Name an Artsy game

[Thaius]

Well looking for story, which is the main artistic strength of video games, head for the Final Fantasy series.

But if you want the best of visual art along with great story and everything else, Okami. For freaking sure.

IMPORTANT: This seems like a good place to say this.

I am currently writing a book about video games as a storytelling medium. My goal is to create a general understanding, in gamers and non-gamers alike, of video games as an artistic storytelling medium. Problem is, I've been studying the subject for years: some things will slip by me, since I'm "too familiar" with my subject to look at it objectively.

So please PM me with any ideas, questions, or things that you would like to see covered in such a book.

 

[Legion]

snip

i think he was looking for the entire game to be artsy, not just the graphics

What's graphics got to do with it? I was referring to the style. The game could have poor or brilliant graphics and they'd still be Gothic and Art Deco.

How can you define a whole game as artsy anyway, technically anything can be classified as art as long as you can say "This symbolises 'X'".

I could cut my hand smear the blood on the wall and say "This is my artwork, it symbolises the harm we inflict on ourselves due to our hedonistic lifestyles", and all the pretentious artsy types would love it.

 

[SnipErlite]

Shadow of the Colossus for the way that it handles the narrative. It was a very singular experience that depended a lot on the interpretation of the individual. It was thought-provoking and awe-inspiring, both visually and psychologically. That is the epitome of an "art game" to me. Braid touches on this as well.

Not that I want to copy someone's answer, but this.

SoTC was amazing, Braid was beautiful

 

[zombie711]

jet set radio grind, mirros edge( hey there are some nice colorful rooms) a boy and his blob, muramasa, and beat.

 

[WorldCritic]

Okami, Braid, Flower, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and arguably Jet Grind Radio.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

I've just been playing the trial for a new indie game on Xbox live game called Soul. It's pretty cool, with gameplay in the style of 'guide your little floaty thing through the path without hitting anything'. The basic idea is you're controlling a man's soul through the world so that it can get to heaven. I'd recommend that anyone who gets the chance should download the trial version.

Best of all it's only 80 microsoft points, which I think is about one dollar.

 

[The Kangaroo]

sniph

I would argue that the two main artistic strengths are exploration and the fact that it's YOU playing, not someone else

snip

I meant the visuals, not the quality of the graphics.

And art is not about symbolism, it's about emotion. you can use all the symbolism in the world and it still wouldn't be art without emotion.

 

[Acier]

Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future.

One of the coolest art designs of any game, not to mention the sound design is one of the best(if not the best) of the last generation.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Aquaria

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Okami

Braid

Viewtiful Joe

Wild Arms 3

Legend of Mana

And last, but not least...

SaGa Frontier 2. Before the series went and became shit.

Told the story through an interactive timeline events style and was BEAUTIFUL water color art.

Also, a great example of a JRPG.

 

[Hiphophippo]

I think all games are art. But like drawn art, games are subjective and there are some I wouldn't even want to shit on.

Which I could sell as art if I did.

 

[Rusman]

A little indie game called The Path, extremely creative story which delves into the fairy tale of little red riding hood in an extraordinary dark way and it has little or no gameplay what-so-ever.
Most gamers probably wouldn't even call it a game but it's just fantastic and very creepy.

 

[Fraught]

Visually:
- All the hand-drawn Japanese games. Legend of Mana, Muramasa, all of those
- Okami
- Braid

Non-visually:
- Like mentioned multiple times, Shadow of the Colossus
- Braid

 

[Belvadier]

ICO for crying out loud!

 

[Lemon Of Life]

Shadow Of The Colossus.

ICO.

Braid.

Bioshock.

Pictionary.

lololololololol

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

The Longest Journey. Beautifully written, great art design and the sense of a tangible world is beyond compare. The best point and click games ever got. Even *gasp* better than Grim Fandango, in my opinion.

And the special edition of the not quite as good but still very good sequel Dreamfall also includes a copy of The Longest Journey.

BUY IT NOW

HERE!! HERE!!

 

[Daniel Cygnus]

Killer 7 is straight up surrealism.

 

[Rayansaki]

Okami, Shadow of the Colossus and Ico are the best options. They are beautiful visually, and a lot about exploration and sight seeing.

If you want something more recent, the closest you can get is Bayonetta I guess not really that special visually, but the cenarios are decent/nice, and it has varied kinds of cinematics, some of them really pretty and stylish, also the voice acting is close to perfect.

Or I'm guessing The Last Guardian will be the beast, but it's not out yet.

 

[breadlord]

I would say Mad World because it only has 3 colors, and uses them well.