Quote:
|
So with that said and leaving aside realism, however we define that word, how important is graphical fidelity versus visual style? I come down on the visual style side of the debate, but that's because I fundamentally don't care if videogames resemble real life anyhow. As far as I am concerned, Mass Effect could have been rendered to look like a flat shaded anime and I would have been fine with it (as long as there were no schoolgirls shooting stars out of wands at people). That's just my personal preference and I'm not saying anybody else should think the same way. Besides, it's not an either/or proposition. It's just that if I had to make the choice, I would prefer that developers spend their time on something other than making their game look as much like what I've seen with my own eyes in real life.
|
Good separation of "realism" and "graphical fidelity", I'll accept those definitions, though I will note that one does not exist without the other on some level.
Even with your definition of "graphical fidelity", however, I still think the question as stated is moot. A game with graphical fidelity will always have a visual style, because the developers must always choose their color palette and what actual items and environments they render and so on. Take the example of Mass Effect 2, apparently considered to have high graphical fidelity with beard stubble and such, yet also has high visual style with glowing scars and so on. The two are just inseparable.
So... the question as stated (or as I assumed it was stated) of "graphical fidelity and _NO_visual style" vs. "visual style and _NO_ graphical fidelity" is moot, because you can't separate the two.
However, a valid question then is:
"fantastic graphical fidelity and _POOR_ visual style vs. "fantastic visual style and _POOR_ graphical fidelity"
I can imagine a game with great graphical fidelity and poor visual style, but I'm having trouble imagining a game with great visual style and truly poor graphical fidelity. What would be an example of that? I guess World of Goo and WoW and Wind Waker count?
In that case, if I had to live in a world of only one or the other from now on, I would have to choose visual style. A game with great graphical fidelity but poor visual style has something noticeably bad about it (see Everquest 2 and Medal of Honor below), but a game with great visual style and poor graphical fidelity has nothing noticeably bad about it. So the choice seems obvious -- one with something bad, and the other with nothing bad. Uhh... the one with nothing bad, please?