Graphics: Skyward Sword Vs. Twilight Princess.

[Link-182]

They really are both amazing, I want zelda to continue to get more realistic, but then I want it to get more colorful and interesting. But I'm gonna say SS looks better because, 1. its much more colorful 2. Its much more fantasy 3. Its much more zelda 4. It's different than real life, which makes it fresh. 5. The blury textures in TP defs weakened it.

 

[xerxes]

SS all the way! The models look as if they were sculpted and painted on - like plastic action figurines! BTW, if u look really closely, u can see what looks like paintbrush strokes. So it's like the whole game is a painting come to life! Absolutely brilliant! Miyamoto later mentioned that he chose this art style due to inspiration from a form of painting called "Impressionism". That just blew my mind! I would say this is the pinnacle art style to fleshing out the zelda world. Even more so than WW. Pure magic. You can't get any better than this.

 

[Jupiter]

I prefer the graphics of SS, but mostly because I thought TP was pretty ugly at times...I think this bit from Digital Trends is right on:

No Visual Masterpiece

Nintendo saw fit to skim over any mention of the graphics for Skyward Sword – most likely because there’s not much impressive to report. The overall style has moved away from Twilight Princess’ darker, more realistic tone toward a brighter, cartoonier feel more in tune with the rest of the Wii. According to some interviews with Miyamoto, the altered art style was actually utilitarian because it made the directional weaknesses of different characters – which Link must exploit with specific maneuvers – more obvious.

The level of detail and effects remains fairly stagnant. While the world itself is inviting and whimsical, you won’t find any “wow” moments where Nintendo has found new ways to leverage the Wii’s fading graphical prowess. It works, but that’s about it.

 

[Y2K3]

I greatly prefer SS' graphics over TPs. As I have stated in other topics, I'm not a huge fan of TPs graphics as I believe that it is too realistic for a Zelda game and removes that magical/fantastical feel to it (that and I just found it odd anyway). But with SS being cel-shaded it brings back this feel that I think is true to Zelda. It takes you away from the real world, and that's what I like. The art style is balanced enough to look really good, and it fits with an older Link.

 

[Kirino]

I like them the same.I really dont care about graphics.No matter what they give me im fine.

 

[Maxxxers]

I really really like both. They are both epic in their own ways. Since SS is a brighter, lighter game, the graphics are amazing for that type of game. But TP was dark, realistic, and sad, and that really worked with that game.

 

[linkman8]

I'm gonna be the downer here and say TP, though I may change my mind once I actually play the game. Primarily, however, it seems a bit like a step backwards. I don't know if I didn't see the same trailer as everyone else, but there's not anything new about this next style. I've seen it before, and heck, I've seen it in other game franchises. I do find myself often being a bit of a realist as far as these things go.

Like I said, I must've seen a different trailer than everyone else, because I see no stylistic aspect of it, it seems very unrefined, similar to Wind Waker, and it's just nothing we haven't seen before. TP offered realistic ambient lighting, astute character models, and decent textures. Minus maybe the character models, I can easily see those factors dissipating in SS. Just my impression.

Is it pretty? Maybe. Does it work? Probably. Is it better? Not really.

 

[Xinnamin]

I am absolutely in love with SS's graphics. When the trailer first came out, my reaction was: drop dead gorgeous. I still stand by that.

SS was based of of impressionism in painting, and I am personally a big fan of that art style. The watercolor-style background, the bright colors, the clear cel-shading, the cheerful scenery with potential for darker graphics as well. Link's model looks just a tad off, but it's still smooth and beautiful and I just love the color.

TP had its merits with its realism, but the color pallet was always a bit dull for my tastes and the graphics seemed a bit...grainy for lack of a better term. It never felt quite as smooth or fluid as it could. Don't get me wrong, I loved the realism, but SS feels more fluid, more fantastical, more appropriate for Hyrule in my opinion. That and I just plain love impressionism and expressive art.

 

[yann]

It seems the level of subjectiveness involved in this poll is far too vast.

The thing is, I love the look of the SS graphics, well that's what I would have said... 10 years ago. I'm one of those people who grew up on such classics as Silent Hill, Castlevania64 and Resident Evil so the darkness and bleakness is nothing I can't deal with, and in fact I quite like it gives a game plenty of emotion. However, I think I've now grown up out of the era of playing games with enemies that look like they should belong in a Disney film.

 

[Caleb, Of Asui]

It shouldn't really be a question which game has better graphics. Technologically, the Wii is more powerful than the GameCube and naturally produces higher-quality graphics. Twilight Princess does not use graphics on the level of the Wii because it was originally made for the GameCube. When I played Metroid Prime Trilogy, I remember going from the second game (originally on GameCube) to the third game (originally on Wii) and noticing "wow, these graphics are SO much nicer." Even though they go through and increase the quality of the textures in the New Play Control games (of which MPT was one), the graphics originating on the Wii still look so much better. I'm not really one to judge the quality of the game based on graphics to any degree, but it was still something that I noticed.

In regards to Zelda, however, I realize that the difference isn't solely defined by the ability of the console producing the graphics. Skyward Sword uses cel-shading techniques like The Wind Waker, but on objects created in a realistic style like Twilight Princess. I personally think this is very cool. Rather than going the obvious way and choosing to alternate between styles, they chose to blend them in a way, and it looks very nice. I don't personally prefer one style over the other. It helps each Zelda game to really be its own thing. Having different styles from game to game makes them more unique than if they were to just use one style throughout the series. It's something that has really begun to help define Zelda. While most game series I play can be labeled as having either a cartoony style or a realistic style, Zelda is both at different times.

They've done something unique again with Skyward Sword, combining the two styles into one. In a way, it sort of creates its own third style. I think it's also very appropriate timeline-wise, where usually the Adult Timeline uses a cartoony style and the Child Timeline uses a realistic style. It's appropriate that a game that's before the timeline split uses a combination of the two different styles that exist after the timeline split. The whole distinction doesn't really work with the 2d games, but it does with the 3d games, where the whole style thing is more noticeable.

Returning to the whole issue of the quality of the graphics, I don't usually actually see a big difference in quality of graphics between GameCube and Wii games. I only really notice it when they're put virtually side-by-side like with Metroid Prime Trilogy. So, in terms of graphics quality, I can't say I really see any difference at all between Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, though I still know as a fact that the Wii has better graphics than the GameCube. I like both styles as well. I'm not going to say either style is superior to the other because that would defeat the purpose of them both existing. I like them equally (though I guess it's really typical of me not to pick favorites).

 

[Tom]

Personally I have absolutely nothing against SS's graphics -though they so far don't match my expectations at all-, but I just loved how TP looked like. If I were to rate Twilight Princess, I'm pretty sure its graphics would compensate some of the game's fails; I did enjoy how the landscape, the buildings, the creatures and characters were (don't think I'm saying TP's areas were more than just good looking).

Anyway, I've never been the kind of player that judges the game for its graphics, so yeah, can't wait to play it and change my mind.

 

[AlaskaAce1996]

I would perfer TP graphics because that was what it was supposed to be in the first place, but I'll keep an open mind and not judge the game by how it looks.

 

[Cocotroid]

Twilight Princess is currently my all time favourite game, and I love the graphics, I remember seeing them as a child and freaking out, but, since I read that Zelda Wii (Skyward Sword, obviously) is going to have the best graphics for the Wii, and I believed it, so when I saw it, I loved the graphics, and I said I loved the graphics more than any other graphics for a game, but I wasn't actually sure, until a couple of days ago, so yeah. I choose Skyward Sword, the graphics are beautiful, and I wouldn't like them any other way.

 

[majoraskullkid]

They both have fabulous graphics in their own way, but I still think the ones in SS are a little bit better.

 

[TreeHuggerPanda]

Well, personally, I liked the Twilight Princess realism better than the cross between the Twilight Princess realism and Wind Waker cel-shaded graphics because I've drawing realism more often than anime lately and the Twilight Princess graphics are harder to draw, and I am always open to challenges. So Twilight Princess for now^^