Comments on: Realism in games – a step in the wrong direction?

By: The Future of Gaming Visuals

The Future of Gaming Visuals — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 19:37:00 +0000

[…] xKHAOSx wins post of the week! I guess it's all horses for courses, but most game don't benefit from hyper realistic graphics… Originally Posted by United We Game My main issue with the trend towards ever greater realism is that I think it hampers progress. There is, at the moment, a huge focus and expense paid for tech that will make the game look amazing, but often at the cost of the narrative and characters – LA Noire and Uncharted are only two examples of this for me. This focus also hinders creativity and the development of other ways of telling stories or enhancing gameplay. Instead game studios are restricted by the narrow limits of gravity, realistic facial expressions, lifelike movements and getting rid of that dreaded deadness behind the eyes that 3D models often have. Major developers don’t experiment much with what has worked for them so many times. It’s understandable, considering the sway that hyper-realistic games like Call of Duty have had on the gaming community. They seem to leave the real innovation to indie developers like Blendo Games of Thirty Flights of Loving, which I reviewed here. What that game achieved, which so many modern games shy away from, is that it found a new way to tell a story. No words were required, there was no real linearity of time and it took your conception of what a game is and turned it inside out. Whether you like games like that or not, the fact that games like that are made, I believe is a good thing for video games and for storytelling generally, whether it’s movies or books or games. Reality hampers the imagination and limits the tools at your disposal in creating a work of art. Full article here Realism in games – a step in the wrong direction? | United We Game […]

By: Sam Leung

Sam Leung — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:24:35 +0000

I’m just about to start TLOU! I’ve had the same experience with a few of the more recent games though and it’s the impression I’ve been getting from some of the E3 trailers. We’re definitely getting past the uncanny valley effect with facial expressions and movement becoming more and more realistic. I think it’ll take us some time to get to 100% accuracy, but we’re getting there!
As you said, having a high polygon count can help with evoking emotion and making a story more powerful. I think the mistake that many developers make is thinking that’s all they’ll need to make a game interesting and that’s not true. But I totally agree, seeing ever-increasing realism and better acting in games is amazing!

By: Sam Leung

Sam Leung — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 13:24:24 +0000

That is a good point and yeah, I would definitely agree that there’s a place for simulation games, although I’m not really big them myself. After all, as you said, it’s a genre that has mass appeal and many many fans. There are also many other types of games that I think thrive on realism. It’s just the mainstream fixation on realism that bothers me. It seems like most games studios these days think that achieving the highest level of realism is the biggest success and while it is often very impressive, I think focusing on that limits how creative many modern games are. Anyways, basically I definitely agree with you about simulation games have their place!

By: David Russell Gutsche

David Russell Gutsche — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 06:54:45 +0000

Yeah. In those genres, simulation doesn’t really seem like the end-all be-all.

By: Hatm0nster

Hatm0nster — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 02:14:18 +0000

You’re right, I did forget about the simulation genre. I suppose like most things there’s a place for realism. I was mostly focused on adventure, horror, and what not.

By: David Russell Gutsche

David Russell Gutsche — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 01:39:01 +0000

I’ve recently been playing The Last of Us, and I’ve noticed that the cutscenes are remarkably more emotionally evocative because the actors really have surpassed that uncanny valley. They’re eliciting human empathetic emotions in me.

The difference is — and this is the heart of your article — that the game doesn’t give it better graphics JUST TO HAVE BETTER GRAPHICS. Instead, they serve a purpose in the larger, well-realized game world.

The Last of Us makes me feel something, and so did Thomas Was Alone. It isn’t about polygon count, but sometimes it certainly helps.

By: David Russell Gutsche

David Russell Gutsche — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 01:35:57 +0000

I think this is generally true for ME, but what about the players that play Civilization V to no end? Or Euro Truck Simulator 2013? These are games that have MASS appeal, and I don’t understand it. But, whether I get it or not, those games are out there and people LOVE them.

In adventure games, perhaps you’re right. But there’s literally a genre of “simulation” games out there. We can’t forget about that.

Also, I’m so glad you mentioned Bioshock’s score. It’s a great exception, and superbly well-crafted.

By: Sam Leung

Sam Leung — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 17:04:54 +0000

Ah, wow, this comment was from a long time ago and apparently I somehow missed it! Well… better late than never right? I wasn’t ignoring you, I promise!
I totally agree with you. I think most of us play games to see and feel something more interesting and fantastical than your everyday experience. Sure there are great games that play on that realism, but I think to focus on that is just the wrong way to go about it. The most memorable settings for me are also the ones that are completely unique like Pandora from Borderlands or the Citadel from Mass Effect.
I definitely agree with you on the music front as well. Great dramatic orchestral music can be great, but it does seem like it’s become the norm.
I think just going for realism is the easy way out. We definitely need a huge injection of creativity into the industry!

By: Hatm0nster

Hatm0nster — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:14:42 +0000

Focusing on portraying the world as it is is a mistake for games. We don’t play games to act out real life or remain bound by its rules. We play games to leave those things behind. We want to experience the fantastic, the incredible, the impossible! All that happens when you focus on making a game resemble the real world is making it bland like the real world. Those games aren’t special, there’s nothing distinguishing them and making them memorable. I can’t name any locations that stood out to me in any of the games I’ve played that go for a very realistic world setting. When I do all can think of is a dark alley, or a house, or a sewer etc. As a point of comparison, I can very clearly remember tons of locations from Zelda games, Bioshock, Mass Effect, etc.

Kind of off-topic, but this has affected AAA game music too, it’s all orchestral scores. The music is by no means bad, but does any of it stand out in your mind? So much of it doesn’t have anything to distinguish it cause they seem to think that simply having orchestral music is enough (there are exceptions: Mass Effect, Bioshock, Uncharted’s main theme).

Real is bland and boring. Give us the extraordinary!

By: Sam Leung

Sam Leung — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:28:16 +0000

Yeah it definitely does depend on the game. The idea of ‘Mario’ or ‘Zelda’ as realistic is just plain scary. What about a realistic Sonic? It would probably haunt me in my dreams. There are games where ogling at the graphics is one of the best parts about the game and it works. It all depends on the suitability of the game I think. Exactly, graphics can be a great bonus, but I really don’t think it should be the main focus either. As you said, why not just watched an animated movie instead if that’s what you’re looking for? Games are supposed to be fun, so I totally agree, gameplay is a crucial part of the experience! I haven’t seen the ‘Beowulf’ movie, but I just checked out a few images and it does look pretty creepy! Robots made to look human freak me out to no end. They can even make them realistically sound like humans now too! Every time I see something like that I just assume it’s a matter of time before they rise up and murder us all! I’m not paranoid at all…