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

[triggrhappy94]

I care to play games, in terms of graphics, the same way a watch old moives. You can't look at old graphics with a modern perspective. If it was good for its time, then its good graphics and won't get in my way. If its a game that came out recently and looks ugly, then I'm not going to be so nice

 

[Javarock]

I don't care at all for graphics. Aesthetics on the otherhand are very awesome to have, But not nesscary.

And no, I have never taken graphics in account for any game. so its not complete bullshit.

 

[Kahunaburger]

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

This. Where has all the cel-shading gone? Borderlands and Prince of Persia are pretty much the only two of this generation that I know of that have cel shading. And even last generation it wasn't done much. It's an awesome look, why can't we have some more of it?

I think Tales games are still doing it, but the only one of those I've actually played is Symphonia. Those are also some of my favorite titles aesthetics-wise - I'll take clean design and primary colors over brown and bloom or final fantasy visual busyness any day of the week haha.

 

[vrbtny]

Final Fantasy 10 equivalent - Yup, serious.. Graphics aren't that important to me.. sure they're nice but.. that's all

Yeah, Final Fantasy 10 was the pinnacle of PS2 graphics. They were good enough not to ruin your immersion due to the graphics being so bad, and not so good that you kept on getting distracted from the game by the prettiness of the graphics(Or by the one crap texture in the sea of awesome ones.)

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

In general, I prefer stylized looks as opposed to games which go for realism. I can think of several PSX games which look better than Call of Duty 1.

 

[Jelly ^.^]

Something that really lures me in is contrast in settings.

For example, if I start off wandering a brown, pooey swamp and end up in gigantic mountain ranges looking over sheer cliff faces at a rolling sea of green pastures and hedgerows or at a sprawling, pinlit metropolis at night increases the majesty and awe of what I am looking at.

Even in games as far back as The Journeyman Project, it's quite a biting feeling.

Also, when rain effects are able to make me actually shiver, they're doing it right.

 

[PureIrony]

Something vibrant with at least three colors on screen at one time, but nothing bright or noticable enough to distract me from gameplay.

Also, while it doesn't need to have great graphics, bad texturing really takes me out of an experience.

 

[Wayneguard]

I love 2d prerendered backgrounds like those in Resident Evil. I love the isometric perspective as well. I'm a classic kinda guy lol

 

[Jackstick]

I like really good 2D graphics, like GBA level and the Final Fantasy remakes for iOS and PSP.

 

[Triforceformer]

I think Duke Nukem Forever looks great, so color me as "Not really caring about graphics". Besides, as Extra Credits points out, graphics and aesthetics are different entities.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

I'm not to bothered. As long as they stay consistent with the tone of the game.

So no bright over the top neon colour flare in a survival horror game please.
And no doom and gloom style texturing, grey as the Lancashire sky in a light hearted puzzle game, thank you.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Actually I really, really liked the graphics in Crysis 2. Sure they looked polished, but thats the kind of future hi-tech kind of game it is. Yea, we've all seen the destroyed city before, but they pulled it off quite well I thought. Plus, my computer isn't exactly cutting edge spec (I'm struggling to run Witcher 2 on lowest settings), and it STILL managed to look great and run pretty high settings. So that's an important factor to me: scalability on systems.

For example, the Unreal engine games always manage to look great while running on low-end systems. The colors are fantastic, and the textures bring the worlds to life. It doesn't chug in large areas full of enemies, while moving at lightning fast speeds. The FOV is wide enough not to induce headaches in that type of adrenaline pumping game, which is an achievement in itself.

I also like creative/different graphics. Borderlands was really fun for me in that regard. Bulletstorm, though I didn't care for the story (or even gameplay) all too much, is one of the best looking environments I've seen in a long time. Same goes for Witcher 2. So the resolution of the textures isn't everything, it's really a balance of things. And I cannot effing stand overdone effects like Bloom and HDR, and I almost always turn off motion blur when the option is available.

 

[Gibboniser]

Awesome shaders do it for me, as well as high res textures.

 

[Aesir23]

I would have to say that what matters most to me is how the graphics bring the surrounding environment to life or how it helps to immerse me in the game. If it can make me feel like I'm actually in that location (third person camera aside of course) then I'm extremely pleased.

At the same time while I'll admit that I love good graphics, they aren't all important. I still enjoy playing Final Fantasy VII and VIII, but I'm not overly fond of the game Oblivion. Graphics are more like the icing on the cake rather than the actual cake.

 

[Outright Villainy]

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.

What's really weird is on paper it sounds horrible: Huge amounts of bloom, horrible tearing, lots of uniform buildings and interiors. But it looks and feels fantastic. Best part of the game really.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I think my favourite kind of graphics are pixelated type games. I play all games no matter the graphics cause graphics don't matter. Except for when they do of course 9Silent Hill)

 

[the_hoffs_ego]

I adore the way that Uncharted 2 looks. Bright, vivid, detailed, and it all just works for me.

 

[blankedboy]

Like many others have said, I don't care for graphical quality but aesthetics can really make a game for me. Look at Zeno Clash, it hosts my favourite aesthetic design of all time and it runs on Source. Not to say that Source is particularly aged as far as quality goes, but still. Have a look.

Spoiler

And while I'm on the note of aesthetics I can't wait for the new Alice game. It looks fucking amazing.