Soga-dwarves are ugly !

[ZerkerDwarf]

<p>OK, this thread does not contribute much. It's more a personal opinion only.</p><p>SOGA-DWARVES ARE UGLY !!!</p><p>I like my dwarf very much and therefore I deactivate soga on them. Dark Elves etc. may look quite good in soga but soga-dwarves are TOTALLY ugly and misshaped.</p><p>Why do they have such a rediculous body in soga? If soe wants them to look asian, it would have been sufficient to asialize the face! The soga-body isn't dwarfish at all with their ugly long thin legs.</p><p>To repeat myself: it would have been sufficient to asialize the face ONLY to satisfy fans of Lineage and this ...stuff.</p><p>Dwarfes HAVE to be stocky/thickset (nothing to do with fat, clumsy!). By the way, dwarfes are nordic and a bit celtic by origin.</p><p>No one forces me to enable soga for them, but I really don't like the idea that others watch my toon in this ugly soga-mode...</p>

[Maroger]

<p>Soga seems to only work correctly for Dark Elves - MALE. Basically the Soga character are totally unattractive and remind me of some cheap anime art.</p><p>I really wish that SOE could have made the Dark Elves look as attractive as they in EQ1 so I wouldn't have to use SOGA.</p><p>I really question the need for Asian looking characters in a Fantasy world based on W. Europe. The Asia look fitted in nicely with Fallen Dynasty but is wrong elsewhere in the game. </p>

[Bloodfa]

<p>All dwarves are ugly.  Duh.  You think Gimli gets much action?</p>

[Xalmat]

A matter of opinion, but I don't like any of the Soga character models. I always cringe when I see people post screenshots of their characters, and it's not the US-model version.

[Velsha]

SOGA models were originally released as a marketing tool for EQ2's release in Asia. Eventually, SOE decided to just make them available on the US version also, since people began to request them. Some people like SOGA, some don't. Who cares? You don't have to see them on your screen unless people have them in screenshots.

[Bramwe]

I also absolutely HATE my SOGA dwarf model.  He has a tiny little waist and legs and a big ole' gorilla upper torso.  My US model is well proportioned.  The ogres seem the same way to me, disproportionate.  I have my SOGA models turned off and very much dislike the fact others can see the SOGA model.  It is the only reason I have my helm showing, otherwise it would be off.

[AbsentmindedMage]

What is the purpose of this thread?  Is it to just tell us how much you hate the Soga models?  There have been countless threads on the OPINIONS of everyone both against and for the alternate models.  It all boils down to personal choice and opinion.  Some people find some of the models better looking than the originial and others do not. However, everyone is giving the option of seeing the characters in the models they want to see them in. It is very amusing that a similar discussion is taking place in the original everquest game over an update of the human models there.  Like here, there is a huge outcry of people complaining about the upgraded models saying they look worse.  It is my belief that people become attached to a certain way of things and will find whatever excuse they can thing up to stay with that way of things.   So, you see people inaccurately calling the SOGA models anime'.   I think I am fairly objective on the subject and the only animish aspect I can see is the spiky hairstyles which are similar to those seen in Final Fantasy.   Both the original and the alternate models look like cartoons to me.  I think if the SOGA models came first and then the original came second, you would see complaint threads of people talking about the playdough and unattractive blob like aspects of the original models.  You would also see people complaining about how the gnomes didnt have the pointy ears and big noses in the original models like they did in the old and in eq1.

[Snowdonia]

<cite>Maroger wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Soga seems to only work correctly for Dark Elves - MALE. </p></blockquote>They look like they're wearing lipstick to me. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> All SOGA models look too cookie cutter and the female elven races are all squashed faced. I use to use em cuz I thought they looked really good. Then I went back to the original models cuz there was far more variety and individuality in appearance that you can't achieve in SOGA. I'm also very recent to the game, only going on a year in July so I wasn't jaded to liking the old over the new before SOGA hit. Like I said, I use to use SOGA exclusively when I started out, until I revisited the original models and found them to be more attractive on the whole with far more diversity. Some races/genders just need work period. High Elf Males, Wood Elf Males, Dark Elf Males, and Barbarian Females come to mind when I think FUGLY when looking at their original models (And Barbarian females are FUGLY in SOGA as well).

[Chay]

Its always going to be a matter of opinion. For me the only SOGA model that looks right is the human female, and that's mainly because the hair and face in the original version got whacked hard by the ugly stick. The bodies don't look right at all to me. Frankly I don't think they SOGA look like anime at all. Anime has expression in the faces, the SOGA look bland and misshapen to me. I have a disclaimer in most of my bios: If you're looking at me in SOGA you aren't looking at me. TURN SOGA OFF! Sadly I still see screen shots from SOGA users and I'm thinking... Ewww...

[Polywogus]

I'm a SOGA user for the most part. I enjoy much of the original hair & seeing the sliders actually make a difference in the way your characters look - but I cannot stand the claymation / crossed eyes of original, so SOGA it is. As for Dwarves in SOGA, yah...they're bad. Keep the original model on =p

[Valsehna]

<p>I keep all of them off, having thought they looked incredibly awful.  Just my personal opinion of course.</p><p>The male dark elves with their weird zinc-oxide surfer lips...uhm yuck.  The female dark elves with the perma-scowl and exaggerated huge frown paired with teensy-weensy nose.</p><p>The humongous donkey ears..ugh.</p>

[Polywogus]

Definitely agree w/ the male DE lips, for a while I thought it a setting on my system!. For the scowl, I like it/find it fitting & I actually like the ears =P I know I'm in the minority on that tho <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[ZerkerDwarf]

<p>PLEASE DON'T MIX IT UP. NOTHING AGAINST ASIAN HERITAGE OR IMAGES ABOUT FAIRYTALES AND THAT. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DISCRIMINATION OF BELIEFS, FOLKLORE, OUTFIT ETC.</p><p>Just want to say a soga-dwarf isn't a dwarf any longer with its strange non-dwarfish torso-leg ratio (probably in Asia, too...)</p><p>Nothing (!!!) against the style of other cultures, but soga LOOKS like as if it there was not spent that much time developing it than the non-soga models. They are not ugly, because they are not "western" style, they just SEEM to be modelled overhasted. That's the point.</p><p>And as I said, everybody can turn on and off soga as s/he wants. Nobody is forced to do anything (including me).</p>

[Winter]

<p><span style="color: #ff33cc">Please be respectful, guys... The folklore varies greatly in cultures. Heck, Dwarves were pretty much mountain faeries in Teutonic and Scandinavian stories. Supposedly, they were child like even! </span></p><p><span style="color: #ff33cc">Keep in mind that different countries have different fairy tales, folklore, and so on and so forth... Thusly, concepts will vary greatly. The SOGA models were made for the Asian release if I am not mistaken - and were later brought to our servers... It only stands to reason that, if the SOGA models were in fact solely intended for the Asian market, that they would be built according to Asian folklore or for better marketability. I'm sure the higher performance had something to do with it as well, but appearance is still a big deal. </span></p><p><span style="color: #ff33cc">One MMORPG that is currently in development has different races with the intention of international appeal. One race is for the masses, one is aimed at the Asian market, and one is aimed at the American market. International business must take into mind international ideals, standards, and what sells.</span></p>

[Shiverr]

<p>Pink <i>lectures</i> for teh lose.  "Please be repectful guys" blah blah blah.  Why must you do this?  Really?</p><p>A <i>lecture</i> for you:  When you begin your prose with an elementary school teacher scolding you've already distanced any audience that may have considered the validity of your input without it.</p><p>People understand this without your <i>lecture</i> and knew it beforehand.  It doesn't curtail their opinions to your p/c liking always either.  Yes, we get it that you're certainly one to vie for appreciation of "different cultures" but drop that garbage at the door to a forum for a computer game with <i>fantasy</i> races and those that want to poke at the appearance sincerely or in humor. Thats what forums are for.  Hall monitor elsewhere please.</p>

[Winter]

<p><span style="font-size: small; color: #ff66cc; font-family: comic sans ms,sand">At any rate, I'm sorry you feel as if I was lecturing you - a lot of the old forum threads were deleted. Such being the case, many people may not be aware. Goodness, a thread was just posted as to what 'SOGA' meant... New people join daily. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> They may not be aware of what an mmorpg must take into account, etc. Anyway - take care. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></p>

[Echgar]

Let's be careful not to make our disagreements personal please.  You are welcome to disagree with each other, but please keep your comments constructive and respectful. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Zidab]

<cite>Shiverr wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Pink <i>lectures</i> for teh lose.  "Please be repectful guys" blah blah blah.  Why must you do this?  Really?</p><p>A <i>lecture</i> for you:  When you begin your prose with an elementary school teacher scolding you've already distanced any audience that may have considered the validity of your input without it.</p><p>People understand this without your <i>lecture</i> and knew it beforehand.  It doesn't curtail their opinions to your p/c liking always either.  Yes, we get it that you're certainly one to vie for appreciation of "different cultures" but drop that garbage at the door to a forum for a computer game with <i>fantasy</i> races and those that want to poke at the appearance sincerely or in humor. Thats what forums are for.  Hall monitor elsewhere please.</p></blockquote> Oh yeah, you told her...[/sarcasm] Anywho, the point of what she said, was that other people like other things, deal with it and shut it. The whole SOGA arguement has been dead forever. Besides don't you think it's a little stupid to argue about something, that so many of you requested to be on our servers in the first place...? *Yawn* I'm just gettin' tired of these "SOGA's UGLY D00D [Removed for Content]" things...It's soooo pointless.

[gb100]

Well, I have to say I disagree with this. I always play dwarfs in these games and although I like the body proportions of the standard models it looks like they ran out of polys for the dwarf faces and used potatoes <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Then there is the hair. With the standard models you have about 4 options of tubes/roots/alien appendages that you can have sticking out of your dwarf's head. Then you have the tatoos which look like they've been drawn on with a felt-tip pen. The screenshots you see of some of the standard characters beggars belief, they are so terrible. The soga models don't fit our cultural undertanding of these characters but at least they have more detail or don't completely fail. I use the soga models for my dwarf and he's too skinny I know but at least he doesn't look like a blotchy potato<img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> For a lot of people looking around at possible games to play, when they see some of the EQ standard characters with plasticine hair it must turn them right off. This game like most SOE stuff either gets it totally right or totally wrong. It's a lack of coherent art direction and I imagine time restraints.