Visual design is what gives a game a visual identity. The level of graphical fidelity and realism that's achievable plays into what the design may be, although it's not a direct correlation.

I do think there is a trend for higher and high visual fidelity to result in games with more bland visual design. That's probably because realism comes with artistic restrictions, and development time is going to be sucked away from doing creative art to supporting realism.

My subjective opinion is that for first person games, we long ago hit the point of diminishing returns with something like the Source engine. Sure there was plenty to improve on from there (even games on Source like HL2 have gotten updates so they don't look like they did back in the day), but the engine was realistic enough. Faces moved like faces and communicated emotion. Objects looked like objects.

Things should have and have improved since then, but really graphical improvements should have been the sideshow to gameplay and good visual design.

I don't need a game where I can see the individual follicles on a character's face. I don't need subsurface light diffusion on skin. I won't notice any of that in the heat of gameplay, but only in cutscenes. With such high fidelity game developers are more and more forcing me to watch cutscenes or "play" sections that may as well be cutscenes.

I don't want all that. I want good visual design. I want creatively made worlds in games. I want interesting looking characters. I want gameplay where I can read at a glance what is happening. None of that requires high fidelity.

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 25 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

I mean, look at Nintendo. Obviously aggressive legal tactics aside, they make some damn fun games because they know that gameplay matters more than graphics.

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 17 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Visuals are very important in games, but Nintendo pursues clear and readable designs. Their games are easy to look at, and they age more gracefully than games pursuing realism.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

The few times they've pursued more gritty realism (Twilight Princess, for example) are all the times that haven't aged as well.

Twilight Princess came out after Wind Waker, but Wind Waker obviously aged far better.

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 9 points 15 hours ago

This is a good example. The cartoony graphics work well for Nintendo because it fits their hardware better as well.

For my personal example I can still play Starfox64 easily, but Goldeneye (one of my favorite childhood games) literally gives me a headache to look at. Goldeneye was going for a more realistic look on the engine of the time and aged terribly. Starfox is all big bright cartoon designs.

[–] Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world 9 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I have spent years trying to find a Super Mario World or Super Mario Galaxy feel to games. I am not looking for photo realistic. I am looking for a game.

[–] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 2 points 9 hours ago

Spyro remasters?

[–] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 12 points 18 hours ago (6 children)

Oh don't dismiss that they're also graphics and programming wizards. They don't work with the cutting edge, but they run circles around anyone on the lower end, making games look and run better on potato hardware is no easy feat.

I'd argue the optimization required to make something like that happen is significantly more skillful than all of the crap AAA stuff that takes 250gb and requires shader compilations every boot.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

They call this design philosophy, "Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology." Basically, "using old tech we understand very well in new and innovative ways." For example, they were slower to get their 16-bit console to market, but while working on it, they used their expertise in 8-bit consoles to release the first cartridge-based handheld system.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 10 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

I have a computer from 2017. It's also a Mac. I can't play recent games and I think I've just gotten more and more turned off by the whole emphasis on better graphics and the need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on either a console or a really good graphics card for a PC has just turned me off of mainstream gaming completely.

Mostly I just go play games I played when I was a kid these days. 1980s graphics and yet I have yet to get tired of many of them...

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I've got an old Mac and use a cloud gaming PC to play games. It's like $50 a month and works great when you're near the data center.

Plus my laptop doesn't get really hot while playing games and the battery lasts a lot longer. All while getting 4k 60fps gaming with ray tracing.

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[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

I can think of many older games in dire need of facelifts, but the thing is they don't need a facelift into photo-realistic territory. Just enough to bring the vision out from developers reaching just a little further than their old tech could support. I'm thinking of a lot of early 3D games. Many of the older sprite based games still hold up great.

The AAA gaming industry has gone off the rails trying to wow us with graphics and the novelty has long worn off.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

I would argue they don't even need to be updated. They were fun already in their time. I wish people would just come up with totally new ideas. I don't need the same characters in every game I play. Same with movies now too Everything is a remake or a sequel.

I love to play indie games though.

[–] WereCat@lemmy.world 33 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Sound design > Graphics

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

The worst thing is that some brilliant sound design is held back by some folks who will buy a top of the line video card but some cheap shitty headphones.

[–] HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Cheap shitty headphones, when the Koss KSC75 exist for $20 and sound better than anything I had bought before. I have better headphones now, but $20 is $20, and I still like how small they are. Despite having HD600s and HE1000s, they're still my go-to for the average use case.

EDIT: Here's a list of headphones worse than $20 funny disc with ear clip:

All Bluetooth headphones (and your $500 AirPods Max)

All gaming headsets

All in-store headphones that aren't that one set of Audio-Technicas

In other words, 100% of what the average consumer buys. Get them in on this simple trick.

[–] bmdhacks@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago

If you like sound design, the sound design in Don't Starve is by far the best ive ever heard. It is the game that convinced me of your point.

[–] PanArab@lemm.ee 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I had a lot of fun playing Romancing Saga 2 and Ara Fell recently. Sometimes games can be more immersive by not having high fidelity graphics.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 16 hours ago

I've seen a lot of cool indie games pop up out of heavily modified classic idTech engines like the DOOM and Quake engines. They're definitely not high fidelity, but a lot of them scratch an itch that slower paced modern games can't seem to scratch.

[–] rimjob_rainer@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

My favourite games don't look nearly as good as in my memory. Graphics don't matter, they might even hurt, because there is less left to imagination.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 11 points 20 hours ago

I'd say it's less about imagination than gameplay. I'm reminded of old action figures. Some of them were articulated at the knees, elbows, feet, wrists, and head. Very posable, but you could see all the joints. Then you had the bigger and more detailed figures, but they were barely more than statues. Looked great but you couldn't really do anything with them.

And then you had themed Lego sets. Only a vague passing resemblance to the IP, but your imagination is the limit on what you do with them.

[–] Demdaru@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

I may be outsider but lower graphic level horror games actually work more for me, because imagination fills the gaps better than engine rendering plastic looking tentacles can

[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 12 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Gifted my kids, both of them already young adults, one of those retro gaming sticks. An absolute bang/for/buck wonder, full of retro emulators and ROMs. Christmas Day, at grandmas was a retro fest, with even grandma playing. Pac man, frogger, space invaders, galaga, donkey Kong, early console games…. Retro gaming has amazing games, where gameplay and concepts had to make do with the limited resources.

My son has a Steam deck, but he had a blast with the rest.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 19 points 1 day ago (4 children)

The game of the year was a cutesy cartoon game about a robot. I don't think there's a problem here.

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