Champions of Norrath (Snowblind Studios)

[London Geezer]

Loving this game already. A better Baldur's gate...? yum yum...

link: http://ps2.ign.com/articles/428/428127p2.html


(i think it's the right one)

is that bump mapping what i see?

oh, and 4 times the amount of polygons per character, when the characters in the first game were already pretty detailed... yum yum....

the engine they created for BGA was one of the finest on PS2, and this enhanced version is making me wanna see more of this....

 

[Gandalf]

Loving this game already. A better Baldur's gate...? is that bump mapping what i see?

Its really looking like bm!


More screens:
http://championsofnorrath.station.sony.com/screenshots.jsp

 

[Gandalf]

Nice gameplayfootge:
http://files.worthplaying.com/files/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=334


Snoblind Studios at its best...!

 

[London Geezer]

I MEAN, for all we know it might just be a prebaked texture, but we should be able to test it in motion, the engine allows u to roatate the camera anyway so it's just a matter of checking whether it changes or not.... from the pics, it could very well be bump mapping, although it wouldnt be the first time PS2 games have textures that "look" like bump mapping but dont have the same qualities (there is no change when moving the lightsource, they're static textures basically)...

 

[Grall]

To see if it's a pre-baked texture or real bumpmapping we'd have to move the *lightsource*, not the camera... Anyway, does it really matter if it's BM or not as long as it looks droolworthy?

*G*

 

[London Geezer]

To see if it's a pre-baked texture or real bumpmapping we'd have to move the *lightsource*, not the camera... Anyway, does it really matter if it's BM or not as long as it looks droolworthy?

*G*

moving the camera might help.... as long as there's some...erm.... movement... end of the day, it's all relative, if we move the camera, then the lightsource-surface angle will change relative to the POV... am i wrong?
right, i'll stop making a fool out of myself now and stick to making jokes which is what i'm good at...

 

[marconelly!]

I doubt that's BM in that picture. Light is coming through the window, thus it's static. It's probably a pre-baked BM.

I'm pretty sure though BGDA had some form of bumpmapping. It was used sparingly, on the floors of some rooms (like that room where you fight against whole bunch of skeletons and have to destroy the orb that is respawning them)

 

[wazoo]

no, BGDA has no BM, a but they did a great deal of work on the textures.

 

[marconelly!]

Well, I'm not easily fooled, and I did spent time looking for it in that room. There are tiny bones and other such crap in that room (and I mean *very tiny*, that I doubt they are modelled) and they behave just as the bumpmapped surface should (if you approach them from one side, that side get lit, if you step over them, the side is not lit anymore, although the light is still covering the bone on the floor) If it's not BM, I'd like to know what kind of effect they used.


Regarding Champions of Norrath, I've found the interview at Gamepro.com: http://www.gamepro.com/sony/ps2/games/news/30151.shtml

Q: How much of the game's internals are from Dark Alliance?
A: We started with the core engine of Dark Alliance and began to add many new features to get the look and functionality we wanted for Champions of Norrath. The engine now has the ability to do random dungeons, higher polygon characters, more detailed textures, and support much more art then previously. We also modified the game's interface to allow for more actions to be available to the player while they are engaged in battle. They can quickly bring up spells and skills at a second's notice, which is important due to the amount we provide to players.

 

[Grall]

Marco:

I would think your bones is ordinary vertex lighting on small polygons, that would make them look like a bumpmapped texture...

Will this game have the same "4x" antialiasing (double width framebuffer + deflicker filter) as BGA?

*G*

PS: Soon 666 posts, heh heh! I may have to capture a screenshot of that moment!

 

[marconelly!]

Grall, damn that would mean their polygon counts are so high that they don't even need BM if they modelled *such* tiny things... Btw, I think on that particular level, BGDA uses projected lightmaps, not vertex lighting. I'm not 100% sure, though.

Will this game have the same "4x" antialiasing (double width framebuffer + deflicker filter) as BGA?

I'm pretty sure it'll be the same deal this time around. None of the reviewers mentioned any kind of degradation in visuals, quite the opposite, actually.

Here are some more screens:

 

[chaphack]

and i thought i was told BM should just die a while back!

 

[Gandalf]

I'm pretty sure it'll be the same deal this time around. None of the reviewers mentioned any kind of degradation in visuals, quite the opposite, actually.

Exactly.
There is no mentionable difference in visuals comparing the gameplaytrailer to the shown pictures.

Will this game have the same "4x" antialiasing (double width framebuffer + deflicker filter) as BGA?

*G*

The resolution of the video is rather small, but it seems to have the same level of AA anyway.

 

[Gandalf]

Anyway, does it really matter if it's BM or not as long as it looks droolworthy?

Hmm... not really,
but... it would be nice to see Chaps bastion falling apart.

 

[Ozymandis]

Who cares if there's going to be bumpmapping? I'm actually looking forward to this game. I always thought that BG: DA should have been online. This is the next-best thing

On graphics I do have to say thank goodness they're not using the Everquest Adventures engine

 

[jvd]

that one pic of him in the caves killing spiders reminds me of diablo 2 ... shudders ... at least its 50x the graphics....

 

[London Geezer]

those screens are amazing.....
i love the first game, and i only started the level with the lizard things... amazing graphics, amazing physics and somehow it never gets boring, unlike other slash-hack games like LOTR...

only complain: buying it together with SH3... i was looking forward to SH3 so much but then i just got hooked on BGA and SH3 is still sitting there unopened... actually yes i opened it but then i quickly went back to BGA.... gonna finish this one first then go back to SH3

 

[Phil]

wow, this really got me excited. I just hope it's longer than Dark Alliance. A must get for me, that's for sure.

 

[London Geezer]

wow, this really got me excited. I just hope it's longer than Dark Alliance. A must get for me, that's for sure.

how long is BGA? i'm at the level with the lizard things.... how much have i got left?

 

[zurich]

wow, this really got me excited. I just hope it's longer than Dark Alliance. A must get for me, that's for sure.

how long is BGA? i'm at the level with the lizard things.... how much have i got left?

Nope Pretty much at the end hehe. Short game, I beat it on 'normal' in about 5 hours.