Realistic = More annoying Or Less Fun

[ionveau]

Now i dont understand why people go for the realistic games or games that claim to be realistic but from my time playing these games i have found several things about this tag "realistic"

A realistic game often has

-Annoying U I
-Allows you to do less
-Has a very slow paced feel to it
-Has alot of elements that could be left out to make the game better
-Has instant kill multilayer components (sometimes)



So tell me are realistic games Fun am i wrong on this?

I myself dont understand why would i want to play a poorly made game making it feel that I'm in the game through annoying UI and overall parts that make the game more annoying.

On the flip side Microsoft flight simulator was fun(Mainly because it made you feel like you where in a plane though the shiny buttons etc)

 

[Jekken6]

It depends how the realism is implemented. Bullet drop, for example, in Bad Company 2 can be annoying, but it does make it more satisfying to one-shot and enemy at a distance.

 

[octafish]

Ghost Recon, and Raven Shield are still two of my favourite shooter titles. Arma less so (it's just too clunky). I can't think of many shooters that I would call realistic. Basically all realistic shooters should be one shot kills, or at least one shot cripple. I miss the Ghosts, the GRAW games were such a disappointment.

Rfactor is awesome but pretty unforgiving, I much prefer a more arcadey racer like f1 2010 and NFS:Shift over the Simbin games and Rfactor, even though nothing else does the force feedback as well as them.

When it comes to dog-fighting I like Crimson Skies.

 

[Good morning blues]

The level of "realism" has nothing to do with how good a game is; I love Quake and I love Red Orchestra because they are both well-designed games. How "realistic" they are has nothing to do with it.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I think it tends to make games less fun, but in a good way. You can't win at generic FPS rubbish, you get frustrated and do something else. You can't win at a realistic game, and it sits there taunting you for not being able to hack it in the real world (so to speak) until you do.

My favourite realistic game was SWAT4...I also liked Raven Shield, but that wasn't really realistic...swap to next soldier when you die, magic heartbeat sensors and infrared scopes that let you see through walls...glurb.

 

[Gahars]

I'm not the biggest fan of "realism".

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a game trying to be more realistic; it can add a great amount of immersion to a game, making the experience all the better.

It's just that when the realism intrudes on the fun, it becomes a problem, and it;s been happening a lot recently.

 

[Netrigan]

All depends on the game. I don't believe in the one-size-fits-all approach that, sadly, has been the most detrimental influence of the Unreal Engine (major props to Epic for creating an easy-to-use and highly flexible set of tools for game designers, but the side-effect is that many games now look and feel alike). One of the big success stories in PC gaming has been Team Fortress 2 which has recently amazed me by looking and feeling unlike any FPS I've ever seen (I still haven't played it, but those guys pulled off something amazing). Cartoony works, realistic works, simulations work, arcade works. Developers just need to figure out what is the best way to approach their game and not be afraid to do something a little different.

 

[MrLumber]

Depends on what you mean by realism, if its mechanic realism (instant kills etc.) I'd say yes, those take away from a complex and engaging system, and make things much more restricted.

If its realistic design, (no upside down pyramids for no reason, out of place dialog) then I'd say that I prefer it, as immersion is much easier to reach.

In the end just play what you enjoy, although the overwhelming amount of 'realistic' games is getting a tad extreme.

P.S. Is it just me, or is it slightly ironic, or at least a bit of an oxymoron, that games are trying to become realistic?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Games are about things that aren't real.
Why would you want them to be real anyway? Which they aren't...as far as I can tell, being shot in the head tends to bring the game to a very abrupt close...permanently.

 

[Jim15]

I did happen to notice one of the things you listed in a series everybody seems to love, Uncharted. I started playing Uncharted 2 after playing God of War collections and God of War 3 and found the game to be so much slower that it almost felt boring. I know it sounds irrational because the only similarity those two games have are their 3rd person perspectives, but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to finish Uncharted 2 after realizing how slow it was.

My motivations for playing games are to escape reality. I find that the more realistic a game is, the less I want to play it. Even in sports games, I would much rather play the old NFL Blitz or NHL Hitz games compared to their current counterparts which try to emulate realism as much as possible.

I think the majority of people like realism, but it's generally not my cup of tea.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Operation Flashpoint (the first one, the second doesn't exist) is one of my all time favourite games and its quite possibly one of the most realistic games ever made.

Still its damn fun.

Almost no game since then has really tried to replicate actual large scale engagements like that, CoD and Battlefield are arcade-y compared to it.

Anyway it depends, realism can make a game better or worse, depends on the game, its goals, and how exactly realism is approached.

 

[TerranReaper]

Depends, the realism in the ArmA series didn't bother that much. Also, you can't use CoD or Battlefield as an example for realism, because they aren't considered realistic.

 

[Brawndo]

I don't like stylistic violence (like Bayonetta or Team Fortress 2); I prefer combat in games to be more realistic and gritty, even if it's in fantastical setting.

 

[Irridium]

Its not realism thats the issue, its how its implemented. An enjoyable experience should trump everything else. If a mechanic doesn't add fun, or if it takes away from the fun, it would be best to remove it.

That being said, I do enjoy Counter Strike.

Still though, I would't shed a tear if this realism craze died down. Hell, the first person perspective, which is supposed to make things realistic, is in itself horribly unrealistic. For example, why the fuck is there a lens flare when the character isn't wearing a helmet or glasses? All it does is re-affirm the fact that I'm a floating camera. An issue thats perpetuated more due to the absence of legs.

My motivations for playing games are to escape reality. I find that the more realistic a game is, the less I want to play it. Even in sports games, I would much rather play the old NFL Blitz or NHL Hitz games compared to their current counterparts which try to emulate realism as much as possible.

I think the majority of people like realism, but it's generally not my cup of tea.

I hate most sports games, but fucking love the NFL Blitz games. Its so enjoying to just physically destroy the other guys when you tackle them. What, injuries some may ask? Fuck injuries, this is about insane fun, and it delivers.

 

[Bocaj2000]

I find it odd how it's becoming cool to hate realism in games. I don't know if it's "hipster" or hating something JUST because it's popular to hate.

Personally I prefer it when less than five shots from an auto rifle kill people, because it changes the game from who-can-shoot-first to who-can-keep-the-crosshair-on-the-head-longest. Also, realism adds balance to overpowered weapons such as shotguns and sniper rifles by having such few shots kill people. For a good example of what I'm talking about play Counter Strike or Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (didn't play the first one).

 

[KissofKetchup]

I find that realism can and often does make a less fun and slower paced. Grand Prix Legends is a prime example of this IMO. The cars are so friggin' twitchy even on Easy setting that it makes it almost impossible to play. Hell even the drivers that are still alive that were in the game said that it was harder to drive the cars in the game than in real life.

That being said I do think that games that are more realistic tend to be more satisfying than less realistic games, due to the challenge that is presented by the realism. For that reason I prefer games, especially FPS's, that are realistic over their more cartoony counterparts

 

[Shock and Awe]

Its kind of annoying how a lot of devs tout realism without being realistic at all. Im looking at you Call of Duty. Though some games pull off very realistic gameplay quite well; such as Operation Flashpoint(minus the buggy AI) and ARMA from what I hear. Though it all depends on individual taste, and for me, the mood I am in.

 

[temporalcrux]

I hate "more realistic" because it pushes our consoles to points we didn't realize. Like, do you know why we don't have in-room multiplayer FPS games anymore? Because the console works so damn hard to render just ONE person's graphics. It's ruined an entire group of games and forced us online, when some of us DON'T WANT ONLINE.

 

[badgersprite]

Generally speaking, yes; realism = less fun. Just compare GTA4 to Saints Row 2 for one of the most famous contrasts. But of course, that doesn't equal bad; sometimes mindless wacky fun isn't what a game is going for. There is a place for realism or dark gritty brown-ness in games, but I think the problem is that too many games now want to be serious or "dark" at the expense of more creative, colorful premises or concepts.

I think game devs need to remember that making a game brown and serious doesn't mean they're making a smarter game, and making a bright colorful game with cartoony graphics where you play as an anthropomorphic animal doesn't mean you're making a dumb or childish game. I miss Spyro and Crash Bandicoot...

 

[oplinger]

Realism is a joke in games I think. People buy into it because they want their games to be a simulation of real life, only with things they can't do in real life.

Most realistic games aren't very realistic at all, they have realistic aspects. And generally the realistic aspects in the games get in the way of the non-realistic ones. Or aren't very realistic anyway.

It's all in how it's implemented though. Personally, I love realistic games if I can play with other people. AIs don't handle realism well. But generally in a "realistic" game, I like the forethought, the planning, knowing what the hell you need to be doing, rather than just sprinting around in a hail of gunfire and praying no one hits you.

Both are fun, but being good at a game with realism crammed into it feels a lot more satisfying.