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Do you also dismiss games because of their artstyle?

T

Thickstone

Member
There is something I find a bit silly yet it still seems to happen pretty frequently for me: if a game has an artstyle I dislike or at least find uninteresting, I'll very likely have no interest in playing it. A recent example is Witcher 3. I bought the GOTY edition for 20€ New and thought that this was a pretty good deal for an apparently genre-defining game. However I find the medieval artstyle completely dull and unoriginal. The thing is: i know that this is probably a great game and my SO is absolutely raving about it yet here I am forcing myself to stay interested.

Are you the same from time to time or is this just another level of ignorance?
 
M

Mawile

Banned
I do it to a degree, like I might still give it a shot if it looks fun, but part of enjoying a game is also the visual experience.
 
R

raven777

Member
One of the reasons why I don't play many western games is because I am not a fan of the artstyles. Not saying their artstyles are bad, but it's just not for me.

Witcher 3 is probably one of the only WRPGs where I didn't dislike the artstyle.
 
Eolz

Eolz

Member
I mean, that's what tons of people do with japanese games (be it nintendo, anime, different...).
Edit: I try to go past it if the game is appealing on other levels though, unless I really can't stand the art.
 
Z

Zareka

Member
Not entirely dismiss, but it's a big reason I'm taking my sweet time getting to any Dragon Quest games. I can't stand Toriyama's art style.
 
E

eizarus

Banned
Generally speaking no. However there have been a few I didn't even bother looking into because of the art style.
 
Autoignition

Autoignition

Member
Yes. If the artstyle is so off-putting to me that it's distracting and immersion-breaking, hard pass. For example, I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever play Final Fantasy IX.
 
S

Spman2099

Member
I try to push past it, and sometimes I am successful, but it is usually a pretty huge strike against the game.

As an example, I have no idea if I like the newest Vandal Hearts game, as I just couldn't play it. It was too much. I love the first two, but I cannot abide by the third game's look.

However, I just finished, and enjoyed, Mother Russia Bleeds despite hating the aesthetics of it.
 
D

Doctor_Thomas

Member
No, I think it's pretty normal.

A lot of the "8-bit inspired" or pixel art games are awful to look at, they completely misunderstand the 8-bit aesthetic and have far too much going on, it makes the whole screen a mess. Shovel Knight gets it right by not limiting its self to the limited NES hardware, but limiting its self in terms of how 8-bit games were designed around NES limitations to compliment gameplay. There's games like, the most recent one I played, Not A Hero which just have too much going on with tiny sprites and all sorts of blood effects that just are not visually appealing.

I also find things in a style like Dragon's Crown just plain ugly to the point I couldn't play for more than 30 minutes. Compared to something in a similar gameplay style like, say, Dust: An Elysian Tail which is actually a much more visuaully interesting and appealing game.

Basically, if a game's art style doesn't work for you, it's going to make the "video" part of video games hard to deal with.
 
O

Offline

Banned
Yeah sometimes, I know it's a bit shallow but usually if I find that I don't agree with the artstyle I usually don't agree the game content itself either
 
M

Mawile

Banned
Doctor_Thomas said:
No, I think it's pretty normal.

A lot of the "8-bit inspired" or pixel art games are awful to look at, they completely misunderstand the 8-bit aesthetic and have far too much going on, it makes the whole screen a mess. Shovel Knight gets it right by not limiting its self to the limited NES hardware, but limiting its self in terms of how 8-bit games were designed around NES limitations to compliment gameplay. There's games like, the most recent one I played, Not A Hero which just have too much going on with tiny sprites and all sorts of blood effects that just are not visually appealing.
Click to expand...

I actually feel Shovel Knight doesn't get it quite right per se, because the graphics for that game are all over the place despite Shovel Knight himself and some of the terrain looking decent.

Take a look at how in this screenshot Shovel Knight, the NPC, the terrain, and the BG are all different art styles.

Q0BLmRa.jpg
 
S

smenden18

Neo Member
Dismiss is a harsh word, but if I'm not into a game's art style I can find it hard to stay motivated to play it unless the gameplay is really great (Gears of War). Also, I can sometimes enjoy a mediocre game if I'm really into the art style.
 
G

gelf

Member
I rarely dismiss completely but its absolutely a harder sell if the art direction isn't to my liking. A Japanese game that's too moe anime or a western game that's too gritty and grey/brown are both extreams I tend to avoid.
 
P

Pantaghana

Member
Japanese moe-overload stuff makes me go "huh," but it doesn't completely kill my interest, so not really, I'm comfortable with most things.

Thickstone said:
[snip]However I find the medieval artstyle completely dull and unoriginal.[snip]
Click to expand...

Medieval artstyle? Are you sure you are using the right word? Because it seems you have a problem with the setting not the artstyle.
 
BasilZero

BasilZero

Member
I dont dismiss them, just put them aside lower priority over ones that I do enjoy the artwork of.

I cant remember not buying a game because of its art style, genre though yes.
 
-hadouken

-hadouken

Member
Absolutely. Life is too short to play games that don't have all of the necessary elements for me to fully enjoy it. Bloodborne is a good example - don't dig the look or the vibe, so no interest.
 
C

Circinus

Member
Yes. For example, Drawn to Death is a game I wouldn't play because of its - in my opinion - repulsive art style. Same goes for most anime-style games.


But like someone said, this is something that you can easily look up and know before purchasing a game.
 
R

RockmanBN

Member
Yeah. I can't deal with anime art style. I'll pass a majority of the time. Though there are some times I can try to ignore it.
 
N

Naked Snake

Member
Absolutely. Art style is almost always the first thing to make or break my interest in a game.

I can't stand the vast majority of art style used in modern 2D mobile and indie games, which reminde of the Flash animations of yore. I can't play something like The Binding of Issac despite its high acclaim because I strongly dislike the art style.
 
C

Crayolan

Member
Artstyle will impact if I decide to play a game of my own volition but if I hear enough praise for other aspects I can overlook it.
 
B

big_z

Member
I'll always take a peak at a game just to be sure but usually mainstream anime games are write offs for me. Though it's not just the art that puts me off from them.
 
Z

Zemm

Member
The anime style is a big turn off for me. Seeing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 go even further into that style was a bit disappointing.
 
Correctomundo

Correctomundo

Member
I try not to. I don't want to. I'm such an advocate of games as art, that I'd like to think that even the roughest looking game is great if it plays well enough...

But fuck if I'm turned right the hell off by an overly anime aesthetic. You know what I'm talking about. Tales. Atelier. Star Ocean. MegaTen. Blazblue.

That shit cools my heels so fast, that I'm already heading back to any old standby before I can listen to anyone gush about them.

Sometimes I hate myself for it. But then I remember that it's an atrocious visual style, and feel better about it.
 
R

runnin_blue

Banned
Sometimes, but not often. Best examples for me are all the Final Fantasys from 10 onwards and all those indie games that look like hand drawn old Newgrounds flash games.

Can't stand the art style, won't buy them.
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
Absolutely. There are far too many games and too little time, I'm not interested in playing anything brown and gritty, I want something that stands out and makes me say "wow".
 
NinjaBoiX

NinjaBoiX

Member
Any game featuring pre-pubescent, saucer-eyed little girls schreeching and flashing their underwear at the camera.
Plumpbiscuit said:
When a game looks like this,
header.jpg

yes.
Click to expand...
Bingo.

God I hate that shit, the voices are probably even worse.

"My voice is so shaky and childlike, I constantly sound like I'm under duress and it's really creepy."
 
S

StrawberryJam

Member
Definitely. On the flipside, I feel like I've been fooled into buying a lot of game that totally are not for me because I really like the art style.
 
B

brunomartynhak

Member
Absolutely,

I will not touch console/PC games that look like the typical mobile stuff. I might be missing out on Poi because of this, but whatever.
 
N

Nessus

Member
Thickstone said:
There is something I find a bit silly yet it still seems to happen pretty frequently for me: if a game has an artstyle I dislike or at least find uninteresting, I'll very likely have no interest in playing it. A recent example is Witcher 3. I bought the GOTY edition for 20€ New and thought that this was a pretty good deal for an apparently genre-defining game. However I find the medieval artstyle completely dull and unoriginal. The thing is: i know that this is probably a great game and my SO is absolutely raving about it yet here I am forcing myself to stay interested.

Are you the same from time to time or is this just another level of ignorance?
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm guilty of this sometimes.

I've always hated the character design for Geralt in The Witcher series (as well as just the title, "witcher"). And I know this is ridiculous and it's considered a great series, the most recent one in particular.

Same with Bayonetta. Really dislike the whole "hair suit" concept (even though I do appreciate the attempt to tie it back to actual European witch lore), her weird long legs, the stupid gun boots, the beehive hairdo (I do like her shorter hair better in the sequel), basically her entire character design. And I know it's a great series, and I'm still tempted to buy it, but yeah.

Tidus' entire character design in FFX is just horrendous. Asymmetrical leather hip hop overalls wallet chain beach volleyball player with clown shoes. I don't feel guilty about that one.

Don't Starve is another one where I just can't get over the art style.
 
M

Mawile

Banned
Muzicfreq said:
Wrong game to bring up considering that it has one of the best stories.
Click to expand...

Actually, it'd be the correct thing to bring up since the OP mentioned Witcher 3 and didn't like the artstyle and people love Witcher. This thread is about art styles, not the gameplay/story.
 
xrnzaaas

xrnzaaas

Member
Only if it's something I extremely dislike. For instance I never could get into Torchlight because of its cartoony graphics.
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
Do you mean like themes as opposed to artstyle?

Unless the art is really poor and doesn't look right, then I don't dismiss it.

But with themes - I'm not a big dungeon guy and tend to avoid those games. I like nice settings.
 
Eolz

Eolz

Member
Zemm said:
The anime style is a big turn off for me. Seeing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 go even further into that style was a bit disappointing.
Click to expand...

Same for XC2. Sad about this since I actually liked XCX's artstyle.
There's no "anime style", like there's no "western style". All are different.

Muzicfreq said:
Wrong game to bring up considering that it has one of the best stories.
Click to expand...

Well that means it's a right one to bring up.
Fits the OP in dismissing a good game due to the artstyle.
 
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