What are you currently playing?

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
15,089
3,946
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
It makes a huge difference on 3D rendered games, like Mario RPG and Donkey Kong.
Meh, never really liked the look of prerendered pixel games. Mario RPG is probably the best looking but I still prefer good pixel work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NerfedFalcon

NerfedFalcon

Level i Flare!
Mar 23, 2011
7,267
1,018
118
Gender
Male
Meh, never really liked the look of prerendered pixel games. Mario RPG is probably the best looking but I still prefer good pixel work.
I admit that the 3D renders work better with the isometric view than a lot of 'hand drawn' sprites do in games like Shadowrun (the SNES one), but that in and of itself was kind of a problem, since isometric and platforming do not mix.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan and Worgen

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
15,089
3,946
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
I admit that the 3D renders work better with the isometric view than a lot of 'hand drawn' sprites do in games like Shadowrun (the SNES one), but that in and of itself was kind of a problem, since isometric and platforming do not mix.
Even in something like Shadowrun I prefer pixels. Probably because of my love of the original Xcom, but prerendered does look better in isometric then other views.
 

Ezekiel

Elite Member
May 29, 2007
1,402
637
118
Country
United States
Finished Claire.

A couple of musics were not in the remake's DLC package. Again, doesn't fit the tone of the remake, but new music was too bland to be listened to.

Sewers better paced in original, not too long.

Size of facility is more sensible in the original. Central chamber is gigantic in the remake.



Spammed the last boss with powerful crossbow bolts and acid grenades.

My playtime was long partly because the camera angles in the facility where everything kind of looked the same confused me. Didn't NEED to use that many ink ribbons, but I'm an adult with responsibilities and depleting life.

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: hanselthecaretaker2

Drathnoxis

I love the smell of card games in the morning
Legacy
Sep 23, 2010
5,812
2,131
118
Just off-screen
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Meh, never really liked the look of prerendered pixel games. Mario RPG is probably the best looking but I still prefer good pixel work.
That's not really the point. You have to admit that the CRT filter makes it look a lot better because it clearly isn't displaying correctly on an LCD screen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ezekiel

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
15,089
3,946
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
That's not really the point. You have to admit that the CRT filter makes it look a lot better because it clearly isn't displaying correctly on an LCD screen.
I never had a tube tv that looked like those filters do and I always preferred a cleaner pixel style.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

NerfedFalcon

Level i Flare!
Mar 23, 2011
7,267
1,018
118
Gender
Male
So... Resident Evil 4 has kinda fallen through because in a few days, Holocure is getting a major update. 9 new characters, 2 new stages, a whole lot of new minigames and plenty of content to keep me busy for two weeks before Runescape's big event. That drops on the 15th, so in the meantime I don't want to start anything big. Might just do a playthrough of something short like Streets of Rage 4.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Drathnoxis

I love the smell of card games in the morning
Legacy
Sep 23, 2010
5,812
2,131
118
Just off-screen
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
I never had a tube tv that looked like those filters do and I always preferred a cleaner pixel style.
I don't even understand why you are being so evasive. You said you never understood the appeal of the filter, and got a factual answer. You are honestly trying to tell me you think the mess on the left looks better than the right?



It's literally the exact same image with a filter over it. But ok, you most definitely did have a tv that looked like that because that's just how CRTs worked and you are misremembering or just forgot. Now it's possible that it's more noticeable on certain televisions than others, but they certainly all had the effect just because of how the technology worked. Every pixel is made up of 3 vertical lines of red blue and green, that's what forms the visible lines on the filter. And just to go the extra mile, here, I've gone and taken a picture of the same scene on an actual CRT television:

20241112_215153.jpg

20241112_215019.jpg

If I stuck the camera closer you'd see the blue, red, and green lines. Obviously it looks terrible because my CRT is old and the camera doesn't pick it up great and the bright colors get these shadows for some reason, but you can see that the filter is actually based on reality. These games were designed to be played on a CRT. When they compressed the 3D renders into sprites it was with the intention that it would be displayed on a CRT. That's why it looks like a mess of pixels without the filter and like an actual 3D model with it.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ezekiel

NerfedFalcon

Level i Flare!
Mar 23, 2011
7,267
1,018
118
Gender
Male
and like an actual 3D model with it.
In the still screenshot, it's a bit more convincing. Compared to Donkey Kong Country, though, where Super Mario RPG in particular loses the illusion is in its animation; the characters barely have any frames of animation, making it a lot more obvious that they don't move like 3D models do - and did, even in the early Playstation games or PC games made for 3D accelerator add-ons.

Tangential so it's going in a spoiler: '3D models with limited animation frames to look more 2D' wasn't really a deliberate thing until, I'm pretty sure, Guilty Gear Xrd in 2014.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Drathnoxis

I love the smell of card games in the morning
Legacy
Sep 23, 2010
5,812
2,131
118
Just off-screen
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
In the still screenshot, it's a bit more convincing. Compared to Donkey Kong Country, though, where Super Mario RPG in particular loses the illusion is in its animation; the characters barely have any frames of animation, making it a lot more obvious that they don't move like 3D models do - and did, even in the early Playstation games or PC games made for 3D accelerator add-ons.

Tangential so it's going in a spoiler: '3D models with limited animation frames to look more 2D' wasn't really a deliberate thing until, I'm pretty sure, Guilty Gear Xrd in 2014.
Well we can't expect every game to measure up to Donkey Kong Country levels of rendering tech. That game is also a good example of what I'm talking about:



It actually kind of blows my mind how much better the filter makes it look.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ezekiel

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,828
12,405
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
I finished Rushing Beat Ran again. The flaws become more apparent when going back to the game. It's still a decent brawler, but it needed more enemy variety. There's only 4 stages, but those stages get longer the further you go into the game. Especially by the final stage. Never bother with Normal nor Hard mode, because all it does is spawn in more enemies. You can only fight 3 enemies at a time in most SNES brawler games, and that just pads the game. Streets of Rage 2 was made on a console with much weaker hardware, yet has more levels, better graphics (not from a lack of trying on RBR's part), and much better enemy variety.

I prefer playing as the speedier characters like Rick, Wendy, and Kazan. Due to how cheap certain enemies types are, the slower and larger playable characters are just bigger walking and easier targets. So they're strength is not even worth it, and when the other three characters can do the same at a faster rate. I prefer Wendy especially, because how fast she is, and has the high damaging wrestling moves to dish them out. She is a female pro wrestler after all. I am glad they brought her back for the upcoming sequel. I am going to play her first, if she's available from the start.

I will get back into Sonic Generations at some point.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: XsjadoBlayde

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
15,089
3,946
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
I don't even understand why you are being so evasive. You said you never understood the appeal of the filter, and got a factual answer. You are honestly trying to tell me you think the mess on the left looks better than the right?
Still don't get the appeal, I prefer the crisp pixels. Taking a close up pic isn't going to change that. Pretending we all sit with our noses on the screen isn't helping either.
 

NerfedFalcon

Level i Flare!
Mar 23, 2011
7,267
1,018
118
Gender
Male
Well we can't expect every game to measure up to Donkey Kong Country levels of rendering tech.
By that logic, we can't expect every game to be as well-written as Baldur's Gate 3.
It actually kind of blows my mind how much better the filter makes it look.
Ask me, it's the exception rather than the rule that games of that era only look good on a CRT TV, or with an artificial CRT filter. Most of them either never looked that good to begin with, or they still look good even without the 'softening' effect. I wouldn't go as far as Worgen as to say I "prefer" one look over the other, I just don't think that it's that important in the majority of cases. And don't bother posting more examples, I've played plenty of SNES and PS1 games without CRT to base my opinion on.

It's not that I don't understand your position. I just don't agree with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,828
12,405
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
Double Dragon II (GB). Plays completely differently and the plot/setting has nothing to do with the arcade, NES, nor PC-Engine versions. The game is decent and better than either game boy games. Especially DD III.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: XsjadoBlayde

Bedinsis

Elite Member
Legacy
Escapist +
May 29, 2014
1,680
849
118
Country
Sweden
And just to go the extra mile, here, I've gone and taken a picture of the same scene on an actual CRT television:
View attachment 12264
The user you spoke to is called Worgen, not Worgan.

Clearly you have taken this photograph from someone else who spoke to someone with the username Worgan. I didn't expect you to stoop to such lows just to win an Internet argument, but: exposed. Seriously though, good effort to photograph your telly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Drathnoxis

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,828
12,405
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
Dragon Age: The Veilguard

It's basically that Guardians of the Galaxy game from a few years ago. Which is fine, it's what I'm in the mood for.
How is it going? I missed ya! Whenever you get the chance, would you like to try Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered? It's only at $24.99. I know we talked about it before, but I give it high recommendations. It's a long enough game at 8-10 hours that doesn't outstay its welcome. Really good at that price. It's on all consoles and PC.


 

Old_Hunter_77

Elite Member
Dec 29, 2021
2,200
2,034
118
Country
United States
How is it going? I missed ya! Whenever you get the chance, would you like to try Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered? It's only at $24.99. I know we talked about it before, but I give it high recommendations. It's a long enough game at 8-10 hours that doesn't outstay its welcome. Really good at that price. It's on all consoles and PC.

Well, thanks for asking. Actually scaled back on gaming and internetting for a bit.

I'm not really into all these remakes or shooters but this game looks silly and 10 hours is a good length so if I see it cheap some day I'll check it out, thanks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
Legacy
Feb 9, 2012
18,993
3,574
118
Cleaning up in Aftertimage because the Blasphemous 2 DLC is STILL bugged on consoles after 2 weeks and it will remain thus for another month, say the devs. This isn't just a case of relasing a buggy DLC - it also breaks the base game, and there's a % of wiping your save.

Yeah, yeah, game dev is hard. Pónganle media pila chabones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

The Rogue Wolf

Stealthy Carnivore
Legacy
Nov 25, 2007
16,961
9,659
118
Stalking the Digital Tundra
Gender
✅
I have been trying really, really hard to like The Axis Unseen. It's a game that, in many ways, rewards stealth and patience, attention to the environment and careful listening. There's also neat details like wounded animals leaving bloodtrails that can be washed away by rain. Unfortunately there's some crucial issues, like how some of the creatures seem to detect me no matter how quiet and hidden I am, animals that should be more focused on being predator/prey to each other having a jolly old time ganging up on me instead, and the game world being so large and trackless that figuring out where I am or where to go is difficult if not impossible. (It doesn't help that there's no map of any kind, and the only direction the game gives is "find glowy things to upgrade".
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan