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What's Your Most Embarrassing "Graphics Will Never Look Better" Moment.
- Thread starter Video Games Are Dumb
- Start date
Prince of Persia on the Amiga. I could get my head around how character animation could get any better...
Star Fox 64
Not embarrassed, this is still wonderful work.
Yeah this is my mention too! Lylat Wars was my first N64 game I got with the system after I played it on a demo-station and wow was I blown away as a kid.
Microcosm on the Amiga CD32, I thought FMV was going to be the pinnacle of graphics. My tiny kid brain could not comprehend what 3D graphics would become. I used to dream of the equivalent of GTA but in full FMV with every choice you'd think of making having been prerecorded in video.
Tron 2.0 from 2003:
Would be about the closest thing, as I remember thinking something like "I can't think of anything to add to make this look and feel more like Tron".
But now these days I know that little bit of Daft Punk, HDR and possibly VR-gameplay would make it feel more like Tron. Here is hoping for Tron 3.0.
Would be about the closest thing, as I remember thinking something like "I can't think of anything to add to make this look and feel more like Tron".
But now these days I know that little bit of Daft Punk, HDR and possibly VR-gameplay would make it feel more like Tron. Here is hoping for Tron 3.0.
I remember that. I used to work at an independent game shop at the time and we used to have a PS2, a 5.1 surround sound system and a controller set-up with the start of the game ready to play. It used to blow customers minds. The Normandy beach scene alone would get people buying PS2s on the spot.
I thought the PSP was the FUTURE of gaming. Even with other consoles out, to me, it was going to drive the industry crazy, and it had the BEST graphics. Clealy, bit out of my mind...
People have covered most of the older ones I'd have referenced, but I want to give a shout-out to the garages you could populate and explore in PGR3 on the Xbox 360. That was my first HD game, running on a brand-new TV with fancy composite cables, and I remember thinking that was it - there was nowhere to go from there:
Looking back, the cars still look sort of adequate, but the environments are incredibly basic.
Looking back, the cars still look sort of adequate, but the environments are incredibly basic.
I remember being surprised by my school friend saying video games head peaked and there was no reason to go any further .... with Sonic 3. He didn't believe me when I said things would only get better.
That said, when I saw the future in an arcade a few years later, I wasn't sure where else graphics could go...
Trust me, seeing SCUD Race in real life on an actual cabinet in 1996 was mind blowing. There was nothing else even in the same ballpark. Even in the parking lot of said ballpark. It was the future.
Particularly in the Sega Saturn magazine where they were acting like it would save the console from certain doom, the devs knew all the tricks, etc.. it didn't even release on the Saturn in the end (I don't think?)
That said, when I saw the future in an arcade a few years later, I wasn't sure where else graphics could go...
Trust me, seeing SCUD Race in real life on an actual cabinet in 1996 was mind blowing. There was nothing else even in the same ballpark. Even in the parking lot of said ballpark. It was the future.
lol I remember this too.
Particularly in the Sega Saturn magazine where they were acting like it would save the console from certain doom, the devs knew all the tricks, etc.. it didn't even release on the Saturn in the end (I don't think?)
Killer Instinct arcade ... the first time I saw it , I immediately thought that in a home console there would never be anything like this
Pinnacle Squaresoft that time.
Though I'm not exactly embarrassed; XII, XIII, even XV was...
Averagely good in my opinion.
I asked my mom to return resident evil cause I was too scared to play it. I barely got anywhere in it and I was 14! This happened :
and I didn't want to play anymore. How could it be so realistic! And I just started! I'll never make it to the end.
Yeah, that's kinda embarrassing. At least I didn't jack off to lara croft ps1 graphics.
Oh wait I did. Oops.
and I didn't want to play anymore. How could it be so realistic! And I just started! I'll never make it to the end.
Yeah, that's kinda embarrassing. At least I didn't jack off to lara croft ps1 graphics.
Oh wait I did. Oops.
I second this. I remember being incredibly impressed.Is not embarrassing...
I just couldn't believe it was real time.
Gears of War on the Xbox 360, the train scene (bump-mapping everywhere, reflective metal textures on the train wagons, etc.)
I remember booting up this game on Christmas Eve and was blown away. I was sitting next Timm older brother telling him that "graphics can't get any better, it's almost photorealistic!" it's Tekken Tag Tournament
How wrong younger me was..
How wrong younger me was..
This is a good one.This screenshot I saw in a magazine back in the day.
I was like 11 when I saw this and couldn't believe it.
I think it was for promotion purposes, I was acutally there all day playing SM64 and Shadows of the Empire. My parents were looking for me because I was thirteen and they found me there lol :D
I do remember thinking Comanche 3 looked like just real life:
I didn't particularly felt this was the pinnacle of graphics, but when you think it looks like just like real life it's kind of implied.
I didn't particularly felt this was the pinnacle of graphics, but when you think it looks like just like real life it's kind of implied.
It still blows my mind how developers were able to get such good results out of the MD after the system was seven years old.I think it was 1995. We went to rent a new baseball cause my dad loved playing home run derby. World Series Baseball for Sega Genesis. Told my dad I don't see how games can look any better. It was basically real life. I was 12.
Same. Even Sonic Adventure already was mad crazy looking for the time...
This and Virtua Fighter 3 looking like the end of the graphical rainbow.
The Dreamcast was the shit back in the day, so many games blew me away: soul Calibur, Virtua tennis, Shenmue, NBA 2k...
Late-gen PS1 games like Chrono Cross was where I thought "it just won't get better." But generationally, I think the art direction held up a lot better than early, low-res 3D games. I remember them advertising "photorealistic graphics" on a Home Shopping Network program on Donkey Kong Country when I was, god, like 8? That was another contender for "won't get better." And of course Mega Man's spinning animation in like, 4 I think? When he earns a power up.
I don't believe I ever thought graphics couldn't get better. I do remember "looking forward" to the time when we got to where things were photo realistic.
However, these days I'm pretty satisfied with visuals, and have been since around the release of the Wii U. I've always been more of a Nintendo gamer, and I remember the Wii era visuals feeling pretty painful compared to what the other platforms were doing. Things have certainly gotten better since then, especially on PC and other platforms, but I find myself pretty content with things now. Perhaps it was due to the Wii's lack of graphical power that taught me visuals weren't everything, and gameplay/fun is always the most important.
And of course, it's always great to experience those "wow" moments when visuals impress, don't get me wrong. But I'd much prefer to see games focus more on performance, playability, and expanded concepts than pure graphical fidelity nowadays.
However, these days I'm pretty satisfied with visuals, and have been since around the release of the Wii U. I've always been more of a Nintendo gamer, and I remember the Wii era visuals feeling pretty painful compared to what the other platforms were doing. Things have certainly gotten better since then, especially on PC and other platforms, but I find myself pretty content with things now. Perhaps it was due to the Wii's lack of graphical power that taught me visuals weren't everything, and gameplay/fun is always the most important.
And of course, it's always great to experience those "wow" moments when visuals impress, don't get me wrong. But I'd much prefer to see games focus more on performance, playability, and expanded concepts than pure graphical fidelity nowadays.
I asked my mom to return resident evil cause I was too scared to play it. I barely got anywhere in it and I was 14! This happened :
and I didn't want to play anymore. How could it be so realistic! And I just started! I'll never make it to the end.
Yeah, that's kinda embarrassing. At least I didn't jack off to lara croft ps1 graphics.
Oh wait I did. Oops.
I wish I could see some of these games and screenshots as they were originally viewed on an old CRT tv. Modern high res screens make these look even worse than they did at the time.
This thread reminds me of a time I was going through some of my old gaming magazines at my parents house. In an issue of, I want to say Tips & Tricks that had a guide for Crash Bandicoot: Warped, there was a comment on one of the Coco jet ski levels that said this was "the most realistic water ever seen in a game" or something similar.
I've
You're right that its aged pretty damn well for a 2004 game. But I've played it so many times, that I've started... noticing things. Like a fence in Water Hazard that is just a 2d texture. And the fact that the the Combine AR3 and its ammo pickups make no visual sense, cause it was repurposed from a single-shot magazine incendiary rifle in the beta.
(Half-Life 2 is my favorite FPS of all time. I'm allowed to pick on it more than most people, lol.)
You're right that its aged pretty damn well for a 2004 game. But I've played it so many times, that I've started... noticing things. Like a fence in Water Hazard that is just a 2d texture. And the fact that the the Combine AR3 and its ammo pickups make no visual sense, cause it was repurposed from a single-shot magazine incendiary rifle in the beta.
(Half-Life 2 is my favorite FPS of all time. I'm allowed to pick on it more than most people, lol.)
The DE looks so beautiful and I'm trying really hard not to buy it because I have too many games on the run as it is lmao. It would be good to mass teutonic knights again though....2000: Wow Age of Empires II is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
2020: Wow Age of Empires II is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
I like it without the bloom which I find makes the image pretty smudged. That comparison really makes it stand out how much muddier it is with the post processing effects. Without them DE looks hawt.
Yeah. Have I been blown away by a game only to look back at it years later and think "oh wow this hasn't aged well"? Lots of times. Thinking technology was somehow going to stop and no more improvements would occur, ever? Not really.
I never thought things "couldn't get better", but it's pretty embarrassing that it took the better part of a decade for games to catch up to Crysis.
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It's hard to pinpoint one example, but a recent one for me is P.T.
The first time I've played the demo, I had to stop because it felt way too real (uncanny valley). Add in the tense atmosphere and you get a really effed up experience.
I mean look at this:
But I guess this is not embarassing enough. So I'll go with Metal Gear Solid 2. We all thought the attention to detail + graphics was out of this world.
I mean, the game still looks good 15+ years later:
Although that's probably not from V1.0, MGS2 is one game that was really firing on all cylinders (ok, maybe not the story).
The first time I've played the demo, I had to stop because it felt way too real (uncanny valley). Add in the tense atmosphere and you get a really effed up experience.
I mean look at this:
But I guess this is not embarassing enough. So I'll go with Metal Gear Solid 2. We all thought the attention to detail + graphics was out of this world.
I mean, the game still looks good 15+ years later:
Although that's probably not from V1.0, MGS2 is one game that was really firing on all cylinders (ok, maybe not the story).
That's pretty much where I am.
I distinctly remember being a teenager in a local bowling alley arcade and looking at the marque for the original Contra:
I thought to myself: Games will eventually look like that.
And to be fair, we're getting pretty damn close.
Unreal was mine for sure. I remember seeing the opening level at a friends house on his older brothers computer and it absolutely blew my mind. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen. I thought we'd peaked. In my mind it looked like Avatar.
It definitely didn't.
Hm, I don't think I've ever had a moment where I've thought we've reached the peak of graphics.
But I've obviously had moments where a specific game made me ay, "Holy shit. This is next gen."
SSX was one of those games for me.
But I've obviously had moments where a specific game made me ay, "Holy shit. This is next gen."
SSX was one of those games for me.
Man I came here to post exact same thing. My 10 year old brain could not believe it'll get better than this, ever.As a kid seeing Mortal Kombat in the arcade, i was just blown away how real the characters looked. I was thinking there's no way it can look anymore realer than this.
I think we have grown to become less naive in regards to what can be done with computer generated graphics. With that said I do believe that there will be a bit of a plateau in regards to what can be accomplished without pulling people out of an experience. I don't know how much better we want things to get outside of collision detection with hair and various objects, interactive environments, AI, animation, and framerate. Once games truly achieve something like the teaser for Hellblade 2, I'd say we're just about done. If we keep pushing too much further into reality, then really the best looking games of all time are those old AMV games from the 80s. We still need a bit of suspension of disbelief so we know that what we are playing isn't real life, but still just a game.
I do love these nostalgia trips though.
I do love these nostalgia trips though.
I remember it exactly - it was Christmas 2007, I was 11 years old and I had gotten the Call of Duty Legacy thing that came with Finest Hour and Big Red One for my PS2. Now, for some context, I had only gotten my PS2 the previous Christmas and all the games I'd gotten so far (which I think was like maybe four or five at that point) were cartoony ones, so when I loaded up both games for the first time on my TV, I was fucking blown away.
This was THE MOST realistic looking thing to me. I was (and still am) a huge history buff and I thought this looked just like the WW2 documentaries I'd watch on History Channel. I legit couldn't think of how they could make it look more like the war, my 11 year old self was amazed. Legit thought this was as good as games got.
This was THE MOST realistic looking thing to me. I was (and still am) a huge history buff and I thought this looked just like the WW2 documentaries I'd watch on History Channel. I legit couldn't think of how they could make it look more like the war, my 11 year old self was amazed. Legit thought this was as good as games got.
That is the first thing that came in mind as well. Always LOVED the FMV RE2 sequence back in the day. But we just didn't know any better./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49904509/resident_evil_2.0.0.jpg)
Remember thinking "someday gameplay might look as good as this and then there'll be nowhere else to go!"
20 years later:
