The first image of Satori Swamps is something unforgettable: a soft purple on the surface, mixed with a warm, enchanting glow, a palette with a dark blue slant; It captures the eyes and the hearing, thanks to a sinuous and delicate song. At night, the somewhat wooded, somewhat swampy place of Bionis comes to life at its best, captivating and reminiscent of the heavyweight of the artistic side of a video game.
Let’s get to the topic: these are Xenoblade Chronicles treesseveral dozen polygons, plasticine in aesthetics and in the spirit of the trees of The Witcher 3’s forest genre 3. There is a limit that the graphics no longer have arguments for asserting themselves, and Takahashi decided to respect this limit in 2011. their rich traditions should be called artistic inspiration.
Just as he walks through the Satori Marshes, the author’s strong belief is born in justifying an idea as conclusive as it is bogus: when a tree in 480p is enough to inspire you more than an entire forest, in 4k bark and leaves are useless. It winks at photorealism. But there are many examples of a technologically humble yet artistically rich video game flora.
dance of leaves
Older ones will remember the epic leaf scene that Yu Suzuki drew in Shenmue: As a technological marvel as the Dreamcast is, those leaves were filled with passion more than polygons, but no one will remember that frame filled with the green and red of the sunset. thanks to the technological mass: we remember it for the pure poetry of the moment, the inner lyricism of the moment. But let’s move on Macaroni Tree Final Fantasy X: A riot of blue aesthetics, with the background fog to accompany Tidus’ journey and a sense of intense intensity imparted by the light orbs and lichens, all the way down to the lake full of magic and glamor to breathe one of the best in it. Beautiful cutscenes from video game history. Toriyama’s great work, which would never touch these peaks again, decided at that precise point, after surviving the lightning of a dark plain, that the world of Spira should delight us with a delicate transition of branches, woody spirals, games. light, fairy particles and Uematsian sound background that immerses you in a different, ethereal, very intimate dimension.
The forest, the bond with the land, the respect for the environment and the wonders of nature are the elements that Japan has always sought to convey, making the tree and plant the protagonist of many situations and journeys, the true heroes of various game design pictures. . We can continue to talk about the forest of Horteka in Skies of Arcadia, the city of Eruyt from Final Fantasy XII, the tale of Agogo Village in the Eternal Sonata, the village of the Black Wizards from Final Fantasy IX, the Crimson Forest of the Lost Odyssey. . Golden Sun dedicates a sensationally inspiring soundtrack to this intricate forest that Isaac will have to navigate, with a Forest’s Requiem that smells so much nostalgia that it makes us cry. Dragon Quest VIII’s tower of mysteries in Alexandria chronicles the exploration of a magical place immersed in dense forests, accompanied by reference music that distracts you from the thoughts of everyday life. But the floral element is a staple of Legend of Legaia, especially in an epic yet dramatic finale, or in Suikoden 2, where the sun’s rays softly color the forest landscape of Rokkaku Village.
trees like people
Jungle has always been like that in Japanese video games.environment to reaffirm a close bond with the playerA place where the traveler who entrusts his spare time and desire to dream will reconnect with his soul, travel with the mind. Green, flowers, nature, trees, wood are primitive elements that Japanese craftsmen always cleverly apply in their products, making them not just elements of a realistic background, but heroes of a particular moment. The Legend of Zelda: A connection to the past and the iconic journey to the Lost Woods, we think of the Deku Tree, the epitome of the magic of the legendary franchise or a symbol of one of the greatest masterpieces of that time. To fascinate even Gabe Newell’s joker. Trees, trees, trees are everywhere but never ordinary, able to create any aspect of a picture where the player is no longer just the protagonist, but a fascinated observer, a particle of a defined and unique environment; Trees are not the technological paradigm of an ecosystem that is there to smell mundane realism, they are truly artistic pieces of design of lasting memories that will physiologically scent, together with a specially composed soundtrack, creating an inside snapshot of rare creative beauty. turn it into pure nostalgia for quality.
Back to us: The Xenoblade Chronicles and the trees of The Witcher 3. Now you begin to understand what the author is trying to tell you. There are trees describing journeys, characters, enemies, music, they convey poetry and a sense of low relevance to that magnificent reality. They do this by clinging to an artistic and inspiring ingredient that’s bright enough to stay indoors for years, with few resources. And then there are trees that are part of the open world cooked to perfection: a world that is beautiful, rich, but seamless, in which no medium is the protagonist, only a mirror of one’s own solitary existence in a brilliant technological handbook applied to a video game. This doesn’t remove its status as a masterpiece or groundbreaking product from CD Projekt RED, but it does highlight that this world wants to be a set of many pieces of reality put together in a fantasy universe, rather than a valid fantasy world. to the truth to drive away.
The author just wants to confirm that there will be a day at the expense of being an old bitch who makes generalizations with seeming ease. thirst for graphicsSold pathetically for years as a founding element of the modern video game, it will diminish within each of you as your track record grows. And when that lot of polygons, textures, and pixels is saturated and the dialectic attached to it dwindles, you might wonder if that technical festivity has a soul behind the enchanting veil of mist and fireworks, if it conveyed anything, if it conveyed anything. If the much-desired realism of texture and motion capture gave you not only visual satisfaction but also sensations, it amused your innermost self. When and if that happens, the trees of Satori Swamps, very attractive, delicate and full of soft colors, will look much more beautiful than the plastic and perfect forests of The Witcher 3.
Important disclaimer
This article does not reflect the point of view of the editors of Multiplayer.it, who have been debating for several weeks whether Uncharted 4: A thief’s end or Animal Crossing: New Horizons is better. The opinions presented above are strictly attributable to the author of the article, which may or may not have originated from an old discussion and losing bet on our Twitch channel. No trees, real or fictional, were abused in the making of this content and in this context it is possible to plant some trees in the Multiplayer.it forest.
Source: Multiplayer
