Graphics and Visuals in Final Fantasy XIII

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09.14.2011 3:51pm

Thread Creator (Edited on 09.14.2011 at 3:57pm)

shooter_mcgavin
Registered Member

I was looking at some of the trailers and screenshots of Final Fantasy XIII-2 and there a lot of promise in that it will be open ended with towns and all that stuff fans were complaining about.

However looking at these previews I still felt something was wrong with the game I could'nt put my finger at it but something felt off.

Then it hit it ... it was the graphics and visuals.

Yes I know technically FFXIII is an impressive looking game and Square-Enix has always been the company to give their AAA titles the best in graphics but something just felt off despite all the impressive tech.

It was that it was too clean.

Despite all the locales, boss battles, and chaos in the game FFXIII seems like looked like everything was a nice toy model shiny but a bit mechanical in how everything looks. Nothing in the game feels natural or, at least, feels like a living breathing entity inhabiting the world.

Now I know a lot of people might say that we as gamers are probably spoiled by today's realisim and style in Gears of War, Red Dead, Dragon Age, or Deus Ex but its not just western games.

But if you look at other JRPG's before FFXIII like Lost Odyssey, Twilight Princess, Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy XII the graphics, visuals, and models felt more intuned with the game's world. FFXIII did not and visuals felt so disconnected with the story, pulse, and cocoon.

I don't know maybe it's just me ... but did anyone else have that feeling?

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09.14.2011 9:06pm

Onyx
Butts
Administrator

FF13 had technically impressive visuals, but I coudn't stand the visual design of the game. Everything was just so sterile and it all amounted to pretty wallpaper anyway since the game was so on-rails. I'd much have an uglier looking world that I can at least feel like I'm a part of.

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09.15.2011 7:13am

Rinoa
Night Star
Administrator

Sterile is indeed the word. Nothing felt natural. This was probably the art direction, but it was a terrible aesthetic.

Rinoa.Nu

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09.15.2011 2:31pm

SplittinAdam
Eu sunt Dracul

Yes - sterile is the perfect work to describe it... the only areas that weren't all sterile in FFXIII, (the destroyed towns on Pulse) were probably the best locales in the game. It's a shame we only got to really investigate one of them.

Now, as I look back I see the crooked path that I had been set upon all those years before, leading me inexorably to this moment. I can still see her face in my mind's eye, poor dear Laura, such a sad tale is ours. A tale of heroes who strove to save humanity only to lose our own.

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09.16.2011 3:36pm

Magicjewel
Dr. Fantabulous
Administrator

<span style="font-size: 11px; color: #959595;"><a href="/forums/profile/2">Rinoa</a> said:</span>

Sterile is indeed the word. Nothing felt natural. This was probably the art direction, but it was a terrible aesthetic.

Wasn't it kinda supposed to be, as Cocoon is a manufactured world? Pulse as the natural world didn't feel like this at all.

"Well, your brain seems to work a little bit." -- Rune Walsh, Phantasy Star IV.

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09.16.2011 3:43pm

Onyx
Butts
Administrator

Just because it was intentional doesn't excuse its awfulness. You could take the intention and execute it a hell of a lot better without being so unappealing and boring.

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09.16.2011 7:45pm

Rinoa
Night Star
Administrator

Pulse appears *more* natural than coccoon because of the setting change, but everything still looked generic and arbitrarily placed for such a 'wild area'. After traversing a bit you can predict what will be where and make it respawn at will, as nothing really roams beyond boundaries or has a natural feel to the programming.

Reused monsters from cocoon didn't help. The game as a whole had way too many bland cut paste designed settings.

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09.21.2011 9:29pm

Spidey
So Sigh Ety

Xenoblade has like 15 pulses-injectedwithcreativity in one game, it really raises the bar from what I expect form FF13-2 if I'm to actually give it a shot.

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09.30.2011 2:53pm

grey_haven
Formerly known as 'Trekster'

I think XIII is one of if not THE most beautiful game I've played. But take something pretty and combine it with something lame. You get pretty lame.

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10.03.2011 4:10am

Crux
A mental Dentist's office

*rimshot*

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10.05.2011 6:31pm

Sanna
What a Tedious fight!

Rinoa said:

Reused monsters from cocoon didn't help. The game as a whole had way too many bland cut paste designed settings.

Yeah, I noticed that, too. It really didn't seem to make sense why the monster would be there other than that the creators were just lazy?

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