Originally posted by Anthur
If you fall for the looks you are either very young or not very smart. Gameplay >> Graphics.

Or maybe they like good graphics???

Originally posted by tank017
 

 if my avatar was a giant block for a body and a bunch of smaller blocks to make up the limbs I'd be turned off a bit

That's why I will never try minecraft.

graphics = 40%

class balance = 40%

rest = 20%

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/graphics-vs.-aesthetics

Aesthetics matter, not graphics.

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by tank017
 

 if my avatar was a giant block for a body and a bunch of smaller blocks to make up the limbs I'd be turned off a bit

That's why I will never try minecraft.

im sorry i have and will totally dissagree.  If Minecraft and TONS AND TONS of content and there was stuff to do, you beat your sweet a$$ i would be putting minecraft first before anything else.  Now if there was a game that had all the options content, gameplay so on so on, then i will see how the game is graphically but graphics doesnt factor in on if i will buy it or not.

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by tank017
 

 if my avatar was a giant block for a body and a bunch of smaller blocks to make up the limbs I'd be turned off a bit

That's why I will never try minecraft.

im sorry i have and will totally dissagree.  If Minecraft and TONS AND TONS of content and there was stuff to do, you beat your sweet a$$ i would be putting minecraft first before anything else.  Now if there was a game that had all the options content, gameplay so on so on, then i will see how the game is graphically but graphics doesnt factor in on if i will buy it or not.

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by tank017
 

 if my avatar was a giant block for a body and a bunch of smaller blocks to make up the limbs I'd be turned off a bit

That's why I will never try minecraft.

im sorry i have and will totally dissagree.  If Minecraft and TONS AND TONS of content and there was stuff to do, you beat your sweet a$$ i would be putting minecraft first before anything else.  Now if there was a game that had all the options content, gameplay so on so on, then i will see how the game is graphically but graphics doesnt factor in on if i will buy it or not.

I like a game that has a good character gen. I like a game which has good animations. WoW graphics are fine. I don't need super detailed super real visuals.

I think the question should have been "Do graphics matter to Gamers", because facebook and other games draw lots of people and they have crappy graphics.

There is a lot to graphics and how much each part matters differs from person to person.

Example Wow has horrible textures,the animations are good the lighting/shaders are bad.

FFXi has low resolution textures but the texture work is very good,if they were high res  they would be among the best in the industry because of detail and realism.

Some games have hi res but the animations are ridiculous,suepr fast that the eye can barely follow them,the textures although hi res look cheap nd lighting is usually weak in most games.

I have noticed some people get excited over just the outer look.There is again another facet to graphics and that is depth or 3d quality.A perfect example i like to use is buildings.It is VERY easy to make a 2d model and cover the outside with a nice texture/s.However it takes at least 50-100% more effort to make insides to buildings and create all kinds of assests inside.

Some games go even further,in some places in Archeage,yo ucan actually go through a window,most games windows are merely a fake texture,no realism to the window at all.Many houses are just instances.

Thre is a heck of a lot of criteria to look for when talking graphics.I can accept what FFXI did ,good textures low res.if the textures looked cheap and unrealistic like many in wow and low res ,then no i would not be happy.I want a rock to look like a rock texture and a tree to look like a tree texture.

Vanguard did a real good job for it's time,pathways and rocks looked realistic,buildings and bricks looked real and trees actually could be felled.lighting/shaders make a big difference in making textures look real,example cloth like or metal like.

I myself am a graphics whore so yes they do matter but then again, I still play older mmo's like Asheron's Call and sometimes I'll return to Meridian 59. Those two have some nasty bad old graphics and yet they can still pull me back.  So it's not always about the shiny and new that draws me in.

Here's a question for Pocket and anyone else. Would you get a older game with horridly old graphics yet so much content that it blows you away?

Originally posted by MaxJac

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/graphics-vs.-aesthetics

 

Aesthetics matter, not graphics.

Agree here : P

Ok this is how i see it great graphic will bring in alot of people because they think the game looks great visualy but they dont realy look into the gamplay. The problem with this though its will only hold people for a short period of time until they move onto something else because they got bored of gameplay.

While great game play and adverage graphics will bring in a smaller crowed at launch however if they have amazing gameplay the game will grow due to people telling other how fun or great it is. This way is a much more viable way for MMOs to work imo its better to grow your player base over time then have it get swamped for a few months then drop continously therefor after. There also a benefite for this aswell if people notice the populatyion growing its a good sign, however if people notice it droppping they suddenly beleive the game is dead and the population drops further.

Currently playing FF7&9, after the fiasco with GW2 and the lost shore's update i have no desire to play that game. Hell I remember when FF7 came out and I thought those graphic's were mindblowing. Graphic's do matter to a degree, but if a game lack's substance then it has no replayability.

Another game i loved was summoner had a kickass story, combat was fun, hit a loading screen, go make a pot of coffee, grab a shower. Although the game had it's fault's the gritty graphic's actually enhanced the game imho.

So in closing I guess it depend's on the game.

Tough question to admit to.

Yes, graphics are very important to the overall experience of the game and my enjoyment of it.

No, graphics alone will not keep me from playing and enjoying a game.

Or to put it another way - The better the gameplay the less "influence" the quality of graphics have.

Take for example Mount and Blade Warband graphics -

The are "meh" by anyones standards. But I could give a shit what it looks like, this is an excellent game with some serious depth to its combat, and its fun as hell.

This game will never leave my harddrive.

Same with the orginal XCom, same with Rome Total War and a few others.

A good game is a good game, and graphics cant change that.

And other good example is WoW.

I personally hate the cartoony primary color graphics of the game. And even though I dont like the direction they have gone in the last three expansions, it was (is) a great game to play. It wasnt hard for me to "overlook" my dislike of its graphic-style and enjoy playing it for total of three years plus.

But as another opposite example.

If GW2 graphics (not animations) wernt as "pretty" as they are, I doubt I'd enjoy spending as much time it the world ArenaNet created as I do.

Kind of like a nice paint job on a sports car. The paint doesnt change the performance, it just makes it more flashy to drive.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

In the MMO market, graphics are not the be all end all.  Many of us look at gameplay and/or the systems embedded in the game.  I really get a chuckle when someone knocks a MMO game's graphics, it immediately tells me that they are not a true MMO player, but someone migrating over from console games or new to the genre.

To give you an example, take Asheron's Call, very graphics dated, yet still a great game, I still go back and play it sometimes.  Then take a game like SWTOR, fantastic graphics, great lore, amazing vocals and cut scenes.  Yet the game had no magic, nothing pulling me back to the game again and again.  

You can easily use Wow as an example too, as the graphics are nothing to speak of, yet it is the top game in the market.

Good article Pokket

 I completely disagree with your post, I am an old school gamer, I cut my teeth on Muds. I've also evolved as a gamer and fully exspect my games to be graphically pleasing. You can't use older games as examples of " See this game had low end graphics yet was a sucess" because most of the examples released during a time when those graphics were good.

Graphics matter ... thats the plain and simple truth.