Ok, so I was a little LTTP with God of War (2018) but when I finally played it I absolutely fell in love with it.
The narrative, combat, the pacing, the pure variety of content on display was amazing and I genuinely relished all of it. And those visuals...
As someone who has spent years harping on a desire to see games present themselves more cinematically through a use of dynamic camera angles during gameplay the notion of a game being a "oner" from start to finish was extremely attractive to me.
To me moments like the desert sequence in Uncharted 3(chapter 18) and the Cronos fight in God of War 3 were some of the greatest standout moments of the previous generation because of their beautiful presentation and their ability to produce the often sought out but rarely ever captured sentiment of "Wow, I'm actually playing right now?!?!?!" While I did not expect God of War(2018) to strive towards the massive scale of its predecessor(by really pulling the camera back) given an expected emphasis on a more personal story rather than an "epic" one, I did assume(and hope) that this notion of a no-cut camera would result in this generation's "OMG Desert scene" moment for me.
Suffice to say, I didn't really notice it. I could have gone into God of War with no knowledge of an intended "oner" camera system that was in effect and think nothing of the presentation or Cory's visual ambitions. To be completely honest with you I forgot about the no-cut camera's inclusion, that is, until I switched the game to immersive mode. While initially just playing briefly in immersive mode I found myself blown away by just how seamless everything seemed. I switched back to the default setting to see what was making such a visual difference, and that's when I realized that what hampered the game from achieving this oner aesthetic wasn't the health bars or rune/weapon select, it was the navigational compass at the top of the screen...
I had initially intended to do a thread on Assassin's Creed Origins, a beautiful game featuring incredible vistas and amazing architecture, only to hide them behind pretty intrusive yellow and white text all over the screen. Assassin's Creed Origins also featured the option to toggle things into an immersive mode and remove the HUD completely, the only issue I had with that was becoming lost instantly in the world and would end up wondering around directionless.
God of War isn't open world, but it features a far amount of backtracking, which frankly I enjoyed. I would argue that God of War is also visually more appealing than ACO, featuring an excellent sense of visual world building and in some in some cases gorgeous vistas. It is worth noting however that Kratos occupies more of the screen than Bayek does, sandwiching the horizon between his character model(which is impressive) and that compass in the sky.
So the dilemma I'm faced with in this situation is either toggle the HUD off and lose my way, or tolerate the HUD and largely miss out on the intended camera effect that is one of the game's greatest selling points; and beyond the camera itself, the game just looks so much better without anything on the screen.
Forgive the length of this post, but my point is I'm increasingly irritated with how games are starting to visually overwhelm the screen and take away from the image on display with UI clutter. There was a recent GoT Digital Foundry breakdown where Tom remarked that "the minimalist design works wonders for the game's aesthetic, a cinematic framing that invokes some of the best films based in the same historical period."
https://youtu.be/TpmRz7v7QzQ?t=151
And I couldn't agree more. Obviously there will be some elements that have to be projected on screen so player feedback and input are factored in, but I do wish games would at least find a way to ground feedback in the visuals rather then through a compass or large amount of text on the screen. GoT is honestly the most impressive thing I saw from this year's E3 and that is entirely due to how it uses its presentation.
I honestly leave it up to developers, but I hope there would be a system more akin to what Breath of the Wild did with it's map in making things visually more dynamic and stand out. Granted I know GoW isn't open world and relies on backtracking(which I enjoyed), I just took issue with how the compass was constantly present, even for moments where I did not have the ability to exit the area resulting in an eye sore during some of the more epic moments.
I love the way this game was designed, but going forward and thinking about a potential sequel I would like to see perhaps a more adaptive HUD. Naughty Dog games, specifically the last three, do a great job of using visual clues in the world to direct you on where to go when the map itself opens up. Not to mention TLoU also utilized a HUD that was present when enemies were close or when Joel was firing his weapons versus the HUD vanishing when things were peaceful.
The narrative, combat, the pacing, the pure variety of content on display was amazing and I genuinely relished all of it. And those visuals...
As someone who has spent years harping on a desire to see games present themselves more cinematically through a use of dynamic camera angles during gameplay the notion of a game being a "oner" from start to finish was extremely attractive to me.
To me moments like the desert sequence in Uncharted 3(chapter 18) and the Cronos fight in God of War 3 were some of the greatest standout moments of the previous generation because of their beautiful presentation and their ability to produce the often sought out but rarely ever captured sentiment of "Wow, I'm actually playing right now?!?!?!" While I did not expect God of War(2018) to strive towards the massive scale of its predecessor(by really pulling the camera back) given an expected emphasis on a more personal story rather than an "epic" one, I did assume(and hope) that this notion of a no-cut camera would result in this generation's "OMG Desert scene" moment for me.
Suffice to say, I didn't really notice it. I could have gone into God of War with no knowledge of an intended "oner" camera system that was in effect and think nothing of the presentation or Cory's visual ambitions. To be completely honest with you I forgot about the no-cut camera's inclusion, that is, until I switched the game to immersive mode. While initially just playing briefly in immersive mode I found myself blown away by just how seamless everything seemed. I switched back to the default setting to see what was making such a visual difference, and that's when I realized that what hampered the game from achieving this oner aesthetic wasn't the health bars or rune/weapon select, it was the navigational compass at the top of the screen...
I had initially intended to do a thread on Assassin's Creed Origins, a beautiful game featuring incredible vistas and amazing architecture, only to hide them behind pretty intrusive yellow and white text all over the screen. Assassin's Creed Origins also featured the option to toggle things into an immersive mode and remove the HUD completely, the only issue I had with that was becoming lost instantly in the world and would end up wondering around directionless.
God of War isn't open world, but it features a far amount of backtracking, which frankly I enjoyed. I would argue that God of War is also visually more appealing than ACO, featuring an excellent sense of visual world building and in some in some cases gorgeous vistas. It is worth noting however that Kratos occupies more of the screen than Bayek does, sandwiching the horizon between his character model(which is impressive) and that compass in the sky.
So the dilemma I'm faced with in this situation is either toggle the HUD off and lose my way, or tolerate the HUD and largely miss out on the intended camera effect that is one of the game's greatest selling points; and beyond the camera itself, the game just looks so much better without anything on the screen.
Forgive the length of this post, but my point is I'm increasingly irritated with how games are starting to visually overwhelm the screen and take away from the image on display with UI clutter. There was a recent GoT Digital Foundry breakdown where Tom remarked that "the minimalist design works wonders for the game's aesthetic, a cinematic framing that invokes some of the best films based in the same historical period."
https://youtu.be/TpmRz7v7QzQ?t=151
And I couldn't agree more. Obviously there will be some elements that have to be projected on screen so player feedback and input are factored in, but I do wish games would at least find a way to ground feedback in the visuals rather then through a compass or large amount of text on the screen. GoT is honestly the most impressive thing I saw from this year's E3 and that is entirely due to how it uses its presentation.
I honestly leave it up to developers, but I hope there would be a system more akin to what Breath of the Wild did with it's map in making things visually more dynamic and stand out. Granted I know GoW isn't open world and relies on backtracking(which I enjoyed), I just took issue with how the compass was constantly present, even for moments where I did not have the ability to exit the area resulting in an eye sore during some of the more epic moments.
I love the way this game was designed, but going forward and thinking about a potential sequel I would like to see perhaps a more adaptive HUD. Naughty Dog games, specifically the last three, do a great job of using visual clues in the world to direct you on where to go when the map itself opens up. Not to mention TLoU also utilized a HUD that was present when enemies were close or when Joel was firing his weapons versus the HUD vanishing when things were peaceful.
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