Poll: Will the use of Realistic Graphics Decline?

[Qitz]

With games like Torchlight(1 & 2), Borderlands(1 & 2), Bastion, Skyward Sword and I'm sure a bunch I'm forgetting, do you think more and more games will be developed with a more Artistic style to it instead of pumping the graphics to the max?

Don't get me wrong, Realistic Graphics are getting very impressive, take a gander at Crysis 2 or Battlefield 3, and with the increase in technology the chances of someone having a system that can't run it is getting lower and lower so that's not as big of a concern as prior games, will game developers keep pushing the realistic view in hopes to draw in as many people in the short commercial time or will they take a turn to a more artistic style to get a more unique feel from the game?

Or maybe things will find a balance between artistic and realistic to where a majority will have a blend of the two and only a few niche games that have been known for having those graphic styles will keep at it like Madden for Realism and Legend of Zelda for Artistic.

I'm starting to lean towards games using a more artistic design. With realistic graphics becoming more and more abundant and each Triple A game pushing the realism to the max I can see developers drawing back the realism and going for a more unique and impressionable art style.

What do you think?

 

[Dr-Sock]

I always think the art/aesthetic of the game depicts how it is played and how your immersed... Sometimes I wanna be an action hero in a "realistic" situation therefor beautiful crisis like graphics are nice. But just bought the binding of Isaac and team meats art style there makes it fun, not too serious and easy to dip in and out of. There are also beautiful works of art out there in design which are wonderful to look at and play, but I don't want every game I play to be a pretentious artist's project. Too many and the effect of something having a barrier breaking and artistic style will diminish.

But artistic design is always based on person to person opinion but I hope each finds their niche because I like both in my games.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Let me put it like this. Sly Cooper has better visuals than Crysis.
Style over fidelity wins for me. Especially if they can get away with it on less hardware intensive engines.

 

[Jakub324]

I like my games realistic, on the hole. I consider immersion very important and, in that way, Crysis beats the shit out of Madworld.

 

[Corven]

It's not going anywhere, but that just means game developers will choose the art style they think is appropriate for the game they are making. Both realistic and stylized graphics have their place and can enhance the experience of a game in different ways to great effect.

 

[Bad Jim]

Seems like a silly idea to me. Hollywood shows no sign of abandoning live actors in favour of animation. Why would realistic visuals in games be abandoned in favour of the cartoony look?

Many types of game just look better when they are realistic. I don't think it would ever be a good idea to do COD in a cartoony style. And a lot of people will prefer realistic. It won't disappear.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I can dig photorealism in a lot of cases, particularly in stuff that tries to be more serious. Uncanny valley be damned. However, when a game bases itself entirely around realism, that's when I draw the line. Particularly if they then include stuff like the snowmobile scene from Modern Warfare 2.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Style over fidelity wins for me. Especially if they can get away with it on less hardware intensive engines.

I second this! The majour problem, I think, with current era gaming is that graphics technology is so expensive that many other elements of the game have to be sacrificed just to make the game "look pretty". If a visually appealing art style can be achieved using less advanced, but also less expensive graphics technology, then there'd still be room left in the budget to develop the other (more important) aspects of the game.

 

[dave1004]

When we have virtual reality, THEN we'll need realistic graphics. Until then, keep it colorful and pretty. But, both will still go on. It's just how this world works. Right behind the fact that Poptart Cat is the only thing keeping us alive, by spinning the world round and round.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I haven't notice a significant increase in non-realistic games. I can't predict where the medium will go either. I just hope that people pick the graphic style that suits there game the best.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

There will always be a place for both realistic and non-realistic styles. It really depends on the game and what the game tries to do. You need to make the right decision because a lot of the atmosphere and immersion depends on the style of the game. I prefer non-realistic graphics that are more cartoony and fantasy looking. But I consider Dragon Age to have a non-realistic style so maybe my opinion isn't all that relevant.

 

[Braedan]

I like them both, but I find there is WAAAAY too much focus on hyper realistic. I want some artistic! And I don't mean don't spend any time on graphics and make everything look cartoony. I mean spend a reasonable amount of time on aesthetics and make it gorgeous and unique.
Also make the game-play and story paramount, because after a while super realistic dirt and sand gets ignored (by my mind at least), and I only notice when it get more realistic.

I think though, that it will be a little bit yet, but graphics are going to plateau, meaning that it will cost exponentially more amount of time to make nicer and nicer graphics. So eventually they'll start trying to look different from everything out there rather than trying to recreate every atom of dirt.
I hope at least.

 

[DementedSheep]

Not really, might drop a bit when devs eventually get over this obsession with graphics but as it gets easier and cheaper and to do realistic graphics I expect to see more of it or more stylised a bit but mostly on the realistic side. I think many games are stylised because it requires less to make look good (usually) and means you don?t get uncanny valley as much when things are slightly off.
Not that heavily stylised is bad, I don?t think that?s in danger of dying out. Different games suit different aesthetics and no matter how good the tech you still need good design or it will look like crap regardless.

 

[Wayneguard]

In my opinion, realistic graphics haven't even been given a chance. They reached their peak with the resident evil remake and resident evil 0 on the gamecube and no developer has had the balls to make a game with prerendered 2d backgrounds since. Shame...

 

[Valdsator]

The thing is, games aren't even trying to have realistic graphics anymore. They just want to look "pretty." Real life isn't all shiny with weird ambient occlusion and overdone color correction. RL graphics (lol) aren't so complex (visual wise, not coding/tech wise, maybe it's not the right word), and barely any games, besides some racing games, actually attempt photo-realism.

Anyway, games should have the style of graphics that suits the theme and setting.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

The thing is, games aren't even trying to have realistic graphics anymore. They just want to look "pretty." Real life isn't all shiny with weird ambient occlusion and overdone color correction. RL graphics (lol) aren't so complex (visual wise, not coding/tech wise, maybe it's not the right word), and barely any games, besides some racing games, actually attempt photo-realism.

Anyway, games should have the style of graphics that suits the theme and setting.

This. I'm surprised more people don't notice the difference. Even Call of Duty doesn't try to look realistic; its very obviously stylized with the way they do colors. Like a movie, sort of. Or GTA IV, which everyone complained was "too realistic" but was obviously done to look like a moving painting/comic book, completely with watercolor trees.