No One Cares About Better Graphics

[@pokevii]

"imbues your sword with whimsy" is so fucking funny

[@timpeterson175]

I’m about to fight god lfg

[@vneezy]

I read this before watching and mistakenly thought "Oh man I just ruined the joke", nope, it still lands, holy fuck my sides are gone

[@Drekromancer]

"Imbues my sword with whimsy" is just a euphemism for "making my sword flaccid"

[@SilentVinyl]

It was whimsical

[@shyguypro9876]

I care about how a game looks. I don't care about graphics. Important distinction.

[@AllWordsAreDust]

Exactly - I've always cared about aesthetic elements like art direction but not graphics..

[@Lowekinder]

Yeah, though graphics can be important depending on what you're going for. Cyberpunk 2077 looks amazing. Does it look better than super mario brothers 3? No, dumb comparison. I want someone out there pushing the boundaries but it aint the only way

[@expresionless953]

@@Lowekinder idk, mario 3 is a bit crusty all around, id say cyberpunk has a better style

[@PotionSmeller]

Hardware manufacturers will never stop pushing for better sales numbers on their new products, and since they're major players in the games industry that means big publishers will never stop pushing for higher graphical fidelity.

[@jake748]

we're all saying this

[@styxrakash4639]

“Just remove the crafting” broooo thank you - they are literally just extra chores

[@chimera1381]

Removing crafting and praising Stardew Valley is wild though...

[@JACpotatos]

​@@chimera1381learn to think outside of absolutes

[@louieberg2942]

@@chimera1381It's about wether or not crafting is added as just another system or as a central part of the game. To keep the action going in an open-world game, having stuff like durability and crafting at specific stations in the world will kill the flow of the action. Even a staple such as inventory space can be seen as an unnecessary addition to several games. In other games you can argue that it is part of the preparation for an adventure or the central way to progress through the game.

[@hawxchampion523]

@@chimera1381 When he said remove crafting, he didn't mean _all_ crafting, just in games where it's not a part of the core gameplay mechanics. Games like Terraria, Minecraft, Stardew Valley, etc. all have crafting as part of the core gameplay mechanics. But other games add crafting (like he mentioned) as an additional thing to make improving your gear more tedious.

[@quinn3334]

@@chimera1381 "...from every game that doesnt need it"

[@pentaperno]

I love indie games with distinct art styles that any device can run smoothly. Very well said. Thanks Librarian.

[@Cobalt985]

ultrakill

[@ellagage1256]

Pizza Tower

[@PossibleBat]

That requires human beings, who require being paid. Game companies want to gain more and pay less. So they reduce their human workers, for AI but AI does not have imagination. Therefore cannot create a good product.

[@ShmeckleBoy]

I always hate it when a game has hyper detailed realistic graphics and then they fucking ruin it with motion blur you can't turn off

[@T9K66]

You can always turn it off. Check ur ini files for the motionblur_1 option and turn it to 0.

[@tabula_rosa]

@@T9K66 sounds like hes playing on console. fun fact the reason they mandate motion blur on every console game is bc it makes it harder to spot flaws on a tv, they know it makes actually playing the games worse they just dont respect console players enough to let them have the superior experience

[@Exarian]

massive publishers be like: "we need to keep up with consumer exectations." My brother in christ, you set those expectations.

[@khclupus]

Sometimes people don't know what they want until they have it. A lot of people I knew were sceptical when full touchscreen phones were first introduced. Of course not all of it succeeds - VR still hasn't taken off. On the flip side, there's this thing called generating your own demand, and that's 100% what marketing is all about.

[@Nick-cs4oc]

“Shows over the top generated trailer filled with buzzwords”

[@patchycb]

You say that but every time a game comes out and does well (Baldur's Gate I love you but I'm looking at you) what's the thing everyone says "this should be the new standard" "AAA has no excuse" etc etc They kinda get forced into those expectations by other players in the industry and the consumers Edit: if you want an example of this go to most game reviews on steam it will be very easy to find a review complaining "game too short or not enough content" and they have over 100hrs in the game The average gamer just wants more and more content

[@GaigeGrosskreutzGunClub]

That's economics! That's the kind if bullshit we're creating he'll on earth for!

[@seanbud]

​@@patchycb@patchycb9837 yeah but they aren't really talking about specific mechanics of the game. They're talking about how a "smaller" studio made a game so incredible with a world that really breathes and feels exciting all the way through. Something genuine and heartfelt, you can really feel the passion and love put into it. These other studios won't go down that path and instead will make some mediocre crpg, idk if they actually would but the point is they will miss the idea entirely. Also idk if someone who reviews a game on steam is the average gamer, but I mean that speaks alot more on the games than the individual. Something you can put 100hrs into and not feel satisfied, the games are so bloated with nonsense quests and garbage that at the end of your time it just ends up feeling hollow

[@throwod2923]

Efficiency gains not leading to lower overall utilization of resources has been studied since the first Industrial Revolution and is named Jevons Paradox

[@3dDoener]

Industrial Revolution mentioned Cue the manifesto

[@Oakwin_mb]

But it’s not just offsetting the efficiency, teams are bigger than ever typically.

[@oddmerit6530]

didnt that carl marks guy say something about that

[@spacebassist]

@@oddmerit6530 my buddy mark says things like this, if that's who you mean

[@lemonlupinreuben5362]

the Cotton Gin:

[@Shadest]

Art style > realism every single time

[@FizzyCape]

Realism IS an art style

[@junipre985]

@@FizzyCapeyes but it's dogshit and very overrepresented in everything

[@hexcodeff6624]

@@junipre985 Nah, there are some really cool games that come with realism and work better for it. Portal 1 and 2, Soma, Titanfall 2, The Talos Principle, all great games with realistic art styles. And they all work with the realistic style in a way that fits: Portal and its sterile testing environments, Soma and its dark atmosphere that just fits with the philosphical themes, Titanfall 2 Story Mode is simply a great block buster experience, And The Talos Principle does a great job at wondering if your character is human by putting it in a realistic environment.

[@JACpotatos]

​@@hexcodeff6624and Tetris is the best selling game of all time.... What's your point?😂 Edit: he changed his comment

[@Justin-ee1mv]

Art style is still considered graphics, so caring about any form of graphics and how the game looks instead of fun and the gameplay just shows the priority you set upon yourself

[@JohnJohnson-vq7ze]

Starting the Joker crafting bit just as he enters the screen with the chirping crickets is perfection.

[@raccytobaccy]

"imbues your sword with whimsy" is killing me

[@DanJanucik]

I read this before I heard it and it still killed me

[@jacklantern]

"Devs should be paid less. Hi I'm Northernlion"

[@minoxiothethird]

BASED

[@cezarstefanseghjucan]

You should own nothing.

[@PhoenixFlamer]

BOB'S BEARD OIL

[@radarhead82]

Imbues your sword with whimsy!

[@Jespin_]

Necessary to kill god.

[@SuperRainbol]

it will never change, the mainstream gaming industry is driven by people who want to just consume the latest triple A slop with the ULTRA REALISTIC GRAPHICS, WATER MECHANICS AND BRAND NEW CRAFTING SYSTEM for a couple of hours every week. The good thing is that it's so easy to make games now that there are lot of good double A and indie companies out there making exactly the game you want, you just have to know where to look

[@Vozkal]

Can you share some tips on where to look?

[@deftmute]

lol no. now it's just stream kiddies wanting to do what daddy streamer does.

[@willoverdoseonmusic]

@@Vozkal glitchwave

[@MildChunkySalsa]

I prefer a game designed well with fun gameplay and fun stories but the reason why gaming graphics are getting more intricate is because people want to do it. There’s talented and dedicated people improving technology everyday, some technology that in reality does not amount to much help in society but they can and will do it. Not everything is profit driven for the cutting edge, we always want to improve and progress.

[@HastyElderHaman]

That's because the influencers on Twitch and KZbin not only are running the highest end hardware you can get, but encourage toxic behavior around being smug if anyone isn't running said hardware. I swear so many chatters on Twitch act like every PC gamer is running a 4090, it's obnoxious. They rag on consoles (except the Steam Deck because when it runs 30 fps it's suddenly better than the Switch...for some reason). I genuinely hate hate hate this aspect of the hobby. Obviously I'm not including NL in there, if anything I have a hard time watching some of his streams because they can be lag fests.

[@MundanePixels]

Outro goes INSANELY hard

[@PixyEm]

that's a classic from the 90s a 90s classic, without a doubt

[@1wayroad935]

No one cares about better graphics in games until they get scammed into buying the latest video card at launch

[@incription]

20% more gigafarts per megawatt

[@njebs.]

Funnily enough, tech channels have noticed a sharp decline in interest for GPUs aswell

[@aBlackMage]

​@@njebs.I haven't bought a new GPU in like 7 years. I recently got a laptop for school and it can play almost all my games without having a dedicated GPU. Indie enjoyers are eating good in that regard

[@njebs.]

@aBlackMage I got into PC gaming very late, and I've never bought a new GPU ever. Went from a 2nd hand r9 390x in 2018 to a 2nd hand rx 480 in 2020, and I've never felt the need to upgrade. Just play as low graphics as you need or play indie 💪😎.

[@CrackBaby3]

I had full-blown rot from buying a 4090. I purchased a steam deck afterward and struggled for the first like two or three months to palate a game running on medium settings. I really should be in the mines for that one

[@morgan7045]

good graphics < good art direction < good mechanics

[@cezarstefanseghjucan]

Mechanics are overrated.

[@WandererInSpirit]

​@@cezarstefanseghjucan Found the marketing team.

[@lazy_Kat89]

Librarian we for real need all the songs you put in the outro in some sort of playlist or smth, they're real bangers

[@breadguyyy]

helldivers 2: aw so sweet skull and bones: umm hello HR?

[@memeconnoisseur4377]

the difference is that Helldivers 2 has gameplay.

[@lolusuck386]

Helldivers 2 is big because it's fun to PLAY. If that game looked like a ps1 game, it would still be as big as it is.

[@kornelparoczai1763]

He's so right and so bald

[@kevinsedwards]

As bald man I approve this message

[@lexistential]

i love the outro songs

[@kylecwalina3136]

hearing the guitar start playing i just started giggling waiting for how he was gonna get into it

[@Crytaljam]

He's forgotten there was a game he liked and played regularly, which still has a subscription model and regular updated content: Trackmania Too bad about his motion sickness

[@Dschonathan]

Trackmania's sub is cooked, I guess it is a normal model for other live service racing games but regular gamers just don't want a 1 year sub as the only option. I've bought it once and played for like 3 months and that was fine, but now they even increased the price because they have given up on new players and just want to milk their established players instead.

[@Crytaljam]

@@Dschonathan For sure they need a more enticing price structure. However, gaming is still one of the best in terms of value for your money (as long as you got the hardware). Compare it to cinema and Netflix, 20$ is so much value. Even if you only spent 2h a week, that's 24h of entertainment in 3 months

[@oOBeagleOo]

@@Crytaljam So true. Why is it a year. I don't think i'll ever think to myself "Oh yeah this YEAR im going to play trackmainia". I like playing it every now and then a little bit. For some people its their main game and maybe that makes sense for them. But I'm sure for most it's something the forget and remember about every few months to a year and play it for a bit. I bought the year sub once because i was enjoying it a lot at a certain time, but I dont even think I played it after i bought it

[@IBQ1]

You're so great Librarian, your videos are truly extraordinary. +2s condensed so tight

[@nazmmetin1862]

Wake up honey NL shitting on aaa games again

[@EDoyl]

At first, all that was needed were graphics that could communicate "That's You!" and we reached that point before real screens were invented, with some higher-end oscilloscopes. Then we wanted "This is a guy" which began before home consoles and was mastered in Prince of Persia. "This is a guy but in 3D" was another decade, and finally "This is a happy guy and this is a sad guy" has proven exceptionally difficult, but it's basically doable with only MoCap improvements, without pushing polygon counts and light transport equations any further. If someone back in ye day wanted to make L.A. Noire but they only had the Amiga I can understand why they'd want a revolution in graphical fidelity, but we're past that now. The returns have fully diminished, there are no longer games that are impossible to make because of graphics technology. So Stop.

[@dexterrkk3711]

Idk man i still like loading into cyberpunk and being stunned by the realism, when they sacrifice gameplay for it thats where it gets bad imo

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

​@@dexterrkk3711 On the other hand my brother was more blown away by Ori and the Will of the Wisps when buying the latest Xbox compared to Cyberpunk. Though Cyberpunk definitely deserves praise for its graphics, it does massively enhance the experience.

[@Shiftarus]

@@haruhirogrimgar6047 If you want a game to feel like a mystical and whimsical fairy tale ... Ori's art style can be effective. For displaying a gritty and depressing cyberpunk dystopian future super-city you really want realism. One of the reasons AAA studios make those big games is because only they can. Competing with indie games is tough, theres tons. One of the first things game devs do is decide art style and think long and hard about how and why. Monetization however comes from the top and usually is the problem

[@Angel_Flash]

I heavily disagree about battlepasses being a good thing if done right. Battlepasses existing means you need to play a game like a job or else you miss out on content (for most games the stuff you miss out on os gone forever), and when every game has a battlepass, you feel overwhelmed. You can't possibly grind like 4 games at a time every single day. I don't wanna play Fortnite or Dead By Daylight every day. Sometimes I wanna just read all day. But when I do that I feel like I'm losing out on this exclusive legendary skin that will never ever come back because it's meant to be a trophy for people that play the game 60 hours a week.

[@TheLibraryofLetourneau]

Only one that does it right is deep rock

[@c0der0gue]

Good battle passes exist, though they ironically use different names to avoid the negative stigma surrounding the system. There are passes that don't cost money, time out, or phase out content. Two examples come to mind but I'm sure there's more: Deep Rock Galactic has free passes that last 6 months (or longer x.x) and at the end of the season pass content is grandfathered into the loot pools you're already drawing from. Helldivers 2 has multiple passes, one that's free and one you can pay (or grind a bit) for; both of which are permanently available. That said the FOMO-addled, burnout inducing, AAA battle passes are certainly the norm right now. Hopefully the next microtransaction fad we get isn't quite as soul sucking...

[@ellagage1256]

​@@TheLibraryofLetourneau Honestly even DRG's feels sort of meh. At least it's free but it's definitely pretty forgettable most of the time

[@matthewthelastnohrian6621]

No one cares about graphics until a trailer drops with mid graphics and everyone calls it shit

[@scipioafricanus2071]

shouldn't have called it quadrupel A then

[@Dancyspartan]

made up argument. a 700 developer, 6yeardev period title with a 300 milly budget shouldnt look like shit. but back in the days you had banger midsized focused titles on a 2 year dev time 30dev team that slapped. its all about communication and expectation

[@ActionScripter]

As a dev, I think you've hit the nail on the head. It doesn't matter that a game doesn't *need* cutting-edge graphics to be good, because any game that signals that it has a "realistic" visual style is going to be judged against all the ones that are investing in those graphics. And once you're committed to high quality graphics, every part of development suddenly gets way more complex: higher optimization demands, longer art development cycles, a need for more and higher-skilled artists, extra code systems to support facial animation and other details, and so on. The only reliable way to escape the trap is to create a distinct visual style that's obviously not intending to be realistic, and that's not always creatively viable for the game's concept.

[@hexcodeff6624]

@@ActionScripter I'd play another Soma if it looked like Soma, is that a "high graphics" title?

[@Shiftarus]

@@Dancyspartan But we dont live in "back in the day" we live in today. Your expectations are different now, like it or not.

[@EuropaE]

The Dark Souls rant is so good. I watched this video when it came out and this is what made me a NL fan.

[@Maksymo]

Games should prioritize artstyle over realistic graphics. But in other hand, i'm once asked my friends about graphics priority in games and they replied : "heeell nooo, some pixel ps 1 bullshit breacks my immersion!"

[@NinjaMinkzx]

Pixels on a ps1 you say Sounds like you need to get some friends that aint stupid

[@Shiftarus]

Realism is an art style though

[@Maksymo]

@@Shiftarus yeah, i mean games are already looking realistic enough to explore variety of styles.

[@jackrabbitsalad932]

My personal take that Bloodborne is the best looking game ever made (very personal, not stating it as fact) was absolutely torn to shreds by some cutting edge PC digital foundry type friends, they said it looked like shit even for 2015, how anyone can think that truly confounds me

[@HastyElderHaman]

@@jackrabbitsalad932 People conflating graphics and style which aren't the same. Bloodborne has framerate problems (it has an uneven frametime through the entirety of the game I believe) but its graphical style I believe enhances the experience a player has with its world. One can admire what it gets right, and what it doesn't and thankfully From has gotten better over time with the technical issues (although Elden Ring wasn't perfect).

[@RandomGuy0987]

Loved that outro song

[@frostatine]

Hes becoming too powerful

[@noscopemonkey3369]

That's one of the reasons why I play indie games, most single player too

[@dinoafridi]

Just in time for my Saturday morning Library binge

[@KelleyGreenEcstasy]

I wish big companies would do what they did in 2001 and reflip their assets and (to a lesser extent) their engines to make 5 or 6 games using a solid foundation instead of just restarting every time. edit: the more i think about this, I feel like this is an american company problem specifically.

[@Shiftarus]

I feel like Nintendo, Activision, Ubisoft, 2K, Bethesda and Epic do this still. Honestly I think most people criticize them heavily for doing it

[@blessedzane]

The Yakuza series still does this so much but makes great games

[@X4zerm4n]

This is exactly what FromSoft does and everyone loves it. AND they release a game every other year (or they did before Elden Ring)

[@KelleyGreenEcstasy]

They still got a chance on the other year if Shadows comes out this year @@X4zerm4n 🤞

[@DraconicCatgirl]

Not only is realism ugly as shit, it also bloats file sizes. It’s a fucking lose/lose/lose situation.

[@aloisio5103]

Downloading 20+GB of 4k files to play the game that can only run at 1080p anyway because it's so poorly optimized. I love modern gaming

[@DraconicCatgirl]

@@aloisio5103 "No you don’t get it it IS optimized! That’s why it’s ONLY 81GB!" -Someone IK about BG3

[@utilitymuffin.]

@@DraconicCatgirlwell the the BG3 file size is so high because of voice acting

[@karonuva]

@@DraconicCatgirl BG3 actually has the amount of content to justify the file size though, it's not like a generic call of duty being like 120gb when all you do is a 30 minute campaign and do shooty on like 10 maps.

[@IndianaBonez42]

@@DraconicCatgirl File size has nothing to do with optimization. What are you even trying to argue here? Every new game that comes out these days is using 4K assets alongside uncompressed audio. That's why they are often over 100GB now.

[@paulunga]

Yes, remove the crafting. Also RPG elements and random loot. Basically, everything that Palworld thought was popular enough to for their game chimera.

[@mewtastic2409]

"Hang on let me get a verification can!" KILLED ME

[@linkshunter608]

Good graphics definitely are important, just not necessary. On visuals alone art direction / style is more crucial to how good a game looks. If a game looks beautiful graphically on top of having good art direction it's a plus

[@PoucoHabilidoso]

I agree with egg, I don't know why people care so much about ultra realistic graphics.

[@Shiftarus]

Because some games are enhanced by realism.

[@deleteTF]

Hating on graphics is such a played out talking point, at this point it's such a big circlejerk argument. My hot take is: While graphics are completely overrated by (usually AAA) game companies who put a lot of money and time on it that could be better spent elsewhere, often leading to derivative and safe products. By itself, chasing graphical fidelity isn't a bad thing. I think there are plenty of games that have used a realistic artstyle really well. Shadow of the Colossus is such a technical masterpiece visually, it used techniques like self-shadowing and other things that wouldn't be commonplace until the PS3. It's realistic artstyle helps bring the more unrealistic elements (the colossus) to appear more beliveable. The game even runs at ~20 fps because of it, so it was a huge undertaking for the dev team. Helldivers 2 was also a recent game that used it well. Robot planets with all the fog and destruction look spectacular.

[@hexcodeff6624]

No one is saying realism is bad, it's the numbers game that is bad. You can have shadow of the colossus without trying to be cutting edge. You can have novel fog and destruction engines without trying to push the latest hardware.

[@deleteTF]

@@hexcodeff6624 Shadow of the colossus was cutting edge. I do understand what you are saying about the numbers game. We have reached a plateau in terms of graphics, and chasing for the sake of it is bad. That I agree.

[@Mister32]

Mmm, yes, two games known for how they look and definitely not their engaging gameplay.

[@deleteTF]

@@Mister32 Yes? The visuals aspects of SotC is talked about and discussed often, just go to a discussion forum or something and see for yourself. Helldivers 2 too, in a lesser degree but that was just a personal anectode more than anything. I don't know why are you trying to discredit how these games look, especially when they work to enhance the gameplay experience in multiple ways.

[@joshstaples]

one of his best takes

[@seangallagher9435]

The rpg mechanics are what gets me, there’s two games with very similar core gameplay called Deep Rock Galactic and Darktide, Darktide has the worst rpg mechanics known to man where you have to randomly roll stats on weapons to make them useful and there are perks and blessings and Percentages that make it awful. In Deep Rock the weapons are just unlocked, and have specific upgrades you get through leveling up. There’s no randomness you just choose a weapon, and it’s removes the unnecessary grinding

[@Shiftarus]

You mean RNG? Yea it can be annoying when RNG is use seemingly only to force you to play the same content more

[@CZProtton]

Darktide is also not that fun overall. They took the Vermintide formula but that does not work well with primarily ranged weapons, if you play melee, Vermintide is still just a better game than Darktide. And both are going to get smoked by Helldivers anyway, as that game is just more fun than both of those.

[@thatdarnskag5043]

I think it just depends on the game I'm playing. When I'm playing Gran Turismo 7 with a racing wheel and a monitor relatively close to my face, I appreciate the fine details and fidelity of that cockpit view. If I'm hacking and slashing in Cult of the Lamb, I'm enjoying the distinct art style.

[@louieberg2942]

It's about matching function with form. A realistic racer sim benefits from having realistic graphics. A game about cutesy animals sacrificing each other is probably better off not looking realistic at all.

[@Shiftarus]

@@louieberg2942 This is one of the first things a studio decides, and honestly this entire debate is weird to me since most games I play seem to make the decision just fine. There are plenty of examples of stylized, and realistic games on the market today. The lootbox and cash shop argument however makes total sense

[@SmugLilBugger]

It do be like that. There's ingame monetization for pretty much every single genre out there. They'll find out what you like and weaponize it against you.

[@TheGamingAbyss]

You're a pretty shining example of what I'm about to say. Lots of the large triple A companies follow the profit driven approach like you mentioned. There is demand out in the world that wants to be filled. The larger companies follow the same formats and try to squeeze the methods in which previous successes have been had. It is incredibly similar to a problem with modern AIs. They choose to min/max that which has worked before, but then fail to innovate. The companies then fall in to "model collapse" as the margins they can eek out begin to diminish. People become bored as things become stale. This now allows indie devs the opportunity to capture the market from people who are bored with the same reiterations put out by the big firms. The games you like to play are typically from no name studios. If you're a team of 3 and you put out a game that ends up selling like 1 million copies for 10 bucks..... You're likely set for life for a normal human. Stardew valley is a pretty good example of this (obviously going solo dev is entire crapshoot and you're playing a lottery). But you have a singular developer who was smart enough to capture the audience that wanted a more modern game similar to Harvest Moon. And now the guy has like a 40 million networth. It is obviously still a gamble. But everything is probability. And the odds are likely in favour of indie devs atm.

[@urphakeandgey6308]

Ever since roughly the PS4 / Xbox One generation, and especially PS4 Pro / Xbox One X, graphics have reached a point where any improvement is negligible at best. It's much wiser to focus on other aspects of the visuals.

[@delimonky12]

The confusion levels heads NODDERS

[@bread9849]

Got a Skull and Bones ad LMAO

[@burragahardie2661]

unexpected lightning crashes at the end jammin

[@user-gt5ec5bz5r]

Thank you librarian.

[@olsaaan]

The worst thing about video game monetisation is that unlocks in games are so mindless now. Unlocking costume in Street Fighter or Armour in Halo 3 was so fun. Now it’s all in battle passes where you do boring repetitive challenges over and over again or pay money to unlock tiers.

[@tabula_rosa]

gaming gets much better when you start to learn to recognize features that are put into a game bc they sound good to a board room of non-gamers & erase those games from your mind

[@sacredtitan5484]

they make games look good and gameplay bad because they are only trying to attract the casual market, casual players only care about graphics and do not have enough time to play to care about gameplay

[@zzeroara9511]

case in point: cyberpunk, saints row 2021, etc

[@pkphyre8920]

This mf doesn't even know what the whimsy buff does ICANT

[@idksmthn]

They should and are able to compress and optimize. They just have deals with graphics companies

[@leeham6230]

I am still mostly playing older titles like Hunt: Showdown, Smite, the older Total War games. I play these games because they have fun gameplay loops. The graphics in Hunt are actually quite nice, but I optimize my settings so that I am not disadvantaged competitively (ie everything looks like trash). I find that when I am playing a game, I care a lot more about what is going in the _game_ than how pretty everything looks.

[@lobbynotlob]

2024 is wild because we'll get the craziest nicest games with like 50 microtransactions stapled on

[@Korudo]

Ah the Lextorias reference at 3:59

[@timkimmel9935]

I mean, I care about graphics to a degree. I think others do, too. FF7 Rebirth issues aside, a lot of people tend to praise the graphics in the game. Not to mention graphics were generally a selling point of FF games since the PS1 era. I wouldn't say it should be the focus of a game, but it's definitely appreciated when a game has good graphics.

[@SpaghettoLive]

We're Costco guys, of course we buy the battle pass

[@mikelonduckguey]

With triple a western releases getting worse and more predatory and indie games getting easier to make and higher quality, it kinda feels nice getting to see in real time us being proven right. I mean sure triple a companies still make more off their releases, but they rarely find the same critical success that major indie releases have had. Bethesda might make more than say Edmund McMillen and his team but people are starting to really take notice of the gap in quality and care between triple a and indie. I just really hope people start *actually* voting with their wallets. If half-assed rushed messes keep getting tons of hate and joke purchases then it really doesnt matter if everyone agrees they suck, they still succeed and that kind of business model is still reinforced as profitable

[@DunkMasterFlex]

he's so right

[@mightytheknight2878]

The world in some ways it's getting worse and getting better in society, well yes; the problem is that there only 1 better and the rest of the slices of the pizza or pie is 7 worse. in words 1 step forward, but 7 step backwards that's what's happening in this current time.

[@nemsreviews]

Reached a plateau a LONG time ago

[@ryanclemons1]

Will I can't speak for everyone but I stopped crying about lootboxes and just buyed the games I saw that did not have them.

[@Shiftarus]

Honestly even the heavily monetized games are usually fine if you just dont buy the cash stuff. I have started to enjoy using default cosmetics and features

[@bigdrose1121]

Northernlion you are a bit of lad. Love ya from Straya🇦🇺 keep cooking librarian doing the lords work slay queen

[@RCXDerp]

Helldivers looks good asf and I've been playing loads with friends

[@limepawz]

7:27 localthunk sweating rn

[@hibernate44]

only the marketing teams care about graphics

[@mattiascrowe2549]

it would be interesting to get better f2p crafting in LOL, like if I could craft a skin and champ shard so get a champ skin, it sounds like the future but tf2 was doing it almost 15 years ago

[@Rain2H0]

I have a 3090 and all I play now is HD2, PUBG bot games, and RoadRash 1996. Done with games.

[@EditRealityGaming]

On the first clip: Mobile gaming has really taken off in other countries because of the lower buy in so many other countries pay 2 win is the expected default. Those countries also have exponentially more people so even if the average person in the US or Canada refuses to partake there is so much more money in abusing other countries. Isn't it ironic that China was farming currency in Blizzard games and now Blizzard is farming China for its currency?

[@neffrey]

i feel like the triple a industry is way too unsustainable, and an industry crash is probably inevitable unless something changes. every new release has to be either a time consuming live service game or a 200 hour sprawling open world game, and consumers aren't going to have the time to juggle them all.

[@jake748]

so true hes sooo true

[@VillainViran]

God I just want a AAA fan service game please what's with our aversion

[@TikiShades]

I knew gaming was kind of cooked when Oblivion had a 50% off sale on all of their DLC, and *as a joke* they *doubled* the price of Horse Armor to try and act like they were in on the joke, and they said people still bought it

[@EnemyMango]

I miss the whimsical games like viva piñata. Screw all this edgy slop we have received.

[@Shiftarus]

tons of whimsical games came out last year

[@dreamer5234]

If I had to choose between a good game with good graphics and a good game with bad graphics, I would choose the good looking game.

[@Str8upWizardCJ]

I was 12 and got that horse armor.

[@MonsterGirlEnjoyer]

i used to care for cosmetics when i was a teenager now that im in my mid twenties i simply don't care , same goes for graphics i often go back to older games because new releases are so fucking bad i don't know whether or not to cry or cry (laugh) and right now i'm playing morrowind since it's an older title

[@michaualtington]

the dark souls bit was funny but i have one save file in ds2 and i got literally every item its not that hard

[@spacedoohicky]

I would say that is not true. If there are two games one with low graphics, and one with high graphics. They both are equally enjoyable to play. The customers can only afford one of the games. The majority will prefer the one with high graphics. It's not that people don't like better graphics. It's just that makers of games with lesser graphics must focus purely on gameplay because that is the only draw when the graphics are lesser. The problem is that people in power at games studios think that high graphics are a priority for players over gameplay.

[@SilentVinyl]

Yeah, good artstyle is more important than having the latest graphics

[@justdirt]

We have reached the point in games where Graphical Fidelity can no longer improve in leaps. There is no 2D to 3D or SD to HD anymore. Style has always been important to games, and this is true now more than ever. If you look at a game like Starfield and compare it to something like the Original Persona 5 or Nier Automata. No one would say Starfield is better looking despite being much higher resolution and Fidelity. Give me Celeste and Stardew over Cod MW3 (2024).

[@ethanfarber9514]

I look at is as, great graphics are great when the game is great. But when its not i couldnt care less.

[@dogonit1936]

cant wait for playstation 6, which costs 3 times more than a playstation 4 but only a 8% increase in perceived fidelity.

[@Wolfgang_von_Caelid]

History is cyclical; we are simply returning to the arcade model, but with modern technology and more coomerism.

[@Anthrexxy]

"vote with your wallet" bro i was buying all my friends copies of decieve inc just to play it with them and now the steam servers barely crack 500 players most days 😢

[@psilo5623]

It definitely matters, but way less than making a fun game

[@AngelJimenez-cs4yq]

TL;DW Games are art and hyper capitalism is at odds with allowing people to make good art so now we gotta climb towers to unlock the map in every game

[@shesh2265]

Northern Lion is a goated streamer. I dont feel like im watching brain rot ever when i listen to him. Just solid opinion rants, which are great entertainment

[@gabrielhicks8043]

This is unrelated but I hate the "Aware" emote so much, everytime anything slightly negative about the state of anything is mentioned it gets spammed a bunch. I don't know why it but it annoys me so much lol

[@8itesize]

I only care about optimisation if your game runs bad or is a few years old and still runs poorly then damn I ain’t touch in it.

[@HALLOJUMBOw]

biggest issue with 99% of current games is that everything feels so unresponsive and overproduced. I don't want to play a tutorial, have nice animations or cutscenes, just give me direct responses to when I click a button

[@Badspot]

Arcades started out as innovative, then the became pay to win, then all about graphics, then they collapsed.

[@mewwww17]

His takes on gaming monetization are rock-solid as ever

[@albertoarmando6711]

2015 graphics are enough for me. I play lots of games that where released 2005-2015. I started with a commodore 64 and I'm entering my 40s soon. Not sure what younger gamers think about this. But, I will not buy hardware based on the promise of better graphics anymore. Neither frame rate or resolution. I just want good games.

[@Three60Mafia]

The expectations for games are at all-time-low in fact, but somehow overbloated AAA teams still dont know what a good games. Small teams, with a great vision, keep proving that great gameplay and great game vision is more important than a AAA game with no idea what fun is.

[@jebes909090]

My ps5 time. God of war ragnorok 70 hours. Elden ring 130 hours. Sky children of the light 270 hours 😅

[@exoqqen]

how is he so increribly based

[@moresnqp]

lol that one guy infuriated with the idea of game devs working less on his slop, as if they arent crunching past launch