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Best water effects relative to its generation?

wafflebrain

wafflebrain

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,283
Thought it'd be more interesting to frame this in a per generation context vs GOAT otherwise it'd probably be a bunch of Horizon: Forbidden West or Sea of Thieves posts (which are valid!). Of course this isn't just down to appearance but types of effect like ripples, wave simulation, how smaller bodies of water vs oceans and streams. For ripples Insomniac was on some other shit than most devs during PS3 gen, it looks kinda exaggerated today but for the time this was pretty mind blowing seeing 3d ripples. They had this going on in R&C as well as Resistance.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyuY3-SLuDA

Nintendo continues to have some of the nicest looking water shaders for shallow bodies of water, Pikmin is the perfect showcase for this:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AA-j5C33pk

Morrowind in 2002 was really impressive relative to other games out at the time, and when it rained and seeing all the ripples on the surface was a vibe:

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Your picks? And obligatory:

BoQzLqdCYAAtmkJ.jpg
 
badcrumble

badcrumble

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,734
I remember being really impressed with how gorgeous the water looked in the original Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on the GameCube. Same goes for Resident Evil 4 on GameCube, actually. Not sure what it was but it was a decent exhibition of a certain look that was more difficult for the PS2 to pull off.
 
IDreamOfHime

IDreamOfHime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,468
When Banjo jumps out water and drops of water fall off him back into the water. Wow, blew me away in 1998.
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever™
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,457
Wave Race 64 came out in 1996 and while it will likely lose out to other games on graphics, lighting, reflection, etc., it somehow made you feel like you were actually in water on a jet ski. You absolutely felt the difference between calm water and high waves. To this day, it feels like magic.
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
Member
Oct 28, 2017
30,486
game is dated (its like celebrating its 17th anniversary right now or close to it) and not the greatest looker but i remember the water in Lord of the Rings Online impressing me
 
Shrikey

Shrikey

Member
Oct 27, 2017
671
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is some black magic level stuff for PS2. The way the ripples bounce and interact with themselves is almost unmatched to this day.

Ico deserves honorable mentions as well.
 
Azuardo

Azuardo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
692
Star Fox Adventures on GameCube.

FF Crystal Chronicles is also a good shout, as someone above mentioned.
 
AndrewGPK

AndrewGPK

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,829
Lobster Roll said:
out to other games on graphics, lighting, reflection, etc., it somehow made you feel like you were actually in water on a jet ski. You absolutely felt the difference between calm water and high waves. To this day, it feels lik
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Yep, I was going to say this. I recently played it on the Switch app and its not a looker but the feel of the water physics is somehow perfect.
 
NukeRunner

NukeRunner

Member
Feb 8, 2024
249
Super Mario Sunshine takes it for me, though I don't have a good video off hand to illustrate it, it was surreal to me.
 

TGB86

Member
Jan 27, 2021
1,155
In terms of physics, Wave Race 64 was absolutely mind blowing when it launched.

Graphically, I was most transfixed by Morrowind on PC. It was stunning for the time.

There was a great DF Retro on this subject a few years ago, BTW.
 
TheWooniestWoona

TheWooniestWoona

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,835
Mario Sunshine was the first game that came to mind. The water looks so crisp and clean.
1c113606b2e2e5c0bbe1f03cdddd3ce85ea30ec7.gif


I'd put Waverace 64 in the running too.
 
Huey

Huey

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,252
It's Wave Race 64 and it's not close. In terms of the dynamics and how it materially affects gameplay, it's literally still among the best water ever accomplished - the fact that it was an N64 launch title is virtual wizardry.

Imma leave the WR64 gifs to jett tho

PD Zwei is a great suggestion though.

ezgif.com-optimize3-1.gif


Water effects advanced so much in gen 6 that it was much more common to see impressive stuff. Gen 5 good water was vanishingly rare.
 
Psamtik

Psamtik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,890
Wave Race 64 was so far ahead of the curve that its water still feels right. That sensation of being bounced and tossed around by the waves still works.
 
Tyaren

Tyaren

Character Artist
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
24,861
Star Fox Adventure had beautiful water for its time!

latest


scottbeowulf said:
loved the water in Batman
giphy.gif
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Yeah, that water looked so good. I remember feeling that it was maybe animated a bit too slowly though, because I felt it seemed a bit jello-y.
But maybe that had something to do with the framerate...
 
ManNR

ManNR

Member
Feb 13, 2019
2,973
Waverace 64 is already mentioned above. The Gamecube also had great water effects in numerous games. Nintendo seems to know their water.
 
Bee.Cups

Bee.Cups

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,356
The cosmic boundary of time and space.
I remember being blown away by the patch of "next gen water" you could find in Ratchet and Clank 3 in the hidden museum. They even explained they literally couldn't make a bigger patch without the game crashing because it was that taxing.
 
Ploppee

Ploppee

Member
Nov 28, 2018
1,041
Bioshock blew me away at the time. Especially when it came flooding through doors and stuff.
 
ss_lemonade

ss_lemonade

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,681
Didn't Gears of War 2 have similar looking/impressive water tech? Don't remember if that came out before Resistance 2 though
 
ratprophet

ratprophet

Member
Jun 24, 2021
1,195
www.youtube.com

Cryostasis (PC) Tech Demo MAXED

Tech demo of one of the best-looking PC games I think I've ever seen. Think you've seen impressive physics and water effects? Think again!My system specs:A...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

Perhaps a bit moot because only NASA could probably run it at a stable framerate anytime near release
 
Phellps

Phellps

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,835
Ploppee said:
Bioshock blew me away at the time. Especially when it came flooding through doors and stuff.
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Yeah, the first game that came to mind for me as well. Maybe it didn't have true physics for all water, but the way every corner of Rapture had some water flowing from the ceiling, stairs, walls, floors, windows... It was impressive.
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,765
Wave Race 64 was surreal. Only time since then has been maybe Sea of Thieves. Batman from the gifs being shown seems kind of crazy too.
 
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