Ugly.. Oh oh so ugly... Why Portraits and art so ugly!

God I love those bubbly-eyed smileys.

I have not seen all of the originals, but I think he has done a fantastic job throughout the development process. I can see why some people may think the art regressed, but in my opinion, the style merely changed. It's all a matter of perspective. As the ol' cliche goes: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

 

The art for me is charming i find that if you really dont like it you can mod it

 

And boy do those beholders have a lot of eyes... I guess that is why they seem to have many perspectives on the matter... A lot of angles. Of course that is a concept I seem to roughly look back at all the time; just like the "don't judge a book by its' cover" one as well.

If you don't know what I am talking about, just put that with D&D... (beholder in AD&D)

 

Heh, in my case, I honestly think Penny's ORIGINAL appearance looks better than she does now. I like her current look, but I think I honestly would've preferred her to continue to look similar to how she originally looked. =x

 

I created an account just to say,

"It's hideous."

I was checking out this game because I'm a harvest moon fan, but now that I see the actual artwork, it does kinda make me nauseous. I wonder if asians would like it because it is "western art".... It wouldn't take much to make it look good. Just give everyone a nose job. As mentioned earlier, a cute animal style would also help. It is really sad because I got my hopes up, and I just can't play this game.

 

Arise, ancient thread of evil, and stalk the living!

Echoing the sentiments of others who commented long ago and far away, portraits are one of the easiest things to change in this game, and there's dozens of mods to change the game art to fit just about every taste from whimsical to realistic. Many of us like the retro look of the game art for its own merits and are quite happy with it as is, but to each their own. If I may express my opinion, you're missing out on a fine, rich, rewarding, and fun game just on a matter of aesthetics that can easily be remedied with a few portrait mods.

 

Ahh, I'm the opposite. I like the SDV art but find the HM art creepy. I guess it depends on what you're used to, I'm personally not really big into the anime/manga look and much prefer a western look. (I'm a diehard Disney fan) Also 3D... 3D is creepy when not done right. That's when you really hit the lowest point of the uncanny valley. You just don't get that with 2D because it's much more cartoony.

 

Given that he made ALL the art in this game by himself, I don't feel it'd be fair to just say "Oh, this art is crap"...being an artist myself, I can appreciate that even if it's not everyone's taste, there still had to have been a hell of a lot of time and effort that went into making it. That being said, this is why we have a modding community. I've switched a few of the portraits myself, not so much because "oh I hate the original" but because someone made one that just looked so nice I had to have it. lol

I'm not a huge fan of anime, some of it's okay but I think it's overdone. Personally, its refreshing to see a game that doesn't go with it as the default look.

 

Each to their own, especially on such a subjective question as this. But personally? I really like the art style CA uses. It isn't realistic, but certainly closer to realism than, say, World's Dawn. And that makes the game seem less cartoon-like to me, since social interactions are a fairly important part of SDV. Like everyone else, I've seen the evolution of portrait art CA tried over time, and I'm glad he moved away from the more childlike visuals. The original, goofy expression of Alex, for instance, wouldn't go at all well with the guy who is both a jock, and a sensitive, very young man still suffering heavily from the loss of his parents. His face now looks lived in, if you follow me. Focused. All of the portraits to.

Again, this is just my personal view. And no better than the view of someone who feels otherwise.

 

Which art? The portraits, or the sprites? Personally it amuses me to be running around on a near lego toon, but I am old and remember games before there were lego people. Nor do I find the portraits offensive, current, or past. It is a game, it has ways to be modified by the very talented community. If you do not like it, swap it out.

As for the uncanny valley reference, perhaps it is not so much the art, as the play that bothers you? Needing to romance pixels? You can make friends with the characters before getting to the kissing everybody in town bits. Nor must you get married. Or, is it that the style of the art in game, not the portraits, are so "childish" that you become uncomfortable with the more adult themes? Surely there is more to trigger the use of that phrase "uncanny valley" than to rip someone's hard work, and then continue to not use the other options available to you?

I think, for a man alone, CA did wonderful work all around. Now look to what the community is offering if you care not for the vanilla aspect.

 

*Zombies: We want nice portraits of ourselves too!*

I do get a kick out of *this art is horrible* because art is extremely subjective. What one person perceives as crap another person may look at the exact same thing and think it is beautiful. Heck if you looked at my art work you would think the artwork in SV is wondrous in comparison (and no, I'm not giving you any examples. I'm no artist!) I feel that the artwork could be better in some ways but as been mentioned before. if you don't like the art, there's mods to change it. Whining about the art, especially when there is the ability to change it with mods, seems rather foolish.

 

I personally love the artstyle of this game. If you don't like something, there's definitely a mod out there that can fix something to your liking. I'm not a huge fan of anime- style, though I wouldn't let that stop me from playing a game I enjoyed.

 

Well it's definitely quite a change from the Harvest Moon series. But I like it, gives more of a "Real human" vibe.

 

Krobus looks just like one of my neighbors down the street. Nice guy. Not sure why dogs and cats in this neighborhood keep vanishing, though.

 

I like the art style, but if you don't then there are plenty of Mods out there that will change things in Stardew

 

I like the art. It's the text that bothers me.

 

I think the art style is good, it is realistic and it is right. Still - I don't like it. But I know it is only my feeling and I am happy that I can use mods and find something more suitable...