Darksiders

[Distazo]

I am glad that he pointed out the good character design of TF2, you don't have to have the best animation or art department to make a character look good.

 

[Mathak]

Yahtzee, you seem to forget that War is not a man. He's a huge bear of a ...something (demigod?), and you can see his ultra muscled, dark skinned chest under his hooded cloak (and that claw thing is called a broach and helps hold the cloak on). The armour pieces themselves make total sense, except maybe the massive glove. However, I'm not sure what you would expect from the Horseman of the Apocalypse known as War... I can't imagine a one-man-army without armour... and it's thickness, well, that increases the toughness of the steel, ie: impact resistance. Also, to assume it's "too big" on any assumptions of how it would affect his agility is whack, considering that he's NOT HUMAN. He can pick up cars and thrown them across a football field... I really can't see that armour hindering him, plus it's not restricting joint movements. My only real issue is the massive left hand thing, as Yahtzee said, makes him have a mutant/huge left hand. Maybe that was the intention - he doesn't HAVE to be symmetrical - but it does seem wierd.

Well, they could at least have given him a proper colour-scheme. I mean, compare it to these guys:

Ridiculously over-the-top armour, but it coherently conveys that these guys are here to lay down the smack.
And btw..isn't that broach on the wrong side of his chest compared to the draping of his cloak?

(And yeah, WH40K again, because it's the easiest source for these kinds of pics.)

 

[ostro-whiskey]

Lol, I found this pretty amusing. It sounds like an attempt made by Yahtzee to try an justify his comments on design, but the fact that he tries to comment on the PRACTICALITY of a FANTASY character just makes him look stupid.

Fantasy requires a suspension of disbelief, does anyone ask why in Tolkiens Lord of the Rings world that in 3000 years people are still running around with medieval weaponry. The same goes with Warhammer 40k, and I suppose Darksiders.

For a man who got a bookdeal Yahtzee doesnt seem to be able to detract from a shallow aesthetic value, maybe he should look into it.

It's got nothign to do about what they use, but more how they look like. Besides, we used swords and armor for a nearly three thousand years if you look back to history.

And even so, the medieval settings in Lord of the Rings creates the suspension of disbelief quite well enough, so does the elves and dwarfs, and the magic and wizards. However, when you start wearing a freakin burlesque factory on your body you've gone from suspension of disbelief to just plain stupid.

Not when it is in a setting where the only correlation with our world is gravity. You cannot claim what is stupid or unnecessary, because it is fantasy, and whatever you may think no longer applies. Also the claim that we used swords and armor for 3000 years is pretty stupid, because we had obvious changes of tactics and weaponry through each period, where LotR does not.

You seem to have a problem being able to think more deeply about what I said and just responded for whatever reason, it is not merely about "what they use", it is the fact that it doesnt matter what was or wasnt used, its the fact that there is no logical comparison between fantasy and reality.

 

[shadow skill]

War's over-sized arm is actually fake, hence the difference in size according to a wiki I found for the game. If you look at the design for Samael in Darksiders he ends up looking much better because he isn't covered in a bunch of stupid predictably skull laden crap. Even Bayonetta's design is better than War's and she has a comically misshapen head! If you were to put a more appropriately sized head on her body you would get something distinctive that actually looks nice. (I.E. exchange her with Jeanne.) I feel like 2010 is the year of the stupid looking action hero with Darksiders, Bayonetta(Though technically a 2009 game.), and especially Dante from God of- err Dante's Inferno all looking like they were designed by idiots. (The artist who did Bayonetta actually saved us from what would have been an even more idiotic design if Kamiya had got his way mind you.)

 

[little bear]

I agree with this extra punctuation but feel yatzee should have 1 or 2 more examples. 1 of mine would have been namcoxbandai's soul calibur 4. recently the character's costumes have looked massive and weird. feel free to google zasalamel people.

 

[shadow skill]

Yahtzee, you seem to forget that War is not a man. He's a huge bear of a ...something (demigod?), and you can see his ultra muscled, dark skinned chest under his hooded cloak (and that claw thing is called a broach and helps hold the cloak on). The armour pieces themselves make total sense, except maybe the massive glove. However, I'm not sure what you would expect from the Horseman of the Apocalypse known as War... I can't imagine a one-man-army without armour... and it's thickness, well, that increases the toughness of the steel, ie: impact resistance. Also, to assume it's "too big" on any assumptions of how it would affect his agility is whack, considering that he's NOT HUMAN. He can pick up cars and thrown them across a football field... I really can't see that armour hindering him, plus it's not restricting joint movements. My only real issue is the massive left hand thing, as Yahtzee said, makes him have a mutant/huge left hand. Maybe that was the intention - he doesn't HAVE to be symmetrical - but it does seem wierd.

Well, they could at least have given him a proper colour-scheme. I mean, compare it to these guys:

Ridiculously over-the-top armour, but it coherently conveys that these guys are here to lay down the smack.
And btw..isn't that broach on the wrong side of his chest compared to the draping of his cloak?

(And yeah, WH40K again, because it's the easiest source for these kinds of pics.)

Good post, I could actually get behind that being cool looking. It's big, but it doesn't seem filled with way too much crap.

 

[DigitalSushi]

I always thought War's design was intentionally made to be over the top, he's the all powerful WAR after all.

yet in the game he's a broken and mess of a man and it reflects in his design, that and he's WAR, do I have to do uppercase each time I say WAR?, yes I do.

Its War for goodness sake, since when was war aesthetically pleasing?.

I can't wait to see the sequels where Joe Mad draws up famine in good light, and by that I mean famine with Bob Gedolf's smug self satisfied face all over its robes.

And pestilence could get sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Only an hour? I would've thought an outfit like that would take all morning to put on.

I like Cloud Strife's clothes from Final Fantasy 7 for the reason that they make sense. It's a SOLDIER uniform which indicates his past but it is also modified which shows he is no longer a member. His uniform is very recognizable due to it's purple colour and the make shift armour he wears shows how he doesn't have lots of money since he left soldier

Spoiler

His sword on the other hand...

Yeah well the Japanese have a thing for big swords. I find that much more acceptable then the American big gun fetish.

 

[Stabby Joe]

You joined Twitter? Even though you already said this... why?

 

[ahpuch]

Good Article. For me the look of War was so over the top silly that I wrote the game off as childish crap. Having read the review by John Funk I would consider getting it now if it came out for the PC but that is despite the stupid look of war and not because of it.

Lol, I found this pretty amusing. It sounds like an attempt made by Yahtzee to try an justify his comments on design, but the fact that he tries to comment on the PRACTICALITY of a FANTASY character just makes him look stupid.

Fantasy requires a suspension of disbelief, does anyone ask why in Tolkiens Lord of the Rings world that in 3000 years people are still running around with medieval weaponry. The same goes with Warhammer 40k, and I suppose Darksiders.

Ummm, no. Fantasy does not give one a pass on practicality or rationality. That is just lazy.

 

[The Great JT]

By the look of things, Joe Madureira has been taking "art" lessons from Rob Liefeld.

 

[Jaebird]

The thing that irritates me the most (and I haven't played the game yet) is that the left hand, being identical to right one, is too impractically big. If the artist in question was trying to go for the Hellboy-look, then he has failed with flying colors. Because not only is Hellboy's stone hand used to bash baddies, it's also the key to the end of days. Not something that just "looks cool."

But hey, what would I know? It's not like I'm an accomplished artist [http://jbird18.deviantart.com], or anything.

 

[DrTrent]

It's not like I'm an accomplished artist [http://jbird18.deviantart.com], or anything.

accomplished... lol

Sorry, I do actually agree with your point, however your drawings do not support your sarcastic comment

 

[The Bandit]

When I watched the review, I was just like "Ok, yeah. He's ugly. I get it."

Seeing that picture. I just. I don't know what to do with myself. Who could be proud of creating that?

 

[Azure-Supernova]

It wouldn't be so bad if perhaps the origins of his outfit was explained, I doubt it's standard issue for the horsemen (because the horse would suffer under that weight!). And as someone above said, no doubt there will be a wiki entry presenting some insight into the character, but you shouldn't have to read a wiki to know that kind of stuff.

On that note though, when Madureira was designing him he probably heard "One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and instantly thought "This guy has to look as over the top and badass as possible". Seems they missed the point though and got carried away.

Another cracking article though, enjoyed reading the sizing up of Kratos based on his appearance. Considering he wears barely nothing, perhaps Madureira should have taken that into account.

 

[ostro-whiskey]

Good Article. For me the look of War was so over the top silly that I wrote the game off as childish crap. Having read the review by John Funk I would consider getting it now if it came out for the PC but that is despite the stupid look of war and not because of it.

Lol, I found this pretty amusing. It sounds like an attempt made by Yahtzee to try an justify his comments on design, but the fact that he tries to comment on the PRACTICALITY of a FANTASY character just makes him look stupid.

Fantasy requires a suspension of disbelief, does anyone ask why in Tolkiens Lord of the Rings world that in 3000 years people are still running around with medieval weaponry. The same goes with Warhammer 40k, and I suppose Darksiders.

Ummm, no. Fantasy does not give one a pass on practicality or rationality. That is just lazy.

It obviously cant be something absolutely spurious that makes no sense in any reality, but you are just trying to be a smart ass by saying thats what Im claiming. What Im claiming is you cant claim to know how armor or weaponry functions in a fantasy world with magic and demons and bs.

As such your an imbecile for trying to base your dislike of it on practicality.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Ugh, I had no idea Joe Madureira was the concept artist for Darksiders.

He's the hack that took over for Hitch after Ultimates 1 and 2.

He's one of my all time least favourite artists...gawd explains so much.

You'd think if game companies wanted to hire a comic artist they'd hire someone, I dunno, established and actually considered good?