26th January 2004, 9:24 PM
A Black Falcon Wrote:There are obviously better graphics out there, but why improve graphics just for the sake of improving graphics? Does improving graphics actually make the game any better or something? I wouldn't say so. Not unless the change has some major effect for some reason, which it wouldn't unless you changed the game as well...
Running too long on the same level isn't so great, but on the same token improving just for the sake of improvement and nothing else isn't too helpful either.
That makes no sense. Why improve graphics for the sake of improving graphics? Because it makes the experience more immersive, that's why.
I'm not one of those people who lies and says graphics mean nothing. They most certainly do. The better they look, the more detailed they are, the more believable and engrossing the game will be. Obviously graphics aren't anything, but they are the single most important factor in how a game draws you in.
Games on the SNES can still draw us in because we remember them well and love them. We remember when they WERE the best there was, and how it was able to immerse us. But new games done at that level cannot do that, because it's nostalgia that does it for SNES and before.
I remember playing Maniac Mansion on NES, and I had, at the time, never seen a more realistic-looking videogame in my life. At the time, it was better than good enough for me. But now, when I replay it, I still have fun with it but I've seen so much better since then that it does not have that same immsersive effect on me. It's not good enough for that anymore. There are several other games I can say the same thing about: Kid Chameleon, Chrono Trigger, FFVII, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid... All excellent games, and all still fun for me, but none of them as graphically immersive as they were when I first played them. None of them are 'good enough' graphically. They've all been bested.
Honestly, the only reason graphics aren't still what they were in the 2600 era is because they were improved for the sake of sheer improvement. They were improved because they could be, not because they necessarily had to be. Designers were able to make games look better, thus, they did. All the time were there games that were the greatest graphically, but eventually something got better.
Anyway, I digress. The main reason SNES graphics aren't 'good enough' is because 2D looks much better on stronger platforms.
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