Graphics are Temporary, Art Direction is Forever

Go to Audible.com/bricky or text "Bricky" to 500-500
Today we discuss graphics vs. art direction. What the two of them mean, and most importantly why you should prioritize art direction over anything else.
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[@Bricky]

Go to Audible.com/bricky or text "Bricky" to 500-500 Go play PREY this is a threat

[@ScarriorIII]

It is time...you must join the Exodus and do Battletech.

[@XombieKing]

After I finish Code Vein. Prey is next for me. Or drop Anime Dark Souls and do Anxiety The game

[@snowdrifter6187]

I loved prey, the older games named prey and this newer one. Now im addicted to deathloop

[@VerGiLL1]

Bricky is just like me, a crazy looking person begging people to go play Prey.

[@blaizecato8801]

Have you seen Annihilation before, fucking love that movie. Definitely a niche kind of film but it’s perfect for me.

[@xanderlee51]

Bricky physically cannot resist going 2 videos without bringing up Warhammer, and I think it's hilarious.

[@Lynch2507]

add that to the bingo card

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

BROTHER I AM PINNED HERE

[@ArchaicBuilds]

or frostpunk

[@SwordWieldingDuck]

It is a sin, to make near-gaming-geek video without ever mentioning Warhammer.

[@giulionebbia8253]

@@SwordWieldingDuck You mean is HERESY, right ?

[@mrpizzacat8273]

I had to essentially baby sit a 12 year old a few years back when my parents had their family over. I showed them my games library, and the amount of games they dismissed because the graphics weren’t high quality enough broke my heart. I felt sorry for the kid and also wanted to drop kick him at the same time

[@noodlesushi111]

give it a couple years and theyre gonna know they were wrong.

[@TheViewtiful]

@@noodlesushi111 not really though. I have a friend that is almost the same as that kid from the comment. Pretty sad

[@someonewhospams0w0inchat16]

​@@noodlesushi111 u should make them play ur games, ngl. what games do you got, anyway?

[@noodlesushi111]

@@someonewhospams0w0inchat16 i play all kinds (indie to AAA) of games as long as they are interesting. graphic fidelity is not the first thing i look for a game.

[@belldrop7365]

Heh, I have a cousin who thinks anything that isn't multiplayer or isn't live service isn't a video game. Single player games to him is more like a movie experience, his own words. The generation that grew up with mobile games, seriously.

[@kiricai7175]

"People keep going for perfect, instead of going for unique" God that hit me so hard it made me shiver, top tier script writing Bricky

[@justsomewritingfan2202]

Perfection is such a futile aim. Even if such a Thing as "perfection" existed, reaching it would be horrifying. Perfection is Not a goal, its an endline. The artistic dead end, nothing could ever beat a perfect piece, every other game would just be compared to it by how much worse they are. Once absolute photo-realism is reached no other graphic will be "more realistic", it can only go downhill from there. Dont strive for perfection, strive for improvement.

[@dontkickmychick6076]

@@justsomewritingfan2202 jesus Christ you're right, I commonly use the "perfection is impossible because everyone's definition is different" saying but that's way more terrifying

[@michaelwesten4624]

omg fam that is 100 lit fam lmao

[@SL4PSH0CK]

I dig Cry engine visual style over Unreal Engine since the saturation of fan made UE tech demos.

[@badass6300]

Unique isn't a good thing most of the time.

[@epiccgamner3567]

"Art direction > Graphics" Spoken like a true visionary

[@SL4PSH0CK]

Love CryEngine visual style and early FrostByte. love art style on stylized games notably Borderlands. Love art direction of Ghost of Tsushima due to its implemented composed movement on cutscenes, set pieces, & visual cues "guiding winds" since it was inspired by Akira Kurosawa; talk about literally visual direction.

[@sethvanhoose9823]

The art direction is what makes a old game priceless compared to a triple A game that has amazing graphics but awful story. Excellent vid Bricky

[@edgardobarrios9027]

did you said back 4 blood?

[@primachpepe8597]

my go to for that, original Homeworld. Looks like ass, plays like ass, but i love the direction

[@The-Blue-Knight]

Visuals and story are two completely different things.

[@NightmareBlade10]

@@edgardobarrios9027 Back 4 blood sucks though. It has awful EVERYTHING and is overpriced as heck. The artstyle makes me think that it can't decide whether to try and look cartoony like forntite or hyper gory like Killing Floor 2.

[@mightyarbokking7197]

@@NightmareBlade10 Finally someone else who agrees with my thoughts

[@thra-x1855]

"The closer to reality, the further from art." I forget who's quote that is but it changes my whole outlook.

[@SL4PSH0CK]

True when it comes to this, its always the visual style that stands out like cry engine games that were often holds up today

[@Kogmaw30]

Okami is by far one of the most memorable games in my life. Not only was it a fun story for me, but the art style was so unique and very reminiscent of flowing charcoal drawings.

[@JoJoboiWav]

absolute GOAT

[@TheRhalf]

The graphics and some of the art style aged like sht tho, sure it's memorable but some of the "artistic" choices were very questionable, like the constant ghosting

[@Zack-bl2gg]

This reminds me of the incredibles vs the incredibles 2. The second one has better “graphics”, but the first movie’s use of shadows, though it was partially due to hardware limitations, I’d unmatched. It creates such an amazing feel of mystery.

[@kevinleite6309]

The incredibles 2 still a good beat em up, even today XD

[@TheIronArmenianakaGIHaigs]

Team Fortress 2 is 15 years old yet looks pretty good still 😁

[@lukiklepsa6218]

Couldn't agree more.

[@coffee0093]

was gunna comment this

[@D3V1LBr34TH]

Source Engine be praised

[@rumplstiltztinkerstein]

The funniest part is that it's kind of like Quake 3 modified. They made changes to quake 3 to get tf2. No wonder there's no one updating it. The spaghetti code is too thiccc.

[@littleredruri]

_Team Fortress 2 is 15 years old_

[@JaakunaSetsu]

My argument would be that style *is* substance. A cool art direction not only will make it memorable and fit the story themes but also enchance its point. Bloodborne is a good exaple. You look cool, the enemies mostly look hideous, the action is adrenaline filled and makes you feel like you are the dangerous one on that fight. The flowing robes, the dirty jagged weapons with edges less to cut and more to tear flesh. It all enhances the idea that blood is addicting and that the hunt is too.

[@mage0534]

Ngl I honestly expected bricky to say style is substance

[@DarthMcDoomington]

I think "style over substance" is actually a pretty good argument against graphics over art style. Yeah the graphics of Modern Warfare 3 are impressive on a technical level but compared to say, Half-Life 2 or Final Fantasy VII, where the style SERVES the substance, Modern Warfare 3 is really fucking unmemorable. Final Fantasy VII looked great graphically at the time, but it's weird character designs were made to stand out even when the characters couldn't even have identifiable faces. Could you recognize anyone in Modern Warfare if they had the same graphics? Not unless it's Captain Price (who's design is based on a character originally designed for World War 2 allowing him to be identified by his silly 1800s moustache). How about Battlefield 3? NOPE. But Spec Ops: The Line's cast could at least stand out from one another. Walker and Adams have no headgear and are white and black respectively while Lugo has a cap.

[@t.7124]

For sure. Bloodborne's style makes the game that much better and it becomes satisfying to just run through the different areas and look at the art design. And Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire came out almost 20 years ago and still have good sprites because of the art style. Even Genshin Impact makes me want to play the game even though I wouldn't be interested otherwise. Also the game Firewatch. And Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which isn't traditionally beautiful but still looks great.

[@sowierd6590]

Lolol bloodborne is shit

[@tastycookiechip]

@@sowierd6590 Nah

[@fakerhex]

I often use Borderlands when it comes to this topic of discussion. Borderlands artstyle is by far my favorite artstyle in a video game and whats great is that it still holds up no matter how many years go by

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

when the first game was still the only one in the series i showed it to my cousin and tried getting her to paly it with me and my brother, she said she didnt like the hard sharpy like shading, 2 comes out and shes all over it and its one of her favorite games of all time

[@charliecox9105]

Used to have friends who would shit talk borderlands because the "graphics" were bad. They had never played it and thats what put them off. The style is one of the biggest charms of the game and works so well

[@tgr3423]

It's why Windwaker is my favorite Zelda game. Ironic, considered how blasted that game was at release, but now over a decade later, that's the exact reason why so many people love it.

[@Noqtis]

Well... the reason why it was being blasted wasn't because it looked bad. it was because the tech demo nintendo showed 1 year prior to the release of windwaker looked nothing like it. have a look /watch?v=jqcyQOgmUYE after seeing this, everyone was hyped about a new, more mature ocarina of time. especially after many were kinda sad that we had only young link in Zelda Majoras Mask. the hype was massive. but what we got was a version that was even more childish than Majoras Mask. That's what made people mad. if Nintendo would have never released the tech demo, the expectations would have been different and no one would have been mad. Nintendo just implied a totally different direction for the zelda franchise. that was a bummer. I love the ocean, bought windwaker at release and enjoyed the shit out of it. but even I could not stop thinking what would have been if they would have made the tech demo into a zelda game.

[@zigsteenine8650]

@@Noqtis youre basically saying the same thing. People didn’t like it cause they didn’t like the graphics. If everything else in the game was kept the same except the graphics looked more like that tech demo, it wouldn’t have been hated on release, although it would’ve aged terribly.

[@Nachy]

This topic gets further highlighted too with the rise of more advanced contemporary game engines that are capable of high fidelity graphics out of the box. A lot of the shovelware nowadays have graphics fidelity and fancy post-processing effects that are present as well in AAA-developed games from the past decade. And as high fidelity graphics become dime a dozen, the importance of art direction really becomes more prominent. Sometimes serendipity and technical limitations even brought upon some of the more memorable and iconic looks in a game. Such as Silent Hill and its ever present fog stemming out from the fact that the PlayStation couldn't handle high draw distances, so the fog was used to hide that limitation, and it resulted in an even more creepy atmosphere.

[@SL4PSH0CK]

Well said mentioning Silent Hill as an example

[@seletron8291]

Dishonored is an absolute masterpiece of artdirection

[@kingofheavymetal]

Pretty much all Arkane games are amazing for that.

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

@@kingofheavymetal yuuuuurp, you cannot tell me that corvo and the assassins guild or whatever do not have the most badass designs for that time period of steam punk mixed with gothic victorian or whatever. corvos mask alone is so detailed yes stylized in a way to always be recognizable

[@kingofheavymetal]

@@rinnnnnnnnnnrin Yeah, I love Dishonored to death, the DA is over the roof, and the level design if stunning aswell, it look good and plays good because of the way they make us play it even if it's a fairly open game aswell

[@holo7070]

Totally agree even though if you look close in Dishonored you can see a lot of muddy textures but the style carries it and it ends up not being noticeable unless you look really hard.

[@yetischmetti9529]

@@holo7070 that's true, the textures don't hold up as well, but I think the game will overall still look good in 10 years

[@nuggetboi3462]

Honestly I’m a tad bit offended that he didn’t bring up borderlands. It had insane art direction. The game looks like a comic book and the first game still looks great. The modern games also look great because they kept a consistent style. The cell shading wasn’t realistic but it’s not supposed to be. It’s a great art style that keeps a lot of people come back to the game. It also helps Handsome Jack exists

[@sirapple589]

Also, when people cosplay Borderlands characters by replicating the cellshading in real life it looks trippy as fuck.

[@braindead4378]

Yeah, I've always loved cell-shaded art-styles and Borderlands has to have been the game series that's done it best, I'd definitely agree BL1 holds up today just because Gearbox did it so well.

[@crashedforeigncar]

Heh heh, yeah, Handsome Jack is the best. A really charismatic antagonist, to be sure

[@snek1973]

Honestly I'd disagree when it comes to BL1, It looks like a blurry brown mess compared to bl2

[@Zack-bl2gg]

Cell shading is my favorite animation style, it just will always look good. It’s why you could still play the original Zelda windwaker and not get bad graphics whiplash

[@ApexGale]

Games like Hades, Under Night, Omori, Hollow Knight are far more memorable because the art choices are vivid and specifically are created to stand out.

[@thundageon5962]

Don't forget Persona 5's phenomenal art style

[@chordalharmony]

Ori and cuphead as well

[@Jormyyy]

Case and point for strong art direction > good graphics: the entire souls series and now Elden Ring.

[@EndEz108]

Graphics mean nothing where there's no creative art direction, completely agree with this.

[@zakugt5098]

Dead Space too

[@godspeedthe13th]

One thing Cyberpunk has taught me, don't hold any judgement/expectations for a game that hasn't released

[@Jormyyy]

@@EndEz108 it baffles me that folks were getting their undies in a knot over Elden Ring "looking like a ps3 game". Would I have liked to see FromSoft upgrade their visual graphics? Yes, of course, great graphics are always a nice plus. However, the superb looking art style direction and execution from what we've seen so far for Elden Ring will absolutely make up for any lack of fancy smancy graphics.

[@EndEz108]

@@Jormyyy I agree that the visual graphics could have an upgrade, but the art direction is absolutely unique, and in a way, I think the upgrade visually has already been added, look at the catherdal area in the trailers with the blue """mist""" (i think), it looks incredible.

[@tyrisiustyroniusrex8322]

Borderlands art always seems to capture my enthusiasm for their scenery on their worldbuilding

[@themaninthechair4338]

Borderlands makes me sad, I don't enjoy looter shooters and the story, but I love the art style to bits. I played Tales from the Borderlands and that satisfied my Borderlands itch

[@xFluing]

@@themaninthechair4338 Oh man I absolutely loved Borderlands 2, its world building blew my mind. Sure you have to go through some pretty bad voice acting, but once you get past that you get one of the more amazing worlds in video games, there's also a reason handsome jack is such a loved villain and why people were so utterly pissed (including myself) when the twins in BL3 turned out to be written by a 3 year old.

[@skylar85]

@@themaninthechair4338 there's quite a few cell shaded games so check some other ones out you might like them more

[@jayveeeee]

Love the video Bricky! So glad you mentioned Prey... Arkane are masters of art direction. Deathloop is brilliant too

[@souljastation5463]

I wish the plot wasn't JJ Abramed though. People that were in the room with me and followed th he story were madder than I was when I finished the game, at least I got to play it.

[@celltrark7161]

Also, love the artsyle of Dishonored.

[@braedzero8127]

Arkane are masters of their craft. Dishonored is the best game franchise of all time imho. Haven't finished Prey yet, but I've loved every second of it so far. Can't wait to play Deathloop in the future (especially since it's more or less confirmed to be in the same universe as Dishonored)

[@kesslerkruger4652]

@@celltrark7161 Arkane also developed a cancelled game a while back (ps3 days) a sort of knights Templar taking place is 2020 France it looked really cool and could’ve pushed arkane into a more co-op direction

[@Captain_Yata]

I'm praying (I refuse to make a joke) for Prey 2

[@seanharmon713]

This is why I fell in love with Dishonoured. The watercolours can never quite be matched. Who gives a singular fuck how realistic it looks when the art style was so brilliantly unique?

[@tbotalpha8133]

Don't forget how almost every single character looks like a political cartoon caricature brought to life.

[@ethanmagdaleno5332]

God Dishonoured 1 and 2's art style is so incredible

[@LegioXXI]

@@ethanmagdaleno5332 Sadly, Dishonored 2 lost a lot of the art style.

[@AcidiFy574]

Now play Dusk & Faith

[@jonahulichny9874]

@@LegioXXI explain please

[@yoomazir]

8:12 Sooo, Bricky, while Mike Gordon made amazing tracks for Prey, the one you put in the video wasn't made by him. It was Raphael Colantonio, the founder of Arkane, who co composed it with someone else. *Cue to the more you know meme video*

[@RedheadedReaper]

Semi-Sacred Geometry hit so well when I approached it. Female vocals best vocals, especially considering the in-lore performer.

[@Bricky]

fuck

[@captainnate27]

Best example of this is Team Fortress 2. That game is very old, but doesn’t look bad because of the art style it uses

[@augustuslunasol10thapostle]

Best part is tf2 old graphics seem intentionally aged because of how good its art is even though it was a graphically good game for its time

[@benjaminwilson8807]

Being simple and not looking to realism helps. OG crash bandicoot looks fine. One of the good things about WoW too.

[@zackrose6261]

Or most nintendo games.

[@DarthMcDoomington]

That and it has a lot of intentional design in it's characters. Like how the legs are always in darker, less saturated colours to help draw the eye to their upper half where their most identifiable features are, such as the weapon they're using. And you have the background, which is also less saturated to make the characters stand out more even if you're colourblind. Contrast Overwatch, where everyone and everything is bright all over.

[@Fatsaver]

the only problem are the cosmetics ever since 2015 not looking like they belong in the game

[@primorock8141]

This is why I think that the old GTA: Trilogy still looks better than the remasters, they just ran the game through an upscaling AI, and added graphical enhancements without considering what made the originals games feel good, the fog is a great example of this.

[@dingusegg5393]

I genuinely cannot believe how rare it is for me to talk to somebody who has actually played prey. It's not my favorite game of all time by any means but it's soo good I'm shocked more people haven't played it

[@aristosachaion_]

I think it's the lack of marketing. I never heard about the game until I saw it for $9 at my local game store.

[@Shyftus]

Prey is outstanding. What a shame it didnt sell to well. Shouldve been called Psychoshock imo, so people that enjoyed Systemshock and bioshock wouldve known to buy it

[@dabmasterars]

you mean 2006 or 2017 prey?

[@WaywardBrigand]

The whole artistic identity VS artistic perfection was actually touched on in the book Fulgrim and it was another one of the things that drove Fulgrim to letting the Demon take over.

[@dakorius]

Brickys expression when he reminded himself that Bioshock came out in 2007 is priceless.

[@thundageon5962]

Games on the PS2 focused on graphics which is why some of them didn't age well but a game like Super Mario World was focused on art direction. 30 years later and it's still the best looking video game of all time

[@isaywhateveriwantandyougot7421]

I'd actually say that the weaker technology was a motivation for people to use more artistic visions because they had to cut corners. Meanwhile, the easy to access high-tech quality of today's standards made it go away.

[@thundageon5962]

@@isaywhateveriwantandyougot7421 Yeah, Fromsoft excelled it

[@daniellyons6362]

This also applies to movies that rely on 3D animation. Its why Rango still looks absolutely phenomenal even if you don't /like/ the art style.

[@Real7419]

My biggest Prey memory was when I was too broke to buy the full game so I just play the free demo of the first hour. I played that Goddam demo for 24 hours, exploring every single room even if I wasnt even supposed to even do that.

[@brodiemorris2081]

Bro I did the same exact thing

[@SingularityEngine]

The reason I eventually bought Spec Ops: The Line was because I kept replaying the demo. Something about that game spoke to me. And I'm glad it did.

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

...i just pirated it on pc then got it on game pass

[@Alaneeeeee]

It was free yesterday in the Epic games store

[@DemMedHornene]

Prey: most underrated masterpiece of this decade imo

[@DecimusKrieg]

Definitely, absolutely incredible game. I think the art direction is what really makes it next level.

[@Shyftus]

Double that!

[@mightyarbokking7197]

Finally someone actually speaks up and says how sometimes something that's isn't in 60FPS doesn't mean its bad, it honestly infuriates me how people these days don't seem to appreciate something for its 'not up to date' graphics, like, Crash Bandicoot 3 is still one of my favorite games ever made, and everything to do with the art style of it still impresses me no matter how old it becomes!

[@gobomania]

Ah it was all just an elaborate ruse for Bricky to talk about his minis. I can respect that.

[@mattpk1609]

Valheim was one of my favorite games in recent times. And i absoliutely love how it looks. Also you can clearly see that despite the low poly graphics the lighting and weather effects are actually pretty great so it's nut just "bad graphics".

[@Jormyyy]

Deep Rock Galactic is another example of this imo Sure it's graphics are "bad" but the art design made it work

[@grizlisid22]

the graphics are kinda shit at the start, but once u get used to it, man the game looks great

[@Exel3nce]

valheim? wut?

[@NinjapowerMS]

Yeah if 80% of your gameplay is running around or standing around. At some point the bad graphics seems great.

[@MichusubPl]

Valheim does burn my GTX 1660 in 1440p tho

[@sovieToilet]

Destiny is a great example. It's not the best looking game graphically, but man, locations are breathtaking, and everything is good to look at.

[@Bricky]

The one thing Destiny has going for it despite all it's issues is the fact that it's an absolute treat to look at. Big agree.

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

@@Bricky for sure. a shame about nearly everything else besides gameplay which is fun as shit

[@sovieToilet]

​@@BrickyI wouldn't call it "the one thing" - music is on a level of it's own, it really is orgasmic sometimes. Basic gameplay is an evolution of Halo, just as Titanfall is a next gen CoD. Systems and content - that's where the problem lies, Bungie always get a streak of good content and ideas, and then ruin them with some stupid shit. I don't know a game which I love and hate so much at the same time.

[@zenkomenhi]

Oh yes for sure, it's a visual treat.

[@Hitoshuratdn]

You can't forget the music that accompanies it. I don't like the game but goddamn is the music good.

[@fantomeduchateaux8136]

Basically why the games of FromSoftware don't need the highest level of graphics to be the pieces of art they are

[@chuugaming1098]

exactly why i never had a problem with Elden Ring being last gen cause it still looks incredible

[@nikkoa.3639]

I'm still quite surprised people were malding over Elden Ring and calling it a PS2 game in the live chat of Bandai Namco showcase. It was incredibly beautiful

[@doomsdayking4843]

Agreed. There's a war going on in a comment of mine on a Elden Ring video

[@Patrick-bn5rp]

I went and played demons souls on the PS3, emulator. 1440p upscaled to 4k. Apart from the actual human character models, the rest of the game is nothing short of stunning 9/10 times. The art direction is excellent.

[@makowako6035]

Spec Ops: The Line is still one of the most impactful games I've ever played in my 18 years of gaming. it's a game that, after completing it, makes you pause a bit and reflect on the things you have done, even if it is only a virtual world.

[@mikhailbolodo1597]

I'd say COD : World at War gave me similar vibes but both are different experiences

[@rudelwolf1591]

2 other games that really stuck with me in a " i have to process that i just saw the end of this game": Frostpunk and the flame in the flood. Frostpunk lets you really feel the direness, but also this not really hope, but sheer stubborness of " We will not give up, never." and Flame in the flood in a similar but also completely opposite way of "Even completely alone and while sailing through the ruins of civilization, i still have the flame of hope in front of me."

[@robsilvester6213]

Spec Ops is great, and there's a couple scenes that stick with me, but I'd attribute that more to the writing and the story, as opposed to 'art direction'.

[@matteoziegler7632]

@@robsilvester6213 I would suggest to replay it and realy take a look at the enviroment. There are numerous areas with amazing lighting and colour. The architecture and decor within buildings is incredibly detailed and its strong colours are in stark contrast to the ongoing story. It makes the phosphore and epilog scene stand out even more since they realy lack vibrant colours.

[@robsilvester6213]

@@matteoziegler7632 Let me rephrase slightly, "...as opposed to JUST art direction." Bricky has (at least) 2 theses: 'Great graphics alone do not make a great game' and 'Unique visuals trump hyper-realistic visuals for longevity and memorability'. And by extension, unique visuals alone cannot hold up a game; quite a few have truly lovely art and & direction that captivates you in the trailer, but the poor story and mechanics fail to draw you in. SOTL does a great job of visually transitioning from a clean, stock 'American soldiers in the Middle East' FPS to a haggard and bloody backdrop that conveys how worn down you feel mentally and physically. But without the story to give that art context, you are left with a visually intriguing masterwork, memorable even to those who don't play it to completion, but you don't want to immerse yourself in that world the artist created. Which ultimately adds up to wasted potential. On balance I'd say a good story with mediocre art direction has more longevity than a bland story with amazing visuals, because our imaginations (and later nostalgia) can fill in the gaps. But ideally you have both.

[@cerebralcloud92]

Halo 3 comes to mind for me. Even though it’s a 2007 game, hot damn does it have such a good Art Direction, for every map and level.

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

fuck even halo combat evolved, people fucking love how that game looks and the og chief helm is still like a top 10 fan fav

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

and the remaster ruined the overall feel and atmosphere, thankfully you can switch visuals

[@thepowerofsand6180]

I feel like halo 2 aged worse than CE

[@HandelsAreDumb]

That's the one I think of too. It's my favorite looking Halo game and one of my favorite looking games just because of how much I love the art.

[@hyperx72]

And then there's Reach, so colorful even for such a bleak tone.

[@ImaJokeer]

Good Graphics means jack shit in a game, as technology evolves so does graphics. Good Graphics now means nothing tomorrow. Art direction is different they elevate the story and make you feel like you aren't playing a game...you are in a different world. Good Art direction now means everything tomorrow

[@jakedeerberg3376]

I think my favorite example of "Style is Substance" is the entire No More Heroes franchise, especially the NMH3. Or he'll just throw in any game Suda51 has touched

[@Activated_Complex]

Every time some new remaster comes out, it looks how I remember the game looking. Implication? Once graphics are good enough for immersion, they’ve made their impression. The art design, though, that stays with me. Bringing color and life back to occupied Paris in The Saboteur, navigating a sunken city in Bioshock, battling across a changing landscape in Titanfall 2, exploring the USG Ishimura in Dead Space. All great memories.

[@noahbenitez6333]

Okay, I played prey on a school laptop, the graphics looked like I was playing it on a Nintendo 64 but I played the whole game through. I put 50 hours into that game. It was amazing.

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

you probs played the original prey that was on 360 then cause the reboot looks significantly better

[@noahbenitez6333]

No, I mean the prey in the video. I did play the prey that was on like og xbox but that game is completely different.

[@steps8140]

@@noahbenitez6333 going to the graphics settings and turning everything from medium down to baked potato is truly iconic and the best way to enjoy a good game, gives it that otherworldly feel Seriously though, had a shitty laptop for a long time and still played lots of games on the low graphics and from my experience it can be just as fun as normal settings, also provides better meme potential

[@arya.n.8252]

Ah a fellow laptop gamers

[@hhope-carter9676]

I think the fact that I played old af games on a terrible laptop or newer games at the lowest settings and fucked up resolutions for years is why I'm so unimpressed by modern AAA games with great graphics. I actually like it when things look sorta trash I get more into it. And most of these newer games feel like graphics over substance anyway.

[@TheIRSWillNeverCatchMe]

A perfect version of something common pales in comparison to something unique yet imperfect.

[@WanWanTooFive]

This reminds me of Hollow Knight, A Hat in Time, deadcell, heck even the portal series and lots of other games. They're simple but very memorable, something that i can't find in a lot of newer games.

[@taylorgoldman130]

I love how even when talking about games Bricky still finds a way to bring up Warhammer

[@skis2499]

Bricky, this is easily your best "essay" tipe video yet. You've clearly have gotten better over the months at writing, and it clearly shows in the rythm and overall feel of this one in particular. Keep up the fantastic job.

[@waspoptic]

This is why sprite/pixel games are my favourite. DOOM, Starcraft, Warcraft, Quake, Minecraft, Terraria, etc etc etc. Sprite/pixel games are so simple yet can have as much depth as the marianas trench. However another game series that had for a long time I really great art direction was the Total War series. What started off as pixels soon evolved into small 3D modelled characters that were alive with personalities and colours. But ever since Rome Total War 2, the art direction went from vibrant and lively, to realistic and dull. It's part of the reason the old Total War games are still so popular to this day.

[@WarGamer82]

Don't forget about Diablo 2

[@someoneelsedoit8706]

One of my biggest favorite examples of games with great art direction out there, Just HAS to be Darkest Dungeon. It has a gritty grimdark feel along with a dark fantasy and medieval as well lovecraftian vibes.

[@nicodlg929]

I think this is exactly why I LOVE most From Software game they have such a great direction and identity that separates them from others in the genre

[@darthvaderbutwayshittier7054]

But Dark Souls games are photorealistic and don't have an unique look to then-

[@vienle4089]

@@darthvaderbutwayshittier7054 they are neither the former nor the latter, what you're describing are things like The Last of us or the Demon's Souls remake (which while looking mighty impressive graphically, also removed a good portion of the atmosphere and feel the original DS had, an opinion shared by a good number of people). Saying Dark Souls is photorealistic is blatantly wrong, and assuming that that's the look Fromsoft was going for, even more so. A dreary color scheme is not strictly photorealistic. And an explosion of color isn't the only way to display an artistic vision. So tldr, you're just completely wrong.

[@darthvaderbutwayshittier7054]

@@vienle4089 Cope

[@vienle4089]

@@darthvaderbutwayshittier7054 don't need to when talking to someone who's objectively wrong

[@darthvaderbutwayshittier7054]

@@vienle4089 Cope.

[@themaninthechair4338]

Finally someone put my thoughts into words. I remember I was playing AC Black Flag whilst some of my parents friends were over and their kids were going 'The graphics are bad, how can play this?' and I just went 'Because I like how it makes me feel' and they couldn't understand

[@walterroux291]

As a photographer I see parallels with new gear vs composition. An incredible photographer can take an incredible photo with a mobile from ten years ago, or a camera from a hundred years ago, and be infinitely better than giving a newbie the best gear on the market today, give them all the gear you want and the composition will still come up lacking.

[@viva8258]

exactly that's why prefer film cameras from digital cameras they capture the tru color of the moment and that device created in the 60s,70s

[@TheErikjsm]

Great photorealistic graphics are inpressive and flashy when they first release but always ages poorly if it doesnt have great art design. A good recent example would be hades that game will very likely hold up for ever

[@adochy210]

An unfortunate time to reference it, but World of Warcraft has an amazing art style. The game is literally carried by the art team at all points of the game.

[@jaydubs5082]

Prey is one of the best games ever made and I'll hear nothing of other opinions. Big big fan of the story especially when D&D becomes plot important. Also Tormented Souls is a great example of Art Direction trumping graphics

[@nathanmagnuson2589]

Prey’s story was a bit whack but it was nice to see an immersive sim again and they pulled it off well. We need more of them.

[@fungod10]

One small note, Cameras are actually super important to help build tone. The camera used in saving private ryan used a special filter and lens to help give the beach scene its vibe. Also alot of movies use older cameras to give specific feelings or vibes. Very old cameras cause ambient lighting effects on the film wich impacts the vibe and appearance of whats recorded.. so ye its also important to tone :3

[@michaelbuffaloe5694]

Very surprised the Silent Hill series was never mentioned. The best example of how much art style actually matters IMO. Especially given the extreme graphics limitations they were working with. It was developed for the friggin PS1 -- & it still looks great over 20 years later.

[@Mr_Mistah]

Silent Hill 3 still looks really good

[@Indigo_1001]

A lot of gamers refuse to accept this as the reality. I seen gamers that legit deny that art direction is important at all and say “my PC makes games look better then anything els ”.

[@darthgamer9861]

right? I am so sick of the more…elitist members of the PC sphere tout the “importance” of specs and raw horse power, and write off any game that doesnt meet their technical obsession(and worse, if they DO call this obsession with graphics out….they blame console gamers)

[@Bonemannes]

I've always differenciated Graphics and Art, and always thought how much the first one is abused for quick cashgrabs while the latter makes for some great memorable games. I still think all the damn times about ULTRAKILL, which is the perfect example: PS1-like graphics but with so much Style and Art crammed into it, it just becomes one of your favorite games immediately if you're not one of those "this isn't hyperrealistic I don't want to play this game" kind of person, which I'm also pretty sure didn't even try the game in the first place.

[@Duskets]

Halo 3 still holds up remarkably well 14 years later due in large part to its fantastic lighting and attention to art direction.

[@Wurstbrot03]

Psychonauts had a great and unique art style that still holds up to this day. And the recently released sequel updated this same art direction with modern graphics.

[@Sturmjager]

Hades is a great example of amazing art direction paired with relatively simple graphics.

[@mrpats112]

Your upload schedule has been money lately Bricky, so much good content keep it up

[@thomashart22]

5:02 I'm sorry but I can't believe you forogt the War Pigeon scene from 'Through Mud and Blood' in Battlefield 1 (the campaign with the tank). That moment is so beautiful and provides a nice moment of levity and calm during the onslaught that was occuring.

[@kappa731]

Deep Rock Galactic is one of my favs on this part. Never could've thought that a low-poly game could look THAT good

[@Giggles_iJest]

Breath of the Wild will remain timeless due to its choice in artstyle 20 years from now I'll still consider it as a classic

[@legendarybrando348]

Dead space and the first 2 lost planet's is a great example. They still look amazing today because there art direction is just so good. Highly recommend the lost planet series it's one of the most underrated but amazing game series out there, mainly the first 2.

[@Setteri_]

Not only does dead space look super good for it's age but i also has those really unique and awesome suits designs.

[@legendarybrando348]

@@Setteri_ ya, thats why i said that the art direction just keeps the game looking amazing.

[@kylenevel8809]

Okami is, in my mind, the magnum opus of this concept. A PS2 game still hold up graphically and the story and settings are so memorable

[@yesman9792]

When I started drawing around 12 years ago, all I wanted was to be able to draw hyper realistic knights and Greek warriors and I got pretty decent after a few years, but as I got into high school I started doing more abstact and colorful drawings and eventually I like to think I developed my own style that I love and can't be replicated. Not all of its faults, nor its perfection.

[@Snipfragueur]

4:33 In BF3 I remember the part where you get bombarded by a plane and you have to shoot it down by taking the Javelin a dead soldier dropped. That was pretty cool. I remember also the last cinematic witv the car chase, but just because it was buggy as peck

[@tiredtortoise3396]

When I think of visually stunning games, my first thought is Monster Hunter World (my favourite game from my favourite series), which leveraged its huge graphical improvements very well, while maintaining the top-tier creature design the series has (almost) always been great at - Vaal Hazak and Namielle being two of my all-time favourites now. However, the last game that made me just sit in awe of its art design was Hollow Knight. There is just something about it I find riveting.

[@kwasib-r2434]

Style vs realism is a conversation to have in many different art forms. I've wanted to make comics for a while but always worried that my art isn't technically good enough. But this video has inspired me to make them anyway. I'm not gonna stop practicing but I'm also not gonna wait how many years it takes for me to be "good enough" to make them. And for what it's worth I think you painted minis look really good.

[@vj7248]

Look up the mangaka 'One' of One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100 fame. He basically draws doodles, and yet his mangas inspire beautifully animated animes of the same name.

[@StoriesAndPringles]

oddly enough, the end message of this video has kinda helped me with my mentality of my music production. I'm having a rough time with the technical side of making music (ala, mixing/mastering etc) but am more comfortable and enjoy the composing side more... this was a great reminder that style > quality is more important to focus on. Cheers mate!

[@KRIMZONMEKANISM]

This to me, is why the PS2 "mascot" games were so great. Ratchet and Clank Jak and Daxter Sly Cooper They all had amazing art direction and super strong identities, even if they borrowed from each other sometimes. Ofc, Ratchet and Clank is the most popular and basically "won", but no one can deny that all these games were different and extremely appealing for their different reasons. R&C for the combat and the guns, and the guns, and the guns, and the comedy :p J&D for its super cool open worlds, platforming, vehicles and dramatic storylines, albeit a bit too edgy sometimes. SC for its incredibly stylistic design, amazing cutscenes, jazzy feel, and the mix of comedy with dark themes. For the record, I am a Jak and Daxter/Sly Cooper fanboy, still waiting for Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch to follow up on the games the helped make their companies.

[@matteoziegler7632]

Despite not growing up with it. I really dig the look of ps2 games like metal gear solid 2, 3, timesplitters 2 and FP or ninja gaiden black. I cant say exactly why but they "feel" and look more like a videogame. They also look "clean" but not empty or bland like many games on newer engines.

[@KRIMZONMEKANISM]

@@matteoziegler7632 That's because up until then, the market for videogames focused purely on the single player, maybe splitscreen multiplayer aspect of things. There was no such thing as dlc, or patches, or whatever, so games were playtested into oblivion and devs were intent on making a game that could last for a long while. Then... Modern Warfare became a thing, with it came MW2, which drew EVEN MORE attention to the online multiplayer aspect, and then the whole "games as services"/"games as art" started to get out of control, and things just went down hill from there.

[@nicholas1867]

Comparing graphics to art direction is like comparing a paint brush to the artist, the brush the instrument to express emotions but the artist is where those emotions come from

[@legendnodensetsu8423]

Some games like Resident Evil have such a bizarre look but they're so memorable, and it really helps remembering each rooms. Other games like Metroid Zero Mission (and Fusion) have beautiful backgrounds they still blow my mind to this day.

[@mk-ul5tv]

In a sea of pixel indie games, hotline miami and hotline miami 2 to this day are fucking iconic, you could look at any screenshot from the games, hell, even the end level scoring screen, and you'd still 100% know it's hotline miami

[@the_meadow]

There’s a reason that I’ll always say Va-11 Hall-A is my favourite game, mainly the story, but the art direction is *beautiful* as well.

[@OcAirsoft]

Audible is great because I can’t read

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrin]

sameeeeeee, maybe now i can learn what a pan is

[@lamprdo]

I remember a BTS video for Firefly, where Joss Whedon was talking about adding artificial zoom correction to the shots of the ships. Firstly, you don’t get many zoom shots in general; but by adding that faux operator error into entirely CGI shots of the ships in space, it adds to that ‘janky’ feeling that the show in general really represents.

[@seekittycat]

For me it's like going to a stage play vs going to a Hollywood blockbuster. With stage you have a bunch of painted boards and lights for location. However if you can bring the audience in and get them to care they can see the location and the characters without issue. The chairs are the boat, the fog machine is fire, etc. In a Hollywood blockbuster you try your best to greenscreen and create the most realistic smoke simulation money can buy. But soon those efforts look old as technology advance, your movie which depending on realism isn't realistic enough anymore.

[@AnnisAdventures]

I think for some games, specifically like battlefield, because of the focus on realism as basically being it's art direction, and more time creating fun maps and physics that it still succeeded as a game. Everyone may not remember the campaign, but they sure as heck remember the memories they made while playing with their friends doing cool and stupid stuff.

[@thelemoneater]

Well now I feel called out lol, I was planning on making a simple but high fidelity 3d animation for my college final project, now I'll most likely spend the next few months messing with shaders and editing my concepts to make it more unique and interesting.

[@bones8431]

The creatures in the first Quake game still feel alien and horrorfying to this day and that game is like 5 years older than I am.

[@EnigmaMachine94]

Prey is top class man, I remember playing the intro and thinking games couldn’t ever be better looking than this. The moment with the window man… I’m not gonna spoil in case someone decides to pick it up because it was brilliant!

[@zechparker4748]

we'll be here for every upload bricky we gotchu. main and side channel all day

[@zachcoats4849]

Loved this video! It had a really amazing message that I think was important for me to hear as a creative and perfectionist. Also unrelated but please try the game Lethal League Blaze if you have the chance and haven't played it already. Amazing style and esthetic plus a spectacular sound track.

[@totalvoid6234]

I'd say this has been true since about 2006. There are a few games with enduring art styles before that point that still hold up but only with a few very specific art styles. But since then there have been loads of games in loads of art styles that still hold up extremely well.

[@deathnote342]

SIlent Hill 2 and 3 are what I think of most when it comes to art direction. Those game are 20 years old and it's still crazy how good they look, especially 3

[@-Raylight]

Agree wholeheartedly, that's why TF2 is still popular even though devs forget to update the game xD Prey 2017 is beautiful, but Prey 2007, that's just amazing! I don't even remember most of modern games. They have realistic graphic, but nothing worth remembering

[@bogdanyuriev1507]

I've genuinely tried to remember any level from BF3 and all I've got is a vague recollection of a level where Paris gets nuked, I think? What I DO remember about it at the time, is thinking that DICE just made a knockoff of Shock and Awe's grueling end from CoD4 - a game with a much more refined direction in general. And while the memories of shitting my pants on the first Wendigo encounter in DUSK - or lamenting aloud that the SlavJank curse won't allow me to see anything like the Mother of Mothers in Blasphemous done in an Orthodox church fashion - will be forever etched into my brain, they don't result in me buying a new-gen console, then a full-price game, then CBT'd into bying a shitload of lootboxes due to mobile gaming tactics because LOOK AT THE GREEEPHICS GIB US MONEY GET EXCITED FOR NEXT PRODUCT. In conclusion, -we live in a society- don't make Bobby Kotick or Andrew Wilson any more comically rich and go buy Control instead. Support your mid-class/low-class devs that care. And buy Szymanski/Oshry/Hulshult a beer if you see them, will ya?

[@isaywhateveriwantandyougot7421]

This is my favorite of all your videos! It makes a statement that I think doesn't get enough attention in this industry, and it deserves to be seen by everyone.

[@meteormedia7021]

One of the best examples of why art direction matters more than visual fidelity is Dishonored. A game from 2012 that still looks fantastic today, nearly 10 years later.

[@whalification]

I played Dark Souls 1 recently and thought it looked gorgeous. Sure, the textures could be rough at times and you can’t see each individual pixel or whatever but GOD the environment and enemy designs were so creative and interesting that none of that even mattered. FromSoft games have top tier art direction for sure.

[@onceyougozach2607]

The problem with dark souls on the 360 is that it runs like ass and has motion blur, input lag, buffering, etc that makes it feel like shit to play

[@thundageon5962]

@@onceyougozach2607 Yeah, because of the limitations on 7th gen hardware. You see in games like Call of Duty or Skyrim. Each area or levels have load times just to save enough memory but Fromsoft doesn't give a damn so they removed that for immersion. And it worked

[@onceyougozach2607]

@@thundageon5962 nah

[@belot217]

Can't we just go back to the days when not every 3D game had the exact same lighting scheme?

[@aurelian9735]

I know that feeling too well 7:41. Happen not long ago with me and my little brother. We was talking about how we would play Halo 3 campaign co op all the time. The year it got released got brought up and we both just didn’t believe it’s been 15 years. Time truly does fly.

[@goldniko1]

Remnant: From the Ashes surprised me in it's artistic theme. It goes for an almost model realism. The characters look human, and emotive, by bypass uncanny valley. The enemies look detailed, but in the way a model looks detailed rather than the way an irl creature might look detailed. A surprisingly good looking and unique game

[@NorwegianAmericanKid]

Massive recommendation for the Ciaphas Cain series, some of my favorite pieces of 40k media

[@Zack-bl2gg]

I totally agree. If you play the original Windwaker today, it still looks good, even though the remake looks way better. And games with an art style like BOTW will be timeless. I guess I just like cell shading 😂 but another example would be Celeste, that will forever look good.

[@shbco.1609]

I’m new to the production designer scene (the person in charge of art direction) but when ever someone asks me what I do as a job and show them this and say “this I do a bunch of this)

[@sharlockshacolmes9381]

Thank you, as someone concerned by this subject for a while it's really cool to see someone else talk about it