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Nidhogg 2 is out 15th August

I don't like the art. In the few gameplay clips I've watched it also seems to get in the way.

I much preferred the clarity and simplicity of the original.
 
QuantumSquid said:
Nidhogg 1 had a fantastic art style and nobody would have complained if they had gone with something similar for Nidhogg 2, so I really, really don't get why they changed it so drastically.
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Because they wanted to, and this is what they envisioned from a sequel. Making a sequel doesn't have to be solely about pleasing your established audience, and Nidhogg 1 will still exist.
 
Not sure how anyone can look at this and find it even remotely appealing. Looks like a deformed freakish Homer Simpson...

nidhogg_2-3520448.jpg


Hard pass.
 
Was appalled by the art style at first, too, but then I saw the Giant Bomb Unfinished. It works when the game is in motion. Especially the animations fit imo.
 
I love the first game and this one looks great too. I actually like that they went with a completely different art style as it keeps things interesting to me.
 
I love love love the art direction they chose for this. Colorful, animated, fun, different!
 
Kyne said:
not digging that art-style.

I wish they just pushed the pixel stuff and made it come out to something like Dead Cells.

ss_08d6fecdb5d8ebd16807d12c30da7afc973cc05e.jpg
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Because Nidhogg was never made to be taken seriosuly, and this just ups the ante even more. Is colorful, with great animations and really wacky.
The screen you posted is GENERIC as fuck, no matter how lovely that pixel art looks. How many games use the fucking same dark pixel artstyle as that? I see that and the first thing I think with the art and the title is "great, another fucking dark souls inspired 2d pixelart game" The worst part of all is the even more generic character design with no head but smoke.

I do have to say though, that for Nidhogg 2, I like more the character art in the artworks than the game itself. Still, looks wacky fun though.
 
The art is actually great.
I hope this can one up the first game in terms of gameplay, Nidhogg was fantastic. Easily one of my favourite MP titles of all time, instant classic.
 
absolutely love the first one.
the art style of this one grew on me a little, got to try it at GDC and didn't really like the gameplay as much. not sure why, felt a bit different and not in a good way. Didn't really like the extra weapons. Looking forward to giving it another shot though.
 
I'd love to get it but...

...man, that artstyle is really that bad. I know it's shallow, but sometimes aesthetics really can be that off-putting. I just don't want to keep looking at it.
 
Loved the first game and it's elegant and minimalistic art design and animations, still very saddened by the new art that looks absolutely awful.
 
My takeaway from the article is that even Sony are concerned about the new graphical style. Hence the damage control.

And that the amazing art style in the first one was an unintentional fluke. Perhaps they still don't understand why it was great?
 
Reading thru this article it's kinda hilarious that the whole purpose of it is to defend the new juvenile art style because they know most fans thinks it look like crap, but their whole reasoning basically boils down to "we made a new animation system where we could easily make new character sprites so instead of minimalism we went for maximalism!" That doesn't explain anything at all regarding them going from the original who had elegant fencers fighting in absurdist and beautiful landscapes to disgusting and mentally unstable looking trolls brawling it out in cartoony landscapes.

Oh well, I'm not in a position to say what a developer should or shouldn't do, but at least be honest and say that you don't care for the original style people loved and much prefer the new juvenile and gross look much more.
 
The art style is so off putting that it's totally killed any chances of me getting the game. And I loved the original.
 
jett said:
They really fucked up with their character designs. How can they not see how unappealing it is?
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just open the friggin link on PS blog ... they explain why they choose this design there

EDIT for the lazy:
You may have noticed that Nidhogg 2 looks ever-so-slightly different from its predecessor. It's the number one thing that people ask about, so Kristy and I wanted to give you the story behind Nidhogg 2's art direction.

Born of Limitation
  • We were proud of the original Nidhogg's visual style, but that's not to say we weren't a bit surprised by how well the chunky, featureless pixels were received. We were pushing the limits of old-school aesthetics, after all. What many people didn't realize was that Nidhogg's style actually grew out of practicality more than some daring vision.

    TameLameGarpike.gif

    Nidhogg was a game of fast reactions and precision, so fluid animation was a major priority. The flat style meant that I could iterate quickly, drawing and adjusting animations on the fly without having to worry about matching dozens of intricate design elements between frames.
    Rather than setting up mechanics and then moving on to art, I'm someone who needs to be able to tweak both constantly. The major drawback to this approach is that adding any sort of detail, like a piece of armor or a mask, means hours upon hours spent redoing animations again and again. While these limitations helped to define Nidhogg's distinctive style, we felt constrained.

New Game, New Process
  • When Kristy and I started thinking about Nidhogg 2, we looked back at our general to-do list from the original game. As always, there were a lot of items that had drifted from "Gotta hav this," to "Wanna do this if we have time," and on to "Can't really do this, but man it would be cool." Of everything on that list, a new animation process sat at the top.
    I had been experimenting with 2D bone animation programs, which allow you to independently animate separate body parts instead of redrawing entire character sprites. This makes it infinitely easier to combine things like fencing footwork, various upper-body stances, and weapon types. Plus, it means you can swap out the sprites without breaking the animation.

    MisguidedYoungAmericanbulldog.gif


    It seemed silly to use all this potential on pixelated stick figures. So, instead of minimalism, why not try out some maximalism? Animated faces, sweet outfits and hairstyles, bustling environments – the doors had swung wide and Nidhogg 2's visual style was born.

    While it might take a few moments to adjust to the new look, we think you'll enjoy this lively new world with all its visual absurdity and fun character possibilities. I know that we've certainly had a blast creating it.
Click to expand...
https://blog.us.playstation.com/201...y-new-art-style-for-nidhogg-2-out-august-15//
 
prudislav said:
just open the friggin link on PS blog ... they explain why they choose this design there

EDIT for the lazy:

https://blog.us.playstation.com/201...y-new-art-style-for-nidhogg-2-out-august-15//
Click to expand...

I don't have any investment in this game (never played Nidhogg 1, don't think I'll be picking up 2), but I wanted to comment on the first part of your quote: the best works often are born out of limitations. It's called art from adversity. So, it's all fine and good that the developers decided to accomplish their full vision with the sequel, but a fully-realized vision isn't necessarily better than a constrained one.
 
The art looks so bad it honestly feels like they just randomly tried a bunch of nonsense and hoped it would stick.

kitsch doesn't go far enough
 
Fisty said:
You're going to miss out on the pure fun and elegant mechanics because you don't like the goofy character art

Ok
Click to expand...

I've played a lot of Nidhogg 2 and my main issue is that it feels intentionally inelegant. Which is fine in isolation as I think each game is supposed to stand on its own, but I'm not sure why I'd play Nidhogg 2 over something like TowerFall, for instance.
 
gingerbeardman said:
My takeaway from the article is that even Sony are concerned about the new graphical style. Hence the damage control.

And that the amazing art style in the first one was an unintentional fluke. Perhaps they still don't understand why it was great?
Click to expand...
On the contrary it seems like they're well aware that people prefer the old style and why, they just want to experiment with something different. Considering how focused and self-contained Nidhogg is I feel like calling the more experimental next game Nidhogg 2 instead of positioning it as a spin-off is the key mistake.
 
Does anyone play it?

I'm always struck at the "Looking for an opponent" when I try to fight online.

Also, Steamspy numbers seem very, very low.
 
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