I prefer a bit more realistic than the Sims 4. I found Sims 2 had the most realistic detail with clutter on objects especially with books having titles you could read off of them. Plus had the most round objects too. Sims 4 is lower poly, so I wouldn't consider that cartoon either, but more Lego like with all the edges. Sims 2 just had a nice mix of cartoon and realism that I prefer. My favorite water in a Sims game is the Sims Castaway Stories on laptop. Sims 3 I didn't find realistic either since I've played games far more realistic than any Sims games, but I do find the Sims Medieval the most realistic game in the franchise. Sims 4 does share the Sims 1 Lego art style with hard edges.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
The only part of the game I'd want to look more realistic is the environment (grass, trees, wildlife). The textures on those objects are really not that good. Otherwise I am fine with the cartoon style of the world.
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Cartoons can have the same expressions, reactions or animations and still be fun for me. There's an element of fantasy there that keeps things light. The more "realistic" things get, the harder it is for me to suspend disbelief.
One thing I would like to add in is that even though I do prefer a more cartoon art style there are definitely some things that I would love to be improved on such as little details like eyelashes, the solid black lines do nothing for me, they don't even look like eyelashes.
Pseudo-realistic. The Sims 4 went too far in the cartoony direction. I do like the way Sims look, but I hate how bright and saturated environments are, how fake trees, rocks, etc. look, and I LOATHE how blocky and flat objects look.
My favorite game in terms of graphics is The Sims Medieval. It has the perfect balance of realism and stylization that Sims 3 and Sims 4 failed to achieve (one being a tad bit too realistic and the other way too Pixar-like):
I don’t like the eye lashes in the sims 4. Usually, I don’t enjoy many cc items to create sims. I used only cc skintone and hairs in the sims 4 but my sims were still look like Disney animation characters. With the same amount of cc items, I can make better looking sims in TS3. I wish the brightness would be higher in TS3 and that will look more realistic. Current TS3 is a bit dark even with the lighting mods.
I prefer a more realistic look I think the clay hair looks horrible they have slightly improved over what was offered in the base game but its still not great. The skin tones eyes eyelashes and everything else is just not great the cartoon look leaves no room for uniqueness or detail.
Sims 4 went from "You Rule" to "One of the stories we want you to tell"
There is a reason why WoW is still relevant in 2021. The art style (upgraded as it is) has aged very well, while games that looked "AWESOME" back then looks incredibly bad now.
There is a reason why WoW is still relevant in 2021. The art style (upgraded as it is) has aged very well, while games that looked "AWESOME" back then looks incredibly bad now.
I wonder though, is it really because of "realistic art style" that some games graphics don't age well, or is it because they were realistic art style in a time when models still had to be very noticeably blocky... very low polygon count and low texture? I mean, Skyrim is like 10 years old now and it still looks good to me (granted, it gets help from mods and the Special Edition update)... but those things only do so much to help, it's not like they are changing the entire graphical engine and what it can handle. And then you have a game like TS4, where mods can help it look more realistic, but they can only do so much to change how cartoony it looks. So even given the opportunity to improve on that front, it is much more limited in what you can do with it.
It seems to me that after a point, the degrees of graphical photo realism are becoming less distinguishable from game to game. Like to the point you almost need a side by side illustration to really make the point that there's improvement. With a side by side, it can be stark to see, but without it, maybe you wouldn't think about it that much. I suspect lighting is part of what contributes to this. It seems like harsh lighting can effectively wash out higher res textures, making it less distinguishable when a game is taking advantage of them.
There is a reason why WoW is still relevant in 2021. The art style (upgraded as it is) has aged very well, while games that looked "AWESOME" back then looks incredibly bad now.
I wonder though, is it really because of "realistic art style" that some games graphics don't age well, or is it because they were realistic art style in a time when models still had to be very noticeably blocky... very low polygon count and low texture? I mean, Skyrim is like 10 years old now and it still looks good to me (granted, it gets help from mods and the Special Edition update)... but those things only do so much to help, it's not like they are changing the entire graphical engine and what it can handle. And then you have a game like TS4, where mods can help it look more realistic, but they can only do so much to change how cartoony it looks. So even given the opportunity to improve on that front, it is much more limited in what you can do with it.
It seems to me that after a point, the degrees of graphical photo realism are becoming less distinguishable from game to game. Like to the point you almost need a side by side illustration to really make the point that there's improvement. With a side by side, it can be stark to see, but without it, maybe you wouldn't think about it that much. I suspect lighting is part of what contributes to this. It seems like harsh lighting can effectively wash out higher res textures, making it less distinguishable when a game is taking advantage of them.
It depends on how Realistic your Realistic is.
Skyrim is getting old, but not as old as FO3 or NV. But somewhere there is a line where realism ages "better". Of course it is easier in games without humans like racing games; Forza Horizon 3 still looks awesome, but it is easier to make detailed renders of dead objects like cars, obviously.
The BIG key except for old blocky "realistic" graphics is the Uncanny Valley. Skyrim and FO3 and 4 all avoids that, while Oblivion (and Sims 3) definitely has it.
Assassins Creed and Mass Effect definitely avoids it.
That said it is still easier to make a well defined cartoony art style stay "good looking" over the years; Skyrim looks good for being so old, it doesn't actually look good while Sims 4 still look 🐸🐸🐸🐸 fantastic exactly because the art style is exactly that: stylized and on point. It's the same reason why heavily stylized animated movies like say Frozen or Big Hero 6 looks so much better than Monster University, because although MU had "photo realistic backgrounds" (room renders etc) the actual animation was pretty bad.
And of course why hand drawn cartoons never get old.
It depends on how Realistic your Realistic is.
Skyrim is getting old, but not as old as FO3 or NV. But somewhere there is a line where realism ages "better". Of course it is easier in games without humans like racing games; Forza Horizon 3 still looks awesome, but it is easier to make detailed renders of dead objects like cars, obviously.
The BIG key except for old blocky "realistic" graphics is the Uncanny Valley. Skyrim and FO3 and 4 all avoids that, while Oblivion (and Sims 3) definitely has it.
Assassins Creed and Mass Effect definitely avoids it.
That said it is still easier to make a well defined cartoony art style stay "good looking" over the years; Skyrim looks good for being so old, it doesn't actually look good while Sims 4 still look ❤️❤️❤️❤️ fantastic exactly because the art style is exactly that: stylized and on point. It's the same reason why heavily stylized animated movies like say Frozen or Big Hero 6 looks so much better than Monster University, because although MU had "photo realistic backgrounds" (room renders etc) the actual animation was pretty bad.
And of course why hand drawn cartoons never get old.
I guess what I've driving at though is, at a certain point (if the tech is able to keep up, I'm not sure how much of a given that actually is) new games are going to be so close to photo realism, it's virtually impossible for them to "age poorly." And it seems to me we may already be at that point now, considering the Unreal Engine MetaHuman Creator I've been seeing stuff about. So we may reach a point (if we aren't already there now) where the idea of how a game's graphics ages is just not a noteworthy factor and then it will come down entirely to preference.
Also, personally, I don't think Sims 4's graphics look fantastic, which ties into my preference for photo realism style where possible. I don't mean that as a diss to TS4's artists (I think they do a great job with the style they are trying to do), but it's not to my preference, so for me, a game like TS4 ages poorly in its own way because it could be looking more realistic than it was when it came out with mods and it instead will forever be limited to the cartoon style.
Anyway, not trying to single you out for saying this stuff, nothing personal at all, just some thoughts that popped into my head about the subject and the general discussion of graphics aging and whether and how they do.
But yeah, I do see what you're saying about uncanny valley. That is an interesting way to distinguish to what extent it makes the biggest difference.
The way the Sims 4 is drawn, there's something about it that drew me in, the other games didn't really do. At the end of the day it just has to be cohesive and Seamless.
If I compare the Sims 4 to the Other Games that I play it's pretty good. Sometimes I feel like they didn't take full advantage with the game's art style though. as time went on, I keep thinking what could have been, but everyone has different visions of course.
The Elder Scrolls Online, probably the most realistic looking game that I play. if the Sims strived for that type of art style, I might be able to do it.
Kingdom Hearts (III in particular), Legend of Zelda, being my other two most favorite game, that fall under cartoon, But Cartoon doesn't mean it lacks detail.
I would like to see the sims on the Unreal Engine.
Pseudo-realistic. The Sims 4 went too far in the cartoony direction. I do like the way Sims look, but I hate how bright and saturated environments are, how fake trees, rocks, etc. look, and I LOATHE how blocky and flat objects look.
My favorite game in terms of graphics is The Sims Medieval. It has the perfect balance of realism and stylization that Sims 3 and Sims 4 failed to achieve (one being a tad bit too realistic and the other way too Pixar-like):
I guess because I play more realistically, I would prefer realistic sims, and if they are going to die, more realistic deaths too. I don’t use CC or mods though. I do hope sims 5 is more realistic ( and I’m not really talking about occult’s, but more about the types of death. I think death from laughter is just too unrealistic…… now death from anger is different.
I really genuinely love the art style in Sims 4. So if people consider it cartoony, I guess that's what I like.
A lot of the other games I play (such as Portal Knights, My Time at Portia, and lots of visual novels games with an anime or manga art style) have even more cartoony art. So for me, Sims 4 is actually on the realistic end of what tends to appeal to me.
At the age I am, cartoony isn't exactly my cuppa tea . As so many have said, too realistic and it gets too uncomfortable...just seems like we could hit a happy medium. I agree, the basis for Sims 2 was fantastic, they actually PLAYED chess, which blew me away, that and the clocks were always showing the right time in the game. But, I absolutely hated the way the sims looked, mine had sharp edges with no delineated fingers or toes so when the Sims 3 came along with their nice smooth faces. I dropped the Sims 2 like a hot potato.
I love the look in the Sims Medieval, now to me, that's the type of realism I could use!
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*:.｡."It's great being ((Queen Bee))!".｡.:*
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✧ :-"As long as I continue to believe then one day my ((dreams)) really will come true."✧ :-
Hair that looks like hair, real eyelashes, smooth skin, nice detailing on clothing, etc.
My favorite game in terms of graphics is The Sims Medieval. It has the perfect balance of realism and stylization that Sims 3 and Sims 4 failed to achieve (one being a tad bit too realistic and the other way too Pixar-like):
Nice example. This general idea is my preferred version of "realistic" as well.
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I wonder though, is it really because of "realistic art style" that some games graphics don't age well, or is it because they were realistic art style in a time when models still had to be very noticeably blocky... very low polygon count and low texture? I mean, Skyrim is like 10 years old now and it still looks good to me (granted, it gets help from mods and the Special Edition update)... but those things only do so much to help, it's not like they are changing the entire graphical engine and what it can handle. And then you have a game like TS4, where mods can help it look more realistic, but they can only do so much to change how cartoony it looks. So even given the opportunity to improve on that front, it is much more limited in what you can do with it.
It seems to me that after a point, the degrees of graphical photo realism are becoming less distinguishable from game to game. Like to the point you almost need a side by side illustration to really make the point that there's improvement. With a side by side, it can be stark to see, but without it, maybe you wouldn't think about it that much. I suspect lighting is part of what contributes to this. It seems like harsh lighting can effectively wash out higher res textures, making it less distinguishable when a game is taking advantage of them.
It depends on how Realistic your Realistic is.
Skyrim is getting old, but not as old as FO3 or NV. But somewhere there is a line where realism ages "better". Of course it is easier in games without humans like racing games; Forza Horizon 3 still looks awesome, but it is easier to make detailed renders of dead objects like cars, obviously.
The BIG key except for old blocky "realistic" graphics is the Uncanny Valley. Skyrim and FO3 and 4 all avoids that, while Oblivion (and Sims 3) definitely has it.
Assassins Creed and Mass Effect definitely avoids it.
That said it is still easier to make a well defined cartoony art style stay "good looking" over the years; Skyrim looks good for being so old, it doesn't actually look good while Sims 4 still look 🐸🐸🐸🐸 fantastic exactly because the art style is exactly that: stylized and on point. It's the same reason why heavily stylized animated movies like say Frozen or Big Hero 6 looks so much better than Monster University, because although MU had "photo realistic backgrounds" (room renders etc) the actual animation was pretty bad.
And of course why hand drawn cartoons never get old.
I guess what I've driving at though is, at a certain point (if the tech is able to keep up, I'm not sure how much of a given that actually is) new games are going to be so close to photo realism, it's virtually impossible for them to "age poorly." And it seems to me we may already be at that point now, considering the Unreal Engine MetaHuman Creator I've been seeing stuff about. So we may reach a point (if we aren't already there now) where the idea of how a game's graphics ages is just not a noteworthy factor and then it will come down entirely to preference.
Also, personally, I don't think Sims 4's graphics look fantastic, which ties into my preference for photo realism style where possible. I don't mean that as a diss to TS4's artists (I think they do a great job with the style they are trying to do), but it's not to my preference, so for me, a game like TS4 ages poorly in its own way because it could be looking more realistic than it was when it came out with mods and it instead will forever be limited to the cartoon style.
Anyway, not trying to single you out for saying this stuff, nothing personal at all, just some thoughts that popped into my head about the subject and the general discussion of graphics aging and whether and how they do.
But yeah, I do see what you're saying about uncanny valley. That is an interesting way to distinguish to what extent it makes the biggest difference.
If I compare the Sims 4 to the Other Games that I play it's pretty good. Sometimes I feel like they didn't take full advantage with the game's art style though. as time went on, I keep thinking what could have been, but everyone has different visions of course.
The Elder Scrolls Online, probably the most realistic looking game that I play. if the Sims strived for that type of art style, I might be able to do it.
Kingdom Hearts (III in particular), Legend of Zelda, being my other two most favorite game, that fall under cartoon, But Cartoon doesn't mean it lacks detail.
I would like to see the sims on the Unreal Engine.
I totally agree.
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Something like this:
A lot of the other games I play (such as Portal Knights, My Time at Portia, and lots of visual novels games with an anime or manga art style) have even more cartoony art. So for me, Sims 4 is actually on the realistic end of what tends to appeal to me.
I love the look in the Sims Medieval, now to me, that's the type of realism I could use!