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Okami is Stunning - small movie 2 pics
- Thread starter olimario
- Start date
TekunoRobby
Tag of Excellence
Okami proves that art is in many cases much more important than any touted graphical features.
This is a VERY good trend, I hope more companies start experimenting.
This is a VERY good trend, I hope more companies start experimenting.
Pedigree Chum
Banned
beautiful. i love mah PS2 
OG_Original Gamer
Member
The art in this game, should be framed and mounted on a wall.
Certainly, its an admirable approach to take, but I haven't been totally impressed by the execution. The biggest things are the blurriness of the watercolor effect in many places and the too regular paper texture cast across everything, that looks like something generated from a Photoshop filter that took 2 minutes of fiddling with settings.
TekunoRobby
Tag of Excellence
I have the same quibbles, judging from the videos they've released the graphics engine is nothing spectacular and in a lot of places a bit rudimentary. I'm assuming that this is the Viewtiful Joe engine since it shares a few similarities with the rendering on both textures and cell shading and plus the engine is quite capable of doing a 3D environment at a decent clip so I wouldn't imagine them creating a new one on such a short budget.kaching said:
You know the usual squabble, bottom line versus experimentation and expressionism.MrparisSM said:Same here. Why don't Devs experiment on Xbox like this?
It's the same problem that everything creative in a business-centric environment ultimately faces. They want to create a product that is both creative and appeals to a large portion of the public (Viewtiful Joe for example). This is why a lot of developers don't exactly trek off into new territory because of the high costs usually associated with development. Okami for example is a game that heavily focuses on Japanese art (I'm leaning towards oil paintings and watercolor but I'm not an expert on asian art). This is a bit of a stretch since your limiting your audience with the uniqueness of the presentation and the wholly Japanese-centric visuals it carries. It will probably be moderately succesful considering how original the game appears when compared to the rest of the marketplace.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
OG_Original Gamer said:
I agree.
The graphics engine may be rudimentary, but the blurriness, the lack of clear delineation between colors seems intentional, rather than a limitation of the engine. I realize that watercolors tend to bleed, but that's not *always* the case. It seems like they may have applied a general glow filter or such. And I don't think it would have strained the engine to come up with something a little less regular in pattern for the paper/substrate background.
TheGreenGiant
Banned
Already sold. but SOLD.
if you guys haven't seen the trailer from a while back - it's fantastic! Probably my top 5 game in terms of need/love/expectations
if you guys haven't seen the trailer from a while back - it's fantastic! Probably my top 5 game in terms of need/love/expectations
TekunoRobby
Tag of Excellence
Yes, one shouldn't think it's a limitation of the engine or hardware. I was merely expressing my opinion on the engine itself. I won't even dare try to guesstimate the rendering techniques and the filters they are applying since I haven't a clue as to how the Viewtiful Joe engine operates. Though I do know, from personal experience, the horribly delicate balance and endless tweaking of filters on the CG side of things so I can appreciate the massive difficulty they must be enduring to get it just right in real-time. It's incredibly taxing so I imagine the optimization they must have gone through in order to churn out a few more features other than the basic texture filters and cell shading used.
I pray they have an expert with watercolors and possibly an expert with oil paintings on hand for this game. I definitely see some oil-based inspiration in a few scenes and a mixture of other paper-based art as well. Not that I don't trust the art crew in Clover but having someone who's dabbled in the artform for 30+ years would be an incredible asset to the direction. I could also see some possible marketing crossovers by having a respected cultural artist on hand and publicity by extending the product over into the artistic society. Possibly someday there will be a unique crossover product, atleast there are a couple of noteworthy attempts already.
I pray they have an expert with watercolors and possibly an expert with oil paintings on hand for this game. I definitely see some oil-based inspiration in a few scenes and a mixture of other paper-based art as well. Not that I don't trust the art crew in Clover but having someone who's dabbled in the artform for 30+ years would be an incredible asset to the direction. I could also see some possible marketing crossovers by having a respected cultural artist on hand and publicity by extending the product over into the artistic society. Possibly someday there will be a unique crossover product, atleast there are a couple of noteworthy attempts already.
Aizu_Itsuko
Member
Plus there's more competition on PS2. You have to differenciate your game from the rest.cybamerc said:
PS: Man, that first screen looks beautiful.