Why High Graphics and Realistic games sucks

[The_Liquid_Laser]

DragonRouge said:

The_Liquid_Laser said:

Every former fan of the Final Fantasy series knows this dichotomy is real.  Final Fantasy games used to be excellent all around: graphics, gameplay, music, world building, story, etc...  Then Final Fantasy 13 released.  Visually it's one of the most impressive games on the PS3, and the music is excellent too.  Gameplay, world building and story are all noticeably lacking compared to earlier Final Fantasy titles.  They didn't even have towns.  That is a severe cutback.

Budgets are limited.  Companies choose how many to hire for each job to work on their games.  Currently for AAA games it is common for artists and animators to take more of the games budget than all the rest of the staff combined.  It did not used to be this way.

The "FFXIII has bad gameplay and design" is highly debatable, and the decisions made in that regard could have been more related to their goal of appealing to the western market than because of budget priorities.

Yes, budgets are limited, the point still stands. A game having great graphics doesn't mean that it has crap gameplay of that there was a consciuos decision to sacrifice gamaplay design for shiny visuals. That is more of a perception from a prejudice some people have, which for some strange reasons, hate cinematic elements in video games. 

"Development of Final Fantasy XIII was a difficult one and ridden with miscommunication between different sections of the development team. Final Fantasy XIII had the largest development team of any previous Final Fantasy game, with some of the work also done in conjunction with the Final Fantasy XV team (then-titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII). At the peak, there were over 200 people working on it, with 180 artists, 30 programmers, and 36 game designers."

" Director Motomu Toriyama has said he lamented that Final Fantasy XIII was mainly criticized for its linear game design, and explained that there were several reasons for it. With a limited amount of development time and resources, the team made the game linear to maximize players' gameplay experience and to provide the same type of gameplay experience to all players. The aim was to offer the most entertaining gameplay experience. This approach provided players with time to familiarize with the battle system and the world, but it led to players feeling like the majority of the game was a tutorial. Toriyama believes this was a big flaw in the game."

https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII_development#A_problematic_development

The game's director admitted the game had significant flaws.  It's actually not debatable.  Also this was the largest team on any Final Fantasy game yet, but he still felt resources were limited.  Just look at 180 artists, 30 programmers and 36 game designers.  Most of the budget is going to artists.  There were definitely trade offs there because of the focus on art.

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 13 July 2022