Very VERY good video and it is informative to those that don't seem to realize a game like NSMB Wii looks better than Terminator Salvation...

It's true certainly.

Graphics doesn't even necessarily advance aesthetics. The aesthetic of FFVI would not be improved, and would possibly be made worse if the graphical engine was better. However the aesthetic of Crysis (which was a great aesthetic) relied on a much more advanced graphical engine.

A stronger graphical engine allows you to make different aesthetics. Not necessarily better ones.

You know that the less powerful an engine is the less can be done with it? A more powerful engine can only help. If FFVI was made on today's specs it would be the same IF the dev cared to make it look like the SNES game. Better specs don't force you to make better visuals they just help you to do more. Take Arcade and PSN games, they were made for the HD consoles but a lot of them would fit on a Wii... Crysis wouldn't be made on the Wii because of it's artstyle relying on powerful specs.

If you only talked about Engines like CryEngine and UE3 then maybe it would be more difficult but certainly not the extra available power on the consoles.

Well, its not like repetative combat and fighting the same enemies made Super Metroid or Castlevania: SotN a bad game.  And after you beat a boss, you don't even have to fight the same enemies in the area where the boss was.  Its only if you revisit areas that you have to fight enemies.  But I don't see how that's a negative, as that's what the whole game is about.  And once you learn how to fight well, its very fun.

Yes, you can get throug hthe game just mashing the A button and holding block.  But you'll probably die at bosses multiple times.  Once you start to learn enemies timing and focus on doing 100 hit combos in the air, the game shows its deep gameplay and becomes very fun.  Plus, you'll beat bosses easier.

Also, the last few bosses as well as the end game 'white' dungeons are the best part.  And pretty hard.  I can warp through the game now without dying to any bosses but that final dungeon challenge still kills me half the time.  Because basically, you have to fight every enemy in the game consecutively, followed by clones of the main characters who have the same skills you do (and the best weapons in the game).  Think of the last level of Zelda II on steroids and no breaks.

Also, I've found multiple times that I'll play a good game, not like it much, then pick it up much later and be obsessed with it.  It happened with Resident Evil 4, Ninja Gaiden, Batman Arkham Asylum and even Odin Sphere.  And now they're some of my favorite games.  Who knows, it might happen to you for Muramasa.

I don't agree. There is a magic to the sprites used back in the 16-bit era that I don't think is really captured even by games following in their tradition such as Braid. I'm really not sure that a better graphics engine would have made FFVI look better.

The change from FFVI to FFVII, which was required by the change of expectations in graphics, was one of the worst changes I have ever seen. It went from one of the best looking games ever made to, while not one of the worst, certainly an awful looking game.

Future games haveused sprites and still had stronger engines that allowed them to do more than FFVI did.  Some noted examples would be Suikoden II, Disgaea, heck even Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean and Seiken Densetsu 3 on the SNES.  What you're really talking about is your viewof nostalgia and 'timeless' video games.  And while I might love Kirby's Adventure or Super Metroid, its obvious later games could do more with more powerful engines.

That is why Okami is still the most beautiful game for me, even nowadays.

Are trees and rivers the same thing? Just because you can't have a tree without the water to feed it doesn't mean the two are one and the same. Aesthetics require a degree of graphical ability in order to happen, but there is absolutely no way whatsoever in which the two are the same.

I'm not talking about the battles.  I'm talking about the times where you are just moving through the areas.  Battles are always announced, so other times you can move through the game without worrying about getting hurt.  That is when I am checking out the backgrounds.

this

people seem to think aesthetics can ONLY apply to games that are colorful, cartoony, etc

but then watch the vid, he mentions Fallout 3 as a game with great aesthetics and that game is nothing but gray, green brown, and black, it's about how you apply the aesthetics that makes a game look good, not how many colors you can point out