Poll: Artistic vs Realistic graphic?

[FakeSympathy]

Game now days have either two two styles of graphics; artistic and realistic.

Artistic has more saturation of colors and lightings. This style, as the name suggests, looks more like an art. Examples would be Dishonored, Borderlands series, Telltale game series, Okami, and Shadow of Colossus.

Realistic tries to make the game look as realistic as possible. The game tries to put as much details as possible into visuals and objects in the world. Current games that have realistic graphics are (IMO) Quantum Break, MGSV, Black Desert Online, and COD: AW.

In terms of pure graphics, which style do you like more

 

[spartandude]

As always It depends on the game but generally Artistic. Art style usually ages better and can be tailored to the specific atmosphere that the game is trying to get across. And is quite frankly more memorable and distinctive than all the other realistic looking games which look dated and forgettable within two years.

 

[WindKnight]

I love anime, and stylized art in general, artistic graphics will appeal to me more as a rule

 

[sanquin]

I'd prefer the sheer beauty of, say, Ori and the Blind Forest over something like crysis-style graphics any day. Just ages a lot better and it doesn't take a beast of a pc to make the player go "wow". That being said, I do admit that a game like Ark: Survival Evolved for instance wouldn't look as good if it went more for aesthetics than graphics.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I like both of 'm.

I think many realistic games finally stepped away from the primarily brown and grey, so now we have a nice situation going on where they meet halfway.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Artistic.

Games have the power to depict literally ANYTHING so to limit that infinity to what is offered by paltry reality is a huge waste of potential. Unless the game is a flight sim or somethig, realism is boring and mundane. I find people who value realism in games kinda miss the point and are likely to the ones who in the past would ridicule games for being childish or cartoony, ignorant of the offered depth, basing everything on appearnces.

 

[The Madman]

Both?

I can't see something like Overwatch working with a realistic style of graphics, but all the same I wouldn't be interested in playing something with a similar art style set in say WW2. There's a place for everything.

Generally speaking more artistically inclined games tend to age better, but we are also finally reaching a point where more realistic looking games are standing their own as well.

 

[Evonisia]

I'm fairly indifferent to art style, especially as time has gone on to allow "realistic" graphics to age better. Artistic designs can often suffer from just looking like arse (Telltale for example), just as realistic designs can look bland and generic (CoD: AW)[footnote]Though other installments to that series, especially Black Ops III, look really nice in parts[/footnote].

So both. Both can work, just don't fuck up.

 

[Flammablezeus]

It really depends on the game and the feeling that the developer is going for. Want somebody to feel like they're in an actual warzone, fearing for their lives? Realistic might be the way to go. Want somebody to relax and simply have fun without the nonsense of reality holding it back? Go colourful and defy physics.

 

[Redryhno]

Largely depends honestly. If you're going for gritty realism in your story/theme/etc., then realistic helps reinforce that as a general rule more often.

Problem with artistic though is them being like retro graphics. Everyone thinks they can do them easy, and end up with something looking like shit that is difficult to pick out what is what.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Isn't realism itself art? At the very least, paintings, sculptures, and other visual forms of art all have certain people that sought after realism. So I don't see how there's a conflict between "artistic" and "realistic". Certainly the more realistic graphics in some games is itself a part of the overall artistic vision.[footnote]Yes, yes, I know the general meaning behind "artistic" and "realistic" in this context. I just don't like the terminology and refuse to play along.[/footnote]

 

[Saelune]

Artistic games are the ones more likely to be timeless. Realism improves as tech does, so it also degrades just as fast. Most of the games you listed are examples of that.

 

[The Enquirer]

I like both but if I had to pick one, it'd be artistic. It makes the game graphics age much better. TF2 is now going on 9 years old and is still pleasing to look at, even with the plethora of hats in comparison to a game like Call of Duty 4.

 

[Skatalite]

Game now days have either two two styles of graphics; artistic and realistic.

Artistic has more saturation of colors and lightings.

Neither of those are true. Artistic isn't a style, nor is it the opposite of realistic,
and artistic games aren't necessarily more saturated or colorful either. Hell, one of the examples you listed, Shadow of the Colossus, isn't more saturated or colorful...

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Game now days have either two two styles of graphics; artistic and realistic.

Artistic has more saturation of colors and lightings.

Neither of those are true. Artistic isn't a style, nor is it the opposite of realistic,
and artistic games aren't necessarily more saturated or colorful either. Hell, one of the examples you listed, Shadow of the Colossus, isn't more saturated or colorful...

And going by the logic of this topic, it leans more on the realistic spectrum then stylistic. I mean the texture quality and model designs has a somewhat "realistic" look to it.

As for my opinion. When at its best realistic can look beautiful and gorgeous.

I mean Skyrim on the PC with certain graphical upgrade mods (Like Skyrim in Color) makes the land of Skyrim look beautiful at times.

 

[Skatalite]

And going by the logic of this topic, it leans more on the realistic spectrum then stylistic. I mean the texture quality and model designs has a somewhat "realistic" look to it.

Yeah, definitely. It's one of the best examples of an artistic, realistic-looking game, which is why I can't really vote for this poll.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

There is a place for both, but due to the ever advancing improvements in graphics technology, artistic ages much more gracefully.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

I lean towards realism because realism is objective and artistic is subjective and we can actually win arguments over realism. We have the real world to compare things to as an objective baseline for how light works, how texture works, and so forth. When you're dealing with art, it becomes impossible. You start dealing with abstract concepts of beauty.

This is "good graphics" because it resembles a real burger. Because the paper looks waxy. You can't really get bogged down in arguments over whether the "art style" of the burger is good because its goal in life is to look like a real burger. Nothing more.