General Modern What New Art Styles Would You Like to See Next?

[audioblogs12]

To start off, I have done a general search on threads about general art styles. I was not able to find one in the first page so I made this. If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize.

We Zelda fans have seen several styles of art in the Legend of Zelda series. The NES games, A Link to the Past, the N64 games, the gameboy games, and Twilight Princess were as realistic as their respective consoles allowed. We have also seen some games like the exclusive GBA, DS and GCN titles, with the exception of Twilight Princess, that took their art in the cartoon direction. Finally, there was Skyward Sword, which was had a beautiful impressionist painting art style, combining the bright colors from Wind Waker and the more realistic models from Twilight Princess.

What will Nintendo try next? I personally think that they have overplayed Toon Link in Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures, and their exclusive GBA and DS titles. I also can back up my claim that graphics do not make or break a game as long as the player knows what is going on. Thus there is little reason for me to wish for realistic art when the artists on the Zelda teams can be, and have been, more creative than that.

While I do like the puppet/doll style of Nintendo Land in general, I consider it very unlikely to suit a full Legend of Zelda game. This style fits the genre of a theme park, which is what Nintendo Land is supposed to be. I do not think that a full Legend of Zelda game in that art style would attract new fans to the series.


I personally would love to see a stained glass or shadow puppet art style game in the gameplay style of Zelda II: Adventure of Link, while taking advantage of more than a, b, start, select, and d-pad. If there can be no more 2D Legend of Zelda games for a while, I feel that a 3D shadow puppet art style would still be possible and would make a game very mysterious if done correctly, but it may ruin the 3D gameplay that requires good aim.

The box art for Twilight Princess looks to me like it was drawn with colored pencils. Just look at it. http://zeldapower.com/images/tp/art/GCN_ZeldaTwilight_illu01.jpg After the Skyward Sword style, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo took that approach to shading in coming games.

What do you think? Which art style would you like to see in the Legend of Zelda series?

 

[Spirit]

I want to see something with realistic proportions (no more teletubby Link) but still keep a bit of the cel shading for example;


http://animepicks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/to20011.jpg

http://spoilerfreereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/exmachina.jpg

http://queenofthenerds.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/appleseed_ex_machina_349_1280.jpg

 

[Cfrock]

Spirit put into pictures what I struggle to put into words.

That kind of realistic cel-shaded style would look incredible, especially on an HD console like the Wii U. Just melt-in-your-seat gorgeous. I would be extremely content for every single future Zelda to use such a style, seriously.

 

[HyruleHistory10]

Ya I can also agree with Rutela. The anime style suited Zelda well so why not enhance it like they did TP. I think it would turn into a fan fav fast.

 

[Zorth]

I have lots of art styles which I would love to see, Hard to pick

But 3 art styles I definitely think could work are an updated version of OoT & MM, The SS artwork style and the Battlefield 3 realism type.

Battlefield 3

This style is my personal favorite, Would love to see something like this in Zelda. Something realistic and not cartoony/anime. :yes:

Skyward Sword artwork

This I think would be very interesting to play with, It would be kind of like paper mario. The entire world looks to be drawn on paper and filled with color, Would deifinitely be fun to play IMO. :nod:
The OoT artstyle I was talking about is hard to find in pictures, The best example I can give you is a HD version of TP's Anime type art style. Making more real character textures, More color and just 1080p on that beast. :clap:

 

[Random Person]

For priority's sake, I have to mention that making the graphics fit the atmosphere of the game is most important in my eyes. Done with that... now, for console Zelda games, I prefer a sense of realism. These are the more serious games of the series and therefore should be taken more seriously. Not saying they can't have funny or artsy moments, but I want to get caught up into my Zelda game. The graphics of SS made it more difficult for me to do that, as pretty as they were. Of course, a counter argument could be made because WW's graphics fit its game so perfectly that it was completely easy to get caught up in the adventure. Still, I prefer the route TP went. As the more serious example in the Zelda series, TP decided to take the anime style OoT brought us and enhance it in realism. Some say it took a bad turn because of the lack of colors, but the world tends to be not as colorful as Nintendo claims it is. This direction is not only appealing to Zelda gamers and non-Zelda gamers alike, but it also demonstrates the amount of growth the games can achieve. Constantly switching up styles just shows how different each game is, which can be a good thing at times. I believe the console games should remain on the realistic route atleast for a time. Handhelds, because of their often lighter tone, should continue delivering the brightly colored and cel-shaded notion because it is apart of the series and something I'm sure fans enjoy revisiting.

Basically what I'm looking for is the tech-demo from E3. I don't want new. I want improved. Let's perfect what we had before moving on to something new.

 

[audioblogs12]

I must say, the anime style Spirit of Rutela found is incredible! I'm not too sure I would call the N64 game style "anime" but I guess I'm comparing it to the previous anime style example. Plus the eyes are not shiny enough.
I am not strong in the visual arts. I prefer interactive art, i.e. the programming aspect of video games.
I would prefer new graphics because realism is best for not-awesome games like {@77 0[= [)\/+\|/ and 4@70. Zelda is a more creative genre than those games, and so should be its artwork.

 

[Linknerd09]

The mixture of Cel-Shaded and Realistic would look amazing on an HD console. I think it looks very awesome. It pops out the characters more genuine. It feels like they're actually real.

This kind of artwork would definitely bring the game more out is it's shell. I want to see a new concept art. Mixing those types can really be more real-looking and kinda actually feel that they're real characters, scenery, and gameplay.

 

[0ne_epic_cookie]

I would have to agree to Spirit of Rutela. That style is beautiful and would fit Zelda very well, and could be done artistically.

But I don't agree with Random Person. While I enjoyed the realistic style of TP, I also enjoyed the cartoon style of Wind Waker and the style of Skyward Sword.

Zelda is a very repetitive game at times, it has the same core plot almost every game(save the damsel in distress), and has similar puzzles and game-play mechanics(even skyward sword was a little similar). While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is good to have some familiarity, we still need diversity. Diversity I think comes in a Zelda game by dungeon design, world design, and graphical design, taking away graphical design will take away some diversity that the Zelda games need. If the games had a consistent style, then the feel would also be consistent, and if the feel were consistent then the games would become too much alike. That's one of the unique things about Zelda, and one of the reasons why I think its lasting so long; each knew game feels different without being unfamiliar.



Although this isn't a graphic style idea necessarily, I think its still relevant for this fourm because its an idea for a style of the map: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me5y848h021qbh26io1_500.jpg Its a picture of the mountains of Tibesti on the borders of Chad and Libya from space. The colors are unique, and it doesn't look as if it would force the game to take on a realistic style, even though the picture itself is real. Just an idea I thought I would share

 

[Draymorath]

Basically what I'm looking for is the tech-demo from E3.

I'm agreeing with this. While I don't believe the series needs to head completely into realism, I would like a more realistic artstyle this time around. A dark, mysterious, fantasy feel like in the Wii U tech demo.

 

[Vaati101]

Which art style would you like to see in the Legend of Zelda series?

... I ain't bothered. All I care about is the gameplay, music and story elements of Zelda, not it's graphics.

 

[SuperSwell]

I would like the graphics to be something like Spirit of Retula's posting, it could be done on the Wii U.

 

[Awesome]

Steampunk Zelda game would be badass....that is all

okay these aren't exactly what I want, but on the right track...needless to say, Steampunk fits Zelda perfectly in my mind.

 

[MonkeyFightSquad]

I would love a darker look to the game. The HD Wiiu graphics would fit it well. It would bring a new element that we really haven't seen before in the game. I don't mean Twilight Princess dark, I mean darker, even a little scary.

 

[ThrawnTheater]

I want something of a mix of TP's realistic graphics, but with more color, ala SS or OoT. TP had lots of... brown, and other earth tones, and in general, it's art style just leaves me with a "blah" feeling.