• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Passable graphics with excellent music or passable music with excellent graphics?

Music or Visuals?

  • Music, it does more for a game long term than the graphics

    Votes: 120 68.2%

  • Graphics, the visuals of a game is a big part of the enjoyment, bigger than the soundtrack

    Votes: 56 31.8%
  • Total voters
    176
Bragr

Bragr

Banned
There are times in Breath of the Wild where I find myself spending more time in the game than I would because those piano keys are so haunting. The same with Skyrim, when Far Horizons kicks in, it makes the exploration noticeably better. Or the radio songs in GTA and how it makes driving around infinitely more interesting.

How cool is it to go back to Mario Bros. and the ground theme kicks in? or the soundtrack of Doom, Halo, Banjo-Kazooie etc...

Sometimes the music becomes the experience, and especially as games age, the soundtrack can breathe nostalgia and feel into a game that visuals might not.

Would you rather have mind-blowing music or mind-blowing graphics?

600x337_img_20181025_200838.jpg
 
mcjmetroid

mcjmetroid

Member
I love music in games more than the average person but it's gotta be graphics.

Depends on what were talking when we say bad graphics as well I suppose.
 
Celcius

Celcius

°Temp. member
Music can take a game from good to unforgettable. From ok to "TURN THAT UP! LET'S DO THIS!" It can help to convey the emotion of the scene, make you feel things, and stick with you long after the journey is over.
I've always been really into graphics but give me the amazing soundtrack any day of the week.

For example, take FF7.
FFVII-00224-Shinra-Building-Battle.png


This game is 24 years old the graphics show it. However, once the battle starts and you hear this:



It doesn't matter if the game came out 24 years ago or yesterday, I hear this song and I'm hyped in an instant :)
 
Last edited:
01011001

01011001

Banned
music is more important than graphics. almost anything is more important than graphics.

this is the ranking imo:
Gamedesign > Gameplay/Controls > Performance > Atmosphere > Art Design > Music > graphics > character design > story > voice acting

and of course some of these influence the other, but not necessarily. for some games the music is an influence in the atmosphere, but there are also atmospheric games that have barely any music.
and performance will influence gameplay and controls, but not every game is influenced by performance to a point where it becomes more important than gamedesign and gameplay
 
Last edited:
ReBurn

ReBurn

Gold Member
I rarely pay attention to music in video games any more. All I know is that when it gets louder something is about to go down.

I really just want games to be fun. Passable graphics and music are both ok if the game is fun.
 
Editaur

Editaur

Member
I barely play RPGs but Final Fantasy VIII or Ys wouldn't be some of my favorite games of all time if it wasn't for the music.

It's a shame that most music goes unnoticed nowadays cause it all sounds very similar.
 
april6e

april6e

Member
This may be a rare opinion but music is one of the least important things to me in a game. Unless a game has exceptional music (which is quite rare in the gaming genre), it does nothing to enhance my enjoyment of the game. Sound design (how satisfying and high quality sound effects are) is much more important than music to me. Graphics (specifically the art style chosen) are as well for the most part.
 
Last edited:
L

LazyParrot

Member
Definitely the music. I can look at screenshots of my favorite games for hours without feeling much at all. I recognize the locations and what's going on, of course, but that's pretty much it. Play me some of the music, though and it takes me right back to when I first played them. It's instant, and it works every single time, even if it's just the first few notes.
 
nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
Sander Cohen said:
Absolutely. Can’t stand pixelated shit.
Click to expand...
Metal Slug 3 is pixel art. But i don't think it's ever going to age bad (still looks amazing). And it's definitely not pixelated shit.

I think you are talking about modern indie games that try to pass as "retro style". Most of these look ugly because they are cheap. But pixel art made with good production values, like Capcom and SNK's 90's stuff will never age.
 
SteelCurtain 59

SteelCurtain 59

Member
I was fine with graphics at the late 360/PS3 early One/PS4 era, anything better is just a bonus, whereas great music is a rarity in non Nintendo games. Music brings you back to when you played the game and is way more nostalgia inducing than graphics ever could be, and great soundtracks make me think back on a game way more fondly, or enjoy the moment-to-moment gameplay better. And maybe I'm in the minority, but I've never focused on graphics, I always wanted stuff like physics or AI or more content/game modes over a more realistic looking landscape or person.

Although I guess it depends on what you mean by "excellent" music, like I couldn't care less about generic orchestral stuff or ambient/unobtrusive music, I want melody, I want catchy, I want "in-your-face" music. I want music you feel an urge to hum along after like the 2nd time you hear it. I 100% would choose that type/quality of music even if the game had 2008 caliber graphics.

Bad music doesn't really hurt a game per se, but great music elevates a game substantially, games like Persona 5, Undertale, Pokemon series, Halo, Mario/Zelda series, etc. while all great games in their own right, are vastly improved by their music
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Graphics.

Depending on the game, I sometimes even turn the sound off and listen to radio streaming stations or a hockey game.
 
Video Game Historian

Video Game Historian

Neo Member
voice acting is much more important than either one

music is almost entirely dependent on taste, and graphics (as long as they arent any of that pixelated garbage that is for some reason the default option for most indie devs or early 3D era) are pretty much indistinguishable from game to game since the turn of the century (Dreamcast and early PS2 games still hold their own graphically IMO)
 
Robb

Robb

Gold Member
Music definitely. I've played lots of, at the time, fantastic looking games that I barely remember today.

But the games that had a superb soundtrack I always remember, and just remembering a specific tune can make me nostalgic and want to go back and replay that game.
 
Last edited:
DelireMan7

DelireMan7

Member
Music !
Good music transcends the experience. Good music never gets old.

Graphics should never be the priority. Graphics change nothing to my gaming experience.
 
Paltheos

Paltheos

Member
Music hands down this isn't even a question for me.
I know opinions on most things tend to split evenly but somehow I'm shocked that "only" 70% of respondents to the poll feel this way.
 
cireza

cireza

Member
hemo memo said:
Music gets dated too because of the limited technology
Click to expand...
This stopped being the case in the nineties, when 16 bits CD-Rom based add-ons were released. We then started getting Redbook Audio in most games. 32 bits were a step back in some cases (Saturn still had a lot of Redbook Audio), going back to midi or lower quality music (which is the case of all FF games on PS1, pretty low quality) but finally got back to the quality we had on 16 bits with the 128 bits consoles (DC, PS2, GC, Xbox).

Some examples :




 
Last edited:
T

Twinguistics

Member
The responses to this thread are incredibly weird.

Who gives a crap about the music? I'm hardly going to stick with a rough looking game just because I like the little ditty that is playing in the background that i can't hear that well over sound effects anyway.

However if a game looks amazing but the song is a bit trash then I can happily carry on playing and ignore the song or turn it off. You can't turn off visuals.

And anyway, it's all irrelevant if the gameplay is bad.
 
Majukun

Majukun

Member
I like to say music, but the thing is that i rarely register music while i play..of course there are exceptions, but most of my favorite videogame music didn't really became my favorite until i listened it later oitside of the game.
 
N

NahaNago

Member
Soodanim said:
Graphics don’t stick with me for 25 years.
Click to expand...
But it is what got most folk to buy the game.


I'd have to go with graphics for this one. I do have a lot of nostalgia for a lot of the jrpgs because of the music but it is usually the graphics of the game that originally got me to even consider the game. I'd love to say music since I listen to a lot of video game music on youtube. Music without the graphics at the start is just nice music to listen to but add in the graphics of the game you have a great atmosphere to enjoy and to later on have nostalgia for when listening to the music by itself. Music simply fo the most part enhances the game.
 
Last edited:
H

Hitchyhero

Banned
Twinguistics said:
The responses to this thread are incredibly weird.

Who gives a crap about the music? I'm hardly going to stick with a rough looking game just because I like the little ditty that is playing in the background that i can't hear that well over sound effects anyway.

However if a game looks amazing but the song is a bit trash then I can happily carry on playing and ignore the song or turn it off. You can't turn off visuals.

And anyway, it's all irrelevant if the gameplay is bad.
Click to expand...

I think people's argument is average graphics is not a turn off but music is what makes a game memorable.

I can't imagine playing Mario, Sonic, FF, Skyrim, Halo, all on silent without their soundtrack. The games were good but for me personally the soundtrack elevated everything.
 
Sean Mirrsen

Sean Mirrsen

Banned
Music. The graphics just need to be "not awful", I'm only looking at them while playing anyway. A good tune can keep me company when I'm away not just from the game but from any other forms of entertainment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

RLTTP: Banjo-Kazooie Grunty’s Revenge
RTTP
3
426
Gaiff replied
  • Poll
Stellar Blade | Review Thread
Analysis Review Hype 8 9 10 11 12
597
47K
RedC replied
LTTP: The Wind Waker. Holy shit. Holy. Shit.
LTTP 2
89
6K
Camreezie replied
So I played Ocarina of Time for the very first time, and this game could do with a modern remake
2 3 4
165
10K
Dirk Benedict replied
  • Poll
Granblue Fantasy: Relink | Review Thread
Analysis Review 2 3
122
15K
cash_longfellow replied
Top Bottom