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[Lince]

It looks like in-engine rendered to video to hide load times just like Uncharted 2. So far, there are no load times anywhere unless you restart from a checkpoint, and then it's a few seconds.

so do you think the game is caching content to the HDD while the video plays (like U2)? guess streaming texture data off the hard disk drive gives a nice performance advantage and keeps LOD issues low. I'm sure Killzone 3 could use this to get rid of the infamous (albeit quick) loading pauses.

 

[BeeDog]

It looks like in-engine rendered to video to hide load times just like Uncharted 2. So far, there are no load times anywhere unless you restart from a checkpoint, and then it's a few seconds. And game saves are super quick.. much quicker than in the GoW collection.

Boooo! Makes me a bit disappointed. Thanks for answering though.

Just two vague follow-up questions if you don't mind;

1) Are the set pieces/locations that haven't been shown off yet in online videos just as good or better than the shit we've seen?
2) Are there any colorful locations akin to some of the GoW2 areas? Most of the stuff that I've seen is on the dark side thus far, which makes me a bit worried.

 

[Facism]

Boooo! Makes me a bit disappointed. Thanks for answering though.

Just two vague follow-up questions if you don't mind;

1) Are the set pieces/locations that haven't been shown off yet in online videos just as good or better than the shit we've seen?
2) Are there any colorful locations akin to some of the GoW2 areas? Most of the stuff that I've seen is on the dark side thus far, which makes me a bit worried.

son, you're going to mt olympus, home of the gods. I bet there'll be a fair share of Eden's and majestic vistas.

 

[daxter01]

how is the framerate jim?

 

[OsciBosci]

NeoPlus score [a polish magazine]

9.5/10

 

[Tideas]

Boooo! Makes me a bit disappointed. Thanks for answering though.

Just two vague follow-up questions if you don't mind;

1) Are the set pieces/locations that haven't been shown off yet in online videos just as good or better than the shit we've seen?
2) Are there any colorful locations akin to some of the GoW2 areas? Most of the stuff that I've seen is on the dark side thus far, which makes me a bit worried.

why wud u be disappointed if it's not running real time? seriously, really, why? if it looks good, it looks good.

really, why? brownie score points?

 

[spats]

That's an awesome magazine cover, not a shabby score either!

 

[crackhead_bob]

"You can't understand how the element of surprise that so many stories in films, games, shows or books is destroyed by knowing something crucial ahead of time? How the tension, suspense and twists the producers carefully craft to pull at your emotions are basically dismantled in significant ways by knowing things before you're supposed to as an audience member?

You're in the minority. No one's denying an entertaining experience will somehow not be entertaining anymore, but the dramatic impact is lessened with knowledge ahead of time. "Period"."


Well, I've always been the kind of guy who likes peeking through the red curtain before magic shows to see how things are done. That's never taken the enjoyment out of it, however. My beef with people on these forums is just how downright self-righteous they tend to get if they happen to read any spoilers. Hello! This is a videogame discussion thread. People are usually going to post things that are relevant to the topic at hand, and that includes those who mappen to obtain a copy of an anticipated game. If they're so indignant about not reading spoilers, they should not be going on these forums in the first place.

 

[Kaako]

Thanks for the early impressions and the GT5 trailer upload Magnus. You done good.

 

[Bad_Boy]

You can't understand how the element of surprise that so many stories in films, games, shows or books is destroyed by knowing something crucial ahead of time? How the tension, suspense and twists the producers carefully craft to pull at your emotions are basically dismantled in significant ways by knowing things before you're supposed to as an audience member?

You're in the minority. No one's denying an entertaining experience will somehow not be entertaining anymore, but the dramatic impact is lessened with knowledge ahead of time. "Period". :lol

couldn't have said it better.

Well, I've always been the kind of guy who likes peeking through the red curtain before magic shows to see how things are done. That's never taken the enjoyment out of it, however. My beef with people on these forums is just how downright self-righteous they tend to get if they happen to read any spoilers. Hello! This is a videogame discussion thread. People are usually going to post things that are relevant to the topic at hand, and that includes those who mappen to obtain a copy of an anticipated game. If they're so indignant about not reading spoilers, they should not be going on these forums in the first place.

Here at gaf we have spoiler welcome threads for that type of discussion.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

"You can't understand how the element of surprise that so many stories in films, games, shows or books is destroyed by knowing something crucial ahead of time? How the tension, suspense and twists the producers carefully craft to pull at your emotions are basically dismantled in significant ways by knowing things before you're supposed to as an audience member?

You're in the minority. No one's denying an entertaining experience will somehow not be entertaining anymore, but the dramatic impact is lessened with knowledge ahead of time. "Period"."


Well, I've always been the kind of guy who likes peeking through the red curtain before magic shows to see how things are done. That's never taken the enjoyment out of it, however. My beef with people on these forums is just how downright self-righteous they tend to get if they happen to read any spoilers. Hello! This is a videogame discussion thread. People are usually going to post things that are relevant to the topic at hand, and that includes those who mappen to obtain a copy of an anticipated game. If they're so indignant about not reading spoilers, they should not be going on these forums in the first place.

While you're right that abstinence is the only method that is 100% effective for avoiding spoilers, many people want to talk about the game before they have it, and this thread used to be designated a spoiler-free zone. In the infinite space of the internet, I see no reason not to have spoiler-free threads in addition to full-discussion threads for the same game.

I also see where you're coming from as far as wanting to know how the trick is done, but I'm not convinced that you could go into experiencing any piece of media, knowing the trick, the plot, whatever, and enjoy it just as much as if you went in blind.

If you really can, then you're in a tiny minority. Any piece of media is experienced in a context, and part of that context is often intended to be a lack of foreknowledge of what's going to happen.

You say it's never hurt your enjoyment, but you can't really know that, because you can't experience the exact same piece of media both blind and with foreknowledge. How do you know you wouldn't like everything a little bit more if you didn't spoil it for yourself? I'm not saying it's a big deal and you should change your style or anything. Just something to think about.

 

[RustyNails]

Kratos looks like one badass motherfucker in that NeoPlus mag cover.

 

[Jim]

Boooo! Makes me a bit disappointed. Thanks for answering though.

So you'd rather have 20 second load times in between some scenes? Only a very few of the cut-scenes seem like they aren't real time (but use real-time quality everything), just the ones between distinctly different areas.

Just two vague follow-up questions if you don't mind;

1) Are the set pieces/locations that haven't been shown off yet in online videos just as good or better than the shit we've seen?

2) Are there any colorful locations akin to some of the GoW2 areas? Most of the stuff that I've seen is on the dark side thus far, which makes me a bit worried.

The game is like

Spoiler

one, giant impressive set piece

! So yeah.. the scope is unbelievable. Doesn't even seem doable. There's definitely a variety, but only a few hours in. It's not all dark.

how is the framerate jim?

Much smoother than the demo. It's smooth, and there's a touch of motion blur, so it looks crazy good and it's hard to tell between 30fps and when it may be running > 30. There's odd little hitches in random places, but doesn't actually seem to happen during battles or large scale scenes. I've seen it slightly when you sort of try to tread off the path the game expects you to be on, like the Ratchet games.

The image quality overall is insane. So many layers of effects and shaders and particles. Not to mention the various "camera effects" and viewpoints that kick in.

 

[Dogenzaka]

"I want the spoiler too. In fact, I'll probably just read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia before I get the game. I tend to do that with movies, books and video games"

I can't understand why spoilers are considered bloody murder to some concerning any media. An entertaining experience is an entertaining experience, period. Knowing a plot in advance. at least for me, has never lessened the enjoyment I have gotten out of a movie, television show or videogame.

Yeah. With me, researching and knowing about as much about the game as possible just hypes me up more and gets me interested in games I wouldn't otherwise care about. However, I try not to indulge in major plot or location spoilers.

I honestly wouldn't have bought the GoW Collection or given two-shits about God of War 3 had I not seen the GTTV special.

You can't understand how the element of surprise that so many stories in films, games, shows or books is destroyed by knowing something crucial ahead of time? How the tension, suspense and twists the producers carefully craft to pull at your emotions are basically dismantled in significant ways by knowing things before you're supposed to as an audience member?

Yeah but just a few pages ago people were poking at me for wanting to see the first 10 minutes of a game that really doesn't reveal anything we didn't already know since the first 2 games.

Here at gaf we have spoiler welcome threads for that type of discussion.

Point the spoiler-hungry folks in the direction of the God of War 3 Spoilers thread, then.

 

[Animator]

why wud u be disappointed if it's not running real time? seriously, really, why? if it looks good, it looks good.

really, why? brownie score points?

I never understood this either. It honestly is the dumbest fucking complaint ever. "Why is my non interactive cutscene not realtime!, what a disappointment!" It is like going to the movies with a DS3 and then leaving disappointed because you didnt get to control bruce willis in die hard 4.

 

[RustyNails]

I never understood this either. It honestly is the dumbest fucking complaint ever. "Why is my non interactive cutscene not realtime!, what a disappointment!" It is like going to the movies with a DS3 and then leaving disappointed because you didnt get to control bruce willis in die hard 4.

:lol

 

[Peterthumpa]

So, the million dollar question... does it look better than Uncharted 2? If so, by how much?
Also, is aliasing noticeable in 1080p?

 

[Unknown One]

I think the AA would hardly be noticeable but I don't have the game. I heard GOW3 uses a type of MLAA.

 

[Corto]

So, the million dollar question... does it look better than Uncharted 2? If so, by how much?

Yes. Close to 100 metric tonnes, more or less 345,6%.

 

[deepbrown]

Boooo! Makes me a bit disappointed. Thanks for answering though.

Just two vague follow-up questions if you don't mind;

1) Are the set pieces/locations that haven't been shown off yet in online videos just as good or better than the shit we've seen?
2) Are there any colorful locations akin to some of the GoW2 areas? Most of the stuff that I've seen is on the dark side thus far, which makes me a bit worried.

Not what SSM have said:

"“When I mentioned that GOW3 has no CG, I was referring to the fact that we do not have pre-renderd scenes that were created outside of the game engine, like GOW 1 and 2. In GOW3 all the cutscenes are created using our in-game engine, however some scenes were just to epic to run real time and thus are recorded videos. This is not the case for the majority of the cutscenes in the game which are mostly running real time. This way you can enjoy the bonus costumes for most of the cutscenes in the game, including those found in the E3 demo!”

http://www.playstationuniversity.com/sony-most-god-of-war-iii-cutscenes-will-be-real-time-2663/

 

[deepbrown]

I think the AA would hardly be noticeable but I don't have the game. I heard GOW3 uses a type of MLAA.

The Aliasing won't be that noticeable in the final build due to the MLAA - a CPU process that can have an effect of around 16xAA (where it matters)

 

[Dogenzaka]

Not what SSM have said:

"“When I mentioned that GOW3 has no CG, I was referring to the fact that we do not have pre-renderd scenes that were created outside of the game engine, like GOW 1 and 2. In GOW3 all the cutscenes are created using our in-game engine, however some scenes were just to epic to run real time and thus are recorded videos. This is not the case for the majority of the cutscenes in the game which are mostly running real time. This way you can enjoy the bonus costumes for most of the cutscenes in the game, including those found in the E3 demo!”

http://www.playstationuniversity.com/sony-most-god-of-war-iii-cutscenes-will-be-real-time-2663/

But I want the Cod of War to appear in EVERY cutscene :<

oh well.

 

[Phil Wilkins]

It looks like in-engine rendered to video to hide load times just like Uncharted 2.

The in-engine videos are mostly for artistic reasons. There's very few cases where we load from the hard drive cache while a video is playing, and a couple (literally, 2, IIRC) where we use video to cut to a totally different scene. Technically we could load a second level into memory for those two scenes, but we'd have to compromise on the quality of one of them.

 

[deepbrown]

The in-engine videos are mostly for artistic reasons. There's very few cases where we load from the hard drive cache while a video is playing, and a couple (literally, 2, IIRC) where we use video to cut to a totally different scene. Technically we could load a second level into memory for those two scenes, but we'd have to compromise on the quality of one of them.

So are most of the cutscenes real-time? What kind of percentage, out of interest. Is that quotation up above correct (that the majority are real-time)?

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

So are most of the cutscenes real-time? What kind of percentage, out of interest. Is that quotation up above correct (that the majority are real-time)?

From everything that's been said, it's clear that most are real time, and why would the lead animator's quote be incorrect? Do you really need to know a specific percentage? You'll be able to tell once you have the game and use a bonus costume which are real-time and which are pre-rendered.

 

[deepbrown]

From everything that's been said, it's clear that most are real time, and why would the lead animator's quote be incorrect? Do you really need to know a specific percentage? You'll be able to tell once you have the game and use a bonus costume which are real-time and which are pre-rendered.

I'm interested since we have a guy from SSM talking on Neogaf who decided to make his very first post...it's called extending the conversation. Also things may have changed since the game went to print...i don't know. Just wanted more detail.

Here's another quotation on the matter:

"Some are wondering why all cinematics don't run in realtime, instead are videos captured from the engine. First off, all cinematics are ingame art!
The only reason we would render out a video is memory. Take the Initial Gaia level. To show the first cinematic of the Titan falling would take up so much memory, we wouldn't be able to have the Gaia level loaded. By rendering off a video, we only need to make sure there is 20-30mb of space available to load the entire cinematic. What that means to the gamer - you never have a load screen, ever - the entire experience is seamless and uninterupted."

And BTW welcome Phil, really good to have you here =) Congrats on a great game.

 

[MoxManiac]

I never understood this either. It honestly is the dumbest fucking complaint ever. "Why is my non interactive cutscene not realtime!, what a disappointment!" It is like going to the movies with a DS3 and then leaving disappointed because you didnt get to control bruce willis in die hard 4.

It's not a big deal to me (and i'm not sure i'm understanding the arguement 100%), but I would think an actual realtime cutscene would be higher quality looking than a video of said cutscene with the usual compression artifacts that video have. I think the complaint might be one of quality.

 

[deepbrown]

It's not a big deal to me (and i'm not sure i'm understanding the arguement 100%), but I would think an actual realtime cutscene would be higher quality looking than a video of said cutscene with the usual compression artifacts that video have. I think the complaint might be one of quality.

Nah it's just knowing it's real-time and having your costume etc showing in it. I don't think it's needed for all of them, but a few is nice.

 

[Dogenzaka]

There's a couple things I hope have changed since GoW2/the GoW3 demo:
- Blood. In GoW2/GoW3 demo it looked like a goopy, gelatinous metal. It was like everyone was exploding Smuckers. I hope that the blood looks more liquid and yet not like a completely cheap spray that some games use.
- Attacks. In many cases throughout the GoW games, I could hit a boss but it didn't look like my attacks were even connecting because the blades would hardly leave a "cutting/slicing" feeling through the opponent. Not sure if I'm explaining this right, but I hope attacks feel more like they're actually "slicing" through something rather than as if I was just lassoing some pebbles around on string.

Minor, minor gripes though.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

I have never been much of a GOW fan, as I lost 1&2 on the PS2 through negligent friends, and never bothered to buy them again. I got the Collection recently and only just started to get into 1 last night. Such an amazing game which holds up amazingly well today. And then I played the demo for 3 this morning and watched some of the video's in this thread. Consider me sold. This game is effin' amazing! Will pre-oreder immediately when I go pick up FF XIII on tues. I kind of feel silly waiting so long to enjoy this epic series, and am really looking forward to what will probably be GOTY for me.

 

[Phil Wilkins]

So are most of the cutscenes real-time? What kind of percentage, out of interest. Is that quotation up above correct (that the majority are real-time)?

I couldn't quote specific percentages, but I would agree that the majority are real time. It's been an increasing percentage over the three games as our cut-scene technology improves. Bruno could give you better numbers than I could, since he's overseen all of them, whereas I've just had to look at the ones with issues.

 

[Dogenzaka]

I couldn't quote specific percentages, but I would agree that the majority are real time. It's been an increasing percentage over the three games as our cut-scene technology improves. Bruno could give you better numbers than I could, since he's overseen all of them, whereas I've just had to look at the ones with issues.

Awesome!

I have a question though...is GoW3 any longer than GoW1 or GoW2?

 

[Phil Wilkins]

It's not a big deal to me (and i'm not sure i'm understanding the arguement 100%), but I would think an actual realtime cutscene would be higher quality looking than a video of said cutscene with the usual compression artifacts that video have. I think the complaint might be one of quality.

The flipside to that would be that the video will always have the highest level mip-maps loaded, and will have been rendered on a machine with more memory allocated to shadow buffers. It can also be of a complexity that would not run at 30fps in real-time.

That said, with the improvements we made at the end of the project, I believe that we could achieve an equivalent level of quality in real-time, should we choose to. The caveat being that there are always production side trade-offs to be made, and it becomes a question of where you focus the resources available to you.

 

[BeeDog]

Thanks Jim for answering, but I'm baffled that some of you guys are offended by my "disappointment" response... Talk about hyper-sensitive. The reasons I think it's a bit of a shame (it's definitely not ruining anything for me) are;

1) Since the game's so graphically amazing, it's a shame they couldn't make all cutscenes real-time, out of cohesiveness, bragging rights, you name it.
2) As some has said above, it would be awesome if you could use your unlocked skins in all instances.

Buuuut, if the videos are just for transitional purposes (masking load times and maintaining the quality of transitions between two completely different areas) then so be it, I'll still most likely love the game hard regardless.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

1) Since the game's so graphically amazing, it's a shame they couldn't make all cutscenes real-time, out of cohesiveness, bragging rights, you name it.
2) As some has said above, it would be awesome if you could use your unlocked skins in all instances.

There couldn't be anything more cohesive than using in-game assets for all cinematics, pre-rendered or not. It sounds like you're really interested in bragging rights. I'm sure what IS there in real-time will be adequate ammunition.

Costumes is a pretty good reason, on the other hand.

 

[Phil Wilkins]

Awesome!

I have a question though...is GoW3 any longer than GoW1 or GoW2?

:lol

Very difficult for me to give an answer here. I'm probably the last person you should ask, as I've not really played any of them properly, from beginning to end, and certainly never as a player new to the game. During development I'll play a lot of sections completely out of order, and with untuned combat, partial enemies, infinite health, weapons you're not supposed to have yet, and 10x damage. It's only towards the end that I get to see the thing as a whole. It wasn't until mid-january that I actually knew the order of everything in the game, and there were still puzzles I didn't already know the solution to at that point.

If pressed, I would have to guess that it's somewhere between 1 and 2. How long that is, depends very much on what sort of player you are.

 

[NG28]

If my friend doesn't gamefly this I'm going to punch him in the gut.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

If your friend doesn't BUY THIS GAME AT FULL PRICE ON RELEASE I'm going to punch YOU in the gut.:lol

 

[Cruzader]

Ok since there are 2 cool SSM guys in here could you answer this: How come there is only 1 unlockable skin on the retail disk??? Although it doesnt bother me too much, I thought the pre-order skins(gamestop/amazon/BB) were unlocked by beating higher difficulties like the old GOW games. Why was this changed? Just curious. Thanx

 

[NG28]

If your friend doesn't BUY THIS GAME AT FULL PRICE ON RELEASE I'm going to punch YOU in the gut.:lol

:lol I just want to play it, I don't care how. He doesn't even seem interested in gamefly so he definitely isn't buying full price. I know, he's weird.

 

[ghostofsparta]

Ok since there are 2 cool SSM guys in here could you answer this: How come there is only 1 unlockable skin on the retail disk??? Although it doesnt bother me too much, I thought the pre-order skins(gamestop/amazon/BB) were unlocked by beating higher difficulties like the old GOW games. Why was this changed? Just curious. Thanx

DLC.

 

[FrankNitty]

Yay GoW3 time...

 

[BeeDog]

Fuck you.

 

[Animator]

What is with everyone getting it a week and a half early dammit!

 

[CoffeeExpress]

I just want to play it, I don't care how. He doesn't even seem interested in gamefly so he definitely isn't buying full price. I know, he's weird.

why dont you just buy it?

 

[zoukka]

why dont you just buy it?

I can give you sixty reasons.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

why dont you just buy it?

If I had to guess, probably because he doesn't have a PS3 or 60 dollars.

 

[NG28]

If I had to guess, probably because he doesn't have a PS3 or 60 dollars.

 

[lunlunqq]

just saw some magazine scans floating around with pictures of the sex mini game(s). seems cratos will

Spoiler

take on 3 women at one time...

 

[Phil Wilkins]

Ok since there are 2 cool SSM guys in here could you answer this: How come there is only 1 unlockable skin on the retail disk???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b66SlBA948o