Jak & Daxter 2 - high quality screens

[London Geezer]

Johnney, I guess I can only speak for myself here, but Jak & Daxter has been my favorite game on any platform. I've never had that much of fun playing a platformer, so naturally, these screens get me hyped up in awe even thinking about that I might be walking through these settings come christmas time (I hope it will be out by then). The screens do seem to be impressive, but perhaps you had to play the first game to really appreciate them. It's the animation and the fun you'll get playing these characters that makes it so special. Obviously, my hopes are up quite high, but I think after the first part, it's to be expected.

I can see if someone finds it less impressive based on the screens, but just like the first part, you'll have to play it to see it's beauty. Leaving graphics out of this, I am looking forward to the gameplay it will have.

And Chap - you're an idiot. I could get two screens of any game and find similarities. J&D didn't anything like R&C - but that probably means nothing to you since you've played neither of them. Just get a life and leave this thread alone, will you? Thanks.

phil, no need for the *idiot* bit... i mean, yeah its Chap, but do like i do, *chap u're hopeless*.......

really, i'm so looking forward to this title and more so the inevitable R&C2... wonder what weapons they will come up to this time

 

[maskrider]

phil, no need for the *idiot* bit... i mean, yeah its Chap, but do like i do, *chap u're hopeless*.......

really, i'm so looking forward to this title and more so the inevitable R&C2... wonder what weapons they will come up to this time

london-boy or anyone in UK,

This is kind of off-topic but I think a message or two wouldn't matter, please accept my apology if you are not okay with my message.

Do you know which retailer in UK ships worldwide (or to Hongkong) or cheapest (with price) in UK (with VAT, as a friend of mine is studying in UK right now) ?

I want a UK PS2 (ok, for my UK ICO that I bought long ago from www.game.uk.com, which she doesn't do international shipping now) for The Getaway and the coming Silent Hill 3 (early Europe release).

Thanks in advance.

 

[London Geezer]

phil, no need for the *idiot* bit... i mean, yeah its Chap, but do like i do, *chap u're hopeless*.......

really, i'm so looking forward to this title and more so the inevitable R&C2... wonder what weapons they will come up to this time

london-boy or anyone in UK,

This is kind of off-topic but I think a message or two wouldn't matter, please accept my apology if you are not okay with my message.

Do you know which retailer in UK ships worldwide (or to Hongkong) or cheapest (with price) in UK (with VAT, as a friend of mine is studying in UK right now) ?

I want a UK PS2 (ok, for my UK ICO that I bought long ago from www.game.uk.com, which she doesn't do international shipping now) for The Getaway and the coming Silent Hill 3 (early Europe release).

Thanks in advance.

U SHOULD TRY www.gameplay.co.uk

although i dont know whether they ship worldwide. anyway, why would u want an european PS2??? i mean cant u wait for silent hill 3? and the getaway is out there isnt it?

 

[maskrider]

U SHOULD TRY www.gameplay.co.uk

although i dont know whether they ship worldwide. anyway, why would u want an european PS2??? i mean cant u wait for silent hill 3? and the getaway is out there isnt it?

I checked many on-line retailers in UK and I have only read negative results. I am trying to buy PS2+The Getaway in a bundle (the cheapest one I've checked is Argos at 168.99 GBP, Argos accepts international credit card but ships only UK).

To me, English Silent Hill 3 (which UK version is) will be better than Japanese version as I read English a whole lot better than Japanese, and I do not want a modified box and I play only genuine copies (or else I just need the games).

 

[DeathKnight]

Game looks somewhat decent. No better than Vexx.

 

[marconelly!]

Vexx?? Come on now... J&D1 looked more impressive than that game, and this will certainly look no worse.

As for simillarities, J&D and R&C looked quite different to me. J&D2 may end up looking simillar to one of them, but they are definitely making pretty big shift in the gameplay department, which is probably way more important than any graphical gimmick they could have come up with.

I just remembered: They say in the GI interview how 'If you thought vistas in J&D were impressive, J&D2 will blow you away in that respect.'

 

[Goldni]

I'm pretty impressed. I mean this is Naughty Dog/Insomniac we're talking about here. And in thier words J & D 2 is a "3rd gen PS2 game" even though it's technically a 2nd. The poly counts look incredible as do the draw distances. I'm still hoping that they can do some rt fur like in SFA. I'd have thought the PS2 could have done some fur in realtime by now. And I'm sure they've improved the piss poor N64 water from J & D.

But overall these shots look damn good for a PS2 game. I dont own a PS2 nor do I even remotely see anything on the horizon to warrant a buy but J & D was/is one of my favs on PS2. My cousin and I "borrow" each other's systems every few weeks and along with Maximo and ICO, J & D was a blast.

 

[_phil_]

Agreed .And the whole directly streamed directly from the DVD to the screen !.
Naughty Dog deserves kudos to mind their product design with this "not easy" constraint.
Streaming (no perceptive loading) is great feature.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I played the original J&D and thought it was a very good game. I'm just talking about these screens. The poly counts look pretty low (look at the shoulders), there is fogging to hide the lack of draw distance, and the texturing is low-res and pretty muddy. There just isn't anything impressive about them and I do think that Vexx looks about the same.

I'm sure there will be plenty of time to improve the game's look, but it just doesn't blow me away yet and I'm pretty suprised that others are actually "blown away" by these screens. I'm definitely looking forward to the game though.

 

[Bowie]

 

[Phil]

Johnny:

there is fogging to hide the lack of draw distance

I think you are being a bit unfair by judging the game on one screen that shows just a slight bit of fogging. If you ever played the first part, you should have no reason to believe that Naughty Dog would use fogging to limit the draw distance. It's like posting a screen of Misty Island (from the first part) and using it as an example for limiting the draw distance when in fact it was used for artistic reasons.

I respect your initial impressions on the game, but I really think you should hold of further cristism before we get some screens showing some more of the landscapes. This actually reminds me - anyone remember the very first screens of part 1? They were so horrible, no one thought it would look that impressive. Yet, upon watching that very first trailer holding in-game footage - it couldn't be believed how fluid the animation was, how big the world was and just everything about the game. I think this game will really shine once you'll see it in motion.



EDIT: forget the previous content, I decided to rephrase my poor writing.

 

[Sonic]

On a second closer look at the pics I can see where some may not think these pics are all that great from a technical perspective. I notice that the textures aren't the best there is, there seems to be geometry sacrificed in some places, and other things aren't too great. But at the same time, I cannot fault the devs for this as much as I can the PS2 hardware itself. I do see a lot of geometry in most places though. Despite the lack of graphical goodies here and there, I must say the pics have my mouth watering. It's a technical ahievement in its own when a dev releases pics (real time I assume) that display a visual style that is just pleasing to look at. The colors are looking phenomenal. It's quite a technical achievement by the devs that they take the PS2 strengths and exploit them in such a good way and they downplay PS2's weaknesses at the same time. On top of all that, the art style is something that I enjoyed in the first game, and it seems it will be carrying over in this one.

 

[marconelly!]

no more graphiiX! just for you!

Thank you!

 

[chaperone]

Oh boyO~~~ can we put aside all the chap hating, sit back and ponder on what i said. you can tell me that the overall artstyle not looks damn fricking similar?

there are tons of platformer around, PS2 and others. tell me does Sonic not have an unique look? How about Rayman? Mario Sunshine and even Blinx, Vexx, Ty Tasmania.

RC and JD are supposed to be different series, yet the damn games does not differentiate one another graphically.

i have played RC and JD1. good control good camera but gamepay gets repetitive. that is for you to believe or not. you can hate me for being direct, but at least i dare point out the flaws on whatever games.

the picture bowie posted, you can see now Daxter looks like a goofball, not the Daxter i knew in part 1.

 

[marconelly!]

How can you tell the J&D1 and R&C do not differentiate one another graphically is beyond me. They are really quite a bit different looking. J&D being all village/nature/vibrant colors, R&C is all in subdued tones/alien planets/high tech cities.

 

[Sonic]

chap I must be direct with you in this post. Your opinion on J&D and R&C has been noted, but I also believe that you haven't really played these games as you would notice that the art styles are very different. They do share the same engine and our both 3rd person platformers, so of co urse there will be many graphical similarities. But there are obvious differences in the visuals regarding art style, if you do not see that then maybe you haven't played the games as thouroughly as some others here.

 

[Goldni]

Speaking of platformers, I wish I could post some screens of Rayman 3 I'm currentlyy playing on GCN. Man oh man does this game look really good in many areas. First there are several rooms throughout the game that have these huge stain glass walls reflecting on the floor with light pouring in. Dust particles floating around and Rayman reflects along with everything else on the floor. Also some have the actual floor made up of stain glass. Freaking colors everywhere. Nice job Ubi Soft. And the GBA connectivity should not be missed by any gamer. This is what Nintendo meant all along.

I know I've touted Rayman 3 for GCN and GBA in several threads now but just because Zelda is coming next week does'nt mean that it's the ONLY thing to buy.

 

[marconelly!]

I played the demo of Rayman 3 that came with the last OPM, but it didn't managed to hold my attention. It looked pretty good, but the whole atmosphere jut felt off.

 

[maskrider]

Oh boyO~~~ can we put aside all the chap hating, sit back and ponder on what i said. you can tell me that the overall artstyle not looks damn fricking similar?

My question is not about hate, but about how you come up with your opinion as I do think JD and RC are different enough to be distinguished. (While they are not looking as clean as the JD2 shots posted, they will never be like that on PS2 I suppose)

 

[TTP]

How can ppl complain about lack of polys (look at the comparison pic Bowie posted above) and not so good textures (look at above pix) in J&D2 is honestly beyond me.

This game is looking freaking awesome.