look, resulting in you running into your avatar every 3rd person. ...

 

I guess you're playing the wrong game then. Facial features, hair color, small details are the last thing you're going to notice when you're lagging through town, and half of the heads have helmets on which look the same anyway. A red tail, a blue one, they're still essentially reskins of the same generic fox tail. Great for ERP gamers, but I think you're overrating character customization in PWI.

Until Champions or DCO come along as challengers, City of Heroes is the only MMO out there right now where you authentically do look unique (including skeletal modifications), and can get to the level cap seeing few, if any, people who look like you.

Another comment by a person who has not played the game.  Pretty obvious to anyone because helmets do not show on the avatar and that seeing distinct facial features in town is normal.  And don't try to tell me it is the computer, running this game on any old nvidia 5700 with no problems.  If you have something older than that you should not be trying to play games on it.

As to the comment about having to buy books to level your character, that is only post 100 and no one is even close to that level at the moment.   What he should be mentioning is that pvp is about how much you spend on the game, it has nothing to do with skill.  So this game is strictly good via the pve, the pvp is lame.

Why would you make something so incredibly unrepresentitive of what you actually get in-game

For a game thats heavily based on chinese culture why would they deem it neccessary to make art like this and try to pass the game off for something it isn't...

Originally posted by Cyrosphere

Originally posted by mstrsrevati

... The way PW works you can do many customizations to your avatar so that no two will look alike, which is part of the reason why I wanted to play this game to begin with.  I can't stand MMO's that only give you a few choices of how you can look, resulting in you running into your avatar every 3rd person. ...

 

I guess you're playing the wrong game then. Facial features, hair color, small details are the last thing you're going to notice when you're lagging through town, and half of the heads have helmets on which look the same anyway. A red tail, a blue one, they're still essentially reskins of the same generic fox tail. Great for ERP gamers, but I think you're overrating character customization in PWI.

Until Champions or DCO come along as challengers, City of Heroes is the only MMO out there right now where you authentically do look unique (including skeletal modifications), and can get to the level cap seeing few, if any, people who look like you.

Oh yes you'll notice the difference in looks on each characters faces and i guess you never stop running all over towns to really look at other ppl.  This game has the deepest character customization comapred to most other lame mmos that don't really gives two cents if 9 out of 10 ppl you run into look just like you (hint WAR). It is also the very reason i decided to try out this game.

Wait, this is localization of the concept art?  Seriously, concept art?  Not text or storyline or names, but concept art?  How absurd.

Originally posted by mstrsrevati

Sorry about that.  I thought PW International was still in beta.  After going to the homepage it seems that the game is no longer in beta and is as you said a full fledged game now.  It also has an expansion on the way.  It's been months since I played it so forgive me for the misinformation.  When I played it was in beta.  So I guess the art work they have showed us is going to be the way the Untamed race is portrayed. 
 

The three english versions I know of:

Perfect World International (PWI), based in USA. PWI is run by Perfect World Entertainment which is the international subsidiary of the Chinese company Perfect World (the chinese company is on the NYSE, by the way.) PWI has the best English translation that I've seen (but even then there's some problems). PWI has had an expansion applied to it recently.

Perfect World Malaysian-English (PW.my). This is a version of perfect world that is franchised from the Chinese parent company. The translations are not that great, and sometimes quite humorous, but overall still understandable. The use of English names for the NPCs can be quite silly. PW.my has had an expansion as well.

Perfect World Multilanguage (PW.ms). This version is also franchised from the Chinese parent company and is still in open beta. Translation is still a work in progress on this game. This game is receiving an expansion soon (feb 22 or so). PW.ms is the European server, and is catering to several languages (German, English, Turkish, Spanish).

Note that all 3 of these games have the same character art, the same character generation, the same armors, etc. In most respects all three games are the same. The only differences I've seen between the games are some of the items in the cash shop (especially fashion) being different (though all versions seem to have the support --code wise-- for all the other elements, they just aren't 'activated'.) and how the various special events are implimented.

So I have to wonder what the heck the article is talking about in respects to localization. All the game code, patches, and other elements are still being sourced out of China for the franchised versions (there were 12 franchises the last time I checked, in addition to PWI) and as far as I've been able to determine even PWI doesn't have state-side development. The only localization I've seen in the games is in respects to translation efforts.

And no, the venomancers don't look like the concept art in-game.

Look at the game screenshots for a better idea of the game content. :)

-w

Edit: added some screenshots from PWI. Check my profile to see them.

Edit: added bit about ms being european.

I prefer the original art, by a lot.

Since the looks in game are not different between versions and the new art is not representative of what the class can actually look like in game, what is the point? On top of being deceptive, I think it's actually counter-productive for selling the english version of the game.

I guess the US distributor must have an artist friend they wanted to funnel some cash to, or just a budget they had to use up, even if the results were pointless?

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Another comment by a person who has not played the game.  Pretty obvious to anyone because helmets do not show on the avatar and that seeing distinct facial features in town is normal.  And don't try to tell me it is the computer, running this game on any old nvidia 5700 with no problems.  If you have something older than that you should not be trying to play games on it.

Here goes the "attack the person, not the argument" fallacy again. I played it to about level 12 before getting bored, and I did give the character creation a lengthy spin. I'm not sure what your camdist is set to, but unless you're zoomed in or are playing at 640x480 or something, I'm sorry but faces aren't really something you can pay much attention to in towns. Well, again, maybe you do, but I don't.

I'll give you that it's much more custimizable than your other average Asian MMO, but I guess I must be spoiled seeing so much more from other games.

edit: And since we've gotten so derailed.. I definitely also prefer the original art, mainly because it goes against the tide of the general stereotype that only slutty vixens can gain the attention of Western gamers.

Maybe this is just western eyes speaking but the first cloths design (pictured on this thread) looked so much better. Purely because it looked the most original, the other designs, customised for other areas in the game will be released in looked good but old hat.

This was a triumph of marketing over originality of design. The ‘better’ design was the one that marketing thought would fit what Americans wanted to see or would be more acceptable/interesting to them.

In this way marketing stifles originality and would keep us locked in stasis, ignoring anything that seems a bit different.

That said, all the designs are good, but as others noted they do not reflect in game design, this is purely about selling to the customer.  Who as far as marketing is concerned cannot appreciate anything outside his own culture and is sex obsessed.

Originally posted by Cyrosphere

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Another comment by a person who has not played the game.  Pretty obvious to anyone because helmets do not show on the avatar and that seeing distinct facial features in town is normal.  And don't try to tell me it is the computer, running this game on any old nvidia 5700 with no problems.  If you have something older than that you should not be trying to play games on it.

 

Here goes the "attack the person, not the argument" fallacy again. I played it to about level 12 before getting bored, and I did give the character creation a lengthy spin. I'm not sure what your camdist is set to, but unless you're zoomed in or are playing at 640x480 or something, I'm sorry but faces aren't really something you can pay much attention to in towns. Well, again, maybe you do, but I don't.

I'll give you that it's much more custimizable than your other average Asian MMO, but I guess I must be spoiled seeing so much more from other games.

edit: And since we've gotten so derailed.. I definitely also prefer the original art, mainly because it goes against the tide of the general stereotype that only slutty vixens can gain the attention of Western gamers.

You just don't get it do you.  Facial differences ARE very visible in town.  No two people look alike and that is playing at 1024x768 since my system is so old.   This game is FAR more custimizable than any game in the west at present.
 

If you want to attack this game, attack it's real issues not your fabricated ones.  It's item shop is necessary and very expensive.  Pvp is a joke becuase you have to buy your way to success, no skill involved.

The entire point about the original art is who cares, it has nothing to do with the actual game.  Sometimes I wonder about people's reading comprehension.

Is it just me, or does the oiginal concept look like a squirrel? Before I started reading and found out she was upposed to be a fox, I seriously thught she was dressed up liek a squirrel.

Also, why does the gothicized version have 4 ears?

I think it's a signifigant  marketing mistake to ONLY have female avitars for a class....or just male avitars.