My friend and I were talking about games recently and we had an interesting debate. Do the games you grow up with determine your tolerance of graphics? I'm 18 and around the time I started gaming, the PS2/Xbox/GCN were the big consoles. Despite not growing up with older systems, I still love playing retro games and I can appreciate them for what they are. My friend, who is the exact same age, will easily brush off a game due to graphics. When I mentioned his unfair bias against games that try to mimic reality, he mentions I grew up playing Game Boy games, so that would influence my graphics preferences.
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- Thread starter MOTHERfan42
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In my early years I had the NES and SNES so I don't mind the graphics of yesteryear. I think it's kind of dumb to brush aside a game just because it has out of date graphics. Of course not all games have withstood the test of time.
in my extreme youth, i.e. around three or four, I played a SNES, but moved onto the PS when I was about six. I can tolerate bad graphics, but not other forms of clunkiness when it comes to games.
Well...the first two games I ever played were Mechwarrior 2 and the Neverhood. The former being boxy polygons for the most part and the other being made of clay, so I like to think I can deal with poor graphics if the gameplay or story is quite involving.
Honestly... I don't know.
I would have said yes, a few years ago. But I've been finding more and more that it isn't the case, both in games and film.
Star Trek, for example. I'm watching the original series and enjoying myself immensely, despite it being generations before my time.
I'm a sucker for graphical beauty, in games as well as film (I loved Avatar in no small part for this reason) but I'm also capable of watching Dr Strangelove, or playing Fallout, X-Com, Diablo 2, etc.
I think graphics are, in part, affected by the games/movies you grew up with; but I also think that the quality of what you're watching/playing can override it.
I would have said yes, a few years ago. But I've been finding more and more that it isn't the case, both in games and film.
Star Trek, for example. I'm watching the original series and enjoying myself immensely, despite it being generations before my time.
I'm a sucker for graphical beauty, in games as well as film (I loved Avatar in no small part for this reason) but I'm also capable of watching Dr Strangelove, or playing Fallout, X-Com, Diablo 2, etc.
I think graphics are, in part, affected by the games/movies you grew up with; but I also think that the quality of what you're watching/playing can override it.
I often find really good graphics put me off games, to me it always seems like the models and such aren't quite right.
For instance with Call of Duty or Crysis or anything like that the people seem to always have 'big' heads and such, it's like they want to have their games stylized with the big unrealistic macho-man but the realistic graphics they strive for make it look mildly ridiculous. Another thing is that often the colours don't look quite right and things are too 'clean' looking which is equally unrealistic.
For instance with Call of Duty or Crysis or anything like that the people seem to always have 'big' heads and such, it's like they want to have their games stylized with the big unrealistic macho-man but the realistic graphics they strive for make it look mildly ridiculous. Another thing is that often the colours don't look quite right and things are too 'clean' looking which is equally unrealistic.
I grew up playing the Sega and PS1 and I don't mind old looking graphics. However my dad has been gaming longer than me and he hates anything less than the newest technology. I think it's not the era of games you grew up with but your imagination. If you played older games as a kid you have an easier time doing that.
I think prior gaming experience has an influence on tolerance of graphics, but is not the biggest factor. The biggest factor is, as stated, what do you want out of a game. If you want realism (especially visual) at all costs, then good graphics are gonna help. If you want fun, graphics aren't going to be a back breaker. For example, I went back to playing the original doom a few weeks ago, and enjoyed it way more than any amount of time I spent on black ops.
In the end, it comes down to the individual. Good graphics rarely hurt a game, but bad (or out-of-date) graphics can turn individuals like your friend against even the best games of their time.
In the end, it comes down to the individual. Good graphics rarely hurt a game, but bad (or out-of-date) graphics can turn individuals like your friend against even the best games of their time.
Bad graphics have always put me off a bit, but not enough to stop me playing a game that is without issues. The correlation for me is that older games generally just had clunkier controls, and that was always something that I had a lot of difficulty putting up with.