Poetic thief on 6/6/2009 at 14:42
I'm curious to know if there are others out there for I think I might be the only person in the world who has these crazy views.
1. I actually like 800*600 resolution the best:
I don't know if it's just me, or if it's because of my laptop LCD screen... but at higher resolutions like 1280*800, games end up looking a certain way that I don't like. I can't explain it, but games look more pixelated? and cartoonish at those high resolutions.
Especially in the Infinity Engine games like baldur's gate. For some reason, the super high resolutions look more pixelated, cartoonish and "thin," whereas in 800*600, they graphics have a rounder, fuller look,and the smoke effects look better.
I am not sure why this is. I have a theory:
800*600 is more blurry, and so smoke effects e.g. look fuller, whereas at higher resolutions, the added detail makes you see more of the individual dots that make up the smoke effect, and thus they have a more pixelated look.
I am still not sure about this, and would love to hear some other explanations if there is anyone else out there who prefers lower resolutions(I can't be the only madman out there :joke: !)
2. I actually prefer beautifully drawn 2-D graphics like seen in Icewind Dale or Temple of Elemental Evil to 3-D graphics.
And when it comes to 3-D, I prefer the more iconic, old school 3-D as seen in Deus Ex 1 or System shock 2 to the newer stuff. Maybe it's the uncanny valley effect, but in newer 3-D games the differences between the environments and real life are somehow more pronounced. I am more conscious of how "this is not real" when playing the next gen game. in the old school 3-D, I am just immersed in the game world.
gunsmoke on 6/6/2009 at 14:57
I can understand the older graphical styles and whatnot having sentimental value, and they do have plenty of charm. I like high resolutions and am glad the textures aren't blurry and the tires on cars aren't octagons anymore.
Harvester on 6/6/2009 at 15:06
I don't prefer older graphics and lower resolutions, but I don't mind them.
Koki on 6/6/2009 at 15:41
Low-poly models generally look better pixelated. As you said, lower resolution is beggar's blur so cube heads don't stick out so badly.
I agree with you about 3D when it comes to isometric RPGs - ToEE, IWD2, whatever - I just can't get into them for some reason. I generally don't have problems with other genres though.
catbarf on 6/6/2009 at 15:42
I only mind low resolutions when it becomes difficult to tell what it is I'm looking at.
vurt on 6/6/2009 at 15:55
Quote Posted by Poetic thief
2. I actually prefer beautifully drawn 2-D graphics like seen in Icewind Dale or Temple of Elemental Evil to 3-D graphics.
I don't think it's that black/white.. It all depends on how talanted their gfx artists are. 2D games often have a more distinctive look, 3D can often look very generic, much because they use the same tools or engine to create the graphics. A game that i particularly dislike when it comes to 3D graphics is LOTRO, it has no style at all and the colors/textures are often terrible.
And yeah it's because of your laptop screen too, you must play the game at its native resolution, otherwise the graphics will become blurry and will overall lack detail. 3D games will lack depth if you play them in a non-native resolution and they will look overall crappy, imo..
Personally i cant stand Deus Ex graphics etc and longer.. ok, it's bearable for in-door (i can still play System Shock 2..) but for outside levels it looks terrible, especielly the lightning (lack of) and that everything seems to be created out of cardboard boxes (trees included) - not very atmospheric. I even hated LEGO as a kid because of how blocky and unrealstic it looked and that it had no real "style", so i guess i've always been a gfx whore :cheeky:
gunsmoke on 6/6/2009 at 15:59
I must have some super duper laptop, because my native is 1280x800, but whatever the resolution there is no change in quality. Kinda cool feature I have is that when you play a game in 4:3, it automatically black bars the sides (you can switch this feature off if you want), so it avoids the stretching.
doctorfrog on 6/6/2009 at 17:02
I prefer older graphics at higher resolutions. Partly, because I usually have a PC that's behind the curve and playing yesteryear's AAA titles at full-res is a mild thrill, like I'm a millionaire or something. Partly, because sometimes those old graphics still look amazing when given the FSAA treatment, and the higher resolutions give them a greater depth of field.
Newer games are nice, but sometimes they look a little too detailed, and make too much use of warping effects and such, like UT3 or the Transformers movie.
Poetic thief on 6/6/2009 at 17:04
I guess I didn't express myself clearly in my original post, for a few people have misinterpreted me.
I'll try to find some screenshots, but if anyone has played an Infinity Engine game with the widescreen mod, they should see what I'm talking about.
In the higher resolutions, there seems to be more pixels and the game looks more cartoonish.
Even outside of gaming, I notice this difference. Try putting your regular desktop resolution to 800*600 for a long time. Then suddenly switch to a really high resolution. The higher resolution will kind of "pixelated" at first until you get accustomed to it. "pixelated" isn't quite the word I'm looking for, but I can't think of another. It's hard to explain.
Or better yet: try opening any picture in an image viewer and increase the sharpness of the picture.
As you increase the sharpness, the pic will start to look more and more pixelated. I think that this has something to do with what I'm talking about.
june gloom on 6/6/2009 at 18:56
Fallout 1 being mostly a bunch of brown and green sprites on a bunch of brown and brown tiles is a good part of its charm.
