My final two cents on Reforgeds visual overhaul
• Chapter 1:
I actually realize how to express myself exactly the way i wanted.
Warcraft 3's vanilla visuals supports the artist expressing how a model PERFECTLY looks without the game engine getting in the way of that with its lightning.
So if the artist paints metal glow on a shoulderpad of a Footman it will remain there forever with no interference, so how good the model looks is how good the author drew its texture and wrapped it perfectly like a gift around the model.
This is untapped art potential right here, and instead of Reforged expanding on this. they make a system in which first the models look objectively worse without the ingame settings, then they look worse or good depending on the ever changing lightning reflected upon them in an RTS game that is meant to keep visual integrity and not suffer massive framerate problems with numbers on the screen.
This perfectly in a nutshell represents how i feel about the new visual overhaul and how it impacted the game. and i'm soo happy i finally managed to bring this into words. i wasn't able to due to the lack of understanding how to express what was on my mind.
• Chapter 2:
Reforged feels like a visual outcast.
It is visually incompatible in Blizzard Games categories.
It doesn't belong in Warcraft 3. it doesn't belong in WoW it doesn't belong in Hots. it doesn't belong in Diablo nor Starcraft, i don't know where it belongs honestly. where am i meant to put this in ?
Overwatch is more stylish cartoony then Reforged.
Where in the Blizzard game category is Reforged suppose to be in terms of visuals?
If Reforged was meant to bring new visuals we were meant to accept but have a choice to ignore then why do it to a game (Warcraft III) with an existing visuals that is tied to how other Blizzard visuals also looks.
Classic Mode is not a justification for this action, because it is not much to ask for Blizzard to simply follow a more faithful overhaul as an upgrade.
Just make Reforgeds its entirely different thing or make a new sequel, then remaster Warcraft 3 like how Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition and Starcraft 1 and C&C Remaster is.
Could it possibly be that Reforged visuals alone couldn't save them enough money so that they needed to leach and ruin Warcraft 3 just so this.... abomination could be born ? (Foods of all kind for thought, Tarts, Cakes, Roasted Chicken, Pasta with meatballs, you name it)
• Chapter 3:
I realize there are those who love the new visuals and were invited to this game because of the advertised visuals, its a matter of opinion that who thinks if traditional Blizzard art looks better. or this new take on an existing old game.
Just know that, Blizzard didn't even deliver on the promise they gave to these new subset of people anyway, since if we're talking about a new take then the 2018 visuals were better for that then the current one. because the current one is trying to cater to traditional Blizzard art. aka stylized cartoony art. but its failing horribly at it. so Blizzards new visual overhaul is completely the opposite of how their other games look. and it isn't even trying to push its own look so its betraying the new audience they found because of the new visuals since they heavily rolled back on the more realistic and gritty looks since 2018.
• Chapter 4
Also would like to say something about the difference of how the art looks and how its transitioned into gameplay. in this regard i stand fully with how Vanilla Warcraft 3 looks, everyone does like to agree that the game seems to have "exaggerated" parts, well yes and no. the exaggeration is much more heavily emphasized in WoW and Hots compared to Warcraft 3 Vanilla (Which is what i personally support).
There are examples of faithful art done by Andre Kent over at ArtStation. i especially love his Footman.
<
GloriousFootman.PNG>
You can see aside from the chest being cloth (most likely due to it not being the main part of this specific work he was trying to do) there is no such thing as exaggerated Shoulderpads. And the way in which it manages to perfectly modernize the original concept of the INGAME model is really dare i say... orgasmic.
Also in one aspect Reforged fails to adapt traditional art, is realistic proportion sizes of body parts, yet a bit too much blown out of proportion armor parts. Like how the original Human Paladins body was very beefy same so in artworks of it, yet the armor was tuned down and the cloth parts over it helped both for detecting the models team color and also showing a more humble look for the model, while the new one aside from the head is tuned down body parts but blown out of proportion armor size and detail.
So in conclusion my personal position on the visual overhaul is somewhere in between the simplistic details and faithful proportion sizes of the original games ingame models (Big or Small) and the lightning and graphics engine of the Heros of the Storm. since i hate unnecessary minor details on models of an RTS game that doesn't need to be there. (not to take simpler details as a meaning of lesser quality of set details)
The least one can say about the visual overhaul plan over this project is: Very Confusing. or Without any set in stone goal.
• Bonus:
This is Thralls ingame Reforged model, simply dismounted by a Retera. (The Shorka)
<
Thrall HD.PNG>
This is the same model, but its not ingame and is not using the ingame lightning and graphics that it is soo dependent on.
<
Thrall HD Model.PNG>
This is a fan made Thrall model that is not "HD". (Made by Traggey)
<
Thrall Classic Graphics.png>
^^^ This model looks exactly like this both ingame or outside of the game through a model viewer.
Its what i like to call the art of ageless graphics. but Reforgeds realistic take is going to age much worse. its going to be extremely average visuals in a year or 2. because Blizzard failed to transition their ageless graphics standards and channel it unto the new project.
In any case, thanks for reading.