Beauty is only skin deep. pt.2

So, originally I had planned to do a step by step of making my character. However, 389 pictures later (The max my digital cam can take at it's current settings) I realized that it was boring, long winded and would take far too long to load.

So, instead I'll just show you a before and after.

So, there's the before. As I said I would have a friend randomly pick my race gender for the character. The sumgun had to go and pick a dark elf. I don't really hate Dunmer, but they aren't exactly the most pretty of characters and their skin tones are hard to get right without making them look blotchy (as I mentioned in part 1)

What you see above is a random generic face. Not too bad, though it did take me a good 20 minutes to actually get that face.


And there is the after. Marked improvement in my opinion (Of course my taste in fictional elven womens may differ from your own.) Kinda looks like Amanda Tapping a little... Maybe not.

Smoothed out the facial features a deal, adjusted the skin tone and of course changed the hair. I prefer red hair since it brings out the eyes and makes the blue skin seem softer.

Total working time: 1.5hr
Total number of saves used: 21
Total number of reloads: 8
Times yelled at the goddamned sliders: 3


So, there's the character. I'm happy with the way she looks and that's what counts.
Now it's time to start playing the actual game. I'll be skipping over writing about the sewer stage simply because nothing of interest ever happens there and I'm sure everyone who has played Oblivion has done the thing in exactly the same way I did it. (Kill rats, kill goblins, kill more rats, pick up crap, pick up too much crap, drop some crap, kill more rats, want to kill the Blades after they yell "Protect the Emperor!" for the 100th time in two minutes.)

Beauty is only skin deep.

I can has prttee karctor??
No, no you cannot have a pretty Oblivion character. At least not without a whole lot of work and a whole lot of saving. PC users have the ability to make it easier on themselves with mods and quick saves. Console users, to be quite frank; we're up shit creek without a paddle.

Lighting:
It's bad. You will not have good lighting at any point during the two sections where you can create a character's face. While the prison area has slightly better ambient lighting you still have a problem with the sides of the characters face being cast in weird shadows from the torch light or in darker shadows on the other side. This creates some pretty bad blotchy looking skin tones and if you try to correct them they will look horrible in other lighting.
At the end of the sewer you will find a lighting source that is extremely harsh in the front and very dark on the sides. I still personally prefer this section for making characters for two simple reasons. 1) You can save. Saving is very important when trying to construct a character face in Oblivion, there is no resetting of single sliders in Oblivion(All or nothing). Since moving one slider affects a slider on a totally different part of the face you can often times end up ruining those perfect eyes while you're trying to correct that horrible mouth. 2) You can access the armor menu. The menu will give you a more natural lighting effect (though it is still a bit harsher simply because of the light you're facing.)

Getting Started:
Oh the horror that is the generic Oblivon faces. It seems in the world of Nirn people do not age well at all, most of the generic faces you get from randomizing will look like horribly aged mummies. While some people can start from scratch with the default race/gender face and make a good one, I personally can't. But, like what the Mythbusters proved; you can polish a turd. So find a decent face and work off it.

Shaping the face:
Everything you do will undo something else. The sliders all have an affect on one another, so move them with care and watch what you're doing. Don't think you can just go to the mouth section and work on the mouth. You move the mouth around and the effect on the chin, cheeks and jaw can be horrific. Pay attention and move slowly, look at what each slider does to the different sections of the face and move them accordingly to get the result you want.

Skin tones:
Skin tones are probably the most difficult. While creating a face is a test in patience to begin with you will need patience on the level of water carving a canyon to create the perfect skin tone. It can however be done, I've made Dunmer have perfectly tan exotic colored skin and Redguard look white (wait.. that actually kinda sounded racist..) Point being, it's not impossible to get characters with dark skin to look lighter or characters with light skin to look darker or even to make a character look an unnatural color. It takes a lot of time and patience to do it, but it can be done. Inching the sliders back and forth to get that perfect skin tone you want. It's also not impossible to get a decent looking beard this way either.
That's another thing, don't be afraid to use the beard and mustach shaders on female characters, it can help to even out patchy looking skin.

Hair:
Hairdo makes the man. Find a hair that frames the characters face just right and you will have a better looking character. This is often times difficult because hair in Oblivon is boring and dull so sometimes you will just have to settle. Try to also avoid extreme hair colors as well, black rarely looks good on a character and will often times highlight the blotchy sections around the eyes and noes. White has almost the same effect and will highlight blotchy skin.

----More to come----

What is Critical Existence Failure?

Worst. Blog name. EVAR.
The term "Critical Existence Failure" is a video game trope that means no matter how much your character gets hurt, no matter how many arrows, sword wounds, and crushing blows you take. No matter how many metric tons of nameless minions you wade though you will be perfectly fine so long as you have one hit point left. However, if something were to remove that last hit point, even if it were the slightest of injuries, it can cause you to have a sudden Critical Existence Failure and explode into a spray of goo (in the case of Fallout 3) or collapse like a house of cards (in the case of Oblivion)

So, what is the point of this blog?
This blog is more, or less, just something to entertain myself with. It's main focus is to record my adventures in video gaming. At first I plan to start a new character in Oblivion and keep a log of what I do in the game. I have nearly 300+ hours spread though about five characters in Oblivion and not but once have I done a single main story quest(Honestly, aside from delivering the amulet I could not tell you jack about the story), so think of this as possibly incentive to do that story. After I have either completed this task or get bored, I may move on to new games.

Hasn't this been done before?
Yes, it has, and possibly better and more entertaining. You may have seen Fallout Girl, a very entertaining read and part of the inspiration for doing my own rip off take on the subject.

Ground rules?
Yes, there are a few.

1. I will be playing on 15%-25% difficulty (if fully left is 0%) This is mainly so I don't have to worry too much about proper leveling and can enjoy the game.
2. No meta-gaming. My character will be fresh and he/she will not know anything of the world. So if I get stuck for any reason, I will just have to figure it out myself.
3. I will not abuse the Wizard's Tower.
   
4. Shivering Isle will only be completed after finishing the main quest.
5. No Item duplication.
   

So, just the main story?
No, I will be doing whatever quests my character comes across. As mentioned above though, I won't be using any meta-gaming so I will have to actually find these quests without outside help. And you'll just have to trust that I really am doing so. I'm fairly honest though

What other DLC content do you have?
Aside from the above mentioned I also have Fighter's Stronghold, Vile Lair, Knights of the Nine, Thieves Den and Spell Tomes. Depending on my class, any or all of these could play a factor in how I will play the game. Since Wizard's Tower is the only real game breaker in the lot I don't see any of them becoming a big part of my game play aside from storage.

What kinda character are you going to play?
A good question. I will have a friend, who knows nothing about Oblivion pick my character's race and gender. From there, I will simply use whatever class I am giving after the tutorial.

What system are you playing on?
I will be playing on the Xbox 360. Would only that my poor little laptop could run Oblivion.

When are you going to start?
Soon, hopefully.


That's about it. Thanks for stopping in, I will hopefully update this within a week or so. If you enjoy this idea, or don't, feel free to comment, or not.

EDIT: Added some more questions that were asked of me (Thanks to Brandon) and better defined what I plan to do with this blog.