Will Cel Shading De-throne the Prince?

[MichaelH]

I'm actually going to have to back the developers on this one. From the shots I've seen, I don't know that I would describe it to people as "cel-shaded" but more along the lines of what developer Ben Mattes said: "a playable illustration." (Maybe even "stylized," but when I think "cel-shaded," I think Dragon's Lair. PoP3 looks colorful, but not cartoony.)

To touch on one of the OP's points, I think this is why a lot of people (like me) are turned off by so-called cel-shaded games. I don't WANT to play an illustration. I also don't want to watch a feature film, thank you very much, Metal Gear Solid. Some people do, and more power to them, but I'd rather pay for immersion, not to play someone's concept art.

 

[tobyornottoby]

Indeed, most reviewers described it as like Zelda with a Dog. Instantly 80% of the gaming population switched off.

Exactly - Reviewers and other lazy arse journalists are the problem, not the games themselves. If a games own marketing department are doing this then they should all be fired... and blacklisted.

It's like describing Driver as "like Turbo Esprit with a story" - or Virtua Tennis 3 as "like Pong with people". It's just ridiculous and could be applied to just about every game ever made.

It's super-handy. Just don't be narrow-minded to dismiss it when you read it.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I'm not sure whether I'm look forward to this PoP or not. Personally I think the game hasn't been the same since Sands of Time. The darker root Warrior Within took just made the game unappealing to me. Where as I completed SoT in 2 days I play WW for a day that didn't return to it for another month. Sure, I did get into the game eventually, but it just wasn't the same game. Two Thrones I liked. It took bits of both games and mixed them to make a good all rounder. If it wasn't for the annoying sections with the dark prince it would be my faviourt in the series.

Now I do like the new cel-shaded look PoP seems to be taking. I also like the idea that the games taking a step away from the dark edge WW brought to the game and creating a whole new prince. But, the recent trailer worried me. Is it me, or does this remind anyone of FF? Sure, I like the look, but I'm sure how I feel about...well, the feel.

Oh, and do I think this new look will make the Prince under sell. Well...No, but I don't think it will sell nearly as well as WW or TT. "Badass" and grey sells better that Cel-shading, thats simply a fact.

 

[Sethran]

The big problem people have with cel-shading, I've found, is that it appears cartoon-y. People in general see it and think one of two things: 1) It's a Japanese game, and thus will/won't buy it based solely on where they think it's from. or 2) It looks like a kid's game since it looks like a cartoon.

Now, that's not saying all people are like that, but the majority are. People like what they recognize, and if they don't recognize the franchise then they'll assume cel-shading means it's Japanese or childish, and most of the time they'll be right as cel-shading began with Japanese anime and then passed over into video games.

However, the Prince of Persia is a recognizable figure. and with recognition comes acceptance. Once the general populous plays the cel-shaded game, they'll realize how good looking they really are and rethink their previous buying decisions.

 

[Zombie_King]

I've seen lots of concept art and screenshots for the Prince of Persia, and I think the game could look good in CS. Also, it's not plain old conventional CS, it's like your painting a movie picture. I think this could be an inventive new direction for PoP, and I'm waiting to see where it goes.

 

[JaguarWong]

So to paraphrase what you're (Sethran) saying:
The poor sales performance of game in this style is less about the cel shading on it's own and more to do with the majority of cel shaded games being original IPs... and original IPs don't sell...

You may have something there... which is quite sad really...

 

[Sethran]

So to paraphrase what you're (Sethran) saying:
The poor sales performance of game in this style is less about the cel shading on it's own and more to do with the majority of cel shaded games being original IPs... and original IPs don't sell...

You may have something there... which is quite sad really...

That's a good way to put it.

What's even worse is, this only really applies in the western countries. The eastern gaming populations have proven to be far more open-minded about IPs than the west, probably because we're in general a more capitalistic society who likes to see familiar things that we know will be worth the buy.

Even though I know and acknowledge this, I too am guilty of it. The last completely unknown game I purchased was Samurai Legend Musashi, and that was several years ago and I only got that because I recognized the name Musashi. I think if big name companies would stop force feeding us familiar games we might be able to work out way out of it, but that would take some time...

 

[WlknCntrdiction]

*points to DBZ:Burst Limit*

I think Goku would like a word with you

 

[jaxxduece]

I think it will do just fine with cel-shading for two reasons, 1) it is an established franchise and 2) it won't just be on the Wii, where most cel-shaded games end up, and we all know how 3rd party games do on that system.

 

[shadow skill]

The problem with cell-shaded style is that most games that actually use it can't do it in a way that does not look like ass. I can think of maybe one or two games I have played that have used this style that actually made it work. Even then I am a proponent of getting colour in games to actually match the real world which seems to be something that eludes the entire gaming industry.

 

[JaguarWong]

The problem with cell-shaded style is that most games that actually use it can't do it in a way that does not look like ass. I can think of maybe one or two games I have played that have used this style that actually made it work. Even then I am a proponent of getting colour in games to actually match the real world which seems to be something that eludes the entire gaming industry.

Couldn't that be summed up better by "The look of cel-shaded games isn't really my bag"?

 

[stompy]

Actually, I think that this art direction the art team is taking is gonna pay off. I mean, it looks pretty good from where I'm sitting. Maybe it's just me, but I don;t really think that cell-shading will kill the game. In the end, it's all about gameplay.

 

[Chrausis]

If anything, I think it will make it more interesting than before

I wasn't too keen on the earlier PoP games for the gamecube and such stylistically, I think the new one is going to be one to catch a lot of peoples attention

 

[Divinegon]

Am I the only one who doesn't care about the graphics and is excited about the gameplay characteristics they are bragging about? Why are we even talking about this?

*Reads title of thread* Oh right...

I'm going to take a well known opinion on this matter: It's actually a breeze of fresh air in this current generation of "everything is a shade of brown and gray" graphic like games.

Not saying that everything that is cell shaded becomes good, that'd be redundant, but I do believe it fits appropriately when you change the universe of PoP then you also change its visuals so we don't get many fans debating on how it somehow fits with the Sands of Times universe.

Still, why are some people even discussing if it fits in the PoP universe? Final Fantasy deviates from previous universes for 12 games now and nobody complains about that. Why complain about PoP?

 

[N-Sef]

An interesting question, but I think that Prince of Persia has enough of a brand image and title recognition that it would sell. Marketting would play a huge part in this as well, but considering what they are doing these days that shouldn't be a problem. I really like this new direction, it gives it a bit of a story book look that the series has been going for for a while now.