Stuff from a game I'm working on

[gman003-main]

I have made my decision. I'm going with the exaggerated, less-realistic style. It's the only way it will work with the story. As a slight concession, I will be toning down the more impossible elements, but I'll also be jacking up the more realistic ones to similarly implausible levels.

While working on the katana, I realized it bore perhaps too much a resemblance to a [url=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090713100108/finalfantasy/images/thumb/7/7b/Kadaj-Souba.jpg/692px-Kadaj-Souba.jpg]certain sword[/url] from [url=http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII:_Advent_Children]a certain movie[/url]. To be a bit more original, and even a bit more realistic, I reworked the model into a single-bladed one, with a new capability to keep it a bit over-the-top and in-line with the other models.

[URL=http://img692.imageshack.us/my.php?image=swordmanipulatorredraft.jpg][IMG]http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/9199/swordmanipulatorredraft.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Imageshack added something to cover the best part. The bottom one is after expanding to an increased size.

[URL=http://img534.imageshack.us/my.php?image=swordmanipulatorredraft.jpg][IMG]http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/9199/swordmanipulatorredraft.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Unlike my earlier models, I used actual textures, instead of drawing my own. I still need to rework some of the UVs, but it's in pretty good shape already.

[URL=http://img683.imageshack.us/my.php?image=swordmanipulatorredraft.jpg][IMG]http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/9199/swordmanipulatorredraft.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
A good view of the edge and hilt. The guard is a bit low-poly, and needs a new UV map, but is pretty much the only thing left.

[URL=http://img689.imageshack.us/my.php?image=swordmanipulatorredraft.jpg][IMG]http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/9199/swordmanipulatorredraft.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
The blade after expanding. In-game, the expansion will be done after a stab, to widen the wound.

Hopefully, switching to actual photos for textures has resolved the previous problem, where the textures looked flat. Is that still a problem, or is there any other criticism?