Soul Calibur 3 was also extremely impressive. It employed some really interesting effects. There are a few sections in some stages that I didnt quite get what I was seeing. It looked like some kind of paralax mapping but that was impossible on a PS2. I ll have to fire up the game again and check it out.
Impressive games for their time.
- Thread starter Abap41
- Start date
I still think Ghosthunter and Primal stand out very well today. They were very underratedIt liberately employed specular maps at least (no idea whether they've used seperate maps, but you get the idea). That was actually pretty rare on the PS2 as well. For most PS2 games, effects such as metallic sheen was usually achieved via painted texture maps.
Cannot commend them enough for their heavy investment into the area of breast physics alsoGod, I loved that game. Sequel was pretty good as well and so were the Champions of Norrath games. I miss Diablo clones with bigger skill components. You know, games in which getting damaged was actually down to proper collision detection and not dice rolls.
I was also really impressed by other PS2 games such as Primal and Ghosthunter. Those haven't aged quite as well unfortunately.
How did I forget Silent Hill 2 and 3? Both games had great art direction and atmosphere. The detail was over the top. Shadows used the PS2's unique architecture, an effect that took a different approach on XB and PC with not as good results. The DF retro analysis covered that well. It also generated the sound via the sound chip through a type of sequencer. In Silent Hill 2 the fog particles were dense and were affected by the character's movement. Silent Hill 3 had the most amazingly detailed characters of the console generation. I dont think there was another game on any console (or even PC) that had such realistic characters.
Tekken Tag Tournament is worth mentioning. No other game on the PS2 had such detailed, realistic visuals that mimicked so well the feel of CG visuals of the PS1 era. The materials were super convincing. Some effects were interesting as they mimicked bump mapping. The specularity of the wooden pieces on Jin's stage gave the impression that they were bend in the center and protruding on the ages. Every material mimicked their real life counterpart like no other game on tne PS2 I am sure some characters surpassed the polygon numbers of characters found in some PS3 games. TTT is overall a unique case on the PS2. Some devs tried to experiment with their early rendering approaches on the PS2. They were exploring the possibilities and maybe wanted to see if they could meet the early expectations from the CG in real time hype
Tekken Tag Tournament is worth mentioning. No other game on the PS2 had such detailed, realistic visuals that mimicked so well the feel of CG visuals of the PS1 era. The materials were super convincing. Some effects were interesting as they mimicked bump mapping. The specularity of the wooden pieces on Jin's stage gave the impression that they were bend in the center and protruding on the ages. Every material mimicked their real life counterpart like no other game on tne PS2 I am sure some characters surpassed the polygon numbers of characters found in some PS3 games. TTT is overall a unique case on the PS2. Some devs tried to experiment with their early rendering approaches on the PS2. They were exploring the possibilities and maybe wanted to see if they could meet the early expectations from the CG in real time hype
Sigfried1977
Legend
For PS2 games? - absolutely. I just think that whereas games like the Baldur's Gate games remain fairly unique and super slick to this very day, the likes Primal and Ghosthunter simply don't. I mean Primal's weightless, counter-heavy combat system was passable at best back when the game came out (and its angsty ost is about as early millenium as they come), and Ghosthunter, especially in its European version, was always a bit of a buggy mess.
Both games kinda feel like they were laying the ground work for the "Sony formula", though. Both are somewhat linear tps games with loads of character driven cut-scenes, simplistic puzzles and pockets of gameplay in between.
Sigfried1977
Legend
Maybe I'm misremembering here, but wasn't Ghosthunter delayed in the US because the EU version was so buggy?
I believe so. I.just checked a few videos and its worse than I remembered. [emoji14]
Xbox couldnt achieve this?
I am not sure the reason but Konami opted for prerecorded samples for XBOX (and I think PC too) which had worsen the sound quality, track blending and trasitions. The PS2 sound was flawless on the other hand. You can check out DFs analysis
I d like to know that too
What does it do exactly with the audio chip? According to DF this was common on ps2.
Maybe the audio apu is flexible, more so, then the xbox/gc?
Then i think there must be games on other the other platforms with a audio system like that.
I believe the sound was generated through samples or virtual instruments via a type of sequencer that arranged them in blocks and the programmer would program which blocks would be "played" and which should stop or fade out according to the defined contexts.
Did DF really say it was common on PS2?
Sigfried1977
Legend
Probably wasn't worth the time and effort. The Xbox install base was tiny after all, and even on the PS2, SH2 was way more of a critical darling than a proper sales hit.
Almost sure, watch their SH2 chapter to be sure
I understand, same with mgs2. Im just curious if the tech was only possible on ps2 in that time. Maybe on xbox one could use the cpu to calculate such sound tech?
Sigfried1977
Legend
Pretty sure it would have been possible. The PS2 version also had pristine 60fps video files whereas we got over-compressed 30fps bink videos on the Xbox. But hey, at least we got some nice per-pixel lighting with the flashlight on the Xbox. Having owned both versions of the game, I never noticed the difference in SQ. I did notice the nice flash light cone, though.
Audio sequencing was nothing new and nothing demanding.
Sigfried1977
Legend
Every SNES score was created this way basically, wasn't it?
Yes. Wasnt it basically a standard back in the old bit days?
I wonder what devs are using today.
Audio sequencing of prerecorded blocks maybe not. Not sure if I am wrong on this, but I think generating the sound/melodies on the fly via virtual instruments and samples and especially with applied effects may have some observable performance impact on the CPU site. I used to produce music as a hobby with sequencers on my PC and although memory was never a problem the CPU was.
