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I'm trying to break into the game industry as an artist (which is difficult) and I'm curious as to what type of art you folks appreciate.
I guess I'm looking for the more obscure titles that I might of missed rather than the obvious successful styles such as Megaman, Pokemon, etc. But feel free to mention those if you wish.
Some titles for example would be Princess Crown, Odin Sphere, Mark Of Kri, etc.
I don't care if it's the level art or load screen art, old, new. Anything helps.
Kojima's Castlevania artwork. It's kind of girly, but oddly intricate which I really like.
Metal Gear Solid's stuff is nice too.
I think my avatar and signature speak for themselves. :D
The reverse of this thread needs to be posted :wacko:. Magna Carta, boobies.
Madworld, pretty well all of it. Black and white excerpt for shitloads of bright red blood? What isn`t to love about that!? :wacko:
one of my favorites as well, sadly the gameplay itself wasnt as good as the presentation IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by mega-death1
i like the vanillaware style as well (odin sphere and muramasa).
okami and stretch panic also had nice art direction.
Thanks. These posts have been Helpful. Keep em coming.
I like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess art style. I don't know, but for me it looks like a cartoonish thing in a real life view.
Streets of Rage 2's art/music was the best of the series.
SOR3 fucked that all up, but the gameplay was slightly better I suppose.
Love me some Ape Escape art.
No way :O
Just read through all the comments, and practically yelped.
Did no one ever even touch Okami?
LIKE SERIOUSLY.
Best game artwork there, of all time. OF ALL TIME.
And viewtiful joe's artwork is pretty sweet.
edit: oh whoops, didn't see the little Okami thing you stucked in that post SockeSocke. Sorry :C
How about artwork and animated cutscenes from working designs (best rpg company ever) too bad they closed doors....
I like the art style of Megaten. The demons and personae are well detailed
I like the art of Koudelka and Shadow Hearts series
The level design of Dungeons & Dragons Online is very well planned out to ensure that you need a balanced group to play through many of the maps. A lot of the maps require a rogue or wizard to open the locks and break the traps. The Misery's Peak map on the intro island also gives you an idea of the scope of later dungeons and there are switches that you must activate in the right order to open an optional boss fight. With the whole game being about 6GB, the level design really shines.
I am currently playing Borderlands for PC and I really LOVE the cell-shaded art style. It has a cartoony aspect while still looking pretty life-like. It reminds me of Dragons Lair in that it's a cartoon that you actually play. I also enjoy the more realistic, less cartoon style of Mass Effect 2. The game itself could be a bit faster progressing, but the art is sweet. Especially when you see that Miranda actually looks like Yvonne Strahovski.
P.S. DATASS!!!
Yoshi's island
*diabetes*
Okami, that exactly kind of art, very very very strong Japanese-theme style.
Vanillaware is best known for art, SO AWESOME. Especially in the game: Muramasa: The Demon Blade - I enjoyed it so much.
Oh right right I forgot to add: ALL Shin Megami Tensei SERIES! FUCKING EPIC ARTWORKS.
I'm an art student, and my personal style/preference is vector art, and the use of color. So with that said - most, if not all of the Shin Megami Tensei series: Specifically Persona 3/4 (the menu interface and the overall design is phenomenal), and Devil Summoner 2 - from the art work to the design of the level up screen - it's just simply beautiful. I also enjoyed Muramasa's art, and I really dig the art direction that de Blob took.
Actually, anything that Atlus puts out is generally awesome looking in my eyes - I LOVE Trauma Center's art style as well.
That is a tough topic for me to answer clearly because things like genre and system come into play but I guess I'll go with overall. Well lately I have been favoring the artwork in some DS titles. I don't know if it is the creativity of the selection function or the feel of being one foot in the door of the new generation and still having the other in the old. The concept art for most rpg titles are very amusing to me and then of course games like Shadow of the Colossus, which spoke to me more as a display of interactive art than a videogame and that gives me an entirely different feeling while I'm playing it.
+1 on Ape Escape Kermit, that game was sweet.
Mirror's Edge really tickled my fancy, that game was awesome in both art style and gameplay. (as long as you ignore the misplaced esurance commercials placed between levels)
And lets not forget Earthworm Jim, i practically get a boner from that games art. :wacko:
katamari damacy, wario ware and hot pixel as well as half minute hero and all the bit trip games and pix n love rush have great art design as well.
i also loved the art direction from the metal slug series and mushihime sama.
and last but not least i liked the enemy and character design from the ninja gaiden games.
and to owly: dont worry, hapens to all of us.
Kermit Da Frog
I still find the bright colors and style attractive to this day. I also have a habbit of listening to the original games soundtrack for hours at a time while drawing, etc. There are some real gems there.Quote:
Love me some Ape Escape art.
TheGreatZio
Been a fan of those cutscenes since Cosmic Fantasy 2 for the TG16/Duo days.Quote:
How about artwork and animated cutscenes from working designs (best rpg company ever) too bad they closed doors....
By far one of my favorite importers.
Kuro Kagami
Never heard of Koudelka till now. When I looked it up I thought for sure I was looking at a PS2 title, but as you know it's PSX. I'm going to download it right now.Quote:
I like the art of Koudelka and Shadow Hearts series
skullpoker
A big part of the reason I started this thread as I constantly stumble across the artwork on various sites.Quote:
The level design of Dungeons & Dragons Online ...
Shareware
I purchased the N64 back in the day only after seeing the style of Yoshi's Story. Forgot all about it. Going to download an N64 emulator and that game right now. Thanks for reminding me.Quote:
Yoshi's island
sockesocke
Never heard of any of these till now. I like them all. Mushihime Sama as it turns out has been one of my favorite styles that you folks have introduced me to, along with Magna Carta, and Neptunia. But all of these recomendations have been more than I hoped for. I feel like I got some inspiration back.Quote:
...hot pixel as well as half minute hero and all the bit trip games and pix n love rush have great art design as well.
i also loved the art direction from the metal slug series and mushihime sama.
It's probably lame to keep thanking everyone again and again, so just know that it's appreciated...and keep posting please.(:
Just a heads up - Yoshi's Island isn't a N64 title; Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a SNES title. Yoshi's Story is for the N64. It was re-released for the Gameboy Advance, though.
I'd also like to bring up Geometry Wars/Super Laser Racer/Rez and Tron: Evolution: Battle Grids -I love that awesome light energy art style.
I'd also like to point out that Yoshi's Island was WAAAAAY better than Yoshi's Story. I expected Yoshi's Island 2, while what I got was nothing like it. The graphic style is similar, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by IceCatraz
Usually music has a bigger effect, but games like Dragon Quest 8 are amazing art wise. I'm kind of curious about Skyward sword's graphics. I've seen pics but I think a realtime video will be better at determining if the realish graphics and toonish graphics will meld together.
I'm quite fond of the art in NWN 1 and 2. I even like the art (graphical design as well) for a lot of western games I've never played because the focus is usually on realism.
I realize Yoshi story and Island are for different systems. I was simply reminded of one by the other. To be honest I never played Yoshi's IslandQuote:
Originally Posted by IceCatraz
and barely played Yoshi's Story due to a bad vhf connection(that only the N64 seemed to suffer from), I just remember liking the graphics.
I'm a proud papa of a YI cart. :]Quote:
Originally Posted by retrofiber
to retrofiber: you never heard of metal slug before? :doink:
its one of the most popular arcade game ever, but if you were talking about the first line from my quote then im not surprised, those are relatively unknown games.
since you asked for level design as well i will mention mirrors edge and the castlevania games, those games have some of the best level desing ive ever seen.
what i liked most about mushihime sama were the enemies, most shmups feature mechanic looking enemies, thats why all the insects in mushihime made a lasting impression on me, especially the boss from the 4th level is one of the best bosses ive ever seen in a video game.
I LOVE SnK's style of graphics. The Neo Geo was a 2D Powerhouse of a machine, and the stuff on there is incredible, and always had its own unique style. But then again, Most companies did. If you just look at old arcade games, a lot of the time you could tell who made it just by looking at one gameplay screenshot of the game.
Although my favourite SNK graphics must be the King Of Fighters Styled street fighter characters from snk vs capcom. Familer, yet grittyier than normal. Awesome stuff.
Yes...Yes I have. I meant to exclude that from the quote. Oh well.Quote:
Originally Posted by sockesocke
Yes , most NEO GEO games had a great style. Magician Lord, NAM1975, View Point (still one of the hardest games I've played even with save states), etc.
I dont think I was more excited than when I got the NEO GEO games working on the MAME as these games went for big bucks back in the day. I think the cheapest one I owned ran me $185
Take a look at madworld. Amazing art style, just too bad it wasn`t commercially succsesful.
shadow of the colossus had some really cool style to it. Gameplay was fun excellent as well :wacko: I need more of that.
Just checked out a video. Like the use of so many background elements to assist the kills.Quote:
Originally Posted by mega-death1
MondayHopscotch
Agreed. I think I made it about halfway through and had to stop due to time constraints.Quote:
shadow of the colossus had some really cool style to it. Gameplay was fun excellent as well I need more of that.
Madworld's art style looks amazing, but the gameplay kind of looks clunky. :shrug:
Not really. I did sell it though because I suck at arcade style games, but I`m probably gonna repurchase it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shareware
A bit late to the party, but I was recently reminded of this thread. It comes as no surprise that I greatly enjoyed the art direction of Xenoblade. The fact that the land of humans is on the surface of a dead god is pretty amazing in itself, and the game really shows what the Wii's hardware is capable of.
Pics:
Spoiler warning:
Another game that I want to mention is The Last Story. It gets enough flak from people who don't like its grey/brown visuals, but I'm a sucker for medieval settings, and it reminded me of Vagrant Story and FFXII to a certain extent.
Pics:
Spoiler warning:
There's also Thief: Deadly Shadows, with its excellent mixture of dark fantasy/magic/steampunk. I've already did a rather lengthy playthrough demonstrating how awesome it is, so I won't bother to post pictures. Just go to the EP LP section, randomly select one of my Thief videos, and enjoy the atmosphere. :wacko:
I'll second Odin Sphere and Muramasa, even if the games themselves are pretty shallow, with the visuals being the best part.
As far as creative level design goes, I think Psychonauts is amazing. There's no single level in that game that's not unique/memorable in some way.
And I've already mentioned Vagrant Story - I love its visuals, pretty much for the same reasons as The Last Story.
Thanks I'll be checking these out. I'm sort of familiar w/ Vagrant Story but not the others.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gare
Edit: Yes...Psychonauts. I just scoped a vid of the milkman conspiracy level. This game drips personality. I had my eye on this game but never got to experience it and thus forgot all about it. I'm so out of touch which is rather pathetic for someone trying to get into the game dev business.
The characters sort of reminded me of those from Death Jr. (PSP) although I'll not attest for that games quality, the characters were great.
Why is Xenoblade not out for the Wii in NA yet :0:Quote:
Originally Posted by Gare
They better be doing something fucking fabulous if I have to wait for a year!
I can't see why nobody mentioned Disgaea or any of nippon ichi's other games. the art is in everything.