Does anyone remember the old days with Atari, NES and SEGA when realism didn't matter and the graphics were creative and original? Over the years I've played a lot of games in my life, but what I find curious is that more and more games are striving to look more realistic ever since the 16-bit era of Video games (like Doom and MK for example), maybe even earlier than that. Though I don't mind the approach at times, I just think "realistic graphics" in gaming is being abused a lot lately, like in sport simulation games, adventure games and especially in First Person Shooter games. Now, don't get the wrong idea, I'm just saying that with realistic graphics in games, characters just start to look generic over time. Of course, this varies on the game's stories and characters.
Take "LoZ: The Wind Waker" For example. This game was initially criticized for looking "too cartoony" to most Zelda fans and even some players described it as a kiddie game, when it was intended for all audiences. Why? Because gamers were spoiled with the concept of realism in future titles and we wanted the character to grow up along with us. Now, looking back, I admit that TWW is an artistically beautiful game, though a bit easy at times since most of us adapted to OoT's control scheme. However, seeing that this game didn't sell very well, what did Nintendo do? Introduce Twilight Princess to win back their lost fan base with realistic graphics and a more mature storyline, though later they continued with Wind Waker style graphics in future DS installments.
Now with Skyward Sword, the same thing is happening again. Some players support the new artistic style inspired by impressionism, while others simply don't like how it looks expecting something more realistic and hi def. My point here is: STOP JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER!
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good variety of games every now and then, but people need to realize that realistic graphics don't always make a better game. In my opinion, there always needs to be a good balance of graphics, control, gameplay, music, and story, otherwise if you focus more on certain elements rather than the game as a whole, the game itself will be completely unbalanced.
Now all ranting aside and out of complete curiosity, what kind of Games do you prefer?
A) Games with an artistic and original appeal.
B) Games with a realistic and serious approach.
C) I don't care as long as it's fun to play.
sgt-pepper
I personally love artistic and visually appealing games, and I love creativity and originality. Realistic games can be boring.