Graphics
Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 5:00 pm
Since we seem to be idling in anticipation of 1.3, it strikes me that XC2's graphics didn't get the praise they deserve in most of the reviews I read or discussions since. I've spent about a thousand hours now in XC2, more than nearly any other game in last half decade or so, and (a small) part of that I think has to do with the graphics quality. On high/ultra settings the character details, the movement animations (mostly), the movement of clothing and gear, etc are really pretty good and sometimes strike me as better than the graphics of high end games in genres more often associated with graphics. That first time I fired up XC2 and found myself taking cover behind a toppled arcade game, or zooming in on a character and being distracted by the stuff on a shelf or the steam coming from a vent, was pretty memorable. The modding community deserves lots of credit of course - those coil rifles look amazing - but the base game does too. There are some clunks - corpse physics producing graphical oddities, and a somewhat too clean look, such as the interface between buildings and the ground - but mostly it is a really nice looking game indeed. Immersive certainly.
My question, though, is whether that graphics quality is actually a restriction on full conversions using the engine. I can imagine a WW2 urban combat conversion, for instance, or maybe a conversion that provides basic building blocks of a sort so players can construct their own historical/fictional squad scenarios. Since modders seems to have done fine with uniforms/gear, the problem would be the terrain/building/environments I'd imagine (as well as the restrictions of the map system in the engine of course). Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like producing new graphics of that sort is beyond the realm of non-commercial means. At any rate, whenever I'm looking at a squaddie walking past a "wanted notice" with their face on it, I've wanted to state my appreciation for the graphics detail in XC2!
My question, though, is whether that graphics quality is actually a restriction on full conversions using the engine. I can imagine a WW2 urban combat conversion, for instance, or maybe a conversion that provides basic building blocks of a sort so players can construct their own historical/fictional squad scenarios. Since modders seems to have done fine with uniforms/gear, the problem would be the terrain/building/environments I'd imagine (as well as the restrictions of the map system in the engine of course). Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like producing new graphics of that sort is beyond the realm of non-commercial means. At any rate, whenever I'm looking at a squaddie walking past a "wanted notice" with their face on it, I've wanted to state my appreciation for the graphics detail in XC2!