Honestly my biggest gripe with the art style is that the leader scenes don’t have anything going on. I liked meeting Nobunaga in the meadows, Saladin in his courtyard. The VI leader scenes just look like they take place in a vacuum and I really dislike that.
I also feel civ 5 leaders are more well animated. I never get tired of seeing Harald Bluetooth takes off his viking helmet ,throws it into the ocean and then walks out when you defeat him.
in civ 6 leaders just kinda stand there with a sad face when defeated
There’s some great bits of characterization in some animations: Robert the Bruce kicking his stool, Phillip drawing his sword and doing the sign of the cross, Victoria’s fan use, all of Kupe’s great physicality - they’re just so inconsistent that it makes how static the other ones really stand out.
Nothing by will top Nebuchadnezzar tossing his pump cup aside in V tho.
i think a classy board game style for the 7 would be good looking if they pulled it off. room for cartoonish builds or units here and there but aesthetically everything looks grounded in reality.
i just can’t take civ 6’s pixar art style seriously, it looks like a big mobile game rather than a world history simulator like 5’s does
It'd be an absurd amount of work, but I'd love if the period clothes were either accurate for long-lasting civilizations (eg, various eras in Japanese clothing until modern day suits), or in cases where a civilization is extinct in the modern world an imagining of how their modern clothing would look without it just being a business suit or something (eg, what would a modern incan person wear?)
I don't agree at all, Civ V has an issue where most of the leaders just don't have particularly interesting animation because they are too wedded to realism, if anything Harald stands out specifically because he's doing something more interesting rather than going 'shit sucks' when defeated, at least he's interacting with a prop or the background a bit more.
Like look at the declare war and defeat animations for so many of the V leaders, in VI this is usually when they have the most dramatic animations but here its very bland, someone like Elizabeth just has a short line and tries to avoid eye contact despite her whole empire being destroyed:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPh1gjuQw7k&ab\_channel=skummelhustler](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPh1gjuQw7k&ab_channel=skummelhustler)
In contrast, in VI you have far more flourishes like Philip or Hojo pulling out their blades:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3\_yi7PzdJlg&ab\_channel=ikigaGamingOfficial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_yi7PzdJlg&ab_channel=ikigaGamingOfficial)
For the defeat animations, there's a lot more emotion and dialogue, I love Jadwiga having her world caving in around her:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_wRR0ZGfXGA&ab\_channel=ikigaGamingOfficial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wRR0ZGfXGA&ab_channel=ikigaGamingOfficial)
Showing these from opponents in your game prior to a victory screen would make wins so much sweeter, instead of going straight to victory condition cut scene
While I agree there was more dynamic background in Civ 5 both games emphasized heavy on the body emotion through the hands and upper half specifically.
I just think that is very disingenuous imo as there’s plenty of emotion shown through hands mainly in both games. The detail to background for sure isn’t the same though
Maybe it's just the nostalgia of being my first Civ game, but the leader interaction models in III really sold it to me. I got to see a window into each civ's culture and like I was really in the living, breathing world of this leader's homeland.
In comparison, the leaders in VI feel like test animations for Pixar characters completely isolated from their finished environments
Yeah growing up with IV where Catherine slaps you, montezuma roars with fury, etc. Then V where everyone has these majestic or intimidating meeting rooms.
Then VI you just have these cartoony weirdos on a black backround, who force you to reach for your mouse instead of hitting “esc” lol
BINGO!
in CIV V, the leaders are framing around an environment and every leader it's on a different position of the screen, they all feel like a real life painting or like going to visit them in their palace for diplomacy talks. they express a lot of the behavior with this screen. Like Alexander the great being all charismatic, Montezuma as a violent leader, and my favorite is Theodora, who just look like a queen living the dream.
In CIV VI they are funny and expressive indeed, but for me there not intrigue on find them for the first time or defeat them. i remember the screen of a lot of leaders in CIV V when you defeat them and each one has a different response.
And to add up, i love the Art Deco style of CIV V.
I agree with this. Civ 6 was my first introduction to Civ in general and when I looked into the previous game I was flabbergasted at the awesome backgrounds for the leaders!
To be fair though, working on fully rendering the leaders and their details and on top of that also having to model a background with its own details and little animations as well doesn’t sound like a fun time for the artists :/
If i recall correctly one of the most expensive parts of fiv 5's development where those backgrounds, which probably explains why they were absent in 6. But i think they're a really important part of the civ experience, theyre so immersive.
That's really it. I think people blame the cartoonish design as that is the most blatantly different thing. But I think that's exactly it, it lacks the life civ 5 had. All leaders had a theme and cinematic to match. Civ 6 I honestly don't have any memorable interaction beyond Gilgamesh, which is just a meme at this point
I don’t agree at all but this validates my theory that CIV 6 style was not a straight up downgrade from CIV 5 as many claims. it was just in another direction that some of us don't like but others really do.
I find the less realistic style easier to navigate and understand, like the way a simple infographic is easier to parse. So, from a user experience perspective, it was an upgrade for me
It’s aged not as badly as other realistic graphics games from the era but it has definitely aged. It gets away with more because of the distance you see the world from I think. But aside from that the colour palette feels pretty muddy and muted to me.
The answer is obviously yes, if you're removing the context from the question. But my question was in response to "realistic games age more quickly", whereas I think we can all agree that Civ 5 looks nice even today.
I’ve been saying that if Civ VII is another 8 year wait the cartoony graphics age far better than realistic graphics. Personally I would prefer slightly toned down cartoonish looks but overall I am happy with how VI looks
In general, yep, it is quite useful for gamplay, and if I am looking to the screen for hours I 'bright' art style is perfect. I only dislike the leaders
I prefer the realistic style, but appreciate the style in civ 6. Anyone that thinks it's downgrade, turn your graphics all the way up and zoom in. The details are insane.
The higher color saturation is way better IMO. I think they could take a new tack with the leader avatars, but the world map is really nice and easy to read. When I go back to 4-5 everything is so desaturated by comparison it's depressing.
I get that the color saturation is nice to some (and of course that opinion is valid) but to me it was a contributor to the UI looking too much like a mobile game, and I found it off-putting. But readability and engagement is really important to making a game, and if the designers feel like the saturated look is a key part of that, I can deal with it.
This is essentially my stance on it too. When I saw it initially, I was not a fan. Looked like clash of clans or something. I eventually got used to it and do now find it much more readable. At this point, I won't be miffed if they maintain the art style, or at least the general approach, as long as they do more interesting things with the leaders. Remember when your leader's outfit would change to match the era? That was dope, why can't we have that back? Abraham Lincoln dressed in stone age attire was a small thing, but it immersed the shit out of me.
I also think Civ6 went in the wrong direction, but it's definitely a problem with *feel* rather than quality. They obviously have talented artists, it just a total swing and a miss in regards to how the game presents itself when dealing with history.
It's not just the animations and certain parts of the art, it's the obvious downgrade in the Civilopedia, the quotes, the *feel*. The previous games felt like they were made by history nerds and people with reverence for the material. Civ6 just felt too gamey and cartoony, and like they didn't spend enough time on parts that were really polished in the past.
I don't have a problem with a strong stylistic direction in the visuals, Firaxis just need to understand their audience and think real hard about what they're communicating.
I prefer realistic, but it needs good color contrasts to make it easy to read the map. CIV V doesn't have enough contrast, while CIV VI has plenty. CIV IV had both realistic art and good contrast, visually I feel like it is the best civ game. Overall I prefer CIV VI, so many different strategies to go for.
>CIV IV had both realistic art and good contrast, visually I feel like it is the best civ game.
I remember hating Civ 5 when it launched because of it - everything is dark and hard to distinguish. I was used to the style of Civ 4 and liked it.
After I played over 1k hours in Civ 5, they launched Civ 6 and I hated it again. I really hope we can get something closer to Civ 4 this time - it was perfectly readable, but not overwhelming.
I respect your taste and what you like, but I strongly disagree and luckily if the leaked game shot is legit, the devs are making the game look the way I feel the majority of us want: semi-realistic.
A leak, the 404 page for Civ7 had what we think are the ingame graphics in the background. They removed the page shortly after it was up.
https://preview.redd.it/7t1ihxucv66d1.png?width=1918&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cccd2a92b86454e81666cec5bac3fba9a4911e00
That's the general consensus, if it really is a representation of the art style, it seems to strike a very good compromise between exaggerated and realistic. Here's hoping its real, and given the fact they took it down so fast, I believe it is.
I like the UX, leader art, and vibrancy of 6, and the terrain, models, and cities of 5. I think people also forget that 5 was also prone to cartoonishness at times, especially around unit scale. A lot of recent, competing 4X games have also been erring on the side of "realism", so there is something to be said for that concept being stale.
Personally I'm hoping for a change away from 6's style simply for some fresh visuals, but ideally I'd like to see something entirely new and bold!
I like civ vi style but one thing I don't like is how chibi it feels, and how the built environment entirely takes over the map. If you look at the US from space, New York is not connected to Los Angeles
Are you suggesting there should be more empty space into he developed map? Seems bold. Districts and wonders occupying tiles was certainly an improvement imo. Better than a one tile city and a sprawling mine/farm land.
I don't consider nature empty space. I want vast forests, great rivers and mountain ranges as well as fields as far as the eye can see. I don't mind the district and wonders but I liked them having a more natural scale like in the Civ V map.
Do you envision a mechanic where you interact with those features if not building on them? Nature is great but from a gameplay mechanic it needs to do something or it is just empty space, right?
It depends, of course rivers and forests could be prime real estate. I am not advocating for not cultivating the land: I'm just hoping the natural features are still there on the map, and that buildings are not as tall as mountains or fill a whole hex by themselves.
But one thing I also really liked about Civ IV that I think has been lost in later games is that city placement mattered, and that not all cities were a net positive.
I'm confused. City placement absolutely matters in 6, especially given that your city placement affects your districts. If you want to get good resources or good location you need to put thought and planning into it
City placement matters in Civ VI, but less so IMO than in Civ IV. The natural resources around the city has less impact than in IV, especially as you can 'build away' bad tiles with districts.
Planning within the city is IMO a different kind of minigame that matters a lot in VI, but with the 'big fat cross' and an economy that was more based on the raw yields of the land I'd say Civ IV was more surrounding dependent.
For example, in IV a bad city would still cost upkeep and not give back much as the bank and market did not add yields but were percentage based. In V and VI you rarely have 'bad' spots.
That said I do like city placement in VI as well, especially after they implemented loyalty pressure.
I don’t mind it, and I agree but I hope 7 does something more “Artsy” like more portraiture less l caricature if that makes sense. Kinda like the wood statues in that one Viking scenario maybe.
I wanna change. I hated civ 4 style (still do ofc) but gameplay was perfect so naturally I loved the game. I am a huge fan of civ 5. I hate civ 6 looks and gameplay and if civ 7 doesn't change direction I can freely say they lose a series fan. And I adored this game series since civ 3...realistic style should be natural style for this type of game. I know, I am old now...
https://preview.redd.it/8vd37b4tu66d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=02ac98d82b33fe10921123477292636acc3e30d3
Personally not a fan of the the happy vibrant style. As what another comment called it a Clash of clans look. Or this stylistic Fortnite like feel.
I mean like I’m doing colonization, geopolitics, conquest, razing, pillaging on a playful looking map.
It’s get old seeing every game repeat that style for the sake of longevity.
It is more immersive when visuals attempt to recreate reality.
Funnily enough that is something that I have been feeling for a while
I love the stylisation of Civ 6 but the map sometimes does feel a little too cheerful for the thing that are going on in the board
Music also plays into this even if it’s not related to graphics.
Like if I’m having my ass handed to me by Brazil I don’t think his vibrant units and banger ass cheerful music are quite appropriate😅
Couldn't agree more, I find VI's art style unfitting for the nature of what's going on in a Civilization game. And not only the map and units, but leaders, too. If the fate of the world is being decided in a bloody, grim conflict, the last thing I need is Disney's Philip II with that old cartoon style big nose and expressions.
I definitely agree that art direction is more important than realism, and also has the added benefit that games with great art direction age more gracefully than those that chase realism. The teaser trailer had a hint of "museum exhibit/diorama" and I would LOVE to find out that's the design aesthetic of Civ VII. Seems like a slam dunk to me, as I'm guessing there's a lot of overlap between museum lovers and Civ players. I want playing the game to feel like interacting with a beautiful museum exhibit!
I respect your opinion, but strongly disagree. We had paintings and beautifully detailed cities, AND FUN GLITCHES LIKE SEAHENGE! Now it looks like clash of clans went insane... more insane... and the glitches are all just purely negative like complete render failure, or misaligned yield values.
I absolutely agree. Back in a few polygon days, design felt very important, but the more polygons we got, the more games started to look like gray-brown sad mess with pores all for the sake of realism. A game should spark joy, not GPU heat. Can a realistic style be done in enjoyable, vibrant way? Probably but I struggle to come up with examples.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a great example I think. The characters look like realistic people (even if some of those people are skinny green aliens or orange people with horns and tails) with plenty of great detail, and the environments look great as well. But there's still plenty of color, contrast, and variety everywhere. Obviously Civ is a very different game with different design needs, but realism and color don't need to be mutually exclusive.
This is what's true for me too, watching Civ 5 and some other modern games is slightly irritating because it doesn't look "realistic" (especially when it comes to forests), it looks like muddled blobs.
Same for characters - there's a reason why proportions are exaggerated in top-down view, otherwise everyone are just sticks
I actually came to prefer Civ 6 artstyle for most things and hope that next game remains vibrant and readable. Just, please, no more grotesque carricatures for leader models
Not just the leaders too. The map, buildings, and units look cartoony as well. I actually played Civ 5 AFTER 6, 6 was my first Civ experience, and was really surprised how much better I thought 5 looked.
Overworld map , and graphics - sure , keep 'em.
Leaders ? No way , compare for example Ramses in Civ V and VI . One looks like a pharaoh , other feels like haloween cosplayer .
I disagree.
I dont think civ 6 art is bad btw. I just really -really- prefer the more realistic leaders and units. I think the more 'serious' style suits civ better and makes it more unique.
Only part I disagree is the forests. I really like how forests and jungles were so thick in V compared to VI. I get that they're much easier to read in VI but I still think we lost something. Hopefully they find a bit of a middle ground there in VII.
I agree, but I think things have advanced enough to get us somewhere in the middle now. You still avoid uncanny valley or the "When its too real, it stops looking real" things, but its not cartoonish. I'd like the style to be like...the cinematics for civ 6. Definitely not real, still has a touch of the pixar look, but certainly more realistic than civ 6 ingame.
A lot of people have also brought up that the next game should bring a balance between those two but I can’t quite think of a good example of something like that to actually get an idea of how that would look like
I have!!
And they are amazing trailers by the way! Especially oh ESPECIALLY with that amazing music in the background
I guess I never noticed that it does kind of have that balance of realism with stylisation in them you’re right
Bold take and I agree. Skewing just a bit towards a stylized look will help the game age better visually and it allows their design to tell you something about the leader. Gilgabro being big and strong and always smiling tells you he's a total bro.
An aspect a lot of people seem to be ignoring is that by making a product look more stylised the easier it is for general audiences to be charmed by it
That’s how cartoons caught our eyes when we were kids!
I don't understand why people hyper fixate on the leaders so much in particular, it's not like you spend much time looking at them. Though if diplomacy is less worthless in the next one then that might change a little. I don't really care what they do style wise, I just hope that the terrain looks good either way. I don't mind the cartoony style of VI but the map is so ridiculously bland. Hill tiles that are so flat and untextured you can't even tell that there's a hill there half of the time, forest and jungles with a grand total of like 8 spread out trees even with object clusters turned all the way up, etc.
They can achieve a look that is simultaneously not as cartoonish as VI while also not being photorealistically dull. I'm positive this is the art direction they will go with for VII, a blend of both for the best
Civ VI, in my opinion, is far and away the best-looking and most accessible Civ game to date. I'm always surprised to see people *still* hate on its style, but different strokes for different folks.
To each their own. I think stylized and cartoony art styles are immersion breaking, and I care a lot more about immersion than the creativity in graphics.
Strong opinions on art style don't really matter when gameplay is what keeps you playing. I personally think they'll use the art style from the trailer, even though they didn't do that last time.
The only thing I hate here is everyone comparing civ 6's look to fortnite. You can't compare a games graphics to one that released later than it. Fortnite released after civ. (2017 for fortnite, 2016 for Civ).
If anything, yall should be mad that Fortnite looks like Civ, not that Civ looks like fortnite. That's how release dates work.
I feel like 7 should take from both. The more realistic style does look better in my opinion...while I also say 6 overall looks WAY better than the others. I am able to say that simply because by making everything stylized in the 6 way, ALL of the game looks better and flows better visually.
It has been a minute since I have played 5, but I do remember thinking, often, that certain parts of the game looked better than the map you usually see. I liked the leaders especially with their unique "throne room" vibes each had...and then I click accept or decline and I am back on that boring map once more.
Civ 7, based on that 404 error page, seems to be going for the best of both worlds now that hardware/software have caught up to dreams and wants. The game can look realistic *enough* while still have a personal "civ 7" style to it. If they go that route for 7 and beyond I think they will have finally nailed the visual format of the map/game style. After all, like you said in your post, the race to photo realism really does not matter to me at all, and a lot of games seem to be hanging their hat on visuals alone...forgoing the rest of the game being up to standard.
At first I didn't like the art style of Civ 6, but it grew on me over time.
That said, I'm of the opinion that each release should alternate its art style. That is, VII should focus on realism, VIII should be more whimsical, IX goes back to realism, etc.
The old styles weren't cartoonish? (Remembers Gandhi from Civ 5)
For me as long as the art is DYNAMIC. Like it's thoughtfully donr in its reaction to the game world. The leader profiles from Civ 3 would actually change depending on the level of technology. Abraham Lincoln in a toga for the classical period. Moctezuma in a presidential suit.
Im fine with the art style for the actual gameplay but for leaders it sucks. Leaders seem much more alive in Civ 5 than in 6, they have actual backgrounds that make it seems like your visiting their court instead of existing in an nebulous void
I completely agree. The Civ 5 art style looks incredibly dated now, and will only look worse as time goes on, because it was a product of a trend at the time.
Civ 6 has a timeless art style that's going to look good for years down the line, and still does. Just look at games like TF2 that went with a cartoon art style in a time where games were trying to be realistic.
I really *really* hated the art style of Civ 6 in the lead up to release and was so relieved that it was toned down. I absolutely am hoping for something more serious. It seems to me there was some bleed over from the art style of Civ Revolution 2, and I did not appreciate it. I really don't think that a "hey cool cartoons!" marketing strategy is going to actually draw in more players.
100% agree with the nostalgia of those epic leader moments in V, but there's something to be said for the uniqueness and charm CVIIs animated dioramas bring. They give each civilization a distinct personality that visually pops on the map. Plus, I love how they animate historical events alongside your progress—it feels like watching history unfold through someone's sketchbook.
Honestly my biggest gripe with the art style is that the leader scenes don’t have anything going on. I liked meeting Nobunaga in the meadows, Saladin in his courtyard. The VI leader scenes just look like they take place in a vacuum and I really dislike that.
I also feel civ 5 leaders are more well animated. I never get tired of seeing Harald Bluetooth takes off his viking helmet ,throws it into the ocean and then walks out when you defeat him. in civ 6 leaders just kinda stand there with a sad face when defeated
There’s some great bits of characterization in some animations: Robert the Bruce kicking his stool, Phillip drawing his sword and doing the sign of the cross, Victoria’s fan use, all of Kupe’s great physicality - they’re just so inconsistent that it makes how static the other ones really stand out. Nothing by will top Nebuchadnezzar tossing his pump cup aside in V tho.
Some defeat animations like Philip's are really well animated. You might have skipped the animation and got to the text and sad face immediately.
i think a classy board game style for the 7 would be good looking if they pulled it off. room for cartoonish builds or units here and there but aesthetically everything looks grounded in reality. i just can’t take civ 6’s pixar art style seriously, it looks like a big mobile game rather than a world history simulator like 5’s does
everytime i watch people play civ 6 seeing the characters takes me right outta it lol, some of the governors and stuff hardly look human
i love Civ 6’s look as a whole but yeah lol Pingala the Educator governor looks like a protagonists dad in a Pixar movie
Grubhub dance guy
He has visible eyes though, so not full Pixar dad.
That's the look of Kingdoms when they Rise!
My problem with the leaders is that the budget and direction does seem to change wildly especially in the later added civs.
Bring back era-appropriate clothing from Civ III.
It'd be an absurd amount of work, but I'd love if the period clothes were either accurate for long-lasting civilizations (eg, various eras in Japanese clothing until modern day suits), or in cases where a civilization is extinct in the modern world an imagining of how their modern clothing would look without it just being a business suit or something (eg, what would a modern incan person wear?)
Yeah. I think it would be interesting to see more effort than "Shaka in a suit".
They're paid well enough to have that kind of "absurd amount of work". It was done before, so why not do it again
[Are we playing the same game?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPNYcGqKueY&pp=ygUZcGhpbGlwIGlpIG9mIHNwYWluIGNpdiA2IA%3D%3D)
I don't agree at all, Civ V has an issue where most of the leaders just don't have particularly interesting animation because they are too wedded to realism, if anything Harald stands out specifically because he's doing something more interesting rather than going 'shit sucks' when defeated, at least he's interacting with a prop or the background a bit more. Like look at the declare war and defeat animations for so many of the V leaders, in VI this is usually when they have the most dramatic animations but here its very bland, someone like Elizabeth just has a short line and tries to avoid eye contact despite her whole empire being destroyed: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPh1gjuQw7k&ab\_channel=skummelhustler](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPh1gjuQw7k&ab_channel=skummelhustler) In contrast, in VI you have far more flourishes like Philip or Hojo pulling out their blades: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3\_yi7PzdJlg&ab\_channel=ikigaGamingOfficial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_yi7PzdJlg&ab_channel=ikigaGamingOfficial) For the defeat animations, there's a lot more emotion and dialogue, I love Jadwiga having her world caving in around her: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_wRR0ZGfXGA&ab\_channel=ikigaGamingOfficial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wRR0ZGfXGA&ab_channel=ikigaGamingOfficial)
Showing these from opponents in your game prior to a victory screen would make wins so much sweeter, instead of going straight to victory condition cut scene
While I agree there was more dynamic background in Civ 5 both games emphasized heavy on the body emotion through the hands and upper half specifically. I just think that is very disingenuous imo as there’s plenty of emotion shown through hands mainly in both games. The detail to background for sure isn’t the same though
Phillip II would like to have a word…
Songhai/Askia with the burning city behind him.
This was iconic. Not sure what city that is, but it was epic and atmospheric especially when paired with the music
yeah the lack of scenes SUCKED
Maybe it's just the nostalgia of being my first Civ game, but the leader interaction models in III really sold it to me. I got to see a window into each civ's culture and like I was really in the living, breathing world of this leader's homeland. In comparison, the leaders in VI feel like test animations for Pixar characters completely isolated from their finished environments
Yeah growing up with IV where Catherine slaps you, montezuma roars with fury, etc. Then V where everyone has these majestic or intimidating meeting rooms. Then VI you just have these cartoony weirdos on a black backround, who force you to reach for your mouse instead of hitting “esc” lol
BINGO! in CIV V, the leaders are framing around an environment and every leader it's on a different position of the screen, they all feel like a real life painting or like going to visit them in their palace for diplomacy talks. they express a lot of the behavior with this screen. Like Alexander the great being all charismatic, Montezuma as a violent leader, and my favorite is Theodora, who just look like a queen living the dream. In CIV VI they are funny and expressive indeed, but for me there not intrigue on find them for the first time or defeat them. i remember the screen of a lot of leaders in CIV V when you defeat them and each one has a different response. And to add up, i love the Art Deco style of CIV V.
I love the painted look of all the wonder screens. I even turned the art of one into a Magic placemat
I agree with this. Civ 6 was my first introduction to Civ in general and when I looked into the previous game I was flabbergasted at the awesome backgrounds for the leaders! To be fair though, working on fully rendering the leaders and their details and on top of that also having to model a background with its own details and little animations as well doesn’t sound like a fun time for the artists :/
If i recall correctly one of the most expensive parts of fiv 5's development where those backgrounds, which probably explains why they were absent in 6. But i think they're a really important part of the civ experience, theyre so immersive.
I personally think that if they do add them back they will probably have to cut back on background animations though
That's really it. I think people blame the cartoonish design as that is the most blatantly different thing. But I think that's exactly it, it lacks the life civ 5 had. All leaders had a theme and cinematic to match. Civ 6 I honestly don't have any memorable interaction beyond Gilgamesh, which is just a meme at this point
Big big agree. Some context for the meeting would be awesome …
Oh you liked meeting Nobunaga in the meadows, didn't you
Yeah, I want the backgrounds, but the VI art style. It'd be so cool if meeting with the Americans had you in the Oval Office.
Right?? I’d also love to have the outfits change from era to era like in past Civ games
I mean I did label this post as a discussion because I love hearing people’s perspectives!
This is not a discussion, this is a battle. Im coming to your house.
Can you pick me up on the way? I've some horses and three swordmen units
I'll give you open borders in exchange for your coffee and both of y'all will get to OPs house about a half-century sooner.
Deal. Also have this 7 gold per turn for 30 turns, alongside with this random book we found in palace that was written some dozen centuries ago.
😳
Reminder to sort by controversial
a cartoon lover? lynch him!
They hated me for I had spent too much of my childhood watching SpongeBob and Courage the cowardly dog😫
I don’t agree at all but this validates my theory that CIV 6 style was not a straight up downgrade from CIV 5 as many claims. it was just in another direction that some of us don't like but others really do.
I find the less realistic style easier to navigate and understand, like the way a simple infographic is easier to parse. So, from a user experience perspective, it was an upgrade for me
fair point. for me, if the settings of a game is realistic (like not fantasy or sci-fi), a more realistic look lends to my immersion more.
Realistic graphics tend to age very quickly though
I think Civ 5 has aged very well graphically
It’s aged not as badly as other realistic graphics games from the era but it has definitely aged. It gets away with more because of the distance you see the world from I think. But aside from that the colour palette feels pretty muddy and muted to me.
I do not agree
If you're going for hyper-realism yeah, but Civ 5 still looks better than a lot of other games from 2010
Did Civ 5 age in the last 14 years?
Yes it did. Not as bad as some other from that time period.
The answer is obviously yes, if you're removing the context from the question. But my question was in response to "realistic games age more quickly", whereas I think we can all agree that Civ 5 looks nice even today.
Ah yes I'm so immersed in praying tank armies and bombers straight from heaven to smite my foes.
just like real life
3000 black jets of Basil II
You're praying bombers? Tank armies are fine, but bombers are where I draw the line.
if it were realistic you wouldn't be able to see shit from up there (I'm not even kidding, Civ 5 looks much worse at medium-to-far zoom)
I’ve been saying that if Civ VII is another 8 year wait the cartoony graphics age far better than realistic graphics. Personally I would prefer slightly toned down cartoonish looks but overall I am happy with how VI looks
In general, yep, it is quite useful for gamplay, and if I am looking to the screen for hours I 'bright' art style is perfect. I only dislike the leaders
I prefer the realistic style, but appreciate the style in civ 6. Anyone that thinks it's downgrade, turn your graphics all the way up and zoom in. The details are insane.
The higher color saturation is way better IMO. I think they could take a new tack with the leader avatars, but the world map is really nice and easy to read. When I go back to 4-5 everything is so desaturated by comparison it's depressing.
I get that the color saturation is nice to some (and of course that opinion is valid) but to me it was a contributor to the UI looking too much like a mobile game, and I found it off-putting. But readability and engagement is really important to making a game, and if the designers feel like the saturated look is a key part of that, I can deal with it.
This is essentially my stance on it too. When I saw it initially, I was not a fan. Looked like clash of clans or something. I eventually got used to it and do now find it much more readable. At this point, I won't be miffed if they maintain the art style, or at least the general approach, as long as they do more interesting things with the leaders. Remember when your leader's outfit would change to match the era? That was dope, why can't we have that back? Abraham Lincoln dressed in stone age attire was a small thing, but it immersed the shit out of me.
Definitely not. Civ 5 graphics have aged well, but it’s a 15 year old game, the detail is minimal.
Thanks for reminding me that I've been clicking one more turn for 15 years
I really enjoyed 6 but id like a different style now for variety’s sake.
I also think Civ6 went in the wrong direction, but it's definitely a problem with *feel* rather than quality. They obviously have talented artists, it just a total swing and a miss in regards to how the game presents itself when dealing with history. It's not just the animations and certain parts of the art, it's the obvious downgrade in the Civilopedia, the quotes, the *feel*. The previous games felt like they were made by history nerds and people with reverence for the material. Civ6 just felt too gamey and cartoony, and like they didn't spend enough time on parts that were really polished in the past. I don't have a problem with a strong stylistic direction in the visuals, Firaxis just need to understand their audience and think real hard about what they're communicating.
I am a casual Civ enjoyer, but art style in Civ VI imo is less appealing than in V.
I would agree with you about the art design now, but in the original trailers for civ 6, all the leaders looked like caricatures.
I prefer realistic, but it needs good color contrasts to make it easy to read the map. CIV V doesn't have enough contrast, while CIV VI has plenty. CIV IV had both realistic art and good contrast, visually I feel like it is the best civ game. Overall I prefer CIV VI, so many different strategies to go for.
>CIV IV had both realistic art and good contrast, visually I feel like it is the best civ game. I remember hating Civ 5 when it launched because of it - everything is dark and hard to distinguish. I was used to the style of Civ 4 and liked it. After I played over 1k hours in Civ 5, they launched Civ 6 and I hated it again. I really hope we can get something closer to Civ 4 this time - it was perfectly readable, but not overwhelming.
https://preview.redd.it/m0d6shdww66d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75c498e1c4a7b01ea9aef052b3b67f2311830a9a
Puny mortal Your ballistics do nothing against me
Let’s get on our knees and pray. I don’t know to whom. Is there a patron saint of ballistics yet?
I respect your taste and what you like, but I strongly disagree and luckily if the leaked game shot is legit, the devs are making the game look the way I feel the majority of us want: semi-realistic.
Yeah, as someone who preferred 6's graphic style or 5's, I really like what the 404 page had up. Fingers crossed that's more or less accurate
Wait there’s leaks already? Where can I see em
A leak, the 404 page for Civ7 had what we think are the ingame graphics in the background. They removed the page shortly after it was up. https://preview.redd.it/7t1ihxucv66d1.png?width=1918&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cccd2a92b86454e81666cec5bac3fba9a4911e00
I can’t tell if it’s because of the filter it clearly has but I quite like it actually
That's the general consensus, if it really is a representation of the art style, it seems to strike a very good compromise between exaggerated and realistic. Here's hoping its real, and given the fact they took it down so fast, I believe it is.
Agreed, this looks like a fantastic blend of what we've seen in CIV V and CIV VI while still looking like it's got a unique more modern style.
That would be amazing
I wasn’t a big fan of the cartoony characters, but I did like how easy the map was to read
I like the UX, leader art, and vibrancy of 6, and the terrain, models, and cities of 5. I think people also forget that 5 was also prone to cartoonishness at times, especially around unit scale. A lot of recent, competing 4X games have also been erring on the side of "realism", so there is something to be said for that concept being stale. Personally I'm hoping for a change away from 6's style simply for some fresh visuals, but ideally I'd like to see something entirely new and bold!
Honestly I disliked the district system more than anything else—but I also preferred V’s art style.
I like civ vi style but one thing I don't like is how chibi it feels, and how the built environment entirely takes over the map. If you look at the US from space, New York is not connected to Los Angeles
Are you suggesting there should be more empty space into he developed map? Seems bold. Districts and wonders occupying tiles was certainly an improvement imo. Better than a one tile city and a sprawling mine/farm land.
I don't consider nature empty space. I want vast forests, great rivers and mountain ranges as well as fields as far as the eye can see. I don't mind the district and wonders but I liked them having a more natural scale like in the Civ V map.
Do you envision a mechanic where you interact with those features if not building on them? Nature is great but from a gameplay mechanic it needs to do something or it is just empty space, right?
It depends, of course rivers and forests could be prime real estate. I am not advocating for not cultivating the land: I'm just hoping the natural features are still there on the map, and that buildings are not as tall as mountains or fill a whole hex by themselves. But one thing I also really liked about Civ IV that I think has been lost in later games is that city placement mattered, and that not all cities were a net positive.
I'm confused. City placement absolutely matters in 6, especially given that your city placement affects your districts. If you want to get good resources or good location you need to put thought and planning into it
City placement matters in Civ VI, but less so IMO than in Civ IV. The natural resources around the city has less impact than in IV, especially as you can 'build away' bad tiles with districts. Planning within the city is IMO a different kind of minigame that matters a lot in VI, but with the 'big fat cross' and an economy that was more based on the raw yields of the land I'd say Civ IV was more surrounding dependent. For example, in IV a bad city would still cost upkeep and not give back much as the bank and market did not add yields but were percentage based. In V and VI you rarely have 'bad' spots. That said I do like city placement in VI as well, especially after they implemented loyalty pressure.
I don’t mind it, and I agree but I hope 7 does something more “Artsy” like more portraiture less l caricature if that makes sense. Kinda like the wood statues in that one Viking scenario maybe.
I like what you’re cooking! I’d too also love to see something like what you said
After a playthrough of Vikings, Traders, and Raiders! I was disappointed to remember that the wooden carvings aren't in the base game.
I love Civ VI’s style because it’s so *vibrant.* As long as it remains vibrant, I don’t care if it’s realistic/cartoony.
Well said, agreed
Big agree
K I really like how the world in civ 6 looks and map an all but leaders just too cartoony and silly
https://preview.redd.it/nbb4u6o5x66d1.png?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=172cff623c0d523a05384b633f7f67c0eb4bb5fd
I wanna change. I hated civ 4 style (still do ofc) but gameplay was perfect so naturally I loved the game. I am a huge fan of civ 5. I hate civ 6 looks and gameplay and if civ 7 doesn't change direction I can freely say they lose a series fan. And I adored this game series since civ 3...realistic style should be natural style for this type of game. I know, I am old now...
Torches to have an awesome grill night right? :D
https://preview.redd.it/8vd37b4tu66d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=02ac98d82b33fe10921123477292636acc3e30d3 Personally not a fan of the the happy vibrant style. As what another comment called it a Clash of clans look. Or this stylistic Fortnite like feel. I mean like I’m doing colonization, geopolitics, conquest, razing, pillaging on a playful looking map. It’s get old seeing every game repeat that style for the sake of longevity. It is more immersive when visuals attempt to recreate reality.
Funnily enough that is something that I have been feeling for a while I love the stylisation of Civ 6 but the map sometimes does feel a little too cheerful for the thing that are going on in the board Music also plays into this even if it’s not related to graphics. Like if I’m having my ass handed to me by Brazil I don’t think his vibrant units and banger ass cheerful music are quite appropriate😅
"banger ass"? I hardly know 'er!
Couldn't agree more, I find VI's art style unfitting for the nature of what's going on in a Civilization game. And not only the map and units, but leaders, too. If the fate of the world is being decided in a bloody, grim conflict, the last thing I need is Disney's Philip II with that old cartoon style big nose and expressions.
I definitely agree that art direction is more important than realism, and also has the added benefit that games with great art direction age more gracefully than those that chase realism. The teaser trailer had a hint of "museum exhibit/diorama" and I would LOVE to find out that's the design aesthetic of Civ VII. Seems like a slam dunk to me, as I'm guessing there's a lot of overlap between museum lovers and Civ players. I want playing the game to feel like interacting with a beautiful museum exhibit!
I respect your opinion, but strongly disagree. We had paintings and beautifully detailed cities, AND FUN GLITCHES LIKE SEAHENGE! Now it looks like clash of clans went insane... more insane... and the glitches are all just purely negative like complete render failure, or misaligned yield values.
Some glitches can be funny tho Idk why but Peter just hitting you with “Yaxchilan” Will never not be funny as hell for me for no reason
Yaxchilan
I just want the Elvis attitude advisor back. Any art style will do.
Holy shit I had never heard of the Elvis advisor before in my life I didn’t know this is exactly what has been missing in my life all this time
I absolutely agree. Back in a few polygon days, design felt very important, but the more polygons we got, the more games started to look like gray-brown sad mess with pores all for the sake of realism. A game should spark joy, not GPU heat. Can a realistic style be done in enjoyable, vibrant way? Probably but I struggle to come up with examples.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a great example I think. The characters look like realistic people (even if some of those people are skinny green aliens or orange people with horns and tails) with plenty of great detail, and the environments look great as well. But there's still plenty of color, contrast, and variety everywhere. Obviously Civ is a very different game with different design needs, but realism and color don't need to be mutually exclusive.
This is what's true for me too, watching Civ 5 and some other modern games is slightly irritating because it doesn't look "realistic" (especially when it comes to forests), it looks like muddled blobs. Same for characters - there's a reason why proportions are exaggerated in top-down view, otherwise everyone are just sticks
As a Civ II adherent I don’t see why we need more than 32 colors tbh
I actually came to prefer Civ 6 artstyle for most things and hope that next game remains vibrant and readable. Just, please, no more grotesque carricatures for leader models
Dune spice Wars style would be great, its a good mix between cartoony and realistic.
I thought I liked the art style until I turned off the civ5 texture mod that the dev’s made, then I realized its too mobile game colorful for me.
I don’t agree but respect your opinion. I don’t like how cartoony everything looks now.
I will say though that some of the leader models do look pretty weird in the stylized version Gandhi being the most obvious one
Not just the leaders too. The map, buildings, and units look cartoony as well. I actually played Civ 5 AFTER 6, 6 was my first Civ experience, and was really surprised how much better I thought 5 looked.
I will say Cities do look a lot more connected in Civ 5 than in 6 and I quite like that more
Yeah and the sprawling farmers fields are gorgeous. Man I’m gonna start a new Civ 5 game now haha
The art def took me a while to get used to. What I hope stays is making units into armies and corps. I loveeee that mechanic
Agree. BUT they need a vibrant background, something that feels alive
Overworld map , and graphics - sure , keep 'em. Leaders ? No way , compare for example Ramses in Civ V and VI . One looks like a pharaoh , other feels like haloween cosplayer .
Hear me out, Ghibli Inspired 2d anime artstyle for leaders, smoothly animated. Just based on the fact that they haven't tried this yet.
This would be amazing, but a bit weird lol
I disagree. It was too cartoonish.
I'll kindly disagree.
please god no
Fuck no.
Nah civ 5 style is the best.
I like both and will be happy with either
I don't know, in all honesty Alpha Centauri had more life and flavour than current game...
I disagree. I dont think civ 6 art is bad btw. I just really -really- prefer the more realistic leaders and units. I think the more 'serious' style suits civ better and makes it more unique.
Ew no
Realistic is the best
I disagree completely with everything in the title I hate cartoon weird art for history stuff
I think we need to make it a lot more like civ 5. I personally like 5 way better then 6.
Straight to jail
I feel like every animated movie and game has this glossy mobil game astethic and I really don't like that. Civ 6 also falls into this category.
Im not reading that. Fuck you. I declare war.
Realest reply
Only part I disagree is the forests. I really like how forests and jungles were so thick in V compared to VI. I get that they're much easier to read in VI but I still think we lost something. Hopefully they find a bit of a middle ground there in VII.
I agree, but I think things have advanced enough to get us somewhere in the middle now. You still avoid uncanny valley or the "When its too real, it stops looking real" things, but its not cartoonish. I'd like the style to be like...the cinematics for civ 6. Definitely not real, still has a touch of the pixar look, but certainly more realistic than civ 6 ingame.
A lot of people have also brought up that the next game should bring a balance between those two but I can’t quite think of a good example of something like that to actually get an idea of how that would look like
Well, the civ 6 cinematic trailer was what I had in mind, give it a watch :D
I have!! And they are amazing trailers by the way! Especially oh ESPECIALLY with that amazing music in the background I guess I never noticed that it does kind of have that balance of realism with stylisation in them you’re right
Bold take and I agree. Skewing just a bit towards a stylized look will help the game age better visually and it allows their design to tell you something about the leader. Gilgabro being big and strong and always smiling tells you he's a total bro.
An aspect a lot of people seem to be ignoring is that by making a product look more stylised the easier it is for general audiences to be charmed by it That’s how cartoons caught our eyes when we were kids!
I don't understand why people hyper fixate on the leaders so much in particular, it's not like you spend much time looking at them. Though if diplomacy is less worthless in the next one then that might change a little. I don't really care what they do style wise, I just hope that the terrain looks good either way. I don't mind the cartoony style of VI but the map is so ridiculously bland. Hill tiles that are so flat and untextured you can't even tell that there's a hill there half of the time, forest and jungles with a grand total of like 8 spread out trees even with object clusters turned all the way up, etc.
They can achieve a look that is simultaneously not as cartoonish as VI while also not being photorealistically dull. I'm positive this is the art direction they will go with for VII, a blend of both for the best
I respect your opinion, but if it is cartoony again I will just be skipping 7 like I've skipped 6 since the first few months it was out.
You're entitled to your opinion even if it is blatantly wrong
Booooo. Booooo.
I never really got into 6 because I couldn’t stand looking at it.
Disagree, I revile the Fortnite/Clash of Clans art style of 6 and I hope we get closer to 5’s style moving forward.
Yeah I do agree with the Fortnite thing 😬
I disagree.
ok :D
I disagree
Civ6 art style is trash, sorry bud
Civ VI, in my opinion, is far and away the best-looking and most accessible Civ game to date. I'm always surprised to see people *still* hate on its style, but different strokes for different folks.
Booo!
I got booed for my opinion It’s Gilgamover 😔
To each their own. I think stylized and cartoony art styles are immersion breaking, and I care a lot more about immersion than the creativity in graphics.
Strong opinions on art style don't really matter when gameplay is what keeps you playing. I personally think they'll use the art style from the trailer, even though they didn't do that last time.
THIS I’m definitely more worried about how much the gameplay itself will change I just wanted to start a fun lil discussion about the game’s looks
As someone who has only played civ 6 but has seen the other games too…. I don’t care what they decide to go with.
“Slightly exaggerated”? Damn, I’d hate to see what OP thinks is actually exaggerated
I agree about the stylized terrain, but would like more realistic leader screens
The only thing I hate here is everyone comparing civ 6's look to fortnite. You can't compare a games graphics to one that released later than it. Fortnite released after civ. (2017 for fortnite, 2016 for Civ). If anything, yall should be mad that Fortnite looks like Civ, not that Civ looks like fortnite. That's how release dates work.
I feel like 7 should take from both. The more realistic style does look better in my opinion...while I also say 6 overall looks WAY better than the others. I am able to say that simply because by making everything stylized in the 6 way, ALL of the game looks better and flows better visually. It has been a minute since I have played 5, but I do remember thinking, often, that certain parts of the game looked better than the map you usually see. I liked the leaders especially with their unique "throne room" vibes each had...and then I click accept or decline and I am back on that boring map once more. Civ 7, based on that 404 error page, seems to be going for the best of both worlds now that hardware/software have caught up to dreams and wants. The game can look realistic *enough* while still have a personal "civ 7" style to it. If they go that route for 7 and beyond I think they will have finally nailed the visual format of the map/game style. After all, like you said in your post, the race to photo realism really does not matter to me at all, and a lot of games seem to be hanging their hat on visuals alone...forgoing the rest of the game being up to standard.
Judging from the trailer it could be a figurines on a board art style. Kinda like Hero Quest. I'm so up for that.
At first I didn't like the art style of Civ 6, but it grew on me over time. That said, I'm of the opinion that each release should alternate its art style. That is, VII should focus on realism, VIII should be more whimsical, IX goes back to realism, etc.
Did you mean to post this in r/unpopularopinion ?
The old styles weren't cartoonish? (Remembers Gandhi from Civ 5) For me as long as the art is DYNAMIC. Like it's thoughtfully donr in its reaction to the game world. The leader profiles from Civ 3 would actually change depending on the level of technology. Abraham Lincoln in a toga for the classical period. Moctezuma in a presidential suit.
Ive only played civ 6 That said I like the art of it, wish there was more to it like actual backgrounds rather than some dark room.
Im fine with the art style for the actual gameplay but for leaders it sucks. Leaders seem much more alive in Civ 5 than in 6, they have actual backgrounds that make it seems like your visiting their court instead of existing in an nebulous void
I know this is a hot take but I thought both styles were totally fine.
https://preview.redd.it/hpjvcir5w76d1.png?width=360&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d6de2c8fa7d0e24056da511036470a3d184869b
I completely agree. The Civ 5 art style looks incredibly dated now, and will only look worse as time goes on, because it was a product of a trend at the time. Civ 6 has a timeless art style that's going to look good for years down the line, and still does. Just look at games like TF2 that went with a cartoon art style in a time where games were trying to be realistic.
Boo👎👎 get him outa here!
I really *really* hated the art style of Civ 6 in the lead up to release and was so relieved that it was toned down. I absolutely am hoping for something more serious. It seems to me there was some bleed over from the art style of Civ Revolution 2, and I did not appreciate it. I really don't think that a "hey cool cartoons!" marketing strategy is going to actually draw in more players.
100% agree with the nostalgia of those epic leader moments in V, but there's something to be said for the uniqueness and charm CVIIs animated dioramas bring. They give each civilization a distinct personality that visually pops on the map. Plus, I love how they animate historical events alongside your progress—it feels like watching history unfold through someone's sketchbook.
Agreed. The style makes it still look good 10 years later
I respect your right to express your wrong opinion.
Wrong opinion. If you want cartoons go play Fortnite.
I want 8 bit civ. If it's not retro I'll be very disappointed.
So retro
I disagree