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[SolVanderlyn]

FFVII. I'm quite serious. For all the laughs at its character models, its prerendered backgrounds are timeless.

I don't think anybody is going to argue with you there. The character models are the only source of complaint.

This is my personal favorite. Stands out to me all these years later, mostly because it uses the fidelity of said backgrounds to deliver the shock factor of this moment.

 

[diodox]

Rogue Squadron 2 on the Gamecube, I refuse to believe that game is 14 years old.

I'd do unspeakable things for a remastered/remade RS trilogy. I wonder what the rights situation is with the series.

It was said at IGN that Factor5 got it done for Wii before they went out of bussiness. It is a real pity.

http://m.ign.com/articles/2014/10/13/cancelled-star-wars-rogue-squadron-wii-game-footage-found

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Final Fantasy IX is gorgeous with its prerendered backgrounds. And the character models were great as well. Just look at this. Gorgeous.

FFVII. I'm quite serious. For all the laughs at its character models, its prerendered backgrounds are timeless.

I agree. I also like the character models. I'm not a big fan of the character models in battles as I think they look quite dated, but I really love the blocky field character models. They are cute and iconic to me.

 

[poodaddy]

All MGS games

Zone of enders

Timesplitters

KOTOR

Persona 4

What this awesome dude said plus Vagrant Story and Chrono Cross. That's the list.

 

[Wanderer5]

Going through Tomb Raider 2 recently, I think a lot of the aesthetics looks pretty damn good even nowadays really.

 

[sfried]

Rogue Squadron for the Nintendo 64.

Actually, make that any Factor 5 game on the Nintendo 64.

Also Donkey Kong 64.

 

[Skux]

Warcraft III, still holds up thanks to its art direction

 

[ApharmdX]

Some of the best-looking games on Xbox still impress me, namely JSRF, Otogi 2, and Panzer Dragoon Orta. Also, this:

And 2D games, high-quality ones, are timeless.

To comment on games others have posted, Auto Modellista looks great in screenshots but in motion it was all static; a great disappointment. The Rogue Leader games were beautiful but the gameplay just left a bad taste in my mouth. Still, a fantastic achievement.

I love you. Panzer Dragoon Saga is still my personal favourite game. The Saturn was doing things that it wasn't meant to in this game as well as other games like Burning Rangers and Sonic R. Real time lighting, transparency, also the tech going into the Dragon's morphing ability in real time...man, absolutely stunning.

On the other hand, the framerate of these games was abysmal. I loved Saga, one of the best RPGs of all time and a forgotten treasure, but the fps were often so low. And Burning Rangers was gorgeous but basically unplayable.

 

[Cheeseman Battitude]

Giants Citizen Kabuto

 

[Ishida]

Mega Man Legends 2 is straight up gorgeous. Easily one of the best looking games of the PS1 era.

 

[Macrotus]

The pre-rendered background of Final Fantasy 7 to 9.
I love the detail and warmth it has. You can see this in Saga Frontier 1 too.

 

[dark10x]

here.


How did a stunning [original] looking game looks even better? in 2 player co-ops too.

Simple. They sacrificed frame-rate. Rebel Strike really struggles to hit 60fps.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

Homeworld. Truly Timeless for me.

I know it's been remastered now, but I probably prefer the original graphics.

 

[MattKeil]

So people are actually impressed by prerendered backgrounds? Of all the little tricks of the trade from back in the day, I think that holds up the least. REmake was never impressive to me, and always looked dead and lifeless, like so many other prerendered background titles. The day prerendered backgrounds were left in the dust was a great day for the medium.

 

[Lime]

Homeworld. Truly Timeless for me.

I know it's been remastered now, but I probably prefer the original graphics.

That's an image of Homeworld 2. Homeworld 1 looks like this (in 1080p)

i agree with you by the way

 

[Dark_castle]

I don't think anybody is going to argue with you there. The character models are the only source of complaint.

This is my personal favorite. Stands out to me all these years later, mostly because it uses the fidelity of said backgrounds to deliver the shock factor of this moment.

How did Final Fantasy VII get away with rating T again?

 

[Boomshaw]

Final Fantasy 9 - PS1.

The art backgrounds in that game still amaze me. For a PS1 game it was a spectacle and truly still is.

Omg sofa king good!

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Most games, generally? I'm honestly fine with most games visually, I especially like the pre-rendered backgrounds from the PSX/Saturn/PS2/GC eras [that Capcom were masters at] and some of the PSX games like Metal Gear Solid, Koudelka, Resident Evil 2 & 3, Galerians, Mega Man Legends and Vagrant Story all still look visually good to me.

And pretty much all pixel art games still look great to me, no matter the era. And like 80% of the stuff I play on PS2, GC and OG Xbox still look good to me too. Just because the newest games look good doesn't just make these old games suddenly ugly or anything. I still think the likes of FFXII, MGS2, MGS3, Wind Waker, Odin Sphere, Trapt, Breath of Fire V, Steel Battalion, Fatal Frame 3, Otogi 1 & 2, Forbidden Siren 1 & 2, Zone of the Enders 2, killer7 and Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 are all still genuinely great looking games; it helps that the artists who worked on these games are exceptionally talented.

I tend to find I go for more dark, gothic aesthetics and "dated" horror games actually enhance the horror atmosphere for me. Leaves more to the imagination that way.

Koudelka:

Forbidden Siren:

Fatal Frame 1/Project Zero 1:

 

[velociraptor]

Surprised nobody mention the first Half-life.

Sorry but that looks fugly. The engine for HL was really, really bad. Even when I played the game in 1997 or 1998, I didn't even think 'yep, this looks good'. It looked ugly then, and it looks ugly now.

Unreal, Quake 2/3, UT99 looked a lot better for their time.

 

[Acquiescence]

FFVII. I'm quite serious. For all the laughs at its character models, its prerendered backgrounds are timeless.

Fuck yeah, I hear that.

 

[thebaroness]

I was going to be pissed if someone hadn't already posted Jet Set Radio.

Going to chime in with Skies of Arcadia and Space Channel 5. The reasons I bought a Dreamcast. They were such vibrant and lush worlds and I still love em' polygons and all.

 

[thebaroness]

FFVII. I'm quite serious. For all the laughs at its character models, its prerendered backgrounds are timeless.

I'm going to say it.

I'm going to speak the blasphemies of all blasphemies.

I do not care for FFVII. Visually I think it was unappealing.

I think VIII was superior in both aesthetics, gameplay, and story.
This image of Squall still haunts me:

 

[Sakwoff]

Going through Tomb Raider 2 recently, I think a lot of the aesthetics looks pretty damn good even nowadays really.

I love love love the environments of the early Tomb Raider games. They have this abstract, labyrinthine quality to them that got lost as technology became more sophisticated and environments more representative.

There is this kind of abstract materiality to them, the way everything seems to be carved out of these blocks.

Love it.

 

[Meccanical]

I think VIII was superior in both aesthetics, gameplay, and story.
This image of Squall still haunts me:

I'll give you the first one, but the next two, just no.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Has anyone said Breath of Fire 4 yet? That game is still a visual masterpiece, let alone good for its time. It has this beautiful watercolor aesthetic to it, and the sprite animation is so fluid.

 

[Tarsul]

Silver (1999 i think) had really beautiful backgrounds.

Can't find best pictures though.

Also, Diablo 1 (1997).

(couldn't grasp how diablo2 looked worse than diablo1 back when it came out )

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Chrono Cross has pretty good visuals in the field maps:

and also in battles:

 

[timcsavage]

Max Payne 2 looks remarkably good, especially given the improvements over the first title.

 

[Ryouji Gunblade]

Kirby 64

Fire Emblem

 

[eso76]

I agree on Ridge Racer Type 4 mentioned earlier in the thread.
Looks amazing yet today, and the menu-graphics!! and the music!!

Yep. Such consistency across visuals, GUI and sound design. Such a well designed package.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Fire Emblem

This game is just not going to age.

 

[Jacobi]

Day of the Tentacle. THAT artstyle. Really looking forward to the remake.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

Friggin stop quoting every picture and if you post screenshots, also post the name of the game. Should be common sense.

 

[big_erk]

FFIX easily for me

FFIX is one of my favorite FF games. I loved the callback to the SD models.

 

[Sakujou]

FFIX is one of my favorite FF games. I loved the callback to the SD models.

FF9+6 were the best FF ever created. story and graphics are not beatable to this day. sad that square isnt even trying to get nearby.

 

[orava]

Supreme Snowboarding (1999, Housemarque)

Cleans up really nicely with proper aa.

 

[ambar_hitman]

Black:

 

[Urban Viking]

Fallout 4 looks sort of dated, but I like the visuals anyway.

 

[Zero²]

I keep posting the same Ridge Racer Type 4 gifs every time a similar thread pops up, man it just looks so fucking great to this day. It just has a timeless aesthetic.

And to this day, it still has my favorite GUI design in any game. Readable, clean, unique and gorgeous. What more can you ask for?

Damn, so many memories

 

[Human_me]

Black:

That's a game I'm sad never came out on PC.

 

[Pooya]

c&c generals still holds up really well for a 14 year old game.

 

[ambar_hitman]

That's a game I'm sad never came out on PC.

Me too.

Looked amazing for its time. Criterion had made a great engine.

 

[gelf]

Pre-rendered backgrounds are why I prefer the the look of FFVII-IX over every entry in the series since. The low quality character models don't detract from that.

 

[gabbo]

Since NOLF2 has been getting some love, I think GAF could use a monkey:
The Operative: No One Lives Forever (2000)

...though Cate looks better in the second game

Drakan: Order of the Flame (1999)
Low poly models aren't as great as they once were, but flying around on Arokh still holds up:

Also, the best comic book game, ever. Fuck Arkham:
Freedom Force vs the Third Reich (2005)

 

[Shadowdude]

For some reason, MGS3 still holds up to me. The faces still retain so much detail.

 

[BigTnaples]

FFVII. I'm quite serious. For all the laughs at its character models, its prerendered backgrounds are timeless.

This game has aged the worst out of any game I have ever played.


I can still look at mechwarrior 2 and think it looks good.

But I tried to play FFVII on my Vita, because I skipped it when it released, and holy shit. I had to stop playing because I lost 6 units of blood out of my fucking eyes.

 

[AdaWong]

RE4 if it counts, if not SH2

 

[djtiesto]

Gaiares

Baten Kaitos

King of Fighters 99

Rez

Star Ocean 1

Tales of Phantasia PS1

SaGa Frontier 2

Wip3out

DQ3 SFC

 

[Alo81]

Policenauts

These raw, native res, 1:1 pixel mapped images just look the best. I love it. This is seriously just artistically impressive.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Fire Emblem

It's a shame that Smash Bros didn't incorporate any of these cool animations into Roy's moveset when he returned, other than his Final Smash. The GBA FEs are famous for their crazy good animations.

It's something I think was lost over time, which is a shame. Those games had amazing animations that I don't think 3D games can properly replicate.