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Games that are visually underrated/overrated?

iceblade

iceblade

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,213
Thread posted on behalf of Flux

Underrated: I would say Mafia 3 can look really nice, it has an impressive lighting engine (if a bit random) but performance/glitches have overshadowed the good looking aspects of Mafia 3.

Overrated: Star Citizen in videos has never impressed me. It sounds technically amazing on paper but in motion, things are not coming together the way they should imo. It's still in alpha and far from finished.
 
LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,093
I think it was more divisive than underrated, but Wind Waker has aged like a fine wine. The Spaceworld demo looks awful now, but there was a vocal group of people furious that they abandoned that art style at the time.
 
Markitron

Markitron

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,510
Ireland
I always thought Ryse was visually overrated, just didn't see what everyone else was raving about. I played it maxed out on PC as well.

Oddly enough I thought the actual game was a lot of fun and actually a bit underrated.
 
The Almighty Tria

The Almighty Tria

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,411
Overrated: FFXII. While it's technically impressive for the PS2, the characters are ugly as shit and 80% of the environments look exactly the fucking same.

Underrated: Evil Within 1. I replayed it after Evil Within 2 was visually disappointing, and holy hell Evil Within 1 looks fucking amazing
 
Aters

Aters

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,948
Uncharted 4 is overrated, even though it is indeed one of the best looking games on console. I remember looking at the texture of the fruits and told myself "videogame graphic still has a long way to go".
 
Drain You

Drain You

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,985
Connecticut
iceblade said:
Thread posted on behalf of Flux

Underrated: I would say Mafia 3 can look really nice, it has an impressive lighting engine (if a bit random) but performance/glitches have overshadowed the good looking aspects of Mafia 3.

Overrated: Star Citizen in videos has never impressed me. It sounds technically amazing on paper but in motion, things are not coming together the way they should imo. It's still in alpha and far from finished.
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There is a joke here somewhere.
 
Tagyhag

Tagyhag

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,472
I mean, if you're a fan of lighting OP, Star Citizen should definitely impress you. I agree that it's basically just a patchwork of a game right now though.

MenacingNiceDogfish-small.gif


I think Demon's Souls is underrated, sure it runs like crap but the visual design of everything, coupled with impressive models makes it a looker to me. The 4K emulated version shows its true strength.
 
Neonep

Neonep

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,744
Devil May Cry 4. It still looks pretty good by today's standards yet it essentially came out a decade ago.
 
Fitts

Fitts

You know what that means
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,162
Underrated: Final Fight. Might be a weird pull for this thread, but I play a lot of classic beat 'em ups and I don't think it gets enough credit for having such large/detailed spritework compared to what came before it. The visuals really make every strike feel impactful and satisfying. It pretty much ruined Double Dragon for me when I first touched it as a kid and I still feel the same way.

Overrated: Modern NetherRealm games. (Injustice 2, MKX, etc) They look great in cutscenes/intros/etc, but during actual gameplay they're incredibly ugly. Characters get lost in the grimdark stages and animations are persistently stiff/awkward. It's jarring to see something that's striving for a realistic aesthetic animate so poorly.
 
TheNotoriousAFG

TheNotoriousAFG

Member
Oct 27, 2017
915
Underrated - El Shaddai is known for its graphics, but not many people have played the game. The art direction is REALLY good, everyone.

Review-El-Shaddai-2.jpg

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Shame about the gameplay though :(
 

Deleted member 12833

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,078
Driveclub is overrated. Awesome effects but the image quality is just ass and ruins it. Playing GT Sport and Driveclub is like night and day
 
Gamer17

Gamer17

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,399
Underrated :

Dying light enhanced edition

My god it looks gorgeous for an open world game and no one seems to be talking about it

Overrated :

I think maybe ffxv. I remember everyone was saying it is the best looking game ever when it was coming out. It looks great don't get me wrong but it's no where near top.
 
ContraWars

ContraWars

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,517
Canada
Underrated: Virtua Fighter 5 still looks great after 10 years.

Overrated: Most of the belt-strapped androgynous hell-scape that has taken over anime inspired JRPGs.
 
PintSizedSlasher

PintSizedSlasher

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,366
The Netherlands
Underrated: Mass Effect Andromeda. Was really surprised how good it looks. Beautiful game.

Overrated: Going to say FF XV as well. I really liked the gameplay, but wasn't really floored by the graphics.
 

Melody

Member
Oct 28, 2017
797
Gamer17 said:
Overrated :

I think maybe ffxv. I remember everyone was saying it is the best looking game ever when it was coming out. It looks great don't get me wrong but it's no where near top.
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I really don't remember people doing this at all. It was more like everyone was criticizing how underwhelming it looked except for a few bits here and there from the trailers.
 
MondoWray

MondoWray

Member
Oct 27, 2017
100
England
Fitts said:
Underrated: Final Fight. Might be a weird pull for this thread, but I play a lot of classic beat 'em ups and I don't think it gets enough credit for having such large/detailed spritework compared to what came before it. The visuals really make every strike feel impactful and satisfying. It pretty much ruined Double Dragon for me when I first touched it as a kid and I still feel the same way.

Overrated: Modern NetherRealm games. (Injustice 2, MKX, etc) They look great in cutscenes/intros/etc, but during actual gameplay they're incredibly ugly. Characters get lost in the grimdark stages and animations are persistently stiff/awkward. It's jarring to see something that's striving for a realistic aesthetic animate so poorly.
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Yeah, I was in the arcade a lot back then and playing games like Double Dragon and Bad Dudes...then one day, there was Final Fight with its huge, well animated sprites and vivid backgrounds. The bonus rounds left a real impression on me.
 
Unaha-Closp

Unaha-Closp

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,723
Scotland
I'm not a Nintendo game playing fellow by any means but I always thought Wind Waker looked incredible. I was shocked to find some Zelda fans didn't like it. I'm not even talking about the HD rerelease. How it plays and how its story is I have no clue but looks = 10 out of 10.
 

Deleted member 1627

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
2,061
Gunstar Heroes has some amazing art direction, animation, spritework and technical wizardry going on.

It was the first 'holy shit, the Megadrive can do THAT!?' before people started figuring out that, yes, the Megadrive indeed can do that.

Outside of that, though, is a beautifully expressive work that looks stunning in motion with exquisite spritework that does so much with comparatively small sprites. The game is a stone cold classic in every respect.
 
antitrop

antitrop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,578
The Evil Within's visuals were absolutely underrated. Ya it ran at 20fps on consoles, but the game was fucking beautiful, with plenty of variety, and what they did with long shadows was extremely cool.
 
Zephy

Zephy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,162
Overrated : FFXV. While it did look great on some rare occasions that combined the right time of day, lighting conditions, area and camera angle, most of the tile it looked really bland and generic. I honestly don't understand all the fuss about how great the game looks.

Underrated : Ratchet & Clank PS4. I rarely see it mentioned in debates about graphics, but Inthink it looks amazing. It really feels like I'm inside an animated movie when I play it. Models, textures, animations, lighting, focal blur, everything is outstanding. I'm not often amazed by game graphics these days, but this one really surprised me.

Underrated : Mass Effect Andromeda. While it won't win any competition, it still looks very good. But it seems most people couldn't look further than the sometimes goofy facial animations.
 
2112

2112

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Oct 28, 2017
1,696
Portsmouth
Overated: The Order 1886, the lighting can look stunning at times, but the whole screen has a smear of vaseline over it.
 
LhommeCornichon

LhommeCornichon

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,164
Paris, France
Black Knight said:
Agreed, it has much better art & atmosphere, unbelievably stunning :
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The Evil Within 2 atmosphere & art is huge downgrade.
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I guess you're playing on PC ? I'm actually going through the first game on Xbox One and visuals are definitely crossgen, kinda meh. But sure, the atmosphere is here !

PintSizedSlasher said:
Underrated: Mass Effect Andromeda. Was really surprised how good it looks. Beautiful game.
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This. Faces aside, this is a looker with nice effects, details and view distance.
 
Mona

Mona

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
26,151
Underrated:

Persona 4, you just simply do not see this level of detail in PS2 games, i played in 2010 and at times it barely even registered to me that i was playing on a 10 year old console

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The Almighty Tria

The Almighty Tria

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,411
Tofer said:
Driveclub is overrated. Awesome effects but the image quality is just ass and ruins it. Playing GT Sport and Driveclub is like night and day
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I agree with this so much. Driveclub looks like shit in anything that isn't photo mode. I roll my eyes everytime someone says it's the best looking game ever and proceed to show a screenshot from photo mode as though it's actually representative of the real game.
 
The Almighty Tria

The Almighty Tria

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,411
LhommeCornichon said:
I guess you're playing on PC ? I'm actually going through the first game on Xbox One and visuals are definitely crossgen, kinda meh. But sure, the atmosphere is here !


This. Faces aside, this is a looker with nice effects, details and view distance.
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I played it on PC, yeah. It definitely does not look crossgen on PC at all. It is still one of the best looking games out there. If you showed me screenshots of Evil Within 1 followed by Evil Within 2, I would have assumed Evil Within 2 was the first game in the series and was crossgen.
 
Boots The God

Boots The God

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
642
Markitron said:
I always thought Ryse was visually overrated, just didn't see what everyone else was raving about. I played it maxed out on PC as well.

Oddly enough I thought the actual game was a lot of fun and actually a bit underrated.
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Really? I was impressed by the facial animation and the texture work especially.

Agreed on the second point. I liked the story for what it was. Was honestly surprised at how I felt during the ending lol. What a finish!
 
Boots The God

Boots The God

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
642
Fitts said:
Underrated: Final Fight. Might be a weird pull for this thread, but I play a lot of classic beat 'em ups and I don't think it gets enough credit for having such large/detailed spritework compared to what came before it. The visuals really make every strike feel impactful and satisfying. It pretty much ruined Double Dragon for me when I first touched it as a kid and I still feel the same way.

Overrated: Modern NetherRealm games. (Injustice 2, MKX, etc) They look great in cutscenes/intros/etc, but during actual gameplay they're incredibly ugly. Characters get lost in the grimdark stages and animations are persistently stiff/awkward. It's jarring to see something that's striving for a realistic aesthetic animate so poorly.
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The animations alone keep me from playing Injustice. The jank! There's a dope video on YouTube with a guy explaining why they look so unnatural. In case you're lazy:

https://youtu.be/t06Dkdg6fEo
 
Boots The God

Boots The God

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
642
Tofer said:
Driveclub is overrated. Awesome effects but the image quality is just ass and ruins it. Playing GT Sport and Driveclub is like night and day
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Amen. People constantly use photo mode to show off drive club, but in game it doesn't look nearly as good. I feel GT sport also suffers from this.

Inversely, I feel Forza looks good in game and has shite replays
 

Deleted member 419

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Oct 25, 2017
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Night Trap is pretty visually underrated, it's amazing that a game originally from the 90s looks so photorealistic.
 
Black Knight

Black Knight

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Oct 28, 2017
120
LhommeCornichon said:
I guess you're playing on PC ? I'm actually going through the first game on Xbox One and visuals are definitely crossgen, kinda meh. But sure, the atmosphere is here !
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I played the game on PS4, the game looks amazing because of the great and highly detailed art, I can't believe that they managed to make the most creepy environments looks beautiful!
 
TheWordyGuy

TheWordyGuy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,623
Did anybody see that thread from last week in which the thread starter essentially told us not to call things 'over-rated'?

Ooh, man... when he comes in here he's going to be shaking.
 

Spine Crawler

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,228
Xenoblade Chronicles X is underrated. It is the best looking open world game this gen with no boundaries at all.
 
Sasaud

Sasaud

Member
Oct 28, 2017
379
Underrated: nier automata, it has low texture everywhere but it all comes together to paint a beautifull image

Overrated: horizon, it looks great but plain at the same time
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,203
antitrop said:
The Evil Within's visuals were absolutely underrated. Ya it ran at 20fps on consoles, but the game was fucking beautiful, with plenty of variety, and what they did with long shadows was extremely cool.
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Was it really underrated though? Also, graphically it's not actually anything truly special. It's not bad, but the aesthetics, which in turn made up the atmosphere are what's phenomenal about it. The sequel loses that in all but a select few areas, but "runs better".

Sasaud said:
Overrated: horizon, it looks great but plain at the same time
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The world is pretty standard stuff, so it's kind of boring setting wise. Graphically though, especially with HDR, it's anything but plain. It's essentially this gen's RDR so far.

My vote goes to Bloodborne for most overrated. Mostly because it's so damn boring to look at essentially three colors the entire game. There's very little variety throughout, and that includes the gothic setting. Never had an issue with any of the Souls games in that regard (Dark Souls 2 was very disappointing in that respect, but it at least didn't force you to see the same thing around literally every corner. That game's biggest flaw was the lack of lighting and legitimate shadows).
 
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