My Precious Pixels

Yesterday, I had a discussion with John regarding video game graphics.  I made the argument that I wasn't particularly thrilled with the success of such games as Minecraft, Faster Than Light, and Hotline Miami because they look like shit.  The age-old argument to that is simply "Graphics aren't everything; it's the gameplay that matters."  To this I have two things to say to you:  You are entitled to your opinion.  Also, go fuck yourself.

The truth is, though, that I certainly agree that gameplay is very important, but to me graphics are just as integral to the whole concept of enjoying a game.  This is why I have a very, very difficult time understanding the endless amounts of Minecraft maps that are recreations of other games.  Why in the name of Zeus' butthole would I want to play a Fallout-based Minecraft map?  Fallout 3 is a few years old now and quite honestly looks a bit dated to be sure, but it still looks light-years better than Minecraft.

But let's be clear here:  I totally understand why someone would want to CREATE such a thing.  It'd be a nice accomplishment.  The person who created it should be proud of their work.  But to actually play it?  I don't get it, and I never will.  To me, that's like going to a restaurant, having the choice between the same dish prepared either by an award-winning chef or a three year old, and choosing the three year old's.  And getting salmonella because it wasn't cooked properly.

But PD!  People are entitled to play what they want!

Sure.  But that doesn't mean that I have to understand it.  I would like to think that there are only two types of people who would do such a thing:  Either people like the Yogscast who play it probably because their fans requested they do so, and Internet trolls who simply says "Item X is better than Item Y" simply because they want people to disagree with them.  I can do the same thing.  Here, I'll show you:

I liked Dragon Age 2 better than The Witcher 2.

Though, admittedly this isn't trolling.  It's truth.  It's just that everyone THINKS I'm trolling because obviously if I don't worship the ground the CDProjekt walks upon, I'm clearly an idiot.  Yeah?  Fuck you.  I found the Witcher 2's story boring and disconnected, the combat to be stupid, and the game crashed repeatedly on me even almost 2 years after it was released.  I actually gave the game another chance last week.  I played about 4 hours of it.  And stopped.  I just wasn't having any fun.

I'm trying to decide what my point is, here, because I think I've sadly lost it.  I came here to talk about graphics, and this was prompted this very morning after reading an article on RPS regarding an interview with Bethesda, in which one of them said they are focusing on graphics.  I was pretty happy to hear that.  SAID NO ONE EXCEPT ME, APPARENTLY.

I was actually shocked at how much hate that article prompted.  But, while a lot of what I read seemed utterly nonsensical to me, I suppose that same could be said for the rant that I just had in the ensuing paragraphs above.  A lot of people loved The Witcher 2, and they would think that liking Dragon Age 2 more than it is nonsensical.  That's human nature, and opinions are like assholes:  Everyone is one.

Oh.  I mean everyone HAS one.  I mis-typed.

OR DID I.

The truth is I just need something to be angry about, because being angry about what's really bothering me is pointless.  This is why I haven't posted here in a few weeks.  It would have just been counter-productive, just like this whole article has been.  But hey, writing angrily is a lot better than throwing things.