Siegvar's Sprites

[klodasmone]

Okay, so I was a little confused with my feelings, when I wrote in Siegvar’s Frozen thread, but now I can think clearly, so I’ll say what I think. Firstly, I will compare Sieg with Apoc, because they are very similar at first glance, but almost completely different, at second. Sieg is overlooked and overshadowed by Apoc, in my eyes, and that is for a reason. Graphics are on Sieg’s side, with more fidelity and more details, while aesthetics - on Apoc’s side, with more style and emotional substance (some even say “love). Graphics don’t define how good the sprite looks. Apoc chooses colors very carefully and has a unified design and “feel” to it. On the other hand, Sieg’s characters' skin color palette is bland and brown, and those images don’t prepare me for a good playable character experience or over-the-top cool moves, even if it had some, because of bad aesthetic design and misfitted components. Graphics exist to serve aesthetics and is not the answer, only the means to a goal. Sieg is better than Apoc about one-third in graphics, but his aesthetic are sub-par. I want to see from Sieg not only beautifully rendered fancy visual effects but also some vibrant stylish poses, contextual action moments and general characterizational (read: definable) immersion that I can put my finger on. Remember those old arcade fighting games? They are a 1000 time inferior graphically to Street Fighter IV, but a 1000 times more holistically and aesthetically pleasing than the latter. The same with original Little Fighter 2 – it is simply drawn in a unified, specific, carefully-crafted style, and although such personalities like Apoc and Sieg surpassed the technical barriers of its graphics, I would still play the original game than any other more visually advanced super ultra 3D turd like, let's say, Little Fighter Online. Final verdict: although nice graphics are hugely important, if it doesn’t have a soul, a heart, an X-factor, then… well, let’s just say, it will all be in vain.