So how important is the game's graphics to you?

[Prpl_Mage]

Been stalking several game forums and such lately and realized that one of the top-priorities among them members is the graphic of a game. Now I'm not talking an rpgmaker game, their quality tend to range from mixed madness to snes-godlikeness. Now I'm talking about those games that people develop and we buy. That new PSP vita got some sick graphics on it and most games are done in HD these days. The 3ds got 3d graphics!(still deciding if I should get one). I read a review on Xenoblade chronicles and the mentioning of how blurry some parts of the characters looked kept being mentioned. Also stuff like interfaces are criticised alot, if it looks cooo, high detail, minimalist ect.

So I'm just gonna say that I don't get the hype to get the bestest graphics in the games companies make. Sure FFXIII was a good looking game with synched voices and all that, but that doesn't automatically makes it a great game. Despite how good looking it is now - the later final fantasies we'll get in 5 years will probably look even better. Just like those FPS game such as call of duty - sure the people who play those are a bit younger but they keep brining up how much cooler the coming games look. It's not about the gameplay in any way, just that the trailer was professional and looks great. People won't look back and play one of the older instalments when the only thing that actually differs between the games is how good the graphic is.
Hell I can pop in an old ps1 game and play it and still enjoy it despite those blocky-*** 3d graphics. I mean seriously, crash bandicoot looks like dump. So did mario 64 if you compare it to the stuff today. But the games are great.
Well I might be slow but I still don't get the need to HD-fy every game they make. It must drain money from companies like a gushing wound. Games like angrybirds, minecraft and terraria doesn't use the latest graphics exactly and people play those.


So what's your take on this whole graphics hype?

[Archem]

As long as it looks like they gave a damn, I don't care. If I see something that looks like it was rushed and sloppily assembled, I'll be a bit irritated. Otherwise, I don't really care.

[TyDrace]

Consumers often want puretty grafix. In terms of development, graphics belong on the bottom. Graphics need to be there, but what are pretty graphics? I like the cell-shading style of Borderlands but it's not close to reality, does that make it ugly? I still think Final Fantasy X is a stunning game in terms of graphics, I still love graphics done like Mortal Kombat, still photos. I love 2D sprites made of 3D models like the old Donkey Kongs. I like the 2D artstyle of Limbo, very good graphics, but I also love the stunning visuals (for an RTS) of Dawn of War II.

Point is, graphics are subjected to a person. Everyone likes their own styles. Asking how important they are is a weird question, because it's a "video" game, meaning graphics need to be there.

[Moosetroop11]

'nuff said.

[fruckert]

It's less "graphics" and more "art style", for me. Considering that I'm going to be looking at the durn thing for hours, uninterrupted, I would like it to actually look good, and to actually immerse me in the game.
Drace has a good point, though. The other key word in "video game" is "game". Nobody will really care if you have an amazing, emotionally wrecking story and near photorealistic graphics if the game plays like Two Worlds on the 360 got drunk and in a car pileup. Apologies if that didn't make sense, I just woke up and it's 5:30am.

So, basically, a good art style implemented well can really add to the game, but it's not really that important. I mean, my main character is a smiley face for chrissakes.

[Meiscool]

I basically feel that graphics need to set an atmosphere. For a FPS like CoD, they need to look real to immerse the player. For fantasy games, they need to looks like a fairy tale almost.
Games don't need amazing graphics, but amazing graphics assist in the link between atmosphere and visuals.
An example of a game that does this well, while not having amazing graphics is Xenoblade like purple said.
An example of a game that is amazing, but would've benefited from increased atmosphere is Corpse Party.

[Prpl_Mage]

Drace and Fruck got a point, it's more important that the game got a good style going on than having the most detailed and realistic graphics. Tales of symphonia looked great to me and all. But other people who saw the game wrote it off simply because it looked like an anime. Sure, if a game looks good I'm probably gonna get more interested in it. Not gonna lie about that, there have been times when I've started looking into a game simply because it looked good.
Graphics should be about the mood and setting you're gonna enter. I get that the fps would like something all high-detailed and mature. And hell I'll be happy when enix releases ffx to the ps3 in hd (since EU ps3's don't have ps2 playability).

It's just that it's starting to become this thing where people talk about the looks instead of the gameplay, got a friend who keeps saying "if the game is fun to play I don't care how ugly the lead is, how wuzzy the story is or how bad the environment it looks" while another friend likes to say something along the lines of "that game looks like a child's game, I won't play that" (when talking about brawl before he actually tried it).
And I just hope that this doesn't develop into every game having High definition and 3d capabilities. I wouldn't want to wait longer for a game simply because it's gonna look a little sharper (with the right display) at the cost of development.

ps. corpse party does not look like it's creating any atmosphere at all. watched some vid and some screenshots and I'm just not feeling it.

[Archem]

There you go. Making something that looks good and making something that creates a mood are two different things. They can co-exist, but do not have to, necessarily. Art style is more important to me than intense rendering when we can produce photo-realistic results with ease. A good visual style creates a mood better than any amount of rim lighting and lens flare. A good visual style can look good without being hard on the hardware (cel shading is a perfect example).

[Cerebus]

Graphics won't make the game, but there's no lying that it is a nice addition.
I've played some games with minimal graphics on my old PC and being able to set them as high/highest is pretty nice.
But the game remains the same. It's not more fun, but it's nicer to look at.

And yeah, I agree with the art style thing.
You know, I think one of the reason I didn't get all THAT much into Skyrim is because of how realistic the graphics are instead of... say, more "cartoonish" and colourful, like WoW's, for instance.

[Meiscool]

ps. corpse party does not look like it's creating any atmosphere at all. watched some vid and some screenshots and I'm just not feeling it.

Yeah. Sadly, its one of those "hang in there" kind of things until you start seeing people freak out and dead bodies everywhere.
Graphics improvement would've helped the game amazingly.

[Archem]

You know, I think one of the reason I didn't get all THAT much into Skyrim is because of how realistic the graphics are instead of... say, more "cartoonish" and colourful, like WoW's, for instance.

That might have killed it for me. I like the Elder Scrolls games being an interactive epic, not a storybook fantasy.

[Cerebus]

That might have killed it for me. I like the Elder Scrolls games being an interactive epic, not a storybook fantasy.

Well, that's actually true, but I didn't really like Skyrim's atmosphere. Actually preferred Oblivion's, somehow.
Or perhaps that's not it. To be honest, I don't even know. But I got into Oblivion more than I got into Skyrim. even though I actually like Skyrim. I just never feel like playing it, however weird that sounds.

[Meiscool]

Skyrim is overrated. It got very boring very fast.
I agree with oblivion being better too, but that is just my opinion.

[Archem]

**** that, Daggerfall.

But I love each game for what it is.

[Prpl_Mage]

WoW is easy to look at - and compared to WC2 and WC3 it actually is a huge improvement on the style. Nothing feels out of place. It looks good, but it doesn't look all serous and mature. Would kill an MMORPG if the game required such good computers that half of the players couldn't play it just because they wanted it realistic.
Man, I remember when I first got Starcraft 2 at release, my computer could barely handle full scale online combats on the lowest settings. Then I invested a bit in new hardware and suddenly the game runs on the highest settings with no lag whatsoever. Makes a difference.

Also, I got tired of both oblivion and skyrim. They are just not doing it for me. (might be because I insist to play mages who are shunned(SHUNNED!) by the creators.)