why Key's quality is "questionable"?

[Silvz]

http://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/9255-which-clannad-version-should-i-play/

 

I read this thread [topic?] and I was wondering, since I saw people saying this before, why Key is known also because of lack of quality in its art. I mean, I've read Rewrite, a little of Clannad and some others are in my list, and I think the graphics, the backgrounds, etc, are VERY nice.

 

Sure, there are some games way better, but I can't think of a real reason to say Key is not of very quality.

 

ps: I'm not asking because of Nosebleed's comment, but because I've seen this opinion a few times.

[Deep Blue]

I think people in general tends to confuse lack of quality with "weird" art style, I've read a lot of comments saying that steins;gate had some really awful quality in their drawings and that's not true at all, it's just different from the normal anime stuff you found everyday.

[starlessn1ght]

steins;gate had some really awful quality in their drawings and that's not true at all, it's just different from the normal anime stuff you found everyday.

 

I don't think Steins;Gate had bad art, but I think they wasted some CGs. They put CGs in moments that didn't need them and didn't use them for the ones that required this. For example, that pic of Kurisu soaked, instead of putting that CG, why not put a CG of her fixing Okabe's clothes? It would add much more impact to the moment. This is my complain about Steins;Gate art.

[Flutterz]

Because Key's art style is a bit unique and not everyone likes it. Moreover, their quality has improved a lot over the years, so while someone who doesn't particularly like the art style might not mind Rewrite, they probably won't like Kanon where the art is basically lower quality, and Clannad is closer to Kanon than Rewrite in terms of art quality.

[Eclipsed]

Cuz Key is the most well known and so people give it the Pewdiepie 'hurr durr overrated' automatic hate.

I agree with Deep Blue & Flutterz.

It's dem eyes.



 

[Nosebleed]

ps: I'm not asking because of Nosebleed's comment, but because I've seen this opinion a few times.

Does this mean i can't answer?

By "it's Key" i usually refer to the overly big eyes and the nose in the middle of their face. They just have this thing for big as hell eyes.

In terms of wether it's good or not it all comes down to personal artistic preference. I actually don't mind Key's artstyle at all, i think it's nice and charismatic, you never see me complain about Key's art although i sometimes poke fun at it. But some people just don't see it that way.

I have more problems with Key writing than with Key artstyle

If you were to ask me wether or not Key's art is the superior form of character design, then i would definitely not agree, but i think it is decently drawn in general.

[Ceris]

I agree with Deep Blue and Flutterz. I have nothing to add to the conversation, posting because this:

Because Key's art style is a bit unique and not everyone likes it. Moreover, their quality has improved a lot over the years, so while someone who doesn't particularly like the art style might not mind Rewrite, they probably won't like Kanon where the art is basically lower quality, and Clannad is closer to Kanon than Rewrite in terms of art quality.

Nice choice in Rewrite example

[Flutterz]

I agree with Deep Blue and Flutterz. I have nothing to add to the conversation, posting because this:

Nice choice in Rewrite example

I just picked the 2 screenshots from Kanon and Rewrite on VNDB that looked vaguely similar.

[Nosebleed]

Dug this thread up as a representation of what some people see when they look at Key's characters: http://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/3727-how-do-you-like-my-kyuuns/

I hope this helps provide lulz more tangible evidence

Edit: well most of the images are RIP.

[Eclipsed]

Adding to my 'it's dem eyes' comment, Little Busters! was my second VN and I was hugely bugged by the big eyes for a looong while.

 

~~

Misc. Offtopicness

@Nosebleed alot of images died in that thread and it was like a year ago but I just had to Like your Toaru Majutsu no Chindex comment

 

I agree with Deep Blue and Flutterz. I have nothing to add to the conversation, posting because this:

Nice choice in Rewrite example 

Omg Ceris posted somewhere other than Other Discussion

[Decay]

The line art always seemed really rough to me, like the artist had a bad grasp on anatomy and just couldn't draw people very well. Masato may be one of the biggest examples of this. His sprite suuuuucks. Like the way his shoulder slope and that kind of thing. Their art has gotten progressively better over time, but Clannad and older VNs just kind of look rough. The other big issue I take with their art style is how the hair is attached to the head. It often makes no anatomical sense, like the hair is mismatched with the skull. There are several sprites like this even in Clannad. It's this kind of thing that makes it less of an art style thing and more that it's simply poorly drawn.

 

Also they're still hilariously bad at drawing old people. LOL at Esaka's sprite in Rewrite.

 

edit: Also it's not necessarily the size of the eyes that bother me, that's largely fine. I actually kind of like the eyes in Clannad, LB, and Rewrite, they're kinda pretty, but it's their placement. The characters look like they have downs. This is also something Key has gotten better at over time. 

 

[XReaper]

Also they're still hilariously bad at drawing old people. LOL at Esaka's sprite in Rewrite.

[Satsuki]

Key's art from Clannad backward is bad indeed (not that I can blame them, they are over 10 years olds), but aside from that, I think it's nice.

And I actually never have any problem (or even notice at all) with their big eyes style.

[kratoscar2008]

I dont like the huge eyes but they havent improved (changed) wich is a shame. The fish eyes being the worst part.

 

But im not one to talk i guess since i like Ooyari Ashito Artstyle and you more oftem than not will find people hating on it.

[Getsuya]

As Higurashi and Umineko have shown us, good stories can make up for poor art. Or Fate/Stay.

 

One thing I think a lot of people forget is how ridiculously old these games are. Little Busters and Rewrite are at least kind of recent... Clannad is over a decade old, and Kanon came out before the turn of the century. They were old way before we even got their anime and they started spreading around out West. Compare them to their contemporaries and I think they'll look at least a little better than they do if you try comparing them to more modern VNs.

[Shikomizue]

I've never noticed the space between the eyes while playing LB or Rewrite, so it doesn't bother me personally. But that could be because I don't really care about the art so much. Like, if I were to make a review on Trigun and Angel Beats, the art wouldn't be a large factor in my review, simply because it's not important to me. I feel that, in any media, art/graphics isn't what makes a good story, but this is just my opinion on the matter.

[XReaper]

nah the stuff with 10years old doesn´t count, i mean yu-no & other vns are much older and their sprites DO NOT look like freaking goblings on crack

@kratos, you aren´t alone out there, i do love Ooyari 

[kratoscar2008]

As Higurashi and Umineko have shown us, good stories can make up for poor art. Or Fate/Stay.

 

One thing I think a lot of people forget is how ridiculously old these games are. Little Busters and Rewrite are at least kind of recent... Clannad is over a decade old, and Kanon came out before the turn of the century. They were old way before we even got their anime and they started spreading around out West. Compare them to their contemporaries and I think they'll look at least a little better than they do if you try comparing them to more modern VNs.

 

Time is no excuse, when games like Mitsumete Knight had good art at that time. Heck the sprites even move their mouths and blink. Too bad i dont have the game somewhere with better images.

 

 

@XReaper I know im not the only one but we arent exactly in the mayority lol.

[Getsuya]

There is an image floating around that I can't find anywhere of the cover from A Bug's Life with Nagisa from Clannad. Cuz' they look like insects, see. They've got insect-proportioned head/eye ratios. It would be funnier if I could show you rather than trying to explain it.

 

Anyway I guess it's not so much that Clannad and Kanon are old, it's that their art didn't change a bit from the time before they were Key, back during One and Moon. I guess back then they just grabbed whatever artist they could and after their writing made them popular they just kept the same guy in charge of art.

[Decay]

This is a game from the year 1999 (https://vndb.org/v177):

This predates Kanon. Age is not really an excuse. Well, you can say that MOST of the competition did look bad back then and you wouldn't necessarily be wrong, but that's because nobody bothered spending money on competent artists except a select few studios such as Leaf. The fact that there were more incompetent artists back then than now doesn't make me want to accept incompetent art.

 

edit: Although I praise Leaf, To Heart looked baaaaad. So they also had their rough "can't afford anyone competent" phase, but they managed to get out of that quickly.

 

edit 2: Changed to a better example.

[Flutterz]

One thing I think a lot of people forget is how ridiculously old these games are. Little Busters and Rewrite are at least kind of recent... Clannad is over a decade old, and Kanon came out before the turn of the millennium.

FTFY

[Beato]

It's not the art style. It's the horrible anatomy.

Along with Nishimata, Hinoue is one of the worst popular artists in the medium and she has never improved. The colors and backround aren't what people are criticizing, those are great. Na-Ga is also alot better than Hinoue though he also has questionable anatomy sometimes.

[Nerathim]

As Higurashi and Umineko have shown us, good stories can make up for poor art. Or Fate/Stay.

 

One thing I think a lot of people forget is how ridiculously old these games are. Little Busters and Rewrite are at least kind of recent... Clannad is over a decade old, and Kanon came out before the turn of the century. They were old way before we even got their anime and they started spreading around out West. Compare them to their contemporaries and I think they'll look at least a little better than they do if you try comparing them to more modern VNs.

 

FSN's art is quite good.

[Nosebleed]

It's not the art style. It's the horrible anatomy.

Along with Nishimata, Hinoue is one of the worst popular artists in the medium and she has never improved. The colors and backround aren't what people are criticizing, those are great. Na-Ga is also alot better than Hinoue though he also has questionable anatomy sometimes.

Heh I remember when i posted about Angel Beats before and most people said the art was crap.

While i feel like Inoue is to blame the most, i think some people just want to hate on Key.

I'm probably one of the few people who thinks Na-Ga draws good characters with decent proportions.

[Getsuya]

Okay can we at least agree that GotoP, who did the art for the Clannad sidestory games on PSP, is a very good artist who absolutely knocked it out of the park? I don't care one way or the other about Key art (it was only an issue when playing stuff like Kanon with H scenes and thinking 'no I really, really don't want to see these girls naked thanks' which inadvertently probably lead to my current love of all-ages stuff) but GotoP does good stuff and Key should hire him to do a whole original game.