Factions Skill Art = Yuck

Blargo

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

Don't know if this has been discussed before...I tried searching but found nothing.

I just got Factions a few days ago. The in-game art, scenery, and graphics looks great as Guild Wars always does, but I personally don't like a lot of the icon graphics for the new skills. It's nothing big, but just a gripe.

I'll just link this page for example..., you can see the Factions skills are blurry, abstract looking messes. To me, the Assassin skills pretty much look like purple blobs with red lines and look too similar to each other.

How does this look like a fox fang? It looks more like an insect leg. Whereas Backfire and Fragility have great detail and you can recognize them pretty easily.

Anyone else notice this or feel the same way? Am I just crazy?

Yuo Can Do It!

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2006

Rt/Me

dude - for fox fangs, i think it's supposed to be a hand holding a really curvy knife. I could be wrong though.

Oh and yeah - quality is much worse than prophecies quality.

bulletsmile

bulletsmile

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

I live in Konglevegen

N/

ye you're kinda right, they looks a lot more blurry than the old ones, but you know, anet has 2 teams, one that made prophecy and one that made factions so the last team probably went for another graphic style

joncoish

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2006

who cares?

Argen

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

Shadow Nation [SN]

Quote:
Originally Posted by joncoish
who cares?
Apparently he does... which does give him the right to post it up here. Not sure if this might go in the Sardelac Sanitarium though.

The icons seem a bit rushed... like they were constructed in MS Paint. Maybe they can get the guy who added the blades to Shiro to take care of this project. And let the rest of the dev team keep plugging away at the "oooops its broken, tweaky, or hey the community really wants this" stuff.

Cador

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Relax Its Just A [GAME]

R/E

It is not so much a suggestion as it is a rant.

Nightwish

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2005

While there is nothing serious about the icon graphics, I must say now I find it harder to recognize the skill identity based solely on the appearance of the new icons alone.

Argen

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

Shadow Nation [SN]

Good call, I normally look at most rants as suggestions though.

Huntmaster

Huntmaster

Banned

Join Date: Jan 2006

I is not canadien

Guillotine Tactics [GanK]

R/

Uh... i HOPE TO GOD that you're not making this assumption on the icons on guildwiki because those are just shitty images... I find most the factions icons look great.

Ole Man Bourbon

Ole Man Bourbon

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jun 2005

Atlanta

GONG

W/E

I agree, the new icons are too similar and bland compared to many from Proph.

devilru

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

公平さの光 [微笑]

Yep, I agree as well

Take a look at Famine and Equinox, hardly any difference.
The style they used also seems to be a bit blurred, not as clean cut as the prophecies skill icons.

It's nothing too major though, I can live with it.

Kakumei

Kakumei

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

Grind is subjective

learn this please

The Factions skills look worse on GuildWiki because they are shots from ingame, whereas the Prophecies skills are official art released on the main site--not screenshots.

snikerz

snikerz

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Rt/A

to emphasize what the OP means


just yuck, definenly done in ms paint


perhaps one of the devs looks like this


another dev


yet another dev with a goate, or is it the same dev


sigh


whats a lady got to do with energy


way of the empty face



buahahahahahh wtf

TheMosesPHD

TheMosesPHD

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

Oregon

Mo Mo Patty Blinks [MoMo]

R/

After further consideration and taking a closer look at how many devs are on icons I changed my opinion. The icons are ugly And all of the ritualist urn spell icons are various screenshots of in game characters blurred over with teal :S

Blargo

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

No, I'm not making the assumption on Guild Wiki's images however badly compressed JPEGs they are. It's an observance I got when I made an Assassin in Factions and saw the skill icons in the game and also when I was picking some new skills for my Ranger from Prophecies. I found those at GWiki the easiest to link at the time, so I linked them as an example.

I think some of the new ones do look good with that "style" (Ritual ones that I've seen come to mind) but others are just too muddy/blurry for my liking.

And no, it's not a big deal (like I said in the OP)...I know which skills I'm using since I picked which slot they went into. And I'm sure ANet has better things to work on and improve than skill icons. It's just that I found some skills just look too similar to each other or OMG Incom prehensible.

That's all.

Aisius

Aisius

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Melbourne , Australia

Crazy Clan[CRAZ]

W/

I think they look ok , agree thats some of the skills can look similar when I look at them quickly setting skills. Main reason you would here me cry about having the wrong stance in group is because of that. But, I'm still learning the attributes of each skill.
Another thing, I try to keep the skills relitively in the same place on my bar depending on there function, so really I just press 2 1 3 6 4 etc.

I'd do a comparison but I don't think you would laugh as hard as I did with Snikerz post =D

Vahn Roi

Vahn Roi

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2006

[HiDE]

I like them, especially the new Necromancer and Mesmer skills where it looks like the manipulated real photographs of people

salaboB

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blargo
I think some of the new ones do look good with that "style" (Ritual ones that I've seen come to mind) but others are just too muddy/blurry for my liking.
Some of the ritualist ones (Like recuperation) look amazingly dangerous, when they're really beneficial. It would have been nice if they'd made effects you want on you look noticably different from some of the hexes that exist. (Honestly, I think I'm about to die when I see recuperation pop up on my effects bar)

Vahn Roi

Vahn Roi

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2006

[HiDE]

I personally like Soothing more tha Recup...Rit art is very interesting.

Stabber

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Plane of Oblivion

Sigilum Sanguis [keep]

Me/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntmaster
Uh... i HOPE TO GOD that you're not making this assumption on the icons on guildwiki because those are just shitty images...
Uh... they are all screen caps. There is next to no difference between what you see in game and what the skill icons on the GuildWiki are. Care to explain what you mean?

generik

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005





Talk about wavey meaningless lines..

plasmasword

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2005

Dev1: "Hey lets make skill icons with our pictures in them!"
Dev2: "On no! They can still make our faces out! Lets blurr them so they can't tell."

Cash

Cash

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Bound By Wild Desire [Wild]

gotta love the chuck norris skill tho .... dunno how to post pics but i think its called "mighty was vorizun"

Kakumei

Kakumei

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

Grind is subjective

learn this please

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stabber
Uh... they are all screen caps. There is next to no difference between what you see in game and what the skill icons on the GuildWiki are. Care to explain what you mean?




Yep no difference at all.

mqstout

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Pittsburgh

I find too many of the Factions skill icons look too similar. Combine that with the fact that you're forced through the game so quickly and barraged with all sorts of skills continually, and it makes for a very difficult time of learning skills and skill icons to know what the hell the mobs are doing to you.

Jagflame

Jagflame

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

Illinois

Yours, maybe? Drop me a line.

N/Me

Quote:
Yep no difference at all.
Those are different skills... Stabber was referring to the fact that GuildWiki and ingame skill pictures are virtually the same, save insignificant amounts of quality.

His post had nothing to do with the quality of Prophecies and Factions skills.

Kakumei

Kakumei

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

Grind is subjective

learn this please

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jagflame
Those are different skills... Stabber was referring to the fact that GuildWiki and ingame skill pictures are virtually the same, save insignificant amounts of quality.

His post had nothing to do with the quality of Prophecies and Factions skills.
sighhhhhhh

The top skill is "GuildWiki" art (actually just official skill art released on the GW main site). The bottom is a screencap from ingame.

So this

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stabber
Uh... they are all screen caps.
is not accurate.

Sir Skullcrasher

Sir Skullcrasher

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

California

15 over 50 [Rare]

W/Mo

Also did you notice that most of the skills from factions isn't that different from those skills you get in original GW.

MrScaRy

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by snikerz
to emphasize what the OP means


just yuck, definenly done in ms paint


perhaps one of the devs looks like this


another dev


yet another dev with a goate, or is it the same dev


sigh


whats a lady got to do with energy


way of the empty face



buahahahahahh wtf
this made my day LOL

Morgana

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Armour of the Republic

N/W

I like the rit skills art, but that's about it. Most of 'em do look too messy, especially the sin and some of the new mes skills...

Stabber

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Plane of Oblivion

Sigilum Sanguis [keep]

Me/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kakumei
is not accurate.
The context of this thread is "Factions Skill Art".

Ensign

Ensign

Just Plain Fluffy

Join Date: Dec 2004

Berkeley, CA

Idiot Savants

Some of the new skill icons are gorgeous, esp. ritualist ones. Some of them are godawful blobs, like many of the assassin icons. Obviously they have more than one artist. It's just unfortunate that one of them is so bad at their job.

Peace,
-CxE

Isis Mordecai

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2005

Mo/W

ritualist defo. got the best of the skill art.


one of my fav's

plus i wish all the rit spirits looked like destruction's. looks evil as feck.

Mustache Mayhem

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

BEN

R/N

yeah man that destruction looks strait badass even though it kinda sucks lol =] I like the rit skill art- assassin skills it's just hard to tell what skill is what.. dunno if it's the color scheme or they're just too similar

jackie

jackie

/retired

Join Date: Dec 2005

On the Beach

Ritualists skill arts are superb

Abdul

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2005



Hi-res versions of the Factions icon art exists, it's a shame they are so damn blurry in the game.

dgb

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Sep 2005

Mo/Me

Do you have a link to the entirety of the skills?

Red Locust

Red Locust

Site Contributor

Join Date: May 2005

Some of the CH1 skill icons were not only beautiful but very creative. The shattered mirror in Fragility, the eclipse in Blackout, or that demonic shadow in Spiteful Spirit, among many others. They just had a lot of personality.

The new skills definitely look good, but they lack that creativity. Especially with the assassin skills (but also the rit) they limit themselves to a very specific style (i.e. hands holding daggers or blurred figures performing an action) and there isn't much variation to set the skills apart from each other. Same with the rit skills, I still have a very hard time distinguishing between different assn/rit skills.

If you do a quick scroll-through of the CH1 and CH2 skills, you'll notice how a lot of the CH1 skills have certain things that make them unique, whereas most of the CH2 skills are just different variations of the same hand-holding-dagger/blurred-figure/person in blue background wielding sword and/or lightning bolt theme.

Stabber

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Plane of Oblivion

Sigilum Sanguis [keep]

Me/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abdul


Hi-res versions of the Factions icon art exists, it's a shame they are so damn blurry in the game.
Brief investigation shows that not all Factions skill icons are present at these locations. In fact, none besides the ones you linked to seem to exist. I'm curious: how did you find these?

floppinghog

floppinghog

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2005

pit of brimstone

Squad Six Six Six [ssss]

A/Me

i wish they didnt limit themselves to just purple and black shades for mesmer skills and these girls having PMS.... seriously some of the degen spells like conjure nightmare is so hard to make out or look at correctly to SEE anything but a purple blob.. this much is true for mesmer.

assassin, i wish they a few more colors to differ some of the skill lines etc..

ele isn't all that bad but i feel like they tried to keep the same color scheme way too hard.

rit i really like the artist's take on the skill description to icon very easy to KNOW what your looking at.

monk spells are alittle wacked too, some are great stand outs some just blurr into white/blue lines like above in this thread.

i hope we get a different artist on necro skills for chap 3 cause no offense to the last artist but hes gotta stop using that light green - white- shity blending with EVERYTHING its so horrible looking and its always some blurred splash of green water or something or .... something. really could have used some revising.

rest overall were fine i think, warrior icons were generally good and you could make out easy what they did from seeing the icon, some not as easy more irrelavent as to just WHAT DOES that do....?

but everyone has their own take on artistics, myself included - good job devs/artists alike you did what you did and did it well.