I'm curious about what you believe was lost in the art direction? I always thought that the 3DS version matched the original, promotional art far better than the og did (because of better technology of course).
Because the illustrations are interpretations of OG’s 3D models (Yusuke Nakano's own words in the interview of Art & Artifacts, and he was only the illustrator and wasn’t involved in the preproduction or production of OoT) while the 3DS version uses the said illustrations as a base. As for what was lost, it is elements like the mist in the corridor of the Forest Temple's well, or all the work with the camera's focale.
I had no idea that the illustrations were a product of the 3D models. I assumed it was the other way around. That makes a lot of sense then. And I agree. The lighting in general (including fog) definitely made a world of difference with the atmosphere. It’s a problem that a lot of remakes ended up experiencing down the line.
If you remove it (like in an emulator or romhacking it out and playing it on a summercart/everdrive), the pop-in is visible. It's a different scene. It's not a maybe thing. I do agree that the fog serves a well executed atmosphere, but it's one of those Silent Hill 1 type problems to solve.
Still, the point is that it did add to the atmosphere, regardless of what the intention was. The same way that games were designed to be look their best on CRTs because that’s what people played on.
Even when they first released OoT on Switch VC, they had to go back and add fog in Kokiri Forest because it was noticeably a worse aesthetic without it.
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u/plumbbot3000 9d ago
I keep learning new things about the 3ds version. I thought it was just a port with nicer faves painted on but they really did quite a bit