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JonasHalle

Starry Night is from 1889 and its art direction is better than most paintings painted yesterday.


[deleted]

Unpopular opinion perhaps; but i disagree that any art style is superior (unless we talking readability of units, but SG has improved immensely with that). Don't get me wrong, i love me my grim dark art like 40k and to a lesser extent sc2. I grew up on the more realistic AoE, the futuristic yet grounded C&C, the fantastical yet cartoony warcraft. But i also love me some Overwatch, some bright cartoony games with colour. I found warz to be a fantatically OTT villian. Stormgate nails that itch for me, it's not less superior, just different; and I'm sorry it's not to your taste.


FirePenguinMaster

Same, brother


kennysp33

This should not be an unpopular opinion. Your basically saying: "To each their own, people like what they like and that's okay"


picollo21

We are in the internet. "People can have differing opinions and it's okay" is unpopular opinion here.


kennysp33

Fair. And sad.


ves_111

Overwatch is actually a great example how an interestic character design can really flesh out a quite generic premise. You have a space monkey with jetpacks, japanese dragon ninja, jamaican dj, nepal robot monk etc. The characters have its own story and they stand out of each other. Stormgate is at the very end of this spectrum, where almost every unit feel generic (especially Vanguard) and not interesting. You don't need a grim atmosphere to make art design interesting, I agree, but Stormgate really lacks on this field.


[deleted]

I 100% disagree that they feel generic, sure you have your Lancers and the original Exos; but apart from that, all the other Vanguard units are quite weird and wonderful in my opinion. Futuristic space humans have been done to death in media, from star wars to 40k to anime to star trek to avatar to...the list is endless. With every iteration of "mech suit" and "spaceship", i believe it's nigh impossible to come up with anything that doesn't resemble something that has come before - which is where the "i have seen this before" feeling is coming from i think. I love the vanguard designs, they feel very familiar and yet weird to me. PS. I agree the exo was generic, and am glad they changed that one.


Synceruz

Love it. Amazing opinion, mate <3


firebal612

I remember when being compared to Pixar was a good thing…how the times have changed…


WolfHeathen

Frost Giant aren't making an animated kids movie here. Their target demographic is teens for the late 90s early 2000s as evidenced by their nostalgia bait references to C&C, SC, and WC3. Which puts those people in their 30s and 40s. They go to Pixar movies for their kids not because they identify with a cartoony aesthetic.


[deleted]

[удалено]


WolfHeathen

I don't agree it's disparaging but you're free to feel that way if you choose. However it's just objectively false to claim people have been comparing Blizzard games to Pixar games for the past 20 years. * Diablo 2 came out in 2000. Pixar Released Toy Story in 1999 and Monsters, Inc*.* in 2001. There's nothing at all comparable between those two. * Blizzard WC3: Reign of Chaos (2002) /Pixar Finding Nemo (2002). * Blizzard WoW (2004) / Pixar The Incredibles (2004) * Blizzard StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010)/Pixar Toy Story 3 (2010) * Blizzard Diablo 3 (2012)/Pixar Brave (2012) About the only similarity you could reasonably claim would be Overwatch but even Overtwatch did it better than Stormgate does as. Overwatch has it's own style and visual identity, and aesthetically speaking is quite beautiful. Whereas the most common complaint of Stormgate is their design is bland/generic/uninspiring.


[deleted]

[удалено]


WolfHeathen

So, we've moved the goalposts from "Blizzard games have been compared to Pixar by people for 20 years" to now, "portions of the community complained about cartoony art styles." I rest my case. Yes, people did say SC2 look was cartoony but in reference to how SC looked. NOT as a comparison to Pixar. Again, D3's hyper vibrant and pixie art style was a direct contrast to the grim dark look of D2. You could not be any more intellectually dishonest.


[deleted]

[удалено]


WolfHeathen

I'm not actually making an argument other than to say your claim that people have compared Blizzard games to Pixar for the past 20 years is incorrect. I'm not advocating for a grim dark look or any other but rather adding context and accuracy to your careless allegations with regards to D3 and SC2's community reception.


thisguyissostupid

Dude Pixar has been around long enough that I'm just as nostalgic for a good Pixar film as I am for starcraft. I love Pixar movies, I go for me.


Bed_Post_Detective

That guy with the two guns people comparing to that one overwatch character looks like a Lego version of that guy. Might as well be Sc2: Legos


carlfish

I am old enough to remember how much Wings of Liberty’s art style got criticized before it was released. There were entire TeamLiquid threads about the siege tank.


Wolfkrone

This is so intellectually dishonest. Some nerds complained about how a couple of units were reimagined. I am old enough to remember everyone was blown away by the starcraft 2 reveal graphics included. I remember listening to the podcasts from all the various outlets gushing over the game and not a single one had any disappointment with the graphics.


No-Masterpiece-3039

Also agree this is a dishonest take... I was very informed on gaming news back then and never heard of this - me and my friend circle were extremely hyped for how SC2 was turning out.


carlfish

Then you obviously weren't on TeamLiquid at the time? Or /r/starcraft? Because it was hard to avoid on either. Most of the pre-release reception of SC2 was incredibly positive, even on those two forums. And outside of the obligatory contrarian posts on this subreddit, pre-release reception of Stormgate is pretty positive too. But that criticism was there, and loud, and very similar to what's happening now. In 15 years time I'll probably be telling the next generation of RTS nerds criticising the art style of… er… Scorngrift… that people had the same problem with Stormgate, and they'll be pointing to all the really positive press it got before its release and how many people were excited about it. And meanwhile, you can fuck right off calling me dishonest, just because I can remember things you don't like (edit: that apparently happened [when you were a teenager](https://www.reddit.com/r/Tekken/comments/1adwdey/for_those_who_wonder_why_people_complains_about/kk6wa8w/)).


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No-Masterpiece-3039

Well like you said, most of the pre-release reception of SC2 was incredibly positive, even on those two forums. As opposed to StormGate, whose pre-release reception is by no doubt incredibly negative. Opposite sides of the coin - which is why I think it's disingenuous to make any statement similar to "ah this is just like SC2's release" (obviously not exactly what you said though, I just see that echoed here a lot and I suppose I'm more-or-less taking it out on your comment). Although I do see your point. And it's entirely possible the optics for this game are so bad in comparison due to "2024 gamer behavior".. Weren't nearly as many people logging on to make demands to devs for an unreleased game. And yessir I was in my teens when it released.. when I had a lot more time to play the game, attend SC events, and keep in-the-loop with things. Not like today :(


CriSword

It's a matter of taste. It's ok for you to not like It, but do not try to pass the concept of It being "vastly inferior", because it is not.


covetousrat

It's the art direction the developer is going for. You can't compare it this way. If they want the StarCraft art direction they can always do it. Look at Zerospace.


DANCINGLINGS

I dunno why people constantly try to convince others with their opinion by mentioning one being superior to the other... Thats like saying burgers are superior to hotdogs or german cars are superior to american cars.. The art style of Stormgate neither is inferior or superior to Wings of Liberty. We can talk about technical execution, but dunno why people like you want to forcefully convince people that their opinion is more important than other peoples opinion.


Sloppy_Donkey

It is incorrect to pretend there is no objective quality in art and character design. Of course personal preferences play a role too but there is more to it than just that


Acopo

True enough, but as objectivity generally deals with provable/measurable things, what would you say is an objective quality of art or character design? I think a good place to start would be readability of units. Something that Stormgate initially struggled with, but I hear has been improving. More specifically, it’s not something that is inherently tied to art style, just how well that style is presented.


ManiaCCC

I see your point, but there is just something super off in the art direction they pick. Something just does not blend. I want to love SG, I really do, but just finished watching the SC2 tournament and I paused several times the game, just to check SG footage how that compares and if I am just biased so much against this art style, but it's just not good. Can't describe it but SC2 is just crisp, with interesting designs, a good color palette (if mapmakers are not botching it), and detailed yet readable. SG is none of this. I still hope they will do some big changes to lighting, texture work or something, just to make SG feel like game for demography this game is actually for (30-40 years old guys) The second issue I have with SG art direction is less about the technical art, but more about the design. Idea blending futuristic humans with demons is actually really cool, but why demon units are the most generic demons from cartoons, outside of Weaver maybe? Hellgate London had a similar theme and the demons faction actually felt like some evil being I can see in the sci-fi. But why they did pick the most boring representation of demons is beyond me. Also, the most destructive demon unit you can summon is...Dragon? really?


DANCINGLINGS

There is objective quality in art and design, but those apply within the realms of preference and subjective feelings. You can like a more realistic scfi art style like starcraft more than a stylized cartoon style like stormgate (thats subjective taste/opinion/preference), but within those style you can say stormgate assets are of lesser quality than overwatch assets. Saying "Wings of Liberty art style is vastly superior to stormgate" is just stating a opinion. You are just expressing your taste. If he said "Stormgate art assets have worse quality and graphical fidelty than League of Legends art assets" I think thats totally a debateable point.


WolfHeathen

No one is forcing anything on anyone, stop throwing up strawman arguments. Did someone force you to read this threat and respond to it against your will? People are just providing their opinion. You don't like that particular opinion but the general consensus is it's too cartoony and people just aren't into it. This is a reoccurring issue with Stormgate and dates back to last year before they even opened it to the public. Are you a veteran art director? I doubt it so what makes you or any of us able to speak on the "technical execution"? I mean, hell, the game isn't even live atm for any real analysis. That's just a deflection because you don't wish to engage in the root issue - the art style they chose is divisive and lots of people are having problems with it.


DANCINGLINGS

I think you are actually fixating on a word... Take out the word "forcefully" and my point still stands. The issue is not, that people express their opinion. The issue is, that people cannot accept the reality: The art style is fixed. The debate is over. The game is close to release and frost giant will never delete all their art assets to make it look like starcraft. So why do people keep opening up the debate? Do they really think frost giant will scap the art style and do something else instead? Its over. All we can debate now is the execution of that particular art style. If you dont like the art style, you have to unfortunately live with it. So the only reason people make these posts is trying to convince people, that they should also dislike the art style. There are people who like it and people who don't. There is no point in this debate anymore its just annoying at this point.


WolfHeathen

I mean, they're your words but fine. No one is alleging the art style isn't fixed. The OP simply said he's saddened with the direction they went. That's expressing an opinion, no more, And, something that everyone is entitled to do. Just like you're entitled to express your opinion that they're trying to force their opinion on others and make them change it. It's incorrect but you're still entitled to express it. This is Reddit after all. There's no such thing as 'You can't discuss X because it absolute!' Reddit is where people go to debate anything and everything. Be it simply academic thought experiments or actual matters they are passionate about. You think every time someone comments on something here they're trying to bring about change? That's absurd. It's also foolish to assume the intent of other people you don't know. Expressing an opinion doesn't mean you're out to convince the world, It could be as simple as sharing your 2 cents and seeing it falls within public opinion. People weigh in on things all the time. It's human nature. It seems to me you just don't like the debate, and that's fine, but that itself is not a justification to say you cannot debate this any longer. It's beyond absurd to declare that people cannot debate a thing simply because you find that topic annoying.


DANCINGLINGS

You are right, I dont like the debate, because it is annoying and beating a dead horse. There is no debate. The topic is over, the debate is over - its done. Making a post a year later about the art style not being what you wished for shortly before the release and still yapping about it is just annoying. How long are we gonna talk about this? 10 years down the line? Posts like these are like the dude whos complaining about how he wanted to go to rome, but the friend group have decided to visit paris instead. Yea we get it you wanted to go to rome, but we all decided for paris so stfu already. At some point we as a community should not tolerate certain opinions anymore and thats totally normal practice in forums. In my opinion mods should create one big "complain about the art style" thread and then delete every post, that does that in the future with linking to that original thread. At some point we have to draw the line and close this debate once and for all. That line was drawn like almost a year ago already.


WolfHeathen

No, we don't because we have a thing called free speech. We don't need mods locking down topics you find annoying. How self-absorbed are you really to suggest such a thing? The easiest solution is for you to just ignore these posts if it bothers you so much. There's more important things in the world than to get worked up because other people have a different opinion than your own.


DANCINGLINGS

Dude free speech is a concept applied to society in general to prevent political prosecution and does NOT apply to moderated forums. Every subreddit is moderated the community decides the rules. You can read them literally on the right hand side. A typical rule for a lot of subreddits is the "no double posts" rule. Posts that ask a question, that was already asked, or express a low effort opinion, that has been expressed multiple times already, will be deleted by this rule with a small note from a moderator giving you the reason for the deletion. That is a normal practice in forums and it should be applied in this subreddit as well to make the experience better for everyone. You can tell by the comments and the downvotes that clearly a majority of the subreddit is annoyed by this post. It is heavily downvoted with 90% of the comments agreeing with my opinion in some sort of form. The solution is not to "just ignore". Why should a majority bow to a small minority? Also "there is more important things in the world" is such a stupid argument. Who are you to judge? Maybe stormgate is literally my number 1 hobby in life, who are you to judge what ought to be important for me and what not? You are conflicting a political discourse with a niche forum about a niche game. Its our subreddit and our rules simple as that.


WolfHeathen

You're conflating the 1st amendment of the US Constitution with the general concept a free democratic society where one can publicly discuss what they want. I did not invoke the former but referred to the latter in a general sense. Reddit is a free speech platform in that you may discuss whatever you like provided it does not break any of the rules. No where in the rules does it state we cannot discuss things simply because you find it annoying. And, speaking of the rules you've broken the first one resoundingly in your judgement of others and inferring their intentions.


Cheapskate-DM

My complaint is the trailer is too short to have a narrative to it. The opening cinematic for Warcraft 3 is about the same length, but has a lot more narration - and the nonverbal communication is much more effective.


WolfHeathen

Let's be fair here, unless Frost Giant were able to snatch up some cinematic directors from Blizzard it's not exactly fair to compare the two. Blizzard was the industry leader when it came to cinematics storytelling. No one did it better than them and for quite some time.


aaabbbbccc

In your opinion. In my opinion warcraft 3 still looks way better than both but i dont announce my opinion like its a fact.


WhoDisagrees

Remember when everyone said it was going to get this massive overhaul to the graphics? It looks about on par with warcraft 3 graphically.


SweetCakeism

You can atleast arguing it's a little bit uninspring, otherwise getting really old with the cartoony = bad logic... There is no such rule that "photo-realistic dark and edgy" = automatically good. Cartoony is just not your cup of tea then. Many people like me love the stylish cartoony than realistic


Argiveajax1

Vastly different budgets and development resources


Neuro_Skeptic

Stormgate got all the funding it asked for though


StarcraftForever

Negative IQ take. Games are money guzzlers and always have more that needs done. FGG is not a AAA studio that has the deep pockets required, and I'm not sure why people think they are.


Neuro_Skeptic

You don't have to be an AAA title to look good. Plenty of indie games have great design.


WolfHeathen

Maybe because they keep telling anyone who will listen how they're composed of some of the world's greatest RTS designers from a AAA studio and are planning to compete with other AAA games with their product Stormgate. I mean, they themselves, talk about how their goal is to lead the genre for the next decade with their product which will be the "evolution of the genre." We judge them based on the representations they put forward. When did you ever hear an indy game dev say they were going to take the mantle of an entire genre upon themselves and and redefine it for the next ten years? Give me a fucken break with this 'b-b-but they aren't tipple AAA! Why are people so unfair to them?'


mad_pony

I am starting to think that it's supposed to be rather funny than frightening. That demon comes out of portal with some "bitches" joke.


PowerfulSignature421

I think it's worth considering resources. I'd bet the team that worked on the cinematics for SC2 at bliz were probably bigger than the whole FG company. They have picked an art style that allows for better allocation of resources. If they were going for a photo real style it would cost them more money than they have raised just to make a cinematic. I can appreciate that the style isn't for everyone, but remember that this is a very small indi studio that hasn't even released a game yet. The fact that we can compare the game to blizzard at all really says a lot about how talented and smart these guys really are.


Wonderful_Spring664

Same it’s to cartoony. But that can change overtime. Especially if the game is a hit. Maybe they can make high quality cinematics like blizzard some day. The studio is small and new. With the first game out lots of things can change.


Andross_Darkheart

Thanks for reminding how long ago that was...


thisguyissostupid

Yes a little indie studio isn't going to have the massive budget for CGI trailers that friggin Activision Blizzard did. This is such an awful take. Judge the trailer on its own merits, not based on SC2.


mkipp95

🤡


Ahmahgad

OP was hoping for a darker more realistic art style and is allowed to express so. I agree, but the most important thing to me will always be gameplay and game mechanics.


mellvins059

I mean I agree to an extent. I played StarCraft 2 on low for the minimally improved framerate at the expense of graphics. If the graphics are literally repulsive for me though then it will be a problem. For me, i just can’t handle these graphics, and struggle to care about this game because of it.


filthypudgepicker

Bad take Shut the fuck up if you’re not going to give a reason for it being bad other than “cartoon” especially since wow and wc3 are cartoony as fuck and the remaster of wc3 went for a far more realistic approach and most people agreed it looked like shit


DrTh0ll

I agree with this - op is a clown


Wonderful_Spring664

It didn’t look like Shit it was just not finished. The remasters of wc3 looked very good.


filthypudgepicker

What are you talking about, the remasters for WC3 are TERRIBLE. Too much detail, character silhouettes were too homogenous, orc skin looked as if it was mold from plastic, the terrain and environments looked like they were from a different game from the models, and the models in general looked like mini figures


Arkarant

I don't like when new thing ://


-Zo_0

True


RealAlias_Leaf

Yes, as much as I hate to say it, the graphics are just bad. The gameplay graphics look worse than SC2.


HatchiMatchiTTV

You’re allowed to not like something and not post about it


Arrival-Of-The-Birds

You're allowed to read a post and not comment on it.


Arrival-Of-The-Birds

You're allowed to read a comment and not be snarky about it


Katsanami

You're allowed to post a comment and not self reply to it


Ahmahgad

You're also allowed to not like something and post about it unless you live somewhere that isn't free.


HatchiMatchiTTV

Lmao


schubz

dude have you seen the SC2 alpha? it looked like shit