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[Naked Snake]

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventure/silenthill4theroom/preview_6100964.html

Looks very different from SH3 from what I can tell.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Whatever that is, it looks freaking awesome. Even though it kinda sucks that Ito isn't the monster designer i'm really liking the fresh look of SH4's monsters.

 

[Socreges]

Wow, that looks terrible.

 

[evil ways]

Are those bad screen caps or does the game actually look like that?

 

[Socreges]

I suspect these are indicative of how terrible the game will look. Team Silent is terrible.

 

[Fallopian Tube]

Here are some movies http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventure/silenthill4theroom/media.html

Looks good. Its no SH3 though.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Are those bad screen caps or does the game actually look like that?

http://gallery.felixmcli.org/gallery/sh4-caps

Those are much better screens. Claiming Team Silent terrible when it comes to graphics is downright absurd.

 

[Docpan]

Why are Silent Hill 3's graphics better?

 

[Agent Dormer]

I suspect these are indicative of how terrible the game will look. Team Silent is terrible.

What's that noise? I think your street cred has just been flushed.

 

[MentalNoiz]

The graphics are great for the most part . However I have a feeling some will say it looks like crap because of this constant (and unless there is an option after you beat the game, always on) dither effect that they use. This is NOT the noise filter, you can toggle that off . Anyhow here is an example of what it looks like :

Notice the little dithering sorta dots, kinda hard to explain I guess . With that said, its hardly noticable with the noise filter on and it helps with the dirty look of the game I feel .

 

[Socreges]

What's that noise? I think your street cred has just been flushed.

You don't think it looks terrible? I think it will be. That's the draw of the series after all.

 

[maskrider]

The graphics are great for the most part . However I have a feeling some will say it looks like crap because of this constant (and unless there is an option after you beat the game, always on) dither effect that they use. This is NOT the noise filter, you can toggle that off . Anyhow here is an example of what it looks like :

Notice the little dithering sorta dots, kinda hard to explain I guess . With that said, its hardly noticable with the noise filter on and it helps with the dirty look of the game I feel .

The dithering is easily noticeable everywhere in the game, the previous ones are nothing like that. And I think that is not an effect, but more like a constraint. We will know when we see the PC and X-BOX versions.

 

[Ill Saint]

That's really weird... I couldn't notice anything like that in videos, but that's due to compression no doubt. Is it annoying or distracting in any way?

Looks great from what I've seen, though. Areas are much more open, and I dig the minimal colour palette.

 

[cvxfreak]

Why are Silent Hill 3's graphics better?

They might LOOK better, but their performance is pretty much on par with their usage of the PS2 hardware. The games fall under a different direction, so SH4 might not be as pleasing to the eye. Silent Hill 3 doesn't even look that much better than Silent Hill 2 from a graphics viewpoint, even though people seem to (wrongly) think so.

 

[maskrider]

That's really weird... I couldn't notice anything like that in videos, but that's due to compression no doubt. Is it annoying or distracting in any way?

Looks great from what I've seen, though. Areas are much more open, and I dig the minimal colour palette.

Not annoying nor distracting, just that they are there and once you see it, you will always see it. Ha ha !

If you don't know, you might not have noticed it when you are immersed into the game.

 

[SolidSnakex]

They might LOOK better, but their performance is pretty much on par with their usage of the PS2 hardware. The games fall under a different direction, so SH4 might not be as pleasing to the eye. Silent Hill 3 doesn't even look that much better than Silent Hill 2 from a graphics viewpoint, even though people seem to (wrongly) think so.

SH3's texturing and modeling is definetly better than SH2. But SH3 and SH4 are basically on par technically. The main difference really is the art change. SH3 is completely different from the rest of the series in that it used alot of bright colors. SH4 goes back to the series main look of very dull looking colors, more of a depressing look rather than SH3's colorful look.

 

[maskrider]

They might LOOK better, but their performance is pretty much on par with their usage of the PS2 hardware. The games fall under a different direction, so SH4 might not be as pleasing to the eye. Silent Hill 3 doesn't even look that much better than Silent Hill 2 from a graphics viewpoint, even though people seem to (wrongly) think so.

It is the distribution of the polygon budget, higher for SH3 characters, SH2 more balanced.

 

[Solid]

Looks ok to me. I think SH3 is one of the best looking games on PS2. Every time I play it I get amazed over how beatiful it is. Everything just feels so perfect.

 

[Lord Error]

As far as graphics go, SH4 definitely seems to be lacking some stuff present in SH3. I haven't seen any self shadowing on the characters, there's no sign of dramatic lighting, or any of the fancy texture effects that just made SH3. Not to mention that now they seem to be rendering the whole thing in 16bit colour.

Looks ok to me. I think SH3 is one of the best looking games on PS2. Every time I play it I get amazed over how beatiful it is. Everything just feels so perfect.

True that. It's also a game that shows of some really creative use of framebuffer effects and procedural texturing. Not to mention the airtight artwork and visual design.

Silent Hill 3 doesn't even look that much better than Silent Hill 2 from a graphics viewpoint, even though people seem to (wrongly) think so

Yeah, yeah, and RE: Outbreak looks better than SH3, whohoooo!

 

[cvxfreak]

SH3's texturing and modeling is definetly better than SH2. But SH3 and SH4 are basically on par technically. The main difference really is the art change. SH3 is completely different from the rest of the series in that it used alot of bright colors. SH4 goes back to the series main look of very dull looking colors, more of a depressing look rather than SH3's colorful look.

Not entirely true. Brookhaven Hospital in Silent Hill 3 had notcably lower res textures than its Silent Hill 2 counterpart. When I first played SH3, Heather and the character models stood out a bit too much because of their higher res. This hardly applies to the alternate version. Silent Hill 3 overall is an improvement to Silent Hill 2 just like Silent Hill 4 is. But pure visuals alone don't tell the whole story.

 

[Lord Error]

Not entirely true. Brookhaven Hospital in Silent Hill 3 had notcably lower res textures than its Silent Hill 2 counterpart. When I first played SH3, Heather and the character models stood out a bit too much because of their higher res.

I can check that later today, but I don't remember anyting of the sort. If anything, they simply have better character models in SH3, and the hospital itself looks technically the same. In general, though, texturing in SH3 is just a lot more impressive looking than SH2.

 

[MentalNoiz]

I haven't seen any self shadowing on the characters

Its there, I have seen it many times, in cutscenes and during gameplay . Is it always on ? I didn't pay that much attention .

 

[cvxfreak]

I can check that later today, but I don't remember anyting of the sort. If anything, they simply have better character models in SH3, and the hospital itself looks technically the same. In general, though, texturing in SH3 is just a lot more impressive looking than SH2.

Silent Hill 3 runs on the same engine as Silent Hill 2 so the improvements make sense. But the hospital did have lower res textures.

 

[Defensor]

Silent Hill 3 runs on the same engine as Silent Hill 2 so the improvements make sense. But the hospital did have lower res textures.

Whats this then?

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventure/silenthill3/review.html

If Konami had simply produced another game using the same 3D graphics engine, it would have stood up quite well. However, a new engine was created for Silent Hill 3, and it makes for some truly amazing visual effects.

 

[cvxfreak]

Whats this then?

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventure/silenthill3/review.html

GameSpot is wrong. And besides, the game makes that painfully obvious. The city and Brookhaven retained their Silent Hill 2-esque designs fairly well. The engine isn't exactly the same, but SH3's engine isn't brand new either.

 

[Lord Error]

But the hospital did have lower res textures.

If you don't mind pointing out which areas make that obvious, I'd be glad to re-visit them and see if I can confirm it.

 

[cvxfreak]

If you don't mind pointing out which areas make that obvious, I'd be glad to re-visit them and see if I can confirm it.

The hospital in general. Just take a look around both versions. Silent Hill 2 sports higher res textures.

 

[dskillzhtown]

Are those bad screen caps or does the game actually look like that?

IIRC, Gamespot always has terrible PS2 captures.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

Maybe the game is alot bigger now. Bigger environments?

The game might not be able to produce the lighting effects in SH3 without serious lag or something.

 

[Lord Error]

OK, so I went and re-visited couple of rooms in hospital in SH2 and SH3. Aside that textures look completely different in the same rooms, they seem to be pretty much the same resolution... I've inspected some of the surfaces like walls, tables, etc upclose, rotating the camera towards them. The quality can even vary from surface to surface and room to room, but the variations are pretty much mirrored across both games.

 

[cvxfreak]

OK, so I went and re-visited couple of rooms in hospital in SH2 and SH3. Aside that textures look completely different in the same rooms, they seem to be pretty much the same resolution... I've inspected some of the surfaces like walls, tables, etc upclose, rotating the camera towards them. The quality can even vary from surface to surface and room to room, but the variations are pretty much mirrored across both games.

Notice the clean and detailed textures in the first screenshot? The second screenshot's textures aren't as clean, and the presence of noticably higher-res character models in screenshot 2 doesn't help either. Screen 3 is from the PC version, which look a bit better than the PS2 SH2 but I can't find any shots of the PC SH2 at the moment.

 

[Ill Saint]

The differences are niggling at best. I don't think anyone can objectively say it's inferior to any significant degree.

 

[Lord Error]

OK, so let's ignore the screen #3 then, but if you are going to use these screens to prove your point, I think you are completely failing there... The brick wall looks exactly the same, and so does the floor, except that it has more details and dirt in the sh3 screen. The little table on the sh2 screen is actually the only thing that looks lower res than other surfaces, but such variations are present in both games.

PC version of SH3 uses the exact same texture set as PS2 version, btw (resolution and all).

 

[cvxfreak]

The differences are niggling at best. I don't think anyone can objectively say it's inferior to any significant degree.

Yeah, I don't think any textures are inferior per se, they're both perfectly fine looking games.

 

[Ill Saint]

So... what's the point, then?

 

[cvxfreak]

So... what's the point, then?

Well, people seem to think SH3's graphics are SO MUCH better than SH2's... when they, in reality, aren't that much better.

 

[Ill Saint]

Ah, I see. Agreed.

 

[Lord Error]

Well, people seem to think SH3's graphics are SO MUCH better than SH2's... when they, in reality, aren't that much better.

Well they are so much better, but not for the reason of texture resolution used in environments.

 

[dark10x]

Well they are so much better, but not for the reason of texture resolution used in environments.

Exactly. There is a lot more to this issue than the resolution of the textures...

Notice the clean and detailed textures in the first screenshot? The second screenshot's textures aren't as clean, and the presence of noticably higher-res character models in screenshot 2 doesn't help either. Screen 3 is from the PC version, which look a bit better than the PS2 SH2 but I can't find any shots of the PC SH2 at the moment.

I hope that is a mis-type and you are talking about PC SH3, not SH2. SH2 on the PC has a number of drastic reductions in visual quality that make it the worst version of the game. SH3, on the other hand, is a perfect port and looks even better than the PS2 version!