Seriously... who cares?

I don't play games from a technical perspective. If there's something that I've learnt over the years personally, that doesn't mean ANYTHING from a design perspective. You can throw all the shaders you want at a game, but if you're building a house on shaky foundations it's still going to fall flat.

Some people don't realise that design is far more important that what's behind it. That's why many older titles can still hold up today. All the games mentioned have a very strong design ethos... do you think HL2 would've looked as good without the talent of the conceptual artists behind them? Or the fact they appeared to design to their parameters rather than beyond them?

Take the recent game Darwinia as a showcase of a stunning looking title with a simple, strong design ethic behind it. It looks superb, and it's not the engine behind it that's responsible. It's the creators knowledge of their limits and a hell of a lot of talent. I'm more interested in a game with a solid visual design foundation, good ideas and respect for screen narrative, like the upcoming Advent Rising, than I am for the next Quake. Why? Because it makes games interesting to play. Just look at the comments made about Everquest 2's bloated and boring graphics compared to Blizzards simple, clean and effective approach.

Dreamfall looks to me that Ragnar and his team have got a clear aim as to how it's going to end up, and that's encouraging. Already I'm impressed with the concept art and how the final title is shaping up in comparasion - copying the emotive feelings created by expressive painting into polys can't be easy.

All the best,

Squarejawhero , JA+ forum
 

Hmm... I don't know. THe diffrence between PC and Xbox now is like the one between Xbox and PS2. If Xbox version looks "almost as good"..well..it implies it looks preety close...and this does mean that it doesn't take real advantage of PC hardware. And I certainly do not think RE4 look anywhere near HL2 visualy. It does look spectacular...but HL2 level? No way in hell.
Anyway...let's not blow it out of proportions.. amazing looking Xbox game is still good looking by PC standarts. maybe Dreamfall won't make people go "OMG! How did they made it look so good", but if it's looking great on Xbox..it surely won't be weak graphicaly on PC.
 

Squarejawhero is right, aye he is. If yeh ask me I would be absolutely happy even if Dreamfall was "mostly 2d" (like TLJ) as long as it is the continuation of the Story. But, aye, I understand that "we should move forward and advance" and all. O'raite, tengo nada problemos. But it is the characters and plot of utter importance (aye, aye, I'm naught the first one sayin' so). Cuz Dreamfall ta me is a bottle of damngood wine, say, 19th century?

PS. Hey, I'd played Zork, if yeh know what I mean.
 

You know, The Longest Journey didn't broke any technical advances when it came it, but nonetheless, it became the best adventure game to come in years, even in comparison to the "classics" of sierra and lucas arts, and you know why? because it is the talent and the motivation of the designers what makes a good game, not the technical way they choose to show it. So don't worry Ragnar, the difference with adventure games, is they actually not only tell you a story, but makes you part of it. They make you feel, care about the characters. I'll trade that for all the technical advancements in the world. So good luck, and I'm quite sure that Dreamfall will be a memorable game, much as TLJ was, and still is. My heart is with you guys :)
 

I read in a short preview of Dreamfall in a swedish gaming magazine that you are aiming the length of the game at around 15 hours. Care to comment on that, or the fact that games now last a lot shorter than they used to?
 

I can't make up my mind on whether to buy the game on PC or XBOX. I got both. I think I'll buy on PC just because I have TLJ on the PC as well...! but what if the xbox version has nicer controls? Are the controls going to be totally different?! Tell us more! Tell us more!

Edmundo
 

Even if you neglect the obvious differences between resolution, and how monitors and TVs operate very differently, there is a visible difference between a PC game and a Xbox game.

I believe you might be back tracking, "almost" implies there is a difference, a small one, as in "nearly" or "slightly short of". Clearly, if you take advantage of Shader 2.1/3.0, DirectX 9, and the latest graphics cards, you shouldn't go telling people that the Xbox version looks almost as good.

Have you seen the differences between Half-Life 2 in DirectX 8 and Half-Life 2 in DirectX 9? Have you seen the screenshots of the Xbox versions of Half-Life 2 or Doom 3? There are major differences.

How can you say Resident Evil 4 looks as good as Doom 3 or Half-Life 2? Yeah, I'm sure if you were running Half-Life 2 on a Geforce 3, and output to a TV @ 640X480 resolution.

I didn't expect Dreamfall to be up to Unreal Engine 3.0 standard in technology. It'll be the best looking adventure game by a country mile. Shark3D on paper doesn't look unlike Source, the Doom 3 Engine, and the CryEngine. As Half-Life 2 shows, the difference is in the artistry, the implementation of said technology with the concepts. I'd just like Dreamfall to be on par with the games released now, not the end of next year.

The screenshots so far have been unimpressive, but I'm waiting until E3 to pass final judgement on the graphics. Screenshots don't do justice, high resolution bink compressed video does more so.

Hey, the graphics isn't the main factor, I'm sure the story will be good atleast. Action, bikinis, and graphics, you seem to be able to provoke emotion in a lot of people.
 

Eh, if ye're talkin' 'bout Resident Evil 4 here, let me say this:

Guys who got trapped inside the room and cannot climb out through the window out of it just depress me.

PS. What it would be like if Prince from PoP: Warrior Within would find himself in a room like this? Or meet those idjit-nurses of their? 8)
 

Just as long as the characters' eyes are properly animated. It always bothers me when modelers for 3D games just paint a character's eyes on as a texture map, condemning them to forever stare straight ahead without blinking.

I've always considered animation to be more important than sheer graphical realism anyway. If you can make the characters move as well as the ones in, say, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, I'll be a happy camper no matter how many features of my graphics card the game fails to take advantage of.
 

This post has been removed by the author.
 

Ragnar, you're worrying too much! Just repeat to yourself "it's just a show, I should really just relax," and dont let inane comments plague you or your blog.
 

For everyone here looking for the next empty next gen graphics game, look elsewhere.

Ragnar, plz don't focus on graphics to much. Set yourself aside by a brilliant storyline and artwork and create a wonderful experience in a living breathing atmosphere. Like you did with TLJ, those are the things that matter, the things the leave a mark with the audience.

Not the empty shell tech demo to show of your way to expensive graphics card... that will be outdated within a year anyway.

Hyperbird
 

I think this is all a moot point personally. Most of my favorite games weren't 'visually stunning', and if they were, It wasn't pushing hardware to the point HL2 and Doom 3 are. Visually stunning games should be a byproduct of a really amazing game, not the motivation. Doom 3 is an excellent example. Half way through that sucker I got bored and gave up.

Think games like Chronotrigger, Earth Bound, Secret of Evermore, Tex Murphy series, and yes, of course, TLJ. The intention here wasn't to drive the hardware as far as it could go. The intention was to make a great game, and succeeded. Whether the PC version is visually advanced isn't, at least to me, as important as making Dreamfall live up to its predecessor.
 

To me, if the game itself is good, graphics are entirely secondary. I mean, Ancient Domains of Mystery (http://www.adom.de) is a game I still play, and the thing is done entirely in ASCII. Nice graphics are appreciated, but solid gameplay mechanics and a good story are required.

- John Thurner
 

Story and characters come first. I think Ragnar knows that the game has to engage the mind and ears as much, if not more, than the eyes.

Of course I agree that impressive graphics are a must, but the goal of any game should be immersiveness. Graphics are a means to that end, not the end itself. If you compare "Final Fantasy: Spirits Within" with "The Incredibles", most would agree that FF has more impressive hyperrealistic renditions of people and environments. Yet I think those same people would strongly agree that Incredibles is a better movie with more believable characters, strangely enough. Or consider Doom3's complex geometry, and HalfLife2 with considerably less geometrically convoluted environments, but with immersiveness to spare. It's all about 'ontological authenticity'. Google that if you're curious.

Let's not forget, TLJ didn't exactly have stellar character models or cutting edge visual technology(though it looked great) but we didn't notice since the rest of the game kicked arse. So Ragnar, let's have some killer graphics, but don't blow the budget on them. BTW, characters with articulated facial expressions/eyeballs ala HalfLife2 wouldn't hurt. I hope Ragnar turns out to be the Brad Bird of adventure games.
 

^Speaking of Half Life 2, they developed impressive code that dynamically articulates the facial muscles of the characters to match the vowels/consonants/inflections of the dialogue in the character's speech audio files, in realtime in any language. Here's a demo of this:
http://gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyondergames/trailers/hl2-g-man.exe

Without this, the game would be a lot less immersive.

-Howard
 

Hi,

To fill the gap that TLJ left I thought I'd take up Riven, the sequel to Myst. What a waste.
The story was so emotionless. There was no drama, no comedy, no witty lines, no sad stories. It was like an episode of star trek...except without dialogue...and just one actor. I was dissapointed. It made me realise why TLJ was so great.

I'm looking forward to participating in a beautiful story! One that takes place in a breathtaking world...er three breathtaking worlds...well, a breathtaking universe! Filled with unique characters! Facing danger! Uncovering mysteries and solving riddles! And meeting old aquaintances in Stark and Arcadia!

In the meantime I'm gonna rediscover The Longest Journey...over and over again.

I've got one question though. Will there be "Dragons" in Dreamfall?
 

Yeh bet, I guess 8)
Will they, Mr. Tornquist?