Graphic style grows on you?

The screenshots don't do it justice really. The game shows off the best in m otion.

I have seen some criticism of the graphics here and there, but don't understand why.  What I've seen so far is elegant and understated, reminiscent of the late Victorian and Edwardian illustrators of heroic romance.

They really do grow on you as well. I was skeptical at first and thought because it was "cartoony" that it wouldn't look "cool" and I'm very glad to say I Was Wrong. Some of the monsters look especially bad ass. Trust me, you got nothing to worry about my friend.

Yeah, especially once you see it in game the style feels pretty natural.. more stylized than "cartoony".

That's going to be a pretty common opinion, brother

I always liked the look.  I am so sick and tired of "realistic" graphics in every game.  As Borderlands demonstrated to me, sometimes artistic flair is far more engaging than photo-realism.  I suspect this is doubly true when dealing with fantasy and sci-fi.

They let you out of the dungeon?

In a fashion, the later RTK games looked like this in style, at least on the map. I liked the style, it feels very regal and different. Besides, the style makes the game timeless in the sense that the graphics won't get out of date.

the screenshots come off almost more as paintings than a game, i think its a good look for a fantasy environment.

I'm actually kind of sad that the beta is over and it is going to be released, but because there is still SO much work that needs to be done.  Granted, I have rarely been able to ever play longer than 10 minutes without it crashing, so I haven't seen much of what there is... 

My main concern is that the graphics are nice and all, but still totally unusable.  By unusable, I mean that zoomed all the way out to the cloth map is still the only way to play, as only in that view are you able to tell at a glance what tiles are what.  Zoomed in, it is a clusterfuck; I still can't tell what is what.  Makes me sad.  The best graphics in the world are useless if the art design is such that everything is totally unintelligible.

Hopefully that will be addressed in the 'magic' patch between now and release, but I don't think so.  Shoot, I'd settle for the game to not crash at this point.

Hrm...the little I played in the beta (I limited my time with it to keep the game fresh for release) I did not have a lot of trouble telling what was what while zoomed in?  Sure I had to mouse over things a little to pull up the tooltips, but that doesn't seem like a problem to me.  I mean if I was really exploring a world and saw something off in the distance, I would not immediately know exactly what it was?  When I focused my attention on it, I would probably see better what it was...I kinda figure that is what I am doing by mousing over something I see for the first time (taking a closer look)...it makes me feel more like I am really exploring?

Even with as little as I played the beta, after I see something a couple/few times, I knew what they were without having to mouse over them though...that's more than good enough for me? 

What I mean is that in other games, it is pretty intuitive what you are looking at.  Look at other games with an overhead world-view.  In Elemental, zoomed in, I don't know what I'm looking at.  Are those trees?  Is that a rock or a pouch I can get goodies from?  Is that an interactive thing or what?  I have no idea.  I have to hover my mouse over every single square.  Zoomed out, this is not an issue.  The cloth map provides everything you need to know instantly at a glance.  Being forced to play the game zoomed out like that kind of defeats the purpose of having any graphics at all.

Look at Civilization, or HOMM, or Disciples, or AOW, or old school Warlords, or any other game with a world map.  At a glance, I know exactly what is going on.  I know the terrain features, where the goodies are, where to go, where not to go, etc.  In Elemental, this is not the case.  Unless you zoom out all the way, there is no way to get any information other than hovering your mouse over everything, and praying that you didn't miss anything important.

But, like I said, the game crashes so frequently, I have been unable to put a lot of time into it.  Maybe I'm crazy, or going blind or something.  I'm just a little sad that it is getting rushed out the door when there is a lot of work still to do. (and I don't even mean just graphics)

yeah, the first time i saw the cell shaded graphics i let out a little groan.  however, i have grown quite fond of the art style and the graphics.  i just bought a new gtx460, i doubt the game will push it to the limit, but i am ready .

Initially I strongly dislike the graphics especially the strong bold borders. But over the time they have adjusted it, added some colors, fine tuned, and now, it is very nice and clean.

My biggest problem is that I too can not see things like "pouch of gold" - even though it is shiny, there are so many things around and it is SO small, that it is invisible for me. I have to zoom out and check the cloth map.

It would be better if it was either larger, or more shiny and may change the color of shine as well. And if after claiming it, the square where it has been would become normal square, without any clatter on it.

I grew from dislike to love with borderlands graphics. I'm thinking this game will be the same. I hadn't preordered the game until recently because I just didn't think I'd like the game (not just graphics), but the more I read (and saw) the more I though... hmm stardock doesn't make a bad game. I'm looking forward to the game now and seeing the graphics first hand. My machine is nowhere near powerful enough to display this game at max settings (though someday I will have one that will), but I think it will be pretty still.

I can't wait to see this game in action!

Glad to see people digging the graphics... so far I do too. Also I find that stylized graphics age a lot better than realistic ones...

I think the art style is great.  Thought so the moment I saw a screen shot of the game back before I pre-ordered it last year.  Disciples II is another game where they took a chance on different look, the gothic style art drew me in.  Same here.  And, as pointed out, I think it really brings out the fantasy element.  And, to the OP, yes, the more you look and play around in it, the more it grows on you.  Along with the music I honestly think it will push more immersion.  So, well done and kudos to the team who were responsible for choosing it. 

Best regards,
Steven.

Well, those are not the only two options. I would not call Starcraft II or Civ 5 graphics "realistic" either, yet they work just fine.

I'm too easy to please so not growing on me, I was already converted. That said, they have been getting better and better.

I've always valued gameplay over graphics anyway, so a stylized approach and a rendering engine that doesn't use every shader trick in the book is fine by me so long as the game itself is solid.

I also have had some fun during the un-fun beta, mostly exploring the game and world maps and TRYING to crash it.

harpo

The graphics style has always been great in my opinion. It's quite unique for this genre.

In one of the QtT threads Brad said he was kicking them out.

The art style takes getting used to because it's kind of jarring at first. It's kind of like if you're a Bud Light drinker and someone hands you a dark craft beer. Once you get over the initial "OMG what is that!?" shock, you can evaluate it and might find you like it.