Styles you don't really like

[Bumpyroad]

Nov 12, 2017 2:32:59 GMT -5 ReyVGM said:

-I don't like the mega cute cat lolita big boobed waifus anime-style that has become so prevalent in Japanese games in the last decade(s).

Games like Nights of Azure?

[🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀]

Generic anime (girls) is something that's becoming real old IMO.

But probably the worst is indie games with poor pixel art. Some people just don't understand shading.
Or indie games that look like 00's flash games. Or at least in style look like them. Like Super Meat Boy, but often worse.

[wyrdwad]

Nov 12, 2017 5:22:13 GMT -5 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 said:

Or indie games that look like 00's flash games. Or at least in style look like them. Like Super Meat Boy, but often worse.

OH, YES. VERY MUCH THIS.

I still can't bring myself to play Guacamelee for this very reason. I've heard it's a fantastic game, but I absolutely HATE the art style. Like, I find it completely unappealing in every way, because the characters just look SO MUCH like they're from a flash game.

-Tom

[nerdybat]

Don't know how to name it properly, but I'll say "jock" style of game design that was particularly popular in the 2000s - with lots of G-rated taunting/swearing, heavily sexualized in laziest way possible (by inserting a crapton of polygonal playboy-ish gals into the game and calling it a day), brown-and-yellow palettes and attempts at visual realism, "in your face" visual presentation full of explosions and guitar riffs, and heavy use of second-rate Nu Metal music. If you've played Final Fight: Streetwise, you know what I mean, it's pretty much a "quintessential 2000s game" when it comes to stuff above. Even good franchises suffered from it for a while - some of Burnout and Need For Speed games had a lot of it.

[🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀]

wyrdwad Guacamelee is not what I mean though. It looks a bit flash-like, but it's got a very stylished...ehm style going on.

I mean something like No Time to Explain. Games that look like 00's webcomics.

[JoeQ]

I'm not a fan of isometric or top down view in storydriven games like RPGs. It's just hard for me to relate to the characters. Oddly enough, this only applies to games with realtime combat. I actually prefer isometric in turnbased games. Yeah, I don't know either. I guess it's mostly just because I hate the Infinity Engine.

[dsparil]

I'm not really a fan of "retro" graphics for the most part. It's usually too colorful if it's emulating 8-bit systems and generally looks like cheesy 90s shareware if it's going after 16-bit systems.

The absolute worst is when games like that use sprite rotation for something like a rolling boulder. The the rotation is way too smooth in image quality and frame rate and makes it stick out so much.

[ReyVGM]

Nov 12, 2017 4:42:15 GMT -5 Bumpyroad said:

Nov 12, 2017 2:32:59 GMT -5 ReyVGM said:

-I don't like the mega cute cat lolita big boobed waifus anime-style that has become so prevalent in Japanese games in the last decade(s).

Games like Nights of Azure?

Never played it, but yes. Although, the artstyle is not completely horrible since there are way worse than that.

[kaoru]

The RPG Maker look.

[8 Bit Dreams]

Nov 12, 2017 10:01:17 GMT -5 kaoru said:

The RPG Maker look.

This!

[phediuk]

anime.

[jackcaeylin]

Anime:

I don't mind the anime style in the NES until PS2 era. It had different engines and variations, but nowadays it is kinda same, ugly and weird like Namco Bandai, Compile Hearts, Final Fantasy, Atlus, Touhou stuff and many more. If we advance  technology, then we start to go backwards, kinda

light:


Light is great, but sometimes, it is used to hide ugly areas in games or it is used as a filters, like Nier: Automata.


Yours sincerely

Jack Caeylin

[windfisch]

Nov 12, 2017 6:13:17 GMT -5 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 said:

wyrdwad Guacamelee is not what I mean though. It looks a bit flash-like, but it's got a very stylished...ehm style going on.

Guacamelee actually uses Flash and to me it's a great example for showing that Flash is not necessarily a "style", but a versatile tool. I Love the fluid and dynamic animation and bold use of color in that game.

So I think that for this thread we maybe should differentiate between actual style (e.g. Fleisher'esque design and animation in Cuphead) and skill of the artist (or the lack thereof). To me it seems more interesting to focus on games that are very competently made (regarding it's presentation), but for some reason just don't resonate with the individual player.

Getting back to Guacamelee: What actually bothers me about it's visual presentation are the ominpresent bloom and blur effects - an unfortunate design trend that many contemporary games share. These are effects that I think only should be used very subtly, but instead graphic designers seemingly can't get enough of those.

One example of another game which looks significantly worse because of bloom lighting is Wind Waker HD. To me the original looks a lot better (except for the game's resolution) and more unique. On top of bloom lighting and softer shading the HD remake also has a very blue-ish tone during daylight sections. Another common trend that I'm not a fan of.

I guess a the style I dislike, would be called something like triple A hyper-realism: Games with exaggerated, high contrast lighting, extremely reflective (glossy) surfaces for everything and humanoids whith facial exressions that are hopelessly caught in the uncanny valley. (Assasin's Creed, Mortal Kombat/Injustice, Star Wars Battlefront..).

[Bobinator]

I would say the modern anime aesthetic, at least the sort you typically in a lot of doujin games, is a big dealkiller for me. You know the sort. Games where the cast is heavily or entirely female. Now, this on its own isn't a problem, to be clear! Skullgirls can get away with it, because it has interesting character designs that can easily be told apart. These games don't. In most cases, characters look identical, aside from their hair or clothing. Very large eyes, with pretty much no mouths or noses. There's usually a lot of bright colors. I don't know how that style got to be so popular, but I find it so very, very boring.

Basically, the more your game looks like this:



The less I'd prefer to have anything to do with it. To be clear, the anime style itself is fine, but why can't we get more Guilty Gear-styled games and less... this?

Also an instant dealkiller: Any game that calls itself 8-bit but is clearly not. If you're one of those sorts who draws tiny, stick-legged sprites because you can't afford an artist, fine, but don't lie to me about it. I don't ask for complete authenticity, because sometimes that's not feasible, but if you're going to say you're trying to use a style, make sure you actually use it.

I'm also not a big fan of the "Newgrounds" style, as popularized by games like Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isacc. Overly thick outlines, choppy animation, and in the case of Team Meat's games, a generally really unpleasant style that makes me feel like I'm playing something made by an angry 14 year old.

Finally, cheap CGI. Not all CGI, to be clear, just the sort where it's very obvious whoever was in charged used it because it was somehow cheaper than sprite art. The DKC games still manage to look good in my book, and even the old Killer Instincts had actual motion capture involved. No, I'm talking something like, say, this.



Ew.

[toei]

Nov 11, 2017 18:58:15 GMT -5 novicola said:

It depends on what you mean, exactly, by "2D with 3D models." If you mean 3D models on an actual flat, two dimensional plane, then, yeah, I agree. NSMB1 was way below what a company of Nintendo's stature could have made, especially when a small indie group could make Giana Sisters DS which looks so much more vibrant. (I dunno about NSMB2, but you'll perhaps be surprised to learn the console versions use pre-rendered models.)

If you mean "2.5D," then, man, if Klonoa or Retro DKC look souless/ugly to you we're at an impasse.

I meant what you first thought I meant. I like DKC & don't think Klonoa is ugly.