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Xenoblade's Graphics: Why HD Does Not Matter

by Neal Ronaghan - May 7, 2012, 12:52 pm EDT
Total comments: 58

Those faces might look bad, but the overall art design is to die for.

I've heard arguments on both sides over the matter of Xenoblade Chronicles' graphics. "Man, this looks like a Nintendo 64 game!" "What? This is the best-looking game on the Wii! No contest!" The stark contrast of opinions makes my head spin a bit.

My personal reaction to the graphics? Well, I think a lot of the textures and models are kind of crappy, but the game runs smooth as butter and the art design is gorgeous. Simply put, the graphics technically aren't spectacular, but it doesn't matter because the game is awesome, bolstered by some of the best art direction and world design I have ever seen.

The world created by Monolith Soft is one of the most interesting I've seen in a game in years. It reminds me of the worlds I thought up in my mind when I played classics such as Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. It truly is those types of quintessential worlds fully realized with a modern graphical sheen. Is it HD sharp? No. Are the character's faces weird? Very much so. But the game is incredible. The world is filled with personality, and there are secrets strewn throughout the landscape.

The one thing I haven't heard discussed enough is the game's infrequent load times. Outside of initially starting the game, the load times are almost nonexistent. It makes the scale of the world even bigger in scope, and makes exploration even more enjoyable. I'd much rather play a game like this, where I can throw around a "this looks like a really good PS2 game" insult while it runs smoothly and without delay, as opposed to a graphically intensive game on another system that is bogged down by load times and bugs. Xenoblade Chronicles doesn't need HD to be a great game; it already is one.

Talkback

ShyGuyMay 07, 2012

Give me your Wii-U when you get it, we must keep you standard definition pure.

I was shown the joys of HD gaming when I got my 360 at launch. Then, I actually liked it when I got an HDTV two years later.

ShyGuyMay 07, 2012

I think the TV has to be at least 30+ inches in size to really get the HD effect. I have a 26 inch TV and it seems little changed.

StrawHatChopperMay 07, 2012

HD or not, this game's already taken 70 hours of my life, with a ton of stuff left to go! Only a select few games manage to get me to invest that much time into them, and Xenoblade is most definitely one of them.

Pixelated PixiesMay 07, 2012

Agreed. I'd take great art design and fast load times over high definition graphics any day. Having said that, I'll gladly take a great art style, fast load time, AND high definition graphics. Xenoblade sequel for Wii U, anyone?

Chocobo_RiderMay 07, 2012

Great article, Neal!! Love the positivity.  Shows intellect to judge a game on its whole presentation rather than just its pixel count.  Does HD make something good look even better? Usually.  But if SD is what it takes to get the kind of games who don't requite bloated budgets, and zero-risk mainstream white noise? Sign me up!

I am looking forward to finally diving in to Xenoblade in a few weeks after the dust settles on the pursuit of my degree.

Ian SaneMay 07, 2012

While playing I was this game, my brother walked in, looked at the game, and remarked "how do you make a videogame look better than this?"  His attitude was that Xenoblade's graphics were such that everything looked like how one would expect it to look like, and it looked good, so why bother going much further?

His approach to graphics is pretty much:
NES - 2D that looks like crap
SNES - 2D that looks great and therefore is all you need for 2D graphics
N64 - 3D that looks like crap
Gamecube/Wii - 3D that looks great and therefore is all you need PERIOD

I think that art design is the most important thing.  One thing that was a bummer this gen is that North American devs took over and Western games usually look like boring horseshit.  There are exceptions of course but companies like EA and Activision make generic looking games.  There is the cliche "everything is brown" criticism and it is totally valid.  I prefer the Japanese style for videogames but unfortunately that has diminished as Japan has for some reason decided that home consoles aren't cool anymore.

Of course just because tons of Western games have a boring art style doesn't mean that HD is boring.  Ideally I would love to see what Monolith Soft would do with some more power.  What I really wanted was for NINTENDO to make HD games.  I wanted to see what they would do with it.  I don't give a shit what Activision does with it.

Back when Nintendo decided to not support HD my concern wasn't that their games wouldn't look as pretty.  My concern was that Nintendo wasn't matching the competition and therefore any third party that decided to make a game for the PS3 or Xbox 360 would leave the Wii out and the system would have lousy third party support.  And I was 100% RIGHT about that.  I also thought that it was stupid for Nintendo to dedicate the next 5+ years to a system that could not support HDTVs which were becoming the new standard for televisions.  Well, here we are in 2012 and a console that does not support HDTVs comes across as embarrasingly archaic.  Nintendo just wasn't futureproofing their system and I thought that was stupid.  And it was.  Missing that feature was archaic not even two years into the Wii's life.

Oh, and for all this talk about art design being more important, most of Nintendo's games this gen LOOK LIKE SHIT!  They made a system that was behind the times in graphics and then made games that would have looked unimpressive on the Gamecube.  Xenoblade, Retro's games, Skyward Sword, SSB Brawl and the Super Mario Galaxy games are exceptional.  Most first party Wii games have a bare minimum graphics approach that suggests that Nintendo's real goal was to see how little of effort towards graphics they could get away with.

Xenoblade's world is truly impressive but this isn't the norm on the Wii.  I put up with all sorts of half-baked nonsense before this showed up and for a while it looked like NOA wasn't even going to allow that.  Xenoblade is ambitious, unafraid to be complex when needed, looks great, is a new IP, doesn't force anyone to put up with unresponsive motion control, and just tries to be a great game without any conscious effort to appeal to the mass market.  NOA probably didn't want to localize it because it seems to represent the exact opposite of the typical Wii experience.  Xenoblade is the type of game I feel Nintendo used to make routinely and is what I want and expect from them.

ResettisCousinMay 07, 2012

Apologist article. If everything about Xenoblade remained the same, except it rendered natively in 720p, would the game be better? Of course. To those that would argue Xenoblade could only be made in SD given the cost requirements (even Sakaguchi wrt Last Story said this in a European interview), I would say that Nintendo is surely doomed, then. Because that is their reality moving forward with the WiiU. Of course, if a Xenoblade sequal is released for WiiU, such an argument (that it is impratical due to costs) is immediatly nullified.

EnnerMay 07, 2012

I think the characters look fine, all things considered. Actually, I was surprised at how expressive they can become during cut scenes and the close-up dialog exchanges. It's a shame that the lip syncing is off and that some textures are low detailed.


There are certainly many ways to make the game look bad with it's low fidelity textures and simple geometry. Still, it would be a shame to ignore the beautiful landscapes the game provides. It would be more of shame to ignore that you could walk through most of said landscapes. Though, I guess it doesn't help when you walk through them and run in to a wall with low resolution details on it.

Quote from: ResettisCousin

If everything about Xenoblade remained the same, except it rendered natively in 720p, would the game be better? Of course.

Screen shots of the game running on Dolphin look very nice.

TJ SpykeMay 07, 2012

The game would not be any better or worse at 720p. Do you say a movie is better in HD? No, you might say it looks a little nicer but the actual movie is the same. Same with a game, the actual game would not be any different in HD.

The gameplay would be the same, but the total package of the game would be better. A movie is in better in 1080p than in 480p, and the 480p is better than 480i, or a lower-resolution internet stream. Presentation matters, and all other things being equal, the better looking game, or movie, or whatever, is better.

broodwarsMay 07, 2012

Xenoblade is one of my favorite games on the Wii (it's easily the best JRPG this generation in my opinion) and easily one of the best-looking, but as someone who plays a lot of games on my HD consoles (and now HD handheld in the Vita) it's hard not to wish that this game had been saved for the Wii U.  That game's art direction could have been stunning in HD with higher polygonal models, but it's still a good-looking game with very memorable use of scale and color.  Monolith Soft also wouldn't have had to resort to cheap tricks to hide the platform's graphical limitations, such as the cute illusion with the grass (the grass being collections of 2D images that rotate to always face the camera).  It'll be interesting to see what this team does with better tech and HD output, assuming Nintendo of America actually cares enough to allow their next game over here.

Mop it upMay 07, 2012

The term "mixed bag" gets thrown around a lot, and though it may be cliché, it's definitely true of XenoBlade's graphics. The sizable landscapes and detail of the world are certainly impressive, but up close, everything looks blurry and blocky. At first I thought that I would trade fogging for some more clarity, but now I'm starting to think that the big, open world is a part of the game, and it probably wouldn't be the same with fog covering up distant views.

Not only that, but I realized that the areas where I found the graphical issues distracting were in ones that could probably be improved in other ways. For example, outdoor areas look good, but things like caves are where the lack of clarity is much more noticeable. Confined areas could have had higher-resolution textures and such, and cutscenes could have used more detailed models, and definitely should have given how close the camera can get to their faces.

Of course, optimizing the areas that could look better would take some time, and they were also probably going for a more consistent look. If they had all the time in the world I'm sure the game could look better, but given their deadlines, the game is as good as it gets.

OblivionMay 07, 2012

I use an SDTV to play my Wii games, and I find the graphics to be completely stunning. I don't know why there's such a controversy.

Infinitys_EndMay 07, 2012

One of my favorite games of all time is Vagrant Story and that was PSX.  Go back and play that game if you want to see some limited 3D models and textures.  As far as I'm concerned, that game still holds up today.


Graphics like this are more than sufficient and really don't bother me in the slightest.  Anyone who says otherwise is just a graphics whore and can't enjoy the game for what it is.

greybrickNathan Mustafa, Staff AlumnusMay 07, 2012

Video games.

One day I shall finally play the digital copy of Vagrant Story that has been on my PS3 for over a year. Today is not that day.

I'd like to think that in the end, it's a game's "inner beauty" that counts.

house3136May 07, 2012

I know this a little off-topic; but I was watching some dolphin emulations of Skyward Sword and Mario Galaxy running in their native HD resolutions yesterday. Considering Wii U will be capable of full digital game downloads, I see no reason why full Wii games wouldn’t be downloadable through virtual console. Since Wii U is capable of running HD graphics, is there a chance these games, if they’re released, will be rendered in their native HD resolutions? I’m not talking about art-style changes and texture upgrades, but merely releasing these games with the full potential they were created with. At last years E3, Reggie Fils-Aime stated that Wii games would have no upgrades in graphics while running on Wii U. Is that because the games are written to the disk with a maximum output of 480p? Is it possible for them to release a patch that would allow these games to run in HD? The most plausible answer I could think of would be if Nintendo allowed gamers who purchased these games to insert them into Wii U and download the virtual copy for free or at a drastically reduced price (considering they’ve already purchased the rights to the game), and allow them to play the HD version only when the physical disk is inserted. I know I’m living in a dream world, but the reason why I’m asking is because I’m not a tech genius in this esoteric field. It seems to me this would reinvigorate and boost sales for games like Skyward Sword that didn’t meet the sales goals Nintendo expected.

joshnickersonMay 07, 2012

"Man, this looks like a Nintendo 64 game!"

Some people need to go back and actually play some N64 games. I would say, at worst, it looked like an early Gamecube game.

TrueNerdMay 07, 2012

Quote from: house3136

Since Wii U is capable of running HD graphics, is there a chance these games, if they’re released, will be rendered in their native HD resolutions?

I think the best option to hope for is that the Wii U has some great upconversion technology so you can just pop in your Wii disc that you already own and it'll look way better on the Wii U. Sony had this in the PS3s that had the ability to play PS2 games and that worked well. But, this is Nintendo we're talking about. It's very plausible they'll do Wii backwards compatability the same way they always do backwards compatability by tricking the new system into thinking it's the old system, which would mean no upconversion in this case. Another sad truth is that this issue only impacts a handful of games. The large majority of Wii games not made by Nintendo (and even some that are made by Nintendo) won't benefit at all from proper upconversion. We'll have to wait and see, but I'm not holding my breath.

ROiDSMay 07, 2012

Great article.
What's funny to me is that I haven't even encountered an HD game that surpasses the ingenuity of Earthbound, and that game is really old.

ejamerMay 07, 2012

When the game is this good, graphics are just icing on the cake.


Would Xenoblade benefit from HD graphics? Sure. Are they necessary or would they improve the gameplay or story or overall design?  No. 


In fact, pushing graphics up to HD quality might detract from other aspects as resources are always limited when developing content like this. What would have been sacrificed to make the game look better?  If any of the scope or design was lost in order to improve appearance then I'd rather take "N64 quality" graphics without question.  (As a comparison, I would much rather play Xenoblade than the most recent Final Fantasy - that series still looks great and tells a good story, but has lost much of the wonder and exploration that I associate with my favorite RPGs.)

EnnerMay 07, 2012

Quote from: broodwars

Monolith Soft also wouldn't have had to resort to cheap tricks to hide the platform's graphical limitations, such as the cute illusion with the grass (the grass being collections of 2D images that rotate to always face the camera). 

Heh, the HD games that bother to have grass (Crysis and Battlefield 3 come to mind) don't even bother with the rotation and just cross stitch a whole mess of sprites. As far as fields of grass go, Xenoblade is one of the prettier ones I've seen. It would've been nice if the upward flows of ether gas weren't a sprite (or whatever) that is scrolling out of the ground.

I've said it since Wind Waker: consistent art direction trumps HD any day of the week. My absolute favorite game in terms of art direction is the Patapon series. Iconic, colorful, consistent, animates beautifully. For a more complex thing, I'll take Rayman Origins. Absolutely stunning game that benefits from HD because it USES the technology to its benefit. It's not required (the game looks perfectly amazing at 720p) and still looks mind-blowing. I've seen Skyrim played in HD and at 720p and it doesn't look all that different to me.

Now, take some of this generation's Nintendo games (like Other M, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Mario Galaxy games, and Skyward Sword) and pump them onto their native HD resolution, and I think they'd all look absolutely incredible.

OblivionMay 07, 2012

Isn't 720p HD?

TJ SpykeMay 07, 2012

Quote from: Oblivion

Isn't 720p HD?

Yes. 720p and up is HD.

OblivionMay 08, 2012

Quote from: Halbred

I've seen Skyrim played in HD and at 720p and it doesn't look all that different to me.

Hm...

Luigi DudeMay 08, 2012

Quote from: Halbred

Now, take some of this generation's Nintendo games (like Other M, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Mario Galaxy games, and Skyward Sword) and pump them onto their native HD resolution, and I think they'd all look absolutely incredible.

Yep, this is why Nintendo's Wii U games are going to look incredeble.  The stuff Nintendo's top studio's were able to do on the Wii was amazing and now imagine them working on hardware that's way more advanced then the Wii and it becomes almost scary to think how good their Wii U games will look.

I'm with enner on the grass -- Xenoblade in general has some of the best vegetation and underbrush I've ever seen in a game. It really makes the world feel lush and alive, and it allows for more differentiation between each environment.

Zach, assuming you meant you've seen Skyrim in 1080p vs. 720p...

I think it can only run in 1080p on a PC, and you'd need need a pretty huge monitor to tell the difference. A game like that isn't going to have assets generated at any higher resolution (in part because of the console focus in development).

If you want another example of amazing art direction, check out Trine 2. It doesn't do anything crazy on a technical level, but the world is unbelievably colorful and has amazing depth and detail in the backgrounds.

ivanincubusMay 08, 2012

Oh boy! Now this didn't happen when we all were in the 16-bit era. Actually it did, and 10 years from now it will seem just as absurd. The truth is that art and creativity will always win over "modern graphics".

broodwarsMay 08, 2012

Quote from: ivanincubus

Oh boy! Now this didn't happen when we all were in the 16-bit era. Actually it did, and 10 years from now it will seem just as absurd. The truth is that art and creativity will always win over "modern graphics".

It has to be said, though, that as important as art design is in a game, once you as a gamer go HD on an HD TV there's really no going back to seeing games the way you used to.  You can't "un-see" the radical visual difference between SD and HD, especially in gaming.  I think that may be what the author of the article in question ran into: after years of playing HD games, suddenly they're playing the SD Xenoblade and all the graphical flaws just leaped out at them.  It's jarring, and at least in my case it takes a long time to get used to playing SD games again.

GoldenPhoenixMay 08, 2012

Quote from: broodwars

Quote from: ivanincubus

Oh boy! Now this didn't happen when we all were in the 16-bit era. Actually it did, and 10 years from now it will seem just as absurd. The truth is that art and creativity will always win over "modern graphics".

It has to be said, though, that as important as art design is in a game, once you as a gamer go HD on an HD TV there's really no going back to seeing games the way you used to.  You can't "un-see" the radical visual difference between SD and HD, especially in gaming.  I think that may be what the author of the article in question ran into: after years of playing HD games, suddenly they're playing the SD Xenoblade and all the graphical flaws just leaped out at them.  It's jarring, and at least in my case it takes a long time to get used to playing SD games again.

Have to say I agree, though I did go back and play Wind Waker and it was not jarring in the least, in fact it still looks visually and artistically gorgeous.

EnnerMay 08, 2012

Quote from: broodwars

It has to be said, though, that as important as art design is in a game, once you as a gamer go HD on an HD TV there's really no going back to seeing games the way you used to.  You can't "un-see" the radical visual difference between SD and HD, especially in gaming.  I think that may be what the author of the article in question ran into: after years of playing HD games, suddenly they're playing the SD Xenoblade and all the graphical flaws just leaped out at them.  It's jarring, and at least in my case it takes a long time to get used to playing SD games again.

Mm.

My tardiness in joining the era of high definition games is a reason why I don't mind the technical shortcomings of Xenoblade's visuals. I didn't have regular access to a high-definition-capable platform until a PC in 2008. Even so, I still frequently played games on a PSP I had since 2007. Before that, I was playing older PC games and free-to-play online games on a modest laptop. Playing on platforms that span a wide spectrum of technical prowess has tempered my expectations and allowed me to better appreciate games relative to their platform.

Wind Waker is still the best-looking Zelda game in my opinion. There is no contest.

Quote from: NWR_Neal

Wind Waker is still the best-looking Zelda game in my opinion. There is no contest.

While no Zelda game looks bad, per se, Wind Waker is the only one that truly stands out as superb.

Chocobo_RiderMay 08, 2012

I actually have never really been a fan of the Wind Waker style.  I love bright colors and I looooooove cell shading.  But I think the art design of the people (football heads, peg legs) turned me off too much.

My favorite Zelda "look" has got to be Twilight Princess.  It was atmospheric and, in my opinion, told a story through its aesthetic alone.

CericMay 08, 2012

I almost be surprised if Xenoblade didn't one day get a HD remake.

AdrockMay 08, 2012

Do you mean remade from scratch or Luke remastered like Sony did with the God of War collections?

Ian SaneMay 08, 2012

For Zelda I dig Skyward Sword's look.  Wind Waker looks too goofy and silly.  The Looney Tunes visuals completely kill the mystique for me.

My parents have an HDTV and everything except for my PS3 looks like shit on it.  The problem is that when you have a bigger screen like that, games designed for a smaller resolution get all pixelated.  When I finally get an HDTV of my own I plan on keeping an old CRT around for the older systems.  Hell, I do that now.  My newer systems are connected to a bigger CRT than my older ones.  I play SNES and Genesis on a CRT that's maybe 20" because it better suits their visuals.  The "tighter" the screen is, the less I notice the flaws.  Realistically that was the screen size the devs were aiming for at the time anyway.

AdrockMay 08, 2012

I loved the cel-shading in The Wind Waker but not so much the character designs besides Ganondorf. I felt it was too jarring of a change for Zelda after Ocarina of Time. I liked Twilight Princess' art direction but it could have used a brighter palette.

Lady MushroomMay 08, 2012

NES - 2D that looks like ****
SNES - 2D that looks great and therefore is all you need for 2D graphicsN64 - 3D that looks like ****Gamecube/Wii - 3D that looks great and therefore is all you need PERIOD

This is what I've always thought and still do.

oksodaScott Thompson, Associate EditorMay 08, 2012

Speaking as someone whose attention has never been fully captured by any current-generation RPG, I find Xenoblade's blue collar, function-over-flamboyance approach (read: limitation) immediately calming and oddly nostalgic. Sure, there are no bells and whistles, no moments where your mouth will be left agape at the visual splendor your electronic box is producing before your eyes, but damn all if the soundtrack and sheer fun of playing don't make up for those voids.

There are not many games that I will devote hours in the triple digits to any longer; I will gladly play Xenoblade to completion.

CericMay 08, 2012

Quote from: Adrock

Do you mean remade from scratch or Luke remastered like Sony did with the God of War collections?

Hmmm...
You know, I think the visuals redone.  I haven't seen the God of War collections but I heard Shadow of the Colossus and Ico really had a good job done with them.  So something more like that.  Where the original vision is brought out of an already visually impressive game at the time.

EnnerMay 08, 2012

Quote from: oksoda

There are not many games that I will devote hours in the triple digits to any longer; I will gladly play Xenoblade to completion.

Make sure you have guides or that Xenoblade Google Docs handy. The quest tracking and character map provided in the game do not facilitate the completionist in doing everything in the fastest possible manner.

broodwarsMay 08, 2012

Quote from: Ceric

Quote from: Adrock

Do you mean remade from scratch or Luke remastered like Sony did with the God of War collections?

Hmmm...
You know, I think the visuals redone.  I haven't seen the God of War collections but I heard Shadow of the Colossus and Ico really had a good job done with them.  So something more like that.  Where the original vision is brought out of an already visually impressive game at the time.

Sony does amazing work with their HD Collections, though unfortunately no one else has (Ubisoft's, in particular, have been poor).  I think the Sly Collection in particular looks fantastic because Cel Shading ages well to begin with, but Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were rendered just plain better games by the remastering (especially the now slowdown-less SotC).

Unfortunately, Nintendo really doesn't have an equivalent with which we can compare to get an idea how Nintendo would treat such a project.  The games they have "remastered" have pretty much been rebuilt from the ground-up for whatever platform they're released on (Mario All-Stars, Ocarina 3D, Star Fox 3D, etc.), and I highly doubt Nintendo would devote the resources to do something like that for a massive game like Xenoblade.

AdrockMay 08, 2012

Yeah, the God of War Collections are pretty impressive, namely the origins one. Ready At Dawn actually went back into the games and redid some of the textures. I could see Nintendo remastering Xenoblade in the future but they would have Grezzo or Tose do most of the legwork under Monolith Soft's supervision. I suppose it might depend on how well the game sells worldwide.

Was Ocarina of Time 3D remade from the ground up? It looked like Grezzo just cleaned up the character models (namely the faces) and textures.

Quote from: ivanincubus

Oh boy! Now this didn't happen when we all were in the 16-bit era. Actually it did, and 10 years from now it will seem just as absurd. The truth is that art and creativity will always win over "modern graphics".

Truth. I remember in the 16-bit days thinking I had to defend the relatively bland sprite-based JRPG graphics of the day by proclaiming that story and gameplay mattered much more.

Star Fox 64 had more "remake" effort put into it than Ocarina of Time did.

MinscMay 09, 2012

HD graphics are only an issue if a person chooses to make it an issue.  I play Minecraft on the default textures and think the game looks great.  That is a game where attention to "art direction" when building really pays off.

Chocobo_RiderMay 09, 2012

Quote from: ivanincubus

Oh boy! Now this didn't happen when we all were in the 16-bit era. Actually it did, and 10 years from now it will seem just as absurd. The truth is that art and creativity will always win over "modern graphics".

+1000

Mop it upMay 09, 2012

I was never a fan of Wind Waker's style, it just looks too plain. There isn't enough detail in the environments and characters. Twilight Princess had the detail but the colouring was too dark and didn't quite fit. Skyward Sword is a good in-between and may be my favourite style in a 3D Zelda game.

FutureBoyDecember 30, 2021

Greetings! What a crazy thread this is!!!

If only one could whisper to these people and tell them that Nintendo will have a handheld system, after the 3DS, that plays an enhanced version of Skyrim… in 720p in HANDHELD mode. Or 1080p in docked. “What’s docked?” They’ll ask as I vanish.

And that an enhanced Xenoblade, and a gorgeous AF sequel, will be out on the same handheld console.

All the few people arguing about graphics not needing to be better than the GameCube. Haha no! Fools!

This thread was nearly a decade ago.

At the time I was one of the first indie developers to make a stomping on Steam. Back when you had to make a good game to get it on their platform. It wasn’t a popularity contends like Greenlight was. You had to make something comparable to the biggest games of the era. Before the shitty floodgates opened. 10 years. I made a lot of nice moneys on there. Gave me the opportunity to pursue hobbies and random jobs. I was an archery coach, a university professor, I bought and sold property and land. I might make a new game and do it all again. I’m sure the press will be interested though all my old journalist buds have died, work elsewhere now, vanished.

I do often reflect on how incredible the Switch is. It’s all I play now… and I own a PS5, PSVR, that big PC VR thing in a vr room I made (with one of those running pad things) and all my old systems with unfinished games. (I sometimes feel shit for not even opening some of the ps3 era games my wife bought me. I wanted them. Just never got round to them). I’m gonna go before that upsets me more.

X

FutureBoyDecember 30, 2021

Quote from: Ian

His approach to graphics is pretty much:
NES - 2D that looks like crap
SNES - 2D that looks great and therefore is all you need for 2D graphics
N64 - 3D that looks like crap
Gamecube/Wii - 3D that looks great and therefore is all you need PERIOD

I can’t believe how incorrect you are here. You should have corrected your brother. The Gc had terrible graphics even in SD. Higher resolutions are always better.

FutureBoyDecember 30, 2021

Quote from: TJ

The game would not be any better or worse at 720p. Do you say a movie is better in HD? No, you might say it looks a little nicer but the actual movie is the same. Same with a game, the actual game would not be any different in HD.

Yes. Films are better. They’re more mesmerising. I knew this back then and I still know it now. Case in point: bitrate. No matter the resolution if you lower the quality the movie will look worse. We’re used to a standard and if it drops below that your enjoyment is impacted.

I personally still own just a 1080p TV I bought funnily enough when this article was posted. A 56” Bravia. At the time it was £2k. The best tv money could buy in terms of image performance. It’s now in our master bedroom. My wife is this second playing, of all games, the Crystal Chronicles port on Switch on that TV. We also have the same in the living rooms and dens (plural. About 6 in total). But we run a PS5 and an Apple TV on them even though they’re capable of 4k HDR. I fixed my grandfathers TV for him last month and took my devices therr to see the image quality of his 4K hdr Bravia.

I was blown away. I tested a bench of Apple TV purchased films on there… which is the best quality streaming service out there. The quality is huge and heavy. Dolby ATMOS, Dolby vision, 4k, HDR colours. Truly nothing better other than a 4k Blu-ray. The moment I decide to upgrade my TVs I’m certainly going to watch all the films I own on that service.

And you know what. This isn’t the best. It’ll get better.

Beyond certain resolutions 2D images start to look 3D. Once the dpi is beyond a high value and the image is already very large: it looks 3D. It looks real.

I do watch films in 4K hdr on my iPhone Pro Max 13, and iPad Pro as they run the highest res and shrink it down. I think the iPad Pro is crazy high resolutioned too. I use them with my AirPods Pro Max for ATMOS sound. It’s great but I hate to watch films on small screens. Why do they when you can watch content on a TV.

pokepal148Spencer Johnson, Contributing WriterDecember 30, 2021

It was also easier to go back to SD content 9 years ago than it is now.

ThePermJanuary 01, 2022

I've been playing a lot of n64 games with bumped up resolution recently, and good Art design stands the test of time. Take Quest 64 vs Aidyn Chronicles. Quest 64 is a much better designed game.

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