in-game art style/evolution

Aquacorde

Aquacorde

♫ following where my arrow goes ♫
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    so thinking back on it all- what were the games that had your fav art style? not talking like, bonus/supplemental character art or anything, just in-game. which was most unique? what about it did you like compared to the other games? do you think they should have kept some traits in future generations, or do you like how they developed? idk talk abt this art
     
    Almost certainly HGSS. To be honest I didn't really like the use of 3D used in later generations - especially Gen 5 where the DS is at its absolute limit trying to render some fancy 3D scene and compromises by pixelating the whole thing. Later generations obviously do better, but I'd still prefer minimizing use of 3D wherever possible. Gen 4 was a good balance where they used it sparingly.

    Color is also a big factor for me. I really disliked the color scheme in Diamond and Pearl - it seemed pretty desaturated and dull in my opinion, and while Platinum largely fixed that, it couldn't eclipse HGSS as far as vibrant colors and details. I loooove the HGSS art style + mapping style, and especially getting the opportunity to check out Kanto in the fancy new graphics boosted my opinion by a lot.

    Finally, the overworld sprites are really nice as well. Gen 4 did a fantastic job at those, whereas I've always found the Gen 5 sprites and Gen 6 models to be blocky and weirdly proportioned.
     
    for some reason i remember HGSS as being far more dull than Plat? idk if I'm just remembering wrong or i preferred the mood of Plat to HGSS but I definitely liked it better

    I loved the vibrancy and business of Emerald tho tbh and I felt that Gen4 lost out on some of that somehow?
     
    Emerald was definitely really cool in regards to its art style, but I seriously love HGSS', some of the scenery depicted in those games in my favourite in all of Pokemon history. Like the Bellchime Trail, that place is just beautiful.
     
    It's funny, during 6th gen I thought the graphics and art style couldn't get any better, and yet here we are, the most beautiful generation yet.
     
    G/S/C is still the epitome of Pokemon for me, especially stylistically. The things they achieved on an 8bit, hugely limited palette was nothing short of incredible.

    After G/S/C it's probably Gen 7 and then Gen 4 for me. Gen 5's mix of pixel art and rendered images looked mismatched a lot of the time (although I appreciate what they were trying to do) and Gen 6 (particularly ORAS) just looked a bit weird, like they knew what they wanted to do but couldn't quite do it?
     
    I'm very much happy with the environments and scale in gen 7, so I'd have to say for my favorite art styles - gen 7 is pretty high up along with gen 4, gen 3 but I kind of like FR/LG's look more than RSE even if I loved the games, and gen 2.

    I each kind of love them for different reasons? Like what Hands said, there was a lot achieved with it being 8-bit and limited in palettes. I know this thought isn't shared with everyone but I actually like some of the poses and slight animations in Crystal compared to some later sprites. As for the environments in GSC, I think they're alright. I think I enjoy the vibrant palettes in 3rd gen games, I think the slight tite changes and how overworld sprites looked make me like FRLG a little more than RSE. 4th gen had tone down on the ranges of shading in a lot of the sprite work for Pokemon and trainers - BUT you're able to read what the form is.

    I think moving forward, a lot of art gets more legible and that could mean cutting down on shading or making more readable poses for Pokemon. From 5th gen to present, I think the constantly moving animation has gotten a lot more "life like" and I'm much more satisfied with each pokemon given unique characteristics in their animations.​
     
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