Graphics VS. Gameplay

[adamoore]

Which do you think is more important: realistic settings and characters, or game mechanics? Why?
Debate!

[[EMumford]]

Why play a game that only looks good? However, i'd probably have to go with Equal importance simply because, it makes the game 10x better if it has both good graphics and gameplay..

[Rizimar]

I voted for equal importance. Gamplay is really important, but graphics help to get the player into the game. I mean, what would any FPS be without gibbing detailed 3D models in a themed setting?

[Josh1billion]

Gameplay obviously.

[adamoore]

I guess I'm a bit old-fashioned (I'm happy with b&w text if the gameplay is fun), but I think that gameplay is a bit more important than the graphics. Graphics will attract a player, but if the game is horrible, it will end up in a landfill in New Mexico.

I think that graphics & realism ought to be enhanced up until the point just before gameplay begins to suffer.

[Rizimar]

Realism in games is overrated

[AssKoala]

WTF, who cares about graphics and gameplay?  For that matter who gives a rats ass about physics or storyline?  Shit, I've yet to meet anyone who cares if the game even controls well.

All that matters is the box art.  If the box art sucks, who cares about the rest of the game.

The real debate is whether the box art should be CG or Hand made.

[adamoore]

WTF, who cares about graphics and gameplay?  For that matter who gives a rats ass about physics or storyline?  Shit, I've yet to meet anyone who cares if the game even controls well.

All that matters is the box art.  If the box art sucks, who cares about the rest of the game.

The real debate is whether the box art should be CG or Hand made.

A large portion of video game purchases are impulse purchases based off of the game case.

[ZZT-X]

WTF, who cares about graphics and gameplay?  For that matter who gives a rats ass about physics or storyline?  Shit, I've yet to meet anyone who cares if the game even controls well.

All that matters is the box art.  If the box art sucks, who cares about the rest of the game.

The real debate is whether the box art should be CG or Hand made.

I'm with AssKoala.
Given this boxart, I would've bought the NES Ninja Gaiden even if it were just a slightly modified Gilligan's Island.

Seriously, handmade boxart is a lost... well, art.
Take, for example, the Japanese/European box art for Ico - You could hang this is a gallery.
Then there's the (sigh) American box art. Us Yanks get shafted a lot in this regard.*

Another example, Guardian Heroes:
Japanese/European - Simple anime drawing of all the heroes. Not bad at all.
American - Crap. The Undead Soldier isn't even an enemy in the game. Guh.

*I used 'yank' and 'shaft' in the same sentence. Cripes.

To stay relevant to the poll, though, I immediately thought "Gameplay, duh. Who cares about graphics; M.U.L.E. is great fun to this day and it was a friggin' Atari 800 game."
But really, it depends. If your game looks bad to the extent that it actually hinders or detracts from the gameplay, then there's an example of graphics having a strong influence on the game's playability.
And it doesn't matter what hardware you're working with; as long as you use that hardware well, there be no problem. Just look at the leap in quality from Super Mario Bros. 1 to SMB 3, and it was still the same platform. I imagine M.U.L.E. looked pretty good back in the day, too - it may look like a bunch of colored bricks, now, but at least you can still tell what's going on. That game has aged quite gracefully, in playability and graphics.

[jleeto]

In importance to me,  gameplay is 1st,...graphics are 2nd.
 
   I still play NES, SNES, and PS1 games, as well as older PC games.  I loved the first two GTA games back when they were top-down half sprite/half 3d.  And even back in 1999 I'd show GTA to friends and all the cool open ended gameplay and how there are no rules,.. and they'd be like, "The graphics look like ass.  I like Driver better."

  I also must say I hate how everything has to look as realistic as possible.  Where's the style?  Where's the human artistic touch?

[ZZT-X]

I also must say I hate how everything has to look as realistic as possible. Where's the style? Where's the human artistic touch?

"yeah i don't know how long the silly holy quest for photorealism is going to last. photorealism has never been the goal of animation. we've already got photorealism, we all know what outside looks like. the point of animation is to break away from live action and to dive into the artist's head. that's why most "photoreal" CG stuff bores me to tears.. there's no imagination in those visuals.. you're stripping yourself of the full potential of the medium." -Don Hertzfeldt

Granted, he was talking about animation, but this could be applied to any visual artform.
Many games that go for photorealism end up not looking like a good graphical attempt, but flawed realism. And damn, it can get ugly when you're forced to look at it that way.

[AssKoala]

Graphics enhance gameplay.

The ultimate law is gameplay.  If a game plays like crap, it won't live long based purely on graphics.  Decent gameplay can be made up for with great graphics.  But graphics are like good looks, their relative beauty degrades as time passes.

Graphics, sound, music, etc are all there to enhance the gameplay.  That's not to say that graphics can't hurt gameplay.  Poorly implemented graphics/view for the player can totally ruin the gameplay.

What made Doom3 fun at its release, and currently, are the combination of decent gameplay and great graphics.  The game may get boring, but it is fun to run around in the dark world -- it just doesn't last that long.  Take away the graphics and you have a boring game.

Tetris and older classic games show that great graphics don't mean better games.  

However, how many people were drooling at the prospect of Chrono Trigger Resurrection?

[Cheapy]

gameplay > *

It's what makes System Shock 2 and Deus Ex tick. Both games do have mediocre graphics (ESPEICALLY system shock 2 with all the flat no-depth textures and all) but the touch of Warren Spector's game design saved their lives.

Deus Ex didn't do too well in sales because it was associated with the Ion Storm name, and the gaming media were very negative about them since the infamous slagging of Daikatana.

[chiQ]

I've voted gameplay, because though I can handle crap graphics, I can't handle crap gameplay. That said, if a game is poorly executed, despite a good game design, I will buy a good-looking game over it, everything else being equal, every time. I likes my eye candies

[Stage-It]

One guess as to who I'm advocating.

I still view Descent, the last image I posted, as the best game ever made, hands down.  Fix every flaw with the FPS formula and you have that game.