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[GhaleonEB]

on a second thought... those are not nice at all.

even DC can do that. i really really hope they step it up.

That's what I thought. It's been what, ten years since NiGHTS came out? I had a vision in my mind for what this game could be, and while they captured the visual style well, it's very underwhelming in fidelity.

I know the Wii is all about the controls, but isn't the system capable of so much more that this?

 

[jarrod]

It needs more lighting. Everything is flat and bland.

Agreed, and I think that's where the Dreamcastic comments are really coming from. So far it looks comparable to PSO or SA2 in terms of texturing and geometry I think, but this is still an alpha build that's a ways from release and those games were 4th generation efforts from (arguably) SEGA's most technically talented consumer teams at the time, building on years of experience, refined engines and intimate hardware documentation and knowledge.

The textures aren't too impressive, but they'd also choke any engines used in 1st gen PS2 games. Pretty laughable comparison there, most 1st gen PS2 games were painfully ooo-glay (barring Namco/Tecmo's stuff)!

 

[ethelred]

Man, am I glad I don't have expectations on the level of some of you. Even if these *first screenshots* end up being representative of the final game, it still looks okay, and being the game that it is, the art direction is going to count for far more than the technical proficiency.

Oh, please don't get me wrong here -- I still fully intend to buy and play the game, and I don't think its graphical quality is the most important thing anyway. If I can play the original game still (and plenty of other 3D Saturn games), I can play this. And it doesn't look godawful, it's something I can live with.

But the visuals are pretty disappointing. I mean, I think my standards (and yes, expectations) are starting to rise regarding what developers should be doing with this console. I look at a game like Dewy's Adventure, which is probably even more of a financial and creative risk than a sequel to the Saturn's flagship game, probably lower budget, and not from a well established team... and I see a game that, visually, is smoking what we're seeing right here in NiiGHTS. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that's disappointing, that Sega should be doing more in a game this important.

 

[Saoh]

I know the Wii is all about the controls, but isn't the system capable of so much more that this?

yep. ok, i know this is a Nintendo game, Nintendo games will ALWAYS look better, it's their console after all. but...

fine, people can say Konami is really talented. but even Sega...

...did a better job with Sonic imo. i'm gonna shut up untill i see the game in motion, i'm going to believe that this is an early build of the game and that these screens don't represent in any way the final product, because it's easier to believe that, than to accep that a GCN game...

... looks better.

 

[nincompoop]

Anyone that is saying it looks like Dreamcast or launch PS2 is overexaggerating. Not that I'm surprised, given who said comments are coming from.

Or maybe you're in denial. This really does look like it could be done on the Dreamcast. Hell, they're probably just porting over what they had from the cancelled Dreamcast game.

 

[jarrod]

Once the lighting fills out, I think it'll move beyond DC/PS2 comparisons. As is, it really does look like a later gen DC game though.

 

[underfooter]

Those shots don't look in-game to me. The lack of HUD and regular perspective indicate that.


Who knows what the game will look like when finished guys. I don't expect it to be THAT close to the character anyways. If the game is fast, the camera is pulled out, and it has some nice effects, it could achieve a compitent graphical level.

Why do graphics make or break games here?

 

[bluemax]

NiGHTS is one of the best looking Dreamcast games to date.

Oh wait...

 

[Y2Kev]

The more I look at it the more I look at I see imperfections and bad texturing.

lol

 

[Teknopathetic]

NiGHTS 3D Blast is definitely not looking attractive. At all.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

You know, I think I'm officially washing my hands of discussing NiGHTS at GAF. It, like the first game, is likely going to be received in a rather cool fashion critically, it's already become a centerpiece in the moronic system wars, and I really don't want to drive you guys nuts with my possibly misplaced hype, nor do I have any desire to let this game be ruined for me.

So uh...next NiGHTS Defence Force member, step up. Thread's yours.

 

[Shard]

They could at least save the hate until we know if Nights 2 here lives up to the legacy of Sonic Team USA.

 

[Chao]

It's pretty clear that Sega needs to tighten up the graphics on level 3.

 

[Tristam]

Man, am I glad I don't have expectations on the level of some of you. Even if these *first screenshots* end up being representative of the final game, it still looks okay, and being the game that it is, the art direction is going to count for far more than the technical proficiency.

It doesn't look great, but it's acceptable. You'll forgive me if I feel the comments calling it Dreamcast level are a bit disingenuous - aside from ethelred, every last one of those saying it looks like shit or a DC game are known to be "Wii haters", and thus the comments are immediately suspect as being yet another barrage in the goofy-ass system wars that pervade our hobby.

There's a difference here from the original in one aspect - that game pushed the Saturn, this one wouldn't even be pushing the Gamecube. But otherwise, it feels the same, because I remember hearing from a lot of people who didn't own Saturns and had no plans of buying NiGHTS anyway say how shitty it looked and how they weren't going to buy it.

So whatever, you've gotten your jabs in. I'm quite certain there will be many more to come. The old Sega fans, the real fans of NiGHTS, we don't give a shit. This is a game that we never even dreamed would happen, a sequel to a game from over a decade ago, a sequel that as each year passed, the odds of it ocurring got smaller and smaller. And now we're actually getting it. This could have been a ****ing Game Boy Advance game and we'd still be giddy. Sega could have slapped it on the Virtual Boy and kicked me in the nuts every time I closed a Paraloop, and I'd still be joyous.

Keep on raining and storming gents, you won't be wiping the grin off this old warhorse's face.

I completely agree. I recently replayed The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and I couldn't help but think that it possessed a sort of haunting, melancholic beauty that Twilight Princess' drab and lifeless art direction could never hope to achieve (for the record, I do think that the twilight realm was impressive).

Oh, and to all you naysayers thinking "Zomg NiGHTS ON HD CONSOLES = BETTER," the original was on a technically weak console (by the standards of the fifth generation of video games). Just read up on the original developers' collective vision for a NiGHTS sequel and you'll understand precisely why it's on the Wii; you'll probably also gain insight as to why the graphics are technically less than impressive.

 

[Shard]

Maybe the polish shall come in the coming months.

 

[TONX]

Please please please sega, make this game great.

 

[bigmakstudios]

lol

I lol'd. wtf is with developers making such... not so good looking games on Wii? Gamecube could do so much better than this. :/ I'm still hopeful for this game but... hopefully the graphics improve.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

WTF are they even trying?

 

[Saoh]

The more I look at it the more I look at I see imperfections and bad texturing.

lol

i sobbed, lazy developers really piss me off.

everybody loved NiGHTS, Sega waited 11 years for the right console, that's my reason to have hope.

 

[PoliceCop]

Timesplitters (a PS2 launch game) looks better.

 

[M3d10n]

C'mon Segata, don't get angry. In the last 3 pages nobody even mentioned wishing the game in HD or that the graphics were deal breakers.

Many of us expected a little more production value on this game, that's all. Nobody knows how many years we'll have to wait for NiGHTs 3 (if ever), so I personally hope for NiGHTs 2 to be as polished as possible in all areas, just as the original was.

I just hope this is just an early build (the lack of gameplay elements points towards this).

 

[Mrbob]

Looks like shit.

I thought this was the Saturn version at first.

 

[smartestpersonever]

I want Nights to be great as bad as anyone but these new screens are not very impressive. For such a historic franchise you'd think they would put more effort into it.

The textures in the screens are really plain. Just very generic flat tiled texture maps applied to very simple chunky geometry.
There are a couple reasons for doing this.

A. Either the flying in the game will frequently be very high and showing massive amounts of ground and country so they can't have too much detail on any one area.

or B. The team is not very good and this is the best they can do.


It is dissapointing though. The Wii is not as strong as other consoles but it can do better than this.
We saw Mario Galaxy screens like a year ago that blew this away.
And now this team is getting going on Nights and they have so much more support and better developed tools and they still produce results like this?

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

Sadly enough, you guys/gals are right. This really does look DC-level. Now it's not horrible looking by any means, and the visual style is nice... it's just... damn. We should be getting a much better looking game on this system.

 

[CurseoftheGods]

Looks like shit.

I thought this was the Saturn version at first.

Um...

?

 

[Jackson]

We saw Mario Galaxy screens like a year ago that blew this away.

And I'm sure since SMG is 1st party and a major, MAJOR title by Nintendo with Shigeru personally working on it, that it was in dev long before NiGHTS on a console that most of the dev team knows pretty well by now...

So comapring the two games is a bit unfair at such an early stage in Wii's cycle.

 

[stewacide]

But why are they having such a hard time with GFX? this seriously looks like a dreamcast game. No polycount at all, i dont understand wtf is going on

Rose tinted glasses much? Nothing on the Dreamcast looked like that.

 

[Community Forum]

*barfs*

Hopefully it turns out okay. I wouldn't mind if the original game was included too, that would be so awesome.

 

[CurseoftheGods]

*barfs*

Hopefully it turns out okay. I wouldn't mind if the original game was included too, that would be so awesome.

Saturn emulation is pretty difficult so I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[Phife Dawg]

The graphics are sort of acceptable if they're aiming for 60fps..

My thoughts exactly, people are so obsessed with screenshots these days. I still play my games in motion and don't spend hours in picture mode or replay mode or drooling at screenshots. Bad FPS ruin games for me, bad gfx not so much (Bad Day LA being the exception but the gameplay was shite anyways). Now if this is 30 FPS or even worse an unstable framerate it would pretty much be unacceptable but I won't judge before I see any in-game videos.

Just to put things into perspective, not saying that the gfx in Nights are great or anything. But they are definetly way above both Timesplitters and the Saturn Nights (which had an absolutely atrocious drawing distance btw).

Timesplitters (a PS2 launch game) looks better.

Looks like shit.

I thought this was the Saturn version at first.

 

[Eteric Rice]

And I'm sure since SMG is 1st party and a major, MAJOR title by Nintendo with Shigeru personally working on it, that it was in dev long before NiGHTS on a console that most of the dev team knows pretty well by now...

So comapring the two games is a bit unfair at such an early stage in Wii's cycle.

Then lets compare it to Dewy's Adventure!

/end

 

[Helzown]

You know, I think I'm officially washing my hands of discussing NiGHTS at GAF. It, like the first game, is likely going to be received in a rather cool fashion critically, it's already become a centerpiece in the moronic system wars, and I really don't want to drive you guys nuts with my possibly misplaced hype, nor do I have any desire to let this game be ruined for me.

So uh...next NiGHTS Defence Force member, step up. Thread's yours.

Segata NEVER gives up.

Helzown R NOT IMPRESSED.


Anyway, to be honest... with a game like this, polygons don't even matter to me. I mean, if it plays well... it's just that type of game. I'm looking forward to it.

But the visuals look... sloppy. And I hope that isn't a trend throughout the development of this game.

 

[rkenshin]

So is that flying court jester, a guy or a girl?

 

[EviLore]

Please continue raping my fond memories, sega. I really appreciate it!

 

[Luckyman]

technologically they look on the level of DOA3 or worse, which is Xbox launch.

Seriously?

DOA3 still looks OMGWTF amazing..

 

[Zerodoppler]

What the hell is wrong with you guys? This looks just as good as any other Wii game. You should know what to expect from the machine by now.

 

[DSN2K]

looks like they reused assets from the Saturn game, embarrassing.

 

[PolyGone]

bitch bitch bitch, moan moan moan, buy buy buy

 

[Eteric Rice]

What the hell is wrong with you guys? This looks just as good as any other Wii game. You should know what to expect from the machine by now.

5 months! Hur hur hur!

Really, I expect more good looking games like Dewy's, soon.

 

[Panajev2001a]

C'mon Segata, don't get angry. In the last 3 pages nobody even mentioned wishing the game in HD or that the graphics were deal breakers.

Many of us expected a little more production value on this game, that's all. Nobody knows how many years we'll have to wait for NiGHTs 3 (if ever), so I personally hope for NiGHTs 2 to be as polished as possible in all areas, just as the original was.

I just hope this is just an early build (the lack of gameplay elements points towards this).

I am playing my copy of NiGHTS on an emulator (SSF... sigh... if any PAL gamer has a spare composite or RGB cable for the Saturn and is willing to depart with it give me a holla [I have a US Saturn and I have a voltage transformer, controller and all, but I need a video cable... cannot find mine anymore ... I want to play NiGHTS, PD1 and PD2-Zwei on tv again ]) and it still holds up VERY well to this day...

You are right the most important thing is polish (which Sonic the Hedgehog lacked) and how gameplay, music and graphics mix together.

...but... something that needs to be there is also the crazyness, the fantasy, all the little pieces of detail that filled the world of NiGHTS: this Wii screens seem... plain... a bit void... you could take these screens and put crazy pixel shaders on the surfaces, normal maps on everything, reflections, global illumination, soft shadows, tons of light sources... it would be a kick ass technology show, but still feel void and plain.

I am hopeful as I need my NiGHTS fix every now and then though .

 

[stilgar]

What the hell is wrong with you guys? This looks just as good as any other Wii game.

No .
Looks just like a shitty launch game, but not like dewy, mario or others . I really wish it's a "more than early" shot .

 

[Nakasan]

This thread has gone to the dogs. It has become a nightmare, if you will.

Listen up haters and listen good.

These screens are not for you. The information provided is not for you.

These screens have been released to the public domain specifically to scream "Yo, NiGHTS fans. Rejoice.".

The news that has been released has been again specifically addressed to the old NiGHTS fans.

Non-NiGHTS fans comments are thusly redundant.

Wait till MADDEN 08 come out with new "sweat dripping mechanics" or whatever.

I agree the graphics could be better, but... Please, show me one single screenshot that couldn't be made to look better somehow.

NiGHTS Defense Force, UNITE!!!
Segata, I wont be able to hold the fort on my own. Nor will I be able to talk reasonably bout NiGHTS without you and the guy with Temjin as his avatar.

Now, back to the hype.

Hey guys, remember in February, just imagine then if someone had come to you with these pics, how STOKED would you of been?! I know I'd have creamed myself!!

 

[Magicpaint]

The graphics could be better, but this still looks pretty nice considering the art direction is eye pleasing.

 

[sprsk]

I hate megathreads and this one ****ing sucks, next time NiGHTS info comes out make a new thread. We don't need anymore giant megathreads for games that don't even have release dates.