Poll: For Civ VII, which art direction style do you prefer?

[KayAU]

It's not that I hate Civ 6's art style, but I much prefer the visuals in Civ 5. That goes for the map, the UI elements, the wonder paintings and the leader scenes. The game is in it's 13th year now, but has aged very well IMO.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

I just hate the gun models in Civilization VI. They remind of when Google and Apple changed the gun emoji to a water pistol.

 

[Tech Osen]

I don't really have a preference between 5 and 6, but I would really like to see the return of more serious quotes instead of the meme nonsense of 6.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

I don't really have a preference between 5 and 6, but I would really like to see the return of more serious quotes instead of the meme nonsense of 6.

Some of them I really liked, for example, the Churchill quote about pigs, or the 'it's pretty, but is it art?', though some of them were lazy nonsense.
I firmly believe history shouldn't always be told from the POV of a stuffy old man with an overbearing reverence for his subjects; I prefer Horrible Histories' irreverent and fun-loving approach to pop history.

 

[GIO888]

I voted for photorealism - because it can be hilarious AND creepy as eff!!

 

[nzcamel]

I don't really have a preference between 5 and 6, but I would really like to see the return of more serious quotes instead of the meme nonsense of 6.

Some Civ 6 quotes are just... *chefs kiss* Here's a few:

"Bronze is the mirror of the form, wine of the mind."
– Aeschylus

"Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship."
– Omar Bradley

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."
– Epictetus

"Not all who wander are lost."
– J.R.R. Tolkien

"The pen might not be mightier than the sword, but maybe the printing press is heavier than the siege weapon. Just a few words can change everything."
– Terry Pratchett

"There is little man has made that approaches anything in nature, but a sailing ship does."
– Allan Villiers

"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too."
– Marcus Aurelius

"The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."
– G. K. Chesterton

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
– T.S. Elliot

"From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us."
– Napoleon Bonaparte

"Then weave the web of the mystic measure;
From the depths of the sky and the ends of the earth,
Come, swift Spirits of might and of pleasure,
Fill the dance and the music of mirth."
– Percy Bysshe Shelley

But yes, there are a few too many that are at best clumsy attempts at humour.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

“I thought clay must feel happy in the good potter’s hand.”

– Janet Fitch

I'm not sure what this was originally supposed to mean, but I like Sean Bean's reading of it, very wistful

 

[shaglio]

Why are we bogging down an "Art Direction Style" thread with a "tech quotes" discussion?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

“I thought clay must feel happy in the good potter’s hand.”

– Janet Fitch

I'm not sure what this was originally supposed to mean, but I like Sean Bean's reading of it, very wistful

It feels like a religious metaphor. The Potter being God and a person being clay shaped by intent and purpose.

Whatever the art style, I'm not looking forward to the endless pile-on of complaints about it. Even less, the people who will refer to the art style as "the graphics."

 

[Thormodr]

It feels like a religious metaphor. The Potter being God and a person being clay shaped by intent and purpose.

Whatever the art style, I'm not looking forward to the endless pile-on of complaints about it. Even less, the people who will refer to the art style as "the graphics."

It is a religous metaphor found in a number of places in the Bible. For example:

Isaiah 64:8
New King James Version
8 But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.

As for the coming arguments about the graphics/art style, not looking forward to that either.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

It feels like a religious metaphor. The Potter being God and a person being clay shaped by intent and purpose.

I felt that it could be interpreted as a meta-commentary of the player and the game.

Think about it. You've started up the game, you're building stuff, planning sites for future cities, determining your people's technological path, moving units here and there, choosing policies that determine your people's societal makeup, all towards a grand end of 'winning the game', and amidst a gaggle of silly and inspiring quotes this one pops up.
Bean's gentle, subtly wistful intonation sets you thinking. You've been directing your people here and there, doing what you think is better for them according to your own notions of what it means to win the game, yet you never bothered to think about how they  felt about being directed so. You are still sure that your goal is worth pursuing, but it is only you who see the final form of the clay you hold in your hands, but the clay does not, can not know. Did the clay want to be molded by a strange omniscient being, not being able to evolve organically according to the dictates of its nature and not the whims of an unseen deity? And were you right in thinking the clay would be happy?
The 'I' in the quotation seems to refer to the 'good potter' rather than 'clay'. It is not a whimper of protest by the dictated-to, but the bitter realisation by the dictator that his intentions can never be clearly known and understood by whom he dictates to, and that they resent him for it.

All of that captured in a few seconds of audio.

Of course, I feel that I am reading too much into this. Looking up Janet Fitch on Google, she doesn't seem to be the sort to have intended so deep a meaning in her oft-quoted line. And I am sure that the interpretation arising from this quote in the game owes nothing to any ingenuity on the part of any of the people who worked on the game, but came about due to a happy accident.

 

[Metalz]

I like the stylized/cartoon-esque direction for what's concerning the actual gameplay (map, districts, forests etc.) even though I'd tone down the saturation a little lol.
It makes everything very clear on all deviced pretty much, while Civ V's looks pretty cluttered and "confusing" at times.

The leaders... meh. I prefer V's 'realistic' design much more, it helps alot that they also focused on the background and interactivity between the two.
I also really disliked how they emphasized the stereotypes AND Pixar(?)ization of certain leaders - it wasn't even consistent. You have fully caricaturized leaders such as Phillip II, Gandhi, Pedro, a more realistic design such as Curtin's, Ambiorix's, Tokimune's and a weird in-between like Trajan's, Kieta's, Yongle's and so on.

 

[vorlon_mi]

If one looks at the "30 years of Civ" videos, one would see that nearly all of the iterations look more or less cartoony, like a caricature. Civ5 took that in a different direction, as did BE. Civ6 moved back to the cartoonish style, which surprised players who first entered the game with Civ5. I voted for "cartoonish", just because that's consistent with the franchise.

My personal favorites were the way that the cartoon leaders clothes changed in Civ3 as the 4 ages changed; I also really enjoy the way that the BE leaders appearance changes as they grow deeper and deeper into a particular affinity.

Having said that, Civ6 made a major effort to improve representation. Showing leaders from all over the world, representing cultures that are less well known in the USA than the "greatest hits" civilizations from the first few games. The sheer breadth of leaders is great. But are we doing those under-represented leaders any favors if the game shows them in a stereotyped or unflattering way? Perhaps better proportioned bodies and heads, less "Toy Story" or "The Incredibles" and more along the lines of the people in "Inside Out" or "How to Train Your Dragon" . It's possible to show *believable* human beings without being photorealistic.

 

[UWHabs]

My biggest wish wish civ 7 graphics is an art style that lets me easily see the hills tiles. I'll live with whatever they want to do with the leaders, but being able to quickly and easily distinguish the terrain on the map without having yields always visible would be huge.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I don't know when my oft-hoped dream of a Picasso-inspired all cubist leaders Civ will come true.

 

[queenpea]

I don't know when my oft-hoped dream of a Picasso-inspired all cubist leaders Civ will come true.

I believe

 

[Futumch]

I don't mind the current Civ 6 leader appearances. There's quite a range of quality for the various models, but on the whole they are pretty good.
The map, though. The map is tricky, because apart from going from squares to hexes, it hasn't really evolved to present new modes of play. About the only new map related feature is the environmental degradation via things like fires, ice melting, floods and volcanoes.
I think the next Civ ought to aim for a much much more realistic map, where cities are significantly smaller than they are at present. I don't mean smaller as in lower population, I mean physical size. Have a seamless zoom feature to help with placing districts and wonders, and use that similar zoom for handling battles between units if necessary. Let's have a prevailing winds system to help with ocean crossings. Let's have the ability to beat back deserts, flatten hills and flood valleys.
Anyhow, that's my 2c worth.

 

[Disgustipated]

I'd prefer a mix between civ6 and civ5 actually. Civ5 is too dull and I certainly don't want to go back to those graphics. Civ6 can sometimes be a bit too silly, however, so something in between would suit me fine.

 

[TheCleanerDragon]

I'd prefer a mix between civ6 and civ5 actually. Civ5 is too dull and I certainly don't want to go back to those graphics. Civ6 can sometimes be a bit too silly, however, so something in between would suit me fine.

Civ4?

 

[Gedemon]

I don't know when my oft-hoped dream of a Picasso-inspired all cubist leaders Civ will come true.

Spoiler :

don't thanks me, thanks the AI