Examples of D4's graphic with reduced brightness and slightly more saturation

General Discussion
1

I modified some screenshots of D4 by reducing the brightness by 20% and slightly increasing the saturated a bit.

I am not saying one or the other is better, I am asking which ones you do prefer and why.

Here is the album:
https://imgur.com/a/aDTo6o1

For reference: here is a comparison of D2’s graphics and D4’s:
https://imgur.com/GdjPH1F

So what is your opinion? Do you prefer the screenshots with reduced brightness and more saturation (which would bring the graphics more in line with D2’s graphics), or the originals?

1 Like
2

Honestly what I’d want is for Blizzard to include brightness, contrast, and saturation sliders in the game’s graphical options like they do for WoW so I can fix the fact that their default settings probably wont be very good.

Most of the screenshots you’re comparing to there look like they have washed out colours. Your modified ones pretty much look better just by virtue of the fact that you upped the saturation on it.

I don’t understand Blizzard’s modern obsession with washed out and dull colours.

7 Likes
3

I like original version. It looks less cartoony -)

7 Likes
4

That’s why I think the sliders are the best option, and they’re pretty standard graphical options for games. There’s no excuse why even Diablo 3 shouldn’t have them.

I don’t really understand why people would think that not having washed out colouring makes something look cartoony, but with the sliders we can both get the game looking the way we want.

1 Like
5

because cartoons look bright and colorful.

6

A lot of things that aren’t cartoons also look bright and colourful.

7

Yes, but if you ask me what looks more medieval, gothic, frightening - bright and colorful or not, you know the answer.

8

Diablo 1 has the best atmosphere in the series and it doesn’t have washed out colours.

3 Likes
9

Would you say D2 looked cartoony?
Because D2 had more saturated colors than D4 currently has.

Also, the modified screenshots are actually more darker, because I have taken out some of the brightness from them.

10

Would you say D2 looked cartoony?

D2 is more cartoony than D1, yes.

Diablo 1 has the best atmosphere in the series and it doesn’t have washed out colours.

Oh really -) It is almost greyscale in comparison with D2 .)

Diablo 1: https://bit.ly/36bn9HF
Diablo 2: https://bit.ly/2LHsJru
2 Likes
11

Wait until the D2 HD appears. Then we can make better comparisons.

12

Not really. There’s plenty of colour in Diablo 1. If you look at a screenshot from GoG of the cavern levels:

https://images.gog-statics.com/ce13ab0a63774a3be0bc55a2577eee2514f0c813ec12f140bdec7745d1cd0995_product_card_v2_mobile_slider_639.jpg

Even the earlier levels that you could argue are a bit more monotone, they’re not really washed out:

https://images.gog-statics.com/3cbeeb580f4873b3395b71fb7f96aa0476b546cffc7e1346d00988ac0e0970ab_product_card_v2_mobile_slider_639.jpg

Meanwhile I could find you cartoons that are literally greyscale.

13

Again, in comparison with D2 these are almost black n white. And D4 is very close to D1 in this matter. So I don’t understand why people complain. Maybe they didn’t really want D1 atmosphere. Just in words.

14

They’re far from black and white. At best you could argue they’re more monotone, but that’s not the same thing as greyscale.

The colours in even Diablo 1 don’t look washed out like they do in Diablo 4, though.

1 Like
15

I don’t get what you mean by washed out. For me colors in D1 are as washed out as it can possibly be )

16

Washed out is the effect you get from low saturation. If you look at the lava in the first screenshot, it’s very vibrant and strong. That’s the opposite of being washed out.

Even in the second screenshot I posted. the blue on the floor is pretty strong and has enough contrast between other objects around you can easily make out even smaller details.

Older games generally needed more saturated colours in order to differentiate objects on the screen where you were only working with a fraction of the pixels our modern day screen resolutions can achieve.

What Diablo 1 was, was more monotone. If you look at the lava again there’s what, 4 or 5 different colours in it at best?

Compare that to a screenshot of lava in Diablo 2: https://i.imgur.com/dTEw6zo.jpg

Still very vibrant just like Diablo 1 lava, but a lot more colours in it.

1 Like
17

I think the adjusted screens look better on average (though it varies from screen to screen, like the barb in long-stairs dungeon looks worse imo).

D4 looks washed out. None of the previous games do that as much.

18

What Cyonan means with washed out is that the colors are less intens (aka have less saturation).

Like when you put a T-Shirt into a washing machine for several years, it looses its color and ‘washed-out’ means it has lost too much of it.

Maybe this here helps you to better understand:
https://imgur.com/GgX5EXB

^^ the first picture has much more washed out colors than even the original.

On that specific one I decreased the brightness by 50%, not just by 20% like on the other ones.

That is the only one that is different.

Indeed. It imo is too much.
That is why I personally prefer the edited ones since they have more saturation.

1 Like
19

Basically it means it is closer to greyscale. And ye, D1 is as close to it as it can be. Lava is a small exception to general rule. D4 also has very colorful fireball explosions or lightning strikes, but generally it looks more similar to D1 than D2 or D3. And this is good.

20

There’s plenty of examples of it not being close to greyscale in Diablo 1.

Of course the real solution is what I posted as the first reply to this thread: Just include sliders so we can individually set things.

Then people who like lower saturation and the people who like higher saturation can both have what they want.

1 Like