Artistic, definitely. Realistic and Artistic can coincide, though.

Games I think are artistic achievements:

ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Ikaruga
Okami
Rez
Odin Sphere



The first two on that list seem to try to look realistic, yet I think they're the most artistic of the bunch. Most of those games also have other, non-graphical artistic qualities, which I think shows that an artistic game is one that creates an experience rather than just looking like a piece of artwork.



To be honest, I don't think Wind Waker is that impressive (artistically). It just looks like a cartoon.

Why not Graphics/art.

Yeah I completely agree.  Okami is one of my favorite looking games ever.  Twilight Princess is a great example of a meld of realism and art as well.  The Twilight Realm has an awesome and unique art style and the transition between it and the normal land of Hyrule throughout the game was very cool.  Odin Sphere was a perfect example of an ALL art game that turned out amazing.  Same with tLoZ Wind Waker.

 Gears is another great example of a meld of art and graphics.  I of course prefer both if I can get them, but I find it's harder and harder these days to find both.  One of the reasons I think SSBB is such a cool style of game is that it mixes so many different art styles into one game.  You can go from fighting in a beautifully rendered summer vacation paradise in Delfino Plaza to fighting on a ship from starfox on a doomed planet.  

I prefer realistic

I like art style, but i have to say realistic is more important. I like how the characters in games like mario and ratchet and clank look, but games like Crysis just blow me away with the realism. Twilight princess looks good, I just wish they had a little bit of a graphical upgrade to the character models, if not more realistic than at least less blocky looking and more rounded.

Twilight Princess was a GC game that pushed hardware to its limits. A Wii Zelda would look much better, I'd say around early 360 quality if Nintendo really used the hardware well.

Back to topic, I prefer realism over art, unless the art style was very appealing. Wind Waker didn't appeal to me very much, but games like Okami and Scions of Fate blew me away with their traditional styles.

The fact I saw okami only once on this whole thing makes me not really care about this discussion.

Okami = most beautiful artistic game ever. If you dont think so, you should learn what art is.

EDIT: I would rather have high quality beautiful art. Over anything else. 

The reason why I think Zelda Wind Waker looks good is because the graphic style was cartoony but thats what it made the game look flawless and the edges where great...

Like I said though, it really depends on the game and overall atmosphere. I can't imagine TP with WW's art style and vice-versa.

*Pfew, its tireing to type with one hand while eating a sub with the other.*

I think artistical style can sell a game much better than any sort of realism in graphics can. If everything pushes more for realism, then a unique art style can set your game apart from the others. A style can convey a deeper sense of attitude or emotion or immersion, because you're breaking this experience away from reality. Its a much deeper detachment from reality.

Sure, realism can be a part of that style, but it cannot be the only aspect of it. Otherwise, things clash together, and screenshots or demos of multiple games can all look similar. Things as small as the HUDs (Such as Metroid, Halo, Haze.) can be stylized to fit the mood of this style, and can certainly detract from the experience if done poorly.

I'd rather have a game with plenty of style and artistic flair, with enough realism to be believable, than nothing but realism itself.

Art, otherwise I would just look at something ugly - but IN HIGH DEFINITION!