Animation vs. Textures
So, which is more important to you?:
Smooth, fluid animation sacrificing high detailed textures and anti-aliasing? Or do you prefer a hyper realistic look, even if the jump animation just looks a little (or way) off?
Or do you just sacrifice both for a bit of fun (see: Marvel Ultimate Alliance)?
Itagaki likes everything, but specifically mentions “movement and animation” here. Of course, anyone who has played Dead or Alive knows that :)
My weigh in on this: Animation.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time had a GREAT animation system. They specifically built it so any animation could lead into any other animation for the main character. This, in turn, made almost every one of his movements look good.
Watching him run around a level was something that was not only fun, but looked great. I had multiple friends walk by as I played who would mention: “wow, did he just do that?” As if there was some guy actually running around this degrading, trap-filled castle.
I’ve never really minded jaggies. The boarders are a little distracting but forgivable. I definitely notice when somebody or something doesn’t move correctly. It just looks off if someone’s walking animation doesn’t match where his feet are landing.
GTA’s euphoria use is another great example of “that. looks. outstanding.” when all that happened was a random pedestrian got hit by a car.
Phokal and I had many a discussion about graphics.
Mostly, I would complain about how playing a ps2 game with my eyes open was akin to jabbing my eyeball repeatedly into a nail clipper.
I don’t like jaggies nor do I like low res textures. That pretty much means that I don’t like any ps2 game.
Even with 360 games, there are quite a few games graphically that I don’t care for. Even the big hitters, like Halo 3, have jaggies along the edges. But I feel that I am asking too much for a $350 dollar system. Overall, I think it is just fine for what it is.
The reason why I give the PS2 such a hard time for its graphics is due to the fact that the console was the same price as an xbox, but most games looked noticably worst on the PS2. And because the PS2 was so popular, it had many exclusives that would have looked much better on the xbox. (some examples being final fantasy 12, shadow of the collosus, or God of War)
Games that I do like the look of are games such as gears of war or Team fortress 2. They don’t need to be hyper realistic, but I like a game that looks clean and polished.