What style of art do you prefer?

[Fatalmasterpiece]

This has been discussed before but thought it worthwhile to bring it back up and ask more specifically.

What style of art do you prefer in a game? Please select all that apply.
Are there any styles that you can't stand or are an instant turn off?

The games listed are simply to give popular examples of a given genre, not to be an exhaustive list or stand for the best of a particular style.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

I'm not terribly picky, except for a bias against Honey Select and especially Koikat(s?)u (plus real-porn). If there's one art style I prefer, it's good pixel art.

 

[moskis22]

I can't stand 3d art, i don't know why, but it feels boring for me

 

[Omae wa shinda]

3d real face art ruin something for my immersion like why?
Honey select didn't cross that line for me :/ maybe it is because of beautification effect?

 

[apatheticcreative]

I see most Daz3D kind of like I see default graphics in an RPG Maker game. There are absolutely good games made using Daz3D/default RPG Maker graphics, but most are not. Even if the game is good, those default graphics are a hurdle to get over, as I'm typically going to assume it's more low-effort garbage unless some other hook intrigues me enough to give it a try.

The realistic 3d rendered look tends to be a bit too uncanny valley to me most of the time too.

 

[Skandranon]

I really can't fap to 3d art in games, it's just so plastic and fake and doll-y.

Not to mention games with 3d are usually a lot more vanilla, sex-wise, because 3d models look ridiculous trying to do unrealistic stuff.

 

[Fatalmasterpiece]

Thanks for all the input. Ultra realistic 3d art like Daz seems very popular at the moment but also to be a hard no for some people. I think it just falls too hard into the uncanny valley on many individual's eyes.
Personally I really like it at times but lament the loss of artistic touch you only get through hand drawn graphics.

I can't stand 3d art, i don't know why, but it feels boring for me

Sometimes it really can be. There is no artistic requirement to producing 3d art so a lot of times it's just sterile placement of assets.
There are a lot of games where the developer has everything there but is lacking the spark to give it a soul beyond the sum of its parts.

 

[Skandranon]

Also - and this is important to me - cumshots are universally terrible in 3d. Just really really bad in 100% of them.

Which sucks cuz that's muh fetish.

 

[Beatrix Kiddo]

Doesn't really matter. I like them all equally if it's well done and shows quality, and find them equally underwhelming if done poorly. If anything, I would say it depends on the setting, plot and tone. Generally a more realistic based content goes well with somewhat realistic art, and silly unrealistic stuff like ahegao, extreme proportions and whatnot goes well with stylized art. I can't imagine something like Harem Hotel or Nymphomania Priestess with Daz, nor games like Being a DIK or Light of my Life with HS or 2d.

 

[nobrumski]

I just can't get into Honey Select style games. I keep trying, but the renders turn me off. I was always a graphics and art snob though.

 

[NukaCola]

I liked all the above except the Anime style. There is also another realistic hand drawing style that I liked. Its different from What a Legend, Summertime Saga which is more "cartoonish". Example: Milky Touch, Lust Campus, Our Red String

 

[CambionParadise]

Gotta be drawn in some way, I think. I think a lot of people do great work with 3D models, but a lot of them just strike me as very strange. Anime or Western

 

[Fatalmasterpiece]

I liked all the above except the Anime style. There is also another realistic hand drawing style that I liked. Its different from What a Legend, Summertime Saga is is more "cartoonish". Example: Milky Touch, Lust Campus, Our Red String

The art in those games is really neat, thanks for pointing them out.

Also - and this is important to me - cumshots are universally terrible in 3d. Just really really bad in 100% of them.

Which sucks cuz that's muh fetish.

Can you point out any examples of games or specific scenes where that was done well for reference?

 

[dexter111]

3D is good. I almost never felt uncanny valley effect. It's a good default instrument for a game (though standards for renders are now higher than in 2017).
Honey Select is ok, but has a lot of problems like weird facial expressions, terrible male faces and same locations in every game (this applies to 3D too though). Same goes for Koikatsu. Still, some of my favorites are made with them.
Western 2D is usually nice. Anime art always looked cheap for me.
Pixel-art can be very good, but I'm not sure it can apply to every theme.
Real porn can be good if it's not just lazily thrown without any editing.

I really love the look of The Klub 17 but unfortunately developers almost never use it. I remember only a few games.

 

[Fatalmasterpiece]

3D is good. I almost never felt uncanny valley effect. It's a good default instrument for a game (though standards for renders are now higher than in 2017).

It seems like some people really aren't bothered by it at all while others get the uncanny valley effect very easily from stuff like Daz3d.

 

[Doorknob22]

I'll be much more critical if a game involves Honey Select or Anime art than I would for 3d or western 2d art.

 

[Loganfin]

Unlike so many, I really enjoy a GOOD Honey Select game! One's done well like Max's Life, Dark Magic and My New Neighbors are among my very favorite games on here. The art is somewhat simplistic, but it really allows for a wide range of different body types and it seems like you don't have to be an absolute master to create sex scenes with a lot of good animations. But even OK HS games can be enjoyable. Its a system that seems to offer a lot of flexibility.

The Western 3D style games can be the best, but only if they're done really, really well. Some people are very skilled at that, but the vast majority are not, IMO. And if its not just right, then the characters all have this dead eye look, the lighting is so poor that its constantly distracting, and the sex scenes aren't hot at all. Even with games that have a good plot and sexy ideas, I find myself distracted by it.

As far as hand drawn art, again it has to be done just right, otherwise its not appealing to me at all. Summertime Saga and What a Legend are awesome. Almost everything else is just absolutely not for me.

 

[WSmith]

I'll be much more critical if a game involves Honey Select or Anime art than I would for 3d or western 2d art.

I am only critical of 3D art in that way, really. Honey Select, Western 2D I like, because they are far enough removed from reality. 3D art needs to be really good (and the story too) will it draw me in, because otherwise it just looks like plastic to me, like playing with blow-up dolls. To me, most models are ugly and fake looking. Women with these weird smiles, gigantic boobs... They all just look like plastic surgery people :S

I'm happy that there are so many different styles though, because it makes it fun for all. I'm genuinely surprised to see 3D art do so well. I always thought it merely existed because it was the easiest to make (lower bar to start posing than to learn to draw, I thought), not because people liked it the most.

 

[desmosome]

I can appreciate all styles, but I really don't like cutesy stuff. That includes koikatsu and cute anime style with big head big eyes. Still, if the plot and sexual scenarios are up to my liking, I could probably fap to it.

 

[muschi26]

I think it's about much more than just the art style.

There are 3D games I think look great (like Tresure of Nadia), others not so much (e.g. Neko Paradise). Sometimes the models are fantastic, but the animation is terrible, and that can also kill it for me. (I wish more people just made slideshows when they can't animate.) I haven't played Being a DIK or City of Broken Dreamers, but I think they look really good. My biggest problem with 3D games (besides animation) is that breasts often end up looking fake as shit (compare the characters with bigger racks in Treasure of Nadia vs. the ones with more realistic sizes). Also, clothing sticking tight to the curves of the models instead of drooping realistically, but that's more of a pet peeve.

I like Western cartoon styles in general, but all too often they either go very heavily into a stylization which doesn't appeal to me (e.g. Queen's Brothel—which I used to like a lot more before they redid all of the art), or exaggerate proportions to ridiculous degrees (like half the characters in Trials in Tainted Space). If I look at the three games you listed, I think that What a Legend looks great, Taffy Tales would look pretty good if it weren't for the titanic bust sizes, and Summertime Saga looks rather unappealing.

I'm a big fan of anime style. They can also be prone to exaggerated proportions, but I think both Monster Girl Club Bifrost and Discipline look great. Monster Girl Quest and Rance look good too, though they're maybe a bit too moe for my tastes. The reason I usually don't play them as much has nothing to do with art: looking through these four games you've listed, I see urination, prositution, rape, scat, etc., coming up several times. I might love the art, but Japanese and anime-style games frequently feature a bunch of tags I like this which I absolutely abhor.

Honey Select also has varying levels of quality. I think it looks pretty nice in general (Once in a Lifetime), but like the cartoon styles above, I feel there's a tendency for proportions to be exaggerated beyond what looks good (IMO), as is the case with a couple characters from Pale Carnations and Harem Hotel .