Like I said, ...

Looks like something Witness would make, at least the attire for the elf in "low-lvl-Healer-Last-Chaos.jpg". I agree, DS and DS2 really could use some better attire and in my opinion not only for females characters.

Witness' armor/robe/dress designs for the Dark and Light Elves mod are really far more eye-catching than standard DS1/LoA attire for females, and (in reply to Ghastley's pondering about how much Witness' work impacted DS2) the "Tribal Armor" in DS2 (and the variations thereon in DS2/BW) are rather obviously based on her work, and that style (miniskirt and crop top) is my favorite style of all female torso attire in DS2/BW. That one, as I said, is rather obvious, at least to me, but I'm sure there are other things that are less obvious; I haven't yet attempted to look at any of the programming in DS2/BW (so I suspect that any mods for DS2/BW by me won't be hitting the download section any time soon, and I still have a lot of ideas for DS1/LoA mods that I need to get back to working on --- I finally made a map for DS1, but it's a very preliminary thing, and probably won't ever be published, at least in its present form).

I don't remember seeing Witness/Lisa being credited, however, which I think was bad form. We all know (or at least I hope we do) that "derivative" works such as "fan fiction" and the like (which would include computer game modifications) are, technically, the property of the creator of the original, but there are any number of franchises which have not only allowed the creators of derivative works to profit, but also have allowed such creators to claim original work, regardless of its derivative nature (note, for example, the large number of novels based on one or another of the "Star Trek" television series and movies, each duly credited to its author). At the very least, a nod in her direction would have been the right thing to do. I could be wrong; maybe I just overlooked her name in the credits, but I've looked more than once, and I have long wondered if that might have contributed to her decision to "move on." I know it would have at least annoyed me, had I done what she did, then had my work (ahem) borrowed, and not even gotten an honorable mention somewhere. Well, I might be completely off base here, because I don't know for certain that my view of the situation is correct, and have never communicated with Witness about it, but I do know that, if I were her, I would not have been too happy. On top of all that, a case could be made that her work is in fact not derivative at all, that she contributed new material for use with DS1/LoA. There was certainly nothing like it in DS1/LoA before she did the work, and that work could, with the necessary programming language changes and adjustments for the content, have been added to almost any game of the sort; it is almost a stand-alone work.

(Edited to add: The fact that something is legally allowed does not mean that it is ethical -- or even profitable --- so although copyright law may allow the creator of an original work to lay claim to all "derivative" works, it may not always be a good idea, for several reasons. But like I said above, I'm just commenting on how it appeared to me, and I could be completely wrong in my perceptions of the matter.)

I'm currently playing around with the use of ornaments as clothing.

My version of the SQ for DS2 and BW essentially wears just the armor ornaments and none of the base mesh, so I'm part way there already. I also want to be able to associate ornaments with other submeshes (e.g. helmets) and weapons (e.g. wear a Quiver when you have bow) and I'm sure once I have those things working then the next logical step will be belts, skirts, bracers, etc. as separate items without any required base. There would be an issue with the UI (where do such thing go on the paperdoll?) but that's possible to address.

That sounds like a fantastic project, Ghastley.

The idea of taking a helmet and using only the ornament, rather than the whole mesh, would not only potentially replicate something like Witness' headbands, but also something like circlets, tiaras, and maybe even wreathes of leaves (with the necessary art modifications), though to make, say, a laurel wreath, might require an entirely new mesh on its own, so that it's more realistic (more three dimensional). I mention this wreath idea because I recently saw another Healer in LC, who was wreathed, and I thought it looked quite fetching. It's an idea, anyway, if anyone wants to do it (I still don't have all the necessary software for such things).

I've asked (rhetorically) before and I'll ask (rhetorically) again: What's the point of choosing a hairstyle and a hair color, a facial shape, an eye color, etc (and in the case of a male character, the potential for facial hair should be considered as well), if nobody else in the game is ever going to see it because you've got some bucket over your head (and no offence to the helms in DS1/LoA and DS2/BW is meant here, especially since a lot of the helms in DS2/BW, and a fair number of those in DS1/LoA, look rather nice, but really, what's the point if there are no types of headgear that don't obscure the choices you've made)? I'm not saying there should only be headbands, circlets, tiaras, wreathes, and other such headgear that leaves all your choices visible, but that there ought to be some, and that their armor class (see below) ought to be comparable to even the clunkiest full coverage helmet (I'm still pushing that "magic and illusion" thing and the historically demonstrable corollary concerning rivalry between the warriors and the intelligentsia/priesthood/sorcerers that I started back over on Siege Network a few years ago, and I see no reason to relent on that one).

(As for that "Armor Class" term, or "AC" as I usually type, this is "armor rating," or "AR" in DS terms, but I started out in RPGs in the late '70s, with D&D and AD&D, and therefore usually say/type "AC" instead of "AR" -- I suspect that a lot of gamers my age do likewise, out of habit. I doubt that you are mystified by the term, Ghastley, but in case anyone else here is, I'm offering this explanation, since I am likely to type my customary term without even realizing it, as I have done in the past.)

~~~
Giovanna

I agree with the basic premise that magic should be able to provide defense, so it's not unreasonable for a bikini and a tiara to give the same defense as a full set of plate, but I wouldn't like to see the game balance skewed towards mages. The whole idea of a mage getting more firepower at the expense of less defense/health relative to the "tank" is what gives the game a lot of its replay potential.

That said, for a given class, the same defense could be available either way.