Team ICO: Aesthetic Appeal Is Crucial
The Last GuardianThere's a significant difference between technical achievement and overall aesthetic appeal; you don't necessarily need one to acquire the other, and Team ICO's productions in the past are proof of that theory.
Team ICO founder and creator of The Last Guardian, Fumito Ueda, spoke to Develop about creating beautiful, absorbing worlds that utilize the "full potential" of the system in question. Despite his drive for the best of the best in terms of visuals, though, he clarified that "visible technical flaws and limitations are inconsequential when placed in an aesthetically impactful game world." He still wants any game he creates to come as close to reality as possible and in the end, he's on the fence regarding technical limitations:
"I both hate and love the technical limitations. It's kind of a Catch-22 for me. If we don't have any limit to work from, it becomes hard to make anything good out of an idea. But if we on the other hand have a very distinct technical limit it's impossible to go beyond it. It will put the bar in a certain place without any way to raise it."
As far as Ueda is concerned, just because the limitations of a visual presentation are obvious, that doesn't mean the player can't enjoy and appreciate that fictional world. It all comes down to aesthetic appeal, and one can easily point to previous efforts like ICO and Shadow of the Colossus.
"It's thanks to that my games have a very special aesthetic profile. It's a way to make the player forget about technical limitations and focus on the gaming experience. If a player sees a beautiful landcape or pretty light effects that's probably what he will remember and not the bad texture next to it."
Well, we can say, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that we'll be focusing on the gaming experience when we sit down to play The Last Guardian. Sure, we'll be blown away by certain visual accomplishments (as we were in SotC), but any technical limitations won't dissuade us. We can promise that.
Related Game(s): The Last Guardian
7/8/2009 Ben Dutka
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Comments (Beta)
TheHighlander
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 11:20:47 AM
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I always like the way that Japanese developers talk about their art. It always sounds more philosophical, perhaps even artistic. Here Ueda is saying that he strives to make his games as close to reality, but says that if there were no limits on the technology it would be hard to know where to draw the line, where to stop and say "this is enough". I like that he also expresses the other side of that. After all if a platform has a distinct performance limit, and has no hidden depths, then a game designer will run up against that limit and be frustrated at not being able to go further.
I guess it's always a balancing act between always searching for better ways, more efficient ways to do things, and keeping the game within the scope of the platform's capability. So you push the limits as much as you can, but you need the limits to prevent your scope from becoming too large to handle.
Interesting.
5 up, 1 down
Jawknee
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 11:21:42 AM
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2 up, 0 down
Button Masher
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 12:06:04 PM
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Metal Head
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 12:10:01 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 1:44:27 PM
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Alienange
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 4:01:53 PM
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Fane1024
Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 4:26:52 PM
Plus, Insomniac's artists are excellent.
p.s. Team Ico's artists are even better.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 7/9/2009 4:28:29 PM
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556pineapple
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 2:12:51 PM
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sunspider13
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 2:59:38 PM
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Alienange
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 4:00:06 PM
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Kowhoho
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 7:03:11 PM
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bearbobby
Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 1:15:17 PM
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Fane1024
Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 4:31:49 PM
You don't have complete control of the camera.
The final hour or so doesn't have a save point.
There isn't more of it.
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ffrulez
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 6:01:02 PM
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Kai200X
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 6:50:05 PM
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Scarecrow
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 8:08:51 PM
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it's always Shadow of Colossus this, Shadow of Colossus that. <-----Incredible game!
But people need to hunt down a ICO copy and see how amazingly awesome that one was, as well.
Anyway I agree. I mean by today's standards game's like FFX don't look amazing, even compared to XII...
With that said, the beautiful landscapes and character designs comes to the front, offsetting any graphical limitations.
3 up, 0 down
Karosso
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 8:37:15 PM
I make not distinction between the two, the experience is amazing and totally different from one to another.
Damn my freaking eye! Just spent three brand new games on prescription eye drops :-(
When the games finally hit I will have a good eye and no money to buy the games...
This sucks!!
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Scarecrow
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 9:27:06 PM
It's fine, you'll have enough money by the time Fall comes around
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BigBoss4ever
Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 1:15:44 AM
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wquach
Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 1:19:13 AM
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The lighting effects, such as looking outside within the temple, to the crumbling bits that actively fall off the colossi as you're fighting them are incredible. The character animations and movements are top notch as well - you really feel how vulnerable and fragile the character is compared to the colossi as he stumbles after a jump.
And the first time I rode Agaro throughout the land with the impeccably cinematic camera angle, as well as standing still and pressing L1 to pan the landscape as the character's head turns....just wow.
Truly, Ueda knows that art direction and amazing visual effects can overcome technical aspects like textures, jaggies and low poly models (all of which are severely present when playing SotC on an HDTV, but again, as I mentioned the strengths of SotC's visual presentation above, I quickly stopped noticing those things in face of the game's beauty).
Last edited by wquach on 7/9/2009 1:25:42 AM
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BikerSaint
Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 1:24:30 PM
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I'm looking to get both ICO & SOTC soon.
So is the story of SOTC more of a continuation of ICO, or is each a different story in itself?
The reason I'm asking is in case I wind up getting SOTC first, I don't want to ruin the whole storyline by playing it before ICO if it's sort of the sequel type.
Thanks
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556pineapple
Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 2:28:01 PM
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Frenchy17
Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 5:40:20 PM
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@BikerSaint You dont have to play one or the other first, but I do recommend playing ICO first. Its a different kind of game and it will make you enamored with the scale of Shadow of the Collossus that much more.
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BigBoss4ever
Friday, July 10, 2009 @ 1:23:30 AM
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Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 7/10/2009 1:25:07 AM
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BikerSaint
Friday, July 10, 2009 @ 1:55:12 AM
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OK,
thanks for getting back to me with that 411.
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flux equals rad
Friday, July 10, 2009 @ 11:33:32 PM
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This and Heavy Rain will be the most emotionally engaging games of this generation.
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Natalisrubbish
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Wednesday, July 08, 2009 @ 11:08:34 AM