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I don't know if this was already posted, but i got this is from NeoGAF:

"I think some people are forgetting that X is still deep in development. The trailer probably only consists of gameplay elements because Nintendo rushed Monolith to throw together a trailer in time for an urgent Nintendo Direct. I mean, you wouldn't expect a typical reveal trailer to name the lead character "Tester". There's also a lot of inconsistency with the environments, which screams 'still in development'.

I wanted to point out this GIF specifically:



If you look at the first sword swing animation, it's immediately apparent that it's a placeholder. Only his upper body is moving, the bottom half is completely still. There's also no smooth transition to the next attack, which even Xenoblade had. Another oddity to point out is the particle effects throughout the trailers, which are also low quality compared to almost everything else, meaning they might also be placeholders. There's still a while to go in this game's development it seems.

With that said, it's also one of the most impressive shots of any console game I've seen. The foliage is high quality and alive, the enemies shadows are soft, the models are insanely detailed and the draw distance is top notch. There's nothing to really fault here. It certainly has that next gen feel to it.

The backgrounds also look incredible. If it's anything like Xenoblade, chances are they're not just props, but actual explorable locations.


It's hard to compare with a game like Skyrim and RDR, since the art direction for the games are on opposite ends. I prefer the foliage of X over the foliage of RDR, but that's a matter of preferences since the foliage is meant to look more lush in X. Skyrim's foliage is worse than both RDR and X though, since it's not as dense and it doesn't draw foliage too far off into the distance.

If X manages to keep a steady framerate at 720p while preserving the insane draw distances and large worlds of Xenoblade, I'd personally rate it above any other open world game on the 360. But this argument matters very little anyway, since 'next gen' or not, it seems the vast majority are satisfied with what we have here. It's going to be an amazing game."

And:

"The grass pop in is likely because the game is incomplete. Not even Xenoblade suffered from that, as it employed a graceful fade in approach for its LOD models.

Anyway, if you think it's not a technically impressive game, that's good and all, but I beg to differ. Take this shot for example:



For one, the draw distance is as good as it gets. It's clear as daylight with no standard current-gen fog to cleverly limit the draw distance. It also doesn't look sparse like many games with high draw distances. Sure, it uses LOD, but the majority of open world games in existence, whether console or PC, utilize LOD, or else you'd be stuck with crappy pop ins. It's not really a 'trick', but a standard design choice employed to maximize performance.

Another thing to note is the high quality self shadowing. The sword is casting a smooth shadow on the player's back. A lot games now do employ self shadowing though only to a certain extent, as the majority of its implementation is limited to main characters only and a limited amount of props. Take a look at the following GIF:



Pay attention to the smaller enemy. Not only is there self shadowing, but there is also a highly detailed shadow cast from the tree above onto the enemy, meaning there's dynamic projective shadowing cast from static environment objects onto dynamic objects. It's all realtime. When taking into account the scale of the game, that's bloody impressive. Also, as mentioned in my other post, the foliage is marvelous.

I also just realized the environment casts a reflection onto the water in both GIFs. Not a big deal at all, but at least we're gone from the awful Xenoblade water :P



This screen capture also shows that high-resolution normal maps and specular maps are being used, since even at that close distance, the detail on the enemy still holds up well.
Guess that's where the added RAM comes in handy. If the game manages to keep a locked framerate and a minimum 720p resolution, it will certainly be a lot more than just decent in comparison to PS3 and 360 titles.

Time will tell I guess.

Also, IIRC, Skyrim does use LOD, though probably not as effectively as some would've hoped."

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=46834569&postcount=670
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=46829584&postcount=592

This, my friends, is how you talk about techincal details. Also, there is simply no way a PS3/360 would be able to run so many soft shadows as X on Wii U, since there isn't enough bandwidth nor RAM to do that. Also, just look at the texture quality(looking like it's on par with PC games running on high from a few years ago, better than current gen consoles, tough i can't really tell because of the low quality captured video) and geometry, they even wasted resources to do small 3D rocks on the ground. I'm quite impressed that the Wii U can run this game.