About The Graphics of Civ VI

[Sobornost]

I would have given the graphics a 7, I was generally fine with them at first glimpse though there were a few things like the trees and unit appearances that didn't impress me as much. My general impression was that they'd work fine, and were more in the style of Civ 4 than Civ 5.

I think they were very conscious in their use of Civ 4-style graphics.

Now that I've seen more I like them more than on first impression, they're a different style from Civ 5, I like both styles in their own way, and I think these will hold their own just fine.

 

[Schuesseled]

Really? How many children watch cartoons? And how many adults watch cartoons? I believe the difference will be huge, though there are some adults who like watching cartoons.

If you feed children only potatoes and turn around and say hey that must mean potatoes are only for kids then you have the same argument.

Kids watch cartoons because cartoons are produced with content that children would find appealing. It's nothing to do with the fact that cartoons are for kids, that is a fallacy.

 

[Staal]

It was chosen to attract new (young) players.

Rubbish. Absolutely no basis for that statement.

I'd prefer more realistic graphics myself but that doesn't mean I would be 'worried' by the art style. Why are you worried? There is every indication that the game has more depth than Civ 5.

That said, the OTT unit spawn swooshing and fighting animations are a bit too much even for me.

 

[Valmighty]

I initially preferred more realistic graphic like Civ5 but then i miss funny and light-heartedness Civ4 style had. Now i don't mind if we have one cartooney and one realistic for Civ series intermittently.

I don't know about you guys, but Civ5 is kinda depressing. The music (main menu especially) is too serious, the war orchestra is too dark, it makes me depressed. Civ4 is better in this aspect, and made better with Baba Yetu.

What i'm worried is that Civ6 have the cartooney style but still depressing. I'm not amused with the Civ6 leader screens. They try too hard to make Teddy (and Cleo) comical but it's still too serious, in my opinion that feels like a fail. Try to compare this with Civ4 leader screen that is funny and comical and take the best (or worst) trait of each leader. For example Catherine is slutty and Kahn is an arrogant bastard but they presented it funnily. In my opinion Civ4 has the more superior leader screens than Civ5 has. Civ6? I'm still hoping that i'm wrong.

 

[stealth_nsk]

I initially preferred more realistic graphic like Civ5 but then i miss funny and light-heartedness Civ4 style had. Now i don't mind if we have one cartooney and one realistic for Civ series intermittently.

I don't know about you guys, but Civ5 is kinda depressing. The music (main menu especially) is too serious, the war orchestra is too dark, it makes me depressed. Civ4 is better in this aspect, and made better with Baba Yetu.

What i'm worried is that Civ6 have the cartooney style but still depressing. I'm not amused with the Civ6 leader screens. They try too hard to make Teddy (and Cleo) comical but it's still too serious, in my opinion that feels like a fail. Try to compare this with Civ4 leader screen that is funny and comical and take the best (or worst) trait of each leader. For example Catherine is slutty and Kahn is an arrogant bastard but they presented it funnily. In my opinion Civ4 has the more superior leader screens than Civ5 has. Civ6? I'm still hoping that i'm wrong.

Pretty subjective. The overall theme of Civ5 was the lightness of the clouds, the bright and hope. Civ6 seem to be designed around mystery and discovery.

But yes, I see Civ6 could be made quite depressing, especially with mods... Always night in daylight cycle, glowing red eyes of barbarians, screams of rainforest animals, hows of scouts' dogs...

 

[kaspergm]

Spoiler :

This is a better comparison.

I really like what I see in this screenshot. The individual items look good, and the large stretches of farmland gives coherence and makes the map less busy on the eye than many of the other screenshots we've seen. I hope this is indeed the "norm" of what we'll see and not the situation where every single tile is filled with either a different district, improvement or wonder. Some of those screens have looked extremely busy and unappealing.


PS: The forests and jungles still look BAD!


PPS: Is that two new city state types we see on the mini-map? Purple for culture and brown for ... production!?

 

[Plus Ultra]

It was chosen to attract new (young) players.

It is obvious. Cartoons always attract kids.

And I do not like that many companies/developers still think that they make games for kids. They do often clearly imply that in their interviews.

Really? How many children watch cartoons? And how many adults watch cartoons?

Children love cartoons in most cases. And that is the way to attract them. Some developers treat games as toys.

Because of the complexity, how can this game be for PEGI 12? Because it is so complex that a 12 year old kid should have no problem with?

It was a conscious decision to make it proper for 12 years old.

How would you explain to those people that this artstyle is not childish?

But, say, my girlfriend thinks it is extremely childish. How would you explain her that she is wrong

Indeed, PEGI has nothing to do with the graphics. But still some people think it looks childish.

I mean, if so many people complain about the childish graphics in many games, basically, why so many developers decide to have it in their games?

Are you ok Darko82? Did you get hit on the head or something? You are making no sense whatsoever, and that's not like you at all.

-The average gamer is 35 years old. (source)
-You already know there is an article explaining the artstyle for Civ VI: Link
-You also know there is a Graphics Thread here, and a Reddit survey here

By the sound of it, you are worried that your friends and/or girlfriend will consider your hobby (playing Civilization) as childish because of the graphics. First of all, try not to oversale Civ as an incredibly complex game, it isn't. Secondly, the sooner you realise what others think about your hobbies is irrelevant, the better.

 

[Thormodr]

I like the shot of Crater Lake in the American Empire picture.

I think the graphics are very remeniscent of cIV and therefore give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

 

[darko82]

Are you ok Darko82? Did you get hit on the head or something? You are making no sense whatsoever, and that's not like you at all.

-The average gamer is 35 years old. (source)
-You already know there is an article explaining the artstyle for Civ VI: Link
-You also know there is a Graphics Thread here, and a Reddit survey here

By the sound of it, you are worried that your friends and/or girlfriend will consider your hobby (playing Civilization) as childish because of the graphics. First of all, try not to oversale Civ as an incredibly complex game, it isn't. Secondly, the sooner you realise what others think about your hobbies is irrelevant, the better.

I know these facts. My only worry is that some people think the graphics is childish. Not sure why?

I also know it looks much better than Civ 3,4, even 5 that I used to play a lot as an adult. So those people are the issue, not the graphics.

Personally, I think it looks better than Civ 5 because it is cleaner and nice to look at. It feels pleasant. Maps are more detailed etc. The leaders look very nice, a bit stylized. The only thing I am not a fan of are the dark backgrounds in diplomatic screens (4 of them).

 

[Plus Ultra]

I know these facts. My only worry is that some people think the graphics is childish.

Some people think the earth is flat.

 

[qwerty25]

Some people think the earth if flat.

Of course not! The world is a cylinder [emoji14]

On topic: i think the changes are nice and hopefully easier mod in new units that are closer to the new aesthetic.

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

[StrideColossus]

I think the generally positive responses on this (and other) threads and the reddit survey indicate that the majority of players are happy with the graphical style and this is often coming from people who were very skeptical when we got to see the first 3 screenshots - so I think any concerns about the graphics being 'cartoony' or 'childish' can be laid to rest.

 

[Jimdigriz]

I initially preferred more realistic graphic like Civ5 but then i miss funny and light-heartedness Civ4 style had. Now i don't mind if we have one cartooney and one realistic for Civ series intermittently.

I don't know about you guys, but Civ5 is kinda depressing. The music (main menu especially) is too serious, the war orchestra is too dark, it makes me depressed. Civ4 is better in this aspect, and made better with Baba Yetu.

What i'm worried is that Civ6 have the cartooney style but still depressing. I'm not amused with the Civ6 leader screens. They try too hard to make Teddy (and Cleo) comical but it's still too serious, in my opinion that feels like a fail. Try to compare this with Civ4 leader screen that is funny and comical and take the best (or worst) trait of each leader. For example Catherine is slutty and Kahn is an arrogant bastard but they presented it funnily. In my opinion Civ4 has the more superior leader screens than Civ5 has. Civ6? I'm still hoping that i'm wrong.

Baba Yetu just makes things worse. We don't all love Baba Yetu - I despised it!

 

[Jimdigriz]

I was very sceptical about the graphics at first.

Having watched a couple of demos though (the city districts one and the America one) I am beginning to think they might be OK after all. It still looks cartoony but I can see that a zoom out view will let you see things better which is what they wanted. Also, I think keeping the systems/graphics requirements to a Civ V level makes sense - especially if more power goes into the AI. I am very intrigued by the districts system too.

 

[Greasy Dave]

If you hate this style, it's because you haven't actually listened to why this style is good.

I'm sorry man but this is the most hilarious statement I've read in a long line of hilarious statements the threads about the graphics.

How about I write this:
If you like this style, it's because you haven't actually listened to why this style is terrible.

Does that seem like a fair statement to you? Probably not. So I'm baffled why on earth you feel your statement is fair.

They can tell me why they decided to "streamline" the graphics. I've listened to Ed Beach talking about it. That doesn't mean I MUST therefore appreciate the graphics.

I loathe them. They are cartoon like - in a Disney style. And are the crudest way the graphics could possibly have been streamlined.

As someone above me pointed out, there are an infinite number of ways to streamline graphics and make them clear and readable. I'm not going to post links- but try googling images of Paris's Metropolitan and images of the London Underground for yourself. Two completely different art styles. Both streamlined and clear. Neither cartoon like. I personally prefer the MEtro - but that's neither here nor there. The point is, in art, ANYTHING is possible -the artist just has to use his/ her imagination to try to lift an image beyond the mundane.

For me the chosen graphic style is clear - but it is neither imaginative nor inspires my imagination. It is cartoon like in the worst Disneyfied way (I love Japanese manga- I agree "cartoon" doens't mean bad)- it reminds me of Scrooge McDuck not a grand strategy game encompassing world history and domination. It demonstrates little visual imagination or risk. It aspires to nothing but the mundane and safe.

It may be that a number of people like the graphic style chosen, fine, I've no problem with that. I personally was hoping, after 5 game iterations of increasing success that they'd to lift their sights higher than they have in the past. I liked CiV graphics. I loathe Civ 6 and believe me, it's NOT because I haven't read or listened to their explanations about why I SOULD like it.

 

[cpm4001]

As someone who was put off by the art style when I saw the announcement screenshots, I have to say that I do like the way it looks in that picture. The buildings, terrain, and improvements are not overly cartoony; they appear to my eyes as an improvement on the Civ4 style rather than the Civ5 style, and Civ4 worked for me (even though I did prefer the Civ5 art style). However, the way the units fight is too cartoonish for my tastes: there are literal explosions when they make contact with their melee weapons, like comic book characters (see 0:23-0:35 of the First look America video). I do hope there is an option to turn that effect off, but if there's not I'll just learn to tolerate it, as the information coming out about the gameplay is too enticing to let the art style turn me off playing it.

100% agree with this. The graphics are still too saturated for my tastes but I'm increasingly thinking I can live with 'em because the gameplay keeps sounding better and better. The combat animations, however? Complete garbage. When your Warrior hits a barb Brute with a club, said Brute should not explode.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

The combat animations, however? Complete garbage. When your Warrior hits a barb Brute with a club, said Brute should not explode.

Well, when you watch the animations in slow motion, it's look like red fire works going off. I'm thinking it is meant to be blood splatter without being too overtly gory.

 

[cpm4001]

Well, when you watch the animations in slow motion, it's look like red fire works going off. I'm thinking it is meant to be blood splatter without being too overtly gory.

You're almost certainly right, but unfortunately it's still way too cartoony for my tastes. The Civ V combat ones were definitely better.

Ah well, chances are there'll be a mod for them...

 

[kaspergm]

You're almost certainly right, but unfortunately it's still way too cartoony for my tastes. The Civ V combat ones were definitely better.

Ah well, chances are there'll be a mod for them...

Agreed, the new combat animation definitely make me go WTH each time I see them.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Agreed, the new combat animation definitely make me go WTH each time I see them.

Actually I hope it's a placeholder. I'm totally ok with a touch of cartoony style, but these were a little too much.