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Post by Xeogred on Dec 1, 2021 0:37:55 GMT -5
For me I've always dug the sharpness in bumping up the resolution of older games. I like playing Doom at 1080p via GZDoom, etc. I prefer native aspect ratio's and just assumed Duckstation was fine with how it was showing TR2, since as you guys can still see with my other examples Lara is still kind of "skinny" with its perspective and style. So it didn't look super unnatural to my eyes coming off TR1 which I played on real hardware.
Scanlines, filters, etc yeah I don't care for though. I enjoy seeing the original art at its cleanest. I did two years of 3D art/animation back in school so it's extra appealing to me in a way sometimes to see these oldies in such a way.
The 7th gen is when games were going for more realism usually, so I think that's when I start liking HD texture packs, mods, etc. As I just replayed Metroid Prime 1-3 that way, it's cool to see those games looking even better.
For the 5th-6th gen stuff though I like to keep these games as is besides bumping up the resolution. It's cool how this era has such a strange surreal alien look to it. These early TR's make me think of Thief a lot in some of elegant manor settings or tombs, or maybe Quake and Jedi Knight sometimes too. Just simply because of those low poly textures and stuff. Or like the atmosphere the blacks give off here. In this area I'm in some underground sunken ship and caves, so that pitch blackness is just the ceiling of a cave and stuff. Love it.
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Post by Ex on Dec 1, 2021 1:09:20 GMT -5
I like to up'res the PS1 graphics as well. It's especially cool when texture maps that would normally be blurry are instead clear and distinguished. I've been able to read texture mapped text in up'res'd PS1 games that was illegible in the native resolution. I like the sharp polys too, sharper the better. And being able to do geometry correction is just fantastic. And lastly increasing the frame rate is an obvious boon.
That said, I get preferring the original low res look. The low res blurred image as it originally would have appeared, does obscure a lot of the ugly "jaggies", kind of a poor man's anti-alias. And I guess there's a certain nostalgia attributed to the authentic crudeness.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 1, 2021 12:51:43 GMT -5
So I think it depends on the game. I think some look better in their native, "chunky" look, and others actually benefit from the resolution boost. King's Field immediately comes to mind as being one that looks much nicer with increased resolution.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 1, 2021 13:30:35 GMT -5
I think for now, I'm going to keep Duckstation set to 4:3 and see how that goes for other stuff.
What are others playing this month?
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Post by Ex on Dec 1, 2021 13:40:08 GMT -5
I've put together a roster of shorter PS1 stuff I'm gonna play. I'd rather keep them a surprise, though I'll mention one: Ace Combat 2. AC2 is one of the very few AC games I've not beaten yet. It's probably the longest of the bunch I've listed to play. I'll start on my first PS1 game this Thursday most likely (not AC2) maybe finish something. Dark Souls is eating up my prime vidja gaming time at the moment understandably.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 1, 2021 14:26:33 GMT -5
No idea here. I'll play it by ear. I've not really had a lot of juice for gaming lately, but hopefully that changes this month.
One I'd really like to finish is Silent Bomber. I've got a partial playthrough of it, and it's definitely an action game that actually holds up well after all these years.
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Post by Ex on Dec 1, 2021 14:36:57 GMT -5
Yep Silent Bomber is also on my roster. I put a good bit of time into it long, long ago via a rental. Never did finish it though.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 1, 2021 23:43:31 GMT -5
10/17 levels into TR2 now. 5 levels of the undersea wreckage zone was too much, the 10th level was probably my least favorite so far. But overall, I'm still having a blast. Ever play a game that both surprises you and also doesn't in ways? I went into this knowing I'd probably enjoy it a lot too. I don't see this one beating TR1 for me at this rate, but I also think I'm still pleasantly surprised by how much I like these old TR games. I'd perhaps put TR2 above all the new ones as well. I just love how hands off these old ones are. It's pure action/platformer exploration bliss with no hand holding. Like my run through TR1, I'm still impressed by how hardcore these games are in retrospect.
Now, snowy levels always perk me up and glancing at a named level list of what's ahead, the rest of them look like temples and awesomeness. So perhaps this game saves its best parts in the back half.
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Anyways, for laughs I wanted to dare you guys to see how far you can get into Fear Effect 1 or 2:
If anyone thinks the old RE's, Tomb Raider's, etc have weird tank controls and are a slog... then I double dare you to play a Fear Effect.
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Post by Ex on Dec 2, 2021 1:10:05 GMT -5
I played the original FE briefly back when it first released. All I remember is the controls were horrendous and made me stop playing the game, a very rare event. I remember FE2 had lesbian protagonists and that was a big deal at the time. These FE games always looked like they had really strong production values at least.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 2, 2021 9:39:59 GMT -5
I played the original FE briefly back when it first released. All I remember is the controls were horrendous and made me stop playing the game, a very rare event. I remember FE2 had lesbian protagonists and that was a big deal at the time. These FE games always looked like they had really strong production values at least. Yeah, visually they are insanely cool. Gameplay wise... wretched. I seriously could not get more than like 10 minutes into the second game. There were these small robots that shoot you up near the start and they were so hard to hit with its asinine controls.
I got a few hours into the first one but lost my patience after awhile. I liked the aesthetic so much that I watched the rest of a longplay on YT, but some of the later boss fights and puzzles made me extra glad I didn't stick it through.
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