Poll: Your "cup of tea" in terms of Graphics

[northeast rower]

I was playing Crysis 2 the other day when I though about this: what makes graphics good to me? After giving it some thought, I came under the impression that it was a mix of color and lighting (Crysis 2 pulled this off with gusto). Take Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, for instance: pretty damn good looking, even without the most beautifully rendered models. How about Call of Cthulhu: DCotE? Not the best models, but the lighting and color pallet really helped to set the tone.

How about you?

 

[Radeonx]

The graphics have to fit the overall atmosphere of the game, and that's really it.
There also can't be absurdly excessive amounts of bloom...that's just annoying.

 

[nima55]

I don't really care about graphics =P

 

[northeast rower]

damn, there was supposed to be a poll... one second. EDIT: Looks like I can't put one in now. Thanks, Internet!

At any rate:

Don't give me any of that "I don't care about graphics" bullshit. Everyone takes them into account at some point or another. There's a reason we don't still live in the 8-bit era.

Some of the options were: highly rendered graphics, stylized models, lighting, color pallet, or two or more.

 

[gigastar]

Though i dont really care about graphics in general, i find myself very strongly attracted to cel-shaded games.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Your poll has been eated.

Dunno, really...I guess things that work well together. Sticking lots of things that might look good individually doesn't always work.

 

[Dense_Electric]

I was considering going into a lengthy thing in which I was going to quote a lot of Extra Credits (the Aesthetics vs. Graphics episode), but my feelings can basically by summed up with the words "Mirror's Edge."

 

[4RM3D]

I was considering going into a lengthy thing in which I was going to quote a lot of Extra Credits (the Aesthetics vs. Graphics episode), but my feelings can basically by summed up with the words "Mirror's Edge."

Mirror's Edge should have won an award for most innovating graphics. I have yet to play a game that made functional use of the graphics in a way Mirror's Edge did.

 

[LikeDustInTheWind]

The game with the crappiest graphics that I can play would be the original half-life with the upgraded texture pack, so graphics-wise anything like that or better is fine. Aesthetics-wise, however, is a different story. I like my game environments to be bright and alive, or at least not just brown and grey. I really don't want to make a big long paragraph because I'm lazy so that about sums it up.

 

[subject_87]

I assume you mean 'aesthetics', but I like a clean, stark, stylized look a la the environments in Super Meat Boy.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Visual design is more important than graphics to me, so whatever graphics a game needs to accomplish its visual design goals are good. Stuff like Homeworld and Super Metroid are, in my mind, on the same level as Witcher 2 and Crysis. All of them have good aesthetic design, and use massively varying levels of processing power to accomplish that goal.

 

[DEAD34345]

damn, there was supposed to be a poll... one second. EDIT: Looks like I can't put one in now. Thanks, Internet!

At any rate:

Don't give me any of that "I don't care about graphics" bullshit. Everyone takes them into account at some point or another. There's a reason we don't still live in the 8-bit era.

Some of the options were: highly rendered graphics, stylized models, lighting, color pallet, or two or more.

I spend most of my gaming time staring at ASCII. I can say with absolute certainty, I do not care about graphics.

Readability? Sure!

Style? Sometimes...

Graphical quality? Nope. Not at all.

 

[vrbtny]

I was playing Crysis 2 the other day when I though about this: what makes graphics good to me? After giving it some thought, I came under the impression that it was a mix of color and lighting (Crysis 2 pulled this off with gusto). Take Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, for instance: pretty damn good looking, even without the most beautifully rendered models. How about Call of Cthulhu: DCotE? Not the best models, but the lighting and color pallet really helped to set the tone.

How about you?

I didn't think the graphics on Crysis 2 were actually that good. I mean, yeah, they were well textured and hires and all, but they were so shiny and slick! All the guns looked straight from the factory, and covered in some sort of oil to make them glint. I know it was the "Aestetic" of the game, but it really wasn't good. It looked so hideously over-produced and was covered in motion-blur(Even on the PC when the Motion Blur setting was on "off") The lighting didn't even work very well, it was all to artificial and the colour grading was totally off. It reminded me of the colour palette of Gears of War if I'm honest.

To me Bulletstorm was a better example of my "Graphical cup of tea". The lighting was so natural and colorful, with a full colour palette and wonderful scenery to match. Something which Crysis 2 certainly didn't have.

I mean, seriously? Another destroyed city? Whoopdy fuckin' doo....

 

[PimpHandofGod]

Either cell shaded or Gears style. Say what you want about the colors used its still a damn pretty game.

 

[eternal-chaplain]

I love the cartoon-like pallets of Paper Mario and Wind Waker.

Years and years after the games were made, the graphics still don't appear aged in the least.

 

[Uber Evil]

The graphics have to fit the overall atmosphere of the game, and that's really it.
There also can't be absurdly excessive amounts of bloom...that's just annoying.

I'll /thread for me. I don't mind Minecraft at all, and neither do I mind Dwarf Fortress, or Crysis, or GTA, or whatever. I'll play anything that matches what it intends to/ should do graphics-wise. As long as it isn't too much of an eyesore.

 

[Cridhe]

I've always felt that graphics, do not a good game make. Style can be important to fit the atmosphere, but graphics quality and level... just don't make a game.

 

[TiefBlau]

I think you mean aesthetics.

I think graphics should be as intensive as it needs to be to achieve the desired effect. A game like Minecraft demands blocky, primitive graphics to match its blocky, primitive gameplay. Mirror's Edge demands some level of graphical competence to give us a realistic atmosphere with clean, crisp, clear colors. Assassin's Creed is pretty graphics intensive because capturing huge landscapes of Renaissance Italy is a vital part of the game, and elaborate character design is a crucial part of how we see Ezio. Etc.