Why do some games think they need to be realistic?

[krazykidd]

I'm just waiting for a realistic Role playing game , before i start jumping on the " let's hate realism because it's cool" bandwagon. Because i don't care for any genre outside rpgs anymore. A GTA samurai edition would be pretty cool though.

 

[Something Amyss]

Because there is a novelty to trying to bring these escapes from reality closer to reality, so that it almost feels like less of a transition or...something, I guess.

I think you nailed it with "novelty."

 

[badgersprite]

In my humble opinion, realism should only be used, like anything else, where it helps the entertainment/escapism aspect. So, yeah, if people want to have that escapist experience of feeling like you're a soldier in WWII, or a modern grunt on the front lines, those games following the "realism" tropes is going to help that a lot.

Personally, I'd prefer it if we had more FPS games that have you firing freeze rays and laser rifles and jumping around in zero gravity fighting alien ninjas in space.

 

[GeneWard]

Realism can make a game awesome. Battlefield 3 wouldn't give me the same high-octane thrills it has been if it looked like TF2 (As good as TF2 is). Similarly, I wouldn't want Zelda to have destructible cover and 7.1 audio or whatever.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Because I like realistic games. Realism is EXACTLY where I want my FPS's to go. There are plenty of arcadey shooters out, you are just focusing on the realistic ones because a few big name realistic shooters have come out just recently.

Trouble is, a fully realistic shotter would start with six months of non-lethal training, followed by about three minutes of actual combat in which ou spend a month in hospital per bullet taken.

 

[pwnzerstick]

Because when games have no new ideas, the devs simply pull the cover of realism over it to hide that fact. And when people criticize it for being unoriginal, it just counters that by saying "If it was original then it would unrealistic!"

 

[tippy2k2]

Because I like realistic games. Realism is EXACTLY where I want my FPS's to go. There are plenty of arcadey shooters out, you are just focusing on the realistic ones because a few big name realistic shooters have come out just recently.

Trouble is, a fully realistic shotter would start with six months of non-lethal training, followed by about three minutes of actual combat in which ou spend a month in hospital per bullet taken.

I think there might be a middle ground between that and COD. LOL

Not to mention that you can have realism and not have to follow every single movement of my character. I don't see Captain Price in "Call of Duty" stopping in the middle of the mission because he has to take a piss. We didn't have to see Tom Hanks go through basic training and work his way through the ranks in "Saving Private Ryan" for us to get to see what happened.

There's a big difference between "realistic" and real life.

 

[StorytellingIsAMust]

Realism is simply a tool - and you don't use a screwdriver to beat in nails. We have hammers for that. But at the same time we do need screwdrivers for some things, namely screwing in screws.

Don't deride the screwdriver for not being able to effectively drive in nails. Deride the worker for using a screwdriver when the hammer is right next to them.

Well said. As far as I'm concerned, just as long as there's consistency among realism or fantasy styles, then that's all you need.

 

[Sonicron]

In the end it's a matter of preference. I don't like the ongoing obsession with (quasi-) realism in games any more than you do, OP, but if millions of people are willing to pay for it, I can damn well follow the game publishers' (and developers') reasoning behind pushing for more of the same.

 

[andreas3K]

Call of Duty is not realistic. It may look like it is, but the gameplay is no more realistic than Final Fantasy.

One of the best FPSs I've ever played is Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, which is pretty realistic. The realism is the best part, not for its own sake, but because it makes the gameplay really good.

Also, I think Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo, two of the most realistic driving games around, are doing quite well.

Realism is good, but not everyone likes it, nor should everything be it.

If you think that's realistic, try playing the real Flashpoint games made by Bohemia. OFP: Cold War Crisis/Resistance and Arma2. And yes the old Rainbow 6 games (Raven Shield and earlier) and Ghost Recon 1 were similar to those games, in that they all have MUCH more realism than these big selling mainstream shooters of today.

If I had a decent gaming PC, I would. I'm hoping Arma 3 comes out on consoles, though I know that's improbable. Right now Dragon Rising is the best I can get.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

There are some games where realism is actually a "good" thing, like anything with "sim" in the title. Stuff like flight simulators (not aerial combat games like H.A.W.X, flight simulators like the one by Microsoft), sports simulators like Football Manager or Madden NFL...But, yeah, I reckon we could do with less shooters trying too hard for 'realism'.

 

[JohnReaper]

Because I like realistic games. Realism is EXACTLY where I want my FPS's to go. There are plenty of arcadey shooters out, you are just focusing on the realistic ones because a few big name realistic shooters have come out just recently.

NAME ONE~! Arcade style shooter being released this year?

OR an unrealistic shooter, (Space Marine doesn't count because they again made him move like a cow)

Just cause you like it, doesn't mean I have to endure it

Actually this whole topics a hot button of mine. I personally call it Lets be X.

Halo comes out. FPS's "LETS BE HALO!"
Cod:MW comes out. FPS's "Lets be like that!"

Yes their good games for what they tried to do, but after the 3rd clone, One get's sick of it. And any one that brings this up gets told to F*** off?

This shit does not fly with me,

Now excuse me I'm going to go play a Sequal done right (Doom 3)

 

[DarthSka]

Well, realism can be good for certain games and not for others. Sometimes, both can work, like Zelda. Though it's a fantasy game, the realistic look in Twilight Princess did give me a LOTR feeling, which I thought fit pretty well. Then again, the anime feeling I got from The Wind Waker also seemed to be a perfect fit. Both styles were able to find a good home in the Zelda series. Sadly, after Twilight Princess, many fans seem to decide that EVERY console game after TP had to follow it's realistic style just with better graphics. God forbid any originality come in to play. After all, that's what happened with Wind Waker's style constantly being used on the handheld games. While I love that style, it's getting a little old and I'd like to see something different for the new 3DS game they're making.

 

[2xDouble]

How incredibly convenient that the Uncanny Valley [http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-uncanny-valley] episode of Extra Credits came up again this week.

Realism and photorealism are good things, the problem is they are extremely difficult and expensive to make work. Seriously, who hasn't watched a Holodeck episode of Star Trek and thought "that would be awesome for games!"?

 

[-Samurai-]

Call of Duty is not realistic. It may look like it is, but the gameplay is no more realistic than Final Fantasy.

I've never understood why people lump CoD into the "realistic shooter" category. Activision never set out to make a realistic game, and never claimed to. They made a realistic looking game, but the gameplay is quite obviously arcade style.

 

[andreas3K]

Call of Duty is not realistic. It may look like it is, but the gameplay is no more realistic than Final Fantasy.

One of the best FPSs I've ever played is Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, which is pretty realistic. The realism is the best part, not for its own sake, but because it makes the gameplay really good.

Also, I think Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo, two of the most realistic driving games around, are doing quite well.

Realism is good, but not everyone likes it, nor should everything be it.

If you think that's realistic, try playing the real Flashpoint games made by Bohemia. OFP: Cold War Crisis/Resistance and Arma2. And yes the old Rainbow 6 games (Raven Shield and earlier) and Ghost Recon 1 were similar to those games, in that they all have MUCH more realism than these big selling mainstream shooters of today.

If I had a decent gaming PC, I would. I'm hoping Arma 3 comes out on consoles, though I know that's improbable. Right now Dragon Rising is the best I can get.

ARMA 3 won't be on consoles. What about the original OFP, Raven Shield and Ghost Recon 1 ? Those are not new games. Maybe you can run those ? If you liked OFPR compared to the mainstream stuff, i HIGHLY advise you to try these gems out, if you can.

Maybe I could. Where could I get them? I don't know if they still sell those at my local game store.

 

[Hipsy_Gypsy]

One thing that has seriously pissed me off in the last couple years in games has been that so many games are trying to be realistic. Call of Duty, Battlefield, other similar FPS games. Am I honestly the only who's been thinking that realism is NOT the direction in which we want to take games? I mean honestly, what's the point? Don't most of us play games to ESCAPE the irritating quirks of reality? I'd rather live during a blight in Dragon Age than deal with the shit we have to go through on a day to day basis here in the real world. But then again, that really is just my opinion, as a number of my peers have been quick to point out if they don't already agree with me. So, I came here looking for some answers.

Nono, I agree with you entirely. Where I think realism in games is good, there can certainly be:

[...]such a thing as going too far, [so] to quote Stephen Fry:
"Well of course too much is bad for you, too much of anything is bad for you, THAT'S WHAT TOO MUCH MEANS!"

Mind you, I also agree with the last person I just quoted there that "[striving] for realism works in a lot of games" because, yeah, it just works better in certain games and certain genres; you do want to have some degree of realism otherwise it'll become irritating. I can't think of an example straight off the top of my head, but I remember several occurances where I could do one outrageous thing in a game yet something completely logical wasn't an option in whatever shape or form (No, not the inability to jump in games like Fable. That honestly doesn't bother me because it's not necessary).

Now, realism would need to be cut down a quare bit more for genres such as fantasy or science fiction. There's nothing wrong with having logical explanations for what they do and how they do it but then again... come on now. I'm thinking of the "Flight of Dragons" book by Peter Dickens who explains how dragons breathe fire (not for real, obviously).

This is a cartoon like (and "Scooby Doo!" of all things) but the new "Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated" has so much tragedy and drama in it, particularly regarding relationships, that it makes me want to cry. All the incarnations up until this point have been fun!

...Mind you, this episode on now has cameo appearances by Captain Caveman and the teen angels as well as Jabberjaw and some ghost fella that I cannot remember the name for the life of me (Sounds like... aw, jeez, the anthromorphic cat who had tendencies to throw about the word "even" and sounded a wee bit cowardly). 'Scuse me a moment; Jabberjaw and Cavey are calling...