The Westerner

[Garyos]

Dunno if you discussed this in the temp forum but....

That video (http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=216) looked amazing! :9~

I dunno what that guy was babbling about, but he mentioned Toy Story, and I have to agree, it definetly looks as gorgeous.... I dunno how the actual GAME will be, but it's definetly a step up from Simon 3D, looks-wise....

[custard]

but simon3d, it was new, not really done before but now 3d has been around for long enough to get decent results

[Murray]

We are plannig to translate the text into english so that you can understand what he says.

And yep, he compared Fenimore (The Westerner's protagonist) to Woody from Toy Story.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

....it's definetly a step up from Simon 3D, looks-wise....

http://216.40.249.192/s/ups/chaos/smile2.gif Garyos, wipe your eyes, dear. The Westerner visually is light years ahead. Simon 3D is the ugliest adventure game ever devised to torture humans' eyes. You're insulting The Westerner just by comparing the two.

[remixor]

:eek: Is it just me, or did this game's graphics improve noticeably since the last news item?

[Garyos]

Hehe, sorry, trep. I just meant that it's nice that some AG developers are doing cartoony 3D graphics and doing it exceptionally.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

:eek: Is it just me, or did this game's graphics improve noticeably since the last news item?

It has, remixsie :D. Unfortunately it's very difficult to see it in greater detail because of the video format and quality (*sigh* why can't everyone just use Bink for all previews?). But from what I was able to make out, the cinematics look absolutely spot on, and thank gawd for the dynamic 3D camera and competent editing. No more of that mindnumbingly boring static shots of TLJ dialogues adventures games have been cursed with.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Hehe, sorry, trep. I just meant that it's nice that some AG developers are doing cartoony 3D graphics and doing it exceptionally.

:D You're forgiven, honey. It's just that Simon 3D's graphics had a particularly insulting effect on me that I've been using it as my benchmark as the ugliest modern 3D game ever, what developers should never aspire to. But then, Gary-unh, we now have new standards for graphic adventures, the ante has been upped: The Westerner, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, Syberia 2.....

[Garyos]

I think the Westerner in many ways looks better than BS3, because of how the visual style just looks perfect.... In more realistic-looking games like BS3 you're in bigger danger of looking unexcellent. I'm sure that won't be a big problem for BS, but when I compare the videos I've seen the Westerner comes out on top (Dirty Mind NOT intended).

And the editing and camera angles were great, I love it when in-game cut-scenes are more than talking heads. My only problem was the old guy with a pipe... he would have looked funnier if the pipe was on the other side of his mouth.

/nitpick

[James]

I'd still wager that Broken Sword 3 will be the better game. Revolution have a fantastic track record, and look to be pushing the envelope with this title. The Westerner looks promising, though I will still reserve judgement for some playable code. Graphically, it does indeed looks stunning, but so did Myst, back in the day. Of increasing importance in adventure games, script and narrative will distinguish the great title from the merely good, as technology barriers are no longer a valid measure of a title's worth, if they ever were.

[Garyos]

I agree. I should have clarified that I was only speaking about the visuals here. I have no idea about the gameplay of the Westerner, other than that it seems kinda cliché. rest assured that I won't buy it just because the graphics look nice.

[Erwin_Br]

Hehe, sorry, trep. I just meant that it's nice that some AG developers are doing cartoony 3D graphics and doing it exceptionally.

I'm not even going to mention Full Throttle: Hell on Wh... oops. :D

--Erwin

[twifkak]

(*sigh* why can't everyone just use Bink for all previews?)
Bink is evil. DivX, baby.

[James]

I prefer DivX as well. It means I can integrate everything into the allconsuming Windows Media Player *gobble!*

[Garyos]

Any video format where you have no control over when or what you're playing...

I hated downloading HL2 movies of steam, doing something while I waited, and then the movie would suddenly pop up out of nowhere, with winamp still playing in the background and so on.

[ragnar]

(*sigh* why can't everyone just use Bink for all previews?).

Perhaps because they don't want to pay radtools rather expenisve license fees? And it will only be possible to used in windows.

Everyone should of course use open formats, like ogg vorbis (for music) and ogg theora (for video).

[Intrepid Homoludens]

What format did Syberia use in its cutscenes then? Those are by far the most beautiful cinematics I've ever seen in any adventure game, it's as if I had one of the most powerful computers and the scenes were in-engine and real-time. It had none of the blurriness or graininess that WinMedia Player or DivX has, those cutscenes were as crisp as Antarctica in midday, and were impressively integrated into the game to the point where I never felt jolted out of the gameplay.

[ragnar]

Syberia use bink I think (hey it rhymes! ;)).

Bink and smacker is by far the most used video format for ingame video. But to use that in the trailers isn't always good imo, at least if you want people to watch the trailers in anything else than in windows.

[remixor]

I think the Westerner in many ways looks better than BS3, because of how the visual style just looks perfect.... In more realistic-looking games like BS3 you're in bigger danger of looking unexcellent. I'm sure that won't be a big problem for BS, but when I compare the videos I've seen the Westerner comes out on top (Dirty Mind NOT intended).


I can very much see where you're coming from here. I'm too much in love with BS3 to make such a claim, but your rationale is spot on, IMO. One of the reasons it's taken me so long to get that excited about 3d in general is because it seems like as soon as developers move to real-time 3d, everything has to look realistic. This often makes sense because generally 3d is better suited for realism than cartoonish styles (since you have to actually worry about all the dimensions at the same time). However, the problem with this is that we expect things in totally realistic proportion and style to actually look REAL, and when they don't it comes off as sub-par to our eyes. The same goes for 2d, but most 2d games don't attempt to actually look like real people and places, so they don't have to worry about it quite as much. Day of the Tentacle still looks great, and so does Fate of Atlantis (despite its more-realistic style), because they are not trying to actually look like real people, thus they do not fail in that goal. Realistic 3d games from just a couple years ago look very dated to us now because now we have stuff that looks more "real". This isn't as much of a problem with games that don't shoot for a goal of realism. That being said, both games look excellent for different reasons. I'm not trying to put down BS3 or anything. It's definitely a much bigger step towards realism than any prior adventure.

[twifkak]

Syberia cutscenes are beautiful, and use Bink. In this case, they turned out very high-res and all, but this is certainly not the case in general. In my (limited) experience the size/quality ratio is much bigger for Bink than DivX. The reason it gets used in games is likely that it edges out in (size*processor usage)/quality. But it is evil for the above reasons.

edit: Ogg Theora is unfinished, and isn't quite as pure as Vorbis. It's actually a result of a license agreement with On2. XviD is pure, though, accepting possible US patent violations, but it seems we can't get around those.

[Esseb]

LENSE FLARES!!!!!

The guy even seems to like it, from what little German I could figure out.

[Zanthia]

On what languages will it b realesed?

[amishler]

There hasn't been much to follow about The Westerner, but I agree that it sure looks good. The official site (http://www.revistronic.com/games/westerner/westerner.htm) isn't much help for anyone seeking information, either. Has anyone played 3 Skulls of the Toltecs? It's the same developer; maybe that would give us an idea as to the type of gameplay we could expect.

[Murray]

3 Skulls... is a Point & Click-Adventure. And so is The Westerner (yeah, really!)..

[amishler]

Well, I'm sold! :) But, you know, just for the sake of completeness, does 3 Skulls have a good story, does the game play well, etc.? I realize it's not going to be the same game. It's seven years later, who knows how many of the same people are there, and The Westerner is in--gasp!--3D. (Check out all my dimensions! Height, width, and now for a limited time only, depth! )

[Murray]

Hm, dunno. Never played 3 Skulls. ;)

But I know that it was a Cartoon-Adventure, a bit Monkey Island-Style. At least The Westerner looked like a really humourous game...

[Ginny]

There's a review of 3 Skulls on AGers, as well as other sites. Personally I want to get it someday, but it's not urgent. Westerner looks awesome! :)

[Erwin_Br]

3 Skulls is a pretty rare and wanted game. I've been trying to get my greasy little hands on it for years, without luck.

--Erwin

[Tamara]

3 Skulls is a pretty rare and wanted game. I've been trying to get my greasy little hands on it for years, without luck.

--Erwin
And what have you been doing to get your hands so greasy, hmmmmm?

I'm not all that interested in 3 Skulls honestly .. never seemed to me to be a must-own game

[Erwin_Br]

And what have you been doing to get your hands so greasy, hmmmmm?

I'm not all that interested in 3 Skulls honestly .. never seemed to me to be a must-own game

Well, I have a habit of wanting the things I can't get the most. :devil:

--Erwin