is anyone else sick of realism?

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Madmatty

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nearly every game for the past few years has been gritty brown and realistic and honestly im sick and tired of realism and games with dark gritty stories. does anyone else feel this way? Plus when Battleborn and Overwatch come out im getting them because they totally break that trend.
 

Addendum_Forthcoming

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Nobody ever remembers encumberance rules, but they do remember a 10' pole and 50' of rope.

While I did gripe a bit about STALKER's encumberance ... there was a certain appreciation anout the dilemma. Do I really need to carry all these artifacts I probably won't use on this hike? Will I actually need those many slugs? I think you need a certain degree of reason and realism in a lot of games. I think it helps to drive mood. STALKER games being an example of this.
 

someguy1231

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I've been sick of "realism" from the beginning.

Video games are not real life. I don't play games to compare them to real life. I play them to have fun. As far as I'm concerned, "realism" is just an unnecessary restriction on how creative developers can be and how fun a game can be. EVen if a specific game is supposed to be realistic, I won't hold it to that as long as it's fun to play.

Besides, anyone clamoring for "realism" in games is a hypocrite. No game can ever be 100% realistic, and one that is would be incredibly boring and unfun. Everyone just picks and chooses what aspects of "realism" they like or want more of, while conveniently ignoring those aspects of reality they'd rather be set aside.
 

Gray-Philosophy

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The brown, bland, colourless and gritty theme? a little bit. But realistic mechanics? nah, I love those.
 

Madmatty

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i guess it depends for me. on the other hand id love to see a third person shooter where characters take realistic damage and its really hard i mean Dark Souls hard and what i mean by realistic damage is they dev team maps out the characters internal organs and a shot from a handgun to the chest kills you instantly.
 

tippy2k2

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Nope.

Personally, I wish we would get even more realistic games (like FPS where you have to use tactics and you get killed in a shot or two like SWAT 4). I've always much preferred games like SWAT 4 and (to a lesser extent in the realism department, although I play Hardcore so that helps) Call of Duty over games like Unreal or Quake or Halo. Some people hate the "one shot one kill" games but I much prefer those over the "Hold on, I have to reload because this clip of ammo still didn't kill you yet" games.
 

MysticSlayer

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Looking back at some of the games I've played in recent years (off the top of my head):

-Mass Effect trilogy (sci-fi)
-Dragon Age Origins and 2, starting Inquisition soon (fantasy)
-Xenoblade Chronicles (sci-fi/fantasy)
-Saints Row 2 (semi-realistic)
-Saints Row: The Third (goofy)
-Saints Row 4 (superheroes)
-Saints Row: Gat out of Hell (superheroes in hell)
-Dark Souls 1 & 2 (fantasy)
-Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (sci-fi)
-L.A. Noire (realistic)
-Batman: Arkham Asylum and City (superhero)
-Battlefield 3 (realistic)
-BlazBlue: Continuum Shift: Extend (anime)
-UMvC3 (superheroes)
-Smash Bros. 4 (goofy)
-BioShock Infinite (weird)
-The Walking Dead (zombies)
-This War of Mine (realistic)
-Game Dev Tycoon (cartoon)
-The Witcher (fantasy)
-The Witcher 2 (depressed)

So out of all of that, only a handful are actually even remotely realistic, and some of the more realistic ones are still goofy, and the others use their realism to great effect. I'd say that if you have a problem with realism, you need to stop playing military shooters, which are themselves moving in a sci-fi direction.
 

Erttheking

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I can't be sick of something we never had. All the games trying to create realism have a pretty bizarre take on how the world works. I can only think of a handful of games that I would call realistic in any sense, and even they have a lot of "only in a video game" moments.

I suppose there are games like Red Orchestra and SWAT 4 but those are slim pickings.
 

Frezzato

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Ezekiel said:
No. Games are still pretty silly and unrealistic.... [snip]
Bam. Totally agree with Ezekiel.

someguy1231 said:
I've been sick of "realism" from the beginning....


[snip]
And I also agree with this.

I was just talking about this with a friend. The reason I don't play multiplayer deathmatch games is they all feel like pointless exercises in which you play the same maps over and over. I'd be more than willing to play a versus game if this hypothetical game took place in a persistent world (one of many in which your created character is tied to) that tracks progress across a region. Wins and losses would be recorded and updated in sectors; entire regions, won or lost, would remain in that state until a change occurs. And I feel there should be an end game, even if that end game results in just a badge for your account, leading to a fresh start or new game+.

This is a level of 'realism' I'd be happy with. I couldn't care less about weapon models or whatever. Keep it fun, don't waste my time, but do track progress at a larger level.
 

Madmatty

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Ezekiel said:
PaulH said:
Nobody ever remembers encumberance rules, but they do remember a 10' pole and 50' of rope. While I did gripe a bit about STALKER's encumberance ... there was a certain appreciation anout the dilemma. Do I really need to carry all these artifacts I probably won't use on this hike? Will I actually need those many shells and slugs?
I still wish encumbrance had carried over to Dark Souls from Demon's Souls. It helped balance the game and made items and loot more precious.

It's a double edged sword for me. Yes it helped for strategizing and proper planning a trip out of the Nexus, but it also made things more tedious in the process.

All in all, as far as realism is concerned it's a bit ironic to have an encumbrance system in games that don't physically represent everything you're carrying in the first place. Where is the player stuffing all those stones, weapons, arrows, armor sets, etc. The game needs to be honest with itself and not contradict its design. A bottomless box was a good start to bridge the gap considering the fantasy setting.

Games like MGSV and presumably Uncharted 4 do pretty good job of a realistic inventory/carry system.

In the end, I don't mind when games have gamey inventories, but it does add to immersion if they're more realistic.
 

Lightspeaker

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ITT: The OP pretty clearly intends to be talking about visuals and stories and the apparent need to make everything grim, brown and realistic-looking and the stories equally bland and 'real'. The tone of the game, in short; regardless of its subject.

A bunch of people follow it up with "but the mechanics aren't realistic!" Or "there's lots of fantasy and sci-fi".

...what?


In the interests of trying to actually get the thread back on track...actually this is one of the reasons I love Bioshock Infinite. Its relatively bright and vibrant. Its also why I loved the puzzler/platformer Contrast. Simple game and not very long but it looks fabulous; and the story is weird and fascinating.
 

TP Potato

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I'm a bit weary of it as well. I have no problem with gritty realism itself but, as with any other trend, over-saturation is kind of ruining it for me.
 

Addendum_Forthcoming

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Ezekiel said:
I still wish encumbrance had carried over to Dark Souls from Demon's Souls. It helped balance the game and made items and loot more precious.
How many stones will I have thrown at me if I haven't played one, and barely player the other? :( If a figure can't be given I'll settle for approximate tonnage.

Sometimes inventory represents something intrinsic to the game. Monster Hunter for instance. Minimizing inventory means you have to think everytime you go into the hunt.
 

Amir Kondori

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Unless there is a good gameplay reason for realism I'm generally against it for its own sake. It depends on the game of course but if the moment to moment gameplay is suffering for your realism then get rid of your realism.
 

Darth Rosenberg

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Pro-tip for The People Of The Internetz: no one in the world, ever, is the only person thinking anything. I mean, I may be the only person playing Elite on console at the Escapist, but that's a different issue...

Madmatty said:
nearly every game for the past few years has been gritty brown and realistic and honestly im sick and tired of realism and games with dark gritty stories. does anyone else feel this way? Plus when Battleborn and Overwatch come out im getting them because they totally break that trend.
Ideally what you mean by "realism" must be defined first. You seem to be drawn to colours. Is Gears Of War "realistic" because it's "brown"? Or does it have a "gritty" tone but is about as "realistic" as Jet Set Radio?

Is Call Of Duty "realistic" because it's generally had recognisable weapons and worlds - despite it actually being about as realistic as a particularly wacky James Bond film? Last I checked, zipping about space stations firing automatic weaponry wasn't particularly realistic. Or gritty. It's actually kinda goofy and OTT, neither of which are typically associated with "gritty realism".

Personally? I don't really think there's a bias towards any style, and there's always a variety to pick from. Is there a lack of realism because I don't have a contemporary version of Ghost Recon Island Thunder to play, or an SP Rainbow Six with a setting and punishing gameplay which approximates authenticity? No, it's just those styles of games, annoyingly for me, aren't being made at the moment.

someguy1231 said:
Video games are not real life.
Did anyone say they are?

I don't play games to compare them to real life. I play them to have fun.
And people who like, say, simulations aren't playing them to have fun? If someone puts 400hrs onto a hardcore flight sim, do you think they're just freaky gluttons for self-punishment and boredom?

Complexity and cause and consequence can be hugely engaging, not to mention rewarding.

Besides, anyone clamoring for "realism" in games is a hypocrite. No game can ever be 100% realistic, and one that is would be incredibly boring and unfun.
Er, maybe people have fun in different ways? And how on god's green earth is subjective taste tantamount to hypocrisy? Would you rather people who like shooters go out, buy guns, and start shooting each other for the ULTIMATE realism just so they're not being filthy hypocrites? Probably not...

Role-play in RPG's can also be another form of approximated 'realism'. Given I was on console with no mods, on Skyrim I'd still change gear dependent on weather despite no Frostfall present, and I'd try to carry provisions even though I had no Realistic Needs & Diseases mechanic enforcing me to play by such rules. For some, immersion is greatly increased by RP's and approximated authenticity.

People grousing about how silly forms of realism is in games are no different, surely, to those who dismiss Nintendo as being a company who makes children's toys. I may have never owned a Nintendo system in my life, and have zero desire to do so, but I'm not going to dismiss more colourful, OTT, 'fun'/moment-to-moment gameplay IP's as they're just on a different part of the spectrum that is a spectacularly varied medium.