Prettiest Videogame

[norashepard]

Katawa Shoujou.

Just kidding. In all actuality I think Mass Effect 3 had a lot of stunning scense (so did the other two, but ME3 has Palaven burning, so it wins. Other games with good visual style: Deponia, Asscreed III, and Sanctum.

Not the main question, but a game that I always find like, philosophical beauty in is Fallout: New Vegas. Sometimes I accidentally look up and see the moon just sitting there, and it just makes me feel really humble for some reason. Endless Space does this too, and it's a 4X strategy game.

 

[crono738]

As some folks have already said, Guild Wars 2 is damn pretty.

Spoiler

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Rayman Origins

That game is freakin' top tier when it comes to beauty. Look at all dis hand-drawn wonderfulness. It's like a saturday morning cartoon with an insane budget.

Spoiler

Valkyria Chronicles is another contender.

A BEAUTIFUL game with a gorgeous watercolor scheme. It's just an eye-gasm from start to finish.

 

[piinyouri]

OTOGI!

Damn, someone beat me to the punch.
That game is like an ancient japanese wall scroll come to life.

 

[Christemo]

From a purely artistic standpoint, I think Fate/Stay Night is probably the prettiest game to date:

Spoiler

When it comes to sheer graphic potential, I feel that Metal Gear Solid 4 and Rising:Revengeance are probably the best looking games to be released thus far. The attention to detail is just absolutely ludicrous.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Myst III. Because I like the scenery.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[deserteagleeye]

Valkyria Chronicles is another contender.

A BEAUTIFUL game with a gorgeous watercolor scheme. It's just an eye-gasm from start to finish.

HNNNNNNNGGH! So gorgeous! Definitely second Valkyria Chronicles.
I haven't seen aesthetics that great since the high-rendered cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts.

I also enjoyed the dynamic style of Resonance of Fate whenever you execute a graceful gun-pirouette bullet ballet. Love over-the-top shiny scenes like that.

 

[Tanis]

Odin Sphere, or hell, any Vanillaware game.

 

[The_Echo]

Journey looks real nice. Very pretty.

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This. Flower is similarly gorgeous.

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Though both games look much better in motion.

Honorable mentions:

Spyro on the PSOne for its charming aesthetic.

Kingdom Hearts for obvious raisins.

 

[Klumpfot]

The first games that came to my mind were Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Exoddus. If they were to redraw (or just re-render) those games in hi-def, I would be a very happy person! But since they haven't done that, I'mma go with Dear Esther. The game itself (and we're stretching the definition of "game" to breaking point) is for me an almost entirely empty experience, but holy hell is it pretty. In some locations, I just had to stop and look.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Odin Sphere is an amazing Action RPG that is also pretty to look at.

Spoiler: Odin Sphere

The same can be said for Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

Spoiler: Muramasa: The Demon Blade

More recently, Rayman Origins is just well stylized, bright, and vibrant.

Spoiler: Rayman Origins

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

This

Journey looks real nice. Very pretty.

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There's also Okami. Doesn't look the best, and it really starts looking better in motion, but it has its charms.

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Also the texture quality kind of sucks but I can't deny my love for the aesthetic in Dark Souls.

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Fortunately I still have one left, I didn't think that all of mine would have been taken by the first post

Spoiler: ICO

Biggest shame in that game was the fixed camera perspective. If there was one change I'd have loved to see in the HD collection it'd have been that

 

[Chemical Alia]

Super Mario Sunshine and its fearless use of blue and purple shadows. So brave.

 

[Zeraki]

For me right now it's a tie between Okami and Bastion.

 

[Meg Galuardi]

I am writing a series of papers on video games and one of my key arguments is that they are a legitimate art form. Just earlier today I was trying to think of a standout example of video game art, and now I stumble on this. You all are wonderful.

Two I like that haven't been mentioned yet are Paper Mario Thousand Year Door (Boggly Woods guys, just mind-blowingly beautiful design) and for an architecture nut, Assassin's Creed II has some gorgeous depictions of Renaissance landmarks and buildings

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[an annoyed writer]

Just kidding. In all actuality I think Mass Effect 3 had a lot of stunning scense (so did the other two, but ME3 has Palaven burning, so it wins. Other games with good visual style: Deponia, Asscreed III, and Sanctum.

Mass Effect had a very strong aesthetic and very good effects, and while I'd agree for the most part ME3 looked terrific with quite a few stunning scenes and set pieces, I've taken a look at some of the models and they're actually of lesser quality than their counterparts from the games previous. It's actually most apparent on the multiplayer models: from the waist-down, the textures are of half the resolution that they are from the waist-up, and almost every character model is like this in some fashion. You learn a lot about that stuff when you stick around the Garry's Mod porting community.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, everything looks gorgeous and not in a trying to be realistic kind of way. So it will age well, the color, the lighting, everything about it appeals to my eyes.

 

[Something Amyss]

So is El Shaddai...

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Oh, El Shaddai, your aesthetics made me really want to love you. I just couldn't.

 

[Olas]

I always thought Twilight Princess looked pretty gorgeous.

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This and RE4 proved you couldn't use the Gamecube's lack of power as an excuse for your game looking bad.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

So is El Shaddai...

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Oh, El Shaddai, your aesthetics made me really want to love you. I just couldn't.

I'm....okay with the game.

Trying to save Enoch from dying was a bunch of bullshit and chips and I swear I've damn near broken my controller because of it. No one is meant to button mash four buttons at the same time and expect anything good to happen.

The music and the look of the game is fantastic, but the story was 'meh' and the controls were... interesting... to say the least.