Realistic graphics/Powerful engine vs Pretty and unique art style

[ManOfDisguise]

Which do you like more and why?

 

Examples for both:

 

Realistic: Crysis games, BF games(mainly BF3 and BF4), Killzone,  and all the opther games that go for realistic graphics(doesnt have to be shooters)

 

Pretty and unique art style: Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite, TF2, etc.

 

 

My vote goes to games with the unique art style. Why?

 

1. They don't look so dull and repetitive as the games that go for graphics that resemble the real world therefore the atmosphere draws you in much more and there is that sort of "magical" feeling there.

 

2. You can run them better and easier(unless very unoptimised). You dont need THAT much of a powerful PC to say for example max out Bioshock Infinite or Dishonored and I'm not even talking about TF2(since its on Source engine) and you STILL get very pretty looking visuals. You have the best of both worlds - graphics fidelity and nice, smooth gameplay

 

3. They don't all look the same/very similar.

 

[Vitalius]

-snip-

I prefer unique and pretty. I like realism a lot, but it's so hard to get it right that I find, right now, the other engines are better. That may change once we truly get out and away from the uncanny valley, but who knows when that will happen. 

I think this is my best example of a "pretty and unique art style engine".

Things like that are just awesome. I want realism, and I want it to be beautiful.

 

[ManOfDisguise]

I prefer unique and pretty. I like realism a lot, but it's so hard to get it right that I find, right now, the other engines are better. That may change once we truly get out and away from the uncanny valley, but who knows when that will happen. 

I think this is my best example of a "pretty and unique art style engine":

That game is a perfect example of a great engine/art style. 

 

hah that looks awesome. SO COLORFUL! hm...i wana play that

[Vitalius]

hah that looks awesome. SO COLORFUL! hm...i wana play that

It's trippy because each level has a slightly different art style and it changes based on perspective as well. 

It's a great game.

[MzCatieB]

from a developer perspective.

Realistic gives a unique challenge, as any thing unrealistic makes players feel uneasy and uncomfortable.

 

Stylize graphics means a recreation, you can make a player feel anything and its allot easier to connect to the character you play as, There are many more layers of physiology that go in to Stylization of graphics compared to realism.

 

a good example of stylized graphics is a project im working on.

 

TangiersGame.com

 

 

A thing to remember if you are planning to make your own game is take a look at the Uncanny Valley, it applied to robotics and Computer games: wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

 

Another thing i would like to add is, people these days spend far too much time looking at the graphics and forget about the mechanics and story. Companies have grown to neglect both of these and AAA studios are now just a copy and paste label that people trust.

[Sky Daddy]

Has to have good textures regardless, but art style is definitely more important than graphical fidelity.

Although graphical fidelity can be used to reinforce the art style.

[ACatWithThumbs]

It depends on the game.
I don't want Battlefield to look like Bioshock Infinite.
And I don't want Bioshock Infinite to look like Battlefield.

But I'd go with unique artstyle because it's timeless.
To make a game look realistic is way harder but it get's dated so fast.
What looked good 3 Years ago looks like crap today.
But that doesn't happen with a game like FEZ it will be still good looking in 10 Years.

Journey has one of my favorite artstyles:



 

[WereCat]

Depends.. do I like Crysis? Yes! Do I like Trine? Absolutely! Would I want to play Super Mario in Cry Engine? No!

Every game has to have its style!

[IDprofile]

I want to say that I like creativity but honestly for me it's about realism. The more it looks like real life the easier it is to get immersed.

[Trail Mixorz]

I like a nice enjoyable engine such as source. Doesn't look amazing but hey runs and feels like a charm

[Skcorpion86]

Much like what everybody else has said. It really depends on the game. I like both styles, as long as it fits the game.

That being said, I have to give realism a slight edge, I love super realistic graphics, like battlefield. It just looks absolutely amazing to me.

But don't get me wrong, I like the look of Borderlands, The walking Dead(Tell Tale), Trine, ETC.

[Clarkey]

I wouldnt say i preferred one over the other it completely depends on the game. 

 

Also going for realistic graphics isnt the reason games are all the same nowadays. Its cause people as a general rule are morons and will buy the same product with slightly different features even if its not better in any way over and over again. Companies realised this and figured why spend 3-4 years on a new project when we can release an iteration of the last game a year later and people will buy it and in a lot more cases it will sell better than original IP.

[Fullmetal1212]

Sims. Gpu blistering accuracy. Fpsrpgs. Lil of both borderlands is damn fun because the cartoon theme makes it seem silly. Fps. I like real. But I have yet to try tf2

[MrTomnus]

Journey has one of my favorite artstyles

 

Completely agree, Journey is such a beautiful game. Play it on a nice big TV and you can get lost in it... Just a shame it wasn't in 1080p.

 

I have to say I prefer realism to a unique art style. If the world looks real then I can immerse myslef a lot more in it. But I often find myself just admiring how pretty the game is instead of admiring the gameplay, which is a problem. This happened a lot playing Final Fantasy XIII (the CGI was incredible):

 

If a game with a unique art style uses it well and it fits with the context of game then I will still find it brilliant. Journey is a great example of that.

[TheMissxu]

Planetside 2 has some interesting stuff.

[BrightCandle]

While crysis 1 was going for realism I would agree that the other games on your realistic list are particular going for realistic per say. Battlefield for example is hugely over light and over bloomed to produce a particular style and while its more realistic that many games art styles brown shades are becoming the industries go to realistic post filter. Personally I want to see more games trying to push realistic graphics, that is ultimately the type of graphics that will push the industry forward and get us to true virtual reality. Fancy creative styled games fit various genres but they don't have the same impact on human progress in rendering.

[A/C]

Put up a poll and you'll get your answer best.

 

Realism for me, 80% of the time.

[ThreePinkApples]

Pretty art style!

Both Crysis 2 and BF3 has good graphics, but look terrible

Crysis 3 or BF4 though fixed this : D

[Dudenstein]

Mix realistic with stealth. That's why I love Splinter Cell