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[UltimaKilo]

Obviously they still push games. They are more than good enough, as it stands. Nintendo‘s next console will continue to prove that.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Do you count waifus?

 

[Arsic]

We used to get a visual banger WITH fantastic gameplay.

Now you may get fantastic visuals but at the cost of performance and barely a game to go with it.

 

[Madserb2023]

Not anymore. There was a time when graphics alone would get people to go out and buy a game and I think those who grew up in the 90s are still swayed more than the younger generations who have grown up on Minecraft and Roblox. The Dreamcast would be an upgrade to people who just play games like Roblox. Most early 3D games were a massive step down in the gameplay department compared to something like Mario World etc but I would always want the latest 3D games. I remember at the time wanting Croc over DKC3 because it was 3D. 10 year old me would never want to play Hollow Knight over Hellblade 2 but not so much now.

 

[Alebrije]

Graphics matter but less than art direction, gameplay , AI and physics.

 

[hussar16]

Yes bit when devs make games to run on series s which is not strong then visuals are gimped for all consoles series x and ps5 so the graphics now don't look impressive unless it's ps5 exclusive

 

[Msamy]

Hope some developers take full advantage of Unity 6 in AAA Game

 

[xrnzaaas]

A unique art style may spike my interest. For instance I recently discovered Redacted and even though I'm not a huge fan of roguelites I may pick it up at some point because of how it looks.

The graphics quality isn't a selling point these days. Nobody Wants to Die looks gorgeous, but as far as I know it's just a shell and not a proper game underneath. Plus in order to have a spectacular looking game run great you can't be playing on the consoles.

 

[Josemayuste]

Minecraft, Terraria, Stardew Valley, Valheim, Undertale, Dead Cells, Cult of the lamb, Lethal Company, Phasmophobia, even Breath of the wild, to name a few.

All of them prove that its not cutting edge graphics but new and exciting mechanics/gameplay/gameplay loop what really sells the most copies in this day and age, art direction plays an important role too. It's not 'let's have the better graphics just for the sake of it' but 'let's have an innovative gameplay and an artistic direction which differenciates this game from the rest' what really sells too, I think.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Haven't been impressed with Graphics since playing Tomb Raider Definitive Edition on the PS4. For me it's all diminishing returns now

 

[proandrad]

Yes, graphics are still massively important, a lot of the reactions to GTAVI were about its graphics.

I gotta be blind because that doesn’t look any better than RDR2.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

Here we go lads.



2:15 - 3:08 is the kind of shit I've been saying for years. The pursuit for higher graphical fidelity is ballooning the budget and development time, to the point where it takes for too long for games to release. We've seen people obsess over graphics, especially on Gaf. The threads on Resident Evil 4 Remake, Elden Ring, and FFVII: Rebirth leading up to their releases, are recent prime examples of this. People posting screenshots and clips complaining about lighting, textures, crushed blacks, framerate, etc. Then the games come out and they end up being incredible games that people loved anyway, and the vast majority of people didn't care about graphical imperfections.

While I do think there's a place for AAA games that try to push visuals to the absolute limit with current technology, it doesn't feel like it's a big selling point like it used to be. We are well passed the days where we'd see Graphical Leaps between console generations. It became Graphical Babysteps between the 7th to the 8th gen, and now it barely feels like there's been much of a difference between the 8th and 9th gen. There are examples of models and animations almost 10 years ago that look just as good and in some cases even better than some games coming out today.

(Rise of the Tomb Raider 2015)

Ultimately Max seems to think that going the extra mile to accomplish that extra fidelity with some modern games, is not really worth the investment or all the extra time it takes to develop games, and I'm inclined to agree. You look at the masters of the craft when it comes to visuals, and Rockstar and Naughty Dog top that list. GTA:VI entered development in 2014, and it's been 4 years since ND released their last "new" game, and we've seen nothing regarding their new IP or TLOU3. Will GTA:VI and TLOU3 be fantastic generation defining games? Probably. But once upon a time these companies were releasing generation defining games in more than half the time. In short, if feels like video game development has flown too close to the sun in the pursuit to continue to push graphical fidelity to higher limits, and in many aspects both gamers and game developers have paid a price for it.


"Making games look more photorealistic is not the only means of improving the game experience. I know, on this point I risk being misunderstood, so remember, I am a man who once programmed a baseball game with no baseball players. If anyone appreciates graphics, it’s me! But my point is that this is just one path to improved game. We need to find others. Improvement has more than one definition"

-Satoru Iwata (2005)

Disagree about PS4 generation not feeling like a big leap in visuals. If you were a console gamer going from x360/ps3 to ps4 it was amazing how much more advanced stuff like Ryse, KZ Shadowfall, Battlefield 4, Infamous Second Son, and MGS Ground Zeroes was. I remember playing Shadowfall and Infamous SS and feeling like I was in gaming heaven.

I could see how people who owned a PC back in 2013 wouldn't be impressed though. It's this generation only that was the true gen of diminishing returns. Going from stuff like GoW 2018 to Demon Souls (easily the best looking next generation launch title) wasn't as amazing, though ironically it was Demon Souls that gave me that "leap" feeling the most this generation.

I sadly agree that graphics don't sell gamers as much as they used to. I don't like that but I admit it's true. I definitely don't agree with the people calling for developers to spend less resources on pushing graphical bounds. Graphics have and always will be a huge part of the appeal of gaming to me. I also challenge the idea that "gaming is being hurt by the chase for ever better graphics" or that it's even the main reason for ballooning budgets in AAA gaming.

These publishers would probably love for people to not care about top tier visuals because of the money they could save which is why I don't like seeing this trend of people downplaying the importance of visuals ...Sony for example has been cashing in on that a bit this gen. You can't tell me they've invested as much into tech this generation as they did during ps3 and ps4. All those cross gen Sony games probably stemmed from Sony "reading the room" and deducing that they can get away with it. Spiderman 2 amd Last of Us Part 1 Remake were PS5 only titles that may as well have been cross gen. Ghost of Yotei doesn't scream next generation tech either.

 

[bitbydeath]

I gotta be blind because that doesn’t look any better than RDR2.

Maybe just remembering it wrong?

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

I think the diminishing returns aren't worth the extra risk of cost and time. I'd rather see new ideas and original content over what we've had for the past ten years or more of samey sequels and open world, with higher details and shadows and stuff that aren't incorporated in to the game play of sp games.

I also think a majority of gamers are happy with what current traditional consoles can already do. Save the extreme stuff for the high end PC market.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

I think the diminishing returns aren't worth the extra risk of cost and time. I'd rather see new ideas and original content over what we've had for the past ten years or more of samey sequels and open world, with higher details and shadows and stuff that aren't incorporated in to the game play of sp games.

I also think a majority of gamers are happy with what current traditional consoles can already do. Save the extreme stuff for the high end PC market.

Speak for yourself buddy. Many people don't own a high end gaming PC but still enjoy having great graphics ...and with the PS5 and especially the PS5 Pro we're getting plenty of games with just that. Demons Souls Remake wouldn't have been so special without the insanely good visuals. Horizon FW and Ratchet were on par with many PC games. It would suck for me and many others if games just plateaued graphically and never improved. Getting a taste of RT Global illumination in games like Avatar and SW Outlaws shows me it's possible on console to have next generation lighting ...don't get me wrong I don't expect console to be able to do Path Tracing or anything that crazy but I'd love to get to a point where we can get both highly detailed assets and a suite of ray tracing for lighting in console games, even if that means I have to settle for 30 fps ...it's all about giving us options

 

[Dacvak]

I mean, sometimes they do.

 

[RCX]

Last game that sold me with graphics was Rollerdrome. And that was on pure style, not photorealism. Definitely helps that as a game it absolutely kicked ass.