Blade & Soul - Thundergod (Jin Outfit) Mod

In this week's post, we'll be looking at another Jin outfit call "Thundergod". The mix of thunder and god automatically reminds me of a certain Marvel superhero but no, this is not the God of Thunder, Thor. The boss (Raijin) that drop this outfit is actually a machine (a.k.a. automaton), with lightning ability, that the long lost Naryu has created to guard the Naryu Labyrinth. This level 45 dungeon is really tough back in the days so the outfit isn't easily obtainable. But now with the increase in level cap, the dungeon can even be easily soloed by high level players. Just keep your fingers crossed and hope that it will drop for you.  😆

Raijin, which is an equivalent Japanese name for Thunder God, is paired up with Fujin, which is the equivalent of Wind God, to guard the last level of the Naryu Labyrinth. When players reach the last level of the dungeon, they will find Fujin waiting alone. Defeating Fujin will start a cut scene showing Raijin descending from the top and resurrecting Fujin. The player will then have to defeat both bosses together within a span of thirty seconds. Back then, this was a really tough challenge meant only for the brave.  😰

You can probably find many videos of warriors braving this dungeon on YouTube. But here's an image of Raijin and Fujin.

Fujin and Raijin (Image from Blade and Soul Zone)

The Thundergod outfit has a twin by the name of Windgod, obviously, and they look very similar to what the bosses wear. Their design is based on ancient illustration of the Thunder and Wind deities (or gods) in Chinese and Japanese mythology. The outfit also comes complete with an adornment call aura (those inverted 'U' shape things on the shoulders of the bosses in the image above) which matches the color of the pants. 

The bosses' outfits are topless but that won't do for a female outfit, so the designer kind of painted the entire torso region of the players' version to a full black, like they have been charred due to being strike by lightning.  😓

Look at the original outfit below and decides for yourself.

Front View - Original Outfit

Check out the full charcoal black torso...  😑

Front Close-up View - Original Outfit

Rear View - Original Outfit

Side View - Original Outfit

Side Close-up View - Original Outfit

By the way that I have been describing about the torso, you can probably tell that I really hate the charcoal body. And so... I recolored the torso region and both arms to skin color. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about exposing the breasts because there are actually multiple spikes-like armor pieces all over the torso. As such, only the mid portion of the torso is exposed.

Take a look at the modified outfit below and you can understand what I mean.

Front View - Modified Outfit

Does it looks better now with the torso and arms back to skin color?  😄

Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Thanks to the spiky armor pieces, I don't have to crack my head to find ways to conceal the breasts. 😆

Rear View - Modified Outfit

Side View - Modified Outfit

Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Although the lower part of this outfit looks rather bulky, it still fits pretty well given its slope design instead of sudden protrusion. Especially since it also hides the baggy pants which would otherwise looks...hmm... kind of 70's.  😅

Well, that's all for this simple mod. See more of the outfit in the video below.

AION - Harley Quinn Outfit

In the previous post, I had briefly mentioned about the Harley Quinn styled leggings and also introduced the double toned hat skins available in AION. Then, it struck me... Why not do a Harley Quinn mod? And so, here we are.

 

Those familiar with the character from DC Comics probably know that Harley Quinn had undergone extensive changes physically and also psychologically. Psychologically, she had transformed from being a psychiatrist for the Joker, into his partner in crime as a super villain, and then eventually into an anti-heroine. Her illustration had also gone from wearing the red-black full body costume, complete with joker hat and mask; into low-cut top with hot pants/skirt, dropping the hat and mask to sport a 2 toned hair style. Although the black-red double tone style still remains.

 

Harley Quinn's Transformation according to Wikipedia

But it was the recent movie version of Harley Quinn (performed by Margot Robbie in "Suicide Squad") that captured my attention. Maybe because she was the most colorful character in the movie poster? And I do mean literally most colorful. XD    Thus, I decided to based my mod on her although she sport mostly blue-red tone instead of the black-red tone from the comics. But she does wear a black-red diamond bracer, as a link to the comics version.  XD

By the way, we can also notice that Harley Quinn has changed her weapon from a mallet to a bat too... Wonder if that has anything to do with her relationship with Bruce Wayne (a.k.a. Batman) in the comics... You know, "The girl who is good with a bat"...  :p

Anyway, in order to pull this off, I would need to find and mod suitable chest, pants, glove and shoe. As you can see, this would be a major mod of 5 pieces of items, plus the baseball bat. And, yes, AION does has a baseball bat that can be used as a sword skin. XD   As such, this would probably be my only post for the week. 

 

The armor pieces that I chose for the mod ranges from leather to plate, namely the "Veteran Hunter's Jerkin" (which I had also previously used for a mod), "Vasharti Brigade General's Chausses",  "Steel Rose Sailor's Chain Glove" and "Vasharti Brigade General's Sabaton". Searching for these suitable armors, that match the specific requirements, already took quite a bit of time, especially when it comes to Harley's outfit. That's because symmetry of armor is quite a favorite in games, as designers will only need to include one side of the armor in terms of graphics and that translate into a lot of saving in terms of disk space. So, you can imagine trying to fit in Harley's love for double tone and that "Daddy's Lil Monster" slogan on her shirt.  >.<"

 

Fortunately for me, there're still the above mentioned armor pieces (chest and pants) that meet those criteria. Though unfortunately, I cannot help her to keep both Harley's actual hairstyle and the 2 tone hair color, as you will see later. Also, I can't put her signature 2-tone eye shade on her face (else all other players will have the eye shade too  O.O  ), so I simply give her a really thick black-colored eye shade, red hot lips and pale skin. Yes... for AION players, you know what that means... 400 Million kinah (in-game currency) gone... poof.... ~.~   For curious non-players, well, the "plastic surgery ticket" to perform a character change cost that much in game or five bucks if paying with real life currency on Black Cloud Marketplace (BCM).

 

Wow... I think I talked to much... So let's get to the mod now. Oh, please don't mind if the hair looks weird due to bending because the video and photo was taken on a moving boat that is floating in the sky; so her hair is being blown by the wind.   :D

Front Views

From the front view, we can see that she is sporting a double tone hairstyle but it is not quite the actual hairstyle of Harley. The actual hairstyle is shown in the image below. See the difference in the angle where the pony tail is formed.

Front View - Actual Hairstyle

The reason, I cannot have double tone on the actual hairstyle is due to, make a guess... symmetry again. Both sides of the pony tail shared the same graphic texture, so if I apply any color, it will appear on both pony tails.    -.-"  So I just use the double tone hairstyle (as double tone is the symbol of Harley) although I like the original hairstyle more. Which one would you guys prefer though?

Oh, by the way, I got the color on the wrong side of the head...   DX

Rear Views

Side Bottom View

Not forgetting the bat with "Good Night" imprinted on it. Unfortunately for some players, they may not be able to equip the bat because the bat is actually a skin that can only be applied to a sword. So unless the character is a Templar, Gladiator, Assassin or Ranger, they can't use it.  >.<

So what do you guys think of my Harley Quinn mod? Check out the video.

Download Link
 

AION - Ballerina Outfit

For the past 3 posts, I have been showcasing armor mods, so in this post, I'll do a random outfit instead. As suggested by the title, it will be a Ballerina outfit. Hmmm...where did I get the idea to make a Ballerina Outfit? Well... In AION 4.0, NCSoft introduced a new class known as Songweaver, who uses Harp as a weapon and are given graceful animations (although their idle animation does gives a "stoned" or "lost" kind of feel, in my opinion  ~.~  ). And, it is their motions that reminds me of ballerina in a ballet performance.

 

In fact, AION has plenty of examples for matching outfits to animations, such as Bruce Lee's fighting suit and his Kung Fu animations; boxing attire and boxing animations; diving suit and diving animations; baseball outfit and pitching animations; and the list goes on. Look at these images taken from AION NA's online shop, Black Cloud Marketplace.

Baseball Outfit with Batter animation
(Image from Black Cloud Marketplace)

Dragon Training Suit with Dragon Taunt animation
(Image from Black Cloud Marketplace)

Ninja Outfit with Ninja animation
(Image from Black Cloud Marketplace)

So, I thought to myself why don't I mod a ballerina outfit to match the Songweaver's animations.  :3

 

I started off by searching the internet for examples of ballerina outfit and decided to mod a classic outfit, which is basically a tight fitting pink bodysuit with a tutu. In case you are wondering what's a tutu, it is the fluffy layered skirt worn around the waist or hip of a ballerina.

With the design decided, I then need to find some armors or costumes in AION that can fit those criteria. There are in fact several costumes such as "Ornate Butterfly", "Cute Devil Outfit", "Black Swan Outfit", that come close to the classic ballerina outfit. Unfortunately, they do not have that really skin tight effect on the torso area.

Cute Devil, Black Swan and Ornate Butterfly

Finally, I decided to use 2 separate chest and pants armors to create the ballerina outfit.
 

For the chest part, I chose to use the "Sea Feast" series armor because it has a pure skin mesh without abnormal protrusion on the skin surface. This gives the possibility to create a really skin tight effect required for the torso part of the outfit. Another reason is.... well you guys will see later.  :p 

As for the leg, I found 2 possibilities, namely the "Dreamstrider Pants" and "Kaisinel Legging". Both are of the skirt and panties design, with the skirt looking similar to a tutu (although not a perfect match  >.< ).

In order to match the outfit, I will also need to source for a suitable shoe and this is a big problem. Why? That's because almost all AION shoe armors have heels! I am not sure how many shoes I had to look at before finally finding one without heels, namely "Remodeled Danuar Shoe".    >.<   Unfortunately for me, the shoe has a pair of socks like wrappings around the ankle, which I will have to live with.  ~.~

Let us now look at the final result which includes a modified "Sea Feast Tunic", modified "Remodeled Danuar Shoe" and slightly trimmed "Kaisinel Legging".

Front View

Front View - Close-up

The outfit at torso looks really skin tight, isn't it? That's because the outfit is basically painted right over the skin surface.  :p   And oh my... Is she the most busty ballerina I've ever seen?  XD   This is the work of the "Sea Feast" chest armor's "Bust-boosting" effect, which I said you guys would surely notice.  >.<

Rear View

Rear View - Close-up
 

Side View

Front Bottom View - Dreamstrider vs Kaisinel

So, do you guys think this outfit can pass off as a ballerina outfit? Which pants (Dreamstrider vs Kaisinel) would you use to match the top?

Download Link

 

AION - Mummy Outfit

For the previous 2 (or 4) consecutive posts, I have been touching on mix-and-match of Aion armor with mod. So for this post, I am going to work on a costume mod. With Halloween approaching fast, I figure that I want to add 1 more costume to my stash of Vampire Outfit and Zombie Apocalypse Outfit. My initial idea was to make a Banshee Outfit but it was soon replaced after AION NA introduced the "Luna Shop" event.

In this new event, NCSoft has introduced a new in-game currency called the "Luna Coins", which can be used to complement various aspects of the game that are well-loved by players, such as a wardrobe that can hold skins, for re-skinning unlimited times without destroying the skin, and special daily craft that can make randomly available items such as costumes, decorations, mounts, emotion cards and even pet eggs. :D

But you may be asking what's the Luna Shop got to do with my change of heart, to make a Mummy Outfit instead of a Banshee one? Well, this have to do with one of the skin that was introduced with the Luna Shop, namely the "All-Wrapped Up" costume. Maybe if you take a look at the screen capture below, you will know why. XD



All-Wrapped Up!

As you guys can see, this new costume kind of wrap up my character, with ribbons, into a pleasant "present". XD   And incase "All-Wrapped Up" sounded like something that I have made up out of the blue, it is in fact and really the in-game name of this costume. I didn't make the name up.  >.<

But would you guys agree that other than the ribbon, the wrapping itself do look something like a mummy's wrapping? Well, that's what I thought when I first look at this costume, and so, Mummy Outfit comes to mind.  :p

Unfortunately, a pretty face popping out above a wrapped up mummy's body just doesn't seem to be correct.  ~.~   And to make it double unfortunate, there is no way I can change her head since I do not have the means to modify the mesh (or skin surface).  :'(

But hey! This is AION, the king (or queen  o.o?  ) of  games, in terms of skin assortment! And the answer to my problem, is in yet another skin, namely the "Spooky Spandex". Look at my hero (or maybe anti-hero after you have seen what it is..) in the screen capture below.



Spooky Spandex

I hope it didn't spook you.  :p   But yes! This is exactly the skin needed to pull it off . And so, I got off to work by duplicating part of "All-Wrapped Up" design onto the "Spooky Spandex".

For the final product, take a look at the images below.

Front view

Rear view

 

Side view

Is this more spooky than the Spooky Spandex? Especially that featureless face, making you wonder what lurks behind those wraps.  >.<"   For some reason, it also kind of reminds me of the "Silver Surfer" from "Fantastic Four".

Well... I had wanted to expose part of her face, similar to her body, but the mesh has nothing below the cloth, so removing the cloth would cause a "hole" to appear in the face. We can't want our cake and eat it as well I guess..  >.<

Well, that's all for the mod shown here but in the video, you will get to see the other fun thing about the mod, due to the special effect of "Spooky Spandex", when the character get into combat mode. :D

 

 

Download Link

 

AION - Leotard Mod

Before I start on my skin mod for the day, I would first like to highlight to the readers who have used my mods that AION NA just had a new patch and 2 more Mesh files were added, which will overwrite my "Mesh_Meshes_102.PAK" file :'(  

 

Anyway, for those who are computer savvy, you can just rename my mod file "Mesh_Meshes_102.PAK"  to "Mesh_Meshes_104.PAK" and you are all set. For those who are unsure what that means, you can download from the links again as I have updated the files online.   :)

 

With that out of the way, let's get started on the skin mod of the day. :) 

 

Hmmm.... So where did I get my idea this time? Well. It came from the Rio Olympics that had just ended on 21 Aug 16. And then, some might ask "What's a leotard?" as suggested by the title of this post.

 

So, for a little fact of the day, a leotard (no, not related to leopard or retard... so definitely not a retarded leopard  ~.~ ), is a one-piece tight-fitting suit worn by gymnasts, acrobats and sometimes runners. You may also want to know that the name came from the creator Jules Leotard who was an acrobatic performer. Leotard looks very similar to a one-piece swim wear (or bathing suit) and may or may not be made from same material. Both can have long sleeves or sleeveless variations but swim wear mostly comes with sleeveless design except for those types which were specifically designed to gain that one-tenth of a second advantage. However, one major difference between leotard and swim wear (for ladies at least) is that there is no bra lining in leotard (maybe because that might cause abrasion while doing rigorous activity?   >.< )

 

That's all for the facts. But out of the many sports competed, why did I choose Gymnastics? There are mainly 2 reasons. First of all, many sports such as badminton and table-tennis have similar sports wear, which are so common that there's no point making them. Secondly, some sports wear have been "covered" in Aion, ranging from multiple types of swim wear, training suit to even soccer outfit  x)

 

For readers who are sharp enough, you'll probably be asking isn't the leotard similar to swim wear? Well, that is why I am making a long sleeve leotard from a leopard skin :p

 

It took a long time for me to find a suitable base skin for the mod. That's because the skin need to fit several criteria such as tight-fitting, no accessories (protruding area on the surface), arm and leg needs to run smoothly from body to hand and feet.

 

Finally, I decide to use the "Sexy Leopard Tights" as the base skin for the mod. Although it fits most criteria, there is a major flaw that almost cause me to abandon it. Can you take a look at the original skin and tell what is that flaw?  :p

 

Front view

 

Rear view

 

Side view

There we have it. The killer high heels... Which Gymnast in the right mind would go performing in high heels?  :(   Most of the female costumes, in Aion, come with high heels and for those that come with flat sole or track shoe, they can't fit the tight-fitting criteria... :'(

 

But if I try to remove the high heels, she will walk as though she's tip-toeing or ghost-walking because I can't modify the model structure (the mesh).

 

Well... I think it will suffice by pretending that she is just as crazy as I am or that she'll take them off before starting her regime... Lol... who would even care about logic in a game skin   :p

 

Anyway, let's see the end result.

 

Front view

 

Side view - close-up

Front view - close-up

 

Rear view - close-up

So, does this mod looks very much like a real leotard? Except for the heels, of course >.<"   Let's look at some acrobatic screen captures below.

 

Ready! Get set!

 

Go!

 

Mid air flip!

Mid air flip - another angle





Somehow, that mid air flip reminds me of the crazy shooting style (gun kata) in the movie "Equilibrium". So crazy that 20 over soldiers with rifles can't seem to hit a single dual pistol welding man while he takes them down 2 at a time. xD

 

Finally, the video.

 

 

 

Download Link

 

AION - Zombie Apocalypse Outfit

Since Halloween is just around the corner, I figure I should do something fitting the season. I have already done a Vampire outfit, so what should I do next that can fit the Halloween theme... Hmmm...Well...I didn't actually have to wonder for long because the idea showed up in a poster. :D

 

So, I was on my way back home when I saw this poster of a new Korean movie "Train to Busan". At a first glance, it seem like a war movie, where the people are fleeing a war by taking a train to Busan. And that's exactly what I thought... until I saw a review of the movie which stated it as a Zombie Apocalypse movie! To be fair, I placed the poster here for you guys to decide. Did you guys notice anything that evidently showed that it is a Zombie apocalypse movie?  :p

 

Movie Poster

Anyway, since the movie has given me the idea to mod zombie apocalypse outfit for my character, I now need to decide which Aion skin is best fitted for the mod. After some searching I felt that since it is zombie apocalypse, I should probably use some modern outfits instead of ancient looking armor. In the end, I decided to use the "Neat Marine Blue" and "Cool Summer Look" outfits.

 

Part of the reason why I choose "Neat Marine Blue" is because of a Japanese animation that I watched before, namely "High School of the Dead", where a group of high school students fought their way out of their zombie-plague high school and town, hoping to reunite with their families. And the "Neat Marine Blue" is... yes, a Japanese sailor-styled uniform. Take a look below at the 2 skins before the mod.

 

Before Mod

So...What should I do to make the outfits adhere to the theme of zombie apocalypse? From my research, it seem zombie apocalypse is always associated with torn clothing, claw marks, and.... blood, blood and more blood! And that's what I did exactly. So for readers who have phobias looking at huge amount of blood, it is a good idea to stop reading now.  :p

 

 

 

Last chance to turn back. Don't say I didn't warn you...

 

Well... since you persisted, let's take a look at the after-mod screenshots.

 

Front view

Front view - Close-up

Rear view

Rear view - Close-up

Side view

Side view - Close-up

A major flaw that I find in the mods is that they have a symmetry pattern instead of pure randomness. This is due to the fact that skin designers mostly create only 1 side of the outfit and duplicate it on the other side, in order to save data space which translate into the game file size. The only exception is when the skin is designed to be different on the left and right, as in the case of the "Cool Summer Look" pants. That is why I can put a claw mark on 1 side and torn clothing on the other.

 

So, what do you guys think of the zombie apocalypse outfit? Can they make it for the Halloween?

 

 

Download Link