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Topic: Has Tr3s Lunas aged gracefully?< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Matt Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 10:09

It is nearly 9 years since Tr3s Lunas was launched and computer graphics have moved on a long *long* way in that time. A typical smartphone probably has at least as much graphics power these days as the computers Mike and Colin were using.

I saw a comment from Alan suggesting he felt it had aged well and I must say I agree. I played it the other day and it still looked gorgeous. I reckon this is something more to do with art design than the computer graphics used. Tr3s Lunas was criticised by some when it was first released for not being at the cutting edge of computer graphics but personally I feel that criticism then missed the point about the appeal of the audiovisual experience.

What do you think, does Tr3s Lunas look dated to you?


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Alan D Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 11:54

Quote (Matt @ Feb. 19 2011, 15:09)
Tr3s Lunas was criticised by some when it was first released for not being at the cutting edge of computer graphics but personally I feel that criticism then missed the point about the appeal of the audiovisual experience.

I think you have the answer right there Matt. Even at the time it was launched it was criticised. Even compared with old games like Uru, it was obviously lacking in a graphics sense, but that never was the point. Its strong points then are its strong points now - the fabulous atmospheric effects created by colour, and the unique blend of that with the music.

When I leapt illicitly into 'Firebeings World' today after a very long gap, and glided around the night landscape to the accompaniment of that wonderful guitar-playing, free to go wherever I wanted, it seemed just as breathtakingly beautiful as it was all those years ago. There's still, as far as I know, nothing to compare with it. And I don't mean that there aren't wonderful games out there - of course there are; but they simply don't offer the kind of experience that Tr3sLunas can provide.
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HR lover Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 13:30

I agree. I do feel that tres lunas the game lacks something. For me there is little drive to play the game because there is no goal. I really like the concept of tres lunas though. One of my favourite games is Super Mario World. There are a lot of secrets and hidden things in the game. As a kid that was a wonderful feeling and I would encourage it if Mike would do something similar.

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maria Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 14:56

I also agree. After this long pause, going back to that cactus has been great. I've been blown up again by the music in the game, by the mix of colours, by  the little things the game has living on their own.. the crab, the scorpion on the white bush, the cat on the spaceship in the rebirth tunnel, the daliphant... I've loved again flying through the Canyon and I think had the graphics been better now by a miracle, I wouldn't have felt so at home as I did. Sure it would be nice to fly the firebeing in a more real canyon, I'd try it if I had the chance, but it wouldn't be tr3s lunas with its sticky barriers and holes and with its wonderful bugs :)

For me tr3s lunas is like a good poem, they never die :)


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ex member 892 Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 15:26

Quote (HR lover @ Feb. 19 2011, 13:30)
I agree. I do feel that tres lunas the game lacks something. For me there is little drive to play the game because there is no goal. I really like the concept of tres lunas though. One of my favourite games is Super Mario World. There are a lot of secrets and hidden things in the game. As a kid that was a wonderful feeling and I would encourage it if Mike would do something similar.

I've only played the demo, but I felt the same way - no drive to do anything. I don't need a game to dangle a carrot in front of my nose, but there has to be something to keep me motivated. But again, I only played the demo, and maybe in the full game the exploration would be enough.

One of my favorite games ever (don't really play video games anymore) was The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Now talk about lots of secrets and hidden things to do! There was a compelling story-line, but the world was so full of stuff that you're content to do nothing but wonder around for hours. I used to watch the stars for a good period of time in that game. It was released in 2002, and it was way ahead of it's time graphics-wise and programming-wise. I took a look at it a few months ago and while you can tell it's an older game, it's still beautiful - kind of like what Matt's talking about with Tr3s Lunas.
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Milamber Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 16:17

I too think it has aged well.

For me it has always been about the execution of the gameplay and control system.
That's why Halo (XBox) was such a success ,so many games today have top notch graphics but are let down by a rubbish unresponsive set of controls.

I still have some of my original Donkey Kong handhelds from 1982.

And Have always kept any consoles bought over the years.
Missed out on the Dreamcast though many say it was ahead of it's time.

Many tittles released on the Xbox 360 suffer from this slack response problem imo.

Also having a Mame emulator it's possible to play many of those old 20c games from our youth on a pc.

Time Pilot being my favorite.
They all had fantastic response and all you had was a joystick and 2 buttons
  :)
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Alan D Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 17:06

It's not true to say there are no goals - there are certainly puzzles to solve, and the ring quest to complete (and several ways to complete it). But even so, I think for those of us who loved Tr3sLunas, in the first instance it was enough just to be there, and to explore the musical/visual landscapes; and the online games made it possible to 'be there and explore' with sympathetic companions, which extended the experience.

But eventually we started making our own goals. Once we realised that there were bugs that could be exploited, the whole experience mushroomed, because suddenly it appeared that there might be no limits to what we could do - we were effectively finding new worlds within the game that it had never been intended that we should be able to explore. It seemed that this tiny game contained a series of vast alternative virtual universes, far greater in scope than Mike had originally envisaged.

Incidentally, I always felt that the Demo was a terribly inadequate advertisement for the game. It didn't even hint at the enormous depth of experience that was on offer in the real thing.
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 17:34

The TL experience plays off against the Maestro experience, too, in that TL is about richness whereas Maestro (to me) is about emptiness. It's as though there are two alternative takes on reality. One of the final goals in TL is rebirth, whereas the final goal in Maestro (the 24 medal quest) is a tomb.
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ex member 892 Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 17:59

Quote (Alan D @ Feb. 19 2011, 17:06)
But eventually we started making our own goals. Once we realised that there were bugs that could be exploited, the whole experience mushroomed, because suddenly it appeared that there might be no limits to what we could do - we were effectively finding new worlds within the game that it had never been intended that we should be able to explore. It seemed that this tiny game contained a series of vast alternative virtual universes, far greater in scope than Mike had originally envisaged.

I've read a lot of people talking about these 'unofficial worlds', what's the deal with that? Are they areas of the game that were unfinished and weren't intended to be seen?
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2011, 19:05

There are certain areas of the game that are protected by barriers - the area where the Daliphants are is the most famous one. But by firing at ringheads in a certain way it's possible to give rise to worlds where the barriers aren't there.
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Alan D Offline




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Posted: Feb. 20 2011, 05:22

Quote (Syd B @ Feb. 19 2011, 22:59)
I've read a lot of people talking about these 'unofficial worlds', what's the deal with that? Are they areas of the game that were unfinished and weren't intended to be seen?

There are two aspects to it. First, there are the artificial barriers - such as the one that surrounds the island and prevents you getting to the Daliphant on the horizon. There are certain tricks that can be used to nudge the game into a phase where the barriers aren't there, so one can go and explore the Daliphant, etc.

But also there are worlds that were only ever intended to be passed through as part of a 'ride' - the beautiful winter night of the world we ride through on the snowy owl's flight, for instance. Or the solar system we pass through on the space arrow flight. Or when we run with the ants - and so on. We found ways of interfering with those flights so that instead of being merely carried through those worlds, we could stop and explore them properly, for as long and as far as we wanted to. Some of them are simply awesome, frankly. The bleakly beautiful world of the space arrow, in particular, will haunt me for the rest of my life. So will the warm summer evening world of the firebeings.
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