Tachikoma said:
Nuvendil said:
Sounds good. That's actually the way it should be done because counting polygons and texture pixels really isn't helpful. All games are downgraded along the way from a letter-of-the-definition perspective; that's a major part of optimization. The question should be how effectively the optimizations preserve the visual integrity of the experience. If they reduced one texture set by 75% but you never see it clear enough to notice, then it was not nearly as bad as reducing a texture by 50% that is constantly in your face and noticeable. To make a rather basic comparison.
Also, one design choice I don't agree with right off is the resistance to any kind of prerendering of cutscenes. I don't mean ridiculous high-detail models, but perhaps the high-poly bases for the in game models with higher textures, just to give the scenes a cleaner look. As it stands, you go into cutsenes and often have your face pressed up against textures that were clearly never meant to be seen at such close distances.
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Granted its an odd design choice, I would have done higher quality texture interiors of the dolls and mapped it to switch to these during closeups or internal views, result would have been a clearner presentation at minimal cost, instead it seems they let the doll use its default texture lod, looks fine from a set distance or further but close up to the pilot, as is the case in many cutscenes, really should have been given the additional attention.
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The stranger fact is that in cockpit mode in combat, the textures dont' *seem* as bad. So I don't know what it is, maybe really bad popin issues that occur when switching camera? I kinda lean towards the popin theory given that the quality seems inconsistent (though never "nice") from video to video and even scene to scene. I mean, textures getting snagged is clearly an issue at times, we've seen it with several instances where a character enters a room or the camera snaps suddenly to a crowded area.
This is kinda my biggest gripe with the original Xenoblade too. That game would have benefited hugely from there being sharper models and textures in cutsenes. Still within the art style and all that, but much cleaner. I am assuming it's a cost and resources issue on the development side, but I do hope it's not a permanent aspect of the series. Although future platforms may be strong enough to where it won't matter in subsequent entries.
On the whole, when looking at the game purely from the gameplay perspective, I think the whole of the game still looks quite close to the old footage and the optimizations were mostly well done from an aesthetical viewpoint. It's when the camera is moved in that things start to get a bit murkier. We'll see more clearly next week.
