Lately I've felt like I really need to get something off my chest. I'm going to try to keep this concise, but I might fail horribly, because I do feel strongly about something when it comes to video games, and that is this: GOOD GRAPHICS MATTER. Not only do they matter, but I would go so far as to say that they are very important. Before anyone makes any snap judgments, I want to make it clear that I don't believe myself to be a "graphics whore". To me, that term refers to someone who only likes games with amazing graphics. I love/have loved many games that don't have stellar graphics. However, I'm getting really tired of this "good graphics don't matter" mentality that seems to be so prevalent nowadays. I'm pretty sure this is the vocal minority speaking up, since billions of dollars are spent in this industry to create better and better graphics. Hell, that's the whole idea behind new console generations. They exist for the same reason that improved graphics cards exist for PC, and that is to improve the technology of graphics rendering. If graphics truly didn't matter, then why aren't we still playing on 8-bit consoles? Sure, advancements in tech have allowed us to grow games in ways that aren't necessarily graphical, like memory, but I truly believe that even that has improved in service of providing improved graphics.

People say gameplay is king, and I completely agree. I would much rather play an ugly game that was fun than a pretty game that wasn't. I will obviously concede that, but I would much rather play a game that's fun AND gorgeous. Why wouldn't you? I find it funny that a lot of "hardcore gamers" say good graphics don't matter and then, in the next breath, complain about a game not running at 1080p/60 FPS. Well, which is it? Pick one! I see way too much hypocrisy on the internet about this and it's really starting to irritate me. This is the way I see it: if you like games to be immersive, then you care about graphics; if you don't care about immersion, that puts you in the "good graphics don't matter" camp, because, let me be clear, good graphics contribute greatly to that sense of immersion. That is the reason we are constantly striving to produce better and better visuals, grasping for photo-realism, pushing boundaries of size and scope. It's all in an effort to achieve maximum immersion, because that's what many people love most about video games, myself included. I've just felt alone in this mentality for quite some time, but I know I'm not. Actually, I'm sure I speak for the vast majority.

There are other things that I love about games that are tangentially related to graphics and that I also feel are under-appreciated by the vocal miscreants of the internet. Things such as presentation, animations, music and "small details" are things that greatly contribute to my enjoyment of a game. Maybe I'm the weird one here, but seeing things like Max patting out the flames on himself when he's caught on fire in "Mad Max" are amazing to me. The way Nathan Drake touches a wall here and there when he walks near to one, and then whimsically quips about something in the environment adds so much. The animation of the horses in Red Dead Redemption did an incredible job of pulling me into that world, just as the incredible lighting and soundtrack did. If that game were made as an 8-bit side-scrolling game with a midi soundtrack, I wouldn't have been captivated by it at all. Graphics matter. Animations matter. Lighting matters. It builds atmosphere. It makes you feel a truer sense of place.

Another thing I love in games that most people don't seem to care about is brutal and gory combat animations. It's the main reason God of War is one of my favorite series. I just find it so viscerally satisfying. A lot of gamers complain that the combat system in those games is not good, but different people derive fun from different things and, to me, those brutal, fatality-esque animations make the combat fun for me. Really fun. It's another reason I loved The Last of Us so much. The kill animations were so raw and violent that I couldn't help getting some kind of sick satisfaction from it. I'm not sure what that says about me as a person, but I'm pretty sure most people have that same dark side to them that enjoys incredibly graphic, and most importantly, fake kills. That's why gory horror movies are so huge, despite being notoriously bad films. Friday the 13th movies are really, really bad movies, but they have a huge fan base (myself included) and that's because of the ridiculously over-the-top, creative, gory kills. This is a bit of a tangent, but I had to get this off my chest too, because I feel like this doesn't get enough attention by games media when it's obviously a huge selling point. Look at Mortal Kombat. That series is famous for not being the best technical fighting game out there (even though the last couple ones have been pretty good in that regard), but the game is so over-the-top gory that huge numbers of people love it, and is consistently one of the best-selling game franchises.

Alright, I guess I'll end my rant there. I just get so tired of people in the media never mentioning the incredible graphics a game has when discussing it. There will be lengthy developer interviews or conversations about games and no one ever seems to mention it, as if it doesn't matter. The reality is, it does matter. Millions of dollars and thousands of man hours are poured into producing these graphical showcases, and it's never brought up. Why? I feel like artists in the industry never get the respect they deserve when creating these beautiful worlds for us to inhabit. Many things get glossed over that I personally find very important, just as a lot of people do, I'm sure. So I'll just sign off by saying thank you to all the amazing artists, technical or otherwise, out there busting their asses to make the best looking/sounding games that they possibly can, because it is truly important work and it certainly doesn't go unnoticed. Well, not by me anyway.

Keep playing, and stay savage.