Poll: Did The Art Style of a Game Ever Stop You From Playing/Buying?
- Thread starter Reven
- Start date
Recommended Videos
There have been a few games I've picked up from the bargain bin, considered buying, then decided against because the art style was so awful that it removed any tiny crumbs of hope I had that the game itself would be any good.
Terrible art is usually something that just serves to confirm my suspicions that a game will be bad. If I'm feeling generally positive about the game, bad visuals don't usually put me off.
On the other hand, I have limited money. So I'm sure there have been occasions when - torn apart by indecision - I picked the prettier of two equally promising looking games.
Terrible art is usually something that just serves to confirm my suspicions that a game will be bad. If I'm feeling generally positive about the game, bad visuals don't usually put me off.
On the other hand, I have limited money. So I'm sure there have been occasions when - torn apart by indecision - I picked the prettier of two equally promising looking games.
I'm pretty open to Art Style.
But, Anime JRPG really put me off, I can just look at one of those games and know that at some stage, I'm going to get a 9 year old with a squeaky voice who's going to become some pivotal plot character I just can't take seriously in any way.
But, Anime JRPG really put me off, I can just look at one of those games and know that at some stage, I'm going to get a 9 year old with a squeaky voice who's going to become some pivotal plot character I just can't take seriously in any way.
All my favourite games are renowned mainly for their setting and environments; I frequently make purchases based off a game's Art Style, though less frequently do I decide NOT to buy one for the same reason: there tends to be games that stand out from the rest in terms of art style, and then a big puddle of mediocrity underneath; there isn't really anything worse than mediocre in terms of art style, in my opinion, and I still buy plenty of games like that 
Not generally, if the art design is well implemented and managed, it can be almost anything and it'll still be a very enjoyable experience. Well, I don't like the general design of JRPG's, but I don't really like their gameplay either, so it's nothing "personal" against their design.
Note that I said "almost"... What's that recent title where you appear to be playing as an Elven stripper? Yeah... I was put off from ever considering it when I saw an add in the papers, featuring her (and her ample bussom) in very little, flanked on both sides by manly men decked out in full plate armour.
That really told me all I need to know. No, I don't mind revealing armour/gear design. I really don't. But it should be evenly spread out, I just find it relentlessly irritating when the lassies in bikini fare just as well in mêlée combat as the lads dressed in dustbins.
I just can't shake the obvious feeling that the game was intended only to just show off her assets, while everyone without double chromosomes were covered up in plate lest I recoil in horror from seeing an almost nude man and catching teh gay. It just feels like such a stereotypical enterprise, like if it was designed by teenagers in a locker-room somewhere.
Note that I said "almost"... What's that recent title where you appear to be playing as an Elven stripper? Yeah... I was put off from ever considering it when I saw an add in the papers, featuring her (and her ample bussom) in very little, flanked on both sides by manly men decked out in full plate armour.
That really told me all I need to know. No, I don't mind revealing armour/gear design. I really don't. But it should be evenly spread out, I just find it relentlessly irritating when the lassies in bikini fare just as well in mêlée combat as the lads dressed in dustbins.
I just can't shake the obvious feeling that the game was intended only to just show off her assets, while everyone without double chromosomes were covered up in plate lest I recoil in horror from seeing an almost nude man and catching teh gay. It just feels like such a stereotypical enterprise, like if it was designed by teenagers in a locker-room somewhere.
No but I've been playing games since the Atari and Intellivision when there weren't actually any games that looked good... it was all just blocks.
My 5 year old self probably would've thought I would be an old man before I was able to play something like a GTA or even a Katamari. Even now to me, those games are a feast for the eyes.
My 5 year old self probably would've thought I would be an old man before I was able to play something like a GTA or even a Katamari. Even now to me, those games are a feast for the eyes.
Generally, no. I mean, I think that Bad Company 2 (for instance) looks like shit, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun to blow a hole in someone's cover with a noob tube or factor in bullet drop and travel time to land in the perfect sniper shot. There are also quite a few roguelikes that look terrible* but are crazy fun to play.
*in contrast to the ones that have a good tileset or nice-looking ASCII.
*in contrast to the ones that have a good tileset or nice-looking ASCII.
It can definitely make me hesitate. If I really want to try it I'll find a way around it eventually, but if I'm on the fence about a game an aesthetic that does nothing for me can very easily tip me one way or the other.
TERA is one of the only games I can think of where the art style is actively off-putting to the point where it serves as a strong negative.
TERA is one of the only games I can think of where the art style is actively off-putting to the point where it serves as a strong negative.
Yes definitely, it is the reason I am finding it really difficult to get into Borderlands. Some may be surprised but I find the games art style looks ugly and I find a cartoony post-apocalyptic game doesn't really entice me.
I never liked the style of WoW or Gears of War because of their styles. I played Final Fantasy XI during the golden days of WoW, and I always felt it knocked WoW out of the water as far as graphics and visual design. Even now the character models are so low-poly they look straight out of the PS1 era (and even if they were high-poly the designs themselves are ugly and awkward, like the humans in the first Shrek movie), and the colors and textures of the environment and monsters all clash so much there is no way a real design team could have chosen them.
As for Gears of War, I've just always hated the over-the-top, ridiculously musclebound style of drawing men. I hate it in comic books, I hate it in cartoons, and I hate it video games.
As for Gears of War, I've just always hated the over-the-top, ridiculously musclebound style of drawing men. I hate it in comic books, I hate it in cartoons, and I hate it video games.
Yes, just once. Normally It's not something that bothers me, but Syndicate (the new one) has such a horrible lighting engine that it's the only game to date that is literally painful for me to play for more than 10-15 minutes at a time.
The absurd lens flare on the side of the screen that cuts out about 20-25% of the effective FoV (already narrow because of the console limitations) and the extreme and sometimes completely out of place blinding lights give me a headache almost instantly and strain my eyes horribly.
I don't even want to imagine playing that thing on a non-widescreen monitor.
Oh, and this is coming from a guy who can play for 10 hours straight and be fresh as a daisy after.
The absurd lens flare on the side of the screen that cuts out about 20-25% of the effective FoV (already narrow because of the console limitations) and the extreme and sometimes completely out of place blinding lights give me a headache almost instantly and strain my eyes horribly.
I don't even want to imagine playing that thing on a non-widescreen monitor.
Oh, and this is coming from a guy who can play for 10 hours straight and be fresh as a daisy after.