Graphics aren’t everything. Just sayin’. Especially 3D graphics with fully polygonal environments. You gotta have a good game to back anything else up. The quality of the graphics just adds to the immersion of the environment, but if the game is no good, then the graphics mean nothing.
Can’t bare em?
That’s fucking bullshit.
Let me tell you, it takes the same effort to paint a 512x512 texture as it does to paint a 2048x2048 one. Probably not the same time though.
Can you tell the scientists are scientists?
Can you tell that the doors are separate from the wall?
Can you tell the difference between a houndeye and a bullsquid?
Can you tell when you’re being shot?
If you’ve said yes to any of the above, the graphics are not only fine, but PERFECT.
Unless the graphics are so bad you don’t know what the fuck you’re seeing, then the graphics aren’t bad at all.
It looks like a research facility, therefore it is a research facility.
It might take the same time and effort but that doesn’t mean if given the option (which I do in this case considering this mod will eventually come out) that I wont prefer the higher res textures. Things can obviously still be distinguished but quite frankly, I’ve been spoiled with these modern day graphics and going back to those from 1998 just doesn’t cut it like it used to. I simply won’t enjoy the game as much. Besides, with the amount of money I spend on souping up my computer every 3 years or so, I pretty much demand good graphics…at least with FPS’s, other genres I wouldn’t be as picky. (SC2 graphics aren’t all the great but I still play)
You see, I don’t enjoy graphics based on how good they look to the modern standard. I enjoy them based on how well they describe what they intend to. You see, Half life looks exactly the way it’s intended. The graphics, while not modern, are “correct”.
“No shit” you say. But I can point you to plenty of games that DON’T look how they should and have many clashing visual themes. Borderlands is one. Every time I see the relatively realistic bandits with outlines slapped on them who are juxtaposed by characters like T.K. Baha that truly are stylized, it pulls me out of the game.
Old graphics aren’t bad. They’re just old. The problem is when a game comes out in 2011 looks like it came out in 2005. Even then, it’s more than likely intentional. Half life came out in 1998. It was a time where graphics were defined by art style and not tech. Mostly because visual styles were so flexible in a time where detail wasn’t required. The reason I don’t think Half Life looks bad is because it looks like Half Life. No other game looks like it. No other game CAN look like it. It’s visuals are it’s identity. There are no flaws. The limitations of the time don’t apply now, so that “working under the bar” they did is just part of it’s style. It’s part of the charm. And it shows in Gearbox’s “graphical improvements” they did in their expansions. As someone who I forget said: They made it look like a shitty looking 2001 game instead of a great looking 1998 game.
“What about Black Mesa?” you say? Black Mesa is Black Mesa, not Half Life. It has it’s own visual identity that cannot be replicated.
This whole “hurr durr old grphx skuck llolollol” mentality is very unnerving. Especially for those who spend all their time advancing the tech. Imagine in 20 years, some kid won’t play…shit…
Can’t think of a state of the art even though they really mean state of the tech game that’s actually jaw droppingly good and will have timeless gameplay … Fuck. I don’t think any exist. I’m not sure if any can. (which reminds me of a whole nother point that I won’t touch right now)
I’ll just humor you guys. Crysis.
Imagine some kid in 20 years not playing Crysis because of it’s 25 year old graphics. All of that work Cryteck did was for nothing. All of fans that spent years gawking at the game now look like a bunch of assholes. Being state of the tech is a curse. You can only be state of the tech for a few seconds. You can be state of the art forever.
^ I’m JeffMOD, and I approve of this post.
Well now that you got more in depth, I completely see your point of view and I agree. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying graphics are everything. Thats just a shallow gaming perspective and one shared more by new young gamers that grew up on modern CoD and such. I grew up on the nintendos and sega genesis’s and I loved every bit of it. I’ll always appreciate any form of innovative videogaming because I know how far the industry has come. Counter-strike 1.3 is what turned me into a Valve homer and till this day, CS 1.3 and 1.5 was some of the most fun I’ve ever had through out my gaming history. You see, you have to consider that we’re talking about Half-Life here and remember we’re on a forum website dedicated to its remake, you have to understand my bias towards the more “graphically technical” version of it, after all, we all been anxiously waiting years for it right? Original HL has an amazing story (I have a thing for anything alien related) and I agree that judgment must be made on what the creators intended to get across. That being said, while the original graphics of HL are perfect the way they are, I still would rather play BM at this point (I pray it’s nearly identical storyline wise) That doesn’t mean I never go back and enjoy older titles. Matter fact, just the other day I beat CoR butcher bay for the first time and that game is from 04, and I didnt even play the updated graphics version; athena or w/e it’s called.
This is the only part I disagree with, I feel that Crysis at least 1 I haven’t played 2 has as much visual identity as most other games.
Take minecraft for example. It’s an extremely addictive game, yet it’s graphics and visuals are balls by comparison to some of today’s console and PC standards, yet it is a very good example of quality over visual quantity.
Oh, Assault on Dark Athena is a whole nother game. It just comes with an updated EFBB
I wouldn’t say that. Turn Crysis’s graphics down to low and it’s identical to Far Cry.
I’d say Crysis’s lack of visual identity comes from the tech race curse. Since it tries so hard to replicate reality with no deviation, when we age past it the game will fall flat on it’s face. There will be nothing that makes it look all that exciting because all we’ll see is what it failed to replicate.
I mean look at that Far Cry shot. It’s not stylized, it’s just wrong. It looks really boring. It tried to replicate reality when it came out, and for that time we were satisfied because it was the closest we’d ever seen anything get to it. Now since it’s no longer on the forefront of tech, there’s nothing to support it visually. It has made itself redundant. That’s how Crysis will look to us in a few years. That’s how it looks to me now actually.
I have to say I am enjoying this discussion. This is the best derailed thread ever.
edit: Fuck, I DP’d
I also double posted.
Actually, I was playing Minecraft on a computer at my ROTC’s class after school once, waiting on my ride home. Two guys walked in and sat down next to me, watching me play the game (they’re both freshmen and I’m a senior, just to clarify) and after about 5 minutes of watching they both state, “This game sucks. It doesn’t look nearly as good as Black Ops.” I was just dumbstruck at how unbelievably stupid that was.
i HATE when people judge a game by it’s graphics
I’m not confused about people complaining TBH when this project has been in development as long as it has and there really is not alot to show for it at the momment a trailer and a bunch of screenshots is not enough especially after showing some of the development videos and a redundant twitter and then all media just stops for a year and even the community projects are just hanging open a year later that is not really good in my opinion I still hope the mod makes it out but I stopped coming onto this forum because it is just dead on here, and everyone just keeps giving excuses for no media releases other than game is done they are fixing bugs… Be patient…
Sorry I really like the project and everything that has been shown is really good but I got bored… the whole Move along nothing to see here attitude is just a catalyst for people to lose interest in it but I pop by in the hope of seeing somthing new to little avail these days and it is a bit sad that it feels very dead now… But Good luck Black Mesa Devs I hope you finish it
P.S. Far Cry should get re-made too!!!
I can understand you man. Come on give me a hug.
I didn’t think about Far Cry, I suppose but Far Cry is another Crytech game so I kinda expect them to look similar. Kinda like how a lot of the assets from L4D are the same as the HL2 ones.
I suppose its subjective but I don’t find the Far Cry screen shot particularly ugly. No it doesn’t stand out in a crowd but it isn’t ugly.
Besides I wasn’t just thinking of Crysis in terms of the first green lush island part although that is the most recognizable part of Crysis (honestly right there the fact that it is recognizable shows it has visual identity). I was thinking of Crysis as a whole the Alien ship and snowy ice world it becomes. Its not really fair to show one screenshot and say nope because there is so much more to it than that one scene. If you look at the first scene in Half-Life with just the science facility its not very stylized and pretty much a realistic style along with the building style of HL2, the style and uniqueness of Half-Life comes from the Sci-Fi and the aliens.
I understand what you are trying to say, abstract vs realistic art. The problem is you are saying that realistic is unrecognizable not unique and such. An artist can tell the difference between different realistic paintings in the same way a gamer can tell the difference between photo-realistic games. While a game can look way more unique with an abstract or stylized visual it doesn’t need to in order to establish its identity.
Furthermore there is more to games appearance than just the assets the level design is also important. Look at all the sprawling vistas and such in Crysis they purpose set it up to look great, the same way Bethesda does when you exit the first interiors in Oblivion and Fallout 3. Now we can both agree that Fallout has its own visual style, but even so the importance in New Vegas’s emergence scene is lack luster in comparison to 3. Because of the level design.
As do I. Although I hate it even more when the development team puts a lot of effort into making high-poly models, but none into good texturing or animation. (Which is what makes or breaks both the visual style and quality of the game)
If you’re going to concentrate on graphics over gameplay, you should at least do it right.
I hate it when people compare graphics to Black Ops and MW2 as if they’re some golden standard. They look like shit.
I compare all games graphically to Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.
in my opinion, mw2 looks better than black ops
but any game > mw2
“You’re winner!”