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Good uses of water in games - can be locations, characters, graphics, anything.

Deleted member 35071

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Dec 1, 2017
1,656
Anthems mechanic of cooling ur javelin so u don't overheat and can fly longer is pretty cool. Its fun to kinda see how far u can go and gives u an extra thing to do instead of mindlessly flying. Ur kinda always paying attention to where some water u can use is. Whether thats flying thru a waterfall or skimming the surface of a stream.

Beyond Oasis on genesis. Was an action RPG. U had a lil gold forearm thing with an amulet. U shot a beam from the amulet at different elements in the level to summon a corresponding diety. So to summon the water spirit Dytto...u would shoot at any kind of water source u could find. It could be a lake. A pitcher of water. Water dripping from some kinda cave etc.
 
BouncyFrag

BouncyFrag

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Oct 27, 2017
1,772
There's a quest in Morrowind where you have to almost completely drown yourself as part of a pilgrimage.
 
Chromie

Chromie

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Dec 4, 2017
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Washington
SolVanderlyn said:
I'm gonna need more details on these. I don't know what these have to do with water because I don't get the references off of the top of my head.
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This is from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Manaan is a planet that is all water like Kamino and the cities are all man-made. You do go underwater to find out what the Sith is up to. I love the look of the city and Selkath are now canon since they appeared in Clone Wars!
 
Switch

Switch

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Oct 27, 2017
1,021
Wales
Cort said:
brgE5pe.gif


Sea of Thieves nails it
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That they did, but for me its the only good thing about the game. Its dull as hell to play.


My Fav Water effect in any game was the whirlwind VDP2 water effect used in Saga. To this day it looks stunning (some 3 min's into that vid)




And also Wave Race 64 and MarioSunshine Water effects have in many ways not be bettered



 
boris_feinbrand

boris_feinbrand

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Oct 26, 2017
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Aside from optics it has to be Wave race. The way the waves become dynamic obstacles, stunt opportunities, guides etc is still unmatched.
Generally games that use waters properties like buoyancy for example HL2 barrel puzzle (even if it would be impossible to even push these barrels under water to begin with)
BotW is another game that gives water a believable quality by making it an integral part of its physics and chemistry engine.
 
Zack117

Zack117

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Oct 28, 2017
65
Wasn't Hydrophobia with its entirely dynamic water physics pretty impressive back then? I haven't played the game. Only heard the tech was ahead of its time.
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

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Oct 27, 2017
20,285
That sinking ship in Uncharted 3 is still one of the most spectacular set-pieces ever created.
And the ship graveyard section was amazing with all it's possibilities.
 
plié

plié

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Jan 10, 2019
1,613
Sea Of Thieves

Water the Game (The game is blowing my mind still, one year after release)
 
Eisen Sora

Eisen Sora

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Jun 22, 2018
410
For a water inspired character I choose Demyx from Kingdom Hearts. He has water powers and uses a sitar to make water clones about you and makes you fight them . ( I want to post a picture about him but I dont know how :( )
 
Aostia82

Aostia82

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Oct 27, 2017
7,366
Super Mario Sunshine: Mario's accessory was GREAT in terms of interaction with Mairo move set and the environment.
 
Viceratops

Viceratops

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Jun 29, 2018
2,570
I know it's a bit of a joke but Pokemon ruby and sapphire had a great use of water. I'm always a fan of using Atlantian settings in games and Pokemon did that well in those games. Also the use of water in those games to hide ancient Pokemon was a boon to increasing the mystique that makes the series so interesting.

Also a fan of the Leviathan fight in FFXV. That's great use of water on a gargantuan scale.
 
Woylie

Woylie

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May 9, 2018
1,849
I think Wind Waker is maybe an obvious one, but it was a brilliant move to use large areas of water that took time to traverse in order to hide the Gamecube's loadtimes and make the world feel vast without needing to design everything in between.

Then they put out Breath of the Wild, which felt like they made a huge world again but this time they actually did design everything in between.
 
Iztok

Iztok

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Oct 27, 2017
6,141
Waverace 64 is still the one single game I think of when discussing water in videogames.

The water physics were pretty revolutionary and directly affected the game - heck they were the game.

SoT owns water effects today, however. That game did water right.
 
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SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

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Oct 28, 2017
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Earth, 21st Century
Eisen Sora said:
For a water inspired character I choose Demyx from Kingdom Hearts. He has water powers and uses a sitar to make water clones about you and makes you fight them . ( I want to post a picture about him but I dont know how :( )
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latest


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I like Demyx a lot. He's kind of a doofus, but it's part of his charm. His fight is really unique, too, and difficult - not because he's strong, per say, but because his gimmick blindsides you and forces you to act fast.
 
Marble

Marble

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Nov 27, 2017
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I really dig the rain in Metro Exodus, especially when you look in the sky.

And the water in AC Origins is also really good. RDR2's water is also pretty nice.
 
Acquiescence

Acquiescence

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Oct 26, 2017
10,257
Lake Titicaca
There's a water-based puzzle in The Last Guardian that is just ingenious. Its solution is so natural and once you figure it out it's like a light bulb going off in your head. Probably one of my favourite all-time video game puzzles.
 
Tennis

Tennis

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Oct 27, 2017
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Memento said:
The "make Trico jumps in the water so it makes a big wave and you can reach the stairs" puzzle in The Last Guardian is fucking genius
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Came here for this. To this day I have never seen anything like this in video games (in this scale). What a mindblowing puzzle solution and I appreciate that they used it exactly once in the game.
 
Hella

Hella

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Oct 27, 2017
23,412
Water-based powers in Divinity: Original Sin 2 have many uses. The only limit is your imagination, really...

It's one of the few games where the ability to make it rain completely changes the game.
 
Sonicfan1373

Sonicfan1373

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Nov 24, 2017
783
In terms of graphics, the rendering of water has come a long way. I was super impressed with the water effects in games like Crysis. However, Super Mario Sunshine still holds a special place for me. Given the hardware that game was designed on, the way they managed to make the water look (which was dissected in a video posted on this thread by another individual) was super impressive. On top of that, that game also had really nice humidity effects (water in gas form), which again was quite impressive given it was on a 6th generation console.
 
squall23

squall23

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Oct 25, 2017
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Nobody had talked about the Prince of Persia games? Water is literally life. Simple, but makes so much sense.
 
iamandy

iamandy

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Nov 6, 2017
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Jawbreaker said:
The way the wave mechanic is used in 3-3 in Astro Bot is absolutely amazing. It might be my all-time favorite water level. It really needs to be experienced in VR, but here's a YouTube video just to add some sort of media to my post.

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I literally held my breath the first time I was submerged. Love that ending too! This is some genius game design.
 
jotun?

jotun?

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Oct 28, 2017
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BarryFishFinger said:
Morrowind on the PC, the first time it rained and you got the drop effects on the surface of lakes, ponds etc. I'd never seen that before, that was an exciting moment for me.
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When I think of rain in a game, I actually think Minecraft. Not for the visuals really, but for the sound. The sound of going inside in your little starter house while it's raining outside is just great
 
Breather-Resistance

Breather-Resistance

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Oct 27, 2017
822
Personally, I really don't have anything against water levels, and sometimes they can be some of the most absorbing sections of the game almost entirely for their ability to create atmosphere. There was a lengthy portion, later in Singularity, where a lot of first-person swimming was involved and I remember that for how immersed it was.

Rayman: Origins and Rayman: Legends are due a mention for some of the very best water levels in platformers. They're pretty much brilliant.

Pyro said:
Abzu and Wind Waker are my favorites.
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Kind of ridiculous it took 3 pages for Abzu to be mentioned at all. The beauty and vividness of its environments simply can't be denied.

Another one not named yet has to be Song of the Deep, though it isn't exactly the visuals that are exceptional in it. It's more of how effectively they convey the sense of place of exploring an underwater world of mystery. A real gem, that one.
 
theotherMittens

theotherMittens

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Jul 20, 2018
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Breather-Resistance said:
Personally, I really don't have anything against water levels, and sometimes they can be some of the most absorbing sections of the game almost entirely for their ability to create atmosphere. There was a lengthy portion, later in Singularity, where a lot of first-person swimming was involved and I remember that for how immersed it was.

Rayman: Origins and Rayman: Legends are due a mention for some of the very best water levels in platformers. They're pretty much brilliant.



Kind of ridiculous it took 3 pages for Abzu to be mentioned at all. The beauty and vividness of its environments simply can't be denied.

Another one not named yet has to be Song of the Deep, though it isn't exactly the visuals that are exceptional in it. It's more of how effectively they convey the sense of place of exploring an underwater world of mystery. A real gem, that one.
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Bruh I put three gifs from Abzû on the first page.
 
DarthBuzzard

DarthBuzzard

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Jul 17, 2018
5,122
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice VR. It's one of the only examples of water that felt so real I wanted to literally taste it.
 
goodretina

goodretina

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Dec 30, 2018
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SSX made great use of water in the form of snow.

But on a serious note, it's impressive that Wave Race 64 held the title as king of H2O for so many years.
 
wafflebrain

wafflebrain

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Oct 27, 2017
10,265
It's a shame how much things like liquid simulation took a backseat in realtime graphics this gen. Wave generation looks decent like in Sea of Thieves and Ubi's wave sim tech, but I'd like to see depictions of shallower/stiller bodies of water. Pikmin 3's water still looks good for this, and for some reason basic 3d ripples from other object interaction are still oddly rare in most games. Insomniac had some fantastic implementations in some of the Ratchet and Clank titles and particularly Resistance 2. I mean look at this a PS3 game and this effect is still gorgeous:

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

This is from r/simulated but I'd love to see something like this in real time for next gen. Probably a pipe dream but who knows with those snazzy cpus, I can dream!

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