GRcade

Jenuall wrote:How is Kojima, someone THIS obsessed with film and creating something that apes that medium, still seemingly happy with something that is this plagued by poor facial animation and uncanny valley horror?

he probably finds it very attractive

Sonic X Shadow Generations is touted as a remaster on the official site for it, but what exactly is remastered it seems they're keeping quiet for now. Also, as expected, on all current consoles.

Tomous wrote:

Jenuall wrote:Oh look it's Ken Levine's game - Bioshock all over again but seemingly with even less interesting to say/show!

He closed down Irrational Games because he didn't want to make Bioshock games anymore....and went and set up a new studio to make a game that looks like Bioshock. And called it Judas

A very stable genius

The announcement of not-Metal Gear made my night.

Jenuall wrote:How is Kojima, someone THIS obsessed with film and creating something that apes that medium, still seemingly happy with something that is this plagued by poor facial animation and uncanny valley horror?

I thought the thing that looked a bit off was that it clearly has that camera-man-walking-around-a-sound-stage motion capture direction, with that weird kind of stagey conversation style you get when things are unbroken by the normal grammar of film cuts and stuff. If anything I thought any uncanniness (particularly in the scene with both of them strolling around in semi-greyscale) was due to the fidelity being like almost too high? Especially with the faster-than-film frame rate it looked almost like watching FMV, but with 3D models or something. Vaguely green-screened and uncanny in a different way?

But motion capture wise I thought it was pretty astonishing, I think the best I've seen? I know what you mean about the uncanny valley thing (especially Seydoux's smile bit) but the eyes (the main culprit usually?) were fine and her final cigarette-and-tear shot was proof to me that their tech really can capture a lot of subtle facial ticks and movement.

I'm not exactly sure I wholly 'agree' with it as like a visual philosophy, but execution-wise I was well impressed.

Also that glove mask thing and the doll that animated at half rate? There was enough fun weirdness to make me interested and I've not played DS1.

Anyway, compare it to Judas which still has that bizarro face and physique exaggeration and puppet-like stiffness to its animations even all these years on and it almost makes Judas look like a deliberate throwback to a specific style! Boomer-shooter-bioshock shlock

I get uncanny valley is a personal thing but I certainly don't see what Jen is seeing, I thought it looked fantastic. I'm also very excited for the game generally (and probably would consider the first a "great masterwork"!).

On the other end of graphix discussion:

Jenuall wrote:

KK wrote:By the looks of it, unless you have mega budgets, the graphics are still very much stuck in the PS4 era for the majority of these games.

Yeah this Rise of the Ronin in particularly looks REALLY last gen

I thought so too - but it also made me think I don't really have a problem with that? I immediately starting comparing it to Ghost of Tsushima which most games will struggle to match up against, but then I still think it looked good and the blood in the snow was a cool visual.

Helldivers 2 - 8 February
Stellar Blade - 26 April
Sonic X Shadow Generations - "Autumn" 2024
Zenless Zone Zero - TBC
Foamstars - 6 February (free with PS Plus Essential)
Dave the Diver - 5 April (with Godzilla DLC in May)
V-Rising - "2024"
Silent Hill: The Short Message - Now! (free from PlayStation Store)
Silent Hill 2 (remake) - TBC
Judas - TBC
Metro Awakening VR - "2024"
Legendary Tales VR - 8 February
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 22 March
Rise of the Ronin - 22 March
Until Dawn (remaster) - "2024"
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach - "2025"
Physint (action espionage | Kojima)- maybe 2029/2030?
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - special State of Play showing on 6 February

That was quite an impressive array of titles, imho. If I had to pick my three "most anticipated" games from the roster, I'd say... Death Stranding 2, Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin.

That was just awful. DS2 saved the day somewhat, but my god.

That game with the jiggly boobed woman was just embarrassing.

Another meh SoP.

Some of the best facial capture in the biz going on in DS2 there.

Jadeuall wrote:poor facial animation

Like clockwork

OrangeRKN wrote:I get uncanny valley is a personal thing but I certainly don't see what Jen is seeing, I thought it looked fantastic. I'm also very excited for the game generally (and probably would consider the first a "great masterwork"!).

On the other end of graphix discussion:

Jenuall wrote:

KK wrote:By the looks of it, unless you have mega budgets, the graphics are still very much stuck in the PS4 era for the majority of these games.

Yeah this Rise of the Ronin in particularly looks REALLY last gen

I thought so too - but it also made me think I don't really have a problem with that? I immediately starting comparing it to Ghost of Tsushima which most games will struggle to match up against, but then I still think it looked good and the blood in the snow was a cool visual.

Yeah I don't particularly care that a lot of what is on show is "last gen +" in terms of presentation - gameplay and fluidity always beats out graphics for the sake of it IMO. But it is something of a shame that we're years into the new generation and very little really has pushed the bar forward for "state of the art" in graphics.


Regarding Death Stranding, there's just something about the character animation and presentation that really disconnects me from the experience. There's a dead eyed element to everyone and the faces during conversation just don't look and sync right with the audio in a way that kills it for me.

The more "realistic" the surface level visuals become the more this kind of stuff stands out. It's why more stylised presentation always works better for me. I genuinely still think that the character and facial animation on someone like Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2 in 2004 is better and more easy to connect with emotionally than pretty much anything since.

You meet that woman who I think is the president or something? early-ish in the first DS game and she genuinely presents as a robot to me, just completely immersion breaking. (I mean, this is Kojima so she could well be a robot or an alien or something for all I know! ) And this trailer for 2 is giving me very similar vibes.

Can’t say there was much shown here that I was overly interested in. Few things I’ll play at some point down the line but no day one buys or things I’m super hyped about. Maybe this is just a factor of getting old and enjoying playing more older stuff

Helldivers 2 - 8 February
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 22 March
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach - "2025"
Physint (action espionage | Kojima)- maybe 2029/2030?

It was maybe lacking in new reveals, but these are the standouts for me!

- A proper mix-things-up sequel to one of the best co-op games of the previous generation
- A long awaited sequel to one of the best RPGs ever made
- A sequel to one of the best games ever made
- A promise of new MGS in all but name

For once I thought a SoP was actually really good and most of the games are pretty close.

Death Stranding was unusual and somewhat almost excellent. It was like nothing I have played before. So will the sequel holds the same? We'll see.

Until Dawn remake is what excited me. But it still wouldn't beat Until Dawn.. hang on...

I had no idea State of Play was happening yesterday.

Let's get this out of way: Still no sign of new Everybody's Golf.

Now, on topic: Until Dawn being available on PC soon is great move. Deffo one of my favourite PS4 games and I'm liking the look of that Bioshock-alike game.

Also I thought we may see a wee preview of Alan Wake 2 DLC. Alas...

Wrt: Stellar Blade (i.e. Nier Boobonetta) I like the look of it personally and I think the girl's design is cool because the emerald green makes her look like a dragonfly (a dragonfly with a tie for some reason).

Only Death Stranding 2 for me, but I'm still playing the first so I didn't watch the trailer.

Nothing to make me WANT a PS5 at all here, nothing on PS5 does If I'm being honest, of course the opposite is true for people who don't care about MP stuff and need those over the shoulder sad dad games.

It's telling that Hellblade 2 to me is the least interesting game Xbox has coming out, not my bag at all even if it is very pretty.