Blizzard shall do whatever they want, it'l be a great game no matter what.
And woah this has attracted many first posters! Welcome all
More votes are on the "keep it" vote.
Crazyness this poll is!
I was really expecting it to go the other way, but I am presently surprised to get the opinion from everyone here rather than those who just visit the D3 general chat.
the poll is definately craziness. i seriously am very interested in how the poll numbers would reflect the Diablo community if the poll was actually legitamate in options/opinions
The poll needs to be entirely redone.
Options need to look like so:
What do you think of the Art Design Direction in Diablo III ?
1) It is perfect as it stands now
2) It needs a complete visual overhaul to resemble the previous games in the franchise
3) I love the new artistic expression and design but could use a little more bleaker/scarier tones
Options 3 and 4 are pointless in the current poll, and i had to vote option 2 when in truth I really Love the new art direction However I want cellars/caves/dungeons a lot more darkerand would very much enjoy just a little tweak to the entire visuals of the game being a little more evil.
I voted too cartoony. The graphics arnt up to my expectations when it comes to a diablo game. It needs to be gloomy and doomy. :-) but other then that iam excited for d3!
It's not the color design or amount of light in image.
Just look at any Diablo2 screenshot with inventory opened. Items look like Diablo ones. Realistic, medieval, I can't really put it in words. (random google screen - http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9316/updated2je.jpg)
Then take a look at Diablo3 one. (screen from newspost here http://seattle.gametent.com/diablofans/wwi-diablo3-items/items2.jpg + as I am not a WoW player, have played it for like 20minutes years ago, but if someone would show this but slight edited screenshot before announcement and recent rumours of diablo3, I would think it's that new WoW addon thats comming out...it's that different). Single slotted items just sadden me. Only thing common with diablo here is font used.
Sorry, but even if UI and items doesn't look like diablo one... Call it WOW'ish or whatever you want it's just not Diablo anymore.
As for graphics, this http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/frostwake/Diablo31.jpg is how I expected Diablo 3 to look like in my mind. It's slightly darker than I would prefer, but just pay attention to textures, they look so damn better, lifefull, diablish, one more example is this picture http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7807/itshouldrh5.jpg , again, don't look at grainy filter, or light level, just see the floor textures, they have more life, feeling in them. They look serious, even if it sounds silly.
Blizzard have 3 UNIQUE franchises. Why mix them?
WoW followed W3.
Diablo3 should follow Diablo2.
Simple as that.
You sir, hit the nail on the head. This is definitely the most structured and thought out argument toward the art design in the entire thread.
I agree with you entirely, especially on the look of the items.
Now before I start, I just want to make it clear that I am quite aware that this game is still in the pre-alpha or alpha stages, and there is a massive amount of change that can occur between now and release. I am merely posting an observation of the game given what little images, gameplay videos, and information we have, in an attempt to help sway the art direction back to it's more hellish roots.
We do not want an entirely realistic look to the game. Style is a very important aspect, which I am glad the devs are focusing on. But the direction they are going with the over-all style of the game could be a bit more directed to a gothic, forboding, and well hellish tone that we have come to love from Diablo.
The current focus of portraying a more "epic" feel to the characters is a good in theory. We are supposedly playing as mighty warriors that are challenging the most powerful demons of hell. Making us feel larger than life with a more stylized animation would only seem natural, right?
I am actually fond of this style of graphics, it looks very well done (although could use room for improvement) and vividly add that "epic" feel to the game as the devs described. However, this type of direction in art just does not stay true to the Diablo feel. I'm not saying everything should be dark and gritty, I'm not even saying that I like the plethora of "what it looks like/what it should look like" pics that have taken the current images and added a greyscale and grit to them.
I think for the most part, the environments are well done, although could use a bit more "decay" in dungeons. My biggest qual is with the character mdoels and the item display/models. These things look almost to be a complete re-hash of WoW, with a bit more detail. Yes, WoW does have very well-done models for the type of game that it is. But that does NOT mean the style should be carried over to a completely different game.
What I am getting at is, from what I have seen thus far, changes need to be made to stay true to the Diablo name and not delude Diablo graphically to a hack-n-slash version of WoW.
Some suggestions to do this are:
-The ever popular "add more grit and grey!" (though I'm not too fond of this quick fix)
-Add more signs of age and corruption to the environment. I realize that it is 20 years later story-wise, but the addition of corpses, skeletal remains, blood spatterings, demonic symbols, withered plants, cob-webs, and the like, in more abundance would help add to that hellish and forboding appeal.
-Change the item design to look slightly more gothic and threatening ala D2. I want to feel as if my weapons and armor are helping me to defend myself and slay the foul demons for the benifit of mankind.
I don't want my weapons and armor feeling disproportional and overly sized to give that feel of "KEKE I PWN TEH MONSTERZ WIT BIG MACE!!1!", ala WoW.
-Reinsate light radius (not sure about this wone either)
Whatever the case may be, if the gameplay is as solid and addicting as D2, I will still play the game religiously. However, if I'm going to be investing as much time as I did in D2, I would much prefer to have the art direction stay true to the series.
Evolution of a game graphically is one thing. Completely altering the image and feel of the game is a whole different story.
I honestly think the art directions is amazing. I love the new look and I think it will add a new level of depth to the game artistically and emotionally. The problem with these other old school, retro Diablo II fans is they're stuck on this mindset that Diablo has to be dark to convey a "gothic" vibe. It doesn't-- trust Blizzard in this decision that the gameplay will be much more vibrant, the surroundings will be much more immersive and epic. It will open up more doors for the art development team when creating environments, monsters and loot.
This poll would be better on a site that does not require registration but checks IPs instead, like Blizzard's official site, for both a higher voter turnout and lower chance of cheating. But, anyway:
I voted 'Too cartoony'.
Colour isn't a concern of mine, nor is gore. There is a reasonable amount of the former and plenty of the latter (in combat, anyway). What I'm concerned about is the World of WarCraft-like cartoon armour, blurry low-resolution textures, smudged-on foliage, and cute little gargoyles. At the moment, the game looks to me like an isometric World of WarCraft plus gore, mostly due to the pauldrontastic armour, low polygon count, and blurry textures. I do mean that as respectfully as possible and only hope for the former to be reconsidered and the latter two to scale upwards to more modern systems/standards.
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‘I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL WE ALL HAVE AIDS!’—The importance of calling them ‘mercenaries.’
Ok. From reading some of the 29pages of posts a large marjority of the complaints are the textures. There is a very simple reason for this: it is a demo.
SC II original movies didnt look anywhere near what the more recent videos look like.
I played in the WoW Beta, and even those textures improved tenfold for the final, original release of the game. Also, they wont make diablo have WoW textures, WoW is an MMO, therefore enormous, therefore requiring compromises unless you want a 30gb requirement like Conan.
Wait before you start bashing the lack of textures until they release 1, playable demo at an event, 2, public beta, 3, video footage nearer to a release date. Then criticize.
It's blizzard. They are renowned for their game polish. They arent going to disappoint their fans starting with DIII. Give it time and they will show you why all of their games excel.
Im not a blizzard fanboy, i enjoy the company but im not out to have them endorse me. Its just fact, they FINISH games before releasing them. Then they polish them more.
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Jman
"Strickland! What about you?"
"I'm a marine dammit! I'll walk on water if I have to."
I like the way the Art direction is going, I just feel that the light radius system needs to be in. That's it.
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"Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth."
"Never argue with idiots, they will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."
"A person is smart, people are idiots."
I'm happy either way here really. Looking from the outside in it's easy to assume that the whole game will look like that, but once I'm actually engrossed in the game, it's hard for me to care about the way the game looks, but more on how it actually plays, and how much fun I'm having.
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"The certain prospect of death could sweeten every life with a precious and fragrant drop of levity, and now you
strange apothecary souls have turned it into an ill-tasting drop of poison that makes the whole of life repulsive." -Nietzsche
I would like to commend Blizzard on there well thought out and developed strategy. As a graphic designer I respect the work they've put into the reimagining of the Diablo universe. The Warrior looks fantastic and makes me even feel that, if we only get one model, that the warrior may even be the same one from the first. The Witch Doctor, on a lore level, can work and I won't disagree with that but I cannot for the life of me understand why the Witch Doctor is putting aside the lore developed around the Necromancer and Trug'ol. They have a similar belief structure but I wonder if this may be a reason others are criticizing the aesthetics so much.
As for the rest of the graphics, I do not have many complaints, though I can note that the shadowy aspects of previous versions might be nice to have a toggle for. The biggest concern would be in gritty details that the textures do not seem to encompass. While the camera angle is afar I would like to have a better sense of how each surface feels in a Diablo game. The techniques of blurring texture patterns, for the stone road to grass, should be reconsidered. It works and doesn't look too bad but it is a small change that I hope can be investigated. Other then that just play around with how light effects the textures on the objects, even the players, and hopefully bring just a slight sense of how things feel. Let our eyes touch the avatars.
A good example would be Gears of War.
I love the movement system, I know it is early and the boss was an example but work on presentation mechanics so that we can always see the boss and be able to react to his gestures. This would only be a boss mechanic since the camera is pulled back enough for the most part. The biggest annoyance with Diablo II for me was how the boss would just run off and on the screen.
Keep up the great work and....<.< >.> Sorceresses are only female -.- I'm watching you
I honestly think the art directions is amazing. I love the new look and I think it will add a new level of depth to the game artistically and emotionally. The problem with these other old school, retro Diablo II fans is they're stuck on this mindset that Diablo has to be dark to convey a "gothic" vibe. It doesn't-- trust Blizzard in this decision that the gameplay will be much more vibrant, the surroundings will be much more immersive and epic. It will open up more doors for the art development team when creating environments, monsters and loot.
I disagree, for a few reasons.
One Diablo strikes a gothic vibe on accident, an blizzard knows how to make it that way. I'm not speaking for all of us "retro" d2 fans when I say that D3 can keep its sinister look and add too it.
Two Blizzard did a good job from D1 - D2 making it look realistic with subtle drastic changes.
i think the game looks a bit too cartooney. also i think they should make the ground a different color in some of the map areas. the ground in some of the map areas looks green. im not trying to complain but i dont think green is that realistic unless its in a forest or a grassland or something. also i noticed that some of the statues in the screenshots look a bit cartooney. but thats about it. in my opinion everything else looks great. i just hope the game will look realistic when its released :).
I don't see a while not being needed to be changed. I know this is hotly debated as can be seen by the poll results so far. I'm trying to see both sides here; I can understand some wanting things a little more gritty or darker. As an artist myself though; I can understand what Blizzard is trying to accomplish; more vibrant colors, using cool colors against warm only emphasises the darker colors more, and I have looked at Wrath of the Lich King stuff and can honestly say in my own opinion...no comparison. I don't see the art styles as even looking remotely alike....sorry my opinion. Also have to realize we haven't seen very much of the game and it's not like it's launching tomorrow.
I don't mind the new art direction, BUT I want to see less of that colorful lighting in the cathedral and darker areas, you would think the crashing of the meteor would kill lighting and whatnot in the level. Also, I agree that there should be a little more of things like, blood smeared on walls, or even on some parts of the floors. This game is about the coming of hell, hell doesn't really show mercy, they like to spill blood. That's the one AND ONLY beef I have with this game so far, but I do believe Blizzard will add that to the game, I don't think they're gonna mess this up. I have faith.
The Charachter models are not neerly detailed enough, I love the look of items in D2, especially the full body plate armour that first appears in ACT4, im really not for the leather half naked barb that i saw in the vid.
Im very happy they make a D3, so if its come out like that i will accept it likes that... But the problem is the old men of d1 and d2 is not there... Erich Schafer, David Brevik, Max Chaefer and Eirc Sexton... they are all fired.. just hire the old team and he will make a diablo 3 likes we want DARKER as hell.. not a warcraft cartoon team refurbished in a diablo game. it doesnt fit at all.
I'm not sure the bluish color is a problem, I have a feeling there will be many different hues of dungeon lighting throughout, but you can see too far. I don't want to know there's 400 zombies lurking in the next room, I want to see 3 of them from on the edge of the dark, and once I enter the room see them flooding out of gods only know where. Scripted "oh crap" moments will only be surprising for so long. Being able to get bushwhacked by the randomly placed wandering monsters will make the games RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! moments ever possible. If my buddy disappears in the dark I want to have to search the darkness to find him and pull him out. Or by listening to his screams on positional sound...
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/frostwake/Diablo31.jpg <-- I like that a lot, it's a little too dark likely due to that it's photoshopped, but it has that the world is going to end feel. No doubt the entire game shouldn't look like that. If the bad mojo has JUST started, I don't expect the forces of evil have had time to torch everything, but I don't want to see a "ruined village" looking the same as the beach resort version of the blasted lands in WoW. Even those bird monsters in the blasted lands look happy to be there...
I'm not going to rag on the cartoony style, it's still better than how terrible WoW is. In WoW, the characters look like gushers candy shapes taped together, in D3 it looks solid and proportioned. The people's hands arent as big as their head like in WoW. I hear a lot of people comparing D3 to the graphics in Titan Quest. When you turn the special effects off the TQ character and equipment models are no more intricate than D3. They are just as blocky, you just can't tell with alll the AA and special effects turned on. I don't expect any less from Blizzard. It doesn't even look like AA is turned on in any of their screenshots, I imagine it can only get better.
They need to change it so you have to arrange junk in your bags. 12 hammers do not take up the same amount of space as 12 gems. I want to have to pitch out some junk to pick up something spiffy. That's how adventuring is meant to be!
Really, there's not much to complain about. The ability to stumble around in the dark without knowing exactly how close you are to your demise is something I greatly enjoy. I'm sure they can accomplish that without too much effort, and knowing blizzard I highly doubt they haven't implemented that somewhere already. That said, do you want every dungeon to be exactly the same? Diablo 1 only had ONE dungeon... I can see them using a wide range of color schemes. Not all rocks are grey you know... I don't expect every dungeon to look that way.
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And woah this has attracted many first posters! Welcome all
More votes are on the "keep it" vote.
Crazyness this poll is!
I was really expecting it to go the other way, but I am presently surprised to get the opinion from everyone here rather than those who just visit the D3 general chat.
The poll needs to be entirely redone.
Options need to look like so:
What do you think of the Art Design Direction in Diablo III ?
1) It is perfect as it stands now
2) It needs a complete visual overhaul to resemble the previous games in the franchise
3) I love the new artistic expression and design but could use a little more bleaker/scarier tones
Options 3 and 4 are pointless in the current poll, and i had to vote option 2 when in truth I really Love the new art direction
However I want cellars/caves/dungeons a lot more darkerand would very much enjoy just a little tweak to the entire visuals of the game being a little more evil.
Sign for a Darker Art Direction in the dungeons/caves/etc.
www.myspace.com/mariocamillo
www.youtube.com/mariospeedwagon
hes baaaccckkkk
Battlenet ID: EDC_TeHAJ
lets do some baal runs
You sir, hit the nail on the head. This is definitely the most structured and thought out argument toward the art design in the entire thread.
I agree with you entirely, especially on the look of the items.
Now before I start, I just want to make it clear that I am quite aware that this game is still in the pre-alpha or alpha stages, and there is a massive amount of change that can occur between now and release. I am merely posting an observation of the game given what little images, gameplay videos, and information we have, in an attempt to help sway the art direction back to it's more hellish roots.
We do not want an entirely realistic look to the game. Style is a very important aspect, which I am glad the devs are focusing on. But the direction they are going with the over-all style of the game could be a bit more directed to a gothic, forboding, and well hellish tone that we have come to love from Diablo.
The current focus of portraying a more "epic" feel to the characters is a good in theory. We are supposedly playing as mighty warriors that are challenging the most powerful demons of hell. Making us feel larger than life with a more stylized animation would only seem natural, right?
I am actually fond of this style of graphics, it looks very well done (although could use room for improvement) and vividly add that "epic" feel to the game as the devs described. However, this type of direction in art just does not stay true to the Diablo feel. I'm not saying everything should be dark and gritty, I'm not even saying that I like the plethora of "what it looks like/what it should look like" pics that have taken the current images and added a greyscale and grit to them.
I think for the most part, the environments are well done, although could use a bit more "decay" in dungeons. My biggest qual is with the character mdoels and the item display/models. These things look almost to be a complete re-hash of WoW, with a bit more detail. Yes, WoW does have very well-done models for the type of game that it is. But that does NOT mean the style should be carried over to a completely different game.
What I am getting at is, from what I have seen thus far, changes need to be made to stay true to the Diablo name and not delude Diablo graphically to a hack-n-slash version of WoW.
Some suggestions to do this are:
-The ever popular "add more grit and grey!" (though I'm not too fond of this quick fix)
-Add more signs of age and corruption to the environment. I realize that it is 20 years later story-wise, but the addition of corpses, skeletal remains, blood spatterings, demonic symbols, withered plants, cob-webs, and the like, in more abundance would help add to that hellish and forboding appeal.
-Change the item design to look slightly more gothic and threatening ala D2. I want to feel as if my weapons and armor are helping me to defend myself and slay the foul demons for the benifit of mankind.
I don't want my weapons and armor feeling disproportional and overly sized to give that feel of "KEKE I PWN TEH MONSTERZ WIT BIG MACE!!1!", ala WoW.
-Reinsate light radius (not sure about this wone either)
Whatever the case may be, if the gameplay is as solid and addicting as D2, I will still play the game religiously. However, if I'm going to be investing as much time as I did in D2, I would much prefer to have the art direction stay true to the series.
Evolution of a game graphically is one thing. Completely altering the image and feel of the game is a whole different story.
I voted 'Too cartoony'.
Colour isn't a concern of mine, nor is gore. There is a reasonable amount of the former and plenty of the latter (in combat, anyway). What I'm concerned about is the World of WarCraft-like cartoon armour, blurry low-resolution textures, smudged-on foliage, and cute little gargoyles. At the moment, the game looks to me like an isometric World of WarCraft plus gore, mostly due to the pauldrontastic armour, low polygon count, and blurry textures. I do mean that as respectfully as possible and only hope for the former to be reconsidered and the latter two to scale upwards to more modern systems/standards.
‘I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL WE ALL HAVE AIDS!’—The importance of calling them ‘mercenaries.’
SC II original movies didnt look anywhere near what the more recent videos look like.
I played in the WoW Beta, and even those textures improved tenfold for the final, original release of the game. Also, they wont make diablo have WoW textures, WoW is an MMO, therefore enormous, therefore requiring compromises unless you want a 30gb requirement like Conan.
Wait before you start bashing the lack of textures until they release 1, playable demo at an event, 2, public beta, 3, video footage nearer to a release date. Then criticize.
It's blizzard. They are renowned for their game polish. They arent going to disappoint their fans starting with DIII. Give it time and they will show you why all of their games excel.
Im not a blizzard fanboy, i enjoy the company but im not out to have them endorse me. Its just fact, they FINISH games before releasing them. Then they polish them more.
"Strickland! What about you?"
"I'm a marine dammit! I'll walk on water if I have to."
"Never argue with idiots, they will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."
"A person is smart, people are idiots."
strange apothecary souls have turned it into an ill-tasting drop of poison that makes the whole of life repulsive." -Nietzsche
really have you played the game? I'd imagine diablo3 would have night cycles.
I would like to commend Blizzard on there well thought out and developed strategy. As a graphic designer I respect the work they've put into the reimagining of the Diablo universe. The Warrior looks fantastic and makes me even feel that, if we only get one model, that the warrior may even be the same one from the first. The Witch Doctor, on a lore level, can work and I won't disagree with that but I cannot for the life of me understand why the Witch Doctor is putting aside the lore developed around the Necromancer and Trug'ol. They have a similar belief structure but I wonder if this may be a reason others are criticizing the aesthetics so much.
As for the rest of the graphics, I do not have many complaints, though I can note that the shadowy aspects of previous versions might be nice to have a toggle for. The biggest concern would be in gritty details that the textures do not seem to encompass. While the camera angle is afar I would like to have a better sense of how each surface feels in a Diablo game. The techniques of blurring texture patterns, for the stone road to grass, should be reconsidered. It works and doesn't look too bad but it is a small change that I hope can be investigated. Other then that just play around with how light effects the textures on the objects, even the players, and hopefully bring just a slight sense of how things feel. Let our eyes touch the avatars.
A good example would be Gears of War.
I love the movement system, I know it is early and the boss was an example but work on presentation mechanics so that we can always see the boss and be able to react to his gestures. This would only be a boss mechanic since the camera is pulled back enough for the most part. The biggest annoyance with Diablo II for me was how the boss would just run off and on the screen.
Keep up the great work and....<.< >.> Sorceresses are only female -.- I'm watching you
I disagree, for a few reasons.
One Diablo strikes a gothic vibe on accident, an blizzard knows how to make it that way. I'm not speaking for all of us "retro" d2 fans when I say that D3 can keep its sinister look and add too it.
Two Blizzard did a good job from D1 - D2 making it look realistic with subtle drastic changes.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/frostwake/Diablo31.jpg <-- I like that a lot, it's a little too dark likely due to that it's photoshopped, but it has that the world is going to end feel. No doubt the entire game shouldn't look like that. If the bad mojo has JUST started, I don't expect the forces of evil have had time to torch everything, but I don't want to see a "ruined village" looking the same as the beach resort version of the blasted lands in WoW. Even those bird monsters in the blasted lands look happy to be there...
I'm not going to rag on the cartoony style, it's still better than how terrible WoW is. In WoW, the characters look like gushers candy shapes taped together, in D3 it looks solid and proportioned. The people's hands arent as big as their head like in WoW. I hear a lot of people comparing D3 to the graphics in Titan Quest. When you turn the special effects off the TQ character and equipment models are no more intricate than D3. They are just as blocky, you just can't tell with alll the AA and special effects turned on. I don't expect any less from Blizzard. It doesn't even look like AA is turned on in any of their screenshots, I imagine it can only get better.
They need to change it so you have to arrange junk in your bags. 12 hammers do not take up the same amount of space as 12 gems. I want to have to pitch out some junk to pick up something spiffy. That's how adventuring is meant to be!
Really, there's not much to complain about. The ability to stumble around in the dark without knowing exactly how close you are to your demise is something I greatly enjoy. I'm sure they can accomplish that without too much effort, and knowing blizzard I highly doubt they haven't implemented that somewhere already. That said, do you want every dungeon to be exactly the same? Diablo 1 only had ONE dungeon... I can see them using a wide range of color schemes. Not all rocks are grey you know... I don't expect every dungeon to look that way.