Do graphics matter?

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

it definitly falls down lower on the list, however it CAN help if a game is average for it to be decently pretty.

but, if i have a game with decent story AND storytelling abilities (complemented with decent characters) and the gameplay isn't below average mostly, then graphics fall to the very bottom of the list on how much they matter (however if they are nice then its a nice compliment to the game ;] )

 

[Death God]

To the gameplay.... no. But I myself love graphics on my games. The better the graphics, the more excited I am about it.

 

[Tupolev]

I care a lot about the aesthetics of a game, but for me it's not so much graphical power as it is aesthetic execution.

Let's put it this way: visually speaking, Combat Evolved is my favorite game of the Halo series. Yes, its graphics are old and extremely low-powered, but within the engine the artistic execution is brilliant, particularly in terms of lighting and color schemes. The clean, crisp look is IMO much nicer on the eyes than the highly cluttered look of Halo 3.
On top of all this, it doesn't hurt that the graphical integrity is extremely good; Halo 3 suffers from horrible draw distances on many kinds of objects to boost performance, and Halo 2 does a lot of very obvious texture popping, and all the games after CE deload things fairly quickly. Contrast this with CE, where all that goes on is extremely minimal texture popping, helping a lot towards making the game feel "solid."


So yeah, that's pretty much my take. Graphics matter a LOT, but within that realm I care a heck of a lot more about artistic execution than graphical power.


edit: Of course, my answer might seem kind of funny, since "good graphics" is of course usually taken to be synonymous with "powerful graphics", which always grated too hard with my intuition's use of English to fully accept.

 

[shadow skill]

Yes they do. As much as people really into this scene like to think it does not, it really does. If the art makes your eyes bleed then you will be less inclined to play a game even if you think it is very good. My brother was completely put off by the new Bioshock: Infinite gameplay video because of the use of motion blur. The motion blur did not bother me at all, and I found myself more interested in it because of the art direction. Specifically the use of late eighteenth/early nineteenth century styles of dress and architecture. I really couldn't stand the Art Deco style of the previous Bioshock games so I was far less forgiving of what I found to be rather ordinary gameplay. For another example see Shank, that game works so well in part because of the way it is drawn and presented to the player.

 

[Something Amyss]

Graphics matter insofar as they're the first thing we generally see. That's why they polish up games, to hype people up. A lot of games don't even really show you how the gameplay works.

Personally, graphics matter, but not to the extent that gameplay, style/atmosphere and story do. I like pretty games. I hate buying a polished turd, though.

 

[masseyguy911]

Graphics do matter, but they should never be the primary focus. The graphics don't have to look great, but they shouldn't be glitchy or distract from the gameplay. That being said, story, gameplay, characters, atmosphere are more important, to me at least.

 

[Hisshiss]

Generally a game looks as good as the console its on is (computer games don't apply to this rule), and thats usually good enough for me. As for a game that cuts other factors in order to put more time and money into graphics..bleh -.-. As long as a 360 game doesnt look like an xbox game, then its graphics are more than good enough.

 

[ottenni]

They dont make the game, but they help. Its sort of something i want in a game but not something i need. That being said graphics can help allot with the feel of the game. If you want the game to be fast paced action with big explosions then good graphics sure help.

 

[jamesworkshop]

Graphics are of tremendous importance bad graphics in either art direction or technical misshaps i.e missing textures, inabilty to provide infomation through an incomprehensible HUD really drags a game down.

People love to rag on the additional power games are given to leverage without fulling understanding how such things effect the level of physics interaction (the deffintion of gameplay) or A.I reactions and path finding routines, wider fields of play with fewer or non-existant loading screens.

Sure the vibrant colours of mirrors edge could have been done years ago but how do you get the more impressive effect of allowing for the reflection of colours as well as light without CPU and GPU power

Bouncing light
Color bleeding
Global illumination
Light coloured by transparent objects
Ambient occlusion

"The art direction grew out of the gameplay. We wanted to give people a sense of the world very quickly and move through it very quickly. We initially stripped out all of the colors and then just put in red [to guide people to objectives]... I wanted a game where I could look at a screenshot and say, "Hey, that's Mirror's Edge."

Owen O'Brien

 

[Warforger]

I understand moving ahead with the times but now it seems like core gameplay is being sacrificed for the "shiny" appeal. I've grown tried of realistic colors as it usually ends up being gritty and dirty (gta4 or perhaps the upcoming quantum theory). I don't mean we should go back to 8-bit but perhaps a bit more polish to the core would help yeah?

But what do you think?

They make as much difference as HD does, its worth it for the nice moment of awe like when your playing Just Cause 2 and your in a plane going up turning the camera to view the whole island, shutting off the engine to get rid of the noise, like looking at a sunset your about to destroy. Its nice for a moment or two, but after that when your concentrated on gameplay it doesn't matter.

 

[deleted+75193]

DELETED

 

[KefkaCultist]

Well, I still play old SNES and NES games so not really.

If I they were still using 1 green square to represent my character then yeah I'd have a bit of an issue with it

 

[Magicman10893]

Sharp graphics shouldn't be the core mechanic of the game, intuitive gameplay, good voice acting, good story, great controls are the core parts of the game. The graphics just make it pretty it up, but a pile of dog shit that has been polished and little bow placed on top is still just a shinier piece of shit... with a bow on top for some reason. If you can turn the settings down as low as possible and still have fun, then you have a great game.

 

[little miss evelyn]

I like a good-looking game, but it needs personality for me to even give it a chance. personally, I think art direction is more important to me than the actual technical power of the graphics - but that's just me

 

[Nazulu]

I agree graphics are not that important for many games, but when it comes to new titles that are big in 3D, I don't really want to see them in blocky graphics. At least as shiny as Metroid Prime for a new title I'm expected to pay almost $100 for.

 

[SimuLord]

Minecraft, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Tetris would like a word with the graphics whores.

 

[ethaninja]

I love Minecraft. And those graphics are more ugly then Dooms. But I love the game

I hate the new age graphics where you can't see shit. Especially in Gears of War and Unreal Tournament III. Deus Ex was probably the best graphics stage got too. It was nicely colored and properly lighted.

The actual model and texture details are great on these new games, but they chose the shittiest rendering standerds.

 

[mParadox]

I don't care for the graphics as long the story/gameplay is good.

Prototype was an exception and i was disappointed with Bioshock 2's graphics since it came out this year.

 

[Peteron]

Graphics are important but are far from the most important thing in a game. In my eyes, its not about having realistic graphics or bad ones, yet, its style. For example, games like Crackdown have a cartoony look, giving a comic hero style theme. Each game has its own graphics style, and many times that alters the theme of the game. So, graphics can be very important when it comes to setting a mood or feel inside of a game. Of course, plot and game-play come first, but graphics help enhance these, if used properly. Graphics put the bun on the patty. This is only my opinion of course. Music can easily be compared to my envisionment of graphics.

 

[theSovietConnection]

They matter insofar as building atmosphere is concerned. Take, for example, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. They are wonderfully atospheric games. If you were to give them, say, the graphics from The Legend of Zelda original, suddenly, one of the best points of the game is gone. It's rather hard to convey atmosphere as well in 8-bit as you can now. So while they shouldn't be the primary focus, they definitely do matter.