Consensus: Diablo 3 Art Style? (Now that the beta is out!)

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Akia

Member
I feel like this deserves a separate thread because the Diablo 3 Art Style Debate has been the main discussion topic about the game over the last three years since Diablo 3's original announcement on June 28th 2008.

Now that the game is playable, beta testers what do you think about the art style?
 
Pretty good, but not spectacular. It's hard to not compare it to Dota 2, as it shares a lot of similarities with that title. It looks good, but it's not nearly as visually striking as the latter.
 
Beta tester here...

Art will due..I like it but won't pretend that had Blizzard gone with a gritty, more rough or hard style that I wouldn't prefer it more.

It'll due because that's all we get, we can't compare it to anything.
 
I think it's fine, I think where it really shines is in animations and spell effects. Like, generally I prefer Path of Exile's art design, but the spell effects in D3 are much better and more satisfying imo.
 
sykoex said:
I think it's fine, I think where it really shines is in animations and spell effects. Like, generally I prefer Path of Exile's art design, but the spell effects in D3 are much better and more satisfying imo.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the animations are great, I will give it that.
 
I might as well post a few shots for people to get an idea. Here's from the cathedral, which I think is the best looking area in the beta (maxed out settings...no AA available in game yet).

style1.png


style2.png


Here's Tristram:

style3.png


And here's some of the forested overworld:

style4.png
 
I have not played it, but having seen some HQ footage now I maintain my initial impressions: I like the painted backgrounds to an extent (the soft look to them) but maybe for another game, and I still think the characters stand out too much. Lack of AA doesn't help the character models but that will go away I presume. There is also some awful lot of pastel-colored lighting going on I think (I mean the environmental "ghoulish" lights in towns and dungeons, not the spell effects), and there are still some funny proportions and some design choices that make it look cartoony, for example, the dudes with the spiky hands (I believe they are called the unburied or something) and the almost-korean-mmo style armor.
I see the dota comparisons and -while I don't know if people are being sarcastic- I agree that there is a more cohesive art-style to that game that fits it better overall.

I understand why they did it, but I'm not a fan. I'm sure I'll enjoy the game regardless.
 
I think the only thing I don't like about what I've seen is the armor. Someone had a link to a thread full of higher level armor designs and I really didn't like them at all.
 
Characters look like shit, environments look good.

^and yeah, the armor, that's the only thing I think really looks 'WoW' like.
 
I agree the player and enemy models don't really match the background. They look like they are from 2 different games.

The lighting on the models are way harsher than on the everything else. It often doesn't seem to match up with the lights in the environment in those pics.
 
Akia said:
I feel like this deserves a separate thread because the Diablo 3 Art Style Debate has been the main discussion topic about the game over the last four years since Diablo 3's original announcement on June 28th 2008.

Now that the game is playable, beta testers what do you think about the art style?
Click to expand...
I like your math
 
It looks very nice (especially some blue ambient lighting I saw in the gametrailers footage), but it does not looks as Gothic and decadent as I want it to look. It is kind of high fantasy in a imaginary world, while D1 an D2 where more down to earth in a possible medieval world.
I wish it had more religious and pagan imagery
 
The ground in the forest and town looks bland and blurry.

The rest looks nice but it looks more like Warcraft than Diablo.
 
In my honest opinion, Diablo 2 looks better in some regards, when you take in consideration, the theme of the game. In terms of architectural design of dungeons, and environments, Diablo 2 is much more visually congruent, and fitting, while the dungeons do lack some visual variety, they are still much better.
 
Vulcano's assistant said:
It looks very nice (especially some blue ambient lighting I saw in the gametrailers footage), but it does not looks as Gothic and decadent as I want it to look. It is kind of high fantasy in a imaginary world, while D1 an D2 where more down to earth in a possible medieval world.
I wish it had more religious and pagan imagery
Click to expand...

Who is to say it doesn't? We haven't seen anything beyond what is available for beta right? And to be honest I don't recall much in regards to Religious or Pagan imagery during Act 1 (or even Act 2 for that matter) of Diablo 2... Correctly me if I am wrong.
 
The atmosphere certainly looks better, but the architectural design of the environments as well as the character design looks so WoW-inspired, it's sickening.

Turns me off from being as hyped about the game as everyone else. Still looking forward to it.
 
I dont mind the art style, it is definitely Blizzards style. With strong similarities to WoWs/Warcraft 3 art style and the dozens other games that ripped off their art style from WoW, it feels almost like I have played the game before.

I dont hate the art like many did or still do, I just wish they would have used an art style that separated Diablo 3 from WoW more than the current art does. Im not sure if that makes sense or not. I dont hate the art style as much as I am tired of it and I was ready to see something different artistically out of Blizzard for Diablo 3.
 
I dont like the new art direction at all, in my opinion it does not fit with diablo style and makes it look like the other 3D games (Torchlight, Dungeon Siege 3 etc)

I think they should have stick to 2D (but in HD) and the darker art of the previous games
 
nasos_333 said:
I dont like the new art direction at all, in my opinion it does not fit with diablo style and makes it look like the other 3D games (Torchlight, Dungeon Siege 3 etc)

I think they should have stick to 2D (but in HD) and the darker art of the previous games
Click to expand...

yea this. It looks so generic now
 
I like the original Diablo art style way, way better; it's grim and gothic. This is too cartoony for Diablo in my opinion. I'll probably just opt for $20 Torchlight 2 instead.
 
Forsaken82 said:
Who is to say it doesn't? We haven't seen anything beyond what is available for beta right? And to be honest I don't recall much in regards to Religious or Pagan imagery during Act 1 (or even Act 2 for that matter) of Diablo 2... Correctly me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...
I Remember the cathedral in act 1 full of baptism altars filled with blood, candles, sarcophagus, crypts and crosses.

I am just concerned that all we will get are some statues and magic symbols that doesn't resemble any real religion. (like those statues in the "Cathedral level 4" pic above, those could be some wizards from any fantasy universe). I want crosses, pentagrams, and all sorts of grotesque depictions of hell. (Even Diablo himself looks more like a beast than like a anthropomorphic demon, plus missing the nose makes him less menacing, less ugly).
Edit: This is how i see it:
Diablo III cool fantasy art
pgargoyle.jpg

vs. grotesque and Gothic Of Diablo II
4f249.jpg
 
nasos_333 said:
I think they should have stick to 2D (but in HD) and the darker art of the previous games
Click to expand...

Yea like that is happening.

I do agree on a lot of what people say here though. I also disagree on a lot but reading this make me think this is a we hate the DIII art consenus thread and I really don't want to start arguing right now.
I know the game doesn't look great compared to some newer blockbuster titles but for some reason it still appeals to me. Nothing in particular annoys me so I feel I can play this game for a long time, which is a good thing

But maybe it really is as bad as people say it is. Art style wise not very diabloesq but good. Animations are great.

One thing that bothers me is that I liked Warcraft a lot, but I never got into WoW and don't care for it but now I can't even say that. Everytime I mention Warcraft people go "oh you mean wow?"

Diablo III = Warcraft + Diablo, which isn't a completely horrible idea but disliked by many I'm sure.
 
it's almost as if blizzard asked bob ross to wipe his ass on the monitor and that's how we got d3 graphics. no i'm not a fan of the art style.


but whatever i'll be a good sheep and get the game.
 
Based on the screenshots posted above, characters, enemies and objects stick too much from the environment; maybe that's because of aliasing, but they really look as something photoshoped on top a background.
 
PushTheButtonMax said:
I like the original Diablo art style way, way better; it's grim and gothic. This is too cartoony for Diablo in my opinion. I'll probably just opt for $20 Torchlight 2 instead.
Click to expand...
I find this amusing
 
I think my official stance will be "It's not DII but it's ok".
I am replaying DII right now (after few years) and there is some flaws in this game that I hope they can fix in DIII so I'm hoping for the best.

Hard to beat DII art though. I'm just about to end Act II and there isn't all that much religious content, if I remember correctly they started to pop up more after Act 2 so same could also apply to DIII.
 
The art style is a bit surprising, it kind of feels like a JRPG. I expected the visuals to be more grim and gritty. But this will probably grow on me.
 
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