March Climber
Gold Member
It's crazy that they did this grounded/serious Zelda artstyle bait and switch not once, but twice.
Zelda Games Should Look Realistic
- Thread starter Instant_Classic
- Start date
64gigabyteram
Reverse groomer.
Twilight Princess looks good though.
alabtrosMyster
Member
Cartoony Zelda is what made me drop out of this series.
BlackTron
Member
My much younger sister bought TP for Wii U with the amiibo then everybody in the house mocked it for being called HD even though it was the same game. I hardly ever saw the game running myself but I thought it was funny that kids were making fun of it even saying it looked worse than the Wii version. My guess is HD amplified some ugliness.
Maybe a remake in the tech demo style would look nice, thing is I'm just not a big fan of the game anyway so I wouldn't play it. Just take TP dungeons and drop them into BOTW and we are getting to a game worthy of the name Zelda. I dislike how they spread the things that made classic Zelda good across different titles as if it adds up to a good franchise instead of a good game. TP and SS are both plagued by that double dipping tears of light shit. Too much drudgery and busy work, I can get that in any old average game. Up to N64 they didn't need this kind of sleep inducing padding.
EDMIX
Writes a lot, says very little
#NeverForgetIt's crazy that they did this grounded/serious Zelda artstyle bait and switch not once, but twice.
BlackTron
Member
64gigabyteram
Reverse groomer.
Is it the bloom? you don't like the bloom?
Brumfieldhm
Member
Do we want "realistic" or do we just want the graphics to hold up to the stunning concept art for the games? They never do.
BlackTron
Member
The only good thing that looks good about the game is that sometimes in enclosed areas like dungeons the lighting hits right. IIRC the bloom actually helped mask the shit sometimes. Admittedly twilight realm looked okay too but who want to be wolf link? This games gimmick is taking away all your items and making you fight repetitive enemies the same way with the hand hat thing, when it's not making you find all the tears of light. But it's okay because wolf links walking animation and noise with the chain was superb, so we had an impressive game experience.
It's full of fugly characters, Link himself looks awkward, large barren spaces with nothing but muddy textures. It has a lot of good art that doesn't look that good because it's low res and patched together on 3D models with jaggies like a PS2 affair. I resent the actually fine dungeons in this game being gated behind all this crap. Like how many hours of busy work just to get to the first dungeon? And you have to stare at the poor visuals while doing it all. I have fond memories of the two times I played that forest temple but it's not worth starting the game over again. I can fire up OOT or LA and be plowing the game in no time.
64gigabyteram
Reverse groomer.
I can understand you, but i really don't wanna hear critiques about muddy textures from someone who clearly likes OOT and MM..... Especially "large barren spaces with nothing but muddy textures" like come on now. Don't act like OOT's Hyrule Field wasn't far worse in that regard not just because of the lower hardware but also there being way less to do.
I don't really hate the visuals outside of the bloom and color pallete being not as vibrant as it could be. Many of the models look fine for the art style the game's going for, which kind of reminds me a bit of Smash Brawl. Gameplay complaints are another thing entirely, since TBH all 3D Zeldas have had some annoying and stupid padding shoved into the game for one reason or another. They'll never match the well paced breakneck feel of ALTTP and that's just a flaw these games will have to live with because the formula is inherently flawed when it comes to that (especially on repeat playthroughs)
A game series like the original Ubisoft Prince of Persia reboots is a great peek into how 3D Zelda could have been had it been better paced. Or maybe Dark Souls.
Last edited:
Durin
Member
I'm fine with doing another style that isn't cel-shaded or having sparse detail...but naw if it's going to be realism to the point of using photogrammetry assets like so many boring looking UE5 games do.
I just want Zelda games that look like the concept art, and have some more contrast to the lighting/shadows.
I just want Zelda games that look like the concept art, and have some more contrast to the lighting/shadows.
Shaki12345
Banned
Twilight Princess has extremely flat lighting. The game almost feels static. Not alive. Only when using a torch.
Some characters look downright scary and uncanny.
But it's mostly the lighting and empty, barren spaces with low res textures.
Last edited:
kevboard
Member
they are about to release a system that is more powerful in every regard? are you living in 2016 or something?
Instant_Classic
Member
We want a realistic direction, doesn't have to necessarily be 100%, but definitely leaning down a less cartoony path.
Lunarorbit
Member
Regarding south Africa....
Ribi
Member
No, but Nintendo is.
BlackTron
Member
There isn't that much to do in OOT overworld and it isn't that big. The best thing about it is that you can simply continue playing the actual main game which was outstanding instead of doing busywork. TP had a much bigger overworld for the sake of being big and separated all the good parts of the game (dungeons) with trite garbage. OOT didn't have as infinite "things to do" as some other games, but when you found something, you actually wanted to do it. So I enjoyed virtually all my time playing the game instead of waiting for something good to happen while falling asleep.
Bottom of the well in OOT is better than 100 wells in TOTK that all have the same enemy for a collectathon goal. And when I beat OOT I'm willing to play it again unlike TOTK. The entire game is unique content that is all fun with virtually no padding.
OOT/MM were N64 games that I played before GameCube came out. By the time TP was released it was Wii launch and we had Xbox 360 already. The graphics failed to impress to contemporary standards unlike OOT which was the most megaton thing on release. The game design meanwhile compared unfavorably to their own past.
GC launch games like Luigi's Mansion and Rogue Leader would have had you expecting much better visuals, and this was giving them a free pass delaying it till the next console and buying it all day one anyway just because it's Zelda out of hype and trust. By the way, Brawl is the only Smash I don't like and the only one whose graphics I think are worse than its predecessor (okay, Ultimate is very slightly worse visuals than 4, but it's a wash really).
awwr999999
Member
Why PlayStation hasn't made a better Zelda game named something other than Zelda.
A Zelda-like PS exclusive would be able to do gore and nudity that Nintendo can't touch.
DualSense feedback would add a level of depth to the experience that Nintendo's controllers are incapable of providing.
awwr999999
Member
Cartoony games pair with gore in a way that realistic games can't.
Nintendo is permanently forbidden from making games with gore.
Giallo Corsa
Member
I don't know about "realism" but the 1st Darksiders is as close to a "mature" Zelda game as it gets
Last edited:
GriffinCorp
Member
I'm okay with the current look but honestly I'm still disappointed that we didn't get the Zelda showed off for the GameCube at E3. That looked the closest to an upgrade from OOO. I never like the cell shaded look.
Angry_Megalodon
Member
The sucess of the Zelda series is based on great worldbuilding and level design. At PS Studios the only ones who could create something at that level of quality is Asobi, but they are lacking the manpower to do so.
Sony had the Fate Grand Order characters to make a full fledged JRPG and let Mihoyo eat their lunch, for the same reasons. They don't have the particular talent needed to make that type of game.
Melon Husk
Member
Pivot to a realistic style after the live action movie, maybe, we'll see?
BlackTron
Member
On this note, I should have replied to it more directly in my other post. Yeah none of it is as fast to pick up as ALTTP, and OOT will have early cutscenes and the unskippable text teaching mechanics in the Deku Tree that you really don't need on repeated playthroughs. True!
But at least it's just a few cutscenes, and then I can get directly to the game, and that slow text is happening while I'm actually playing the dungeon already. By the time I complete the first dungeon and can escape to Hyrule Field with an Ocarina, I've barely even entered the Forest Temple in Twilight Princess yet. I'm too busy herding cows. It isn't fun.
64gigabyteram
Reverse groomer.
3D Zeldas are fun games and I can wait a bit for dungeons, anyways. It's just that I don't really mind pacing issues because the entire formula was never the best paced to begin with.
OOT is definitely the best Zelda in that regard, but even then Hyrule Field is a slog to get through, switching between past and future can be a drag especially without the temple teleport song, Kaepora Gaebora's existence, etc. It's a slower formula because the game was meant to bring out the spectacle in even the more mundane actions- an element that didn't age that well considering the more impressive and immersive games we have today like RDR2 and God of War.
When I put it like that actually it makes sense why OOT and MM went for the detailed and dark (if blurry because N64 limitations) artstyles they went for. I think that's what spurred on this thread honestly!
Dunno why TOTK is catching strays here, but i find that comparison a bit bizzare considering how different OOT is compared to BOTW, let alone TOTK.
OFC TOTK is going to reuse content when it's an open world. It's a bit sad since the game took 6 fucking years but Nintendo's made of humans after all. The well in OOT was more important and part of the story (as well as granting a very important item for the Shadow Temple) while in TOTK they're meant to fill out the map and make the world feel more real.
Anybody could make great level design, honestly. They'd just need to take away resources from graphical prowess and production values for a bit in order to make more unique and well put together levels. That's not what Sony goes for unfortunately.
Last edited:
Walliwallipaloo
Member
UE5 realism? Gross, ubiquitous? Naw.
Realistic-ish and gritty? Sure. That's really what the OP's shots evoke. There's no need for Zelda to try and look like Stellar Blade or something. But a more detailed anime-esque look akin to Twilight Princess wouldn't go amiss.
Not that I plan on buying anything Nintendo-related again, mind. But that's the take of an old-school Zelda fan, at least.
Realistic-ish and gritty? Sure. That's really what the OP's shots evoke. There's no need for Zelda to try and look like Stellar Blade or something. But a more detailed anime-esque look akin to Twilight Princess wouldn't go amiss.
Not that I plan on buying anything Nintendo-related again, mind. But that's the take of an old-school Zelda fan, at least.
Polygonal_Sprite
Member
I agree but on top of higher resolutions the next Zelda needs -
More detailed geometry in the World.
Advanced cel shading shader (3/4 sources vs the current 2).
Better texture resolution.
Better shadow resolution.
Higher precision lighting.
Better draw distances.
Stable framerate.
SirTerry-T
Member
It takes more talent and imagination from an art director to create a cohesive vision as seen in those "cartoony" Nintendo games than the majority of all those UE/Substance Painter library/Art Station/lookalike titles shitting up the game shelves.
Come On Tars
Gold Member
I remember a quarter century ago when Nintendo lied and told us we'd get Zelda graphics like this:
But instead we got
"I was there Gandalf"