Ne1 else think the combine model looks a little dated?

Well, to be fair that is one of the worst screenshots of HL2 ever taken. It's not a very good image to judge anything from. So I do agree that from that pic they don't look all that great, but from other pics I've seen they look fine.
 
If you ask me, all the screenshots released at that time look dated (even compared to the new videos). Low detail setting?
 
That probably was a very early screenshot at very low detail.
 
Where were these screenshots taken from?
The e3 2k4 vid?
I'm downloading it now
 
That is a pretty bad screen shot.... Like its been said, they look good everywhere else I've seen em, but right there they do look kinda sad from the waist down. Ah well, I dont really care anyways.
 
That screenshot it awful: I'll bet anything it's a lower end system shot. You can see the combine models in other shots and in the movies and they look much better than that, including having more detailed textures. So, I don't buy it.
 
from the looks of the combines jacket it looks like the setting are on low detail another boro lad in here good stuff lol :bounce:
 
hah, that soldier on gordon's right looks funny with his legs so close together and his knees slightly bent
 
Maybe settings were low or something, the skin job doesn't seem up to par ;/
 
We've been though all this before. Yes, these screenshots look like complete Daikatana, but you can see from the videos that Half-Life 2 can actually look good.

This is one of the screenshots that weren't meant to be shown online (according to Munro).
 
Yeah, that's why we don't have them.
 
There is a horse in that pic if you look hard enough.....
 
Dated or not....does it make the game bad? I personally think a lot of the screen shots have been rather average, but that's okay :)

Not sure why people concentrate so much on graphics these days. Graphics won't make the game good if it sucks, just as they won't make the game bad if the game rocks.

If graphics are the only thing important than HL2 is probably in trouble. Sure the graphics are "good", but not too many people will say they are state of the art and great. Source engine probably can DO that level of "pretty", but HL and HL2 clearly aren't about the look, but more the substance :) which I for one and very happy with.
 
They look much better in this one:

http://www.hl2fallout.com/screensho...n_batton?full=1
Click to expand...

they do,, :), but as for the other one,... Its not an old image, these are just actual shots of the game in action. (story). and not everywhere can be lush and full of lots of detail. even in real life.. some places just arnt. also valve spiced it up at E3 2003 with special demo levels specific for that first preview so they could show it off to the max,.. its most obvious that the new shots, and vids in 2004 are along the actual timeline of set gameplay.

theres AI at work all the way through those scenes with the striders.. I guess valve didnt have much coherent material along the final game story line last year, and had to build something special using templates of parts of actual levels that will be in the final playable game.
 
Thay look just fine...infact they look great.

Perhaps valve should delay the game more? ;)
 
Man if half-life 2's graphics still don't look state of the art, then I need a new pair of eyes. I just finished playing the Doom 3 beta, and I reckon HL2 will wipe the floor with Doom's graphics. The artwork and design for HL2 is mindblowing, there's so much variety in the world of HL2.

Game developers can throw all the latest effect they want into a game to try and make it look good, but if the art and design is shit to start with then the game will always look ugly, e.g farcry, doom 3...Pretty effects, pretty crap art for both
I gotta say.
 
There is something more then just how good the graphics are...
The graphics can be as real as you want them to be, but the style of the graphics makes a huge ass impact. Like Everquest 2 vs World of Warcraft. Everquest 2 has more realistic graphics while World of Warcraft has a nice cartooish flavor placed into the graphics. Gives them a great fantasy feel.

I have an idea on how Farcry's graphics became so plastic.. I think they made Plastic Dolls then based there models off those dolls. So then they had Plastic Dolls on a computer!

Also, I dont think graphics completely matter. Look at the game starcraft, has super crappy graphics. Now go on battle.net on a late friday night and see 100-150 thousand people on. (Mostly because its a national sport in korea). I mean seriously, compare starcrafts graphics to...well..any game out there, and yet starcraft stands superior to just about any RTS.
 
also, the crosshair is much simpler than the one shown in the bink vids.
 
Couple of points

- I can't remember a preview saying that HL2 looked better than Doom3. I remember rivaled or had an immersive environment, but never saying that it looked better than Doom 3. I think HL2 will look good but it is not going to look as good as you think it is going to be.

- The source engine supports many different rendering paths. If I remember correctly, adding rendering paths limits/reduces the capabilities of the rendering engine. It is a trade off of having a game engine that can work on so many different rendering paths.

- It seems like every new shot that Valve releases, everybody says it looks ugly. Can somebody pull up 5 or so screenshots that they think looks good?

- The Doom 3 leak was released so long ago that you can't even use it for a comparision. Same thing goes for the Half-Life 2 leak. Don't try to use unreleased materials as a means for comparision, please.

- I don't think the models are that bad. The number of polygons used seems appropriate, they just need to bump up the texture resolutions on the clothing. And make sure the models aren't floating, lol.
 
Exactly! FarCry's graphics are so damn plastic like it's not funny. And the character design is so crap. I still enjoy the game, but people rave on about the gfx in Doom 3 and FarCry like they're the be all and end all. Game graphics that are based on effects like this become dated as soon as something newer comes out.

Games that capture charisma, character, atmosphere and originality, sound
(in that order) are timeless. Half-Life 1's graphics were never awesome, but they
did the job very well.

I gotta disagree with you about Starcraft though, the graphics in that still rock to this day. Sure the resolution is low and it's only 2D, but it's got a character and charisma of it's own, the animation is still as slick as ever. I never get sick of seeing the Dragoon death animation, simply wicked.

Fallout is another awesome game that didn't rely on great gfx. I swear if they were gonna make a new Fallout game with the same engine as 1 and 2 I'd go and buy it the day it comes out.
 
Kazuki_Fuse said:
Exactly! FarCry's graphics are so damn plastic like it's not funny. And the character design is so crap. I still enjoy the game, but people rave on about the gfx in Doom 3 and FarCry like they're the be all and end all. Game graphics that are based on effects like this become dated as soon as something newer comes out.

Games that capture charisma, character, atmosphere and originality, sound
(in that order) are timeless. Half-Life 1's graphics were never awesome, but they
did the <A HREF="http://search.targetwords.com/u.search?x=5977|1||||job|AA1VDw">job[/url] very well.

I gotta disagree with you about Starcraft though, the graphics in that still rock to this day. Sure the resolution is low and it's only 2D, but it's got a character and charisma of it's own, the animation is still as slick as ever. I never get sick of seeing the Dragoon death animation, simply wicked.

Fallout is another awesome game that didn't rely on great gfx. I swear if they were gonna make a new Fallout game with the same engine as 1 and 2 I'd go and buy it the day it comes out.
Click to expand...

yeah the player models in far cry r not the best , but the enviroment ghfx r amazing
 
blahblahblah said:
Couple of points

- I can't remember a preview saying that HL2 looked better than Doom3. I remember rivaled or had an immersive environment, but never saying that it looked better than Doom 3. I think HL2 will look good but it is not going to look as good as you think it is going to be.

- It seems like every new shot that Valve releases, everybody says it looks ugly. Can somebody pull up 5 or so screenshots that they think looks good?
Click to expand...

It mightn't be 5, but here's 2, unless anyone disagrees that these look nothing short of amazing.

Btw, it's the grittyness and the stylised design that Half-Life 2 captures that Doom 3 never could. THAT appeals to me much more graphics wise than shiny surfaces and generic textures. Don't get me wrong Doom 3 has gorgeous lighting and shadowing effects, atmoshpere etc. But everything looks a bit clean for me, apart from the blood I guess. ;)
 

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Yeah, I like the realism, too. In the future are we going to play shiny games where everything has a specular map? No, we're going to play games that look like real life. half-Life 2 is a lot closer to looking like real life, than uhhm.. lets just say some other upcoming games :)
 
to be honest I dont care if it looks dated, if it plays like hl I will jizz on my keyboard
 
No, if they were shots from the alpha, they would be removed by now.
 
Okay, I decided to find 5 of the best looking screenshots for both Half-Life 2 and Doom 3.

Half-Life #1
Half-Life #2
Half-Life #3 (my favorite one)
Half-Life #4
Half-Life #5

For some reason, I included my 5 favorite Doom 3 screenshots.

Doom 3 #1
Doom 3 #2
Doom 3 #3 (my favorite one)
Doom 3 #4
Doom 3 #5

My point? Half-life 2 is not the best looking game in the world. *Gasp* :O But it doesn't have to be, it looks very good from what video I have seen. Graphics only have one job in a computer game - to immerse you as much as possible. I think Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 both do an excellent job trying to fulfill that purpose, regardless of graphical flaws or problems.

Why did I do this? I dunno, but I am going to post this anyways. :naughty:
 
You picked some real nice low res HL2 pics there ;)

Despite this, it still looks way more realistic than Doom 3. Whats the point in the game looking "good" if its all shiny and sparkly with fairy dust and looking nothing like real life? It looks good in a... hmm.. over the top fantasy world type of way, but nothing like real life. I think the real world is much more boring looking than Doom 3, so I guess HL2 is at a disadvantage in trying to make everything look real, rather than making everything shiny.

edit: Also, look at the poor texture quality in the favourite doom 3 pic, the textures on the door look muddy and blurred like HL1, and the spiders just look like smoothshaded models.

Also look at how sharp and fake looking the shadows are, and how they overlap each other unrealistically. Also look how terrible the guys thumb looks, it looks like the old DoD hands.


Ohh, and look at this, is that the floating model effect everyone has been complaining about in HL2? Look at the second spider back in that pic.

Wow, it is so easy to pick apart computer game screens, no wonder everyone is finding problems!
 
Are we allowd to talk about the doom beta in these forums? ;)
 
Why is it that majority of the hl2 pics around have no aa or af?

The pictures wouldnt have looked dated.........IF THEY RELEASED THE GODDAM GAME ON TIME!
 
Crusader said:
You picked some real nice low res HL2 pics there ;)

Despite this, it still looks way more realistic than Doom 3. Whats the point in the game looking "good" if its all shiny and sparkly with fairy dust and looking nothing like real life? It looks good in a... hmm.. over the top fantasy world type of way, but nothing like real life. I think the real world is much more boring looking than Doom 3, so I guess HL2 is at a disadvantage in trying to make everything look real, rather than making everything shiny.
Click to expand...

Let me fix my error.

Another shot
Gotta love this one too
And don't forget this one either ;)
 
I think it would be better to compare videos. Perhaps comparing the DX9 HDR Vid with the Doom 3 trailer. One looks like Madam Tussaud's, the other looks incredibly realistic. I'll leave you guys to figure out which is which ^^
 
I think the Source engine (HL2) looks MUCH more REAL than the DOOM 3 engine. Doom 3 has it's own style, while HL2 is supposed to look real, I mean look at the character models, they look very real!

Ontop of that the animations are spectacular, the characters go FROM standing to running, not instanly running like all previous games, simple things like strafing and running are blended naturally.

Exaple Pic:
http://www.hl2fallout.com/screenshots/albums/screenshots/combinevsantlion.jpg

The combine on the right is side strafing, his body is leaning in, it looks like a natural pose.
 
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