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Artbooks - The Best And The Worst
- Thread starter hampig
- Start date
Whoa, cool. Do we know if this has any relation to the ultimanias SQ usually puts out?
Ultimadrago
Member
Wishlisting here, but I hope to God there's a hardcover Cuphead art book sooner than later (by Dark Horse, if possible).
I would buy that shit so fast my wallet would spontaneously combust.
This is long overdue!
UnluckyKate
Member
Monthly grab :
Prey : Not only the game made an amazing impression on me, in a year full of goty contender, but the book is just as good. Like Dishonored 2 artbook, here, we have a very classy presentation, tons of illustrations, details and different art. The commentary is very thorough and its a joy to read it. You have level by level art and comments, you have promo material art, going through many never seen before iteration, you have tons of sketches and details about the in world art, object, furniture (yeah I'm really into Arkane games furnitures lol) and something I've never seen yet : some illustration, like information posters, made by the team for the team, to help understand some concepts like enemies hierarchy, station history, etc... It's very fun to look at how many iteration and the amount of work and rework went into this new IP. the result (game and art) is glorious.
MGSV : The book covers Ground Zeroes, Phantom Pain and... Kingdom of flies. Yes, it has an entire chapter dedicated to the last chapter of MGSV than never made the final cut. It's hearbreaking to go through because it shows a glorious final act. The book feature extensive art from Shinkawa, ranging from all the characters to mechanical design and it's glorious. Sadly, there is not a single line of commentary in the book. Some sketches are annoted in japanese but not translated. The book go in depth on all the mechanical part, ranging from the giant mech functioning limb to how an humanoid diversionary balloon mine works, folds and inflate... It's a joy to go through these details. And while characters art are the star of the show here, I feel the environmental art is a bit lacking, not by number but by their size on the pages. So this book is just as the game : very polarising : on one side it's great and unique, as a testament of Kojima and Shinkawa's final MGS, but in the other, its very lacking in commentary on thus said legacy.
Titanfall 2 : as much as I love TF2, its not for its art. Its very sufficient and it does the job but it's not Killzone or even, arguably, CoD Infinite Warfare (yes, throw the torches) but I though the book could go deeper into the making of such a genius game. I wont say the book isn't worth it because the commentary is humble and very informative but the art doesn't really go beyond what the game offers.
Prey : Not only the game made an amazing impression on me, in a year full of goty contender, but the book is just as good. Like Dishonored 2 artbook, here, we have a very classy presentation, tons of illustrations, details and different art. The commentary is very thorough and its a joy to read it. You have level by level art and comments, you have promo material art, going through many never seen before iteration, you have tons of sketches and details about the in world art, object, furniture (yeah I'm really into Arkane games furnitures lol) and something I've never seen yet : some illustration, like information posters, made by the team for the team, to help understand some concepts like enemies hierarchy, station history, etc... It's very fun to look at how many iteration and the amount of work and rework went into this new IP. the result (game and art) is glorious.
MGSV : The book covers Ground Zeroes, Phantom Pain and... Kingdom of flies. Yes, it has an entire chapter dedicated to the last chapter of MGSV than never made the final cut. It's hearbreaking to go through because it shows a glorious final act. The book feature extensive art from Shinkawa, ranging from all the characters to mechanical design and it's glorious. Sadly, there is not a single line of commentary in the book. Some sketches are annoted in japanese but not translated. The book go in depth on all the mechanical part, ranging from the giant mech functioning limb to how an humanoid diversionary balloon mine works, folds and inflate... It's a joy to go through these details. And while characters art are the star of the show here, I feel the environmental art is a bit lacking, not by number but by their size on the pages. So this book is just as the game : very polarising : on one side it's great and unique, as a testament of Kojima and Shinkawa's final MGS, but in the other, its very lacking in commentary on thus said legacy.
Titanfall 2 : as much as I love TF2, its not for its art. Its very sufficient and it does the job but it's not Killzone or even, arguably, CoD Infinite Warfare (yes, throw the torches) but I though the book could go deeper into the making of such a genius game. I wont say the book isn't worth it because the commentary is humble and very informative but the art doesn't really go beyond what the game offers.
It doesn't. It's a localized version of Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania Vol. 1. It's almost entirely art. There are some designer notes and interviews in it, but it's nothing like the other Ultimanais. Here's a video I found on Youtube of someone flipping through the Japanese version, so you can get an idea of what's in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDMglipFKKM
Wow, I'm actually into this. FF I-VI are the only ones I like.
Have you seen the "The Sky" trilogy? It's only $50 in Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616551607/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Ooh, I've got that; it's lovely. The spine is slowly coming apart under the weight of the pages, unfortunately. I've debated getting a new copy, but it hasn't completely fallen apart on me yet, so...
SgtWiggles
Member
I found a new copy of the Okami artbook at a local Half Price Books for $20, couldnt turn it down
Also grabbed the World of Disgaea 1 and 2 books, pretty cool mix of strategy guides and art books.
Also grabbed the World of Disgaea 1 and 2 books, pretty cool mix of strategy guides and art books.
hououinkyouma00
Member
My Steins;gate and Steins;gate 0 art books came in today, they are pretty amazing personally. Ive wanted these for awhile.
Now if I could only finish learning Japanese so I could read more then a few sentences.
Now if I could only finish learning Japanese so I could read more then a few sentences.
bobawesome
Member
Care to share some pictures?
Bill R Boggess
Member
Picked this up at Barnes and Nobles in the clearance section:
It's quite good and cheaper than Amazon.
It's quite good and cheaper than Amazon.
hououinkyouma00
Member
I can grab some tomorrow, the lighting in my room this late is horrid.
Agent Icebeezy
Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
Picked this up at Barnes and Nobles in the clearance section:
It's quite good and cheaper than Amazon.
I might have to make a trip. I'm splurging for the God's Edition version of assassin's creed origins for the art book.
Bill R Boggess
Member
It's nice; hardbound and great paper quality with tons of concept art.
My B&N had quite a few of them; hopefully yours will too.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
I found the Street Fighter X Tekken artbook at HPB for $20. I had to get it just so I can remind myself that we almost got the greatest fighting game ever made.
A little off topic, but Ash Thorp has a really cool reel for his UI work in AC: https://vimeo.com/197253856
Freezasaurus
Member
Is the one that comes with that edition a full-sized book or one of the miniature landscape format artbooks? Because a full retail art book is being released, too. It's from the same publisher as the Horizon Zero Dawn artbook, which I loved.
The thing I didn't like about that one is that most of the art was just the official character art. UDON has put out far better artbooks than that one.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Yeah. It didn't have a lot of character sketches other than showing different costume designs and fan art. But it's filled with a lot of commentary.
PsihoPerihelion
Member
I absolutely recommend this. I got it for less than 20 bucks during a sale and I love it.
How long did it take for that to happen? Now I'm scared haha.
Same here. Fantastic collection
I wouldn't worry about it! It took a few weeks to start detaching from the binding, but I also bought my copy years and years ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if yours is a later reprint with better glue.
Well, let's hope for the best then. Thanks for the heads up!
Yeah, I wouldn't recommend paying big money for the game's CE if you're mainly interested in the artbook. I think Ubisoft never include complete, full-sized artbooks in their special editions. They sell those separately.
Indeed. The only examples I can think of right away are the Witcher series, Skyrim and Blizzard games - Warcraft, at least. The Overwatch artbook included in the CE isn't that good.
They are releasing one in 2 weeks. Pre-ordered that LE artbook for $60
Dragon1893
Member
BioShock 2 and MGS HD collection came with great art books.
Please post some if you can. I love SG's art, I'm debating if I should get it even though I don't know a single word of Japanese.
Freezasaurus
Member
The Dark Souls Trilogy book that came with the Dark Souls III CE wasn't bad. It had a lot of pages and sections for each of the DS games. But like all other books included in CE's, it was small.
UnluckyKate
Member
I could argue that mmo are usually shipped with good artbook in their CE. Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online are the last one I'm thinking of.
DaBargainHunta
Member
I learned this the hard way with the Ys Origin CE artbook. The art itself is nice enough, I suppose, but the book looks likes a glorified instruction manual.
Thanks. Yeah, I've been meaning to pick it up for a while now.
Most of the time, they are indeed bad! What's worse is you get all the released promotional art in one book.
Monster Hunter CE has an artbook
It can be bad. But I'd rather get the official artbooks. Mon Hun books are expansive.
Ni No Kuni 2 CE has an artbook
I'm not sure if I'm still gonna it. Missed on the 1st NNK CE because of scalpers
Grim Patron
Member
Most of the time, they are indeed bad! What's worse is you get all the released promotional art in one book.
Monster Hunter CE has an artbook
It can be bad. But I'd rather get the official artbooks. Mon Hun books are expansive.
Ni No Kuni 2 CE has an artbook
I'm not sure if I'm still gonna it. Missed on the 1st NNK CE because of scalpers
The exceptions I've seen in recent times where CE artbook = great and worth it = The Witcher 3, Mafia III, Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2 JP CE, Radiant Historia 3DS JP CE.
SgtWiggles
Member
The Final Fantasy XV UCE artbook is fucking amazing and one of my favorites in my collection. The Bravely Second and Lightning Returns are awesome as well. (Seems like a lot of Square Enix CE books are good), also Witcher 3 and Xenoblade X.
For me the worst artbooks are the ones that tend to be bundled with a lot of niche RPG's (Namely NIS and similar games/companies). They are barely 15-30 pages and don't have much detail or value to them at all.
Mine shipped earlier today. Hope to get it before the end of the week.
UnluckyKate
Member
I'm tempted to get the collector edition of GT Sport just for the book. Not a proper artbook, more like a showroom / musuem outlet with technical details but for a collector's edition it's A4 so it doesnt look too bad
Dandy Lyin
Member
The Warcraft III one that came with the Collector's Edition was gorgeous. I wish I knew where it was... It's probably packed away in my parent's house somewhere.
