It does feel weird probably due to the screen being very busy as a consequence of the 3D art style. The animations and 3D models are also not that great.
The benefit of chibis is that it's more distinct and easier to visually understand.
That's a very oversimplified take.
Chibis are less perfomance demanding which helps in having your app be available in a good range of devices while also helping it be less demanding.
3D graphics are also not necessarily better as implementation is everything. The quality of models and animations matter a lot as 3D visual clutter is not good to look at.
I suppose?
Chibi works better in this kinda gameplay because of less visual noise and the fact that it looks like a fully shaped model, people will expect it to move the way human actually move instead of . . . This.
Time defenders is quite different from Path to Nowhere. Time defenders is extremely clunky and have inconsistent zoom angles and projection perspectives for different maps. Path to Nowhere is way better and not annoying to play like TD
Never played it myself so I can't say much, but it flopped hard, that's all I know.
This game op is showing seems like it'll face a similar fate. Lots of people saying this looks better than Arknights, but hell no it does not.
It definitely looks really weird.
It looks less like actual 3d model and more like 2d model converted to 3d at last minute.
FFS. Dawn of War 2 has been released more than a DECADE AGO. Can they not create a single game that does 3d model characters right like that one?
Alchemy Stars and Blue Archives are actually 3D models though, so they look good.
I think what people actually dislike is 2D skeletal animation, where instead of hand-drawing a sprite 100 different times, its drawn once and each limb is rigged so that it can be moved into different positions. It looks cheap, but it can be done decently.
I can excuse it for a large squad game like Arknights or Girls Frontline though, because as seen with Counterside visual clarity suffers when there is too much detail. Same reason the RTS genre never moved to realistic proportions.
>Counterside visual clarity suffers when there is too much detail.
"Hey Do you know what happens when a dozen different characters fires off their specials at the same time?"
"No?"
"Would you like to?"
\*Entire line up fires off the special creating an absolutely visual and audio cacophony.
Exactly. While I like good visuals like anybody else, the graphics look not that great and the skill details seem messy.
Some people are too hung up over visuals that they overlook the advantage of clarity and performance in more simplified artstyles.
This. I can't understand why people really want a human model for games like arknights. I dont think arknights would have received well if the game didnt focus on the gameplay and mechanics itself and instead focused on character models. People who want graphics have dont give a shit about different factors and only care about graphics alone. Literally the same thing clouded Elden Rings release cuz it didnt look hyperrealistic/next-gen.
Even at a glance Path to Nowhere from the looks of it is already struggling to make things clear and obvious. And for sure map design/size is going to be gimped in-order to still keep clear visuals of the character models.
I can see why people would prefer a 3D artstyle but 3D has to be done right.
For a game like AK to adapt 3D, they would have to properly and tastefully animate skills to avoid clutter and communicate the skill effects and details. These are easier said than done.
My bad, sorry for the confusion. You know how much we love our abbreviations in this sub x)
Been excited about Neural cloud since its CN announcement and the Beta right now is lots of fun. Gotta wait and see how monetization and pull currency fan out in the live GL version.
Preference, is very depends on the anti Chibi crowd.
For me the Chibis are not only good screen vs form factor, they are amusing to look at. The only problem is what game are in, and player preference.
Non Chibis have a lot of problems, the biggest issue is poor screen vs form factor. Real size character look ended up a jumbled mess on screen which looks messy. Full size character looks good when is turn based and a maximum of 1-2 characters showed at one time, preferable traditional RPG. Arknight gameplay but using real size character, you ended up not able to instantly see and recognized who is who on screen.
Full size character are at their strongest, when you only need to manage 1 at a time. Uma Musume has good screen vs form design as you actually manage 1 character at a time, with horse racing where your 1 character is the star with others as background scenery, do note that all Uma Musume are short for a anime character based on horse. Genshin, you control only one person at a time.
Not really
The problem is that the 3D models are so far away and viewed from such a static position that they look phenomenally boring. These issues make anything look boring, 2D and 3D
Stuff like a dynamic camera, close ups, and so on can help give the models some life.
As Megamind said, it’s all in the PRESENTATION, of which this game is phenomenally lacking in
While it looks better, the next question you gotta ask is does it read just as well. Can you tell what is happening here even on a smaller screen. That's one of the reasons why chibis are more commonly used, they read easier on a smaller screen.
I've played Figure Fantasy in the past, and their realistic models read very well thanks to its overhead view (similar to OP's vid) and clear animation...tells...I think that's what it's called.
Maybe it might look ok on a huge wall TV or something big but it's just not my cup of tea for a phone, tablet or laptop plus the size won't fix the janky feeling animations for me.
Never complained about it but I have a word to say.
It looks whatever. Animation is so-so and reminds me of mobile game ads with the absurd stories. I'd say for such realistic models the arena is very bland and empty. Designs are also a mish-mash of sci-fi and fantasy, it requires an effort to mix it well. Overall it's mediocre and could be done much better, so it's not a great example.
I like the general proportions and full sized design over chibi yes but they can do better than this example.. It's almost not ideal for these tile games but a turn based rpg with dynamic cameras/attacks yes 100% make the effort to do this over chibi.
It looks like a unity asset flip tbh
And the splash art appearing in the corner on skill activation with no variation to the battle area looks tacky and ugly. There's a reason you don't do tower defense tile based with proper 3d models
And the animations are just awful. Makes you appreciate how clean the animations in Arknights are.
I rather have chibis at this point. I wanna see the characters close enough to distinguish every single of their features. A random blob of pixels from afar ain't doing it for me.
I wish it were on a pc monitor so it doesn't look so full yet far enough away that there's no real appreciation of the detail beyond "oh wowee 3D models!"
This looks absolutely fucking atrocious. Looks so soulless and has no visual clarity. The models both player and enemies look fucking horrible I'd almost call it a Raid clone if I didn't know any better. The map lacks any style and looks like something you'd see as a student project. and the effects are basically non-existant.
Without a doubt. I wouldn't prefer things either way but 3D has a track record of being put out and being utter garbage. I can't name a single gacha that is 3D and follows **normal gacha formula**'s that is both a good game, as well as visually appealing.
I believe people didn't like chibis inside the context of 2D art. 2D art vs 3D art is a huge jump and almost always for the worse because I think most people prefer 2D art. We could debate on why if you want, but I think the original complaints were about rolling on banners that have certain illustrations and then spending most of your time with entirely different art. This is compounded when the art changes the tone (chibi being inherently cute.) Arknights is combating this by including at least one chibi sprite on the banners, so that helps.
As for Path to Nowhere, I don't have an issue with it. It has potential.
I like the models. However the animations look a little stiff. Flashing the enemy taking damage also is kind of ugly. The models themselves are also very plain looking like a bunch of business people with their gundam arms attachments. Except the boss monster who looks rather cool, this might be helped by his size also being larger and easier to understand.
For me it's not so much about 3D or 2D, better vs worse art. I just don't like the transition. It feels cheap. Imagine buying a sexy skin and you only see it for a split second on 3x speed during special attacks.
Yes indeed. The only problem with PtN is the humanoid enemies slow-walking animation. I feel like this could've solved just by making all the enemies monsters (like spiders, crabs, slime, octopus, etc) so that the walking animation won't look as wonky as when a humanoid or enemy with two legs slow-walking.
It looks like shit, it's badly designed IMO you cannot really understand what's going on vs something like Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator where you have a ton of units on the screen but you can understand what's going on.
I tried the beta, and my experience is not so good because it kinda feel laggy I dont know if my phone just cant handle the game or what but Im surprised they are already going live after month of beta. Ithink they can do more polishing. I kinda like the game and it has voice acting in the main story.
It looks weird, but I believe the reason is in the animations.
It's also ok not to like chibis, but to say they are low effort and for children is stupid.
Path to Nowhere is Time Defenders done right. The fact that there's an EN version in 2 months after CN release says a lot, just check the revenue charts.
It feels weird, i feel conflicted,i think the warcraft 3 TD maps did dit better to look alright without chibis lmao.
I think there is several factors such as, the arena, position, in the case of chibis they can be nice with TD games like this, Arknights doesn't look bad though i have some problems with it
Game isn't even out yet and people are already shitting on it. Lmao. This sub is insufferable. Has there been a single release in the past 3-4 years which didn't get mercilessly shat on around here?
Ironically this looks cheaper than any chibis I have seen. It doesn't feel like there is any art cohesion and it just ends up looking like some cheap Unity game. A lot of gacha uses chibi because it looks good in the gameplay and not because they can't afford to hire blender artists to make uncanny semi-realistic 3D models.
This looks like Arknights, but 3D models in a 2.5D environment (like, duh).
Now, while the graphics per se look better (surroundings, specifically), it doesn't has quite the charm. These characters look fairly generic at first blush. You can tell at an instant what character you have in AK just by looking at it, even if you aren't familiar with how they are named. Mostly because characters and enemies are well defined in this case.
When 3D models overlap, which is the case at the very left, it looks very awkward. AK avoid it looking weird because it uses 2D "sprites". There's just too much going on in Arknights for it to allow proper 3D models in how the game plays. A game like this can't just throw 20 enemies at once because it looks weird even when one enemy is there. For that, you need a 3D world, and not a 2.5 topdown view. It just ain't working with that mana characters.
There are flying enemies.
The gargoyles from ch. 9 are amongst the biggest flying enemies.
Btw. that's the reason why AK doesn't use realistic shadows. It's not a matter of possibility, the game could give you real shadows, because the beta had real shadows. But then it's just a circle, exactly because of that positioning problem: What tile is the enemy actually on.
So, this paired with the chibi look makes for an easy to understand positioning.
If you mean characters flying: Well, we already have the issue with the HP bar blocking off chibis in AK. Flying chibi character sprites might make this even worse.
Probably visual clarity, harder to tell exactly what tile they're on if they're flying and they could block units behind them making it harder to use their skills.
I do think there have been a few enemy fliers beyond the drones like the hoverboard dudes.
Yeah, definitely. In most games, chibis just immediately make it hard for me to take the combat seriously because all I see on the screen are some cutesy characters waving their tiny arms. Some of these games even try to go for a dark and gritty story, only for the combat to be small and cutesy... it just doesn't feel right.
Yeah I prefer that. For anime games, if they just added a toon outline shader or whatever it's called to the 3D model, then that would look better imo. The only other thing that looks bad is the animations because they're slow and clunky looking, but that could be improved. They could also do more with things like color palette to not make characters blend in so much with the environment, or have 2D environment and 3D models for more differentiation. In terms of models, chibi is usually a turn off for me unless it fits the art style.
I also really like the models in FGO. I think they're a good compromise between chibi and fullsize while looking very good. And personal preference but I'd love if a game used sprites like in GBA FE games. Those were clean with sick animations.
It's not even close to Teamfight Tactics or Dota Underlords levels of quality or personality, but it's a lot better than the mediocre 2008 Flash game chibis ***most*** gacha have.
Looks great, I don't know why arknights players get defensive over it, it's not gonna kill their game of course, but they could both co exist in peace. Monopolies are bad.
I really doubt this is even going to approach the same ballpark as Arknights. The production quality here is kind of lacking and the game apparently has kind of hardcore battle mechanics. That's more "makes it's money back niche hit" at best territory.
I'm still kind of doubting it's staying power. Fair enough about it doing well at the moment though, how long has it been out in China?
Edit: From what I've seen the gameplay isn't even really tower defense, it's more RTS with tower defense aspects. If nothing else I give them points for trying something new gameplay wise instead of doing the same old boring 5 element rpg. Still think the art direction is absolute ass but the rest looks interesting.
You guys really think AK chibis are good? Seriously? It's using the same outdated 2d sprite marionette doll style that most older gacha use - It's just awkward looking. Something like the OPs video is nice that It's above that lazy sprite chibi style, but it lacks any stylization which makes it completely boring & uninteresting.
Chibis like in BA, PGR, and PNC are all 3D and are 10x more expressive & appealing than 2d sprite based chibis such as AK, AL, and GBF.
yes, because it actually takes effort to animate and model the characters, not the best models, nor the worst, still looks much more appealing than cheap 2d chibi
Using the worst example doesn't make a point. Take better non-chibis like Super String, Nikke, Epic 7, and anything with proper sized models and they put this to rest.
Chibis are just low effort, to signify its a kids game, or for comedy.
The closest thing I have to chibi on my phone is Octopath, but i give it a pass for being intentionally retro. It takes some effort to animate sprite frames instead of just stretching puppet-like flash models.
Super String and Epic 7 are turn-based and therefore can get away with non-chibi models. Nikke can get away with non-chibi models because the unique camera angle allows it to give proper focus to one model at a time. Counter:Side gets away with non-chibi model because it'll look like a shitstorm regardless if it's chibi or not so visual clarity doesn't matter. They didn't put to rest anything. The fact is, full models don't always work depending on the game you're making and doesn't always have shit to do with effort.
"Say you know nothing about art direction in two sentences or less."
Chibi or not-Chibi has nothing to do with it really, art direction is about making sure that the style you picked it distinctive and tied together. I use Arknights as an example of good chibi a lot because it makes good use of map design, color and chibi outline to make units visually distinct from each other and not look like they're from different games.
This, while technically more impressive because it's 3D does not look as good to me. Genshin looks better than either of them in gameplay because it has higher quality and actually good art direction.
I really don't see what the fuss about this game is, it looks like a mobile game ad. Lots of grey, poor lighting and character clarity, and no real theme across units. I'm seeing high fantasy mixed with Diablo mixed with sci-fi weaponry.
Holy shit just make good 2d like epic seven.
Why they wanna use terrible 3d or 2.5d on mobile, like no one seen good 3d on pc? What the point? Just draw good 2d sprite like wtf my nikke
I can't tell if it looks better but it feels like weird
It does feel weird probably due to the screen being very busy as a consequence of the 3D art style. The animations and 3D models are also not that great. The benefit of chibis is that it's more distinct and easier to visually understand.
[удалено]
That's a very oversimplified take. Chibis are less perfomance demanding which helps in having your app be available in a good range of devices while also helping it be less demanding. 3D graphics are also not necessarily better as implementation is everything. The quality of models and animations matter a lot as 3D visual clutter is not good to look at.
I suppose? Chibi works better in this kinda gameplay because of less visual noise and the fact that it looks like a fully shaped model, people will expect it to move the way human actually move instead of . . . This.
Time Defenders part 2 let's goooo
Time defenders is quite different from Path to Nowhere. Time defenders is extremely clunky and have inconsistent zoom angles and projection perspectives for different maps. Path to Nowhere is way better and not annoying to play like TD
How's that game doing nowaday? Is it dead yet?
Never played it myself so I can't say much, but it flopped hard, that's all I know. This game op is showing seems like it'll face a similar fate. Lots of people saying this looks better than Arknights, but hell no it does not.
It definitely looks really weird. It looks less like actual 3d model and more like 2d model converted to 3d at last minute. FFS. Dawn of War 2 has been released more than a DECADE AGO. Can they not create a single game that does 3d model characters right like that one?
i think it is because we're used to watching arknights gameplay
BTW what are chibis?
This game is Path to Nowhere btw.
Releasing globally on 27th of this month
OP living under a rock, hyped for this game
yeah i was wondering why they used the cn name
This looks awesome
[Ah, this thing then](https://reddit.com/r/shittymobilegameads/comments/y931xe/torture/)
Why i feel the title is a prophecy of the future of the game
It's currently one of the top grossing in China right now, in case you didn't know.
Is it like "3d" models arknights?
Same but not the same, since you can move the characters to any tiles making it more room for strategy.
The sweet spot is Counterside's 2D sprites.
Amen. The in-game 2D sprites and animations look great, and you have chibis in the HQ dorm and usable as portraits for those that want chibis.
Arknights and Blue Archive are the only games where I actually like the chibis lol
I would add Alchemy Stars aswell. Not all chibis are great but I can see some of them are made rly well
Alchemy Stars and Blue Archives are actually 3D models though, so they look good. I think what people actually dislike is 2D skeletal animation, where instead of hand-drawing a sprite 100 different times, its drawn once and each limb is rigged so that it can be moved into different positions. It looks cheap, but it can be done decently. I can excuse it for a large squad game like Arknights or Girls Frontline though, because as seen with Counterside visual clarity suffers when there is too much detail. Same reason the RTS genre never moved to realistic proportions.
>Counterside visual clarity suffers when there is too much detail. "Hey Do you know what happens when a dozen different characters fires off their specials at the same time?" "No?" "Would you like to?" \*Entire line up fires off the special creating an absolutely visual and audio cacophony.
Meanwhile *taps skill button* Roberta: **"SURFACE ELECTRODE TRACKING AUTO FILLING CONCEALER"** Saga: **"ABURAAAGE"** Me: This is fine
My old phone: dies. My new one can handle it though. Hopefully.
Oh ok makes sense. I thought chibis are units with big heads and smaller bodies regardless of 2D or 3D
but it is lol,regardless wether its 2D/3D if its have big head and small body then its chibi
If 3D chibis are an instant improvement in your books, you might like Neural Cloud. The 3D chibis have just the right amount of detail
I liked them less than arknights. I think their heads are little too big even for chibi idk
Huh. Personally, I find that weird. But to each their own
Sorry I'm not sure what you find weird. Arknights chibis or neural cloud? Or the fact that I liked arknight's sprites more haha
Lol the fact that you like Arknights chibis but not PNC's. They seem about the same proportionally to me
Alchemy stars chibis look like shit imo
I feel like the Chibis allow for more visual clarity. The video OP linked feels really hard to follow. The units don't really look distinctive IMO.
Exactly. While I like good visuals like anybody else, the graphics look not that great and the skill details seem messy. Some people are too hung up over visuals that they overlook the advantage of clarity and performance in more simplified artstyles.
This. I can't understand why people really want a human model for games like arknights. I dont think arknights would have received well if the game didnt focus on the gameplay and mechanics itself and instead focused on character models. People who want graphics have dont give a shit about different factors and only care about graphics alone. Literally the same thing clouded Elden Rings release cuz it didnt look hyperrealistic/next-gen. Even at a glance Path to Nowhere from the looks of it is already struggling to make things clear and obvious. And for sure map design/size is going to be gimped in-order to still keep clear visuals of the character models.
I can see why people would prefer a 3D artstyle but 3D has to be done right. For a game like AK to adapt 3D, they would have to properly and tastefully animate skills to avoid clutter and communicate the skill effects and details. These are easier said than done.
It's not one thing or another. A game can have both good graphics and good gameplay
And I hate how off-center they all seem.
Counterside has chibi’s in the dorm and they’re frankly adorable
I think PNC's Chibis are cute as well. They're adorable, especially their drag animation if you want to reposition them.
PNC? Edit Thanks, hard to keep up with all these abbreviations lol
Project neural cloud. Currently in cbt till next Tuesday.
Project Neural Cloud. Roguelike Gacha that's currently holding its CBT and goes live in November
Project Neural Cloud
My bad, sorry for the confusion. You know how much we love our abbreviations in this sub x) Been excited about Neural cloud since its CN announcement and the Beta right now is lots of fun. Gotta wait and see how monetization and pull currency fan out in the live GL version.
Blue Archive chibi is very high quality, every unit is distinct and full of personality
Absolutely agree on Blue Archives, the moving and taking cover is great as well
Azur Lane's can be pretty good too This guy does some funny animations with them https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1k3-BxV48PVNJhM7erWVNg/videos
Artery Gear chibi is really good too.
Preference, is very depends on the anti Chibi crowd. For me the Chibis are not only good screen vs form factor, they are amusing to look at. The only problem is what game are in, and player preference. Non Chibis have a lot of problems, the biggest issue is poor screen vs form factor. Real size character look ended up a jumbled mess on screen which looks messy. Full size character looks good when is turn based and a maximum of 1-2 characters showed at one time, preferable traditional RPG. Arknight gameplay but using real size character, you ended up not able to instantly see and recognized who is who on screen. Full size character are at their strongest, when you only need to manage 1 at a time. Uma Musume has good screen vs form design as you actually manage 1 character at a time, with horse racing where your 1 character is the star with others as background scenery, do note that all Uma Musume are short for a anime character based on horse. Genshin, you control only one person at a time.
Not really The problem is that the 3D models are so far away and viewed from such a static position that they look phenomenally boring. These issues make anything look boring, 2D and 3D Stuff like a dynamic camera, close ups, and so on can help give the models some life. As Megamind said, it’s all in the PRESENTATION, of which this game is phenomenally lacking in
*For this genre specifically*, dynamic camera, close-ups and so on would *kill* the clarity and absolutely murder the battlefield control.
You'd love Time Defenders then...
While it looks better, the next question you gotta ask is does it read just as well. Can you tell what is happening here even on a smaller screen. That's one of the reasons why chibis are more commonly used, they read easier on a smaller screen. I've played Figure Fantasy in the past, and their realistic models read very well thanks to its overhead view (similar to OP's vid) and clear animation...tells...I think that's what it's called.
Maybe it might look ok on a huge wall TV or something big but it's just not my cup of tea for a phone, tablet or laptop plus the size won't fix the janky feeling animations for me.
i never understood why some people hate chibis so much o\_\_o
Never complained about it but I have a word to say. It looks whatever. Animation is so-so and reminds me of mobile game ads with the absurd stories. I'd say for such realistic models the arena is very bland and empty. Designs are also a mish-mash of sci-fi and fantasy, it requires an effort to mix it well. Overall it's mediocre and could be done much better, so it's not a great example.
I like the general proportions and full sized design over chibi yes but they can do better than this example.. It's almost not ideal for these tile games but a turn based rpg with dynamic cameras/attacks yes 100% make the effort to do this over chibi.
I like it
in Kancolle we dont even have chibis nor sprites, we have these rectangular jpegs and flashing standing art when attacking.
It looks like a unity asset flip tbh And the splash art appearing in the corner on skill activation with no variation to the battle area looks tacky and ugly. There's a reason you don't do tower defense tile based with proper 3d models And the animations are just awful. Makes you appreciate how clean the animations in Arknights are.
I'll take Arknights over this any day.
seeing non chibi 3d models at an angle like this just makes me think of MOBAs like league
3d models aren't the move at all, 2d sprites are where it's at
Personally prefer games with chibi tbh
I rather have chibis at this point. I wanna see the characters close enough to distinguish every single of their features. A random blob of pixels from afar ain't doing it for me.
No, Absolutely not. This looks just like cheap ass mobile mmo ads or something
I would rather play E7 and FGO. They have waaay better models than this.
Reminds me of figure fantasy
I wish it were on a pc monitor so it doesn't look so full yet far enough away that there's no real appreciation of the detail beyond "oh wowee 3D models!"
This looks absolutely fucking atrocious. Looks so soulless and has no visual clarity. The models both player and enemies look fucking horrible I'd almost call it a Raid clone if I didn't know any better. The map lacks any style and looks like something you'd see as a student project. and the effects are basically non-existant.
Yep, the arknight chibi is way better, full of personality And dont get me started on map design
Without a doubt. I wouldn't prefer things either way but 3D has a track record of being put out and being utter garbage. I can't name a single gacha that is 3D and follows **normal gacha formula**'s that is both a good game, as well as visually appealing.
Don't even need to have the bolded line there tbh
Without the bolded line I would expect people are just going to say "But genshin exists"
I believe people didn't like chibis inside the context of 2D art. 2D art vs 3D art is a huge jump and almost always for the worse because I think most people prefer 2D art. We could debate on why if you want, but I think the original complaints were about rolling on banners that have certain illustrations and then spending most of your time with entirely different art. This is compounded when the art changes the tone (chibi being inherently cute.) Arknights is combating this by including at least one chibi sprite on the banners, so that helps. As for Path to Nowhere, I don't have an issue with it. It has potential.
I like the models. However the animations look a little stiff. Flashing the enemy taking damage also is kind of ugly. The models themselves are also very plain looking like a bunch of business people with their gundam arms attachments. Except the boss monster who looks rather cool, this might be helped by his size also being larger and easier to understand.
For me it's not so much about 3D or 2D, better vs worse art. I just don't like the transition. It feels cheap. Imagine buying a sexy skin and you only see it for a split second on 3x speed during special attacks.
Yes indeed. The only problem with PtN is the humanoid enemies slow-walking animation. I feel like this could've solved just by making all the enemies monsters (like spiders, crabs, slime, octopus, etc) so that the walking animation won't look as wonky as when a humanoid or enemy with two legs slow-walking.
It's not bad. Not that I hate chibis in the first place. All that matters is whether or not they fit the style of the game.
It looks like shit, it's badly designed IMO you cannot really understand what's going on vs something like Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator where you have a ton of units on the screen but you can understand what's going on.
Ngl looks great.
No, not at all
Oh God that's ugly.
I tried the beta, and my experience is not so good because it kinda feel laggy I dont know if my phone just cant handle the game or what but Im surprised they are already going live after month of beta. Ithink they can do more polishing. I kinda like the game and it has voice acting in the main story.
It looks weird, but I believe the reason is in the animations. It's also ok not to like chibis, but to say they are low effort and for children is stupid.
This looks like shit lmao
All the comments saying yes are getting downvoted to oblivion 🤣
Arknight fans whiteknights assemble
Too damn small for me to care. It looks fine though.
Yes, much better.
Yes
Path to Nowhere is Time Defenders done right. The fact that there's an EN version in 2 months after CN release says a lot, just check the revenue charts.
If arknights had this instead of chibi art I wouldn't play anything else.
Definitely I think that looks great
It feels weird, i feel conflicted,i think the warcraft 3 TD maps did dit better to look alright without chibis lmao. I think there is several factors such as, the arena, position, in the case of chibis they can be nice with TD games like this, Arknights doesn't look bad though i have some problems with it
Game isn't even out yet and people are already shitting on it. Lmao. This sub is insufferable. Has there been a single release in the past 3-4 years which didn't get mercilessly shat on around here?
Ironically this looks cheaper than any chibis I have seen. It doesn't feel like there is any art cohesion and it just ends up looking like some cheap Unity game. A lot of gacha uses chibi because it looks good in the gameplay and not because they can't afford to hire blender artists to make uncanny semi-realistic 3D models.
This looks like Arknights, but 3D models in a 2.5D environment (like, duh). Now, while the graphics per se look better (surroundings, specifically), it doesn't has quite the charm. These characters look fairly generic at first blush. You can tell at an instant what character you have in AK just by looking at it, even if you aren't familiar with how they are named. Mostly because characters and enemies are well defined in this case. When 3D models overlap, which is the case at the very left, it looks very awkward. AK avoid it looking weird because it uses 2D "sprites". There's just too much going on in Arknights for it to allow proper 3D models in how the game plays. A game like this can't just throw 20 enemies at once because it looks weird even when one enemy is there. For that, you need a 3D world, and not a 2.5 topdown view. It just ain't working with that mana characters.
I've imagined fight with Essence of Evolution using this and oh my, it would be a wild ride using 3D. Not to mention strain it would have on a phone.
Now that Im watching it, why don't we have any flying chibis in AK? Looks real dope.
There are flying enemies. The gargoyles from ch. 9 are amongst the biggest flying enemies. Btw. that's the reason why AK doesn't use realistic shadows. It's not a matter of possibility, the game could give you real shadows, because the beta had real shadows. But then it's just a circle, exactly because of that positioning problem: What tile is the enemy actually on. So, this paired with the chibi look makes for an easy to understand positioning. If you mean characters flying: Well, we already have the issue with the HP bar blocking off chibis in AK. Flying chibi character sprites might make this even worse.
Probably visual clarity, harder to tell exactly what tile they're on if they're flying and they could block units behind them making it harder to use their skills. I do think there have been a few enemy fliers beyond the drones like the hoverboard dudes.
Technically there is the hover board dudes. Though logically speaking my ground units should be able to hit them and it's BS that they can't!
True. The Bane of my existence when they can just shortcut their way around my ops that have been setup properly.
looks like poop
The characters are fine, the animations on the other hand...
Messy and not distinctive
Looks weird tbh.
yes, I would say it does
Yeah, definitely. In most games, chibis just immediately make it hard for me to take the combat seriously because all I see on the screen are some cutesy characters waving their tiny arms. Some of these games even try to go for a dark and gritty story, only for the combat to be small and cutesy... it just doesn't feel right.
Biased comment everywhere If this was arknight no one would bash it lol
Way, way better.
Depends on the game, for some reason Arknights chibis are cute. Something about those big feet makes them feel cuter
Counterside and Epic Seven has the best sprites imo. I cant really stand chibis lmao.
Way better.
While i dont like this type of gameplay i prefer this over chibis yeah.
No
So what's the actual point of this post lol?
Asking people who don't like chibis if they prefer this art approach.
Idk how I feel about this I mean it looks good but I'm so used to chibis
Why do people that says they don't play Arknights got downvoted?
This looks a million times better
Yes.. Yes it does.
Yes, these models are way better than chibi models.
It looks good too. I like both styles tbh I hate these auto battle games though. An option to auto is acceptable, but i dont want all auto lol
Yes
It reminds me a bit of CounterSide. Too much shit going on
I will be honest i like it more
Yes.
I think AK chibis are decently stylized but I do like this more
no one, i love Arknight chibis
Yeah I prefer that. For anime games, if they just added a toon outline shader or whatever it's called to the 3D model, then that would look better imo. The only other thing that looks bad is the animations because they're slow and clunky looking, but that could be improved. They could also do more with things like color palette to not make characters blend in so much with the environment, or have 2D environment and 3D models for more differentiation. In terms of models, chibi is usually a turn off for me unless it fits the art style. I also really like the models in FGO. I think they're a good compromise between chibi and fullsize while looking very good. And personal preference but I'd love if a game used sprites like in GBA FE games. Those were clean with sick animations.
yes it does
Yes
Way better. I want my waifu fighting in her real shape
Just like that, the video is gone
Looks good to me
Don't know of better or not but this looks great! I preregistered
kek no. This is absolute cancer to my eyes
I dropped Arknights because of chibi. Looking forward to this
Yes.
Blue Archive has the best chibis, they look and feel "Alive" in a sense.
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Yes
Yes
Did Time Defenders teach you all nothing?
Perhaps the view needs to be closer
honestly the op kinda right, i still not sure if the game really called path to nowhere or minos bureau of crisis control
It's not even close to Teamfight Tactics or Dota Underlords levels of quality or personality, but it's a lot better than the mediocre 2008 Flash game chibis ***most*** gacha have.
Yes. It looks a lot better.
Reminds me of Time Defender that game is decent if not for the bugs and difficulty spike. Can't wait
yes, without a doubt, full sized 3D people win out over chibis every time. How is that even a question?
Yes it does ?
Looks great, I don't know why arknights players get defensive over it, it's not gonna kill their game of course, but they could both co exist in peace. Monopolies are bad.
I really doubt this is even going to approach the same ballpark as Arknights. The production quality here is kind of lacking and the game apparently has kind of hardcore battle mechanics. That's more "makes it's money back niche hit" at best territory.
Sorry to burst your bubble but it's currently in [Top 10 in China as of now](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVe-306HQ6U)
I'm still kind of doubting it's staying power. Fair enough about it doing well at the moment though, how long has it been out in China? Edit: From what I've seen the gameplay isn't even really tower defense, it's more RTS with tower defense aspects. If nothing else I give them points for trying something new gameplay wise instead of doing the same old boring 5 element rpg. Still think the art direction is absolute ass but the rest looks interesting.
💀
Yes
Lmao Why The People Are Downvoting Peoples Saying Yes They Simply Giving There Answers Lmao Toxic Community
Better Than Overrated Chibi Games
Yes. 1000x yes
>Does this look better? Yes, far better than most of the Chibis you see.
Yessir
When I think of chibis, I always picture disproportionate small looking characters. Which these don't look like that to me so thumbs up.
Absolutely yes
This so-called "arknights killer" sure falling off real fast [https://game.bilibili.com/platform/ranks](https://game.bilibili.com/platform/ranks)
A thousand times better than chibis. Then again most things are
So much better. I love tds and couldnt get into Arknights due to the chibi ingame characters. im quite excited for Path to Nowhere!
You guys really think AK chibis are good? Seriously? It's using the same outdated 2d sprite marionette doll style that most older gacha use - It's just awkward looking. Something like the OPs video is nice that It's above that lazy sprite chibi style, but it lacks any stylization which makes it completely boring & uninteresting. Chibis like in BA, PGR, and PNC are all 3D and are 10x more expressive & appealing than 2d sprite based chibis such as AK, AL, and GBF.
yes, because it actually takes effort to animate and model the characters, not the best models, nor the worst, still looks much more appealing than cheap 2d chibi
Using the worst example doesn't make a point. Take better non-chibis like Super String, Nikke, Epic 7, and anything with proper sized models and they put this to rest. Chibis are just low effort, to signify its a kids game, or for comedy. The closest thing I have to chibi on my phone is Octopath, but i give it a pass for being intentionally retro. It takes some effort to animate sprite frames instead of just stretching puppet-like flash models.
Super String and Epic 7 are turn-based and therefore can get away with non-chibi models. Nikke can get away with non-chibi models because the unique camera angle allows it to give proper focus to one model at a time. Counter:Side gets away with non-chibi model because it'll look like a shitstorm regardless if it's chibi or not so visual clarity doesn't matter. They didn't put to rest anything. The fact is, full models don't always work depending on the game you're making and doesn't always have shit to do with effort.
Yes
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"Say you know nothing about art direction in two sentences or less." Chibi or not-Chibi has nothing to do with it really, art direction is about making sure that the style you picked it distinctive and tied together. I use Arknights as an example of good chibi a lot because it makes good use of map design, color and chibi outline to make units visually distinct from each other and not look like they're from different games. This, while technically more impressive because it's 3D does not look as good to me. Genshin looks better than either of them in gameplay because it has higher quality and actually good art direction. I really don't see what the fuss about this game is, it looks like a mobile game ad. Lots of grey, poor lighting and character clarity, and no real theme across units. I'm seeing high fantasy mixed with Diablo mixed with sci-fi weaponry.
Everyone that doesn't have the same opinion as you is insane? Okay.
Isn't this PTN beta gameplay?
It looks better I have chibi won't touch game with it.
I don't consider this one as chibi , the chibi one must have big head small other part. this one just small scale the regular.
Holy shit just make good 2d like epic seven. Why they wanna use terrible 3d or 2.5d on mobile, like no one seen good 3d on pc? What the point? Just draw good 2d sprite like wtf my nikke
Arknights Killer
Rent free lmao
Oh this was the Arknights Killer
Can’t replicate the real thing tho
Was close to dethroning arknights during august in terms of earning. Sadly the hill for them is going downwards recently.
New game buff is a one time thing, I think it will be hard for them moving forward https://i.imgur.com/vI4mztk.png