Graphics: What are your favorites?

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

I've been a fan of video game graphics for some years now, and I'd like to know what others think as well.

For me, it's 16 bit sprites onward. As a spriter, I enjoy this medium because it's pretty easy to pick up once you start getting serious about it, and the things that you can do with just a few pixels is just astounding. Spriters like Abysswolf shows what happens when you're passionate enough. I generally like a lot of from the Handheld era, notable ones are Tales and Mega Man Zero sprites. The Naruki Dungeon sprites are very interesting because of the detail and motion they showcase in spite of being so small. The Mega Man Zero sprites and backgrounds showcased a better feeling of the environment that you're play in than with the X games. Along with the music, the level designs and the backgrounds of the games fit so well with how they were created.

[Garland Chaos]

16+bit sprites for me, too. My reasoning being that, while 3D models tend to be overshadowed by others later on, 16+bit sprites almost always seem to stand up to the test of time, at least for me. A prime example of this would be Valkyrie Profile, which has GORGEOUS spritework for just about every enemy and character you fight/recruit.

[Magical Glace]

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has the most adorable and pretty graphics I have ever seen. Shout out to Skyward Sword as well, I may hate the controls enough to have trouble with keeping playing, but the impressionistic landscapes are drop-dead gorgeous.

I really like the way Pokémon X/Y looks too. It's so cute and beautiful at once, I really like it.

[Soledai]

16 bit. I like the sprites and that sort of thing, that's what really clicks with me.

I also give a shout out to HD because HD water, lol.

[animeapple]

i dont really have a preference

it depends on the game for me, i enjoy games period and ill like any graphics style as long as the game looks good or the story is good and the gameplay is good

[Magical CC]

Everything as long as it does its job. With that said, I am tired of lazy indie studios who keep making games imitating 16 bit style. Making it blocky, choppy and square doesnt make it 16 bit. Why cant we have a good looking 2D sprites game once in a while? Look at Stranger of the Sword City and how beautiful it is even if it's just 2D. Oh right, they are too lazy to draw that much.

[Zera]

Where's the 60 FPS option? Performance matters more to me in graphics than anything else.

[Gemma]

you forgot about the pointy bits

[Fire Emblem Fan]

I like older polygon-like graphics of the old PS1 Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon games. They aren't like other PS1 games like Tomb Raider or Resident Evil, they're more cartoony, I find it pretty awesome. I also really like 16-bit sprites, hand drawn arcade sprites, and HD sprites.

I mean, I love graphics like the PS3 Ratchet & Clank games because they're gorgeous, but I also love what I mentioned above. Guess it depends, heh.

[Ciarre]

Aesthetically I prefer 3D models, but I also really like pretty talking portraits like in Tales or Persona. Also 2D sidescrolling like Muramasa or Odin Sphere can be really gorgeous too.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Ciarre

[Reality]

I love a lot of 16 bit spritework, but I wouldn't say that not having to worry about aging (in comparison to 3D) is their biggest advantage. I mean if the setpieces are inventive enough, like the alien environments in MDK, or the scenery in Beetle Adventure Racing, then the low resolution and polygon count of a 5th or 6th generation console don't matter as much.

And of course cartoon 3D like in Banjo-Kazooie and Rocket:Robot on Wheels has aged extremely well for the most part.

For some reason I wish early (realistic) 3D was a category, for some reason I end up missing every human model having balled up fists for hands in goldeneye and playing stuff like tomb raider, quake, and starfox 64 in their original blocky glory. It would probably only be my second pick in the end though.

The NES category should be expanded to include other primitive graphic systems like the ZX spectrum.

[Magical CC]

Where's the 60 FPS option? Performance matters more to me in graphics than anything else.

I dont care about 60 FPS. It's not like I am a moba gosu anyway.

[かベリー]

Why do you care about frames at all? They don't matter at all, if the game is playable and pretty, that's enough, no need to nitpick when it doesn't affect gameplay.

Generally I can enjoy everything, but I have an affinity towards 16 bit sprites, but with a more modern style. Stuff like this.

[kingddd]

Why do you care about frames at all? They don't matter at all, if the game is playable and pretty, that's enough, no need to nitpick when it doesn't affect gameplay.

Generally I can enjoy everything, but I have an affinity towards 16 bit sprites, but with a more modern style. Stuff like this.

As someone who plays PC games a lot it actually can affect gameplay input significantly. More frames means more smother render on screen and therefore it has a more responsive input for the player. When I played many first person shooters when it's 30fps, I usually do okay but when I upgraded to 60fps, my ability to do the same thing was much easier and i performed significantly better than I was playing at a lower framerate.

More frames is great for intense reaction based games like shooters, racing, fighting, heavy platforming etc.

Genres like adventure games, rpgs, turn based strategy style games don't really need all that to generally perform well.

However consistent FPS is the main key for most game developers and players.

Now I will say though I myself am not too picky with frames either but a small input delay can greatly affect a lot of player's performance especially in the competitive scenes.

Edited June 12, 2016 by kingddd

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

I dont care about 60 FPS. It's not like I am a moba gosu anyway.

You don't need to be one to understand the value of 60 FPS (and 120/144 FPS).

Anyways, I like graphics with as much detail for the art style as possible.

Edited June 12, 2016 by BLS

[solrocknroll]

I like how Yooka-Laylee looks. I also like A Hat in Time's graphics.

idk what that means but I tend to like any graphics that aren't hyper-realistic or detailed because no thanks please

[DragonLord]

16-bit sprites always look great in my opinion.

[Sentacotus]

16 bit will always have a special place in everyone's hearts as it should.

[かベリー]

...Meh, I still think graphics are more important than frames.

But yeah, I don't like realistic stuff either, Wind Waker is one of the prettiest games ever tbh.