5th April 2013, 5:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 5th April 2013, 5:51 AM by Dark Jaguar.)
No, I stand by my Playstation comparison. Namely, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy IX, Parasite Eve, that sort of thing (in terms of look on the "main world", not combat engine or anything of course). Infinity Engine games were a lot more limited in the perspective they could show, and it was all 2D graphics all the way down.
They did explain exactly what method they were using for those screenshots. It's not like Wasteland 2 at all. Wasteland 2 is completely 3D rendering with an overhead isometric perspective. Due to popular demand, and internal desire, the Torment team is going with 3D characters and effects on top of purely 2D backgrounds. If you look at those shots, you can see that's what they did. Those backgrounds are essentially concept art. They added in 3D water, moving real time parts like that bridge and that gear, and real time rendered characters, and lighting effects across the scene. Yeah, it's identical to the art style that a lot of Playstation 1 RPGs used, only with far better graphical power behind it than those games had back then for the 3D components and special effects.
Yes, the gameplay is going to be like Planescape, but it should look a lot nicer. I always really liked the look of those Playstation era RPGs. I'm expecting some gorgeous cinematics too. The art direction on the original Planescape's cinematics was great, but the tech behind them was... lacking compared to contemporary powerhouses like Square.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pT5xt92SFHg" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fRBNbnhwOEs" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
Chrono Cross is an amazing game anyway. I love tackling the notion that even though you changed the past to prevent a horrible future, that whole timeline, everyone's lives as they were in that timeline, is now dead. "Murderer of time", that's Chrono and the gang, in a way. A horrible accident happened in the future that dragged that whole alternate reality into a small sea in an island chain, the "time crash". Also, the music is incredible, and the combat system is amazingly innovative for turn based combat.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P4uvyGvIViE" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>
Final Fantasy IX is a game that people disliked a bit when it first came out, but it really has taken off in popularity these days. Again, those prerendered backgrounds are amazing, as in Chrono Cross.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DrnuLoNyrF0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
Parasite Eve also demonstrates this art style very well.
All in all, there is one thing that doing the game this way will allow for. Since the characters are now rendered in real time, there is no need to "force" a certain angle for all locations. Before, with sprites, everything had to take into account the one angle the sprites were rendered from. Since they can be rendered in real time in any angle the scene requires, they can switch camera angles from one fixed scene to the next, to allow for some stunning viewpoints here and there. They can do some trippy things if you move your characters across some weird "crazy stairs" in that dream world too.
They did explain exactly what method they were using for those screenshots. It's not like Wasteland 2 at all. Wasteland 2 is completely 3D rendering with an overhead isometric perspective. Due to popular demand, and internal desire, the Torment team is going with 3D characters and effects on top of purely 2D backgrounds. If you look at those shots, you can see that's what they did. Those backgrounds are essentially concept art. They added in 3D water, moving real time parts like that bridge and that gear, and real time rendered characters, and lighting effects across the scene. Yeah, it's identical to the art style that a lot of Playstation 1 RPGs used, only with far better graphical power behind it than those games had back then for the 3D components and special effects.
Yes, the gameplay is going to be like Planescape, but it should look a lot nicer. I always really liked the look of those Playstation era RPGs. I'm expecting some gorgeous cinematics too. The art direction on the original Planescape's cinematics was great, but the tech behind them was... lacking compared to contemporary powerhouses like Square.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pT5xt92SFHg" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fRBNbnhwOEs" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
Chrono Cross is an amazing game anyway. I love tackling the notion that even though you changed the past to prevent a horrible future, that whole timeline, everyone's lives as they were in that timeline, is now dead. "Murderer of time", that's Chrono and the gang, in a way. A horrible accident happened in the future that dragged that whole alternate reality into a small sea in an island chain, the "time crash". Also, the music is incredible, and the combat system is amazingly innovative for turn based combat.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P4uvyGvIViE" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>
Final Fantasy IX is a game that people disliked a bit when it first came out, but it really has taken off in popularity these days. Again, those prerendered backgrounds are amazing, as in Chrono Cross.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DrnuLoNyrF0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
Parasite Eve also demonstrates this art style very well.
All in all, there is one thing that doing the game this way will allow for. Since the characters are now rendered in real time, there is no need to "force" a certain angle for all locations. Before, with sprites, everything had to take into account the one angle the sprites were rendered from. Since they can be rendered in real time in any angle the scene requires, they can switch camera angles from one fixed scene to the next, to allow for some stunning viewpoints here and there. They can do some trippy things if you move your characters across some weird "crazy stairs" in that dream world too.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)