PART 2 OF MY FORTUNE’S WEAVE YAPPING!!!!! this time it’s on the subject of…
disclaimer, i’m about to sound like such a pretentious little loser freak. i’m an Absolute Nerd for game art stuff and it’s what my degree is in and i just spent nine months as an art director so. it’s on the mind. and now i’m about to force it to be on all of your minds as well!!! i’m gonna rewatch the trailer and just stream-of-consciousness yap about everything i think about lol. let’s get into it
- they’ve got the shader DOWN in this!!!! holy fuck the lighting and the way the cel shading and the lineart play together is so beautiful, this is such an insane and beautiful step up from houses and hopes!!!!!
- the character designs are really beautiful but i am feeling like they’re a little. hmmmm. unfocused perhaps. but that could fully just be different characters from different regions having different aesthetics to them (houses also does this!) so this could actually be a positive in disguise
- my dear friend @diminand pointed this one out to me, they’re putting gradients in the characters’ eyes in this one!!!! you can see it the most on cai but they’ve all got a lil dark gradient at the top of their iris, which they didn’t have in the other fodlan games. i rlly rlly like this it makes their eyes look all shiny and like they’re actually 3D spheres in the sockets (sorry that just sounded so gross lmao)
- rlly appreciating the attempt at textured hair with cai!!! this is so rarely done in anime styles that i dont rlly have a baseline in my meager frame of reference to compare it to, but it looks REALLY nice and im so happy that he actually has texture in his hair unlike one claude von riegan. “my hair is actually curly lol” WHERE. NO IT ISNT
- THEY GAVE DIETRICH PALE EYELASHES AND I REALLY REALLY LIKE THAT!!!!!!! AUAUAUAUAUAUAUAUAUAA HES SO PRETTY HES SO PRETTY HES SO PRETTY
- there had better be an in-universe explanation for theodora being so gray 😭 like please. please. it’s 2026 we cannot be doing this. she is a queen i know she has lotion. i just won’t accept this lol im not drawing her with that skintone. it could definitely be a lot worse, and in some ways it does work well with the rest of her color palette, but it just doesn’t sit right with my soul lol. maybe that’s something i just need to get over though
- they animated leda so beautifully oh my god the way she moves!!!!! the way her head perks up all snappy and the way her facial expressions look is so fucking beautiful, it’s so expressive and lovely and a massive step up from the previous games. three houses looks so drab and flat in comparison to this game like oh my god!!!! the upgrade is insane!!!!
- the animated dialogue sprites. THE ANIMATED DIALOGUE SPRITES!!!!!! CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE FUCKING ANIMATED DIALOGUE SPRITES!!!!!!!
- no but seriously, can we??? one of the major flaws i’ve found in three houses is their over-reliance on stock animations, and how that deprives the player of any characterization that can come from things like body language or mannerisms or just, the overall way that the characters carry themselves and take up space. AND THIS IS SUCH A GOOD WAY TO INJECT SOME OF THAT LIFE INTO THE CHARACTERS!!!!!!! it makes me so happy that everyone moves in their own way and they feel so real and alive!!!! when you notice how many characters share animations and how many movements are just canned, it rlly makes you realize how hard three houses is carried by its VA performances. it’s AMAZING to see the art doing some of that heavy lifting with characterization!!!!!
- the UI is visually delightful. it’s so sleek and nice to look at!!! it’s impossible to fully judge a UI that i haven’t interfaced with of course, but like just from the look of things it’s quite lovely. i love a good serify font
- sorry i’m not over the lighting. im so sorry to keep harping on the lighting but good lord three houses is so UGLY in comparison shshdhdhdhd it’s insane how much lights and shadows actually make a difference. like oh my lord it doesn’t even look like they rendered three houses out of the engine!!!!
- i like how the camera moves a lot!!!! ANOTHER THING THREE HOUSES LACKS AUAUAUAUAGH THEY BARLEY MOVE THE CAMERA AT ALL!!!! i really don’t mean to bash on three houses but oh my god you can’t even compare these
- the sound effects in the battle and level-up screens are really juicy 🤤🤤🤤🤤 i love a good blade “shink!” sound, that’s such good shit
- they’re using some very extra particle effects on hit during battle and they make me happy lol. i love that sparks fly around it’s so fun, rlly makes you feel the impact of the hit
- the battle forecast taking up the entire bottom of the screen is an interesting choice, i quite like it!! having all the stat info more spread out and visible makes it easier to understand than having to page through it, at least for someone like me who is (embarrassingly) not very good at the more strategic dimensions of these games
i think that’s all i’ve got???? overall i’m obsessed with the art direction in this game and it’s really really fun to dissect. nobody can tell me that i’m not using my degree 💪💪💪 await the later parts on gameplay and worldbuilding. they’re likely to be shorter than the character and art ones but who knows, maybe i’ll find more to say about those dimensions of the trailer
jbbartram-illu
kaledo-art
gummygunk
blakekathryn
ellievsbear
stormborns
