But Clair Obscur, tho.
Like, damn.
Plague tale (requiem in particular) is also ridiculously beautiful on mid range GPUs. I couldn’t believe my graphic card was able to do that. It’s a shame games reviews and screenshots don’t account for average setups because that’s what most of us have and some developers deserve praise to make it work for us.
Anyone who says photorealism and stylized art are mutually exclusive needs to play Clair Obscur, then delete their comment
I watched my friend play Mall Simulator, and in spite of it not being graphically intensive, the game breaks down when there are too many assets in the world. Absolute respect to the people that optimize games.
Why do that when I can just ask Sora to make it for me? Then I don’t have to engage my brain at all!
I loved Firewatch’s art style. And story. It was a masterpiece.
It’s a shame that “In The Valley Of Gods” is unlikely to happen anymore.
GPU consumption is more reliable to know how old a game is than its graphics.
When Minecraft was released, I thought it was an accident. That no other game could be popular and run with with an inappropriate language such as Java.
I was so wrong.
I mean, there aren’t a lot of Java games, and C# (especially with newer runtimes) isn’t that bad if that’s what you’re referencing.
The old Civ games were a lot of Python, which is perhaps the most atrocious of all, performance wise. But they worked okay.
No, I was referencing to Javascript or game release too soon that turn computers into toasters. Last I played was RVchere yet; less polygons than Half Life Source, constantly crash because we got not enough ressources.
Minecraft doesn’t use JavaScript, it’s just Java but the way.
Meh, I like high fidelity graphics. Most “artfully stylised” games are not to my taste either - pixel graphics do nothing for me and nor do a lot of flat 2D graphics. Stuff like GRIS is beautiful, but it seems to be an outlier. So for visually engaging stuff I find it’s AAA mostly realistic graphics - if not “photorealistic” - for me.
A person with different tastes than me, grrrr. It’s diametrically opposite for me. All AAA, no matter what studio, not ID, not Lorien, their graphics just never look as vibrant as lo-fi graphics of a game made by, at most, 5 people. They do have some impressive aspects but, overall, because they try to look more “”“real”“” they end up looking more mundane and boring to me. Nothing will ever compete with artistic abstraction of lo-fi games 🥀
you know what, I’ll just keep playing the same old decade old games I’ve been playing
artfully stylized graphics will always be better because they will look timeless
There are several games who we’re just “this looks like reality” when they released who have aged well too. Half-life 2 (even without the updates) being the first one I think of, but I also think the first Far Cry and Crysis look amazing even now. Good design will age well no matter, the only thing that goes away is the immediate excitement of how impressively real it looks for the ones that went for that, but they still stir something inside people who experience them for the first time decades later.
I like both, they each have their place
The trouble with photorealism is that you very easily stumble into the uncanny valley. In addition, something that often looks “photorealistic” today will look really dated in a few years.
If you go with artfully styled games, it can actually be much harder. You need to adopt a consistent artistic style and have that style be used by many different artists. Unlike with photorealism, there isn’t always going to be a reference available. You have to watch that over time, and as the scope of the game grows, the style remains consistent. But, when it’s done well, it can be amazing.
One of my favourites in terms of artful styling is the game Interstate '76. It came out at a time when full motion video cutscenes were the style of the day. You’d have low resolution graphics, and then come in with a VHS-quality cutscene with real actors and real sets. Then back into low resolution graphics. Interstate '76 chose an amazing artistic style, then did in-engine cutscenes, which kept the style consistent.
The other master of this, IMO, is World of Warcraft. It must be a gargantuan undertaking to have a game with that many different models and to have a consistent style for all of them, but they mostly do. They often do out-of-engine cutscenes, but their style is so consistent that their cutscenes just look like even more detailed shots from that same world.
Rule #1: Never get out of the car
something that often looks “photorealistic” today will look really dated in a few years
Check the overall vibe of game cube games VS ps2/xbox. N64 VS PS1. Colourful pretty games stand the test of time way better than realism.
Wow had been interesting lately. The last expansion I played, there were legitimately zones that I thought “I can’t believe this is wow” compared to the vanilla zones. You can still tell after a moment, but it is just a lot more detailed. I do love the point you make here. It reminded me of my first experience with uncanny valley in a game. I prefer not to have that experience tbh.
Were you thinking “I can’t believe this is WoW” or “I can’t believe how good this looks?”
Because, I haven’t experienced the first one. To me, once I’m in the game, there really seems to be an amazing consistency in how things look. After a while things look “realistic” but in a “realistic for WoW” way. Like, obviously Orcs and Demons are not realistic, but the consistency is so strong that how things look, and move, and behave is so strong and predictable.
The initial impression of the new Arathi zone, before really getting close enough to see details was a “I can’t believe this is wow” moment on first impression. There are a couple areas like that where it really throws me. But in a way, yes, it looked so surprisingly good and a tad different.
id be happy if they actually optimized their games instead of releasing half baked buggy slow garbage
I would be happy if they stopped making everything look somehow both covered in vaseline while also being more reflective then a fucking mirror.
Just look at this shit in the demo:
When reflections became a thing in graphics, they were the new hotness. But unfortunately they’re overused because people seem to think that reflections are the best indicator of graphical realism. They’re a factor for sure, but overly reflective isn’t the same as realistic reflections
Like 3d tv, this is just a fad. Most people I know turn off raytracing in a few min (even though they spent $1000s on hardware to do raytracing). The generated frames and full ray and pathtracing have such low payout vs the cost. Unless something changes this is all pointless waste.
Best example I can think of is the rtx portal looking and running like ass compared to the now very old original.
This has been going on since before ray tracing.
Also ray tracing is the future for realistic looking games because it’s easier than all those shader hacks. Just needs to get a lot cheaper in terms of fps lost
Sure its the future, from years ago. One day for sure…
I mean, effects like these have their time and place as well. Looking for a sci-fi setting in a distant future where these robots coming fresh out the factory like that? Cool. But I get your sentiment, if everything just looks like this because it just can and no conceptual thought goes into it, it’s crap.
In this world, there is no dust or dirt and everything looks like an early 2000’s Apple product.
And if there is dirt, its glossy and reflective. I swear they are trying to give uncanny valley vibes on everything now.
This works for a tech demo if you want to show off a new rendering engine or a new GPU. But yeah, if you base the whole game around that, it’s like those movies with more CGI than plot.
Hah. Remember in the Xbox 360 era when everything looked like it was wrapped in saran wrap? I hated that so much. It’s like - some if not most objects are not that reflective. Yes light bounces off of things, but it’s such an “all or none” solution. Things in real life are so much more diffused.
No matter who denies it, this is peak artfully stylised graphics for any game ever made.Hand draw each frame. Now do it 60 or more times per second.
Yes, you only have to replace your GPU with about 800 000 artists (assuming the take four hours to draw a frame)
And since they have to do it 4 hours in advance, it’s technically using FrameGeneration predicting what the next frame will be in advance. 😏
There’s a guy in my computer doing that for me
Genuine question:
Kenshi.
Does that count as ah, heh, a lo-fi take on photorealism, or… stylized?
Many people run mods that add a bit of tasteful cel-shading type borders, but you can also go the other way and crank up texture resolution levels.
But on another note, potentially a hot take.
‘Anime Waifu’ does not count as ‘artfully stylized’.
Its … everywhere, its boring as fuck.
Maybe if you go an actually distinct take on an anime type art style, then sure, that counts.
But your bog standard VROID type stuff?
Nah.
Windwaker. That’s an actual style.
Viewtiful Joe.
Cassette Beasts.
Oh also please stop with the Fortnite character proportions, everywhere, for everything.
It’s worse than Blizzard turning all their previously distinct art styles into WoW proportions.
Mirror’s Edge is still beautiful to this day, despite being 17 years old
