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One-off visual effects that stand out from the rest of the game they're in

ScOULaris

ScOULaris

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,576
I'm playing through the Switch port of Mario 3D world with my son now, and when I got to the Motley Bossblob fight I was reminded of how absurdly good looking this liquid-metal transformation effect was:




3D World has always been a generally good-looking game with a clean art style and good use of color, but this effect that only appears this one time in the game has always stood out to me for looking close to pre-rendered CGI. So I got to thinking: what are some other examples of sparingly used effects in games that look especially visually impressive compared to the rest of the game in which they appear?
 
chandoog

chandoog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,071
The split screen segments in The Medium.

They were not used enough IMO and outside of them, the game itself isn't anything special.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
Secret of Mana (2018)

The introduction:
862VyGq.jpg

V4GlRP0.jpg



The rest of the game:
Biy3A0W.png
 
Meta

Meta

Member
Oct 29, 2017
546
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Vector Cannon has its own section in the staff credits for ANUBIS: Zone of the Enders. It deserves it.
 

Superking

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,619
super mario galaxy has a bunch of one off levels that have this sort of thing

- the fur effects for the queen bee in honeyhive galaxy was amazing
- the reflections and transparencies in the ice mario skates around in freeze flame galaxy
- not an 'effect' per se, but i was always impressed with how round and smooth bowser jr.'s face was. virtually no blocky edges!

all this stuff is more impressive given that it was done on the wii
 
TeenageFBI

TeenageFBI

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,226


LOOK AT THAT BREAD.

From Yakuza: Like a dragon

Worth every penny the devs spent to get it right.
 
Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,186
I think it's the final level in Mario 3D Land, but there's a part where you run up a tower and there's a great wet stone effect on the castle that looks amazing and I don't think it was used during the rest of the game.

Or maybe I'm thinking of the end of Ocarina of Time 3D, I forget which one did that (or maybe both did).
 
Septimus Prime

Septimus Prime

EA
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
8,500
The food in FFXV. Here's a random one.
ffxv-sushi-c4a26.png


I mean, the game already looks good, but the food is next level.

Meta said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Vector Cannon has its own section in the staff credits for ANUBIS: Zone of the Enders. It deserves it.
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And then you get Zero Shift, and it's like, "what Cannon?"
 
dr.rocktopus

dr.rocktopus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
7,250
Fucking mirrors. I love real mirrors in games. TLOU is not the first game by any means to have mirrors but I love how when you first start the game ND were like bam! We got a real mirror. Thematically it works to show how far the world has fallen after the intro where everything is either smashed or dirty, and technically of course to not have real mirrors all over the game.

(The very bottom image is unrelated to my point lol)

tlou-sarah-ellie.jpg
 
Pancracio17

Pancracio17

â–˛ Legend â–˛
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Oct 29, 2017
18,695
I feel like Mario has a bunch of these. Whenever the games use a special effect to pull of an NPC or a bright object they always look fantastic.

I also nominate the ashtray maze from Control
ashtraymazecontrol.jpg
 
Lord Error

Lord Error

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,358
The windmill pond in Ico:

XRN6yun.gif


it has full reflection (you can see the windmill move in the reflection), water refraction, and geometry water surface ripples.

You only see it in that one spot, but you don't forget it. It looks so fresh, and deep, and tangible. It's maybe the most effective "water" in the game, to this day.
 
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ScOULaris

ScOULaris

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,576
Lord Error said:
The windmill lake in Ico:

XRN6yun.gif


it has full reflection (you can see windmill move in the reflection), water refraction, and geometry water surface ripples.

It's maybe the most effective "water" in the game, to this day.
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My all-time favorite example of this, probably. At the time it was mind-boggling, and even now it still looks great. Look at the light refracting onto the base of the windmill.
 
BennyWhatever

BennyWhatever

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Oct 27, 2017
4,780
US
Chrono Trigger already looked great, but I always thought some of the spell animations were above SNES capabilities.

41-image048.gif

90-266.gif
 
Le Dude

Le Dude

Member
May 16, 2018
4,709
USA
julian said:
The rising water in Origami King. Looks realistic for no apparent reason. Completely out of place
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This one's my pick.

Like, I had been playing and then I went online and people had been posting images and gifs of how good Death Stranding looks on PC and I was like "Oh my god, Paper Mario has better looking water than that." Not to say it blew my mind because Death Stranding's water looked poor or anything like that, it's just that Oragami King's water just looks so good.
 
lazygecko

lazygecko

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,628
BennyWhatever said:
Chrono Trigger already looked great, but I always thought some of the spell animations were above SNES capabilities.

41-image048.gif

90-266.gif
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There's a similar type of triangle effect in Batman & Robin but it also shifts and distorts the art pattern within it to give the impression of being an actual texture mapped polygon (which I don't think it technically is)

OSwNKCn.gif
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
42,700
Mario Odyssey Ruined Kingdom had me going wtf
maxresdefault.jpg


Maybe not truly a 1 off visual "effect", but it was a super short Kingdom that was essentially just a boss fight as opposed to a fully featured world and its visual style was completely different from the rest of the game (even given how some Kingdoms varied). It made New Donk look cartoony
 
TeenageFBI

TeenageFBI

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 25, 2017
10,226
julian said:
The rising water in Origami King. Looks realistic for no apparent reason. Completely out of place.
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I thought the same thing when I played it but I think it's pre-rendered video. I don't think there's a single time in the game where you can move your character while that water is on-screen.
 
julian

julian

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Oct 27, 2017
16,748
TeenageFBI said:
I thought the same thing when I played it but I think it's pre-rendered video. I don't think there's a single time in the game where you can move your character while that water is on-screen.
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I already agreed but to be fair the example in the OP is a boss intro where there is no interaction.
 
Neuroxia

Neuroxia

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Mar 31, 2019
953
A Brush With Death quest from Oblivion is the first thing that came to my mind.

You basically get trapped in a painting and everything looks different until you get out.
 
SGJin

SGJin

Member
Feb 23, 2018
607
Lost Oyssey's opening cutscene CG seamless transition into gameplay. (around the 3:00 mark)
This was pretty ahead of the curve back in 2007-2008.
 
KORNdog

KORNdog

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
8,001
I find a lot of Nintendo games tend to have something like this. They tend to be comparably lesser lookin games due to weaker hardware. But they often have effects that make me wonder why no-one else has thought of it before. Like the mist in the first level of mario odyssey. That was something that stood out to me as a very simple but very effective way to achieve a "dynamic" mist layer.

3249040-3229393187-TameS.gif
 
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
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Oct 27, 2017
35,158
Won't spoil it, but i think the people who played it remember what comes from this:

tenor.gif


Coolest thing in the game tbh. Especially with Cloud's WTF face. So precious.
 
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