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Originally Posted by EVOLghost
and as for zelda 2.....sidescrolling bothered me way too much for me to play it.
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I don't want to make any accusations, but -- and correct me if I'm wrong, lovers-of-zelda-2-who-have-beaten-the-game-or-something -- I tend to think the people who like Zelda 2 never played very far into it. The game actually gets insanely difficult and unfair after a certain point -- it gets downright frustrating, tedious, and ridiculous. I think they had lots of good ideas with it, but it's much easier to appreciate if you don't play through the whole thing. If I played it for 30 minutes and put it away, I would've probably said, "Yeah! Genius game!" It's a game you REALLY have to invest yourself into, and even then, it's downright endless at times (so, in a way, it's kinda like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, but without all the fun!). I do prefer the game to the first Zelda, and I do wish they would've implemented some of the stuff for later Zeldas (er, besides the side scrolling CD-i Zeldas, haha)... but yeah.
As for graphics, 16-bit is my thing too, I'm not into GRAPHICS, perse, I'm into ARTISTRY. A game like ICO "looks" better thna just about any game out there, even if it "Technically" doesn't. Ico.. wow.. I am into artistry -- I'm also into atmosphere.
That sense of space... inertia.. the atmosphere brought on by the sheer artistry.. is way more appealing to me than a "Technically" "better-looking" game like Halo, which is just really really shiny.
To be honest, I think Rez is probably the best "looking" game ever..
The game is really just simple-as-hell lines and colors. To see it in motion is truely a thing of beauty, though.. seeing the colors exploding from all sides.. constantly flying into colors blowing up in your face.. my god.
On the other hand, a new-gen game like MIRRORS' EDGE is amazing-looking and well-made as far as its art design goes. And this is game that simply could not have been made before..
That game is going to take anyone's breath away. But, again, it's not all about polygon-pushing -- though POWER does help too. ODIN SPHERE is one great looking game -- possibly the best looking ps2 game ever, but...
....this boss KILLS your PS2. Sadly enough, the game is TOO good looking, everything is TOO detailed (this game was made by 5 people; all the art is hand drawn!)... it slows your PS2 way the fuck down.
TREASURE used this technique, actually, in Ikaruga, Gradius V, and Sin and Punishment... HUGE explosions that slow your game system down to a halt... I am pretty sure they did this on purpose, since it always happens at boss fights and shit... "hey, let's make this part SO FUCKING EPIC that it SLOWS YOUR POWERFUL SYSTEM WAY THE FUCK DOWN."
...So, yes, graphics are "overrated" -- I'd never buy a system, or a game, just cuz of the "WHOA GRAPHIX!!!!!!!!" -- but when you think of how AMAZING Super Metroid (and countless other 16-bit games)
still look... why is that? Because back then, they COULDN'T get "good graphics", so they had to make their graphics stand out in another way. Better example: Yoshi's Island (which is so detailed it plays painfully slowly on my Dreamcast!!!!!). Those detailed backgrounds and shit.. you don't usually see things like that nowadays, in games where every war torn enivoronment looks the same.. identical corridors.. etc.
Anyway, the best kind of game is the one that combines real, AMAZING artistry... with the power of the system to really push that design... look at a game like Killer7 or MadWorld... those are new-ish games that couldn't have existed in the 16bit days, and they really stand out to me as simply beautiful games, with their own individual styles... the graphics aren't going to blow away someone spoiled by Gears of War, but I think in their cases, everything comes together -- speed, atmosphere, artistry, POWER... to make a truly compelling looking game.
..but yeah, ultimately, there's a reason people still play PONG. Graphics really are the least important part of a game. But they help! I mean, there are so many awesome PS1 games -- and to a lesser extent, N64 games -- but you don't see a lot of people still playing some of those games, compared to how many people play Genesis/SNES/NES games still. Why is that? Cuz PS1 and N64 games are usually FUCKING UGLY! God, some of those PS1 games with the big blocky polygons... Bubsy 3D and shit.. ugh... and N64.. man, they should've just called it Fog64... every N64 game takes place in San Fransisco, I guess.. haha......... but, again, that's a good example of what I was saying: so many early 64/PSX games had artistry that took a backseat to the 3D design and whatever. I guess they were hoping the "3D Man" would fix the graphics by the time the games came out, haha. (for the record, by the end of 64/PSX's life, there were plenty of amazing looking games. Like Internal Section, Slap Happy Rhythm Busters, Guilty Gear, and FFIX for the PS1, and Sin/PUnishment, Jet Force Gemini, Majora's Mask, and .. sigh .. PERFECT DARK for the 64. Remember how the 64 needed that "8mb Expansion Pak" just to play some of those later games though?! hah..)