One of the best Adventures in recent years was Edna & Harvey: The Breakout (which hardly had impressive visuals, but an impressive art style really (not sure if the english version has been released yet)).
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But then you don't want to end up to a point where you require High End PC's for adventures like A Vampire Story. Part of the success of Sam&Max is, that it's playable on weaker PC's too.
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The good think about cartoony graphics is, that you can easily play these games in a few years time while realistic graphics usually age very fast.
I still play my old adventures via ScummVM.
ScummVM + LucasArts 10 Adventures. I could sell the latter for 80 € on ebay, but it's worth so much more to me.
On the other hand, I've sold Edna in the meantime. There was really no "art style" in there; this really looked like the artist started drawing only weeks ago. It was a nice adventure, mind you. Its most impressive trait were the individual responses to EVERY combination attempt, that was a great, great effort. There was nothing, absolutely nothing appealing concerning its art style - at least for me.
Concerning "good graphics" and system performance problems, this of course applies to Telltale Games. But think about recent Daedalic games, where high system demands are absolutely not connected to "better graphics". "Modern" 2D adventure games often suffer from very bad programming. If you compare "A Whispered World" (2009) or "A new beginning" (2010) to, for example, "Runaway" (2002), you will clearly see that the latter delivers better graphics, better performance, better animations with just a 333 MHz CPU (!!), while Daedalic puts 2 GHz for their games at the absolute minimum (don't try it with that), delivering only OK graphics, long loading times and serious lags on every system. The art of programming just seems to have been forgotten for these guys.
Firstly, I have no problem with the cartoony graphics. However, with this title, BTTF, the possibility of real 3D modeling was too great to pass up. For me, it takes the game down several notches.
BTTF, the possibility of real 3D modeling was too great to pass up. For me, it takes the game down several notches.
Only if it was on the level of Uncharted 2 maybe. But aiming for a realistic look without having the technology to back this up will lead to stiff lifeless dolls. I really don't like the models in the CSI games. I do however love the models in any other game of TellTale.
So from a technological point of view a cartoonish style is the way to go.
Reason two is that it's a beautiful choice artistically. It conveys the humourous tone of the franchise.
Up till now the artwork has been great. When I look at the character models I don't see a 'cartoon version of said person' no, I see that character himself.
So no, not aiming for a realistic look with a BttF game is definitely not a missed chance.
Dang the graphics in BTTF are dated. I've just finished episode 1 and the storyline honestly kept me engrossed till the end. The distracting part was the graphics. It looks fresh out of year 2000. I'm guessing the other Telltale games are similar but BTTF is the first one I've played.
When I first heard about the game, I thought it would've looked great if they used the same art style as the promo posters. Honestly I think a cel-shaded approach would've been awesome - keeping the graphics simple but nice and modern instead of plastic-mold looking.
Do you think the current style is suitable, or is there a different style you would've liked to see?
I don't care much. I think the graphics are good enough to emulate classic scenes and characters to the point of being entirely recognizable. Highest graphical settings provide some nice lighting effects, though nothing super-fancy. For a low/mid-budget title, it's more than acceptable graphically-speaking. I actually might have preferred some MORE stylistic distortion, but that's less a complaint than it is a slight preference on my part.
A cell shaded cartoony look would have been great. (Not that I have any complaints about the way it currently looks)
But for some reason I found the graphics in Puzzle agent was about the best I have seen in the last 10 years.
(All the typical 3D games with their attempts to look realistically, fail just miserable at that. But attempting to look like a cartoon is achievable)
I was blown away not just by how good the graphics were but by how optimized the game was. I could run BttF perfectly on highest settings, but The Devil's Playhouse had significant frame skipping on anything above six.
I really like the graphic cartoon design of this game ALOT. But that said, I'd rather have a more "realistic looking" game. Non-linear with multiple choices would be AMAZING.
I just wish that the animations were a little less wooden and unnatural in BttF.
Some consistency in the texture quality would also be nice though. Some textures look like they're ultra high res, and others look like they were ripped from Doom, which creates some pretty jarring visuals in parts.
Graphics were great to me. It's a big step up from what they used to produce and that excites me. It's nice to see progression in their engine. Maybe eventually we'll see something realistic for once?
One problem I had was that I could play the game with advanced dynamic shadowing. So the shadows were all harsh and pixelated. If I tried to raise the level of quality the game would crash. I have a crap video card, though (ATI).
Comments
ScummVM + LucasArts 10 Adventures. I could sell the latter for 80 € on ebay, but it's worth so much more to me.
On the other hand, I've sold Edna in the meantime. There was really no "art style" in there; this really looked like the artist started drawing only weeks ago. It was a nice adventure, mind you. Its most impressive trait were the individual responses to EVERY combination attempt, that was a great, great effort. There was nothing, absolutely nothing appealing concerning its art style - at least for me.
Concerning "good graphics" and system performance problems, this of course applies to Telltale Games. But think about recent Daedalic games, where high system demands are absolutely not connected to "better graphics". "Modern" 2D adventure games often suffer from very bad programming. If you compare "A Whispered World" (2009) or "A new beginning" (2010) to, for example, "Runaway" (2002), you will clearly see that the latter delivers better graphics, better performance, better animations with just a 333 MHz CPU (!!), while Daedalic puts 2 GHz for their games at the absolute minimum (don't try it with that), delivering only OK graphics, long loading times and serious lags on every system. The art of programming just seems to have been forgotten for these guys.
Only if it was on the level of Uncharted 2 maybe. But aiming for a realistic look without having the technology to back this up will lead to stiff lifeless dolls. I really don't like the models in the CSI games. I do however love the models in any other game of TellTale.
So from a technological point of view a cartoonish style is the way to go.
Reason two is that it's a beautiful choice artistically. It conveys the humourous tone of the franchise.
Up till now the artwork has been great. When I look at the character models I don't see a 'cartoon version of said person' no, I see that character himself.
So no, not aiming for a realistic look with a BttF game is definitely not a missed chance.
When I first heard about the game, I thought it would've looked great if they used the same art style as the promo posters. Honestly I think a cel-shaded approach would've been awesome - keeping the graphics simple but nice and modern instead of plastic-mold looking.
Do you think the current style is suitable, or is there a different style you would've liked to see?
But for some reason I found the graphics in Puzzle agent was about the best I have seen in the last 10 years.
(All the typical 3D games with their attempts to look realistically, fail just miserable at that. But attempting to look like a cartoon is achievable)
I rather have a cartooney like style like TTG make then most of those crappy realistic 3D stuff.
Some consistency in the texture quality would also be nice though. Some textures look like they're ultra high res, and others look like they were ripped from Doom, which creates some pretty jarring visuals in parts.
One problem I had was that I could play the game with advanced dynamic shadowing. So the shadows were all harsh and pixelated. If I tried to raise the level of quality the game would crash. I have a crap video card, though (ATI).