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[God Enel]

Don't know if it was mentioned or if it belongs here though.

Getting wet in uncharted one showing that Drake's clothes are really getting wet. Nowadays most of the games feature that.

 

[PdotMichael]

It's crazy how fighting games used to be so cutting edge in terms of graphics.

Nowadays they are just kind of decent. I found myself unimpressed with Tekken 7, for example.

Well, modern hardware isn't overstrained with rendering two detailed characters anymore. There isn't much one could do.

 

[FarFromAnyGame]

The way Drake's shirt wrinkles move as he walks.

GTA IV car suspension physics.

 

[Persona7]

Don't know if it was mentioned or if it belongs here though.

Getting wet in uncharted one showing that Drake's clothes are really getting wet. Nowadays most of the games feature that.

I remember thinking this same thing but on Tomb Raider Legend a year or two before Uncharted. That effect was amazing.

 

[JordanN]

Well, modern hardware isn't overstrained with rendering two detailed characters anymore. There isn't much one could do.

Eh, not really. In fact, handling two characters should mean more power used for the lighting or environments.

I think the reason for their decline comes from the budget. Notice all the premier fighting games from the past were Dead or Alive, Street Fighter, Soul Calibur etc. Now a days, AAA has either pushed them out entirely or they're doing whatever they can to stay alive.

Edit: I remember I made that funny mock up of The Order. This is how a fighting game would look if it had cutting edge graphics today.

 

[Tyaren]

It's crazy how fighting games used to be so cutting edge in terms of graphics.

Nowadays they are just kind of decent. I found myself unimpressed with Tekken 7, for example.

Because Tekken 7 indeed looks quite unimpressive. The stages are beautifully designed, modelled, textured and lit...but the character models are for models in this generation still pretty low polygon. They don't reach the level of detail and polish that we've seen in many other games this gen. Well, Tekken was imo never really a pioneer of amazing graphics. Let's wait for what Soul Calibur 6 and Dead or Alive 6 will bring to the table towards the end of this gen. These two series always blew Tekken visually out of the water,

 

[Eusis]

Everything in Max Payne.

Look at his face! And his jacket! And the gun! Oh my goodness, it all looks so real!

Yeah, that's what I was thinking!

Other than constipation face, I found the Depth of Field effects neat in some early PS2 games like Okage. Now? Probably looks lame or overdone compared to modern implementations, and even if not that's a more common technique these days. Is still kinda neat to see and notice though.

 

[karasu]

The way you ran down the stairs in Metal Gear Solid 2.

 

[jamesmccloud]

The way signposts break in OoT was awesome back then. I remember chopping up those posts and watching how parts of them break down. And if they fell into water...the parts float. It was crazy.

 

[Ikon]

I always thought EverQuest spell casting/animations looked amazing growing up.

Man, those effects were amazing. I could become a tad annoying in big raids but I still love those effects...

As always, any post about Everquest makes me want to go back and play the game :/

 

[PdotMichael]

Eh, not really. In fact, handling two characters should mean more power used for the lighting or environments.

I think the reason for their decline comes from the budget. Notice all the premier fighting games from the past were Dead or Alive, Street Fighter, Soul Calibur etc. Now a days, AAA has either pushed them out entirely or they're doing whatever they can to stay alive.

Edit: I remember I made that funny mock up of The Order. This is how a fighting game would look if it had cutting edge graphics today.

Well, how many of those cutting edge graphics games running in 1080p and 60fps?

 

[sono]

Super Nintendo Entertainment System - the original and best Starfox

everything about it blew my mind, the visuals, the music the characters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7TF5evojYA

 

[Two Words]

Will there ever be a day when characters showing up in mirrors won't me impressive? It's always stands out whenever a game actually does it.

 

[God Enel]

I remember thinking this same thing but on Tomb Raider Legend a year or two before Uncharted. That effect was amazing.

Holy shit. I didn't know that a game before uncharted did this.

When I saw it, I was blown away back in the days.

 

[DemonCleaner]

PBR..




..

..

yeah ok, it's still good

 

[saladine1]

Rain and winshield wipers in PGR4

Couldn't find one with actual rain lol

Don't think PGR will ever be considered unimpressive now. Holds up very well lol..

 

[nick nacc]

NBA 2K on the Dreamcast...
I remember thinking we had reached the pinnacle of real to life player models..

I used to put the camera on cinematic angle and squint really hard and pretend i was watching tv

 

[kiuo]

The water effects in Dark Age of Camelot was impressive to me back then.

 

[The Rain King]

Brake lights actually lighting up when you brake.

Yes I'm old.

 

[Infernal Monkey]

The lens flare in the SNES version of Earthworm Jim blew my mind, especially how it'd change depending on what background mountains were in the way.

 

[BarringGaffner]

I was going to say Curse of Monkey Island but then I looked up screenshots and that game still looks so damn good.

 

[Ruff]

The first time I saw realistic reflective water was playing HL2 on my friends PC, when all I had was a PS2 that didn't do that sort of thing in any game I had.

My mind was blown at how pretty it was.

 

[dity]

Animated battle sprites in Pokémon Crystal.

This absolutely blew my mind when I was a kid.

 

[ss_lemonade]

I was impressed by a couple of dreamcast games such as MDK 2's shadows (first time I've seen shadows bend across the environment) and Alone in the Dark's flashlight. They probably don't look too impressive anymore today.

 

[Eumi]

The desert level in Twilight Pribcess blew me away from just the scale of the thing. Seeing it now in the HD port it still looks good but I have no idea why it impressed me so much back then.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Karateka on the Apple ][. Was really the first game to elicit the "that really looks human-like" type of comment.

I was too young for that but it does remind me of Prince of Persia. I experienced this game for the first time on the SNES and the animation was so good.

 

[Celine]

Non mirrored sprites for left and right:

Tile based games that didn't look like they were composed by square put together:

 

[boredandlazy]

Although I think the game is rather average I remember thinking about how pretty streaming rivers were in The Legend of Dragoon.

 

[mdzapeer]

All of the effects in Doom 3, bumb mapping, the unified lighting and shadows. They are all common and better done but Doom 3 did it first, the first screen shots were shown I think around 2001 or so...it was mind blowing at the time.

 

[Nictel]

The weather effects in GTA3, they were so amazing!

 

[SpankmasterC]

When Command & Conquer came out, the only thing I was able to tell my friends was "it's like Dune 2, but now everyone has lives of their own! They do pushups and everything if you leave them alone!! PUSHUPS!! IT'S LIKE THEY'RE ALIVE!!".

 

[Gamezone]

Blinking eyes in SWAT 3.

 

[score01]

Toca Racing on PC using 3dfx. In the wet, the way the headlights and break lights illuminated the road. Mind was blown at the time but looking back...

 

[Nostremitus]

Eh, not really. In fact, handling two characters should mean more power used for the lighting or environments.

I think the reason for their decline comes from the budget. Notice all the premier fighting games from the past were Dead or Alive, Street Fighter, Soul Calibur etc. Now a days, AAA has either pushed them out entirely or they're doing whatever they can to stay alive.

Edit: I remember I made that funny mock up of The Order. This is how a fighting game would look if it had cutting edge graphics today.

ew, no.


That looks like a shitty blurry mess.

 

[Paz]

Eh, not really. In fact, handling two characters should mean more power used for the lighting or environments.

I think the reason for their decline comes from the budget. Notice all the premier fighting games from the past were Dead or Alive, Street Fighter, Soul Calibur etc. Now a days, AAA has either pushed them out entirely or they're doing whatever they can to stay alive.

Edit: I remember I made that funny mock up of The Order. This is how a fighting game would look if it had cutting edge graphics today.

Actually a fighting game would have to cut down on this image in all areas by significantly more than half, since a fighting game has to run at 99% locked 60fps and has to also have low rendering /input latency (Some post FX solutions are handled in such a way that they add latency, among other things)

Meanwhile other genres can get away with running at sub 30fps once the action gets started and having tons of latency due to their mechanics etc.

 

[gfxtwin]

The use of cut scenes in Another World:

The reflections in the wet asphalt in Gran Turismo 3 (best pic I could find):

The character models in Mass Effect:

 

[spcd]

The skidmarks in Ignition (1997)

 

[elixia]

Not really visuals but:

Ok so I get in this car?

Ok so I drive down here... Wait.. So I can just drive anywhere? Holy shit there's a whole city

yep definitely gta3 for me. the open-worldness was so mind blowing, especially coming from gta1 and gta2 from ps. this what defined next gen to me

 

[Shiggy]

.

 

[Shiggy]

The water in Super Mario Sunshine.

 

[PARANOiA2MB]

Pretty much the entire game.
Seeing those backgrounds scroll for the first time absolutely floored everyone!

100% this. When you were on any of the rooftop stages (especially Orchid's) and did an ultra that flung them really high into the air (ex. Chief Thunder), the stage would zoom up and out so far that you couldn't see the characters anymore; then they would plummet down so fast afterwards.

Also if you were using Cinder or Chief Thunder for example, when you launched an enemy into the air, a trail of fire followed them as they went up.

 

[SomTervo]

I remember playing MGS2 and thinking "It's really great how enemies' bodies sort of adapt to whatever they fall on - Halo: CE has this, too. I wonder when we'll reach a day when bodies fall like real bodies and lie on anything/land on anything realistically and fall off stuff and shit"

Then I bought Hitman: Codename 47.

Dynamically dropping corpses into sewer manholes...

I remember finding it really cool in Uncharted when you drop a mag it stays on the ground. At least I think thats Uncharted.

Max Payne 2 (and possibly 1?) had every bullet shell and magazine stay on the ground. Corpses stayed too - so after a huge badass gunfight you could retrace your steps around the room seeing your cartridges and mags and how they lined up with enemies' bodies, cartridges and mags. Bullet holes and blood stayes accurately around, too.

The draw distance in Shadow of the Colossus. It looked so incredibly good back in the days. You could see so far with no fog or anything. It was really awesome.

Everything about this game is just majestic

 

[JP]

It's crazy looking back but I always post the same thing in these threads.

The reflections on the cars in the original Gran Turismo were incredible at the time. Seriously, this game looked photo realistic on a decnt CRT...which makes no sense now.

 

[Emperor Bohe]

Holy shit. I didn't know that a game before uncharted did this.

When I saw it, I was blown away back in the days.

Didn't Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation do this on PS1? Or did I make that up?

 

[SomTervo]

I love Crysis 1, but:

uhm yeah so let's begin

• Crysis 1 barrels would leak oil where you shot them and the pressure and amount would depend on where you shot them (so at the top there would be only a small stream, quickly coming to an end; a hole at the bottom would make it shoot out for a while)

• 
  
  Timesplitters 3: Future Perfect had this.
  
  

  • Crysis 1 water having chromatic abberation effects applied. Water in general holy shit

  • 
    
    I think SM Sunshine had this?
    
    

    • Crysis 1 had the first real weapon aim depth of field i think. First time i saw it, was really impressed.

    • 
      
      Call of Duty had this first, I think. Call of Duty also popularised ironsights.
      
      

      • Crysis 1 light shafts. Wow. The stupid sun beams shining through the forest. Another effect where everyone would go on copying it from Crysis (similar to SSAO etc.)

      
      Far Cry 1 had this. Obviously carried over into Crysis.

 

[HazySaiyan]

I remember seeing screenshots of Resistance: Fall of Man in a magazine before the PS3 came out. Was absolutely blown away by it, thought it looked almost like real life.

 

[Mr Swine]

AMDs Truform Tesselation used in Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Man I was so stumped having such high poly characters in a game back then in 2001 using my Radeon 9700 Pro. Sadly it would take 10 years for Tesselation to take of with DX11

 

[mickagau33]

Sonic Adventure character models. "THEY HAVE A POLYGON MOUTH !!!!". It sold me on buying a Jp Dreamcast.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Shadow Warrior's "3D sprites" for objects like guns, ammo, keys, etc.

 

[m360]

The water in Outcast was mind blowing when the game was released. But it looks still nice.