[psyfect]

http://www.diablofan...ead.php?t=10841
A lock on this thread might not be a bad thing, says the original poster.

Major update!: As I have since stated, I feel the game looks phenomenal in motion (not that it looks bad in images). Here is an excerpt from an interview at 1up which seems to confirm my thoughts on how playing the game will feel:
Rob Pardo: "We don't want the game to look like WOW. We want it to look like Diablo. But we felt that there was an opportunity to add more color to the game but still keep the game feeling dark. And I think that's something a little tougher to see in a demo. I think when you're playing the game, people will fall in love with it, and will realize, "you know what? You can have reds and blues and a more painted look and still have a very dark, gothic feel to it all."

This thread should now be considered outdated but will remain intact for the time being:
Periodical update: The poll is closed. I did not close it, I have no idea why it's closed. That doesn't bother me though, I like the graphics. Apparently, the global petition is here and another poll submitted by a moderator can be found here.

Diablo art direction. Blizzard states: Stylization over realism/Don't be afraid of color. WoW vs Diablo 3.

I've come to the conclusion that I am satisfied with the graphics (they look great during gameplay). This thread will continue to reflect peoples opinions, but as stated above, there is a thread which was created by a moderator which can be accessed here.

Edit: If you know who deserves credit for these edits (and can prove it), let me know so I can add it, please.

Ultramegazord said:

And these made by others:

I just noticed there's more rain but no rainbow in that last picture. Ironic.

I'm satisfied with whatever the developers choose and couldn't stop saying things such as "Oh my gosh!" and "Whooaaa!" as I watched the game play trailer.

Voice your opinion, but be sure to remember it is just that; an opinion.

Edit2: A lot of people keep stating this is pre-alpha and should be dismissed as inaccurate data. Here, they are quoted as being further along than we knew and, according to the speaker, they are intending to change the color: Stylization over realism/Don't be afraid of color.

[Tempestfury]

Personally, I don't mind the current way it looks, but here's what I would prefer. The beginning of the game should start out in "happier" areas that maybe demons just started coming to and haven't yet had the chance to leave their mark on the environment. Then, the further into the game you go the more evil and dark areas you start going to. This would give more impact imo as it shows what the demons have done to the world.

I love that final pic though. Areas later in the game should definately have that feel.

[Visko]

That bridge pic is just amazing. I'd marry this game if it looked like that, not by choice it'd be giving me a shotgun wedding.

[The_wind]

i wish weather was more contrasted, but im personally ok with it now, though a little darker..realistic...a more jagged wouldnt be bad. I agree with a above poster saying it should slowly get darker and crappier as the game goes on.

[Dvirus55]

It's funny people want that OP pic considering the story says it's been 20 years and they havn't been invaded. Do you seriously think the world is that dark after 20 years of no invasion after the worldstone was destroyed?

I'm pretty sure diablo 3 starts out the way they have the game now and ends up getting darker and darker as you progress just like D2...

Seriously -_- Give blizzard a chance to show off later levels lol?

[Zbigniev]

Dvirus55 said:

It's funny people want that OP pic considering the story says it's been 20 years and they havn't been invaded. Do you seriously think the world is that dark after 20 years of no invasion after the worldstone was destroyed?

I'm pretty sure diablo 3 starts out the way they have the game now and ends up getting darker and darker as you progress just like D2...

Seriously -_- Give blizzard a chance to show off later levels lol?

I think it's about balance. I like the graphics but they sorta don't fit in too well. i think the outside should be slightly darker and all areas have light radius at night and dungeons always have it. The thing is, the dungeons, they look like there's sickly green neon lights lighting the area, It needs to be un-greenified and light radius needs to be added.

[DRIER]

please we dontwanna those graphics like UnrealEngine2 did which is looks rubber mud everwhere!!!
I just wanna say something about the armor..Ive post it on another thread..

these armors above its looks so comfortable with a little lighting around the surface of the helmet(scalp?)..no exaggerated no big scrap
iron..

this is what we taking about..the game should be more realistic..about what?..not about ploygon but art style.
the polygon of punder's armors above are less than the grils of my sig bellow..we gota additional momery for the others just like
physics engine...


maybe someone would said that there have alot bulky armor in diablo2 too..
yes,if talking about the size I am agreed,but not about the style..please look at my the pic of sig very carefully..these exaggerated armors in diablo3 demo
are totally defferent compare with diablo2's.


in diablo2 we can see all these amazing armors details with this window..

but in the demo,all changed..why did they put the man in the middle?
show what kind of weapon he have?come on,anyone can see it outside...
we just want see these rare armors with this!!!!armor is a very important features of the game!!!!

puls!!!I think some of character design is wrong..
http://www.blizzard..../ss41-hires.jpg
just look this,the man is a knowledgeable master who experienced untold hardships but dressing like that funy..with a
gimmicky clothes and chain around his weak neck!!..how can they did this!!!
obviously, some of new of dev team is not understand diablo...kaen is a plain person in my mind...

Quote

I think that the artist director needs to draw a clean line between Warcraft and Diablo. This game right now is more Warcraft - which is a bad thing. They need to bring back the gorey, brutal and dark world of Diablo. Yes i know its 20 years whit no evil, but still i dont think the world changes from a hellish place to a happy little fairyland whit purple zombies and rainbows in just 20 years. I doubt they painted all the places whit happy, warm, cartoonish Warcraft colors either. Almost all of those colors are just wrong, they seriously are just too cartoonish, and so are the models, Diablo used to be more realistic in graphical appearance than cartoonish.

So to put it straight IMO the current Art direction is very, very bad.

Elmo

Quote

VOTE : Φ Graphics Discussion (New art style proposal to Blizzard)
http://www.diablofan...read.php?t=9283

VOTE : D3: Character Rerolling
http://www.diablofan...ead.php?t=10148

VOTE : 1 Item per Slot or Inventory Tetris
http://www.diablofan...read.php?t=9974

Quote

Its not about the latter levels being darker.... its about the graphical, visual, artistic, elements of the design.
We all know we will go to more evil areas later in the game.
But that doesnt stop characters consisting of 20 polygons 15 of which are the shoulders alone.
It doesnt stop the fact that the textures look like a water-coloured telly-tubbies trip-fest.

Natima

Quote

It really saddens me looking at a screenshot of the successor's to one of my favorite games is almost unbearable. Like I was trying to identify individual zombie's in the witch doctor's zombie wall, and it was really hard. Everything looks blurry or something.

In fact, I also have some of this problem in Starcraft 2, but THEN I didn't complain. Because Starcraft is much more about the RTS and strategy than it is zooming into the action. That's just not a big deal in a game like that. Though some of the community spoke up, I didn't say a word.

But Diablo is different. I want to admire my armor and admire my character. If it looks fake and cartoonish and totally out of place, I won't care about the loot, meaning I won't care about leveling and mfing, meaning that after a few quick spin-throughs, the game becomes like those other games from lesser companies that just sit on your shelf, for rare weekends.

XanderV

Quote

I agree with the OP, as stated countless times in these few days, the game needs to look more like previous Diablo games and less like WoW. Yes, the characters are more detailed, but they still look cartoony, and I will really miss realistic looking items from Diablo 2 inventory, they were really unique, beautiful, you had a feeling someone photographed them. These new itmes just don't look right, no metallic glare on armor and weapons, oversized shoulder pads etc..

Blacksmith

Quote

=====PETITION=====
http://www.petitiono...t/petition.html

The final list with all the comments will be sent to Blizzard, when you sign please commen.

Thanks!

====================

Well, as some of you might have noticed, Blizzard changed the art style of the Diablo franchise, they made it cartoonish and less realistic, it dont feel as gothic, dark and evil as the two first games, instead it looks like a cartoon with vivid colors and hand drawn textures, just like World of Warcraft, what im proposing is a change of art style, something more dark, claustrophobic and cryptic, just what Diablo is all about.

Blizzard changed the art style of starcraft 2, it was too cartoonish too, with vivid colors, shields on marines and a lot of other visual elements that made the game look like Warcraft, the community didnt agree with that look and Blizzard accepted their opinion, Diablo 3 is going in the same way so I made 2 pictures to show what Diablo 3 should be about (in my opinion):

Light radius / Shadow:









And these made by others:







What we can do is just changing the colors but there's a lot more things (cartoon models, hand drawn textures, humour in the chat with Cane (this isnt Warcraft damn it!), character models that look taken straight away from World of Warcraft and much more), that just dont belong to Diablo, take a look at this statue, for example:



At first sight it would be a statue from World of Warcraft, right? But not, its in Diablo, it's cute, funny, fluffy, happy and cheerful, we dont want those things in Diablo!

Tell me what you think, i think it fits much better the Diablo world, ill make more pictures if i see that more people agree with me, maybe we can send them to Blizzard and make they know this.

Ultrameqazord

Quote

http://img159.images...ablocopyjk3.jpg

Raven

[InvincibleEMP]

Didn't vote because what you're showing isn't graphical change its just a change in gamma and brightness... However, I Do want to see some changes in the graphics, namely the armor on the character renders.

Dvirus55 said:

It's funny people want that OP pic considering the story says it's been 20 years and they havn't been invaded. Do you seriously think the world is that dark after 20 years of no invasion after the worldstone was destroyed?

I'm pretty sure there is an invasion... what do you think all the monsters he's fighting in the demo are? But, it would be sweet if it starts out light like that and then gets darker very soon, to show how the "shadow crawls across our world."

[Dvirus55]

Thats exactly what im saying.

The intro video shows the girl having a vision of whats to come until she saw a demon and broke out of the vision...

[psyfect]

Dvirus55 said:

It's funny people want that OP pic considering the story says it's been 20 years and they havn't been invaded. Do you seriously think the world is that dark after 20 years of no invasion after the worldstone was destroyed?

I'm pretty sure diablo 3 starts out the way they have the game now and ends up getting darker and darker as you progress just like D2...

Seriously -_- Give blizzard a chance to show off later levels lol?

It's funny people claiming 20 years of an absence of diablo as grounds for bright and sunny days.

This is the world of sanctuary, not earth. Tristram was dark from the get go, it wasn't dark and stormy just because there were demons 20 stories down. This is a dark land.

Did you know that the first level of the game play video is from inside the Tristram Cathedral?
http://www.blizzard....amcathedral.xml

Here is an excerpt:
"Then it started to go wrong. We began encountering these, these dark...things...imps or demons...or fallen, I think they're called. There were so many of them, all horns and flashes of red, attacking us from all sides. I don't think you could ever really be prepared for something like that. We got disoriented, which was easy to do. It was so dark...."

Notice the three pictures underneath that quote? Same as the game play footage. Now take a look at the first picture on the page, top right. That is a dark cathedral.

[XxL2PxX]

A comment about beginning areas have more sunshine and it gets darker the more you progress

Judging from Diablo 2's Act 1, it was a forest filled with corruption, no happiness whatsoever there, even in Act 4 at the Pandemonium Fortress, there was no happiness there, you were literally in the Burning Hells

[psyfect]

InvincibleEMP said:

Didn't vote because what you're showing isn't graphical change its just a change...

Stopped reading because what I was talking about didn't entail graphs and charts. :) Just kidding.

Let's not quibble over verbiage! You can still vote, your opinion counts and this thread (if enough people access it; link to it!) may be seen by a Blizzard employee.

[Dvirus55]

Why do I have the feeling when they show lut gholem or some desert area that people will photoshop it into black and white as well.

[Wrecktified]

i do like the second versions, but dark graphics aren't better. i think for areas like towns, after boss fights, etc, the colors should be more vibrant. But during areas like Boss fights, dungeon etc, it'd be the opposite.

[blais]

it does look better but i dont think it wont take away that much from the final product if the scheme remains the same.

[Sylvos]

I like it the way it is at the moment. A little tweak and extra details is always welcome of course!

[Dvirus55]

Is it possible to apply that black and white filter into the 20 minute gameplay video? I have no doubt when people see it like that it looks completely dull.

[liquid]

I think the proposed images are way too dark, like I laready said somewhere. I think the best choice is somewhere in between, like this:

instead of http://img212.images...01beforeec8.jpg

instead of http://img72.imagesh...02beforeoe0.jpg

[psyfect]

Dvirus55;260937]Why do I have the feeling when they show lut gholem or some desert area that people will photoshop it into black and white as well.[/quote][quote name= said:

Is it possible to apply that black and white filter into the 20 minute gameplay video? I have no doubt when people see it like that it looks completely dull.

Nobody wants it "black and white." I understand you feel the changes seem to remove color from the game entirely, but rest assured nobody is suggesting it should be monochrome. Our points of contention revolve around the color hue's and richness of the lighting, not the presence of color.

Sort of like the difference hdr lighting made in video games.

[Tunnel Vision]

I think we all need to take a second, and realize that we've only seen two zones in the game, in a gameplay trailer, in a game that probably won't come out for another 1-2 years.

Personally, I don't think the graphics or setting look bad. I would be a little disappointed if the ENTIRE game looked like the gameplay video, but I know it won't.