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David Jaffe sets Twitter on fire after calling Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom “bland and old looking”

kondorBonk

Member
This isn't even that good by today's standards but still look much better artistically compared to recent Zelda games
I mean, art is subjective so I disagree. I've always found the direction of Twilight Princess to be the least inspired and this seems closest to that. You get to the point of realism that the character designs for Zelda need to be rethought or they look monstrous (twighlight princess).

For when this came out Skyward Sword was the next release and I much prefer the artistic direction of that game with the overly expressive facial features and painterly/water color world. They really landed in a comfortable place with the current cel shaded look. Not that the current style couldn't also be improved on with stronger hardware. Improved draw distance, more detailed textures, better particle effects would still fit int hat style.

This tech demo is kinda funny though. It's pre rendered and they blew everything up to 10 for the lighting/water/reflections where it just looks silly.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
I mean, if he thinks this gorgeous open world is bland, then I guess he won't be satisfied until the mountains are all giant, wobbly boobies, and everything else explodes every thirty seconds.
 
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daveonezero

Banned
I'm sorry but is there a game besides Elden Ring ( and BotW did it first) where you can get to a vantage point and just see huge vistas of the game world. Where you can actually visit and not just for show? Times where you can see Multiple objectives and points of interest all in one shot?

To me that is exciting and not bland at all. Your eyes are drawn to all the important parts. I don't know the design theory but I know Idle Thumbs used to talk about this with sort of a Disney World type of scale and pathways.

Honestly that first Island was a bit bland. But I think it was supposed to be.
 
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StueyDuck

Member
So as I I've started it now it's a fun game. Knowing not to expect a Zelda game but binkys minecraft lands it's a more enjoyable experience...

All that aside.

This game is ugly as fuck. I'm playing on my TV and its God awful looking. And I'm not even a graphics whore but holy hell the aliasing and popin and muddy textures etc. Its more than just "low res" type of ugly.
 
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Hugare

Member


This isn't even that good by today's standards but still look much better artistically compared to recent Zelda games

No it doesnt

Link seems to be made of clay. How lighting works on his skin (and clothes) doesnt make any sense

And artistically it doesnt look inspired at all. It's Twilight Princess with better fidelity.

BOTW/TotK has their own visual style that works.
 

StueyDuck

Member
I'm sorry but is there a game besides Elden Ring ( and BotW did it first) where you can get to a vantage point and just see huge vistas of the game world. Where you can actually visit and not just for show? Times where you can see Multiple objectives and points of interest all in one shot?

To me that is exciting and not bland at all. Your eyes are drawn to all the important parts. I don't know the design theory but I know Idle Thumbs used to talk about this with sort of a Disney World type of scale and pathways.

Honestly that first Island was a bit bland. But I think it was supposed to be.
Didn't realise breath of the Wild invented open world Vistas 🤣.

Rockstar and Bethesda must of been making different type of games

(Botw had a very bad invisible walls)
 
So as I I've started it now it's a fun game. Knowing not to expect a Zelda game but binkys minecraft lands it's a more enjoyable experience...

All that aside.

This game is ugly as fuck. I'm playing on my TV and its God awful looking. And I'm not even a graphics where but holy hell the aliasing and popin and muddy textures etc. Its more than just "low res" type of ugly.
It's an absolute disservice that this game is relegated to c-tier hardware from a decade ago.
 

Gojiira

Member
I'm sorry but is there a game besides Elden Ring ( and BotW did it first) where you can get to a vantage point and just see huge vistas of the game world. Where you can actually visit and not just for show? Times where you can see Multiple objectives and points of interest all in one shot?

To me that is exciting and not bland at all. Your eyes are drawn to all the important parts. I don't know the design theory but I know Idle Thumbs used to talk about this with sort of a Disney World type of scale and pathways.

Honestly that first Island was a bit bland. But I think it was supposed to be.
Lmao have you even played any videogames in the last 20 years?
You could get that in any Far Cry, any Assassins Creed, Horizon, Tomb Raider, Skyrim, hell even as far back as Oblivion, MGS 5, Black Desert, GTA,and a myriad of other games including Elden Rings predecessors Dark Souls,no BotW did not ‘invent’ sprawling open world vantage points…
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Lmao have you even played any videogames in the last 20 years?
You could get that in any Far Cry, any Assassins Creed, Horizon, Tomb Raider, Skyrim, hell even as far back as Oblivion, MGS 5, Black Desert, GTA,and a myriad of other games including Elden Rings predecessors Dark Souls,no BotW did not ‘invent’ sprawling open world vantage points…
Ghost of Tsushima color coordinated the regions which was a nice artistic touch and almost like you were traversing through artist's paintings.
 

near

Gold Member
You guys can't get enough of the Jaffe Cakes can you? Tastes goood. :p

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Does it matter when the game is way more engaging on a systematic and interactive level than anything we're getting on much more powerful machines? That's the kicker here, who gives a shit what it looks like it's a game on old ass hardware. It's a silly provocation towards something Nintendo fanboys are too stupid to realize they have no need to defend against.
 

kevm3

Member
Jaffe isn't wrong. The game looks a bit better than BOTW, which was on the Wii U.

TOTK only looks amazing of the Switch is the only system you've been playing in the past 5 years. Now if you want to say that the physics gives the world an aliveness and interactivity that isn't there in most other games, then sure... But to say this is some amazing looking game when you see things like Ghosts of Tsushima or Horizon Forbidden West, then, that's a no go. Even if you go back on PS3 and look at games like Uncharted 2 or 3, then it's hard to find TOTK visually impressive. The only reason Jaffe's statement is controversial is because he's saying it about a Nintendo created game. Any other game, and everyone would be in unanimous agreement.

Just off of a pure visual standpoint, even something like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 arguably looks better.

 

Gojiira

Member
To me GoT easily had the best artistic visuals of any game I played including the ones of “this generation”.

Not even close for me.
Yeah it was very unique, great characters and VA, really well crafted world space, FUN above everything. Cant wait for the sequel for to expand in it.
 

Gambit2483

Member
That is true! Ghost had a beautiful map, areas like the bamboo forest were just amazing. Tbf that game was amazing.

Playing Ghost of Tsushima now...it's definitely a very beautiful game...but it's another case of "look don't touch".

Sometimes people downplay the fact that Zelda has just as much (if not more) going on with it's artstyle, e.g. way more biomes, different weather, lighting, and environmental effects etc. It's doing so much more than most games in that respect. In a way it make's the game world feel more "alive" than most open world games.
 

marquimvfs

Member
People that say he's right and then immediately start bashing the game didn't read his considerations. He said, that given the dated visuals (and he's right) the game is GOOD! It just needed to loose a few points in reviews because it isn't pretty as some other games. He isn't wrong, he also isn't saying the game is bad.
 

stickkidsam

Member
Bland? In what world is this game’s aesthetic bland?

Enemies look fun and recognizable, environments are varied and fun to explore, the world is literally designed to grab your attention, and the characters all look great. I guess if they went a little more in the direction of Wind Waker for things like water it would help strengthen the look, but the game is beautiful.

The graphics fall short by today’s standards, but I don’t see how that makes the game look bland.
 

fersnake

Member
botw was fantastic, but lacked alot of things that ToTk adds on but still not a 10/10 game ppl loves call it.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
I'm purrrrrrrrdy harsh on Nintendo's crud graphics but Jaffe has no tastes this game is boooooootyful on my Switch OLED looks even betters than this

Theys should just use the same arts for the movie
download.png
 

Gojiira

Member
Playing Ghost of Tsushima now...it's definitely a very beautiful game...but it's another case of "look don't touch".

Sometimes people downplay the fact that Zelda has just as much (if not more) going on with it's artstyle, e.g. way more biomes, different weather, lighting, and environmental effects etc. It's doing so much more than most games in that respect. In a way it make's the game world feel more "alive" than most open world games.
Yeah but your also kinda downplaying the fact Ghost does all that too. Wind effects, weather, biomes, excellent lighting and atmosphere, nobody is disputing Zelda has a lot of details. Honestly dont get the whole ‘look dont touch’ with Ghost…
 

Gambit2483

Member
Yeah but your also kinda downplaying the fact Ghost does all that too. Wind effects, weather, biomes, excellent lighting and atmosphere, nobody is disputing Zelda has a lot of details. Honestly dont get the whole ‘look dont touch’ with Ghost…
It's being able to interact with all of it though.

You can make seared steak if you drop raw meat in an extreme heat area.
You can freeze to death in extreme cold.
You can find heat relief in the desert by using natural shade.
Lightening storms in TOTK are downright frightening...and can kill you based on your output.
These are a few examples out of dozens upon dozens

Ghost of Tsushima while nice doesn't have this level of environmental interaction.
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
To me, realistic games like RDR, TLOU, GTA, AC all look bland and uninteresting and wouldn't play them because of graphics at all, so yeah, if we're going by art alone, it's ok not to like things. But complaining about people jumping at him after passing a strong opinion as a "fact", well... He gotta love all that attention now.
 

Gojiira

Member
You can make seared steak if you drop raw meat in an extreme heat area.
You can freeze to death in extreme cold.
You can find heat relief in the desert by using natural shade.
Lightening storms in TOTK are downright frightening...and can kill you based on your output.
These are a few examples out of dozens upon dozens

Ghost of Tsushima while nice doesn't have this level of environmental interaction.
I think your just moving goalposts here, Yes Zelda has a lot of interactivity nobody disputed that, this all stemmed from commenting on how GOOD LOOKING the game world is. Little things like that in Ghost would be how the grass blows in the direction of the wind, or how pettles get blown around by both your movement and the breeze, but you know what, GoT didnt need a bunch of extraneous interactivity to be immersive. It has fantastic sound design, really good melee combat, fun stealth and traversal, and a really well done story. Different approaches but its still as we were originally talking about, a beautiful presentation…
 

Gambit2483

Member
I think your just moving goalposts here, Yes Zelda has a lot of interactivity nobody disputed that, this all stemmed from commenting on how GOOD LOOKING the game world is. Little things like that in Ghost would be how the grass blows in the direction of the wind, or how pettles get blown around by both your movement and the breeze, but you know what, GoT didnt need a bunch of extraneous interactivity to be immersive. It has fantastic sound design, really good melee combat, fun stealth and traversal, and a really well done story. Different approaches but its still as we were originally talking about, a beautiful presentation…
Not moving goalposts at all when I initially said it has the "look but don't touch" vibe...meaning it looks great but you can't interact with most things.

I'm not downplaying GOT, I'm pointing out that people tend to downplay TOTK. Especially given how Zelda looks great for its art style/direction AND the fact you can actually interact with most (if not all) of it. This seems to often get overlooked when people talk about its visuals.
 

Fbh

Member
Now that I've been playing it for a while it's definitely a mixed bag.
It can often look quite nice, specially on the ground, when the weather is good, the sun is at a nice angle and it really highlights the amazing draw distance. Other times it can look quite dated, I find the most of the sky islands in particular look pretty bad.

Either way it's fairly irrelevant as the world is a blast to explore and interact with. This is what all open worlds should be like, if you are just going to make a beautiful but uninteractive background to be guided through with a GPS just make a more linear game instead.

Just off of a pure visual standpoint, even something like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 arguably looks better.



Xenoblade 3 definitely looks better.
But the world is also WAY less interactive.
 
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