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Do you also dismiss games because of their artstyle?

Steroyd

Member
I used to think I was accepting of all art styles and settings, be it medieval, Sci fi, modern, Anime, cel shaded, gritty, realistic etc.

And then the FFV and FFVI mobile remake(?) remaster(?) on mobile happened and I think it was the first time I mentally vomited over the look of a game.
 

Elman

Member
Absolutely. I'm a huge Zelda fan but i'm not excited for BotW because of the art style. Too cartoony, too bright, too colorful. I want the dark, realistic and mature style of OoT, MM and TP back. I never got into Skyward Sword and the art style was one of the reasons.

...what?

IMG_39480.png

I'll give you "darker". How are OoT, MMO, and TP "realistic and mature"? I think you're confusing maturity with some laughably outdated HARDCORE GAMER thinking.

Even the concept art is "cartoony", the N64 hardware was simply too weak to realize their vision for the former two.

ocarinaoftime_conceptart_2smsK.jpg


I would say that those three have inferior art styles because intended style doesn't translate into what you see on a screen. OoT and MM will always be grainy, ugly, first-gen 3D jank. TP (at any resolution) looks a Gamecube game, but it's art style ensures that it always look like "just a Gamecube game". They will never age as well as Windows Waker and BotW.

EDIT: lol "Windows Waker"
 

Nazo

Member
Yes. I do this on a regular basis. If the game is bad looking I don't want to stare at it for long enough periods of time. I actually do this so much my friends sometimes call me a art snob.

I have to agreement with OP, I found The Witcher series art style to not be that great. It looks great on a technical level but everything just has this overly realistic mideval aesthetic that honestly bores me to tears. It's like, the game has some of the best graphics in recent memory but but it's has no real visual flair to really show it off. And that's a shame.
 

danmaku

Member
Sometimes I do. Anything drawn by Akira Toriyama is an instant no-no. Mortal Kombat is another one, I like fighting games and I suppose modern MK games are pretty good but my god they look so ugly I can't stand them.
 
I've avoided Civilization 6 because of the F2P-ish art style they chose in spite of everything else looking great. I just can't stand that chunky cartoon look.
 

martino

Member
Can happen for example nioh because of japan medieval setting and associated style (now i want a copy whith another setting)
 
Yes, I'd likely overlook them for games with better artstyle. It's not like we don't have tons of games to choose from, old and new.

But if the word of mouth is good, then I'd still play it, it's in no way a deal breaker.
 

Vuze

Member
It's the other way round for me. Games with outstanding or interesting artstyle pique my interest even though it might not be a genre I'm very much into. Can't say I dropped/dismissed a game I was interested in because if its artstyle though.
 
Oftentimes (but certainly not always), I find that the visual style is closely tied to the setting and theme of the game, so sure, those elements together influence whether I'll be interested in it.

It's not just that I've grown less interested in certain Japanese art styles, but it's also that often these games use certain common stereotypes, character motivations, settings and themes that I don't find as interesting, engaging or humorous in those particular combinations.

I'm also not a huge fan of how sci-fi and fantasy worlds are depicted in most western games (all media really), often drawing inspiration from the same few sources and using the same techniques (grossly generalizing here, most monsters are anthropomorphic demons with rocky skin and spiky carapace armor, most aliens are anthropomorphic lizard cat people with scaly skin, wielding assault rifles, and most space ships are ugly grey hulking factories with sharp angled corners), so that can also put me off.

On the other hand, there are times when "bad" graphics (less sophisticated or developed or very uneven art style, amateurish, cheap modeling and animations etc.) don't really bother me that much if there's something else appealing to me there, and I think that's mostly because the lack of expertise, talent or a developed style on the visual side can often really only mean the lack of experience or a troublesome development process (so it can also entail lousy writing, questionable gameplay mechanics etc.), so it doesn't have that additional baggage of, say, a "moe styled" game, and if the setting, themes or certain gameplay mechanics appeal to me, even better.
 
Yeah I don't touch any 8/16 bit game unless it's through PlayStation Plus. If it looks like it could've been made 20 plus years ago I want nothing to do with it.
 

bomblord1

Banned
I never had once done that until I seen child of light. The art style just turned me off so thoroughly that I couldn't bring myself to pick it up.
 

KHlover

Banned
Games with an artstyle I don't like will have a harder time to convince me to play them than games with an artstyle I like.

Conversely I've bought games based purely on how the artstyle looked like on screenshots and a quick glance on reviews before (only on steam with the possibility to refund tho).
 
Not exactly "art style" per so, but it's a good thing that Mass Effect: Andromeda gives us a choice between pre-made characters or completely make our own. Because if I'll be forced to play as this...

mass-effect-andromeda-female-ryder-facial-animation-700x365.jpg


...I'd probably want the game to end ASAP. Or make her wear a helmet to cover that face at all times -- and I hate doing that in my RPGs. How did we get to that after the awesome default FemShep in the first trilogy?

Sometimes I do. Anything drawn by Akira Toriyama is an instant no-no. Mortal Kombat is another one, I like fighting games and I suppose modern MK games are pretty good but my god they look so ugly I can't stand them.

Okay, good to know I'm not the only one then. LOL
 

Superkewl

Member
I do. I cannot stand anything anime style. Also, anything 8/16 bit retro style as well. Pretty much prevents me from trying like 99% of indie games.
 

MrS

Banned
To be honest, that seems kind of weird to me at least. Franchises like Metroid, Zelda, Mario, Splatoon, Arms, Xenoblade etc etc all look pretty different (and with huge variation within each other's respective series and genres). I guess with Mario and lately Splatoon and Arms there are some common themes, such as the colorfulness.

Do you also find the art style in games/series like the Rime, The Witness and Rayman off putting and worth dismissing the game?
Mario, Zelda, Yoshi, Arms and Splatoon all look like what I would call 'kid's games' and don't appeal to me at all. Their art style is a turn off. Battleborn and Overwatch are in the same category, as are Ratchet and Clank and Plants vs Zombies. They simply don't appeal to me. More power to those who enjoy those games.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
Yep. Anything anime looking or in pixelated "8-bit" 2d style. Usually i just ignore it. It's stupid really because I played VA-11 HALL-A and it combines a bit of both yet it was a fantastic little game i really enjoyed despite the artstyle.
 

SMD

Member
Do you force yourself to listen to music you don't like and can't stand because most people say that it's "good music"?

Is that a "weird hangup"?

Tastes, how do they work?

No, it's like binning a great show cos the special effects are garbage. If you enjoy playing a game with terrible art style, why stop? I get if you're reviewing it you'd give it a lower score but if it's fun then how is it a deal breaker?

Because I spend 100% of my time looking at a game. If I don't enjoy it, it really doensnt matter how it plays.

You also listen to it, interact with it, everything that makes gaming a more unique medium to other forms of entertainment.

Your loss, really.
 
Not generally, but there is a certain kind of gross-out asthetic that I just can't handle. Binding of Isaac and Dropsy the Clown are the two examples that come to mind of games I might have played, but they just look too gross.
 

VDenter

Banned
Yohis New Island has to be the single worst art style Nintendo has ever done. Next to Federation Force.It does not help that both of those games are terrible.
 

low-G

Member
Yes, but I'm not terribly picky.

I don't like that people keep stealing Super Brothers' crummy 10 pixel human designs. So lazy.
 

nded

Member
Sure. I think we all do this to an extent. I don't have unlimited time and will make snap judgments, so I have missed out on potentially fantastic games and will continue to do so for that reason.
 
Only for that particular brand of anime-style aesthetic. Will never play certain RPGs and visual novels because of that

Anything else is fair game, or can be acclimated to
 

Ryukori

Member
Most of the time, yes. Sometimes an art style that I like can keep me playing a game, even though the game itself isn't that good.
 

Garlador

Member
There are some games I feel like I SHOULD love, but some of the art direction is just so, so bad that it really brings the experience down. Like Dragon Age: Origin's The Fade... *shudder*

Inversely, there are some games with art direction so strong that I feel the compensate for average or mediocre gameplay simply because I want to see what's around the corner. Games like Alice: Madness Returns or Enslaved: Odyssey to the West have their art really carrying the bulk of the experience, and I think they succeed more often than not.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
It can do, but it depends.

I think Hearthstone looks ugly as hell for the most part, I can't stand the overall design even if much of the card art is fantastic, but it doesn't really matter for such a pick up and play title.

Warcraft puts me off, I never liked the artstyle for that and it was a big part of why I never really invested.

Not exactly "art style" per so, but it's a good thing that Mass Effect: Andromeda gives us a choice between pre-made characters or completely make our own. Because if I'll be forced to play as this...

Oh no, a normal looking person who isn't perfectly photogenic! How horrible that would be.

PS - she looks great.
 
Is it just me or does everything look a bit too stylized in mass effect andromeda? Still hyped as hell to play it but artistically it completley clashes with the rest of the trilogy
 
No, it's like binning a great show cos the special effects are garbage. If you enjoy playing a game with terrible art style, why stop? I get if you're reviewing it you'd give it a lower score but if it's fun then how is it a deal breaker?
I can't believe you don't see the irony in the fact that you mocked people for not playing a game that they don't find visually appealing, when you admit that you won't listen to music that you don't find aurally appealing.

And don't give me that "there is more to games" bs. There is more to music to. What about the WORDS? What is the artist trying to say? Etc.

The fact is, people have differing tastes. What I like, you might not like. And that's fine. It's what makes us human.

Don't act above it.
 
Oh no, a normal looking person who isn't perfectly photogenic! How horrible that would be.

PS - she looks great.

Errrrm... Not exactly that. Didn't some people say the same thing about Aloy from Horizon? That she's not photogenic enough? She's not exactly what an overwhelming majority would consider pretty, yet I like Aloy's character design. I'm not even talking about how attractive (or not) Sara Ryder is. There's just something about her design that doesn't sit well with me but can't quite put a finger on it. I put that screenshot up for reference because my dislike for the character is even worse on that actual scene.

But hey, opinions and all!
 

The007JiM

Member
Splatoon. It so weird.

The squids, the girls, green-orange-purple colours all together and painting all over the place. uugh!
 
It happens to me from time to time. Drawn To Death is the most recent game I would say that I would never buy no matter how many rave reviews and feedback it might get. I just can't get past the look of it.
 
My eyes usually just glaze over once I see pixel art games. My mind just assumes each game is derivative of other dime-a-dozen,undoubtedly similar, indie games.

It's not fair to judge a game by its artstyle but you just can't go it sometimes. I've pixel art fatigue.
 
I think it's less the art style for me and more the overall aesthetic. A game that is a military shooter, I am not going to be interested in playing. They all look the same and all look boring to me. I dunno. I'm a sucker for a great art style though, but even then, that doesn't mean I'm going to play it. Draw to Death for example, I love the actual art style, but when I played the demo game, wow, it was definitely not for me.

There are games that I would normally overlook that I might check out because of the art style though. I still want to get an xbox one one day only to play Sunset Overdrive.
 
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