Weird that despite the fixation on fidelity very few games go out of their way to be 'pretty'. Even Skyrim seemed to understand the assignment more than a lot of big modern games. Something something 'once you can replicate reality perfectly everything is ugly' - ThreadSky

kriswolfheart.bsky.social • 52 days ago

Weird that despite the fixation on fidelity very few games go out of their way to be 'pretty'. Even Skyrim seemed to understand the assignment more than a lot of big modern games.

Something something 'once you can replicate reality perfectly everything is ugly'

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lilmommaprods.bsky.social•52 days ago

There's a lot of things about what is focused on in graphics tech that kinda baffles me. For example in open world games, draw distance and LOD quality is what impresses me. If you stylize to use less resources up close, I'm hugely impressed by being able to see ingame miles in higher detail.

benholmeshumb.bsky.social•52 days ago

I did think BG3 had some very nice-looking settings

hapticfeedbacksuit.bsky.social•52 days ago

Breath of the Wild proved that great artistic direction and cohesive environments are far more important than absolue fidelity.

joyeuxscribe.bsky.social•51 days ago

Zelda in general is very good at this. Original Wind Waker is still a beauty to look at !

godsgayembrace.bsky.social•51 days ago

Personally find BOTW and TOTK to be fucking hideous. Games have a permanent smog machine going.

retro-zero.bsky.social•51 days ago

see Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West

brigadierginger.bsky.social•51 days ago

Idk, Skyrim was a stark shift to "realism" compared to Oblivion, and I think the only reason it wasn't worse was purely hardware limitations and Bethesda not being the best at what they do.

misterkilljoy.bsky.social•52 days ago

It started when it was decided that graphics were the be-all, end-all in the AAA space. Then it was decided that "realism" was the pinnacle of graphics. Then it was decided that "realism" meant gritty, grimy, muddy, muted, dingy and dull. Which kinda isn't wrong if you live in just about any city.

jrhanlon.bsky.social•52 days ago

What you’re describing is the difference between graphical fidelity and art direction. Older games that tried to look “real” often look like crap to our eyes today, while games that just tried to have a cohesive look and feel but are maybe more cartoonish or stylized still seem passable.

kriswolfheart.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yes, I am well aware of that. You have effectively re-iterated the point I was making!

neomenia-art.bsky.social•52 days ago

Graphical fidelity doesnt equal realism though, just the fidelity of the graphics. The same cartoony style now would be a higher fidelity than that of 20 years ago. People just often conflate higher fidelity with realism because of marketing speech.

jrhanlon.bsky.social•52 days ago

Sure, but they usually go hand-in-hand. You can’t go for realism without high fidelity or else it just ends up looking like crap. Other styles have a lower floor.

neomenia-art.bsky.social•52 days ago

That is definitely true. Realism requires high fidelity to look good long term while stylisation can look timeless regardless of level of fidelity.

milly4127.bsky.social•51 days ago

tbh i prefer skyrim graphics more then so meany more modden titels

eflowlive.bsky.social•51 days ago

I’m always a proponent of style over fidelity. The Avengers game looked alright to me. I didn’t have the same problems with it most did but I will say I far prefer the characters in Marvel Rivals. A game that only has graphics will age out while games like Hades will be timeless.

hihosilver28.bsky.social•52 days ago

One of the reasons I love FromSoftware, especially Sekiro and Elden Ring.

analogueboy.bsky.social•51 days ago

Neither strike me as particularly pretty games.

hihosilver28.bsky.social•51 days ago

Art direction and color palettes for me.

analogueboy.bsky.social•51 days ago

I mean, I quite like the art direction of the from games too but they’re… gloomy!

Irithyll of the Boreal Valley in DS3 is my favourite location from the Soulsborne games. It’s like creepy Christmas!

hihosilver28.bsky.social•51 days ago

For me beautiful != "place I'd like to live", LOL. I just remember being awestruck when I walked out of the cave into Caelid and same when I got off the lift to the Altus Plateau. And with the Erdtree looming over all

duplavortex92.bsky.social•51 days ago

That's why you got to bring in a touch of style instead of trying to modell down every line of hair on a character.

saffroncomic.com•51 days ago

Is it as simple as "There's lot of realistic trees on the Unity Asset store we can cut costs", or is it just an industry-wide delusion/desire for Hollywood to take the seriously?

angryknees.bsky.social•52 days ago

I imagine a lot of it comes down to the dominance of influencer marketing, and how more streamer bros are going to be able to yap about the pixel picking side of graphics than anything that requires artistic taste and interpretation.

horserenoir.xyz•51 days ago

A lot of people treat graphical fidelity as a substitute for real art direction

danjer047.bsky.social•50 days ago

I will take a colorful, stylistic world over a "realistic" one 10 times out of 10.

cheemsjerky.bsky.social•52 days ago

That one hyper realistic shooter had an impressive trailer, but didn't make me want to play it at all.

emmsbites.bsky.social•51 days ago

It's the lack of artistic direction and vision. The Ubisoft look

wizardbewitch.bsky.social•52 days ago

I think it depends on cooperation more than competitiveness

poppydolly.bsky.social•52 days ago

Hey 👋💕sorry I bugged into your dm I was thinking about using one of your photo for an art mural and you’ll also get paid for it and credit

serpentofsolipsism.bsky.social•52 days ago

It's almost like executives with cynical, bleak outlooks on life shouldn't be deciding that games should look "like real life".

wishda.bsky.social•51 days ago

There has to be a reason “brown desert” is so ubiquitous.

heavyorbital.bsky.social•52 days ago

Triple A games wish they looked half as pretty as something like ori and the will of the wisps

analogueboy.bsky.social•51 days ago

The prettiest game of the last few gens is Celeste. No doubt.

acefromskyrim.bsky.social•51 days ago

The Northern Lights are best in Skyrim!

likksleopard.bsky.social•52 days ago

As far as "pretty" games go, nothing can top the feeling of playing an early-3D arcade game or something in a similar style like Sonic Adventure. Bright popping colours, silky smooth movement, expressive animations, beautiful water effects. I wish modern indie games would adopt that aesthetic.

julietstmoon.bsky.social•51 days ago

I'm playing Slashout right now, for the Sega Naomi, and it's absurdly pretty. I keep thinking of how it looks when I'm not playing it

kiwikarl.bsky.social•51 days ago

Have you play Ori? It plays so well, it's gorgeous

likksleopard.bsky.social•51 days ago

I have! And both games are indeed gorgeous.

spartanfan056.bsky.social•52 days ago

We play games to be able to do something we can't do in real life or won't do in real life. If I could slay a dragon using a bow and arrow and that dragon would respawn an hour later with no harm done that's all I'd do with my time. Video games are better when they arent realistic.

take2x2.bsky.social•52 days ago

Firewatch is the prettiest game I’ve ever seen

brandon-trabon.bsky.social•52 days ago

Games aren’t about realism but about bringing others into the world in your head.

kiwikarl.bsky.social•51 days ago

The weird thing I find with modern games is they are muddy, it's a challenge to perceive the edges of something especially if it's in motion.

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