E3 2013: Vanillaware's Signature 2D Art Shines in Dragon's Crown

The art style looks pretty, but man, the animations seem to be all over the place, in terms of characters' and monsters' framerate.

They shied away from showing the sorceress or amazon much in the trailer, even hiding them behind other characters but they still show a mermaid with a human ass! Well, they're committed to making the game they want to make, I guess. I'm even kinda interested in the idea behind the game mechanics for the Vita but I don't like feeling like a perv for buying a game.

Why would I want to unlock gorgeous art that can't become my desktop?

@captaininvictus:

I'm not sure it's so easy to typecast people... I know that the dwarf sure as hell isn't MY power fantasy... my power fantasy is the fantasy of Sherlock Holmes, of having a Machiavellian plan so consuming that physical power is irrelevant.

Likewise someone like the amazon or the sorceress CAN be a woman's power fantasy, and presumably you wouldn't tell them that they weren't allowed that.

Even if we assume they are exactly as you say, and pandering exclusively to males, I still haven't really heard why having a power fantasy and/or sexual appeal in fiction is morally wrong.

George Kamitani, Jen Zee and Paul Robertson are my favorite video game artists, their designs have personality, quirk and color. Robertson, mostly known for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Wizorb and Mercenary Kings also animates pixel art breasts, monster cocks and gore. Oh no.

I didn't realize this was getting a full disc release. I do like the fantasy art, DnD trappings, and old-school beat-em up vibe but everything about this product screams "downloadable title." The sorceress ain't even that hot. It's all about dat Amazon. She's got red lips, snakes in her eyes. Long legs, great thighs. I just find the character designs too ridiculous to take seriously but why would I want to? It's suppose to be a fun, stylish action game. Whatever, I use to get a chub from Jessica Rabbit. Does that make me some sort of sicko pervert? Yes! But at least I'm honest about it. And what is the deal with the dude holding a bag following the party through every level? Is he like the squires from Monty Python and the Holy Grail? If so where does he get the coconuts?

The dwarf/paladin are male power fantasies(muscular ripped beefcake). The amazon/sorceress are male sexual fantasies(scantily clad ass and titty monsters). This is not a hard concept to grasp.

I support all of Vanillaware's designs because I believe in Freedom, American, and the Baby Jesus. That is all.

I can't believe someone would draw idealized forms of the human body....the monsters.

I've never heard a good argument why a fictional character harms women, and certainly not one so dire it requires we 'clean' our media. Does a drawing have that much power? If they do, what do real actors and actresses do to us? What affect are violent video games having? I kinda thought we already concluded that our fiction wasn't rewriting our brains...

sex and sexuality is a very basic part of humanity that the west is goddamn terrified of. Eventually I hope that we'll come to terms with the fact that as long as people like sex, it's going to show up to some extent in our fiction... because our fiction is a place were we can have things without hurting anyone else. Wanting sex and appriciating a sexual form isn't unhealthy or morally wrong. In fact, I suspect the paranioa and denial we put ourselves through is far more awful to ourselves and others.

just my 2c

Forget the whole sexism thing, I just think the Sorcerer's design is silly and dumb. I'm not offended, I just laughed my ass off when I saw the design and wrote it off as juvenile.

It looks like a fun game and I am thinking of picking it up, but come on. I showed the picture of the "Tit Witch" (as my friends and I have now dubbed her) to my friends and they pretty much had the same reaction. They laughed, shook their heads, and then speculated on the issues the character designer might have in his personal life. But they liked the look of the game and might pick it up as well.

There is a middle ground between being "OMG!! SEXISM!!!" and "YOU GUYS ARE PRUDES!! IT'S ARTISTIC!!!." And in that middle ground, you will hear the sound of my laughter. Cuz this shit be ridiculous.

At a certain point, the only way to ascertain something like this is your gut, and this character art just... feels gross to me. It's trying to appeal through sex, and that's one of the least interesting things they could possibly do with what looks like a pretty damn enjoyable game.

Looks gorgeous. After the other Vanillaware games, I don't understand why this one is suddenly getting all the flak. Whatever. As someone who played the shit out of Muramasa, I'm eager enough to know how it *plays* to overlook the fact that it's the umpteenth game to present the female form in an extravagant and over-the-top fashion.

As long as these uproars about sexism and objectification do not also mean that the ideal man is apparently a ridiculously buff space marine with a voice of gravel, I can't contribute much to a serious discussion on the matter.

This game looks great in every video, but I need some E3 impressions badly.

I'm glad some people can see all the awesome stuff in these trailers and aren't blinded by their love or hatred of boobs.

The artstyle is a really weird mix of anime and western fantasy. I like some of the look. But mostly, it just looks weird to me.

Pretty much this. Please acting all oversensitive over the smallest things. It's a cute design within a game filled with cool designs.

Jeez, has the recent sexism debates really made many of you this oversensitive in entertainment mediums in terms of sexism? There is a line between exaggerated art style and straight up sexist, but the art here shouldn't be considered offensive. It's beautiful and fun; I certainly don't mind playing a female character who's voluptuous design has been cranked up high. It fits these games with similar settings, and I'm sure the artist had fun creating all of their designs. The artist could be a girl too and I wouldn't be surprised, since my female friend also enjoys drawing/painting exaggerated female figures.

Complaining about big breasts in an art style this wild is kind of strange. Pretty much all dangly bits are exaggerated here. No dangly bits spared!

I'm getting this, it looks visually stunning either way.

Me too, looks like harmless satire of all those fantasy book covers and D&D manuals.

it's like the game is oppressing me through my computer screen

It's definitely a pity to see a production company waste so much time and talent on the most juvenile shit imaginable.

Awesome, I loved Odin Sphere, need to support Vanillaware

There are people who have different opinions than you. Get the fuck over it.

Also, Odin Sphere wasn't very good. Looked nice, terribly repetitive combat with uninteresting enemies and jesus fuck you fight that armor spitting dragon over and over again.

@theveej said:

I'm just not digging the art style and its definitely not for the boobs. Don't get me wrong its high quality work and the game might be interesting (I get bored of these brawlers 1 or 2 hrs into the game). I guess its a taste thing, plus if we want to talk about character design I really hate the way the male characters look. Just look at this thing:

Somewhere, Frank Frazetti is angry.

Muramasa looks stunning, but I'm not sure if this art style holds up in HD? Think Dust: ET, is a great show piece for what is possible with 2D art on modern systems. Maybe it's just the video frame rate?..

I'll be interested to know how the FR holds up on the Vita. Hopefully Masamura will be a solid indication.

I'm just not digging the art style and its definitely not for the boobs. Don't get me wrong its high quality work and the game might be interesting (I get bored of these brawlers 1 or 2 hrs into the game). I guess its a taste thing, plus if we want to talk about character design I really hate the way the male characters look. Just look at this thing:

This is a good illustration of the cultural divide that exists between Japan and America. Sexually suggestive themes and characters in video games cause Americans to get uncomfortable and deem it inappropriate...but gratuitously violent games where you shoot, maim, and kill realistic looking people will never go out of style!

@icemael said:

Hey. Hey. Be fair.

We're complaining about the asses, too.

Personally I got absolutely nothing against big boobs in games. I am not going to be a hypocrite and claim I don't like big boobs, my girlfriend is evidence of the contrary. But the artstyle in this game doesn't make them look attractive. The amazon woman has legs that would make Arnold Swarchenegger in his prime seem small. It's just groose. But it gets people attention at least, but is the game good enough to hold people's attention?

You don't design a character like that sorceress and expect people to not comment on it.

The whole "men are just as sexualized as women" argument is worthless. It just isn't true. Images of men are generally idealized, but they are never presented as sexual objects.

At least the amazon strikes a nice balance. It's overly sexual, but cheeky and interesting. Not quite Bayonetta clever, but maybe a good start.

What Jeff mentioned in the podcast about the weird pointer controls was a bit off-putting, but that looked great. Have been waiting on this for a while now, love Vanillaware's hd takes on old genres. Art looks great, reminds me of the d&d arcade beat-em-ups. I don't find the boobies particularly offensive here, prob cuz everything else is so exaggerated as well (the knight's arms are way bigger than his sword for example). It's nothing worse than Bayonetta or even Tomb Raider imo...

Here we have by far the most sophisticated, detailed 2D graphics ever in a video game, created by some of the most passionate developers in the industry (read this), and instead of celebrating (and we should be celebrating the fact that these guys even exist, because there is no other developer willing or capable of continually pushing 2D game art further -- no other studio has come close to surpassing even Odin Sphere, which Vanillaware made over half a decade ago for a console soon to be two generations old) all you morons can do is complain about fucking breasts. What the fuck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaze#The_.22male_gaze.22_in_feminist_theory

This is not a troll.

I'm just putting this link here for anyone unfamiliar with the key concepts behind the controversy over sexualized depictions of women in media, and who might want to learn more.

This particular case adds an extra layer of cultural abstraction since the game is mad Japanese.

I really like this artstyle, bud this trailer sucks so much.

This art style looks hilarious to me, I love it. The men look about as ridiculous as the women. Hopefully the gameplay turns out well!

I'll play it for the sheer audacity of it, that's a hell of alot of 2D art going on there.

I was way into this until that mermaid showed up, I'm still way into it but now I am confused. In what planet do mermaid's have human asses? And the scales go up the ass like a thong? Come on bro that just makes no sense. It would make sense if the whole ass was there because now they can actually poop, but with the scales there that's just not practical!

All that art!

Shhh, don't say it or Wizards of the Coast will sue.

@mcghee: Yes. Me voicing my distaste for this art style is me completely freaking out. What the hell am I going to do with all these picket signs now?

You like this stuff. I don't like it.

You go enjoy those animated breasts sir. Praise the those oddly proportioned people. I'm sure I will find some way to cope. Somehow...

Honestly didn't notice the boobs till i read the comments nor did i care everything in this looks very exaggerated despite it's very nice art style.

It has a Beholder

I'm sold

lol My mom wouldn't give a fuck and neither would I. This game has an amazing art style. Everything is pushed out of proportions. And that includes, gasp, breasts. There are games of all kinds out there. This one can exist too. I start to think that the immaturity comes more from those constantly freaking out over a bit of side boob.

@liquidprince: That's kind of my problem... I love Vanillaware games, but the art style bothers me enough that I'm genuinely conflicted about purchasing and playing Dragon's Crown.

Yeah there were 'sexy' characters in earlier titles, but nothing so overt like in this one.

@liquidprince: That's why I didn't really want to say the word "sexism". That word just carry too much weight in an argument that can not be won. I am not saying you should not enjoy this.This game just doesn't suit my taste. But I'm also a Kingdom Hearts fan so what do I know?

That dragon was hoarding gold as it should be.

At least they aren't pretending otherwise. I'd rather have artists stay true to their vision than have everything focus tested to fit the whims of the broadest demographic. Some find it juvenile, offensive or even harmful but that's more than you can say for most art you see in games nowadays.

If your first reaction to some mermaid sideboob is "Oh god some 13yo is def masturbating to this, shocked and offended" you might want to steer clear from Kamitani's other work.

http://vanillaware.co.jp/gallery.htm

@blackichigo: The art style is perfectly fine in my opinion. This sexism debate recently has gotten really stupid. The game directors and creators can design their characters any way they want, and if it doesn't jive with what you like, then the solution would be to don't support it. I on the other hand love Vanillaware, and they've done enough games in the past with very restrained costumes (see Momohime) that I don't think of them as some weird company making hentai games.

People really need to stop being so ridiculous... I mean even in this trailer, there were a ton of other female characters that weren't dressed provocatively.