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GAMING NEWS

Sakaguchi Comments On Graphics Vs. Gameplay

Posted on Monday, February 6 @ 09:12:01 Eastern by Jonathan_Leack



Graphics vs. gameplay. This age-old question couldn't be any more important than it is today, and perhaps even more of a problem. Since the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 came out, developers have been slaving over making their game look as eye-popping as possible, whether it be the ladies in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, or Poseidon's eyes in God of War III. Unfortunately, sound gameplay mechanics have been tossed aside in the process, and legend Hironobu Sakaguchi wants nothing of it.

Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi shared some sentiments in a recent interview, some of which were aimed at the growing popularity of graphics. He stated:

There's a tendency for developers to allow all their energy to be diverted into maintaining the high quality of the graphics.

He went on to mention that graphics don't have to play as big of a role in making a game successful. Is that really true, though? If you look at virtually every game that has sold over a million copies this generation, one quality they share is that they look good (i.e. Gran Turismo 5, Gears of War 3, StarCraft II). But then again, they all play exceptionally as well.

Sakaguchi left Square Enix after the development of Final Fantasy XII at which point the company directed their full attention on visual beauty with Final Fantasy XIII. In a genre where it is expected for the world to be vast and full of activities, it's no wonder that the game was considered one of the weaker releases of the series.

If you could choose one or the other, which would be your pick: gameplay or graphics? Share your response below.

[Source]

Tags:   final fantasy


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Comments
  • Bras
    Bras

    Joined: Jul 2008
    Posted: Feb 6th, 2012 at 11:33 am
    Balance is the key.
  • Chunibrow
    Chunibrow

    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posted: Feb 6th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
    Gameplay. I still play Civ II, Betrayal at Krondor, etc... Not great looking games anymore (if they ever really were). But good gameplay never ages, so you can play those games forever.
  • warmaster670
    warmaster670

    Joined: Jun 2007
    Posted: Feb 7th, 2012 at 2:27 am
    good gameplay does age, theres plenty of games that came out before that would have been considered good, but control like crap by todays standards.
  • Masterwabbit
    Masterwabbit

    Joined: Mar 2009
    Posted: Feb 6th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
    If I cannot make sense of what is happening on screen, then the graphics fail. Muddy textures, overbearing UIs, too dark to see anything, not good. I can settle for less than perfect looks so long as I can make sense of them. Gameplay is numero uno for me, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to wade through an optic nightmare to get there.
  • TheMindlessType
    TheMindlessType

    Joined: Sep 2009
    Posted: Feb 6th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
    Game play all the way. Pretty only looks pretty for so long (Mario 64 anyone?) but solid game play with stylized graphics (Mario 64 anyone?) will last for ages upon ages. One of my favourite examples of this is Katamari Damacy and We

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