2D vs 3D: Star Ocean 4 Can’t Decide
- Filed under: Games, News
- Date: Oct 5, 2008 11:40 JST
- Tags: Bandai, CG, RPG, Square Enix, Star Ocean, Xbox 360
Moderately anticipated Xbox 360 “exclusive” SF RPG Star Ocean 4 has has some screenshots released which show off the game in some detail, though questions have been immediately asked about the wisdom of their character design and graphical style.
The style adopted seems to be a hodgepodge of Final Fantasy style CG and classical anime style visuals, and the results seem to be mixed.
The game itself doesn’t look too bad, though nor does it look particularly impressive, but as Hachimaki says, “they look more like dolls than humans”. Maybe this does a disservice to some dolls though…
Via Hachimaki.
We saw a similar phenomenon with Tales of Hearts, although in that case players (at least Japanese ones) would have a choice between 3D and 2D cinematics. Could this ungainly hybrid style be a similarly misguided attempt to secure international marketability?
If the favourable reception Tales of Vesperia received is anything to go by (to say nothing of the success of Valkyria), they might be better served by sticking to 2D style 3D, although it has to be said the previous games experienced some success with the 3D style 2D.
They should know that not everything is best served in 3D, especially SquareSoft-styled 3D character design which throws me off..
I like these 3D anime design. They make me feel that 2D girls could be real… Hehe…
I wouldn’t mind at all seeing the 3d models. On the side note i do question square’s credibility for 3d model designs. The hair and eyes throws me off compared to how cloud looks in advent children or how the characters look in FFXIII. I do like how the battle scenes look and its a definite upgrade from Star Ocean: til the end of time. I also do enjoy the 2d portraits.
Something about 2D characters in 3D makes them look dead, probably its because the eyes seem dilated. haha
ah, Enix should have made their own game with Tri-Ace, Square ruins everything…..