Jimquisition: The Best Looking Game of This Generation

thomaskattus

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Personally the best looking game that I have played this generation (bear in mind I do have somewhat limited gaming tastes) was Kingdoms of Amalur. Very beautiful landscapes, vibrant colors, no photorealism. It is too bad the gameplay itself was too simplistic and full of samey grindy quests and that the camera angle was mostly pointed at the ground. I would make sure to lift up my character's head just to enjoy the scenery.
 

Lunar Templar

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Jimothy Sterling said:
You do realize this topic has no deadline, right?
if anything its a topic that bares repeating, several more times if need be.
but is see the 'gray/brown' problem as a lot worse then it probably is.
 

Zom-B

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Jimothy Sterling said:
The Best Looking Game of This Generation

The Jimquisition takes a break from discussing consumer shenanigans to focus a little on the games themselves.

Watch Video
First of all, why hasn't this vid hit the front page yet? I was waiting this morning and finally just check the video section and there it was. It's now 11:36 PST, by the way.

Anyway, on to the video.

I usually agree with you, Jim, but this week I found your title was most likely worded to garner extra clicks and controversy. You'd better serve your subject matter if the title was "Best Subjectively Aesthetically Pleasing Game of This Generation".

Personally, I haven't played Viva Pinata, and while the graphics probably are lovely, and yes they are quite colourful, is that the measuring stick? Is the function of having the "best" looking game to showcase an HD TV? I don't play games with the intention of drooling over the resolution of my TV. The tv is there to display the graphics. The graphics are not there to justify the TV.

I feel like your focus on the "brown shooter" genre discounts a lot of other games and genres simply to make your point. There's a bunch of games that I might point out as being some of the best of the generation, but those would just be my opinion, as is your choice. I think Dark Souls is excellent looking, with lots of colourful environments and enemies. Yakuza 3 & 4 are both amazing looking, with detailed worlds populated by dozens and dozens of NPCs. GTA4 was simply amazing looking I thought. I spent literally hours just driving around the city marvelling at the weather change, watching the day pass as I played. What about We Love Katamari?

I can't say you're wrong in your choice, but I do feel that the game you've chosen is a highly personal and subjective choice and you probably won't find a lot of support from the rank and file of gamers.
 

shogunblade

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Jimothy Sterling said:
Why do people think I am in some sort of arms race with Extra Credits?
I remember you saying this back on Podtoid years ago Before Extra Credits ever existed.

OT: I guess you could say the same thing of the even older consoles as well: It's the reason why Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario World still look fantastic today, but compare it to say, a game with slightly more different graphics (I'll go with Toy Story on SNES), and though it had unique graphics to suit the movie's look itself, it's not a very good looking game today.

Ok, maybe bad example, but I can see what you are talking about. Also, Not trying to butter your muffin, but a good video as well.
 

deathbydeath

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Jimothy Sterling said:
Why do people think I am in some sort of arms race with Extra Credits?

We cover similar topics. Overlap is inevitable, and I don't really watch their show regularly so I don't know what they cover. In any case, just because one series may have touched on a topic that doesn't automatically disqualify every other series in the world from covering it too.

Seriously, this whole, "oh mah gawd Extra Credits did this" thing is just ... weird.
As you said, overlap is inevitable, but your styles are so similar, and theirs is simply more memorable, what with the pitched voice and funny pictures. Sure, you've had your fair share of great episodes, but those were mostly back when you were on youtube/destructoid, doing off-the-cuff rants about pretty current events. Not that your show is now bad, but it's just lost the fresh feeling and springy presentation of the previous "season".
 

Daveman

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Jan 8, 2009
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It's also why Timesplitters Future Perfect still looks awesome.

Always need a way to bring up Timesplitters...

Personally I have to give a shout out to Halo Reach for not falling into the traps set by it's previous titles. It didn't have the ass-load of bloom that Halo 3 had or nearly as many of the bland corridors from the original and maintained the beautiful colour coding of enemies and vehicles and crazy alien tech that is its best feature in my opinion.

Also it's paired with being a good game with something for everyone... except for a remotely interesting plot.
 

Unsung

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Games that try to look realistic age very poorly. Final Fantasy X looks relatively worse than Final Fantasy VII compared to today's standards.

A stylized look (ala Diablo II, Brood War, Icewind Dale, The Witcher, etc.) will always look better to me than Halo or Call of Duty. Ten years from now those photo realistic shooters will looks like crap, but Diablo II will still have its charm.

More to the point of the video, I think others have mentioned Mirror's Edge, and I happen to agree with that. I'd also like to throw in Bioshock, Starcraft II, Torchlight and motherfuckin' Titan Quest in that top five. :p
 

mjc0961

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Nov 30, 2009
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Right on with mentioning The Wind Waker. That was the first game that popped into my head when you started talking about cel shaded games from last gen. Amazing game that still LOOKS amazing too. It's just a shame that so many people wrote it off because "it looks kiddie" and other stupid nonsense.

trollpwner said:
Oh, COME ON Jim. You may not be the sharpest knife in the draw, but normally you aren't beaten to what you're saying by extra credits by *this* much. link removed

See that? Season 2, episode 16. Over 50 weeks ago. 50 weeks! Almost a year. Ab-surd. *sigh* Oh well. Guess the actual content wasn't bad though. Even if extra credits did do it better.

EDIT: look at this! Yahtzee managed this in 2009 http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/6372-The-Conduit

Not saying Jim's point isn't relevant, but this really is leaving it late.
Your point, however, is extremely irrelevant. Who really gives a fuck about how many others said it before Jim, and when exactly before him they said it?! This is still worth talking about, especially when the photorealistic style is still just as popular today as it was back in 2009. Plus, not everyone watches mindless drek like Extra Credits anyway, so it's important for people who's content is actually worth consuming to bring it up every now and then so that people can be reminded of it.

Long story short, there's more to life than being "FIRST!" on the Internet.

trollpwner said:
They are intellectuals speaking on the gaming industry. So are you. Comparison is natural and inevitable, whether you like it or not. Ditto for Yahtzee.
Bwahahahaha, Extra Credits guys are intellectuals. Funniest shit I've heard all day. Nobody who thinks Gears of War is a first person shooter is an intellectual.
 

PhiMed

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I actually think it's Rayman Origins, but that was made by Jim's most EEEEEEEVIL company.
 

Scyla

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A Windwaker you are so awesome. I wonder why nobody seems to like you :( .
And It's true what Mr. Sterling says because if you look at the Golden Age of gaming (the SNES era that is at least for me) you can still play games like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 6 and fall in love with the graphics.

One thing Mr. Sterling missed however is to mention the impact of the polygon count on realistic looking games. The polygon count goes up every generation and render more realistic looking characters. On characters that aim at a realistic appearance that shows and make the previous generation look some what horrible. With less realistic Characters you don't have this problem because they not aim at realism.
 

krellen

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Jan 23, 2009
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Jimothy Sterling said:
"... there is a defence to be made for the grey and gritty shooter, one I am happy to make ..."
Please do, because for the life of me, I cannot see it.
 

Treblaine

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Where is Team Fortress 2?

Or did he mean by the term "this generation" he was narrowing his scope to only console gaming. Because that reflects pretty poorly on console gaming compared to PC (again), TF2 is a game that is entirely focused on the difference between Red and Blue, it has a distinct almost cel shaded artstyle yet to spite a console release (in a bundle) it hardly has any presence on console any more.

I wonder if he was bringing up Enslaved as an example of too much gritty darkness or an example of an exception to the trend.
 

Raggedstar

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Photorealism is over-rated. Deserves to exist and can work very well for the work you need it for, but over-rated. I keep saying this, yet shelves are still stocked with 'em. I'm more of a fan of fantasy than real life. You don't need to be complete batshit off the wall Suda 51 crazy, but even something like Mirror's Edge is a step in the right diretion. As much as I don't like the game, it does SO MUCH with vibrant colours on a clean white. And Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time looks freaking BEAUTIFUL. I can see every hair on Ratchet's furry little head, and everything is so bright and colourful. Even the canyon in ACIT (a rusty red-brown with a little bit of yellow grass and a river) is more visually stimulating than most games out there that boast stellar graphics. Sly, Okami, Wind Waker, etc, still look damn good. Hell, even the original Spyro games, Klonoa, or Conker's Bad Fur Day haven't aged THAT badly, especially compared to games like MGS1 and Goldeneye.
 

illas

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Apr 4, 2010
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PsychedelicDiamond said:
Hm... i go with Mirrors Edge. It worked with blinding whites and bright neon colours to get a, excuse me, fucking sexy visual design.
My thoughts precisely. Mirror's Edge really stood out as "something different", which gameplay-wise it was.

I'd also mention TF2, since it still looks staggering at maximum settings and the visuals completely serve the gameplay.
 

xPixelatedx

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Jimothy Sterling said:
Why do people think I am in some sort of arms race with Extra Credits?
If there is something important to say about gaming, chances are that many (if not most) of the gaming journalists will say it. I do recall Extra Credits saying something about this, as well as The Game Overthinker. I have also been arguing this point with people ever since the 360's second year on the market. Does that mean everyone is copying me? NO. It is just something that needs to be said because it is true and very relevant to the future of things, which is something we should be considering with a next gen right around the corner.
Also, on a more positive note, your show and Extra Credits are the only honest and impartial gaming shows left. I think that is where a lot of the comparing is coming from. After the ME3 drama (which was the biggest video game drama I have ever seen) you both showed that even if you might not entierly have the same stance as everyone else, you at least understood why people were mad. That proves to everyone that neither of you were on anyone's payroll or sycophants of the industry, even though that was pretty obvious from all your shows prior.
 

DemBones

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I can't remember who said this first or where I heard it, but many older games from the NES, SNES and N64 had to use bright and contrasting colours to account for memory issues. The developers had to create a contrast so that the player could see what the sprite was doing or what the sprite even looked like (eg. the only reason Mario has a mustache in Donkey Kong is so the player can see his nose). There was a limited amount of pixels available, so the character sprite had to look recognizable with less space. There are no such limitations today, and many people have forgotten that creativity comes from constraints. Vibrant colour schemes also helped every game differentiate itself from the competition.

Rare knew this 12 years ago, which is one of the reasons why I believe that today Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie are both better games than Goldeneye 64 and Perfect Dark. This is also because I like platformers more than shooters in general (I'd also say that DKC is better, but they're not really comparable).

I'd say one of the best looking games this generation would be Prince of Persia from 2008 or around that time. I didn't like the game as much as others, but it was visually dynamic at least when you healed the land. I'd also say Assassin's Creed 2 for Venice alone (which is why I'll continue to like it more than either Brotherhood or Revelations), Bastion (which loses most for almost being too loud with not enough contrast, but the soundtrack helps) and Braid (where the soundtrack also helps.

Slightly off topic: films made in the 70s had similar budget constraints, so the directors had to be very creative to make the film look good on slim budgets. If you are looking for a visually gorgeous modern film, seek out The Fall (2006). The story's a little bit of a mess, but the film is stunning to look at.
 

flarty

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Treblaine said:
I wonder if he was bringing up Enslaved as an example of too much gritty darkness or an example of an exception to the trend.
An exception to the trend i hope as i rememeber enjoying that game and it being pretty colourful, hey the ending sucked but hey atleast they tried to write something different.
 

AbstractStream

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Well, I do have to admit, Viva Pinata DOES look freaking fantastic. Gotta love them bright colors.

YEAH! Killer7 shout out!
 

Tiamat666

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I know it's so obvious that it's the reason why it's automatically disqualified, but Crysis was the only game in the last 5 years to make me do the "woah!"

It's 5 years old now, and it still looks better than most games being released today.
And still I am totally in love with that water.