The myth of good graphics in gaming and why cinematic gaming is a scam.

first things first.....if you want cinematography watch a damn movie. If you want an interactive experience then play a game.

Its 2017 and the first Toy Story movie(an amazing film released in 1995) looks better then any video games you have ever played. Its 2017 and there are stil games out there that were released in the past that are better interactive experiences then any cinematic game dropped in the last couple gens. During the graphics vs game-play debates of 2007-2010 so many wise gamers tried to tell us that you cant play graphics and ultimately cinematic gaming is just lazy game development. I mean imo thin of it, what is the difference between two hours of cut scenes in metal gear solid 4 and watching some graphic design majors final project? Nothing, nut two hours of you watching a tech demo, but you don't play videogames to watch demos. You play video games to create, build, destroy, ally, disrupt, betray, role play, compete, and sway the general nature of whatever electronic playground you are inhabiting at the time.

But with cinematic gaming the only thing you can do is feel.....

I dont play games to feel, I get enough feeling in my real life. I play games to have fun, feeling isn't fun; it what I try to escape from through gaming. I get enough feeling in my personal life when I deal with work/school bs, when I have a one night stand with someone I was initially attracted too but never want to see them again, I get enough drama dealing with family and friends. When I play video games I want to jump on soulless mushrooms because if they touch me my fictional avatar sinks into the ground; it doesn't need to make sense its FUN. But with this new wave of uber realistic cinematic gaming where everything is so freaking realistic I am robbed of that experience.

If my character doesn't eat then he gets weak and dies....just like real life.

If my character isn't uber logical and rational then his worth and validity is called into question....just like real life.

If my character isn't out having sex with beautiful women then he must not be a real man....just like real life.

So much human insecurity and tired tropes that plague us all as human beings have infiltrated gaming, and now we expect our games to be complex and broken just like us. When in the past games were games, where you could be a bear with a bird in his backpack who fought a witch for puzzle pieces. A bear with a bird in is backpack makes no freakig sense because the bear would try to eat the bird, which would fly away But it makes for a great video game. So lets be nathan drake the bro guy who is basically all of us, but more perfect so even if we can't relate to him; we can say "hey he is a real person".

Tldr: Games take themselves way too seriously trying to imitate real life. The less gaming focuses on actual gaming the more the medium is watered down to basically just flash videos of characters meant to imitate real people, instead of genuine unique experiences.

I am not saying do away with cinematic gaming; but don't base the whole medium on being a pale film imitation.

I prefer games like the Uncharted series to say, Phantasmagoria on the PC. I'm sure many here aren't even aware of movie games on the PC. It was like a curse. Ugh. ;)

WTF is this shit?

what EXACT games are you butthurt about TC? and what makes you think a "cinematic" game can't be fun as well?

So much hot air and forced opinion to say nothing at all of value.

I agree. I been gaming for 30 years and this interactive stuff is getting out of hand. It's a connect-the-dots movie. I had been playing the first life is strange game and we went to the friends room (forget her name) and she says something about playing some music. So, I have to find the cds.....then I finally find them (which I couldn't get her to tell me) and I go to the CD player and there's NO POWER. So then I have to find the freaking power strip to flip the switch. All this took like 30 minutes because I didn't know what this meant for the story and if I actually HAD to do it. Freaking fetch quests kill me man. It's sad too, life is strange seemed to have a nice story to it but I don't have that kind of time to run tasks like that which have zero to do with the overall story. However, cuphead and sonic mania have restored my faith in gaming and with Xbox having bc and being able to play ninja gaiden black and other older games has helped me really get back into this generation of systems. 2 years ago I was calling this the worst generation of my gaming life but it has turned around and becoming one of the best, so long as they keep up the old school stuff.

I'm not saying do away with the cinematic stuff, choice is good. Some people love those games. I'm just saying to get back to making games with actual gameplay also so we can mix it up and everyone wins.

You have a low post count, so you must be new to everything.

Think of it this way the metal gear series was about fun gameplay and stealth, now it is story and cut scenes. Instead of disagreeing with me to raise your post count and look edgy to impress the simple minded, go out and play some real videogames and see why the current state of the medium is flawed.

Also, I feel completely off the sports games. I used to buy Madden and nba 2k almost every year. But now they have all this crazy stuff to make it seem more real. Don't get me wrong some stuff is cool buy when I wanna play to build up my player and have to text my teammates, coaches, agent, mom and show up for practice with 5 minute loading screens between each instance it drives me nuts. I got 2k17 and played for 2 hours and all I did was create my player(which I NEVER got the app to scan my face after 20+ tries) and practiced and played one game....one! I've played 2k17 maybe 5 times since. However I been playing nba jam: ofe like crazy since it's bc. Because nba jam is straight fun! Jump in, choose a team and your in the game dunking from the free throw line...no waiting. That is gaming to me. having friends over and ur in the game in about a minute.

Bro I wanna play cuphead so bad but I only have a ps4 and wii u right now, getting a switch son though. Yeah all the irrelevant fetch quests just kill games. Elder scrolls do fetch quests great becausce they are relatively contained and interesting, but when I spend an hour doing stupid shit I just get mad. Im an adult I dont have time to waste on devs trying to add fake depth to games

I mean im just saying what a lot of people are thinking, I dont know why you think this thread is stupid. I agree though, you listed great games

You are a sheep. Any form of descent and you shame it. How sad

@Enragedhydra: that's EXACTLY what my post said. If you read the full comment it says I stopped playing 2k and went back to playing nba jam. Reading a post in its entirety isn't rocket science either.

I literally listed a game with good fetch quests in the post you qouted. Holy crap, you are dumber then a fish that can't swim. Contained and interesting fetch quests are great, but screw in a light bulb for a couple exp and gold quests are stupid. Learn to read dumb dumb, your the reason your parents got divorced.

Dude lacks common sense, he is using the points you and I make against us

@Mercenary848: cuphead is crazy fun. It gave me back that frustrated-but-keep-going vibe. Like an old arcade game but without being cheap. When you beat the levels and bosses you get a real sense of satisfaction because on your first few tries you'd swear it's impossible to beat the boss or level, then when you finally do....its elation. Lol. I have to get a ps4 soon for when shenmue 3 comes out. Which is ironic to say given the overall discussion of this thread, lol.

I get what the TC is saying, games that focus on cinematics, aren't very entertaining. They have low replay value, unless they come with a good multiplayer component with it.

Freud also though eveyone just wanted to have sex with their own mom lol

The fuk?

MGS has ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS been focused on a very cinematic experience with not only Gameplay and stealth but also mega tons of cut scenes and story.

Not sure who you're trying to educate on games here but talking to a long time MGS fan like myself and making gross statements about the series that are clearly FALSE don't help your case here...like at all.

So that was a massive FAIL.

Maybe you're the one who needs to "play some real videogames" before making arguments that DON'T support your claims.

Your a liar

Do you consider gaming an art?

If so, than whats the problem? Art happens in all forms.

This gave me a good laugh.

*You're*

And if you liked the MGS series at any time...then you just killed your own argument.

You're Welcome, have a nice day.

BTW:

The funniest part about you using MGS as a reference here is that it's MGS itself that could be given credit for being the FIRST "cinematic" videogame experience on consoles. SMDH.

I do, but the same way that I have certain qualities that make a song or poem enjoyable; there are certain things that make a game enjoyable. I love rap and rap is an art form, but I dont like watered down mumble rap that just focuses on hooks and catcty subject material.

@kod: What is your favorite videogame?

I agree that the cinematic revolution of games has become tired. As many have mentioned, they don't need to go away but do need to be dialed back. Personally I think Sony is one of the major offenders in this department. Of their major games coming out, most of them seem to be aiming for this market. God of War, Last of Us 2, Days Gone, etc., all seem to feel like the same core game but with different themes laid on top. Its similar to the movie industry as well. The new trailer for Rampage looks almost identical to San Andres and Jumanji. Three movies with the Rock that all look the same but with different themes, and look terrible. I think this idea permeates more than just games, and its becoming tired. This world is saturated with emulation rather than innovation and that needs to change.

This thread has brought out users with post counts less then 1000, that means even lurkers are willing to speak their mind on this and agree that the market is over saturated with cinematic games

But that does not make it any less enjoyable to other people or any less an art form or song. At this point you're just getting into your own personal preferences, but thats about it. Games are no different. I play everything from poker to an MMORPG ive played since 1998 to the many cinematic games ive beat. It all really just depends on how interesting the game looks. I love having RPG characters ive built over nearly 20 years and then i also love being able to pick up a cinematic game like COD WW2 and beat it in 4 hours. It all just depends on what im in the mood for and the cinematic or different games, don't hold any less value from the last.

As for my favorite game, i really don't know. I can tell you the games i consistently go to once a year or more than that is ultima online, magic the gathering, bioshock 1-3, old marios and megamans. One or more of those tend to be in rotation at all times.

You aren't as hardcore of a gamer as you think you are.

Neither are you.

Bought out? Nobody in the world gives enough shits to try to influence opinions on this board. How highly do you think of yourself?

First word is wrong, so I immediately have trouble taking what you post serious. I will make this quick and simple for you, because that is all your brain can handle. This is SW a whole board devoted to arguing opinions, you are a mod you should know this. If people disagree they can argue or move on. But you sit in the middle and get butthurt and not offer anything of substance to refute my claims.

Your brain is sad.

Sounds like someone tried to play Obduction and the puzzles were too hard

You aren't able to articulate a sentence or display any sign of education as well as you think you can. Tis pathetic laddy!

Jesus lol, you post the same way here as you do in political threads.

Think of it this way, games have shifted over to loot boxes and microtransactions. Are they still enjoyable? Yes. But are they more enjoyable then games that come full content upon release? no. Just like with cinematic gaming, there is a place for it; but the over-saturation is ridiculous!

Never heard of it, been busy dominating in Nioh and tekken 7!

The first Toy Story doesn't look much better, sure the lighting is really good probably because of the ray tracing, but the textures are bland.

https://www.gamespot.com/forums/system-wars-314159282/crysis-vs-toy-story-graphics-26774555/

Blast from the past my friend

Well, if I was called a "hardcore" gamer, I know I'd be insulted at this point.

@Mercenary848: I didn't agree with that thesis then, and I don't now. It rests solely on specific technical minutiae. When we consider lighting, shadows, and reflections that are more natural in Toy Story, that's all well and good - but that's not how our visual systems work. We are highly specializing holistic image processing machines. Our perceptual systems do not score images based on separate analysis of individual image rendering dimensions. Instead, they rapidly take in a course schematic of the image to recognize the general context, and then fill in, in parallel, details like color, motion, etc to assess the image's "realism". What this means is that "cartoony" graphics are recognized as cartoony. A lack of texture detail is recognized as incorrect. But this is all done through holistic processing - the image feels, in sum, more natural or not. Toy Story winds up delivering soothing light and soft edges. That's it. It's pleasing to the eye, but not represented as realistic.

More broadly, what this means is artistry and detail density are far more important for whether we trick the mind than sick frame-wise ray tracing. Don't let the numbers on paper fool you, nobody's brain is going to take this

To be as realistic as this

It's simply not how our brains are wired. The sum of the parts is dramatically weighted towards "this is a real location" in games like UC4 thanks to astounding artistry overcoming some smooth edges and better lighting in Pixar's seminal work

Being able to play with a variety of game types whenever we wish is a great thing about gaming this gen. People that want all games to be similar are short sighted.

I play whatever kind of game that I wish to. Some of you people really need to just stop trying to tell others what they should enjoy. If I want to play a cinematic game then I damn well am going to do that and no I am not going to just watch a movie instead.

There must be a balance of good graphics, gameplay, and story for me to consider a game great. Just some examples, IMHO, Battlefront 1 was gorgeous, but the gameplay was so boring and awful (you literally ran over to pick up a token after shooting an enemy in single player, LOL), you turn into a hero for a short time, LOL. The story???

I think Horizon Zero Dawn nailed it with balance between graphics, gameplay, and story. Witcher 3 was great, too.

Oh god another "if you don't agree with me you're wrong" thread. Get over yourself tc, you're not nearly as clever as you think you are.