R we basically playing PS1 and Saturn quality cut scenes now

[Anthony1]

If you remember back to 1995 and 1996, when you would be playing your Playstation or Saturn or Nintendo 64, and there would be a cut scene that would show the character running around in an environment, and back then you just wished that the game actually looked like that.

With today's modern consoles, the PS2 and XBOX and GameCube, have we basically reached the point, where now we are actually "playing" these cut scenes?

The only reason that I bring this up, is because I was playing some old PS1 games the other day, and when I was watching the cut scenes, I was thinking to myself that, "Hey, that's a trip, with our games now for XBOX and PS2 and stuff, we are playing these freaking cut scenes now".


I remember back at that time, we thought to ourselves that one day we would actually be playing these cut scenes, and actually controlling the characters. And I think that we have basically gotten to that point.

[MaRiNe]

So true, think 98(or 97) when FF7 had just came out, and was THE shit. Basically the fmvs looked incredible, while the game during play looked like popeye on polygonheroin.

Metal Gear Solid 2 looks incredible, and you can actually zoom in and move around during an FMV, which to me, is beyond amazing, as I grew up playing sub par nes games like urban champion and legand of kage, thinking they were awsome, and being blown away with an snes, and the ps1 was just a kick in the face.

I mean honestly, first game I got for ps1 was Resident Evil. Talk about complete 360 from everything I was used to. Compared to what I'd been playing days before(Megaman X) this game blew my mind.

So yeah, were playing FMV's.

I couldent hardly play FFX, it felt like watching a movie, differenciateing between the two became quite hard.

[bargora]

Yep. Star Wars: Starfighter is basically like playing a custcene from Colony Wars.

Now if the PS3 can render and let you play the Armored Core 2 intro movie on the fly, that would be cool. [/graphics whore]

[djbeatmongrel]

i think we've excelled those graphics a bit but i do remember wishing that the new games would be like the cg scenes of the 32 bit era. although i'm only 17 i find it funny how most magazine reviews put so much into how good the graphics are instead how fun the game is. i hate it when people also base their new game purchases for the current gen systems on how good the graphics are, its sad really. boy this 128 bit generation is spoiled. :P

[GaijinPunch]

Well, if by cutscenes you mean FVM, then I'd say no. Sure, PS2/Xbox games in-game graphics now are probably much cleaner than the Saturns, and quite a bit cleaner than the PS's (Saturn's FMV was far inferior) but as it was pre-rendered, you can basically do "anything" as long as your 3D software allows it, whereas in-game stuff even today has to follow the rules of the system, and keep the poly-count within the systems constraints.

I know what you mean though. The gap between the two is definitely smaller, which is why you see less of an emphasis on FMV unless it's done "right". Nintendo likes to vear away from this stuff, whereas Square puts a lot of time into it.

[hezeuschrist]

I think the biggest difference between then and now is character movement. Compare a scene from FF7 to a scene from FFX... the graphics aren't really all that different, but the way the characters move and interact with the environment is so much more lifelike and realistic... not to mention voice acting. The level of detail now is just insane too. I never thought I would see the day when realistic strands of hair would be flowing across the screen, blowing in the wind and reacting to every bit of movement by the character. Same with loose clothing, robes and such.

[Ed Oscuro]

Basically, 3D animation and model was in a sorry state when the PlayStation and Saturn appeared. It took a while (and some PC games) for that sort of work to become commonplace, just like it took a while for 2D graphics to improve from the NES (Super Deform EVERYTHING) days to the later stuff on the Genesis and SNES.

As for the "amount of stuff" onscreen in an FMV on the Saturn or PlayStation...no really complex or amazing shading & lighting, usually only a couple objects onscreen (a Sun workstation still has to deal with memory) and so-so textures. I'd say we're doing much better than Saturn and PlayStation FMVs in terms of detail, especially render effects, except perhaps polygon detail which they seem to be able to crank out arbitrarily.