Darth_Caedus
No longer canonical
A lot of movie trailers that are on tv right now look devoid of color. I can't comment much on movies though because I never watch them.
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Why did last gen hate colors so much?
- Thread starter Dice
- Start date
pillowtalk
Member
It was just a popular trend in design taste/decisions. People/devs move on eventually, or not. Some people can like specific things for a really long time.
The only recent blockbuster I can think of with an abnormally dull color palette was Man of Steel, which did look pretty terrible.
DownGrader
Member
What about Hercules (2014)? On the other hand, it's not really a "blockbuster"...
Jon Carter
Member
Movie realism. Last gen is when devs went full Hollywood. Every movie has its colors adjusted in post production. Devs wanted to recreate that.
Never go full Hollywood.
the_batman
Banned
i blame the Coen brothers.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Despite of it all, Killzone 2 still looked pretty sweet even if it was mostly gray, and some orange.
timmyp53
Member
Present in movies now.
MrCunningham
Member
Unreal Engine 3.
Corpsepyre
Banned
I don't mind muted colours, actually. Just no BROWNS or GREYS. Not everything has to be saturated as fuck like it is now in all the 'beautiful 2.5D platformers' and other indie games.
mrmickfran
Member
It was one of the reasons why I always dismissed shooters.
BulletStorm was a breath of fresh air.
BulletStorm was a breath of fresh air.
Langdon Alger
Banned
I was fine with the lack of color last gen. This generation's extreme lighting contrast is a much worse fad.
endlessflood
Member
Were there ever technical reasons for it? Did a reduced colour palette offer a worthwhile performance advantage for some console games?
the_batman
Banned
i doubt it, it was just a trend.
Gears 1 and Cod 4, Maybe technical limitations?
any actual evidence to proof this claim?
any actual evidence to proof this claim?
Prophet Steve
Member
Nah, not at all.
Some of the most beautiful games like Halo 4 or Naughty Dog games had plenty of colors. It started to get really popular after Gears of War.
ZombiePlatypus
Member
CoD and its crap wagon that the rest wanted to hop on. Made for the most visually unappealing E3's I had ever seen. All that (at the time) cutting edge power and tech wasted on creating drab worlds without any real style or art direction, for the sake of "realism." The grass looks like grass. Whoop de fucking doo.
Good riddance to that awful trend.
Good riddance to that awful trend.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
This award goes to a game that pre-dates last gen, really. Behold, Resident Evil 4
Don't blame last gen, folks. Blame RE4.
The only thing that matters is the quality of the art direction. Everyone who thinks more colors make better art has a severely limited understanding of the craft (always gotta love armchair designers).
A muted color palette can be absolutely fantastic in able hands and result in very special, moody environments. I always depends on what you're aiming for. Gears of War wanted to depict a dystopical, rundown, ruined and depressing world and it succeeded greatly in the beginning. Then some people cried for more color, Epic gave in more with each sequel and increasingly the depressing atmosphere faded further with each installment to the point where the series it lost its visual identity almost completely.
From the old Fallout games (1,2) to games like Bloodborne, I love great art with muted color palettes resulting in depressing, bleak moods etc.
I wish people would stop screaming for more color whenever they encounter one of these games and just play one of the many other colorful games out there. Not every game has to suit your specfic tastes (reminds me of the people whining about the lack of an easy difficulty mode in Bloodborne recently). There have always been colorful games and there will be games with muted color palettes in the future. Both approaches are viable and can yield great results.
A muted color palette can be absolutely fantastic in able hands and result in very special, moody environments. I always depends on what you're aiming for. Gears of War wanted to depict a dystopical, rundown, ruined and depressing world and it succeeded greatly in the beginning. Then some people cried for more color, Epic gave in more with each sequel and increasingly the depressing atmosphere faded further with each installment to the point where the series it lost its visual identity almost completely.
From the old Fallout games (1,2) to games like Bloodborne, I love great art with muted color palettes resulting in depressing, bleak moods etc.
I wish people would stop screaming for more color whenever they encounter one of these games and just play one of the many other colorful games out there. Not every game has to suit your specfic tastes (reminds me of the people whining about the lack of an easy difficulty mode in Bloodborne recently). There have always been colorful games and there will be games with muted color palettes in the future. Both approaches are viable and can yield great results.
Another great example of what I described above. KZ is another IP that lost its charm and visual identity because it abandoned the muted color palette in favor of "feelgood environments".
I loved the look and atmosphere of that game. Especially the village part.This award goes to a game that pre-dates last gen, really. Behold, Resident Evil 4
Don't blame last gen, folks. Blame RE4.
<3 (despite that being the more rough-looking PS2 version)
Vivia piñata, Banjo Kazoie Nuts and Bolts, Kameo, Alan Wake, Tales series, Lost Odissey, I mean plenty of colorful 360 and PS3 games
Just because Gears and COD were popular doesn't mean the Whole generation was monochromatic
I mean if you gonna make "insightful" judgments and claims at least have some basic names to throw around
Besides both MW2 and Gears 3 are a very colorful games... so..
ZombiePlatypus
Member
This award goes to a game that pre-dates last gen, really. Behold, Resident Evil 4
Don't blame last gen, folks. Blame RE4.
When RE4 did it, it felt like a good fit given how it re-ignited the series. The CoD crowd turned it into an epidemic.
I agree but it's not like those games came across as having a strong sense of style and art-direction while utilizing a muted or minimal color-pallet. They had uninspired aesthetics all around.
Prophet Steve
Member
Sorry, I am referring to the most technically demanding games. Halo 4 and the Naughty Dog games were known among the games to get the most out of the consoles while also having loads of colors. GTA V too. The colors do not make a difference for the performance and was not the reason for having loads of games look so "grey". Which became much less during the end of last gen anyway.
This award goes to a game that pre-dates last gen, really. Behold, Resident Evil 4
Don't blame last gen, folks. Blame RE4.
Yeah, RE4 did it in a very natural way though.
Many games last gen literally felt like they slapped on a color filter on, just to look more gritty or visually striking.
In the end it was just fatiguing.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I agree. Good post. I still think RE4 is way overboard in the brownness though.
Well isn't that convenient. When [beloved classic game] did it, it's okay because it fits. But when [less beloved, more dudebro games] do it, then it's bad and a sign of how bad games are. Sorry, I don't buy it. Nevermind that the "it fits the theme" argument works just as well for those games, huh.
KurtSloane
Banned
Yup. That can absolutely be the case - both with rich and muted color palettes. And I'm not arguing in favor of games with obnoxious, overdone filters etc. I just wanted to make it clear that a muted/limited color palette does not equal a "bad looking game".
ZombiePlatypus
Member
It's ok because RE4 didn't hop on some trite and played out wagon. There was no onslaught of "me too" games that beat that whole look and color scheme to death at the time. Nowhere near the influx of games that we had to endure during the height of the shooter-trend. Spinning RE4 in the same stylistic league as that flock of brown and grey shooters that followed is frankly pretty revisionist.
the_batman
Banned
how about the aforementioned shit ton of games that used the brown filter?
also, COD4 used a version of id tech 3, which if you just google you will see colorful games using it as well.
i'm pretty sure it's not technically tasking to use different colors in games.
Always-honest
Banned
It's the art direction of a certain period. It's not hating colours. It's playing with colours to set a certain mood, atmosphere.
Probably overdone and badly copied by too many. But there are too many people on GAF who clearly have no sense of art direction at all and just call "grey, brown, pissfilter!" At anything that doesn't have Super Mario colors.
Probably overdone and badly copied by too many. But there are too many people on GAF who clearly have no sense of art direction at all and just call "grey, brown, pissfilter!" At anything that doesn't have Super Mario colors.
Can you name me 5-10 shooters that copied the aesthetic?
The last COD game I played was COD4 but what I've seen over the years actually looked rather colorful with emphasis on spectacular set pieces and such. I'm not saying the COD games have great art - they always looked generic to me - but it's not a color thing in my opinion.
Meanwhile, I played through Wolfenstein TNO a month ago and that game actually had a rather limited color palette and it looked fantastic.
And in order to not give the impression that I hate color: two of my favorite games from last year were Tropical Freeze and Shovel Knight.
Totally agree.
I always thought this premise was a bit off. There was an insane amount of colors in games last gen. Even GTAV, the biggest game of last gen, had an insane amount of colors. There were a zillion games, and most of them were super colorful.
I think if we did a statistical breakdown of all the gray/brown games vs. the colorful ones, it won't even be a drop in the bucket. This is one of those things that became a meme because of the "dudebro/Gears/COD" titles selling so much, and certain other big games trying to emulate their strategy. But it wasn't even a particularly big trend as far as I can tell. Most games last gen were hugely colorful.
I'd like to see if anyone has any actual evidence that the industry trended massively toward no color. And no, that image with the bald main characters from different games doesn't really count.
I think if we did a statistical breakdown of all the gray/brown games vs. the colorful ones, it won't even be a drop in the bucket. This is one of those things that became a meme because of the "dudebro/Gears/COD" titles selling so much, and certain other big games trying to emulate their strategy. But it wasn't even a particularly big trend as far as I can tell. Most games last gen were hugely colorful.
I'd like to see if anyone has any actual evidence that the industry trended massively toward no color. And no, that image with the bald main characters from different games doesn't really count.
ZombiePlatypus
Member
I'm sure another user here can probably do a better job than I would. I did my best to avoid the games that fell anywhere near that general look. While I can't think of titles off the top of my head, I remember how exceedingly disappointing E3's during that era felt. So many games just blended together. Don't get me wrong, we still had creative looking stuff. But they felt like the exception as opposed to the rule.
And as we both mentioned, it wasn't just a color thing. It was this bizarre obsession with a drab sense of photo-realism. Cause apparently that's what translated to "sophisticated" or "grown up."
copelandmaster
Member
Don't blame last gen, folks. Blame RE4.
Speaking of, RE became a huge proponent of the lack of colors last gen. Resident Evil 5 had a crazy amount of dull color filters: brown, piss, grey etc.
It bothered people so much that Resident Evil 5's got a color correction mod.
RE6 added back in, but they still did it with a lot of filters.
CrazedProfessional
Member
Unreal Engine
Prophet Steve
Member
Killzone 2, Dark Sector, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, Resident Evil 5, Red Faction Guerilla, Serious Sam 3, Medal of Honor, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Far Cry 2. Probably a bunch more.
And I Am Alive is the worst of them all.
It became super popular around 2007 or so, which was also the point where Uncharted include the "Next-Gen filter" as a joke. It became less bad later in the generation.
the_batman
Banned
we're not talking about all games, mostly the big ones like COD, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid 4, GTA4, Red Dead Redemption, Resident Evil 5, Assassin's Creed, Demon's Souls, The Fallout games, etc. all those big, early gen games.
Naughty Dog intentionally went colorful with Uncharted 1 to stand out.
SomedayTheFire
Member
Had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Evolution of Metal
Member
Reality isn't very colorful. Just look how war torn regions in Africa and Middle East look. Bundle the dirty and dull environment with a war-thematic and you get those grey filters.
Games like Halo/Resistance/Uncharted were colorful. Killzone/Gears/COD/BF weren't. Although Bad Company games had a lot of natural colors.
Games like Halo/Resistance/Uncharted were colorful. Killzone/Gears/COD/BF weren't. Although Bad Company games had a lot of natural colors.
the_batman
Banned
lol, you say that as if you've actually been to those places.
It's beloved for a reason.
The art direction in RE4 is far from flawless, and it goes to some pretty fucking dumb places in the last 3rd of the game, but the brown tone at the start fits pretty well that imagery of rural European horror they were going for, and it feels natural because they used fairly soft colors, with low contrasted image, coupled with a winter aesthetic, it's not very removed from how those areas look in that time of year.
I also don't have a problem with, say, Chernobyl in CoD4, for the same reason.
And I didn't say that every game to have a brown palette is shit, but several games used a monochromatic palette in a very lazy fashion, brown or not (that's not the issue, imo) coupled with gross use of bloom and contrast, to create that horrible Black Hawk Down look, especially when representing anything from the "south of the world".
Even Resident Evil 5 went way overboard with its color correction, for me (although that color mod was bad in the opposite direction).
1) Looked great. Series should've kept the look.
2) One of the earliest games of last gen. Look uninspired and generic.
3) Codemasters piss filter (and a really bad case of it)
4) piss filter (although I liked the aesthetic)
5) Looked great and unique imo
6) They obviously tried to copy bland military shooters
7) Bland military shooter
8) Looked great imo
9) Bad art design in general
Again, some games like KZ2 absolutely benefitted from their muted color palettes and created some really unique and atmospheric visuals. The ones that look like shit usually do so because the art direction in general is just crap. (and yeah, overdone piss filters are usually just bad).
Good point.
I think that the color filter/desaturation trend coincided with video games trying to look more like films. In the early-mid 2000s, Hollywood started using a lot of digital color correction in their action films. And so most action films of the time looked brown/grey and washed out.
professor denim
Member
Gears 2 was already colorfull.... Uncharted, SF4, Bulletstorm, Odst, GTAV, Bioschock, Mario Galaxy, Split Second, Black Ops 2, Resident Evil 5, Geometry Wars 2...xbox live arcade was full of color.
Gears 1 was a dark and desatured game, Limbo took it to the extreme ( and its wonderfull ). I dont agree with the notion that last generation was in general pretty grey. There was a small trend at the time of Gears 1 release but thats it. At least in my view..
Gears 1 was a dark and desatured game, Limbo took it to the extreme ( and its wonderfull ). I dont agree with the notion that last generation was in general pretty grey. There was a small trend at the time of Gears 1 release but thats it. At least in my view..
Honestly I don't think it's a "last gen" thing, just a particular time frame where some standout games had a certain look, and influenced popular opinion, also some prominent franchises going for a gritty reboot of their aesthetic.
If you compare GTA4 with GTA5, you see how they shifted back to a more varied, natural and vibrant art direction, for example.
Assassin's Creed too, with 3 went for a more natural look.
Also I think it more of a monotone, unnatural look vs natural colors, rather than grey/brown vs colorful games.
Prophet Steve
Member
I didn't say they were all bad, I was mentioning examples of desaturated shooters outside of Gears and COD. It is easy to see why people grew tired of it and saw it as a trend to have very muted colors in next-gen games.
You are mentioning overdone piss filters, which wasn't really a term before that trend.
Unless everything is covered under a layer of dust/sand/ash/debris then you'll still find plenty of examples of vibrant colors. The problem with the filters are that even things that are supposed to be saturated suddenly look muted too.