Platinum Games announces Sol Cresta, Sequel to Terra Cresta

[jehu]

A primer: if the aesthetic of a game isn't designed according to intuitively recognizable and generally acceptable standards of beauty, there must be another set of design principles that explains its visual language. Sol Cresta's visual design cannot be explained by calling it a failed attempt to be beautiful. It looks 'sloppy' in the sense that it looks ugly, but that ugliness is carefully distributed through all the game's art assets. It's studied and deliberate. Why?

It's the strangest thing. It's like the team saw the retro trend of taking arcade pixel art and gussying it up, and consciously reversed it. When you look at the ways Sol Cresta is ugly, it's ugly in precisely those places that retro games were already ugly - they just emphasized the appearance of those design 'flaws.' Take the 'pre-rendered' look of the meteors - it looks like someone ran the asset through a deep-fryer and its rotation is stuttery - every visual 'state' of the meteor occurs too many frames apart, making the rotation demonstrably stilted. (The same stiltedness is in every pre-rendered turret's rotation, too.) Another example: I saw couple reviews recently complaining about the Vaseline-smeared Thunder Dragon 2 backgrounds ( ) - the 'Vaseline-smeared' epithet is something thrown around a lot in gaming - and boy did they go for that here, too. But again, that 'glossy' look I mentioned in my post above is this effect, but amplified with aplomb. The jagged edges are universally augmented rather than concealed... I could go on.

Sol Cresta's visual design philosophy centers on a grotesque exaggeration of 90s arcade visual flaws.

Aside from all the criticism about 'how' the game looks bad - I think this might be 'why' it looks bad. Even if the intolerable ugliness of it all turns you away from the game, I think you can appreciate that this is an interesting aesthetic approach to creating a 'retro' feel. I would bet there's other examples of designers taking this approach, right? I wonder if anyone has ever taken the so far - committing to it in such an exaggerated fashion.

Edit: Reading this over, I thought I should mention - I'd probably give this an 8/10, maybe an 8.5 (music and novelty) and certainly support SkyKid's 7/10 lest I be called a Sol Cresta apologist. I'm just interested in this aesthetic question.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I bought the Switch version of Sol Cresta that's at v1.01. This old-school STG title needs an auto-fire option from the get-go in addition to having a regular shot button to charge up the secondary weapon (of course a 3rd-party Switch gamepad or arcade stick with built-in auto-fire capability would do the trick/job quite easily). Perhaps a better CRT filter/shader than the one currently implemented. A major patch to address those two pressing issues would be great if the developer does so. I'll see how the Switch port of Sol Cresta fares downscaled to 480i on an old-school Sony Trinitron crt-based tv setup (with scanlines present).

Too bad there's no leaderboard support with the Switch port of SC.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[harborline765]

Sol Cresta's visual design philosophy centers on a grotesque exaggeration of 90s arcade visual flaws

Almost reminds me of ActRaiser Renaissance in a way, though I guess the issue with Sol Cresta is the graphical flaws rob it of its authenticity. I'm not expecting super high levels of polish everywhere, but when the scanline filter looks as bad as it does, and there's inconsistency in how the low-res sprites move relative to the overall resolution of the playfield, there's a mismatch between the era the pixel art is from and the game itself. Which may, of course, be intentional.

But it may also be down to the developers getting to grips with building a 2D game like this in the Unity engine. ActRaiser Renaissance also had ugly sprite scaling and pixel crawling issues and was on the engine So do the Final Fantasy Pixel, ahem, Remasters.

Quick suggestion: If you are using a native X-Input controller on Steam, you can go ahead and just turn the Steam Controller Config off and it will still work fine. Steam's Controller Config has been reported to add "some" latency. I don't know if it would account for a full frame or not but it doesn't hurt to turn it off if it's not needed anyway. While playing though I noticed the game is VERY responsive. It feels identical to other games in the 2 frame range while using G-sync.

Good to hear it's responsive! Unity usually adds some latency on top. Maybe that also explains the "rough" visuals, perhaps making the game look smoother and improving the image quality of the assets and the entire picture itself would add latency to the renderer.

[jehu]

As I'm playing a little more, a few other things are standing out to me.

Early stages suffer a little bit from Compile-Syndrome - or a little too easy without enough going on. Though it has an interesting remedy for this potential issue.

At the beginning of each stage, your progression meter (on the right) resets and you basically start from scratch. Throughout each stage you re-unlock your 'street fighter' commands, the 'attack level' upgrades, the extra portions of the 'sol gauge,' the formations etc. So no matter how good (or bad) the previous stages have gone, you've always got something to work for. This is tied up in scoring: once you re-unlock the functional stuff, the bonuses you get for collecting more and more coins + filling the gauge are all scoring boosts. There's a lot of head-room for score play, and I'm not playing the stages nearly well enough to see the horizon of possibilities yet. Accordingly, there's a lot of potential for intricate routing. (And there's a 'Hard' mode and a 'Plat. Hard' mode - so this game isn't going to be 'too easy' for anyone.)

This emphasis on re-unlocking your tools stage by stage has certain advantages, but it can get annoying early in the stage when you're trying to execute commands or use particular tools, and you realize: shit, I haven't gotten that in this stage yet. At least the 'charge shot' is always with you.

I bought the Switch version of Sol Cresta that's at v1.01. This old-school STG title needs an auto-fire option from the get-go in addition to having a regular shot button to charge up the secondary weapon (of course a 3rd-party Switch gamepad or arcade stick with built-in auto-fire capability would do the trick/job quite easily). Perhaps a better CRT filter/shader than the one currently implemented. A major patch to address those two pressing issues would be great if the developer does so. I'll see how the Switch port of Sol Cresta fares downscaled to 480i on an old-school Sony Trinitron crt-based tv setup (with scanlines present).

Too bad there's no leaderboard support with the Switch port of SC.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

There's a 'rapid' option in the control options if you go sniffing around for it. And there is leaderboard support, but it's oddly hidden as an unlockable. It's trivially easy to unlock, but it was probably unnecessary to lock it behind anything at all. And yeah, god - the CRT filter is just way too damn dark.

[banjoted]

New to this forum. I joined exclusively because I have just helped release a shmup, I wanted to check if anything was being talked about it, and now this game came out and I wanted to see the discussion around it too.

I have just one thing to say: Had I known I could sell such an ugly-looking game for $40, I wouldn't have lost nights of sleep polishing sprites for Sophstar, nor would I have tortured Shatterhand to make the art do exactly what I envisioned it to do. I did not play Sol Cresta but from everything I saw, this does in no way look like a $40 game.

Sol Cresta looks extremely cheap for having been produced by Platinum.

I've personally not found it cheap looking at all during gameplay. In the eye of the beholder etc I guess.

I really really don't want to boast my own game, but.... we just got this review on Steam, I have no idea who's the player other than it seems he's from Japan.

Or do what I did and get both! I'm really enjoying Sophstar too, incidentally. Having a great time experimenting with the different ships. Is a very solid shmup for sure.

[pja]

A primer: if the aesthetic of a game isn't designed according to intuitively recognizable and generally acceptable standards of beauty, there must be another set of design principles that explains its visual language. Sol Cresta's visual design cannot be explained by calling it a failed attempt to be beautiful. It looks 'sloppy' in the sense that it looks ugly, but that ugliness is carefully distributed through all the game's art assets. It's studied and deliberate. Why?

Maybe the graphic artists were told to make a "retro looking game" and in their mind retro = ugly, so that's what we got.
Personally I don't think it makes it any better when you make a bad looking game on purpose, it still looks bad and that's what most people will care about

But I think it's more easily explained by the fact they just didn't do a very good job. I'm not buying that there "must" be some reason they actually made it bad on purpose.

(I have not played the game).

[jehu]

A primer: if the aesthetic of a game isn't designed according to intuitively recognizable and generally acceptable standards of beauty, there must be another set of design principles that explains its visual language. Sol Cresta's visual design cannot be explained by calling it a failed attempt to be beautiful. It looks 'sloppy' in the sense that it looks ugly, but that ugliness is carefully distributed through all the game's art assets. It's studied and deliberate. Why?

Maybe the graphic artists were told to make a "retro looking game" and in their mind retro = ugly, so that's what we got.
Personally I don't think it makes it any better when you make a bad looking game on purpose, it still looks bad and that's what most people will care about

I think it's more easily explained by the fact they just didn't do a very good job.

(I have not played the game).

Haha, that's the thing - I actually find it harder to believe they did an unintentionally bad job. It's an aesthetic choice - it's applied too evenly to be an accident. If nothing else, it's a provocation.

Unrelated, but I don't know when I'll have another chance to plug it:
If Yuzo's tracks getting any of you in a Cresta music mood this week, check out the OST for the otherwise unremarkable Terra Cresta II on the Turbo. They're short, but there's some really nice melodies there.

[BIL]

Another example: I saw couple reviews recently complaining about the Vaseline-smeared Thunder Dragon 2 backgrounds ( ) - the 'Vaseline-smeared' epithet is something thrown around a lot in gaming - and boy did they go for that here, too.

Surprised to hear that. TD2's backgrounds are workmanlike, and not as interesting as its lovably chibified NeoWWII deathmachinery (cracking landscaping on st8's palace though, makes me wanna fire up some Big Tournament Golf). That said, they're meticulously detailed and textured, down to individual bricks and streetlights, moreso than is really noticeable during play.

[ctrl click for full res]

Spoiler

Imma buy stocks in Unilever, more of that pls. Unless I've completely misunderstood that epithet (it does 'appen, ala "lag" commonly referring not to input latency but slowdown nowadays; I'd assume Vaseline refers to a smudgy, indistinct quality), I'm moved to uncork some vintage GP for our absent reviewers.

Has so much cum been shot in those eyes you can't see 2 feet in front of you?

Maybe they haven't disabled the ACA faux-CRT filter? >_> First order of business with any new ACA pickup is turning that shit to "OFF" imo.

[DenimDemon]

I’ve always understood it as an intentional visual design choice. I just don’t like it.
And if it’s a nod, homage or statement to the classics it totally misses the mark since even the original look and have always looked cleaner.
Also don’t get what someone posted here, about a reviewer making an analogy with vaseline visuals and Thunder Dragon 2? Did I get it right? If so, then yeah it’s a fucked up world.

A friend of mine streamed Terra last night and I have to confess I liked what I saw from a gameplay perspective. Really made me want to try it. Also it sounded pretty great.
I don’t know, I might bite it in the end.
Anyone playing Tate on a panel? How does it look?

[m.sniffles.esq]

I was clarifying because I couldn’t really believe that holding down a button for 2 seconds is that hard. I thought you had your terms mixed up. Sorry, I guess I’m not seeing the issue. Formations sure, I get that it can take a second to figure out the flow but a charge shot that functions literally like any other charge shot in any other shmup doesn’t seem like a design flaw.

Some days I feel like I'm speaking some strange other language...

- The charge shot is not the issue
- Shuffling my ships around so that my charge shot is a big fucking drill sticks out of my front is the issue

Charge shot = no
Shuffle = yes

It was in response to Skykid stating the shuffling is only effective for the bosses ( as in: I find it harder to shuffle to an exotic charge shot, rather than just shot the fucker with whatever I happen to have armed at the time)

Next we'll try a ppt...

---------

This old-school STG title needs an auto-fire option from the get-go in addition to having a regular shot button

It does. It's either the 12:00 face button (y) or the right shoulder on the standard controller.
Y/R on stick

[Sumez]

I've seen way too many people from the Sol Cresta copium army trying to explain away the ugly graphics with the game intentionally going for a "retro" look.

Seriously man, makes me wonder how many people out there see classic pixel art craft as something akin to this :S
Even Terra Cresta, which isn't exactly a good looking game, doesn't look anywhere near that messy.

[jehu]

I've seen way too many people from the Sol Cresta copium army trying to explain away the ugly graphics with the game intentionally going for a "retro" look.

Well Sumez, sounds like you've been shooting up reverse copium to me to cover for the fact that the rich artistic discourse on the aesthetics of camp is alien to your reverse coped-up brain. I'm just kidding by the way. I don't believe a word of what I wrote above, I'm just on the Platinum payroll.

Sol Cresta is accidentally a visual mess like Twin Peaks is accidentally uncanny.

The TD2 remark was made off-hand, didn't mean to spark a debate and (of course) I don't cosign the Vaseline remark. TD2's backgrounds have an austerity to them, but I find they compliment the feel of the game.

EDIT: Probably should have committed to consolidating this information more, but no harm in sprinkling it like bread crumbs: I just confirmed Drama Mode has a different credits sequence than Arcade. The Drama Mode sequence is pretty cool - and the little extras are nice - but I don't think the extra $10 is probably worth it. I'm not going to touch it for a long time now that I've seen it once.

And the ability to do the invincible spin move when you've only got 1/3 ships left is super cool. I really enjoy these little touches.

[BIL]

The TD2 remark was made off-hand, didn't mean to spark a debate and (of course) I don't cosign the Vaseline remark. TD2's backgrounds have an austerity to them, but I find they compliment the feel of the game.

Oh no, I know you weren't echoing the sentiment (even before the emoticon ). Just genuinely wondered if it was another "lag" thing, where the mainstream definition had moved on from ours in proudly isolationist Shumpistan. When I think vaseline/mayo I think N64 basically.

Also, I just realised those aren't walruses in TD2's fourth stage, they're Huskies lying down. I'm glad! I was thinking "one or so is cute, but WTF are a bunch of them doing in the dog pen?" Also spotted some seals I'd never seen before while capping those pics

[Skykid]

Too bad there's no leaderboard support with the Switch port of SC.

There is, locked behind an achievements register.

No idea why anyone would say Thunder Dragon 2 has a Vaseline filter. ACA’s scanlines are fine and the games aesthetic is crunchy-good!

It was in response to Skykid stating the shuffling is only effective for the bosses

I also think with extended play and strategising it’s also effective for downing certain enemy waves. The point is it’s not very clear or intuitive as to how to put it to best use, so at least early on you may as well Phoenix bird the bosses - it’s not an essential to making survival progress through the game otherwise.

[jehu]

Oh no, I know you weren't echoing the sentiment (even before the emoticon ). Just genuinely wondered if it was another "lag" thing, where the mainstream definition had moved on from ours in proudly isolationist Shumpistan. When I think vaseline/mayo I think N64 basically.

IIRC the review was on a small channel on YouTube that'll review any old retro-adjacent thing that lands on the eShop. The kind of guys that don't know to mention TD2's bonus waves, and likely don't know that 'bonus waves' are a thing at all. Forgive them, for they know not how they have sinned.

And, you know, God forgive me if I think I'm better than them by virtue of carrying around all this knowledge.

Edit: To Skykid's point about the formations outside the bosses. Not that I have a load of experience under my belt or anything, but I think - like you're suggesting - the formations are going to be key for clearing waves and scoring. The Sol meter you use to trigger formations is quite generous, so it's designed to be used liberally. I've had a few good stages where I reach deep into the bonus meters, and each time it's because I'm hitting the formations I need mid-stage.

Sol Cresta is really quite finicky while you get to learn it though. I'd recommend knocking out the clear on 'Easy' before doing anything else. Other than learning the mechanics, you'll get a taste of some nastier late-game stage layouts. The 'final escape' sequence after the last boss took out something like five lives the first time I saw it and almost spoiled the clear.

[Skykid]

Yes, that’s my guess. People who invest tens of hours into scoring will almost definitely wring out methods to down waves and increase bonuses. I can’t say how well this is implemented because I didn’t get there. I tried Easy (purely for purposes of thoroughness I might add) and it was so dull I went back to normal - despite experiencing the finicky-ness you mentioned - and quite easily pushed to the 5th of its seven stages very early on.

I can’t concur with the aesthetic or programming problems as being a successful stab at the avante-garde, because it literally looks like garbage from its scaling to its frame rate (Switch version covered!). I don’t think constant frame drops to 40 from 60 on stage one’s latter half, when almost nothing is happening on-screen, producing stutter and input lag is at all acceptable.

I expect a patch is incoming, but it shouldn’t have gone out like that. If these issues were resolved properly before launch there’s a possibility my experience would have been better and it might have clawed a higher score - but that’s a big ‘if’. It’s a unique shmup, and unconventionally enjoyable, but I’m yet to be convinced that anyone will remember it in the same way we do the big-gun competition that’s clogging up the Switch’s library right now.

We’re really spoiled for choice.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I can’t concur with the aesthetic or programming problems as being a successful stab at the avante-garde

Yeah, that's a stretch...
I mean, it looks like every other "Let's slap the 'big-ass pixel' Unity filter on this so people think it looks 'stylistic' and 'old-skool' rather than 'shitty'" employed by 6000 other indie games. The only difference is that it's being used on a budget title by a major developer. But, it's really no uglier than those other games that people give a pass to (I'm purposely not naming any examples as I don't want anyone to think I'm singling any two or three out--because frankly--I think they're all pretty fucking ugly)

[Rastan78]

Spoiler

Sees Sol Cresta out of the corner of his eyes: "Is that a dookie stage!? OMG that scan line filter! Love love LOVE it!"

[Austin]

I get the complaints about the aesthetic, but I kind of like what they did with it. Utilizing grungy, digitized-like assets is very much a "32-bit era" thing and I have a soft spot for that.

Honestly, the gameplay looks pretty fun. Not sure if I can justify dropping $40 on it, but it's definitely something I will be checking out in the future.

[DietSoap]

I can’t concur with the aesthetic or programming problems as being a successful stab at the avante-garde

Yeah, that's a stretch...
I mean, it looks like every other "Let's slap the 'big-ass pixel' Unity filter on this so people think it looks 'stylistic' and 'old-skool' rather than 'shitty'" employed by 6000 other indie games. The only difference is that it's being used on a budget title by a major developer. But, it's really no uglier than those other games that people give a pass to (I'm purposely not naming any examples as I don't want anyone to think I'm singling any two or three out--because frankly--I think they're all pretty fucking ugly)

Sol Cresta is pretty fucking ugly, but I would at least place it above stuff aping NES style graphics. God I fucking hate that shit like you wouldn't believe.

[jehu]

Mother! Mother! Help! I'm being misunderstood on the internet!

I'm not trying to say the art style exaggerates the limitations of arcade design, and OMG that's so hawt, yes baby. I'm just saying that's how it's designed, and you can think whatever you want about that.

But if you think it's just a bunch of assets run through a shitty Unity filter... or some kind of 'oops looks like when we put everything together the whole game looks like poopoo, guess we have to ship it' moment... Well that's when it goes from 'that's just like your opinion, man' to 'no, no, you're just wrong.' I've thrown the gauntlet - come at me, you heathens.

Spoiler

Sees Sol Cresta out of the corner of his eyes: "Is that a dookie stage!? OMG that scan line filter! Love love LOVE it!"

Damn, how'd you manage to find this picture of me from my modeling days Ты был потрясающюим, мой милый мальчик... Не слушай им... Ты один знаешь как это приятно плыть по волнам говна.

[harborline765]

For me, based on some of the other Unity engine titles out there from developers who used to work with their own technology, I do wonder how much of the image quality inconsistencies of Sol Cresta are intentional artistic choices or just misunderstandings of how to get the most from the engine...both Space Dave (from the developers who used to do Bit Trip) and Actraiser Renaissance have poor sprite scaling and pixel crawl, like Sol Cresta does.

As mentioned earlier, the absence of proper interpolation on the sprites and a good scanlines filter may well just be down to making sure the game is as responsive as possible. I find that with Unity engine games, the more complex the renderer the worse the input latency...

[Skykid]

But if you think it's just a bunch of assets run through a shitty Unity filter...

Well… that is essentially what it is. Your question really is whether or not it was purposeful, which, if it was, seems to me to be sort of absurd considering the level of quality.

Sure, you don’t need to make a game that looks like all the others. But when it’s indie devs turning out great stuff with little to no resources, versus Platinum, you need to consider that this is a major developer with plenty of possible avenues to develop an interesting new shmup aesthetic. This one doesn’t seem to be particularly “engineered” if that makes sense.

This kind of ties in to a statement of pure conjecture I made in the review, which seems to be becoming quickly contentious, in that elements of Cresta’s technical and aesthetic deficiencies do make one wonder if Platinum were attempting a cash grab to get a piece of what is clearly the most renewed interest the genre has seen since the XBOX 360.

[jehu]

Well you already know I disagree on whether the aesthetic is 'engineered' to be as it is. I'm glad you've played it because you've actually seen it. But we're just going to disagree on this.

I really think the scam hypothesis is misguided as well: you'd have to be a drooling idiot to stake the success of your cash-grab on whether or not there's a market for $40-$50 STGs in 2022. It's a passion project.

There's no need for conspiratorial thinking about either the visual design or the business model.

Edit: I should add, though, that I agree with your - and others' - assessment about the unoptimized technical underbelly and the bloated file size. Think they could have spent a little more time cleaning that kind of thing up a little - and hopefully they still will.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I dunno, maybe folks are so bothered because the stage select screen comes at you like:

"Hey! This is like Raiden V (or something)"

Then you hit 'start', and it's like:

"Sike! It's Steredenn!"

[ATTRACTS]

I was clarifying because I couldn’t really believe that holding down a button for 2 seconds is that hard. I thought you had your terms mixed up. Sorry, I guess I’m not seeing the issue. Formations sure, I get that it can take a second to figure out the flow but a charge shot that functions literally like any other charge shot in any other shmup doesn’t seem like a design flaw.

Some days I feel like I'm speaking some strange other language...

- The charge shot is not the issue
- Shuffling my ships around so that my charge shot is a big fucking drill sticks out of my front is the issue

Charge shot = no
Shuffle = yes

It was in response to Skykid stating the shuffling is only effective for the bosses ( as in: I find it harder to shuffle to an exotic charge shot, rather than just shot the fucker with whatever I happen to have armed at the time)

Next we'll try a ppt...


---------

This old-school STG title needs an auto-fire option from the get-go in addition to having a regular shot button

It does. It's either the 12:00 face button (y) or the right shoulder on the standard controller.
Y/R on stick

Yes, please use a PPT next time to communicate to those of us who can't digest such simple ideas!...OR, maybe actually use the terms that the game uses to describe what you are talking about. "So say on the first boss, I know that I want the formation where charge shot gives me the big drill on the front so I don't have to dodge"... Formations are on the left in various colors, DOCKING (actual game term) is the order of the ship stack at any given time and they allow the "charge" shot we are talking about. Formations and Docking are two different things so again, people responding to you are clarifying because you seemed confused. Enjoy.

[Skykid]

I really think the scam hypothesis is misguided as well: you'd have to be a drooling idiot to stake the success of your cash-grab on whether or not there's a market for $40-$50 STGs in 2022. It's a passion project.

I certainly don’t think there’s any “scam”, and I never alluded to such. A “passion project” I don’t know about. There are factors in the final product that don’t seem to meet that assessment, in my opinion.

An experimental project, most certainly.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Yes, please use a PPT next time to communicate to those of us who can't digest such simple ideas!...OR, maybe actually use the terms that the game uses to describe what you are talking about. "So say on the first boss, I know that I want the formation where charge shot gives me the big drill on the front so I don't have to dodge"... Formations are on the left in various colors, DOCKING (actual game term) is the order of the ship stack at any given time and they allow the "charge" shot we are talking about. Formations and Docking are two different things so again, people responding to you are clarifying because you seemed confused. Enjoy.


u mad

[PC Engine Fan X!]

On the second stage (Arcade Mode) of Sol Cresta, if you destroy three groups of the green colored popcorn fightercrafts in a chain (without missing), a 100,000 point secret bonus appears. Best to have the homing missiles power-up to score this particular bonus though.

What other secret bonuses are available for each given stage in Arcade Mode?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ATTRACTS]

Yes, please use a PPT next time to communicate to those of us who can't digest such simple ideas!...OR, maybe actually use the terms that the game uses to describe what you are talking about. "So say on the first boss, I know that I want the formation where charge shot gives me the big drill on the front so I don't have to dodge"... Formations are on the left in various colors, DOCKING (actual game term) is the order of the ship stack at any given time and they allow the "charge" shot we are talking about. Formations and Docking are two different things so again, people responding to you are clarifying because you seemed confused. Enjoy.


u mad

And u dumb.