Jump to content

Thoughts On Art/Character Design and Character Personalities


Recommended Posts

#TeamEdelgard a female axe lord. But back on topic Eldelgard seems nice and serene and if she was the narrator then as a character she is intresting. Holding such views in time of war .

Dimitri, seems a bit serious and stern and his face from that formation part is very serious. If the plot is to defeat the Seios whatever their name is then he will be the harder to convice. The opposite pretty much of Edelgard. While she is for peace and understands what is going their friendship will face some difficulties and if they are to defeat tge church together all three then he will be the hardest to convince. 

Claude, he is a nice and warm guy and seems to be the womanizer type that will not be so serious even in his duties as a royal. However, he has some kind of weakness/trauma that makes him serious.

Beyleth, the teacher/MU. He is a teacher at the academy where they met?? I don't know.

The queen figure, reminds ne more of a mila as far as what her role will be but emmeryn, mikoto which might be intetional. She seems not a stupidly kind queen but a clever and decicive woman. And the scene with the important looking sword tells me that she will be far more important than the two previous queens we had.

The old man with the chain sword seems to be a king or an emperor however I hope he is not the villian. The villians are the church, so better have the head of the church the villian.

However, that is all speculation

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 93
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I love the art style, especially compared to Awakening and Fates. For whatever reason, Kozaki just can’t seem to believably draw male characters experiencing any negative emotion stronger than discomfort or embarrassment, and the female characters do little better. It also feels like the art style of a story that’s gonna take itself as seriously as the Tellius games did, which would be a huge plus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Cute Chao said:

Agreed. It surprised me when so many people took issue with it xD

Same here, though I guess Dimitri's hairstyle comes off a bit... Messy? With how long his bangs are and that one strand coming from the back and ending next to his ear.

Anyways, while Dimitri's design is my least favorite of the main trio, I don't think it's bad at all. Just that I prefer Edelgard and Claude to him. Claude in particular! His careful style and warm smile have a nice contrast to the other two's more serious looks and his main color of yellow really fits these aspects of his design. And Edelgard is simply stunning with those striking eyes. The only part of her design I don't like is that weird hole-that's-too-high-to-be-a-boob-window, but that's small enough that I don't think it's going to bother me during play. I do like the design all their uniforms have on front.

 

As for other designs, Byleth seems fine, I don't have strong feelings one way or the other. He does seem like he could contribute to my fear of black overload but unless we get a lot more of that I don't think that's going to be a real issue. I did rather like the portrait we got of Mercedes but I would like to see her full design. Hilda's seemed a bit weird to me but I can't tell why. The one stern looking archer dude looks like I'll either like or really dislike him lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The art is very weak. It shows the artist has a fundamental problem with drawing structure and lighting -- but mostly structure. Even if this wasn't given time to polish up, it's still extremely rough as a framework. You would expect their budget could afford a better illustrator. 

1529068760950.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We haven't seen a lot of the character art or really any personalities, so its hard to judge, but I'll give my take on the 4 units we've already seen. You can read a lot into a character just based on their designs, so it'll be interesting to see if anyone gets what Nintendo and IS was going for.

Edelgard: The way her hair hangs in the front reminds me of tassels on furniture. Her off-white hair color also seems a little odd, but I'll take her design every time over another Camilla. We get to hear her talk in the trailer so we can get a hint at what she's going to be like. She also has the white embroidery on the middle of her chest, which is different from the other two and I think is meant to show either her purity of spirit, or her full-heartedness. Perhaps most importantly when it comes to design, her eyes are a soft lavender and rounded, conveying a kind-hearted individual and a soft-spoken one. I get the feeling she's kind of a combination between Lyn and Ike. She seems rather green when it comes to the outside world, but she also seems very strong and set on following her heart (see how heart keeps popping up?) for better or worse. The last few lines in the trailer I think convey this the strongest. She says "It's now or never!" which rather obviously shows her determination, but following that she says "I will return here one day my teacher. Promise me, that you won't forget me." It seems like she goes so far as to abandon her teacher, someone she clearly cares about, in the pursuit of what she believes will help improve the world. Lastly, red is the color of passion which perfectly exemplifies her character.

Dmitri: A lot of people aren't a fan of his hair, the way the bangs and particularly the crown of his head has much longer hair than the back and sides. That's a very popular haircut right now especially among soccer players, which is the biggest sport in the rest of the world, so I'm not surprised it's appearing. Regardless, his hair is very well groomed which shows he cares a lot about how he presents himself. He has a serious expression enhanced by his piercing blue eyes and is the only one who has his chest completely covered. From that we can assume that he cares a lot about what people think, but he's scared of letting them in. Perhaps something happened early on in his life that left him scared to reach out. Let's put that on hold for now and I'll come back to it later. The unique item on his uniform is a strap that runs from his right shoulder to, I would assume, his left hip. It reminds me of a military strap, and if you take a look at him in the trailer when the triangle formation is demonstrated, he looks very confident. That combined with his broad shoulders makes me think he's playing a similar role to Ephraim. A military leader trained since birth. Now going back to him being closed off, I get the feeling that he doesn't have the same people skills that Ephraim had. He appears to be a strong leader like Ephraim, but I also see a bit of Kent/Fiora in him. This also ties into him being trained since birth to be a military leader. Now this is completely normal for Kings to do with their sons, but what if this closed-offness comes from not being able to live up to his fathers expectations. I wouldn't be surprised if his mother died when he was very young and his father was all he had left. Perhaps his father is even the grizzled old man we see with the whip-sword. His father being unable to connect with him also would lead to him being unable to connect with those around him. I see him as a fierce character with a hard shell who's just scared and looking for appreciation on the inside. Out of the four characters I'm analyzing I'm making the most assumptions here so I wouldn't at all be surprised if I'm wrong. Blue can mean both confidence and dejectedness, another good pick if I'm right about his character. P.S. If you look closely, the lines that form triangles across his chest form a heart on the top left (his right). Perhaps this is another clue that once you get past his mask (the military strap) he's soft on the inside.

Claude: Crazy hair, a braid, and an earring. He's obviously a guy who's carefree and doesn't worry about what others think of him. The opposite of the uptight Dmitri. His inherent wildness makes it likely that he's a second son and he's left to his own devices. Going back to his design, he leaves his chest wide open, literally, as if to invite people in. This shows that he doesn't put any barriers between himself and others, and that gives him the opportunity to be the member of the group who doesn't take things too seriously. I'm sure you all know that when a bunch of serious people get together it can get a bit depressing. He's the one who keeps the mood light. But the thing is, he seems too flat like this. If we look at the trailer there's not much we can gleam about him. The only thing I noticed is that when he attacks the stone statue, everyone in his squad fires, but he doesn't. Perhaps he's someone who acts the part but when things get hard he cracks. Unlike the others, he doesn't really have anything in his design that sets him apart, unless you count the tassel on the right side of his chest. It looks a bit like a doll form, but its too hard to tell from that angle. One thing about him that I find interesting is his smile. The further you zoom in the more forced it looks. Maybe that's intentional. The color yellow obviously represents his carefree attitude, but I looked it up in case there was something missing. There's usually two sides to the coin, and there is indeed another take on it. Yellow can also represent cowardice. If he's cowardly then that would explain the forced smile and the lack of him joining in the fight.

Byleth: At first I wasn't a fan of his design but the more I see it the more I like it. There's no official artwork to go on so I'll just be looking at the trailer. His hair is unkempt and dark, and his eyes feel rather empty. He honestly seems depressed. He clearly has a different design than the other three so he's not from one of the royal families. It makes me wonder if he's from one of those lands at all. He has that symbol on his chest and another one on his cape, what if he's from one of the islands or a land to the east. This is further backed up by his lack of knowledge of the crests, as Edelgard has to explain them to him. His heavy armor and the look of his sleeves shows that he has some form of wealth or title, he's not some commoner. He could have been betrayed by someone who wanted to oust him, and after being declared a criminal he was forced to flee. When we see him fight he does so with a purpose, there's no hesitation in his actions, but he never has any expression of determination or confidence. It's always a silent resignation. It's not that he's being forced to fight, he has intent, but he has no desire to do so. It makes me wonder if he lost someone in the past, or something happened that caused him to take a journey into this land. Edelgard clearly cares about him a lot, perhaps her ending statement is a vow to seek restitution for whatever happened to him. Another interesting twist would be if he leaves the party and ends up fighting against you as the final boss, not because he's evil, but because he's trying to win back whatever he lost.

Let me know if any of this seems plausible. I think if the characters were like this it would make for a very interesting dynamic. One of the things I haven't liked about quite a few of the Fire Emblem games is the lack of character depth, I'm really hoping they fix that here.

Edited by immatx
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my opinion both Yusuke Kozaki and Hidari added elements to the characters design that really made them "pop". But of what we've seen the three main characters them being in primary colored uniforms, it sorta put me in the mind of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. >.> The art is ok if not a little generic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Frosthazard said:

The art is very weak. It shows the artist has a fundamental problem with drawing structure and lighting -- but mostly structure. Even if this wasn't given time to polish up, it's still extremely rough as a framework. You would expect their budget could afford a better illustrator. 

What? Can you point out what those issues are, I don't see anything wrong with it, besides that the line down the middle is a little off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, immatx said:

What? Can you point out what those issues are, I don't see anything wrong with it, besides that the line down the middle is a little off.

Look at the armor shoulder detail. There's a bunch of noodling and struggling to render the lighting because he can't figure out how light on armor works and can't figure out the tonal transitions it's supposed to have. The arm pit area has some random pointless scratching. The belt buckle is poorly drafted and shaky because of uncertainty of where it moves in space. This is actually evident all over the piece including around the ear and in the hair all the way to the shawl or whatever it is he's wearing. The general structure is shaky and there's struggle to keep the lines clean. Look at the struggle to render within the lines The deltoid area of the arm isn't flushed out enough with the armor so it looks like it's painted on instead of giving it weight and space. It's mostly shaky draftsmanship work that brings it down.

 

She/he's not a bad artist but it's quite amateur professional at best. It's not what you'd expect for a game that should really be pushing presentation further than it has in the past.

Edited by Frosthazard
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/14/2018 at 3:42 AM, Sunsurge said:

So.... you do realize Claude's color is yellow, right? And the darker tones are gold? Not orange? You also said Edelgard uses magenta when her colors are red (and lavender for her eyes/hair ties). Are you a little colorblind, maybe?? I wonder if that's why the colors seem so off to you!

Could be the guy's monitor (pull up the infamous blue/black dress, fiddle with the RGB settings, then see if it changes color), or just his opinion.  Regardless, tone it down.  Asking someone if they're colorblind is really rude.

On 6/14/2018 at 4:37 AM, Etheus said:

No thanks. The cloak is the only aspect of Byleth's design that I like. An option to toggle or change the cloak would be welcome, but if no cloak customization is available, I would like to keep it, tyvm.

Welp, I don't like the cloak, so banned! :P:

Actually, toggling the cloak on and off would work.  Best of both worlds!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Frosthazard said:

Look at the armor shoulder detail. There's a bunch of noodling and struggling to render the lighting because he can't figure out how light on armor works and can't figure out the tonal transitions it's supposed to have. The arm pit area has some random pointless scratching. The belt buckle is poorly drafted and shaky because of uncertainty of where it moves in space. This is actually evident all over the piece including around the ear and in the hair all the way to the shawl or whatever it is he's wearing. The general structure is shaky and there's struggle to keep the lines clean. Look at the struggle to render within the lines The deltoid area of the arm isn't flushed out enough with the armor so it looks like it's painted on instead of giving it weight and space. It's mostly shaky draftsmanship work that brings it down.

 

She/he's not a bad artist but it's quite amateur professional at best. It's not what you'd expect for a game that should really be pushing presentation further than it has in the past.

I'm not a fan of Chinatsu, so don't take this as me being biased or offended, but I really disagree with you.

Firstly, you need to account for style. This is anime. Its not going to be realistically rendered to perfection. In fact, it looks like they've gone with cellshading + a few gradients this time.. Which already "limits" the rendering style. 

Secondly, you need to consider purpose/function. These portraits will not be at 820x820 pixels when you're playing the game. I imagine the only possible exception to this is when you're playing on the TV. Since the portaits will be scaled down so much from their original starting point (trust me, there's no way Chinatsu drew these at 820x820, chances are it was twice or even three times as large), you can't actually make something super detailed because all that detail will be lost once its scaled down. With this, there's literally no point to "keeping the lines clean" because they look clean when they're scaled to the final size. Also, the rendering needs to be kept simple and "neutral" so it can be applied to different scenes. That way they can just apply color masks or what-have-you over their portraits to account for mood/tone shifts. 

Spoiler

image.png.cb3a78bd9f5ea4feab0ac5045f0ae493.png

Kozaki works at a massive resolution, and has all the same "problems" you discussed in your post. All these issues you're citing just don't.. matter. Of course you're welcome to feel how you do but in the context of the game, it doesn't really change anything.

Edited by nyainou
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, eclipse said:

Could be the guy's monitor (pull up the infamous blue/black dress, fiddle with the RGB settings, then see if it changes color), or just his opinion.  Regardless, tone it down.  Asking someone if they're colorblind is really rude.

Welp, I don't like the cloak, so banned! :P:

Actually, toggling the cloak on and off would work.  Best of both worlds!

Could be the monitor (don't get me started on the dress omggg). And a lot of people are a little colorblind, it's just a fact. It's pretty common and I wasn't asking in a rude way, I was just curious, half the people I know are a little colorblind. Ask my boyfriend the difference between his blue and purple pants. XD But duly noted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eh I like them. They don't really stand out that much, but I am liking what I'm seeing so far.

Edelgard's outfit is pretty cute for the most part, and she looks like she is going to have Lucina's personality. She is going to be very serious and goal driven, but going to have a kind side to her hence the smile.

Dmitri I feel is going to be the very serious, plays by the rules guy. I really like his outfit and color scheme, but his hair is weird. I don't hate it, but the bangs just look very odd to me. His in game model makes it work though so I don't know.

Claude's outfit is nice, and the color suits him. I really like his design so far with the only problem being his character model. I still don't understand why they made it white unless the decision to make his skin tone tanner was a last minute one. Regardless, he seems like he is going to be the playful one of the three. I can see him teasing Dmitri and Edelgard, and maybe even being a bit of a flirt.

Byleth's armor has too much black. It looks so flipping edgy especially with the crest design in the middle being red. He actually looks like he could be an antagonist with that color scheme, and his face is very serious as well. It seems like he isn't going to be as friendly as Robin in any case, and maybe be more of a straight to the point Avatar (I still think he is one). Would be a refreshing change of pace, and fit his role as an instructor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, thanny said:

I'm neutral about the new art style, I definitely prefer Kozaki and Hidari more over this artist. I'm not really a fan of how the artist draws and colors eyes, the irises feel empty and lifeless for how big they are. The line works of the portraits are extremely sloppy and inconsistent if you pay slight attention to them, and judging from Dimitri's design, the artist is lacking in skill in terms of drawing and designing armor. Also, with so many people pointing out and making comparisons to Persona, Fire Emblem has kind of lost its distinct niche look.

 

13 hours ago, Frosthazard said:

The art is very weak. It shows the artist has a fundamental problem with drawing structure and lighting -- but mostly structure. Even if this wasn't given time to polish up, it's still extremely rough as a framework. You would expect their budget could afford a better illustrator.

I really agree about the armor and how they don't seem to know how to draw it very well. I seriously thought Dimitri was supposed to be wearing some kind of regal dress clothing with a funky shoulder and not actual armor at first. You can tell their main subject matter is more modern clothes and they're trying to figure it out. I think that shoulder area is really awkward and the lighting doesn't really give me a solid impression of the material being hard metal. The flatness of the belt and tag hanging down from the shoulder cloth stands out to me as well.

I think with the other 2 of the 3 mains it's not as apparent since they're in actual clothes, so it stands out worse on Dimitri. Perhaps looking flatter is just part of this person's style, but if so I'm still not really a fan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's interesting to note how a character's popularity seems to change depending on which site you're on. Claude is the most popular here but Edelgard is the most popular on Reddit. Poor Dimitri.

Also, is anyone concerned about the artist's style? Kurahana Chinatsu has really good linework and technique of course, but her body of work is primarily pretty boys. Although it seems like she altered her for this game, I'm really looking forward to see if she'll draw bulkier characters. Although some of her male characters have wide shoulders, they're not anywhere close to the bulkiness of Valbar or Tauroneo. I'm also interested in how she'll draw female characters, but if she can draw a pretty boy, she can most likely draw a pretty girl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My pocket of change

Art
I personally think the art direction is just... Okay. Out of the three Lords we're given Edelgard is the only one I like, as Dimitri is a bit too basic, and Cluad is... eh.

The style itself as many had pointed out is similar to the Persona series, which is fine... But It doesn't look anything like Fire Emblem to me. I'm sure it could be argued that Fire emblem had never had a set and stone art style and that's true but all Fire emblems have had a certain... Feel(?) This doesn't, it looks like a Persona Game.

I don't know, maybe I'm just spoiled by Hidari"s drop dead art. Sadly though that seemed to be a one time gig type of deal, seeing as HIdari is a very busy artist and it took them 3 games to even get him when he wasn't busy, I'm kinda sad that he didn't stick for a game or 2 but it is what it is and possibly that's what holding me back from truly accepting the new artist...

Also, Byleth, put your goddamn coat on you look like a 6 year-old playing pretend superheroes.

Also, also, Dimitri please wash your hair it's so freaking greasy it's disgusting, you look like a wet blanket.

Personality 
Literally none of these people have spoken anything other than battle quotes and out-of-context phrases from plot important moments.
But going off hand I'd say

  • Edelgard, is the astute young lord who is optimistic who is training to be a most proper lord who can protect and probably has a teacher-fetish.
  • Dimitri, is our Camus with worse hair.
  • Claude is there.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

the art is good but not amazing. i really like that there are units shown when fighting so it gives a sense where it isn't just 15 kids fighting against a whole army.  and as @Goesbyrem said nobody has spoken  anything other than battle quotes and out-of-context phrases from plot important moments. so the following is my guess as to the characters personality and background.

-Edelgard, is kind and doesn't seem to have ever fought a real battle. she is very soft and does not want to kill anyone and is first to notice the abuse of the crests.

-Dimitri, is strong willed and introverted, with a strong sense of justice and moral. he is an only son, or the eldest son as he is wearing a military uniform. he appears to be high in rank, likely a general of his father's army. because he is the oldest son of a king, he entered a military academy when he was very young and doesn't have very many memories from before that. he seems determined to do his part in whatever he is told to do, but because he began in the military he has difficulty finding the right path to take without orders from above him. i think that he is in love with Edelgard and that is the main reason he joins you as one of your units (note, this can only be true if you have Edelgarde first)

-Claude, is a pretty boy who enjoys riding through the countryside and hunting when he can. by his hair which looks as if he woke up in the morning and simply ran his fingers through it a couple times, it shows that his appearance isn't that important which lets us know that it is unlikely that he is the first son. due to this it appears that he has a large amount of free time in which he tries to find things that he enjoys. he joins Dimitri and Edelgard because he believes that it will be fun to fight and a nice distraction from everyday life at his father's castle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's hard to gauge character personalities when we only have a trailer with a few quotes from Edelgard and character design to judge from. I'll hold my thoughts on the characters and their personalities until more information comes. So far, their designs are fine IMO. I like Edelgard's design more though.

As for the quality of the character designs, this Reddit post pretty much sums up my thoughts. I personally prefer having a different artist for each installment so having Chinatsu Kurahana on board is a plus in my books. Won't judge the quality of the anime cutscenes (Khara?) until I see more footage.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, every time I see him, I fall in love with Byleth more and more. He looks so stupid and dead inside, I love it. He's dopey, tired, and looks really emo. I wonder what mascara he uses. He's so cute I wouldn't even mind it if he isn't customizable.. and if he is, I just might stick to his OG design.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Overall, I like the art. I don't think Hidari will ever be topped for me, but that might changed once we see more characters who don't wear practically the same thing.

I like Byleth's design a lot. If he is the avatar, I will probably stick with his default. I hope the fem version is really good too.

Edelgard looks really nice. I love her eyes and her hair is nice too (I really like white hair). By the looks of it, she seems to be rather determined, possibly headstrong as well cause red is passion and shiz. She seems to be lady like, befitting of her noble status, but can and will kick ass with her axe if needs be. I have a feeling she may be the Eliwood of the trio, who is the main lord and has the most agency of the trio in the story.

I am actually a fan of Dimitri's design. His hair could be improved, but I feel like it adds a bit of dishevelment to his rather composed look. He's definitely gonna be the serious one of the group, no doubt. He will probably be quite cold, yet have some quirk that makes him less up tight, ala Leo and his collar. I can also see him as a semi-Camus, who is rather blind to the church and its corruption and is the last to accept it.

Claude is probably my favourite of the bunch, mainly because he reminds me of Niles, who I think he will definitely be like minus the sexual innuendos.Basically he'll be snappy and witty. His design is nice too and I like the addition of the earring (Which is hot af btw) and braid. I definitely see him as the Python to Dimitri's Forsyth or Sain to Dimitri's Kent. I also low key hope he isn't gay/bi since that would be three very obviously gay/bi archers in a row, and I'm tired of it. But I also want him to be, cause I want to husbando him.

TLDR; I like all the designs. I also really like the lack of a blue haired lord. It's refreshing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@BZL8

Please, don't get me wrong, I believe They should cycle out artists too, but will all due respect saying "The art is too good, and it'll take away from the game" is a really weak argument to me, And having a Character portrait doesn't take away from anything in the visual narrative of a game rarely ever (i mean, look at any other RPG ever), I hold my opinion of the character model animations for dialogue as it hasn't be displayed yet, but going off of previous fire emblem games 3d animations it seems direly lukewarm. 

(mind you only 3 of the recent games have been able to pull off 3d model animation.)  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Goesbyrem said:

@BZL8

Please, don't get me wrong, I believe They should cycle out artists too, but will all due respect saying "The art is too good, and it'll take away from the game" is a really weak argument to me, And having a Character portrait doesn't take away from anything in the visual narrative of a game rarely ever (i mean, look at any other RPG ever), I hold my opinion of the character model animations for dialogue as it hasn't be displayed yet, but going off of previous fire emblem games 3d animations it seems direly lukewarm. 

(mind you only 3 of the recent games have been able to pull off 3d model animation.)  

What I interpreted was "The art isn't as emphasized much as the 3DS games because it is no longer that essential in a console-level game". What the Redditor probably meant was that Hidari's incredible effort on Echoes wouldn't have been fully appreciated had the game been a console-game. If you want me to elaborate on this, I'd have to write a massive post on the differences in presentation in various visual mediums. In short, various visual mediums emphasize different parts in presentation and  static character art like Hidari's best shine in a handheld interactive medium.

Bear in mind that 3D Model animation and its resources are best put to use and better presented in a console-level game than in a handheld-game (assuming the three recent games you mentioned are Awakening, Fates, and Echoes). If free-roaming is any indication, there is a greater amount of resources being put on 3D animation in "Three Houses" than in the 3DS titles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I disagree with the long reddit post that a more artistic UI wouldn't work in Three Houses or the switch. I think the beautiful UX (not just UI) of Valentia (and even Fates) is much more pleasing and thematically appropriate than the Warriors inspired bland and clean UX shown in the video. There's no reason why having the body isn't possible in the text box and we must only show the head. Plenty of games have 2D character art and 3d models. See Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for instance. I'm not saying I dislike the new art, but rather that the overall UX is just bland. Bland and boring compared to the previous game. The weapon icons look like they were lifted from warriors. In addition, nothing about 3D means that we must have bland interfaces or experiences. The Trine series had 3D models with 2D art and it looks wonderful (the devs said the backgrounds used 2D art) and beautiful.
____
"Good 2D art is better than bad 3D art", "Good 3D art is better than bad 3D art", and good art doesn't require high quality art, but rather an appropriate artistic style. Xenoblade isn't very high poly in many places, but the game looks beautiful. The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. I don't get that feeling from the UX of Three Houses.

Edited by IonicAmalgam
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, BZL8 said:

It's hard to gauge character personalities when we only have a trailer with a few quotes from Edelgard and character design to judge from. I'll hold my thoughts on the characters and their personalities until more information comes. So far, their designs are fine IMO. I like Edelgard's design more though.

As for the quality of the character designs, this Reddit post pretty much sums up my thoughts. I personally prefer having a different artist for each installment so having Chinatsu Kurahana on board is a plus in my books. Won't judge the quality of the anime cutscenes (Khara?) until I see more footage.

 

That's all wrong though. First of all, in SoV there were also scenes where the portraits just appeared in small boxes inside the text boxes. Same thing happened in RD. By extension, Three Houses will probably also alternate between having the smaller portraits for smaller scenes and full portraits for important scenes. The Tellius games also used hand-drawn backgrounds with full portraits in important scenes without the SoV style blurring and it didn't look ugly. Three Houses may/could do the same and it would be fine.

The point that TH will probably have more scenes with the 3D models and less with the 2D portraits is on to something, but linking that to the art style doesn't make any sense. There's plenty of games where you only see characters' full portraits in one menu (Bravely series and Octopath Traveler come to mind) and that doesn't mean they have a simpler art style or are less detailed. Saying Hidari wouldn't have worked because all the details would be hidden is odd fundamentally but also because we most likely will see the full portraits several times in the game, if SoV and Tellius serve as a reference in any way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Book Bro said:

That's all wrong though. First of all, in SoV there were also scenes where the portraits just appeared in small boxes inside the text boxes. Same thing happened in RD. By extension, Three Houses will probably also alternate between having the smaller portraits for smaller scenes and full portraits for important scenes. The Tellius games also used hand-drawn backgrounds with full portraits in important scenes without the SoV style blurring and it didn't look ugly. Three Houses may/could do the same and it would be fine.

The point that TH will probably have more scenes with the 3D models and less with the 2D portraits is on to something, but linking that to the art style doesn't make any sense. There's plenty of games where you only see characters' full portraits in one menu (Bravely series and Octopath Traveler come to mind) and that doesn't mean they have a simpler art style or are less detailed. Saying Hidari wouldn't have worked because all the details would be hidden is odd fundamentally but also because we most likely will see the full portraits several times in the game, if SoV and Tellius serve as a reference in any way.

Two words: art direction. I feel Hidari wouldn't work is because his "watercolor-esque" art wouldn't mesh well with the notably grittier art direction of "Three Houses". If Kurahana's artwork clashed with the grittier aesthetic, the difference would be very noticeable and would raise greater criticism. That said, I don't feel Kurahana's work doesn't clash with the FE16's art direction. No matter how much effort goes into the artwork, the details in the artwork don't matter if the character art already clashes with the aesthetic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...