How can video games portray beauty?
Do some video games you know portray beauty?
Surely it cannot be the graphics...
How could it not be graphics? You have to LOOK at art.
Man, traditional art is fucking beautiful.
>>289410823
yeah you have to LOOK at music dude
>>289410823
>You have to LOOK at art.
>what is music?
Aside, I meant graphics in the sense of photorealism. Surely you wouldn't be more taken aback by virtual mountains than by realy mountains, so trying to find beauty in reproducing nature is sort of pointless.
>>289410637
>How can video games portray beauty?
It captivates your personal view of what beauty is. From a hot girl to detailed falling snow to powerful music. Beauty and art are both highly subjective.
Do some video games you know portray beauty?
Yes. But the things I feel are beautiful won't be the same as you.
>Surely it cannot be the graphics...
For a great number of people, it is.
>>289411314
But it's pretty monotone. Art can evoke all different kinds of feelings, why focus on only one?
A combination of music, artstyle, settings, and detail work. You can truly tell when a game was made from the heart by people who loved what they were doing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesY1XssACM
>>289411420
>>289411385
You don't listen to graphics.
You don't see music.
>>289411420
Skyrim mountains look better than the shitty mountain outside my window
>>289411627
Something invoking a feeling and something being beautiful to look at are two different things.
>>289411664
But surely in total, portraits of nature will always feel shallow compared to the real thing. Also shouldn't the beauty of games lie in their identifying feature - their interactivity?
>>289410637
>>289411420
>trying to find beauty in reproducing nature is sort of pointless.
Some of the most amazing pieces of art in history have been depictions of nature. Hell, one could argue the piece in the OP is exactly that, humans are natural after all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images
if you want you can do some reading on this extremely famous painting that touches on this. It is a painting of a pipe with the text "this is not a pipe" underneath meant to illustrate that works of art are inherently separate from the things they portray
>>289411971
>should
why should they be anything other than what they appear to be to ppl right now?
Games can capture beauty in lots of ways, but the way in which I think it's truest to the medium is through mechanics. Getting SSS combos in DMC3/4, surviving slaughter maps on Doom 2 with Nightmare difficulty, hitting all the boosts in F-Zero GX, stuff like that.
Mechanics and player participation is sort of the key component to video games, and games that do that best are beautiful in the way video games should be.
>>289411664
>skyrim mountains
>anything but dogshit
look at this crap and try to tell me it's even acceptable
>>289412410
Because there is much more potential to be discovered.
Bernini finished that statue before he completed 22 years old.
Tell me what you have accomplished /v/...
>>289410637
The beauty lies within the gameplay.
People sometimes tend to forget that nowadays...
The rules of a game can be beautiful.
What's a game with rules you find beautiful, /v/? Doesn't have to be vidya.
>>289412506
those look great what's the problem
I really liked the okami art style. It was simple yet effective
>>289412648
I have a folder with 190 pictures of my particular and extremely uncommon combination of fetishes that I've drawn myself
>>289411971
>But surely in total, portraits of nature will always feel shallow compared to the real thing.
maybe, but id argue that doesnt matter. the existence of the Mona Lisa doesn't invalidate every other inferior work.
>Also shouldn't the beauty of games lie in their identifying feature - their interactivity?
on this though i agree. For instance i dont think it would be too out of line to call the surprisingly complex and individualized ghost AI that shapes how Pac Man plays beautiful
>>289412687
go fish
>>289412687
Crash bandicoot, jump, spin or die.
>>289412687
bomb defusal modes in shooters
Something about it just seems pure, you have an objective and one life to either kill or be killed. No second chances, respawns etc, etc
>>289410637
Graphics, music, even the gameplay is an art.
Video games are an interesting medium and we've barely scratched the surface. The industry is so young
In my vision, beauty is pureness. It is perfect balance between any variables or factors that may be given.
But beauty isn't really quantifiable, to be fair
>>289412730
>/v/
>>289412506
Not him but they could be a LOT better.
Skyboxes can be pretty though.
>>289412687
With a combination of visual imagery, music, story and gameplay mechanics.
You know, the stuff that makes video games video games.
Boson-X is one of the few game I'd call beautiful.
Everything just fits. The gameplay is smooth, engaging and fun, the aesthetics kept at a minimum so as not to distract from the game, but still appealing. The choice of music is perfect.
That's just it: Everything fits perfectly. It's by no means complex or innovative, but very well thought out.
I often found myself endlessly running along that corridor for ages, falling into a meditative stage and drifting off, while still keeping a perfect score.
hotline miami 1 and two. Every time i start the game tears flow from my eyes, and i thank the indy god buddha for his creation
>>289411314
>Man, traditional art is fucking beautiful.
So are the top 1% of movies and games. You're basically just looking at the absolute best art which has survived the centuries. While overlooking the mountain of crap that was around during that time.
>>289412730
You've never seen a real mountain.
>>289411971
>>289412506
It's all about the presentation.
>There will never be a game where it feels like you're in a Hudson river school painting.
>>289413285
is it wrong that I'm actively looking for loss in that tetris screenshot?
>>289413492
But there are games that make you feel like you're in other types of paintings.
>>289413620
I want a PS4 port of the Vita version just so the game can be in 1080p. Even without it though my god the Vita port is just so immaculate.
>>289412021
Completely fucking lost it and I don't even know why
>>289410637
>How can video games portray beauty?
Through story telling.
Soul sacrifice had shit gameplay but it made me feel.
>>289413892
>I want a PS4 port of the Vita version just so the game can be in 1080p.
So do I. It could have also been on the PS3 without any issues. They already had Dragon's Crown at 1080p on the PS3.
While I'd gladly buy Muramasa a second time, I'm not going to buy a Vita just to play that one game. Still have no idea why Vanillaware did that.
>>289413489
I want to play just cause 2 now... But I don't feel like DL it cause the moment will be gone by then
Beauty in video games is someone executing high level gameplay when the game makes sure to give them the opportunity to do so.
Coordinated team plays from ASSFAGS, fighting/curahzy game super combos, sick micro in RTS's, that Asian guy doing a perfect super Tetris run, etc.
All of this stuff is what I consider beauty in games.
>>289414183
>video games
>story telling
Movies and TV series are for focusing on pure story. Video games should focus on player interaction.
>>289414207
Because Sony paid for it to be a Vita game to sell the console. Worked for me, I bought a Vita purely for the Muramasa limited edition. Ended up liking a ton of shit on the Vita regardless, like Dragon's Crown among other things, but Vanillaware really sold me on the Vita. I'd love an HD remake of Odin's Sphere on it if they could ever do that.
>>289412648
was he autistic?
>>289414332
Video games can tell a better story than a movie or tv show because in a movie when the bad guy gets killed by the good guy, you don't pull the trigger.
>>289414496
>>289412648
Back then you got forced into schooling at the age you could first speak, if you were in some rich family. You had no choice but to git gud at something or shame your family and become a penniless bum, dying of cholera in the gutter.
>>289412648
To be fair, he basically got the Seto Kaiba childhood
>>289414496
Pulling the trigger doesn't matter when it's the only option you have. Video games shouldn't only be about telling a story, they should be about taking part in one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUO1k52OBos
This is allowed on a Christian image board right?
>>289413492
Based Bierstadt
>>289414736
You've never killed someone who pissed you off in a video game's narrative while feeling real murderous rage for that villain's actions?
I feel bad for you.
>tfw brutally slaughtering an enemy who killed your waifu/burned your village/ raped your dad
You can't get that from a movie.
![890812-eternal_sonata_ps3screenshots22056es_ps3_screen001[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/fNPxWBX.jpg "890812-eternal_sonata_ps3screenshots22056es_ps3_screen001[1].jpg")
>>289410637
Why shouldn't graphics play a big role in "portraying" beauty?
I think Eternal Sonata is a good example of beauty in video games.
On top of the dreamy and lush visuals, it has a pretty emotional tone, an intriguing setting and a very fitting soundtrack.Too bad it does lack in execution and delivery
Of course, this all falls under "presentation" and setting. If you're looking for an example of beauty delivered through gameplay alone, then that's another story...
>>289414496
Yet millions of people still live vicariously through their TVs. Watching shitty dramas and reality TV to imagine they are doing it. Now imagine how well this works when the show is actually developed well.
And you're just proving my original point. Movies and TV series do a better job of focusing on pure story telling. Video games need to have an extra layer of 'user input'. Which, more often than not, interferes with the story telling process (especially in most WRPGs with endless dialogue trees and set story events). Very few games actually find that delicate balance of telling a story and interacting with it.
>>289410637
>portraying beauty in vidya
>wanting to be written off as problematic
>not making everything frumpy and ugly looking
>>289415037
Yeah nah, only thing to get a rise sorta like that was the Tiidan in the third homeworld mission, and that was eclipsed by the 'SHITSHITSHITGOTTASAVETHEPODS"
Games like Rule of Rose or Silent Hill 2 can be beautiful in the same way that a good movie or book can be beautiful, when many different elements like narrative, visuals, sound design, etc come together incredibly well. Unfortunately, these games are usually shit on the gameplay side of things.
>>289415037
>ss13
>saw someone kill my coworker and destroy my work
>sec let him off
>kill him when I see him trying to fuck with my work again even though he was unarmed
>sec looks the other way
never thought I would know that feeling
>>289412021
Lol even when he tries poor old Buckley can't stop using the same fucking face for all his drawings.
>>289415295
How does a megacity with famine issues have so many fucking huge people?
>>289414878
True, but even then you feel a miniature version of a real struggle.
At least I do.
I roleplay my character, feel his rage, weigh my options, sometimes I betray my own intentions. Makes for an extremely powerful narrative if you want it to be.
>>289415251
I disagree, I find movies and television dull.
While most games do sacrifice their stories for gameplay to an extent, the moments where they don't is when they shine. Tv and movies never shine because you're passively watching.
>there are people alive RIGHT NOW who don't respect postmodern art
fucking uncultured philistines
>>289415037
Since most of the time, these are set story events, it loses its impact.
A movie isn't burdened with making the person actively do the killing. So when it happens, the viewer can just focus on that story event. In a game, its one of the worst things ever to be told where to go and what to do based on 'story reasons'. What impact is there in killing someone like Sephiroth when the entire game has been telling you that's your only option? Oh wow...I killed the big bad crazy man like I was destined to. I'm so shocked....
>>289413620
>corrupt political system taxes the humble farmers into the dirt
>teams up with his hot ghost wife and best friends to start a labour riot
>dies in the uprising with his friends and gets sent to hell
>gets pissed off at the overworked demons for being behind schedule on his daily agonizing torture
>starts a fucking labour riot in hell
Gonbe fucking crazy, man.
>>289415775
>set game events
How is that different from a movie?
Anyway I'll give you an example of what I mean and probably piss a few people off.
>first time playing the walking dead
>cannibal farmhouse
>raging at hillbilly cannibals
>first one tells me I don't have the balls
>interupt him by stabbing him
>fight his brother
>during the clicky punchy bit go inter a berserker rage
>continue clicking and screaming long after the qte is over
>tfw I really wanted to kill a fictional character with my hands.
Movies can eat my ass.
>>289415479
Because the huge people are eating all the food?
i know some lewd 3ds qrs that portray beauties
>>289410637
Beauty? Sounds pretty gay. You must be a faggot.
>>289415479
With a mixture of a genetically modified vegetable-based meat substitute called Munce and recycled people goop.
>>289410637
DOA does a pretty good job
>>289416801
It's modern art honestly
>>289412687
After working over an hour on a level and finally seeing everything working, it's a thing of beauty.
>>289411385
You dont LISTEN to graphics either.
>>289416801
That's not beauty. That's perfection.
>>289417086
Fucking spacechem, man. I will never be smart enough for this game.
>>289416179
oh man
>playing ss13
>get captured by a cultist; i'm just an assistant so i have no idea why they want me
>he brings me to a dark maintenance room
>there's an electric chair there
>he's taunting me
>i manage to break free
>push him over
>break the bottle of rum that was in my bag over his head, knock him out
>tie him up with makeshift cableties and take his clothes off
>strap him to the chair, naked, with cuffs on
>initiate roleplay time
>start me-ing actions like dragging the broken bottle across his stomach around his back
>he actually roleplays back, crying out and saying i'll never defeat the dark lord nar'sie
>i continue, and emote pressing the bottle into the fleshy part of his lower back
>click on him with the bottle on harm intent to actually inflict the damage gameplay-wise
>drop the bottle, emote kicking him in the stomach where his liver would be
>start telling him how scum he is for worshipping nar'sie
>he begs for me to stop and join him
>ask him why he was going to electric-chair me to death
>don't let him reply, pick another bottle from my bag and hit him over the head again
>leave as he's passed out to go get medical supplies and wash my hands
>come back, he's still there, catch him trying to unbuckle himself
>slap his shit down as he gets out, hoist him back in the chair
>i start wrapping him up with bandages, and give him a dosage of inapprov so he can't die
>start slicing his limbs up again with the bottle
>he's moaning and lurching, still begging for me to stop
>asks me why i'm doing this
>i just remind him how he's scum for worshipping nar'sie
>ask if he has any last words
>"just make it end, my journey to the other side will prove better than this painful deprived existence"
>start beating the shit out of his head as feverishly as i can
>he's almost crit
>captain walks in right as i electrocute him
>i turn around, and mutter "cultist" as he pulls out his laser
>he puts his laser away, nods, then walks out
videogames
>>289410823
yeah you cant TASTE or SMELL food huh
>>289417515
Yep...never ever ever ever going to get anywhere close to that level of satisfaction from a fucking tv show. This is the future my brother from another mother.
>>289410637
Fucking Bernini was a fucking wizard. There is no other explanation.
>>289410637
> surely it cannot be the graphics
> Vagrant Story
> Tactics Ogre
> FFT
Its largely the graphics because its largely art direction and aesthetics.
Show me a game by Matsuno ive mever seen before and I can instantly tell you its his. Because of its style and design choices.
Fuck, look at Zelda for instance. Each game conveys a different sense of feeling and atmosphere. Everything from stylization to color palettes.
Games can portray beauty quite easily and invoke different moods and feelings.
Also, does anyone else ever get an insatiable hunger for fruit loops when they see Chrono Cross? That fucking color palette man. Every time.
>>289412648
It's not like there are more than one Berrini or Michelangelo though.
>>289417801
can food be art?
when will chefs stop limiting the culinary mediumif someone gives a serious reply I'm gonna play a fucking videogame
>>289417383
indeed!
>>289416179
>How is that different from a movie?
For the reasons I've already explained twice. People watch a movie with the understanding that it is a set story. People playing a game have different expectations of what a game' should be. And some feel that set story events make a bad game. But to be 'story focused', a game HAS to have set events.
>>289418847
>set story events make a bad game
That's literally every game besides games without story that let you make up your own stories, which are harder to classify.
>>289417515
SS13 is the king of roleplaying games, I've had so many moments where other Role playing games just couldn't replicate.
>>289416095
That's fucking hilarious
>>289418737
yes
By making Meruru
>>289417515
Emergent gameplay like this or stories from Dorf Fort is why video games are art.
>>289412021
The sad part is BUckly actually thought this was good.
>>289419203
>set story events make a bad game
I never said this. I was pointing out that story shouldn't be the focus of a game and most games that do have a large story focus don't do it well.
>>289411314
>man
kill yourself faggot please
>>289413620
we could say that you're in a path of no return, in other wordswe lost you
>>289411314
Only because time has eroded away the paint they had originally slathered the sculptures with.
>>289411627
What the fuck are you talking about? Traditional art NEVER focused on just one emotion.
>>289410637
Video games portray beauty when they do the following:
1. Break the technical boundaries of their predecessors
2. Create a highly immersive open narrative for you to be engaged with
When I sit there and I am playing a game that looks fucking gorgeous, and has more being rendered on screen both up close and far away than games years back couldn't do, and the music and the sound design are so crisp and ingenious and the setting is awesome and I am on the edge of my seat because of how high the risks are that the difficulty of the game creates, I feel a sense of beauty like with nothing else. That is the most incredible experience ever.
This is why AAA games are preferable to me over non-AAA, even though they often fail at creating a sense of risk they at least push technical standards so I am constantly in awe of what is being rendered in front of me. Mid-budget games can do this but it's much rarer with them, and low budget games can't really do anything for me period.
>>289410637
VG present all the same elements as movies. Art direction and graphics concerning the aesthetics, scripts for writing, music, etc but none of those is what makes VG art.
What makes VG unique as a media and as an art of the XXI century is interactivity, participation, interaction.
Is the art of the information age which is based on communication and interactivity.
No other art allows that.
"Decades of effort and the entire economic and industrial output of our planet have been dedicated to this mission. Mounting this fleet has stripped our planet of essential materials and drained our energy reserves. Those of us who remain behind will suffer many hardships, but as long as our people have a fighting chance of returning home, our sacrifices will not have been in vain.
Good luck."
>>289424248
Even though that's a little broad, i'm sure there is more than 2 ways of achieving beauty in video games.
>>289410637
Beauty is subjective anon. you'll never get a concrete consensus.
obligatory beauty post
>>289411664
>>289411971
>>289412506
I'm scottish and our mountains are shitty wee things and they're all still easily bigger than anything in skyrim. I don't think you realise how fucking massive big realworld mountains are, the throat of the world is meant to be the equivalent of Everest (but bigger because fantasy) but in the game it's barely half as tall as ben nevis. Obviously, they weren't in a position to actually make it 10+ times as tall as it is in game because it would more than take up the entire map, but that's the thing. You can't make an in-universe big game mountain anything near as impressive as a big real world mountain, unless you were to just have a game about climbing up a massive fucking mountain.
What I'm getting at in a roundabout way is that nothing you can feasibly implement and interact with in a video game will ever be as great as a real world equivalent. OP is right in that graphics technology cannot beat the real world. Video games are best suited to portraying visual beauty through art style, not attempting photorealism.
