When did you first notice that grafix had diminishing returns?

[HylianSwordsman]

Diminishing returns? 7th gen. The jump from 2D to 3D was mindblowing. The jump from the blocky garbage of N64 to Gamecube's detail blew my mind again. But the jump to HD just wasn't as exciting. Especially since I had a 7th gen console, the Wii, with its minor improvement over Gamecube, to compare to the HD twins, and I still liked how Wii games looked even with HD games to play. Like, I could see what HD was, and I liked it, but it wasn't mindblowing anymore. The jump from 7th to 8th gen was less exciting still. Forget diminishing returns, now they were just returns I didn't even care all that much about. NIntendo going HD was nice, and I certainly noticed how much graphics had improved from the 360/PS3 to the XBO/PS4, but I'm reaching the limit of how much I care. I think within a console generation or two, I won't even be able to notice it. Now that said, with the coming of VR, graphical improvements have become a bit more interesting, as those diminishing returns look less diminished in VR. That's probably the most exciting thing graphics wise in the 8th gen is VR, and it will continue to be the most exciting thing in the 9th gen. The advent of VR in the 8th gen has been a bit like the advent of 3D in the 5th, but not as exciting because it isn't all that economically viable for most people and has a few other obstacles to work out. 9th gen's VR will be like the jump from 64 to Gamecube all over again, except possibly a bit more exciting because it'll start to work out its flaws and become appealing to more people. But 10th gen will again be boring, as by then even NIntendo will probably have VR with good graphics. Everything will be 4k 120fps even in VR and there just won't be much need for much more improvement beyond a midgen refresh. The 11th gen will have to use something besides graphics to sell itself, but hopefully by then there'll be more interesting things, like advanced AI and super immersive VR techniques that go beyond visual fidelity that require more advanced hardware. Beyond that, with the rate of technological change, I don't know it's worth predicting or even supposing anything, as we might not even use consoles, or care that they're gone, we might have something we like better.