What's your favorite graphical style, plus a bonus!

[Garrett]

I don't care about graphics. I play games for fun and conditions for games to be fun vary with different titles. Ofcourse there are games that just wouldn't work with some styles of graphics. Eg. I don't think Okami would work with realistic graphics.

But there is one game that killed me with its beautiful visuals, Odin Sphere. Not only it has stunning graphics, it's pretty amazing game in itself (one of my favourites).

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I prefer the hand drawn art style over the hyper realism style that is found in many games.

It always good to see how well the animations can look without having to divulge into the realm of 3D, delivering a both an aesthetically pleasing art style and a great attention to detail.

Some more recent titles that incorporate this style, and that I find personally awesome is

Odin Sphere,

[http://photobucket.com/images/odin%20sphere]

Muramasa: The Demon Blade,
[http://photobucket.com/images/muramasa%20the%20demon%20blade]

and Skullgirls.
[http://photobucket.com/images/skullgirls]

...and que the dancing Peacock.
[http://photobucket.com/images/skullgirls]

 

[skywolfblue]

No to anime, no to ultra-realistic.

Other then that there's a pretty broad variety of art types that I love. If I was forced to pick a favorite:

The stylistic cartoonishness of World of Warcraft or Starcraft.

Or

Dead Space's art style. Semi-real but gloriously beautiful and awesome.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

One one way I've always liked the very sugary sweet, cutesy look that most Harvest Moons boast. Everyone walks around all chibi, like children with moustaches and adult clothing.

And I'm also going to throw in Bioshock's 'everyone is made of fucked up clay!' with an art deco twist look.

 

[Wayneguard]

I like the level of detail in prerendered 2d backgrounds (Resident Evil, Baldur's Gate, etc).

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I don't think Okami would work with realistic graphics.

You mean this?

Spoiler

I guess Clover Studio agrees.

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

My general rule is that the more realistic it tries to look, the more awkward and unattractive it is.

I prefer something stylized, but even certain shades of that tend not to work with me; I tend to severely dislike western cartoon aesthetics, and Japan's recent "moe" phenomenon can die in a god damned fire.

As far as video game graphics go, I don't care for 3D. I understand the necessity of it for certain types of gameplay, but I prefer 2D graphics from an aesthetic standpoint. They also tend to age a hell of a lot better.

 

[penguindude42]

All the ones that use actual colors.

 

[pilouuuu]

I like many, as long as they're done well.

Some of my favourites are Rayman Origins, Plants Vs. Zombies, Arkham City, L.A. Noire...

I just dislike the fact that most games have bad animation and the obsession with brown gritty realism of some developers.

Captcha: banana bread!

 

[TrevHead]

Ultrarealistic, cartoony, 3D, 2D, prerendered, pixel art I like them all, as long as it's tastefully done. Some genres lend themselves better to 2D or 3D, for example old school Final Fight / Streets of Rage brawlers just look bad with the characters in 3D, its best done in 2D or a hybrid with 3D world and 2D sprites.


Anyone who likes colour should check out CAVEs (shmups, iphone games, Nin2Jump), they are masters at the use of vibrant colour and making colours pop out. Much of it is borne from the constraints of the bullet hell / shmup genre (muted backgrounds and vibrant projectiles to aid in reaction times)

Sigh... I would show a few examples however this forum is sadly lacking in img linking and I don't do HTML. I would suggest ppl google image search these keywords:-

Mushihimisama Futari, Dodonpachi Resurrection Black label, Deathsmiles, Akia Katana, Nin2Jump, Esp Galuda 2, Guwange.

EDIT heres a 720p vid best to watch it in full screen imo.


Also the platformer Outlander does a similar thing,the dev like CAVE makes shmups where they have converted some of the artstyle and gameplay to a platformer

I also like pixelart however it really need a old CRT to look at them, looking at them on a LCD is ok but it will always compare badly to HD computer art.

* Derek Yu the man behind Aquaria and Splunkey XBLA makes some great looking 2D games, the guy is a trained illustrator BTW. Konjak aka Noitu Love 2 is also a talented 2D game artist who also freelances with Working Designs, Contra 4, Mighty Switch Force etc.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

The Half-Life look, definately. Grainy and realistic, but not really bleak or gritty. Lots of abandoned areas, scattered refuse, rusted catwalks, chain-link fences... I think there's a special kind of beauty to abandoned areas, which are common in the Half-Life games. Thank GOD that Valve decided to go post-apocalyptic for HL2, because it's WAY better than Black Mesa's environments.

 

[shrekfan246]

For me, it's gotta be glowing, saturated colours on top of deep, dark ones. Subtle accents of pastel or naturalistic colour schemes are also welcomed.

Here is an example:
http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/546929-super-metroid-snes-screenshot-our-heroine-samus-fighting-the.png

Here's also some music that fits well with this aesthetic:
<youtube=d56LCOThdzM>

Whoa, there's another person on this website who has heard of The Knife? Crazy.

OT: I like most of the different various aesthetics, myself. I suppose to pick a favorite, it would probably be the stylized cartoonishness of things like Sonic the Hedgehog and/or Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. But so long as it's not flat-out ugly, I'm probably going to like it.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I don't think Okami would work with realistic graphics.

You mean this?

Spoiler

I guess Clover Studio agrees.

I thought that video looked nice.

 

[lacktheknack]

Realistic, yet bright.

While not really graphical, seeing things I haven't seen before is also nice.

<spoiler=Myst Online>http://www.mtn-man.org/images/URUWide/wide-ahnonay01.jpg

Like that.

<spoiler=Mirror's Edge>http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i294/Discourses/720p_shard001.png

Or that.

<spoiler=Myst IV>http://www.oocities.org/emsrelto/gfx/screenshots/revelation/serenia.jpg

Or this.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I don't think Okami would work with realistic graphics.

You mean this?

Spoiler

I guess Clover Studio agrees.

I thought that video looked nice.

It certainly doesn't look bad, I just don't think Okami would really be Okami without the Japanese painting art style.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I don't really got a favourite as I'm fine with all kind of graphic styles.

 

[BartyMae]

About the only thing I can't stand, as far as I've seen of it at least, is styles similar to anime, really...graphics that were meant to be "realistic", but are a few years from the "latest" generally look terrible, too.

As for favorites...could not really say.

 

[Razentsu]

There are a lot of styles I like, but I have a preference toward the flashy, colorful and cartoony.

Stuff like the upcoming Persona 4 Arena.

[http://www.the-games-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/persona4_arena_screen7.jpg]

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I don't think Okami would work with realistic graphics.

You mean this?

Spoiler

I guess Clover Studio agrees.

I thought that video looked nice.

It certainly doesn't look bad, I just don't think Okami would really be Okami without the Japanese painting art style.

I actually don't really dig the style they went with. While it's not a bad look itself, this particular case never did anything for me. It almost looks too busy, ya know? Like, all the colours and thick black lines blend together with it being a painting, rendering the entire screen sort of muddy.

 

[Roofstone]

Cell shading, examples would be the Sly Cooper series or Wind waker. That is my favourite.