Current Events > anyone else getting sick of photorealism attempts in games?

(+) Yeah! (+)

like just go back to actually using your brains and thinking of cool, new art directions for your games.. after all it is primarily a visual medium. since the ps3 era people have been saying games "look real!".. and yet here we are ~20 years later and they still look nothing like real life. devs are spending billions on capturing real blades of grass or hair textures or w/e, and using that as an excuse to push dlc... it's a sad cycle.

discuss

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Not at all. I love realistic graphics in games, and it does not preclude a game from also having good and interesting art direction. IMO RDR2 was the pinnacle of both of those things, and I just started AC Odyssey but it also seems to be knocking it out of the park so far

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eston posted...

Not at all. I love realistic graphics in games, and it does not preclude a game from also having good and interesting art direction. IMO RDR2 was the pinnacle of both of those things, and I just started AC Odyssey but it also seems to be knocking it out of the park so far

This. And there are plenty of games with interesting unrealistic art style if you don't arbitrarily say indies don't count for whatever reason.

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Jabodie posted...

eston posted...

Not at all. I love realistic graphics in games, and it does not preclude a game from also having good and interesting art direction. IMO RDR2 was the pinnacle of both of those things, and I just started AC Odyssey but it also seems to be knocking it out of the park so far

This. And there are plenty of games with interesting unrealistic art style if you don't arbitrarily say indies don't count for whatever reason.

Both missing the point.
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Trickfinger posted...

Both missing the point.

Sorry I got kind of lost on what your actual point was so I answered the question in the topic title. Something about realistic graphics not looking real enough and somehow that pushes DLC? I don't know, I like pretty games

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eston posted...

Sorry I got kind of lost on what your actual point was so I answered the question in the topic title. Something about realistic graphics not looking real enough and somehow that pushes DLC? I don't know, I like pretty games

so do I. which is how I know youre missing the point lmao

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I don't like the trend to not have unique characters that are created, and rather it's just the actor playing it. Like it's good for Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls, where they're selling it with those actors.

But then in GTA 5 for example, all 3 of those characters were just modeled after the guys who voiced them. It really took the magic out of it when I saw that.

i think as long as older games can manage to get a resolution bump, i'm aight. what microsoft did with xbox one updating older games has got me looking at the xboxsex.

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Trickfinger posted...

Both missing the point.

If it's the DLC point, it is easily proven false with countless examples and has been shown to be literal bullshit lies from a select group of AAA executives which were perpetuated by games media. How realistic a game looks has little relation to monetization practices and a lot more to do with the greed and corporate culture of the publisher.

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Trickfinger posted...

so do I. which is how I know youre missing the point lmao

Feel free to elaborate

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I do miss when most games had stylistic art styles instead of going for complete realism. Would like to see more stuff like Borderlands and Overwatch, for example. Tho I do enjoy realism done well (as said already, RDR2 did it perfectly).

Still at least games aren't afraid of color anymore. Remember when everything was green and brown?

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Graphics aren't the only thing the budget goes towards. Games try to have more content than they used to on top of that.

AAA gaming right now is go big or go home.
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Ivynn posted...

Still at least games aren't afraid of color anymore. Remember when everything was green and brown?

no...

modern games have the most limited color pallete ever lol

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Trickfinger posted...

no...

modern games have the most limited color pallete ever lol

You can't honestly think that stuff like Horizon Zero Dawn and Gears 5 have less color than Resistance and Gears 1.
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Darmik posted...

You can't honestly think that stuff like Horizon Zero Dawn and Gears 5 have less color than Resistance and Gears 1.

even fallout 3 > fallout 4.

some dude made threads mad at how colorful 4 was but i forgot who.

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Trickfinger posted...

devs are spending billions on capturing real blades of grass or hair textures or w/e, and using that as an excuse to push dlc... it's a sad cycle.

Was this the whole point of this topic? The fuck does this even mean?

specialkid8 posted...

Was this the whole point of this topic? The fuck does this even mean?

derp

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Meanwhile, Unreal is like BAM... kick it up a notch
https://youtu.be/ecerIIClbMA

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and 10 years from now, games will still be getting "so close to real life!"

..except it's literally impossible for a game to ever look like real life. they can only get incrementally closer, only to look outdated in a few years time.

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Tbqh, I have come to dislike realism in games, period. Rdr2 was hampered by it, for sure.

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pres_madagascar posted...

Tbqh, I have come to dislike realism in games, period. Rdr2 was hampered by it, for sure.

yup. its corny

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I have no problem with it. Not like it's keeping stylization out of games or anything.

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Realism in video games always ends up looking like shit. Waste of time and money.

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Chicken_Butt posted...

Realism in video games always ends up looking like shit. Waste of time and money.

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Trickfinger posted...

yup. its corny

Like, I enjoyed my playthrough ultimately, but had zero interest in continuing playing, or replaying, the game since beating it.

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pres_madagascar posted...

Like, I enjoyed my playthrough ultimately, but had zero interest in continuing playing, or replaying, the game since beating it.

agreed its trash

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pres_madagascar posted...

Tbqh, I have come to dislike realism in games, period. Rdr2 was hampered by it, for sure.

This. I am actively turned off by photorealistic artstyles and realism inspired gameplay.

It was a neat idea and impressive in like 2006, but it's almost meaningless now, considering how common it is.

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its more than meaningless its counterproductive and one of the leading causes of grimy nickel and dime dlc practices in modern gaming. these companies overextend their development budgets and recoup the money by withholding already completed content..


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Realism doesn't work so well, it takes inordinate resources, and no matter how good a developer is, it STILL can't look right.

-If you're gonna aim for realism then you'd better make your animations top-notch. Except even then they still won't look right, there'll always be clipping, and physics won't look natural. We can't account for everything but when stylized it's less noticeable.
-Lighting still doesn't look right on skin.
-When they take off their clothes and you see the way their skin/muscles move. It looks like plastic. Real bodies aren't solid rock like that, Geralt looks fuckng weird for example. God forbid they try to make an erotic scene, it's laughable. In real life our skin and cartilage are flappy, and our muscles and fat can bounce or ripple. Video games haven't figured this out except to make horrifically fake jiggly boobs

Then you get to the issue of cinematography which games also struggle with, and it kind of ruins the sense of realism to have a video-game-style locked-camera floating behind the character.

I don't think photorealism is always so bad, but I've never been very impressed by video games' attempts at it

Oh yeah and video games are AWFUL at getting realistic mouth movement for speech. it's embarrassing

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I wish more game use Cel-shading because the graphic will never be outdated
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Wetterdew posted...

Realism doesn't work so well, it takes inordinate resources, and no matter how good a developer is, it STILL can't look right.

-If you're gonna aim for realism then you'd better make your animations top-notch. Except even then they still won't look right, there'll always be clipping, and physics won't look natural. We can't account for everything but when stylized it's less noticeable.
-Lighting still doesn't look right on skin.
-When they take off their clothes and you see the way their skin/muscles move. It looks like plastic. Real bodies aren't solid rock like that, Geralt looks fuckng weird for example. God forbid they try to make an erotic scene, it's laughable. In real life our skin and cartilage are flappy, and our muscles and fat can bounce or ripple. Video games haven't figured this out except to make horrifically fake jiggly boobs

Then you get to the issue of cinematography which games also struggle with, and it kind of ruins the sense of realism to have a video-game-style locked-camera floating behind the character.

I don't think photorealism is always so bad, but I've never been very impressed by video games' attempts at it

Oh yeah and video games are AWFUL at getting realistic mouth movement for speech. it's embarrassing

every bit of this. devs need too leave that shit alone

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Trickfinger posted...

its more than meaningless its counterproductive and one of the leading causes of grimy nickel and dime dlc practices in modern gaming. these companies overextend their development budgets and recoup the money by withholding already completed content..

Are there some examples of these photorealistic games holding back completed content to recoup their graphical budget?

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hockeybub89 posted...

Are there some examples of these photorealistic games holding back completed content to recoup their graphical budget?

yes

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aki_sora posted...

I wish more game use Cel-shading because the graphic will never be outdated

Borderlands 3 looks great cel shaded.

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Also Borderlands 3 is going to have a shit ton of DLC just like BL2, including skin microtransactions.

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pres_madagascar posted...

Borderlands 3 looks great cel shaded.

this

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eh, plenty of varity out there and really never thought a game was too realistic...pushing the graphical limits just pushes out new hardware, thats just the cycle.

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BuckVanHammer posted...

eh, plenty of varity out there and really never thought a game was too realistic...pushing the graphical limits just pushes out new hardware, thats just the cycle.

https://i.imgur.com/SzFRHIg.mp4

my point

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Just gonna point out that one of the best looking games from last year was Control. That game can barely run on current gen hardware.

It's a mid budget game.

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Trickfinger posted...

https://i.imgur.com/SzFRHIg.mp4

my point

my post was that i disagree with your point if that wasnt clear.

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BuckVanHammer posted...

my post was that i disagree with your point if that wasnt clear.

you inadvertently proved my point regardless.

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Jabodie posted...

Also Borderlands 3 is going to have a shit ton of DLC just like BL2, including skin microtransactions.

BL3 has no microtransactions, the skins on the store are the pre order and collector edition ones. All other skins are earned in game. I have the first expansion too, it's pretty good.

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pres_madagascar posted...

BL3 has no microtransactions, the skins on the store are the pre order and collector edition ones. All other skins are earned in game. I have the first expansion too, it's pretty good.

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/65765/
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-05-03-2k-confirms-borderlands-3-will-have-cosmetic -only-purchases-following-microtransactions-confusion

Edit:

"Players will have the option to purchase certain cosmetic items like character, vehicle, and weapon skins, but none of these purchases would be considered pay-to-win or impacting on the gameplay, like weapons or actual gear."

This was announced pre release. Just because they aren't there yet, doesn't mean they won't be. Although I will admit it doesn't necessarily mean they will be, but BL2 was monetized with tons of cosmetics despite the fact that there were tons of in game unlockables. And now we have weapon skins, trinkets, and home base cosmetics to potentially monetize as well. Of course that doesn't mention the fact that there were 4 campaign DLCs, the Peak was its own DLC, 2 new characters, and the Headhunter packs. Also important to note that much of this was not included in the season pass.

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your point?

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Regardless Borderlands 3 has way more DLC than Jedi Fallen Order. Which has a limited edition with an orange lightsaber and behind the scenes videos.

There really isn't a correlation between realistic visuals and DLC.

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Also, I can literally buy a few $5 cosmetic packs (microtransactions) on PSN right now which were added a month after the game's launch:

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1001-CUSA07823_00-OAKWEAPSKINSIEA1
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1001-CUSA07823_00-000000OAKSIEAPRE
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1001-CUSA07823_00-OAKCHARSKINSIEA2

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