GameOff: Fantasy Over Reality
- Thread starter Magnum PI
- Start date
That is a poor article indeed, seemingly written for Nintendo ******s desperate to sleep better at night with the range of games currently available on the Gamecube.
Using Shenmue and Gran Turismo as examples only helps my reasoning, as here are two VERY good game franchises that have not appeared on a Nintendo platform, hence they're considered "so ordinary" by the author.
This comment - "a) Work on making a better game beneath the pretty graphics (something a lot of Xbox developers haven`t caught onto yet)
b) Work on developing more unique and expressive graphical styles (Capcom and Nintendo are doing this, more on it later) "
is quite amusing considering that in one breath there's a dig at Xbox games for being style over substance, but then praises Capcom and Nintendo for developing more unique graphical styles.
In other words all this article will do is arm ******s with poorly written 'information'.
Using Shenmue and Gran Turismo as examples only helps my reasoning, as here are two VERY good game franchises that have not appeared on a Nintendo platform, hence they're considered "so ordinary" by the author.
This comment - "a) Work on making a better game beneath the pretty graphics (something a lot of Xbox developers haven`t caught onto yet)
b) Work on developing more unique and expressive graphical styles (Capcom and Nintendo are doing this, more on it later) "
is quite amusing considering that in one breath there's a dig at Xbox games for being style over substance, but then praises Capcom and Nintendo for developing more unique graphical styles.
In other words all this article will do is arm ******s with poorly written 'information'.
Ug Lee said:
If you'd read below where he mentioned Shenmue and GT, he lists WHY he finds them boring, and QUITE FRANKLY I have to agree with him, they both suffer from unparalleled DULLNESS outside of their realism.
He means, most developers (he cites Xbox, oh well) are spending too much time getting the graphics as real as possible down to the most ridiculous minutae, while a few devs (he cites N and Capcom, but they aren't the only ones), instead of using the most realism physically possible, use style to create works of art (Celda, Killer7) instead of the same-old, same-old photorealism that's so standard now... it's exactly what happened to FINE ART a while ago! Anyone ever heard of the Impressionist movement? Artists were getting tired of the painstaking realism in art, and went ahead with a less real, more artistic style, that ended up having more substance than the photorealistic traditional art. THERE IS HISTORIC PRECEDENT.
Read up. Please.
i agree with tagrineth.
a developper doesn't have infinite resources. the time and the budget spent mimicking reality as much as possible won't be spent elsewhere.
i think a game like "the getaway" is the perfect example of a developper spending his efforts doing the most realist game as possible but not spending enough in the gameplay departement.
at the end, we have a pretty bad game, and very good sales..
a developper doesn't have infinite resources. the time and the budget spent mimicking reality as much as possible won't be spent elsewhere.
i think a game like "the getaway" is the perfect example of a developper spending his efforts doing the most realist game as possible but not spending enough in the gameplay departement.
at the end, we have a pretty bad game, and very good sales..
CeiserSöze
Newcomer
I agree too. I've been a PC-only gamer until fall 2001 when I got myself a Cube because I was tired of all that "realistic" stuff which is so dominant on the PC. I wanted to see something different again, games that aren't afraid to be nothing more than games. As a result the last 12 months have been some of the best in my whole "career" as a gamer.
I don't think that realism is always boring, but many designers seem to think nowadays that realism = fun gameplay. I don't agree with that.
I don't think that realism is always boring, but many designers seem to think nowadays that realism = fun gameplay. I don't agree with that.
Tagrineth said:
Well spoken. I couldn't have said it better myself, except I don't mind realistic graphics as long as the game is good of course. That gotten off my chest, I must admit I don't think I've seen anything quite as exciting as Killer 7... That game looks really amazing with excellent art direction and buttloads of style to boot.
Will be nice to see if it lives up to its potential or not.
*G*
marconelly!
Veteran
I also find that article rather humorous. So he doesn't like games like GT3 and Shenmue, and finds it appropriate to base his whole writeup on that, as if it's impossible to make a real-life looking game that is also fun in the same time. Well, crap, I guess that puts his much beloved Capcom's last and upcoming Resident Evil efforts to garbage?
What about hordes of people that actually DO find GT3 to be a fun game (as it indeed is) -a game that certainly allows you to escape from reality and taste the driving some of the most expensive cars ever made and even tune them to your liking?
What about us that find Shenmue to be fun? Are we somehow retarded or perhaps we don't know how to appreciate non-realistic looking visuals?
What he also seems to be missing is that both games mentioned (GT3 and Shenmue) while ultimately trying to simulate realistic looking surroundings, also feature an excellent art direction while doing so, just like good looking movies do.
Just because the paintings don't look photorealistic anymore, does that mean all the art photography is crap? Does that also mean that all the movies that portray real life and real humans are dull and boring, compared to animated features, that without exception, and by his line of thinking feature superior art and visual direction?
etc, etc...
What about hordes of people that actually DO find GT3 to be a fun game (as it indeed is) -a game that certainly allows you to escape from reality and taste the driving some of the most expensive cars ever made and even tune them to your liking?
What about us that find Shenmue to be fun? Are we somehow retarded or perhaps we don't know how to appreciate non-realistic looking visuals?
What he also seems to be missing is that both games mentioned (GT3 and Shenmue) while ultimately trying to simulate realistic looking surroundings, also feature an excellent art direction while doing so, just like good looking movies do.
Just because the paintings don't look photorealistic anymore, does that mean all the art photography is crap? Does that also mean that all the movies that portray real life and real humans are dull and boring, compared to animated features, that without exception, and by his line of thinking feature superior art and visual direction?
etc, etc...
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
His arguments are useless.
It's just another fboy rant. Splinter Cell basically proves how wrong he is. Same goes for Eternal Darkness on Cube and Metal Gear Solid on PS2, just to keep this platform agnostic.
There are good realistic games and good non-realistic looking games. There are no hard and fast rules.
My personal preferences tend to favor fantastical art design like Panzer Dragoon Orta, NiGHTS, Starfox Adventures, The Mark of Kri, ICO, and Metroid Prime, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate attempts at realism like Shenmue, The Getaway, and the upcoming Too Human (Silicon Knights).
This guy is a fool.
It's just another fboy rant. Splinter Cell basically proves how wrong he is. Same goes for Eternal Darkness on Cube and Metal Gear Solid on PS2, just to keep this platform agnostic.
There are good realistic games and good non-realistic looking games. There are no hard and fast rules.
My personal preferences tend to favor fantastical art design like Panzer Dragoon Orta, NiGHTS, Starfox Adventures, The Mark of Kri, ICO, and Metroid Prime, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate attempts at realism like Shenmue, The Getaway, and the upcoming Too Human (Silicon Knights).
This guy is a fool.
Would you all consider titles such as
Halo
Brute Force
Star Ocean
DMC
Fable
Star Craft Ghost
realistic? They do, after all, contain realistic portayals of various natural objects (ie building/structures, people (as far as appearance is concerned), and vehicles).
What in this case does "realism" mean? Does the whole enviroment of the game have to be as surrealistic as a drug induced delusion inorder to be "stylish" (aka not bland)? How close to reality must something be before it is termed realistic? Halo takes place on an alien ring world for instance. I wouldn't consider that realistic. The terrain may be but the concept certainly is not.
This whole article is rank with f*nboyism. I love his cube bias and opinionated stanes.
Work on making a better game beneath the pretty graphics (something a lot of Xbox developers haven`t caught onto yet)
How much more asinine can you get then this?
This reads as a f*nboy trying to prove to himself the gc's titles are more developed based on their appearance or simply by the fact they are on the gc. This isn't worth reading at all. He can't convey his point without turning to f*nboy rhetoric. Even after expressing his thoughts the validity of his points is nill as his entire rant is based purely off opinion. Based off his own opinions he makes many outlandish assertions (such as the one above) he takes as fact. He has a strawman argument here.
Halo
Brute Force
Star Ocean
DMC
Fable
Star Craft Ghost
realistic? They do, after all, contain realistic portayals of various natural objects (ie building/structures, people (as far as appearance is concerned), and vehicles).
What in this case does "realism" mean? Does the whole enviroment of the game have to be as surrealistic as a drug induced delusion inorder to be "stylish" (aka not bland)? How close to reality must something be before it is termed realistic? Halo takes place on an alien ring world for instance. I wouldn't consider that realistic. The terrain may be but the concept certainly is not.
This whole article is rank with f*nboyism. I love his cube bias and opinionated stanes.
Work on making a better game beneath the pretty graphics (something a lot of Xbox developers haven`t caught onto yet)
How much more asinine can you get then this?
This reads as a f*nboy trying to prove to himself the gc's titles are more developed based on their appearance or simply by the fact they are on the gc. This isn't worth reading at all. He can't convey his point without turning to f*nboy rhetoric. Even after expressing his thoughts the validity of his points is nill as his entire rant is based purely off opinion. Based off his own opinions he makes many outlandish assertions (such as the one above) he takes as fact. He has a strawman argument here.
