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They should bring back pre-rendered backgrounds

Kagari said:
Replaying Final Fantasy IX and it really does have the most beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds. Square should go back to them for a future installment.
FF IX's graphics hold up amazingly well.

Pre-rendered backgrounds work well as long as the game doesn't require much interaction with the backgrounds.
 

consoul

Member
Pre-render moving backgrounds (ala Onimusha 2) from two viewpoints for stereoscopic 3D and composite ridiculously high quality character models on top at 1080p.

RE2make or Shin Shin Onimusha plz.
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
Gravijah said:
RE2Make


plz
You heard the man Capcom! We want amazingly pre-rendered background with focused power on the character and enemy models. Leon and Claire will run through Raccoon City once again and I will stop wanting to burn down your company.
 
2 Minutes Turkish said:
I'm no game programmer, but couldn't they have a polygonal 'skeleton' with a pre-rendered overlay that gives the effect of a non-pre rendered background while still making all the same processing savings of having a pre-rendered background?

Or was that completely retarted?

I believe some pre-rendered games already do this - the problem is that the camera would still be fixed, so the only real advantage is to give the background some more depth.
 

Boney

Banned
Scythesurge said:
FF IX's graphics hold up amazingly well.

Pre-rendered backgrounds work well as long as the game doesn't require much interaction with the backgrounds.
too bad about them loading times.
 

randomwab

Member
Boney said:
too bad about them loading times.

I never played FFIX, but FFVII load times are damn fast when played through a PSP. Played through the ps3 HDD is pretty decent as well. I'm really tempted to buy a GO for the FF games now with the price drop.

Of course, FFIX battles are always going to be painfully slow. That is just part of the game.
 

Numpt3

Member
Lionheart1827 said:
faISS.jpg
Forgot how gorgeous REmake is.
 
Pre-rendered backgrounds are as abhorrent as non-game engine cut scenes. It's an artifact of a dead era, and also conducive to terrible camera use.

See also: Devil May Cry 1

Pre-rendered backgrounds + terrible camera placement = game breaking.

In addition that that, it doesn't immerse me in the game world. I just feel like even more of a rat in a maze.
 
I NEED SCISSORS said:
I believe some pre-rendered games already do this - the problem is that the camera would still be fixed, so the only real advantage is to give the background some more depth.

Ok, figured as much.

I'm surprised with HD, and the talent of some of the artists these days, that a lot more games (especially Arcade/PSN) games don't make use of this. Or do they and I just don't notice?
 

Sectus

Member
I wouldn't want them to become common, but a few games like that would be neat. REmake still looks absolutely amazing and its character models are close to the models we see in normal current gen titles. I'd love to see another game like that done now.
 

Redbeard

Banned
It's unfortunate that Final Fantasy doesn't go back to this formula.

I feel like Final Fantasy's quality has been significantly compromised by the use of 3D environments, when they're simply not necessary whatsoever for the type of game Final Fantasy is.

There's three main elements that make a great FF title: art, story/characters, and battle system. That's it. There's almost zero interaction required with the environment, and you don't need to rotate the camera around.

They used to be able to churn out Final Fantasy titles relatively quickly, and I'd still much rather play the PS1 titles than FFXIII.
 
Redbeard said:
It's unfortunate that Final Fantasy doesn't go back to this formula.

I feel like Final Fantasy's quality has been significantly compromised by the use of 3D environments, when they're simply not necessary whatsoever for the type of game Final Fantasy is.

There's three main elements that make a great FF title: art, story/characters, and battle system. That's it. There's almost zero interaction required with the environment, and you don't need to rotate the camera around.

They used to be able to churn out Final Fantasy titles relatively quickly, and I'd still much rather play the PS1 titles than FFXIII.

Did you play FFXII? That game is light years ahead of FFXIII.
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
Pre-rendered backgrounds are as abhorrent as non-game engine cut scenes. It's an artifact of a dead era, and also conducive to terrible camera use.

See also: Devil May Cry 1

Pre-rendered backgrounds + terrible camera placement = game breaking.

In addition that that, it doesn't immerse me in the game world. I just feel like even more of a rat in a maze.
Like I said, it's players taking camera systems too seriously as to why pre-rendered backgrounds are dead in the first place. If they did not die, then there would be more glorious looking games like REMake, maybe not on consoles, but definitely on handhelds and the like.

DMC1 didn't use pre-rendered backgrounds, btw, and I don't know why people complain about the lack of camera system so much, I always preferred having the camera show a wide view of where I'm fighting instead of usually having to turn the camera around for a couple of seconds before being able to put my thumb on the controls again.
 
Yeah, I don't want them to be the norm by any means, but I'd love to see REMake quality pre rendered backgrounds in 1080p or on the 3DS.
 

Feep

Banned
2 Minutes Turkish said:
I'm no game programmer, but couldn't they have a polygonal 'skeleton' with a pre-rendered overlay that gives the effect of a non-pre rendered background while still making all the same processing savings of having a pre-rendered background?

Or was that completely retarted?
Since no one answered you, yes, that was very stupid.
 

panda21

Member
only if the gameplay fits with it, like RE

the cool thing would be that with a 720p prerendered backdrop you could put all of the 3d hardware power into character models
 

jett

D-Member
Fistwell said:
Had been re-playing this recently, and held similar thoughts as the OP regarding pre-rendered backgrounds.

Really? I attemtped to re-play it recently and thought the backgrounds look kinda awful. It's just too low-res.

I personally disagree with the OP. I'll take my real-time scenery with non-fixed camera angles, thanks.
 

GhaleonQ

Member
*searches for Final Fantasy IX*

Indeed! Pre-chosen camera angles allow for a stronger director's hand, anyway.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
BorkBork said:
I just replayed finished Baten Kaitos: Origins and the blend of pre-rendered stuff and real time weather effects like clouds hold up really really well.

Poor quality, but you can still see Diadem pretty well.

THANK GOD, I was just about to post stuff about Baten Kaitos, it needs way more props and acknowledgement than it gets. I would kill so many people to have them make a third one. Great music, great characters, great setting and great combat.

Music sample from Origins
 

Eccocid

Member
I was plying Riven few weeks ago and still cant believe how they achieved those renders at that time. Some of the places in the game looks super realistic and better than most of the prerendered games relased after Riven.
Especially those rides between islands are amazing.
 

Ranger X

Member
I am all for it if it compliments the game instead of restraining it. In the positive case, the pre-rendered background can help your game be a looker with minimal effort.
 

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Enduin said:
THANK GOD, I was just about to post stuff about Baten Kaitos, it needs way more props and acknowledgement than it gets. I would kill so many people to have them make a third one. Great music, great characters, great setting and great combat.

Music sample from Origins

I just posted some stuff in the best videogame franchise music thread.

After thinking about the game, I think it's a franchise that is conducive to having another PREQUEL. The whole mythology around
Wiseman and the origins of Magnus
would be quite interesting.
 

Ogs

Member
pje122 said:
Yes, please. I miss pre-rendered backgrounds so much...

Same. The RE's were far more creepy with them, and Onimusha looked stunning (especially 2), when it went 3D it lost alot of detail. Maybe its just because i like running around carefully put together scenes or something i dunno :lol Resident Evil was far more creepy when the scene was very still, with only minor things like candles making any movement.....
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
What the fuck is this shit? No, just no. Fixed camera angles need to die in a fire.

I think more games should just ditch camera controls and be able to do more technically. Some games like God of War or Mario Galaxy, just work extremely well without control. And they even do some crazy shit thanks to that.


2 Minutes Turkish said:
Ok, figured as much.

I'm surprised with HD, and the talent of some of the artists these days, that a lot more games (especially Arcade/PSN) games don't make use of this. Or do they and I just don't notice?

I don't think it's that simple. First of all, it's expensive, I don't have any number, but I don't think the budget of RE remake and RE4 were that much different. And it takes a lot of storage space. REmake needed 2 disc, just like RE4.
 

Crayon

Member
If someone just had the balls to do it, a game with prerendered backgrounds would do just fine. In the case of RE or FF it could even lead to a revival. I was convinced REmake was the way forward for the series at the time it came out. But things didn't go that way and now re seams to be some sort of shooter thanks to converging game mechanics.
 

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Himuro said:
Pre-rendered backgrounds would really help with the development process in certain games/genres. It takes them 99 years to make a game with full 3d with a budget of 100 billion yen when it would be more productive to make some areas such as cities and towns and places where you don't fight pre-rendered.

It would save Square so much damn money and time.

That's an interesting point. Has the shift away from prerendered scenes significantly increased development costs? Is it a waste of resources to fully render in 3D areas that has little significance in the game? Will a return to prerendered backgrounds make more financial sense nowadays?
 

jett

D-Member
CG imagery still requires considerable asset creation. Especially high quality CG. It's not like games like FF7 were cheap, for fuck's sake.
 

-viper-

Banned
holy shit at the REMAKE shots. does it really look like that during game play?

looks better than 99% of the games released today.
 

Crayon

Member
RE2 still squirts win. Pre rendered backgrounds kick ass. A scene can be carefully laid out and populated with details in a way that's hard to get with this:

super-mario-64-screenshot-lakitu-cameraman-big.jpg
 
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