Lighting... its a good thing

[Rift120]

Okay been play WA:ACF lately... WHile over all its a good remake of WA, there are a few things about the game that annoy me. My key gripe though is the lighting of various dungeons.

Now I understand that when designing a level, a certain variety of lighting is necessary to create the right atmosphere. Afterall the abandonend temple just doesn't look right if the light level makes it seem like it was filled with FLourescent lighting.

However when creating a dark and/or dreary level, I've noticed several games seem to have crossed the line into a level of darkness where you can barely make out the floor. Thus missing levers, chests, passageways.

Now to be fair occasionaly this is intentional, the idea being once you get or use a certain item you'll be able to see clearly the area's.

However other times its obvious that the darkness is done by level designers run amok. In this case its completly unacceptable.

Especially in games like ACF, where you acutally have pits and traps you need to avoid on occasion.

[Dracos]

YES!

Bad lighting makes Dracos hate game.  My eyes aren't the greatest anymore.  I don't generally play on my larger tv.  If lighting is fairly dark to begin with, it often becomes unplayably dark on my tv regardless of lighting.  Often this does little to add to the ambiance and while realistic, I don't have blind fighting and don't want to try and trace things by sound in games any more than I have to.

Dracos

[Anastasia]

You know, you can just turn up the brightness on your TV. That's what I do, for all that I second ACF as an offender there.

[twentytwo]

:(

I also got a chance to play that game this summer, and honestly, I'm not sure what you're talking about. The darkest dungeon I remember was that 30min-until-you-die poison cave and it didn't really seem that dark. Plus, even if you fell into holes on occassion, it only sent you back to the nearest doorway without any cost in life points - sometimes more useful than a hinderance... (irritating, yes; show-stopper, no)

My only gripe with the lighting in this game was the more than obvious bad choice of angle on certain character's faces - it made their faces turn flat...

Hmm... now I have to go back and finish it...

-Monster 22

[Dracos]

A lot can depend on TV size.

I remember games that would appear too dark to enjoy on a 14-15 inch screen that would look clean and visible on a 30 inch one.

Dracos