As video games develop more and more over the years, companies have been making them more and more realistic-looking. I can guess this is related to expectations, but am I the only one who doesn’t care about graphics? We could be using the same processing power to store worlds that have as much exploration potential as the Earth itself if we weren’t afraid to save on processing power by going back to 8-bit.
I want a Fun game. Art (graphics) can help and be supplementary towards making a game fun, but it is not the end all be all. Some fun games I’ve played use intentionally shitty graphics to add to it, other games are so unfun because all they do is try to wow you with the images.
I’ve found lately the indie Dev sphere has been more focused on fun games and AAA studios have more focused on graphics alone. I think this mostly happened because early on when (video) games where becoming popularized hardware was increasing at such a rapid pace and graphics genuinely could be made better, not necessarily as just a stylistic choice. You could show off the new hardware capabilities with good story for more appeal. This also made them lazier over the years as those big hardware and software leap allowed them to focus on the consumer draw utilizing showcase imagry over story. As hardware advances slowed and graphic leaps became smaller the gains just aren’t there. And you’ve left many consumers with nostalgia over the fight for when graphic improvements meant something, in a time when good story/gameplay was also pretty necessary.
On the bright side, games with intentionally shitty graphics are very memeable, especially Undertale.
If it adds to the experience, wouldn’t the graphics then be good?
The graphics are good in the artistic sense, but not in terms of what’s considered conventionally good graphics. Zelda BotW would be conventionally good graphics, as that’s what would make most people think of it as visually appealing and therefore enjoyable. Undertale, a great example, does not.have conventionally good graphics but the total theme and portrayal makes the non-cenventional good.
Most of what I was speaking to was the use of conventionally good graphics at the expense of story or enjoyment factor of the game/gameplay itself