The art style, the progression (or lack of)
Can we talk about the game's art style properly here? I've always been fascinated by the walking dead's art style from the get-go, and considered it one of the selling iconic points of the series. The way it mimics the look of the comics, particularly Tony Moore's art, and it's quite unique compared to well, anything out there on the market.
But lately, Telltale seems to want to get rid of it, as if they think it's too cartoony or immature now. The lines in TNF seem lazily slapped on at the last second, that's to say nothing of the awful color filter placed over the game and just the art design in general is less exaggerated/caricature-ish. What happened to the comic-inspired art style? Why fix what isn't broken?
Telltale seems to want to go for a more realistic, gritty look but constant glitches and awkward animations we had this season ironically make this look lazy and unfinished (and just look at the awful models they had for Kenny and Jane, those speak for themselves). It's sad to think that unless something changes, the final season of Walking Dead will look just as terrible.
And I keep wondering why didn't they go with the cel-shaded look that Wolf Among Us had? Certainly the dark shadows would match up with the walking dead comic's actual art better than what they have now. It might even have looked better than season 1 and 2 did.
I just don't know. Has telltale actually acknowledged this drastic art change anywhere?
Comments
I think Season 2 's art style was the perfect combo between a comic look and a realistic one. They could have kept that for ANF and everyone would have been pleased. Like you said: why try to fix something that's not broken ?
There are talks of changing the engine for the last season so I hope it doesn't still look like ANF.
The Michonne art style was really the sweet spot. Not only was the gore and blood extremely good, but so was everything else. It was like an high-res Season 2.
On the other hand ANF's gore, more specifically the Badger scene, didn't feel that great. I could swear the blood looked pink-ish, and Badger's brains looked like some weird shiny pink pasta all clumped together. Additionally the game's graphics were extremely detailed in places (like Javier's freckles and face) but then that greatly contrasted with certain random objects or walker models which were hilariously low quality. I could swear I saw some pixelated textures. It didn't really feel consistent at all.
Michonne art style for Season 4 please.
Season 2 graphics/art style is definitely my favorite as well, they made the colors more vivid compared to season 1, which I really like.
Also, season 2 Clementines model is the cutest thing
My profile picture will have to agree
Season 3 looked really good in my opinion, the only and biggest problem it had was the poor effort they put into designing the other characters. For example, Javier and Clementine looked like models while everyone else looked like thumbs. If they had put as much effort as they put into Clem/Javi's character into everyone and everything else, the game would've looked awesome.
This is what half-assery gets you, kids.
They tried to correct it afterwards... Should have been like this from the start.
keyword: tried
The hair is terrible. It looks like a different art style completely. I thought a lot of the characters in ANF had good designs like Kate, Ava, and Joan and some didn't obviously but that wasn't so dissimilar from season 2. I do agree season 2 was more realistically rendered in terms of color/lighting than the grimy, grungey look of season 1 and darkness of ANF. I wish there were more nuance like characters living in a sheltered community like Camp Carver or Prescott would have better condition more colorful clothes while those living in less advantageous environments would have a more rough appearance.
Its actually funny how many times Clementines clothing in season 2 magically gets cleaned for blood, even though realistically, there isnt much in the way of posibilities to clean their clothes, the same thing happens with her face on several occasions, even when realistically she should not have had a chance to clean herself.
Her clothing is also completely intact and not dirty at all, even after wearing it for 16 months during the time skip in season 2, Ill give her hat a pass since its probably protected by some demon magic or something and a signature part of the character, but come on, youre telling me she did not rip or otherwise damage or dirty her clothes in 16 months in the wild?
Well to be fair, we don't know when in during the time skip Clem put on her new clothes. She could have very well run through a few outfits prior to where we meet her and Christa afterwards. They are both in completely different outfits by them. They tried to showcase this in the Clem flashbacks in ANF with Clem's old puffy jacket being discolored, stained, and ripped.
I'm unaware of how much time and files space it would take to have models with progressively deteriorating outfits and dirty faces/hair throughout the game. Quite frankly, I'm willing to give all this a pass if the story is good (as in reference to the series finale). I'm all for little details like this and enjoy them as much as the next guy, but TTG has a bit more important stuff to hash out (no pun intended) before they can get to this.
My only major gripe with the new look is that the hair doesn't match. This goes for everyone with at least a decent amount of hair (i.e. Clem, Kenny, Jane, Joan, Kate, and many more). I think for this final season, they should dial back the facial features and correct the fluidity of hair textures so that the look is more unified and cohesive. Considering the rumors that ANF was rushed however, I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of the models weren't 100% upon release, this includes main cast models like Javi's and Clem's.
I agree on Michonne having the best graphic+comic aesthetic, although my favorite was S1's. My biggest gripe is when the characters+background have what feels like the same color palette (Howe's warehouse, literally every scene in ANF)
aren't you just saying that because season 1 took place mostly in run-down or empty human cities/farms?
obviously the uninhabited woods aren't particularly "grungy" so it has to do with the story, not the art style
Funny you say that, I once saw a guy post a blog rant all about how they ruined clem's face, and how weird it looked compared to season 1 Clem.
I bet he didn't like ANF Clem.
I think the graphic style of season 2 was the best looking Telltales TWD game in the series. When I look at ANF I have mixed feelings about the the graphics because at times ANF looks great like in the Prescott but other times the graphics looked watered down, the characters look too shiny and the environments look less detailed than in season 2. Some of the characters faces like Javier and David look less detailed than in season 2 and even season 1 where characters faces had details on their faces.
Something just came to mind. I have noticed that some people have pointed out that the characters in ANF, Clementine being the most guilty, are way too pleasant/good looking. A friend of mine and I not long ago were laughing about a meme from a Spanish soap opera we shared back in college. As I went through this thread thinking back on my experience with ANF, something hit me:
In a weird way, ANF is like the telenovela version of TWD. The glossy look and unusual lighting can be referenced as excessive camera make-up and dramatic lighting. The only thing missing are the over-the-top reactions to the most mundane things.
...What?
That would be the Young and Young at Heart tumblr runner.
It comes off to me as biting more than it could chew.
They wanted it to feel like a gritty high-production value zombie movie. All dramatic and shit.
Instead of improving on smoothing out their animations, they decided to just completely change lighting and art styles and shit. I mean, what the fuck?
Yep, I agreed with many of his points about season 2's problems but that particular rant was... weird, to say the least.
Well, Clem did apparently have lipstick on. (without the filter)
Okay, sure, I remember that, but...thumbs?
Weirdest thing about ANF's art style is how the characters look like wax figures and they literally reflect light off their skin.
Even to this day I wonder how ANF characters would have looked with the previous art style.
You're not alone. I wonder the same thing.
Well bearded characters like Tripp and Badger wouldn't have looked as odd, for one.
Assuming they look better without, are we?
They wouldn't look like they glued on fake beards from a halloween store, so yeah
Fair enough.
Also, I remember there being a beardless Tripp picture at one point, but I couldn't find it.
