Author Topic: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?  (Read 10679 times)

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Offline NWR_pap64

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VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« on: January 19, 2007, 11:30:19 AM »
The infamous web comic VGCats has been updated, featuring a comic that pokes fun at next generation graphics.

The thing is, which game are they exactly making fun of or criticizing?

The comic can be seen here..

I have the feeling that they might be criticizing Nintendo's decision of making the latest Zelda game, Twilight Princess, into a realistic looking one, rather than continuing using the cel shaded style of the Wind waker.

Notice how the comic mentions some of the graphical features seen in TP, including the infamous use of a brown palette scheme and a soft blur effect.

If its true that they are making fun/bashing the TP graphics, then they are being foolish. The blur effect was only used during the Twilight real scenes, which added to the surreality of the world. Its true that the game does sport a brown palette, but it does make great use of color and shading (especially the greens in the forests).

Also, other games made use of the 'realistic" brown palette before TP was released. RE 4 on the Cube made heavy use of dark reds, brown, grey and even some orange. Gear of war also uses a lot of greys and black to convey the gritty look of war and if I am not mistaken so does Call of duty 3. And finally, Final Fantasy XII sports a lot of brown and gold colors, even if it is more colorful than any of the aforementioned games.

I ask because they usually do a quick commentary on the comic, but they didn't say anything this time. But the way they use the effects in the comic makes it look like they are making fun or criticizing the graphical style of TP.

I'll leave you guys to ponder what is the intention behind this comic.
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Offline Ian Sane

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2007, 11:44:32 AM »
Considering it specifically mentions HD I doubt the comic is poking fun at Nintendo.

Besides there are far less subtle ways to make fun of Nintendo.

Offline Caliban

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2007, 11:56:13 AM »
Yeah the comic mentioned HD, to me it seemed they were poking fun at both 360 and PS3. I wish we all had the Bloom effect enabled.  

Offline Artimus

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2007, 11:57:29 AM »
I think it's a general critique. Zelda has brown in some parts but I don't think it's that brown a game (certainly Hyrule field isn't brown, or Castle Town, or the lake, just Kakariko and Death Mountain and I guess the desert but I'm just going there now). And the bloom thing isn't present outside of the twilight world (not in a bad way like Fable).

Offline Smoke39

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2007, 12:30:49 PM »
TP has bloom outside of the twilight realm.  It's just lowered to a reasonable, subtle level.

Anyway, the comic seems like general satire to me, rather than making fun of any specific game.
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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RE:VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2007, 12:55:39 PM »
Nah I really think they are poking fun at Next Generation visuals, which seem to use the the dull/brownish look to get realism out of their games (I'm looking at you Gears of War). It is almost like companies are throwing out lots of stuff like HDR and such just to use it, instead of focusing more on visual artistry. It is kind of funny with PC I can turn off alot of options like HDR and adjust stuff like Anti-aliasing and am hard pressed to notice much of a difference.
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Offline Dasmos

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RE:VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2007, 02:46:03 PM »
Who cares? It's VGCats. It's not important.
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Offline Mario

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2007, 02:50:45 PM »
Agreed. It's also a HUUUUUGE stretch to link that with Zelda, it doesn't even make sense.

Offline NWR_pap64

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RE:VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2007, 03:22:46 PM »
Quote

Originally posted by: Mario
Agreed. It's also a HUUUUUGE stretch to link that with Zelda, it doesn't even make sense.


Well like I said, they didn't do a commentary on the comic (why they made it, what inspired it etc.), plus some of the graphical effects they mention are exactly those found in TP. What got me the most, however, was the "brown" comment. If you remember, one of Joystiq's editors posted a rant as to how TP sucks graphically and that it was too brown for his tastes. I read the exact, same comment on the comic and I was wondered if they too were dissing the game.

But I guess you're right, maybe I am looking too much into it.
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Offline SixthAngel

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2007, 03:41:54 PM »
Good old 360 games trying to be "realistic."  While I occasionally like a comment or two from a webcomic's author I also like it when they can just let the comic do the talking without taking out their thesaurus and explaining it like some other videogame comics.

Offline KDR_11k

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2007, 06:48:58 PM »
While it does look like they're using Zelda as an example for some stuff, this is the general trend for next gen. As some artists put it, "bloom is the next lens flare". People throw bloom at their games because at first glance it looks better than no bloom. Then marketing thinks it's too sublte and people might miss this important feature so it gets cranked up to eleven and playing the game for more than 2 minutes makes your eyes hurt.

Offline ShyGuy

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2007, 07:12:10 PM »
I got sick of bloom back when it was overused in Fable.

Offline MattVDB

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2007, 08:26:02 PM »
When I saw that comic, the first thing I thought was Gears of War.  Great game, but the 6th panel pretty much summed it up.  Brown, dark, and bloomed out where possible.  It could be other games as well, as it is the growing trend, but if I had to pick a game, to me, it looks most like Gears.

Offline Dirk Temporo

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2007, 08:50:48 PM »
Farcry lol
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Offline ViewtifulJoe

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2007, 01:27:03 AM »
rainbow 6 vegas.  Holy shyt that game burned my eyes out
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Offline Magik

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RE:VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #15 on: January 20, 2007, 02:41:00 AM »
Quote

Originally posted by: Dasmos
Who cares? It's VGCats. It's not important.


Some people take things way to seriously these days especially when it comes to video games.


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RE:VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #16 on: January 20, 2007, 03:39:28 AM »
Quote

Originally posted by: pap64
[...] some of the graphical effects they mention are exactly those found in TP.

That's because Nintendo tried very hard to make TP look "next-gen".

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RE:VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2007, 03:52:37 AM »
I thought it was Oblivion, all I can remember from that game is there being bloom everywere.

I dought it's Zelda, there are other games outh there besides Zelda.
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Offline vudu

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RE:VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2007, 04:39:56 AM »
Quote

Originally posted by: Viewtiful mario
there are other games outh there besides Zelda.
Blasphemy!!
Why must all things be so bright? Why can things not appear only in hues of brown! I am so serious about this! Dull colors are the future! The next generation! I will never accept a world with such bright colors! It is far too childish! I will rage against your cheery palette with my last breath!

Offline therat

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2007, 04:52:22 AM »
games in general.... hl, wow, oblivion.

Offline 18 Days

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #20 on: January 20, 2007, 12:30:06 PM »
VG cats is possibly the stupidest gaming webcomic ever. I'd say the guy didn't really know what was going on and jsut ended up stuffing about in photoshop and then at the last minute put in some words and hoped to make a webcomic.
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Offline Artimus

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #21 on: January 20, 2007, 12:35:25 PM »
VG Cats isn't usually good (the art is fantastic, though) but the one mocking the PSP Squirrels is perhaps the funniest single strip of any webcomic. The expressions on their faces in the final panel crack me up every single time.

Offline Luigi Dude

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #22 on: January 20, 2007, 01:05:26 PM »
VG Cat is more of a hit or miss to me, when they actually do a comic right it's very funny, but when it's bad, it's really bad.

To bad they have more misses then hits.
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Offline Sir_Stabbalot

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RE:VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #23 on: January 20, 2007, 01:09:30 PM »
Quote

Originally posted by: MattVDB
When I saw that comic, the first thing I thought was Gears of War.  Great game, but the 6th panel pretty much summed it up.  Brown, dark, and bloomed out where possible.  It could be other games as well, as it is the growing trend, but if I had to pick a game, to me, it looks most like Gears.


Yeah, my buddy brought his 360 over, and I was fiddling with the settings when that I saw in the video options menu there's a graphics setting. I changed it to "Vibrant Colors" and the world looks tons better. I can understand that they wanted to make the game world look like it had been ruined, but the default setting really overdoes it.
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Offline KDR_11k

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RE: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?
« Reply #24 on: January 20, 2007, 06:20:38 PM »
VG Cats is still better than, say, Penny Arcade that seems to just throw random imagery with unrelated text on there and adds some profanity because they think it's funny.