Jedi Desann v2

Description
Well, when it comes down to it, this is essentially just a recolored pack based on the Jedi Desann, with some minor outfit alterations.

Since this is essentially the same base project, I\'ll quote the original review and then highlight the changes and improvements.

[quote]So. Desann was a former student of the Academy, as JK2 SP players will know. And that is exactly where this skin comes from.

I see two problems with the concept, before even touching the skin. The design aims to dress Desann in Old Republic robes. In the Jedi Knight era, the Jedi don\'t wear traditional robes, as we can see in JKA. Secondly, the concept implies attempting to skin robes over armor, which never works.

That doesn\'t mean GluGlivar hasn\'t done a competent job, however.

Onto the skin we go. For my opening remark, I\'m going to comment on the color scheme. It all flows well, there\'s no major clashing contrasts, and the whole outfit blends together. The belt in particular looks good. A decent skinning job has been done on the frontal robes.

But, it all goes downhill from there.

You can clearly see armor on the arms. A Jedi wearing robes wouldn\'t use heavy armor - it counters the advantage given by light robes. Whereas heavy armor offers more protection but slows you down, light robes offer less protection but give you the advantage of dexterity. A concept flaw rather than a skin flaw, but still a flaw nonetheless.

Desann\'s robes don\'t match up at most points. There are clear texture misalignments in a lot of places, and in others the textures just don\'t fit well at all. And what\'s been done for the trousers? Is that a texturizer filter? Photoshop\'s texturizer is not a good way to produce realistic fabrics, believe it or not. While the belt does look good, I can clearly see where the saturation and contrast have been tweaked. A consequence of this is the pixellated look of the belt.

Don\'t get me wrong - this is a pretty good robed skin considering the limitations of the model. The fact is, it\'s just not possible to skin armor into robes, and it shows here. Nice concept, wrong execution, I\'m afraid - it just won\'t work without modelling the robes on. This is a pretty valiant effort, however, so kudos for giving it a good shot. I hope to see more work in the future from you, but next time, try something which will allow you to fulfill your potential.

~ Kouen[/quote]The changes are noticable to anyone who does a straight-up comparison.

First thing to note, is that some of the skins have different skin tones to the default Desann textures. Second change is that each coloration has also had a slight outfit change applied, making each one a little different from the others. Third, is the fact that shaders have now been applied. What function they serve, I\'m not sure; to me shaders are like French - I know enough to get by, but I\'m not fluent. I know enough to say that it looks good, though. ;)

The improvements, as well as the alterations already mentioned, mostly stem from the fact that the textures now look a bit better than they used to. This could be attributed to the color changes, or not, but either way an improvement is an improvement. The armor elements are now much less noticeable - they only appeared to my eyes under close scrutiny. Instead, the previously-visible armor elements now look like gilded ceremonial... bits. The wrist guards also don\'t stick out like a sore thumb, looking rather like the leather gauntlets worn by the hero in many an RPG, stating Neverwinter Nights as a prime example.

Overall, a good improvement to an already fine addition to the Chistori collection. If you\'re a fan of Desann and his species, grab this.

~ Kouen

[b]Bot Support:[/b] Broken
[b]NPC Support:[/b] No
[b]Team Support:[/b] Yes
[b]Custom Sounds:[/b] No