Halo: Reach

[gongo]

No offense La-yoshi but did you not remember Halo3 debut trailer where master chief visor does realtime reflection/refraction of the full world or something? Or how about Halo2 super bump-mapped debut playthrough cum trailer at E3 03(or was it 04?)...."built on 128mb vram".... of which Bungie kinda..sorta...forgot that the original Xbox had only 64mb available.

This trailer is highly touched up of ingame assets at best. The way the world animates gives it away.

 

[scently]

This is crazy, everyone criticized Bungie for not pushing the hardware enough - and now that they're doing it, the same people are saying it's a trick?

That's the interweb for you.

 

[Neb]

Dunno what seems so unreal except possibly SSAA or such. Though there is a screenshot of trailer I believe that shows how AA isn't applied at bright spot (contrast between strong lighting and door edges). Seen that lack of AA effect in some games with intensive lighting color on certain surfaces/edges under DX9.

EDIT: http://i45.tinypic.com/241o0ao.jpg

 

[Laa-Yosh]

That's the interweb for you.

Yeah, but this is B3D - this place is supposed to be above that. We should be discussing the tech here, not the fact that it is made with the actual engine and assets.

 

[L. Scofield]

Well it could simply be like Uncharted 2 and it's prerendered cutscenes, so I don't understand the big fuss.

 

[NRP]

Depends how you define "same". As it stands they have already sold Halo 3 MP twice, just in case any missed out

By "same" I mean I should be able to take on any enemy in the game 1v1 and have a chance to win the battle. I am still a Spartan after all.

Now, a squad of Spartans would breeze through just about any Covenant, so I hope they add challenge via sheer number of enemies, rather than making the individual Spartans weaker, the enemy stronger, and/or the weapons weaker.

IMO the "second to second" combat experience is what makes Halo great. I don't want that watered down just to force some type of tactical teamwork approach to missions. The player should have options, and not be forced to play the game only one way.

Now, having said all that, I think it is possible to mix the two styles, so I'm not too worried at this point.

 

[AlNom]

Except that sites are saying "in-game." The fact that its not easily discernible as rendered (if it is) would suggest the intent to deceive.

As far as Bungie has mentioned, it was "not CG". Anyone else's words are unreliable... We also don't know if the video shown at the VGA awards was running in real-time. It would be the same situation as with the Halo 3 announcement. Real-time at E3, video on web was 720p (and one video was even 60fps).

This is all they have said:

they didn’t want your first look to be CG footage. You demand more from Bungie. So you’re getting a snippet of a cinematic.

As for the atmospheric stuff... well, we've already had that siggraph presentation for awhile now.

No offense La-yoshi ...

uh... no shit? They had a very controlled environment, which was why they were able to do those things. The Halo 2 E3 2003 demo was scrapped entirely because of poor planning, doesn't mean they didn't do it in-engine. But seriously, you can keep bringing up this tired discussion which goes absolutely nowhere until we see the beta.

 

[sunscar]

On a somewhat different topic, does the girl Spartan has an artificial right arm? I think it's the first time we see such a thing in the Halo universe.

Yep, she appears to have a cybernetic arm. Actually freezeframed it the first time through because of that to give it a proper examination.

And.... I'm not entirely getting the verbal assault from most of the other users. It was already stated *Weeks ago* that what we were to be shown yesterday was the intro to the game using the realtime engine. It's looks like that's exactly what we got. Short of the AA, we've likely already seen dozens of similar game intros that look just as good.

 

[Rotmm]

And.... I'm not entirely getting the verbal assault from most of the other users.

Well, there's two words that raise the hackles of certain posters, once of which is "Halo" and the other "Xbox", so it's only to be expected really.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Yeah, I don't see anything there other than the AA that couldn't be done in engine. And perhaps some additional post processing.

If that's CG, then it's absolutely some of the worst CG ever made by a AAA dev. The textures are WAY too low res for good CG. Just look at the Warthogs hood, or the texture detail on some of the flying vehicles when they show them fairly close, or the hair, or the ground, or even some of the face textures when it's up close, or...well you get the point.

Then there's the poly count of the models. While it certainly looks good for realtime, and the usually tricks are used to hide low poly surfaces, it's absolutely atrocious for actual CGI work.

Pretty impressive for X360, but pretty meh for CGI. If Bungie started getting into CGI, I'm sure they could do a whole lot better than this.

Regards,
SB

 

[AlNom]

So... anyone have any thoughts on that bright flash of light heading up towards the covenant ship

The elite looked a bit strange to me.... I think it's the placement of the eyes? They seem much more forward facing like humans (what's the term... bilateral) than before, but maybe the shadowing is playing tricks on me there. It seems more monstrous than in Halo 3, where they seemed more... like a normal creature. Playing with the human perspective/stereotypes at that point in the war?

 

[Scott_Arm]

The light in the sky is the spotlight from the nearest casino.

 

[AlNom]

And Microsoft owns it?

 

[Nesh]

Just saw the trailer and I must say it looks incredible. If the game retains these visuals during real time/gameplay moments then I d be fucking impressed.

It looks better than anything I have seen so far. How they managed to achieve such a tremendous difference in performance compared to ODST and Halo 3 I wonder!

The quality off the lghting effects and shadows look like something that is probably considered impossible on current console hardware

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Just saw the trailer and I must say it looks incredible. If the game retains these visuals during real time/gameplay moments then I d be fucking impressed.

It looks better than anything I have seen so far. How they managed to achieve such a tremendous difference in performance compared to ODST and Halo 3 I wonder!

The quality off the lghting effects and shadows look like something that is probably considered impossible on current console hardware

Remember the engine for ODST/Halo 3 started developement and was originally planned for the original Xbox. This will be their first "pure" X360 engine, IE - designed from the beginning for the platform.

It'll be interesting to see just how it turns out.

Regards,
SB

 

[patsu]

Impressive ! Don't get all the negativity. This was announced and shown on VGA ? The developers obviously have to crank up the visual quality for marketing purposes, but still retain some reality w.r.t. the engine performance. Whether they call it in-game, CG or otherwise, it's moot. I don't see why the scenes can't be used in the game itself (e.g., cut scenes, photo modes).

It'd be like GT5, KZ2, Uncharted promo materials, cut scenes (or even lower spec'ed photo modes), using different tech. Past Halo trailers were all very well done too. Whether the actual combat will happen like that... I don't really think it matters to the fans. Don't think they are claiming you can play with characters and levels that look, behave and feel exactly like that on your TV.

People should be happy because the games will look increasingly better on both platforms.

 

[scently]

Just saw the trailer and I must say it looks incredible. If the game retains these visuals during real time/gameplay moments then I d be fucking impressed.

It looks better than anything I have seen so far. How they managed to achieve such a tremendous difference in performance compared to ODST and Halo 3 I wonder!

The quality off the lghting effects and shadows look like something that is probably considered impossible on current console hardware

Not just that, but the models are really impressive.

 

[Nesh]

Not just that, but the models are really impressive.

Yeah. Leaps and bounds above the previous games. Spectacular. Halo 3's models were atrocious and blocky and lacked character.. In this one they are convincing and with lots of personality. Their facial characteristics and armor are outstanding.

The lighting does help a lot though. It adds "color" and depth to the models. Well, if this is any indication, Killzone 2 probably found its match.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

So is MC going to make an appearance?
Looks great and nice let's go kick some ass attitude even if it ends badly...

 

[patsu]

Yeah. Leaps and bounds above the previous games. Spectacular. Halo 3's models were atrocious and blocky and lacked character.. In this one they are convincing and with lots of personality. Their facial characteristics and armor are outstanding.

The lighting does help a lot though. It adds "color" and depth to the models. Well, if this is any indication, Killzone 2 probably found its match.

Argh... Don't be like Evelyn in KZ2. Not feeling the woman's look in this trailer too. Man has no hair again.

It should be possible to have a good looking, edgy and powerful woman in the game, but not as plasticky as MGS4 ones. [size=-2]It's the future right ?[/size]. Also releasing next year, they should be targeting beyond KZ2 instead of matching it. We should be seeing more info about the cool technologies as launch time nears.