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Gameplay or Graphics?

Choose wisely

  • Graphics, cutting edge

  • Gameplay, oh so much fun


Results are only viewable after voting.

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Both.

If a game has great gameplay but runs at 22fps and looks terrible. Then i wont enjoy it.
 

ShadowNate

Member
Both to some degree. I don't want cutting edge graphics, and I don't care much for realistic look. But I want a decent effort at the art and most importantly whatever is going on on the screen has to be discernible. I am a bit of sucker for cool water effects and reflections though (still does not have to be in realistic graphics).

I'll play old games, but not ones with so horrible graphics that you cannot tell what you're looking at or interacting with. I particularly dislike graphics where the art is like a child experimented with MS Paint or the characters look like six squares connected together.

Gameplay has to be engaging for sure. I don't need hours of repetitive quests, huge maps, or multiple paths and endings if going through the game again requires another like 10+ hours. But I like smart gameplay design, original mechanic(s), relatively short but fun loops, tight controls. If they do experimental stuff, I'd like those to be as refined as possible. And I hate most 3d platformers in first person mode with a vengeance.

Music plays a big part too to be honest. And the story. Probably some good humour in the mix.
 
graphics are simply a nice to have. As long as a game runs well and has engaging mechanics.

Those are my highest priorities for a game, i can even be lenient on story if the mechanics are good enough.

Hell instead of playing all these new games in my backlog , I’m currently playing through Manhunt lol
 
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Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Gameplay, I would rather have a game with the complexity, variation and depth of ready player one but with PS4 visials, then GTA5 complexity but with infinity war cgi graphics.
 

GymWolf

Member
Gameplay is obviously king, but graphic is very important aswell.

Even elden ring still has an overall pleasant level of graphic\animations, the exact same game with ps1 graphic\animations would be much worse, nobody can deny that.

Personally i care more about good animations than raw graphic.
 
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KXVXII9X

Member
Good overall presentation (Art direction, sound design, level design, atmosphere) and things like great animation physics and A.I. is what I need. I can't separate them.

Graphics is too broad. There are some games with "good" graphics that have horrible animations and physics and walk like they have cardboard up their butt.

I see this argument a lot and I think what some people mean about graphics is overall presentation. It's why something like Mario Odyssey or Ori and the Blind Forest/Will of the Wisp look and play so good while being less graphically demanding.

I won't play games that sacrifice one or the other.
 

SeraphJan

Member
Little do people know that, graphic is a part of gameplay

Gameplay including three set pieces, visual(input), control(output), interactivity(when output changes the outcome of the input)

The aesthetic of sensation (meaning human in nature will appreciate good visual quality by instinct, same goes to music and sound) is one of the 7 aesthetic of game design, meaning a game designer had to work really hard to achieve its visual goal. It does not have to be photorealism, but depend on his vision, and his choice of art style, pursing visual quality within his vision and scope is very important part of game design.

So, in that regard, I've voted Gameplay
 
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Y0ssarian

Banned
Gameplay I guess, I probably wouldn't touch anything before the SNES/Genesis era though except Mega Man and Phantasy Star 1
 
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mxbison

Member
Obviously gameplay, but a great game should have both.

That doesn't have to mean AAA production value. There were lots of great looking Indie and AA games last gen.
 

Wohc

Banned
Gameplay of course. I can spend 100 hours in a pixelart game with great gameplay and not even 5 in an eyecatcher game with boring gameplay.
 
A game cant be great without both.
Minecraft-Tips-Parents.jpeg
 

supernova8

Banned
A game with shit graphics but great gameplay can be a good game.
A game with shit gameplay but good graphics is almost never a good game.
 
Both is the correct answer, just started playing Uncharted Lost Legacy and that has both. Also Gears 5 Hivebusters, Elden Ring is great but I am playing and feel it should look a lot better to be honest. A perfect example of great graphics but bad gameplay is a David Cage game.
 

supernova8

Banned
Both is the correct answer, just started playing Uncharted Lost Legacy and that has both. Also Gears 5 Hivebusters, Elden Ring is great but I am playing and feel it should look a lot better to be honest. A perfect example of great graphics but bad gameplay is a David Cage game.

The annoying ones are where they try to go for a realistic look and fail. I prefer it when they don't even try. That's why Zelda BOTW (and even Wind Waker before it) will probably end up being timeless games that never really "look shit" because they succeeded in their chosen art style.
 
The annoying ones are where they try to go for a realistic look and fail. I prefer it when they don't even try. That's why Zelda BOTW (and even Wind Waker before it) will probably end up being timeless games that never really "look shit" because they succeeded in their chosen art style.
Yeah ER artstyle is superb but it could use a higher fidelity I feel.
 

Akuji

Member
If the game looks horrible but plays well i dont play it.

If a game looks awesome but sucks, i dont play it.

Games that only Do one of those Things well dont cut it for me.

Game needs to be atleast valheim Level graphics.
 

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Gameplay first. But I love great graphics. Has to be 60fps tho.

I love getting immersed through a good looking world but if the game plays like shit it'll be all for naught
 
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Gandih42

Member
In spirit of the question - definitely gameplay.

That being said I definitely agree with many other posters here - good VISUALS can completement gameplay and vice versa. Therefore a really well made game would have good gameplay and good visuals that both elevate the experience. Without any visuals the game may just be numbers and data reacting to inputs, without gameplay the visuals are a movie (generally speaking).

At the extremes I would say that amazing visuals can make up for limited gameplay, to a certain limit. Games like Ryse, The Order 1886 could be considered examples where the gameplay suffered too much in favor of graphical fidelity and could not carry the experience. On the other end, it is my impression that the gameplay of The Last of Us 2 is considered good, coupled with really amazing visuals (at the very least technically) that make for a great game.

One of my favorite games at the moment is Risk of Rain 2. Technically the visuals aren't impressive but they are very fitting for the gameplay and uses an artstyle I'd consider pretty timeless.

In the end, if gameplay was the x-axis and graphics was the y-axis, I just want games to exist at all conceivable extremes.
 
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