Art Style: It's Really Not Very Good

PC General Discussion
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I’ve seen a lot of praise for the art style in D4, harkening back to the “darker” and “grimmer” days of D1 and D2. Especially in comparison to D3.

I just wanted to voice perhaps an unpopular opinion: I don’t think the art style is very good. There are a number of reasons why I believe this:

  1. It falls into the old trap of making everything look “more realistic.” By its very nature, the game’s graphics will become dated more quickly this this art style than with a more “cartoony” one.
  2. It has made the game drab and dull. D3 was still a dark game, with gory fights, and baskets of heads ricocheting off the walls. D4, after completing the campaign, feels like it lacks in variety. Even the deserts and snowy regions manage to run together with each other.
  3. D2 was more colorful. The greener areas were more green than in D4, and the desert areas more yellow.
  4. It’s not usable. Different monster types are harder to tell apart because of the style.
  5. Elites and Champions are harder to spot, I frequently will kill one without even realizing that I had engaged it. They look exactly the same as the other monsters. I had no problem with the blue and yellow-tinges of the elite packs in D3.
  6. The dark, drab colors make it almost impossible to see enemy effects in many cases. I like to dodge the nightmarish, the explosives and other effects, but you literally cannot see them half the time because the colors don’t stand out at all.

Honestly, I don’t get the artistic choices here, it feels like throwing a bone to those who were complaining that it wasn’t “dark” enough. But now we just have drab, boring, and difficult to see.

24 Likes
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Cutscenes are great, but yeah, in-game style is a bit drab I agree. I’m using ReShade to tweak the graphics a little bit so that helps.

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I want the firetruck red Fallen and neon green shakos from D2 back.

While D2 had a mature look for the time, it was anything but a washed out palette - it was loaded with super bright colours.

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I like the visuals, especially the environments. Fallen Peaks is the best snow aesthetic bar none. I always like winter environments so that one is near and dear to my heart.

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I don’t like that the color pallete is 100% grey/brown/dark red to please the edgelords.

Evil doesn’t make color cease to exist…and light refracting through water spray still creates a rainbow…no matter how many morons were triggered by it in the D3 reveal.

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Interesting, I like the snowy areas too, generally speaking!

I don’t hate the visuals, I just feel like many of the areas, especially the non-snowy ones could have been a lot more distinct looking, and honestly, just more colorful.

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I couldn’t disagree more, honestly. I love the overall mood and theme of the game. Of all the teams who came together to make D4, I think the art team deserves the most praise.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

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I do miss glowing elites tho, might be immersion breaking but super useful

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9

I don’t see the visuals. All I see is a mini map and vulnerables on the screen.

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LOL graphics are fine lol. Som of the best In this Genre in a while.

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Yeah, it really isn’t.

Might have something to do with the super zoomed in view players are forced to have.

The graphics are acceptable if the game was released around 2015 or so. However, they don’t really hold up for games after 2020.

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I think the world looks amazing.

But, I can’t see my character because it blends in too much. So, I have to use the character highlight thing, which looks terrible & ruins the pretty artwork:)

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I agree that the graphics are good. My complaint is more akin to what you’re saying: the style. The blending is an issue, as well as the variance between zones and areas.

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I think this opinion is far more popular than we’re lead on to believe. This game just has so many other problems that people let it go to the wayside.

The graphics, much like everything else in this game, are bland, homogenous, and tasteless. Everything, including the graphics in this game, is austere in every respect.

I don’t understand the praise; those that think the graphics look good must have never seen what good graphics actually look like. IMO D3 has better graphics; and I bashed D3 hard a decade ago for its cartoony appearance. But, d4 makes D3 look like a masterpiece in retrospect.

5 Likes
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What other ARPG looks better? POE is zoomed in. Last EPoch is zopomed in. I think your more of the standard rpg.

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Honestly? D3 for one. The graphics are slightly dated, but the colors, style, and usability are WAY better for a varied, interesting experience.

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It looks like a disney game with it colors. Its gloomy. Like it should be. D3 is the Teddy bear unicorn level but for the whole game.

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LOL, D3 was an an uncontrolled fireworks show.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions though, but I think D4 graphics are fine, it’s the least of their problems compared to everything else that’s wrong with it.

1 Like
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D2 is not gloomy, the jungle areas are far more vibrant and green than D4 is. Same with the desert areas.

Color is real. The real world has dazzling colors. The jungle has vibrant, “cartoony” colors IRL. D4 is nothing but drab. Gloomy is more than just sepia tones everywhere.

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Il like it d3 was to color full.