Which one?

  • Realism

    Votes: 30 8.2%
  • Cartoon

    Votes: 131 35.9%
  • Don't care

    Votes: 22 6.0%
  • Both

    Votes: 129 35.3%
  • It depends

    Votes: 53 14.5%

  • Total voters
    365

Host Samurai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,378
Depends on the game, but on average cartoon and cell shaded style grab my attention immediately. I'm surprised we didn't see more cell shaded games last gen, given how much tech progressed. Anime style games should all be shaded to the max imo
 

Dolce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,305
I'm OK with realistic as long as character faces and the world itself are still kind of stylized. Modern games where it looks like a real person is underneath "wearing" the skin of a character really creeps me out, I can't stand the face animation in games like Uncharted, The Last of Us and most modern games because of it. And I don't really like faces that just look like real people.
 

DaCocoBrova

Member
Oct 27, 2017
453
Both. It just comes down to good artistic taste. Seems like a rarity these days in gaming. Few nail it, most fail at it.
 
Oct 25, 2017
5,143
The criticisms of realism seem a little misplaced to me. You can have a realistic style but still be creative in how you design the objects and people that inhabit it. I'm sure you've admired at least a thing or two in the real world despite it being by definition realism, like a neat building or someone's outfit.

"Realism" just like "cartoony" is ultimately exceptionally broad.
 
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jett

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,767
It depends on the game, but you rarely get high quality cartoony stylization out of AAA games. Definitely wish more high budget games would go for non-photorealistic graphics.

p.s. I love the animations in DQ11.

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julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
36,196
Generally lower fidelity is something that i enjoy more than high fidelity, which i guess can go for both more fantastical or more grounded. Sometimes strange combinations of both can be something i enjoy more than either in isolation, too. Like FF7 Remake has a lot of very realistic assets but exists in a fantastical world and you're put in more interesting places that take advantage of both while remaining similarly meaningful (and which also support a lot of the action/technological craziness going on).
 

SPRidley

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,318
Both, but cartoony more.
As a videogame cocnept artist I also usually do stuff with more cartoony styles (with different degrees) so yeah...
 

KamenSenshi

Member
Nov 27, 2017
1,918
In general any style that isn't supposed to be the video game equivalent of boring real life. I'd say an exception would be Virtua Fighter but even while that is realistic it still has some style to it.
 

Jencks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,505
Ultimately I don't care but if I had to choose, I generally prefer more cartoony with vivid colors. I really like the look of the ARCSys fighters and stuff like Ni No Kuni II, etc.
 

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,871
Greater Vancouver
Depends entirely on how its used. Neither is inherently more valid than another.

I will say though that AAA's obsession with realism is too often used in really boring and unimaginative ways. Show me the weird, cool, reaches of expressivity that also gets a meaningful budget to really explore the reaches of that style.
 
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Ruisu

Banned
Aug 1, 2019
5,535
Brasil
I really like "anime realism" personally, like what you see in some modern Square Enix games like Final Fantasy XIII and VII Remake.
 

Jonathan Lanza

"I've made a Gigantic mistake"
Member
Feb 8, 2019
6,968
I like both but as others have said, a realistic game will look worse as time goes on where something more stylized will still be able to meet its mark.
 

Rimpim

Banned
Feb 7, 2021
100
Cartoony.

Games like Sea Of Thieves, Dishonored, Sunset Overdrive, Ori, Okami etc. grab my attetion.

Realistic is just boring.
 

Sesha

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,954
It depends. I don't get the single-minded everything-or-nothing obsession with either.
 

Alent

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,810
Almost always 'catoony' stylised.

I want more cell-shaded games in general.
 

Big Tent Expat

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,401
In real time, a slight edge to stylized since it can be wholly unique to whatever property it's on and thus be more memorable. But I know I better play/watch anything realistic almost immediately or it'll start to look bad to me fairly soon while stylized has an almost infinite shelf life.