Ok, the original intro may be a bit dated...but it's still better than this lazy flash clip. If this is the shape of things to come, I'm suddenly worried.
@AdventSign To be fair the Neverwinter Nights ORIGINAL CAMPAIGN intro and cinematics are great. The expansion ones aren't really.
So what's the difference? Execution. The OC cinematics are put together well, highly detailed stills with top voice acting and doesn't TRY to be animated so therefore get away easily with being pretty basic.
The expansion cinematics feature ugly stills with bad voice acting and try to be animated.
I don't like the new intro movie either. It looks cheap and conveys no emotion, plus it manages to miss part of the original dialogue and the Nietzsche quote.
It's fine. Not great, but honestly, neither was the old one. I always thought the movies where a bit weird, and they were basicly outdated graphic-wise even on the day of the release. I do have one critiscism: When you use this sort of animation, it is just better to not have a lot of movement, since it doesn't look that great. Take e.g. the old game Thief, which uses this sort of animation to a great effect. You can accomplish a lot with just sound effects and pictures.
One more thing: The only thing I really didn't like with it was the ending, it looks really weird with the blood pouring out in a circle around the guy...
I saw it on youtube since I'm awaiting the Mac release but it's better than what I was expecting. Though I could honestly care less about the cinematics. They always seemed extraneous to me in BG Vanilla. I wouldn't have cared if they opted out completely. But I do appreciate that they went down the consistency route. I would have hated it if there was rended cinematics and storybook cinematics, having them all done in the same style really is the best course.
But afterall my favourite JRPG game of all time is done purely in a drawn storybook style. So I guess for me the change isn't so drastic.
Not that impressed. While the art style is great, it just swapped the awkward animations of the original (which I was never that attached to) for another set of awkward 'motion comic' animations. They could have done much better.
Still at least Sir DorkSpawn doesn't look so goofy (his design is actually quite nice). The original one just reminded me of this in terms of dorky knight.
The main problem with the intro is that it's been cut in half. It is pretty, and I must say I prefer this style to the old one, (the 'falling in a book illustration' thing is a nice touch too, reminiscent of BG2 intro) but what on Earth were they thinking, throwing out half of the material?
In the old movie there is drama, the poor guy is running, swaying on his feet, begging for his life... and dropping the line which is the main point of the whole movie! And here he just gets thrown around and is sitting there looking sad. No drama, no pacing, no plot exposition, nothing! Why? Dear Devs, I love you to bits, and I like the direction you took with the movie, but you botched it badly by cutting it like that. Please, do release a longer version, utilizing the entirety of the original soundtrack. This neutered version just won't do.
And is there really no the "he who fights with monsters" quote? It's one of the most memorable things about the game, for gods sake. Why throw that away?
Wow.. just watched the intro movie. To be honest I would have preferred the original intro movie. I'm a bit disappointed and now I have a feeling of dread that there'll be more to come. : /
Comments
So what's the difference? Execution. The OC cinematics are put together well, highly detailed stills with top voice acting and doesn't TRY to be animated so therefore get away easily with being pretty basic.
The expansion cinematics feature ugly stills with bad voice acting and try to be animated.
One more thing: The only thing I really didn't like with it was the ending, it looks really weird with the blood pouring out in a circle around the guy...
But afterall my favourite JRPG game of all time is done purely in a drawn storybook style. So I guess for me the change isn't so drastic.
Still at least Sir DorkSpawn doesn't look so goofy (his design is actually quite nice). The original one just reminded me of this in terms of dorky knight.
It is pretty, and I must say I prefer this style to the old one, (the 'falling in a book illustration' thing is a nice touch too, reminiscent of BG2 intro) but what on Earth were they thinking, throwing out half of the material?
In the old movie there is drama, the poor guy is running, swaying on his feet, begging for his life... and dropping the line which is the main point of the whole movie!
And here he just gets thrown around and is sitting there looking sad. No drama, no pacing, no plot exposition, nothing! Why?
Dear Devs, I love you to bits, and I like the direction you took with the movie, but you botched it badly by cutting it like that. Please, do release a longer version, utilizing the entirety of the original soundtrack. This neutered version just won't do.
And is there really no the "he who fights with monsters" quote? It's one of the most memorable things about the game, for gods sake. Why throw that away?