I've Gotten Bored of Realism in Graphics

[@NathanielBandy]

I got bored of realism in like 2015

[@NumbHydro]

Nathaniel Scuttlebug Bandy

[@John6-40]

Same. I've been harping about realism being boring for roughly 10 years, but I don't have an actual KZbin channel, so it's really just been an old man literally yelling at clouds. 😂

[@kayh.4114]

So down with that comment. But to be real, it´s the combination of "we make a cool game, therefore we make it realistic", and also the"lets make it violent, bloody, teenagercool".

[@ዮስ]

valid point

[@NTBXP1]

I go for japanese games for a reason no matter how people throw rocks at me.

[@lehashura490]

The sentence "I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and I'm not kidding" Lives rent free in my head and a lot of people's head nowardays and there's a reason why

[@ODUBlue]

Wish the studios could get that message

[@madnessarcade7447]

Play Pokémon scarlet and violet those games represent that statement

[@hammylove821]

​@@madnessarcade7447Nice strawman.

[@HealyHQ]

@@madnessarcade7447 That's not a shorter game. Damn things had three storylines.

[@lehashura490]

@@madnessarcade7447 If by "represent" you mean "represent everything that is wrong with modern AAA and why we should follow that sentence" yes I agree

[@nahumgardner]

It's not just the graphics, there's a lack of variety in the AAA space as well.

[@seriouskano2]

Which is in part because attempting photorealism is very expensive. If you need to sell x million units to break even, you can take much less risks. There is a reason why indie games are so interesting. They don't have to maximize their audience and can do whatever they want.

[@crestofhonor2349]

That's more because they try to appeal to everyone without letting their games be unique. They don't want something to be more niche

[@Benji-Lindz]

Amen to that. I'm more than a little burned out on third-person action games. They are all starting to look and feel the same to me.

[@joaobisgo]

Because of the focus in graphics. They gotta understand we don't wanna see a character's pores in detail anymore.

[@withoutthejuice7193]

If I had a dollar for every time a KZbin comment said the phrase “AAA”

[@shade20x64]

A lot of companies have lost sight of the fact that video games are fantasy. It's okay to be grounded in reality to some degree, but ultimately I want an experience, especially visually, that I can't have in real life. And I also don't want to sit through 10+ minutes of cinematics to get there.

[@crestofhonor2349]

I don't mind 10+ minutes of cinematics in RPGs. It all depends on the genre

[@shade20x64]

@@crestofhonor2349 Sure. But if I boot up an action game and have to wait through all of that just to get to play (or between levels), then I'll just play something else instead.

[@crestofhonor2349]

@@shade20x64 As I said, it depends on the genre. No one wants to sit through a 10+ minute cutscene in a 2D mario game and that makes sense. In persona people don't mind it because it's a story focused jRPG

[@shade20x64]

@@crestofhonor2349 Yeah, I agree with you. RPGs are a slow burn that are heavily story driven. Cinematics make sense there. But if I'm booting up, say, the new Shinobi game or something, I want to jump right into the action. At the very least, all cutscenes should be skippable. Often my game time is limited, and if I only have an hour or so to play a game, I don't want a significant chunk of that taken by just starting at the screen.

[@AdventuresAwait123]

*dull poorly written cinematics haha

[@josepass2563]

Doesn't help that these realistic looking games absolutely kill my storage too 😭

[@roberthaynes8830]

Ain't that the truth! 20TB onboard SSDs please, as standard!

[@psychicjellyfish9466]

Oh good, I thought I was the only one! Like, not to knock any of these games, but nowadays, it feels like titles all blend together at presentations like State of Play, where most games go for hyper-realism.

[@Bowser_Plush]

I think the biggest issue, is that more than anything, by making things super realistic you lose the artistic ability to show details that are not realistic. Of course I won’t blame the artist or designer as I have no doubt this is mostly a higher up demanding games look like this.

[@SuperFlashDriver]

Well that's where you start to step into uncanny valley and the computer can only get so far into a similar realism as real life that it hits a limit. And once it hits that limit, it's harder to go further than that. It's this reason back in 2012 that I've thought of having video game console include the option to install "Any" computer operating system, and have backwards compatibility with not only other video game company's consoles, but also video game accessories and controllers that you've purchased for the past 20+ years to work with modern consoles. It's also worth noting that I wish to use the console more than just gaming, as having a computer operating system built into the console gives me freedom to experiment with either Mac, Windows, or Linux operating systems to choose which ones I would prefer the most for things other than gaming. Plus, you can do emulation on a computer OS whereas a console OS, well, unless you put it into dev mode or hack/modify your console, it's going to be 100% impossible to do it in retail mode. But that's just me. I personally just want video games, and even movies, music, and TV shows, to just be "unique, experimental, different, and original" in order to continue new generations of entertainment in the next 475 years to come (2025 - 2500), even if many video game players in the 20th and 21st passed away from this world/planet earth. That's my two cents if you ask me.

[@NineHundredDollarydoos]

Definitely. The best example of that I can think of is the 'live action' Lion King movie. Their insistence on making it as realistic looking as possible ended up absolutely gutting all of the charm and emotion from the entire movie.

[@gamebit9063]

Nintendo figured this out many moons ago and thats why they are so successful!

[@tro_celli]

I sincerely hoped the runaway success of the Switch would help steer the industry away from the graphical fidelity arms race, but it seems like that ship has sailed.

[@JvsBobGaMeZ]

Yet people still want to diss nintendo for their weak hardware

[@tro_celli]

@@JvsBobGaMeZ I do hope the Switch 2 (or whatever they call it) is powerful enough to get good frame rates on its games, but like this video says I prefer that to pure graphical fidelity. Also people are dumb.

[@JvsBobGaMeZ]

@@tro_celli The rumoured reports suggest that it will be but those same people attemping to diss nintendo will probably continue to do so and say "oh the new switch is still a generation behind the competition" or something like that

[@ZzKevZz]

​@@JvsBobGaMeZwell, at least 1080p from 20 years ago would be nice for better clarity; and a higher framerate. Those are divorced from realism, though.

[@pockystyx4087]

I'm still sad we didn't go down the big budget celshaded timeline

[@Shibanu_]

Or the everyone tries to innovate on their art styles timeline.

[@JsYTA]

At least this isn't the timeline where bloom stuck around.

[@fernie-fernandez]

@@Shibanu_Too bad we went with a more generic, modern anime graphics than the more…hard-drawn design.

[@nokomomo861]

We live in the worst cyberpunk dystopia timeline. We don’t even have cool holograms or awesome prosthetics. We got iphones with no headphone jacks and full priced games that don’t work in every aspect except the cash shop (which shouldn’t even be in a fully priced game)

[@Shadow650Nintendero]

Persona? Zelda? Borderlands? Xenoblade? Dragon Quest?

[@Lorkynn]

Ironically, I have been annoyed with the realism since the PS4/XB1 generation. While it's been great to see where it goes, I think we've gone too far with it.

[@traviscunningham7062]

I agree.

[@SuperFlashDriver]

Funny considering Wii/Xbox 360 (aka Xbox 2/Two), and PlayStation 3 would be the last console generation I would go for until 2010/2011 when I left it behind or stopped buying consoles altogether after the 7th generation, and went to PC/Mac/Linux in the early to mid 2010s.

[@scrittle]

The Last of Us in 2014 pushed me away from realism after I was still caught-up with The Walking Dead. Pretty much sold the idea I significantly care more for stylisation.

[@mepose420]

This is why I only really like Nintendo and Capcom because not only do their games that try to look real look great, but they have so many games that go under so many different art styles as well.

[@unlinkingduck]

It’s so nice to see someone completely get it, this is exactly how I’ve felt about the industry at large recently. I can barely remember most titles from the Game Awards or the State of Play, they just feel so the same, so unique titles like Astro Bot stick out all the more, hope to see more games take that chance

[@cg_spiritedensemble]

For me it's less realism in games, & more the oversaturation of a specific genre or style in the general public eye. I'd be feeling tired if it was cell-shading that was oversaturated in the public eye, & so on. What AAA gaming seems to be missing a lot of is the variety of genres & styles. This is why indie gaming has taken off as much as it has.

[@QnjtGWonQNqVsbYyzjx4]

If every game play the same, it is a natural decision to make it look the same

[@roberthaynes8830]

Good point.

[@NetBattler]

Bruh indie games also use cel shading style for their game..

[@artsyomni]

I think the unfortunate reality is that the silent majority of people in the west DO prefer realism. The west has just been trained to associate stylization with younger demographics. Just look at how live action marvel movies like Spider-Man make more money than the animated spiderverse movies even when the spiderverse movies are just much better stories with more emotional resonance and artistic appeal.

[@Toonrick12]

Even though Marvel movies has as much animation as those that are marketed as animated.

[@John6-40]

I don't think that's a great comparison. People want to look at people in movies. Not animation. Despite there being some CGI in those movies, you're still looking mostly at real people. Games are games. A bit more open to pure fantasy. You control the character after all. I do agree with you that the majority wants realistic graphics, though. Unfortunately. Otherwise, big corporations wouldn't steer us this way.

[@mostafabalboul3966]

Seeing you comment here in particular, makes me wish for an AU where your kind of stylization became a staple in the West. Well, maybe Rollin' Rascal will be a step towards that!

[@roberthaynes8830]

Yes, I remember when the new Zelda game on the Gamecube was revealed to be a cel-shaded, "kiddie" looking game in The Wind-Waker. It baffled me the disdain that people had for it. Of course it's a style that hasn't dated and most people love the game, and look, now. I know that the Gamecube presentation used a realistic styled Zelda demo which, I guess, led people to think that the next Zelda game would look realistic, so there's that. But, yes, Wind-Waker was viewed as being too "kiddie" at the time.

[@doofuscawt]

spiderverse is BO RANG i meant boomerang sorry

[@bendito247]

I’m glad you posted this on Summer Game Fest day cause oh boy are we gonna experience more realism-fatigue at that event today. Edit: Glad to say I was wrong!

[@LangeManGlenn]

I was postively surprised with the number of non-realism looking games. Say what you will about this year's event, I like that more time than usual went into indies and their more unique looking games.

[@hammylove821]

It was mostly slop anyways, regardless of artstyle.

[@TaliesinMyrddin]

First time I remember being bored of realism was back when Twilight Princess came out and I realised Wind Waker's artstyle would age a lot better

[@traviscunningham7062]

Same for me, but with Skyward Sword. I honestly love that game’s art style. It still looks good to this day imo.

[@PikaLink91]

Not gonna lie, even back then Twilight Princess was very muddy, but at least I remember the adventure and the dungeons which is more than I can say for Wind Waker. All I remember about WW is how boring it was to sail around.

[@TaliesinMyrddin]

@@PikaLink91 I can't really argue since that's how I feel about BotW and ToTK

[@phlector]

⁠@@TaliesinMyrddin @PikaLink91 god I hate open world so much! I hate wasting time just traveling! It feels like every new AAA game is open world. I think I dislike them so much because I no longer have the time I use to because of work. I just want a game I can pick up and play. I miss the handheld market because of this. Those games where designed for and around short session play

[@roberthaynes8830]

@@phlector Yes, even though I have the time, I don't (health and the mundane life things). I'm often reduced to some quick races in a racing game, or a quick fight in a fighting game.

[@XperimentorEES]

Realism has always been a fool's errand when it comes to visual media; not only because of the technical limitation per system combined with reproducibility of said system, but also because there's a threshold of how much we can noticeably observe and anything beyond it is flatout wasted. Not to mention the chase for realism always dates the games as technology advances, while stylized ones don't because they don't rely on such a flimsy suspension of disbelief.

[@XperimentorEES]

@MrSpiritstealer Oh yeah I remember that, brought up the classic 'why buy the new game when the old one is just as good' debate.

[@awakenedcrowl]

I've gotten bored of Realism in Graphics ages ago. I'm a hobby character designer (and hopefully eventually animator) and I always go for Cel Shading, because I just love the look of it. Any game that uses Cel Shading automatically has like a 30% higher chance to appeal to my brain

[@N8-Squared]

Just a reminder, Hifi rush was not a small game, and in general, artstyles are not the be all and end all of how much time and effort games take to make. Cartoony games can take years and realistic games can be made... well not super quickly but still. Sadly, I am pretty sure that depending on the size of the game (length not storage) Astro Bot may be one of those "Looks cartoony but took years to make" games.

[@TsukuneD]

It's true. Ask the team behind Guilty Gear Xrd and Strive. They've said that to achieve the phenomenal visual presentation that the series is now known for they had to actively fight against what their software wanted to do. Manually break models, delete interpolation frames, manually repaint shadows and effects.

[@Benji-Lindz]

I'm sure it still took years to make these games, but the time and, especially, the resources it took to make Astro Bot and Hi-Fi Rush pale in comparison to what it takes to make games like The Last of Us: Part 2, God of War, and Horizon. I would not be surprised to find out that Astro Bot and Hi-Fi Rush had less than half of the budget that the other realistic AAA titles took to make.

[@KeybladeMasterAndy]

Keep in mind: Astro Bot is basically a tech demo made into a full game. That's not a bad thing. It just means that enough of the right people loved Astro's Playroom, the pre-installed PS5 game, to justify a new title in the series, and that there likely is a smaller team making it on a smaller budget than the realistic AAA games.

[@N8-Squared]

@@TsukuneD I actually love that.

[@N8-Squared]

@@Benji-Lindz Yeah true, but thats still not a small amount.

[@CasualChris247]

im glad more and more people are realizing graphics are not that important

[@dr.wolfstar1765]

Nintendo fans have known this since the N64

[@awakenedcrowl]

They're very important to me. But I'm tired of the constant pursuit of pseudo-realism.

[@ElementalTJ]

Graphics are important. Without them, you'd be playing a text-only game! haha

[@calibyrnes3935]

I think the key here is we need to shift focus to the Art. Visuals are important in an audio-visual medium, but we tend to forget it's an artist driven one as well.

[@lpfan4491]

Graphics can be important, but people forget that visuals are their layer entirely. You can have a graphically really impressive game but have it be visually meh, or you can have a graphically super unimpressive game that still holds up effortlessly through clever art direction.

[@roskiart8750]

This rant is a little over the place: I can get behind the sentiment, but not only I think the problem lies deeper, some of the points I disagree with or I flat out find to be bad takes. For starters, ANY visual style being overdone feels tiring after a while. There's a reason why some indies get flak for being "yet another 8bit platformer" and I've CERTAINLY seen more than a few JRPGs that feel like the most derivative anime slob and completely and utterly blend together. Realism is just the prevalent example in the AAA sphere. AND EVEN THEN, it's mostly HOW said realism is used, as well as things like the color design and lighting choices. It's like how the 360/PS3 era was all about brown military shooters, it's just in this gen things lean into desaturated colors and futuristic aesthetics. There's a reason why FromSoft games still look striking, they have strong, conscious art design choices and the comparatively realistic textures and lighting only enhance those. About the development costs skyrocketing, there's no really a room for disagreement in said visuals ballooning budgets and production requirements. But while the biggest offender, it's not just the ONLY contributing problem: production scope in general has gone out of control. EVERY major AAA game has to own the next 100 hours of your life. Which brings me to the larger issue: the artstyles aren't the ONLY thing that feels homogenous but the whole experience they're aiming at. The games feel samey because they play samey, and aim for similar gameplay goals. For an easy and kinda cheap comparison, the identity of Splatoon couldn't be farther apart from Zelda's. Same with Mario, or Metroid, or Fire Emblem. They're all different genres, artstyles and even to an extent demographics. Meanwhile, God of War and The Last of Us, in spite of being technically different game genres, have some overlap in identity by both aiming to be a "cinematic experience" (and to a lesser extent by also being both about vengeance and angry dads). That's just a result of Sony effectively putting most of their eggs in one basket. If it's not that it's hero shooters or Destiny clones, and so on. On that front too, the sad reality is that some of this is conditioned by audiences... and audiences can bee pretty superficial and uncritical. I don't want to throw anyone in particular under the bus, but there's a reason some people might not try an animated series/movie but will watch the live action remake. There's a cultural conditioning that seriousness or legitimacy can ONLY be achieved by visual realism, which is plain absurd but that's what it is. And to be clear, visual realism DOES have a place. There's stories and tones it benefits the most; survival horror comes to mind. Anyone who throws it out wholesale is missing the fact there is a place for it(something I'm sure Daniel also agrees with to an extent), which shouldn't be in contradiction with variety being the spice of life. I disagree about the 30 FPS, though. In ANY game that requires precise timing, a lower framerate does feel more awkward and CAN be noticed (even though the most important thing its how consistent it is through the game). And for anyone who thinks it doesn't matter... there's a reason your beloved Sakurai goes out of his damn way to make every Smash installment run at 60 FPS. It does matter the world for certain game genres. Lastly, raytracing gets a bad rap: it makes the life for developers easier(and is also an underutilized tool that could make for interesting game experiences and not just fancier lighting)

[@roskiart8750]

@@The_Admiral_Angel Which doesn't make so many Indie platformers and JRPGs any less visually non-distinctive if you can argue other genres suffer from stylistic similitudes visually. Reread what I actually said: "For starters, ANY visual style being overdone feels tiring after a while." Those genres share visual tropes to different extents, so if you feel Shooters look samey it's because there's a lot of shooters that have aesthetic overlap. And even then it'd be flat out ignorant and silly of you to claim that, say, any Doom game looks the same as Call of Duty. With survival horror games, if you think Fatal Frame looks the same as Resident Evil, you have flat out not played or even freaking looked at Fatal Frame and you won't convince me otherwise. My claim isn't JRPGs as a whole look the same, or indie platformers. Not in the slightest: I wouldn't confuse Shin Megami Tensei IV with Bravely Second, or Shovel Knight with Infernax. But there's games I'd DEFINITELY confuse for each other because there is a lot of overlap in visual tropes, color palettes and character design conventions. And to claim there isn't because you're biased in favor of them over the genres you claim to be worse offenders would be flat out disingenuous.

[@jacksonlanterns3731]

I feel like the brown filter was the beginning of the end. Don’t get me wrong, the PS3 had some great games. But this was when I first started feeling the change. Everyone rushed to try and make the next more realistic game. And as graphics and technology improved, the further and further we got from anything creative, artistic, or imaginative. And the Sypia Filter was a HUGE contributor to that, I think.

[@PokeDeses]

Honestly the rush was there as soon as 3D graphics were a possibility. But it was still a time where both limitations and advancements made games look very different from each other and instantly visibly impressive when a feat was achieved. The brown filter certainly homogeneized things a lot, at this point budgets had skyrocketed and AAA publishers were starting to push for the safe route, and it's also the point where diminishing returns hit. It no longer took a couple years or even just a few months to see a noticeable difference in fidelity, it now took years for games to be so far apart in their looks for the difference to be easily noticeable. And that distance is only going to keep growing and growing.

[@TreasureBoxReviews]

It’s such a shame, and this chase for higher and higher production values is the reason we haven’t seen a new Naughty Dog or Sucker Punch game and are already half way through the generation. Major studios we got trilogies from on ps3 are now lucky to release one game a generation.

[@roberthaynes8830]

Or, how about we re-release The Last of Us Parts 1 and 2, along with Uncharted 4, and Uncharted The Lost Legacy again - maybe nobody will notice that Naughty Dog haven't released anything new (and, supposedly, half-way through the life cycle of the PS5!).

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

Crash Bandicoot was better under Naughty Dog but they dropped the ball focusing on realistic games with the Uncharted series.

[@Kingdom850]

@@Adamtendo_player_1 They never owned Crash, but they still own Jak and Daxter.

[@heroic_teddy]

PREACH! Edit: More discussions are great! I'm all for them. I LOVED this train of thought video, Daniel! Passionate and something I think a good amount of us are feeling! And I loved the analogy with the art museum!

[@jomaq9233]

14:12 Ironically enough, “anime artstyles” kinda get caught in this weird middle ground between stylization and realism, where it’d be considered “too kiddie/silly” for people who prefer realism, “too boring/generic” for people (mainly certain Nintendo fans) who prefer “cartoony visuals”, and “too cringe” for both audiences

[@TheQuackinator]

I feel like there's another issue that, to be fair might be quite specific to a certain demographic, but nonetheless REALLY irks me I'm autistic, and one of the things that means, is that if there's too much going on, from sounds, smells and more relevantly, visuals, I get sensory overload and I end up being unable to keep track of what's going on. (Disclaimer though, that autism DOES affect each person differently) Many games, especially faster paced ones like Splatoon, have so much going on, from effects, lighting, music and particles to things i need to pay attention to at any given moment, that I genuinely can't tell what's going on and sometimes i even feel like i get a headache. Sure, a reflection in the ink from the sun LOOKS nice, but there's one particular stage in Splatoon 3 (i forgot what it's called, it's the small square stage with a pillar in the middle) where there's a reflection from the sun near the entrance to one of the entry points to the base, and I genuinely struggle to see opponents who are in that lighting and Nintendo games in particular, including Splatoon have EXTREMELY limited options in settings when it comes to changing how a game looks. Please, I ask of anyone making games, give an option to tone back the effects if there are alot of them and/or they take up a significant part of the screen. Since I'm autistic though and will never experience not being autistic, I have no idea how this affects non-autistic or neurotypical people, so I don't know if this is just a "me" issue or if anyone else has noticed it?

[@lightdarksoul2097]

Not sure if it is just Autistic people but it can affect others I know some people couldn't play games like fnaf 4 for example due to the listening mechanic being too much for them

[@Triad_Orion]

I'm not autistic myself, but I can experience visual flooding with effects or in hyperrealistic video game environments with way too many detailed textures. I can't play some bullet hell shooters because I get a headache and get visually flooded to losing what I'm seeing. But it's worst with games with tons of flashy effects, damage numbers, and more. The readability of all of it can be actually quite exhausting to my eyes, and I really noticed it playing late game Borderlands 3. So many elemental effects and explosions, combined with increased detail in the environment made me lose sight of enemies at times and it's just kinda rough. Part of this is I'm just aging out of my prime. But going back to playing older boomer shooters and such, I realize how much more I prefer a simpler, more readable environment where I don't have to parse too much visual guff to actually see things. Cell-shaded and anime style looks also help me see things significantly better (other than when they're drowned in special effects, obviously) and frankly, hyper-realistic looks make things so much harder to parse. So I can assure you, being visually overwhelmed and overloaded with sensory effects isn't unique to people on the spectrum, though I reckon it's *much* more common there. Individuals with ADHD often struggle with this too, based on my friends' experience. But even the neurotypical can as well, like me. So for what it's worth, I feel you on it.

[@bretginn1419]

I'm autistic, and I honestly get that. Most games don't do that for me, but I can and do feel similar in real life situations, like bars, parties, even theaters. Though I do say most games. Sometimes a game does come around that I simply can't follow because it hurts to process. I remember there was a rhythm game a few years back that I had that issue with. Grinder, I think it was called? I just remember it was a rhythm based game. Another contender is actually a lot of Square Enix's more recent games. I honestly have a hard time following anything in the FF7 remakes due to all the effects everywhere.

[@Shantae1188]

One thing I have learned, whether this is due to me being autistic or not I don’t know, is that if something is sprite based, if I stare at it for too long, it starts to hurt my eyes a bit

[@roberthaynes8830]

Yes, I tend to have problems. I think more accessibility options are a must with games designed these days, and I wish there were more games designed with this feature in mind.

[@staticshock4239]

Honestly when i think about it, my favorite games this current generation all have a distinct art style. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, Street Fighter 6, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Hi Fi Rush, and Tekken 8 all have a distinct art style and still have visually impressive graphics.

[@crestofhonor2349]

I can understand this but I don't want to hear "graphics aren't important, just gameplay" argument. Graphics are always important and same goes for gameplay. Nintendo understands this and pretty much every developer and publisher too. How you visually present your game is often the first impressions your player has and if it looks bad it will turn people off even if the game itself is good. Realism is one style and same goes for cel shaded, hand drawn, or pixel art. You choose what best suits your game and you do it well. There are poor ways to do stylization that end up hurting the game's presentation instead of helping. Of course gameplay matters but the type of gameplay will differ from genre to genre. Whether it's as basic as a text adventure or visual novel or a massively complex turn based tactical RPG, everything has it's appeal

[@guardianrandy]

I think there's a time and place for some level of realism, like in Resident Evil, but I agree that we need variety. I think it's why I often play older games from the 90s and 00s more often than modern titles because I like seeing the different presentations and approaches to storytelling.

[@diabeticman2194]

I think the fact that nearly all AAA games have gone down the realism graphical route has made many people tired of it. It’s telling that Astro Bot got a bigger reaction during the State of Play than Concord or any other realistic game. Same can be said with Xbox last year; Hi-Fi Rush was their big success story while everything else was alright.

[@vianabdullah2837]

One of my favourite games visually is Wario Land: The Shake Dimension. It has such a beautiful hand-drawn artstyle that has rarely been replicated since.

[@kap1618]

Sadly, being on the wii killed that sub series. Shake it needs a switch port.

[@lopeo2324]

8:05 To be honest, the piece on the right looks like something anybody could draw holding the shift key in mspaint to draw lines, and then using the bucket tool. If I had to compare it to a game, it would be the equivalent of unity asset flips.

[@Pfisterus]

This resonates with me strongly. I personally find there is two different things going on right now. One is that I have grown tired of realistic looking games. The second is I feel as consoles and PC's get more powerful, games continue to get more realistic in terms of graphics and they just get bigger and more bloated. Yes, there are great games that are open world that takes 100+ hours to finish, and that's fine. But I really find myself wanting to experience more, new, smaller games. Games that are more creative graphically and in terms of gameplay. We need more experiences like Animal Well and Sea of Stars.

[@Froggydoo251]

My thoughts on the topic of 30fps paper mario ttyd at 11:00 - I, and many people, have a motion sickness/nausea issue, where the higher the framerate, the lower risk of nausea. It's not just framerate, but also camera angle, how close it is to the character, how fast/slow you move the camera, etc.. I have vivid memories of trying to play spyro reignited trilogy on both pc and console, and console was a NAUSEA fest with how close the camera is and how the game runs at 30fps. Even on pc where it runs at 60fps, I still needed to install flawless widescreen so that spyro didn't take up a third of the screen. It's happened to me with so many games that when a game is confirmed 30fps and not 60, I just think of how I'm gonna get nauseous this time, or how I'll need to dump it to pc to mod it and make it run better(rip Yuzu). Having played up until the start of chapter 8, the 30fps isnt much of an issue due to it being turn based (sometimes it drops like with the atomic boo or 7 crystal stars spinning cutscene), but I still value 60fp MINIMUM since it reduces my chance of not being able to play a game for more than half an hour without getting sick. I understand your sentiment of "60fps snobs need to stop complaining about 30fps games, just enjoy it" but from an accessibility aspect, it's not about how it runs, it's about how it feels, and I as well as many people just have to either suck it up with the nausea, mod the games, or just never get the chance to enjoy games I would otherwise enjoy.

[@vaggos5125]

I completely agree and also there is the fact that I can't focus anymore on the image that is displayed... there is so much detail.. and then I get tired easily. Maybe a "next gen" aesthetic with detail in just the right places is the best way to go.

[@terriermonisgod]

outside japan there is probably a bit stigma of enjoying things with "kiddy artstyle". but that is slowly changing

[@guguig9746]

Thank you for this video ! I'm behind on uploads because live is busy, but I'm slowly catching up and loving it!

[@Shibanu_]

I want to shoutout a game that is slipping under peoples radars and has such cool graphics and looks amazing. The game is called "doodle adventure of chameleon".

[@SonofMrPeanut]

Funny thing about your use of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte: The Impressionist movement that led to said work (a Neo-Impressionist painting) was at least in part a response to early photography.

[@geofatic]

Dang. Daniel legit used an art example that I recently learned about from Crash Course Art History. Respect

[@EvernightStudio]

I finally made practical use of those Art History classes at my job!

[@lametrain9667]

The video feels all over the place but I fully agree with the underlying point.

[@madnessarcade7447]

15:52 one could argue that three houses tried to be more realistic and engage tried to be more campy

[@_Fizzy]

Your videos are lovely & I especially enjoy these rambly type of videos, just getting your thoughts out there and discussing your perspective. Hope to see more of these from you!

[@WolvesbaneNetwork]

"I like performance over graphics" "I want even less frames" I'm sorry so do you want good frame rates or not?

[@Wesmoen]

I tapped out when he said, "it doesn't matter your eyes get used to it" Choose one man!

[@thetoondevil]

I don't hate realism, I just feel the art style has oversaturated the medium. As an artists myself, I love seeing unique art forms. Growing up, I could tell what art was made by what company. 90s Capcom was a huge inspiration for me, and I was kinda saddened how their art style changed from over the top anime to realism.

[@Azaurus1]

This why i own a switch and steam deck. Chasing graphics has gotten dull.

[@Blackfire_2022]

Realism is like candy. I love it, but i get sick if i have too much. A great art style is like a pizza bar. You can make any kind of pizza amd never have enough cause every kind is different

[@Robospy1]

I think realism works for certain games. There are many games that try to look realistic that would honestly look better if they had more stylized art direction.

[@Pudddle]

Yeah, every Superhero game shouldbe stylized imo. But obviously big publishers want their knockoff MCU

[@DJordydj]

I'm also bored of hyper-realism in video games, like I'm bored of shooters, and online competitive service games, and greedy companies that want us to devote ourselveds jusdt to one fucking game, like if we wanted that as gamers. I miss the PS2, XBOX and GameCube era, where devs experimented so hard with games. Ones were realistic, others weren't, and all felt great. I remember when I was 15 (2005) I was wondering what games would look in fgames nowadays. I was wishing for crazy wonders, impossible woelds, with tons of imaginative stuff in them. But sadly we all got is games that have the same gameplay mechanics but with different skins. They're all the same now and the sad part of focusing on hyper-realism is that your games don't look like they have personality, because they all look generic. I want games with crazy worlds in them, with none human characters all the time, and with impossible physics to use in gameplay. I want devs to make GAMES instead of TV shows. I play videogames to be in the virtual world what I'm not in the real world. I dont' want to be me, I don't want to walk in a world similar to mine, I want to experience things that realistic games can't offer.

[@Sara-pk8wv]

even anime cell shaded style will be boring if it's over used

[@JackVGM]

Really enjoyed this video! Would love to see more videos like this from Daniel!

[@lucky.plushy]

7:42 I know it's just an analogy, but I felt the pointillism comment is unwarranted. Like what did they do..... (Also kinda silly since "a bunch of dots" can also describe pixel art)

[@supernocommentarygameplayhd]

My man went on a rant about how he only uses performance mode and that 4K30 isn't good enough on other systems, proceeds to say that anyone complaining about 30fps in an RPG with strict action command timings has no soul. Huh. Could he be a bit of a Nintendo fanboy, perhaps?

[@PikachuGamerSMT]

I think it’s time I play every Astro Bot game that has been released so far

[@JonnyLikesGames87]

I played the VR game on PS4 and it’s genuinely delightful.

[@SpaniardNL]

Artstyle over realism. Although realism can be a good fit for certain style of games. But artstyle can easily triumph over realism.

[@bigshrekhorner]

Raytracing can actually be used for a lot more than mere realism. In the end of the day, it only tells the computer how light travels and bounces off surfaces. If you have the mathematical knowledge and enough creativity, you can use it to create very stylized settings and even do much wackier stuff, like creating non euclidean geometries or infinitely spanning structures. And all these with ridiculously more ease compared to regular raster graphics pipelines (raytracing *is* after all the most intuitive rendering method we have ever developed, and the first one to actually be developed ever. It's just that it got pushed back, because real time raytracing was not for discussion when graphics first started appearing on computers. But it was still used for non realtime rendering, like in Pixar movies) So, it is not raytracing that promotes realism over style and, imho, putting the criticism on it as well, instead of just the gaming industry, really devalues what it actually can do.

[@TSPhoenix2]

It can be used that way but will it be? I suspect most of the time not. When I see RT talked about often easy of development is a focus, basically the idea that lighting will take care of itself which is the opposite of using it artistically. Lighting is super important for both films and games, but as we've seen over the last decade better tools don't always lead to better outcomes. As you say with knowledge & enough creativity you can do incredible things, but if companies just want to burn through young, inexperienced hires that's not going to happen. Basically I think the tech has tons of potential that will mostly go untapped in favour of low effort lighting setups.

[@keatonlovlyn2848]

I 1000% agree with this!! Stylized and well-implemented graphics > realism. Been playing a lot of retro games recently and really enjoying some of the filters available on retroarch. Been surprised to find that the crt and cell shaders are among my favorites when the option to smooth out polygons and reduce pixilation exist. That being said I appreciate that realism exists too and I don’t want to see it disappear entirely. Just that like you said games should be selected more thoughtfully for the implementation.

[@Shibanu_]

The Playstation Presentation wasn't all that great but the Guerilla Collective Presentation was amazing. I got 15 Games on my Wishlist just from that.

[@stephencheney9811]

Day of the Devs today was soooo much better than the SGF opening showcase.

[@beauvogames]

Brilliant video and agree with so much of this, especially about how when going for ultra-realism it just makes a bunch of games blur into one another, not stand out and not have a unique identity. With Nintendo you know your Mario from your Zelda from your Metroid from your Pokémon from your Xenoblade from your Fire Emblem

[@Uhcip]

Realism and art direction aren't incompatible just like good movies aren't visually dull just because they're not animated. I don't really think something like RE4, Alan Wake 2, Dead Space really work without aiming much closer to realism. Plague Tale games as well are very realistic but strong direction, same with the recent Hellblade which only works as well as it does because its so realistic. I feel the same way about boring realism as I do generic anime which I find harder to tell apart than some realistic games. No reason to limit your appreciation of art to one extreme or the other.

[@saiyanscaris6530]

its more of it having the oversaturation problem where companies think THATS ALL THAT MATTERS. gameplay, story, making the game fun to play and have variety. the higher ups think who gives a shit about stuff like that these days

[@Uhcip]

Which company thinks that's all that matters?

[@saiyanscaris6530]

@@Uhcip you havent been paying attention much to sony and microsoft have you. especially since they think everything should be triple aaa stuff which people are so done with now

[@Uhcip]

@@saiyanscaris6530 Ok so for example you believe that Naughty Dog thinks that graphics are all that matters? Santa Monica studio?

[@crestofhonor2349]

@@saiyanscaris6530 Microsoft has released way more stylized games than Sony has

[@wileywood1523]

You can have amazing graphics that aren’t all gritty and realistic! Look at Astro’s Playroom! And now Astro Bot! I hope this game and others like it send the right message

[@sammalone7881]

I'm more burnt out by generic anime jrpgs .

[@TedWilder]

I didn't understand back then, but Miyazaki was right. "Anime was a mistake" There just isn't that much difference in styles anymore and when I see an anime or anime styled game that REALLY has its own style, I have no choice but to be impressed.

[@francisquebachmann7375]

​@@TedWilderyou do realize that Miyazaki really didn't say it. It was a mistranslation.

[@TheClyde1993]

Great Video. Hope things change for the better. Starting with the new Astro Bot game.

[@Hobo_X]

I'm glad you specifically called out realism, and not just graphics in general. Because I 100% agree, but then I think about how I wish Nintendo would invest a little more in their hardware. I mean, can you imagine if the switch 2's storage speeds end up being too slow? Once you get used to these fast load times, they REALLY stand out. And if a console coming out in 2025 that could potentially last another 7 years still is making us wait on loading screens, then well... The just isn't acceptable. I want Nintendo to put at least _semi_ -competitive hardware in their next console, not for realistic graphics, but more immersive worlds in stylized graphics they're known for. Imagine if BOTW/TOTK ran at 60 fps and also had a draw distance significantly extended outward instead of just a few steps ahead, and on top of all that warping around loaded in under a second. That's truly next gen.

[@saiyanscaris6530]

considering the console wars is at a point where people are now saying nintendo and the switch have won it by barely trying with stuff like that and the games you can probably guess

[@giganticmoon]

@@saiyanscaris6530They try with the games though. They have exclusives, and you don’t need ultra hardware to win a war.

[@heavydonkeykong5190]

Nintendo wins by just seemingly not caring much what the other guys are doing. "Wins by doing absolutely nothing" to truly compete and instead focusing on their own bubble.

[@saiyanscaris6530]

@@heavydonkeykong5190 and it worked

[@John6-40]

Yeah 60 fps has always been the standard. Switch failed hard in that regard. Great concept. Great games. Terrible performance, particularly on 3rd party games, but also on some 1st party games. A more powerful Switch will be the perfect console, imo.

[@maxalmonte14]

The videogame industry has turned into Hollywood, people are looking forward to indie movies instead of big CGI fests because we have had f***ing enough by now.

[@tro_celli]

As a fellow aging millennial, I am 100% in agreement with this take. We’re definitely seeing diminishing returns with realism in graphical fidelity, and the cost of game development is quickly ballooning to unsustainable amounts. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen with the continued live-service gold rush, executive and shareholder expectations are completely divorced from reality. Gaming is probably too big to fail, but something is going to have to give soon. We can’t go on like this forever.

[@thegreatjman1999]

unrelated to the video but it's crazy how I immediately recognized the hideout song from scarlet nexus I haven't played that game in years

[@gameliking]

thank you for this comment i was going insane trying to remember where this song was from. one of the games i thought of was this but i thought i was wrong

[@Eminster]

Are you guys going to do another guess that track episode?

[@BoxoSpoons]

When I've taken a step back, I've realized a big reason why I'm excited as I am for Nintendo making a graphical generation leap with the Switch 2 is because their devs will probably make much more interesting use of that fidelity than most other developers have been.

[@Drstrange3000]

This is exactly why I'm excited for it too

[@xcrysizz8781]

Artstyle > Realistic graphics

[@Pinkyorangegirl]

At this point those AAA games with the hyper realism are encouraging us to step outside 😒

[@The_Admiral_Angel]

Unfortunately, most of us gamers are in the minority here when it comes to this. If the graphics are not like a realistic cinematic movie, then other gamers not interested. Down to the point where any game with vibrant colors are described as kiddie or babyish. Off topic though, Wind Waker is over two decades old, and it's artstyle is STILL gorgeous to this day. Games with realistic visuals have their audiences, but variety is the spice of life. Edit: I do think that Daniel is a little too harsh on 3D Mario, though. I do agree that the visuals aren't as experimental as the Mario spin-offs or Zelda titles, but at least it still offers tons of fun and whacky worlds to explore. Super Mario Odyssey has you explore so many different kingdoms where the inhabitants are either floating top hat ghosts, eco-friendly robots, normal-looking people, and sentient forks with chef hats. Weirdness is a huge part of Mario's identity, and Odyssey and especially Wonder excel in that. Give me more of that over whatever the next hyper-realistic cinematic video game on the PS5 or Series X is going to be.

[@saiyanscaris6530]

problem is variety is something the higher ups dont want to try anymore

[@lightdarksoul2097]

I remember the "contraversy" Spiderman ps4 had about people being made over puddles. Some people are crazy

[@tountoes1677]

If we were in the minority Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe wouldn't have become some of the best selling games of all time. A lot of people don't care for realism as much as you might think.

[@Alorso_]

@@tountoes1677 If anything it shows that we've reached a point to where graphics are good enough, there's definitely a shift towards more people wanting color fun visuals in games like the recent Astro Bot trailer for example

[@The_Admiral_Angel]

@@tountoes1677 That seems to be the case. I just have the unfortunate mindset of living in an area where games with movie-like realism are peak design over games with creative and colorful art styles.

[@ViniVHSoares1993]

I don't know if i would complain about games taking longer, i think it can be beneficial for AAA games like this to be like once per generation, it certantly seems better than yearly releases, and i love beautiful and realistic graphics, but if to get there the game needs a ton of money to be made, to a point that it need an absurd number of sales to just break even, devs being crunched, i would much rather a game with worse graphics and that devs will have more time polishing it and won't feel the need to pad the hell out of their games.

[@joshnickerson83]

I was bored with realistic graphics back in 2005.

[@fernie-fernandez]

Ever played Deadly Premonition…!?

[@bernnymwamba7522]

Because « gamers » think stylized = cheap so they don’t want to spend more than $15 on tht kind of game, no matter how cool it looks. And because « gamers » think stylized and cellshaded look childish so they don’t want to be playing « baby games ». I don’t want to judge people on their preferences but these type of mentalities are tiring and so hurtful to game development as a whole

[@bjbovia]

I'm glad you put what we've all been feeling into words.

[@BeIlG]

It's so bizarre to go from the PS4 era where they complimented indie games like journey for existing. To even get closer to being art over "a game". Highly stylized and interesting game experiences. Wish this was still the push.

[@DavesChaoticBrain]

Do you have a similar video for how dull and repetitive "Stylized" games look? Or how "pixelated graphics" are so 1989? Cause I want more realism, and less of those. It's not realism fatigue you have, it's design homogenization fatigue that you have. You're tired of things looking the same as all the other things.

[@Drstrange3000]

This should be top comment.

[@robertcopter5127]

Finally, someone is saying what I've been feeling for so long.

[@mgbrad5018]

Throughout the past generation and a half, I honestly have not cared about graphics unless it is truly jaw dropping. I care wayyyyyyy more about an art direction/style and gameplay then I do "realistic graphics".

[@crestofhonor2349]

So you do care about graphics, just of a different style than realism. You prefer your graphics to be less realistic and more stylized. Art direction is a part of the graphics pipeline and realism is still an art style

[@hookitiri]

Cool shadows and lighting is still impressive to me, but it is mostly because my first console was an N64, and what else was out at the time (I mean this as in what was out when I got MY N64, not when it dropped :D) ? The PS3 and Xbox 360, of course, so it's not much of a shocker that it surprises me. I do prefer 100 fps over ray-tracing.

[@Michirin9801]

I got bored of realism in video game graphics 20 years ago, and I'm still in my 20s!

[@MegaManNeo]

You didn't miss much. It's good for racing games and sports games probably. RPGs and platformers tho? Love colorful worlds with a comic style.

[@roskiart8750]

@@MegaManNeo Two words: Survival Horror

[@MegaManNeo]

@@roskiart8750 In my entire life I played Telltale TWD S1 and Resident Evil 2 Remake. Not my cup of coffee but sure, I can see how it could improve the genre especially in VR.

[@roskiart8750]

@@MegaManNeo And yet RE is more sucessful than pretty much every platformer that isn't named Mario and most of RPGS. Let alone there's OTHER RPGS that DO benefit from the realism too(like Dark Souls, and sorry but there's a place for these games) I say this fully understanding and mostly agreeing with the complaint, as a 2D animator myself who is deeply frustrated with the Disney Live Action remakes, specially by any and every person who thinks this gives those stories any semblance of additional legitimacy(as if animation embracing cartoonniness deminishes it's legitimacy as a storytelling tool). But being dismissive of it as an artistic choice because it's not part of your game diet of preference is not the most elegant position to take. And those aren't your specific words but it feels like that's the underlying point.

[@SkyDX]

What a well done video! Games that chase realism over artstyle will age with the hardware, games that focus on a great artstyle will stay timeless.

[@juliossan5118]

Why are Nintendo gamers like this? There are hundreds of games that don't go for realistic graphics! Just go play those! You never see film nerds saying things like "ugh so tired of live action movies, where are all the cartoons and anime?" There's plenty out there broski.

[@lightdarksoul2097]

Because it affects other games. the bigger budgets spent on the games affect the whole industry. Because games are so realistic, it makes all the games take much longer to come out which means less games and they all have to make much more. That made the prices of games increase for everyone. And then you have the issue of people being afraid to join the industry when companies that make even good games arent enough like Tango.

[@juliossan5118]

@@lightdarksoul2097 There are more games coming out now than there ever have been. If some games want to take longer to make, then go for it. Would rather that than be overly bombarded by 20 AA budget cartoony games coming out every month. Both realistic and unrealistic looking games succeed, and both fail. Some obviously gotta figure their budgets out it they aren't sure the demand won't be there but other than that the balance now is fine.

[@Alorso_]

This isn't just Nintendo gamers saying this, look at which games on the recent State of Play people responded to the most, there's a growing demand for more different looking games, it's simply a matter of too many AAA looking the same and blending together, there needs to be variety

[@oceanelambert2507]

oh don't worry film nerds are always complaining about something ! they're complaining about movies being too dark (not in terms of tone, in terms of the image), and it's basically the same idea than with photorealism in games, this idea of using one specific style as a default, not considering if the work really benefits from it or not, and just using it because everyone else does it. i do agree with you that there are many many games that go with very different styles. indie games are a blessing for this ! but i also think it's true that there are aaa games out there that choose photorealism for no other reason that "that's how it's gotta look". and it's kinda sad lol

[@GameTimeNLL]

"Why are nintendo gamers always like this?" Ruins anything you say after that.

[@trinstonmichaels7062]

This is why style will always be better than graphics.

[@dinar8749]

10:55 cringe nintendo manchild moment. Imagine actually wanting worse gameplay and frame rate.

[@lucashoikers]

Exactly. No excuse even as TTYD was 60fps originally

[@dinar8749]

@@lucashoikers Agreed. The frame rate downgrade, and imo bad soundtrack made me skip this. It's a shame because TTYD is one of my favorite games of all time, but this remake does not respect the original.

[@Deliveredmean42]

@@dinar8749 I thought you can get the original soundtrack in the game tho? Tho the framerate downgrade sound something obviously done for totally not for a new Nintendo hardware coming in the future.

[@Deliveredmean42]

@@lucashoikers You know they did that so they get people a reason for their new hardware.

[@dinar8749]

@@Deliveredmean42 I know, but that's not a selling point. I can just play the og whenever. If the new soundtrack was actually good and respected the original musics' direction instead of those kazoos and generic big band jazz then it would be different. I don't believe the frame rate is going to be fixed for the switch 2. Nintendo just doesn't care. They haven't cared about power and graphics for about 2 decades now.

[@DamienThimons-rv1wj]

Oh wow thank goodness that someone else out there noticed That the art part of video games was fading out of existence.

[@stevenreyes4791]

This is the exact kind of video I'd like to see from a channel called "Good Vibes Gaming". These are some good ass vibes 👌

[@kreachernintendo667]

But this video is a copy of the Gamexplain video...

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I fully agree. This whole realism obsession is ruining games. They are better off going an unrealistic artistic route.I miss older game designs SO MUCH all of that didn't have to just go away just because things are "progressing" It sure doesn't feel like progress. How can gaming be so out of touch with good artistic direction & game design? I don't know why there's such a lack of different types of games being made now. I just really hope console gaming finds it's soul again and starts having fun, being bold, being crazy, being wacky, remembering all the aspects of previous gen games that had so much success and tapping back into that! I cannot stand this corporate, sanitized, clean room feel that a lot of the current game industry has. It basically feels like 95% of the game industry has been taken over by people who have no idea what a good game is because they don't play video games and didn't play games growing up. Where is THE PASSION! When I was growing up in the 90's, the future of gaming seemed amazing! It wasn't just about graphics. It was about physics effects, art styles, having a range of gameplay modes, gameplay mechanics, damage effects, environmental interaction, engaging AI to play against in single player mode, CPU bots in offline modes, just good AI in games campaigns. Current video games focus way too much on graphical nitpicking. It seems they forgot how much players enjoyed physics effects & other aspects that make games fun. Quirky graphics can work, if a creative art style is used. Add engaging CPU AI, gameplay modes, the list goes on.. idk what happened?

[@cwega2463]

astro bot looks incredible. but the £60 price tag is a bit jarring. it’s $60 in America. why do companies scale prices so awfully.

[@Feroror]

America always wins in the price department and yet Americans are always the ones complaining about prices LMAO

[@dane1647]

Maybe we win because we complain????

[@Feroror]

@@dane1647 it’s not working politically though 😩

[@saiyanscaris6530]

@@Feroror americans nowadays want everything to be cheap as possible. just watch how the election goes and youll see why to the people being a criminal means jack shit if they see said bad person as the only way the economy gets fixed

[@j_corb]

Really well said. I remember writing an article about this back on the 360 and PS3 generation. I feel like it's a big reason I'm so fond of the Dreamcast, Sonic Team was making stuff that was super vibrant. To me, most games all just look like the first Unreal tech demo we were shown. It was technically impressive, but it was ultimately a nothing-burger without any identity. Because it wasn't a game, it wasn't intended to have an art-direction; it was an engine, expecting devs to bring their own art-direction to the game.

[@dpe4995]

I agree but the reason devs love ray tracing so much is because its automated which saves time and effort that can be put towards to other things, its a bit disingenuous to dismiss it as useless tech for flexing

[@Veo87]

I think a realistic style is just as much of a legitimate style as any other. It can be very graphically impressive and even beautiful. Some games, I think, are served well by looking as realistic as possible, like The Last of Us or Uncharted. However, there are many beautiful styles out there and I definitely have a preference for more stylized looks. In Playstation's recent State of Play, the game that I found most visually pleasing was Astrobot, a game that doesn't look realistic at all. It's looks beautiful and I look forward to looking at it more when it comes out. Games like Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Stars, the Ori series, and more, all have amazing art styles that I love to look at. No Rest for the Wicket, Moon Studio's newest game (early access right now) also looks incredible with its style. So, I don't have a problem with realistic graphics in principle, but I don't think it should be valued over other styles.

[@FreeTheTaint]

I'm tired of characters being made purposely uglier than their actors

[@fernie-fernandez]

At least MK1 broke traditions, complete with Megan Fox…

[@KittyBGaming]

Stylization in games ages better than realism Great Gameplay makes the player want to play and stick around more than just graphics (at least for me)

[@Spacething7474]

We never should've evolved into high-definition. not even just for graphics, but for video games too! (and other video formats like movies and tv shows).

[@mechashadow]

Evolution is inevitable whether we like it. I just wish Iwata's methodology permeated wider than just Nintendo and indies but sadly..

[@noneofyourbusiness1998]

This is one of the worst takes I've ever seen.

[@Spacething7474]

@@mechashadow which is why standard definition pillarboxing should've never went out of fashion

[@Spacething7474]

@@noneofyourbusiness1998 how so?

[@roskiart8750]

​@@Spacething7474 Because technology evolving isn't solely about your entertainment. There's benefits to high definition that can be taken advantage of in sciences and such, for starters.

[@Benji-Lindz]

The last game that genuinely blew my mind with realism was The Last of Us: Part 2. For that game, it worked because the story and characters are rooted in reality. Even then, the thrill of playing a game that looks that real wears off pretty quick while you're playing it. Every game since then hasn't captured my attention with realism. On the other hand, I'm 100 hours into Persona 5: Royal, and I am still shocked time and time again by how incredible the art direction is. That's a game that came out in 2016, a cross-gen release with the PS3 and PS4, and it is still one of the most enjoyable games to look at and experience.

[@adamjones1951]

I am tired of anime art

[@kevinstrident]

A 10-minute video with some solid wisecracks is the sweet spot.

[@jordanmynes2638]

I got (and stayed) bored of the realism somewhere around Halo 2, so I'm glad we're reaching critical mass of people who agree