#evoland

So I ended up finishing these sketches today, not sure why. But it’s done now regardless

I decided I wanted to try and redesign Solus since I’ve decided he’s a party member now, and also because in trying to actually figure out the world of Evoland 2.5, his general lore is so far the only one that I know won’t have to be changed in doing so. So you know, he’s easier than other characters

I also ended up drawing his mom too since I really liked how Solus 2 turned out and I still had half a page left. Also, she’s a more important character now

I don’t really have much to say on the Solus designs because as mentioned, I think I generally got it down with the 2nd one. The only things that may need tweaking are his outfit colors and a bit of his hair, but otherwise, I think he makes a good standard to go off of

With his mother however, I don’t think I’ve figured it out yet. I think the 2nd one looks better, but it’s still not what I want. I think the main things causing me issues are her bangs, horns and general colors

I tried to give her the same swept back hair as Solus, but it never looked right, and maybe the horn shape had something to do with why I was struggling? I’m not sure. She’s not supposed to have the same horn shape as Solus, but I can’t figure out a good shape to make them

I also struggle with her hair in general, because I’m not sure what exactly I want it to look like, other than the fact that she has those side parts. Maybe I need more references

And speaking on her colors, I think maybe adhering to her original intended color scheme, as well as sticking so close to Solus’, is hurting her design overall. The orange hair works on Solus with his dark purple skin, but I can’t get it to look so good on his mother, at least with her lighter skin tone. I was able to make things work with Glaucus, his dark purple working with the light blue of his hair, but I’m struggling with the warmer colors on her. Maybe I need to make her colors a bit more unique

Somewhat related, you’ll notice she doesn’t have freckles like her original, that’s because I realized the golden freckles just don’t look good on her lighter skin tone, so now that’s a Glaucus trait, though his are a different color. I’ll drop a little bit of lore here, in my head Demon freckles are different colors from their skin entirely, unlike human freckles which are generally just a darker tone. Solus’ gold freckles are pretty rare though

But back to design things, one other thing I wanted to mention was that I had more specific references for the outfits here, mainly the da gua and daopao. From what I understand, these are outfits in Taoism, so I thought it would fit best for these guys, since they’re the closest to the Future Demons. Though I don’t plan on doing exact one to ones though, they’re just generally based on these clothes

But overall, like I said, Solus I think turned out well, but his mom needs more work

Also, they need new names; Solus’ mom doesn’t even have one. I had an idea of maybe naming them after famous old poets, to contrast Menos’ mythical king naming, but I might struggle with that in the female department. I know old female poets existed, but it’s a much shallower pool

Solus at least I’m considering naming after Dante (even if technically that’s a couple millennia too recent), though I’m unsure how to tweak the name as Evoland does, outside of maybe Dantes. We’ll see I guess

Oh yeah, I also meant to go into a tangent about figuring out Solus’ new personality, since he’s no longer an NPC linked to Juno but a completely separate party member, so I have to now change him to stand out more, and the struggles of figuring out what his deal is now, but I think this is getting a bit long already, I’ll just leave it as this

But I should probably give at least a little lore for these two. So Solus’ mother is one of the custodians of the Sacred Temple/Temple of Menos, and as it happens, a direct descendant of the Demonia Royal Family, which also makes Solus one. Due to her status, she has extensive knowledge of information collected by her ancestors from before the Great Flood, including powerful ancient magic, but she also never really leaves the Temple either, as she’s meant to maintain and protect it, and because her knowledge is too valuable to risk someone abducting her out in the open. Solus was one of the few modern Demons to be born and raised in the Temple, and he chooses to learn their ways out of a sense of connection with his mother, though he’s not as skilled as she was, something he’s a bit self conscious about

Clink and Kaeris from Evoland

frankly i am COMPLETELY blown away. id never heard of it til now, and im really mad i haven't because it is THAT good.

what it advertises itself as is a game that evolves as you play, which it is, but it's also a love letter to the evolution of rpgs- obvious in both the references and the gameplay, from early zelda to final fantasy and online mmorpgs, poking fun at all of them while also playing to their strengths.

even if you don't like certain parts, you'll find yourself continuing to see what else there is- personally, i despised the random encounters (which is why i tend to not play mainstream rpgs), but right after was a series of puzzles i found insanely charming!

opinions on the story: (no spoilers)

the game starts out without much of a story at all (in fact you have to unlock it, and then you get your companion character, who i really like). personally, i found myself invested in the story and wanting to know more because i was so engrossed in the game, which made some parts of it really hit harder because i wasn't expecting it.

to be clear: the story is pretty simple, though it does evolve with the game enough for me to really enjoy what it gives you!

that being said, even with the more serious parts, a good chunk of it is kind of silly. it takes itself just seriously enough for me to appreciate both sides though, which i really appreciate- it's got the dry humor of Nexomon with the charm of Undertale (while predating both).

is the game perfect?

no, not by any means. it's a bit janky sometimes, and you can tell a couple things weren't considered- in one place you can see the edge of the 3d map, the first town never upgrades out of 2d, and the typos and grammar errors occasionally feel like it was translated into English from another language- but for what it's worth, it's fantastic, flaws and all. it's also extremely ambitious and ahead of its time- it was made in 2013!! what!! that's SO cool.

He despises humans. He doesn’t even regard demons enslaved by humans as true demons. So why on earth would he heed Ceres a hybrid? Especially since, in his eyes, she appears as a human-pig hybrid would to us: a grotesque abomination. To serve her would be to sink lower than an animal.

What amuses me most is that Reno didn’t just insult her - he insulted himself to the exact same degree!