Graphics

[crazyewok]

I think it's a fair assessment since people can't seem to agree on what exactly they hate about the new art direction. Some say it just needs to be tweaked here and there. Others say it needs a more extensive overhaul. And others still provide no useful or constructive input whatsoever.

Case in point:

Think my point was clear.

They look to cartoony and like the graphics i would expect on a mobile game or browser game like clas of clans.

Civ 5 had a lot of faults but i though its art style superb.

Civ 4 was on the limits of acceptable light hearted cartoonyness. The civ 6 graphics just dont sit right with me.

 

[Westwall]

I think it looks okay.

 

[MosheLevi]

I think it looks okay.

No one can deny that Civ 6 graphics look cartoonish and very similar to how mobile games look.

Whether you are OK with that or not is a different matter.
Many players such as myself simply don't like games with cartoonish graphics, and many feels very strong about that.

 

[Westwall]

Whether you are OK with that or not is a different matter.

I think that's the only matter.

And I feel very strongly about that.

 

[tat501]

Looking again at the screenshots I might have overreacted at first. I think it was just a bit of shock from what my expectations were. I certainty don't like some of it - the mountains look too small relatively speaking, and the units look awfully big and cartoony (even their mean angry faces and big swords...). The colour palette I can deal with if it can be toned down by the user (ideally without use of mods so my lovely steam achievements and hall of fame scores don't get nuked).

The other issue is really how divided these city districts are, and how big the wonders are. I'll learn to cope with it I suppose but I'd have prefered the districts to be a bit closer packed than the screened suggest, like a real city looks like.

Essentially I don't like the lack of attempt at realism. I know civ v wasn't realistic - but you could pretend to yourself it was. That allows for immersion that most nebulous of video game concepts.

 

[duckstab]

One thing that I think it's worth noting about the colour scheme is functionality. Some people seem to be saying that it reminds them of a mobile game, but mobile games use that sort of colour scheme with clear contrasts in order to clearly distinguish between different things on a small screen. The same principle applies to any screen though; it's simply less of a problem with a better resolution. But it can still be a problem in need of a functional solution.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

I really could care less how beautiful or cartoonish the graphics are. I want to be able to easily interpret the map. In my opinion, what we've seen of Civ6 so far looks like a step in the right direction. If Civ5 hadn't had the strategic layer I would have found the game almost unplayable given the amount of visual muck and clutter added in the name of aesthetics. (Not to mention its impact on game performance.)

 

[Vlade Divac]

Is it also possible the graphics will make it much less taxing on the system? I loved Civ 4 and 5, but it became a real chore to keep the game running well mid and late game. If decerning small details in Civ 6 is really important, the past Civ late-game graphics hoop-jumping would be very problematic in the new one. It would be really nice not to have to buy a new computer or hopped up laptop to play the new Civ iteration. Just throwing that out there....

 

[joncnunn]

Is it also possible the graphics will make it much less taxing on the system? I loved Civ 4 and 5, but it became a real chore to keep the game running well mid and late game. If decerning small details in Civ 6 is really important, the past Civ late-game graphics hoop-jumping would be very problematic in the new one. It would be really nice not to have to buy a new computer or hopped up laptop to play the new Civ iteration. Just throwing that out there....

Unknown, because it wasn't drawing static images that was the big slow down during the AIs turn, but instead drawing those of them that were visible to the human moving.

 

[kaspergm]

I really could care less how beautiful or cartoonish the graphics are. I want to be able to easily interpret the map. In my opinion, what we've seen of Civ6 so far looks like a step in the right direction. If Civ5 hadn't had the strategic layer I would have found the game almost unplayable given the amount of visual muck and clutter added in the name of aesthetics. (Not to mention its impact on game performance.)

Well, I think no-one want to be un-able to interpret the map - I just don't agree that Civ 6 as it is is a step in the right direction. I think units stand out even less compared to the terrain than they did in Civ 5 (which means an icon layer will still be needed to distinguish important things), and the bright colours makes it notoriously harder to spot important things.

 

[civ3conquests]

The new graphics is just

AWESOME, PURE BEAUTY, EPIC,

It reminds me in some way the beautiful Civ 3.

THANKS FIRAXIS, THANKS TAKE2 INTERACTIVE.
Keep up the good work.
Nothing in common with <snip> art designs of Civ 4 and 5 !!!

I hope they will not change the art-style until 21.October...

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[dexters]

The new graphics is just

AWESOME, PURE BEAUTY, EPIC,

It reminds me in some way the beautiful Civ 3.

THANKS FIRAXIS, THANKS TAKE2 INTERACTIVE.
Keep up the good work.
Nothing in common with <snip> art designs of Civ 4 and 5 !!!

I hope they will not change the art-style until 21.October...

I liked Civ3's tabletop look, felt like I was moving units on a map and I never understood the UI downgrade from Civ3 >4 and the sidegrade improvements in 5. It's like they forgot that integrating advisors with stats on screen might actually be ... useful?

Moderator Action: Please avoid quoting inappropriate language.
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[GoodSarmatian]

I was as shocked as the next man when I saw the first three zoomed in screenshots and I said I might get used to it but I'll probably never like it.

After seeing these screens -especially the last one- I am starting to like it. Still not a fan of the unit graphics, but the cities look very good.

Spoiler :

 

[darko82]

I was as shocked as the next man when I saw the first three zoomed in screenshots and I said I might get used to it but I'll probably never like it.

After seeing these screens -especially the last one- I am starting to like it. Still not a fan of the unit graphics, but the cities look very good.

Spoiler :

It looks better than any other civ released before. Units look similar to Civ 5 but better. Screens do not reflect the live game.

 

[m15a]

Well, I think no-one want to be un-able to interpret the map - I just don't agree that Civ 6 as it is is a step in the right direction. I think units stand out even less compared to the terrain than they did in Civ 5 (which means an icon layer will still be needed to distinguish important things), and the bright colours makes it notoriously harder to spot important things.

I also think it's difficult to see some units in the Civ 6 screenshots, but at least, units will have icons, so you can rely on them to spot units. In contrast, districts, improvements, and resources won't have icons by default (probably), so they need to be easy to distinguish without the icons.

I know some people played with resource icons on all the time, but personally, I found that to be annoying since resources unlike units stay in the same place and with multiple icons per tile (resource and unit), the screen looked cluttered.

Regarding whether the districts, improvements, and resources are easy to distinguish and spot (scanning the map) may differ from person to person and, anyway, none of us really know how well it actually works until we play the game and need to spot certain map features (or technically not even then unless we do some sort of usability test on ourselves).

 

[Lord Tirian]

I was as shocked as the next man when I saw the first three zoomed in screenshots and I said I might get used to it but I'll probably never like it.

After seeing these screens -especially the last one- I am starting to like it. Still not a fan of the unit graphics, but the cities look very good.

Zoomed out, the high saturation is less overwhelming, too. Certainly looks more pleasing and I really, really love the map look.

Still think the ground textures are a bit bland, I wish they had just a little more detail to them. In fact, I feel like the fog of war version looks nicer and more defined than the revealed version (esp. the deserts)!

I still don't like the forests but I see why they are the way they are - to allow for the hand-drawn look inside the fog of war. I still hope they can make them a little bit denser, though.

 

[dexters]

It looks better than any other civ released before. Units look similar to Civ 5 but better. Screens do not reflect the live game.

Those screens are fantastic. The shader effects makes the graphic pop. You can see the lighting effects alone is leaps ahead of anything we've seen in the franchise.

Makes you wonder why they didn't come out with these screens first. I guess they showed too much.

 

[darko82]

Those screens are fantastic. The shader effects makes the graphic pop. You can see the lighting effects alone is leaps ahead of anything we've seen in the franchise.

Makes you wonder why they didn't come out with these screens first. I guess they showed too much.

Yeah When the game is out, everyone will love it

 

[finminer]

What about the User Interface? There were a bunch of mods that made improvements to it, will some of those types of things be incorporated?

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

What about the User Interface? There were a bunch of mods that made improvements to it, will some of those types of things be incorporated?

They said they downloaded a bunch of UI mods. So it seems they are incorporating, for one, I can already see EUI's Civ thingies... the.. list.. of.. civs.. the one where you see the list of civs with what items they have and etc.

We just don't have the icons underneath it but they're now easier to acess from the screenshots.

 

[Janskey]

The zoomed-out screenshot actually looks pretty good. I can see myself playing that.

What about the User Interface? There were a bunch of mods that made improvements to it, will some of those types of things be incorporated?

Really hope so. I love EUI, because it gives you the relevant information when making decisions. E.g. someone asks you to join a war, but you can't check whether you're friends with the target, or how many turns your declaration of friendship will last. You'd think that you can decline first, check the info you need and propose the same deal after that, but no, "we've already been through this before, and the answer is still no".