I’ve been looking the new content, and after seeing Hestia’s portrait, I’m honestly confused by the art direction. There is a natural expectation when dealing with Greek mythology because gods are usually idealizations; they represent the apex of form and aesthetics. However, her representation seems to go in the opposite direction, delivering a visual that doesn’t feel like the glorious divinity we expect to see in a pantheon.
It makes me wonder if we are seeing another reflection of that current trend in the Western industry of “deconstructing” female beauty in games. It is a stark contrast when compared to Japanese developers, who are not afraid to portray female characters as beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. In Hestia’s case, it feels like a conscious decision to not make her beautiful, which seems like a wasted opportunity to create a visually striking character.
I would like to understand the logic behind this choice. Why did the developers opt for a look that strays so far from classical beauty? Is it just an attempt at unnecessary “realism,” or is there another justification for this art direction? I’m curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on this.
In classical art and Eastern designs, gods usually possess a symmetry and lighting that set them apart from mortals. Here, the lighting and skin texture look ‘raw,’ stripping away the aura of mysticism.
The expression is passive, and the overall look is extremely modest. This contrasts with the expectation of power and beauty that the archetype of a Greek god carries.
Well, let’s start by saying that beauty in terms of appearance is totally subjective. I personally don’t find Aphrodite as beautiful in her new artwork as she is in the classic game, and I personally found Hestia quite beautiful.
Secondly, the aesthetic choice clearly follows the goddess’s own “lore”; she is the virgin goddess of the home, the hearth, and hospitality, and she doesn’t need to be sexualized.
As for this issue of the Western industry “deconstructing” female beauty, it’s more crazy talk than reality. In most cases, they are just real, non-idealized bodies, something that Eastern culture still does simply because they are extremely fetishistic societies.
You are confusing subjective taste with objective beauty. Concepts like the Golden Ratio, symmetry, and color theory exist because beauty follows patterns that are universally pleasing to the human eye; it is not purely ‘in the eye of the beholder.’
Also, labeling Eastern character design as merely ‘fetishistic’ while calling Western deconstruction ‘real’ is a biased generalization. One can appreciate idealized beauty in a mythological setting—which represents gods, not regular humans—without it being about sex. Hestia can be modest and aesthetically pleasing; my critique is that the current art direction fails at the latter, regardless of the ‘lore’ excuse.
Been saying that for a while. Greek dieties are described as superhumanly beautiful. With Hephaestos as the, to my knowledge, sole exception. (might be wrong) With Hera, Aphrodite and Athena famously competing over who’s the most beautiful.
And then, in the portraits, Rhea ends up being more beautiful than all 3 combined…
Like seriously, Hera looks like Nicholas Cage with a hangover.
I assume that’s on purpose. I don’t know why.
The problem with the art style is it completely inconsistent (which others have highlighted many times). The beta portraits were superior in many ways because they were more ‘realistic’ representations. Then they redid them and made them more cartoonish (which I really didn’t like). Now these new Greek portraits are more of the cartoon style. Demeter looks out of place because she’s a hybrid cartoon/ realistic attempt. I think hers is the weakest of the new ones because she doesn’t look very ‘Greek’ (or maybe the other Greek gods look too Hollywood??) Pan’s isn’t great either because the brush strokes are far too noticable compared to the rest.
Ra is a classic example of the random art directions. IMO Ra’s beta is far superior as it is has finer detail and more hyper-realism. The newest version is far too cartoonish for my tastes
i would like the more colourful modern fantasy artstyle more if it would be more consistent and some characters design would change or have better options.
the beta art had some good ones but struggled also with consistency and looked even more off in most cases (horus for example new one is far better)
regarding hestia:
i like the pose and the overall more “simple” style.
i think she is pretty i would much rather prefer to see Demeter getting an overhaul i like Demeters colours of her robe and the grain-crown is definitely a crreative idea but there is too much grain goin on - the shoulder pads out of grain are too much. her face perspective is cool but her face itself is off and way too mean and bitter → i would much rather prefer an older look but prettier woman and also she is a matron yet i see no curves at all not even a more chubby look. her pose is finde but less “majestic” than her brothers and why do her eyes not glow even all brothers eyes glow??? really off for me.
hestia is way better here.
beside demeter i wouldr rahter complain about pan.
perspephones i do really like tho - even her dress it not red as described in myth but i don’t see a problem with this since the rest is so good, badass and lovely to look at.
i would have gave hestia some gray strands of hair and she could lean more over the fire with more shadows maybe? i think she looks lovely/pretty enough but maybe lacks that “goddess” vibe others have.
i like her brown haircolour i would rather like to see blond her for athena again.
my opinion for possible Hestia adjustments/changes:
Did you specifically prompt to give Hestia bigger tits and hips or did the AI just do that? It seems to be a trend whenever you post “redesigns” of goddesses.
I think that’s entirely intentional and fitting for the character.
Hestia is the goddess of hanging out at home, tending to the fireplace, maybe baking bread depending on who you ask. All those attributes are pretty chill and she reflects that. It makes sense that she’d stick out compared to, say, the super flashy zeus, god of lightning and king of the gods.
There’s a similar thing with Leto of the atlantian pantheon. All the other titans are flashy and intimidating because they’re forces of nature who fuck shit up. Leto, on the other hand, is basically just the mom of Artemis and Apollo, no flashy design needed because she isn’t supposed to be flashy.
Can we not turn every portrait into fake Instagram influencer style? Beauty is very subjective like someone already said here. That said, I prefer the lighting in the edited version.
You realise the Ancient Greeks’ beauty standards would have been different from that of our modern cosmopolitan world? As in, they likely wouldn’t have imagined their deities as instagram dolls? Of course, the existing god portraits are modernised, but this is too much for me. I suppose there really is no accounting for taste.
I didn’t say a single thing about nudity. Of course nudity was a common theme in the sculptures of the time. I was talking about beauty standards. Understand the difference?
