Comments on: The Eyes Have It

By: Another case of “the chase is better than the catch” — Beyond: Two Souls | Recollections of Play

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 02:42:04 +0000

[…] just those for the high falutin’ actors either. The people look like real people (complete with eye animations to die for!). Walking in snow felt like walking in snow. Trees swaying gently in a breeze looked […]

By: cary

cary — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 13:03:54 +0000

Reblogged this on Recollections of Play and commented:

We all know how important eye contact is in real life, but how important is it in video games? Specifically, in video games that place human characters and interactions front and center? As I came to realize while writing up this post for United We Game, it matters quite a bit. This isn't to say that meaningful dialogue and gestures don't go a long way in helping us connect to these characters. But the eyes are windows to the soul, and when a character's eyes "speak," it can make all the difference between just playing a game and really engaging with it.

By: cary

cary — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:26:03 +0000

It’s been so long since I played Twilight Princess, I’m going to have to pay attention to Link’s face when I pick it back up. Sometimes though, you’re right that cartoony characters can be more expressive than realistic-looking ones. I think of Wind Waker. I know that there are issues with his big, black eyes in that game, but he had such wonderfully animated facial expressions that his eyes really came to life (even if there was no way a real person could survive with such a big head and tiny feet.)

Your FFVIII moment sound like one I had in The Last Story. The graphics in that game weren’t stellar, but there were some real emotional moments during the cut scenes. One that stood out was between the two main love interests, Zael and Calista. During it, though, Calista was quite sad and that sadness translated so well into her face and eyes. It was so very heartfelt. From then on, I stopped paying attention to the less-than-great graphics and started paying attention to the characters and the story.

By: duckofindeed

duckofindeed — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 18:40:55 +0000

That’s true. Some characters just look dead, mainly because of the eyes, and it’s a little unsettling. And it doesn’t have to do with just graphics or how realistic a character looks. Sometimes, the realistic characters look the most dead because they couldn’t get the eyes to look alive, even if the person looked closer to the real thing.

For example, in “Zelda: Twilight Princess”, the graphics are more realistic than “Skyward Sword”, but I always preferred the latter because, frankly, Link’s eyes are dead in “TP”. He looks pretty good, but those eyes are just so blank. At least in “SS”, even if the graphics are more cartoon-ish, at least Link looks alive. His eyes seem to actually see, and so he feels more like a living person than the one in the earlier game.

And I recently began playing “Final Fantasy VIII” on the PS1, and while I was playing, even though it’s an old game, I took notice of Squall’s eyes during one of the cut scenes with the better graphics. There was a scene with him running from this unstoppable killer robot (I hated that thing so much), and I looked into his eyes at this time, when he was in danger, and at this moment, I kind of just bonded with him as a character, because I saw life in those eyes. I think it’s causing me to care about him and enjoy the game more just because of that. The eyes really are an important thing in a game, and they are probably the part of a character that game developers should focus on most.