DanteSC3's Creation Thread

[DanteSC3]

Since I figured I'd be making more things eventually, and I did just finish up with making the Klessirpemdo, I figured I had enough to start a thread of my own, so here goes. I have a tradition to always remake Luna and friends first in each game I play, since they were among my favorites of all the SoulCalibur III folks, fun and memorable fights, and they even got their own weapons! Remaking them has been somewhat a challenge in later games, however, because not only are their weapons not their, in some, a lot of actually, cases, no style to adequately represent them. I feel like SoulCalibur VI does indeed have them represented once more, so I'm happy about this. I did have some frustrations making these, which I'll address individually as I go along, but I still think I mostly did them justice. Without further ado...

You may have already seen my Luna, she was the first one I created, and the one I did my first run of Libra of Soul with:

Spoiler: Luna, the Leading Lady

My biggest issues here are likely an issue that some of the rest of you also share, in that she's missing Crossed Belt, Ring Pants, and Honor Boots. These things are pretty central to her look, and indeed also very nice items that go well with a lot of different CaS, alas, they're not here, so I made the best with what I had. No Low Pigtails, either, but they haven't been around since SoulCalibur III, so I'm really not expecting them back. Cassandra's 2p from SoulCalibur IV, Swing, still fits Luna rather well, I think. I used a few stickers to get the designs on her shirt/jacket trim along the bottom, that's really the fanciest thing I've done here. I did my best to recolor Northern Star into Dystopia.

Next up, there's Lupi, who sadly doesn't have a Lance style to use, one of my favorite custom styles from SoulCalibur III, but she's got a fitting weapon:

Spoiler: Lupi, the Fires of Hell

I both really like how this turned out, and yet also a few annoyances all the same. If you didn't know any better, this one is actually very nice, and there's really not anything that sticks out that's "wrong", really, but trying to get stickers to work on the coattails of the Aval Battle Suit is just impossible, I've found. Even if I could get them aligned correctly to make the edge designs right, the coloration is all wrong, and it wouldn't look good anyway, so leaving it black I think is just better all-around anyway. I also had to use Tira's skirt instead of the Scaled Fauld because of how over-large it is, for one, and for two, it removes the coattails, and that just won't do. God's Lost Article is a great stand-in for Blazecleaver, it's just too bad that it's not one of Seong Mi-na's weapons, since I'd rather it be her style than Kilik's. It's still better than Xiba, at any rate. Though I love the Aval uniform for helping complete this look, I used a pair of Demon Horns to cover up their emblem and better replicate the Punisher's Pads with an extra spike.

Following up, here's Heal-Do, again, no Wave Swords, but I feel like, despite being the wrong element, Talim's style really works here, better than Cervantes as I had before:

Spoiler: Heal-Do, the Water of Origin

Alright, first, I have to just say, to hell with whoever thought it was a good idea for the Training Belt to both cut off the bottom half of the Off-the-Shoulder Dress AND forbid skirts from being used under it. This is the worst conflict situation I've run into yet. I just don't understand the logic here at all. It's not even a case of not having the right parts for this one, but the part is just fundamentally broken and unusable. Before, After. Ugh. Anyway...
I'm really happy how Heal-Do turned out, lack of belt aside. Her necklace wasn't really replicable either, but I figured, since she was using Talim's style anyway, why not go a bit further and also use Talim's necklace (and shoes)? I think it works well enough, and fits the look. Added some stickers for dress embroidery to give it a little more oomph, and a combination of Pure Ring and Flower Brooch to make her circlet. The shoulders and undergarments aren't really right, either, but at a glance, work well enough. I used a couple of stickers to color the top section of Mini Dress the proper crimson, while the lower half remained aqua so it wouldn't clash. Talim's Double Crescent Blades made for a decent Leviathan, though the coloration isn't exactly what I wanted.

More frustration awaits us with Elua, who is probably my least favorite of the bunch, but I did what I could:

Spoiler: Elua, the Wind of Creation

May as well address the elephant in the room, Elua is officially Little Red Riding Hood, because there is insufficient cape availability. I actually kind of a little bit think it works, but at the same time, you can't see her beautiful yellow-green hair, so it's kind of a shame. But the problems don't end there. I pretty much almost had to rebuild her a brand new design with as many changes as were necessary, here. No dagger belt, so I gave her a gun to go with her newfound hammer, because there wasn't any other appropriate tops to wear, so Smith's Outfit had to do. No one-side skirts, so Split Skirt had to do, and I couldn't really find an adequate way to do the layering side ruffles, either. I considered Gothic Skirt, but it covered too much leg. And last but not least, no cloth leg wrappings that go over the Gladiator Boots, so I made do with Talim's bandages instead.
Despite my complaints, I kind of do like this look, it just isn't really "right" either, all the same. Taki's Kagekiri are almost Galeforce with a little recoloring, so I'm happy that the weapon turned out well, if nothing else. Oh! I nearly forgot to mention that I used Crescent Moons to add blades to her wristguards, though I couldn't really get stickers to work to act as the purple cloth that was under them originally. I wasn't going to be okay with her having purple hands, and there weren't enough spots to make enough stickers to fully get the job done, so I left it a bit bare.

Last but not least, we've got Aege, who I had a lot of fun making, Not perfect, but a lot less of a trainwreck as Elua ended up being:

Spoiler: Aege, the Earth of Foundation

Might as well get my complaints out of the way, first. The cape has beyond terrible clipping, and I even used a sticker on the front to make the armor take precedence, since the cape really doesn't need to be seen in the front like that. There's no saving the back side, though, so it is what it is. Nothing really appropriate to stand-in for Scorpion Suit nor her shorter iron gauntlets, so I sadly had to reuse Luna's here. I really didn't want any of these to be reusing any equipment, if I could avoid it. Oh well. I had to make the best of lacking a proper skirt for Aege, too, but I like how this turned out. The leather belt with wrapping is somewhat an alternative look, but I was still able to recreate the armor plates using Voldo's chinwear, so that's pretty cool. Seong Mi-na's shoes weren't perfect, but with a few stickers, I think I made them work.
I think Aege came out pretty well, though, mostly feels right, and Caladbolg made a decent enough stand-in for Brutal Terra. Thankfully, her armor and shoulders were in, so the bulk of her middle section is faithful to the original design, and with the snake skin texture, I think the cape is pretty spot-on, too, despite the clipping problems.


I'll be back with more, I just had to get things started properly with my favorite group. Chronicles of the Sword may never return, but the Klessirpemdo will always be in my game, so long as we have the ability to make our own characters. I've only made one other character, a Malfested OC that I took through my second playthrough of Libra of Soul. I'm not really proud of her, but I may share it anyway. It's kind of amusing that I accidentally kind of made Heal-Do without trying to, in retrospect, she's very similar. Maybe I'll share her if you guys really want me to.

Any comments, feedback, praise, or criticisms are welcome!

 

[SpellcraftQuill]

Luna: Cassie's hair and the leg armor actually look great on her. Like how you used that top to simulate her jacket. I had a similar effect with the stripes for one of my own characters using the zipper, but her gauntlets cover them.

Lupi: Looks badass but I don't remember if her SCIII outfit had fur which to me feels odd for a fire-themed character. Tira's skirt looks pretty cool on her. You're pretty good at workarounds/finding substitute items.

Heal-Do: Thought that making the middle of the circlet the flower would be blatant. Tried everything to add a spot, but often my circlet-wearing character looked like a Final Fantasy summoner since the horns were obvious. If the wind bothers you with her attacks, I'd imagine them as still having to do with storms. If only the whirlwinds could get color changes, I think you could have whirlpools instead of the random green that's always associated with wind.

Elua: Shame she's not easy to recreate, but I think that you could have played around with her design. To me, the hood makes it hard to tell that it's her. Would be nice for an OC though.

Aege: Found it interesting that you used Voldo's stuff. How would you have felt about using the Steel Breastplate instead. That doesn't clip with the armor as much. And she looks like the love child of Fire Emblem's Ike and Lyn here.

I think that it is hard to get them accurate so don't be afraid to play around with their designs. Like what I've seen so far.

 

[DanteSC3]

Here are their original designs from SoulCalibur III, for reference:

Spoiler: Lupi

Spoiler: Heal-Do

Spoiler: Elua

Spoiler: Aege

I didn't get Luna's for this, since she's pretty easily available for reference material, it's her squad that's a bit harder to find, so I made my own.

Lupi's original outfit didn't have fur on the collar/gloves/boots, but she did have fur on her undergarments, so it was kind of a trade-off. I mostly went with the Aval Battle Suit for the coattails, as it was the only thing that had them. It also doubled as a pretty sweet replacement for Shadow Armor, the legs also included. I thought it worked out rather nicely.

Heal-Do's belt situation bothers me more than anything else, it's just stupid and arbitrary that it behaves that way. I thought the flower worked pretty well, personally, looks good to me, especially at a distance in combat, you can't even really tell.

Elua was really just a hot mess, but I wanted to maintain as close to the original source material for all of these, that's why I did what I did. I really don't like the hood, but when her high equipment breaks, it goes away and all is kinda well, so I maybe try and get my head equipment broken on purpose so that it goes away and I can enjoy her properly, haha. The other thing I might do is go back and make their first costumes, since there's more of that available for Elua than her second costume. But the second costumes are the ones associated with their ultimate weapons, which is why I used those.

Aege's skirt was the biggest challenge, and the Voldo parts just made the most sense to me. I'm not sure how else you'd go about recreating those bits of armor. They're the right shape and everything! I wouldn't be okay with using the Steel Breastplate, no, because that's not what she's wearing. Using the parts that are the original parts is always priority one, unless you literally can't, like with Heal-Do's Training Belt.

 

[Alexandra]

I like the directions you've taken these characters from their original designs in SCIII to the present. Especially fond of Lupi and Heal-Do. They're both loyal designs to the originals but you improved them in a pretty subtle way. I would suggest maybe changing Luna's shirt to the Aval Combat Garb (I think that's the correct name. It's the Aval shirt that isn't Groh's.). Here's an example of how you could play with colors, stickers, and patterns to make the shirt more like Luna's in SCIII.

 

[DanteSC3]

I like the directions you've taken these characters from their original designs in SCIII to the present. Especially fond of Lupi and Heal-Do. They're both loyal designs to the originals but you improved them in a pretty subtle way. I would suggest maybe changing Luna's shirt to the Aval Combat Garb (I think that's the correct name. It's the Aval shirt that isn't Groh's.). Here's an example of how you could play with colors, stickers, and patterns to make the shirt more like Luna's in SCIII.

Thanks! I really like them, in order Lupi, Luna, Heal-Do, Aege, and Elua. I want to fix Elua while staying true to the original, but I'm just not really sure how.

As for trying the Aval Combat Garb on Luna, I'm not sure if I like it better or not. I re-applied my stickers for the trim design and I kinda miss the horizontal yellow stripe in the middle. I might could add it if there wasn't a limit of four stickers per item. I took several angles of it:

Spoiler: Luna with Aval Combat Garb

It definitely looks great on your Ivy, though! I'm just not sure if it works as well for Luna. The trim design along the bottom clashes with the "belt" on the Aval Combat Garb, and the cross in the center doesn't really fit either, kinda sticks out. I appreciate the suggestion, however!

 

[mokamoka827]

These are pretty well done! I was confused about a lot of the design choices until I realized you were basing them off of their later designs (which I totally forgot about lol) rather than what they wore in their introductions lol
My favorite of the bunch is probably Aege. Really nice attempt at recreating her tasset. God, I wish that thing made it past SC3. I miss it. One of my favorite pieces of equipment, to be sure.

 

[DanteSC3]

I've seen requests for our lovable and resolute Blacksmith from Kashgar in Libra of Soul, and I do think she's rather cool, so I decided to go ahead and make her. She wasn't overly complicated, really, though I did notice that she's breaking the rules, like so many SoulCalibur NPCs before her. Her underwear, base underwear, not an actual underwear equipment, has a pattern on it! I'm not sure how she pulled that off... Anyway, here we go:

Spoiler: Bolta, Kashgar's Resolute Blacksmith

Spoiler: Bolta, Kashgar's Resolute Blacksmith, v2

I did enjoy how we got to revisit her several times throughout the course of the story, and each time, she was using a new weapon. She may secretly be an Edge Master in training, I think... perhaps she'll be our mimic this time around? I kid, I kid, but I really did enjoy seeing her, and her having multiple styles to use in-canon gives more opportunity to use her while still utilizing different weapons.

Edit: I updated Bolta's skin/hair color, felt like the original was too saturated, especially on a few maps, her skin looked too red/orange.

 

[DanteSC3]

Here's another one from me, also from Libra of Soul, Talim's 2p costume from SoulCalibur IV, with less kitty, Talim's cousin Plata!

Spoiler: Plata, Not the Last Priestess of the Winds

Spoiler: Plata, Not the Last Priestess of the WInds, v2

I swear that they've once again cheated with her underwear. Hers in Libra of Soul is a bit more orange than pure yellow, but it doesn't seem very possible to get outside of yellow at all, so I did what I had to do, and did the best I could. Other than that, everything else was fairly smooth. I do like this look a lot more than it was in SoulCalibur IV as Talim's 2p, and it's a nice throwback.

I think this will probably the be last one for today, I'm gonna play some online and use my new creations before making more.

Edit: I updated Plata's skin/hair color, felt like the original was too saturated, especially on a few maps, her skin looked too yellow.

 

[DanteSC3]

I made a couple more folks from Libra of Soul, this time the bandit duo of Fiddler and Miser:

Spoiler: Fiddler, Not Necessarily on the Roof

I personally think this guy could pass for Raphael's brother, if this isn't Raphael himself doing some sort of side gig in his free time. I do kind of wonder why we got him instead of Greed, and Greed was only name-dropped, but hey, I needed an excuse to make a custom Raphael anyway, so this is as good a reason as any. Weirdly, while the pattern used on his pants, guns, vest, and hat are all the same, the one on the cup hilt is slightly differently colored. I'm also mildly amused that he's using a blend of Raphael and Cervantes gear, as those boots are none other than our dread pirate's. I think if there's anything I'd really change, it'd be the shirt, really clashes with everything else, not sure what the idea was there.

Spoiler: Miser, Katana & Cogwheel Ninja Assassin

She's mostly pretty faithful to her original SoulCalibur III design, which is nice, though of course, without Ring Pants. Well that, and her faithful shuriken has been replaced by a faithful... cogwheel? Sure, I guess, why not. She does look rather at home with Mitsurugi's style, but at the same time, I really feel like being able to throw the cogwheel at Zasalamel your opponent would be pretty amusing, as some kind of secret unlisted move or something, like how when you equip weapons in Tekken, you can use a command to use the weapon in a fight. Anyway, it's neat to see her again, even if they didn't also show us Greed. Maybe he's a secret DLC character? Heh. I may actually give Greed a shot on my own, later.

 

[DanteSC3]

I said I'd give Greed a go, so here we... go:

Spoiler: Greed, Master Thief, Beard-in-Progress

Not a raccoon tail in sight, and there really isn't anything else that seems suitable for a beard stand-in, so I guess we'll just go with this is earlier in the timeline, and his beard hasn't fully grown out into the magnificence that it is come SoulCalibur III. I've always loved Greed's silly pointed-toe shoes, though, so it's cool that those were at least able to be replicated. Shhh, don't tell anyone that they're actually boots. When low equipment gets broken, the boots and pants both go, so it's not like you could tell anyway, unless his moveset involves a lot of high kicking.........damn it. I actually did give it a go with the normal leather shoes and Voldo's chin armor again (who knew those things would be so versatile?), but I couldn't get it to blend right and appear natural, so I scrapped the idea. I was also going to use feathers to make his hair look a bit more wild, but again, it didn't look natural, so I left them out. So he does come out looking a bit basic, perhaps, but I still think it came out pretty okay.

 

[NeclordX]

Here are their original designs from SoulCalibur III, for reference:

Spoiler: Lupi

Spoiler: Heal-Do

Spoiler: Elua

Spoiler: Aege

I didn't get Luna's for this, since she's pretty easily available for reference material, it's her squad that's a bit harder to find, so I made my own.

Lupi's original outfit didn't have fur on the collar/gloves/boots, but she did have fur on her undergarments, so it was kind of a trade-off. I mostly went with the Aval Battle Suit for the coattails, as it was the only thing that had them. It also doubled as a pretty sweet replacement for Shadow Armor, the legs also included. I thought it worked out rather nicely.

Heal-Do's belt situation bothers me more than anything else, it's just stupid and arbitrary that it behaves that way. I thought the flower worked pretty well, personally, looks good to me, especially at a distance in combat, you can't even really tell.

Elua was really just a hot mess, but I wanted to maintain as close to the original source material for all of these, that's why I did what I did. I really don't like the hood, but when her high equipment breaks, it goes away and all is kinda well, so I maybe try and get my head equipment broken on purpose so that it goes away and I can enjoy her properly, haha. The other thing I might do is go back and make their first costumes, since there's more of that available for Elua than her second costume. But the second costumes are the ones associated with their ultimate weapons, which is why I used those.

Aege's skirt was the biggest challenge, and the Voldo parts just made the most sense to me. I'm not sure how else you'd go about recreating those bits of armor. They're the right shape and everything! I wouldn't be okay with using the Steel Breastplate, no, because that's not what she's wearing. Using the parts that are the original parts is always priority one, unless you literally can't, like with Heal-Do's Training Belt.

Soul Calibur III system was awesome. May be it didn't have as much options as current CAS systems, but back then at least you could put the jacket you wanted with the gloves you wanted. You didn't have to pick a different jacket because the jacket you wanted can't be used with the skirt you want to use so you have to either use a different jacket or a different skirt.

 

[DanteSC3]

Well I've just spent the past ten or twelve or so hours (maybe more, I kinda lost count) mastering every weapon in Libra of Soul, since I was tipped off that there was a questline related to mastering all the styles, and, well, I can't really say it was worth the trouble, personally, aside from pure completionism, I suppose. I got a fancy title that probably won't amount to much because people won't know what you have to do to get it, but... I guess I'll know, and that's what's really important. Anyway, no, I'm not posting this in the wrong thread, it has a point. I met a couple new friends along the way!

I had kinda lost faith in mercenaries in Libra of Soul, when I realized you couldn't control them, and the midrange level ones weren't really doing me much good, I was better off just fighting stuff myself and saving the time. Not the case with the level 90 guys, they don't mess around. One is an all-rounder, and the other is an offensive beast, and they really helped alleviate some tedium and give me a break between fighting Ancients, and, I kid you not, one of them is actually pretty capable of damn near soloing (and she did solo one) Ancients by herself. It's crazy, but interesting watching the AI fight the really high level AI. After seeing these two do their thing, I knew I had to create them and use them myself:

Spoiler: Ioan, the Hulking Red Giant

This guy doesn't mess around. He looks like a firetruck, and he hits like one, too. Though he's not putting out fires, he's helping set them. His AI is tuned so offensively that he just makes a mad dash in and unleashes hell, but he really doesn't have hardly any defensive capabilities whatsoever. So he didn't do so well against things that are also offensive, but if things were even trying to defend, they'd get bowled over and he would murder them six times. His design is pretty cool, though, I like the mix of armor types, and he even pulls Zasalamel's ridiculous shoulders off. Quite impressive.

Spoiler: Lucrezia, the Esteemed Lady Witcher

Here's the real MVP, though. This girl does not play. Granted, there's not really any situation where Geralt is shown fighting where the AI has been cranked up that high, but she puts everything I've seen Geralt do to shame. She has a masterful combination of runes, mixing offense and defense, whatever the situation calls for, always landing the Critical Edge when appropriate, chugging potions when that's more ideal. She left me in awe, watching her solo Ancients, it's almost like, I think she should have been the Conduit instead. I really like her design, too. I thought the zigzag stripes were kind of silly at first, but they grew on me. The bright yellow does come across a bit strong, but I feel like it's a caution flag that warns you to stay away, if you value your life, because she will take it and make it her own. She rocks this look and fights as fiercely as she appears.

Edit: Typo fix.

 

[DanteSC3]

Really minor update, but after using Plata and Bolta a fair bit, I found their skin colors (and hair, to a lesser extent) to be a bit too saturated. They looked fine, originally, when I was comparing them to the screenshots I took to use as models, but a few of the more well-lit stages proved to be too much. As a bonus, I didn't have Bolta "smile" in the new pictures, because it was a bit much before, looked a bit creepy. I kept the old versions up for history's sake, but I think the v2s are a lot better overall. The clothes don't seem to be affected by lighting nearly so much, so I left them alone.

I'll have some more characters this weekend, perhaps, but my vacation ended and I'm back to work, so I have less free time. The free time I have had, I've been trying to get the last few titles I'm missing from Libra of Soul. I did have a Talim alternate that I liked from the waist up, but I could not find anything that worked for the lower body, so I ended up scrapping her. I thought I took screenshots first, but apparently they didn't save, so I don't have anything to show for it, but... I will try again. I'm mildly annoyed that I haven't found a good use for Prayer Pants yet, as they're one of my favorite parts, but they either clash stylistically or literally with whatever else I'm trying to do. I wanted to make them work for Talim, but it just... didn't work out. I'll try again.

 

[DanteSC3]

A couple of really simple Seong Mi-na and Talim edits, nothing fancy or elaborate about them. They're inspired by YouTuber nutsVSguts, where these designs were the two girls "gone rogue" while they were protesting their non-inclusion in SoulCalibur V. Here's the original source, for reference.

Spoiler: Rogue Seong Mi-na

Spoiler: Rogue Talim

Talim's shorts are supposed to be torn jeans, but I wasn't really able to replicate that effect. I was trying for a good bit with the frilled brim, but couldn't get the angle right and/or not showing the hood part, just wanted the frills to simulate the torn edges, but it just wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. Her shirt was also supposed to be sleeveless yet still exposing midriff, and that doesn't exist, so... a little bit wrong here, a little bit wrong there. I'd wish for the ribbons to not be there for Mi-na's top, too, but there really aren't any other proper tops that match what would be her SoulCalibur II top.

Sorry it's nothing a bit more involved or creative, but I've been spending most of my free time trying to unlock the last few titles from Libra of Soul.

 

[DanteSC3]

Can someone help me recreate Liang Lingyu? Xianghua's bff from the story mode?

I took a swing at her, here:

Spoiler: Liang Lingyu, Xianghua's BFF

Added some extra images zoomed in to show the patterns and sticker work. I went with projection mode for the two stickers, and getting the sliders just so for the patterns on the Mini Dress, I'm still not certain if it's completely right, comparing side by side, but this is as close as I could get it. The pattern on the Ashigaru Greaves were a lot easier to do, just max the size and that's all. There is a very subtle pattern on the Changbao, but it's definitely there, something that's adding some extra creases and folds detail, and the best I could figure was Eastern 10, with the first and third matching the white color that is the base, and then the second color being a couple of ticks to the left, to make a shade. Size is 13 clicks left, angle is 13 clicks right. Applies to both the sleeves and the main part. There's a bit of annoying clipping with the Mini Dress and the Changbao, not a lot that can be done there. Overall, though, a cool enough design, befitting of Xianghua's BFF.

 

[DanteSC3]

Adding a couple more folks from SoulCalibur III's Chronicles of the Sword, this time, hailing from the kingdom of Maletta:

Spoiler: Hyle, Leelia's Love

I'm mostly pretty happy with how Hyle turned out. He's far from perfect, of course, most notably lacking his lover's namesake sword, Lilia, I did what I could with Katzbalger. I was trying to add some sort of pattern to the shield to make it resemble the original, but nothing really worked for it. I could have use Omega Sword & Elk Shield, maybe, but I felt like Katzbalger looked more like the sword portion. The other big hiccup here is the lack of two-toned hair, since really only the top of his hair is blondeish, while the sides are dark brown, though it still kinda works this way, I think. I did my best to replicate the back design of his cape, thought it came out pretty well, considering, even if I do wish I could rip some of it off to match the original tattered design. And his front belt flap isn't long enough, while the cape is too long, sooo... I guess it evens out?

Spoiler: Kierkess, Helgenoss General

This one took some doing, but I'm mostly pretty okay with the results. Obviously, there's no Grieve Edge style in this game, may as well address that up front, but Maxi's got a fair few kicks, and with a couple Crescent Moons (shame we're limited to three instead of four, or I'd have added the back blades...), the idea can be simulated fairly enough, I think. As a bonus, one of Maxi's nunchaku just happens to have skulls on the ends, which matches the one on his necklace, so that's pretty neat. Speaking of his necklace, a pattern and some crafty sticker work turns the prayer beads into a fair mock-up of the original, I say, real skull or no. I actually do kind of like the "younger" Kierkess better (and I'm still not sure how he went grey so quickly, barely any time passed between the two encounters), but I like the "older" Hyle better, so I figured I'd match the two instead of having one from one set and one from the other. I still managed to make the two sets of armor look different, despite the limited selection, though, so I'm okay with these.

I think I'll do Mooncalf next, though I fear she'll come out looking too similarly to Elua's new hermit look... we'll see.

 

[DanteSC3]

I ended up spending a lot longer on this one than I ever expected to, but some intricacies and frustrations accounted for, I'm (mostly) happy with how things turned out. I might revisit Lupi with zippers to try and get her coattails design going, but with only four, I'm not sure it'll be any better than with nothing, but I figured out a little more about how projection works, at any rate. I'm mostly bothered that you can still tell that they're zippers, but I'm not really sure how you could mask them... anyway, here's Mooncalf:

Spoiler: Mooncalf, Tragic Assassin, Mother of Luna

Far from perfect, but I'd challenge someone to make a better version with the parts and options that we have, currently. I was originally a bit frustrated with the lack of boots selection, as usual, but I feel like the Aval Organization outfit worked double-time, here, with the pants and boots combo. It's factual that her boots are far too long, but that the boots have that little belt (well, two of them, but I recolored only one) on the leg that I could use to emulate the belt with knives on it that Mooncalf wears on her leg, even if those knives are just scar stickers instead of real knives, I feel like it really works, even without any real knives hanging there. The purple frills for some added flair don't hurt, either, though I could do without the metal legplates on the front and heel/toe, there's no way to remove or recolor those, sadly.

I had originally done her other main belt with a dagger on it with a halo and Voldo's chin piece (WHY IS THIS THING SO DARNED USEFUL), but then I realized that the Aval Organization pants already has a belt, so I worked with that instead, and as a bonus, I was able to add a handle to the dagger chin piece to sell the idea that much more. The hook claw isn't perfect, either, but I tried the different horns we have and these worked best, all things considered, I think I found the best compromise angle between hook and looking like it's actually part of the glove assembly.

May as well get back to the caped hood, probably the worst and yet best part of the whole thing. Patterns was a no-go trying to simulate the original effect, because stickers on capes are pretty useless at covering up parts you don't want, since it's obvious that the pattern is still there, since they don't get full opacity, for whatever reason. Putting a stripe or design doesn't work because the back of the cape and the hood part are at odds with one another. So I settled to mostly just make the back work, so I started with the two zippers on the sides, and then I decided to try and figure something out for the hood, at least the front. I found a happy accident where part of the zipper bleeds into the neck scarf part, where, in most cases, you'd be annoyed with it, but here, it kind of ish at least a little bit mirrors the original design. And, managing to get it done with just one sticker, I went back to the cape and added the top zipper, which is neither symmetrical nor scaled properly, but I did what I had to do to complete the look, all of them being as large as they can get in projection mode, the only mode worth anything trying to apply stickers to capes.

 

[Harrawesome]

Loving Fiddler and Miser. They make an awesome duo.
Liang's dress looks great. Simple, but works perfectly.
I love the sticker on Kierkess's necklace. Perfectly integrated and totally changes the usual prayer bead vibe. I also love the crescent moon blades on his feet! Great detail!

 

[DanteSC3]

This is way overdue, but I finally checked out the new customization equipment. I've been busy playing Tales of Vesperia whenever I've been playing anything, but I've had some other stuff getting in the way of playing as well, so... yeah. I know I haven't really been on the up and up with making characters, because I was pretty disappointed with this game's offerings, as well have some others of you have been. And I don't really have any new offerings, either, I've just used some of the new pieces to touch up a couple of my existing characters. I may actually make something new, possibly, but my impressions, honestly, is that the new stuff is way too specialized to get any proper use out of them. I've casually browsed the threads while at work, and I know a lot of you have done some pretty cool things, but it's still just not what it used to be, not by a long shot. We'll see. Anyway, enough chatter:

Spoiler: Luna, the Leading Lady v2

First things first, I absolutely had to fix Luna's boots. Hands-down the best piece of the new stuff (only slightly biased, the Engineer's Long Boots are probably actually the most useful new footwear), it helps get Luna one step closer to being what she's supposed to be! I also have since posting her added a pair of Voldo's Allegiance Mandibles (without a doubt my most used extra equipment for this game) to her belt to simulate her Crossed Belt, but I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out a way to give the daggers handles. Nothing gets the angle right for them both. If I had a fourth extra equipment slot, I could do it with two Horns, alas... I also swapped out her Cropped Pants for the new Capris, as they're just a touch closer to Ring Trousers, though still not quite the same without the, well... rings. Doing this, however, I lost the Scaled Suit that I was using to fill in the gaps to turn the Country Tunic into a makeshift Pirate's Jacket, so I had to resort to the old sticker painting skin trick. I actually think this is an improvement, because painted skin looks more like fabric than scale armor, apparently, but this is what I did back in SoulCalibur V, so I guess it's the way it was meant to be.

Spoiler: Elua, the Wind of Creation v2

Elua's still not quite right, either, but I'd still say this is a marked improvement! The Pioneer's Cloak has this annoying uncolorable gold part, and stickers won't touch it either, but at least it's not covering her head like the Hermit's Hood. The front section with the collar and everything is actually all wrong, though, so I guess, if anything, I can say it's just part of a visual upgrade change, or something. I dunno. I do think she's better, but still the weakest of the Klessirpemdo group when it comes to accuracy to the original source material. That being said, the newly re-added Noble's Dress is definitely close enough to the Fighter's Robe, that with some fancy sticker work on the back, I believe I can make an accurate rendition of her first outfit, which, well, if I'm doing that, I may as well give the other girls some love and make their first outfits as well, and have a go at Luna's second outfit too while I'm at it. I think I've just realized my next project!

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Aege and Heal-Do were unaffected by the new items. Nothing I could add to make them any better than they already are, at least. Though, when I was looking at Heal-Do, they've made an update/adjustment to the synergy between Off the Shoulder Dress and Training Belt, though it's still not what it ought to be. Before, it just deleted the bottom half of the dress completely, and now... it turns it into a skirt! Technically progress, I suppose, and maybe helpful in some other situations, but doesn't quite do the job for what I want here. It worked in SoulCalibur III, what happened?!

Edit: Formatting fix.

 

[SpellcraftQuill]

That Luna looks really accurate despite the lack of proper pants or pigtails since Cassie’s hair looks nice pink.

Great attempt at emulating the Pirate Jacket too.

Don’t remember Elua’s design but I do think she looks nice, even if I’m not sure about the accuracy.