Chrono Compendium
Zenan Plains - Site Discussion => Polling => Topic started by: redandblack64 on November 17, 2010, 04:14:19 pm
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This is a really open ended question, but I just had to ask. Oh, and if the game were a direct sequel to Trigger, or a very different and new game like Cross, would your answer change? I'm wanting Toriyama or maybe Eichiro Oda if this were to be a direct sequel to Trigger, but maybe Hiromu Arakawa for the 'different' game.
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I wouldn't mind mixing my Chrono with a little Suikoden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PNjCnoaugM). Fumi Ishikawa's character designs did wonders for Suikoden II and III. I wonder what she's been up to since then?
Also, Square Enix has/contracted with a really talented artist who worked on Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals recently. There's a character in that game who's totally a dead ringer for Dalton.
And finally, Masato Kato ain't too shabby himself. I'd love to see what he'd come up with if put in charge of both story and character design, just like in the Ninja Gaiden NES days.
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Toriyama's stuff is fun, even though Dragon Ball has that excess-hype stigma, I really enjoyed the styles from Trigger.
I feel torn about Cross, because I am not a huge fan of the character designs, they all seem a bit too complex, perhaps to differentiate from all the characters. The locations and maps were gorgeous though, and I would not be let down if something like that was tried again.
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Good question. I guess it would depend on the tone and setting of the game. I think it would be interesting to bring on someone totally new, and get their take on the Chrono aesthetic. Might I suggest Yoshiyuki Sadamato? Or if we're looking for artists who have distinguished themselves in their work with fantasy settings, perhaps Hiromu Arakawa?
Actually, no, scratch that. I vote for Nobuhiro Watsuki, all the way. His designs strike just the right balance between whimsicality and seriousness, simplicity and complexity, that Chrono 3 would demand.
Of course, this is just talking about character designers. For the role of general artist and art director, there can only be Yasuyuki Honne.
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I think Arakawa would make a great artist for the Chrono series, myself. Sure, the whimsicalness factor may go a bit overboard concerning SD and gag moments, but still.
A big part of what made FMA and Brotherhood great were the designs, at least to me. I might be biased, though. :P
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Good question. I guess it would depend on the tone and setting of the game. I think it would be interesting to bring on someone totally new, and get their take on the Chrono aesthetic. Might I suggest Yoshiyuki Sadamato? Or if we're looking for artists who have distinguished themselves in their work with fantasy settings, perhaps Hiromu Arakawa?
Actually, no, scratch that. I vote for Nobuhiro Watsuki, all the way. His designs strike just the right balance between whimsicality and seriousness, simplicity and complexity, that Chrono 3 would demand.
Of course, this is just talking about character designers. For the role of general artist and art director, there can only be Yasuyuki Honne.
Yes, I was only talking about the character designs. But... is it just me, or does that Art Director get influenced somewhat by the Character Designer?
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@Skylark: Well, I would assume the art director and character designer would try to collectively produce art that sets a consistent tone for the game; it'd be a little weird to have Akira Toriyama's designs running around in Chrono Cross's lush, hand-painted-like backgrounds, even though Yasuyuki Honne was the art director for both games.
@Redandblack: I like Arakawa, but I think her biggest strength by a long shot is drawing facial expressions - without them, her designs are a bit plain. Needless to say, those strengths and weaknesses are pretty much the opposite of what one would look for in a video game character designer. Watsuki draws both distinctive designs and great faces, and his lush and detailed style would lend itself to a video game. I'm assuming, of course, that Chrono 3 would be closer in tone to the darker, more "realistic" Radical Dreamers and Cross than the comparatively whimsical, cartoonish Trigger (I hope so, anyway).
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@gatotsu: I think you got our names and comments switched around. :P
And what work did Watsuki do?
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Did I? Whoops.
Watsuki did Rurouni Kenshin (my namesake) and Buso Renkin. He's very good, though he's struggled to top himself after RK.
Also, all this said, I did like Nobuteru Yuuki. I wouldn't complain if he came back for another game.
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Oh, I did notice something else with the different artstyles of Trigger and Cross. It's that Trigger is in a more 2 dimensional artstyle (it was originally a SNES game), and Cross is more of a 3D art style. Chrono 3 could be either, and I think it was the team's goal to take full advantage of the hardware they were developing for. Now, this game could be for any system if they were making it now, such as the 360/PS3, Wii or PSP2/3DS. (I'm wishing for the next gen handhelds.) Now, if the game were in 2D or 3D, on any of the current systems, who would you prefer as the character designer? Or would you want the same person either way?
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I doubt they would make a sequel in 2D. Not that it'd be a bad idea, necessarily, but I can't see SquEnix doing it.
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Oh, I did notice something else with the different artstyles of Trigger and Cross. It's that Trigger is in a more 2 dimensional artstyle (it was originally a SNES game), and Cross is more of a 3D art style. Chrono 3 could be either, and I think it was the team's goal to take full advantage of the hardware they were developing for. Now, this game could be for any system if they were making it now, such as the 360/PS3, Wii or PSP2/3DS. (I'm wishing for the next gen handhelds.) Now, if the game were in 2D or 3D, on any of the current systems, who would you prefer as the character designer? Or would you want the same person either way?
Even if Trigger is in 2d, Akira Toriyama designs all the DQ characters, and DQ8 is a very pretty representation of his style in 3d. Also, let's not forget CT Resurrection.
My point isn't that I'm only for Akira Toriyama, I think some of the other suggestions so far have been great, but whether it's 2d or 3d probably wouldn't affect the initial concept art all that much. It can be elaborate no matter what, really.
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I do doubt that the next game would be in 2D. I was really talking about the art style. You know how the Naruto games on the PS3 look like a hand drawn animation, yet it's rendered in 3D? That's what I was aiming for here. In my opinion, I think Toriyama's best looking character designs are when they're cel shaded (Dragon Quest 8 & 9, for example) or are hand drawn sprites, because those look much more organic. The 3D, non cell shaded games, such as Resurrection and some of the DBZ games, have somewhat creepy looking character designs (up close), and seem to be missing something. So, what I meant by a 2D artstyle is making the game look like it's a hand drawn animation or comic, and 3D like a movie or illustration. We do have a middle ground, too, right?
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Cel-shading was awesome and it's a shame the trend died so young. The Wind Waker is still one of the most visually astonishing games ever made. But I can't really see Chrono 3 being cel-shaded, either. If anything, I'd kind of like to see it follow the style of Cross/Baten Kaitos, with polygonal character models navigating pre-rendered backgrounds. Sadly, that seems to be a dying trend as well.
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It'd be cool if it was cel-shaded IF that was part of a whole visual style, making it look like a manga, kinda grainy and dark (MadWorld comes to mind, as a pseudo-american version of the idea). But yeah, it's a stretch.
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Since we're assuming the team that did Cross and Trigger get back together, I've got the feeling that they'd try to both use a different visual style from either of those games, and take full advantage of whatever hardware they would develop Chrono 3 for. It wouldn't be wrong to assume that the game may be full in 3D, considering how powerful all the systems are now? Though this goes a little off topic, I'm curious how the team would acheive this while using polygonal models and prerendered backgrounds, when they're developing for a system that can render backgrounds in realtime, too?
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...if the game were a direct sequel to Trigger, or a very different and new game like Cross, would your answer change?
That implies that Cross isn't a direct sequel to Trigger, which isn't true (regardless of whether or not you think it took an oblong path around RD). Direct Sequel=/=Same Playable Characters...but, no, it wouldn't change. I mean, RD was a radically different direct sequel and it kept the same character designer, so I don't see the necessity for artistic change just because other things are different. Toriyama screams ADVENTURE, one of the deepest roots in the series. Nobeteru Yuuki did a good job, but I think his colorful, flamboyant style is more suited strictly for El Nido.
Cel-shading was awesome and it's a shame the trend died so young.
It did? I don't think it's gained much in terms of popularity (some people can't get over the fact that simple doesn't mean less detailed), but maybe you just need to look elsewhere? Isn't thatgamecompany's new PS3 title, Journey cel-shaded?
[youtube]57kDiPVQ9n0[/youtube]
Either way it kinda makes me wish I had one of them Sony blu-ray gaming system things...
Regardless, we know that Toriyama works well in cel-shading (my money's on it for DQX) AND 2D...I wonder if they could make a 3DS game where w/o the 3D feature on it would look like 2D drawings and then when you turn the effect on it could switch to a cel-shading-like thingy...
As for any possible alternates outside the series art norms, I've always wanted to see Magus & Lavos as painted by Yoshitaka Amano....
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HERE COMES A LOW BLOW
As much as I love Vegeta and his neuroticism, I don't want him in the next Chrono game.
Not sure who I'd want to do the art instead, though.
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I'd love Nobeteru Yuuki to do the art again, regardless of setting.
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HERE COMES A LOW BLOW
As much as I love Vegeta and his neuroticism, I don't want him in the next Chrono game.
I think he'd be the next hero. I mean, amnesia, awesome latent power and a lost home (not to mention sister) has all the trappings of a RPG hero...or they could just turn him into a nothing side-character magician, idk....:P
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I've got a few questions surrounding the art.
First, do you think the style and tone of the art and story of Chrono Cross were at odds with each other more than that of Chrono Trigger?
And, what type of a game do you envision when you think of the following artists working on the next game?
Yoshiyuki Sadamato (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Hiromu Arakawa (Full Metal Alchemist)
Nobuhiro Watsuki (Kenshin)
Fumi Ishikawa (Suikoden)
Masato Kato (Radical Dreamers)
Yusuke Naora (Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals)
Try to guess how their art styles would affect the tone and mood of the game in terms of story and other things.
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I don't known if any of you have heard of this artist before but I'd like Katie Rice to do it. I really like her cartoony distinctive looking characters.
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And add LadyMarle! :D
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And add LadyMarle! :D
Aww yay! LoL I'm flattered to even be mentioned <3 :D
I would love Toriyama to come back but if he wouldn't, I agree with the previous statement of Fumi Ishikawa, who is responsible for Suikoden II-V's characters. I also like Tetsuya Nomura, who is the artist for The Kingdom Hearts series and the more recent Final Fantasy games. ^.^
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I've never been all that fond of Testuya's work, actually. He does a great job for Kingdom Hearts, but when I saw how he did all of the other characters for Dissidia, I was kinda disappointed. I mean, Golbez, who is probably my favorite character out of the entire Final Fantasy franchise, now looks like a gorilla in dark armor. Not cool.
As a sign that I'm way too deep into the Soul series, I'd suggest their artist, Takuji Kawano. The only thing I wouldn't like about him doing it is how they'd get a bad rep for being done by the guy who has also made some of the sluttiest looking characters in the gaming industry. It doesn't mean that he can't make kickass characters with some modest (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090113164448/soulcalibur/images/thumb/d/d7/465px-Ivy03SCII.jpg/436px-465px-Ivy03SCII.jpg) designs (http://images.wikia.com/soulcalibur/images/a/a4/HildeSC4.jpg), though.
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It's a tough call for me. The look of the original will never be outdone for me, as far as the CT franchise goes. But as a few people mentioned, just the Dragon Ball fatigue in the last decade or so... It would be hard to shake the association. I remember when I first got the PS re-release, and the cutscenes just frustrated me. Same with the look of the Dragon Quest re-releases on DS.
On the other hand, I wasn't a big fan of CC's look. Out of the whole grand cast there were maybe 4 or 5 characters that I liked the look (and personality) of. I thought they did do a good job of re-creating some of the old characters and locales (Ozzy, Slash, Flea, the world map graphic) while giving it a new feel though. I'm sure they could find a good balance between new 3D graphics and the original game, without going for the pokey-haired Toriyama look. I just hope they'd avoid the zippers look that's dogged the FF series for years now.
I do like the idea of a cel-shaded take on things, I think it could really bring out the vibrant sense of colour that made CT stand out for me, visually, at the time it was released.
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:picardno
So few votes for Yuki?
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I actually much prefer Yuuki to Toriyama. However, each artist's style matches their respective game's theme: Trigger is more lighthearted and adventure driven; Cross is more serious and plot driven. Wait, there's a plot?
In which case, I think the next Chrono game should have a different artist whose style matches that game's theme, to follow the trend. Who that would be, I dunno. Might I suggest Kozue Amano?
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People say that Trigger is lighthearted w/o thinking of the seriously dreary moments it has (mostly the future, but also the Mystic War and a few happenings in Zeal)...It wasn't just one core theme, it was a roller-coaster ride and that's what made it great and fun.
I think that the tropical characters in Cross obviously fit in, but there were just so many randoms that just took away from the few good designs that I couldn't say one way or the other if I liked/hated the artist or just that there were too many bad character choices...
Nomura needs to go back to a more oldschool anime style in his character designs rather than these new age, leather, buckles & zippers he's been so fond of...Take a look at the two awesome characters he designed for FFVI for example: Shadow & Setzer. Classic ninja with classic scars-a-lot (w/awesome coat)...then look what he did with Setzer for Kingdom Hearts...V_V
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Hiroyuki Imaishi, in a Gainax/Square-Enix collaboration. Squeenax.