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All Games Should Be Pushing The Graphic Barrier

"All games"? *looks at Vampire Survivors, Tetris, Shovel Knight, Limbo etc.* Gameplay over graphics any day.

If you look at the majority of "Games of thr year" nominees a lot of them aren't exactly graphical powerhouses. Notice I said a lot, not all.
 
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Nautilus said:
Of course they shouldn't. They should be pushing for maximum fun, not something superficial as graphics.
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Graphics are not superficial. They can greatly improve the overall experience and enhance a games atmosphere. Thats a disservice to the visual artists who spend years trying to make good looking textures, the people who spend years lighting a hallway, entire teams dedicated to particle effects, character models, etc. lol

In AAA, high budget games, graphics do matter. Thats like saying visual effects don't matter in a Marvel movie. Or CGi doesn't matter in Avatar. Which would be a ridiculous thing to say.
 
It does seem like a lot of Xbox studio games are trying for a middle ground between Nintendo full on cartoony and Playstation stylized realism, but in doing so end up in that boring overdone zoomer shooter range.
 
Beelzebubs said:
And yet his complaints are about art style amd games being too cartoony.... Not everything needs to be super realistic to be a fun game.
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When it comes to those high budget AAA games, I agree with him.

More so in the indie space, every damn game wants to look like Fortnite or BOTW. Horrendous
 
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Having some AAA games breaking the boundaries of graphics is important yes. But that's not mandatory for every games, especially now that indies is a thing. They not necessarly have the ressources and or time to offer us top notch graphics. The most important thing will always be artstyle
 
Every great game I've ever played(and I've played a lot)have been great because of their game design and gameplay.Pretty graphics are nice I guess.
 
Represent. said:
Graphics are not superficial. They can greatly improve the overall experience and enhance a games atmosphere. Thats a disservice to the visual artists who spend years trying to make good looking textures, the people who spend years lighting a hallway, entire teams dedicated to particle effects, character models, etc. lol

In AAA, high budget games, graphics do matter. Thats like saying visual effects don't matter in a Marvel movie. Or CGi doesn't matter in Avatar. Which would be a ridiculous thing to say.
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It's a rare thing to see a game with great gameplay, controls, graphics, animations, story and presentation. It's naive to think all devs can get all things perfect. Personally I'll rather take a game like Metroid Dread with amazing controls and gameplay than a game like A Plague Tale Requiem with amazing visuals and story but less satisfying gameplay. And artsy games like The Last Guardian would've been better as a movie. For me it played absolutely terribly. It certainly looked nice though and I'm guessing that's where the developer had their focus so that's what we got, the rest was barely okay.
 
Sure it's simple, just get someone who has billions of dollars. Have them buy a studio that makes AAA visual games. Then remove the following:
Monetization, VPs, members of any Committee, advisors, all employee's Twitter/socal media accounts, Blackrock, also fire anyone who says "open world" or "sandbox"
 
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Represent. said:
Graphics are not superficial. They can greatly improve the overall experience and enhance a games atmosphere. Thats a disservice to the visual artists who spend years trying to make good looking textures, the people who spend years lighting a hallway, entire teams dedicated to particle effects, character models, etc. lol

In AAA, high budget games, graphics do matter. Thats like saying visual effects don't matter in a Marvel movie. Or CGi doesn't matter in Avatar. Which would be a ridiculous thing to say.
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What I mean to say is that, between graphics and maximizing fun, fun should always take priority.

Having a good looking game, a pleasant art style, etc is important. But giving too much emphasis on high end graphics, like having 4K textures on a rock on the ground that you see twice or three times, is as superficial as it gets. I mean, if the dev manages to get the graphics to that point and the game is as fun as it can be, as God of War 4 and 5 are, then I'm all for it. But seeing that 90% of the games out there that goes for cutting edge graphics aren't usually the cream of the crop when it comes to how good the game is, I think priorities need to be changed.

And that's especially true nowadays when graphics have reached a kind of limit in how much more beautiful they can get. As photorealistic is the limit on what we can be on that front, and honestly we are not that far away from there. So devs are starting to naturally pivot their resources to other departments.
 
id rather they finally pushed interesting barriers like physics and AI and true multiplayer experiences (not just another battle royale), i've seen gun metal better than ever before in video games, im fairly bored of it now
 
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SuperSaiyanWithDreads said:
These recent games haven't kept us interested visually: Hogwarts Legacy Resident Evil 4 Wo Long Atomic Heart MW2 and more. Games are just not keeping us interested nowadays. Xbox games are too cartoony to us, It's like Xbox studio games have art/genre dysphoria. Grounded and sea of thieves should have went the realistic route visually and upped the rating to M, but that's old Xbox. Anyways, PlayStation games art direction have been … depends on the game. Spider-Man 2, Max Payne Remakes, GTA 6, Wolverine _._.etc should be great games. They will be. But if they have 'PS4 Pro' level capable graphics it's going to let-back. The first true next gen game experience we had was the matrix unreal demo. We understand that game cannot run on a PS4. Prove us wrong on that. That's how we know it's truly a next gen game. The second game is unrecord that shit gave us that same effect. GTA 6 need to look just as good or even better; Now it should be the time for both machines to Impress and make us gamers get used to viewing games that look incredible. Unrecord is being created by an indie studio whose name we would have to Google but you get the point.
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There's a lot of "us" and edge posting in this (seriously? Grounded and Sea of Thieves should be rated M? Why?)

Speak for yourself, I like variety. To me the best looking ogame of all time is Jet Set Radio Future because you can blow it up to 4K it still looks amazing. You'd have to be fighting to find anything bad about it's presentation.


 
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Represent. said:
Graphics are not superficial. They can greatly improve the overall experience and enhance a games atmosphere. Thats a disservice to the visual artists who spend years trying to make good looking textures, the people who spend years lighting a hallway, entire teams dedicated to particle effects, character models, etc. lol
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You're talking about visuals. You can have an amazing visual style that does not push hardware boundaries, nor does it need to. In some cases, can even improve by having simpler graphics

scg4d1.png


Some styles or atmospheres can be really hard to match with upgraded visuals. Not to mention how visual design can greatly suffer by increasing the amount of details in a scene.
 
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cireza said:
1080p at 60fps is the technical target that needs to be achieved. We don't need better graphics at the cost of these.
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Meh, 1080p is like 720P. By that I mean bordering on functionally irrelevant. Consoles are strong enough to do 1440P and upscaling to 4K if it's really needed.
 
GhostNTheBashShell said:
There's a lot of "us" and edge posting in this (seriously? Grounded and Sea of Thieves should be rated M? Lmfao)

Speak for yourself, I like variety. To me the best looking of game of all time is Jet Set Radio Future because you can blow it up to 4K it still looks amazing. You'd have to be fighting to find anything bad about it's presentation.


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IT CAN BE EMULATED? WTF?
 
All game should not go for this. There can be a mix of games that aim for super graphics, and games that don't.

I like visually appealing games, but I am enjoying more indie games, low budget games, and AA games more than I have enjoyed AAA these past few years.

I play first and foremost because of fun gameplay.
 
For me, it is more important how things behave and interact more than exactly how they look. I will keep repeating it. Physics, AI, animations, interactivity all bring a game to life than just making it look photorealistic. I see all of these open world survival sandbox games aim for photorealistic graphics all while they move like cutout cardboard, and I want to bang my head into a desk. Very little animations, very simple AI, and menus insteads of unique gameplay systems and interaction.
 
I think it's a combination of games. Overall, games have to be fun. Whether that's innovation/gameplay loop/replayabiliy/etc. However, I want to see showstopper powerhouse games that push the hardware to the max as well. Even then, the games have to have substance and not just beauty. Otherwise you will have a techdemo.

The first BorderLands was going to push the systems visually until it wasn't cost effective (in terms of vision for the game) halfway through, the decision was made to change the art style and it became a very popular that others still replicate today. That change helped the overall uniqueness of the franchise.

I imagine Fornite will be discussed. I have no interest in the Battle Royal type games, but millions seem to like it for what it is and most probably don't care about the graphics.

I still would love to play the next Uncharted/Final Fantasy/Elder Scrolls/etc. That graphically is superior to the previous installments though
 
KXVXII9X said:
For me, it is more important how things behave and interact more than exactly how they look. I will keep repeating it. Physics, AI, animations, interactivity all bring a game to life than just making it look photorealistic. I see all of these open world survival sandbox games aim for photorealistic graphics all while they move like cutout cardboard, and I want to bang my head into a desk. Very little animations, very simple AI, and menus insteads of unique gameplay systems and interaction.
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I was blown away by Red Faction and the destructible environments. I still want a game the allows for interesting interiors/exploration that allows complete destruction. Or the ability to destroy/manipulate the entire gaming world
 
Gris is an example of artistry and graphics pushing boundaries without overwhelming the limits of your system and it doesn't have to because creativity ruled the development. Lovely visual art, creative level design, fluid motion and gameplay mechanic symbiosis. It sold over a million copies in about 1 year.
 
Should is kinda stretched, but due to UE dominance it seems most in home engines are obsolete and competition has stagnated, with that being said Sony's first parties seem to push the boundaries more often than not.
 
We are all slightly more retarded after reading your post OP. Strategic brain cell murder on a massive scale. Well done.

Visuals doesn't mean a good game. Realistic visuals often aren't the most impressive ones to me anyway. Beautiful art design is far more impressive visually.
 
No please, NO.

We need better AI and complex worlds. That's what will sell idea of a fully immersive environment.

What's the use of path tracing and high res textures when the NPC's are brain dead, unable to find their way around a simple object like a table.
 
Quantum253 said:
I was blown away by Red Faction and the destructible environments. I still want a game the allows for interesting interiors/exploration that allows complete destruction. Or the ability to destroy/manipulate the entire gaming world
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I've heard so many good things about that game due to the destructible environments. I may have to check it out.
 
ahtlas7 said:
Op, you use Hogwarts as an example. But I challenge you to step back back and look at the architectural achievement that is Hogwarts Castle. It doesn't blur the lines of reality but it's an amazing environment that pushes architecture art in gaming, I'd argue, and that's just the castle.
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Mannnn. That's great and all, but the game is capable of running on a PS4 Pro at 720p maybe even 1080p
 
This thread proved that a lot of gamers are bugged out. A lot of you all are content with letting these companies do whatever they want with you. It's like you all enjoy being fucked over. A PS4 PRO can Literally run any of these so called next gen games. Be real.
 
LordOfChaos said:
It does seem like a lot of Xbox studio games are trying for a middle ground between Nintendo full on cartoony and Playstation stylized realism, but in doing so end up in that boring overdone zoomer shooter range.
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We understand and agree with you on that because that's literally what's going on. I'm glad you see that shit too.
 
GhostNTheBashShell said:
There's a lot of "us" and edge posting in this (seriously? Grounded and Sea of Thieves should be rated M? Lmfao)

Speak for yourself, I like variety. To me the best looking of game of all time is Jet Set Radio Future because you can blow it up to 4K it still looks amazing. You'd have to be fighting to find anything bad about it's presentation.


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Jet Set Radio looked good for the type of game it was when it came out in idk…2002!? Back when everyone thought games look real because it was such a leap between PS1 and PS2. So all games should look like jet set radio to you? 😂
 
Represent. said:
Games should be looking like this.



I dont care if its a 4-6 hour experience like COD SP. Give me this level animation and fidelity...

The whole fucking point of new hardware every few years is to enhance and improve visual fidelity. Devs nowadays just give us PS4 level stuff at 60fps and call it next gen. And gamers eat it up.
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... You want games to take 27 seconds of downtime every time you run out of bullets?

There's nothing next-gen about this animation or above the "PS4 level stuff" you say lazy devs are making us gamers eat up. (In fact, i believe that animation is from a reel of a pro dev.) What you see there is just meticulous handmade work mixed with a lack of practical compromise; you can make really detailed half-minute reload animation if you don't have to fit it into a game and have a player sit to watch it. In real life, however, you need to get that animation done in 1/10th the time and fit it into the process budget.

New hardware has enhanced and improved visual fidelity, and will continue to do so as new tech comes online. This gen, however, has unfortunately launched without a major new tech tree ready to power a "true next- gen experience" visually, and we gamers are not used to that. (We may have to get used to it, because this may be a sign of the future of consoles and game engines...) And essentially everything new this gen has been additive rather than foundational, which is another thing we're not used to. (Maybe this will change when games start using RT/Lumen or Nanite at the core, but so far there's been fallback methods, and even Matrix Awakens could conceivably run on a low-spec machine if you dialed it down enough. )

There have been some great advancements in loading this gen, however, and framerate adhered with visual fidelity through upscaling has advanced nicely. That's all great for gameplay advancements, but for pure visual impact, the new stuff wasn't ready at launch and still is experimental. We're just now getting out of the first-wave game releases and development cycles are longer than ever, but hopefully the next wave of games will find new things to do with the hardware.
 
I am happy that I can play something like Octopath 2, sea of stars, ori games and even messenger and be amazed. On the opposite end, Final Fantasy, wich was my favorite series ever, lost its way when it started chasing pretty graphics.
 
IndianaJack said:
I still play games from the 1980s, it's not all about latest graphics. Gameplay, story, characters are more interesting to me.
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You gotta check out Callisto Protocol, Matrix Demo, Ratchet & Clank, and Horizon. Look at Unrecord and Black Myth Wo Kong. It's either push graphics or stay the same it's no in between.
 
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