Wow! Another Balrok Raiment? Well, it seems like Balrok Raiment is a very well-liked outfits by players. After all they look quite nice and is free as long as player can put time and effort into farming it. On top of that, not many players have the time or energy to farm it, considering the blood bath involved. So, you probably won't run into another player who is wearing the same outfit... that often. 😅
Anyway, after I posted the Yun Balrok Raiment mod two weeks back, a viewer had asked for the Gon version on YouTube, followed by another viewer asking for the Jin version on Blogger. And as I explained in the Gon mod, I had just done the Jin Savannah prior to the Yun Balrok Raiment, so I went ahead with the Gon Balrok Raiment first. And to keep my promise for the Jin version, here we are, the Jin Balrok Raiment mod.
Have anyone actually notice the 'raw' version of Jin Balrok Raiment in one of the NCWest loading screen? The loading screens are all art pieces and might have been concept art for the game. Interestingly, you can see various in-game outfits worn by the characters in the loading screen. I can bet not many players notice them until I mention it now. I don't mean those loading screens with focus on characters but scenic ones where characters are just small part of the screen. That's because every time a loading screen appears, "It's break time!", just like how we treat TV advertisements. 😆
Some of the outfits that appear in the loading screen includes the Wolfskin, Lycan head adornment, Hongmoon uniform, Hongmoon Duster, Chime and of course not forgetting the main outfit today, the Jin Balrok Raiment. Don't believe me? Check the loading screen below.
Blade & Soul NA Server Loading Screen
See the walking character at the bottom? You can argue that it looks nothing like the outfit in game. But I did mention it is the 'raw' form. So check this image below where I have removed the bulky belt and purple half-skirt, and enlarged the character, from the image above, for comparison.
Comparison of character in loading screen and raw in-game outfit
Do you agree they look the same now? That pair of white gloves, shoes, elbow guards and even the two pieces of metal at the back. 😆
With that out of the way, let's look at the original outfit below.
Front View - Original Outfit
Front Close-up View - Original Outfit
Rear View - Original Outfit
Side View - Original Outfit
Side Close-up View - Original Outfit
I know some people may prefer the 'raw' version from above but I find the outfit looks imbalance because of the bulky armor pieces and glove on the upper body, and almost naked on the bottom. So I kept the bulky belt just as I did for the Yun version.
As requested, I applied lace to the outfit where there was none and also removed some armor pieces to reveal more of the laced layer. Check the modified outfit below.
Front View - Modified Outfit
The original white cloth areas of the outfit are modified to laced layers. These include the bra area and both arms.
Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit
I also took off the armor pieces on the bra and the elbow guards. Why block the lace layers after I mod them, right? 😆😅
The two metal pieces at the abdomen area are also removed and the gloves slightly recolored to make them look metallic, so they can better match the other armor pieces. Unfortunately, I guess I didn't color them dark enough.
Rear View - Modified Outfit
The purple half-skirt is removed so I can see the leggy legs. 😅
Rear Close-up View - Modified Outfit
However, I can't remove the two metal pieces on the back due to the layer gap that exist between the laced and skin layer. They are there to hide that gap. 😥
Side View - Modified Outfit
Oh. I also found a shorter white half-skirt hiding beneath the purple half-skirt, which I shortened just enough to hide the bottom area.
Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit
Finally, I gave the sides a bit of translucent feel to better match the laced layers.
Watch the video below to have a better look at the mod. I tried to zoom in on the laced layer but the character becomes invisible if the camera zooms too close. 😧
Download link for mod:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1a83ZxG5JRbmWZ0hVZuzTx_x0YvQoVXkj
As seen in the last post on Yun Balrok Raiment, where I put up the outfit for all three races for comparison, Gon got the most love (as usual 😅 ). That's not just my opinion but many other players feel the same way. For me, the Yun's and Jin's versions look nice too, except for that exaggerated 'belt' and skirt which combine to make the character's waist line appear triple in size when viewed from the back. And unfortunately, that's where players are looking at, almost 100% of the time, when they are playing the game. 😅
After I posted the Yun Balrok Raiment music video on YouTube, a viewer left a comment to make a mod for the Gon Balrok Raiment. Since I had done a Jin Savannah mod just prior to the Yun Balrok Raiment, I guess a Gon mod is proper for this post.
As seen in the previous post, the Gon's version sports a tight pants with two huge metal armor pieces wrapped around their outer thighs. The front torso is covered by just a shroud, leaving the side of the breasts exposed (Is this the reason why people think it looks great? 😆 ). The outfit sports a G-String at the rear of the butt, which is covered in a laced layer. Another special thing for the Gon outfit is that spiky toe pieces on the feet, much like those that Thai traditional dancers wear on their fingers. Come to think of it, one of the NPC - Yunwa wears some sort of finger armor pieces too. 😲
Let's take a closer look at the outfit below.
Front View - Original Outfit
That shroud reminds me of the Profane Shroud. 😅
I can't zoom in on those toe pieces, which are the black pointed parts on the tip of the feet. 😧
Rear View - Original Outfit
Rear Close-up View - Original Outfit
That laced layer on the butt... 😞
Side View - Original Outfit
Side Close-up View - Original Outfit
Is this why people love this outfit? 😅
Initially, the first thing that I wanted to remove is that pair of bulky armor pieces on the thighs, but I noticed a jagged edge, on the skin layer of the thighs, somewhere above the armor pieces. Thus, I decided to keep them since it looks weird to just have a piece on cloth laid on the thighs for no reason. The armor pieces will compliment the cloth that I kept to hide the jagged edges.
I had also hoped to have the shroud totally removed but the mesh for the top part of the breasts, including the cleavage, is missing. So I can only shortened the shroud to the bare minimum without revealing the hole underneath. 😓
I also can't do much for the scary toe pieces since removing them equals to removing the toes themselves. 😓
For my love of leggy legs, the tight pants are recolored to skin and the laced layer on the butt is removed.
The result, after the above-mentioned removals, is an outfit that looks like an adult role play costume that features a single piece of cloth running down from the chest, through the crotch region and ending as a G-String on the butt. 😱
After Removal
That is just too crude and I cannot leave it in that state. As such I added a laced layer around the waist region. 😅
Let's take a look at the final mod outfit below.
Front View - Modified Outfit
In the above image, we can see the legs recolored to skin.
Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit
The shroud has been shortened and laced layer added around the waist region.
A little bit of laced layer is also placed just under the cleavage because of a discontinuity in the mesh structure.
Rear View - Modified Outfit
Wow! Those leggy legs! 😍
Rear Close-up View - Modified Outfit
Bulky elbow guard removed but the armor around the wrist are retained because I'm too lazy to paint the fore arm too. 😰
Side View - Modified Outfit
Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit
As you can see, there is a piece of cloth on the skin layer beneath the bulky armor pieces that wrapped around the outer thighs. If you look closely enough, you will be able to see the jagged edge and the reason why I kept the armor pieces. 😥
So do you like the Gon Balrok Raiment even more now? 😅
First, I would like to wish a Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate the occasion and Happy Holiday to those who don't celebrate this day but lives in countries with holiday designated for this occasion. I remembered writing some stuff about the Lunar New Year in one of my previous post so I wouldn't do it here again.
But seeing how two major quakes, that rocked Mexico and Britain, occurring just nearing and entering the new year, I just can't help thinking: Can ancient civilizations' methodology be so accurate as to predict nature's activities? However, I am not going into details about how ancient Chinese civilization characterizes each year in the main post. I'll leave that in the side note at the bottom for anyone interested.
Back to the outfit. It is obtained randomly by spinning the Wheel of Fate at the Frostscale Basin in the Silverfrost Mountains or dropped off the field Boss, Balrok, in the same area. Balrok is a huge dark monster that looks like a dog with bat wings and deadly breath. Not mentioning that the basin is packed with snake and primitive type monsters that are ever ready to grab any humans they see, to be slaves and sacrificial lambs. 😱
To this date, it is still difficult to farm this outfit because the essence that is required for spinning the wheel doesn't drop easily and Balrok can only be summoned after killing three other mini bosses, which in turn only spawns when large numbers of the respective monster types are killed. In other words, it is a horrible 'blood bath' to get the outfit, unless of course the player is lucky enough to get it straight from the boss' chest. 😧
Unlike Balrok which is dark and ugly, the outfit looks pretty cool in mainly white-purple color theme, and decorated with purple fur and several metal armor pieces. The outfit for the races looks very different as shown below.
Gon Jin Yun
As we can see from above, Jin and Yun are given open skirt that reveals half a leg, while Gon sports a tight pants. Also, both Jin and Yun have white body suit for the torso but Gon has only a shroud that covers their frontal, leaving the side of the breasts exposed. We can also see the same laced layers on the Gon tummy and butt area, as compared to that on the Yun's right leg and left side of body.
Let's take a closer look at the Yun's outfit below.
Front View - Original Outfit
The torso area is a white body suit with a white flower on the left side of the chest and the right leg sports a laced stocking, while the left leg is uncovered.
Front Close-up View - Original Outfit
Also notice the bulky metal 'belt' and hand guard.
Rear View - Original Outfit
We can see that the dress portion is made up of a bluish-purple cloth, extending from below some fur around the waist level.
Rear Close-up View - Original Outfit
The laced portion of the torso looks nice but the bottom part of the outfit looks really 'bulky' from the rear. 😧
Left Side View - Original Outfit
Right Side View - Original Outfit
The uncovered left leg is partially revealed under the long cloth.
I really like the lace patterns on the outfit so I tried to duplicate them on the entire torso. However, the mesh of the cleavage area is missing so I cannot just laced the entire torso. That is because if we look through the empty portion of the lace pattern, we are expecting to see the curve of the cleavage underneath. But with the mesh missing, I will need to paint the skin layer directly under the laced layer which will only show a flat region under the laced layer, which will look incorrect. 😞
Thus, I shifted the white flower on the left breast to the center to have a full opaque layer to hide the missing cleavage.
Although I find that the bottom part is too 'bulky' for my like, I can't simply remove the belt, fur and cloth. That is due to the discontinuity between the torso and hip portion as they don't join nicely on a same layer. The front part of the torso extends above and beyond the hip such that it gives a shirt over skin effect. As such, I only remove the long purple cloth, hoping that will be enough to remove the 'bulky' feel. 😥
Let us take a look at the mod outfit below.
Front View - Modified Outfit
Most of the torso area is now laced, except for the white flower in the middle. 😄
Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit
Rear View - Modified Outfit
The long purple cloth is also gone and now we can see more of both the leggy legs. 😍
Rear Close-up View - Modified Outfit
Is the 'bulky' feel still there? 😥
Right Close-up View - Modified Outfit
Left Close-up View - Modified Outfit
So, that's all for this mod. Check out the video for all round views.
Side Note:
Ancient Chinese civilization characterized each year with respect to the twelve Earth Pillars and five elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth). The twelve Earth Pillars are also known, in a simpler form, to some as the twelve zodiac signs starting from Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and finally Pig.
This year happens to be the Earth Dog (Earth as the element and Dog as the eleventh pillar) year which is characterized with Earth related disaster. Just nearing and crossing into the new Lunar calendar, the world is greeted with two major quakes in Mexico and near Britain. Are they coincidence? Well, we don't know except that from the year 2010 to 2017, there had been on average 13,640 earthquakes per year, with magnitude above 4.0, around the world! But then again, Earth related disaster is not only earthquakes but can also includes landslides, volcano eruptions and others.
So stay safe everyone!
Download Link for mod:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZA_6E5XIb6bSSAuwPUSUCfol-nB5TQl7
