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Project Octopath Traveler's art style is a must for future Remakes.

It has a novel (albeit disjointed) look that I'm both hot and cold on, but I don't think it should be used as a template for future JRPG remakes. While the Mana remake isn't very aesthetically pleasing, its visual style is at least consistent and makes sense for that world.
 
It's a really weird look. Some textures and objects are unfiltered and blocky, and some are smoothed and (relatively) high-poly. It reminds me of when you play a game on an emulator at a higher resolution than was originally intended and some things scale up nicely while others don't.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
I said it in some other threads but if Square wanted to make Final Fantasy 16 in this style as a throwback to the roots of the series and of course FF9 as well, I'd be totally fine with that. I know they'll never do something like that but I think it would be great.
 

Yarbskoo

Member
I agree 1000% with this. This style plus FF6 and/or Chrono Trigger
Let's go all in... Chrono Trigger/Cross sequel that looks like this would be astonishing.

Here's a preview for you:
oO7rIXu.jpg
 

MTC100

Banned
It's a really weird look. Some textures and objects are unfiltered and blocky, and some are smoothed and (relatively) high-poly. It reminds me of when you play a game on an emulator at a higher resolution than was originally intended and some things scale up nicely while others don't.

It's much better than playing old games on an emulator. Simply because the textures and sprites are of a higher resolution.
 
I don't think every game needs to look like this, but this is definitely the first-choice direction for classics that already have timeless sprite-based character designs that don't need any further mucking about, namely FFVI and Chrono Trigger.

A slew of originals in this style after Octopath would be welcome, too. All the eye-popping town environments of the Bravely series but with more durable, lasting character art.
 

Skulldead

Member
Game look nice, BUT

I'm having a hard time to digest that it look like a Saga series game but hide behind this design. Like last remnant... I can be 100% wrong but i'm pretty sure it is....
 
I really like the style, but it wouldn't fit other games as well. Going off the trailer, they gotta work on the sprites' scaling too. Looked really off as the camera moved around, causing them to look really segmented and disjointed.

game looks so good though, those gameplay systems got me hyped
 

Khrno

Member
Game look nice, BUT

I'm having a hard time to digest that it look like a Saga series game but hide behind this design. Like last remnant... I can be 100% wrong but i'm pretty sure it is....

What? Are you talking about the gameplay? That's Bravely Default right there.
 

silva1991

Member
Sure, have fun waiting a decade for the complete game to arrive. From now...

Like his wait for the game that was announced too early is gonna change his mind about Octopath questionable and unappealing artstyle?

And the 10 meme is cool in FF threads, but isn't a good argument for art style preferences.
 
I'm watching the Easy Allies stream. The music is amazing. The artstyle is good, but I wouldn't want a bunch of remakes in this style. I enjoyed the time I spent with Bravely Default so I'll pick this up whenever it comes out.
 
Eh, it looks decent, and I think high-res 3D worlds with pixel art-like texturing and sprite characters can look great (Dark Savior with high internal res, for example). But that's way too many conflicting, obscuring visual effects that hide the world in a way I don't find aesthetically meaningful. The non-battle art in Bravely games looks more interesting and immersive. Maybe I'll warm up to it, but new remakes deserve bespoke presentation and/or minimal updates to the original art if possible. Ys remakes, for example, evoke the originals but modernize them also (I feel Celceta's weakest at this).

I don't think they'll use this approach for other games because both the artstyle and the "8 interlocking stories" seem to make this game a spiritual successor to the SaGa series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DswYX1JFBZw , if not just a stealth SaGa entry.
I still want a new game with Unlimited SaGa's artstyle and presentation taken to a greater scale. Yusuke Naora also did a much better job on that game's character designs than what we got for Minstrel Song, sadly (all comes down to proportions).
 
No thanks.

I want games often, not every 10 years with astronomical budgets that will leave no profits for the company to make more games.

I don't wanna either remakes with awful low res sprites with 2 frames of animation and fully bloomed fake 2D graphics.

I think there's a middle point here.
 

Renmyra

Member
I'd rather have some HD 2D art or 2.5D. Bastion and the other games from that dev are some good examples of great 2D art.
 

Skulldead

Member
What? Are you talking about the gameplay? That's Bravely Default right there.

Forget the battle system (which look great)
i mean 8 Character ?? Choice your own story thing ? like the video said ''true role playing'' ? I mean i saw Tomoya Asano name for producer, but everything look like a Akitoshi Kawazu game. Like i said i could be wrong, let see with the demo i guess.
 

Torkith

Member
I love the style but why was everything so dark? I can live with the brown/gray colour pallet but it's like they added some sort of dark tunnel vision filter.
 

Nightbird

Member
Title should clarify that OP is talking about remakes of 2D-Sprite games, not PS1-onwards games.

Some people seem to be confused about that
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
I want this look for a Final Fantasy 6 remake. Would drastically cut down on the dev time needed for such a thing. Budget, too.
 

Usobuko

Banned
The only thing this has for it is identity. It stands out and doesn't feel like a cookie-cutter.

But I won't want it to be the template for remake games, it's hideous.
 
Not future remake, but I'd love an original (non-mainline) FF game done in this style. A game with Uematsu doing music duties, Amano and Nomura chipping in on character design/monster design duties, turn based, lots of monsters, lots of locations, a world map, or hell, maybe two or three world maps (one normal world, one "undersea" map, and one an alternate world/another planet map). Fuckin' DO IT, Square Enix!!!
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
Bad comparison, the second one is just a quick cheap mobile like made game

Compare to the older JRPG's
 

mejin

Member
Remake but not really remake?!

Anyway, I definitely would pick this style over I Am Setuna/Lost Sphear easily.
 

jrcbandit

Member
I agree with the OP. I wont be touching the horrible looking SoM remake with a 10 foot pole but I can't wait for Octopath Traveler.
 

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
It's clearly unique. I like it, but this isn't my perfect way to see pixels receive 3D lighting effects. Give me KOF XII style (where it actually fits the sprites level of detail pretty well) over this.

One of the things I hate most in modern sprite games are the pixels that clearly don't follow a uniform grid, leading to everything looking disjointed. For 3D, this does a good job of diminishing that effect, and some of the stills could look like fancy, ambitious pure spritework, which is nice.

Does this really end up saving any time though? Like... the sprites for the enemiesm backgrounds, and player characters look retro-quality. Couldn't they offer the fully built retro version, and this higher res look, for the same basic resources, at the same time?

If so, I'd love this as an excuse to have 16/ 23 bit quality sprite games made again, alongside a more Minecraft-looking hybrid style for those who hate pure pixelwork. All offered under the same price and package.

While this isn't my favorite style, I do love seeing big Japanese companies begin to embrace the kind of work indies have been making world-round for years. There's a market that would buy a FF7 remake that looks like FFVI, and there's a market for people who want to see HD 32 Bit RPGs. We're getting more games from high class developers that cater to the unique balance of resources, depth, gameplay, characterization, and ingenuity these eras thrived on, and that actually makes me quite happy.
 
Has there been a poll on GAF, asking if people like the artstyle in SoM Remake?
I'm getting a vibe that it could be 50/50.

I think after Octo reveal, I'm a bit let down, but it still looks alright and carries my interest.
 

Joei

Member
You do realize Secret of Mana is an action RPG right? The top down view makes a ton of sense here, going for Octopath's perspective would kill the game.

At least think that part over before making the thread.

I have to imagine he's referring more the overall art style and not the top-down perspective. That said, yes, Octopath looks nice, but some of those character models look pretty bad and pixelated. After watching that video, I'm interested in PO, but I'm sure SoM's art direction will be fine.
 

jett

D-Member
The existing engine minus the vignetting equals ideal FFVI remake

I'd rather FFVI wasn't remade into this weird mix of filtered and unfiltered textures, mismatched tile art and sprite art that doesn't fit into scenery. And what's that graphical artifact on the sprites when the camera is moving in the battles? Pixel crawling?

This game get A for effort, it's an interesting idea, but for me the quality is very uneven. I don't want to call it half-assed, but there's odd looking stuff in this game. You can see black outlines surrounding some textures, the kind you see in a poorly configured PS1 emulator.
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
No. I love the background art but that pixel art looks awful. If any remake looked like this I'd rather just play the original. Go big or go home, please.
 

B.K.

Member
I still don't understand all the complains about the Secret of Mana remake. It looks like Secret of Mana. What did people want? Did they want it to look like Final Fantasy XV? A bright, cartoony game is perfect. It's a bit low poly, but that's no big deal.
 
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