"realism": ambiance, characters, etc... where has it been a blessing and where has it failed.

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Joubert

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May 8, 2008
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The physics found in many of Half Life 2's puzzles made the experience enjoyable but not overly sensitive. I think it works well when developers make game physics real enough that the player can pull off cool things with a bit of thinking or intuition, but not so real that one's plans are foiled because the physics are "too touchy."
Because it's fun to feel smart... but not so fun to be bogged down by normality.
 

portuga-man

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Dec 23, 2007
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I hate hate HATE realism in games. ANY form of realism. I play games to escape reality, have some fun. I do NOT play games expecting to find a reality simulator. I hate it when they pull out that bullshit.

Can you imagine how fast the movie making industry would go downhill if they implemented "realism"?! Why can't game developers see that?

(On the topic of "seeing", maybe developers can only see in tones of gray and brown? Maybe too much overtime on shadowy offices made them daltonic?)

As for physics engines, i realize a gaming world needs some constraints, but low gravity jumping is still funny to me.



When it comes to characters, the worst character there can ever be is a character with shinji syndrome (i'm talking about shinji, from evangelion). They want us to sympathize with the character but they don't realize they've created a whiny *****. Also extremely annoying is the "hidden power" twist. I can't recall many examples of it happening in gaming, but in anime you can instantly see that, if the main character is a happy-go-lucky weakling, he has an hidden power.
Coincidently, this 2 character types show up mostly in JRPG's.
 

GothmogII

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Apr 6, 2008
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Certain games can do realism well, the Brother's in Arms series for example (although maybe a little dated now) was quite realistic, right down to the weapon designs. Although, I can't say anything for the invincible 'hedge' barriers... Guess they have block you off somewhere.
Although, Quake Wars had a very nice system, whereby you could traverse a reasonable distance outside the map zone, but were considered deserting if you went too far and would die.
 

TheMadDoctorsCat

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Apr 2, 2008
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FEAR was one of the most realistic games I've ever played, and after wandering through the eighth dingy office building in a row I couldn't have cared less. One day I'll come back to it when I can be bothered trying to complete it, but nowadays a game has to be very, very good to tempt me into giving it that kind of dedication, and FEAR isn't.

My favourite recent game is still probably Oblivion, which is great until you descent into the aliead ruins (grey) or the dungeons (brown). Then it just gets samey after a while.
 

SomeBritishDude

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Nov 1, 2007
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I agree that there are just too many realist games these days, but in certain games it is nessesary. Games like CoD4 and Half-Life 2 are examples. CoD4 is a very gritty game about war, war that is happening right now. Its look reflects that.

I think the main problem is that most games out there right now are FPS, and they generly tend towards realism ,seriousness and shades of grey...which I don't like. TF2 has been the most recent one to break the mold that FPS have had for so long. Mirrors Edge also seems to be taking a more colourful apouch, even if it is still real. I hope that more FPS follow suit...but I'm not hopeful. Haze is just another example of an ordinary looking shooter with "dark" story and charcters...I'm pritty sick of it.

Its not like there arn't many many colourful games. The Wii is a wash with colourful games, but it is true that PS3 and 360 seem to have nothing unrealist coming there way apart from Fable 2.