Thread: Aesthetics and Graphics

So watching the trailer, you can get all sorts of hints at how much more streamlined things are gonna be, and presentation wise its gonna change a bit. Also things like characters are gonna be distinguishable.
-Routes now have signs that mark it. Finally.
-Height! Sprites didn't do no help at all in this department, and from the beginning you can see a child being much shorter then the PC, and the PC being a bit shorter then the adult in the background.
-Less trees! Finally no more filler mountains and filler.
-Still early, but something tells me the movement is either gridbased or on an 8 way movement pattern. Fucking hell GF you have an analog stick for a reason! This is also based on how the route and the street roads are very liney, not at all open outside of the grass. Which is also based on the route not beeing natural and taking a sharp turn, and the damn open foresty area having him go straight left instead of a curve. Also looks like the BW2 3D area locked routes seem to have come back
-Pokeball's in the bottom left of the screen, and likely on the bottom right as well. HP on the bottom screen finally?

That's all we can gather from the trailer for now, but yeah. Discuss!

I love that they seemed to have stuck to a grid. The circle pad had me really worried about these games. I actually don't mind the transition to 3D graphics as much as I thought I would because they kept the heart of what made a pokemon game a pokemon game aesthetically. Every other game has free movement, pokemon's just about the only one still in a grid, so it's pretty special in that regard.

The 3D graphics are very well done and Im gald to see that they decided to use them instead of sprites. Sprites are cool, but 3D models are the best for using the 3DS IMO, I think it wouldve felt awkward to play a 3D game with a 3D environment and have the Pokemon and Player charaters be sprites.

Personally, I'm glad they stayed with grid too. I can't really say the all 3D graphics are my favorite but I wouldn't mind them. Though nothing was really said about characters, their designs seem nice and well put together. The scenery is beautiful (all the scenery I've seen at least) and well designed like always. Overall, my expectations for the games where fulfilled except for the fact that the game is only playable on 3DS Systems.

I hope what we've seen is not what the game will actually look like. In trailer graphics are just gnarly and colors are pale and overall expression is that the game is undone. I hope they somehow fix it, at least colors. Also I may be the only one who hates them for being stuck with the grid. Free way run would just change gameplay in a good way but they preferred to stay as is. As usual

Haven't seen a single thing so far that worries me - love the battle graphics and animations too, but honestly - you had me at ROLLERBLADES for my PC.

*hook, line and sinker*

The game is 9 months away from release and game freak is notorious for showing early development footage. Framerate's gonna get streamlined, and anything else will be fixed. Colors are fine, love the under saturation the game has going on. Too much and it won't feel as European as it wants to. Only thing that needs getting used to is the character design. The trainers are getting a bit too life-like.

Having rewatched the Nintendo Direct on my 3DS, I've decided to buy a 3DS XL. The small 3DS screen does not do it justice.

However, it also looks very crowded during battles. So I imagine that things like the HP bar and Pokémon name could be on the bottom screen. I wonder if they've done away with Triple Battles though, as they will no doubt look extremely crowded.

FINALLY! Attacking animations where you see the Pokemon actually hit each other!

Originally Posted by Joshawott

Having rewatched the Nintendo Direct on my 3DS, I've decided to buy a 3DS XL. The small 3DS screen does not do it justice.

However, it also looks very crowded during battles. So I imagine that things like the HP bar and Pokémon name could be on the bottom screen. I wonder if they've done away with Triple Battles though, as they will no doubt look extremely crowded.

Yeah I speculated that part cause of the Pokemon list being a little thing in the corner. As for being crowded its not too bad, at least the battle circles are only when you attack. :/

Originally Posted by Mr. Warrior

FINALLY! Attacking animations where you see the Pokemon actually hit each other!

Indeed. One of the best parts of this trailer.

Another graphical nugget is the fact that minor cosmetic changes to your character are apparent. Check out the beginning with the glasses, then go to the rope swinging part. The glasses are missing. ;D
Edit: Watching it on the 3DS does the game justice. The graphics aren't so bad, and the framerate is obviously gonna be fixed, so thankfully its pretty. I mean holy hell even the guys hair which I considered bad looks decent, and the fact that its smaller then normal doesn't matter cause its a fairly accurate look. Can't wait.

Originally Posted by Joshawott

Having rewatched the Nintendo Direct on my 3DS, I've decided to buy a 3DS XL. The small 3DS screen does not do it justice.

However, it also looks very crowded during battles. So I imagine that things like the HP bar and Pokémon name could be on the bottom screen. I wonder if they've done away with Triple Battles though, as they will no doubt look extremely crowded.

You won't regret getting an XL :) Finally caved for x-mas with the g/f and we're super pumped about our XLs. So much screen real estate! I do miss the seemingly endless DS battery life though >.>

*gets back on topic* I think Triple battles will be doable - they'll just need to probably have the camera pan/shift a bit more to accommodate it or they'll potentially pan out the view.

Edit: I have high hopes for character customization too :)

I don't see Pokemon ever moving away from the grid. I think that's just how wild Pokemon will pop out. I just see the free roam messing that up

I think it looks great. My only complaint is that the overworld looks quite choppy when there seems to be lots in the backrgound, but I'm hoping that will be fixed with future optimization, on the bottom corner of the screen in the trailer it said "gameplay footage not final" so hopefully that means they will make it look even better. I think the choppiness of the overworld may be due to a low frame rate, its hard to tell. I'm stoked for the 3D though.

This scene in the trailer bothered me the most with how choppy it looked:



I was hoping the overworld would be even smoother on the 3DS. That looks more like the DS rather than 3DS.

The rest didn't look as bad. I don't want to seem as if I am complaining, because I think it all looks fantastic apart from the choppiness of the overworld which I'm sure will be worked on anyway considering they have 9 months left.

I LOVED how the battle scenes look, though!

I was shocked on the overworld and the battle scene. It's indeed an improvement, since it's more realistic now. I hope the pixelated graphics will be fixed by Game Freak.

Assuming you don't have a 3DS, the eShop trailer does it justice. Its far less jaggy, the desert domes were properly round, and the saturation was even lower to give it a more coherent look. And the forest is absolutely lovely btw.