The Art Style and Graphics Discussion

[Tyaren]

@Tyaren

Sources: Horizon: Zero Dawn Is Coming To PC

The PlayStation 4 exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn will come to personal computers this year, sources tell Kotaku. It’s an unprecedented move for Sony that signals a future in which the publisher releases games on platforms beyond its own consoles.

kotaku.com

HZD will look absolutely stunning in true 4K, maxed settings and 60fps+ on PC, that's for sure. O: It imo still is the prettiest open world game, imo not even Red Dead Redemption 2 looks better. But that is maybe just me, because I prefer a sci-fi/fantasy setting over Wild West and realism.

A couple photos I took of the game on PS4 Pro:

I wonder when we will see HZD2 though. Maybe on the rumored PS5 reveal event in February? That game has the potential to melt eyeballs, lol.

 

[Tyaren]

Damn, Final Fantasy VII Remake is going to be a beauty...

Some of the best in-game visuals that we've seen all generation. The game is by the way running on Unreal Engine 4 and is going to be a PS4 exclusive for now. That in regards to people who keep going on about how shitty the PS4 is. The PS4 and PS4 Pro have actually produced some of the most beautiful games this entire generation: Uncharted 4/Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Detroit, Spider-Man and now FFVII Remake.

 

[Project Bokuho]

@Tyaren

 

[Tyaren]

Genshin Impact looks so pretty and charming! O: Why don't we have more open world JRPGs looking this lovely? Especially towards the end of this video when the sun sets and they reach the inn on that giant tree, it's just too pretty:

This is the game running on mobile phones by the way, lol. The PC and PS4 will of course look even better.

 

[Brute]

Honkai Impact is my jam.

 

[Tyaren]

The Final Fantasy VII Remake demo is a beauty, and it's a rock solid 30fps on base PS4 and PS4 Pro and the latter even raises the resolution to 1600p.

The in-game character models are also top notch and they one up even those of FFXV. I took these pics during gameplay:

 

[Jackie Chan Fan]

The game is beautiful. It's like a much prettier version of Dissidia on PSP.

 

[Project Bokuho]

 

[DestructionBomb]

The Final Fantasy VII Remake demo is a beauty, and it's a rock solid 30fps on base PS4 and PS4 Pro and the latter even raises the resolution to 1600p.

The in-game character models are also top notch and they one up even those of FFXV. I took these pics during gameplay:

Super hoping Square would do a PC release soon. Was having a blast .

On top of it, can we talk about how Jesse, Biggs, and Wedge are a lot more life-like now compared to their PS1 counterparts? I mean it's obvious of course, but that addition alone made them feel more appreciated, they felt like actual main characters part of the main crew. Especially Jesse.

I still firmly believe that we didn't truly experience FFVII until now simply because in the PS1 version we had to use our own imagination to create a type of emotion or personality for the characters in FF7.

 

[DestructionBomb]

@Tyaren

Horizon Zero Dawn Steam page is up:

Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition on Steam

Experience Aloy’s legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a future Earth ruled by Machines. Use devastating tactical attacks against your prey and explore a majestic open world in this award-winning action RPG!

store.steampowered.com

 

[Macca Beam]

god i wish ROLE PLAYING GAMES and writing in general still let the player/reader use the last cells in their cranium on this imagination activity instead of spelling everything into their faces. the ones that do not shouldn't be parading around as role playing games to be honest.

on the topic of art style, i see that ff7r is going right for the "Unity student project loaded with an asset store FX pack" aesthetic with the particle effects and bloom abuse. it is truly unfortunate. i can only hope this practice will go out of fashion in a few years just like its piss filter cousin

 

[Tyaren]

@Tyaren

Horizon Zero Dawn Steam page is up:

Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition on Steam

Experience Aloy’s legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a future Earth ruled by Machines. Use devastating tactical attacks against your prey and explore a majestic open world in this award-winning action RPG!

store.steampowered.com

Every PC only gamer should get it! Not just is it graphically one of the top two best looking open world games (imo only RDR2 has it beat in that regard, but not even in all regards), it's also really damn good and has an amazing story. I dare to say it has the best story of any open world game I played. Those usually take a backseat to exploration and creating your own story. Not here, this one is exciting, epic and mindblowing.

Again some photos I took while playing the game:

This is what it looks like on PS4, imagine what it'll look like maxed out on PC! O:

 

[Tyaren]

Mihoyo released a new trailer for Genshin Impact and as always it's incredibly pretty and charming:

Genshin Impact's environment artists are imo among the best in the business. Everything looks so picturesque and basically like a painting in motion. Some environment screenshots from the trailer:

Whoever heads Genshin Impact's environment art team is imo brilliant. Here are two of their concept artworks that the in-game environments are based on:

 

[Brute]

Go go, Mihoyo!

 

[Tyaren]

@Brute
So I heard you like Honkai Impact. XD
I'm a bit worried about the monetization/gacha implementation in Genshin Impact (I wished it was just a regular offline, single player, full-priced JRPG). How are they going about it in Honkai Impact? I guess it's not as egregious and intrusive for you to like the game so much?

I by the way love the super clean and stylish anime art and design of Honkai Impact.
I know on first glance the characters and art look like random anime that we've seen a million times already, but as someone who does also draw in that style and who has been and studying it and its artists for a while I can tell you that HI's art stands above much of the industry.
Especially one of their artists whose name I just can't be able to find out. :/ (Maybe it is not even one artist but several.) The design, porportions, dynamics, colors and shading and overall clarity and cleanliness is really impressive. I do know that Mihyo also does some clever mix of 2D and 3D art. So clever that you often can't even tell what is what on first glance.
Some of HI's really pretty art and designs:

 

[Macca Beam]

you're naturally biased toward it because you "draw in that style" and have been "studying" it (why? there are so many better, underused styles out there). as you correctly pointed out, it looks every bit as generic, sterile and run of the mill as it gets.

 

[Tyaren]

you're naturally biased toward it because you "draw in that style" and have been "studying" it (why? there are so many better, underused styles out there). as you correctly pointed out, it looks every bit as generic, sterile and run of the mill as it gets.

I studied design and illustration, in that I made my bachelor degree. I design/draw/paint in a variety of styles. I just privately prefer to consume games, comics and animation in manga/anime style and I privately draw in a manga/anime-inspired style. It's pretty different to the Honkai anime style though. Way less cute and pretty and less standardized.
You understood me partly wrong and you are partly wrong in your assessment of the quality of Honkai impact's art. Yes, this particular kind of anime style is used like a million times in other games, anime and manga. Also the character designs are reminiscent of designs we've seen a million times in other places. However, and I guess you will only be able to see that if you are a professional artist yourself and if you are also familar with the professional game/manga/anime scene, the art of Mihoyo is still of higher quality than in most other games, manga and anime. I could now in detail explain to you why for example the hair, fabric folds and their shading are masterfully done. Or why the character proptions and perspectives are so on point, that you sometimes would guess they actually are 3D models. They sometimes are, Mihoyo does also do 2D art and animation that uses 3D models, but the examples I showcased are mainly 2D art.
(Mihoyo being able to create CGI anime art and animation so well and convincingly is in itself a great feat, because there are worldwide only very few animation studios that actually are able to pull this off as well. There are so many high budget CGI animes out there that look like absolute garbage!)
Being able to draw like that is an amazing feat for a regular 2D artist, they have the sensibilities of a sculptor or a 3D computer program.
Another anime style artist that is famed for the exact same thing is Shinkiro, a veteran Capcom character designer and illustrator. He is able to draw and shade as if his art is done completely in a 3D program. Maybe because his style his way less cute and common you'll be able to notice more of a quality here:

It is not about the style and character design and how overused and cliché they are, it is mainly about the technique and skill and that's of high quality in much of Honkai Impact's art and that of Shinkiro. One also has to remember that these artworks are churned out in a very fast fashion. To keep as high quality and polish is pretty awesome.

 

[Macca Beam]

you will only be able to see that if you are a professional artist yourself and if you are also familar with the professional game/manga/anime scene

first, this is going in the direction of "you have to be a master chef or you won't understaaand this food" direction. it is a commonly known fallacy, and to suggest that a mobile fap game's art style is made exclusively for the professional eye to admire is simply ludicrous. the audience is not made of art experts, but your every day otaku.

you will not sell CLEAN CRISP PERFECT CGI LIKE LINEWORK AND RENDERING to trad artists, you will also not sell this aesthetic to digital artists pulling off art that are plastered on 3d software as promo materials. i have strong reasons to believe that no professional artist would bat an eyelash at this. not trying to be rude here, but did you actually try showing this off to anyone else in your field, or is this all the impression of one proclaimed professional?

"professional game/manga/anime scene" is a very bizarre term to me. great manga art styles already beat this stuff to death in both technique and aesthetic, the majority of anime hasn't looked professional in decades, and none of the recent professional games like BotW, Cuphead and MH seemed to embrace a style remotely close to this. if anything, this is way more common in niche korean mmos like kurtzpel, arpiel and closers or whatever.

i see that you are conflating technical skill with artistic skill, which is understandable, but unfortunate. like a common music listener gasping at the #lit #bangerz mastering of a compositional disaster. but a polished, anatomically, mathematically precise turd IS a turd. there are many artists both 2d and 3d who possess impressive skill, but waste it all on overdone, derivative, uninspired work.

oh, and if you're an illustrator don't ape 3d. don't ape digital. don't ape cgi. it is an incestuous cycle because guess what these spawned from in the first place?
do what the cgi artist cannot dream to do.

 

[Tyaren]

@Macca Beam

Jesus...what crawled up your ass? XD You are trying way too hard to quote me out of context, to twist my every word and to pepper it with thinly veiled or outright insults.

not trying to be rude here

Uhuh...

To end this:
We established the art style and character designs are generic. This is what it is supposed to be. It is commercial art, churned out en masse and in quick fashion to an audience who likes exactly that art style and exactly those character designs.
That does however not mean this art can not also show the game artist's skill, care and polish. Mihoyo's game art is generic, yes, but it shows skill, care and polish. Every professional game/manga/anime artist (as in people who do game/manga/anime art as their profession, nothing "bizarre" about that) will be able to tell you this. Mihoyo is in fact known in the game industry for their high quality design, art and animation as well as graphical prowess even on phones.

Last but not least, who are you to tell a game artist or a developer that commissions their art what or what not to "ape"?
Many game or movie concept artists literally make their living off creating concept art that emulates a CGI or photo realistic look, because that is what the game's or movies' look will be based on.

 

[Macca Beam]

no need to villainize me, i already gave you the benefit of the doubt by politely asking if you could substantiate your claims. you reading that as sarcasm because ideas don't communicate well as text on a screen is unfortunate.

and yes, we have established that. this discussion won't go anywhere though because our viewpoints are "it's fine because it's well done" and "it's shit because it's derivative" which both apply. many artists and non-artists (normal people make up the majority of your audience, so it helps to hear what they have to say) are not interested in merely the technical side, but also the element of "how overdone is this", so i automatically assumed everyone felt this way.

who are you to tell a game artist or a developer that commissions their art what or what not to "ape"?

a person not interested in seeing capable artists succumb to mediocrity, maybe. in this field you'll hear that a lot from critics and disgruntled viewers, so brace yourself. also "it's my style, don't tell me what to do" has never been a good stance for any non-amateur artist to take, even if as an artist in current_year you can be very well off doing literally anything
so it's less of a "can you make a living off of it" question and more of "should you strive to be another cog in the machine, doing things indistinguishable from anyone else's"