If ever wondered why in a lot of my screen shots I don’t look like my original character model, Hume F 4A, then that picture above pretty much explains everything.
A little over a year ago, I found that DAT mod for my character on FFXIDATS.com. Now, I am not that heavy into DAT modding, though I find a lot of them to be anywhere from impressive to just plain… weird. I’ve been black hair, brown eyes for four out of five years in this game, and since I’m the kind of person that gets bored easily with one thing if it’s gone on for so long, I decided to change it.
Why that DAT mod? Well, other than the obvious tie-in to Sakura Kinomoto of Card Captor Sakura fame, it’s because of its simplicity.
Other DAT mods for that character model were either too gaudy or outlandish. You can see examples below:
Now, in 3D Studio Max, it looks pretty decent. However, I can’t stand the eyes, they seem too unnatural. I do have to admit, though, the one in the center with the dark, deep blue eyes is really attractive. In-game, when you see the sample shots on the DAT page, it just doesn’t fit.
Thus, we have to move to the next example where neon colors seem to have taken a bit of an extreme.
If I wanted to be a comic book heroine, I’d go with one of these seven colors. Out of the seven, the golden haired one in the middle-right and the red on the far end of the electromagnetic spectrum look good. But, I still wouldn’t go for them. If I wanted to look like a cartoon character, I’d play World of Warcraft or one of the countless number of Korean MMOs out there.
Overall, a lot of the colors just stand out too much in the game; a game that’s pushing on seven years already based on an aging PlayStation 2 graphics engine. It doesn’t just apply to face and hair recolors, but armor DAT files as well. There are many impressive ones like the Princess Zelda DAT mod by Mortama seen below or the Songtress Yuna by Tonka. Then, there are DAT armors that just scream “Not right!” at all when you look at it. Most use too solid of a color that it stands out and, yes, even dark black, that it doesn’t fit the general overall style of the game.
(Princess Zelda full DAT set by Mortama.)
Therefore, we get to my current DAT model for Hume Female 4A done by “Chilulu.”
As you can see, it sticks to what works best– KISS, or “keep it simple stupid.” (I don’t mean that intentionally, but you get the point.) What Chilulu did with the original was modify the nose, eyes and lips by making them slightly smaller. Chilulu also added a third haircolor– red. Well, in the above screen shot, looks more like light, reddish-brown. A third eyecolor is added as well– green. The colors themselves were given a slight adjustment but not so much that it’d make the character look like they have glowing eyes. Altogether, the character looks much more attractive and cuter than it was originally. And, it follows what I prefer overall– keeping things simple. I’m the person that doesn’t like to stand out at all in a crowd; my personality doesn’t match that anyway.
You can already guess which combination I choose out of this recolor pack from the first screen shot above– red hair with green eyes. It matches Sakura Kinomoto’s character very closely as you can see below.
(Source: WikiPedia.)
Why Sakura? Well, Sakura is my favorite anime character. I’ve watched the entire series and both movies. It was a really good anime, both story-wise and in character development. I”m a very big fan of the show. Plus, she’s just so adorable, ditzy but cute. ^^
I can’t exactly have the two short bobtails, but this will do. ^^ Originally, I wanted to name my character, Sakura, but it was already taken, obviously, by a Japanese Female Tarutaru. *sigh* I had to settle with my third option– Aselin, taken not from the Narnia series but of the Newfoundland, Canadian singer, Aselin Debison. Second option? The second name I considered was Ashley, a name that appeared in a few of my unfinished short stories from years ago.
I’m hoping that when Final Fantasy XIV comes around, they’ll allow more customization of your character’s outside appearance like what was done with AION, another MMO soon to be released in the US. It’ll give variety to the game and would hopefully allow oneself to differentiate themselves from each other.
Here’s to crossing my fingers that will happen. x(^_^)x
Sakura chan~ moe~ /Tomoyo ^^