Casimir Aldwyr

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How Important are Graphics to You?

  • Posted by Casimir Aldwyr November 4, 2011 - 840 views

    A blog post from a couple of days back entitled 'Skyrim graphics overated' got me thinking about the importance of graphics in The Elder Scrolls. My first experience with Oblivion (which was also my first ES game) was not by any stretch of the word on a gaming pc. It stuttered, it lagged and it wasn't the prettiest thing to look at yet I was captivated and loved every tortuously laggy second of it (almost).

    I eventually managed to improve the performance and visuals of the game considerably before my second playthrough and I won't deny this was a welcome change. While I was plain chuffed to be playing something which didn't resemble a really slow stop-motion animation, the big jump in the quality of the graphics really didn't translate into a similar increase in terms of the enjoyment I got from playing. 

    The joy I got from playing came from the fact that I could get completely lost in this totally believable world for hours and every waking moment spent away from it felt like one too many. All this was possible for me even though the graphics were pretty outdated even on the highest settings when I started playing. With all the improvements made since then; both visually and in terms of gameplay, I'm absolutely overflowing with anticipation.

    I know that Skyrim won't be pixel perfect and in a game this huge, I don't expect it to be. I feel that as long as the essence of TES remains, that magic spark that got us all hooked in the first place; we really will have a gem of game awaiting us on 11.11.11.

     

     

     

     

     

     

Comments

7 Comments
  • Anonymous Lex
    Anonymous Lex   ·  November 5, 2011
    There is a difference, IMO, between graphical quality and graphical beauty.  The Legend of Zelda is a perfect example.  Crysis, on the other hand, was, graphically, of a very high quality, but I found it so familiar that it was not beautiful to me.  Skyri...  more
  • Casimir Aldwyr
    Casimir Aldwyr   ·  November 4, 2011
    Definitely agree with you on that - Skrims design and art direction looks majestic.
  • Cap'n Blackheart
    Cap'n Blackheart   ·  November 4, 2011
    Graphics are very important, in that they are to create a believable world in which I may get lost, especially for a roleplaying game. It seems, however, that most people's understanding of 'graphics' is limited to the amount of polygons and the resolutio...  more
  • Arthur Keen
    Arthur Keen   ·  November 4, 2011
    If I wasn't so hyped for Skyrim, I could still happily play Daggerfall for hours. So long as the graphics are good enough to convey the potential beauty in the huge world I'm stepping into, that's fine by me. Imagination goes a long way.

    I re...  more
  • Orc_King
    Orc_King   ·  November 4, 2011
    They are important part of the time. I'm more about gameplay. I can play N64 games and get just as immersed as I would a PS3 game. It all depends on the game and the hardware that is is being played on. If the game is not NEX-GEN; then I won't expect thos...  more
  • Kevin
    Kevin   ·  November 4, 2011
    Graphics are important to me, but not for older games. For example, if a new game is coming out, I expect it to have good/great graphics, but if it is an indie game, then obviously I am not expecting high quality visuals. Also, playing older games such as...  more
  • Eric Gilliam
    Eric Gilliam   ·  November 4, 2011
    They're important to me, but not right now.  All I care about now is being able to play the game, and when I upgrade my computer, that's when graphics will become more important to me.