BioWare Talks Next-Gen Graphics and Art

[Entitled]

Uh, Mr. Thompson, we get genuine emotional responses from good characters and writing, not from graphics.

Now I just want to get in there that this isn't an "either/or" thing here. It is an "and".

Now I want to come with one of the simpler examples of where the graphics helped with an emotional response because it always seems to be hammered into the ground how wrong that is.

Witcher 2
When you meet Dethmold for the first time he wants to shake your hand. Now I did not know the char of Dethmold yet. I think I knew his name (yeah that is a bit of a give away as well) but otherwise nothing besides the graphical. Now I saw his face and I looked at him and I did not trust him. I chose not to shake his hand on that premise alone. I later told by my friend who did shake his hand that he was an empath who could read minds if he touched people. The thing is the game presented me with an opportunity judge a mans character on his facial expression and even gave me the ability to act accordingly. Now I am not arguing this cannot be achieved without an attempt at photo realism, but at the very least it would not have been the same without it. There are opportunities the higher graphical fidelity opens up for that has until now has often been filled entirely by stuff like writing, mood music ect. That however doesn't mean that the application of greater graphical fidelity doesn't exist.

I have a hypothesis that the reason why hardcore gamers are so well-known as stereotypically anti-social, socially awkward, or even mildly autistic, is because in the earlier generations, the low quality graphics only attracted the kind of people who didn't have the normal ability to pick up such small non-verbal clues as what you just described, so for them (or us), it was really literally true that realistic facial expressions don't matter (in fact, they (we) might have even preferred cartoonishly stylized visuals), but Bioware is also right in the sense that there was a wide mainstream who couldn't take gaming seriously as long as it wasn't entirely realistic, because for them, that would have been in the uncanny valley.

(By the way, the same logic would apply to the similar reputation of the comic book and anime fandoms).

 

[kael013]

Uh, Mr. Thompson, we get genuine emotional responses from good characters and writing, not from graphics

I agree with the rest of your post, but think about this: Romeo and Juliet is a good story. It's thought-provoking and elicits emotional responses. Now how about a sock puppet version? Would you still be able to get emotionally invested when the "actors" aren't human-looking and the character designs are kinda atrocious due to the limitations how the sock puppet? I wouldn't; I'd be too busy laughing at how they drew the faces.

OT: So what Mr. Thompson is saying is next-gen graphics are going to make a leap toward photo-realism? I'm kinda ok with that so long as devs take <a HREF=http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/graphics-vs.-aesthetics>Extra Credits advice and remember it's not the graphics that matter, it's the asthetic.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I've never really thought that any of BioWare's graphics, either from Mass Effect or Dragon Age, were jaw-dropping amazing. That's not why I play their games. Okay, they've got the facial animations down better than anyone else, but that's all they've got in my opinion.
Still, hopefully this means we'll start getting info on Dragon Age III soon. I'm looking forward to that. I want to see if they really do just turn this into a civil war, or if they take a smarter route.

 

[Irridium]

Uh, Mr. Thompson, we get genuine emotional responses from good characters and writing, not from graphics

I agree with the rest of your post, but think about this: Romeo and Juliet is a good story. It's thought-provoking and elicits emotional responses. Now how about a sock puppet version? Would you still be able to get emotionally invested when the "actors" aren't human-looking and the character designs are kinda atrocious due to the limitations how the sock puppet? I wouldn't; I'd be too busy laughing at how they drew the faces.

True. However, when there are games that use minimalist graphics [http://store.steampowered.com/app/207610/] or even feature nothing more than simple blocks [http://www.thomaswasalone.com/] that incites emotional reactions that shames nearly every single big-budget game that released that year, the argument that you need good graphics to get people emotionally invested doesn't hold up. I'm not saying people don't get emotionally invested in the big-budget games, if you do then good on you, but you don't need good graphics to form an emotional connection.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Also, Bioware's art direction of late has been... less than great. Hopefully Dragon Age 3 has a lot more contrast, and isn't rammed through a color filter. And doesn't rely on teal and orange for all its contrast.

How many times can Bioware make the same mistake, really? Odds are they'll wise up for their next game.

 

[Mauler]

Wait so if the origina Mass Effect 3 original ending would hawe better graphics we would hawe liked it or something like that... I miss the times when you sold your game as a piece of art(story, great gameplay) and not as an interactive bad movie(24(last four seasons)) that looks photorealistic but doesn't makes sence... Yeah then not looking forward to RGB dragon age 3 ending...

 

[Atmos Duality]

I have nothing against pushing graphics to the next-generation.
Graphics are tools for design. Essential for video games to possess, for what I hope are obvious reasons.

I have everything against games that prioritize graphics well ahead of gameplay.
The PS3/360 generation of games is full of polished turds.

Peel back the dozens of layers of veneer gloss and shine off of something like Black Ops 2, and you find a faux-Counterstrike mod running on the Quake 3 engine with some RPG stats duct taped on.