How powerful is the dreamcast?

[cloofoofoo]

How many polygons do the High Quallity models of Shenmue characters? Those models that give you the tutorial on the Passport?

I am not sure seeing how the shenmue engine clips polygon from parts of the characters that are not seen(weird enough it doesnt seem to do it on the enviroments though).But if id have to guess its would be around 5,000-10,0000 triangles(regular ryo is around 2,000 triangles with low poly hands),so around a similar polygon count to a doa 2 character.When i tried to insert this game model into the game its f*cked things up,some parts of the house textures were white or scrambled, ine-san also didnt have texture.Iam guessing the high poly model uses more memory then its should be using.Also its texture seems to be many times bigger than the game play model.The screen below show a model swap,swap the low poly game play model for the passport model.

[bonzobanana]

Personally I totally accept the Dreamcast lacks polygons in its games compared to ps2/gc and xbox. No question all three of those are stronger.

I do believe that its tile based rendering gets it up closer than you would expect in polygon output though.

The dreamcast's strength is surely its ability to process textures and create visuals rich in textures that the ps2 most definitely struggles with.

[Gary_b]

imo the PS2 and the Dreamcast are pretty much equal when it comes to horse power.

[bonzobanana]

I'm not a great fan of the ps2 and my main criticism of it is the horrible way it renders unique fields instead of frames so when you de-interlace the image you end up with a horrible jaggie image. It was a good idea for small CRTs but looks horrible on more modern sets. Not forgetting the ps2 only creates an image of about 640x200 and then interpolates its upto 640x400. Its just aan awesomely bad gpu. However if you use a ps2 on a smallish screen then games like god of war look great but I much prefer the crisp clean 640x480 display of the dreamcast.

I realise the ps2 is far superior in polygon output to dreamcast and has 32bit colour instead of the dreamcst's 24bit colour. I believe powervr has 32bit internal precision though.

When I look at shenmue I or II on dreamcast I'm still amazed at the quality of graphics and the immersive and beautiful world the dreamcast is creating. I wish the ps2 had a game that gave me just half the entertainment of shenmue but generally the ps2 has been disappointing.

[dirtydav]

This is a screenshot from Fallout 3 on the XBOX360

Compare this dude to Ryo. It is unbelievable that Fallout 3 came out 8 years later....




Yeah the back ground is way more detailed in Fallout 3 but 8 years later ?? .....

[cloofoofoo]

This is a screenshot from Fallout 3 on the XBOX360

Compare this dude to Ryo. It is unbelievable that Fallout 3 came out 8 years later....
Yeah the back ground is way more detailed in Fallout 3 but 8 years later ?? .....

Thats a pretty weird comparison ,Passport ryo was hacked into the game,so actual gameplay ryo many times less detailed.And i do find it pretty believable ,I mean theres probably alot of work going on that screen u posted,llike shaders,geometry ,and what not.Comparing to an open world x360 is rather funny...I agree with bonzobanana though,the charm of the dreamcast was its image quality and texture quality.Imean my favorite game, sakura wars 4, is nothing but texture,yet it looks very impressive.

[bonzobanana]

sakura wars 4 is very interesting visually. It doesn't remind me of any other game. Its like low polygons but a huge amount of textures. I don't suppose there are many consoles that can attempt that.

Is that game worth playing. I've never really got into full on japanese games like that?

[cloofoofoo]

sakura wars 4 is very interesting visually. It doesn't remind me of any other game. Its like low polygons but a huge amount of textures. I don't suppose there are many consoles that can attempt that.

Is that game worth playing. I've never really got into full on japanese games like that?

Well...thats a rather tough question.I played 3,4 and the translated version of 5[ps2].For 3,4 i simply looked up the translations in gamefaq for my scenarios and I enjoyed it that way,if you dont like that then your better off not playing it.The presentation on part 4 is really nice,better than part 3, great 3d, great 2d and full of japanese voice acting that WONT make you cringe.The problem is the game is really short, 3 battles long to be exact[while part 3 and 5 are like 8-10 battles long].The gameplay is pretty much like valkyria chronicles[a bit simpler,and your actions drain your gauge,that includes movement],but doesnt require much strategy at all. Sakura taisen 4 is probably good to play if you want a game you can beat like 3-5 hours.