The Art Style and Graphics Discussion

[Tyaren]

The 4th best looking game of 2015 has one big graphical advantage over the number 1.... and that's mirrors with high quality real time reflections!

(See Robin hanging out in the background? XD)

(pics taken by me during normal gameplay, not during cutscenes.)

Correct real time reflections (in actual mirrors, the hood of cars or in the water) are often hit and miss and costly to implement, even in today's games. Now you might say: "Wait a sec, but there were also real time reflections in by now very old games! O:" No, these games did actually cheat the viewer.

Crazy, but they actually took the time and effort to build fully modelled and textured rooms and character models twice, just a little less detailed, to have them pose as reflections... Cheating but still looking awesome to this day.

 

[Tyaren]

Again talking to myself. XD But let me carry on:

A game modder was able to position the game camera thousands of meters high to look down on the world of the Witcher III. The world looks already great from the ground (as you might have seen in my pictures a few pages ago) but from the air it looks even more breathtaking. These pictures actually look like real satelite pictures. O: The detail CD Projekt Red put in this game world is absolutely amazing and pretty much unmatched so far in any other game.

Behold the complete world of The Witcher III (well, excluding Kaer Morhen and the Skellige Archipelago):

White Orchard, the idyllic place where you start the game:

The main island of the Skellige Archipelago (there are many smaller but just as interesting islands scattered around it):

Let me try to give you an idea how this translates in the game with the example of Skellige...
In each picture I am looking from a different place on the map to the same mountain marked with a triangle:

1)

2)

3)

Amazing, huh?

 

[Jadeinchains]

Wow. That is an insane amount of detail for them to put into the game world considering I'm guessing you can't explore quite alot of that map. If this is what people can do in the early stages of this console generation then It will be unbelievable what people could be doing once they fully have control and understanding over the system.

For example how much larger Gta V is to Gta IV I think is a good comparison from the start of the last console generation to its end. Those zoom outs remind me of when Skyrim came out and people zoomed out to see that they had added details like the Imperial City in Cyrodiil even though you would never see it ingame.

 

[Tyaren]

Wow. That is an insane amount of detail for them to put into the game world considering I'm guessing you can't explore quite alot of that map. If this is what people can do in the early stages of this console generation then It will be unbelievable what people could be doing once they fully have control and understanding over the system.

For example how much larger Gta V is to Gta IV I think is a good comparison from the start of the last console generation to its end. Those zoom outs remind me of when Skyrim came out and people zoomed out to see that they had added details like the Imperial City in Cyrodiil even though you would never see it ingame.

They are still working on the world and expanding it further. They did it already in "Hearts of Stone" and in the next couple of months they will do so again with the expansion "Blood and Wine". This time they will add a whole new region to the south of the existing map. The center and north of the world was inspired by Central Europe (Germany, Poland...) and by Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway...), the new region, "Toussaint" will be inspired by Southern France and Italy:

So beautiful... *__*

 

[Argentus]

They are still working on the world and expanding it further. They did it already in "Hearts of Stone" and in the next couple of months they will do so again with the expansion "Blood and Wine". This time they will add a whole new region to the south of the existing map. The center and north of the world was inspired by Central Europe (Germany, Poland...) and by Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway...), the new region, "Toussaint" will be inspired by Southern France and Italy:

So beautiful... *__*

Wow, i actually gave up arkham knight eso and dynasty warriors (all games I really want) to give witcher 3, which I had no interest in, a chance based on recommendations. Now you've got me interested. All I know is the first game was crap but second was apparently good.

 

[Tyaren]

Wow, i actually gave up arkham knight eso and dynasty warriors (all games I really want) to give witcher 3, which I had no interest in, a chance based on recommendations. Now you've got me interested. All I know is the first game was crap but second was apparently good.

So you do have a PS4 now? Now after I finished the game and started it right again (which I rarely do) to experience it all again, I can't recommend the game enough. It's the best Western RPG that I have ever played and it won many (probably most) Game of the Year awards, so I'm not the only one who loved it. Definitely give it a try.

 

[Argentus]

So you do have a PS4 now? Now after I finished the game and started it right again (which I rarely do) to experience it all again, I can't recommend the game enough. It's the best Western RPG that I have ever played and it won many (probably most) Game of the Year awards, so I'm not the only one who loved it. Definitely give it a try.

I've had a ps4 since November but still don't have an HDMI TV to play it on lol.

Also game of the year stuff doesn't mean anything they hand that out like candy to whatever AAA game comes out each month. Hell GTA and COD get those all the time and those games are CRAP.

 

[Jadeinchains]

I've had a ps4 since November but still don't have an HDMI TV to play it on lol.

Also game of the year stuff doesn't mean anything they hand that out like candy to whatever AAA game comes out each month. Hell GTA and COD get those all the time and those games are CRAP.

Well when/if you get a HDMI TV hopefully it doesn't have a single dead pixel to the right of the screen like mine does.

So you do have a PS4 now? Now after I finished the game and started it right again (which I rarely do) to experience it all again, I can't recommend the game enough. It's the best Western RPG that I have ever played and it won many (probably most) Game of the Year awards, so I'm not the only one who loved it. Definitely give it a try.

I'm the same its very rare I like a game so much I start playing again right away. The last was Until Dawn because I just loved everything about that game. Definitely helps that the developers knew at least what I feel was the perfect length to make the story.


On a different note I know the year just started but does any one else have like no games on their radar right now? The only game I can think of right away that I want to get is "Detroit Become Human". I've been excited for Cyberpunk 2077 for years now but they keep holding back on it and not releasing any news and I kind of doubt it will come out this year.

 

[Chapstick]

On a different note I know the year just started but does any one else have like no games on their radar right now? The only game I can think of right away that I want to get is "Detroit Become Human". I've been excited for Cyberpunk 2077 for years now but they keep holding back on it and not releasing any news and I kind of doubt it will come out this year.

Not particularly, I was thinking about this too. No Man's Sky looked interesting but it was supposed to come out last year and they pushed it to june or something 2016 and I was like "ugh.." At this point I've been disappointed so many times by games delaying release dates over and over it just pisses me off to the point I don't care about the game anymore. There's FFXV coming out sometime this year but who the hell knows when that's gonna be. December 31st? I expected to be blown away by it after all the years of delays and Tyaren's excitement but I'm not. >:/ TEN YEARS AND STILL NO RELEASE DATE

 

[Jadeinchains]

Not particularly, I was thinking about this too. No Man's Sky looked interesting but it was supposed to come out last year and they pushed it to june or something 2016 and I was like "ugh.." At this point I've been disappointed so many times by games delaying release dates over and over it just pisses me off to the point I don't care about the game anymore. There's FFXV coming out sometime this year but who the hell knows when that's gonna be. December 31st? I expected to be blown away by it after all the years of delays and Tyaren's excitement but I'm not. >:/ TEN YEARS AND STILL NO RELEASE DATE

Yeah I've been looking forward to No Man's Sky for a while now. I wonder if it will live up to the hype people have created for it with the little game play we've been shown (Something I'm guilty of). And when it comes to FFXV after a while I lost interest but Tyaren hyped me up for it again with the gameplay and concept art hes posted to the Final Fantasy thread. But with its release hopefully being this year I hope the wait will be worth it.

 

[Tyaren]

Oh, I have several games on my radar for 2016. Actually, I never had more on my radar in a year before. I just preordered Street Fighter V for February, then around April Uncharted 4 is coming out (which is huge!) then sometime this year Persona 5 and Star Ocean 5 and of course Zelda WiiU (which is even huger than Uncharted, even though I don't own a WiiU yet) and last but not least...Final F****** Fantasy XV (which is absolutely huge to me)! But you guys already guessed that I'm hyped for that game. XD Let me tell you why I am after all these years so excited and passionate about it and since this is the Art Style and Graphics thread it fits right in here:
Imho FFXV will be one of the most stylistically and artistically beautiful games ever. Not just that, but it will also be a really big game. Big and absolutely beautiful. Something that I would want to explore and marvel at for months and years to come. The story might possibly be just mediocre after all the rewrites it has been through already and the battle system might even be rubbish, but the art and design and the extreme polish of both in this game...*sigh* Well, they had a lot of time after all...

Just alone this art work, depicting the mythology of the game, is so amazing to me. It could have been painted in 1500 in a Florentine church:

The amazing cities and landscapes we will be able to explore:

FFXV won't just be Duscae, you know? Tabata has confirmed that there will be many visually varied regions and several of them (mostly the ones you explore late in the game) will be typically Final Fantasy-like. Just think of Final Fantasy XIV a Realm Reborn, just with a big graphical boost since this will run exclusively on the new consoles and without the technical limitations of a MMO game.

Then there's the creature and summon design, which is imho the very best in the series:

And everything is so gorgeously animated:

Okay, I'll stop now. XD I spent much too much time writing this and searching for good pics, gifs and videos. You never find the right ones when you are specifically looking for them. >__<'

 

[Chapstick]

If FFXV has framerate issues like duscae did I'm returning it lol

Duscae was 720 right? And less detailed than the full game will be? And dipped down to less than 15fps at times?

 

[Jadeinchains]

I've never seen this video and you always manage to post things about this game I haven't seen. I love how much wildlife there is in this game, I could just walk around looking at the animals going about their day for ages. And yeah I kind of don't mind if the story isn't that great at this point I just want the game to experience the world and game because one of my favourite things for any fantasy world is getting deep into the lore of it. Also I hope there is lots to do and see in the cities so they don't get boring like side quests and stuff that introduce minor characters and little tidbits of lore.

 

[Argentus]

Well when/if you get a HDMI TV hopefully it doesn't have a single dead pixel to the right of the screen like mine does.



I'm the same its very rare I like a game so much I start playing again right away. The last was Until Dawn because I just loved everything about that game. Definitely helps that the developers knew at least what I feel was the perfect length to make the story.


On a different note I know the year just started but does any one else have like no games on their radar right now? The only game I can think of right away that I want to get is "Detroit Become Human". I've been excited for Cyberpunk 2077 for years now but they keep holding back on it and not releasing any news and I kind of doubt it will come out this year.

I've got the English version of Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth preordered for PS4

Though its old enough in japan were already seeing teasers and trailers for the sequel.

Persona 5 im mildly interested in.
Waiting for hyrule Warriors legends for Linkle and her submachine crossbows. Mad no saria though

But yeah its rare for me to actually look forward to games anymore. They all kinda blur together now

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

If FFXV has framerate issues like duscae did I'm returning it lol

Duscae was 720 right? And less detailed than the full game will be? And dipped down to less than 15fps at times?

Yeah but considering it was a rushed demo to appease fans I'm not surprised. I fully expect the release to be 900 - 1080p and 60FPS it might have a few dips here and there in big fights though.

Not counting re releases or ports, I'm looking forward to Uncharted 4, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, Persona 5, Nights of Azure, Ni-Oh, FFXV, Tekken 7, Tales of Berseria, Yakuza Zero, I might get DOAX3 even though it's 80% fluff 20% game if it has a decent photo mode it might be worth it for the waifu photos.

 

[Tyaren]

Duscae was 720 right? And less detailed than the full game will be? And dipped down to less than 15fps at times?

No, it's resolution was 900-something on PS4 and 720 on XBone. Even 900 with the right antialiasing technique can look really good, like in Star Wars Battlefront on PS4. Tabata confirmed antialiasing will definitely be added and they are at least trying to get the game to 1080p on PS4 with stable 30fps. I have no doubts that in the end they will be able to make the game look at least "good". It's Final Fantasy after all... They are huge graphic whores. XD And don't forget, a few months ago Sony unlocked the 7th processor core for developers on the PS4. This will give the system an additional boost in graphics which even furthers the gap to the XBone. The XBone version might look a little rough though... :/

I've never seen this video and you always manage to post things about this game I haven't seen. I love how much wildlife there is in this game, I could just walk around looking at the animals going about their day for ages. And yeah I kind of don't mind if the story isn't that great at this point I just want the game to experience the world and game because one of my favourite things for any fantasy world is getting deep into the lore of it. Also I hope there is lots to do and see in the cities so they don't get boring like side quests and stuff that introduce minor characters and little tidbits of lore.

Lol, so what else haven't you seen yet and I'll immediately show you!
It's funny, they showed a lot of stuff of the game already, including a whole game region to play in (Duscae) and a lot of people already complained about that. Too much info for them apparently. (I personally can't get enough!) On the other hand there seems to be SO MUCH they didn't show us yet. Even I actually don't have a clue what the game is going to be like in the end. Just that it will be at least very beautiful and polished in it's art and design.

Concerning side quests: I would always be wary with JRPGs. :/ Even most Western RPGs still don't get it right. But there is one glimpse of hope: Tabata a while back said, that he and his team would consider The Witcher III as the paragon of RPGs at the moment, so they might have been inspired by the formidable quest system there a little...? The Witcher has by far the best side quests in any RPG. There is simply no "kill monster X or bring me item Y". All the side quests in this game have an interesting, little or bigger story attached to it. It's never a chore, because you really want to learn about the characters and the world and the mystery you might be unraveling.

Concerning the main characters (even though you didn't mention them, but I'd really like to say something about them too. XD): I can totally get that quite a few people are put off by the mere look of that Jpop/Kpop group...

...and I was on the fence about that too. I really don't like these pretentious, brooding emo-type of characters but they are not like this at all in the demo, phew! u.U Yes, they don't reinvent the wheel and they are based on the typical JRPG/manga/anime archetypes...though let's be honest here for a sec: We JRPG players, manga readers and anime viewers actually love those.
They don't seem brooding and emo-ish at all. No, they are actually funny. All the lighthearted banter and even very small interactions between them are really cool and once again an example of the extreme polish of the game. If you for example go into the water and stand still there for a while Prompto (the blonde guy) is like:
"Going for a swim?"
And Noctis will mumble: "Nuh, just a dip..."
That's so funny and random to me and life-like. XD

They are really the best of friends and they care for each other and they are (THANK GOD!!) also not of the extremely cringeworthy "Dudebro" type, that's now so often apparent in Western, (specifically American) games and media. As a European I find that bro/bruh affected behaviour so awful! D: No close male friends act like that in reality...or do Americans actually do that...?
All in one they are really likeable if you just see past the Louboutin boots and the anime hair. ;D

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

Atleast with me getting a PS4 this year for Uncharted's release and everything I just mentioned being on PS4 atleast I'll have more to contribute to this thread soon xD Especially Persona if I can get an english asia version (plz asia gods plz let P5 be english subs)

 

[Jadeinchains]

Yeah I'm actually excited to see how the main characters will interact with each other in the story and just little side conversations like that water one. I'm happy to hear they aren't brooding and stuff because that really wears thin fast. And when it comes to their apperance /clothes I don't really have a problem with that.

When it comes to sidequests I really hope they go for the story type instead of fetch quest stuff because that to me is a sign of laziness.

 

[Chapstick]

No close male friends act like that in reality...or do Americans actually do that...?

Yes. You have no idea. My mom's from england and my dad's side is farmers so I never experienced people like that until I met my bf's nephews and it's like "brah" this and "bruh" that it's so weird

 

[Tyaren]

For everyone interested in the Witcher 3, especially in it's game world, you might find this video interesting, in which AngryCentaurGaming walks through the game world while explaining video game world building. In this case very good video game world building. He talks mostly about art and design but also about technical (graphical) stuff as well as some interesting general knowledge. I for example learned about natural corrosion of country roads over time and how to visualize that in a game, lol.

He did some more in-depth videos about game worlds like that. I've seen for example one for Assassins Creed: Syndicate, Red Dead Redemption and Alan Wake. I'm going to check these out later...