1. #1

    "Cartoony" art style

    I just realized something that I thought I might share with you fine ladies and gentlemen that should fit in nicely with all the hate posts.

    Japanese culture is pretty commonly followed in the West with Anime conventions, many, many anime television shows and movies produced with that cutesy-style art (specifically shows like Pokemon, etc), and a lot of other popular phenomena which originates from Japan. A lot of it is very childish by American and Western standards, in fact.

    In Japan, it's quite different; "cutesy" is possibly the biggest seller there is in Japan, where in America, Violence reigns supreme. Why is it that both cultures willingly accept each other's "style" if you will, yet when Blizzard introduces something that's a bit "cartoony", despite the whole series of Warcraft (going back to Humans and Orcs) being in itself cartoony, it's met with hate and cynicism? I don't understand it.

    Anyway, just a thought I felt like adding to the mix. I apologize for the broken English.

    Edit: It seems people missing the point that I was trying to make; a simple comparison between the fact that "kiddy" or "childish" motifs are more accepted in Japanese culture than in western culture, despite World of Warcraft having a childish art style. It has been this art style since Humans and Orcs (WC1).

    I'm just sharing a thought I had, is all. People are entitled to their opinion, whether they pay for the game or not.
    Last edited by Togglespark; 2011-10-29 at 06:07 AM.

  2. #2
    Bloodsail Admiral Krawu's Avatar
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    But you do realize that MoPs style is obviously modeled after historical Chinese culture?
    Also, it's kind of fitting since, as we all know, the actual Panda Bear is an animal native to China. Players have wanted Pandaren in the Game for a long time, in fact I remember forum posts as much as 7 years old nagging Blizz to put them in the Game. Now that they're finally doing so, people are bitching that it ruins the "feel" of the game.
    Look up Pandaren on wowpedia, even on the old artworks and WC3 models, their clothing was always stereotypical chinese. So I don't think Blizz is catering to people who want cuteness, but just doing what is logical.

  3. #3
    I don't see what Japan has to do with it. Pandaren are largely based off Chinese culture (which differs quite significantly from Japanese culture).
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  4. #4
    -WoW is already a "cartoony game to begin with, since you accept this then what others say shouldn't matter
    -like others have said it's the vocal minority speaking out against pandas
    -some people just don't find any appeal in the xpac regardless of pandas or not

  5. #5
    Why are you focusing on Japan? The pandaren are modeled off historical China, as has been said.

    Japan's influence in this expansion is probably very minor. Maybe a samurai set for a plate class. But most of the architecture and culture is chinese-based.

  6. #6
    I agree! And I can understand how some might not enjoy the idea of this expansion.

    Personally, this happen every single expansion that's been released, and there are always the people that will say it's the death of Warcraft. It was the same way even back when Burning Crusade came out. The out of world experience seemed to make people think it was too different.

    I know it is of Chinese descent; the point I was making was that in Japan, such cartoonish style of art is widely accepted, but in the US, media that is more violent or explicit is more commonly accepted.

    I personally can't wait to see what they do with the expansion. While it's clear they are catering to newer players (as they always have done so), I wasn't disappointed with the heroic level content in Cataclysm (Heroic Ragnaros is an exception, due to the long fight time), and I don't expect to be disappointed with the new challenges they have for PvE.

    Throrion, you didn't read my post; you probably just skimmed it and missed that I was making a comparison about the art direction.

    I was lucky enough to be playing at Blizzcon for Starcraft 2, and got to try the demos; I will tell you guys, the art looks amazing! The feel of it is very WoW-like, but the art is beautiful.

    Sorry again for the English! I usually spend a lot of time to make sure my English is correct, but this isn't an application or anything.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Togglespark View Post
    I just realized something that I thought I might share with you fine ladies and gentlemen that should fit in nicely with all the hate posts.

    Japanese culture is pretty commonly followed in the West with Anime conventions, many, many anime television shows and movies produced with that cutesy-style art (specifically shows like Pokemon, etc), and a lot of other popular phenomena which originates from Japan. A lot of it is very childish by American and Western standards, in fact.

    In Japan, it's quite different; "cutesy" is possibly the biggest seller there is in Japan, where in America, Violence reigns supreme. Why is it that both cultures willingly accept each other's "style" if you will, yet when Blizzard introduces something that's a bit "cartoony", despite the whole series of Warcraft (going back to Humans and Orcs) being in itself cartoony, it's met with hate and cynicism? I don't understand it.

    Anyway, just a thought I felt like adding to the mix. I apologize for the broken English.

    Edit: It seems people missing the point that I was trying to make; a simple comparison between the fact that "kiddy" or "childish" motifs are more accepted in Japanese culture than in western culture, despite World of Warcraft having a childish art style. It has been this art style since Humans and Orcs (WC1).

    I'm just sharing a thought I had, is all. People are entitled to their opinion, whether they pay for the game or not.
    I'm not pissed off about "cartoon" art styles. I'm pissed off that people keep confusing my culture with other cultures.
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  8. #8
    The cartoony argument is a pure product of people trying to incite flames. Warcraft has always been, relative to Starcraft and Diablo, the most "cartoony" of Blizzard's franchises. Looking back through their games for more than 30 seconds is all it takes to realize this. So WoW is cartoony, but it always has been. What makes no sense at all is people who are suddenly insisting that MoP will make WoW cartoony. When it already is.

    All you have to do is remind them that they are saying that something which involves adding copious amounts of strong drink and Asian-styled architecture is not going to make a game which already includes Paris Hilton selling expensive handbags and several quests involving digging through poop more childish and cartoony.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Garnier Fructis View Post
    I'm not pissed off about "cartoon" art styles. I'm pissed off that people keep confusing my culture with other cultures.
    Oh come on, as if there would be that much difference the other way arround, its a common way of thinking "western cultures" and "asian cultures"
    even thought "Asian cultures" differ extremly from each other, same as "western cultures" do,
    its just the way it is, beeing pissed about it is somewhat pointless, no?

  10. #10
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    I disagree with the whole thing.. WOW might be cartooney, but it's not "cute" (in the sense of how asian stuff is cute) by any stretch of imagination. WOW is still completely western in style, just that they picked a Chinese setting for MoP. You still can't really compare what WOW looks like to what Nostale, Ragnarok or any of the newer asia-mmo's look like.. just like there's a difference between the Simpsons, Drawn Together, American Dad and Clannad, K-ON and Lucky Star. If all of a sudden the Simpsons moved from Springfield to Beijing or Tokyo, they'd still be the Simpsons. Cartoon style doesn't equal cartoon style.. especially not in WOW, where ridiculous shoulder armor, huge physique characters and 20m long swords reign supreme.. and the cutest thing I can think of are male bloodelf paladins.
    Last edited by mmoc84481d8c49; 2011-10-29 at 08:58 AM. Reason: typo

  11. #11
    wait wait wait,, isnt Pokemon a Japanese thing,,,, so why people keep bringing up China?

    wasnt that something that pissed the Chinese people off about the original Pandaren race, was the blend of Japanese culture with the Pandas?
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  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Knighthonor View Post
    wait wait wait,, isnt Pokemon a Japanese thing,,,, so why people keep bringing up China?

    wasnt that something that pissed the Chinese people off about the original Pandaren race, was the blend of Japanese culture with the Pandas?
    Yeah, it was the Pandaren being represented in Japanese-style dress. I think it's just being lumped into a generic Asian thing at this point.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Garnier Fructis View Post
    I'm not pissed off about "cartoon" art styles. I'm pissed off that people keep confusing my culture with other cultures.
    Pff, it's just Oriental, don'cha know? Them Orientals, they're all the same!

    /trollface -_-

  14. #14
    wow has always been cartoonish , thats the best way to bring the world alive as it should be,
    other mmo's used higher and better grafix which at some point made them look too smoth and clean for a fantasy world that contains war and bloody fights,

    you could understand my point by trying to compare a superman tale for example filmed with real actors and visual effects and another version of the same tale filmed by animators like dc universe animated original movies does so best,

    what would you enjoy most? and which movie in that particular universe would be more convincing when it comes to comic heroes?

    i dont have a problem with wow being cartoonish, i have a problem with pandaria and pandarens.

    every fantasy universe has it own seriousness line,
    imagine a walking panda coming out of the woods to talk with the heroes of lord of the rings in the 1st movie, wouldnt that suddenly break the movie's seriousness? it would big time!

    same thing with wow, wow originaly is based on D&D races , small and big , gnomes and dwarfs to high elfs and giant ogres.
    none of those races would be considered a joke in any true warcraft talk.
    even taurens that i personaly consider a border line as cows on two legs with the most un humanoind facial features (or almost none) race on azeroth, they are still deemed more serious then panderans.

    all you lore fans out there that about to tell me to go see the Q&A at blizzcon or check wowpedia regarding WC3 and panderans , let me tell you this:
    panderans were never a playable race in WC3 , there was only 1 "hero" char at the bonus side story of raxxar and the founding of durotar and orgrimar.

    if i compare an introduction of the night elfs race for the 1st time in WC3 with many many campains showing the story of the night elfs to the lonly hero in a side story "bonus" campain - this is by far not even close to convince me that panderans had any lore or a story untill several years ago. and they were forced into wow.

    clips from the preview of MoP that i cant erase from my memory like that panderan who jumps from the sky to a samurai pose , that monk panderan trying to balance himself on a wooden log or that monk who rolled on the floor like a ball ..are they realy expect me to take these things seriously? its a joke...
    its a walt deseny rip off..

    they said MoP will focus on a war between the ali and horde , but i saw more "war" zones in cata preview then in peacefull pandaria..and besides that..both sides are at war for 20 years..has there at any point a victor or a loser? MoP will ofc not change that, and btw WC1,2,3 were RTS not RP so you cant realy take a RP xpac idea and claim we are goint to the warcraft 1,2,3 feel of horde vs ali..that will not work, thats like going with your friend to the arcade and inserting 2 coins and start kicking your friends ass on streetfighter..thats not RP style

    they realy crossed over with this xpac theme this time...but as a dedicated fan i will DL it via battle.net and play it 1.5 years untiill next xpac , no CE , no midnight sale ..nothing. i will wait it out.

    for me this xpac is just a time staller and a chance to milk down the cow some more extra years untill realy all the ideas run out..

  15. #15
    [QUOTE=john duo;13938717]wow has always been cartoonish , thats the best way to bring the world alive as it should be,
    other mmo's used higher and better grafix which at some point made them look too smoth and clean for a fantasy world that contains war and bloody fights,

    Couldn't agree more. I've been trying to find another mmo to play these days which has a more vibrant look - don't get me a wrong i LOVE high and graphics but a little bit of vibrancy goes along way. Fantasy is my favourite genre (tbh it is the only genre in which i read books) i don't find fps games very exciting even if they did receive awesome reviews i just love playing characters that are not human - weaponry and the game 'world' is not like anything on earth. Once i get my new comp build in march when ivy bridge comes out; i can't wait to play blizzards other games starcraft 2 and diablo 3. I have been postponing my build for a while now but it will be worth it.

    Crap I inserted the quote above me wrong. I didn't want to insert the whole post...Sigh

  16. #16
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    I spent a while looking for examples of anime (thereby "cute") violence. Everything i found was either too gruesome or too long to show. Just do some youtube searches, you can find stuff.

    So don't worry. You can have your violence in a cute package.
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  17. #17
    Pandas originate from China. Mists of Pandaria is an expansion influenced by Chinese culture. Japan has nothing to do with it.

  18. #18
    Yeah... as others have said... it helps when you base your observations off the right culture.

    You just made about 10 million citizens of China very angry. ^_^

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