For giggles: Wind Waker HD vs. Dolphin

[Nerrel]

A lot of people have opined back and forth about which version looks better. I was playing the game anyway and decided to recreate some of the Wii U screenshots in Dolphin with everything at max- 4x resolution, 8xMSAA, 16xAF- to see how new version holds up against Dolphin at full blast. Pretty well, as it turns out:

WU: http://www.gamershell.com/static/screenshots/50661/751723_full.jpg
DE: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/9609970471_4831b05974_o.png

WU: http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/34/1377194303-5.jpg
DE: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3708/9609969399_4f9fb6e89a_o.png

WU: http://i.imgur.com/ZEVkaoW.jpg
DE: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5518/9609967857_4593d45fe0_o.png
^This Wii U shot has apparently been retaken with a newer build of the game which shows less bloom and deeper contrast:
WU2: http://gamersyndrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/90669_WiiU_LoZWWHD_website_02.jpg

WU: http://wiiudaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/windwaker-hd-2.png
DE: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7337/9609966031_1322d2cab2_o.png

WU: http://static.gamer.no/images/15/1508/150831/5623499218c48115e38bc99a9b7741a0_WiiU_ZeldaWW_scrn10_E3_1920x1080.f.jpg
DE: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5518/9609964879_23c22fae57_o.png

WU: http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/34/1377194301-4.jpg
DE: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/9609964009_f6526570bf_o.png


There are some advantages to each, but the new game definitely looks better, even running at less than half the resolution with no anti-aliasing. There's no contest out on the ocean. The textures have been upscaled cleanly, the ugly distortion on the waves is smoothed out, the clouds aren't low-res 2D assets, everything casts a real time shadow, the lighting is far more complex, the HUD has been removed, and the draw distances are hugely improved thanks to the extra RAM.

Plus, it goes without saying that Dragon Roost won't be an eye-ache to complete. I'm looking forward to this one, even with the ridiculous $60 price tag.

[NaturalViolence]

The bloom is the one thing that turns me off about the remake. They turned it down a lot in the newer builds and it's still way overdone. It makes the game less colorful and looks like I'm staring directly into a 15000 lumen flashlight in some scenes. Also sunlight does not diffuse though the atmosphere that way at all. Christ if they could just get rid of that one shader it would be perfect.

[Verix]

Looks mostly great, although the bloom does give it a different atmosphere at times. I also prefer how the room in this screenshot looks in the old version :/

[delroth]

Would be even better if you were using one of the multiple Wind Waker HD HUD texture packs. The stretched HUD really looks bad

[Nerrel]

(08-28-2013, 02:33 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: The bloom is the one thing that turns me off about the remake. They turned it down a lot in the newer builds and it's still way overdone.

It's way over the top, but I still like it. It gives a stronger sense of atmospheric perspective; with humid ocean air, objects in the distance should be hazier and less distinct than they are in the original. They could dial it down a bit, especially indoors... it almost looks like Link glows in the dark.

Comparing those two shots now it looks like they've definitely applied some anti-aliasing as well. The newer pic is way less jaggy.

[masterotaku]

I prefer the old Link. The new one looks less cartoony.

One thing I don't like about Wind Waker in Dolphin: distant things appear to be rendered at less resolution than things that are near the camera. It could be compensated if we had the option to use x5 and x6 IR .

[Zee530]

Despite the complaints it looks fantastic, all that's left is to see how much has changed in the Dungeons.

[slax65]

The HD remake certainly looks great, but I hardly hope that they did a few bigger enchancements and innovations of gameplay as well .. Otherwise it'd be an unbounded cheek to request 60€ for this game and I guess then we would have reached the top of the gaming-era, where just and only the graphics count ..

[masterotaku]

In the meantime, we have SweetFX.

Spoiler: (Show Spoiler)

Am I the only one who wants Nobuyuki Hiyama back as Adult Link?

[Nerrel]

Slax65, they've changed a lot of the gameplay too.

-There's an upgraded sail at the auction house now that allows you to not only go faster but sail in any direction without changing the wind.
-The sail is a context sensitive action when you enter the boat, so it never needs to be equipped as an item.
-The wind waker, cannon, and crane are permanently mapped to the D-pad, and also never need to be equipped.
-The whole ocean is loaded to RAM at once. No more pop-in, and the detail on distant islands is also improved as a result (they're no longer blank silhouettes)
-The triforce shards are now found in the chests in mini-dungeons where the triforce charts used to be, cutting out the chart translation/treasure trawling part of the fetch quest
-Touchscreen does inventory, and switches to the sea chart when sailing.
-The wind waker can be used with touch controls, and gyro controls are available for aiming
-It's now possible to move in first person, so you can aim and walk at the same time. You can even stay in first person with the bow out as you move through dungeons, like a FPS, if you want.
-The tingle tuner is replaced by a "tingle bottle." It's basically a way to leave miiverse messages/screenshots in bottles for other players.


They aren't adding any more temples, but there are a lot of other tweaks to make up for the awkward pacing. I'm sure they've done something to the Jabun section to make up for the missing temple there.