iSneeze said:jsdman1234 said:
When I play a popular game with amazing graphics (like CoD), I'm kinda like:
When I play a game with medium to low graphics (no matter how fun) and would probably be a shame to let those around me know I play (like nintendo), I'm kinda like:
Oh, my. You certainly are a provincial one, aren't you?
I really can't knock you for enjoying the games you do (it IS your opinion, after all), but you do worry me a bit. It's as if you only play games to maintain a good image. Do you really feel ashamed to play games with bad graphics? Ashamed as in "Oh dear, someone might see me playing this game in 480-i. The horror!"? If that's the case, you're certainly limiting your horizon. There are countless games that are priceless gems simply because they're a delight to play, regardless of such trifling factors as polygon count or popularity. If these are the only two factors that drive your video game preferences, I actually feel a bit sorry for you, for your stubbornness means you'll never be able to experience some of the most charming, masterful, and downright fun games the world has to offer. Never to experience the sudden moistness of palm and rapid increase of heart rate upon entering the final showdown with Bowser in Super Mario Bros. 3. Never to be dazzled by the ridiculously humorous and charm-filled LucasArts Adventure games. Never to identify with the woeful cries of today's Sega fans as they wonder why the Sonic the hedgehog games don't quite seem to carry the fun factor as they used to in the days of Blast processing. Never to experience the simple, unadulterated entertainment of playing a round of Wii Sports Tennis with friends or family. Never to accidentally find yourself humming the infectiously catchy soundtrack from Parappa the Rapper. Never to acquire the distinct sense of triumph received from tackling one of the many seemingly impossible bosses from the Final Fantasy III. I could go on forever, about games from the past, games from the present, and games from the future, that you'll never play, simply because they don't adhere to your stubborn and misguided tastes. Oh well.
ON TOPIC: Gameplay, as many have stated before, is a key factor of any game, regardless of genre or platform. No matter how silky smooth and pretty Call of Duty may be, it wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable if the controls weren't able to satisfy the split-second burdens the game demands. Or if it didn't register bullets when it oh-so-obviously hit that guy. Or if, no matter how many killstreaks or experience you got, there was no payoff in the end. Let's face it, there's a reason we like games, and the reason extends farther than simply how it looks. I recently received an iPod Touch 4 for Christmas, and found myself downloading Epic Citadel to mess around in it. It's a gorgeous piece of work, to be sure, but at the end of the day, offering little gameplay aside from moving and marveling at the many snazzy effects the game exemplifies, I didn't find myself coming back for more the way I do Dig-Dug.
I'm not saying that graphics account for NOTHING. They are indeed an essential part of any game. They must not excel to make a good game, but be functional. No one would play Gran Turismo if it ran at ten frames per second, or if the camera perspective was so low to the ground that you could hardly see the next turn coming. No one would play Super Mario Bros. if they couldn't distinguish the character from the background. Games require funtional, unobtrusive graphics, but they do not necessarily require fantastic graphics.
Perhaps some of you immediately answer "graphics" as your preferred factor in a videogame simply because you've never played that one game that seems horribly dated, and is a downright disgrace to the human eye, but you found yourself loving it nonetheless. If that's the case, I hope you do find that game someday. Then, you'd know why some of us are reacting to you graphics junkies in such a negative manner.
Anyway, those are my views, ill-expressed an disorganized as they are. Carry on, everyone.
