Art Issue

[selkino]

I have this issue with PeE since the beginning. 

I think art-wise it's not strong enough.

To me when it comes to cRPG Fantasy IWD is the masterg gage*. 

 

 

I love PoE, and I'm proud that I could contribute to the making of it and I really enjoyed playing the game.
But if you take a look at the colours of the game, the character portraits and the cocnept art, IWD gives a much warmer experience, and it's closer to what I think is supposed to be the classical Fantasy setting.

Is this just the nostalgia speaking? Am I alone with this?

So I think games these days if you look their colour palette are generally very greyish and bleak. PoE is much better but still not performs as good as it could.

In IWD 2 there are mosaics in the inventory, character screens.
in PoE it's just a brown wood plain something.

I just leave a few screenshots here and a vid that I think represents the warmth and depth of a visual-auditory experience I expect from a good Fantasy:

Link

Link1

 

Link2

 

Vid

 

So of course IWD is not the best but still if you look at the ART it's superior in my opinion. And I want something at least as good as that was.

*Baldur's Gate is a pink-brown mess, sorry.
 

[illathid]

Nah, IWD is an ugly pos. The art in PoE was much better. But that's aesthetic tastes for you, everyone believes something different and all of it is completely subjective.

[Messier-31]

For me the art of PoE is state of the art. Get it? State of the art art? Get it?

[JerekKruger]

I like the art style in PoE a lot and am happy for it to remain consistent in PoE2.

 

For me the art of PoE is state of the art. Get it? State of the art art? Get it?

 

I don't get it, could you explain it in more detail?

[rjshae]

The art in PoE seemed fine to me. The look provides a realistic feel that takes the renaissance culture and temperate setting seriously. I think an overly warm palette would have diminished that experience. Please leave the bright colors for the more over-the-top cRPGs like D:OS and Torchlight.

[Messier-31]

Please leave the bright colors for the more over-the-top cRPGs like D:OS and Torchlight.

 

Good call. But I wouldn't call D:OS over-the-top but tongue-in-cheek.

[injurai]

​PoE is one of the most beautiful games of recent memory. As far as the art direction, I love it. Could the scaling be better? Perhaps, but it's pretty good as is.

[rjshae]

 

Please leave the bright colors for the more over-the-top cRPGs like D:OS and Torchlight.

 

Good call. But I wouldn't call D:OS over-the-top but tongue-in-cheek.

 

Yes, it's a bit of both at times. At least to me. Difficult to take it too seriously, at any rate.

[selkino]

Subjective indeed but if you say IWD art is ****e, and PoE is the best thing, whereas the two are very similar... One starts to think maybe your opinion is beyond subjective, to say the least

Nah, IWD is an ugly pos. The art in PoE was much better. But that's aesthetic tastes for you, everyone believes something different and all of it is completely subjective.

What I wanted to say, that I think Obsidian could perform better for Deadfire. And IWD is a good direction to look at.

[demeisen]

I hope they don't change the art style.  New and different things to see, sure, but PoE1's art direction was brilliant.  One of the most beautiful games I've had the pleasure of playing, and that quality was maintained throughout the expansion.

 

Very happy with that aspect of the game.

[selkino]

The art style is really great indeed, but I think it just isn't as rich as it could be.

 

My only intention here is that I want emphasize the dire need for an even better art.

Edited February 9, 2017 by selkino

[LuccA]

The art is just the better thing about PoE game, almost unanimous. They really should spend their time enhancing the other not so unanimous stuff...

 

Personally, I think the art design is simply perfect, from the main color palette (they seem to have gone with the combination of brown - wood, leather - and turquoise - adra -, which has a nice 'classic' feel) to the small details, like the 2D over-painted levels, the character portraits and the small icons for the itens.

 

I love all the small details like how all the potions are distinctively different, the traps displaying their effect in a round circle above a bear trap, the realistic designs for weapons and clothes. Even staring at the crafting itens in the stash is pleasing, just for the detailed icons of all the ingredients. I have been playing the game for a while now and I am still mesmerized by how perfect it looks. No need for improving at all (yeah except for the Ui scaling maybe, but that is probably fixed with UI customization)  

Edited February 9, 2017 by LuccA

[LLaney]

In POE2 we have access to much more advanced graphical tools. We will have something to demonstrate their effect on the game soon. Basically, we have done everything we can to achieve our POE1 goals (essentially: realism) to much greater effect.

[SkySlam]

Have you seen the animation of Aloth in the last update? :w00t:

 

I mean, the art is incredible in Pillars, nothing left to say.

[injurai]

That sand! Look at it!

[Archaven]

Have you seen the animation of Aloth in the last update? :w00t:

 

I mean, the art is incredible in Pillars, nothing left to say.

 

Aloth casting fireblast from his hand with his book. Something i'd really been requesting and emphasizing much earlier during the reveal of the figstarter campaign. I like to see more variety to it and for many other companions too.

[ruzen]

For me, POE's had 2 strongest side Visuals and Music.I hope they don't change the art style in any form.

In terms of visuals, all this game needs more NPC's hanging around, doing stuff, filling the amazing backgrounds and separate footsteps volume slider!

[rheingold]

I like the art style as is, looking forward to seeing the environmental effects though. Really, really hope for some more portraits this time around... particularly Orlan/Amaua

[Archaven]

Sorry to hijack this thread.. I think i'm more interested to know how the HUD/UI work this time around? Since the UI customization stretch goal was hit, with a WIP HUD/UI that be great and we all can imagine and visualize how much customization is possible.

[illathid]

Subjective indeed but if you say IWD art is ****e, and PoE is the best thing, whereas the two are very similar... One starts to think maybe your opinion is beyond subjective, to say the least

Nah, IWD is an ugly pos. The art in PoE was much better. But that's aesthetic tastes for you, everyone believes something different and all of it is completely subjective.

What I wanted to say, that I think Obsidian could perform better for Deadfire. And IWD is a good direction to look at.

 

And I disagree. IWD always felt like they had smeared vaseline over the camera lens, which made for a weird art style. I'd say they shouldn't look to IWD at all, but rather refine what they already have. 

[Rolandur]

For me the art of PoE is state of the art. Get it? State of the art art? Get it?

 

I do! I mean, just look at 'im... he's got huge sharp... he can leap about... LOOK at the BONES!!!

[selkino]

In POE2 we have access to much more advanced graphical tools. We will have something to demonstrate their effect on the game soon. Basically, we have done everything we can to achieve our POE1 goals (essentially: realism) to much greater effect.

 

That is great news, I'm happy it'll look more realistic. But what do you mean by realism? Better 3D modelling = realism? 

 

To me art is not essentially about realism. IWD didn't perform well in regards of realism. In fact we all know realism was not its strong side, but still, when you look at the art... it comes out on top. And it's not just an issue of taste. It's just amount of artwork put into the game. Hand drawn pictures, little details everywhere.  

 

An oil painting is not realistic and yet... I hope you get what I mean.

 

 

For me, POE's had 2 strongest side Visuals and Music.I hope they don't change the art style in any form.

In terms of visuals, all this game needs more NPC's hanging around, doing stuff, filling the amazing backgrounds and separate footsteps volume slider!

Art does not necessarily mean solely the visual part. I mean rather to me the visuals of the game are making up a bigger conglomerate and the artwork is also part of this.

Music is art too, but that's an all together different matter for now.

 

Changing the art style? Heaven forbid! The art style is great but the mood is not... it's hard to say, it's just not warm enough to me. I'm not saying flashy colours are good, that's BS. IWD is not flashy either, the only reason it has more contrast of colours is the snowy, icy environment, which is inherently a bit flashy. Whereas if you look at the interiors of dungeons or materials and textures of Kuldahar, the wooden building interiors and so on... those are 100% dope fantasy props. It's not high resolution and it's old graphics but aesthetically it's a great achievement!

 

Anyhow the greyish, darker colours of PoE is great too. It represents a certain direction and it's unique (!!!), I'm more than allright with that. But. I. need. More. Art. Handcrafted, classical art that does not need to look sharp or realistic at all. Take a look at an impressionist painting (you too Thaumaturgist) 

Diablo 1-2 is also a dark. It's even more dark, but still

 

So once again all I wanted to emphasize here is that the game needs more artwork put into it. I might be alone with my opinion, maybe to others a superdungeon or more voiceovers are more important.

[LLaney]

 

In POE2 we have access to much more advanced graphical tools. We will have something to demonstrate their effect on the game soon. Basically, we have done everything we can to achieve our POE1 goals (essentially: realism) to much greater effect.

 

That is great news, I'm happy it'll look more realistic. But what do you mean by realism? Better 3D modelling = realism? 

 

To me art is not essentially about realism. IWD didn't perform well in regards of realism. In fact we all know realism was not its strong side, but still, when you look at the art... it comes out on top. And it's not just an issue of taste. It's just amount of artwork put into the game. Hand drawn pictures, little details everywhere.  

 

An oil painting is not realistic and yet... I hope you get what I mean.

 

I do know what you mean, unfortunately I can't really explain the improvement with words The idea of 'richness' (as present in oil paintings for example!) has a lot to do with the subtle nuances of color that you perceive in reality but are often very limited in video games. Different types of light have different effects on the things around it, like how a campfire makes everything around it look different than a lightbulb. Again, we have something coming to demonstrate this, and also this is not my area of expertise - I do think you'll be happy with how things look, though!

 

And as for art in terms of non-3D-graphics related things, we have greatly expanded the presence of scripted interactions and in general put a lot more care into presenting information in UI with visual aids and iconography. Trust me there is a lot to look forward to.

[AndreaColombo]

subtle nuances of color that you perceive in reality but are often very limited in video games.

 

Not just games, but I know what you mean (and in fact, games in particular now that TV sets and BD standards are going for much larger gamuts.)

 

Everything that's been shown of Deadfire so far looks gorgeous, imo. Can't wait for Kaz's update

[takamorisan]

My issue was never the presentation of the art, my beef is with the animation overall, the character felt really robotic doing their attack animations and killing a creature felt like "Welp I'm dead let me lay here", unless you manage to gib then and it was just flying meat festival, no body parts included.

 

Any plans to improve on that regard?