Poll: Are graphics in games more important then the soundtrack?

[veloper]

First of all you can have an atmospheric game even without music, just have good soundfx.

Secondly it depends on the scale:
Terrible graphics are worse than terrible music, because you just turn off the music, but a great soundtrack has a bigger positive impact than great graphics. The graphics will also age and become less impressive over time, while good music may be timeless.

 

[Carl The Manicorn]

I love a good soundtrack. A soundtrack needs to be something that I could put on my iPod or a collection of music that moves me into getting deeper into the experince. A soundtrack done well is Fallout 3 or the first three Tony Hawk games or the Skate series.

As for graphics, well you can have an 8-bit game and as long as it plays well, I wouldn't mind it. Graphics are kind of like a soundtrack. As long as they immerse me into the experince, I don't care.

This is a silly question either way.

 

[Jinxzy]

I think they're equally important. They are the story telling of the media. The images give us a sense of being there while the sound adds to the experience. If you hear any music from your favorite game. I'm sure you can picture in your head whats going on, what you did wrong, what you did right or even if you died. Also there are soundtracks from video games you could never forget. Even some games give you a reason to listen to a band or make them a little more popular.

Example: I played Bordelands and the opening song was so catchy to me that I looked for the song. I found out it was from the band Cage the Elephant. Which led me to buy there cd.

 

[Jamash]

As much as soundtracks are an important feature that can often make a game, graphics are more important based on the fact that a deaf person can enjoy any game a lot more than a blind person.

If the sound design is terrible, you can still mute your TV and play in silence, but if the graphics are bad, you can't turn off the screen and play by sound alone.

Visuals will always be more important than sound in a visual medium.

 

[TehCookie]

Soundtrack, graphics never help with immersion. Sure they look pretty and you can't have a game without them, but they can't convey the same mood as a song.

Persona 3 has a great example. During the game, the standard map music is this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sw96AHqCco]. Then a tragic event happens and next time you go to the map screen this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhArt4yKg9c] starts playing. Same graphics, completely different tone that fits and reenforces the mood perfectly. I'm not going to say what since major spoilers, go play it to find out.

Not to mention I use audio cues all the time. A lot of enemies use them when attacking or it's a good way to let you know when you cleared out a room or if there is still an enemy left you need to be wary of.

 

[Instant K4rma]

I'd say the soundtrack plays a much more powerful role than the graphics.

Example:

This​

In a game that looks like

This

Stellar soundtracks are remembered for a long time, not outstanding graphics.

 

[SpoonyBrah]

Screw soundtracks. I mute all my games, while bumping dubstep and 50 cent. Who cares about immersion.

 

[SpoonyBrah]

Screw soundtracks. I mute all my games, while bumping dubstep and 50 cent. Who cares about immersion.

 

[C F]

Everyone always hypes up the graphics. Between a game's HUD and all the high-definition texture-work every modern title seems to have, the visual field can seem a little... contested.
But give me a riveting musical score, and you can bet that gets noticed. Especially when the audio competition is nothing but gunshots or other repetitive sound effects.

Another thing about music is that it never gets outdated.

 

[Smiley Face]

I love soundtracks. They make up the largest portion of my iPod Library, film and videogame.

Besides the fact that many of them are drop dead GOOD, soundtracks lend tone, and even define, games. You think of any Zelda, Elder Scrolls, Halo game, one of the first things to your mind is the distinctive musical tone. Even with games without GREAT soundtracks, you can still get this defining quality.

On the other hand, graphics are nice, but we all play old favourites every now and again (KotOR, Fable, etc.), and I've made a point to look up some games that came out before I could've played them (Baldur's Gate, for example).

 

[Talshere]

Snip

This video catagorically proves that graphics can be inferior to voice acting and music.

snip

Well your right about one thing, you certainly dont play skyrim for the graphics, especially not on the 360

 

[zuro64]

I think soundtrack is more important since its the one that sets the mood ingame and is the one of the two that keeps bringing you back (at least for me)
While things can look absolutely stunning it has only a few WOW effects before you start to ignore it more and more even if its unintentionally.
When on the other hand a song or piece of music can make you repeat it for ever and yet feel fresh.

I just want you to think about how many games you remember for its music vs how many for its grafics!

The music has far more when you think about it huh?

 

[Xiroh86]

For me it is hands down the soundtrack.

Now, that doesn't mean that the graphics aren't important, its just that between the two of them soundtracks are what really convey emotion.

Studies have been done that show that your auditory sense is the second best sense to trigger memories, which are what trigger emotional reaction due to attachment. Your visual sense is actually at the bottom of the five when it comes to triggering memories.

 

[Rivenart]

These topics are silly.

It's like saying, "What's more important in a painting? Red, blue or green?"

Or how about, "What's more important in a book? Words or punctuation?"

Red and Blue are clearly more important then green. Why no love for yellow though?
Without words punctuation is nothing more then a bunch of marks on a page, but words without punctuation do not suffer the same fate. So words.

On topic, depends what you mean by "graphics", if "OMG it's so realistic and look at the pretty lights" then the soundtrack, but if you do intend to encompass all "art styles" or "stylized designs" then they probally just about balance.
Bastion I loved both the style and imagery of it but without the music I don't think it would have felt nearly as great, they are likely both as key to the game but without the soundtrack and the dialogues use of timing and rhythm the game would be totally different.
I'd always prefer a great soundtrack or even music though sound (dialogue or surroundings making a beat of some sort) over a realistically dank and dark dungeon, it's a game and I've never got the whole I need to strain my eyes or be deafened by gunshots to make the gameplay better personally.

 

[Wolfram23]

IMO, pretty much equal with maybe slightly more emphasis on graphics/aesthetics.

The reason being simply that as far as being able to game and enjoy the experience, you need to be able to see things clearly and not be thrown off by the visuals. You can quite enjoy a game with little to no sound.

HOWEVER, I am a bit of an audiophile and I really, really appreciate when a game has good sound. BF3 has great sound effects, which is awesome and very engrossing, but it doesn't really have background tracks to help get you in. Legend of Zelda: OoT has an awesome soundtrack and each area has a very fitting music to it which definitely helps set the tone. Penumbra and Amnesia are games without a lot of sound, yet what they do have is extremely appropriate and definitely enhances the experience.

So basically, from a technical view point graphics are more important. But from an overall experience view, sound is something that can make a good game great, which graphics cannot do.

 

[BishopofAges]

I hate taking sides, really I do. However, I have to say that I enjoy music more than graphics, because you can take it with you, away from the game, and still enjoy it with other things, hell even using it with other games. To cite my opinionated source, I give you Might and Magic 7 (link because I am tired) http://www.blimix.com/images/MM7_Morcarack.jpg

From that picture you (hopefully) saw, the graphics are dated, to say the least, its world was terribly dated and graphicly clunky, but the music was pretty good. Nearly all of it was instrumental with vocals only being sort of opera-style wordless vocals. Yet, even outside of nostalgia I find myself listening to the soundtracks.


I hope this music is right, I am not on my own comp right now and the speakers are out on this one (cross fingers).

Honestly, its more about the feel of a game, vague, I know. Ambiance is a better word and both music and graphics play a role.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

I'd vote for soundtrack. I recently got into Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, and although it isn't absolutely amazing as far as graphics (though the character animations are very well done), but the soundtrack, to me, is like finding diamonds in a gold mine. There's not 1 track on it I don't like, and every song fits the situation almost TOO perfectly. This has only happened once before, with Cave Story, so that's saying something.