How Important Are Graphics in Video Games?

[Raicuparta]

What importance do you give to the visuals of a video game?

As this is a mostly Half-Life and Half-Life 2 fan club forum, I'm guessing that most people here don't care much about the graphics, because even if those games looked awesome in their time, now they are outdated. But I'd like to know your opinion on this.

Edited March 11, 2011 by Guest (see edit history)

[Kirkreng]

Depends on the game for me.

[Eedo Baba]

I'd say graphics are just an important part of a game's development as any other. When I say this though, I'm not referring to lighting effects and pixel buffer shadows, and anti-aliasing, and HDR effects, I mean the actual arts assets created for the game. Some games like Killzone 3, don't operate on just realism in effects, but have beautifully art directed scenery, and meticulously detailed assets, and especially in that game they certainly added to the experience a great deal.

[Raicuparta]

I'd say graphics are just an important part of a game's development as any other. When I say this though, I'm not referring to lighting effects and pixel buffer shadows, and anti-aliasing, and HDR effects, I mean the actual arts assets created for the game. Some games like Killzone 3, don't operate on just realism in effects, but have beautifully art directed scenery, and meticulously detailed assets, and especially in that game they certainly added to the experience a great deal.

You are very right, and now that I think about it, the two questions I made the one in the title and the one in the poll are very different, as a "graphics whore" by definition is someone who wants realistic graphics, and you can have beautiful visuals without realism.

Ii'm better change the title to avoid confusion

[Jek Jek Roo]

Hey, you know what? I don't care! na na na naa

Really, I don't care about if graphics is good, bad or old...

Edited March 11, 2011 by Guest (see edit history)

[Alyxx Thorne]

To me they aren't important at all. As long as I can see what's going on I don't really care. I don't play games for the sake of graphics for the most part.

[Bjossi]

People saying graphics are not important at all are being ignorant. Good graphics can be great for immersing oneself into the game world, and they open up new possibilities in gameplay, for example Splinter Cell would not have been possible before shadowmaps were invented, and the dynamic lighting/shadowing that came few years later made the experience that much better than it would have been. Doom is great for what it is, but you'd not create much atmosphere or a rich Ukrainian nature if you powered STALKER with the Build engine.

[Alyxx Thorne]

People saying graphics are not important at all are being ignorant. Good graphics can be great for immersing oneself into the game world, and they open up new possibilities in gameplay, for example Splinter Cell would not have been possible before shadowmaps were invented, and the dynamic lighting/shadowing that came few years later made the experience that much better than it would have been. Doom is great for what it is, but you'd not create much atmosphere if you made STALKER in the Build engine.

I agree, but it depends entirely on the game. The games you talk about there are all very reliant on graphics to create immersion. Other games, like Tetris, rely purely on gameplay almost. And games like The Longest Journey might not be pretty to look at but it has a very good and solid story.

[Bjossi]

Of course it depends on the game, that option in the poll is more or less redundant.

 

And don't forget that graphics are more than just real-time calculated engine features, you can't have good graphics without well crafted art (Textures, models...). A powerful engine can be made pointless by poor art design/direction, and in the same vein an average engine can shine if the art is well done.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Of course it depends on the game, that option in the poll is more or less redundant.

 

And don't forget that graphics are more than just real-time calculated engine features, you can't have good graphics without well crafted art (Textures, models...). A powerful engine can be made pointless by poor art design/direction, and in the same vein an average engine can shine if the art is well done.

I completely agree with you there. I think in the case of first person shooter games, graphics are incredibly important because the whole point of a first person shooter is to simulate a reality for the player.

[Axeldeath]

Graphics IMO are somewhat important, graphics can give you another level of immersion in a game but in a lot of games you don't need them.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Graphics IMO are somewhat important, graphics can give you another level of immersion in a game but in a lot of games you don't need them.

I think Tetris is a shining example. Essentially you don't need more than some coloured squares for it to work. I suppose that's why it's been ported to virtually every possible console there is.

[Raicuparta]

Of course it depends on the game, that option in the poll is more or less redundant.

I know people that cannot play a simple game in a system that can handle much more because of the graphics issue. There words were something like "why waste a good computer on crappy games?", so for them, it doesn't even depend on the game.

 

I don't blame them ,though, it's a criteria like any other. I mean, if I call a "graphics whore" to someone who only plays super realistic (visually) games, should someone else be a "gameplay whore" or a "storyline whore"?

[Alyxx Thorne]

I play Duke Nukem 1 even if my computer can easily handle Crysis on a high setting. Doesn't mean I am wasting my computer on it. That's how I see it. As long as a game is good, for me graphics just aren't that important.

[Bjossi]

And I play everything from DOS games to Crysis on mine. Since Win7 64-bit has no 16-bit support whatsoever, DOS games need to be emulated, so in a way you are tasking your processor pretty well.

[Alyxx Thorne]

And I play everything from DOS games to Crysis on mine. Since Win7 64-bit has no 16-bit support whatsoever, DOS games need to be emulated, so in a way you are tasking your processor pretty well.

I suppose you could say that, yeah. Games like Duke Nukem 3D and Tomb Raider require some CPU power to emulate.

[Bjossi]

Games I revisited not long ago are SOS and Skyroads/Skyxmas. I adore the music in the latter.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Games I revisited not long ago are SOS and Skyroads/Skyxmas. I adore the music in the latter.

Skyroads seem to have some impressive graphics for the time, judging from some screenshots I found. Awesome early 3D.

[Mr. 13]

Some of my favorite games in the world have terrible graphics. Sometimes I have trouble distinguishing between people and the scenery it's so bad (playstation 1 ftw). However, the gameplay and storyline just keep me latched into the game, and so graphics to me aren't very important at all.

 

It's all about story and gameplay... more so story because I made it through Mirror's Edge just to see what happened. I don't think I've ever cursed so much at a single video game.

[Kirkreng]

Some of my favorite games in the world have terrible graphics. Sometimes I have trouble distinguishing between people and the scenery it's so bad (playstation 1 ftw). However, the gameplay and storyline just keep me latched into the game, and so graphics to me aren't very important at all.

 

It's all about story and gameplay... more so story because I made it through Mirror's Edge just to see what happened. I don't think I've ever cursed so much at a single video game.

Haha, me too. Can be quite frustrating to suck at games

 

Edit: There is actually one game i curse more at, Modern Warfare 2