Shattered Fates Poor Art Quality

[Daemon Rayge]

tbh.. I'm waiting for the relaunch of the old priest of the light art.

That should be the next priest hero! And make it strong too so people will be forced to stare at it!

[Aegis N]

For me art quality is a potential deal-breaker; if it drops below a certain level (one it is close to) I won't play a game no matter how interesting the strategy is or how much time or money I have invested. I left a different DCG for this reason immediately after an expansion, even though it had previously been my favorite game in any genre. An issue is that a poor art piece can diminish an otherwise beautiful board even if it is the only poor piece out of ten or fifteen. There is much excellent art in the game, which is why I continue to play it, but some is embarrassingly bad and I would request consistency. Every piece should indeed be amazing.

Unacceptable cards include:

Stop Thief!
Thoughtful Investment
Special Delivery
Frying Pan
Temporal Disturbance
Reverberate

and others.

By contrast, everything by Eve Ventrue is excellent. It would be wholly satisfactory if she illustrated every subsequent card.

Especially frustrating to me as a Rogue player is that Garth Ravensoul's art is so sub-par and incongruous with other Rogue card art. It would have been far better to use the art currently on Sword Thief for Garth. But if I could change only one card, it would be Stop Thief!, a Rogue staple that nonetheless clashes with every other Rogue card aesthetically.

[Frango]

Kyle, hire this guy pls: http://orion35.deviantart.com/

[Aegis N]

Kyle, hire this guy pls: http://orion35.deviantart.com/

+1. He is great.

[Ness]

But if I could change only one card, it would be Stop Thief!, a Rogue staple that nonetheless clashes with every other Rogue card aesthetically.

Usually, I agree with people when it comes to criticizing bad art of SE since the opinions in these cases are often universal. However, I do not agree with this criticism. Stop, Thief! is a fine piece of art with a high sense of detail and respect of color, light and contrast. In fact, this is the first time I am hearing anyone say it is bad.

I wonder how much Wulven is saving on using subpar art and whether or not it outweighs the indignant response from the community. Like, how much do they have to pay for an art piece from the above mentioned artist compared to eg. Frying Pan?

[Aegis N]

I wonder how much Wulven is saving on using subpar art

An accounting of this would have to include the loss of revenue from prospective platers who pass over the game because of art pieces that are not competitive with other DCGs, and from former players who leave SE for reasons including subpar art. For instance, compare Stop, Thief! to:

Notion Thief.jpg

Stealer of Secrets.jpg

Spell Thief.jpg

Master Thief.jpg

Daring Thief.jpg

SwordThief.jpg

[Aegis N]

Addendum: I just noticed that Hearthstone is #6 on Time's 15 Best Games of 2014. Notably, the short review emphasized the game's "elaborate design values," calling it "slick" and "lavish." While I will never play HS precisely because its aesthetic does not appeal to me, I think the importance of style in a game cannot be overstated, and both Time and consumers in general seem to agree. The key is that a game's look be consistent. It can't have both cartoonish cards like Stop, Thief! and moody cards like Sword Thief--it needs to choose one of these artistic directions and stick with it. And I think it would do better to go the latter route to occupy a different niche than HS, with which SE cannot compete stylistically if it simply tries to imitate HS; at this point, the cartoonish niche is effectively already taken.

http://time.com/3643724/best-video-games-2014/

[LucasBlitz]

Addendum: I just noticed that Hearthstone is #6 on Time's 15 Best Games of 2014. Notably, the short review emphasized the game's "elaborate design values," calling it "slick" and "lavish." While I will never play HS precisely because its aesthetic does not appeal to me, I think the importance of style in a game cannot be overstated, and both Time and consumers in general seem to agree. The key is that a game's look be consistent. It can't have both cartoonish cards like Stop, Thief! and moody cards like Sword Thief--it needs to choose one of these artistic directions and stick with it. And I think it would do better to go the latter route to occupy a different niche than HS, with which SE cannot compete stylistically if it simply tries to imitate HS; at this point, the cartoonish niche is effectively already taken.

http://time.com/3643724/best-video-games-2014/

The only issue with all moody art is that it drags the game a bit especially since SE is a pretty slow compared to HS cartoon-esque fast paced fun style they've carried over from WoW. The only thing about SE is that the art is inconsistent and that once a barely known digital game goes physical you would assume the art would be the same. SE kinda shoots itself in the foot when it comes to art since they're very quiet about it as the community asks for simple things like more sleeves, playmats some minor aesthetics but it never comes down to it.
Another game factor find weak would be the lore. Something to bind everything together through the artwork but this also lacks that, kind of a shame really.

[Aegis N]

I agree.

And to put my money where my mouth is, once SF is stable (bug-free and out of beta) and SE is on surer footing I'll happily pay a couple-hundred Shadow Crystals per digital copy for an alternate-art version of Stop, Thief! created by an artist like Eve Ventrue, who skillfully evokes the mystery and menace that makes Rogues my favorite class.

[LucasBlitz]

As a rogue and sometimes Serena player I hope skilled ironmonger's art is good. Don't want to wait this long for a great 2cc ally to get mediocre art that doesn't reflect being a skilled ironmonger or a rogue.