Any gaming era that you hated/disliked the graphics of?

[SuperEliteGamer]

Personally i don't like 5th gens. or the graphics of any gen. bfr 4th gen graphics as much as others

[Alpha2099]

Personally i don't like 5th gens. or the graphics of any gen. bfr 4th gen graphics as much as others
...any particular reason why?

Early 5th-gen games are a bit rough because the 3D technology was still raw and unpolished. So you end up with games like Soul Blade which look incredibly blocky, or even Final Fantasy VII with the now infamous mouthless faces and block hands on characters. But as time went on the quality improved. The Legend of Dragoon has some of the best background artwork to ever grace the PlayStation, for example.

On a personal note, I tend to not be picky about graphics unless it's glaringly terrible and detracts from the gaming experience. That seldom happens though, because if the game is fun to play then I will often overlook its graphical flaws, if any exist. If I had to single any era out, it would be the "pre-modern" era, i.e. 2nd gen, because for all the amazing and innovative things that were done on the Atari 2600, the graphics ranged anywhere from brilliant (ex: Solaris) to eye-twitchingly awful (ex: Donkey Kong).

[buzz_n64]

I don't like 3D polygons on any system prior to the N64 because of low polygon count and blockiness. SNES and Genesis polygons were horrible. I felt that the N64 was the first system to smooth out most of the jagged edges and evolve 3D further.

[Lady Jaye]

The transition from 2D to 3D in the late 1990s. I find many PS1 games hard to stomach, graphics-wise, even though graphics aren't among the main factors in liking or disliking a game for me (gameplay and controls are more important). In the same way, I do have a hard time with the very early console games (the first few years of the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision era), as well as early handhelds (early Game Boy games).

Guess you can say that I do have an issue with the growing pains of a given graphical type, but even then it doesn't matter that much if the game is fun.

[Greg2600]

Yes the mid/late 90's console 3D is tough on the eyeballs without texture shading and filtering and that stuff.

[JSoup]

Despite my PS1 collection being my second largest system collection, I found buying games for the PS1 difficult. Most of them, due to that 2D to 3D polygon transition, were just boring to look at. Pretty much everything looked the same, dull colors and all.

[SpaceHarrier]

N64

Blur and fog.

But the question is about eras, and I actually like chunky PS1 graphics..

[cityside75]

Back in the 90's I was playing with leading edge PC tech like 3d accelerators and I felt like the PS1 and Saturn looked positively archaic compared to the graphics of my PC. Now, looking back I find the PS1/Saturn graphics to be far more interesting and emblematic of the era. These days I honestly think that many of those early 3d accelerated PC games look very samey and sanitized. So I guess my opinions have changed over time.

[BricatSegaFan]

I'm not very fond of current Gen graphics. They may look lifelike, but it's weird, like a lot of the characters have vacant stares or have jerky movement . Some will have hair like a ponytail bursting from their chest when they look up. Or have weird mouth movements.

This was excusable in the previous generation but now I think they would have sorted it out.

[bigbacon]

the 32bit/64bit era so sega CD 32x, saturn, PS1, N64 era. Horrible time for graphics to me and the one era of console gaming I was never into and still am not into it one bit. I had a PS1 and an N64 and was never happy with them. During that era, I think the PC started taking over for me hard core. graphics the PC had during that time was FAR beyond anything the consoles could toss out.

[sparf]

The end of the 16-bit era into early 3d. The N64 and 3d stuff on PSX and Saturn are by and large terrible to me, graphically. I get past it for the sake of story and game, but even back then I hated how it all looked. The stuff like NIGHTS that was still largely a 2D game rendered in 3D I got much more enjoyment out of. And, of course, not to mention the 2D glory that was things like Castlevania:SotN. I far preferred the sprites and effects in FF6 to FF7. It wasn't until things like FF8 took that step forward that I started being okay with things again.

To this day I really don't like Mario64, or Zelda OoT, anywhere near as well as other games before or after them, though I will admit that having played Mario Sunshine, I went back to Mario64 with a far more open mind and don't outright hate it the way I used to.

I was, however, fairly consistent about it across all platforms. For PC games, for example, I played the HECK out of Starcraft and C&C:Red Alert 2. When Warcraft 3 dropped I thought it looked like hell thanks to the rendering instead of going with sprites. The look grew on me, but My preference to this day was classic Starcraft over the look of things like Warcraft III.

Modern improvements have made that view a little less relevant. Sort of like my stance against things being in HD. They were marketing it in all the wrong ways to get to me. I saw a trailer for Pink Panther with Steve Martin in HD in a store. It looked like documentary or camcorder footage (because it wasn't shot on film, but video). It looked like a TV show, not a movie. Then there was showing Phantom of the Opera in SD and wiping it to HD. Difference was you could make out all the candles in his lair in the background. To me, that depth of field effect was important. It was a directorial choice.

And then I actually saw it marketed properly and improved and I love it now. :)

[sloan]

I'm not very fond of current Gen graphics. They may look lifelike, but it's weird, like a lot of the characters have vacant stares or have jerky movement . Some will have hair like a ponytail bursting from their chest when they look up. Or have weird mouth movements.

This was excusable in the previous generation but now I think they would have sorted it out.

The whole blank stare thing is why I own nothing newer than PS2 and Gamecube. Makes me think the games are infested with soulless zombies or something.

[mailman187666]

I've never really cared about graphics on any system. I'm a classic gamer, so I have always taken visuals with a grain of salt. PS1 may be blocky, and N64 may be foggy, but all I ever cared about was gameplay. I still love blocky Atari 2600 and even red shaded virtual boy. The only thing I've ever cared about was framerate and choppiness. Doom for 3DO comes to mind visual wise.

[The Adventurer]

I actually find 32-bit era 3d a bit charming.

What I'm not really a fan of is that brief 16-bit period when everyone was experimenting with pre-rendered 3D sprites. Like Donkey Kong Country and Sonic 3D Blast. I find them all universally ugly.


Also, at the time I found the N64 graphics to be amazing. It had superior ability to showcase large scale geometry compared to the PS1 and Saturn. But lately I've been finding its texture compression to be really distracting. PS1's pixilation is at least crisp.

I hear there are some N64s without such extreme texture compressing?

[JakeM]

I hate all the Brown and Grey colors of the current generation, I hope the FPS genre dies next gen. :/ Probably not die completely, but hopefully itll get less popular. Too many games are going for "real world" locations that are ugly and uninteresting to me. All this life like focus is getting rid of fantasy locations and characters. /rant

[Dashopepper]

My stance is that if you don't like or hate the graphics of an entire era then you should probably play more games from it. Seriously.

[8-Bit Archeology]

I hated the graphics of most ps1 games, not all mind you. I just keep seeying Cloud jump out of the train on FF7 and thinking it looked like someone trying to have popeye's build with cardboard boxes. Hahaha. I never could finish the first part if that game from how unapealling the graphics where.

I do however miss the video games that rewarded you with gorgeous cinematics. You could power through anything as long as that cinematic was comin up.

[jperryss]

I'll add my name to the first-generation-of-3D-era (PS1, N64, etc). Those graphics did not age well at all.

[retroman]

I cant say that I dislike any Gen. I find that each one is unique in its own way. Also a stepping stone to where we are today.

[Wraith Storm]

This is something that I am very passionate about so I am reposting portions of what I originally typed in the old thread "Do graphics matter to you?"

Graphics never really bothered me much until the PS2 on up to this generation. I am quite the opposite of most, but I hate the fact that games look so good these days.

I have a very curious mind. When I watch a movie I pay attention to how the director shoots the film. Most people that I watch movies with take the movie as a whole. But I analize all portions of it. What camera tricks and angles the director uses and how they affect the scenes down to how the particular film is edited. There is so much more to "get" out of a movie than just watching it and and being entertained by the story.

I have always taken the same approach to games. The ENTIRE time I am playing classic games, I am analyzing and dissecting them. Especially stuff from the Saturn/Ps1/N64 era. I marvel at the level design from a technical view. I love seeing a strategically place hill or wall that obscures the pop up in the distance. It's creative and restrictive level design and the end result gives the impression of an amazing looking level. Having limitations and restrictions forces creativity.

The thing I miss most is pixelation. Anti-aliasing and the like have given games a steril look that i'm not keen on. I can't tell you how many times, regardless what game I was playing, that I would run my character upto a wall and stare at each and every pixel to see how they blended them in the texture map. I miss being able to see and appreciate the fundamental building blocks that make up a game. It's called pixel art for a reason and SUPER HIGH HD AWESOME RESOLITON and Antialiasing have helped to kill the artform that I love.

I dont think I have really been impressed by a game on a technical level since the Dreamcast days. These days, games look so good and the systems have virtually no restrictions. In turn they have no identity or characteristics to call there own... they are all so homogenized. For me, there is nothing left to dissect or compare. The developers can throw whatever they want into the game and make it happen. Technical creativity is basically gone.

Essentially what I am trying to say is... You can view a painting from across the room and admire and appreciate the picture as a whole, but its not until you get up close that you can begin to see and appreciate each individual brush stroke that makes the bigger picture. Then you will have a greater appreciation for the painting and a better understanding of the artist.

I used to get so much out of games, but as graphics get better and systems more powerful, I get less and less fulfillment.

[treismac]

Yes the mid/late 90's console 3D is tough on the eyeballs without texture shading and filtering and that stuff.

^This. Although it initially excited me at the time, I quickly was turned off. I live in 3D dammit, I don't want to simulate it on a 2D television while playing video games.

[Tanooki]

I've never hated any of them, but I do have a strong dislike of many of the pre-famicom/NES era systems visuals as they're so terrible due to the system limitations. I'd think the 2600 as the worst of it as they were like digital insults to the converted arcade games they were trying to make you think they were. I also was mixed, some of it was even in that living era disliked too, but the first gen 3D system graphics. The N64/PS1/Saturn era to me these days I consider the 2600/Colecovision era of 3D gaming. Some of it is just awful looking, others looked pretty good for the limited tech and was admirable much like some of the nicer end Coleco stuff.

Today those 3D systems have serious issues if you use them on a non CRT tv which just sucks. N64 for instance if you grab a game like Star Wars Rogue Squadron you can't complete it on a LCD at all. The game uses shortcuts many 3D games did for light and shadow using tricks and short cuts a CRT allows so some stages where it's night over land, it's just all straight black other than drawn on light colored markers (like white slits for windows on a building, so in those stages you just slam wall until you choke, also it uses the CRT scanlines to render high quality movie still images and on a LCD they get all distorted and just wrecked (check the boxes in the menus for save files.)

[Tron 2.0]

32-bit era,for a dislike mostly for the 3D it hasn't aged to well.At least for what 2D titles that came out for the saturn&PS1 still look good.

[SuperEliteGamer]

N64

Blur and fog.

But the question is about eras, and I actually like chunky PS1 graphics..

I can't believe what i'm reading.Haha,kidding.
NP with that,man.
I don't like them too much,though.
And i agree with some posts about that era.
I don't absolutely hate the graphics of it as a whole,i just don't like it as much as other gens.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I gotta say it's the 32-bit era. First off, I have always despised the N64. I actually bought the import N64 on launch day and its my most regrettable launch system. Everything is just so damn blurry and unappealing. The PSX and Saturn suffered from the newness of 3d polygons and horrible early CG cutscenes. While there are still are many great games on both systems. it's the 3d ones that suffer the most (although I still love Metal Gear Solid. I love playing it on the PS2 with the smoothing feature on and, honestly, I like the look of it waaaay more than the crappy Twin Snakes version)

[jonebone]

Anything pre-Nintendo. I look at Atari and can't appreciate it at all. NES was my first console and I can't go backwards no matter what.

I also refuse to watch any black and white movie, no matter how much of a classic it may be. Just won't keep my attention at all.

[jperryss]

I also refuse to watch any black and white movie, no matter how much of a classic it may be. Just won't keep my attention at all.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/433791/clerks-movie.jpg

[DK1105]

I know this is going to be blasphemy but I'm not a fan of NES and other third gen console graphicly. The crazy thing is a love pre third gen graphics and my favorite generation for graphics are the blocky Saturn/PS1/N64 fifth gen.

I think of the NES era as the awkward point for 2D before they looked clean and the N64 era as the awkward point for 3D. I also have much more affection for 3D and turned it into my career.

[Neb6]

I was working in the 3D computer-animation industry in the 90s, so I had a hard time with the horrible real-time texture-mapping on the N64, PS1, and other machines that were just starting to crank out 3D. If I had a choice between Low-resolution texture maps (with horrible pixel-scaling) and untextured polygons, I'd go for the smooth-surfaced polys any day (or even vectors).

Because of this, I also really didn't much care for the early pixel-scaling games like Doom and 3D games like Descent. I loved the IDEA and mechanics behind Descent, but the textures were horrid. Interestingly, I do like the look of Space Harrier.

Personally, I like either surreal/stylized or realistic. Hence my love of very old-skool blocky 8-bit graphics or very high-resolution anisotropic rendered objects with high enough polygon counts to smooth off curved surfaces.

As for 2D -- I like pretty much all of it. There were a few cases in the 16-bit era where some sprites were a bit flat-looking (not enough colors-per-sprite).

[Flam]

I also refuse to watch any black and white movie, no matter how much of a classic it may be. Just won't keep my attention at all.

Casablanca.... Double Indemnity????

[Crystalian]

Retroman pretty much hit the nail on the head. They all have redeeming qualities with the RIGHT GAME. I had an Intellivision as my first console and I can't stand almost anything by Atari, but I'm hardly unbiased. I think N64 nailed the transition to 3d while Sony struggled with the PS1. Tomb Raider is certainly no Mario 64 for example. I also think Xbox had a rocky start, but these days I'm just like "whatever"... I'd rather play Final Fantasy X than nearly any Xbox One game from the first three years of it's lifespan, Folklore looks better than Blue Dragon; I don't know, I'm just jaded about this aspect of gaming anymore. I still have my Final Fantasy X HD pre-ordered, but not the Kingdom Hearts one, which I feel should have included 1 and 2 instead of the GBA and DS games. The only way that's getting redeemed is if they release another with KH2 Final Mix, Birth By Sleep, and Re-Coded so you buy 2 discs and get all the games up until this point. Enough of the tangent though. I think I'm just going to sit out the next generation. Have a good night DP.

[The Adventurer]

Casablanca.... Double Indemnity????

Metropolis.... Young Frankenstein.... The Artist????

[o.pwuaioc]

I don't like 3D except in racers and first-person shooters. I will admit that 3D scenery in last and current gen games can be quite beautiful, but as a whole, very few 3D games ought to be 3D. Not too many people like the more realistic-looking N64 or PS1 games, but they could do beautiful 2D (for N64 e.g. Rakugakids and Ogre Battle 64).

[Alpha2099]

Metropolis.... Young Frankenstein.... The Artist????
I've heard it said that The Artist was the best silent film of 2011.

[The Adventurer]

I've heard it said that The Artist was the best silent film of 2011.

It was really good.

[Kitsune Sniper]

The Nintendo Cataract-o-vision. I mean, the Nintendo 64. Sprite-based games are okay, but others...

[Jorpho]

Really now, nothing can compare with the eye-stabbing awfulness that is retro CGA cyan-and-magenta. PC reigns supreme yet again. :p

The possible exception might be Spectrum attribute clash. I can't believe people put up with that for so long.

[BetaWolf47]

Does current-gen count? The majority of the games feature very little color and an uncreative art style. I think older generations, possibly up until near the end of the previous generation, had more creative graphics due to the limitations of the hardware forcing developers to take creative liberties.

[Gentlegamer]

There's no era that I disliked or hated the graphics, but, as has been noted, the PlayStation era is hard to stomach. I felt during that time that the graphics were largely a step backwards, but it was the "price" for moving to 3D.

I wonder what the video game world would look like if consoles had stayed away from 3D until the technology of the Dreamcast became feasible. We could have had a longer period to enjoy the beautiful 32-bit sprites that the Saturn is famous for before moving on to more fully realized 3D visuals.

[Atarileaf]

I'll jump on the n64/ps1 bandwagon here. Really hard to look at some of the games from that era anymore but I could watch pre-crash graphics all day. Black and white movies are awesome, as are Atari graphics.

Schindlers List anyone?

[The Adventurer]

Does current-gen count? The majority of the games feature very little color and an uncreative art style. I think older generations, possibly up until near the end of the previous generation, had more creative graphics due to the limitations of the hardware forcing developers to take creative liberties.

I hav to disagree. The current gen is one of the most graphically diverse in gaming history, thanks in large part to the embracing of HD picture quality.

Sure most of you best sellers are of a various shade of brown, which is unfortunate. But those games hardly make up entirety of the gaming industry. Remember this generation gave us everything from Limbo to Journey to Portal 2.

[goldenband]

On a practical level, I struggle most with the N64, because it's got more games that have given me motion sickness than any other console. It's happened occasionally on other platforms, but it happens far more often on the N64 (GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Monster Truck Madness, Forsaken, etc.). So N64 graphics literally make me ill. @_@

Aesthetically, though, I find the "look" of most current-gen games to be too creepy/sterile/uncanny valley/etc. for my tastes. I enjoy the 3DO-through-Dreamcast era, and some PS2/Xbox/GC games too, but the recent stylistic convergence between mainstream films & video games leaves me actively repulsed by both.

(And like an earlier poster, I do enjoy spotting the seams and pixels in older games, though broken clipping -- or whatever it's called when the camera malfunctions and ends up on the wrong side of a wall, etc. -- annoys me.)

OTOH, really early 3D is pretty hard to take too, e.g. Winter Challenge for Genesis with a framerate that dips below 2fps. Some of those early flight sims, tank sims, etc. are almost unplayable because of it.

Finally, there's something about the Atari graphics chip that's always rubbed me the wrong way, especially Atari 8-bit/5200 and 7800. I don't know the technical reason for it, but the color palettes are so often drab and ugly, and so many use these double-wide fonts and wide pixels...somehow it reminds me of a depressed, frumpy older woman. :D

[GhostDog]

Anything pre-Nintendo. I look at Atari and can't appreciate it at all. NES was my first console and I can't go backwards no matter what.

I also refuse to watch any black and white movie, no matter how much of a classic it may be. Just won't keep my attention at all.

I agree with the first part, but no black and white movies? There are a ton of older movies that were made in black and white and I actually think black and white is pretty cool. Anyway, I agree with the pre-Nintendo thing. I started with the NES and I simply cannot go farther than that. Atari really holds no weight for me as a gamer as it does for so many others. It was all about the Japanese systems for me until the XBox.

[wayultratech]

I agree with BetaWolf for sure, and the others citing current gen GFX problems/dislikes. I love 8 / 16 bit GFX: knowing that a great deal of thought and creativity had to go into every aspect of the sprites/backgrounds/game world of these 8, 16 and even 32 bit games to fit spec and memory limitations makes playing the game more enjoyable and adds an extra level of appreciation, even if it's just in the back of your mind while playing.

The feel of current gen games to me feels almost like a novelty, like "yeah yeah, i know there's realistic texture and physics and all that bullshit, but it obviously doesn't matter when i can barely tell FPS from FPS from FPS from FPS.... and i know i'd have more fun playing Joust!!"

I guess i am a super big current gen hater in general.... No disrespect intended, just personal preference!!

One more thing, a massive reason i love 8 bit and 16 bit era GFX was the sense of mystery.... let me explain: in that era there would be little features in EGM, Nintendo Power or whatever old VG mag and it would show a handful of screenshots along with awesome original artwork strewn all over the page. You'd see a screenshot and be like "Look at how huge that dragon boss is!" or "Whoa, when does that happen in the game, i wanna see that for myself!!" There was mystique to revealing just enough to gamers, where'd you desperately want to see how gnarly a boss looked in person or you'd want to know what the end boss even looked liked, and the graphics played a huge part in this. These couple screenshots would show (usually, anyway) the most engaging scenes and eye-catching visuals to really stick in gamers minds, and man, seeing end boss sprites and being able to report to your crew was basically your-da-man points!! It was so rad to be able to say how crazy a boss fight was and have your word basically be law, because unless others got to the same point in the game it'd be virtually impossible to see for themselves. It was actually special to see these hard-to-attain screens and last bosses/ending seqs because other than doing it yourself, there'd be no way to see em. Nowadays, although i am aware you can avoid if you want, there's a walkthrough for getting/seeing everything in every game for every gen, no mas mystery!! no mas "school-yard legends"!! It's getting really annoying seeing a new current gen game's entire ending sequence, all cutscenes, and full walkthrough/playthrough hit the interweb either before it's even released or 5 min after it hits stores. I realize "why should i care" if i only play older gen consoles, i guess it's just a pet peeve.

Sorry for the somewhat off-topic, the short is current gen GFX look great but i could care less. Bottom line, Magic Carpet on Saturn may look terrible and have even worse gameplay, but i'd take that or even a Dreamcast VMU or Pokemon Mini over playing The Last Of Us or Bioshock Infinite.

Oh yeah, and blank stares are way creepier than any scares that Fatal Frame in the dead of night with lights off can deliver.

[Tanooki]

Jonebone I get where he's coming from, but if he could widen his options on just one little suggestion I have. Try out the black and white movie North by Northwest. Like you I really don't seek nor enjoy movies of the era very much but that one is much like a movie of suspense and action they'd do today but without the asinine overkill CGI and super budget, but it in no way ever feels cheap.

I bet someone probably figured I'd throw out a Bogart movie. ;)

[ccovell]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the era when everything had to be either digitized or pre-rendered... this included 2-d game sprites, stage backgrounds, game menus, and even websites and program GUIs. Usually the digitized graphics were blocky, pale, and dithered; and the pre-rendered shit was given a once-over shellacking in Kai's power tools.

For a nasty example, check out any Saurus game on the Neo-Geo (Ironclad Brikinger, for example). Now that is unenjoyable 2-D.
I actually really like and have a soft spot for textureless flat-shaded polygons in 3-D games, too.

[Neb6]

Anything pre-Nintendo. I look at Atari and can't appreciate it at all. NES was my first console and I can't go backwards no matter what.

I also refuse to watch any black and white movie, no matter how much of a classic it may be. Just won't keep my attention at all.

There are a number of arcade games that are pre-Nintendo with graphics as good or better (Mr. Do, Dig Dug, Joust, Stargate, Tutankahm, TRON, Major Havoc, Time Pilot, Robotron, Q*Bert, Super Pac-Man, Pole Position).

As for movies, maybe check out Eraserhead, Seven Samurai, or The Big Sleep.

[SuperEliteGamer]

What's with people disliking current gen?
I'm afraid i have to disagree,it's def. the best.(duh)

[zaneiken]

For 2D games, anything pre-NES/Famicom is too primitive for me.
For 3D games, Dreamcast is the bare minimum for me these days. Low-polygon Saturn/PSX/N64 games are just fugly, even through RGB on a Sony BVM.