Civ 6's Art Style - Do You Like It?

[Duke William of Normandy]

Actually this leads me to wonder - has there ever been a Jewish leader in Civ? Not to my knowledge...

No, I don't think we ever got one.

 

[Mr. Salt]

Actually this leads me to wonder - has there ever been a Jewish leader in Civ? Not to my knowledge...

Dido in Civ 6 prefers to found Judaism, but she yells about Moloch and Mot in her denunciation. The wiki explains it better than I can.

 

[Duke William of Normandy]

Dido in Civ 6 prefers to found Judaism, but she yells about Moloch and Mot in her denunciation. The wiki explains it better than I can.

Yeah, I don't think the Phoenicians followed Judaism. I mean, in the Bible, God specifically called out Moloch worshipers for sacrificing babies.

 

[leif erikson]

Moderator Action: Please return to the topic of the thread.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Anime style art for Civ would be absolutely bizarre and incongruous IMO.

Why? There's a game that char design is made in Anime style (these particularly came from Asia)

^ These two are my favorite styles XD

Why did Disney Pixar style suits Civ franchise better?

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Why did Disney Pixar style suits Civ franchise better?

I don't think they have ever said that they were intended to look like Disney or Pixar though as inspiration.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Anime style is extremely polarizing. I don't mean this as a value judgment against anime, but I find the style extremely offputting in an almost physical sense.

Since Disney comparisons are being thrown around, I'd love to see traditionally animated leaders in Civ7, but that would be a lot of work for the devs.

One such animations that had been done in Cel era??

I don't think they have ever said that they were intended to look like Disney or Pixar though as inspiration.

Bit it looks like that alot

Moderator Action: Merged posts. Please use the edit function. leif

 

[greenOak]

I actually like the adorable disney/pixar leaders lol.

 

[8housesofelixir]

IMHO it may come down to different artists. Many of the leaders are fairly realistic or can strike a balance between 3D-y and realistic, while other leaders looks more cartoony; they look like two different artistic approaches to me.

(I would also add that if you use static leaders they will look far less cartoony, so animations probably also play a role here.)

 

[Zaarin]

IMHO it may come down to different artists. Many of the leaders are fairly realistic or can strike a balance between 3D-y and realistic, while other leaders looks more cartoony; they look like two different artistic approaches to me.

This is my chief complaint about the leader design in Civ6: they really need to pick a style and stick with it. Wilhelmina and Poundmaker don't look like they belong in the same game together.

 

[ehecatzin]

As an animator I really like the quality of the leader interactions, however I think leaders have outgrown their usefulness in Civilization, If we are to have leaders I'd rather they kept them 2d, as the concept art they developed for civ 6.

The sad part is, after a while you don't even look at the leaders anymore and you just skip EVERY interaction, more over, a lot of animations are recicled or...just don't fit whetever new thing you are doing diplomatically. Again, if this was just 2d still images they could have done way more reactions and interactions.

The map,I don't like getting constanly reminded the game can't make up It's mind if it wants you to be inmersed in the world It's generating or wanting to be a board game. If I wanted to play civ6 as a boardgame I'd never get out of strategic view. a lot of the visual oddities and limitations seems to steam from this indecition:

-all wonders being the same size.
-disjointed cities with few housing graphics
-All improvements and cities looking the same late game.
-walls that only cover the city center.
-boring terrain (all forest being the same for example)

TBH most of these things exacerbate on the late game, early game, when cities are small, conflicts are regional and there's plenty of space to explore it just feels right.

 

[Zaarin]

however I think leaders have outgrown their usefulness in Civilization

I disagree, pretty strongly in fact. I think the leaders is what sets the Civilization franchise apart from other (better) 4X games. I think Civ7 needs to double down on leaders, make diplomacy more complex, and make it feel more like you're interacting with the leaders directly.

If we are to have leaders I'd rather they kept them 2d, as the concept art they developed for civ 6.

I'd be all for traditionally animated leaders, but that would be more work on the developers' end. (Now if someone could just convince Hollywood that traditional animation ages better than CGI, but I digress. No one is going to think Frozen looks beautiful 80 years from now, Disney, but Snow White still looks great. )

 

[shaglio]

As an animator I really like the quality of the leader interactions, however I think leaders have outgrown their usefulness in Civilization, If we are to have leaders I'd rather they kept them 2d, as the concept art they developed for civ 6.

The sad part is, after a while you don't even look at the leaders anymore and you just skip EVERY interaction, more over, a lot of animations are recicled or...just don't fit whetever new thing you are doing diplomatically. Again, if this was just 2d still images they could have done way more reactions and interactions.

The map,I don't like getting constanly reminded the game can't make up It's mind if it wants you to be inmersed in the world It's generating or wanting to be a board game. If I wanted to play civ6 as a boardgame I'd never get out of strategic view. a lot of the visual oddities and limitations seems to steam from this indecition:

-all wonders being the same size.
-disjointed cities with few housing graphics
-All improvements and cities looking the same late game.
-walls that only cover the city center.
-boring terrain (all forest being the same for example)

TBH most of these things exacerbate on the late game, early game, when cities are small, conflicts are regional and there's plenty of space to explore it just feels right.

Just looking at some of the beautiful 2D leader artwork done for some of the Civ 5 modded civs, I completely agree with you. Especially since, IIRC, the 3D animations are the most expensive part about making new civs. I'd be all for more civ options with only 2D leaders than animated 3D leader for fewer civs.

 

[The Civs 6]

As an animator I really like the quality of the leader interactions, however I think leaders have outgrown their usefulness in Civilization, If we are to have leaders I'd rather they kept them 2d, as the concept art they developed for civ 6.

The sad part is, after a while you don't even look at the leaders anymore and you just skip EVERY interaction, more over, a lot of animations are recicled or...just don't fit whetever new thing you are doing diplomatically. Again, if this was just 2d still images they could have done way more reactions and interactions.

The map,I don't like getting constanly reminded the game can't make up It's mind if it wants you to be inmersed in the world It's generating or wanting to be a board game. If I wanted to play civ6 as a boardgame I'd never get out of strategic view. a lot of the visual oddities and limitations seems to steam from this indecition:

-all wonders being the same size.
-disjointed cities with few housing graphics
-All improvements and cities looking the same late game.
-walls that only cover the city center.
-boring terrain (all forest being the same for example)

TBH most of these things exacerbate on the late game, early game, when cities are small, conflicts are regional and there's plenty of space to explore it just feels right.

I completely agree with your comments on diplomacy. It's just form without function, and I don't like the form.

Engaging with diplomacy/in the leader interaction screen is just so unrewarding (thanks for telling me that my navy isn't big enough/I'm not sending you enough trade routes). And for some reason, the designers pour resources into leader animations and stuff like that. The cherry on top is that I don't even really like what they are doing with the leaders at the end of all this. There is some serious dissonance I have between the designers showing off their new leader stuff, and the fact that I have animations turned off - and even if I didn't, I would want to get out of diplomacy as fast as I possibly can.

And on a more general level, from an aesthetic perspective (less dealing with art style per se), I just don't get how individual leaders fit into Civ's concept of the universe. This isn't Alpha Centauri where the game explains that the faction's leaders are basically immortal and are actually the eternal rulers of their Civ. Maybe 3 was the closest to a good idea with their leaders changing garments through the ages. Like linear tech trees, the single leader thing was an acceptable part of the game, but in 2020 it feels like something that can and should be innovated on rather than a static, core part of the game. I dunno, I think Civ 7 needs to explore the idea that leadership changes in Civs and that's part of what is interesting about history.

Maybe it's a little thing, but this all adds up to this situation where I have the Civ gameplay, and then I potentially have Kupe/Wilhelmina/Pedro II (choose a leader you personally don't like the model of) constantly interrupting the game and badgering me from turn 1 to turn 999 about some nonsense. And unlike past games, that nonsense is usually unrelated to anything happening in the actual game - it's because I don't have enough boats/have too many boats or even crazier things. This also makes me realize how big a part of the game diplomacy is...

 

[ehecatzin]

I disagree, pretty strongly in fact. I think the leaders is what sets the Civilization franchise apart from other (better) 4X games. I think Civ7 needs to double down on leaders, make diplomacy more complex, and make it feel more like you're interacting with the leaders directly.

I guess It's a matter of quality vs quantity. My issue is that no matter what, we always end up with a few civs getting many leaders or even "sister civs" like Greece and Macedon, and others...just the 1. If each civ got 1 incredibly fleshed out animated leader I worry that civ VII will repeat the problem of having animations that don't even fit whatever new mechanic they decide to add later on.

Maybe if they invest in tecnology that would allow them to add new animations and update them on the fly, as oposed to fully animated leaders...maybe sort of like the character generation Crusader Kings III has, I just really want that if they choose to double down on leaders they make sure they can maybe be updated? at this point it should be possible to have them retry the civ III model and make it shine.

have the leader update It's appearence and attitude if.

-likes or dislikes you
-fears you
-Era
-Government
-main focus (culture, economy, military, etc)
-golden or dark age
-is a subject
-religion
-clothing style if they are being influenced by another civ

and a big etc if leaders are back, they should convey clear information that actually rewards.. interacting with it,

if they can't do that for civ VII then, yes, I would like them to dial it back a little and go for quantity instead, go for way more leaders BUT dial back or even take out the animations, maybe that way we could actually get multiple leaders for all civs.

I just don't want very well animated leaders that won't serve any other purpose besides looking at it once, then skip.

 

[Zaarin]

at this point it should be possible to have them retry the civ III model and make it shine.

I think Civ3's idea of changing leaders was absolutely horrible. Abraham Lincoln in a loincloth, skinhead Joan of Arc, Montezuma in a tux...just so, so many bad ideas--and when Firaxis tries to be original, they always have bad ideas. IMO leaders should look iconic.

I would like them to dial it back a little and go for quantity instead

I feel the pain of not getting all the civs and leaders we all want, but Civ6 really feels like they've stretched themselves too thin. I'd rather Civ7 focus on more asymmetry, and I'm willing to accept fewer civs to get that (with the caveat that we leave out the market pandering civs).

 

[Duke William of Normandy]

I think Civ3's idea of changing leaders was absolutely horrible. Abraham Lincoln in a loincloth, skinhead Joan of Arc, Montezuma in a tux...just so, so many bad ideas--and when Firaxis tries to be original, they always have bad ideas. IMO leaders should look iconic.


I feel the pain of not getting all the civs and leaders we all want, but Civ6 really feels like they've stretched themselves too thin. I'd rather Civ7 focus on more asymmetry, and I'm willing to accept fewer civs to get that (with the caveat that we leave out the market pandering civs).

Skinhead Joan of Arc... I saw a video of Civ 3 Leader changes through eras, and MAN did bald Joan of Arc disturb me.

 

[Zaarin]

Skinhead Joan of Arc... I saw a video of Civ 3 Leader changes through eras, and MAN did bald Joan of Arc disturb me.

It's one of the few things I remember about Civ3, and it's not a pleasant memory.

 

[sonicmyst]

I just wish the leader animations be more fluid and no more fade-in fade out in between.

And also if the leader icons in the game reflect their mood (instead of just looking at the red/yellow/green smiley), it would enhance the experience of interacting with them. (Suddenly reminds me of The Sims icon heads that reflect their mood)

 

[ehecatzin]

I feel the pain of not getting all the civs and leaders we all want, but Civ6 really feels like they've stretched themselves too thin. I'd rather Civ7 focus on more asymmetry, and I'm willing to accept fewer civs to get that (with the caveat that we leave out the market pandering civs).

Yeah..lookng back, honestly I just think It's the NFP has been so dissapointing so far and I keep loking at ways to "fix" civ VI. Fantasy sprinkled everywhere, no balance at all, new terrain sets that stay in scenarios not on the main game, reused animations, and a big etc. maybe as you say It's stretched thin already.

I hope that at least they don't blunder the industry and corporations update as well.