Guild Wars 2

I realize this is a matter of taste, but personally I very much dislike the cartoony design behind these new big headed Hylek. I realize the big heads and popping eyes are part of the spritely frog look you were going for, but their bodies are just way out of proportions and just look silly. I shudder to think this game is going down the same path as WoW where they continuously cartoonified their game.

I’m assuming these guys are based on an older hylek (heket) model back from GW1, and I must say they looked way better with more realistic proportions.

On another note, the new big Hylek (the one that has you collecting wyvern eggs) looks brilliant. Great job on that one.

I don’t think they are based on Hekets. These new ones are spcifically designed to look like tree frogs, which do look cartoony and ill proportioned in real life

I’d say they are definitely based on Heket from GW1, especially since they follow the standard GW1 style of naming Heket tribes with Aztec or Aztec-esque names. By the way the Hylek we encounter in GW2 are just one tribe of Heket. Although it appears they have splintered off in the years since GW1.

edit: Also I agree, I don’t like the way they look at all. It looks very much out of place with the GW2 art style.

Have people seen all these ridiculous looking frogs that runs (jumps?) around in the real world?

Dinks.2478:

I’d say they are definitely based on Heket from GW1, especially since they follow the standard GW1 style of naming Heket tribes with Aztec or Aztec-esque names. By the way the Hylek we encounter in GW2 are just one tribe of Heket. Although it appears they have splintered off in the years since GW1.

edit: Also I agree, I don’t like the way they look at all. It looks very much out of place with the GW2 art style.

I’m pretty sure, from the blog post they had, they specifically said they modeled them after tree frogs….
“Itzel hylek are physically similar to tree frogs—lean and lanky, with long limbs and large eyes. "

I also dislike cartoony models, but it’s probably hard to make it look like a real tree frog and not look cartoony.

They do resemble tree frogs somewhat. In fact the second image I posted has heads that look very closely to Randulf’s image, whereas the HoT hylek looks rather different.

All in all real life tree frogs have relatively big heads, but the HoT hylek is just way past that. Nevermind that tree frogs are quite small compared to other frogs, whereas these things are just about as big if not bigger than a norn.

The hands and feet are a good matchthough, those are fine. It’s just that huge massive head.

But if you look relatively to their real-life size the head is about as big as that.

Except it’s not really though. Observe.

I personally can’t wait to drop a Bobblehead Laboratory in the middle of their village.

I’m very critical of cartoony elements in non-cartoony games/media (e.g. that ridiculous fight scene between John Snow and the cliche turnclock in Craster’s Keep (t.v. show not book) and scarlet briar (cliche cliche cliche)). However, I like these new frogmen. They’re very “realistic”. Their top heaviness whilst on two legs is well within the forgivable margin and, as said before, I find them a commendably realistic imaging of a frogman.

Jelle.2807:

Except it’s not really though. Observe.

Depends on the region they based the design off of.
For example a simple google search yielded many images of a “head” heavy tree frog, and many more of a “body” heavy tree frog.

All in all, this is a fantasy game.
I do expect some unreal elements to show up in some minor places.
But one cannot deny the origin of influence.

I’d honestly prefer the Heket. It’s out of proportion currently.

Solori.6025:

Jelle.2807:

Except it’s not really though. Observe.

Depends on the region they based the design off of.
For example a simple google search yielded many images of a “head” heavy tree frog, and many more of a “body” heavy tree frog.

All in all, this is a fantasy game.
I do expect some unreal elements to show up in some minor places.
But one cannot deny the origin of influence.

I don’t think it matters so much whether they’re based on something real or not, or how closely they stick to their source. What matters is how the end product looks, and I believe it looks jarring and like something out of a cartoon.

I like their design as is.

I got bored and I decided to morph our froggy friend.

Quick and dirty, mind the quality loss. Looks much better imo.

Jelle.2807:

I got bored and I decided to morph our froggy friend.

Quick and dirty, mind the quality loss. Looks much better imo.

Have to agree. Your version looks better and more realistic, but then I think the hands need to be scaled down then as they fit the larger headed version and are too big with your version.

Everyone is talking about wanting the Heket instead but the Hylek, Itzel, and the larger heavier hylek are all the modern versions of the old GW1 Heket. All of the Heket models in GW1 looked different, some looked like the traditional GW2 Hylek, some like the Itzel, and some like the heavier frogs we saw glimpses of.

Personally I don’t find them very cartoony at all, especially since we’ve now got tiny mushrooms with legs in the game (which are adorable but all around more cartoony).

Hylek are based and modeled after real life frogs. These frogs aren’t cartoony at all. The problem here is a lack of biological information, not a graphic style. One of the new races is modeled after tree frogs and the other is modeled after bull frogs. Both are well done from that perspective.

Tree frogs look more gangly than other frogs and have a bigger head.

I haven’t seen them in motion yet, but part of the problem seems to be that they’ve been anthropomorphised by having them stand upright, but not in their proportions. The might not look so cartooning if they were clinging to branches and leaves with all four limbs.

Vayne.8563:

Hylek are based and modeled after real life frogs. These frogs aren’t cartoony at all. The problem here is a lack of biological information, not a graphic style. One of the new races is modeled after tree frogs and the other is modeled after bull frogs. Both are well done from that perspective.

Tree frogs look more gangly than other frogs and have a bigger head.

Both, don’t you think? Maybe if they added more details on the 3D models (warts?) and maybe more detailed textures to evoke more realism.

Vayne.8563:

Hylek are based and modeled after real life frogs. These frogs aren’t cartoony at all. The problem here is a lack of biological information, not a graphic style. One of the new races is modeled after tree frogs and the other is modeled after bull frogs. Both are well done from that perspective.

Tree frogs look more gangly than other frogs and have a bigger head.

Except that their tree frog-like features are exaggerated when compared to actual tree-frogs (a technique that is often used in cartoons, hence why it feels cartoony for some people), as has been correctly shown above.

The size ratio between head-body is quite off, as well as the limb-body size ratio. Although I am a biologist I’m no expert on animal body plans, but I expect that a real life tree frog with a body plan like that would have a lot of trouble moving around.

Bartender.1674:

Vayne.8563:

Hylek are based and modeled after real life frogs. These frogs aren’t cartoony at all. The problem here is a lack of biological information, not a graphic style. One of the new races is modeled after tree frogs and the other is modeled after bull frogs. Both are well done from that perspective.

Tree frogs look more gangly than other frogs and have a bigger head.

Except that their tree frog-like features are exaggerated when compared to actual tree-frogs (a technique that is often used in cartoons, hence why it feels cartoony for some people), as has been correctly shown above.

The size ratio between head-body is quite off, as well as the limb-body size ratio. Although I am a biologist I’m no expert on animal body plans, but I expect that a real life tree frog with a body plan like that would have a lot of trouble moving around.

Actually, after looking at about 500+ images of different tree frogs(of which there are many hundreds of varieties if not more), I found at least 5 – 10 real life images of tree frogs that were height/weight proportioned to the Iztel in GW2…so it’s quite realistic for a creature to be shaped that way and live…now if it could live on 2 legs is a different story, but this is a fantasy world, so…

Browsing through google images, they look fairly normal imo. Their eyes do seem a little off, a little too bulgy, but it’s not that far off judging by this picture.

In the old concept picture, they look too long, making them look like salamanders/lizards without a tail. The new design is much more obvious.

Healix.5819:

Browsing through google images, they look fairly normal imo. Their eyes do seem a little off, a little too bulgy, but it’s not that far off judging by this picture.

Yep, that one’s head is pretty darn big. Still, even though it’s an extreme case their head isn’t quite as disproportionate as the ingame model.

Here’s another image to put it in perspective, some of them can be (intentionally) misleading.

Edit: Also improved that other img