10 Groundbreaking Games That LOOK BAD NOW

Many games were absolute revolutions in technology, storytelling and gameplay but ended up not aging that well visually.
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0:00 Intro
0:22 L.A. Noire (2011)
2:12 Demon Souls (2009)
3:45 Kill.Switch (2003)
5:02 Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (2001)
6:37 Nier (2010)
8:12 Everquest (1999)
10:06 The Witcher (2007)
11:37 Deus Ex (2000)
13:07 Tomb Raider (1996)
14:53 The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (2006)

[@gueyenono]

LA Noire DEFINITELY does NOT fit in that category. It should be in "Old games that look surprisingly good today".

[@nedretmujcinovic6771]

La noire graphics are a bit overrated, gta v looks ways better and it is just 2 years newer

[@dec2567]

I agree

[@Akito.9923]

Exactly

[@The_goretex]

Yes,100% agree

[@RtistiqSkubie]

@@nedretmujcinovic6771 you smoking meth or something?

[@Michael._The_Storyteller]

I was born and lived in Hollywood in the early 60's and LA Noire looked so much like the time, I thought the story was right on target, there were some 'Good ol'boy deals back in the day. it took me back, Thnx Bird Man

[@gameranxTV]

🤝🦅

[@theMosen]

@@gameranxTV Maybe I'm autistic, but I played LA Noir only recently and while I was constantly aware that was playing an older game, it didn't feel "off-putting and very strange" to me at all.

[@WR2385]

@@theMosen I think the fact that they went for that nostalgic aesthetic definitely helps the life of the game when it comes to visuals but also the entire atmosphere is so well done that I feel like it allows you to look past many of the elements that would normally cause a game like this to not age well!

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

@@gameranxTV bro! you totally forgot facebooks metaverse game lol. i mean talk about the N64 graphics meta is N64 2.0

[@goldengrill769]

@@user-tp5yb4hr4w I feel like the metaverse WILL work someday but China is going to do it right.

[@pixelpuppy]

I replayed LA Noire just last year for the nostalgia, in black and white mode, and honestly it still holds up extremely well. The body animations were a little janky, but the facial expressions are still very convincing. The music, atmosphere, sound effects, all of it still felt spot on like the old black and white movies it was mimicking.

[@GlennDavey]

Ha I did the same. I'm like "wow how did people tell the difference between the traffic lights back then?"

[@jameshall1075]

@@GlennDavey wait...lol, glad color came into existence.

[@DinkWhit]

Did you play the remake though?

[@THE-NC2]

Hell no the facial expressions were so cringey lol

[@ProKnoxSec]

Reality always looks like reality. But games trying to look like reality, look like the current year. This made me question existence. Because in 13 years, games are going to look like Skyrim does to us now.

[@maringalic4560]

I remember when Oblivion came out I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. It was just so much ahead of everything else at that time, and I lived with that memory for years, until I finally decided to replay it right after finishing Skyrim. Boy, what a shock hahah

[@Mgranadosv]

Same. I remember thinking it was basically photo realistic back then. Booted it up and was greeted by a "oh boy, this looks terrible"

[@westonpick24]

Yea the graphics aren’t as great but its still the better Elder Scrolls game😈

[@krasussssss]

Still worse than Morrowind😜.

[@Hr1s7i]

@@krasussssss It's hard to beat Morrowind's rpg systems.

[@jacobpalmen3315]

Skyrim is garbage

[@3nimac]

When Oblivion came out I remember genuinely thinking it looked as good as real life. Seems crazy to say such a thing now. But back in the day, man was it good.

[@GermanTaffer]

I agree. Especially on long distance viewing settings.

[@bptherapy5667]

it feels cozy, like a drug.

[@BogdanGunaa]

Aside for the characters, I still believe oblivion looks good

[@brandonwooldridge1877]

@@BogdanGunaa the character models looked terrible even by 2006 standards.

[@j_freak-1327]

Ive thought that about a few games but look back and jts wild how it doesn't now in comparison.

[@a1g0rhythm]

LA Noire is my number one suggestion for elder gamers. Homage to character actors we recognize, great puzzles, easy shooting, and mission skips make this a most accessible game for this senior.

[@ArielKahane]

You now have 69 likes. You’re welcome

[@Dick_Valparaiso]

You now have 79 likes. You're a senior

[@vagabond4113]

118 you're a señor

[@Hartley_Hare]

@@vagabond4113 You now have 183. You're seen, yo.

[@GlennDavey]

As a 40-year-old I find it right up my alley

[@danbardos3498]

I can remember being amazed by the preview forest shots from Oblivion. It had plants and... tall grass! Instead of a flat green mat and tree sprites of the previous gen... it had photogenic forests. I feel like that was a huge jump in gaming graphics wise. We just don't talk about the faces lol.

[@megapro125]

actually the tree leaves in oblivion were still just a couple of sprites that turn with the player camera but they made the trunks real 3D geometry so at a glance it was much harder to notice how simplified the trees were. when you look at the leaves and walk around the tree the illusion breaks somewhat.

[@have_a_good_day420]

​@@megapro125i was actually impressed by the leaves turning making it look 3D. Still am for that time it came out.

[@have_a_good_day420]

The faces look better than Morrowind.

[@megapro125]

@@have_a_good_day420 yeah it definitely was a good bang for buck decision for the hardware of the time.

[@jackhowarth1968]

Oblivion will always have a special place in my heart. I play it every year or so, do a full character run-through to like level 40. I love that game, so many fond memories.

[@Player_D]

Ah yes; this game sent me to hospital for DVTs. Good times. . . 😄

[@frankwilliams4445]

​@@Player_D what's DVT?

[@Player_D]

@@frankwilliams4445 deep vein thrombosis: (possibly deadly) blood clots. 😐

[@frankwilliams4445]

@@Player_D oh no that's not good

[@frankwilliams4445]

@@Player_D I'm really glad you're ok though my friend :) be careful in the future and make sure to take breaks to take a walk!

[@taylorusedtoxic]

I've gone back to Oblivion multiple times and each time there has been a few of those "wow, this game can still be pretty" moments for me.

[@lisah-p8474]

100% agreed. I just replayed it for the millionth time a couple of months ago. Every once and a while running across the hills outside the Imperial City you can still get that feeling. And the Shivering Isles sky is still super pretty!

[@jarlwhiterun7478]

I think that was the first game I would make a save in certain areas at certain times of the day, just to enjoy it aesthetically. One of the bridges outside a town at sunset made me stop and admire the fuck out of it.

[@eraybasmaya7704]

True that. I just started last week another playthrough and I still stop very often and admire the beautiful environment

[@catcrimes80]

My wow momments was Dungeon design and music. Oblivion dungeons are better than Skyrims

[@taylorusedtoxic]

​@@catcrimes80 The music is great, but the dungeons for me were very repetitive.

[@Matt-md5yt]

Oblivion is my starter into the series of Elder Scolls, and still, to this day, is my go-to for good time and goofing off too

[@CS-er3ib]

Man that brief shot of the arena from Oblivion brought me right back to my first playthrough. Thought it was amazing and I remember being depressed by the end of the arena storyline. Felt so bad for Agronak.

[@1Guason3]

Never understood why many channels dislike LA Noire's faces. They still look good.

[@LightsaberGoBrrrrrr]

I don’t understand the hate. I was blown away by it back in the day and think it still holds up impressively well

[@MrBjarkenfjart]

Oblivion. Remember it as one of the wildest and most fantastic games ever. Random loot was a bummer tho. 😅

[@taylorh.3484]

Same. I was effing blown away from that game.

[@wren7195]

I do *NOT* care what anyone else says about Oblivion, even with me being a loud Halo fan OBLIVION was my joy! *her saving every screenshot leading up to release* "Gorgeous. Gorgeous. No I do *not* care that the bloom is too high, THAT MAN IS ON A HORSE." *laughs, wipes her eyes* Ohhh dear good times. And that all the reviewers at the time noted it was the first "next gen" game coming to the market, even delayed, and it showed too. I forget the name of the effect, where you have a flat panel texture polygon rotate to face you constantly, I think the first time I ever saw that (not counting Mode7 in SNES which was everywhere) was the trees outside Peaches' Castle Mario 64... having all the foliage being chunks of flat panel textures like that REALLY looked good at such a high density, only really broke when you slowed down extremely. (Saw it in clouds alot in Ace Combat 5 and 6, MUCH later too) I honestly was concerned about the density when I heard Skyrim was going to use fully modeled trees. Oh wow, Skyrim. That plays on my fridge now, too. Be safe Mr., Taylor. Everyone.

[@webbie7503]

i loved oblivion, i played it on the xbox 360 though. My next playthough im gonna do PC... been since its release that I played it though... next playthrough i'll mod the crap out of it to make it feel much different than my original playthrough. One main annoyance was the level scaling, which I think there are mods that fix that.

[@ModestPavement]

Oblivion is better than Skyrim imo. Didn't deserve to be on this list. Especially since the criticism is mainly over visuals.

[@jonnyb2020]

@@ModestPavement very true, the only criticism is generally the graphics, Oblivion is just a far better game for me too! The guilds, the world itself, the arena etc etc! What a game

[@Atrus999]

I honestly really liked the faces in LA Noire. I know it wasn't super realistic or anything but it's a design choice I wish they used in more games. The Siren series on PS2 also used a similar technology and I thought it looked cool.

[@larsjj2794]

100% agree

[@straightfacts5352]

LA Noire's look is grounded in Art Deco. Once someone understands that, then they understand its graphics are _perfect._ Realistic-looking faces would be _out of place_ in that game.

[@Player_D]

@@straightfacts5352 Hear, hear!

[@louisschnetler7915]

I feel old games had pretty good graphics back in the day because our minds added extra details into the environment. Sometimes I revisit games and I just feel the graphics got worse, but that is because current-gen really spoils us

[@LaggyLuke]

In really old games the graphics were made for CRT TVs so in some cases old games can look worse than they did back in the day.

[@darinrode812]

I love Oblivion. I actually like it better than Skyrim. The quests have a lot more thought to them.

[@gameranxTV]

👌👍🏼

[@fastica]

Also, the UI is much better.

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

this is why it's being remade by modders. unfortunately the going is slow for that mod. they keep setting release dates, but they also keep delaying it from anyone who would like to play it in it's current state. i find that a stupid idea, because if they want people to get interested in the product, you can't just rely on trailers and recruiting sessions, you have to give people something that will motivate them into the modding scene. so the game is largely never used by the community unless your currently working on the project. like they have a great premise on the idea for modding the mod, but organization into recruiting more people into the product is not their strong suite.

[@trevormcbiggirl9312]

I'm pretty sure that they were saying (like BS cyrodiil and skywind) that making a working release build for the public takes a bunch of extra work that could be spent just finalising the mod. Especially with skyblivion they've already got basically everyone they need so the recruitment part isn't really an issue anymore

[@SrTullioZ]

YES!!! I was about to say the same

[@pandabear5729]

I loved RPG's when I was young, with Skyrim being my favourite, but I started Uni and could only bring my 360 with me. I've been playing through all the old games and 1 year ago I started playing Oblivion for the first time ever (with the 3 main DLC's). That game is hands down one of the best games I have ever played. The story, the side quests, the voice acting, the fact that all the areas felt unique in some way (apart from the ayleid ruins of course). I stopped noticing the weird faces and now bad graphics within about 2 hours of playing it. It certainly holds up well today.

[@devinfaucette]

Lol 😂 ah oblivion. The last time the redguards actually sounded black 🤣 it bothers me so much in Skyrim that they're not black anymore!!! I hate it....lmao 😂 you should try and revisit Oblivion on PC With mods. If you have the right setup and the right mods? It totally looks better than Skyrim. Even with all the texture mods that Skyrim has, Oblivion still looks better.

[@theMosen]

I'm not going to lie, I hated the faces even back in 2007 when I first played it. But the landscapes were beautiful and immersive, and while the graphics are obviously dated by today's standards, I don't understand how people claim it's an outright ugly game.

[@joelcannan7686]

It was RIDDLED with glitches though, especially voice acting. Included out-takes, bloopers, etc. 10/10

[@jameshogan4679]

First of all, you just made me feel ancient. Second of all, i first played oblivion on ultra low settings on a dell laptop from 2006, and not a gaming laptop. The trees become 2d cut outs and the fog is absurd. Now when I play oblivion today the graphics blow my mind because my memories are all paper mario meets silent hill. But morrowind will always be the GOAT to me. Thats what i played when I was a kid lol

[@jamesmiller5331]

Until you level up and the scaling makes it absolutely unplayable and illogical. Seeds with full glass armor sets cooking rats out in the woods. Sell your Grieves dude. You could buy a house and a steak.

[@torom86]

I love how classic Tomb Raider games look, I loved them when they were new and love them even more now. All the things you mentioned you'd struggle with is all I love of those games, especially TR2 and TR3. I wish they made a new TR game based on the old mechanics and style, the last trilogy was such an unsatisfying and forgettable experience for me.

[@Victorcolongarcia]

Totally agree. The first games were mesmerizing. Now characters have to talk all the time and take you by the hand in all situations. The new games in general make me feel as if we were children and they don’t trust our intellect 😅

[@torom86]

@@Victorcolongarcia classic TR were puzzle games in the purest sense of it: they weren't just games with some puzzles, the games themselves were puzzles. Every level just felt like a puzzle to solve and that was the core of the gameplay. Modern TR games are just TPS games with some puzzles. The core of the gameplay is no longer how to get to the end of a level, it's how to survive hords of enemies while running through a basically linear path. They just totally changed TR's genre to be able to use a popular franchise of the past on a popular genre of the present and make money from it. And I don't see any hope it might get better in the future, considering who's owning the franchise's rights and who's going to publish the next TR game (Amazon).

[@zoomzoomkaboom]

Worth pointing out that Oblivion was designed with the CRT in mind. In 2006 HDTVs were quite uncommon. Design choices suit CRT extremely well.

[@philithegamer8265]

Difference in graphical fidelity between CRT and HDTV?

[@RanaRandom]

@@philithegamer8265 kinda like playing it on the PS1/X's pixelated graphics

[@Hate_Gaze]

Em no dude. Everything you stated is false. HDTV was not uncommon in 2006

[@zoomzoomkaboom]

@@Hate_Gaze Core 360 didn't even get HDMI until 2007. Try again.

[@Hate_Gaze]

@@zoomzoomkaboom I didn’t say HDMI. All HDTV’s had component and Oblivion looked great through Component.

[@handyrandy1973]

Oblivion is a game I’ve gone back to several times, great game!

[@gameranxTV]

👌👍🏼

[@mobarakjama5570]

Don't set me on fire for what I'm about to say, but why don't they make a REMAKE of Oblivion, I would buy it.

[@GroteGlon]

@@gameranxTV community interaction is great but if all you're doing is low effort emoji spams under random comments it's better if you just don't do it.

[@gambello1195]

@@GroteGlon why tho

[@nredsa]

@@mobarakjama5570 check out skyblivion

I remember playing Morrowind as a child and it was so beautiful when I played it. When I decided to play it as an adult. I was so disappointed and I swear the graphics did not look like that when I first played it. 😂😂😂

[@DarthPhillius]

Thing I love about playing Elder Scrolls games on PC are the mods that either try and make older games feel fresh or try to recreate them in a newer game's engine.

[@Underournorthernstar]

They likely didn't. Those older games weren't made for today's resolutions. A good example of this is the character pictures in FF7 today vs how it looked on a crt.

[@youzernejm]

It did age quite a lot, but the combination of colours, music, fog just keep that atmosphere. I can still enjoy the graphics. Controls on the other hand, man, waving that useless stick of a dagger in the air while being clobbered by a rat didn't age well at all. Thank the community for mods.

[@kryw10]

I played Morrowind for the first time about five years ago. Dated, janky, weird combat, all kinds of old game issues, but I remember distinctly coming up on the Ghostfence for the first time and actually having to pause because it occurred to me how truly amazing must have been when it first came out and was shiny and new. I can't play it without mods, and haven't beaten it yet, but I go back to it from time to time and I enjoy every minute. Excellent game.

[@acomingextinction]

Yeah, like - Oblivion is a much more modern game to *play* so even if its graphics haven't aged well I still find it more enjoyable today than Morrowind.

[@LinksQuest]

I remember admiring the Tomb Raider graphics and being astounded by the polygons when it first came out. At that time it was such an immersive adventure.

[@sorenrousseau]

Yeah definitely. I was like 12, and it was amazing to me.

[@eleanorburns8686]

Character models aside, I do think Oblivion is still postcard pretty in many areas, and I did love the epic sense one got looking down from the high mountains onto the distant views of cities (and judging from how vertical Skyrim got, I wasn't the only one). Except for the waterfalls, that is. They were really rather sad, generic little texture sheets (even worse when the only way to make a really tall waterfall was to stack a load of them vertically). Skyrim massively restored my faith in digital water effects.

[@firun2635]

My thoughts exactly. Apart from the goofy faces it is a very nice looking game, even today, and I just love the old style MSAA that did not blur everything. Bloom off, though.

[@alexandreorion2253]

I've played LA Noire recently, and still looks pretty damn decent compared to some recent games, is pretty dated but still kicks some ass, if a remastered come out like they did to Mafia 2 I would definitely buy it

[@gameranxTV]

👍🏼

[@Theoldman27]

You played it recently and don't even know that it has been remastered?

[@alexandreorion2253]

​@@Theoldman27 Well, I did say "Like Mafia 2" cuz I know that it has been remastered, but you can't really see the improvements on the characters models, just some colors and shaders ajustments, not really a remaster if u know what I mean

[@Kris-wo4pj]

@@alexandreorion2253 it was more of a port with them fixing the questioning confront thing. Now. It's bad/good cop

[@gregoriuseka1431]

@@alexandreorion2253 Maybe remake rather than just remastered

[@capoeragames2081]

i honestly think that l.a noire's expressions looks way more natural than a lot of what we see today, sure, the definition is terrible, but i still have yet to see a game with facial expressions that doesn't give me that "ohh, this is realistic, but clearly a video game" vibe.

[@HYLOBRO]

The Last of Us 2 I think has some of the best animations and as far as immersion and realism I don't think it can get much better than that. Naughty Dog is just at the top of their game with mo-cap tho

[@gregzebra7324]

Just play any PS exclusive from the past few years or ANY of the Supermassive Games, games, since Until Dawn and you’ll see far better faces

[@darknesswave100]

It really is nuts when you go back and look at how games used to look compared to now. Growing up in the 90s I lost my mind when Ocarina of Time came out cause of how it looked. Granted now people would say that game looks terrible but if you grew up playing that then at least for me I appreciate how far graphics have come since games first started being a thing

[@ArcadeGamerson]

Imagine playing pitfall on Atari and thinking the graphics were outstanding, compared to pong they were but it seems each generation wows us more and more. I can't wait until they actually utilize and optimize this new gen we're on, we're going to see some incredible advances

[@smart-e6161]

If this was Facebook I'd be lovin this comment lol

[@ian0143]

If only companies worried about gameplay, like they do graphics.

[@EverGameStudios]

My printer worked over time playing the original everquest, I had binders printed out for maps and all other stuff that we didn't really have in the game when it first came out, my wall was covered with sheets of paper with knowledge of anything from where to get from one zone to another to spell lists, raid areas etc... and to be honest, it was one of the things that made that game so good. back when we didn't have 3 monitors for every gamer, and internet wasn't as fast as it is now. ha, the good old days.

[@nottiification]

Years later they gave EQ in-game maps and fast travel... which utterly ruined the game.

[@EverGameStudios]

@nottiification I totally agree, I loved it when you needed to find only a druid or a wizard in order to teleport somewhere.

[@botronas6039]

@@nottiification Thats why people play on project 1999 and project quarm where none of that is implemented

[@xephyrexe5246]

I remember playing Oblivion for the first time and to be honest, at the time I thought it was kind of a scary game. I was absolutely terrified of the various monsters and dark dungeons. It was such a ground breaking game for me though. My friend actually borrowed it from another friend and asked if we could take turns playing it on my Xbox 360. I remember getting scared watching him play lol. I remember oblivion very fondly though because it was such an adventure. Booting up the game and hearing that music really set the stage. The crazy part is that my playthrough was vastly different than my friends playthrough. Of course I did some quests I saw him do but for the most part, it was absolutely amazing to see us accomplishing different things with different character builds. Like, he went hard into alchemy and eventually was able to make good potions with minimal ingredients and that blew my mind because I went really hard into acrobatics and was able to moon jump everywhere. Oblivion was definitely a highlight of my highschool days.

[@Shmuckett]

I’ll never forget elementary school me watching my dad play oblivion on the living room tv the night after it came out. He’s at the top of some structure, staring out at the world, and he exclaims. “I don’t think graphics can ever get any better than this.” And my 7 year old mind being blown looking at true realism.

[@bubfusion]

I just started another playthrough of Half-Life 2. It still holds up so well. It looks fantastic and plays so well. Truly a timeless masterpiece. Hard to believe it came out in 2004

[@vikingshark2634]

Operation Flashpoint is the nostalgia trigger in this video for me. Blew my mind back then. I remember playing and commenting out loud to my brother that the models' eyes were actually blinking and their mouths were moving. Also the size of the battlefield was massive (at the time).

[@Saitanen]

Even today, OFP's AI holds up very well compared to the modern incompetent titles.

[@PedroFreire95]

Surprised to see that the first Devil May Cry wasn’t on the list. Absolutely ground breaking combat and gameplay that created many clones, but coming back to those fixed camera angles, obligatory underwater level, and graphics…

[@djstyles97]

Same could be said for the first few RE games too.

[@danielflanard8274]

@@djstyles97 Oh absolutely. I played the first RE on a DS as a kid and RE5 a few years ago with the friend, the movement is painful. Going back recently and playing some PS2 era games that I grew up, I don't think I could tolerate them if there wasn't a level of familiarity there. It's kind of like upgrading to a crisper TV, going back is jarring. Anything pre 360/PS3 feels archaic.

[@mbank3832]

they prob do a part 2. they tend to do part 2s on some of the topics

[@samixalam_]

@@djstyles97 not really imo I thought the same for the longest time, hell, even Re 4 of all the games I was put off... Had to relearn how tank controls worked but since then all the older games hold up once you're past that barrier

[@sam1_2_1]

It was a great game for its time, but it's still not that bad to be on this list where the original Witcher and Nier are.

[@BigBossBr4z1l]

Played some of these games in their releases. Specially Tomb Raider and Oblivion. Man, the first time i saw that vegetation moving with the wind in Oblivion was amazing. That and the beautiful soundtrack sure was impactfull for me. Tomb Raider is more terrifying than a horror game lol the silence, the eerie atmosphere, the emptiness and the (maybe not intentional) "jumpscares" sure made my childhood very thrilling haha

[@Siwwy]

I was honestly really surprised at how oblivion looks, I think it looks great and still holds up

[@elbarto4219]

Agreed. This dude is a clown.

[@Dung30n]

I played Operation Flashpoint and Deus Ex religiously back in the day. thank you for unlocking my core memories by having them on the list.

[@FL-Kman]

Oblivion will have my heart forever ❤

[@gameranxTV]

❤️🤝

[@Bluewave2024X]

I still like Oblivion, but for me Morrowind will always have my heart until I died.

[@BlazeSh0t]

Yea morrowwind was awesome too

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

I bought it used for real cheap quite a few years ago. It was so bad that I got a refund, refusing to even keep it in my house. I wish I returned the used cheap copy of Dragon Age too. One other overhyped game I got in the same batch at that time was Fallout 3, for like $3 bucks. It also one got returned. Ugly, boring trash. I found one gem though during that GameStop shopping trip. A used cheap copy of Demon’s Souls. I’d never heard of it before, but the package design looked cool. The game blew my mind. That started my love affair with FromSoftware games that came out ever since.

[@BlazeSh0t]

@@anti-ethniccleansing465 fallout 3 is one of the best RPGS of all time lol.

[@VyxelOP]

For me, Turok 64. I remember thinking that game looked and felt amazing with immersive environments.

[@specificgravity-thedancing9700]

I remember getting to play Turoc at a friends and it blew me away, what a classic.

[@the-engneer]

I loved the multiplayer in the Turok games! Those games have a certain place in my heart especially Turok 3 even though it's always gotten a lot of hate

[@GrandRiserOfficial]

What's bad about older games is they usually have very bad controls consistency across different titles. Some mouse controlling your characters needs you to drag the screen to actually look around, other is just using mouse to look around. I had really bad experience with Witcher 1 controls which is very bad and hard to use, compared to W3.

[@falc410]

Funny enough I just replayed the original FF7 and despite it bad graphics, it still was a lot of fun to play!

[@HamanKarn567]

Oblivion still one of my favorite games of all time. I don't mind the graphics

[@gameranxTV]

👌

[@Rwbysimp68]

graphics does not matter as long as gameplay is still fun.

[@Elwaves2925]

I partly agree and disagree. Graphics don't need to be top notch, ground breaking or realistic etc, but they do need to fit the game being played. So in that respect, graphics do matter.

[@Vik1919]

@@Elwaves2925 They matter to a certain extent but should not be the focus over gameplay, story and music. Graphics comes after them. You can have good environments without good graphics, too.

[@DeadByThousandCuts]

Yep! That's why i still play ALL Souls games 😃

[@nictrident4392]

I like the look of n64 style graphics.

[@Kris-wo4pj]

They matter if I can't tell what one thing is compared to another. Idk if my eyes got worse since I was a kid or if I got use to clearer graphics but they shouldn't be so mudd.

[@paulbellino5330]

On the surface Duesx never looked but still to this day one of the most deep, revolutionary and groundbreaking game ever. Hands down

[@logicaldude3611]

I remember when Oblivion came out, my dad and brother would sit on the couch and just watch me play it. It looked so real that they were in awe.

[@deadinsideclown666]

man, I played LA Noire and was absolutely blown away by the facial expressions

[@AutonomousVII]

Oh Oblivion, does that bring up some nostalgia. As a console gamer who never heard of Morrowind I had never seen anything like it. I spent over a hundred hours exploring everything in that world. Then when I had done all the side quests including the DLC and had seen every nook and cranny it was finally time to beat the game. I stocked up and was ready for the final battle only to be defeated by a glitched door that wouldn’t open. I still haven’t beaten the dang game lol, maybe it’s time to explore Cyrodill again.

[@Razmoudah]

Thank you for going back to the mid-90's for one of your references. I've been gaming since the early-90's and there has been a massive degree of improvement just from the mid-90's to the mid-2000's, so having at least one game on your list to represent that was greatly appreciated.

[@gameranxTV]

👍🏼

[@aatoms13]

I remember first time starting Oblivion and being able to manipulate chains in prison cell, that "wow" moment is still burnt in my brain.

[@dragonhold4]

Havok physics were the preeminent innovation for gaming at the time.

[@equious8413]

Yusss.. this moment sticks out in my mind too.

[@ErrormanGL]

At the time or when you were young/kid. They look so realistic and very awesome. But when you are getting old and want to see nostalgia games you played when you were young or kid. You are asking yourself: "Wow, is that how I have seen the gameplay when I was young/kid?". But still awesome games.

[@gameranxTV]

👆🏻

[@Kris-wo4pj]

I can't play some old games that I loved as a kid. It gives me a headache due to how murky the graphics were that I could barely figure out what one thing was. Then I got upset that it doesn't have features that modern games have.

[@stephanledford9792]

Oblivion was my first exposure to both Elder Scrolls and open world games. I stopped at a Best Buy on the way home from work and was talking with a salesman about how I wished computer games were more like real life, where I could go anywhere and pick up things. He told me to try Oblivion and I loaded it up after dinner and started playing. I was absolutely blown away by the graphics (at that time) and especially the music. I didn't stop playing till Saturday afternoon when I was so sleepy, I couldn't stay awake. It was lifechanging in a way - I have not purchased or played a linear PC game since then. I am hoping that Skyblivion corrects that because I want to play this again with better graphics and better combat mechanics.

[@Ensiferum888]

OMG I had completely forgotten about Operation Flashpoint, that game was groundbreaking! You could enter any vehicle, the maps were HUGE.

[@Saitanen]

Even today, OFP's AI holds up very well compared to the modern bullshit titles.

[@d-fyant1925]

Oblivion will always look good to me. The memories!! I’m still gonna be a stealth archer every time I play it though 😂

[@gameranxTV]

👌

[@Kryptic1046]

Lol That sh** was so ridiculously OP. It was great.

[@liamhealy4511]

I really dont think La Noire looks bad. Also a game i think should be on this is San Andreas. I remember being blown away that there was 3 massive, living cities with desert and country spread througout, nowdays its still my favourite game but especially with the remaster its a little glaring

[@The_king567]

Nah it definitely belongs on this list

[@bodhi6769]

Back then it seems like it has a massive map too and you navigate it within a couple minutes

[@moss916]

Man, Oblivion was my first true open world “fps” rpg with swords etc, and once I discovered the dupe glitch post, it was over. Watermelons for everyone in the Imperial City!

[@danielladanielwth30nlylumi2]

As someone who loves playing old and old-looking games, I LOVE the visuals of "L.A. Noire" and "Nier", and I played both as recently as 2022. Those games will always have a special place in my heart.

[@telemeister]

I absolutely loved Operation Flashpoint - probably my favourite game of all time.

[@JohnSmith-qe6fb]

I remember the Russian music that would play when installing the game from disc. The graphics were bad even then but it was fun!

[@Saitanen]

Even today, OFP's AI holds up very well compared to the modern bullshit titles.

[@jazzyj7834]

Oblivion has a weird almost cartoonish look to it that allows it to embrace the ageing process as more of a charming goofiness with a certain campiness to it than anything else on this list. The game never made an attempt to look realistic. It has a certain style of art that just works. And I don't mean to meme that. It literally just works for this game. The jank, the oddball characters, it's all part of it's charm, and I think Morrowind has more of a spot on this list than Oblivion does. I actually just started another oblivion playthrough last month and it's such a great game.

[@gameranxTV]

👍🏼

[@VongolaXZax]

That's a wonderful way to describe it dude. Memes aside, a lot of old games have that charm and humor, you just can't help but, go back to.

[@Coreisus]

Yea but you don't dare say Morrowind's bad, unless you want to be torn apart by angry nerds, frothing at the mouth.

[@MrSkullMerchant]

@@Coreisus its ok dude no ones scared of angry nerds 👍

[@haunterdragon4580]

You got jank right

[@PlzReturnYourShoppingCart]

I just got L.A Noir last week and am playing it for the 1st time ever on the Steam Deck and I love it! I don't even think the graphics look bad at all! Maybe its the small screen or maybe I just like the game THAT much but I am totally fine with L.A. Noire! Great game! Love it!

[@foxtrotlaw9455]

Damn L.A noire still holds strong unexpectedly.. i would play it again anyday

[@partofthetribe3277]

I was super hype for oblivion too. One thing about it that was super innovative for its time and honestly still to this day is the way the NPC's AI is to this day if you go in and play that game you will get results out of NPCs in have random things happening with NPC's that you cannot get in Skyrim at all and you cannot get in a lot of adventure games. Because they tried to make it so the AI was almost evolving and stuff like that it really was groundbreaking for its time and groundbreaking period. Because if someone were to go in and fix this system and update it with the capabilities we have now you could end up with a game that to this day can be leaps and bounds farther than anything we could imagine today.

[@KnightSlasher]

I like how the title and the thumbnail go so well together because the clip that the thumbnail is featuring the guy jumps off and breaks himself on the ground

[@Hobbes4ever]

No one lives forever was also a groundbreaking game but has been largely forgotten

[@vaynelevant]

i've played a lot of oblivion back in 2009 on my paltry P4 machine lmao. the thing that impressed me the most was not the graphics but that the arrows stuck to the things that you shoot them in and you can even recover the arrows. oblivion was the first game i played that does that so it's a big wow factor for me.

[@Stevenewmansa]

Tomb Raider was incredible when it came out. It blew our minds!

[@GameEsthetics]

I used to think EverQuest looked incredible when I was a kid… crazy how far we have come 😳😳 Thanks for another great lunch break 🥪 gameranx

[@warcow1115]

Me too. It's funny though, any time that I dip back into EQ for a day or so, I always have to use the pre-Luclin character models. They're even more dated, but I've always preferred their style.

[@BeryProduction]

Fun fact about Operation Flashpoint - US army Marine Corps used its version (VBS1) for training purposes. And its been going for years, even when they transitioned to Arma franchise, some armies still use their VBS1 version for training. And personal fact: It was the first game on my own PC.

[@ParthaSarathylink]

The Witcher game was really good when I played recently. The story ,progression, music and environment were all great. Some fighting mechanics, fast travel options or indoor switching needs improvement. But overall great 💯

[@ChristmasLore]

Playing Witcher 1 now - it's not that easy for a fresh gamer with only 2 other games under their belt.... Now that I've finally got my silver sword it got better, but jeez I had rather a hard time at the beginning... And missing Roach as hell, running all over the map of the outskirts of Vizima- even mid maxing (?) as much as possible. Still, the atmosphere is worth it?

[@beafy2177]

@@ChristmasLore I've beaten all 3 Witchers and recently returned to Witcher 3 on my r9 and 3080 after not playing it since launch wow is the 3rd one even ugly comparing it to other games launched in the same year all 3 games are fantastic but definitely not for the graphics

[@ChristmasLore]

@@beafy2177 , still highly disagree, and there are even whole channels on KZbin thinking like me, that Witcher original graphic style is what made it stand the trial of time. It's not about the details as much as an overall atmosphere, and on that point, Witcher 3, especially remastered, absolutely delivers imo. But to each their own.

[@gpolenik]

Graphically it might not look that great anymore but LA Noire still has the best mouth animations EVER in video games. It looks insanely accurate apart from a few bugs

[@Jimmy_The_Kid]

😂😂😂

[@gregzebra7324]

Max copium.

[@stevesteve1330]

Tomb Raiser is a game you needed to have been there to appreciate it, I went from not playing games for years the last game I played was Space Invaders on the Original Atari to getting a PlayStation and loading this up, it blew my mind I was hooked it was and still is an amazing game even today the gameplay is Incredible and I thought the Graphics where Incredible, can anyone ever forget the T-Rex???

[@Playingwith3D]

I was sure you'd put San Andreas on this list. I remember thinking how amazing it looked back when it came out. But now, even the remaster didn't age well.

[@philithegamer8265]

Except the Remaster looks garbage in general...

[@itachiuchiha6507]

Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis was one of my first games on Pc, as i was a kid. Now on steam with the name "Arma".

[@mentalshatter]

Do note that in Nier, the main character is different for the western release. The original release in Japan had a younger, slimmer, main character.

[@cenciende9401]

That makes literally zero difference to the reasons for its inclusion in this video.

[@mentalshatter]

@@cenciende9401 6:58 He literally says that the main character was a, and I quote, "a weird looking lump of flesh", so yes, I believe that it does make a bit of difference to this one small, pedantic thing.

[@nathanielmiller1922]

I thought Morrowind would be number one. Guess I'm too old now. Oblivion will do.

[@seethisth4753]

Morrowind still looks kind of good in it's way. I think It aged better than Oblivion.

[@staticcharm3808]

@@seethisth4753 It looks worse

[@chmuso1017]

Take back everything you've said about Tomb Raider 1! I recently played through it and the gameplay compliments the environments so well! It's an utterly amazing game seriously. The grid based system is ingenious! It felt just as good to play now as it did for me as an 8 year old back in the day!

[@HydraulicAnna]

Fricking love going back to Deus ex and playing through it after all these years. I think the graphics makes it more appealing to me for some reason

[@TheTimgta]

I feel the same way about Morrowind I will play it with all the DLC but I prefer play it on Xbox firstly because of the controller I had it for PC but I prefer Xbox but that way I'm not tempted to cheat with the console or mod it for graphics because I like the graphics I know that sounds crazy

[@uncleflansy5621]

Elden Ring is my first From game, and I had no idea the voice actor for Patches was the same one from the older games. That's pretty cool.

[@soleiman89]

Thanks a lot, I agree with most of the games mentioned but one, LA Noire, the game looks hella good still in my opinion. It represents the era very good and even movies made for that time period have the same feel to them, espicially actors that over act a bit

[@safetinspector2]

I know it would've been a too-easy target, but GoldenEye on the N64 should definitely be on this list if Tomb Raider is.

[@steve9094]

Re: Tomb Raider and early 3D - most people were too wowed by the 3D aspect of the 32 bit console generation to notice the downgrade in graphical fidelity, but I personally thought it was a huge visual downgrade even when it was new. I figured that the technology wasn't quite at the level where they could do seamless 3D worlds, so in the lead-up to the 32 bit generation I'd imagined most next-gen games looking like really lushly detailed 2D games a-la something like Rayman or whatever. Unfortunately, instead we got almost exclusively 3D games even though the existing hardware could obviously barely handle it. Oh well. There were some upsides during that generation though - it was definitely nice to be able to play first person shooters without a PC, and driving games made a huge leap forward, but overall it was a disappointing generation for me.

[@darrenbrown8877]

I remember for some reason I stopped playing video games in primary school and didn't pick one up until I was about to finish high school but one time I came across a friend playing Oblivion and I was blown away by how great it looked and that it was open world because back then there wasn't a lot of open world games

[@Blobby_hill396]

Oblivion is still beautiful to this day. The faces never were. Even back then. But the aesthetic, almost water color like landscapes, it's beautiful.

[@DeadByThousandCuts]

Ohh man how many times I have finished The Witcher back in the day!!, I still own enhanced edition, there was like 6-7 discs included in that version. I am so happy We are getting a remake, love this game ❤ P.s. and yeah it's ugly 😅.

[@Ntmoffi]

I'm not very excited about the remake. They're talking about remaking it for "modern audiences" which makes me cringe.

[@jellybean4049]

God, I want to play Oblivion again now. I stumbled across Oblivion in a Supermarket back when PC games were sold in supermarkets, and I loved it. I fell in love with modding and RPGs, and it even got me into game development.

[@christophercollins3632]

LA Noire’s faces are dated? That was the main focus of the game. To this day, games struggle to evoke the kind of microexpressions that LA Noire delivers.

[@koshermal]

I've never played LA noire, and I'm amazed at how good that looks. It's making me want to find a way to play it. Did you put that on the wrong list?

[@AntonioRivera28]

it still holds up as an incredible game today

[@jaymac7203]

Yes it was a strange choice!

[@MrBoggy101]

This is a great list, I will say that Xbox is saving face on some old titles. Oblivion on Series X runs at 60FPS in 4K, so even though it has low quality graphics, they're given their best chance to shine. Obviously you can run games much more freely on PC, but it's nice that Microsoft gives old games new features on console.

[@Undercover_Ape]

Onimusha warlords came out in 2001 and was a huge step ahead of its time for combat, story and graphics would be cool to see it placed in a video somewhere

[@stuartmorley6894]

Tbf with Oblivion you could just mod it to look and play better. Beth's games can be buggy messes but at least their support for modding is admirable.

[@gameranxTV]

👍🏼

[@tochukwuudu7763]

Bio shock infinite will always look great with it’s distinctive artstyle.

[@happyduck1424]

That's still one my favorite games visually even though it's basically 10 years old.

[@cenciende9401]

Don't you mean the original Bioshock? I replayed it in 2015 in superwide triple monitor setup and it was still just as beautiful as on release, in some ways it even still held up to some of the new releases in 2015 at the time!

[@tochukwuudu7763]

@@cenciende9401 works too.

[@Lewis94YouTube]

I'm actually playing through L.A Noire right now and i couldn't disagree with you more. Still looks good today

[@haunterdragon4580]

Felt like nit picking honestly. LA Noire was decent.

[@jaymac7203]

Yes it's a weird choice!

[@mktenno3066]

I remember waiting for LA Noire to come out with my best friend at the time and I actually said to him “how can games get any better looking than this”

[@Blackhand47XD]

Gothic (basically as whole series) - it was revolutionary game in terms of RPG. Many developers started to copy style of Piranha Bytes and some of their mechanics... but now it looks really outdated. I hope that remake will be done well.

[@jscott4reel]

When you go from the pinnacle of graphical achievement to the depths of the uncanny valley…

[@000oooREBooo000]

I dont know man. LA noire still looks good!

[@omisan771]

I remember as I teenager, Tomb Raider on the PSX looked like it was "lifelike" to me. The leap from 2D pixel and SNES mode 7 to 3D polygon was huge back then.

[@jackpd34]

I remember playing Oblivion for the first time probably in 2008 on Xbox 360, I actually recall when my parents got me the Xbox for my birthday and it came with Oblivion, i played it right up until I had to go to school and all day at school I was telling my mates about this game with graphics that are like real life. 2 of my friends came over and were blown away by it and we played until I had to go out for dinner. Man, times seemed so much easier back then. I feel like then the graphics looked like Read Dead 2 or The Witcher 3 on ultra settings lol.

[@kurtjohnpalomaria342]

Despite this, I'd still play L.A. Noire over new CODs any day.

[@iDEATH]

I've been telling people for 25 years now that Lara Croft only became a sex symbol because of how good (for the time) and innovative that first Tomb Raider was. Thank you for helping to elaborate on why! I don't think we would've given her the time of day, much as we haven't to many would be successors since, if the game had been crap. Hell, I wonder if the whole "Nude Raider" thing would've happened if the game hadn't been so great.* On another note, I remember being blown away by previews of the graphics for the first Wing Commander game in an article in Dragon Magazine back in the early 90s. There's another game that looks so basic now, maybe in a quaint way, with the pixel art. It was hardly the first 3D starfighter game (the original was Elite, IIRC?), but it looked pretty stunning for its time. Damn fun, too, those first two Wing Commander games. *I have a theory that you can often judge the popularity of a piece of media by the amount of Rule 34 it generates

[@zenkim6709]

Not to mention that the infamous "tank controls" in the initial generation of Tomb Raider titles was due to Tomb Raider 1 coming out back when the original Sony Playstation was still a (relatively) new console. The dual "thumbsticks / joyknobs" game controllers that have long been so conventional nowadays were not a thing until *after* the 1st release of Sony's bestselling console, so the 4-direction movement buttons were all that could B had for controlling Lara Croft's motion. This *could* have been enhanced w/ mouse control for the PC version, but sticking w/ "tank controls" kept things simple for software development purposes.

[@AsavarKul]

You can say whatever you want about LA Noire's facial animation, I haven't seen better facial animations in any game until VERY recently. The textures do look dated, but the facial expression and animation is incredible for a game of that age.

[@dennissinned6299]

Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis and it's 2 expansions, Red Hammer and Resistance, one of the best games ever made. Nice, huge campaigns, fairly challenging and the music...omg, the music sets the tone. ARMA series pales by comparison, ARMA 2 had a very short campaign, only controlled 4 guys total, no helicopters, no tanks, only some crappy wheeled vehicles. Didn't bother with ARMA 3 at all. So much so, that they er-released the original game, fixed bugs and such and it's called OFP Armed Assault, i think.

[@figi2172]

I guess once it looks as good as real life, there won’t be much of a curve