A Graphics Perspective

[Abraxus]

I fully realize that the graphics in CoH are dated, especially when compared to the latest eye-candy filled games out there.  However, I have noted that if your system is running even a mediocre graphics card, once can run with all of the graphics settings in-game turned up to 11, which makes a noticeable improvement across the board.

 

Then there is the the fact that folks are excited about things like the venerable Jedi Knight coming to the Ninetendo Switch, and folks who play KOTOR, and KOTOR 2 many times through, and have no complaints at all about the graphics, because they love the game.  Those graphics are downright archaic even when compared with CoH.  So, perhaps I'm blinded by my love for the game, but the graphics don't bother me in the slightest.  In fact, just like most comic books you see having different illustration styles, I think of the look of CoH as it's signature style.  That works for me.

 

What do you guys think?

[Luminara]

Co* is similar to a present wrapped by someone special.  Sometimes, the wrapping paper and bow are silly.  And sometimes, adorable.  Always slightly imperfect, but good enough to do the job and nice to see.  What really mattered, though, was what was in the box.  It was that one perfect gift.

 

*sigh*

 

Someone get an Android client compiled, please.

[Number9]

Turn on the cel shading, and CoH appears much less dated.  I wasnt sure if I was going to like it but I keep it on now. 

[Frostbiter]

I think the graphical style as well as the slightly dated things like telephones and office equipment lend themselves well to the game. It makes it feel like its set in a very specific era in history for the world. Sort of a gritty late 90's vibe that would only work in this genre.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Frostbiter

[jubakumbi]

40 minutes ago, Number9 said:

Turn on the cel shading, and CoH appears much less dated.  I wasnt sure if I was going to like it but I keep it on now. 

I agree with this.

Carefully adjusting the cell shading has really made the game shine for me.

[Abraxus]

I haven't tried the Cel Shading option yet, because I'm not a fan of it, but it's proof positive that some thought has been given to the subject, and in addition to cranking up the settings to improve things, there are options to give it a fresh look in the existing version of the game.

[Frostbiter]

I haven't tried the cell-shading options in CoH but I immediately turned it off in Champions Online. I should probably try it sometime to make sure I still don't like cell shading.

[subbacultchas]

I only tried it once, and kind of forgot about it. I think I'm going to have to give it another shot.

Btw, dead on with classic games. I've been playing a lot of them for years through various emulators, and recently on the Switch with the SNES releases. I can't get enough of it, and don't expect that to ever change. Also Super Metroid and Breath of Fire are just as good as you remember, if you have a Switch.

[jubakumbi]

Give Cell Shading a 'proper chance' - do not just turn it on and say yuck and turn it off - IMO, the default is ugly, but turning the options way down and tweaking gives the textures a face-lift.

For some, I know, it makes the characters look a little plastic and shiny which they do not like, but I find that to only be really invasive in the Tailor, not in the game world.

 

It is not perfect, but IMO it really does give the game a leg up graphics-wise.

Edited September 13, 2019 by jubakumbi
speeling

[daHob]

I really like the cell shading, but I've been a big fan of it since Jet Grind Radio. I think it makes the graphics look more like a deliberate art style than just kind of dated.

A screenshot of my brute. I especially like how it handles the background.

This is with thickest outlining and maximum posterization.

[Lines]

I want to like the cel-shading, and mostly I do. But the way the war walls turned out bothered me immensely, and since they're so ubiquitous there was not much escaping it.

I played about for a while but couldn't get satisfied. If anyone's managed to get it to a state that many of the the effects don't look... um... chunky (? I don't know how to describe it) I'd love to see screenshots.

Actually a cel-shade screenshot thread would be pretty handy to see what people make of the settings. Does that already exist somewhere? 

[Generator]

I know one thing a lot of people like to harp on is "mitten hands." Which, yeah, don't look great.  But if I'm being perfectly honest, when I'm out on the streets punching down bad guys (or, depending on who I'm playing, good guys!), I don't have time to stop and look at my characters' hands!

 

That is all.  Have a great afternoon.

[RCU7115]

I can't stand the cell shading. It looks like a 6 year old was playing with his crayons and coloring book. 

[jubakumbi]

23 minutes ago, RCU7115 said:

I can't stand the cell shading. It looks like a 6 year old was playing with his crayons and coloring book. 

Have you tried adjusting the settings, or did you just enable and then disable?

 

The default, as well as the screenshot above, are not anywhere near what my game looks like after turning everything down to 0-5% in the cell settings.

 

I have hated cell-shading in pretty much all games, actually, even Borderlands I can only play so much, but the cell shading here with minimal settings really has improved my game...I was a complete naysayer until I realized you could alter the look.

[Blackbird71]

Jedi Knight?  I recently booted up the original Dark Forces, and that thing is sprite-based.

 

My philosophy has always been that good graphics can be a nice skin on any game, but that's as far as it goes, skin deep.  If the underlying game is bad, graphics are not going to save it; it's the gameplay that is the most important part (well, in an MMO, the community is also a big part, and CoX has always scored high there).

 

As for CoX specifically, I've never minded the graphics, and I've never thought they were that bad.  They're not modern-age photorealistic, but we're playing in a stylized comic-book world, and the graphics reflect that nicely.  No, I think the game looks just fine, and for what it is it holds up well.

[nihilii]

I've always liked the art direction in CoH. Blackbird put it well: it's minimalistic and genre-appropriate.

 

Cel-shading breaks that feel for me. It's cool we have both options for different people to enjoy the game, though!

 

I'm not overly fond of the "every game must have a highly stylized art direction" trend we've seen since Crysis melted everyone's computer and also made it obvious the arm's race for photorealism was over (at least in terms of 10x gains you could use as marketing). Sometimes something more steeped in realism can be more appropriate.

It's rather interesting video games inversely mirrored the evolution of the web, where everyone abandoned flash and flamboyance to become minimalistic in an attempt to ape Apple. 2007 was a weird year.

Edited September 14, 2019 by nihilii

[THEDarkTyger]

On 9/13/2019 at 11:40 AM, Abraxus said:

What do you guys think?

Always felt with any game that gameplay comes far before graphics. Awesome graphics don't matter if the gameplay sucks, and horrible graphics don't matter if the gameplay is awesome.

[Eva Destruction]

21 minutes ago, THEDarkTyger said:

Always felt with any game that gameplay comes far before graphics. Awesome graphics don't matter if the gameplay sucks, and horrible graphics don't matter if the gameplay is awesome.

Very much agreed.  The graphics arms race resulted in a lot of games that skimped on other things so they could look pretty, and even the shiniest graphics become old-hat after a while.

 

Plus it locks out people who don't have high-end computers.

[PaxArcana]

On 9/13/2019 at 12:40 PM, Abraxus said:

Then there is the the fact that folks are excited about things like the venerable Jedi Knight coming to the Ninetendo Switch, and folks who play KOTOR, and KOTOR 2 many times through, and have no complaints at all about the graphics, because they love the game.

... I stil play Master of Magic (a 1994 fantasy 4X game).  Below is a screenshot - yes, it's tiny.  The game only plays in 640x480.  Graphics aren't why I play it.  Gameplay is.  🙂

Edited September 14, 2019 by PaxArcana

[THEDarkTyger]

7 minutes ago, PaxArcana said:

... I stil play Master of Magic (a 1994 fantasy 4X game).  Below is a screenshot - yes, it's tiny.  The game only plays in 640x480.  Graphics aren't why I play it.  Gameplay is.  🙂

Lord I loved that game. And Masters of Orion 2. ( 3 didn't exist. And that recent reboot? It's right out )

 

( Edit: Actually, between 3 and the reboot, the reboot was better... Just not up to the MoO2 standard )

Edited September 14, 2019 by THEDarkTyger

[PaxArcana]

14 minutes ago, THEDarkTyger said:

Lord I loved that game. And Masters of Orion 2. ( 3 didn't exist. And that recent reboot? It's right out )

 

( Edit: Actually, between 3 and the reboot, the reboot was better... Just not up to the MoO2 standard )

Yeah, the reboot is ... okay.  I don't regret having bought it, the way I refuse to admit I bought MOO3.

 

But it's not really Master of Orion, either.

 

MOO2 is another perennial favorite, that has a permanent place on my HDD.  Gods bless GOG.com for having both MOM and MOO2 (and MOO1 though I'm less enamored of that one), so that I no longer have to fight with my own OS just to get them to install and run.

[Clave Dark 5]

Pooh-poohing the game over graphics is a weak attack.  People still play video games from the 80s and you never hear anyone say "Oh, Pacman is great but it looks so dated!"  Or Minecraft for that matter.

[Luminara]

38 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Pooh-poohing the game over graphics is a weak attack.  People still play video games from the 80s and you never hear anyone say "Oh, Pacman is great but it looks so dated!"  Or Minecraft for that matter.

Until two years ago, I still had all three Zorks, and still played them once in a while.

[doc_miller]

Question for folks using cel shading - how demanding is it?  I'm using a fairly cheap machine with Intel onboard graphics, and was concerned that cel shading would just be too much for it.

[WumpusRat]

3 hours ago, Luminara said:

Until two years ago, I still had all three Zorks, and still played them once in a while.

It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.