The alternate outfits for Jean, Amber, Rosaria,
and Mona have just been released. And while I think we can all agree that the
reasoning behind these redesigns existing is kinda wack, I really like how they took
the opportunity to change up key aspects of each one, rather than just flat out covering
stuff up. Of course if you prefer the original designs
that's fine, but I personally feel that these new ones do a great, and in some ways, an
even better job of portraying the stories behind these characters through purely their
visuals. So today I’m going to go through each of
our 4 new designs and explain how each outfit does a great job of representing their respective
character, whilst also pointing out some of the more minor differences. Let’s start with Amber’s “100% Outrider”,
since I actually disliked it the most when I first saw it. I mean, it’s changes stand out the least
when compared to the other redesigns, so it’s not surprising that you might feel like it's
hard to even tell the difference between the two. The in-game text describes it as a more formal
version of her standard “5 Star Outrider” outfit. That might seem far fetched since the changes
mostly consist of color swaps, but the more I look, the more I’m inclined to agree. The biggest change is the omission of almost
all the brown tones in favor of white and a darker red. The inclusion of more red may seem like a
bit much, but the reduction of total colors in the color palette helps with the uniform-like
look I think they were going for. Also, it is broken up very well by the accent
colors such that the two tones of red are never actually touching, making it not feel
too overwhelming. The brown definitely gave amber a more rugged
adventurer feel which does obviously match her role as an active outrider and gliding
champion, but I feel the Knights of Favonius aspect on the gold detailings did kind of
get overshadowed. I think putting those on top of white instead
on the redesign puts more of a focus on these elements. And combined with some extra details to make
it look less like she’s wearing a casual hoodie, it makes a very fitting outfit for
Amber that greater emphasizes her role as a Knight of Favonius. I don’t feel like very much was sacrificed
for these changes, since the bunny ears, goggles, and the feathers on her vision still help
maintain that active, playful image. Her classic look still fits as being more
comfortable and thus a bit more suitable for physical activity, so it's nice to think of
both outfits as being canon in this way. Similarly, Rosaria’s “To The Church’s
Free Spirit” is said to be custom made for her by the church, as opposed to “Executors
Thorns” which was made by herself. Some have expressed how they feel that the
new outfit undermines Rosaria’s character since the old one very clearly demonstrated
her rebelliousness in how she didn’t conform to the church’s standards. I’d have to disagree though, as it still
fits her personality to wear something like this. We all know that Rosaria isn’t passionate
about being a Sister, since she sees church work as her occupation and nothing more. With that said, it’s not like she is completely
devoid of all commitment to her job. She does do her duties when she really has
to, so it’s not a stretch to say that there are times where she does what she is supposed
to and what is asked of her. And it’s not like they just gave her the
same church outfit that the NPC’s wear, since it still retains many of her own unique
elements like the jagged cut across the middle piece, her claws, the belts, and the completely
open back. The new design makes it much clearer that
she is associated with the church with the greater focus on the black and white color
scheme, since previously it was really only the headpiece which did that. Not so much though to the point where it diminishes
what makes her unique. Again though, both designs co-exist as outfits
that the character would reasonably wear in different situations, and since they are still
similar enough they both do a good job of representing Rosaria's character. It is really unfortunate that going forward,
appearances in cutscenes will always feature the new outfits, but I don’t find Rosaria
to have had that much of a disservice done to her for it to be worth getting mad about. Moving onto the last two, they more so seem
to be intended as definitive replacements for their characters’ designs. Let’s start with Mona’s. Similarly to the previous ones, it focuses
on expanding on a particular aspect of the character, but it actually made me realize
how much the original outfit was lacking. So “Flowing Fate” went for a swimsuit
like look, which does make sense in the context of her being able to “swim on the ground”
with her illusory torrent alternate sprint, but other than that it’s kind of out of
place with regards to her character. It’s description mentions it forgoes extra
fabric because she’s broke but like… nothing else about her visuals portrays minimalism,
so it just looks off. Anyways, her new “Pact of Stars and Moon”
outfit clearly places a much larger focus on the astrological aspect of her backstory. It’s not like it wasn’t there at all before,
but it definitely changed to be a lot more pronounced. Like for example, originally this star pattern
was more subtle. Well not only is that expanded on by putting
it in more places, but the entire color palette is much more reminiscent of a galaxy with
its darker blue-purple gradients. The blocks of contrasting colors on the old
design weren’t even close to achieving this effect. And this may just be me, but the new colors
and additional details as a whole gives her much stronger sorcerer vibes by being more
mature looking and slightly less flashy. A couple nitpicks I have are that these white
parts look like someone forgot to fill in the color, and I’m not really a fan of the
lack of contrast between how the arms look compared to the legs. Overall though, I think it’s just a much
better fit for representing a fortune telling astrologist. And lastly we have Jean’s “Gunnhildr’s
Legacy,” which seems to be the most universally liked, and for good reason. Her original “Favonian Devotion” had always
done a good job portraying her status as a knight and her authoritative role as the Acting
Grand Master, and the new design only builds up on idea. She now has a button up and two added sets
of lapels, making her seem much more formal and dignified. The outfit is still mainly white, but black
was added as a secondary color giving a more serious vibe, and the blues were replaced
with shades of teal, reminiscent of the Anemo element. While not every character’s color scheme
has to match their element, in fact I prefer it that way, this makes a lot of sense for
Jean since she is meant to be associated with Mondstadt. It feels like patriotism, wearing your region's
signature color, you know? There are also a few more nice but subtle
details that were added like the red highlights being toned down by a black gradient, and
more gold with green jewelry like accents, adding an extra touch of elegance. The only thing I’m a bit confused about
is why they didn’t decide to give her full sleeves over her shoulders to complete the
outfit. I just figured they might as well have while
they were already making changes, but I don’t know maybe they just really wanted to retain
that aspect of her original look. Clearly the thing which I value most in character
design is how good the visual storytelling is. It doesn’t always have to be super blatant,
but it should be emphasized to the point that it's noticeable, both in terms of specific
details and overall vibe. I think the design team has gotten better
at this over time, so they probably took the opportunity to bring these older designs up
to their current standards. Jean’s inclusion especially makes me think
that, since I don’t think anybody would have predicted her to be one of the first
to get changes. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up seeing
another wave of redesigns in the near future, but honestly I have no idea who might be next. I guess I’ll throw down some predictions
for the heck of it, but don’t take these too seriously. Lisa because her design lacks meaningful details,
Fischl because… yeah, and Sucrose and Yanfei because I just don’t think how they dress
fits their character. But anyways, that about wraps up this video. I hope you found my discussion interesting
or insightful, and as always, thanks for watching.
