Diablo 3 cartoony art style

[Shamanic]

I love the graphics, I really thought it was quite gritty and not that cartoony at all. It's got a definite style to it, something new I think - it's not identical to D2, nor is it what I would call WoW style or anywhere near Torchlight's level of "cartoony". I think it's got something unique right now myself, but then, I'm pretty easy to please

[DeadmanWalking]

On another note, in reference to style, back in the 90's when the Batman Animated series (Mark Waid as Joker) came out I didn't like the art style right off the bat (Not that Bat!) but I stuck with it and I got use to the art style and eventually came to enjoy every episode. Stick with it, you may consider this the new gold standard.

[Zaqwert]

D2 had colorful areas, but the colors were authentic. Red was red. Blue was blue.

Everything in D3 looks like someone ground up a bunch of sweet tarts and dumped them all over everything.

There's this oversaturation of pastel color to every thing.

[verdamte]

I personally think that d3 is one of the best looking games i have played. They really nailed it with the "living painting" style imo. I remember Baldurs gate had the same graphic concept with painted 2d backgrounds - but it works even better with d3`s updated engine.
It might not be dark, emo and gritty everywhere, but thats just a plus in my book - you want to feel the difference when you move from a garden with sunshine and flowers and into a dungeon wich gets darker and more spookey every time you take the stairs down to a deeper level.
We havent seen it all yet either - wouldnt be surprised at all, if there are areas wich looks like Moria from Lord of the rings.

[Uwibami]

The reason why they gave D3 the cartoony look, is to make its lifespan last longer. Look at WoW, the only reason why the game has lasted as long as it has is because the graphics don't really ever feel "Way too old", D3 will potentionally feel the same.

As I haven't tested the Beta, simply due to not wanting to spoil the game, I obviously can't speak from own experience. But from the screenshots I've seen, the game looks fairly dark still. Sure it does look cartoony, but I'd say it's still a Diablo game.
But alas, I guess I'll know in less than 2 weeks!

[Hardstyler01]

Diablo 1 was more grim and gothic looking than both other games, honestly.

Yeah, Diablo 1 was far darker and scarier than Diablo 2. So you could say it's a continuing trend.

[namelessone]

I can't really agree. D2 was too bright and colorful. D3 I think strikes just the right balance between 1 and 2.

[Hardstyler01]

The reason why they gave D3 the cartoony look, is to make its lifespan last longer. Look at WoW, the only reason why the game has lasted as long as it has is because the graphics don't really ever feel "Way too old", D3 will potentionally feel the same.

When starting up Doom 3 I don't think the graphics are too old to enjoy the game. And Doom 3 is older than WoW, so I don't think that argument works here.
If WoW went for a more realistic approach, it could've worked. The same can be said about with Diablo 3.

Personally I get the feeling Blizzard likes the cartoony style because it makes it possible to release games on low end systems. It's the only logical explanation.

[rezoacken]

Looking at games through pink glasses make them somehow look darker than they really were.

[ContentsMayVary]

I really like the D3 graphics. I don't think they're cartoony at all!

[Dacien]

I also don't like my non-gaming brother approaching me exclaiming about how badass this "Diablo 3" commercial was, and can I show him the game. Then he sees it and is not at all impressed. That sucks.

[Kolbyr]

The thing is, it's always the games that try to look amazing that end up looking like crap in a year or two. To use WoW as an example, it has, technically, some of the lowest-quality graphics in any game which is widely played today. However, since WoW has a very easily-recognizable and signature art style, and since the animations are all fluid and fantastic, the game never seems to look as dated as it should.

But then take a game like Rift. Technically the graphics are much better. However, the art style is more bland, and many of the animations are just subtly off. When I play Rift I find myself thinking "this looks terrible" as much as I think "this looks great." With WoW I just think "Yep, this looks exactly like WoW."

With Diablo 3, Blizzard is trying once again to make a game that is instantly recognizable at a glace. And by stearing clear of the uncanny valley (the point where something looks extremely similar to a live human, yet is far enough from real that humans are repulsed by it) Blizzard is ensuring that their game will be pleasing to the eyes and fresh for years to come.

There's also the issue of playability that people have mentioned. Animations have to be clear and individual units have to be easily recognizable in a game like this, or else it becomes difficult to play and frustrating really quickly. It is, after all, a game.

[Sobedesce]

that's a pretty old pic, but relevant to how i would like the game to look overall

[Kazmodius]

Blizzard always played in that area. They never been in realism exept for SC and their amazing cinematics

And D1/2 were more realistic because it was blizzard north who made them well the second wasnt that realistic but more then the third. Sadly blizz north don't exist anymore.

[Slaughty8]

@Sobedesce
I disagree. Left version is much more readable which is a very important aspect and effects gameplay and the pleasure greatly.

[Lathais]

The graphics in D3 are obviously "better" than D2, however there are 2 things which really make it look bad

1. Blur

Everything is overly blurred, there's no crispness or sharpness to anything, people have done lots of screenshots turning up the sharpness and it looks much, much better without all the over blurred nonsense.

2. Pastels

Every area has a pastel haze over it. In the beta every area of the game was either overly blue, overly green, overly pink, or overly orange. Depending on the tileset of hte area, it's like someone pumped in a bunch of pastel colored fog in that zone.

Without those two issues, Diablo 3 would look insanely awesome, they are what is making everyone think it's cartoony when it's not really cartoony, it's just too blurry and too colorful.

If you set your gamma properly, which you cannot do in Fullscreen(Windowed), must be regular Fullscreen, those effects actually end up looking good.

[Bigbazz]

I liked how D3 looked in the beta, but I must admit the above screenshot comparison does look more how you would expect a Diablo game to look, and though it could use tweaks (its overly sharp and looks too grainy) I do think it looks better than D3 currently looks.

[Chaoslux]

Diablo 3 too bright and colorful compared to D2?

http://www.cheats.ru/uploaded/d/diab...blo2-01145.jpg

Damn right.

[Dacien]

Diablo 3 too bright and colorful compared to D2?

http://www.cheats.ru/uploaded/d/diab...blo2-01145.jpg

Damn right.

Something about the grainyness, the roughness, is much more appealing than the style in Diablo 3.

[Lucette]

Torchlight is cartoony. Diablo is not.