Is Realism Necessarily Bad?

[Terminus]

That's what I said about compromising.

 

[elliotstriforce]

i enjoy the more realistic looking games. the stamina and shield meters were nice and made you extra careful of using them.

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Twilight Princess isn't an example of realism. The colors are way too bland to emulate real life (seriously, it's not that brown, green, and grey),

i think for that time period under those circumstances brown, green, and grey would've been pretty accurate.

 

[Justac00lguy]

I'd definitely agree that TP was the most realistic Zelda in terms of graphics to date.....but I t also think it was the most mature Zelda to date as it wasn't all save the Princess it was about setting a role model for the younger children of Ordan, then when they were kidnapped Link took it upon himself to save them save them only to run into an all different story.

There is no doubt that Charm is very important in the Zelda series but charm can be achieved without having these unique art styles or gimmicks! Now TP isn't perfect and It seems to be one of the most controversial Zelda games to date but for me the graphical style and mature story telling made it the most realistic Zelda game to date and this made the Zelda series really come to life imo! So No I dont think realism is bad by any means

 

[JuicieJ]

i think for that time period under those circumstances brown, green, and grey would've been pretty accurate.

Time... period? I wasn't aware that different time periods meant different shades of color in nature. #sarcasm

 

[The Wanderer]

Graphically, full realism (Assassin's Creed III, Halo 4, etc.) shouldn't be a bad thing for Zelda. Would it be different? Yes, as Zelda's always basically been an anime in terms of visuals. But as Ventus said, full realism has worked for all kinds of fantasy adventure games (Darksiders, Skyrim), so there's no saying it couldn't work in Zelda. I would prefer more the anime-style (Final Fantasy Versus XIII) for Zelda, at least for now, but full realism graphically shouldn't be a huge concern.

Gameplay-wise, enhanced realism is probably a good thing for Zelda. Remember, Link is our connection to the game world, and The Legend of Zelda is (meant to be) centered around exploration. Deepening immersion and consequences is a good way to make us feel more into the game. But as a lot of others have said, realism cannot dampen gameplay. You'll notice we don't actually bleed when the main character gets shot in Call of Duty, Link doesn't require a week in the hospital after drinking expired potion in Zelda, and Mario's coin total isn't limited to how much he can stuff in his pockets. When realism clearly conflicts with gameplay and it becomes inconvenient, you've gone too far, and it's time to cut back.

JuicieJ mentioned how guns in Far Cry 2 can jam. I'd actually approve of that game mechanic, but by the sounds of things, it wasn't implemented smartly. Similarly, in Zelda, I'd approve of things like keeping track of hunger and thirst, gaining a good or bad reputation that follows you around, and enemies reacting differently to having certain parts of their bodies attacked. If done smartly and these changes enhance the gameplay rather than hindering them, they could help sell the next Zelda game. Having Link die if he doesn't eat something every ten minutes would be annoying, but perhaps if you modified the concept so Link just performs poorly without adequate nutrition... There are a lot of ramifications about those concepts, and it might be best if separate threads were created for them. Still, enhanced realism should generally be a good thing for Zelda.

 

[CynicalSquid]

I don't think realism is bad but Nintendo is kind of know for their cartoony graphics and I think it's more creative to make a non-realist art style because everyone knows what realistic looks like. I do like the art style of Twilight Princess but (even though I've never played it) Skyward Sword seems to pop out more. That's mostly because Skyward Sword uses a lot of bright colors and everything in Twilight Princess is dull and dark.

 

[DarkestLink]

Nintendo is kind of know for their cartoony graphics

They are also known for poor graphics, pathetic online, and casual games. When have any of these worked in their favor?

and I think it's more creative to make a non-realist art style because everyone knows what realistic looks like.

Everyone knows what cartoons look like too.

 

[CynicalSquid]

Everyone knows what cartoons look like too.

That's not what I meant. I meant I would rather have a non-realistic art style because it more creative in my opinion nion: