Do you like Popori race?

A1x2e3l

I have not played the game but what I have seen/read about it on the web allows to speculate that TERA has serous potential except one IMHO issue – Popori race.

 

Western “producers” are talking a lot about their had work on Westernisation of the game, aesthetics…:

http://news.mmosite.com/content/2010-06-21/tera_3_forces_at_work,1.shtml

Aesthetics? Hm, what sort of “sensori-emotional values” and artistic taste of beauty has a person that proposes to slice and dice a cute child or teddy bear like Popori race?

It is crystal-clear that they (Western publisher) are not able to change any Korean game asserts, but they continue to feed us with primitive “goofy massive swords” fairy tails and their other Westernisation “aesthetic” efforts.

 

I am puzzled with this artistic inconsistency (a mixture of historical bloody battle of Tannenberg and a pillow fight in kindergarten). Well, probably Easter players like that for some reasons (I have no clue), but killing kids even in a game is hardly a Western tradition.

 

From my point of view the game would win in case there would be no Popori race.

 

What is on your mind?

 

Thak you.

gotha

The cute teddy bears are not that bad.  I think their is a place for them.  The 10 year old girl skanitly dressed with animals ears is creepy and should be pulled.  I am not sure who the idiot or pervert was who thought thiis was a nice mating pair.

Mehve

Largely indifferent, nothing wrong with it. Although the race is probably responsible for a lot of their hitbox balancing issues

Aesthetically, they're a pretty stark contrast to some of the over-sexed or over-sized character models, but that might actually be their reason for existing. Me personally, while I'm definitely interested in the game, I could do without looking like a call-girl or roid-mainliner, and it's not unthinkable that others may feel the same way. Dunno, maybe they're going out of their wa to avoid providing "average" appearing characters?

Be interesting to see how much the avatar appearance colours player interactions.

TheHatter

I like the Popori. I wish this game had more races like them and I wish other games had more races like them. I don't like playing full humanoids. Give me a penguin race and I will play that over an elf, or orc.

tank017

I personally couldnt stand Aion for this very reason..

 

the little munchkin looking mobs that you kill and the armor style and look of the characters...no thanks.

 

The Popori.....Im not touching that race,it sticks out like a sore thumb and should be done away with altogether in my opinion.

trembulant

i usually don't car for the "cute" races but hey they're cooler than gnomes - they look kinda noble, and they look pretty cool in combat actually, i like the way they spin on their sword.

A1x2e3l

 

Let’s forget this biological and anthropological nonsense (I am talking about official explanations that Popori race is a “collection” of nations): TERA is a fantasy game and everything is possible - magic! But artistic content/concept should be more or less consistent. When penguins are fighting with chipmunks, and pussycats are hunting penguins that’s fine: a game for kids or “specific” fans. But when a cute teddy-bear confronts in a deadly fight a very realistically modeled/textured devil looking wrestler that’s much too much: I am afraid that we are dealing with a bad taste in this case. There is a lot of discussions about “immersion”, role playing. What role they are offering to play: a baby-killer or a killer-baby? There is no fun to immerse that deep, next phase could be either in a detention center or in a mental health institution.

Please, note that Popori is a race (potential PvP opponent or your avatar), it is not a pet that could be hidden at any time. Yes, they are cute and, probably, nicely animated, but this makes the situation even worse IMHO, they are out of place.

Attempt to please everybody: manga fans, kids, “adults” (you mentioned “call-girl” appearance of some other races)? All-in-one and for everyone? Money?! The result might be quite opposite. Moreover, they can even spoil our not that refined and mature artistic tastes (he-he).

Noble intellectual teddy-bear! That’s an interesting idea! Winnie-the-Pooh is definitely “noble” and kind but what substance is in his head and he is definitely not aggressive.

Another possibility: they have interesting weapons, gear, playing options. Sorry, I am talking only about artistic concept of this race and how it fits the rest of the game environment and as well as graphical perception. This race could be done very differently, without using anime baby-girl/teddy-bear cliché.

Some sort of social protest in a game: you guys are all boring elves and knights but I am gonna be a Teddy-Bear (hamburger, pussycat, puppy, bunny, etc.) and now I am going to kick your a-s. I am apologizing but that’s childish.

Korean, Eastern artistic tradition? They love paradoxes? Who knows!

 I think we’ll never learn the truth about the “developmental” origin of the Popori race. But there is nothing new about that. Let’s wait and see how tolerable that will be online.

stayontarget

I am fine with the popori species (I don't think you can call them a race because they are a collection of creatures).  But I don't like the idea of seeing a popori as a Lancer (just too weird looking). But I also think an Amani & Baraka looks weird holding  bows or disks in there hands because those races are so big.

Arcken

The wierder the better. The further from the fantasy MMO baseline we get, the more interesting game play options open up.

biplex

There are actually 2 Popori races in the game. Male Popori and female Popori are totally different species. I cannot understand that inconsistency, but cannot do much about it. Said that, i ABSOLUTELY LOVE MALE POPORI! They are epic win, and a chance to play as hamster was what initialy drawn my interest into the game. Then i absolutely HATE the fact that female Popori are different specie. It would have been game breaker for me if the rest of the game, and the gameplay wasn't so absolutely amazing. I wouldn't mind "popori girls" if they were just another race though.

Sovrath

Originally posted by biplex

There are actually 2 Popori races in the game. Male Popori and female Popori are totally different species. I cannot understand that inconsistency, but cannot do much about it.

the reasoning goes back to how Lineage 2 did dwarves.

If you look at Lineage 2 dwarves, the males are all old "santa clause looking" people.

The women are all anime looking girls.

 

The reason for this was that when they were making the races, each race was supposed to appeal to a different cultural demographic. However, it's clear that they divided the dwarves so that women would be more drawn to the female girl dwarf because of its cutesyness. I wouldn't be surprised if that was toward the japanese market. I wish I could find that article as it was interesting.

So the popori women are all cutsey, probably intended for women and the popori men are *cough* less cutsey.

stayontarget

I would like to read that artical also if you find it Sovrath.

Loktofeit

Originally posted by Arcken

The wierder the better. The further from the fantasy MMO baseline we get, the more interesting game play options open up.

Agreed, That was actually one of the attractionsof Asherons Call for me years ago.

nathanvandyn

I am extremely excited to destroy all of these little bastards on sight. Keep them in the game, the people I love killing tend to flock to such races.

Senadina

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by biplex

There are actually 2 Popori races in the game. Male Popori and female Popori are totally different species. I cannot understand that inconsistency, but cannot do much about it.

the reasoning goes back to how Lineage 2 did dwarves.

If you look at Lineage 2 dwarves, the males are all old "santa clause looking" people.

The women are all anime looking girls.

 

The reason for this was that when they were making the races, each race was supposed to appeal to a different cultural demographic. However, it's clear that they divided the dwarves so that women would be more drawn to the female girl dwarf because of its cutesyness. I wouldn't be surprised if that was toward the japanese market. I wish I could find that article as it was interesting.

So the popori women are all cutsey, probably intended for women and the popori men are *cough* less cutsey.

 I disagree that this was done for women's tastes. I think it was done for men's preference of wanting to look at a cute female avatar, as opposed to a female dwarf or bear or whatever.

Loktofeit

Originally posted by Senadina

Originally posted by Sovrath

 The reason for this was that when they were making the races, each race was supposed to appeal to a different cultural demographic. However, it's clear that they divided the dwarves so that women would be more drawn to the female girl dwarf because of its cutesyness. I wouldn't be surprised if that was toward the japanese market. I wish I could find that article as it was interesting.

So the popori women are all cutsey, probably intended for women and the popori men are *cough* less cutsey.

 I disagree that this was done for women's tastes. I think it was done for men's preference of wanting to look at a cute female avatar, as opposed to a female dwarf or bear or whatever.

I agree with Senadina here. A woman is less likely to play a little girl than a man is. While cultural differences result in some males finding it cute and others finding it creepy, it is a constant for females to not want to play a young girl , especially a harmless looking one, in a game like Lineage 2 as they are often averse to putting such a character in harm's way.  If the young girl had a discernable bad ass attitude and readily apparent defenses ( ex: X-Blades) then I would say it was designed to appeal to women.

 

I have no clue who that old man is designed to appeal to, and I have feared asking.

Comnitus

Agree with the OP here. I never liked that kinda junk in MMOs, but I guess we have to deal with it.

Unknown

I will play popori race (both male and female), i think they fit perfect in the game based on my playstile since Linenage 2, i'm happy they made it. More choice for different tastes, furry, anime char, oversized weapon, etc... mean more longevity for the game in the long run and more diversity.
My only concern is the restriction of classes devs speaking recently, really hope they discard this very bad idea and let us chose what we like.

Bloodaxes

They are going to be very hard to hit by rangers/mages so they will be a lot used.

Since tera will be a pvp game but I think there will also be a pve server (not sure on that) small races specially with a combat system without auto aim it will have it's advantages and disadvantages, they will be harder to hit but since they are small their weapons will be smaller thus smaller attack range.

All in all it's a matter of taste I actually prefer the castanic because they look like demons and hope they add a lot of options to customize I don't want to look like everyone.

Arcken

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by Senadina

Originally posted by Sovrath

 The reason for this was that when they were making the races, each race was supposed to appeal to a different cultural demographic. However, it's clear that they divided the dwarves so that women would be more drawn to the female girl dwarf because of its cutesyness. I wouldn't be surprised if that was toward the japanese market. I wish I could find that article as it was interesting.

So the popori women are all cutsey, probably intended for women and the popori men are *cough* less cutsey.

 I disagree that this was done for women's tastes. I think it was done for men's preference of wanting to look at a cute female avatar, as opposed to a female dwarf or bear or whatever.

I agree with Senadina here. A woman is less likely to play a little girl than a man is. While cultural differences result in some males finding it cute and others finding it creepy, it is a constant for females to not want to play a young girl , especially a harmless looking one, in a game like Lineage 2 as they are often averse to putting such a character in harm's way.  If the young girl had a discernable bad ass attitude and readily apparent defenses ( ex: X-Blades) then I would say it was designed to appeal to women.

 

I have no clue who that old man is designed to appeal to, and I have feared asking.

 I like playing "old man" looking characters. I maybe only 33, but sometimes I feel like Im 80 years old compared to some of the new school players. So I find me an old fart lookin guy, and enjoy the uniquity.

stayontarget

Originally posted by Senadina

 

 I disagree that this was done for women's tastes. I think it was done for men's preference of wanting to look at a cute female avatar, as opposed to a female dwarf or bear or whatever.

Well this is true for us westerners but Easterners think on a different lvl due to their culture.  In the past eastern males never rolled a female and you would never see an ugly female char in there early games nor males for that matter.  WoW changed that to some extent. 

To be honest I was quite suprised to see a female char in Tera that was a large beastly woman.  Asian companies are not known to do such things.

Krux

Originally posted by A1x2e3l

I have not played the game but what I have seen/read about it on the web allows to speculate that TERA has serous potential except one IMHO issue – Popori race.

I think women and womenly-like people are more open to playing the Popori race, but that's me.  I wont be playing it, could never personally consider it. . .its too fairy-ish for me.

 

Besides, when I hear the race name, aside from thinking of fairy's, potpourri comes to mind.

A1x2e3l

 

That’s very interesting: Popori are clearly winning with 41.9%.

 There are 6 races in TERA: Human, High elves, Aman, Baraka, Castanic and Popori.

Simple math gives us (31 total votes):

(100-41.9)/(6-1) = 11.62% probability per not-Popori race (if to assume equal distribution between other than Popori races). Unbelievable!

 More that half of voters (64.5%) like Popori.

 I am not sure that our voting is representative. Devoted fans (of Popori race in our case) are usually more active than others. Fans always sense somehow an “attack” and rush to defend the object of their admiration.

 Honestly, I am very surprised: I was sure that Popori has no chance on the West. I was obviously wrong. 

I think it is not wise to ask: why you like Popori? Love has no rational explanations and does not require them.

 However, I also think that community is deeply divided and game developers should start to think seriously about creating games orientated on certain groups of players.

 

Bloodaxes

“small races specially with a combat system without auto aim it will have it's advantages and disadvantages, they will be harder to hit but since they are small their weapons will be smaller thus smaller attack range.”

I have no idea how this is made in TERA, but usually PCs/NPCs/creatures as well as weapons in MMOs have no collision and real size: what you see on the screen is fiction, pure visual effects. Result of a combat is determined by simple formulas and how fast you are pressing certain buttons. There is no “real” or even simplified e.g. a box representation of actors; what another PC/NPC “sees” is only a point in the game 3D space instead of an actor.

BTW, I am also going to play with Castanic or Human.

 

Stayontarget

“To be honest I was quite suprised to see a female char in Tera that was a large beastly woman. Asian companies are not known to do such things.”

 Well, I played two Korean MMO games (Aion female Asmodian and Bartuk female in Requiem Bloodymare) that have such characters.

I am usually playing with female avatars because I simple like to watch them moving on my screen and testing different armor.

Sovrath

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by Senadina

Originally posted by Sovrath

 The reason for this was that when they were making the races, each race was supposed to appeal to a different cultural demographic. However, it's clear that they divided the dwarves so that women would be more drawn to the female girl dwarf because of its cutesyness. I wouldn't be surprised if that was toward the japanese market. I wish I could find that article as it was interesting.

So the popori women are all cutsey, probably intended for women and the popori men are *cough* less cutsey.

 I disagree that this was done for women's tastes. I think it was done for men's preference of wanting to look at a cute female avatar, as opposed to a female dwarf or bear or whatever.

I agree with Senadina here. A woman is less likely to play a little girl than a man is. While cultural differences result in some males finding it cute and others finding it creepy, it is a constant for females to not want to play a young girl , especially a harmless looking one, in a game like Lineage 2 as they are often averse to putting such a character in harm's way.  If the young girl had a discernable bad ass attitude and readily apparent defenses ( ex: X-Blades) then I would say it was designed to appeal to women.

 

I have no clue who that old man is designed to appeal to, and I have feared asking.

I appreciate that but please be aware that you are thinking like a western audience. Eastern audiences very well might look at this as being different. There is a certain value of what is considered cutsey.

Still looking for  the article as it is very old and every permutation that I put into google seems to reference everything I don't want.

stayontarget

Originally posted by A1x2e3l

 

That’s very interesting: Popori are clearly winning with 41.9%.

 There are 6 races in TERA: Human, High elves, Aman, Baraka, Castanic and Popori.

Simple math gives us (31 total votes):

(100-41.9)/(6-1) = 11.62% probability per not-Popori race (if to assume equal distribution between other than Popori races). Unbelievable!

 More that half of voters (64.5%) like Popori.

 I am not sure that our voting is representative. Devoted fans (of Popori race in our case) are usually more active than others. Fans always sense somehow an “attack” and rush to defend the object of their admiration.

 Honestly, I am very surprised: I was sure that Popori has no chance on the West. I was obviously wrong. 

I think it is not wise to ask: why you like Popori? Love has no rational explanations and does not require them.

 However, I also think that community is deeply divided and game developers should start to think seriously about creating games orientated on certain groups of players.

 

Bloodaxes

“small races specially with a combat system without auto aim it will have it's advantages and disadvantages, they will be harder to hit but since they are small their weapons will be smaller thus smaller attack range.”

I have no idea how this is made in TERA, but usually PCs/NPCs/creatures as well as weapons in MMOs have no collision and real size: what you see on the screen is fiction, pure visual effects. Result of a combat is determined by simple formulas and how fast you are pressing certain buttons. There is no “real” or even simplified e.g. a box representation of actors; what another PC/NPC “sees” is only a point in the game 3D space instead of an actor.

BTW, I am also going to play with Castanic or Human.

 

Stayontarget

“To be honest I was quite suprised to see a female char in Tera that was a large beastly woman. Asian companies are not known to do such things.”

 Well, I played two Korean MMO games (Aion female Asmodian and Bartuk female in Requiem Bloodymare) that have such characters.

I am usually playing with female avatars because I simple like to watch them moving on my screen and testing different armor.

Tera will have collision detection & hit boxes.  The hit boxes will vary in size depending on what type of class you will pick, but it will not be as much as the visual size of the char's.  The larger races will have larger hit boxes but have a longer attack range (just the opposite for the smaller races) because of there reach.

NOTE: collision detection will not be active in cities or towns

This set up will have a bigger impact for melee classes but for ranged classes ???

Back on topic: I see more westeners upset with cute female char's in skimpy armor than they are with bears.

I will be playing:  Aman Berserker  //  Castanic Slayer

A1x2e3l

 

“Tera will have collision detection & hit boxes.”

 Really? That’s fantastic! I have never played an MMO with such features so far.

 “Back on topic: I see more westeners upset with cute female char's in skimpy armor than they are with bears.”

 That’s true, I have also noticed that but considered as a sort of hypocrisy, childish intention to say something “serious”. Maybe, because I am European, we have very different education and general attitude towards such problems like artistic nudity than North Americans. “Skimpy armor” could be definitely out of place in certain game environment e.g. icy terrain. But I like it.

 It would be very interesting to know how players’ age and gender influence TERA race selection.