The Art Style and Graphics Discussion

[Tyaren]

JRPGs have been in this generation for a while... Final Fantasy XV? Nioh? Bloodbourne and Dark Souls 3? Nier Automata? Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2...(not a traditional jrpg but still technically jrpgs)

I think I didn't explain clearly what I meant by that. I was talking about typical JRPGs of old with that bright, whimsical, medieval fantasy charme. And that on a big scale, with love to detail, plenty of development time and a AAA budget.
The only other two games out (or soon out) that are similar are Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Dragon Quest XI. Xenoblade 2 didn't live up to expectations though and it's marred by the Switch's lack of power and bad performance, low resolution and some undetailed, barren locations. About Dragon Quest XI I can't say that much yet, but it comes the closest probably. It feels in a lot of ways too archaic though and its game world, while big and beautiful and detailed, is very restricted.
Granblue Fantasy Re: Link is the first JRPG that seems to have it all however and what I (and many others if you look at other forums) feel is the first time that a typical JRPG of old has properly reached this generation. Many go as far calling it the Final Fantasy killer.

I hope the new flagship Tales game does feel like that too by the way. It's probably a good sign that we haven't heard of it yet.

 

[Chapstick]

Woah...O: JRPGs have finally reached this generation!
So far we only have terrible Niconico stream footage, but what you can make out here already looks amazing:

Especially that town at the beginning looked so beautiful, detailed and full of atmosphere.

So far I've been missing this in most, if not all, JRPGs this generation. Because of the usually fast development cycle and low budget they never reach AAA Western RPGs in that regard. This game however seems to manage this for the first time. I'm excited! Instantly one of the games I'm looking forward to the most in 2018...if it reaches the West in 2018. :/

Here's an older trailer of the game, but in way better quality:

This game is by the way developed by Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Nier: Automata...), music is by Nobuo Uematsu (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII...) and character design is by Minaba Hideo (Final Fantasy XII, Lost Odyssey...). So the people working on this are the crème de la crème of JRPG development.

@Jadeinchains, @Chapstick

This seems like what Cyberdimension Neptunia wanted to be if it had more budget. I’ll be keeping an eye out for it but I’m not expecting it to look like that at release tbh

 

[Tyaren]

I’ll be keeping an eye out for it but I’m not expecting it to look like that at release tbh

Why not? This was played live on a standard PS4. It's also exclusively developed for PS4, so they'll optimize it really well for just that platform. Last but not least we both own the PS4 Pro, so it'll get a nice visual boost on there as well.

 

[Tyaren]

Digital Foundry chose their best graphics of 2017. The winner is probably not that big of a surprise... There are however a couple of interesting picks in there too...

Gameranx and GamingBoltdid their best graphics list as well...

Great to see Injustice 2 in at least one of them. Imo a graphically extremely underrated gem. (Especially considering how supremely ugly NetherRealm fighters were before.

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...and Jade is dead, lol. @Jadeinchains

 

[Jadeinchains]

Just watched them, Can't say I'm shocked by their selection for number one. Horizon definitely deserved to be on there though and I'm not surprised it got number 1, and injustice was definitely good looking too. Happy to see that they didn't just stick to realistic graphics as well and included Gravity rush since it's beautiful too. And I'm happy they included Botw because ( I know you didn't like the look of it ) I thought it look beautiful and loved the way it looked.

Cool to see RE7 included as well, It looked amazing too.


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(Especially considering how supremely ugly NetherRealm fighters were before.

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...and Jade is dead, lol. @Jadeinchains

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[Tyaren]

And I'm happy they included Botw because ( I know you didn't like the look of it ) I thought it look beautiful and loved the way it looked.

Nah, that's not entirely true. I think Zelda BotW is overall a good looking game, I do really like its art style and the atmosphere it evokes. It all is however marred by an unstable framerate and bad image quality. Which is so strange to me, because this is basically a WiiU game and at least on Switch, with that extra boost of power, it should perform well and have good image quality. But it doesn't. :/

The game never reached the lofty goal of its initial trailer:

 

[Jadeinchains]

Nah, that's not entirely true. I think Zelda BotW is overall a good looking game, I do really like its art style and the atmosphere it evokes. It all is however marred by an unstable framerate and bad image quality. Which is so strange to me, because this is basically a WiiU game and at least on Switch, with that extra boost of power, it should perform well and have good image quality. But it doesn't. :/

The game never reached the lofty goal of its initial trailer:

Okay well It's good to know you at least don't don't like the way it looks. I guess it might not have reached the level of that first trailer although that is also some like epic cutscene type thing with the old machine versus what would actually happen in gameplay since it wouldn't be jumping in front to destroy the bridge. The explosions are though actually similar to what happens in game. I do also think it got very close to that level.

 

[Tyaren]

My personal top 3 graphical marvels (tech and art combined) of 2017 are:

1) Horizon Zero Dawn

2) Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

3) Injustice 2



What are your personal picks?
@Jadeinchains, @Chapstick, @ShinobiGuy

 

[Jadeinchains]

Hmm... I don't think I could say absolute top 3 for looks since there was too many games I played this game with gorgeous graphics and artstyles so I just can't decide among them which It would be but I can definitely make mention of some great ones I played this year.

Resident Evil 7

Horizon Zero Dawn

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Mario's Odyssey

 

[Tyaren]

Hmm... I don't think I could say absolute top 3 for looks since there was too many games I played this game with gorgeous graphics and artstyles so I just can't decide among them which It would be but I can definitely make mention of some great ones I played this year.

Resident Evil 7

Horizon Zero Dawn

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Mario's Odyssey

Badass gifs! Let's blow up everyones' phones one last time this year, lol.

Also, great selection of other pretty games...Mario Odyssey though...? >.>

 

[Jadeinchains]

Badass gifs! Let's blow up everyones' phones one last time this year, lol.

Also, great selection of other pretty games...Mario Odyssey though...? >.>

Lol I was going to say that at first those gifs you posted were taking a while cause they're big and wondering how the gifs I posted would affect the page. Now I see you want to post even more gifs to slow down the page.

And yes! Mario's Odyssey cause it looks great!

 

[Onryoki]

My personal picks are:
Horizon Zero Dawn:

Nioh:

Dark souls 3:

Gran turismo sport:

And last but not least
Uncharted 4:

 

[Brute]

I'm gonna have to say Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, from the developer that brought us Resident Evil 5 back in 2009.

Look how far they've come in the last 8 years!

 

[Onryoki]

I'm gonna have to say Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, from the developer that brought us Resident Evil 5 back in 2009.

Look how far they've come in the last 8 years!

Is it safe to say that there's barely any progression in those 8 years that have passed by ?

 

[Tyaren]

I'm gonna have to say Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, from the developer that brought us Resident Evil 5 back in 2009.

Look how far they've come in the last 8 years!

Edit: Since we are on a new page here's also a collage of some of my favorite Horizon photos that I took over the year.

 

[Fiend Busa]

From /r/ninjagaiden

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 screenshots in 4k on the PC via RPSCS3 (taken by koonbozorg)

It's not 100% yet - missing shadows and 15fps average fps

I played it myself and I get anywhere from 15-30 (60fps very rare at the moment)

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[Fiend Busa]

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