When Diablo III was confirmed late last week with a CG teaser and 20 minutes of gameplay footage, most fans joined in creating a landslide of positive comments, many involving expletives and pants being filled. Gamers everywhere seemed to be satisfied.
Well, almost everywhere. As of writing, 17,769 people have signed an online petition expressing their disappointment with the Diablo III's artistic direction.
The petition highlights dissatisfaction with the content demonstrated by Blizzard in a section labeled "What we got in Diablo." Cartoonish art direction, outside scenarios with vivid colors, unrealistic weaponry and armor, and an overall World of Warcraft-like appearance are some of the noted complaints.
Realizing the observations may be premature, the petition defends its cause:
"...the game is still under development but the artistic direction isn't since it's one of the first steps in the development of a game, until you have a fully developed artistic direction and concept you cant easily move on with the development of the game, the artistic direction will tell the artists (modelers, texture artists, etc) how the game elements shall look and feel. Since this artistic direction is already fully and happily developed (words from Blizzard) this cartoon'ish and colorful style will be present in the whole game."
Many supporters of the petition currently convene at the Diablo Fans forums in 245-page topic called
Graphics Discussion (New art style proposal to Blizzard). Here is the Petition
