Software, Games, Writing, and Oddities
Would you like to know why .hack//G.U. Trilogy infuriates me? Check out my latest Extra Life article to find out here.
For those of you who don’t know, Extra Life is like a marathon for charity, but instead of running or walking, you play video games to raise money for a children’s hospital of your choice. The official Extra Life event occurred on November 5, but you can raise money whenever you want year-round. Check out the Extra Life website to learn more, donate, and sign up!
I spent part of today trying to determine why the movie Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV looks different from the cutscenes (released thus far) in Final Fantasy XV the game. For a while, I was convinced that the art styles must be different. FFXV is more stylized and anime-influenced both in how it looks and how the characters act and move. Spiky hair and dramatic acting is in! On the other hand, Kingsglaive is as realistic as possible. Art style still might be part of it, but the main reason I think they look different blew my mind a little when I realized it.
Kingsglaive is dominated by a mostly caucasian population, which includes King Regis. The game is dominated by characters of Japanese or Asian descent, including Regis’ son Noctis. Some of the characters who appear in both have a slightly different eye shape in the game to make them appear more Asian (like the Chancellor or Regis) or different character designs between both mediums (like Luna). This is probably why Regis and Noctis could not be seen together in the movie (because who would believe they’re related?).
…Changing dominant cultures between entries in the same franchise… That’s such a weird thing to do! Why would you do that!? O.O
The Final Fantasy XV Omen Trailer I discovered on Tuesday has me a bit obsessed, and I felt compelled to research who made it today. It appears that DIGIC Pictures, a Hungarian visual effects studio that specializes in video game cinematics, created it. DIGIC is also one of the studios that collaborated on Kingsglaive with their primary contribution being the first fight scene. Several outlets (such as the Final Fantasy XV YouTube channel) have been referring to this “trailer” as a “short film,” which I think fits well.
It’s difficult to say how much of this film’s concept was developed by DIGIC and how much by Square Enix. Several clues suggest that Omen is some sort of pet project that DIGIC Pictures came up with internally and got okayed to do by Square Enix (because who would say no to that?). First, according to the description of the film on DIGIC’s website, it’s a conceptual trailer created by DIGIC Pictures and “inspired by the world and story of Final Fantasy XV.” Overall, the description lovingly conveys the messages and themes portrayed in the trailer. In stark contrast, the descriptions of all of DIGIC’s other trailers and cutscenes that they’ve put together for various game studios are scant or non-existent (believe me, I checked). These games include Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted 4, Mass Effect 3, Halo 4, and Dragon Age 2, not unloved unknowns. Second, in the credits for the Omen trailer (see the end of the YouTube video above), DIGIC lists Daniel Hamvas, a Hungarian actor, translator, and screenplay writer, as a “Scriptwriter” as if the dialog and/or story in the trailer were created internally. I haven’t checked the credits on every DIGIC’s video (I’ve checked a lot O.O), but I haven’t seen someone in this role listed anywhere else.
It’s just as possible, however, that I’m over-reading this, and the concept genuinely came about through a collaboration between the studios as I assume all of DIGIC’s projects do. A lot of my argument might be based on the idea that Omen is partial or complete fanfiction allowed to exist for the sake of hyping up the game. I could be wrong though. The themes of light vs. darkness and the corrupting power of violence conveyed in Omen could very well be themes that will be explored in the game. Who knows? Perhaps killing Luna is a possible ending.
I haven’t read too much into the fan theories on what FFXV is about. Honestly, I really don’t care if Omen has nothing to do with the game and was created to GET HYPE. It’s an amazing short film. It leaves you intrigued and wanting more, but it’s a complete and delightfully complicated story told almost entirely in visuals in less than five minutes. That’s a hell of a lot more than any CGI action movie out there does in 1 1/2 to 2 hours. For me, Omen is more than a trailer. It’s a shame to discount it as only that or as only hype or as only an excuse for Noctis to rip his shirt off for fangirls. If FFXV turns out to be a giant disappointment, it would be a shame to blame this.
To everyone who made Omen, you’re awesome. You need to be told this. Omen has the greatest full-CGI, action-oriented story that I’ve seen in a long time.
Anyone who says the Final Fantasy XV movie exists in part to promote the game is wrong. Wrong! WRRRROOOONG! This 4 and half minute trailer is 1000 times better for that. It’s a 1000 times better in general, 1000 times more emotionally investing, exciting, and intruging. I wish this with more details were the movie. Instead I have to watch disposable, super protagonist be unwaveringly loyal in the face of two cliche warring nations and pointless action scenes. Boring as hell. *resists using more colorful language to describe disappointment*
More of my thoughts on the topic will hopefully be coming soon via Extra Life.
Also, if this entire trailer is CGI, I’m super impressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzEQpLJfthM
In another film review, Stefan Molyneux talks about how the independently-produced Angry Birds movie mirrors the current election and political climate in America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZaSeDwAzfE
Zootopia makes it hard to miss the obvious symbolism of racism it contains and to see anything in its subtext than that (besides the equally obvious Frozen references). This made Stefan Monlyneux’s critique of the film all the more interesting and refreshing. He talks about the film’s confusing commentary on the similar subject of prejudice and following one’s delusional dreams. As always, he also talks about Disney’s portrayal of women as baby-like and narcissistic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKjoMpgYmdU
I was at a friend’s house recently and saw a poster for Senmue II for Xbox. Also on the poster was a small advertisement for a Senmue movie. Glorious! A movie made entirely from Xbox-era in-game graphics!
I haven’t seen much of any Berserk series (maybe an episode or a movie or something a long time ago), but apparently, the new 2016 series is a bit of a hot topic for its use of CG. I watched a few fan videos produced in the fallout. The commentators analyze why they feel the series failed as well as why most anime fail to use CG in an effective way. Some of the points in a couple of videos I felt weren’t just applicable to anime but to all CGI movies and series, so I thought I’d expand on them a little.
In “The Mismanagement of CG in Anime,” BriHard discusses how anime that fail to use CG in an effective way are typically trying to imitate 2D animation as opposed to being inspired by it. Shadow Skill: Secret of the Kurudan Style, which I wrote about in a previous post, is a perfect example of a CGI anime series that attempts to imitate 2D animation and fails to draw on the strengths of 3D animation. Viewers who watch a lot of anime will naturally compare it to the 2D animation that they know. From there, picking out its flaws and differences and discarding it as a rip-off is easy to do. Films with styles that are inspired by animation such as Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, however, are much less prone to this comparison and critique and show off the full power of what 3D animation can do. The characters in Advent Children have an anime-like “feel” to them in how they are designed, the shape of their eyes, and the way they act, but while the film draws inspiration from anime, it doesn’t attempt to mimic 2D animation with cell shading or stilted animation.
In the west, full CGI movies, when they aren’t targeted at children, seem to more often imitate reality rather than 2D animation. This may be because it is so often used as a tool in live-action films where it must fit in with the real objects and characters in the scene. Like many CG anime series, full CGI films like The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol can be off-putting or unsatisfying because they don’t quite live up to the reality that they imitate. The graphics in video games, however, usually don’t receive this criticism even though many of them portray humans in a realistic environment. People may say that the graphics in a game are ugly, that the characters are ugly, or that the graphics are pixelated, but I’ve never heard anyone complain that the characters don’t look like real people. Of course they don’t look like real people. They’re composed of visible blocky polygons, sheets for hair and clothes, and pixelated textures. Even though modern games look better than ever, these artifacts are still visible. The characters and environments are clearly inspired by reality in how they are designed, feel, and behave, but they don’t imitate it so closely that they are scrutinized for how different they are from it. CGI films like Advent Children also avoid this scrutiny by stylizing the character and environment designs but still represent reality in a satisfying way.
Super Eyepatch Wolf in “Berserk 2016: What The HELL happened” relays a quote said by the lead animator of Double Negative: “When animators start to use 3D, the first thing they forget is everything they learned from 2D.” In relation to this quote, he discussed how even fundamental film-making techniques like the 180 degree rule are sacrificed for the sake of having cool-looking shots in Berserk 2016. This is a problem that I’ve observed in the CGI films that I’ve studied as well, but I feel that goes down to the level of the script. So often, the goal of CGI films that mimic reality or target adults seems to be to only create something that looks cool. The stories are often mediocre (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within); based on existing properties, no matter how ancient (Beowulf); or completely ridiculous (Appleseed: Alpha). While the end product looks beautiful, it often lacks a satisfying story that gives anything it in purpose. This may be another side effect of how CGI is used in live action films targeted at adults. Often CGI enhances or portrays action-packed events or amazing environments while mimicing reality. When all that’s in the movie is CGI though, that doesn’t mean it can be all action, amazing wonders, and ridiculous camera angles all the time.
While these videos examine slightly different content that I do, they concur that CGI seems to be so new that filmmakers are still enamored with it and learning how to use it effectively even in 2016.
Having never seen anything from the Shadow Skill anime series or read any of the manga, I admit that I didn’t understand much of Shadow Skill: Secret of the Kurudan Style (2004). This 60-minute movie features Elle and Gau, who must stop a bad guy from obtaining knowledge of an ancient fighting style and taking over the world with it.
I recently watched a video on the use of CG in anime series. In the creator’s opinion, CG doesn’t typically work because, in 2D-3D hybrid shows, 3D elements clash with the 2D assets, and, in shows made entirely or mostly with CG, the 3D elements mimic 2D animation with cell shading, lowered frame rates, and severely limited and stiff movement, which presents CG as a bad rip-off of 2D animation as opposed to its own type of animation. I don’t watch a lot of CGI anime series, so I’d never noticed this myself. Most of the series in these Anime Abominations blogs have their own styles that, while they look horrible and are inspired by traditional Japanese animation, don’t limit the animation or art in this way.
Shadow Skill was the first time I witnessed this extent of 2D-animation mimicry. It kind of reminded me of Tokusatsu movies and television shows, which often feature live-action actors mimicking the exaggerated drama and flamboyance of anime in a charming and delightfully cheesy way. Shadow Skill, however, doesn’t mimic anything that makes anime fun to watch. In fact, it mimics the worst that anime has to offer. Most of the movie contains long, monotonous dialog in which the characters hardly move; badly choreographed fights with characters that swipe at the camera and then fall over; and abstract flashbacks… No, not even flashbacks, one flashback that is repeated over and over again. Not even talking about the CG anymore, the pacing is just awful. This 20-minute episode lasts three times longer than it should.
Anyway, if this description isn’t all of Shadow Skill that you want to experience… enjoy?
Catblue Dynamite (2006) is a single episode, 40-minute anime written and directed by Romanov Higa, the creator of other such CGI anime as Urda: The Third Reich. While attempting to shake her associate Bill for money he owes her, Blue, a part cat, part human hybrid, instead finds herself defending him from a group of mysterious masked thugs, who want something ridiculous, a Frank Sinatra tape that Bill recently came to possess.
Among its many ridiculous features, Blue wields pistols, swords, and pipes with her cat tail; fights upside down while hanging from her cat tail; fights to the accompaniment of disco music… and talks to ghosts. Because psychic cats?