Gaming Forums => Nintendo Gaming => Topic started by: Kytim89 on November 08, 2011, 08:30:02 PM
Title: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Kytim89 on November 08, 2011, 08:30:02 PM
Since the Wii dynasty is almost over, I thoutght it might be a good idea to look over the plethora of good first and third party games for the Wii and figure which of them looks the best graphically and crown that game as thebest looking Wii game of all time. However, I was debating for a while on whether or not to include Skyward Sword due to it having the best chance of winning, which is good, but I want to see a fierce battle for the title and see Skyward Sword as having an unfair advantage.
If I over looked any quality titles then please notify me and I will change them accordingly.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: broodwars on November 08, 2011, 08:43:00 PM
No love for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption? And there are some games on this list that the general public just hasn't played yet, like Zelda and The Last Story. Well, for me it would probably be between Xenoblade and Donkey Kong Country Returns, both of which are very stylistically strong at what they do. I think I'll go with Xenoblade just because it's trying to push so much on Wii with its wide-open and detailed areas/enemies, despite the slowdown I've observed with larger groups of enemies. But Donkey Kong Country Returns is a very strong runner-up.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: ejamer on November 08, 2011, 09:00:37 PM
Not really sure if I should be voting when there are a couple of games yet to play, but the artwork from Muramasa is so beautiful that I couldn't resist giving it my nod. (Monster Hunter Tri was the other game that really tempted me.)
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Dasmos on November 08, 2011, 09:02:15 PM
Some of those options are totes lolz. Also as broodwars said it's pretty ridiculous to put games up there without having been released.
However right now I would say the Super Mario Galaxy games are top dog, those games look magical. DKCR is also a strong contender because the art style is great. Wario Land and Kriby's Epic Yarn should be on your list as well as those games both have a very strong and beautiful style.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Mop it up on November 08, 2011, 11:42:20 PM
It's a tough call, there are a lot of good choices up there. I'm tempted to go with Kirby's Epic Yarn, as it seemed to work its art into the gameplay... hmm...
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Retro Deckades on November 08, 2011, 11:50:25 PM
I'd just like to add that I enjoy how every response elicited so far has been in favour of a different game. It's heartening to see.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: ejamer on November 09, 2011, 08:15:14 AM
Oooh! Epic Yarn! Forgot about how beautiful that game is. My wife prefers the look of Kirby's Return to Dreamland... but I think there is something magical about the art style of Epic Yarn.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ceric on November 09, 2011, 11:48:10 AM
Wind Waker :P
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ian Sane on November 09, 2011, 02:00:19 PM
DKC Returns has a style that is so nice that you kind of forget that you're playing a glorified last gen console. I don't have an HDTV but PS3 games still look better than Wii games using it. DKC Returns looked good enough that if they had released that on the PS3, I don't think anyone would say it looked last gen. It's just a gorgeous game. Metroid Prime 3 looks great as well and it just shows how talented Retro is.
Warioland and Epic Yarn were both made by Good Feel and also both look great. Some devs just know how to deliver the goods and they put these great visuals in a great game as well!
Aside from those only the Super Mario Galaxy games and the upcoming Skyward Sword impressed me in terms of graphics. The rest of Nintendo's output wouldn't even stand out on the Gamecube (except Twilight Princess which literally IS a Gamecube game). I would describe Nintendo's typical attitude towards graphics as "good enough" and I mean that as a serious insult. The Miis come across less as an intentional simplistic style and more as an excuse to release games with subpar graphics.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: broodwars on November 09, 2011, 02:06:38 PM
Sheesh, Ian...you couldn't even let a topic about the best-looking Wii games go without a dig at the system and your overall impression of Nintendo's graphical effort? ::) I'm not Nintendo's biggest fan, either, but this isn't the topic for that.
And seriously, you should import Xenoblade, Ian, if you want to see what the Wii can really do. The things that game does with sheer scope and detail of the landscapes and size of the enemies while maintaining a fairly consistent framerate is outstanding.
EDIT: For instance, I just passed through this kind of typical swamp area last night. It's your typical white foggy area with marshes during the day. But at night...Wow.
(http://www.impulsegamer.com/wii/xenoblade05.jpg)
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ian Sane on November 09, 2011, 02:11:47 PM
Sure it is. "Best looking Wii game" is going to naturally bring up examples of games wowing us with their visuals. On a typical console there are usually tons of memories of this as there's a bit of a graphics arms race with companies constantly topping themselves with each release. I've realized on the Wii, this was never really the case and the feeling of "wow, look at that" was a rare feeling for me to have.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Kytim89 on November 09, 2011, 03:34:05 PM
Here is why I think Monster Hunter Tri is the best looking Wii game:
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ceric on November 09, 2011, 04:03:39 PM
Tri does have those times when its like Wow.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ian Sane on November 09, 2011, 04:39:12 PM
Looking at that Xenoblade shot all I can think of is "**** YOU REGGIE!!"
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Kytim89 on November 09, 2011, 05:39:09 PM
Can everyone bring a picture of each game so that we may compare them?
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: NWR_insanolord on November 09, 2011, 05:52:18 PM
Comparing something like Galaxy with something like Epic Yarn is a bit apples and oranges.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Chozo Ghost on November 09, 2011, 07:47:19 PM
The Wii may have inferior hardware to the competition, but it is capable of much more than most people give it credit for. The Wii sports game it launched with look like an N64 game at best, and since its the game everyone associates with the Wii that's how people think of the Wii and its graphical abilities.
The casual focus of the system has pemanently tarnished its image in the eyes of gamers. Both 1st and 3rd parties don't put much effort into the graphical quality of casual games, so if that's all you played you would never realize the Wii is capable of much more.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: NWR_insanolord on November 09, 2011, 07:57:37 PM
Wii Sports certainly doesn't look like an N64 game. It uses a simplified style, but what it does do is done well.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: nickmitch on November 09, 2011, 08:03:38 PM
Yeah, I think we're confusing art style and graphics again.
In any event, I voted for Kirby's Epic Yarn as best looking because of the art style. The graphics quality is basically unnoticeable next to it. Every level had a way of impressing me with how they conveyed something with yarn and fabric and buttons. Even if it didn't look "realistic" in the traditional sense, you got just as many "wow" moments but delivered in an original way.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Chozo Ghost on November 09, 2011, 08:20:44 PM
Okay, the "simplified style" of Wii Sports makes it look like an N64 game. Is that better?
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Kytim89 on November 09, 2011, 08:25:16 PM
Ten or twenty years from the Wii will be looked upon as a great console that feel victim to its own casualization. The Wii did suffer s deficit of third party titles, but what titles that it did get from both first and third party developers helped give the console a sense of style and identity all to its own. The Wii is no PS3 or 360, but it certainly is no slouch and there are tons of games for it that no real gamer should be ashamed to play or keep in their collection.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: NWR_insanolord on November 09, 2011, 08:42:51 PM
Okay, the "simplified style" of Wii Sports makes it look like an N64 game. Is that better?
You need to go look at N64 games if you think Wii Sports looks like one. I understand that you've switched from complete fanboyism to whining about every little thing Nintendo does, but this is ridiculous.
If you're going to blame Nintendo for the subpar graphics on the Wii it's because they didn't put good enough hardware in there, or because they made it unnecessarily hard to program for what was there by requiring proprietary bullshit instead of established standards. The style of Wii Sports is irrelevant.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Stogi on November 09, 2011, 11:42:32 PM
I'm going to reserve judgment until SS comes out.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Chozo Ghost on November 10, 2011, 04:25:40 AM
Everything? How can you say that when I was just defending the Wii for being graphically capable of more than most people give it credit for? Look, no matter how you slice it the fact is the Wii series and most if not all of the casual games have piss poor graphics and this gives people a bad impression of the Wii's graphical capabilities. Casual games are not a labor of love for the developers who make them. They just make them because the casual crowd will buy them up. The selling point of these games is not nor has it ever been or ever will be the graphics. What sells these games is wiggle control and tilting and twisting a control around, and that's what the devs focus on when making these games. They are made simply with simple graphics, because they are targeted towards the simple minded demographic.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Killer_Man_Jaro on November 10, 2011, 05:56:01 AM
They are made simply with simple graphics, because they are targeted towards the simple minded demographic.
Stop there. I don't know if you meant it this way, but that's incredibly offensive and unjustified. People who don't play video games much and find them often difficult to play when they do are not simple minded. My cousin earned his master's degree in aeronautical engineering a couple of years ago and works in the air force now, but he's not really good at games and prefers the simpler titles. The insinuation that he is simple-minded because of this is not only obviously false, it's also completely unfair. Think carefully about what you're saying.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ian Sane on November 10, 2011, 02:25:15 PM
Wii Sports is not nearly blurry enough to look like an N64 game. It's more like a Dreamcast game where they took the polygons from an N64 game and replaced them with smoother textures. :D
Is Wii Sports have simplistic graphics as a marketing tool because casuals would be more attracted to it or is it that casuals will put up with simplistic graphics and it's an excuse to cut corners? But Wii Sports and its ilk are not merely simplistic in terms of graphics. The gameplay is equally simplified. The whole design intentionally is unambitious.
It isn't necessarily the example set by Wii Sports that made the Wii underperform in terms of graphics potential. Due to the huge gap between it and the other consoles any third party developer that wanted to push the envelope in terms of graphics and presentation was never going to bother with the Wii in the first place. There's a reason the best looking games are all made by Nintendo themselves.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ceric on November 10, 2011, 02:45:02 PM
I have to disagee a bit here. While all the Wii* games are simplistic in nature there is a saying:
"Programmers strive to make the Idiot Proof Progam. The Universe strives to make the Better Idiot. The Universe is Winning."
There are a lot of special cases that gamers will chock up to being "part of the game" and tolerate that non-gamers will not. Getting all those cases in even a simplistic game can really be hard.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: broodwars on November 10, 2011, 03:17:59 PM
It's interesting seeing how the voting is going on this. Yeah, the game I thought would win this poll is so far (the Mario Galaxy games, and incidentally why are they combined?), but the voting's been pretty diverse.
My problem with declaring one of the 2D-based games like Kirby or Murasmasa the best-looking game is that compared to the 3D games they're really not pushing the hardware quite as much. Muramasa looks as good as it does because there's only seemingly a dozen different backgrounds in the game, and probably about the same number of character sprites (not counting bosses). Yeah, it's a great-looking game, but the game design's really not pushing the game to have to do all that much (and from what I remember, the game has some of the usual Vanillaware slowdown when things start getting hectic).
Kirby's a great-looking game as well, but it only has to portray things from a singular angle with a very simple art style that's not all that detailed, and even then it's pretty light on the particle effects, character counts, and whatnot. DKCR by comparison has a lot of movement and different layers of characters and environments working in the background, so I'm a lot more impressed at what that game accomplished visually. And I'll admit from a personal standpoint, Kirby's art style never really did much for me, as interesting a concept as it is. If you want to label it as the game with the best art style on the Wii, I can't really disagree with you there. But as for "best looking"? That wouldn't really be my choice.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ceric on November 10, 2011, 03:35:54 PM
Seems everyone has a different opinion of what "Best Looking" Means.
Does it mean how it looks as an entire package? Does it mean how much its doing? Does it mean how it looks when caught in a still Screen? Does it mean how it looks in motion?
Without agreeing on what "Best Looking" really means then this will be up for a wide variety of interpretations.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: broodwars on November 10, 2011, 03:37:54 PM
Seems everyone has a different opinion of what "Best Looking" Means.
Does it mean how it looks as an entire package? Does it mean how much its doing? Does it mean how it looks when caught in a still Screen? Does it mean how it looks in motion?
Without agreeing on what "Best Looking" really means then this will be up for a wide variety of interpretations.
Yeah, for me it would be "All of the Above" on those qualifications. But that's just me.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Luigi Dude on November 10, 2011, 03:53:07 PM
Having spoiled myself on every trailer for Skyward Sword Nintendo has released, my vote easily went to Skyward Sword. The amount of detail that went into every area shown so far is just increadible. Can't really say anything else since most of the members here don't want to be spoiled, but it's just f*cking amazing.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ceric on November 10, 2011, 04:10:19 PM
Having spoiled myself on every trailer for Skyward Sword Nintendo has released, my vote easily went to Skyward Sword. The amount of detail that went into every area shown so far is just increadible. Can't really say anything else since most of the members here don't want to be spoiled, but it's just f*cking amazing.
I'm Curious to compare Skyward Sword during play to Monster Hunter. There are times in Monster Hunter that you swear its just a photo of an event but, those aren't always.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Chozo Ghost on November 10, 2011, 04:14:54 PM
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Stogi on November 10, 2011, 04:16:29 PM
Like Luigi Dude, I'm pretty sure Skyward Sword is going to take the cake simply because of the in-game cut-scenes that are so spectacular and enchanting. Not to say that the graphics during game play are less sufficient, but I really haven't seen a Zelda like this yet. Wind Waker, my favorite of all the graphic styles in any game, might be dethroned once SS is released.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Ian Sane on November 10, 2011, 05:58:27 PM
If I was to define "best looking" I would say it's whatever impresses me the most visually when I'm playing it. That's not going to just be artistic design and not going to just be technical wizardry. It would be both.
Technicalities like a 2D game being "easier" to make look nice don't matter to me, because so many of that best looking games from the past used clever tricks to gain a visual edge. In the 16-bit era fighting games often were some of the best looking titles. They had somewhat of an unfair advantage because they used only one background at a time and only had to animate two characters, allowing for huge sprites. But as kids did we think of that? Did we care? No! We just saw Street Fighter II and thought it was better looking than Super Mario World. Then DKC came out using another "trick" and we didn't think about that. It was just "Holy ****! Look at those graphics!"
Finding something attractive to look at is largely instinctive and emotional to begin with. Do you really need to stop and think about what sort of effort was required to achieve a certain look? Your initial feeling of awe will just come without thinking about it in the first place. Do you look back and think about the games or your reaction to them?
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Mop it up on November 10, 2011, 06:48:14 PM
Without agreeing on what "Best Looking" really means then this will be up for a wide variety of interpretations.
It's pretty easy to interpret, it's simply what looks the best. The reasons behind why someone thinks a game looks the best can be anything someone wants it to be as long as the end result is what looks best, so if someone finds something like a lot of moving objects to look the best then there is nothing wrong with that. The question isn't "Which game pushes the hardware to its limits" and so we have a wide variety of answers that show that a game doesn't need the most technical prowess to have the best look. Besides, pushing the hardware doesn't always equal good graphics; the Call of Duty games appear to utilize the Wii near its limits, yet in my opinion those games look ugly.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on November 10, 2011, 09:34:21 PM
This argument reminds me of the aesthetics vs. graphics episode of Extra Credits, and it's really great to see that most of the options really do have good aesthetics, even if some of the arguments reference graphical capabilities, too. Maybe that's because the Wii's lackluster 3rd party support meant we didn't get all the real-is-brown titles the other consoles did. Or maybe it's because this forum's regulars don't need Extra Credits to tell us that graphics aren't everything. ;)
I have to vote for Skyward Sword. It's the first 3D Zelda to remind me of LttP in its appearance. I can't put my finger on how exactly, but I just get that feeling from it. At the same time, it's beautiful in its own right. It's a culmination of every game leading up to it. You can see how the character designs in particular have evolved through the 3D Zelda games to get to this point, starting with those odd body shapes that were probably due to the N64's limitations, zigzagging into outright cartoonishness via Wind Waker, and picking up just enough realism since then to become something uniquely Zelda. I just love it. All of it.
Kirby's Epic Yarn is a close second because the yarn and fabric look isn't just pretty to look at. It's interwoven (Ha! I kill me.) with the gameplay. I daresay say that makes it unique. Only the Paper Mario series comes to mind as a counterexample.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Kytim89 on November 10, 2011, 09:53:48 PM
I messed up when I put the date for expiration of voting and would like to extend it until the first of next month, or thirty days.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: broodwars on November 10, 2011, 09:58:14 PM
I messed up when I put the date for expiration of voting and would like to extend it until the first of next month, or thirty days.
Why? I think it's only fair to close the poll before Zelda comes out (which will dominate the voting almost solely because it's the newest game), or else give us the option in the poll to change our vote like RFN does for the RetroActive polls.
And incidentally, if we're looking at games that aren't even out yet, I wonder if we're perhaps snubbing Rayman Origins in all this. That game's been looking pretty impressive whenever I see it in motion.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Kytim89 on November 10, 2011, 10:04:51 PM
I will add it to the poll, Broodwars.
Title: Re: Best Looking Wii Game
Post by: Chozo Ghost on November 11, 2011, 12:04:44 AM
I haven't played or seen about half the games on this poll, so I don't feel qualified to vote.
