LazloMendelbummer
01-07-2008, 03:19
The Batman Analogy
AKA... Comparing the history of Batman films to the Diablo franchise.
Batman has worked great on film as a character living in a dark and edgy environment. I think everyone can agree that Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan have done great jobs with their artistic direction.
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/news/batman-begins/BatmanBegins1.jpg
Example- "Batman Begins". Here there's tons of shadows and a VERY reductive palate. A lot of the move looks monochromatic and it worked.
However, the Batman franchise has been taking in other horrible directions, too...
http://www.fanzing.com/images/imgs03/brobin.jpg
Example- "Batman and Robin". Here we have a director that really likes to use color to portray feeling and drama. You know what? It didn't work. This movie was not only a flop because Batman's suit had both ice skates and nipples, but because it didn't look right. When it doesn't look right, it doesn't feel right.
The Diablo universe, while diverse, is meant to be an intimidating and gory place. Heck, the teaser for the original had a crow pulling out a corpse's eye from it's socket. Ouch.
http://www-users.mat.uni.torun.pl/~rembol/eng/diablo1.jpg
Diablo - lots of area is covered by shadow. Sometimes things would lurk right near you which you weren't even aware of.
We've all seen the new screens. It does look like a Disney-fied version of Hell.
http://www.craphound.com/images/newwdwmansionrehab.jpg
Above: Disney's Haunted House. I take that back... Disney's Haunted House is DARKER.
Oh well... Blizzard is officially mainstream.
A little background on myself...
The first Diablo blew me away. As I sat in my office today and wasted time looking at the Diablo III material, I couldn't help but think back on Diablo's release. Getting pk'ed my first time was a big motivator to join a guild (Order of the Lost) and then learn HTML / Photoshop. That ridiculous experience somehow got me to where I am today. I was heavy in the DII community, though I didn't drop as many hours killing Big D's bros as I did Lazarus.
That said, in the most constructive way possible, the new Diablo disappoints in an artistic direction. I don't want to continue a spam-a-thon, but it's important that people speak up. While the trailer and most of the artwork looks appropriate, the gameplay itself does lack the curious things that go-bump-in-the-night. I remember in the original you'd have acid spitters puking sludge in your direction before you could even understand what you were seeing in the darkened corner of your screen. Heck, there were even weapons that would allow you a better seeing radius. It was HORROR.
Diablo III does have some neat gameplay offerings and ideas. Interactive environments, characters scaling the walls... GREAT. However, it seems to feel more like Gauntlet Legends than "Diablo".
I am a working artist and designer... so please don't give me too much crap about "taste".
AKA... Comparing the history of Batman films to the Diablo franchise.
Batman has worked great on film as a character living in a dark and edgy environment. I think everyone can agree that Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan have done great jobs with their artistic direction.
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/news/batman-begins/BatmanBegins1.jpg
Example- "Batman Begins". Here there's tons of shadows and a VERY reductive palate. A lot of the move looks monochromatic and it worked.
However, the Batman franchise has been taking in other horrible directions, too...
http://www.fanzing.com/images/imgs03/brobin.jpg
Example- "Batman and Robin". Here we have a director that really likes to use color to portray feeling and drama. You know what? It didn't work. This movie was not only a flop because Batman's suit had both ice skates and nipples, but because it didn't look right. When it doesn't look right, it doesn't feel right.
The Diablo universe, while diverse, is meant to be an intimidating and gory place. Heck, the teaser for the original had a crow pulling out a corpse's eye from it's socket. Ouch.
http://www-users.mat.uni.torun.pl/~rembol/eng/diablo1.jpg
Diablo - lots of area is covered by shadow. Sometimes things would lurk right near you which you weren't even aware of.
We've all seen the new screens. It does look like a Disney-fied version of Hell.
http://www.craphound.com/images/newwdwmansionrehab.jpg
Above: Disney's Haunted House. I take that back... Disney's Haunted House is DARKER.
Oh well... Blizzard is officially mainstream.
A little background on myself...
The first Diablo blew me away. As I sat in my office today and wasted time looking at the Diablo III material, I couldn't help but think back on Diablo's release. Getting pk'ed my first time was a big motivator to join a guild (Order of the Lost) and then learn HTML / Photoshop. That ridiculous experience somehow got me to where I am today. I was heavy in the DII community, though I didn't drop as many hours killing Big D's bros as I did Lazarus.
That said, in the most constructive way possible, the new Diablo disappoints in an artistic direction. I don't want to continue a spam-a-thon, but it's important that people speak up. While the trailer and most of the artwork looks appropriate, the gameplay itself does lack the curious things that go-bump-in-the-night. I remember in the original you'd have acid spitters puking sludge in your direction before you could even understand what you were seeing in the darkened corner of your screen. Heck, there were even weapons that would allow you a better seeing radius. It was HORROR.
Diablo III does have some neat gameplay offerings and ideas. Interactive environments, characters scaling the walls... GREAT. However, it seems to feel more like Gauntlet Legends than "Diablo".
I am a working artist and designer... so please don't give me too much crap about "taste".