My expectations were far lower, without me realising it, as a child.
I remember getting Mortal Kombat 4, on the N64, and thinking “holy shit, the graphics are so good!!! SO 3D!”My gosh the graphics did not age well.
Games should be shorter and look worse, tbh
it’s not even about “worse” it’s that we’ve always been more impressed by stylish graphics than high fidelity graphics. probably the most frustrating franchise to have forgotten this lessons is borderlands
I think i have to re-watch that series. Best TV in the last decade.
Might I suggest Doom Patrol? Umbrella Academy was inspired pretty much entirely by Doom Patrol and Gerard Way dropping the ball on his run at the series.
What show is this from? I’ve always wondered
The umbrella academy
As a teenager, I warned people that at a certain point, we will reach the diminishing returns of investment on graphics. I was called a “Mario playing child” by my peers.
I started to feel validated since 2016. And the “DEI-jaw” chud gamers like to whine about is also likely created by the too much faith in how much current graphics can recreate realism accurately.
Really I just want one thing. The same thing every gamer wants. To escape to the one place uncorrupted by capitalism.
I present to you: loot boxes. And gacha.
To escape to the ONE. PLACE. UN. CORRUPTED! BY! CAPITALISM!
TO…SPEEESSS!
You should play World of Workcraft for like 40 hours a week.
hard pass. did that for 25 years i cant remember anymore before my body broke
I remember detesting ps2-era 3d graphics, commonly thinking I’d just prefer it if was more pixelated (think like on the ds)
I’ve come to really like that look tho
Once upon a time I wanted a strong PC so badly so I could play… Grand Theft Auto IV.
Now, I don’t want anything to do with that franchise. Granted I still do play some AAA stuff, more so PS3 games, and I now want a strong PC for Cyberpunk 2077 to explore its world and give myself extra background for the TTRPG Cyberpunk RED, but other than that I mostly just want indie and retro.
Never liked photorealistic games for some reason, my brain’s perception just filters it out past the first few minutes looking at effects.
With some modern photo-realistic games I can’t even discern anything on screen: it’s so much detail that my brain becomes overwhelmed :P
The new Doom is literally unplayable for me because of that (and the music).
Well, it does just look like more of that reality, you can find outside. It’s kind of inherently boring.
It’s like a rewiring through new experience. Back in the day games were improving in looks and gameplay rapidly. Then the latter started deteriorating for many big studio titles.
You tell me some new AAAA Ubisoft game is coming out and my gag reflex starts to tingle.
A new pixel graphic indie title with great reviews? Sign me up.
The fruit that was once sweet has become poison.
Yeah, I feel like humanity should’ve figured out sooner that reality does not have great gameplay… 🫠
i mean, yeah it does. you just gotta figure out not only finding and maintaing relationships with compatible partners (both tasks difficulty: S)
I’m there with you, but a little worried that AI pixel slop is coming to ruin it.
Retro gaming has become my jam, but I’m also rapidly approaching 50 and have an 8y/o that likes to learn my old games with me for now. So I’m gonna enjoy that while we can.
My nieces’ favorite video game of all time is dead or alive 3 on the original Xbox. There’s a switch with new games and fancier graphics connected to an OLED tv but at the end of the day they just want to kick people as simply as possible. Old ass console connected to an old tv in a guest room.
Nobody is better at sniffing out what’s actually fun than kids. They might get tricked by marketing here and there but once they get their hands on things it’s a simple process for them. Does this spark joy?
What I wouldn’t give for a true successor to beyond good and evil
I really don’t see the point of the whole pixelated aesthetic. I mean, it’s nostalgia, but for what? For a time when we wished we had more pixels? If you want that kind of nostalgia, why not also have a loading screen showing a cassette tape going round… for 15 fucking minutes. Hell, it isn’t even accurate nostalgia, because pixelation on a hi res smartphone or monitor looks totally different from the blurry pixelation you get on a shitty CRT TV. If you can see the corners on your pixels, you’re doing it wrong.
I know there is a lot to be nostalgic for, it’s just that the lack of pixels isn’t one of those things. Some things have simply gotten better, more pixels is one of those things. Pixelation is just a way of making a game graphically less clear and less pleasant to look at. /rant
It’s an art style born out of neccessity but still distinct. You know, pixel art. Has their own ästhetics.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the creativity that comes from having such a limitation. And back when it was a necessity, and you could count the color palette on your fingers, some pixel art was amazing. But it was largely about trying to transcend those limitations. For example, it was very common to use antialiasing as much as possible, because you’re trying to make things look good despite the pixellation. Whereas the aesthetic of modern pixel art tends to be about making things as clunky and jaggy as can be, so you can really check out those pixels, or showcase that crappy color palette. Conspicuous pixellation is untrue to its origins. It also makes game objects less recognizable, sacrificing utility for an aesthetic. I know there are people who like it, which is fine, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be criticized, and so far I have seen no counterpoints to the criticisms I have raised.
I mean, it’s nostalgia, but for what?
I think you might be falling at the first hurdle with your reasoning. Pixel art can be beautiful in of itself.
Just because you personally dislike certain art style doesn’t make it objectively bad. I’m a zoomer, I don’t have nostalgia for pixel graphics and yet I enjoy pixel art. I can’t stand CRT filters on pixel games (modern or emulated) btw.
Just because you personally dislike certain art style doesn’t make it objectively bad.
It’s an aesthetic style! How would it be objectively bad? Of course my opinions are subjective.
I’ve dealt with enough people who think their preferences are absolute that I just couldn’t be sure whether you’re one of them or not. I’m glad we agree that art is subjective.
No I just like a good rant. 😁
Mega man is one of my favourite franchises, but man I wish we could get past the side scroller old style and get a modern ratchet and clank style open city mega man. Or a new mega man legends.
If youre my age, then games were advancing in graphic fidelity at the same rate as getting better and more in depth. Devs were able to learn from eachother on what makes a game great. Then the horse dlc happened, and suddenly devs could only make games that could be chopped up into pieces and sold as an al a carte game instead of the 7 course meals they had been making.
And even with that chopped up BS, they’re still not as in-depth as games were just kinda starting to get.
The reasons for adult you playing games younger you played are:
- They remind you of your youth. This happens when you get old enough to notice your youth is gone before you could even take full advantage of it.
- They don’t require a subscription and they don’t disappear when the publisher pulls the plug.
- They’re more fun.
All of the above
I stopped being a graphics whore around the mid PS2 era, mostly because my computer couldn’t run the more realistic games like GTA Vice City 😁
I unironically love seeing newer indies with PS1/N64 style 3D graphics
I love it too, Dusk being one of my favorites. My only complaints with modern PS1/PSX aesthetic 3D graphics (as I often see on reddit):
- overly exagerrated vertex wobble (the only time i really noticed that was quake 2 animations on a high-res monitor)
- low polygon count, but modern effects (soft shadows, god rays, etc)
