FoxFire Ayderan wrote:To be fair not all asymmetry in the ships is bad. The Catalyst comes to mind, which is a good looking ship despite being asymmetrical. As is the Myrmidon (which I guess still does have bi-lateral symmetry).
It does come down to how it is done. Big bulgy things hanging off or growing out (like the Torax) or "missing limbs" (like the old Exequror) or broken limbs (like the Atron) or bent and crooked (like the Imicus) are NOT the right way to do asymmetry. In general people are going to be turned off from that. And as much as I otherwise like the look of Gallente ships, these bizarre design choices ruin them.
Unlike human faces, where we all -- arguably -- have some kind of baseline preference for certain appearance traits (symmetry being one of them; there have been a number of studies done that help explain why beauty
is beauty), a predilection towards a certain style of car, or boat, or house, or...
yes... spaceship is likely affected by any number of non-preprogramed life experiences, sensations, and simple, inexplicable
want (the very intangible stuff that makes us human).
The long and short of it is that this is outer space, and you could build a ship that looked like anything, ranging from
this, to
this, to
this... to even
something like this. And while some (or even all) of those designs might not be any particular person's cup of tea, physics being what they are, they could probably all be thrust through the void.
What you see as 'bizarre design choices' are, for many of us, what gives the Gallente ships their character. The Gallente are arguably, far and away, the most artistic race in EVE. They almost hedonistic when it comes to an over-the-top flair for the dramatic, the avant-garde, and, yes, the needless.
There is expression even in the superfluous, and while I am sure that every little dangly bit and protruding nacelle probably serves some kind of purpose, the Gallente have chosen to
exhibit things where they are due not to need alone, but because -- for them -- form
matters. (It matters to the Amarr, too, clearly... though they also follow a far more traditional design approach that involves more basal attempts to overawe and intimidate).
If function ruled over all form, then every ship in EVE would look like either those of the Caldari or the Minmatar (and thank goodness they don't).
Yes, I see a sleeker, more rugged, and arguably more battle-ready boat in the new Exequror. But I also see a ship that lost a lot of what made it a very cool and exceedingly unique part of this little universe. The new Exequror is something more than what it once was, but also something less... and that's not a happy thing. It really makes me worry about changes to other 'scorned-but-beloved' Gallente ships like the Imicus, the Thorax, and the ever-present Dominix.
I welcome very much
improvements to the models. I view with increasing fret changes so dramatic that they destroy the identity of the very thing they are trying to upgrade.