pulse2 said:
I love games, but theres a thin line between realism I find makes the game more immersive and realism that makes the game boring.
Take GTA4 as a popular example, it was fun, don't get me wrong, but at times, I couldn't help but feel it was treading along that 'too realistic' line at times and forgetting what made the game popular to begin with, sheer chaos and humour.
For other games, it seems that sticking in a zombie mode is there way of taking away the realism issue.
So, at what point is realistic 'too realistic' for you?
Eg: I can't stand simulators, they bore me to tears, I don't want to think about how to get the plane flying, I just want to press one button and it flies.
I don't think GTA IV should really be an example of realism vs non. GTA's "realism" came down to an excuse for poor mechanics. Cars handle like crap? It's realism! Game too dark at points to see, unless you've got your TV adjusted so you can see all the flaws? It's not a shortcut, it's realism! Pedestrians and Drivers who seem to exist just to impede you? Their suicidal tendencies are just realism!
There's no defining line, I don't think. Realism impedes a game at the point that it turns the game into a chore. For GTA, it wasn't so much the "realism" as it was mission design, side activities, and friendships. Checkpoints (or lack of) were also a major design flaw, which Did nothing to immersion and plenty to annoyance factors. A cartoonier game with these flaws would still not be fun, and it has nothing to do with realism.
I don't mean to rag on GTA, because I enjoyed it until those flaws weighed it down. So let's go elsewhere. Shooters. First person, third person, cover based, camping, run and gun, the major commonality is most people want to go "bang bang pew pew boom!" Adding realistic elements can help, but who really wants to play a game where getting shot in the leg means you might bleed out on the spot? Most people don't. They want to respawn when they die, and their enemies to respawn so they can keep killing them and get a good K/D ratio. Hell, I don't want realistic ammo counts, for that matter. Sometimes, I even want ridiculous weapons that make no sense, and over the top action. Sometimes.
A realistic war game would likely not be fun for many people, annd hints at realism can bog it sdown. But that's not all, and I think that's the problem. There's no line because so many elements can make something boring.
The last thing you want is to have lung cancer or a spontaneous heart attack when you are fighting that last boss
