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Gaming's most beautiful skyboxes

E

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
You can't get better skyboxes than Bungie's. They are by far the best at making them. However, there are some amazing examples in this thread. FFXIII and GT5 notably. For very different reasons.
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
jim-jam bongs said:
There is a strange tendency in graphics discussions on GAF to discount photo-realism, stylised or otherwise, as an artistic decision so perhaps I was thinking of that when I posted.
Click to expand...

I can't comment on the tendency in general, but my personal tastes trend away from photorealism. I probably shouldn't have used the word "failed" in my post (even if it was just a reference to the post I was responding to) because I don't actually begrudge anyone their love of photorealism. I'm just not impressed by it artistically. Even if those clouds were hand made to look exactly like a photograph of clouds, well, that's impressive in one sense, but a pointless expenditure of effort in another.
 
D

Durante

Member
FF13 is certainly a worthy contender. Really, such a beautiful game overall.

2010-03-07_23-26-342n96.jpg

2010-03-09_20-00-508u2n.jpg

2010-03-14_15-43-00tnkb.jpg

2010-11-21_19-47-022uho.jpg
 
D

Durante

Member
M_Night said:
^^ do you have any Eden sky shots lying around from XIII?
Click to expand...

I've got 2 screens more where you can see a lot of sky.
2010-03-09_20-09-56bm9r.jpg

2010-03-12_19-06-48puzn.jpg

(lack of AF is very annoying in that second one)

But that's it, went through my 607 captures of the game.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
see5harp said:
I understand where you are coming from but the "low poly" comments sounded completely inconsequential to what the thread is about. Bungie obviously works hard to make their skyboxes pop so it seems fair to give them their credit. The Mass Effect shots he posted look incredible.
Click to expand...

Ah right. My point was that the environments are pretty low-poly, so the skies being really over the top looks cool, whereas if the environment was designed realistically it wouldn't look as cool.

hey_it's_that_dog said:
I can't comment on the tendency in general, but my personal tastes trend away from photorealism. I probably shouldn't have used the word "failed" in my post (even if it was just a reference to the post I was responding to) because I don't actually begrudge anyone their love of photorealism. I'm just not impressed by it artistically. Even if those clouds were hand made to look exactly like a photograph of clouds, well, that's impressive in one sense, but a pointless expenditure of effort in another.
Click to expand...

I strongly disagree with you on this, but I guess it's a discussion for another thread.
 
Go_Ly_Dow

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Durante said:
I've got 2 screens more where you can see a lot of sky.

But that's it, went through my 607 captures of the game.
Click to expand...

Ah right, thanks for posting.

Eden was the chapter
12
city location just in case you weren't aware.
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
jim-jam bongs said:
I strongly disagree with you on this, but I guess it's a discussion for another thread.
Click to expand...

It's fine, there's nothing to discuss. I was just saying what I prefer and why and I don't expect or need to convince anyone who doesn't feel the same way.
 
S

Shaundakahl

Member
-Halo series
-RDR
-JC2

But the game that made me aware of what this "skybox" thing was all about was The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. The way you can see the constellations and celestial bodies moving around blew me away.
 
S

scorpscarx

Member
All these shots just cement my original statement that practically all new-age games have nice skyboxes... which is no wonder since it takes like zero resources to have them.

Arma II wins, I'm also glad someone posted Enslaved, I thought it had a nice skybox.

The true winners are the games that have dynamic weather and ultra-realistic color matched skies. Like some hardcore flight-sims.

Here's a good video to the second link of A10-C Warthog, I didn't have the sound on so be warned if its terrible or loud or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=TZkMQNvqzpA#t=72s
 
M

mr_nothin

Banned
The only game that's had a decent skybox is WindWaker because its so clean.
I can see the compression of the skybox in every other game. I hate skyboxes....so low res.
 
Riposte

Riposte

Member
mr_nothin said:
The only game that's had a decent skybox is WindWaker because its so clean.
I can see the compression of the skybox in every other game. I hate skyboxes....so low res.
Click to expand...

So Wind Waker's skybox was flawless? LOL

All Skyboxes are bad? Jesus!
 
X

X26

Banned
Halo: Reach for sure

You look at them them and see what's there and think "fuck this shit, why can't I play THERE!?"
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
Afrikan said:
anyone post any God of War 3 pics?

game is just BEAUTIFUL!

I'm at work, so time to search for some.
Click to expand...

A cursory look at the google image results reminds me that there is very little sky in the game to begin with, and things just go downhill once it starts raining permanently. Beautiful game otherwise, though.
 
M

makingmusic476

Member
Afrikan said:
anyone post any God of War 3 pics?

game is just BEAUTIFUL!

I'm at work, so time to search for some.
Click to expand...
Oooh yeah. The part after the first Zeus fight when you're standing on the balcony overlooking Greece engulfed in chaos is incredible.
 
C

Cranzor

Junior Member
Izayoi said:
Yep.

http://www.abload.de/img/new1vjp0.png[img]

[img]http://www.abload.de/img/new20mky.png[img]

[img]http://www.abload.de/img/new37837.png[img][/QUOTE]

What game is that?
Click to expand...
 
Z

ZeroRay

Member
Marsipolami said:
I remember liking Morrowind's night sky, back in 2002

NightSky2.jpg

Obviously a thousand times better in motion.
Click to expand...

Loved Morrowind's night sky. Blew my mind when I first saw it; so much creativity and detail.

Can't wait to see what Bethesda comes up with for Skyrim.
 
M

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Love the Mass Effect screens. That's what's missing from Mass Effect 2: the beautiful worlds and atmospheres. Jaw-dropping.
 
R

Ryan_IGN

Member
As a couple of others on the previous page have already posted, Rage. You will say "Wow" at its skybox when you see it in person, I promise you.
 
M

Mik2121

Member
This just reminds me I started working on some sky for my UDK (Unreal Development Kit) level. Right now It's still nowhere near game-quality but I will post it just for the hell of it..

sky01.png

sky02.png

sky03.png

sky04.png


The good thing is that I can change the sky color and clouds movement speed in real time. But I still need to add a sun or moon that can be moved around changing the lighting of the level, and a few other extra things :p

Again, not quite game-quality yet, but getting slightly closer!.

Anyway, the ones I like the most are Halo's. Specially Halo Reach.. that game has some seriously amazing skyboxes...
 
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