In 2017, when the NS was just released, SE announced that the new JRPG game "オクトパストラベラ_" (now officially translated as "Octopath Traveler") from its studio ACQUIRE will be launched on the NS platform, and This unique game was officially released on the NS platform the following year.
(Key visual image of "Octoward Traveler")
Before the release of "Octoward Traveler", the game actually failed to arouse a large amount of discussion in the player community. Players all think that this game is just a small-scale, low-cost pixel-style JRPG that focuses on retro. However, after the game was released, players discovered that "Octopath Traveler" has a unique style of graphics, a combat system inherited from the "Bravely Default" series, and the atmosphere of the JRPG from the golden age of the last century is ubiquitous throughout the game. In the end, this game, which was not favored by players before its release, achieved quite gratifying results and is still being discussed to this day.
But today we are not retelling how "Octopath Traveler" was successful, but looking at the difference of this game from a completely different perspective and what it has done to the entire SE. Contribution——
Next, let’s talk about HD-2D technology.
Before discussing this topic, as usual we need to clarify the answer to a question:
What is "HD-2D"?
Although I am in the title As mentioned above, HD-2D is called a technology, but in fact within SE, the art team of "Octopath Traveler" did not define HD-2D as a technology when they first mentioned it, but Call it a technique. In an interview with Famitsu, "Octopath Traveler" producer Tomoya Asano said this about HD-2D: "So what can we do using the UE engine? After ACQUIRE studied it, now we have "HD-2D style."
(The first one from the left is Tomoya Asano)
It is not difficult to see that in Asano's view, HD-2D is a special kind of technology implemented using the Unreal Engine 4. picture style, rather than an image processing technology. Although at first glance this statement sounds like a nesting doll, since the official definition of HD-2D is a style rather than a technology, it means that even if completely different technical logic is used, as long as the same picture can be achieved The style can also be called HD-2D. This undoubtedly gives HD-2D a great degree of freedom in implementation, allowing developers to make varying degrees of changes to the technical process according to the different situations of different games, without the need to follow a complete technical process that leads to meaningless waste. time. But having said it all, I don’t think Japanese programmers have the intention to make changes.
So what kind of picture style can be defined as HD-2D?
Take "Octopath Traveler", the only HD-2D style game at this stage, if a game adopts pixel style + 3D scene, while using dynamic light and shadow and tilt-shift photography technology If so, it can probably be defined as an HD-2D style game.
Ah, by the way, if SE applies for a patent, it may also need to add that it has obtained a patent license.
The visual magic that turns the unreasonable into reasonable
One thing that cannot be avoided when talking about HD-2D is its reconstruction of pixel-style games.
Still taking "Octoward Traveler" as an example. The picture style of the game in "Octoward Traveler" can still be classified into the category of pixel style, but in fact the game does not use 2D in all places. Pixel style, in fact, only the characters in the entire game are made in 2D pixel style. For a character-centered RPG game, this is a rather tricky method. In an RPG game, the core of the player's attention is most of the time the character itself, so using a 2D pixel style to create characters can allow players to At the end of entering the game, please allow me to pour some cold water.
I really like the art style presented by HD-2D. "Octopath Traveler" and "Project TRIANGLESTRATEGY" which only released a demo version are both permanent residents of my NS, but as time goes by, With the increase, the problems of HD-2D have become more and more obvious.
At least in my opinion, the images achieved through the HD-2D style are extremely homogeneous. This is reflected very strongly in the two HD-2D style games that can be played now. Although it can be seen that the design of "Project TRIANGLESTRATEGY" itself is similar to that of "Octopath Traveler", the pictures of the two are still too similar, the same medieval pixel style characters, the same style of scene maps, the same light and shadow effects, The same tilt-shift photography...the two have too many visual similarities.
(Screenshot of "Project TRIANGLESTRATEGY")
And if SE will use the HD-2D style on a large scale in the future, this will be a fatal problem.
Why is the HD-2D style in "Octopath Traveler" so praised? Just because it works well enough and is stunning enough at the same time. However, with the foreseeable increase in games in the future, the once stunning images will inevitably be erased by the homogenization of the images, eventually turning into a kind of aesthetic fatigue.
At that time, all the advantages of the HD-2D style mentioned above will all become disadvantages in an instant.
I just hope that ACQUIRE has realized this issue and paid enough attention to it, otherwise this will eventually become a boulder hitting ACQUIRE and SE.