The Role of Graphics and Gameplay in the Next Generation

There have been emerging articles in recent weeks about the role of graphics, physic engines, and their interaction with gameplay and narrative, all in the shadow of the mountainous next gen news. The role between graphics and gameplay, to me, has always been an interesting and hilarious one because Ive seen both sides of the coin: I can abhor a game with terrible graphics, just as much as I can abhor for terrible gameplay. The ironic thing, is that we also love games with graphics our friends cant stand, or gameplay that other people find horrendous.

 And I think it comes down to what we were exposed to, as we entered the gaming culture.

 I was brought up on the Nintendo 64, and PC games like Heretic, Heretic II, and Diablo II. These games, now in hindsight, have something called terrible graphics (especially Heretic shiver). Yet, for some reason, we are attached to a lot of games that are now called out dated. Why? Because it was in a different time.

 I can play Super Mario Kart with its blatant pixilation and its cheap graphics, but I cannot, for the life of time, ease into Baldurs Gate II. I have to struggle with it. A lot of this comes from the graphics as I can play many of its more contemporary counterparts, notably, Dragon Age: Origins. Yet, BG2 and Super Mario Kart came out around the same time. I think its because of the culture that I entered. Its been instilled in me to see Yoshi and Toad whirling around the Grand Prix much more than seeing Minsc and Boo and sword-n-spell swingin in the Forgotten Realms. The future generations will look back and be unable to understand how we were ever able to play Halo: Combat Evolved because it doesnt look anything like Halo 4. Yet, there will be a select few who can because they entered the video gaming culture through a specific genre, series, or system, where graphics did not affect the gameplay or where it was not a hindrance.

I think the other way to look at graphics, in a contemporary sense, is when they become supplementary to gameplay rather than domineering it. I have recently been hooked on the new XCOM, because the turn-based strategy is highly addictive and fun to me. It does not possess the graphical capacity of Far Cry 3 or the new Crysis, yet its extremely fun. While the gameplay trumps graphics, I cannot, for the life of me, bare to look at the original XCOM. It looks horrendous, and I am, from the start, biased against it, and will always turn to Enemy Unknown over its ancient predecessor.

 The horror. (Original X-COM)

Out with the old, and in with the new - does aestheticism mean more 'fun'? (X-COM: Enemy Unknown)

Why?

I think graphics and gameplay comes down to what we play, and how fun we have in doing so.

Fun, being the most important think. We look for graphics and gameplay in different ways depending how we entered the gaming culture. To me, graphics mean a lot in highly explosive FPS, where physical immersion is really important; however, when it comes to a strategy romp, I am quite fine with Age of Empires II, or an RPG adventure in Oblivion.

So when the new next gen consoles come into full swing, I wont be looking for their impressive graphics, but rather, how they do so to make games more fun.  

The End of Four Years of Wonder

I may be a little late to the party having recently finished Mass Effect 3 over the course of the summer, but I was certainly not left out of my own personal frustration? Confusion? Dissatisfaction? Its hard to pick the right word. And most of those feelings, as we all know, come from the last five minutes of the game. Even the last minute. The cut-to-credits just seemed so jarring? Unjustified? Blasé? Again, its difficult to just use one word to sum up all my feelings at the end of the Mass Effect trilogy.

But theres that word: trilogy. I believe there is significantly more ease to ending an independent work (whether it be in literature or film or video games) than a series of works that are connected over a span of time. Whether it is a duology, trilogy or quarter- its hard to create an ending that appeals to everyone.

Even Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings ending suffered from one too many fade outs with a lot of after-the-fact sobbing. George Lucas ended the galactic warring conflict between the Rebels and the Empire with everyone being happy around campfires with teddybe--ewoks.

Mass Effect 3 ended with the insertion of a pseudo-deus ex machina, tied in with some Child and then a series of cutscenes that are so heavy in implying, and far from explicit. The after-touch of the Stargazer just creates the feeling of countryside, rustic stargazing- whereas ten minutes ago, we were neck-deep in the most pivotal conflict of human existence.

Is this the most appropriate way to go out?

I dont think so, no. I have my own slew of suggestions to BioWares writers on how making the ending of the game more satisfying. But then I realized- BioWare wasnt just finishing off a game, they were finishing off a trilogy (and various add-ons, comics and books, but thats not really what were talking about here).

When ending a trilogy, its hard to put it down and say, Thats over with. Thats done. I played Mass Effect back in 2008, and now four years later, I have finished that story, that saga, that evolution of inter-connected alien and human relationships that has spanned the course of suicide missions, wars, and calibrations.

Im unsure if many of the feelings towards the end of Mass Effect 3 is because of the ending itself- which has its share of flaws, as all endings do- or is it because it is just the end. Period. Its hard to let go, and, there are some aspects of the ending I cannot help to admire. The ambiguity is so powerful, implications over explicitness is where imagination takes over, vagueness can be good. And here I think the BioWare writers set themselves apart by stepping back, and just letting the world go on without force-feeding a fully-rounded conclusion to its players. Its up to us, individually, to interpret what happens next. And isnt BioWare all about the choice?

Is it the best ending? No. Is it memorable? Certainly. Would I have had it any other way?

The third and final question is hard to ask. I invested time and effort into the Mass Effect universe, and I daresay, in my playthrough - happy ending and all it - ended in a moment of grandeur, of victory, and most of all of wonder.

Exactly how it all began.