The Art Style and Graphics Discussion

[KasumiLover]

This game is legit my drug...been playing since 5pm and I had to literally tear myself away

got to play a bit of her....she dumb for cutting her hair tho, I hated that part

From my second playthrough when I first played 9S. This was my first time riding a wild hog, took some practice

Asssss

Simone...my legit favorite boss behind Eve. Her BGM and battle was epic and beautiful and I loved the whole wanting to be beautiful story she had and the singing thing. It made me sympathize with her since she wanted to be accepted

Another pic I took earlier during the second playthrough as 9S

....Eve truly does really love his brother...from observations it may even go a little further but hey. I personally thought I liked Adam as a character more but beside the long hair he's kinda a jerk and controlling and sadistic. Eve loved his brother and basically worshipped him and I could tell it hurt him really bad when 2B murdered him. I also dislike how his....departure was handled, it was done rather humorously which I thought was personally inappropriate, especially the sudden cut music.

I really really love this game...I'm waking up at 10-11 am sharp to hack at it some more, the next time I turn on my ps4 I'll be able to see what A2 can do...she has it of demonstration ahead of her since she was daft enough to slice off her glorious mane, that was the only reason I wanted to play her anyway
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[Tyaren]

The game looks pretty bad in some of these screens. D: Barren and uninspired, both in technical and in artistical regard.
What is going on (or not going on) with this background? That's hardly PS3 texture and geometry detail.

And, again, everything is so washed out... :/
Now, don't let yourself be discouraged by me. If you feel like sharing your Nier images here, please go on. This thread is not just for the stunningly beautiful games.
To highlight something positive:
I really like the anime inspired and intricately designed characters and models. They look great.

Very cool design and their animations are also super stylish:

 

[Brute]

I have to say that I find Nier one of the ugliest games I've seen in a while. The drab color scheme is unappealing, not a fan of the anime-styled characters, the enemy designs are worse and the excessive flashy/swoopy animation style has always been a pet peeve of mine. I know it seems like I just shit on this game all the time, but it's because it doesn't do anything well where I'm concerned (expect music).

Horizon is actually visually quite impressive, but I won't be picking it up because gameplay-wise it doesn't appeal to me. But watching things from it is interesting.

 

[KasumiLover]

You'd probably be interested to know tyaren that game is enhanced on PS4 pro, I think it you can play on a higher resolution too!

And yeah the music is godly too, I find myself humming the vocals....example in the forest kingdom...ahem..."MEEEEEEEEEEE....WHEEEEEE WHEEEEEEEEE!" The vocals are beautiful, I sometimes go back to the desert just to listen to that one track, and Simone's boss track almost legit brought me on the verge of tears!

 

[Tyaren]

You'd probably be interested to know tyaren that game is enhanced on PS4 pro, I think it you can play on a higher resolution too!

I know. Though the Resolution bump is only from 900p on Standard PS4 to 1080p to Pro with enhanced antialiasing and texture filtering. No 4K resolution mode though.

Getting back to Horizon:
Guerilla Games have some of best environment artists in the video gaming business and they must have been slaving away for years. The sheer scope, variety and polish is imo unmatched in any other game out there so far.

(All photos taken by me.)

Sorry for the wall of images. >__< I had to get my point of variety across. I'll keep other posts on this page image lighter.

 

[Nikotsumi]

Damn, as it was already been metioned countless times, Horizon looks gorgeous indeed, I've also watched some gameplay videos and it doesn't seem bad, so I'll definitely consider picking it up once I get a PS4.

Anyway, since I've never contributed with anything in this thread.... here's some "peasants' graphics game" Tales of Berseria. Yeah, it's obvious that this game's graphics isn't on par with other PS4 games, though I still wanted to share some screenshots I took, mainly because I really enjoyed the game and I'm currently on my 2nd playthrough. I'm also one of those people who likes this art style, even though they used it for the fourth time already lol (definitely wouldn't mind it being changed).
There's no way of removing the HUD (both during exploration and battle) and it's really difficult timing good screenshots during battle with all that stuff going on screen, so I don't have many of them.
I'll use spoiler tags, just in case there are way too many.
Info : PC version, 1080p (can't go to 4K with my monitor), max settings, didn't use any graphics-related mods.

Spoiler: scenery

Spoiler: battle

 

[Chapstick]

I'm sorry page but here are more pics to slow you down

And I think this next one is my favorite out of all 250+ pics I've taken so far

 

[Tyaren]

Damn, as it was already been metioned countless times, Horizon looks gorgeous indeed, I've also watched some gameplay videos and it doesn't seem bad, so I'll definitely consider picking it up once I get a PS4.

Anyway, since I've never contributed with anything in this thread.... here's some "peasants' graphics game" Tales of Berseria. Yeah, it's obvious that this game's graphics isn't on par with other PS4 games, though I still wanted to share some screenshots I took, mainly because I really enjoyed the game and I'm currently on my 2nd playthrough. I'm also one of those people who likes this art style, even though they used it for the fourth time already lol (definitely wouldn't mind it being changed).
There's no way of removing the HUD (both during exploration and battle) and it's really difficult timing good screenshots during battle with all that stuff going on screen, so I don't have many of them.
I'll use spoiler tags, just in case there are way too many.
Info : PC version, 1080p (can't go to 4K with my monitor), max settings, didn't use any graphics-related mods.

Spoiler: scenery

Spoiler: battle

Tales of games are mostly held back by their sparse budget and development time, not so much by the power of the system that they run on. To this day Symphonia, Abyss and Vesperia, imo had the best, most coherent visuals.
Another reason is the wild mix of styles in character design that is now going on in each game. Instead of all important characters being designed by for example Kousuke Fujishima (the Oh my Goddess! mangaka), they now throw different character designers together with crashing styles. Instead of Fujishima's very clean and iconic designs we now often get overladen and stupid designs like these:

 

[KasumiLover]

Tales of games are mostly held back by their sparse budget and development time, not so much by the power of the system that they run on. To this day Symphonia, Abyss and Vesperia, imo had the best, most coherent visuals.
Another reason is the wild mix of styles in character design that is now going on in each game. Instead of all important characters being designed by for example Kousuke Fujishima (the Oh my Goddess! mangaka), they now throw different character designers together with crashing styles. Instead of Fujishima's very clean and iconic designs we now often get overladen and stupid designs like these:

Heyyyyyyy! Don't insult Milla, I loved her design, especially the hair, I'm a fan of giant ahoges/idiot hairs in designs

 

[Tyaren]

Heyyyyyyy! Don't insult Milla, I loved her design, especially the hair, I'm a fan of giant ahoges/idiot hairs in designs

See, the "idiotic" says it all.

I'm glad you posted though, because I actually came in here to share some Zelda Breath of the Wild screenshots. Not taken by me unfortunately, because I own neither a Switch nor a WiiU (but that version seems plagued by framerate issues).

The game isn't very photogenic... :/ Looks all pretty simple and barren, the low image quality (900p on Switch, 720 on WiiU) without any antialiasing doesn't help either. A long shot from the initial reveal:

And this was supposed to be WiiU footage.

 

[Nikotsumi]

Tales of games are mostly held back by their sparse budget and development time, not so much by the power of the system that they run on. To this day Symphonia, Abyss and Vesperia, imo had the best, most coherent visuals.
Another reason is the wild mix of styles in character design that is now going on in each game. Instead of all important characters being designed by for example Kousuke Fujishima (the Oh my Goddess! mangaka), they now throw different character designers together with crashing styles. Instead of Fujishima's very clean and iconic designs we now often get overladen and stupid designs like these:

Oh, I see where are you going. Personally, I prefer the character designs of the recent games, like for example Zestiria had imo really good characters designs which unfortunately were ruined by the game.
I know that Fujishima designed the whole Symphonia cast, which I didn't find very interesting, don't get me wrong it's not that I hate them but there's something in them which makes me do not like them on your level.
In Berseria he designed just one main character, Eleanor. You could take and put her in one of the older games and I think she'd perfectly fit, the same can't be said for the rest of the cast.

I like her design, it's pretty simple and clear compared to the other characters', but at the sime time I find her to have the most plain one, which makes hers less interesting, though this kinda makes sense given her role in the group. On the other hand, I love the designs made by Okumura and Iwamoto.

I have to agree with you about Milla and Velvet's designs though, sorry @KasumiLover69 lol. However I have to say that I overall prefer Velvet over Milla, even if they're pretty similar, there's something in Velvet that is more "cool" than "dumb", don't know if I explained myself well enough ahahah.

 

[KasumiLover]

Oh, I see where are you going. Personally, I prefer the character designs of the recent games, like for example Zestiria had imo really good characters designs which unfortunately were ruined by the game.
I know that Fujishima designed the whole Symphonia cast, which I didn't find very interesting, don't get me wrong it's not that I hate them but there's something in them which makes me do not like them on your level.
In Berseria he designed just one main character, Eleanor. You could take and put her in one of the older games and I think she'd perfectly fit, the same can't be said for the rest of the cast.

I like her design, it's pretty simple and clear compared to the other characters', but at the sime time I find her to have the most plain one, which makes hers less interesting, though this kinda makes sense given her role in the group. On the other hand, I love the designs made by Okumura and Iwamoto.

I have to agree with you about Milla and Velvet's designs though, sorry @KasumiLover69 lol. However I have to say that I overall prefer Velvet over Milla, even if they're pretty similar, there's something in Velvet that is more "cool" than "dumb", don't know if I explained myself well enough ahahah.

In the tales of series I'd say these personally are my favorite character designs:

I didn't like it much at first because I thought it kinda made him look to girlish but it grew on me after a while, I think the idiot hair is my favorite part XD

Another one I liked, so simple and befitting of a character like her

This one I liked because it was simple and practical but still has a sort of tribal vibe

And then last this one. I can't really explain it, it just seemed balanced

One design I absolutely will never like is Velvet...I'm sorry but that's a mess XD it's has no direction at all and I can't even process what it is I'm supposed to look at

 

[Brute]

I'm gonna be that guy...

I don't like Zelda BOTW's visuals, nor any of these anime characters.

 

[KasumiLover]

I'm gonna be that guy...

I don't like Zelda BOTW's visuals, nor any of these anime characters.

why not?? I love anime characters, especially moe and innocent type ones like the ones I listed.

 

[Tyaren]

I'm gonna be that guy...

I don't like Zelda BOTW's visuals, nor any of these anime characters.

I agree with Zelda and I agree with most of the anime character designs, especially the tropey/stereotypical ones KasumiLover mentioned. XD
Do you in general dislike anime/cartoonish art styles in games? If not, which ones do you like?

Let's have a look at the great detail of Aloy's character model:

A very nice detail is that her face is asymmetrical, as we all actually are. On Aloy you can notice it especially well observing the creases of her eyelids.

 

[KasumiLover]

I agree with Zelda and I agree with most of the anime character designs, especially the tropey/stereotypical ones KasumiLover mentioned. XD
Do you in general dislike anime/cartoonish art styles in games? If not, which ones do you like?

Let's have a look at the great detail of Aloy's character model:

A very nice detail is that her face is asymmetrical, as we all actually are. On Aloy you can notice it especially well observing the creases of her eyelids.

That's amazing!!! And not all anime tropes are bad >_> I also like the dark, brooding, depressed characters too like Phase 4, Noctis, and A2 before her stupid haircut, this basically everyone I loved in Nier:

2B I liked her design and her personality towards the end of the game where she cared more, Adam I loved because his design obviously and he was a huge dick XD Eve I thought was better of the two brothers, everyone knows I like 9S and I LOVE A2....that unkempt hair! Simone is my robot waifu, her story was really sad and she had a reason to want to kill

@Tyaren Adam is basically your avatar with longer hair XD

 

[Brute]

While there are certainly exceptions, I don't generally like anime designs. Despite how hard they try to be wacky, most characters end up looking identical, with the only changes being in their hair and outfits. When it comes to character designs, I don't tend to like things that are too busy, and prefer tempered designs that are easy to recall by memory.

Using characters you'll be familiar with, Kasumi's C1 has an excellent design. Every color and individual piece of her clothing can be recalled very easily even by someone who has only seen the character a few times in passing since they all stand out from each other without drowning each other out. Compare that to this, which is so damn busy with pointless details all competing in a flurry for my attention that in the end my mind just shuts off and relegates the whole thing to being a trash heap. Anime designs generally do this as a rule of thumb, and they tend to give characters some crazy, stupid hair to make matters even worse.

A few other examples of excessively busy, anime-like designs from DOA:
Lopsided Kasumi
Paper-mache-clock Marie
Edgy Mila
Confusing Momiji
Blob of trinkets and floating clothes

 

[Juihau]

Honestly, I could mostly forgive Velvet's design for a while because it actually has a somewhat plausible justification. She'd been locked away for three years, and whatever the hell went on in that prison left her original clothes practically worthless, so when she broke out, she went to a storage room and just kinda scrambled together whatever she could find.

That kinda falls apart when she never bothers changing into something else throughout the game, except one scene where she actually changes into nightclothes to sleep at an inn...and then, the very next day, changes right back into the scraps she salvaged from the prison.

 

[KasumiLover]

Honestly, I could mostly forgive Velvet's design for a while because it actually has a somewhat plausible justification. She'd been locked away for three years, and whatever the hell went on in that prison left her original clothes practically worthless, so when she broke out, she went to a storage room and just kinda scrambled together whatever she could find.

That kinda falls apart when she never bothers changing into something else throughout the game, except one scene where she actually changes into nightclothes to sleep at an inn...and then, the very next day, changes right back into the scraps she salvaged from the prison.

Who would wear nightclothes on an adventure? XD

 

[Tyaren]

New Dragon Quest XI screens:

I'm really torn regarding this game's look. On one hand I really like how carefully everything is designed and crafted and how clean it looks, on the other hand however it looks also sterile and in some cases dead. :/

At least the game world seems to be vast and full of different cultures. Something I immensely enjoy in open world games: Discovering exciting, foreign lands/worlds on my TV screen. Something which I am right now experiencing with Horizon Zero Dawn and I know I'm going to be sad once it ends.