Do we over idealize photo-realistic graphics?

[endtherapture]

I loved the game because of the amount of replay value it has. Every playthrough I've done is completely different - sometimes I storm in all guns blazing, someonetimes I sneak in. Sometimes I rig a truck with C4, drive it in, speed off and blow it up, and sometimes I pick off the enemies and snipe from a distance. It's great. If anyone can find me a shotter which does a sandbox as well as Crysis, I would like to know.

Maybe I'm a bit spoiled. I have Fallout 3 and NV, which let me do all that sandboxy fun stuff with nukes. You can acquire a Fat Man in either game by level ten, ammo is plentiful, and you can go wreck everyone's shit on a whim wherever you want to. You can't do that in Crysis, as they don't give you the TAC launcher until after it's gone all linear in preparation for the final boss, so there's no real fun to be had there. Ammo is also preciously scarce for that thing. You can't use it to annihilate a village because you're bored. I also have Garry's Mod, which lets me do pretty much whatever the fuck I want to. If I want to flatten an NPC with a six wheel drive monster truck slash cement mixer I can just build one on the spot.


If Birgirpall is anything to go by you can find your madcap sandbox shooter fun in BF3 MP. He does pretty much what you just described. Check out his Operation: and I don't even: series to see exactly what's going on....basic tl;dr is he kills people in every method except shooting them.

Well Crysis is a directed sandbox, so you can't just be completely mad and blow up everything. Either way, the buildings will never fall down in Fallout however many nukes you hit them with. You can rocket launcher a village and the buildings and trees will actually fall down so I do actually love that. Plus FO just has that RPG feel to it where you are constrained by the system - sure you can go around and shoot everyone like in GTA, but nothing is as completely advanced and refined and "realistic" as it is in Crysis.

Fallout 3 feels lik you're playing a videogame but I don't think Crysis does - it's the closest to feeling like an actualy supersoldier ever because of the physics and what I can do in the game.

 

[Aprilgold]

Yes, yes we do. Stunning graphics do not make a game good. Just look at Crysis. Looks great. Meh at best when you strip away the eye candy and judge it as a shooter.

Pretty much this. You can do this to games that have 'great graphics' like Skyrim or Call of Duty along with Battlefield. The eye-candy is nice but these games are pretty lacking in a lot of departments because of this eye-candy.

 

[TehCookie]

If we is the general market I'd say yes, just look at the people lapping them up. Though I am not a part of it. I like things colourful and clear. If I can tell what something is from a glance it's good, if it's too overdetailed/dark where and I can't it's bad. I'm also the kind of person who puts gameplay above graphics so important items should glow so you know they're important no matter how unrealistic it is.

 

[ImmortalDrifter]

Well I think there is definately a place for them. I thoroughly enjoy Crytek games, that's their claim to fame. Every company shouldn't pursue them though, it takes too many resources away from other parts of the game.

 

[Treblaine]

No.

I think more than any previous generation there is a lower emphasis on getting greater graphical fidelity and I think for one important reason:


We can do graphics of complex facial expressions that allow them to express themselves. What more do you need after that? I think this is what the past 30-40 years of video games have been striving for, to be able to show the emotional range of characters with detailed enough faces and body animations

After that, you are moving into the uncanny valley. Alyx vance can display a wide range of human and relate-able emotions, but distinctly an animated creation. Steps closer would have to vault the uncanny valley in one leap.

On the other hand, modern graphics beyond what modern consoles are capable of can do some amazing things:

 

[lacktheknack]

Graphics matter. Its not the be all, end all.
But neither is gameplay.

Text adventures and Dwarf Fortress say otherwise.

OT: I'm a graphics whore, and ultra-realistic stuff makes me happy. However, poorer graphics will not ruin a game for me... at all. Although if it comes down to it, graphics will be a deciding factor. GTA vs Just Cause... Just Cause wins every time, because of the location and ultra-pretty graphics.

That said, I'm getting more interested in seeing less "photo-realism" and more "OMG SOOO PREETTYYYY" stuff.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

In terms of graphics, I'll ask this...

Ever notice that the closer games get to life-like, the shittier they get?

As for evidence, I submit Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Grandia, LUNAR 1 & 2, Killer Instinct and Megaman Legends. That is all.

 

[Bruenin]

YES!

I LOVE the Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker visuals were awesome
I really wish they had different styles, I mean look at the Walking Dead games don't have to be realistic, they should really focus on artistic direction instead, or at the very least some variety.

Visuals don't need to be hyper realistic~