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Games with visuals that topped their generation & and their sequels that didnt
- Thread starter Mohonky
- Start date
exmachina64
Banned
Mass Effect 2 vs 3 on consoles.
To the OP's statement, weren't most of the developers who made Escape from Butcher Bay gone by the time Assault on Dark Athena was released?
To the OP's statement, weren't most of the developers who made Escape from Butcher Bay gone by the time Assault on Dark Athena was released?
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I think Soul Calibur, here.
The first one was one of the most beautiful things in the planet in 1999. Dreamcast magic.
I'll even give massive love to Soul Calibur II... Some reviews at the time said it was not to the level that SC1 was in 1999. I can accept that, but SCII was still the most amazing thing on Cube and Xbox (720p in 2002!!!).
But SCIII was an ugly PS2 game. And IV and V were just par for the course visually. Nothing special.
DOA was also a graphical tour de force... DOA3 and 4
still had the potential to wow visually, even if you played them years and years after release. But DOA5 was just ok looking. Maybe re: the OP talking about Ninja Gaiden, we can lament the loss of the golden age of Itagaki.
The first one was one of the most beautiful things in the planet in 1999. Dreamcast magic.
I'll even give massive love to Soul Calibur II... Some reviews at the time said it was not to the level that SC1 was in 1999. I can accept that, but SCII was still the most amazing thing on Cube and Xbox (720p in 2002!!!).
But SCIII was an ugly PS2 game. And IV and V were just par for the course visually. Nothing special.
DOA was also a graphical tour de force... DOA3 and 4
still had the potential to wow visually, even if you played them years and years after release. But DOA5 was just ok looking. Maybe re: the OP talking about Ninja Gaiden, we can lament the loss of the golden age of Itagaki.
Beren the Empty-Handed
Member
That's for damn sure.
Yoshi's Island didn't have the wizardry of DKC, but it looked sharp, crisp, and gorgeous. Yoshi's Story on the other hand looked like they didn't even care.
disappeared
Banned
TGO, the general opinion on the "Douglas situation"is that Konami pulled a deal with the devil for SH3's visuals.
Are we still sticking with the part of the title that says games with visuals that "topped their generation", or are we just naming any game whose sequel was a visual downgrade/not huge improvement?
If we aren't sticking to that anymore...I'd like to throw ME2->ME3 in the mix. ME3 looked very rough compared to ME2, in my opinion. Something about the character models, the art direction and especially the fucked up contrast really ruined its look for me compared to ME2.
And the entire world just felt a lot more stilted, even more so than the already sort of stilted ME2. It was as if the characters were cutouts being moved across immovable sets and walls (hyperbole but hopefully my point gets across). All of this really added up to the entire look of the game feeling disjointed, much blander than ME2, and a little unfinished.
If we aren't sticking to that anymore...I'd like to throw ME2->ME3 in the mix. ME3 looked very rough compared to ME2, in my opinion. Something about the character models, the art direction and especially the fucked up contrast really ruined its look for me compared to ME2.
And the entire world just felt a lot more stilted, even more so than the already sort of stilted ME2. It was as if the characters were cutouts being moved across immovable sets and walls (hyperbole but hopefully my point gets across). All of this really added up to the entire look of the game feeling disjointed, much blander than ME2, and a little unfinished.
Green Yoshi
Member
Halo -> Halo 2
GTA Vice City -> GTA San Andreas
Super Mario 64 -> Super Mario Sunshine
Wave Race 64 -> Wave Race Blue Storm
Genji -> Genji (PS3)
Silent Hill 3 -> Silent Hill The Room
FlatOut 2 -> FlatOut 3
SSX 3 -> SSX On Tour
NFS Underground 2 -> NFS Most Wanted
GTA Vice City -> GTA San Andreas
Super Mario 64 -> Super Mario Sunshine
Wave Race 64 -> Wave Race Blue Storm
Genji -> Genji (PS3)
Silent Hill 3 -> Silent Hill The Room
FlatOut 2 -> FlatOut 3
SSX 3 -> SSX On Tour
NFS Underground 2 -> NFS Most Wanted
I disagree with the bolded. Especially for how IV looked in 2008. I think you've got some nostalgia in your eyes.
LOL What!? Brawl looks ridiculously better than Melee.
Silent 3 -> Silent Hill 4 I think.
This is ridiculous.
SC3 wasn't ugly.It looked absolutely great for its time and in motion.
SCV was a very pretty game but the character faces being too samey is the only real flaw.
This is ridiculous.
SC3 wasn't ugly.It looked absolutely great for its time and in motion.
SCV was a very pretty game but the character faces being too samey is the only real flaw.
TheRedSnifit
Member
Omnipunctual Godot
Gold Member
The Crash games definitely took a hit after the third installment.
zephervack
Member
Hopefully this isnt nostalgia talking but...
I want to say Tekken Tag Tournament to 4 and 5, now TTT had prerendered backgrounds which let them use a lot more processing for the character models than later games. but still, I miss the days where the Tekken games where graphical showcases.
I want to say Tekken Tag Tournament to 4 and 5, now TTT had prerendered backgrounds which let them use a lot more processing for the character models than later games. but still, I miss the days where the Tekken games where graphical showcases.
Lumpy Onion
Member
First one that I thought of. Some of the parts in LR when the camera is panning around while talking to NPCs is shockingly bad.
Perfect Dark was a technical marvel on the N64
Then the 360 came along and we got wall guy
lol his chin is in his trap muscle
There were plenty of parts where perfect dark zero looked bad, but there were also plenty of really cool things such as the use of parallax occlusion mapping, object motion blur, and (I think) volumetric explosions, although I am probably wrong on the last one.
SerTapTap
Member
The prerendered backgrounds in Dino Crisis 2 really felt like a cop-out, personally. Not that I mind prerendered in most cases, DC1 compared exceptionally well to it's mostly pre-rendered brethren. I can't think of many other examples that aren't due to art style, and I guess DC1->2 is also sorta a case of artstyle, but with a significant technical component.
I disagree, YI had far, far more wizardry than DKC, DKC was simply sprites made from 3D models, YI used a ton of effects that almost no other games on the system used, and it didn't run like garbage unlike Starfox (which is admittedly an entirely different sort of technical wizardry)
Alien jungle in KZ3 is IMO better looking than anything in KZ2. It's most certainly not a significant downgrade, and debatable whether it is one at all.
I disagree, YI had far, far more wizardry than DKC, DKC was simply sprites made from 3D models, YI used a ton of effects that almost no other games on the system used, and it didn't run like garbage unlike Starfox (which is admittedly an entirely different sort of technical wizardry)
Alien jungle in KZ3 is IMO better looking than anything in KZ2. It's most certainly not a significant downgrade, and debatable whether it is one at all.
BeatResetsTheWorld
Banned
Metroid Prime 2, Halo 2 and RE4 were the peak of that generation but their sequels weren't. In MP3's defense, it was on the Wii so that's not surprising
Dark Souls 2 received a downgrade from what *it* was going to be, but not downgraded below Dark Souls 1's visuals. I think you might have gotten caught up in the whole 'downgrade' fever and not really understood what was going on.
Its definitely an improvement over the first game.
Either way, the example isn't really relevant as Dark Souls 1 never 'topped its generation', graphically. Not by a long shot.
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
Vice City had a great art style with really vibrant colors and looked great for a PS2 game.
San Andreas, while bigger, was full of empty blocky textures and unlimited brown everything making it pale in comparison.
San Andreas, while bigger, was full of empty blocky textures and unlimited brown everything making it pale in comparison.
eso76
Member
It's more about devs than it is about series though.
Namco, Team Ninja, Square. Most Japanese developers were in great shape in the PSone and ps2 days but haven't kept up. Capcom seems to be the only exception. Oh, and Polyphony.
As far as western devs go, Starbreeze. Their xbox tech was miraculous, these days their games aren't really anything special.
Namco, Team Ninja, Square. Most Japanese developers were in great shape in the PSone and ps2 days but haven't kept up. Capcom seems to be the only exception. Oh, and Polyphony.
As far as western devs go, Starbreeze. Their xbox tech was miraculous, these days their games aren't really anything special.
SerTapTap
Member
Why do they each have one anime eye and one derp eye?And this is Resonance of Fate on PS3:
It's not really a big jump, considering how amazing VP2 looks on PS2. I expected tri-Ace to wow me last gen.