Next Commercial Critique (MAY 06): Suggestions

[sonic_reaper]

I find all the choices relatively boring.  Mario and Zelda use the same bare-minimal approach that has always been popular in both series.  Demon's Crest seems to follow the classic darker style that was once a staple of Castlevania before it became too closely tied into animé influences.

My vote would go to Demon Crest.  How come these are the only choices?  I don't think I've ever taken part in a critique too heavily (though I've read what others have written).  I like to sit and examine, though I usually don't take part in the "action" itself.  I would love to go back to classics that I've always been curious about, such as Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, even Stella Deus.  However, these only use 2D sprites, the backgrounds are 3D or high detailed images (not pixelled by hand).

Uhm, Demon's Crest?

[ndchristie]

id be glad to change my vote to DC, a game i liked playing, if somebody could explain to me what makes it something other than a slightly-above-average campcom title.

Mario i think can be minimalistic to a fault, but zelda achieves a really nice feeling while still appearing highly simplistic and i think that that is one of the most important things a person can strive for in pixelling.  I will say though, that if i could pick any game to talk about amazingly simple and beautiful work, id have to say Sword of Mana would take my vote.

[Billeh]

DC gets my vote.
I'd be  curious to know what you all mean by a sligtly above average capcom title as well.

[goat]

For one thing, aside from the graphics simply being pretty, Demon's Crest exemplifies a lot of color choice, shading and dithering techniques that capitalize on the way a CRT TV displays pixels at that resolution.  Playing it on a computer monitor does it absolutely no justice, just as displaying an AAed/seloutlined screenshot on a TV does it no justice.  On a stylistic level it might be a little predictable compared to other Capcom platformers of the time, but from a pixel-technical point of view it is noticably superior.

I'm not really concerned about making a case to satisfy one person's opinion since it's up to the majority and I'm supposed to be impartial anyway :p

zelda achieves a really nice feeling while still appearing highly simplistic and i think that that is one of the most important things a person can strive for in pixelling.

On the other hand, pixel artists work within a medium that allows for pixel-perfect detail.  In some cases, not taking advantage of pixel level detail is almost criminal.  MC's simplicity is a point of style, and I fail to see how a specific style can be more "important in pixeling" than any general principle.


@Sonic: these aren't the only choices, it's totally open.  If you have a better idea then by all means share it :p

Here some popular choices from last month to start us off (any new suggestions are welcome):

[ndchristie]

the graphics clearly are better than mediocre, but i fail to see what is so astounding about them.  they look like what a lot of other games were doing around the same time (Castlevania: Dracula X for example, which was not much later, super castlevania 4, super ghouls and ghosts, etc), not to mention that other capcom games of the era, like breath of fire II or the street fighter series that was quickly rising in popularity.  im not saying that demons crest is bad, im saying i dont see why it would ever stand out

also, simplicity is important because in pixelling, it transcends style, size, and palette.

[sonic_reaper]

Who said it had to stand out?  Can't game art just be expertly and competently made without receiving flak or criticism for not being overly original or stylized? 

The same argument you just placed on DC could be said of al the Mario and Zelda games.  It's just a matter of individaul taste I suppose.

[ndchristie]

imo, if it were expertly made, it would stand out, original or not.  im not picking on its style, im picking on how it doesnt seem to look any better than those other games.  perhaps im in the minority here, oh well.

[Darien]

While I agree with most of what you're saying, Adarias, I don't think that should exclude us from doing a CC on it.  It is a Commercial Critique, after all, not a Commercial Ass-Kissing.  We should also remember that it would prove worthwhile to look at what these games could have done better when we do a CC, and for example look at DC and ask why even though it has expertly done graphics it fails to stand out.

[Panda]

My vote goes to Demon's Crest.
While I really like the styles of the other two, I'd rather get to know from games I'm not that familiar with (DC in this case).
So yeah.

[Faceless]

I don't like the look of DC at all, and am already quite familiar with MC as I really enjoy the graphics, and MLSS had a really great feel to it, but I think that's more to do with a culmination of all of its aspects rather than the graphics which on their own aren't stellar. I never really participate in these things, so I guess I'll abstain from voting. ^.^

O and I agree that we should start up the CCCs (Commercial Critique Challenges) again.