Game looks great, but...

[Mangonel]

Just slipping this into the topic title, "Game looks great, but... it will look even better when we all actually play it."

 

As to the subject at hand, I quite like the presentation of the game. It has an old-school feeling to it, reminiscent of Baldur's Gate 2, but with better visual fidelity because of the power of today's machines. Do I care about graphics? Not really, but they're quite nice for immersion. I'm quite happy still playing text adventures, but being able to see the worlds I roam does have a nice quality to it that I don't quite get imagining the scenery.

 

This.

 

I get people think the character models look bad when zoomed into an inventory screen, but remember you'll be spending 90% of your time looking at them top-down when they're like ~1.5 inches tall. Beyond that the backgrounds look great with the animated effects on them.

 

Overall, I feel Obsidian has done a very good job at maintaining the IE aesthetic while updating the look for todays higher resolution monitors.

 

That said, I'm not sure what they could do besides upping the polys of the model to make the inventory screen close-ups look better. Admittedly they are the 'worst' looking aspect of the game so far.

 

Also, why the pissing contest over which dev got more money?

[Zansatsu]

This game was specifically designed to look and feel like an infinity engine game right? If I'm wrong about this i will recant but this is what the backers paid for. So well done. It looks close to perfect.

[Elzarath]

"Also, why the pissing contest over which dev got more money?"

 

Haha yes, great question.

[Bryy]

"Also, why the pissing contest over which dev got more money?"

 

Haha yes, great question.

Yup, and unfortunately, an all too frequent pissing contest.

[Fatback]

My **** look like a pumpkin yo **** look like Macaulay Culkin

[Grace85]

My **** look like a pumpkin yo **** look like Macaulay Culkin

 

 

Eeeh.....

 

You home alone or something?

[Bryy]

Why are you guys talking about budgets? It's not about budget, it's about priorities.

And how exactly is that separate from budget?

[Panteleimon]

 

Why are you guys talking about budgets? It's not about budget, it's about priorities.

And how exactly is that separate from budget?

 

 

 

Especially given the number of "priorities" for PoE that were directly tied to stretch goals, not to mention the existence of the game itself.

 

I understand the spirit of his statement, though. That money can only enable writers, artists and designers and all their vision and ability, not buy it or produce it out of thin air. It doesn't even act as fertilizer.

[Bryy]

That money can only enable writers, artists and designers and all their vision and ability, not buy it or produce it out of thin air. 

Buy what? Produce what?

[Panteleimon]

 

That money can only enable writers, artists and designers and all their vision and ability, not buy it or produce it out of thin air. 

Buy what? Produce what?

 

 

 

An intellectually rich, thoughtful, complex and challenging game crafted by those who have dedicated their careers to doing so? Money is only the fuel is the point.

[Bryy]

 

 

That money can only enable writers, artists and designers and all their vision and ability, not buy it or produce it out of thin air. 

Buy what? Produce what?

 

 

 

An intellectually rich, thoughtful, complex and challenging game crafted by those who have dedicated their careers to doing so? Money is only the fuel is the point.

 

Nobody is saying that money equals creativity. I'm certainly not. But to confuse budget with some sort of other, mythical, mystical Pure Artist thing that makes the game is ridiculous.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

 

 

 

 some sort of other, mythical, mystical Pure Artist thing that makes the game is ridiculous.

 

I have one word for that: Epiphany!

 

Or perhaps two: Eureka!

[Panteleimon]

 

 

 

That money can only enable writers, artists and designers and all their vision and ability, not buy it or produce it out of thin air. 

Buy what? Produce what?

 

 

 

An intellectually rich, thoughtful, complex and challenging game crafted by those who have dedicated their careers to doing so? Money is only the fuel is the point.

 

Nobody is saying that money equals creativity. I'm certainly not. But to confuse budget with some sort of other, mythical, mystical Pure Artist thing that makes the game is ridiculous.

 

 

 

Absolutely. Thus, I said:

 

 

Especially given the number of "priorities" for PoE that were directly tied to stretch goals, not to mention the existence of the game itself.

 

I understand the spirit of his statement, though. That money can only enable writers, artists and designers and all their vision and ability, not buy it or produce it out of thin air. It doesn't even act as fertilizer.

 

 

I was interpreting caerdon's comment as relates to "Money a good game does not make" is all.

 

P.S. Only an hour now, Bryy, then you've won.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Panteleimon

[Bryy]

You can have as many priorities as you want.

 

Doesn't mean they are the rest of the teams priorities.

 

And if the budget is not there, priorities shift.

 

And twenty minutes.

[dorkboy]

Are character models supposed to convey personality? Or are they supposed to be mere coat-hangers with [facial] hair?

This is not a question of graphical fidelity, mind you.. 

[NWN_babaYaga]

I dont think that we get to see our characters or every character in detail that much while you play. Not sure how close you can zoom in but who needs a extreme high poly model if you play a game like that? It´s not a first person game where you can kiss npcs...

[Quetzalcoatl]

What's wrong with the character models? I can see disliking the faces, but the armor designs are excellent.

[NWN_babaYaga]

I could also argue that i want the face or the skin of my PC later on DIRTY because he is an adventurer and adventurers dont bath every day and they wander trough rivers, slimy mudponds, swamps and crawl trough caves etc... but i think i just dont care because i can accept that some things are the way how the devs designed them and good is. A game is not a wish concert where everything has to be perfectly looking how i imagine it... would be hard to do by so many different people who all have a unique vision what can be different...

[Killyox]

 

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

You might wanna check your sources mate.

 

Far as I understand it, the only "Early Access" is through the Backer Beta (which is only available til the 22nd or so).

 

They could go WL2 route and have backer beta before and after that early access beta with prepurchase on steam.

[Miyokari]

I don't know, even from gameplays what I saw, the game is looking perfect for me.

[Okenamay]

What I really love about PoE is the color scheme. Somewhat darkish, but not dull, with some intense lighting where it is necessary.

 

In fact, I can not force myself to play some of the recent games because they look like an exploding circus - bright, unmatched, unnatural colors, extremely colorful animations for routine actions etc. I mean, I understand it is done to attract kids and teens (it is a well-known psychological phenomenon), but it doesn't make it any better.

 

I expect the 3D models to be polished by the time the game is released. In fact, the moment I noticed PoE would be Unity-based, I was like 'oh crap, not that!' cause I have seen (and funded) some not-so-great examples of Unity-based games (MechWarrior Tactics and Shadowrun Returns - first being unoptimised and eyegouging, second feeling empty and incomplete). But after I've seen some gameplay footage, I am quite sure PoE will be great.

[neo6874]

 

 

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

You might wanna check your sources mate.

 

Far as I understand it, the only "Early Access" is through the Backer Beta (which is only available til the 22nd or so).

 

They could go WL2 route and have backer beta before and after that early access beta with prepurchase on steam.

 

And how much would this end up costing someone who wasn't a backer on or before 22 August?

 

Remember -- the current backer portal is giving "discounted" prices for a digital download copy, and it's a $25 addon to get a beta key.

[Panteleimon]

 

 

 

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

You might wanna check your sources mate.

 

Far as I understand it, the only "Early Access" is through the Backer Beta (which is only available til the 22nd or so).

 

They could go WL2 route and have backer beta before and after that early access beta with prepurchase on steam.

 

And how much would this end up costing someone who wasn't a backer on or before 22 August?

 

Remember -- the current backer portal is giving "discounted" prices for a digital download copy, and it's a $25 addon to get a beta key.

 

 

You'd have to set the price pretty high to avoid people picking it up and expecting a completed game that just happens to be labelled "BETA".

Edited August 18, 2014 by Panteleimon

[C2B]

I prefer PoE graphically to Divnity. Mah varied and detailed 2D pre-rendered backgrounds.

 

Regarding Divnity though. It's always hard to tell how much the budget of a game really was. One developer may count things another doesn't. Though, Divnity has been in development for more than 2 years longer than PoE. That's another important factor.

[Tartantyco]

D:OS had an extremely bad color palette, and the graphics were too cartoonish for me.