Why can't Western developers get atmosphere right?
I think it's this: Western developers are mostly hiring people who come out of nice looking first-world urbanized areas, like suburbs and whatnot. Atmospheric games often take place in foreign or run-down areas that they don't have any personal experience with. Meanwhile, slav developers (like you posted) literally live in the run-down shit holes you play in their games.
Why didn't hitler win?
Ironic because Asian atmosphere is full of radiation and smog.
>>316420308
>hiring people who come out of nice looking first-world urbanized areas
Dark Souls is one of the games with the best atmospheres out there and its developer is Japanese.
The Half-Life series has great atmospheres.
>>316419829
Makes me wonder what a new Stalker would be like in terms of atmosphere
imo western AAA devs are so used to pandering to mainstream audiences that games have lost the power of atmosphere over style. For example, a lot of modern open world games like to forget proper atmospheric music. Just listen to the ambient music in STALKER, it meshes absolutely perfectly with the environmental SFX. Compare it to Fallout 4 where there's just this semi desolate melody playing 24/7 on fiddles, there's no silent time to appreciate the atmosphere, and combat is always accentuated by the sound of generic combat music pounding wardrums, whereas in STALKER combat music is mostly silent so it's just you, the sound of gunshots and footsteps, and the enemy's callouts and commands, super immersive.
The STALKER series, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and the Souls series are some of the best games/series in terms of atmosphere in my opinion.
The bullshit reason is hurrr slav magik
The actual reason is most western games these days are multi million dollar investments that need to appeal to the lowest common denominator. That typically means loud set piece driven games rather than quiet contemplative ones. Although sometimes a New Vegas or Red Dead sneaks through, of course.
>>316422194
Red Dead is overrated as fuck though. It's just that's better than most glorified movies that get released these days, thus people think that's some kind of masterpiece.
>>316419829
>FEAR
>Deus Ex (and Human Revolution)
>OG Mass Effect
>Bungie's Halo games
>Dead Space
>Outlast
Hush, OP
>>316422510
>Mass effect
>Halo
>Deus ex
>Good atmosphere
What.
>>316422423
Talking about atmosphere specifically. I hate Rockstar games for the most part, but RDR, LA Noire, and GTAV are pretty god tier atmosphere.
>>316422510
Sauce please.
Also I just finished replaying Dead Space 1, and it didn't feel as good as I remembered it.
>>316422510
I'll give you:
Fear (2005)
Dead Space (2008)
Cool m8
>>316422510
>dead space
didnt like it. It felt more like an action shooter than a horror.
Eastern Europe IS western though. West = Europe and European diaspora in North American.
East = East asian gooks.
>No mention of Silent Hill
Even the first one spooks me too much to play for long.
>>316422667
ME1 has excellent atmosphere if what you're looking for is a classic space opera.
>>316422969
Because it's a third person shooter with a spooky atmosphere and some jump scares, it's a good game, but it's more of a Resident Evil 4: Space Edition than a Silent Hill.
>>316422764
Yeah, I hate to admit but you're right about that. I'm not a big fan of L.A Noire or Red dead, but I can't deny that they're pretty good in terms of atmosphere.
>>316422667
>Mass Effect 1
>Bungie Halo
>Deus Ex (the OG and Human Revolution)
>not good atmosphere
>>316422969
I'll agree it wasn't very scary, but the aesthetic design was really cool.
>>316419829
its lose-lose because not only are western developers bad at atmosphere, it also seems to be the only thing they give a shit about
>>316423027
No. Anything East of Poland is a middle term. STALKER is from Ukraine.
>>316422667
>>316422942
m8s, the Bungie Halo games are amazing for atmosphere. Hell ODST's city could almost contend with Metro and STALKER. Not to mention DX1 and DXHR are both amazing.
>>316423371
Santa Monica and Dowtown were so good, a shame that chinatown was shit.
>>316422667
Fucking retard.
>>316423407
>>316423992
>Mass effect has good atmosphere
Literally retardation. If anything, the atmosphere in Bioware games is always shit. Their games are good in terms of characters and dialogues but garbage in terms of attention to detail or atmosphere.
>>316423791
ODST's atmosphere is /so/ under-appreciated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmWbQTtt2dY
Posting atmospheric burger music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoyyNpRC3Eg
>>316419829
>posting modded games as evidence
Retard
>>316419829
>what is Diablo
>>316422969
It's both. That's why it's good.
>>316420308
this, stalker devs literally live in gommie blocks and witcher 3 in mud huts
>>316424841
And I heard the Metro 2033 ones really lived underground for better understanding of the atmosphere.
>>316422764
I like Rockstar games because you can tell they give a fuck about their game worlds. Sure, there are reused assets, as expected, but they do a good job at creating the illusion of a dynamic, bustling environment. Great lighting (especially for an open world game), varied environments, pedestrians and chatter, etc. Though I have to admit, it triggers me how pedestrians don't take out umbrellas when rain falls. Or how no dog in the city has a leash, they simply walk alongside their supposed owner. Missed opportunity to play with the physics.
>>316421028
Japanese cities are hella run down
>>316419829
Because Western devs lately only care about cinematic games, and cinematic games cannot be atmospheric.
Go and play some 90s PC games when everything had a simulation angle.
>>316425541
>talking out your ass
>>316424206
damn man. Should have had more content
>>316423027
Russians don't believe they're west though. Neither do some slavic countries.
>>316419829
>Screenshot of a heavily modded Stalker game
Apparently the atmosphere in the vanilla games were so trash someone had to mod it.
>>316423603
That map is retarded.
15 years ago, degenerate slaves have yet to come close
>>316426654
Mods were still made by Slavs
Can't hold all of this atmosphere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om5s6h5jsnI
Play more video games
>>316427013
>dude sex being anywhere near the atmosphere and general game quality of STALKER
Does Ukraine count as western?
Has everyone forgot about this one
>>316427650
Slav games occupy their own space. They're basically Western/American games from 1998 but with graphics from 2020.
>>316423371
>mfw was playing this for the first time before fallout 4 came out
>fallout 4 is awfully optimized and on top of that is not even an RPG anymore
at least i got to feel what an RPG is like again.
santa monica was dope, downtown was dope. hollywood was just literally 1 street. but then...
>FUCKING NOSFERATU SEWERS
>pic related
>game became awful. almost to the point i stopped, like i had stopped and uninstalled twice before getting to santa monica and realizing what the game is about
my char is a toreador male with max appearance. basically my thing is all about persuasion/seduction and stealth. good thing the little monsters in the sewers are broken and only hit you like 1% of the time
Half-life games have the best atmosphere.
>>316428118
forgot pic
this is it
FUCK THE SEWERS
>>316427930
>Retro
Those guys are from Texas, they know what a rundown desert shithole looks like better than anybody else.
>>316425295
GTAV is the most impressive open world imo to date. In terms of detail and just walking around. The big open woodland areas are pretty shit though unless you can run the game on max, otherwise its a lot of nomans land.
But walking in first person in the city is just incredible. I wish Rockstar banked more off their incredible world and made more dynamic type events, nothing that was like on the minimap or objectives, just little random shit that can happen to liven it up.
>>316428330
>tfw entering Ravenholm
>>316425295
i respect rockstar so much because it really is all about the quality to them. fucking over 5 years spent on gta v. just so MUCH STUFF put into it
>one of the devs said that there's easter eggs that probably nobody will ever see
>>316426085
I'll agree the pop-in and technical glitches hampered the presentation, but the audiovisual design and buildup was done really well. Had a super nostalgic effect from day one.
>>316426085
Gosh, I wish.
>>316420497
Underrated post.
>>316428335
Literally none of the game was rundown desert shithole though.
Stalker thread?
>>316431025
>>316431025
You know it
>>316431025
>>316431172
Is that from Clear Sky? I never got to finish because I fucked up the main quest by accident.
>>316431172
>>316431219
You call that a good looking screenshot? You call that a blowout? Move away and stand back bro. THIS is a blowout.
>>316431279
Modded Clear Sky, yeah. Want the mod package from that these screenshots? Made it myself for /sg/
>>316431446
>>316431446
Thanks, but I'm okay. I only have a shitty laptop right now so I can only play STALKER on low settings.
I just want to see beautiful skies, blowouts, and lightning in high quality ;_;
>>316431634
Too bad, the mod is kinda intensive so you need a decent PC for it.
>>316431841
>>316424841
>this is what americans and western europeans actually believe
not that I mind, perceptions of EE like that is what keeps the niggers and muslims away
>>316419829
overdesign for the most part
convenience kills atmosphere
you posted a screenshot from STALKER which was modeled after real life areas
real life areas have tons of space that isn't neatly arranged for maximum efficiency
americans are afraid of level design that doesn't guide the player's eye with maximum 'efficiency'. as the consequence, every game is the same, bland experience.
>>316432126
does doom,blood,hexen/hertic, quake, unreal,dues ex, system shock, and manhunt count or?
>>316432415
american level design would have tons of posters/quests stacked on that tree, jukebox with witty graffiti underneath, paths leading out of the encampment would be carefully outlined, instead of a ruined brick house with no function you would have an ammo merchant, doctor, and a feisty female gun vendor, each in their own cool little motor home.
>>316432998
>>316433557
pretty shit level design also
only from, ice pick lodge and streum design good levels today.
I was in romania for a very short time and was surprised how much it looked like stalker
>>316430858
dude did you forget about the chozo ruins
>>316434930
Did you just say stalker has shit level design?
>>316435395
I don't know if I'd consider it desert. I could understand wastelands, which Texas also has a lot of.
>>316422423
the one eyed king among the blind. It's that sort of deal.
>>316422423
It doesn't help that Redemption simply 100% ripped off GUN. The first Red Dead game was literally a linear third person cover shooter.
>>316425840
Visit Okinawa and see how run down it is.
Not everywhere in Japan is as nice as Tokyo.
>>316436570
Not even Tokyo is nice. Only some of the districts.
Most of the city is a run down shithole comparable to New York.
>Last of Us
>Assassin's Creed 2
>Assassin's Creed Black Flag
>inFamous Second Son
>>316437016
The first one is the very definition of linear setpieces with developers holding your hand.
The other 3 are literally filled with all the western games tropes such as sterile not believeable world and game bombarding you with information where to go, what to do next and so on.
>>316437016
>(You)
>>316435674
that area does, sperg
stalker's level design is pretty average, the best part about it is how well stashes are hidden. most of it is just straightforward passthrough, winding paths don't even compute.
>>316437471
Proceed to kill yourself.
>>316436570
I lived in Tokyo for a few years a lot of it is complete shit. It has some nice areas but so does every other major city.
>>316437563
calm down sperg
putting a nonsensical crate on a dirt corridor isn't good level design
