I was going to complain more about the state of discussion in those threads but it's a bit pointless to do it here. I can't do it there where it's needed because it's a shit house of moderation. So that will be the last of it.

I've skipped over chapters to get to Character Creation and play around with that. I've found at least two things I dislike. Heroic mortals start with 6 more BP than Solars, which doesn't make much sense. Since heroic mortals are the people Solars are most likely created from it would make more sense if they had a similar amount of less. It's a minor quibble.

In the Traits chapter where the Castes are described they've moved the anima mechanics for each caste to a separate page. This is annoying in a lot of ways. It requires more page flipping just to understand what your character is capable of doing. Not a big deal for veterans, but it doesn't make sense in a book that is meant to be a how-to guide.

Since I don't feel like posting anything in TRO again I'll probably annoy people here with my thoughts.

Quote from: The Butcher;861625Exalted? Poser art? Seriously?

Lo, how the mighty have fallen.

Attention, game publishers:

NO ART IS BETTER THAN POSER ART.

Seriously. No joke. It's the ultimate red flag of half-assed amateurism.

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;861759NO ART IS BETTER THAN POSER ART.

This is the first time I ever heard the term, "Poser Art" in reference to this art. Even after I found out what Poser meant in this context, I still think that my original inferrence worked too.

Quote from: Ryan L.;861757Since I don't feel like posting anything in TRO again I'll probably annoy people here with my thoughts.

Naw keep posting away.

Quote from: Ryan L.;861757I was going to complain more about the state of discussion in those threads but it's a bit pointless to do it here. I can't do it there where it's needed because it's a shit house of moderation. So that will be the last of it.
.

Its true but its good to have a place to vent.

Someone should ask them where the 600 grand has gone. Certainly not on artwork.

Quote from: One Horse Town;861778Someone should ask them where the 600 grand has gone. Certainly not on artwork.

My money is still on hookers and blow.

But, to be serious for a moment, they're claiming a number of expensive professional artists took the money and ran and that's why some of the art is so lacking. Of course, they dare not name names because that would be unprofessional.

The art isn't all bad. like I posted earlier, I think the opening spread is really cool, and evocative. However things are overall pretty scattershot. Then again so was Exalted 1e, IMO.

Quote from: JamesV;861783The art isn't all bad. like I posted earlier, I think the opening spread is really cool, and evocative. However things are overall pretty scattershot. Then again so was Exalted 1e, IMO.

I don't think I've seen anyone yet say that all of the art is terrible, and only a few people think as a whole it ranks as really bad. That's not the point. Exalted 3 was supposed to be a gorgeous game-changing RPG, the sort of thing people would be proud to have dropped hundreds of dollars on. But the simple fact is that I've got at least four games on my shelf now (Eoris Essence, Shadows of Esteren, The One Ring, and Anima: Beyond Fantasy) that make it look like a dog. And those games did it on much smaller budgets.

As an alternative, do a Google Image search for Enascentia, an Italian Savage Worlds game that is currently getting an English translation. The game is gorgeous and you can bet the makers didn't have over half a million dollars to pour into its creation.

Quote from: One Horse Town;861778Someone should ask them where the 600 grand has gone. Certainly not on artwork.

Well...

Quote from: IanWatson;19498121That's not how Kickstarters work.

The above was in direct reply to this,

Quote from: Roadie;19498099With a budget upwards of $680,000, I don't see how eating the immediate cost of art pieces to be used in the core book and other following books would have been a problem.

I'm sure that the art department had a budget before starting. They also achieved a kickstarter goal that increased the amount of art by 33%. Of course, there's no way to tell if that actually occurred since this is the first and only time we've seen all of the art in one place.

And of course the usual suspect has leaped to the poor dev team's defense.

Quote from: Blaque;19499492This thread as a lot of what seems to be illustration Dunning-Kruger Effect working at full blast.  It's quite interesting to say the least in that.

And stuff.

Because apparently the unwashed masses can't possibly understand how purchasing art works in the rpg world. After all nobody else has ever had to deal with it, only OP.

The floating excuse at the moment seems to be "All of that money was used on the prestige printed editions".

Which again comes off as kinda fishy when you consider they passed their funding goal several times over, and the number of other beautiful full color artwork printed books that get made via Kickstarter..

Quote from: Brand55;861786... Exalted 3 was supposed to be a gorgeous game-changing RPG, the sort of thing people would be proud to have dropped hundreds of dollars on... As an alternative, do a Google Image search for Enascentia, an Italian Savage Worlds game that is currently getting an English translation. The game is gorgeous and you can bet the makers didn't have over half a million dollars to pour into its creation.

I get that too. It's mildly depressing, but I'm not that surprised at all that things are a boondoggle, budget considered. Maybe it's because I had two years to get over my own expectations and move on to other, better managed projects.

As for mind-blowing art, I've heard about Aquellare as a game for a while, but I don't ever remember anyone saying how awesome the interior art is.

Wait, they're not naming names of people that criminally ripped them off because that would be "unprofessional" while they haven't been at all shy about flinging poo for the past couple of years about anything else at the people that worked on 2ed?

Quote from: Nexus;861792Wait, they're not naming names of people that criminally ripped them off because that would be "unprofessional" while they haven't been at all shy about flinging poo for the past couple of years about anything else at the people that worked on 2ed?

They're talking bollocks and circling the wagons.

I have no dog in this race to be honest, but i've found the constant haranguing of GMS over Far West by a not inconsiderable number of OP writers rather amusing given what's been happening with Exalted. I seem to recall a lot of people laughing over some artwork in Far West being 'traced' - now, shock horror, some stuff has 'got through' after the 2 year wait for ex3.

I find the schadenfreude delectable.

Quote from: JamesV;861790I get that too. It's mildly depressing, but I'm not that surprised at all that things are a boondoggle, budget considered. Maybe it's because I had two years to get over my own expectations and move on to other, better managed projects.

Yeah, I think you're not alone in that regard. I'm just very, very glad that I chose to skip that particular Kickstarter.

Quote from: JamesV;861790As for mind-blowing art, I've heard about Aquellare as a game for a while, but I don't ever remember anyone saying how awesome the interior art is.

I don't know too much about Aquelare, but a quick glance at the Kickstarter page shows some interesting art. I do like that they're sticking to a certain theme for the book. It gives it a distinctive look that's very fitting.