No really, think about all the games you're playing, and the games you're hyped up for. Are you hyped up for something like X, Smash Bros, Tales of Xillia, or The Last of Us because of graphics specifically?

Now that the PS4 has been announced, and some games shown, I feel our threads are exploding with optimistic thoughts that PS4 will vastly outsell the Wii U, and I always hear graphics are the reason.

Then I was thinking, I'm really excited to play Pandora's Tower, and Tales of Xillia in the future. Hm.

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Obviously graphics do matter, I'm very excited to play HD Nintendo games on the Wii U, but do they control what you buy?

I like beautiful visuals and new technology gives new possibilities for more beauty. I'm excited to play Pandora's Tower too. But I'm excited despite it's 6th gen graphics. I'd be more excited if it had at least current gen graphics.

Notice that I didn't use the word "realistic". I'm not looking forward to more realistic graphics with the upcoming next gen consoles. I'm looking forward to beauty that only next gen tech can give me.

I actually don't like the people screaming Graphics! for X.

Hell Xenoblade had some of the worst graphics then gen but made up for it with the best aesthetics. (Really hope Monolith sees that, I don't like the X palette so far.)

Graphics do matter when you're trying to sell an engine though.

Oh and I find that Tales of Vesperia looks better than Xillia does to me. It has just a..."softer" look that appeals to me more.

Finding myself posting this a lot.

Graphics are important, for sure. This is, for the most part, a visual medium. We experience games with our eyes and our ears as well as our thumbs and index fingers.

But they are nowhere near the importance of game mechanics and gameplay.

I'm much more attracted to The Last of Us because of the interesting ideas and design elements buried inside the game. I'm not so attracted to the lighting or how nice the grass looks.

the problem with threads like these is that they always carry the assumption that better hardware is automatically only useful for better visuals
when there is a vast array of elements that go into making games that can be improved beyond graphics

edit: and obviously graphics do matter... without visual input from a game how would you play it?

For me it's always a combination of factors with graphics included. A game with poor graphics (taking into account games that are specifically old school or near enough the average of the genre) need very good to phenomenal gameplay/story to compensate. A game with good to very good graphics can get away with only good to very good gameplay/story. Similarly a game with phenomenal graphics can sometimes get away with mediocre gameplay/story (though not poor gameplay/story, the scale I measure is not even across the board).

Of course it dose, I like a variety with graphics. This gen has way to many dev using the unreal engine 3 making games look identical.

of course graphics matter, but cartoonish and non realistic graphics are still graphics. if you mean do photo realistic graphics matter than no, if the style fits the game and looks good than its good. if say Mario went realistic it would look shit and stupid and no matter how photorealistic it is it would still be bad graphics

I think a LOT of people keep confusing Graphics for Aesthetics.

Watch the vid above.