Graphics - Realistic or Stylistic?

[EBHughsThe1st]

I like both, but my personal preference is stylized.

 

[CK76]

Within a generation both are equal, a generation later stylized becomes preferable.

 

[jamesworkshop]

Realistic

Stylised

A mix of both

Its a choice every developer has to make, diffrent tools for different jobs

 

[Plurralbles]

stylized. Gritty realism is in fact, stupid. It doesn't make sense from any view point 'cept the dumbass marketing department. And yet it costs a hell of a lot moreto produce and withina few months it's completely obsolete.

 

[suhlEap]

it really all depends on the game doesn't it? Battlefield wouldn't work with stylistic graphics, it'd look silly. likewise crash bandicoot wouldn't work if it was realistic graphics. in fact it'd suck. so yeah.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Stylistic naturally. I play games to get away from realism, so the last thing I want my games to be is realistic.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

It depends entirely on the game.

 

[Lemon Of Life]

I love looking at some incredible realistic graphics, but stylistic ones age better, give the game its own identity and can be plain awesome.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I think the main problem is that graphics have gotten so good that they don't actually look like real life.

So good or not good enough? Bethesda does a great job of making the textures and design of their characters look realistic but when they move you can tell that there's something missing in the tech. When they're talking to me, I get the feeling that I'm conversing with a disneyworld automatron.
And while Fallout 3 is still my favorite game from this generation, I have to say I prefer the stylized graphics of games like Borderlands and No More Heroes (probably the only thing I found tolerable about that title).

 

[Kajt]

Stylistic all the way. To hell with realism in gaming.

 

[Beardon65]

I prefer the more artsy, Styled graphics better than the Realistic. When I first saw TF2 I just stared at the graphics, it was just so... different. Unique. Completely independent and haven't been done in video-games. I don't have problems with Realistic graphics; It's just ist seems too over-done. From where I see it, the more effort you put into it, the more grotesque it looks. Look at Half-Life 2 and (I know someone's going to hate me for saying this)Halo 2 in comparision. They were made around the same time (Half-Life 2 - November 16th 2004. Halo 2 - November 9th). See the difference? Exactly my point. Long answer short: Stylaised is better than realistic.

 

[mrfusspot]

It really depends on how serious the game is supposed to be, for me.
If it supposed to be serious, I want to see a realistic, or semi-realistic art style. If it is intended to be a silly, light-hearted game, I don't really care either way, but am okay with stylized.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

And of course, the wrong style for the tone can be more toxic than realism for the wrong tone, heh.

That definitely does happen, and it can be awful, but stylistic dissonance can also be hilariously awesome [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MJEdZCejbQ]. Less the art style itself in that particular case than the music and candy and flowers vs. the actions on screen, but you can get the same effect lots of different ways (e.g. Happy Tree Friends or Hello Kitty 40k [http://onastick.net/sitz/images/HK40K.jpg] or whatever). As long as the contrast is big enough and not stuck in the "What were they thinking?" middle ground, it goes from horrible to great pretty quickly.

YMMV depending on personal taste, but it's always fun when something dark and depressing is done in a childish style or something lighthearted is presented as grim and drab. For the same reason, I like bizarre cross-genre song covers or mashups. A country version of Snoop's Gin and Juice or Laibach doing Jesus Christ Superstar never fails to make me happy.

 

[natural20]

I would rather play a game that had good stylistic graphics. I play as an escape (note: escapist...) and would rather that my games didn't look like something I could see on the news.

 

[Blue Musician]

Style for me is more realistic than the most "realistic" graphics in games. I mean, I nearly see things celshaded.
So style.

 

[Ericb]

Realism is a style.

This dichotomy is specially stupid because it boils down the scenario of visual creativity to "Realistic Vs The Other Stuff". Like the former is more worthwhile than the latter.

Cue half the games out there being indistinguishable from much else being released.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

It depends on the game really, I wouldn't like a cartoonish looking WW2 game for example.

 

[Dapper Ninja]

Stylized graphics are just superior in every way to me. They age better, they leave more of an impression, they're more interesting to look at, they're unique, they often go along with creative gameplay and storytelling, and they just look better.

Realistic graphics, on the other hand, became out-dated and ugly after only a few years and end up being really dull to look at after a certain point, which pretty much all current games that go for realism have reached.