[Jayel]

Realistic shadows is one thing, but deliberately omitting moody atmosphere when half of its experience depends on it is another.

[insane_cobra]

Agreed, it makes a world of difference. The change is not purely cosmetic, it affects the mood and player's immersion in a very profound way.

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

When I'm frantically attacking enemies, the last thing I care about is whether there are realistic shadows.

No offense, but why do you even pick a horror game if you just want to shoot stuff?

[daikatana_]

Originally Posted by JemyM

No offense, but why do you even pick a horror game if you just want to shoot stuff?

I agree, horror game should be about an overall atmosphere, which includes even graphics. Just shooting zombies around is not enough, in my book...

[samIamsad]

Ok, did anybody hear much news about this game being ported to the PC at all? Despite the initial press release? I mean, one of the most critically acclaimed games of the last two years finally making its way to the PC and neither the press nor its developers seem to care all that much? Wasn't that a bit suspicious in the first place?

The game will be published by Ubisoft, who signed a deal with Capcom a while ago to bring some of their games to the PC. Not a bad idea, but then, Ubi outsourced that port to a company called SourceNext, and they already didn't do all that well with previous ports like Onimusha3. It seems Capcom doesn't have anything to do with this at all.

In case somebody's still thinking the lack of proper lighting wouldn't affect actual gameplay bits (i.e. shooting and aiming):
http://www.hidebehind.com/9390F650
http://www.hidebehind.com/4D34550E

Just sad...

[JemyM]

When I tried Resident Evil 4 in the Playstation 2 emulator after playing the PC version I discovered that aiming in the PS2 version was alot easier and not because of the low framerate... It seems the PC version aims in a 1 inch "grid". On my 22" CRT monitor, trying to move the aim just a tiny little bit to the left will make the aim jump about 1-2 inches, never less. If you try to move your aim back to the right it will again jump 1-2 inches to the other direction.

Now consider that you need to shoot something that is absolutely still (like the crows in the beginning). Since you cannot move your aim less than 1-2 inches at a time, it's near impossible to aim at them at long range even if they do not move at all. Either you will shoot on the right of the target or you will shoot at the left.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by JemyM

No offense, but why do you even pick a horror game if you just want to shoot stuff?

As I said earlier, it's not a horror game, it's an action game. The fun of the game doesn't come from how atmospheric it is, it comes from two things: The way the gameplay is constantly changing, and the frantic attempts to get away from (and attack) enemies. The atmosphere is a nice plus, but that's all. And this is what I'm saying in hindsight- if I hadn't played the game, I wouldn't know that it wasn't a horror game, or whether the graphics were important. But they're not, not really.

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

As I said earlier, it's not a horror game, it's an action game. The fun of the game doesn't come from how atmospheric it is, it comes from two things: The way the gameplay is constantly changing, and the frantic attempts to get away from (and attack) enemies. The atmosphere is a nice plus, but that's all. And this is what I'm saying in hindsight- if I hadn't played the game, I wouldn't know that it wasn't a horror game, or whether the graphics were important. But they're not, not really.

Maybe it would interest you to know that the controls of the PC version is corrupted because Analog sticks work like they are 2d d-pads, giving you an accuracy of a crippled old lady. So even if you do not enjoy the game because of it's atmosphere you are still screwed.

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by JemyM

Maybe it would interest you to know that the controls of the PC version is corrupted because Analog sticks work like they are 2d d-pads, giving you an accuracy of a crippled old lady. So even if you do not enjoy the game because of it's atmosphere you are still screwed.

Did you play it using a Pad or a keyboard?

Originally Posted by Mory

As I said earlier, it's not a horror game, it's an action game. The fun of the game doesn't come from how atmospheric it is, it comes from two things: The way the gameplay is constantly changing, and the frantic attempts to get away from (and attack) enemies. The atmosphere is a nice plus, but that's all. And this is what I'm saying in hindsight- if I hadn't played the game, I wouldn't know that it wasn't a horror game, or whether the graphics were important. But they're not, not really.

Fair enough, if you feel that way. Regardless of what kind of game it is, action, horror, a turn-based cuckoo clock simulator, I still don't believe that this doesn't dramatically affect the playing experience in a negative way. Even if it wouldn't look as ugly, badly designed and completely incomplete as it does now, and just..er, bad. I mean, this is hardly some kind of simple arcade-ish, abstract low-level concept, think "Tetris", "Pong" or whatever, in which all the fun comes from moving and arranging blocks on the screen to eventually raise your score. No, this is a game that tries to (sorry for using THIS word again) immerse you into a fictional 3D world and a narrative of sorts, and lighting is one of the most important things in almost any game in terms of visuals anyway. Well, at least future generations now have something that reminds them of why... More than ten years old games did lighting better than this port.

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by samIamsad

Did you play it using a Pad or a keyboard?

I have tried with my DualShock 2 joypad, with keyboard and with the MouseAim 2.0a software.

It seems the aim have some kind of annoying "threshold" to move the aim. If you just move the joystick a little bit your aim wont move at all, but if you move it further your aim will suddenly start to move but will move too fast to be controlled. Very annoying as it makes it extremely difficult to finetune your accuracy.

Keyboard works best but you miss out of the accelerated aiming. MouseAim is almost there.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by JemyM

Maybe it would interest you to know that the controls of the PC version is corrupted because Analog sticks work like they are 2d d-pads, giving you an accuracy of a crippled old lady. So even if you do not enjoy the game because of it's atmosphere you are still screwed.

Hm. Did RE4 actually have analog control? I don't remember that. In fact, I seem to remember having to hold a button to run.

[Fop]

I'm sure pretty much all GC games have analog control.

[MoriartyL]

Y'know what, I'll go and check. Give me a minute.

[MoriartyL]

Okay, I've verified it: The Gamecube version does not have analog control. You can play with either the analog stick or the D-pad. The only advantage of the analog stick is that on Nintendo's official controllers it's more comfortable. That's it. If you're using the analog stick, it only registers at all if you push it a little bit, and past that point there's no difference between pushing it just a little and pushing it all the way. It's just simulating four-direction digital control. Up walks straight, left and right turn, and backwards moves backwards. The B button toggles running, and B and down makes a 180-degree turn. It's not exactly state-of-the-art, but that doesn't matter and most people probably don't even notice. What matters is that it works fine.

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Y'know what, I'll go and check. Give me a minute.

On a digital joystick, left is left regardless how hard you push the joystick. On an analog joystick the further you push the joystick to the left, the faster the character/ship/car/whatever will turn to the left.

All consoles of today have analog thumbsticks and usually a digital d-pad.

Playstation 2, DualShock 2, have two black analog thumbsticks and a digital d-pad.


GameCube's gamepad also have two analog sticks (grey/yellow) and a digital d-pad.

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Okay, I've verified it: The Gamecube version does not have analog control. You can play with either the analog stick or the D-pad. The only advantage of the analog stick is that on Nintendo's official controllers it's more comfortable. That's it. If you're using the analog stick, it only registers at all if you push it a little bit, and past that point there's no difference between pushing it just a little and pushing it all the way. It's just simulating four-direction digital control. Up walks straight, left and right turn, and backwards moves backwards. The B button toggles running, and B and down makes a 180-degree turn. It's not exactly state-of-the-art, but that doesn't matter and most people probably don't even notice. What matters is that it works fine.

Works like crap on a PC though. Shooting down one of the crows in the beginning of the game is near impossible even if they sit still on the ground.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by JemyM

On a digital joystick, left is left regardless how hard you push the joystick. On an analog joystick the further you push the joystick to the left, the faster the character/ship/car/whatever will turn to the left.

All consoles of today have analog thumbsticks and usually a digital d-pad.

Playstation 2, DualShock 2, have two black analog thumbsticks and a digital d-pad.


GameCube's gamepad also have two analog sticks (grey/yellow) and a digital d-pad.

Thank you for that, erm, enlightening lecture. I know what analog control is, and I'm telling you the original GCN version of Resident Evil 4 (the one which received nearly unanimous praise) does not have analog control. It uses the GCN's analog joystick (Yes, I know that it is analog.) to simulate digital control. And I am telling you -and understand as I say this that I am not a moron who has never played a videogame in his life- that I never had any problem with it.

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Thank you for that, erm, enlightening lecture. I know what analog control is, and I'm telling you the original GCN version of Resident Evil 4 (the one which received nearly unanimous praise) does not have analog control. It uses the GCN's analog joystick (Yes, I know that it is analog.) to simulate digital control. And I am telling you -and understand as I say this that I am not a moron who has never played a videogame in his life- that I never had any problem with it.

sorry

[Fop]

Hah, isn't that Playstation 3's controller? It's hard to tell them apart

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by Fop

Hah, isn't that Playstation 3's controller? It's hard to tell them apart

It is, actually. But they look just the same anyway