How important are graphics

How important are graphics? Jeez thats just like asking how important is a good life.LTZH

How important are graphicsWedge598

Very. If a game doesn't have them, chances are pretty good that I won't buy it.

I dont care at all about graphics. All that matter for me is story and the value of the game. As long as it keeps me playing and I enjoy it.

However, I do like to look at nice details, but thats just a plus.

If I have a choice between two similar games I'd go with the one that looks better. Graphics do matter IMO. Gameplay is the most important thing, yes, but there is a limit to how crappy textures you can squeeze in a game and hide behind "It's all about the gameplay, you gfx whore!". Some devs are just lazy.

Some older games are still pretty great, but bad graphics ruin some of the older FPSs for me, as I usually find the gameplay a bit lacking in most older games (Undying and Quake/Doom are some examples). But hey, I still love games like Megaman 2 and System Shock 2, so I'm not a total gfx whore.

graphics are 100% unimportant to me, yet I still love them

I mean, I will buy Crysis just because of the graphics but I don't enjoy a game less because of bad graphics. Well, in a sense I do because I'm not enjoying the graphics part of the game, but let me rephrase it:

Poor graphics won't hinder my enjoyment of any other area of the game. Really poor graphics are often an indication of quality though

How important are graphics?Wedge598

Not as important as gameplay.

Look at crysis. If it had regular graphics no one would like it.-AK47-

False.

I think it is funny when people look back at old great games and blab out how great they were despite the graphics, well at the time they were state of the art games and we did not know any better. Doom was an awesome game back then, the 3D graphics were outstanding, for the time. Go back and play it now. Bleh. Of course gameplay is important, but these days you need the total package. Can anyone name the last great PC game that was known for crap graphics by today's standards? I can't even think of one.

important but by no means paramount. deus ex is still a better game than most games out today and its graphics are naff. they were naff even by the standards of its own day.

give me a game with fun gameplay, a compelling story, great writing, great voice overs and memorable characters and a brilliant level of immersion and ill be very forgiving on the graphics front.

As I'm sure has been mentioned already. Gameplay is more important than graphics. Of course it doesn't matter how good the gameplay if you can't see anything due to bad graphics.

I think most of you understood my point. Most of us would choose to play a really great game like Half-life if the graphics were passable (as they were/are in the original source engine) over a really poor game like Daikatana even if it looked like a CGI movie.

My impressions of the Crysis demo were that it looked great and played great but it felt like a rehash of Far Cry. I'd argue that they could have done Crysis with the old Far Cry engine and I'd personally enjoy the game just as much.

This is not to say that I don't want the trend for CGI movie like visuals to stop but I am becoming more particular in evaluating the game before I buy. And I'm less likely to want to upgrade my computer to play a game that plays similarly to others I've played if the only "new" thing going for it is the graphics.

Can anyone name the last great PC game that was known for crap graphics by today's standards? I can't even think of one.

vfibsux

By your sentence, I assume you are asking: What older games are considered to be ace in their time, and thus classics, despite their sh** graphics by current standards? And yeah. I can name a few. There are many great older games that are adored, despite their crap graphics by today's standards.

Baldurs Gate Series

Fallout Series

Planescape

System Shock 2

Alice

The Longest Journey

Don't get me wrong though. I love the improvements to graphics that have been made over the years. It's amazing. It makes the game so much more immersive.

Still, don't dismiss older games simply due to their graphics.

My impressions of the Crysis demo were that it looked great and played great but it felt like a rehash of Far Cry. I'd argue that they could have done Crysis with the old Far Cry engine and I'd personally enjoy the game just as much. Wedge598

I agree as long as the physics are kept in tact. But if a developer chooses to use older graphics then I want the game to be cheaper.

How important are graphics? Jeez thats just like asking how important is a good life.LTZH

Graphics aren't very important to me, the game could be in 2D with sprites, if the gameplay rocks I'll buy it.

Graphics = eye candy, its fun to have but not that important.

If crysis had the same graphic quality as half-life(the first one), it would still be as fun.

I'm sorry but if graphics are everything to you, you're missing the point of gaming, which is gameplay.

I can't tell you how many awesome game you'll miss because they don't have uber-graphics.

For me, graphics and gameplay go somewhat hand-in-hand. I'd like to have something that is easy on the eyes (after all, it's the game that you're gonna spend the next x amount of hours playing) but that has great gameplay.

If a game has freakin amazing graphics but horible gameplay, of course i'm not gonna get it.

If a game has freakin amazing gameplay but lackluster graphics, i may get it. But it depends on how lackluster they are. For example, no matter how great the gameplay, i don't want to play a game that looks like it was made in 1990.

Of course, then there is the exception of NES and SNES games. But everyone who likes those are drawn to them becuz of nostalgia :P

Graphics ARE very important, but not as much as gameplay; however, an awesome game with awesome graphics is even better.

That poll is really stupid. Half Life has great graphics, and Crysis have even better graphics, but you are putting it's graphics in a horrible game. That's just not fair. You could have freely compared them and i belive that HL would still win, since it's a game with a lot of fans (including me).

Independently of gameplay, graphics have to continue evolving.

I still like old "crappy-graphics" games like Starcraft, but graphics can enhance a game. That being said, I'm tired of developers spending all their time/money on graphics. Graphics are important, but not as much as gameplay. I think anyone can agree that if you are playing a game online the balance and strategy far outweigh the graphics.

Most people say they like graphics, but then their favorite games turn out to be ones with only average graphics.

GAMEPLAY = REPLAYABILITY

GRAPHICS = HYPE