A lot of the takes in this thread just feel close minded. I get having aesthetic preferences, but completely shutting out a whole genre seems wild. No anime art is OK? Every 8-bit game is not worth playing? Feels sort of weird to me.
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Is there a particular art style or aesthetic that completely turns you off to a game, regardless of its other merits?
- Thread starter ScOULaris
- Start date
I thought Outland was pretty good at the time, unless you mean something else.
For the people who are saying retro graphics/sprites, do you think its just overdone, not a valid art style or too poorly done most of the time?
I'm a huge fan of games like that myself but I'm just curious where it comes from becuase I see the sentiment a lot.
I'm a huge fan of games like that myself but I'm just curious where it comes from becuase I see the sentiment a lot.
I just don't really like the 8 bit look or colors. I'm fine with 16-bit though.
It is, in theory possible to create cosmic horror that is not based on hatred of mentally ill people, but no game developer has yet managed to pull it off, and I usually prefer not to stick around to find out.
I think almost any style can look great, but my least favourite is probably the styles that show up in western indie games like Binding of Isaac.
-Moe
-Very trashy weird sexualized anime designs
-Chibi
-Gears of War style of big body small head characters
-Overwatch/Fortnite etc style artstyle
I might make some exceptions depending on the game but these are usually what makes me lose interest.
-Very trashy weird sexualized anime designs
-Chibi
-Gears of War style of big body small head characters
-Overwatch/Fortnite etc style artstyle
I might make some exceptions depending on the game but these are usually what makes me lose interest.
They are definitely hit or miss. I'm thinking if they stick to the anime 2D style I like it. DBFighterz. Ninja Storm. One Piece.
Once they go realistic JRPG/ anime then I'm out. Nier. Code Vein. Shit, even FF7 looks a little weird sometimes even if the graphics are objectively good imo.
Several games I'll see neat icon art for in the PS store or names I recognize from thread titles only to see they're 16-bit retro games. I guess I get the nostalgia but it really isn't the aesthetic I want for my visual medium escape.
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Damn, what on earth did anime do to so many of you?
But my answer would have to be those pixel art games where the pixelation feels like it's holding the art back instead of enhancing it. Everything looks to vague and formless and is completely lacking a coherent color palette.
But my answer would have to be those pixel art games where the pixelation feels like it's holding the art back instead of enhancing it. Everything looks to vague and formless and is completely lacking a coherent color palette.
I suppose Binding of Issac is another one.
You run around as a naked child crying at its enemies, surrounded by nasty environments and disgusting enemies (pretty sure one of them is just a floating fistula). Seems like it has fantastic gameplay but Its just a lil too gross/weird for me.
You run around as a naked child crying at its enemies, surrounded by nasty environments and disgusting enemies (pretty sure one of them is just a floating fistula). Seems like it has fantastic gameplay but Its just a lil too gross/weird for me.
Well, when its bad it involves a lot of uncomfortable sexualization and characters with sameface.
Madworld on Wii, It was black and white and cell shaded at the same time. I love cell shaded games but the black and white aspect made it too difficult to separate things/objects within the game. I got really frustrated after 2 hours of playing.
I tend to be able to get on board with any art style that is executed well, but I'm not especially drawn to simplistic cartoon styles that veer toward the cutesy or grotesque.
That's a good example of a style I'm not a fan of.
That's a good example of a style I'm not a fan of.
Wow. Fair enough but also harsh. Which pixel art games are okay by your measure? Anything in particular you hate about it?
I think one of the core issues is head / face animation. In the examples you posted, character heads and faces remain the same throughout most of the animations. In Wulverblade's case it's especially egregious because they don't even have any kind of animation, they just look like photographs in a permanent angry grin expression, indepentently of the body animation or even angle. Rayman and especially Vanillaware games have a lot of facial expressions and animations, from different angles, that convey a lot of expression and make them so much more lively.
Literally the opposite for me, it's my favorite indie art style, and pixel art that deviates from it (especially ones that rotate or zoom pixels) makes my skin crawl.
Yep. The only few anime style games I enjoy are persona and Valkyrie chronicles of the top of my head. Can't even look at some of the others
also most of final fantasy's 'modern designs'. FFXV main characters from an art perspective might be the worst character designs I've ever seen
also most pixel art. It just looks sooooo boring outside of a few more stylised ones like hotline miami
BoI's art style keeps me away from every playing it. I found Super Meat Boy a lot more acceptable (if unnecesarily gross at times), but BoI was just unpleasantness distilled into an art form.
Fortunately, Enter the Gungeon exists.
Overwatch, Fortnight, ect
Twee artstyles kinda urk me this gen. Even the new Half-Life has a bit of it.
Edit: Also most anime
Twee artstyles kinda urk me this gen. Even the new Half-Life has a bit of it.
Edit: Also most anime
Any game where the artstyle seems to be applied only to replicate something else purposedly IF it not clarle presented as an honest homage or tribute.
So clones more or less. Or assetflippy style games in general (sure there are exceptions as always)
A good "gameplay" loop can overpower an artstyle, but the other way around cannot.
Also this is such a "Wind Waker" type of thread. Just sayin'
So clones more or less. Or assetflippy style games in general (sure there are exceptions as always)
A good "gameplay" loop can overpower an artstyle, but the other way around cannot.
Also this is such a "Wind Waker" type of thread. Just sayin'
yeah, this board's tolerance of retro games is something else sometimes.
"artistic" with a Tool username is pretty rich.
Whatever Salt and Sanctuary's artstyle is called.
Do you lack a soul?Literally this. I love anime but when I see stuff like this, I wanna die. Miyazaki was right.
I can't stand chibi, super deformed, "cute" style games. There's no getting over the art style. Doesn't matter if the game is good or not. For example, Wind Waker. It's a great game, but I despise the art style. The only reason I gave the game a chance is because it's Zelda; the only reason I got through it, is because it's Zelda. People make the claim that you're supposed to change your mind, to get over it. Nope.
Tool actually has amazing art in all they albuns, dont know what u mean by that.
Just wtf is this.
I came to post this. This generic/lifeless anime look really takes me out of a game. Xenoblade Chronicles Remake looks to be going this route and its already stopped me from preordering. Maybe when I see the game in motion it'll look better, but XBC2 I just couldn't bring myself to play.
Oh man, Warframe... I recognize this game has a lot of merits but I just don't like the character designs. Remind me of a cross between a ninja and a cicada.
Im pretty sure single word responses aren't allowed. You might want to actually explain what you meant when you're trying to call out someones music taste.
I don't know what more i can do to call out the band that has the album art with the man that has his head up his own ass or the song on the record that recites a recipe in German overlayed with what sounds like a Ministry outtake but ya'know.
i guess joe rogan prog-rock is an artful genre-- sorry.
i know people with zero taste have said Dragon Quest a lot in this thread, but I'd also like to add the mobile ports of classic JRPGs as a general rule of thumb too. Even the switch ports of DQ1-3...
You two should check out Gears 5. While the Gears designs are still there obviously, it's one of the prettiest and most colorful games I've played this gen.
Agreed. I was more on board with anime/jrpgs until graphics got better and they became more.. expressive. When things started becoming more extravagant, voice acting became common and creators could better deliver on that cringy vision, then I completely lost interest. Its like the 2d and early 3d generations granted us immunity from all that simply because it couldnt be realised. Most of it was text based, graphics werent good enough. When we got to the ps2 era however, thats when the creators were able to go full anime so to speak, and it instantly became cheesy, tryhard nonsense, fit for a saturday morning cartoon.
I really hate how WoW looks in-game. The art style in loading screens and concept art look whatever, but they don't bother me as much as actually seeing how it's implemented in-game. It really sucked for me in the mid 2000s when I'm trying out all these other mmos that keep failing but WoW just stayed.
True, unfortunately. I often get the urge to make retro game topics but then think about how few replies they usually get so I don't bother.
Fortunately being absurd and having artistic merit aren't incompatible. But you already deemed yourself the arbiter of taste either way.
i was going through the TG16 mini thread the other day and got so bummed-- i don't even think people clamoring for a Metal Gear game would even appreciate its roots.
their music is a joke used to swindle impressionable young men that haven't discovered King Crimson.
Oh man, I hate their aesthetic so much. All of their games are pretty much hideous to me, including your exceptions.
While all of those are "anime", that's such a wide breadth of styles though... Ni No Kuni and Code Vein couldn't be more different. For instance I loathe the Code Vein and Xenoblade look, but Fire Emblem is mostly fine (depending on the game), and the Ghibli aesthetic of their movies (+ Ni No Kuni) is lovely.
It's like saying "realistic" and then naming Uncharted, Mass Effect, Dark Souls, Control, Hellblade and Red Dead Redemption. I would say "really, you hate ALL of those styles?". I mean ok, I guess that's just your taste, but damn, and I thought I had narrow taste. xD
That's kind of a crappy/insulting assumption though. It's like saying "I don't like cartoony art styles because I assume the game is also going to be a stupid kiddy game for kiddy manchildren who don't want to grow up".
Eh, I see what you mean (some anime styles are cool, unlike moeblobs) but we definitely don't need more of women not wearing pants and that awful pigeon toe nonsense. :P
Blizzard's house style, Fortnite and other games with what I will describe as a lurid, chunky, busy cartoony look. Even if I was interested in them as games, I can't stand the look of them in general.
There has been a bit of an over-correction this gen towards "colourful" as an innately good aesthetic quality, which I think is a mistake, just as much as grey=realism was.
There has been a bit of an over-correction this gen towards "colourful" as an innately good aesthetic quality, which I think is a mistake, just as much as grey=realism was.