2D gaming forever!!
2D gaming forever!!
I mean, to be fair, I'm starting to actually like PS1-era 3D graphics. It's hard to put a finger on, but just for example somehow King's Field on PS1 feels more like an immersive environment for me than the "better looking" King's Field: The Ancient City on PS2, which I actually found a bit boring.
I recently took possession of an HDMI modified N64 console. It's the best N64 games have ever looked to me, yet the modification doesn't fix the short draw distance or change the low resolution textures used in N64 games. Early 3D is primitive and often glitch ridden. But as I play today's modern 3D games I thank the visionaries who saw that the future was 3D and maybe even VR, but definitely not 2D!
Most of the indie games I buy, and thank goodness I can buy physical copies, are 2D. I enjoy them as well, but I can't be wowed by them like I can be with a 3D game.
I'm basically the same way, I'm starting to like the style of PS1 graphics. I never did back when the system was current, but now I guess it feels vintage so it became charming. When it was current I wondered why everyone was liking it over the Genesis as the games just looked and played better compared to anything 3D on the PS1. I feel the same way with early CGI animation preferring it to the super realistic animation of today, not that I outright hate all modern animation.
There's actually several independent games coming out that are made to look like PS1 era graphics so it somehow became an art style, mostly horror titles. Interestingly all these games describe having PS1 style graphics, not N64. There's just something about the PS1 that aged better than the N64 did.
And I think I can see it.... it's hard to explain, but I notice that N64 games tend to look not that different from early 3D accelerated (3Dfx for example) computer games, which is also the point where I start thinking game graphics look... "boring."
Like, PS1 graphics have this sort of "pixelated" look to them, but oddly that's kinda what makes them look "good." I guess the best way to put it is its like how some movies seriously look better on VHS than they do with remastered HD sources.
And horror actually is what seems to bring it out the most, really. If you look too clean and mundane, its hard to be scary (unless the game is about cleaning your room, I guess).
I've always liked the look of 5th gen 3D, whether it be PS1, N64, or Saturn. I also like that there were games with all sorts of combinations of sprites, 3D models, prerendered images, etc. If I find a game from back then ugly, it's just because I don't like its aesthetic design, not because of the hardware limitations. But games like Tail Concerto, Mega Man Legends, Kirby 64, Goemon's Great Adventure and many, many others have always been pleasing to my eyes.
Well they have remastered quite a few of the 90's 3D titles and resold them. For me, if the game was fun and controlled well, the graphics were an afterthought for me. I can easily return to PS1, N64, Saturn 3D games that look hilarious now, if they're fun to play. Technically you can run them on an emu that will greatly improve them, but I prefer a CRT where the lack of textures is not that big a deal.
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What's charming to me about the era is that everyone was kind of doing their own thing and it caused the games to all have their own stylistic quirks. While games today are technically "better" they've also settled into a homogenized standard. Seeing a bunch of different games trying to look "real" within the confines of 90s technology inadvertently forced a lot of publishers and developers into creating their own style as they decided which corners to cut.
WelcomeToTheNextLevel (05-11-2020)
And that's before you get to the fact that a lot of games don't even make their own graphics, they just buy a bunch of pre-made art assets on the Unity Shop or whatever and use those.
It reminds me of something I once read about manga, that apparently in Japan they have manga stencils that come pre-packaged with things like "generic schoolboy character" and even entire page layouts. Now, I only ever saw this mentioned in one interview (by a comic book artist who apparently was in Japan) and I've never seen the actual stencils for sale anywhere, but considering how homogenous a lot of manga art is, I wouldn't be shocked if there weren't some truth to it.
I work in the manga industry, and I've literally never heard that. Sounds more like someone is confused with how you can buy textures to fill in spaces. Those are commonly used. And some artists occasionally use photos for backgrounds. I've never heard of anyone buying premade character art. I can't even imagine any scenario where that would work. There's no such thing as a "generic" style. Everybody draws a little bit different, so even if you try extremely hard to mimic somebody else's style, you're not going to match it exactly. I get that there are trends in art styles, and that may make things look homogeneous to people, but there's still variance. And even if you set aside the style not matching, there's also the issue of needing characters drawn at all different sizes, in all different poses, at all different angles. Premade textures work because you get a whole sheet of the texture and can cut it out in any size and shape you want. If a manga artist doesn't want to draw something him/herself, that's what their assistants are for.
It sounds more like a webcomic by Tim Buckley, more info from the Bad Webcomics Wiki.
http://badwebcomicswiki.shoutwiki.co...rl%2BAlt%2BDel