Soulcalibur VI: The art of character creation
How spiffy
When one discusses the more recent entries in the soulcalibur series, one cannot skip over the aesthetic that has become the foundation at the core of this series' progression. The fundamentals of the personae are divided between the character models and the weapon styles. The weapon styles themselves could arguably be considered the actual protagonists in the soulcalibur enterprise, whereby it is irrelevant on your character choice, as through the medium of the character creator all styles may be applied to any moving portraiture. That being said that the mainstays of the series are so iconic and Namco are aware of this, so much so that they remain immediately selectable as pillars of the games.
However it is within the character creator that the sheer breadth of the title, and the archetypal aesthetic becomes so apparent. Interacting with the character creator acquaints and exposes the user to the underbelly of the fabrication and production of the aforementioned aesthetic. This indoctrinates the trademark soulcalibur designs upon you and imparts to you, without technical intimidation, god like fabricative powers and produces weapon welding facsimiles with a character all of their own. This process of character creation, as previously mentioned does not threaten you with codes, wirefames or horrible polygonal planes, nor does it engulf you with a glut of slide bars, it presents to you a the adequate path to create individual humans (or otherwise). But that is not where it ends, the arguably more comprehensive designs come from "dressing up" said characters.
The design aspect of the clothing, armour outer (and under) garments and an abundance of accessories is presented to you in layers, pun intended. Beyond the usual options of chest armour gauntlets and helmets, there is such attention to detail that you can mix and match under and over armour, culminating in an almost limitless number of combinations. But yet the creator goes deeper! Once you have your chosen garments and adornments, each element in each specific costume item can be colourised form the sheet of metal on an leather under armour to a bead on an earring. This allows you to create a theme or motif to run through your character. And I feel I must interject on myself and reaffirm the term "character creator" the time spent when you are creating this character feels like "play", but the sheer beauty of it is the development of your character from choosing what gender it will be to, by at this point, asking yourself "what shade of green should the socks be?" and ergo creating character in a a character creator. Digression aside, this is also not the final layer of the creator, not only are you able to customise the colours details and edging of armour, but you can develop and create variable layers patterns to each of these colours. The green sock you have so painstakingly developed the correct shade for, can also be patterned with stripes, or mottled with a mosaic.
Combining and "playing" with these apparatuses develop not only an aesthetic and character true to the Soulcalibur universe, but an artistic outlet. Developing a theme from an early onset, taking inspiration from a painting or an artistic movement can have you creating a character who's composition can evoke and channel Monet's water lilies or recall the elegant natural forms seen with in Art Nouveau.
I urge all of you to revel in, what may seem like a tacked on addition to a game, and just get lost in creative creation. Please take the time to enjoy one of my most prized creations:
Love and One long dick joke,
Richie X
The design aspect of the clothing, armour outer (and under) garments and an abundance of accessories is presented to you in layers, pun intended. Beyond the usual options of chest armour gauntlets and helmets, there is such attention to detail that you can mix and match under and over armour, culminating in an almost limitless number of combinations. But yet the creator goes deeper! Once you have your chosen garments and adornments, each element in each specific costume item can be colourised form the sheet of metal on an leather under armour to a bead on an earring. This allows you to create a theme or motif to run through your character. And I feel I must interject on myself and reaffirm the term "character creator" the time spent when you are creating this character feels like "play", but the sheer beauty of it is the development of your character from choosing what gender it will be to, by at this point, asking yourself "what shade of green should the socks be?" and ergo creating character in a a character creator. Digression aside, this is also not the final layer of the creator, not only are you able to customise the colours details and edging of armour, but you can develop and create variable layers patterns to each of these colours. The green sock you have so painstakingly developed the correct shade for, can also be patterned with stripes, or mottled with a mosaic.
Combining and "playing" with these apparatuses develop not only an aesthetic and character true to the Soulcalibur universe, but an artistic outlet. Developing a theme from an early onset, taking inspiration from a painting or an artistic movement can have you creating a character who's composition can evoke and channel Monet's water lilies or recall the elegant natural forms seen with in Art Nouveau.
I urge all of you to revel in, what may seem like a tacked on addition to a game, and just get lost in creative creation. Please take the time to enjoy one of my most prized creations:
Love and One long dick joke,
Richie X
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