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"Subtly beautiful"

S

Shogmaster

Member
Yoboman said:
I know, its just that they're so bad, and everything else looks so much better now. :(
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Good lord... Flood is not supposed to be some interesting design exercise. It's various species' dead corps reanimated with cancerous mutated disfigurements and gaseous blisters all over the bodies. It's SUPPOSED TO BE UGLY.
 
Yoboman

Yoboman

Gold Member
Shogmaster said:
Good lord... Flood is not supposed to be some interesting design exercise. It's various species' dead corps reanimated with cancerous mutated disfigurements and gaseous blisters all over the bodies. It's SUPPOSED TO BE UGLY.
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Something like that could look awesome, the Flood look boring, undetailed and uninspired.
 
B

Borys

Banned
Shogmaster said:
Later in the game, it starts to look less normal mappy* (*just made that up) and more painterly. What I mean is, in the beginning cut scene for the 7th stage (IIRC) it almost looks like a pretty concept painting, but the camera starts to move and you start to see aliasing on the polygon edges and you go "wow, that's the game!".

The only things about the graphics that I'd complain about (minor quibbles) are the aliasing and the same checker pattern fading in of distant objects (although much less degree) as in Halo 2. Other than those small foibles, I am quite impressed with the graphics.
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Well no shit Sherlock, really. I coulda guessed without reading your post :)
 
T

tha_con

Banned
Isn't this term coined from someone at 1up.com during E3 07, on 1up Yours, when I think Garnett said that Halo 3 had 'subtle beauty"? I think I remember that.

I don't really remember Halo 3 being referred to this way prior to that.
 
V

VonGak!

Banned
Yoboman said:
Two wrongs proves to make a right, once again!
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Nope, this is not a dedicated game thread or attached to any specific console, nor can technical achievements in graphics be debated (art-style and overall result can though).

I do make sure not to break my own boarders. ^.^
 
P

psychodoodle

Member
Echochrome wins the thread. Easily.

As some other good choices, like Killer7, well, It really isnt subtle. Okami is gogeous, and so is Wind Waker, as someone else already pointed out.

Subtly beautiful and next gen (sort of), would be that relaxation game on psn that featured atmospheric music and a fish. The name eludes me. You had to tilt the sixaxis etc.
 
V

VonGak!

Banned
psychodoodle said:
Echochrome wins the thread. Easily.

As some other good choices, like Killer7, well, It really isnt subtle. Okami is gogeous, and so is Wind Waker, as someone else already pointed out.

Subtly beautiful and next gen (sort of), would be that relaxation game on psn that featured atmospheric music and a fish. The name eludes me. You had to tilt the sixaxis etc.
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But does subtle have to equal simplicity/clean lines?
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
psychodoodle said:
Subtly beautiful and next gen (sort of), would be that relaxation game on psn that featured atmospheric music and a fish. The name eludes me. You had to tilt the sixaxis etc.
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flOw
 
Proelite

Proelite

Member
It doesn't look omgwtfbbq awesome but I love it none the less.
2-2.jpg

3-2.jpg

1-2.jpg
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Member
Resistance Fall of Man. It was also not so subtly ugly in spots, but it had a clean, sharp presentation with some genuinely wonderful components and soaked in effects that really nailed the atmosphere in some environments; icy mist in beautiful snow areas, the tunnels and grand scope and detail of the chimeran environments, and so forth.
 
K

Kabouter

Member
Proelite said:
It doesn't look omgwtfbbq awesome but I love it none the less.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/pinkanga/2-2.jpg[/IMG
[IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/pinkanga/3-2.jpg[/IMG
[IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/pinkanga/1-2.jpg[/IMG[/QUOTE]
Looks really good imho :)
But eh, it's photo mode right? And downscaled too. That doesn't mean too much.
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S

ssoass

Member
FF12.
It's beautiful on the surface too, but there's so many details in just about everything... even the floor tiles are worthy of a closer look.
 
V

VonGak!

Banned
Proelite said:
It doesn't look omgwtfbbq awesome but I love it none the less.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/pinkanga/2-2.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/pinkanga/3-2.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/pinkanga/1-2.jpg
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It's highly polished with its own distinctive look, there's this convergence so none of the things feel out of place.

There can be no doubt that Halo3 has had a very strict art direction and it's a bit more cartoonish (not just from lighting but also textures) than the previous two games which to me looked like they couldn't decide between realism and cartoon.

(yeah, I'm only basing this on screen-shots and videos)
 
S

Souldriver

Member
-WindYoshi- said:
SotC is the epitome of subtle beauty.
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Agreed.
When you actually look at it, it's a pretty plain game, not too much going on, very little use of different colors, ... But when you look at the whole package, it just (ironically because of these imperfections) has a certain atmosphere I get goosebumps from.
 
N

nelsonroyale

Member
Halo certainly looks good enough, although I woudn't say top tier like HS or bioshock...

ssoass said:
FF12.
It's beautiful on the surface too, but there's so many details in just about everything... even the floor tiles are worthy of a closer look.
Click to expand...

that game looks incredible....altogether as impressive as any nex gen game Ive played in its way. FFXIII will rule them all
 
E

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
Kyoufu said:
Okami looks much better IMO.
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Im an Okami fanboy and I think WW looks better. WW looks so freaking clean and sharp, game has aged beautifully.

I'll go with VP2, specially when you are in
Asgard.
best looking PS2 rpg imo.
 
C

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
AltogetherAndrews said:
Resistance Fall of Man. It was also not so subtly ugly in spots, but it had a clean, sharp presentation with some genuinely wonderful components and soaked in effects that really nailed the atmosphere in some environments; icy mist in beautiful snow areas, the tunnels and grand scope and detail of the chimeran environments, and so forth.
Click to expand...

See this is why I think a phrase like 'subtly beautiful' is weird, because in this example and most of the other ones mentioned I don't think their beauty is subtle, it's just beauty. I don't own Resistance but I saw it at a friend and I was amazed. Sure it may not have the best graphics theoretically, but the snow environments, aliens and other constructs were reeeally well done. Same with Bioshock: every room and every area in that game is unique. Metroid Prime? Okami? Dragon Quest VIII? Same deal. Legitimally beautiful games for me, I don't give a rat's ass if they're 720p or whatever, since art direction makes or breaks the beauty of a game. Other side of the spectrum: soulless abortions like Perfect Dark Zero.

ICO is another game in which theoretically the textures may be outdated now, but who in the right mind would complain or bitch when they lay their eyes on the Windmill area or the waterfalls (and the rainbow). I mean seriously that's beauty right in your face.

I'm really glad I don't comb screens or games themselves for ugly textures and focus mostly on the art direction. That's why I think those threads were nitpickers extra-ordinaire start to circle parts of the screen and point to ugly foliage or whatever are the worst around.
 
E

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
Pureauthor said:
Beautiful, but hardly 'subtle'.
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how is not subtle? you has your lilies or whatever floating in the air, the breeze moving the grass, the lightning and stuff. if that's not subtle then i dont know what is.
 
M

mrpogi23

Member
its pretty much had to do with the art, not the pushing of the console's power graphic blah blah...

i guess "some" parts are kinda bland and shapes arent as good as the climatic levels, but good nonetheless. Game trailers mentioned that character models arent as good theyre hoping to be. it probably depends on the artist.
 
ManaByte

ManaByte

Rage Bait Youtuber
I won't have Halo 3 for a couple weeks yet, but a guy at work just hooked up his new Halo 3 360 on a little work TV (a SD Sony 20") and the game looked fucking great even on standard def. I can't wait to see it running on my HDTV at home.
 
P

Pureauthor

Member
Error said:
how is not subtle? you has your lilies or whatever floating in the air, the breeze moving the grass, the lightning and stuff. if that's not subtle then i dont know what is.
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It's stark and minimalist, sure, but it's practically impossible to not notice. The game runs up and headbutts you with 'HEY, this is some ethereal, otherworldly stuff. Isn't it awesome?'
 
E

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
Pureauthor said:
It's stark and minimalist, sure, but it's practically impossible to not notice. The game runs up and headbutts you with 'HEY, this is some ethereal, otherworldly stuff. Isn't it awesome?'
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err isnt that why it's subtly beautiful? the game is not pushing an staggering amount of polygons in that part, it lets the scenery do the talking.

it's not about noticing or whatever, to me being subtly beautiful means a great attention to detail that really helps the scene/part/level visually.
 
P

Pureauthor

Member
Error said:
err isnt that why it's subtly beautiful? the game is not pushing an staggering amount of polygons in that part, it lets the scenery do the talking.
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I dunno man, I think 'subtly beautiful' implies that you barely even notice when you play the game but later when you think back you're all 'Man, that place was really nice.'
 
C

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Sanjay said:
alot of the games people here are mentioning are beautiful games full stop and not ""Subtly beautiful"
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that's what I was saying. To me the first adjective kinda negates the other.
 
B

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
that's sort of the reason i mentioned animal crossing, a game that no one would claim to be traditionally good looking or beautiful. somehow the combination of all the little touches i mentioned came together to really make some little spectacular moments.

graphically impressive? hardly
"subtly beautiful" at times? definitely
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Member
Darunia said:
that's what I was saying. To me the first adjective kinda negates the other.
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Well, iirc it was "coined" by Shoe, and the circumstance seemed to be one that was largely designed to be a defense for Halo 3 at the time, and a way for Shoe to avoid criticizing it, which was made pretty transparent by his comments regarding another shooter from that E3 during the same show.

I mention Resistance as something that might belong in this category due to its added touches that make the game world what it is. The aforementioned ice fog, the mist and falling rubble in the chimeran tunnels, even weapon effects, it's all subtle but it's what makes the scene.
 
B

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
AltogetherAndrews said:
Well, iirc it was "coined" by Shoe, and the circumstance seemed to be one that was largely designed to be a defense for Halo 3 at the time, and a way for Shoe to avoid criticizing it, which was made pretty transparent by his comments regarding another shooter from that E3 during the same show.
Click to expand...

:lol

i was dancing around that
 
C

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Yeah I know the circumstances, and all due respect to Shoe and all, but I think it's a pretty stupid phrase
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Member
beelzebozo said:
:lol

i was dancing around that
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I don't see a reason not to call him out on that. I mean, really, that was one silly display of poorly suppressed fanboy emotion if I've ever seen one. Something you'd expect from people here, but hardly from the EIC of a major gaming magazine.
 
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