Phml
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Posts: 2535
Registered: 06-09 |
But if you theoretically judge good graphics by how well they simulate the majesty of the world we live in, then you might as well look at high-end CAD software, which has been producing lifelike environments longer than games have and even Crysis has a long way to go before it comes anywhere close to matching it (the "uncanny valley" phenomena that haunts flawlessly accurate rendering notwithstanding).
I've never felt the uncanny valley looking at a tree or water. I think it's something restricted to human beings for the most part, perhaps animals we're familiar with.
Playing games just to look at things isn't my thing either. I mean, pushing the quoted argument further you could say there is no point to look at things in a video game as you can look at photography or painting instead.
Again, I'd rather have a game that transposes me into a world which is interesting to look at, regardless of it's realism or unrealism, than beautifully accurate but boring environments that were once a novelty but now we've already seen in games hundreds of times.
Hard to disagree with that. Of course, I would likely think of the opposite games.
Crysis' islands are places I love just running around, exploring between firefights, taking a look at the trees, the waterfalls, the ocean, the hills. Mass Effect's spaceship interiors make me think of the oh-so-many identical spaceship interiors I've seen (I'd guess there is more to the games than that, but I'm not a big fan of space opera and grew bored of the first game within two hours while in an elevator, so didn't see much of it). Skyrim's outdoors just feel like stepping foot in Oblivion and Fallout 3 again - don't get me wrong, a much better looking Oblivion/Fallout3, but I can't unsee the similarities. Mirror's Edge blent together in my mind as a forgettable succession of generic city environments, the visuals were only interesting in their relation to the gameplay (which, again, is not a bad thing, but definitely not a game environment I want to stop and look at).
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